Gentry a learned Clergy and an understanding worthy People but yet we cannot think of England as we ought without reflecting on the condition thereof They are under the same Prince and the influence of the same Favâ—…urites and Councils When they are hardly dealt with can we that are Richer expect better usage For 't is certain that in all absolute Governments the poorest Countries are always most favourably dealt with When the ancient Nobility there cannot enjoy their Royalties their Shrievaldoms and their Stewardies which they and their Ancestors have possessed for several hundreds of years but that now they are enjoin'd by the Lords of the Council to make deputations of their Authorities to such as are their known Enemies can we expect to enjoy our Magna Charta long under the same persons and Administration of Affairs If the Council-Table there can imprison any Nobleman or Gentleman for several years without bringing him to Trial or giving the beast Reason for what they do can we expect the same Men will preserve the Liberty of the Subject here My Lords I will confess that I am not very well vers'd in the particular Laws of Scotland but this I do know that all the Northern Countries have by their Laws an undoubted and inviolable Right to their Liberties and Properties yet Scotland hath out-done all the Eastern and Southern Countries in having their Lives Liberties and Estates subjected to the Arbitrary Will and Pleasure of those that govern They have lately plundered and harased the richest and wealthiest Countries of that Kingdom and brought down the barbarous Highlanders to devour them and all this almost without a colourable pretence to do it Nor can there be found a Reason of State for what they have done but that those wicked Ministers designed to procure a Rebellion at any rate which as they managed was only prevented by the miraculous hand of God or otherwise all the Papists in England would have been armed and the fairest opportunity given in the just time for the execution of that wicked and bloody design the Papists had and it is not possible for any man that duly considers it to think other but that those Ministers that acted that were as guilty of the Plot as any of the Lords that are now in question for it My Lords I am forced to speak this the plainer because till the pressure be fully and clearly taken off from Scotland 't is not possible for me or any thinking man to believe that good is meant us here We must still be upon our guard apprehending that the Principle is not changed at Court that those men that are still in place and Authority have that influence upon the mind of our excellent Prince that he is not nor cannot be that to us that his own Nature and Goodness would incline him to I know your Lordships can order nothing in this but there are those that hear me can put a perfect cure to it until that be done the Scottish Weed is like death in the pot Mors in Olla But there is somthing too now I consider that most immediately concerns us their Act of Twenty two thousand men to be ready to invade us upon all occasions This I hear that the Lords of the Council there have treated as they do all other Laws and expounded it into a standing Army of Six Thousand Men. I am sure we have Reason and Right to beseech the King that that Act may be better considered in the next Parliament there I shall say no more for Scotland at this time I am afraid your Lordships will think I have said too much having no concern there but if a French NobleMan should come to dwell in my House and Family I should think it concerned me to ask what he did in France for if he were there a Felon a Rogue a Plunderer I should desire him to live elsewhere and I hope your Lordships will do the same thing for the Nation if you find Cause My Lords Give me leave to speak two or three words concerning our other Sister Ireland Thither I hear is sent Douglas's Regiment to secure us against the French Besides I am credibly informed that the Papists have their Arms restor'd and the Protestants are not many of them yet recovered from being the suspected Party The Sea-Towns as well as the In-land are full of Papists That Kingdom cannot long continue in the English hands if some better care be not taken of it This is in your Power and there is nothing there but is under your Laws Therefore I beg that this Kingdom at least may be taken into consideration together with the State of England for I am sure there can be no safety here if these Doors are not shut up and made sure Some few daies after this Speech the King was pleased to make a great Alteration in his Council and to appoint the Right Honourable Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury President thereof About the 18th of April 1679. His Majesty was pleased to declare the Dissolution of the Late Privy Council and for Constituting a New one The Lords of the Council not to exceed Thirty besides the Princes of the Blood which His Majesty may at any time call to the Board being at Court and the President and Secretary of Scotland which are uncertain The Names of that most Honourable Council were His Highness Prince Rupert William Lord A. B. of Canterbury Heneage Lord Finch L. Chancellor Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury Lord President of the Council Arthur Earl of Anglesey Lord Privy Seal Christopher Duke of Albermarle James Duke of Monmouth Master of the Horse Henry Duke of Newcastle John Duke of Lauderdale Principal Secretary of Scotland James Duke of Ormond L. Steward of the Houshold Charles Lord Marquess of Winchester Henry Earl of Arlington L. Chamberlain of the Houshold James Earl of Salisbury John Earl of Bridgwater Robert Earl of Sunderland one of His Majesties Principal Secretaries of State Arthur Earl of Essex first L. Commissioner of the Treasury James Earl of Bath Groom of the Stable Thomas Lord Viscount Falconberg George Lord Viscount Hallifax John Lord Bishop of London Daniel Lord Roberts Henry Lord Hollis William Lord Russel William Lord Cavendish Henry Coventry Esq one of His Majesties Principal Secretaries of State Sir Francis North Knight L. Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Sir Henry Capell Knight of the Bath first Commissioner of the Admiralty Sir John Ernby Knight Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Chicheley Knight Master of the Ordnance Sir William Temple Baronet Edward Seymour Esquire Henry Powle Esquire This great Change put men upon various Discourses and Apprehensions suitable to their respective Dispositions and Inclinations but the most sober both of the Parliament and others hoped now to see the Popish Plot wholly Eradicated especially considering the daily fresh Discoveries that were brought before the Council and Parliament the last of which was of no long continuance for about June 1679.
Siâ—… John Duncomb In the Afternoon of the same day the Earl of Shaftesbury was visited by Prince Rupert with divers other great Lords at Exeter House where they gave his Lordship Thanks for his Faithful and Honourable Discharge of that great Employment Thus this mighty Minister who had to the universal satisfaction of all good Men been raised to that degree of Interest in his Masters favour without a murmur laid all his Honours at his Masters Feet and was observed not to abate of the chearfulness of his Temper upon the loss of his honorary Employment I shall conclude this part with a touch of this Earl's Character which saith His choice Sagacity Strait solv'd the Knot that subtle Lawyers tied And through all Foggs discern'd th' oppressed side Banish'd delays so this noble Peer Became a Star of Honor in our Sphere A needful Atlas of our State c. The 16th of Feb. 1676. The Honourable Earl of Shaftesbury was sent a Prisoner to the Tower by Order of the House of Lords There were at the same time committed the E. of Salisbury and the L. Wharton The Form of the Warrant for their Commitment was as followeth Ordered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled That the Constable of His Majesties Tower of London His Deputy or Deputies shall receive the Bodies of James Earl of Salisbury Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury and Philip Lord Wharton Members of this House and keep them in safe Custody within the said Tower during His Majesties pleasure and the pleasure of this House for their High Contempts Committed against this House And this shall be sufficient Warrant on that behalf To the Constable of the Tower J. Browne Cler. Par. The 27th and 29th of Jan. 1677. The E. of Shaftesbury was brought to the King's-Bench-Bar upon the Return of an Alias Habeas Corpus directed to the Constable of the Tower where the Council for the Earl prayed that the Return might be filed and the Friday following appointed for Debating the sufficiency of the Return and my Lord was remanded until that day On Friday the Earl was brought into Court again and his Council argued the Insufficiency of the Return After Mr. Williams Mr. Wallop Mr. Smith had shewed divers weighty Reasons in behalf of the Earl that that Court might relieve him they were opposed by the Solicitor General and the Attorney General who brought divers Instances why that Court could not discharge a person Committed by Parliament whereupon the Earl of Shaftesbury is said to have spoke to this purpose My Lords I did not intend to have spoken one word in this business but something hath been objected and laid to my Charge by the King's Council Mr. Attorney and Mr. Solicitor that enforceth me to say something for your better satisfaction They have told you that my Council in their Arguments said That this Court was greater than the House of Peers which I dare to Appeal to your Lordships and the whole Court that it was never spoken by them I am sure it was not by any direction of mine What is done by my Council and by me is that this is the most proper Court to resort unto where the Liberty of the Subject is concerned The Lord's House is the Supream House of Judicature in the Kingdom but yet there is a Jurisdiction that the Lord's House does not meddle with The King's Council hath mentioned as a wonder that a Member of the Lord's House should come hither to diminish the Jurisdiction of the Lords I acknowledge them to be Superiour to this or any other Court to whom all Appeals and Writs of Errour are brought and yet there are Jurisdictions that they do not Challenge and which are not natural to them or proper for them They claim not to meddle in Original Causes and so I might mention in other things and I do not think it a kindness to any Power or Body of Men to give them some Power that is not natural or proper to their Constitutions I do not think it a kindness to the Lords to make them Absolute and above the Law for so I humbly conceive this must do if it be adjudged that they by a General Warrant or without any particular Cause Assigned do Commit me or any other man to a perpetual and indefinite Imprisonment And my Lords I am not so inconsiderable a person but what you do in my Case must be Law for every man in England Mr. Attorney is pleased to say I am a Member of the Lord's House and to lay weight on the word Member It is true I am one of them and no man hath a greater Reverence or Esteem for the Lords than my self but my Lords I hope my being a Peer or a Member of either House shall not lose my Priviledge of being an English man or make me to have less Title to Magna Charta or the other Laws of English Liberty My Opinion is not with one of my Council who argued very learnedly that the Passing an Act by the King 's Royal Assent can make a Session because the usual promise was not in it It was without any Instruction of mine to mention that point The King's Council tells your Lordships of the Laws and Customs of Parliament and if this were so I should submit but this Case of mine is primae Impressionis and is a new way such as neither Mr. Attorney nor Mr. Solicitor can shew any President of and I have no other Remedy or place to Apply to than the way I take Mr. Attorney confesseth that the King's pleasure may Release me without the Lords If so this Court is Coram Rege this Court is the proper place to determine the King's pleasure This Court will and ought to Judge of an Act of Parliament void if it be against Magna Charta much more may Judge an Order of the House that is put in Execution to deprive any Subject of his Liberty And if this Order or Commitment be a Judgment as the King's Council affirms then it is out of the Lords hands and properly before your Lordships as much as the Acts which were lately Passed which I presume you will not refuse to Judge of notwithstanding that the King's Atorney General saith this Parliament is still in being I take it something ill that Mr. Attorney tells me I might have Applied elsewhere My Lord I have not omitted what became my Duty toward the King for besides the Oath of Allegiance I took as a Peer or an English man there is something in my Breast that will never suffer me to depart from the Duty and Respect that I owe him but I am here before him he is alwaies supposed to be here present and he alloweth his Subjects the Law My Lord They speak much of the Custom of Parliament but I do affirm there is no Custom of Parliament that ever their Members were put out of their own Power and the Inconveniencies of it will be endless Mr.
Grey Chandos Grey Howard Herbert Rockingham Townshend Holles Delamer And was personally presented to His Majesty by four Earls and five Barons viz. Huntingdon Clare Stamford Shaftesbury North Grey Chandos Grey Howard Herbert With whom the Earl of Bedford had personally joyn'd but that by a sudden indisposition he was prevented It was delivered by the Earl of Huntingdon in the name of the rest of the subscribed Lords And they were introduced to His Majesty by his Highness Prince Rupert His Majesty was graciously pleased to return this answer That he would consider of what they had offered and could heartily wish that all other People were as sollicitous for the Peace and Good of the Nation as he would ever be But on the Twelfth His Majesty of his Princely Wisdom thought fit to prorogue the Parliament from the 26 of January until the 11th of November next ensuing Near this time this Noble Peer recovered out of a violent and dangerous fit of sickness So endless were the designs and Conspiracies of the Papists against this Noble Peer that notwithstanding they met with many disappointments in their Attempts the Almighty Providence protecting his Innocence from their â—…ellish Machinations that now another Female Agent is discovered for Tampering with Mr. Dugdale to retract what he had sworn before King and Parliament towards the detection of the damnable popish Plot the sum of Two Thousand pounds was offered him by one Mrs. Price and divers great persons named by her to be security for the payment of it in case he would sign such a Recantation and affix the Odium of a Protestant or Presbyterian Plot on some of the Protestant Peers and others of known Loyalty and Integrity to their Prince and Country particularly on the Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury Of which â—…rous design Mr. Dugdale being at that time touched with some remorse at such a horrid Villany gave his Lordship an account which occasioned the miscarrying of that foul and traitorous Enterprise Nor were they wanting in their famous Method and Artifice in calumniating and throwing dirt on the Reputation of this Noble Peer which is a faculty they are very famous for and on the account of which they may particularly value themselves â—… For now a Pacquet of base Libels and Treasonable Reflections were by the Penny-Post transmitted to a Printer and Copies of the same dispersed about the parts of Westminster full of venemous and malicious slanders and Imputations tending to the taking away the life of this Protestant Earl and divers other Peers of Right Honourable Account But the Printer detesting so black a design published an Invitation to any person that would detect the Author or publisher of that infamous Libel And now we are got into such a Bog of Plots Sham-plots Subornations and Perjuries as the History of no Age can parallel 'T was the mode for discarded Varlets Irish Skip-kennels and indigent extravagants to be treated and treating one another with no less than the Assurances of vast and mighty Fortunes and Employments in places of Trust and Honour on condition they would lustily swear the Plot upon the Presbyterians but none of these cursed projects were ever proposed but the Earl of Shaftesbury was principally though with many other Noble Heroes to be charged as the chiefest Agent in it To this purpose David Fitz-Girald one of their notorious Evidences endeavours both by Bribes and Threats to draw divers others of his Countrey-men and Complices to join with him in the Catholick Design They had been disappointed at the Ponyard and Pistol nor could have opportunity to dispatch him that way the remembrance of Sir Edmund-Bury Godfreys Cravat and the Assassination of Justice Arnold were caution sufficient to any discerning Protestant and now that method had been so shamefully and notoriously detected and cast such a just Odium upon their party other means must be attempted nothing so suitable to their Genius as an Oath and it is no marvel if those who can't ordinarily discourse without discharging loud 〈◊〉 of Blasphemies and Execrations the embellishment of whose commâ—…ik is the Rhetorick of their 〈◊〉 and Damâ—…e's If such I say should at some 〈◊〉 or other make their loose Breath serve them to better purpose and swear themselves into Estates and Offices Fitz-Girald had store of Guinnys he châ—…nks them lustily and shews them to Mr. Hetherington besides divers Five-pound-pieces of Gold telling him this should be done to the man that was loved with divers other Invitations to come over and transfer the popish Plot in Ireland on the Protestants This was deposed by Mr. Hetherington before the Lord Mayor of London In January before the meeting of the Parliament at Oxford we find the Earl of Shaftesburys hand amongst other Noble Peers affixed to a Petition and Advice to His Majesty requesting His Majesty that the Parliament might â—…it at Wâ—…minster And because the 〈◊〉 Petition and Advice 〈◊〉 all through it such unqueâ—…able marks of a most tender Duty and â—…ction to His Majesties person It may not be improper here to insert it to obviate the evil surmises of some who would stain the most loyal performances with imputations of a contrary nature At the delivery of the Petition and Advice the Right Honourable the Earl of Essex is said to have made the following Speech May it please Your Majesty THe Lords here present together with divers other Peers of the Realm taking notice that by your late Proclamation your Majesty hath declared an Intention of calling a Parliament at Oxford and observing from Histories and Records how unfortunate many such Assemblies have been when called at a place remote from the capital City as particularly the Congress in Henry the Seconds time at Clarendon Three several Parliaments at Oxford in Henry the Thirds time and at Coventry in Henry the Sixths time with divers others which have proved very fatal to those Kings and have been followed with great mischief to the whole Kingdom And considering the present posture of Affairs the many Jealousies and Discontents which are among the People we have great cause to apprehend that the consequences of sitting of a Parliament now at Oxford may be as fatal to your Majesty and the Nation as those others mentioned have been to the then Reigning Kings and therefore we do conceive that we cannot answer it to God to your Majesty or to the People if we being Peers of the Realm should not on so important an occasion humbly offer our Advice to your Majesty that if possible your Majesty may be prevailed with to alter this as we apprehend unseasonable Resolution The Grounds and Reasons of our Opinion are contained in this our Petition which we humbly present to your Majesty To the Kings most excellent Majesty The humble Petition and Advice of the Lords undernamed Peers of the Realm Humbly sheweth THat whereas your Majesty hath been pleased by divers Speeches and Messages to your Houses of Parliament rightly to represent
people have no claim of Property or Right in themselves or any thing else for he hath now declared that the peoples choice cannot give any man a Right to sit in Parliament but the Right must be derived from his gracious Will and Pleasure with that of his Councellors and his Clerks Ticket only must be their evidence for it Thus hath he exalted himself to a Throne like unto God's as if he were of himself and his power from himself and we were all made for him to be commanded and disposed of by him to work for him and serve his Pleasure and Ambition A little after there is an Instance of Chief-Justice Tresilian who was executed at Tyburn in the time of Richard the Second for advising the King that he might at any time dissolve the Parliament and command the Members to depart under the penalty of Treason Divers other Protestations were contained in that Instrument against the Arbitrariness and Tyranny of that proceeding and in conclusion they declare they will 〈◊〉 â—…t their complaints before the Lord against their powerful Oppressors hoping he will redeem his people out of the hands of wicked and deceitful Men. This protestation was signed by One hundred and seventeen persons whereof Sir Anthony Ashly Cooper the present Earl of Shaftesbury was one and many others of great Loyalty and Integrity some whereof are since dead and others still alive in great Honour and Office By this may be easily discerned the Opinion he had of the Illegal and Arbitrary proceedings of O. C. and how much of the sufferings of the Loyal Party would have been prevented had that point of a free Parliament been then gained His Majesties Restauration must have been the natural consequence of it The constant correspondence he always kept with the Royal Party and that almost to the hazard of his Life and Family are sufficient Testimonies of his sincerity to his Masters Interest and Service His House was a Sanctuary for distressed Royalists and his correspondence with the Kings Friends though closely managed as the necessities of those times required are not unknown to those that were the principal managers of His Majesties Affairs at that time This made that great Politician O. C. so apprehensive of this great Assertor of his Countries Rights and Opposer of Arbitrary Government and Enthusiasm that though his vast Abilities were known at least to equal the ablest Pilot of the State yet we cannot find him amongst the Creatures of his Cabinet or Council nor amongst the Eleven Major Generals to whom the Care of the Nation was committed No their Principles their Aims and Designs were incompatible one was for Subverting the other for Maintaining the Antient standing Fundamentals of the Nation which once dissolved it were impossible but an universal Deluge of Confusion Blood and Rapine must ensue This made our brave Patriot with divers of the Heroick English Race to the utmost oppose the growth of a Protectorian Power So that we find Sir Anthony Ashly Cooper accused before the Parliament in the year 1659. for keeping Intelligence with the King and for having provided a Force of Men in Dorsetshire to joyn with Sir George Booth in attempting to restore and bring His Majesty that now is to His Rightful Throne Many persons of great note were imprisoned on the account of this Plot and amongst the rest Sir Anthony Ashly Cooper who though at that time one of the Commissioners of the Army and a Member of the House of Commons yet was complained of to the Parliament for a great Manager of the Design and although no man knew better how to obviate the Reasons of the House and plead his own Cause yet was with great difficulty cleared and discharged of that Imputation by the House of Commons The Eyes of the great States-men were so much upon him that he was one of those Loyal Persons mentioned by Baker in his Chronicle whereof the Council of State was composed in which List we find General Monk to be the foremost and that Council the Chronologer calls men of Integrity and well affected to Kingly Government And he that will but consider how soon His Majesties Restauration ensued upon the Election of this Council will have good reason to be of the same Opinion And in the 673 page we find him to be one of the Nine of the Old Council of State who sent that encouraging Letter to the said General to promote his undertaking for the Advantage of the Three Nations Again we find him in the List of that Council of State consisting of Thirty Nine upon whom an Oath was endeavoured to be Imposed for the Abjuration of the Royal Line but by the Influence of Sir Anthony Ashly Cooper and General Monk upon Coll. Morly that Oath was opposed in Council as being a snare and against their Consciences This was strongly pleaded by the Soberer part of the Council whereof this great Patriot was one and so an end was put both to that Oath and to the Council Nor is it in the least unknown to persons then in being how much his Advice influenced the Councils of those times He was the person that was particularly singled out of the whole Council by Commissary Clargis in Novemb. 1659. and had communicated to him a dangerous Design tending to Involve the Nation in further trouble which this Honourable person imparted to the Council of State This-was that great Council that complied with General Monk in that great Revolution of Restoring His Majesty And if that great Action were the occasion of a candid construction put on all the former Actings of the General why they should not have the same Candour for this Noble person I think none can determine His Employment at this time was in places of the highest Trust and Importance an undeniable Testimony of the great Opinion the then great Mininers had of his Loyalty as well as known Ability for the Management of the then Intrieate and close Designs A further prospect will be taken of his Concurrence with Gen. Monk in that Important Juncture if we remember that his Regiment was one of the first that declared for the Parliament and General Monk in March 165â—… So zealous was he in putting all his strength to the turning the great Wheel of State At the time of His Majesties Restauration as a most signal Testimony of His Majesties good Sentiments of his former Actions he was Advanced to be one of the first Rank in His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council and was placed above His Majesties Royal Brother the Duke of Gloucester and even Gen. Monk himself whom His Majesty used to call his Political Father And about three daies before His Majesties Coronation he was in the Banquetting-house created Baron Ashly of Wimbourn St. Giles's and another addition of Honour was conferred on him viz. Lord Cooper of Paulett And at last in the year 1672. he was made Earl of Shaftesbury at the same time when Duke Lauderdale
Attorney was pleased easily to answer the Objection of one of my Council if a great Minister be so Committed he hath the Cure of a Pardon a Prorogation or a Dissolution But if the Case should be put why Forty Members or a greater number may not as well be taken away without Remedy in any of the King's Courts he will not so easily answer and if in this case there can be no Relief no man can foresee what will be hereafter I desire your Lordship well to consider what Rule you make in my Case for it will be a President that in future Ages may concern every man in England My Lord Mr. Attorney saith you can either Release or Remand me I differ from him in that Opinion I do not insist upon a Release I have been a Prisoner above Five Months already and come hither of Necessity having no other way to get my Liberty and therefore am very willing to tender your Lordship Bail which are in or near the Court as good as any are in England either for their Quality or Estate and I am ready to give any Sum or Number My Lord This Court being possest of this business I am now your Prisoner The Court delivered their Opinion Seriatim Mr. Justice Jones Mr. Justice Wild Lord Chief Justice Reimsford Mr. Justice Twisden was absent but he desired Justice Jones to declare that his Opinion was that the Party ought to be remanded which being the sense of the Court his Lordship was Remanded by the Court. His Lordship being denied Redress in the Court of King's-Bench he continued a Prisoner in the Tower until the following February and on the Fourteenth of that Month presents a Petition to the House of Lords then Sitting wherein his Lordship makes a very humble Submission both to the King and House of Peers and for better satisfaction here is inserted what was said to be a Transcript of the Proceedings of that House relating to that Affair Die Jovis Feb. 14. 1677. A Petition was presented to the House from the Earl of Shaftesbury wherein he humbly submits himself to their Lordships pleasure and is ready to make acknowledgment and submission according to their directions but in regard it did not appear to this House that his Lordship had made his Acknowledgment to His Majesty after some Debate the Petition was rejected Die Mercurii Feb. 20. 1677. A Petition from the E. of Shaftesbury was presented to the House and Read as follows To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled The Humble Petition of Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury Sheweth THat your Petitioner on the 16th of Feb. 1676. was Committed Prisoner to the Tower of London by your Lordships because he did not obey your Lordships Order where he hath continued under Close Confinement to the great decay of his Health and danger of his Life as well as prejudice of his Estate and Family In all humble Obedience therefore unto your Lordships he doth acknowledge that his Endeavouring to maintain that this Parliament is Dissolved was an ill-advised Action for which he humbly begs the Pardon of the King's Majesty and of this most Honourable House and doth in all humble Duty and Observance to your Lordships beseech you to believe that he would not do any thing willingly to incur your displeasure Wherefore your Petitioner in all humble Duty and Obedience both to His Majesty and your Lordships hath made his humble Submission and Acknowledgment in his most humble Petition unto the King 's most Sacred Majesty and is ready to make his further Submission to His Majesty and this Honourable House according to the direction thereof And he doth most humbly implore your Lordships That you will be pleased to restore him to your Favour and discharge him from his Imprisonment And your Petitioner c. Shaftesbury This being Read the Lord Chancellor acquainted the House that His Majesty had received a Third Petition from the E. of Shaftesbury more submissive in Form than ☞ the Two First But His Majesty understanding that the Earl of Shaftesbury hath endeavoured to free himself from the Censure of this House by Appealing to the King's-Bench to have their Judgments thereupon during the late Adjournment doth not think fit as yet to signifie his pleasure as to his Discharge until this House hath taken that matter into consideration So that at that time the House refused to Address to the King for a Discharge for the said Earl but entered on a Debate concerning his Appeal from this House to the King's-Bench for an Habeas Corpus which Debate was again resumed the day following and the Records of the King's-Bench produced by which it did appear that two Rules of Court had been obtained upon the Motion of the E. of Shaftesbury's Council Trin. Term 1677. and the Returns thereupon were Read by which it did appear that the Earl of Shaftesbury was Committed the 16th of Feb. 1676. by this House for a Contempt and then the Remittitur of the Earl of Shaftesbury to the Tower was also Read After this a Petition from the Earl of Shaftesbury to this House was Read wherein his Lordship took notice of an Order of this House of the 20th Instant for bringing the Records of the Court of King's-Bench into this House concerning the Matter of an Habeas Corpus brought by him that he takes himself to be greatly concerned and to have a Right to be present and heard when any Debate of any new matter against him is entered upon That he cannot pretend but that he may have erred for want of a President to guide him and being deprived of the benefit of Council by reason of his close Confinement and being resolved not to do any thing willingly that might in the least offend His Majesty or their Lordships he humbly takes this opportunity to give further Evidence thereof by casting himself at their Lordships feet and as he hath humbly begg'd the Pardon of His Majesty so he beggs also the Pardon of this House for having offended them in any thing whatsoever This having been Debated a long time the House at last came to this Resolution following Resolved and declared That it is a breach of the Priviledge of this House for any Lord Committed by the House to bring an Habeas Corpus in any Inferiour Court to free himself from that Imprisonment during the Session of Parliament Resolved That the Earl of Shaftesbury shall have Liberty to make his full Defence notwithstanding the Resolution and Declaration aforesaid Die Veneris Feb. 22. The House sent a Warrant to the Constable of the Tower to bring the Earl of Shaftesbury to the Bar of this House on the Monday following accordingly on the Monday following the Earl of Northampton Constable of the Tower brought the Earl of Shaftesbury to the Bar of the House where having kneeled the Lord Chancellor gave him an account of the foregoing Resolution of the House Whereupon the Earl of
to them the dangers that threaten your Majesties Person and the whole Kingdom from the mischievous and wicked Plots of the Papists and the sudden growth of a foreign Power unto which no stop or remedy could be provided unless it were by Parliament and an Union of your Majesties Protestant Subjects in one mind and one Interest And the Lord Chancellour in pursuance of your Majesties commands having more at large demonstrated the said dangers to be as great as we in the midst of our fears could imagine them and so pressing that our Liberties Religion Lives and the whole Kingdom would certainly be lost if a speedy provision was not made against them And your Majesty on the 21st of April 1679. having called unto your Council many Honourable and Worthy Persons and declared to them and to the whole Kingdom That being sensible of the evil effects of a single Ministry or private Advice or foreign Committee for the general Direction of your Affairs your Majesty would for the future refer all things unto that Council and by the constant Advice of them together with the frequent use of your great Council the Parliament your Majesty was hereafter resolved to govern the Kingdom We began to hope we should see an end of our Miseries But to our unspeakable grief and sorrow we soon found our expectations frustrated the Parliament then subsisting was prorogued and dissolved before it could perfect what was intended for our relief and security And tho another was thereupon called yet by many prorogations it was put off till the 21st of Octob. past and notwithstanding your Majesty was then again pleased to acknowledge that neither your Person nor your Kingdom could be safe till the matter of the Plot was gone through It was unexpectedly prorogued on the 10th of this Month before any sufficient Order could be taken therein All their just and pious Endeavours to save the Nation were overthrown the good Bills they had been industriously preparing to Unite your Majesties Protestant Subjects brought to nought The discovery of the Irish Plots stifled The Witnesses that came in frequently more fully to declare that both of England and Ireland discouraged Those foreign Kingdoms and States who by a happy conjunction with us might give a check to the French Powers disheartned even to such a despair of their own security against the growing greatness of that Monarch as we fear may enduce them to take new Resolutions and perhaps such as may be fatal to Us the Strength and Courage of our Enemies both at home and abroad encreased and our selves left in the â—…tmost danger of seeing our Country brought into utter desolation In these extremities we had nothing under God to comfort us but the hopes that your Majesty being touched with the groans of your perishing People would have suffered your Parliament to meet at the day unto which it was prorogued and that no further interruption should have been given to their proceedings in order to their saving of the Nation But that failed us too so then we heard that your Majesty had been prevailed with to dissolve it and to call another to meet at Oxford where neither Lords nor Commons can be in safety but will be daily exposed to the Swords of the Papists and their Adherents of whom too many are crept into your Majesties Guards The Liberty of speaking according to their Consciences will be thereby destroyed and the validity of all their Acts and Proceedings consisting in it left disputable The straitness of the place no way admits of such a concourse of persons as now follows every Parliament The Witnesses which are necessary to give Evidence against the popish Lords such Judges or others whom the Commons have impeached or had resolved to impeach can neither bear the charge of going thither nor trust themselves under the protection of a Parliament that is itself evidently under the power of Guards and Souldiers The Premises considered We your Majesties Petitioners out of a just abhorrence of such a dangerous and pernicious Council which the Authors have not dared to avow and the direful apprehensions of the calamities and miseries that may ensue thereupon do make it our most humble Prayer and Advice that the Parliament may not sit at a place where it will not be able to act with that freedom which is necessary and especially to give unto their Acts and Proceedings that Authority which they ought to have amongst the people and have ever had unless impaired by some Awe upon them of which there vvants not precedents and that your Majesty would be Graciously pleased to order it to sit at Westminster it being the usual place and where they may consult vvith Safety and Freedom And your Petitioners c. Monmouth Kent Huntingdon Bedford Salisbury Clare Stamford Essex Shaftesbury Mordant Ewers Paget Grey Herbert Howard Delamer In October during the Session of the last Parliament it is very remarkable that Francisco de Faria Interpreter to the Portugal Ambassadour amongst other high matters relating to the popish Plot gave it in his Information at the Bar of the House He declared that the said Ambassador had tempted him to kill the Earl of Shaftesbury by throwing a Hand-Granado into his Coach as he was passing the Rode into the Country And about the 20th of Novemb. one Zeal being called to the Bar of the House delivered his Information at the Bar the purport whereof was this That being a Prisoner in the Marshalsea Mrs. Cellier came divers times to him and treated with him not only to be Instrumental himself but to procure others to Assist him to fire His Majesties Ships as they lay in the Harbour as also to swear against the E of Shaftesbury such Artâ—…es of High Treason as she should get ready prepared for him or to that purpose To sum up the many various Methods and Waies that were devised and put in execution to cut off the Life of this Noble Peer would be Task enough to fill many Volumes The Jesuites next to the Attempting His Majesties Life set all their Inventions and Engines on work to make away the Earl of Shaftesbury he was the Beam in their Eye the Clog that hindered the motion of their Curst Designs What have they not attempted that might render him distastful to the King throwing the foulness of their own Treasons upon him as appears by the Deposition of Brian Haines before the Council in Octob. 1681. That David Fitz Girald told the said Brian Haines that he the said Fitz Girald possessed His Majesty and had given it under his hand and Seal that the late Plot was a Presbyterian Plot and Invented by the Right Honourable Anthony Earl of Shaftesbury on purpose to Extirpate the Family of the Stuarts and dethrone his present Majesty and turn England into a Common-wealth or else set the Crown upon the Earls own Head with more to this purpose of which we shall have occasion to make farther mention when we come