Earls and Barons without the scum of the Vulgar Patri Doctor 't is most true that upon the first view that remnant which so lately sate at Westminster in most mens understanding seemed to be no other then an usurped power and these back't by the Souldier but when we come to the Examination of their mutilation and how their number came to be diminished you will be of another minde for as the Author of the Kings Life and Raign exactly lays it down and resolves this doubt and tells you by whom it was first lamed and disordered this we all know that it was at first legally summoned by the Kings Writ with Lords Bishops and Commons which by your favour are not the scum of the people but as good Gentlemen as any of the Lords but as afterwards it fell out by the Kings practises and artifices it was first lessned in both Houses near to a moity to make up his Mungril Parliament at Oxford and yet the King himself and that Conventicle both calls them and acknowledges these at Westminster to be a Parliament though much against his will The late reliâ—k of the old Parliament though lamed and lessened by the late King and 't is a plain case that since the exclusion of another party by the Souldier that remainder or relick was still the Parliament and stood upon the same feet as 't was first summoned 3 Nov. 1640. with their full number and that piece of a Parliament left as you call them acted by the same power so that you must always take Powers in their present being not as they have been when inforc't from their old presidents and usages which I finde not to have been always one and of the same form but varied in all Ages according to the Revolutions of times and accidents for without all question that Magnum Consilium or Commune Consilium as Caesar calls it of the old Britons was not altogether Caesa Com. lib. 5. of the self-same form with the Witenagomots of the Saxons neither those with the Parliaments as they were after called on the coming in of the Normans and since the Conquest we finde them very much to vary Parliaments throughout all Ages not one the same in form though in substance neither is there any Record extant that shews the time when the late form with King Lords Spiritual and Temporal with the Commons had its institution but doubless 't is both a new and false assertion that the Commons had not their free voyce from the first foundation of Parliaments to this present as it evindently appears by the citations within mentioned which are authentick and incontradictable as for instance Quarto conquestoris Rex fecit summonâ—ri per universos consulatus Anglos nobiles sapientes sua lege eruditos ut eorum jura consuetudines ab ipsis audiret the fourth year of William the Conqueror the King caused to be summoned out of every Country of England all the Nobility the wise men and all such as were Learned in the Laws to the end that he might hear and understand what their Laws and customs were Hoved lib. de Litchfield Moreover Hen. 1. apud fontem Clericorum fecit summoneri omnes Arch-Epis Episcopos Abbates omnes nobiles Angliae sapientes omnes incolas Regni The King caused a summons go Clerkenwel of all the Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots all the Nobles Wise men and all the Inhabitants or as I conceive by Incolas the chief dwellers in the Kingdom which seems to be a multitudinous Aslembly Math. Paris Edm. de Loud Again Hov. 2. decimo Reg. praesentibus Arch-Epis Episcopis Abbattibus Prio. Comitibus proceribus Regni Math Paris But Hoveden Fitz-Steven make mention of Clerus Populus the Clergy and People to be then assembled the tenth of Henry the Second being present the Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls and Barons together with the Clergy and people Paris calls this Assembly Generale Consilium a General Councel Now amongst many other presidents I shall only instance in one or two more viz. Sexto Ioban at Oxford Communi consensu Arch-Epis Episcoporum Comitum Baronum omnium fidelium nostrorum Angliae by the common consent of Arch-bishops Bishops Earls Barons all our faithful men of England Parl. Rot. pat 5. there are some presidents which only mention Barones liberos bomines totius Regni onely the Barons and all the free-men of the Realm tempore Henrici 3. and another of this reign and before the Grant of the great Charter hath it Convocatum est Londoniis praesidente Arch-Epis cum toto Clero tota Sect a Laicalâ— An Assembly at London the Arch-bishops being President with all their Clergy and all the Laicks without any mention of Earls Barons or Bishops Auth. Eulog which seems to be a strange kinde of Parliament so that in an hundred more of Presidents which may be instanced it will manifestly appear that our antient Parliaments though they are acknowledged for a National meeting made and un-made Laws according to the vicissitude of times yet were they not always of one constant and set form though tending to no other and the self-same end salus populi the safety and conservation of the people by their Enacting such Laws as then were thought fit to be established for the common welfare of the Nation to which all our Laws and Statutes in the same words have special reference though 't is confest in ancient times often varied in the form but never from the end And 't is very observable that neither the ancient summons to our Parliaments were always of one stamp but varied in Neither that the summons to our Parliaments are of one and the self same form most our Kings Raigns sure we are that last of the kings was much different from those of old which evermore had in them inserted viz. ad tractandum consulendum ordinandum cum nobis c. the principle Gerund Ordinandum being purposely omitted least it might intimate a greater power in the Commons to act by then the King was willing they should have just in the same manner as the Archbishop curtald the most material clause of the Kings Coronation Oath that so he might assume to himself a greater power then of right belonged unto him but this is a subject which to dispute to the full would take up more time then we can at present well spare onely in a word that the Commons sate not in our ancient Parliaments and that now they onely sit there where the King and Lords sate alone without them Truly Doctor I retract not from that which I have often said viz. that these late times have produced such Monsters of men such Traytors and shameless Vipers that have endevoured to blot out of memory those ancient Rights and Liberties which the Natives have for so many hundred years enjoyed and to devour the mother that bare them most
â—or acknowledgement that any fault was in himself until he was a Prisoner but evermore laid all the blame on the Parliament 6. That in this long persistance he had wearied and beggered all his friends and assistants at home and abroad to the desolation of three flourishing Kingdoms by the continuation of his Hostility to the destruction of a million of poor Innocent souls without any remorse of so much blood spilt more then of one man his wicked * Straford Instrument 7. That when he protested most and to the height of imprecation the Parliament at last found by the Testimony of his own Letters under his hand-writing that he meant nothing less and more contrary then to his usual Protestations 8. That neither all the Honors Mannors and Lands of the Crown or his own blood without true repentance could be a sufficient expiation to God or recompence to his subjects for the infinite bloodshed rapines and dilapidatins made on the Natives of three Kingdoms 9. That such was his insensibility of bloodshed that the many Lords Gentlemen and infinite others of inferiour quality slaughtetered in his bloody quarrel he made no other reckoning of them then this viz. that they suffered no more then of duty they were bound to do for their King which he avouched on the death of the Earl of Northampton 10. That those unjust pretences which he made under the notion of his Royal Prerogatives viz. the Militia power of War Peace Leagues Treaties Array of the people his negative Voyce in all Parliaments pardoning of Murderers and Fellons condemned by the Laws of the Land were all at his only disposure whereas by the known Laws of the Realm they have been onely entrusted and conferr'd on our Kings by the indulgence of the people in their Representatives as hereafter shall manifestly appear 11. That all his Treaties with the Parliament for peace were persidious and his Propositions evermore umbrated under â—pecious pretexts subtilties subtersuges and mental reservations as 't was evident in that at Colebrook and Vxbridge and more apparent by his own Letters to the Duke of * Vide The Kings Letters to the Duke of Rich. mond with others to the Queen Richmond viz. Not to forget to cajole well the Scots and by that at Oxford by Registring in the Councel-books his calling them a Parliament with mental reservations though not ex animo so acknowledged yet summoned by his own Writs and often so esteemed and call'd by himself and acknowledged to be a legal Parliament by his own mungril Conventicle at Oxford 12 That in all his Declarations and Expresses to the Parliament he evermore seemed to have a tender regard both towards them and the people when he onely intended his own interests with the advance of the Soveraignty to absoluteness by the power of the sword and to convey his designs to his Successors as in the instance of the * Vide One of the Kings Expresses where he yeelds the Militia during his own life but not sor his Sons Militia is most perspicuous when he perceived that the Parliament would no longer trust so dangerous weapons in his hands 13. That some of his best friends suspected him to be too much vers't in the Florentine Principles as indoctrinated by a French and Italian party constantly resident in his own Court and stickled on by the inâ—usions of the Queen-Mother the Daughter both which had gained a great interest had chiefest influence on his Concels and as'tis well known was wholy governed as the Queen lifted and at last his inclinations so strictly tyed up as that they were not subject to any other alteration then as she prescribed which was a Rule to whatsoever he undretook 14. That he was not wanting to himself for promoting of his arbitrary designs to make use of Machiavels principle Divide impera evermore to sow divisions and to cherish any dissention arising between the Parliament and their friends thereby to ruine them by themselves Thus Gentlemen according to your desires I have given you an accompt of those Reasons which have been given me wherefore the Parliament enterprized on the change of the Government by cutting off the King and his Posterity the premises being so true and undenyable that they satisfied me and prevailed so sar on my belief that I conceive the Parliament could not otherwise possibly have secured the Nation from farther ruine as also that their resolutions therein were directed by the special hand of God considered together with the and great constant charge incident to Monarchy the often pressures and oppressions of the subject through the Tyranny ambition and prodigalitie of most of our Kings the two last having beggered and impoverished them most of all others on which considerations the Parliament in reason of State and as the state of the controyersie then was between them and the King they found it much better to quit themselves and the people of Regal Government and to change it into a Republick as a more safe and cheaper Government rather then any longer to hazard the common liberty on the Rule of any one Prince whatsoever especially not to trust those of the Sotch Nation all our Histories and the Parliaments sad experience having taught them that of late years the Soveraignty by the ambition and artifices of both the late Kings was strain'd and tentered up to so high a pitch that it would not stoop to a lower power then that of absolutenes Now more particularly to answer your Querie as concerning the King of Scots the two Dukes with the rest of the late Kings loyns it seems likewise that the Parliament knowing them to be the Sons of that father who had more wasted the Land then all of the Norman Race before him they had small hopes left them that any of the same line would be much better being tutor'd afore-hand by the Father and at present residing in a French Academy which if admitted to the Government in all likelyhood would be no other then the cause of more blood more charge trouble misery and sorrow to the people very few of our Kings having given the Nation any great cause to be over-much enamoured with their Governments but most of the best much repentance through their Tyrannies and oppressions Prel Sir I profess you have given me fuller satisfaction then I could expect and I believe that you have taken the right measure of the Parliaments foot with the true reasons wherefore they have not onely cut off the Father but excluded all his Discendants onely in the point of their changing the kingly Government into a Republick as more secure and cheaper for the Nation this is a riddle to me for lamentable experience enforms us that all the oppressions and grievances of the people by all or most of our Kings and those so much upbraided and caft in the face of the late King I dare affirm amounts not to the fisth part of the charge and
Parliament observed at the Earls tryal that the Laws were the boundaries and measures betwixt the Kings Prerogative and the peoples Liberty But whether the king throughout the whole course of the late destructive War and â—ome years before was not a prompt disciple in the Deputies doctrine I leave to Royalists to make their own judgement And whether that which after befell the king and his Fathers house was not rather of the justice of heaven then of men I leave to the judgement of all the world Sure we are the best Jurists maintain Si Rex hostili animo arma contra populum gesserit amittet Regnum which is that if a King with an hostile intent shall raise Arms against his people he loseth or forfeits his kingdom Now that the late king assumed to himself such a Royal power as to raise Arms against the great Councel of the Land I suppose no man in his right wits can deny Its most true a moderate Royal power to rule by the Laws is doubtless of Gods Ordinance but a Tyrannical power to cut their throats I am sure is of no Divine Institution and a Dominion fitter for beasts then men yet this is that power which Royalists would have fastned on the king and too many there are which constantly believe that the more injury was done him that he had it not as by the Laws of the Land they erroneously conceive he ought to have had The Power of the Militia how the Kings BRiefly now to the Militia and what kinde of power our kings by the Laws of England have had therein It hath been often told the late king all along the late Controversie that the power of the Militia was in him no other then fiduciary and not at his absolute dispose or that at his own will and pleasure he might pervert the Arms and strength of the kingdom from their proper use and against the intent of the Law as ' its visibly known he did even to the highest breach of trust wherein a king could be intrusted Now for proof that this power was onely fiduciary and by Statute Law first confer'd on * Anno 7. Edw. 1. apud Westminster Edw. 1. in trust and not his by the Common Law is most apparent by the Express words of the Statute it self which as they are commonly inserted were onely for the the defence of the Land and safety of the people salus populi being that grand Law and end of all Laws now such as are verst in our Historie know that this Prince was one of the most magnanimous kings that ever swayd the English Scepter and therefore it cannot be imaginable that he would clip his own power and so great a right belonging to him by the Common Law in accepting a less by Statute Law to his own loss of power or that ever he would have assented thereunto by an after Act of his own as follows in haec verba viz. Whereas on sundry complaints made to us by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament that divers of the standing Bands have been removed and taken out of their respective Counties by vertue of our Commissions and sent to us out of their Shires into Scotland Gascoyn and Gwoyn and other parts beyond the Seas contrary to the Laws of the Land c. Our Soveraign Lord willeth that it shall be done so no more Agreeable to this we finde Anno 1. Edw. 3d. viz. The King willeth that no man henceforth be charged to arm otherwise then he was wont in time of our Progenitors the Kings of England and that no man be compell'd to go out of his Shire but where necessity requireth and the sudden coming in of strange Enemies into the Realm And in the same kings time there being a peace concluded between him and the French king wherein the Duke of Britain was included whom the French king shortly thereupon invaded whereof complaint was made to king Edward he instantly summons a Parliament and there moves the Lords and Commons both for their advice and assistance whereupon it was concluded that the king should be expeditiously supply'd in ayd of the Britton but the Act was made with such provisoes and restrictions as Royallists happily and others of late years would have deemed them too dishonourable and unbefitting the late kings acceptance howsoever this Act shews that the ordering of the Militia of those times was not solely left to the kings disposure but that which is of more note was that both the Treasure then granted was committed to certain persons in trust to be issued to the onely use for which it was given as also that no Treaty or any new peace or agreement with the French King should be made without the consent and privity of the Parliament By these instances all Royalists may make a clear judgement that the Militia of those times and the power of the Arms of the Kingdom were never so absolutely conferr'd on our kings as that their power therein extended to such a latitude as they might use them as they pleased and to turn that power provided for the onely defence of the people against themselves and therefore wheresover we finde the Militia by other Statutes conferr'd and yeelded to the disposal of our kings without any particular mention of the word trust which is necessarily imply'd or exprest in most of the Statutes or their preambles viz. * Note that these words viz. for the defence of the Realm or common profit are afore inserted â—ither in the Stat. themselves or in their preamb. In these wotds For the honour of God the Church common profit of the Realm or defence of our people No man in common reason can conceive the Militia to be such an inseparable flower of the Crown as if it had been brought into the world with the King and chain'd unto him as his birth-right but onely as a permissive power recommended unto him by the people in their Representatives as the most eminent and illustrious person to be intrusted with such choyce weapons in trust and confidence that he will use them no otherwise then to the end for which-they were concredited unto him as the Soveraign of the people and for their onely safety and defence which trusted him in honour of his person and place Many other Statutes there are though some of them repealed which prove the Militia is onely fiduciary and not absolutely inherent to the Crowns of our Kings Now for our conclusion of this senceless illegal Prerogative as to the absolute power thereof let us in a word take notice of the destructive consequence admitting this power should be left to the Kings absolute disposure it then follows that he may take all that the Subject hath for he that hath the power of the sword on the same ground may command the purse which the late King not onely intended but practised witness the many great sums of money plate jewels and other moveables whatsoever
us reason this case amongst our selves in moderation and with patience and let the first Quere be whether the States Government as 't is now setled or shortly may be with our present Contributions for payment of their Armies wil not be more safe and easie for the people then the Scotch Pretenders coming in by force of Arms to assume the Kingly Government Since by a peaceable and conditional way I suppose he will never be admitted So that Doctor without all question he hath no choice left him but that of the sword and then judge you of the issue and into what a lamentable condition the poor Natives will necessarily be reduced when the right of the crown comes again to be disputed on English ground the king as you would have him being personally present And after this Quere Let us compute the hopes helps strengths and assistances whereon both parties may depâ—nd for support of each others cause For one battel either by Sea or Land happily will not determine the controversie as t was conceived by some that one battel as that at Edghill in the begining of the late wars would decide the business which proved to be like the pullulation of the Monster Hidra's head which begot others in infinitum and when the late King was in person in the head of his Aâ—my Of the hopes assistances and Forces which the Scotch King may have to recover the Kingly Government compared with the strengths the States have to maintain the present Government argued on all hands I say then Let us make an â—stimate of the forces and assistances of each party which on a due examination and on consideration of that which must necessarily follow when at once as we may conjecture two four or happily six several Armies may be in the field will be so far from easing or dâ—sburchening of the people that what by free Quartering and inforcing of contributions by one or the other party that the Natives will curse the time that ever your King came amongst them Now Gentlemen do one of you tell me what Forces and Assistances as you conceive the King may have or presume upon for I believe he will come short of his expectation in receiving any considerable Assistance either from the Scotch or Irish and then I will tell you that which all men and your selves do know to be most true what the States here have and may have as well in their present power by Sea and Land as by their Politique managery in fastning friends unto them whereby to make good the present establishment Colonel You being a Souldier and not unlikely having better Intelligence from abroad then any of us what preparations the Scots King hath in forraign parts what friends at home and elsewhere begin you if you please and I will rejoyn Thraso With all my heart In the first place I 'le assure you that since the death of the late King my Royal Master his Majesty that now is whom the States here would exclude hath ten friends for one more then he had before thoughout the three Kingdoms so much your States have gotten by the bargains in Martyring their King neither ought you to believe but that the King hath both in Scotland and Ireland a very considerable party that will joyn with him as soon as he arrives and not a few even in the City of London which expect a good time though they lie still and quiet however the King hath their hearts and will have their hands on all fitting occasions Besides He hath at his devotion all the Catholikes and most of the Clergy of England with all the Lords so lately and Injuriously thrust out of their house together with the better part of the Members of the Commons house pulâ—ed out by the ears by the Independent Souldery all which refused to take the Engagement and when time serves will appear in Arms for him besides all the The Scotch Pretenders hopes in assistance for recovery of the Crown summed up old Royal party Banished the Realm for their fidelity to their old Master Thus much for the ayds and assistances his Majesty may relie on from his own Subjects And as to his forraign assistance you may rest assured that all the Princes through Christendom when the time serves will engage for him since it stands them upon so to do Neither may you doubt but that all the Princes his neer Kinsmen and Allyes will furnish him plentifully with all sorts of Ammunition and the Hollanders with shipping so soon as they have mastered the Seas and made all things ready for an Invasion for believe it as an evident truth that in the present quarrel by Sea between them and this State the Kings Interest is involved and will be pursued notwithstanding their late brush which they reckon not of neither of a few inconsiderable Ships they having enough of others to recrute in a trice so that you may evidently see that as soon as time serves the King cannot want men and for mony good Swords and Pistols will fetch it in with a vengeance Whence you may discern what an unwildy task the late piece of a Parliament and these new sprang-up States have undertaken and what will necessarily befall them through their own divisions when the King appears in power as of that you may be sure he will sooner then you think on then you shall see a world of the Parliaments friends to fall from them for their own sakes will fight for him and probable it is that a good number of the States Souldiers now in their pay on his Majesties landing with another manner of equipage then all of you are aware of will run from them to him with all their hearts as their indubitable Lord Soveraign Partri Colonel you have indeed succinctly summ'd up what Forces as you surmise the King may have and expect both at home and from abroad wherein you are very much mistaken and do reckon without your host you speak rather what you would have then in reason what the King can have still discovering your malignant heart and flattering your self as most of your party use to do with vain and imaginary hopes not considering how the late King notwithstanding all his wyles and attifices fail'd in all his designs and practises and at last brought him self and his friends to utter ruine to the great detriment and desolation of three Kingdoms still soothing up himself with the goodness of his cause which was as bad as bad might be to the last gaspe neither take you the least notice of Gods providence in the disposure of this wonderful work and change of Affairs neither the continued series of the many mitaculous Victories which it hath pleased God to give to the States Armies wherein the very hand of the Almighty is most perspicuous to all good men but to you and your complices hidden and unseen even to obduracy and hardning of your hearts The
heathen Poet methinks should teach you Quos uâ—lt perderâ— Jupiter dementat whom God intends to destroy he blinds and hardens them as he did Pharoah But Colonel I bâ—seech you on your better consideration tell me what assistance can the Princes the Kings kindred afford him were they able and willing to ayd him and in what Region are they and The States power and strengths at present in what Climate we are we not both severed by the vast Ocean I shall tell you a story and of one of the greatest Princes Christian of his time even the Emperour Charls the Fifth who on a defiance sent him by Henry the Eighth made this Answer to the Herald Tell my Vncle from me he talks big and like the Fox in hâ—â— burrow when he knows himself in safety so your Master environed with the Sea but were he on the Continent happily then he might be talkt withal on better terms then he sends â—e You may gueâ—s at the application What hurt I pray can the Kings of France Spain Portugal Denmark Sweden with other the Princes of Germany do to this State in humane judgement as 't is an Island environed with the vast Ocean provided with all Instruments and Abiliments of War both by Sea Landâ— could their own domestick wars jealousies and differences give them leave to attempt against this State Which without doubt is backed by the power of Heaven had you the grace to see it therewith to call to mind in what strength the late King was but 1645 and of how many strong Garrisons posseft and what Armies almost in every County of the Land how many of the Nobility prime Gentry in every Province at his devotion how powerful in Scotland and Ireland and yet within 15 Moneths beaten in all places his many Garrisons and himâ—elf taken Look upon the attempts of his Son whom all of you so much adore and desire that he would pursue his obstinate Fathers quarrel to the further destruction of the Natives look upon the Scots beaten under Hambleton with the whole Nation by the now Lord General Cromwel and Ireland likewise reduced by him and the King himsef with his powerful Army beaten to flitters at Worcester the Hollanders at Sea and yet all of you of the Royal Party still flatter your selves with vain hopes by reembroyling the Nation in a new War which can be to no other effect but to the ruine of your selves in kicking against the pricks and the immediate hand of the Almighty Now Colonel I shall tell you particularly what the States Forces are at present and what a posture of defence and offence they are in and will be on any Invasion from abroad or rising at home First they are possest of all the Forts Ports Castles and Ammunion of the Land together with a very great Naval Force and as occasion requires more they may and will have the whole revenue of the Nation being at their command Moreover they have a very great veteran and Victorious Army ready disciplin'd on all occasions under their pay and maintain'd at the Natives charge all the Commanders and Souldiers inured to the Wars and as I may say of one Corporation and fraternity such as knows each others minds and what they are to do on all Invasions and home-bred disturbances and this is obvious to all men and known to your selves when as all those numbers you speak of to be here for the King hand and heart yet is it evident they will never be able to imbody to any purpose but will be cut all in pieces whensoever they attempt it and that by the States horse dispersed throughout the Land Again You must of necessity admit that the Scotch King can never make his preparations so silent but that such is the vigilance of the States wheresoever his rendezvouz shall be but that they will have particular intelligence thereof and will be ready with a powerful Fleet to impead the transport of any considerable Army so soon as it puts out to Sea and to fight or sink them before ever they shall set one foot on English ground and suppose his Naval Forces be never so great without all question the States Flect here will be every way equivalent so that on a right judgment to be made the Scotch King hath a far more difficult task in hand being to invade by Of the difficulty that the Scotch King bath to invade by Sea Sea then any of us can imagine Besides you may remember what numbers of the Gentry and Yeomandry of the Land are tied and fixed to the States and most of the Commanders and Troopers which have bought much of the Kings and Bishops Lands are all bound to fight as well for the Venders interest as their own so that you may be sure they will rather stand to the work for their own sakes then run to the King to their own undoing now besides all this already recited I pray take into consideration the terror which the late sequestrations have imprest on all Delinquents and adherents to the late King with the present poverty and dejection of all that party which both disables and disheartens them to arm in the behalf of a King that eats no other bread then that of Alms-deed T is true there is a numerous party in the Land both of close and open Malignants some whereof answerable to their old humour will talk big and at large in the Kings behalf but to fight afresh for him they will be very cautious especially those which have any thing left them to lose and when they very well know how many Watches and Sentinels attend their motious thâ—oughout all corners of the Land Prelat It s most true that the King hath a very difficult task in hand for the recovery of his rights oeing to inwade by Sea if we reason ad captum humanum according to mans understanding but 't is far otherwise when we come to consider what God will do who never forsakes the righteous cause but in his own good time never fails to remember and help the afflicted when they least think on 't and when he that knows his own time will confound the wicked and such as most impiously have intruded on the Regal Rights with the administration of justice to the people which with what equity they measure out unto them your own knowledge and the clamours of many an honest man can best restifie Now as to your late instance in the Hollanders revolt and with what success they encountred so powerful an Adversary as the King of Spain worsted him and established their Aristocratical Government and in humane reason have so fortified it that they seem impregnable between this case and the late Kings there is a great difference for as your self hath observed the grounds and reasons of their revolt first sprang from the impetuous demeanor and Tyranny of Don Alvas de Toledo who as Lipsius reports in that short time of his
Vice-Roy-ship put to death and massacred â— not so few as 100000 of the Natives amongst which the Counts Egmont and Horn with others of the Nobility were the chief which withstood his Tyranny and stood up in defence of their immunities which the King of Spain by power would have taken from them which was a just cause given to the people to revolt both for safegard of their lives and priviledges which the four great Dukes of Burgandy suffered them to enjoy so that on a right understanding of the Hollanders case which was just and but reason that when they could not obtain right from the King upon their many Petitions and complaints of the Tyranny of his Ministers they could do no less then endeavor the preservation of their lives and fortunes And therefore under the conduct of the Prince of Orange they seized on divers of the strongest Towns and the people unanimously fell in with the Prince and ever since manfully and fortunately have defended themselves But in the late defection of the English with the Parliaments raising of Armies against their Soveraign Lord there is no manner of similitude with that of Holland or any such cause given or ground of the peoples defection since I presume you will confess that not so much as one guiltless man during all the late Kings raign hath been put to death unless you object and instance in those which by the fatality of the late War befel both parties which you know to be no other then fortuna de la guâ—ra not the Kings Tyranny or the least desire of his that a drop of innocent blood should have been spilt and that which was was in his own necessitated defence But I pray take the case as now it stands between the present King and your States then you may soon see the difference for in confirmation of the Collonels assertion I dare affirm the King hath ten friends for one to those on whom the States may rely as firm and fixed to them since his late Majesty was put to death and that major number you may be sure on'â— are all his in body and soul and do utterly detest that his Royal Father and â— himself should be so unjustly cut off and excluded of his birth-right and by whom think you but by an inconsiderable part of the representative the Souldiery and a handful of the people their 's adherents and therefore I say that the King on a right estimate of his party upon the least turn of the wheel will have a surerer and a stronger side then possibly the States here can have Patri Doctor in this your last reply I observe some notable particulars first you approve of the justness of the Hollanders defection yet you say that it parrallels not with this of the States here and change of the Government the reasons you have given for justifying the Hollander I confess are most true self preservation being just and allowable by Gods Law and mans But that now you should defend their cause which none of your said party ever did till of late is somewhat strange unless it be for that as you believe they are secretly engaged in the Scotch Kings Cause and yet you condemn the late Parliament for defending themselves and their liberties against the late Kings Tyranny which you shamefully endevor to excuse and would quit him from all blood-guiltinesâ— To which I answer That had you thought upon your own instance of 100000 of the Natives massacred by the Tyranny of the Spaniard it would have put you in minde of a million of people throughout the three kingdoms slain and murthered by the meer Tyranny Plots and practises of the late King of which you take no notice but after the wonted manner of all Royalists you justisty his innocency so that to the worlds-end you give occasion to the Parliaments party to rip up the faults of the dead and cause them to display all his Falshoods frauds breaches of Oaths and Protestations But as to your assertion That the major number of the people here are for the Scotch Pretender in body and soul is in part granted you yet therein you extremly delude your self for the odds in that major number will little advantage him or his party since the major power lies evidently in the lesser number which are for the States what then will it avail a prince unexperienced to lead a great yet an undisciplin'd Army against a lesser number but well disciplin'd valiant and armed Souldiers though you cannot be ignorant that the States Armies are very strong and numerous in all the three Nations As to your denyall of the similitude and parallel I say on the same reasons that the Hollanders took up The Hollanders case and of the States here alâ—ke parallel arms in defence of their liberties the people here did the same for defence of themselves and their Representative so that the parallel on the actions of both States holds and is alike save only in the â—nanimity and universal promptitude of the Nether Lands in their joyning and uniting of all their Forces with the Princes * Orange retinnâ—e t is most true the parallel in this holds not so fully for I must confess the State of the matter and manner of the revolt of a part of the people from the late King is different remains doubtful what may fall out in the issue in respect that the other major part of the people are conceived still to wish well to his Son the present Pretender and that all the three Nations stand in a kinde of distracted condition in regard that they are divided into parties sides factions fractions fects schisms and opinions which I acknowledge may sooner mar the work of the States now in being then they are aware of But in a word more to the point that the major number of the people are for the Scocth Pretender I say again that that number considered as they are a naked awed and dejected bulk of discontented animals signifies little or nothing compared with that power of which the States here are possest neither in humane reason can we see how or by whom they can be dispossest But let us on all hands suppose that the present Pretender shall land again in England or Scotland as of late he did where you know he was beaten there and at Worcester and forc'â— to flâ—e for his life again suppose he comes in with a nâ—merous Army of French Dutch Lorrainers Germans Sweeds Dants together with all the prescribed Cavaleers and all these united with a good party of Scotch and Irish admit them to be in all 60000 fighting men which will be too great an Army to be transported without a very powerful Navie such numbers you 'l grant cannot stay long there unless they mean to eat one another well then you will say they may instantly march into England as of late they did and not unlikely in two or three several
bodies and in divers ways the more to distract our Armies where you ought to remember that this State hath both in Scotland and the adjacent parts a very considerable force to encounter these Invaders but admit again that the King advances so far as York though you cannot imagine but that he will be fought with twice or thrice over before he comes thither with fresh men and not unlikely rebeaten as at all places he hath been but let us again admit that he sâ—rmounts all difficulties both by Sea and Land and becomes victorious and triumphantly marches towards London and that the States Force cannot withstand him and that on the noise of such sad news the prevailing party as you are pleased to stile them being confoundâ—d with terrour betake themselves to their heels as their ultimum refugium and the best way to shist for themselves and that after this all is left to the Kings absolute disposement as all this not impossible but exceeding improbable what then on such sudden change of fortune think you may be the issnes thereof and what advantage either to your party or the generality of the people and all Countries through which his Armies shall march and Quarter accompaned with so many Nations diveâ—sly affected Prel I confess the people must neâ—essarily suffer and haply in a greater measure then hitherto they have done yet am I confident his Majesty will be very sensible of their sufferings and in prevention of their farther oppression and for settling of all things will immediately call a new Parliament and reduce it to the antient Form and Institution of the three Estates King Lords Spiritual and Temporal with the Commons and then commit all things to a sober legal and Parliamentary discussion and in what manner restitution may be made of his own Lands and goods the Churches Patrimony with the many other loosers of his own party and after all this in detestation of the foulness of the late War and bloodshed to buâ—y all discontents and heart-burnings as Judge Jenkins very jâ—diciously proposes in an Act of Oblivion with free pardon to all except some special persons that had a principal hand in his Fathers death and for all other of his Subjects to spare and cherish them in what possible his affaits will permit Patri Doctor excuse me since I utterly dissent from your opinion for it stands not with reason or with the Kings then present affaires to take a piece of that course which you suppose and should he be willing there would be so many of the old Cavalry attending his person as well Natives as Forraigners which would thrust in to be served and gratified that he should not be suffered to put in practise a title of that which is by you so vainly surmised but you may build upon 't he would take a clean contrary course and such a one as the necessity of his then urgent occasions would inforce and not tie up himself to his own disadvantage by an Act of Oblivion which necessarily must disable him either to help himself or friends when the power is in his hands to do what he pleaseth and carve as he listeth Prel Since you are so diffident of his Majesties good nature and intentions towards his Subjects tell us I beseech you what you conceive he will do for the speedy settling of peace and amity through the three Kingdoms Patri May I obtain your liceâ—ce and a favourable construction of that which I shall deliver I will tender my opinion and leave you all to make your own judgments thereon In the first place I believe that whereas then he comes in by the sword in order to his necessities he would rule by the sword and by an Army with Garrisons throughout the Land as now the States upon the point do and must do if they mean to go through stitch with their work and thenceforth begin a new Government as in like manner the States here intend to do the Laws of the Land which under the present power the people yet enjoy as they were wont to do in quiet and peaceable times would necessarily be subverted and turn'd topsie-turvie and such introduced in their room as should best sute with the will and pleasure of a Prince that comes in by Conquest and by the same power will have them to be no other then agrees with his Affairs and resolutions or as they are in France if not worse and more absolute where a single paper signed under the Kings hand hath the same efficacy as an Act of Parliament in England and in order to this you must expect that his mercenary Souldiers must and would be remembred If you demand in what I answer with the whole plunder of London as the readiest means to give them all content for their service and if this seem strange to you I pray call to minde that in the late Kings time when no occasion of wars or raising of Armies in any reason were necessary to be levied but such as our late Grandees the Earl of Strafford Canterbury and Cottington would have to be raised against the Scots that Earl spake it openly at the Councel-Table 1640 and to no other man then the Lord Mayor Sir Henry Garway and others of the Aldermen upon their refusing to lend the king 100000 l. for the Scotch War It will never do well says he till the King hangs half a dozen of you Aldermen and then put the whole City to ransome Which was proved against him at his Arraignment neither did the king forbear the seizing of the Mint for supply of that needless War so that 't is evident when Princes have power they will make no scruple to act any thing that conduceth to their designs or to take all things where they can finde it as 't is well known he did in the late barbarous War neither will it be impertinent to put you in remembrance of another instance of this kinde when at or before the beginning of the War the king took his journey towards Scotland and overtook the Scotch Army in their march homewards 1641 where he dealt with the principal Commanders to turn head on the Parliament in reward whereof they should have the plunder of London with Jewels for security an overture which some of them were not so dishonest as to conceal but gave notice thereof to the City and their own Commissioners then here residing Now if you farther demand What the present Pretender would do in the pre-supposed case I shall again answer you that in reason of State which with Kings and Conquerors hath an Of the miserable condition that will befal the Nation especially the City of London in case the Scots Pretender comes in by the sword immense latitude he would and could do no less then to take present order for the satisfaction of his Country-men the Scots as also for gratifying the proscribed and fugitive Lords Cavaleers both English Scotch and Irish which first
an implacable hatred do you of the old Cavalry in general bear towards the Citizens that if God aveâ—t it not in all probability the whole City will run the same fortune with Saguntum in Spain Carthage in Africa and Jerusalem in Asia and this fate the Cavaleers themselves have often in my hearing wisht unto it Neut Gentlemen your divinations seem strange to me and they very much trouble my cogitations to hear you talk in such horrid language I hope you believe the King of Scots to be a Christian and not that he will destroy himself which will be as good as done whensoever so great and oppulent a City becomes ruined which is the key of the Kingdom and from whence issues the greatest Revenue and Income the Kings of England have ever received by Customs and Imposts from the Merchants but more especially since he cannot be ignorant that he hath within this City a world of loyal Subjects as I my self for one which never bore arms against his Father nor voluntarily contributed to the Parliament one groat otherwise then needs he must whom the Devil drives therefore I doubt not however the game goes he will remember his friends and distinguish them from his foes Patri Excellently well infer'd Neutralis it seems then you conceive your self safe and sure for that in all the late Wars you have carried your self in a neutral way according to the old adage bene vivit qui bene latuit he fares best that keeps himself close and out of the scuffle But suppose the King after his Victory and march comes to be possest of the City accompanied as that you may believe with four or five several Nations can you imagine that so numerous an Army attending his person will or can Quarter elswhere then in the City and when they are there think you not but that the Souldier will have a minde to the business viz to take A continued description of the lamentable effects that willâ— besal the Nation in the case aforesaid up their pay out of the ransacking of the Citizens and that without any distinction of persons haply you conceive that the King out of his Grace and good will towards his friends will cause a mark or some cross to be set up at their doors whereby to difference his loyal Subjects from those which assisted the Parliament and took up Arms against him and his Father No Neutralis let not such a Chimaera enter in your thoughts when you shall finde your imagined cross to be no other then in so promiscuous a plundring that your self or any others of your mode shall escape scot-free or that whensoever the Souldierie falls to riffling think you any of them will be so nice and mannerly as to forbear any that lies in the way of their fury or that in such a confusion the King himself were he willing can stay them which afore-hand are prompted to enrâ—ch themselves with a booty which lies so readily before them or that the Souldier will be so modest as to omit so fair an opportunity and suffer the Citizens to convey their cash and commoditities out of the way of their needy and greedy clutches Let me I beseech you dispute this case a little farther with you for rest assured that not onely those which had a hand in his Fathers death whom long since he hath doom'd to death and confiscation by his own Dâ—clarations but even all those which assiâ—ted the Parliament or stood neutral will necessarily sall into the number of plundred persons yea all such as at the begining of the War took up Arms and were listed under the Earl of Essex which indeed were the first that broke the Ice and made the way open to the new Model under the Lord Fairfax and the now Lord General Cromwel Do you think that any of those of the first establishment which laid down Arms when the Lord General Essex layd down his Commission divers of which either before or after have been chosen Parliament Members and were known to be bold speakers in the behalf of the late Kings re-admission to the Kingly Government will or can escape If you conceive they will your imagination is vain and reasonless since it stands not with reason of State or the Kings necessities to lose the least grist that otherwise may come to his wanting Mill Moreover you may be sure on 't that in order to all the premised plundrings and confiscations you shall finde all rich men or so accounted will be cal'd to an after reckoning and holes pickt in their coats of what party soever they have been to the end to supply the Kings great debts and urgent necessities for who knows not but that he hath borrowed much and yet wants more then can well be Of the fearful consequences that attend a Conquest imagined and that having the sword in his hand he will and must have money wheresoever it is to be had and then believe it the next bout will be a strict inquisition whom they are or have been which have taken the old Covenant and the new Engagement or have bought any of the Crown-Land or goods of the late Kings the Bishops Delinquents estates and in order to this progress a rigorous inquiry will of couâ—se fall in who they are which the Parliament hath employed as actors and instâ—uments for the promoting of their designs whether in the City or elsewhere in the Country neither may you doubt on'c but that all the Judges Serjeants at Law Officers Clerks of the Crown and Chancery Sheriffs Justices of peace Commissioners Committees with all other inferior Clerks and Officers whom the Parliament have employed throughout the Nation acting by and under their power will by degrees be fetcht over and enforc't to come off with greater Fines then possibly they are able to bear and this in part was put in practise by the late Kings Commissions thoughout all his Quarters and wheresoever his Armies had prevalence when he resided at Oxford and elswhere and enough there will be which will not fail to instruct and inform this King that all the riches of the Land saved from the spoyl of his Father will not be sufficient to make him satisfaction for the infinite losses which the Crown hath sustained since the beginning of the late War and to recompence such as have suffered by taking his part Thraso Signiour Patriotus dam me if all that you have now said be not Oracles and the King ought not or can in honour do less then that which with well measured reason you have declared and in case he doth it not to a hairs breadth I shall take him not to be so wise as he should be for in confirmation of your opinion I le tell you a story and 't is a true one on my life and the reputation of a Souldier that all of us at Oxford concluded * This is a known truth and hath been often aver'd by many residing
the good and benefit of their people and not their Subjects destinated to be governed by their own will and pleasures they should then never stray out of the right Orbe of Government Moreover 't is most true that the Grandchild and present Pretender neither in the beginning of the wars nor since took the right way to gain the love and acceptance of the Parliament and people but in his open purluance of hostility both by Sea and Land incensed them and made himself utterly uncapable of acceptance Prel For Gods love What would you that the poor innocent Prince should have done on the massacre of his Father and when all of his undeniable rights divolved on him were taken from him and no means left him whereby to eat bread otherwise then to beg or borrow it and you know he cannot Camelion-like live by the ayr Patri Doctor 't is of too transcendent a nature for me to direct Princes dispossest or rather forfeiting of their Patrimonies by Tyranny what course to take for their recovery but you cannot forget how unhappily he was set on and engaged in his Fathers quarrel which had he not been but in such a contest born himself in a neutral way or sate still as his cousin the Count Palatine did I cannot disceâ—â— any reason why the Parliament should have excluded him but rather admitted him as the States formerly did Edward the Third after his Fathers deposition but alass he was so much so far interessed in the quarrel both in his Fathers life time and more unhappily since shewed The reasons of the Parliaments excluding the King of Scots and the rest of the Descendants of King James himself the Son of that Father from whom he received all those destructive principles of Tyranny which have utterly undone all those of our English Princes that pursued them as the instances of King John Edward and Richard the Second manifestly demonstrates some of his Commissions issued out in his Fathers life time whilst he was a Prisoner I have heard of which shews him not to be over-indulgent towards Parliaments but to this doubtless an utter Enemy and to speak the truth he took not the right way to win the hearts of the people since 't is evident that he hath granted sundry Commissions to rob and spoyl the Merchants at Sea viz. to his cousin Rupert and his brother Maurice as his Father not long before Commissioned both the said Princes to spoyl and plunder the poor people by Land more may be alleaged which shall rather be concealed then ript up by me onely in a word more to you Colonel and all of your party whom I could wish to look about you and bethink your selves of the sad issues which in such a change as we have presupposed will necessarily befal your selves and posterity happily the King during his own time and to some few of you may carry a favourable respect but that his Successors or himself intend to bestow Charters of Immunities upon you all and intail them on your Heirs-males is a very vain and idle imagination for after a Conquest and not unlikely within a Quarters time of a Century it will of course fall out as it did with Jacobs Posterity upon the decease of Pharoah when his Successor would not so much as look upon or know Joseph but his whole rase and Posterity fell altogether into the common-shore of bondage and Slavery And yet such is your infatuation like the Israelites which cryed for a King and soon after would have been quit of him but God told them he would not hear them and indeed few there are amongst us all that judge aright or know our own happiness and freedom in this present change of the Government Neut Patriotus Give me leave in a word or two to interpose It appears to me as by your discouse I have collected that our submission to the present power of some special selected Gentry without King and the late priviledged Lords whâ—ch I confess were wont to do what they listed will be more safe honourable and profitable for the people notwithstanding our Contributions then such as necessarily will befal us should the excluded King come in by force of Arms I profess in such a case I know not which side to take with safety advise me to the best and I 'le thank you Patri Neutralis I perceive you to be a crafty fox you are best able to judge what party to incline to I leave you to your own choyce whether to side with the present power in case of an invasion or to assist the Scotch King for I finde 't is your own safety not the common good that you aym at onely this take heed that reason do not invade you before it perswades you though it be already both sufficiently intimated and proved that your adherence to the present establishment will be your best course yea on any Invasion of the Scotch King to fight for your liberty and not sit still as you say you have done Prel Patriotus In all our conference hithereto we have omitted the principal verb which governs the sentence and that is concerning the late Parliaments sitting at Westminster acting according to their own wils and pleasures what they Vote was without any more adoe Enacted for Law as a Rule to the universal Nation right or wrong it must be obeyed Now whether 160 at most of 560 at least which formerly sate in both houses could be a Parliament is the Quere I pray resolve me in this point for in Law or in any rational mans judgement a * The grand objection of the Royal party answered in the next Reply Parliament they could not be but rather an usurpatious and despotical number backt by an Army therefore I say speak your own conscience what you conceive them to have been without King Lords Bishops and the major part of the Commons all summoned by the Kings Writ and chosen by their several Countries and violently pul'd out of the house by the Souldiers for dissenting to the Votes of no more addresses the remainder being so few that in any reason they could not so much as pretend to be a Parliament much less the Representative of the universal people yet had they the confidence that whatsoever they Enacted to assume it to be done in the name of the Commons of England which is one of the strangest pieces of Non-sence that ever was heard of in the World you may call to minde what became of those thirty Tyrants at Athens the parallel is not at a very wide distance therefore before we depart I beseech you deliver your opinion for the better satisfaction of my conscience and tell me how it came to pass that none or very few of the Lords sate there with the Commons which till of later times never were admitted to sit with them neither cal'd to sit by them for all our ancient Parliaments were onely composed of King Bishops Abbots
unnaturally attempting to enslave themselves and their Posterity I shall particularly name some of them Judge * Lex terrae and Mr. Pryns Book Jenkins and another under the name of Mr Prynne which have avouched that the Commons were not summoned or sate in our ancient Parliaments which is a most imputent lye and false assertion as it evidently appears by those old authentick Authorities even now recited and indeed I have spent many an hour in a diligent search into Antiquities to finde out the time when our late form of King Lords and Bishops with the Commons all call'd by Writ from their respective Burroughs had its beginning though it may be enough to satisfie rational men that it hath been at least of 500 years standing if not 600 as by * Archyton Mr Lambert and many other better Authors and far better seen in the Laws then that false Judge Jenkins ever was it manifestly appears Doctor to put a period to this particular let me tell you for your own and the better satisfaction of thousands more of your opinion that new powers will have new Laws new Forms and we of the people must and ought to obey them or smart for our disobedience and so would the King have had you should have found it too true had he prevailed Prel I confess indeed you have given me full satisfaction as well to my first question Whether that relick of the late Parliament was a legal Parliament as to my last concerning the sitting of the Commons in our Antient Parliament but what say you to this new form that meerly is summoned by the power of the Souldiery and almost half Souldiers that now sit at Westminster by what right of a legal Election do they sit as a Parliament for by the Law and right of the people they were to have made choyce of their own Representative Patri By the right of the sword which in all Ages hath been the original foundation of all Laws and Powers and where that weapon hath predominance we must not altogether insist upon Law for silent leges inter arma but look upon Gods Providence with the effects which this power may produce in the issue for the good of the universal Nation since that after the States Army by Gods great blessing had no sooner freed the people from farther bloodshed and rapine the late Parliament being at ease and not playing their parts so dexterously as they might have done but minding their own interests more then that of the publick 't was thought fit by the Councel of war to put a period to their fruitless sitting as formerly they did to the Kings exorbitant Government and for his often breaches of Faith with God and his trust with the whole Nation over whom he was appointed to rule by the Laws of the Land and not by his own will and pleasure for bonus pastor ponit vitam pro ovibus the good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep he never flayes or destroys them Thraso I hope Sir you cannot say as your intimation imports the King my late blessed Master was ever known to flay his Subjects you 'l never leave the Round-head lyes and slanders Patri No Sir I do not positively say so or that the King was guilty of pulling his Subjects skins over their heads as S. Bartholmew is reported to have been served by his cruel Persecutors but by your favor since you are so captious and uncivil to asperse me with lying and slandring as that you can do when you please on innocent children and then make them good with volleys of dam-mees other fearful Oathes and imprecations 't is well known that before the king levied war against the best Subjects he had some have had their ears cut off by the roots their bodies whipt all over in gore blood and their fore-heads branded with hot Irons no man knows well for what more then to please the great Arch-Prelate who would have it so and the Lords of the Star-Chamber and others of the High Inquisition could do no less or durst do no other then vote as he would have them and as sure it is that you and your Complices under the Kings Commissions kill'd plundered and shaved the poor innocent people wheresoever you march'c or quartered which in many places of the Land you perpetrated without mercy so that by your leave the King himself was the sole Author and cause of all the blood and miseries that besell the three Nations as himself sometimes hath confest but good Sir enough of this for it grows late and a time we must have to retreat as you my good Colonel have had a time to rob plunder and spoyl the poor people though I believe you have not purchased any great store of Lands with the remains of your stoln goods but in case you have any store left you there are yet very good peny-worths to be had of Delinquents estates and you may likewise buy wood and timber if you have any use for it if not that you will keep it by you for some other mischievous purposes and not live quietly and peaceably under the present Government the State you may be sure on 't will finde out a parcel that may serve your turn Neut Colonel I have often told you that he would be too hard for you at this kinde of fencing yet you 'l take no warning do you not understand Patriotus his meaning that the State will soon finde out a parcel of Timber for you if you stir and foment more mischief you may guess at his meaning if not take it into your second consideration that there is an intent of erecting a new Court of Justice which will tell us all our fortunes in case any of us should be over-busie and plot new insurrections Thraso A pox of him and the Court of Justice to boot that ever I saw or heard of either of them I pree-thee Doctor suffer not this round-headed-fellow thus to go away with the Bucklers and to send us away like mutes and with a flie in our ears Prel Colonel to deal plainly your langnage is insufferable at our last conference you gave the first offence and now again you are at your old lock for more boldly and uncivilly yon durst not have spoken when you were in the head of the greatest Army the King ever had the truth is you too much forget your self and think not where you are and to whom you speak should I judge of most that the Gentleman hath said I should be a Witness my self that he hath spoken truth and that with well measured Reason but I beseech you Patriotus pardon the Colonels incivility and be pleas'd to satisfie me in some particulars which I suppose you may do in a few minutes of time then I shall both thank you and wish you a good night and at your better leasure shall not fail to give you a friendly visit Sir in brief King John
Contributions imposed on the Natives by the Parliament if you grant this for truth as I presume you cannot gain-say it doubtless then the State here in being have brought the people to a very bad market since 't is manifest that what by the Monthly Contributions the rigorous exactions of the Officers of the Customs on all Merchandize together with the Excise on all we eat or drink with the free quartering of the Souldiers in most parts of the Land are far beyond all the Taxes Impositions and Subsides which the late King imposed or intended to lay on the people which gives them no great cause to rejoyce and make merry either for their safety or the cheapness of the exchange Answer me to this point and I shall as the Colonel even now said give you fair leave to carry away the bucklers and henceforth acknowledge you for an expert Fencer Thraso God amercy honest Doctor in good faith thou hast now given him a bone to pick that will stick in his teeth if he answers this to any purpose he shall not onely carry away the Bucklers but I shall willingly give him my sword into the bargain and then dam him for me that will ever fight one stroke more in the quarrel Patri Colonel you and your party have gotten such a habit of swearing and in such fearful volleys of Oaths as that had your cause been much better then it was God could not bless it or give you any good success therein but I beseech you leave your prophanation and then have patience a while for you have very good reason to leave fighting when you are so ready to depart with your weapons but lay your sword to the stake and then see what in the end will become of him for whatsoever the Doctor hath objected concerning the present impositions which are confest to be very heavie on the poor people yet when you know all it would have been much better he had said nothing since I perceive none of you all ever sounded the late Kings depth and what he intended or took the least measure of his foot for indeed he was too dark for any of your light to see into his designs and to tell you more he was too cunning for any that he employed though some there are which accounted him for little more then an Iguoramus but one of the shrewdest ones for his reaches to his own ends of any Prince of his time True it is that the Parliament though they suspected him at the first sitting down and before yet knew not a long time what he had in hand otherwise The Juncto and the Kings Letters taken at Nasby the onely means that the Parliament came to the knowledge of his Intentions then at random until the discovery of the Juncto which was the star that guided them to know somewhat more of his designs then they could clearly discern before and by degrees as God would have it more they came both to know and feel when a long time after his private Letters were taken at Nasby wherein more then enough came to light of his pernicious intents or was fitting for a King so much courted and beloved of English Nation to have attempted for their enslaving a design as I have said though long since by some of the more intelligent sort understood yet till that time never publickly known or visible the onely bar to the accomplishment was that Bellum Episcopale the Prelatical was against his Native subjects the Scots which brought it so about that the Kings game which was a fair fore-game became in the end by the Scots resistance and managety to an after and a lost game and the truth is the Scots were too subtile for all the kings Arbitrary Instruments and understood more of his reaches then happily all of us here shall ever know Now Doctor as to your Objections concerning the present Taxes Excises Customs and Free-Quarter I crave leave for a while to lay them aside to which anon I shall particularly make answer In the mean time I think fit to present you with a Preparative whereby to shew you that all changes and alterations of Government are and have evermore been accompanied with innumerable difficulties and hardships especially where the sword begets them who knows not but that the sword is a very chargeable weapon and such charges are most incident to green and new sprung up Governments and cannot be avoyded as in this case and alteration here with us you see cannot possibly be made good without a vast expence which necessarily ought to be defray'd by the people for whose sakes and conservation of the common freedom their Trustees the Parliament thought fit and best for their future indemnity to adventure on the change of the Government and then as the Adage speaks it They which reap the gains ought to indure the pains and 't is most true that although new gotten liberty be a sweet bait yet it often fals out that the enjoyment thereof brings with it a great deal of sufferance and yet must it be born with patience in hope of better times which may give way to the unburthering of the sufferers And so to your Objections which I shall answer in their ordâ—r and first to the Excise wherein I shall shew you the mistake since it seems you look onely at the present Impositions without minding their causes which as the postures of affairs now are were necessitated and insorc't on the Parliament to levie on the Nation neither do you look back to those times wherein during the late king and his Fathers raign there was no cause or a peece of a reason to be given why any Taxes should have been imprest on the people without their consents in Parliament yet for your better learning I shall assure you that the very same House in Broad-Street wherein the Office of the Excise is erected for the States use was 20 Moneths at least before the late Parliaments summons rented by Cottington and purposely for that use design'd by the King himself though protracted by reasons of the Scotch troubles As to the Customs we all know to what a height they were grown in the late Kings time to the great regret of the Marchant but that you may know what farther was much about that time in agitation there was a private * Vide That and other Commissions in the Signet Office Commission issued out under the Great Seal wherein twenty eight Lords and Gentlemen were nominated and Authorized to raise on all the Commodities of the Land what new Customs and Impositions the Commissioners should think sit which was the highest strain of Arbitrary power that ever was attempted by any of our Kings As to free-Quarter it is confest to have bin a very gâ—ievous burthen on the people not only to pay their Monthly Contributions but to be forâ—'t to give the Souldier free-quarter wheresoever he march't But to answer you in a word that
taken either by his command or permission in the late Wars the instances whereof would amount to a volumn and as to his intentions without injury to his memory we may take notice of his own expressions in his Letters to the Queen viz. That though he wanted money yet good swords and Pistols would fetch it in Ex unque Leonis We may judge of the Lyons strength by his paw and of the kings intentions had he lighted on the fortune to have mastered the Parliament Of the Kings Negative Voyce in Parliament WE now come to that so much asserted and inseparable Flower of the Crown as the king and Royalists would have it believed viz. his Negative voyce in Parliament a claim so absurd and contrary to Law and Reason that wise men may laugh at it and fools discern the distructive consequence thereof for at one blast or breath of the kings it utterly frustrates the very Essence and Being of all Parliaments and obstructs all their Consultations and whatsoever they shall never so well advise and agree upon as a necessary Law shall be made of no effect with this one single word of the kings Negatur which is point blank against his Corronation Oath where he swears or ought to swear to Govern both by the old Laws per istas bonas leges quas vulgus eligerit though it pleased the Archbishop to emasculate that most essential part of the Oath so to leave the king at liberty and by such good Laws as the Parliament shall chuse so that the Legislative power hath always resided in that Soveraign Court to make and unmake Laws according to the vicissitude of times and change of mens manners and not at the kings choyce who hath only the distributive power when Laws are made to see them duly executed and the Law of the Land also limits that power for the king as before 't is noted cannot execute the Laws at his own pleasure but in and by his Courts of Justice But strange it is what a ridiculous construction Royalists have made of the verb eligerit to be meant in the preterpersect Tense and not of the future to make any new Laws though never so necessary but that the people must stand to their old Laws though some of them never so fit to be abrogated unless the king please to give way to the establishing of new or repealing of the old which is a most irrationall and destructive assertion Neither may we omit to shew what Royalists farther aver that such is the necessity and force of the Kings assent that be the Law never so useful and beneficial for the people to be established yet without the Kings fiat it can never have the force and stamp of a Law which is the same as when the King chosen Generalissimo and trusted with the conduct of the Kingdoms Armies will turn the mouth of the Canon from the Enemy on his own Souldiers and deny them to provide for their own safeties such absurdities have the late and present Licenciates of this time ran into as if men had been bewitch't to betray their own freedoms It is not denyed but that the Kings assent to a Law thought fit by the Parliament to be Enacted is very necessary yet it follows not that it must be of necessity for if the King out of a perverse humour will not after some time of consideration assent to such a Law which if not ratified by his fiat tends to the inevitable destruction of the Common-wealth shall the publick safety be neglected for the humoring of one mans obstinate will and in such a case ought not the States Assembled in Parliament provide against a common mischief Enact and Ordain for the publick indemnity as former Presidents in such cases may direct them and when no other remedy can be had The Lords in the time of king Richard the Second would not be so answered when they sent him word that if he would not come to the Parliament according to his promise and joyn his helping hand to theirs in redress of the publick grievances they would chuse such a King that should The Array of the People WE now come to the principal and practical part of the kings power over the Militia for the Array of the people is the grand piece of that usurpatious claim viz. That at his own will and pleasure he may send forth his Commissions to Array the people against themselves and this power under colour of Law and of right belonging unto him the universal Nation knows he forbore not to put in execution against their Representative summoned by his own Writs a president without president neither for the legality known either in our Histories or Law-books otherwise then by consent of Parliament and in cases of immiment danger for opposing of an invading Enemy but for a king trusted with the defence of his people in calms of peaceable times and on no necessity to put in execution such a reasonless and unlimited power as one of his Royal Prerogatives and to maintain it by the sword was besides the breach of his Royal trust such a daring action as none but a Tyrant in folio would have attempted 'T is true that heretofore during that long continued feud between the English and the Scots divers Gentlemen of the North parts and others on the Welch-Borders of the kings Tenants were by their Tenures bound to rise watch and wind * Cornage Tenure horns on all incursions of the Scots and of these kind of Tenures Littleton treats in his chapter of petty Serjeanty but I suppose none so very cowards though not bound by their Tenures but would take up Arms in the common defence and contribute their best assistance for the expelling of an invading Enemy though in this very case by the Law of the Land 'T is very dangerous for him that shall raise Forces without special Commission from the King and Parliament and * The Lords Cromwels Case Cromwel Earl of Essex in Henry the Eigth's Reign though at that time Lord President of the North dyed for no other cause then this that he raised an Army both for the suppression of an insurrection and expulsion of the Scots so nice and provident our Ancestors have ever been of levying Armies in the bowels of the Land on any pretence whatsoever But for the king first to raise an Army at York assuring the Parliament that it was to no other end then for a Guard to his Person and therewith to cause so many half-witted Lords then attending him to attest that for truth which was false as it manifestly appeared by his immediate marching to Nottingham where he set up his Standard of War as a summons of the people to his assistance against the Parliament when himself was both the first Assaulter and Invader and yet at that very instant of time to reassure the Parliament that he raised not his Standard against them and at the same conjunctureâ— of
prejudicial to the Rights and Liberties of the people Now forasmuch as Royalists do still constantly maintain that their first engagements with the King were undertaken on just loyal honourable honest and religious grounds and that the king suffered as an innocent Martyr in his own defence under the specious pretexts of his injustice and Tyranny and that themselves are enforc'â— to live under Powers utterly unlawful usurpatious and tyrannical May they be pleased to give me leave briefly to sum up the whole Controversie intended for their own good the quieting of their distempered spirits the settlement of the universal people in the blessed harmony of peace and unanimity their onely distance and refractory humour to that of the present establishment being the onely cause that the old Rupture cannot be sodred up and cemented as it ought to be between brethren of one stock that the States after their many miraculous Atchievements Victories over so powerful enemies are inforc'c to the great charge and grievance of the Natives to keep in pay so many Armies for the prevention of such dangerous conspiracies as are daily hatcht and seen to flow from the fountain of their malitious hearts whereas their conformity with the rest of the Natives in obedience to the present powers would be the speedy remedy and abatement of those heavie and Monethly Contributions continued on the people wherein themselves would partake in the easement the State and Common-wealth in the happiness and comfort that so many Proselytes should be added to their number Now in as much as the nature of this subject by way of advice will necessarily require some short repetition of the Kings proceedings in the late prodigious War wherein the grounds of their partaking with him are briefly stated I shall intreat the Reader of what garb or party soever not to conceive that herein I take occasion to rake over the ashes of him who is at rest but onely for the better manifestation of truth never more opposed then at present and to let the universal Nation see and understand on what sandy foundations not onely the King but the Royalists themselves built the whole fabrick of his designs how and by whom they were promoted to his own ruine his posterity and most of the Royal party to the irreparable loss of three flourishing Kingdoms Briefly then that the King at his first access to the Crown had it in design as an unhappy legacy left him by his Father King Iames to advance the Regal power to absoluteness conformable to the French Model is a truth so perspicuous as that divers persons of honour then in Court both perceived it and feared the sad issues that would follow the Kings ambitious affectations True it is the design a long time was carried on in the dark and mystical traverses of Court and State but 1638 and 39 the King by his active * Strafford Canterbury Cottington Agents haing prepared all things in readiness for the accomplishment both in England and Ireland the onely rub that then lay in his way of compleating an universal invassaladge over the three Nations and conforming the Church Government of Scotland sutable to the Episcopal Discipline of England was the refractory Presbyterian Scot whom he first tempted with the bait of a new Liturgy and whether they should perceive the meaning thereof or not was amongst the first Projectors of this Innovation here in Court not much reckoned of for that in case of the Scots refusal they very well understood the King was resolved to compel them to submit by force of Arms but the Scots utterly rejecting the Liturgy as an Innovation and Invasion on their National Laws and Liberties the King raised his first Army against them and then the second after a Pacification given them passages so commonly known to both Nations that there needs no farther manifestation of their contrivances But most certain it is that then the Kings grand design began more openly to appear and that those two Northern Expeditions having exhausted his Treasure with all that he could shift for and the extremity of his want of money succeeding produced the first and the late Parliament Where we may not omit to shew how the King at his first entry to the Crown was after misled and most grosly betray'd and by persons of his own choyce from the very beginning of his raign to the last of his power who had chiefest influence on his Councels which principally were the Bishops and his Court Chaplaines which more studied his inclinations then Divinty and then to comply with whatsoever they found most agreeable to his natural appetite which was the usual ladder wherewith they climbed to preferment these sycophants well perceiving the bent and promptitude of his ambition to absolute Soveraingty had learn'â— the faculty of wresting of Scripture answerable to Arbitrary power and made it their ordinary Pulpit-stuff to instill into his apprehensions that the Subject had no other propriety in any thing he enjoyed but at the Kings good pleasure And to these there were another sort of * Lawyers Gown-men that could stretch Law and Statutes to the tenter of the Kings designs neither were there wanting many about his person even from the first to the last of his Power that to gain his favour had learn't the art of compliance so that I am confident to affirm as being often conversant in the Court that no Prince of his time and of his abilities was ever so nurst up what between those Clergy Laquies and his jugling Judges in the principles of Tyranny leaving out those forragn Pedagogues as well masculine as femine always in Court and most near his person insomuch as at last he knew not or would not know the nature and constitution of the English Soveraignty neither what the nature of those Royal Prerogatives he claimed were how intrusted and invested in him but took them for no other then his own proper inheritance to be used as his he should think most conducible to the advance of his absolute power But to return to the late Parliaments first sitting down and to relate what in the first place they fell upon as of highest concernment to be redrest most certain it is that they finding the many grievances of the people with the various innovations disorders and distempers of the State and Church all concentring in the Kings indigence they took it into their serions consultations first of all to call to an accompt such Participants of the Kings Councels as were well known to have been the principal Instruments for promoting of Arbitrary power and then to apply themselves to the redress of the Publick disorders and rectifying of the obliquities both in the Church and Commonwealth crept in through the long dis-use of Parliaments We shall onely touch on the most eminent passages during their first fifteen Months sitting viz. The Attaching and Arraignment of the Earl of Strafford the Archbishop the flight of the Lord
Keeper Finch Secretary Windibank Piercy Jermine Suckling all of them prime sticklers for the advance of the Kings designs c. In the next place the Kings continued practises to corrupt his own Army and that of the Scots inviting them with great rewards and promises of preferment to march against the Parliament which on any conditions he was then resolved to destroy his then succeding journey into Scotland with the breaking out of the Irish Rebellion during his residence there his assault of the House of Commons on his return his then fortifying and manning of White-hall with the Cavaleers and when he found that by none of these artifices he could break the Parliament he leaves them and departs to York sends Eliot for the Great Seal and procures as many as possibly he could of both Houses to falsifie their trust and adhere to him so to divide and destract them and then raises an Army causing the Lords there attending him to attest that he raised that Army onely for a Guard to his Person and not against the Parliament and immediately sends out his Commissions of Array and marches through several Counties to Nottingham where he erected his Standard of War and after marches to Edgehill where he fought with the Parliaments Army notwithstanding that before from Nottingham he would have perswaded the Parliament by an Express of his own that he did not set up his Standard against them all which and much more of his prodigious Stratagems known to all the World makes it apparant that his intent was to destroy the Parliament and consequently to alter the Government and the Laws as he listed and yet there are at present a new sprung-up number of perverse people amongst us besides the old Royal party that impudently deny the premises and take occasion upon this late change and dissolution of the Parliament and the continuation of the Contributions to asperse the present Parliament with most opprobrious language I wish they would look back to the cause and how diffident soever they are of the kings destructive intentions yet may they please to take a review of his after-actions and what horrible cruelties and oppressions were perpetrated throughout most parts of the Land by his Commanders authorized under his own Commissions after he began the War at Edgehill and made Oxford his Head quarters then questionless they may take the true dimensions of a most unfortunate and tyrannical King neither would it be amiss for them to take it into their remembrance what the Parliament in so perplext times were constrained to put in execution as well for their own safeties as the preservation of the Laws and Liberties of the people Thus far in brief we have made a recital of the principal transactions before that fatal battel at Edgehil whence all Royalists and others diffident of the Kings destructive intentions may evidently see unto what plunges the Parliament was put unto upon the Irish Rebellion in relief of their poor distressed brethren in Ireland that affair by the King himself bring wholy recommended to the Parliaments disposement 400000l in Subsidies assented by himself to be levied to that onely use and the Earl of Leycester by his own approbation design'd for that imployment whom he so long protracted that the term of his Commission was near expired before he went over and as to his proclaiming them Rebels to which the Parliament often prest him he would not in a long time suffer his Proclamations to come forth and at last permitted no more then 40 Copies to be printed notwithstanding these his impediments the Parliament with their best Expedition sent over divers Regiments of foot some horse and cloathes by the way of Minyard and Chester The premises considered by any indifferent man with what honour then or justice could the king countermand those Forces and seize the cloathes horses and money sent to the relief of the poor distressed Irish Protestants against his own Act and Assent and by what law or colour of Reason could he in honor grant the remainder of the third part of that Subsidie to his Lieutenant-General of South Wales for raising of an Army there against the Parliament diverting the use thereof for the relief of Ireland What answer can be made to this other then that which with impudence of the highest strain is commonly alledged by Royalists viz. That the king stood bound both in honour and reason of State to support the Rebellious Irish in what possibly he could so to lessen the Parliaments power by what means soever for advance of his own If this be the reason surely then 't is evident that he not onely favoured the Irish but authorized their Insurrection and that his intent was to incumber and cut out as much work for the Parliament as possibly he could invent and in that course to protract the War in Ireland and to pursue it in England as 't is most manifest he did during full six years together neither would he be induced by the Parliaments many and most humble Petitions really to apply himself to a safe and well-grounded Peace for the Nation though still pretending how willing he was to embrace it when as by the sequel he intended to have it no other then as suted to his own will and pleasure and yet all of the Royal party as constantly defends him as himself obstinately persisted so long as his power lasted to embrew all the three Nations with blood fire and devastation and to his last * Vide The Kings Speech on the Scaffold hour stood stiffly in the affirmative that the absolute command of the Militia was his and that the Parliament on that only ground first began the War and not he contrary to his own acknowledgement in the I le of Wight and elswhere viz. That he had been the cause of all the innocent blood spilt throughout the Land I wish he were not guilty of that in Ireland the presumptions being so pregnant as that thousands of honest and knowing men cannot be otherwise perswaded sure enough he was most notoriously guilty of all the blood spilt in England and Scotland We now come to the kings Prerogatives as the basis on which all Royalists ground the lawfulness of their partaking with him in the late War as bound by Oath their Allegiance and in conscience to support his Soveraign Rights We shall for their better satisfaction present them in a Catalogue and answer them in their order forasmuch as they still constantly maintain them to be the kings inseparably united to the Crown and that full sore against his will he was inforc't to uphold them as invaded by the Parliament since then that as Royalists aver the King onely fought to uphold his inheritance and themselves with him let us briefly examine by what Law and right he claimed them together with the destrctive consequences should he have obtained them by the sword and whether then he had not carved out his own
work to the enslaving of the Nation Of the Prerogatives Royall which the late King claimed as inseparables of the Crown 1. OF the Royal Power what it is 2. His sole and absolute power over the Militia 3. His Negative voyce in all Parliaments 4. His power to Array the people at will and pleasure 5. His Prerogative to call and dissolve Parliaments at pleasure 6. His Prerogative to pardon Murderers and Fellons 7. His Prerogative to dispose of Wards Mad-men and Lunaticks c. 8. Lastly that Tyrannous assertion of his own and his Father King Iames viz. That they were not bound to give account of their actions to any but to God alone These Prerogatives claimed by the late King as the Royalists say were invaded by the Parliament and the grounds of the late destructive Wars happily after-Ages as well as the present may be inquisitive to know whether they were so legally in the Kings absolute power that he stood bound to uphold them by the sword to the ruine of the Kingdom and whether the Parliament by their trust stood not more obliged to withstand them as encroachments on the common freedoms and liberties of the people We shall therefore for the general satisfaction briefly shew the extent of them all as they are either defined by our ancient Lawyers or confined and limited by our common Laws and Statutes The Royal power what it is FIrst then that this Royal power of our Kings hath never been any other then a limited and intrusted power to govern by Law to which their Coronation Oathes oblige them which may very well satisfie any rational man and save us the labour farther to dispute this point But we shall make it more plain that the highest of this Royal power was never more by the Law of the Land throughout all Ages then in the executive power Ius suum cuique tribuere to give to every subject his right neither can the King otherwise dispence this right or Law to the people but in and by his Courts of Judicature non per se tantum not by himself out of the law of his own breast for that 's plain Tyranny Stat pro ratione voluntas quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem which are the common principles of all Tyrants that That shall be the Law which the king wills which is more then the Grand Signior claims or exerciseth neither can this Royal power whatsoever of late times by flattering Lawyers hath been exposed to deceive the people enable the king to do that which the Law forbids What kings as Tyrants will do makes nothing to the matter in question but what they ought to do and what by the Law their Oath and duty of their Office they are bound to do is the true state of this Question Neither were any of our kings ever so absolute in power and Supremacy but that by the fundamental Laws of this Land they had their Superiours and those which were above them as one of the most eminent and ancient of our * Bracton Lawyers affirms often recited during the late Controversie viz. Rex habet superiorem scilicet legem per quam factus est Rex alterum scilicet curiam comites Barones which is The king hath a superiour to wit the Law by which he is made king another though very much scorned by the late king viz. The Court of Parliament composed of the Earls Barons and selected Gentry of the Land for this Court hath in it the Legislative power or the Authority of making Laws and who knows not the old principle Quod efficit tale est magis tale that which makes the thing is greater then the thing made And another of our eminent and learned Lawyers Fortiscue Chancellour to Henry the Sixth fol. 40. cap. 18. positively delivers it as a fundamental Law that the kings power is no other then that which the Law gives him and that cannot be farther extended or made greater without the assent of the whole Realm for should it be otherwise it follows that the king might then sell or dispose of the kingdom to whom he pleaseth which by the Law he cannot do neither by the ancient Laws of the Land can the king sell or alienate the Regalia and Jewels of the Crown though the late king took the liberty to sell them for Arms against the Parliament neither can the King by his own sole power dispose of the Cities Towns Forts and Castles of the Kingdom as the Scotch Lords 1639 told him in down-right terms on his fortifying of the Castles of Edenburgh and Dunbarton and the reasons they gave were valid both in Law and reason for that those Forts and Castles were built for defence security and safety of the people against Invadors and not for their offence to be man'd and fortified at the Kings pleasure against themselves And the reason of this Law is rendred by a most learned and expert * Novil 85. princi cap. 18. Jurist viz. Quod Magistratus sit nudus dispensator defensor Iurium Regni constat ex eo quod non possit alienare Imperium oppida urbes regionesve vel res subditorum bonave Regni quia Rex Regni non proprietarius Which is that a King or Magistrate is no more then a bare dispensor of the Laws of hâ—s Kingdom and the reason is manifest for that he cannot sell or alenate the Kingdom or the Cities Towns and Provinces thereof neither the Subjects goods or goods of the Kingdom because the King is onely the Director not the Owner and Propriator of the kingdom But Royalists and some jugling * Judge Ienkins Lawyers and ignorant Divines have both taught and written the contrary and made the late king believe that his power was absolute and without bounds which is fearful to imagine and shameful in those which continue to possess the people with such damnable untruths as lamentable it is to see the generality of the Nation to stand still unshaken in their belief that the kings rights were invaded and himself inforc'â— to make war for his own the contrary whereunto that his power stood bounded and limited by the Laws of the Land hath been so often alledged and prest upon him by the Parliament in their Answers and Expresses that the re inforcing of more Arguments on a subject so much overworn would be nauseous to all ingenious Readers To period this particular as 't is the gound-work of all the kings other Prerogative claims I shall onely put all Royalists in remembrance of that which the Earl of Strafford aver'd to the king 1640. viz. * Vide The Iuncto loose and absolved from all the reines of Government whether this assertion amongst other of the Deputies tended not to place the kings power above the known Laws of the Land I appeal to the judgement of any rational man for as a late a worthy * Mr. John Pim in his Speech to the Lords Member of