THE SECOND PART OF THE Ignoramus Iustices OR An Answer to the Scandalous SPEECH OF Sir W. S. Barronet Spoken to the Grand-Jury at the Sessions of Peace held for the County of Middlesex at Hick's-hall On Monday the 24 of April 1682. TOGETHER With several Remarks upon the Order of Sessions for the Printing and Publishing the same By the same Authour LONDON Printed for E. Smith at the Elephant and Castle in Cornhill 1682. THE SECOND PART OF THE Ignoramus Iustices OR An ANSWER to the Scandalous SPEECH OF Sir W. S. Barronet I Will not ong ltrouble the Courtious Reader with a difcription of the Person that made this learned Speech which is Sir W. S. And the very same Sir Wm. which heretofore as I am informed in the late troubles was called Col. S. And though I love not to rake in Dunghills or into the lives and actions of men at any time much less after so long an intervale yet because he himself hath been pleased to make the world so happy not only in the publication of that Excellent speech but also told us in p. 4. that he feels the smart of Goldsmith's and Haberdashers Hall to this day it may not therefore be amis a little to give him a hint of his Piety when he was in the Station of a Souldier that as in a looking-glass he may view himself now being a Justice and as this is done as well to inform the world of the person and his zeal for the cause of God in times past as now he pretends by his speech both for the cause of God and his R. H. for time to come so learnedly interwoven with Scripture Phrases and larded with such Sentenses of Elegant Latine If this be the same S. that was called Col. S. in the late troubles he may remember and bless God for his great Conversion since that time and if it be not painted Piety that he now makes the world believe he hath then he above all men hath the greatest reason in the world to admire the free grace of God in converting his bloudy heart for in those dayes and in cool of bloud too in the County of Bucks he like as wicked Haman did against the Jews gave this Councel to kill and destroy all the Gentlemen Yeomen Farmers their wives and Children without regard either to Sex Age or condition in that Country for fear that there being many in that County as he believed would be of the other side when they had an opportunity and should take part against them Now if this be the same man his nature is mightily altered for now his gaul goes no further but that the Dissenters Purses should pay that shot he has so elegantly manifested and if the standers by did not mistake his words he both speak and meant that the Dissenters should be prosecuted for their money to help pay the charge the King had been out in the war with Argier c. and the building the 30 Ships to save the Parliament a labour which was a most ingenious Contrivance but more of that in its due place But whether this be the same Coll. S. or not yet I am fully asured this is the very same Sir W. S. that the last Westminster Parliament was had before the Committee for stoping and hindring Petitioning the King for calling of Parliaments and therein abusing that law he hath since owned by his late Abhorrencies who was then heard to say that he was falsely accused for that he was so far good man from offering any such violence to the Rights of the people and Parliaments that he protested his innocency with much more asseverations then now in his grand speech he doth his sincerity of obedience to the King and the Laws yet at that time true evidence tells us that the very same day he made that so solemn protestation of his Innocency the very thing he was accused of before the Committee of Parliament was most evidently proved against him and had not the Parliament been Prorogued he might have met with as seveer a Censure by the Parliament as now he is pleased in his Oration to wish and urge for the Dissenters but more of this in its due place And that very same Col. S. not many years after the war was done when the tide was turned was the chief promoter in the County of Bucks and other places to procure Addresses to Richard Cromwel and was then the most zealous and forwardest man in that Service A mighty great sign of his Loyalty to our present King by which it seems his trade is Addresses And the very same Col. S. did as was most commonly reported when he was Governour of Chepstow Castle for the King find out a way to surrender or rather betray the same to the Parliament without blows or force of iron or leaden bullets French or English Crowns at that time being his Conqueror the same Col. S. who was the Son of an Attorney and being imployed either as Agent or Steward to the noble Lady Cleveland or Wentworth being called to an account for high misdemeaners in that Trust and being prosecuted in the Court of Exchequer for the same in the time when the late Lord Chief Justice Hales was one of the Barrons of the Exchequer the Baron having seen so much in that Cause so evidently proved before him of certain frauds used by him gave this opinion of him in open Court That it was pitty the honour of Knight-hood should ever be so blemished as to be bestowed on such a Person guilty of those fowl things which that S. who ever he was best knows what the good Barons reason was for such expressions And I presume if any person would be further satisfied whether it be the same Sir W. S. he may be informed from the Records there And if it should prove to be their Chairman of the Sessions then the world may see what a kind of Loyal upright person we have to justisie and adhere unto as the worthy order of Sessions puts it Fol. 11. These things should not have been touched although a deal more is due had it not pleased the Justice so much to vindicate his uprightness and Loyalty By this the Reader may see the old cheat whores will alwayes cry whore first but if these be the men that his Majesty must rely on and which makes this bustle and stir with Loyalty in prosecuting Addresses and Abhorrencies in what miserable condition is that Prince that trusts them or their Loyalty for can it be supposed that he that has Addressed to Richard Cromwel one day will not Address to the King the next if that side be uppermost and if to the King one day why not to his Enemies the next day if the wind change for what hath been may be if he cannot be faithful to a trust reposed in him of a private Estate and Concernment as a Steward certainly he is a very unsit man to be entrusted with a
publick one if these be the conscientious men Sir William esteems then Libera nos Domine But as to the Speech it self Page 1. in the first place his Title is transcendent and far out does the common way of giving charges to Juries For in the beginning he tells us he hath had the Honour to Discourse the Country from this Bench several times well what then why must it be a discourse instead of a charge I never heard of a Grand Jury that was sworn to take notice of a Discourse but the Oath of Grand Jury men is to present all such things as shall be given them in charge as the Law directs But what Sir W means by entring into a discourse with them about other matters especially about how much will build a Ship and how much his Majesty hath laid out in the war with Argier or to preserve Tangier and against the Indians in New England as in page second is a most strange thing to be discoursed to a Grand Jury unless he would perswade the Grand Jury to present the Parliament for not making up the damage certainly that was his intent though he will not make the Nation so happy as to speak it out Well but then still to the entrance into this discourse pray observe the method first seek peace good man that is his aim witness his earnest endeavour to have Conventicles disturbed though his Majesty and the Parliament thought it the best way to preserve peace was to let them alone for that it was never proved nor can be proved that ever since the Act of Uniformity they that go to Conventicles as he calls them seditious Meetings did ever disturb the Goverment and if that be so and that the only Church of England is that which is made by the Act of Uniformity then sure Sir W. Undermines and Acts against his own Expressions for if they were never unpassable why is there all this ado to make a disturbance but have patience Sir W. S. by and by will tell you all Well then in the next place he tells us page the first that nothing procures Wealth sooner then Trade it is well observed and if the persons that are Traders and the greatest Traders in the Nation be hindred in serving of God according to their Consciences and for this serving of God only as they in their Conscience believe they ought to do without disturbing the peace of the Nation must be torn in pieces their Estates taken from them and they put by their Trade how shall the wealth of the Nation be preserved if he could have found out an experiment for this his discourse ought to have been writ in Letters of Gold as well as replenish'd with Latin Sentences well but he goes on nor will any thing secure it better then Unity If so why then must the Neighbours of each others be forced to prosecute one another to bing us into confusion Why Sir W. S. tells you anon and that is in plain terms his sense though not in words the Nation can be better Governed without Unity then with it For the Justice tells you plainly that the King by his wisdom and care hath hitherto preserved peace without the help of Unity for certainly saith he no Nation can be more devided then this Well now how will this agree together with what went before which was that Unity and Trade was the only way to peace and yet now he tells us that the King hath a better way for he can better govern without Unity then with it even for twenty years together So then the consequence is Unity may be good but no Unity is better or at least he thinks our King is so indued from above that it is all one to Him to Govern with or without Unity well then if it be so the King hath Governed for these twenty years without disturbance though we are an United People and a divided Nation as this Chairman tells us what is the meaning then of all this bussel now about conformity in point of profit to the King when by his own shewing the Government hath received no prejudice Well but since Sir W. gives no better reason pray let us guess his reasons for once and those may be two or three The first is there wants money to defray the publick charge and to repay the King his own page 2. but that is but a pretence the next reason the Papists and their Adherents would feign provoke the Dissenters so far as to make them quarrel and rebel a troubled water is the best for their turn which they always live by and if they could but once blow up the flame so high which God forbid then they have gained their full point which they have so long been aiming at both of covering their own hellish Plot and the rooting out the Pestilent Heresy as Sir W. S's brother was pleased to term it and could they catch the Fanaticks by this bait not only them but the whole Protestant Interest in England might be rooted up indeed and then the Papists takes the Possession of their Lives and Estates all at once which is the thing driven at as appears by all the Proceedings and manifest Declarations of several of our Parliaments they were all of that mind that the chief design of the Papists was to set the Protestants together by the ears well fore-seeing that Device And therefore both Lords and Commons ordered bills to be brought in to Unite the Dissenting Protestants all in one against the common Enemy the Papists and made applications to the King to stop all such prosecutions as was acting against the Dissenters But a third reason is the vexing and perplexing the Protestants may be a design of tiring them out and by threats and vexatious Prosecution to see if they can be forced to yield up their Reasons and when made poor that they may be the easier made slaves and be compelled to if ever there should be an other Election of Members to give their Votes for such Persons as instead of keeping out of Arbitrary Power and Popery by Law will bring it in by a colour of Law and if men do but observe the Transactions for these twelve months past in divers Corporations It cannot but be thought that this is one of the main designes now on foot For a great man not long since openly declared that the Country was not yet fit to choose a Parliament they had not smarted enough and saith he they are for Law but replies to himself with an Oath they shall have Law enough that is they shall have the form of Law and tricks in Law to make a specious pretence but the designes is the easier to undoe them and this is the Law the Justices intends thoug they do not speak it which I gather from an other passage from the same Sir W. S. at another Sessions about nine or ten moneths ago Councel coming to Hick's-Hall to move the Court
a Speech But why must the Dissenters Trading together and taking one anothers Parts be a Design against the Government more than of those that call themselves the Church-Party Is it not as lawful for one as well as the other Sort to trade with whom they will and to eat and drink with whom they please If so then it is most plain the boasting Church-Men do feast together often and associate themselves in Clubs Cabals Taverns and Coffee-Houses and divers other Places both Sundays and Working-Days to manage the Cause which the Justice aims at and the Church-men in reality as they would be accounted such as they are have in reality stuck by their Champion Cradock so far that no less than two Knights and four or five Esquires and Gentlemen to save their Brother Cradock have joined together in a solemn Oath before the Judg that the Earl of Shaftsbury doth live in Thanet-House and is a great Trader in the City I am confident the Justice cannot shew us any such voluntary Oath of Men of their Quality that ever did so far take one anothers Parts among the Dissenters as to swear in Clubs So after the Justice had shewed the Dissenters Dealings of laying their Heads together in disturbing the Peace in the next place pag. 5. he tells us in praise of the Church Pary and in opposition to the Dissenters that they the Chuch Party are good honest Men in these Words viz. The Church Party the Children of Light they trust in a good Cause put out their own Eyes and will neither see their Danger or Interest most of them endeavour to build upon their own Ground and raise to themselves Pyramids of Honour and Riches and have not minded them of the same Party who are forced to shift for themselves as well as they can Now I would have the ingenuous Church-Men consider what a great deal of Honour this Gentleman hath done them he has to vindicate them called them blind Fools nay such Fools that no brute Beasts can be worse what is it I pray you to them to put out their own Eyes and not see for themselves and when that is done he tells us it is the only way to get Riches If this be the way of the Children of Light to put out their own Eyes and trust to others I pray God with all my Heart that I may be in Darkness still and that this Child of Light tho a Church-Man may get Honour and in his own way for my part I will neither envy his nor his Church-Men's Happiness as to their Wisdom nor as to their Honour and Riches but this I may say that had the Church of England-men received such a Vilifying from a Dissenter as this certainly they would have called loudly for Satisfaction either from the Court Christian or our Temporal Courts What call them such Fools and treat them as such as will pull out their own Eyes and not see can the Church-Men forgive this I dare not say they cannot because some of them are Men of great Charity but were it not for that doubtless such an Affront as this would be enough to raise the whole posse Clergy about the Knights Eyes for in effect he calls them blind Papists for none but those poor deluded Souls that ever live in the Light of the Sun would rather trust other Folks Eyes than their own Well but what must not a Justice make a slip but there must be all this notice taken yes sure he may be allowed many when he means well for in this whole Speech if you observe it and if you believe himself He doth say and do all for the Established Church and the Publick Good Now then if so he ought to have Mercy shewn him In the next place you will find he deserves it too because the Dissenters in this page are made by the same Man Coblers and nothing but their last is their Coat and so fearful is he of them If as he saith the Cards should be shufled again that these Coblers will have all the Shoes and himself go Bare-foot that he advises here in this Page That it is not prudent to trust them tho they are contented with their own Vertue a most strange Paradox what if they will be contented with their own Vertue shan't they be let alone it is mighty hard especially when in the next place he himself commends Vertue as a choice Plant or Tree that bears excellent Fruit and saith he The Gardiners must nourish and cherish this Plant and Tree or else in time this Tree will bear sower Fruit that is I suppose he means the Magistrate and you Grand Inquest-men you must Present these Dissenters that we may get some of their Money lop off their loose Twigs and Wild-Sprigs that makes them too rich and too proud and then thier Fruit will be Savoury such as I like for tho I like not the Men yet their Money I like and so do all their Enemies but to quiet the Church whom before he abused he now makes them full amends again for saith he in this Page viz. I hope for the Honour of the King and Safety of the Government no Man for the future shall be employed until he be first sifted and winnowed and if any Grain of Faction be found in him he shall be laid aside But then Sir W. What will you do and your Addressers Do you not remember Sir W. the very day you made this learned Speech when you and the rest of the Tribe were withdrawn out of the Court you propounded or at least abetted one of the greatest pieces of Faction that ever was done in England this 20 Years except F. H. which was it was urged among you Justices to Address His Majesty that he would be pleased to keep the Duke by him at home to join with him in the Government or at least to assist him therein Pray Sir W. had you gone on in this Address had it not been the heighth of Faction and Sedition if not High-Treason in designing to alter the Government What are you in such haste that you cannot stay the time must Popery and Protestantism be joined together in our days Pray Sir will you before your next Speech consider it well and tho you abhor the Parliaments because they would have no Popish Successor yet methinks you should not dig a Grave for our King and Government while he is alive and what other construction sober thinking Men as you call them can make of such Designs time may shew but for your placing so much upon that Text By me Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice I know not what you mean unless you would by that Scripture insinuate that because there is such a place of Scripture therefore the People should have no Law of the Land to be their Standard but the Will of the Prince to be absolute Lord Paramount above all Laws and no Bounds to be set by the Law of the Land
Sheriffs of each County and how far this last abrogates the former Statutes I must leave to the judicious Reader But except the Justice can shew me some other Statute I cannot see how he can make good his Assertion of the Right to be in the Kings of England by their Prerogative to chuse Sheriffs no more than he can make good his own infallibility And why he should start such a Point with so little ground I cannot imagine unless he was resolved to put on a Janus Face and intended to row one way when he looked another And now for this Gentleman to pretend to exalt the Prerogative and to cry out for that as he doth and yet at the same time lay so many false Surmises is strange But I conceive his Design is to destroy the Law and the Government or when he speaks of the Prerogative in general he intends some for himself but if he should that cannot be altogether strange neither since we know very well both now and heretofore even in all Ages Men that are set upon their own Lusts and Pleasures have been crying up the King's Prerogative and damning the Law only that thereby they might under Monarchy exercise a greater Prerogative over their Fellow-Subjects without any Account to be given to the Law than the true King doth over his Subjects for it oftentimes happens that Persons in great Command and Authority under the King do more enslave the People than the King ever meant or intended and hide all from the King with this Cheat that they are Loyal and whoever is not contented with his domineering is represented to the King by that Flatterer as the King 's great Enemy And so Kings oft-times both live and die blindfold never seeing or hearing any Thing much less any Complaints but what the Oppressor pleases And that undoubtedly must not be much for it must be the Courtier 's Policy that hath once dipped himself in Roguery both to hide it himself and endeavour to prevent all Persons else from discovering it And this is the true and only Reason why these Loyal Boys hate and cry down Parliaments for if they once come the Court-Knaves are undone every thing then being brought to the Light and it may be the King undeceived and these Miscreants punished But Sir W. to wind up all now your Hand is in for Abhorrences go through-stitch set an Abhorrence on Foot for the abhorring of Parliaments too and doubt not but among your Adherers the Project will take and then you and they are safe without the Devil should cheat you and a Parliament come when you least think on 't but do not let him cheat you into the belief that there will be no more you know the Law saith we ought to have it and the King hath said we shall have Parliaments and that he will govern according to Law and remember if it should be yet seven Years time before it come yet it may come too soon for your store I have but one Word more to the Justices your Associates who bring up the Rear of your Speech they being elevated and wrapp'd up as it were in the third Heaven thought it not enough for themselves to be happy with the hearing of this profound Discourse but out of their good Nature were desirous to communicate it to the World and tho it be something strange that Charges to Grand Juries should be published in Print as they seem to allow when they say the reason why 't was publish'd was to prevent Misrepresentation which they had observed already from Janeway's Paper yet it was pitty such a Discourse should be hid in that Grand Jury's Breast to whom it was spoken and therefore the Justices order the Printing thereof And who is to draw up the Order but their wise Clerk of the Peace who undoubtedly did it and it may easily be proved to be his own not only from his putting his Name to it but from its resembling his former Draught and Orders about the Constables to turn Informers against Conventicles The Order begins thus viz. Ordered by this Court That the Charge given in Sessions by Sir W. S. be Printed and that the Thanks of this Bench be given to Sir W. S. for his prudent Care and constant Endeavour in the management of Affairs for the preservation of the publick Peace and his Majesties Government And this Court doth declare they will adhere to Sir W. S. and stand by him Well be it so that the Thanks be given for his prudent Management and his constant Care for the publick Peace and His Majesties Government But now how if Sir W. should die or be put out of Commission which way then must His Majesties Government be preserved truly by this Order it seems as if the very Government would be in danger if not utterly lost now How the preservation of His Majesties Government is upheld or can be upheld by this single Justice alone seems strange for they seem to put it as if by his prudent Management of Affairs the Government was upheld if so I hope His Majesty will never part with this Knight for fear of the worst Well but how comes it to pass that all the rest of the Justices that admire him have not done the same what do they cast all the whole burden of the Peace and Government upon one poor Knight's Shoulders and he but a thin Man neither for Shame to themselves they should not have attributed all to him but this shews them as insufficient Men as well as good natur'd to Sir W. But by their next Words viz. And this Court doth declare they will adhere to Sir W. S. and stand by him c. If Lives and Fortunes had been put too then there had been ground for the Whigs to abhorr'd too What will the Justices set up Sir W. to any thing like Royal Majesty or to be chief of the Government that these Gentlemen called Justices will both adhere to him and stand by him What can they mean but to devote themselves to his Service instead of the Kings and what can they mean by their standing by him but in a Warlike Posture to defend him when he shall command their Service nor can any rational Man put any other construction on the Words And since that is the construction what is this but an Association of the Justices to set up Sir W. instead of the Government or at least to be one of the chief in it And when they have brought their Ends about that Sir W. is to be exalted then I doubt not but their Clerk Mr. Adderly shall be Secretary to that great Heroe where we leave them to caress themselves within their own Shadows until another fit opportunity FINIS