to Trial and perhaps to Reproof and that I might render a Testimony of Authority to Posterity to write the Story of the present Age to the Age it self And I am not only induced hereto by the Authority of so noble an Historian but by the Reason of History For many Accidents and Circumstances which are no part of the Records of Time and which soon die and are forgotten are so interwoven in History as to make it entire and of one piece and which not only enliven it and create pleasure in reading of it but without them History becomes disjointed and is made up of broken pieces And I can in part say with the noble Nani and in his own words That to compose Histories is sacred and not to be undertaken but with an upright Mind and undefiled Hands and for that Cause the Memory of them was consigned to the Temple under the faithful Custody of the Chief Priests as the Witness or Trust of those that went before and the Treasure of those that should come after not to be handled but as a Religious Thing and with great Caution In sum the Historian taking to himself an absolute Dictatorship nay an Authority more than Human over Times Persons and Actions governs Fame measures Deserts penetrates Intentions discloses Secrets is with an undistinguished Arbitriment over Kings and People the Judg of Ages past and Master of those to come Absolves or Punishes Deceives or Instructs Whence not without Reason the Pen of Writers may be compared to the Lightning which striking out but one Letter from the Name Caesar Augustus made him a God because Praise is a thing so tender that one Dash makes Illustrious and a little Blot Infamous and the Censure of the World thereupon is so severe that it either consecrates to Eternity or proscribes to Infamy For my self I know not what else to wish but that every one would take upon him to read this Work with the same disinterested and innocent Mind with which I have wrote it confining my Confidence in this one thing that the present Age will not be so unjust to me nor so ungrateful to Posterity as to deny me the Opinion of Sincerity It was Nani's Felicity to write the Stories of the Times when the Prudence of the Venetian Senate not only preserved their State from the Tumults of War wherein Christendom was engaged but in a great measure was Arbitrator of it So that the Wars which Nani writes of were like Thunder afar off yet herein Nani expatiates his Story in a short time scarce 30 Years into a large Volume whereas without looking after any thing abroad but what relates to my Story I am contracted to the unhappy Story of my Native Country to shew from what Causes such a Train of Consequences have followed that England which before was the Ballance which turned the Scale of the Affairs of Christendom to that side it inclined not only fell from this envied Height and became the most despisable of all other States but sunk into the most miserable State of Abject and Pity I am the rather induced to write the Story of these Times because the Hackney-Writers of them at least those I have seen have not only taken things in the midst without assigning the Causes but being interested Parties their Writings have been either fulsom Flatteries or Invectives against one another tending to the fixing of the Distempers of the Parties without regard to the Publick or assigning the Cause of the Distempers But herein I except the Collections of Mr. John Rushworth who tho interested in the Factions of the late Times hath so faithfully delivered them over to Posterity and I could have wished tho I know not from whence he had it that he had not mentioned in that part of King James his Speech to the Parliament 18 Jac. that the Parliament is made up of the three States the King the Lords and Commons and this is the main part of his Collections which Franklin and Nalson so carp at yet both these differ not only from one the other in reciting it but from the Record of Parliament for I have perused them with it according to the Copy which Mr. Petit has taken For my part I can truly say that as I never complied with any of the Factions in the late or present Times so my Ancestors stood firm to the Laws and Liberties of the Nation and were Sufferers both before and in the late Troubles and Civil Wars and in these Circumstances I am less disposed to favour or fâ—atter any Party than another who is interested in any one of them I expect it will be objected against me that in writing this History I have sometimes been transported into an Heat unbecoming an Historian I answer that it may happen a Man may be angry and not sin especially when the Offence relates to the Dishonour of God the King or the publick Destruction or Distraction of the Country where Men are protected in their Lives Liberties and Fortunes but if I have erred herein I shall but be in the number of Lactantius who wrote the Relation of the Death of the persecuting Emperors of the Christians and of Suetonius and Tacitus It was the unhappy Fate of Europe that the Miseries and Calamities which succeeded the Divided Will of the four Kings of the Scotish Race from the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation were not terminated within the Limits of the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but were the occasion of the first Rise and growing Grandure of France through the boundless Ambition of Cardinal Richlieu and the present French King both by Sea and Land as well to the Terror of Christendom as of these Nations and this Story will in some measure trace the Steps of them This Treatise I suppose will displease two sorts of Men whom I will never take care to please One who exalt the Divided Will of the Prince above his Royal Capacity in governing by the Constitutions and Laws of the Kingdom The other those which are impatient under Regal Government and the Constitutions of this Kingdom I have been more particular herein because notwithstanding the Calamities which this Divided Will of the King had brought upon the Nation in the late Civil Wars and after yet after the Restoration of King Charles the 2d the Nation was more fiercely rent into Divisions under the Names of Whig and Tory than it was before the Wars and these last having the Dominion of the Press and Favour of the Court made it their business to irritate and provoke all others not of their Faction and if any opposed them by Writing when they could not answer to persecute them for printing without a Licence tho not unlawful in it self yet unlawfully printed ADVERTISEMENTS THE General History of England as well Ecclesiastical as Civil from the earliest Accounts of Time to the Reign of his present Majesty King William Taken from the most Antient Records
Manuscripts and Historians Containing the Lives of the Kings and Memorials of the most Eminent Persons both in Church and State With the Foundations of the Noted Monasteries and both the Universities Vol. I. By James Tyrrel Esq Fol. A New History of Ecclesiastical Writers Containing an Account of the Authors of the several Books of the Old and New Testament and the Lives and Writings of the Primitive Fathers An Abridgment and Catalogue of all their Works c. To which is added A Compendious History of the Councils c. Written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin Doctor of the Sorbon In seven Volumes Fol. An Essay concerning the Power of the Magistrate in Matters of Religion c. 8o. All sold by Andr. Bell at the Cross-keys and Bible in Cornhil INTRODUCTION WHEN King James became King of England the Kingdom of France was bounded on the North with the British Sea from la Bresle on the East where this River which parts Normandy from Boloignois discharges it self into the Sea and in the Latitude of 50 Deg. North and 5 Min. from whence West and by South it extends it self to Portsal in Bretaign about 340 Miles distance and in the Latitude of 48 Degrees and North and by East from la Bresle to Calais which lies in the Latitude of 50 Degrees 40 Minutes From Portsal to the South inclining into the East upon the Bay of Biscay France extended it self to St. Jean de Luz which is the Frontier to Spain in the Latitude of 44 Degrees and from St. Jean de Luz East and by South it extended it self along the Pyrenean Hills to Perpignian in the Country of Rosillion in the Latitude of 42 Deg. 30 Min. From Perpignian on the South to Piedmont on the East towards the North it was bounded by the Mediterranean Sea and from Calais on the North the Eastern parts of France to the South were bounded by the Spanish Netherlands Lorain Alsace the State of Geneva Savoy and Piedmont The Continent was near threefold more than England including Wales Before the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella in the Year 1474. Spain was divided into six Kingdoms whereof four were Christian viz. the Kingdoms of Castile and Leons Arragon Navarre and Portugal and two Mahometan viz. Granada and Murcia But when K. James came to be King of England all these Kingdoms were united under Philip the 3d King of Spain Ferdinand and Isabella having conquered the Kingdoms of Granada and Murcia after Isabella's death Ferdinand conquered Navarre and Philip the 2d claimed and conquered Portugal in 1584. after the Death of Don Sebastian who was overthrown and slain by the King of Fez and Morocco in 1580. All these Kingdoms thus united were greater than France by about â…“ Spain thus united is a Peninsula having on the North-East and South-East the Pyrenean Hills on the North-East is Fontarabia and on the South-East Cape de Creux the rest of Spain is environed by the Bay of Biscay on the North by the Atlantick Ocean on the West and South to Gibralter and to the North-East by the Mediterranean Sea from Gibralter to Cape de Creux The North of Spain viz. the North of Biscay and Galicia is in the Latitude of 44 Degrees North and the South parts of Andaluzia and Granada in the Latitude of 36 Degrees 30 Minutes but the extent of Spain about the middle Region of it from East to West is more than from North to South being near 14 Degrees 20 Minutes in Longitude The Isle of Britain is the greatest of Europe it may be of the World for ought is certainly known at least none comparable to it except Madagascar or St. Laurence and Japan if it be an Island The North of it is in the Latitude of 58 Degrees North the South-East in 51 Degrees and towards the West inclines into the Latitude of 50 Degrees It 's bounded on the South by the Channel or British Sea on the East by the German Ocean on the North by the Deucaledonian Ocean and on the West by the Verguvian Britain is divided into two Kingdoms England and Scotland England including Wales above â…“ greater but incomparably a better and more fertile Soil and a more temperate Climate in a Northern Climate lying South of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland hath several Islands depending upon it on the North and West on the North is a Knot of Islands or Rocks called The Orcades I cannot tell whether they be distinguished by Names but on the North of these in the Latitude from 60 Degrees to 61 Degrees lies Shetland or Shotland which the Romans called Vltima Thule and on the West are the Hebrides the most considerable of them are the Isles of Mul Sky and Lewis Besides Ireland and the Isles of our Western Plantations the Isle of Man which lies between Lancashire and Ireland the Isle of Anglesey which lies between Wales and Ireland the Isles of Wight Garnsey and Jersey which lie in the British Sea between England and France and the Sorlings or Isles of Silly a Knot of Islands about a Degree West of the Lands-end of Cornwal are in the Dominion of the Kingdom of England Ireland is a Kingdom and Island depending upon the Kingdom of England greater than Scotland and near as big as England excluding Wales and is near of an Oblong Figure unless the Province of Munster inclines towards the West near a Degree into the South The North of Ireland lies in the Latitude of 55 Degrees 30 Minutes North and the South-East in the Latitude of 52 Degrees 30 Minutes and the South-West in the Latitude of 51 Degrees 40 Minutes the breadth from East to West is near 4 Degrees 20 Minutes Longitude Ireland on the North is bounded by the Deucaledonian Ocean on the East by St. George's Channel on the South by the Atlantick Ocean and on the West by the Verguvian Ocean It will much conduce to open the Design of the ensuing Treatise if we look back to the Dissolution of the Roman Western Empire and see what Kind of Government succeeded in the Kingdoms of Spain France and England and so take a view of the Causes of the Ruin of the Western Empire and herein I shall follow Helvicus his Christian Vulgar Aera As Britain was the first Country which received the Christian Faith so Constantine the Great the first of all the Christian Roman Emperors was born a Britain and became Emperor in the year of Christ 306. A Prince who as he excelled in Christian Piety so was he adorned with all Moral Vertues requisite in so great a Prince and being zealously addicted to propagate the Christian Faith and Religion he chiefly intended these above all other things but herein he met with great Opposition nor could he attain these Ends without shaking the Strength and Foundation of the Constitutions of the Empire For in propagating the Christian Faith and Religion Constantine was not only opposed by Dioclesian Maxentius and Maximin who were Emperours
Contentions not only in civil but religious Affairs Having given an Account of the Reasons of the Ruine of the Roman Western Empire and how like our Case is to that of the Empire in its Declension It 's time to take a view of the State of the Goths and Vandals after they had planted themselves in Spain and herein I observe that though the Romans as well as Grecians esteem all other Nations barbarous but themselves yet the Government of them was equal if not better than either for it was a Regular Monarchy wherein the King did not govern by an absolute despotick Power but by established Laws nor could they make new nor alter the old or raise Money without the Consent of the States of their Kingdoms and this continued for many Hundred Years after how many of the Kingdoms in Spain lost these Privileges is too long to be inserted here yet at this Day the Kingdom of Arragon retains them So that the King of Spain never speaks to them as King of Castile In the Reign of Honorius and Arcadius Ann. 408. about five Years before Gundericus entred Spain Attila King of the Huns over-run the Empire and pierced into Gaul with a huge Army against whom Honorius sent Ecius the greatest General of his time with an Imperial Army which was raised in all parts of the Empire so as Ecius was forced to withdraw the Roman Legions in Britain to oppose Attila nor did they ever return more so that the poor Britains being enured to no warlike Discipline but only to serve their imperious Masters easily became a Prey to the Picts and Scots and so were in a more servile State than when they were under the Romans To redeem themselves from which they called the English Saxons to their Assistance who used them worst of all and expelled the whole Race of them out of that part of Britain now called England But this is observable That as in these Times the rest of the Roman Empire was over-spread with Arianism so was that part of Britain subject to the Roman Empire over-spread with Pelagianism and here observe the Justice of God upon them that these Men who ascribed to themselves a Power of Salvation without God's special Grace and Favour to them should not be able to save themselves from their Enemies but be either slaughtered by them or expelled their Native Country upon the Earth The Saxons which conquered the Britains were Heathen yet was their Government as well as that of the Goths a Regular Monarchy and so continued in all the Dynasties of their Kings and yet is continued notwithstanding the several Attempts of many of the Kings of the Norman and the Scotish Race to the contrary About ten Years after Ecius recalled the Roman Legions out of Britain viz. in 418. Pharamond entred Gaul and conquered some part of it which he called France after the Name of the Franks and Pharamond was Heathen and so was Meroveus his Successor and Childerick his Son and so continued till about the Year 490 when Clovis was converted to Christianity of whom Messeray glories that he was the only King in the World which was not Infidel or Heretick However the Government of the Franks as well as the Goths and Saxons was a Regular Monarchy till the Reign of Charles the 7th about the Year 1430. which was above a thousand Years after the Franks planted themselves in Gaul If we look back into the Reign of Henry the 2d of England we shall find him it may be the greatest of all the Western Kings and Lord if not of the greatest yet best part of France as he was Duke of Normandy and Aquitain in Right of his Wife Eleanor Aquitain having the Ocean on the West and Normandy the British Sea on the North. But this Dominion did not last long for King Henry's Son and John's Son Henry the 3d endeavouring to usurp a more than Legal Authority over their Subjects caused such a Ferment and Discord in the Kingdom and this lasted near 70 Years that the Kings of France in the mean time took all Normandy and the greatest part of Aquitain from the English When King James became King of England Henry the 4th was French King having composed by Force and Clemency the Civil Wars which had raged near 40 Years all over France and in the Year 1597 made Peace with Spain which was about 5 Years before King James became King of England and here let 's take a view of Spain Though Spain were 1 3 greater than France when King James came to the Crown of England yet France was I believe fivefold better peopled and generally a more fruitful Country How this came to pass it's fit to look back upon the Cause of the Sterility of Men in Spain and their abounding in France Ferdinand and Isabella King and Queen of Castile and Arragon about the Year 1490 having conquered the Kingdoms of Granada and Murcia and against their Faith given to the Moors brought in the Inquisition upon them the greatest part of the Moors forsook their Country and thereby left the Kingdoms of Granada and Murcia so much less peopled and Ferdinand and Isabella being addicted to the Roman Religion established manifold Bishopricks and Religious Houses in these Kingdoms of both Sexes and the Pope though he pleases to make Marriage a Sacrament yet forbids it to the Clergy and other of both Sexes who take upon them a Religious Life whereby as the Moors leaving Spain unpeopled it at present so future Generations became so much less replenished by how much more People took upon them a Religious Habit. But this Mischief did not stop here for Philip the 2d great Grand-Son of Ferdinand and Isabella and a most bigotted Prince to the Romish Superstition brought the Inquisition upon the Converted Moors which drove them out of Spain to the farther unpeopling of it and my Lord Bacon says that many of these poor converted Moors became as persecuted in their Exile for their Religion as if they had continued in Spain And this Mischief further followed not only to Spain but to Christendom for the exiled Moors having no other Habitation and Means of Living set up their Trade of Piracy in Algiers Tunis and Tripoli within the Straits and in Sally without whereby they have been a Plague to all other Christians as well as Spaniards who trade into the Straits and Affrick and other Southern Countries ever since About the time that Ferdinand and Isabel conquered Spain Columbus discovered the West-Indies and Hornando Cortez siding with one part of the Indians which were at War against the other and thereby becoming Conqueror of those he fought against he got incredible Wealth with a Discovery of the Rich Mines in Mexico The Blaze of this quickly flew all over Spain so that the Spaniards expected Mountains of Gold in running out of Spain into America and therefore near half Spain ran into America to seek new Adventures there the covetous
to support his Crown and Dignity but by how much he became lessened hereby the Nobility became so much greater and to support themselves held a Correspondence with Queen Elizabeth who tho she countenanced the Nobility yet she allowed the King a yearly Pension of 4000 l. per Ann. I have heard and believe it in his Minority and 10000 l. per An. after he came to age and hereby kept both the King and Nobility depending on her As the Nobility in his Minority made him so poor so the Kirk-party justled him in his Throne by making themselves a distinct Table from the Secular or Temporal Power not only in Matters purely Spiritual but in holding General Assemblies and all Matters which related to what they pleased to call The Kingdom of Christ and were so zealous I will not say Rude herein that they made it a Duty incumbent upon the Temporal Power to pass the Acts of their General Assemblies into Laws And in truth they expressed but little Civility to the King in whatsoever they applied themselves to him as if it were his Duty to do whatsoever they would have him and without his Consent and even to cross him would ordain Fasting-days and sometimes upon Sundays And hating Episcopal Government it was very troublesome to the Regents in his Minority as well as to the King to retain the Name of a Bishop after they assumed to themselves the Power Queen Elizabeth was no better Friend to this Kirk-party than the King though she winkt at it and was the more provoked against it by Knocks his Book which he wrote against Gynarchy and from hence it was King James took the easier Impression of Flatterers and was so zealous a Defender of Bishops that in a Conference at Hampton-Court in the first Year of his Reign he held it for a Maxim No Bishop no King The Tears which all true English shed for the Death of Queen Elizabeth who died the 24th of March 1602. were soon wiped off by the Accession of King James to this Crown the antient Feuds between the Nations of England and Scotland were reconciled and John Stow in his Annals of the first of this King gives a particular Account of his most magnificent and joyful Reception day by day from Berwick to London yet with this Blot in his Scutcheon that when he came to Newark he first discovered his Disposition to Arbitrary Government for being told that one had cut a Purse at Newark the King without any Legal Process or the Defence of the Party signed a Warrant to the Sheriff of Lincolnshire to hang him which was executed accordingly This put no Check to the Jollity of the People but the nearer he came to London the greater was the Concourse and Acclamations of the People tho by his Proclamation of which never any Prince was so prodigal and wherein he continued to his dying Day he had forbid it because it raised so much Dust as proved troublesome in his Passage and upon the 11th of May he came to London where being a Prince above all others addicted to Hunting as his first care upon the 16th of May issued out another Proclamation forbidding all manner of Persons killing Deer and all kinds of Wild-fowl used for Hunting and Hawking upon Pain of the several Laws and Penalties to be executed upon them The gazing World abroad were astonished at this King 's peaceable and joyful Settlement in England and were as forward to Congratulate him in it as his Subjects were to receive him and herein the Dutch being Merchants were the first that addressed themselves to make their Market of him and sent over the youngest Son of William Prince of Orange one Fulk and Barnevelt who in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth lay covered in his Faction at Amsterdam as Tortoises do under Ground in the Winter now the Dutch designing to make their Harvest in this King's Reign came abroad as Tortoises do in the Spring to dispose him to it but the Dutch needed not have been so forward herein for the King was environed with those which should do their Work better than Barnevelt could have done it The Spaniards after the Loss of their Armada in 1588 and the Loss sustained in the Sacking of Cadiz in 1595 declined as fast in Power and Reputation as the Dutch grew greater both in Europe and the West-Indies But Philip the 2d dying about three Years before Queen Elizabeth the former Feuds between her and Philip became much abated and Philip the 3d. succeeding a young Prince Nani says of singular Piety he means devoted to the Romish Superstition but wholly unacquainted with Government and contenting himself with the Royal Dignity left the Power to his Favourites and Ministers and of whom Nani in his fourth Book Anno 1621 makes this notable Remark as to his Death That it remained a Doubt whether in an Age proclaimed by the Wrath of Heaven to the Mockery of Favourites the King would not have taken upon himself the Government when Death in the 43d Year of his Age takes him away from the Troubles which Empire carries with it His Years surely would have been more memorable if he had been born a private Man rather than a King because being better adorned with Ornaments of Life than endowed with Skill to command as Goodness Piety and Continence placed him in an higher degree than ordinary Subjects so his Disapplication to Government rendred him lower than was fit or necessary By publick Defects private Vertues being corrupted and in particular keeping his Mind in Idleness it was believed that he reserved nothing to himself to do but to consent to all that his Favourites had a mind to Thus the Government of the World recommended to Princes as the true Shepherds falls into Mercenary Hands making themselves not understood but by the sound of the Voice of Interest and the Authority of Ambitition the People suffer Ruin and Calamity and the Princes themselves render an Account to God of that Talent which they have suffered their Ministers to make Merchandise of It is certain Philip in the Agony of his Death was not so much comforted with calling to mind his innocent Life as he was troubled with the Sting of Conscience for his Omissions in Government This Character how parallel soever it was with King Charles the First tho I do not find he had any Sting of Conscience for his Omissions and Transgressions in Government which brought upon himself and the Nation all the Miseries and Calamities of the late Civil Wars and wherein he persisted to the last bears no Proportion to the voluptuous and dissolute Life of King James accompanied with his profane Swearing in Passion and even in his usual Conversation whereby he became not only contemptible but by his Example the generality of the English Nation became debauch'd in their Manners and Conversation to the Scandal and Contempt of it in other Nations The Death of Philip the 2d made the Passage to a
unanswerable Reasons of a National Interest and the manifold Inconveniences the incorporating those Trades in a Company brought to the Navigation of the Nation both in the Foreign Vent of our Manufactures and in their Returns to the Ruin of infinite Artificers Sea-men and Shipwrights and to the Diminution of the King's Revenue Whereupon these Trades were declared free and have ever since continued so to the inestimable Benefit of this Nation But tho the Reasons in this Act extend to all other Beneficial Trades as to Turkey the East-Country and Hamburgh Trades and to Africa and the East-Indies yet all these Trades are monopolized into Companies exclusive to other Men as much to the Prejudice of the Nation as the making the Spanish Trade free was beneficial to it About this time the Clergy at least a Faction which stiled themselves the Clergy made an Attempt to try how far their Doctrine of Absolute Power in the King had taken root in him they had gained their Point so far as the King had declared his Command to the Commons as Absolute King and now they 'll see whether the King would assert it and the Case was this Arch-bishop Whitgift a Prelate of singular Piety and Humility died the last day of February in the first Year of the King and Doctor Richard Bancroft a Man of a rough Temper a stout Foot-ball-player as zealous an Assertor of the Rights of the Church of England or rather a Faction of Church-men who arrogated to themselves the Title as Julius the 2d was of the Papacy exhibited to the King and Council 25 Articles in the Name of all the Clergy of England called Articuli Cleri which were desired to be reformed in granting Prohibitions tho there were a Parliament and Convocation then sitting which I do not find had any hand in it This Exhibition as it ascribed an Absolute Power to the King so it struck directly at the Constitution of Parliaments the principal End of which is to redress Grievances and Abuses in the Nation and if the King's Council during the sitting of a Parliament shall ascribe to themselves this Power then the great End of Parliaments redressing Grievances and Abuses is in vain However Bancroft herein not only makes the King's Council to have a concurring Power with the Parliament but paramount to it by exhibiting these Articles in the sitting of a Parliament and Convocation but the Judges gave so clear and distinct an Answer to them all that the King did not think fit to meddle in them yet did not Bancroft rest here as you will hear hereafter The Articles and the Judges Answer to them you may read at large in Sir Coke's second Institute tit Articuli Cleri Whilst Bancroft was thus ascribing to the King this Absolute Power and exalting a Faction of Church-men above the true State of the Clergy which is one of the three States of the Nation and above the Nobility and Commonalty which are the other two The Popish Faction were plotting a Design not only to destroy the Church of England but the very Person of the King with the Nobility and Commons convened in Parliament which was to have been executed upon the fifth of November following the day on which the Parliament were to meet The Popish Party hoped and it may be not unreasonably that the King in regard of his Mother's Religion was not averse to theirs so that if he became not of their Church which in his Speech at the opening the Parliament he owns our Mother-Church at least hoped to have their Religion tolerated whereas finding the King in his Speech after he had declaimed against the Heresies and Abuses crept into their Church and the Pope's having arrogated an Imperial Civil Power over Kings and Emperors by dethroning and decrowning them with his Foot and disposing of their Kingdoms and the Jesuits Practice of assassinating and murdering Kings if they be cursed by the Pope That so long as they maintained these they were not sufferable in the Kingdom From this time forward and it may be before a Popish Crew contrived how to bring in their Catholick Religion they cared not which way so it might be done At last it was agreed upon the opening of the Session of Parliament upon the 5th of November one part of the Conspirators should blow up the Lords House while the King Prince with the Nobility and Commons were in it having prepared all things in a readiness whilst another part should seize upon the Lady Elizabeth after Queen of Bohemia and proclaim her Queen But the Plot being discovered the Conspirators were defeated of both their Designs The Horror and Terror of this Conspiracy the Discovery whereof was industriously divulged and believed to be by the King 's great Wisdom and Care reconciled for a time all Differences between him and his Parliament and the Parliament to gratify the King the Clergy gave him four Subsidies at four Shillings in the Pound and the Temporality three Subsidies and â—ix Fifteenths which was threefold more than any Parliament in one Session gave Queen Elizabeth before that of the 35 Eliz. notwithstanding the Payment of her Father's Brother's and Sister's Debts her expelling the French out of Scotland the building and repairing the Navy Royal the Support of the Reformed in France the subduing the Rebellion in the North the Support of the Dutch in the Netherlands the Irish War and the Overthrow of the Spanish Armada in 88. The Parliament enacted the Oath of Allegiance which Bellarmine under the Name of Tortus wrote against and Andrews Bishop of Winton under the Name of Tortura Torti defended it The Parliament too ordained the Anniversary of the Fifth of November to be celebrated for a perpetual Thanksgiving-Day for the King and Kingdom 's Delivery from this Conspiracy All Heats about Prerogative and Privilege were now laid aside the Pulpits and our Universities rang with Declamations against the Heresies and Usurpations of the Church of Rome and now the King gave himself wholly to Hunting Plays Masques Balls and writing against Bellarmine and the Pope's Supremacy in arrogating a Power over Kings and disposing of their Kingdoms and thus the Case stood for four Years after wherein I scarce find any thing worth mentioning This and the next Year was almost wholly spent in Debates concerning the Uniting of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland which the King eanestly solicited and which ended only in Contests and Arguments for the House of Parliament refused to join with the King in it however the King obtained a Judgment in Westminster-Hall in a Case called Calvin's Case that the Post Nati in Scotland after the King's Assumption to the Crown of England were free to purchase and inherit in England But whilst the King was thus wallowing in Pleasure he wholly gave himself up to be governed by Favourites to whom he was above any other King of England except Henry the 8th excessively prodigal not only in Honours and Offices but of
Peron of the Papal Power of King-Killing and King-Deposing were only Brawls and Contentions and 〈◊〉 Learning on one side or the other A Power disclaimed by our Saviour when the Devil would have given him it and denied any such Power in this World even when the Jews were ready to crucify him John 18. 36. And as there were no Reasons for these Brawls so was the End of them Arrogance on the Popish Part to impose a foreign Power or Jurisdiction upon the King and Kingdom and as foolish on the King's Part it being exploded by the Nation and under the severest Penalty the asserting such a Power prohibited and how could the King by his Writings further secure himself and the Nation against it But it seems the King was in this more zealous for himself and the Preservation of his Inherent Birth-right to the Crown of England than for the Honour of God and our Saviour against the Pope's Usurpations other ways for in his Speech at the Opening the first Parliament of his Reign he calls the Church of Rome a 〈◊〉 Church and our Mother-Church and if they would lay aside their King-killing and King-deposing Doctrine and some Niceties but names them not he was content to meet them mid-way Does not the Pope exalt himself above God and is Antichrist i◠forbidding the Laity the Cup in the partaking the Sacrament a Christ's last Supper If any Man makes a Question of it I 'll demonstrate it by a better Syllogism than can be made up of Aristotle's Analyticks For whosoever shall forbid what another commands exalts himself above that other But the Pope forbids the Drinking of the Cup at the Sacrament to the Laity who are Christ's Members as well as the Priests And our Saviour commands the Cup with an Emphasis Drink ye All of it Therefore the Pope exalts himself above our Saviour and is Antichrist which was to be demonstrated and this Mutilation makes this the Pope's and not a Sacrament of our Saviour's Institution COROLLARY By the same Reason I say the Pope exalts himself above God in forbidding Marriage to the Priests For Marriage is an Institution of God in Paradise Gen. 2. and commanded by God Gen. 9. 1. and the Pope forbids the Marriage of Priests which St. Paul says is the Doctrine of Devils and it 's worthy Observation that the Pope makes Marriage to be a Sacrament yet denies it to Priests and our Saviour commands the Cup in the Sacrament of his last Supper to be drunk by all yet this is denied the Laity and only allowed to Priests I say Pope Julius the 2d in dispensing with Henry the 8th to marry his Brother Arthur's Wife exalted himself above God For whosoever shall dispense with or allow what another forbids exalts himself above that other But Julius dispensed with Henry's Marriage of his Brother's Wife And God forbids the Marriage of a Man's Brother's Wife Lev. 18. 16. Therefore Julius exalted himself above God which was to be demonstrated It 's true I do not find the Marriage of a Man's Sister's Daughter particularly forbidden by the Levitical Law yet by the 17th verse it is by inference forbidden and is abhorrent to Nature So that when Cambyses asked the Magi if it were not lawful to marry his Sister's Daughter they told him it was not yet like Flatterers they told him he might do what he pleased and Platina I think it is in the Life of Pope Boniface the 5th or Honorius exclaims against the Emperor Heraclius his marrying his Sister's Daughter as an Impiety scarce ever heard of yet three Popes successively dispensed with Philip the 2d Philip the 3d and Philip the 4th Kings of Spain marrying with their own Nieces viz. their Sisters Daughters It were endless to enumerate the Doctrines of the Church of Rome how dishonourable they are to God and his sacred Laws I 'll give Instances only in two 1. Their Invocation of Saints after Death many of which are of their own making thereby attributing to them a concurring Power with God in his Omniscience which is a robbing God of his Honour and if Saints after Death be not Omniscient it were in vain to pray to them The other is dispensing with Mens Promises and their own tho they have bound themselves to the Performance of them by an Oath whereby the Popes render themselves Enemies of Mankind and Humane Society for these are founded in Truth and Mens mutual Performance of their Promises That this for several hundreds of Years hath been practised by the Popes upon those Princes and Subjects whom they please to call Hereticks when the Popes are greater is well known to those conversant in their Histories I 'll give but one Instance of the Liberty the Popes take to themselves herein Upon the Death of Pope Marcellus 2d Ann. 1555. the Cardinals in the Conclave before they proceed to the Election of another Pope mutually swore That whosoever should be chosen should call a Synod in six Years and not make more than 4 Cardinals in two Years after the Election and Paul the 4th was chosed See the Council of Trent Anno 1555. Some small time after this Election Paul entred the Conclave to declare his Intentions of a Promotion of Cardinals and the Cardinal of St. James's pressed to him and put him in mind of his Oath before his Election but the Pope thrust the Cardinal back and told him This was to bind the Pope's Authority that it is an Article of Faith that the Pope cannot be bound much less bind himself that to say otherwise was manifest Heresy from which he did absolve those who spake it because he thought they did not speak obstinately but if any should say the same again he would give Order the Inquisition should proceed And this being spoken in the Conclave was in Cathedra and infallible and never since retracted by him or any other Pope These are the Heresies in the Church of Rome for which Men must be slaughtered and burnt and for not believing them against the Evidence of a Man's Senses to the contrary and against the Nature of a Sacrament That the Bread and Wine in the Sacrament after Consecration is Christ's organical Body and Blood This is that true and Mother-Church which the King would meet mid-way if it would let him and his Inherent Birth-right alone This is that Prince who to prosecute these Brawls and to wallow in sensual Pleasures neglected the foreign and domestick Affairs of his Kingdom only Great in making himself little and not beloved at home and contemptible and dishonoured abroad A Prince who squandred away the sacred Patrimony of the Crown amongst Flatterers and Favourites thereby becoming not able to maintain the Honour of the Nation abroad and neglecting the Encrease and Repair of his Navy-Royal not only rendred the Nation in an unsettled and dangerous Peace at home but notwithstanding the Treaty with the Dutch for Licence to fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland suffered
former Propositions Hereupon D'Efsiat to have further Instructions from the Duke entred into a new Treaty with the Merchants and like a French Merchant got Letters to be sent into England that the Peace was concluded with those of the Religion in France and that within 14 Days the War should break out in Italy with a Design upon Genoua a matter of great Importance against the Spaniard Hereupon the Duke procured the King to write a Letter to Pennington dated July 28. to this effect HIS Majesty did thereby charge and command Captain Pennington without delay to put his Highness's former Command in Execution for consigning the Vaunt-Guard into the hands of the Marquiss D'Efsiat for the French with all her Furniture assuring her Officers his Majesty would provide for their Indemnity And to require the other seven Ships in his Majesty's Name to put themselves into the Service of the French King according to the Promise his Majesty had made to him And in case of Backwardness or Refusal commanding him to use all forcible means to compel them even to sinking with a Charge not to fail and this Letter to be his Warrant This Letter was deliver'd to Pennington in the Beginning of August by Captain Wilbraham Hereupon Pennington went back out of the Downs carrying with him the said Letters and certain Instructions in Writing from the Duke to his Secretary Nicholas And about the time Pennington returned to Diep Nicholas threatned the Captains of the Ships and told them it was as much as their Lives were worth if they deliver'd not up their Ships to the French whereupon some of them would have come away and left their Ships and fled into Holland Upon Pennington's coming to Diep he delivered the Van-Guard absolutely into the French Power to be employed as they pleased and acquainted the rest of the Captains with the King's Command that they should likewise put their Ships into the French Power which they all refused to do unless they might have good Security for the Delivery of their Ships or Satisfaction for them Hereupon Pennington went on Shore and spoke with D'Efsiat and upon his Return told the Captains they must rely upon the Security peraffetted in England whereupon the Captains weighed Anchor and prepared to be gone upon which Captain Pennington shot at them and forced them all to come to an Anchor again except the brave Sir Ferdinando Gorge in the Neptune more brave in running away from this abominable Action than charging into the midst of an Enemy When the Captains came a-shore they spoke with Mr. Nicholas who enforced them to come to a new Agreement which you may read in Rushworth fol. 335. and to deliver up their Ships into the French Power but not one of them would take the French Pay in the Expedition but one Gunner who was at his Return kill'd in charging of a Cannon not well spunged by him and the Duke's Secretary Nicholas had a Diamond Ring and a Hat-band set with Diamond-Sparks given him by the French Ambassador for his pains taken in this noble Employment This was the second noble Design of this grand Minister of State Buckingham whilst King James lay unburied we will now proceed to the third wherein you 'll see how well Richlieu requited Buckingham's Service in accommodating the French with a Fleet to subdue the Rochellers Tho the Duke did not personally manage the Treaty of the French Marriage at Paris as he did the Spanish at Madrid for the Reasons aforesaid yet none but he now the whole Treaty was consummate and so firmly performed on the English part must fetch the Queen to the King and when all the mighty Preparations for the Magnificence of this mighty Duke were compleated away he hies to Paris where he arrived the 24th of May and there he staid the full term of seven Days wherein he performed more wonderful Exploits than he had done in so many Months before at Madrid And these we will take from the noble Nani who was out of the Reach of Buckingham's Envy or Flattery of the English Court and as near as I can in his own Words Anno 1625. fol. 221 222. Buckingham being in France to carry back Charles's Bride it seemed that in the free Conversations of that Court he had taken the Boldness to discover something of his Inclination to the Queen whilst the Cardinal was inflamed with the same Passion or rather feigned to be so with Aversion in her who with Vertue equal to the Nobleness of Blood equally despised the Vanity of the one and abhorred the Artifices of the other I think Nani herein was mistaken as will soon appear Whereupon the Factions arising among the Ladies of the Court were not so secret but the King was obliged to make a Noise and banish some but the Contention between the two Favourites was for Power and Richlieu who by reason of the Favour of the King in his own Kingdom prevailed in Authority procured Buckingham many Mortifications and Disgusts The other was no sooner arrived at London with the Bride but to make a shew of Power not inferiour by ill using her thought to revenge himself The Catholick Religion served for a Pretext whilst the Family brought out of France according to Contract of Marriage practised it whence Disgusts brake forth to such a degree that the Minds of the Spouses being alienated and Affections between the Crowns themselves disturbed it looked as if Discord had been the Bride-maid at that Wedding You 'll hear more of this hereafter It 's observable when Humour not Counsel governs Actions how it runs into the contrary Extreams King James in Confidence of being supplied of all his Wants by the Spanish Match in great Displeasure broke up the Parliament in the 18th Year of his Reign and imprisoned many of the Members for presuming to advise him against it and this King expected the Parliament should make good all the Duke's Extravagancies for the Tale which the Duke told in Parliament the 21 Jac. for breaking off the Spanish Match when he kept back the Earl of Bristol as you heard before from making his Defence and proving the contrary of what Buckingham had told And so confidently was the King possessed that that Parliament continued in the same Mood that I have heard one of Sir Coke's Sons say that tho when King Charles came to the Crown Sir Edward would have waited upon him in Testimony of his Duty and Service the King would not admit him into his Presence yet the King sent to know of him whether he might continue this Parliament notwithstanding the King's Death which Sir Edward said could not be for that upon the King's Death the Dissolution followed yet upon the Election not ten of the old surviving Members but were chosen again This Parliament met upon the 18th of June 1625. where the King laid open to them that the Business he called them for was that whereas they had advised him to break off the
has not now one Ship to command One would think the Covenanters had their Game sure enough now those in Scotland had got rid of Montross and full of Money and those in England had got the King in their Power and the King's Army utterly subdued and both Kingdoms united into one solemn League and Covenant so that both may sing their Requiem for many Years But see the Instability of Human Affairs where they are not founded in Truth and Righteousness for the Scots Directory Catechism and Government sorted as ill with the English Genius as Laud's Liturgy Canons and High Commission did with the Scots and the rigid Execution of them as insolent and tyrannical as the Proceedings in the Star-Chamber and High-Commission and these being general equally offended all and tho the Cavalier Party being under the Hatches said little yet the Brawls and Invectives between the Presbyterians and other Parties were as fierce as between the Arminians and Orthodox in Laud's time so that things were not like to continue long at this rate The Parliament having the King now in their Power the Scots gone yet Ireland I mean the English Interest in it in a very deplorable State and being apprehensive of the Temper of the Army whose Principles were Anti-Presbyterian and that they might in some measure ease the Countrey of maintaining the whole Army resolved that 12000 of the Army should be sent over into Ireland to be commanded by Major General Skippon and 6000 Horse 2000 Dragoons and 6000 Foot to be kept up in England and commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax Cromwel was aware of what the Members designed and the Members were as jealous of Cromwel and therefore would not dispense with the Self-denying Ordinance that he should be in the Army however Cromwel had his Agents in it and by the Ministers and other zealous Independants foment their Jealousies that the Parliament designed to disband them without Payment of their Arrears and in this Ferment they chose two out of every Regiment which they called Adjutators to whom they gave Power to hold Councils and judg what was fit to be done for the common Good These Adjutators were called Levellers who cried up Liberty and the Power of the People and assumed to themselves a Power in their Councils above what the Colonels claimed The Proceedings of the Adjutators startled the Parliament and in a great measure the Colonels and Officers of the Army so that unless Cromwel did appear in the Army and by his Authority did restrain the Licence which the Adjutators assumed they sat very loose in their Places Cromwel knew this as well as they and that the Adjutators struck at his Authority as well as the Officers so that when there was a Debate in the House of Commons how to suppress the Adjutators Cromwel professed and called God to witness That he was certain the Souldiers would at the first word of his Command if he were among them throw down their Arms at the Parliament's Feet and solemnly swore that he rather wished himself and his whole Family burnt than that the Army should break out into Sedition And the House had so little Wit as to believe him and so sent him down to appease the Army Hereupon Cromwel order'd a general Muster of the Army upon Hownslow-Heath where the Army was divided and the Levelling Party refused to come under Cromwel's Command whereupon Cromwel sent to the Levellers to send some to treat of their Grievances which they did and when they came Cromwel with an undaunted Boldness pistoll'd three of the most forward of them and seized the rest and then the Levelling Part of the Army submitted The Sectaries of which the Army was composed tho they had the Sword in their Hands yet had no face of Authority to recur to the Presbyterian Members in both Houses being three to one they therefore send Cornet Joyce with a Party of Horse to Holdenby who the 4th of June 1647 which was in less than four Months after the Members had brought the King thither take the King out of the Parliament-Commissioners Power and keep him in the Army And now this poor Prince for so he may be truly called since he who before by his absolute Will and Pleasure would take his Subjects Estates has now no Power to get his own is fallen into the Hands of another sort of Flatterers than in the former yet these intended him no more good than the former viz. only to gratify their Ambition Avarice and Treachery by making use of the King's Name These seem to lament the hard Conditions the Members impose upon him not only in his Liberty but in keeping him from his Children and Friends and allow him both professing they would never lay down Arms until they had put the Scepter into his Hands and procured better Conditions for his Friends In order hereunto they seem to join the King's Interest with theirs and in their Declaration for Redress of Grievances declare for the King and People and that the Members prefix a certain time for their sitting so that a new Parliament may be called and thereby the Nation settled upon sure Foundations Here you may observe a new Face of the Parliament's Affairs quite inverted for the Army were as much in love with their being so as the Parliament was of their sitting And now the Army which was rais'd only to do the Parliament's Journey-work would only allow the Members a certain time for their sitting And because Denzil Hollis Sir Philip Stapleton Sir William Lewis Sir John Clotworthy Sir William Waller Sir John Maynard Major General Massey Mr. Glyn Colonel Walter Long Colonel Edward Harley and Mr. Ant. Nichols were the leading Men in the House of Commons for establishing the Covenant and disbanding the Army the Army charge them with High-Treason the Charge against them was Cant after the Mode of the Times That they obstructed the Business of Ireland to have acted against the Army and against the Laws and Liberties of the Subject and were Obstructers of Justice Here you may see into what a Labyrinth of Distraction and Confusion Men run when they forsake the ways of Justice and Righteousness For when Mr. Hollis and Colonel Long 4 Car. were imprisoned for performing the Trust reposed in them by their Country they had the Testimony of a good Conscience for their Support and the known Laws for their Protection and here they knew what to trust to and so they insisted upon the Laws and by them in due time were delivered from their Imprisonment but now the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation were broken down and they charged at random by the Army they had no Defence to recur to but for Safeguard fled beyond Sea What became of Colonel Long I cannot tell but Mr. Hollis never return'd till after King Charles the Second's Restoration and Sir Philip Stapleton being suspected to have the Plague was shut out of Calais and 't was said dy'd in a Ditch
7. would have justified all his Subjects who fought for him But the Members would not submit to this being to divest themselves of the Power they thought they had in their hands nor the Scots because their Solemn League and Covenant was enacted by no Law in England nor least of all would it please the Army who nourished Designs against the King Members and Scots To such a deplorable state is this poor King and Kingdom fall'n past all humane Relief yet it 's admirable to consider how Divine Justice pursued the Causers of it even in the Series by which they were promoted The King who would not have the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation to be the Rules of his Subjects Obedience but his Prerogative and Absolute Will and Pleasure cannot now by it command one Servant He who before against Law committed so many of his best Subjects close Prisoners whereof several died in Prison for asserting his Subjects Rights without any Benefit of Law is now by his Subjects made close Prisoner against Law and without any Benefit of it He who before dissolved four Parliaments because they in all dutiful Ways would have addressed unto him to be reconciled to his Subjects is now denied under Penalty of High Treason to have any Address made to him by any of his Subjects He who before had so many Forests for his Pleasure yet not contented with what the Law and his Ancestors had left but would break the Bounds of them that his Subjects Inheritance might become a Prey to wild Beasts has not now a Horse Hound or Beast to take Pleasure in But these things will not stay here for it is the unhappy Fate of Princes rarely in their declining state to stay till they fall to the bottom And here we end the Year 1647 and hereafter shall observe the Divine Justice overtaking the other Promoters of the Miseries both in England Scotland and Ireland And if I shall ill perform it yet it may be a Ground-work for another to do it better In this Confusion the Nation began to forget the times under the King's Government now they saw no end of these And tho the Essex-Men who had the Bounds of their Forests broke down and were the first who petition'd the Parliament to redress Grievances and bring Delinquents to condign Punishment yet they are now the first who petition the Commons for a Personal Treaty with the King and then the Surrey-Men but were differently received and some of the Surrey-Men kill'd This was in May 1648. The Scots too offended that they and their Solemn League and Covenant were not taken notice of in the Preliminary Treaty with the King call a Parliament and order the Raising an Army to deliver the King out of Prison The rude Entertainment of the Essex and Surrey-Men was so far from quelling them that they rise in Arms in Essex Kent Suffolk Norfolk Wales and the North and declare for the King and People Sir William Batton too who was Vice-Admiral of the English Fleet goes over to Prince Charles with 17 Men of War and declare for the King having set Rainsborough made Admiral by the Army on Shore This was in May and June and soon after viz. in June the Surrey-Men rise being headed by the Duke of Buckingham and his Brother the Lord Francis with the Earl of Holland But it was decreed that this Prince who for 15 Years had violated the Laws and Constitutions of this Nation and without any Law or just Reason had so often imprisoned his best Subjects for endeavouring to reconcile him to his Subjects should now himself being made a Prisoner against Law find no Relief by Law or Endeavours of his Loyal Subjects For Cromwel sends Horton into Wales against Major-General Laughorn and Colonel Poyer who headed the Welch and had seized Pembrook and Tenby-Castles Fairfax marches into Kent and Rainsborough into the North where the Northern-Men had seized Pontfract-Castle and the Members restore the Earl of Warwick to be Admiral and fit out a Fleet under him to suppress that which joined the Prince of Wales Horton beats the Welch and took Laughorn and Poyer Prisoners and besieges and takes Pembrook and Tenby but whilst he besieged these Hamilton who the Year before was released from being a Prisoner in Pendennis-Castle by the King for holding Correspondence with the Covenanters while he was Commissioner now comes into England to discharge the King from his Imprisonment with a numerous Army of Scots which Sir Marmaduke Langdale Major-General Massey and many English join against these Cromwel after the Surrender of Pembrook and Tenby marches and utterly routs them and takes Hamilton Prisoner Nor were the Fate of the Kentish Essex and Suffolk Men better for Fairfax fights and beats the Kentish Men at Maidstone the Remainder under my Lord Goring whom the King had made Earl of Norwich cross the Thames at Greenwich and join the Essex Men headed by Sir Charles Lucas and march to Colchester where my Lord Capel and many Suffolk Men joined them Fairfax pursues them and after a stubborn Siege of 11 Weeks forces it to surrender being reduced to extream Famine and after caused Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle to be shot to Death Equal to this was the Success of the Surrey-Men for they were routed by Sir Michael Lewesly and my Lord Francis killed near Kingston But the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Holland with those which were escaped fled over Kingston-bridg and were pursued by Colonel Scroop and overtaken at St. Neots where Major-General Dolbier is killed the Earl of Holland taken Prisoner but the Duke of Buckingham escaped But the Northern-Men besieged in Pontfract Castle are not so easily subdued on the contrary a Party of about 30 Horse break through the Besiegers and surprize Rainsborough in his Bed at Doncaster about 12 Miles from Pontfract and kill him because he refused to be carried off a Prisoner but Pure Famine at last forced the Besieged to surrender The revolted Fleet now commanded by the Princes Rupert and Maurice partly cajol'd by the Earl of Warwick their former Admiral and unwilling to forsake their Country Wives and Children in great part return to the Parliament the rest were after pursued by Blake and Popham to Ireland from thence to Portugal from whence they were forced by Blake to Carthagena where Blake run the Princes Ships on shore yet the Princes having then but three Ships left and having no Port in Europe to protect them seek for one in the West-Indies where Prince Maurice is lost in a Hurricane and Prince Rupert after got into France and sold the Remainder of this miserable Fleet being two tatter'd Ships to Mazarine to fit out himself for other Adventures Whilst the Army was thus busied abroad the Members having got possession of the Fleet and the City of London being well affected to them they join with the Scotish Commissioners and rescind the Votes of Non-Addresses to the King
Male Sex who were a sort of Favourites his Father was not acquainted with nor do I find he ever regarded the Memory of his Father but that he industriously endeavour'd to have it believed the Portraiture of his Father's Sufferings a Book of late so much controverted was none of his However his Mother had a great Ascendant over him so that she being a Daughter of France inclin'd him to embrace the French Interest against his own And she living near ten Years after his Restoration so fixed this into a Habit in him that in all his Life after he could never get rid of it notwithstanding all the Provocations of the French King to the contrary But it 's time now to take a View of this King's Actions The Desires of the King to be restor'd were no less than those of the Nation that he should tho upon any Terms for upon the Dissolution of the secluded Members the King left Brussels as you 'll soon see he left Spain who had harboured and relieved him in the time of his Exile to join with France who had expell'd him to join with Oliver and by its Ambassador Bourdeaux at this time was using all its Endeavours to keep him out and came to Breda from whence he sent Letters by Sir John Greenvile after Earl of Bath to Monk Mountague after Earl of Sandwich and the Mayor of London The Presbyterians who thought to have had the same Power they had when the secluded Members dissolved themselves were shrewdly mistaken for the Body of the Commons were Royalists who chose Sir Harbottle Grimston their Speaker and upon the opening of the Convention the Royalist Lords double more than the Presbyterians entred into the Lords House which the Presbyterians complained of to Monk who answer'd Now they were in he had no Power to turn them out so the Royalists were double to the Factions in both Houses of this Convention so as the King need not fear his Restoration Now half England of all sorts except the Rumpers cross the Seas to Breda to make their Bargains with the King before he should come into England the King promises fair to all which it may be was impossible to perform which caused Murmur afterward And the Convention after they had proclaimed him King by inherent Birth-right sent him 50000 l. 10000 l. to the Duke of York and 5000 l. to the Duke of Glocester and the City of London sent the King and his Brothers 12000 l. Upon the 11th of May both Houses sent Commissioners to Breda to invite the King to return and Admiral Mountague with a Royal Fleet to convoy him over who upon the 25th landed him at Dover where Monk met him upon his Knees the King embracing him and kissing him and next day at Canterbury created him Knight of the Garter the Dukes of York and Glocester putting the George about his Neck 'T was rather a Madness than Jollity all sorts of People expressed in the King's Passage from Dover to White-hall The Nation was never so fine in Cloths even the poor Cavaliers will be as fine as the best tho they never live to pay their Tailors nor shall the King take any care of them his Favourites being of another Stamp than those who served his Father Never were such Pageants Triumphal Arches and sumptuous Feasts seen in the City before for which the poor Orphans Money in the Chamber of London must pay the greatest part When the King was restor'd the Nation was in a Martial Posture and the Manners of the People generally more severe and sober than in his Father's and Grand-father's Reigns The first that made Court to the King were the Dutch when he was at Breda to enter into a League with them but the King by the Advice of Sir Edward Hide it 's said wisely answered That this would look as if 't were done by Restraint the King being in their Power besides he was not yet possest of his Kingdoms nor had established his Privy-Council Yet the Dutch were the first who caress'd him with a most rich and splendid Gilded Yatch to prepare him for a Treaty after his Accession to his Crowns Nor were the rest of the Princes of Europe long after the Dutch in congratulating the King's Restoration the French King being one of the first The Spaniard made not so much haste yet hoped for a better Reception than the French and that the King of Spain might have a better Reception he sent the Prince de Ligny his Ambassador who in the Splendor of his Train much outvied the French It 's true the Prince got a Peace with the King for his Master the King of Spain but he got as little good by it as the King of Spain did by that he made with the King's Grand-father King James the First With better Success came the French Ambassador tho I do not find he made any League with the French against the Spaniard as Oliver did nor was there any need of it the French having made a deceitful Peace with the Spaniard at the Pyrenaean Treaty yet you shall soon see both Kings dealt as ill with the King of Spain as if he had been an open Enemy And the more to endear himself with his Brother of France the King rejected the advantagious Treaty of Commerce which Oliver made with France as done by an Usurper and never after at least that I ever heard of made any other instead of it but left his Subjects to be used even as the French King pleased in their Trades to France Henry the Seventh was the first of our English Kings who used Guards and he set up the Yeomen of the Guard which was followed by all the Kings of England since but tho the Convention had paid off and disbanded the English Armies yet the King besides his Band of Pensioners in imitation of the French must have Guards of Horse and Foot and the Parliament gave him Revenue enough to encrease these to what Number he pleased But it had been better for him if he had imitated the French too in preferring Men who were qualified but few of these were to be found there And tho he gave near double the Pay to these yet was he much worse served than if Men of Merit had been there for half the Pay for scarce one of the Officers but bought their Places and this was so common that the Prices were certain so not he who deserved but he which gave most was preferred and when he was in he owed the King no Service having paid for what he had and so his Business was how to improve his Bargain not serve the King And herein too the poor Cavaliers had the worst they not having so much Money to buy as others had I take it for granted that the first League which the now French King made after he came to Majority I mean after twenty one Years of Age was that of the Pyrenaean Treaty the Breach of all the rest
of Indulgence was an unlawful Act and that if they had submitted to the King's Will to have enjoined it to have been read in all Churches and Chappels of their respective Diocesses it had been an unlawful Act which was one Reason they could not comply with the King's Will and that this Declaration was not intended a Favour to the Protestant Dissenters but a Design to ruin the established Religion and Church of England and the enjoining the Bishops to have read was a Design upon their Persons as well as the Declaration was upon the Church and that the King professed himself to be of the Popish Religion which they believed and declared to be Idolatry in the worshipping Images and derogatory to God's Honour by Invocation of Saints whereby they grant to Creatures an Omniscience which is inseparable from God and only to be ascribed to him and that the King had owned the Papal Power which not only claims a Dominion over all Kings and Kingdoms to be at the Pope's disposal and who had declared the Church of England to be Heretical Schismatical and Sacrilegious Persons with whom no Faith is to be kept but had assumed a Power equal or superiour to God himself in dispensing with God's Laws and setting its own above them by sending his Ambassador to the Pope and receiving his Nuncio With what Conscience then could the Bishops approach God's Altars in their highest Acts of Devotion and in the Prayer for the Parliament declare to God that he is their most religious King and in the Litany to pray to God to keep and strengthen the King in the Worship of God or Religion which the King profest And how could they delare to God he is their most gracious Sovereign when he had imprisoned them for not submitting to his unlawful Will and had owned a Power which had declared them Hereticks Schismaticks and Sacrilegious Persons who were by all ways and means to be extirpated from the Face of the Earth Yet the Bishops by their Canonical Obedience were as much obliged hereto and to enjoin the Clergy in their respective Diocesses to offer these Praises to God as they were not to obey the King's Will by enjoining the King's Declaration of Indulgence to be read by all the Clergy in their Diocesses To this Dilemma had the flattering Church and State in King Charles the II's Reign tho intending it against the Presbyterians by their Act of Vniformity brought the Church and State too in the Reign of King James But lest this establishing of Popery should have no longer support than in the King's Life a new Miracle is to be added to the Legend for the next day after the Bishops were committed to the Tower the Queen was brought to Bed of a Prince of Wales so that now they had got a Prince of Wales and the Queen received the Consecrated Clouts and the Pope by his Nuncio is become God-father a Foundation so infallible is laid for exalting the Papal Chair and extirpating the Pestilent Northern Heresy that it's Heresy to doubt it But Man purposes and God disposes and in truth without God's special Assistance not only these Dominions of England Scotland and Ireland but all the Western Parts of Europe were not to be retrieved out of I may say even a desperate State for in England the King had a standing Army of above 20000 Men and the Whigs were but too forward to congratulate the King in his Designs and in humouring him in giving him up their Charters as the Tories in King Charles his Reign in their Abhorrences of the King 's calling a Parliament and as forward then as the Whigs now in surrendring their Charters The Protestant Army in Ireland not only disbanded by Tyrconnel and a Popish Army set up but the Protestants disarmed and Scotland so perfectly subdued that there the King 's Absolute Will without reserve must pass for Law The King of Spain so weak as not able to defend himself much less relieve others the Empire engaged in a War against the Turks in the East so as the Western Parts were in no Condition to repel the Impression the French should make upon it The Kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark remote and at such natural Enmity with one another that if one should side with France or England the other would engage against it and tho Holland were considerable elsewhere at Sea yet their Strength at Sea was inferiour to the English but much more in Conjunction of the French with the English However something must be done for Modesty in this State had been the highest Crime and of all Foreign Princes the Prince of Orange was most immediately concerned not only in the Oppression of the French King upon his Principality of Orange and the Dangers which threatned the Vnited Provinces by the swelling Grandeur of the French but by the King 's Arbitrary Proceedings in England for the Princess was the Presumptive Heir to the Crown of England and Scotland And since it is the Laws and Constitutions which erect these Nations into Kingdoms whereof the King is the Head then if the King destroys the Laws and Constitutions he is neither King nor the Princess of Orange Presumptive Heir to them besides since the King had assumed a Power of Dispensing with the Laws he might as well in Dispensing with the Succession and the Prince was well assured neither those about the King nor the Pope would much favour his or his Lady's Title to the Crown nor was the introducing the Prince of Wales into the World intended to have either the Prince or Princess come to the Crown of England The Prince of Orange thus injured by both these Kings and being denied the Benefit of any Humane Laws for redress has recourse to God and his Sword for relief and opposes the Justice of his Cause against the Potency of his Adversaries Nor does he take up his Sword to vindicate his own Rights only but for restoring the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland to their antient Rights Laws and Privileges invaded by King James and to put a stop to the French King 's boundless Ambition and Tyranny in Murdering Ravaging and Destroying rather than making a War upon all his neighbouring Princes not dispossest and ruined by him A Design so great by so little a Prince as no less than a Divine Power could inspire him to such an Undertaking The Prince these two last years had several Conferences with the Electors of Brandenburg Saxony and the Princes of the House of Lunenburg and other Princes of Germany it 's believed in concerting Measures how to behave themselves against the Designs of these two Kings but the Results were so secret that I find no mention of them But how secret soever these Results were yet the Preparations to put them in Execution could be no Secret especially the Naval Preparations by Sea though the Dutch Ambassador assured the King they were not intended against him yet refused to communicate
A DETECTION OF THE Court and State OF ENGLAND DURING The Four Last REIGNS And the INTER-REGNUM Consisting of Private Memoirs c. With Observations and Reflections AND AN APPENDIX discovering the present State of the Nation Wherein are many SECRETS never before made publick As also a more impartial Account of the CIVIL WARS in England than has yet been given In Two Volumes By ROGER COKE Esquire The Third Edition very much corrected With an Alphabetical Table London Printed for Andr. Bell at the Cross-keys and Bible in Cornhill MDCXCVII AN APOLOGY TO THE READER THAT Man has lived long enough who has out-lived the Love and Piety he owes to his Native Country by my Native Country I do not mean the fertile and pleasant Soil of Britain nor the sweet and temperate Climate of it nor the manifold Varieties which it naturally abounds with for the use and conveniencies of humane Life nor yet the pleasant and excelling Rivers which water it nor the noble Havens and abundance of most open Ports from which it supplies other Parts of this our habitable Globe with the super-abundance of those Commodities wherein it excels and whereof the Inhabitants of those Parts stand in need and where the Waters flow as well as ebb as if they invited the World to trade with us as well as we with them But by my Native Country I mean the Constitutions and Laws of the English Monarchy which have continued for near Nine hundred Years viz. since King Egbert made a Decree that laying aside the Names of Britains and Saxons the whole Nation of that part of Britain under his Dominion should be called England Vnder these Constitutions and Laws have all English Men ever since without any Act of their own Will been born in Subjection and by them have been protected in their Lives Liberties and Estates and to govern by these Constitutions and Laws have been the Claims of our Hereditary Monarchs who have ever since governed England and though the Succession of the Kings of England have been often changed in the Saxon Danish and Norman Race of Kings yet these Laws and Constitutions have been ever since preserved notwithstanding the Attempts of many of the Kings of the Norman and I may say of the Scotish Race too to have subverted them which I believe is more than can be said of any other Monarchy in the World out of Britain So that in our English Government the Constitution and Laws of it are as well the Rules of the King's Dominion as of the Subject's Allegiance to the King and when the Majesty of the King is arrayed in Judgment Justice and Mercy then for his Subjects to resist him is High Treason in this World and Damnation in that to come and I think I may truly say no People in the World are more Honourers of their Kings yet more jealous of preserving their Constitutions and Laws than the English whereby they have preserved their Government now France and Spain whose Government was like ours have lost theirs But when the Kings of England will not make the Laws and Constitutions of England to be their Will but their Will differing from these to be the Laws and Constitutions of it then a divided Dominion will necessarily follow and it will be impossible for the Subject to obey both The King hereby puts himself out of God's Protection whose Vice-Gerent he is in governing by the Laws and misplaces his Majesty which is founded in the Honour Love and Obedience of his Subjects upon Minions and Favorites whose Servant he makes himself and these shall be the first who shall forsake him when any Adversity shall come upon him Our Chronicles give Instances hereof in the Reigns of King John Hen. 3. Edw. 2. and Rich. 2. And the design of this Treatise is to shew the Consequences that have been produced hereby in the Reigns of the Kings of the Scotish Race In this regular Monarchy the Kings of England do not abrogate old Laws or impose new or raise Monies from the Subject above the Revenues of the Crown without Consent in Parliament and hereby the Kings of England reign in the Love and Obedience of their Subjects and are freed from the Imputation of Tyranny in Sanguinary Laws and from Oppression in the Taxes granted in Parliament which no absolute Monarch is and are more absolutely obeyed in both than any absolute Monarch who makes his Will the Law of his Subjects The Division of the Will of a King of England does not only distract the Allegiance of his Subjects so that the divided Will of the King must necessarily prevail over the Laws and Constitutions of it or these prevail against the divided Will for both are incompatible and cannot subsist together But this Distraction gives Life and Motion to the ambitious Humour of Male-contents who are impatient as well of Regal Government as of submitting to the Laws and Constitutions of it And I submit my self to the Judgment of any Impartial Reader if this Divided Will in the Prince did not give that Life and Motion to the Ambition of the Factions in England Scotland and Ireland which not only raised Civil Wars in all of them but brought destruction upon K. Charles the First as well as the Laws and Constitutions of them However I will take Notice of the Loyalty of the English Nation both to K. James the first and K. Charles the first that tho these Kings were foreign born to our Laws and Constitutions yet it patiently submitted to their Vsurpations for above 35 Years whereas when King Charles the first thought he had wholly subdued this Kingdom to his Will and endeavoured to have done the same in Scotland his Native Country the Scots would not endure it so many Weeks as the English had done Years but rose against it first in Tumults after in open Arms and the discontented Parties in England joining with them however disjoined from one another brought on those Civil Wars in all the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland which procur'd Destruction to the King as well as the Kingdoms In writing this History I cannot say with the noble Baptista Nani I have any Command from my Prince or any other to do it neither will I pretend to such great Advantages as he had gratis by a free access to the Records and most secret Counsels of my Country tho I must not say I have been wholly destitute of some for else such an Vndertaking would render me guilty of the highest Arrogance but what those have been I judg not pertinent here to relate they will best appear by the Work it self Yet I can say with Nani that I have not suffered my self to be defiled with Partiality which hath so prevailed in all the Writers of the late and present Times that I have seen but passing by the Privilege of venerable Antiquity which to a face of Truth hath another close adjoining that of Falshood I have chosen to expose my self
them tho at this time not only the Roman Emperours but all Kings and those in Authority were Heathen and Idolaters that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty for this is good and acceptable in the Sight of God our Saviour who will have all Men to be saved and come to the Knowledg of the Truth for there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus If therefore by Divine Precept or Command from God Supplications Prayers Intercessions and Thanksgiving be to be made for Heathen Kings and Magistrates much more are Christians obliged to make all these for Christian Kings and Magistrates All Kingdoms consist in the mutual Office of Commanding and Obeying so that it is as well the Duty of Kings and those who are in Authority to command as it is of the Subjects to obey and no Obedience can be where there is no Command to which it is due for where there is no Law there is no Transgression or Omission Tho these Offices be distinct in their Relations to the Governors and Governed yet the Rules of these Offices are the same and common to both so as that they ought to be foreknown as well to those in Authority to command as those who are subject to them these Rules are the Laws and Constitutions of every Kingdom and Country which unite them into one Incorporeal or Intelligible Body and under these is Mankind in different Places in divers manners maintained in Society and Concord The Offices of Commanding and Obeying are not only restrained to Moral Speech and Actions but extend to Religious for the Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom as well in all publick as private Actions So that all Civil Nations to whom God had not revealed himself however they misplaced their Deities in Osyris Isis Jupiter c. worshipped their Gods in publick manner and had those Rites and Ceremonies which were performed by separate Persons ordained thereto As God governs the World and all Creatures in it so does he govern the Kingdoms in the World and has-set fatal Periods to them as well as to the Life of Man and all other Creatures yet as he has not in vain given Laws to Man to govern his Intentions Speech and Actions by and made him to subsist in the Labour of his Body and Cares of his Mind or both so has he not in vain commanded all Kingdoms and Nations to honour and serve him and to live justly and peaceably with one another and under these only can Kingdoms and Nations hope for Peace and God's Blessing upon them So that it is not the extent of the Territories of Kingdoms and Nations which is the Strength of them but the number of People in them nor is it their well-peopling only but their Unity in Religion and Civil Government for by these small Dominions increase upon others which are in Distraction and Dissension and where Kingdoms or Nations become distracted or divided either in Religion or Civil Government they become how great soever they be so much more enfeebled and tending to outward and intestine Dissolution as these shall be more These Discords in Religion and Justice have their Beginnings oft-times from Kings and those in Authority and often from the Subjects It was Solomon's Wives 1 Kings 11. that turn'd away his Heart from the Religion which God commanded which was the Cause ver 11. that God rent his Kingdom of Israel from him and gave it to his Servant Jeroboam and it was Jeroboam's Idolatry which distracted the Israelites into Factions which in time brought the Babylonish Captivity upon them from which they never returned And as Discords in Religion often arise from Kings and those in Authority which enfeeble the Strength of Kingdoms and Nations so does the Oppression and Injustice of Kings and Magistrates when they are not God's Ministers for their Subjects good make Kings Instruments of their vile Ends to the damage of their Subjects Thus Rehoboam to humour his Favourites bred up with him preferred them before his Subjects and threatned to oppress them more than his Father did whereby he lost the Dominion of ten of the twelve Tribes of Israel not only from himself but from his Father's House for ever and became so poor and feeble that the King of Egypt took Jerusalem and made Spoil of all the wonderful Riches which his Father had left him It was Ahab's Covetousness and Injustice in the Murder of Naboth and seizing his Vineyard that God not only disinherited his Posterity but rooted them out from the Face of the Earth 1 Kings 21. 21. And as this Discord in Religion and Justice may begin with the King and those in Authority so it may from those subject to them It was the People contrary to God's immediate Command forsook the Religion and Worship which was commanded them and set up the Molten Calf to be adored and worshipped Exod. 32. and it was the People which twice conspired to depose Moses from ruling over them Numbers 16. which brought so great a Destruction upon them I do not question but it was the intolerable Tyranny and Oppression of Dioclesian Maximinian Maximin and Maxentius as well as their horrible Persecution of the Christians so livelily described by Lactantius which gave so great a Reputation to the Christians and made Constantine's Passage to the Roman Empire more desirable not only by the Christians but even by the Gentiles Nor was the Roman Empire at any time of a greater extent unless under Trajan than when Constantine became sole Emperor Whereas this Roman Empire in the Body of it was never in so distracted and feeble a State for tho Constantine in regard of the Excellency of his natural Disposition was universally acknowledged Emperor yet above all things endeavouring the Propagation of Christian Faith and Religion and by his own Authority without the Concurrence of the Senate he granted an universal Toleration of Religion to all Sects of Christians as well as Jews and Gentiles and not only discharged the Christian Clergy which by the Constitutions of the Empire when they were not otherwise persecuted were subject to give their Attendance upon defraying the Lustral Sacrifices and watch and ward for Security of the Pagan Temples but made the Christians capable of receiving Legacies and of all publick Imployments so as the Christians were not only in an equal but better Estate than the Gentiles and upon all occasions had the Preference of Constantine's Favour But however this displeased the Gentiles it did not content all sorts of Christian Hereticks and Schismaticks who were so obstinate in their Opinions that all the Endeavours Constantine could use would not reconcile them For besides the Nicene Council he called four more viz. at Gaul Ancyra Neo Caesarea and Laodicea But when the Hereticks and Schismaticks would not submit to these Constantine restrained them from the Privileges he before granted them and left them in the same
Spaniard not considering the Strength and Glory of every Country consists in the well peopling and governing of it and that Desolation is the End of all God's Judgments upon any Country Here note that no Art or Science comes to pass by Fate Inspiration or Chance but by Education Learning Conversation and Experience in Arts and therefore wherever People are thin they are rude ignorant poor heathenish and idle and of little Use to their Country and also where the generality of the People of any Country be not imployed in Labours to supply other Men they become a Burden to the Country to maintain them so that Spain in this state not only lost their antient Virtue and Military Discipline but the Inhabitants being more religious and idle People than in any other part of the World became hereby not only the feeblest of all other Countries but the poorest and notwithstanding the Millions of Treasure which were yearly imported into Spain yet it could not support the Luxury of the Religious and maintain the poor idle Persons in it But Spain could not contain the bloody Superstitious Rage and Tyranny of Philip but he endeavoured to have brought in the Inquisition and Castilian Government into the Netherlands which were Provinces more rich and abounding with People and had more great and populous Towns than any other part of the known World of like Bigness and the Inhabitants of a warlike Constitution these Countries were made free by Philip's Father from their dependance upon France for after Charles had taken Francis the first Prisoner it was one of the Articles for his Enlargement that he should remit the Fealty which those Countries paid him The Fleming for so the Inhabitants of these Provinces were generally called from Flanders the greatest of them did not as the Moors run out of their Country but stoutly stood upon their Liberties and Privileges and rose up in Arms in defence of them and these Wars continuing above 80 Years not only put the Kings of Spain to a greater Expence than the Revenues of those Provinces and the Returns of the Plate Fleets from America could support but after all above seven of these Provinces rent themselves quite from the Dominion of Spain and erected themselves into a Free-state nor till the Duke of Bavaria became their Governour would the Kings of Spain trust the Inhabitants of those which continued in their Subjection with Arms to defend themselves against the French whereby the Government of those Countries became more chargeable to Spain than it could support yet so weak that they could not resist the Insults of the French nor the revolted Provinces and in this State Spain stood when King James became King of England and so continued except the Truâ—e made in 1609 till the Treaty at Munster in 1648. It hath been observed in the Treatises of the Reason of the Decay of the Strength Wealth and Trade of England and also of the equal Danger of the Church and State c. of England how much the State of England resembles that of Spain for if the Excursion of the Spaniards into America so much dispeoples Spain so does the Excursion of the Inhabitants of England into our American Plantations and in repeopling Ireland dispeople England and if the Inquisition in Spain be a Bar to keep out Supplies in Spain for their Expence into America so is the Law against naturalizing of Foreigners here in England It is true no Law or Usage in England forbids Marriage to any for supplying future Generations yet I 'le leave it to the Reader to judg if as the Case stands in England it be not worse than if Marriage were forbidden to the ordinary and meaner sort of People in England for in all the Countries of England more poor Children are born than can be employed in Rural or Country affairs and their poor Parents have not means to bind them Apprentice in Market-Towns and Corporations which exclude all other from Trading with them but those which have been bound Apprentice and served their Apprenticeship nay the 5th Act of Eliz. c. 4. excludes all from being bound Apprentices but the Children of Free-men or such whose Parents had 40 Shill per Ann. and by the Act of Eliz. 31. 7. no Cottages shall be built in Country Villages which shall not have 4 Acres of Ground annexed to them which poor Labourers cannot do so that the poor Children not being permitted to inhabit in Country Villages and excluded out of Market-Towns and Corporations are forced either to fly their Country or to be Tapsters Ostlers and Drawers Alehouse-keepers or Strong-Water-Sellers if they can get a Licence so little was the Interest of the Nation understood heretofore for the Strength and Wealth of every Nation is founded in the Number and Industry of the Natives and therefore to neglect to instruct Youth how to employ themselves or to debar any Man from the Benefit of his honest Imployment is not only unjust but impolitick And as these Corporations in excluding other Men are unjust and impolitick so are they dangerous to the Government otherwise as they are Marks of Faction and Distinction in it and as they make themselves to be the only Free-men in them whereby they exclude the rest of the Nation Now let 's see what a Sort of Men these are which claim these Prerogatives over the rest of the Subjects of the Nation but generally a Sort of Shop-keepers Retailers and whole-sale Men who neither labour nor are otherwise of any Use to the Government but by the Prerogatives of their Freedom set what Price they please upon the Labour of poor Artificers who are the Soul of the Nation and impose what Rates they please to the Buyers of these again of them whereby their Riches arise from the Oppression of the Labourer while they are idle and by imposing upon the Nobility Gentry and others in selling whereas it 's said and I believe it that in Holland a Retailer or if you will a Forestaller is not permitted unless to them who are reputed honest and by Misfortune are fallen into Decay so that as London grows rich by its Freedom of Trade with the Nation so Amsterdam and other Towns in Holland grow rich by foreign Trade The Act 3 Jac. c. 6. is of better Authority than any thing I can say and more livelily describes the manifold Mischiefs and Abuses both to the King and Kingdom which attended our foreign Trades by Companies exclusive to other Subjects of the Nation I 'le only therefore observe this in it which the Act does not That these Companies who manage foreign Trades exclusive to other Men are more tyrannous and injurious to their fellow Subjects than any of their Enemies are as has been shewed in the East-India and African Companies and hereby have no reason to expect any Assistance from the Nation to support them against the Insults of the Dutch and French upon them for why should the Nation assist them
who have rent themselves from the Nation and are more Enemies to it than any other But over and above these unhappy Accidents which so highly contributed to the weakning of the Spanish Monarchy we may add another that proved no less fatal and destructive and that was Queen Elizabeth's destroying their invincible Armada in the Year 1588. and her sacking and Burning of Cales in 1595. wherein was destroyed such an incredible Mass of Wealth that the Spaniards never after were formidable either by Sea or Land and this was so much the more by how much Philip the 3d proved to be a weak effeminate Prince wholly governed by Favourites Having taken a View of England and Spain and compared the State of them we 'll see how they stand in reference to France which lies between them and so becomes a neighbouring Nation to them both France tho it be not threefold greater than England yet it is manifoldly more peopled in that Proportion and more abounding with great rich and populous Towns and tho it be not an Island yet it has the British Sea on the North the Atlantick Ocean on the West and the Mediterranean Sea on the South so that in its Situation it 's better placed for Trade than if it had been an Island having Spain the Spanish Netherlands Lorain Germany Savoy and Italy to trade to by Land Henry the 4th of France after he had subdued the Popish League and made a Peace with the Spaniard at Vervins in 1597 secured the Murmurs of the Reformed by the famous Edict of Nants and being a Prince not less prudent in Counsel than victorious in War as well to divert the French from their mutinous and quarrelling Humour as to increase the Riches of France gave all imaginable Incouragement to the Inhabitants in Manufactures the Principles whereof abound more in France than any other Country except England yet added to them the breeding Silk-worms and by the lively Ingenuity of the French improved Silk-Manufactures above any other Country Here take notice of the Benefit which arises to any Nation by the Imployment of People in Manufactures above other Countries where the Inhabitants are not employed For suppose a Million of People in France were thus employed and those yearly earned 20 l. per Ann. the Employment of these People are twenty Millions Benefit yearly to France and this Money generally distributed among the Workmen and whatever of these Manufactures are vended in foreign Trade these will be so much an enriching to it whereas if these had not been employed they would have been at least five Millions a Year burden to it and France would have been in so much a worse State to have supported them whereas if the People be not employed as in Spain the Distribution of the Treasure out of the Indies is not only unequally distributed but the Charge of maintaining the Religious and idle Persons most miserable and intolerable Let 's now see the State of England by the 5th Act of Eliz. c. 4. excluding the English Natives not Free-men from working in Market-Towns and Corporations we 'll take a very modest Estimate herein and suppose but 10000 yearly scarce one in a Parish be excluded so that hereby the Nation loses their Imployment this at 20 l. per Ann. will be 200000 pounds a Year loss to the Nation besides the Charge of maintaining them if they do not fly out of the Kingdom for want of Subsistence in it and I pray what does the wholesale and Retail Trades of Shop-keepers in them contribute to the Support of this or of what Benefit are they otherwise to the Nation Henry the 4th having thus imployed the Natives of France and having few Plantations to exhaust it tho France drove no foreign Trade by Sea yet by permitting the English Dutch Swedes Danes and Hamburghers to trade into France by Sea and the Germans by Land it 's scarce credible after the long Civil Wars in France in the Space of but 13 Years for it was no longer between the Peace at Vervins in 1597 and his Death what incredible Treasure he amassed if so great an Author as Messeray did not affirm it whereupon he nourished a Design of new modelling all the Western Parts of Christendom except Britain and Ireland which he knew would not hinder him in it and Messeray did not doubt but he had means enough to have accomplish'd it if he had lived but when his Foot was in the Stirrup to have accomplished this Ravillac put a full Stop to his Career Yet France had in it no Mines of Gold or Silver no more than England hath and the Treasure which England acquires is by the Vent of our Woollen Manufactures and our Lead and Tin and so much more as the Natives are less employed in these and these are less in foreign Trade by restraining the Vent to English Men and more to English Companies so much less Treasure will the Nation acquire and the Natives be less employed As France thus abounds in People more than either England or Spain whereby they acquire such vast Wealth above them by permitting Foreigners to trade with them so are the French Nobility which include the Gentry of a warlike and aspiring Temper and if this had not usually excited them into intestine Broils and Tumults as Secretary Trevor observes all their Neighbour Nations could not have set bounds to their ambitious Humour But the Prosperity of France no ways daunted Queen Elizabeth so that Henry the 4th designing to build some great Men of War at Brest she forbid the King 's making any further Progress in it or she would fire all the Ships in his Harbours whereupon this great Hero desisted nor would she permit the Dutch to build any great Ships but she would have an account of them and so having the Brill Ramakins and Flushing the Keys of the Rivers of the Maes and Scheld in her Hands she died with an uncontrouled Dominion of the Seas and Arbitress of Christendom and in this State King James took Possession of the Crown of England with all its Dependences to which he added that of Scotland whose Reign is now ripe to be exposed A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England During the Reign of King JAMES I. c. BOOK I. CHAP. I. A Better View may appear of this Reign if we look back to the Beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and compare it with that of this King's Reign when he came to join the Crowns of England and Ireland to that of Scotland and thereby became the greatest Monarch that governed England since King John except it was in the Reign of Henry the Fifth and some time of the Reign of Henry the Sixth when Normandy and so great a part of France was subdued to the Dominion of the Crown of England This Kingdom was never in so low an Ebb of Reputation and so dangerous a State both at home and abroad as when Queen Elizabeth came to
the Crown her Father Brother and Sister in debt and the Navy Royal neglected and out of Repair yet the Revenues of the Crown besides the Court of Wards and the Dutchy of Lancaster I say the Profits of the Kingdom were but 188179 l. 4 s. See Sir Robert Cotton ' s Means of the Kings of England p. 3. the Kingdom imbroiled in intestine Heats in Religion and Philip the second of Spain aspiring to an unlimited Dominion in and out of Europe Calais notwithstanding the united Interest of England with Spain but some Months before lost to the French and Francis the Dauphin of France in right of his Wife Mary Queen of Scotland laying claim to the Crown of England Whereas when King James came to be King of England the Kingdom was in intire Peace within and in a Martial State and full of Honour and Reputation abroad the Royal Navy not only Superior to any other in the World in Strength but in good Repair few Debts left charged upon the Crown yet if the Exchequer were not replenished with Money the King received Three entire Subsidies and six fifteens of the 4 Subsidies and eight Fifteens granted to the Queen for suppressing the Irish Rebellion and carrying on the War against Spain some Months before though both the Rebellion and War with Spain ceased that Year he became King the Customs for supporting the Navy more than fivefold they were in the Beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and above two Millions and four hundred Thousand Pounds due from the States of Holland or the Vnited Netherlands but how the States became discharged of it it 's fit to premise it there and how it became due to Queen Elizabeth and so to the Crown of England Queen Elizabeth though she refused to accept of the Sovereignty of the Vnited Provinces when she took them into Protection after the Expulsion of the Duke of Anjou and the Death of the Prince of Orange yet she entred into a Treaty with the States Anno 1585. wherein it was agreed That the Dutch should repay her all the Monies which she should expend for their Preservation with Interest at 10 per Cent. when the War was ended with Spain and that two English whom the Queen should name should be admitted into their Council of State and for Security whereof the Dutch should deliver up to her Flushing Rammekins and the Brill which were the Keys of their Country Upon this Agreement the Queen for the Dutch's further Encouragement gave them Licence to fish upon the Coast of England which she denied them when they continued in their subjection to King Philip and removed the Staple of the English Woollen Manufactures from Antwerp in the Power of the King of Spain to Delf in the Dutch Power and it is scarce credible how in so short a time after viz. scarce thirteen Years the Dutch entertaining all sorts of People who were persecuted upon the Account of not submitting to the Papal Usurpations called Religion swelled their Trade and Navigation not only in Europe but in the East and West-Indies The Queen considering this Encrease of the Dutch Trade and Navigation was as much to the lessening of the English and being provoked by the Ingratitude of the Lovestein Faction whereof one Olden Barnevelt was the Head a Fellow as factious and turbulent as ungrateful by whose Counsel another Assembly was erected at Amsterdam called The Convention of the States General wherein they managed all the secret and important Affairs of their State and out of which they excluded the English The Queen I say highly incensed at the Ingratitude of this Faction which now governed all in Holland and yet continuing to support them at the Charge of 120000 l. per Ann. as Camden observes in his Eliz. Reg. Ann. 1598 signified to the States her Intention of making Peace with the King of Spain which if she did it would be impossible for them to continue their War with Spain and recover their Cautionary-Towns from the Queen Hereupon the States sent my Lord Warmond as they called him as their humble Supplicant to the Queen and in the lowest Posture of Humility acknowledged themselves obliged to her for infinite Benefits and that as her Majesty excelled the Glory of her Ancestors in Power so she excelled them in Acts of Piety and Mercy but pleaded Poverty for not repayment of the Money the Queen had expended for their Preservation they might have said their Exaltation The Queen in Answer to them said she had been often deceived by their deceitful Supplications and ungrateful Actions and Pretence of Poverty when their Power and Riches confuted them and that she hoped God would not suffer her to be a Pattern to other Princes to help such a People who bear no Reverence to Superiors nor take care for the Advantage Reputation or Safety of any but themselves The Dutch were confounded at the Queen's Answer submitted themselves to such Terms as the Queen should lay upon them and the Queen wisely considering if she should cast them off Henry the 4th of France who the last Year viz. 1597 had concluded a Peace with Spain at Vervins by the Interposition of the Pope's Nuncio and sought to be Protector of the States whereby the Queen would not only be in danger to lose their Dependance but the Monies she had expended in their Support they the Queen and States came to this Agreeement 1. That upon an Account stated there was eight Millions of Crowns or two Millions Sterling due to the Queen for which they were to pay Ten per Cent. so long as the War lasted 2. That during the War they should pay the Queen one hundred thousand Pounds yearly and the Remainder when Peace with Spain was concluded and then to have their Cautionary Towns surrendred back to them 3. That till this Agreement was performed the States were to pay Fifteen hundred English in Garison in them We leave this Agreement here till we hear more of it hereafter There were but thirteen Months between this King's Birth and Reign his Mother being deposed to make Room for his coming to be King and by this Title he reigned twenty Years in his Mother's Life and during that time he never made use of her Name in the Coin of Scotland nor in any Proclamation or Law and after her Death continued his Reign by this Title to his dying Day which was inconsistent with the Flatteries which his Favourites buz'd continually in his Ears That he was King by inherent Birth-right and that he held his Crown from God alone and so pleasing was this Doctrine to him that above all other things he set himself upon it not only in magnifying himself herein in his Speeches in Parliament but in his Writings against Bellarmine and Peron against the Pope's deposing Kings In his Infancy and Minority the Regents and Nobility made Havock of the Crown and Church Revenues so as when he came to Age he had but little left
Peace between England and Spain whereto both Kings were equally disposed more smooth and easy Yet Philip the 3d before he would openly seek it by an Ambassador from the Arch-Duke Albert Governor of Flanders felt the Pulse of the Court how it stood affected to a Peace with Spain which beat high towards it so as soon after it followed which as it was most beneficial to the English Nation so it had been to Spain if it had been as sincerely observed by King James as it was by Philip. Henry the 4th of France tho spited as 't was said that King James should not only come so peaceably but with universal Acclamations to the Crown of England whereas he laboured with such difficulty above seven Years to attain that of France and at last was forced to a dishonourable Submission to the Pope Clement VIII Yet being a Prince of great Prudence in Peace as well as fortunate and victorious in War sent Monsieur de Rosny Great Treasurer of France to renew the Treaty of Peace and Commerce formerly made between Queen Elizabeth and him which was without any difficulty done The King being thus at Peace Abroad and at Home not only in England but in Ireland as if the Wars expired there with Queen Elizabeth he not only pardoned the Earl of Tyrone the Head of that Rebellion but by Proclamation declar'd he was restor'd to the King's Favour and to be honourably used of all Men. But how pleasing soever the King 's coming to the Crown of England was to the English Nation it seems it was not so or something else to God for an horrible Plague greater than any since that in the Reign of Edward the 3d accompanied his coming in There were two Factions in England when the King came to the Crown distinguished by the Names of Puritans and Papists both dissenting from the Religion established in the Church of England the King hated those and wrote against these chiefly for their Doctrine of the Pope's Power of deposing Kings These received the King after different manners the Puritans had a huge Expectation of his Favour because he was bred up in their Doctrine and Discipline but were much deceived in it for he rarely mentioned them but with Detestation which he did not those of the Popish Religion However in January they obtained a Conference with the Church-Party at Hampton-Court where the King himself would be Moderator whilst most of the Nobility and Bishops were Spectators You need not doubt which Party prevail'd the Nobility and Bishops not only giving the King the Victory with the Epithets of The Solomon of the Age The most Learned but of being inspired But what Expectation soever the Puritans had of the King 's coming to the Crown the Papists had another Lesson taught them for tho the Popish Conspiracy against the Person of Queen Elizabeth ceased upon the Death of the Queen of Scots yet did not the Pope's Designs upon the Kingdom of England do so but Clement VIII in the Year 1600 sent Orders to his Emissaries in England that the Catholicks should admit none to succeed the Queen but one obedient to the Holy See and in Conformity hereunto Watson and Clark two Romish Priests joined in Cobhant's Conspiracy to have kept the King from coming to the Crown and were executed for it as Traitors but the Effects of the Pope's Instructions did not die with Clark and Watson as you 'll soon hear and upon the 24th of October 1603 a Proclamation was made for Quietness to be observed in Matters of Religion Notwithstanding the Rage of the Pestilence the first nine Months after the King 's coming to London all were Halcion-days Proclamations Pageants Feastings Creation of Lords and Knights Reception of Foreign Ambassadors erecting a Master of the Ceremonies after the Mode of France c. and in this time the Dignified Clergy and those who courted to be so with the Favourites at Court with whom the Civilians chimed in had so rooted their Doctrine of the King 's Absolute Power and that notwithstanding his Succession to the Crown of Scotland in the Life of his Mother he succeeded by inherent Birth-right and that Primogeniture is the Gift of God by the Law of Nature and that in his Person was reconciled all the Titles of our Saxon Danish and Norman Race of Kings that being propensly disposed to receive the Impressions they took such deep root in him that in all his Life after he would never with Patience hear any thing to the contrary however it was not long before he heard of it as you shall hear But we will stay a little and see how inconsistently these Flatterers jumbled an Absolute and Hereditary Monarchy together and how this King reconciled the Titles of the Saxon Danish and Norman Titles to the Crown For no Hereditary Monarch that ever reigned in this World but derived his Title from an Ancestor who had no Hereditary Right nor did ever any Hereditary King succeed but to govern by Laws and Constitutions which were established before he became King So however Absolute may be applicable to Conquerors yet it is inconsistent with Hereditary Kings especially in a Regular Monarchy as that of England is and those of old as of the Medes and Persians where the Will of the King alone could not alter the Laws and Constitutions of them And now let us see how King James came to claim his Crown by inherent Birth-right and how all the Saxon Danish and Norman Titles came to be reconciled in his Person It 's evident to me that tho only God can make an Heir and that tho Primogeniture be natural yet God in disposing Kingdoms is not obliged to it tho Grotius lib. 1. Tit. 11. de Jure Belli Pacis is pleased to say the Law of Nature is immutable by God himself but reserves unto himself the Prerogative of disposing Kingdoms without restraining the Succession of the King to Primogeniture or Hereditary Succession Here let us see in Epitome which you may read at large in Sir William Jones his History of the Succession of the Kings of England before and after the Conquest and the History of the Succession of the Crown of England from King Egbert to Henry the 8th printed in the Year 1690 where you will see that tho the Kings of England both before and after the Conquest succeeded in their Royal Families yet many more were not in the right Line than in it and tho before Caesar invaded Britain there was no other Government but Kingly yet Britain was divided into so many petty Kingdoms that tho it had not been barbarous it would have been as difficult to have wrote the History of the Succession of their Kings as to have wrote the History of the Succession of the Kings immediately after the Flood After the Roman Empire oppressed by its own Weight by the Division into Eastern and Western its intestine Jars and the over-flowing of barbarous Nations was so torn
and shaken that the Legions which governed Britain were recalled by Ecius the Roman General under Honorius and Valentinian the 3d to make Head against Attila the poor Britains disarmed and only made use of to serve their imperious Masters and so utterly destitute of Martial Discipline easily became a Prey to the Picts and Scots not subject to the Romans who treated them more intolerably and tyrannically than the Romans had done For Redress whereof the Britains sought Succours from the English Saxons who came to their Relief in the Year 409 as Bede says lib. 1. cap. 15. of the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation but these Saxons used the poor Britains worst of all and expelled the whole Race of them out of that part of the Island now called England Tho the Saxons had their Wills of the Britains they were before the Heptarchy at continual Variance among themselves and so after that it is almost as unaccountable to give a History of the Succession of their Kings as it was of the Britains before Julius Caesar Egbert about the Year 800 viz. 391 Years after the Saxon Invasion was called the first of the Saxon Monarchs tho the Kingdom of the Mercians was not united to his Monarchy who by Merit as well as Birth obtained the Dignity and succeeded Brithric Ethelwolph succeeded Egbert in the Kingdom of Westsax but not to those of Kent Sussex and Eastsax or Essex these being given by Egbert to Egbert's younger Son Ethelwolph by his Will divided his Kingdoms between his two eldest Sons Ethelbald and Ethelbert to Ethelbald he gave the Kingdom of the West Saxons to Ethelbert the Kingdom of Kent and the Eastern Southern and middle Angles But there were two other Sons Ethelred and Alfred Ethelbert after the Death of Ethelbald succeeded him in the Kingdom of the West Saxons and after the Death of Ethelbert Ethelred succeeded in the whole viz. of the West Saxons and of the Kingdoms of Kent the Eastern Southern and Middle Angles Alfred after the Death of Ethelred by universal Applause the famous the youngest Son of Ethelwolph succeeded Edward Son of Alfred was chosen by the Nobles on Whit-sunday in 901. Athelstan after the Death of Alfred tho a Bastard was elected by the Nobles of whom 't was said there was nothing ignoble in him But Athelstan dying without Issue his younger Brother Edmund succeeded him without any Opposition and tho he left two Sons Edwy and Edgar yet Edmund's younger Brother succeeded him Edwy after Edred's Death Edred's elder Brother 's elder Son succeeded but being a vicious Prince the Mercians and Northumbrians chose Edgar his younger Brother King in the Life of Edwy and Edgar after the Death of Edwy became King of the whole Nation Edward Son of Edgar after his Death was chosen by the Bishops and Nobles by the Command of his Father Edgar but he being murdered by his Step-mother Edward's younger Brother Ethelred succeeded And after his Death the Saxon Monarchy being rent in pieces by the Danes and Saxons Edmund Ironside Son of Etheldred by an obscure mean Woman tho he had two half-legitimate younger Brothers Edward and Alfred born of Etheldred's Wife was chosen King by one part of the Nobility and Canutus the Dane by another Thus the whole legitimate Race of the Saxon Kings were excluded one part chusing Ironside a Bastard the other Canutus a Stranger to the Saxon Royal Race Edmund Ironside being treacherously murdered by his Brother-in-law Edric Edmund leaving two Sons Edwy and Edward Canutus the Dane became sole Monarch of the Saxon Monarchy So that this was the beginning of the Danish Dynasty which lasted not long Harold Son of Canutus succeeded him and Hardicanute his Brother succeeded Harold neither the Issue of Etheldred Edward or Alfred nor Edwy or Edward the Sons of Edmund Ironside so much as taken notice of with this Hardicanute ended the Danish Rule with the Slaughter and Expulsion of the Danes Edward Son of Etheldred called the Confessor Uncle to Edwy and Edward Sons of Edmund Ironside after Hardicanute was advanced to the Royal Dignity principally by means of Earl Goodwin a powerful and imperious Lord upon the account of Edward's marrying the Earl's Daughter so little was the Hereditary Succession of the Saxon Kings regarded And that Edward's Reign might be more secure this Earl Goodwin caused the Eyes of Alfred the King's Brother to be put out and some say took away his Life Edward the Confessor growing old having no Issue and the Family of the wicked Earl Goodwin growing not only insolent but intolerable to him declared Edward the Son of Edmund Ironside his Cousin his Heir And to the end he might better succeed the King sent to the King of Hungary to return his Nephew Edward whom the King of Hungary had married to his Niece Agatha Daughter to Henry Emperor of Germany which the King of Hungary did and upon Edward's return the Confessor declared that he or his Sons should succeed in his Hereditary Kingdom of England But the Confessor did not long hold in this Mind for his Nephew Edward soon after dying and leaving a Son Edgar unfit for Government either as to his Body or Courage he decreed that his Kinsman William Duke of Normandy tho a Bastard should succeed him in the Kingdom of England which came to pass and so a new Race of Kings have succeeded in England of the Norman Race whose original Title was from a Grant of a King of the Saxon Race and so the beginning creates little Title to an Hereditary Succession in the Norman Race And now we 'll see how an Hereditary Succession was observed in it yet as in the Saxon so in the Norman Kings none succeeded who was not of the Royal Blood as all the Kings of Judah were of the Family or Tribe of Judah William Rufus the second Son of the Conqueror succeeded his elder Brother Robert then alive So did Henry the First his elder Brother Robert living Stephen the Son of the Conqueror's Sister succeeded Henry tho Henry left a Daughter Maud or Matilda Henry the Second succeeded Henry's Mother yet living so his Succession was not Hereditary for Haeres non est viventis Richard the First succeeded Henry the Second John succeeded Richard Arthur the Son of John's elder Brother then alive Henry the Third succeeded Arthur's Sister then alive who was Heir before him So that of seven Successions after the Conqueror but one Richard the First succeeded as Heir to his Father or the Conqueror Admit Edward the First succeeded as Heir to Henry the 3d and Edward the 2d as Heir to Edward the First yet Edward the 3d did not succeed as Heir to Edward the 2d he being then alive Admit Richard the 2d was Heir to Edward the Black Prince eldest Son to Edward the 3d yet neither Henry the 4th 5th or 6th were Heirs from Edward the 3d but the Descendants of Phillippa the Daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence John of
Gaunt's elder Brother So that of the Succession of 14 Kings after the Conqueror there were but four viz. Richard the First Edward the First and Second and Richard the Second which succeeded as Heirs to the Conqueror or his Heirs Admit Edward the 4th succeeded right as Heir to Phillippa Daughter of the Duke of Clarence yet if it be true which Richard the 3d says and which is confirmed by the Authority of the Act of Parliament 1 Rich. 3. that Edward was contracted to Eleanor Boteler before he married Elizabeth then did not Edward the 5th if it may be called a Succession succeed right nor could Henry the 7th claim any Right to the Crown of England in Right of his Wife Elizabeth the eldest Daughter of Edward the Fourth But whether it be true or not that Edward was contracted to Eleanor Boteler before his Marriage yet Richard the 3d succeeded not as Heir Edward Earl of Warwick the Son of George Duke of Richard's elder Brother being then alive Of all the Kings of England that succeeded the Conqueror Henry the 7th had the least Pretension to any Title to the Crown for tho he were supposed to have been descended from John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster yet it was the Duke's Paramour Katherine Swinford whose Issue by the Duke tho by Act of Parliament they were legitimated to all other purposes yet were not capacitated to succeed to the Crown of England but if the Title of Lancaster had been preferable to that of York and Henry had been of the legitimate Line yet could not he have succeeded as Heir his Mother under whom he claimed being then alive and out-lived her Son Nor did the King's Marriage with Elizabeth eldest Daughter of Edward the 4th improve his Title to his Succession the Marriage being subsequent to it and before it the Crown by Act of Parliament was entailed upon Henry the 7th and the Heirs of his Body and after Marriage he never used her Name in calling any Parliament or in any Proclamation or the Coin or passing any Act of Parliament and as he reigned without her before Marriage so he did after her Death for he out-lived her tho she left two Sons Arthur and Henry after Henry the Eighth and two Daughters Elizabeth Queen of Scotland and Mary after Queen of France It seems to me that Ferdinand King of Castile and Arragon had the same Opinion which Richard the 3d and the Parliament had that the Issue of Edward the 4th were not legitimate for he would not assent to the Marriage of his Daughter Katherine with Arthur Prince of Wales so long as the Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence lived and there a fine Trick was found out to put the poor Prince to Death for endeavouring to make his Escape out of the Tower with Perkin Warbeck and in him ended the Masculine Line of the Race of the Plantagenets who had governed the English Nation after Stephen to Henry the 7th above 340 Years So that from the Conqueror to Henry the 8th scarce one of four of the Kings of England succeeded in a right Line as Heirs to the Conqueror As the Saxon Dynasty ended in Edward the Confessor and the Norman began in the Conqueror so it seems to me that the Norman ended in Richard the 3d and another of the British was erected in Henry the 7th who was the Son of Edmund of Hadham the Son of Owen Tudor by Katherine Daughter of Charles the 6th of France Wife of Henry the 5th of England and Mother of Henry the 6th So that Henry the 7th's Title to the Crown of France was better than that to the Crown of England for that of England was from a Maternal Ancestor Margaret Countess of Richmond no otherwise related to the Crown of England than descended from John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford his Paramour Tho I do not find that Henry the 7th or any of his Descendants ever assumed the Sirname of Tudor So that tho the Crown of England neither in the Saxon nor Norman Race of Kings was always Hereditary so neither was the Succession to the Crown elective For in elective Kingdoms after the Death of one King there is an Establishment of the manner of Elections and in the mean time there are Custodes Regni appointed whose Power ceases upon the Election of a King but neither of these were ever heard of in either of the Saxon or Norman Race and tho sometimes it 's said the Kings were chosen as of Edward the Son of Alfred by the Nobles and so of Athelstan and so in the Norman Race Henry the First was said to be chosen for that he promised to abrogate all the Oppressions and Errors brought into the Government by his Father and Brother tho his eldest Brother Robert was then alive and restore the good Laws of Edward the Confessor and Stephen was chosen by the Clergy and Londoners yet this was rather a form of Speaking in those days than any formal Election and the manner differed according to the different Humours of the Times Nor do we read that ever the Parliament meddled with the Succession of the Crown before Henry the Fourth for tho the first Parliament of Edward the Third renounced their Allegiance to Edward the Second and are said to have chosen Edward the Third yet they went no further and such an Election was no more than a Declaration of their Submission as when the Council declared James the Second King But whether the Crown of England was Hereditary in the Saxon and Norman Race it 's evident it was not so in this British Race for as it began in Henry the Seventh so it was entailed by Act of Parment upon him and Heirs of his Body before his Marriage with Elizabeth the eldest Daughter of Edward the Fourth So the inheritable Right of Edward's Issue and all the Norman Race was barred by this Act. Before we proceed in the Succession of the British Race we 'll take a view of the Genealogy of it John of Gaunt by Katherine Swinford had Issue John created Earl of Somerset who had Issue John created Duke of Somerset who had Issue Margaret After the Death of Henry the Fifth Katherine his Wife Sister of Charles the Sixth of France married Owen Tudor a Welch Gentleman who had Issue Edmund of Hadham created Earl of Richmond who married Margaret Daughter and Heir of John Duke of Somerset who had Issue Henry the Seventh Henry the Eighth succeeded his Father without any Contradiction for the Wars between the houses of York and Lancaster had destroyed the whole legitimate Lancastrian Line and Richard the Third after the Murder of his Brother Clarence and Death of Edward the Fourth had murdered his two Nephews Edward and Richard Sons of Edward the Fourth and himself was killed in the Fight in Bosworth-fields and after that Henry the Seventh had put Edward Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence to Death none of all
the Royal Line of the Plantagenets were left to be Competitors with him yet his Succession could not be Hereditary for his Grand-mother under whom his Father claim'd out-lived her Son and so Henry the Eighth could not claim from her Yet this is observable That as his Father Henry the Seventh entailed the Succession of the Crown of England upon the Heirs of his Body so by Act of Parliament 28 Hen. 8. Henry the Eighth might dispose of the Succession of the Crown by his Will for want of Issue of his Body so little was the inheritable Succession of the Crown of England regarded by these Kings of the British Race It seems the Council in Edward the Sixth's Reign had as little an Opinion of the Hereditary Succession of the Crown as the Parliament had in the Reign of Henry the Eighth for by the Advice of Edward's Council he by his Will disposed of the Succession to his Cousen the Lady Jane Gray Grand-daughter to Edward's Aunt Mary Queen of France contrary to the Will of his Father Henry the Eighth which ordained his Daughter Mary to succeed Edward in case he died without Issue I say that by the Law of Inheritance in England Queen Mary could not inherit the Crown from Edward she being but of half-Blood to him and by the same Reason Queen Elizabeth could not inherit to Queen Mary but Mary the Daughter of James the fifth of Scotland being of the whole Blood to Edward and descended from the elder Daughter of Henry the Seventh could For the Opinion of the Judges after King James came in that the Succession of the Crown of England differs from that of the Inheritance of Subjects in regard of an Alien born and those of half Blood may inherit the Crown it 's Gratis dictum and said to please the King for there never was any such usage in England nor any such Act of Parliament to warrant their Opinion But admit the Crown of England were inheritable from Henry the Seventh and Half-Blood no Bar to the Succession yet Mary and Elizabeth could not both succeed for one of them was Illegitimate Elizabeth being born in the Life of Katherine Queen Mary's Mother If the Parliament in the Reign of Henry the 8th had little or no Opinion of the Inheritable Succession of the Crown of England and therefore impowered the King to dispose of it by Will The Parliament in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth had less and therefore often petitioned her and that with Importunity to declare her Successor without Consent in Parliament and declared it 13 Eliz. Cap. 1. to be High Treason to affirm that the Crown of England might not be disposed of by Act of Parliament in her Life and a Premunire after her Death Here I make these Remarks upon the Race of the Plantagenets and the Succession of the British Line that as the Plantagenets inherited the Name from Jeffery Duke of Anjou who was never King of England so Henry the 7th if he had any Title derived it from John of Gaunt by an Illegitimate Succession who never was King of England From England we step into Scotland and see how the Hereditary Succession was observed there after the Reign of Alexander the 3d in whom the direct Line of the Race of their Kings failed which was so near as I can compute about the Year 1278 and leave the Succession of their 93 Kings before to the Scrutiny of the Scotish Antiquaries and Heraulds The Scots if they be not clearer in the Genealogy of their 93 Kings before Alexander the 3d than my Author is of retrieving it after the Death of Margaret Daughter of Alexander the 3d do make but a blind Genealogy of their 93 Kings before however we 'll take it as we find it David Brother of William King of Scotland but whether William was Father Brother or Uncle to Alexander the 2d my Author says not and Earl of Huntingdon had Issue by Maud Daughter to the Earl of Chester three Daughters Margaret married to Allen of Galloway the second not named was married to Robert Bruce the third to Henry Hastings Earl of Huntingdon Allen of Galloway had a Grand-daughter named Dornagil married to John Baliol. Bruce was Great Grand-child to the second Daughter of David Earl of Huntingdon but being a Male pretended he was to be King before Dornagil a Female though a Degree nearer and descended from the elder Sister Henry Earl of Huntingdon made no claim So the Right between Baliol and Bruce was referred to the Determination of Edward the first King of England who adjudged the Right to be in Baliol and soon after Baliol by Dornagil had a Son named Edward so that Bruce's Pretension of Title as being Son vanished by the Birth of Edward Baliol being descended from the eldest Sister But The Scots or a prevailing Party not liking Baliol's Reign in the Year 1306 crowned Robert Bruce King In the Year 1310 Bruce by Acts of Parliament had the Crown of Scotland entailed upon him and his Heir-male and for want of Issue to his Brother Edward This Robert had Issue a Son named David and a Daughter married to Robert Stuart and by Act of Parliament settled the Crown upon his Son David and for want of Issue by him to Robert Stuart his Grand-child by his Daughter So here is the Succession of the Crown of Scotland twice differently settled by Parliament to the disinheriting of Edward Baliol. But in the Year 1332 Edward Baliol the right Heir was received and crowned King of Scotland After that David Bruce recovered the Kingdom of Scotland and afterwards was taken Prisoner by the Queen of England in the Absence of her Husband Edward the 3d in France and being released he died Ann. 1370. Robert Stuart Grand-son of Robert Bruce by his Daughter succeeded David who married Euphemia Daughter of the Earl of Ross but before he was King had Issue by Elizabeth Moor his Concubine two Sons John and Robert and by the Queen he had Issue Walter Earl of Athol and David Earl of Strathern yet by Act of Parliament the King disinherited his Legitimate Issue and settled the Crown upon his Issue by Elizabeth Moor from which Issue all the Kings of Scotland have since descended This was the most unaccountable Accident if we consider the Cause and Consequence I think that is recorded in any History That a King and Parliament by the Importunity of a Slut should disinherit his Legitimate Offspring from the Succession to the Crown of Scotland to advance her spurious Issue It 's true for some Reasons of State the right Heir is set aside as Edward Son of Ethelred after the Confessor being young and not a fit Match to oppose the Danes Edmund Ironside tho Illegitimate for his Strength and Courage was said to be chosen King as most likely to withstand the Danish Invasions so Edward the Confessor observing the heavy and slow Nature of Edgar the Grandson of Edmund Ironside not to be a fit
accordingly The Parliament met on Monday March the 19th and a Debate hapning in the House of Commons about the Return of the Election of Sir Francis Goodwin and Sir John Fortescue for Knight of the Shire for the County of Bucks the Commons Friday the 23d upon a full hearing determined Sir Francis to be lawfully elected and returned An. Reg. 2. An. Dom. 1604. Tuesday March the 26th The Lords by Sir Edward Coke and Dr. Hone sent a Message to the Commons that the former Committees may in a second Conference to be had have Authority to treat touching the Case of Sir Francis Goodwin the Knight of Bucks first of all before any other Matters were proceeded in The Commons returned Answer that they do conceive that it did not stand with the Honour of this House to give an Account of their Proceedings and Doings but if their Lordships have any Purpose to confer for the Reâ—due that then they will be ready at such time and place and such number as their Lordships shall think meet Sir Edward Coke c. delivered from the Lords that their Lordships taking notice in particular of the Return of the Sheriff of Bucks and acquainting his Majesty with it his Highness conceived himself engaged and touched in Honour that there might this be some Conference of it between the two Houses and to that end signified his Pleasure unto them and by them to House The Commons by their Speaker give their Reasons to the King why they cannot confer with the Lords The King in return charges the Commons to admit a Conference with the Judges the Commons give Reason and answer Objections why they cannot confer with the Judges and the 3d of April deliver them at the Council-Chamber by Sir Francis Bacon desiring that their Lordships would be Mediators in behalf of the House for his Majesty's satisfaction the King in return commanded as an Absolute King that there might be a Conference between the House and Judges The House upon return hereof resolved to confer with the King in presence of the King and Council and named a select Committee for the Conference but the Success being doubtful Sir Francis Goodwin fearing this might cause a Rupture between the King and the House and to remove all Impediments to the worthy and weighty Causes which might by this time have been in a good furtherance desired another Writ of Election for a Member in his stead Hereupon and other Accidents succeeding wherein the Commons supposing themselves aggrieved the Commons upon the 16th of June in an humble Apology to his Majesty represent their Privileges and wherein they conceive themselves aggrieved The Stubborness of the Commons for so the King would have it so dissonant from the Flatteries he had constantly sounding in his Ears and of being an Absolute King by Inherent Birth-right put the King so out of Conceit with Parliaments that in all his Life till the last Parliament of his Reign when necessity brought him to it he was never reconciled to them But that we may more clearly see what followed we will look back into the Reign of Queen Elizabeth There were three things which the Queen was impatient of being debated in Parliament the Succession of the Crown after her Death her Marriage and the making any Alterations in the Church as it was established in the first Year of her Reign But the Commons having a fearful Eye of a Relapse into Popery after the Nation had been freed from it and the Queen of Scots being zealously addicted to the Romish Religion and having not only assumed the Arms of England as next Heir to Queen Elizabeth but upon her Return from France into Scotland by many Embassies solicited Queen Elizabeth that she might be declared her Successor in case Queen Elizabeth died without Heirs of her Body To prevent this the Commons in manifold Addresses to the Queen petitioned her to marry and declare her Successor and after the Duke of Norfolk's Conspiracy and the Rebellion in the North under the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland wherein it appeared the Queen of Scots was privy and consenting in all the Parliaments I think from the 9th of Elizabeth to the Queen of Scotland's Death the Commons were importunate with the Queen to cut her off which you may read at large in the Journals of the Parliaments of Queen Elizabeth set forth by Sir Simon D' Ewes The Queen fixed in these Resolutions did often forbid the Parliament upon their Allegiance to enter into Debates upon them yet some zealous Members the principal of which was one Mr. Peter Wentworth as well in the case of the Queen of Scots as for some Reformation in the Church did several times endeavour to have them debated upon which the Queen committed them to the Tower tho soon after they were discharged This the Commons in their Apology to the King take notice of and pray that this be no Precedent for the future but that their Debates in Parliament may be free but they shall find that this King 's little Finger and his Son 's after him shall be heavier upon them than Queen Elizabeth's Loins However this Apology of the Commons tended to a Rupture between the King and them within yet the King was resolved to have Peace without the Kingdom how inconsistible soever the Terms were and to that end upon the 18th of August following being the second Year of his Reign he concluded a firm Peace with Philip the 3d of Spain and Albert and Isabel Arch-Dukes of Austria c. and also a Treaty of Commerce which as it was the most beneficial to the English Nation so it was difficult if not impossible to observe the Peace the King as he had managed it made the Treaty of Commerce to be but little beneficial to the Nation For the Year before the King had renewed the Treaty of Alliance which Queen Elizabeth had made with the Dutch States where tho the King was not obliged to maintain such a number of Men for the Dutch Support against the Spaniards to be repaid at the end of the War whereby the Treaty with the Queen Anno 1598. the Dutch were not only to pay but to repay the Queen yearly 100000 l. till a Peace was made with Spain when they were to pay her two Millions of Money with the Interest of 10 per Cent. deducting the 100000 l. per Annum they were to pay yet by the fourth Article of the said Treaty it was agreed That neither the Kings of England nor Spain shall themselves give or shall consent to be given by any of their Vassals Subjects or Inhabitants Aid Favour or Counsel directly or indirectly on Sea Land or fresh Waters nor shall supply or minister or consent to be supplied or ministred by their said Vassals Inhabitants or Subjects unto the Enemies or Rebels of either Part of what Nature or Condition soever they be whether they shall invade the Countries and Dominions of either of them
as the Marriage of his Daughter with the Elector Palatine was the cause of his calling the last Parliament so the Consequence of this Marriage put him upon the necessity of calling another But because Mr. Rushworth Franklin and all other our Writers at home have either mistaken the Cause or taken it too short we will look into it from abroad Before Ferdinand the first of that Name Emperor of Germany and younger Brother of Charles the 5th the Kingdom of Bohemia was elective and tho they often chose the German Emperors their Kings after the Turks became great in Europe as Charles the 4th Wenceslaus his Son Sigismund and Albert the first of the Family of the House of Austria yet in the Year 1440 they chose Vladislaus King of Hungary who was a Polander to be their King who being slain at the great Battel of Varna against Amurath the 2d 1444 they chose his Son Vladislaus an Infant King of Hungary whose Guardian in his Minority was John Huniades the famous Champion against the Turks After Vladislaus who died without Issue the Bohemians in 1456 chose George Bogebracius After him in 1470 they chose Vladislaus the Son of Casimir King of Poland who had Issue a Son named Lewis and a Daughter named Ann married to Ferdinand Brother of Charles the 5th Emperor of Germany this Vladislaus was likewise chosen King of Hungary and died in the Year 1516. his Son Lewis being then an Infant was chosen King of Bohemia and Hungary and ten Years after viz. 1526 Lewis was overthrown and slain by Solyman the Great Turk at the Fight at Mohatz With Lewis fell the Glory and Majesty of Hungary the Paradise of the World of a sweet and temperate Climate a most healthful Air the Soil exceeding fruitful yet reserving Mines of Gold and Silver in its Bowels abounding with Cattel of a larger size than elsewhere which it supplied Germany Italy and Turkey with watered with the noblest Rivers of Europe the Danube the Drave Save Tibiscus c. as fruitful with Fish as the Land was with Cattel excelling the Countries in manifold and fair built Cities and Towns Hungary at the Death of Lewis from the time when Matthias the Son of the famous Huniades began to reign over them for 70 Years enjoyed perfect Peace within and abroad had the Reputation of the most Warlike Nation and of all other the best Frontier to stop the further Rage of the Turkish Arms in Europe But in this long Peace the People especially the Clergy became excessive rich accompanied with intolerable Pride and all other Vices which accompany Luxury and Ease In this high Conceit of themselves the Clergy especially Tomerius put the King with an Army of 25000 Men only to fight with Solyman with 300000 Turks twelve to one wherein not only the King but also Tomerius and the Flower of all the Nobility of Hungary fell here the Fate of Hungary began but did not end here For Ferdinand having married Lewis his Sister and assisted by his Brother Charles set up for himself to be King of Hungary in right of his Wife which the major part of the Nobility not slain in the Battel of Mohatz refuse to submit to and chose John Sepuce Vaivod of Transilvania to be their King and John being too weak to oppose Ferdinand flies to Solyman for his Assistance so that Hungary which before was the Barrier against the Progress of the Turkish Power in Europe now opens her Gates to let it in however the Turk being engaged in Wars against the Persians Ferdinand prevailed against both and John and Ferdinand came to this Agreement That John should enjoy that part of Hungary whereof he was possest during Life and Ferdinand the whole after his Death Soon after John died leaving the Queen with Child which proved a Son and the Nobility which before chose the Father King now chuse the Son and joining with the Queen call in Solyman for their Assistance who by this Call enters Buda the Regal City of Hungary and turns the Queen and her Son out giving him only the Title of Vaivod of Transilvania Now was Hungary become the Theatre for above 150 Years of all those Calamities which both Civil and Foreign Wars bring upon a Country so that of the most fruitful and best inhabited Kingdom in Europe it became the most desolate and uninhabited the Inhabitants being made use of only to be Slaves either to imperious Souldiers or lazy and idle Clergy-men If Hungary were the Paradise of the World Bohemia was not less of Germany and as an Island is encompassed with Waters so is Bohemia environed with Mountains which like a Garden with Walls encompassed a most rich pleasant and healthful Kingdom and to this Kingdom as well as that of Hungary does Ferdinand lay Claim in right of his Wife and being assisted by his Brother Charles and further from the Assistance of the Turks he forced the Bohemians to submit to his Empire but this was not only during his and his Wife's Life and her Heirs but to his Heirs Male tho he claimed in right of his Wife And herein you must observe That the Bohemians at this time as well as their Ancestors before were Enemies to the Popish Tyranny and Heresies so that Zisca the famous Captain of the Hussites about one hundred Years before in many Battels in Opposition to the Popish Tyranny overthrew the Emperor Sigismond and Ferdinand was a zealous Maintainer of the Popish Supremacy and Usurpations in Religion as well as Tyranny Ferdinand had Issue two Sons Maximilian who succeeded him in the Empire as well as in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary and Charles the first Arch-Duke of Austria Maximilian had Issue Maximilian Rodolph Matthias and Albert Governour and Prince of the Spanish Netherlands with whom King James in the second Year of his Reign made the League before spoken of Rodolph in 1576 succeeded Maximilian in the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary as well as in the Empire This Rodolph Helvicus says was a Prince most worthy of all Praise the Refuge of good Learning Ensign of Peace and Clemency and in the Year 1609 granted Liberty of Conscience to the Bohemians and Austrians Rodolph's Brother succeeded him in the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Empire in 1614 but Matthias having no Issue and the Issue Male of Maximilian ending in him a Question might arise about the Succession to the Crowns of Hungary and Bohemia for admitting the Succession were hereditary then by the Laws of Inheritance these Crowns would devolve upon the King of Spain Philip the Third whose Mother Anna was Daughter to Maximilian the Second and therefore to be preferred before Ferdinand Arch-Duke of Austria descended from Maximilian's younger Brother To prevent this the Popish Party jealous of the Consequences prevail upon or rather forced the Emperor Matthias to surrender his Title to the Kingdom of Bohemia to his Cousin Ferdinand a zealous Assertor of the Supremacy of the Church of
two Armies and kept up the Bohemians till the King 's coming to Prague were not only neglected but the Prince of Anhalt whom the King brought with him was made not only Generalissimo of the Army the King brought but of the Armies raised by de la Tour and Mansfield besides the King tho he had got a vast Treasure was niggardly in paying the Souldiers which necessitated them to take free Quarters upon the Bohemians In this disgusted State with the Bohemians the King having withdâ—awn so great Forces out of the Palatinate left it exposed to the Ravages of the Spaniards who under the Command of Ambrose Count Spinola General of the Spanish Army under the Arch-Duke Albert whom the King in the Treaty of the 2d Year of his Reign calls His renowned and dear Brother made terrible Wars in the Palatinate Here you may see how unhappy King James was in the Peace or Truce he procured the King of Spain and the Arch-Dukes to make with the Dutch in 1609 for twelve Years for in this Interval the Dutch did not only retrieve their Cautionary Towns out of the King's Possession but the Truce still continuing the Arch-Duke had not only an Opportunity to assist the Emperor but to send Spinola with an Army to invade the Palatinate and the Emperor by an imperial Ban had proscribed the King's Son-in-law a Traitor and Rebel to the Empire and thereupon forfeited his Electoral Dignity and Estate which he gave to Maximilian Duke of Bavaria and committed the Execution of it to the Arch-Duke Albert the Elector of Saxony and Duke of Bavaria King James was startled at this Return to his Proposition at Vienna that his Son-in-law shall possess the Crown of Bohemia and now complains that his Childrens Patrimony would be lost and that he would not sit still and take no further Care in it and therefore sent another Ambassadour to the Arch-Duke at Brussels to expostulate the matter and this was the utmost he was able to do and was forced to strain his Credit for it but lest this should not do tho sore against his Will he resolved to call another Parliament and try their Good Will towards it But that we may take all things before us as they stood at the Meeting of this Parliament the King notwithstanding the Attempt of Sir Walter Raleigh upon the Spanish West-Indies had still by Sir John Digby continued the Treaty of Marriage between the Prince of Wales and the Infanta Maria of Spain with the same Confidence of Success as if the King of Spain had not been concerned in Sir Walter 's Expedition But the Court of Spain to check the King 's forward Desires demand high Privileges for the Romanists which amounted to little less than a Toleration and that the Pope must be satisfied in his Conscience before he could grant a Dispensation for the Infanta to marry with an Heretick Prince both which the King and Prince agreed to and were signed by them both though afterwards But however the Agreement between the Pope King and Prince was not much known the Liberty granted to the Roman Catholicks was generally taken notice of and beside the Generality of the Nation notwithstanding the Benefits received by the Spanish Trade still retained an Aversion to the Spaniards which made the Spanish Match hated and feared by them and how much more they hated and feared the Spaniards so much more zealous were they for the King's Assistance of his Son-in-law in his Title to the Kingdom of Bohemia as well as in the Preservation of the Palatinate now invaded by the Emperor and King of Spain Thus things stood when the King's Necessities forced him to the unwilling Resolution of calling another Parliament but they did not stay here for upon the 9th of November happened the fatal Battel at Prague fought by above 60000 Combatants wherein tho the Bohemians were superior in Number the Imperialists were in Discipline and Valour and tho the King was the principal Object of the War yet he thought not fit to engage in the Battel but stood at a distance out of Harm's way to observe the Event of it After two hours Fight the Bohemians were utterly overthrown and routed 6000 being killed and more taken Prisoners with all their Colours Baggage Guns and Ammunition and scarce 300 of the Imperialists killed the Prince of Anhalt was the first who gave the King notice of his Overthrow with Advice to provide for his Safety which the King thought to do by flying back into Prague but found no Safety there For the Duke of Bavaria General of the Imperialists followed him close and summons him to surrender the City and quit his Claim to the Kingdom The King demands 24 Hours respite to answer but Bavaria only grants him 8 to which without any Reply next Morning the King with the Queen big with Child and their Children fly out of Prague and by unfrequent Ways by almost a Miracle escape to Vratislavia leaving the Heads of his Party in Prague to be Victims after an horrible Sacrifice to their enraged and bloody Enemies and all that inestimable Wealth which he had got together and was so niggardly of to his Souldiers to be a Prey to his Enemies also In this disasterous State Frederick driven out of Bohemia the Palatinate invaded and overrun by Spinola and having lost all his Wealth as well as Kingdom and Country retires with his Wife and Children into Holland more supported by the Dutch Prince of Orange and some of the English Nobility and Arch-Bishop Abbot than by the King whose Bounty lay another way and since he could not obtain Aids from his Father-in-law for the Preservation of his Country yet he became a Suitor to the King to solicite the Imperial Court for the Conservation of the Palatinate which the King did but did him no good and further the King would not go but vainly promised to himself he could do it by the Marriage of his Son to the Infanta of Spain and get two Millions of Money for her Portion to boot Though the English Nobility patiently truckled under the Ambition and Covetousness of Buckingham yet the same Genius was not found in the French Princes of the Blood and Nobility under the prodigious Pride and exorbitant Promotions of Luynes to restrain them or it may be to force Luynes from the King's Favour the Queen-Mother made a League with the Count of Soissons a Prince of the Blood the Count Vendosm and Grand Prior of France both natural Sons of Henry the 4th of France against him and the Dukes of Longuevil Main and Espernoon joined with them so did those of the reformed Religion under the Duke of Rohan and his Brother Sobiez Princes of the Blood of the Line of Navarr But these Commotions being sudden and ungrounded were soon supprest and the King was reconciled to the Queen and Popish Nobility and the greatest Loss fell upon those of the Reformed Religion who lost St. John de
Angely Gergeau Sancerre and Saumur which were all the Cautionary Places which the Reformed had upon the Loire and also Suilly Merac and Caumont King James that he might as much appear for the Reformed as he had done for his Son-in-law sent Sir Edward Herbert after Baron Herbert of Cherberry his Ambassadour into France to mediate a Peace between the King and the Reformed and in Case of Refusal to use Menaces which Sir Edward bravely performed to Luynes and after to the French King himself which being misrepresented to King James Sir Edward was recalled and the Earl of Carlisle was sent Ambassadour into France in his room and the Earl finding the Truth to be otherwise than was represented by Luynes acquainted the King with it Hereupon Sir Edward kneeled to the King and humbly besought him that since the Business between Luynes and him was become publick that a Trumpeter if not an Herald on Sir Edward's Part might be sent to Luynes to tell him That he had made a false Relation to the King of the Passages between them and that Sir Edward would demand Reasons of him with Sword in Hand on that Point but the King was not pleased to grant it and here began the Downfal of the Power of the Reformed in France and the Rise of the French Grandeur by Land In this rotten and teachy State of Affairs before the Meeting of the Parliament the King issued out a Proclamation of which he was as prodigal as bountiful to his Favourites forbidding Men to talk of State-Affairs as if his Favourite Buckingham who governed all was so mindful of them nor was the King less jealous of the Parliament's meddling with State-Affairs than of the Peoples talking of them out of Parliament so that the King upon the opening of the Parliament the 30th of January told them of the Constituting Parts of a Parliament and how it was twelve Years since he had received any Aids from Parliaments and how that though he had prosecuted a Treaty of Marriage between the Prince and Infanta of Spain which if it were not for the Benefit of the Established Religion in England and of the Reformed abroad he was not worthy to be their King and though he had refused to assist his Son-in-law in his Election to the Kingdom of Bohemia being a matter of Religion contrary to what he had wrote against the Jesuits yet that he could not sit still and see the Patrimony of his Children torn from them by the Emperor and therefore was resolved to raise an Army next Summer and that he would engage his Crown his Blood and Soul for the Recovery of the Palatinate And having before told the Commons of their Duty to petition the King and acquaint him with their Grievances but not to meddle with his Prerogative he after tells them that who shall hasten after Grievances and desire to make himself popular has the Spirit of Satan The Parliament notwithstanding the violation of their Privileges the last Parliament by the King 's imprisoning their Members yet being zealous to assist the King against the Emperor and King of Spain in favour of the Palsgrave and though the Nation at no time before so much abounded in Corruption and Grievances yet to humour the King inverted the Methods of Proceedings in Parliament and the Commons granted the King two entire Subsidies and the Clergy three before they entred upon Grievances which so pleased the King that in a Speech in the House of Lords he declared it was more acceptable to him than Millions it shewing he reigned in the Love and Affections of his Subjects but he did not long hold in this Mind At this Sessions of Parliament if it may be called so no Act but that of the Subsidies passing Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir Francis Michel were sentenced and degraded for erecting new Inns and Ale-houses and exacting great Sums of Money by pretence of Letters Patents granted for that purpose Sir Giles fled and so escaped a farther Punishment but Sir Francis was condemned to perpetual Imprisonment in Finsbury Goal Sir Francis Bacon Viscount Verulam and Lord Chancellor was likewise censured deposed fined and committed Prisoner to the Tower for Bribery and Bacon's Fall was Doctor Williams's Rise Dean of Westminster to be Lord Keeper of the Great Seal But the Commons debating the Growth of Popery and the dangerous Consequences of the Spanish Match contrary to the King's Speech and Inclinations he upon the Fourth of June which the Commons took to be an Invasion upon their Privileges by Commission adjourned them to the 14th of November and by a Proclamation forbid the talking of State-Affairs In this recess the Spaniards took Stein in the lower Palatinate and the Duke of Bavaria all the Upper Palatinate and the Arms of Lewis prevailed more upon the Reformed in France yet none of these prevailed upon the King further than to mediate a Suspension of Arms in order to treat an Accommodation between the Emperor and his Son-in-law and the French King and the Reformed which had no other Effect but to make the King contemptible in Germany as well as France his Power and Authority being bounded up only in Words and Messages which the King's ill-Willers blazing abroad cost the King more than would have recovered the Palatinate However the King abated nothing of his Pleasure and dissolute Life but according to the usual Methods of his Life in the Autumn went to New-Market to divert himself with Hunting from the trouble of Affairs either foreign or domestick leaving his Favourite Buckingham Dictator of all his Affairs when the Parliament met again But how remiss soever the King was of his Affairs the Commons were not perhaps heated by their Adjournment and alarmed at the Progress of Lewis against the Reformed in France and of the Emperor and King of Spain not only in the Palatinate but all over the Empire against the Protestants and also with the Liberty which the Popish Party took upon the hopes they conceived would accrue to them by the Spanish Match still as fervently pursued by the King and Prince as ever the King being encouraged hereto by the Earl of Bristol the King's Ambassador in Spain but more by the Spanish Ambassador Gundamor here A Person as Nâ—ni observes who with a stupendous Acuteness of Wit so confounded pleasant things with serious that it was not easy to be discerned when he spoke of Business and when he rallied he had so insinuated himself into the Mind of the King that he need not take any further care of restoring his Son-in-law to the Palatinate but by Prince Charles his marrying with the Infanta the Treaty whereof now is 8 Years old being brought to Maturity and Perfection so soon as the Pope should grant a Dispensation The House of Commons hereupon being ill satisfied with the Distribution of the Subsidies before granted to the King resolve to proceed upon Grievance before they granted more Supplies and to that end drew up
affected have done before them And to make choice of meet Collectors of the Monies and to return a Schedule of the Names of such as shall contribute and the Sums that are offered by them that his Majesty may take notice of the good Inclinations of the Subjects to a Cause of such Importance as likewise of such others if any such be as out of Obstinacy or Disaffection shall refuse to contribute These were the Ways which this pacifick King took in and out of Parliament which I believe except in the Reign of Edward the 4th were never practised by any of our English Kings and all this under the specious Pretence of recovering his Son-in-law's Patrimony prodigally to squander it among his Favourites especially Buckingham whose Avarice could not be supported otherwise by the Revenues of the Crown and Venality of all Places Sacred and Civil These were the Noble Atchievements which this pacifick King obtained over his Parliament which presumed to advise him for his own Honour and the Nation 's Safety this was the Return he made for inverting the Methods of Proceedings in Parliament to pleasure him by granting Subsidies before Grievances were redrest A Prince foreign born to our English Laws and Constitutions A Prince as the noble Nani Anno 1619. fol. 137 138. observes in whom Decorum and want of Power were commonly Opposites he being Scotish by Birth and come to the Crown by Inheritance was the first that governed the two Nations by Natural Antipathy and antient Emulation of Enemies and designing to reclaim the Fierceness of those People with Ease and Idleness had set up his Rest in Peace and avoiding as much as possible the calling of Parliaments without which not having the Power to impose Contributions nor levy Money he contented himself rather to struggle with many Straits and Difficulties than to see them meet with a Jealousy of them or being met be obliged to separate them with the disgust of the People or with the satisfaction of Prejudice to the Superior in Power A Prince so poor before he came to the Crown of England that if he had not been supported by the Pension which Queen Elizabeth allowed him could not have maintained the Garb of many of our English Gentry and being come to the Crown of England not only the Sacred Patrimony of it was squandered and embarassed upon debauched and profane Favourites but the People otherwise oppressed with almost infinite Monopolies and Projects which the Nation never before heard of and as they were new so were they all illegal and all these to make his Favourites rich while he continued the poorest King that ever governed England Justled in his Throne by the Presbytery in Scotland yet nothing less than Sacred would down with him from the Clergy in England tho his dissolute Life and profane Conversation were diametrically contrary These by a twenty Years Habit were so fixed in the King a Prince of all others the most regardless of his Honour and Word that they became natural So that after the Parliament had given him two Subsidies and intended another for carrying on the War for the recovery of the Palatinate and after he had by such means as before said by such Terror raised Benevolences all England over upon pretence of it yet by the Advice of Buckingham and Gundamor he placed the Anchor of his Hope to do it by the Match of his Son with the Infanta of Spain when an unlooked-for Accident reported by Nani in his 5th Book fol. 186. had like to have spoiled all For the King of Bohemia weary of being amused and deluded with the Hopes of his Father-in-law's Treaties which he now saw were mocked by the Spaniards themselves in a Disguise with two Persons only from Holland passes into France by Sea and from thence through Lorrain and through the midst of his Enemies Troops arrives at Landau where Count Mansfield who then made War in the Palatinate in his Right had a Garison where he discovered himself and from thence went to Germersheim where he was received with the general Applause of the whole Army This Escape of the King's Son-in-law confounded all the King's Measures which he had taken for him by the Marriage of the Infanta with his Son so that he was more alarm'd at it than at the Commons Remonstrance and Protestation tho he bore the Affliction with a much better Temper So all Wits were set at work how to get the Elector out of the Hands of Mansfield back again into Holland for now the Proceedings at Brussels upon the Peace were put to a full stop the Spaniards alledging they could not proceed in the Treaty so long as the King's Son-in-law was in the Hands of Mansfield their most inveterate and bitter Enemy It fell out luckily for the King's Designs tho unluckily for his Son-in-law's that Mansfield being worsted by the Spanish Arms in the Palatinate and the Elector Palatine fearing that Mansfield in the Adversity of his Affairs would make him a Sacrifice in giving him up to the Spaniard to make his own Terms the better was the more easily enveagled by the King's Agents to return again into Holland where the first News he heard was that Tilly had taken Heidelburg the Capital Seat of his Ancestors by Storm and Frankendal his next City reduced to Extremity by Cordua so that as Nani says fol. 188. King James who had published that his Son-in-law held that Country under his Protection was laugh'd at by all the World and forced to consent to a Truce for fifteen Months during which Frankendal and the rest of the lower Palatinate should be deposited into the Spaniards Hands to restore them to the King James if within that time there were not a Peace concluded King James having thus deposited his Son-in-law's Patrimony in the Hands of the Spaniards in the Low Countries now by the Direction of Buckingham not only the Dictator over the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland but over the King himself and 't was feared more over the Prince upon pretence that the Earl of Bristol was too remiss in prosecuting the Prince's Suit at Madrid resolves to deposite the Prince in the Power of the Court of Spain there to remain as an Hostage till he can procure the Infanta to be his Spouse This was such an Adventure as Don Quixot never dream'd of in any of his that because the King the Prince his Father was poor at home and despised abroad therefore by making his only Son an Hostage in another King's Court where the Maxims both of Religion and State were directly contrary he should think to perswade the King of Spain to overturn all and also get such a Portion as was fourfold more than any Prince before had to enrich himself and to make War against the King of Spain or Emperor which the Spaniard esteemed all as one and also that the King of Spain should restore the Palatinate because the King knew not which way else
to do it Yet this Adventure must be run because Buckingham would have it so so pur-blind nay stark-blind does Poverty and Covetousness make Man's Understanding and Reason But that we may take all before us let 's see in what Esteem King James was with the Spaniards which might encourage him to pursue this Adventure In their Comedies in Flanders they imitated Messengers bringing News in haste that the Palatinate was likely to have a numerous Army shortly on foot For the King of Denmark would shortly furnish them with a thousand Pickled-Herrings the Hollanders with one hundred thousand Butter-Boxes and England with one hundred thousand Ambassadors They pictured King James in one place with a Scabbard without a Sword in another with a Sword which no body could draw out tho divers Persons stood pulling at it In Brussels they painted him with his Pockets hanging out and not one Penny in them and his Purse turned upside down In Antwerp they pictured the Queen of Bohemia like a poor Irish Mantler with her Hair hanging about her Ears with her Child at her Back and the King James carrying the Cradle after her and every one of the Pictures had several Motto's expressing their Malice Such Scorns and Contempts were put upon the King James and in him the whole Nation See the Preface to the History of the first 14 Years of the Reign of King James and Wilson fol. 192. But tho Buckingham pursued this Match with such Eagerness yet when it came to his Management in Spain where the King's Proclamations forbidding Men to talk of State-Affairs had no effect he proceeded wrong in every step of it and to gratify his Ambition and Personal Disgusts was the first and principal Instrument to break it off but that we may not insist upon Generals 1. The Prince's coming to Spain and thereby putting himself into the King of Spain's Power brake all the Earl of Bristol's Measures whereupon the Negotiation and all the Particulars of the Marriage was settled and the Negotiation was put into a new Form See Rushw Collect. fol. 286. Objection This was but a Charge by the Earl of Bristol against the Duke who prosecuted the Earl of High Misdemeanors and therefore no Proof against the Duke Answer Yet the Honour of so great a Statesman and faithful a Counsellor as the Earl was who had so honourably served the King in seven foreign Embassies and had by the Expence of 10000 l. saved Heidelburg from falling into the Hands of the Spaniard and having upon the Dissolution of the last Parliament given the King 500 l. upon the Benevolence and never received a Check from the King in all his Negotiations but always honourable Testimonies from him for his faithful Services before Buckingham broke in upon him may go a great way But it seems to me to be a clear Proof upon Buckingham for Bristol twice answered Articles preferred against him without any Reply whereas rather than Buckingham should answer Bristol's Charge King Charles dissolved his second Parliament 2. Buckingham had not learned the Verse which is taught to every School-boy Quum fueris Romae Romano vivito more for being French bred he appeared in a French Garb most hateful to the Spaniards and by his Familiarity with the Prince he seemed rather the Prince's Guardian and Companion than Follower which disrelished the Court of Spain and the Spaniards in general who are grave sober and wary 3. He by contrary Methods opposed all the Earl of Bristol's Methods nay fell at odds with him tho without Comparison he was the ablest Statesman in all King James his Councils 4. Whereas all other Ambassadors and Statesmen in all great Affairs make their Court to the King's Council and prime Ministers of State to attain their Ends Buckingham fell at open Defiance with Olivares prime Minister of State in Spain and 't was generally said made his Court to the Countess which she acquainted her Husband with and instead of the Countess put a tainted Whore to Bed with him 5. The Earl of Bristol in the 9th Article of his Charge against him shews what a Scandal Buckingham gave by his Personal Behaviour in Spain and also employing his Power with the King of Spain for procuring Favours and Offices which he bestowed upon base and unworthy Persons for the Recompence and Hire of his Lust These things as fit neither for the Earl of Bristol to speak nor the Lords to hear he left to their Lordships Wisdom how far they please to have them examined It having been a great Infamy to this Nation that a Person of the Duke 's great Quality and Employments a Privy-Counsellor and Ambassador eminent in his Majesty's Favour and solely in Trust with the Prince should leave behind him in a Foreign Court so much Scandal as he did by his ill Behaviour 6. The Earl of Bristol's sixth Article against Buckingham is That his Behaviour in Spain was such that he thereby so incensed the King of Spain and his Ministers that they would admit of no Reconciliation nor farther Dealings with him Whereupon he seeing the said Match would be to his Prejudice he endeavoured to break it not for any Service to the Kingdom nor of the Match it self nor for that he had found as since he pretended the Spaniards did not really intend the said Match but out of his particular Ends and Indignation And the 7th Article says 7. That after he intended to cross the said Match he put in practice divers undue Courses as making use of the Prince's Letters to his own Ends and not as they were intended as likewise of concealing things of high Importance to the King James and thereby to overthrow the King's Purposes and advance his own Ends. Nor had my Lord Keeper Williams any better luck in this Adventure of Buckingham's than the Earl of Bristol or Olivares for tho the Prince's going into Spain was concealed from the Keeper as well as Council yet after the Duke was gone the Keeper's Letters followed him to Madrid wherein the Keeper advised him to be circumspect in all his Actions that no Offence might be taken at any of them by the King and Ministers of Spain and to be advised by the Earl of Bristol not only as a most able Statesman but above all others the most experienced in the Manners of the Spaniards and Court of Spain but this Buckingham took as ill Manners in the Keeper and was an occasion of his quarrelling with him as you may read in the Life of the Lord Keeper written by the Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry But neither the danger of the Prince in Spain nor the cross-grain'd going of the Match any way abated the King's Favour to his beloved Scholar and Disciple Buckingham but he sent after him the Patent of being created a Duke there being not another of England So that now he is become Duke Marquess and Earl of Buckingham Earl of Coventry Viscount Villiers Baron of Whaddon Great Admiral of
shall see how a little French Artifice could work upon the Conscience of our wise and pacifick King which we will give verbatim as the King says it in return to the French King and which you may read in Mr. Howel's Life of Lewis XIII fol. 63. Most High most Excellent and most Puissant Prince OUR dear and most beloved good Brother Cousin and antient Ally Altho the deceased King of happy Memory was justly called Henry the Great for having reconquer'd by Arms his Kingdom of France tho it appertained to him as his proper Inheritance so here King James determined his Title to France yet you have made a greater Conquest for the Kingdom of France though it was regained by the victorious Arms of your dead Father it was his de Jure and so he got nothing but his own but you have lately carried away a greater Victory having by your two last Letters so full of cordial Courtesies overcome your good Brother and antient Ally and all the Kingdoms appertaining to him for we acknowledg our Self so conquered by your more than brotherly Affection that we cannot return you the like only we can promise and assure you upon the Faith of an honest Man that you shall always have Power not only to dispose of our Forces and Kingdoms but of our Heart and Person and also of the Person of our Son if you have need which God prevent praying you to rest assured that we shall not only be so far from cherishing or giving the least Countenance to any of your Subjects of what Profession soever of Religion who have forgot their natural Allegiance to you but if we hear the least inkling thereof we shall send you very faithful Advertisement and you may promise your self that upon such Occasion or any other which may tend to the Honour of your Crown you shall always have Power to dispose of our Assistance as if the Cause were our own So upon Assurances that our Interests shall be always common we pray God most High most Excellent most Puissant Prince our most dear and most beloved Brother and Ally to have you always in his most holy Protection Newmarket the 9th of February 1624. Your most affectionate Brother Cousin and antient Ally James K. So prodigal was King James of his Promises and so negligent in their Performance whether they were in his power or not Now let 's see what became of this bluster of Words and how the Interest of King James was common in this very Treaty with the most High most Excellent and most Puissant Prince his most dear and most beloved Brother Cousin and Ally Lewis Lewis whilst King James was intent upon his Pleasures and pursuing the Spanish and French Matches had taken almost all the In-land Cautionary Towns which the Reformed held in France and about the Beginning of this Treaty by the Interposition of his Mother had made Cardinal Richlieu prime Minister of State who shall serve her as Buckingham shall serve the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Laud his Patron Williams Lord Keeper and to Richlieu did Lewis commit the Management of this Treaty another-guess Minister of State than Olivares was in Spain and shall pay Buckingham his own again with Interest Nani lib. 5. fol. 205. observes of Richlieu that the King had no Inclination to him there being a certain natural secret Aversion to those who with an Ascendant of Wit exceed Sure it is the Cardinal possessed rather the Power of Favour than the Favour it self nevertheless he had the Great Art how to fix the mutable and suspicious Genius of the King and the inconstant Nature of the People governing as with a supream Dictatorship the one and the other even to his Death Richlieu had his Eyes in all the Corners of the Court of England and was throughly informed of the King's Fondness of this Match and of the Insufficiency of Buckingham to encounter him in the Transactions of it and therefore how sweetly and desiredly soever the Proposition was embraced in France yet in the Treaty Richlieu stood upon his Tip-toes now that of Spain was broke off In the first place he would not abate one Iota of the Articles of Religion and Liberty to the Popish Recusants which was agreed upon in Spain nay he raised them higher for it was but sit he said His Master who was the eldest Son of the Church should not abate any thing of what was granted to the Catholick King if there had been nothing else this would have caused another stinging Petition from the Commons as the King called it if ever they had met again And though her Portion was but 800000 Crowns not one tenth of the Infanta's yet the Consideration of it must be 18000 l. per Ann. Jointure which her Son encreased to 40000 l. and besides the King James shall give her 50000 l. in Jewels whereof she shall have the Property as of those she has already and also of what she shall have hereafter The King also James shall be obliged to maintain her and her House and in case she come to be a Widow she shall enjoy her Dowry and Jointure which shall be assigned in Lands Castles and Houses whereof one shall be furnished and fit for Habitation and the said Jointure be paid her wheresoever she shall desire to reside she shall also have the free Disposal of all the Benefices and Offices belonging to the said Lands whereof one to be a Dutchy or County And in case she survive her Husband her Dowry shall be returned to her entirely whether she live in England or not and in case she die before her Husband without Children the Moiety of her Portion to be returned yet this Portion must one half be paid the Year after the Contract the other half the Year after that Having taken a view of the Temporal Articles of this Treaty let 's see what was agreed to in those which referred to Religion The Articles of Marriage of the King of Great Britain with Madam Henrietta Maria of France THIS Negotiation was so happy that it caused the King to consent to all the Articles which were demanded for the Catholicks and that his Majesty gave Charge to his Ambassadors to agree to them they signed them with the Cardinal at Paris the 10th of November 1624 with these Considerations That Madame the King's Sister should have all sort of Liberty in Exercise of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion and all her Officers and her Children and that they should have for this Purpose a Chappel in all the Royal Houses and a Bishop with 28 Priests to administer the Sacraments and the Word of God and to do all their Offices That the Children which should be born of that Marriage should be nourished and brought up by Madame in the Catholick Religion until the Age of 13 Years That all the Domesticks which she should carry into England should be French Catholicks chosen by the Most Christian King and when they died
them with Men of War to guard their Fisheries and to do it whether he would or not A Prince that by his dissolute Life and prophane Conversation debauched and effeminated the Genius of the English Nation whereby it became more scandalized for Swearing and Drinking than in any Age before A Prince that broke all the Measures by which Hen. 8. and Queen Elizabeth were the Arbitrators of Christendom A Prince fearful of all his Enemies abroad while he was only great by exercising a Tyrannical Arbitrary Power over his Parliaments and Subjects who could only have made him great abroad and honoured at home whereby he became little beloved at home and suffered the Dutch to redeem their Cautionary Towns upon their own Terms and to dispossess the English at Amboyna and their other Factories in the East-Indies and Africa He only stood still looking on while the French upon the Matter supprest the Reformed in France and suffered Ferdinand the 2d to over-run and near subdue the Protestant Princes in Germany as well as his own Son-in-law And tho he were the 6th of that Name King of Scotland from John alias Robert Stuart the Son of Robert Stuart by his Paramour Elizabeth Moor yet if Sir James Melvil says true that Cardinal Bethoun poisoned James the 5th he was the first of that Name who died a natural Death if he did so for James the first was murdered by his Uncle the Earl of Athol his Grand-father's legitimate Son in his Queen's Arms with eight and twenty Wounds the Queen receiving two to defend him This was in the Year 1436. James the II. was killed by the breaking of a Piece of Cannon while he besieged the Castle of Roxburgh the 3d of Aug. 1460. James the III. having his Army routed by an Army headed by his Son James was killed at Bannoch-Burn by the Lord Gray and Robert Sterling of Ker after Sir Andrew Brothick a Priest had shriven him This was in 1488. James the IV. was killed the 9th of December 1514 at Flowdenfield by the English commanded by the Earl of Surrey and his Body never found and if James the 5th was poisoned then none of these Jameses died a natural Death neither did King James his Mother being put to death Ann. 1587 for conspiring the Death of Queen Elizabeth After the Dissolution of the Spanish Match the King as greedily prosecuted the French and tho he lived not to see it settled yet he saw the Army raised under Count Mansfield for the Recovery of the Palatinate ruined by trusting to the French Faith in this very Treaty When he died he not only left an empty Exchequer but a vast Debt upon the Crown yet was engaged in a foreingn War and the Monies given by the Parliament for carrying it on were squandred away in carrying on the French Treaty and the Nation imbroiled in intestine Feuds and Disorders At his Death he left a Son and Heir and one Daughter Before he died he saw his Son over-ruled by his Favourite against his determinate Will and Pleasure and the Prince's own Honour and Interest which was a great Mortification to him and which he often complained of but had not Courage to redress and so strongly was 〈◊〉 Favourite possessed of his Power over his Son in the King's Life that the Prince little regarded his Father's Precepts or the Counsels of any else after his Death whereby he encreased the Internal Feuds Jealousies and Discords of the Nation which ended in a sad Catastrophe both of the Favourite and the King At the King's Death his Daughter with her Husband and her many Children were driven into Exile and Poverty in the Dominion of the Dutch States where they were more relieved by the States the Prince of Orange and some Bishops and Noblemen of England than by either of the Kings Father or Son A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England During the Reign of King CHARLES I. c. BOOK II. CHAP. I. This Reign detected to the Dissolution of the Parliament Tertio Car. 'T WAS a strange Reign this As this King's Father's Reign was introduced with a horrible Plague so was this King's with a greater and such as no Records of any Times before mention the like The first 15 Years of his Reign were perfectly French and such as never before were seen or heard of in the English Nation this brought on a miserable War in all the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and Destruction upon the King whenas it was not in the Power of those which first raised the War against him to save his Life which they would have done Baptista Nani in the sixth Book of the History of Venice An. 1625 f. 221 observes That after the Marriage of King Charles with the Daughter of France the Interest of State or rather the Passion of Favourites converted the Bonds of Affection into Causes of Hatred Europe in those times reckoned it amidst its unhappy Destiny that the Government of it fell upon three young Kings yet in the Flower of their Age Princes of great Power desirous of Glory and in Interest contrary but in this alone by Genius agreeing that they committed the Burden of Affairs to the Will of their Ministers for with equal Independency France was governed by Richlieu Spain by Olivares and Great-Britain by Buckingham confounding Affections with Interest as well publick as private Betwixt the Cardinal and Buckingham open Animosities discovered themselves for Causes so much more unadvised as they were more hard to be known When King James died the Nation was rent into four Parties viz. The Prerogative which exalted the King's divided Will from the Laws and Constitutions above his Royal and Legal Will The Country or Legal Party which stood for the Legal Establishment of Church and State and the Puritan and Popish Parties After the Treaties of Marriage between the Prince and the Daughters of Spain and France the Popish and Prerogative Parties joined for carrying on the Court-Designs and were opposed by the Country and Puritan Parties and as the Prerogative and Popish Factions grew more insolent so the Puritan Party gathered Strength and Reputation among the Vulgar or ordinary People insomuch that in Number they became more than all the other three We shall take a better View of this Reign if we look a little back into the former After the Treaty of the Match with Spain was broken off King James was perplext what to do he had neither Money nor Courage to make War for the Recovery of the Palatinate and the Wounds which he had given the last Parliament by Imprisoning their Members for advising him to make War for the Recovery of the Palatinate were yet fresh and bleeding and yet Buckingham whom he durst not offend not content to satisfy his Spite against Olivares by breaking off the Match was notwithstanding all Difficulties nay Impossibility of Success still pushing on the King to declare War against the King of Spain The King
Before a Year goes about you shall see Buckingham set the King at odds with the Parliament and yet engage him in a War against Spain and before another goes about engage the King in another against France to satiate his Spight and Revenge against Richlieu for crossing him in his Lust and after 13 Years Laud shall be the Fire-brand to set all the three Nations in the Flame of a Civil War as King James had foretold But it 's time to come to Particulars The first Enterprise which the Duke engaged the King in was not for the Recovery of the Palatinate as he pretended when he would have engaged King James in a War against the King of Spain but to express his Hatred against Olivares and therefore a Fleet must be rigged up to make War in Spain even when King James's Corps lay unburied and at so unseasonable a time when the Charges of King James's Funeral were so fast approaching and when the Charges of the King's Ambassadors the Earls of Carlisle and Holland ran so high at Paris to outvy the French Splendor for solemnizing the Marriage between the King and the Queen and these so much more augmented by the Duke's Preparations to fetch the Queen over which when the Duke shall come to Paris must outshine not only the Bravery of the English Ambassadors but all that Cardinal Richlieu could do From the Unseasonableness of this Expedition let 's see by what Counsels Buckingham managed this designed Expedition and herein take Light from a Letter which my Lord Cromwel wrote to the Duke and which you may read in Rushworth's Collections fol. 199. after the Fleet had lain so long that the Season of the Year was past and most dangerous for Ships to put to Sea The Letter is Verbatim THey offer to lay Wagers the Fleet goes not this Year and that of necessity shortly a Parliament must be which when it comes sure it will much discontent you It 's wonder'd at that since the King did give such great Gifts to the Dutchess of Chevereux and those that went how now a small Sum in the Parliament should be called for at such a time and let the Parliament sit when it will begin they will where they ended They say the Lords of the Council knew nothing of Mansfield's Journey or this Fleet which discontents even the best sort if not all They say it is a very great Burden your Grace takes upon you since none know any thing but you It 's conceived that not letting others bear part of the Burden you now bear it may ruin you which Heavens forbid Much Discourse there is of your Lordship here and there as I passed home and back and nothing is more wonder'd at than that one grave Man is not known to have your ear except my Good and Noble Lord Conway All Men say if you go not with the Fleet you will suffer in it because if it prosper it will be thought no Act of yours and if it succeed ill it might have been better if you had not guided the King They say your Vndertakings in this Kingdom will much prejudice your Grace and if God bless you not with Goodness to accept kindly what in Duty and Love I offer questionless my Freedom of letting you know the Discourse of the World may prejudice me But if I must lose your Favour I had rather lose it for striving to do you good in letting you know the Talk of the wicked World than for any thing else so much I heartily desire your Prosperity and to see you trample the ignorant Multitude under foot All I have said is the Discourse of this World and when I am able to judg of Actions I will freely tell your Lordship my Mind which when it shall not always incline to serve you may all my noble Thoughts forsake me The Success of this Expedition you will hear soon Thus was the King of Spain required for all the noble Favours he had shewn the King when he was in Spain This was the Return of Buckingham's Protestation to the King of Spain when they parted at the Escurial That he would be an everlasting Servant to the King of Spain the Queen and the Infanta and would do the best Offices he could for concluding the Business the Match between the Prince and Infanta and strengthen the Amity between the two Kingdoms to have War made upon him without any Declaration of it by King Charles so soon as it came in his Power to do it After Buckingham became Lord Admiral the English Navy lay at Road unarmed and fit for Ruin as you may see in Rushworth fol. 3. This was before the Treaty of the Spanish Match and after the breaking of the Spanish Match the Duke not only neglected the guarding of the Seas whereby the Trade of the Nation not only decayed but the Seas became ignominiously infested by Pyrates and Enemies to the Loss of very many of the Merchants and Subjects of England as you may read in the Fourth Article of the Charge of the Commons against him in Rushworth fol. 312. Objection But this was but an Accusation and therefore it does not amount to a Proof It ought not to be presumed the Commons would have charged this upon him without Proof and I say it is strong Proof upon the Duke since the King dissolved the Parliament rather than the Duke should come to a Trial upon it However the Navy lay thus neglected and Seas unguarded and tho the French had broken the Treaty of Marriage with France by not suffering Mansfield to land his Army at Calais yet the supplying the French with a Fleet to subdue the Rochellers must be performed And to this end even whilst King James lay unburied great Consultation between the Duke and the Marquiss of Efsiat was had how this might be done The King had no Men of War ready but the Vaunt-Guard and the French Necessities were urgent for all this while Sobiez rode triumphant at Sea the French not being able to encounter him and thereby Rochel upon all Occasions was relieved by Sea However the French must be gratified or this hopeful Marriage with France might be disturbed The Duke therefore by his Power of Lord Admiral besides the Vaunt-Guard pressed 7 Ships of the Merchants of England into the King's Service viz. The Great Neptune whereof Sir Ferdinando Gorge was Captain the Industry of 450 Tuns whereof James Moyer was Captain the Pearl of 540 Tuns whereof Anthony Tench was Captain the Marigold of 300 Tuns whereof Thomas Davis was Captain the Loyalty of 300 Tuns Jasper Dare Captain the Peter and John of 300 Tuns John Davis Captain and 7thly the Gift of God Henry Lewen Captain The Duke tho the Navy were unprovided with Stores and Ammunition could find Stores and Ammunition sufficient for furnishing this Fleet and upon the 8th of May caused a Warrant under the Great Seal to be issued to call the Companies aboard which had been raised
Memory but a more peculiar Charge of their Friends and that it may be admitted that some Saints have a peculiar Patronage Custody Protection and Power as Angels also have over certain Persons and Countries by special Deputation and that it is not Impiety so to believe And whereas in the 17th Article it is resolved That God has certainly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of Mankind to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a Benefit of God be called according to God's Purpose working in due season they through Grace obeying the Calling they be justified freely walk religiously in good Works and at length by God's Mercy attain to everlasting Felicity He the said Mountague in his Book called The Appeal does maintain That Men justified may fall away and depart from the State they once had and may again arise and become new Men possibly but not certainly nor necessarily And the better to countenance this Opinion he hath in the same Book wilfully added and falsly charged divers Words in the said 16th Article and in the Book of Common-Prayer and so misrecited and changed the said Places he does alledg in his said Appeal endeavouring thereby to lay a most malicious and wicked Scandal upon the Church of England as if he did herein differ from the Reformed Church of England and from the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas and did consent to those pernicious Errors which are commonly called Arminianism and which the late famous Queen Elizabeth and King James of happy Memory did so piously and diligently labour to suppress That he had contrary to his Duty and Allegiance endeavoured to raise Factions and Divisions in the Commonwealth by casting the odious and scandalous Name of Furitans upon such as conform themselves to the Doctrine and Ceremonies of the Church of England under that Name laying upon them divers false and malicious Imputations so to bring them into Jealousy and Displeasure with the King and Ignominy and Reproach of the People to the great danger of Sedition and disturbance of the State if it be not timely prevented That the Scope and End of his Books is to give Encouragement to Popery and to withdraw the King's Subjects from the true Established Religion to the Roman Superstition and consequently to be reconciled to the Church of Rome whereby God's true Religion has been scandaliz'd those Mischiefs introduced which the Wisdom of many Laws hath endeavoured to prevent the Devices of his Majesty's Enemies furthered and advanced to the great danger of the King and all his loving Subjects That he has inserted in his Book called The Appeal divers Passages dishonourable to the late King full of Bitterness Railing and injurious Speeches to other Persons disgraceful and contemptible to many worthy Divines of this Kingdom and other Reformed Churches beyond the Seas impious and profane in scoffing at Preaching Meditating and Conferring Pulpits Bibles and all shew of Religion all which do aggravate his former Offences having proceeded from malicious and enormous Heat against the Peace of the Church and the Sincerity of the Reformed Religion publickly professed and by Law established in this Kingdom All which Offences being to the Dishonour of God and of most mischievous Effect and Consequence against the Church and Commonwealth of England and other of his Majesty's Realms and Dominions the Commons assembled in Parliament do hereby pray that the said Richard Mountague may be punished according to his Demerits in such exemplary mannner as may deter others from attempting so presumptuously to disturb the Peace of the Church and State and that the Books aforesaid may be suppressed and burnt This was that special Stick of Wood which Laud in the beginning of this young King's Reign put into his Hand to support him in the establish'd Religion of the Church of England and afterwards planted him to be one of the Cedars of our Church by having him made first Bishop of Chichester and after of Norwich However Laud was so nettled with the Votes of the Commons I do not find Buckingham concerned himself in them it may be believing this might divert the Storm from him but it was impossible for the Commons in looking into the Grievances of the Nation but to meet Buckingham in the Front of every one of them And when they began their Debates concerning the Duke they received a Message from the King of the pressing State of Christendom and with what Care and Patience he expected their Resolutions of Supplies and to let them know he look'd for a full and perfect Answer of what they would give for his Supply according to his Expectation and their Promises and that he would not accept of less than was proportionable for the Greatness and Goodness of the Cause and that it was not fit to depend any longer upon Uncertainties whereby the whole Weight of the Affairs of Christendom may break in upon us upon the sudden as well to his Dishonour as the Shame of the Nation and when this is done they may continue longer and apply themselves to the Redress of Grievances so they do it in a dutiful and mannerly Way without throwing an ill Odor upon his present Government or upon the Government of his late blessed Father You will hear further of the Care he took of Buckingham in his Reply to the Commons Address upon this The Commons in answer beseech the King to rest assured that no King was ever dearer to his People than his Majesty no People more zealous to maintain and advance his Honour and Greatness and especially to support that Cause wherein his Majesty and Allies are now engaged and beseech his Majesty to accept the Advice of his Parliament which can have no other end but the Service of his Majesty and the Safety of his Realm in discovering the Causes and proposing the Remedies of those great Evils which have occasioned his Majesty's Wants and his Peoples Griefs And therefore in Assurance of Redress herein they really intend to assist his Majesty in such a way and in so ample a Measure as may make him safe at home and feared abroad and for dispatch whereof they will use such Diligence as his urgent and Pressing Occasions require The King in answer to the Commons tells them he takes the Cause of their presenting Grievances to be a Parenthesis and not a Condition and will be willing to hear their Grievances so as they apply themselves to redress Grievances and not enquire after Grievances That he will not allow any of his Servants to be question'd by them much less such as are of eminent Place about him that the old question was What shall be done to the Man whom the King honours But now it hath been the Labour of some to seek what may be done against him whom the King thinks fit to honour he saw they specially aimed
am not when Buckingham came out of France with the Queen of England he left or soon after sent Sir Balthazer Gerbier to hold secret Correspondence between the Queen and himself and tho Richlieu watch'd Gerbier narrowly yet he brought the Queen's Garter and an exceeding rich Jewel to Buckingham from her Upon the breaking out of the Feuds in the Queen's Family which began almost as soon if not before it was settled Buckingham prevails with the King to be sent into France to compose them which was granted But Nani says the true Motive of Buckingham's Journey being ascribed to Love contracted in that Court Richlieu perswaded the King to refuse him Entrance into the Kingdom The Rage hereupon of the other was inflamed to extremity and sware since he was forbidden to enter in a peaceable manner into France he would make his Passage with an Army Here you see the Duke was under a double Obligation of Love and Honour and since he could not attain his End in Love it 's remarkable by what Steps he proceeded to make good his Oath and Honour of entering into France with an Army which will be better observed if they be look'd upon in their Circumstances It was the 16th of August 1625 in the first Year of the King's Reign as you may see in Rushworth fol. 335. that Buckingham caused the Captains of the Fleet under the Command of Vice-Admiral Pennington to deliver it into the French Power to fight against the Rochellers and while the Fleet was thus in the French Power and after the Duke had received the horrible Affront of being denied Entrance into France in a peaceable and loving manner about Michaelmas following viz. about six Weeks after the delivery of the Fleet the Duke as Lord High Admiral of England by an extraordinary Commission seized the St. Peter of New-haven John Mallerow Master laden with Goods Merchandize and Money to the value of 40000 l. upon the account of Monsieur Villiers Governor of New-haven and other French Merchants as Prize and the Duke took out of the said Ship sixteen Barrels of Cochineal eight Bags of Gold three and twenty Bags of Silver two Boxes of Pearl and Emeralds a Chain of Gold and Monies and Commodities to the value of 20000 l. and delivered them to Gabriel Marsh his Servant Whereupon there was an Arrest of two English Merchant Ships in New-haven upon the 7th of December following viz. 1625. whereupon by a Petitionâ— from the Merchants the King ordered December the 28th that the Ship and Goods belonging to the French should be re-delivered to the French upon this the Court of Admiralty decreed upon the 16th of January following that the Ship with all the Goods except three hundred Mexico Hides sixteen Sacks of Ginger one Box of gilded Beads and five Sacks of Ginger should be released from further Detention and delivered to the Master yet the Duke not only detained to his own use the said Gold Silver Pearl Emeralds Jewels and Money but upon the 6th of February following without any legal Proceedings caused the sid Ship to be again arrested and detained as you may see in Rushw f. 312. And here began the seizing of our English Ships in France which the Duke makes one of the Causes of the War Object But this is but a Charge of the Commons upon the Duke and therefore no direct Proof Answ It is not to be presumed the Commons would have charged these things thus particularly and positively without Proof and I say moreover they are to be taken for Truth since the King did dissolve the Parliament rather than the Duke should come to his Trial upon the Commons impeaching him hereupon and 't is worth Observation to see how without Counsel and by contrary Extreams the King and Duke engaged in both the Wars against Spain and France The Bishop of Litchfield in the second Part of the Life of the Lord Keeper Williams f. 4. tit 2. says The next day after King James's Death the King and Duke were busied in many Cares but the chief was for the Continuation of the Parliament at King James's Death the Keeper shewed that the Parliament determined with the Death of the King then the King said Since Necessity required a new Parliament his Will was that Writs forthwith be issued out of Chancery for a new Choice and not a day lost The Keeper hereupon craved leave to be heard and said It was usual in times before that the King's Servants and Friends did deal with Counties Cities and Boroughs where they were known to procure a Promise for their Elections before the precise time of any insequent Parliament was published and that the same Forecast would be good at this time which would not speed if the Summons were divulged before they look'd about them The King answered It was high time to have Subsidies granted for the War with the King of Spain and the Fleet must go forth for that purpose this Summer To which the Keeper replied in few words and with so cold a Consent that the King turned away and gave him leave to be gone whereas the King dissolved this Parliament and lost four Subsidies and three Fifteenths to save the Duke and make War upon France Concealing the true Reason for this War with France the Duke in his Declaration gives two other Reasons of it the first was the refusal of Mansfield to land his Army at Calais according to Agreement whereby the Design for the recovery of the Palatinate was frustrate But why must this be a Reason at this time of day for this was done in the Reign of King James and when the Treaty of the Marriage with France was in being Why was not then the Treaty broke off upon it And why after this in King Charles's Reign was the English Fleet put into the Power of the French to subdue the Rochellers and this Business of Mansfield's not so much as taken notice of The second Reason was The French seizing our English Merchants Ships in their Ports But this was after the Duke had seized and made Prize of the St. Peter of Newhaven so here the Duke begins making Prize upon the French and makes War upon them for doing so by the English However we have here a Declaration and Reason of a War against the French such as 't was tho none could be had for the War with Spain Here you may see the unhappy Fate of Princes who treat their Subjects as Enemies and their Flatterers and Favourites as their only Friends and Confidents for notwithstanding the King 's ill Success last Year to Cadiz and the King's Complaint for want of Money in the Exchequer and the ill terms he was at with his Subjects not only to be put upon making a War against the King of Spain and the Emperor but now also against the King of France and to have none but Buckingham Laud c. and their Paraâ—ices to support him in all these Wars and what
could Human Wisdom foresee of any good Success in them being against three the most potent Princes in Christendom For the Charges to maintain these Wars almost against Christendom the King requires a Benevolence of the Subject and the Nobility to lend freely Demands a Loan of 100000 l. from the City of London charges the Ports of England to furnish Ships upon their own Charges issues out Privy-Seals for Benevolences in proportion to the four Subsidies and three Fifteenths voted by the Commons grants a Commission to execute Martial Law billeâ—s Souldiers and makes the Country pay their Quarters the Rich who refuse to pay the Loans are assessed and bound over to answer at the Council-Table and the other press'd for Souldiers These were the Ways this King took to justify his Integrity for the Weal of the Kingdom so as to satisfy not only his own Conscience but his People and the whole World as he promised in his Declaration for Dissolution of the Parliament But lest the King 's Royal Proclamation for these things should be stumbled at or disputed Sibthorp and Manwaring two special Favourites of Laud are set on work to preach that the King is not bound to observe the Laws of the Land in his Government and that his Royal Will in imposing Loans and Taxes does oblige the Subject's Conscience upon Pain of Eternal Damnation Tho these things were settled to the Duke's Heart 's Content yet he had a Jealousy that in his Absence the Arch-bishop of Canterbury might give the King such Counsel as might spoil all the Glories of the Duke's Designs and therefore to remove him not only from the Council-Table but far enough out of the way from coming into the King's Presence is the Design but to put some colour upon it it was resolved That the King by a special Message should order the Arch-bishop to license Sibthorp's Sermon under his own Hand The Arch-bishop at this time was sorely afflicted with the Stone and kept his Bed when Mr. Murray brought the King's Command to him the Bishop could not forbear to take notice of the piece of Drudgery to be put upon him the like whereof was never enjoined to any of his Predecessors yet desired my Lord Conway to leave the Sermon with him some small time to peruse which my Lord did The Bishop instead of licensing the Sermon made Observations upon it how false and inconsistible the Parts of the Sermon were to one another and how contrary to Antiquity and the Authority of the Scripture for one part of the Sermon justified Ahab's taking away Naboth's Vineyard and he desired to be satisfied about his Objections before he licensed the Sermon This gave the desired Offence for upon the Arch-bishop's refusal to license the Sermon the Bishop of London who had allowed John Cosins his Book called The seventh Sacrament with all the Errors which were after expunged gave it a great and stately Allowance and Laud was ordered to answer the Archbishop's Objections and had the Bishops of Durham Oxford and Rochester to be his Assistants in it and to this the Arch-bishop must reply without seeing the Answer which if he might see he said he would batter it all to pieces which being denied you may read in Rushw f. 446 447. how the Arch-bishop did batter it all to pieces upon Mr. Murray his reading it For this special piece of Service in answering the Arch-bishop's Objections the Bishop of Durham and Laud of Bath and Wells are made Privy-Counsellors and for the Arch-bishop's refusal to license Sibthorp's Sermon he was not only banished to his House at Ford five Miles beyond Canterbury a moorish unhealthy Place and that before he could lay in his Provisions for House-keeping but the Office of High-Commission is taken from him and the Exercise of it committed to the Bishops of Durham Oxford Rochester and Bath and Wells which had so well answered the Arch-bishop's Objections to Sibthorp's Sermon And now things are thus settled at home In July the 27th the Duke is commissionated Admiral and General of a Navy Royal of 100 Sail and 6 or 7000 Land Souldiers and when he came before Rochel Sobiez came aboard of him where for several Reasons it was agreed to land the Army on the Isle of Oleron and not on the Isle of Rhee but Sobiez going to perswade the Rochellers to join with the English the Duke before his return lands on the Isle of Rhee in spite of the Opposition made by the French but instead of pursuing the Blow not only neglects to take the Fort la Prie to secure his Retreat and prevent the French from landing Supplies but stays five days whereby Toiras the French Governor encouraged his Men and also got more Force and Provisions into the Cittadel of St. Martins The French were so alarm'd at this Invasion that the King offered the Duke of Rohan and the Rochellers any Terms to join against the English which both refusing caused both their Ruins So that the Duke having made three false Steps viz. his deceiving Sobiez his not marching after landing and not taking in the Fort la Prie now let 's see a fourth The Enemy's Retreat upon the landing of the English was so hasty that they quitted a Well about twenty Paces from the Counterscarp which supplied the Cittadel with Water which not being possest upon the first coming of the Army the French drew a Work about it which the English could not force and without which Well the besieged could not have subsisted however the Duke resolved to take the Fort by Famine We have marked four false Steps the Duke made now observe the fifth which was the loss of the whole Army and ruin of all the Protestant Party in France for instead of the French joining with the English for the recovery of the Palatinate by Land the Spaniards now join the French against the English by Sea to relieve St. Martins and the Duke instead of pressing the Fort by a strait Siege entertains a Treaty of Surrender with Toiras and several Compliments past between them subscribed Your humble Servant Buckingham and Your humble Servant Toiras till Toiras got Relief of Men Victuals and Ammunition and then Toiras broke off the Treaty with the Duke Soon after the French landed Forces by the neglect of the English to suppress them and Orders were given to draw the English out of the Trenches which the French possess whereupon the English were forced to retreat and fight the French to regain the Trenches at last the 6th of November the Duke makes a vain Storm upon the Castle and was beaten off and upon the 8th the Duke retreats the French being now equal to him in Foot and superiour in Horse when the English were intangled in their Retreat the Duke having neglected to take la Prie or build a Fort upon a narrow Lane and Causey to secure their Retreat the French charged the English Horse in the rear and rout them who rout the Foot in
concerned in it yet what Parliamentary Advice did the King take the last nine Months If the Nation and the King's Friends be in such imminent Ruin the King should have declared who those Friends were and who they were which threatned this Ruin When his Father died he was at Peace with all the World and it was his own Wilfulness that without any other Counsel but that of Buckingham he made War upon France and Spain and let any Man read the Passages of the short time of his Reign and judg if the imminent Ruin of the Nation were not from himself within as well as without and if the granting him further Supplies would not more endanger the Nation in carrying on his Designs in both Here note Tho the King had made no Conscience of what he had done yet he now tells the Parliament If they shall not do their Duties in contributing what the State at this time needs he must in Discharge of his Conscience use those other Means which God hath put into his hands to save that which the Follies of particular Men may other ways hazard to lose The King should have explained what other ways God put into his hands to govern his Subjects than by Justice Judgment and Righteousness for all other ways are unjust and wicked And how any Man how great soever can plead Conscience to perpetrate Injustice and Wickedness must be unfolded by Laud Neal Sibthorp Manwaring Mountague Wren Heylin c. The King proceeds and says Take not this for a Threatning for I scorn to threaten any but my Equals but an Admonition from him that both out of Nature and Duty has most Care of your Preservations and Prosperities This is Humano capiti cervicem jungere equinam What a Monster does the King here make a Parliament the Head so incomprehensively big and the Body so scornful and little But if it ill becomes any Man to glory in his own Actions it worse becomes him to glory in that which he himself had not done So that admit the King had been so superlatively great as to scorn all the World besides yet it would better have become any other to have said it than the King A Parliament is a Political Body whereof the King is the Head and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Representatives of the Commons the Body and What is the Head without the Body Are not all the Members of every Body of Use for the Head And does not the Head stand in need of every Member of the Body But if the Head be overgrown and too big and the Body too scornful and lean is not this not only monstrous but a Symptom of the Imperfection of the whole and that it is in a declining and dangerous State Yet the King tells them The End of calling this Parliament was for Supply And did ever King or other Man before him tell those from whom he expected Supply or any other Benefit that he scorn'd them and if they do not their Duties he would use other Means which God had put in his hands without telling what those other Means were and call them Fools and particular Men if they do not their Duties to save what they may otherwise hazard to lose whereas heretofore the Kings of England ever thank'd the Parliament upon a Bill for Aids But after all this the Parliament must not take it for a Threatning but an Admonition An Admonition may be taken in a double Sense either to instruct another in his Duty or to menace or threaten another if he continues obstinate in some Fault or Crime committed by that other But this Admonition of the King 's in the Parliament must not be taken for a Threatning of them therefore it must be for their Instruction ignorant of their Duties A Parliament was called by the Saxons Wittenage-Mote or the Conventus Sapientum the Meeting of Wise Men who met together to deliberate of the arduous and urgent Businesses of the Kingdom and concerning the State and Defence of the Kingdom and Church of England and is called the Common Council of the Kingdom and the General Council of the Kingdom and the Council of the Kingdom See 4th Institute 2. And tho the Writ of Summons of Parliaments be Ad Tractandum Deliberandum de certis arduis Regni negotiis pro statu defensiâ—e Regni Ecclesiae Angliae concernentibus yet the Parliaments of England unlike the Convention of the State of Scotland are not tied up to those things only which the King propounds but are free to treat and deliberate of all things which other ways concern the Kingdom and Church of England So that the great End of the Meeting of Parliaments is to advise the King And all our Saxon Norman and British Kings had ever Parliaments in so high an Esteem that we do not read any where before these two Kings of the Scotish Race came to reign over us that ever any King and Parliament parted in Disgust whereas since King James came to be King five or six parted in Disgust and God knows what would have become of the other if King James had not died before the Parliament met again Did ever any King of England before tho he scorn'd to threaten the Parliament yet admonish them of their Duties or otherwise he would use those other means than by Parliament which God had put into his hands But Quorsum haec or where will the Designs of this young King stop However you may see by this Speech of the King 's that those who govern'd him were as little Politicians as Orators But good Laws often arise from corrupt Times and bad Manners for Magna Charta did arise from the Usurpations of K. John and Henry III. above the Laws and Liberties of this Nation so did the Petition of Right the Magna Charta of this Age from the Usurpations of this King since the Dissolution of the last Parliament to the Meeting of this little more than nine Months And as the old Magna Charta was no new Law but a Declaration of the old restored by Henry II. King John's Father called the Avitae Leges so neither was the Petition of Right which enumerates the Breaches the King had made of Magna Charta and manifold other Laws before it prays Relief against them But these Charta's were obtained after different manners the old by cruel Wars The Doctrines of Passive Obedience and submitting to the Absolute Will and Pleasure of the King were Strangers to those Days and the Bishops were so far from those Doctrines that they were the chief Promoters of Magna Charta and stigmatized the Infringers of it the King himself not excepted with a dreadful Anathema Whereas neither Rome nor Athens could ever glory in such an Assembly as the Commons of this Parliament were for their Vertue and Learning nor any Age produce such a number of Men of the like Integrity to their Country and humble Obedience to
may be drawn into the Body of a Remonstrance and therein humbly exprest with a Prayer to his Majesty for the Safety of himself and for the Safety of the Kingdom and for the Safety of Religion that he would be pleased to give the House time to make perfect Inquisitions thereof or to take it into his own Wisdom and there give them such timely Reformation as the necessity of the Cause and his Justice does import Sir Edward Coke seconded Sir John Elliot 's Motion and propounded that a humble Remonstrance be presented to the King touching the Dangers and Means of the Safety of the King and Kingdom which was agreed to by the House and thereupon the House turned themselves into a grand Committee and the Committee for the Bill of Subsidies was ordered to expedite the said Remonstrance But this King rather than hear of what he had done did not care what he did and therefore the Speaker brought a Message from the King That his Majesty having upon the Petition exhibited by both Houses given an Answer so full of Justice and Grace for which we and our Posterity have just cause to bless his Majesty it is now time to draw to a Conclusion of the Session and therefore his Majesty thinks fit to let them know That he does resolve to abide by that Answer without further Change or Alteration and so he will Royally and Really perform unto them what he had thereby promised And further That he resolves to end this Session upon Wednesday the 11th of this Month and that this House should seriously attend those Businesses which may bring the Session to a happy Conclusion without entertaining new Matters and so to husband the time that his Majesty may with more Comfort bring them speedily together again at which time if there be any further Grievances not contained or expressed in the Petition they may be more maturely considered than the time will now permit But this did not disturb the Commons but they proceeded in their Declaration against Dr Manwaring and the same day presented it to the Lords at a Conference which was managed by Mr. Pym. The Commons impeached the Doctor upon these three Points in his Sermons of Allegiance and Religion 1. That he affirmed that the King is not bound to keep and observe the good Laws and Customs of this Realm concerning the Rights and Liberties of the Subjects and that his Royal Will and Command in imposing Loans Taxes and other Aids upon his People without common Consent in Parliament does so far bind the Consciences of the Subjects of this Kingdom that they cannot refuse the same without peril of Eternal Damnation 2. That those of his Majesty's Subjects that refused the Loan did therein offend against the Law of God and against his Majesty's Supream Authority and by so doing became guilty of Impiety Disloyalty Rebellion and Disobedience and liable to many other Taxes and Censures which he in the several Parts of his Book does most falsly and maliciously lay upon them 3. That the Authority of Parliament is not necessary for the raising of Aids and Subsidies that the slow Proceedings of such Assemblies are not fit to supply the urgent Necessities of State but rather apt to produce sundry Impediments to the just Design of Princes and to give them occasion of Displeasure and Discontent Whereupon the Commons demanded Judgment against the Doctor not accounting his Submission with Tears and Grief a Satisfaction for the Offence charged upon him and the Lords gave this Sentence 1. That he should be imprisoned during the Pleasure of the House 2. That he should be fined 1000 l. to the King 3. That he should make such Submission and Acknowledgment of his Offences as shall be set down by a Committee in Writing both at this Bar and the House of Commons 4. That he shall be suspended for the Term of three Years from the Exercise of the Ministry and in the mean time a sufficient preaching Minister shall be provided to serve the Cure out of his Livings this Suspension and Provision to be done by the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction 5. That he shall be disabled hereafter to have any Ecclesiastical Dignity or Secular Office 6. That he shall be disabled hereafter ever to preach at Court 7. That his Book is worthy to be burnt and that for the better effecting of this his Majesty may be moved to grant a Proclamation to call in the said Books that they may be burnt accordingly in London both the Vniversities and for the inhibiting the printing thereof upon a great Penalty This Censure immediately succeeding Sir Elliot's Representation of Grievances startled Laud as much as Sir John's Representation did the Duke of Buckingham and the King that he might not hear of any more Business of this kind upon the 5th of June commanded the Speaker to let the House know that he will certainly hold to the day fixed for ending the Session viz. the 11th and therefore requires them that they enter not into nor proceed in any new Business which may spend greater time or which may lay any Scandal or Aspersion upon the State-Government or the Ministers thereof This put the House into a fearful Consternation whereupon the House declared That every Member of the House is free from any undutiful Speech from the beginning of the Parliament to that day and ordered the House to be turned into a Committee to consider what was to be done for the Safety of the Kingdom and that no Man go out of the House upon pain of being committed to the Tower But before the Speaker left the Chair he desired leave to go forth which the House granted Then Sir Edward Coke spake freely We have dealt with that Duty and Moderation that never was the like Rebus sic stantibus after such a Violation upon the Liberties of the Subjects let us take this to Heart In 30 Edw. 3. were they then in any doubt to name Men that mislead the King They accused John of Gaunt the King's Son the Lords Latimer and Nevilâ—or â—or misadvising the King and they went to the Tower for it now when there is such a downfal of the State shall we hold our Tongues How shall we answer our Duty to God and Men 7 Hen. 4. Parl. Rot. 31 32. 11 Hen. 4. Numb 13. there the Council are complained of and removed from the King they mewed up the King and disswaded him from the common Good and why are we turned from that way we were in Why may not we name those that are the Cause of all our Evils In the 4 H. 3. 21 E. 3. 13 R. 2. the Parliament moderated the King's Prerogative and nothing grows to Abuse but this House hath Power to treat thereof What shall we do Let us palliate no longer if we do God will not prosper us I think the Duke of Bucks is the Cause of all our Miseries and till the King be informed thereof we shall neither go out with
Honour nor sit with Honour here That Man is the Grievance of Grievances let us set down the Causes of all our Disasters and all will reflect on him As for going to the Lords that is not via Regia our Liberties are now impeached we are concerned it is not via Regia the Lords are not participant with our Liberties Mr. Selden advised That a Declaration be drawn under four Heads First To express the House's dutiful Carriage to the King Secondly To tender the Liberties violated Thirdly To present what the House was to have dealt in Fourthly That that great Person viz. the Duke fearing to be questioned did interpose this Distraction All this time said he we have cast a Mantle on what was done last Parliament But now being driven again to look on that Man let us proceed with that which was then well begun and let the Charge be renewed that was last Parliament against him to which he made an Answer but the Particulars were sufficient that we may demand Judgment upon that Answer only In Conclusion the House agreed upon several Heads concerning Innovations in Religion the Safety of the King and Kingdom Misgovernment Misfortune of our late Designs with the Causes of them and when the Question was putting that it should be instanced that the Duke was the principal and chief Cause of all those Evils the Speaker came in and said that the King commands for the present that the House adjourn till to Morrow and that all Committees cease which was done accordingly And upon the 7th of June the King in Parliament passed the Petition of Right whereupon there was an universal Joy all over the City and the Commons returned to their own House with unspeakable Joy and resolved so to proceed as might express their Thankfulness and order the grand Committees for Religion Trade Grievances and Courts of Justice to sit no longer but that the House proceed only in Consideration of Grievances of most moment which was their Remonstrance to the King of the weak distracted and dangerous State of the Kingdom which was done in the most pathetick and humble manner which could be expressed and presented to the King in the Banqueting-House upon the 17th of June It 's very long and consisted of these six Branches 1. The Danger of the Innovation and Alteration of Religion This occasioned by First The great Esteem and Favour many of the Professors of the Romish Religion receive at Court Secondly Their publick Resort to Mass at Denmark-House contrary to his Majesty's Answer to the Parliament's Petition at Oxford Thirdly Letters to stay Proceedings against them Lastly The daily Growth of the Arminian Faction favoured and protected by Neal Bishop of Winchester and Laud Bishop of Bath and Wells whilst the Orthodox Party are silenced or discountenanced 2. Dangers of Innovation and Alteration in Government occasioned by Billeting Soldiers by Commission of procuring 1000 German Horse and Riders for the Defence of the Kingdom by a standing Commission granted to the Duke to be General at Land in time of Peace 3. Disasters of our Designs as the Expedition to the Isle of Rhee and that lately to Rochel wherein the English have purchased their Dishonour with the waste of a Million of Treasure 4. The Want of Ammunition occasioned by the selling 36 lasts of Gun-powder at low Rates 5. The Decay of Trade by the Loss of 300 Ships taken by the Dunkirkers and other Pirates within the three last Years 6. The not guarding the narrow Seas whereby his Majesty has almost lost the Regality Here note That none of these except Billeting of Soldiers which was yet continued were contained in the Petition of Right Of all which Evil and Dangers the principal Cause is the Duke of Buckingham his excessive Power and Abuse of that Power and therefore humbly submit it to his Majesty's Wisdom whether it can be safe for himself and Kingdom that so great Power should be trusted in the hands of any one Subject whatsoever It 's observable how cross the King set himself against the Commons in this Remonstrance for in the last Parliament when the Commons impeached the Duke and the Earl of Bristol exhibited Articles against him the King ordered the Attorney-General to exhibit an Information against the Duke in the Star-Chamber for the great Misdemeanours and Offences complained of against him by the Commons and Earl thereby to have stopt their Proceeding against the Duke in Parliament as he would have taken the Earl's Cause out of Parliament and proceeded against him by Indictment But the King hearing of this Remonstrance of the Commons against the Duke the Day before the Commons presented it viz. upon the 16th of June caused the Attorney-General to take the said Information and all the Proceedings to be taken off the File for that his Majesty was fully satisfied of the Duke's Innocency in all those things mentioned in the Information as well by his own certain Knowledg as by the Proofs taken in the Cause This was the first Fruit the Parliament and Nation reaped by the Petition of Right Now let 's see the next and whether the Commons deserved such a Censure as the King made upon them at the Prorogation of the Parliament After the Commons had presented a Remonstrance of their other Grievances to the King they then took into Consideration the preparing a Bill for granting his Majesty a Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage as might uphold the King's Profit and Revenue in as ample a manner as their just Care and Respect of Trade would permit But this being a Work of Time and would require much Time and Conference with Merchants and others and being often interrupted by Messages from the King and the Shortness of Time limited by the King for concluding this Sessions and fearing the King might be misinformed of this Particular they were forced by the Duty which they owed to his Majesty to declare That there ought not any Imposition to be laid upon Goods of Merchants exported or imported without Common Consent by Act of Parliament For Manifestation whereof they desired his Majesty to understand That tho the Kings of this Realm had often Subsidies granted them upon divers Occasions especially for guarding the Seas and Safeguard of Merchants yet the Subjects have been ever careful to use such Cautions and Limitations in these Grants that they did proceed not from Duty but the free Gift of the Subjects and that heretofore they used to limit a time for such Grants and for the most part but short as for a Year or two and at other times it has been granted upon occasion of War with Proviso that if the War ended in the mean time then the Grant should cease and of course it has been sequestred into the hand of some Subject to be employed for Guarding of the Seas very few of the King's Predecessors had it for Life until the Reign of Hen. VII who was so far from conceiving he had any Right
thereunto that altho he granted Commissions for collecting certain Duties and Customs due by Law yet made none for receiving the Subsidies of Tunnage and Poundage till it was granted in Parliament Since his time all Kings and Queens have had such Grants for Life by the free Love and Good-will of the Subjects but whensoever the People have been grieved by laying on any other Imposition or Charges upon their Goods and Merchandise without Authority of Law which has been very seldom yet upon Complaint in Parliament they have been relieved saving in the time of your Royal Father who having through ill Counsel raised the Rates and Charges upon Merchandise to that height at which they now are yet he was pleased so far to yield to the Complaint of his People as to offer That if the Value of such Impositions as he had set might be made good unto him he would bind himself and his Heirs by Act of Parliament never to lay any more which Offer the Commons did not yield to Nevertheless your Loyal Commons in this Parliament out of special Zeal to your Majesty's Service and especial Regard of your pressing Occasions have taken into their Consideration so to frame a Grant of Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage to your Majesty that both you might have been better enabled for the Defence of your Realm and your Subjects by being more secure from all undue Charges be more encouraged chearfully to proceed in Trade by Encrease whereof your Majesty's Profit and likewise the Strength of the Kingdom would be much augmented But being now not able to accomplish this their Desire there is no Course left to them without manifest Breach of their Duty to his Majesty and Country save only to make this Declaration That the receiving Tunnage and Poundage and other Impositions not granted by Parliament is a Breach of the Fundamental Liberties of this Kingdom and contrary to your Majesty's Royal Answer to the Petition of Right The King who had so unwillingly heard the Commons Remonstrance against the Duke before the Bill of Subsidies was passed both Houses now it was past both Houses was resolved to hear no more of this and therefore when this Remonstrance concerning the Tunnage and Poundage was engrossed and reading in the House the King sent for the Speaker and the House to the House of Lords where the King came so unexpectedly that the Lords had not put on their Robes nor had the Commons given the Speaker any Order or Direction to deliver the Bill of Subsidies neither was it brought down to the Commons again as is usual When the Commons came to the Lords House the King said It may seem strange that I come so suddenly to end this Session before I give my Assent to the Bills I will tell you the Cause tho I must avow that I owe the Account of my Actions to God alone It is known to every one of you that a while ago the House of Commons gave me a Remonstrance how acceptable every Man may judg and for the Merit of it I will not call that in question for I am sure no wise Man can justify it Did ever any King of England but this King's Father and himself treat a Parliament or either House at this rate before At the opening of the Parliament he calls them Fools if they would not do as he would have them and now he tells the Commons No wise Man can justify their Advice to him I 'm sure a wiser Man than this King or his Father says He that wins Souls is wise and if you convert the Proposition He that provokes them is otherwise Heretofore the Kings of England and I believe all prudent and civiliz'd Princes ever forbore to give any Petitioners harsh Language if their Petitions did not please their usual Answer was The King will consider or be advised upon them One great End of the Meeting of Parliaments is truly to represent to the King the State of the Kingdom which is rarely done by Flatterers and Favourites whose Interest is contrary to that of the Kingdom and if any thing be done in Prejudice of the King and Kingdom that both may be redressed in Parliament In the Commons Remonstrance to the King they set forth the weak and dangerous State of the Kingdom equally dangerous to the King and Kingdom in six several Particulars Does the King either answer or deny any one of the Particulars otherwise than that he is sure no wise Man can justify their Remonstrance But tells no Reason for this nor from whom he had this Assurance Was ever any King or Man so great as to be above his Interest or less for being well advised in all his Actions Nay ought not not only every King but other Men be so much more careful and advised in all their Actions by how much greater they are The King goes on and says Now since I am truly informed that a second Remonstrance is preparing for me to take away the Profit of Tunnage and Poundage one of the chief Maintenances of my Crown by alledging I have given away my Right thereto by my Answer to your Petition So that here the King hath true Information of that but says not how he was truly informed which was not in being for the Remonstrance was not passed the Commons when the King came into the House of Lords so that it may more probably be the King is not truly informed of this Remonstrance I 'm sure he is misinformed if the Remonstrance as it is printed in Rushworth and Franklin be true that the Commons alledged that the King had given away his Right to the Customs by his Answer to the Petition of Right For the Commons denied there that either he or any of his Predecessors before him which was long before the Petition of Right had any Right to them before they were granted by the free Gift of the Subject Tho the King would take the Customs to which he had no Right yet would he not permit the Commons to sit till they could perfect a Bill to give him Duties upon Tunnage and Poundage without which no King of England before him claimed any other Right But since the King says in his Declaration for the Dissolution of the Parliament that his Predecessors time out of mind have had these Customs but says not who told him so it 's fit to see when and what Customs of Tunnage and Poundage were taken and for what end and how they were taken Sir Edward Coke in his fourth Institute of the High Court of Parliament fol. 32. out of Records makes thirteen Observations upon the Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage 1. Of Poundage only at 6 s. in the Pound for two Years upon Condition c. And this was 47 Edw. 3. 2. 6 d. for Poundage 2 s. for Tunnage of Wine hac vice This was 6 Ric. 2. 3. 6 d. of every Pound of Merchandise 2 s. of every Tun of Wine upon Condition
c. and hac vice This was 7 Ric. 2. 4. Sometimes to have Intermission and to vary lest the King should claim them as Duties as 2 s. 18 d. 3 s. 5 Ric. 2. 9 Ric. 2. 10 Ric. 2. 5. 3 s. for Tunnage of Wine and 2 s. 6 d. for Poundage for one Year 11 Ric. 2. 6. 3 s. for Tunnage of Wine and 1 s. for Poundage hac vice 13 Ric. 2. 7. 6 d. for Poundage and 18 d. for Tunnage of Wines for three Years 14 Rich. 2. 8. 8 d. for Poundage and 2 s. for Tunnage of Wine 2 Hen. 4. 9. 12 d. for Poundage and 3 s. for Tunnage of Wine for three Years 4 Hen. 4. 10. 12 d. for Poundage and 3 s. for Tunnage of Wines for several times upon Condition sometimes for one Year 6 Hen. 4. 11. 12 d. for Poundage and 3 s. for Tunnage of Wines for four Years 1 Hen. 5. 12. The like Subsidy was granted to Hen. 5. in the third Year of his Reign for Life for carrying on the War against France 13. Tunnage of Wine and Poundage was granted to Edw. 4. for Life with no Retrospect but for time to come 4 Edw. 4. These were continued to all the Kings and Queens of England after Edw. 4. to King Charles 1. but these were of Wines only but these were always granted for the guarding the Seas and of the free good Will of the Subject So that the first Grant of these Duties of Tunnage and Poundage for Life began at Hen. 5. but that was but for that part of his Life for time to come being granted in the third Year of his Reign and so were those in the Reign of Edw. 4. which were granted in the fourth Year of his Reign and Hen. 7. would not take them till they were granted by Parliament and Sir Robert Phillips who was a Member of Parliament Primo Jac. says in his Speech in Parliament Mr. Rushworth mentions it fol. 644. that by reason of the Sickness primo Jac. the Parliament was prorogued and then some were so bold as to demand the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage for which they were questioned in Parliament But after the Duties of Tunnage and Poundage were given to King James and settled by a Book of Rates King James which none of his Predecessors ever did before imposed higher Duties upon several sorts of Merchandise than were granted in Parliament by his own Will and so continued them to his Death and after his Death his Son by his own Will took not only those Duties granted by Parliament but those imposed by his Father neither would he permit the Parliament to sit to establish a Book of Rates but prorogu'd or dissolved them before they could accomplish it And this was the Right he charges the Commons to endeavour to take away by his granting the Petition of Right The King goes on and says This the Right to Tunnage and Poundage alledg'd to be given away by the Commons is so prejudicial to me that I am forced to end this Session some few hours before I meant being unwilling to receive any more Remonstrances to which I must give a harsh Answer And since I see that the House of Commons begins already to make false Constructions of what I granted in your Petition lest it be worse interpreted in the Country I will now make a Declaration concerning the true Intent thereof The King should have declared whether he saw this false Construction of the Commons with his own Eyes or the Eyes of another if with his own Eyes Why does he not declare wherein the Commons made this false Construction of his Grant Or if he saw or heard of this false Construction of the Commons from another the King should have said who told him so Now let us see if the contrary of what the King so injuriously charges the Commons with be not true The Commons say No King of England ever claimed these Customs but by the free Gifts of his Subjects Does the King deny this or shew that ever any King of England claimed them otherways or by any other Right The Commons say His Father raised them to the height they then were without Act of Parliament or free Gift of the People Does the King deny this to be true And that the King continues to take these Customs without any Act of Parliament or Gift of the People Does the King deny this Do not the Commons tell the King That out of their Zeal to his Service and especial Regard to his pressing Occasions they had under Consideration so to frame a Grant of a Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage to his Majesty that he might have been the better enabled for the Defence of his Realm and Subjects by being secure from all undue Charges for the Security of Trade the Profit of the King and Strength of the Kingdom Does the King deny this With what Conscience and Justice then does the King say the Commons made false Constructions of his Answer alledging he had given away his Right to the Customs by his Answer to the Petition of Right When or where is any such Allegation in any part of the Remonstrance The Commons say that since the King will not permit them to finish their intended Subsidy they have no Course left without manifold Breach of their Duty to his Majesty and their Country save only to make this humble Declaration That the receiving Tunnage and Poundage and other Impositions not granted by Parliament is a Breach of the Fundamental Liberties of this Kingdom and contrary to your Majesty's Answer to the Petition of Right Does the King shew that it was not the Commons Duty to represent this to him or that the Commons alledged he had any Right to the Duties which he had given away by his Answer to the Petition of Right Now let 's see the King's Declaration of the true Intent of his Answer to the Petition of Right The Profession of both Houses in the time of the Hammering spoke like a King this Petition was no ways to trench upon my Prerogative no more it did saying They had neither Intention or Power is hurt it therefore it must needs be conceived that I have granted to new but only to confirm the antient Liberties of my Subjects Yet to shew the Clearness of my Intentions that I neither repent nor mean to recede from any thing I have promised you I do here declare my self That those things which have been done whereby many have had some Cause to expect the Liberties of the Subject to be trenched upon and indeed was the first and true ground of the Petition shall not hereafter be drawn into Example for your Prejudice and from time to time on the Word of a King ye shall not have the like Cause to complain But as for Tunnage and Poundage it is a thing I cannot want and was â—ever intended by you to ask nor meant by me I am sure to grant Nor did
the Commons ask any Grant of it to them or any other To conclude I command you all that are here to take notice of â—hat I have spoken at this time to be the true Intent and Meaning of â—hat I have granted you in your Petition especially you my Lords the Judges for to you only under me belongs the Interpretation of the Laws for none of the Houses of Parliament either joint or separate what new Doctrine soever may be raised have any Power either to â—ake or declare a Law without my Consent And you need not doubt but these shall be placito-men all who shall not scruple to make the King's Will to be the Subjects Law and those that will not shall be none of this King's Judges I do not find that the King before he prorogued them gave the Parliament any Thanks for the Bill of Subsidies tho greater than ever was given to any King as his Predecessors ever did or if he did it ill sorted with the Speech he made before But before we proceed to take a View of this King's Actions in the Interval of this Recess of Parliament let 's a little consider the present State of the King and Kingdom and herein who it was the King quarrelled with and upon what Account and for whose sake It was with the Representatives of the Kingdom who had so obsequiously and unanimously gratified him above what any other House of Commons ever did to any King of England before The Crimes for which the King inveighed so against them were for representing their Grievances and the dangerous and feeble State of himself and the Kingdom and to represent to him the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by taking the Customs as he did yet declaring their Readiness to relieve him therein and to reconcile him to his Subjects And for whom was it the King thus contended but for a Favourite who against the King's Father's Will and Advice of his Council without a Declaration or Reason shee l the next Day after the King's Father's Death as the Bishop of Litchfield observes excited him to make War against the King of Spain and after made the King to dissolve the Parliament to save himself from being impeached in it And so he did the second Parliament and then engaged the King in a War against France wherein he himself was the Aggressor and put the King upon those unheard-of ways to support these Wars that never were practised by any King of England before and in the ill Management of them brought greater Loss and Dishonour to the Nation than ever was before A Favourite who besides these brought the Crown to extream Poverty to support his intolerable Ambition and Avarice Here again I cannot but note the miserable State of Princes who treat their Subjects as Enemies and their Favourites as their only Friends and Confidents above other Men for other Mens Enemies are but few and the rest of Mankind their Friends but the Majesty Glory and Honour of a Prince is founded in the Love and Obedience of his Subjects and if this be lost whereto then can a Prince betake himself What became of Edw. 2. and Rich. 2. tho two of those four Hereditary Princes of ten after the Conquest when they had lost the Love and Obedience of their Subjects and this Prince and his Sons after him made haste to overtake their Fate Not one many hundreds of private Men but die a natural Death but Sine Caede Sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges But above all those of this Scotish Race of Kings descended from Elizabeth More which 't is a question whether any one of Nine of them in a continued Succession died a Natural Death The Duke of Buckingham upon his Retreat from the Isle of Rhee promised the Rochellers to send them speedy Relief and to make good his Word sent the Earl of Denbigh his Brother-in-law with a Fleet to relieve it now close besieged by the French King the Earl came before Rochel the first of May 1628 where he found the French Fleet of 20 Sail had blockt up Rochel by Sea upon the Approach of the Earl the French retired towards their Fortifications and anchored within two Cannon shot of the Fleet and so continued till the 8th of May the Earl promised the Rochellers to sink the French Fleet when the Waters encreased and the Wind came Westerly it being then neap Tides but two Days after the Waters did encrease and the Wind became Westerly then the Earl being intreated to fight the French Fleet did not but weighed Anchor and came away only four of the French Fleet at a distance pursuing the English Fleet. Thus was the Duke's Expedition to the Isle of Rhee seconded by this of his Brother-in-law for the Relief of Rochel I do not find the Parliament took notice of this but if they had it had been to no purpose for soon after the Earl's Return the King resolving not to hear of the Commons Remonstranceâ— against his taking the Customs not granted by Parliament to which he said he must have given a harsh Answer upon the 26th of June prorogues the Parliament to the 20th of October following and after by Proclamation to the 20th of January To redeem his Brother-in-law's Miscarriage the Duke in this Recess goes to Portsmouth to command the Fleet there to relieve Rochel but at Portsmouth he is stabb'd by Felton the 23d of August yet was the Design pursued under the Command of the Earl of Lindsey who several times attempted to force the Barricadoes of the River before Rochel but all in vain or if he had it had been to no purpose for the Victuals wherewith the Rochellers should have been relieved were all tainted and 't was well the French had no Fleet there for the English Tackle and other Materials were all defective This was the last Attempt this unhappy â—ing made either for the Relief of the poor Protestants in France or for the Recovery of the Palatinate for now Buckingham was dead who put him upon making War with Spain and France the King as secretly as before he had done suddenly made Peace with both Spain and France What 's now become of the twelve Subsidies and three Fifteenths granted to this King's Father and himself in less than eight years time by Parliament for Recovery of the Palatinate besides Loans Benevolences Coat and Conduct Money raised by his Father and himself without Consent of Parliament Let any Man shew in any Records of time that half so much in like time was raised by any of our Kings upon any Occasions except the Dissolution of Abbeys in Henry the VIII's time Search all Histories and find any one Prince so wilfully set to be govern'd by such loose vain wild and negligent Councils as either of these Princes Father or Son Now let 's see the Condition of these poor Rochellers trusting to this Prince and his Favourite they lived long upon Horse-flesh Hides Leather Dogs and Cats hardly
write a Mercenary Treatise called Mare Liberum wherein he will not allow the King to have any Title to the Soveraignty of the British Seas or his Subjects any more Right to fish in them than the Dutch or any other Nation But how consistible this Treatise is to Truth Antiquity the sacred Scriptures or to Grotius himself or to the Practice of his Country-Men is now fit to be enquired into And since I have as well as I can asserted the Laws and Constitutions of my Country at home I will with that Sincerity that becomes an English-man endeavour to vindicate the Honour of it abroad especially in our King's Soveraignty of the British Seas which Grotius so absurdly in his Mare Liberum endeavours to rob them of An Answer to Grotius his Mare Liberum wherein is shewed how often he contradicts himself how ignorant he is in all Principles and Methods in Reasoning and how impossibly contrary his pretended Arguments are to Sacred History and all antient Authority But before we enter hereupon it 's fit to see how the Case stood before Grotius wrote his Mare Liberum as well in reference to the King of England's Claim as how the Case stood between the King and Dutch when Grotius wrote his Mare Liberum And that we may avoid the endless Confusions which Grotius above all other Writers abounds in I require these Premises First That God made all things in the Waters as well as upon the Earth for the Use of Man Secondly That no Man upon the Waters as well as on the Earth did live out of Society Thirdly That in Society the Offices of commanding and obeying are necessary Fourthly That Anarchy is as abhorrent among Men upon the Waters as upon the firm Land and as impossible for Men to subsist in the one as in the other Fifthly Piracy by Sea is a Crime equal to Theft by Land Sixthly Killing a Man by Sea without lawful Authority is a Crime equal to Murder by Land Note Grotius answers not one of these Principles nor shews by any Authority when or where the Dominion of the Seas was by Usurpation Whereas the contrary has been practised by Kings and States as old as there are Records of any times but only feigns Premises not only contrary to the Authority of sacred History and all Antiquity but such as are absurd blasphemous and impossible considering the Nature of Man But these are not said in his Mare Liberum but in his Preface and Treatise of War and Peace So that to have answered these in this Treatise would have swelled it to a much greater Bulk than intended but if God please I shall hereafter answer these in a Treatise by it self The Principles thus premised we proceed to enquire what Soveraignty the Kings of England have claimed in the British Seas bordering upon England and Ireland since that Kingdom became subject to the Crown of England and leave it to unbiassed Readers whether the Kings of England claimed any thing contrary to any of these Premises The Claims which the Kings of England make to the Soveraignty of the British Seas are threefold 1. To protect their Subjects in all their just Employments upon the British Seas from all Hostility by Enemies whereof the Fishing in these Seas are the chief 2. To prevent Hostility by other Nations in these Seas 3. To receive an Acknowledgment from all Nations for their Protection in these Seas by striking their Flag in Submission to the King's Men of War which protect them By this Dominion of the British Seas the Kings of England more secure their Subjects from foreign Invasion than any other Potentates in the World how great soever their Territories are can do I will not swell this Treatise with what Mr. Selden Sir John Burroughs Mr. Camden and others have written of the Kings of England being possest of these Rights by immemorial Prescription and of the Maritime Laws they have made as well in reference to their Subjects as Foreigners nor of the Treaties they have made with Foreign Princes and the Compositions they have made for Licence to fish in the British Seas before the Dutch Government was formed into States nor was ever these Rights disputed by any of them before Grotius did this Year Nor is this Dominion in the Seas new in the World but as old is any Records of Time for of old the Egyptians Phenicians and Athenians enjoyed it and set Bounds to other Nations how far they would permit Nations to trade in them Sir Walter Rawleigh in his History of the World at large sets forth the long Wars between the Romans and Carthaginians in the first Punick War for this Dominion and the Romans being often beaten by the Carthaginians resolved to desist further Contention herein till they found that it was to little purpose to strive to extend their Dominion by Land if the Carthaginians were Masters at Sea So that the Dominions of the Seas which beat upon the Shores of Princes are not new or only usurped by the Kings of England but used by other Princes and States of old From more antient to descend to more recent times the Veâ—etians claim the Soveraignty in the Adriatick Gulf tho the Venetian Territories on either side of it are not one sixth part of it and cause all Ships even of the King of Spain and Great Turk whose Territories on both sides the Gulf are fivefold more than the Veâ—etians to pay Customs and other Duties In the Year 1630 Mary the Sister of the Queen of Spain being espoused to the Son of the Emperor Ferdinand the Vice-Roy of Naples provided a great Fleet to transport her to Triesti but tho the Venetians were involved in a War abroad and infected with a Plague at home they would not permit it but conveyed her by a Fleet of their own See Jo. Palatius de Dom. Maris l. 2. c. 6. In the Year 1638 a Turkish Fleet entring the Gulf without Licence was assaulted by the Venetian Admiral who sunk divers of their Vessels and forced the rest to fly to Valona and there besieged them tho the City and Port were in the Dominion of the Great Turk yet tho a dangerous War was like to have ensued hereon the Venetians rather than lose their Dominion insisted on their Right and concluded an honourable Peace with the Turk wherein it was agreed That as often as any Turkish Vessels did without Licence enter the Gulf it should be lawful for the Venetians to seize upon them by force if they would not otherwise obey see the Justification of the second Dutch War by K. Charles II. pag. 58 and the Grand Signior prohibits all Nations except his Vassals to enter the Euxine or Black Sea as also the Red Sea Dr. Stubbe in his Justification of King Charles the Second's Dutch War pag. 126. says the Danes and Norwegians would not permit either Fleming or English to fish near Schetland without Licence previously obtained and if any presumed
to fish without Licence they punished them with Loss of Life and Limb and were obliged to repair to Berghen and pay their Duties into the King's Exchequer there as appears by the Danish Records and other Monuments preserved in England and this avowed to have been practised consantly time out of mind Ann. 1432. Afterwards upon the Marriage of James 3. of Scotland with Margaret the Daughter of Christian 1. of Norway the Rights of the Fishery upon Schetland was transferred to the King of Scotland and his Heirs Anno 1470. and William Walwed a Scots Lawyer c. 3. de Dominio Maris says That in the past Age after a most bloody Quarrel between the Scots and Hollanders about the Fishery the Matter was at last composed in this manner That in time to come the Hollander should keep at least eighty Miles from the Coasts of Scotland And if by Accident they were driven nearer by the Violence of the Weather they paid a Tribute at the Port of Aberdeen before their Return where there was a Castle built and fortified for this and other Occasions Dr. Stubbe says that Gerard Malinus a most inquisitive Person informed him That after the Agreement between the King of Scotland and the Hollanders that the Dutch should not fish within eighty Miles of the Scots Coast lest the Shoals of Herrings should be interrupted King James before his coming to the Crown of England did let the Fishing upon the Coast of Scotland to the Hollanders for 15 Years And if this happen'd in the Year 1594 when Prince Henry was born then in the Year 1609 the Term expired when King James by his Proclamation enjoined the Dutch which fished upon the Coast of Scotland to take Licences But certain it is that the Dutch to caress King James the more at the Christning of Prince Henry were his Godfathers and presented the Prince with 400 Ounces of fine Gold and a Deed sealed whereby the Prince was yearly to receive 5000 Florins out of Camp-vere Mr. Stubbe says pag. 131 I believe from Authors truly cited by him The King of Denmark receives at his Ward-House in the Sound one Dollar for a Licence and for the Seal or Rose a Noble of every Ship and for every Last of Herrings being 12 Barrels one Dollar In Russia many Leagues from the Main or Land the Fishermen pay great Taxes to the King and in most places none but the Natives are permitted to fish but where the Hollanders are permitted to fish they pay the tenth Fish to the Emperor The King of Sweden amongst the Regalities of that Crown hath that of the tenth Fish caught in his Seas or if not that a Composition for the Fishery he has also several Districts Channels or Veins Royal in his Seas which are appropriated to his particular Use Nor is there any Fishing permitted in the open Seas there but by Leave and Direction of the Governour of the neighbouring Ports And Page 132 he says the same is practised by the King of Portugal in the Kingdom of Algarsues and the Natives pay a certain Tribute for their Liberty to fish And in Spain the Duke de Medina Sidonia does rent out of the Maritime Jurisdiction what he hath in reference to Fishing for 80000 Ducats of yearly Revenue Has not Grotius a fruitful Brain to find out those Usages by Princes and States in all Ages to be Usurpation against natural Right which lib. 1. sect 10. tit 5. de jure Belli Pacis is immutable by God himself and which never any Man before presumed to question But before we enquire into the Causes from which Grotius assumes to himself a Power which he denies to be in God Almighty let 's see how the Case stood with the Dutch when Grotius wrote his Mare Liberum both at home and abroad Tho the Seas were free Jure naturali as Grotius says yet I have seen a Dutch Placart printed the Year before Grotius wrote his Mare Liberum viz. 1632 and which Grotius might have seen as well as I wherein the States prescribe when and where the Dutch shall begin and proceed in their Fisheries and wherein they forbid the Use of French Salt in all their Fisheries and that Salts used in all of them shall be three times revised in three several Offices upon Penalty of Forfeiture of Fish and Salt which by Grotius's Doctrine is an Usurpation of the Natural Right which every Man has in the Sea and immutable by God himself Dr. Stubbe Page 132 says That the Fishermen in one Year paid the States 300000 l. for the Herrings and Codfish taken upon the Coasts of England and Scotland besides the tenth Fish and Cask paid for Waftage which comes at least to as much more which are Duties proper to the Kings of England and Scotland So that if what the Kings of England ever claimed by immemorial Prescription be an Usurpation against natural Right by Grotius's Doctrine I would be willingly informed by any of Grotius's Disciples by what Right then do these new States impose these things upon the Dutch who fish in these Seas If the Sea be free Jure naturali let any Man shew a Reason how the Dutch erect their East-India and West-India Companies only to trade in the East-Indies Africk and the West-Indies exclusive to the rest of the Dutch without a Violation of the natural Right of the other Dutch which Grotius says is immutable by God As Grotius's Title Mare Liberum is absurd and contrary to the Practice of his Country-men so his Manifesto of it is not less arrogant and intolerable viz. To the Princes and free People of the Christian World without so much as the Addition of sending greeting An Arrogance which no Pope ever assumed yet done by Grotius an exotick and proscribed Traitor for raising Arms and endeavouring to subvert the establish'd Church and State of his native Country The Topick whereon he founds his Manifesto is general and such as no Thief or Rogue ever pleaded to save their Lives viz. It is an Error not less old than pestilent which many Mortals but those especially who most abound in Wealth perswade themselves that Just and Vnjust is not distinguished by its own Nature but by an empty Opinion and Custom of Men and that all Right is to be measured by the Will and the Will by Profit But who these are who maintain these Opinions Grotius names none if they were his Acquaintance which I believe none of the Kings or Free People were except his Country-men were he should have convinced them to their Faces and not sneakingly have cavill'd at them behind their Backs I say I find this by no Nation or People so much practised as by the Tripolins Tunis Algier and Sally-men and his Country-men as will appear And if this will not oblige all Christian Princes and Free People to abandon all their Rights of Dominion to the Seas whereof they have been possessed by immemorial Prescription and leave all free for the
Dutch to do what they please in them then Grotius is at a Non-plus further to enforce it in his Manifesto If any Man can find any thing else to do it let him have it for his Pains I 'll not envy him But how hainously soever Grotius takes this old and pestilent Error yet he allows it in himself L. 1. C. 1. Sect. 10. de Jure Belli Pacis where he makes the Original of Human Society and the Law of Nature to be from the Will of Man and to be immutable by God himself But of this more shall be said hereafter The first Chapter of Grotius his Mare Liberum is to shew that Jure Gentium Navigation is free to all Men every where and therefore the Dutch may trade to the East-Indies tho the Portuguez were Lords of the whole East-Indies but much more it would be unjust in the Portuguez to exclude the Dutch from trading with those People there who have no Dependance upon the Portuguez and are willing to entertain Trade and Commerce with the Dutch Answer He who accuses another of any Crime had need take care he be not guilty of the same himself and if it be so old and pestilent a Crime in Princes and States to claim a Dominion in the Sea tho enjoyed by Immemorial Prescription Grotius should have done well to have shewed how his Country-men the beginning of whose States was in the Memory of thousands then alive should arrogate to themselves to be Commanders of all the Seas in the World Protectors of all the Kings and Princes in Europe and Supream Moderators of all the Affairs of all Christendom as you may read in William de Britaine of the DutchVsurpation pag. 20. If it be so old and pestilent an Error in the King of England to claim an Acknowledgment of Submission of the Dutch for the Kings protecting them in the British Seas how much more pestilent an Error was it for the Dutch Anno 1620 without any Provocation of the English and in time of Peace to seize the Bear and Star two English Ships in the Straits of Mallaca going to China and confiscated Ships and Goods valued at 150000 l. See William de Britaine pag. 18. So that it is by Grotius his Doctrine an old and pestilent Error in the King of England to protect all Nations in the British Seas from Piracy and Violence and free to the Dutch to be Pirates in the Indian Seas by a Grant from Hugo Grotius If the Seas be free Jure Gentium for all Nations to trade with one the other How then came it to pass that the Dutch excluded all Nations from trading to Amboyna and Polloroon for Spice to which they had no Title but by forcing the English from them in times of Peace and when they received no Injury from the English c. to say no worse And if it be so much more injurious for the Portuguez to hinder the Dutch from trading to those Kingdoms and People in the East-Indies who have no Dependance upon the Portuguez I would know a Reason why it is not as highly injurious in the Dutch by their Fort Lillo upon the Scheld to hinder the English and all other Nations from trading to Antwerp and other Places in the Spanish Netherlands which have no Dependance upon the Dutch Here give me leave to observe tho after Grotius wrote his Mare Liberum That in the Marine Treaty made by King Charles the Second Anno 1674 it was agreed by the first Article that the Subjects of the King should with all Freedom and Safety sail and trade in all those Kingdoms and Countries in Peace Amity or Neutrality with the King and not be hindred or molested by Military Force or Ships of War of the Dutch upon any occasion of Hostility or Difference which now is or hereafter shall be yet this Treaty was scarce concluded when the English Ships trading to Antwerp were stopt by a Dutch Man of War riding before the Fort Lillo and forced to go back to Flushing or Rotterdam and there constrained to unlade their Vessels and pay their Customs and lade their Goods in Dutch Bottoms and to pay such Fraights as the Dutch pleased to impose upon them and this Usage notwithstanding this Treaty is still continued I think a like Instance cannot be given that ever any King of England served the Dutch or any other Nation so trading in the British Seas I do agree with Grotius that God hath so disposed this our Habitable Globe that some Places abound with things convenient and necessary for Human Use which the People of other Places want and that for the Entertainment of mutual Society and Commerce in all the habitable Places of the World Accession may be had by Water which cannot be done by Land but this cannot be done in a State of Anarchy or where Men live out of Society which tho Grotius would have the Dominion of the Sea to be yet he gives not one Instance of it nor how it can possibly be but more of this when we examine Grotius his Original of Human Society in his Treatise De Jure Belli Pacis The second Chapter of Grotius his Mare Liberum is that the Portuguez have not right of Dominion to those Indies to which the Dutch trade by the Title of Invention or first finding them out Answ They have as good a Title as the Dutch have to their new Batavia which they filcht from the Natives or to Amboyna Polloroon the Islands of Seran Nero Waire Basingen Latro Cambello Nitto Larica and Lantare which they filcht from the English then at Peace and Amity with them The third Chapter is the Portuguez have no right of Dominion to the Indies by the Donation of the Pope Answ Yet this Title is better than the Dutch have who have no Donation but by their own Will and Usurpation The fourth Chapter is the Portuguez have no right of Dominion against the Indians by the Title of War Answ As much as the Dutch have nor did they ever practise such Barbarities against the Natives and other Nations trading to the East-Indies as the Dutch have done and yet do The fifth Chapter is that the right of navigating to the Indies is not proper to the Portuguez by the Title of Occupation and here Grotius tells you abundance of Fictions of Poets and Tales of popular Orators which may serve better for Ballads than Foundations of a Discourse of this Nature Answ The Portuguez Title herein is better than the Dutch for they were Occupatants long before the Dutch were or their Government was form'd into States The sixth Chapter is the same with the third and needs no other Answer The seventh Chapter tho in the Print the third is that the right of Navigation is not proper to the Portuguez by the Title of Prescription or Custom Answ As Grotius puts the Case at large I do not find nor believe the Portuguez ever claimed or pretended to
how to erect a High Commission Court in Scotland by the King's Authority without Consent in Parliament for proceeding against such as would not submit to the Common-Prayer Book and Canons enjoined by the King and Bishops of Scotland and upon the 28th of February the Arch-bishop consecrated Dr. Manwaring Bishop of St. Davids a worthy Successor to so Saint-like and pious a Predecessor for this Bishoprick was Laud's first Preferment You have seen his Grace of Canterbury's Temper towards the King's Subjects now see how it was towards the King His Grace being as high as England could admit viz. Metropolitan and first Peer thereof would visit both Universities by his Metropolitan Right and not by Commission from the King and signified so much to both to which both answered That to admit it without a Warrant from the King was a Wrong to the Vniversities his Grace was Chancellour of Oxford and the Earl of Holland of Cambridg The Cause came to a hearing before the King and Council the 21st of June 1634 where the Attorney General Banks was for his Grace against the King Mr. Gardener the Recorder of London â—or Cambridg and Serjeant Thyn for Oxford the Cause was shortly this Both sides agreed in this that both Universities were of the King's Foundation and so might be visited as they had often been by Commission from the King But this would not do with his Grace he would to use his own Words visit by his own Right Serjeant Thyn urged against this the King's Foundation of the University of Oxford and that never any Arch-bishop so visited But the Recorder could not say so of Cambridg which happened upon this Occasion In the Reign of Richard the Wickliff's Doctrine prevailed much in both Universities and Arundel then Arch-bishop of Canterbury as zealous to suppress the Wicklevites as Laud was the Puritans to suppress them did visit Jure Metropolitano but Oxford opposed him forti Manu Upon this Arundel appeals to the King who being a weak Prince and as zealous for the then Church as King Charles was for Laud's declares the Right to be in the Bishop so did Henry the 4th the Current running against Wickliff which was after confirmed in Parliament but Cambridg was not in it Yet never before did any Arch-bishop visit Oxford nor Cambridg since the Year 1404 Jure Metropolitano as his Grace would do and so the Cause went for the Arch-bishop Plum'd thus in his own Feathers all black and white without one borrowed from Caesar whereby the more he assumes to himself the less he leaves the King he now soars higher the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury in their own Names enjoin the Removal of the Communion Table in the Parish-Churches and Universities from the Body of the Church or Chancel to the East of the Chancel and cause Rails to be set about the Table and refuse to administer the Sacrament to such as shall not come up to the Rails and receive it kneeling that the Book of Sports on Sundays be read in Churches and enjoin Adoration I do not find that Adoration was ever enjoined before nor any of the fore-named Injunctions in any Canon of the Church sure I am they were never publickly put in Execution so that whether these were any of the Canons of the Church or not was not understood by one of 10000 and the Lecturers Chaplains and School-masters who had no Maintenance from the Church being principally struck at by these Injunctions make all the sinister and worst Constructions they could invent against them so that though those Injunctions had been founded in the Canons of the Church yet the contrary was believed and so had the same Effect as if they had not been founded in the Church-Canons Here I cannot omit one Passage That several were deprived by the Bishop's Authority for refusing to read the Book of Sports on Sunday Whereas King James the 2d allowed the seven Bishops a legal Trial for refusing to enjoin the Clergy to read his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience and the Bishops were acquitted That the Legality of these Proceedings might be manifest a Proclamation was issued out that it was the Opinion of the Judges that the Act of the 1 Edw. 6. 2. which ordains that Bishops should hold their Ecclesiastical Courts in the King's Name or by Commission from him was repealed by the 1st of Queen Mary though this Act was repealed by the 1 Jac. 25. and so the Act 1 Edw. 6. 2. was revived and so resolved upon a full Debate in Parliament 7 Jacobi The Thunder of those Canons the terrible and unheard of Execution of them in the Star-Chamber against all Opposers by Speech or Writing so terrified the Puritans which would not submit that incredible Numbers of them left the Kingdom to inhabit in foreign Plantations especially in New-England where these Ecclesiastical Canons could not well play upon them But to restrain the further Evasion of them the King by Proclamation the 30th of April 1638 stops all the Ports of England to keep them in it The Reason was no doubt that they might be better instructed in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England here than elsewhere But Ship-Money notwithstanding my Lord Keeper Coventry's Charge to the Judges last Year that in their Circuits they should give Charge how justly the King required Ship-Money for the common Defence and with what Alacrity and Chearfulness they the Subjects are bound in Duty to contribute yet this did not pass-for true Doctrine with all for Mr. Hambden upon Advice with Holborn St. John and Whitlock denied the Payment whereupon several other Gentlemen refused also Hereupon the King was advised by the Lord Chief Justice Finch to require the Opinion of his Judges which he did in a Letter to them and after much Solicitation by the Chief Justice promising Preferment to some and highly threatning others whom he found doubting he got from them in Answer to the King's Letter and Case their Opinion in these Words We are of Opinion that when the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger you may by your Writ under the Great Seal of England command all your Subjects of this your Kingdom at their Charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such time as your Majesty shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from Peril and Danger And that your Majesty may compel the doing thereof in case of Refusal or Refractoriness And we are also of Opinion that in such Case your Majesty is sole Judg both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided This Opinion was signed by Davenport Denham Hutton Croke Trevor Bramston Finch Vernon Berkly Crawley and Weston See Whitlock ' s Memoirs f. 24. The King having previously extorted the Judges Opinions exparte gave order for the Proceedings against Mr. Hambden in the
Exchequer where he pleaded and the King's Counsel demurring the Point in Law came to be argued on both sides Mr. Whitlock has a remarkable Passage of Judg Croke concerning his Opinion in the Case of which he speaks knowingly viz. that the Judg was resolved to give his Judgment for the King and to that end had prepared his Argument yet a few Days before he was to argue upon some Discourse with some of his nearest Relations and most serious Thoughts of the Business and being heartned thereto by his Lady who was a good and pious Woman told her Husband upon this Occasion That she hoped he would do nothing against his Conscience for fear of any Danger or Prejudice to him or his Family and that she was content to suffer Want or any Misery with him rather than be an Occasion for him to do or say any thing against his Conscience or Judgment Upon these and many the like Incouragements but chiefly upon better thoughts he suddenly altered his Purpose and Arguments and when it came to his turn contrary to Expectation he argued and declared his Opinion against the King and so did Judg Hutton after however the rest of the Judges gave their Opinions against Mr. Hambden However the King this Year to sweeten the Judges Opinion for levying Ship-Money set out a Navy of sixty Men of War to disturb the Dutch Fishing on the Coasts of England and Scotland under the Command of the Earl of Northumberland who seized and sunk several of the Dutch Busses whereupon they sued to the King for leave to fish promising to pay an Acknowledgment of 30000 l. per Annum But this ill agreed with the King's Reason for levying Ship-Money which was that Pirats infested our Coasts to the indangering the Safety of the Nation See William de Britaine f. 16 17. But if the Dutch were thus bold upon our Coasts by the Liberty granted them by Hugo Grotius they were much bolder in the East-Indies where they stile themselves Soveraigns of all the Seas in the World for Anno 1620 they seized upon two Ships of the English called the Bear and the Star in the Straits of Mallaca going to China and confiscated Ships and Goods valued at 150000 l. I suppose Grotius could not give a like Instance of any Dutch Ships so used for passing through the Channel and last Year viz. 1635 an English Ship called the Bona Esperanza going towards China by the Straits of Mallaca was violently assaulted by three Dutch Men of War the Master and many of the Men killed and the Ship brought into Mallaca and there the Ship and Goods were confiscate valued at 150000 l. and this very Year the Dragon and Katherine two English Ships of Sir William Courten valued at 300000 l. besides the Commanders and others who had great Estates in them were set upon by seven Dutch Men of War as they past the Straits of Mallaca from China and by them taken the Men tied back to back and thrown over-board the Goods taken out of the Ships which were sunk and seized for the State The State and Church of England thus established in Doctrine and Discipline the Arch-bishop's next Care was to have the same in Scotland and herein he was so absolute that the King told the Marquess Hamilton when he was his Commissioner in Scotland that the Arch-bishop was the only English-man he entrusted in the Ecclesiastical Affairs in Scotland and no Care need be had of the Church of Ireland since my Lord Viscount Wentworth was Lieutenant there who to all Intents pursued the Arch-bishop's Instructions Here let 's see how the Church stood in Scotland before the Arch-bishop undertook to reform it James the 5th of Scotland died the 13th of December 1542 leaving only one Daughter Mary but five Days old by Mary of Lorain his Wife Sister to Francis Duke of Guise and Charles Cardinal of Lorain two the most powerful Princes in France after King Henry the 2d and the most zealously addicted to the Popish Religion After the King's Death Cardinal Beaton got a Priest Henry Balfour to forge the King's Will whereby the Cardinal the Earls of Huntley Argile and Murray were to have the Government during the Queen's Minority but the Nobility not believing it chose the Earl of Arran Governour and Henry the King of England desiring to unite the Kingdoms by marrying his Son Edward with the Infant-Queen sent a solemn Embassy to the Governour and Council of Scotland to consent to this Marriage which was done only the Queen Dowager and the Cardinal dissenting and this was confirm'd by the Parliament convened at Edinburgh the 13th of March following Yet the Queen-Mother and Cardinal got the Queen to be married to Francis the Dauphin Son of Henry the 2d of France In this Parliament the Scots were permitted to read the Scripture in the English Tongue till the Prelates should publish one more correct But in the Year 1559 the Scots began their Reformation in Religion at Perth the intervening Accidents of the Scots Endeavours to reform and the Opposition by the Regent the Cardinal and the Prelates you may read in Bishop Spotswood's History of the Church of Scotland and Sir Melvil's Memoirs To suppress the Progress of this Reformation the Queen-Mother who was Regent calls in an Army and Navy of French to oppose them The Reformers call in an Army and Navy of English the English Fleet fire the French Ships in their Harbour and compel the French to leave Scotland and in 1560 the Queen Regent died leaving Scotland in a kind of Interregnum In August following a Parliament convened at Edinburgh by a Warrant from the King and Queen wherein the Mass and Popery were suppressed and the Reformation of the Kirk of Scotland in Doctrine and Discipline established but the King and Queen now of France as well as Scotland refused to confirm either nor was this Kirk-Doctrine and Discipline confirmed till the Queen was deposed and Murray made Regent in 1567. The Reformation was purely after the Mode of Calvin and Church of Geneva a Common-Prayer was ordained not strictly to be observed but as a Pattern of Prayer In it were ordained four sorts of Assemblies viz. National Provincial Weekly Meetings of Ministers and the Eldership of every Parish Superintendents were likewise established whose Office was to visit the Kirk within limited Places these had Power to cite and deprive Ministers but must be assisted by some grave Ministers next adjoining as also to ordain Ministers But the Hierarchy of the Church of Scotland as they were esteemed one of the States in Parliament was not then nor after taken away by Parliament nor their Power of Ordination and Visiting within their Diocesses yet in Visitation and Ordination the Superintendents had a concurring Power with the Bishops and the Bishops were subject to be cited and proceeded against for Scandal neglect of their Office Symony c. by the General Assemblies This Reformation viz. 1581 was subscribed by
start from and that therein they were the King 's most Dutiful Subjects Things could not long stay here but upon the 20th of August in 1640 the Scots enter England with an Army of about 22000 Men commanded by General Lesley to deliver a Petition for Reformation of Religion and State and to justify their Proceedings and begin as the King did at the opening of all his Parliaments with the Necessity of their Proceedings The King the same day the Scots entred England posts to York having made the Earl of Northumberland General of his Army the Earl of Strafford Lieutenant-General and my Lord Marshal the Earl of Arundel General of his Forces on the South-side of Trent When the King came to York his first Care was to stop the Scots from passing the River Tine and commanded the Lord Conway and Sir Jacob Astly to oppose them but the Scots having the advantage of the Ground and sixfold more in number than the English force their Passage at Newborn about five Miles from Newcastle to the West and take Newcastle and after Durham and tax the Counties of Northumberland and Durham at 850 l. a day but the Rents of the Papists and the Church of Durham they take over and above The King instead of fighting the Scots is encountred with Complaints from the Inhabitants of Yorkshire Durham and Northumberland of the Miseries of their Condition then with Petitions from many of the Nobility the City of London and other Places for a free Parliament upon this the King assembles a great Council of the Nobility to advise what to do Now things are brought to the Point Richlieu had designed them The King in these two Expeditions had spent all the 900000 l. he before had lodged in his Exchequer and now had two Armies to maintain in the Bowels of his Kingdom when he not only had no means to pay either but also without doubt the Scotish Army were Pensioners to France The Lords advise a Truce which is accepted and all agreed but how to pay the Armies till a Parliament meet was a Question the Scots coming for all the English Mens Gudes demand but 40000 l. per Mensem but like their Country Pedlars fall to 25000 l. which is agreed which with the Charge of the English Army would amount to 60000 l. per Mensem to save the Country from Free-quarter In this Treaty the King named the Earl of Traquair to be assistant to the English Peers but the Scots excepted against him as an Incendiary and one to be brought to Punishment the King submits and leaves him out But how to provide Money to pay both Armies till the meeting of the Parliament which was to meet the third of November is the Question The King had not Credit it could not be had but from the City of London which was upon ill Terms with the King for Alderman Atkins Sir Nicholas Ranton and Alderman Geere were by Order of the Council in Prisons in London and the Attorney-General had Orders to draw an Information against them in the Star-Chamber for refusing to return the Names of such as were able to lend upon a Loan of 200000 l. demanded by the King The Lords therefore of the Great Council write to the City of London signifying the King 's gracious Resolution of calling a Parliament wherein he promised all Grievances to be redrest the Miseries of the Country if the Armies were not paid and not less than 200000 l. could prevent them and the Lords would give their Bonds for the City's Security whereupon the City lent the Money and then the Treaty was adjourned from Rippon to London But that we may better see how things stood at the opening of the Parliament let us look back a little After the King had dissolved the Parliament May the 5th he left the Convocation sitting who frame an Oath wherein they swear never to consent to alter the Government of the Church by Arch-bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-deacons c. as it stands now established and as by right it ought to stand which was interpreted to be Jure Divino They also made sixteen Canons and Goodman Bishop of Glocester for refusing to subscribe the Oath and Canons was suspended Being encouraged by Mountague Bishop of Norwich and Laud ' s Creature who Goodman said had in his Person visited and held Correspondence with the Pope's Nuncio and received his Letters in behalf of his Son who was then travelling to Rome and by his Letters had extraordinary Entertainment there Nor did the Convocation stay here but granted the King a Benevolence of six Subsidies to be paid in six Years the Refusers to be suspended and excommunicated To such an Extremity did the Clergy push things in this techy and disorderly time But any Man may easily guess the Spring which set all these Wheels in motion And it is observable that the Clergy who now taxed their fellow Subjects without Consent of the Commons shall ever hereafter be taxed by the Commons without the Consent of the Clergy CHAP. III. A Continuation of this Reign to the Death of the King UPon the third of November the Parliament met and the Nation which for above fifteen Years had been ridden by a more than French Government now look upon the Parliament I mean the Houses to become their Redeemers and by how much more Honour the Nation gives them so much less they leave to the King And here again you may see the unhappy Fate of Princes who treat their Subjects as Enemies and Favourites as their only Friends and Confidents For the first that forsook the King and run beyond Sea was Canterbury's old Friend Secretary Windebank next after him flies Finch and after the Earl of Arundel and scarce one of his old Favourites I mean before the Scots Troubles stood by him except my Lord Cottington Secretary Cooke was either really or politickly sick Juxton Bishop of London indifferent and in all the Wars lived in the Parliament Quarters but all the rest sided with the Parliament against him Only Laud and Strafford are laid in Prison and after put to Death Nor were the Factions less pliable to entertain these Minions and Favourites than they were forward to join with them I 'll give you one Instance herein In this Parliament all those who would not join them were called Delinquents and upon a Debate in the House of Commons concerning an Order in the Star-Chamber signed by my Lord Privy-Seal Secretary Cooke and others it was moved to send for Secretary Cooke as a Delinquent Another Member my nearest Relation from whom I had this moved That since Sir John Cooke was aged and infirm and above a hundred Miles off and my Lord Privy-Seal in Town therefore that the House should proceed against my Lord To whom Mr. Pym reply'd That whatever my Lord 's ante Acta Vitae were yet since he now went right that all ought to be forgotten Nay so zealous were these new-converted Minions and Favourites
Never was Nation shuffled into such unhappy Circumstances for to join the King was to return to his Prerogative Royal and Absolute Will and Pleasure and I have oft heard several of those who followed the King in the War say They as much dreaded the King's overcoming the Parliament-Party as they feared to be overcome by them And the Houses had broken the Fundamental Constitution of the Nation so as no Man could tell where they would stay Now are things brought to that pass Richlieu design'd them viz. England and Ireland in Civil Wars and Scotland Pensioners to France so as he might now securely carry on his Designs of advancing the Grandeur of France without any Fear of Disturbance from hence And now you may see the miserable Condition the King's Minions and Favourites had brought upon the King and all his Kingdoms Yet it is observable how great the Loyalty of the Nobility and Gentry was to the King that from so low Beginnings in all Appearance they would have subdued the Parliament-party if the Scots next Year had not come to their Assistance whereas in the Reigns of Edward the 2d and Richard the 2d though the Grievances of the Nation were more in one Year of this King's Reign than in both their Reigns yet both were expelled and lost their Lives their Subjects not drawing a Sword in their Defence An Apology BEfore we enter upon the War between the King and Parliament it will not be amiss to enquire into the Causes of it and who first began it and whether the King or Parliament or both designed it And I am the rather induced hereto because I am told that I have unjustly charged the Parliament with beginning the War and that the contrary appears by a Treatise written by Tho. May Esq of the Causes and Beginning of the Civil Wars in England So that the Question between us is not who first designed the War but who began it But because Designations and Intentions precede Action I will begin so far as appears to me Whether the King or Parliament first designed this War or whether it were not intended by both And give me leave to shew a little of Mr. May's Partiality in the Business I say Mr. May is partial where page 13 he says after the Pacification made with the Scots 1639 that when the King came to London his Heart was again estranged from the Scots and Thoughts of Peace he commanded by Proclamation that Paper which the Scots avowed to contain the true Conditions of the Pacification to be disavowed and burnt by the Hands of the common Hangman So that he makes the Scots Parties and Judges in their own Case without mentioning the Articles of the Pacification or what the Scots avowed to contain the true Conditions of it We will therefore set forth the Articles of the Pacification and let another Judg whether the Scots observed them or had any Thoughts of Peace The Articles were 1. The Forces of Scotland to be disbanded within 24 Hours after the Agreement 2. The King's Castles Ammunition c. to be delivered up 3. His Ships to depart after the Delivery of the Castles 4. All Persons Ships and Goods detained by the King to be restored 5. No Meetings Treaties or Consultations to be by the Scots but such as shall be warranted by Act of Parliament 6. All Fortifications to desist and be remitted to the King's Pleasure 7. To restore to every Man their Liberties Lands Houses Goods and Means The Articles were signed by the Scots Commissioners and a present Performance of them on their Parts promised and expected The King justly performed the Articles on his part but the Scots kept part of their Forces in being and all their Officers in pay and the Covenanters kept up their Fortification at Leith and their Meetings and Councils and inforce Subscriptions to the late Assembly at Glasgow contrary to the King's Declaration they brand those who had taken Arms for the King as Incendiaries and Traitors and null all the Acts of the College of Justice as you may read in Mr. Whitlock's Memoirs f. 29. So that tho the King performed all the Articles of Pacification on his Part the Scots performed not one on their Part. Nor did the Scots stay here but published a Paper very seditious against the Treaty which is that which Mr. May speaks of I do not find the Copy of it but even Mr. Whitlock no great Friend to the King's Cause calls it so Nor did the Scots stay here but levied Taxes at ten Marks per Cent. and made Provision for Arms as you may read in Sir Baker's History f. 408. and more at large in the second part of Rushworth's Collections and all this before the King commanded the Scots Paper to be burnt by the Hand of the Common Hangman And therefore the King justly commanded the Scots Paper to be burnt by the Hand of the common Hangman And Mr. May says The honest People of both Nations began to fear another War But why does Mr. May say the honest People began to fear another War Was it honest in the Scots to break all the Articles of the Pacification to keep their Forces in a Body and their Officers in Pay contrary to the Pacification to raise Taxes and make Provision of Arms and after all these honest Men to begin to fear another War Mr. May goes on and says The King in December told the Council he intended to call a Parliament in England in April following But rational Men did not like it that it was deferred so long and that the Preparations for a War in Scotland went on in the mean time The last part is gratis dictum by Mr. May nor does he mention any Preparation for a War in any one particular nor do I find this said by any other But admit the King had made Preparation for a War with Scotland yet by all Laws of God and Man the King might justly have done it after the Scots had broken all the Articles of Pacification kept an Army on foot against it levied Taxes by their own Authority and made Provision of Arms without the King's Authority which besides the Perfidiousness of the Scots is Treason in the highest degree And I would be glad to be informed by what other means the King could vindicate his Honour or relieve his oppressed Subjects otherwise than by a War Mr. May goes on and says They these rational Men were likewise troubled that the Earl of Strafford Deputy of Ireland a Man of deep Policy but suspected Honesty one whom the King then used as a bosom Counsellor was first to go into Ireland and call a Parliament in that Kingdom And what then Why might not the King call a Parliament in Ireland as well as in England or Scotland And if these rational Men did not like it as he says that a Parliament should be deferred so long in England why should these rational Men be so troubled that the King
should call a Parliament in Ireland Nor does Mr. May give any Reason why they should be so troubled Besides Mr. May says The King at that time had broken up the Parliament in Scotland which the Scots complained of the Business of State depending as a great Breach of their Liberties and against the Laws of that Kingdom So here again Mr. May makes the Scots Parties and Judges in their own Cause and is not ingenuous in thus charging the King at random and not shewing what Business of State was then depending It 's fit therefore to shew what Business of State was then depending before Mr. May's rational Men should be so troubled at the King 's breaking up the Parliament The Scots having as before said violated all the Articles of Pacification on their part and persecuted the Loyal Scots expresly contrary to the Pacification as Incendiaries and Traitors levied Taxes provided Ammunition of War and kept an Army on foot The Parliament over and above these formed these Demands to be made to the King 1. That Coin be not medled with but by Advice in Parliament 2. That no Stranger be to command or inhabit in any Castles of the King 's but by their Advice 3. That no Honour be granted to any Stranger but such as have a competency of Land-Rent in Scotland 4. No Commissioner or Lieutenancy but for a limited time And next they protest against the Precedency of the Lord Treasurer and Lord Privy Seal as not warranted by any positive Law See Baker 408. These were the Businesses of State which Mr. May speaks of which added to what the Scots usurped before I would know what Regality would be left for the King and a Reason why Mr. May's rational Men should be so troubled for the King 's dissolving the Parliament Mr. May drives on and says Upon which they sent some Lords into England to intreat the King for a Redress of such Injuries as they had received since the Pacification which were that the Parliament was broken up before any Business done If they made it their Business to divest the King as they did of his Rightful Regalities the King had reason therefore to break them up That Edinburgh Castle was garison'd with far more Soldiers than was needful So here the Scots are Parties and Judges in their own Cause and you need not doubt but that so many Soldiers as shall be able to defend the Castle shall be judged by the Scots to be more than is needful That Dunbritton Castle was garison'd by English Soldiers And why might not the King do it for the English as well as Scots were his Subjects But I dare say if these had been the honest rational English-men May speaks of neither he nor the Scots would ever have complain'd of it That the Scots which traded to England and Ireland sure they mean Pedlars prohibited by Law were enforced to take new Oaths contrary to their Covenant and altogether contrary to the Articles of Pacification Whereas their Covenant is a new Oath contrary to their Allegiance And if there were any such new Oaths why do neither the Scots nor Mr. May name them or if any such were imposed that was so far from being altogether contrary to the Articles of Pacification that I say they were not contrary to any one Article of the Pacification unless the Scots or Mr. May could make new Articles of Pacification and other than those before mentioned The King Mr. May says imprisoned those Lords sending one of them the Earl of Lowden to the Tower and commanded a Charge of High Treason to be drawn against him concerning a Letter which the Scotish Covenanters had written to the King of France French King had been as well for his Assistance and Lowden had subscribed it But the Accusation was frivolous easily answered and came to nothing because these Letters were not sent at all and besides it was before the Pacification upon which an Oblivion of all things were agreed So here are two impertinent and frivolous Answers to excuse a most treasonable and rebellious Conspiracy to bring in a foreign Power into Scotland for it was subscribed by Rothes Montross Lesley Marre Montgomery Lowden and Forrester under the Title of Au Roy or our King to Lewis 13. The first is That those Letters were not sent at all because they were intercepted by the Earl of Traquair the King's Commissioner in Scotland If Mr. May had not been a Christian yet the very Heathen by the Light of Humane Nature could have informed him that Scelus intra se tacitum qui cogitat ullum Facti Crimen habet And if Conspiracies of Rebellion and Treason against Princes shall be esteemed frivolous unless they evade into Actions Princes and States too would be in a very unsecure state and all Counsel and Endeavours to prevent them would be vain and frivolous and I say here was a double Overt-Act in this Conspiracy one the Conspirators Meeting the other the Subscribing the Paper The other Answer That the Pacification was after the Subscription and so there was an Oblivion upon it But the Pacification was reciprocal between the King and Scots and if the Scots first broke the Pacification as they did let them take all that followed and therefore the King had no Reason to perform his Part nor the Scots to complain if the King had hanged and quartered Lowden The War Mr. May says p. 16. went on the Earl of Strafford commanding in Chief the Earl of Northumberland not being in Health who was appointed General But if Mr. May had been ingenuous and impartial he should have told on which Side the War began which he does not but only says the Scots had not been backward for having been debarred of their Trade and lost their Ships by Seizure they entred England with an Army expressing their Intentions in writing to the English and bringing with them a Petition to the King Admit all this to be true the Scots should first have represented this to the King and what was their Loss by being debarred of their Trade and the Value of their Ships so seized and upon Denial to have granted Letters of Reprizal till they had recovered Satisfaction but of this Mr. May says not one Word nor do I find or believe the Scots ever did demand Satisfaction before they entred England in open Hostility and in Defiance of the King and English Nation and for the Manner of bringing their Petition to the King it was without Precedent or such as never was done by any other People for they entred England and maintained their Army by Plunder and Rapine upon the English and when Lesley came to Newborn upon Tine he craves leave of my Lord Conway ordered by the King to guard the Pass there to pass with his Petition to the King which my Lord Conway granted with a considerable Number but not with his Army Hereupon Lesley who had the Night before planted nine Pieces of Cannon on
King was knowing of both one was to have delivered the Earl of Strafford out of the Tower but Sir William Balfour the Lieutenant would not consent to it Here note The King made Balfour a Scot Lieutenant of the Tower one of the greatest Places of Trust in England without any Complaint of the Parliament whenas the Parliament of Scotland in their second Demand made to the King would have no Stranger to command or inhabit in any Castles of the King 's without their Consent The other part of this Treason chief of all the rest But why all when but two Mr. May says was a Design to bring up the English Army which was in the North and not yet disbanded this Army they had dealt with to engage against the Parliament's sitting and as they alledg to maintain the King's Prerogative Episcopacy and other things against the Parliament it self This Charge is so false as well as partial as no Man who had any regard to Truth Honesty or Fairness would have so expos'd himself for if the King's Prerogative be not maintain'd he can neither govern his Subjects nor protect them from Foreign Enemies and Episcopacy is one of the Constitutions of the Nation and how the maintaining these can be against the Parliament had need of a wiser Head than Mr. May's to shew But these two are not all Mr. May says but there were other things against the Parliament if there had been other things I do not think Mr. May would in Modesty have conceal'd them but since Mr. May has not given the Causes of this chief Treason I will do it and not follow Sir Richard Baker nor Franklin lest they should be deemed to be partial to the King's Cause but Mr. Whitlock whom no Man believes to be so who fol. 44. b. says June 19th It was voted that the Scots should receive 100000 l. of the 300000 l. the Scots by a Paper pretended Necessity for 125000 l. in present the Parliament took off 10000 l. of 50000 l. which they had appointed for the English Army and order'd it for the Scots The Lord Piercy Commissary Wilmot and Ashburnham Members of Parliament sitting together and murmuring at it Wilmo◠stept up and said That if such Papers of the Scots could procure Monies he doubted not but the Officers of the English Army would soon do the like and this caused the English Army to say The Parliament had disobliged them The Officers put themselves into a Juncto of sworn Secrecy and drew up some Heads by way of Petition to the King and Parliament for Money for the Army and not to disband before the Scots to preserve the Bishops Votes and Functions and to settle the King's Revenue The Army tainted from hence met and drew up a Letter or Petition which was shewed to the King approv'd and signed by him with C. R. and a Direction to Captain Leg that none should see it but Sir Jacob Ashley it should have been Astly the main drift was That the Army might be call'd up to attend the Safety of the King's Person and Parliament's Security or that both Armies might be disbanded Where is this chief Treason lodg'd unless in Mr. May's Brain Or where is the King's Prerogative mention'd But as the Times then went Mr. May took liberty to say what he list to humour them the Scots must be obey'd in whatsoever they demand and it must be chief Treason in the English to petition Mr. May p. 32 33. will have the King 's going into Scotland to be a Design to raise War against the Parliament of England and to that end tells a Story of a Scots Writer that published that it was to engage the Scots against the Parliament of England with large Promises of Spoil and offering Jewels of great Value for Performance of it but he names not the Scot and leaves it uncertain for the Reader to judg by what fell out afterward But if he the King did it was a matter of great Falshood Mr. May says having as yet declar'd no Enmity against the English Parliament From the same Author he says it was to make sure of those Noblemen of that Kingdom he doubted of as not willing to serve his turn against England and true it is that about September Letters came to the standing Committee at Westminster that a Treasonable Plot was discovered there against the greatest Peers of the Kingdom but says not which Kingdom upon which the standing Committee fearing some Mischief from the same Spring placed strong Guards in divers Places of the City of London But in all this the Fox is the Finder and Mr. May as partial and false as in all he said before The truth was Jealousies and Fears were fomented by the Parliamentarians and even by the Members themselves against the King and Royalists But Mr. Whitlock tho of like Affection with Mr. May yet a much more impartial Representer of the Actions of those Times fol. 49. a. represents it thus The Marquesses of Hamilton and Argyle withdrew from the Parliament in Scotland upon Jealousy of some Design against their Persons but upon Examination of that matter by the Parliament there it was found to be a Misinformation yet the same took fire in our Parliament upon the Surmises of some whereupon the Parliament here appointed Guards for London and Westminster and some spake 〈◊〉 without Reflection upon the King The Royalists charge the Parliament at least the Commons with a Design to raise War against the King and to make him odious to the People after he had granted all the Parliament desired of him and given up those whom they call'd evil Counsellors to their Justice for their Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom after the King's return out of Scotland which because of the Extraordinariness of it we will recite it verbatim as is said by Mr. Whitlock f. 49. b. The House of Commons prepared a Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom wherein they mentioned All the Mistakes Misfortunes Illegalities and Defaults in Government since the King 's coming to the Crown the evil Counsels and Counsellors and a malignant Party that they have no hopes of settling the Distractions of this Kingdom for want of a Concurrence with the Lords This Remonstrance was somewhat roughly penn'd both for the Matter and Expressions in it and met with great Opposition in the House insomuch as the Debate of it lasted from three a Clock in the Afternoon till ten next Morning and the sitting up all Night caused many of the Members through Weakness or Weariness to leave the House and Sir B. R. I think he means Sir Benj. Rudyard to compare it to the Verdict of a starv'd Jury When the Vote was carried tho not by many to pass the Remonstrance Mr. Palmer and two or three more made their Protestation against this Remonstrance for which they were sent to the Tower This Remonstrance was presently printed and published by the Parliament contrary to the King's Desire
and before his Answer made to it which came forth shortly after to all the Heads of it Now let any shew a Precedent when one State in Parliament appealed to the People and arraigned the King and the other two States unheard and against the King's express Desire and he shall be my great Apollo And if the End be first consider'd in every Action what could be the End of publishing this Remonstrance Or how could it tend to the settling the Distractions of the Kingdom I make this difference between Reproof and Reproach Reproof is privately to admonish another of such Speeches and Actions as tend to the hurt of his Reputation and Fortune so as this other may avoid them for the future Reproach is to divulge the Speeches and Actions of another to the lessening of the Fame and Credit of that other Reproof is the Act of a Friend Reproach of an Enemy And was this a time of day for the Commons thus to reproach the King for his past Actions after he had redressed all their Grievances and given up his Evil Counsellors to their Justice Or was it ever known before that when the King had redressed Grievances they should be after rip'd up to reproach him The first Effects of this Remonstrance Mr. Whitlock mentions is That during this time and taking the opportunity from these Differences between the King and Parliament divers of the City of the meaner sort came in great Numbers and Tumults to Whitehall where with many unseemly and insolent Words and Actions they incensed the King and went from thence in like Posture to Westminster behaving themselves with extream Rudeness towards some of the Members of both Houses and tho the King sent to the Lord Mayor to call a Common Council to prevent these riotous Assemblies yet I do not find the Commons took any Care herein and how these Actions of the Commons tended to settle the Distractions of the Nation or the Relief of Ireland let any impartial Man judg But of all this Mr. May takes no notice yet does of the Parliament's petitioning the King for a Guard for the Security of their Persons being informed of a Plot contrived against them such another as that of Scotland and the Earl of Essex to command it which tho the King denied he promised to take care for their Safety Since Mr. May had no better luck with his Scotish Plot he 'll be sure of one now by the King 's entring into the House of Commons attended by 300 Gentlemen and seated in the Speaker's Chair and demanded five Members viz. Mr. Hollis Sir Arthur Haslerig Mr. Pym Mr. Hambden and Mr. Stroud to a fair Trial and would be as careful of their Privileges as ever any King of England was But in regard Mr. May is so short and partial in this we 'll state the Case as reported by Mr. Whitlock f. 50. a. The King being informed that some Members of Parliament had private Meeting and Correspondence with the Scots and countenanced the late Tumults from the City he gave a Warrant to repair to their Lodgings and to seal up the Trunks Studies and Chambers of the Lord Kimbolton Mr. Pym Mr. Hambden Mr. Hollis Sir Arthur Haslerig and Mr. Stroud which was done but their Persons were not met with The King caused then Articles of High Treason and other Misdemeanours against those five Members to be exhibited 1. For endeavouring to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government and deprive the King of his Legal Power and to place on Subjects an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power by foul Aspersions on his Majesty and Government to alienate the Affections of his People and 〈◊〉 make him odious 2. To draw his Army to Disobedience and to side with them i◠their Traiterous Designs 3. That they traiterously invited and encouraged a Foreign Power t◠invade England 4. That they traiterously endeavoured to subvert the very Right and Being of Parliament 5. For endeavouring to compel the Parliament to join with them 〈◊〉 their Traiterous Designs and to that end have actually raised and countenanced Tumults against the King and Parliament This great Breach of Parliament-Privilege Mr. May says happened in a strange time to divert the Kingdom from relieving Ireland And did not the Commons Remonstrance against the King and House of Lords do so too And when Men especially Princes are reproached and defamed regular Actions are not always consequent The Censures of the King's Act was variously scanned by Men of different Affections The Royalists said Privilege of Parliament extends not to Treason Felony or so much as Breach of the Peace And the Commons frame and publish a Declaration That there was never such an unparallell'd Action of any King to the Breach of all Freedom not only in the Accusation of their Members ransacking and searching their Studies and Papers and seeking to apprehend their Persons but now in a Hostile Way He the King threatned the whole Body of the House This was Jan. 5. 1641. And after the Commons published another Vote That if any arrest a Member of Parliament by Warrant from the King only it is a Breach of Privilege and that the coming of Papists and Souldiers to the number of 500 armed Men Mr. May says but 300 and Mr. Whitlock says with his Guard of Pensioners and follow'd by about 200 of his Courtiers with the King to the House was a traiterous Design against the King and Parliament They vindicate the five Members and declare That a Paper issued out for apprehending them was false scandalous and illegal How could they tell before they heard both Parties and they ought to attend the Service of the House and require the Names of those who advised the King to issue out that Paper and the Articles against the five Members Which if the King had done they would have been exposed to more Violences of the Rabble than those which befel the Bishops and other Members of Parliament by a great Number of Persons which came from the City to Westminster where they offered many Affronts to the Bishops and others in a tumultuous manner See Whit. Mem. f. 51. a. But of this no notice was taken by the Commons or Lords that I can find so that as the Temper of the Times then went it was a notorious Breach of Privilege in the King to demand five Members to answer Articles of High-Treason but none in the Rabble in a tumultuous manner to affront and use Violence to the Bishops and others who were coming to do their Duties and Service in Parliament These Actions Mr. May p. 41. calls petitioning by the Rabble and many times to utter rude Speeches against some Lords whom they conceived to be evil Advisers of the King which however it was meant produced ill Consequences to the Commonwealth and did not so much move the King to be sensible of his grieving the People as arm him with an Excuse of leaving the Parliament and City for fear of what might
ensue upon such tumultuous Concourse of Men. And why was not this a reasonable Excuse for the King to leave the Parliament and City when they countenanced these Tumults and the King had not Power to suppress them Mr. May goes on and says Vpon this ground twelve Bishops at that time absenting themselves entred a Protestation against all Laws Votes and Orders as Null which in their Absence should pass by reason they durst not for fear of their Lives come to perform their Duties in the House having been rudely menaced and assaulted And why might not the Bishops enter such Protestation for if it be a Maxim in all Assemblies that Plus valet contemptus unius quam consensus omnium then does the Contempt and Affront of a whole Order of Men who have a Right of Suffrage much more render the Actions of the rest invalid However Mr. May goes on and says Whereupon it was agreed by both Lords and Commons that this Protestation of the Bishops was of dangerous Consequence and deeply entrenched upon the Privilege and Being of Parliaments they were therefore accused of High-Treason apprehended and committed Prisoners to the Tower And I say a time shall come when in Parliament these Men who run thus high against the Bishops and established Church of England shall be prosecuted by a contrary Extream and the Church by Law exalted higher than it was before Mr. May goes on and says Thus was the Parliament daily troubled with ill Work whereby the Relief of Ireland was hindred If they were thus troubled they may thank themselves for beginning these Troubles as well by the Commons Remonstrance against the King and Lords as by their countenancing the Tumults By this time things were so envenom'd as would admit of no Lenitives especially by the Commons and the King went from London to Hampton-Court and sent a Message to the Parliament and advises them To digest into one Body all the Grievances of the Kingdom and send them to him promising his favourable Assent to those Means which should be found most effectual for Redress wherein he would not only equal but excel the most indulgent Princes The Parliament thank'd him but nothing but having the Militia at their Disposal would secure their Fears and Jealousies This was as new in England as the perpetuating the sitting of the Parliament and if the King should grant it it would be a total Subversion of the Monarchy For the Parliament being perpetual and having the Power of the Militia the Government must be either a Commonwealth or an Oligarchy and the King insignificant in it yet have it the Parliament would notwithstanding other Grievances and the deplorable State of Ireland And therefore upon the 26th of February they tell the King plainly That the settling the Business of the Militia will admit no more Delay and if his Majesty shall still refuse to agree with his two Houses of Parliament in that Business and shall not be pleased upon their humble Advice to do what they desire therein that then for the Safety of his Majesty of Themselves and the whole Kingdom and to preserve the Peace thereof and to prevent future Fears and Jealousies they shall be constrained of themselves without his Majesty to settle that necessary Business of the Militia See Whit. M. f. 54. a. Here 't is observable That as the King feigned a Necessity to raise Ship-money for the Good and Safety of the Kingdom in general when the whole Kingdom is in danger the Judges gave their Opinion That the King may by his Writ under the Broad Seal of England command all his Subjects of this Kingdom to provide and furnish such Number of Ships with Men Victuals and Ammunition and for such time as the King shall think fit for the Defence and Safeguard of the Kingdom from such Peril and Danger and that by Law the King may compel the doing thereof in Case of Refusal and Refractoriness and that in such Case the King is sole Judg both of the Danger and when and how the same may be prevented and avoided So now the Parliament pretending a Necessity for the Safety of the King and of Themselves and the whole Kingdom and to preserve the Peace thereof will tear the Militia from him In this State things could not stand long at a Stay Mr. May p. 47. will have the Queen 's going into Holland with her Daughter and carrying with her the Crown-Jewels of England and pawning them there whereby she bought Arms for the War which ensued that it was then designed by the King against the Parliament but if Mr. May had been sincere he should have told too as Mr. Whitlock does f. 59. a. how the Parliament took 100000 l. of the 400000 l. they voted to be raised for Ireland and whether this was not for the War which ensued in England Mr. May p. 48. recites three Votes of Parliament 1. That the King's Absence so far remote being then at York from his Parliament is not only an Obstruction but may be a Destruction to the Affairs in Ireland 2. That when the Lords and Commons in Parliament shall declare what the Law of the Land is to have this not only questioned and controverted but contradicted and a Command that it should not be obeyed is a high Breach of the Privilege of Parliament 3. That they who advised the King to absent himself from the Parliament are Enemies to the Peace of this Kingdom and justly to be suspected to be Favourites of the Rebellion in Ireland But Mr. May should have added that it is not the King's Presence in London or any other Place but his assenting to Bills presented to him which he may do by Commission as well as Personally that enacts them into Laws and that the King after he went from London passed the Bill for taking away the Bishops Votes in Parliament and that no Clergy-Man should exercise any Temporal Jurisdiction which the King did with remorse enough and only to humour and appease the Temporal Lords and Commons in Parliament and the Bishops in Parliament are one of the 3 States of England The King moreover in his Absence upon a Motion by the Parliament put Sir John Byron from being Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir John Conniers to succeed him and refers the Consideration of the Government and Liturgy of the Church wholly to the two Houses see Whitlock's M. f. 53. b. But nothing less than the King 's parting with the Militia would satisfy the Parliament which the King would not part from so now it 's left fair for indifferent Men to judg whether the King or Parliament or both designed the ensuing War And to proceed to set forth who began it I have said in the first Page of this King's Reign or p. 153 That the first Fifteen Years of it were perfectly French and such as were never before seen or heard of in the English Nation this brought on a miserable War in all the Three
What Thanks now had Sir Philip Stapleton Sir William Waller and Major General Massey for all their valiant Services to the Parliament whilst Oliver was whistling to his Cambridg Teem of Committee-Men a new Tune of the way of Ordinances Dispensations Righteousness and Providence and whereto can they go to find Relief Glyn had so little Wit as to believe the Law would be his Protection and so did abide a Trial but he was mistaken in his Measures for tho he defended himself with much Prudence yet he was discharged from being a Member of the House and committed to the Tower during their Pleasure But the House proceeded higher against Sir John Maynard and order'd an Impeachment of High Treason to be drawn up against him and ordered Nichols to be taken into Custody but he escaped from the Messenger The English Covenanters could not be so purblind as not to see whereto this tended and were madded that they which had begun the War and by the Aid of their Brethren of Scotland were in a fair Possibility of bringing it to their Desires against the King should not only be outed of their conceived Glory and Reward by these Upstarts of the Army but also the principal of them to be persecuted and destroyed for continuing firm to their Gude-Cause The Militia of London was setled upon the 4th of May in the Management of the Presbyterians who were very industrious in compleating their Companies both of the Trained-Bands and Militia but this was counter to the Design of the Army and judged to be a Conspiracy against it whereupon Fairfax who bore the Name tho Cromwel rul'd all upon the 10th of June sent a Letter to the Parliament That the Militia of the City of London might be put into the Hands of Persons that were better affected to the Army Which the Commons tamely submitted to and upon the 23d of July repealed the Ordinance of the 4th of May. Hereupon the City met in Common-Council and resolved to petition the Commons against it which they did and upon the 26th by the Sheriffs and some of the Common-Council delivered their Petition to the Commons And about an Hour after about 1000 Apprentices delivered another Petition complaining That to order the City's Militia was the City's Birth-right belonging to them by Charters confirmed in Parliament for Defence whereof they had adventured their Lives as far as the Army And desired that the Militia might be put again into the same Hands in which it was put with the Parliament's and City's Consent by the Ordinance of the 4th of May. Upon the reading of this Petition the Lords revoked the Ordinance of the 23d of July and renewed that of the 4th of May and sent it down to the Commons for their Consent and kept back some of the Commons till the Members within agreed with the Lords and then they returned And after some time they or some others upon the rising of the House took the Speaker and thrust him back into the Chair and there kept him and the Members till they enforced them to pass a Vote That the King should come to London And then both Houses adjourned for four Days In this Interval the Members which favoured the Army and the Speakers of both Houses went to the Army and there complained of the Violences upon the Parliament tho none were done to the Lords And after the four Days Adjournment the Houses met and the Lords chose my Lord Hunsdon their Speaker and the Commons Mr. Henry Pelham and passed these Votes 1. That the King should come to London 2. That the Militia of London should be authorized to raise Forces for the Defence of the City 3. That Power be given to the same Militia to choose a General And 4. That the 11 Members impeached by the Army should take their Seats in Parliament This was upon the 30th of July The Citizens armed with these Powers proceed to raise Forces under the Command of Sir William Waller Major-General Massey and Colonel Pointz but these tho numerous being suddenly raised so as the Soldiers not being well listed 't was like no great Opposition could be made against an old experienc'd and victorious Army Besides the Borough of Southwark were generally for the Army and a Party of the Army seized upon the Block-house at Gravesend and block'd up the City by Water towards the East and the Army towards the West The Aldermen and Common-Council of the City now desert their three Generals Waller Massey and Pointz and sent to Fairfax for a Pacification which he granted them upon these Terms 1. That they should desert the Parliament then sitting and the 11 Members 2. That they should recal their Declaration lately divulged 3. That they should relinquish their present Militia 4. That they should deliver up to the General all their Forts and the Tower of London 5. That they should disband all the Forces they had lately â—aised and do all things else which were necessary for the Publick Tranquillity All which the City submitted to So the Speakers and Members which had run to the Army returned again and annulled all the Acts and Orders which had passed since the 26th of July last Here observe That the Members which did not run to the Army but met in Time and Place according to that Adjournment were as much a Parliament as those which continued at Westminster after the King left them and the Members which met at Oxford were as much a Parliament as those which met after they were restored by the Army When the Members were returned the Commons voted an Impeachment of High Treason against the Earls of Suffolk Lincoln and Middlesex and the Lords Berkley Hunsdon Willoughby of Parham and Maynard such a Stalking-Horse was Treason now made and the Crime no more than what themselves had done after the King left them And Sir John Gage the Lord-Mayor Alderman Bunce Langham Cullam and Adams were committed to the Tower for High-Treason for Forcing the Parliament But if this were Treason in them before the next Year goes round you 'll see Cromwel out-treason this a Bar and half And as Sir Phil. Gurney Sir Henry Garoway and Sir George Whitmore were committed to the Tower for adhering to the King against the Parliament so now the Mayor and Aldermen were committed to the Tower for adhering to the Parliament against the Army During these Discords and Confusions the Scots were in great Grumble that the Work of Reformation which united both Kingdoms in Adherence to their Solemn League and Covenant was in danger to be overthrown by the over-spreading of Heresy and Schism which was so much more lamented by how much after their Bargain and Sale of the King both Houses voted That if the King refused to pass Propositions for Peace they will do nothing which may break the Vnion and Affection of both Kingdoms but to preserve the same This was the 28th of December 1646. Now both Factions Parliament and Army
seem to court the King and the Parliament sent Propositions of Peace to the King at Hampton-Court the same they sent to the King at New-Castle when he was in the Power of the Scots which you may read in Whitlock's Memoirs fol. 120. b. and 121. a. But now the Mystery of Iniquity works for Cromwel was as fearful the King should agree with the Parliament as the King was unwilling to agree to them and therefore Cromwel gave Instructions to the Commissioners That if the King would assent to Propositions lower than those of the Parliament that the Army would settle him again in his Throne Hereupon the King returned Answer to the Parliament That he waved now the Propositions sent to him or any Treaty upon them and flies to the Proposals of the Army urges a Treaty upon them and such as he shall make professes he will give Satisfaction to settle the Protestant Religion with Liberty to tender Consciences to secure the Laws Liberty and Property and Privileges of Parliament and of those concerning Scotland he will treat apart with the Scots Commissioners See Whitlock ' s Memoirs fol. 271. b. Upon the reading of the King's Answer a Day was appointed by either House to consider of it and that in the mean time it be communicated to the Scots Commissioners There was a Report at that time and so yet continues tho I cannot find the bottom of it yet I am confident in time it will appear that Cromwel made a private Article with the King That if the King closed with the Propositions of the Army Cromwel should be advanced to a Degree higher than any other as Vicar-General of England as Cromwel was in the Reign of Henry 8. But the King was so Uxorious that he would do nothing without communicating it to the Queen and wrote to her That tho he assented to the Army's Proposals yet if by assenting to them he could procure Peace it would be easier then to take off Cromwel than now he was the Head that govern'd the Army Cromwel who had his Spies upon every Motion of the King intercepts these Letters and resolved never to trust the King again yet doubted that he could not manage his Designs if the King were so near the Parliament and City as Hampton-Court therefore Cromwel sent to the King That he was in no Safety at Hampton-Court by reason of the Hatred which the Adjutators had to him and that he would be in more Safety in the Isle of Wight Hereupon the King upon the 11th of November while the Parliament and Scots Commissioners were debating the King's Answer to their Propositions at Night made his Escape having Post-Horses and a Ship provided for him at Southampton accompanied only with Sir John Berkley Colonel Leg and Mr. Ashburnham and came to the Isle of Wight which would morally have been impossible if Cromwel and his Agents had not put the King upon it But how concealedly soever Cromwel and his Son-in-law Ireton had carried the Business of the King's Escape to the Isle of Wight yet the Adjutators had some Jealousy upon them that they designed to have the King establish'd and possest the Soldiers with much Prejudice against them Fairfax doubting the Event of these Practices dismist the Adjutators to their several Regiments and sent most of their Officers to their several Charges and appointed a General Rendezvouz of the Army at Cork-bush-field between Hertford and Ware upon the 14th which the Adjutators endeavour'd to have prevented The next Day many Soldiers of five whole Regiments mutiny'd against their Officers and wore Marks of Distinction to be known from the rest Cromwel Ireton and some other of the Officers struck at by the Adjutators were very active in suppressing them and seized upon some of the principal Mutineers and one or two of them were shot before their Troops were reduced and most of the Mutineers and the Officers which favoured them were tried at Court-Martials and cashier'd and three of them condemned to die And for this Cromwel had the Thanks of the House but it will not be long before they shall find little Joy of it From the Isle of Wight the King upon October the 18th sent to the Members for a personal Treaty of Peace at London which after much Debate was agreed to upon these four Preliminaries 1. An Act For Raising Settling and Maintaining Forces by Sea and Land within the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Dominion of Wales 2. An Act For recalling all Declarations Oaths and Proclamations against the Parliament or those who had adhered to them 3. An Act That those Peers who were made after the Great Seal was carried from the Parliament may be made uncapable of Sitting in the House of Peers 4. That Power may be given to the Houses to adjourn as they shall think fit The King it may be not knowing Cromwel had intercepted his Letters to the Queen and so trusting to Cromwel's Promises and the Scots Commissioners flatly protesting against these Preliminaries as opposite to Religion the Crown and Agreement of the Kingdoms refused to sign any Propositions till a Peace was made which might comprehend all Interests Which had no other Effects than that the Lords and Commons Voted 1. That they will make no further Applications or Addresses to the King 2. That no Addresses or Applications be made to the King by any Person whatsoever without Leave from both Houses 3. That the Person or Persons that shall make Breach of this Order shall incur the Penalty of High Treason 4. That they will receive no more Messages from the King and that no Person do presume to bring any Message from the King to both or either Houses of Parliament or any other Person But these Votes were too hot to hold long These Votes were so pleasing to the Army that it was declar'd by a Council of War the 17th of January That they resolved to endeavour to preserve the Peerage and Rights and the Rights of the Peers of England notwithstanding any Scandals upon them to the contrary Yet within little more than a Year the Rump set up by the Army shall turn them out of doors as dangerous and useless Here see what a Labyrinth Men run into when they forsake the Paths of Justice for as Socrates says Plato Eutiphro If Men in Dissension will not submit to some certain Rule which may determine them their Dissensions will be endless and that the Will of the Gods if it be divided cannot be the Rule to determine Justice for Men in obeying one God may disobey another If therefore the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation may not be the Rule which may determine the Controversies between the King the Members the Scots and the Army then nothing can for else what pleased one would displease the other The King would gladly have had the Law to have determined the Controversies for this would have vested him in his Royal Power and by the 18th of Henry
and in September appoint a Conference with the King at Newport in the Isle of Wight to continue for 40 Days and to that purpose take the King out of Prison and allow him the Liberty of the Island and the King upon the Matter with Reluctancy enough grants the Scots and Members their own Demands But neither the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation nor the Endeavours of his Loyal Subjects nor the joint Desires of the Scots and Members who had brought the King to this Condition could protect this unhappy Prince from his approaching Ruin for the Army every where victorious over the Scots and Royalists draw together and make a Remonstrance against all Peace with the King that Justice may be done upon him that the Crown and Church-Lands be sold to pay their Army and that the present Parliament be dissolved and another called which they present to the Members the Twentieth of November And herein Cromwel and his Son-in-law Ireton were the principal Promoters But the Members were intent upon the King's Answer to their Propositions and laid aside the Army's Remostrance which they take as a slighting of them and then seized the King in the Isle of Wight and make him Prisoner in Hurst-Castle an unhealthy Place and march to London puâ—â—â—â— Garisons into Whitehall Noble-Mens Houses and posted themselves about the Palace Yard Notwithstanding the Memberâ—nâ—â— upon the first of December and vote the King's Concessions to be a sufficient Ground for a Peace and then adjourn for a Week But when the Members were to meet again they found all the Avenues to the House beset with Soldiers who exclude all which were not of their Faction from entring the House which were not one fourth part and make the Residue Prisoners So that if the Mayor Sir John Gage and the Aldermen his Brethren were guilty of High Treason for committing a Force upon the Parliament viz. for continuing the Militia of London in the City the Year before how much more was it High-Treason in Cromwel and his Agents to keep back by Force three Fourths of the Members from entring the House and making them Prisoners that the Rumps of the rest might do his Journey-work So farewel Presbytery and all the Scotish Trumpery in England nor shall these secluded Members ever meet more but to dissolve themselves and make room for another Parliament which shall legally persecute them and their Solemn League and Covenant as much as they by it persecuted the King and their fellow Subjects against Law Nor was Presbytery much longer liv'd in Scotland where they shall never see it restored by this now Race of Kings which shall plague them with the Exercise of Archbishops and Bishops which by their Covenant they are sworn to abolish and cut off the Head of the principal of their Faction allowing them as little place for the Exercise of Presbytery as they now do the Episcopal Party Having tho but in Epitome seen the various Accidents in War whereby the King came to be in this Distress before we declare his End and the manner of it it 's fit in short to take notice of the several Treaties of Peace between the King and Parliament and the Improbability of the good Success in any of them The first Propositions for Peace which the Parliament sent to the King was June the 2d when the King was at York before the War broke out which were Nineteen which you may read at larger in Sir Richard Baker f. 518. a. b. In these Propositions no mention is made either of the Scots Covenant or abolishing Episcopacy yet some of them were so inconsistent with Monarchy and Arbitrary in the Parliament as the King in Honour and Conscience could not condescend to them I say the King could not in Honour or Conscience condescend to the 9th Proposition 15 and 16 Propositions to settle the Militia as the Parliament have ordered without the King That all Forts and Castles of the Kingdom be disposed of by the Parliament viz. The Houses and that the King discharge all his Guards and Forces and not to raise any but in case of actual Rebellion But how could this be done by the King when the Militia and Forts of the Kingdom were in the Power of the Houses So here the King who by Virtue of his Office is obliged to preserve the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation and to suppress all Disturbers of them at home and to defend the Nation from all Foreign Invasion has no means to do any of them Objection But the King had so often violated the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation by being armed with these Powers that the Nation could be in no Safety if they were continued in him Answer It 's true the Nation was in a very calamitous Estate herein But if the Members had only made it their Business how to have restrained the King herein and to have preserved the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation it would have had another Face than now when the Members are setting up themselves to do the same thing which they feared the King should act I say the King could not in Honour or Conscience agree to the 13th Proposition That the Justice of Parliament viz. the Members should pass upon all Delinquents and they to appear and abide by their Censure For Delinquent is a Word unknown to our Laws and so equivocal that it may signify whatever the Members pleased So that if the King had agreed to these Propositions he would have been a King that could neither have executed Justice nor shewed Mercy and the Houses have an unlimited Arbitrary Power to do whatever they pleased To the Propositions the King returns a sharp Answer That the Houses contrary to Law had pressed their Ordinances upon the People wrested from him the Command of the Militia countenanced the Treason of Hotham and had directed to the People Invectives against his Government and asperst him with favouring Papists and therefore protested that if he were utterly vanquished and a Prisoner in a worse Condition than any of his most unfortunate Predecessors had ever been reduced to he would never stoop so low as to grant these Demands and to make himself of a King of England a Duke of Venice But when the Covenanters in Scotland sent their Proposition to his Majesty he returned Answer he would rather die than submit to them and from a King of England make himself a Duke of Venice Yet the next Year of his own Accord went into Scotland and by Act of Parliament granted the Covenanters all they desired which yet perplext all the subsequent Treaties of Peace in England and more as the Case now stood The next Treaty was at Oxford in the beginning of 1643 which broke off the 15th of April and nothing agreed to upon this Score The Parliament Commissioners gave such Reasons for the King to assent to one of the most material Points of the Treaty that the King assented to it but
assume to themselves the Supream Power of Ordering the English Affairs confirm the Vote of Non-Addresses to the King and raze the Votes of having a Conference with the King and the Declaration that the King's Concessions were a sufficient Ground for a Peace out of the Journals of the House And vote first that all Power resides in the People Secondly That the Power belongs to the Peoples Representatives in the House of Commons Thirdly That the Votes of the Commons have the Force of a Law without the King Fourthly That to take Arms against the Representatives of the People or the Parliament is High-Treason Fifthly That the King himself took up Arms against the Parliament and therefore is guilty of all the Blood shed in this Civil War and ought by his own Blood to expiate it The Nation was astonished at these Votes for the Person of the King of England was ever esteemed Sacred and therefore tho his Ministers were always accountable in Parliament for using or abusing the Name of the King to gratify their Ambition and wicked Designs against the King or Kingdom yet in no time was any King of England arraigned and judged to die by his own Subjects and tho Edward the Second Richard the Second Henry the Sixth and Edward the Fifth were murdered by wicked Men yet none of these suffered upon pretence of Justice But lame-footed Vengeance shall overtake both Rump and Army and as they both joined by Force to impose these upon the King and Nation so both without Force or any Man kill'd in their Defence shall be cashier'd with all imaginable Ignominy and Reproach These Men whom nothing but the King 's and his Loyal Subjects Blood could satiate against Law shall by Law have their own Blood shed in the most terrible manner the Law can inflict these Men who would have the Crown and Church-Lands for their Avarice shall either die or be hang'd as a Company of Beggars Oliver's Heir being undone to pay the Charge of his Father's Funeral or those who had Estates shall forfeit them to encrease the Revenues of the Crown The Regicides to put the best Face they could upon this audacious Act send the Bill for Trial of the King up to the Lords for their Concurrence but so far were the Lords from concurring that they threw the Bill over the Bar Hereupon the Rump vote the Lords dangerous and useless yet Henry Martin said they were useless but not dangerous Then the Rumpers advise with the Judges about the Trial of the King who unanimously declare it against Law and the Scots Commissioners protest against it But neither Authority Law nor Reason would take place with those Men so they erect a new Court never heard of before called a High Court of Justice for the Trial of the King to consist of I think Seventy two thirds of which were Souldiers who by putting the King to Death expected the Reward of the Inheritance both of the Crown and Church If it be Misery to have been happy to what a miserable State have these cursed Minions Flatterers and Sycophants brought one of the greatest and most high-born Princes in the Western World to gratify their Ambition Lust and Avarice for this Prince whom they would have to rend his Subjects from their Laws has now no Subjects who dare protect him by the Laws He who before so often gloried that to him alone belonged the Power of Proroguing Adjourning and Dissolving Parliaments who never did him Wrong but met to assist him against those who wronged him and to have reconciled him to his Subjects has now no Power to dissolve this Rump of a Parliament which will not be reconciled to him He who before so often called his truly Loyal Subjects Undutiful Seditious and Vipers Terms unusual in Princes shall hear himself call'd Tyrant Murderer and Traitor by his implacable Subjects He who before so often gloried he was only accountable to God for all his Actions shall be now called to an Account by a company of Men for Actions whereof they themselves were much more guilty and be sent to God to pass his Accounts there also For upon the 20th of January the King was haled before this Assembly where he was charged of Treason Tyranny and Murder for raising War against the Parliament and People of England Tho it 's evident the Members seiz'd the Militia the Tower of London and Fleet which Powers were inherent in the King and shut him out of Hull and granted Commissions for levying Souldiers before the King set up his Standard at Nottingham But admit the King did first raise Arms to have forced the Parliament and first actually set up his Standard against them and that was a Crime yet was the Regicides Crime greater who had forced the Parliament and set up themselves instead of it The King now too late flies to the Laws of the Land for his Protection protests against the Jurisdiction of the Court as established by no Legal Authority and declares his Life was not so dear to him as his Honour and Conscience and the Laws and Liberties of his People and that he will lose his Life rather than submit to such a Tyrannical Court And at last the King desired to be heard before the Lords and Commons in some things which concerned the Peace of the Kingdom and Liberty of the Subjects but this too was denied And so the 4th day after this Appearance Bradshaw the President gave Sentence upon him to lose his Head all the Court to the number of 67 owning it by standing up Which Sentence was executed the 30th of January The Character of King Charles the First THus fell one of the greatest and most high-born Princes of the Western World In his Person he was somewhat more than ordinarily tall and the Composition of it was framed in most exact natural Proportion of Parts so that he was very active and of a fine Mein in his Motion which was commonly more than ordinarily fast yet he appeared best on Horse-back and excelled in managing his Horse so that when he was in Spain in sight of the King Queen the Infanta's and the Infanta Maria whom he courted or at least seemed to do so and innumerable other Spectators he took the Ring in his first Course His Visage was long and appeared best when he did not speak for he had a natural Impediment in his Speech and would often stutter in it especially when he was in Passion To these Natural Endowments may be added a Temperance in Eating and Drinking and Chastity tho his Enemies unjustly traduced him otherways rarely to be found in Princes He was born in Scotland about two Years before his Father became King of England and being bred from his Infancy in a most luxurious and flattering Court tho he avoided the Luxury of it yet the Flattery of it took such deep Root in him that he would never permit free Counsel to take any Impression in him In his Nature
writing and out of these and Leo ab Aitzma a most faithful Collector of the Treaties of Peace and War and Commerce between the Princes and States of his time and sometimes before Dr. Stubbe hath I believe faithfully set out this Treaty of Peace between the English and Dutch and therefore tho but in Epitâ—me I shall take him for my Guide herein The Rump did not refuse to treat of a Peace upon just and honourable Terms but not in Holland or any Neutral Place nor would they condescend to any Treaty before Holland made the first Overtures in Writing Whereupon the States of Holland upon the 18th of March by their Secretary Herbert Van Beaumont sent the Rump a canting and equivocal Letter wherein I cannot find one Categorical Proposition and wherein the sacred Name of God is more rent and torn than I can find in any of our Enthusiasts of their Zeal for the Reformed Religion much endanger'd by this War and the Joys the Enemies of it conceived thereby and of their Desire of preventing the further Effusion of Christian Blood and carried on by a pious Zeal and in no wise constrained by any other Consideration That Consideration may be had what may be done for the Honour and Glory of God and the good of each State whereupon without doubt the good God for his Name sake and by the Inspiration of proper and fit Expedients will give his Blessing c. Which Letter you may read at large in Stubbe's Vindication p. 78 79. and in Leo ab Aitzma p. 816 817. The Rump having got this Letter and to make a further Distraction in the States General sent an Answer the first of April 1653 to the States of Holland and a Letter to the States General that to the States of Holland was That the Inconveniences to Religion in general and to the Trade and Liberties of each Nation were such as any man might have foreseen and that none could be ignorant how requisite it was for both Nations to preserve a good Correspondence and Amity together that the English had not omitted any thing on their parts but the Dutch had assaulted them in the midst of a Treaty for a strict Vnion and their Ambassadors had used such Tergiversation as made them justly imagine that their sense of things was different from what they now professed That the good Endeavours of the Parliament were answered with unusual Preparations Acts of Hostility and other extraordinary Proceedings thereupon That they had this Comfort and Satisfaction in their own Minds amidst the Troubles and Calamities of War that they had with all Sincerity done what lay in their Power to obviate all the Evils specified That they did look upon the Overtures of Holland if approved by the States General to be an effectual means for composing this unwelcom War however the Parliament having discharged their Duty would with Patience acquiesce in the Issue of Providence whereof they had so gracious Experience That to the States General was That there could be no doubt of the sincere Affection and good Will which the English did bear to the United Provinces so that it might be well imagined that they were really inclined by just and honourable means to extinguish the Fire of War stop the Effussion of Christian Blood and restore Amity between the two Nations That as they had not been wanting in the Beginning to prevent the ensuing Calamities so they were not altered with Successes from their former good Intentions That they were ready upon the Grounds expressed in the Letter from the Provincial States of Holland and Friezland friendly to compose Differences c. This Letter had the desired Effect of the Rump for the rest of the Provinces complained that Holland had broke the Union which that State would have salved by a manifest Lie in denying they ever wrote such a Letter However the rest of the Provinces fearing the Calamity would be common to them all if the War continued did consent to a Treaty of Peace with the Rump However the Rump in their Letter to the States refused to give them any other Title than the States General notwithstanding the Title of High and Mighty obtained at the Treaty of Munster not five Years before nor did they assume this Title when they returned their Answer to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England To these Letters the States General returned this Answer to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England That they always endeavoured with a good and sincere Intention not only to keep but to augment more and more all manner of Friendship and Correspondence with the said Parliament and would now do any thing that might contribute to so pious and Christian an Vnion desiring a Neutral Place and Plenipotentiaries might be appointed forthwith on both sides But before this Answer was returned a new face of things happen'd in England for Oliver had turn'd out the Rump and set up for himself How this came about and what Steps Cromwel took to do this is now fit to be enquired into Herein I take the Confidence to say that as the Covenanters subduing the Royalists was the Cause of the Ruin of the Covenanting Parliament so was Cromwel's Victory over the King at Worcester the Ruin of the Rump for Cromwel after that Fight having nothing to do set his whole Thoughts how he might tho not under the Title of King usurp the Dominion of these Kingdoms already subdued by the Rump and the Rump improvidently enabled him to do it when upon the 16th of June 1650 they constituted Cromwel Captain-General and Commander in chief within Ireland as well as England which you may read in Whitlock's Memoirs pag. 511. a. You have heard how Cromwel felt the Pulse of the Lawyers and Soldiers for the Establishment of the Nation and how the Lawyers were of Opinion that no Settlement could be made without some mixture of Monarchy and that it was â—it that the Duke of Glocester should be intrusted with something of a mixt Monarchy and that Cromwel's Opinion was really that a Settlement with somewhat of a mixt Monarchy would be very effectual but this somewhat of a Settlement of mixt Monarchy he reserved for himself but herein he found three Rubs and Rump the Duke of Glocester and Monk in Scotland who I verily believe had a great Awe upon Cromwel whereupon to remove these two latter in February 1652 he got the Duke of Glocester to be sent beyond Sea and about the same time or a little before sent for Monk into England and found him pliable to Cromwel's Design of setting up himself but to cover this he made Monk one of the three Admirals at Sea with Blake and Dean tho Monk was wholly ignorant of Sea Affairs These two Rubs thus removed only the Rump stood in Oliver's way to set up himself but before he discover'd this openly he enter'd into a long Dialogue with Commissioner Whitlock which you may read at large in
Hollanders were to prepare They allowed the Procedure of the Dutch by Petition since the Power of the Council of State was all one with that of the Saints and theirs derived from him to whom all Power is given And upon that account the Dutch ought to continue their Addresses of Meseignours Tresillustâ—es Seignours to the Council of State not in the sense they are forbidden in the Gospel but that whereby our Lord Christ assumes such Titles and confers them on the Saints That the Saints therefore might tolerate them and the Dutch ought not to refuse them lest it should be a Rejection of the Kingdom of Christ which was now approaching That the Dutch ought to kiss the Son lest he be angry and should have a care how they contemn his Holy Ones lest they were chastised with the Rod of Iron See Stubbe p. 91 92. The Dutch were now more confounded and perplex'd than ever it was difficult to treat with and impossible to prevail upon these Men They were now in danger to be ruin'd as Enemies to Christ rather than England and a Coalition with England would not satisfy except they likewise annexed their Provinces unto the Fifth Monarchy In Holland the Provinces met to consult what to do the Opinion of Holland was never to enter into a Coalition with England but that a strict League defensive should be proffered that they ought to contract Foreign Amities especially with France and to equip out a Fleet with all possible Expedition Yet they had little reason to expect much Help from France being then imbroiled in Civil Wars besides they had so juggled with France and falsified their Faith since the Treaty at Munster that they had little reason to expect Help from France The other Provinces were for entring into a League with the Elector of Brandenburgh and other German Princes and giving Assistance to the Scots for at this time Major General Middleton was raising some Tumults there but their Necessities were present and these Treaties remote and dangerous they could not get any great Benefit by a Treaty with the German Princes they having except Brandenburg who had but little no Power at Sea Besides these Alliances would cost dear and the Dutch pretended they were poor and also such an Alliance would prove dangerous for the Elector of Cologne might demand the Restitution of Rhineburg Orsoy Rees and other Places which the Dutch had filch'd from that Electorate so might the Elector of Bradenburgh of Wesel and other Places wherein the Dutch kept Garisons above 40 Years besides they feared the Emperor might claim in right of the Empire and little good could be expected from assisting the Scots without being superiour at Sea and sending a Land Army which the Dutch could not spare They therefore gave Orders to their Plenipotentiaries to protract time according as they saw Disorders to encrease between Cromwel and his Supream Authority to be ample in the Generals concerning the Defence of the Reformed Religion and of the Houshold of Faith to reject the Coalition to offer to enter into a strict and intimate League but deal as tenderly as they could in point of Reparation Satisfaction or Security All these things were known to Cromwel's Council of State and they resolved to handle them accordingly and when these were communicated to Barebone's Parliament they said it was no more than was prophesied in Scripture and in course to be expected that the Gentiles should rage and the Kings of the Earth set themselves against the Kingdom of Christ but they should fall before him and be broken in pieces That they were fierce to encounter Gog and Magog and by a series of Victories inflam'd to encounter this Antichristian Host It 's tedious to set forth the manifold Tautologies recited by Stubbe and Leo ab Aitzma who could not err herein and all the Dutch Cant in securing the true Reformed Religion and of their love and desire of the Prosperity of the English Commonwealth The Council of State since the Dutch refused a Coalition and thereby became our Equals resolve to make them humble without it and therefore impose 27 Articles upon the Dutch which may be seen in Leo ab Aitzma p. 837 c. But Mr. Stubbe mentions but five viz. the third twelfth fourteenth fifteenth and seventeenth besides Satisfaction and Reparation made for several Wrongs Injuries and Depredations done and committed upon the English as well in the East-Indies as elsewhere by the People of the Vnited Provinces with Power nevertheless of the Council to add alter and enlarge the said Articles or any of them before the Conclusion of the Treaty as they shall find occasion for the same in the future Management thereof The 3d Article was That the Ships Guns and Furniture and the Goods and Merchandizes and other things which had been taken in Harbour or at Land from the Dutch by the English during the War should be accounted as part of Satisfaction and Reparation for the Charges and Damages which the English had been put to during the War And the States General should pay to the English such further Sum for Reparation as aforesaid and in such manner as shall be agreed upon by this Treaty And thereupon all Offences c. to be forgotten The 12th Article obliges them Not to permit the Prince of Orange or the Princess Mary to relieve with Counsel or Victuals any Rebels or Enemies of the Common-wealth of England c. and to seclude the Prince's Lineage from being State-holders Admiral General or Governour of any of their Towns I 'm perswaded Cromwel was the Contriver of this Article the Reason you 'll see hereafter The 14th Article That they the Dutch were not to enter or pass the British Seas but with a certain Number of Men of War to be agreed upon in this Treaty But in case the States General should have occasion to pass the said Seas with a greater Number of Ships of War that they should give Notice of their Intentions to the English and obtain their Consent before they put to Sea The 15th Article wherein Stubbe follows the English Manuscript and not Leo ab Aitzma which much differs from it As the Commonwealth of England have declared their Resolutions that they will from time to time take care to put forth upon their Seas a convenient Number of armed Ships for the Defence and Safeguard thereof and to maintain and preserve all lawful Navigation Trade and Commerce therein against Pirates and Sea-Rovers and all others that shall act or do any thing to the Disturbance thereof so for the greater freedom of Commerce and Navigation that neither Commonwealth shall give Reception to any Pirates c. The 17th Article obliges the Dutch to take a Lease for 21 Years for the Fishing and to pay an Annual Rent Here note That tho the Dutch pleaded the Grants of the Kings of England to the Dukes of Burgundy and Kings of Spain for Licence to fish upon the
enter on the other The Baron in the 2d Article or Chapt. says the moving Cause of the Peace was The Desire of the Good Quiet and Ease of the Subjects of both Kings The Object was To put a period to so many Mischiefs the Effect To forget and extinguish all the Causes and Motives of the Wars past and to establish a sincere entire and durable Peace between the Kings and their Successors For attaining these Ends the Spaniard insisted that these Points were necessary viz. The Infanta's disclaiming all her Right and Title to the Kingdom of Spain or any of its Dominions that the French should not directly or indirectly assist the Portuguese in their War against Spain and by the by That the Prince of Conde should be restored to all the Estate and Governments he enjoyed before he joined with the Spaniard against Mazarine and his Faction and that the Duke of Lorain should be restored to his Dutchy with all the places which he had possest in the Bishopricks of Metz Toul and Verdun The Articles of the Infanta's Renunciation were soon agreed to reciprocally but that of abandoning the Portuguese stuck at present the French having so lately made an Offensive League with the Prince Regent And that the Treaty might be agreed without the French abandoning of Portugal the French proffered the Restitution of all the Places conquered from Spain during the War but promised more than they could perform for Dunkirk and Mardike were not in their power and also other Countries and entirely to restore the Prince of Conde But without abandoning Portugal nothing was to be done and so the French King did promise and oblige himself upon his Honour and in the Faith and Word of a King for himself and his Successors not to meddle any more in the Affair of Portugal nor to give to it either in general or to any Person or Persons of it in particular of what Estate Dignity or Condition at present or hereafter any Aid or Assistance publick or secret directly or indirectly of Men Arms Ammunition Victuals Ships or Money under any Pretext nor of any thing that is or can be by Land or Sea or any other fashion nor permit any Levy to be made in any part of his Dominions nor grant free Passage to those who shall come out of other Countries which shall come to help the Realm of Portugal And was signed by the King Mazarine Clergy and Nobility of France Towards the End of this Treaty K. Charles II. about the End of November the Differences between Monk and the Officers of the English Army being in the highest Ferment came to it that his Concerns might be concerted in it he was received by Don Lewis de Haro that Spanish Minister with as much Honour and Veneration as if possest of all his Kingdoms but negligently and slightly by Mazarine and the French Ministers And sure the Indignity here offer'd to his Person and the Industry of Bourdeaux at London in endeavouring to keep him from being restor'd would have made another not to forget these about 5 or 6 Months after But if the King's Restoration came not from some other place he might have waited long enough for it here for France would not and Spain could not assist him A DETECTION OF THE Court and State of England DURING THE REIGN OF K. CHARLES II c. BOOK IV. CHAP. I. This Reign detected to the beginning of the first Dutch War AS the Nation thought they could not be redeemed from the Arbitrary Government of King Charles the first but by the Long Parliament it 1640 so they thought they could not be redeemed from the Confusions Rage and Distractions they labour'd now under but by restoring King Charles the Second To gratify this Expectation the Convention who met on the 25th of April 1660 Hand over Head without any Preliminaries of asserting the Rights and Liberties of the English so manifestly violated by his Father and Grandfather restored the King without any Contradiction Upon his Restoration there were but five of the Bishops living viz. Dr. Juxton Bishop of London Dr. Fruin Bishop of Chester Dr. Wren Bishop of Ely Dr. Warner Bishop of Rochester and Dr. King Bishop of Chichester These three latter lived to die in their Bishopricks and in the Interval between the beginning of the Long Parliament and the Restoration of the King near twenty Years upon the matter all these Leases of the Church were expired whereby incredible Sums of Money were raised by the new-promoted Bishops to their vacant Sees without any regard to the rest of the poor sequestred Clergy their Wives or Children But the Jollity of the Convention for having got their King put such mean Thoughts out of their Consideration The Hopes of the happy Days to come under this King's Reign quite blotted out their Remembrance of the Days of his Father's and Grand-father's Reign On the contrary to flatter him they stiled his Father The Martyr for the English Church and State Now they had got him they would hold him he might do what he list for all them and so he did which the Nation submitted to rather than return to the Confusions and Disorders of the Times after his Father's Death Nay the Memory of these Times was so odious that if even the Parliament took notice of his Actions his Flatterers charged them with returning to the Parliament in 1640. The Convention took terrible Vengeance on his Father's Judges for tho they did not all suffer in their Persons scarce any of them but forfeited their Estates So as these Men who would have his Father's Life and Crown-Lands for their Estates lost their own Lives and had their Estates added to the Revenues of the Crown tho this was but as Water poured into a Sive yet it 's observable that the Instruments who acted in the King's Death should be thus punished and Lenthal the Speaker who granted the Commission to act should escape free The Presbyterians were scarce wet with the Tail of this Storm none of them except those in sequestred Livings being punished either in their Persons or Fortunes and many of them were preferred in high Places both in Church and State The poor Cavalier or Loyal suffering Party who hoped for a Heaven upon Earth in this King's Reign fell into a worse State that that they were in before For as Messeray said of the Reign of Henry III. of France It was the Reign of Favourites wherein the Subjects it 's said paid so much yet never was any King so poor So it may be said of this And the Cavalier Party having before mortgaged their Estates to redeem their Sequestration the Remainder paid the Taxes to the King and the other Part the Interest to the Mortgage nor were they any ways countenanced by the King For his Favouriteâ— were a Generation of People who knew not his Father but who humoured him in his Sensual Pleasures and Prodigality and were of the Female as well as
are commissionated by him So help me God So that from swearing Negatively to Belief in the first part of this Oath we come to swear Affirmatively in this part of it But this part not being Promissory of Time to come is an Assertory Oath too if any besides the taking God's Name in vain or worse An Assertory Oath is of what a Man knows to be certainly true and what was immediately the Object of Sense Here a Man swears not that he knows but abhors and what does he abhor That Traiterous Position of taking Arms by the King's Authority against his Person or those commissionated by him Is Traiterous Position the Object of Sense and immediate so as the Swearer knows what the meaning of Traiterous Position is Which I believe not one of twenty does Or is not some Inference deduced from some Law or Usage which cannot be the Object of Sense and so not to be sworn to The End of an Assertory Oath is to inform the Judg and Jury so that Justice may be determined by it but here is neither Judg nor Jury to inform What can be the end of this Swearing Why 't is because otherwise the Swearer cannot be a Member of the Corporation but if I cannot take his Word I 'll not take his Oath And he that swears most to get Places is least worthy of them And I dare say he so much less understands his Duty in any Place by how much the more he is ready to swear to get into it And you will see that those Men who are so ready to swear by this Oath which they did not understand to get to be Members of Corporations shall be more ready to forswear themselves in giving up their Charters which they had sworn to maintain and keep and which they understood they ought to do Religion Piety Judgment Justice and Righteousness are the ways by which God is honoured and Peace and Happiness established in Nations and Kingdoms And will God instead of these suffer his Sacred Name to be prostituted by vain Swearing so as to pass unpunished Did not the Prophet Hosea Ch. 4. v. 3. of old complain That the Land mourned because of Oaths And hath not our Land mourned ever since the Convocation after the Dissolution of the Short Parliament 1640 did enjoin the Oath I A. B. swear that I approve the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England as containing all things necessary to Salvation and will not consent to alter the Government in the Church by Arch-bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons c. to be taken by all the Clergy Was God well pleased that his Sacred Name should be affixed to such Stuff Or did this establish this Hierarchy Did not the Parliament about a Year after expel the Bishops out of the Lords House and imprisoned their Persons and made them and all Deans and Arch-Deacons uncapable of Temporal Jurisdiction And did not England and Scotland about two Years after join in a Covenant and swear to extirpate Arch-bishops Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons Did not the Engagement expel the Covenant and the Recognition to Oliver out the Engagement till Men neither regarded what they had sworn nor cared what they swore to Monk before he came out of Scotland caused the Scots to abjure the King and his Interest So in his coming to London he did by the Officers of the Irish Brigade and the Rump died abjuring the King and Royal Family yet in less than four Months after the King was restor'd Before the Scots would admit the King to land in Scotland the 23d of June 1650 they made him with his Hands lifted up swear in the Presence of Almighty God the Searcher of all Hearts his Allowance and Approbation of the National Covenant and Solemn League and Covenant and Directories of Worship and not only to give his Royal Assent to Acts of Parliament enjoining the same in all his Dominions but to observe them in his private Family And upon his Coronation on the 11th of January 1651 repeated the same Oath Yet how little did this avail him or the Covenanters for in less than eight Months Cromwel drove him and his Covenanters quite out of Scotland And I dare say the King never after made use of them in his private Family nor ever after give his Assent to any Act of Parliament enjoining the Covenants tho he were restored to all his Dominions From swearing the Corporation-Oath the Parliament proceeds That all Members of Corporations declare against the Solemn League and Covenant in these words I A. B. do declare That I hold there lies no Obligation upon me or any other Person from the Oath commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant and that the same was in it self an unlawful Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realm against the known Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom This Declaration is as vain and more wild than the Corporation-Oath for 't is but matter of Belief or Opinion and so no Issue can be taken upon it but if there could in him who declares yet none can be taken upon that part which declares there lies no Obligation upon another and I 'll put it upon this Issue that such a Declaration was never before enjoin'd by any Law And if the Covenant be an unlawful Oath in it self because imposed by no lawful Authority yet I say that no Authority under Heaven can make the taking God's Name in vain lawful much less to take a vain or superfluous Oath From new invented swearing and declaring to keep the King in the Kingdom the Church makes many new invented Prayers for him especially that for the Parliament wherein they tell God that the King is their most Religious and Gracious King as if he were so and God did not know it and if he were not so to perswade God he was so De Jove quid sentis Will God be mock'd Is not he Omniscient and knows the Secrets of every Man's Heart Has he any need to be informed what Man is Or did this King's manner of Life induce the Church to inform God that he was most Gracious or full of Grace Or his devout Behaviour at his seldom Presence in Divine Service declare him to be most Religious This King's Father and Grand-father's Flatterers went no higher than to flatter them that they were bound by no Laws and accountable to none but God for all their Actions and that their Subjects were bound to obey them in all under Penalty of Damnation They never went about to perswade God they were most Religious and Gracious in so doing The Parliament chimed in with the Church and by the Act of Vniformity enjoin That every one who holds an Ecclesiastical Promotion shall publickly declare before his Congregation his unfeigned Assent and Consent to every thing contained and prescribed in the Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer c. Put these together I. A. B. do declare my unfeigned Assent and Consent That the King
of State of Scotland and as Runnagadoes from Christianity become the greatest Persecutors of Christians so was Lauderdale of the Kirk and Presbyterian Government However Lauderdale seemed zealous for calling a Parliament in Scotland and demolishing the Forts thaâ— bridled the Scots which Monk opposed and hereby Lauderdale became popular in Scotland so that all Applications to the King from thence was by Lauderdale In this state it was not easily determined who should be Commissioner in Scotland in case a Parliament should be called for Affairs were not yet ripe enough to make a Popish one nor would the Court trust a Presbyterian one and Lauderdale would not forsake his Post at Court where he govern'd all but continue it that all the Motions in Parliament might receive their Life from him At last it was agreed That Middleton who first served the Kirk against King Charles I. and after changing Sides made some Bustle in Scotland after the King left it should be created an Earl and made Commissioner and a Parliament should be called in Scotland The Nobility and Gentry of Scotland clearly saw there was no other way to redeem Scotland from being a conquered Nation and a Province to England but by an entire Submission to the King Lauderdale knew this as well as they and therefore resolved to make them pay dear for their Deliverance and now you shall see the Nobility and Gentry which with the Kirk united against King Charles I. divide under his Son and sacrifice the Kirk and all their Discipline to make an Atonement for themselves The first Act which was shewed herein was upon this Occasion The firy Zeal of the Kirk-men burnt up all Rules of Prudence or the Consideration of the present State of Scotland so that even in this state Crowns and Scepters must submit to the Kirk And that the King might know his Duty a Company of them met together and drew up a Supplication as they said but in nature of a Remonstrance to the King setting forth the Calamities they groaned under in the Time of the Usurpers by their impious Incroachments upon the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the Liberties thereof which of themselves they were not able to suppress and overcome and the Danger of the Popish and Prelatical Party now beginning again to lift up their Head they press him to mind his â—aths and Covenant with God c. The Committee of Estates well knowing how ungrateful this would be to the King upon the 23d of August 1660. sent a Party and apprehended these Men whereof one Mr. James Guthry was the chief of whom you 'll hear more hereafter and committed them Prisoners to Edinburgh-Castle and from thence Guthry was sent Prisoner to Dundee for treasonable and seditious reflecting on his Majesty and on the Government of England and the Constitution of the Committee of State and tending to raise new Tumults and kindling a new Civil War among his Majesty's good Subjects This was the first Spark which soon burnt into such a Flame as totally consumed the whole Kirk-Party in Scotland and left them in a much worse plight than before when they suffered under the Usurpation as they called it of the English For during the late Usurpations the Kirk enjoyed a Liberty of Conscience but it 's the Nature of some Men that unless they may persecute other Men they 'll exclaim they are persecuted themselves and therefore since they were not able to do it themselves they minded the King of his Covenant with God to extirpate Heresy Schism and Profaneness and to remove the stumbling which the King had given them in admitting Prelacy Ceremonies and Service-Book in the King's Chappel and other Places of his Dominions But these Men were mistaken in their Measures for after the King was expelled from Scotland by Cromwel he little I may say never observed the Directory of Worship Confession of Faith and Catechisms in his Family according to the National and Solemn League and Covenant as he repeated in his Coronation-Oath and less the establishing Presbyterian Government in England and Ireland and least of all in Scotland For one of the first Acts of the first Sessions was an Anniversary Thanksgiving to be observed on every May 29 with this Proem The States of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland taking into their Consideration the sad Condition Slavery and Bondage this antient Kingdom has groaned under these twenty three Years the time when the Troubles arose in K. Charles the First 's Reign in which under very specious Pretences of Reformation a publick Rebellion has been by the Treachery of some and Misperswasion of others violently carried on against sacred Authority to the Ruin and Destruction so far as was possible of Religion this King's Majesty and his Royal Government the Laws Liberties and Property of the People and all the publick and private Interests of the Kingdom so that Religion it self hath been prostituted for the Warrant of all these treasonable Invasions made upon the Royal Authority and disloyal Limitations upon the Allegiance of the Subjects Therefore upon the 29th of May be set apart for an Holy Day c. Yet soon after the King's Restoration he wrote to the Presbytery of Edinburgh promising to countenance the Church as by Law established But Lauderdale knew his Mind better Here it 's observable That in 1638 when the Kirk were so zealous with lifted-up Hands in the Presence of the Eternal God to swear to establish their National Covenant there was not one of the Nobility but the Popish except the Marquess of Hamilton and the Earl of Traquair but joined with the Kirk expresly against the King's Command Traquair the Kirk-Party proceeded against as an Incendiary and after Hamilton secretly joined with the Covenanters for which King Charles I. made him Prisoner in Pendennis-Castle from whence he was discharged when Fairfax had it surrender'd And not one of the Nobility except Argile and Cassels but declare this and all the Kirk-Proceedings since Treasonable Rebellion against the Laws Liberties and Property of the People and Prostitution of Religion and this Declaration was celebrated with a double Sacrifice the Marquess of Argile being executed as a Traitor for holding Correspondence with Cromwel and his Head set where Montross's stood on the Monday before and Mr. Guthry on Saturday after for refusing to own the Jurisdiction of the Judges in Ecclesiastical Affairs had his Head set upon one of the Ports of Edinburgh This was a sad Presage to the Kirk of what followed For as they without the King would impose their Solemn League and Covenant upon England now by the King and Parliament an Oath of Allegiance in the very Nature if not the Words of the Oath of Supremacy in England is imposed upon them wherein they are to swear That the King is the supreme Governour over all Persons and in all Causes c. and That they will maintain defend and assist his Majesty's Jurisdiction aforesaid against all
sent a Squadron under Sir John Lawson to that end And the Dutch sent another commanded by De Ruiter seemingly but not designedly for to join Sir John against the Algerines For De Ruiter after he had entred the Straits abandoned Sir John Lawson and sailed to Cape Verd and dispossessed the English of their Factories nor did he stay there but sailing thence he attempted Barbadoes but was beaten off with loss But with better Success he sailed to Long-Island where he made great Depradations This Double-dealing of the Dutch alarm'd the Parliament so as they petitioned the King to make War upon the Dutch and the King was well disposed to it having before designed it as many thought and so took this Occasion for it nor were the City of London less forward than the Parliament for promoting this War and upon that Account furnished the King with several Sums of Money for which both Houses gave the City Thanks upon the Twenty Fifth of November 1665. The King the Day before made this Speech to the Commons Mr. Speaker and you Gentlemen of the House of Commons I know not whether it be worth my Pains to endeavour to remove a vile Jealousy which some ill Men scatter abroad and which I am sure will never sink into the Breast of any Man who is worthy to sit upon your Benches that when you have given me a Noble and Proportionable Supply for the Support of a War I may be induced by some evil Counsellors for they will be thought to think very respectfully of my Person to make a sudden Peace and get all the Money for my own Private Occasions But let me tell you and you may be confident of it That when I am compelled to enter into a War for the Protection Honour and Benefit of my Subjects I will God willing not make a Peace but upon the obtaining and securing those Ends for which the War is entred into and when that can be done no good Man will be sorry for the Determination of it But the War was not declared till the 22d of February following But here I observe that neither my Lord Chancellor Hide nor my Lord Treasurer Southampton were present in Council at it It may seem strange to any Man conversant in our Government that the King in less than four Years and a half after his Restoration should be in such a Necessity of borrowing such Sums of Money of the City for the disbanding of the Army was paid by the Convention and Parliament and the Parliament had settled the Excise on him which was cessed at 500000 l. per Annum and the Customs at 600000 l. and Chimney-Money worth 150000 l. per Annum and 12 Car. 2. c. 26. granted the King the Arrears of twelve Months Assessment commencing the 25th of December 1659 and C. 29. gave the King 70000 l. and C. 34. also the Post-Office worth 50000 l. per Annum and in the 13 Car. 2. cap. 3. vested in the King the Arrears of the Excise and new Imposts and in the second Session Cap. 3. the Parliament gave the King 1270000 l. and Cap. 5. a voluntary Contribution and C. 8. gave the poor Cavaliers 60000 l. that the King might never hear more of them and C. 9. granted a further Relief for the poor and maimed Officers which had served the King's Father and also Cap. 15. four intire Subsidies by the Laity and four by the Clergy besides all the forfeited Estates both in England and Ireland So that the Excise Customs Chimney-Money Post-Office and forfeited Estates at a moderate Computation may be computed at 1600000 l. per Annum a new Addition to the Crown which Queen Elizabeth had not only the Court of Wards was exchanged for part of the Hereditary Excise And if you compute but six Months Arrear of the twelve Months Assessment at 70000 l. per Mensem beginning at Christmass 1659 this will amount to 420000 l. and the Arrears of the Excise and new Impost at 300000 l. and 70000 l. granted the King 12 Car. I. 29. and the 1270000 l. 13 Car. II. 3. and the voluntary Contribution at 300000 l. and the four Subsidies granted by the Clergy and Laity at 400000 l. besides the new added Revenue of 1600000 l. per Annum to the Crown the King in less than four Years and a half received 2860000 l. or two Millions eight hundred and sixty thousand Pounds Yet the King paid no Debts of his Father's nor do I find he built any new Men of War nor made any War except that last Year against the Algerines It 's true he married his Sister but had twice her Portion of the French King for the Sale of Dunkirk and also 400000 l. Portion with the Queen Now let 's see how things stood in Scotland During the Earl of Middleton's Commission the Parliament of Scotland granted the King so great a Revenue that the King signified his Pleasure not to raise any more but tho Middleton in the general Opinion had done more in Scotland than could have been expected yet Lauderdale thought he had not done enough and therefore got the Parliament to be dissolved and a new one to be called in 1663 and the Earl of Rothes the Ring-leader of the Presbyterians in the Reign of Charles the First and was the first that subscribed the Letter to Lewis the XIII th for his Aid by the Appellation of Au Roy to be made Commissioner The King's Supremacy in all Ecclesiastial and Civil Matters and so great a Revenue as the King could ask being settled by Middleton one would have thought no more could be done yet another Law must be passed intituled the Humble Tender Whereby the Kingdom of Scotland is obliged to raise the King twenty thousand Foot and two thousand Horse sufficiently armed and furnished with forty days Provision to be in a readiness at his Majesty's Call And also that all Scots-Men from sixteen to sixty if the King should have further use of them should hazard their Lives and Fortunes as they shall he called by his Majesty for the Safety and Preservation of his Sacred Person Authority and Government to march into any part of Scotland England or Ireland for the suppressing any Foreign Invasion or Intestine Troubles or any other Service wherein his Majesty's Honour c. was concerned And this Law it may be was the Equivalent for which the Forts were demolished Tho Rothes was Commissioner when the Act passed yet Lauderdale assumed to himself the Glory of it and it 's observable this Act passed the same Year and about the same time the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence to the Dissenters in England Thus you see as the Parliament of Scotland outrun the Parliament of England in Loyalty to the King so at least they went hand in hand with them in grauting the King more Aids than he would ask of the Subjects of his antient Kingdom Never had Kings of England or Scotland their Debts so easily
Dutch in this Peace being to restore all they had taken in the Leeward Islands to the English And now the Steed is stoln the Stable-door is shut for after the Peace thousands of People were pressed in London to finish the Fort at Sheerness and it being a terrible aguish Time in an aguish Place almost all fell sick and it was deemed by many that more died there than in all the Dutch War In this Consternation 't was necessary to do something to appease the Parliament and People and so the King sends for the Seal from my Lord Chancellor Hide which was no sooner done but the Parliament were as fierce upon him as for the Dutch War One of his intimate Friends told me he took Counsel with his Friends whether he should stay or leave the Kingdom they all advised him not to stay and so he left the Kingdom yet fell into more Danger than if he had not for at Diep a Company of rude Sea-men endeavour'd to have assassinated him Thus fell this great Chancellor and Statesman I do not say a Sacrifice for either King or People having followed the King's Father in all his Wars and himself in his Exile yet he lived to see two Lord Chancellors in England and two Lord Keepers alive at the same time no Argument of the Steadiness of Counsels after him Two were deposed as well as he and the third with much ado lived to die in the Place A little before his Deposure as if he had lived long enough that great Standard of Loyalty and true Nobility my Lord Treasurer Southampton died but sure so upright a Chancellor or two such honourable Counsellors and Statesmen for their Integrity to the English Interest and great Understanding in State-Affairs have not since succeeded but they were but two to too many others and the King's Inclinations were towards the other side so as neither he nor my Lord Treasurer Southampton were present at the Council when the War was declared against the Dutch But this Power was in the Wain and the Torrent run t'other way It was time for the Dutch to make Peace with England for this Summer the French King with a mighty Army was fallen into Flanders and like a Torrent had ravaged Artois Hainault and other parts of the Spanish Netherlands and taken Charleroy Oudenard Aeth Courtray and Lisle But that we may take a better View of this War we must look back In the Year 1612 there was a cross Marriage between Lewis XIII of France and Philip IV. of Spain Lewis married Philip's Sister and Philip married Elizabeth Lewis his Sister By Elizabeth Philip had Don Belthazar and the Infanta married to the French King by the Treaty of the Pyrenees In the Year 1649 Elizabeth of France being dead Philip married Ann the Daughter of Ferdinand the Third Emperor Philip's own Niece by whom he had Charles the now King of Spain I do not find whether Don Belthazar was dead before the French King married his Sister but Charles the now King was born about Nine Months after the Pyrenean Treaty By the Pyrenean Treaty the French King by all that they call sacred in the Church of Rome and by all the Clauses the Wit of Man could express to avoid Evasion disclaimed all Right or Title to Spain or any part of it in the Right of the Infanta and Philip dying in the Year 1665 the French King did engage his Faith and Royal Word to the Queen by the Marquess De la Fuente that he would Religiously keep the Peace and continue a faithful Friendship with her and her Son during his Minority nay after the Eruption by the French into Flanders the Arch-Bishop of Ambrun did in Verbo Sacerdotis protest and vow to the Queen that his Master the French King would never break with the King of Spain or invade his Dominions during his Minority By this time the Dauphin I think was about Six Years old and his Father to cover his Hypocrisy and Perfidy pretended that the Women of Brabant by the first Venter inherit before the Males of the second but you shall see Brabant flow over all the Spanish Netherlands and therefore no Act of his could preclude the Dauphin who was born of Philip's first Wife which vain Pretension was throughly confuted by the renowned States-man the Baron de Isola in his excellent Treatise termed The Buckler of State and Justice However about four Days after the Arch-Bishop of Ambrun's Protestation the Queen of Spain had notice of a Manifesto published by the French King that he had so fully proved his Son's Title that he did not think himself obliged to spend any time in unprofitable Contests about it yet not to make War but to take Friendly Possession of what was so justly due to the Dauphin Never was Spain at so low an Ebb and unable to make Opposition to the French as at this time for besides our King 's giving up Dunkirk to the French and the breaking of the Spanish Army at the Fight at Elvas in Portugal which should have defended Flanders the War still continued there where the French by a Treaty with Portugal contrary to the Pyrenean Treaty were to have all the Port Towns taken from the Spaniard The Buchaneers at Jamaica plagued the Spaniard in the Returns of their Plate-Fleet and plundered and fired many of the Spanish Towns upon the firm Land And Don John the King's Bastard Brother and the Queen were at highest Discord about her Confessor Nitard so as Don John refused to accept of the Government of Flanders again to oppose the French Here 't is observable how much the French King's Ambition prevail'd beyond his Zeal to Religion for in 1665 and 1666 the Irish had been treating with him to send an Army into Ireland to assist the Irish in a designed Rebellion against the King which this Year was brought to Maturity and the French King promised to send them Forty Thousand Men to land on St. Lewis's Day in August But he kept his Promise no better with them to assist them than he did his Oath at the Pyrenean Treaty not to assist the Portuguese and to the Queen Regent in Spain not to invade any of the Spanish Dominions during the Minority of the King The King either stung with the Success of his Mother's Assurance that the Dutch would put out no Fleet this Year or at this time angry with his Brother of France for the Ravages he had made upon the English in the West-Indies whereby the King's Customs were much lessened or it may be having some Seeds of the wholsome Counsels which the Chancellor Hide and Treasurer Southampton had infused into him how dangerous it would be to England as well as Holland for the French to make a Conquest in Flanders sent to Sir William Temple his then Resident at Brussels to take joint Measures with the States for restraining the Progress of the French Conquests in Flanders This was in January 1667
8. The French Progress in Flanders more nearly concerned the Dutch than the English the Spanish Netherlands being the Barrier to secure the United Netherlands from sinking under the Power of France and therefore the Dutch States readily complied with Sir William's Proposals and Sir William waited upon the King to give him an Account of his Negotiation and within 5 Days after was sent back with Powers to conclude a stricter Defensive League than that at Breda between England and Holland either by Mediation or Force to stop the further Progress of the French Army in the Spanish Provinces And because the Swedes soon after entred into it it was called the Triple Alliance This preserved what the French had left untaken and the Spaniard was forced to sit down by the Loss But whatever the Spaniard lost by the French Ravages the English gained this Benefit by it That one Brewer whose Parents were said to be English with about fifty Walloons who wrought and died Fine Woollen Cloths came into England and the King after the Example of two of his wisest and most renowned Predecessors Edward III. and Queen Elizabeth entertain'd them against our Barbarous Law or rather Usage against Foreigners partaking the Benefit of Natural-born English and by them the English in a few Years time were instructed to make and dye fine woollen Cloths cheaper by 40 l. per Cent. than they could do before not only to the Benefit of the English at home but in foreign Vent abroad which before the Dutch had I think it was this Year the French sell into the Franche County of Burgundy and took Dole and Besanzon but this being a Barrier to the Swiss against the French Power as the Spanish Netherlands are to the Dutch the Swiss recalled their Subjects out of the French Service and ordered the levying Sixty Thousand Men to expel the French out of the County of Burgundy and now it was not time for the French King to contend against the Triple League and the Swiss too so he gave up Dole and Besanzon again to the Spaniards and withdrew his Forces out of the County Thus was Spain saved by others when they could not help themselves The banishing the Chancellour Clarendon did palliate but the Triple League reconciled all Difference between the King and Parliament as if no Dutch War or Miscarriages had been and for the Triple League they granted the King a Treble Supply viz. 20 Car. II. c. 1. 301000 l. upon Wines and Liquors Secondly an additional Duty of 8 l. per Tun on French Wines c. and 12 l. per Tun on Spanish Wines for eight Years which amounted to 560000 l. this was the 22 Car. II. And also cap. 3. an Act for sale of the Fee Farm Rents to the Value of 1300000 l. An. Dom. 1668. But you 'll see these dear bought Joys soon will fade for the great Clarendon and noble Southampton now are gone and another Generation is springing up and that with such forward Growth as all Weeds do that upon the Joy of the Triple League the House of Commons having given the King the 301000 l. Mr. Clifford after Lord Treasurer in April following told a Friend of Sir Temple's that for all this great Joy it must not be long before we have another War with Holland and this very Year a French Man gave my Lord Arlington the Design of laying another Holland's War and the Advance of it by the Practice of Monsieur Colbert upon the Ministers of our Court. An. Reg. 21. Dom. 1669. However the Devil will play at small Games rather than stand out for now the French King's Hands are tied up by the Triple League and Treaty at Aix la Chapelle from taking more Towns in the Spanish Netherlands Yet he exacted great Contributions from the Dutchies of Limburgh and Luxemburgh and confiscated the Estates of those in his Conquests who would not forswear their Allegiance to the King of Spain and endeavoured to surprize the Town of Hainault And tho by the Pyrenean Treaty the Duke of Lorain was to be restor'd to his Dutchy yet the Duke tho a Friend to the King was rejected from entring into the Triple League which he endeavoured and therefore incurred the French King's Displeasure who in the Year 1669 seized upon the poor Remainders of his Country and ordered one of his Generals to seize his Person and bring him either dead or alive And tho by the Treaty of Breda the French King was to restore the English to their Plantations in St. Christophers which the French had taken from them yet hitherto he refused to do it In this trifling which the Hector of France did only to keep his Hand in ure he did not sleep otherways the Triple League stuck sore in his Conscience which unless broken would set Bounds to his boundless Ambition In its infant State Monsieur Colbert in the first Year had made some Steps towards it but the next Year made such Advances that he had almost brought the Destruction of it to Perfection To facilitate this hopeful Project Madam the King 's beloved Sister came in June 1670 to Dover with full Powers to conclude this desired Business The King was not long behind but with equal Desire and extraordinary Affection meets his Sister where all things are concluded which tho as dark as Hell yet were as secret as Witchcraft which would have no Light but by their Consequences and that this well-laid Design might not be forgotten the Princess left her Woman Madam Carwel after Dutchess of Portsmouth with the King to put him in mind of it but the Princess was unhappy in this for Monsieur her Husband entertained a furious Jealousy in his frantick Brain that something else besides this hopeful Project was designed by the Princess so that though she were in perfect Health and never more pleased than when here yet upon her Return she in the Glory of her Age but Twenty six Years old died suddenly so that the Cause of her Death was as dark as the Design she came for But there is neither Sister Father or Mother with Kings and Kingdoms The sudden Death of Madam put no stop to the ratisying the Business she came for but the Marquess of Bellefonds is sent hither and an honourable Person is sent into France for both Kings Ratification of it Hereupon the French King descended from his Stiffness and delivered the English their Grounds in St. Christophers to Sir Charles Wheeler yet destroy'd all the Plantations plundered and carried away all that was portable laid the whole Country waste and left it in a much worse Condition than if it had never been planted The French King by his English Pensioners did not only keep the Emperor and Duke of Lorain out of being desirous to enter into the Triple League but he enters into a stricter League with the Arch-bishop of Collen and the Bishop of Munster two Princes of the Empire against the Dutch and now began to
sit out a greater Fleet of Men of War than ever any French King did before Nor were the Dutch behind-hand but made proportionable Advances not doubting but the King would make good his Proportion according to the League so lately made between the King and them in case the French King made any Attempt upon them Upon the 24th of October 1670 the Parliament met again and notwithstanding all the Aids granted the King in April before my Lord-Keeper Bridgman told the Parliament the great Care his Majesty had of them and the Kingdom since their last Recess and that besides the triple Alliance he had made many advantagious Alliances both for Security and Profit of Trade with the Swede Dane Spaniard and Duke of Savoy But since the Dutch and French made such vast Naval Preparations it was necessary for the Safety and Honour of the Nation that the King should at least keep equal Pace with them which could not be done without great Supplies which must be speedily granted for the King intended to put an End of this Session before Christmas but the Success of this Speech so ill agreeing with the Premises it was not permitted to be printed yet you may read it at large in Mr. Marvel's Growth of Popery But whatever Treaties of Commerce were made with other Princes the Keeper finds none with France where neither the advantagious Treaty made by Oliver was observed nor any new one made but the French King did use the English with all imaginable Oppressions without any Redress from the King However this Speech wrought so pathetically with the Parliament that they gave the King one Shilling in the Pound of the real Value of all the Lands of England for one Year and an Additional Excise upon Beer and Ale for six Years and the Law-Bill for nine Years which three Bills were computed at two Millions and a half And now this dark Design founded in such deep Dissimulation Hypocrisy and Perfidiousness as Oliver Cromwel would have been ashamed of and blush'd at begins to receive Light For the Parliament having granted the King the Aids were in Consequence prorogued and did not meet to act till the fourth of February 167 1 2. But in regard that not only the extirpating the Protestant Religion but the Subversion of the Western Parts of Europe was now designed which extended as far as the Baltick Sea and the Bounds of the Turkish and Tartar Empires we will be a little particular in it But what is most amazing is that the King in appearance a Protestant and a free independent King so used by the French King in his Exile and since his Restoration should be so forward in joining with a Faithless and Boundless Ambitious Neighbouring Prince which if his Design had succeeded had involved the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland in the same Condition with the rest of Christendom The Vizard-Mask under which the Popish Party covered their Hypocrisy in propagating their Catholick Cause for plain-dealing must never be expected in it in King Charles the First 's time was Arminianism which then had the Ascendant in Laud's Regency but since the King's Restoration the Protestant Dissenters being so fiercely prosecuted by the Parliament it was judged that the dispensing with Penal Laws against Dissenters from the Church of England would conjoin the Protestant Dissenters Interest with the Popish and this not only appeared by Practice but by Design in Coleman's Letters to Father Ferier and La Chaise the French King's Confessors As before the first Dutch War the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence for dispensing with the Penal Laws in Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Interval of the sitting of the Parliament so did he before the second War It seems to me that the Designers of this War got some secret Oath or Promise from the King that he should not do the like again for the King told the House of Commons he would stand by his Declaration of Indulgence and sure nothing but Queen Money would have got him off However these Conspirators were more zealous than politick for before the King issued out his Declaration of Indulgence in England upon the 26th of February 1671 he issued out his Proclamation in Ireland wherein he granted general Licence to all Papists to live in Corporations exercise Trades there and enjoy the same Privileges as other Subjects ought to do which was a greater Privilege than his Protestant Subjects had for by their Charter all who were not free of the Corporations could not have the Benefit of their Privileges But that the Catholick Design might take deeper Root and Continuance the Duke of York's Sons being dead and the Princesses his Daughters being bred up in the Protestant Religion Care must be taken to establish the Popish for the time to come for which it was expedient the Duke should marry some Popish Princess and to this end the Arch-Dutchess of Inspruck was propounded and a Treaty entred into upon it But tho the Princess's Religion pleased the French King yet the Interest this Marriage would bring with it did not So that tho the Treaty were far advanced yet the French King who ruled all the Roast propounded the Princess of Modena the Daughter of a little Italian Prince and a Dependant of the French King's yet had a great Interest in the Court of Rome and this against all Endeavours of the Parliament and to the Dishonour of the Treaty with the Arch-Dutchess prevailed the French King having adopted her a Daughter of France and given her a Portion But while these Designs are laid in the dark here in England the French King bare-faced by his Ambassador at Vienna in a solemn Speech declared that his Master had undertaken the War against Holland for propagating the Catholick Cause and that all good Christians were bound to join with him to extirpate Heresy and that he would restore all his Conquests to re-establish the true Worship banish'd out of the Holland's meaning the Vnited Netherlands Territories which you may read more at large in Mr. Secretary Trevor's Appeal c. Now let 's see how agreeable these Mens Morals were to their Religious Pretences in laying the Scene for this designed Dutch War The Treasury since the Death of my Lord Treasurer Southampton was managed by Commissioners and if the Aids granted by the Parliament were not sufficient for carrying on the King's Designs the French King is to supply him further but things were not ripe enough yet for these Monies to be returned into the Exchequer lest they might give cause of Suspicion and therefore between six and seven hundred thousand Pounds were received by Mr. Chiffins he to have two Pence in the Pound to be disposed of as the King shall order If you doubt this you may examine Mr. Chiffins's Accounts when he was advised to pass them and take his Quietus out of the Exchequer Tho by the Defensive League between the King and States when the Triple League
of his Majesty's Subjects who are Dissenters in Matters of Religion from the Church of England And a Bill passed the House accordingly but was stopt in the House of Lords Causa patet the dead Weight joining with the Caballing Party But whatever the Commons thought of the King 's Dispensing Power in England Lauderdale the fifth in the Cabal in England was of another Opinion in Scotland for in the second Parliament c. 1. held by him he gets an Act declaring That by Virtue of the King's Supremacy the ordering the Government of the Church does properly belong to his Majesty and Successors as an inherent Right of the Crown and that he may enact and emit such Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning Church-Administrations Persons Meetings and Matters as he in his Royal Wisdom shall think fit c. any Law Act or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding And that he might not be less active in Scotland than his Brother Clifford was in England and Buckingham and Arlington were in Holland being armed with these other Powers he made all sorts of People depose upon Oath their Knowledg of the Persons of Dissenters not Popish Meetings in the Exercise of their Worship upon Penalty of Fining Imprisonment Banishment and Transportation to be sold for Slaves imprisoning all outed Ministers who shall preach out of their Families till they give Security of 5000 Marks Scot not to do the same again every Hearer being a Tenant to pay 25l Scot and Cotter 12 toties quoties they shall offend and that it shall be Death for any to preach in Fields or Houses where any are without doors and 500 Marks Reward for any to secure such dead or alive and gave Orders That every Man for himself and all under him should give Bond not to go to Field-Meetings and to inform against pursue and deliver up all outed Ministers to Judgment The Execution of these Orders was not by legal Officers but by an Army of Highland Robbers who quartered upon the Country so that it may be a Question whether the French King did not take his Measures in his Dragoon-Reformation by the ground-work laid by Lauderdale But his Grace which it seems did work irresistibly did not stay here for his Highland Army which consisted of eight or nine thousand Men not only lived upon Free Quarter upon all sorts of the King 's peaceable Subjects but in most places levied great Sums of Money under the Notion of Dry Quarters they had only regard to the Duke 's private Animosities for the most part of the Places where they quartered and destroyed had not been guilty of Field-Conventicles The King's Subjects were denounced Rebels and Captions issued out for seizing their Persons for not entring into Bond That neither they nor any under them shall go to Field-Conventicles and the Nobility and Gentry were disarmed who had ever been faithful to the King and assisted in suppressing Field-Conventicles Indictments were delivered in by the King's Advocate in the Evening to be answered next Morning upon Oath otherwise they were to be reputed guilty These and many more of this kind in the Matters relating to Lauderdale's Administration of Affairs in Scotland were represented to the King and that by his Command and are in Lauderdale's and his Lady's Impeachment which are all in Print Notwithstanding all this it was this Lauderdale who had procured an Act of Parliament to raise 20000 Foot and 2000 Horse to march into England to serve the King upon all Occasions And tho the Duke to prevent the Fame of his Actions arriving in England had by a Proclamation forbid all Subjects to depart the Kingdom without Licence yet the Noise of his Actions flew every where in England not less than the Censures of the Star-Chamber and High Commission in Laud's Regency did in Scotland and in due time the Duke shall hear of them Can any Man now believe That the King by his Declaration of Indulgence intended any Benefit to the Dissenters in England whilst Lauderdale without doubt by his Order was acting these things in Scotland The House of Commons could not at first step forget all the Loyalty they before profest to the King nor yet would they own the Dutch War and therefore they voted the King 1238750 l. to supply the King 's extraordinary Occasions but before they would let this Bill slip through their Fingers they tack'd a Bill to it by which no Papist should have any publick Employment This Bill catch'd my Lord Treasurer Clifford the first in the Cabal who was forced to resign his Treasurer's Place or renounce Popery which he would not do his Pensioners not being against it hoping thereby to get the Places which the Popish Party held and even my Lord Chancellor Ashley from Delenda Carthago now sets up for the Country Party against the Designs of the Cabal so moultry are all Designs which are not cemented in Justice and Honour The King having got the Bill for the Money the further Sitting of the Parliament became uneasy to him whereupon the Parliament was adjourned till the 20th and after to the 27th of October viz. 1673. During this Recess there were three Sea-Fights between the English French and Dutch Prince Rupert Admiral in all which the French stood aloof looking on whilst the English and Dutch battered one another only Monsieur de Martell for engaging was recalled checked and dismissed As the English thrived no better by Sea so neither did the French by Land for first the Elector of Brandenburg then the Emperour and at last the King or Queen Regent of Spain apprehensive of the Danger common to them all of the French subduing the Dutch Provinces entred into a mutual League for their Defence and by their Conjunction the Prince of Orange recovered many of the Vpland Towns in almost as little Time as the French had taken them In this state the Swede now broke loose from the Triple League whereby he opened the Gap to let in this Confusion and became a Pensioner to France and proposes a Treaty of Peace to be held at Cologn and thither the King the Emperor the French King and the King of Spain send their Plenipotentiaries to treat of it The French King's Propositions were so insolent that if granted our King could have nothing yet the King pudet haec insisted That tho he was contented with such Propositions as he required so as accepted in ten Days yet if granted by the States they should be of no force nor will he enter into any Treaty of Peace unless his most Christian Majesty shall receive Satisfaction from the States in his Particular After the French King should have all the King's Demands were a Regulation of the Trade to the East-Indies a Settlement of the Freedom of Navigation in Europe the Arrears for the Fishing-Trade upon the English Coast to assert a settled Revenue to the Crown for every Buss or Dogger-boat for the future and to make Satisfaction for the Damages
Parties in the House of Commons till the thing was wrested out of our hands Upon the 5th of January 1676-77 Sir William received Answer from the King to his last Dispatches by the Prince's Direction which consisted of two Parts the first an Offer of the King's Entrance into the strongest Alliance with the States thereby to secure them from all Apprehensions from France after the Peace should be made the second was the King's Remarks rather than Conclusions or Judgment upon the Terms propounded by the Prince for a Peace that he the King believed it might be compassed with France upon the Exchange of Cambray Ayre and St. Omer for Aeth Charleroy Oudenard Conde and Bouchain This Answer was so different from what the Prince proposed so illusive and of so little Security to the Dutch that the Prince told Sir William that he would rather die than make such a Peace and complained that the Offer of Alliance was wrote to him by the King 's own Hand but this about the Terms of Peace from the Secretary's Hand which was in a Stile as if he thought the Prince a Child and to be fed with Whipp'd Cream That since all this had been before the foreign Committee he knew very well it had been with the French Ambassador too and that the Terms were his and were a great deal worse than if they had directly come from France But the French King 's wheedling our King and the Dutch about a separate Peace no ways abated the Vigour of his Prosecution of the War whilst Peace was mediating for in the beginning of the Year he takes the Field with a huge Army and block'd up Cambray and Valenciennes about the End of February and having provided sufficient Magazines for Subsistence of his Forces which neither the Spaniard nor Germans had broke into Flanders and into the Parts of Germany on the other side of the Rhine and with the most cruel Ravages of burning and spoiling those Parts of Germany that could be exercised and such as had not been used on either side since the War began The Allies made Complaints of this new manner of making War to his Majesty as Guarantee to the Treaty at Aix la Chapelle who employed his Offices towards France to hinder such Proceedings but the Things was done and the Point gained which was by an entire Ruin of those Countries from hindring the Imperialists from finding any Subsistence for their Troops if they should march into Alsatia and thereby divert those Forces the French resolved to employ in Flanders before the Dutch could take the Field and march to the Relief of those Places they intended to attack Before any Dutch Spanish or German Army could be brought into the Field the French took Valenciennes and laid Siege to St. Omer and Cambray But before they had taken St. Omer the Prince of Orange with the Forces of the States the Spaniard assisting him with no Forces not so much as Guides resolved to relieve it tho with the hazard of a Battel But the Duke of Orleance leaving a part of his Forces to defend the Trenches and joining with the Duke of Luxemburg with all the Troops the French King could send met the Prince at Mount Cassel where after a sharp Dispute the first Regiment of the Dutch Infantry began to break into Disorder The Prince went immediately to that Place where the Shock began rallied them several times and renewed the Charge but at last was born down by the plain Flight of his Men whom he was forced to resist as Enemies and fall in among them with Sword in hand and cut the first over the Face and cried out aloud Rascal I 'll set a Mark on thee at least that I may hang thee at last But neither Voice Action Threats nor Example would give Courage to Men that had already lost it so he was forced to recoil to those Troops which stood firm and made so brave a Retreat as was near equal to a Victory So as Flanders had only Mons and Namur for a Frontier by Land and Newport and Ostend by Sea However the Prince made an Attempt upon Charleroy which did not succeed Hereupon the Prince seeing all Attempts against the French would be in vain unless the King came in to assist the Confederacy of the Allies sent Monsieur Bentink into England to desire the King's Leave to make a Journey into England so soon as the Campagn was over to which he received this cold Answer That the Prince would first think of making the Peace and rather defer his Journey till that were concluded Could any Man now believe any other Prince should be so supine as not to apprehend the imminent Danger his Nephew stood in and in consequence his own Dominions And tho all the World but he saw and dreaded this yet the King as at the End of the first Dutch War would not This was about the beginning of June and about the middle of it Sir Temple's Son brought him Letters from my Lord Treasurer That he should come over and enter upon the Secretary's Place which Secretary Coventry had offer'd to lay down upon the Payment of 10000 l. and that the King would pay half the Money and the Treasurer must lay down the rest at present but did not doubt but the King would find a way of easing him of that too What could be expected in such a Reign where Secretaries of State who are the Eyes of the King and Kingdom to take Care of all foreign and domestick Affairs which cannot be carried on without Charges should purchase their Places and thereby not only disable them in the Performance of their Office but utterly to neglect it and make it their Business how they may be Gainers by their Purchase they had so dearly bought But Sir William excused it as not being able to raise 5000 l. now his Father was alive And tho Secretary Coventry came cheap enough by the Place it seems he was either unwilling Sir William should succeed him in it or that he would not trust to the 5000 l. to be paid by the King unless he might chuse his Successor who it may be would have given him 15000 l. for it After Sir William came over and the Bargain for the Secretary's Place not succeeding the King had often Conferences with him about the Peace and the Prince's coming into England he had a great Desire for the first but not for the other till the first were done He said his Parliament would never be quiet with him while the War lasted and then leave him in it unless they might have their Terms in removing and filling Places which he should be very loth to be so much at their Mercy and that the longer the War continued the worse it would be for the Confederates and worse for Flanders and therefore would have the Prince make a Peace for them if they would not do it themselves and that if the Prince and he would fall
January and the same Day issued out Writs for a new one to meet at Westminster the 6th of March following which was just 40 Days between the Test and Return In this Interval the Blaze of the Parliament's Vote of their Apprehensions of a damnable and hellish Popish Plot had taken deep Impressions in the Minds of Men in general and the Whigs taking Advantage of it in this short Interval run down the Tories without Opposition nay even the King himself apprehended there could be no Hopes of attaining his Ends in the next Parliament but by seeming zealous in the prosecuting the Discovery of the Popish Plot and that he would not longer be governed by Favourites and single Councils There had been several Debates in the House of Commons of the dangerous Consequences in reference to the Duke of York's Succession to the Crown and that the Bottom of the Popish Plot centred in the Duke's being a Papist and the presumptive Heir to the Crown but I do not find they came to any Vote upon it yet resolved upon the 8th of November to make an Address to the King That the Duke might withdraw himself from his Person and Councils and in Conformity therewith the Duke went or was sent into Holland and upon the meeting of the Parliament the King acquainted them how great things he had already done for the preventing the Progress of the Popish Plot as the Exclusion of the Popish Lords from their Seats in Parliament and the Execution of several Men upon the Score of the Plot as well as the Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey but above all that he had commanded his Brother from him because he would not leave malicious Men room to say he had not removed all Causes which could be pretended to influence him toward Popish Counsels and tells That as he had not been slack in putting the present Laws in Execution against Papists so he was ready to join in making such further Laws as may be necessary for the securing the Kingdom against Popery and then demands a Supply and concludes with his Desires to have this a healing Parliament The House chose Mr. Seymour the Speaker of the last Parliament to be their Speaker in this but the King rejected him which was no good Presage of a healing Parliament and so the Commons chose Mr. Serjeant Gregory and the King accepted him The Commons began where the last Parliament left in prosecuting their Impeachments against the Earl of Danby and the Popish Lords in the Tower but who should be first tried and what were the Jurisdiction of the Bishops Right of Voting in their Impeachments and their Judgments in Cases of Blood run quite through this Sessions wherein the Lords and Commons seldom agreed There were two things which made the Earl of Danby's Case more favourably spoken of one That tho he was prosecuted several Weeks after the Popish Lords were committed yet the Commons would not proceed in their Impeachments against the Popish Lords before the Lords had given their Judgments upon the Earl's Plea The other was a Vote of the Commons upon the 9th of May That no Commoner whatsoever should presume to maintain the Validity of the Earl of Danby ' s Pardon without Leave of the House first obtained and that the Persons so doing shall be accounted Betrayers of England and there was no Nobleman a profest Lawyer so that tho the Earl's Plea upon his Pardon was Matter of Law yet no Commoner must presume to plead his Cause The King besides his sending the Duke of York beyond Sea that the World might now see how otherways he was become a new Man for the future upon the 20th of April 1679 made this Declaration in Council and in Parliament and after publish'd it to the whole Nation how sensible he was of the ill Posture of his Affairs and the great Dissatisfaction and Jealousies of his good Subjects whereby the Crown and Government were become too weak to preserve it self which proceeded from his use of a single Ministry and of private Advices and therefore professed his Resolution to lay them aside for the future and be advised by those whom he had then chosen for his Council in all his weighty and important Affairs together with the frequent Advice of his great Council in Parliament and indeed in this Council were many worthy Members my Lord of Shaftsbury was President of it and the then Sir Henry Capel and Sir William Temple Members of it But this Declaration of the King 's added to the sending the Duke of York into Holland had not the King 's desired Effect the Commons besides the Dread of the Popish Plot as well at present but more in consequence after the King had declared he would not alter the Succession of the Crown in the right Line were no ways satisfied with the Disbursements of the Money nor the disbanding the Army yet were resolved it should be done and voted another Sum of 26462 l. for it but it was not carried without some Difficulty that these Monies should be paid into the Exchequer but Chamber of London however the Commons carried That the Money so raised should be appropriated to that Use and to that End appointed Commissioners to disband the new-rais'd Army and so voted That the Continuance of any standing Forces in this Nation other than the Militia to be illegal and a great Grievance and Vexation to the People hereby meaning the King's Guards They also ordered a Bill to be brought in for annexing Tangier to the Imperial Crown of England and voted That those who did advise the King to part with Tangier to any foreign Prince or State or were instrumental therein ought to be accounted Enemies to the King and Kingdom But how jealous soever the Commons were of the King yet they conceived it was his Life which secured them from the Fears they dreaded of the Duke's coming to the Crown and therefore upon the 11th of May voted Nemine contradicente That in Defence of the King's Person and the Protestant Religion this House does declare that they will stand by his Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes and that if his Majesty shall come to an untimely End which God forbid they will revenge it upon the Papists It seems the Commons had more Care of the King than he had of himself for he not only countenanced the Plotters but ridiculed the Plot. In his Speech at the opening this Parliament he told them he had not been idle in discovering the Plot and in the last he told Sir William Temple he was displeased with the Earl of Danby for bringing the Popish Plot into Parliament against his absolute Command Oliver's Professions and Actions never appeared so hypocritical and deceitful as this King 's and all this after the Parliament had voted there was a hellish Conspiracy by the Papists against his Life and this proved by a Cloud of Witnesses agreeing in the Manner and Circumstances of it as Oates
the Covenant and burnt several Acts of Parliament made against it and for establishing Prelacy since the Year 1660 and would have affixed their Declaration at Glascow but were prevented by the King's Forces for that time This Rebellion of the Covenanters initiated by so horrid a Fact did not extend so far as the Covenanters in their Frenâ—â— and Zeal imagined yet upon Sunday the 1st of June they rendezvouz'd about fifteen hundred Men upon Louden-Hill onâ—â— Wier commanded the Foot and the Horse was under Robert Hamilton one Patron with Balfour and Hackston which two 〈◊〉 assassinated the Arch-bishop With this Force they took the City of Glasgow and to sheâ— how all Crowns and Scepters must vail to them they published two Proclamations The first of which was We the Officers of the Covenanted Army do require and command 〈◊〉 the Inhabitants of the Burgh of Glasgow to furnish us with 24 Carts and 60 Horses for removing our Provisions from this Place to 〈◊〉 Camp where-ever we shall set down the same and to abide with us for that End during our Pleasure under pain of being reputed our Enemies and proceeded against accordingly The other was We the Officers of the Covenanted Army do require and command the Magistrates of Glasgow to extend and banish forth thereof all Arch-bishops Bishops and Curates their Wives Berns Servants and Families and Persons concerned in the King's Army within 48 Hours after publishing hereof under highest Pains And then they published a long Declaration of their taking up Arms for a free General Assembly and free and unlimited Parliament to redress the manifold Grievances there enumerated and humbly to request his Majesty to restore all things as he found them when God brought him home to his Crown and Kingdoms that was to the Dominion the Rump-Parliament in England had over them which you may read at large in the aforesaid Author from pag. 67 to 74. To these Declarations the said Author p. 17. adds they barbarously treated the dead Body of one Graham whom they had killed at a Conventicle They committed insufferable Insolencies in the Houses of the regular Ministers and Loyal Gentlemen as they marched along to Glasgow stabbing and gashing his Majesty's Picture where-ever they found it They behaved themselves barbarously in the House of the Arch-bishop of Glasgow where they burnt his Books cut in pieces his best Furniture and Hangings and almost kill'd a Gentlewoman with Blows who was left to keep the House for saying Gentlemen I hope you 'll remember you are in an Arch-bishop's House They sacrilegiously entred the Cathedral of Glasgow and finding a Tombstone over two of the Children of the Bishop of Argile with an Inscription of a Modern Date they digged up their Bodies run them through with their Swords and left them lying above Ground In the mean time the Council of Scotland were not idle but raised an Army and quartered it at a place called Blackborn to prevent the Covenanters Approach to Edinburgh and gave the King an Account of these things and expected his Majesty's further Orders And now I 'll tell a wonder which will scarce be believed in future Generations The King sent the Duke of Monmouth from London upon the 20th of June and the Duke rode above three hundred Miles upon that day and the two next days and upon the 23d ordered and disposed the King's Army raised by the Council that he fought the Covenanters and routed them killing about seven hundred of them and took above eleven hundred of them Prisoners and now it may be you will hear of a Wonder in Consequence after this Fight as great as the Fight and the Duke's Journey before it I do not question but the Design of the Court in sending the Duke of Monmouth into Scotland to suppress the Covenanters was by it to make him odious to the Presbyterians and other Dissenters from the Church of England in case he suppressed the Covenanters which tho the Duke did yet the End designed by the Court in it did not succeed For the dreadful Apprehension of the Duke's Succession to the Crown of England had taken a deep Impression in another sort of Men besides Dissenters and where Men are fearful of Danger they will seek all means how to prevent the Danger especially where the Power of doing ill is greater and therefore another sort of Men no Whigs might have their Eyes upon the Duke of Monmouth as the only means to prevent the Duke of York's Succession to the Crown his Title to the Crown of England if he could get an Act of Parliament for it being as good as that of John alias Robert Stuart the Son of Elizabeth Moore from whom the King and the Duke of York were both descended and in whose Right they claimed the Crown of Scotland if not those of England and Ireland However this gave the Lie to the Tories that all those were Commonwealths-Men who would not submit to the Illegal and Arbitrary Will of the King and their Doctrine of Passive Obedience and that Kings Jure Divino may do what they list tho God has set Laws and Bounds to all the created Bodies of Heaven and Earth and all other Creatures in them But how mischievous these Doctrines have proved to these three Kings of the Scotish Nation has been already said and I say it has been such flattering Doctrines as those that ruined all these Kings and Kingdoms except the Gibeonites Joshua 9. the State of Venice and that of Geneva for Du Salez was a just and vertuous Prince from which Commonwealths arose Who ever before King James and King Charles the First 's Reign in England heard of talking of Common-wealths in England and the several sorts of Governments viz. Monarchy Aristocracy Democracy which two latter tho they have the same Names yet no two of either in their Constitutions were like one the other And as these Commonwealths took their Rise from the Tyrannies of Kings and Princes so the exploded Government of the Rump if it were a Democracy or Common-wealth gave Life to all those Confusions Perjuries Breach of Leagues and devilish Practices of this Reign which would have been intolerable in any other and would have been opposed if not by rising in Arms against them yet at least in not so profusely pouring out Money for not continuing and carrying of them on The Popish Faction were more jealous of the Duke of Monmouth than the Tories were of a Commonwealth and the rather because there was a Pamphlet printed that the King was married to the Duke's Mother and rumoured abroad that Sir Gilbert Gerrard had a Black Box in which the Marriage of the King with the Duke's Mother was fully proved and made out and the fear of the Duke of York's Succession was so fix'd in Mens Minds that the Story of the Black Box was generally divulged and for ought I know believed by those who were fearful of the Duke of York's Succession If this could be
be kept with Hereticks which he esteemed all others in England but those of his own Romish Faction to be Could the King believe that the Duke's Succession could be any Security to the Protestant Religion as the King calls it which the Duke esteemed Heresy and to be rooted out by Fire and Sword or that any other but the Duke's Faction could be protected by him when he esteemed them Hereticks Schismaticks Church-Robbers and no Christians It 's true at this time the King of Portugal was made a Prisoner to restrain him from his immoral and wicked Actions whilst his Brother in his Imprisonment acted as Regent of Portugal in his Brother's Name But upon the Duke's Succession how could a Regent act when the King was not a Minor but of full Age double and at large in the King's Name and contrary to his Will and Pleasure and this to consist with the Security of the Protestant Religion or Laws In the Debates in the House of Commons many Expedients were propounded how the established Government in Church and State could be preserved and none could be found in case the Duke succeeded so the Country Party moved that the Court Party would propound Expedients herein but either they could not or had no Instructions from the Court to warrant such Expedients as they should propound But if the due and legal Descent of the Crown must be preserved though to the Destruction of the Church and State they who advised the King to be so positive herein should have done well to have declared what Law in England declares the Descent of the Crown of England or how this becomes due I am sure the Act of the first of Henry the IV intailed the Crown upon the King and the Heirs of his Body and so did that of the first of Henry VII before he married the Lady Elizabeth Edward the Fourth's Daughter and if Henry the seventh's Title to the Crown had been good by inherent Birth-right yet he had been an Usurper For his Mother under whom he claimed lived all his Reign and so she did some time after Henry the VIII became King as you may read in Stow's History p. 487. And how was the due and Legal Succession of the Crown of England observed in the Reign of Henry the VIII when by his Will he might name what Successor he pleased as has been said or in Queen Elizabeth's Reign when it was in Parliament declared Treason to affirm the Parliament might not dispose of the Succession of the Crown in her Reign and a Premunire at this Day And let any Man shew that ever there were three Kings before these of the Scotish Race in the Saxon Danish or Norman Race which succeeded successively by inherent Birth-right I will submit that all I have said is not true and why then must such a Stress be put for the preserving the Descent of the Crown in its due and legal Course without declaring what is that due and legal Course to endanger the Subversion of the Church and State of England Then the King recommends to the Parliament a Strict Enquiry into the Popish Plot and that the Lords in the Tower be brought to a speedy Trial without which he did not think himself or the Parliament safe The constant Vogue was That the King dissolved the two last Parliaments to preserve the Lords in the Tower from being brought to Trial and I am sure that you will soon hear that the King did not believe his and the Nation 's Safety did consist in the Trial of the Lords in the Tower Then the King tells the Parliament what Danger Tangier was in and what vast Expence he must be at to keep it And the Commons last Parliament drew up an Act to settle it upon the Imperial Crown of England and that they who did advise the King to part with Tangier to any Foreign Prince or State or were instrumental therein ought to be accounted Enemies to the King and Kingdom And what Care the King took to keep it will soon appear tho 't was said the Parliament I think it was out of the Chimney-Bill gave him 40000 l. per Annum towards the Preservation of it to the Crown of England The King goes on and says That above all the Treasure in the World which he was sure would give him greater Strength both at home and abroad than any Treasure can do is a perfect Union among our selves yet says not wherein we should unite Truth and Unity are one and consist in intire Parts but Falshood and Discord are infinite What Truth or Unity could be in the King 's loose and irregular Actions so confounding and every day varying from what he had promised before Or how is it possible for the Nation to unite under Terms which are inconsistible and impossible viz. Unite to preserve the Constitutions of the Kingdom and yet be at no Discord with the King who they were morally certain would make it his Business to subvert them If we should be so unhappy the King says as to fall into such Misunderstanding among our selves as would render our Friendship unsafe to trust to it will not be wondred at if our Allies shall begin to take up new Resolutions and perhaps such as may be fatal to us and advised them not to gratify our Enemies and dishearten our Friends by any unreasonable Disputes viz. to take all by an implicit Faith I do not understand what the King means by Misunderstanding among our selves which may render our Friendship to our or his Allies unsafe nor does he say wherein such Misunderstanding consists I 'm sure the Parliament misunderstood him when they gave him 1200000 l. to enter into an actual War against the French King in the Defence of these Allies and when he had got the Money to make a separate Peace with a Faction of the Dutch to the Ruine of his Allies and take French Money for it and to get the Parliament twice over to disband this Army for fear he should turn it against them and the Nation and now 't was disbanded to give Money to raise another upon Pretence of assisting these Allies now they were forced to such a dishonourable Peace with the French or that our Allies as the King calls them would ever trust to any more of his Alliances If any should so happen the King says the World will see it is no Fault of his for he had done all that was possible for him to do to keep us in Peace while he lived and to leave us so when he died Can any Man believe the King believed himself herein Or that any Man will be his Voucher for it Even my Lord C. F. out of the Field of his sweet lisping Eloquence could not gather one Rhetorical Flower to make a Flourish upon this Speech nor assure the Parliament upon his Veracity that Now Now was the time to secure their Religion and Properties nay the Commons gave so little Credit to this
for repealing the said Act of 35 Eliz. which passed the Commons upon the 26th of November and was sent up to the Lords who agreed to it As the Lords joined with the Commons in passing this Repeal so did the Commons join with the Lords in their Vote the 4th of January viz. Resolved by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled That they do declare that they are fully satisfied that there now is and for divers Years last past there hath been an horrid and treasonable Plot and Conspiracy contrived and carried on by those of the Popish Religion in Ireland for massacring the English and subverting the Protestant Religion and antient established Government of that Kingdom To which the Commons added That the Duke of York being a Papist and the Expectation that Party had of his coming to the Crown hath given the greatest Encouragement to the Popish Plot as well in Ireland as here But the Lords ran counter to the Commons in the Bill intituled An Act for securing the Protestant Religion by disabling James Duke of York to inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging for after the Reading it the first time in the House of Lords and the Question being put whether it should be read a second time it was resolv'd in the Negative by above a double Majority of Votes If the Lords and Commons ran counter in some things the King and Commons ran counter almost in every thing The King 's main End in calling this Parliament was to get Money for the Preservation of Tangier and in perfecting the Alliance he had made with Spain The Commons would not give any Money upon the Account of Tangier for three Reasons One was For that as the state of the Nation stood it might augment the Strength of the Popish Party and encrease the Danger of the Nation Another was There were several Regiments besides the Guards in pay in England which might be transported to Tangier with little Charge and be maintained there as cheap as here And the third was That that Garison was the Nursery of Popish Officers and Soldiers The Commons would not give Money for the pretended Alliance of mutual Obligations of Succour and Defence with Spain for three Reasons 1. The Jealousy they had of the King's Sincerity in this Alliance and the more because the King did not declare to them what manner of Alliance this was and it might be more to the Prejudice than Benefit of this Kingdom or if it should have been to the Benefit of the Kingdom they could have no more Assurance of the Performance of it than they had of the Triple League that made with the Prince of Orange or that made between the King and States of Holland by Mr. Thyn on the King's Part which were all broken almost as soon as made 2. The Impossibility of any Benefit which could arise to England and Spain by such an Alliance for if all Christendom after the separate Peace which the King joined with the Dutch Faction in could not uphold Spain and the Spanish Netherlands from falling under the Dominion of the French how could the King in the feeble and distracted state of the Nation be in a condition to support it without them 3. The Unreasonableness of giving Money upon this Account for tho oftentimes the Kings of England have demanded Supplies for maintaining vast Wars yet never any King of England before demanded Supplies for making Alliances and not declare what such Alliances were But if any such mutual Alliances of Succour and Defence were made between our King and the King of Spain I 'm sure they were ill observed by the King for two Years after viz. 1682 the French blocked up the City of Luxemburgh and the next Year took Courtray one of the six Towns delivered back to the Spaniard by Beverning's separate Treaty from the Confederates and keeps it to this Day and so the French King does Luxemburgh which he took by plain Force from the Spaniard the next Year after viz. 1684. I wish I could find any mutual Succour of Defence the King gave the King of Spain in any of these either by this Alliance or as the King was Guarantee in the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle which in his Proclamation against the Dutch in the second Dutch War he declared he would maintain Nor did the Commons only run counter to the King's Designs of getting Money but considering the dangerous and weak state of the Kingdom as by the Debt the King had contracted by shutting up the Exchequer and his squandring away almost all the antient Revenues of the Crown and to prevent the like upon the Revenue settled upon the King since his Restoration upon the 7th of January resolved 1. That whosoever shall lend or cause to be lent by way of Advance any Money upon the Branches of the King's Revenue arising by Customs Excise or Hearth-money shall be adjudged a Hinderer of the Sitting of Parliaments and be responsible for the same 2. That whosoever shall accept or buy any Tally or Anticipation upon any part of the King's Revenue or whosoever shall pay such Tally hereafter to be struck shall be adjudged to hinder the Sittings of Parliaments and be responsible therefore in Parliament Now let 's see wherein the King run counter to both Lords and Commons After the Lords had agreed with the Commons in the Repeal of 35 Eliz. the Bill was taken from the Lords Table and never heard of after which no Man durst have done without the King's Command at least Privity Herein you may observe the Insincerity of the King's Indulgences for dispensing with the Penal Laws against Dissenters when he nourished those Ends by them which the Parliament dreaded and now the Parliament would have legally eased them the Bill must be ravished away Here is a greater Wonder yet to be told of this Parliament for notwithstanding all these Discords between the Lords and Commons and the King and the Lords and Commons yet they all reconciled in making the Act against the Importation of Irish Cattel c. perpetual thereby to perpetuate the Discords between the Kingdoms of England and Ireland as much as those between Whig and Tory. And in this posture of Affairs the King prorogu'd the Parliament from the 10th to the 20th of January 1681 and upon the 18th dissolved them This Dissolution caused a great Amazement in the Nation but in some measure to allay it the King summons another to meet the 21st of March following at Oxford This rais'd a Jealousy in the Nation and many of the Nobility that there was some hidden Design nourished in the Court which might have dangerous Influences upon the Nation and the Parliament too Hereupon 16 of the Nobility petitioned the King against the Meeting of the Parliament at Oxford and my Lord of Essex upon the Delivery of it made a short Speech which I believe was not forgotten afterwards The
Lords in their Petition set forth That the King by divers Speeches and Messages to both Houses of Parliament declared to them the Danger which threatned his Person and the whole Kingdom from the mischievous and wicked Plots of the Papists and the sudden Growth of a foreign Power from which no Remedy could be provided unless by Parliament and the uniting the King's Protestant Subjects That upon the 21st of March 1679 his Majesty having chosen a Council of many honourable Persons declared to the Parliament and whole Nation That being sensible of the Evil of a single Ministry or private Advice for the future he would refer all things to that Council with the frequent Advice of his great Council of Parliament That to their unspeakable Grief that Parliament was soon after prorogued and dissolved before it could perfect their intended Relief and Security to the Nation and tho another were called yet they were not permitted to sit till the 21st of October last when his Majesty declared That neither his Person nor the Kingdom could be safe till the Plot was gone through yet upon the 10th of January following it was prorogued whereby all their pious Endeavours to save the Nation were overthrown and the good Bills for uniting his Protestant Subjects brought to nought the Discovery of the Irish Plot stifled and the Witnesses to prove the same discouraged whereby the Strength and Courage of our Enemies both at home and abroad are encreased and our selves and Country left in Danger to be lost and brought to Desolation That in these Extremities under God they had nothing to comfort them but the Hopes of the Parliament's meeting at the Day to which they were prorogued but that not only failed by their Dissolution but to call another at Oxford where neither Lords nor Commons can be in Safety but exposed to the Swords of Papists and their Adherents of whom too many were crept into his Majesty's Guards the Liberty of Speaking destroyed and the Validity of their Acts left disputable That the Straitness of the Place could not admit of the Concourse of People which follow the Parliament That the Witnesses to give Evidence against the Popish Lords and others would be put to great Charges which they cannot bear nor trust themselves under the Protection of the Parliament which it self is under the Power of Guards and Souldiers and therefore pray that the Parliament may meet and sit at Westminster Sir W. J. adds another Reason That the Meeting of the Parliament at Oxford would have the Inconvenience of making use of the Journals of the Houses and other Records I do not find what Answer the King gave the Lords but he expressed his Displeasure by a Frown and how loose soever he was in all his Promises to the Parliament you 'll see him steddy in this of the Parliament's meeting at Oxford yet not forget the Lords that petitioned him whereof the Duke of Monmouth the Earls of Bedford Essex and Shaftsbury were four But before we proceed to discover what was done in this short Interval between the Dissolution of this last Westminster Parliament and the meeting of that at Oxford it will not be amiss to take the Resemblance which was between the Tories and Whigs at this time with the Prerogative-Men and Puritans during Laud's Regency in the Reign of King Charles the First In those Times the Prerogative and high-flown Church-men however they were countenanced and preferred by the Court yet of all Factions were the least considerable in the Nation and had the least Interest in it even less than the Papist and when they had by their Extravagancies and tyrannical Dominion given such a Reputation to the Puritan Party as by Contradiction or Opposition of them to be able to raise a War in the Nation they were not only less assisting the King in it than the Papists but generally ran counter and they and their Sons joined with the Puritans against the King So that the King being assisted in the War by the Nobility and Gentry who desired to preserve the Constitutions of the Church and State and by the Papists the Storm fell upon them without Distinction so that these equally exasperated against the Factions upon King Charles's Restoration were easily reconciled to join against them and thus it continued not only in the Body of the Nation but in the Parliament for the first ten Years after the King's Restoration But then the Popish Designs at Court beginning to appear almost bare-fac'd the Commons began to tack about but so did not the Lords especially the Lords Spiritual who could not forget the Injury done not only to their Persons but their whole Order as well in throwing them out of the Lords House as extirpating Episcopacy and the King having multiplied a Nobility of his Favourites these joined with the Bishops who yet maintained the King's absolute Power under a new Title of Passive Obedience to it had a great Majority opposite to the Commons As Laud's Instruments had the Dominion of the Press whereby they vented all their Spight against the Puritans and persecuted them if they made any Answer so did the Tories and as Laud's Faction stigmatized all others except Papists which were not of their Faction with the Name of Puritans so did the Tories all other but Papists with the Name of Whigs But herein the Tories in this Reign had a great Advantage above the Prerogative-men in King Charles the First 's Reign for this Prince was of a more parsimonious Nature not at all becoming so great a Prince and had not one third of the Revenue which his Son had who profusely scatter'd it amongst his Minions and Favourites and sure it will set an ill Character upon his Memory to have it left upon Record by what strange ways to Honour and Justice he made himself a Drudg to his Favourites to get Money from his Subjects to support them whilst he became a Pensioner to the French King himself and was so loose in all his Leagues which he made with all other Princes and States After the Popish Plot broke out and the King had dissolved the Long Parliament the whole Genius of the Nation became quite altered as plainly appeared in their Election of the Commons in these two succeeding Westminster Parliaments who for their Quality were equal to any House of Commons that ever was before and the Tories have now as little an Interest in the Nation as the Prerogative-men had in King Charles the First 's Reign iâ— Laud's Regency However the Tories were balked of the Expectation of their Pensions by the Commons giving no Money in these two last Parliaments yet they abated nothing of their Impudence in making all but themselves and the Papists to be Whigs and that aâ— was now running back to Forty One and into a Commonwealth In this Disguise since the Meal-Tub Plot had no better Success one Fitz-Harris the Son of Sir Edward Fitz-Harris both Irish and Papists sets up
presumed to take Cognizance of Cases which were in the Jurisdiction of or depending in Parliament for this was to depose the Parliament and usurp their Jurisdiction nor do we read that ever any other Court assumed this Authority but in the Reigns of Kings affecting Tyranny and Arbitrary Power The first Judges which I think gave their Opinion That the Courts in Westminster Hall might take Cognizance of Causes determinable in Parliament were Tresilian and Belknap in 11 Rich. II. for which they were impeached by the Commons in Parliament of no less than High Treason and for which by Judgment of the Lords in Parliament Tresilian was hanged and Belknap banished Mr. Williams in his Pleadings for Fitz-Harris cites another Case in 20 Rich. II. of a Person who exhibited a Petition in Parliament which suggested something which amounted to High Treason which it may be was determinable by Common Law This Person was after indicted at Common Law found guilty and pardoned but because the Business was depending in Parliament the Prosecution and Judgment were made void in Parliament The next Case I think but of an higher Nature for Tresilian and Belknap only gave their Opinion was that of Sir John Elliot my Lord Hollis c. 5 Car. I. when an Information was exhibited against them in the King's Bench they pleaded to the Jurisdiction of the Court being for Matters transacted in Parliament the Court over-ruled their Plea and gave Judgment against them and Reasons such as they were for their Judgment but in the 19 Car. I. upon a solemn Debate in the Commons House and upon their Reasons given at a Conference with the Lords the Judgment of the King's Bench Reasons and all were reversed by a Writ of Error in the Lords House and after the Judges who gave the Judgment were impeach'd of High-Treason by the Commons for endeavouring to subvert the fundamental Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom This Case of Fitz-Harris I take to be the fourth of this kind yet shall open a Gap for a fifth but that this Case may be better understood it will be necessary to distinguish between an Indictment or Information and an Indictment by the Commons in Parliament An Indictment or Information is at the Suit of the King and the Judges and Jury are tied up to some single Issue as in this Case of Fitz-Harris the Trial was whether he was guilty or not of the Treason whereof he was indicted But an Impeachment of the Commons is at their Suit and of all the Commons of England nor are they tied up to one single Issue but impeach for Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanours in the same Impeachment they assume to themselves That all the Commons in England have a Right in the King and all the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation and therefore can impeach where none of the Courts of Westminster-hall can take any Cognizance at the Suit of the King either by Indictment or Information After Fitz-Harris was committed to Newgate he was examined by the Earls of Essex and Shaftsbury Sir Robert Clayton and Sheriff Cornish who found in him a Disposition to discover the bottom of the Popish Plot and also to make a further Discovery of the Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey but the next Day Fitz-Harris was carried to the Tower and kept close Prisoner and out of their Power to whom Fitz-Harris promised to make a Discovery The Commons conceiving themselves and all the Commons of England concerned in this Plot wherein the French Ambassador his Confessor my Lord H the Dutchess of Portsmouth and her Woman Wall and even the King himself for Fitz-Harris had several times acquainted the King with it and the King gave him Money and countenanced it were Agents impeached Fitz-Harris thereby to enquire into the Bottom of this Business which no Court in Westminster-Hall could do and this I take to be the Reason of the Commons Vote of the 27th of March 1681 That if any inferiour Courts shall proceed upon Fitz-Harris and he be found Guilty the House will declare them guilty of Murder and Betrayers of the Rights of the Commons of England And so it fell out that Fitz-Harris being indicted upon the single Issue of contriving and publishing the Libel was convicted and executed upon it tho he desired to proceed upon the Discovery of this Plot to the Earls of Essex Shaftsbury and to Sir Robert Clayton and to make an End of his Evidence against my Lord H which was denied So that whether Fitz-Harris was murder'd in his Person or not it 's no Question but his Evidence for further Discovery of this and the Popish Plot was murder'd by this Trial. I will make these Remarks more upon this Trial that in the Case of Tresilian and Belknap the Nation was in no other Danger than the Courts of Westminster-Hall's invading the Jurisdiction of Parliament and the Case of my Lord Hollis Sir John Elliot Mr. Selden c. was only for Misdemeanour whereas the King's Person and the Safety of the Nation were concerned in the Discovery which Fitz-Harris might have made see Mr. Hawles's fine Remarks upon the Practices and Illegalities of the Judgment of the Court not warranted by the Common or any Statute Law and that the Consequences of this Trial were manifoldly more mischievous to the Nation than if Fitz-Harris's Design had taken Effect The Fright of Fitz-Harris's Discovery of this new Popish Plot being seemingly allayed by his Death Revenge with winged Haste pursues the Discoverers of the old It was in Trinity-Term that Fitz-Harris was tried and executed and after this Term an Indictment of High Treason was exhibited to the Grand Jury of London against Stephen Colledge a mean Fellow but a great Talker against the Popish Plot who was more known by the Name of Protestant Joiner than Stephen Colledge The Fore-man was one Wilmer This Indictment would not down but the Grand Jury returned an Ignoramus upon it for which Wilmer was forced to fly his Country The Design not succeeding in London the Scene against Colledge is laid at Oxford the Judges were Chief Justice North Justice Jones Justice Raimond and Justice Levins To make sure of a Bill to be found there against Colledge the King's Counsel had prepared Witnesses at the Assizes to post thither and there to make sure Work the King's Counsel are privately shut up with the Jury till they had found the Bill which Mr. Hawles says was a most unjustifiable and unsufferable Practice Whilst these things were contriving Colledge had the Honour as well as Fitz-Harris to be committed and continued a close Prisoner in the Tower yet the Lords impeached in Parliament had the Liberty of it and free Access was permitted to them it 's true indeed Colledge was permitted to have a Solicitor and Counsel which was Mr. West I think a Plotter or Setter in the Rye-Plot as dark as Fitz-Harris's and as like it as two Apples are one to the other But this was
It was by two Judges only and but two Arguments upon it and no Reason given of it And Thirdly it was ushered in but two Days before by pretending the discovering of a Plot to amuse the Nation so as no Man presumed to take notice of the Legality of this Judgment for fear of being prosecuted for Arraigning the Justice of the Nation and flying in the Face of the Government Hereupon Swarms of the richer Sort of Corporations surrendred their Charters and took new ones as the King pleased and paid dear for them and the King in return of their Kindness granted them new Fairs and Markets but tho the richer Sort of the Corporations could pay the Keeper North and Attorney Sawyer sound Fees for their Purchase yet a Multitude of the meaner Sort could not come to their Price and without Money no New Charters could be had which put a Rub to the compleating this Work in King Charles his time yet the good Will of the Members of these petty Corporations was not less The King's Care for the Knights of Shires was less than for the Corporations for the Sheriffs Lords and Deputy-Lieutenants and Justices of Peace being of the King's Nomination and the Tory Party having perfectly subdued the Whigs the King by the same Power which made North and Rich Sheriffs could have what Knights of Shires he pleased King James made good his Word he promised his Privy Council that he would never depart from the just Rights and Prerogatives of the Crown of which no Question is to be made but those which his good and gracious Brother had left him possest of were the principal and how hasty soever he was after in his Actions yet he took great Care how to exercise the Prerogative his Brother assumed in modelling Corporations to improve it to his utmost Advantage and therefore though his Brother died upon the 6th of February 1684-85 yet no Parliament met till the 19th of May and then they did not sit to act before the 28th which is much more than threefold the time from the issuing out of the Writs and the 40 Days of their Meeting In the mean time all Hands are set on work to chuse such Members as should do the Court's Work they were sure enough of such Corporations as had surrendred their Charters and bought new ones the beggarly ones which could not come up to the Price of renewing their Charters were graciously promised to have new ones Gratis as they after had if they behaved themselves well in the Choice of their Members The Lords and Deputy-Lieutenants were as imperious in the Choice of Knights of the Shire as my Lord Mayor was in the Choice of North and Rich for Sheriffs But that we may take a better View of the Acts of the Parliament of King James it 's fit to consider how the Case stood with the King King James while he was Duke of York was observed to be constant to his Word and a true Friend which made him more courted than his Brother he had a Revenue of near 150000 l. per An. and was a frugal and careful manager of it and this he brought as an Accession to the Crown when he became King K. Charles had more built and better furnished his Royal Palaces which he had not given away than any King of England before and the Parliament about six Years before his Death had given him 600000 l. for building thirty new Men of War to make his Fleet more formidable than that of the Dutch or French King and the Nation in Peace unless among our selves so that it might have been reasonably expected a much less Revenue than what King Charles had added to that of the Duke's might have supported the ordinary Expence of the Crown if no extraordinary should happen Notwithstanding all this the King upon the 28th of May told the Members such as they were the same things he told his Privy Council that he might not seem to have said it by chance and in return thereof he expected they should settle his Revenue because he had taken it without them during his Life as it was in the time of his Brother for the Well-being of the Government which he must not suffer to be precarious which I believe was the first time any King of England so caressed a Parliament but these if they were worthy to be called a Parliament being made to his Hand the King might do and say to them what he pleased Before the Kings of the Scotish Race came to bear rule over us the Methods of Parliaments were to represent the Grievances of the Nation and upon Redress of them the Parliament gave the King a Gratuity which before the 35th of Queen Elizabeth did never exceed one Subsidy and two Tenths of Fifteenths and the King in return granted an Act of Pardon to his Subjects Thus a mutual Correspondence was entertained between the King and Kingdom But when King James the first came to the Crown the representing the Grievances of the Nation by his disorderly Reign was Language intolerable to him so that of four Parliament which were all he had in his Reign in the last he boasted He had broke the Neck of three of them and his Son broke the neck of the four first Parliaments of his Reign yet such was the Temper of those Times that to humour thâ—se Princes the Parliament of 18 Jac. I. and the 1st Car. I. altered the Methods of Parliament and that of the 18th gave King James two entire Subsidies and that of the 1st Car. I. gave King Charles two entire Subsidies before Grievances were redressed King James I. in return of their kindness not only brake the Neck of the Parliament but committed many of the worthiest Members close Prisoners to the Tower for preâ—â—ming to debate them King Charles did not commit any Members of this Parliament tho he did in his 3d and 4th Parliament but brake the Neck of the Parliament rather than they should enquire into the Duke of Buckingham's Actions and the imbezelling the Monies given by the Parliament for the Support of the Palatinate Heretofore Grievances were in the Nation whereas at the Death of King Charles the II. the whole Nation was in a most grievous and dangerous State which the Parliament of King James if it be worthy to be so called took so little notice of that instead of representing the State of the Nation to King James they without redressing any gave him a Revenue to enable him to ruin Church and State upon the Foundation which his Brother had laid The 1st Act was to settle the Customs and temporary Excise upon the King as it was settled before upon his Brother but the King had little reason to thank them for that for he took both before they gave them and called them by that Title His Revenue The 3d Act was an Imposition upon Wines and Vinegars imported between the 24th of June 1685 until the 24th of June
Doctrine of Passive Obedience had made a plain and easy Passage for the Popish Faction to take Possession of this Power The Bishop of London therefore after the Lords had voted an Address of Thanks to the King's Speech moved in the name of himself and all his Brethren that the House would debate the King's Speech which as it was extraordinary and unusual in the House so was it not less surprizing to the King and Court who now dreaded the Lords would concur with the Commons in their Address to prevent which the King first prorogued and then dissolved the Parliament and never called another in all his Reign And thus the King made good to the Parliament in his Speech to them the 28th of May That the best Way to engage him to meet them often was to use him well and did expect that they would comply with him in what he desired and that they would do it speedily that it might be a short Sessions and that he and the Parliament might meet again to all their Satisfactions and for the Bishop of London the King shall remember his Motion in due time when he shall plead no Privilege of Parliament The King having so ill performed his Promise to the Parliament of often meeting of them where he might hear of it again which by no means he would endure after he had dissolved them had a fair Field without any Rub to do what he pleased and to petition him or represent the Grievances of the Nation out of Parliament shall be a great Crime next to High Treason And now 't is time to observe the Steps the King proceeded by to maintain the Church and State of England as by Law established His Brother had laid the Foundation of making a Parliament felo de se by hectoring and making Bargains with Corporations to surrender their Charters and taking new ones from him whereby he reserved a Power that if they did not send such Members as pleased him he would resume the Charters he granted them and herein he made a great Progress till his Keeper and Attorney General refused to grant Patents to such poor Corporations as could not pay their Fees so as a new Keeper or Chancellor and Attorney-General must be had who would grant Patents gratis or a Stop would be made in the Progress of so noble a Design In a lucky Hour my Lord Keeper N died at Astrop-Wells I think when Jeffries was in his March to the West and for a Reward of my Lord Jeffries's Clemency that he shewed had the Seals given him with the Title of Lord Chancellour but the Attorney was not so lucky but lived to be turned out and another put in his Place which would perform his Office more charitably to these indigent Corporations which could not pay their Fees in taking new Patents after they had perfidiously betrayed their old But this was but one Step towards this Holy Work the King to make a thorow Reformation will make the Judges in Westminster-Hall to murder the Common Law as well as the King and his Brother designed to murder the Parliament by it self and to this end the King before he would make any Judges would make a Bargain with them that they should declare the King's Power of dispensing with the Penal Laws and Tests made against Recusants out of Parliament However herein the King stumbled at the Threshold for it 's said he began with Sir Thomas Jones who had merited so much in Mr. Cornish his Trial and in the West yet Sir Thomas bogled at this and told the King He could not do it to which the K. answered He would have Twelve Judges of his Opinion and Sir Thomas replied He might have Twelve Judges of his Opinion but would scarce find Twelve Lawyers of his Opinion The Truth of this I have only from Fame but I 'm sure the King's Practice in reforming the Judges whereof all except my Lord Chief Baron Atkins and Justice Powel were such a Pack as never before sat in Westminster-Hall gave credit to it But if the Lord Chief Justice Thorp for taking a Bribe of 100 l. was adjudged to be hanged and all his Lands and Goods forfeited in the Reign of Edward the 3d because thereby as much as in him lay he had broken the King's Oath made unto the People which the King had intrusted him withal and if Justice Tresilian was hanged drawn and quartered for giving his Judgment that the King might act contrary to one Act of Parliament and if Blake the King's Counsel Vsk the Under-Sheriff of Middlesex and five more of Quality were hanged in the Reign of Henry the 4th for but assisting in Tresilian's Judgment What then did these Judges deserve which made Bargains with the King before-hand to break the King's Oath he had made to the People and entituled the King to a Power to subvert the Laws and gave Judgment before-hand to act contrary to them Andrew Horn in his Mirror of Justice tells us That King Alfred the Mirror of Kings hanged Darling Segnor Cadwine Cole and 40 Judges more because they judged in particular Causes contrary to Law But sure this was not more to Alfred's Honour than it was to the Dishonour of King James to make Bargains before-hand with Judges to give Judgment contrary to the Laws themselves and unless they would break the King's Oath to his People they should not be his Judges The Laws and Constitutions of this Nation as has been already noted make it a Kingdom whereof the King is Head and the Nation the Body so that if you take away the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom there is neither King nor Kingdom Did not the King then descend from his Majesty in rending himself from his Kingdom by breaking Laws whereby he ceases to be a King and the Nation to be a Kingdom And what was it for that the King would not be content with the Soveraignty he had over the Nation wherein his Majesty consisted but would strain it into a Tyranny over the Nation It was to introduce a foreign exploded Dominion of the Pope denied by our Saviour and asserted by the Devil whereby how absolute soever the King would be over his Subjects yet himself and Kingdom must be at the Pope's Disposal to be deposed and destroyed as the Pope pleased Bishop King in the State of the Protestants in Ireland fol. 18. gives this Account of one Moore a Romish Priest who preached before the King at Christ's Church in Dublin in the Beginning of the Year 1690 where he told him to his Face that he did not do Justice to the Church and Churchmen and amongst other things said That Kings ought to consult Churchmen in Temporal Affairs the Clergy having a Temporal as well as Spiritual Right in the Kingdom but Kings had nothing to do in the Management of Spiritual Affairs but were to obey the Orders of the Church Thinking Men could not conceive this dispensing with the Penal Laws
so in Extreams yet his Actions so diametrically opposite to his Profession Here you see a Jesuited Prince pleading for Liberty of Conscience to the breaking down the â—aws which before he had so often professed to maintain and for such a sort of Men whom but little before he had slaughter'd banished and imprisoned as if he had designed to extirpate the whole Race of them If to reconcile these to Truth or Reality be not as great a Miracle as is in any of the Popish Legends I 'll believe them all and be reconciled to the Roman Catholick Church how inconsistible soever the Terms be The generality of the Protestant Dissenters having for near seven years together been so severely treated by the Tories were as forward to congratulate the King for his Indulgence in manifold Addresses as the Tories were in King Charles his time in their Addresses of Abhorrence to petition the King to call a Parliament to settle the Grievances of the Nation However this Declaration was so drawn in the sight of every Bird that of my knowledg many of the sober thinking Men of the Dissenters did both dread and detest it That this Declaration might be more passable Popish Judges were made in Westminster-Hall and Popish Justices of the Peace and Deputy-Lieutenants all England over the Privy Council was replenished with Popish Privy Counsellors the Savoy was laid open to instruct Youth in the Romish Religion and Popish Principles and Schools for that purpose were encouraged in London and all other Places in England Four Foreign Popish Bishops as Vicars Apostolical were allowed in Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction all England and Wales over From instructing the St. Omers Boys how to behave themselves in their Evidence to prove Oates was at St. Omers all April and May in 1678 my Lord Castlemain is sent Ambassador to the Pope to render the King's Obedience to the Holy and Apostolical See with great hopes of extirpating the Northern pestilent Heresy In return whereof the Pope sent his Nuncio to give the King his Holy Benediction yet I do not find that he beforehand sent for Leave to enter the Kingdom as was observed by Queen Mary Henry VIII and before The Judges in their Circuits had their private Instructions to know how Men were affected with the King 's Dispensing Power and those who were disaffected to it were turned out from the Lieutenancy and Commission of the Peace Justice Judgment and Righteousness support the Thrones of Princes but these were Strangers to this King's ways other Means must be found out to support and carry them through a standing Army is judged the best Expedient and as the King told the Parliament at their second Meeting he had encreased his Army to double what it was before so he made his Word good that he would employ Men in it not qualified by the late Tests and to this end Tyrconnel having disbanded the English Army in Ireland qualified by the Tests sends over an Army of Irish not qualified by the Tests to encrease the Army in England This Army thus raised against Law committed all manner of lawless Insolences though the King by several Orders would have had their Quarters restrained to Victualling-Houses Houses of publick Entertainments and such as had Licences to sell Wine and other Liquors the Officers too when they pleased would be exempt from the Civil Power And though the King had no other Wars but against the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation yet he would have the Act of the 1 2 Edw. 6. 2. which makes it Felony without Benefit of the Clergy for any Souldier taking Pay in the King's Service in his Wars beyond Sea or upon Sea or in Scotland to desert from his Officer to extend to this Army thus raised by the King And because the Recorder of London Sir J. H. would not expound this Law to the King's Design he was put out of his Place and so was Sir Edward Herbert from being Chief Justice of the King's Bench to make room for Sir Robert Wright to hang a poor Souldier upon this Statute and afterward this Statute did the Work without any further dispute Thus this Prince did not only assume a Power to controul the Laws of the Nation at his pleasure in Civil Affairs but when he pleased made them bend to his Will to establish an illegal Army and countenance the Effusion of Christian Blood but you 'll soon see God will blast these ungodly Ways and that not the Arm of Flesh but Judgment Justice and Righteousness establish the Thrones of Princes Thus Affairs stood in England Scotland and Ireland in the year 1687. wherein I suppose no History mentions so great and violent Alterations in so little time as in this King's Reign all tending to introduce a Foreign Power and to enslave the Nation yet so patiently endured by it but the Dangers of these Designs were not circumscribed within the bounds of this Nation but extended into France where for above twenty years a Conspiracy was carried on for promoting these Designs thus far advanced so that the Year 1688 had a much more terrible Aspect upon England than the Year 1588 had when Philip the II. designed the Conquest of it for then the Nation was firm and intire for its own Interest whereas this Year it was not only torn in pieces by internal Discords but had an Army and Fleet designed to join with the French King in propagating his boundless Ambition not only upon England but upon the Empire of Germany Spain Holland the Duke of Savoy and other Princes of Italy About the beginning of the year 1688 a Gentleman of High Jesuited Principles told me The States of Holland were Rebels against the King of Spain and that I should soon see the King of France would call them to an Account for it and humble them and that the French King would assist our King with Men of War I took more heed to this because I knew that he was frequently visited by several Jesuits in whose Counsels I believe the French King's Designs this Year were locked up for my Lord of Sunderland in his Letter recited in the History of the Desertion fol. 32. protests he knew nothing of a League between the King yet you will see it come out another way But my Lord of Sunderland says that French Ships were offered to join with our Fleet which was refused however this shews there was a Design contriving by these Princes yet at present the Affairs of France seemed to look another way and a French Fleet and Souldiers in them are sent to Canada the Design and Success you will soon hear of The King having thus as he thought laid a Foundation tho it proved a very Sandy one of his Designs and to shew how Absolute he would be in them upon the 4th of May passed an Order in Council that his Declaration of Indulgence should be read in all Churches and Chappels in England and Wales in time of Divine
the Design At this time there was not only a high Ferment in all the Nation against the King's Proceedings but in the Army against its mixture with Irish Officers and Soldiers which put the King into a great Agony which was increased by the Dutch Preparation Whereupon the Marquess d' Albeville the King's Envoy at the Hague upon the 2d of Sept. N. S. 23d of Aug. O. S. put in this Memorial to the States General High and Mighty Lords THE great and surprizing Preparations for War made by your Lordships by Sea and Land in a Season when all Action especially by Sea is laid aside giving just Cause of Surprize and Alarm to all Europe obliges the King my Master who has had nothing so much in his Mind since his Accession to the Crown as a Continuation of the Peace and Correspondence with this State to order the Marquess d' Albeville his Envoy Extraordinary to know your Highnesses Intentions thereby His Majesty as your antient Ally and Confederate believes it just to demand this Knowledg which he hoped with good Reason to have heard from your Ambassador but as he sees this Duty of Alliance and Confederation neglected and that such Power is raising without communicating the Intent in the least to him he finds himself obliged to reinforce his Fleet and to put himself in a Condition to maintain the Peace of Christendom The States paused upon an Answer to this Memorial when upon the 9th of September N. S. or the 30th of Aug. O. S. Monsieur d' Avaux the French Ambassador put in a Memorial to the States wherein he foolishly discovers the Contrivances which had been so long hatching between his Master and King James for after a long Story of his Master's Desire of maintaining the Peace of Europe now he had actually broke it he impertinently tells the States All these Circumstances and many others that I may not here produce perswade the King my Master with reason that this Arming threatens England Wherefore His Majesty hath commanded me to declare to the States on his Part that the Bonds of Friendship and Alliance between him and the King of Great Britain will oblige him the French King not only to assist him the King of Great Britain but also to look on the first Act of Hostility that shall be committed by your Troops and your Fleet against his Majesty of Great Britain as a manifest Rupture of the Peace and a Breach with his Crown Though the Dutch made no Answer to this Memorial yet they made no Bones to make this Answer to the Marquess d' Albeville's That they had armed in Imitation of his Britannick Majesty and other Princes and that they had thereby given no just Cause of Offence by arming when all other Princes were in Motion and that they were long since convinced of the Alliance which the King his Master had treated with France and what had been mentioned to them by Monsieur le Count d' Avaux in his Memorial This Answer King James took all one as if the Dutch had declared War against him and all the Eyes of England are now turned toward Holland as if from thence they expected Deliverance from the Designs of King James and his Popish Crew and the Fathers and Sons too of the Church of England are at as much Variance in their private and publick Prayers to God as Whig and Tory were in their Humours for in their private Prayers they pray for Prosperity to the Prince of Orange and in the Liturgy they pray that God would be King James's Defender and Keeper giving him Victory over all his Enemies God was pleased to prefer the private Prayers of the Church-men before those of the Church and to have granted both had been impossible and to put a hook into the French King's Nose who turned those Forces which he had raised not for the Peace and Tranquillity of Europe as d' Avaux said in his Memorial to the Dutch States upon the Empire where without any Declaration of War or Cause alledged he first fell upon Philipsburg which he took and after Heydelberg and Mainheim and while he was thus engaged he left the Prince of Orange free to vindicate his Cause against King James whereas if the French King had turned those Forces which he employed against the Empire upon the Spanish Netherlands and he might as justly have done this as that the Prince of Orange would have had little Force and less Leasure to have made any Attempt upon King James Thus God is pleased often to turn the Wisdom of the Crafty I will not say Wise into Folly and Destruction You have heard before how the French King in the beginning of the Year had sent out a Fleet to Canada whereupon the Company of Hudsons-Bay represented to the King their Apprehensions it was a Design upon their Factories and Plantations and so it succeeded for the French seized upon a Fort and Plantation of theirs called Fort Charles Towards the latter end of the Summer the King without the Knowledg of Hudsons-Bay Company entred into a Treaty of Commerce with his Brother of France in reference to the Trade of Canada wherein it was concluded that the Forts and Factories should be reciprocally enjoyed in the same state they were at the Conclusion of this Treaty the French having taken the Fort and Factory of Charles about three Months before So little did this King regard the Safety and Welfare of his Subjects wherein his Majesty and Honour was founded for to pleasure and endear his Brother of France from whom he expected mighty things for the Advancement of his Prerogative without reserve in England Scotland and Ireland Thus have I brought down the History of this King's Reign to the History of the Desertion where at large and particularly you may read how by a Wonder equal to King Charles his Coming in King James went out And if no human Prospect could have foreseen where the Tyranny of King Charles the I's Reign would have ended if the Long Parliament in 1640 had not put a full Stop to it so no uninterested Person was so purblind as not to see if the Heroick Magnanimity of this King in his Queen's his own and the Nation 's Right and for the common Safety of Christendom had not put a Stop to King James his Designs but the Popish Superstition and French Tyranny would have been imposed upon these Kingdoms and have overspread Christendom We admit these four Kings of the Scotish Race had an Hereditary Title to have governed England by the Laws and Constitutions of it yet no Hereditary King hath any higher Title nor any Man a Right to do Wrong and for an Hereditary King to govern otherways is a greater Tyranny than if an Usurper does by how much he adds Perfidiousness and Breach of his Trust to it Yet so it was that these four last Kings of the Scotish Race which should have been the Guardians of England in preserving the
Laws and Constitutions of it and to have maintained the Honour of it abroad made it their Business to have subverted them and being thereby always at Variance and Contentions with their Subjects lost their own and the Nation 's Honour abroad and by taking no Care of the foreign Concerns of the Nation became contemptible to other Nations Nay the last three Kings instead of restraining the French Ambition and Tyranny joined with them in advancing of them as if they designed to make the French King an Universal Monarch as well as to destroy the Constitutions of England And I would know a Reason why now his Majesty King William has by God's Blessing redeemed this Nation from the imminent Danger which the French King in conjunction with King James designed upon the Western Parts of Christendom as well as these Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland any Christian should endeavour or desire the Restitution of King James any more than the Primitive Christians did Dioclesian Maximi◠and Maxentius after God had freed them from their Rage and Persecution by Constantine APPENDIX MY Lord Bacon compares Times to Ways some more plain and easy to pass others more rugged and more hard to pass the former is better for him who lives in them the latter is better for the Reader not only in the Pleasure of reading the Variety of Accidents in them but because in their Contests fine Notions arise which otherwise might have been concealed and which may be beneficial to the Readers in succeeding Times and also in shewing the Causes of these Distempers succeeding Generations may be admonished hereby to prevent them in time to come In these Treatises we have given an Account of the manifold Varieties of Accidents which have hapned for above 80 Years in the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland France Spain and the States of the Vnited Netherlands and though the Roman and Grecian Histories may give Instances of the like by Land yet none of them can shew the like of the French Grandeur by Sea in little more than forty Years but more especially in that this was acquired in the Face of two neighbouring Nations either of which could have prescribed Laws to all the World besides herein the one claiming the Dominion of the British Seas the other of the Indian and Southern Ocean On the other Side Spain which in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth was both the Envy and Dread of these Western parts of Christendom is now fallen into that abject State as it is scarce in the Power of Christendom to uphold it from falling under the Dominion of the French and this History in some Measure hath shewn the Causes both of the Grandeur of France and the Cadency of Spain To the natural Advantages which the French had above other Nations after the Death of Queen Elizabeth was added that James the first and Charles the first of England whose Interest it was to have restrained the ambitious and aspiring Humour of the French were degenerous Princes wholly given up to be governed by Flatterers and Favourites and made it their Business to usurp another Jurisdiction over the Nation than they could claim by their Inherent Birth-right so that if the Long Parliament in 1640 had not put a Stop to Charles his Career no mortal Creature could have foreseen where it would have ended King James not to disturb his licentious and voluptuous Pleasures stood only still and looking on whilst Lewis the 13th had near broke the Interest of the Reformed in France but Charles in the first Act of his Reign lent the French a Fleet to subdue the Rochellers at that time superior to Lewis by Sea and as inconsiderately in the second Year of his Reign made War with France having in the first Year made War against the Spaniard whereby both Spain and France joining against the English brought that Loss and Dishonour upon the English in the Expedition of the Isle of Rhee and Charles being as loose in his Resolutions as inconsiderate in his Actions after the Death of the Duke of Buckingham who had engaged him in both these Wars made a secret Peace with the French and left the Reformed out of it though he engaged them to join with him in the War whereby the whole Interest of the Reformed was rooted out So that the Original of the French Grandeur by Sea and Land may be truly ascribed to these two Hereditary Princes James and Charles After the Tyranny of Charles his Reign had degenerated into the Usurpations of the Rump they thinking to prejudice the Dutch made the Act of Navigation which crampt up all the foreign Trades of England and the fishing Trade which above all others is the Nursery of Seamen and encrease of Navigation to English-built Ships and sail'd with ¾ English whether there be Ships or Mariners or not and without any Consideration of Times whether of War or Peace Though we have in this History and in The Reasons of the Decay of the Strength Wealth and Trade of England and also in the View of the Act of Navigation in reference to the Laws which yet stand unrepealed to the Trades for Masts Rafters Boards foreign Oak Timber Pitch and Tar and to the Trades for rough Hemp and Flax and to the fishing Trades and also to the Safety of the Nation against Foreign Powers at large demonstrated the Iniquity of this Law and the dangerous Consequences of it yet it is fit even here to take some Notice of it and of the Navigation of the Nation before the Act and how the Case stands now by reason of it Before the Rump contrived the Act of Navigation the English as the Traders told me alone fished upon the Coasts of Iseland and Westmony for Ling and the Cod-fish called Haberdin and at that time the Town of Alborough in Suffolk as I was informed fished yearly to those Seas with 35 Sail of Vessels called Iselands-Barks and the Town of Sould or Southold with 15 and Great Yarmouth with manifold more the Number I cannot tell but this I can tell That besides London and other parts of Norfolk and Suffolk which they supplied with this sort of Fish as also the Navy Royal and other Ships with this sort of Provision the Town of Yarmouth yearly exported to Calice St. Valery Diep Havre de Grace St. Maloes Brest and other parts of France 150000 Haberdin and Ling and by their Trades with these returned Sails and Nets for their Navigation and Fisheries Wells and Lyn in Norfolk too drove Trades into these Seas but I am not informed in how many Vessels but I have heard the Inhabitants of Wells complain that they have almost lost their Trades and I belive Lyn wholly Before the Act of Navigation the English from the Western Ports drove threefold a greater Trade in the Newfound-Land Fishery than the French whereas the French now drive above twenty-fold more the Trade to Newfound-Land Fishery than the English do And I have
luxurious and vicious Prince and that Ferdinand II. after the Victory at Prague endeavoured to subject the Freedom of Germany by force which brought the Swedes into Germany and the French siding with the Swedes took Philipsburg and Brisac upon the Rhine which opened the two Passages into the Empire by which this present King has been enabled to make those Wars and Ravages in the Empire which have since succeeded After the Restoration of King Charles II. the whole Series of his Reign was employed in assisting the French in all their ambitious Designs so did the Dutch and Dane when he had engaged them in a War with England and the Oxford Parliament first made the Act against the Importation of Irish Cattel whereby they disjoin'd the Interest and Dependency of Ireland upon England and fixt it upon France and other Countries which traded with them and enabled the French and Dutch to victual Ships cheaper in their Fisheries and other Trades than the English could as much to their Benefit as Prejudice to the English How King James II's Conjunction with the French had brought these Nations and Christendom to the Brink of Destruction was said in his Reign In this state these Kingdoms stood when God was pleased to give them Deliverance by the Interpoâ—tion of his present Majesty and now all the neighbouring Nations upon France I mean Spain the Empire Savoy and the Dutch as well as England were alarmed at their common Danger by the French Ambition and Grandure and all their Eyes were upon England as if from thence they expected Safety and now was the King of England again become the Arbitrator of Christendom after the four former Kings were so contemptible and neglected by it But in two things the French King's Ambition or rather Madness put some Check to his aspiring Designs viz. his Contests with the Pope about his Franchizes at Rome and the Regalia's of France and by the Extream on the other side in his revoking the Edicts of Nants and his Dragooning and Reforming the Protestants of France whereby he lost innumerable of his Subjects to the weakning of his own Power and that in double Proportion for his Enemies as he made them became so much the more numerous and stronger for those which became Exiles being an industrious sort of People had contributed highly to the Encrease of the Wealth of France so that now the Charge of the War must have been supported by those he left yet in this state France alone for above six Years made an offensive and victorious War by Land against Germany Spain Holland the Spanish Netherlands and the Duke of Savoy tho all these were assisted by the Power of England and Scotland Tho England embraced their Deliverance by the King Ireland did not nor was it their Interest for why should the Irish join with the English who would have no Trade with them against the French upon whom the Irish depended by their Trade and Commerce And it 's observable That tho the French assisted the Irish above three Years in their Wars against the English yet it may be a Question Whether the French did not gain more by their Trade with Ireland for Wools Tallow Raw Hides and Provisions for their Fleet than their Expence for carrying on the War against the English did amount to whereas the English in the War were at a foreign Expence and being a Naval War were forced to victual their Fleets at one third greater Expence than the French could do from Ireland Another Advantage the French had over the English in this Naval War was that Brest lying South of Ireland every Wind not North in one Course carries their Fleet to Ireland whereas Chatham from whence the English sent their Fleet to oppose them lies fivefold more remote from Ireland than Brest does nor can the Ships from Chatham be carried to Ireland but by different Winds and steering different Courses almost from all the Points of the Compass for it must be after the Ships are come within the Buoy of the Nore a South or South-west Wind to carry them to the Buoy of the Gunfleet before they turn into the Deep Waters then a quite contrary Wind brings them into the Downs and Channel and when they have sailed above a hundred Leagues another Wind carries them to Ireland From hence it was principally that the French for above three Years together so long as the War lasted sent out their Fleets upon the Coast of Ireland did their Business and returned to Brest before we could get out our Fleets to oppose them Yet Falmouth and Milford-Haven are much better Ports and lie better and more conveniently than Brest Milford much more to have relieved Ireland and oppose the French Designs at Brest yet from neither did we send one Ship to do it I suppose if the Reason hereof be asked it will be answered That there were no Docks Shipwrights or Naval Stores in either to have supplied our Men of War in those Ports But from whence comes this to pass There were two Reasons hereof from within and from without from within Foy and Haverford-West and the Port Towns generally of England are Corporations and the Inhabitants poor yet proud of their Prerogatives in excluding the rest of the Nation and so have so much less means for building Ships Docks or carrying on the Fishing or any foreign Trades as the Inhabitants are fewer and poorer and generally they are all Beggars The other Reason from without is the Act of Navigation against Foreigners partaking equal Benent in Trade with the Natives of England so that tho God and Nature have endowed this Nation with more excellent and noble Ports than any Nation in the World of like Bigness except Ireland for the Benefit and Convenience of the Nation yet by the Iniquity and Folly of our Laws we have made them vain and of no use to our selves nor any other Nation whereas I am confident the French King would give any of his new conquered Provinces in the Spanish Netherlands to have one such Port as either Falmouth or Milford Haven upon the Coast of Normandy or Bretaign within the Channel Notwithstanding these Obstacles the Kingdom of Ireland is again reduced to the Dominion of the Kingdom of England But I say tho we should destroy the French Fleet of War yet if we do not redress the Oppressions which the English in their Trades and Navigation lie under the Nation will be no ways secured from the growing Greatness of either French or Dutch for the same Causes will have the same Effects EXPEDIENTS by which the English Nation may be secured against the growing Greatness of the French and Dutch APOLOGY WE have epitomized the Causes of the declining of the Wealth Strength and Trade of England in this Epilogue that they may be more obvious to the Reader than if he should look for them as they lie dispersed in the Body of the History and I am conscious to
my self of the Difficulties I labour under in these Expedients For a Reformation of State Affairs cannot be made but to the Hinderance of many particular Men whose Education it may be has placed them in their Stations these are known and by these I am sure to meet with all possible Opposition whereas in contending for the Benefit and Security of the Nation every body's Business is no body's Business and not one in ten thousand will concern themselves in it however Truth is sacred and a divine Air attends it and what is neglected in the present time may prevail in succeeding Generations And I will beg but one thing of my Opponents viz. That they will not answer me by Clamour but by Reason and not Reason in Extremes for thereby we shall differ and wrangle in the Means without end and let this stand for a Maxim That the Publick in all Business of this Concern is to be preferred before the Private and the Safety of the Nation before any Man 's particular Interest The Security of every Country depends upon the Strength of one Country against another in case of War between them and herein Countries are to be considered as they are placed in reference to each other The Bounds of Inland and Mediterranean Countries are Rivers Lines and Forts which are esteemed sacred and a Violence done to them is esteemed a just Cause of War and so long as these are preserved the Countries within are secured from foreign Wars Britain is an Island which knows no Bounds but the Ocean and the Kings of it are Soveraigns of those Seas which beat upon the British Shores and in preserving this Soveraignty Britain is more secure from foreign Invasion than any other Kingdom in the World how great soever which is on the Terrene Continent But this Dominion hath been of late disputed by the Dutch and is at present by the French nor shall the King of Britain be secure of the Soveraignty longer than he is able to defend it against the French and Dutch whereas at present the French contend for this Soveraignty against the English in Conjunction with the Dutch But suppose by an Accident of the Times in these Circumstances the French had joined the Dutch as they did in the first Dutch War in King Charles II's Time not 30 Years since what a Condition had these Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland been in And I say the King of England shall never be able to maintain the Dominion of the British Seas and thereby secure the Safety of the Nation unless he be able to defend it against the French in Conjunction with the Dutch I 'm a Lover of Mathematical Learning because it premises its Principles before Men begin to learn or reason from them whereas otherwise where Men begin Disputing they proceed and end in Contention and Wrangling and I say that Trade is a Principle to Navigation but above all the Fishing Trades and therefore as you encrease your Trades so you may infinitely encrease your Navigation and as Trade is a Principle to Navigation so is Navigation a Principle to maintain the Dominion of the Seas and therefore so much as the Trades of England be lessened so much will the King be less able to maintain the Dominion of the Seas upon the Coasts of England and Scotland and this will be in a double proportion for so much as we lose in either the French and Dutch will gain as well to the Loss of England as to the endangering the Safety of it against foreign Enemies How therefore we may preserve the Trades which we now enjoy and encrease them by our selves and where we cannot do by our selves by the help of others is the main Design of these Expedients Expedient I. That the King establish his Throne in Religion Justice and Mercy and that herein the Subjects Fear God and honour and obey the King for if either stray from hence they will fall either into Confusion or Tyranny whereby the Nation will become divided in it self to the endangering the Safety of it from within and without and never be happy till it be restored to what it was before Expedient II. 1. That for the Conservation of the Trades we now enjoy and for the Employment of our English Natives Foreigners continue to be excluded from our American Plantations and herein neither French nor Dutch have any Reason to complain for the Dutch do the same in their Spice Trade and so do both French and Dutch in their African and American Plantations but herein it 's not fit for the English to be restrained to English-built Ships as well for the Inconveniences which have been shewed before as for that we may want English Timber for this and our other navigating Trades and the King for building and repairing his Navy Royal wherein our English Men of War built of English Timber excel all other being more tough and less liable to splinter whereby the English Men of War built of English Timber will endure a Battery which Ships built of foreign Timber will not 2. That the home-vent of our Newcastle and Sunderland Trades in times of Peace be driven by the Natives of England exclusive to Foreigners as also our other Trades from Port to Port in England and also to Ireland tho these be impoverishing Trades to the Nation for the Pitch Tar Masts Cordage and Sails generally used in these Trades are foreign Commodities to the Nation and for acquiring which we return very little of our Manufactures and the digging the Coals out of the Pits and burning them in London and other Places no ways enriches the Nation to supply the foreign Expence for Pitch Tar c. used in them nor are either old Men Women or Children employed in these Trades but only young and lusty Men and that but half the Year so that Ipswich and other Coast-Towns which depended upon these Trades are almost quite unpeopled by reason the rest of the Inhabitants find no Employment in them However I 'm confident that this Newcastle and Home-Trade and that to our American Plantations employ above four fifths of all the Ships in all the Trades we drive by Navigation and therefore we 'll take care to keep these by excluding Foreigners out of them in times of Peace and unless Foreigners beat us out of these Trades they cannot get them from us For ought I know the Newcastle and Sunderland Trades are better carried on in English-built Ships than foreign because Coals being a bulky Commodity and lying loose in the Hold of the Ships in stormy Weather and rolling Seas batter the sides of the Ships and the English Timber being tougher than the foreign it better endures this than those foreign built but it were Arrogance for any to say because of one Convenience no other Ships shall be employed in this Trade for hereby the King may want English Timber to build and repair his Men of War besides all Arts and Sciences are
been bound Apprentices in them whilst these Free-men by the Prerogative of their Freedom impose what Rates they please upon the poor Artificers and set their own Prizes upon the Nobility Gentry and others who buy of them He that begins any Work labours under manifold more Difficulties and is more subject to Error than another who builds upon his Foundation This is my Case and therefore am more excusable for the Frailties and Errors I may have committed in this Design but upon the Discovery of any I promise to recant it I am sure my Intention is honest herein being for the Good of my Country and those Labours are best which are spent in the Benefit of it FINIS ERRATA PAge 20. line 16. r. as fierce P. 52. l. 16. del this l. 17. r. this House P. 57. l. 16. del the Parentheses P. 100. l. 5. del Comma after not P. 118. l. 28. after drawn add P. 119. l. 41. del the last that P. 132. l. 15. r. Spanish Secretary P. 135. l. 24. r. then went P. 167. l. 30. r. then P. 374. l. 15. del Comma after God P. 378. l. 10. and 379. l. 20. for former r. first P. 398. l. ult after confirmed put Comma P. 530. l. 10. r. they will P. 540. l. 37. r. 20 l. P. 646. l. 1. â— and not to do it and give An Alphabetical TABLE OF THE Principal Matters contain'd in this BOOK A. ABbot Arch-bishop zealous for the Elector Palatine 93. His plain Letter to the King 111 112. Refuses to license Sibthorp's Sermon 197. Is basely dealt with on that account ib. 268. His Character and Death 238. Abhorrers of Petitions for Parliament prosecuted by the Commons 555 556. Act of 35 Eliz. repeal'd by Parliament 557. but not by the King 559. Act of Vniformity 439. Adjutators in the Army 318. Albeville Marquess his Memorial at the Hague 649. Algerines at War with the English and Dutch 452. Alliance with Spain the Commons Votes concerning it 558. Amboyna the Dutch Cruelty there 121. Ancre a French-man his lamentable End 86. Ann K. James's Queen her Character 75. Is averse to Villiers and foretels what he would be ib. 76 124. Her Death 88. Apprentices 663 665 678. Arbitrary Notions see Cowel Archy K. James's Fool 112. Argyle Marquess executed 444. His Character and Story 568 569. Earl his Character c. 568 570 575 578. His Explanation of the Test for which he 's tried and condemned but escapes 578 586. Aristotle's Logick censur'd 22. Arlington Lord rudely treats the Prince of Orange but fails in his Design 508. Arminians severe against their Opponents 242. See Mountague c. Army declares for the King 319. yet draw up a Remonstrance against him march to London and exclude most of the Members 328. Articuli Cleri see Bancroft Ashley Cooper made Lord Chancellor 478. Joins with the Country Party and is turn'd out 492. His Life most unjustly aim'd at 596 598. Is clear'd by the Grand Jury 599. Remarks on his Case ib. Askew Sir George his Success at Sea 353 354. Avaux the French Ambassador discovers his Master's and K. James's Designs 649 650. Audley Palace what it cost 77. Author Story of his Father Brother and Himself in Cromwel's time 392 396. B. BAcon Sir Francis censur'd for Bribery 97. Bancroft ABp for Absolute Power in the King 57 59. Barebone's Parliament 373. Their Thoughts of the Dutch 374 375. Their Articles with them 376. Their Acts resign their Power to Cromwel 377. Barnvelt Head of a Dutch Faction 33 121. Takes Advantage of the ill Posture of K. James's Affairs 80. Loses his Head for opposing the Prince of Orange 121. Batton Sir William joins Prince Charles at Sea 326. Bedlow discovers Godfrey's Murder 534. Bill of Exclusion rejected by the Lords 557. Billeting of Souldiers voted a Grievance 207 217. Bishop of London his Motion to debate the King's Speech 629. Is suspended by the High Commission 639. Bishops in Scotland re-ordained 122 262. In England voted out of Parliament 276. Oppose several good Bills 490 629. Several of 'em both in England and Scotland most profligate Persons 639 640. Seven refuse to read K. James's Declaration are tried and clear'd 644 645. Remarks thereon and on their Prayers for the King 645 647 650. Blake Governour of Taunton 312. Commands at Sea 327 351 353 355. Bohemia History of that Kingdom 89 93 101 102. Chuse Frederick Count Palatine their King 93. Booth Sir George overthrown by Lambert 409. Bridgman Lord Keeper his Speech on K. Charles's Treaties 475. Is turn'd out 478. Bristol see Digby Britain its Situation Bounds c. 12. Justly claims the Soveraignty of the Seas 659 660. See Grotius Buckingham see Villiers C. CAbal in 1671. who they were 478. Their pretended Causes of the Dutch War 479. Another in 1673. 495. Care Henry sentenc'd for writing his Weekly Packet 546. Carr Sir Rob. has an extravagant Boon order'd by K. James 61. Made Viscount Rochester and courted by the Countess of Essex 63. Procures the Ruin of Overbury 64 68 70. Created Earl of Somerset and married in extravagant Splendor 70 71. His Fall 74. His Pardon refus'd to be sign'd 76. His vast Estate 77. which is seiz'd by the King 79. Tried for Overbury's Murder ib. Castlemain sent Ambassador to the Pope 642. Cavaliers slighted by Charles II. 424 426. Cecil Lord Treasurer saves K. James 15000 l. and how 61. Charles I. while Prince his breach of Faith in Spain breaks off his Match 116 117 128. Is proposed to the French King's Daughter 119 125 140. yet her Portion not a tenth of the Infanta's 142. The extravagant Articles of her Marriage 142 143. Berule's Deputation for a Dispensation for it 143 145. First 15 Years of his Reign perfectly French 153. His great Wilfulness and Levity 156 187. Makes War on Spain at Buckingham's Instigation 157. Commands Pennington to deliver up his Ships to the French 162. His Warrant in favour of Papists dispenses with the Laws 165 168. His first Breach with his Parliament 166. His many Mistakes the first five Months 171 172. His ill Success in the War with Spain 172 173. Breaks his Word with the Keeper 179. His peremptory Message to the Commons with their Answer and his threatning Reply 183 184. Reproves his Parliament 184 185. His Reasons for blasting Bristol's Articles against Buckingham 187. The Lords Reasons against his 188 189. His Arbitrary Declarations after dissolving the Parliament in favour of Buckingham descanted on 190 192. Is accountable only to God 190 210 219 236 268. Demands Money of his People out of Parliament 196 228 252. Imprisons the Gentry for refusing to pay and keeps up a Standing Army on free Quarter 199 228 236. His dissembling and threatning Speech at the opening of Parliament with large Remarks upon it 202 206. His Message to the Commons to hasten Supplies 210 211. His Answer to the Petition of Right 213. which he resolves to abide by 214. Passes the Petition 216. His unaccountable
Rome The Bohemians having this farther strain of their Crowns being disposed of to another and dreading the Disposition of this Ferdinand assembled at Prague the Regal City of Bohemia and demand a General Diet of the Kingdom to bring their Grievances thither herein they did not apply themselves to Ferdinand as their King but to Matthias the Emperor but Matthias denied or deferred it to use Nani's words who tho a Venetian seems to me to be very partial against the Bohemians whereupon the Bohemians upon the 23d of May 1618 parted in a Rout and believing the Counts Martinitz Slavata and Philip Fabritus most zealous Papists to be the Motives of Matthias his Denial flung them out of the Windows of the Castle of Prague but they escaped by a Miracle as Nani says lib. 4. p. 127. The Count de la Tour in this Commotion makes a most pathetick Oration to the Bohemians wherein he sets forth how the Privileges of the Kingdom were violated and the Exercise of their Religion forbid and made to descend upon the Will of Princes That the usurped Crown of Bohemia passed from Head to Head as the Revenue and Inheritance of one House and to establish an everlasting Tyranny being ravished before its time from Successors in spite of Death is never suffered to be vacant c. And then goes on What have we not yet suffered The use of Life comes now to be denied us and the Vsufruit of our Souls contested but all our past Miseries will not be able to call to Remembrance but some imperfect Representations of the Calamities to come In sum Rodolph lived amongst us Matthias has reaped us as the first Fruits of his ambitious Desires for Matthias had forced Rodolph to resign the Crown of Bohemia to him as Ferdinand had done to Matthias But what may we expect from Ferdinand unknown to us and in himself rigorous directed by Spanish Counsels and governed by that sort of Religious Priests and People who detest with an equal Aversion our Liberty and Belief He was born and bred up in the Abhorrence of us Protestants and why should we be so forward to make trial of it Since the Persons banished the Families displanted the Goods violently taken away demonstrate too cruelly to us that he would abolish our very Being if he could as easily command Nature as he uses Force Wo to you Bohemians to your Children to your Estates to your Consciences if you suffer this Ferdinand to keep his footing in the Throne And when will you attempt to shake off the Yoke if you have not Courage to do it at a time when without Power without Guard the Kingdom is in your own Power and that you have two Kings to oppose you one whereof is fallen and the other toâ—ters c. which you may read at large in the fourth Book of Nani and concludes The Lot is drawn Liberty or the Hangman If Conquerors we shall be Just Free and Princes if overcome Perâ—idious Perjured and Rebels The Inhabitants of Prague before disposed took fire at this Oration of De la Tour and chose a Magistracy of Thirty with the Title of Directors to carry on a Government in opposition to Ferdinand and what happened in Prague was no sooner divulged through the Kingdom but all was in a Revolt drawing also the Provinces of Lusatia and Silesia adjoining to them into their Confederacy Matthias had a Counsellor named Gleselius upon whose Advice and Integrity Matthias relied above all other Men who advised Matthias by all fair means possible to compose the Commotions of the Bohemians for if he should come to a Rupture with them and Matthias be compelled to raise an Army the Interest of Ferdinand was such not only in the Spanish Councils but the Popish in Germany and the hereditary Countries that he would command it and thereby be in a Condition to ravish the Empire from him as he had done the Crown of Bohemia and Matthias feeling yet this Flesh-wound feared that mortal one if Ferdinand were put on the Head of an Army Hereupon Ferdinand without any regard to the Majesty and Authority of Matthias resolved to arrest Gleselius and separate him from giving any farther Advice to Matthias and one day being called to Council where the King was with one Ognate Gleselius was seized upon by d' Ampiere and Prainer and put into a close Coach and guarded by an hundred Horse hurried away to Inspurg Matthias was astonished at this bold Insolence which struck at his Authority in the tenderest part and now without any Council left in the Hands of his Cousin who designed to rise out of his Ruin became so overwhelmed with Melancholy that both asleep and awake he could not be with-held from crying out with a loud Voice That Gleselius might be brought back again but all to no purpose for he shall never live to see him again and in these Agonies he had some thoughts to have cast himself into the Arms of the Bohemians but it was not in his Power to do it These things were in 1618 at the end whereof Matthias died These Commotions in Bohemia and other parts of the Empire encreased after the Death of Matthias so that the Election of an Emperor was controverted till the 30th of August 1619 when Ferdinand was chosen having by large Promises prevailed upon George Duke of Saxony to vote for him But however the Bohemians were stiff in opposing his Election to the Kingdom of Bohemia and offered the Crown to Charles Duke of Savoy tho a Popish Prince and who had a better Title to the Crown of Bohemia than Ferdinand his Mother being a younger Daughter of Maximilian the 2d but prevailed upon by the Pope and Spanish Councils he refused it as did the Duke of Saxony and then they chose Frederick Count Palatine hoping to receive great Assistance from King James his Father-in-law but were mistaken in the Man Upon this Election Abbot Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was all on Fire to perswade the King to assist his Son-in-law and to that purpose wrote a long perswasive Apology to the King concerning it which you may read at large in Rushworth's Collections fol. 12. but the King and Bishop were not of the same Opinion for the King would have it that the Election of his Son-in-law was upon the Score of Religion not Right and therefore disswaded him from it but being a mighty Man of Embassies as well as Words Nani says fol. 138. published that he would assist his Son-in-law and dispatched an Ambassador to Vienna proposing that Bohemia should remain to Frederick But if his Authority by words would not settle his Son-in-law King James could not go further Frederick thus forsaken by his Father-in-law raised upon his own account 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse and entred Prague and was crown'd King on the Fourth of November 1619 and was no sooner crown'd but laid the Foundation of his own Ruine for the Counts De la Tour and Mansfield who had raised
the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Principality of Wales and of the Dominions and Islands of the same of the Town of Calais and of the Marches of the same and of Normandy Gascoign and Guienne General Governor of the Seas and Ships of the Kingdom Master of the Horse to the King Lord Warden Chancellor and Admiral of the Cinque Ports and of the Members of the same Constable of Dover-Castle Justice in Eyre of all the Forests and Chases on this side of Trent Constable of the Castle of Windsor Gentleman of his Majesty's Bed-Chamber one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council in his Realms of England Scotland and Ireland and Knight of the most Honourable Order of the Garter But tho all others worshipped this prodigious Favourite yet Arch-bishop Abbot a Prelate of Primitive Sanctity and Integrity would not flatter neither the King nor his Favourite in their Courses so dangerous to the Church and State and dishonourable to the King and tho in Disgrace he wrote this following Letter to the King which you may read in Rushworth fol. 85. May it please your Majesty M I Have been too long silent and am afraid by my Silence I have neglected the Duty of the Place it has pleased God to call me unto and your Majesty to place me in But now I humbly crave leave I may discharge my Conscience towards God and my Duty to your Majesty and therefore freely to give me leave to deliver my self and then let your Majesty do what you please Your Majesty hath propounded a Toleration of Religion I beseech you to take into your Consideration what that Act is what the Consequence may be By your Act you labour to set up the most Damnable and Heretical Doctrine of the Church of Rome the Whore of Babylon How hateful will it be to God and grievous to your Subjects the Professors of the Gospel that your Majesty who hath so often and learnedly disputed and written against those Heresies should now shew your self a Patron of those wicked Doctrines which your Pen hath to the World and your Conscience tells your self are superstitious idolatrous and detestable and hereto I add what you have done by sending the Prince into Spain without the Consent of your Council the Privity or Approbation of your People and altho you have a Charge and Interest in the Prince as the Son of your Flesh yet the People have a greater as Son of the Kingdom upon whom next after your Majesty are their Eyes fixed and their Welfare depends and so tenderly is his going apprehended as I believe however his Return may be safe yet the Drawers of him into this Action so dangerous to himself so desperate to the Kingdom will not pass away unquestion'd and unpunished Besides the Toleration which you endeavour to set up by your Proclamation cannot be without a Parliament unless your Majesty will let your Subjects see that you will take to your self the Ability to throw down the Laws of the Land at your Pleasure What dread Consequence these things may draw afterwards I beseech your Majesty to consider and above all lest by this Toleration and discountenancing the true Profession of the Gospel wherewith God hath blest us and this Kingdom hath so long flourished under it your Majesty doth not draw upon this Kingdom in general and your self in particular God's Wrath and Indignation I have heard my Father say that King James kept a Fool called Archy if he were not more Knave whom the Courtiers when the King was at any time thoughtful or serious would bring in with his antick Gestures and Sayings to put him out of it In one of these Modes of the King in comes Archy and tells the King he must change Caps with him Why says the King Why who replies Archy sent the Prince into Spain But what said the King wilt thou say if the Prince comes back again Why then said Archy I will take my Cap from thy Head and send it to the King of Spain which was said troubled the King sore But if we look back into Spain we shall see things of another Complection than when Buckingham came into it For now he is disgusted he put the Prince quite out of the Match as that tho all things were agreed upon the coming of the Dispensation from Rome so as King James said all the Devils in Hell could not break the Match yet his Disciple and Scholar could tho the Duke had certified the King the Match was brought to a happy Conclusion and the Match publickly declar'd in Spain and the Prince permitted Access to the Infanta in the Presence of the King and the Infanta was generally stiled the Princess of England and in England a Chappel was building for her at St. James's and the King had prepared a Fleet to fetch her into England which only proved to bring back his Son How things especially actuated by Love should stay here may seem strange yet such an Ascendant had Buckingham over the Prince that the Affront put upon him Buckingham must quite deface the Prince's vowed Love and Affection to the Infanta but how to prevail with King James to comply might have an appearance of some Difficulty since the King had set his Rest upon it and had quarelled with the Parliament and dissolv'd them in great Anger and Fury for but mentioning it After the Duke had gained the Prince to break or at least not to observe the Conditions of the Treaty of the Marriage with the Infanta so solemnly sworn to by both the Kings and the Prince let 's now see how he behaved himself to King James afterwards but this will be better understood if we look back and see how things stood before the Prince's and Duke's Arrival in Spain The Prince's going into Spain was not only kept secret from King James ' s Council but from my Lord Keeper Williams tho the King confided in his Abilities above all the other of his Council but when it had taken vent the King asked the Keeper what he thought Whether the Knight Errant's Pilgrimage meaning the Prince's would prove lucky to win the Spanish Lady and to convey her shortly into England Sir answered my Lord Keeper If my Lord Marquess will give Honour to Conde Duke Olivares and remember he is the Favourite of Spain or if Olivares will shew honourable Civility to my Lord Marquess remembring he is a Favourite of England the Wooing may be prosperous but if my Lord Marquess should forget where he is and not stoop to Olivares or if Olivares forgetting what Guest he hath received with the Prince bear himself haughtily and like a Castilian to my Lord Marquess the Provocation may be dangerous to cross your Majesty's good Intentions and I pray God that either one or both do not run into that Error The Answer of the Keeper took such Impression upon the King that he asked the Keeper if he had wrote to his Son and the
Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland and Destruction upon the King when is was not in the Power of those which first raised the War against him to save his Life which they would have done I am told that the last Part of this Paragraph is an unjust Charge upon the Parliament in that they acted defensively in this War and that the King first raised Arms and this by the Authority of Mr. May. If I be mistaken I have the Authority of him who could best know I mean the King at his Death who declared That he never did begin the War with the two Houses of Parliament as all the World knows that they began with him it was the Militia they began upon they confest that to be his but they thought fit to have it from him and to be short if any body will look into the Dates of those Commissions theirs and his and likewise to the Declarations they will see clearly that they began these unhappy Troubles not he See Whit. Mem. f. 369. a. and all the Writers of those times If this be not Authority sufficient to shew the Parliament began the War the first Scuffle between the King and Parliament was about the Business of Hull where the Parliament had committed the Charge of the Town and Magazine to Sir John Hotham one of the Members of the Commons who was sent down thither to remove the Magazine to London but the Country of York petitioned it might still remain at Hull for securing the Northern Parts especially the King residing there Hereupon the King taking a Guard of his Servants and some Neighbouring Gentry upon the 23d of April went to Hull but contrary to Expectation found the Gates shut and the Bridges drawn up by Sir John and his Entrance denied though but with 20 Horse which so moved the King that he proclaimed Hotham a Traitor and sends to the Parliament for Justice against him To this the Parliament return no Answer but justify Sir John Hotham and order that the Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace do suppress all Forces which shall be raised or gathered together against Hull or to disturb the Peace nor did they stay here but put the Power of the Militia in Persons nominated by them excluding the King in ordering any thing together with them and authorized Hotham by his Warrants to raise the trained Bands in Yorkshire to march with their Arms into Hull where he disarmed them and turned them home again See Whit. Mem. f. 55 56. So I submit this to Judgment whether this was not raising Arms against the King being done by Subjects and contrary to the King's Command and if the King did encrease his Guards yet this was subsequent to the excluding the King from having Power in the Militia and Hotham's Raising Arms and Disarming the Trained Bands of Yorkshire Mr. May says p. 55. the Parliament being then intent upon settling the Militia by Land took care also to seize the Navy into their Hands and ordered the Earl of Warwick to be Admiral to put this in Execution but the King had chosen Sir John Pennington to that place instead of the Earl of Northumberland and sent a Command to the Earl of Warwick to resign the Place to him Pennington But the Earl chose rather to obey the Ordinance of Parliament and with great Courage and Policy got the Fleet into his Hands tho many of the Captains stood out against him but the Earl deprived them of their Commands and possest himself of the Ships taking shortly after another Ship called the Lyon of great Import coming out of Holland and laden with Gun-power which proved a great Addition to his Strength So here was a double Beginning of the War by the Parliament both in seizing the Fleet and taking the Lyon and this before the King committed any Act of Hostility And for the carrying on this War which Mr. May calls the Cause the Parliament upon the 10th of June made an Order for bringing in Money and Plate to raise Arms for the Cause and the Publick Faith for Repayment to them which brought it in So here the Parliament raised Money as well as Forces for carrying on the War before the King levied any And so I leave it to Judgment who first began the War Objection The Parliament raised Arms for their own Defence and Security of the Nation Answer This is said but of no kin to Truth or Reason for Men defend what they are possest of and the King was possest of the Militia and Fleet when the Parliament ravish'd both from him nor did the King use either against the Parliament when they invaded them Besides the King at least as he declared endeavoured to defend the established Religion and Laws of the Land whereas the Parliament contended to abolish the Established Religion and to exalt themselves above the Laws of the Land Objection 2. That the King had so often violated the Laws and Constitutions of the Nation and governed so Arbitrarily that the Parliament could have no Security for the future to prevent his so doing again so long as the King was possest of the Militia Answer The Case was not the same then when the King resolved to have no more Parliaments as now when the King had made this Parliament perpetual and had passed the Triennial Bill for Parliaments to meet whether he would or no And tho Favourites and Flatterers instill'd those things into the King when they were without any Fear or Apprehension of being questioned by a Parliament yet now the Parliament had so severely prosecuted and punished such Men and being perpetual or at least to meet Three Years after every Dissolution none would presume to advise the King in things derogatory to his Honour and the Interest of the Nation And now we proceed to the ensuing War The Parliament before the King set up his Standard at Nottingham Aug. 22 Voted That an Army should be raised for the Defence of the King and Parliament that the Earl of Essex should be Captain General of the Army and the Earl of Bedford General of the Horse The War began first between the Marquess of Hartford for the King in the West and the Earl of Bedford for the Parliament the Earl being worsted by the Marquess at Sherborn-Castle Goring got into Portsmouth and held it for the King but could not hold it long for the Country joining with Sir John Meyrick forced him to surrender who thereupon went into Holland and my Lord Say St. Johns and Weemen with Colonel Whitlock enter Oxford and keep it for the Parliament But the Face of Affairs soon changed for the King having made the Earl of Lindsey his General and the Parliament the Earl of Essex upon the 23d of October the Armies met and fought at Edghil with uncertain Victory which both sides claimed the Earl of Lindsey was mortally wounded and taken Prisoner the Right Wing of the King's Horse commanded by Prince Rupert brake the Left
Successes Sir Marmaduke Langdale about the Beginning of March routed a great Body of the Parliamentarians in Yorkshire and defeated the Army commanded by my Lord Fairfax which besieg'd Pomfret-Castle and from thence marched into Leicestershire and defeated a great Body of the Parliament's Forces commanded by Colonel Rossiter Anno Reg. 21. Dom. 1645. We begin this Year with the Self-denying Ordinance tho Mr. Whitlock and Sir Richard Baker differ a little in point of time Sir Richard Baker says it was this Year Mr. Whitlock 1644. But the Lords refused to concur with the Commons herein so as this Ordinance began with a Rupture between the two Houses so you 'll see it shall be the Ruin of the Parliament's as well as the King's Designs Mr. Whitlock made a fine and learned Speech against this Ordinance which you may read at large fol. 114 115. of his Memoirs The pretended Reason for this Ordinance was the Thinness of the House which by Employment in the War would render them much thinner To which Mr. Whitlock answered It might be supplied by filling up the Commons by new Elections He objected against the Ordinance the Examples of the Grecians and Romans who had the greatest Offices both of War and Peace conferred upon their Senators because they having greater Interests than others were more capable to do them the greatest Services and that by passing this Ordinance they would lay aside the General Essex the Earls of Warwick Denbigh and Manchester the Lords Willoughby and Roberts and of their own Members the Lords Grey of Growby and Fairfax Sir William Waller Cromwel Mr. Hollis Sir Philip Stapleton Sir William Brereton and Sir John Meyrick Tho the Commons passed the Self-denying Ordinance yet they dispensed with it in reference to Cromwel Skippon and Ireton and Sir William Waller Hereupon the Earls of Essex Denbigh and Manchester lay down their Commissions Here it 's observable That the Earl of Essex as he was the first which headed an Army against the King and whose Authority was so great that 't was believed if he had not done it the Parliament could not have rais'd an Army is now the first discarded by the Commons without giving any Reason In this new Establishment of the English Army Sir Thomas Fairfax was made General Cromwel Lieutenant-General and Skippon Major-General The Royalists conceived Mountains of Advantages to follow and that not improbably from the Divisions in the Parliament's Army which succeeded quite contrary For upon the 3d of April Fairfax having gathered his Army together at Windsor sent Cromwel with a Brigade of Horse and Dragoons to intercept a Convoy of Horse which Prince Rupert had sent from Worcester to fetch off the King from Oxford with a Train of Artillery to take the Field which Cromwel met at Islip and routed them took divers Prisoners and 200 Horse and from thence Cromwel march'd and took Bletchingdon-House commanded by Colonel Windebank Sir Francis's own Son by Surrender upon the first Summons for which Windebank was sentenced by a Court-Martial and shot to Death But Cromwel had not so good Success at Faringdon which he assaulted and was beaten off with the loss of 200 of his Men. The King understanding that Fairfax had a Design to besiege Oxford sent to Prince Rupert and General Goring to fetch him off which they did about the beginning of May and the King marched towards the Relief of Chester then besieged by the Parliament's Forces and Fairfax lays close Siege to Oxford The King relieved Chester and in his Return takes Leicester by Storm This put Fairfax to his Trumps so that if he continued the Siege of Oxford he would leave all the mid-land parts of England to the Mercy of the King So he raises his Siege and marches to fight the King's Army My Lord Astley was Lieutenant-General of the King's Foot whose Nephew was Sir Isaac Astley my Lord's eldest Brother's eldest Son who married a Cousin-German of mine and after the War was over my Lord Astley being at his Nephew 's in Discourse of the Wars my Lord told him That upon the Approach of the Parliament's Army the King called a Council of War where by the Advice of my Lord Astley it was resolved to march Northwards and destroy the Country Provisions and leave the Parliament's Army at their Election whether they would follow the King or besiege Leicester But next Morning quite contrary to the Order of Council Orders were given to prepare to fight the Parliament's Army when there was little time to draw up the Army so inconstant and irresolute was the King in this as of almost all his other Actions and so forward was the King herein that he marched to meet Fairfax's Army near Naseby in Northamptonshire This was upon Saturday June the 14th And if the Resolution to fight was inconsiderate and rash so was the Fight for Prince Rupert who commanded the right Wing of the King's Horse charged the left Wing of the Parliament's commanded by Ireton and routed them and wounded Ireton in the Thigh and as before at Edg-hill and Marston-Moor he pursued the Enemy so far that he left the rest of the Army exposed to the Assaults of the Enemy so here he followed the Chase almost to Naseby leaving the left Wing of the King's Army commanded by Sir Marmaduke Langdale open to be charged by Cromwel That which compleated the Parliament's Victory and the King 's utter Overthrow in this Fight was the not observing the Orders the Day before of the King's Retreat for Yorkshire being opprest by the Parliament's Forces Sir Marmaduke had Expectation of relieving the King's Party there which being cross'd by the Resolution of this Day 's Fight his Brigade as well as himself grew discontented so as he no ways answered the Gallant Actions which before he had atchieved And Cromwel having forced Sir Marmaduke to retreat joining with Fairfax charged the King's Foot who had beaten the Parliament's and got Possession of their Ordnance and thought themselves certain of the Victory but being in Confusion and out of Order and having no Horse to support them were easily over-born by Fairfax and Cromwel and so Fairfax's Army obtain'd a most absolute Victory over the King 's We hear no more of Prince Rupert in this Fight who 't was believed was the first Mover of it till of his Arrival at Bristol In this Fight the Earl of Lindsey the Lord Astley and Colonel Russel were wounded and 20 Colonels Knights and Officers of Note and 600 common Soldiers were slain on the King's side and 6 Colonels and Lieutenant-Colonels 18 Majors 70 Captains 80 Lieutenants 200 Ensigns and other Officers and 4500 common Soldiers were taken Prisoners 12 Pieces of Cannon 8000 Arms 40 Barrels of Powder 200 Carriages with all their Bag and Baggage with store of rich Pillage 3000 Horse one of the King's Coaches with his Cabinets of Letters and Papers And the King fled towards Wales If the King were unfortunate in the
Success of this Fight he was not less in the Discovery of his secret Counsels with the Queen which were so contrary to those he declared to the Kingdom for in his Letter to the Queen he declared his Intention to make Peace with the Irish and to have 40000 of them over into England to prosecute the War here And in others he complained he could not prevail with his Mungrel Parliament at Oxford to Vote that the Parliament of Westminster were not a Lawful Parliament So little Thanks had these Noble Lords and Gentlemen for their exposing their Lives and Fortunes in Defence of the King in his Adversity What then might they expect if he should prevail by Conquest That he would not make a Peace with the Rebels the Parliament without her Approbation nor go one jot from the Paper she sent him That in the Treaty at Uxbridg he did not positively own the Parliament it being otherwise to be construed tho they were so simple as not to find it out and that it was recorded in the Notes of the King's Council that he did not acknowledg them a Parliament See Whitlock ' s Memoirs fol. 147. a. The Members having got these Papers not only printed and published them but order'd them to be kept upon Record and also made a publick Declaration of them wherein they shew what the Nobility and Gentry which follow'd the King might trust to The King's Army being overthrown the Parliament had two Armies and the King none but that which was commanded by General Goring which at that time besieg'd Taunton and sore distrest it but it being governed by Blake after the famous Admiral for the Rump and Cromwel by Sea it made indeed a wonderful Resistance And now you 'll see the King's Garisons surrender by heaps For two Days after the Fight at Naseby viz. June 14. Fairfax sat down before Leicester where my Lord Loughborough was Governour and made a large Breach towards Newark whereupon the Governour surrendred it After the Surrender of York the Year before the King made that noble Gentleman Sir Thomas Glenham Governour of Carlisle which he defended till the Garison were forced to eat Horse-flesh And the Town being besieged by the English and Scots Sir Thomas to throw a Bone of Dissension between them deliver'd it up to the Scots about a Week after the Surrender of Leicester From Leicester Fairfax marches to the Relief of Taunton whereupon Goring drew off and retreated to Langport where Fairfax routed Goring kill'd 200 of his Men took 1400 Prisoners and pursued the rest to Bridgwater which Fairfax besieg'd and had it surrender'd upon the 23d of July And about that time Pontfract Castle in Yorkshire surrender'd to M. G. Pointz and upon the 25th of July Sir Hugh Cholmly surrender'd Scarborough Castle to Sir Matthew Boynton and upon the 11th of September Fairfax storm'd Bristol and Prince Rupert surrender'd the Castle upon Terms Tho the City of Hereford bravely defended it self against General Lesley and his Scots from the 13th of July to the 1st of September and then forced Lesley to raise the Siege upon pretence of relieving his own Country then over-run by the Marquess of Montross yet it was soon after surprised by Colonel Birch and Colonel Morgan Nor were the King's Forces in the Field more fortunate than those in Garison for the King having got together a Body of about 5000 Men most Welch marched towards the Relief of Chester then besieged by Sir William Brereton and Colonel Jones but in his March he was fought by General Pointz at Routon-Moor within two Miles of Chester where the King was worsted and the Lord Bernard Stewart Brother to the Duke of Richmond kill'd The King's Affairs being thus desperate in England all the Hopes now were of Scotland where Montross had conquer'd it from one End to the other and had no visible Army to oppose him and the King to make Scotland secure commanded my Lord Digby and Sir Marmaduke Langdale to join Montross with their Horse in pursuance whereof they marched to Sherborn in Yorkshire where they surprised 700 of the Parliament's Foot with their Arms and Baggage but staying for Carriages Col. Copley Lilbourn and Alured fell upon them and routed them killing and taking 100 Officers 300 Soldiers and 600 Horse with their Furniture and my Lord Digby's Coach And my Lord Digby marching on with the rest of his Forces was set upon at Carlisle Sands and utterly defeated from whence my Lord and Langdale escaped to the Isle of Man and after into Ireland From Routon-Moor the King got to Newark where Maâ—or-General Gerrard charged the Lord Digby lately defeated at Sherborn with Treason Prince Rupert and Maurice the Lord Hawley and Sir Richard Willis the Governour sided with Gerrard and the Lord Bellasis and many others with Digby and so did the King who displaced Willis and made the Lord Bellasis Governour This caused great Dissension not only in the Garison but in the Officers of the Army which the King brought with him so that the Princes Rupert and Maurice General Gerrard my Lord Hawley and Willis forsook the King and sent to the Parliament for Passes to go beyond Sea In this forlorn state the King left Newark and with 300 Horse got safe to Oxford where the Princes Rupert and Maurice not knowing whither else to go came and were seemingly reconciled to him but upon the Return of the King's Horse Pointz meets and routs them Here the King again sent to the Parliament for a Treaty of Peace which was rejected upon this Occasion Letters were taken in my Lord Digby's Coach after his Rout at Sherborn and also in the Pockets of the Arch-bishop of Tuam who was slain in an Overthrow of the Irish at Sligo in Ireland wherein the King offered the Irish a Toleration of their Religion themselves to choose a Governour of their own and to be entrusted with several Castles and Forts for their Caution upon Condition that they send 10000 Men into England to assist him against his Enemies And with these they found the Copy of the King's Commission to the Earl of Glamorgan impowering him to treat with the Rebels viz. CHARLES by the Grace of God c. To our Trusty and Well-beloved Cousin Edward Earl of Glamorgan We reposing great and especial Trust and Confidence in your approved Wisdom and Fidelity do by these Presents as firmly as under our Great Seal to all Intents and Purposes authorize and give you Power to treat and conclude with the Confederate Roman Catholicks in our Kingdom of Ireland If upon necessity any thing be condescended to wherein our Lieutenant cannot so well be seen as not fit for us for the present publickly to own therefore We charge you to proceed according to this our Warrant with all possible Secrecy and whatever you shall engage your self upon such valuable Considerations as you in your Judgment shall deem fit we promise in the Word of a King and Christian to