maligned Episcopacy whilest Bishops stood they could not fill all the Pulpits of the Kingdome with their Seditious Oratours who might incite the people that their zeal to God may not be interrupted by their Duty to the King that by the Christian Labours of their painfull Preachers they may not want hands to bring their wishes to passe they are their own words Is this the reason we have not a word of Peace and Charity from that Party but all Incentives to Warr and to joyn in making that great Sacrifice to the Lord. Yet whilest they are so busy in in getting hands too many of them perjured hands let them remember Rodolphus the Duke of Sweveland his hand in Cuspinian who being drawn into a rebellious Warre against the Emperour and in the Battell having his right Hand cut off held out the Stump to those that were about him saying I have a just reward of my Perjury with this same Hand I swore Allegiance to my Soveraigne Lord. Yet the good Emperour buried him Honourably which being disliked by some of his Friends he replied utinam omnes mei Adversarit eo ornatu sepulti jacerent We have sworn Allegiance as well ashe and God is the same he was a severe Avenger of Perjury Onely Zedekiaâ—… of all the Kings of Iudah a perjured Person to Nebuchadnezzar had his eyes put out because saith one he had not that God by whom he sware before his eyes Another instance of Perjury we have in Uladislaus when Huniades had made Truce with Amurath for ten yeares the King by the incitement of Cardinali Iulian did break it the Turk in distresse spreads the Articles towards Heaven saying O Iesus if thou be a God be avenged of these false Christians presently the Battell turned Uladislaus was slaine in the Fight the Cardinall in flight When God had justly punished Corah and his rebellious Company the Common People murmured against Moses and Aaron saying Ye have killed the Lords People Numb 16. 49. What was the Issue the Lord sent a Plague which swept away fourteen thousand and seven hundred of them So dangerous a thing it is onely to justify Traytors Dost thou desire to serve God purely according to his word So thou mayest without being a Traytour to thy Prince if our practise were but conformable to the truth of our Profession we might challenge all the Churches in the World God Almighty lighten the eyes of all those that mean well that we may no longer shed one anothers blood to effect the frantick Designes of Fanaticall Persons and by our contentions pull down what we all desire to build up even the Protestant Religion the Law of the Land and the Liberty of the Subject Treason never yet wanted a cloake we are not to judge of Rebells by their Words but by their deeds their voice is Iacobs voice but their hands are the hands of Esau. The Adulterous woman eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith what have I done yet sometimes God suffers the contrivers of these Distractions unwittingly to discover themselves that unlesse we doe willfully hoodwinke our eyes we cannot but see their aimes Among others that Speech which exhorts us to subdue the pride of Kings to purchase a Parity in the Church with a parity in the State to shed the blood of the ungodly that sleights all former Oaths and Obligations and vilifies the Laws of the Land as the inventions of men may be a sufficient Warning-Piece to all Loyall Subjects and good Christians And so may the late Petition be though from meaner Hands to a Common Councell wherein they doe nakedly and professedly fall upon His Majesties Person without any Mask and sawcily and traytorously propose the alteration of the Civill Government which every true-hearted English Man will detest Say not these are poor vulgar Fellowes These have been the Intelligences that have of late turned the Orbe of our State about or at least the visible Actors And who sees not that this is cast abroad thus by the cunning of their sublimated and Mercuriall Prompters to try how it will rellish with the palate of the People as an Introduction to their actuall Designe that when it comes to passe the World may not wonder at it as a Prodigie So was it given out among the People by Richard the third that his Wife was dead when she was in good health but she wisely concluded what was intended by her kind Husband to be her next part Where are our English Hearts why doe we not at last all joyn together to take a severe account of them who have blemished our Parliament subjected our Persons and Estates to their arbitrary Power who have sought to de-throne our Soveraigne and to robbe us of our Religion Laws and Liberties But now to the Observator Observer IN this Contestation between Regall and Parliamentary power for method sake it is requisite to consider first of Regall then of Parliamentary Power and in both to consider the efficient and finall Causes and the meanes by which they are supported Answer Stay Sir before we enter into these Consideratitions let us remember the Rule in Rhetorick cui bono what advantage will this inquiry bring us Doe you desire to be one of the Tribunes or Ephori of England to controule your King or would you have the great Oâ—…ke cut down that you might gather some sticks for your selfe Thus we are told lately the wisest men will not thinke thems elves uncapable of future Fortunes if they use their uttermost power to reduce him that is the King to a necessity of granting Or would you have us play the Guelphes and Gibellines to cut one anothers throats for your pastime Pardon us Sir we cannot thinke it seasonable now when poore Ireland is at the last gaspe and England it selfe lies a bleeding when mens minds are exasperated by such Trumpeters of Sedition to plunge our selves yet deepeâ—… in these Domestick Contestations what could the Irish Rebells desire more Comparisons are alwayes odious but Contestations are worse and this between a King and His Parliament worst of all This dismall question did never yet appeare in this Kingdom but like a fatall Screech-owle portending blood Death and publique Ruine This was the Subject of the Barons Warre the consequent of this in the wrong offered to a lawfull Prince was the fountain of those horrid Dissentions between the red Rose and the White which purpled all our English Soile with native Blood we have had too much of this already Halfe of that Money which of late hath been spent of that blood which hath been shed about this accursed Controversie would have regained Ireland and disingaged England whereas now the sore festers dayly more and more under the Chirurgeons Hands Our Fore fathers have setled this question for us we desire to see what they have done before we goe to blind-mans buffet one with another If it hath been composed well or but indifferently it is better then Civill Warr And
himselfe by seditious Orations Whâ—… more popular then Simon Magus T is megas soâ—… great one and this onely with jugling When Absâ—…om sought to ingratiate himselfe with the vulgar whâ—… course did he take to be more eminent in vertue No such thing but ostentation lying flattery and â—…ucing the present State Who hath not heard hoâ—… â—…stratus and Dionisius two execrable Tyrants did cut â—…d slâ—…sh themselves and perswaâ—… the credulous â—…titude how it was done by the Malignants for their zeal to the Commonwealth till by these Arts they had first gotten a guard allowed for themselves and after invaded the Government Observer To be deliciae humani generis is grown fordid with Princes to be publicke torments and Carnificines and to plot against those Subjects whom by nature they ought to protect is held Caesar like and therefore bloody Borgias by meere treachery and cruelty hath gotten room in the Calender of witty and of spirited Heroes And our English Court of late yeares hath drunke too much of this State-poyson for either we have seen Favorites raised to poll the People and razed again to paâ—…ifie the People or else which is worse for King and People too we have seen engines of Mischiefe preserved against the People and upheld against Law merely that mischief might not want incouragement Answer Curse not the King saith the Wise-man no not in thy thought Thou shalt not revile the Gods nor speak evill of the Ruler of thy People Two Apostles bear record that there cannot be a surer note of a Schismatick then to despise Dominion and speak evill of Dignities Evill language against a Soveraign Prince hath ever been reputed an Injury to al his Subjects but this age hath hatched such Vipers which dare not only like some Rabshakeh â—…aile against some forrein Prince but cast durt in the face of their naturall Lord as if they were the colls of a wild Asse in the Wildernesse subject to no man accountable to no Man and that not onely in thought which Solomon disliked or in a word which God did forbid but even to make the Presse grone under dayly bundles of Lies and slanders and fictitious Fables I say the Presse which hath been ever esteemed a peculiar Priveledge of Supreme Majesty Nâ—…y one King is not an object worthy of their wrath but as it is said of Iulian that he sought to destroy both Presbyteros and Presbyterium not Priests onely but Priest-hood it selfe So it is not one or two Monarchs but the destruction of Monarchy it self which these Men aime at witnesse our Observer here to be publick torments and Carnificines is held Caesar like with Princes and one of his Friends lately He errs not much who saith that there is an inbred hatred of the Gospell in all Kings they doe not willingly suffer the King of Kings to rule in their Kingdomes the Lord hath his among Kings but very few one perhaps of an hundred Increpet te Deus Satan The Lord himselfe will one day call them to an account for these Blasphemies against his anoynted Is this a Coale taken from the Altar or rather from the fire of Hell There is hope our Countrymen will robbe the Jesuits shortly of their reputation Anabaptisme hath got it loose to be the Liers and the Rebells Catechisme Sir lay aside your eye of envy which cannot endure the beams of Majesty and tell us what it is in King Charles which doth so much offend you take Diogenes his lanthorn and look at Noone-Day among all his Opposers throughout your Classes and Forms if you can find one to match or parallell him for piety towards God justice towards Man Temperance in His Diet truth in His Word Chastity in His Life Mercy towards the oppressed yea take your multiplying glasse and looke through His Government from end to end if you can find His Crown sprinkled with one drop of innocent blood He needs not with Caius the Emperour assume Mercuries Rod Apolloes bowe and arrows Mâ—…rs his sword and shield to make himself resemble God He hath better ensignes of the Diety Unhappy we onely because we do not know our own good that might enjoy a temperate and sweet Government Sun-shine dayes under our own Vines and Fig-trees the free Profession of true Religion equall administration of Justice Peace and Plenty with a dayly growth of all arts that may enrich or civilize a Nation under the radicated succession of a Princâ—…ly Family If the Observers eyes had not been like the old Lamiaes to take out and put in at his pleasure he might have seen a Titus at Home a Darling of Mankind But what is the ground of all this great cry forsooth we have had Favorites I doe not yet know any hurt in a good Favorite such an one as Ioshua was to Moses or Daniell to Darius or Maecenas and Agrippa to Augustus or Craterus and for any thing I know Ephestion also to Alexander Wise men think a well-chosen Favorite may bring great advantage both to King and People But I leave the discourse it is well known His Majesty is as opposite to Favourites as the Observer and never raised any to thâ—… height but they might be opposed and questioned â—…y their Fellow-Councellers But if the Observer have a mind to see some of those Favourites whom he callâ—… Pollers engines of Mischiefe or Monopolists he may find them moving in another Sphere To side with His Majesty is no ready way to impunity Observer But our King here doth acknowledge it a great businesse of His Coronation Oath to protect us and I hope under this word protect he intends not onely to shield us from all kind of evill but to promote us to all kind of Politicall happinesse according to his utmost Devoir and I hope he holds himselfe bound thereunto not onely by his Oath but also by his very Office and by the end of his Soveraigne Dignity And though all single Persons ought to looke upon the late bills passed by the King as matters of Grace with all Thankfulnesse and Humility yet the King himselfe looking upon the whole State ought to acknowledge that he cannot merit of it and that whatsoeven he hath granted if it be for the prosperity of his People but much more for their ease it hath proceeded but from meere duty If Ship-money if Star-Chamber if the High Commission if the Votes of Bishops and Popish Lords in the upper House be inconsistent with the wellfare of the Kingdom not onely Honour but Iustice itselfe challenges that they be abolish't The King ought not to account that a Profit or Strength to him which is a losse or wasting to the People nor ought he to thinke that perish't to him which is gained to the People The word Grace sounds better in the Peoples mouth then in His. Answer His Majesty is bound in Conscience both by his Oath and Office not onely to protect his People committed to his charge in
the equity of the Law many who doe not grant that to violate the Law of Man is sinne universally yet in case of contempt or scandall doe admit that it is sinnefull So then the Laws and Customes of the Kingdome are Limits and bounds to His Majestyes Power but there are not precise Laws for each particular Occurrence And even the Laws themselves doe ofâ—…en leave a latitude and a preheminence to His Majesty not onely for circumstances â—…d forms of Justice but even in great and high Privileges These we call the Prerogative Royall as to â—…e the fountain of Nobility To coyne Money To â—…eate Magistrates To grant Protection to his Debâ—…rs against their Creditours To present to a Beneâ—…ce in the right of his Ward being the youngest Coâ—…arcener before the eldest Not to be sued upon an orâ—…inary writ but by Petition and very many others â—…hich are beyond the ordinary course of Common-Law being either branches of absolute power or Preâ—…ogatives left by the Laws themselves Thirdly in the câ—…se of evident necessity where the whoâ—…e Commonwealth lyeâ—… at stake for the safety of King and Kingdome His Majesty may go against partiâ—…ular Laws For howsoever fancyed pretended invisible dangers have thrust us into reall dangers and unseasonable Remedyes have produced our present Calamityes yet this is certaine that all humane Laws and particular proprietyes must veile and strike top-sayle to a true publick necessity This is confessed by the Observer himselfe every where in this Treatise that Salus Populi is the transcendent achme of all Politicks the Law Paramount that gives Law to all humane Laws and particular Laws cannot act contrary to the legislative intent to be a violation of some more soveraigne good introducible or some extreme and generall evill avoidable which otherwise might swallow up both Statutes and all other Sanctions This preservative Power the Observer ascribes to the people that is to say in his sense to the Parliament in case the King will not joyn with them Though we all know a Parliament is not ever ready nor can be sâ—… suddenly called as is requisite to meet with a suddeâ—… Mischief And he thinks it strange that thâ—… King should noâ—… allow to the Subject a right to rise iâ—… Arms for their oâ—…n necessary defence without his consent and that he should assume or challenge such a share iâ—… the Legislative â—…ewer to himselfe as that without hiâ—… concurrence the Lords and Commons should have no right to make temporaâ—…y orders for putting the Kingdoâ—… into a posture of Defence Strange Phrases and unheard of by English eares that the King should joyn with the People or assume a share in the legislative Power Our Laws give this honour to the King that he can joyn or be a sharer with no man Let not the Observer trouble himselfe about this division The King like Solomons true Mother challengeth the whole Child not a divisible share but the very Life of the Legislative Power The Commons present and pray The Lords advise and consent The King enacts It would be much for the credit of the Observers desperate cause if he were able but to shew one such president of an Ordinance made by Parliament without the Kings consent that was binding to the Kingdome in the nature of a Law It is a part of the Kings oath to protect the Laws to preserve Peace to His People this he cannot doe without the Power of the Kingdome which he challengeth not as a Partner but solely as his own by virtue of his Seigniory So the Parliament it selfe acknowledged It belongs to the King and his part it is through his royall seigniory straitly to desend sorce of armour and all other force against his peace at all times when it shall please him and to punish them which shall doe contrary according to the Laws â—…nd usages of the Realme and that the Prelates Earles â—…arons and Commonalty are bound to aide him as their â—…overaigne Lord at all seasons when need shall be Here is a Parliament for the King even in the point The Argument is not drawn as the Observator sets it own negatively from Authority or from a maimed â—…nd imperfect induction or from pâ—…rticular premisâ—…es to a generall conclusion every one of which is â—…ophisticall is thus Such or suâ—…h a Parliament did â—…ot or durst not doe this or that therefore no Parliaâ—…ents may doe it or thus Some Parliaments not comâ—…arable to the Worthies of this have omitted some good â—…t of supinesse or difficulty therefore all Parliaments â—…ust doe the same but it runns thus no parliaments did ever assume or pretend to any such Power some Parliaments have expressely disclaimed it and acâ—…nowledged that by the Law of the Land it is a â—…ewell or a Flower which belongs to the Crown Therefore it is His Majesties undoubted right and â—…ay not be invaded by any Parliament Yet further â—…t were well the Observer would expresse himselfe â—…hat he meanes by some more Soveraigne good introducible the necessity of avoiding ruâ—…ne and introducing greater good is not the same Dangers often â—…come like torrents suddainly but good may be inâ—…roduced at more leisure and ought not to be brought â—…in but in a lawfull manner we may not doe evill that good may come of it Take the Observers two instances When the Sea breakes in upon a County a bank may be made on any Mans ground without his consent but may they cut away another mans Land to make an Harbour more safe or commodious withâ—… the owners consent No. A Neighbours Hoâ—… may be pulled down to stop the fury of a Scath-fire bâ—… may they pull it down to get a better prospect 〈◊〉 gaine a more convenient high way No. We desâ—… to know what this Soveraigne good introduciâ—… meanes and are not willing to be brought intoâ—… Fooles Paradise with generall insinuations Let it aâ—… pear to be so Soveraigne and we will all become suâ—… ters for it but if it be to alter our Religion or our foâ—… of Government we hope that was not the end of thâ—… Militia Lastly when necessity dispenseth with paâ—…ticular Laws the danger must be evident to all tâ—… concurrence generall or as it were generall one oâ—… two opponents are no opponents but where thâ—… danger is neither to be seen not to be named so uâ—… certaine that it must be voted whether there be anâ—… danger or not or perhaps be created by one or twâ—… odde Votes this is no warrant for the practise oâ—… that Paramount Law of salus Populi By this which hath been said we may gather a reâ—… solution whether the King be under the Law anâ—… how farr I mean not the Law of God or Nature but his own Nationall Laws First by a voluntarâ—… submission of himselfe quod sub Lege esse debetâ—… evidenter apparet cum sit Dei Vicarius ad similituâ—… dinem Iesu Christi cujus vices gerit in terris buâ—… Christ was under
and Arragon and that this should be assented to by the Observers advise would not the present or succeeding Ages give him many a black blessing for his labour God helpe the Man so wrapt in errors endlesse traine First to say that the People mâ—…y seek to obtein â—…heir desires of the Prince by publick Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too Mâ—…gistrall or flâ—…t no 〈◊〉 a pâ—…rase inuâ—… to English eares Heary the sixt wâ—…s noâ—… Fyâ—…ht nor awefull Soverâ—…igne 〈◊〉 when thâ—… 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 presented a just reqâ—…st unto 〈◊〉 â—…ey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kâ—…ling upon their knee no siâ—… of Authorâ—…y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly the King oâ—…es a strict 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of his Government and is bouâ—…d by his Ofâ—…ce to promote the good of His 〈◊〉 To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aâ—… 〈◊〉 may be impeditive to this end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…isfaction of an humorous 〈◊〉 is noâ—… 〈◊〉 with this Obligation Thirdly His Mâ—…jesty conâ—…eive the thing now desired to be moâ—…e then a â—…ple 〈◊〉 single inconvenience that â—…selfe is deeply inteâ—…essed in it and not himselfe onely but his 〈◊〉 and all succeeding Kings and that it is not the desire of all His Subjects not yeâ—… of the greater â—…art much lesse of the sounder â—…art who 〈◊〉 it and therefore even upon the Observers grounds 〈◊〉 is â—…ot bound to give his assent Observer So much for the ends of 〈◊〉 Power I come now to the true Nature of it publick Conâ—…nt c. Answer We had done with Consent before but now we meeâ—… with it again such Windings and Meaâ—…ders there aâ—… in this Treatise But though Consent be like the titlâ—… set upon the outside of an Apothecaryes box yet iâ—… we look into the subsequent Discourse we shall find little or nothing of it The Observer tells us a long stâ—…ry that after the fall of Adam the Law written 〈◊〉 Mans brest was not sufficient to make him a sociaâ—… ble Creature that without Society Men could 〈◊〉 live and without Laws Men could not be sociablâ—… that without Magistrâ—…tes Law was a voide and vaâ—… thing it was therefore quickly provided that Lawâ—… agâ—…ble to the Dictates of Reason should be ratâ—…fied by common consent and that the execution aâ—… interpretation of those Laws should be intrusted 〈◊〉 some Magistrate To all which I readily assenâ—… witâ—… this animadversion that the rule is not catâ—… pantos or universally true Aâ—… for the order of Lawâ—… or Magistrateâ—… it is confessed on the one side thaâ—… sometimes the People did choose their Magistratâ—… and Law both together and sometime the Law before the Magistrate especially upon the extinctioâ—… of a Royall Family but oâ—…â—…he other side it cannoâ—… be denyed that many times very many times Magisâ—…es did either assume Soveraignty by just Conâ—… oâ—… were absoluâ—…ely elected without any sucâ—… restriction So much the Observer coâ—…fesseth a liâ—… after that in the infancy of the World most Nationâ—… did choose rather to submit themselves to the meere disdiscretion of their Lords then rely upon any limits and be ruled by Arbitrary Edicts rather then written Statutes In which case it is plaine that the Law is posteriour to the King both in order of Nature and of Time The Observer proceeds to shew That intrusted Magistrates did sometimes tyrannize over their People that it was difficult to invent a Remedy for this mischief First because it was held unnaturall to place a Superiour above a Supreme Secondly because the restraint of Princes from doing evill by diminuâ—…ion of Soveraigne Power doth disable them also from doing good which may be as mischievous as the other That the World was long troubled between these extremityes That most Nations did choose absolute Governours That others placed Supervisors over their Princes Ephori Tribuni Curatores which remedy the Observer confesseth to have proved worse then the disease and that the issue of it commonly was to imbroile the State in blood That in all great distresses the Body of the People was constreined to rise and by the force of a Major party to put an end to all intestine Strifes That this way was too slow to prevent suddain Mischiefes That it produced much spoile and effusion of blood often exchanging one Tyranny for another That at last a way was found out to regulate the moliminous Body of the People by Parliament where the People may assume their own power to doe themselves Right where by virtue of Election and Representation a few act for many the wise for the simple That the Parliament is more regularly formed now then when it was cal-called the Mickle Synod or where the reall Body of the People did throng together That the Parliament yet perhaps labours with some defects that might be amended that there are yet some differences and difficultyes concerning it especially the Privileges of it which would be resolved This is the summe of his Discourse here and a little after in the 21. page and the three pages following he falls into a needlesse commendation of the Constitution of Parliaments of their Wisdome and Justice how void they are of danger how full of advantage to the King and People how Princes may have sinister ends but that it was never till this Parliament withstooâ—… that a Community can have no private ends to misleaâ—… it In all which there are not many things to be mucâ—… misliked saving some results of his former false anâ—… seditious Principles as that the People are the Primogenious Subject of Power that the essentiall anâ—… representative Body of the Kingdome are all oneâ—… he might as well say that a whole County and 〈◊〉 Grand Jury are convertible terms To place a Superiour above a Supreme is monstrous and opens 〈◊〉 ready way to an infinite progresse which both Aâ—… and Nature abhorre I joyne with him in this thaâ—… to limit a Prince too far is often the cause oâ—… much mischief to a State But the Observer havinâ—… given a good meale casts it down with his Foot foâ—… after in the 40 page he tels us that the People had better want some right then have too much wrong done them It may be so it may be otherwise but ordinarilâ—… the sufferings of one year in a time of Sedition aâ—… more burthensome to the Subject then the pressures they sustein from a hard Soveraigne in a whole Age. A limited Commission may now and then bring ease to a Society but an unsufficient Protection exposeth them to an hundred hazards and blowes from Superiours Inferiours Equalls Forreiners Domesticks The Observer would have such a Prerogative as hath great power of Protection and little of oppression Can you blame him he would have his fire able to warm him but not accidentally to burn him Protection is the use oppression the abuse of power To take away power for fear of the abuse is with Lycurgus to cut down all the vines of Sparta roote and branch for fear of Drunkennesse By the same reason he will leave neither a Sunne in Heaven nor any Creature
of the Barons Wars we should expect the Commons Warres yet generally the English Nation delights not so much in Democracy as the Observer doth and a more gracions King they could not have whose death would have dissolved many mens hopes Howsoever as King Alphonsâ—…s answered his Phisitian when he perswaded him not to handle the works of Livy which were sent unto him by a great Florentine for fear of poyson The Lifes and Soules of Kings are secure under the providence and protection of God or as a Traytour answered the King of the Danes That he wanted neither mind nor sufficient meanes to have effected his intentions but the assistence and concurrence of God was alwayes wanting Which was verified in a conspiracy against King James when the Murderer smitten into an amazement by Gods just judgement could neither stirre hand nor foot It follows How should this administer to the King any grounds to levy guards at Yorke c. Did the King without fear treat with Sir Iohn Hotham as a Traytour in the face of his Artillery and offer to enter Hull with twenty horse unarmed and continue such a harsh Parley so many houres and yet when he was in Yorke in a County of so great assurance could nothing but so many Bands of Horse and Foot secure him from the same Sir Iohn Hotham I wonder the Observer doth not blush to be His Majestyes Remembrancer how much he descended from his Royall State that day in his attendence so many houres and his courteous proffers Is it because he thinks good Subjects take delight to hear of such an audacious affront put upon their Soveraigne Or of that base scandalous picture so much gazed at in Forrein parts of Sir Iohn Hotham standing aloft armed Cap aâ—…pe incircled with Gallants and great Ordinance like another Achilles Impiger iracundus inexorabilis acer Whilest His Sacred Majesty was pictured below like a Chancery Petitioner with his hat in his hand pittyfully complaining and suing to Sir Iohn for admission But the King called Sir Iohn Traytour and gave him harsh language Did he so you may remember what Philip answered for the Macedonians when some of his own wicked instruments complained they called them Traytours that his Countrymen were plain dealing men to call things by their right names and could not for their lifes think one thing and say another If Philip a Prince benefited by those Creatures pleaded so for his Subjects why might not King Charles who was injuried and a loser have leave to speak for himselfe to his own Subjects But if the King were so confident there why did he raise Forces at Yorke a place of more assurance First shew us your Commission to take his Majesties answer or at least tell us why Sir Iohn began to raise Forces first His Majesty is authorized by God and the Law to raise Forces and owes no account to the Observer And to His Majestyes confidence then and diffidence after I can say nothing positively if it were in another case there might be sundry reasons given Perhaps the second cogitations are the sounder or Men may hope for better measure then they find or the latter day is a Scholler to the former or a Man may desire to surprise him and cannot whom he hath no desire to kill if he could or Mischiefe growes not to maturity in an instant but by Degrees But The King might have prevented this repulse by sending a Messenger before hand or by comming without such considerable Forces in so unexpected a manner How considerable His Majestyes Forces were and what was His manner of comming to Hull Himâ—…elfe hath published in a true satisfactory Declaraâ—…ion long since if it had been otherwise how could â—…is Majesty imagine or expect such a repulse against â—…ll Laws beyond all presidents An impartiall man â—…ould rather thinke that Sir Iohn Hotham should â—…ave taken it to heart that His Majesty should so â—…arre suspect his Loyalty as to send such a Message â—…efore him This is certain if there were an omisâ—…ion in point of discretion or good manners it was â—…n Sir Iohn Hothams part who was privy to his own â—…esolutions and though he hâ—…d forgotten his Allegiance yet in point of Courtesy he ought to have given His Majesty a fair advertisement It is very hard the Observer should goe about to reduce his King to the condition of an ordinary Passenger that must send his Harbinger before to try whether he may have enterteinment at his Inne or nor Nondum finitus Orestes His circumstances are not yet done He addes the things remaining at Hull in the Kings trust for the use of the Kingdom were Arms by consequence of more danger then other kind of Chattells If I intrust my cloake to anothers custody I may not take it again by force but if it be my sword and there is strong presumption that it may be drawn upon me I may use any meanes to secure it I wish all the Observers Faction had been of his opinion in one point His Majesty and many of His good Subjects have been plundered deepely and have had both their Cloaks and their Coates c. taken away by force wherein they challenged a right of interest which is more then trust Still the Observer builds upon his former extravigants His Majesty is not Rex ad placitum one that hath meerely the custody of Regall power as the Lord Keeper hath of the great Seale or as the Observer may give his Cloake to his Neighbour to hold but he is the very owner and Possessor of Soveraignty to him and to his Heires and this not by the antecedent trust nor by the guift of the People but by the goodnesse of God It would be known what presumptions the Observer had that the sword should be drawn upon him except he that hath given his Superiour a boxe on the eare may lawfully disarm him when he hath done for fear least being provoked he should strike again The Observer intimates no lesse Whether is more probable at this time that the King is incensed against the Parliament or the Parliament against the King That very Argument which he useth here is sufficient to convince himselfe What is the thing deteined The Magazine To whom doth the right of Armour belong To the King alone and not to the Parliament witnesse a Parliament it selfe 7. Edvardi primi much lesse to the Observer or Sir Iohn Hothâ—…m Uzza was smitten dead for presuming but to take hold of the Arke of God God will rather have the Arke of the Church or Commonwealth to shake and totter under his own immediate protection then to have such men presume to lay hold on it who have no calling from him There is onely one saving circumstance left behind Heare it The Kings interest in Hull is not such an in terest as in other movables neither is the Kings inteâ—…est taken away the same things are reserved for him in better
hands and if it were the same yet the State hath an interest Paramount in cases of publicke extremity The State hath an interest Paramount what State have we any State in England without the King the Observer is still in his old dreames Well what is the interest of this imaginary State an imaginary interest An interest Paramount in cases of extremity What a mixture of pleas is here extremity is the plea of private Persons In case of extremity where a Man can not have recourse to the Magistrate every Man becomes a Magistate to himselfe an Interest Paramount is the right of Superiour Lords But first here was no such extremity if there had still his plea is starke naught necessity doth arme a private Man against a Thiefe but not authorize a private Man to disarme a lawfull Magistrate His other plea of an interest Paramount is well worse If the People to comply with his own sense have an interest Paramount in whatsoever the King holds either jure Coronae or jure Personae then they are the Soveraigne and he but a Subject But it was reserved for him in better hands Reserved for the King how doe you meane as Tophet is said to be prepared for the King that is to shoot at the King at Edgehill or elswhere otherwise I do not see how it was reserved for the King This plea or the like might serve a highway Robber or any Oppressor to say it is taken into more needfull hands or into their hands that knew better how to use it or that it was but borrowed and should be repayed at the Greek Calends None so fit to judge in what hands a thing should be kept as the true owner of it But the Kings right is not the same in Hull that it is in other moveables True he hath not the same right of property or possession to sell it or give it but he hath a right of Dominion and Soveraignty protection which is altogether inconsistent with his exclusion or shutting out of Hull If he be held out of it by force he is a King de jure but not de facto even as he is King of France or at least of Normandy Aquitaine c. or as the King of the Romans is King of Rome The King hath another interest in Hull beside that of Dominion other Townes are indebted to the King for their Protection but this Town for its very Foundation The Crown purchased it when it was capable of nothing but heards of Cattell and flocks of sheepe The Crown builded it the Crown indowed it with Privileges Possessions made it a distinct County and able to support such a Dignity the Crown fortified it and made it so strong as it is and was all this done with an intent to be thrust out of it O that Edward the third who builded it or Henry the eight who fortified it with Blockhouses were but in it for a day or two with a Regiment of their old Cavaleers to try who should be King of Hull and Humber The proper name of it is not Hull but Kingston upon Hull The Observer doth well to decline the right name for according to his notions it may be called Kingston per Antiphrasin because it is none of the Kings Town If the circumstances will not justify the action the Observer flyes to the Common Sanctuary of Transgressours a good intention so he goes on The next thing considerable is the Parliaments intention If the Parliament have hereupon turned any of the Townes Men out of their estates or claimed any interest in it themselves or have 〈◊〉 the King utterly denying his right for the future or have made any other use of their possession but meerly to prevent Civill War and to disfurnish the Kings Souldiers of Arms and Ammunition Let the State be branded with Treason but if none of these things be by any credit though their Enemies should be Iudges the essentiall property of Treason must needs here be absent in this Act. There needs no Enemies to be made Judges if it were before a Court of Areopagites this plea would be laughed at or hissed out of Court How shall we judge of Mens intentions best by their words or by their actions Who ever Proclaimed in the Streets that he had rotten Wares to sell Who ever confessed that his meaning was naught Mens intentions may be pleaded at the Barre of Conscience before God for mitigation not at the Barre of Justice before Man for Justification Neiâ—…s it likely that Sir Iohn and his Partners had all the same Intentions their Actions speak their Intentions sufficiently And admitting their Intentions were good yet that cannot justifie an unlawfull Action They shall put you out of the Synagogues yea whosoever killeth you will think he doth God service Those Persecuters had good Intentions but their Actions were starke naught You saâ—… they claimed no Interest yet your selfe claime an Interest Paramount for them You say they disseised not the King because they denyed not His Right for the future as if there might noâ—… be a disseisure without such a deniall You say they made no other use of the possession The Inhabitants say they mâ—…de oâ—…her use of their Houses and dwelt in them They made other use of their Victuals and payd not for them The Merchants say they made other uses of their Wines Spices and Wares and sold them and tooke Money for them The Countrymen say they made other use of themselves and their Servants and their Goods and disposed them as freely as if they had been their own The whole Country complains That Hull hath been used as a Nest and Refuge for seditious Persons A Seminary of Warre to the great dammage of the Subject thereabouts besides all the blood that hath been spilt upon that occasion Whom shall a Man trust the Townesmen or the Observer But you say They turned none of the Townesmen out of their Estates Perhaps not so soon as you Writ Either there are Lyars or some Mens eyes were more upon Yorkminster and Cawood-Castle then upon Hull or any Houses in Hull But since that Faction hath turned out whomsoever they either disliked or suspected and have seised Mens Estates at their pleasure and sent out their Emissary Legions roming and Plundring about the Country as if Sathan were sent out from the face of the Lord to scourge the World Trojan or Tyrian Papist or Protestant all was fish that came to their Netts And if there can be no forgivenesse of sinne without restitution some of them have a great account to make either in this World or in the World to come He tells us this was the onely means to prevent Civill Warre and to disfurnish the Kings seducers of Arms and Ammunition But the truth is this hath been the onely Source and Fountain from whence all our Civill Warres have sprung Whether the King or Kingdome have been seduced and by whom the God of Heaven will
discover I would every Englishman had it ingraven in his forehead how he stands affected to the Commonwealth We Beetles did see no signes of civill Warre but all of Peace and Tranquillity but the Observer and his Confederates being privy to their own plots to introduce by the sword a new form of Government both into State and Church might easily foresee that they should stand in need of all the strength both in Hull and Hell and Hallifax to second them whereof yet all true Englishmen do acquit the Parliament in their hearts desires though the Observer be still at his old ward shuffling Sir Iohn Hotham out and the Parliament in so changing the state of the question But what weight that consideration hath follows in his next and last Allegation Sir John Hotham is to be looked on as the Actor the Parliament as the Author in holding Hull And therefore it is much wondred at that the King seems more violent against the Actor then the Author but through the Actor the Author must needs be pierced c. And if the Parliament be not virtually the whole Kingdome it selfe If it be not the Supreme Iudicature as well in matters of State is matters of Law If it be not the great Councell of the Kingdome as well as of the King to whom it belongeth by the consent of all Nations to provide in extraordinary cases Ne quid detrimenti capiat Respublica Let the brand of Treason stick upon it Nay if the Parliament would have used this forcible means unlesse petitioning would not have prevailed or if the grounds of their Iealousie were meerly vain or if the Iealousie of a whole Kingdome can be counted vain Let the reward of Treason be their guierdon Hitherto the Observer like the wily Fox hath used all his sleights to frustrate the pursuit of the Hounds but seeing all his fetches prove in vain he now begins to act the Catte and flyes to his one great helpe to leape up into a Tree that is the Authority of Parliament ut lapsu graviore ruat that he may catch a greater fall By the way the Observer forgets how the King is pierced through the sides of Malignant Counsellers Three things are principally here considerâ—…ble First whether Sir Iohn Hotham had any such Command or Commission from the Parliament Secondly if he had whether he ought to have produced it Thirdly supposing he both had it and produced it whether it be valid against His Majesty or whether an illegall Command do justifie a Rebellious Act. To the first of these I take it for granted That a Commission or an Ordinance for Sir Iohn to be a meer Governour of Hull doth not extend to the Exclusion of His Majesty ouâ—… of Hull nor Warrant Sir John to shut the Gares against His Soveraign if it did every Governour might do the same and subordinate Command might trample upon Supreme Neither can a posteriour approbation warrant a precedent excesse for this is not to authorise but to pardon the sole power whereof is acknowledged to be in His Majesty without any sharers To the first question therefore the answer is Sir John Hotham had no such Warrant or Commission from the Parliament He himselfe confessed That he had no positive or particular Order How should he know of His Majesties comming by instinct or a Propheticall Spirit A negative can not ought not to be proved the proofe rests whollyon Sir Johns side and can be no other then by producing the Ordinance it selfe or his instrument whereby he can receive the sense of the House from Westminster to Hull in an instant If he have not a precedent Ordinance to shew it is in vain to pretend the Authority of Parliament To the second question Admitting but not granting that he had such an Ordinance whether could it be availeable to him being not produced when it was called for and demanded so often by His Majesty De non apparentibus non existentibus eadem est ratio Whether there was no such Ordinance or no such Ordinance did appeare is all one both in Law and reason He that can reade and will not make use of his Clergy suffers justly He that hath a Warrant and will not produce it may cry Nemo laeditur nisi a seipso No Man is hurt but by himselfe A known Officer so long as he keeps himselfe within the sphere of his own activity is a Warrant of himselfe But he that it imployed extraordinarily or transcends the bounds of Common Power must produce his Authority or take what falls Sir John hath not yet gained so much credit that his ipse dixit his word should be a sufficient proofe or his Testimony in his own case taken for an Oracle Thirdly admitting that Sir John had such an Ordinance and likewise that he did produce it for if we admit neither he can prove neither yet the question is how valid this Ordinance may be as to this act I doubt not at all of the Power of Parliament that is a compleat Parliament where the King and both Houses doe concurre but an ordinance without the King against the King alters the case this may have the Authority of both Houses perhaps but not of a complete Parliament Secondly the Power of both Houses is great especially of the Lords as they are the Kings Great Councell and in that relation are the Supreme Judicature of the Kingdome but before the Observer said it I never thought the Commons did challenge any share of this Judicature except over their own Members or preparatory to the Lords or that they had power to administer an Oath which the Apostle saith is the end of all strife who ever knew any Judicature without power to give an Oath This makes the Observers new devise of the people meeting in their underived Majesty to doe justice a transparent fiction It is not the Commons but the Lords or the Kings Councell that challenge Supreme Judicature But take both Houses with that latitude of Power which they have either joyntly or severally yet His Majesty saith they have no power over the Militia of the Kingdome or over his Forts or Magazines he avoucheth for it the Common Law Statute Law Presidents Prescriptions we have not yet heard them answered nor so much as one instance since the beginning of this Monarchy given for a president of such an Ordinance or of any new Ordinance binding to the Kingdom without his Majestyes concurrence in Person or by Commission If the Observer have any Law or President or Case he may do well to produce it if he have none he may sit down hold his peace his remote inconsequent consequences drawn from the Law of Nature are neither true nor pertinent Yet I never heard that Sir Iohn did allege any authority from the House of the Lords but from the House of Commons onely This brings the Parliament still into a straiter roome as if it were totum homogeneum every part to