Majesty delay'd giving Answer and the Cause why His demanding of Money when he did answer Their giving 200000 l. and Adjournment with the Cause of it p. 227. LXI Vpon the Duke of Crequis ' s arriving from France with a great Train and meeting his Majesty at New-market The Affairs treated of there The meeting of the Parliament again Their insisting upon a League with Holland and his Majesty's Answer p. 231. LXII Vpon the Prince of Orange ' s Arrival at Whitehall and Marriage with the Lady Mary eldest Daughter to the Duke of York The Address of the Commons thereupon and their insisting upon the Alliance with the Dutch and War against France p. 238. LXIII On the raising an Army on pretence of a War with France The modelling of them The sending of Duke Lauderdale to Scotland to bring down an Highland-Army upon those Parts of the Low-lands which were most Presbyterian The private Treaty with France The Discovery of it by the Commons Their Address to his Majesty to dismiss the French Ambassador Their Vote in May 1678. That the King be desired to enter into Alliance with the Emperor King of Spain and Princes of Germany His Majesty's Answer Their second Address against Duke Lauderdale and other Ministers and Vote to give no Money till they were secured from Popery and Arbitrary Government The Treaty of Nimeguen and the Behaviour of his Majesty's Plenipotentiaries there p. 241. LXIV On his Majesty's acquainting the Parliament that there was a Peace in agitation His Desire to keep up his Army and Navy till it were concluded The Resolve of the Commons for supporting the King in the War against France or provide for disbanding the Army His Majesty's Answer thereupon and the Commons continuing their Resolution to disband the Army though the King desired the contrary p. 249. LXV On the relieving of Mons by the Prince of Orange with the Assistance of the Duke of Monmouth and the English Forces The Defeat given to the French at that time and their King's Complaint that it was contrary to his Majesty's private Articles The concluding of the Peace Recalling our Forces Quartering them in the Country His Majesty's being in a Consult with the Duke of York Lord Clifford c. which was over-heard and the Person who listened kick'd down Stairs by the said Lord. p. 252. LXVI On the Discovery of the Popish Plot in August 1678. by Dr. Oates and others The Design of the Jesuits against his Majesty's Life Sir Edmundbury Godfrey ' s taking Dr. Oates his Depositions The seizing of Coleman Secretary to the Dutchess of York and his Papers and the murdering of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey thereupon p. 258. LXVII On his Majesty's Apology to the Parliament October 21 1678. for keeping up his Army His demanding of Money and acquainting them with the Plot and Danger from Popery The Vote of the Commons upon the Plot and Orders to apprehend the Earl of Powis and four other Popish Lords Their passing of the Bill for raising the Militia and his Majesty's refusing it The Execution of Coleman and some other Plotters of less note p. 263. LXVIII On the Bill for excluding Papists from both Houses of Parliament with a Clause excepting the Duke of York The Dissolution of the Parliament as prosecuting the Popish Plot. The calling of another and ordering the Duke of York to withdraw out of the Kingdom before they met His Majesty's Speech to them and Declaration confessing his Error in governing by Cabals His dissolving of his Privy-Council and chusing another whence the popular Members did quickly desire to be discharged p. 268. LXX On the French King 's seizing several Places in Flanders c. as depending on those which were confirm'd to him by the Peace of Nimeguen His and the Spaniards Vnkindness to the Duke of York at that time in the Netherlands The Address of the Commons to stand by his Majesty and the Protestant Religion Their disbanding of the Army The Discovery of Endeavours to make the Witnesses of the Popish Plot retract their Evidence And the proroguing of the Parliament upon their growing warm about the Trial of the Popish Lords in the Tower p. 273. LXXI On the Insurrection at Bothwel-bridg in Scotland The sending the Duke of Monmouth thither to suppress it which he effected The Execution of several Presbyterian Ministers upon it and the Execution of several Jesuits for the Popish Plot and Endeavours to stifle the same by the Meal-tub-Plot which prov'd abortive p. 277. LXXII On the dissolving of the Parliament July 12. 1679. and calling another against October 7. The Return of the Duke of York in the mean time and his being sent to Scotland The proroguing of the Parliament after their being chosen The acquitting of Sir George Wakeman and others of the Plotters by the then Lord Chief Justice The burning of the Pope c. in effigie The presenting of a Petition by the Citizens for the sitting of the Parliament and Abhorrence of Petitions presented by others p. 281. LXXIII On the Court 's being disappointed of receiving Money from Rome and France The meeting of the Parliament October 22 1680. The Proceedings of the Commons against such Justices as obstructed Petitions for the sitting of the Parliament The passing of the Bill of Exclusion against the Duke of York in the House of Commons nemine contradicente The rejecting of it by the Lords The Trial and Execution of the Lord Stafford The impeaching of the Judges Their Denial of a Supply to the King His Majesty's Message to them and dissolving them because of their Obstinacy p. 285. LXXIV On the calling of another Parliament to meet at Oxford Febr. 1680. The seizing of Fitz-Harris with seditious Libels designed to have been lodged with Protestant Peers and Commons The seditious manner of the London Members going to Oxford His Majesty's Speech to the Parliament when they met there Their Impeachment of Fitz-Harris and Dissolution p. 289. LXXV On his Majesty's Declaration that the Duke of Monmouth was not lawfully begotten p. 295. LXXVI On the Protestant Plot. The Trial and Execution of Stephen Colledge The Commitment of the Lord Howard of Escrick and the Earl of Shaftsbury with his Trial and Acquitment The Quo Warranto against the Charter of London and other Corporations The imposing of Sheriffs upon the City of London The Commitment of Sir Thomas Pilkington and Mr. Shute then Sheriffs for opposing it The calling of a Parliament in Scotland where the Duke of York represented his Majesty as Commissioner The Test enacted there and the Act for settling the Succession upon the Duke The Trial and Condemnation of the Earl of Argyle for explaining the Test and his Escape p. 298. LXXVII On the finding of my Lord Grey Alderman Cornish and other Citizens guilty of a Riot for countenancing the Election of the City-Magistrates The Discovery of the Conspiracy to assassinate his Majesty and the Duke of York at Ry-house and the Council of six to
Return if I should have contenanc'd him in that Design but there is no such hazard in my Case now And if he should have any hard Thoughts of me upon that account he 's very ungrateful seeing it is chiefly for his sake that I do it though at the same time I have also a Prospect to the Merit which according to the Roman Doctrine attends such Actions as are done for the Advancement of the Catholick Church that in case there be any such thing as a future Reward for such good Deeds I may by this Means insure it and at the same time I revenge my self on this undutiful Son for associating himself with those who are my Enemies and have all along oppos'd my Designs Private Men do many times disinherit their Children upon Disgusts and why should not a Monarch have the same Liberty My great Grandmother Mary Queen of Scots declared her Son my Grandfather a Bastard to prevent his succeeding her because he was educated in the Protestant Religion and she being enregistred as a Saint in the Roman Kalendar it can be no Crime to follow her Example This Procedure may be also justified from Reasons of State seeing he is become so popular amongst those who are Enemies to my Government they may perhaps take upon them to make him Head of a Rebellion against me and think to justify themselves by his Right of Succession and the Interest which he has to preserve the Nation upon its true Basis So that the most effectual way to give a Check to any such Designs which I have Reason from his Circular Journies into the Country to suspect may be in embrio is to declare him illegitimate which will lessen his Reputation seeing it will easily obtain Belief that I would not declare him illigitimate if it were not so merely for the Credit of my younger Days when I professed so much Piety that I may not be thought to have acted the Hypocrite from my Cradle CHAP. LXXVI On the Protestant Plot. The Trial and Execution of Stephen Colledge The Commitment of the Lord Howard of Escrick and the Earl of Shaftsbury with his Trial and Acquitment The Quo Warranto against the Charter of London and other Corporations The imposing of Sheriffs upon the City of London The Commitment of Sir Thomas Pilkington and Mr. Shute then Sheriffs for opposing it The calling of a Parliament in Scotland where the Duke of York represented his Majesty as Commissioner The Test enacted there and the Act for settling the Succession upon the Duke The Trial and Condemnation of the Earl of Argile for explaining the Test and his Escape THE Parliament being now dissolved and I by Consequence at liberty from such an impertinent Check it 's convenient for me to carry on my Designs with all imaginable Vigour and having found an opportunity against one of the Faction who was a talkative meddling Fellow I am resolved to have him tried for High-treason at Oxford seeing the London-Jury have acquitted him Let the Faction complain of its being contrary to Law and what else they please it 's for my Interest that he should be cut off to be a Terror to others and gain Belief to the Plot Oxford being a Place of noted Loyalty I doubt not of having him found guilty there seeing I have Evidences enough ready who will swear treasonable Words against him and he being once convicted it will not only reflect upon all the rest who attended the London-Members to Oxford but upon the Members themselves and the whole Party of Lords and Commons that countenanc'd the Bill of Exclusion And I am certain of this Advantage against all of them that the Church of England will be their Enemies because of the Favour and Inclination which they have evidenced to Dissenters And when Colledge shall be condemned by due Forms of Law it will reflect upon the Sheriffs of London for having pick'd such a Jury as acquitted him Having begun with Stephen Colledge and been successful in my Endeavours I am now resolv'd on higher Game and therefore have caus'd the Earl of Shaftsbury and the Lord Howard to be seiz'd as Ring-leaders of the Faction It 's true that I could not promise my self such Success in London as I had in Oxford but however in attempting it I have gain'd thus much that of the Crimes wherewith the Earl of Shaftsbury was charged some will be believed and his being acquitted in London will furnish me with farther ground of Quarrel against the City and countenance my Quo Warranto against their Charter as to which I am sure of the Sentence of the Judges And if I could once but humble that Source of Rebellion it would render the rest of my Work easy throughout the Nation And if the Charters of Corporations were once in my possession I shall be able to choose what Men I please to represent them in Parliaments which will be no small Advantage to my Designs It is indeed a very bold and daring Attempt but finding that hitherto my Proceedings have met with no Opposition by way of Arms I have the more Encouragement to go on especially seeing I have got the Church on my side who are happily alarm'd with the Insinuations of their own Danger from the opposite Party so that I doubt not of bringing this Affair to a happy Conclusion by letting the hungry Church-of England-Justices loose upon the Dissenters Estates and giving those of Doctors-Commons a full Power over their Consciences and Purses by which means the Party will easily be prevail'd on to believe that my seizing of the Charters is only design'd to exclude Dissenters from bearing any share in the Magistracy of the Nation or assisting in the choice of Parliament-men so that if once I get a House of Commons modelled to my mind I can easily make my party good in the House of Lords and then I or my Successors may effectuate by the Peoples seeming Consent what hitherto we have not been able to accomplish The City of London having behaved it self so rebelliously I am resolv'd to be further reveng'd upon them and to deprive them of their liberty of choosing Sheriffs for opposing me in which some of the most Factious are already committed And because the Herd of Phanaticks did unanimously concur with them I shall take care to have them duly prosecuted and punished according as their Merits require My Episcopal Subjects in Scotland have acted their part and evidenc'd a Loyalty without any Reserve having dispens'd with my Brother 's not taking of the Oath which was incumbent on him as Commissioner and settled the Succession without any Scruple They have however enacted a Test for the Security of their Religion which I can easily assent to for pleasing of the Rabble and furnishing the Episcopal Party an Answer to the Reproaches of their Brethren the Phanaticks who alledg that they have no Zeal for the Religion which they profess But though I am very well satisfied with my Friends
ΕΙΚΩ'ΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ ' ΔΕΥ'ΤΕΡΑ THE POURTRAICTURE OF HIS SACRED MAJESTY King Charles II. With his Reasons for turning Roman Catholick published by K. James Found in the Strong Box. Printed in the Year MDCXCIV The CONTENTS I. ON his Majesty's being converted into the Catholick Church Page 1. II. On his Majesty's accepting of the Scots Proposals and taking the Solemn League and Covenant in Scotland p. 6. III. On his Majesty's Coronation in Scotland upon taking the Covenant and other Oaths to govern according to the Laws of that Kingdom p. 15. IV. On the Divisions amongst the Scots Presbyterians upon his Majesty's bringing his Father 's old Friends into Places of Power and Trust about him p. 18. V. On his Majesty's Defeat at Dumbar p. 20. VI. On the Defeat of his Majesty's Forces at Innerkeithing c. and his raising another Army to march into England p. 22. VII On his Majesty's Defeat at Worcester p. 24. VIII On his Majesty's Escape to Whiteladies from thence to Spring-Coppice and then to Boscobel house where he was conceal'd some time by the Penderels after he left the Royal Oak p. 28. IX On his Majesty's being in the Royal Oak p. 31. X. On his Majesty's being conceal'd at Boscobel house Entertainment there by the Penderels and Journey thence to Mr. Huddleston ' s. p. 34. XI On the Proclamation against entertaining his Majesty and offering 1000 l. to any that would discover him p. 38. XII On his Majesty's leaving Mr. Huddleston ' s and riding before Mrs. Jane Lane to Bristol c. in order to his embarquing for France p. 40. XIII On his Majesty's Journey to Trent and parting with Mrs. Lane there in order to his embarquing at Charmouth a small Village near Lime and his Disappointment by the Skipper's Wife who lock'd her Husband up that he should not carry him p. 45. XIV On his Majesty's Return to Trent and lodging at an Inn in Broad-Windsor in his way amongst Rebel-Souldiers where one of their Women were brought to bed and his Concealment in a Place at Trent where Recusants used to retire p. 47. XV. On his Majesty's imploying my Lord Wilmot to procure Money for his Transportation his hiring a Ship being known by one Smith an Inn-keeper and his Arrival near Havre de Grace in France p. 49. XVI On his Majesty's being conducted to Paris met by his Brother the Duke of York and entertained at the French Court p. 51. XVII On his Majesty's offering his Mediation betwixt the Prince of Conde ' s Faction and that of Cardinal Mazarin supported by the French King and the Odium which he thereby brought upon himself from both Parties p. 53. XVIII On Mrs. Lane ' s Arrival in France His Majesty's being disappointed of Mademoiselled ' Orleans and treating with the Duke of Lorrain for the recovering of Ireland p. 55. XIX On his Majesty's falling in love with one of his own Subjects in France his marrying her and having a young Prince by her who was afterwards created Duke of Monmouth p. 59. XX. On the French King 's concluding a Treaty with Oliver by which his Majesty and the Royal Family were to be excluded France and his going thereupon into the Low-Countries p. 62. XXI On his Majesty's travelling into Germany and the Low-Countries The Duke of Glocester ' s being importun'd and threatned by his Mother to turn Roman Catholick and the Duke of York's being charg'd to depart France p. 64. XXII On his Majesty's being invited into the Spanish Netherlands by Don John of Austria in name of his Catholick Majesty upon the Rupture betwixt Spain and France p. 68. XXIII On the Defeat of the Spanish Army and the Surrender of Dunkirk to the English p. 70. XXIV On Oliver ' s Death Richard ' s being declar'd Protector outed by Lambert and the Army c. p. 72. XXV On his Majesty's being invited to a Treaty on the Frontiers of Spain betwixt the French and Spanish Ministers about a Peace betwixt those Crowns Sir George Booth ' s Defeat The Confusions which the Nations were cast into by Lambert and General Monk ' s carrying on the Designs of restoring his Majesty p. 74. XXVI On General Monk's having brought the Design of his Majesty's Restoration to Perfection His Majesty's Declaration from Breda and Entertainment of the Presbyterian Ministers there who were sent over to him p. 76. XXVII On his Majesty's being proclaim'd by the Parliament His magnificent Entrance into London and injoying the Countess of Castlemain the first Night p. 80. XXVIII On the Parliament's condemning the Regicides and appointing an Anniversary Humiliation on the Day of King Charles I' s Murder p. 83. XXIX On his Majesty's dissolving the Parliament which called him in and summoning another p. 85. XXX On the Presbyterian Plots set on foot Novemb. 1661. Sir J. P' s forging treasonable Letters to that effect His Majesty's appointing a Conference at the Savoy betwixt the Conformists and Nonconformists and influencing the House of Commons to offer Reasons against any Toleration p. 89. XXXI On his Majesty's selling of Dunkirk to the French King for 500000 l. p. 92. XXXII On the Parliament's beginning to grow sensible of the Incouragement given to the Catholick Religion by his Majesty's Declaration Decemb. 1662. Their Petition on that head and his Majesty's publishing a Proclamation against Papists thereupon p. 94. XXXIII On the News of some more Plots by the Phanaticks against his Majesty both in England Scotland and Ireland The Execution of the Earl of Argyle Lord Wariston c. in Scotland and some of those concerned in the Plots in England and Ireland p. 96. XXXIV On his Majesty's making War upon the Dutch Anno 1664. p. 99. XXXV On the Parliament's voting to stand by his Majesty till he had a Redress for the Injuries done to his Subjects by the Dutch The King 's great Care to have his Fleet ready before theirs putting them off by fair Promises seizing their Bourdeaux Fleet without declaring War c. p. 101. XXXVI On the French King 's making Peace with the States Several Skirmishes with various Success The Victory at Sea by the Duke of York and the Plague which broke out in London in 1665. p. 103. XXXVII On the meeting of the Parliament at Oxford because of the Plague at London The King's Speech to them about the Dutch War and Supplies The Chancellor's Enlargement on it The Act for banishing Nonconformists five Miles from Corporations p. 107. XXXVIII On the Dutch's recalling their Ambassador from England The King's Letter by him to the States and the French King and his Majesty's Declarations of War against each other p. 111. XXXIX Vpon the Sea-fights with the Dutch May and July 1666. both sides pretending to the Victory And the French's lying by though they came as if they design'd to assist the Dutch p. 113. XL. On the firing of London p. 114. XLI On the Parliament's meeting at Westminster after the Fire His Majesty's Demand of more Money
against those who shall declare me a Papist or that I have a Design to introduce Popery And though those who are sharp-sighted may laugh at such a Provision as rather giving than taking away Cause of Suspicion yet when it dare not be openly talk'd of amongst the Vulgar it will not obtain a common Belief And the Church of England whom I support against the Phanaticks will certainly support me against their Censures And thus when I have made one Party of Protestants to bait the other sufficiently if the Church of England prove refractory afterwards to my Designs then I shall endeavour by remitting the Rigour of the Law to ingage the Dissenters on my side to favour an universal Toleration by which my Friends the Papists may have ease if the Episcopal Party begin to grudg at my Favours towards them or to fear that at last they may dispossess themselves CHAP. XXXI On his Majesty's selling of Dunkirk to the French King for 500000 l. THis I know will be censured as an impolitick Action and the shutting my self out of the Continent whereunto this Town opened a Door by which I might have invaded France and the Netherlands when I pleased It 's true that it was a Monument of England's Glory but such an one as being erected under the Conduct of an Usurper is not for the Credit of me nor my Family and therefore lest it should be an Allurement to re-intice my People to a Commonwealth I will make it a Sacrifice to my Cousin the French King Not that I owe so much to his Kindness but that he may supply my present Necessities with his Money And to testify my farther Resentments of that impious Rebellion the Citadels which Oliver built shall be raz'd throughout my Dominions and the Towns which held out against my Father dismantled and if it were not that the Consequence would be fatal to my self every one of them should be sowed with Salt their Inhabitants made to pass under Saws of Iron and have their Flesh torn with the Briars and Thorns of the Wilderness But I must pretend other Causes to the People lest they should be enraged as that I won't keep up Garisons amongst them when there is no need to disturb their Commerce nor leave it in the Power of other Kings to do it when the Places which are capable of being garison'd are dismantled though in reality it is to prevent the Rebels from nestling there or having recourse to them to favour their Rebellion the best way to be rid of the Harpies being to destroy their Nests And that I may free my self at once as much as is possible from that viperous Brood as I have already disbanded the Army under pretence that I would not keep up one in time of Peace but in reality because I would not have such a Body of well-disciplin'd Troops of their Principles together lest at any time they should make head against me as against their former Masters the Parliament Richard c. So now I 'll forbid their old Officers to stay within 20 Miles of London and the Remainders of the Troops I 'll send to fight against the Spaniards in my Wife's Quarrel and if they never return as I hope few of them will I can very well bear the Loss CHAP. XXXII On the Parliament's beginning to grow sensible of the Incouragement given to the Catholick Religion by his Majesty's Declaration Decemb 1662. Their Petition on that head and his Majesty's publishing a Proclamation against Papists thereupon IT 's a mischievous thing for a Soveraign to be limited and to be obliged to act the King only by halves How happy is my Brother of France who is not troubled with such Fetters but his Will does pass for an uncontroulable Law I abhor those Parliaments for they are nothing else but Spies upon Kings and dive into their most reserved and hidden Intrigues I find they begin to suspect my Religion and grudg at the Favours which I show to the Papists and therefore I must proceed slowly and surely Their Zeal to my Prerogative is regulated by their own Interest which makes them oppose my Dispensing Power So that I find I am only absolute against Phanaticks and Republicans but when I come to meddle with the Church of England my Power is limited and the Parliament must then be Sharers of the Soveraignty Their Petitions against my Administration may issue in Remonstrances against my Government as it happened in my Father's time and therefore it is my Interest to flatter them a little and by a Proclamation against the Papists to create an Opinion of my Firmness to the Protestant Religion in the Publick draw Money from the Purses of the Commons and so to recoil to give the stronger and heavier Blow CHAP. XXXIII On the News of some more Plots by the Phanaticks against his Majesty both in England Scotland and Ireland The Execution of the Earl of Argyle Lord Wariston c. in Scotland and some of those concerned in the Plots in England and Ireland I Find that I shall bring my Designs about by Degrees and under the Notion of Plotters execute Vengeance upon mine Enemies without incurring the Censure of being bloody or cruel It 's true that it may seem hard that I should take the Earl of Argyle's Head who was the Person that set the Crown upon my own But during this Extacy of Loyalty in which the Nations are at present the Method of such Proceedings will be the less taken notice of and it 's absolutely necessary for my purpose that the Earl of Argyle should be taken out of the way the Greatness of his Power and his Zeal for his Religion may otherwise prove great Impediments to my Designs I have Pretences enough against him because of his Activity in the Parliament's Rebellion and his Death will be acceptable to the Church of England because he was Head of the Presbyterians and the Friends of the late Marquiss of Montrosse and all the Cavaliers will concur with my Design against him and though there is no doubt but that he will profess his Innocence on the Scaffold yet the Authority of a publick Sentence will be of greater Weight or at least restrain the People from open Murmurings By his Death I shall have also this farther Advantage that the Power of his Clan will be thereby reduced and neither be formidable to my self nor Successors it being the Interest of all Crowns to guard against too potent Subjects As to Sir Archibald Johnston of Wariston though he be not so great in Power yet he is nothing inferiour to the other in Policy but indeed far above him and as the Trojans ow'd their Destruction more to Vlysses's Counsels than Achilles's Arms it 's my Interest to rid my self of a Politician who is my Enemy as soon as of one who is greater in Power and Quality And though it be reckon'd no great Policy for a Monarch newly re-establish'd to cement his Throne with
the Purles of his Subjects at command for him to be obliged to use Intreaties to his People who ought to receive his Dictates without Controul But Necessity has no Law the Constitution of this Government being such that English Kings are but a sort of Royal Beggars I must try if my Parliament will let me have Money now that I am disappointed as to my Hopes of seizing the Dutch Smyrna and Spanish Plate Fleets and that my Supplies from France come but slowly in I know that they are jealous of their Privileges have an envious Eye at my Prerogative and are particularly startled at the Dispensing Power therefore I must sweeten them by my Speech and indeavour to possess them with an Opinion that my Design therein was only to secure my self from Tumults and Insurrections at home while I was engaged in a War abroad which cannot be thought an unreasonable Fear by any thinking Man considering the Troubles which the Puritanical Party gave to my Father And as to their Objection that more Favour has been shewn to Papists than Dissenters I can easily answer it that the latter are abundantly more Loyal than the former and have been fast Friends both to my Father and my self and yet they were only allowed their Worship in private whereas the other Party had theirs in publick but as for dispensing with the Executive Part of the Law I am resolv'd to hold it as long as I can Their Fears that I shall make use of the Forces which I raise to subvert their Liberty and Property I must endeavour to dispel by fair Promises and the Interest of my Clergy and Pensioners and at the same time possess them with a Necessity of my raising more Forces for the Honour and Defence of the Nation that we may not be insulted over by the ungrateful Dutch whom my Predecessor Queen Elizabeth did raise from the Dust I have cull'd out the Earl of Shaftsbury for Lord Chancellor who may do me very great Service because a Popular Man so that I shall make use of his Influence and Eloquence both to palliate my having shut up the Exchequer and to demonstrate the Necessity of a War with the Dutch and at the same time of granting an Indulgence to the Papists I perceive that the bad Influences of my Stars are not yet exhausted for though I lay my Designs with all imaginable Policy they do often miscarry Who would have thought that so many fair Promises back'd with the Earl of Shaftsbury's Eloquence and the Interest and Influence of my Pensioners should have miscarried in Parliament and yet to my great Regret I do find that it has so that nothing will serve but a renouncing of my Dispensing Power and fresh Assurances that never any thing of that Nature shall be attempted again which rather than want Money I am resolv'd to comply with for if I could but once get a Standing Army on foot I should soon be able to retrieve it And in the mean time I shall take care to have all this Clamour against the Dispensing Power and Standing Army imputed to the Jealousies and envious Surmises of the Phanaticks and Republicans And from this Obligation laid upon me to recal my Act of Indulgence I shall at least reap this Advantage that it will heighten the Animosities betwixt the Dissenters and Church-men for I can easily bring it about to have the Refusal of it wholly imputed to the latter And though I have no reason to be well satisfy'd at the Check which is hereby put upon my Prerogative yet it hath thus much of a Cordial in it that I perceive the Episcopal Party wholly irreconcileable to the Presbyterians which at some time or other will very much forward my grand Design and at present it has had so much Influence as to procure me a considerable Sum though to avoid the Reproaches of the Phanatical Party the Parliament won't own that it is for carrying on the War against the Dutch but to supply my extraordinary Occasions If it were not that I question the Being of a Deity I should be apt to conclude that God fights for the Hollanders who have obtain'd some fresh Advantages against me at Sea and though they labour under the greatest of Pressures that can be they do also make good their Cause against the Power of France by Land And those pernicious Hereticks being sensible of the Apprehensions which my Parliament have that the Consequences of this War may be fatal to the Protestant Interest they have taken the most effectual Method that can be to possess that Heretical Divan that the French King and my self aim at nothing less than the Subversion of their Religion and the Liberties of their State with that of the Spanish Netherlands Nor have I any other way to save my self from the Influences of this Accusation than by insisting on the necessity of destroying those States to preserve our own Trade and to prevent the Incouragement which they give to those who are Enemies to the establish'd Discipline of our Church There is but too much Truth in the common Proverb That after one Mischief comes another for so I find it by sad Experience Though the Dutch and the Phanatical Party be both of them hated by the Church of England yet they have Influence enough to foment Jealousies in the Parliament that their Religion and Liberty are both in danger And hence comes the Address of the Commons against my Brother's Match with the Dutchess of Modena because a Catholick Princess and proposed by the French King 'T is true that this may indeed seem inconsistent with my reiterated Protestations of taking all imaginable Care to secure the Protestant Religion and the Peoples Liberties but amongst so many Concessions I may certainly venture on one Dram of Prerogative and tell them that the Marriage is concluded by my Authority that in Honour I cannot be worse than my Word and if this will not satisfy them I 'll cool them by a Prorogation What ill Fate is this that attends all my Measures I did reasonably hope that this Prorogation would have diverted the Commons from insisting on their Address against my Brother's Match but it seems that the Jealousy which they have conceiv'd has taken deeper Root than to be pull'd up so soon and therefore I find my self under a necessity to prorogue them again seeing they press me so hard to dissolve the Match because hitherto only concluded by Proxy They are become very sagacious and discern that this Marriage will engage me in new Alliances which may be dangerous to the Protestant Religion and that the Princess having so many Relations in the Court of Rome the Secrets of my Court must needs be open to them and therefore they are about to render Catholicks uncapable of sitting in either House of Parliament but this is too much for me to concede and if granted would ruine my Design intirely and therefore I must find out some Method to
to resist my self or any having my Commission though I should command them to do things contrary to the standing Laws as levying of Money without Consent of Parliament c. Or though I should either deliver my self up to the French King or by Fortune of War fall into his Hands and either willingly or by constraint command my Subjects to do such things as are contrary to my Royal Dignity Or in case that a Popish Successor should by Force of Arms endeavour to establish the Catholick Religion So that I find the Doctrine of Passive Obedience though inculcated from the Pulpit as a necessary Article of Faith on pain of Hell and Damnation hath not obtain'd universal Belief amongst the Church-of England-Laity whatever it hath done amongst their Clergy and consequently that the latter are not fit for me to rely upon as not being able enough to defend me against that Party who prov'd too strong for them and my Father both for I am now fully satisfied that such of the Church of England as agree with the Dissenters in Politicks would also quickly unite with them in Ecclesiasticks if they would but allow them a sufficient Latitude of Practice So that hence I have ground enough to perswade the Clergy to declare against all such as Presbyterians in Masquerade and secret Enemies to their Church-Government which they do not believe to be jure divino else they would never boggle at swearing not to alter it I have also this to comfort me that I am not suspected alone by those Peers but the Bishops do now come in for a share it being plainly perceiv'd by the contrary Party that though they took care for their Discipline they took none for their Doctrine that they might be as good as their Promise to the Popish Lords that the Oath should be so form'd as not to bear hard on them which is still an Encouragement to me to think better of the Catholick Religion than the Reformed for the Catholick Clergy I find much truer to their Interest than those of the Church of England If the English Bishops did believe the Truth of their own Religion they would certainly be more concerned for its Doctrine than Discipline and not more sollicitous to secure the latter against Dissenters than the former against Catholicks or if they were Men who made conscience of Oaths themselves they would never be for imposing such Oaths upon others as are contrary to their own Practice for if they thought it unlawful to endeavour any Alteration in their Church they would never make choice of such Men for Preferments as Preach and Write against her Doctrine of Predestination Those Prelates do exactly resemble the Pharisees who bound heavy Burdens upon the Shoulders of their Disciples while they would not touch them themselves with one of their Fingers and so though there have been several Alterations made in the Prayers and Rites of the Church since the Reformation by them and their Predecessors yet they would oblige others by Oath never to endeavour the like but to maintain their Church as now established by Law which swears them to maintain the old Popish Canons revived by the First of Elizabeth which is indeed of a piece with the last Act of Uniformity that makes Popish Priests capable of Benefices without Re-ordination if they turn Protestants and yet unchurches all their Reform'd Brethren abroad and declares their Ordination invalid It 's true that all this is for my Interest and contributes exceedingly to the advancement of my Designs but at the same time though I love the Treason I hate the Traitor and can put no Confidence in those Men who being false to that which they call their own Interest can never be true to mine and hence I perceive that though they profess otherwise their Religion is the same with my own for as I pursue my Pleasures they pursue their Profits as their summum bonum and if they may but acquire it they care not by what Methods Who then can blame me for disbelieving that Religion which they who are the Fathers of the Church do manifestly disbelieve themselves or how can I be blamed for favouring Popery as best suited to my Designs when Protestant Bishops approve of their Ordination Canons Ceremonies and Government and by the choice which they make of Ecclesiasticks for Preferments and the Tenderness which they have shew'd to the Catholicks in the management of this Test it 's evident enough that they have no dislike to their Doctrines However I am in a great measure obliged to them for standing by me in this Point though I perceive their principal Motive was to have their own Government rendred as Absolute as my own and that it should be equally if not more dangerous for any Man to mutter against the Church as it is to speak Treason against the State However if this Oath could be pass'd I should be happy in my Government and rendred abundantly more Absolute than now I can pretend to be the present Oath of Allegiance and the Laws not being comprehensive enough but loaded with ungrateful Restrictions And as for the Bishops I know how to deal with them if ever they should happen to grow uneasy the Wounds of my Sword will be sooner felt than those of their Pastoral Staff and having rendred themselves unacceptable to the Nation by concurring so much with the Court and being so violent against Dissenters they cannot well recover their Interest there and so must be forc'd to comply with me by which means I can easily protect the Crown against the Efforts of the Mitre CHAP. LIV. On the Debate betwixt the Lords and Commons about the Lords hearing of Appeals from any Court of Equity with the Behaviour of the Bishops in that Affair and the Opposition which they met with from the Earl of Shaftsbury c. THE Lords having made so much opposition to my Designs it 's my Interest now to gain the Commons and own their Pretensions against the Privileges of the Peers for if by this means I could render the Upper House useless I should be the better able to deal with the Lower or if both of them fall by their mutual Heats I shall be a certain Gainer by their Destruction or if the Commons once find that I am for them it may further their passing the Test with more ease The Bishops I am sure of in the House of Lords and of my Pensioners high Churchmen in the House of Commons who I 'm sure will vote according to the Direction of the Court The Cavalier's Conscience is govern'd by the Bishop and the indigent Courtier must live by the Crown so that both their Votes I may depend upon The Phanatick I can take off by hopes of Liberty so that I shall only have the staunch Country-man to oppose me and it 's hard if I be not able to weather the Point against him But my Designs are still very apt to miscarry and the Earl
certainly happen if none of those who are accus'd be brought to Punishment I must seem to countenance the Prosecution of the Plot to prevent the Peoples having any Pretence for executing Justice themselves which by the great Multitude of Swordmen that attended Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's Corps to the Grave I may reasonably conjecture they have Inclination enough to do And seeing these hot-headed Fellows who were intrusted with the Commission to kill him had so little Prudence as to commit the Fact within the Verge of my Consort 's Palace it behoves me to give way to Justice against them lest the world should think it had been contriv'd at Whitehall And the time of the Parliament's Meeting drawing near I must be very cautious how I take my Measures and contrive in what manner it 's fit to accost them CHAP. LXVII On his Majesty's Apology to the Parliament October 21 1678. for keeping up his Army His demanding of Money and acquainting them with the Plot and Danger from Popery The Vote of the Commons upon the Plot and Orders to apprehend the Earl of Powis and four other Popish Lords Their passing of the Bill for raising the Militia and his Majesty's refusing it The Execution of Coleman and some other Plotters of less note THE Parliament being to meet I must bethink my self of an Apology for not disbanding my Army according to the Act. And seeing they insisted so much upon the Preservation of Flanders as the Barrier of this Nation I must urge the Necessity there was of keeping them on foot for that end and so turn their own Arguments against them which will by the Assistance of my Friends draw a Vail before the Peoples Eyes and at the same time this affords me a specious Reason for demanding Money as having spent what they gave me last to maintain the Army And if this should raise Heats amongst them as I have Reason to think it may I shall thence have a justifiable Pretence for proroguing them again as designing a manifest Invasion of the Rights of the Crown And by this means I shall acquit my self of my Promises to the Catholicks in preventing a thorow Scrutiny into their late Plot and give those hot-headed Bigots who intended my Death a convincing Evidence how necessary it is for them in their present Circumstances to preserve my Life for if I should happen to miscarry at this Juncture when the Kingdom is in a Ferment on account of their Conspiracy it will certainly issue in the Ruine of their Affairs and the perpetual Exclusion of my Brother from the Throne his Enjoyment of which is the thing that they expect with so much Impatience But that I may the better screen my self from the Jealousies of the Parliament it 's necessary that I should inform them of the Popish Plot and the Danger of my Person and the Protestant Religion if they don't fall upon effectual means to prevent it This cannot in Justice give any reasonable Ground of Offence to my Friends the Catholicks seeing I only dissemble to do them the more Service Nor have they any greater reason to be angry at my suffering some of the inferiour sort to be cut off and some of the chief ones committed it being always good Policy rather to lose a Part than hazard the whole This I shall take care to impart to the great ones and so long as I secure my Interest with them I need not value the other The Commons I perceive are not to be diverted by a false Scent as I did hope they would by my Apology for continuing the Army and new Demand of Money but are now very eager in pursuit of the Plot and have voted it a damnable Design to root out their Religion and Government have procured Warrants to apprehend the Earl of Powis with the Lords Stafford Arundel Peters and Bellasis so that I must of necessity comply with committing them to the Tower where I shall take care to keep them in salva though not in arcta custodia and by that means save them from popular Fury By my compliance in this I shall the better stave off the Odium of refusing the Bill for raising the Militia though the Commons have voted it as necessary for their Safety And I can easily palliate my so doing under the Notion of a Tenderness for my Prerogative which being an old Plea can never be suspected of being fram'd on purpose to favour the Plot though at the same time I have no more Cause to repose my self on the Fidelity of the Country than they have to entrust me with a Standing Army I have met with no such Encouragement of late from their Civil Representatives in Parliament as to make me confide in their Military Representatives in an Army The Militia of the Nation were never Friends to my Father nor do I know what reason they have for a greater Respect to the Son If I should gratify the Commons in this I have reason to dread the Issue for having been so bold as to libel my Administration when they had no Forces to back them I have no reason to doubt but that they would advance a Step higher if they should have an Army which they could depend upon Let them exclaim against my Conduct for denying to raise the Militia though at the same time they are encompassed with an illegal Army as loud as they can I am to prefer my own Interest to their Humour and will always value my own Prerogative and Pleasure above the Will of my Subjects who were born for me and not I for them according to the Doctrine of their own beloved Church which can never stand if Popery fall and I doubt not but their Clergy will quickly have their Eyes open to see it for whenever the Tide runs strong against Popery their Bishops decline and Dissenters are favoured and whenever the Stream is turn'd against the Phanaticks the Mitres triumph and Papists are encouraged of which my Father's Reign and mine have afforded many incontrovertible Instances and I doubt not but the Event will verify my having been a true Prophet Foul Water quenches Fire as well as that which is clean and so the Death of some of the meanest Plotters will satisfy the present Resentments of the People And thus the greatest of Cities will condemn their own Suburbs to Destruction in case of a Siege so they can but save the Body of the Place The Heathen Romans thought it their Honour to devote themselves to the Infernal Gods to regain a Battel in hazard to be lost and why should not the Christian Romans follow their Example Those ordinary Fellows who have suffered on account of the Plot will have more than a sufficient Compensation by a Place in the Roman Kalendar of Saints so that they have no reason to upbraid me for suffering the Law to take place against them since according to their own Doctrine their Martyrdom does not only merit a Release from Purgatory but the
receiving Money from Rome and France The Meeting of the Parliament October 22 1680. The Proceedings of the Commons against such Justices as obstructed Petitions for the sitting of the Parliament The passing of the Bill of Exclusion against the Duke of York in the House of Commons nemine contradicente The rejecting of it by the Lords The Trial and Execution of the Lord Stafford The impeaching of the Judges Their Denial of a Supply to the King His Majesty's Message to them and dissolving them because of their Obstinacy NO wonder that those who are avowed Enemies to my Designs should refuse me Money when those who are zealous for the same and promised Assistance both by Men and Money do now fail me that the Court of Rome who compass Sea and Land to make Proselytes should deny Money when it is only required to propagate their Faith may justly seem strange but as for the French King 's doing so it 's easy to conceive that he hath been thereunto influenc'd by Reasons of State It was his Interest to create Jealousies and Discontents betwixt me and my Subjects not only to prevent our uniting against him but that both of us might fall as an easier Conquest though it 's horribly inglorious for him to take such Methods But why should I say thus seeing all the great Princes that ever aspir'd to the Universal Monarchy did make use of Fraud as well as Force However during my Life I shall prevent his Design to cheat me of my Crown and if I can carry on my Work without him as it is the more hazardous it will be also more glorious and by the Divisions which have from time to time been carefully nourished amongst my Protestant Subjects I doubt not but in time I may obtain my Desires without his Assistance The Parliament being met they are as bad to the full as I suspected and tread in the same Steps with their Predecessors and discharge their Fury upon such of my Justices as obstructed Petitions for their sitting and accuse them as Betrayers of the Rights and Liberties of the People because they witnessed their Zeal for the Prerogatives of my Crown Nor does their seditious Procedure stop here but they have unanimously voted a Bill for excluding my Brother from the Crown cut off the Earl of Stafford for his Accession to the Plot and impeach my Judges The Fall of that Lord I must needs lament but it is as venial for me to let him fall a Sacrifice to popular Vengeance as it was for my Father to give up the Earl of Strafford to his rebellious Parliament though he was much more necessary to him than ever this Lord was to me But as for the excluding of my Brother and impeaching of my Judges I must never give way to it for that would infallibly issue in the Destruction of my self My stubborn Subjects have depriv'd me of my Army so that I cannot establish my Authority by the Sword and if I suffer my self to be likewise bereft of my Judges then I shall be utterly disabled from carrying on my Design either by Military Power or the Shadow of Law As to the Exclusion of my Brother from succeeding to the Crown it can in no manner be admitted And here I have a very good Plea against them The Clergy have preach'd up the Divine Right of a Lineal Succession and if that be so I can maintain my Argument by the Laws of God and I doubt not but my Judges will give it out as the Laws of the Land If I should give way to his Exclusion it would weaken my self for then my Enemies might reasonably act with the greater Boldness against me when they should be in no fear from my Successor to punish such a Practice The Lords having thrown out the Bill by the Influence of the Bishops Bench is enough to justify me in the Eyes of the World for why should I consent to the disabling of my own Brother from succeeding to me upon the account of his being a Roman Catholick when the Protestant Bishops who are the ghostly Fathers of their Church make no Scruple to own his Right of Succession and testify their Hatred against the Bill In this they have done me remarkable Service and I doubt not but their Example will have Influence on the Clergy But to prevent all Suspicion as much as is possible that I have any Design to re-establish Popery I will send them a Message that I am ready to agree to any other Expedients for securing them against it And thus when I have made such Proffers and have the Bishops and their Clergy on my side it will look very presumptuous in any Party whatever so much as to whisper a suspicious Word of my Intentions And if the Commons adhere tenaciously to their Bill and refuse to drop it there 's none who will dare to blame me if I dissolve them CHAP. LXXIV On the calling of another Parliament to meet at Oxford Febr. 1680. The seizing of Fitz-Harris with seditious Libels designed to have been lodged with Protestant Peers and Commons The seditious manner of the London-Members going to Oxford His Majesty's Speech to the Parliament when they met there Their Impeachment of Fitz-Harris and Dissolution THE City of London being a perfect Nest of Rebellion it 's reasonable to give them a Mortification by summoning the Parliament to meet elsewhere and as Oxford hath been always signal for Loyalty both to my Father and my self I will gratify that Place with the meeting of this Parliament which will engage the Clergy more firmly on my side especially the young Nursery which is now a breeding up there And as by this Method I shall oblige my real Friends it 's probable that it may cool the Courage of my Enemies especially when they find themselves at a distance from their factious Accomplices at London and surrounded with my Souldiers and Guards at Oxford It is not without some appearance of Reason that my stubborn Subjects do boast of the Divine Care and Providence which seems to watch over their Persons Religion and Liberties for not only the Plots of Catholicks against them have been discovered and baffled but all my Designs of fastning Plots against them upon the Government have miscarried The Disappointment of this which was managed by Fitz-Harris may be of very ill Consequence if there be not care taken to prevent or at least baffle his Discovery which he has been such a Fool as to make now that he is taken How unhappy have I and my Courtiers been in the Tools that we chose to carry on our Designs for every one of them have not only discovered whatever they were imploy'd in but also who set them at work which incenses the Nation against the Court But without attempting we can never be sure of any thing and it is some Satisfaction when we do miscarry to be able to say with Phaeton Magnus tamen excidit ausis This Design was
Loyalty yet in truth I cannot commend their Policy that they should not have taken more care to avoid such plain Contradictions in their Test as furnish Objections against it not only to the Phanaticks but also to many of their own Party It 's true they are the more excusable that herein they were out-witted by some of the opposite Faction who though they had a hand in the framing it refuse it themselves but I took care to have had the Earl of Argile beheaded for his Behaviour in that Affair whereby I should not only have punish'd him for his own and his Father 's former Rebellions but have also deprived the opposite Faction of a Head but the cross Fates have decreed his Escape Yet I am so much a Gainer by the Affair that his forfeited Estate will reward some of my zealous Friends and his Sentence will terrify the rest of my Enemies as it hath pleased my Church-of England Zealots because of his Inclination to the Scotish Kirk This Behaviour of the Parliament and Church of Scotland will mightily strengthen my Friends of the Church of England in their espousing mine and my Brother's Cause which will not a little contribute to the running down of the Dissenters our irreconcileable Enemies in both Nations CHAP. LXXVII On the finding of my Lord Grey Alderman Cornish and other Citizens guilty of a Riot for countenancing the Election of the City-Magistrates The Discovery of the Conspiracy to assassinate his Majesty and the Duke of York at Ry-house and the Council of six to manage the Plot Whereupon my Lord Russel Algernon Sidney c. were cut off The Earl of Essex's being murdered in the Tower The Trial and Sentence of Mr. Speke and Mr. Braddon for endeavouring a Discovery thereof The Continuance of the Surrender of Charters c. THE Citizens I perceive continue still tumultuous and are mighty tenacious in asserting the Right of chusing their Magistrates though there is a Quo Warranto against their Charter It is therefore my Interest to punish those who incourage them that for time to come they may be deterr'd from such Practices and therefore I shall order it so that my Lord Grey Alderman Cornish and such other noted Citizens as countenance their Proceedings shall be indited as Rioters and I doubt not of having them found guilty accordingly which will both reflect upon their Credit and affect their Estates But all this while I play at nothing but small game and this way of proving Plots by Consequence and Inferences is not so satisfactory to the Publick for the Faction evades them by alledging that all those things with which they are charg'd amount to no more than a zealous Appearance for their Liberties to which they have a Right by Law so that I must find out a Method to charge their Ringleaders with something of a more heinous Nature that may appear odious in the Eyes of the World and not only render the Persons but the Cause also hateful By which means I shall be justified in cutting off the Chief of the Faction as the Lord Russel Algernon Sidney c. and afford a plausible Pretext for committing the Earl of Essex and others But seeing it will be look'd upon as improbable that such Persons as the Duke of Monmouth Earl of Essex Lord Russel Colonel Sidney Mr. Hambden c. should be concern'd in any mean or base Design against my Life or my Brother's by way of Assassination I have taken order that the Plot shall consist of two Parts viz. one of levying War against me to overturn the Government in Church and State whereof those great Men above-named shall be given out as the Managers which as it will justify the Reasonableness of my having declared the Duke of Monmouth illegitimate so it will be the more readily believ'd that he is engag'd in such a Design to revenge that Affront The other part of the Plot which shall be given out as a Design to have assassinated my self and the Duke of York I have by the Advice of some of my Confidents laid it so as to have it charg'd upon meaner Persons as Walcott Rumbold c. And being provided with the Lord Howard of Escrick and other Evidences fit for my purpose the Matter shall be sworn boldly home And thus shall I revenge my self on those Men who have appear'd with so much Zeal against me and my Brother and rid our selves of such dangerous Enemies And at the same time to make the Belief of the Plot obtain amongst the People I will order a Day of Thanksgiving for the Discovery which will give the Clergy an occasion to run down the Phanaticks and assert the Truth of their Design to overturn the Church and State under the specious Pretext of consulting how to preserve and maintain their Religion and Liberties By this means I may go on to cut off their Ring-leaders securely and the Lord Russel and Algernon Sidney particularly the former for having dar'd to carry up the Bill of Exclusion to the House of Lords and because he is popular and the apparent Heir to a great Estate of Church-lands which will make him vigorous in his Opposition to Popery and the latter because of his being an old Rebel against my Father a Person of Antimonarchical Principles and one whom the Faction admires for his Counsel and Conduct I know what will be urg'd in their Defence as that their innocent Discourses and Meetings are aggravated that the Evidence against them is infamous and defective and that my Attorney and others are mov'd with Bribes and the Prospect of Preferments from the Court to harangue them out of their Lives but those Cobweb-Objections I can easily break now that the Tide runs with as much Violence against them as they carried it formerly against the Catholicks for which I am obliged to my Bishops and Clergy who have espous'd the Business with so much Zeal because I have turn'd the Chase upon the Phanaticks And to engage them yet further I have ordered some of the Scots Presbyterian Gentry c. who lurk'd about Town to be sent to Scotland that so the Plot given out to be carried on in both Nations by the Phanaticks and Republicans may acquire the more universal Credit The Death of my Lord Russel I perceive is a great Mortification to the Party who are now as much dejected as they were formerly elevated in the time of the Popish Plot and seditious Parliaments But that which pleases me most is the bringing of the Protestant Interest in my Kingdoms so low and splitting them to pieces by a Wedg of their own tho I have been deserted in a great measure both by my Friends of France and Rome But my Brother I perceive carries the thing too far and I find it generally suspected that all was not fair in relation to the Earl of Essex yet the News of his having cut his own Throat was of singular Use to advance the Credit of the
of Shaftsbury with others of the Country Lords have got so much Influence on the Humours of the Nation that my Project I fear will certainly fail Their Arguments for preserving the Rights of the Lords as an essential Part of the Government and a necessary Check on aspiring Monarchs are so popular and taking that they charm the Vulgar who are made to believe that the Upper House is their chief Security for the peaceable Enjoyment of their Rights and Properties which may be otherwise destroyed by partial Judges who depend on the Court for their Honours and Preferments and are consequently influenc'd by them in their Sentences However I am obliged to the good Will of the Bishops who do herein behave themselves like true and loyal Subjects and advise the Lords to quit their Pretensions though thereby they lay themselves open to Lashes as concurring to destroy that Government the Preservation of which for ever without any endeavour of Alteration they did so much press to have the People sworn to but herein they act conformable to their great Principle that Monarchy and the Lineal Succession is of Divine Right and not being the Creature of Man's Constitution ought not to be subject to humane Limitation but to God alone from whom it has its Being The Lords however are deaf to all Insinuations either from the Danger of a Rupture with the Commons or me at this Juncture which puts me under a Necessity of proroguing the Parliament and rather to hazard the Loss of the Test than the Quiet of my Government for I find that Kings have always been Losers whenever they came to a War with their Barons and People and I am not without Reason to think that this Debate betwixt the two Houses is rather fomented to obstruct the Test than out of any Kindness to my Prerogative which is sufficiently evident from the inconsiderable Subsidy which the Commons have voted me CHAP. LV. On the Meeting of the Parliament after the Prorogation His Majesty's Demand of Money to build Ships The Commons insisting upon the Bill for a Habeas Corpus Against sending Men Prisoners beyond Sea Raising Money without Consent of Parliament Against Papists sitting in either House For the speedier convicting of Papists and recalling his Majesty's Subjects from the French Service and the Duke of Buckingham's Speech for Indulgence to Dissenters HAving during this Interval of Parliament taken sufficient Care to insinuate the Danger of open Rebellion such as that in 1641. if the Parliament persist in their late Methods and to make all those who refuse such Sums as I think best to desire odious to the Church as Presbyterians I thought fit to let them meet again to try whether this Method had had any Influence on them or if the last Prorogation had any way cool'd them But though the Money which I desired was to strengthen my Fleet for the Honour of the Nation which I concluded that they would the more easily grant because in the former Session they complain'd that the French were grown stronger than us at Sea yet still I meet with a Repulse and instead of Money am answered with Complaints and Libels against my Administration By withholding of Money they make me unable to give Rewards and now they are about depriving me of the Power of inflicting Punishments By their Bill of Habeas Corpus they would deliver Criminals from the Irksomness of long Imprisonments at home and yet will not agree that they should be sent Prisoners abroad They are moreover so stubborn as to deny me Money for support of the Monarchy and yet will not suffer me to raise any without their Consent Now their Fears of Popery and Slavery come upon them afresh which with redoubled Clamours they send abroad into the Country to inspire the Mob with their own Sentiments and fill the Nation with endless Jealousies Hence come their Bills for disabling Papists from sitting in either House by which they would rob me of the Assistance of my best Friends Nor are they content to stay there but they are also for having them speedily convicted and punish'd according to their sanguinary Laws which in my time shall never be granted Nor do their Designs rest here but as they will not allow me an Army at home they are now for my calling back such as I have abroad being afraid that they should learn too much of the French Methods of an undisputed Submission to the Dictates of their Prince All those disloyal Practices are fomented by Dissenters and others who are of Antimonarchical Principles for which in time I hope for a Revenge and at present am resolved to give them a Diversion by reviving the Quarrel betwixt them and the Lords and while they are hot in the Contest about their own Principles they will remit their Violence against the Papists and forget the Kindness which they intended to Dissenters for I have always observed this in their Temper that when they were kind to the one they were severe to the other and when any Man is disgusted with that which they call Tyranny in the State and Concurrence with it in the Church they strait have an Inclination to favour the Phanaticks and Republicans How could it have happened else that the Duke of Buckingham whose Father was a Sacrifice to the Resentments of the Faction should now make Harangues for an Indulgence to Dissenters So that I plainly perceive that all the Enemies to the Glory of my Crown do nestle themselves amongst that rebellious Herd Yet herein at least I shall reap an Advantage that the Church will more cordially espouse my Quarrel and oppose such Causes as are favoured by their Enemies whose Bodies in due time I shall bequeath to the Gallows whilst the Clergy pretend to send their Souls to Hell CHAP. LVI On the Motion for an Address by the House of Lords for dissolving the Parliament The Address's being cast out by the Majority and the Protestation of the Country Lords thereupon HOW unhappy is it for a Monarch to be tied up to the Humours of his People and thus it must be so long as Parliaments have any share in the Government and till the Prince be made Absolute by the Power of the Sword I thought to have rendred my Parliaments insignificant and altogether useless to the Ends for which they are chose and by continuing this Parliament so long had well nigh effected my Design having brib'd most of them to change their Interest and taken such Methods as to make not a few of them change their Religion so that instead of acting according to their Original Commission from the Country they were wholly led by the Dictates of the Court but now an evil Spirit of Contention having seiz'd upon the Lords they begin to controul me as Consiliarii nati and those whose Interest it is to keep the Government steady and therefore move to have this Parliament dissolv'd because they can no more be called the Representatives of
Plot and contributed much to my Lord Russel's Condemnation And though I have no reason to bewail his Loss because he might have prov'd a dangerous Enemy yet the Merit of the Father makes me regret the Fate of the Son which I could wish had been more favourable I perceive that it 's dangerous to go on in this Method too fast and I must not give my Brother too much way lest I should indeed dig a Grave for my self and therefore having gratify'd the Catholicks enough at once I may very well be allowed to pause a while and consider whether I may not be ship-wrack'd in the Tempest that I have raised before it be too late and therefore I think it necessary to recal the Duke of Monmouth whose natural Affection will make him tender of my Preservation And by this means I shall have a Check upon my Brother though at the same time I must not allow the Plot to be decried but find it convenient still to sacrifice Colonel Sidney and suffer Speke and Braddon to be prosecuted for offering to call in question the Earl of Essex's having been felo de se And in the mean time I will take surer though slower Measures to bring about my Designs For the Heads of the Faction being now cut off and the whole Party brought under Hatches I judg it better Policy to divest the Corporations of their Charters gradually while the Church-men are in the surrendring Humour than to pursue these severer Methods with heat lest the People should come at last to be enraged and rise in an universal Rebellion for if my Brother be suffered to follow his own Conduct he will quickly run himself and me both off the Stage FINIS Here follow the Copies of two Papers written by the late King Charles II. Published in 1686. by King James's Authority who attested that he found them in his Brother 's Strong Box written in his own Hand The First Paper THE Discourse we had the other Day I hope satisfied you in the main that Christ can have but one Church here upon Earth and I believe that it is as visible as that the Scriputre is in print That none can be that Church but that which is called the Roman Catholick Church I think you need not trouble your self with entring into that Ocean of particular Disputes when the main and in truth the only Question is Where that Church is which we profess to believe in the two Creeds We declare there to believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church and it is not left to every phantastical Man's Head to believe as he pleases but to the Church to whom Christ left the Power upon Earth to govern us in Matters of Faith who made these Creeds for our Directions It were a very irrational thing to make Laws for a Country and leave it to the Inhabitants to be the Interpreters and Judges of those Laws for then every Man will be his own Judg and by consequence no such thing as either Right or Wrong Can we therefore suppose that God Almighty would leave us at those Uncertainties as to give us a Rule to go by and to leave every Man to be his own Judg I do ask any ingenuous Man whither it be not the same thing to follow our own Fancy or to interpret the Scripture by it I would have any Man shew me where the Power of deciding Matters of Faith is given to every particular Man Christ left his Power to his Church even to forgive Sins in Heaven and left his Spirit with them which they exercised after his Resurrection First by his Apostles in these Creeds and many Years after by the Council at Nice where that Creed was made that is called by that Name and by the Power which they had re-received from Christ they were the Judges even of the Scripture it self many Years after the Apostles which Books were Canonical and which were not And if they had this Power then I desire to know how they came to lose it and by what Authority Men separate themselves from that Church The only Pretence I ever heard of was because the Church has fail'd in wresting and interpreting the Scripture contrary to the true Sense and Meaning of it and that they have imposed Articles of Faith upon us which are not to be warranted by God's Word I do desire to know who is to be Judg of that whether the whole Church the Succession whereof has continued to this day without Interruption or particular Men who have raised Schisms for their own Advantage The Second Paper IT is a sad thing to consider what a world of Heresies are crept into this Nation Every Man thinks himself as competent a Judg of the Scriptures as the very Apostles themselves and 't is no wonder that it should be so since that part of the Nation which looks most like a Church dares not bring the true Arguments against the other Sects for fear they should be turned against themselves and confuted by their own Arguments The Church of England as 't is call'd would fain have it thought that they are the Judges in Matters Spiritual and yet dare not say positively that there is no Appeal from them for either they must say that they are Infallible which they cannot pretend to or confess that what they decide in Matters of Conscience is no further to be followed than it agrees with every Man 's private Judgment If Christ did leave a Church here upon Earth and we were all once of that Church how and by what Authority did we separate from that Church If the Power of interpreting of Scripture be in every Man's Brain what need have we of a Church or Church-men To what purpose then did our Saviour after he had given his Apostles Power to Bind and Loose in Heaven and Earth add to it that he would be with them even to the end of the World These Words were not spoken Parabolically or by way of Figure Christ was then ascending into his Glory and left his Power with his Church even to the End of the World We have had these hundred Years past the sad Effects of denying to the Church that Power in Matters Spiritual without an Appeal What Country can subsist in Peace or Quiet where there is not a Supream Judg from whence there can be no Appeal Can there be any Justice done where the Offenders are their own Judges and equal Interpreters of the Law with those that are appointed to administer Justice This is our Case here in England in Matters Spiritual for the Protestants are not of the Church of England as 't is the true Church from whence there can be no Appeal but because the Discipline of that Church is conformable at the present to their Fancies which as soon as it shall contradict or vary from they are ready to imbrace or join with the next Congregation of People whose Discipline and Worship agrees with their Opinion at that