Justice on the Earl of Strafford The two main points which the Scotish Covenanters aimed at in bringing their Army into England In order whereunto the Eâ—…le of Strafford is impeached of high Treason now And Thereupon requested from the Parliament House and committed to the usher of the black rod. Which was the least that probably would be requâ—…sted upon such an Impeachment and that being granted a question was raised amongst knowing men whether the Earl of Strafford took his accustomed wisdome and courage along with him when he came to the Parliament Some thinke he failed in point of wisdome in regard hee could not chuse but know that the Scots and scotizing English had most infallibly resolved upon his destruction and that Innocency was no armour of proof against the fiery darts of malicious power that seeing such a storm hang over his head he rather should have kept himselfe in the English Army being then under his command which he had gained upon exceedingly by his noble carriage or have passed over into Ireland where the Army rested wholly at his Devotion or have transported himselfe to some forraine Kingdome till faire wether here in reference to his owne safety and the publick peace might invite him home that it was no betraying of his Innocency to decline a triall where partiality held the Scales and selfe-ends backed with power and made blinde with Prejudice were like to over-ballance Justice that if sentence should be passed against him for default of appearance which was the worst that could befall him yet had he still kept his head on his shoulders untill better times and in the meane time might have done his Master as good service in the Courts of many forraigne Princes as if he were siitting in White-Hall at the Councell table On the other side it was alledged that all these points had been considered of before his leaving of the Army that whilst he lay so neer the Scots in the head of this Army he had gained as he thought certaine and assured evidence that the Scots Army came not in but by imitation that there was a confederacy made between the Heads of the Covenanters and some of the leading Members of both Houses his most capitall enemies to subvert the Government of the Church and innovate in that of the Civill State that he had digested his intelligence in those particulars into the form of an Impeachment which he intended to have offered in the House of Peers assoon as he had taken his place amongst them that Mr. Pym whom it concerned as much as any fearing or knowing his intendments followed him so close at the heels and had his Impeachment so ready in his mouth that he was ready to give and did give the blow before the Earle of Strafford could have time and leisure to effect his purpose This therefore being left undecided it was said by others that the Earle shewed not that praesentiam animi that readiness of courage and resolution which formerly had conducted him through so many difficulties in giving over his designe for though he lost the opportunity of striking the first blow yet he had time enough to strike the second which might have been a very great advantage to his preservation For had he offered his Impeachment and prosecuted it in the same pace and method as that was which was brought against him it is possible enough that the businesse on both sides might have been hushed up without hurt to either And for so doing he wanted not a fair example in the second Parliament of this King in which he served for the County of Yorke in the House of Commons when the Earle of Bristol being impeached of high Treason by the Kings Attorney at the instance and procuâ—…ement of the Duke of Buckingham retorted presently a Recrimination or Impeachment against the Duke and by that meanes tooke off the edge of that great adversary from proceeding further This I remember to have been the substance of some discourses which that time produced how pertinent and well grounded must be left to the Readers judgment Certain I am it was much wondred at by many that a man of so great spirit and knowledge should yeild himself up so tamely on a generall Accusation only without any particular Act of Treason charged upon him or any proof offered to make good that Charge not only to the losse of his liberty as a private person but to the forfeiture of his priviledge as a Member of Parliament all which points were so much insisted not long after by Mr. Pym and the rest of the Five Members when they were under the like impeachment though not so generall as this on the Kings behalf But being all these considerations were not thought of or passed over by him and that the Commons sped so well in their first attempt it was not wondred at that they brought the Archbishop within few weeks after under the like generall Charge of Treason or that he yieâ—…ded without any opposition to the like commitment of whom our Author telleth us That a mixt accusation halfe Scotch halfe English was preferred against him And on the 18 â—…e was voted guilty of high Treason and committed to the Usher of the Black Rod. To give the true timeing of this businesse which our Author doth a little faile in he may please to know that on Wednesday the 16 of Decemb the Canons being voted down in the House of Commons of which more hereafter a Committee was appointed to draw up a Charge against him and the same day not on the 17 as our Author he was named an Incendiary by the Scotch Commissioners who promised to bring in their Complaint against him on the morrow after the Lord Paget being made the Instrument to serve them in it No complaint coming from the Scots on Thursday Mr. Hollis is sent up with the Impeachment on the Friday morning and presently came in the Charge of the Scotch Commissioners upon the reading whereof he was committed to the custody of James Maxwell Usher of the black Rod as our Author telleth us There he continued full ten weeks before any particular Charge was brought against him during which time he had gained so much on the good opinion of Ginne Rider Mr. Maxwells Wife that she was pleased to say amongst some of her Gossips That certainly he was a very devout and religiouâ—… man but one of the simplest Fellows to talk with that ever she knew in all her life On Friday Feb. 26. on the ten weeks end the Charge before spoken of was brought up by Sir Henry Vane the younger from the House of Commons And upon Munday March the first he was conveyed unto the Tower continuing in the state of a Prisoner from the first to the last above four years before he came unto his last and fatall Tryall But it is time that we goe back unto the place where we left our Author and we shall finde there
negligence or long stay of the Earle of Holland who being sent out with a new Fleet for carrying Ammunition Armes and Victuals towards the continuance of the Siege and guarding the passages into the Island trifled out so much time at Court and made so many Halts betwixt that and Plymouth that he had not found his way out of that Haven when the Duke came back It s true the issue of this Action was not answerable to the Expectation and yet I cannot be of our Authours minde who telleth us Fol 71. That the Isle of Rhe was so inconsiderable as had we lost there neither blood nor honour and gained it into the bargain it would have ill rewarded our preparation and charge of the Expedition For had the English gained the Island they had not onely preserved the Town of Rochel but by the advantage of that Town and the Isle together might easily have taken in the Isle of Oleran and made themselves Masters of the greatest part of the losse of Aquitaine if the ambition of the King had carried Him unto Fâ—…rraign Conquests And a Commission granted by the King to five Bishops Bishop Laud being of the Quorum to execute Episcopall Jurisdiction within his Province The cause impulsive to it was a supposed irregularity c. In this and the rest which follows and touching the sequestration of the Archbishop of Canterbury our Authour runs himself into many errours For first Bishop Laud was not of the Quorum no more than any of the other the Commission being granted to the Bishops of London Durham Rochester Oxford and Bathe and Wells or to any four three or two of them and no more than so Secondly the irregularity or supposed irregularity of the said Archbishop was not touched upon in this Commission as the impulsive cause unto it the Commission saying onely in the Generall That the said Archbishop could not at that present in his own person attend those services which were otherwise proper for his Cognizance and Jurisdiction and which as Archbishop of Canterbury he might and ought in his own person to have performed and executed c. Thirdly this supposed irregularity was not incurred upon the casuall killing of the Keeper of his the Archbishops game as our Authour telleth us but for the casuall killing of the Lord Zouches Keeper in Bramhill Parke where the Archbishop had no game nor no Keeper neither Fourthly it was conceived by many pious and Learned men that there was something more incurred by that misadventnre than a supposed irregularity onely insomuch that neither Dr. Williams Elect Bishop of Lincolne nor Dr. Carew Elect Bishop of Exeter nor Dr. Laud Elect Bishop of St. Davids besides some others would receive Consâ—…cration from him though it be true that the Learned Bishop Andrews as our Authour tells us did doe the Archbishop very great service in this businesse yet was it not so much for his own sake or an opinion which he had that no irregularity was incurred by that misadventure but to prevent a greater mischief For well he saw that if the Archbishop at that time had been made Irregular Dr. Williams then Bâ—…shop of Lincolne and Lord Keeper of the Great Seale a man in great favour with King James but in more with the Duke would presently have stept into that See and he knew too much of the man to venture that great charge and trust of the Church of England to his carâ—… and government the dangerous consequerces whereof he was able to foretell without the spirit of prophesie The King of Denmarke being reduced almost to a despondence and quitting of his Kingdome Which as it was an occasion of great grief unto his Confederates so â—…o the Emperour himself it grew no matâ—…er of rejoycing For I have heard from â—… person of great Nobility that when the â—…ewes came first unto him he was so farre from shewing any signes of joy that he rather seemed much troubled at it of which being asked the reason by some of the principall men about him He returned this Answer As long said he as this Drowzy Dane was in the Head of the Protestants Army we shâ—…uld have wormed them out of their Estates one after another but he being made unusefull to them by this defeat we shall have them bring the Swedes upon us and there said he is a gallant young Fellow who will put us to the last card we have to play And so it proved in the event for thâ—… next year the King of Great Britain and his Brother of France negotiated with Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden then being in warre against the Pole to carry his Army into Germany which was done accordingly what his successes were our Authour telleth us hereafter in the course of this story They who lately were confined as Prisoners are now not onely free but petty Lords and Masters yea and petty Kings I cannot chuse but marvell what induced our Authour unto this Expression of making the Gentlemen assembled in the House of Commons not only petty Lords but even petty Kings I have heard that K. James once said in a time of Parliament but whether in the way of jeare or otherwise I am not able to say That there were now five hundred Kings besides himselfe And I know well what great advantage hath been made of those words of His whereof to any man that rightly understands the Constitution of an English Parliament the Commons are so farre from being either Lords or Kings that they are not so much as a part of the Supreme Councell it being easie to be evidenced out of the Writ which commands their attendance that they are called onely to consent and submit to such resolutions and conclusions ad faciendum consentiendum his quae tum ibidem de communi Consilio dicti regni nostri faciente Deo contigerit ordinari So the Writs instruct us as should be then and there agreed on by the Kings great Councell or the great Councell of the Kingdome Think you that men no otherwise impowred than so could take upon them in themselves or be reputed by our Authour as Lords and Kings And yet it may be I may wrong them for our Authour telleth us that Their Estates modestly estimated were able to buy the House of Peers the King excepted though an hundred and eighteen thrice over In this there is one thing that I doubt and two things which I shall take leave to consider of The thing I doubt of is that the Estates of the Gentlemen assembled in the House of Commons howsoever estimated should be able to buy the House of Peers though it had contained thrice as many as it did that is to say three hundred fifty four of the Lay-Nobility Assuredly the Bâ—…ronage of England must needs be brought exceeding low when the Gentlemen by chance assembled in the Lower House and not called out of purpose for such an experiment could buy the House of
made Baron of that place by His Majesties favour On the other side the Lord Lieutenant deriving his descent from the Nevils Earles of Westmor land whose Honorary Seate that was procured himself to be created Baron of Rabie in those Letters Patents by which he was invested with the Earldome of Strafford This gave the beginning to that fire which consumed the Earle but not till it had been much increased on another occasion There was a thrifty designe in Court to save the King the charges of a publick table and to that end it was advised that Sir Henry Vane then Treasurer of the Houshold should be made one of the principall Secretaryes in the place of Sir John Cooke then weak with age but so that he should still hold the Treasurership in the way of Commendam Scarce was Vane warm in his new Office when the Earle of Strafford interposed alleaging to the King that he had no other Correspondent in the Court for the businesses of Ireland but Mr. Secretary Cooke and that if he should be displaced His Majesties affairs in that Kingdome might extremely suffer On this a sudden stop was made and Cooke restored continuing in his former Office till the Queen openly appeared in behalf of Vane who so prevailed that Vane was setled in the place and Cooke dismissed into the Countrey as no longer serviceable which fewell being added to the former fire made it flame so high that nothing but death or blood could quench it Insomuch as it was thought by many understanding men that Sir Henry Vane did purposely misreport the Kings Message to the former Parliament for abrogating the Ship-money in hatred to the Earle of Strafford who had undertook to manage that Parliament to the Kings advantage and that seeing him to continue still both in power and favour he fell upon that speeding project which our Author hath related in that which followeth in the story that by such a cunning piece of malice he might rather seem to offer him up as a sacrifice to the publick justice than to his own particular hatred Ah ult io magis publicè vindictae quam privato odio dato videatur as in the like case the Historian hath it For the Câ—…ons were resalved that day should set a totall period to the Earles defence and next to speed their Bill 〈◊〉 Aâ—…tainder The Commons had now spent a Moneth in prosecuting their Acousation against the Earle of Strafford and seeing how little they had gained in order to the point they aimed at resolved to steer their course by another winde For finding that their proofs amounted not to a Legall evidence and that nothing but legall evidence could prevail in a way of Judicature they called the Legislative power to their assistance according unto which both Lords and Commons might proceed by the light of their own consciences without any further proof or testimony And so it is affirmed expresly by Mr. St. John then Sollicitor Generall in his Speech made at a Conference in a Committee of both Houses of Parliament April the 29. 1641. where it is said That although single testimony might be sufficient to satisfie private consciences yet how farre it would have been satisfactory in a judiciall way where Forms of Law are more to be stood upon was not so clear whereas in this way of Bill private satisfaction to each mans conscience is sufficient although no evidence had been given in at all Thus they resolved it in this Case but knowing of what dangerous consequence it might be hereafter to the lives and fortunes of the Subjects a Clause was added to the Bill that iâ—… should not be drawn into example for the time to come which because it may seem somewhat strange to them that know it not I will here adde so much of the said Bill as concerns this point In which said Bill the heads of the Accusation being reckoned up it followeth thus viz Be it therefore enacted by the Kings most excellent Majestie and by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same that the said Earle of Strafford for the heynous crimes and offences aforesaid stand and be adjudged and attainted of high Treason and shall suffer such pain of death and incurre such forfeitures of his Goods and Chattells Lands Tenements and Hereditaments of any Estate of Free-hold or Inheritance in the said Kingdomes of England and Ireland which the said Earle or any other to his use or in trust for him have or had the day of the first sitting of this present Parliament or at any time since Provided that no Judge or Judges Justice or Justices whatsoever shall adjudge or interpret any act or thing to be Treason nor hear or determine any Treason nor in any other manner then he or they should or ought to have done before the making of this Act and as if this Act had never been made Thus have we Treason and no Treason in the selfe-same action that being judged Treason in this one man which never was to be judged Treason in any other But whatsoever it was it was conceived that many of the Lords began to shew themselves more forwards to comply with the Commons then they had done formerly Whereof the King having notice he thought it high time for him to interpose c. and calling both Houses together May the first said c. This coming of his Majesty and the Speech then made as it relished so ill with the two Houses that few of them attended on the solemnitâ—…es of the next day on which the Kings eldest Daughter was married to the Prince of Orange so gave it no contentment to the Eâ—…rle himselfe whose death it rather 〈◊〉 and made sure worke of then it could any waâ—…es conduce to his preservation That passage in the Kings Speech in which he signified that the misdemeanours of the Earle were so great and many that he was not fit to serve in the place of a Constable wrought more impression on the Spirits of that Noble Gentleman then any kinde of death whatsoever it were which his Enemies could inflict upon him though with great modesty he did no otherwise expresse it in a letter sent unto the King then that he could have wished his Majesty had spared his Declaration on Saturday last But the Earles friends were as much unsatisfied in the Kings coming at that time as in that passage of his Speech giving it out that the King was put upon it by some of his bosome-Enemies which were in neerest trust about him on purpose to set him at greater odds with the House of Commons and consequently with the people whom they represented by drawing on himselfe the envy of that businesse howsoever it happened That if the Earle should be attainted notwithstanding by the Votes of the Lords it woâ—…ld be looked upon as a thing done against his will and no thanks to him but if he were acquitted by