against their inclination could not passe it over But they handled it so tenderly as if they were afraid to touch it The first day insteed of the Question Whether the Parliament were by this unpresidented Prorogation indeed Dissolved it was proposed something ridiculously Whether this Prorogation were not an Adjournment And this Debate too they Adjourned till the next day and from thence they put it off till the Munday morning Then those that had proposed it yet before they would enter upon the Debate asked Whether they might have liberty as if that had not been more then implied before by Adjourning the Debate and as if Freedome of speech were not a Concession of Right which the King grants at the first opening of all Parliaments But by this faintnesse and halfe-counsell they taught the House to deny them it And so all that matter was wrapped up in a cleanly Question Whether their grand Committees should sit which involving the Legitimacy of the Houses Sitting was carried in the Affirmative as well as their own hearts could wish But in the Lords House it went otherwise For the first day as soon as the Houses were seperate the Duke of Buckingham who usually saith what he thinks argued by all the Laws of Parliament and with great strength of Reason that this Prorogation was Null and this Parliament consequently Dissolved offering moreover to maintaine it to all the Judges and desiring as had been usuall in such Cases but would not here be admitted that even they might give their opinions But my Lord Frechvvell as a better Judge of so weighty a point in Law did of his great Courtship move That the Duke of Buckingham might be called to the Barre which being opposed by the Lord Salisbury as an extravagant motion but the Duke of Buckinghams proposal asserted with all the Cecilian height of Courage and Reason the Lord Arundell of Trerise a Peere of no lesse consideration and Authority then my Lord Frechvvell and as much out of order as if the Salt had been thrown down or an Hare had crossed his way Opening renewed the motion for calling the Duke to the Barre But there were yet too many Lords between and the Couriers of the Honse of Commons brought up advice every moment that the matter was yet in agitation among them So that the Earl of Shaftsbury had opportunity to appear with such extraordinary vigour in what concerned both the Duke of Buckingham's person and his Proposal that as the Duke of Buckingham might have stood single in any rational contest so the Earl of Shaftsbury was more properly another Principal than his Second The Lord Chancellour therefore in answer undertook on the contrary to make the Prorogation look very formal laying the best colours upon it after his manner when Advocate that the Cause would bear and the worst upon his Opponents but such as could never yet endure the Day-light Thus for five or six hours it grew a fixed Debate many arguing it in the regular method till the expected news came that the Commons were rose without doing any thing whereupon the greater number called for the Question and had it in the Affirmative that the Debate should be laid aside And being thus flushed but not satisfied with their Victory they fell upon their Adversaries in cool blood questioning such as they thought fit that same night and the morrow after sentencing them the Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Salisbury the Earl of Shaftsbury and the Lord Wharton to be committed to the Tower under the notion of Contempt during his Majestyes and the Houses pleasure That Contempt was their refusing to recant their Opinion and aske pardon of the King and the House of Lords Thus a Prorogation without President was to be warranted by an Imprisonment without Example A sad Instance and whereby the Dignity of Parliamens and especially of the House of Peers did at present much suffer and may probably more for the future For nothing but Parliament can destroy Parliament If a House shall once be Felon of it selfe and stop its own breath taking away that Liberty of speech which the King verbally and of course allows them as now they had done in both Houses to what purpose is it comming thither But it was now over and by the weaknesse in the House of Commons and the Force in the House of Lords this Presumptuous Session was thus farre settled and confirmed so that henceforward men begun to wipe their Mouths as if nothing had been and to enter upon the Publick Businesse And yet it is remarkable that shortly after upon occasion of a discourse among the Commons concerning Libells and Pamphlets first one Member of them stood up and in the face of their House said That it vvas affirmed to him by a person that might be spoke vvith that there vvere among them thirty forty fifty God knovvs hovv many Outlavved Another thereupon rose and told them It vvas reported too that there vvere diverse of the Members Papists A third That a multitude of them vvere Bribed and Pensioners And yet all this was patiently hushed up by their House and digessed being it seems a thing of that Nature which there is no Reply to which may very well administer and deserve a serious Reflexion how great an opportunity this House of Commons lost of ingratiating themselves with the Nation by acknowledging in this Convention their invalidity to proceed in Parliament and by addressing to his Majesty as being Dissolved for a Dismission For were it so that all the Laws of England require and the very Constitution of our Government as well as Experience teaches the necessity of the frequent Meeting and change of Parliaments and suppose that the Question Concerning this Prorogation were by the Custom of Parliaments to be justified which hath not been done hitherto yet who that desires to maintaine the reputation of an honest man would not have layed hold upon so plausible an occasion to breake company when it was grown so Scandalous For it is too notorious to be concealed that near a third part of the House have beneficiall Offices under his Majesty in the Privy Councill the Army the Navy the Law the Houshold the Revenue both in England and Ireland or in attendance on his Majesties person These are all of them indeed to be esteemed Gentlemen of Honor but more or lesse according to the quality of their severall imployments under his Majesty and it is to be presumed that they brought along with them some Honour of their own into his service at first to set up with Nor is it sit that such an Assembly should be destitute of them to informe the Commons of his Majesties affaires and communicate his Counsells so that they do not by irregular procureing of Elections in place where they have no proper interest thrust out the Gentelmen that have and thereby disturbe the severall Countreys Nor that they croude into the House in numbers beyond modesty and which
other Nations as refractory disobedient Persons that had lost all respect to his Majesty Thus were they well rewarded for their Itch of Perpetual Sitting and of Acting the Parliament being grown to that height of Contempt as to be Gazetted among Run-away Servants Lost Doggs Strayed Horses and High-way Robbers In this manner was the second meeting of this whether Convention or Parliament concluded But by what Name soever it is lawfull to call them or how irregular they were in other things yet it must be confessed That this House or Barn of Commons deserved commendations for haveing so far prevented the establishment of Popery by rejecting the Conspiratours two Bills Intituled 1. An Act for further securing the Protestant Religion by educating the Children of the Royal family therein And for the providing for the Continuance of a Protestant Clergy 2. An Act for the more effectual conviction and Prosecution of Popish Recusants And for having in so many Addresses applyed against the French power and 〈◊〉 And their Debates before recited upon this latter subject do sufficently show that there are men of great parts among them who understand the Intrest of the Nation and as long as it is for their purpose can prosecute it For who would not commend Chastity and raile against Whoreing while his Rival injoyes their Mistresse But on the other side that poor desire of Perpetuating themselves those advantages which they have swallowed or do yet gape for renders them so â—…bject that they are become a meer property to the Conspiratours and must in order to their continuance do and suffer such things so much below and contrary to the spirit of the Nation that any honest man would swear that they were no more an English House of Parliament And by this weaknesse of theirs it was that the House of Peers also as it is in contiguous Buildings yeelded and gave way so far even to the shaking of the Government For had the Commons stood firme it had been impossible that ever two men such as the Black and White Lords Trerise and Frechvvel though of so vast fortunes extraordinary understanding and so proportionable Courage should but for speaking against their sense have committed the Four Lords not much their inferiours and thereby brought the whole Peerage of England under their vassalage They met again at the Day appointed the 16 of July The supposed House of Commons were so well appayed and found themselves at such ease under the Protection of these frequent Adjournments which seemed also further to confirme their Title to Parliament that they quite forgot how they had been out-lawed in the Gazette or if any sense or it remaind there was no opportunity to discover it For his Majesty having signified by Mr. Secretary Coventry his pleasure that there should be a further Adjournment their Mr. Seymour the speaker deceased would not suffer any man to proceed But an honourable Member requiring modestly to have the Order Read by which they were before Adjourned he Interrupted him and the Seconder of that motion For he had at the last Meeting gained one President of his own making for Adjourning the House without question by his own Authority and was loath to have it discontinued so that without more ado like an infallible Judge and who had the power over Counsels he declared Ex Cathedra that they were Adjourned till the third of December next And in the same moment stampt down on the floor and went forth trampling upon and treading under foot I had almost said the Priviledges and usage of Parliament but however without shewing that decent respect which is due to a multitude in Order and to whom he was a Menial servant In the mean time the four Lords lay all this while in the Tower looking perhaps to have been set free at least of Course by Prorogation And there was the more reason to have expected one because the Corn Clause which deducted Communibus Annis 55000 I. out of the Kings Customes was by the Act of Parliament to have expired But those frequent Adjournments left no place for Divination but that they must rather have been calculated to give the French more scope for perfecting their Conquests or to keep the Lords closer till the Conspirators Designes were accomplished and it is less probable that one of these was false than that both were the true Causes So that the Lords if they had been taken in War might have been ransomed cheaper than they were Imprisoned When therefore after so long patience they saw no end of their Captivity they began to think that the procuring of their Liberty deserved almost the same care which others took to continue them in Durance and each of them chose the Method he thought most advisable The Earl of Shaftsbury having addressed in vain for his Majesties favour resorted by Habeas Corpus to the Kings Bench the constant Residence of his Justice But the Judges were more true to their Pattents then their Jurisdiction and remanded him Sir Thomas Jones having done him double Justice answering both for himself and his Brother Tvvisden that was absent and had never hard any Argument in the case The Duke of Buckingham the Earle of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton had better Fortune then he in recurring to his Majesty by a Petition upon which they were enlarged making use of an honorable Evasion where no Legal Reparation could be hoped for Ingratefull Persons may censure them for enduring no more not considering how much they had suffered But it is Honour enough for them to have been Confessors nor as yet is the Earl of Shaftsbury a Martyr for the English Liberties and the Protestant Religion but may still live to the Envy of those that maligne him for his Constancy There remaines now only to relate that before the meeting appointed for the third of December his Majesties Proclamation was Issued signifying that he expected not the Members attendance but that those of them about Town may Adjourn themselves till the fourth of April 1678. Wherein it seemed not so strange because often done before as unfortunate that the French should still have so much further leisure allowed him to compleat his design upon Flanders before the Nation should have the last opportunity of interposing their Counsells with his Majesty it cannot now be said to prevent it But these words that the House may Adjourn themselves were very well received by those of the Commons who imagined themselves thereby restored to their Right after Master Seymours Invasion When in reversal of this he probably desiring to retain a Jurisdiction that he had twice usurped and to adde this Flower to the Crown of his own planting Mr. Secretary Coventry delivered a written Message from his Majesty on the 3d. of December of a contrary effect though not of the same validity with the Proclamation to wit That the Houses should be Adjourned only to the 15. of January 1677. Which as soon as read Mr. Seymour
time it cost him his Place and was the first moving Cause of all those Misadventures and Obloquy which since he lyes ABOVE not Under The Declaration also of Indulgence was questioned which though his MAJESTY had out of his Princely and Gracious Inclination and the memory of some former Obligations granted yet upon their Representation of the Inconveniencies and at their humble Request he was pleased to Cancel and Declare that it should be no President for the Future For otherwise some succeeding Governour by his single Power Suspending Penal Laws in a favourable matter as that is of Religion might become more dangerous to the Government than either Papists or Fanaticks and make us Either when he pleased So Legal was it in this Session to Distinguish between the King of Englands Personal and his Parliamentary Authority But therefore the further sitting being grown very uneasie to those who had undertaken for the Change of Religion and Government they procured the Recess so much sooner and a Bill sent up by the Commons in favour of Dissenting Protestants not having passed thorow the Lords preparation the Bill concerning Papists was enacted in Exchange for the Money by which the Conspiraiors when it came into their management hoped to frustrate yet the effect of the former So the Parliament was dismissed till the Tvventy seventh of October One thousand six hundred seventy three In the mean time therefore they strove with all their might to regain by the VVar that part of their Design which they had lost by Parliament and though several honourably forsook their Places rather than their Consciences yet there was never wanting some double-dyed Son of our Church some Protestant in grain to succeed upon the same Conditions And the difference was no more but that their Offices or however their Counsels were now to be administred by their Deputies such as they could confide in The business of the Land Army was vigourously carried on in appearance to have made some descent in Holland but though the Regiments were Compleated and kept Imbodyed it wanted effect and therefore gave cause of sufpition The rather because no Englishman among so many well-disposed and qualified for the work had been thought capable or fit to be trusted with Chief Command of those Forces but that Monsieur Schomberg a French Protestant had been made General and Collonel Fitsgerald an Irish Papist Major General as more proper for the Secret the first of advancing the French Government the second of promoting the Irish Religion And therefore the dark hovering of that Army so long at Black-Hearth might not improbably seem the gatherings of a Storm to fall upon London But the ill successes which our Fleet met withall this Year also at Sea were sufficient had there been any such design at home to have quasht it for such Gallantries are not to be attempted but in the highest raptures of Fortune There were three several Engagements of ours against the Dutch Navy in this one Summer but while nothing was Tenable at Land against the French it seem'd that to us at Sea every thing was impregnable which is not to be attributed to the want of Courage or Conduct either the former Year under the Command of his Royal Highness so Great a Souldier or this Year under the Prince Robert But is rather to be imputed to our unlucky Conjunction with the French like the disasters that happen to men by being in ill Company But besides it was manifest that in all these Wars the French ment nothing less than really to assist us He had first practised the same Art at Sea when he was in League with the Hollander against us his Navy never having done them any service for his business was only to see us Batter one another And now he was on the English side he only studied to sound our Seas to spy our Ports to learn our Building to contemplate our way of Fight to consume ours and preserve his own Navy to encrease his Commerce and to order all so that the two great Naval Powers of Europe being crushed together he might remain sole Arbitrator of the Ocean and by consequence Master of all the Isles and Continent To which purposes the Conspirators furnished him all possible opportunities Therefore it was that Monsieur d' Estree though a Person otherwise of tryed Courage and Prudence yet never did worse than in the third and last Engagement and because brave Monsieur d' Martel did better and could not endure a thing that looked like Cowardise or Treachery though for the Service of his Monarch commanded him in rated him and at his return home he was as then was reported discountenanced and dismissed from his Command for no other crime but his breaking of the French measures by adventuring one of those sacred Shipps in the English or rather his own Masters Quarrel His Royal Highnesse by whose having quitted the Admiralty the Sea service thrived not the better was now intent upon his Marrige at the same time the Parliament was to reassemble the 27th of October 1673. the Princesse of Modena his consort being upon the way for England and that businesse seemed to have passed all impediment Nor were the Conspirators who to use the French phrase made a considerable Figure in the Government wholly averse to the Parliaments meeting For if the House of Commons had after one years unfortunate War made so vast a Present to his Majesty of 1250000 l. But the last February it seemed the argument would now be more pressing upon them that by how much the ill sucesses of this year had been greater they ought therefore to give a yet more liberal Donative And the Conspirators as to their own particular reckoned that while the Nation was under the more distresse and hurry they were themselves safer from Parliament by the Publick Calamity A supply therefore was demanded with much more importunity and assurance then ever before and that it should be a large one and a speedy They were told that it was now Pro Aris Focis all was at stake And yet besides all this the Payment of the Debt to the Banckers upon shutting the Exchequer was very civilly recommended to them And they were assured that his Majesty would be constantly ready to give them all proofes of his Zeal for the true Religion and the Laws of the Realm upon all occasions But the House of Commons not having been sufficiently prepared for such demands nor well satisfied in several matters of Fact which appeared contrary to what was represented took check and first interposed in that tender point of his Royall Highuesse's Match although she was of his own Religion which is a redoubled sort of Marriage or the more spiritual part of its Happynesse Besides that she had been already solemnly married by the Dukes Proxcy so that unlesse the Parliament had been Pope and calmed a power of Dispensation it was now too late to avoide it His Majesty by a
doubtful a foot this Long Parliament now stood upon by this long Prorogation there could not have been a more Legal or however no more wise and honest a thing done then for both the Lords and Commons to have separated themselves or have besought his Majesty to that purpose left the Conspirators should any longer shelter and carry on their design against the Government and Religion under this shadow of Parliamentary Authority But it was otherwise ordered of which it is now time to relate the Consequences The four Lords having thus been committed it cannot properly be said that the House of Peers was thence forward under the Government of the Lord Frechvvel and the Lord Arundel of Trerise but those two noble Peers had of necessity no small Influence upon the Counsels of that House having hoped ere this to have made their way also into his Majesties Privy Council and all things fell out as they could have wished if under their own direction For most of them who had been the most active formerly in the Publick Interest sate mute in the House whether as is probable out of reverence to their two Persons and confidence in their wisdom they left all to their Conduct and gave them a general Proxy or whether as some would have it they were sullen at the Commitment of of the four Lords and by reason of that or the Prorogation began now to think the Parliament or their House to be Non Compos But now therefore Doctor Cary a Commner was brought to the Barre before them and questioned concerning a written Book which it seems he had carried to be printed treating of the Illegality of this Prorogation and because he satisfyed them not in some Interrogatories which no man would in Common honour to others or in self preservation as neither was he in Law bound to have answered they therefore Fined him a thousand pounds under that new Notion of Contempt when no other Crime would do it and sentenced him to continue close Prisoner in the Tovver until payment Yet the Commons were in so admirable good temper having been conjured by the charming Eloquence of the Lord Chancellor to avoid all misunderstanding between the two Houses that their could no Member or time be found in all the session to offer their House his Petition much lesse would that breach upon the whole Parliament by imprisoning the Lords for using their liberty of speech be entertained by them upon motion for fear of entrenching upon the priviledge of the House of Peers which it had been well for them if they had been as tender of formerly One further Instance of the Completion of their House at that season may be sufficient One Master Harrington had before the Session been Committed Close Prisoner for that was now the mode as though the Earl of Norhampton would not otherwise have kept him Close enough by Order of the King and Councill the Warrant bearing for subornation of Perjury tending to the Defamation of his Majesty and his Government and for Contemptuously Declaring he vvould not ansvver his Majesty any Question vvhich his Majesty or his Privy Councill should aske him As this Gentleman was hurried along to the Tovver he was so dexterous as to convey into a friends hand passing by a Blanke Paper onely with his name that a Petition might be written above it to be presented to the House of Commons without rejecting for want of his own hand in the subscription His Case notwithstanding the Warrant was thus He had met with two Scotch souldiers in Town returned from Flanders who complained that many of their Countrey men had in Scotland been seised by force to be carried over into the French service had been detained in the Publick prisons till an oportunity to transport them were heaved on board fast tyed and bound like malefactors some of them struggling and contesting it were cast into the Sea or maimed in conclusion an intolerable violence and barbarity used to compell them and this near the present session of Parliament Hereupon this Gentleman considering how oft the House of Commons had addressed to his Majesty and framed an Act for recalling his Majesties Subjects out of the French service as also that his Majesty had iâ—…ued his Proclamation to the same purpose thought he might do a good and acceptable thing in giving information of it to the House as time served But withall knowing how witnesses might possibly be taken off he for his own greater security took them before a Master of Chancery where they comfirmed by Oath the same things they had told him But hereupon he was brought before his Majesty and the Privy Councill where he declared this matter but being here asked by the Lord Chancellour some insnaring and improper questions he modestly as those that were by affirmed desired to be exâ—…ised from answering him further but after this answered 〈◊〉 Majesty with great humility and respect to divers questâ—…us This was the subornation of Perjury and this the Contempt to his Majesty for which he was made Close Prisoner â—…pon his Petition to the House of Commons he was sent for and called in where he is reported to have given a very clear account of the whole matter and of his behaviour at the Council board But of the two Scotch soldiers the one made himself perjured without being suborned by Harrington denying or misrepresenting to the House what he had sworn formerly And the other the honester fellow it â—…ms of the two only was absented But however divers honourable Members of that House attested voluntarily that the soldiers had affirmed the same thing to them and inâ—…ed the Truth of that matter is notorious by several other 〈◊〉 that since came over and by further account from 〈◊〉 Master Harrington also carryed himself towards 〈◊〉 â—…ouse with that modesty that it seemed inseparable 〈◊〉 him and much more in his Majesties presence so that 〈◊〉 House was inclined and ready to have concerned themselves for his Liberty But Master Secretary Williamson stood 〈◊〉 having been a Principal Instrument in commiting him and because the other crimes rather deserved Thanks and Commendation and the Warrant would not Justify it self he insisted upon his strange demeanour toward his Majesty decipherd his very looks how truly it matters not and but that his Majesty and the House remained still living Flesh and Blood it might have been imagined by his discourse that Master Harrington had the Head of a Gorgon But this story so wrought with and amazed the Commons that Mr. Harrington found no redresse but might thank God that he escaped again into Close Prison It was thought notwithstanding by most men that his looks might have past any where but with a man of Sir Josephs delicacy For neither indeed had Master Harrington ever the same oportunities that others of practiting the Hocus Pocus of the Face of Playing the French Scaramuccie or of living abroad to learn how to make the Plenipotentiary
of France But a Fleet would protect our whole Ships are the defence of an Island and thereby we may hope to keep at a distance and not apprehend or prepare to meet him at our Dores he Learns by Sicily what it is to Invade an Island he is not like to attempt an Invasion of us till he hath some Masterie at Sea which is Impossible for him to have so long as he is diverted and imployed at Land in the Mediterranean and in the West Indies as he is And as to our Merchants Ships and Goods they are in no more danger now then they were in any War whensoever Nay there was more expectation of this then there was of the last VVar for the first notice we or the Dutch had of that Breach was the Attempt upon their Smyrna Fleet. Also it is observed that what was said a fortnight ago that the season was too far advanced to lay in Beâ—…f and it would stink was admitted to be a mistake for that now it was urged that a greater and better appointed Fleet must be furnished out but still it was insisted on that they were in the dark his Majesty did not speak out that he would make the desired Alliances against the growth of France and resolve with his Parliament to maintain them and so long as there was any coldness or reservedness of this kind they had no clear grounds to grant money for preparations His Majesty was a Prince of that Goodness and â—…are towards his People that none did distrust him but there was a distrust of some of his Ministers and a Jealousie that they were under French Influences and Complaints and Addresses had been made against them and upon the discourse of providing for the safety of the Nation it being said we might be secured by the Guarranty of the General Peace it was reflected on as a thing most pernitious to us and that our money and endeavours could not be worse applied than to procure that Peace Articles are not to be relied on All that they desired was that his Majesty and his People Unanimously Truly Sincerely and Throughly declare and engage in this business with a mutual confidence speaking out on both sides and this and nothing but this would discharge and extinguish all jealousies But it was Objected It was not convenient to discover his Majesties secret purposes in a Publick Assembly it might be too soon known abroad and there was no reason to distrust his Majesty but that being enabled he would prepare and do all things expedient for the Kingdom It was answered That it was usual for Forraine Ministers to get notice of the Councils of Princes as the Earl of Bristol Ambassador in Spain in the last part of King James's Reign procured Coppies and often the sight of the Originals of of Dispatches and Cabinet papers of the King of Spain But acknowledging that his Majesties Councels cannot be penetrated by the French yet the things would in a short time discover themselves besides they said they did not much desire secresy for let the King take a great Resolution and put himself at the Head of his Parliament and People in this weighty and worthy Cause of England and let a flying Post carry the news to Paris and let the French King do his worst His Majesty never had nor never will have cause to distrust his People In 1667 in confidence of our Aid he made a League without advice of Parliament commonly called the Tripple League which was for the Interest of England and whereby his Majesty became the Arbiter of Cristendom and in the Name and upon the Account of that the Parliament gave him several Supplies In 1672 He made War without the Advice of Parliament whith War the Parliament thought not for the Interest of England to continue yet even therein they would not leave him but gave him 1200000 l. to carry himself on out of it How much more are they concerned and obliged to supply and assist him in these Alliances and War if it ensue which are so much for the Interest of England and entered into by the pressing Advice of Parliament We hope his Majesty will declare himself in earnest and we are in earnest having his Majesties heart with us Let his hand Rot off that is not stretcht out for this Affair we will not stick at this or that sum or thing but we will go with his Majesty to all Extremities We are now affraid of the French King because he has great force and extraordinary thinking men about him which mannage his affaires to a wonder but we trust his Majesty will have his Business mannaged by thinking men that will be provident and careful of his Interest and not suffer him to pay Cent. per Cent. more than the things are worth that are taken up and used and if the work be entred upon in this manner we hope England will have English success with France as it is in Bowling if your Bowl be well set out you may think and it will go to the Mark. Were the thing clear and throughly undertaken there would be less reason to dispute of time there never was a Council but would sit on Sunday or any day for such Publick Work In fine they said the business must lye at one door or another and they would not for any thing that it should flat in their hands And although they should hope in an Exigence his Majesty would lend to his People who had given so much to him yet they said they could not leave him without providing him a sum of money as much as he could use between this and some convenient time after Easter when he might if he please command their full attendance by some publick Notification and this was the mentioned sum of 200000 l. The Expedient they provided for doing this was adding a Borrowing Clause to the Bill for almost 600000 l. such an one as was in the Poll Bill the Effect of which is to enable his Majesty presently to take up on the Credit of this Bill 200000 l. ready money at 7 l. per Cent. per annum Interest And this they said might now be done though the Bill were passed by them and also save that they had made the above mentioned amendment by the Lords for that Poll Bill was explained by another Act passed a few days after in the same session But in Hackvvells Modus tenendi Parli pag. 173 was a more remarkable President and exact in the Point But after some Discourse of setting loose part of this 600000 l. c. they reflected that this 600000 l. c. was appropriate for the building of Ships and they would not have this appropriation unhinged by any means and thereupon resolved to annex the borrowing Clause to the Bill for continuing the additional duty of Excise for three years which was not yet passed against which it was Objected That it was given for other purposes viz. to give the
such Alliances To which the Speaker re-assuming the Chair and this being reported the House agreed and appointed the Committee And Adjourned over Asâ—…nsion day till Friday In the interim the Committee appointed met and drew the Address according to the above mentioned Order a true Coppy of which is here annexed May it please your Most excellent Majesty YOur Majesties most Loyal and Dutiful Subjects 〈◊〉 Commons in Parliament assembled have taken into their serious consideration your Majesties gracious Speech and do beseech your Majesty to believe it is a great affliction to them to find themselves obleiged at present to decline the granting your Majesty the supply your Majesty is pleased to demand conceiving it is not agreeable to the usage of Parliament to grant Supplyes for mainteance of Wars and Alliances before they are signified in Parliament which the too Wars against the States of the Vnited Provinces since your Majesties happy Restoration and the League made in January 1668 for preservation of the Spanish Nether Lands sufficiently proved without ling your Majesty with Instances of greater antiquity from which usage if we might depart the president might be of dangerous consequence in future times though your Majesties Goodnesse gives us great security during your Majesties Raign which we beseech God long to continue This Consideration prompted us in our last Addresse to your Majesty before our last Recesse humbly to mention to your Majesty our hopes that before our meeting again your Majesties Alliances might be so fixed as that your Majesty might begraciously pleased to impart them to us in Parliament that so our earnest desires of supplying your Majesty for prosecuting those great ends we had humbly laid before your Majesty might meet with no impediment or obstruction being highly sensible of the necessity of supporting as well as making the Alliances humbly desired in our former Addresses and which we still conceive so important to the safety of your Majesty and your Kingdomes That we cannot without unfaithfulnesse to your Majesty and those we Represent omit upon all occasions humbly to beseech your Majesty as we now do To enter into a League offensive and defensive vvith the States General of the United Provinces against the grovvth and povver of the French King and for the preservation of the Spanish Nether-Lands and to make such other Alliances vvith such other of the Confiderates as your Majesty shall think fit and usefull to that end in doing which That no time may be lost we humbly offer to his Majesty these Reasons for the expediting of it 1. That if the entering into such Alliances should draw on a War with the French King it would be lest detrimental to your Majesties Subjects at this time of the year they having now fewest effects within the Dominion of that King 2. That though we have great reason to believe the power of the French King to be dangerous to your Majesty and your 〈◊〉 when he shall be at more leisure to molest us yet we conceive the many Enemies he has to deal with at present together with the scituation of your Majesties Kingdoms the Unanimity of the People in the Cause the care your Majesty hath been pleased to take of your ordinary Guards of the Sea together with the Credit provided by the late Act for an additional Excise for three years make the entering into and declaring Alliances very safe until we may in a regular way give your Majesty such further Supplies as may enable your Majesty to support your Allyances and defend your kingdoms And because of the great danger and charge which must necessarily fall upon your Majesties kingdomes if through want of that timely encouragement and assistance which your Majesties joyning with the States General of the United Provinces and other the Confederates would give them The said States or any other considerable part of the Confederates should this next Winter or sooner make a Peace or Truce with the French King the prevention vvhereof must 〈◊〉 be acknovvledged a singular effect of Gods goodness to us which if it should happen your Majesty would be afterwards necessitated with fewer perhaps with no Alliances or Assistance to withstand the power of the French king which hath so long and so succesfully contended with so many and so potent Adversaries and whilest he continues his over-ballancing greatness must alwayes be dangerous to his Neighbours since he would be able to oppress any one Confederate before the rest could get together and be in so good a posture of offending him as they novv are being joyntly engaged in a War And if he should be so successful as to make a Peace or 〈◊〉 the present Confederation against him it is much to be feared whether 〈◊〉 would be possible ever to reunite it at least it would be work of so much time and difficulty as would leave your Majesties Kingdomes exposed to much misery and danger Having thus discharged our duty in laying before your Majesty the Dangers threatning your Majesty and your Kingdomes and the onely Remedyes we can think of for the preventing securing and queting the minds of your Majesties People with some few of those Reasons which have moved us to this and our former Addresses On these Subjects We most humbly beseech your Majesty to take the matter to your serious Consideration and to take such Resolutions as may not leave it in the power of any neighbouring Prince to rob your People of that happinesse which they enjoy under your Majesties gracious Governement beseeching your Majesty to â—…fident and assured that when your Majesty shall be 〈◊〉 to declare such Alliances in Parliament We shall hold our selves obliged not only by our promises and assurances given and now which great Unaninity revived in a full House but by the Zeal and desires of those whom we represent and by the Interests of all our safetyes most chearfully to give your Majesty from time to time such speedy Supplyes and Assistances as may fully and plentifully answer the Occasions and by Gods blessing preserve your Majesty Honour and the safty of the People All which is most humbly submitted to your Majesties great Wisdome Friday May 25th 1677 Sir John Trevor reported from the said Committee the Addresse as 't was drawn by them which was read Whereupon it was moved to agree with the Committee but before it was agreed to there was a debate and division of the House It was observed and objected that there was but one reson given herein for declining the granting money and that is the Unpresidentednesse and as to one of the Instances to this purpose mentioned Viz. the Kings first Dutch War it was said to be mistaken for that the 2500000 l. was voted before the War declared But it was answred that if the Declaration was not before the grant of the money which Quaere yet 't was certain that the War it self and great Hostilites were before the money and some said there might be other reasons
matter of War c. proposed to them But that shews not their want of right to meddle therewith but rather the contrary The very truth is it has been the desire and endeavour of kings in all Ages to engage their Parliaments in advising War c. That so they might be obliged to supply the King to the utmost for and through it but they out of a prudent caution have some times waved the matter lest they should engage further or deeper than they were aware or willing Since his Majesty is treating as Mediator at Nimmegen about the general Peace it is a great reason why he should specifiâ—… the Alliances desired as we have done that we might make it known we are far from desiring such Alliances as might be made by and with a general Peace but on the contrary coveting such as might prevent and secure us against that dangerous and formidable Peace Doubtless the Confederates will offer honourable and worthy Terms Their necessity is too great to boggle or take advantages nor will they think this League the less worth because we advise it but rather value it the more because it is done unanimously by the King with the Advise and applause of his People in Parliament We cannot suppose that our proceeding thus to his Majesty will pejudice our Address or endanger its miscarriage since it is for his Majesties advantage in that it obliges us to supply him to all degrees through this Affaire and the more particular it is the more still for the Kings advantage for if it had been more general and the King thereupon had made Alliances whatever they were men might have thought and said they were not the Alliances intended and it might be used as an excuse or reason for their not giving money to supply his Majesty hereafter but this as it is now doth most expresly strictly and particularly bind us up We reflect that a great deal of time and precious time has been spent since and in our Addresse on this Subject and finding no effectual fruit especially of our last Addresse we have cause to apprehend we are not clearly understood in what we mean Now it is the ordinary way of pursuing discourse in such Case and it is Proper and naturall for us to speak out more explicitely and particularly and tell 〈◊〉 Majesty That what we have meant is a League offensive and defensive And to perswad us again to Addresse on in more general Terms as before is to perswade us that as we have done nothing this ten weeks so we should do nothing still And said his Majesty in his late Message and last Speech has been pleased to demand 600000 l. for answering the purpose of our Addresses and assures us that the money shall not be imployed to other uses than we would have it imployed it is most seasonable for us to declare plainly the use and purpose we intend that so it may be concerted and clearly understood of all hands and therefore it is well done to mention to his Majesty these express Alliances we thinking no other Alliances worth the said Sum and we withal promising and undertaking that his Majesty shall have this and and more for these ends Nor have we any cause to apprehend that his Majesty will take amisse our advising Leagues in this manner We have presented more than one Addresse for Alliances against the growth and power of the French King and his Majesty has received admitted and answered them without any exception and if we may Addresse for Alliances against a particular Prince or state Why not for Alliances with a particular Prince or state It cannot be lesse regular or Parliamentary then the former And moreover though we know that punctuall presidents are on our side besides our Commissions by our Writts to treat de arduis urgentibus Regem Statum Defensionem Regâ—… 〈◊〉 Anglicanae concernentibus And besides the Kings General intimations in his Printed Speech yet if it â—…e said to be a decent and proper thing to have his Majestys 〈◊〉 and consent before we proceed on such a matter in such a manner as we now do we say that that in effect is with us too for consider all our former Addresses and his Majestyes Answers and Messages thereupon and it will appear that his Majesty has engaged and encouraged us to upon this Subject and that which he expects and would have is not to limit or check our advise but to open and enâ—… our 〈◊〉 His Majesty appears content to be throughly advised provided he be proportionably furnished and enabled with money which we being now ready to do we clearly and conclusively present him our advice for the application of it To prevent those mistakes and distrusts vvhich his Majesty sayes he findes some are so ready to make as if he had called us together only to get money from us for other uses then vve vvould have it imployed And truly the advising these Allyances together with assuring his Majesty thereupon to assist and supply him presently and plentifully to prosecute the same is our only way of complying and corresponding with his last speech For those Leagues followed and supported by these Supplyes are the only means and methodes to put his Majestie in the best condition both to defend his Subjects and offend his Enemies and so there will be no sault in his Majesty nor Us but His and Our security vvill sufficiently provide for Besides it will be worse it will be a very bad thing indeed not to make the Addresse for this particular League now since we have resolved it already Our intention being to have the Dutch c. comforted encouraged and assured we did order this on Wednesday and there is publick notice taken of it abroad and beyond Sea If we should now up-upon solemn debate set the same aside it would beget a great doubt discomfort and discouragment to them It is one thing never to have ordered it another to retract it Also it was said that this was necessary but was not all that was necessary for suppose which was not credible that France should be prevailed with to deliver up all Lorraine Flanders Alsatia and other Conquered places Are we safe No He has too many hands too much Money and this money is in great measure a Million Sterling yearly at least supplyed him from hence We must depress him by force as far as may be but further we must have Leagues and Laws to impoverish him We must destroy the French Trade This would quiet and secure us this would make our Lands rise and this would enable us to set the king at ease After this long debate the House came to the Question Whether this particular of a League Offensive and Defensive vvith the Dutch should be left out of the Address upon which Question the House divided Yeas 142 Noes 182. So that it was carried by Forty that it should stand Then the main Question was
put for agreeing with their Committee this Address which passed in the Affirmative without Division of the House Then it was Ordered That those Members of the House who were of his Majestys Privy Counsel should move his Majesty to know his pleasure when the House might wait upon him with their Address Mr. Povvle reported from the Committee Amendments to the Bill for Recalling his Majestys Subjects out of the French Kings Service which were Read and Agreed to by the House and the Bill with the Amendments Ordered to be Ingrossed And then the House Adjourned to the morrow Saturday May 26 1677 in the morn The House being sate had notice by Secretary Coventry That the King would receive their Address at three in the afternoon The Bill for Recalling his Majesties Subjects c. being then Ingrossed was Read the Third time and Passed The effect of the Bill in short was this That all and every of the Natural born Subjects of his Majesty who should continue or be after the first of August next in the Military Service of the French King should be disabled to inherit any Lands Tenements or Hereditaments and be uncapable of any Gift Grant or Legacy or to be Executor or Administrator and being convicted should be adjudged guilty of Felony without benefit of the Clergy and not pardonable by his Majesty his Heirs or Successors except only by Act of Parliament wherein such Offenders should be particularly named The like appointment for such as should continue in the Sea-service of the French King after the first of May 1678. This Act as to the prohibiting the offence and incurring the penalties to continue but for two years but the executeing and proceeding upon it for Offences against the Act might be at any time aswell after as within the two years Then it was Ordered that Mr. Povvle should carry up this Bill to the Lords and withall should put the Lords in mind of a Bill for The better suppressing the grovvth of Popery which they had sent up to their Lordships before Easter which was forth with done accordingly As soon as this was ordered several other Bills were moved for to be Read c. But the Members generally said No. They vvould proceed on nothing but the French and Popery So they Adjourned to the afternoon when they attended the King with their Address at the Banqueting House in White-Hall Which being presented The King Answered That it was long and of great importance that he would consider of it and give them an Answer as soon as he could The House did nothing else but Adjourn till Monday morn Monday May 28 1677. The House being sate they received notice by Secretary Coventry that the King expected them immediately at the Banqueting-House Whether being come The King made a Speech to them on the Subject of their Address Which Speech to prevent mistakes his Majesty read out of his Paper and then delivered the same to the Speaker And his Majesty added a few words about their Adjournment The Kings Speech is as followeth Gentlemen Could I have been Silent I vvould rather have chosen to be so then to call to mind things so unfit for you to meddle vvith as are contained in some parts of your last Addresses vvherein you have entrenched upon so undoubted a Right of the Crovvn that I am confident it vvill appear in no Age vvhen the Svvord vvas not dravvn that the Prerogative of making Peace and War hath been so dangerously invaded You do not content your selves vvith desiring Me to enter into such Leagues as may be for the safety of the Kingdome but you tell Me vvhat sort of Leagues they must be and vvith vvhom and as your Addresse is vvorded it is more liable to be understood to be by your Leave then at your Request that I should make such other Alliances as I please vvith other of the Confederates Should I suffer this fundamental Povver of making Peace and War to be so far invaded though but once as to have the manner and circumstances of Leagues prescribed to Me by Parliament it 's plain that no Prince or State vvould any longer believe that the Soveraignty of England rests in the Crovvn Nor could I think My Self to signifie any more to Foreign Princes then the empty Sound of a King Wherefore you may rest assured that no Condition shall make Me depart from or lessen so essential a part of the Monarchy And I am vvilling to believe so vvell of this House of Commons that I am confident these ill Consequences are not intended by you These are in short the Reasons vvhy I can by no means approve of your Address and yet though you have declined to grans Me that Supply vvhich is necessary to the Ends of it I do again declare to you That as I have done all that lay in my povver since your last Meeting so I vvill still apply my self by all the means I â—…an to let the World see my Care both for the Security and Satisfaction of my People although it may not be vvith those Advantages to them vvhich by your Assistances I might have procured And having said this he signified to them that they should Adjourn till the 16th of July Upon hearing of this Speech read their House is said to have been greatly appalled both in that they were so severely Checked in his Majesties name from whom they had been used to receive so constant Testimones of his Royal Bounty and Affection which they thought they had deserved as also because there are so many Old and fresh Presidents of the same Nature and if there had not yet they were led into this by all the stepps of Necessity in duty to his Majesty and the Nation And several of them offering therefore modestly to have spoken they were interrupted continually by the Speaker contesting that after the Kings pleasure signified for Adjornment there was no further Liberty of speaking And yet it is certain that at the same time in the Lords House the Adjournment was in the 〈◊〉 forme and upon the Question first propounded to that House and allowed by them All Adjournments unlesse made by speciall Commission under his Majesties Broad Seal being and having alwaies been so an Act of the Houses by their own Authority Neverthelesse several of their Members requiring to be heard the Speaker had the confidence without any Question put and of his own motion to pronounce the House Adjourned till the 16th of July and sâ—…pt down in the middle of the floor all the House being astonished at so unheard of a violation of their inherent Priviledge and Constitution And that which more amazed them afterwards was that while none of their own transactions or Addresses for the Publick Good are suffered to be Printed but even all Written Coppies of them with the same care as Libells suppressed Yet they found this severe speech published in 〈◊〉 next days News Book to mark them out to their own and all