and does hereby Dissolve it and from this time excuses your farther attendance here but with his repeated Thanks for your Service hitherto and with the assurance of his Satisfaction in you so far that he should not have parted with you but to make way for this new Constitution which he takes to be as to the Number and Choice the most proper and necessary for the uses he intends them And as most of you have Offices in his Service and all of you particular Shares in his Favour and good Opinion so he desires you will continue to exercise and deserve them with the same Diligence and good Affections that you have hitherto done and with confidence of his Majesty's Kindness to you and of those Testimonies you shall receive of it upon other occasions Therefore upon the present Dissolution of this Council his Majesty appoints and commands all those Officers he hath named to attend him here to morrow at Nine in the Morning as his Privy-Council together with those other Persons he designs to make up the number and to each of whom he has already signed particular Letters to that purpose and commands the Lord Chancellor to see them issued out accordingly which is the Form he intends to use and that hereafter they shall be signed in Council so that nothing may be done unadvisedly in the Choice of any Person to a Charge of so great Dignity and Importance to the Kingdom Names of the Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council HIS Highness Prince Rupert William Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Heneage Lord Finch Lord Chancellor of England Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury Lord President of the Council Arthur Earl of Anglesey Lord Privy-Seal Christopher Duke of Albemarle James Duke of Monmouth Master of the Horse Henry Duke of Newcastle John Duke of Lauderdale Secretary of State for Scotland James Duke of Ormond Lord Steward of the Houshold Charles Lord Marquess of Winchester Henry Lord Marquess of Worcester Henry Earl of Arlington Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold James Earl of Salisbury John Earl of Bridgewater Robert Earl of Sunderland one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State Arthur Earl of Essex first Lord Commissioner of the Treasury John Earl of Bath Groom of the Stole Thomas Lord Viscount Falconberg George Lord Viscount Hallifax Henry Lord Bishop of London John Lord Roberts Denzil Lord Holles William Lord Russel William Lord Cavendish Henry Coventry Esq one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State Sir Francis North Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Sir Henry Capell Knight of the Bath first Commissioner of the Admiralty Sir John Ernle Knight Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Chicheley Knight Master of the Ordnance Sir William Temple Baronet Edward Seymour Esquire Henry Powle Esquire Whitehall April 11. 1679. HIS Majesty being this day in Council did cause such of the aforementioned Lords and others who were then present to be Sworn Privy-Counsellors which being done they took their places accordingly His Majesty was also pleased to declare that he intended to make Sir Henry Capell Knight of the Bath Daniel Finch Esquire Baronets Sir Thomas Lee Sir Humphrey Winch Sir Thomas Meers Edward Vaughan and Edward Hales Esquires Commmissioners for the Execution of the Office of Lord High Admiral of England And his Majesty being afterwards come into the House of Peers in his Royal Robes and the House of Commons attending his Majesty was pleased to make this Speech My Lords and Gentlemen I Thought it requisite to acquaint you with what I have done now this day which is That I have Established a new Privy-Council the Constant number of which shall never exceed Thirty I have made choice of such Persons as are Worthy and able to Advise Me and am Resolved in all My Weighty and Important Affairs next to the Advice of my Great Council in Parliament which I shall very often Consult with to be Advised by this Privy-Council I could not make so great a Change without acquainting both Houses of Parliament And I desire you all to apply your selves heartily as I shall do to those things which are necessary for the good and safety of the Kingdom and that no time may be lost in it The Message from the King by Mr. Secretary Jenkins to the Commons on the 9th of November 1680. CHARLES R. HIs Majesty desires this House as well for the satisfaction of His People as of Himself to expedite such Matters as are depending before them relating to Popery and the Plot and would have them rest assured That all Remedies they can tender to his Majesty conducing to those Ends shall be very acceptable to him Provided they be such as may consist with preserving the Succession of the Crown in its due and legal course of Descent The Address to his Majesty from the Commons Saturday November 13. 1680. May it please your most Excellent Majesty WE Your Majesty's most Loyal and Obedient Subjects the Commons in this Present Parliament assembled having taken into our most serious Consideration Your Majesty's Gracious Message brought unto us the ninth day of this instant November by Mr. Secretary Jenkins do with all thankfulness acknowledge Your Majesty's Care and Goodness in inviting us to expedite such Matters as are depending before us relating to Popery and the Plot. And we do in all Humility represent to Your Majesty that we are fully convinced that it is highly incumbent upon us in discharge both of our Duty to Your Majesty and of that great Trust reposed in us by those whom we represent to endeavour by the most speedy and effectual ways the Suppression of Popery within this Your Kingdom and the bringing to publick Justice all such as shall be found Guilty of the Horrid and Damnable Popish Plot. And though the Time of our Sitting abating what must necessarily be spent in the choosing and presenting a Speaker appointing Grand Committees and in taking the Oaths and Tests enjoyned by Act of Parliament hath not much exceeded a Fortnight yet we have in this Time not only made a considerable Progress in some things which to us seem and when presented to Your Majesty in a Parliamentary way will we trust appear to Your Majesty to be absolutely necessary for the Safety of Your Majesties Person the effectual Suppression of Popery and the Security of the Religion Lives and Estates of Your Majesties Protestant Subjects But even in relation to the Tryals of the Five Lords impeached in Parliament for the Execrable Popish Plot we have so far proceeded as we doubt not but in a short time we shall be ready for the same But we cannot without being unfaithful to Your Majesty and to our Country by whom we are entrusted omit upon this occasion humbly to inform Your Majesty that our Difficulties even as to these Tryals are much encreased by the evil and destructive Councels of those Persons who advised Your Majesty first to the Prorogation and then to the Dissolution of the last
humbly Pray That His Majesty would Consent to this Expedient in order to a future Settlement And hope that such a Temperament may be thought of as that the Army now on Foot may not give any Interruption to the proceeding of a Parliament But if to the great Misfortune and Ruin of these Kingdoms it should prove otherwise we further declare That we will to our utmost defend the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Kingdom and the Rights and Liberties of the Subject A Letter from a Gentleman at King's-Lynn December 7. 1688. To his Friend in London Sir THE Duke of Norfolk came to Town on Wednesday Night with many of the chiefest of the County and yesterday in the Market-place received the Address following which was presented by the Mayor attended by the Body and many hundreds of the Inhabitants To his Grace the most Noble Henry Duke of Norfolk Lord Marshal of England My Lord THE daily Allarms we receive as well from Foreign as Domestick Enemies give us just Apprehensions of the approaching Danger which we conceive we are in and to apply with all earnestness to your Grace as your great Patron in all humble Confidence to succeed in our Expectations That we may be put into such a posture by your Grace's Directions and Conduct as may make us appear as zealous as any in the Defence of the Protestant Religion the Laws and Ancient Government of this Kingdom Being the desire of many hundreds who must humbly callenge a Right of your Grace's Protection His Grace's Answer Mr. Mayor I Am very much obliged to you and the rest of your Body and those here present for your good Opinion of me and the Confidence you have that I will do what in me lies to support and defend the Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion in which I will never deceive you And since the coming of the Prince of Orange hath given us an opportunity to declare for the defence of them I can only assure you that no Man will venture his Life and Fortune more freely for the Defence of the Laws Liberties and Protestant Religion than I will do and with all these Gentlemen here present and many more will unanimously concur therein and you shall see that all possible Care shall be taken that such a Defence shall be made as you require AFter which the Duke was with his Retinue received at the Mayor's House at Dinner with great Acclamations and his Proceedings therein have put our County into a Condition of Defence of which you shall hear further in a little time our Militia being ordered to be raised throughout the County Our Tradesmen Seamen and Mobile have this morning generally put Orange Ribbon on their Hats Ecchoing Huzza's to the Prince of Orange and Duke of Norfolk All are in a hot Ferment God send us a good Issue of it Lynn-Regis Decemb. 10. 1688. Sir BY mine of the 7th Instant I gave you an Account of the Address of this Corporation to his Grace the Duke of Norfolk and of his Grace's Answer thereto Since which his Grace has sent for the Militia Troops and put them in a posture of Defence as appears by the ensuing Speech The Duke of Norfolk's second Speech at Lynn I Hope you see I have endeavoured to put you in the posture you desired by sending both for Horse and Foot of the Militia and am very glad to see such an Appearance of this Town in so good a Condition And I do again renew my former Assurances to you that I will ever stand by you to Defend the Laws Liberties and the Protestant Religion and to procure a Settlement in Church and State in concurrence with the Lords and Gentlemen in the North and pursuant to the Declaration of the Prince of Orange And so God save the King The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster Assembled at Guild-hall Dec. 1688. WE doubt not but the World believes that in this great and dangerous Conjuncture we are heartily and zealously concerned for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject And we did reasonably Hope that the King having Issued His Proclamation and Writs for a Free Parliament we might have rested Secure under the Expectation of that Meeting But His Majesty having withdrawn Himself and as we apprehend in order to His Departure out of this Kingdom by the pernicious Counsels of Persons ill-affected to our Nation and Religion we cannot without being wanting to our Duty be silent under those Calamities wherein the Popish Counsels which so long prevailed have miserably Involved these Realms We do therefore Unanimously resolve to apply our Selves to His Highness the Prince of Orange who with so great Kindness to these Kingdoms so vast Expence and so much Hazard to his own Person hath Undertaken by endeavouring to procure a Free Parliament to rescue Us with as little Effusion as possible of Christian Blood from the Imminent Dangers of Popery and Slavery And we do hereby Declare That we will with our utmost Endeavours assist his Highness in the obtaining such a Parliament with all speed wherein our Laws our Liberties and Properties may be Secured the Church of England in particular with a due Liberty to Protestant Dissenters and in general the Protestant Religion and Interest over the whole World may be Supported and Encouraged to the glory of God the Happiness of the Established Government in these Kingdoms and the Advantage of all Princes and States in Christendom that may be herein concerned In the mean time we will endeavour to preserve as much as in us lies the Peace and Security of these great and populous Cities of London and Westminster and the Parts adjacent by taking care to Disarm all Papists and secure all Jesuits and Romish Priests who are in our about the same And if there be any thing more to be performed by us for promoting his Highness's generous Intentions for the Publick good we shall be ready to do it as occasion shall require W. Cant. Tho. Ebor. Pembroke Dorset Mulgrave Thanet Carlisle Craven Ailesbury Burlington Sussex Barkelay Rochester Newport Waymouth P. Winchester W. Asaph Fran. Ely Tho. Roffen Tho. Petriberg P. Wharton North and Grey Chandos Montague T. Jermyn Vaughan Carbery Culpeper Crewe Osulston WHereas His Majesty hath privately this Morning withdrawn Himself we the Lords Spiritual and Temporal whose Names are subscribed being assembled at Guild-hall in London having Agreed upon and Signed a Declaration Entituled The Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about the Cities of London and Westminster Assembled at Guild-hall 11. Decemb. 1688. Do desire the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembroke the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Weymouth the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Ely and the Right Honourable the Lord Culpeper forthwith to attend his Highness the Prince of Orange with the said Declaration and at the same
but Christianity itself that lies at stake For in the Ruine of the Empire the Turks work is done to his hand by breaking down the only Fence that has preserv'd us all this while from the Incursions of the Ottoman Power Now as nothing can be more glorious than at all hazards to hinder the effusion of more Christian Blood and to save Christendom itself from Bondage it is so much our Interest too that we our selves are lost without it And as the Obligation is reciprocal so the Resolution is necessary The choice we have before us being only this Either to unite with our Neighbours for a Common Safety or to stand still and look on the tame Spectators of their Ruine till we fall alone This is so demonstrative that if we do not by a powerful Alliance and Diversion prevent the Conquest of Flanders which lies already a gasping we are cut off from all Communication with the rest of Europe and coop'd up at home to the irrecoverable loss of our Reputation and Commerce for Holland must inevitably follow the Fate of Flanders and then the French are Masters of the Sea Ravage our Plantations and infallibly possess themselves of the Spanish Indies and leave us answerable for all those Calamities that shall ensue upon it which as yet by God's Providence may be timely prevented But he that stills the raging of the Sea will undoubtedly set Bounds to this overflowing Greatness having now as an Earnest of that Mercy put it into the Hearts of our Superiours to provide seasonably for the Common Safety and in proportion also to the Exigence of the Affair knowing very well that things of this Nature are not to be done by halves We have to do with a Nation of a large Territory abounding in Men and Money their Dominion is grown absolute that no Man there can call any thing his own if the Court says Nay to 't So that the sober and industrious part are only Slaves to the Lusts and Ambition of the Military In this Condition of Servitude they feel already what their Neighbours fear and wish as well to any Opportunity either of avoiding or of casting off the Yoke which will easily be given by a Conjunction of England and Holland at Sea and almost infallibly produce these effects First It will draw off the Naval Force of France from Sicily America and else-where to attend this Expedition Secondly The Diversion will be an Ease to the Empire and the Confederates from whence more Troops must be drawn to encounter this Difficulty than the French can well spare Thirdly It will not only encourage those Princes and States that are already engag'd but likewise keep in awe those that are disaffected and confirm those that waver 'T is true this War must needs be prodigiously expensive but then in probability it will be short And in Cases of this Quality People must do as in a Storm at Sea rather throw part of the Lading over-board than founder the Vessel I do not speak this as supposing any difficulty in the Case for the very contemplation of it has put fire into the Veins of every true English-man and they are moved as by a sacred impulse to the necessary and the only means of their Preservation And that which Crowns our hopes is that these generous Inclinations are only ready to execute what the Wisdom of their Superiours shall find reasonable to Command I need not tell you how jealous the People of England are of their Religion and Liberties to what degree they have contended even for the shadow of these Interests nor how much Blood and Treasure they have spent upon the Quarrel Could any Imposture work so much and can any Man imagine that they will be now less sensible when they see before their eyes a manifest Plot upon their Religion their Liberties invaded their Traffick interrupted the Honour and the very Being of their Country at stake their Wives and Children expos'd to Beggary and Scorn and in Conclusion The Priviledge of a Free-born English-man exchanged for the Vassalage of France An ANSWER to a LETTER written by a Member of Parliament in the Country upon the occasion of his Reading of the Gazette of the 11th of December 1679 wherein is the Proclamation for further Proroguing the Parliament till the 11th of November next ensuing SIR I Received your Letter when I was ingaged in much other business which will excuse me that I have not returned an Answer sooner and that is done no better now You desire me to let you know what that Judgment is which my Lord Chancellor acquainted my Lord Mayor and his Brethren with and what my thoughts are upon it And that I may obey you in both I will first Transcribe that Case as it is reported by Justice Crook that being already put into English whereas the Case in Moor is in French MEmorandum That by Command from the King all the Justices of England Cro. Ja. f. 37. Nov. 100. Moor 755. with divers of the Nobility viz. The Lord Ellesmere Lord-Chancellor the Earl of Dorset Lord-Treasurer Viscount Cranbourn Principal Secretary the Earl of Nottingham Lord Admiral the Earls of Northumberland Worcester Devon and Northampton the Lords Zouch Burghley and Knowles the Chancellor of the Dutchy the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishop of London Popham Chief Justice Bruce Masters of the Rolls Anderson Gawdy Walmesley Fenner Kingsmil Warburton Savel Daniel Yelverton and Snigg were assembled in the Star-Chamber where the Lord Chancellor after a long Speech made by him concerning Justices of the Peace and his Exhortation to the Justices of Assize and a Discourse concerning Papists and Puritans declaring how they both were Disturbers of the State and that the King intending to suppress them and to have the Laws put in execution against them demanded of the Justices their Resolutions in three things First Whether the Deprivation of Puritan-Ministers by the High Commissioners for refusing to conform themselves to the Ceremonies appointed by the last Canons was lawful Whereto all the Justices answered That they had conferred thereof before and held it to be lawful because the King hath the Supreme Ecclesiastical Power which he hath delegated to the Commissioners whereby they had the Power of Deprivation by the Canon-Law of the Realm And the Statute of 1 Eliz. which appoints Commissioners to be made by the Queen doth not confer any new Power but explain and declare the Ancient Power And therefore they held it clear That the King without Parliament might make Orders and Constitutions for the Government of the Clergy and might deprive them if they obeyed not And so the Commissioners might deprive them But they could not make any Constitutions without the King And the divulging of such Ordinances by Proclamation is a most gracious Admonition And forasmuch as they have refused to obey they are lawfully deprived by the Commissioners ex Officio without Libel Et ore tenus convocati Secondly Whether a Prohibition
of that Town 2. Your Subjects are sometimes upon slight and sometimes upon no grounds imprisoned and often kept Prisoners many Months and years nothing being objected to them and are required to enter themselves Prisoners which is contrary to Law It was in the former Article expressed that many of these Persons declared incapable of publick Trust did also suffer Imprisonment and besides these instances Lieutenant General Drummond whose eminent Loyalty and great Services are well known to your Majesty was required to enter himself Prisoner in the Castle of Dunbarton where he was kept one year and a half and was made a close Prisoner for nine months of that time and yet nothing was ever objected to him to this day to justifie that Usage The Lord Cardross was for his Ladies keeping two Conventicles in her own House at which he was not present fined 110 l. and hath now been kept prisoner four years in the Castle of Edenburg where he still remains although he hath often petitioned for his Liberty and Sir Patrick Holme hath been now a second time almost one year and nothing is yet laid to his charge Besides these illegal Imprisonments the Officers of your Majesties Forces frequently carry Warrants with them for apprehending persons that are under no legal Censure nor have been so much as cited to appear which hath put many of your Subjects under great fears especially upon what was done in Council three years ago Captain Carstairs a man now well enough known to your Majesty did intrap one Kirkton an outed Minister into his Chamber at Edenburgh and did violently abuse him and designed to have extorted some money from him The noise of this coming to the Ears of one Baily Brother-in-law to the said Kirkton he came to the house and hearing him cry Murder Murder forced open the Chamber door where he found his Brother-in-law and the Captain grapling the Captain pretended to have a Warrant against Kirkton and Baily desired him to shew it and promised that all obedience should be given to it But the Captain refusing to do it Kirkton was rescued This was only delivering a man from the hands of a Robber which Nature obligeth all men to do especially when joyned with so near a Relation The Captain complained of this to the Council and the Lord Hatton with others were appointed to examine the Witnesses And when it was brought before the Council the Duke of Hamilton Earls of Mereton Dumfrize and Kinkarden the Lord Cocheren and Sir Archibald Primrose then Lord Register desired that the Report of the Examination might be read but that not serving their ends was denyed And thereupon those Lords delivered their Opinion that fithence Carstares did not shew any Warrant nor was cloathed with any publick Character it was no opposing of your Majesties Authority in Baily so to rescue the said Kirkton yet Baily was for this fined in 6000. Marks and kept long a Prisoner Those Lords were upon that so represented to your Majesty that by the Duke of Lauderdale's procurement they were turned out of the Council and all command of the Militia And it can be made appear that the Captain had at that time no Warrant at all against Kirkton but procured it after the Violence committed And it was ante-dated on design to serve a turn at that time This manner of Proceedings hath ever since put your subjects under sad apprehensions There is one particular further offered to your Majesties consideration concerning their way of using Prisoners There were 14 men taken at a Field Conventicle who without being legally Convict of that or any other crimes were secretly and in the night taken out of Prison upon a Warrant signed by the Earl of Lynlythgo and the Lord Hatton and Collington and were delivered to Captain Maytland who had been Page to the Duke of Lauderdale but was then a French Officer and was making his Levies in Scotland and were carryed over to the service of the French King in the year 1676. 3. The Council hath upon many occasions proceeded to most unreasonable and Arbitrary Fines either for slight offences or for offences where the Fine is regulated by Law which they have never considered when the persons were not acceptable to them So the Lord Cardross was Fined in 1111 l. for his Ladies keeping two Conventicles in his house and Christning a Child by an outed Minister without his knowledge The Provost formerly mentioned and Baily with many more were also fined without any regard to Law The Council hath at several times proceeded to the taking of Gentlemens Dwelling-houses from them and putting Garrisons in them which in time of peace is contrary to Law In the year 75. It was designed against twelve of your Majesties Subjects and was put in Execution in the houses of the Earl of Calender the Lord Cardrosse the Lady Lumsden c. and was again attempted in the year 78. the Houses belonging to the Leirds of Cosnock Blagan and Rowal and were possessed by Souldiers and declared Garrisons Nor did it rest there but Orders were sent from the Council requiring the Countries about those Houses to furnish them for the Souldiers use and to supply them with necessaries much contrary to Law It was against this that Sir Patrick Holme came to desire a remedy and common Justice being denied him he used a legal Protestation in the ordinary Form of Law and was thereupon kept for many Months a Prisoner and declared incapable of all publick trust c. There is another particular which because it is so odious is unwillingly touched yet it is necessary to inform your Majesty about it for thereby it will appear that the Duke of Lauderdale and his Brother have in a most solemn manner broken the publick faith that was given in your Majesties name One Mitchel being put in Prison upon great suspicion of his having attempted to murder the late Arch Bishop of St. Andrews and there being no Evidence against him Warrant was given by the Duke of Lauderdale then your Majesties Commissioner and your Council to promise him his life if he would confess Whereupon he did confess and yet some years after that person who indeed deserved many deaths if there had been any other Evidence against him was upon that confession convicted of the Crime and the Duke of Lauderdale and his Brother being put to it by him did swear that they never gave or knew of any assurance of life given him And when it was objected that the promise was upon Record in the Council books the Duke of Lauderdale did in open Court where he was present only as a Witness and so ought to have been silent threaten them if they should proceed to the Examination of that Act of Council which as he then said might infer perjury on them that swore and so did cut off the proof of that defence which had been admitted by the Court as good in Law and sufficient to save the Prisoner if
be miserably diminish'd sooner than we are aware But there remains yet another part of our Message which we have to impart to you on the behalf of your People They find in an antient Statute and it has been done in fact not long ago That if the King through any Evil Counsel or foolish Contumacy or out of Scorn or some singular petulant Will of his own or by any other irregular Means shall alienate himself from his People and shall refuse to be govern'd and guided by the Laws of the Realm and the Statutes and laudable Ordinances thereof together with the wholsom Advice of the Lords and great Men of his Realm but persisting head-strong in his own hare-brain'd Counsels shall petulantly prosecute his own singular humour That then it shall be lawful for them with the common assent and consent of the People of the Realm to depose that same King from his Regal Throne and to set up some other of the Royal Blood in his room H. Knight Coll. 2681. No Man can imagine that the Lords and Commons in Parliament would have sent the King such a Message and have quoted to him an old Statute for deposing Kings that would not govern according to Law if the People of England had then apprehended that an Obedience without reserve was due to the King or if there had not been such a Statute in being And though the Record of that Excellent Law be lost as the Records of almost all our Antient Laws are yet is the Testimony of so credible an Historian who lived when these things were transacted sufficient to inform us that such a Law was then known and in being and consequently that the Terms of English Allegiance according to the Constitution of our Government are different from what some Modern Authors would persuade us they are This Difference betwixt the said King and his Parliament ended amicably betwixt them in the punishment of many Evil Counsellors by whom the King had been influenced to commit many Irregularities in Government But the Discontents of the People grew higher by his After-management of Affairs and ended in the Deposition of that King and setting up of another who was not the next Heir in Lineal Succession The Articles against King Richard the Second may be read at large in H. Knighton Collect. 2746 2747 c. and are yet extant upon Record An Abridgment of them is in Cotton's Records pag. 386 387 388. out of whom I observe these few there being in all Thirty three The First was His wasting and bestowing the Lands of the Crown upon unworthy Persons and overcharging the Commons with Exactions And that whereas certain Lords Spiritual and Temporal were assign'd in Parliament to intend the Government of the Kingdom the King by a Conventicle of his own Accomplices endeavoured to impeach them of High-Treason Another was For that the King by undue means procured divers Justices to speak against the Law to the destruction of the Duke of Glocester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick at Shrewsbury Another For that the King against his own Promise and Pardon at a solemn Procession apprehended the Duke of Glocester and sent him to Calice there to be choaked and murthered beheading the Earl of Arundel and banishing the Earl of Warwick and the Lord Cobham Another For that the King's Retinue and a Rout gathered by him out of Cheshire committed divers Murders Rapes and other Felonies and refused to pay for their Victuals Another For that the Crown of England being freed from the Pope and all other Foreign Power the King notwithstanding procured the Pope's Excommunication on such as should break the Ordinances of the last Parliament in derogation of the Crown Statutes and Laws of the Realm Another That he made Men Sheriffs who were not named to him by the Great Officers the Justices and others of his Council and who were unfit contrary to the Laws of the Realm and in manifest breach of his Oath Another For that he did not repay to his Subjects the Debts that he had borrowed of them Another For that the King refused to execute the Laws saying That the Laws were in his Mouth and Breast and that himself alone could make and alter the Laws Another For causing Sheriffs to continue in Office above a Year contrary to the tenor of a Statute-Law thereby incurring notorious Perjury Another For that the said King procured Knights of the Shires to be returned to serve his own Will Another For that many Justices for their good Counsel given to the King were with evil Countenance and Threats rewarded Another For that the King passing into Ireland had carried with him without the Consent of the Estates of the Realm the Treasure Reliques and other Jewels of the Realm which were used safely to be kept in the King 's own Coffers from all hazard And for that the said King cancelled and razed sundry Records Another For that the said King appear'd by his Letters to the Pope to Foreign Princes and to his Subjects so variable so dissembling and so unfaithful and inconstant that no Man could trust him that knew him insomuch that he was a Scandal both to himself and the Kingdom Another That the King would commonly say amongst the Nobles that all Subjects Lives Lands and Goods were in his hands without any forfeiture which is altogether contrary to the Laws and Vsages of the Realm Another For that he suffered his Subjects to be condemned by Martial-Law contrary to his Oath and the Laws of the Realm Another For that whereas the Subjects of England are sufficiently bound to the King by their Allegiance yet the said King compell'd them to take new Oaths These Articles with some others not altogether of so general a concern being considered and the King himself confessing his Defects the same seemed sufficient to the whole Estates for the King's Deposition and he was depos'd accordingly The Substance and Drift of all is That our Kings were antiently liable to and might lawfully be deposed for Oppression and Tyranny for Insufficiency to govern c. in and by the great Council of the Nation without any breach of the old Oath of Fealty because to say nothing of the nature of our Constitution express and positive Laws warranted such Proceedings And therefore the Frame of our Government being the same still and the Terms of our Allegiance being the same now that they were then without any new Obligations superinduced by the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy a King of England may legally at this day for sufficient cause be deposed by the Lords and Commons assembled in a Great Council of the Kingdom without any breach of the present Oaths of Supremacy or Allegiance Quod erat demonstrandum MANTISSA WHen Stephen was King of England whom the People had chosen rather than submit to Mawd tho the Great Men of the Realm had sworn Fealty to her in her Father's life-time Henry Duke of Anjou Son of the said Mawd afterwards King Henry the Second invaded the Kingdom An. Dom. 1153 which was towards the latter-end of King Stephen's Reign and Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury endeavoured to mediate a Peace betwixt them speaking frequently with the King in private and sending many Messages to the Duke and Henry Bishop of Winchester took pains likewise to make them Friends Factum est autem ut mense Novembris in fine mensis EX PRAECEPTO REGIS ET DUCIS Collect. pag. 1374 1375. convenirent apud Wintoniam Praesules Principes Regni ut ipsi jam initae paci praeberent assensum unanimiter juramenti Sacramento confirmarent i.e. It came to pass that in the Month of November towards the latter end of the Month at the summons of the King and of the Duke the Prelats and Great Men of the Kingdom were assembled at Winchester that they also might assent to the Peace that was concluded and unanimously swear to observe it In that Parliament the Duke was declared King Stephen's adopted Son and Heir of the Kingdom and the King to retain the Government during his Life I observe only upon this Authority That there being a Controversy betwixt the King and the Duke which could no otherwise be determined and settled but in a Parliament the Summons of this Parliament were issued in the Names of both Parties concerned Quisquis habet aures ad audiendum audiat FINIS
With several other Informations concerning other Fires in Southwark Fetter-Lane and elsewhere 27 5. Votes and Addresses of the Honourable House of Commons assembled in Parliament made 1673. concerning Popery and other Grievances 49 6. A Letter from a Parliament-man to his Friend concerning the Proceedings of the House of Commons this last Session begun the 13th of October 1675. 53 7. A Speech made by Sir William Scroggs one of His Majesty's Serjeants at Law to the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor of England at his admission to the Place of one of His Majesty's Justices of the Court of Common-Pleas 56 8. A Discourse upon the Designs Practises and Councels of France 59 9. An Answer to a Letter written by a Member of Parliament in the Countrey upon the Occasion of his reading of the Gazette of the 11th of December 1679. wherein is the Proclamation for further proroguing the Parliament till the 11th of November next ensuing 67 10. The Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftsbury's Speech in the House of Lords March 25. 1679. 71 11. The Instrument or Writing of Association that the true Protestants of England entred into in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth 73 12. The Act of Parliament of the 27th of Queen Elizabeth in Confirmation of the same 74 13. A Word without doors concerning the Bill for Succession 76 14. A Collection of Speeches in the House of Commons in the Year 1680. 81 15. A Copy of the Duke of York's Bill 91 16. Some particular Matters of Fact relating to the Administration of Affairs in Scotland under the Duke of Lauderdale 93 17. The Impeachment of the Duke and Dutchess of Lauderdale with their Brother the Lord Hatton presented to his Majesty by the City of Edenburgh The matters of fact particularly relating to the Town of Edenburgh humbly offered for His Majesty's information 96 18. His Majesty's Declaration for the dissolving of His late Privy Council and for constituting a New One made in the Council-Chamber at White-hall April 20. 1679. 99 19. The Mâ—ssage from the King by Mr. Secretary Jenkins to the Commons on the 9th of November 1680. 102 20. The Address to His Majesty from the Commons on Saturday the 13th of November 1680. Ibid. 21. The Address of the Commons in Parliament to His Majesty to remove Sir George Jeffreys out of all publick Offices 103 22. His Majesty's Message to the Commons in Parliament relating to Tangier 104 23. The Humble Address of the Commons assembled in Parliament presented to His Majesty on Monday the 29th of November 1680. in answer to that Message ibid. 24. The Humble Address of the House of Commons presented to His Majesty on Tuesday the 21st of December 1680. in answer to His Majesty's Gracious Speech to both Houses of Parliament upon the 15th day of the same December 107 25. The Report of the Committee of the Commons appointed to examine the Proceedings of the Judges c. 109 26. The Report from the Committee of the Commons in Parliament appointed by the Honourable House of Commons to consider of the Petition of Richard Thompson of Bristol Clerk and to examine Complaints against him And the Resolution of the Commons in Parliament upon this Report for his Impeachment for High Crimes and Misdemeanors on Friday the 24th of December 1680. 116 27. Articles of Impeachment of Sir William Scroggs Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench by the Commons in Parliament assembled in their own Name and in the name of all the Commons of England of High Treason and other great Crimes and Misdemeanors 119 28. The Humble Petition of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in Common Council assembled on the 13th of January 1680. to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for the sitting of the Parliament prorogued to the 20th then instant together with the Resolutions Orders and Debates of the said Court 122 29. Vox Patriae Or the Resentments and Indignation of the Free-born Subjects of England against Popery Arbitrary Government the Duke of York or any Popish Successor being a true Collection of the Petitions and Addresses lately made from divers Counties Cities and Burroughs of this Realm to their Respective Representatives chosen to serve in the Parliament held at Oxford March 21 1680. 125 30. The Speech of the Honourable Henry Booth Esq at Chester the 2d of March 1680 1 〈◊〉 his being elected One of the Knights of the Shire for that County to serve in the Parliament summon'd to meet at Oxford the 21st of the said Month. 147 31. An Account of the Proceedings at the Sessions for the City of Westminster against Thomas Whitfield Scrievener John Smallbones Woodmonger and William Laud Painter for tearing a Petition prepared to be presented to the King for the sitting of the Parliament with an Account of the said Petition presented on the then 13th Instant and His Majesty's Gracious Answer 150. 32. The Judgment and Decree of the Vniversity of Oxford passed in their Convocation July 21 1683. against certain pernicious Books and damnable Doctrines destructive to the Sacred Persons of Princes Their State and Government and of all Humane Society 153 32. The Case of the Earl of Argyle Or an Exact and Full Account of his Tryal Escape and Sentence As likewise a Relation of several Matters of Fact for better clearing of the said Case 151 33. Murther will out Or The King's Letter justifying the Marquess of Antrim and declaring that what he did in the Irish Rebellion was by direction from His Royal Father and Mother and for the Service of the Crown 217 34. Vox Populi Or The Peoples claim to their Parliaments sitting to redress Grievances and to provide for the Common safety by the known Laws and Constitution of the Nation 219 35. The Security of English-mens Lives Or The Trust Power and Duty of the Grand Juries of England explained according to the Fundamentals of the English Government and the Declarations of the same made in Parliament by many Statutes 225 36. The Speech and Carriage of Stephen Colledge before the Castle at Oxford on Wednesday Aug. 31. 1681. taken exactly from his Mouth at the place of Execution 255 37. The Speech of the late Lord Russell to the Sheriffs together with the Paper delivered by him to them at the place of Execution July 21. 1683. 262 38. To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty the Humble Petition of Algernoon Sidney Esq 266 39. The very Copy of a Paper delivered to the Sheriffs upon the Scaffold on Friday Dec. 7. 1683. by Algernoon Sidney Esq before his Execution there 267 40. Of Magistracy 269. Of Prerogatives by Divine Right 270. Of Obedience 271. Of Laws 272. By Mr. Samuel Johnson 41. Copies of two Papers written by the late King Charles II. published by His Majesty's Command Printed in the Year 1686. 273. 42. A Letter containing some Remarks on the Two Papers writ by His late Majesty King Charles II. concerning Religion 274
are forced none will abide you And said further That there was a Man beyond sea had prophesied That in sixty six if the King did not settle the Romish Religion in England he would be banished out of the Kingdom and all his Posterity And Collins further said That he being lately turned a Roman Catholick he would not be a Protestant for all the World He wished Graunger again in the hearing of his Wife which he affirmed to the Committee to turn his Religion for all the said Prophesie would come to pass in Sixty six Robert Holloway of Darking aforesaid informed That one Stephen Griffin a Papist said to him That all the bloud that had been shed in the late civil War was nothing to that which would be shed this year in England Holloway demanded a reason for these words in regard the Kingdom was in peace and no likelihood of trouble and said Do you Papists intend to rise and cut our throats when we are asleep Griffin answered That 's no matter if you live you shall see it Ferdinand de Massido a Portuguese and some Years since a Romish Priest but turning Protestant Informed That one Father Taff a Jesuite did the last year tell him at Paris That if all England did not return to the Church of Rome they should all be destroyed the next Year Mr. Samuel Cottman of the Middle-Temple Barister Informed That about two Years since one Mr. Jeviston a Popish Priest and called by the Name of Father Garret did perswade him to turn Papist and he should want neither Profit nor Preferment Mr. Cottman objected that he intended to practise the Law which he could not do if he turned Papist because he must take the Oath of Supremacy at his being called to the Bar and if he were a Papist he must not take it Mr. Jeviston replied Why not take the Oath It is an unlawful Oath and void ipso facto And after some pause said further First take the Oath and then I will convert you He said further The King will not own ' himself to be Head of the Church And said further You in England that set up the Dutch to destroy our Religion shall find that they shall be the Men to PULL DOWN YOURS Mr. Stanley an Officer to the Duke of Ormond in Ireland Informed That coming out of Ireland with one Oriel who owned himself of the Order of the Jesuites and commissioned from the Pope to be Lord Primate of Ireland and Archbishop of Armah and falling into some Discourse with him he told him That there had been a Difference between him and some other of the Jesuites in Ireland and that part of the Occasion was that one Father Walsh and some other of the Jesuites there did dispense with the Papists in Ireland to take the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy by virtue of a standing Commission from the Pope which he had to do it during this King's Life and Oriel thought they ought not to do it by virtue of the standing Commission but should take a new Commission from the Pope every Year to do it And likewise That he brought eight Boys out of Ireland whom he intended to carry to Flanders to breed up in some of the Colledges there And at his taking Shipping to go for Flanders he shaked his Foot towards England terming it Egypt and said He would not return into England till he came with 50 thousand Men at his heels A French Merchant being a Papist living in St. Michael's Lane London writes in a Letter to his Friend That a great number of Men and Arms were ready here if those he wrote to were ready there He being upon the Intercepting of this Letter searched forty Fire-locks were found in his House ready loaden which were carried to Fishmongers-Hall a Month or more before the Fire and he committed to Prison but since released A Poor Woman retaining to one Belson's House a Papist about Darking in Surrey was follicited that she and her husband would turn Roman Catholicks which if they did voluntarily Now they would be accepted of but if they staid a little longer they would be forced whether they would or no and then they would not be esteemed This was deposed before Sir Adam Brown a Member of Parliament A Complaint being made against a Sugar-Baker at Fox-hall his House was searched by Lieutenant Collonel Luntly who found there several Guns with such Locks as no English-man who was at the taking of them could discharge together with Brass Blunderbusses and Fire-works of a furious and burning nature Trial being made of a small part of them the Materials were discerned to be Sulphur Aquavitae and Gun-powder whatever else In a Letter to Sir John Frederick and Mr. Nathanail Heron from Horsham in Sussex the 8th of September 1666. Subscibed Henry Chowne Wherein is mentioned that the said Henry Chowne had thoughts to come to London that week but that they were in Distraction there concerning the Papists fearing they would shew themselves all that day And that he had been to search a Papist's House within six miles of that place He with another Justice of Peace met the Gentleman's Brother who is a Priest going to London whom they searched and found a Letter about him which he had received that Morning from his Sister twenty miles off from him wherein is expressed That a great Business is in hand not to be committed to Paper as the times be Your Committee have thought fit to give no Opinion upon these Informations but leave the matter of Fact to your Judgments I am commanded to tell you That your Committee have several other things of this nature under their Inquiry AS a further Instance of the audacious and insolent Behaviour of these Popish Recusants take the following Copy of Verses made and then scattered abroad by some of their Party in Westminster-Hall and several other places about the City and elsewhere in the Kingdom COvre la feu ye Hugonots That have so branded us with Plots And henceforth no more Bonfires make Till ye arrive the Stygian Lakeâ— For down ye must ye Hereticks For all your hopes in sixty six The hand against you is so steady Your Babylon is faln already And if you will avoid that hap Return into your Mothers lap The Devil a Mercy is for those That Holy Mother-Church oppose Let not your Clergy you betray Great Eyes are ope and see the way Return in time if you will save Your Souls your Lives or ought you have And if you live till sixty seven Confess you had fair Warning given Then see in time or ay be blind Short time will shew you what 's behind Dated the 5th Day of November in the Year 1666. and the First Year of the Restoration of the Church of Rome in England NOt long after the Burning of London Mr. Brook Bridges a young gentleman of the Temple as he was going to attend Divine Service in the Temple-Church in a Pew there
Nature and consequently the Ordinance of God but that the different forms of Government whether to reside in One Few or Many or whether it shall be continued by Succession or by Election together with the different measures and limitations of Power and Authority in Governours of the same kind in several Countries all these things I say are ordained by and purely depend upon positive and humane Laws From whence it will necessarily follow That the same human Authority residing in King Lords and Commons here in England which gave Being to those Laws for the good of the Community is Superintendent over them and both may and ought to make any Addition to or Alteration of them when the publick Good and Welfare of the Nation shall require it unless you will admit That an Human Authority establishing any thing intentionally for the common good of the Society which in tract of time by reason of unforeseen circumstances and emergencies proves destructive of it has by that Act concluded it self and made that accidental Evil moral and unchangeable which to affirm is sensless and repugnant And now Sir I hope by this time said the old Gentleman you begin to think that the Bill for disabling the Duke was not so unjust and unreasonable as was pretended and that the course of Succession being founded upon the same bottom with other Civil Constitutions might likewise as justly have been altered by the King Lords and Commons as any other Law or Custom whatever And here I might conclude but because a late Pensionary Pen has publickly arraign'd the Wisdom Loyalty and Justice of the Honourable House of Commons on the account of this Bill I will ex abundanti add a word or two more to that particular Whereupon he pluck'd a Paper out of his Pocket entituled Great and weighty Considerations relating to the Duke and Successor of the Crown c. Which as soon as he had read unto us You see here said he the true Temper of those men of whom I first gave you caution There never was an Endeavour though in a Legal and Parliamentary way after any Reformation either in Church or State but the Promoters of it were sure to be branded by them with the odious imputations of Fanaticism and Faction Nay if the Country-Electors of Parliament-men will not pitch upon such Rake-hells of the Nation as are usually proposed by them but on the contrary make use of their Freedom and Consciences in chusing able upright and deserving persons and if good men thus chosen do but according to their Duty in the House enquire into publick Grievances pursue in a legal course notorious Offenders and consult and advise the Security of the Government and Protestant Religion the high Church-man immediately swells and in a passion tells you That all this proceeds from the old Phanatick Leven not yet worn out amongst the People That we are going back again to Forty One and acting over afresh the Sins of our Forefathers Thus ignorantly do they complement the Times and Persons they endeavour to expose by appropriating to them such Virtues as were common to good men in all Ages But enough of this In the next place pray observe how hypocritically the Considerer puts this Question viz. Whether Protestant Religion was not settled in this Nation by the same mighty hand of God that establish'd Jeroboam in the Kingdom of Israel And then adds Whether we like that wicked King should so far despair of God's Providence in preserving the work of his own Hands as never to think it safe unless it be establish'd on the Quick-sands of our own wicked Inventions viz. the Bill against the Duke And throughout his whole Discourse he frequently calls all Care of preserving our Religion a Mistrust of God's Providence and on that score calls out to the Nation O ye of little Faith c. Now I will allow him That the least Evil is not to be done that the greatest and most important Good may ensue But that the Bill for disabling the Duke is highly justifiable both by the Laws of God and Constitution of our Government I think by my former Discourse I have left no room to doubt And the Considerer having scarce attempted to prove the contrary it 's preposterously done of him to give us his Use of Reproof before he has clear'd his Doctrine However I owe him many thanks for putting me in mind how Protestant Religion was first establish'd here in England it was indeed by the mighty Hand of God influencing the publick Councils of the Nation so that all imaginable care was taken both by Prince and People to rescue themselves from under the Romish Yoke and accordingly most excellent Laws were made against the usurpation and tyranny of that Man of Sin Our noble Ancestors in those days did not palliate a want of Zeal for their Religion with a lazy pretence of trusting in God's Providence but together with their Prayers to and Affiance in Heaven they joyned the Acts of their own Duty without which they very well knew they had no reason to expect a Blessing from it But now be pleased to take notice of the Candor of this worthy Considerer nothing less will serve his turn than the proving all the Voters for the Bill guilty of the highest Perjury For says he they have all sworn in the Oath of Allegiance to bear Faith and true Allegiance to His Majesty his Heirs and Successors but the Duke is Heir ergo c. A very hopeful Argument indeed But what if it should happen as it is neither impossible nor very improbable to imagin it that the next Heir to the Crown should commit Treason and conspire the Death of the present Possessor and for this Treason should not only be attainded by Parliament but executed too Pray Mr. Considerer would the Parliament in this case be guilty of Murder and Perjury I am confident you will not say it If therefore the next Heir become obnoxious to the Government in a lower degree why may not the same Authority proportion the Punishment and leave him his Life but debar him of the Succession This I say only to shew the absurdity of his Argument My Answer is this No man can bear Allegiance to two persons at the same time nor can Allegiance be ever due to a Subject and therefore my Obligation by the word Heir in the Oath does not commence till such Heir has a present Right to or actual Possession of the Crown which if he never attains either by reason of Death or any other Act that incapacitates and bars him then can my Obligation to him by the word Heir in the Oath never have a beginning But besides all this it cannot be denied but Mr. Considerer's Doctrine does bring great Inconveniences on Succession for the next Heir by his way of arguing is let loose from all the Restrictions and Penalties of Humane Laws and has no other tyes upon him not to snatch the Crown
keeping Watch since the Plot hath cost the City above 100000 l. The City of London is the Bulwark of our Religion And is it not said the Duke is at the head of 30 or 40000 men The Lieutenancy and Justices how are they molded for his turn And if you do nothing now in this House we must all without any more ado try to make a Peace with him as well as we can I 'll never do it And will you for the sake of one man destroy three Kingdoms An Highth He moved that the Representation might declare That we see no Security but removing the Duke of York A Ninth We discoursing of Tangier at this time is like Nero's Fiddling whilst Rome was consuming by Fire If it be in a good condition we cannot help it if in a bad one we are not in a posture to do it Pray consider the condition by what 's past when King Henry the Eighth was for Supremacy the Kingdom was for it when King Henry the Eighth was against it the Kingdom was against it When King Edward the Sixth was a Protestant the Kingdom was so when Queen Mary was a Papist the Kingdom was so when Queen Elizabeth was a Protestant the Kingdom so again Regis ad exemplum c. And I believe even in King Edward the Sixth's time the Bishops themselves would not have been for throwing out such a Bill as this And if King Edward had promised any thing for the preservation of the Protestant Religion so that Mary might succeed the Pope would no way have contrived so great a Favour The bidding us prevent Popery and the letting alone a Popish Successor is as if a Physician should come to a man in a Pleurisie and tell him he may make use of any Remedies but letting of Blood the Party must perish that being the only Cure I am not at present for giving of Money that being to the State as Food to the Stomach if that be clean meat turns to good Nourishment but if it be out of order it breeds Diseases And so it is in the State if that be not in order too We have been often deceived and by the same men again Was not 200000 l. given for the Fleet in 74 and was any of it employed that way Money given for an actual War with France employed for a dishonourable Peace Never so many Admirals and so few Ships to guard us never more Commissioners of the Treasury and so little Money never so many Counsellors and so little Safety Let us address His Majesty A Tenth I 'll never be for giving of Money for promoting Popery and a Successor a publick Enemy to the Kingdom and a Slave to the Pope Whilst he hath 11 to 7 in the Council and 63 to 31 in the House of Lords we are not secure And if my own Father had been one of the 63 I should have voted him an Enemy to the King and Kingdoms and if we cannot live Protestants I hope we shall dye so The Eleventh Redress our Grievances first and then and not till then Money Tangier never was nor will be a place of Trade Tituan and Sally so near they will never trade with us to destroy themselves and can never be for our Advantage And I have many years wonder'd at the Council that have been for the keeping of it and am of opinion that Popery may be aimed at by it and that our Councils are managed at Rome from whence I saw a Letter from a Friend dated the 21th of October with the Heads of the King's Speech in it to this effect That His Majesty would command them not to meddle with the Succession That he would ask no Money That he would stand upon the Confirmation of the Lord Danby's Pardon and That the keeping of Tangier was to draw on Expences and was it not would be for the blowing of it up Twelfth I am for a Representation Thirteenth I remember before the last Session of Parliament there was a Council held at Lambeth and there hatched a Bill against Popery It was for the breeding of Children of a Popish Successor which admitted the thing and it was called a Bill against Popery but we called it the Popish Bill I am for the Church of England but not for the Church-men of the late Bishop of St. Asaph on his Death-bed good man could hardly forbear declaring himself which his Epitaph did Ora pro Anima ordered to be written upon his Tomb. We are told the other day we ought to make the Duke a Substantive to stand by himself That there was less danger of a General without an Army than an Army without a General And I have read in Pliny which was most to be feared an Army of Lyons with an Hare to their General or an Army of Hares with a Lyon to their General and it was concluded that an Army of Hares with a Lyon to their General was most to be feared of the two His Majesty is inclosed by a sort of Monsters who endeavour to destroy and I hope to move against them before we rise and though we have lost our last Bill we have not lost our Courage and Hearts Fourteenth His Majesty desires your Advice and Assistance it is seldom which is very kind and though you shall think fit not to give the latter it 's but mannerly to give the first And I hope you will not resent any Injury if any there were done by the House of Lords on the King who though he cannot cure all ill in one day he can ruine all And I acquaint you there is a very great Weight laid upon this Session of Parliament and upon the agreeing of the King with the People on which depends the Welfare of the Protestants abroad and hope you will not go about to Remonstrate now Fifteenth If you had sent the Duke's Lord Craven's and Mulgrave's Regiment to Tangier it would supply the Place with Men and Disband the Lord Oxford's Regiment and the Money on those imployed would bear much of the share of this Then the House Resolved to appoint a Committee to draw up an Address upon the Debate of this House to represent His Majesty the State and Condition of the Kingdom in Answer to His Majesties Message about Tangier The SPEECHES of several Learned and Worthy Members of the Honourable House of Commons for Passing the Bill against the Duke of York Mr. Speaker THE Gentleman that spoke last seems to intimate that we ought to have a due regard to the Kings Brother and consider what infinite disadvantages will accrew to us if we are too hasty in our Resolutions as before the Duke is found guilty to proceed to pass a Bill for Exclusion for that nothing but War and Bloodshed can be expected from it therefore he says we ought to be moderate and find out a Medium to secure the Protestant Religion notwithstanding the Duke may be a Papist Now Gentlemen I give you the Dictates of my
to have been perverted from the Protestant to the Popish Religion whereby not only great Encouragement hath been given to the Popish Party to enter into and carry on most Devilish and Horrid Plots and Conspiracies for the Destruction of His Majesties Sacred Person and Government and for the Extirpation of the True Protestant Religon But also if the said Duke should succeed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm nothing is more manifest than that a Total Change of Religion within these Kingdoms would ensue For the Preservation whereof Be it Enacted by the King 's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That the said James Duke of York shall be and is by the Authority of this present Parliament Excluded and made for ever uncapable to Inherit Possess or Enjoy the Imperial Crown of this Realm and of the Kingdoms of Ireland and the Dominions and Territories to them or either of them belonging or to have exercise or enjoy any Dominion Power Jurisdiction or Authority in the same Kingdoms Dominions or any of them And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That if the said James Duke of York shall at any time hereafter challenge claim or attempt to possess or enjoy or shall take upon him to use or exercise any Dominion Power or Authority or Jurisdiction within the said Kingdoms or Dominions or any of them as King or Chief Magistrate of the same That then he the said James Duke of York for every such Offence shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as in case of High Treason And further That if any Person or Persons whatever shall assist or maintain abett or willingly adhere unto the said James Duke of York in such challenge claim or attempt or shall of themselves attempt or endeavour to put or bring the said James Duke of York into the Possession or Exercise of any Regal Power Jurisdiction or Authority within the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid or shall by Writing or Preaching advisedly publish maintain or declare That he hath any Right Title or Authority to the Office of King or Chief Magistrate of the Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid that then every such Person shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and that he suffer and undergo the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures aforesaid And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That he the said James Duke of York shall not at any time from and after the Fifth of November 1680 return or come into or within any of the Kingdoms or Dominions aforesaid And then he the said James Duke of York shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer the Pains Penalties and Forfeitures as in case of High Treason And further That if any Person or Persons whatsoever shall be aiding or assisting unto such Return of the said James Duke of York That then every such Person shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall suffer as in Cases of High Treason And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That he the said James Duke of York or any other Person being guilty of any of the Treasons aforesaid shall not be capable of or receive Benefit by any Pardon otherwise than by Act of Parliament wherein they shall be particularly named and that no Nole prosequi or Order for stay of Proceedings shall be received or allowed in or upon any Indictment for any of the Offences mentioned in this Act. And be it further Enacted and Declared And it is hereby Enacted and Declared That it shall and may be lawful to and for any Magistrates Officers and other Subjects whatsoever of these Kingdoms and Dominions aforesaid and they are hereby enjoyned and required to apprehend and secure the said James Duke of York and every other Person offending in any of the Premisses and with him or them in case of Resistance to fight and him or them by Force to subdue For all which Actings and for so doing they are and shall be by virtue of this Act saved harmless and indemnified Provided and it is hereby Declared That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed deemed or adjudged to disenable any other Person from inheriting and enjoying the Imperial Crown of the Realms and Dominions aforesaid other than the said James Duke of York But that in case the said James Duke of York should survive his now Majesty and the Heirs of his Majesty's Body The said Imperial Crown shall descend to and be enjoyed by such Person or Person successarily during the Life of the said James Duke of York as should have inherited and enjoyed the same in case the said James Duke of York were naturally dead any thing contained in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That during the Life of the said James Duke of York this Act shall be given in charge at every Assizes and General Sessions of the Peace within the Kingdoms Dominions and Territories aforesaid and also shall be openly Read in every Cathedral Church and Parish Church and Chappels within the aforesaid Kingdoms Dominions and Territories by the several respective Parsons Vicars Curates and Readers thereof who are hereby required immediately after Divine Service in the Fore-noon to read the same twice in every year that is to say on the 25th of December and upon Easter-day during the Life of the said James Duke of York This BILL was Read Three Times and Passed and sent up to the Lords for their Concurrence Some particular Matters of Fact relating to the Administration of Affairs in Scotland under the Duke of LAUDERDALE Humbly offered to Your Majesty's Consideration in Obedience to Your Royal Commands 1. THE Duke of Lauderdale did grosly misrepresent to your Majesty the Condition of the Western Countries as if they had been in a state of Rebellion though there had never been any opposition made to your Majesty's Authority nor any Resistance offered to your Forces nor to the execution of the Laws But he purposing to abuse your Majesty that so he might carry on his sinistrous Designs by your Authority advised your Majesty to raise an Army against your peaceable Subjects at least did frame a Letter which he sent to your Majesty to be signed by your Royal Hand to that effect which being sent down to your Council Orders was thereupon given out for raising an Army of Eight or Nine thousand men the greatest part whereof were Highblanders and notwithstanding that to avert threatning the Nobility and Gentry of that Country did send to Edenburgh and for the security of the Peace did offer to engage that whatsoever should be sent to put the Laws in execution should meet with no affront and that they would become Hostages for their safety yet
proved Thus was that man hanged upon that Confession only though the promise that drew it from him doth appear upon Record and can be proved by good and clear Evidence And from this your Majesty may judge what credit may be given to such men We do not at present enlarge on other particulars though of great importance such as Monopolies selling places of Honors turning men of known integrity out of their Imployments to which they had a good and just right during their lives the profits of one of the most considerable of these being sequestred for sometime and applyed for the Dutchess of Lauderdales use the treating about and receiving of great bribes by the Duke and Dutchess of Lauderdale and the Lord Hatton and particularly from the Towns of Edenborough Abberdeen Lynlythgo and many others for procuring from your Majesty Warrants for illegal impositions within these Towns the manifest and publick perverting of Justice in the Session besides the most signal abuses of the Mint and Copper Coin that are most grievous to all your Subjects But the number of these is so great and they will require so many Witnesses to be brought hither for proving them that we fear it would too much trouble your Majesty now to examine them all but your Majesty shall have a full account of them afterwards One thing is humbly offered to your Majesty as the root of these and many other oppressions which is that the Method of governing that Kingdom for several years hath been That the Lord Hatton and his adherents frame any Letter that they desire from your Majesty to your Council and send it to the Duke of Lauderdale who returns it signed and this is brought to the Council upon which if at any time a debate ariseth concerning the matter of that Letter as being against or with Law and when it is proposed that a representation of that should be made to your Majesty then the Lord Hatton in his insolent way calls to have it put to the question as if it were a crime to have any Warrant either debated or represented to your Majesty which is procured by the Duke of Lauderdale or himself and this is ecchoed by his Party and by this means any further debating is stopped There are some other particulars relating to these heads that are to be offered to your Majesty in other Papers which are not added here lest your Majesty should now be troubled with too long a Paper The Impeahment of the Duke and Dutchess of Lauderdale with their Brother My Lord Hatton Presented to His Majesty by the City of Edenbourgh The matters of Fact particularly relating to the Town of Edenbourgh humbly offered for your Majesties Information Before the Matter of Fact be spoken to it is necessary that your Majesty be informed of one thing upon which this whole Affair hath moved THe City of Edenbourgh had at several times given considerable sums of Money to the Duke of Lauderdale amounting to upward of Twelve Thousand pounds Sterlin and the Lord Hatton Brother to the said Duke being inraged by that their former practice and being arrived to great height and influence in the Administration of Your Majesties Affairs in Scotland did thereupon resolve on a Designe of getting Money for himself also from them as will appear to your Majesty by the following Narration but the Magistrates at that time and such others as had then the Principal Influence in the Administration of Affairs in that Town being honest Men of good Fortunes and not to be brought to comply with his Design he bethought himself of all ways to vex them and knowing they did much value the Prosperity of the Town he thought that the first means for promoting that his Design was to have them threatned with removing Your Majesties Publique Judicatures from that City to Sterlin and perswaded his Brother the Duke of Lauderdale to move Your Majesty to that purpose but being disappointed of that project by Your Majesties Royal Wisdom Your Majesty looking upon it as if it were to declare to the World that You were jealous of so great a Part of that Your Ancient Kingdom he bethought himself of new ways to accomplish his Design for which he judged nothing so proper and effectual as to disturb them in the choice of their Magistrates and Town-Counsel and by all means possible to get some of his own chusing fit for his own ends brought into the Administration of the Affairs of that City In order to which being impatient of any longer delay he laid hold of what follows being the first occasion that offer'd though a very frivolous one At Michaclmas 1674 The said City of Edenbourgh being to go about the Election of their Magistrates for the ensuing year there was procured a Letter from Your Majesty to Your Privy Counsel commanding them to forbid the Magistrates and Town Counsel to proceed in their Elections but to continue the Magistrates that then were till Your Majesty's further pleasure should be known the reason suggested to Your Majesty for it was taken from this Circumstance That the Election ought to be made upon the Tuesday after Michaelmas and it happening this year that Michaelmas fell to be on a Tuesday they were resolved to proceed to their Elections upon Michaelmas-day Though this was a very small Matter and upon very good and prudent Considerations resolved as will afterward appear yet was it represented to Your Majesty as a Factious Design and an Innovation of dangerous Consequence tending to create and maintain Faction in that City contrary to Your Majesties Service Your Majesties foresaid Letter being intimated to the Magistrates and Town-Counsel they did immediately give exact obedience to the same They did also represent to Your Majesties Privy Council the Rights that they had for chusing their own Magistrates which had been granted to them by many of Your Majesties Royal Ancestors and confirmed by many Parliaments by vertue of which they humbly conceived they ought to be suffered to proceed in their Elections They did also represent to Your Majesties Privy Council the Reasons which had moved them to resolve of making their Elections on the said Tuesday being Michaelmas day which in short were that by their Constitution they were obliged upon the Friday before Michaelmas to make the List out of which the Magistrates are to be chosen after the doing of which there is a Surcease and Vacation of all ordinary Courts of Judicature within the Town and the whole time is spent by the Common People and Tradesmen of the Town in Rioting and Drinking until the Elections be finished which in this case would have been Twelve days which they did in Prudence think they ought to shorten not conceiving it contrary in the least to the established Rules of their Election 2. On these things they did humbly crave Your Majesties Privy Council would be pleased to represent to Your Majesty that thereby they might be freed from the suspicion of any
the strictest and severest Tryal To which Petition they never received any Answer To make appear to your Majesty that these things were done for private and finistrous Designs and not upon account of the ill effectedness or factious Dispositions of the Men as was pretended Your Majesty is humbly prayed to take notice of these Particulars following First There are three of the most considerable of these very Persons who had been charged with so great Crimes admitted since that time by bribing the Dutchess of Lauderdale into a Trust in your Majesty's Affairs in Scotland more eminent and considerable than any Trust the Town of Edenburgh can confer viz. The paying off your Majesty's Forces and bringing in your Majesty's Excise Secondly No sooner were these Twelve Men turned out of the Town-Council but after many great and essential Informalities with the recital of which it is needless to trouble your Majesty they elected for Magistrates Men of no Reputation either for Parts Estate or Honesty And though these Bonds and Securities which had been demanded from the others and consented to by them was formerly pretended to be of great importance for your Majesty's Service yet they were not so much as once demanded either by the Duke of Lauderdale or the Lord Hatton from these Men who were now chosen Thirdly These new Magistrates were not long in their Seats when off comes the Mask and the true design of getting Money appears For by an Act of the Town-Council there is about 5000 l. Sterlin disposed on amongst their nameless Friends which were the Duke of Lauderdale the Lord Hatton and some other of their Friends A great Sum to be got from that City considering that the Duke of Lauderdale had got before that about 12000 l. Sterlin from them The Dutchess of Lauderdale did also since that time endeavour to get more Money from them and did with great Wrath threaten the Magistrates in plain Terms for not giving her a Present notwithstanding all the Good she said she had done for them reckoning the Favours your Majesty hath at any time been pleased to bestow upon them as done by her self Thus hath that poor Town been abused and doth now lie having Magistrates without either Conduct or Courage in a time when the Disorders of that Nation doth require Persons to be imployed there of eminent Fidelity and Capacity to serve your Majesty His Majesty's Declaration for the Dissolution of his late Privy Council And for Constituting a New one made in the Council-Chamber at White Hall April the twentieth 1679. By His Majesty's Special Command My Lords HIS Majesty hath called you together at this time to communicate unto you a Resolution he hath taken in a matter of great Importance to his Crown and Government and which he hopes will prove of the greatest Satisfaction and Advantage to his Kingdoms in all Affairs hereafter both at Home and Abroad and therefore he doubts not of your Approbation however you may seem concerned in it In the first place His Majesty gives you all Thanks for your Service to him here and for all the good Advices you have given him which might have been more frequent if the great number of this Council had not made it unfit for the Secrecy and Dispatch that are necessary in many great Affairs This forced him to use a smaller number of your in a Foreign Committee and sometimes the Advices of some few among them upon such Occasions for many Years past He is sorry for the ill success he has found in this Course and sensible of the ill Posture of Affairs from that and some unhappy Accidents which have raised great Jealousies and Dissatisfaction among his good Subjects and thereby left the Crown and Government in a Condition too weak for those Dangers we have reason to fear both at home and abroad These his Majesty hopes may be yet prevented by a Course of wise and steady Counsels for the future and these Kingdoms grow again to make such a Figure as they have formerly done in the World and as they may always do if our Union and Conduct were equal to our Force To this end he hath resolved to lay aside the use he may have hitherto made of any single Ministry or private Advices or Foreign Committees for the general direction of his Affairs and to constitute such a Privy-Council as may not only by its number be fit for the Consultation and Digestion of all business both Domestick and Foreign but also by the Choice of them out of the several Parts this State is composed of may be the best informed in the true Constitutions of it and thereby the most able to counsel him in all the Affairs and Interests of this Crown and Nation And by the constant Advice of such a Council his Majesty is resolved hereafter to govern his Kingdoms together with the frequent use of his Great Council of Parliament which he takes to be the true ancient Constitution of this State and Government Now for the greater Dignity of this Council his Majesty resolves their constant number shall be limited to that of Thirty And for their greater Authority there shall be Fifteen of his chief Officers who shall be Privy Counsellors by their places And for the other Fifteen he will choose Ten out of the several Ranks of the Nobility and Five Commoners of the Realm whose known Abilities Interest and Esteem in the Nation shall render them without all suspicion of either mistaking or betraying the true Interests of the Kingdom and consequently of advising him ill In the first place therefore and to take care of the Church his Majesty will have the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of London for the time being and to inform him well in what concerns the Laws the Lord Chancellor and one of the Lord Chief Justices For the Navy and Stores wherein consists the chief Strength and Safety of the Kingdom the Admiral and Master of the Ordnance for the Treasury the Treasurer and Chancellor of the Exchequer or whenever any of these Charges are in Commission then the first Commissioner to serve here in their room the rest of the Fifteen shall be the Lord Privy-Seal the Master of the Horse Lord Steward and Lord Chamberlain of his Houshold the Groom of the Stole and the two Secretaries of State And these shall be all the Offices of his Kingdom to which the Dignity of Privy-Counsellor shall be annexed The others his Majesty has resolved and hopes he has not chosen ill His Majesty intends besides to have such Princes of his Blood as he shall at any time call to this Board being here in Court A President of the Council whenever he shall find it necessary and the Secretary of Scotland when any such shall be here But these being uncertain he reckons not of the constant number of Thirty which shall never be exceeded To make way for this new Council his Majesty hath now resolved to Dissolve this old one
some instance of Our Favour and to remember the many Services he had done and the Sufferings he had undergone for his Affections and Fidelity to Our Royal Father and Our self and that it was time to redeem him from those Calamities which yet do lie as heavy upon him since as before Our happy Return And thereupon We recommend him to You Our Lieutenant that you should move Our Council there for preparing a Bill to be transmitted to Us for the Re-investing him the said Marquess into the possession of his Estate into that Our Kingdom as had been done in some other Cases To which Letter you Our said Lieutenant returned us answer That you had informed Our Council of that Our Letter and that you were upon consideration thereof unanimously of Opinion that such a Bill ought not to be transmitted to Us the Reason whereof would forthwith be presented to Us from our Council After which time We received the inclosed Petition from the said Marquess which We referred to the considerations and examinations of the Lords of Our Privy Council whose Names are mentioned in that Our Reference which is annexed to the said Petition who thereupon met together and after having heard the Marquess of Antrim did not think fit to make any Report to Us till they might see and understand the Reasons which induced you not to transmit the Bill We had proposed which Letter was not then come to Our Hands After which time We have received your Letter of the 18th of March together with several Petitions which had been presented to you as well from the Old Soldiers and Adventurers as from the Lady Marchioness of Antrim all which We likewise transmitted to the Lords Referees Upon a second Petition presented to Us by the Lord Marquess which is here likewise enclosed commanding Our said Referees to take the same into their serious consideration and to hear what the Petitioner had to offer in his own Vindication and to report the whole matter to Us which upon a third Petition herein likewise inclosed We required them to expedite with what speed they could By which deliberate Proceedings of ours you cannot but observe that no importunity how just soever could prevail with Us to bring Our Self to a Judgment in this Affair without very ample Information Our said Referees after several Meetings and perusal of what hath been offered to them by the said Marquess have reported unto Us That they have seen several Letters all of them the hand-writing of Our Royal Father to the said Marquess ☞ and several Instructions concerning his treating and joining with the Irish in order to the King's Service by reducing to their Obedience and by drawing some Forces from them for the Service of Scotland That besides the Letters and Orders under His Majesty's Hand they have received sufficient Evidence and Testimony of several private Messages and Directions sent from Our Royal Father and from Our Royal Mother with the privity and with the Directions of the King Our Father by which they are persuaded that whatever Intelligence Correspondence or Actings the said Marquess had with the Confederate Irish Catholicks was directed or allowed by the said Letters Instructions and Directions and that it manifestly appears to them that the King Our Father was well pleased with what the Marquess did ☞ after he had done it and approved the same This being the true state of the Marquess his Case and there being nothing proved upon the first Information against him nor any thing contained against him in your Letter of March 18. but that you were informed he had put in his Claim before the Commissioners appointed for executing the Act of Settlement and that if his Innocency be such as is alledged there is no need of transmitting such a Bill to us as is desired and that if he be Nocent it consists not with the Duty which you owe to Us to transmit such a Bill as if it should pass into a Law must needs draw a great prejudice upon so many Adventurers and Soldiers which are as is alledged to be therein concerned We have considered of the Petition of the Adventurers and Soldiers which was transmitted to Us by you the Equity of which consists in nothing but that they have been peaceably in possession for the space of seven or eight years of those Lands which were formerly the Estate of the Marquess of Antrim and others who were all engaged in the late Irish Rebellion and that they shall suffer very much and be ruined if those Lands should be taken from them And We have likewise considered another Petition from several Citizens of London near sixty in number directed to our Self wherein they desire That the Marquess his Estate may be made liable to the payment of his just Debts that so they may not be ruined in the favour of the present Possessors who they say are but a few Citizens and Soldiers who have disbursed very small Sums thereon Upon the whole matter no man can think We are less engaged by Our Declaration and by the Act of Settlement to protect those who are Innocent and who have faithfully endeavoured to serve the Crown how unfortunate soever than to expose to Justice those who have been really and maliciously guilty And therefore we cannot in Justice but upon the Petition of the Marquess of Antrim and after the serious and strict Inquisition into his Actions declare unto you That We do find him Innocent from any malice or rebellious Purpose against the Crown and that what he did by way of Correspondence or Compliance with the Irish Rebels was in order to the Service of Our Royal Father and warranted by his Instructions and the Trust reposed in him and that the benefit thereof accrued to the Service of the Crown and not to the particular advantage and benefit of the Marquess And as we cannot in justice deny him this Testimony so We require You to transmit Our Letter to Our Commissioners that they may know our Judgment in this Case of the Lord of Antrim's and proceeded accordingly And so we bid you heartily farewel Given at our Court at White-Hall July 10. in the 15th Year of Our Reign 1683. By His Majesty's Command HENRY BENNET Entred at the Signet-Office July 13. 1663. To Our Right Trusty and Right entirely Well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor James Duke of Ormond Our Lieutenant-General and General Governour of Our Kingdom of Ireland and to the Lords of Our Council of that Our Kingdom Vox Populi Or The Peoples Claim to their Parliament's Sitting to Redress Grievances and to provide for the Common Safety by the known Laws and Constitutions of the Nation SInce the wonderful Discovery and undeniable Confirmation of that horrid Popish Plot which designed so much ruine and mischief to these Nations in all things both Civil and Sacred and the unanimous Sense and Censure of so many Parliaments upon it together with so many publick Acts of Justice upon so many
days neither one way nor another never knew any suâ—â— persons nor ever had such Communication with any man hitherto I know of no Plot in the World but the Popish Plot and that every man may know as much as I. If I had had such a design as these men have sworn against me to have seiz'd his Majesty either at London or this place at Oxford I take God to witness as I 'm a dying man and upon the terms of my Salvation I know not any one man upon the face of the Earth that would have stood by me and how likely it was that I should do such a thing my self let the whole World judge Dugdale swears That I spoke Treason to him treasonable words in the Coffee-house and in the Barbers shop by the Angel even he could not pretend to see me any where else but it is false and a very unlikely thing that I should speak Treason to him I must confess I was in his company at the Coffee-house and that Barbers shop before I went out of Town but there could be no Communication between us for he was writing at one end of the Room and eating a piece of bread and I lighted a Pipe of Tobacco at the other end and took it till Sir Tho. Player and Sir Rob. Clayton came to me and we went to my Lord Lovelace's out of Town that night so when they came we took horse and went out of Town with the rest For my part I can't sum up my Witnesses I was under most strange Circumstances as ever any man was I was kept Prisoner so close in the Tower that I could have no Conversation with any though I was certain the Popish Lords had it every day there but I could have none I could not tell the Witnesses that were to swear against me I could not tell what it was they swore against me for I could have no Copy of the Indictment nor no way possible to make any preparation to make my Defence as I ought to have done and might have done by Law I had no liberty to do any thing as I am a dying man And as to what Dugdale Smith Turbervile and Heyns swore against me they did swear such Treason that nothing but a mad man would ever have trusted any body with and least of all to Papists every one of them that had been concerned with Plots and Treasons among their own party and under the greatest Tyes and Obligations of Damnation and to be Sainted if they kept it secret and to be damned if they revealed it If these men will not keep things secret for their own Party how could I trust them I take God to witness and do freely acknowledge I have sought my God with Tears several times to inform me if so be I had with any word transgressed at any time I knew not of any part of what they swore against me till such time as I heard it swore against me at the Bar. This is very hard Gentlemen but this is the Truth And there be a great many other strange Reports that I have heard since I have been a Prisoner That I should be a means to convert the Countess of Rochester by bringing one Thompson a Priest to her Truly all that I was concerned in was some fifteen or sixteen years ago I lodged at Col. Vernon's that married my Lady Brookes The Family were Papists the Brookes were Papists and there was this Thompson and I did suppose him a Priest in the House though I never saw him at Popish Service or Worship though I was there half a year but coming afterwards to my Lord Rochester's about some business I had to do for him and several other persons of Quality he sent for me one afternoon from the Parsonage in Adderbury to his House and his Lady and he stood together He sent to me and ask'd me if my Horse were at home said he I would have you carry this Letter to Mr. Thompson if you are at leisure this afternoon My Lord I am at leisure to serve you So I took a Letter from his hand and his Lady 's too as I remember he made an offer that way sealed with his own Seal and carried it to Thompson and delivered it to him and he told me that he would wait upon my Lord for it was for some Lands my Lord did offer to raise Money for some occasions This is the Truth of that Scandal It is said that I had a Priest several years in my House viz. Serjeant that came over from Holland to discover About some ten years ago that very same man came to me but was a stranger to me and he came to me by the name of Dr. Smith a Physician and there was an Apothecary in the Old-baily and a Linnen-draper within Ludgate that came with him they brought him thither and took a Chamber and lay about half a year or three quarters at times by the name of Dr. Smith and as a Physician This is the Truth of that and no otherwise This is the Entertainment of Serjeant So the occasion of my coming to Oxford I do say was voluntary The Parliament-men last Parliament at Westminster and several Lords dined together the day before they sate the last Sessions of Parliament at Wistminster they sent for me to the Sun-Tavern behind the Exchange and when I came the Duke of Monmouth and several Lords were together and I believe above a hundred Parliament-men of the Commons The Duke of Monmouth called me to him and told me he had heard a good Report of me and that I was an honest man and one that may be trusted and they did not know but their Enemies the Papists might have some design to serve them as they did in King James's time by Gun-powder or any other ways And the Duke with several Lords and Commons did desire me to use my utmost skill in searching all places suspected by them which I did perform and from thence I had as I think the popular name of the Protestant Joyner because they had intrusted me before any man in England to do that Office The same Haynes one of them that swore against me had discovered to me and several others as to Macknamar and his Brother and this Ivy who are now all of another stamp That the Parliament was to be destroyed at Oxford and that there was a design to murther my Lord Shaftsbury by Fitzgerald and his Party and that they did endeavour to bring Macknamar over to him and said Then it would be well with him and they would not be long before they had Shaftsbury's life And he made Depositions of this to Sir Geo. Treby as I heard afterwards for I was not with him when it was sworn I wish the Commons of England as well as I wish my own heart and I did not understand but when I serv'd the Parliament I serv'd his Majesty too and let them be miserable that make the Difference
easily be done but never consented to as fit to be done And I remember particularly at my Lord Shaftsbury's there being some general Discourse of this kind I immediately flew out and exclaim'd against it and ask'd if the thing succeeded what must be done next but massacring the Guards and killing them in cold blood Which I look't upon as so detestable a thing and so like a Popish Practice that I could not but abhor it And at the same time the Duke of Monmouth took me by the hand and told me very kindly My Lord I see you and I are of a Temper did you ever hear so horrid a thing And I must needs do him that Justice to declare that I never observed in him but an Abhorrence to all base things As to my going to Mr. Shepheard's I went with an intention to taste Sherry for he had promised me to reserve for me the next very good piece he met with when I went out of Town and if he recollects he may remember I ask'd him about it and he went and fetch'd a Bottle but when I tasted it I said 't was hot in the mouth and desired that whenever he met with a choice Piece he would keep it for me which he promised I enlarge the more upon this because Sir George Jefferies insinuated to the Jury as if I had made a story about going thither but I never said that was the only Reason And I will now truly and plainly add the rest I was the day before this Meeting come to Town for two or three days as I had done once or twice before having a very near and dear Relation lying in a very languishing and desperate Condition And the Duke of Monmouth came to me and told me he was extreamly glad I was come to Town for my Lord Shaftsbury and some hot Men would undo us all How so my Lord I said Why answered he they 'll certainly do some disorderly thing or other if great Care be not taken and therefore for God's sake use your Endeavours with your Friends to prevent any thing of this kind He told me there would be Company at Mr. Shepheard's that Night and desired me to be at home in the Evening and he would call me which he did And when I came into the Room I saw Mr. Rumsey by the Chimney though he swears he came in after and there were things said by some with much more Heat than Judgment which I did sufficiently disapprove and yet for these things I stand condemned But I thank God my part was sincere and well meant It is I know inferr'd from hence and was pressed to me that I was acquainted with these Heats and ill Designs and did not discover them But this is but Misprision of Treason at most So I dye innocent of the Crime I stand condemn'd for and I hope no body will imagaine that so mean a Thought could enter into me as to go about to save my self by accusing others The part that some have acted lately of that kind has not been such as to invite me to love Life at such a rate As for the Sentence of Death passed upon me I cannot but think it a very hard one For nothing was sworn against me whether true or false I will not now examine but some Discourses about making some Stirs And this is not levying War against the King which is Treason by the Statute of Edward the Third and not the consulting and discoursing about it which was all that was witnessed against me But by a strange Fetch the Design of seizing the Guards was construed a Design of killing the King and so I was in that cast And now I have truly and sincerely told what my part was in that which cannot be more than a bare Misprision and yet I am condemned as guilty of a Design of killing the King I pray God lay not this to the charge neither of the King's Council nor Judges nor Sheriffs nor Jury And for the Witnesses I pity them and wish them well I shall not reckon up the particulars wherein they did me wrong I had rather their own Consciences should do that to which and the Mercies of God I leave them Only I still aver that what I said of my not hearing Col. Rumsey deliver any Message from my Lord Shaftsbury was true for I always detested Lying tho' never so much to my advantage And I hope none will be so unjust and uncharitable as to think I would venture on it in these my last Words for which I am so soon to give an account to the Great God the Searcher of Hearts and Judge of all Things From the time of chusing Sheriffs I concluded the Heat in that Matter would produce something of this kind and I am not much surprized to find it fall upon me And I wish what is done to me may put a stop and satiate some Peoples Revenge and that no more innocent Blood be shed for I must and do still look upon mine as such since I know I was guilty of no Treason and therefore I would not betray my Innocence by Flight of which I do not I thank God yet repent tho' much pressed to it how fatal soever it may have seem'd to have proved to me for I look upon my Death in this manner I thank God with other eyes than the World does I know I said but little at the Trial and I suppose it looks more like Innocence than Guilt I was also advis'd not to confess Matter of Fact plainly since that must certainly have brought me within the Guilt of Misprision And being thus restrained from dealing frankly and openly I chose rather to say little than to depart from that Ingenuity that by the Grace of God I had carried along with me in the former parts of my Life and so could easier be silent and leave the whole Matter to the Conscience of the Jury than to make the last and solemnest part of my Life so different from the Course of it as the using little Tricks and Evasions must have been Nor did I ever pretend to a great readiness in speaking I wish those Gentlemen of the Law who have it would make more Conscience in the use of it and not run Men down and by Strains and Fetches impose on easie and willing Juries to the Ruine of innocent Men For to kill by Forms and Subtilties of Law is the worst sort of Murther But I wish the Rage of hot Men and the Partialities of Juries may be stopp'd with my Blood which I would offer up with so much the more Joy if I thought I should be the last were to suffer in such a way Since my Sentence I have had but few Thoughts but Preparatory ones for Death Yet the importunity of my Friends and particularly of the Best and Dearest Wife in the World prevail'd with me to sign Petitions and make an Address for my Life To which I was very averse For
heal all Breaches This Proposal seemed to dissatisfie the whole Meeting and the Duke of Hamilton their President Father to the Earl but they presently parted Wednesday the Ninth of January they met at three of the Clock in the same Room and Sir Patrick Hume took notice of the Proposal made by the Earl of Arran and desired to know if there was any there that would second it But none appearing to do it he said That what the Earl had proposed was evidently opposite and inimicous to his Highness the Prince of Orange's Undertaking his Declaration and the good Intentions of preserving the Protestant Religion and of Restoring their Laws and Liberties exprest in it and further desired that the Meeting should declare this to be their Opinion of it The Lord Cardross seconded Sir Patrick's Motion It was answered by the Duke of Hamilton President of the Meeting That their Business was to prepare an Advice to be offered to the Prince and the Advice being now ready to go to the Vote there was no need that the Meeting should give their Sense of the Earl's Proposal which neither before nor after Sir Patrick's Motion any had pretended to own or second so that it was fallen and out of doors and that the Vote of the Meeting upon the Advice brought in by their Order would sufficiently declare their Opinion This being seconded by the Earl of Sutherland the Lord Cardross and Sir Patrick did acquiesce in it and the Meeting Voted unanimously the Advice following To His Highness the Prince of Orange WE the Lords and Gentlemen of the Kingdom of Scotland Assembled at your Highness's desire in this Extraordinary Conjunction do give your Highness our Humble and Hearty Thanks for your Pious and Generous Undertaking for Preserving of the Protestant Religion and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of these Kingdoms In order to the Attaining these Ends our humble Advice and Desire is That your Highness take upon You the Administration of all Affairs both Civil and Military the Disposal of the Publick Revenues and Fortresses of the Kingdom of Scotland and the doing every Thing that is necessary for the Preservation of the Peace of the Kingdom until a general Meeting of the States of the Nation which we humbly desire your Highness to Call to be holden at Edinburgh the Fourteenth day of March next by your Letters or Proclamation to be published at the Market-Cross of Edingburgh and other Head-Boroughs of the several Shires and Stewartries as sufficient Intimation to All concerned and according to the Custom of the Kingdom And that the Publication of these your Letters or Proclamation be by the Sheriffs or Stewart Clerks for the Free-holders who have the value of Lands holden according to Law for making Elections and by the Town-Clerks of the several Burroughs for the meeting of the whole Burgesses of the respective Royal Burroughs to make their Elections at least Fifteen Days before the Meeting of the Estates at Edingburgh and the Respective Clerks to make Intimation thereof at least Ten Days before the Meetings for Elections And that the whole Electors and Members of the said Meeting at Edingburgh qualified as above Exprest be Protestants without any other Exception or Limitation whatsoever to Deliberate and Resolve what is to be done for securing the Protestant Religion and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom according to your Highness's Declaration Dated at the Council-Chamber in White hall the Tenth Day of January 1689. This Address being Subscribed by Thirty Lords and about Eighty Gentlemen was presented in their presence at St. James's by the Duke of Hamilton their President to his Highness the Prince of Orange who thanked them for the Trust they reposed in him and desired time to consider upon so weighty an Affair Upon the Fourteenth of January his Highness the Prince of Orange met again with the Scots Lords and Gentlemen at St. James's And spoke to them as follows My Lords and Gentlemen IN persuance of your Advice I will until the Meeting of the States in March next give such Orders concerning the Affairs of Scotland as are necessary for the Calling of the said Meeting for the preserving of the peace the applying of the publick Revenue to the most pressing Vses and putting the Fortresses in the Hands of persons in whom the Nation can have a just Confidence And I do further assure you That you will always find me ready to concur with you in every Thing that may be found necessary for Securing the Protestant Religion and Restoring the Laws and Liberties of the Nation The Earl of Crawfourd desired of his Highness That himself the Earl of Louthian and others come to Town since the Address was presented might have an opportunity to Subscribe it which was accordingly done His Highness Retired and all shewed great Satisfaction with his Answer The Emperor of Germany 's Account of K. James 's Misgovernment in joyning with the King of France the Common Enemy of Christendom in his Letter to King James viz. LEOPOLD c. WE have received your Majesties Letters dated from St. Germans the sixth of February last by the Earl of Carlingford your Envoy in our Court By them we have understood the Condition your Majesty is reduced to and that you being deserted after the Landing of the Prince of Orange by your Army and even by your Domestick Servants and by those you most consided in and almost by all your Subjects you have been forced by a sudden Flight to provide for your own Safety and to seek Shelter and Protection in France Lastly that you desire Assistance from us for the recovering your Kingdoms We do assure your Majesty that as soon as we heard of this severe turn of Affairs we were moved at it not only with the common sense of Humanity but with much deeper Impressions suitable to the sincere Affection which we have always born to you And we were heartily sorry that at last that was come to pass which tho we hoped for better things yet our own sad thoughts had suggested to us would ensue If your Majesty had rather given Credit to the Friendly Remonstrances that were made you by our late Envoy the Count de Kaunitz in our Name than the deceitful Insinuations of the French whose chief aim was by fomenting continual Divisions between you and your People to gain thereby an Opportunity to insult the more securely over the rest of Christendom And if your Majesty had put a stop by your Force and Authority to their many Infractions of the Peace of which by the Treaty at Nimegen you are made the Guarantee and to that end entred into Consultations with us and such others as have the like just Sentiments in this matter We are verily persuaded that by this means you should have in a great measure quieted the Minds of your People which were so much exasperated through their aversion to our Religion and the publick Peace had been preserved as well
Regnis atque populi innumerabiles in Guerrâ illâ mortem mortis periculum sustinuerunt bona quoque catalla inaestimabilia thesauros innumerabiles pro sustentatione hujus guerrae Communes Regni hujus indefesse effuderunt Et quod graviùs dolendum est jam in diebus vestris tanta onera iis imposita pro guerris vestris sustinendis supportaverunt quod ad tantam pauperiem incredibilem deducti sunt quod nec reditus suos pro suis tenementis solvere possunt nec Regi subvenire nec vitae necessaria sibi ipsis ministrare depauperatur Regia potestas Dominorum Regni magnatum infelicitas adducitur atque totius populi debilitas Nam Rex depauperari nequit qui divitem habet populum nec dives esse potest qui pauperes habet communes Et mala haec omnia redundant non solum Regi sed omnibus singulis Dominis Proceribus Regni unicuique in suo gradu Et haec omnia eveniunt per iniquos ministros Regis qui malè gubernaverunt Regem Regnum usque in praesens Et nisi manus citiùs apponamus adjutrices remedii fulcimentum adhibeamus Regnum Angliae dolorosè attenuabitur tempore quo minus opinamur Sed unum aliud de nuncio nostro superest nobis ex parte populi vestri vobis intimare Habent enim EX ANTIQUO STATUTO de facto non longe retroactis temporibus experienter quod dolendum est habito si Rex EX MALIGNO CONSILIO QUOCUNQUE vel INEPTA CONTUMACIA aut CONTEMPTU seu PROTERVA VOLUNTATE SINGULARI aut QUOVIS MODO IRREGULARI se alienaverit à populo suo nec voluerit per jura Regni Statuta ac laudabiles Ordinationes cum salubri consilio Dominorum Procerum Regni gubernari regulari sed capitose in suis insanis consiliis propriam voluntatem suam singularem proterve exercere extunc licitum est iis cum communi assensu consensu Populi Regni ipsum REGEM DE REGALI SOLIO ABROGARE propinquiorem aliquem de stirpe Regiâ loco ejus in Regni solio sublimare H. Knighton Collect. 2681. Wherefore taking wholsome Advice they sent by common Assent of the whole Parliament the Lord Thomas de Woodstock Duke of Glocester and Thomas de Arundell Bishop of Ely to the King to Eltham to salute him on behalf of the Lords and Commons of his Parliament who express'd their Desires to the King to this effect Sir The Lords and all the Commons of your Parliament have themselves commended to your most excellent Majesty desiring the Success of your invincible Honour against the Power of your Enemies and a most firm Bond of Peace and Love in your Heart towards your Subjects for your good God-wards and the good of your Soul and to the unspeakable Comfort of all your People whom you govern On whose behalf we intimate these things to you That it appears to us by an antient Statute and by laudable and approved Vsage which cannot be deny'd that our King can call together the Peers of the Realm and the Commons once a year to his Parliament as to the supream Court of the whole Kingdom in which all Right and Justice ought to shine forth without any doubt or stain as the Sun at Noon-day where Poor and Rich may find an infallible Refuge to enjoy the Refreshments of Tranquillity and Peace and for repelling of Injuries where also Errors in Government are to be reformed and the State and Government of King and Kingdom treated upon by sage Advice and the destroying and repelling of both intestine and foreign Enemies to the King and Kingdom with most Convenience and Honour may be debated upon and provided for as also in what manner the Charges incumbent upon the King and Kingdom may be born with most ease to the Commonalty They conceive likewise that since they bear the incumbent Charges it concerns them to inspect how and by whom their Goods and Chattels are expended They say also that it appears to them by an antient Statute that if the King absent himself from his Parliament voluntarily not by reason of Sickness or for any other necessary cause but through an inordinate Will shall wantonly absent himself by the space of forty days as not regarding the Vexation of his People and their great Expences it shall then be lawful to all and singular of them to return to their own Homes without the King's leave And you have now been longer absent and have refused to come to them for what cause they know not Then said the King I now plainly see that my People and the Commons design to oppose me with Force and are about to make an Insurrection against me And if I be so infested I think the best course I can take will be to _____ my Cousin the King of France and ask his Advice and pray in aid of him against those that way-lay me and rather to submit my self to him than be foil'd by my own Subjects To which they reply'd That Counsel is not for your good but will inevitably tend to your ruin for the King of France is your capital Enemy and the greatest Adversary that your Kingdom has and if he should set his foot within your Kingdom he would rather endeavour to prey upon you and invade your Realm and to depose you from your Royal Dignity than afford you any Assistance if which God forbid you should stand in need of his help Call to mind therefore how your Grand-father King Edward III and your Father Prince Edward for him fought indefatigably in Sweat and Sorrow all their days and went through innumerable Hardships of Cold and Heat to acquire the Kingdom of France which by hereditary Right appertain'd to Them and does now to You by Succession after them Remember likewise how innumerable Lords and Commons of both Realms and Kings and Gentlemen of other Kingdoms and People innumerable perished or hazarded perishing in that War and that the Commons of this Realm pour'd out Goods of inestimable value and innumerable Sums of Money for the carrying on of that same War and which is more to be lamented they have now in your days undergone such heavy Taxes towards the maintaining of your Wars that they are reduced to such incredible Poverty that they cannot so much as pay their Rents for their Farms nor aid the King nor afford themselves Necessaries and the King himself is impoverish'd and the Lords become uneasy and all the People faint for a King cannot become poor that has a rich People nor can he be rich whose People are poor And all these Mischiefs redound not to the King only but also to all and singular the Peers of the Realm in proportion And all these Mischiefs happen by means of the King 's Evil Ministers who have hitherto misgovern'd both the King and Kingdom and if some course be not taken the Kingdom of England will