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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29573	An apologie of John, Earl of Bristol consisting of two tracts : in the first, he setteth down those motives and tyes of religion, oaths, laws, loyalty, and gratitude, which obliged him to adhere unto the King in the late unhappy wars in England : in the second, he vindicateth his honour and innocency from having in any kind deserved that injurious and merciless censure, of being excepted from pardon or mercy, either in life or fortunes.	Bristol, John Digby, Earl of, 1580-1654.	1657 (1657)	Wing B4789; ESTC R9292	74,883	107

his Power and Greatness why should he not expect that Subjects should make as bold to transgress the same Duties in hope of recovering Liberty with the false shew whereof people are apter to be further transported than by any earthly desire whatsoever Neither will the fear of Death or Danger restrain them because they will not attempt untill opportunity make them hopefull of prevailing and then they conceive by Power to provide for their own Impunities But besides this proness in people to be easily led perswaded into Rebellion under the false and specious shew of recovering liberty The great Monarchs Princes of Christendom have been in great part the fomentors upholders of Rebellion and their Doctors have not so much by their preaching and writing beaten it down as the Princes themselves have by their Examples and Actions given encouragement unto it for although I shall ever speak with Reverence of Princes and their Actions yet I shall hope that the humble representation of this truth will receive a fair interpretation For it is undeniably true that in this later Age all the great Monarchies and States of Christendom have been made unhappy by Intestine Wars which have been fomented if not contrived and designed by one Christian Prince against another every one countenancing and encouraging Rebellion untill it become his own Case and then he is offended of this I shall give no particular instances the Notariety of it is too great and I fear every State may too easily apply it to what they have done And it may be feared that the sad Condition of almost all the States of Christendom at this present day may feel something of Gods Iudgements who hath said With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again And wicked Kings as they are sure they shall not escape the severe Iudgment of God in the next world if they do believe the Scripture So if they will believe Antient Histories of what hath passed in former times or their own experience of what they see daily with their eyes or that they do believe that God will repay unto them that which they have either countenanced or contrived against others they must expect to have troublesome and uncomfortable lives accompanied with Hatred Hazard and Infamy And if these considerations will not restrain them yet we must not be wicked because they are so Neither will God admit of Recrimination for our Excuse Our Duty of not resisting is positive upon pain of damnation from which no good Success or Prevailing can kee● us although it may save us from the Gallows Besides this great hazard of our Souls Moral Prudence should teach us That a Civil War is commonly a Cure much worse than the Disease For no Oppression nay no Tyranny bringeth with it half those Miseries and Calamities which of necessity do ever accompany an Intestine War Wicked Kings may be Cruel Covetous and Licentious But their Oppressions and their Lusts are restrained to some Wickednesses and to some Persons But in a War Rapes Murthers Robberies Sacrileges and all Impieties break in and all sorts of People are made miserable which the poor Kingdom of England hath found by sad experience where within these five years last past more hath been taken from the Subject than would have been exacted by Subsidies Projects or any unjust Taxes whatsoever by the worst of Kings in the space of one hundred And so all other wickednesses proportionably have been increased I shall conclude this Discourse with my humble and hearty Prayers to God Almighty to avert his heavy displeasure from that most unhappy Kingdom which I have seen the most prosperous and flourishing of all the Kingdoms of Europe And by our own Dissention is now become of all other the most miserable And so like to continue unless it shall please God so to dispose the minds both of King and People that they may really desire and endeavour a just moderate equitable Accommodation Whereby they and the Kingdom may be again put into the Way of recovering some measure of happiness It not being to be doubted but that the many Afflictions which have happened to the King will adde much of Wisdom and Circumspection unto his other Virtues And the publique Calamities that have befallen the Kingdom and the Distractions that the War hath visibly brought both in Church and Commonwealth wil make the people value and esteem Peace and not so Wantonly be again ingaged in new Miseries And although unto me in regard of mine Age and other Considerations there remaineth little Hope of ever seeing my Country again Yet where or howsoever it shall please God to dispose of me I shall dye with Comfort if I may judge it in a probable way of recovering some measure of its antient Happiness and Honor THE APPENDIX Containing Many PARTICULARS Specified in the First Part of this DISCOVRSE With the Citations of the Chapters and Pages where they are Cited CAEN 1647. A Speech made by the Right Honorable IOHN Earl of BRISTOL in the High Court of Parliament MAY 20 1642. Concerning an Accommodation MY LORDS I Have spoken so often upon the subject of Accommodation with so little acceptance and with so ill successe that it was in my Intention not to have made any further estay in this kind but my zeal to the peace and happiness of this Kingdom and my apprehensions of the near approaching of our unspeakable miseries and calamities suffer me not to be Master of mine own Resolutions Certainly this Kingdom hath at all times many advantages over the other Monarchies of Europe As of Situation of plenty of rich commodities of Power both by Sea and Land But more particularly at this time when all our neighbouring States are by their sevetal interests so involved in War and with such equality of Power That there is not much likelihood of their Mastering one another nor of having their differences easily compounded And thereby we being only admitted to all Trades and to all places Wealth and Plenty which follow where Trade flourisheth are in a manner cast upon us I shall not trouble your Lordships by putting you in mind of the great and noble undertakings of our Ancestors Nor shall I pass higher than the times within mine own remembrance Queen Elizabeth was a Princess disadvantaged by her sex by her age and chiefly by her want of Issue yet if we shall consider the great effects which were wrought upon most of the States of Christendom by this Nation under her prudent government the growth of the Monarchy of Spain chiefly by her impeached The United Provinces by her protected The French in their greatest miseries relieved Most of the Princes of Germany kept in high respect reverence towards her and this Kingdom and the peace and tranquillity wherein this Kingdom flourished and which hath been continued down unto us by the peaceable government of King Iames of blessed memory and of his now Majesty

made a Declaration in the manner as hereafter followeth That is to say when a man doth compasse or imagine the death of our Lord the King or if our Lady his Queen or their eldest Son and Heir or if a man do violate the Kings Companion or the Kings eldest Daughter unmarried or the Wife of the Kings eldest Son and Heir or if a man do levy War against our Lord the King in his Realm or be adherent to the Kings Enemies in his Realm giving to them aid and Comfort in the Realm or elswhere and thereof be proveably attainted of open deed by people of their Condition And if a man Counterfeit the Kings great or privy Seal or his money and if a man bring false mony into this Realm counterfeit to the money of England as the money called Lushburg or other like to the said money of England knowing the money to be false to merchandise or make paiment in deceit of our said Lord the King and of his people c. Certain Articles taken out of a Protestation of the Kings Supremacy made by the non-conforming Ministers which were suspended or deprived 3 Iac. Anno Dom. 1605. Cited page 51. Art 4. We hold that though the Kings of this Realm were not Members of the Church but very Infidels yea and Persecutors of the truth that yet those Churches that shall be gathered together within these Dominions ought to acknowledge and yield the said Supremacy unto them And that the same is not tyed to their Faith and Christianity but to their very Crown from which no Subject or Subjects have power to separate or disjoin it Ar. 6. We hold that no Church or Church-Officers have power for any Crime whatsoever to deprive the King of the least of his Royal Prerogatives whatsoever much lesse to deprive him of his Supremacy wherein the height of his Royal Dignity consists Ar. 9. We hold that though the King should command any thing contrary to the word unto the Churches that yet they ought not to resist him therein but only peaceably to forbear Obedience and sue unto him for Grace and Mercy and where that cannot be obtained meekly to submit themselves to the punishment Animadversions upon some particulars set down in the 57 58 pages of this Discourse there referred to this Appendix for not interrupting the Series thereof here expressed more fully If Ordinances without the Kings assent 1. That Ordinances of the two Houses without the King have not the power of Acts of Parliament should have the force of Acts of Parliament our Lives Estates and Laws might be Arbitrarily disposed of by the two Houses for that Acts of Parliament have undeniably Power over them all If Ordinances have power of Acts of Parliament the King hath no negative Voice which hath been acknowledged in all times and that no Act of Parliament bindeth the subject with out the Kings assent neither is it otherwise a Statute 1●H 7.24 H. 8. cap. 12.25 H. 8. cap. 21. This hath likewise been acknowledged several times at the heginning of this Parliament before the Doctrine of Coordination was hatched as will appear by their books of Ordinances and Declarations 1 par fol. 727. 1 Iac. cap. 1. 1 Car. 1 Cap 7. If the King hath not his negative Voice he were the only Slave in his Kingdom for that he alone should be tyed to Laws to which he had not assented whereas all other men either by themselves or their Representatives give their Consents to the Laws they live under which is the true mark betwixt Slavery and free Subjection Slaves living under the will of the Prince free Subjects under Laws to which themselves or their Ancestors have assented And the King only shall be bound and sworn to those Laws which are imposed upon him without his Consent which were irrational as well as illegal Ordinances were never pretended but only pro tempore 4 part Inst. fol. 23.48.292 2 part Inst. fol. 47 48. Rot. Pa● 1 num 4 Ed. 3. 2. ●●at the orde●●●g of the Militia appertainet● to the K. The Militia belongeth to the King as unseparable from the Crown without which he cannot protect nor punish withstand Enemies or suppress Rebels The Lords and Commons cannot assent in Parliament to any thing that tends to the disherison of the Crown 4 Par. Inst. fol. 14.42 Ed. 3. The Law doth give it him Stat 7 Ed. 1. with many other Statutes besides practice of all times and custome of the Realm Cook 4 part Inst. 51.125 The Forts and Navy Royal are his and to seize any of them is Treason 25 Ed. 3. 1 Ma. c. So declared by all the Iudges of England in Brookes Case 3. That the great Seal appertaineth only to the King The great Seal being the Power by which the Kings Royal Commands are legally distributed and conveyed cannot be severed from the Crown without the overthrow and destruction of Soveraignty 2 part Inst. 552. And to counterfeit the great Seal is high Treason 25 Ed. 3. 1 H. 4. cap. 2. 1. Marsess 2. cap. 6. For the Church Government The Houses have sworn the King to be the only Supreme Governor in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil 4. The Church Government The two Houses of Parliament may humbly offer to the King such Alterations and Reformations in Government as they shall think fit But to overthrow and change the Government without the Consent of the sole Supreme Governor nay contrary to his expresse Command and publique Declarations is against natural Reason and Common Law as well as against the said Oath The two Houses are as they say the Kings great Counsel which is true of the House of Peers The House of Commons Writ is only ad faciendum consentiendum But admitting them to be the Kings great Counsel it is a great absurdity and Non-sense that Counsellors should compel consent The Government of the Church is established by Law and by many Acts of Parliament To advise the repealing of the said Acts the Houses may do But without the Kings assent by force to endeavour the Change of the Government either in Church or Estate is high Treason so acknowledged by Mr. St. Iohns at the Arraignment of the Earl of Strafford and so declared by several Laws And was one of the Charges of Treason against the Lord of Canterbury Ir is contrary to all Divine and humane Laws that any Man should be condemned unheard or untryed 5. The prescribing of their fellow Subjects without tryal And the Law of the Land in Magna Charta ordereth That no man lose Life or Estate but per judicium parium aut legem terrae And the Stat. 2. Phil. Ma. that all Tryals for Treason be by Course of the Law Petition of Right 3 Car. It is an Inherent flower of the Crown 6. To grant Pardons belongeth only to the K. And by the Common Law Mercy belongeth to him

Proceeding therein could be but by joint concurrence of both Houses I judged this the most proper Expedient of making my addresses unto them both I accompanied this my Petition with a letter of much Respect unto the Speaker of the House of Peers with many Motives to induce them to condescend to my Petition I received Answer by letter bearing date the 10. day of Iune 1646. from the Earl of Manchester Speaker pro tempore in the name of the House as followeth My Lord The House of Peers have received your Letter and have commanded me to return your Lordship this Answer That they leave your Lordship to take the benefit of the Articles of Excester which they will carefully observe c. Hereupon having the Articles of Excester confirmed I came up in person unto London and exhibited my second Petition to the House of Peers with the same Request I had formerly made That it might be communicated with the House of Commons And by a letter signified unto the Speaker of the House of Commons my being come to London upon the publique faith of the Treatie of Excester The particular safe-Conduct of their General under his Hand and Seal and his letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons and the assurance of the House of Peers That the said Articles should be carefully observed by them My second Petition was That I might without offence sollicit my Cause and use my indeavours to give satisfaction to the Houses I received Answer by the Earl of Manchester That the Lords thought it reasonable that I might take the full benefit of the Articles and use my best indeavours in solliciting my Cause in Person to my best advantage But the next day after I had received this permission from the Lords to follow my Cause I was notified and served with an Order by the Serjeant at Armes of the House of Commons That notwithstanding it was agreed by the Articles for Rendring up of Excester Oxford c. That the Excepted Persons might come to London to endeavour to make their Peace and Composition with the Parliament the House of Commons was resolved to admit them to no Composition notwithstanding the said Articles And therefore it being to no purpose for them to use any further indeavours in that kind the Serjeant at Arms of that House was from time to time to give notice unto all such Excepted Persons That they should immediately depart without the Line of Communication and Parts adjacent and not to return c. I conceived this very derogatorie to the House of Peers that I should be ordered by the House of Commons without the Concurrence of the Lords especially in a matter wherein the Lords had declared themselves before Herein I thought it fit to have recourse unto the Lords and sent the Copie of the said Order unto divers of them who seemed to find it very strange and wished it might be offered unto the House the next morning which was accordingly done But having been read after some time of a general silence another business was set on foot and this laid by so that I found little relief was to be had where I might so justly have expected it But in regard the Serjeant at Arms had told me He could return no Answer to the House of Commons but his dutie was only to notifie the Order and to give an accompt if obedience were not given to it I wrote a letter unto the Speaker conteining some few modest and necessary requests But nothing would be heard concerning me but that I was to depart the Kingdom within the limited time by the Articles of Excester which being within very few daies to be elapsed I was constrained to make all the haste I could to the sea side and there to imbarque my Self and Companie and horses in a small boat with three Mariners only and one Boy having used all possible means to have my time enlarged only for some few daies for the providing of fitting Transportation but could not obtain it so that two daies before the expiration of the time limited by the Articles of Excester I imbarqued at Weymouth and passed into France The Reason of my leaving the Kingdom of England was First for that I was assured that the time of the Treatie being expired I should be seized as a Prisoner of War and so I might have been proceeded against by Marshal law or an Arbitrarie Power instead of a legal Tryal according to the law which neither then I did nor will at any time decline The second was That notwitstanding by the 21. Article for the surrendring of Excester it was agreed That no Oath Covenant Protestation or Subscription should be imposed upon any Person whatsoever comprised in the said Articles Yet the House of Commons ordered 2 of June 1646. That no Person should come to reside in the Parliament Quarters which was then all England but he should take the National League and Covenant and the Negative Oath notwithstanding any Articles that had been or should be made by the Army neither of which I thought could stand with my Loyaltie or the Oaths or Protestation which I had formerly taken Besides I did conceive that no Person could live with comfort or safetie under such a Power that so avowedlie broke the Publique Faith of their own Armie and General whom though I found very desirous to have his Capitulations punctually performed yet were they in all things broken by the Houses or their Committees whensoever it was for their benefit For the General having given me his Letters and Protection under his hand and seal for the injoying and disposing of my goods for the space of four months according to the Articles yet the Committees of Dorset-shire slighted the said Articles and Generals latters being both shewed unto them and sold the said good● for a third parr of their value for their own or friends advantage By this manner of proceeding I having fallen from all hope or possibilitie of clearing my self by being brought to a legal Trial or publick Hearing And being loath to go to my grave from whence I cannot be far branded with that black Mark of not being capable of Pardon or Mercie neither for Life nor Fortunes which must insinuate me to the world to be some horrid pernicious and wicked Malefactor find my self obliged in that I owe to my self in Vindication of mine Honor and Innocencie as likewise to my Familie and Posteritie who will find themselves left to want and misery to let them see that it hath been an inevitable necessity and adhering to my Loyalty and Conscience that hath involved me in that general Calamitie that hath be fallen the Kings overborn Partie and the particular indignation of others and no particular wickedness or demerit of mine that hath assigned and severed me to that severe and merciless Sentence of Unpardonable Destruction If I could have had any hope of being admitted to a publique or Legal Proceeding I should

And that he had thought fit to withdraw himself from London for his safety and the avoiding of Affronts which he had cause to fear for that the five Members were the next day by the armed Train'd-bands of the City in martial manner to be brought to Westminster and to pass by the Kings Palace Yet so desirous was the King to sweeten things again that upon great instance he passed the Bill for debarring the Bishops their Seats and Votes in Parliament upon hopes that were given with no small Assurance that upon gratifying the Houses therein all things would speedily be put into a way of Accomodation I had often heard the King say That besides the wrong done unto the Bishops who had as good Right to their Votes in Parliament as any other Peers from the first Original of Parliaments he conceived he could not do any Act of greater Prejudice to himself and his Successors than the passing of that Bill Yet the desire he had of a reconciliation with his Parliament overweighed all other Considerations and Interests whatsoever And he gave his Royal assent unto the Bill But instead of that effect which the King expected thereby it produced the 19 Propositions of Grocers Hall before mentioned Whereupon although the King gave no negative Answer yet he put on a Resolution to make no further Answer to any new Propositions But his Request to the Houses was That they would set down together all such means as would give them satisfaction wherunto they should receive a gracious and satisfsctory Answer to all they could iustly or reasonably demand But this was declared to be a breach of privileges to restrain the Proposals of the Houses either in matter or form The King on the other side thought that whatsoever he had formerly done had served only to strip himself of his known Rights but had no way advanced a general accommodation And so for the future betook himself to Declarations and Protestations instead of Answers wherein he proffer'd to concurre in all things they should desire for the settling of all Liberties and Immunities of the Subject either for the Propriety of their Goods or Liberty of their Persons which they either had received from his Ancestors or which by himself had been granted unto them And if there did yet remain any thing of Grace for the good and comfort of the Subject he would willingly heaken unto all their reasonable Propositions And for the setling of the true Protestant Religion he most earnestly recommended the Care thereof unto them wherein they should have his Concurrence and assictance The Rule of his Government he protested should be the setled Laws of the Kingdom And for the Indempnity and Comfort of the Subject he offered a more ample and General Pardon than had been granted by any of his Predecessors and for the performance of all he had promised besides solemn Oaths and Execrations whereby he bound himself he desired God only so to bless and prosper him and his Posterity as he should faithfully perform the same And further for the greater securing of what should be agreed and setled he gave such voluntary security as I conceive was never before demanded nor by any King offered to his Subjects That in the Case he failed in performance or should do contrary to that which he had promised or agreed He acquitted and freed his Subjects of their Obedience And this great desire of the Kings to have purchased Reconciliation with the Houses will appear to have been known to me and to have been so beleeved by me by what I spake in the House of Peers the 20 of May 1642. and was published in print most of this being but a repetition of what I then said as will appear by the said Speech hereunto annexed Besides the above specified Reasons of the Kings desiring Peace It could not be supposed that in humane prudence the King could desire a War being altogether unfurnished of men mony and ammunition and the contrary party provided of all by the being seized of his Forts his Magazins his Navy his Rents the Revenew of his Crown and of the powerfull and rich City of London and of the perverted Affections of his People He was fain at his return from Dover whither he had accompanyed the Queen when she passed into Holland to go from place to place as to Theobalds and to Newmarket lingring up and down in hope still of some Overture of Accommodation and many Motions tending thereunto were made by my self and other the Kings Servants that stayed behind him with the Parliament But they were not then thought seasonable and wrought little effect and the King having lost all hopes in that kind held it fit to retire himself further from danger as he conceived and so went unto York with a very mean Equipage and a slender Attendance of not above 30 or 40 Persons It is true that many of the Nobility and Gentry repaired thither unto him shewing great Affection and Resolution to follow him in all Fortune and Indeavours were used that the King might be put into the best posture of Defence that was possible but ever with a desire that those small Forces might rather countenance some Treaty or Overture for Accommodation than that there was any belief that those Forces were fit to carry through a War And to that purpose the Earls of Southampton and Dorset were sent unto the Parliament with new Overtures from Nottingham But nothing would be heard untill the King had first taken down his Standard and laid down Arms which the King understood to be a total submission and yielding of himself up seeing my Lord of Essex came forth and within few daies march of him with a great and powerfull Army He himself having by Sr. Iacob Ashleys Certificate not above 700 foot whereof there were not above 400 armed and 900 foot of Colonell Bellasis at Newark most of them without Arms An Equipage certainly not to have incouraged the King unto a War if it could have been avoided But such was Gods will for the punishment of the Nation But the Kings Forces indeed unexpectedly increased by which the War hath been continued to the Destruction of the Kingdom and more particularly of the Kings Party but later by much than could have been expected by any foreseeing man and neither the King nor any rational man with him but would have accepted and sought an Accommodation though with great loss and prejudice So that to make the King the first Agressor and beginner of an Offensive War and the Houses to have taken only defensive Arms I could never understand it nor know what it was they could pretend to defend Since there was no wrong left unredressed nor any thing that they could have pretence or colour to demand that was not offered Many things undeniably the Kings were witheld from him and more daily seized But I conceive no one thing can be instanced wherein the King hath deteined from

have said thus much to give Occasion to others to offer likewise their Opinions For if we shall sit still and nothing tending to the stay of the unhappy misunderstandings namely betwixt the King and his People be propounded It is to be feared that our miseries will hasten so fast upon us that the season and opportunities of applying Remedies may be past I have herein discharged my Conscience suitable to that duty which I owe to the King my Soveraign and Master and suitable to that zeal and affection which I shall ever pay to the happiness and prosperity of the Kingdom towards which I shall ever faithfully contribute my humble Prayers and honest endeavours And I shall no waies doubt whatsoever success this my Proposition may have it will be accompanyed with the good wishes of your Lordships and of all peaceable and well-minded men The Earl of Bristols Speech in the House of Peers The 11 of June 1642. My Lords YOu were pleased not many daies since to declare your displeasure for the printing of a Speech made by me in this House on the 20 of May last and the Cause of your displeasure was declared to be for that the said Speech did seem to insinuate that my former motions for Accommodation had found but little Acceptance whereby there was cast upon the House an Imputation as though it should not be inclined thereunto Your Lordships Displeasure in that kind hath given me Incouragement to renew my former Motion hoping it may be now more seasonable than at former times At least MY LORDS I fear it is at such a season that whosoever is desirous to move for the preventing of a Civill War ought to speak now or he may hereafter hold his peace For differences are reduced to that height of opposition betwixt his Majesty and the Houses that if some speedy means be not laid hold of for the allaying and reconciling of them it is to be feared that a very few daies will change our Contestations which yet are but in words and writing into actions of blood and open Hostility the which certainly may yet by your Lordships wisdoms be prevented but being once begun will not be remedied but after long time and unspeakable miseries The way that I presumed formerly to offer was that this Honorable House would be pleased to move that a select Committee of choise Persons of both Houses might be nominated who may truly state and set down all things in difference between the King and the Subject with the most probable waies of reconciling of them Secondly to descend unto the particulars which may in reason be expected by each from other either in point of our supporting of the King or of his relieving of us and lastly how all those Conditions being agreed upon may be fittingly secured MY LORDS The greatest difficulty as appeareth unto me in this point of Accommodation which so highly importeth the good of the King of the Kingdom and our own consisteth in the beginning of it For certainly if it once were put in a way being accompanyed with the Inclination which your Lordships express to it and with those earnest desires which the King professeth by his so many Invitations that we would clearly set down all that from him would give us satisfaction it could not miss of a happy and blessed Conclusion For in substance if our desires be suitable to our professions we are agreed For our professions are that we intend to pay unto the King all Duties of Loyalty and Obedience and to make him a Glorious King The King saith that to those great Liberties and Eases which he hath already granted unto us this Parliament he is ready to adde any thing that shall be with reason further propounded unto him for our Comfort and Satisfaction So that little seemeth to remain but that from Generals we fall to the Inviduals and express particularly what we mean by making him a Glorious King And paying unto him Loyalty and Obedience And likewise that the Individuals for our further Comfort and satisfaction be propounded So that the intentions of the one and the other being clearly known if any thing remain in difference it may by Treaty and by calm waies of Debate be reconciled Whereas the Professions which are now made on either side of desiring an Accommodation being only in Generals tend rather to a Vindication or Iustification of one part against the other than any way to advance an Accommodation whereas in particular Proposals Reason and Equity would sway and if we do really desire Peace as we profess we should on both sides stretch toward the effecting of it whereas if War be once on foot it is no longer Reason and Iustice which we make the Rules of our demands and Propositions but Success which as it is unequitable So it is a leaden uncertain Rule bowing and bending to the various chances of War and of Advantage And therefore if we do heartily desire Peace Let 's follow our Saviours Counsell Agree with our Adversary whilst he is yet on the way Otherwise we shall find by sad experience that that which might now be easily prevented shall hardly hereafter be remedied If a War happen to be here in England which God avert it cannot be but most bloody and feirce for being shut up here in an Island we shall fight as in a Cock-pit And there being in the Kingdome few considerable strengths there must of necessity be more fighting in a year or two than hath been in the Low Countries in twenty It is probable the War will not be so long but it will be more bloody And if we should prevail for the present there will remain a succession of troubles We all bear a reverence to Monarchy under which we and our Ancestors have lived so many Ages And the King is blessed with a plentiful Issue And our Professions and Intentions are not to cast off just Subjection but to preserve just Liberty which I am most confident we may do without the hazard of a War And what with our ancient Privileges his Majesties new Concessions and what he yet further offereth we may remain the happiest and the freest Subjects that live under any King The King likewise whatsoever Successe he may have will be no Gainer by a War For if he should conceive by Force to introduce an Arbitrary Government which I am most assured is far from his thoughts he will find his own Adherents his chief opposers who although they may fight in defence of his Person and just Rights according to their Oaths and Allegance yet they will be loath to fight themselves into slavery So that what is good for him will be good for us which is an happy and equitable Agreement and the contrary will make both miserable in so great a degree that as now we may be justly esteemed the happiest Kingdome in Europe and the very Envy of all our Neighbours So in a short time if a Civill War