Peace as they doubted he would not be brought to enter into War But Count Mansfield procured the King of France to Contract to receive our Troops with promise to enter into the War upon condition it might be regulated by the Council of the French King and England This favor to Count Mansfield That France agreed that his Armies should joyn with the Kings Troops wrought the Princes of Germany to believe that the King would enter into a War Thereupon the Imperialists left their Dyet and sent Tilly to Friezland and to take up the River of Embden which if he had obtained they would have trampled the Low-Countreys under foot and would have become Governors of the Sea Upon this the King of Denmark sent to our King and offered to raise an Army of Thirty thousand men if our King would allow Thirty thousand pounds a Moneth and said He would admit no time of respite for if Tilly had not been presently met and headed all had been lost Whereupon our King called a Counsel and appointed Commissioners and from that time all the Warrants for the issuing of the Moneys were all under the Kings own hand to the Council of War and from them to the Treasurers and the Warrants were from the Lords of the Council for the Levying of Men and for Coats and Conduct-Money A List whereof is hereunder specified Thereupon the Duke asked the Question Whether any thing was done by single Council To which the Lord Conway answered No. For the Treaty of Denmark Project of Count Mansfield Treaties with France and the business of the Navy were done all by the King himself and who can say it was done by single Council when King Iames commanded it whose Council every man ought to reverence especially in matters of War whereunto that King was not hasty The Total of Moneys paid by Warrants of the Treasurers of the Subsidy Money IN Toto for the Four Regiments of the Low-Countries from the Thirtieth of Iune 1624. till the One and twentieth of Iuly 1624. 99878 l. 00 s. 06 d. For the Navy from the Thirteenth of Iuly 1624. till the Three and twentieth of December 37530 l. 08 s. 04 d. For the Office of the Ordinance and Forts in England from the Twentieth of Iuly 1624. till the Fifteenth of Iune 1625. 47126 l. 05 s. 05 d. To defray Charges for Forts in Ireland about October 1624. 32295 l. 18 s. 04 d. For the Service under Count Mansfield for Provisions of Arms transporting of Soldiers from the Fourth of October 1624. till the Tenth of December 1624. 61666 l. 13 s. 04 d. Sum Total 278497 l. 04 s. 11 d. MEmorandum That over and above the several Services before specified and the several Sums issued and to be issued by our Warrants for the same We did long since resolve and order accordingly that out of the Moneys of the Second and third Subsidies these further Services should be performed and Moneys issued accordingly viz. In full of the Supply of all the Forts and Castles before-mentioned Surveyed per Sir Richard Morison Sir Iohn Ogle Sir Iohn Kay in September 1613. with all sorts of Munitions according to several Proportions and Warrants for the same 4973 l. In full for the Reparations of all the said Forts and Castles according to the said Survey 10650 l. 06s 08 d. But the said Subsidies being not like to afford means to perform these so necessary Works We humbly commend the supply of what shall be wanting for the same unto your Majesties Princely consideration Whilest the Commons were inquiring into Publick Grievances the Lords represented to the King a Grievance to their own Order in this following Petition To the Kings most Excellent Majesty The Petition of your ever Loyal Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal now in Parliament Assembled In all humility sheweth THat whereas the Péers and Nobility of this Your Kingdom of England have heretofore in Civility yeilded as to strangers Precedency according to their several degrées unto such Nobles of Scotland and Ireland as being in Titles above them have resorted hither Now divers of the natural born Subjects of those Kingdoms resident here with their Families and having their cheif Estates among us do by reason of some late created Dignities in those Kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland claim Precedency of the Péers of this Realm which tends both to the disservice of Your Majesty and these Realms and to the great disparagement of the English Nobility as by these Reasons may appear I. It is a novelty without president that men should inherit Honors where they possess nothing else II. It is injurious to those Countreys from whence their Titles are derived that they should have a Uote in Parliament where they have not a foot of Land III. It is a grievance to the Country where they inhabite that men possessing very large Fortunes and Estates should by reason of Foreign Titles be exempted from those Services of Trust and Charge which through their default become greater pressures upon others who bear the burthen IV. It is a shame to Nobility that Persons dignified with the Titles of Barons Viscounts c. should be obnoxious and exposed to arrest they being in the view of the Law no more then méer Plebeians We therefore humbly beséech your Majesty That you will be pleased according to the examples of the best Princes and times upon consideration of these inconveniencis represented to Your Majesty by the nearest Body of Honor to Your Majesty that some course may be taken and an order timely setled therein by Your Princely Wisdom so as the inconvenience to Your Majesty may be prevented and the prejudice and disparagement of the Péers and Nobility of this Kingdom be redressed To this Petition the King gave Answer That he would take order therein The Earl of Bristol who continued under Restraint and was debarred Access to his Majesty ever since his return out of Spain had been examined touching his Negotiation there by a Committee of Lords appointed by the King Certain Propositions were tendred unto him in order to his Release and composing of that Affair concerning which he had written to the Lord Conway and about this time received the ensuing Letter from him The Lord Conway to the Earl of Bristol My Lord I Received a Letter from your Lordship dated the Fourth of this Moneth written in Answer to a former Letter which I directed to your Lordship by his Majesties Commandment This last Letter according to my duty I have shewed unto his Majesty who hath perused it and hath commanded me to write back to you again That he findes himself nothing satisfied therewith The Question propounded to your Lordship from his Majesty was plain and clear Whether you did rather chuse to sit still without being questioned for any Errors past in your Negotiation in Spain and enjoy the benefit of the late gratious Pardon granted in Parliament whereof you may have the benefit Or
to the Acts and Law of State in that behalf A Committee was appointed to prepare an Answer to his Majesties Letter which was ingrossed and allowed of but the Copy thereof we cannot finde yet the Substance was delivered by the Speaker Sir Henage Finch in these words Most gracious and dread Soveraign ACcording to that liberty of access and liberty of speech which your Majesty and your Royal Progenitors have ever vouchsafed to your House of Commons your Majesties most humble and Loyal Subjects the Commons now assembled in Parliament have been Suitors for this access to your Royal Throne And out of their consideration of the nature and of the weight and importance of the business they have thought the attendance of the whole house with their Speaker not too solemn and yet they have not thought fit barely to commit those words which express their thoughts to the trust of any mans Speech but are bold to present them in writing to your gracious hands that they may not vanish but be more lasting then the most powerfull words of a more able Speaker like to be I have much to read and shall therefore as little as I can weary your Majesty with Speeches This Parchment contains two things the one by way of Declaration to give your Majesty an accompt and humble satisfaction of their clear and sincere endeavors and intentions in your Majesties service and the other an humble Petition to your Majesty for the removal of that great person the Duke of Buckingham from access to your Royal presence For the first They beseech your most excellent Majesty to beleeve that no earthly thing is so dear and precious to them as that your Majesty should retain them in your grace and good opinion and it is a grief to them beyond my expression that any misinformation or misinterpretation should at any time render their words or proceedings offensive to your Majesty It is not proper for any to hear the Eccho of a voice that hears not the voice and if Eccho's be sometimes heard to double and redouble the Eccho of the Eccho is still fainter and sounds not lowder I need not make the Application words misreported though by an Eccho or but an Eccho of an Eccho at a third or fourth hand have oft a lowder sound then the voice it self and may sound disloyalty though the voice had nothing undutifull or illoyal in it Such misinformations they fear have begot those interruptions and diversions which have delayed the ripening and expediting of those great Counsels which concern your Majesties important service and have enforced this Declaration I pass from that to the Petition in which my purpose is not to urge those Reasons which your Majesty may hear expressed in their own words in the language of the people I am onely directed to offer to your great wisdom and deep judgement that this petition of theirs is such as may stand with your Majesties honor and justice to grant Your Majesty hath been pleased to give many Royal Testimonies and Arguments to the world how good and gracious a Master you are and that which the Queen of Sheba once said to the wisest King may without flattery be said to your Majesty Happy are those Servants which stand continually before you But the Relations by which your Majesty stands in a gracious aspect towards your people do far transcend and are more prevalent and binding then any relation of a Master towards a Servant and to hear and satisfie the just and necessary desires of your people is more honorable then any expression of grace to a servant To be a Master of a Servant is communicable to many of your Subjects to be a King of people is Regal and incommunicable to Subjects Your Majesty is truly stiled with that name which the greatest Emperors though they borrowed names and titles from those Countries which they gained by conquest most delighted in Pater Patriae and desires of children are preferred before those of servants and the servant abideth not in the house for ever but the son abideth ever The Government of a King was truely termed by your Royal Father a Politick Marriage between him and his People and I may safely say there was never a better union between a married Pair then is between your Majesty and your People Afterwards the Commons made what haste they could to perfect a Remonstrance or Declaration against the Duke and concerning Tonage and Poundage taken by the King since the death of his Father without consent in Parliament which was no sooner finished but they had intimation the King would that day dissolve the Parliament whereupon they ordered every Member of the House to have a Copy of the Remonstrance And at the same time the Lords prepared this ensuing Petition to stay his purpose in dissolving the Parliament May it please your Excellent Majesty WE your faithfull and loyal Subjects the Peers of this Kingdom having received this morning a Message from your Majesty intimating an intention to dissolve this Parliament remembring that we are your Majesties hereditary great Council of the Kingdom do conceive that we cannot deserve your Majesties gracious opinion expressed in this Message unto us nor discharge our duty to God your Majesty and our Country if after expression of our great and universal sorrow we did not humbly offer our loyal and faithfull advice to continue this Parliament by which those great and apparent dangers at home and abroad signified to us by your Majesties command may be prevented and your Majesty made happy in the duty and love of your people which we hold the greatest Safety and Treasury of a King for the effecting whereof our humble and faithfull endeavor shall never be wanting The Lords sent the Vicount Mandevile Earl of Manchester Lord President of his Majesties Council the Earl of Pembrook the Earl of Carlile and the Earl of Holland to intreat his Majesty to give audience to the whole House of Peers But the King returned Answer That his Resolution was to hear no motion to that purpose but he would dissolve the Parliament and immediately caused a Commission to pass under the Great-Seal to that purpose in haec verba CAROLUS Dei gratia Angliae Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor c. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri fideli Consiliario nostro Georgio Archiepisc. Cantuar. totius Angliae Primati Metropolitano Ac perdilecto fideli Consiliar nostro Thomâ—e Coventry militi Dom. Custod Magni Sigilli nostri Angliae Ac etiam Reverendiss in Christo Patri Tobiae Archiep. Ebor. Angliae Primati Metropolitano Nec non charissimis Consanguineis Consiliariis nostris Iacobo Comiti Marlborough Thesaurario nostro Angliae Henrico Comiti Manchester Dom. Presidenti Consilii nosâ—ri Edwardo Comiti Wigorn. Custod Privati Sigilli nostri Georgio Duci Buckingham Magno Admirallo nostro Angliae Willielmo Comiti Pembroke Camerario Hospitii nostri Ac etiam
so we pray God that this desire among you of kindling Wars shewing your weariness of peace and plenty may not make God permit us to fall into the miseries of both But as we already said our care of Religion must be such as on the one part we must not by the hot persecution of our Recusants at home irritate Foreign Princes of contrary Religion and teach them the way to plague the Protestants in their Dominions with whom we daily intercede and at this time principally for ease to them of our profession that live under them Yet upon the other part we never mean to spare from due and severe punishment any Papist that will grow insolent for living under our so mild Government And you may also be assured we will leave no care untaken as well for the good Education of the Youth at home especially the children of Papists as also for preserving at all times hereafter the Youth that are or shall be abroad from being bred in dangerous places and so poisoned in Popish Seminaries And as in this point namely the good education of Popish youth at home we have already given some good proofs both in this Kingdom and in Ireland so will we be well pleased to pass any good Laws that shall be made either now or at any time hereafter to this purpose And as to your request of making this a Session and granting a General Pardon It shall be in your defaults if we make nor this a Session before Christmas But for the Pardon ye crave such particulars in it as we must be well advised upon lest otherwise we give you back the double or treble of that we are to receive by your entire Subsidy without Fifteens But the ordinary course we hold fittest to be used still in this case is That we should of our free grace send you down a Pardon from the Higher House containing such points as we shall think fittest wherein we hope ye shall receive good satisfaction But we cannot omit to shew you how strange we think it that ye should make so bad and unjust a Commentary upon some words of our former Letter as if we meant to restrain you thereby of your antient priviledges and liberties in Parliament Truly a Scholar would be asham'd so to misplace and misjudge any sentences in another mans book For whereas in the end of our former Letter we discharge you to meddle with matters of Government and Mysteries of State namely matters of War or Peace or our dearest Son's Match with Spain by which particular denominations we interpret and restrain our former words And then after we forbid you to meddle with such things as have their ordinary course in Courts of Justice Ye couple together those two distinct sentences and plainly leave out these words Of Mysteries of State so as ye erre à bene divisis ad male conjuncta For of the former part concerning Mysteries of State we plainly restrain our meaning to the particulars that were after mentioned And in the latter we confess we meant it by Sir Edward Cook 's foolish business And therefore it had well became him especially being our Servant and one of our Council to have complained unto us which he never did though he was ordinarily at Court since and never had access refused unto him And although we cannot allow of the stile calling it Your antient and undoubted Right and Inheritance but could rather have wished that ye had said That your Priviledges were derived from the grace and permission of our Ancestors and Us For most of them grow from Precedents which shews rather a Toleration then Inheritance Yet we are pleased to give you our Royal assurance that as long as you contain your selves within the limits of your duty we will be as careful to maintain and preserve your lawful Liberties and Priviledges as ever any of our Predecessors were nay as to preserve our own Royal Prerogative So as your House shall only have need to beware to trench upon the Prerogative of the Crown which would enforce us or any just King to retrench them of their Priviledges that would pare his Prerogative and Flowers of the Crown But of this we hope there shall be never cause given Dated at Newmarket the Eleventh day of December 1621. The Lord Keeper Williams advised That the harshness of this Answer should be mitigated with a Letter from his Majesty to the Houses For said he his Majesty rightly inferrs That their Priviledges which they claim to be their Natural birthrights are but the favors of former Kings Now the Kings assertion and their Claim may easily be reconciled if men were peaceably disposed and affected the dispatch of Common business These Priviledges were originally the favor of Princes neither doth his Majesty go about to impair or diminish them Therefore if his Majesty would be pleased to qualifie the passage with some mild and noble expression and require them strictly to prepare things for a Session and to leave those needless disputes He shall make it appear to all wise and just men that those persons are opposite to those Common ends whereof they vaunt themselves the onely Patrons Will the King be pleased to add in this Letter That if they will not prepare Bills for a Session he will break up the Parliament without any longer Prorogation acquainting the Kingdom with their undutifulness and obstinacie and supply the present wants by some other means Or else will he adjourn the present Assembly to the appointed Eight of February This latter course is fitter for further Advice but the former to express a just indignation The Lord Digby minded the Peers That this Session was called for the present support of the Palatinate as was declared by the Message from his Majesty to both Houses in the beginning thereof He reported also That he had received many great Advertisements of that Countries present distress and danger by the Duke of Bavaria and that the Army of Mansfeld who came in for defence if he be not speedily supplied with monies is in a possibility of deserting the service For he hath fair offers of making his Peace but nothing will take with him being in hopes of relief from England But the Parliament thought it their duty as well to advise his Majesty as to supply his wants December 19. The Prince delivered to the Clerk the Commission for an Adjournment to the Eight of February Which discontented the Commons and good people of England foreseeing a Dissolution by Gondomar's means Before the Adjournment in vindication of their Parliamentary rights and Priviledges the Commons made and entred this Protestation following THe Commons now assembled in Parliament being justly occasioned thereunto concerning sundry Liberties Franchises and Priviledges of Parliament amongst others here mentioned do make this Protestation following That the Liberties Franchises Priviledges and Iurisdictions of Parliament are the antient and undoubted Birth-right and Inheritance of the Subjects
highly displeased with some of the Commons House whom he called Ill-tempered spirits Sir Edward Cook Sir Robert Philips were committed to the Tower Mr. Selden Mr. Pym Mr. Mallery to other Prisons and Confinements Order was given for the sealing up the locks and doors of Sir Edward Cooks Chambers in London and in the Temple for the seising of his Papers and the Council debating about the General Pardon that should have passed this last Parliament had consulted about the ways of excluding him from that benefit either by preferring a Bill against him before the publication of the Pardon or by exempting him by name whereof they said they had presidents Likewise Sir Dudley Diggs Sir Tho. Crew Sir Nathaniel Rich and Sir Iames Perrot for punishment were sent into Ireland joined in Commission with others under the Great Seal of England for the enquiry of sundry matters concerning his Majesties service as well in the Government Ecclesiastical and Civil as in point of his Revenue and otherwise within that Kingdom Proclamations had formerly issued out against the Peoples too liberal speaking of matters above their reach Which at this time occasioned Letters from the Council to the Judges of the next Assises taking notice of licentious and undutiful speeches touching State and Government notwithstanding several Proclamations prohibiting the same which the King was resolved no longer to let pass without severest punishment and thereupon required the Judges to give this in Charge in their several Circuits and to do exemplary Justice where they find any such Offenders The King still walked in his beaten path of Sollicitations and Treaties after the constant bad success of his former Mediations For at the very time when he treated of Peace his Son in law was despoiled of his Hereditary patrimony by the Emperors commandment who after the suspension of the Ban or Proscription commanded the taking up of Arms again in the Lower Palatinate the Upper Palatinate being already subdued Which misery King Iames acknowledged to be the fruit of his own patience delays and doubtfulness Nevertheless he ceaseth not to pursue the favor of an implacable Enemy He wrote to the Emperor Ferdinand declaring his earnest endeavors to appease the Bohemian War and his ardent zeal for Peace from the beginning and expressed the Terms which he had prescribed to his Son in law As That he shall for himself and his Son renounce all pretence of Right and Claim to the Crown of Bohemia That he shall from henceforth yield all constant due devotion to the Imperial Majesty as do other obedient Princes Electors of the Empire That he shall crave pardon of the Imperial Majesty That he shall not hereafter any manner of way demean himself unfittingly toward the Imperial Majesty nor disturb his Kingdoms and Countries And that he shall upon reasonable Conditions reconcile himself to other Princes and States of the Empire and hold all good correspondence with them And he shall really do whatsoever like things shall be judged reasonable and necessary King Iames requested of the Emperor the acceptance of these Conditions as a notable testimony of his Imperial Majesties goodness and grace which he said should be by himself acknowledged in all willing service and unfeigned friendship to the Emperor himself and the most renowned House of Austria But if these his just Demands and well-willed Presentations shall not find acceptance or be slightly waved by some new tergiversation or a pretence of that long and tedious way of Consultation with the Princes of the Empire he is resolved to try his utmost power for his Childrens relief judging it a foul stain to his Honor if he shall leave them and their Partizans without counsel aid and protection The Emperor replied and confessed That in this exulcerate business so much moderation and respect of justice and equity hath shined forth in the King of Great Britain that there is not any thing that he should refuse to render thereunto reserving his Cesarean authority and the Laws of the Empire Yet that Person whom it most concerns hath given no occasion by the least sign of repentance to a condescension to this Treaty of Pacification For he is still so obstinate as by continual machinations by Iagerndorf and Mansfeld and other cruel disturbers of the publique peace to call up Hell rather then to acquiesce in better counsels and desist from the usurped Title of a Kingdom Howbeit in favor of the King of Great Britain he shall consent to a Treaty to be held at Bruxels wherein he would devolve his power upon the Illustrious Elizabetha Clara Eugenia Infanta of Spain The appointment of the Treaty at Bruxels was accepted by King Iames whither he sent his Ambassador Sir Richard Weston Chancellor of the Exchequer In the mean while misfortune and misery over-ran the Palatinate The Enemy having prevailed in several grand encounters proceeded to subdue the Country without regard to the Treaty of Peace at Bruxels Which was more easily effected the Commotions in Hungaria Bohemia Silesia Moravia being now ended in a Treaty of Peace between the Emperor and Bethleem Gabor the Emperor having made use of the Palsgrave's submission and resignation of the Crown of Bohemia to accelerate this Treaty About this time Philip the Third King of Spain departed this life and the Lord Digby was sent Extraordinary Ambassador into Spain as well to condole his death as â—o advance the Match and by all means possible to bring it to a final conclusion To which end he was accompanied with Letters from his Majesty and the Prince to that King as also a private Letter to Don Baltazar de Zuniga MOst Serene and Potent Prince Kinsman and dearly beloved Friend when we heard of the Death of your Majesties Father Philip the Third with whom we had great Amity and by our Amity managed very important Matters which he being dead could not but of necessity be interrupted It was no less grief to us then if he had been our own natural and most intimate Brother Which grief we have certified both to your Majesty by our Letters as was fitting and intimated to our people in a solemn and due manner And thus far we have satisfied our selves but in the next place we must also give Custom its due For which end we send unto your Majesty our Publick Ambassador and Messenger of this our Grief the Baron John Digby our Counsellor and Vice-Chamberlain adjoyning unto the rest of his Instructions this our wish That your Serenity may rule your Fathers Kingdoms which you have received under a most prosperous Star with his and your Ancestors Prudence and that we may really finde that love which alway passed between your Father of most happy memory and us propagated with the same candor unto you his Successor the which we also hope Given at our Pallace of Theobalds Mar. 14. 1621. Your Majesties most Loving Brother I. R. Jacobus c. Serenissimo
attended by all the Servants in Ordinary The day following the Privy-Counsellors to the late King with all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal then about London were in the Council Chamber at Whitehall by Eight of the Clock in the morning ready to go together and present themselves to his Majesty but there came in the mean a Commandment from the King by the Lord Conway and Sir Albertus Morton Principal Secretaries of State to the deceased King that the Lord Keeper of the Great-Seal should be sworn of his Majesties Privy-Council and that he should give the Oath to the Lord President by whom all the rest of the late Kings Council should be sworn Counsellors to his present Majesty The Lord Keeper of the great Seal the Lord President the Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Lord Treasurer of England the Lord Privy-Seal the Duke of Buckingham Lord Admiral of England the Earl of Pembrook Lord Chamberlain the Earl of Montgomery the Earl of Kellye the Earl of Arundel Earl Marshal of England the Lord Viscount Grandison the Lord Conwey the Lord Brook Mr Treasurer Mr Comptroller the Master of the Wards Mr Secretary Morton Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Master of the Rolls were this day sworn accordingly the Lord Keeper did take an Oath apart as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal the Lord Treasurer as Lord Treasurer of England the Lord President as Lord President of the Kings Privy-Council and the Lord Conwey and Sir Albertus Norton as principal Secretaries of State the Lords which were not of his Majesties Privy-Council repaired by themselves to St Iames's and presented themselves to the King and kissed his hand The Council sat immediately and advised of the most important and pressing matters to be offered to the King for his present service and resolved upon these particulars That a Commission be granted to authorize the Great-Seal Privy-Seal and Signet till new ones be prepared also Commissions for authorizng of Judges Justices of Peace Sheriffs and other such Officers for Government that there be a general Proclamation for continuation of Proceedings preservation of Peace and administration of Justice that Letters be prepared for the Ambassadors with foreign Princes to authorize their services to the King that special Messengers be sent unto foreign Princes that the like Proclamations to those of England be sent into Scotland that Commissions be renewed into Ireland to the Deputy and Officers there that the Mint for Coyning of money go on and all things be mannaged by the Officers as then they stood till the Kings pleasure be further known that a Parliament be summoned when the King shall appoint that the Kings pleasure be known concerning the time of his Fathers Funeral and where the Corps shall rest in the mean time as also the time of his Majesties Coronation This being done the whole Council attended the King at St Iames's where the Lord Keeper in the name of all the rest presented their humble thanks that it had pleased his Majesty to have affiance in those that had been Counsellors to his Father to receive them all to be of his Privy-Council the Lord President represented to the King the matters before mentioned which the King allowed and gave order that those of them which required speed should be put in execution and most of the powers he signed presently And first because by the death of the late King the Authorities and powers of the greatest number of Offices and places of Government did cease and fail by the failing of the Soveraign Person from whom the same were derived a Proclamation issued forth signifying his Majesties pleasure that all persons whatsoever who at the decease of the late King were invested in any Office or Place of Government Civil or Martial within the Realms of England and Ireland and namely Presidents Lieutenants Vice-Presidents Judges Justices Sheriffs Deputy Lieutenants Commissaries of Musters Justices of Peace shall continue in their several Offices till his Majesties pleasure were further known In another Proclamation of the same date the King took notice of his Fathers death and that he being his onely Son and undoubted Heir is invested and established in the Crown Imperial of this Realm and all other his Majesties Realms Dominions and Countries with all the Royalties Preeminencies Stiles Names Titles and Dignities to the same belonging and he declared That as he for his part shall by Gods grace shew himself a most benign and gracious Soveraign Lord to all his good Subjects in all their lawfull Suits and Causes so he mistrusteth not but that they on their parts will shew themselves unto him their natural Liege Lord most loving faithfull and obedient Subjects The Council resolved to move the King that his Fathers Funeral might be solemnized within five weeks and within a few dayes after the Ceremonial Nuptials in France and before the Parliament began in England These Resolves the Lord President represented unto the King who accepted of the advices and said he would follow them Moreover he summoned a Parliament to begin the seventeeth of May but by the advice of his Privy-Council Prorogued it to the one and thirtieth of May afterwards to the thirteenth of Iune and then to the eighteenth of the same moneth which Prorogations were occasioned by the Kings going to Dover to receive the Queen April 23. The Body and Herse of King Iames was brought from Theobalds to London being conducted by the Officers of the Guard of the Body all in Mourning every one having a Torch and attended by all the Lords of the Court and great numbers of other persons of quality and was placed in Denmark-House in the Hall of the deceased Queen Anne The seventh of May was the day of Burial the Body and Herse were taken from the said Hall of State and brought in great Pompe and Solemnity to Westminster where the Kings of England use to be interred The new King to shew his Piety towards his deceased Father was content to dispense with Majesty he followed in the Rear having at his right hand the Earl of Arundel at his left the Earl of Pembrook both Knights of the Garter his Train was born up by twelve Peers of the Realm So King Iames who lived in Peace and assumed the title of Peace-maker was peaceably laid in his Grave in the Abby at Westminster King Charles in his Fathers life time was linked to the Duke of Buckingham and now continued to receive him into an admired intimacy and dearness making him Partaker of all his Counsels and Cares and Chief Conductor of his Affairs an Example rare in this Nation to be the Favorite of two succeding Princes The Publick State of Religion and the steering of Church-matters had an early inspection and consultation in the Cabinet Council Bishop Laud who in King Iame's life time had delivered to the Duke a little book about Doctrinal Puritanism now also delivered to the Duke a
whether for the clearing of your Innocency whereof your self and your friends and followers are so confident you will be content to wave the advantage of that Pardon and put your self into a legal way of Examination for the Tryal thereof His Majesties purpose thereby is not to prevent you of any favors the Law hath given you but if your Assurance be such as your words and Letters import he conceives it stands not with that Publick and resolute Profession of your Integrity to decline your Tryal His Majesty leaves the choice to your self and requires from you a direct Answer without circumlocution or bargaining with him for future Favors beforehand but if you have a desire to make use of that Pardon which cannot be denied you nor is any way desired to be taken from you his Majesty expects you should at the least forbear to magnifie your Service and out of an opinion of your Innocency cast an aspersion upon his Majesties Iustice in not affording you that present fulness of Liberty and Favor which cannot be drawn from him but in his good time and according to his good pleasure Thus much I have in Commandment to write to your Lordship and to require your Answer clearly and plainly by this Messenger sent on purpose for it and so I remain Whitehal 24 March 1625. Your Lordships humble Servant Edw. Conway My Lord I Have received your Letter of the Four and twentieth of March the Twenty eighth and I am infinitely grieved to understand that my former Answer to yours of the Fourth of March hath not satisfied His Majesty which I will endeavor to do by this to the best of my understanding and to that end shall answer to the particular points of your present Letter with the greatest clearness I am able First Whereas you say in your Letter that the Question propounded to me was plain and clear viz. Whether I would chuse to sit still without being questioned for any Errors past in my Negotiation in Spain and enjoy the benefit of the late gratious Pardon whereof I may take the benefit Or whether being contented to wave the advantage of that Pardon I should put my self into a legal way of Examination for the Tryal thereof c. First Your Lordship may be pleased to remember that your last Proposition was Whether I desired to rest in the Security I was in which you now express Whether I will chuse to sit still Secondly Your Proposition was Whether I would acknowledge the gratious Favor of his Majesty that now is who had been pleased not to question my actions when it is best known to your Lordship That by a Commission of the Lords I was questioned upon Twenty Articles divers involving Felony and Treason Although it be true That when I had so answered as I am confident their Lordships would have cleared me I was so unhappy as their Lordships never met more about that business But now your Proposition is Whether I will now chuse to sit still without being further questioned for Errors past whereas before it was required I should acknowledge that I had not been questioned at all which is a different thing But conferring both your Letters together and gathering the sense and meaning by making the latter an Explanation of the former which I could have wished your Lordship would have more clearly explained I return unto your Lordship this plain and direct Answer That understanding by the Security I am in and sitting still and not being further questioned I am restored to the bare Freedom and Liberty of a Subject and Peer For a man being called in question by his Majesty if after his Majesty shall be pleased out of his goodness that he rest quiet and secure and that he shall not be further questioned I conceive that it is not apparent that his liberty naturally revolveth unto him when by his Majesties Grace he is pleased to declare he shall not be further questioned but may live in further Security So that understanding your Letter in this sort for no direct Answer can be made until the sense of the Question be truly slated I do most humbly acknowledge and accept his Majesties Grace and Favor and shall not wave any thing that shall come to me by the Pardon of the 21 Jac. Regis nor by the Pardon of his Majesties Coronation and am so far from bargaining as you are pleased to express it for future favor though I hope my humble and submissive courses of Petitioning his Majesty neither hath nor shall deserve so hard an expression that I shall not presume so much as to press for any favor until my dutiful and loyal Behavior may move his Majesties Royal and Gratious Heart thereunto but receive with all humbleness this my Freedom and Liberty the which I shall onely make use of in such sort as I shall judge may be most agreeable to his Majesties pleasure As for the second part of your Letter wherein you say That if I desire to make use of that Pardon his Majesty expects that I should at least forbear to magnifie my Services or out of an opinion of my own Innocency cast an aspersion upon his Majesties Iustice. To this point I answer That as I hope I shall never erre in that sort of immodesty of valuing my Services which I acknowledge to have been accompanied with infinite weaknesses and disabilities so I trust it shall not displease that I make use to mine own comfort and the honor of my Posterity of those many Written Testimonies which my late most Blessed Master hath left me of his gratious Acceptance of my Services for the space of Twenty years So likewise I hope the modest avowing of mine Innocency will not be thought to cast any aspersion upon his Majesties Honor or Iustice. I most freely confess unto your Lordship I am much afflicted to see Inferences of this nature made both in your Lordships last Letter and in this For if it shall be inferred as a thing reflecting upon the Kings Honor that a man questioned shall not endeavor to defend his own Innocency before he be convict it will be impossible for any man to be safe for the Honor of his Majesty is too Sacred a thing for any Subject how innocent soever to contest against So likewise God forbid that it should be brought into Consequences as in your former Letter as a Tax upon the Government and Iustice of his late Majesty and Majesty that now is that I should have suffered so long time not being guilty For as I never have been heard so much as to repine of Injustice in their Majesties in all my sufferings so I well know That the long continuance of my troubles may well be attributed unto other Causes as to my own Errors of Passion or other Accidents For your Lordship may well remember That my Affairs were almost two years since upon the point of a happy Accommodation had it not been interrupted by the
unfortunate mistaking of the Speeches I used to Mr. Clark I shall conclude by entreating your Lordships favor That I may understand from you as I hope for my comfort that this Letter hath given his Majesty satisfaction or if there should yet remain any scruple That I may have a clear and plain signification of the Kings pleasure which I shall obey with all Humility Your Lordships humble Servant BRISTOL The Earl of Bristol petitions the House of Lords shewing That he being a Peer of this Realm had not received a Summons to Parliament and desires their Lordships to mediate with his Majesty that he may enjoy the Liberty of a Subject and the Priviledge of his Peerage after almost two years restraint without being brought to a Tryal And if any Charge be brought in against him he prayeth that he may be tryed by Parliament The business is referred to the Committee of Priviledges and the Earl of Hartford reported from that Committee That it is necessary that their Lordships humbly beseech his Majesty that a Writ of Summons may be sent to the Earl of Bristol as also to such other Lords whose Writs are stopped except such as are made uncapable to sit in Parliament by Judgment of Parliament or some other Legal Judgment Hereupon the Duke signified to the House That upon the Earl of Bristols Petition to the King His Majesty had sent him his Writ of Summons And withal he shewed to the Lords the Copy of a Letter written from the King unto the said Earl being as followeth WE have received your Letter addressed unto us by Buckingham and cannot but wonder that you should through forgetfulness make request to us of favour as if you stood evenly capable of it when you know what you behaviour in Spain deserved of us which you are to examine by the observations we made and know you well remember how at our first coming into Spain taking upon you to be so wise as to foresee our intention to change our Religion you were so far from disswading us that you offered your advice and secresie to cocurre in it and in many other Conferences pressing to shew how convenient it was to be a Roman Catholick it being impossible in your opinion to do any great action otherwise And how much wrong disadvantage and disservice you did to the Treaty and to the Right and Interest of our dear Brother and Sister and their Children what disadvantage inconvenience and hazard you intangled us in by your Artifices putting off and delaying our return home the great estimation you made of that State and the low price you set this Kingdom at still maintaining that we under colour of friendship to Spain did what was in our power against them which you said they very well knew And last of all your approving of those Conditions that our Nephew should be brought up in the Emperors Court to which Sir Walter Ashton then said that he durst not give his consent for fear of his head you replying unto him that without some such great Action neither Marriage nor Peace could â—e had Upon the receipt of the Writ Bristol again Petitions the House of Lords and annexes to his Petition the Lord Keepers Letter and his own Answer thereto and desires to be heard in accusation of the Duke The humble Petition of Iohn Earl of Bristol Humbly shewing unto your Lordships THat he hath lately received his Writ of Parliament for which he returneth unto your Lordships most humble thanks but ioyntly with it a Letter from my Lord Keeper commanding him in his Majesties name to forbear his personal attendance and although he shall ever obey the least intimation of his Majesties pleasure yet he most humbly offereth unto your Lordships wise considerations as too high a point for him how far this may trench upon the Liberty and Safety of the Peers and the Authority of their Letters Patents to be in this sort discharged by a Letter missive of any Subject without the Kings hand And for your Lordships due information he hath annexed a Copy of the said Lord Keepers Letter and his Answer thereunto He further humbly Petitioneth your Lordships That having been for the space of two years highly wronged inpoint of his Liberty and of his Honor by many sinister aspersions which have been cast upon him without being permitted to answer for himself which hath been done by the power and industry of the Duke of Buckingham to keep him from the presence of his Majesty and the Parliament lâ—st he should discover many crimes concerning the said Duke He therefore most humbly beseecheth That he may be heard both in the point of his Wrong and of his Accusation of the said Duke wherein he will make it appear how infinitely the said Duke hath both abused their Majesties the State and both the Houses of Parliament And this he is most confident will not be denied since the Court of Parliament never refuseth to hear the poorest Subject seeking for redress of Wrongs nor the Accusation against any be he never so powerfull And herein he beseecheth your Lordships to mediate to his Majesty for the Suppliants coming to the House in such sort as you shall think fitting assuring his Majesty That all he shall say shall not onely tend to the Service of his Majesty and the State but highly to the Honor of his Majesties Royal Person and of his Princely vertues And your Suppliant shall ever pray for your Lordships prosperity The Lord Keeper to the Earl of Bristol March 31. 1626. My very good Lord BY his Majesties commandment I herewith send unto your Lordship your Writ of summons for the Parliament but withal signifie his Majesties pleasure herein further that howsoever he gives way to the awarding of the Writ yet his meaning is thereby not to discharge any former directions for restraint of your Lordships coming hither but that you continue under the same restriction as you did before so as your Lordships personal attendance is to be forborn and therein I doubt not but your Lordship will readily give his Majesty satisfaction And so I commend my service very heartily unto your Lordship and remain Your Lordships assured Friend and Servant THO. COVENTRY C.S. Dorset-Court March 31. 1626. His Answer to the Lord Keeper May it please your Lordship I Have received your Lordships Letter of the 31 of March and with it his Majesties Writ of Summons for the Parliament In the one his Majesty commandeth me that all excuses set aside upon my Faith and Allegiance I fail not to come to attend his Majesty And this under the Great Seal of England In the other as in a Letter missive his Majesties pleasure is intimated by your Lordship that my personal attendance should be forborn I must crave leave ingenuously to confess unto your Lordship that I want judgement rightly to direct my self in this Case as likewise that I am ignorant how far this may trench
then he desired their Lordships not to think it tedious for him to proceed and lay open his Case unto them which being granted he began as followeth HE said that he had the honor to serve the late King his Master of happy memory for the space of twenty years and a long time as a Counsellor and in seven Forein Ambassages In all which time in point of his Negotiation he had never received one check or rebuke until the return of the Duke of Buckingham out of Spain and therefore from thence he would begin his present Narration The very day that his Majesty departed from Spain he was pleased to tell him That he had no wayes offended him but did him the honor to trust him with the custody of the powers for his Marriage and after his return into England wrote unto him some Letters which did in no kinde express any distrust or displeasure against him About the same time he wrote unto his Majesty several Letters as in duty he was bound not for any earthly respect whatsoever to conceal from him the true state of his Affairs in which Letter he set down truly and honestly That he conceived that the distastes grown there betwixt the King of Spain and his Ministers and the Duke of Buckingham would disorder and utterly overthrow all his affairs if his wisdom prevented it not hinc illae lacrymae The Duke of Buckingham got a sight and knowledge of the Letters and fearing lest the Earl at his return should discover unto his said late Majesty his practises and misdemeanors in Spain he resolved That his access to the King was no wayes to be admitted and therefore labored and endeavored that he might be committed to the Tower presently upon his arrival and conceiving That the Lord Maquess Hamilton in regard of his Friendship with the Earl and the Alliance which was then intended between them might oppose this course he earnestly pressed him therein and moved him to deal with my Lord Chamberlain to the same purpose vowing That there was no hurt intended to the Earl but onely that he feared that if he should be admitted to the King he would cross and disturb the Course of Affairs but they were so honorable that neither of them would condescend thereunto and so that intention of his took no effect and therein the Earl desired my Lord Chamberlain that he would be pleased upon his Honor to deliver his knowledge This Design of the Duke not taking he fell upon other things indeed to have frightened the Earl out of his Country and honor and thereupon laid some great and sinister aspersions upon him in both Houses of Parliament thinking thereby to have terrified him that he should not return saying That if he kept not himself where he was and laid hold of those great offers which he heard were made unto him in Spain it would be worse with him Then the Earl of Bristol proceeded and said That the knowledge of these aspersions cast upon him in the Parliament came first unto him at Burdeaux in France where he was coming home at leisure in the company of his wife and family having formerly sent a Post of purpose to the Lord Conway to know if his speedy return would be any way useful to his Majesties service Who answered him That he might very well return at leisure with his family And in the mean time he was fallen upon by the Duke of Buckingham in Parliament in such sort as your Lordships well remember of whose Declaration he said he would boldly affirm unto their Lordships that there was scarce any one thing concerning him in it which was not contrary to or different from the truth From Burdeaux the Earl took Post making haste for that he hoped to clear his Honor in Parliament before it should break up and being arrived at Calis he sent over to have one of the Kings Ships for which there was publick Order given but although both wind and weather were as fair as could be and the Kings Ships lay at Boloign having carried over Count Mansfield and might every day within three hours have been with him yet the Ship came not in eight days expectance so that the Earl fearing the Parliament would be dissolved was enforced to pass the Sea in a Boat with six Oars as he did having with him Thirty or Forty thousand pounds of the Kings Jewels Upon his landing at Dover hoping that if his Arrest should have been deferred until his coming to London he might have gotten directly to the Kings presence which the Duke resolved was by no means to be admitted The Earl was there by a Letter of the Lord Conway's delivered unto him by a Servant of his in his Majesties name commanded to retire himself to his House and not to come to the Court or the Kings presence until he should have answered to certain Questions which his Majesty would appoint some of the Lords of the Council to ask him Hereupon he sent presently to his Majesty who sent him word That his restraint was neither for any ill meaning unto him nor that it should last long but was intended for his good to keep the Parliament from falling violently upon him And the same reason the Duke alleadged to some of his Friends and all those his troubles which have followed upon his first restraint have been procured by the Dukes Art under colour of Favor But the Earl having received his Message from the King became a most humble Suitor unto his Majesty that he would expose him to the Parliament for that if he had not served him honestly in all things he deserved no favor but to be proceeded against with all severity And in this particular he pressed the King as far as could stand with duty and good manners but received answer from his Majesty That there should but few more days pass before he would put an end to his affairs And about this time the Parliament was dissolved He still continued his sollicitation to be admitted to the Kings presence Who sent him word and confirmed it by oath That as soon as he should have answered the Questions which the Commissioners were to propound to him he would both see him and hear him and wondred that he should so much doubt thereof He then sollicited with all earnestness to have the Questions sent unto him which was promised should be within few days In the interim his Majesty being desirous that the business should have been accommodated sent secretly to him by a Gentleman who is ready to depose it this Message That he should write a fair Letter to the Duke and leave the rest to Him Hereupon the Duke sent a Gentleman one Mr. Clark with fair Propositions offering to procure him whatsoever he could reasonably pretend only he must not be admitted to the Kings presence for some time and that the Duke would have the disposing of his Vice-chamberlains Place having been therein formerly
engaged The Earl told the Gentleman That to condescend to any such Course were jointly to confess himself faulty in some kind which he would not do for any respect in the world and let him know the great wrong that the Duke had already done him and therefore it would be more honorable for him to procure him some reparation then to press him further Moreover not by way of message but by way of information of the said Mr. Clark he let him know how fit it were for the Duke not to press these things who could not but be conscious of his own Faults and knew his Innocencie and withall shewed him a Paper that he had made ready for the King containing the Particulars wherein the Duke had disparaged him Mr. Clark making the Duke acquainted herewith the Duke wrote a Letter the next day to the Earl bearing date 7 Iulii telling him That he had willingly intended the accommodation of his affairs but by what he had now said to Mr. Clark he was disobliged unless he should be pleased to relent it Whereupon the Earl answered with that directness he thought befitting him in point of Honor. The Course of Mediation was interrupted and the Duke so far incensed that he swore he would have him questioned for his life In the interim which the Earl desired might be known to the Lords His late Majesty was so far from thinking him a Delinquent or any way dishonest that he was often heard to say and swear That he held him an honest man and that he would answer for him that he had neither committed Felony nor Treason And this divers are ready to depose The which he well confirmed for that he gave general leave to all Gentlemen of the Court Privy-Counsellors and to his Secretary of State to have free access unto him yea even so far as to admit of Visits and Entercourses with Spanish Ambassadors and the Padre Maestre as is best known to my Lord Conway by whose Letter he received his Majesties leave in that particular Then he resumed the state of his business where he left it which was in the hands of the Commissioners and they were to frame Interrogatories for him the which although he had promised should be sent him within a few days yet such art was used that six or seven weeks were spent in the framing of them to the end that his Majesties Progress beginning there might be no means for the further clearing of the business And so supposing that for the answering of the Twenty Interrogatories of so high a nature the Earl would take some time they caused the said Interrogatories to be delivered unto him within a few days before the beginning of the Progress but he used so much diligence that he made ready to answer in persona though it were in the nature of a Delinquent Unto which his Majesty answered most graciously That out of his favor and for that he would not do him wrong he would not admit of it but that he should send his Answer and he would instantly put an end to his businesses as will appear by Letters Hereupon the Duke was put into a great strait how to keep him any longer from his Majesty but desired that only a few Questions more might be asked of him which the King upon great urging and instance condescended unto so that the Questions might be presently sent him But herein were such Artifices used that the bringing of any was delayed until the King had begun his Progress and then within a day or two the Lord Conway sent him word That he had Order indeed for the sending of him some more Questions but out of his affection to him he forbore the sending of them unless he should press for them Whereupon the Earl instantly wrote unto him that they might be sent unto him My Lord Conway made him answer by his Letter That he wished rather the course of Mediation might be pursued for that would but further exasperate but if he would needs have the Questions they should be sent to him Whereupon he sent to sollicit his Lordship for them with all earnestness insomuch as to petition his late Majesty twice that the said Questions might be sent But when the turn was served of keeping him from the Kings presence the said Questions were never more heard of until this day So likewise the Earl having sent his Answer to all the Commissioners who most of them made not nice to declare that they were fully satisfied and when it was perceived that the Commissioners would certainly clear him and that he thereby should be restored unto his Majesties favor they were never more permitted to meet A proceeding which as he conceived their Lordships would think hardly to be parallel'd that a Commission should be appointed to condemn if there had been cause but not to clear After the Progress was ended he began again to sollicit his Majesty and wrote particularly unto the Duke of Buckingham Whereupon the Duke was pleased to send four or five Propositions which he desired he should acknowledge the which Propositions contained nothing but what had been already propounded and satisfied in the former Interrogatories And if he would make his acknowledgment he then promised to imploy his force and power with the King and Prince that he should be admitted to kiss their hands and be received into their gracious favor but otherwise in a menacing sort That he should lay his hands upon his breast and so that would be the best for him And in the preface of the said Propositions he writeth in these words which follow It is an assertion not granted that the Earl of Bristol by his Answer had satisfied either the King the Prince or me of his Innocencie A presumptuous commination for any Subject But these Propositions were so unjust that he wrote unto the Duke that in stead of an Acknowledgment he had sent him an Answer unto them unto which if either himself or any man living was able to reply he would submit himself to any thing that should be demanded But this no way satisfied the Duke although it did his late Majesty who in the Dukes presence said I were to be accounted a Tyrant to enjoin an Innocent man to confess faults of which he was not guilty And thereupon sent him word That he should make his Answer but acknowledge nothing he was not faulty in And although he received this Message from the Kings own mouth as will be deposed yet the Duke at the same time wrote unto him That the conclusion of all that had been treated with his Majesty was That he should make the Acknowledgment in such manner as was set down in this paper And at this time likewise it was that his Majesty sent him word That he would hear him concerning the Duke of Buckingham as well as he had heard the Duke concerning him And this was not long before his Majesties sickness And in the interim as
of imprisoning of him by Warrants only under his own hand for which he cannot as the Earl conceiveth produce any sufficient Warrant IV. That by the space of Twelve moneths last past the said Lord Conway hath been the Cause of the Earls restraint only by misinforming his Majesty and procuring a Letter of restraint upon undue grounds And when it was made apparent unto him that the said Earl was restored to his liberty freely to follow his own affairs by his late Majesty of blessed memory he replied That that liberty given him by his Majesty expired with the Kings death V. That the Earl of Bristols Mother lying sick upon her death-bed desired for her comfort to see her Son and to give him her last blessing Whereupon the Earl wrote to the Lord Conway to desire him to move the King for his leave which he putting off from day to day told the person imployed That by reason of the Dukes sickness he could not find opportunity to get the Dukes leave to move the King And having spoken with the Duke he made a Negative answer in the Kings name Wherewith the Earl acquainting the King by some of his Bedchamber his Majesty was in a very great anger swearing the Secretary had never moved him and that to deny the said Earl leave was a barbarous part and thereupon sent him presently free leave which the Secretary hearing of sent likewise afterwards a Letter of leave but with divers clauses and limitations differing from the leave sent him from the Kings own mouth VI. That having the businesses of the Earl of Bristols in his hands and the Earl being commanded by the King to address himself in his occasions unto his Lordship He would never deliver any Message from the said Earl without acquainting the said Duke and receiving his directions and in a noble manner of freeness stuck not to send him word VII That the Earl of Bristol having received from the Lord Conway Twenty Interrogatories in his late Majesties name drawn up by a Commission of the Lords appointed to search into the Proceedings and Imploiments of the said Earl in which search there was more then two moneths spent divers of the said Interrogatories involving Felony and Teason And his Majesty having been pleased to assure the said Earl both by Message and Letters that upon satisfaction given to himself and the Commissioners by his Answers he would presently put an end to the Earl of Bristol's Businesse The Earl of Bristol having so fully answered as would admit of no reply and that many of the Commissioners declared themseves to be fully satisfied The said Lord Conway being the Secretary in the Commission to whom it properly belonged to call the Lords to assemble perceiving the Earl of Bristol was like to be cleared never moved for any further meeting neither have they ever been permitted to meet until this day whereby the troubles of the Earl of Bristol have been kept on foot till this present and the said Earls Imprisonment hath been enlarged Twenty moneths And by the Artifices of the said Duke of Buckingham and the said Lord Conway as shall be made appear the said Earl hath been insensibly involved and stauked into the troubles he is now in which he doubteth not but your Lordships will judge to be a very considerable Case VIII That for a colour of keeping the Earl from his late Majesties presence it being pretended after the Answer to the twenty Interrogatories that there were some few Questions more to be added whereunto when he should have answered his Majesty swore solemnly that without any delay he should be admitted to his presence and that within two or three dayes he should have the said Questions sent unto him the Lord Conway notwithstanding he acknowledged under his hand that he had received his Majesties directions for the sending of the said Articles and was often thereunto sollicited on the behalf of the said Earl would never send the said Questions and at last answered That he had no more to do with the Earls businesses IX That the Earl of Bristol being set free by his late Majesty to come to London to follow his own Affairs as he pleased and thereupon having his Writ of Parliament sent unto him without any Letter of Prohibition but the Earl of Bristol out of his great desire to conform all his actions to that which he should understand would best please his Majesty sent to know whether his going or stay would be most agreeable unto his Majesty who was pleased to answer by a Letter from my Lord Duke of Buckingham That he took in veâ—â— good part the said Earls respect unto him but wished him to make some excuse for the present The which accordingly he did and moved That he might have a Letter under the Kings hand to warrant his absence but under colour of this Letter of leave upon the Earl of Bristol's own motion and desire the Lord Conway sent a Letter from his Majesty absolutely forbidding his coming to Parliament and therein likewise was inserted a Clause That the Earl should remain restrained as he was in the time of his late Majesty and so thereby a colour of restraint under his Majesties hand was gotten which could never be procured in his late Majesties time whereby the Earl of Bristol hath been unduly restrained ever since without being able to procure any redress or to make the Lord Conway willing to understand his Case although he sent him all the Papers whereby he might clearly see that the Earl was not under restraint in his late Majesties time but never other Answer could be procured from him but That he judged the said Earl to be under restraint and that his Liberty was expired by the late Kings death as is aforesaid X. That the Lord Conway knowing that the Match for the marrying of the King of Bohemia's eldest Son with the Emperors Daughter and being bred in the Emperors Court was allowed and propounded by his late Majesty And that his Majesty by his Letters unto his Son-in-law declareth That he thinketh it the fairest and clearest way for the accommodation of his Affairs and that he will take sufficient care for his breeding in true Religion And notwithstanding that the said Earl received a Copy of the said Letter by the late Kings order with other Papers setting down all that had been done in the said business and his Majesties assent thereunto from the Lord Conway himself yet hath he suffered all to be charged as a crime against the Earl of Bristol both in the twentieth Interrogatory and in his Majesties last Letter that he should consent to the breeding of the young Prince in the Emperors Court And further in the Interogatory he alledgeth it as an aggravation against the said Earl That the breeding of the said Prince in the Emperors Court inferred to the perversion of his Religion when he knew that his said breeding was never thought nor spoken of by the
King nor any other but with that express Clause and Condition That he should be bred in his own Religion and have such Tutors and Servants as his Father should appoint XI That the Lord Conway hath been the cause of all the Earl of Bristol's Troubles by his dubious and intrapping Dispatches and inâ—erring That the said Earl hath failed in his Directions when it shall be made appear that his Dispatches contained no such Directions as he hath alledged were given The House not being satisfied to commit the Earl to the Tower let him remain where he was before with the Gentleman Usher and further ordered That the Kings Charge against the Earl of Bristol be first heard and then the Charge of the said Earl against the Duke yet so that the Earls Testimony against the Duke be not prevented prejudiced or impeached The day following the Lord Keeper delivered a Message from the King to the House of Lords THat his Majesty taketh notice of the Articles exhibited against the Duke of Buckingham by the Earl of Bristol and he observeth that many of them are such as himself is able to say more of his own knowledge then any man for the Dukes sincere carriage in them That one of them touching the Narrative made in Parliament in the One and twentieth of King Iames trencheth as far upon himself as the Duke for that his Majesty went as far as the Duke in that Declaration and that all of them have been closed in the Earls own breast now for these two years contrary to his Duty if he had known any crime of that nature by the Duke and now he vents it by way of recrimination against the Duke whom he knows to be a principal Witness to prove his Majesties Charge And therefore That his Majesty gave them thanks that they gave no way to the Earl of Bristol's unreasonable motion of putting the Duke under the same restraint that they had put the Earl thereby eschewing what the Earl aimeth at to alter their dutifull Procedings toward his Majesty That thereby they had made his Majesty confident that as they have so they will put a difference between his Majesties Charge against one that appeareth as a Delinquent and the recrimination of the Earl of Bristol against his Majesties Witness and they will not equal them by a proceeding Pari Passu At this time there was an endeavor to take the Earls Cause out of the House and to proceed by way of Indictment in the Kings-Bench To which manner of proceeding why the Lords should not give way these ensuing Reasons were offered to consideration I. IT was ordered That in all Causes of moment the Defendants shall have Copies of all Depositions both pro and contra after publication in convenient time before hearing to prepare themselves and if the Defendants will demand that of the House in due time they shall have their learned Council to assist them in their defence And their Lordships declared That they did give their assents thereto because in all Cases as well Civil as Criminal and Capital they hold That all lawfull help could not before just Judges make one that is guilty avoid Justice and on the other side God defend that an Innocent should be condemned II. The Earl of Bristol by his Petition to the House complained of his restraint desiring to be heard here as well in points of his wrongs as in his accusations against the Duke whereof his Majesty taking consideration signified his pleasure by the Lord Keeper April the 20 That his Majesty was resolved to put his Cause upon the honor and justice of this House and that his pleasure was that the said Earl should be sent for as a Delinquent to answer the offences he committed in his Negotiation before his Majesties going into Spain whilest his Majesty was there and since his coming thence and that his Majesty would cause these things to be charged against him in this House so as the House is fully possessed of the Cause as well by the Earls Petition as by the Kings assent and the Earl brought up to the House as a Delinquent to answer his offences there and Mr. Attorney hath accordingly delivered the Charge against him in the House and the Earl also his Charge against the Duke And now if he be proceeded withal by way of Indictment in the Kings-Bench these dangerous inconveniences will follow viz. 1. He can have no Counsel 2. He can use no Witness against the King 3. He cannot know what the Evidences against him will be in a convenient time to prepare for his Defence and so the Innocent may be condemned which may be the Case of any Peer 4. The Liberties of the House will be thereby infrigned the Honor and Justice thereof declined contrary to the Kings pleasure expresly signified by the Lord Keeper All these things are expresly against the Order 5. The Earl being indicted it will not be in the power of the House to keep him from Arraignment and so he may be disabled to make good his Charge against the Duke Therefore the way to proceed according to the Directions and true meaning of the Order and the Kings pleasure already signified and preserve the Liberties of the House and protect one from injury will be First To have the Charge delivered into the House in writing and the Earl to set down his Answer to it in writing and that the Witnesses may be examined and Evidences on both sides heard by such course and manner of proceedings as shall be thought fit by the House and if upon full hearing the House shall finde it to be Treason then to proceed by way of Indictment if doubtfull in point of Law to have the opinion of the Judges to clear it if doutfull in matter of Fact then to refer it to a regal Fait And the rather for that 1. It appears that the Earl in the space of two years till now he complained hath not been so much as questioned for matter of Treason 2. He hath been examined upon twenty Interrogatories and the Commissioners satisfie that his Answer would admit of no Reply 3. The Lord Conway by several Letters hath intimated That there was nothing against him but what was pardoned by the Parliament Pardon of 21 Iac. And signified his Majesties pleasure That he might rest in that security he was and sit still His Majesty hath often declared both to the Countess of Bristol and others That there was neither Fellony nor Treason against him nor ought else but what a small acknowledgment would expiate Some Cases happened in Parliament 1 2 Caroli wherein the Judges opinions were had viz. THis Question was put to all the Justices Whether a Peer impeached for Treason shall be tried in Parliament And the chief Justice in the name of all the Justices delivered his opinion that the course by Law was Indictment and this to be signified in Parliament before the Lord Steward vide 10
the Articles of several High Treasons and other great and enormous Crimes Offences and Contempts supposed to be committed by him against our late Soveraign Lord King James of Blessed Memory deceased and our Soveraign Lord the Kings Majesty that now is wherewith the said Earl is charged by his Majesties Attorney-General on his Majesties behalf in the most High and Honorable Court of Parliament before the King and the Lords there And not acknowledging any the supposed Treasons Crimes Offences and Contempts wherewith he is charged in and by the said Articles to be true and saving to himself all advantages benefit and exception to the Incertainty and Insufficiency of the said Articles and of the several Charges in them contained And humbly praying that his Cause may not suffer for want of Legal form whereunto he hath not been used but may be judged according to such real and effectual Grounds and Proofs as may be accepted from an Ambassador the ground of the Charge growing thence and that he may have leave to explain himself and his own meaning in any thing that may seem of a doubtful Construction For Answer saith as followeth I. THe First Article he denieth and because the Matters contained in the said Article consist of several parts viz. The loss of the said Palatinate and the Match with the said Lady of Spain and of the several Employments as of one Extraordinary Ambassage to the Emperor and another to the King of Spain in the years 1621.22 and 23. He humbly craves leave of this most Honorable Court to separate the businesses and distinguish the times And beginning with the Palatinate first to give an account of his Ambassage to the Emperor and so to make as brief a Deduction as he could of the whole carriage in that business from the beginning of his employment to the time he left it in his Ambassage to the Emperor he propounded all things faithfully according to his Instructions and the Answers which he returned to his late Majesty of Blessed Memory were the very same and no other then such as were given by the Emperor under his Hand and Imperial Seal the which according to his duty he faithfully sent unto his said Majesty and withal did honestly and truly advertise his said Majesty what he understood and thought then upon the place but was so far from giving to his Majesty any ill-grounded hopes in that behalf that he wrote unto the Lords of the Council here in England from Vienna 26 Iuly 1624. in such sort as followeth I Am further to move your Lordships That there may be a Dispatch made presently into Spain to his Majesties Ambassador and Mr. Cottington that they deal effectually for the repairing and ripening of the business against my coming that they use some plain and direct Language letting the Ministers there know That the late Letter sent by the King of Spain to the Emperor was colder and more reserved then his Master had reason to expect I shall conclude with telling your Lordships That although I dispair not of good success in that knotty business yet I hope his Majesty and your Lordships lay not aside the care of all fitting preparations for a War in case a Peace cannot be honorably had And amongst other things I most earnestly commend unto your Lordships by your Lordships unto his Majesty the continuing yet abroad for some small time of Sir Robert Mansels Fleet upon the Coasts of Spain which in case his Majesty should be ill used will prove the best Argument we can use for the Restitution of the Palatinate And this his Advice he saith was wholly intended by his Actions by being the cause as he returned homeward out of Germany to bring down Count Mansfield whereby the Town of Frankendale was relieved by supplying of his Majesties Army then in great distress with Moneys and Plate to the value of 10000 l. meerly out of his zeal and affection to the good of the King and his Children having no Warrant or Order but that his heart was ever really bent in effects more then in shews to serve the Kings Son-in-law and his cause as by the discourse of this business will appear And how acceptable these Services were will more appear by the Letters of the Queen of Bohemia in these words following My Lord HAving understood from Heidelburgh how you have shewed your affection to the King and me in all things and in the help of Money you have lent our Soldiers I cannot let so great Obligation pass without giving many thanks for it by these lines since I have no other means to shew my gratefulness unto you Howsoever assure your self that I will never be forgetful of the Testimonies you give me of your love which I intreat you to continue in doing the King and me all good Offices you can to his Majesty You have been an eye-witness of the miserable estate our Countreys are in I intreat you therefore to solicite his Majesty for our help you having given me an assurance of your affection I intreat you now to shew it in helping of us by your good endeavors to his Majesty and you shall ever binde me to continue as I am already Your very affectionate Friend ELIZABETH Which Letters were seconded with others about the same time both from the King of Bohemia and Council of Heidelburgh to the same effect And how much satisfaction his late Majesty received in that behalf and touching that business will plainly appear several ways and particularly by his Speech in Parliament And the said Earl likewise appealeth to both Houses of Parliament to whom by his late Majesties Order he gave a just and true accompt of that employment with what true zeal he proceeded and how he pressed that single Treaty and Promises no longer be relied on but that a fitting preparation for War might go along hand in hand with any Treaty of Accommodation And for a conclusion among many of his late Majesties approbations of his carriage in this employment he humbly desireth that a Letter of the Duke of Buckinghams under his own hand bearing date the Eleventh of October 1621. may be produced being as followeth My Lord I Am exceeding glad that your Lordship hath carried your self so well in this employment that his Majesty is infinitely pleased for your Service you have done for which he commanded me to give your Lordship thanks in his Name until he see you himself You of all men have cause to commend his Majesties choice of such a man that unless your heart had gone with the business you could never have brought it to so good a pass Amongst other things his Majesty liketh very well the care of clearing his Honor whereof he will advise further with your Lordship at your next coming over I hope you will not finde your Negotiation with the Infanta of such difficulty as you seem to fear in your Letter seeing my Brother Edward hath brought with him a Letter
from his Majesties Son in Law whereby he putteth himself solely to his Majesties advice and pleasure for his Submission as you will perceive by the Copy of the Letter it self which I here send your Lordship wherein though there be many things impertinent yet of that point you may make good use for the accomplishment of the business wherein I have written to the Spanish Ambassador to use his Means and Credit likewise which I assure my self he will effectually do especially seeing the impediments are taken away by Count Mansfields Composition and the Conformity of his Majesties Son in Law to this Submission For the Money your Lordship hath so seasonably laid forth his Majesty will see you shall sustain no loss holding it very unconscionable you should suffer by the care of his Service which you have shewed so much to his contentment to the great joy of your Lordships faithful Servant Geo. Buckingham Having given this Accompt of his employment with the Emperor he humbly craveth leave to make it known in what sort before this his employment he endeavored to serve the Prince Palatine and his Cause which will best appear by his Majesties own Testimony upon the going of Sir Francis Nethersole to the Prince Palatine at which time his Majesty being out of his Royal and just heart desirous to do a faithful Servant right commanded Sir Francis Nethersole to let the Prince Palatine understand how good a Servant the said Earl had been unto him and how Active in his Affairs as will best appear by a Dispatch of Sir Francis Nethersole written all with his own hand to Sir George Calvert dated in Prague August 11. 1620 and sent by his late Majesty to the said Earl for his comfort being as followeth Right Honorable THat you may be the better assured that I have neither forgotten nor neglected the Commandments received from his Majesty by your Honor you will be pleased to have the patience to hear me report what I said to this King upon the delivery of my Lord Deputies Letters to his Majesty which was That the King my Master whose Iustice is so renowned over the World did use to shew it in nothing more then in vindicating his Servants from wrongfull Opinions whereof he knew noble hearts more sensible then of Injuries done to their Persons or Fortunes That out of his Royal Disposition his Majesty having found my Lord Digby mistaken by some of his own people at home by occasion of his being by him employed in the Affairs with Spain having thereupon conceived a jealousie that the same noble Lord might be also misreported hitherto his Majesties hands in that respect gave me a particular commandment to assure his Majesty he had not a more truly affectionate Servant in England And for proof thereof to let his Majesty understand That whereas the Baron of Doncaster now his Majesties Ambassador for England had since his coming hither obtained but three great Boons for his Majesties service viz. The Loan of Money from the King of Denmark the Contribution in England of the City and Countries and the sending Ambassadors to the contrary parties that my Lord Digby had been the first propounder of all those to the King my Master before his Majesties Ambassador or any other of his servants in England although his Lordship were contented that others who were but set on should carry away the thanks and prayers because his Lordship being known to be the first mover therein might possibly weaken the credit he hath in Spain and to render himself the more valuable to serve both his own Master and his Majesty in which respect I humbly prayed his Majesty to keep this to himself By which testimony it may appear as the said Earl conceiveth how he the said Earl bestowed himself before his Ambassage and in his said Ambassage with his said late Majesties approbation thereof Now he humbly craveth leave to give your Lordships accompt how he proceeded after his return from the Emperors Court Assoon as he came into England he discovered unto his Majesty and the Lords of the Councel in what great wants he had left the Forces in the Palatinate and sollicited the present sending away of money thereupon Thirty thousand pound was borrowed of Sir Peter Vanlore Sir Baptist Hicks and Sir William Cortine and presently sent unto the Palatinate besides the Ten thousand pounds which he lent for which he paid the interest out of his Purse for six moneths having also given not long before Five hundred pounds by way of benevolence to the service of the said Palatinate Now in the interim betwixt his return from the English Coasts which was in November 1621 and his going into Spain in May 1622 he first gave his Accompt as aforesaid of his Ambassage to both Houses of Parliament and moved them as effectually as was possible for the supplying of his Majesty and that the money might wholly be imployed for the Succor of the Palatinate The Parliament being dissolved he sollicited with great care and industry the setling of some Course for the supplying of the Palatinate and his Majesty was perswaded to maintain Eight thousand Foot and Sixteen hundred Horse under his own Standard and at his own purse in the Palatinate to establish a certain course for due payment of the said Army The Lord Chichester was upon the said Earls motion sent for out of Ireland and the said Earl by his Majesties command took order for his Dispatch In this estate the said Earl left his Affairs at his departure towards Spain in May 1622 nothing doubting but that all things would have effectually constantly been pursued according to the order which was setled and resolved on at his departure At his arrival at the Court of Spain he presently proceeded according to his Instructions pressing the business of the Palatinate as effectually as he could and faithfully labored and effected from time to time as far as to the point of Negotiation all particulars that were given him in charge as it will appear by his late Majesties Letters upon every particular occasion and if by the accidents of War for that Summer the Marquess of Baden the Count Mansfield and the Duke of Brunswick received each of them an overthrow the ordering of whose Affairs his Majesty so far complained of to his Son-in-law as to give order for the withdrawing of his Forces as will appear by his Majesties Letters on the third of Iune 1622 and also by his Letters unto Sir Horace Vere and the Lord of Chichester of the same date if there were not a speedy redress if by any of those accidents those businesses have miscarried the said Earl hopes he shall not be liable to the blame it having no relation to him or to his imployment having so far and so honestly with his best affections imployed his care and utmost services in the businesses as his Majesty was pleased by many several Letters upon several Actions to signifie
What the said Earl saw in his Majesty that he should think him so unworthy as to change his Religion for a Wife or any earthly respect whatsoever So why should it be thought that being more fit to undertake great actions in the world being a meer moral and temporal respect should be an argument to perswade in conscience so religious and wise a Prince and so well instructed as his Majesty is as though the soul of a Christian Prince was to be wrought upon in point of Truth and Belief by temporal and worldly respects of Conveniencies and Greatness It were necessary for the proving that the said Earl perswaded his Majesty touching Religion to produce some arguments that he used out of Scripture to satisfie him in point of Conscience in some Tenents of the Roman Church or that he produced any Conference with Learned men for his satisfaction in point of Religion Otherwise the Articles used in this against the said Earl do as he conceiveth caâ—ry little strength to prove the Charge of perswading his Majesty either in regard of it self or in regard of his Majesties piety IX To the Ninth Article the said Earl saith That there was a Discourse in Spain of the way of accommodating the Prince Palatine his affairs and by way of discourse it was moved That the Marriage of his eldest Son with a Daughter of the Emperor and his Son to be bred in the Emperors Court would be the fairest way for the pacifying of and accommodating those businesses And the Earl by way of discourse and not otherwise did say That he thought his late Majesty could not be adverse either to the said Match or to the breeding of the Prince Palatine his Son with the Emperor so as thereby the whole Patrimonial Estate of the Prince Palatine and the Dignity Electoral might be fully restored and that his Son might be bred in his own Religion and have such Preceptors and such a Family as his late Majesty and his Father meaning the Prince Palatine should appoint and they to have free exercise of Religion For so his late Majesty hath often declared himself to the said Earl and wished him to lay hold on any occasion for the entertaining of any such Proposition And otherwise then so and upon the terms aforesaid and by that way of Conference and discourse only he delivered not any Opinion to his Majesty at his Majesties being in Spain For the said Earl is very confident that his Majesty was returned out of Spain before any Proposition was made for the said Marriage other then by way of discourse as aforesaid The same as the said Earl believeth being first moved and debated on by way of Proposition between Mr. Secretary Calvert and the Ambassador of the King of Spain Octob. 2. 1628. His late Majesty upon a relation made unto him by a Letter of Mr. Secretary Calvert approved of the said Proposition and declared the same to be the onely way as he conceived to accommodate with honor those great businesses And wrote to that purpose to his Son-in-law the Prince Palatine by his Letters dated 9 Novemb. 1623. A Copy of which he together with Mr. Secretary Calverts Relation and the Lord Conway by his late Majesties commandment sent unto the said Earl the Tenor of which translated out of French is as followeth WE have thought good that we may provide best and most soundly for your Affairs not only to procure but also to assure your Peace were to cut up by the very roots that Evil which hath been setled in the heart of the Emperor by the great displeasure and enmity he hath conceived against you For the removing and quite extinguishing of which it seemeth to us no better or more powerful means can be used then a good Alliance which may be proposed by us between your eldest Son and the Daughter of the said Emperor upon the assurance we have we shall not be refused in this nature if you on your part will give your consent And for the more surety of the good success thereof we are determined before any such Proposition be made to the Emperor to interess the King of Spain with us in the business who we trust will lend us his helping hand as well for the effecting of it and bringing it to a good conclusion as in procuring likewise that the Conditions be duly observed Amongst which Conditions if it happen that the Emperor should demand that your Son during his minority should be brought up in his Court We shall tell you that we for our own part see no reason why you should stick at it upon such Conditions as he might be tied unto to wit That the young Prince should have with him such Governor as you should please to appoint him although he be no Roman Catholick And that neither he nor any of his should be any way forced in matter of their Conscience And our meaning is so to order our proceeding in this Treaty that before your said Son be put into the hands of the Emperor we will have a clear and certain assurance of an honorable entire and punctual restitution of all whatsoever belonging to you As also we will take care to provide accordingly as fully and exactly for the Assurances requisite for the Liberty of Conscience for him and his Domesticks as they have done here with us touching those that have been granted them for the Infanta And therefore seeing there is no Inconvenience at all that may cause your aversness or backwardness in this business which we for our parts think to be the best shortest and most honorable way that you can take for the compassing of the entire Restitution and making your Peace sure with the Emperor We hope your opinion will concur with us herein and shall intreat you by the first to send us your Answer By which Letter after his Majesties coming out of Spain it appeareth to your Lordships that there was no Proposition of the Marriage betwixt the Son of the Prince Palatine and the Emperors Daughter when that Letter was written For therein his Majesty saith he was determined to interess the King of Spain in the business before any such Proposition should be made to the Emperor And it will also thereby appear that his late Majesties opinion was of the Conveniencie thereof which the said Earl hopeth will acquit him if by way of discourse only he declared what his Majesties inclination was which with honesty he could not have concealed And the said Earl saith he doth not remember what answer Sir Walter Aston made upon that discourse which he then delivered nor what replies the said Earl made but sure he is whatsoever the said Earl said or what answer or reply soever was made as it was by way of discourse and not otherwise so it was according to that which he truly conceived to be the best and easiest way to accommodate the business and to be his Majesties pleasure which the
King so straitned in time as by the said Article is pretended will appear by the said Earls Dispatch of September 28. 1623. In which upon scruple that was then made of the Infanta's entring into Religion he wrote to the same effect Viz. That if the Dispensation should come he knew no means how to detain the Proxies above twenty or twenty four dayes So that although difficulty happened until the middest of November 1623. yet it was foreseen that it must of necessity happen whensoever the Dispensation should come and then was warning of two moneths given thereof viz. from September 24. until November 29. which was the time appointed for the Desponsories So as he most humbly submits himself unto your Lordships which of the two wayes was the safer or dutifuller for him to take whether upon inferences and conjectures to have overthrown so great a business or on the otherside first to have presented unto his Majesty the truth and sincerity as he did the true estate of his Affairs with his humble opinion therein with an intimation that if his Majesty should resolve to break the Match that for the said Earl his honest discharge of the publick Trust reposed in him when the Proxies were deposited in his hands and for his sufficient warrant in so great a cause his Majesty would be graciously pleased to give him clear and express order which he had not and in the interim whilest his Majesty might take into consideration the great inconveniences that might ensue the said inconveniences might be suspended and the business kept upon fair terms that his Majesty might have his way and choice clear and unsoiled before him And as to the evil Consequences which are pretended would have followed if the said Earl had proceeded to the consummation of the Match before he had express order and warrant to the contrary he supposeth his Majesty should speedily have seen the Marriage which he so long sought to have effected that the Prince should have had a worthy Lady whom he loved that the Portion was much greater then ever was given in money in Christendom that the King of Spain had engaged himself for restitution of the Palatinate for which the said Earl conceived a daughter of Spain and Two Millions had been no ill pawn besides many other additions of advantage to the Crown of England Whereas on the contrary side he foresaw that the Prince would be kept a year longer unmarried a thing that so highly concerneth these Kingdoms he doubteth that the recovery of the Palatinate from the Emperor and Duke of Bavaria by force would prove a great difficulty and that Christendom was like to fall into a general Combustion So that desiring that his Majesty should have obtained his ends and have had the honor and happiness not onely to have given peace plenty and increase unto his own Subjects and Crowns but to have compounded the greatest differences that had been these many years in Christendom And by his Piety and Wisdom to have prevented the shedding of so much Christian Blood as he feared would ensue if these businesses were disordered These Reasons he confesseth and the zeal unto his Majesties service made him so earnestly desire the effecting of this business and cannot but think himself an unfortunate man his Majesties affairs being so near setling to his Majesties content as he conceived they were and hoping to have been unto his Majesty not onely a faithful Servant but a successful Servant to see the whole estate of his affairs turned up-side down without any the least fault of his and yet he the onely Minister on the English and Spanish side that remained under disgrace XI To the Eleventh Article the said Earl saith That the Article is grounded upon a Petition by him preferred to this Honorable House supposed to be scandalous which your Lordships as he conceiveth according to the Customs and Priviledges of the House of Peers would have been pleased first to have adjudged so to have been either for matter appearing in it self or upon hearing the said Earl for if the matter appearing in the Petition it self be not to be excepted unto it cannot as he conceiveth by Collateral accidents be taken for a Scandal till it be examined and found false For a plain and direct Answer thereunto he saith That the said Petition is such as will not warrant any such inference as by the said Article is inforced And that he hopeth to justifie the Contents of the said Petition in such sort as shall not displease his Majesty nor deserve that expression which is used in the Charge but contrarily what he hath said or shall say therein in his defence shall in all things tend to the Honor and Service of his Majesty by reducing into his Memory divers Circumstances and laying before him the passages of divers particulars which by undue practices have been either concealed from his Majesty or mis-related to him Having thus offered to this High and Honorable Court such Proofs and Reasons as he hopeth shall in your Lordships Wâ—sdom and Justice clearly acquit him of any capital Crime or wilful Offence if it shall appear that out of Errors of Judgment too much ferventness of zeal to his Majesties service or the ignorance of the Laws of this Realm wherewith he hath not been able to be so well acquainted as he ought by reason of Foreign Employments by the space of many years or by any other ways or means he hath faln into the danger of the Laws for any thing pardoned in the General Pardon made in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno Vicesimo primo Regni Imp. Iacobi Angliae c. of Blessed Memory he humbly prayeth allowance of the Pardons and the benefit thereof with this Clause That he doth and will aver that he is none of the persons excepted out of the same although he is very confident he shall not need the help of any pardon having received many significations as well from his Majesties own mouth that he had never offended his Majesty as lately by several Letters from the Lord Conway that he might rest in the security he was in and sit still and should be no further questioned But he hopes your Lordships will not onely finde him so far from blame but that he hath served his late Majesty of Blessed memory and his most gratious Son the Kings Majesty that now is with that fidelity care and industry that your Lordships will take such course as you in your wisdoms shall think fit not onely for the upholding the Honor and Reputation of a Peer of this Realm after so many employments but likewise become humble and earnest Suitors to his Majesty on his behalf which he humbly prayeth That he may be restored to his Majesties most gratious Favor which above all worldly things he most desireth The Eighth of May the Commons brought up their Charge against the Duke which was delivered at a Conference of both Houses
readiness for circumvention and surprisal of the Owners Captains and Masters of the said Ships then and not before they were suddenly pressed to Seal the Countreparts of the prepared Articles and they were about the same time released and discharged from the Imprest of his Majesties Service and acquainted and designed to serve the French King the said three moneths pay being offered and afterwards paid unto them before-hand as a bait to draw on and intangle them in the business Nevertheless the Captains and Owners of the said Merchants Ships doubted upon some points to wit first Against whom they should be employed secondly What Foreign power they should be bound to take into their Ships and thirdly What sufficient security they should have for their freight and redelivery of their Ships But there were private Instructions given to Captain Iohn Pennington Captain of the Kings Ship the Vauntguard as for him and the whole Fleet that he should observe the first Instructions to wit Not to serve against those of the Religion and to take into his Ship no more Frenchmen then they could master The pretence for Genoa and these private Instruments for Pennington were but a further Artifice of the Dukes to draw the Ships into France and to conceal the breaking forth of the matter here in England And the more to endear them and confirm them in an opinion of right intention they were commanded to conceal these private Instructions as if the Duke and his Agents hast trusted them more then they did the Ambassadors By these and other like cunning and undue proceedings of the said Duke the said Marquis d' Effiat sealed one part and the Owners of the said Merchants ships respectively sealed the other parts of the said pretended Articles trusting they should not be bound to the strict performance thereof by reason of the said private Instructions to the contrâ—â— After the passing of these Articles the said ships being formerly ready the said Duke May 8. 1625. made a Warrant under the Great-Seal to call the Companies aboard which had been raised and fitted for the said French service according to former Instructions and with first opportunity to go to such Port as the French Ambassador should direct c. there to expect Directions of the Party that should be Admiral of the said Fleet so prepared with a requiry of all Officers to be assistant hereunto All things being now in readiness Captain Pennington being Admiral of this whole Fleet in May 1625. went with the Kings said ship the Vantguard and the seven Merchants ships aforesaid to Diep in France There instantly the Duke of Memorancy Admiral of France would have put Two hundred French Souldiers aboard the ship called the Industry being no more men then she could stow but a far greater proportion of men then her proper Company was able to command or master and offered also to do the like to every one of the said ships telling the said Captain Pennington and other the said English Captains and Owners and their Companies in direct tearms that they were to go and should go to serve against the City and Inhabitants of Rochel and against those of our Religion whereunto they all shewing themselves unwilling there were Chains of Gold and other Rewards offered unto some of the Captains Masters and Owners to induce them All which they utterly refused protesting unanimously against the Design and would not take in above a fit number of men such as they might be able to command Also the Company of the Kings ship did there inform Captain Pennington of this Overture made to go against Rochel and exhibited a Petition to him against the same subscribing their names to the Petition in a Circle or Compass that it might not appear who was the beginner of the same and then they laid it under his Prayer-Book where he found and read it Whereupon Captain Pennington and the rest consulted more seriously of the matter and by a general assent returned all back to the Downs where they arrived about the end of Iune or beginning of Iuly 1625. From thence Captain Pennington sent a Letter to the Duke of Buckingham by one Ingram with the said Petition and imployed him to become a Suitor to get a discharge from serving against Rochel Ingram delivered the Letter to the Duke and saw him read it together with the said Petition whereby as by other former and later means he had full notice of the Design and intent of the French to go against the Rochellors Iames Moyer also about the same time came to the Court and had conference with my Lord Conway and Sir Iohn Cook now Secretary acquainting them what had passed at Diep praying them to acquaint the Duke which they did and the Duke delivered the said Letter and Petition to Sir Iohn Cook The Duke of Chevereux and Monsieur de Villocleer being now come into England as extraordinary Ambassadors from the French King they and the said Marquis d' Effiat more especially d' Effiat sollicited and got a Letter from the Lord Conway by the Dukes means dated Iuly 1O 1625 directed to Captain Pennington whereby he took upon him to express and signifie his Majesties pleasure to be That his Majesty had left the command of the ships to the French King and that now Captain Pennington should receive into them so many men as that King should please for the time contracted and recommended his Letter to be as a sufficient Warrant in that 〈◊〉 All this while the King or Body of the Council were never made acquainted with any other design then that of Genoa nor heard any thing of the passages at Diep nor of the design for Rochel nor of our Masters Companies Petitions Informations or Complaints thereupon This Letter of the Lord Conways was sent by Parker from Hampton-Court unto Pennington being now about the Downs and was not long after delivered into his hands About this time Monsieur de la Touche and others as from the Duke de Rohan and others of the Protestant party in France sollicited our King and Council against the going of the ships and had good words and hopes from both but from the Duke the contrary who told them the King his Master was obliged and so the ships must and should go The ships remained still in the Downs and afterwards viz. about Iuly 15. 1625. there was a Treaty at Rochester between the three Ambassadors Extraordinary of France and Iames Moyer and Anthony Touchin for themselves and other English Captains and Masters of ships c. The said Moyer and Touchin being by Message commanded to attend the Duke of Buckingham at Rochester for conclusion and settlement to be had of this business the said Ambassadors did there proffer and offer to the said Moyer and Touchin an Instrument in French purporting thus viz. 1. That the said English Captains and their Companies should consent and promise to serve the French King against all none excepted but
the King of great Britain in conformity of the Contract formerly passed between d' Effiat and them 2. That they should consent and agree in consideration of the assurance given them by the Ambassadors to the Articles of March 25. 1625. whereby the French King should be made Master of the said ships by indifferent Inventory that then they should by him be warranted against all hazards of Sea-fight and if they miscarried then the value thereof to be paid by the French King who would also confirm this new Proposition within fifteen dayes after the ships should be delivered to his use by good caution in London 3. That if the French King would take any men out of the said ships he might but without any diminution of freight for or in respect thereof The said Iames Moyer having gotten the French Instrument interpreted answered 1. they would not go to serve against Rochel 2. nor send their ships without good warrant for their going and 3. not without sufficient security to their liking for payment of their freight and reddition of their ships or the value thereof for the Ambassadors security was by them taken not to be sufficient and they protested against it and utterly refused this peraffetted Instrument Here also Sir Iohn Epsley and Sir Thomas Love disswaded the Duke from this enterprise telling him he could not justifie nor answer the delivery of the ships to the French The Lord Duke being at Rochester and there acquainted with all these proceedings commanded the said Moyer and the rest before these Ambassadors that they should obey the Lord Conways Letter and return to Diep to serve the French and that so was our Kings pleasure howbeit herein his Majesties pleasure appeared not but the contrary yet privately at the same time the Duke told them that the security offered or formerly given by the Ambassador was insufficient and that though they went to Diep yet they might and should there keep their ships in their own power till they had made their own conditions to their own liking Iuly 16. 1625. The Duke of Chevereux and Monsieur Villocleox finding that they could not accomplish their designs at Rochester but they must be fain to defer the getting thereof till the coming of the ships back again to Diep where it was thought that better opportunity and more advantage for their ends would be had did to that purpose make and ordain the Marquis d' Effiat their Deputy to contract with the Captains and Masters of the English ships for the French Kings service as effectually as themselves might do thereby transferring their power in that behalf to the said d' Effiat who intended to go over to Diep forthwith about this business The Duke of Buckingham having thus the second time dealt with the Captains and Masters to go to Diep and armed and prepared d' Effiat how and in what manner there to circumvent them sent over to Diep privately and underhand his Secretary Mr Edward Nicholas together with d' Effiat Mr Nicholas at and before the going over had Instructions from the Duke by word to see the execution of the Kings pleasure signified by the Letter from my Lord Conway and to procure the Captains and Masters of the said Merchants ships to deliver over their ships into the hands of the French upon the security peraffetted at Rochester by the three French Ambassadors and by them delivered to the Duke of Buckingham who committed the same to the said Mr Nicholas as the security which in that behalf he was to take and accept Mr Nicholas according to those Instructions went to Diep with d' Effiat and was there very urgent to get the ships delivered to the French according to the said Instructions at their coming over to Diep d' Effiat entred a Suit and Protest against our Captains and Masters and their original Articles the better to enforce them to perform the same without respect to the Dukes verbal pretences or Allegations made to the Captains and Masters at Rochester and in other places formerly to the contrary The Captains and Masters came over again to Diep about Iuly 20. where they found themselves in a strait by reason of the said Protest there entred against them the Dukes instructions by word being too weak to exempt them from obtaining their Contract under their Hands and Seals also Mr Nicholas using the Kings name with threatning words was there very earnest from day to day and very vehemently pressed them to deliver over their ships before security given to their content contrary to the former Proposition viz. the Lord Dukes word to them at Rochester which they refusing to yeild unto Advertisement thereof was speedily sent to the Duke of Buckingham and to his Agents into England and Mr Nicholas continued still at Diep about his former Negotiation Iuly 27. 1625. Sir Ferdinando Gorge Anth. Touching James Moyer Henry Lewen Tho. Davies Jasp. Dard and Iames Davies as owners and Captains of the said seven English ships hired for the French did express in writing that they held it fit they should not quit ships their till they had made their own reasonable conditions and were freed from the questions and troubles they were in and in particular 1. They prayed to be free of the said Protest that they might the better treat of their affairs 2. If the the French King would have delivery of their ships into his power and possession that then they might have security by money deposited in London without Revocation for satisfaction of their ships the former security by Merchants being insufficient and a stop already made of their pay which upon that security they know not how to come by 3. Because their ships being Fortresses of this Kingdom and the delivery of them over into the hands of a Forein Prince without good warrant concerneth even their very lives that they might have a warrant in that behalf under the Great-Seal of England before they should be bound to deliver them over 4. To be free of their bonds entred into for not selling their Ordnance and also free of punishment in that behalf and they shewed how they were more cautious herein for that Commissioners drew the first Articles which were now wholly broken and these Articles were to be done by themselves And this writing they sent from their ships by one Mr Basset Cole to present on shore to the Marquis d' Effiat at Diep appointing the said Mr Cole to treat for a speedy conclusion according to these Articles who treated accordingly And the said Marquis to induce him to yield to his demands shewed a Letter in French signed by the Duke of Buckingham whereby the Duke promised his endeavors to get the Marquis's turn served touching these ships The next day viz. 28 Iuly 1625. Mr Nicholas came aboard the Neptune and declared in writing under his hand how and why he was sent over by the Duke of Buckingham as before and craved the Captain and Masters
likewise besides his Charge That he brake off ambiguously and abruptly with a Sentence of Cicero as if something else might be which was not yet discovered Sir Iohn Elliot thanked the Vice-Chamberlain for dealing so plainly with him and giving him occasion to clear himself And to the particular charged against him he answered First considering the Dukes plurality of great and different Offices together with his deceit and fraud in perswading the Merchants to go to Diep there to entrap them in colouring the Designs to the King which he had plotted to serve against those of his Religion in abusing the Parliament at Oxford and disguising his purpose as if the ships were to go to Rochel These particulars being so various and of such a nature he called by the name of Stellionatus from a beast discoloured uncertain and doubtfull that they knew not by what name to call it or by what colour to describe it and these he called a Character of the minde because they lie in the heart and were deceits to abuse the King and Parliament Secondly as to his saying He knew not the ships were come he answered he did not know it then and as yet he knew it not though it was true that he had heard it Thirdly he denied not that speaking of the Duke he sometimes used this word that man though at other times he was not wanting to give him his due titles and said That the Latines speaking of Caesar call him Ille Caesar and that the same is usual in all Languages nor did he think the Duke to be a God Fourthly he conâ—â—ssed That he paralleled him with the Bishop of Ely and Sejanus and though there were many particular censures of that Bishop yet he produced none but such as were within the compass of his Charge nor did he apply the Veneries and Venefices of Sejanus to the Duke but excluded them Lastly touching the Physick of the King he said he brake off so abruptly in aggravation of the Dukes offence who not content with the injury of Justice the wrong of Honor the prejudice of the State nor that of the Revenue his attempts go higher even to the person of the King making on that his practice in such a manner to such an effect that he said he feared to speak nay he doubted to think in which regard he left it as Cicero did another thing Ne gravioribus c. It was then resolved on the Question That Sir Iohn Elliot hath not exceeded the Commission given him in any thing that passed from him in the late Conference with the Lords The like for Sir Dudley Diggs both passed without a Negative the like Vote did pass for Mr Selden Mr Herbert Mr Glanvile Mr Sherland Mr Pym and Mr Wandesford who were also managers at that Conference The King in the time of this Parliament had committed the Earl of Arundel to the Tower but the cause of his Commitment was not expressed yet it was conceived to be about the Marriage of the Lord Maltravers the Earls eldest son to the young Duke of Lenox his sister which was brought about by the contrivance of the Countess of Arundel and the old Dutchess of Lenox The Lords were highly discontented at his commitment in time of Parliament concerning whose Liberties and their own Priviledges they had presented several Petitions to his Majesty but receiving no satisfactory answer thereto agreed on this ensuing Petition occasioned by the release of Sir Dudley Diggs May it please your Majesty THe cause that moves us now to attend your Majesty as at first we did is because we observe that the House of Commons have speedily received a Member of theirs who was committed We the Peers ambitious to deserve of your Majesty and to appear to the eye of the world as much respected in our Rights and Priviledges as any Peers or Commons have ever been acknowledging you a King of as much goodness as ever King was do now humbly beseech that the Earl of Arundel a Member of our House may be restored to us it so much concerning us in point of Priviledge that we all suffer in what he suffers in this Restraint In March last when the Earl of Arundel was committed the House of Lords purposed to take the same into their considerations and so to proceed therein as to give no just cause of offence to his Majesty and yet preserve the Priviledges of Parliament The Lord Keeper of the Great-Seal thereupon signified unto the House that he was commanded to deliver this Message from his Majesty unto their Lordships viz. That the Earl of Arundel was restrained for a misdemeanor which was personal to his Majesty and lay in the proper knowledge of his Majesty and had no relation to matters of Parliament Whereupon the House was put into a Committee and being resumed The Lords Committees for Priviledges c. were appointed to search for Presidents Concerning the commitment of a Peer of this Realm during the time of Parliament and the Lord Chief Justice Mr Justice Doderidge and Mr Justice Yelverton were appointed to attend their Lordships in that behalf The day following the Lord Teasurer delivered another Message from the King in haec verba WHereas upon a Motion made by one of your Lordships the Lord Keeper did yesterday deliver a Message from his Majesty that the Earl of Arundel was restrained for a misdemeanor which was personal to Majesty and lay in the proper knowledge of his Majesty and had no relation to matters of Parliament His Majesty hath now commanded him to signifie to your Lordships that he doth avow the Message in sort as it was delivered to have been done punctually according to his Majesties own Direction and he knoweth that he hath therein done justly and not diminished the Priviledges of that House And because the Committee appointed yesterday to search for Presidents c. had not yet made any Report to the House therefore the directions for this business were suspended for that time Not long after the Earl of Hertford made report to the House That the Lords Committees for Priviledges met on Monday last The first Question that arose amongst them was Whether those Proxies were of any validity which are deputed to any Peer who sitteth not himself in Parliament And it was conceived that those Votes were lost Whereupon the Committee found this House to be deprived of five suffrages by the absence of the Earl of Arundel unto whom they were intrusted And the Committee finding by the Journal Book that the Sub-Committee which was appointed to â—earch Presidents for Priviledges concerning the Commitment of a Peer in the time of Parliament had not yet made report to the House and then considering together their Notes of Presidents whereof they had made search found That no one Peer had been committed the Parliament fitting without trial of Judgement of the Peers in Parliament and that one only President of the Bishop of Winchester
in the Book-Case in the Third year of Edw. 3. which was here urged cannot be proved to be in Parliament time and this the Lords of the Grand-Committee thought fit to offer to the consideration of the House Hereupon the House was moved to give power to the Lords Sub-Committees for Priviledges c. to proceed in the search of Presidents of the Commitment of a Peer of this Realm during the time of Parliament and that the Kings Council might shew them such Presidents as they have of the said Commitment And that the said Sub-Committee may make the Report unto the House at the next access All which was granted and agreed unto and these Lords were called unto the said Sub-Committee viz. The Lord Treasurer Lord President Duke of Buckingham Earl of Dorset Earl of Devon The Earl of Clare The Vicount Wallingford Vicount Mansfield Lord North. And the Kings Council were appointed to attend the Lords The Lord President reported the Proceedings of the said Sub-Committees for Priviledges c. upon Commitment of the Earl of Arundel viz. That the Kings Council had searched and acquainted the Lords Sub-Committees with all that they had found in Records Chronicles and Stories concerning this matter Unto which the said Lords Sub-Committees had given full Answer and also shewed such Presidents as did maintain their own Rights The Presidents being read which for the length we forbear to mention It was resolved upon the Question by the whole House Nemine dissentiente That the Priviledge of this House is That no Lord of Parliament the Parliament sitting or within the usual times of Priviledges of Parliament is to be imprisoned or restrained without Sentence or Decree of the House unless it be for Treason or Felony or refusing to give Surety of the Peace And it was thereupon ordered That the said Lords Sub-Committees for Priviledges c. or any five of them shall meet this afternoon to consider of a Remonstrance and Petition of the Peers concerning the Claim of their Priviledges from Arrests and Imprisonments during the Parliament Which was conceived by the Lords Sub-Committees for Priviledges according to the Order of the House and was read openly viz. May it please your Majesty WE the Péers of this your Realm assembled in Parliament â—inding the Earl of Arundel absent from his place that sometimes in this Parliament sate amongst us his presence was therefore called for But thereupon a Message was delivered unto us from your Majesty by the Lord Kéeper That the Earl of Arundel was restrained for a misdemeanor which was personal to your Majesty and had no relation to matters of Parliament This Message occasioned us to enquire into the Acts of our Ancestors and what in like cases they had done that so we might not erre in any dutiful respect to your Majesty and yet preserve our right and priviledge of Parliament And after diligent search both of all Stories Statutes and Records that might inform us in this case We find it to be an undoubted right and constant priviledge of Parliament That no Lord of Parliament the Parliament sitting or within the usual times of Priviledge of Parliament is to be imprisoned or restrained without Sentence or Order of the House unless it be for Treason or Felony or for refusing to give Surety for the Peace And to satisfie our selves the better we have heard all that could be alleaged by your Majesties Council learned at the Law that might any way weaken or infringe this claim of the Peers And to all that can be shewed or alleaged so full satisfaction hath been given as that all the Peers of Parliament upon the Question made of this Priviledge have una voce consented That this is the undoubted Right of the Peers and hath unviolably been enjoyed by them Wherefore we your Majesties Loyal Subjects and humble Servants the whole body of the Peers now in Parliament assembled most humbly beseech your Majesty that the Earl of Arundel a Member of this Body may presently be admitted with your gracious favor to come sit and serve your Majesty and the Commonwealth in the great Affairs of this Parliament And we shall pray c. This Remonstrance and Petition to this Majesty was approved by the whole House who agreed that it should be presented by the whole House to his Majesty and it was further agreed That the Lord President the Lord Steward the Earl of Cambridge and the Lord Great-Chamberlain should presently go to the King to know his Majesties pleasure when they shall attend him These Lords returning the Lord President reported that his Majesty had appointed that day between two and three of the clock for the whole House to attend him with the said Remonstrance and Petition in the Chamber of Presence at Whitehall And it was agreed That the Lord Keeper should then read the same to the King and present it unto his Majesty The Twentieth of April the Lord President reported the Kings Answer unto the Remonstrance and Petition of the Lords to this effect That their Lordships having spent some time about this business and it being of some consequence his Majesty should be thought rash if he should give a sudden Answer thereto and therefore will advise of it and give them a full Answer in convenient time The 21. of April 1626. It was ordered That the House should be called on Monday next being the 24. of April Which was done accordingly And the Earl of Arundel being called the Lord Keeper signified unto the House That his Majesty had taken into consideration the Petition exhibited by their Lordships the 19. of April concerning the Earl of Arundel and will return an Answer thereunto with all expedition The 2. of May it was ordered That the Lord Keeper should move his Majesty from the House for a speedy and gracious Answer unto the Petition on the Earl of Arundels behalf The 4. of May 1626. the Lord Keeper signified unto their Lordships That according to the Order of the 2. of May he had moved his Majesty from the House on the behalf of the Earl of Arundel Who answered It is a Cause wherein he hath had a great deal of care and is willing to give their Lordships satisfaction and hath it in his consideration how to do it and hath been interrupted by other business wherein Mr. Attorney hath had occasion of much conference with him as their Lordships are acquainted But will with all conveniencie give their Lordships satisfaction and return them an Answer The 9. of May 1626 the House being moved to petition the King touching the Earl of Arundel certain Lords were appointed to set down the form of the said Petition who reported the same in writing as followeth viz. May it please your Majesty WHereas the whole body of the Peers now assembled in Parliament did the 19 day of April exhibit to your Majesty an humble Remonstrance and Petition concerning the Priviledge of Peers
in Parliament and in particular touching the Earl of Arundel whereupon we received a gracious Answer That in convenient time we should receive a fuller Answer which we have long and dutifully attended And now at this time so great a business being in handling in the House we are pressed by that business to be humble suitors to your Majesty for a gracious and present Answer Which being read was approved of by the House and the said Committee appointed to present the same unto his Majesty from the House at such time as the Lord Chamberlain shall signifie unto them that his Majesty is pleased to admit them to his presence The 11 of May the Lord President reported the Kings Answer to the said Petition That he did little look for such a Message from the House That himself had been of the House and did never know such a Message from the one House unto the other Therefore when he received a Message fit to come from them to their Soveraign they shall receive an Answer The Lord President further Reported That the Lords Committees appointed to deliver the Petition to the King did thereupon withdraw and required him humbly to desire his Majesty to be pleased to let them know unto what point of the said Petition he takes this Exception and that his Majesty willed him to say this of himself viz. The Exception the King taketh is at the peremptoriness of the Term To have a Present Answer And the King wonders at their impatience since he hath promised them an answer in convenient time Hereupon the House altered their former Petition leaving out the word Present and appointed the former Committee humbly to deliver the same to his Majesty The 13 of May the Lord President reported the Kings Answer to the Petition viz. It is true the word Present was somewhat strange to his Majesty because they did not use it from one House to another but now that his Majesty knows their meaning they shall know this from him that they shall have his Answer so soon as conveniently he can And this his Majesty will assure them it shall be such an Answer as they shall see will not trench upon the Priviledges of the House The Lords having agreed on another Petition to the King wherein they acknowledged him to be a Prince of as much goodness as ever King was The 19 of May the Lord Chamberlain signified to their Lordships That his Majesty being acquainted therewith is pleased that this House attend him at two of the Clock this day in the Afternoon at Whitehall On which day the Lords delivered the Petition to his Majesty who upon the 20 May returned this Answer My Lords I See that in your Petition you acknowledge me a King of as much goodness as ever King was for which I thank you and I will endeavor by the Grace of God never to deserve other But in this I observe that you contradict your selves for if you believe me to be such as you say I am you have no reason to mistrust the sincerity of my Promises For whereas upon often Petitions made by you unto me concerning this business I have promised to give you a full Answer with all convenient speed by this again importuning of me you seem to mistrust my former promises But it may be said there is an Emergent cause for that I have delivered a Member of the Lower-House In this My Lords by your favour you are mistaken for the Causes do no way agree for that he that was committed of the House of Commons was committed for words spoken before both Houses which being such as I had just cause to commit him yet because I found they might be words onely misplaced and not ill meant and were so conceived by many honest men I was content upon his interpretation to release him without any suit from the Lower-House whereas my Lord of Arundel's fault was directly against my self having no relation to the Parliament yet because I see you are so impatient I will make you a fuller Answer then yet I have done not doubting but that you will rest contented therewith It is true I committed him for a cause which most of you know and though it had been no more I had reason to do it yet my Lords I assure you that I have things of far greater importance to lay to his charge which you must excuse me for not no tell you at this time because it is not yet ripe and it would much prejudice my service to do it and this by the word of a King I do not speak out of a desire to delay you but as soon as it is possible you shall know the cause which is such as I know you will not judge to be any breach of your Priviledges For my Lords by this I do not mean to shew the power of a King by diminishing your Priviledges This Answer being read it was ordered That the Committee for Priviledges should meet and consider how farther to proceed with dutifull respect to his Majesty and yet so as it may be for the preservation of the Priviledges of the Peers of this Land and the Liberties of the House of Parliament The 24 of May the Lord President reported the Petition agreed on by the Lords Committees for Priviledges c. to be presented to the King which was in haec verba May it please your most Excellent Majesty WHatever our care and desire is to preserve our right of Péers yet it is far from our thoughts either to distrust or to press any thing that stands not with the affection and duty of most dutiful and loyal Subjects And therefore in all humility we cast our selves before your Majesty assuring our selves in the word of a King that with all conveniencie possible your Majesty will please either to restore the Peer to his place in Parliament or express such a cause as may not infringe our Priviledges The Petition was generally approved and ordered to be presented to his Majesty by the whole House and the Earl of Carlisle and the Lord Carlton to go presently to know the Kings pleasure when they shall attend his Majesty Who being returned reported That his Majesty hath appointed that Afternoon at two of the clock for the same The 25. of May the Lord Keeper delivered the Kings Answer unto the said Petition to be read in haec verba viz. My Lords YOur often coming to me about this matter made me somewhat doubt you did mistrust me But now I see you rely wholly on me I assure you it shall prevail more upon me then all importunities And if you had done this at first I should have given you content And now I assure you I will use all possible speed to give satisfaction and at the furthest before the end of this Session of Parliament This being read the House was moved the second time That all businesses might be laid
gracious Pardon of his now Majesty granted to the said Duke and vouchsafed in like manner to all his Subjects at the time of his most happy Inauguration and Coronation Which said Pardon under the Great Seal of England granted the said Duke beareth date the 10. day of February now last past and here is shewn forth unto your Lordships on which he doth most humbly rely And yet he hopeth your Lordships in your Justice and Honor upon which with confidence he puts himself will acquit him of and from those misdemeanors offences misprisions and crimes wherewith he hath been charged And he hopeth and will daily pray that for the future he shall by Gods grace so watch over his actions both publick and private that he shall not give any just offence to any The Duke having put in this Answer earnestly moved the Lords to send to the Commons to expedite their Reply and the Commons did as earnestly desire a Copy of his Answer The next day his Majesty wrote this Letter to the Speaker TRusty and Welbeloved We greet you well Our House of Commons cannot forget how often and how earnestly we have called upon them for the speeding of that Aid which they intended us for our great and weighty affairs concerning the safety and honor of us and our Kingdoms And now the time being so far spent that unless it be presently concluded it can neither bring us Money nor Credit by the time which themselves have prefixed which is the last of this Moneth and being further deferred would be of little use we being daily advertised from all parts of the great preparations of the Enemy ready to assail us We hold it necessary by these our Letters to give them our last and final admonition and to let them know that we shall account all further delays and excuses to be express denials And therefore we will and require you to signifie unto them that we do expect that they forthwith bring in their Bill of Subsidy to be passed without delay or Condition so as it may fully pass the House by the end of the next week at the furthest Which if they do not it will force us to take other resolutions But let them know if they finish this according to our desire that we are resolved to let them sit together for the dispatch of their other affairs so long as the season will permit and after their recess to bring them together again the next Winter And if by their denial or delay any thing of ill consequence shall fall out either at home or abroad We call God and man to witness that We have done our part to prevent it by calling our People together to advise with us by opening the weight of our occasions unto them and by requiring their timely help and assistance in these Actions wherein we stand engaged by their own Councels And we will and command you that this Letter be publickly read in the House About this time there happened at three a clock in the afternoon a terrible storm of Rain and Hail in and about the City of London and with it a very great Thunder and Lightening The graves were laid open in S. Andrews Church-yard in Holborn by the sudden fall of the Wall which brought away the Earth with it whereby many Coffins and the Corps therein were exposed to open view and the ruder sort would ordinarily lift up the lids of the Coffins to see the posture of the dead Corps lying therein who had been buried of the Plague but the year before At the same instant of time there was a terrible Storm and strange Spectacle upon Thames by the turbulencie of the waters and a Mist that arose out of the same which appeared in a round Circle of a good bigness above the waters The fierceness of the Storm bent it self towards York-House the then habitation of the Duke of Buckingham beating against the stairs and wall thereof And at last this round Circle thus elevated all this while above the water dispersed it self by degrees like the smoke issuing out of a Furnace and ascended higher and higher till it quite vanished away to the great admiration of the beholders This occasioned the more discourse among the Vulgar in that Doctor Lamb appeared then upon Thames to whose Art of Conjuring they attributed that which had happened The Parliament was then sitting and this Spectacle was seen by many of the Members out of the windows of the House The Commons agreed upon this ensuing Petition to his Majesty concerning Recusants To the Kings most Excellent Majesty YOur Majesties most obedient and loyal Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled do with great comfort remember the many Testimonies which your Majesty hath given of your sincerity and zeal of the true Religion established in this Kingdom and in particular your gracious Answer to both Houses of Parliament at Oxford upon their Petition concerning the Causes and Remedies of the Increase of Popery That your Majesty thought fit and would give order to remove from all Places of Authority and Government all such persons as are either Popish Recusants or according to direction of former Acts of State justly to be suspected which was then presented as a great and principal cause of that mischief But not having received so full redress herein as may conduce to the peace of this Church and safety of this Regal State They hold it their duty once more to resort to your Sacred Majesty humbly to inform you that upon examination they find the persons underwritten to be either Recusants Papists or justly suspected according to the former Acts of State who now do or since the first sitting of the Parliament did remain in places of Government and Authority and Trust in your several Counties of this your Realm of England and Dominion of Wales The Right Honorable Francis Earl of Rutland Lieutenant of the County of Lincoln Rutland Northampton Nottingham and a Commissioner of the Peace and of Oyer and Terminer in the County of York and Justice of Oyer from Trent Northwards His Lordship is presented to be a Popish Recusant and to have affronted all the Commissioners of the Peace within the North-Riding of Yorkshire by sending a Licence under his Hand and Seal unto his Tenant Thomas Fisher dwelling in his Lordships Mannor of Helmsley in the said North-Riding of the said County of York to keep an Alehouse soon after he was by an Order made at the Quarter-Sessions discharged from keeping an Alehouse because he was a Popish convict Recusant and to have procured a Popish Schoolmaster namely Roger Conyers to teach Schollers within the said Mannor of Helmsley that formerly had his Licence to teach Schollers taken from him for teaching Schollers that were the children of Popish Recusants and because he suffered these children to absent themselves from the Church whilest they were his Schollers for which the said Conyers was formerly complained of
end will be only rapine and ruine of all is worthy a prudent and preventing care I have thus far delivered with that freedom you pleased to admit such Difficulties as I have taken up amongst the Multitude as may arrest if not remove Impediments to any Supply in Parliament Which how to facilitate may better become the care of your Judgments then my Ignorance Only I could wish to remove away a personal distaste of my Lord Duke of Buckingham amongst the people He might be pleased if there be a necessity of a Parliament to appear first Adviser thereunto and of the satisfaction it shall please his Majesty of grace to give at such time to his people which I would wish to be grounded by president of his best and fortunate Progenitors And which I conceive will satisfie the desires and hopes of all if it may appear in some sort to be drawn down from him to the people by the zealous care industry that my Lord of Buckingham hath of the publick unity and content By which there is no doubt but he may remain not only secure from any further quarrel with them but merit a happy memory amongst them of a zealous Patriot For to expiate the passion of the people at such times with sacrifice of any of his Majesties Servants I have found it as in Ed. 2. Rich. 2. Hen. 6. no less fatal to the Master then to the Ministers in the end These and such like Considerations being represented to the King Ian. 29. A Resolution is taken at the Council-Table to call a Parliament to meet the 17. of March following And now Warrants are sent according to a preceding Order made in this moneth to all parts to release the Imprisoned Gentry and confined Gentlemen for the business of the Loan-money And as fast as Writs came to the Counties and Boroughs to choose Members for Parliament those Gentlemen who suffered for the Loan were chiefly in the Peoples eye to be elected to serve for them in the ensuing Parliament to present their Grievances and assert their Liberties The Names of the Gentry who about the time that Writs issued out for a Parliament were released out of Restraint and Confinement appear by the ensuing Order and List. At Whitehall Present The Kings Majesty Lord Treasurer Lord President Lord Admiral Lord Steward Lord Chamberlain Earl of Suffolk Earl of Dorset Earl of Salisbury Earl of Morton Lord Viscount Conway Lord Bishop of Durham Lord B. Bath and Wells Mr. Treasurer Mr. Comptroller Master of the Wards Mr. Secretary Cook Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr. Chancellor of the Duchy IT is this day Ordered by His Majesty being present in Council That the several persons hereunder written shall from henceforth be discharged and set at liberty from any Restraint heretofore put upon them by His Majesties Commandment And hereof all Sheriffs and other Officers are to take notice Knights Sir Iohn Strangewayes Sir Thomas Grantham Sir William Armin Sir William Massam Sir William Wilmore Sir Erasmus Drailon Sir Edward Aiscough Sir Nathanael Barnardiston Sir Robert Poyntz Sir Beacham St. Iohn Sir Oliver Luke Sir Maurice Berkley Sir Thomas Wentworth Sir Iohn Wray Sir William Constable Sir Iohn Hotham Sir Iohn Pickering Sir Francis Barrington Sir William Chancey Esquires William Anderson Terringham Norwood Iohn Trigonwell Thomas Godfrey Richard Knightley Thomas Nicholas Iohn Hampden George Ratcliffe Iohn Dulton Henry Pool Nathanael Coxwell Robert Hatley Thomas Elmes Gent. Thomas Wood Iohn Wilkinson William Allen Thomas Holyhead All these remained confined to several Counties Knights Sir Walter Earl Sir Thomas Darnell Sir Harbotle Grimston Esquire George Catesby Londoners Edward Hooker George Basset Londoners Iames Wooldrond Londoners Henry Sanders Londoners All Prisoners in the Fleet. Knights Sir Iohn Corbet Sir Iohn Elliot Esquire William Coriton Londoners Iohn Stevens Thomas Deacon Iohn Potter In the Gate-house Knight Sir Iohn Heveningham Londoners Samuel Vassal William Angel In the Marshalsey Londoners William Savage Mathanael Manesty In the New-Prison Londoners Robert Lever Iohn Peacock Edward Ridge Iohn Oclabery Andrew Stone William Spurstow Roger Hughes Iohn Pope Iames Bunch Thomas Garris Iames Waldron Iohn Bennet Ambrose Aylot Thomas Sharp Thomas Totham Augustine Brabrook Robert Payne Edward Talston Iohn Whiting Thomas Webb Iohn Ferry All in the Custody of a Messenger Orders issued also from the Council to the Lord Major and Aldermen of London To use moderation in the demanding of the Loan-money from those of the City of London who deferred paiment And now Archbishop Abbot the Earl of Bristol and the Bishop of Lincoln notwithstanding the cloud they were under are had in consideration by the King and Council and Writs are ordered to be sent unto them to sit in the House of Peers the ensuing Parliament After the Writs of Summons went forth the King gave direction for a Commission to raise monies by Impositions in nature of an Excise to be levied throughout the Nation to pass under the Great Seal And at the same time ordered the Lord Treasurer to pay Thirty thousand pounds to Philip Burlemac a Dutch Merchant in London to be by him returned over into the Low-Countries by Bill of Exchange unto Sir William Balfour and Iohn Dalbier for the raising of a Thousand Horse with Arms both for Horse and Foot The supposed intent of which German Horse was as was then feared to inforce the Excise which was then setting on foot The Council also had then under consideration the Levying of Ship-money upon the Counties to raise the King a Revenue that way But now that a Parliament was called the Council held it unfit and unseasonable to debate these matters any further at that time A little before the Parliament assembled a Society of Recusants was taken in Clerkenwell Divers of them were found to be Jesuites and the House wherein they were taken was designed to be a Colledge of that Order Among their Papers was found a Copy of this Letter written to their Father Rector at Bruxels discovering their Designs upon this State and their Judgment of the temper thereof with a Conjecture of the success of the ensuing Parliament Father Rector LEt not the damp of Astonishment seise upon your ardent and zealous soul in apprehending the sudden and unexpected Calling of a Parliament We have not opposed but rather furthered it So that we hope as much in this Parliament as ever we feared any in Queen Elizabeth's days You must know the Council is engaged to assist the King by way of Prerogative in case the Parliamentary way should fail You shall see this Parliament will resemble the Pelican which takes a pleasure to dig out with her beak her own bowels The Election of Knights and Burgesses hath been in such confusion of apparent Faction as that which we were wont to procure heretofore with much art and industry when the Spanish Match was in Treaty now breaks out naturally as a botch or boil and
know the Kings Message come into a Bill of Subsidies all succeeding Kings will say Ye must trust me as well as you did my Predecessors and trust my Messages but Messages of love never came into a Parliament Let us put up a Petition of Right Not that I distrust the King but that we cannot take his trust but in a Parliamentary way On Thursday 8º Maii the Petition of Right was finished and the Clause of Martial Law was added unto it and it was delivered to the Lords at a Conference for their Concurrence the which Conference was managed by Sir Edward Cook and the same day as to the matter of supply ordered that the two first Subsidies should be paid 10º of Iuly one more 12º of October another on 20º of Decemb. and the last of 1º of March AT the Conference Sir Edward Cook thus expressed himself My Lords it is evident what necessity there is both in respect of your selves and your Posterities to have good success of this business We have acquainted your Lordships with the Reasons and Arguments and after we have had some conference we have received from your Lordships Propositions and it behoves me to give your Lordships some reasons why you have not heard from us before now for in the mean time as we were consulting of this weighty Business we have received divers Messages from our great Soveraign the King and they consisted of five Parts 1. That his Majesty would maintain all his Subjects in their just freedom both of their Persons and Estates 2. That he will govern according to his Laws and Statutes 3. That we should find much confidence in the Royal Word I pray observe that 4. That we shall enjoy all our Rights and Liberties with as much freedom as ever any Subjects have done in former times 5. That whether we shall think it fit either by Bill or otherwise to go on in this great Business his Majesty would be pleased to give way to it These gracious Messages did so work upon our affections that w◠have taken them into deep consideration My Lords when we had these Messages I deal plainly for so I am commanded by the House of Commons we did consider what way we might go for our more secure way nay yours we did think it the safest way to go in a Parliamentary course for we have a Maxim in the House of Commons and written on the Walls of our House That old ways are the safest and surest ways And at last we did fall upon that which we did think if that your Lordships did consent with us it is the most ancient way of all and that is my Lords via fausta both to Majesty to your Lordships and to our selves for my Lords this is the greatest Bond that any Subject can have in open Parliament Verbum Regis this is an high point of Honor but this shall be done by the Lords and Commons and assented to by the King in Parliament this is the greatest Obligation of all and this is for the Kings Honor and our Safety Therefore my Lords we have drawn a Form of a Petition desiring your Lordships to concur with us therein for we do come with an unanimous consent of all the House of Commons and there is great reason your Lordships should do so for your Lordships be involved in the same danger And so I have done with the first part and I shall now desire your Lordships leave that I may read that which I have so agreed on Here the Petition of Right was read but we forbear to insert it as yet because there were propositions for alteration and it is not perfect till the Royal assent be given to it From the Eighth to the Twelfth of May all Publique businesses were laid aside On Monday the Twelfth the Lords had a Conference with the Commons where the Lord Keeper made this Speech Gentlemen of the House of Commons MY Lords having a most affectionate desire to maintain that good concurrence that in this Parliament and others hath been of late between both Houses desired this Conference to acquaint you how and in what maner they have proceeded in the Petition of Right that came from this House and to let you know that assoon as they received it they with all care and expedition they possibly could addressed themselves to consider thereof and after good time spent in Debate in the whole House they made a Committee to consider whether retaining of the substance of the Petition there might not be some words altered or put in to make it more sweet to procure it a passable way to his Majesty we know this must be Crowned by the King and good must come to all the Kingdom by this course now taken The Committee hath met and hath propounded some small matters to be altered in some few words to make it passable and not in substance And the Lords having this Reported from their Committee and heard it read in their House resolved of nothing till they have your consent yet they think it fitter to have it propounded to you to consider whether there should be any alteration or no and how the propounded alterations may stand with your liking Concerning the Commitment by the King and the Councel without expressing the cause it was resolved by the Lords to debate it this morning and assoon as they should have debated it they purposed to have your concurrence with them before they resolved it but at instant when they thought to have debated it they received a Letter from his Majesty which they conceive will give a satisfaction to both Houses in the main point My Lords desiring to keep that good concurrence begun desired to communicate that Letter unto you that you might take the same into your considerations as they mean to do themselves This Letter is to be read unto you To the right Trusty and right well-beloved the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the higher House of Parliament Carolus Rex WE being desirous of nothing more then the advancement of the Peace and Prosperity of our People have given leave to free Debate upon the highest Points of our Prerogative Royal which in the time of our Predecessors Kings and Queens of this Realm were ever restrained as matters that they would not have discussed and in other things we have been willing so far to descend to the desires of our good Subjects as might fully satisfie all moderate mindes and free them from all just fears and jealousies which those Messages which we have heretofore sent into the Commons House will well demonstrate unto the world yet we finde it still insisted upon that in no case whatsoever should it never so nearly concern matters of State or Government we or our Privy Council have power to commit any man without the cause shewed whereas it often happens that should the cause be shewed the service it self would thereby be destroyed and defeated and the cause
well-beloved Sir VVilliam Balfoure Knight and Iohn Dolbier Esquire or either of them for levying and providing certain numbers of Horses with Armes for Horse and Foot to be brought over into this Kingdome for our service viz. for the levying and transporting of one thousand Horse fifteen thousand pounds for five thousand Muskets five thousand Corslets and five thousand Pikes ten thousand five hundred pounds and for one thousand Curaseers compleat two hundred Corslets and Carbines four thousand five hundred pounds amounting in the whole to the said summe of thirty thousand pounds And this our letter shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge in this behalf Given under our Privy Seal at our Palace of Westminster the 30th of Ianuary in the third year of our Reign Iune the seventh the King came to the Lords House and the House of Commons were sent for And the Lord Keeper presented the humble Petition of both Houses and said MAy it please your most excellent Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled taking into consideration that the good intelligence between your Majesty and your people doth much depend upon your Majesties answer unto their Petition of Right formerly presented With unanimous consent do now become most humble Suitors unto your Majesty that you would be pleased to give a clear and satisfactory answer thereunto in full Parliament Whereunto the King replyed The answer I have already given you was made with so good deliberation and approved by the judgements of so many wise men that I could not have imagined but it should have given you full satisfaction But to avoid all ambiguous interpretations and to shew you there is no doublenesse in my meaning I am willing to pleasure you as well in words as in substance read your Petition and you shall have an answer that I am sure will please you The Petition was read and this answer was returned Soit droit fait come il est desire C. R. This I am sure said his Majesty is full yet no more then I granted you in my first Answer for the meaning of that was to confirm your liberties knowing according to your own Protestations that ye neither meane nor can hurt my Prerogative And I assure you my Maxime is That the Peoples Liberties strengthen the Kings Prerogative and the Kings Prerogative is to defend the Peoples Liberties You see how ready I have shewed my self to satisfie your demands so that I have done my part Wherefore if this Parliament have not a happy conclusion the sin is yours I am free from it Whereupon the Commons returned to their own House with unspeakable joy and resolved so to proceed as to expresse their thankfulnesse and now frequent mention was made of proceeding with the Bill of subsidies of sending the Bills which were ready to the Lords of perfecting the Bill of Tunnage and Poundage and Sir Iohn Strangeâ—â—ies also expressed his joy at the answer and further added Let us perfect our Remonstrance King Iames was wont to say He knâ—w that by Parliaments which otherwise he could never have known After the granting of the Petition of Right the House ordered that the Grand Committees for Religion Trade Grievances and Courts of Justice to sit no longer but that the House proceed only in the consideration of Grievances of most moment And first they fell upon the Commission for Excise and sent to the Lord Keeper for the same who returned answer that he received Warrant at the Councel Table for the sealing thereof and when it was Sealed he carried it back to the Councel Table The Commission being sent it was read in the House viz. CHarles By the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To Sir Thomas Coventry Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seale of England To James Earl of Malburg Lord High Treasurer or England Henry Earl of Manchester Lord President of our Councel Edward Earl of Worcester Lord Keeper of our Privy Seal George Duke of Buckingham Lord high Admiral of England William E. of Pembrook Lord Steward of Our Houshold Philip Earl of Mountgomery Lord Chamberlain of Our Houshold Theophilus Earl of Suffolk Edward Earl of Dorset William Earl of Salisbury Thomas Earl of Exeter John Earl of Bridgwater James Earl of Carlisle Henry Earl of Holland William Earl of Denbigh George Earl of Totnes Sir George Hay Kt. Lord Chancellor of Scotland William Earl of Morton Thomas Earl of Kelley Thomas Earl of Mellers Edward Uiscount Conway one of our principal Secretaries of State Edward Uiscount Wimbleton Oliver Uiscount Grandison Henry Falkland Lord Deputy of Ireland To the Lord Bp. of Winchester Wil. Lord Bp. of Bath and Wells Fulk Lo. Brook Dudley Ash Lord Carlton Uice Chamberlain of Our Houshold Sir Thomas Edmonds Treasurer of our Houshold Sir John Savil Controler of Our Houshold Sir Robert Nanton Master of the Court of Wards Sir John Cook one of the principal Secretaries of State Sir Richard Weston Chancellour and under Treasurer of our Exchequer Julius Caesar Master of the Rolls and Sir Humphrey May Kt. Chancellour of Our Dutchy of Lancaster Greeting Whereas the presâ—nt Conjuncture of the general affairs of Christendom and our own particular interest in giving assistance unto our oppressed Allies and for providing for the defence and safety of our own Dominions and People do call upon Us to neglect nothing that may conduce to those good ends And because Monies the principal sinâ—ws of War and one of the first and chiefest movers in all great Preparations and Actions are necessary to be provided in the first place and We are carefull the same may be raised by such ways as may best stand with the State of Our Kingdoms and Subjects and yet may answer the pressing occasions of the present times We therefore out of the experience We have had and for the trust we repose in your wisdoms fidelities and dutifull care of your service And for the experience we have of all great Causes concerning us and our State both as they have relation to Foraine parts abroad and as to our Common-wealth and People at home Ye being persons called by us to be of Our Privy Councel have thought sit amongst those great and important matters which so much concern us in the first and chiefest place to recommend this to your special care and diligence And we do hereby authorise and appoint and strictly will and require you that speedily and seriously you enter into consideration of all the best and speediest ways and means ye can for raising of Monies for the most Important occasions aforesaid UUhich without extreamest hazard to Us our Dominions and People and to our Friends and Allies can admit of no long delay the same to be done by Impositions or othâ—rwise as in your wisdoms and best Iudgments ye shall find to be most convenient in a case of this inevitable necessity wherein Form â—nd
Soldiers commanded not to disband Trade prohibited with Spain Trained Bands exercised Part of Michaelmas Term adjourned The Term at Reading Hopes of a Parliament Sir Edward Cook High Sheriff his exceptions to the Sheriffs Oath The Seal taken from Bishop Willâ—ams sequestred formerly and given to Sir Thomas Coventry A Parliament Summoned Recusants to be Excommunicated The King resolved to leave Mr. Montague to the Parliament Preparations for the Kings Coronation A Proclamation for all that have Forty pound per annum to come and receive the Order of Knighthood A Thanksgiving for the Plagues ceasing Number of those who died of the Plague The Ceremonies at the Kings Coronation Archbish. P.P. The Kings Answer A Second Parliament meets The Lord Keepers Speech Sir Hennage Finch chosen Speaker His Speech Grievances taken into consideration Grievances laid open Articles against Mr Montague People prohibited for going to Mass at Ambassadors Houses The Atturney's Letter to the Judges concerning Recusants The Council of War for the Palatinate questioned in the House of Commons The Earl of Pembroke at a Conference presseth Supply Reports from the Committee concerning Evils and Remedies A Committee of the Lords House to consider of the safety of the Kingdom comunicated to the Commons Not well resented The Kings Letter to the Speaker Sir Richard Westons Message The Commons Answer to the Kings Message by Sir Richard Weston The Kings Reply Doctor Turners Queries against the Duke Another Message from the King by Sir Richard Weston Dr. Turners Explanation Dr. Turners Letter to the Speaker Sir W. Walters opinion of the Cause of Grievances Sir Iohn Eliot pursues the Argument against the Duke Three Subsidies and Three Fifteens Voted Debate concerning the Duke resumed The Kings Speech March 29. The Lord Keepers Speech The King proceeds The Duke at a Conference explains the Kings late Speech and the Lord Keepers Declaration The Duke renders an account of his Negotiation in the Low-Countreys The Lord Conway vindicates the Duke A List of Moneys disbursed for the War The Lords Petition touching Precedency chalenged by Scots and Irish Nobles The Lord Conways Letter to the Earl of Bristol The Earl of Bristols Letter to the Lord Conway The Earl of Bristol petitions the House of Lords The Petition referred to the Committee of Priviledges The Kings Letter to the Earl of Bristol The Earl of Bristol Petitions the Lords upon receipt of his Writ A Message from the King to the House of Lords The Marshal of Middlesex's Petition touching Priests The Commons Remonstrance to the King in Answer to his Majesties and the Lord Keepers Speech The House adjourned for a week Private advice given to the Duke The Bishops commanded to attend the King The Dukes answer to a Message from the Commons reported Glanviles report from the Committee The Kings Message touching new matter against the Duke The Earl of Bristol brought to the bar of the Lords House Articles against the Earl of Bristol The Earl of Bristols expressions at the time of his Accusation The Earl of Bristols speech at the Bar of the Lords House at the delivery of his Articles against the Duke He layes open his Case to the Parliament The Lord Chamberlain attests the truth of what the Earl had said The Earl proceeds The Earl of Bristols Articles against the Duke The Earl of Bristols Articles against the Lord Conway A Message from the King to the Lords concerning Bristol's Articles against the Duke The Reasons The Earl of Bristols Speech by way of Introduction before he gave in his Answer His Service to the Palatinate when he was Ambassador to the Emperor His Service to the Palatinate before his Ambassie to the Emperor His arrival in Spain and behavior there His carriage concerning the Match Means to shew that the Match was intended by the Spaniard Bristol not the cause of the Delays in Spain He never disswaded the King to take Arms. He advised both King and Prince to a Protestant Match He never moved his Majesty to set Priests at liberty A Declaration signed by my Lord Conway in behalf of Roman Catholicks He perswaded not the Prince to change his Religion He advised both King and Prince if they will Match with a Catholick rather to Spain then France but cheifly to a Protestant Princess He constantly professed the Protestant religion King Iames proposeth a Match to the Prince Palatine between his eldest son and the Emperors daughter The Earls Reasons why he was forward to consummate the Match til warrant came to the contrary The restitution of the Palatinate promised by the King of Spain and Olivarez The advantages of the Spanish Match to England The Commons Articles against the Duke His ingrossing many Offices Plurality of Offices His buying of Offices His buying the Cinque 〈◊〉 the Lord Zouch The first Article enlarged by Mr. Herbert The second and third enlarged by him His neglect of guarding the Seas His taking a Ship called St Peter of Newhaven The fourth Article enlarged by Mr Selden The Fifth Articles enlarged by Mr Selden His delivering Ships into the hands of the King of France Those ships to be used to his knowledge against Rochel Mr. Glanvile enlargeth the Sixth Article Mr. Glanvile inlarges the Seventh and Eighth Articles Mr. Pym enlargeth the 11. Article The 10. Article enlarged His imbezling and engrossing the Kings money and Lands Mr Sherland enlarges the Ninth Article He enlargeth the Twelfth Article The Thirteenth Article enlarged by Mr. Wandesford Sir Ioh â—llâ—â—â—â— speech concluding the Dukes Impeachment Sir Iohn Elliot and Sir Dudley Diggs committed to the Tower Private Suggestions to the King in behalf of the Duke Kings Speech concerning the Duke The Commons Message by Sir Nath. Rich to seeure the Duke The Dukes Speech against the Commons The Commons discontented at the imprisonment of their Members Sir Dudley Carleton's Speech The Commons Protestation touching words imputed to Sir Dudley Diggs Sir D. Diggs released out of prison protests he never spake the words charged on him The King is satisfied that the words were not spoken The Duke dissatisfied Thirty six Lords protest they heard not the words supposed to be spoken at a Conference Sâ—r Iohn Elliot is released out of the Tower Is charged by Sir Dudley Carlton for his Speech against the Duke He dischargeth himself The Lords Petition to the King about the Earl of Arundel imprisoned in the time of Parliament The Kings Message to the Lords touching the Earl of Arundel The Lords resolved to maintain their priviledges A Remonstrance and Petition of the Peers in behalf of the Earl of Arundel The Kings first Answer to the Remonstrance and Petition The King promiseth to answer the said Remonstrance The Lords are urgent for an Answer The King returns another Answer to the Lords touching the Remonstrance Another Petition to the King touching the Earl of Arundel The King takes exception at the Petition The Lords desire to know of his Majesty to what part of the Petition he takes
exception The Petition presented again and the word present left out The Kings answer to the Petition so ordered The Kings Answer to the Petition Another Petition of the Lords touchâ— the Earl of Arundel The Kings Answer to this Petition The Lords adjourn in disgust till the morrow His Majesties Message to the Lords Upon this Message the Lords adjourn for a seven-night Another Message to the Lords from his Majesty concerning the Earl of Arundel The Lords adjourn again Another Message from the King to the Lords concerning the Earl of Arundel Another Message to the Lords from his Majesty The Earl of Arundel released comes to the House The Duke chosen Chancellor of Cambridge during his Impeachment The Earl of Berk-shire's Letter to Mr. Chester touching Votes conferred upon him in the Choice of the Chancellor of Cambridge The Commons Answer His Majesties Reply The Dukes Letter of Acknowledgement to the University of Cambridge The Kings Letter to the said University The Duke of Buckinghams Speech to the Lords House before he gave in his Answer His Answer and Plea to the Impeachment of the House of Commons His Charge touching Plurality of Offices His Charge touching his buying the Admirals place The Charge touching his buying the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports The Charge touching his not guarding the Seas The Charge touching the unjust stay of the Ship of Newhaven called the St. Peter after Sentence The Charge touching his Extortion of Ten thousand pounds from the East-India Company with the abuse of the Parliament The Charge touching his putting the Ships into the hands of the French Since the Dukes Answer delivered into the House he hath himself openly declared to their Lordships That for the better clearing of his Honor and Fidelity to the State in that part of his Charge which is objected against him by this Seventh Article he hath been an earnest and humble Suiter to his Majesty to give him leave in his Proofs to unfold the whole Truth and Secret of that great Action and hath obtained his Majesties gratious leave therein and accordingly doth intend to make such open and clear Proof thereof that he nothing doubteth but the same when it shall appear will not onely clear him from blame but be a Testimony of his care and faithfulness in serving the State The Charge touching his practice of the employment of them against Rochel The Charge touching the compelling the Lord R. to buy Honor. The Charge touching his selling of places of Judicature The Charge touching his procuring of Honors for his poor Kinred The Charge touching his exhausting intercepting and mis-employing the Kings Revenue The Charge touching his transcendent presumption in giving Physick to the King The Kings Letter to the Speaker touching speedy supply to his Majesty The Commons Petition to the King concerning Recusants The Commons Answer to his Majesties Letter by the Speaker * Mr Glanvile The Kings Declaration of the Causes of assembling and dissolving the two last Parliaments The King takes notice of the intended Remonstrance in a Proclamation Another Proclamation against preaching or disputing the Arminian Controversies pro or con The King commands an Information to be preferred against the Duke in Star-Chamber The King forbids to solicite any Suit prohibited in the Book of Bounty The Council order all Customs to be paid And Forfeitures arising from Recusants A Commission to compound with Recusants A Proclamation to make the Kings Revenue certain The King sends to the Nobles to lend him liberally He demands of the City the Loan of One hundred thousand pounds The Port Towns are to furnish Ships The Ports of Dorsetshire send an excuse The City of London desire an Abatement of their Ships Are checkt by the Council Privy Seals issued out A Fast observed Commissions to Deputy Lieutenants to Muster Try and Array men Inhabitants withdrawn from Ports and Sea Towns required to return Ships sent to the River of Elbe A Fleet prepared The King of Denmarks Declaration why he takes up Arms against the Emperor A Battel between the Dane and the Emperor The overthrow of the King of Denmark an Inducement to the raising of Moneys by Loan A Declaration concerning Loan-Money Private Instructions to the Commissioners for the general Loan Billeting of Soldiers Commissions for Martial Law The Lords to advance the Loan Sir Randolph Crew removed from his place for not furthering the Loan Informations sent to the Council Table against the Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop refuses to proceed Ex Officio against the Puritans * Meaning the Petition against Recusants at Oxford Puritans described by Sir Iohn Lamb. Information in Star-Chamber against the Bishop of Lincoln Bishop Laud his Dream The interpretation thereof Six thousand English in the Service of the Vnited Provinces Sir Charls Morgan General of the English forces Some do refuse the Loan though others offered to lend the refusers money so they would but subscribe They are ordered to be pressed for Soldiers The Refusers to lend were severely deal with An. 1627. Dr. Sibthorps Sermon concerning the Loan Dr. Manwaring in two Sermons promotes the Loan Distastes and jealousies between England and France The French dismissed Ill resented in France Private Transactions to engage in a War against France The King of Great Britains Declaration concerning a War with France The Duke of Buckingham Admiral and General His Commission The Duke sets â—ail with the Fleet and Army The Rochellers are fearful to admit the English Yet call an Assembly and heard Sir William Beechers Message The Rochellers still timerous A well affected party in Rochel The Duke communicates his design to Sobiez The Duke lands his Army at the Isle of Rhee A â—ore â—ight at the landing The Army stays five days after the fight A Fort neglected to be taken in The French astonished at the landing of the English The Duke comes before the Fort at St. Martins Blocks up the Cittadel Gentlemen secured and confined for refusing to part with money upon the Loan Sir John Elliots Petition to the King concerning the Loan Archbishop Abbot in disfavor The Commission to Sequester Archbishop Abbot from all his Ecclesiastiâ—al Offices The Archbishops Narrative concerning his disgrace at Court His Age when this befel him His indisposition kept him from Court and exposed him to censure The Duke offended with the Archbishop for not stooping to him The Archbishop is foretold of the Dukes displeasure Sibthorps Sermon for Loan Money The Dukes design in having this Sermon sent to the Archbishop to Licence it Mr Murrey sent from the King with the Sermon to the Archbishop to have it Licenced by himself The discourse by way of Dialogue between the Archbishop and Mr. Murrey on that occasion The Archbishops Reasons why he could not Licence it His Majesty returns Answer by Mr. Murrey to those Reasons of the Archbishop The Archbishop desires Bishop Laud may be sent to him to treat of that Sermon The Archbishop sends his Objections to the Court
in writing against the Sermon Bishop Laud is employed to Answer these Objections King Iames was a long time offended with Bishop Laud. He was advance by Bishop Williams Bishops of Durham and Bathe sworn of the Privy Council Mr. Murrey brings the Answer to the Archbishops Objections The Archbishop is not suffâ—red to see the Writing but Mr. Murrey reads it Sibthorps Sermons Licenced by the Bishop of London Mr. Selden The Duke presseth his Majesty to have the Archbishop sent away before he set to Sea The Archbishop commanded to withdraw The Lord Conway tells the Archbishop the reason why he is commanded to retire The Archbishop writes to the Lord Conway to know if his Majesty will give him his choice of two houses to retire to The Lord Conway 's Answer The reason why the Duke was thought to be offended with the Archbishop The Archbishop accustomed to Hospitality King Iames injoyned the Archbishop to live like an Archbishop The Duke was not pleased that Sir Dudley Diggs frequented the Archbishops house The Archbishop was Tutor to Sir Dudley Digs at Oxford The Duke was offended that Sir Thomas Wentworth frequented the Archbishops House The Archbishop commanded to meddle no more in the High Commission Commendations of the High Commission Court The High Commissioners chargeable to the Archbishop The Archbishops infirmity permitted him not to come to the Star-chamber or Council-Table The Archbishops observation concerning the rise of the Duke Various Reports concerning the Army at Rhee A further Supply preparing for Rhee and to be conveyed thither by the Earl of Holland The Citadel at Rhee relieved Sir Iohn Burroughs slain Toras sends intelligence to the King of France The Rochellers at last declare for England A Treaty for Surrender between the Duke and Toras The Citadel reliev'd again A Retreat resolved on Sobiez against it The Citadel stormed The Army retreats The Enemy engageth the Rear of the Army Several opinions concerning this Expedition to Rhe. The misfortune of Rhee-Expedition causeth a clamor in the Nation A List of Arrearages for freight of ships and Sea-mens wages Anne-Royal Repulse Assurance Nonsuch Waltspite Adventure Triumph Victory S. George S. Andrew Rainbow Vantguard Red-Lion S. Esperite Gard-Land Convecline Antelop Entrance Sir Robert Cotton's Advice touching the present state of affairs A resolution to call a Parliament Order of the Council to set at liberty the Gentry imprisoned for the Loan-money A Parliament summoned A Commission for Impoâ—itions Thirty thousand pounds paid to Burlemach to be returned by Bill of Exchange to raise Forein Forces Recusants taken at Clerkenwell A Letter from a Jesuite concerning the ensuing Parliament The King's Speech at the opening of the Parliament The Lord Keepers Speech Sir Iohn Finch being chosen Speaker made this Speech to his Majesty The Speech without doors Grand Committees setled Petition for a fast Debates touching Grievances Sir Francis Seimour Sir Thomas Wentworth Sir Benjamin Rudyard acts the part of a Moderator Sir Edward Cook Mr Secretary Cook Sir Robert Philips * Sibthorp and Manwaring * Sommersetshire * Scots Secretary Cook moves for Supply for his Majesty In Clerkenwel Thursday March 15. Mr Secretary Cook tenders Propositions touching Supply The House turned into a Committee Habeas Corpus and the Liberty of the Subject debated Mr Creswel Sir Robert Philips Sir Edward Cook Judge Whitlock in justification of the Proceedings in the Upper-Bench upon the Habeas Corpus Judge Doderidge the like Mr Hackwel resumes the Debate of the Habeas Corpus Mr Selden Judge Andersons Reports Sir Edward Cook Resolves touching the Subjects liberty in his Person The Kings Propositions to the House of Commons touching Supply A Conference between the Lords and Commons managed by Secretary Cook against Recusants The Lord Keepers Speech at the presenting a Petition from both Houses against Recusants The Kings Answer to the Petition 1. Article 2. Article 3. Article 4. Article 5. Article 6. Article 7. Article 8. Article Debates touching his Majesties propositions Sir Francis Seimor Sir Nath. Rich. Secr. Cook Sir John Elliot Sir Ed. Cook Sir Thomas Wentworth Sir Henry Martin The House waves c. Mr. Selden Sir T. Hobby Sir Peter Hayman about forein imployment Mr. Hackwel Sir E. Cook Sir Thomas Wentworth Sir John Elliot The King sends a Message to the House of Sâ— Cook touching some words said to be spoken by the Duke Debates on the Message Friday 4 April Secretary brings another Message from the King Mr. Pym. 5. Subsidies resolved on Mr. Secretary Cook report the Kings acceptance of five Subsidies The Duke of Buckinghams Speech at the Councel Table thereupon It is ill taken by Sir John Elliot that the Dukes name was intermingled with the Kings by Secretary Cook Sir Dudly Diggs begins the Conference by way of Introduction Mr. Littleton Mr. Selden Sir Edward Cook 1. Obj. Answ. 2. Obj. Answ. His Majesties Message for non-recess The Message not approved Sir Ro. Phillips Sir E. Cook Sec. Cook to expedite Subsidies Sir Dudly Diggs Sir Thomas Wentworth Mr. Secret Cook delivereth another Message concerning Supply Sir Rob. Phillips Secr. Cook Mr. Wandesford Sir Humphry May. Mr. Speakers Speech to the King at the delivery of the Petition for billeting of Soldiers The Petition concerning billeting of Soldiers Martial Law debated Serj. Ashley questioned for some words Archbishops Speech at a Conference concerning the Petition of Right Propositions tendred to the Commons by the Lords touching the Petition of Right Sir Dudley Diggs replies to this Speech The Lord Keepers Speech to both Houses concerning supply by the Kings command Sir Ben. Rudyards Speech concerning that motion A Committee ordered to draw up a Bill in order to the Petition of Right Mr. Secretary Cook brings a Message to relye on the Kings Word Sir Thomas Wentworth The King gives notice to both Houses that he intends shortly to end this Session Sir John Elliot The Speakers Speech to the King in answer to several Messages His Majesties answer to the Speakers Speech Mr. Secretary Cook brings another Message to relie on the Kings Words Sir John Elliot Sir E. Cook Lord Keepers Speech communicating a Letter from the King His Majesties Letter The Lords Proposition at a Conference about an addition to the Petition of Right The Lords addition to the Petition of Right Mr. Alford Mr. Pimme Mr. Hackwell Sir Ed. Cook Sir Thomas Wentworth Mr. Noy Mr. Selden Mr. Glanviles Speech at a Committee of both Houses concerning Soveraign Power Sir Henry Martins Speech as to the rational part of the matter of the Conference The Lords and Commons agreed touching the Petition of Right Mr. Rouse against Dr. Ed. Manwaring 9. Hen. 3.29 28. Ed. 3.3 37. Ed. 3.18 38. Ed. 3.9 42. Ed. 3.3 17. Ric. 2.6 25. Ed. 3.9 9. Hen. 3.29 25. Ed. 3.4 28. Ed. 3.3 The Petition The Answer debated Sir Jo. Elliots Speech in the laying open of grievances Some against the recapitulating of Grievances Exceptions to Sir John Elliots Speech More exceptions Sir
concerning the Electoral Bonds and to dissolve their League The Protestants in their Answer acknowledged the good will of the Emperor their Cheif and shewed that the Catholicks had oppressed them contrary to the Pacification and having sought Redress in vain they were compelled to use means of preserving Publick Tranquillity according to the Laws That their League and Union consisting onely of Protestant Germans was a known practice in the Empire and not against the Golden Bull and tended not to a separation from his Imperial Majestie but the Catholicks made their League with strangers and declared a stranger cheif over them The Count of Thurne and other Defenders Evangelick with the Estates of Bohemia assembled at Prague to advise of publick safety and conservation of priviledges The Emperor required his Council held at the Castle of Prague to oppose and hinder this Assembly which he said was called to raise Sedition and to plot against his person and Government Nevertheless in all their publick worship the Evangelicks prayed to God to confound the Emperors enemies and to grant him long to live and reign over them in Peace and Justice The Bohemian troubles took their first rise from the breach of the Edict of Peace concerning Religion and the Accord made by the Emperor Rodolph whereby the Protestants retained the free exercise of their Religion enjoyed their Temples Colledges Tithes Patronages places of Burial and the like and had liberty to build new Temples and power to chuse Defenders to secure those Rights and to regulate what should be of service in their Churches Now the stop of building certain Churches on Lands within the Lordships of the Catholick Clergy in which places the Evangelicks conceived a Right to build was the special grievance and cause of Breach On the Twenty third of May the cheif of the Evangelicks went armed into the Castle of Prague entred the Council Chamber and opened their Grievances but inraged by opposition threw Slabata the Cheif Justice and Smesansius one of the Council and Fabritius the Secretary from an high Window into the Castle Ditch others of the Council temporising in this Tumult and seeming to accord with their demands were peaceably conducted to their own houses Hereupon the Assembly took advice to settle the Towns and Castle of Prague with new Guards likewise to appease the people and to take an Oath of Fidelity They chose Directors Governors and Counsellors Provincial to govern affairs of State and to consult of raising forces against the enemies of God and the King and the Edicts of his Imperial Majesty They banished the Iesuits throughout all Bohemia Moreover to defend their own cause and to give an accompt of their late proceedings and present posture a Declaration was drawn up and sent with Letters to the Estates of Moravia Silesia and Lusatia and to all the Princes and States their Allies throughout the Empire with request of aid in case of need They declare to this effect THat they had endured infinite Injuries and Afflictions by certain Officers Ecclesiastick and Civil and by the Iesuits above all others who sought to bring them under the yoke of Popery reviled them with the names of Hereticks heaved them out of places of Dignity provoked the Magistrates to pursue them with Fire and Sword That their Ministers were banished and their Charges given to Roman Catholicks The Senators of Prague who were Evangelicks were evil-intreated and divers persons persecuted for Religion under pretence of Civil Offences And whereas in case of difference touching the Agréement and Edict of Peace the Estates of both parties were to hear and judge their Enemies procured Commands from the Emperor to bear them down before a due hearing Their lawful Méetings to advise and séek redress were declared to be manifest Sedition and Rebellion and themselves threatned with loss of estates and lives This Declaration they sent likewise to the Emperor with a submissive Letter asserting their own Fidelity and praying for the removal of those evil Counsellors that threaten so much danger to his Majesty and his Kingdoms The Emperor herewith was no way pacified but charged them with an evil design required them to lay down Arms and to make no more Levies but to live in peace as becometh faithful Subjects Upon which terms he promised to disband his own Soldiers to forgive what was past and to protect all that will obey him This prevailed nothing but the breach grows wider The Emperor published a Manifesto in Answer to the Apology of the Bohemian States and wrote Letters to the Electors Princes and States of the Empire with high Aggravations of the violence offered at Prague to his principal Officers against Divine and Humane Rights the Constitutions of the Kingdom and the Customs of all Nations without hearing without summoning without any form of Proces yea without giving a moment of time to Repent or make Confession or receive the Sacrament which is never denied to the worst offenders Forthwith a pernicious War and all confusion breaks out The Emperor raised forces under the conduct of divers Commanders of whom the cheif were Count de Buquoy and Count de Ampiere The Evangelicks raised two Armies under Count de Thurne and Count Mansfelt Moravia Silesia and Lusatia with all the Estates Protestant Germans and Neighbors of Bohemia very few excepted assist the Evangelicks with Counsel Men and Money Likewise the Prince of Orange and the States of the United Provinces promised to aid them with their forces The Electors and Princes Protestant favoring the Bohemians whose Countrey the Imperialists destroy with Fire and Sword perswade the Emperor to stop the rage of Civil War the success whereof is doubtful and the end ever miserable The Emperor propounded an Arbitration of these differences by the Elector of Mentz and the Duke of Bavaria Princes Catholicks and by the Electors Palatine and of Saxony Princes Protestants and Pilsen should be the place of Treaty The Evangelicks consent to the Arbitration but dislike the place where the people were wholly Catholicks and followed the Emperors party besides the Directors had designed the besieging of it New Actions of War made the overtures of peace more difficult Several Armies were now raising throughout Bohemia and the Neighboring Provinces As yet the Elector of Saxony stood Neutral the Duke of Bavaria cast in his lot with the Emperor whose estate was then every where imbroiled At this time there appeared a Comet which gave occasion of much discourse to all sorts of men among others a Learned Knight our Countreyman confidently and boldly affirmed That such persons were but abusers and did but flatter greatness who gave their verdict that that Comet was effectual as some would have it or signal as others judge it onely to Africa whereby they laid it far enough from England When this Knight out of the consideration of the space of the Zodiack which this Comet measured the inclination of his
Sword and Blade and to what place both the head and tail became Vertical together with other secrets Said That not onely all Europe to the elevation of Fifty two degrees was liable to its threatnings but England especially yea That person besides in whose fortune we are all no less imbarked then the Passenger with the Ship is in the Pilot that guideth the same the truth whereof said he a few years will manifest to all men And it was observed by Dr. Bainbridge a famous Astronomer that toward the Declination of it the Eleventh of December it past over London in the morning and so hasted more Northwards even as far as the Orcades Amidst these distractions the House of Austria made no small improvement of their interest in the King of Great Brittain who in the hot pursuit of the Spanish Match was earnest to oblige them And the Spaniards made shew that on their part nothing under Heaven was more desired then this Alliance and in their Discourses magnified the King Queen and Prince of England For the state of their Affairs did press them hard if not to close really yet at least to fain a pressing towards it For the French administred cause of discontent the Truce with the United Provinces was near expiring but above all they took to heart the Bohemian War and resolved to set the main stock upon it Wherefore the King of Spain gave commandment that his Treasure should be gathered together for the Infanta's vast portion being no less then Two Millions and gave hopes of the payment of half a Million beforehand as was desired and with himself all Dispatches seemed to pass freely But his Ministers gave not the same satisfaction and proceeded so slackly in the business that they were suspected either not to intend it at all or not so soon as was pretended Besides the wiser here observed and repined that all difficulties hazards and odious passages must rest on the English side which Spain did little value That King Iames did that to gratifie the Spaniard which rendred him disgusted by his Subjects but if Favor were granted to any Subject of his by the King of Spain it was not without design to engage him in his own Service Which resentments may be collected from a Letter written by a great Minister of State to Mr. Cottington his Majesties then Agent in Spain which for clearer satisfaction you have here at large GOod Mr. Cottington I doubt not but that before these come to your hands you will have heard of the Receipt of all your former Letters These are in answer of your last of the Eighth of October wherein you advertise of the arrival of the Conde Gondomar at Lerma and of his entertainment by that Duke It seemeth unto us here in England that he hath gone but very slowly in his journey and divers seeing how long time he hath spent in the way do make conjecture That it proceedeth from the small affection that he judgeth to be there towards the effecting of the main business saying If the Ambassador were assured that his Master did so really desire the speedy effecting thereof as is pretended he would have made more haste homeward and that it hath not been sincerely intended but meerly used by that State as an amuzement to entertain and busie his Majesty withal and for the gaining of time for their own ends And this is muttered here by very many but I hope we shall ere long receive such an account from thence of their proceedings as will give sufficient satisfaction For my own part I must confess I am yet well perswaded of their intentions for if there be either Honor Religion or Moral honesty in them the Protestations and Professions which I have so often heard them make and you likewise daily advertise hither are sufficient to perswade a man that will not judge them worse then Infidels to expect sincere dealing in the business and whensoever I shall perceive that they go about to do otherwise I must confess my self to have been deceived as I shall ever be on the like terms while I deal with inmost care but withal I shall judge them the most unworthy and persidious people of the World and the more for that his Majesty hath given them so many testimonies of his sincere intentions toward them which he daily continueth as now of late by the causing Sir Walter Rawleigh to be put to death cheifly for the giving them satisfaction whereof his Majesty commanded me to advertise you and concerning whom you shall by the next receive a Declaration shewing the Motives which induced his Majesty to recal his mercy through which he had lived these many years a condemned man In the mean time I think it â—it that to the Duke of Lerma the Confessor and the Secretary of State you do represent his Majesties real manner of proceeding with that King and State and how for the advancing of the great business he hath endeavored to satisfie them in all things letting them see how in many actions of late of that nature his Majesty hath strained upon the affections of his people and especially in this last concerning Sir Walter Rawleigh who died with a great deal of courage and constancy and at his death moved the common sort of people to much remorse who all attributed his death to the desire his Majesty had to satisfie Spain Further you may let them know how able a man Sir Walter Rawleigh was to have done his Majesty service if he should have been pleased to imploy him yet to give them content he hath not spared him when by preserving him he might have given great satisfaction to his Subjects and had at command upon all occasions as useful a man as served any Prince in Christendom and on the contrary the King of Spain is not pleased to do any thing which may be so inconvenient unto him as to lessen the affections of his people or to procure so much as murmuring or distractions amongst them And therefore it is to be expected that on his part they answer his Majesty at least with sincere and real proceeding since that is all they are put to the difficulties and hazards being indeed on his Majesties side And truly I should think it â—it that not by way of commination but as it were out of zeal to the Peace and Amity betwixt these two Crowns you did intimate to the Duke and the other Ministers how impossible you held it to have peace long continued betwixt their Majesties if in this business wherein so much hath been professed there should be found any indirectness But herein you must be cautious and temperate for as on the one side you and I well know that this stile most perswades with them so on the other side the decency and buen termine that is to be observed betwixt great Princes will hardly admit of Threats or Revenge for a Wooing Language but this I know falleth into so
see his Children dispossessed of their Hereditary Rights and hopes his Son in Law will make Overtures of Peace which if slighted by the Emperor he will not lose the season to prepare for the defence of the Palatinate But if his Son will not hearken to his advice he shall be inforced to leave him to his proper Counsels Notwithstanding this open wary and tender proceeding with all care and patience to observe the Spanish humors our State Ministers that were most addicted to Spain discerned their trifling with us which they did not spare to censure and resolved to use a freer Language yet still discovered a willingness to wait their further leisure for the English Patience seemed invincible In the mean time the Privy Council having an eye to the support of the Palatinate began the raising of Moneys by way of free gift and directed Letters of the tenor following to divers Earls Viscounts Bishops and Barons the same Letter being sent to each respectively YOu may formerly have heard how the Palatinate being the ancient Heritage of the Count Palatine his Majesties Son in Law and to discend to his Majesties Grand-children is now invaded by a Foreign Enemy many principal Towns are surprised a great part of the Countrey in the possession of strangers and the inhabitants forced to take an Oath against their Natural Prince Whereupon his Majesty out of considerations of Nature Honor and State hath declared himself in the course of an Auxiliary War for the defence and recovery of the same the occasion being so weighty and pressing hath moved his Majesty by the general advice of us his Council to think of some course for provision of that nature as may serve as well to the maintenance and preserving of the present succors already sent as for the reinforcing them out of those Countries as the occasion of the War shall require And for that the swiftness of the occasion would not permit a supply by other means for the present so readily as was needful we have all concurred to begin with our selves in offer of a voluntary gift unto his Majesty for the advancement of the present occasion nothing doubting but that your Lordship being a Peer of the Kingdom will chearfully and readily follow the example of us begun And if there were much alacrity and readiness found in the Nobility and others to contribute at the motion of his Majesties Sons Ambassador at what time the Palatinate was not invaded neither had his Majesty declared himself you will much more and in a better proportion do it now these two weighty Motives do concur and so nothing doubting of your Lordships readiness herein we bid c. To the Marquess of Winchester To the Earl of Cumberland To the Earl of Darby To the Earl of Northumberland c. Also a Letter of the same form was written to the Lord Major of London But the short Reign of King Frederick was near its period The Imperial Forces under Bavaria Buquoy and D. Balthazar advance towards Prague and the Bohemians quit their Garrisons to make their Army the more compleat Yet neither Count Mansfield nor the English Forces were there On the Eighth day of November being the Lords day both Armies met for the fatal decision of the great Controversie The Bohemians stood upon the advantage-ground betwixt the Imperialists and Prague But the Enemy breaking through scattered and ruined their whole Army and pursued the Victory The King and Queen surprised with this Discomfiture among a wavering people in a City not very defensible were constrained to â—lie the next morning Diminution of Honor was added to the Calamity of this Prince because he suffered his Soldiers to mutiny for Pay when he had a mass of Money by him which was left behind to augment the Enemies Conquest Neither was Anhalt the General a fit person for the high trust reposed in him who not long after the Defeat sought and obtained the Emperors favor and was made one of his Generals to debel the Protestant cause and party But Count Mansfield whom Anhalt slighted and closed not with him to bring him up to this Fight made good his fidelity and with his Flying Army became a continual vexation to the Emperor harasing his Countries and forcing Contribution King Iames upon the news of the Palsgrave's overthrow and upon a Narration of the state of Affairs in those parts made unto His Majesty by the Earls of Oxford and Essex newly returned from the Palatinate was pleased to call a full Council together to consider of this great and weighty affair The Order ensuing relates the particulars At the Court at Whitehall Jan. 13. 1620. Present Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal Lord Steward Lord M. Hamilton Lord Chamberlain Earl of Arundel Earl of Kelly Lord V. Doncaster Lord V. Falkland Lord Carew Lord Digby Mr. Treasurer Mr. Secr. Naunton Mr. Secr. Calvert Mr. Chanc. of the Exchequer Master of the Rolls Master of the Wards HIs Majesty being resolved to make some Royal preparations for the Recovery and Protection of the Palatinate being the antient Inheritance of his Majesties Son in law and Grandchildren did in his high wisdom think méet to appoint some persons of knowledge and experience in the Wars to consider of and give their Advice in such Propositions as shall be made unto them by the Board for the better expediting of that service To which purpose the Earl of Oxford and the Earl of Essex the Earl of Leicester the Lord Uiscount Wilmot the Lord Danvers the Lord Calfield Sir Edward Cecyl Sir Richard Harrison Knights and Captain Danbingham were called to the Table and made acquainted with His Majesties pleasure That they or any Five or more of them together with Sir Horace Vere and Sir Edw. Conway Knights if they return into England while this Committee doth continue shall undertake this service and have their méetings and assemblies in the whole Council-chamber here in Whitehall touching the affairs above-mentioned And that for their better assistance they call unto them such others of experience whose advice and opinion they shall think fit to make use of in their several Consultations upon such things as shall be so referred unto them from the Board Which they are to prosecute without intermission or delay And they shall make Report of their Opinions which is to be done in writing under Five of their hands at least The Particulars offered to their Consideration are these First What proportion or number of men as well Horse as Foot with Munition Victuals Shipping and Treasure will be sufficient for that Enterprise And secondly By what time it will be meet that their Forces be in readiness And where the Arms Munition and Victuals may best be provided with such other Circumstances as are incident to any of these Heads For the better direction herein Mr. Secretaries will acquaint them with such Intelligences as they have received touching the
the zeal of our true Religion in which we have béen born and wherein by Gods grace we are resolved to die the safety of Your Majesties person who is the very life of Your people the happiness of Your Children and Posterity the honor and good of the Church and State dearer unto us then our own lives having kindled these affections truly devoted to Your Majesty And séeing out of our duty to Your Majesty we have already resolved to give at the end of this Session one intire Subsidy for the present relief of the Palatinate onely to be paid in the end of February next which cannot well be effected but by passing a Bill in a Parlâ—â—mentary course before Christmas We most humbly beséech Your Majesty as our assured hope is that You will then also vouchsafe to give life by Your Royal Assent to such Bills as before that time shall be prepared for Your Majesties honor and the general good of Your people And that such Bills may be also accompanied as hath béen accustomed with Your Majesties Gracious Pardon which procéeding from Your own méer Grace may by Your Highness direction be drawn to that Latitude and Extent as may best sort with Your Majesties bounty and goodness And that not onely Felons and Criminal Offenders may take benefit thereof but that Your good Subjects may receive ease thereby And if it shall so stand with Your good pleasure That it may extend to the relief of the old Debts and Duties to the Crown before the First year of Your Majesties Reign to the discharge of Alienations without Licence and misusing of Liveries and Oustre le Maine before the first Summons of this Parliament and of concealed Wardships and not suing of Liveries and Oustre le Maines before the Twelfth year of Your Majesties Reign Which gratious Favor would much comfort Your good Subjects and ease them from vexation with little loss or prejudice to Your own profit And we by our daily and devout Prayers to the Almighty the Great King of Kings shall contend for a blessing upon our endeavors and for Your Majesties long and happy Reign over us and for Your Childrens Children after You for many and many Generations The House had sufficient cause to set forth the danger of true Religion and the Miseries of the Professors thereof in Foreign parts when besides the great wound made in Germany and the cruelties of the prevailing House of Austria the Protestants in France were almost ruined by Lewis the Thirteenth being besieged at once in several places as in Montauban by the King and in Rochel by Count Soysons and the Duke of Guise And for their relief the King of England prevailed nothing by sending of Sir Edward Herbert since Baron of Cherbury and after him the Viscount Doncaster Ambassador for Mediation The King having Intelligence of the former Remonstrance wrote his Letter to the Speaker To Our Trusty and Welbeloved Sir Thomas Richardson Knight Speaker of the House of COMMONS Mr Speaker WE have heard by divers Reports to our great grief That our distance from the Houses of Parliament caused by our indisposition of health hath imboldned the fiery and popular Spirits of some of the House of Commons to argue and debate publickly of the matters far above their reach and capacity tending to our high dishonor and breach of Prerogative Royal. These are therefore to command you to make known in our Name unto the House That none therein shall presume henceforth to meddle with any thing concerning our Government or deep matters of State and namely not to deal with our dearest Sons Match with the Daughter of Spain nor to touch the honor of that King or any other our Friends and Confederates And also not to meddle with any mans particulars which have their due motion in our ordinary Courts of Iustice. And whereas we hear they have sent a Message to Sir Edwin Sandis to know the reasons of his late restraint you shall in our Name resolve them That it was not for any misdemeanor of his in Parliament but to put them out of doubt of any question of that nature that may arise among them hereafter you shall resolve them in our Name That we think our self very free and able to punish any mans misdemeanors in Parliament as well during their sitting as after Which we mean not to spare hereafter upon any occasion of any mans insolent behavior there that shall be ministred unto us And if they have already touched any of these points which we have forbidden in any Petition of theirs which is to be sent unto us it is our pleasure that you shall tell them That except they reform it before it come to our hands we will not deign the hearing nor answering of it Dated at New-Market 3 Dec. 1621. Hereupon they drew up another Petition which they sent accompanied with the former Remonstrance Most Dread and Gratious Soveraign WE your most humble and loyal Subjects the Knights Citizens and Burgesses Assembled in the Commons House of Parliament full of grief and unspeakable sorrow through the true sence of your Majesties displeasure expressed by your Letter lately sent to our Speaker and by him related and read unto us Yet comforted again with the assurance of your grace and goodness and of the sincerity of our own intentions and procéedings whereon with confidence we can relie In all humbleness beséech your most Excellent Majesty that the loyalty and dutifulness of as faithful and loving Subjects as ever served or lived under a gratious Soveraign may not undeservedly suffer by the mis-information of partial and uncertain Reports which are ever unfaithful Intelligencers But that your Majesty would in the clearness of your own Iudgment first vouchsafe to understand from our selves and not from others what our humble Declaration and Petition resolved upon by the Universal voice of the House and proposed with your gratious Favor to be presented unto your Sacred Majesty doth contain Upon what occasion we entred into consideration of those things which are therein contained with what dutiful respect to your Majesty and your service we did consider thereof and what was our true intention thereby And that when your Majesty shall thereby truly discern our dutiful affections you will in your Royal Iudgment frée us from those heavy charges wherewith some of our Members are burthened and wherein the whole House is involved And we humbly beséech your Majesty that you will not hereafter give credit to private Reports against all or any of the Members of our House whom the whole have not censured until your Majesty have béen truly informed thereof from our selves And that in the mean time and ever we may stand upright in your Majesties grace and good opinion than which no worldly consideration is or can be dearer unto us When your Majesty had Reassembled us in Parliament by your Royal Commandment sooner then we expected and did vouchsafe by the mouths
of thrée honorable Lords to impart unto us the weighty occasions moving your Majesty thereunto and from them we did understand these particulars That notwithstanding your Princely and pious endeavors to procure peace the time is now come that Janus Temple must be opened That the voice of Bellona must be heard and not the voice of the Turtle That there was no hope of peace nor any truce to be obtained no not for a few days That your Majesty must either abandon your own Children or engage your self in a War wherein consideration is to be had what Foot what Horse what Money will be sufficient That the Lower Palatinate was seised upon by the Army of the King of Spain as Executor of the Ban there in quality of Duke of Burgundy as the Upper Palatinate was by the Duke of Bavaria That the King of Spain at his own charge had now at least five Armies on foot That the Princes of the Union were disbanded but the Catholick League remained firm whereby those Princes so dissevered were in danger one by one to be ruined That the estate of those of the Religion in Foreign parts was miserable and that out of these considerations we were called to a War and forthwith to advise for a supply for kéeping the forces in the Palatinate from disbanding and to foresee the means for raising and maintaining the Body of an Army for the War against the Spring We therefore out of our zeal to your Maiesty and your Posterity with more alacrity and celerity than ever was presidented in Parliament did Address our selves to the service commended unto us And although we cannot conceive That the honor and safety of your Maiesty and your Posterity the Patrimony of your Children invaded and possessed by their enemies the welfare of Religion and State of your Kingdom are matters at any time unfit for our déepest consideration in time of Parliament And though before this time we were in some of these points silent yet being now invited thereunto and led on by so iust an occasion we thought it our duties to provide for the present supply thereof and not onely to turn our eyes on a War abroad but to take care for the securing of our peace at home which the dangerous increase and insolency of Popish Recusants apparently visibly and sensibly did lead us unto The consideration whereof did necessarily draw us truly to represent unto your Maiesty what we conceive to be the causes what we feared would be the effects and what we hoped might be the remedies of these growing Evils among which as incident and unavoidable we fell upon some things which séem to touch upon the King of Spain as they have relation to Popish Recusants at home to the Wars by him maintained in the Palatinate against your Maiesties Children and to his several Armies now on foot yet as we conceived without touch of dishonor to that King or any other Prince your Maiesties Confederate In the Discourse whereof we did not assume to our selves any power to determine of any part thereof nor intend to incroach or intrude upon the Sacred Bounds of Your Royal Authority to whom and to whom onely we acknowledge it doth belong to resolve of Peace and War and of the Marriage of the most Noble Prince your Son But as your most loyal and humble Subjects and Servants representing the whole Commons of your Kingdom who have a large Interest in the happy and prosperous estate of your Majesty and your Royal Posterity and of the flourishing estate of our Church and Commonwealth did resolve out of our Cares and Fears truly and plainly to demonstrate these things to your Majesty which we were not assured could otherwise come so fully and clearly to your knowledge and that being done to lay the same down at your Majesties féet without expectation of any other Answer of your Majesty touching these higher points then what at your good pleasure and in your own time should be held fit This being the effect of that we had formerly resolved upon and these the Occasions and Reasons inducing the same Our humble suit to your Majesty and confidence is That your Majesty will be gratiously pleased to receive at the hands of these our Messengers our former humble Declaration and Petition and vouchsafe to read and favorably to interpret the same and that to so much thereof as containeth our humble Petition concerning Iesuits Priests and Popish Recusants the Passage of Bills and Granting your Royal Pardon you will vouchsafe an Answer unto us And whereas your Majesty by the general words of your Letter séemeth to restrain us from intermedling with Matters of Government or Particulars which have their motion in the Courts of Iustice the generality of which words in the largeness of the extent thereof as we hope beyond your Majesties intention might involve those things which are the proper Subjects of Parliamentary occasions and discourse And whereas your Majesty doth séem to abridge us of the Antient Liberty of Parliament for Fréedom of Spéech Iurisdiction and Iust Censure of the House and other procéedings there wherein we trust in God we shall never transgress the bounds of Loyal and Dutiful Subjects a Liberty which we assure our selves so Wise and so Iust a King will not infringe the same being our antient and undoubted Right and an Inheritance received from our Ancestors without which we cannot fréely debate nor clearly discern of things in question before us nor truly inform your Majesty In which we have béen confirmed by your Maiesties most gratious former Spéeches and Messages We are therefore now again inforced in all humbleness to pray your Maiesty to allow the same and thereby to take away the Doubts and Scruples your Maiesties late Letter to our Speaker hath wrought upon us So shall we your loyal and loving Subiects ever acknowledge your Maiesties Iustice Grace and Goodness and be ready to perform that service to your Maiesty which in the true affection of our hearts we profess and pour out our daily and devout Prayers to the Almighty for your Maiesties long life happy and religious Reign and prosperous Estate and for your Royal Posterity after you for ever The King having rejected the first Petition gave to the later this Answer following WE must here begin in the same fashion that we would have done if the first Petition had come to our hands before we had made a stay thereof which is to repeat the first words of the late Queen of famous memory used by her in answer to an Insolent Proposition made by a Polonian Ambassador unto her that is Legatum expectabamus Heraldum accipimus For we had great reason to expect that the first Message from your House should have been a Message of Thanksgiving for our continued gratious behavior towards our people since your last Recess not onely by our Proclamation of Grace wherein were contained Six or seven and thirty Articles all of several
of England And that the arduous and urgent affairs concerning the King State and Defence of the Realm and of the Church of England and the maintenance and making of Laws and redress of mischiefs and grievances which daily happen within this Realm are proper subjects and matter of Councel and Debate in Parliament And that in the handling and procéeding of those businesses every Member of the House of Parliament hath and of right ought to have freedom of spéech to propound treat reason and bring to conclusion the same And that the Commons in Parliament have like liberty and fréedom to treat of these matters in such order as in their judgments shall seem fittest And that every Member of the said House hath like freedom from all Impeachment Imprisonment and molestation other then by Censure of the House it self for or concerning any speaking reasoning or declaring of any matter or matters touching the Parliament or Parliament-business And that if any of the said Members be complained of and questioned for any thing done or said in Parliament the same is to be shewed to the King by the advice and assent of all the Commons assembled in Parliament before the King gave credence to any private information But how the King was moved by the Protestation of the House of Commons will appear by this Memorial Whitehall Decemb. 30. 1621. HIs most Excellent Majesty coming this day to the Council the Prince his Highness and all the Lords and others of His Majesties Privy Council sitting about him and all the Iudges then in London which were six in number there attending upon His Majesty the Clerk of the Commons House of Parliament was called for and commanded to produce his Iournal-book wherein was noted and Entries made of most passages that were in the Commons House of Parliament and amongst other things there was written down the form of a Protestation concerning sundry Liberties Priviledges and Franchises of Parliament with which form of Protestation His Majesty was justly offended Nevertheless His Majesty in a most gracious manner there expressed That he never meant to deny that House of Commons any lawful Priviledges that ever they had enjoyed but whatsoever Priviledges or Liberties they had by any Law or Statute the same should be inviolably preserved unto them and whatsoever Priviledges they enjoyed by Custom or uncontrolled and lawful president His Majesty would be careful to preserve But this Protestation of the Commons House so contrived and carried as it was His Majesty thought fit to be razed out of all Memorials and utterly to be annihilated both in respect of the manner by which it was gained and the matter therein contained For the manner of getting it First in respect of the time For after such time as His Majesty out of his Princely grace and to take away all mistakings had directed his Letters to Secretary Calvert dated at Royston 16 Decembris and therein had so explained himself in the point of maintaining the priviledges of the House of Commons as that most of the said House rested fully satisfied and freed from any scruple of having their liberties impeached And after that by His Majesties Letters directed to the Speaker dated 18 December being Tuesday His Majesty at the humble suit of the House of Commons condescended to make this Méeting a Session before Christmas and for that purpose had assigned Saturday following Now upon this very Tuesday and while the Messengers from the House of Commons were with His Majesty at Theobalds to return thanks unto His Majesty and therewith an excuse from them not to make it a Session in respect of the strait of time whereunto they were driven which deferment His Majesty admitted of at their desires and thereupon gave order for the adjournment of the Parliament until the Eight of February next which was the first day formerly appointed by His Majesty for the méeting together of the Parliament And whilst their messengers were with His Majesty and had received a gracious Answer to return unto their House even that afternoon a Committee was procured to be made for taking their Liberties into consideration And this afternoon a Protestation was made to whom appears not concerning their Liberties and at six a clock at night by candle-light the same Protestation was brought into the House by the Committee and at that time of night it was called upon to be put to the Question there not being the third part of the House then present whereas in all matters of weight their usual custom is to put nothing of importance to the Question till the House be full And at this time many of them that were present expected the Question would have been deferred to another day and a fuller House and some then present stood up to have spoken to it but could not be seen nor heard in that darkness and confusion Now for the matter of the Protestation it is penned in such ambiguous and general words as may serve for future Times to invade most of Rights and Prerogatives annexed to the Imperial Crown the claim of some priviledges being grounded upon the words of the Writ for assembling the Parliament wherein some words viz. Arduis Regni are cunningly mentioned but the word quibusdam which restraineth the generality to such particular Cases as His Majesty pleaseth to consult with them upon is purposely omitted These things considered His Majesty did this present day in full assembly of his Council and in the presence of the Iudges declare the said Protestation to be invalid annulled void and of no effect And did further manu sua propria take the said Protestation out of the Iournal-book of the Clerk of the Commons House of Parliament and commanded an Act of Council to be made thereupon and this Act to be entred in the Register of Council-causes On the Sixth of Ianuary the King by Proclamation dissolved the Parliament shewing that the assembling continuing and dissolving of Parliaments doth so peculiarly belong unto him that he needs not give an accompt thereof unto any Yet he thought fit to declare That in this Dissolution he had the advice and uniform consent of his whole Council And that some particular Members of the House of Commons took inordinate liberty not only to treat of his high Prerogatives and sundry things not fitting to be argued in Parliament but also to speak with less respect to Foreign Princes That they spent the time in disputing Priviledges descanting upon the words and syllables of his Letters and Messages And that these Evil-tempered spirits sowed tares among the corn and by their cunning devices have imposed upon him a necessity of discontinuing this present Parliament without putting unto it the name or period of a Session And lastly he declared That though the Parliament be broken off yet he intended to govern well and shall be glad to lay hold on the first occasion to call a Parliament again at convenient time The King was
Potentissimo Principi ac Domino Philippo Quarto c. SErenissime Potentissime P. Frater Consanguinee Amice Charissime Quum aliquot abhinc annis pro affinitate nostra arctiori totiusque orbis Christiani bono deliberatio suscepta fuerit de Matrimonio inter Charissimum silium nostrum Carolum P. Walliae Illustrissimam Infantem Dominam Mariam Serenitatis vestrae sororem natu minorem contrahendo quod superstite adhuc R. Philippo Tertio felicissimae memoriae Patre vestro eo per gradus devectum erat ut ille si non expirasset hoc multo antehac consummatum iri spes esset nunc denuo Serenitatem vestram interpellandam duximus jam tandem ut velit operi bene inchoato fastigium imponere expectato deliberationes praeteritas exitu coronare Matura jam filii aetas filii Unici rerumque temporum ratio conjugem videntur efflagitare nobisque in senectutis limine constitutis felicissimus illuceret dies quo cernere liceret posterorum etiam amicitiam optato hoc affinitatis foedere constrictam Misimus itaque ad Serenitatem vestram Legatum nostrum Extraordinarium Praenobilem virum Iohannem Digbeum Baronem de Sherbone Consiliarâ—um Vice-Camerarium nostrum jam olim de hac affinitate Domus Austriacae honore bene meritum cui una cum Legato nostro Ordinario quicquid reliquum est hujus Negotii tractandum transigendum absolvendumque Commisimus Quicquid illis illic videbitur ratum hic habituri Utinam etiam vestre Serenitatis bonitate levaretur aliquando altera illa nostra de Palatinatu Sollicitudo de â—ilia genero insontibus eorum liberis ex avito jam extorribus Patrimonio Quam vellemus vestiae Potissimum Serenitati beneficium hoc in solidum debere cujus tot modo experti sumus ea in re Amicissima Officia Non nos unquam capiet tantae benevolentiae oblivio Posterisque Haereditarium studebimus relinquere amorem illum quo vestram Serenitatem memoriae optimae Patrem semper sumus amplexi semper amplexuri Unum hoc superest ut si quid aliud in re quacunque proposuerit Legatus hic noster eam ei fidem adhibere ac si nos praesentes essemus dignetur Serenitas vestra Quam Deus Optimus Maximus perpetuo incolumem conservet Serenitatis vestrae Frater Amantissimus Jacobus R. Dat. è Regia nostra Theobald 14 Die Martii An. Dom. 1621. Iames c. To the most Serene and most Potent Prince and Lord Philip the Fourth c. MOst Serene and Potent Prince Kinsman and Wel-beloved Friend Forasmuch as some years ago for our nearer Alliance and the good of the whole Christian World we had resolved to make a Marriage between our Wel-beloved Son Charls Prince of Wales and the most Illustrious Infanta the Lady Mary your Serenities yongest Sister which in the life time of your Father King Philip the Third of most happy memory was so far advanced That if he had not died it had been brought to perfection long ere now We have therefore thought good to Treat now again with your Serenity that at length you would put a period to a work so well begun and crown our by-past Deliberations with an expected issue The age of our Son arived now to maturity and he our onely Son besides the condition of the times and our affairs doth require him to marry And we being at the brink of old age it would rejoyce us to see the day wherein our Posterities Friendship should be bound up in this most desired Bond of Affinity We have therefore sent unto your Serenity our Extraordinary Ambassador the Right Honorable the Lord Digby Baron of Sherborne our Counsellor and Vice-Chamberlain who has formerly deserved well of this Alliance and the honor of the House of Austria unto whom together with our Ordinary Ambassador we have intrusted the remainder of this business to be treated transacted and finished and shall be ready to ratifie and approve here what ever they shall agree upon We wish likewise that your Serenity out of your goodness would ease our other care touching the Palatinate which concerns our Daughter and Son in Law and their innocent Children banished from their Ancestors Inheritance How gladly would we ow this good turn solely to your Serenity who have already done us so many friendly offices in that business No Oblivion shall ever blot out of our minde the acknowledgment of so great a favor and we will endeavor to transmit to our Posterity that Hereditary good will wherewith we have ever affected your Serenity and your Royal Father of most worthy memory and shall ever affect you One thing remains That if this our Ambassador shall propose any other matter touching what business soever your Serenity will be pleased to give him Credence as if we our self were present The most gracious and great God ever preserve your Serenity in safety Your Serenities most Loving Brother J. R. Given at our Pallace of Theobalds 14 March 1621. Prince Charls to the King of Spain MOst Serene and Potent Prince and wel-beloved Kinsman some years ago our most Serene Parents begun to treat about a Match between us and the most Serene our dearly beloved Princess the Lady Mary your Majesties most honored Sister The condition and success of which affair and treaty our most Serene and Honored Lord and Father out of his Fatherly affection towards us was pleased upon all occasions so much the more willingly to impart unto us by how much greater propension and apparent signs of true affection he discovered in us thereunto For which cause the Baron Digby his Majesties Vice-Chamberlain and Extraordinary Ambassador and one of our Privy Chamber being now bound for Spain with most ample Instructions to bring unto an happy issue that which was prosperously begun advanced before your most gracious Father our Uncle of happy memory departed this life We thought it no less becoming us by these our Letters most affectionately to salute your Majesty who if you shall perswade your self that we highly esteem of your affection as we ought to do and that by a most near bond of affinity we desire to have it inlarged and confirmed towards us that very perswasion will not a little adde to the measure of our love It remains that we intreat your Majesty to give full credit to such further Proposals as the Baron Digby shall make in our name In the mean time we will hope for such a success of the principal business as may give us occasion to use a more familiar stile hereafter in our Letters as an argument of a nearer relation which if it shall happen this will also follow That we shall most readily embrace all occasions whereby to evidence unto your Majesty the progress and increase of our affection as well towards your self as your most Serene Sister The most great and good God preserve your Majesty long in safety Your Majesties
most loving Kinsman C. P. Given at Our Palace of Saint Iames 14 Martii 1621. To the Right Honorable the Lord Balthazar of Zuniga Right Honorable and Wel-beloved Friend BEcause we have divers times been informed by your Friends of your singular propension and zeal towards our Affairs we neither will nor ought to leave you unsaluted at this time you have so well deserved of us But it will be no small accession of your good will if you continue as you have begun to promote by your assistance our concernments with his Majesty our Welbeloved Brother which by what way it may best be done our Ambassador the Baron John Digby will be able to direct you to whom we have intrusted the residue of that matter And if during his residence there he may make use of your singular Humanity and Favor with the King in his Negotiation it will be most acceptable to us and render us who were by your deservings already forward to oblige you most forward for the future to deserve well of you which we shall most willingly testifie as occasion offers not onely in word but in deed J. R. Given at our Palace of Theobalds March 14. 1621. Sir Walter Aston the Leiger Ambassador had managed that Treaty by directions received from Digby and now Digby remained at large in it and had communication of the Passages from him The Spaniards proceed in the Match with a very formal appearance for at this very time the Emperors Ambassador in Spain had discoursed of a Marriage between his Masters Son and the Infanta but was presently answered That the Kings hands were tied by a Treaty on foot with the King of Great Brittain and in this particular they seemed as said the English Agent to deal above board In the mean time the Privy Council by the Kings Commandment consulted about the raising of Moneys to defend the Palatinate They appointed the Keeper of the Records in the Tower to search for all such writings as concerned the Levies of Men at the Publick charge of the Countrey from the time of King Edward the Third until this present Likewise they directed Letters of the tenor following to the Justices of the Courts at Westminster and to the Barons of the Exchequer WHat endeavors his Majesty hath used by Treaty and by all fair and amiable ways to recover the patrimony of his Children in Germany now for the most part withholden from them by force is not unknown unto all his loving â—ubjects since his Majesty was pleased to communicate to them in Parliament his whole proceedings in that business Of which Treaty being of late frustrate he was inforced to take other resolutions namely to recover that by the Sword which by other means he saw no likelihood to compass For which purpose it was expected by his Majesty that his people in Parliament would in a cause so nearly concerning his and his Childrens interest have chearfully contributed thereunto But the same unfortunately failing his Maâ—esty 〈◊〉 constrained in a case of so great necessity to try the dutiful affections of his â—â—ing Subjects in another way as his Predecessors have done in former times by propounding unto them a voluntary contribution And therefore as your selves have already given a liberal and worthy example which his Majesty doth take in very gratious part so his pleasure is and we do accordingly hereby authorise and require your Lordships as well to countenance and assist the service by your best means in your next Circuits in the several Counties where you hold General Assizes as also now presently with all convenient expedition to call before you all the Officers and Attorneys belonging to any his Majesties Courts of Iustice and also all such others of the Houses and Societies of Court or that otherwise have dependence upon the Law as are meet to be treated withal in this kinde and have not already contributed and to move them to joyn willingly in this contribution in some good measure answerable to that your selves and others have done before us according to their means and fortunes Wherein his Majesty doubteth not but beside the interest of his Children and his own Crown and Dignity the Religion professed by his Majesty and happily flourishing under him within this Kingdom having a great part in the success of this business will be a special motive to incite and perswade them thereunto Nevertheless if any persons shall out of obstinacy or disaffection refuse to contribute herein proportionably to their Estates and Means you are to certifie their names unto this Board And so recommending this service to your best care and endeavor and praying you to return unto us Notes of the names of such as shall contribute and of the sums offered by them We bid c. Letters to the same effect were directed to the High Sheriffs and Justices of Peace of the several Counties and to the Majors and Bailiffs of every City and Town-Corporate within the Kingdom requiring them to summon all of known Abilities within their Jurisdictions and to move them to a chearful contribution according to their Means and Fortunes in some good measure answerable to what others well-affected had done before them And to make choice of meet Collectors of the Moneys and to return a Schedule of the names of such as shall contribute and the sums that are offered by them that his Majesty may take notice of the good inclinations of his Subjects to a cause of such importance as likewise of such others if any such be as out of obstinacy or disaffection shall refuse to contribute About this time George Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury began to fall into disgrace at Court his enemies taking the advantage of a late sad misfortune for shooting at a Deer with a Cross-bow in Bramzil Park he casually killed the Keeper Upon this unhappy accident it was suggested to the King who already disgusted him for opposing the Match with Spain That in regard of his eminent rank in the Church it might administer matter of Scandal which was aggravated by such as aspired unto his place and dignity The Bishop of Lincoln then Lord Keeper informed the Marquess of Buckingham That by the Common Law of England the Archbishops whole estate was forfeited to the King and by the Common Law which is still in force he is made irregular ipso facto and so suspended from all Ecclesiastical Function until he be restored by his Superior which was the Kings Majesty in this rank and order of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction To adde affliction to the afflicted said he will be against his Majesties nature yet to leave a man of Blood Primate and Patriark of all his Churches is a thing that sounds very harsh in the Old Councils and Cannons and the Papists will not spare to censure it The King made choice of the Lord Keeper the Bishops of London Winton Rochester St. Davids and Exeter Sir Henry Hobart Justice Doderidge Sir Henry Martin
from others but the Graces vouchsafed to them from himself and they were now confident that such potent intercessions having been made with him and all civil jealousies removed he will not onely command a real performance of what is promised but according to his own Loyal heart will enlarge the benefit Furthermore he assured the King That such difficulties as were already spent and were yet to come have been laid hold on by the Cardinals neither to frustrate nor prolong this Treaty but ouâ— of an opinion that otherwise they could not secure their Consciences proceed upon a just and valuable ground and satisfie the judgments of such discreet persons as may in times to come understand the Passages of this great Business So the long solicited Dispensation came from Pope Gregory the Fifteenth to the Court of Spain But whereas it was expected full and absolute it came with a Clog a Clause thrust in of purpose to retard the proceedings That whereas there were certain Articles condiscended unto by the King of England in favor of the Roman Catholicks in his Dominions Caution should be given for the performance of those Concessions The King answered That he could give no other Caution then his own and the Princes Oath exemplified under the Great Seal of England But this would not satisfie unless some Sovereign Catholick Prince would stand engaged for them Hereupon the frame of things was like to fall a sunder and a rumor went that the Prince intended to get away covertly Amidst the heats of this dispute Olivares whither in a humor or good earnest propounded three ways of accomodation The first was That Prince Charls should become Catholick The second That the Infanta should be delivered to him upon the former security without further condition The third was to binde him as fast as they could and not trust him with any thing And of these three ways he said The two former were good but the last was a bad one At length the King of Spain proffered to engage himself by Oath on the behalf of the King and Prince for the performance of the Articles Provided That he first consult with his Ghostly Fathers whither he might do it with a safe Conscience This was a fair contrivance whereby that King might not onely oblige our King and Prince but lay the ground-plot of a fair pretence of War against England if the Roman Catholicks received not satisfaction in the enjoyment of the Freedom promised Besides he would form a party in these Dominions to a Dependance upon his Protection A Iuncto of Divines were called to determine upon the Case and they go very gravely and tediously to work and protract the time almost beyond the bounds of the Princes patience but they conclude at last Affirmatively And in case the King of England fail to execute what was stipulated the King of Spain was to vindicate his Oath and right himself by the Sword Then was the Match declared publickly and the Prince had frequent access to the Infanta yet always in a publick manner and in the Kings presence Whilest these things were forging in Spain there were not wanting such as warned the King and tendred safer Counsels The Archbishop of Canterbury was bold to press him close in this serious Letter May it please Your Majesty I Have been too long silent and am afraid by my silence I have neglected the duty of the place it hath pleased God to call me unto and your Majesty to place me in But now I humbly crave leave I may discharge my Conscience towards God and my duty to your Majesty and therefore I beseech you freely to give me leave to deliver my self and then let your Majesty do with me what you please Your Majesty hath propounded a Toleration of Religion I beseech you take into your consideration what your Act is what the consequence may be By your Act you labor to set up the most Damnable and Heretical Doctrine of the Church of Rome the Whore of Babylon How hateful it will be to God and grievous to your good Subjects the Professors of the Gospel That your Majesty who hath often disputed and learnedly written against those Heresies should now shew your self a Patron of those wicked Doctrines which your Pen hath told the World and your Conscience tells your self are Superstitious Idolatrous and detestable And hereunto I adde what you have done in sending the Prince into Spain without consent of your Council the Privity and Approbation of your People And although you have a Charge and Interest in the Prince as Son of your Flesh yet have the people a greater as Son of the Kingdom upon whom next after your Majesty are their Eyes fixed and welfare depends and so tenderly is his going apprehended as believe it however his return may be safe yet the drawers of him into this Action so dangerous to himself so desperate to the Kingdom will not pass away unquestioned unpunished Besides this Toleration which you endeavor to set up by your Proclamation cannot be done without a Parliament unless your Majesty will let your Subjects see that you will take unto your self ability to throw down the Laws of your Land at your pleasure What dread consequence these things may draw afterward I beseech your Majesty to consider and above all lest by this Toleration and discountenancing of the true Profession of the Gospel wherewith God hath blessed us and this Kingdom hath so long flourished under it your Majesty do not draw upon this Kingdom in general and your self in particular Gods heavy wrath and indignation Thus in discharge of my duty towards God to your Majesty and the place of my Calling I have taken humble leave to deliver my Conscience Now Sir do what you please with me The King would not admit any Motion of drawing back but in going forward he would yield to all demands and was accordingly scrued up to the greatest height So at last the Difficulties in Rome and Spain were all surmounted and then these following Articles Stiled by the Cardinals Propositions for the right Augmentation and Weal of the Roman Catholick Religion were sworn unto by the King Prince and Privy Council I. THat the Marriage be made by Dispensation of the Pope but that to be procured by the endeavor of the King of Spain II. That the Marriage be once onely celebrated in Spain and ratified in England in form following In the Morning after the most Gratious Infanta hath ended her Devotions in the Chappel she and the most Excellent Prince Charls shall meet in the Kings Chappel or in some other Room of the Palace where it shall seem most expedient and there shall be read all the Procurations by vertue whereof the Marriage was celebrated in Spain and as well the most Excellent Prince as the most Excellent Infanta shall ratifie the said Marriage celebrated in Spain with all solemnity necessary for such an Act so
most famous Prince have polished with Learning and Arts of Prudence would assent to the Father of lights illuminating the Christian world We easily apprehend how much it would conduce to the Publick peace that being King of Scotland you should join in one Kingdom those Nations and Islands divided either by the bars of the Mountains or by the depths of the Ocean For your Majesty seems for that very reason to be made Lord of so many Provinces that they might more easily and quickly receive healing and salvation from him whom they obey Wherefore we even then besought God by continual â—rayers who gives salvation to Kings that so many blessings by his grace conferred upon you by which you are admirable in the sight of Potentates might bring safety to Britain and joy to the Church A blessed hope from above not long ago shined upon us when we understood that you were desirous of a Catholick alliance and that the â—ssue which should succeed in the inheritance and government of those Nations might be begotten of a Catholick mother We can scarcely express how much joy Gregory the Fifteenth of blessed memory our Predecessor brought us when he made us one of the Congregation of those Cardinals whom he would have to take cognisance of the English Match While we discoursed of a matter of so great importance we expressed a singular propension of mind towards your Majesty and were both tender of your praises and desirous to provide for your happiness And now being by the consent of the Apostolical Senate advanced to this station where we are to watch and ward for all earthly Monarchs we cannot sufficiently declare what a care and desire we have of Great Britain and the honor of so great a King It seems to have been a special providence of God that the first Letters which we received reigning in the seat of S. Peter were those which the most noble Charls Prince of Wales wrote to our Predecessor as a testimony of his affection to the Popes of Rome And since we now desire that this venerable Marriage should by the blessing of God be perfected we resolved to write unto you without expecting Letters first from you for Charity is the honor of the Papal Empire and although most powerful Kings do homage to us in this seat yet we account it glorious charity so perswading to descend to humble prayers so that we may gain souls to Christ. First therefore we desire you to perswade your self that there is no Prince in the Christian world from whom you can expect more evidence of fatherly affection then from the Pope who desires to embrace you a most desired Son with the arms of Apostolical charity We know with what a Letter Gregory the Fifteenth excited you to obtain so great a glory And since we have succeeded him we will not only imitate his inclinations towards you but will exceed them We hope we shall shortly have news out of England that your Majesty is favorable to the Catholick interest and that the Catholicks who live there whom the Father of mercies hath vindicated into the liberty of the sons of God being freed from the fear of punishment enjoy your Royal protection He who is rich in mercy will reward such a purpose with some signal happiness The Kingdoms of the Earth will applaud your Majesty and the Host of Heaven will wage war for you Though sinners gnash their teeth and Impiety powerful to raise sedition threaten yet Europe hopes she shall see King James triumphing in the Roman Church and increasing the example of his Ancestors by new works of Piety We do not distrust that the time of Gods good pleasure is now at hand when they who recommend to History the praises of the British Religion shall not always speak of the deeds of another Age but may be able to propose the present Government as a pattern of imitation to the Ages following Your Ancestors call upon you who have left you so powerful and so famous an inheritance who believed that the gates of the kingdom of Heaven were opened to mankind with the Popes keyes Certainly it cannot be that your Majesty should dare either to contemn or condemn the belief of so many Ages and the judgment of so many Kings who have deserved well of you Do you not see that by your Majesties opinion they are deprived of Heaven who left you a Kingdom while you contend that they erred in the worship of their Religion By this means it would be that whom the Universal Church believes to be Citizens of Heaven and to reign as Coheirs with Christ in that everlasting Country you who are descended of them should snatch them out of Heaven and thrust them into the bottomless pit of Error and the prison of hellish torments Do you not perceive your bowels yearn at the thought of so ungrateful an offence Are not such deliberations repugnant to your Royal temper which nevertheless so many Nations of Europe are forced to reprehend while it dissents from the Seat of the Apostles Let the splendor of so great glory allure your eyes which looks out of Heaven upon you and reaches you out a hand ready to reduce by your means the Kingdom of Britain into the Sanctuary of God with the conduct of Angels and acclamations of men A long time ago Christian religion lay all along in the world squalid and deformed with anguish affrighted with the threats of Tyrants But that Emperor whom we owe to Great Britain Constantine the Great the Defender of the Popes authority and the Avoucher of the Roman Faith did not only bring her out of her lurking places but called her to an Empire He is a fit pattern of imitation for your Majesty not those Kings who have transgressed and dissipated the Everlasting Covenant We call you O most wished for Son from this Watch-Tower of the World into the Society of his Glory Adde one day to your past years which all posterity may celebrate with a grateful memory Put a Mitre of Eternal Glory upon your head that in the time of your Reign we may say with the Holy Apostle I have seen a new Heaven in Britain and a new City descending from Heaven and a guard of Angels upon her Walls If that should come to pass we shall make reckoning that our Reign hath been happy to mankinde This our Sollicitude we believe will be so grateful unto you That we verily hope upon the receipt of our Letter you will forthwith increase the advantage of the Catholicks which live there Which if you shall do you will exceedingly oblige us and we shall consign to you the King of Kings debtor of so great benefit who so long as he shall preserve your Royal Family in eminent Happiness shall second the wishes of the Roman Church and bring ioy to the holy Prelates Dated at Rome at St. Peters sub annulo Piscatoris 15 Octob. 1623. The first year of our Reign Nobilissimo
to day were presented to them they have put themselves to the Offensive by preparing a strong Fleet which is ready to set sail to the West-Indies to the end they may at least interrupt the peaceable Annual return of the Gold and Silver of those parts by which the House of Austria do continually advance their greatness And this preparation together with their Voyages into the East-Indies will make them irreconcileable to Spain These enterprises were commended to the King as approved by all good men to be a principal means to cast down the fearful power of Spain Onely it was too vaste a design for that little Countrey but if the King were pleased thoroughly to close with them their Affections and constant interest would so binde them to him that he might absolutely dispose of them and by their forces by Sea and Land conjoyned with his own be able to give the Law to Europe And the present state of the Provinces might incite the King to this Conjunction For the last Summer if the Imperialists had joyned with the Spaniards they had undoubtedly made an irruption into the borders of that State and they are like to break in this next year except some notable Turn shall intervene and then our best Link for a Bond of Friendship is broken and those Provinces of a strong Staff will become a broken Reed Such Râ—presentations were made to the Court of England but the Counsels then prevailing were not propense to this Conjunction and Interest although we were then breaking with Spain and the House of Austria About the beginning of December when the Ratification came from the new Pope Bonfires were made throughout all Spain and the great Ordnance thundred out reports of joy And that King to satisfie his Oath made to the Prince of Wales prepared for the Espousals and a day was prefixed and all things appointed for the Solemnity according to the Magnificence of that Court The Infanta's Family was setled her Officers distinguished and the beginning of March was the time for her journey into England From the Princes departure she had applied herself to the learning of the English Tongue The English Ambassadors carried themselves like Subjects towards her as being their Masters Wife or Spouse Many rich presents had she prepared for her future Lord and Husband And the Earl of Bristol had provided many costly Liveries for his Attendants in the Solemnity of the Espousals But all things were instantly discomposed by the opening of the new commands from England to the Earl which were to procure an intire surrender of the Palatinate and Electorate before he move one step further towards the Contract In the Court of Spain there was great resentment of these new delays and they discerned a breach towards The Infanta gave over the study of English and was no more stiled the Princess of England but to the Demands from England the King of Spain replied That if a Treaty be set on foot and the Emperor and Duke of Bavaria will not come to Terms of Conformity he will joyn Arms with England to recover the Palatinate The Spaniards confessing the Demand just but unseasonable professed the Desponsorio's past the Infanta on her knees should have been a Suiter to the King to restore the Palatinate making it thereby her act and drawing the Obligation wholly to her These offers did not satisfie Bristol was called home and all was dashed to peeces It was an amazement to the Christian World that when the Match was brought to such perfection the motion should be rejected by that side which pursued it with so much eagerness and patience as being the master-peece of all their designs In the latter part of this long tedious act the Spaniard appeared real but in the former part their reality was questionable For our parts the business shall remain as we finde it a dark Riddle and Mystery The Earl of Bristol having demurred upon the new Instructions to prevent as he desired the embroiling of the whole Treaty was to make his Apology to the King his Master and for himself he thus pleaded That he understood the Infanta was his yong Masters wife or Spouse at least and that both the King and Prince infinitely desired the Match The powers were drawn by the intervention of both parties the King of Spain accepting them and the Prince legally delivering them and they were deposited with him in trust as the Ambassador of the King of Great Britain with a Publick Declaration how and when he was to deliver them and this was drawn into an Instrument by the Secretary of State According to this state of things he appeals to any Censure which were the more prudent honest and dutiful way whether to put a disgrace upon so great and worthy a Princess who was to be his Masters Wife and a scorn upon the King of Spain by nominating a day for the Marriage when the powers would be expired and not at all to insist upon making good the Publick Trust reposed in him by two so great Monarchs to the hazard and overthrow of so great and important a business or contrariwise to represent to his Majesty the state of things in Truth and Sincerity with his humble opinion of the wrong and disgrace to the Infanta by deferring the Marriage and of the indignity offered to the King of Spain and the danger of the whole Treaty by the detention of the Powers without the pretence of some emergent cause And after all this when his Majesty had declared his pleasure there was ready an exact obedience Wherefore in the confidence of his own innocencie he professeth as great a confidence of his Majesties accustomed grace and favor Bristol being called home acquainted the Conde Olivares with the Letters of Revocation and desired withall to have a day assigned him to take his leave of the King Olivares answered That he had much to say to him by his Majesties order and spake to this effect in the presence of Sir Walter Aston and the Conde Gondomar That the King had received large advertisements with what malice and rancor his Enemies did prosecute him and how powerful they are in England And in regard that the Envy which was drawn upon him proceeded from his earnest endeavors to accomplish the Match and that the particular fault laid to his charge was in point of delivering the Proxies deposited in his hands that his Majesty takes it to heart and judgeth himself touched in his honor if for this cause his Enemies shall prevail so far as to work his ruine or disgrace And therefore he will write to the King of Great Britain and send a particular Ambassador if it be needful to mediate for him for that he had served his Master with that exactness and fidelity which deserved not only to be assisted by all good offices but to be rewarded and published And his Majesty for the example of his own Subjects and for the encouragement
the Parliament to tend to the Kings dishonor and disturbance of Church and State and took Bond for his appearance Hereupon the King intimated to the House that the things determined concerning Mountague without his Privity did not please him for that he was his Servant and Chaplain in Ordinary and he had taken the business into his own hands whereat the Commons seemed to be much displeased Howbeit to take away all occasion of disgust from the King at the entrance of his Reign both Houses did humbly present two Subsidies granted to his Majesty as the first-fruits of their love whereof they craved acceptance The Lord Conway Secretary of State signified to the House of Lords the Commons being present the Kings gracious acceptance of the Bill of Two Subsidies Yet that the necessities of the present Affairs were not therein satisfied but required their further Counsels He reminded them that the late King was provoked beyond his nature to undertake a War for the recovery of his Childrens Antient Patrimony The charges of this War appeared by Computation to amount unto Seven hundred thousand pounds a year to support the Netherlands and to prevent the Emperors design of concluding with the Princes of Germany utterly to exclude the Palsgrave he levied an Army under Count Mansfield The Kings of Denmark and Sweden and the Princes of Germany levied another France Savoy and Venice joyned together for a War of Diversion and to uphold the Netherlands the charges of Mansfield and Denmarks Army must yet continue After this the Lord Keeper delivered a short Message from the King to both Houses That to the Petition of the Lords and Commons touching Religion his Majesty was pleased at the first to answer Gratiously but now he hath sent them a fuller Answer even an assurance of his real performance in every particular The Houses were preparing several Acts as against giving and taking of Bribes for places of Judicature about pressing of Soldiers and Tonnage and Poundage c. But by reason of the great increase of the Plague as appeared that week by the Bill of Mortality the King being moved by the Houses to grant a short Recess adjourned the Parliament to Oxford to reassemble the first of August following And for the same reason the receipt of the Kings Exchequer was removed from Westminster to Richmond and all Fairs within Fifty miles of London were prohibited to prevent a more general contagion In the time of this Recess the Vantguard a principal Ship of the Royal Navy with seven Merchant Ships of great burden and strength were lent to the French King and employed against Rochel which was thus brought about King Iames in his life time being in Treaty for a Marriage between his Son and the now Queen and entring into a War against the King of Spain and his Allies in Italy and the Valtoline had passed some Promise for the procuring or lending of ships to the French King upon reasonable Conditions but in no wise intending they should serve against Rochel or any of our Religion in France For the French Ministers pretended that the Ships should be employed onely against Genoa but afterwards the Protestants in France intimating their suspition that the design for Italy was a meer pretence to make up an Army to fall upon the Rochellers and others of the Religion King Iames willing to perform his promise and yet to secure the Protestants directed that the greater number of those that served in the Ships should be English whereby he might keep the power in his own hands For the performance of this Engagement the forenamed Ships were at this time commanded to the Coasts of France Nevertheless there wanted a sufficient care to prevent the abusing and inslaving them to the designs of the French King Captain Iohn Pennington the Admiral of this Fleet was much unsatisfied and presented to the Duke of Buckingham Lord High Admiral his Exceptions to the Contract between his Majesty and that King and chiefly for that the Companies were bound to fight at the French Kings Command against any Nation except their own and that the French might put aboard them as many of their own people as they pleased The Vantguard arived at Deep but the rest lingred behinde for the Companies understanding that the French design was to surprise the Ships and to block up the Harbor of Rochel resolved to sink rather then go against those of their own Religion Captain Pennington received Letters from the Duke and a Warrant from Secretary Conway in the Kings Name to command him to deliver up the Ships to the hands of such Frenchmen as his Christian Majesty shall appoint but withal directing him not to dissert his charge by which latter passage he was willing to understand that it was not the Dukes intention that he should dispossess himself and his Companies of them for he supposed his Grace had no such unjust thought as to continue him there alone These Orders were delivered unto him by the hands of the French Ambassador together with a Letter from the French King which willed him to receive his Soldiers and his Admiral the Duke of Montmorance and joyn with his Fleet against his Rebellious Subjects Whereupon the Ambassador urged the Surrender of the Ship and nothing would satisfie him but a present possession and a discharge of the English Soldiers save a very few in case they were willing to be entertained in the service Pennington after much dispute although he were promised an ample reward in Money to be given him at the Surrender and of a Royal Pension during his life came to this resolute Answer That without an express and clear Warrant he would not surrender nor discharge a man of his Company Whereupon the French Ambassadors Secretary came two several times to the Ship to protest against the Captain as a Rebel to his King and Countrey but at the making of the last Protest which was accompanied with threatning Speeches the Soldiers and Mariners grew into such a fury and tumult that they got up their Anchors and set fail for England saying They would rather be hanged at home then surrender the Ship or be Slaves to the French and fight against their own Religion All which Captain Pennington did not gainsay nor oppose but when they came to Anchor in the Downs he advertised the Duke of all that had hapned and craved further direction but complained of the Bondage of this Engagement assuring him That the Mariners would rather be hanged then return again into France So in all the rest of the Ships the Captains and Companies utterly refused the Service and protested against it though they were tempted with Chains of Gold and other Rewards All this while the Body of the Council were ignorant of any other design then thâ— of Genoa then divers persons came over from the Duke of Rohan and the Protestants of France to sollicit the King and Council against
the Seas That therefore there be great care in Choice and admitting Schoolmasters and that the Ordinaries make diligent enquiries of their demeanors and procéed to the removing of such as shall be faulty or justly suspected His Majesties Answer This is well allowed of And for the better performance of what is desired Letters shall be written to the two Archbishops and from them Letters to go to all the Ordinaries of their several Provinces to see this done the several Ordinaries to give accompt of their doings herein to the Archbishops respectively and they to give accompt to his Majesty of their proceedings herein II. That the antient Discipline of the Universities be restored being the famous Nurseries of Literature and Uertue Answ. This is approved by his Majesty and the Chancellor of each University shall be required to cause due execution of it III. That special care be taken to enlarge the Word of God throughout all the parts of your Majesties Dominions as being the most powerful means for planting of true Religion and rooting out of the contrary To which end among other things let it please your Majesty to advise your Bishops by Fatherly intreaty and tender usage to reduce to the peaceable and orderly service of the Church such able Ministers as have been formerly silenced that there may be a profitable use of their Ministry in these needful and dangerous times And that Nonresidencie Pluralities and Commendams may be moderated Where we cannot forbear most humbly to thank your Majesty for diminishing the number of your own Chaplains not doubting of the like Princely care for the well-bestowing of the rest of your Benefices both to the comfort of the people and the encouragement of the Universities being full of grave and able Ministers unfurnished of Livings Answ. This his Majesty likes well so as it be applied to such Ministers as are peaceable orderly and conformable to the Church-Government For Pluralities and Nonresidencies they are now so moderated that the Archbishops affirm there be now no Dispensations for Pluralities granted nor no man now is allowed above two Benefices and those not above thirty miles distant And for avoiding Non-residence the Canon in that case provided shall be duly put in execution For Commendams they shall be sparingly granted only in such case where the exility and smalness of the Bishoprick requireth Also his Majesty will cause that the Benefices belonging to him shall be well bestowed And for the better propagating of Religion his Majesty recommendeth to the House of Parliament that care may be taken and provision made That every Parish shall allow a competent maintenance for an able Minister And that the Owners of Parsonages Impropriate would allow to the Vicars Curates and Ministers in Villages and places belonging to their Parsonage sufficient Stipend and Allowance for Preaching Ministers IV. That there may be strict provision against transporting of English Children to the Seminaries beyond the Seas and for the recalling of them who are already there placed and for the punishment of such your Subjects as are Maintainers of those Seminaries or of the Scholars considering that besides the seducing of your people great sums of money are yearly expended upon them to the impoverishing of this Kingdom Answ. The Law in this case shall be put in execution And further there shall be Letters written to the Lord Treasurer and also to the Lord Admiral That all the Ports of this Realm and the Creeks and Members thereof be strictly kept and strait Searches made to this end A Proclamation shall be to recall both the Children of Noblemen and the Children of any other men and they to return by a day Also Maintainers of Seminaries or Scholars there shall be punished according to Law V. That no Popish Recusant be permitted to come within the Court unless your Majesty be pleased to call him upon special occasion agreeable to the Statute of 3 Jac. And whereas your Majesty for the preventing of apparent mischiefs both to your Majesty and the State hath in your Princely wisdom taken order that none of your natural born Subjects not professing the true Religion and by Law established be admitted into the service of your Royal Consort the Queen We give your Majesty most humble thanks and desire that your Order herein may be observed Answ. If his Majesty shall find or be informed of any Concourse of Recusants to the Court the Law shall be strictly followed And his Majesty is pleased that by Proclamation the British and the Irish Subjects shall be put in the same case And as his Majesty hath provided in his Treaty with France so his purpose is to keep it That none of his Subjects shall be admitted into his service or into the service of his Royal Consort the Queen that are Popish Recusants VI. That all the Laws now standing in force against Iesuites Seminary-Priests and others having taken Orders by Authority derived from the Sea of Rome be put in due execution And to the intent they may not pretend to be surprised That a spéedy and certain Day be prefixed by your Majesties Proclamation for their departure out of this Realm and all other your Dominions and not to return upon the severest Penalties of the Law now in force against them And that all your Majesties Subjects may be thereby admonished not to receive comfort entertain or conceal any of them upon the Penalties which may be lawfully inflicted And that all such Papists Iesuites and Recusants who are and shall be imprisoned for Recusancie or any other cause may be so strictly restrained as that none shall have conference with them thereby to avoid the contagion of their corrupt Religion And that no man who shall be suspected of Popery be suffered to be a Kéeper of any of your Majesties Prisons Answ. The Law in this case shall be put in execution and a Proclamation shall be to the effect desired And such Restraint shall be made as is desired And no man that is justly suspected of Popery shall be suffered to be Keeper of any his Majesties Prisons VII That your Majesty be pleased to take such Order as to your Princely wisdom shall be expedient That no natural born Subject or strange Bishops nor any other by authority from the Sea of Rome confer any Ecclesiastical Orders to exercise any Ecclesiastical Function whatsoever toward or upon your Majesties natural Subjects within your Dominions Answ. This is fit to be ordered according as is provided And it shall be so published by Proclamation VIII That your Majesties Learned Council may receive Order and commandment to consider of all former Grants of Recusants lands that such of them may be avoided as are made to the Recusants use or interest out of which the Recusant receiveth any benefit which are either void or voidable by they Law Answ. The King will give order to his Learned Council to consider of the Grants and will do according as is desired IX That your
presented to and answered by the King And the Commons the same day resumed the Debate again concerning the Duke and Misgovernment and Misimployment of the Revenue c. Ordered the Duke to have notice again thereof The next day the King sent a Message to the House of Commons That they do to morrow at Nine of the clock attend his Majesty in the Hall at Whitehall and in the mean time all Proceedings in the House and Committee to cease Where his Majesty made this ensuing Speech My Lords and Gentlemen I Have called you hither to day I mean both Houses of Parliament but it is for several and distinct reasons My Lords you of the Upper House to give you thanks for the Care of the State of the Kingdom now and not only for the Care of your own Proceedings but for inciting your Fellow-House of the Commons to take that into their consideration Therefore my Lords I must not only give you thanks but I must also avow that if this Parliament do not redound to the good of this Kingdom which I pray God it may it is not your faults And you Gentlemen of the House of Commons I am sorry that I may not justly give the same thanks to you but that I must tell you that I am come here to shew you your errors and as I may call it Unparliamentary proceedings in this Parliament But I do not despair because you shall see your faults so cleerly by the Lord Keeper that you may so amend your Proceeding that this Parliament shall end comfortably and happily though at the beginning it hath had some rubs Then the Lord Keeper by the Kings command spake next MY Lords and you the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons You are here assembled by his Majesties commandment to receive a Declaration of his Royal pleasure which although it be intended only to the House of Commons yet his Majesty hath thought meet the matter being of great weight and importance it should be delivered in the presence of both Houses and both Houses make one General Council And his Majesty is willing that the Lords should be Witnesses of the Honor and Justice of his Resolutions And therefore the Errand which by his Majesties direction I must deliver hath relation to the House of Commons I must address my self therefore to you Mr. Speaker and the rest of that House And first his Majesty would have you to understand That there was never any King more loving to his People or better affectioned to the right use of Parliaments then his Majesty hath approved himself to be not only by his long patience since the sitting down of this Parliament but by those mild and calm Directions which from time to time that House hath received by Message and Letter and from his Royal mouth when the irregular humors of some particular persons wrought diversions and distractions there to the disturbance of those great and weighty Affairs which the Necessity of the Times the honor and safety of the King and Kingdom called upon And therefore his Majesty doth assure you that when these great Affairs are setled and that his Majesty hath received satisfaction of his reasonable Demands he will as a just King hear and answer your just Grievances which in a dutiful way shall be presented unto him and this his Majesty doth avow Next his Majesty would have you know of a surety That as never any King was more loving to his People nor better affectioned to the right use of Parliaments so never King more jealous of his Honor nor more sensible of the neglect and contempt of his Royal Rights which his Majesty will by no means suffer to be violated by any pretended colour of Parliamentary Liberty wherein his Majesty doth not forget that the Parliament is his Council and therefore ought to have the liberty of a Council but his Majesty understands the difference betwixt Council and Controlling and between Liberty and the Abuse of Liberty This being set down in general his Majesty hath commanded me to relate some particular passages and proceedings whereat he finds himself agrieved First Whereas a seditious speech was uttered amongst you by Mr. Cook the House did not as they ought to do censure and correct him And when his Majesty understanding it did by a Message by Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer delivered to the House require Justice of you his Majesty hath since found nothing but protracting and delaies This his Majesty holds not agreeable to the wisdom and the duty which he expected from the House of Commons Secondly Whereas Doctor Turner in a strange Unparliamentary way without any ground of knowledge in himself or offering any particular proof to the House did take upon him to advise the House to enquire upon sundry Articles against the Duke of Buckingham as he pretended but in truth to wound the Honor and Government of his Majesty and of his renowned Father And his Majesty first by a Message and after by his own Royal mouth did declare That that Course of Enquiry was an Example which by no way he could suffer though it were against his meanest Servant much less against one so neer him and that his Majesty did much wonder at the foolish insolencie of any man that can think that his Majesty should be drawn out of any end to offer such a Sacrifice so unworthy of a King or a good Master Yet for all this you have been so far from correcting the Insolencie of Turner that ever since that time your Committees have walked in the steps of Turner and proceeded in an Unparliamentary Inquisition running upon generals and repeating that whereof you have made Fame the groundwork Here his Majesty hath cause to be exceeding sensible that upon every particular he finds the Honor of his Father stained and blemished and his own no less and withal you have manifested a great forwardness rather to pluck out of his bosom those who are neer about him and whom his Majesty hath cause to affect then to trust his Majesty with the future reformation of these things which you seem to aim at And yet you cannot deny but his Majesty hath wrought a greater Reformation in matters of Religion Execution of the Laws and concerning things of great importance then the shortness of his Reign in which he hath been hindred partly through sickness and the distraction of things which we could have wished had been otherwise could produce Concerning the Duke of Buckingham his Majesty hath commanded me to tell you That himself doth better know then any man living the sincerity of the Dukes proceedings with what cautions of weight and discretion he hath been guided in his publick Imployments from his Majesty and his blessed Father what Enemies he hath procured at home and abroad what peril of his person and hazard of his estate he ran into for the service of his Majesty and his ever blessed Father and how
forward he hath been in the service of this House many times since his return from Spain And therefore his Majesty cannot believe that the aim is at the Duke of Buckingham but findeth that these Proceedings do directly wound the Honor and Judgment of himself and of his Father It is therefore his Majesties express and final commandment That you yield obedience unto those Directions which you have formerly received and cease this Unparliamentary Inquisition and commit unto his Majesties care and wisdom and justice the future reformation of these things which you suppose to be otherwise then they should be And his Majesty is resolved that before the end of this Session he will set such a Course both for the amending of any thing that may be found amiss and for the setling of his own Estate as he doubteth not but will give you ample satisfaction and comfort Next to this his Majesty taketh notice That you have suffered the greatest Council of State to be censured and traduced in the House by men whose Years and Education cannot attain to that depth That Forein businesses have been entertained in the House to the hinderance and disadvantage of his Majesties Negotiations That the same Year yea the first Day of his Majesties Inauguration you suffered his Council Government and Servants to be parallel'd with the Times of most Exception That your Committees have presumed to examine the Letters of Secretaries of State nay his own and sent a general Warrant to his Signet-Office and commanded his Officers not only to produce and shew the Records but their Books and private Notes which they made for his Majesties service This his Majesty holds as unsufferable as it was in former times unusual Next I am to speak concerning your Supply of Three Subsidies and Three Fifteens which you have agreed to tender to his Majesty You have been made acquainted with the greatness of his affairs both at home and abroad with the strong Preparation of the Enemy with the Importance of upholding his Allies strengthening and securing both England and Ireland besides the encountring and annoying the Enemy by a powerful Fleet at Sea and the Charge of all This having been calculated unto you you have professed unto his Majesty by the mouth of your Speaker your carefulness to support the Cause wherein his Majesty and his Allies are justly engaged your unanimous consent and real intention to supply his Majesty in such a measure as should make him safe at home and feared abroad And that in the dispatch hereof you would use such diligence as his Majesties pressing and present occasions did require And now his Majesty having erected a proceeding suitable to this engagement he doth observe that in two days onely of twelve this business was thought of and not begun till his Majesty by a Message put you in minde of it whilest your Inquisition against his Majesties direction proceeded day by day And for the measure of this supply his Majesty findeth it so far from making himself safe at home and feared abroad as contrariwise it exposeth him both to danger and disesteem for his Majesty cannot expect without better help but that his Allies must presently disband and leave him alone to bear the fury of a provoked and powerful Enemy So as both he and you shall be unsafe at home and ashamed and despised abroad And for the manner of the Supply it is in it self very dishonourable and full of distrust For although you have avoided the literal word of a Condition whereof his Majesty himself did warn you when he told you of your Parenthesis yet you have put to it the effect of a Condition since the Bill is not to come into your house until your Grievances be both preferred and answered No such thing was in that expression and engagement delivered by your Speaker from which his Majesty holdeth that you have receded both in matter and manner to his great disadvantage and dishonour And therefore his Majesty commandeth that you go together and by Saturday next return your final Answer what further Supply you will add to this you have already agreed on and that to be without condition either directly or indirectly for the supply of these great and important Affairs of his Majesty which for the reasons formerly made known unto you can endure no longer delay and if you shall not by that time resolve on a more ample Supply his Majesty cannot expect a Supply this way nor promise you to sit longer together otherwise if you do it his Majesty is well content that you shall sit so long as the season of the year will permit and doth assure you that the present addition to your supply to set forward the work shall be no hinderance to your speedy access again His Majesty hath commanded me to add this That therein he doth expect your chearfull obedience which will put a happy issue to this Meeting and will enable his Majesty not onely to a Defensive War but to imploy his Subjects in Foreign Actions whereby will be added to them both experience safety and honor Last of all his Majesty hath commanded me in explanation of the gracious goodness of his Royal intention to say unto you that he doth well know that there are amongst you many wise and well tempered men well affected to the Publick and to his Majesties service and that those that are willingly faulty are not many and for the rest his Majesty doubteth not but after his gracious Admonition they will in due time observe and follow the better sort which if they shall do his Majesty is most ready to forget whatsoever is past Then his Majesty spake again I must withall put you in minde a little of times past you may reremember that in the time of my blessed Father you did with your counsel and perswasion perswade both my Father and me to break off the Treaties I confess I was your Instrument for two reasons one was the fitness of the time the other because I was seconded by so great and worthy a body as the whole body of Parliament then there was no body in so great favor with you as this man whom you seem now to touch but indeed my Fathers Government and mine Now that you have all things according to your wishes and that I am so far ingaged that you think there is no retreat now you begin to set the Dice and make your own Game but I pray you be not deceived it is not a Parliamentary way nor it is not a way to deal with a King Mr Cook told you It was better to be eaten up by a Foreign Enemy then to be destroyed at home Indeed I think 't is more honor for a King to be invaded and almost destroyed by a Foreign Enemy then to be despised by his own Subjects Remember that Parliaments are altogether in my power for their Calling Sitting and Dissolution therefore as I finde the fruits of them
good or evil they are to continue or not to be And remember that if in this time instead of mending your Errors by delay you persist in your Errors you make them greater and irreconcileable Whereas on the other side if you do go on cheerfully to mend them and look to the distressed State of Christendom and the Affairs of the Kingdom as it lieth now by this great Engagement you will do your selves honor you shall encourage me to go on with Parliaments and I hope all Christendom shall feel the good of it The Commons upon the Debate of what fell from his Majesty and the Lord Keeper turned the House into a Grand Committee ordered the doors to be locked and no Member to go forth and that all Proceedings in all other Committees shall cease till the House come to a Resolution in this business His Majesty being informed that some things in his own Speeches and the Lord Keepers Declaration were subject to misunderstanding commanded the Duke to explain them at a conference of both Houses in the Painted-Chamber held for that purpose WHereas it is objected by some who wish good Correspondency betwixt the King and People that to prefix a day to give or to break was an unusual thing and might express an inclination in the King to break to remove this as his Majesty was free from such thoughts he hath descended to make this Explanation That as his Majesty would not have you condition with him directly or indirectly so he will not lye to a day for giving further Supply but it was the pressing occasion of Christendom that made him to pitch upon a day His Majesty hath here a Servant of the King of Denmark and another from the Duke of Weymer and yesterday received a Letter from his Sister the Queen of Bohemia who signified that the King of Denmark hath sent an Ambassador with Power to perfect the Contract which was made at the Hague so it was not the King but time and the things themselves that pressed a time Therefore his Majesty is pleased to give longer time hoping you will not give him cause to put you in minde of it again so that you have a greater Latitude if the business require to think further of it I am commanded further to tell you that if his Majesty should accept of a less sum then will suffice it will deceive your expectations disappoint his Allies and consume the Treasure of the Kingdom whereas if you give largly now the business being at the Crisis it comes so seasonably it may give a Turn to the Affairs of Christendom But while we delay and suffer the time to pass others abroad will take advantage of it as the King of Spain hath done by concluding a Peace as 't is though in Italy for the Vatoline whereby our work is become the greater because there can be no diversion that way As it was a good Rule to fear all things and nothing and to be Liberal was sometimes to be Thrifty so in this particular if you give largly you shall carry the War to the Enemies door and keep that Peace at home that hath been Whereas on the contrary if you draw the War home it brings with it nothing but disturbance and fear all Courses of Justice stopt and each mans Revenues lessened and nothing that can be profitable Another Explanation I am commanded to make touching the grievances wherein his Majesty means no way to interrupt your Proceedings but hopes you will proceed in the antient wayes of your Predecessors and not so much seek faults as the means to redress them I am further commanded to tell you That his Majesty intends to elect a Committee of both Houses whom he will trust to take the view of his Estate the Defects whereof are not so fit for the Eyes of a Multitude and this Committee will be for your ease and may satisfie you without casting any ill odour on his Government or laying open any weakness that may bring shame upon us abroad That which is proposed is so little that when the payment comes it will bring him to a worse estate then now he is in therefore wishes you to enlarge it but leaves the augmentation to your selves but is sorry and touch'd in Conscience that the burthen should lie on the poorest who want too much already yet he will not prescribe but wish that you who were the Abettors and Counsellors of this War would take a greater part of the Burthen to your selves and any man that can finde out that way shall shew himself best affected and do the best service to the King and State The Duke then made his Address to them in his own behalf My Lords and Gentlemen YOu were all witnesses yesterday how good and gratious a Master I serve and I shall be likewse glad that you be witnesses how thankful a heart I have And I protest I have a heart as full of zeal to serve my Master as any man and it hath been my study to keep a good correspondency betwixt the King and his people And what ever thought hath been entertained of me I shall not alien my heart from that intention but shall adde spurs to my endeavours and actions to vindicate my self from ill opinion And however I lye under the burthen of the same it lies in your hands to make me happy or not and for my part I wish my heart and actions were known to you all then I assure my self you would resume me to your good opinions When I had with some hazard waited on my Master into Spain it is well known what Testimony I gave of my Religion and no man that comes to a true and near view of my action can justly charge me Let me be excused If I give accompt of this particular when I should speak of the general for this goes near my heart and to dissemble with my Conscience no ends of Fortunes in the World can make me do it For if I had any ill inclination I had such offers made to me in Spain as might have tempted me If I would have been converted my self I might have had the Infanta to put in my Masters Bed and if my discontent should have risen here I might have had an Army to have come with me But I thought the offer foolish ridiculous and scornful in that point of Religion I will now take the boldness to speak a little in the general business and I call it boldness to speak after one who did so well the other day But I had rather suffer in my own particular then not refresh your Memories with that which is materially needful I shall not need to reflect so far back as to the beginning of those Counsels which engaged my Master into the War they are well known onely I will so far touch it as to say That the last years preparations were not Voluntary or out of Wantonness but out of Necessity My Master
upon the Priviledges of the Peers of this Land and upon mine and their safety hereafter For if the Writ be not obeyed the Law calleth it a Misprission and highly fineable whereof we have had late examples and a missive Letter being avowed or not is to be doubted would not be adjudged a sufficient discharge against the Great-Seal of England On the other side if the Letter be not obeyed a Peer may De facto be committed upon a Contempt in the interim and the Question cleared afterwards so that in this case it is above mine abilities I can onely answer your Lordship that I will most exactly obey and to the end I may understand which obedience will be in all kindes most suitable to my duty I will presently repair to my private Lodging at London and there remain until in this and other Causes I shall have petitioned his Majesty and understand his further pleasure For the second part of your Lordships Letter where your Lordship saith That his Majesties meaning is not thereby to discharge any former directions for restraint of your Lordships coming hither but that you continue under the same restriction as before so that your Lordships personal attendance here is to be forborne I conceive your Lordship intendeth this touching my coming to Parliament onely for as touching my comning to London I never had at any time one word of prohibition or colourable pretence of restraint but on the contrary having his late Majesties express leave to come to London to follow my affairs out of my respect to his Majesty then Prince and to the Duke of Buckingham I forbore to come until I might know whether my coming would not be disagreeable unto them whereunto his Majesty was pleased to answer both under the hand of the Duke and of Mr Secretary Conway That he took my respect unto him herein in very good part and would wish me to make use of the leave the King had given me since which time I never received any Letter or Message of restraint onely his Majesty by his Letter bearing date June the last commandeth me to remain as I was in the time of the King his Father which was with liberty to come to London to follow mine own affairs as I pleased as will appear unto your Lordship if you will afford me so much favor as to peruse them I have writ this much unto your Lordship because I would not through misunderstanding fall into displeasure by my coming up and to intreat your Lordship to inform his Majesty thereof And that my Lord Conway by whose Warrant I was onely restrained in the late Kings time of famous memory may produce any one word that may have so much as any colourable pretence of debarring my coming up to London I beseech your Lordship to pardon my desire to have things clearly understood for the want of that formerly hath caused all my troubles and when any thing is misinformed concerning me I have little or no means to clear it so that my chief labor is to avoid misunderstanding I shall conclude with beseeching your Lordship to do me this favor to let his Majesty understand that my coming up is onely rightly to understand his pleasure whereunto I shall in all things most dutifully and humbly conform my self And so with my humble service to your Lordship I recommend you to Gods holy protection and remain Your Lordships most humble Servant BRISTOL Sherborn April 12. 1626. Hereupon the Lord Keeper delivered this Message from the King to the House of Lords THat his Majesty hath heard of a Petition preferred unto this House by the Earl of Bristol so void of duty and respects to his Majesty that he hath great cause to punish him That he hath also heard with what duty and respectfulness to his Majesty their Lordships have proceeded therein which his Majesty conceiveth to have been upon the knowledge they have that he hath been restrained for matters of State and his Majesty doth therefore give their Lordships thanks for the same and is resolved to put the Cause upon the honor and justice of their Lordships and this House And therefore his Majesty commanded him the Lord Keeper to signifie to their Lordships his Royal pleasure That the Earl of Bristol be sent for as a Delinquent to answer in this House his Offences committed in his Negotiations before his Majesties being in Spain and his Offences since his Majesties coming from Spain and his scandalizing the Duke of Buckingham immediately and his Majesty by reflection with whose privity and by whose directions the Duke did guide his Actions and without which he did nothing All which his Majesty will cause to be charged against him before their Lordships in this House The Lords appointed a Committee to attend the King and to present their humble thanks to his Majesty for the trust and confidence he had placed in the honor and justice of their House About this time the Marshal of Middlesex petitioned to the Committee of the House of Commons touching his resistance in seising of Priests goods A Warrant was made by Mr Attorney General to Iohn Tendring Marshal of Middlesex and other therein named to search the Prison of the Clink and to seise all Popish and Superstitious matters there found A Letter also was directed to Sir George Paul a Justice of Peace in Surrey to pray him to take some care and pains to expedite that service On Good Friday April 7. Sir George Paul was ready by six a clock in the morning five or six Constables being charged and about an hundred persons to aid and assist them The Marshall being attended with the persons named in the Warrant and divers others of his own servants and the Aid being provided by Sir George Paul came to the Clink and finding a door open without any Porter or Door-keeper at all entred without resistance at the first appearing But immediately upon discovery of his purpose the Concourse of people without and his unexpected entrance giving occasion thereto the Porter steps up shuts the door and keeps the Marshal and some few that entred together with him within and his Aid without resisting them that would enter their Warrant being shewed notwithstanding until by force another door was broken open by which the other persons named in the Warrant the Marshals men with the Constables and others appointed for their assistance with Halberts did enter also leaving sufficient company without to guard the three several doors belonging to the House Being within the Marshall gave direction to his followers to disperse themselves into several parts of the House to the end that whilest he did search in one part the other parts and places might be safely guarded and so he proceeded in his search in the prosecution whereof he found four several Priests in the house viz. Preston Cannon Warrington Prator Preston was committed to the Clink about 16 years since and discharged of his imprisonment about
the Clink But I am of opinion that if you had curiously enquired upon the Gentleman who gave the Information you should have found him to be a Disciple of the Iesuites for they do nothing but put tricks on these poor men who do live more miserable lives then if they were in the Inquisition in many parts beyond the Seas By taking the Oath of Allegiance and writing in defence of it and opening some points of high consequence they have so displeased the Pope that if by any cunning they could catch them they are sure to be burnt or strangled for it And once there was a plot to have taken Preston as he passed the Thames and to have shipt him into a bigger Vessel and so to have transported him into Flanders there to have made a Martyr of him In respect of these things King James always gave his protection to Preston and Warrington as may be easily shewed Cannon is an old man well-affected to the Cause but medleth not with any Factions or Seditions as far as I can learn They complain their Books were taken from them and a Crucifix of Gold with some other things which I hope are not carried out of the house but may be restored again unto them For it is in vain to think that Priests will be without their Beads or Pictures Models of their Saints and it is not improbable that before a Crucifix they do often say their prayers I leave the things to your best consideration and hope that this Deed of yours together with my Word will restrain them for giving offence hereafter if so be that lately they did give any I heartily commend me unto you and so rest Your very loving Friend G. Canterbury By this time the Commons had prepared an Humble Remonstrance to the King in Answer to his Majestie 's and the Lord Keeper's Speech Most Gracious Soveraign WHereas your Majesty hath béen pleased of late at sundry times and by several means to impart unto us your Royal pleasure touching some passages and procéedings in this present Parliament We do first with unspeakable joy and comfort acknowledge your Majesties grace and favor in that it hath pleased you to cause it to be delivered unto us by the Lord Kéeper of your Great Seal in your own Royal presence and before both Houses of Parliament That never King was more loving to his people nor better affected to the right use of Parliaments withal professing your most gracious resolution to hear and redress our just Grievances And with like comfort we acknowledge your Majesties goodness shining at the very entrance of your glorious Reign in commanding the Execution of the Laws established to preserve the true Religion of Almighty God in whose service consisteth the happiness of all Kings and Kingdoms Yet let it not displease your Majesty that we also express some sense of just Grief intermixed with that great Ioy to sée the careful procéedings of our sincere Intentions so misreported as to have wrought effects unexpected and we hope undeserved First touching the Charge against us in the matter concerning Mr. Cook We all sincerely protest That neither the words mentioned in your Maiesties Message nor any other of seditious effect were spoken by him as hath béen resolved by the House without one Negative voice Howsoever in a Spéech occasionally uttered he let fall some few words which might admit an ill construction whereat the House being displeased at the delivery of them as was expressed by a general and instant Check he forthwith so explained himself and his intention that for the present we did forbear to take them into consideration which since we have done And the effect thereof had before this appeared if by important businesses of your Maiesties service we had not béen interrupted The like interruption did also befall us in the Case of Doctor Turner wherein the Question being formerly stated a Resolution was ordered to have béen taken that very day on which we received your Maiesties command to attend you But for our own procéedings We humbly beséech your Maiesty to be truly informed That before that Overture from Doctor Turner out of our great and necessary care for your honor and welfare of your Realm We had taken into serious Consideration the Evils which now afflict your people and the Causes of them that we might apply our selves unto the fittest remedies In the pursuit whereof our Committées whatsoever they might have done have in no particular proceeded otherwise then either upon ground of knowledge in themselves or proof by examination of Witnesses or other Evidence In which course of service for the publick good as we have not swerved from the Parliamentary ways of our Predecessors so we conceive that the discovery and reforming of Errors is so far from laying an aspersion upon the present Time and Government that it is rather a great honor and happiness to both yielding matter to great Princes wherein to exercise and illustrate their noblest vertues And although the grievous Complaints of the Merchants from all parts together with the Common service of the Subiects well-affected to those who profess our Religion gave us occasion to debate some businesses that were partly Forein and had relation to affairs of State yet we beseech your Maiesty to rest assured it was exceeding far from our intention either to traduce your Counsellors or disadvantage your Negotiations And though some examples of great and potent Ministers of Princes heretofore questioned in Parliament have been alleadged yet was it without paralleling your Maiesties Government or Councils to any Times at all much less to Times of Exception Touching the Letter of Your Majesties Secretary it was first alleaged by your Advocate for his own Iustification and after by direction of the Committée produced to make good his Allegation And for the search at the Signet Office the Copy of a Letter being divulged as in your Majesties Name with pregnant cause of suspition both in the Body and Direction thereof to be supposititious the Committée out of desire to be cléered therein did by their Order send some of themselves to the Signet Office to search whither there were any Records of Letters of that nature without Warrant to the Officer for any much less for a general search But touching Publick Records we have not forborn as often as our businesses have required to make search into them wherein we have done nothing unwarranted by the Laws of your Realm and the constant usage of Parliaments And if for the ease of their Labors any of our Committées have desired the help of the Officers Repertories or Breviats of Direction We conceive it is no more then any Subject in his own affairs might have obtained for ordinary Fées Now concerning Your Majesties Servants and namely the Duke of Buckingham We humbly beséech Your Majesty to be informed by us your Faithful Commons who can have no private end but your Majesties Service and the good of
Spain did really fully and effectually intend the said Marriage between the said Lady his Sister and the said Prince our now Soveraign Lord according to Articles formerly propounded between the said Kings Whereas in truth the said Emperor and King of Spain or either of them never really intended such restitution as aforesaid And whereas the said King of Spain never really intended the Marriage according to those Articles propounded but the said Emperor and King of Spain intended onely by those Treaties to gain time to compass their own ends and purposes to the detriment of this Kingdom of all which the said Earl of Bristol neither was nor could be ignorant The said late King Iames by entertaining those Treaties and continuing them upon those false Assurances given unto him by the said Earl as aforesaid was made secure and lost the opportunity of time and thereby the said Dominions Territories and Possessions of the said Count Palatine and the Electoral Dignity became utterly lost and some parts thereof were taken out of the actual possession of the said King Iames unto whose protection and safe keeping they were put and committed by the said Count Palatine and the most Excellent Lady Elizabeth his Wife and their Children are now utterly dispossessed and bereaved thereof to the high dishonor of our said late Soveraign Lord King Iames to the disherison of the said late Kings Children and their Posterity of their Antient Patrimony and to the disadvantage and discouraging of the rest of the Princes of Germany and other Kings and Princes in Amity and League with his Majesty II. That the said Earl of Bristol being Ambassador for his late Majesty King Iames as aforesaid in Annis supradictis and having received perfect plain and particular Instructions and Directions from his said late Majesty That he should put the King of Spain to a speedy and punctual Answer touching the Treaties aforesaid And the said Earl well understanding the effect of those Instructions and Directions so given unto him and taking precise knowledge thereof and also knowing how much it concerned his late Majesty in honor and safety as his great Affairs then stood to put these Treaties to a speedy conclusion Yet nevertheless he the said Earl falsly willingly and traiterously contrary to his Alleagiance and contrary to the trust and duty of an Ambassador did continue those Treaties upon Generalities without effectual pressing the said King of Spain unto particular Conclusions according to his Majesties Directions as aforesaid and so the said Earl intended to have continued the said Treaties upon Generalities and without reducing them to Certainties and to direct Conclusions To the high dishonor of his said late Majesty and to the extream danger and detriment of his Majesties person his Crown and Dominions Confederates and Allies III. That the said Earl of Bristol being Ambassador for his said late Majesty as aforesaid in the years aforesaid to the intent to discourage the said late King Iames for the taking up of Arms entring into Hostility with the said King of Spain and for resisting him and his Forces from attempting the Invasion of his said late Majesties Dominions and the Dominions of his said late Majesties Confederates Friends and Allies the said King of Spain having long thirsted after an Universal Monarchy in these Western parts of the World hath many times both by words and Letters to the said late King and his Ministers extolled and magnified the greatness and power of the said King of Spain and represented unto his said late Majesty the supposed dangers which would ensue unto him if a War should happen between them and affirmed and insinuated unto his said late Majesty That if such a War should ensue his said late Majesty during the rest of his life must expect neither to Hunt nor Hawk nor eat his Meat in quiet Whereby the said Earl of Bristol did cunningly and traiterously strive to retard the Resolutions of the said late King to declare himself an enemy to the said King of Spain who under colour of Treaties and Alliances had so much abused him and to resist his Arms and Forces to the loss of opportunity of time which cannot be recalled or regained and to the extream danger dishonor and detriment of this Kingdom IV. The said Earl of Bristol upon his dispatch out of this Realm of England in his Ambassage aforesaid having communication with divers persons in London within this Realm of England before his going into Spain in and about his Ambassage concerning the said Treaty For the Negotiating whereof the said Earl purposely was sent and he the said Earl being then told That there was little probability that these Treaties would or could have any good success he the said Earl acknowledged as much and yet nevertheless contrary to his duty and alleagiance and to the faith and truth of an Ambassador he the said Earl said and affirmed That he cared not what the success thereof would be for he would take care to have his Instructions and to pursue them punctually and howsoever the business went he would make his Fortune thereby or used words at that time to such effect whereby it plainly appeareth That the said Earl from the beginning herein intended not the Service or Honor of his late Majesty but his own corrupt and sinister ends and for his own advancement V. That from the beginning of his Negotiation and throughout the whole managing thereof by the said Earl of Bristol and during his said Ambassage He the said Earl contrary to his faith and duty to God the true Religion professed by the Church of England and the Peace of this Church and State did intend and resolve that if the said Marriage so treated of as aforesaid should by his Ministry be effected that thereby the Romish Religion and Professors thereof should be advanced within this Realm and other his Majesties Realms and Dominions and the true Religion and Professors thereof discouraged and discountenanced And to that end and purpose the said Earl during the time aforesaid by Letters unto his late Majesty and otherwise often counselled and perswaded his said late Majesty to set at liberty the Jesuites and Priests of the Romish Religion which according to the good Religious and Politick Laws of this Kingdom were imprisoned or restrained and to grant and to allow unto the Papists and Professors of the Romish Religion free Toleration and silencing of all the Laws made and standing in force against them VI. That by the false Informations and Intelligence of the said Earl of Bristol during the time aforesaid unto his said late Majesty and to his Majesty that now is being then Prince concerning the said Treaties and by the Assurances aforesaid given by the said Earl his said late Majesty and the Prince his now Majesty being put into hopes and by the said long delay used without producing any effect their Majesties being put into jealousies and just suspition that there was no such sincerity
used towards them as they expected and with so many Answers from the Earl had on their part been undertaken the said Prince our now gratious Soveraign was inforced out of his love to his Countrey to his Allies Friends and Confederates and to the peace of Christendom who all suffered by those intolerable delays in his own person to undertake his long and dangerous journey into Spain that thereby he might either speedily conclude those Treaties or perfectly discover that on the Emperors and King of Spains part there was no true and real intention to bring the same to conclusion upon any fit and honorable terms and conditions and did absolutely and speedily break them off By which journey the person of the said Prince being then Heir-Apparant to the Crown of this Realm and in his person the peace and safety of this Kingdom did undergo such apparant and such inevitable danger as at the very remembrance thereof the hearts of all good Subjects do even tremble II. Offences done and committed by the said Earl during the time of the Princes being in Spain VII THat at the Princes coming into Spain during the time aforesaid the Earl of Bristol cunningly falsly and traiterously moved and perswaded the Prince being then in the power of a foreign King of the Romish Religion to change his Religion which was done in this manner At the Princes first coming to the said Earl he asked the Prince for what he came thither the Prince at first not conceiving the Earls meaning answered You know as well as I. The Earl replied Sir Servants can never serve their Master industriously although they may do it faithfully unless they know their meanings fully Give me leave therefore to tell you what they say in the Town is the cause of your coming That you mean to change your Religion and to declare it here And yet cunningly to disguise it the Earl added further Sir I do not speak this that I will perswade you to do it or that I will promise you to follow your example though you will do it but as your faithful Servant if you will trust me with so great a secret I will endeavor to carry it the discreetest way I can The Prince being moved at this unexpected motion again said unto him I wonder what you have ever found in me that you should conceive I would be so base and unworthy as for a Wife to change my Religion The said Earl replying desired the Prince to pardon him if he had offended him it was but out of his desire to serve him Which perswasions of the said Earl was the more dangerous because the more subtile whereas it had been the duty of a faithful Servant to God and his Master if he had found the Prince staggering in his Religion to have prevented so great an error and to have perswaded against it so to have avoided the dangerous consequence thereof to the true Religion and to the State if such a thing should have hapned VIII That afterwards during the Princes being in Spain the said Earl having conference with the said Prince about the Romish Religion he endeavored falsly and traiterously to perswade the Prince to change his Religion and to become a Romish Catholick and to become obedient to the usurped Authority of the Pope of Rome And to that end and purpose the said Earl traiterously used these words unto the said Prince That the State of England never did any great thing but when they were under the obedience of the Pope of Rome and that it was impossible they could do any thing of note otherwise IX That during the time of the Princes being in Spain the Prince consulting and advising with the said Earl and others about a new offer made by the King of Spain touching the Palatinates Eldest Son to marry with the Emperors Daughter but then he must be bred up in the Emperors Courts the said Earl delivered his opinion That the Proposition was reasonable whereat when Sir Walter Aston then present falling into some passion said That he durst not for his head consent to it the Earl of Bristol replied That he saw no such great inconvenience in it for that he might be bred up in the Emperors Court in our Religion But when the extream danger and in a manner the impossibility thereof was pressed unto the said Earl he said again That without some great Action the Peace of Christendom would never be had which was so dangerous and so desperate a Counsel that one so near the Crown of England should be poysoned in his Religion and become an unfriend to our State that the consequences thereof both for the present and future times were infinitely dangerous and yet hereunto did his disaffection to our Religion the blindness in his Judgment misled by his sinister respects and the too much regard he had to the House of Austria lead him III. Offences done and committed by the said Earl after the Princes coming from Spain X. THat when the Prince had clearly found himself and his Father deluded in these Treaties and hereupon resolved to return from the Court of Spain yet because it behoved him to part fairly he left the powers of the Desponsories with the Earl of Bristol to be delivered upon the return of the Dispensation from Rome which the King of Spain insisted upon and without which as he pretended he would not conclude the Marriage The Prince foreseeing and fearing lest after the Desponsories the Infanta that should then be his Wife might be put into a Monastery wrote a Letter back to the said Earl from Segovia thereby commanding him not to make use of the said Powers until he could give him assurance that a Monastery should not rob him of his Wife which Letter the said Earl received and with speed returned an Answer thereto into England perswading against this Direction yet promising Obedience thereunto Shortly after which the Prince sent another Letter to the said Earl into Spain discharging him of his farther command But his late Majesty by the same Messenger sent him a more express direction not to dispatch the Desponsories until a full Conclusion were had of the other Treaty of the Palatinate with this of the Marriage for his Majesty said That he would not have one Daughter to laugh and leave the other Daughter weeping In which Dispatch although there were some mistaking yet in the next following the same was corrected and the Earl of Bristol tyed to the same Restriction which himself confessed in one of his Dispatches afterwards and promised to obey punctually the Kings command therein yet nevertheless contrary to his Duty and Alleagiance in another Letter sent immediately after he declared That he had set a day for the Desponsories without any Assurance or so much as treating of those things which were commanded to him as Restrictions and that so short a day that if extraordinary diligence with good success in the Journey had not concurred
he had heard by several ways the King suffered much and was infinitely pressed by the Duke concerning the said Earl and his affairs and this he said was the suffering he had spoken of to their Lordships the other day The Earl craved leave of their Lordships to specifie some other particulars whereby it should appear that his Majesty was in no kind ill opinioned of him till his dying day viz. That several persons will depose that they have heard his Majesty say that he esteemed him an honest man And that he was pleased to accept of Toyes by way of Present from him graciously and in good part and at last was likewise pleased to give him leave to come to London and to follow his own affairs and that his pleasure was signified unto him by the Duke his own Letter Whereupon he determined to come to London intimated to the Duke his intention of going to his Lodging in Whitehall but the Duke was therewith incensed again and said he mistook the Kings meaning which was that he might privately follow his own business And this he said was the true State and Condition when it pleased God to take unto his mercy his late most gracious Majesty Upon his Majesties coming to the Crown he said he wrote a most humble Letter unto his Majesty imploring his grace and goodness and desiring the Dukes mediation But he was pleased to answer by his Letter of 7 Maii 1625. That the resolution was to proceed against him without a plain and direct Confession of the Point which he had formerly required him to acknowledge and in a Courtly manner of menace telleth him That he would take the freedom to advise him to bethink himself in time what will be most for his good But in the interim his Majesty was graciously pleased that his Writ of Parliament should be sent him and thereupon he wrote unto the Duke of the receipt of the said Writ but that he should do nothing but what he should understand to be most agreeable to his Majesties pleasure Whereunto the Duke answered in his Letters of May in this manner I have acquainted his Majesty with your requests towards him touching your Summons to the Parliament which he taketh very well and would have you rather make excuse for your absence notwithstanding your Writ then to come your self in person Whereupon he sent humbly to desire a Letter of leave under his Majesties hand for his Warrant but in stead thereof he received from the L. Conway an absolute Prohibition and to restrain and confine him in such sort as he hath been in the late Kings time And although he was indeed absolutely set free he could never get cleared by the Lord Conway though he sent him all the Papers to examine and when he could make no further reply he said he conceived he was under restraint and that his liberty expired with the late Kings death when indeed Restraint may expire but Liberty is natural After this he continued for the space of three quarters of a year in the Country without moving in which time he was removed from those Places and Offices he held during his late Majesties life and the greatest part of his Estate being laid out in their Majesties service by their particular appointment he could never be admitted so much as to the clearing of Accompts Yet hereof he never made the least complaint But against the time of his Majesties Coronation he thought it fit to lay hold of that occasion when Princes do Acts of grace and favor to be a most humble Suitor to his Majesty for his grace and goodness and addressed his Letters unto the Duke of Buckingham from whom he received a Letter all written in his own hand and therein a Letter inclosed from his Majesty so different from some gracious Message which he had received from his Majesty since the said Earl returned into England upon the occasion of a great sickness and likewise from his speeches several times delivered to his Wife to wit That he had never offended him and that for his faults he no ways held them criminal but to be expiated by any easie acknowledgment That he confessed he knew not what judgment to make of the said Letter neither hath presumed hitherto to make any Answer thereto although by reducing the occasions of speeches and circumstances to his Majesties memory he no ways doubteth but he shall be able to give unto his Majesty such satisfaction to every particular as his Majesty would not remain with the least scruple in any one point After this he said that his Writ of Parliament was detained whereupon he addressed himself to the Lord Keeper that he would be a Suitor to his Majesty for him in that behalf which diligences not taking effect by Petition he became a Suitor to their Lordships for their Honorable mediation to his Majesty and thereupon his Writ of Parliament was awarded But the Duke of Buckingham upon that took occasion as he had published Copies of the said Letter over all the Kingdom to read it likewise in that Honorable House as was best known unto their Lordships and the Writ was accompanied with a Prohibition from the Loâ—d Keeper whereupon he addressed himself for Justice to that Honorable House being possessed of his Cause by his Petition for both redress of his own wrongs and likewise of Complaints against the Duke for many Crimes And that Honorable House being possessed of his Cause by his Petition there is preferred against him a succeeding Complaint amounting as high as Treason as it is pretended although he for divers years hath not been questioned yet since his Complaint against the Duke he hath been fetcht up like a Prisoner and brought into that House as a Delinquent And the Duke of whom he hath complained for his great Crimes is admitted still to sit in the House as one of his Judges The which with all that he hath formerly said together with his Life Fortunes and Honor he did with all willingness humility and duty submit to the Justice and Honor of that House Then the Lords asked him When he would bring in his Answer He promised to answer as soon as might be but knew not how far he should have occasion to use his antient Dispatches The Lord Keeper told him that Mr. Attorney might help him by letting him know it The Attorney said that his Charge should in nothing look further back then to the year 1621. Which he desired might be recorded Whereupon the Earl thanking their Lordships for their patience he was carried away by Mr. Maxwell the Gentleman-Usher in whose house and custody he remained Then were read the Earls Articles against the Duke and the Lord Conway viz. Articles of the Earl of Bristol whereby he chargeth the Duke of Buckingham bearing Date the First day of May 1626. I. THat the Duke of Buckingham did secretly combine with the Conde of Gondomar Ambassador for the King of Spain before
his the said Ambassadors last return into Spain in the Summer An. 1622. To carry his Majesty then Prince into Spain to the end he might be informed and instructed in the Roman Religion and thereby have perverted the Prince and subverted the true Religion established in England From which misery this Kingdom next under Gods mercy hath by the wise religious and constant carriage of his Majesty been almost miraculously delivered considering the many bold and subtile attempts of the said Duke in that kind II. That Mr. Porter was made acquainted therewith and sent into Spain and such Messages at his return framed as might serve for a ground to set on foot this Conspiracie The which was done accordingly and thereby the King and Prince highly abused and their Consents thereby first gotten to the said Journey that is to say after the return of the said Mr. Porter which was about the end of December or the beginning of Ianuary 1622. whereas the said Duke had plotted it many moneths before III. That the said Duke at his arrival in Spain nourished the Spanish Ministers not only in the belief of his own being Popishly affected but did both by absenting himself from all Exercises of Religion constantly used in the Earl of Bristols house and frequented by all other Protestant English and by conforming himself to please the Spaniards in divers Rites of their Religion even so far as to kneel and adore their Sacrament from time to time give the Spaniards hope of the Prince his Conversion The which Conversion he endeavored to procure by all means possible and thereby caused the Spanish Ministers to propound far worse Conditions for Religion then had been formerly by the Earl of Bristol and Sir Walter Aston setled and signed under their Majesties hands with a Clause in the King of Spain's Answer of Decemb. 12. 1622. That they held the Articles agreed upon sufficient and such as ought to induce the Pope to the granting of the Dispensation IV. That the Duke of Buckingham having several times in the presence of the Earl of Bristol moved and pressed his late Majesty at the instance of the Conde of Gondomar to write a Letter unto the Pope and to that purpose having once brought a Letter ready drawn wherewith the Earl of Bristol by his Majesty being made acquainted did so strongly oppose the writing of any such Letter that during the abode of the said Earl of Bristol in England the said Duke could not obtain it yet not long after the Earl was gone he procured such a Letter to be written from his late Majesty unto the Pope and to have him stiled Sanctissime Pater V. That the Pope being informed of the Duke of Buckingham's inclination and intention in point of Religion sent unto the said Duke a particular Bull in parchment for to perswade and encourage him in the perversion of his Majesty then Prince VI. That the said Dukes behaviour in Spain was such that he thereby so incensed the King of Spain and his Ministers as they would admit of no reconciliation nor further dealing with him Whereupon the said Duke seeing that the Match would be now to his disadvantage he endeavored to break it not for any service to the Kingdom nor dislike of the Match in it self nor for that he found as since he hath pretended that the Spaniards did not really intend the said Match but out of his particular ends and his indignation VII That after he intended to cross the Marriage he put in practice divers undue courses as namely making use of the Letters of his Majesty then Prince to his own ends and not to what they were intended as likewise concealing divers things of high importance from his late Majesty and thereby overthrew his Majesties purposes and advanced his own ends VIII That the said Duke as he had with his skill and artifices formerly abused their Majesties so to the same end he afterwards abused both Houses of Parliament by his sinister Relation of the carriage of Affairs as shall be made appear almost in every particular that he spake unto the said Houses IX As for scandal given by his personal behaviour as also the imploying of his power with the King of Spain for the procuring of Favors and Offices which he bestowed upon base and unworthy persons for the recompence and hire of his Lust These things as neither fit for the Earl of Bristol to speak nor indeed for the House to hear he leaveth to your Lordships wisdom how far you will be pleased to have them examined It having been indeed a great infamy and dishonor to this Nation that a Person of the Dukes great quality and imployments a Privy-Counsellor an Ambassador eminent in his Masters favor and solely trusted with the Person of the Prince should leave behind him in a Forein Court so much scandal as he did by his ill behaviour X. That the Duke hath been in great part the Cause of the ruine and misfortune of the Prince Palatine and his Estates in as much as those Affairs had relation unto this Kingdom XI That the Duke of Buckingham hath in his Relations to both Houses of Parliament wronged the Earl of Bristol in point of his Honor by many sinister aspersions which he hath laid upon him and in point of his Liberty by many undue Courses through his power and practices XII That the Earl of Bristol did reveal unto his late Majesty both by word and letter in what sort the said Duke had disserved him and abused his trust And that the King by several ways sent him word That he should rest assured he would hear the said Earl but that he should leave it to him to take his own time And thereupon few days before his sickness he sent the Earl word that he would hear him against the said Duke as well as he had heard the said Duke against him Which the Duke himself heard And not long after his blessed Majesty sickned and died having been in the interim much vexed and pressed by the said Duke Articles of the Earl of Bristol against the Lord Conway bearing Date 1 Maii 1626. I. THat the Lord Conway is so great a Servant of the Duke of Buckingham's that he hath not stuck to send the Earl of Bristol plain word That if businesses could not be accommodated betwixt him and the Duke he must then adhere and declare himself for the said Duke and therefore unfit to be a Judge in any thing that concerneth the Duke or the Earl II. That the said Lord Conway professeth himself to be a Secretary of the Duke of Buckingham's creation and so acknowledgeth it under his own hand And although that he be the Kings Secretary of State and a Privy-Counsellor he usually beginneth his Letters to the Duke Most gracious Patron III. That as a Creature of the said Dukes the said Lord Conway hath been made the Instrument of keeping the Earl of Bristol from the Kings presence and
the Communion there were present One hundred persons some of them Brothers Kinsmen and near dependence upon some of their Lordships whom I see there in my eye This I did in Spain the like I did in Germany in the Emperors Courts in his Ambassage thither Fifthly I had in my several employments into Spain and Germany above Five hundred persons of all qualities attending upon me and never one perverted in Religion My Children carefully instructed and bred in the same Religion I had constantly every Sabbath a Sermon in my House and Sacraments and other exercises of our Religion frequented Sixthly A foul-mouthed Shimei railed against our late King and Religion in Spain how I caused that to be revenged by a near Kinsman of my own is well known Seventhly One of the English dying in the Town of Madrid of whose Religion there was some question made and the Kings Chaplains telling me that they at the day of his death had been with him and taken an accompt of his Faith and that he died a Protestant I caused him to be brought home to my House and there buried according to our Rites whereat much ado was made and it was threatned that the Inquisitors and other Officers would come and fetch him out and bury him after their manner I stood upon it and that it was the King of Englands House and openly protested that whosoever should come thither with such intent I would shoot at him with a Peece and exhorted all my people That if such an attempt should be they should rather then suffer such a dishonor to our Religion die with me in that quarrel and hoped such English as were in the Town would do the like Eighthly There having been a Monastery for English Jesuites founded and setled at Madrid before my coming thither and the English Arms set up I labored to suppress it and having written thereof to the late King his Majesty advised me not to run my Head against the Rock for it was an impossible thing for me to do Yet I undertook it and it pleased God so to bless my endeavors That I absolutely dissolved and overthrew it For which the Bishop of Winchester Montague now with God wrote unto me by his Majesties direction a Letter of his Majesties gratious acceptance of so great a Service telling me Besides the service I had done to the Church and Commonwealth it should remain a Trophy of Honor to me and my Posterity for ever And the King himself with his own hand wrote unto me beginning his Letter Good Fortune Digby your good luck in your Service well deserves that stile Ninethly In all Negotiations in Spain in point of Religion I ever straightned my Instructions Tenthly The Match with Spain was not moved by me I ever advised a Protestant Match and shewed many Reasons both of Conscience and State but if with a Catholick then rather with Spain then France so as good Conditions might be made for Religion as appears by a Letter I wrote and delivered to the Prince at his first going upon the employment for which I had like then to have been ruined for being a Puritan as I am now for being a Papist and all by one and the same hand Eleventhly And I appeal to the Testimony of Dr. Mason and Dr. Wren the Kings Chaplains with me in Spain and to Mr. Sampford Mr. Boswel and Mr. Frewen my own Chaplains there And that such Papists as have been my antient Acquaintance and Friends being men of worth well known to many of their Lordships may be examined upon Oath Whether I have not in all places as well in Spain as in England and at all times upon fit occasions avowed my self a Protestant without the lest prevarication Or whether I did ever any the least act that was not suitable to the same Profession And that Mr. Frewen Mr. Wake my own Chaplains may give their Testimonies whether in the time of several dangerous sicknesses which I had of late years faln into I have not in the time of such my sicknesses when no man can be supposed to dissemble with the World being ready to leave it made before them a Confession of my Faith and made my Peace with God resolving to die as besitted a Protestant and good Christian. This I tell your Lordships was my Religion I was bred in have ever professed and lived in and was resolved by Gods Grace to die in and yet was so unhappy by reason of employment to be distasteful to many good men that I have been suspected even by them not well knowing me And this hath been the rise the Duke hath now taken against me Then for my love to Spain I wonder from whence that opinion should grow since I was there hated and shamed as the man whom of all others they desired to have the least to do withal having stood ever stricter in point of Religion then by my Instructions I might have done as after the Capitulation concluded on they understood by some intelligence which caused their hatred towards me Sure I am I shewed it not by the service I did them for divers years together there was not a Letter sent by that King to any other State that the King my Master had not a Copy of before or by that time it came to the place whither it was directed There was not any great action on foot whereof I had not the private Instructions and sent them hither not any expedition by Sea or Land wherein I had not some Ministers or Intelligencers that gave me from time to time Advertisement of their Actions and most private Intentions whereof I advertised his Majesty from time to time I used such industry as to get all the Papers of that Kings private Cabinet into my hands took Copies and Notes of such of them as I thought useful and upon every of them set my private mark before they were conveyed back again to the end that if I should have had an occasion to have charged him with any thing mentioned in the same Papers I might have let him see I knew it by telling him in what Paper it was and marked with such a mark There was not a Port in Spain that I had not caused the depth of it to be sounded nor a Fort whereof I knew not the strength both for the Garison Munition and other matters of advantage and disadvantage insomuch as if it should please the King to appoint a Committee of the Lords to take accompt of me I should by the stores I gathered there and brought with me make it appear I was as useful a Servant to His Majesty in a War as in Peace Whereas at his Majesties coming out of Spain the powers for the Desponsories were to be deposited in some mans hands and the Duke upon pretence of doing me honor but intending to break my Neck by it moved they might be left with me and the King of Spain was contented and so they were put
his gracious acceptance of his service as in his Letters of November 24. 1622. written as followeth Viz. Your Dispatches are in all points so full and in them we receive so good satisfaction as in this we shall not need to inlarge any further but onely tell you we are well pleased with this diligent and discreet imployment of your endeavors and all that concerneth our service so are we likewise with the whole proceedings of our Ambassador Sir Walter Aston Thus we bid you heartily farewel Newmarkeâ— Novemb. 24 1622. And afterwards his Majesty was likewise pleased in his Letters of 8 Ianuary 1622. a little before our gracious Soveraign Lord the King then Prince his coming into Spain Viz. as followeth Concerning that knotty and unfortunate Affair of the Palatinate to say the truth as things stand I know not what you could have done more then you have done already And whereas it is objected the Palatinate should be lost by the hopes he the said Earl gave by his Letters out of Spain it is an Objection of impossibility for there was nothing left but Mainheim and Frankendale when his first Letters out of Spain could possibly come to his late Majesties hands for he did not begin to Negotiate that business until August 1622. and about that time Heidelberg and all but Mainheim and Frankendale was lost and Mainheim he had saved by his industry had it not been so suddenly delivered as is by his Majesty acknowledged by Letters of 24 November 1622. written thus Viz. And howsoever the Order given to the Infanta for the relief of Mainheim arrived too late and after the Town was yielded to Tilly yet must we acknowledge it to be a good effect of your Negotiation and an Argument of that Kings sincere and sound intention And Frankendale being by the said Earls means once saved was again the second time saved meerly by the said Earls industry and procuring a Letter from the King of Spain dated the second of February 1623. whereupon followed the Treaty of Sequestration which hath since continued And he the said Earl was so far from hindring Succors by any Letter or Counsel of his that he was the Sollicitor and in great part the procurer of most of the Succors that had been sent thither as is formerly set down And when his Royal Majesty that now is and the Duke of Buckingham arrived at the Court of Spain they found the Business of the Palatinate in so fair a way that the Spanish Ministers told them the King should give his late Majesty a Blank in which we might frame our own Conditions and the same he confirmeth unto us now and the like touching this Blank was likewise acknowledged by the Duke of Buckingham in his Speech in Parliament after the return of his Majesty out of Spain And it will appear by the Testimony of Sir Walter Aston and by his and the said Earls Dispatches that the said Earl wanted not industry and zeal in the business insomuch as the last Answer the said Earl procured herein from the King of Spain was fuller then he the said Earl was ordered by his late Majesties latest Letters to insist upon So as by that which hath been alledged the said Earl hopeth your Lordships will be satisfied not onely that he wanted neither will nor industry but that he hath with all true zeal and affection and with his own means faithfully served their Majesties and the Prince Palatine in this Cause And for assurance in that Affair he had all that could be between Christian Princes and if in the said Assurances there hath been any deceit as by the said Article is intimated which he never knew nor believed he referred it to God to punish their wickedness For betwixt Princes there can be no greater Tye then their Words their Hands and Seals all which he procured in that behalf and both the said Earl and Sir Walter Aston were so confident that the business would be ended to his late Majesties satisfaction that in a joynt Dispatch to his late Majesty of 24 November 1623. after his now Majesties return into England they wrote as followeth Viz. We hope that your Majesty may according to your desire signified to me the Earl of Bristol by the Letters of October 8 give to your Majesties Royal Daughter this Christmas the comfortable news of the near expiring of her great troubles and sufferings as unto the Prince your Son the congratulation of being arrived to a most excellent Princess And having thus given your Lordships an Accompt of his Proceedings touching the Palatinate he will by your Lordships good favors proceed to the other part of that Charge concerning the Marriage And first touching his hopes and assurances that he is charged to have given to his late Majesty and Ministers of State here in England of the Spaniards real proceedings in the said Match when he said he knew they never meant it He saith he never gave any hopes of their proceedings but such and the very same that were first given to him without adding or diminishing neither could he have done otherwise either with honesty or safety And he further saith That the hopes he gave were not upon any Intelligence but as well in that of the Match as the other of the Palatinate his Advertisements were grounded upon all the Assurances both of Words and Writing that could possibly pass between Christians as will be made evidently appear by his Dispatch of 9 September 1623 which he humbly desires may be read if the length of it may not displease The substance being to shew all the Engagements and Promises of the King of Spain that he really intended the Match And the causes why the Conde Olivares pretended to the Duke of Buckingham that the Match was not formerly meant was onely thereby to free himself from Treating any longer with the said Earl to the end that he might treat for larger Conditions in point of Religion with the said Duke The said Conde Olivares taking advantage of having the Person of his Majesty then Prince in his hands And with this Dispatch the said Earl acquainted his Majesty that now is in Spain before he sent it And by this Dispatch the Earl doubteth not but that it will appear to this Honorable Court that whilest the Treating of this business was in hand he proceeded in that not onely with care and industry but with some measure of vigilancy And for clearing an Objection that hath been alleadged that the Match was never meant before the Dukes coming into Spain nor after the Earl craveth leave to set down some few Reasons of many which caused him to believe that the said Match was and had been really meant and that it was so conceived by both their Majesties and the King of Spain and their Ministers on both sides For first The Duke of Buckingham certified his late Majesty that the business of the Marriage was brought to a happy Conclusion whereupon
his late Majesty was pleased to give order to the Duke and Earl to proceed in the Business which his said Majesty would not have Treated till the said Marriage was concluded as will appear by a Letter of his said late Majesty joyntly to the Duke of Buckingham and the said Earl of the 23 Iuly 1623. Secondly It will appear by Letters of the said Lord Conway to the Duke of Buckingham bearing date September 4. 1623. That the said Duke had good assurance of the Conclusion of the said Match and upon this confidence were all things put in due execution in England as had been Capitulated And the Lord Conway and others faithfully agreed and setled all the Points of Immunity and Liberty for the Roman Catholicks for the use of their Religion as was set down in the Declaration August 9. 1623. hereafter mentioned in the Answers to the Fifth Article of this Charge Thirdly the very day his now Majesty and the Duke of Buckingham departed from the Escurial in Spain towards England the said Duke solemnly swore the Treaty of the said Marriage and the furtherance of it all that should be in his power upon the holy Evangelists in the presence of the said Earl and Sir Walter Aston Fourthly The Treaty of the said Marriage had been formerly signed sealed and solemnly sworne by the King of Spain And when his Majesty and that King took their leaves he did solemnly in the words of a King faithfully and punctually protest to perform all that had been capitulated in the Treaty of Marriage and thereupon imbraced his Majesty at his departure and sent the very next day a Letter written all with his own hand to his Majesty vowing and protesting to make all good that he had capitulated or promised unto his Majesty at his departure the day before So that if there were no true meaning on the part of Spain to make the Marriage as by Mr. Attorney is pretended yet certainly the Earl hath not been sleightly deceived neither can it be as he conceiveth any fault in him since not only his late Majesty but also his Majesty that now is and the Duke of Buckingham being then both upon the place did confidently believe and that upon other grounds then misinformations suggestions and perswasions of the said Earl that the Marriage was really intended And to that effect both his late Majesty of blessed memory and his most Excellent Majesty that now is after his return into England wrote unto him the said Earl several Letters assuring him that their intents and pleasures were to have the said Match proceeded in and thereupon the Proxies of his Majesty then Prince were again inrolled and sent unto the said Earl So that the said Earl having so many and so great causes to be assured that the Match was really intended on both sides he conceiveth it will be hard for Mr. Attorney to make good that part of his Charge wherein he affirmeth that the Earl should know the contrary or the Assurance to be upon false grounds as in the said Article is alleadged II. To the Second Article He directly denieth all the supposed Offences wherewith he stands charged by the said Article And for a clear declaration and manifestation of the truth and manner of his proceedings He saith First as to the continuing the Treaties upon Generalities That the Temporal Articles were by Agreements on both sides not to be treated or setled until such time as the Articles of Religion were fully agreed on For that it was held most proper and honorable for both sides first to see if the Difficulty of Religion might be removed before they passed to any further Engagements And the said Articles of Religion by reason of the Popes new Demands sent into England by Mr. Gage were not signed nor condescended unto by his late Majesty nor his Majesty that now is then Prince until Ian. 5. 1622. and were then sent away in Post out of England to the said Earl by Mr. Simon Digby who arrived with them at Madrid in Spain about the 25. of the same moneth But the Earls care was such to have no time spent in the setling of the Temporal Articles that before he would condescend so much as de bene esse unto the Articles of Religion that they should be sent back to Rome he procured the King of Spain to promise That within the time limited for procuring the Desponsories which was by March or April following the furthest all the Temporal Articles should be setled and agreed to the end that the Infanta might be delivered at the Spring as by the King of Spain his Answer in writing was declared to be the Kings intention And accordingly Sir Walter Aston and the said Earl did not deal in general but did most industriously labor to settle all in particular viz. That the Portion should be Two Millions it appearing that it was so agreed by the late King of Spain That the Dispensation coming the Desponsories should be within Forty days after And that Don Duarte de Portugal should be the man that should attend the Infanta in the Journey And all other Particulars necessary for the Conclusion of the said Treaties were by Sir Walter Aston and the said Earl and the Spanish Commissioners drawn up into heads in writing and after many Debates they were consulted with that King and 2 Martii 1623. stilo vet the Conde Gondomar and the Secretary Don Andreas de Prada were appointed to come home to the house of the said Earl to signifie unto Sir Walter Aston and himself as they did That the King of Spain had declared his resolution in all the Particulars and given them order to come to a speedy Conclusion with them in all things And that Kings Answer to that Conclusion the Earl saw and read all written with the King of Spain's own hand On the seventh day of the said moneth of March 1623. the Kings Majesty then Prince and the Duke of Buckingham arrived at Madrid And then the Spaniards took new laws and the Negotiation was put into a new form So that whereas it is objected against the Earl that he entertained and continued the Treaties so long upon Generalities He conceives it is not meant upon the Spiritual Articles for they were such as were sent from Rome into England and from thence they came to the Earl And for the Temporal Articles they were not to be setled and treated till the Articles of Religion were concluded He conceiveth it cannot be alleadged with any colour that his Majesty was entertained with Generalities since the time that the said Articles of Religion were brought unto the said Earl by Mr. Simon Digby being about the 25. of Ianuary There were but six weeks until March 7. following when his Majesty then Prince arrived in Madrid and in the interim all the above-mentioned Particulars were setled And the time that hath been spent in this Treaty hath not been through his the said Earls
default in continuing upon Generalities without pressing to Particulars but hath been caused as well by Difficulties which the business brought with it as also with exterior Accidents viz. The Wars of Bohemia the death of two Popes and of the late King of Spain without the least fault of the said Earl as is acknowledged by his late Majesty of blessed memory in the said Earl his Instructions on the 14. of March 1621. Neither could any delay herein be attributed unto him the said Earl For he was imployed in those times into Germany and Flanders and Sir Walter Aston and Sir Francis Cottington for the space of three or four years were resident in Spain from whence the hopes they gave were upon all the discreet grounds that Ministers can expect from a State But the Earl reassumed this business six moneths before his Majesties coming into Spain and he was so desirous to see his Majesty then Prince bestowed that he pressed nothing so much both to the King and Prince as that the Prince might lose no more time and rather to break the Match with Spain then suffer any further delays as will appear by his Dispatches from his first arrival at the Court of Spain until his Majesties then Prince his coming For in his Letters of Iune 20. 1622. being the first he wrote after his first Audience he was so desirous that no time might be lost that in them he craveth leave of his Majesty that in case he should find any Delays in Spain he might without expecting any Order take his leave and come home Upon the return of Sir Francis Cottington in September following he wrote both to the King and his Majesty then Prince To the King as followeth I Shall presume to add to that which Mr. Cottington shall deliver unto your Majesty by word of mouth of the present estate of the Match what I conceive to be the right way to bring it to a speedy issue That your Majesty will be pleased positively to declare what you will do in point of Religion and that you will appoint me a certain limited time by which this King should procure the Dispensation or conclude the Match without it And in case there shall be any further delay therein that I may then declare your Majesty to be free and disengaged to bestow the Prince in such sort as you shall judge most convenient And to the Prince at thesame wrote in these subsequent words viz. THat which will be necessary for his Majesty presently to do on his Majesties part is to declare himself how far he will be pleased to yield in point of Religion as Mr. Cottington will approve unto your Highness And that he set a prefixed time to break or conclude the Match either with the Dispensation or without the same For the rest it may be left to my Negotiation But your Highness may be pleased to hasten his Majesties resolution with all possible speed And the said Earl saith That having received from his said late Majesty his resolution in point of Religion and a limited time according to his desire he was so precise and punctual therein that although the making or breaking of the Marriage depended upon it he would not give one moneths respite longer time for the procuring of the Dispensation until he had first acquainted his late Majesty therein and received his Directions under his own hand as will appear by his Majesties Letters of Octob. 25. 1622. as followeth RIght Trusty and welbeloved Cousin and Counsellor We greet you heartily well Whereas by your last Letter written to our Secretary dated Sept. 29. you are desirous to have our pleasure signified unto you under our own hand Whether we will be content or not to grant a Moneths time longer for the coming of the Dispensation from Rome then we have already limited unto you in case they shall there conclude all things else to our contentment with a Resolution to send the Infanta hither the next Spring We do hereby declare unto you that in that case you shall not break with them for a Moneths longer delay We also wish you not to trouble your self with the rash Censure of other men in case your business should not succeed resting in that full assurance of our Iustice and Wisdom that we will never judge a good and faithful Servant by the effect of things so contingent and variable And with this assurance we bid you heartily farewell And he further saith That when he had agreed to the Articles of Religion and that a certain time was set for the coming of the Dispensation and a Conclusion of the Match although he would bind himself to nothing without his Majesties approbation yet for that no time might be lost he agreed to the Propositions De bene esse sent by Mr. Porter Decemb. 10. 1622. to the end the Articles might immediately be sent to Rome without losing so much time as to hear first from England And humbly moved that in case his Majesty should like of the said Articles he would send his Approbation directly to Rome for the gaining of time which his Majesty was pleased to do And at the same time he wrote both to his said late Majesty and his Majesty then Prince as followeth viz. To his Majesty This is the true state of the business as it now standeth If your Majesty approve of what is done I hope it will be a happy and a short Conclusion If your Majesty think it not fit to allow and condescend to the said Articles I have done the uttermost of my endeavors and shall humbly perswade your Majesty not to lose a day longer in the Treaty so much it importeth your Majesty and your Kingdoms that the Prince were bestowed And to the Prince in Letters of the like date in this sort I have presumed to write to his Majesty that which I think my duty to say to your Highness That in case you shall not approve of what is now conditionally agreed you permit not a day more to be lost in this Treaty For it is of so great consequence that your Highness were bestowed that it importeth almost as much that you were speedily as â—itly matched But I hope his Majesty and your Highness will in such sort approve of this last Agreement as you will speedily bring this long Treaty to a happy conclusion I am out of hope of bringing things to any better terms therefore I deal clearly with your Highness and do not only most humbly perswade but on my knees beg it of you that you either resolve to conclude this Match as you may or speedily to break it and bestow your self elswhere for no less then the happiness of your Kingdom and the security of the King your Father and your self depend upon it All which things being considered the Earl most humbly submitteth himself to the Judgment of that most high and honorable Court whether the Delays which accidents have brought forth in
this business can be attributed to his fault since on the one side it will evidently appear to your Lordships that be never moved his Majesty and the Prince to admit of delays but rather to think of some other course and it will on the other side appear by all the Dispatches that he pressed things with the Ministers of Spain to as speedy a conclusion as the uttermost terms of fair Negotiation and good manners would bear And whereas it is pretended that the Spaniards should take occasion by entertaining the said Treaties to abuse his said late Majesty which he knoweth not yet he saith he used all the vigilancie and industry that a careful Minister could do and had from the Spaniards all the assurances by oaths words and writings which could be expected from Christians the which without adding or diminishing he faithfully presented unto his said late Majesty and his said late Majesty was pleased in those times to conceive upon those assurances that they dealt really with him And he conceiveth that his Majesty that now is then Prince and the Duke of Buckingham were pleased to write as much to the late Kings Majesty at their first coming into Spain and that all which the said Earl had written touching that imploiment was there avowed by the Conde Olivarez and Conde Gondomar to the said Prince and Duke at their arrival at Madrid and he hopeth that if that Dispatch may be perused it will as well appear and be adjudged that he served his Majesty with some measure of vigilancie as well as fulness of fidelity III. To the Third Article the said Earl saith That he did not either by words or by Letters to his late Majesty or his Ministers extol or magnifie the greatness and power of the King of Spain nor represented to his late Majesty the supposed dangers that might ensue unto him if a War should happen between him and the King of Spain nor affirmed nor insinuated the same as in the said Article is mentioned but if he did at any time speak or write of the power and greatness of the King of Spain or represented any danger to his said late Majesty that might ensue by entring into Hostility with the said King of Spain it was as a faithful Counsellor and Servant to his Majesty by way of his advice and opinion which he ever delivered sincerely faithfully and truly according to the present occasion and in no wise with such as intent as in the said Article is mentioned nor to any other evil intent and purpose whatsoever But he hath been so far from disswading his late Majesty to take Arms that he hath upon all just occasions advised that all fitting preparations for War might be made as beginning with the year 1621. from which time he is onely charged will appear by his Speech in Parliament presently after his return out of Germany and that he hoped his Majesty would no longer relie upon single Treaties but make all fitting preparations for War and that the Parliament would enable his Majesty thereunto and by the care he took before his going again upon his Ambassage into Spain that the establishment of an Army under his Majesties own Standard of Horse and Foot and under his own pay might be setled and provided for as likewise his advice to the Lords of the Council that his Majesty might have a curb upon the King of Spain upon all occasions by continuing of Sir Robert Mansfields Fleet upon the Coasts of Spain as will appear by his Letter written from Vienna 26 Iuly 1621. mentioned in the Answer to the first Article By all which it appeareth That he labored and endeavored as much as in him lay that his Majesty might be well prepared for any occasions of War that should happen And he no way remembreth to have discouraged or to have spoken or written any thing that might have been understood to have tended to the discouraging of his said late Majesty for the taking of Arms and entring into hostility with Spain or for resisting of him and his Forces from attempting the Invasions of his late Majesties Dominions or the Dominions of his late Majesties Confederates Friends or Allies as by the said Article is charged against him neither remembreth that he had any cause so to do But if he have in any kinde spoken or written of Spain or the power thereof it may have been to his late Majesty or his Majesty that now is by way of discourse speaking of the solidness of the Spanish proceedings of their serious and deliberate debating of business before they resolve on them of the constant pursuing of them when they are once resolved wishing that England and other Nations would therein imitate them For he supposeth the right way to impeach their greatness was to grow as wise as they and to beat them at their own Weapons But otherwise he is confident never to have been heard to speak or write any thing that might give any terror or discouragement to his late Majesty or his cheif Ministers knowing that England well-ordered need to take little terror at the power of Spain having almost in all attempts and enterprises won honor upon them And as for the preventing of dangers that might ensue upon a War though he knew not what is aimed at in that particular yet he is most confident out of the Integrity of his own Conscience That he neither said nor advised any thing but what befitted a faithful Counsellor and an Ambassador which was truly to deliver his opinion as he understood it upon the present occasion And as for affirming that his Majesties quiet should be disturbed and he not to be permitted to Hawk or to Hunt he remembreth not what discourse he may have had or written to any person how fit it might be upon the being broiled in a great War seriously to intend it and to make it our whole work But as he is confident it will appear that what discourse soever it might have been it wanted not true zeal and affection which he hath ever borne to the Kings service And he hopeth it will not be found to want due respect and reverence on his part which he ought to shew to so gratious a Master Neither can it be conceived that the considerations of Hunting and Fowling should be considerations worthy so great and prudent a King to withhold from a War for the good of Christendom and his Kingdom if he should have been justly provoked thereunto IV. To the Fourth Article the said Earl saith That he did not any thing contrary to his duty and alleagiance or contrary to the faith and duty of an Ambassador as by this Article is alleaged but did intend the service and honor of his late Majesty and no corrupt and sinister ends of his own advancement as by this Article is also alleaged And as for the Conferences which is pretended he should hold concerning the Treaty That being told there was little
probability that the said Treaties would or could have good success he should acknowledge as much and yet said he cared not what the success thereof might be but that he would take care to have his Instructions perfect and to pursue them punctually and would make his Fortune thereby or words to that effect he doth not ever remember to have held such discourse Though it be true the time hath been many years since when he thought the Match very unlike to be effected in regard unequal Answers were given in Prince Henries days and of the unlikelihood of accommodating the differences of Religion And saith further That the reviving of the Treaty of the said Match for his Majesty that now is was not by his means for he ever declared his opinion clearly both to his late Majesty and to his Majesty that now is That in the first place he wished and advised a Protestant Match but in the duty of a Servant understanding that both their Majesties desired the Match really with Spain he did really and faithfully intend the service and honor of their Majesties and effectually endeavored to procure their ends And it is very likely he might say he would get his Instructions perfect and pursue them punctually as he conceiveth was lawful and fit for him but the latter part of this Conference that he should say he would make his fortune by it or any other words to that effect he was in Anno 1621. and ever since of that rank and quality both in regard of his Imployments Fortunes and his Majesties favors that he assureth himself he did not and dares Answer so far for his discretion That it was impossible for him to hold so mean and unworthy discourse V. To the Fifth Article he saith That what is therein alleaged is so far from being so that contrarily upon all occasions to the uttermost of his power he did labor to prevent all the inconveniences in point of Religion that might come by matching with a Princess of a different Religion as well appeareth by the Paper of his opinion that his Majesty should marry with a Lady of his own Religion hereafter mentioned in his Answer to the Seventh Article And for further proof thereof he saith That in the whole Treaty with Spain he stood more strict in points of Religion then by his Instructions he needed to have done as will appear by the Testimony of Sir Walter Aston and his Dispatches of the Twelfth of December 1622. and other Dispatches which he desireth may be read And as for concealing or perswading to set at liberty the Priests or Jesuits he utterly denieth to have done any such thing as before he hath answered Although it be true that the Ambassage in Spain be far different from the employment in other places where there is a Body of our Reformed Religion and whereby his Majesty hath Kinred and Allies whereby his Majesties Ministers may be informed of the necessary Occurrents of State without the helps of Priests or Jesuites But in Spain there being none but Roman Catholicks nor any manner of correspondency or intelligence but by them the Ambassadors must make use of all sorts of people especially of Jesuites and Priests and to that end Ambassadors sent thither have a large and particular Warrant under the Kings hand to treat and make use of Priests and Jesuites and all other sorts of men unless it be such as are proclaimed Rebels And divers times the Ministers employed in Spain to gratifie some whom there they employed for the Kings service have as he believeth at their partiticular Suit moved his Majesty to extend Grace and Favor to some parcular Friend and Kinsman of his being a Roman Catholick and imprisoned in England and that he remembreth to have hapned to others but doth not remember himself to have written to his late Majesty in that kinde And as concerning his advice and counsel to set at liberty Jesuites and Priests and the granting to the Papists a Toleration or the silencing of the Laws against them he said that his late Majesty was engaged by the Treaty of Madrid 1617. in divers matters concerning Religion likewise by promise to Conde Gondomar and his Letters to the King of Spain 17 April 1620. wherein he is pleased to promise some particulars in favor of Roman Catholicks as by the said Letters will appear And notwithstanding the said Earl had sufficient Warrant under the Kings own hand to assure the King of Spain whatsoever was agreed in the said Article or in the said Letters his Majesty would sincerely perform yet the said Earl was so cautious in that point that when for the conclusion of the Match the other Articles of Religion being allowed it was pressed by the Spanish Ministers that a Clause of Convenience might be inserted with Protestation That the form and way thereof should be wholly left to his Majesties wisdom and clemency and that his Majesties Roman Catholick-Subjects should acknowledge this Grace to have come from the Kings Majesties mercy and goodness Yet the said Earl would not condescend hereunto De bene esse as by his Letters to Master Secretary Calvert 8 October 1622. will appear hereby to give his Majesty time to have recourse unto his second Consultation and to take it into consideration before he would engage or binde himself in this point But his late Majesty and his Majesty that now is were pleased to condiscend hereunto by signing the said Articles with their own hands and likewise by writing their private Letters of the Eight of Ianuary 1622. to that effect to the King of Spain as by the said Letters will appear Neither did the said Earl by Letters or otherwise ever counsel or perswade his late Majesty to grant or allow unto the Papists or Professors of the Roman Religion a free Toleration and Silencing of the Laws made and standing in force against them but ever protested against any such Toleration and when any such Provision hath been offered to be made in Spain he ever refused so much as to give ear to it or to suffer it to be propounded although it be true that he hath since seen a Paper touching Pardons Suspensions and Dispensations for the Roman Catholicks bearing date the Seventh of August 1623. signed by the Lord Conway and others which in effect is little less then a Toleration which Paper is that which followeth Salisbury 7 August 1623. The Declaration touching the Pardons Suspensions and Dispensations of the Roman Catholicks FOr the satisfaction of their Excellencies the Marquess of Ynojosa and Don Carlos de Colonia the Lord Ambassadors for the King of Spain and to the end it may appear that his Majesty of Great Britain will presently and really put in execution the Grace promised and intended to the Roman Catholicks his Majesties Subjects and of his own Grace more then he is tyed to by the Articles of Treaty of Marriage We do declare in his Majesties Name That
his Majesties will and pleasure is that a Legal and Authentical Pardon shall be passed under the Great Seal wherein shall be freely pardoned all those Penalties Forfeitures and Seisures Indictments Convictments and Incumbrances whatsoever whereunto the Roman Catholicks are lyable or have been proceeded against or might be as well Priests as others for matters of Conscience onely and to which the rest of his Majesties Subjects are not liable And to the end his Majesty may make himself clearly understood where it shall happen that any of those Forfeitures and Pecuniary Mulâ—s have béen given away under his Majesties Great Seal his Majesty will not hide that it is not in his power so to make void those Letters Patents except they be voidable by Law and then his Majesty is well pleased that all Roman Catholicks may in these Cases plead in Law if they finde it good and shall have equal and legal Tryal And his Majesty is likewise pleased that his General Pardon shall remain in being Five years to the end all that will may in that time take it out and his Majesty will give order for the comfort of the poorer sort that the Pardon shall not be costly but such like course shall be taken as was in a like occasion at his majesties coming into England and that it shall be lawful to put as many as can be possible into one Pardon And we do further Declare That his Majesties will and pleasure is to the end the Roman Catholicks his Majesties Subjects may have a present and a frée fruition of as much as is intended them by the Articles of Treaty of Marriage to cause a present Suspension under his Majesties Seal of all those Penal Laws Charges and Forfeitures whereunto the Roman Catholick Subjects of his Majesty have heretofore béen subject and to which the rest of his Majesties Subjects have not béen liable and in the same Grant and under the same Seal to give a Dispensation and Toleration to all the Roman Catholicks his Majesties Subjects as well Priests as Temporal persons and others of and from all the Penalties Forfeitures Troubles and Incumbrances which they have béen or may be subject to by reason of any Statute or Law whatsoever to the observation whereof the rest of his Majesties Subjects are not bound We do likewise declare That his Majesty hath promised in his Royal Word that the execution shall be no ways burthensome or penal to the Roman Catholicks but that for the manner of priviledging and fréeing them from that he must confer with Bishops and Advocates into which he will presently enter and expedite by all means And we do further declare That his Majesties intention is presently to pursue his former Directions which had béen before executed if their Excellencies had so thought good to put under his Seal severally the said Pardon and Suspension and Dispensation and that his Majesties Attorney and learned Council shall have referred to them the charge to pen them with all those effectual words clauses expressions and reservations which may presently give fruition to the Roman Catholicks his Majesties Subjects and make them inviolable in the fruition of all that is intended and promised by his Majesty in the Articles of Marriage and his Majesties further Grace And we do declare That his Majesties further will and pleasure is for the better satisfaction and discharge of the care and endeavor of their Excellencies the Ambassadors that it shall be lawful to them to assign a discréet person to entertain such sufficient Lawyers as shall be thought sit to take care to the strength validity and security of the said Grants and his Majesties Attorney shall have charge to receive and admit the said Lawyers to the sight and judgment of the said Draughts and in any doubts to give them satisfaction or to use such legal necessary and pertinent words and phrases as he the said Lawyer shall propound for the security of the Roman Catholicks and sure making of the said Grants And we do further declare That his Majesties pleasure is to make a Dispatch into Ireland unâ—o his Deputy there by the hands of the Lord Treasurer and Secretary of State Sir George Calvert for the present confirming and sealing the things concerning the Roman Catholicks answerable to the Articles of Treaty his Royal Promise and Procéedings here And for Scotland That his Majesty according to the constitution of his Affairs there and regard to the Publick good and peace of that Kingdom and as soon as possible will do all that shall be convenient for the accomplishment of his Promise in Grace and Favor of the Roman Catholicks his Subjects conformable to the Articles of Treaty of Marriage But this Declaration the said Earl saith and affirmeth was the effect of the Duke of Buckinghams Negotiation and treated and concluded by the Lord Conway with the Spanish Ambassador here whilst the Prince was in Spain neither was his privity or advice in it For if he had known it he should have protested against it All which together with the difference betwixt the Conditions of Religion agreed at the Treaty of Madrid 12 December 1622. by the said Earl and the said Sir Walter Aston being by their Lordships considered the said Earl doubteth not but it will manifestly appear whose endeavor it was to advance the Romish Religion and the Professors thereof and judge the said Earl most unfortunate to be charged with an Article of this kinde VI. To the Sixth Article the Earl saith That the Assurances which he gave his late Majesty and his Majesty that now is concerning the Treaties were such That it had been dishonesty and breach of his duty and trust for him to have held them back being the same that were given him by the Emperor and the King of Spain and their Ministers upon as great Assurances as can pass between Ministers of Princes in the like case And for the Delays of Spain they could be never so ill and with so little colour complained of as at the time of his Majesties coming thither for that a certain time was before then prefixed for the coming of the Dispensation viz. in April 1623. at the furthest which was the next moneth after the Princes arival at Madrid the Desponsories were to be within four days following and the Infanta to begin her journey into England twenty days after So as three moneths patience longer would have shewed the issue of the business without putting of the person of the Prince being Heir-Apparant to the Crown in so eminent a hazard for the trying of an experiment And it is an argument of great suspition because the Spaniards were suspected to have dealt falsly and so the less to be trusted with the person of the Prince to be put into their hands to try conclusions But the truth is though that were made the pretended ground and the occasion of the journey it was neither the Assurances of the said Earl nor the Jealousies of Spain
of future Actions the Copy whereof is this as followeth SIR THe Opinion which I have ever presumed humbly to offer unto his Majesty concerning your Highness Marriage hath been that both in regard of Conscience and satisfaction unto his Majesties People and Alleys likewise for the security and quiet of your Majesties estates Your Highness might take for Wife some Protestant Princess although she neither were Daughter to a King nor had so ample a Portion as might relieve the Kings present Necessities and Wants for then there might be many ways found to help the Kings wants either by some few years providence and frugality or by winning the affections of the people to the supplying of his Majesty by way of Subsidies in Parliament whereas contrariwise if the number and power of the Papists shall be increased as undoubtedly they will be by your Highness matching with any Catholick Princess through the Concession which must be of necessity for the exercise of her Religion for her self and Family within your Highness Courts and thereby by degrees these two different Religions shall grow to an equality of power it will be of great hazard and disquiet to the State and not to be redressed without great danger and courses of more violence then is usual for this State to put in practice But in case his Majesty out of his wisdom and consideration best known to himself hold it fittest that your Majestie match with France or Spain or any other Catholick either for that the present time affordeth no Protestant Princess who is for years or Blood suitable for your Highness or that can in any considerable measure by the portion supply his Majesties present wants I then conceive that the Match by which this State shall suffer least inconveniency and cumbers and whereby his Majesties necessities shall by the greatness of the Portion be the most relieved is with Spain is such a Match may be made with such Conditions of Religion as other Catholick Princes will contract themselves withall Thus much I thought sit humbly to present unto your Highness for that I see my Imployment liable to the Censure of many worthy Persons with whom though I concur in my Opinion yet I seem much to differ from them many ways For that it is more proper to me to be true to my Masters ends and services then by declaring this to procure their satisfaction Only to your Highness I thought fit to make this Declaration and shall be a Suitor to you for your favor as you shall see me really labor to put this in effect And if his Majesty shall either upon motion of Parliament or any other Proposition that can be made unto him think it fit to proceed with a Protestant Match as I shall wish as well unto it as any man living so I hope in such sort to manage the present business that I have in hand that it shall rather much further then any way cross or hinder it But in case his Majesty shall not be drawn to any Proposition for a Protestant Match I then conceive that your Highness both doth and will approve that I really and effectually labor to procure a Match for your Highness in Spain upon such Conditions in point of Religion and Portion as to his Majesty shall seem fit Besides which Declaration of his Opinion He hath all the days of his life and in all places lived and allowed himself to be a Protestant never having done any the least act that was not suitable to that Profession And in all his former Imployments for the space of Fourteen years of more then Five hundred persons of all qualities that attended on him there was never any perverted in his Religion saving two Irish Footmen who in Ireland had been bred Papists And he humbly desireth the Testimony of Doctor Mason and Doctor Wren his Majesties Chaplains who were with his Majesty in Spain and of Master Sampford one of the Prebends of Canterbury Master Boswell Parson of S. Laurence in London and Master Frewen Divinity-Reader in Magdalen-Colledge in Oxford and now one of his Majesties Chaplains who were his Majesties Chaplains in Spain as well for the frequent use of the Sacrament as constant profession and exercises of Religion and the testimony of such Catholicks as are known to have been his antient Acquaintance and Friends to examine them upon oath Whether publickly or privately in Spain or in England they had known him in any kind to make shew or so much as to forbear upon all occasions to declare the Religion he professeth And that the said Mr. Frewen and Mr. Wake may be also examined Whether in extremity of several sicknesses whereinto he hath of late years fallen he hath not ever setled his Conscience withthem towards God and made a Confession of his Faith resolving as be-fitting a Protestant or good Christian. VIII To the Eighth Article the Earl saith That he did not at any time or in any place endeavor to perswade the Prince touching his religion to become a Roman Catholick and to be obedient to the usurped authority of Rome Neither did the said Earl to that end and purpose or otherwise use unto his Majesty then Prince the words in the Article mentioned But the said Earl acknowledgeth that upon occasion of a Letter that came to his Majesty then Prince putting his Majesty in mind of the great actions of his Royal Progenitors in the Holy War that the great Kings of those times did not only imploy their Forces but in their persons went into the Holy Land The Earl believeth that by way of discourse only and not otherwise he may have said That in regard of the difference in Religion it was of more difficulty to undertake such great actions now then in former Ages and it might well be instanced in the present Treaty of the Marriage wherein the Popes consent was to be obtained And to this effect and upon the like grounds he is confident there were very many that have nay few of neerness about his late Majesty that have not often heard his Majesty say That he was the true Martyr that suffered more for his Religion then all the Princes of Christendom besides instancing in divers particulars but especially in this That he could not match his Children with Kings of his own rank without the Popes leave But the said Earl saith He never alleaged any such thing to any other purpose then to shew that only Conscience and love to Truth in which regard Protestants suffered much not any temporal respects made men constant and zealous to the profession of our Religion By which discourse he ever attributed much to the honor and security of Protestant religion but never used it as an argument to perswade to the contrary as in the Accusation is insinuated Besides he conceiveth by way of Answer thereunto the said Question may be asked which his Majesty was pleased to ask of the Earl in the Seventh Article viz.
said Sir Walter Aston may be ignorant of as he is confident that he was and not out of any disaffection to our Religion or for any sinister respect or regard to the House of Austria as by the said Article is intimated For he did not conceive the breeding of the Prince Palatine's Son with the Emperor having a Governor appointed by his late Majesty and his Father and he and his Domesticks to have free use of their own Religion to be a matter of impossibility or such dangerous consequence in point of Religion as to imply his Conversion as by the Article is intimated well knowing that in the Emperors Court all Princes there though his Prisoners and others his Counsellors and Servants about his person and of great Command in his Armies being avowed Protestants have the free use of their Religion And it is not to be supposed the Son of the Prince Palatine Grandchild to the King of Great Britain should be matched and no care taken to capitulate for the use of his Religion being ever granted to the meanest Prince that is bestowed And his Majesties special care in this point is fully seen in the said Letter X. To the Tenth Article he saith That by comparing of this Article of his too much Forwardness with the Second Article whereby he is charged with continuing the Treaty upon Generalities without reducing them to Certainties and direct Conclusions Your Lordships will perceive how impossible it was for him to avoid an Exception But for direct Answer to the present Charge he saith That he did not presumptuously nor yet to his knowledge break his Instructions nor set any day at all for the Desponsories but was therein meerly passive in admitting the day nominated by the King of Spain according to the Capitulation before made Nor did he presumptuously wilfully or willingly disobey any Commandment or Direction of his Majesty that now is then Prince which he could understand not to be countermanded either by present or future Instructions otherwise explained And for the better manifestation of the truth of his proceedings in and concerning the same he saith That on the day of the departure of his Majesty then Prince from the Escurial in Spain his Highness delivered unto him in presence of the Commissioners his Proxies powers with publick Declaration taken in writing by the Secretary to the King of Spain of the Prince his pleasure and how the said Earl should use them viz. That he should deliver them to the King of Spain upon the coming of the Dispensation cleared from Rome according to that which had been agreed which was to be within ten dayes after the coming of the Dispensation And he further saith That it is true that the Prince afterwards by his Letters sent by one Mr Clark commanded him the said Earl not to deliver the said Proxies till he should have received security that the Infanta after her being betrothed should not enter into any Religious Order and that before he proceeded he should send to his Majesty then Prince such securities as should be offered that he might judge whether it were sufficient or not Whereupon the said Earl as became a faithfull Servant presented unto his Majesty that now is then Prince such Assurances as were offered unto him for securing of that point together with such Reasons as he conceived were fit to be offered to their considerations which gave unto his late Majesty and his Majesty that now is then Prince such satisfaction as they were pleased to dispatch a Post presently unto him absolutely discharging him of that Commandment as by their several Letters dated October 8. 1623. will appear as followeth We have received your Letters by Grisley and the copy of them to our dear Son and we cannot forbear to let you know how well we esteem the dutifull discreet and judicial Relation and humble advice to our Son Whereupon having ripely deliberated with our-self and communicated with our dear Son we have resolved with the good liking of our Son to rest upon that security in point of doubt for the Infanta's taking a Religious Order which you in your judgement shall think meet And by that other Letter of his Majesty that now is then Prince as followeth Viz. Your Letters to the King and me concerning that doubt I made after I came from St Laurence hath so satisfied us both that we think it fit no longer to stick upon it but leave it to your discretion to take what security you shall think fitting Whereby he was absolutely freed of that command and being so freed thereof he then remained under the Order which his Majesty then Prince had left with him at his departure which was to proceed according to the Capitulations and his Highness Declaration when he delivered the said Proxies unto him And so he intended to have done till by his Highness's Letters November 13. 1623. he was directly commanded the contrary which Commandment he most readily and punctually obeyed And for such his intentions till he was countermanded he conceiveth he had not onely sufficient warrant but had highly offended if he had done otherwise For first for his proceedings to consummate the Match he had warrant and instruction under his late Majesties hand Secondly It was the main scope of his Ambassage Thirdly He was injoyned by the King and Prince his Commission under the Great Seal Fourthly He had positive Order under his Majesties hand by Letters since Fifthly It was agreed by Capitulation that it should be within so many dayes after the coming of the Dispensation Sixthly His late Majesty and his Majesty that now is then Prince signified by their Letters unto him at the same time when they discharged him of his Commandment touching the Infanta's entring into Religion that they intended to proceed in the Marriage as by his Majesties Letters October 8. 1623. will appear Seventhly The Proxies were to that end left in his hands and after again renewed after his Majesties return into England Eighthly He had overthrown the Marriage without order For although Sir Walter Aston and himself used all possible means for the gaining of time and deferring the Desponsories yet the King of Spain caused it to be protested that in case he the said Earl should insist upon the deferring of the Desponsories he would free himself from the Treaty by the said Earls infringing of the Capitulations And in truth although the King of Spain should have condescended to have prolonged the Desponsories until one of the dayes of Christmas as by the Letter was required yet the Prince's Proxies had been before that time expired and he durst not without a precise Warrant put such a scorn upon so noble a Lady whom he then conceived was likely to have been the Prince his wife as to nominate a day of marriage when the Proxies were out of date and he was himself sworn to the Treaty And lastly he could not in honor and honesty but endeavor to perform
that publick Trust reposed in him when the Proxies were deposited in his hands with publick and legal Declaration with an instrument by a Secretary of State to the King of Spain leading and directing the use of them and the same being then instrumentum stipulatum wherein as well the King of Spain was interessed by the acceptation of the substitution as the Prince by granting of the Proxies he could not in honesty fail the publick Trust without clear and undoubted warrant which as soon as he had he obeyed So as the Case standing thus the said Earl is very confident that the supposed Countermands Directions and Restrictions when they should be perused and considered of will appear to have been very slender and insufficient warrant against the aforesaid Orders and Reasons before specified And is also as confident That what is assured out of his the said Earls Dispatches will also appear to be misunderstood and that if he had proceeded to the execution of the Desponsories before he received direct and express commandment to the contrary by the aforesaid Letters November 13. 1623. which he readily and punctually obeyed he had not under favor broken his Instructions or deserved any blame for lack of assurance of the restitution of the Palatinate and Temporal Articles And first of the Palatinate his said Majesty did not send to the said Earl express Directions not to dispatch the Desponsories until a full conclusion were had of the other Treaty of the Palatinate together with that of the Marriage as by the said Article is alledged onely his late Majesty by the aforesaid Letters of October 8. required the said Earl so to endeavor that his Majesty might have the joy of both at Christmas Whereas his Instructions of May 14. 1621. were express that he should not make the business of the Palatinate a condition of the Marriage And his late Majesties Letters of December 30. 1623. were fully to the same effect Yet did the said Earl according to what was intimated by the said Letters of October 8. so carefully provide therein as that before the Proxies were to be executed he had an absolute answer in the business of the Palatinate the same should be really restored according to his late Majesties desire and the Conde Olivarez both in his Majesties name and in his own desired the said Earl and Sir Walter Aston that they would assure his Majesty of the real performance of the same and intreated if need were they should engage their honor and life for it as by their joynt Dispatches of November 23. 1623. will appear and so much the said Sir Walter Aston and the said Earl agreed should be delivered to them in writing before they would have delivered their Proxies and so the said Earl declared it the which Answer in writing should have been the same which since was given them of Ianuary 8. 1623. And both Sir Walter Aston and the said Earl were confident therein as they by their said Letters of November 23. wrote to his late Majesty as followeth Viz. That his Majesty might according to his desire signified to the said Earl by his Letters of October 8. give as well to his Majesties Daughter that Christmas the comfortable news of the expiring of her great troubles and sufferings as to his Son the Prince the Congratulation of being married to a most worthy and excellent Princess By which it will evidently appear he meant not to leave the business of the Palatinate loose when he intended to proceed to the Marriage but he confessed that he was ever of opinion that the best pawn and assurance his late Majesty could have of the real proceedings of the Palatinate was That they proceeded really to the effecting of the Match and of the same opinion was his late Majesty also and the Lords Commissioners here in England as appeareth by his Instructions dated March 14. 1621. which opinion still continued in them as appeareth by his late Majesties Letters of Ianuary 7. 1622. And as for the Temporal Articles the said Earl saith when the Desponsories were formerly appointed to have been as he remembreth on Friday August 29. before the departure of his Majesty then Prince out of Spain which was onely hindred by the not coming of the Dispensation the Prince appointed him and Sir Walter Aston to meet with the Spanish Commissioners and they drew up the heads of the Temporal Articles wherewith the Prince and the Duke of Buckingham were acquainted and in case the Dispensation had come and the Desponsories been performed on that day there had been no other provision made for them before the Marriage but presently upon the Prince his departure he the said Earl caused them to be drawn into form and sent them to his late Majesty September 27. 1623. desiring to understand his Majesties pleasure with all speed especially if he disapproved any thing in them but never received notice of any dislike thereof until the aforesaid Letters of November 13. 1623. which put off the Desponsories So as it appeareth the said Earl was so far from breaking his Instructions or from having any intention to have proceeded to the execution of the Desponsories before his Majesty and the Prince were satisfied of this point of the Infanta entring into Religion or before convenient assurance as well for the restitution of the Palatinate as performance of the Temporal Articles that he deserveth as he conceiveth under favor no blame so much as in intention but if he had erred in intention onely as he did not the same being never reduced into Act the Fault as he conceiveth was removed by his obedience before the intention was put into execution For so it is in Cases towards God And as to the matter of aggravation against him that he appointed so short a time for the Desponsories as that without extraordinary diligence the Prince had been bound he thereto saith as he said before that he set no day at all thereunto nor could defer it after the Dispensation came from Rome without a direct breach of the Match so long labored in and so much desired yet he and Sir Walter Aston having used all possible industry to discover how the motion of deferring the Match would be taken and finding an absolute resolution in the King of Spain to proceed punctually and to require the Proxies according to the Capitulations within ten dayes after the coming of the Dispensation and that time also getting advertisement from Rome that the Dispensation was granted and would presently be there he the said Earl to the end in so great a Cause he might have a clear and undoubted understanding of his late Majesties pleasure sent a Dispatch of November 1. with all diligence unto his Majesty letting his Majesty know that it could not be possible for him to protract the Marriage above four dayes unless he should hazard the breaking for which he had no warrant But that this was no new Resolution nor the
near Ormus and in other parts within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty was come into the Possessions of the Treasurers of the East-India Company and remained in their hands and prayed it might be attached and the said Treasurers be monished to appear the Wednesday then next following and there to bring in the 150000 l. to remain in Deposit with the Register of that Court. The same Tenth of March a Warrant issued forth accordingly directed to the Marshal of the said Court and upon the said next Wednesday the Seventeenth of March the same Warrant was returned by the said Marshal That the day before he had attached the said Moneys in the hands of Mr. Stone then present in the Court and had admonished him and Mr. Abbot the Deputy-Governor of that Company and divers others then present to bring in the same into Court Upon the same Wednesday also it was prayed by the Kings Advocate That Mr. Stone and all that had an interest in this money might be pronounced as in Contumacy and therefore be arrested and detained until 150000 l. were brought into the Register Hereupon Sentence of Contumacy was pronounced but the payment thereof was respited until Friday following Upon which Seventeenth of March this Sentence being pronounced Mr. Stone Mr. Abdy and others Officers of the said Company then present informed how the Governor was lately dead and buried but the day before and that upon Wednesday then next following they had appointed a Court for Election of a new Governor and until then they could resolve of nothing and therefore desired further respite The Advocate nothing relenting at this reasonable excuse and desire of the Company did again earnestly press their Imprisonment but the Judge took time to consider of it The Company finding by these extraordinary and extream courses the drift of the Duke whose greatness and power seemed unresistable and his minde implacable without satisfaction to his own content and withal observing what a streight they were cast into by reason of the stay of their Ships which if it were much longer they must needs lose their Voyage utterly for this year and the very unloading of them would endamage them to the value of the sum extorted And being told that the Eye of the State was upon this business and that it would light heavy upon them and hearing the Duke protest their Ships should not go unless they compounded with him and finding that he made difficulty of releasing their Ships by saying The Parliament must be moved before they could be discharged albeit the wind were now fair for them And making overture of some resonable grounds of composition by offering to grant Letters of Mart to the said Company for the future against the Subjects of the King of Spain while yet the Peace and Treaty between his late Majesty and the King of Spain were not broken or dissolved The said Company being intangled by the Dukes subtilty and overcome at last by the terror of his power and greatness was drawn to make offer of Six thousand pounds to the said Duke which was rejected as a base offer And now the time pressing them on very hard some consultations were had amongst them Whether it were better for them to make use of a clause in their Patent allowing them three years to draw home their Estates and so to let their Company die and be dissolved or else to yeild to the Dukes desire Yet in conclusion they were drawn in to offer him Ten thousand pounds for their peace if it could serve which offer was made unto him accordingly but at first he would not accept it howbeit about the Three and twentieth of March 1623. they agreed to give him the said Ten thousand pounds which he accepted and forthwith moving the Lords of Parliament or acquainting them therewith he retracted their Ships and gave them leave to depart on their Voyage which they accordingly did setting sail the Seven and twentieth day of the same moneth from the Downs And afterwards upon the Fifth of April 1624. the Duke signified unto the Lords House of Parliament That his Majesty at the humble Petition of the East-India Company had commanded him to discharge the East-Indian Ships which he had once stayed according to the order of this House made the First day of March then last past and moved That the said Order might be countermanded and thereupon it was ordered that the Clerk of that House should cross the said Order of the First of March out of his Book which was done accordingly and afterwards the said Ten thousand pounds was paid unto the said Duke which he received and accepted accordingly And upon the Eight and twentieth of April aforesaid suffered a colourable Sentence in the Admiralty to be given against him for their discharge in such sort as by the same Sentence appeareth And for a colour he sealed and delivered unto the said Company a Deed of Acquittance or Release of the said Ten thousand pounds and of all his pretended rights against them as by the Deed thereof also appeareth And whereas it may be imagined by some misconceit that out of this an Aspersion may be laid upon his late Majesty in regard the Duke was pleased to say in the Conference between both Houses 18 March last That the said King had Ten thousand pounds of the said Company by occasion of this business The House of Commons have been very careful in their proceedings in this as in all other things they have and ever shall be to do nothing which may reflect upon the Honor of their Kings And in this particular by that which hath been here at first declared of the manner and occasion of the said Goods and Moneys taken from the said Portugals and receiving the same as aforesaid while the said Peace was continuing and the said Treaties indissolved it appeareth that it had not been safe for the said Company to stand out a Suit concerning that business wherein they might have need of his Majesties Mercy and Pardon but it was both safe and good for them to give Ten thousand pounds and it well stood with his late Majesties Honor for that sum to grant them a Pardon which he did to their great contentment and satisfaction and yet we finde that this Ten thousand pounds also was paid into the hands of Mr. Oliver the Dukes servant but finde not any Record by which it doth appear unto us that ever it came unto his late Majesties use And it is observable in this case That the oppression fell upon the same Company shortly after the great affliction which hapned unto some of them at Amboyna in the East-Indies by means of the Dutch which might have moved a Noble minde rather to pitty then punish the Company after such a Distress so lately suffered Having now finished the Narrative part belonging to this Charge I shall observe unto your Lordships upon the whole matter the nature of the Dukes offences by this Article
Answer in writing under their hands whether they would conform to the Lord Conways Letter and to the Instrument peraffetted at Rochester for delivery over of the said ships yea or no offering to procure them a sufficient discharge to their contentment for their so doing The same day also Sir Ferdinando Gorge and the rest by writing under their hands subscribed did declare as followeth namely That they were willing to obey our King but held not the security peraffetted at Rochester by the three Ambassadors to be sufficient though honorable and so they absolutely refused to deliver their ships upon that security desiring better caution in that behalf 1. By Merchants of Paris 2. To be transferred to London 3. Irrevocable 4. And such as might not be protected by Prerogative and to have this under the Hands and Seals of both Kings All this while our King or body of the Council knew nothing in certain of any other design of the French then only of their pretence against Genoa and believed that all the Articles and Instruments that had passed between the French and us or the Captains Masters and Owners of the English ships had been penned and contrived with full and good Cautions accordingly for pâ—evention of all dangers that might grow to the contrary Also the same 28 Iuly the Captains and Masters taking notice of Mr. Nicholas pressing them to deliver their ships before security given to their content contrary to former Propositions which they held unreasonable did make answer unto the Marquis in writing That until they should have security to their contentment they would not quit the possession of their ships unto the French which was but reasonable and they sent therewith a valuation of their several ships as they would stand to They likewise demanded a performance of all things formerly sent to his Lordship from them by Mr. Nicholas save only for the security by money deposited saying that for all the rest they durst not proceed otherwise Lastly they prayed for a speedy Answer that the delay in this business may not seem to be in them But D' Effiat being confident of the Duke of Buckingham's Letters promises and proceedings aforesaid would not consent to these reasonable demands of the Captains and Masters of the English ships protracting the time till he might hear further from the said Duke out of England While these things were thus in handling both in France and in England there were written over out of France into England Letters of advertisement how and upon what ground or by what act or means procured or occasioned appeareth not yet from one Mr. Larking a servant to the Earl of Holland and a kind of Agent a person some way imployed by our State or under some of our Ambassadors or Ministers in France That the Peace was concluded with those of our Religion in France and that within fourteen days the War would break forth or begin in Italy with a Design upon Genoa a matter of great importance for annoying the Spaniard This Letter of Larking came to the English Court at Richmond 28 Iuly when the Duchess of Chevereux Child was there Christened and the Contents thereof as hath been alleaged were confirmed by the Ambassadors of Savoy and Venice By the advantage and colour whereof the Duke of Buckingham drew the King who all this while knew nothing of the Design upon Rochel or those of our Religion but thought the â—ormer Articles had been safe and well penned both for him and his Subjects according to the most religious and politick intention and Instructions in that behalf originally given by his late Father to write a Letter dated at Richmond the same 28 Iuly directed to the said Captain Pennington to this effect viz. His Majesty did thereby charge and command the said Captain Pennington without delay to put his Highness former Command in execution for consigning the Vantguard into the hands of the Marguis D'Effiat for the French with all her Furniture assuring her Officers his Majesty would provide for their Indemnity And to require the seven Merchants ships in his Majesties name to put themselves into the service of the French King according to the promise his Majesty had made unto him And in case of backwardness or refusal commanding him to use all forcible means to compel them even to sinking with a Charge not to fail and this Letter to be his Warrant This Letter was sent by Captain Thomas Wilbraham to Captain Pennington who was yet in the Downs In the beginning of August 1625. Captain Pennington went over again to Diep carrying with him the said Letters of his Majesty and certain Instructions in writing from the Duke of Buckingham to Mr. Nicholas agreeable in substance to the former verbal Instructions given by the Duke to him at Rochester as the said Nicholas alleadgeth who also affirmeth that in all things what he did touching that business he did nothing but what was warranted by the Dukes Instructions to him which if it be true then the Duke of Buckingham who commanded and imployed him therein must needs be guilty of the matters so acted by the said Mr. Nicholas If there be any subsequent act or assent of Council or of some Counsellors of State for the going of these ships to the French or for putting them into their power it was obtained only for a colour and was unduly gotten by misinforming the Contents of the sealed Articles and concealing the Truth or by some other undue means Neither can any such latter act of Council in any sort justifie the Dukes proceedings which by the whole current of the matter appears to have been indirect in this business even from the beginning About the time of Captain Pennington's coming over to Diep the second time Mr. Nicholas did in his speeches to the Captains and Masters of the seven Merchants ships threaten and tell them That it was as much as their lives were worth if they delivered not their ships to the French as he required which put them in such fear as they could hardly sleep And thereupon two of them were once resolved to have come again away with the ships and because the former threats had made them afraid to return into England therefore to have brought and left their ships in the Downs and themselves for safety of their lives to have gone into Holland Captain Pennington being the second time come into Diep there forthwith delivered and put the said ship the Vantguard into the absolute power and command of the French King his Subjects and Ministers to the said French Kings use to be imployed in his service at his pleasure and acquainted the rest of the Fleet with the effect of his Majesties Letter and Command and demanded and required them also to deliver and put their ships into the power and command of the French King accordingly The Captains Masters and Owners of the seven Merchants ships refused so to do as conceiving it was not
said Drink or Potion to his said late Majesty who thereupon at the same times within the seasons in that behalf prohibited by his Majesties Physitians as aforesaid did by the means and procurement of the said Duke drink and take divers quantities of the said Drink or Potion After which said Plaisters and Drink or Potion applied and given unto and taken and received by his said Majesty as aforesaid great distempers and divers ill symptoms appeared upon his said Majesty insomuch That the said Physitians finding his Majesty the next morning much worse in the estate of his health and holding a Consultation thereabout did by joynt consent send to the said Duke praying him not to adventure to minister to his Majesty any more Physick without their allowance and approbation And his said Majesty himself finding himself much diseased and affected with pain and sickness after his then fit when by the course of his Disease he expected intermission and ease did attribute the cause of such his trouble unto the said Plaister and Drink which the said Duke had so given and caused to be administred unto him Which said adventrous act by a person obliged in duty and thankfulness done to the Person of so great a King after so ill success of the like formerly administred contrary to such Directions as aforesaid and accompanied with so unhappy event to the great grief and discomfort of all his Majesties Subjects in general is an Offence and Misdemeanor of so high a nature as may justly be called and is by the said Commons deemed to be an act of transcendent presumption and of dangerous consequence Mr. Wandesford deputed to enlarge and aggravate upon the Thirteenth Article commended the charity and providence of that Law which makes it penal for unskilful Empyricks and all others to exercise and practice Physick upon common persons without a lawful Calling and Approbation branding them that thus transgress as Improbos Ambitiosos Temerarios Audaces homines But he that without skill and calling shall direct a Medicine which upon the same person had wrought bad effects enough to have disswaded a second adventure and then when Physitians were present Physitians selected for Learning and Art prepared by their Office and Oaths without their consent nay even contrary to their Direction and in a time unseasonable He must needs said he be guilty albeit towards a common person of a precipitate and unadvised rashness much more towards his own Soveraign And so pious are our selves to put the Subjects in minde of their duty towards their Princes Persons so Sacred that in the attempt of a Madman upon the King his want of Reason which towards any of his fellow Subjects might have quit him of Felony shall not excuse him of Treason And how wary and advised our Ancestors have been not to apply things in this kinde to the Person of a King may appear by a President 32 Hen 6. where Iohn Arundel and others the Kings Physitians and Chirurgeons thought it not safe for them to administer any thing to the Kings Person without the assent of the Privy Council first obtained and express Licence under the Great Seal of England This Medicine found his Majesty in the declination of his desease and we all wish it had left him so but his better days were shortly turned into worse and instead of health and recovery we hear by good testimony that which troubles the poor and loyal Commons of England of great distempers as Droughts Raving Fainting an intermitting Pulse strange effects to follow upon the applying of a Treacle Plaister But the truth is Testimony tells us That this Plaister had a strange smell and an invective quality striking the malignity of the disease inward which Nature otherwise might have expelled outward Adde to this the Drink twice given to his Majesty by the Duke his own hands and a third time refused and the following Complaint of that blessed Prince the Physitians telling him to please him for the time That his second impairment was from cold taken or some other ordinary cause No no said his Majesty it is that which I had from Buckingham And though there be no President said he of an act offered to the Person of a King so insolent as this yet is it true that divers persons as great as this have been questioned and condemned for less offences against the Person of their Soveraign It was an Article amongst others laid against the Duke of Somerset for carrying Edward the Sixth away in the night time out of his own head but from Hampton Court to Windsor and yet he was trusted with the Protection of his person Presidents failing us in this point the Common Law will supply us The Law judgeth a deed done in the execution of an unlawful act Man-slaughter which otherwise would but have been Chance-medley and that this act was unlawful the House of Commons do believe as belonging to the Duty and Vocation of a sworn and experimented Physitian and not the unskilfulness of a yong Lord. And so pretious are the lives of men in the Eye of the Law that though Mr. Stanford saith If a Physitian take one into his Cure and he die under his hands it is not Felony because he did it not Feloniously Yet it is Mr. Bractons opinion That if one that is no Physitian or Chirurgeon undertake a Cure and the party die under his hands this is Felony And the Law goeth further making Physitians and Chirurgeons themselves accomptable for the Death of their Patients if it appear they have transgressed the Rules of their own Art that is by undertaking a thing wherein they have no experience or having yet failed in the care and diligence Lastly He said he was commanded by the House of Commons to desire their Lordships That seeing the Duke hath made himself a President in committing that which former Ages knew not their Lordships will out of their Wisdom and Justice make him an example for the time to come The several Articles being thus enlarged and aggravated by the said respective Members Sir Iohn Elliot was appointed to make the Epilogue to the Impeachment who spake thus My Lords YOur Lordships have heard in the Labors of these two days spent in this Service a Representation from the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons House of Parliament of their Apprehension of the present Evils and dangers of this Kingdom of the Causes of the same and of the Application of them to the Duke of Buckingham so clearly and fully as I presume your Lordships expect I should rather conclude then adde any thing to his charge Your Lordships have heard how his Ambition was expressed in procuring and getting into his hands the greatest Offices of strength and power of this Kingdom by what means he had attained them and how Money stood for Merit There needs no Argument to prove this but the common sense of the Miseries and Misfortunes which we suffer
aside and that Consideration might be had how their Priviledges may be preserved unto posterity And the House was put into a Committee for the freer Debate thereof and afterwards resumed And it was ordered That the House be adjourned till to morrow and all businesses to cease The 26. of May the Lord Keeper delivered this Message from the King to the House of Lords viz. THat his Majesty hath willed him to signifie unto their Lordships That he doth marvel his meaning in his last Answer should be mistaken And for the better clearing of his intention hath commanded him to signifie unto their Lordships his further Answer which is That their Lordships last Petition was so acceptable to his Majesty that his intent was then and is still to satisfie their Lordships fully in what they then desired Whereupon it was ordered That all businesses be adjourned till that day seven night At the same time the Duke of Buckingham signified unto their Lordships his desire to have the Kings Council allowed him to plead his cause But the Lords would not hear him because they would entertain no business And so the House was adjourned to the second of Iune At which time the House sitting again the Lord Keeper delivered this Message from the King to the House of Lords viz. HIs Majesty hath commanded me to deliver unto your Lordships a Message touching the Earl of Arundel That his Majesty hath thought of that business and hath advised of his great and pressing affairs which are such as make him unwilling to enter into dispute of things doubtful And therefore to give you clear satisfaction touching that Cause whereby you may more cheerfully proceed in the business of the House he hath endeavored as much as may be to ripen it but cannot yet effect it but is resolved that at the furthest by Wednesday sevennight being the fourteenth of Iune he will either declare the Cause or admit him to the House And addeth further upon the word of a King That if it shall be sooner ripe which he hath good cause to expect he will declare it at the soonest And further That if the occasion doth enforce to stay to the time prefixed yet he doth not purpose to set such a short end to the Parliament but that there shall be an ample and good space between that and the end of the Sessions to dispatch affairs This Message being delivered the House was adjourned ad libitum and put into a Committee And being resumed it was agreed That all businesses should cease but this of the Earl of Arundel's concerning the Priviledges of the House and the House to meet thereon to morrow morning and to be put into a Committee to consider thereof And so the House was adjourned to the next day Then the Lord Keeper delivered this Message from the King Viz. THat in the matter concerning the Earl of Arundel his Majesty hath been very careful and desirous to avoid all jealousie of violating the Priviledges of this House that he continueth still of the same mind and doth much desire to find out some Expedient which might satisfie their Lordships in point of Priviledge and yet not hinder his Majesties service in that particular But because this will require some time his Majesty though his great affairs are urgent and pressing is unwilling to urge their Lordships to go on therewith till his Majesty hath thought on the other And therefore hath commanded him to signifie his pleasure That his Majesty is contented their Lordships adjourn the House till Thursday next and in the mean time his Majesty will take this particular business into further consideration Hereupon the Lords agreed That the Lord Keeper do render unto his Majesty from the House their humble thanks for his gracious respect unto their Priviledges Then the Lord Keeper demanded of the Lords whether their Lordships would adjourn the House till Thursday next Whereupon it was agreed by the Lords and the House was so adjourned On Thursday Iune 8. the Lord Keeper delivered this Message to the Lords from his Majesty viz. THat on Saturday last his Majesty sent word to the House That by this day he would send them such an Answer concerning the Earl of Arundel as should satisfie them in point of Priviledge And therefore to take away all dispute and that their Priviledges may be in the same estate as they were when the Parliament began his Majesty hath taken off the restraint of the said Earl whereby he hath liberty to come to the House The Earl of Arundel being returned to the House did render his humble thanks unto his Majesty for this gracious favor towards him and gave their Lordships also most hearty thanks for their often intercessions for him unto the King and protested his Loyalty and faithful service unto his Majesty Much about this time Mr. Moor a Member of the House of Commons having spoken some words which seemed to reflect upon his Majesty they were reported to the House viz. That he said We were born free and must continue free if the King will keep his Kingdom Adding these words Thanks be to God we have no occasion to fear having a just and pious King The House for these words committed Mr. Moor to the Tower of London And his Majesty shortly after sent a Message That he had passed by his offence Whereupon he was released While the Duke stood charged in the Parliament the Chancellorship of Cambridge became void by the death of the Lord Howard Earl of Suffolk who died on Whitsonday the 28. of May 1626. The University having understood by several hands That it was the Kings express will and pleasure that the Duke should be chosen in his stead were ambitious and forward to express their obedience to his Majesty in that behalf well knowing that in regard of their multitude and worthy Judgment and wisdom that is esteemed and ought to be in those Electors this was one of the most honorable Testimonies of Worth and Integrity that the Nation can afford And that whereas all other the Dukes Honors did but help the rather to sink him with their weight this would seem to shoar and prop him up Letters were pretended to be sent from his Majesty to the intent to disencourage all opposers But though the pretence of Letters served mainly to effect their ends yet the producing of them would have prejudiced the chief intendment of the Election namely the honor of the Testimony in it which chiefly lying in the freedom of the Votes had by Letters been cut off Many Heads of Houses bestirr'd themselves according to their several power and interest in their respective Societies and Trinity-Colledge alone the Master whereof was Doctor Maw one of the Kings Chaplains supplied the Duke with Forty three Votes the third part of those which served the turn for he had in all One hundred and eight He was chosen the Thursday following the
death of his Predecessor namely the fourth day after the Vacancie notwithstanding fourteen days are allowed by the University-Statute His chief strength consisted in the Doctors whereof seventeen were for him and onely one against him and in the Non-Regents who are Masters of Art of five years standing and upward Among the Regents who are Masters under five years thirty more were against him then for him and four whole Colledges were entire against the Duke For notwithstanding all the industry that could be imployed on his behalf there was a Party so diligent and resolute that the same morning the Choice was made they jointly pitch'd upon the Lord Thomas Howard second Son to the late deceased Chancellor and Earl of Berkshire though they had no Head appearing for him nor one man in the Uniuersity that was known to have any reference to him excepting one Mr. Granado Chester who was either his Chaplain or otherwise interessed in him And notwithstanding all disadvantages they lost it for the said Earl but by five Voices for the Duke had but One hundred and eight and the Earl had One hundred and three besides that two of the Dukes were void by Statute as being given to the Vice-Chancellor by compromise to dispose of as he should think fit The Earl of Berkshire being afterwards acquainted with the intentions of the University towards him wrote this Letter to Mr. Chester a Divine related to his Lordship Mr. CHESTER THe infinite obligation which I owe to the University of Cambridge for the late most ample Testimony of their great love and affection towards me imboldens me to borrow your help to make known unto them my unfained thankfulness Wherein I confess that the love and favor which they have expressed unto me joined with the fashion of it doth far exceed the weak expression of so feeble a Stile as mine is For they have been pleased out of their abundant affection to name me to one of the greatest Honors of this Kingdom without any suit or means of mine which was the Chancellorship of the University The Voting whereof in this noble fashion I account as much as could befall me and do receive it with as much thankfulness as if I were in full possession of the Place I must therefore intreat you to disperse this my thankful Acknowledgment to all my worthy Friends there who have so freely bestowed their Voices and unsought for Favors upon me And this labor I do the rather lay upon you because you know I put you to no making means for me which I should undoubtedly have done if I had preconceived any intention of standing for this Dignity so often wedded by men of high Places and Noble Families of this Realm whereof my honored Father deceased enjoyed the last Testimony and my Uncle before him and not ceasing there it was expressed unto me by an hereditary affection Thus much I pray you make known for me with this further assurance That as I had my first Breeding to my great Honor in Cambridge so I will live and die The true Servant of the University Bershire S. James 2 Junii 1626. The Commons being informed of the aforesaid Proceedings in Cambridge directed a Letter to be written to that University to signifie the Houses dislike thereof Whereupon the King signifieth to the House his pleasure by Sir Richard Weston that they forbear to send any such Letter for that the Election had been made by the power of the Charters according to the Rules and Liberties of the University and that if there have been any Error in the form of the Election it belongeth unto his Majesty to examine and reform it and not unto the House To which Message the Commons return this Answer THat they do acknowledge they were about to Write to the University because that the very Election it self whereby the University is committed to the Government of one that is charged and publickly complained of by the Commons in Parliament whereof the Electors are a part is in it self a very great Grievance and prejudicial in example whereof they have Reason to be the more sensible because they are informed that in the manner of the Election there were many passages likewise done in contempt of the House And do humbly beseech his Majesty to believe That neither in this nor any other thing this House did or shall intend to enlarge their own Power and Jurisdiction to the Diminution of his Majesties Right or Prerogative Whereunto his Majesty replied by the said Sir Richard Weston HIs Majesty saith That Cambridge and all Corporations derive there right and priviledge from him and that he hath reason to esteem the Universities above any other and is resolved to defend them against any which either wilfully or by chance shall go about to infringe their Liberties Concerning the Election it self his Majesty is far from conceiving it a Grievance for he never heard that Crimes objected were to be taken as proved or that a man should lose his Fame or good Opinion in the World upon an Accusation onely But whereas you say in the manner of carriage of the Election there were many passages done in it to the contempt of the House His Majesty is well pleased that you enquire and punish the Offenders if there be any that have mis-behaved themselves in that respect But for the Election it self or the Form of it his Majesty doth avow his first Message The Duke returned this Acknowledgment to the University MAster Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen of the University of Cambridge There is no one thing that concerneth me more near then the good opinion of Good and Learned honest Men Amongst which number as you have ever held the first rank in the estimation of the Common-wealth and fame of the Christian World so in conferring this honor of Chancellorship upon me I must confess you have satisfied a great ambition of mine which I hope will never forsake me and that is To be thought well of by men that deserve well and men of your Profession Yet I cannot attribute this Honor to any desert in me but to the respect you bear to the Sacred memory of my Master deceased the King of Schollars who loved you and honored you often with his presence and to my Gratious Master now living who inherits with his Blessed Fathers Vertues the affection he bore to your University I beseech you as you have now made your choice with so many kinde and noble Circumstances as the Manner is to me as acceptable and grateful as the Matter so to assure your selves That you have cast your Votes upon your Servant who is as apprehensive of the time you have shewed your affection in as of the Honor you have given him And I earnestly request you all that you would be pleased not to judge me comparatively by the success and happiness you have had in your former choice of Chancellors who as they knew better perhaps by
of himself came to the Duke and earnestly moved him to undertake the place The Duke apprehending the weight of the place and considering his yong years and want of experience to manage so great a charge gave no ear unto it but excused it not for form but really and ingenuously out of the apprehension of his then unfitness for it This Gentleman not thus satisfied without the Duke applied himself to the late King and moved his Majesty therein and offered Reasons for it That the Duke was the fittest man at that time and as the State of the Navy then stood for that place for he said it was then a time of peace That the best service that could be done for the present was to repair the Navy and Ships Royal which then were much in decay and to retrench the Kings charge and to employ it effectually and that before there was like to be personal use of service otherwise the Duke being yong and active might gain experience and make himself as fit as any other and that in the mean time none was so fit as himself having the opportunity of his Majesties Favor and Means to his Person to procure a constant assignment and payment of moneys for the Navy the want whereof was the greatest cause of the former defects These Reasons perswaded his late Majesty and upon his Majesties own motion perswaded the Duke to take the charge upon him And thereupon the Earl voluntarily freely and willingly and upon his own earnest and often suit surrendred the place without any President Contract or Promise whatsoever which might render the Duke in the least degree subject to the danger of the Law which was not then so much as once thought upon and upon that Surrender the Grant was made to the Duke But it is true That his Majesty out of his Royal bounty for recompence of the long and faithful service of the said Earl and for an honorable memory of his deserts to him and the Crown of England did grant him a Pension of One thousand pounds per annum for his life which in all Ages hath been the Royal way of Princes wherewith to reward antient and well-deserving Servants in their elder years when without their own faults they are become less serviceable to the State And the Duke also voluntarily and freely and as an argument of his noble respect towards so honorable a Predecessor whom to his death he called Father whose Estate â—s he then understood with his late Majesties privity and approbation did send him Three thousand pounds in money which he hopeth no person of worth and honor will esteem to be an act worthy of blame in him And when the Duke had thus obtained this place of great trust he was so careful of his duty that he would not relie upon his judgment or ability but of himself humbly besought his then Majesty to settle a Commission of fit and able persons for the Affairs of the Navy by whose Council and assistance he might manage that weighty business with the best advantage for his Majesties service which Commission was granted and yet continueth and without the advice of those Commissioners he hath never done any thing of moment and by their advice and industry he hath thus husbanded the Kings money and furthered the service that where before the ordinary charge of the Navy was Fifty four thousand pounds per annum and yet the Ships were very much decayed and their Provisions neglected the charge was returned to Thirty thousand pounds per annum and with that charge the Ships all repaired and made serviceable and two new Ships builded yearly and for the two last years when there were no new Ships built the ordinary charge was reduced to Twenty one thousand six hundred pounds per annum And now he dare boldly affirm that his Majesties Navy is in better state by much then ever it was in any precedent time whatsoever For his buying the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports he maketh this plain ingenuous and true Answer That in December in the Two and twentieth year of his late Majesties Raign he obtained the Office of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of the Castle of Dover being one entire Office upon the Surrender of the Lord Zouch then Lord Warden The manner of obtaining whereof was thus The Lord Zouch being grown in years and with his almost continual lameness being grown less fit for that place he discovered a willingness to leave it and made several offers thereof to the Duke of Richmond and Richard Earl of Dorset deceased but he was not willing to part with it without recompence Notice whereof coming to the Duke by an offer made from the Lord Zouch he finding by experience how much and how many ways both the Kings service might and many times did suffer and how many inconveniences did arise to the Kings Subjects in their Goods Ships and Lives by the intermixture of the Jurisdictions of the Admiralty and Wardenship of the Cinque Ports by the emulation disaffection and contention of their Officers as clearly appear by these particulars amongst many others which may be instanced 1. Where the Admiral-Jurisdiction extends generally to all the Narrow Seas the Warden of the Cinque Ports hath and exerciseth Admiral-Jurisdiction on all the Sea Coasts from Show-Beacon in Essex to the Red Noor in Sussex and within those Limits there have been continual differences between the Lord Admiral and the Lord Warden whether the Lord Wardens Jurisdiction extends into the main Sea or onely as far as the low Water Mark and so much further into the Sea as a man on Horsback can reach with a Launce which occasioneth Questions between those cheif Officers themselves 2. There are many and continual differences in executing of Warrants against offenders the Officers of the one refusing to obey or assist the Authority of the other whereby the offenders protected or countenanced by either easily escapeth 3. Merchants and Owners of Goods questioned in the Admiralty are often enforced to sue in both Courts and often enforced for their peace to compound with both Officers 4. The Kings service is much hindred for the most usual and ordinary Rendevouz of the Kings Ships being at the Downs and that being within the Jurisdiction of the Lord Warden the Lord Admiral or Captains of the Kings Ships have no Power or Warrant to press men from the shore if the Kings Ships be in distress 5. When the Kings Ships or others be in danger on the Goodwins and other places within the view of the Portsmen they have refused to help with their Boats lest the Kings Ships should command them on board whereby many Ships have perished and much Goods have been lost 6. When Warrants come to press a Ship at Road for the Kings service the Officers take occasion to disobey the Warrants and prejudice the Kings service For if the Warrant come from the Lord Warden they will pretend
our Friends and Allies who must prosper or suffer with us would have led them to a due and a timely consideration of all the means which might best conduce to those ends which the Lords of the Higher-House by a Committee of that House did timely and seasonably consider of and invited the Commons to a Conference concerning that great business At which Conference there were opened unto them the great occasions which pressed his Majesty which making no impression with them his Majesty did first by Message and after by Letters put the House of Commons in minde of that which was most necessary the defence of the Kingdom and due and timely preparations for the same The Commons House after this upon the 27 of March last with one unanimous consent at first agreed to give unto his Majesty three intire Subsidies and three Fifteens for a present supply unto him and upon the 26 of April after upon second Cogitations they added a fourth Subsidy and ordered the dayes of payment for them all whereof the first should have been on the last day of this present June Upon this the King of Denmark and other Princes and States being engaged with his Majesty in this common Cause his Majesty fitted his occasions according to the times which were appointed for the payment of those Subsidies and Fifteens and hasted on the Lords Committees and his Council at War to perfect their Resolutions for the ordering and setling of his designs which they accordingly did and brought them to that maturity that they found no impediment to a final conclusion of their Councels but want of mony to put things into action His Majesty hereupon who had with much patience expected the real performance of that which the Commons had promised finding the time of the year posting away and having intelligence not onely from his own Ministers and Sujects in Forrein parts but from all parts of Christendom of the great and powerfull preparations of the King of Spain and that his design was upon this Kingdom or the Kingdom of Ireland or both and it is hard to determine which of them would be of worst consequence He acquainted the House of Commons therewith and laid open unto them truly and clearly how the state of things then stood and yet stand and at several times and upon several occasions reiterated the same But that House being abused by the violent and ill-advised passions of a few Members of the House for private and personal ends ill-beseeming publick persons trusted by their Country as then they were not onely neglected but wilfully refused to hearken to all the gentle admonitions which his Majesty could give them and neither did nor would intend any thing but the prosecution of one of the Peers of this Realm and that in such a disordered manner as being set at their own instance into a legal way wherein the proofs on either part would have ruled the cause which his Majesty allowed they were not therewith content but in their intemperate passions and desires to seek for Errors in another fell into a greater Error themselves and not onely neglected to give just satisfaction to his Majesty in several Cases which happened concerning his Regality but wholly forgot their engagements to his Majesty for the publick defence of the Realm whereupon his Majesty wrote the forementioned Letter to the Speaker dated the ninth day of June 1626. Notwithstanding which Letter read in the House being a clear and gracious Manifest of his Majesties Resolutions they never so much as admitted one Reading to the Bill of Subsidies but instead thereof they prepared and voted a Remonstrance or Declaration which they intended to prefer to his Majesty containing though palliated with glossing terms aswel many dishonorable aspersions upon his Majesty and upon the sacred memory of his deceased Father as also dilatory excuses for their not proceeding with the Subsidies adding thereto also coloured conditions crossing thereby his Majesties direction which his Majesty understanding and esteeming as he had cause to be a denial of the promised Supply and finding that no admonitions could move no reasons or perswasions could prevail when the time was so far spent that they had put an impossibility upon themselves to perform their promises when they esteemed all gracious Messages unto them to be but interruptions His Majesty upon mature advisement discerning that all further patience would prove fruitless on the fifteenth day of this present moneth he hath dissolved this unhappy Parliament The acting whereof as it was to his Majesty an unexpressible grief for the memory thereof doth renew the hearty sorrow which all his good and well affected Subjects will compassionate with him These passages his Majesty hath at the more length and with the true Circumstances thereof expressed and published to the world least that which hath been unfortunate in it self through the malice of the Author of so great a mischief and the malevolent report of such as are ill-affected to this State or the true Religion here professed or the fears or jealousies of Friends and dutifull Subjects might be made more unfortunate in the consequences of it which may be of worse effect then at the first can be well apprehended and his Majesty being best privy to the integrity of his own heart for the constant maintaining of the sincerity and unity of the true Religion professed in the Church of England and to free it from the open contagion of Popery and secret infection of Schism of both which by his publick Acts and Actions he hath given good testimony and with a single heart as in the presence of God who can best judge thereof purposeth resolutely and constantly to proceed in the due execution of either and observing the subtilty of the adverse party he cannot but believe that the hand of Joab hath been in this disaster that the common Incendiaries of Christendom have subtilly and secretly insinuated those things which unhappily and as his Majesty hopeth beyond the intentions of the Actors have caused these diversions and distractions And yet notwithstanding his most excellent Majesty for the comfort of his good and well-affected Subjects in whose loves he doth repose himself with confidence and esteemeth it as his greatest riches for the assuring of his Friends and Allies with whom by Gods assistance he will not break in the substance of what he hath undertaken for the discouraging of his Adversaries and the Adversaries of his Cause and of his Dominions and Religion hath put on this resolution which he doth hereby publish to all the world That as God hath made him King of this great people and large Dominions famous in former ages both by Land and Sea and trusted him to be a Father and Protector both of their Persons and Fortunes and a Defender of the Faith and true Religion so he will go on cheerfully and constantly in the defence thereof and notwithstanding so many difficulties and discouragements will take his
Madam Saint George that he was resolved no longer to endure it So the King dismissed and sent back into France the Queens Retinue of French first paying all that was due for Wages or Salaries and gave the King of France an account of the action by the Lord Carlton for the preserving of their mutual Correspondency and Brotherly Affection But this Dismission was ill resented in France and Audience denied to the Lord Carlton and the matter was aggravated high at the French Court as a great violation of the Articles of the Marriage And those persons who returned into France being for the most part yonger-brothers and had parted with their Portions at home in expectation of raising their Fortunes in the service of the Queen of England did heighten the discontent This jarring with France breaks forth to a publick War and King Charles is at once engaged against Two Great and Mighty Princes It is not our purpose to relate the particulars of those private transactions which were here in England concerning the preparing of a Fleet and Army nor how the same was managed at first by an Abbot who had relation to the Duke of Orleance and had been disobliged by Cardinal Richlieu This Man was full of Revenge against the Cardinal and labored much and at last effected the dismissing of the French about the Queen his cheif end therein was to put an affront upon Richlieu and withal to heighten the differences between the Two Crowns of England and France to which purpose he remonstrated to the Duke of Buckingham the Commotions and Discontents that were in France and how hardly the Protestants there were treated notwithstanding the Edict of Peace procured by the Mediation of the King of Great Britain This Abbots Negotiation with the Duke procured the sending of Devic from the King of England to the Duke of Rhoane who was drawn to engage to raise Four thousand Foot and Two hundred Horse upon the landing of the English Army in France but not before This private transaction was also managed by Mr. Walter Montague but in another capacity The Duke of Sobiez and Monsieur St. Blanchard contributed their endeavors also to hasten the Fleet and the raising of the Army in England against the French for the relief of those of the Reformed Religion there The King declared as a ground of his War with France That the House of Austria conspiring the ruine of all those of the Reformed Religion throughout Christendom as he said plainly appeared in the affairs of Germany had such an influence upon the Council of France as to prevail with them to obstruct the landing of Count Mansfields Army contrary to promise with whom the French should have joyned forces for the relief of the Palatinate and the German Princes which failer of performance in them proved the ruine of that Army the greatest part whereof perished and was by consequence the loss of the whole Protestant Party in Germany His Majesty further declared That having by his Mediation prevailed for a Peace between the French King and his Protestant Subjects and engaged his word That the Protestants should observe the Articles of Agreement Nevertheless the King of France contrary to the said Articles blocked up their Towns Garisons and Forts and had committed many spoils upon them when they had done nothing in violation of the Edict of Peace And that the King of France had committed an example of great injustice in full Peace to seise upon One hundred and twenty English Ships with all their Merchandise and Artillery for which Reasons the King was resolved to send a powerful Army and Navy to require satisfaction The Duke of Buckingham was made Admiral of this Fleet and Commander in chief of the Land forces and had a Commission to that purpose wherein it is expressed That his Majesty hath taken into his Princely consideration the distressed estate of his dear Brother-in-law and onely Sister the Prince and Princess Elector Palatine and their Children and finding himself in Nature and Honor nearly bound unto them At their request and for their just Relief in recovering their rightful Patrimony taken from them by the Advice of his Privy Council did the last year prepare and set out to Sea a Royal Fleet for Sea-service for performance of such services as on his Brother-in-laws and Sisters behalf his Majesty had designed And for the doing of those designs and for the honor and safety of his people his Majesty hath now prepared a new Fleet which he intends with all convenient expedition to set out to be employed as well by way of Offence as of Defence as shall be most behoveful for his said Brother-in-Law his service and therefore doth by the said Commission appoint the Duke of Buckingham to be Admiral Captain-General and Governor of his said Royal Fleet with such Soldiers and Land-forces as shall be conveyed therein for the accomplishment of such execution and employment as they shall be designed unto according to such private Instructions as his Majesty shall give unto the said Duke His Majesty by the said Commission giving to the Duke power to lead and conduct the said Navy and Army and with them to fight against his said Brother-in-law and Sisters enemies or the enemies of the Crown of England and to advance to the Order of Knighthood such persons employed in the Fleet Forces and Supplies as by their Valor Desert and good Service in this Expedition shall be thought fit in his the said Dukes discretion to merit the same and as to the Office of Captain-General doth appertain On the Seven and twentieth of Iune the Duke set fail from Portsmouth in order to the Relief of the Palatinate with the Fleet consisting of One hundred fail of Ships whereof Ten were of the Kings Royal Navy having aboard about Six or seven thousand Land-soldiers and towards the latter end of Iuly he appeared with his Fleet before Rochel who once much longed for their coming but now shut their Gates at their appearance Hereupon the Duke of Sobiez went a shore with Sir William Beecher from the Duke of Buckingham Sir William Beecher being also accompanied with a Letter of Credence from his Majesty of Great Britain they were at last admitted into the Town and the Magistrates called an Assembly and there Sir William Beecher declared unto them That the Duke of Buckingham was come with a great Fleet and Army to their assistance which his Master had sent out of a fellow-feeling of their sufferings and to require from the King of France a performance of the Articles of Peace made by the King of Englands Mediation on the behalf of the Protestants in France And further declared unto them That if they do now refuse to give their assistance by joyning forces with the English he said he would and did protest before God and Man in the name of the King his Master That his said Master was
Barnardiston of the County of Suffolk and William Coriton Esq of the County of Cornwal were secured in the County of Sussex Sir Harbotle Grimston of the County of Essex and Sir Robert Points were secured in Northamptonshire Iohn Hampden Esq and others of the County of Bucks were secured in Hampshire and the like course was taken with the Gentry of other Counties who refused the Loan And the Council ordered that all those Refractory persons before-named for so they are called in the Order who are appointed by his Majesties command to their several Commitments shall presently obey the Order of the Board sent with their Messenger in that behalf or be committed close prisoners any pretence of inability want of conveniency or any excuse whatsoever notwithstanding Many of those Gentlemen were afterwards sent for by Pursevants out of those Counties where they were confined by Order of the Council and committed to several Prisons some to the Fleet some to the Marshalsey and Gatehouse and others remained in the custody of the Messengers And from the Gatehouse Sir Iohn Elliot sends this Petition to his Majesty To the Kings most Excellent Majesty The humble Petition of Sir Iohn Elliot Knight Prisoner in the Gate-house concerning the Loan Sheweth THat your poor Suppliant affected with sorrow and unhappiness through the long sense of your Majesties displeasure willing in every act of Duty and Obedience to satisfie your Majesty of the loyalty of his heart then which he hath nothing more desired that there may not remain a jealousie in your Royal Brest that stubbornness and will have béen the motives of his forbearing to condescend to the said Loan low as your Highness foot with a sad yet a faithful heart for an Apology to your Clemency and Grace he now presumes to offer up the Reasons that induced him which he conceiveth necessity of his Duty to Religion Justice and your Majesty did inforce The Rule of Iustice he takes to be the Law impartial Arbiter of Government and Obedience the support and strength of Majesty the observation of that Iustice by which Subjection is commanded This and Religion added to this Power not to be resisted binds up the Conscience in an Obligation to that Rule which without open prejudice and violence of these duties may not be impeached In this particular therefore of the Loan being desirous to be satisfied how far the Obligation might extend and resolving where he was left Master of his own to become Servant to your Will he had recourse unto the Laws to be informed by them which in all humility he submitteth to your most Sacred view in the Collections following In the time of Edward the First he findeth that the Commons of that age were so tender of their Liberties as they feared even their own frée acts and gifts might turn them to a Bondage and their Heirs Wherefore it was desired and granted That for no business such manner of Aids Taxes nor Prizes should be taken but by common assent of the Realm and for the common profit thereof The like was in force by the same King and by two other Laws again Enacted That no Tallage or Aid should be taken or levied without the good will and assent of the Archbishops Bishops Earls Barons Knights Burgesses and other Freeman of the Land And that Prudent and Magnanimous Prince Edward the Third led by the same Wisdom having granted That the greatest gift given in Parliament for the Aid and speed of his matchless undertaking against France should not be had in Example nor fall to the prejudice of the Subject in time to come did likewise adde in Confirmation of that Right That they should not from thenceforth be grieved to sustain any Charge or Aid but by the Common Assent and that in Parliament And more particularly upon this point upon a Petition of the Commons afterwards in Parliament it was established That the Loans which are granted to the King by divers persons be released and that none from henceforth be compelled to make such Loans against their Wills because it is against Reason and the Franchises of the Land and Restitution be made to such as made such Loans And by another Act upon a new occasion in the time of Richard the Third it was ordained That the Subject in no wise be charged with any such Charge Exaction or Imposition called a Benevolence nor such like Charge and that such like Exactions be damned and annulled for ever Such were the Opinions of these times for all these Aids Benevolences Loans and such like Charges exacted from the Subject not in Parliament which they held to be Grievances contrary to their Liberties and illegal and so pious were their Princes in Confirmation of their Liberties as having secured them for the present by such frequent Laws and Statutes they did likewise by them provide for their Posterity and in some so strictly that they bound the Observation with a Curse as in that of 33 Edw. 1. And also under pain of Excommunication as by the other of the Five and twentieth of the same King which was to be denounced against all those that violate or break them which Act extends to us And these Reasons he presents to your Majesty as the first Motive taken from the Law There are others also which in his humble apprehension he conceived from the Action it self which he likewise tenders to your most Excellent Wisdom First That the Carriage and Instructions accompanied with the Authority of the Great Seal imported a Constraint such Requests to Subjects being tacite and implied Commands and so preventing that readiness and love which in a frée way would have far excéeded those Demands whereas the wonted Aids given to your happy Ancestors were Ex spontanea voluntate charitate populi whereby they made that Conjunction of their Hearts at home which wrought such power and reputation to their acts abroad Whereas the firmest Obligation of that readiness and love is the benignity of Princes giving and preserving to their People just and decent Liberties which to this Kingdom are derived from the Clemency and Wisdom of your Progenitors to whom there is owing a Sacred Memory for them He could not as he feared without pressure to these immunities become an actor in this Loan which by imprisonment and restraint was urged contrary to the Grants of the Great Charter by so many glorious and victorious Kings so many times confirmed being therein most confident of your Majesty that never King that raigned over us had of his own benignity and goodness a more pious disposition to preserve the just Liberties of his Subjects then your Sacred Self Though we were well assured by your Majesties Royal Promise whose words he holds as Oracles of Truth that it should become a president during the happiness of your Raign the long continuance whereof is the daily subject of his Prayers yet he conceived from thence a fear that succeeding Ages might thereby take occasion
man that would not depend upon him among other men had me in his eye for not stooping unto him so as to become his Vassal I that had learned a Lesson which I constantly hold To be no mans servant but the Kings for mine Old Royal Master which is with God and mine own Reason did teach me so went on mine own ways although I could not but observe That so many as walked in that path did suffer for it upon all occasions and so did I nothing wherein I moved my Master taking place which finding so clearly as if the Duke had set some ill character upon me I had no way but to rest in patience leaving all to God and looking to my self as warily as I might But this did not serve the turn his undertakings were so extraordinary That every one that was not with him was presently against him and if a hard opinion were once entertained there was no place left for satisfaction or reconciliation What befel the Earl of Arundel and Sir Randal Crew and divers others I need not to report and no man can make doubt but he blew the Coals For my Self there is a Gentleman called Sir H. S. who gave the first light what should befal me This Knight being of more livelihood then wisdom had married the Lady D. Sister to the now Earl of E. and had so treated her that both for safeguard of her Honor blemished by him scandalously and for her Alimony or maintenance being glad to get from him she was inforced to endure a Suit in the High Commission Court So to strengthen his party he was made known to the Duke and by means of a Dependant on his Grace he got a Letter from the King That the Commissioners should proceed no further in hearing of that Cause by reason that it being a difference between a Gentleman and his Wife the Kings Majesty would hear it himself The Solicitor for the Lady finding that the course of Justice was stopped did so earnestly by Petition move the King that by another Letter there was a relaxation of the former restraint and the Commissioners Ecclesiastical went on But now in the new proceeding finding himself by Justice like enough to be pinched he did publickly in the Court refuse to speak by any Councel but would plead his cause himself wherein he did bear the whole business so disorderly tumultuously and unrespectively that after divers reproofs I was enforced for the Honor of the Court and Reputation of the High Commission to tell him openly That if he did not carry himself in a better fashion I would commit him to Prison This so troubled the yong Gallant that within few days after being at Dinner or Supper where some wished me well he bolted it out That as for the Archbishop the Duke had a purpose to turn him out of his place and that he did but wait the occasion to effect it Which being brought unto me constantly by more ways then one I was now in expectation what must be the issue of this great mans indignation which fell out to be as followeth There was one Sibthorpe who not being so much as a Batchellor of Arts as it hath been credibly reported unto me by means of Doctor Peirce Dean of Peterborough being Vice-Chancellor of Oxford did get to be conferred upon him the Title of a Doctor This man is Vicar of Brackley in Northamptonshire and hath another Benefice not far from it in Buckinghamshire But the lustre of his Honor did arise from being the Son-in-law of Sir Iohn Lamb Chancellor of Peterborough whose Daughter he married and was put into the Commission of Peace When the Lent Assizes were in February last at Northampton the man that Preached before the Judges there was this worthy Doctor where magnifying the Authority of Kings which is so strong in the Scripture that it needs no flattery any ways to extol it he let fall divers Speeches which were distasteful to the Auditors and namely That they had power to put Poll-Money upon their Subjects heads when against those challenges men did frequently mourn He being a man of a low Fortune conceived that the putting his Sermon in Print might gain favor at Court and raise his Fortune higher on he goeth with the Transcribing of his Sermon and got a Bishop or two to prefer this great Service to the Duke and it being brought unto the Duke it cometh in his head or was suggested unto him by some malicious body that thereby the Archbishop might be put to some remarkable strait For if the King should send the Sermon unto him and command him to allow it to the Press one of these two things would follow That either he should Authorize it and so all men that were indifferent should discover him for a base and unworthy Beast or he should refuse it and so should fall into the Kings indignation who might pursue it at his pleasure as against a man that was contrary to his service Out of this Fountain flowed all the Water that afterwards so wet In rehearsing whereof I must set down divers particulars which some man may wonder how they should be discovered unto me But let it suffice once for all that in the word of an honest man and of a Bishop I recount nothing but whereof I have good warrant God himself working means The matters were revealed unto me although it be not convenient that in this Paper I name the manner how they came unto me least such as did by well-doing further me should receive blame for their labor Well! resolved it is That I must be put to it and that with speed and therefore Mr. William Murrey Nephew as I think unto Mr. Thomas Murrey sometimes Tutor unto Prince Charls and the yong man now of the Kings Bed-chamber is sent unto me with the Written Sermon of whom I must say That albeit he did the King his Masters business yet he did use himself temperately and civilly unto me For avoiding of inquit and inquam as Tully saith I said this and he said that I will make it by way of Dialogue not setting down every days conference exactly by it self but mentioning all things of importance in the whole yet distinguishing of times where for the truth of the Relation it cannot be avoided Murrey My Lord I am sent unto you by the King to let you know that his pleasure is That whereas there is brought unto him a Sermon to be Printed you should allow this Sermon to the Press Archb. I was never he that authorised Books to be Printed for it is the work of my Chaplains to read over other mens writings and what is fit to let it go what is unfit to expunge it Murrey But the King will have you your self to do this because he is minded that no Books shall be allowed but by you and the Bishop of London And my Lord of London authorised one the other day Cousens
his Book and he will have you do this Archb. This is an occupation that my old Master King Iames did never put me to and yet I was then yong and had more abilities of body then now I have so that I see I must now learn a new lesson but leave it with me and when I have read it I shall know what to say unto it a day or two hence you shall understand my minde When I had once or twice perused it I found some words which seemed unto me to cross that which the King intended and in a sort to destroy it and therefore upon his return a day or two after I exprest my self thus Mr. Murrey I conceive that the King intendeth that this Sermon shall promote the service now in hand about the Loan of Money but in my opinion it much crosseth it for he layeth it down for a rule and because it should not be forgotten he repeateth it again That Christians are bound in duty one to another especially all Subjects to their Princes according to the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom wherein they live Out of this will men except this Loan because there is neither Law nor Custom for it in the Kingdom of England Secondly In my judgment there followeth a dangerous Speech Habemus necessitatem vindicandae libertatis For this was all that was then quoted out of Calvin no mention being made of any the other words which are now in the Printed Copy For when by the former Rule he hath set men at liberty whether they will pay or no he imposeth upon them a necessity to vindicate this Liberty and Vindicare may be extended to challenge with violence cum vi But for my part I would be most unwilling to give occasion to Sedition and Mutiny in the Kingdom Again here is mention made of Poll-Money which as I have heard hath already caused much distaste where the Sermon was Preached Moreover what a Speech is this That he observes the forwardness of the Papists to offer double according to an Act of Parliament so providing yea to profess that they would part with the half of their Goods where he quoteth in the Margent Anno 1 Caroli the Act for the Subsidy of the Layty whereby Popish Recusants were to pay double when indeed there is no such Act. And in the fifth place it is said in this Sermon that the Princes of Bohemia have power to depose their Kings as not being Hereditary which is a great question Such a one as hath cost much blood and must not in a word be absolutely defined here as if it were without controversie I pray you make his Majesty acquainted with these things and take the Book with you where it is to be noted That all this time we had but one single Copy which was some time at the Court and sometime left with me Murrey I will faithfully deliver these things to the King and then you shall hear further from me Some two or three days after he returneth again unto me and telleth me That he had particularly acquainted the King with my Objections and his Majesty made this Answer First For the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom he did not stand upon that he had a President for that which he did and thereon he would insist Archb. I think that to be a mistaking for I fear there will be found no such President King Henry the Eighth as the Chronicle sheweth desired but the Sixth paâ—t of mens estates Ten groats in the pound our King desireth the whole Six parts full out so much as men are set at in the Subsidy Book And in the time of King Henry although he were a powerful King yet for that Taxation there began against him little less then a Rebellion so that he held it wisdom to desist and laying the blame upon Cardinal Wolsey professed That he knew nothing of the matter Murrey Secondly The King saith for the words Habemus necessitatem vindicandae libertatis he taketh them to be for him and he will stand on his Liberty Thirdly For Poll-money he thinketh it lawful Fourthly It is true there was no such Act passed and therefore it must be amended and yet in the Printed Book it is suffered still to stand Such slight and I may say slovenly care was had by them that published this Sermon And fifthly For that of Bohemia he hath crossed it out of the Book Some other matters there were against which I took exception but Mr. Murrey being a yong Gentleman although witty and full of good behavior I doubted that being not deeply seen in Divinity he could not so well conceive me nor make report of my words to his Majesty And therefore I being lame and so disabled to wait on the King did move him That he would in my name humbly beseech his Majesty to send the Bishop of Bathe and Wells unto me and I would by his means make known my Scruples and so I dismissed Mr. Murrey observing with my self that the Answers to my Five Objections especially to two or three were somewhat strange As if the King were resolved were it to his good or to his harm to have the Book go forth After one or two days more the yong Gentleman cometh to me again and telleth me That the King did not think it fit to send the Bishop of Bathe unto me but he expecteth I should pass the Book In the mean time had gone over one High Commission day and this Bishop who used otherwise very few days to fail was not there which being joyned to his Majesties Message made me in some measure to smell that this whole business might have that Bishops hand in it especially I knowing in general the disposition of the man The mindes of those that were Actors for the publishing of the Book were not quiet at the Court that the thing was not dispatched and therefore one day the Duke said to the King Do you see how this business is deferred if more expedition be not used it will not be Printed before the end of the Term at which time it is fit that it be sent down into the Countreys So eager he was That either by my Credit his undertakings might be strengthned or at least I might be contemned and derided as an unworthy fellow This so quickned the King that the next Message which was sent by Mr. Murrey was in some degree minatory That if I did not dispatch it the King would take some other course with me When I found how far the Duke had prevailed I thought it my best way to set down in writing many Objections wherefore the Book was not fit to be published which I did modestly and sent them to the King The words were these which I culled out of the Written Sermon 1. Page 2. Those words deserve to be well weighed And whereas the Prince pleads not the Power of Prerogative 2. Page 8. The Kings duty is
it should be required of them and yet they to suffer all injuries from the hands of strange Souldiers when the meanest boy in the Island is taught to mannage Arms better then the best of them that are there billetted No but they would rather have thought it discretion upon the return of those voyages to have caused the men to repair to the place where they were pressed and to have ordered that each Parish should have set them on work for their maintenance with command to be ready upon warning to repair to the place of Rendezvous There is no place or part in England so remote from the Sea but they might have resorted to the Port assigned before the Ships could be furnished or drawn together They would have thought it more wisdom to have retired to their own Harbors and to have had their men discharged then to have continued this needless and expencefull course that is taken They would have judged it better to have supplied the Isle of Weight with Two thousand men out of the main Land when they feared any evil to the Island then to send for them out of Scotland and to keep them in continual entertainment They would have thought it more fit to have returned the barbarous Irish into the Country from whence they came then to make them a vexation to the places and parts where they remain seeing no shadow of reason can be pretended for it England wants no men and hath as good and able men as either of the other two Nations if his Majesty had occasion to use them England with small charge can raise what men his Majesty pleaseth to command and that suddenly and discharge them again without trouble or charge as quickly The wise men of England would have thought Two or three hundred thousand pounds better spared then thus wastfully consumed and disorders committed we may compute it to that sum and yet keep our selves within compass And notwithstanding the want of Money and the wayes to exact it of the Subject is all the Song now sung He that sees and complains of the evil mannaging of things is either imprisoned banished the Court or censured for a Discontent There is no Englishman but knoweth the heart of every other true heated Englishman and with one consent will all obey our Prince and to his person we owe all due reverence and we may truely say no King is more happy in Subjects for their love nor no Subjects readier to serve their King with their purses and persons nor never people was better blest with a King who is endued with all kinde of vertues and stained with no manner of vice False Informers and Misguiders of good Kings are much more perilous then if Princes themselves were evil for commonly as worms breed soonest in soft and sweet wood so are the best natures inclined to Honor and Justice soonest abused by false Flatterers The evil they commit under the Authority of good Princes is accounted as done by the Prince himself but commonly such people in the end pay for it for he that desires not to do good cannot be wise but will fall into Four thousand Follies One of the first Propositions made to the House will be for Money to support his Majesties vast expence at this time that the Enemy threatens thunder against the Kingdom Your often alarms upon such pretences may make you now too secure for true it is that the last Parliament books were published of invincible Preparations intended against us and nothing came of it But beware you be not deceived by an old saying That when one usually tells lyes he is not trusted when he speaks truth for certainly the danger is much more then by the power and greatness of another Enemy In this case you must give for your own sakes that so you may be sure to enjoy what is yours for your Soveraigns sake to maintain his greatness and state and for your Countries sake to keep it from oppression of the Enemy but withall you ought to lay down the condition of the Kingdom and to shew that your necessity cannot run paralel with your hearts and your desires that your mindes will be carried with a willingness to give but your hands will keep back your hearts for want of ability to give Themistocles demanding Tribute of the Athenians told them he brought two Gods with him that is to say Perswasion and Violence They answered that they had two other Gods in their Country both great and powerfull which were Poverty and Impossibility which hindred them from giving We may truely say that God hath so placed and seated this Isle of England that nothing but evil counsel can hurt it But true it is advice that is not warranted from wise men may prove more forcible and perilous then the power of an Enemy The Scripture telleth us that the thought perisheth that taketh not counsel A King of the Lacedemonians asked how a Kingdom might ever stand and was answered two wayes if a King take counsel of wise honest men and they speak freely and do Justice uprightly There was never Censor that judged Senator that ordered Emperor that commanded Council that executed Orator that perswaded nor any other mortal man but sometimes he committed Errors and deserved either blame or punishment for his misdoings and if he were wise desired advice what to do St Gregory saith No man can give so faithfull counsel as he who loves one more then his gifts Then who are or can be so true Councellors to our Noble King as a House of Commons that hath no relation to a Kings gift but only to his Honor flourishing estate and safety This is the time to amend evil Counsels past and to let evil Councellors see their Errors This is the time for all men to put to their helps some with their hands to fight others with their advice to counsel And for my Advice this it is That you present to his Majesty in all humbleness your willing mindes and hearts to repair and fit to Sea his Majesties Navy your selves to have power to make them able and serviceable with the advice of experienced men that you may call unto you This is a matter of great importance at this present for the safety of King Realm and Subject for the strength of the Kingdom much depends upon this Bulwark which we may well term The Walls of England His Majesty shall finde himself much eased by it Businesses shall be carried without his trouble or care Money shall not be sought for to that end but provided by you his Majesty may dispose of the rest of his Revenue at his pleasure By your frugality and husbandry his Majesty shall have occasion to judge of things past of yours in present and hereafter it will serve for a President to walk after it will stop the mouthes of Malignant tongues that inform his Majesty of the unwillingness of the Subject to give and it will make it
yet acknowledged that the seven Statutes urged by the House of Commons are in force yet said that some of them are in general words and therefore conclude nothing but are to be expounded by Precedents and some of them are applied to the suggestion of Subjects and not to the Kings command simply of its self and that per legem terrae in Magna Charta cannot be understood for process of Law and original Writs for that in Criminal proceedings no original Writ is usual at all but every Constable either for Felony or breach of the Peace or to prevent the breach of the Peace may commit without Process or original Writ it were very hard the King should not have the power of a Constable They also argued That the King was not bound to express the cause of Imprisonment because there may be in it matter of State not fit to be revealed for a time lest the confederates thereupon make means to escape the hands of Justice Besides that which the Commons do say that the party ought to be delivered or bailed is a contradiction in its self for bayling doth signifie a kinde of Imprisonment still Delivery is a total freeing And besides bayling is a grace or favor of a Court of Justice and they may refuse to do it To this it was replyed That the Statutes were direct in Point and though some of them speak of suggestions of the Subjects yet they are in equal reason a commitment by command of the King as when the King taketh notice of a thing himself And for the words per legem terrae original Writs onely are not intended but all other legal process which comprehendeth the whole proceedings of the Law upon Cause other then trial by Jury and the course of the Law is rendred by due process of the Law and no man ought to be imprisoned by special command without indictment or other due process to be made by the Law And whereas it is said there might be danger in revealing the Cause that may be avoided by declaring a general Cause as for Treason suspicion of Treason misprision of Treason Felony without expressing the particulars which can give no greater light to a confederate then will be conceived upon the very apprehension upon the imprisonment if nothing at all were expressed And as for the bayling of the party committed it hath ever been the discretion of the Judges to give so much respect to a commitment by the command of the King or the privy Councel which are ever intended to be done in just and weighty Cases that they will not presently set them free but bail them to answer what shall be objected against them on the Kings behalf but if any other inferior Officer do commit a man without shewing cause they do instantly deliver him as having no cause to expect their leasure so that Delivery is applyed to the imprisoned by command of some mean minister of Justice Bailing when it is done by command of the King or his Councel and though Bailing is a grace and favor of the Court in case of Felony and other crimes for that there is another way to discharge them in convenient time by their trial but where no cause of imprisonment is returned but the command of the King there is no way to deliver such persons by trial or otherwise but that of the Habeas Corpus and if they should be then remanded they might be perpetually imprisoned without any remedy at all and consequently a man that had committed no offence might be in a worse case then a greater offender for the latter should have an ordinary trial to discharge him the other should never be delivered MAster Selden of the Inner-Temple argued next first making this Introduction Your Lordships have heard from the Gentleman that last spake a great part of the grounds upon which the House of Commons upon mature deliberation proceeded to that clear resolution touching the right of liberty of their persons The many Acts of Parliament which are the written Laws of the Land and are expresly in the Point have bin read and opened and such Objections as have been by some made unto them and Objections also made out of another Act of Parliament have been cleared and answered It may seem now perhaps my Lords that little remains needful to be further added for the enforcement and maintenance of so fundamental and established a Right and Liberty belonging to every freeman of the Kingdom The House of Commons taking into consideration that in this question being of so high a nature that never any exceeded it in any Court of Justice whatsoever all the several ways of just examination of the Truth should be used have also most carefully informed themselves of all former Judgements or Precedents concerning this great Point either way and have been no less careful of the due preservation of his Majesties just Prerogative then of their own Rights The Precedents here are of two kinds either meerly matter of Record or else the former resolutions of the Judges after solemn debate in the Point This Point that concerns Precedents the House of Commons have commanded me to present to your Lordships which I shall as briefly as I may so I do it faithfully and perspicuously to that end my Lords before I come to the particulars of any of those Precedents I shall first remember to your Lordships that which will seem as a general key for the opening and true apprehension of all them of record without which key no man unless he be verst in the entries and course of the Kings Bench can possibly understand In all cases my Lords where any Right or Liberty belongs to the Subjects by any positive Law written or unwritten if there were not also a remedy by Law for enjoying or regaining of this Right or Liberty when it is violated or taken from him the positive Law were most vain and to no purpose and it were to no purpose for any man to have any right in any Land or other Inheritance if there were not a known remedy that is an Action or Writ by which in some Court of ordinary Justice he might recover it And in this case of Right of Liberty of Person if there were not a remedy in the Law for regaining it when it is restrained it were of no purpose to speak of Laws that ordain it should not be restrained The Writ of Habeas Corpus or Corpus cum causa is the highest remedy in Law for any man that is imprisoned and the onely remedy for him that is imprisoned by the special command of the King or the Lords of the pâ—ivy Councel without shewing cause of the commitment and if any mâ—n be so imprisoned by any such Command or otherwise whatsoever though England and desire by himself or any other in his behalf this Writ of Hab. Corp. for the purpose in the Court of Kings Bench that Writ is to be granted to him
proceeded and said You have heard his Charge made up by his own words and withall I doubt not but you seem to hear the voice of that wicked one Quid dabitis what will you give me and I will betray this State Kingdom and Commonwealth But there are two Observations I might adde a third which is like unto a threefold Cord which cannot be easily broken will draw the Charge more violently upon him The first is of the Time when this Doctrine of destruction was set forth it was Preached in the heart of the Loan and it was Printed in the beginning of that Term which ended in a Remittitur So that you might guess there might be a double Plot by the Law and Conscience to set on fire the frame and estate of this Commonwealth And one of these intailed Foxes was Mr. Manwaring Another note may be taken of the time that is the unseasonableness of it for this Doctrine of the Loan in case of necessity was the year after an assent in Parliament to four Subsidies and three Fifteens which might serve for a sufficient stopple for the Doctors mouth to keep in his Doctrine of Necessity A second observation may be of the Means by which he seeks to destroy this Commonwealth his means are Divinity yea by his Divinity he would destroy both King and Kingdom The King for there can be no greater mischief to a Prince then to put the opinion of Deity into his ears for if from his ears ti should have passed to his heart it had been mortal You know how Herod perished Now this man gives a participation of Divine Omnipotence to Kings and though a part may seem to qualifie yet all doth seem again to fill up that qualification and very dangerously if we remember that God saith of himself I am a jealous God He goes about to destroy the Kingdom and Commonwealth by his Divinity but do we finde in Scripture such a destroying Divinity Surely I finde there that God is a God of order and not of confusion and that the Son of God came to save and not to destroy By which it seems he hath not his Divinity from God nor from the Son of God And that we may be sure he went to Hell for Divinity he names sundry Jesuits and Fryers with whom he consulted and traded for his Divinity But not to belye Hell it self the Jesuits are honester then he for if he had not brought more hell unto them then he found with them he had not found this Divinity in them which he hath brought forth yea in his quotations he hath used those shifts and falshoods for which Boyes are to be whipt in Schools and yet by them he thinks to carry the Cause of a Kingdom But for a conclusion to give the true Character of this man whom I never saw I will shew it you by one whom I know to be contrary to him Samuel we know all to be a true Prophet now we read of Samuel that he writ the Law of the Kingdom in a Book and laid it up before the Lord. And this he did as one of Mr. Manwarings own Authors affirms that the King may know what to command and the People what to obey But Mr. Manwaring finding the Law of this Kingdom written in Books tears it in pieces and that in the presence of the Lord in a Pulpit that the King may not know what to command nor the People what to obey Thus Mr. Manwaring being contrary to a true Prophet must needs be a false one and the Judgement of a false Prophet belongs to him I have shewed you an evil Tree that bringeth forth evil fruit and now it rests with you to determine whether the following sentence shall follow Cut it down and cast it into the fire ABout this time the Mayor of Plimouth certified to the Burgesses serving for that Town in Parliament the Examination of Le Brun a Frenchman Captain of the Mary of Rotchel taken the 16 of May 1628. viz. The Examinate saith That on Sunday being the 17 of April last past he departed from Plimouth Harbor in company with the English Fleet whereof the Earl of Denbigh is General and on the first day of May then following the said Fleet arrived and came at Anchor at Charleboy in the Rode of Rotchel about four of the Clock in the afternoon where at the said arrival they found twenty sail of the King of France his Ships whereof six were Ships of about 300 Tuns and the rest were small Shâ—ps and forthwith with the said French Ships put themselves to sail and went in nearer to the fortifications where they also anchored within two Canon shot of the English Fleet and saith That one of his Majesties Ships shot off one piece of Ordinance and no more and that the said French Ships as they returned from the English Fleet shot off oftentimes to them and that the same Fleet remained there until the eighth day of the said moneth of May in which time there was a Wherry sent from the Fleet into Rotchel wherein there were two English and one Frenchman to inquire the state of the said Town and that if they were there safe arrived they should make a fire upon one of the Towers of the Town to give notice thereof which accordingly they did and also to make so many fires more on the Walls of the said Town as they have moneths victuals there but they made not any answer thereof whence it was collected that they had but a small quantity of victuals and said That the said English as he hath heard promised to sink the said French Ships when the waters did increase and the wind came at West-north-west it being then Neap-tides and about two days after the waters did increase and the winds came accordingly and being then intreated to fight with them yet did not but came away without fighting or relieving the Town and saith That on the eighth day of May the said English Fleet weighed Anchor and set sail to depart and four of the French great Ships weighed Anchor also and came after them and shot divers times at the said Fleet and the said Fleet shot at them again and the said Examinate came in company with the said Fleet as far as Bell Isle where he departed from them on the tenth of this instant and lastly saith That during all the time the English Fleet was there the Town of Rotchel shot to the King of France his Ships and Fort but chiefly upon the arrival of the said Fleet there This Examination being communicated to the Councel Table it procured this ensuing Letter from the Privy Councel to the Duke dated the 30 of May 1628. viz. WHereas it is his Majesties pleasure that the Earl of Denbigh shall return back to relieve the Town of Rotchel with the Fleet under his Charge We do therefore pray your Grace to signifie this his Majesties pleasure unto the said Earl and to give him
and with bleeding hearts and bended knees to crave your speedy Redresse therein as to your own wisdome unto which we most humbly submit our selves and our desires shall seeme most meet and convenient What the multitude and Potency of your Majesties enemies are abroad What be their malicious and ambitious ends and how vigilant and constantly industrious they are in pursuing the same is well known to your Majesty Together with the dangers threatned thereby to your sacred Person and your Kingdomes and the calamities which have already fallen and do daily encrease upon your Friends and Allies of which we are well assured your Majesty is most sensible and will accordingly in your great wisdome and with the gravest and most Mature Councel according to the exigencie of the times and occasions provide to prevent and help the same To which end we most humbly intreat your Majesty first and especially to cast your eyes upon the miserable condition of this your own Kingdome of late so strangely weakened and dejected that unlesse through your Majesties most gracious Wisdom Goodnesse and Iustice it be speedily raised to a better condition it is in no little danger to become a sudden Prey to the Enemies thereof and of the most happy and flourishing to be the most miserable and contemptible Nation in the World In the discoveries of which dangers mischiefs and inconveniences lying upon us we do freely protest that it is far from our thoughts to lay the least aspersion upon your sacred Person or the least scandal upon your Government For we do in all sincerity of our hearts not only for our selves but in the Name of all the Commons of the Realme whom we represent ascribe as much duty as a most loyal and affectionate people can do unto the best King for so you are and so have been pleased abundantly to expresse your self this present Parliament by your Majesties clear and satisfactory answer to our Petition of Right For which both our selves and our posterity shall blesse God for you and ever preserve a thankful memory of your great goodnesse and Iustice therein And we do verily believe that all or most of these things which we shall now present unto your Majesty are either unknown unto you or else by some of your Majesties Ministers oâ—fered under such specious pretences as may hide their own ill intentions and ill consequences of them from your Majesty But we assure our selves according to the good example of your Majesties Predecessors nothing can make your Majesty being a wise and Iudicious Prince and above all things desirous of the welfare of your people more in love with Parliaments then this which is one of the principal ends of calling them that therein your Majesty may be truely informed of the State of all the several parts of your kingdome and how your Officers and Ministers do behave themselves in the trust reposed in them by your Majesty which is scarce able to be made known unto you but in Parliament as was declared by your blessed Father when he was pleased to put the Commons in Parliament assembled in minde that it would be the greatest unfaithfulnesse and breach of duty to his Majesty and of the trust committed to them by the Countrey that could be if in setting forth the grievances of the people and the condition of all the parts of this Kingdome from whence they come they did not deal clearly with him without sparing any how near and dear soever they were unto him if they were hurtful or dangerous to the Common-Wealth In confidence therefore of your Majesties gracious acceptation in a matter of so high importance and in faithful discharge of our duties We do first of all most humbly beseech your Majesty to take notice that howsoever we know your Majesty doth with your soul abhor that any such thing should be imagined or attempted Yet there is a general fear conceived in your people of secret working and combination to introduce into this kingdome innovation and change of our holy Religion more precious unto us then our lives and whatever this world can afford And our fears and jealousies herein are not meerly conjectural but arising out of such certain and visible effects as may demonstrate a true and real Cause For notwithstanding the many good and wholesome Laws and provisions made to prevent the increase of Popery within this kingdome and notwithstanding your Majesties most gracious and satisfactory answer to the Petition of both Houses in that behalfe presented to your Majesty at Oxford We finde there hath followed no good execution nor effect but on the contrary at which your Majesty out of the quick sense of your own religious heart cannot but be in the highest measure displeased those of that Reliligion do finde extraordinary favors and respect in Court from persons of great quality and power whom they continually resort unto and in particular to the Countesse of Buckingham who her self openly professing that Religion is a known favourer and supporter of them that do the same which we well hoped upon your Majesties Answer to the aforsaid Petition at Oxford should not have been permitted nor that any of your Majesties Subjects of that religion justly to be suspected should be entertained in the service of your Majesty or your royal consort the Queen Some likewise of that Religion have had Honours Offices and places of Command and Authority lately conferred upon them But that which striketh the greatest terror into the hearts of your Loyal Subjects concerning this is that Letters of Stay of legal proceedings against them have been procured from your Majesty by what indirect meanes we know not And Commissions under the great Seale granted and executed for composition to be made with Popish Recusants with Inhibitions and restraints both to the Ecclesiastical and temporal Courts and Officers to intermeddle with them which is conceived to amount to no leâ—â—e then a toleration odious to God full of dishonour and extreame disprosit to your Majesty of great scandal and griefe to your good people and of apparent danger to the present State of your Majesty and of this Kingdome their numbers power and insolency daily increasing in all parts of your Kingdome and especially about London and the Subburbs thereof Where exceeding many Families do make their abode publiquely frequent Masse at Denmark House and other places and by their often meetings and conferences have opportunities of combining their Councels and Strength together to the hazard of your Majesties safety and the State and most especially in these doubtful and calamitous times And as our fear concerning change or subversion of Religion is grounded upon the daily increase of Papists the open and professed Enemies thereof for the Reasons formerly mentioned So are the hearts of your good Subjects no lesse perplexed when with sorrow they behold a daily growth and spreading of the faction of the Arminians that being as your Majesty well knows but a cunning way to
and other Lands to the said Title of Earl of Arundel 11. An Act to assure the Joynture of the Lady Francis Nevil and to enable the Lord Abergavenny to sell Lands 12. An Act concerning the Lands of William Earl of Devon 13. An Act to confirm the Estates of the Lord Morlies Tenants in Tatham and Gressingham 14. An Act for reestating of Lands of William Morgan Esq and discharging the trust concerning them 15. A Declararation of the Commons against Doctor Manwaring 16. An Act to enable Dutton Lord Gerrard to make a Joynture to any Wife that he shall hereafter marry and to provide for younger children and the securing of Portions for Alice Frances and Eliz. Gerrard sisters of the said Lord Gerrard 17. An Act for restitution in blood of Carew Rawleigh Esq and to confirm Letters Patents made to the Earl of Bristol by King James 18. An Act for the Naturalizing of Isaac Ashley Henry Ashley Thomas Ashley and Bernard Ashley sons of Sir Jacob Ashley Knight 19. An Act for Naturalizing of Samuel Powel 20. An Act for the naturalizing of Alexander Levingston Gent. 21. An Act for the naturalizing of John Trumbal and of William Beere Edward Beer and Sidney Beere and Samuel Wentworth 22. An Act for the amendment of a word miswritten in an Act made An. 21. Iac. R. to enable Vincent Lowe Esq. to sell Lands c. 23. An Act for naturalizing of Sir Robert Ayton Knight 24. An Act for confirmation of Letters Patents made by King James to John Earl of Bristol 25. An Act for naturalizing of John Aldersey Mary Aldersey Anne Aldersey Eliz. Aldersey and Margaret Aldersey c. 26. An Act for the naturalizing of Daniel Delingue Knight 27. An Act for the naturalizing of Sir Robert Dyel Kt. and George Kirk Esquire 28. An Act for the naturalizing of James Freese In the Interval between the two Sessions there happened many remarkable passages DOctor Manwarings Sermons intituled Religion and Allegiance were suppressed by Proclamation the King declaring that though the grounds thereof were rightly laid to perswade obedience from Subjects to their Sovereign and that for conscience sake yet in divers passages inferences and applications thereof trenching upon the Laws of this Land and proceedings of Parliaments whereof he was ignorant he so far erred that he had drawn upon himself the just censure and sentence of the High Court of Parliament by whose judgement also that Book stands condemned Wherefore being desirous to remove occasions of scandal he thought fit that those Sermons in regard of their influences and applications be totally suppressed Then a Proclamation came forth declaring the Kings pleasure for proceedings with Popish Recusants and directions to his Commissioners for making compositions for two parts of three of their Estates which by Law were due to his Majesty neverthelesse for the most part they got off upon easie tearms by reason of compositions at undervalues and by Letters of Grace and protection granted from time to time to most of the wealthiest of them This was seconded with another Proclamation commanding that diligent search be made for all Priests and Jesuites particularly the Bishop Calcedon and others that have taken Orders by authority from the See of Rome that they be apprehended and committed to the Goale of that County where they shall be found there to remaine without Bayle or Mainprize till they be tryed by due course of Law and if upon trial and conviction there shall be cause to respit the execution of any of them they shall not lie in the Common Goals much lesse wander about at large but according to the example of former times be sent to the Castle of Wisbitch or some other safe prison where they shall remain under strait and close custody and be wholly restrained from exercising their function and spreading their superstitious and dangerous doctrines Hereupon the Privy Councel wrote to the Bishop of Ely a Letter of the tenour following WHereas his Majestie hath beene informed that the Romish Priests Jesuites and Seminaries lurking in this Kingdome do obstinately and maliciously continue their wonted practises to supplant the true Religion established and to seduce his people from obedience stirre up sedition and subvert the State and Government so far as it lieth in their power his Majesty hath therefore commanded us to signifie unto your Lordship that it is his expresse will and pleasure according to his Declaration in Parliament and his Royal Proclamation since published you shall forthwith prepare and make ready the Castle of Wisbitch in the Isle of Ely to receive and lodge all such Priests Jesuites and Seminaries and other prisoners as shall be hereafter sent thither and there treat and governe them according to such instructions and directions as shall be prescribed by this board The Jesuites taken in Clarken-well being then in several prisons it was ordered by the Councel they should all be removed to Newgate and such of them as were not as yet convicted and condemned should be proceeded against untill they were condemned and then that they all should be sent to the Castle of VVisbitch according to the Proclamation in that behalf and the Attorney General was required to take course to entitle the King to the goods taken in the house which was designed for a Colledge and accordingly they were proceeded against and but onely one convicted which proceeding was questioned in the ensuing Session of Parliament And upon Information that there was a greater concourse of Recusants in or near London then had been usual at other times the Privy Councel sent to the Lord Mayor to require him to cause diligent search to be made within the City and Liberties thereof and to finde out what Recusants did inhabit or remaine there as House-keepers Inmates or Lodgers or in any manner and to return a certificate to the board both of their names and qualities distinguishing which were Trades-men that were there by occasion of their Trades according to to the Statute in that behalf and which were of no Trade but resorted thither from other parts of the Kingdom Iuly 15. being St. Swithins day Sir Richard VVeston Chancellor of the Exchequer was made Lord Treasurer of England and the same day was Bishop Laud translated to the Bishoprick of London About the same time Master Montague formerly mentioned was designed to the Bishoprick of Chichester upon the decease of Bishop Carleton Neverthelesse his Appello Caesarem was thought fit to be called in the King declaring that out of his care to maintain the Church in the unity of true Religion and the bond of peace to prevent unnecessary disputes he had lately caused the Articles of Relgion to be reprinted as a rule for avoiding diversities of opinions and considering that a Book written by Richard Montague now Bishop of Chichester intituled Apello Caesarem was the first cause of those disputes and differences which since have much troubled the quiet
in chains in manner as is usual upon notorious murders IN Michaelmas Term the Farmers and Officers of the Custom House seized great quantities of Currants belonging to Mr. Samuel Vassal of London Merchant because he refused to pay an Imposition of five shillings and six pence upon every hundred weight of the said Currants so imported alledged to be due and demanded on his Majestie behalf Mr. Vassal refused to pay the same conceiving it was an Imposition against the Law of the Land Whereupon the Kings Attourney General exhibited an Information in the Exchequer against the said Vassal setting forth that King Iames did by his Letters Patents command the taking the said Imposition and that his Majesty that now is by his Letters Patents dated 26. Iunii 2. Caroli by the advice of his Privy Councel did declare his Will and Pleasure to be that Subsidies Customs and Impost should be Leavied in such manner as they were in the time of King Iames until it might receive a setling by Parliament and the Information did set forth that the said Samuel Vassall before the first day of October 4. Car. did bring into the Port of London 4638. hundred weight of Currants for which he refused to pay Custom To this information the said Samuel Vassal appeared and pleaded the Statute of Magna Charta and the Statute de talagio non concedendo and that he was a subject born under the Kings allegiance and a Merchant and that the said imposition of five shillings six pence upon every hundred weight of Currants was not Antiqua seu recta consuetudo and that it was imposed without assent of Parliament to which Plea the said Attourney General demurred in Law and Mr. Vassall joyned in demur c. Afterwards the Barons of the Exchequer did publickly deny to hear Master Vassals Councel to argue for him saying that his the said Vassalls Case would fall under the same rule with one Bates Case and therefore the Case was already adjudged Master Vasalls Councel alledged that they had nothing to do with Bates his Case but desired to argue Master Vassalls Case The Barons replied that they knew the opinion of the Court and should be heard no further and said that the King was in possession and they would keep him in possession and shortly after the Court of Exchequer imprisoned the said Master Vassall for not paying such sums of mony as the Officers of the Custome-house required as due upon the said imposition and he could not obtain restitution of his goods and the Court gave their opinion upon the said information for the King against Mr. Vassal About the same time divers goods and Merchandizes belonging to Richard Chambers of London Merchant were seized and conveyed into Store-houses at the Custom-house by the Officers of the Custom because the said Chambers refused to pay the subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage demanded by the Farmers the said Chambers conceiving no such subsidy or duty was due or payable the same having not been granted by Parliament to his Majesty and having sued forth a writ of Replevin the proper remedy in Law to regain the possession of his goods the Barrons of the Exchequer did order an Injunction under the Seal of the said Court directed to the Sheriffs of London commanding them thereby not to execute the said writ or any the like Writs of Replevin that should afterwards be sued forth by any person or persons for the delivery of any goods in the like nature detained and did declare publickly in Court that the said goods by Law were not repleviable and the Sheriffs of London did accordingly forbear to execute the said Writ of Replevin Master Chambers finding this obstruction offered to give great security unto the Court for payment of such duties as should be made appeare to be made payable to his Majesty in such manner as the said Barrons should direct the Court afterwards debating this matter would not give way thereunto unlesse the said Chambers would deposite all such summes of money as the said Officers respectively demanded of him for duties to his Majesty which he refused to do The Court did order the Officers of the Custom to detain double value of the summes by them demanded for duties to his Majesty and to restore the residue The same course of proceeding the Barrons of the Exchequer held in the Case of Master Iohn Rolls of London Merchant whose goods were detained for not paying of Tunnage and Poundage The meeting of the Parliament now drawing nigh the King consults with a select Committee of his Privy Councellors what probably the Parliament at their next meeting would insist upon and how the Privy Councel who are members of the Parliament shall demean themselves in such cases And first it was proposed to his Majesties consideration that if in the House of Commons it shall be moved with any strength that the Merchants goods be delivered before they proceed to the Bill of Tunnage and Poundage the Answer by such as are Privy Councellors and Members of the House to be that if the House intend to grant Tunnage and Poundage to the King as it hath been granted to his Predecessors it will end all dispute but if they proceed otherwise then before they come to a resolution the King to speak to them and to declare that though his Predecessors claimed it not but by grant of Parliament yet took it de facto until it was granted by Parliament and that his Majesty hath done the like and that if they will passe the Bill to his Majesty as his Ancestors had it his Majesty will do any reasonable thing to declare that he claimes not Tunnage and Poundage otherwise then by grant in Parliament but if this do not satisfie then to avow a breach upon just cause given not sought by the King And for bringing the Kings business to a speedy issue it was advised that the Bill of Tunnage and Poundage be prepared before the Parliament sit in the same form as it passed to King Iames adding words to give it from the first day of the Kings Reigne and that the Bill be presented at the first sitting of the Parliament and the Privy Councel of the House to declare that his Majesty caused it to be timely presented to cut off all questions and debates and to perswade them to a dispatch thereof and that they will returne a speedy answer whether they will grant Tunnage and Poundage or not They also took into consideration divers other matters which they apprehended the Parliament would insist upon as proceeding to censure the actions of the Duke of Buckingham to accuse some of the Kings servants now living upon common Fame to cast personal aspersions in Parliament upon the Kings Councellors or to charge them with giving ill counsel to the King to handle questions touching matters of Religion proper for his Majesty and a Convocation to determine to raise
discontinuance of assembling the three Estates in France which was in time about four years before the blazing Star by Lewis the eleventh King of France who by reason the third Estate representing the Commons did incroach as he declared too much upon the Clergie and Nobility the King dissolved that Parliament of the three Estates and never had a free Election of the third Estate afterwards but ordained another kind of meeting instead thereof which is called L' assembli des Notables An assembly of certain eminent persons of his own Nomination whereunto he added some Counsellour out of every Court of Parliament there being eight in all in France and being few in number and of his own Nomination would more readily comply with the Kings proposals and not dispute his will and pleasure as the general assembly of three Estates had wont to do when the King trenched upon the liberty and property of the Subject which alteration of the Government as to the third Estate hath ever since exposed the Commons to much vassalage and misery as at this day is apparent by the meanness of their livelyhood and wearing of wooden shoes That which gives us occasion to mention this last particular is a little Tract composed to the said end and purpose and which did this Trinity long Vacation walk abroad and went from hand to hand sometime at Court sometime in the Country and sometime at the Innes of Court which we here set down verbatim in the Appendix that the humour of the Author thereof may be the more clearly discerned and when we come to its proper time and place you shall see what success this Pamphlet had when it was questioned in the Star-Chamber Towards the latter end of his Vacation all the Justices of the Kings Bench being then in the Country received every one of them a Letter to be at Sergeants Inne upon Michaelmas day These Letters were from the Council-Table and the cause expressed in them was That his Majesty had present and urgent occasion to use their service The Judges came up accordingly on Tuesday being Michaelmas day The next morning about four a clock Letters were brought to the chief Justice from Mr. Trumbal Clerk of the Council then attending that he and Judge Whitlock one of the Judges of that Court should attend the King that morning so soon as conveniently they could which the Chief Justice and that Judge did at Hampton that morning where the King taking them apart from the Council fell upon the business of the Gentlemen in the Tower and was contented they should be bayled notwithstanding their obstinacy in that they would not give the King a Petition expressing That they were sorry he was offended with them he shewed his purpose to proceed against them by the common Law in the Kings Bench and to leave his proceeding in the Star-Chamber Divers other matters he proposed to the said Judges by way of advice and seemed well contented with what they answered though it was not to his minde which was That the offences were not capital and that by the Law the prisoners ought to be bailed giving security to the good behaviour whereupon the King told them That he would never be offended with his Judges so they dealt plainly with him and did not answer him by Oracles and Riddles both these Judges did at that time what good office they could to bring the King on to heal this breach The first day of Michaelmas Term it was moved by Mr. Mason to have the Resolution of the Judges and the Court with one voice said That they are now content that they shall be bayled but that they ought to finde sureties also for the good behaviour and Iones Justice said That so it was done in the Case which had been often remembred to another purpose two wit Russels Case in 9 E. 3. To which Mr. Selden answered with whom all the other prisoners agreed in opinion That they have their sureties ready for the bayl but not for the good behaviour and desire that the bayl might first be accepted and that they be not urged to the other and that for these Reasons First the Case here had long depended in Court and they have been imprisoned for these thirty weeks and it had been oftentimes argued on the one side and the other and those that argued for the King alwaies demanded that we should be remanded and those which argued on our side desired that we might be bayled or discharged but it was never the desire of the one side or the other that we should be bound to the good behaviour And in the last Term four several days were appointed for the Resolution of the Court and the sole point in question was If baylable or not therefore he now desires that the matter of bayl and of good behaviour may be severed and not conâ—ounded Secondly because the finding of sureties of good behaviour is seldome urged upon Returns of Felonies or Treasons And it is but an implication upon the Return that we are culpable of those matters which are objected 3. We demand to be bayled in point of Right and if it be not grantable of Right we do not demand it but the finding of Sureties for the good behaviour is a point of discretion meerly and we cannot assent to it without great offence to the Parliament where these matters which are surmised by the Return were acted and by the Statute of 4 Hen. 8. all punishments of such nature are made voyd and of none effect Therefore c. Curia The Return doth not make mention of any thing done in Parliament and we cannot in a judicial way take notice that these things were done in Parliament And by Whitlock The surety of good behaviour is as a preventing medicine of the damage that may fall out to the Commonwealth and it is an Act of Government and jurisdiction and not of Law And by Crook It is no inconvenience to the Prisoners for the same bayl sufficeth and all shall be written upon one peece of parchment And Heath Atturney General said That by the command of the King he had an information ready in his hand to deliver in the Court against them Hide Chief Justice If now you refuse to find sureties for the good behaviour and be for that cause remanded perhaps we afterwards will not grant Habeas Corpus for you inasmuch as we are made acquainted with the cause of your imprisonment Ashly the Kings Sergeant offered his own bayl for Mr. Holles one of the Prisoners who had married his daughter and heir But the Court refused it for it is contrary to the course of the Court unless the Prisoner himself will become bound also And Mr. Long that had found sureties in the Chief Justices Chamber for the good behaviour refused to continue his sureties any longer inasmuch as they were bound in a great summe of 2000 l. and the good behaviour was a
per Annum by raising a certain value upon their Lands and some other impositions which requiring a long Discourse by it self I will omit it here setting it down in my Instructions it will save your Majesty at least One hundred thousand pounds per Annum to make it pain of death and confiscation of goods and lands for any of the Officers to cousen You which now is much to be feared they do or else they could not be so rich and herein to allow a fourth part benefit to them that shall find out the cousenage Here is not meant Officers of State as the Lord Treasurer c. being Officers of the Crown The summe of all this account amounteth unto two Millions or Twenty hundred thousand pounds per Annum Suppose it be but one Million and a Half as assuredly your Majesty may make by these courses set down yet it is much more then I promised in my Letter for your Majesties service Besides some sums of mony in present by the courses following Imprimis By the Prince's Marriage to make all the Earls in England Grandees of Spain and Principi with such like priviledges and to pay twenty thousand pounds apiece for it 2. As also if you make them Foeditaries of the Towns belonging to their Earldoms if they will pay for it besides as they do to the King of Spain in the Kingdom of Naples And so likewise Barons to be made Earls and Peers to pay ninteen thousand pounds a piece I think might yield five hundred thousand pounds and oblige them more sure to his Majesty 3. To make choice of two hundred of the richest men of England in estate that be not Noble-men and make them Titulate as is used in Naples and paying for it that is a Duke thirty thousand pounds a Marquis fifteen thousand pounds an Earl ten thousand pounds and a Baron or Viscount five thousand pounds It is to be understood that the antient Nobility of Barons made Earls are to precede these as Peers though these be made Marquesses or Dukes this may raise a Million of pounds and more unto your Majesty To make Gentlemen of low quality and Francklines and rich Farmers Esquires to precede them would yield your Majesty also a great sum of mony in present I know another course to yield your Majesty at least three hundred thousand pounds in mony which as yet the time serveth not to discover untill your Majesty be resolved to proceed in some of the former courses which till then I omit Other courses also that may make present mony I shall study for your Majestie 's service and as I find them out acquaint you withall Lastly to conclude all these discourses by the application of this course used for your profit That it is not onely the means to make you the richest King that ever England had but also the safety augmented thereby to be most secure besides what shewed in the first part of this Discourse I mean by the occasion of this Taxation and raising of monies your Majesty shall have cause and means to imploy in all places of the Land so many Officers and Ministers to be obliged to you for their own good and interest as nothing can be attempted against your Person or Royall State over land but some of them shall in all probability have means to find it out and hinder it Besides this course will detect many disorders and abuses in the publick Government which were hard to be discovered by men indifferent To prohibite gorgeous and costly apparell to be worn but by persons of good quality shall save the Gentry of the Kingdom much more mony then they shall be taxed to pay unto your Majesty Thus withall I take my leave and kiss your gratious hands desiring pardon for my error I may commit herein Pasc. 5. Caroli Regis B. R. The Reports of the following Arguments were taken by Mr. Widdrington of Gray's-Inn UPon the Habeas Corpus out of this Court to bring here the body of one William Stroud Esq with the cause of his imprisonment to the Marshall of the Kings Bench it was returned in this manner That William Stroud Esq was committed under my custody by vertue of a certain Warrant under the hands of twelve Lords of the Privy Councill of the Lord the King the tenour of which Warrant followeth in these words You are to take knowledge that it is his Majesties expresse pleasure and commandment that you take into your custody the body of William Stroud Esq and keep him close-prisoner untill you shall receive other order either from his Majesty or this Board for so doing this shall be your Warrant Dated the 2 d of April 1629. And the Direction thereof was To the Marshall of the King's Bench or his Deputy He is likewise held in prison by vertue of a certain Warrant under the hand of the King himself the tenour of which Warrant followeth in these words Carolus Rex Whereas you have in your custody the body of William Stroud Esq committed by the Lords of Our Privy Councill by Our speciall command you are to take notice that his commitment was for notable contempts by him committed against Our Self and Our Government and for stirring up of Sedition against Us For which you are to detain him in your custody and keep him close-prisoner untill Our pleasure be further known concerning his deliverance Given at Greenwich the 7 th of May 1629. in the 5 th year of Our Reigne And the direction was To Our Marshall for Our Bench for the time being And these are the causes of the taking and detaining of the foresaid William Stroud c. And upon another Habeas Corpus to the Marshall of the Houshold to have the body of Walter Long Esq he made the same Return as above Ask of the Inner Temple of Counsell with Mr. Stroud moved That the Return was insufficient The Return consists upon two Warrants bearing severall Dates which are the causes of the taking and detaining of the Prisoner For the first Warrant which is of the Lords of the Councill that is insufficient because no cause is shewn of his commitment which is expresly against the resolution of the Parliament and their Petition of Right in the time of this King which now is to which he had likewise given his assent so his taking by vertue of the said Warrant is wrongfull And for the second Warrant it is insufficient also and that notwithstanding that it be the Kings own for the King himself cannot imprison any man as our Books are to wit 16 H. 6. F. Monstrance de faits 1 H. 7.4 Hussey reports it to be the opinion of Markham in the time of Edw. 4. and Forrescue in his Book de laudibus Legum Angliae cap. 18. And the reason given is because no action of false imprisonment lies against the King if the Imprisonment be wrongfull and the King cannot be a wrong doer The Statute
favor of Roman Catholicks A difficulty concerning the Popes title on the Kings part Another on the Ambassadors part concerning prayers in the Kings Chappel A titular Bishop of Calcedon sent into England Preparations for conducting the Infanta into England No mention made in the Capitulations of restoring the Palatine Mr. Allured his Letter to the Duke The French jealous of this conjunction Pope Vrban to K. Iames. Pope Vrbans Letter to Prince Charls The Treaty begins to tend to a rupture The Prohibition to the Judges and Bishops in behalf of the Catholicks suspended Some of the English in Spain dislike the Match and Religion The Duke disgusted in Spain Buckingham and Bristol run different ways The Palatine by his Secretary labors to engage the Prince against the Marriage The Spaniard continues new delays The English Papists perplexed The Prince ready to depart from the Court of Spain leaves a Proxy with the Earl of Bristâ—l The Duke and Olivares part not Friends The Prince universally â—steemed His departure solemn The Prince feasted the Dons aboard his Ship and bringing them back again to the shore a storm surprises them Expressions of joy for the Princes safe return into England Private Instructions delivered to Bristol contrary to the Proxy Bristol in a Letter gives the Prince a good account of the business King Iames falls off and for a Condition of the Mariage demands the Restitution of the Palatinate Bristol and Asâ—â—n demur upon the new Instructions Sir Walter Aston endeavors to reconcile the Dâ—ke to Spain Advice to the King touching the Duke The Earl of Bristol is commanded by the King to follow the new Instructions King Iames puts the Palatine in hope by Proposal of new terms The Palatines Answer to those Terms proposed by the King The Netherlands appear ready to embrace the antient Union with England The Ratifiâ—â—â—ication come from the new Popâ— and when all is ready for the E 〈◊〉 ls thâ—n is the Maâ—ch dasht by order from England Bristol sends his Apology to K. Iames for having demurred upon the new Instructions Olivares offers Bristol large Preferments in the Kings name when he was to take his leave Bristols Answer to those Profers The Spaniards prepare for a War with England The L. Kensington sent Ambassador into France to feel the pulse of that Court touching a Match renders an account of his acceptance The King advised to call a Parliament The Kings Speech to the Parliament The King approves Sir Tho. Crew for Speaker who made this Speech The Dukes Narrative Both Houses of Parliament justifie the Duke in his Narrative His Majesties Answer to that Justification Both Houses of Parliament concur that the King may not honorably proceed in tâ—e Treaty of the Prince's Marriage and the Palatinate The Kings Speech 〈◊〉 Parliament perswaâ—â—â—â— him to break off the two Treaties of the Match and of the Palatinate Sir Edw. Sackvile's Speech Sir Edw. Sackvile's Speech The Parliaments Answer to the Kings Speech The Parliament offers his Majesty Three Subsidies and Three Fifteens if he break off both Treaties His Majesties Reply The King declares his Resolution to dissolve the Treaties The King accepts the aid proffered him King Iames his Letter to Secretary Conway touching a Petition against the Papists The Petition His Majesties Answer to the Petition The Spanish Ambassadors accuse Buckingham to the King of matters of high concernment The issue of those Accusations The Earl of Bristol protests against the Dukes Narration is imprisoned in the Tower The Speakers and the Kings Speech at the Adjournment of the Parliament Kings Iames demands the Town of Frankendal deposited in the Archducâ—hess hands Spinola marches out of the Town and immediately Re-enters King Iames very desirous of a Match with France The Match with France concluded Count Mansfield arrrives in England 12000 Foot and 200 horse raised to go under his command Scarce the third part of Count Mansfields Army came safe to Land Richard Smith made Bishop of Calcedon and sent into England with Episcopal Jurisdiction * The Duke of Buckingham Instructions to Mr Drummond The Privy-Counsellors present themselves to King Charles King Charles proclaimed at Theobalds At Whitehall In London The old Privy-Council new sworn The Councils advice to the King Proclamation concerning Persons in Office c. Proclamation of Government Resolution taken by the King concerning King Iames Funeral and his own Marriage A Parlamenâ— summoned King Iames Funeral Duke of Buckingham continues Favorite to King Charles Religion considered A general Muster Souldiers levied for the Palatinate Proclamation against disorders committed by Souldiers Articles of the marriage with France signed by the King Private Articles in favor of the Catholicks The Marriage solemnized in France The Duke sent into France for the Queen A Royal Navy sent to Bolâ—ign to transport the Queen The Marriage consummated at Canterbury The Trained Bands of Kent commanded to attend the Queen The King and Queen come to London A Chappel built at Somerset-house for the Queen A great Plague in London The Parliament opened The Kings Speech in Parliament The Lord Keepers Speech in Parliament Sir Tho. Crew Speaker Debates in the House of Commons A Fast. Committees chosen Message to the King touching Religion and his Answer Mr. Montague brought to the Bar. The Arminian party assert his cause The King takes Montagues businâ—â—â— into his own hand Two Subsidies presented to the King The King accepts them and desires more A short Answer to the Petition touching Religion The Parliament adjourned to Oxford The Exchequer removed to Richmond The Vantguard and seven other Ships employed against Rochel The Parliament meets again at Oxford Grievances Mr. Montague Summoned to appear His Cause recommended by the Bishops to the Duke The Appeal to Caesar disputed The Kings Speech in Christ-Church Lord Conway and Secretary Cook by the Kings Command declare the present slate of Affairs Lord Treasurer proceeds in that subject Debates in the House of Commons touching the present state of Affairs Complaints against Papists favored notwithstanding the Kings Answer to the Petition against them The Petition concerning Religion together with his 〈…〉 The Duke renders an account to both Houses of the Fleet. He speaks by way of Objection and Answer * The Earl of Bristol The Dukes Relation accasioned variety of Opinions in Parliament The Kings Message to the Commons Debates upon the Kings Message The Commons Declaration The Parliament dissolved The King follows his Design of War The Kings Proclamation to recal home children of Recusants The Kings Letter to the Lieutenants for the Loan of Money upon Privy-Seals Privy-Seals issued forth to certain Persons Warrants for disarming Recusants Letters directed to Lords Recusants Concourse of Papists prevented Viscount Wimbleton Commander in Chief in the Voyage to Cadez Lord Cromwels Letter to the Duke touching the Fleet. The Earl of Warwick secures Langer-Point in Essex English and Dutch Fleet before Dunkirk dispersed by a storm The General examined before the Council The
Majesty will be likewise pleased strictly to command all your Iudges and Ministers of Iustice Ecclesiastical and Temporal to sée the Laws of this Realm against Popish Recusants to be duly executed And namely that the Censure of Excommunication be declared and certified against them and that they be not absolved but upon publick satisfaction by yielding to Conformity Answ. His Majesty leaves the Lawes to their Course and will order in the point of Excommunication as is desired X. That your Majesty will be pleased to remove from places of Authority and Government all such persons as are either Popish Recusants or according to direction of former Acts of State to be justly suspected Answ. This his Majesty thinks fit and will give order for it XI That present order be taken for disarming all Popish Recusants legally convicted or justly suspected according to the Laws in that behalf and the Orders taken by his late Majesties Privy-Council upon reason of State Answ. The Laws and Acts in this Case shall be followed and put in due execution XII That your Majesty be also pleased in respect of the great resort of Recusants to and about London to command forthwith upon pain of your indignation and severe execution of the Laws that they retire themselves to their several Countries there to remain confined within Five miles of their places Answ. For this the Laws in force shall be forthwith executed XIII And whereas your Majesty hath strictly commanded and taken order that none of the natural born Subjects repair to the hearing of Masses or other Superstitious Service at the Chappels or Houses of Foreign Ambassadors or in any other places whatsoever we give your Majesty most humble thanks and desire that your Order and Commandment therein may be continued and observed and that the Offenders herein may be punished according to the Laws Answ. The King gives assent thereto and will see that observed which herein hath been commanded by him XIV That all such Insolencies as any that are Popishly affected have lately committed or shall hereafter commit to the dishonor of our Religion or to the wrong of the true Professors thereof be exemplarily punished Answ. This shall be done as is desired XV. That the Statute of 1 Eliz. for the payment of Twelve-pence every Sunday by such as shall be absent from Divine service in the Church without a lawfull excuse may be put in due execution the rather for that the penalty by Law is given to the poor and therefore not to be dispenced withal Answ. It is fit that this Statute be executed and the Penalties shall not be dispenced withal XVI Lastly That your Majesty would be pleased to extend your Princely care also over the Kingdom of Ireland that the like courses may be there taken for the restoring and establishing of true Religion Answ. His Majesties cares are and shall be extended over the Kingdom of Ireland and he will do all that a Religious King should do for the restoring and establishing of true Religion there And thus most gracious Soveraign according to our duty and zeal to God and Religion to your Majesty and your safety to the Church and Common-wealth and their peace and prosperity we have made a faithfull Declaration of the present Estate the causes and remedies of this increasing disease of Popery humbly offering the same to your Princely care and wisdom The Answer of your Majesties Father our late Soveraign of famous memory upon the like Petition did give us great comfort of Reformation but your Majesties most gracious promises made in that kinde do give us confidence and assurance of the continual performance thereof In which comfort and confidence reposing our selves we most humbly pray for your Majesties long continuance in all Princely felicity The Petition and Answer being read it was further intimated to the Commons That as his Majesty took well their minding him of the care of Religion so he would have done and granted the same things though they had never petitioned him neither doth he place his Answer to this Petition as a wheel to draw on other affairs and designs but he leaves them to move in their own Sphere and what he hath done in this particular comes from these two Fountains Conscience and Duty to his Father who in his last speech recommended unto him the Person but not the Religion of his Queen At the same time the Duke signified to both Houses that by the Kings command he was to give an account of the Fleet and the preparations thereof and said that the first and last time he had the happiness to speak in that Auditory it was of the Spanish Treaty and then he was so happy as to be honored and applauded by both Houses of Parliament and he made no question but speaking now with the same heart he should be no less acceptable to them And he made this request to the House of Commons to believe that if any hath spoken or shall speak in discharge of his conscience his zeal of Reformation any thing which may seem to reflect upon some particular persons he shall be the last man that will apply this to himself because he is confidently assured of two things first that they are just not to fall upon him without cause and secondly that himself shall do nothing that unbecomes a faithfull Englishman And for the Method of his ensuing Discourse he chose rather to speak by way of Objection and Answer then in one continued Speech as a speedier means to give the Commons satisfaction Object 1. By what Counsel those Designs and Actions of War were carried and enterprised Answ. By the Counsel of the Parliament appointed according to the Act of both Houses the 23. of March 1623. by those Counsels his Majesty was guided and applied himself accordingly for the defence of the Realm the securing of Ireland the assisting of our Neighbors and others our Friends and Allies and for the setting forth the Navy-Royal His Majesty looking into his purse saw enough to do all the former Actions but not this latter For when he came to consider of the Navy there was neither money nor preparations yet looking upon the Affairs of Christendom he found that of most necessity Hereupon his Majesty of famous memory did him viz. the Duke the honor as to write from Newmarket to him at London a Letter to this effect That looking into the Affairs of Christendom he found it necessary that a Royal-Fleet shouâ—d be prepared and set in readiness but that he had no Money wherefore himself meaning the Duke and his Friends must begin to lay it out and no doubt but others would follow and by this means the King might lie the longer concealed and undiscovered in the Enterprise as bearing the name of the Subject onely and other Princes in hope to draw him on would sooner come to the business Upon this Letter the Duke said he leaped into the Action with all alacrity and
having received all he had from his Majesty was most desirous and held it a happiness to pour it out upon his service and occasions and had laid out of his own purse Four and forty thousands pounds and the Treasurer of the Navy at his request had laid out Fifty thousand pounds that he entred not into this business upon his own head but fortified with the Advice and Counsel of those worthy persons the Lord Conway the Lord Chichester Lord Grandison Lord Carew Sir Robert Mansel and Sir Iohn Cook Their last consultation was of the War next of the means but both one and the other was justified by more then himself he never did any thing but by them he either repairing unto them or else they did him the honor to resort to his Chamber afterward the business with the Kings leave was imparted to all the Lords of the Council and the account was made unto them and allowed by them who said there openly his Majesty being present that if this were put in execution it would do well and gave some Attribute unto it And Sir Iohn Cook justified the shewing and the approving of these Accounts at the Council Table the Accounts consisted of long particulars of Souldiers to be levied Mariners to be pressed forwarding of Ships and provisions and that nothing wanted but Money He proceeded yet further and shewed that he was so Religious to guide these great Affairs by Council as that at his journey into France which fell out about this time he desired his Majesty to recommend the business to a select Council which his Majesty did who in his absence took care of the same Object 2. Why did not his Majesty declare the Enemy presently upon granting those three Susidies Answ. His Majesty considered the State of Christendom at that Season and found it full of danger to declare the Enemy for three Reasons First because the great Enemy would be more prepared secondly Spain being the Enemy our Merchants goods would be imbarged which are now drawing home thirdly our Friends finding us so long unprepared after our Declaration would never believe any reality in our intentions Object 3. Whether a considerable sum of money be yet required Answ. Forty thousand pounds is yet necessary but our Master is exhausted his Treasure anticipated his Lands pawned his Plate offered to be pawned but not accepted and yet his Majesty must be maintained Object 4. Why was not this want of Money foreseen but now onely thought upon unexpectedly and dangerously considering the sickness Answ. It was foreseen before but interrupted by unfortunate accidents the death of the late King the Funeral which for decency could follow no sooner the Journey into France and the Marriage which procured more delay then was expected but necessary At the opening of the Parliament his Majesty did declare this Necessity and told the House plainly that this sitting must not be for Counsel but Resolution and when he understood the grant of two Subsidies he conceived that money to be a matter of Custom to welcom him to the Crown Object 5. Who gave counsel to his Majesty so suddenly when the sickness was so dangerously spread to convene this Parliamant Answ. His Majesty commanded him the Duke to say that it was the business it self that gave this counsel and the necessity of it else his Majesty would not have hazarded the two Houses nor the rest of the Kingdom if he had been able any way without the Parliaments Supply to set out the Navy Object 6. Is not the time of the year too far spent for the Navy to go forth Answ. The King answered this formerly better half the Navy perish then the going thereof should be stayed it would argue such want of Counsel Courage and Experience in the Design such beggerliness in being not able to go through with it that it may not be diverted the season of the year suiting with the Design as could be demonstrated if the Design might not be published thereby Object 7. Whether those Eight Ships lent to the French King which were imployed against the Rochellers were not paid with the Subsidy-money Answ. Those Eight Ships were imployed at the charge of the French King Secondly it is not alway fit for Kings to give account of their Counsels judge the thing by the event Object 8. Whether the Duke having been our Servant to break the Match with Spain made not a worse Match with France and upon harsher terms Answ. I hope the contrary will appear by the Answer to your Petition Object 9. Did not the Duke serve us in breaking the two Treaties with Spain out of spleen and malice to Conde Olivares Answ. There was no cause to hate Olivares who was the means to make him happy for out of his hands came those papers by which the Duke gained the love of this Nation which before thought not so well of him he was not vindicative in his Nature he can forgive those which had no such natural respect to their Country as Olivares had neither doth the Duke love that any man should be an instrument by ill means to do a good Action as Olivares intended to serve his Master and Kingdom by indirect means and he could make a proof that he was not vindicative he can forgive one of our own Nation that concurred with Olivares but he was minded to leave that business asleep which if it should awake would prove a Lion to devour him who as he said he meant one of our Nation who cooperated with Olivares Object 10. It will be objected That hitherto the Duke speaketh of immcense charges which the Kingdom is not able to bear as to assist the King of Denmark with Thirty thousand pounds per Moneth Count Mansfield with Twenty thousand pounds per Moneth the Low-Countries with Eight thousand pounds per Moneth and Two thousand six hundred pounds per Moneth for Ireland Answ. Make the King Chief of the War by a diversion and he will give a greater advantage to all his Allies then by allowing of them Fifty thousand pounds nay a Hundred thousand pounds per Moneth What is it for his Allies to scratch with the King of Spain to take a Town to day and lose it to morrow for it is almost impossible to hope for a Conquest in this kinde the King of Spain being so able by Land but let the King our Soveraign be Master of the Wars elsewhere and make a Diversion and let the Enemy be compelled to spend his Money and Men in other places and our Allies in those parts will be suddenly and perceivedly strengthened and enabled and by this kinde of War you send no Coyn out of the Land you issue nothing but Beef Mutton and Powder and the Kingdom is not impoverished but may make good Returns Object 11. But where is the Enemy Answ. Make the Fleet ready to go out and the King bids you name the Enemy your selves put the Sword into his Majesties hands