A LETTER FROM Major General LUDLOW TO Sir E. S. Comparing the Tyranny of the first four Years of King Charles the Martyr with the Tyranny of the the four Years Reign of the Late Abdicated King Occasioned by the reading Doctor Pelling's Lewd Harangues upon the 30th of JANUARY being the Anniversary Or General Madding-Day Neque enim satis amarint Bonos Principes Qui Malos non Oderint Plin. Panegyr They can never love Good Princes as they ought who do not perfectly abhor wicked Tyrants Amsterdam printed Anno Domini 1691 A LETTER FROM Maj. Gen. LUDLOW To Sir E. S. SIR MY Love to Old England is such as can never be shaken no not by an Eternal Banishment but I must ever wish and heartily pray for its Prosperity And though 't is not permitted to me to breath my Native Air yet that it is now in a great measure freed from those Pestilential Vapours which poysoned it in the late Reigns and that my dear Country is at length delivered from that intolerable Oppression and Tyranny under which it has long groaned is to me a matter of great rejoycing 'T is with me beyond doubt that the late happy Settlement of the Kingdom is well-pleasing to God and consonant to the Laws of the Land for as Sir Robert Philips affirmed in his Speech in Parliament in the year 1628 it is undoubtedly true that the People of England are under no other Subjection than what they did voluntarily consent unto by the Original Contract between the King and the People And King James the first was greatly in the right when he told the Lords and Commons in the year 1609 That he is no King but a Tyrant that governs not by Law which by the way being true the late King James ceased to be King even before his Abdication And Now Sir you and I being agreed that the late King having broken the Original Stipulation and Contract and becoming a Tyrant by 〈◊〉 and annulling the established Laws the Crown is most rightfully placed upon the Heads of the most excellent Princes King William and Queen Mary I shall demonstrate to you That King Charles the First did equal I might justly say transcend his Son whom you have deservedly Abdicated in all his Acts of Tyranny to this Undertaking I am provoked by the reading the many Idle 〈◊〉 and Lewd Expressions and Extravagant Encomiums of the first in the Rants of one Edward Pelling who stiles himself Rector of S. Martins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Spight Falshood and Venome that the Cock being turned upon the thirtieth of January he spouts out a Sea of Calumnies Lyes and Poison He as you shall see paints forth King Charles the First more like a God than a Man talking of him at this rate viz. That great Monarch and Martyr of whom the World was not worthy and perhaps will hardly ever see the like of him again That Incomparable Prince That Mirrour of Princes the Noblest of Martyrs the Wonder of Ages and the Honour of Men That Innocent Vertuous Religious Matchless Prince The Lord 's anointed A Man according to God's own Heart No King could be ever better than this under the Shadow of his Wings we did rejoyce Peace and Plenty was our Portion Every Man was sure of his Right as long as this Religious Prince had his Just Authority every Man was easie in his Cottage as long as he sat at ease in the Throne our Liberties were secure our Laws had Life and Religion never flourished more in this Nation than under him He dyed a Martyr for Religion and a Victim for his People I am of Opinion that if the Blood of any Prince or Martyr could be so valuable as never to be atoned for in this World it would be that Royal that Sacred that Innocent Blood Now To shew the effronted Impudence of this little fawning lying Levite and to set your own with the Thoughts of the present Age right in reference to this Idolized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall endeavour to place him in his true and just Light and not to forget my proposed Method of doing it by way of Parallel I shall first recount the Miscarriages wherewith the last Tyrant was most justly charged and when I have so done I shall proceed to convince you and all the World my Doctor excepted to whom I pretend not to speak in regard I find him telling his kind and Noble Friend the late Bloody Monster Jeffryes in an Epistle Dedicatory to one of his Raving Tracts upon the the thirtieth of Janury 1683 that his Ears are past all feeling how much his Father out-stript him even in the first four Years of his Reign for to that Time I purpose to confine my self in this Letter To begin The late King by his Coronation Oath promised and solemnly swore to maintain his Subjects in the free Enjoyment of their Religion Laws and Liberties Nevertheless he overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and subjected all to a Despotick and Arbitrary Government and so broke his Oath to the Poople To come to particulars herein I. He assumed to himself a Power to suspend and Dispense with the execution of 〈◊〉 Laws enacted for the Security and Happiness of the Subjects and thereby rendred them of no effect And In order to the obtaining a Judgment in the Court of King's-Bench for declaring the Dispensing Power to be a Right belonging to the 〈◊〉 he turned out such Judges 〈◊〉 could not in Conscience 〈◊〉 in so Pernicious a Sentence and having pack'd Judges for his purpose he obtained the Judgment he required II. He against Express Laws to the contrary did set up 〈◊〉 Commission for Ecclesiastical Matters which was executed contrary to all Law III. None were raised to Ecclesiastical Dignities but such Persons that had no Zeal for the Protestant Religion He made Parker Bishop of Oxford and Cartwright Bishop of Chester and Watson Bishop of S. Davids who is most deservedly excepted in their Majesties Act of Indemnity IV. The Bishop of London was suspended only because he refused to obey an Order sent to him to suspend Dr. Sharp The President and Fellows of Magdalen College in Oxford were Arbitrarily and against Law turned out of their Freeholds and the College was put into the Hands of Papists V. Lords Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants 〈◊〉 of the Peace and others in Publick Employments who would not comply with the Design of Repealing the Test and the Penal Laws were turned out VI. The Privileges of some Corporations were invaded and their Charters 〈◊〉 And Surrenders of the Charters of other Corporations were procured to be made VII He put Papists into Civil and Military Employments and Trusts VIII The Archbishop of Canterbury and six other Bishops were sent to the Tower for setting forth in a Petition their Reasons why they could not obey an Order requiring them to appoint their Clergy to read the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience IX The Earl of Devonshire was
most exorbitantly fined Thirty thousand Pound and imprisoned for a Trivial Matter And the Lord Lovelase was treated as a Criminal only for saying that the Subjects were not bound to obey the Orders of a Popish Justice of the Peace SIR I am the more brief in setting down the Matters charged upon the late King the same being yet fresh in the Memories of all Men but I shall be something more particular and large in representing the Father's Tyranny in regard Time has placed us at a greater Distance from it That King Charles the Second went off by Poisoned Chocolate to make way for his Brother when Matters were well prepared to set up the Romish Idolatry is a thing generally believed And so it was that King James the First was so dispatch'd as they may see who will turn to the Earl of Bristol's Speech in Parliament and his Articles against the Duke of Buckingham and to Sir Dudly Diggs his Speech at the Delivery of the Impeachment against the Duke at a Conference with the Lords and also to the thirteenth Article of that Impeachment which charged the Duke with a very suspicious Plaister and Potion administred to that King Well right or wrong King Charles ascended the Throne upon the twenty seventh of March 1625 and at the first gave the World a Prospect what was to be expected from him for he instantly took the Duke of Buckingham and Laud then Bishop of Bath and Wells into admired Intimacy and Dearness and made them the Chief Conductors of all Affairs in State and Church and that aspiring Prelate had the Guidance of his Conscience The Duke's Mother and many near about him were Papists and he advanced Men Popishly devoted to places of the Chief Command in the Court and Camp The Good Archbishop of Canterbury Doctor Abbot speaks thus of him He was talented but as a common Person yet got that Interest that in a sort all the Keys of England hung at his Girdle and it appeared that he had a Purpose to turn upside down the Laws and the whole Fundamental Liberties of the Subject and to leave us not under the Statutes and Customs which our Progenitors enjoyed but to the Pleasure of Princes Three Parliaments in the beginning of this Reign found and declared this Duke the Cause of all our Miseries and Disasters The Grievance of Grievances The Character of Laud by the same Great Man Archbishop Abbot was this He was the inward Counseller with Buckingham and fed his Humour with Malice and Spight His Life in Oxford was to pick quarrels in the Lectures of the Publick Readers and to fill the Ears of King James with Discontent against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that took pains in their places and 〈◊〉 the Truth which he called 〈◊〉 in their Auditors It was an Observation what a sweet Man this was like to be that the first observable Act he did was the Marrying the Earl of D. to the Lady K. when it was notoriously known that she had another Husband who had divers Children living by her The Bishop of 〈◊〉 Dr. Williams procured for him at the first the 〈◊〉 of St. 〈◊〉 which he had not long enjoyed but he began to undermine his Benefactor and verily such is his aspiring Nature that he will underwork any Man in the World so he may gain by it This Man after the Death of the Duke of B. was the sole Favourite and was preferr'd to the Bishoprick of London in his way to Canterbury But to return to our King He obliged himself as yours did by his 〈◊〉 Oath to observe keep and 〈◊〉 the Laws Customs and Franchises of the Realm Which had he 〈◊〉 says Archbishop Abbot all things had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 But he broke the Oath of Protection and Justice which he took to his People as the whole History of His Reigh shews To give you some few of the Innumerable Instances which may brought therein In the beginning of his Reign he married Henrietta Maria of France Besides the General 〈◊〉 upon that Marriage he agreed to Private Articles in favour of Papists viz. that those who had been imprisoned as well Ecclesiasticks as Temporal should be released That Papists should be no more molested for their Religion c. Hereby a Toleration little less was instantly granted to Papists who without fear of Laws fell to their Practice of Idolatry and scoffed at Parliaments at Law and all Their Numbers Power and Insolence daily increased in all parts of the Kingdom especially in the City of London which seem'd to be overflowed with Swarms of 〈◊〉 This King wrote to the Pope and by his Letter saluted Antichrist with the Title of 〈◊〉 Pater Most Holy Father He procured the Pope's Dispensation for his Marriage which was solemnized by Proxy according to the Ceremonies of the Romish Church Pursuant to his Private Articles with France he instantly granted a Special Pardon to twenty Popish Priests of all Offences against the Laws and he built a Chappel at Sommerset-House with Conveniencies for Friers who were permitted to walk abroad in their Habits The Lords and Commons percieving the Protestant Religion to be undermined and all things apparently tending to an Innovation and Change of Religion in the Kingdom They presented to the King a Petition for advancing true Religion and for suppressing Popery He by his Answer assured them of performance yet the very next day after that promise made He assumed to himself a Power to dispense with the Laws of the Twenty first and Twenty seventh of Queen Elizabeth and of the third of King James in granting Pardons to Baker a Jesuite and many other Papists which passed by immediate Warrant and were recommended by the Lord Conway Secretary of State without the Payment of the Ordinary Fees The Secretary being called to answer this in Parliament very boldly said that he never hated the Popish Religion That the King commanded the granting the Pardons and that no Fees should be taken This King as well as yours made Papists Lords Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants Justices of the Peace c. As you may see by the Petition of the House of Commons wherein they complained of the increase and countenancing of Papists and named about One hundred Popish Lords Baronets Knights Esquires c. who held Places of 〈◊〉 and Trust in England and Wales And I shall here remember you that as his Secretary of State did not hate Popery so Weston whom he made Lord Treasurer of England died a Papist He granted a Commission to certain Commissioners to compound with Papists for all Forfeitures for Recusancy from the Tenth Year of King James whereby they made their Compositions upon very easie Terms And he inhibited and restrained both Ecclesiastical and Temporal Courts and Officers to intermeddle with Papists which amounted to no less than a Toleration In Ireland the Popish Religion was openly 〈◊〉 without control and practised in every part thereof Popish Jurisdiction being there generally exercised and avowed Monasteries
way of Loan and the Commissioners were ordered to certifie to the Council-Board the Names of all Rcfractory Persons particularly He demanded One hundred thousand Pounds of the City of London and the Magistrates representing the People's Excuses the Council commanded them to proceed therein threatning that upon their Failure His Majesty would frame his Counsels as appertained to a King in such extreme and important Occasions He also required the City to set forth Twenty Ships Manned and Victualled for three Months The Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council petitioned for Abatement of the Number of Ships demanded but were answered That Petitions and Pleadings were not to be received That as the Commanded was to all in general and every particular of the City so the King would require an Account both of the City in General and of every particular That the Precedents of former Times were Obedience not Direction and that Precedents were not wanting for the Punishment of those that disobey the King's Commands The Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of Dorsetshire being commanded to set forth Ships insisted That the Case was without Precedent but they were severely checked for that instead of Conformity they disputed and were told That State Occasions were not to be guided by ordinary Precedents The Persons of Quality who refused to subscribe to the Loan were put out of the Commissions of the Lieutenancy and Peace as they were who refused to comply with your King's Humour and were bound to appear at the Council-Table where as Refractory Persons they were committed to Prisons or put under 〈◊〉 these were Persons both of Note and Number as the Prisons in London demonstrated and as you must conclude when you read these following Names and know they were of that Number viz. Sir John Elliot Sir John Heveningham Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston Sir John Strangwayes Sir Walter Earle Sir Thomas Grantham Sir Thomas Wentworth Sir Harbottle Grimston Sir Edward Hambden Sir Thomas Darnel Sir John Corbet Sir William Armin Sir William Masham Sir William Wilmer Sir Erasmus Drayton Sir Edward Ayscough Sir Robert 〈◊〉 Sir Boauchamp Saint-John Sir Oliver Luke Sir Maurice Berkley Sir John Wray Sir William Constable Sir John Hotham Sir John Pickering Sir Francis Barrington Sir William Chancey George Ratclif Richard Knightly John 〈◊〉 William Anderson Terringham Norwood John Tregonwell Thomas Godfrey Thomas Nicholas John Dutton Henry Poole Nathaniel Coxwell Robert Hatley Thomas Elmes William Coriton and George Catesby Esquires besides above twenty Eminent Citizens of London and many other Gentlemen of good Note Sir Peter Hayman upon his refusal of the Loan was commanded to go upon the King's Service beyond the Seas others of a meaner Rank were either bound to appear before 〈◊〉 Lieutenant of the Tower to be enrolled for Soldiers to be sent for Denmark or were impress'd to serve in the King's Ships Now can it be imagined that there could be found a Man so hardened in Wickedness as to avow these unheard of Violences which trenched into all we had Yes there were in that as in every Age Pellings and 〈◊〉 amongst the Clergy Base Sycophants Aspiring Time-servers the Vile Descendents of Cambyses's Judges who being demanded Whether it were not lawful for him to do what in it self was unlawful they to please him answered That the Persian 〈◊〉 might do what they listed at that Rate those lying Prophets our slattering Gentlemen of the Cassock to scandalize the Laws and subvert Parliaments prated to this King They told him All we had was his JURE DIVINO and perswaded him who was most ready to believe it That the Right of Empires was to take away by strong Hand Of these Doctor Manwaring in two Sermons before the King printèd under the Title of Religion and Allegiance inculcated this Doctrin 1. That the King is not bound to observe the Laws concerning the Subjects Rights but that his Will in imposing Loans and Taxes without Consent in Parliament doth oblige the Subjects Conscience upon pain of Eternal Damnation 2. That they who refused the Loan did offend against the Law of God and against the King's Supreme Authority and thereby became Guilty of Impiety Disloyalty Rebellion c. 3. That Authority of Parliament is not necessary for the raising of Aids and Subsidies And Doctor Sibthorp Vicar of Brackley printed a Sermon which he preached at the Assizes at Northampton and dedicated to the King wherein he obliged his Country with these Positions 1. That it is the Princes Duty to direct and make Laws his Text by the way was Rom. 13. 7. Render therefore to all their dues he justified this by that apposite Proof Eccl. 8. 3 4. He doth whatsoever pleases him Who may say unto him What doest thou him I shall not be afraid of any Evil Tidings for my heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. But the Bishop of London appeared more plyable and gave Licence to this Sermon and it came out approved by my Lord of London as a Sermon learnedly and discreetly preached The King instantly suspended the Archbishop and also confined him and committed the Archtepiscopal Jurisdiction to five Bishops all of the New Church of England and Sibehorp's Patrons viz. London Durham 〈◊〉 Oxford and honest Laud of Bath and Wells The Commons Impeached Manwaring for his Sermons and by the Judgment of the House of Lords amongst other Penalties he was disabled from holding any future Ecclesiastical Preferment or Secular office The King granted him a Pardon of all 〈◊〉 and he was presented to the Rectory of Stamford Rivers in Essex and had a Dispensation to hold it together with the 〈◊〉 of S. Giles in the Fields I shall in this Place remember you That 〈◊〉 Bishop Doctor Williams of Lincoln as well as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heavy 〈◊〉 of this your 〈◊〉 King In the 〈◊〉 Year of his Reign the Bishop of Lincoln was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal but upon his appearing in Parliament against the Kingdom 's great Grievance the Duke of Buckingham he was Disgraced and Sequestred from the King's Presence and the 〈◊〉 Table In his Second Year he was 〈◊〉 for speaking publickly against the Loan and also for 〈◊〉 to give way to Proceedings in his Courts against the Puritans and Doctor 〈◊〉 charged him that he should say He was sure the Puritans would carry all at last The King now imprisoned him in the Tower and so the 〈◊〉 King was not without a Presidont when he sent seven Bishops thither Well this Good Bishop out-living his 〈◊〉 when upon the King's 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 we came to a Tryal of Skill for the Old English 〈◊〉 he resolutely said NOLUMUS LEGES ANGLIAE MUTARI and took a Command in our Army and bravely asserted his 〈◊〉 Liberties with his Sword Having thus Sir shewed you that the King which I Abdicated made no more Bones of Pious 〈◊〉 Bishops when he found them standing in the way of his Tyranny than he did to whose 〈◊〉 you lent your Hand I shall now proceed to
remind you That both the Tyrants went 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their Dealing with Westminster 〈◊〉 It is before remembred That Yours modelled the Courts of Justice till he got Judges to 〈◊〉 his Right to the Dispensing Power but Mine set him the Example for he resolving to subject the Liberties and Estates of the Subject to his Will and Pleasure and finding that the Grave and Learned Judge Sir 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord Chief Justice of the King's-Bench had declared himself against the 〈◊〉 and would not serve the Turn in that Day to give a Judgment That the King might imprison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 leave the Subject in the Goal and Remediless turned him 〈◊〉 and substituted Sir Nicholas 〈◊〉 in his Room and 〈◊〉 gained his Point For Sir Thomas 〈◊〉 Sir John 〈◊〉 Sir Walter Earl Sir John 〈◊〉 and Sir Edward 〈◊〉 Five of the Gentlemen imprisoned for refusing the Loan brought their Writs of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Third Year of this King The Warden of the 〈◊〉 made Return That they were detained in his Custody by the Special Command of the King We had then an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sir Robert Heath little short of your late 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the Knack of enslaving the People he 〈◊〉 and justified this 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no Special Cause was assigned and the Lord Chief 〈◊〉 Hide who was 〈◊〉 on purpose for it did singly as the Practice has also been of late give Judgment for Remanding the 〈◊〉 to Perpetual Imprisonment for that Judgment did in effect declare upon Record That by the King's Command a Subject might be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever To the Imposition of the Loan and the many other Grievous Sufferings and Violent Oppressions under which we groaned This King added the Burthen of Billeting Soldiers of whom many were 〈◊〉 they brake out into great 〈◊〉 mastered the People disturbed the 〈◊〉 of Families and the Civil Government To some Places they were 〈◊〉 for a Punishment and where-ever they came there was a General Outcry the 〈◊〉 were 〈◊〉 and the Markets unfrequented they 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 to all and 〈◊〉 to many of the People He also towards the End of the Year 1627 issued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the great Seal to several 〈◊〉 Lords with 〈◊〉 and Loud Bishops of 〈◊〉 and Bath and Wells and others to raise Money by an Excise 〈◊〉 to enforce the Payment and which is very probable to 〈◊〉 the Parliament which was to assemble the seventeenth of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ☞ Upon the Thirtieth Day of January 1627 sent a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Lord Treasurer to this effect We command you forthwith to pay to Philip 〈◊〉 Merchant Thirty thousand Pounds to be paid by him over by Bill of Exchange into the Low 〈◊〉 and Germany unto Sir William Balfoure and John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Levying and Providing certain numbers of 〈◊〉 with Arms for Horse and Foot to be brought over into this Kingdom for our Service c. Burlemark being afterwards called into the House of Commons and examined about this Matter declared That he received the Thirty thousand Pounds That One thousand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 levyed and those Horses and their Riders 〈◊〉 to come over and Arms were provided for them in Holland but he heard a 〈◊〉 was gone to stay them In this 〈◊〉 third Parliament to which the Extremity of his Affairs brought him much against his Will The 〈◊〉 with sad hearts taking notice of the high Oppressions of the People by heavy and illegal Exactions by false and arbitrary Imprisonments 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 upon the strange and dangerous Purpose of bringing in German Horse and Riders to change the Frame both of Religion and Government They found it as necessary as just to vindicate our Ancient Vital Liberties and in order thereto They drew up a Petition of Right thereby 〈◊〉 of the levying of Moneys without Authority of 〈◊〉 Of the Imprisoning the Subject without any Cause shewed and not being delivered by 〈◊〉 Corpus as by 〈◊〉 they ought Of the Subjects being 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 Soldiers into their Houses and to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against their Wills And of the Excuting Martial Law contrary to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm Whereupon they prayed as 〈◊〉 Rights and Liberties that none should 〈◊〉 be compelled to yield any Gift Loan 〈◊〉 Tax or such like Charge without common Consent by Act of Parliament And that no Freeman should be imprisoned without Cause shewed And that the People might not be burdened with Soldiers in time to come And that no Commission for procceding by Martial Law 〈◊〉 hereafter issue q They further prayed as their Right that the King would declare that the proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the Premises should not hereafter be drawn into Example And that in all the things aforesaid All his Officers and Ministers should serve him according to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm This highly necessary and seasonable Petition met with great Interruption and violent Opposition The King urged that it trench'd upon his 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 Authority 〈◊〉 Power Sovereign Power c. which imported no less than 〈◊〉 King's being loose and 〈◊〉 from all Ties and Restraints either by 〈◊〉 Stipulations or superadded Laws The great Sir Edward Coke said in answer thereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is such 〈◊〉 Fellow that he will have no 〈◊〉 Let us not yield a Sovereign Power above all 〈◊〉 Power in Law as the 〈◊〉 Posse Comitatus is taken for a Power with force The King strugled long to shift it off and to avoid the answering this 〈◊〉 in a Parliamentary way pressing them again and again by Messages to rest and rely upon his Royal Word The Commons persisting pursued their Petition and to have it pass into a Law and Sir Edward Coke said Was ever a Verbal Declaration of the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King must speak by Record and in particulars not in generals All succeeding Kings 〈◊〉 say ye must trust me as well as ye did my Predecessors Let us put up our Petition of Right Not that I distrust the King but that I cannot take his Trust but in a Parliamentary way At length this Petition being unanimously agreed unto by the Lords 〈◊〉 was presented to the King who at first gave a lame and uncertain Answer to it and being press'd to give a direct and plain Answer he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word to the House that he would not alter his Answer but he was afterwards brought to do it by the Importunity of the Lords and Commons and gave a clear and satisfactory Answer and so that Excellent Law pass'd But He had no sooner granted this Petition but We found it notoriously violated by his 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 and levying the Subsidies of 〈◊〉 and Poundage which determined by his Father's Death and were never payable to any of his Ancestors but only by special Act of Parliament Hereupon the Commons shewed by Remonstrance that Tonnage and Poundage were always the free Gift of the Subject for guarding the Seas and that the taking
of Parliament so were they now deprived of the Fruit of the Habeas Corpus and of the Benefit of Freeborn Subjects for obtaining their Liberty and were long deteined in Prison and the brave Sir John Elliot ended his days in the Tower not without Suspicion of foul Play But why have I deteined you so long in recounting these particular Violations of the Priviledges of Parliament when 't is so evident that this King struck at the very being of Parliaments as many Instances fully demonstrate Sir Dudly Carleton his Vice-Chamberlain and a Privy-Counsellor whom he soon after created a Lord warned the Commons to take heed of bringing the King out of love with Parliaments and said that in all Christian Kingdoms Parliaments were anciently in use until the Monarchs began to know their own Strength and at last overthrew Parliaments throughout Christendom except here only with us He proceeded setting forth the wretched Condition of Subjects in Foreign Countries and said This is a Misery which yet We are free from Let us then be careful to preserve the King' s good Opinion of Parliaments lest 〈◊〉 lose the repute of a Freeborn Nation by our Turbulency in Parliaments The King himself sent a threatning Message to the Commons that if he had not a timely Supply he would betake himself to New Counsels Which could only mean the putting an End to the use of Parliaments At another time speaking to the Lords and Commons he said Remember that Parliaments are altogether in my Power therefore as I find the Fruits of them good or evil They are to continue or not to be At the opening of the Parliament the 17 th of March 1627. he told them if they should not contribute what the State needed he must use those other Means which God and Laud Sibthorp and Manwaring c. had put into his hands To this the Lord Keeper added that if the King found the readiness of their Supplies he might the better forbear the Use of his Prerogative That the King chose that way of Parliament not as the only way but as the 〈◊〉 Not as destitute of others but as most agreeable to his Disposition Thus Sir have I as I promised run through the first four Years of this King and shew'd you how our Liberties and Properties were invaded How our Religion and Government were undermined How an Army was raised to subject our Fortunes to the Will of Power and to make good the Breaches upon our Liberties And how Parliaments were contemned and cast off so that it was well and truly said in the House of Commons that the Subject suffered more in the first three Years of this King in Violation of Ancient Liberties than in three hundred Years before It remains now That I recal into your Memory what the Carriage of our Parliaments was under this Universal Oppression Why their Temper Mildness and Moderation was incredible as their Speeches Petitions and even Remonstrances do evince They dealt long with the King with no other Weapons but Sweetness Trust and Confidence and 't was their only Endeavour and End to make up all Rents and Breaches between the King and his Subjects but they found in him A sowerness of Temper Fierceness of Disposition and Pride joyned with a peevishness of Humour not to bear the having his Will disputed or 〈◊〉 by the established known Laws He was wilful and inexorable and knew not the things of his Peace Having Abdicated Parliaments for from this Time We had eleven Years Interval of Parliament He as idle Boys say when they act Mischief began to play absolute Reaks instead of Rex 'T is a certain Rule Nemo repente 〈◊〉 turpissimus and I have here given you but a Tast of the Miserable and Calamitous State under which he laid us as you must conclude when you remember how after the Dissolution of his third Parliament he betook himself to New Counsels and exerted his Sovereign Absolute Power and how despotically he used and exercised them Were I to continue his History as I may in another Letter if you accept this when I lead you into Westminster Hall you would see the Illegal and Wicked Judgments of the Courts there to the compleat Overthrow of the Liberty of our Persons and the Property of our Goods and in opening to you his accursed Star-Chamber and High Commission Courts I should shew you his most Cruel and Barbarous 〈◊〉 Pilloryings Stigmatizings c. His Suspending Excommunicating Depriving and Imprisoning the Conforming Clergy of the Church of England for Preaching against Popery for not Reading his Book for Sports on the Lord's Day and for not Making Corporal Reverence at the Name of Jesus I should not forget to lay before you his Billeting of Soldiers and his most Arbitrary Imposing and Exacting of Ship Money against the known Laws and contrary to his Late Promise in the Petition of Right and which is never to be forgotten his Accession to the Horrid Murders of those many Thousands of Miserable Protestants who fell in Ireland But To conclude your present Trouble We long bore our Heavy Burdens and the Yoke of this 〈◊〉 with Patience even almost to the Breaking of our Backs at length no other Moans availing to rescue Us from Utter Ruin We strugled to continue the English Liberties to our selves and to the Generations that should come after us and to leave our Posterity as free as our Ancestors left us And had we not so done and that in the way we did it where had your English Liberties been at this Day The Great Lord Hollis told you the Truth therein in his Letter to Van 〈◊〉 in the Year 1676 when he said That had not We in the Parliament of 1640 interposed the English Government must have sunk e're now for save what we did Not one true Stroke had been struck since Queen Elizabeth SIR Having now made an End with my Tyrant and by the Particulars which I have presented to your View set it beyond all possibility of rational Controul That the Tyrants of whom I have treated were at least Parallels I shall now offer one Word for my self which is That in whatsoever I have said I have had a Due and Faithful Regard to Truth and do challenge even Pelling himself who ought for his own Vindication to do it if he can to convict me of Falshood in any one Particular here charged upon his In comparable Prince and if you shall esteem me over-tart in any of my Expressions I say That if to call a Spade a Spade be unbecoming I have transgressed if not I cannot see how I ought to have expressed the Despotick and Arbitrary Pranks I have mentioned by any other Name than Tyranny nor to have stilled him who acted them other than a Tyrant And as to my Reverend Doctor it seems a Difficulty to me to find Words proper and severe enough whereby to brand and stamp a Character of Infamy upon him who with such Loathsome
the same without Act of Parliament is a breach of the fundamental Liberties of the Kingdom and contrary to the King's Answer to the 〈◊〉 of Right However by order of Council he commanded the Customs to be levyed Pursuant thereto the Custom-House Officers seized great quantities of the Goods of Mr. Vassal a Merchant because he refused to pay Customs and an Information being brought in the Exchequer Mr. Vassal pleaded Magna Charta and the Statute de 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 c. and that the 〈◊〉 was not 〈◊〉 seu certa 〈◊〉 and that it was imposed without assent of Parliament The Attorny 〈◊〉 having demurred to Mr. 〈◊〉 's Plea and he joyned in demurrer The Barons of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denied to hear Mr. Vassal's Counsel to argue for him and said that the King was in Possession and they would keep him in Possession And shortly after they imprisoned Mr. Vassal for not paying the Customs as he had been before for refusing the Loan The Goods of Mr. John Rolls a Merchant and Member of Parliament and of Mr. Richard Chambers a Merchant being seized for Non-payment of Customs They brought Writs of Replevin to regain the Possession of their Goods but the Barons of the 〈◊〉 sent an Injunction to the Sheriffs of London commanding them not to execute the Writs Also the Warehouse of Mr. Rolls was lock'd up by 〈◊〉 at the time when he was sitting in Parliament Mr. Chambers was likewise prosecuted in the Star-Chamber for saying that the Merchants are in no part of the World 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 as in England That in Turkey they have more encouragement For this he was 〈◊〉 2000 〈◊〉 committed to the Fleet and ordered to make Submission which being drawn up and tendred to him he thus like a brave English Man underwrote it All the abovesaid Contents and Submission I do utterly abhor and detest as most unjust and false and never till death will acknowledge any part thereof Rich. Chambers To this he added Wo to them that devise Iniquity because it is in the power of their hand and they covet 〈◊〉 and take them by Violence and Houses and take them away So they 〈◊〉 a Man and his House even a Man and his Heritage Micah 2. 1 2. Now Sir to draw towards a Conclusion I shall observe that no Rank or Order of Men stood clear from the 〈◊〉 of this Tyrant He kept the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 under Confinement near two Years without being charg'd with any Accusation or brought to Tryal or Permitted to answer for himself And upon his Petitioning the Lords to be 〈◊〉 to his Liberty and to his Seat in Parliament and 〈◊〉 an Accusation against the Duke of 〈◊〉 This King upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for him in Custody as a Delinquent and prosecuted him as such Also He committed the 〈◊〉 of Arundel to the Tower in time of Parliament without expressing any Cause of his 〈◊〉 in Violation of the 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 This 〈◊〉 was long detained a Prisoner though the House of Lords presented a Remonstrance and many Petitions for 〈◊〉 him to Parliament And As he oppressed our best Patriots so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sheltred the grand Enemies of the Commonwealth When the 〈◊〉 in Parliament prosecuted the Duke of 〈◊〉 as the Principal Patron and Supporter of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set on foot to the Danger of the Church and State As a Perso notorious in Evil that all our Evils came by him As the Man who had cast the Body of the Kingdom into an high Consumption The King interposed to rescue 〈◊〉 When the Commons impeach'd him and by one of their Articles charg'd him in effect with the Murder of King James The King told the House of Lords that to approve Buckingham's Innocence he could be a Witness to clear him in every one of the Articles When the Earl of Bristol exhibited Articles to the Lords against the Duke the King took upon himself to become a Witness to accuse the Earl of Traiterous Practices some Years before Notwithstanding nothing grows to abuse but the House of Commons hath Power to treat of it and it hath been their Ancient and Undoubted Right and Usage to question and complain of all Persons of what Degree soever 〈◊〉 grievous to the Commonwealth Whereof there was a noted Instance in 30 Edw. 3. 〈◊〉 When they accused John de Gaunt the King's Son for misleading and misadvising the King and he went to the Tower for it yet our King told the House of Commons that he would not allow any of his Servants to be questioned amongst them much less such as were near him That he saw they aimed at the Duke but assured them he had not intermedled nor done any thing concerning the Publick but by his special Directions He added that he wondred at the foolish Impudence of any Man to think he should be drawn to offer such a Sacrifice He in scorn and defiance of the Parliament procured the Laudean Faction in the University of Cambridge who were gaping for Ecclesiastical Preferment to choose the Duke their Chancellor at the Time when he stood Impeach'd in Parliament He constantly gave interruption to the Parliament when they had the Duke's Offences under Examination not bearing their mentioning his Name and Misdoings And he dissolved three Parliaments when they were intent upon his Prosecution refusing a Petition of the House of Lords against one of those Dissolutions and denying them Access to his Person Upon the Dissolution of his second Parliament he sent Sir Dudly Diggs and Sir John Elliot Prisoners to the Tower to the infringing the undoubted Priviledges of the Commons for managing a Conference with the Lords upon their Impeaching the Duke He in the time of his 3 d. Parliament sent Warrants for sealing up of the Studies of Sir John Elliot Mr. Holles and Mr. Selden and also sent 〈◊〉 to Mr. Holles Sir Miles Hobart Sir John Elliot Sir Peter Hayman John Selden William Coryton Walter Long William Strode and Benjamin Valentine Esqrs all Members to appear before the Privy Council Mr. Holles Sir John Elliot Mr. Coriton and Mr. Valentine appeared and refusing to answer out of Parliament what was said and done in Parliament they were during the Parliament committed close Prisoners to the Tower and a 〈◊〉 was issued for apprehending Mr. Long and Mr. Strode who coming in were committed close Prisoners to the King's Bench And all the rest of the before named Members were committed to several Prisons These imprisoned Gentlemen in Trinity Term following 1629. brought their 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Corpus and were brought to the King's Bench-Count where very learned Arguments were made on their behalf shewing the Illegality of their Imprisonment and being to be brought again upon another day to receive the Judgment of the Court they were by the unpresidented Arbitrary Practices of that time removed and shifted to other Prisons and toss'd from Goal to Goal and by that wicked Artifice as they were imprisoned in notorious Breach of the Priviledge