Impudent Declaration and that in pursuance too of a vote for scandalous soe unreasonable and unjust that it must remaine a blott to all Parliaments and publik Assemblies which time it selfe can never wipe off I have spoke what is sufficient concerning the death of the late King and shall only give you the cause and motive of that noble vote Whilst the late popish plott supported by the Testimonies of that most execrable perjurd villaiu Titus Oates And some others as infamous as himselfe was most in vogue The house of Commons out of a furious zeal to preserve the Protestant Religion had almost forgott Christianitie and rashly past a vote that if the late King should come to an untime end they would revenge His death upon the Papists This how unjust soever it was seemed yet tender and kind towards the late King But oh the malice of those cursed heads who having imposd upon and deceived many of that mistaken Parliament had formd a Plott soe hellish and soe bloody that nothing but the barbarous in humanitie of it ever made the truth of it suspected However it being by Gods great mercy and providence who is the Protector of Innocence not only discoverd and prevented but made soe notoriously plain that the whole nation is fully satisfyed of its truth I shall acquaint you with the case That voting Parl being dissolvd the heads neverthelesse and promoters of the plott mett in Caballs as was legally and fully examined and proved where at last a resolution was taken as at first designed that the late King should be ass assinated by theirs own accomplices Rumbold Walcup and others and immediately the odium and punishment of theire own horrid crime was to be Throwne and executed not only upon all Papists but upon their Bratt Prelacy as Argile terms the Church of England soe with one most monstrous bloody Regedical stroake they intended to have subverted the Government and extirpated root and branch all those who had been ever faithfull and loval to the King and our ancient Monarchie or true sons of the Church of England And the pious double Apostate head and Capt. Generall of the Protestant forces as Monmouth stiles himselfe together and in company with the said Rumbold and others the intended murderers of his deare Father King Charls 2. is now desperately and openly endeavouring to accomplish that cursed designe which by the especiall providence of God wanted then its damnable effect Now if All this and every particular of it be not true then not only our own nation but all the Christian Princes of Europe are miserably deceived who sent theire Ministers to congratulate the the Kings happy deliverie from those bloody villains and traitors The adresses to the same effect from all the Courties Shires and Corporations in England meer delusion and mockerie Witnesses of their own faction and all concurring circumstances meer eheat and leger demain the Judges of our Land deaf and blind and the most legall tryalls in open Court by 12. substantiall Gentlemen and Citizens against whom the criminalls themselves had noe exceptions the premeditated resolutions of violence and injustice But on the other side if what we have now affirmd and every materiall part of it be true as heaven and earth know it is what then shall we say to these incorrigible dissembling traitors and most bloody minded Rebells Heare all yee people hearken thou O earth and all that therein is And let the Lord God be wittnesse against you even the Lord from his holy Temple Mich. 1â— v. 2. For St Edmund bury Godfry and the Earl of Essex their case was examined with all the strictnesse and Justice that possibly the Law in such cases doth or can afford and the devil himselfe could not have invented greater lyes then have been published concerning the latter by some of the rebells but to speak more particular to that would require a larger volume Sydney Russell and those other Traitors who were executed for theire treasons had not only all imaginable Justice but much more favour and mercy shown them then any of those Papists who before had sufferd Armstrong indeed was not permitted to plead to the meritt of his crimes not that there wanted either treasons or wittnesses to have hangd him ten times over as was publickly offerd in the Court but he being befor out lawed for treasons by due course of Law and not appearing or or sunendring himselfe voluntarily with in the time prefixt he could noe more have the benefitt of that law from which he fled but was ipso facto guilty and lyable by Law to the punishment of treasons except His Maj. out of his meer grace and by the power of His Royal prerogative had pardoned his out laury and had set him in statu quo prius which I say being a meer act of mercy as that of pardonning a man already condemnd it is in the Kings Royal breast to have mercy on whom he will have mercy and since the King was pleased upon this Occasion to refuse it Armstrong can noe more complain of Injustice then any robber or traitor that has been executed these 100 Years As for our Religion lives liberties and pooperties we enjoy them with such an entire happy lawfull freedome that we are envied by all the subjects of Europe nor is there an empire Kingdome Commonwealth or Goverment in the whole world under wich subjects may live more happy and secure then in our own these are besides soe fenced and hedged about as the Declaration sayes that I defye the witt of man and power of Parl. to adde one word which shall not rather enflave then en franchise ruine then support them The Protestant Religion as it is now profest hath been soe established and confirmed by acts of Parl. for more then these 100 Yeares that except a Protestant Parl. and other then such there can never be should introduce poperye and with theire our hands deliver up that power which they doe and may and are soe tenacious to preserve the Protestant Religion must eternally flourish in England whilst Kings and Parliaments endure In a word our Religion lives liberties and properties an soe well founded soe strongly fortifyed and soe carefully protected by Our most Gracious Soveraigne King James the second that with the machinations and conspiractes of James Duke of Monmouth some years hence not the present open hostilities and detestable Rebellion of James Scott Argyl with their Accomplices and the assistance which they vainly and injuriously to all Government flatter themselves they shall receive from forraine powers will ever be able by the blessing of God so violate them or break in upon us Thus I have spoken what is I hope sufficient at least what is punctually true concerning those several points of which I intended to discourse for the rest of his insignificant rayling canting staff I think it not worthy of a further reply for I perswade my selfe that what hath been already said will satisfye al impartial Readers but nothing will convince the positive and the prejudic't His promises and his threats which are vastly great are equally ayrie and ridiculous and this Chymerical Hero woul have done mutch better to have employed his thoughts upon some new conquest in Terra Ausirali incognita or of the world in the moon then thus unjustly wickedley and bloodily endeavour to disturbe the peace of three Kingdoms which detest his principles and disown his pretensions For those Protestant Kings Princes and Governours whom he impudently invites to partake with him in his rebellion as it is a publick afront and unpardonable injurie to them all soe I doubt not but they will all as publickly disown both him and his adherants To conclude if ever Rebellion was grounded upon the falsest of pretences it is this If ever rebellion was raisd by the worst of of men against the Best of Princes it is this and lastly if the most notorious barefac't sinns of fornication adulterie cold murder and repeated apostacies rapes and incest were lost in the whole world besides they might be found in James Scott the pretended double head and twice apostat popish Capt. Generall of the Protestant forces and false protectors of the reformed Protestant Religion O Lord God the Avenger shew thy selfe clearly Exalt thy selfe O Judge of the World and render a reward to the provd they prate and speak feircely all the workers of Iniquitie vaunt themselves but the Lord is my refuge and my God is the rock of mine hope and he vvill recompence them in their vvickednesse and destroy them in their ovvn malice Yea the Lord our God shall destroy them AMEN God save King James the II.
this right could be legally and peaceably prov'd and granted to him His present Majestie cannot be reputed either in reason in Law or in conscience an Usurper This accusation therefore is as I said ridiculous and frivolous His Majesties next pretended crime is that he ownd Himself bairfac't to be of the Romish Religion Indeed it seems strange that the Son of a King and pretended Heir to three Kingdoms Should have yet to lettle honour in him as to impute it a crime to a Prince to practise publickly the Religion which he professeth Must Hypocricie be the badge of reformation And must Integritie and sinceritie be judged criminal by the pretended restorer of the truwe Christian faith Ah James Scott God who is the Searcher of hearts knows how well thy principles and thy practises agree And I must say for I am noe flatterer 't is to be believed that were your inward man as truly known as your outward man hath been notwithstanding those several shapes through which it hath lately run the r's not a Turk but would be ashamd to accept of thee for a partner much more a Protector of his faith Thirdly we are told that His Majestie Hath cald over multitudes of Prieses and Jesuites Supposeing this were true I can scarce tell of what nature his fault would be But this I certainly know that the indiscretion of those multitudes who went over Isunpardonnable since they know how they are exposed and lvable not only to imprisonements but even to the sentences of death it selfe And for once I will advance a Negative against a single affirmative and say upon much better grounds then they affirme that His Majestie hath never cald in such multitudes of Priests and Jesuites as is pretended but on the contrary I have good reason to believe that he doth totally discountenance all such except those few who may be employed for the service of His own Chappel 4tlv It is objected That His Majestie hath govern'd arbitrarily by collecting the Customs and Excise sence the death of the late King Alas Gentlemen doth all this noise and up roar against Arbitrary Power absolute Tyranny c. conclude in this one single pretended Instance of it The case then is this The Parl. of England had granted to the late King upon good causes and confiderations the fornamed Customs and Excise during His life The King dyes and His present Majestie by Proclamation with the advice of His Privy Councel orders the Collection of the same until the meeting of the next Parl Some reasons I have heard given and they were these First because these Customs and Excise being granted to the late King towards the Support of the nauye and for the defence of the Kingdom against its Enemies if the effect be necessary the cause must equally continue and the defence of the Kingdome being the safety of the people which is the Suprema Lex the means to procure this safety is always supposed to be also granted for qui dat finem dat etiam media especially sence the Customs so collected were to continue no longer then untill such time as a Parl. could conueniently Assemble Besides the Merchants themselves agreed generally to the payments of these Customs and declard that without any consideration of the King in the case the abrupt stopping of the said Customs would prove more prejudicial to the Merchants universally then the payment of them could possibly be Thirdly the collection of these said Customs was not only reasonable and necessary but in the Opinion of eight of the twelve Judges as these noble declaring Gentlemen confesse it was also Judged legal and according to the constant Custome and ancient practice in such like cases And lastly the Parl. being Assembled was so far from calling the Judges to account for their Judgement or the officers for their collection that they immediately confirmd the same to His present Majestie as they had formerly done to the late King Now let the world Judge what reason these violent men have to take up Arms against their lawful King and Governor which neither reason nor religion could ever Justifie upon the pretence of arbitrary power and Tyranny when this case of collercting the Customs resolved by the Judges as a foresaid is the only single Instance which they have produict for either men and Brethren examine your selves for yee know not what Spirit yee are of But to obuiate and preclude my answer to the aforesaid case of the Customs these Gentlemen have branded our Judges with the Infamous Titles of subornd and foresworn In deed I know not how farr these reverend Judges of the Land and administrators of Justice amongst us made also by the late King may be guilty of two such crimes as perjurye and subornation but this I will affirme that if so many men born of good families of honourable Education learning wisdome pietie and of irreprochable lives and conversations can be capable of committing such enormous offences I can never reasonably hope to see the Benches free from corrupt mercinary and the worst of men no not when James Duke of Monmouth and his Rebells shall have taken care for the future for debarring ignorant scandalous and mercinary men from the administration of Justice and that the judges shall hold their places by the ancient tenure of quamdiu se bene gesserint or that the wisdome of his imaginary Parl. shall have settled some way and method for the approbation of such as shall be aduanced to the degree and dignitie of Judges And lastly that no consideration might stop the progres of their villanous designes and having made way for the execution of them by the condemnation of the King with all His Ministers and Judges they now fall foul upon and profane their pretended sacred Idol Parl. and tell us that this present Parl. is a Company of men pack't together by false retuns illegall Chartres and other corrupt means And so by the way leaves noe hopes of a true legal Parl. whilst the sun and moon endure for if James Duke of York a Traitor Tyrant and a popish usurper as they call Him hath been able with out force to pack such a Parl. in which there are as many Rich Noble Honest worthy Gentlemen as any Parl hath ever known how shall we hope that the true Protestant James Duke of Monmouth back't by his pretended legitimate and legal right together with the power of the sword should not be much more able to pack a Parl. of the greatest rebells Traitors Schismaticks and villains to the destruction of all good men that any age hath ever yet product The Experience of this hath been sufficiently seen in the late rebellion for which with the murder of the blessed Martyr King Charles the first his partner and accomplice Argyle is not ashamed Blaspemously to returne the glory to God But to come to the meritt of the cause I must acquaint you how the constitution of Parliaments hath been for
nere 500 Years which is a sufficient time for our purpose without searching farther into Antiquitie I shall tell you then that the Parliamentaire Representatives of the Nation were chiefly the Barons of England and Knights of the several Shires Counties therein These two remaine with little or no alteration from that time to this and to show how farr the said Knights may be taken at this day for the Representatives of the Common of England I must also Informe you That every Knicht of the sheir is chosen by the Major part of all such Commoners who wish in the said shires or Counties have the value of 40 sh per ann freehold in the said shires or Counties Which priviledge comprehends so great a number of Householders that there are few men excluded besides servants and some farmers who are often times strangers come in unto us And the Election of these Knights of the Shires Counties remains as it anciently was without any alteration Illegal Chartres or any false returns or corrupt means other then what might have been used ever sence their first Institution and may continue to the end of Parls and time Illegal Chartres then have no relation to Knights of the Shires because there neither are nor never were any Chartres in the case and if any false returns have been made or corrupt means used the Parliament it self when fully Assembled is Judge of the right att this day as formerly at any time it had been Thus we see how far Knights of the shires may be representatives of the Commons of England and where the abuses or corrupt means in the choice of them are to be Judg'd and rectifyed The accusation then of Illegal Chartres is applicable to Corporations only which from the Kings Chartres or Grants have received the Priviledge of sending Burgesses or Parl. men to Parliaments To explain this I doe again affirme and I chalenge all the complotters of this Rebellious Declaration to show the contrary that this priviledge of Corporations began not untill the time of King John who reigned about the year of our Lord 1199. Which was nere 140. Yeares after William the Conqueror and who was the founder of many and cald the Patron of all Corporations The Occasion in short was this King John to Ballance the Power of his rebellious Barons erected severall Corporations and out of his meer favour and benevolence granted Chartres to them upon severall Conditons and limitations by which they had the Priviledge of choosing and sending Burgesses to Parl. From hence we must observe these things 1st that this Priviledge of Corporations was noe ancienter then the time of King John and by consequence not a fundamentall part of the English Monarchie which was antecedent so it and the Creator of it 2. This priviledge ever proceeded from the meer grace and benevolence of our Monarchs and lastly that it was granted upon severall conditions which when broken their Chartres were forfaited in Law and their Priviledges ceased And accordingly during this intervall of time the Charters of severall Corporations even that of London it selfe were forfeited suspended and some times taken away This then being the true case of Chartres and Corporations we must next observe That King Charles 2d finding several corporations had notoriously broaken or not performed those conditions by which they held theire Chartres He cites them in a legal way by quo warranto's to trye thire Case at Law whereafter a full hearing even to the content of the parties concern'd with the assistance of the most learned Councel that England afforded as in the case of the Charter of London the verdicts have been given for the King and many other Corporations sensible of there guilt or desirous to have the Conditions of their Charters altered having surrend'red there old Chartres into the hands of the late King His said Majestie out of his meer grace and favour did either confirme the old Chartres or granted new ones with such conditions and limitations as in His Princely Wisdome He thought most fitt according to the undoubted right of King John and the rest of His Royal Progenitors Now by vertue of these Chartres and according to the Powers and Priviledges therein exprest those Corporations have chosen and sent theire Represeutatives or Burgheffes to his present Parl. And this being the exact State of the case I appeal to all men of sence and reason whether these Chartres can be cald Illegal or theire Burgesses being duly chosen according to them a Company of men packt together by corrupt and fraudulent means And this confirms what I att first averd that this present Parl. being the true legal and only Representative of all the true Subjects of England the whole Nation hath by them detested and abhord this traiterous Declaration and all the Rebells concerned in it I come now to the third and last head which contains the false impudent and particular reflections of the late Duke of Moumouth against His Majesties sacred Person in which he is not ashamd like a base villain to call him murderer Assassim Traitor and such-like and instanceth the murder of Sr Edmund Bury Godfrey the death of the late Earl of Essex and that even of the late King His most dearely beloved Brother He mentions also the burning of the city of London and subordination of false witnesses Now let all men of honout and men of arms Judge whether this be like a Declaration of warr upon the pretence of a legal and legitimate right to three Kingdoms or rather the most scurrulous and sawcy Invective of some mean poor spirited railing fellow who shows himselfe at least hereby to be the true Son of that impudent scandalous abandond woman his Mother who after Monmouth was borne became a common strumpett so many Persons now alive whom I know and could name Hold not thy tongue o God of my praise for the mouth of the wicked and the mouthful of deceit are opered upon me They have spoken to me with a lying tongue They compessed me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause They have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my friendship let his days be few and let another take his charge let his posteritie he destroyed and in the generation following let theire name bt put out Psal 109. It would be impertinency and great presumption in me should I pretend to answer crimes which are soe farr from being suspected to be true that I am perswaded they are not believed by the Slanderers themselves Besides as the truth of most of these cases hath been legally discover'd and attested soe neither time nor place will permitt me to infert the several tryals and Evidences which have been given in them I am sufficietly convinct That the most unspotted honour and most Royal Heroick generous and pious principles and actions of His present Majestie even to nicenesse It selfe through the whole course and circumstances of his life