pursuance thereof a Citation or Premonition was fix'd upon the Chappel-door of the said Colledge signifying the same and by which the absent Fellows were Summoned to repair home as the Statute in the Case requires And the said Vice-President and other deputed Fellows farther say That on the 11th of April aforesaid they received his Majesty's Letters Mandatory to elect and Admit the said Mr. Anthony Farmer President of the said Colledge But forasmuch as the said Vice-President and Fellows apprehended the right of Election to be in them and believed His Majesty never intended to dispossess them of their Rights And forasmuch as the said Mr. Farmer had never been Fellow either of Magdalen or New-Colledge in Oxon and had not those Qualifications which in and by the said Statutes of the Colledge are required in the Character of a President as they in their Consciences did or do verily believe and in regard that they could not comply with his Majesty's Letter without the violation of their Oaths and hazard of their legal Interest and Property wherewith they are by the Statutes possessed and which by their Oaths they are bound to maintain they represented the same by their humble Petition to His Majesty And having deferred their Election of a President to the last day limited by their Statutes then they proceeded to Election and having first received the Eucharist and taken the said Oaths as the Statutes enjoyn to chuse a Person so qualified as is before expressed they did Elect the Reverend Mr. Iohn Hough B. D. and one of the Fellows of their Colledge a Person every way qualified to be President who has been since confirmed by the Bishop of Winton their Visitor as the Statutes of the said Colledge direct And that they might not lye under His Majesty's Displeasure by their Proceedings they did on the 19th of April make an humble representation thereof to His Majesty by his Grace the Duke of Ormond Chancellor of the University of Oxon setting forth their indispensable Obligations to observe their Founder's Statutes All which Matters the Vice-President and other deputed Fellows do humbly offer to your Lordships and pray to be dismissed with your Lordships favour NUMB. XX. The Petition of the said Vice-President and Fellows offer'd to King James Humbly sheweth THat upon the 27th of August we received Your Majesty's Letters Mandatory Dated August 14th requiring us to admit the Right Reverend Father in God Samuel Lord Bishop of Oxon to be our President and dispensing with all Statutes and Constitutions to the contrary It is an unexpressible Affliction to us to find our selves reduced to such an extremity that either we must disobey Your Majesty's Royal Command contrary to our own Inclinations and that constant course of Loyalty which we have shew'd in all instances hitherto upon all occasions whatsoever or else break our Founder's Statutes and deliberately perjure our selves For our Founder hath obliged us under Oath when we came in Fellows inviolably to observe his Statutes and one Clause therein injoyns us never to admit or make use of Dispensation granted by any Authority whatsoever whereby we may be absolved from the same In this Statute for the Election of a President he commands us upon Oath to Elect such a Person into the place of President within 15 days after the vacancy who either is or has been Fellow of our own or New-Colledge Which we represented to Your Majesty in our humble Petition sign'd April 9th wherein we offered our selves ready to Elect any Person capable of the same who your Majesty should be pleased to recommend and having waited the utmost time limited by our Statutes and receiv'd no Answer to that effect we did then according to the exigence of our Statutes having first taking the holy Eucharist and our several Oaths to that purpose nominate and Elect such a Person as we in our Consciences did believe to be every way qualified for that Place By which Act of ours we have conveyed all that right to him which our Founder hath intrusted us with and it does not lie in our power to admit any other Our Founder in another Statute obligeth us under the pain of Perjury a dreadful Anathema and eternal Damnation not to suffer any of his Statutes to be altered infringed or dispensed with and commands us under the same Sacred Obligations not to execute any Orders or Decree whatsoever contrary or repugnant to the said Statutes by which said Statutes and Oaths we are utterly incapacitated to admit the said Reverend Father in God to be our President May it please Your Sacred Majesty to give us leave to lay this our Case and our selves with all submission at Your Royal Feet most earnestly beseeching Your Sacred Majesty to extend to us Your humble Petitioners the Grace and Tenderness which Your Majesty hath vouchsafed to all Your other Subjects and not to believe us guilty of any obstinacy or undutifulness Crimes which our Souls abhor but to receive us into Your Majesty's Grace and Favour the greatest temporal Blessing which our Hearts can wish And Your humble Petitioners shall always as in Duty bound pray to Almighty God to bless your Majesty with a long and happy Reign over us and afterwards to receive You to an immortal Crown of Glory NUMB. XXI A Copy of a Letter of the Irish Clergy to King Iames in favour of the Earl of Tyrconnel found among Bishop Tyrrel's Papers in Dublin SIR SInce it has pleased the Almighty Providence The State of Ireland under K. Iames by Dr. King p. 294 295. by placing your Majesty in the Throne of your Ancestors to give you both Authority and Occasion of exercising those Royal Virtues which alone do merit and would acquire you the Crown to which you were born We though comprehended in the general Clemency and Indulgence which you extend to the rest of our Fellow Subjects are nevertheless so remote from your Majesty's Presence that our Prayers can have no access to you but by a Mediator And since of all others the Earl of Tyrconnel did first espouse and chiefly maintain these Twenty five Years last past the Cause of your poor oppressed Roman-Catholick Clergy against our many and powerful Adversaries and is now the only Subject of your Majesty under whose Fortitude and Popularity in this Kingdom we dare chearfully and with assurance own our Loyalty and assert your Majesty's Interest Do make it our humble Suit to your Majesty That you will be pleased to lodge your Authority over us in his Hands to the Terror of the Factious and Encouragement of your faithful Subjects here since his Dependance on your Majesty is so great that we doubt not but that they will receive him with such Acclamations as the long-captiv'd Israelites did their Redeemer Mordecai And since your Majesty in Glory and Power does equal the mighty Ahashuerus and the Virtue and Beauty of your Queen is as true a Parallel to his ador'd Hester we humbly beseech she
the Reformation and in such a Stile and with such an Inimitable Force of Reasoning as will be a Standard of Writing to succeeding Ages To hasten on the Project against the Establish'd Church a new Court of Inquisition was erected under the Name of a Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs And to blind the people there were some Bishops of the Church of England nam'd Commissioners whereof one refus'd to act from the beginning and the other excus'd himself after he came to see where the Design of it was levell'd This Commission was another manifest Violation of the Laws and against an express Act of Parliament And as if that had not been enough to mortify the Church of England there were some Roman Catholicks appointed Commissioners and consequently the Enemies of the Protestant Religion were become the Judges and Directors of a Protestant Church in its Doctrine and Discipline These Commissioners thought fit to begin the Exercise of their New Power with the Suspension of Dr. Compton The Suspension of the Bishop of Londâ—n Bishop of London This Noble Prelate by a Conduct worthy of his Birth and Station in the Church had acquir'd the Love and Esteem of all the Protestant Churches at home and abroad and was for that reason the Mark of the Envy and Hatred of the Romish Party at Court They had waited for an occasion to enoble their Ecclesiastical Commission with such an Illustrious Sacrifice and such an occasion was rather taken than given in the Business of Dr. Sharp now Archbishop of York The Priests about the King knowing how much it was their Interest that the Protestant Clergy should not have leave to refute the Errors of the Church of Rome in their Sermons The Occasion of it had advis'd him to send to the Bishops the ensnaring Letter or Order before mention'd containing Directions about Preaâ—hers The Learned Dr. Sharp taking occasion in some of his Sermons to vindicate the Doctrine of the Church of England in opposition to Popery this was in the Court-Dialect understood to be the endeavouring to beget in the minds of his Hearers an ill opinion of the King and his Government by insinuating Fears and Iealousies to dispose them to Discontent and to lead them into Disobedience and Rebellion and consequently a Contempt of the said Order about Preachers Whereupon King Iames sent a Letter to the Bishop of London containing an Order to suspend Dr. Sharp from Preaching in any Parish-Church or Chappel in his Diocess until the Doctor had given Satisfaction and his Majesty's further Pleasure should be known The Bishop of London perceiving what was aim'd at in this Letter endeavour'd all that was possible to divert the Storm that threaten'd him and the Church of England through his sides He writ a Submissive Letter to the Secretary of State to be communicated to the King setting forth That he thought it his Duty to obey his Majesty in whatever Commands he laid upon him that he could perform with a safe Conscience But in this he was oblig'd to proceed according to Law and as a Iudge And by the Law no Iudge condemns a man before he has knowledge of the Cause and has cited the Party That however he had acquainted Dr. Sharp with his Majesty's Displeasure whom he found so ready to give all reasonable Satisfaction that he had made him the Bearer of that Letter Together with this Letter from the Bishop of London Dr. Sharp carried with him a Petition to the King in his own Name shewing That ever since his Majesty was pleas'd to give notice of his Displeasure against him he had forborn the Publick Exercise of his Function And as he had endeavour'd to do the best Service he could to his Majesty and his late Brother in his Station so he had not vented now in the Pulpit any thing tending to Faction or Schism And therefore prayed his Majesty would be pleas'd to lay aside his Displeasure conceiv'd against him and restore him to that Favour which the rest of the Clergy enjoy'd All this Submission was to no purpose Nothing would satisfy the Party but a Revenge upon the Bishop of London for his Exemplary Zeal for the Protestant Interest and this Affair of Dr. Sharp's was made use of as a handle to mortify him and in his Person the whole Body of the Clergy The Bishop was Cited before the Ecclesiastical Commission for not suspending Dr. Sharp according to the King's Order and treated by their Chair-man at his Appearance in a manner unworthy of his Station and Quality All the Defence he could make and his Plea to the Jurisdiction and Legality of the Court which was good beyond all contradiction did signify nothing These New Inquisitors being resolv'd to stick at nothing that might please the Party that set them at work did by their Definitive Sentence declare decree and pronounce That the Bishop of London should for his Disobedience and Contempt be suspended during his Majesty's Pleasure And accordingly was suspended with a peremptory Admonition To abstain from the Function and Execution of his Episcopal Office and other Ecclesiastical Iurisdictions during the said Suspension under the pain of Deprivation The Proceedings against the President and Fellows of Magdalene College and Removal from his Bishoprick The next that felt the weight of this Ecclesiastical Commission were the President and Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen's College in Oxford The two chief Seats of Learning the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge stood in the way of the Grand Design and the Party was impatient to get footing there Magdalen College is one of the Noblest Foundations that perhaps was ever erected to Learning in the World and therefore it was no wonder it was one of the first Marks that was shot at This Illustrious Society from repeated Grants of Kings ratified in Parliament and from their own Statutes was in an uninterrupted Possession of a Right to Elect their own President That Place being vacant by the Death of Dr. Clark a Day was appointed by the Vice-President and Fellows to proceed to the Election of another to fill up the Vacancy But before the day of Election came Charnock one of the Fellows who was since executed for the late Plot to Assassinate his present Majesty brought them a Mandate from King Iames to elect one Fermer into the Place a Man of an Ill Reputation who had promis'd to declare himself Roman Catholick and was altogether uncapable of the Office by the Statutes of the College This Mandate the Vice-President and Fellows receiv'd with all decent Respect and sent their humble Address to the King representing to his Majesty That Fermer was a Person in several respects incapable of that Office according to their Founders Statutes And therefore did earnestly beseech his Majesty either to leave them to the discharge of their Duty and Consciences according to his Majesty's late Gracious Declaration and their Founders Statutes or else to recommend to them such a Person who
eaque quibus nunc frueris bona et si post ingens à Te pretiumâ— persolutum Tibi reddita fuerint non à Te coempta arbitrabitur sed quadam Superum prodigentiâ dona data Tibi demum gratulor praestantissime Orator quod tam faustum diem videris in Anglia detuleris in Vrbem Nam de Sapientia Tuâ quâ per eruditissimos libros Haeresim profligasti nihil attinet dicere nihil de Fortitudine quâ Carceres ipsos pro Catholica Religione tuenda non tam pertulisti quà m decorasti nil de Prudentia Nobilitate caeterisque dotibus Tuis Hoc unum universa Tua decora comprehendit quod ad maximum totius Regni negotium hoc est ut splendidissimâ— fungereris apud Innocentium P. M. legatione Iacobus II. Magnae Britanniae Rex maximus Te unum elegit quia unus dignus erat eligi alter eligere The Speech of the Rector of the College of Iesuits to his Excellency Roger Earl of Castlemain SIR YOU must not think this College alone can be mute and if they could their Silence must be a Crime at a Time when this City is filled with Vniversal Ioy upon the News of your Excellency's Arrival and all Places resound the Praises of James the Second and the Obligations the Catholick Church has to that Illustrious Prince I in the Name of this Learned Body do in the first place congratulate thee Innocent in whose Reign this flourishing Imperial Crown is added to the Papal Diadem It is now your Holiness can properly use that Apostolick Expression My Joy and my Crown Heaven has deferr'd this happy Day thus long That so great a Blessing might not be obtained without long and unwearied Prayers and at last effected when Two such Princes as James and Innocent should concur to reign the one in England and the other in Rome What a Support have all Catholick Kings gained by this Accession What an Honour has the Orthodox Faith receiv'd and what a Defence against the Enemies of the Name of Christ The Thunder of his Invincible Fleet will strike greater Terror into the Pyrates of Barbary and the Levant than Storms and Waves can do How highly blest art Thou O Britain Empress of the Ocean once secluded from the Earth now Mistress of the Commerce of the Eastern and Western World What Prosperity may'st thou not hope for under the Reign of so Excellent a Prince Raise thy Hopes Raise thy Courage and banish all unjust and unseasonable Fears I have no Inclination at this time to recount those Disasters and Calamities which England has been the Theatre for above an Age past to the Grief and Astonishment of the rest of the World But if Providence has made these the Steps for James the Second to mount the Throne I can hardly refrain declaring how cheaply thou hast purchased so great a Blessing It is certain their present Happiness will create Envy in succeeding Times and however dear it has cost them Posterity will esteem it more the Bounty and Profusion of Heaven than a Recompence of their Sufferings In the last place I must congratulate your Excellency who has first seen this happy Day at home and has next been the Messenger to bring it hither I shall not here presume to praise your Great Wisdom your Learned Writings against Heresy that steady Courage you have shewn in those many Prisons you have honour'd for your Zeal to the True Religion your prudent Conduct or your other extraordinary Qualities All these are summ'd up in one and your Character is in fine compleated by the Choice your Great Master has made of you to sustain the most considerable Affair of his Kingdom The present Glorious Embassy In which all the World must own Him to be the most competent Iudge and You the fittest Person NUMB. XIX The Answer of the Vice President and Fellows of Magdalen-College Oxon before the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Why they could not in Conscience comply with the King's Mandate THE said Vice-President and other deputed Fellows answered and said That the said Colledge of St. Mary Magdalen in Oxon is a Body Corporate governed by Local Statutes granted and confirmed to them by His Majesty's Royal Predecessor King Henry the 6th for Him and His Heirs and Successors under the Great Seal of England which are also since confirmed by several other Letters Patents of others of his Majesty's Royal Predecessors under the Great Seal of England That by the said Statutes of the College to the observation of which each Fellow is sworn it is ordered That the Person elected President thereof shall be a Man of good Life and Reputation approved Understanding and good Temper Discreet Provident and Circumspect both in Spiritual and Temporal Affairs And at the time of Election of a President the said Fellows are bound by the said Statutes to take an Oath that they shall nominate none to that office but such as are or have been Fellows of the said Colledge or of New-Colledge in Oxon or if they are not actually Fellows at that time of Election that they be such as have left their Fellowships in their respective Colledges upon credible accounts And when two qualified persons shall be nominated at the time of Election by the greater number of all the Fellows to the said Office of President the thirteen Seniors also swear that they will Elect one of them whom in their Consciences they think most proper and sufficient most discreet most useful and best qualified for the Place without any regard to love hatred favour or fear And every Fellow when he is first admitted into his Fellowship in the said Colledge swears that he will inviolably keep and observe all the Statutes and Ordinances of the Colledge and every thing therein contained so far as does or may concern him according to the plain literal and grammatical sense and meaning thereof and as much as in him lies will cause the same to be kept and observed by others and that he will not procure any Dispensation contrary to his aforesaid Oath or any part thereof nor contrary to the Statutes and Ordinances to which it relates or any of them nor will he endeavour that such Dispensations shall be procured by any other or others publickly or privately directly or indirectly And if it shall happen that any Dispensation of this sort of whatsoever Authority it shall be whether in general or particular or under what form of Words soever it be granted that he will neither make use of it nor in any sort consent thereunto That upon Notice of the Death of Dr. Clark Late President of the said Colledge the Vice-President called a Meeting of the said Fellows in order to the appointing a day for the Election of a new President and the 13th of April was the time prefix'd with power to proâ—ogue the same as they should see cause till the 15th beyond which time they could not statutably defer their Election and in
of England and from declaring those met at Westminster Rebels though the King again and again importun'd them to it and took their Refusal so ill that in one of his Letters to Queen intercepted at Naseby he reflects heavily upon them for it and calls them in derision his Mungrel Parliament It was likewise the dismal Prospect he had of this War even in the beginning of it that mov'd that Accomplish'd Gentleman the Lord Falkland to throw away his Life rather than be a witness of the Miseries were coming upon the Nation For though he was Secretary of State to the King and follow'd his Fortune yet seeing all his Endeavours for promoting a Peace were in vain he went on with a Party to skirmish with the Enemy the day before the first Battel of Newbury and being dissuaded by his Friends as having no Call to it being no Military Person he said He was weary of the Times and foresaw much Misery to his Countrey and hop'd he should be out of it e're night So pushing into the Battel he was slain Many Endeavours were us'd from time to time to bring Matters to an Accommodation by way of Treaty Endeavours that were us'd for an Accommodation but still some one unlucky Accident or another render'd them all abortive At the Treaty of Vxbridge though the Parliament's Demands were high and the King show'd a more than ordinary Aversion to comply with them yet the ill posture of the King's Affairs at that time and the fatal Consequences they fear'd would follow upon breaking off of the Treaty oblig'd a great many of the King's Friends and more particularly that Noble Person the Earl of Southampton who had gone Post from Vxbrige to Oxford for that purpose to press the King again and again upon their Knees to yield to the necessity of the Times and by giving his Assent to some of the most material Propositions that were sent him to settle a lasting Peace with his People The King was at last prevail'd with to follow their Counsel and the next Morning was appointed for signing a Warrant to his Commissioners to the effect And so sure were they of a happy end of all differences that the King at Supper complaining his Wine was not good one told him merrily He hop'd that his Majesty would dâ—ink better before a Week was over at Guildhall with the Lord Mayor But so it was that when they came early next morning to wait upon him with the Warrant that had been agreed upon over Night they found his Majesty had chang'd his Resolution and was become inflexible in these Points The unhappy Occasion this Alteration has lain hitherto a Secret in History and might have continued such still if a Letter from the Marquess of Montross in Scotland Montross's Fatal Letter whereof I have seen a Copy under the Duke of Richmond's Hand did not give a sufficient Light into it To make the Matter better understood it 's necessary to say something of Montross and his Actions in Scotland This Nobleman had been at first very active and zealous for the Liberties of his Countrey and was the first man that past the River Tweed at the Head of Five hundred Horse upon the Scots First Expedition into England But being afterwards disoblig'd or as some say repenting of his former Error he left that Side and came in to the King at the breaking out of the War between Him and the Parliament When the Scots came into England the second time to assist the Parliament Montross apply'd himself to the King for a Commission to levy War against his Rebel Subjâ—cts as they were call'd of Scotland assuring his Majesty he was able with the Assistance of his Friends and Concurrence of the rest of the Royal Party to make at least a very considerable Diversion if not to reduce the whole Countrey to his Majesty's Obedience Accordingly the Marquess was made Governor of Scotland where in the space of five Months with a handful of raw undisciplin'd Men and those not half arm'd he did over-run a great part of the Countrey and gain'd three very considerable Battels the last of which was that of Inverlochy fought the second of February 1644. according to the English and 1645. according to the Scotch Account In this Battel the Earl of Argyle was entirely defeated and the Prime of the Noble Family of the Campbells cut off with inconsiderable Loss on Montross's side who next day dispatch'd an Express to the King with the News of this and his two former Victories And in his Letter express'd his utter Aversion to all Treaties with his Rebel-Parliament in England as he calls them Tells the King he is heartily sorry to hear that his Majesty had consented to Treat and hopes it is not true Advises him not to enter into Terms with his Rebellious Subjects as being a thing unworthy of a King And assures him That he himself was now so much Master of Scotland that he doubted not but to be able within a few Months to march into England to his Majesty's assistance with a brave Army And concludes with this odd Expression When I have conquer'd from Dan to Beersheba as I doubt not I shall very quickly I hope I may have then leave to say as David ' s General said to his Master Come thou lest this Countrey be call'd by my Name This Letter writ with such an Air of Assurance and by a Person that was thought capable to make good his Promises and the Matter contain'd in it suiting but too well with the King's Inclinations was unluckily deliver'd to the King but a few Hours before he was to have sign'd the Warrant before-mention'd and had as ill effects as the worst of King Charles's Enemies could have wish'd for it dash'd out in a moment all the Impressions his best Friends had been making upon him for a considerable time towards a full Settlement with his People It look'd as if there was some secret Fatality in this whole matter for it could hardly have been imagin'd that a Letter writ the Third of February in the furthermost North Corner of Britain should come so soon to Oxford considering the length of the Journey the badness of the Roads at that time of the Year especially through the Mountainous parts of Scotland together with the Parliament's and Scotch Armies and Garisons that were posted all along the Road And yet certain it is it came through all these Dangers and Inconveniences in very few days for it 's indors'd upon the Copy I have seen That it was deliver'd to the King during the Treaty of Vxbridge which every body knows began the 30 th of Ianuary and ended the 22 d of February And further it must have been deliver'd before the 19 th of February because King Charles takes notice of it in a Letter to the Queen of that Date found among others at Naseby where he says Though I leave News to others yet I cannot but tell
fully acquainted with the Native Strength and peculiar Interest of the Nation I mean the Affairs of the Navy in which he had acquir'd deservedly a great Reputation He had met with but too many occasions to understand the Genius and Temper of the People he was to govern and to know how far it was impracticable to overturn the Establish'd Religion or to introduce a New one for he had wrestled through a great many Difficulties upon the account of his own He could not but have a true value for hâ—s Brother's great Parts and Abilities and be acquainted with the Arts by which he gain'd and preserv'd the Affections of his People notwithstanding all the Hardships he had been induc'd sometimes to put upon them And he had seen how fearful and averse he had been to push things too far or to drive his Subjects to Extremitities He had before him the Fatal Example of a Father who though he was a Protestant yet upon a false Suspicion of having a Design to introduce Popery was sent to his Grave by a violont Death and he was almost a Man when that Tragedy happen'd and had suffer'd Ten Years Banishment among other Consequences that attended it He had been acquainted abroad with a Princess fam'd for Parts and Learning who Resign'd her Crown apprehending she might be divested of it for embracing the Romish Religion by those very Subjects that held her before in the greatest Veneration both upon her own account and that of a Father who had rais'd them to the highest Pitch of Glory that ever the Suedish Nation arriv'd to And he might have remembred what his Mother said upon her Return to Somerset-house after the Restoration That if she had known the Temper of the People of England some Years past as well as she did then she had never been oblig'd to leave that House But the History of his Ancestors might have more fully inform'd him Tâ—at those that grasp'd at Immoderate Power or a Prerogative above the Law were always Unfortunate and their Reigns Inglorious There was also a Passage at his Father's Death which he would have done well to have observ'd He deliver'd his George to Dr. Iuxon upon the Scaffold and bid him Remember without saying more The Council of State was willing to know the meaning of that Expression and call'd the Doctor before them to give them an Account of it who told them That the King immediately before his coming out to the Place of Execution had charg'd him to carry to the Prince his Son his George with these his Two last Commands That he should forgive his Murtherers And That if he ever came to the Crown he should so govern his Subjects as not to force them upon Extremities Over and above all this one of the best Historians of the Age Puffendorf ut supra who had the advantage of all the late Elector of Brandenburgh's Papers and Memoirs acquaints us That King Charles the Second delivering to King Iames at his Death the Key of his Strong Box advis'd him not to think upon introducing the Romish Religion into England it being a thing that was both dangerous and impracticable And that the late Don Pedro Ronquillor the Spanish Ambassador at his first Audience after the Death of King Charles having ask'd leave to speak his mind freely upon that occasion made bold to tell him That he saw several Priests about him that he knew would importune him to alter the Establish'd Religion in England but he wish'd his Majesty would not give Ear to their Advice for if he did he was afraid his Majesty would have reason to repent of it when it was too late This Author tells us That King Iames took ill the Freedom of the Spanish Ambassador and ask'd him in Passion Whether in Spain they advis'd with their Confessors Yes Sir answer'd Ronquillor we do and that 's the reason our Affairs go so ill The same Historian does likewise inform us but he does not tell us upon what grounds Pope Innocent XI th's Letter to K Iames. That Pope Innocent XI writ a Letter to King Iames upon his Accession to the Crown to this purpose That he was highly pleas'd with his Majesty's Zeal for the Catholick Religion but he was afraid his Majesty might push it too far and instead of contributing to his own Greatness and to the Advancement of the Catholick Church he might come to do both It and himself the greatest Prejudice by attempting that which his Holiness was well assur'd from long Experience could not succeed This Letter does very well agree with what I shall have occasion to mention afterwards concerning the Earl of Castlemain's Embassy to Rome How far he profited by all these Advantages on the one hand and Examples and Advices on the other will appear in the Sequel The first Speech he made as King the day his Brother died gave hopes of a Happy Reign and even those that had appear'd with the greatest Warmth against him before were willing now to own themselves to have been mistaken and were ready to express their Repentance for what was past For he told them That since it had pleas'd Almighty God to place him in that Station and that he was now to succeed to so good and gracious a King as well as so very kind a Brother he thought fit to declare to them That he would endeavour to follow his Example and especially in that of his great Clemency and Tenderness to his People And that though he had been reported to be a Man for Arbitrary Power yet he was resolv'd to make it his Endeavour to preserve the Government of England both in Church and State as it was then Establish'd by Law That he knew the Principles of the Church of England were for Monarchy and that the Members of it had show'd themselves good and Loyal Subjeâ—ts therefore he would always take care of it and defend and support it That he knew that the Laws of England were sufficient to make the King as Great a Monarch as he could wish And that as he would never depart from the just Rights and Prerogatives of the Crown so he would never invade any manâ—s Property Concluding That as he had often hitherto ventur'd his Life in defence of this Nation so he was resolv'd to go as far as any man in preserving it in all its just Rights and Liberties If a Trajan or an Antoninus had been to lay down a Scheme of Government to make their People happy they could not have done it in better Terms nor could the Nation well desire or in reason wish for more If his subsequent Actions had come up to it he had eterniz'd his Name and might have reviv'd in himself the Memory of those of his Ancestors who have deservedly given them by Posterity the Character of Good and Great This promising Speech was not many days old nor King Charles's Ashes well cold when the Nation was alarm'd with a Proclamation
their own security and subsistance so much depends And we will be so careful that no particular shall be presented unto us for the compleating and establishing that security to which we will not with the same readiness contribute our best assistance If these resolutions be the effects of our present Councils and we take God to-witness that they are such and that all our loving Subjects may confidently expect the benefit of them from us certainly no ill design upon the Publick can accompany such Resolutions neither will there be greater cause of suspicion of any Persons preferred by us to degrees of Honour and Places of trust and employment since this Parliament And we must confess that among our misfortunes we reckon it not the least that having not retained in our Service nor protected any one person against whom our Parliament hath excepted during the whole sitting of it and having in all that time scarce vouchsafed to any man an instance of our Grace and Favour but to such who were under such eminent characters of Estimation amongst our People there should so soon be any mis-understanding or jealousy of their fidelity and uprightness especially in a time when we take all occasions to delare That we conceive our Self only capable of being served by honest Men and in honest ways However if in truth we have been mistaken in such our election the particular shall be no sooner discovered to us either by our own observation or other certain information than we will leave them to publick Justice under the marks of our displeasure If notwithstanding this any malignant party shall take heart and be willing to sacrifice the Peace and Happiness of their Countrey to their own sinister ends and ambitions under what pretence of Religion and Conscience soever If they shall endeavour to lessen our Reputation and Interest and to weaken our lawfull Power and Authority with our good Subjects if they shall go about by discountenancing the present Laws to loosen the Bonds of Government that all disorder and confusion may break in upon us we doubt not but God in his good time will discover them unto us and the Wisdom and Courage of our High-Court of Parliament join with us in their suppression and punishment Having now said all that we can to express the clearness and uprightness of our Intentions to our People and done all we can to manifest those Intentions we cannot but confidently believe all our good Subjects will acknowledge our part to be fully performed both in deeds past and present Resolutions to do whatsoever with Justice may be required of us and that their quiet and prosperity depends now wholly upon themselves and is in their own power by yielding all obedience and due-reverence to the Law which is the inheritance of every Subject and the only security he can have for his Life Liberty or Estate and the which being neglected or dis-esteemed under what specious shews soever a very great measure of infelicity if not an irreparable confusion must without doubt fall upon them And we doubt not it will be the most acceptable Declaration a King can make to his Subjects That for our part we are resolved not only duly to observe the Laws our Self but to maintain them against what opposition soever though with the hazard of our Being And our hope is that not only the Loyalty and good Affections of all our loving Subjects will concur with us in the constant preserving a good understanding between us and our people but at this time their own and our interest and compassion of the lamentable condition of our poor Protestant Subjects in Ireland will invite them to a fair intelligence and unity amongst themselves that so we may with one heart intend the relieving and recovering that unhappy Kingdom where those barbarous Rebels practice such inhumane and unheard-of Outrages upon our miserable people that no Christan Ear can hear without horrour nor story parallel And as we look upon this as the greatest affliction it hath pleased God to lay upon us so our unhappiness is encreased in that by the distempers at home so early remedies have not been applied to those growing evils as the expectation and necessity there requires though for our part as we did upon the first notice acquaint our Parliament of Scotland where we then were with that Rebellion requiring their aid and assistance and gave like speedy intimation and recommendation to our Parliament here so since our return hither we have been forward to all things which have been proposed to us towards that work and have lately our Self offered by a Message to our House of Peers and communicated to our House of Commons to take upon us the care to raise speedily 10000 English Voluntiers for that service if the House of Commons shall declare that they will pay them which particulars we are in a manner necessitated to publish since we are informed that the malice of some persons hath whispered it abroad That the no speedier advancing of this business hath proceeded from some want of alacrity in us to this great work whereas we acknowledge it a high crime against Almighty God and inexcusable to our good Subjects of our three Kingdoms if we did not to the utmost employ all our powers and faculties to the speediest and most effectual assistance and protection of that distressed people And we shall now conjure all our good Subjects of what degree soever by all the Bonds of Love Duty or Obedience that are precious to good men to join with us for the Recovery of the peace of that Kingdom and the preservation of the peace of this to remove all their Doubts and Fears which may interrupt their affection to us and all their jealousies and apprehensions which may lessen their charity to each other and then if the sins of this Nation have not prepared an inevitable Judgment for us all God will yet make us a great and glorious King over a free and happy people NUMB. X. A Fatal Letter of the Marquis of Montross to King Charles I. deliver'd during the Treaty of Vxbridge An ORIGINAL May it please your Sacred Majesty THE last Dispatch I sent your Majesty was by my worthy Friend and your Majesty's brave Servant Sir William Rollock from Kintore near Aberdeen dated the 14 th of September last wherein I acquainted your Majesty with the good Success of your Arms in this Kingdom and of the Battels the Iustice of your Cause has won over your obdur'd Rebel Subjects Since Sir William Rollock went I have travers'd all the North of Scotland up to Argyle's Countrey who durst not stay my coming or I should have given your Majesty a good account of him e'râ— now But at last I have met with him yesterday to his Cost Of which your gracious Majesty be pleas'd to receive the following Particulars After I had laid waste the whole Countrey of Argyle and brought off Provisions for my Army of what
could be found I receiv'd information That Argyle was got together with a considerable Army made up chiefly of his own Clan Family and Vassals and Tenants with others of the Rebels that join'd him and that he was at Innerlochy where he expected the Earl of Seaforth and the Sept the Family of the Fraziers to come up to him with all the Forces they could get together Vpon this Intelligence I departed out of Argyleshire and march'd through Lorn Glencow and Aber till I came to Lochness my design being to fall upon Argyle before Seaforth and the Fraziers could join him My March was through inaccessible Mountains where I could have no Guides but Cowherds and they scarce acquainted with a place but Six Miles from their own habitations If I had been attack'd but with a hundred men in some of these Passes I must have certainly return'd back for it would have been impossible to force my way most of the Passes being so streight that Three Men could not march a-breast I was willing to let the World see that Argyle was not the Man his Highland Men believ'd him to be and that it was possible to beat him in his own Highlands The difficultest March of all was over the Lochaber Mountains which we at last surmounted and came upon the back of the Enemy when they least expected us having cut off some Scouts we met about four Miles from Innerlochy Our Van came within view of them about five a Clock in the Afternoon and we made a Halt till our Rear was got up which could not be done till Eight at Night The Rebels took the Alarm and stood to their Arms as well as we all Night which was Moon-light and very clear There were some few Skirmishes between the Rebels and Vs all the Night and with no loss on our side but one Man By break of day I order'd my Men to be ready to fall on upon the first Signal and I understand since by the Prisoners the Rebels did the same A little after the Sun was up both Armies met and the Rebels fought for some time with great Bravery the Prime of the Campbells giving the first Onset as Men that deserv'd to fight in a better Cause Our Men having a Nobler Cause did wonders and came immediately to push of Pike and dint of Sword after their first firing The Rebels could not stand it but after some Resistance at first began to run whom we pursued for Nine Miles together making a great slaughter which I would have hindred if possible that I might save your Majesty 's mis-led Subjects for well I know your Majesty does not delight in their Blood but in their returning to their Duty There were at least Fifteen hundred kill'd in the Battel and the Pursuit among whom there are a great many of the most considerable Gentlemen of the Name of Campbell and some of them nearly related to the Earl I have sav'd and taken Prisoners several of them that have acknowledg'd to me their fault and lay all the blame on their Chief Some Gentlemen of the Low-lands that had behav'd themselves bravely in the Battel when they saw all lost fled into the Old Castle and upon their Surrender I have treated them honourably and taken theirâ— Parole never to bear Arms against your Majesty Here are Six or Seven Lines that for the Honour of some Families are better left out than mention'd We have of your Majesty's Army about Two hundred wounded but I hope few of them dangerously I can hear but of four kill'd and one whom I cannot name to your Majesty but with grief of Mind Sir Thomas Ogilvy a Son of the Earl of Arly's of whom I writ to your Majesty in my last He is not yet dead but they say he cannot possibly live and we give him over for dead Your Majesty had never a truer Servant nor there never was a braver honester Gentleman For the rest of the Particulars of this Action I refer my self to the Bearer Mr. Hay whom your Majesty knows already and therefore I need not recommend him Now Sacred Sir let me humbly intreat your Majesty's Pardon if I presume to write you my poor Thoughts and Opinion about what I heard by a Letter I receivâ—d from my Friends in the South last Week as if your Majesty was entring into a Treaty with your Rebel Parliament in England The Success of your Arms in Scotland does not more rejoice my heart as that News from England is like to break it And whatever come of me I will speak my mind freely to your Majesty for it 's not mine but your Majesty's Interest I seek When I had the Honour of waiting upon your Majesty last I told you at full length what I fully understood of the Designs of your Rebel Subjects in both Kingdoms which I had occasion to know as much as any one whatsoever being at that time as they thought entirely in their Interest Your Majesty may remember how much you said you were convinc'd I was in the right in my opinion of them I am sure there is nothing fallen out since to make your Majesty change your Iudgment in all those things I laid before your Majesty at that time The more your Majesty grants the more will be ask'd and I have too much reason to know that they will not rest satisfied with less than making your Majesty a King of Straw I hope the News I have receiv'd about a Treaty may be a Mistake and the rather that the Letter wherewith the Queen was pleas'd to honour me dated the 30 th of December mentions no such thing Yet I know not what to make of the Intelligence I receiv'd since it comes from Sir Robert Spotswood who writes it with a great Regret and it 's no wonder considering no man living is a more true Subject to your Majesty than he Forgive me Sacred Sovereign to tell your Majesty That in my poor Opinion it is unworthy of a King to treat with Rebel Subjects while they have the Sword in their hands And though God forbid I should stint your Majesty's Mercy yet I must declare the Horror I am in when I think of a Treaty while your Majesty and they are in the Field with Two Armies unless they disband and submit themselves entirely to your Majesty's Goodness and Pardon As to the State of Affairs in this Kingdom the Bearer will fully inform your Majesty in every particular And give me leave with all humility to assure your Majesty That through God's Blessing I am in the fairest hopes of reducing this Kingdom to your Majesty's Obedience And if the Measures I have concerted with your other Loyal Subjects fail me not which they hardly can I doubt not but before the End of this Summer I shall be able to come to your Majesty's Assistance with a brave Army which back'd with the Iustice of your Majesty's Cause will make the Rebels in England as well as in Scotland feel