Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	king_n	people_n	tyrant_n	2,833	5	9.5249	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92052	The royal project: or A clear discovery of his Majesties design in the present treaty. Whereunto is annexed a seasonable caution for the Parliament of England, the Army under the command of Tho. Lord Fairfax, and all that thirst to be for ever freed from a long established course of tyranny, and to see this nation restored to its pristine glory, freedom, and tranquility. Wherein the rottenness of the present treaty, and the impossiblility of making the people thereby secure, and absolutely free, is palpably declared, and detected. / By Verity Victor.	Victor, Verity.	1648 (1648)	Wing R2144; Thomason E468_22; ESTC R203428	12,119	16

as that they shall not find whereon to rest their feet And let them remember and have always in mind how the King of Spain hath lately dealt with the Prince * He cut off their heads as traytors and confiscated their estates De Ognate and others of Naples who receiving his rewards and confiding in his written Grants and promises did basely and treacherously comply and condiscend to re-admit his Viceroy to the ruin of the people A just guerdon for such abhorred falsifyers of their trust and detestable Traytors to their Country But what need I go so far did not Rich. 2. in his time contrary to his faith solemn promise and engagement cause the Duke of Glocester to be basely murihered at Callis the Earl of Arundel to be as basely beheaded and the Earl of War wick which 3 had acted for the Publique and strongly opposed his tyrannous courses albeit he granted him his life to be kept prisoner all his days in the Tower of London See the English Chronicle And now give me leave only to relate one particle of a Spanish Chronicle 1. Vol. of the life and death of Charls the 5 K. of Spain written by Father Prudent Sandival and I will conclude and leave all I have here rudely penned to the application and serious consideration of all judicious unbiassed judgments In the yeer 1519. in the Reign of turbulent Charles the fifth King of Spain there was a Parliament called in that Kingdome which acted in the beginning as this of England did for Liberty whereupon Charles their King raised War against them and they for the defence of themselves and the peoples rights and liberties raised several Armies and by force of Arms visibly subdued the King as we have really done ours and rescued the Kingdom from all Prerogative Tyranny This Spanish Parliament did at the first make such special Ordinances for the good of the Publique as their very enemies stiled them holy and religious And saith the Chronicle had they been duly executed Spain had been the most glorious Kingdom in the world and the said King Charles had appeared a most cruel and tyrannical Prince if he had not confirmed them But saith the Chronicle That Parliament spoiled all when the Wars were ended by falling into ambition covetousness and faction betraying and selling one another and sharing the Kingdoms treasure amongst them And so notwithstanding all their famous Acts in the beginning they not keeping and observing them themselves but looking after private ends did thereby lose the affections of the people destroyed themselves and betrayed their 3 victorious * Beware Lord Fairfnx c. Generals viz. the Earl of Salvatora the Bishop of Samoora and Don Iohn of Padillia with 70 of their best * Look about you ye that are honest men in both Houses Parliament men into the hands of their conquered King who did forthwith put them all to death And that Parliament saith the Author was the last in that Kingdom that acted for the Peoples Freedoms ever since hath the whole Nation layen under inextricable bondage tyranny and oppression And doth not this seem to be written for our admonition and instruction Foelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum Lastly What benefit can we the Commons of England receive by this Treaty in case all be granted that is required while the name of the Norman Conquest and so many several shameful badges thereof as multiplicity of Laws and they in Pedlers French or the Norman language super-abundant vexatious Courts and Officers strange slavish tenures fealties and services such as this Nation never before knew do still continue And that still after so much bloodshed and expence of treasure about the Militia of the Land in whom it is originally whether in the King or People it must be granted and continued to be in the King and in his power and dispose at his will and pleasure as he hath already done to cut our throats Grant him this and grant him all Grant him but this to remain according to his request unquestionably in the Crown and his Negative Vote also and grant him to be a Tyrant per statutum imperpetuum both him and his for indeed they would be so likewise from generation to generation And for us now to accord that after so many years were the twenty years an hundred he or his should have the Militia again in their own hands and dispose is but as if a man that had by a a long and strong contest recovered his inheritance from one that had a long time illegally and injustly held it from him should notwithstanding for quietness-sake as fools often say agree to accept of a lease of it for certain years and still to grant the title to be in his adversary and after the expiration of those years for ever to exclude himself and his And this his Majesty plainly shews in propounding to lease the Bishops Lands and not to sell them to the end that the propriety of them may still continue in the Bishops If we have a right in the Militia for years why not for ever But it is undeniable that at this time it is absolutely and wholy where it was in origine in us the People and in our power and dispose and why should we give or grant it be it but for a moment to another In a word to grant the Kings desire in this would be like the hewing down Nebuchadnezzars mighty Tree and cutting off the branches and leaves thereof yet leaving the stump of the roots thereof in the earth with bands of iron and brass No let us up with root and all that there may be more remembranca of Prerogative Tyronny and Norman Bondage amongst us Note that while the K. pretends a Treaty for Peace He intends and countenanceth a War against us What else mean his Sons and Confederates their preparations If any say It is not by his Command I answer Why doth he not prohibit or countermand it Qui non prohibet cum potest jubet FINIS

that all which his Majesty shall now grant and enact shall be reversed and made null and so we shall be fitted with a Colchester Bull. And where are we then What course shall we take Stand and cry what shall we do Post est occasio calva Let us therefore beware in time least we repent when it is too late And what need the Parliament their friends and Armies in this case either a deceitful Pardon or a stinking Act of Oblivion To crave or receive either in my judgment is but to cry peccavi and render that their cause inj●st which his Majesty himself hath justified and acknowledged to be just Let them rather demand an Act of Iustification and perpetual Commemoration Let a Pardon or Act of Oblivion in this case rather pass for his Majesty and his adherents who are herein the only offendants and transgressors against the fundamental Laws and peace of the Kingdom And this mercy I conceive to be more then they do demerrit To me it is a Paradox that we should upon the rules and principles of right Reason and of the Law of Nature be enforced to take up arms for self-defence and the preservation of our lives wives children estates and which is more precious and valuable then all our native liberties against a tyranous destructive blood-thi●sty enemy and then after we have subdued him to seek or accept an act of Inde●…pnity or Pardon from him or any one My reason is surprized I understand it not Is not this in the eyes of all judicious men to rejustifie the King in this case and all his proceedings and condemn our selves I would have the Parliament seriously to consider whether the King if he had conquered and prevailed by the sword would afterwards admitted us to treat for our estates and liberties Then it only remains to do unto him as he would have done unto us He was dividing the skin before he had caught the Bear For he gave divers of the Parliaments friends estates a way to some of his ruff●…n Cavaliers before he had made a Conquest by which it is easie to conclude how he would have dealt with us for the whole if God as bless●d be his name he hath not and I hope never will had delivered us up into his hands And now I will only mind the Parliament of a wise saying and observation of their own concerning the King when in their fears he had given them as strong assurance of security as any mor●al could device or expect and nevertheless at that very instant had he thoughts of d●ssipating and destroying them and to them all Parliaments and our liberties See book Deels pag. 101. 102. But it is not words saith the Parliament that can secure us in these our humble Desires we cannot but too well and sorrowfully remember what gracious Messages we had from you this Summer when with your privity the bringing up of the Army that is the Army which was then in the North was in agitation We cannot but with like affections recal to our minds how not two days before you gave directions for the above-named accusation that is the Accusation which then was against the five Members and your own coming to Commons House that House received from your Majesty a gracious Message that you would always have as much care of their priviledges as of your own Prerogative and of the safety of them persons as of your own children What could be said more especially from a Prince to assure Nor was the Lyon then half so provoked and inraged yet what then destruction was at that time more intended Are these notorious dissembled treacheries so soon out of mind and remembrance Let it never be said in future ages that this Parliament of England were at the first wise and sagacious and afterwards became stupid blind and foolish Besides this true example of our wings own making behold another since even of yesterday of a brothers of his the perfidious King of Spain with the people of Naples who after he had granted whatsoever they demanded together with a general pardon a thing much insisted on at this time and obliged himself by solemn oath and receiving of the Host or holy Sacrament and all other Religious Ceremonies as in all Popish Kingdoms are generally used in such cases for the true performance Did notwithstanding so soon as he had by these means recovered the chief Holds and regained his power put multitudes of the principal men of Naples that had been most active and zealous for the people and publike liberties to death and at present exerciseth more cruelty and violence upon them then ever before But let the Spaniard know for all his great as he supposeth policy that nil violentum est perpetuum and this very action shall be his ruin And in the mean time he deserves to be branded for a Caitif and one denying his God to the worlds end And have not we notwithstanding all these known Presidents the abominable wickedness and perfideousness of Princes and great men and of the little faith credence and confidence that is to be given to them a company of Members of both Houses of Parliament and of scotified London as wicked and perfidious as any who contrary to their trusts and duties Oaths and Declarations and the manifold Bonds of gratitude that are upon them from the people have privately complotted and conspired and are willing and ready studious diligent and active even at this instant if they can accomplish it and that under the notion of this Treaty to fell us and our posterities our lives estates and liberties to the will of a merciless irreconcilable Tyrant and his adherents so that they can but secure their own trayterous heads and the vast sums which they have purloined and stolen from the Kingdom I wish we had no such creatures but if there be a Sun in the firmament there are such both in Parliament and City and we shall never be at peace nor prosper until these Achans be brought forth unto justice Albeit so desperately are they wicked that having through insatiable converousness and ambition for want of conscience and the fear of God to restrain them contracted to themselves the guilt of publike shame and death they had rather see the whole Nation laid in ashes and turned into an Aceldama or shackled for ever in fetters of iron then to have themselves made publike examples and rendered according to their just demerits a scorn and an abhorring to succeeding generations For it is with them as with a thief beset who had rather kill or be killed then be taken Happily I could name some of them but it is needless for they are already discovered only I will assure them that it shall be with them as it was with the Dove which Noah sent out of the Ark so double and dangerous shall they find the King and his friends in all their ways and Councels and the present state of things

mera gratia of his meer grace and favor and not as his duty or our due yea his clawback helbred Clergy taught publikely in their pulpits that both our persons and estates were at his Majesties dispose and that he might take whatsoever he pleased Well grant that his tenure of the Crown was by the sword and so ours by his meer will and favor as he and some of his creatures have vainly conceived and impudently asserted And true it is that the Conqueror may by the right of Conquest change the Laws and Customs of any Nation and impose what Laws and Customs he pleaseth yet then by the same Law and right of Conquest we having conquered the Conqueror have not only put the Crown aagain upon our own heads got the scepter into our own hands and to use Mr * mr Ja. Howel is in that treatise quite beside the cushion he should have first rightly stated the case but sure he was either a cup too low or a cup too high for he loves to steep his brains in sack and then he turns antick Ja. Howels own phrase in his late printed simple peece of flattery called The Instruments of a King put the sword to our own sides but have now power also to dispose of and to impose upon the King as we please and to speak plainly though in Court language it is of our meer grace and favor if that the Parliament do suffer him to reign upon any terms or conditions whatsoever He put us out of protection disolved the Government and disobliged us of our allegeance and obedience to him the day that he set up his standard in defiance of the Nation And as I have been credibly enformed he hath often said and his obstinacy and obtumacy to the last declares evidently he was so resolved that he would win it by the sword or lose all the which in the effect is only thus much that he would either rule us by power as slaves or lose all his three Kingdoms And seeing that by Gods just hand it is come upon him according to his wish or purpose That he hath not only forfeited all by way of equity and justice but also lost all by way of war and force Why should he have any thing let it be given to one that is more worthy At least why do we treat or rather intreat for our own Why do we stand to word it for that which we have so dearly and difficultly won and purchased and is now irrevocably in our own hands and commands with him that would never treat or parl with any purpose of peace or good to this Kingdom while he was able to hold up a sword against us Did he not alway baffle and abuse us upon all treaties and use them only for the more inabling him to the prosecution and atchievement of his tyrannous destructive purposes And are not his intentions palpably discovered to be the same at this instant Read and consider the Letters that have of late been written by some of his Agents and intercepted Let him but get in his hand and he will soon have in his head and then how easily will follow his whole body with that tail of scorpions which will soon sting us to death Although as Edward the second he should repent confess and promise amendment the which I know his gracious Majesty hath so much grace as to scorn let not us trust him What will not a dissembling Synon feign and do to accumplish the ruin of Troy when all the power of Greece could not do it He that cannot act the Lyon must act the Fox The old Maxime is in policy Trust not a reconciled enemy that is one so seeming to be least Ioah like he smite thee under the fifth rib when thou neither fearest nor suspectest If a potent man had a long time kept mine inheritance from me and would hearken to no reason or perswasion nor be induced to stand to any referrence or abistrament but put me to sore trouble hazard and charges by Law to recover it and that after I had so recovered it and he could no longer hold it he should offer to treat with me about it and desire to have it referred Wouldst thou not account me a fool if I should condescend What need I then to treat what or how much I should have or enjoy of that and in what manner which I have wholly recovered as mine own and is wholly and solely in mine own power and command Was not this tacitly and by consent to grant him still a right where he hath none Again If a thief upon the way should by force take thy purse and therewith escape and afterwards thou meetest him and by force recoverest thy purse and takest him captive wouldst thou now stand to dispute the cause with him whether thou shouldst have all or only part of thy money or refer it to be debated whether it was thine or his sure no. For it followeth not that because another hath stolen my cloak or taken it away fraudulently or by force and worn it that therefore he is the true owner of it Again If a Tenant wilfully forfeit his lease be his Farm never so good and his priviledges never so great and the Lord make a re-entry may not the Lord then if he will justly let this Farm to another or if he will be so favorable because he that forfeited was an ancient Tenant as to let him repossess it may he not if he will increase his rent diminish his priviledges and impose upon him stricter terms and conditions then before He may without doubt and none can justly censure or condemn him If the King must raign yet it is meet we should first see a change of spirit in him or else we do but beat down a Tyrant and raise him up again let us propound our own Laws prescribe to him strict limits and boundaries and let him take his Crown as of favor from the people on a new agreement and stipulation and be thereunto publikely solemnly sworn and not treat with him on old terms and lame broken Propositions and grant him a right where he hath none No let us deal plainly and positively This you shall do these things you shall subcribe and according to these Laws you shall rule if you wil govern or enjoy your Crown if not your destruction is of your self we will turn to another For let him grant the Propositions fully and totally We are all in eminent hazard For he is retaining his old poyson his Queen whose spirit is like her mothers a Member of the Church of Rome and her principles inconsistent with the Religion Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom wil by their Jesuited Agents and Machiavilian Instruments so insinuate deceive the people that within a short time the Parliament if not the very next after this shall be compact of such Members his friends and favorers and this Parliaments now enemies and opponants