and does hereby Dissolve it and from this time excuses your farther attendance here but with his repeated Thanks for your Service hitherto and with the assurance of his Satisfaction in you so far that he should not have parted with you but to make way for this new Constitution which he takes to be as to the Number and Choice the most proper and necessary for the uses he intends them And as most of you have Offices in his Service and all of you particular Shares in his Favour and good Opinion so he desires you will continue to exercise and deserve them with the same Diligence and good Affections that you have hitherto done and with confidence of his Majesty's Kindness to you and of those Testimonies you shall receive of it upon other occasions Therefore upon the present Dissolution of this Council his Majesty appoints and commands all those Officers he hath named to attend him here to morrow at Nine in the Morning as his Privy-Council together with those other Persons he designs to make up the number and to each of whom he has already signed particular Letters to that purpose and commands the Lord Chancellor to see them issued out accordingly which is the Form he intends to use and that hereafter they shall be signed in Council so that nothing may be done unadvisedly in the Choice of any Person to a Charge of so great Dignity and Importance to the Kingdom Names of the Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council HIS Highness Prince Rupert William Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Heneage Lord Finch Lord Chancellor of England Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury Lord President of the Council Arthur Earl of Anglesey Lord Privy-Seal Christopher Duke of Albemarle James Duke of Monmouth Master of the Horse Henry Duke of Newcastle John Duke of Lauderdale Secretary of State for Scotland James Duke of Ormond Lord Steward of the Houshold Charles Lord Marquess of Winchester Henry Lord Marquess of Worcester Henry Earl of Arlington Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold James Earl of Salisbury John Earl of Bridgewater Robert Earl of Sunderland one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State Arthur Earl of Essex first Lord Commissioner of the Treasury John Earl of Bath Groom of the Stole Thomas Lord Viscount Falconberg George Lord Viscount Hallifax Henry Lord Bishop of London John Lord Roberts Denzil Lord Holles William Lord Russel William Lord Cavendish Henry Coventry Esq one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State Sir Francis North Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Sir Henry Capell Knight of the Bath first Commissioner of the Admiralty Sir John Ernle Knight Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Chicheley Knight Master of the Ordnance Sir William Temple Baronet Edward Seymour Esquire Henry Powle Esquire Whitehall April 11. 1679. HIS Majesty being this day in Council did cause such of the aforementioned Lords and others who were then present to be Sworn Privy-Counsellors which being done they took their places accordingly His Majesty was also pleased to declare that he intended to make Sir Henry Capell Knight of the Bath Daniel Finch Esquire Baronets Sir Thomas Lee Sir Humphrey Winch Sir Thomas Meers Edward Vaughan and Edward Hales Esquires Commmissioners for the Execution of the Office of Lord High Admiral of England And his Majesty being afterwards come into the House of Peers in his Royal Robes and the House of Commons attending his Majesty was pleased to make this Speech My Lords and Gentlemen I Thought it requisite to acquaint you with what I have done now this day which is That I have Established a new Privy-Council the Constant number of which shall never exceed Thirty I have made choice of such Persons as are Worthy and able to Advise Me and am Resolved in all My Weighty and Important Affairs next to the Advice of my Great Council in Parliament which I shall very often Consult with to be Advised by this Privy-Council I could not make so great a Change without acquainting both Houses of Parliament And I desire you all to apply your selves heartily as I shall do to those things which are necessary for the good and safety of the Kingdom and that no time may be lost in it The Message from the King by Mr. Secretary Jenkins to the Commons on the 9th of November 1680. CHARLES R. HIs Majesty desires this House as well for the satisfaction of His People as of Himself to expedite such Matters as are depending before them relating to Popery and the Plot and would have them rest assured That all Remedies they can tender to his Majesty conducing to those Ends shall be very acceptable to him Provided they be such as may consist with preserving the Succession of the Crown in its due and legal course of Descent The Address to his Majesty from the Commons Saturday November 13. 1680. May it please your most Excellent Majesty WE Your Majesty's most Loyal and Obedient Subjects the Commons in this Present Parliament assembled having taken into our most serious Consideration Your Majesty's Gracious Message brought unto us the ninth day of this instant November by Mr. Secretary Jenkins do with all thankfulness acknowledge Your Majesty's Care and Goodness in inviting us to expedite such Matters as are depending before us relating to Popery and the Plot. And we do in all Humility represent to Your Majesty that we are fully convinced that it is highly incumbent upon us in discharge both of our Duty to Your Majesty and of that great Trust reposed in us by those whom we represent to endeavour by the most speedy and effectual ways the Suppression of Popery within this Your Kingdom and the bringing to publick Justice all such as shall be found Guilty of the Horrid and Damnable Popish Plot. And though the Time of our Sitting abating what must necessarily be spent in the choosing and presenting a Speaker appointing Grand Committees and in taking the Oaths and Tests enjoyned by Act of Parliament hath not much exceeded a Fortnight yet we have in this Time not only made a considerable Progress in some things which to us seem and when presented to Your Majesty in a Parliamentary way will we trust appear to Your Majesty to be absolutely necessary for the Safety of Your Majesties Person the effectual Suppression of Popery and the Security of the Religion Lives and Estates of Your Majesties Protestant Subjects But even in relation to the Tryals of the Five Lords impeached in Parliament for the Execrable Popish Plot we have so far proceeded as we doubt not but in a short time we shall be ready for the same But we cannot without being unfaithful to Your Majesty and to our Country by whom we are entrusted omit upon this occasion humbly to inform Your Majesty that our Difficulties even as to these Tryals are much encreased by the evil and destructive Councels of those Persons who advised Your Majesty first to the Prorogation and then to the Dissolution of the last
by certain Noblemen and others of our Kingdom of Ireland suggesting Disorders and Abuses as well in the Proceedings of the late begun Parliament as in the Martial and Civil Government of the Kingdom We did receive with extraordinary Grace and Favour And by another Proclamation in the 12th year of his Reign Procl 12 Jac. he declares That it was the Right of his Subjects to make their immediate Addresses to him by Petition and in the 19th year of his Reign he invites his Subjects to it And in the 20th year of his Reign Procl Dat. 10 July 19. Jac. Procl Dat. 14. Feb. 20. Jac. he tells his People that his own and the Ears of his Privy Council did still continue open to the just Complaints of his People and that they were not confined to Times and Meetings in Parliament nor restrained to particular Grievances not doubting but that his loving Subjects would apply themselves to his Majesty for Relief to the utter abolishing of all those private whisperings and causless Rumors which without giving his Majesty any Opportunity of Reformation by particular knowledge of any Fault serve to no other purpose but to occasion and blow abroad Discontentment It appears Lords Journ Anno 1640. that the House of Lords both Spiritual and Temporal Nemine contradicente Voted Thanks to those Lords who Petitioned the King at York to call a Parliament And the King by his Declaration Printed in the same year Declar. 1644. declares his Royal Will and Pleasure That all his Loving Subjects who have any just cause to present or complain of any Grievances or Oppressions may freely Address themselves by their humble Petitions to his Sacred Majesty who will graciously hear their Complaints Since his Majesty's happy Restauration Temp. Car. 2. the Inhabitants of the County of Bucks made a Petition That their County might not be over-run by the Kings Deer and the same was done by the County of Surry on the same Occasion 'T is time for me to conclude your trouble I suppose you do no longer doubt but that you may joyn in Petition for a Parliament since you see it has been often done heretofore nor need you fear how many of your honest Countreymen joyn with you since you hear of Petitions by the whole Body of the Realm and since you see both by the Opinions of our Lawyers by the Doctrine of our Church and by the Declarations of our Kings That it is our undoubted Right to Petition Nothing can be more absurd than to say That the number of the Supplicants makes an innocent Petition an Offence on the contrary if in a thing of this Publick concernment a few only should address themselves to the King it would be a thing in it self ridiculous the great end of such Addresses being to acquaint him with the general desires of his People which can never be done unless multitudes joyn How can the Complaints of the diffusive Body of the Realm reach his Majesty's Ears in the absence of a Parliament but in the actual concurrence of every individual Person in Petition for the personal application of multitudes is indeed unlawful and dangerous Give me leave since the Gazette runs so much in your mind Stat. 13. Car. 2. c. 5. to tell you as I may modestly enough do since the Statute directs me what answer the Judges would now give if such another Case were put to them as was put to the Judges 2 Jacobi Suppose the Nonconformists at this day as the Puritans then did should sollicite the getting of the hands of Multitudes to a Petition to the King for suspending the Execution of the Penal Laws against themselves the present Judges would not tell you that this was an Offence next to Treason or Felony nor that the Offenders were to be brought to the Council-board to be punished but they would tell you plainly and distinctly That if the hands of more Persons than twenty were solicited or procured to such a Petition and the Offenders were convicted upon the Evidence of two or more credible Witnesses upon a Prosecution in the Kings-bench or at the Assizes or Quarter Sessions within six Months they would incur a Penalty not exceeding a 100 l. and three Months Imprisonment because their Petition was to change a matter establisht by Law But I am sure you are a better Logician than not to see the difference which the Statute makes between such a Petition which is to alter a thing establisht by Law and an innocent and humble Petition That a Parliament may meet according to Law in a time when the greatest Dangers hang over the King the Church and the State The Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftsbury 's Speech in the House of Lords March 25. 1679. My Lords YOU are appointing of the Consideration of the State of England to be taken up in a Committee of the whole House some day next Week I do not know how well what I have to say may be received for I never study either to make my Court well or to be Popular I always speak what I am commanded by the Dictates of the Spirit within me There are some other Considerations that concern England so nearly that without them you will come far short of Safety and Quiet at Home We have a little Sister and she hath no Breasts what shall we do for our Sister in the day when she shall be spoken for If she be a Wall we will build on her a Palace of Silver if she be a Door we will inclose her with Boards of Cedar We have several little Sisters without Breasts the French Protestant Churches the two Kingdoms of Ireland and Scotland The Foreign Protestants are a Wall the only Wall and Defence to England upon it you may build Palaces of Silver glorious Palaces The Protection of the Protestants abroad is the greatest Power and Security the Crown of England can attain to and which can only help us to give Check to the growing Greatness of France Scotland and Ireland are two Doors either to let in Good or Mischief upon us they are much weakened by the Artifice of our cunning Enemies and we ought to inclose them with Boards of Cedar Popery and Slavery like two Sisters go hand in hand sometimes one goes first sometimes the other in a doors but the other is always following close at hand In England Popery was to have brought in Slavery in Scotland Slavery went before and Popery was to follow I do not think your Lordships or the Parliament have Jurisdiction there It is a Noble and Ancient Kingdom they have an illustrious Nobility a Gallant Gentry a Learned Clergy and an Understanding Worthy People but yet we cannot think of England as we ought without reflecting on the Condition therein They are under the same Prince and the Influence of the same Favourites and Councils when they are hardly dealt with can we that are the Richer expect better usage for 't is
for it being terrified by the greatness of the danger would have compounded so far as to have taken away the Penal Laws against Papists and so have set them upon a Level with other English Subjects provided the Test might have been continued and the Government secured from falling into the hands of that Faction all such offers were despised and rejected with scorn Nor would any thing content the Bigotry and Arbitrary humour of those who were then in the Saddle less than the total enslaving of the Nation and the Re-establishment of that Idolatrous Religion from which our Ancestors had freed themselves with so much Bravery and Generosity in the beginning of the last Century In this deplorable Condition His then Highness the Prince of Orange found these Kingdoms when he came to relieve us from the greatest Oppressions He heard the Voice of the People that earnestly invited him over to their Rescue and taking it as undoubtedly it was for the Voice of God complied and God hath made us All happy with the desired success Had the late King James stuck firmly to the Interests of his People He would thereby have easily secured his own and if they could have found He had had what he assured both Houses of Parliament King's Speech to both Houses of Parliament May 30. 1685. in a Speech he made to them A true English heart as Jealous of the Honour of the Nation as they themselves could be he might have carried by God's Blessing and their Assistance as he then said the Reputation of it yet higher in the World than ever it had been in the time of any of his Ancestors He wanted not some about him at the first especially that would gladly have given him faithful Counsel Those that were able to advise him well and were real Friends to Him as they were true to their Religion and to the Interest of their Countrey and A Wise Man says my incomparable Author Memoirs of Philip de Comines lib. 3. c. 5. p. 159. in a Prince's Retinue is a great Treasure and Security to his Master if one has the Liberty to speak truth and the other the Discretion to believe him But unhappy Prince He was resolvedly bent by the force of his own Superstition the Power and Influence of the Priests and Jesuits that continually attended on him and the Directions from France upon the total Destruction of our Reformed Religion that Pestilent Northern Heresy our Liberties and our Properties and was upon the point of effecting that Tremendous Design but God in his Wise Providence with Infinite Mercy and Compassion to this almost Ruined Land and People saw it meet to give check to that Imperial Carreer with a hitherto shalt thou come and no further HE REMOVETH KINGS AND SETTETH UP KINGS In this Volume you have a full Account of our late happy Revolution with almost all the steps and measures that were taken in it and a justification of our present Settlement 'T was God's doing and it ought ever to be marvellous in our eyes We have now a King and Queen professing the same Faith with our selves who as He came over to preserve our Dearest Interests the Protestant Religion and to restore to Vs our invaded Laws and Liberties found the Nation generally disposed to receive him as the Mighty Deliverer under God of this Church and State The hand of Heaven conducted him with safety up to London and all the Kingdom called him Blessed and in a sence of Joy and Gratitude to Him and His Royal Consort The whole Body of the Nation by their Representatives in Parliament have recognized and acknowledged Their present Majesties to be their Lawful and Rightful Sovereign Liege Lord and Lady And how could we do less than own them for our King and Queen who by such an amazing turn have redeemed from Slavery both our Souls and Bodies if we pretend to any value for our Holy Religion or any English Love of Liberty We have a King of an Extraordinary Personal Valour and Conduct that hath very often already ventured his Life and still resolves to despise all difficulties and hazards himself that His People may reap the fruit of them in their own Peace and Prosperity and that the Protestant Religion may be established to us and our Children to future Generations The Queen is as Supream in Her Vertue as in Her Dignity and hath shewed a most Eminent Resolution as well as a most Prudent Care in all the Administrations of the Government when the Absence of the King hath obliged Her to take the Exercise of the Regal Power upon Her So that the Nation may now hope to enjoy a lasting Felicity from the Royal Protection of both Their Majesties whose constant endeavours we are assured from themselves will be imployed to procure and support the Interest and Honour of it and the Benefit Safety and Ease of their People they throughly understanding the Truth of Mons Gourville's Observation who had been long enough here in England Memoirs of what past in Christendom from the War begun 1672. to the Peace concluded 1679. p. 33 34. to know the Humour of our Court and People and Parliaments to conclude Qu'un Roy d'Angleterre qui veut estre l'homme de son peuple est le plus Grand Roy du monde mais s'il veut estre quelque chose d'avantage par Dieu il n'est plus rien i. e. That a King of England who will be the MAN of his People is the greatest King in World but if he will be something more he is nothing at all I may venture therefore to Prophesy that this King and Queen will take the same care to continue as they have already done to make themselves the DARLING of their People and no Good English Man can wish for more but that this King and Queen may long Reign and that the Tripple Alliance of their Sacred Majesties their Parliaments and their People may never be dissolved Little needs be said concerning the usefulness of such Collections as these THAT formerly published having received sufficient Approbation from Persons of Learning and Knowledg The benefit of them is the same with what redounds from a true History not of Battels and Sieges Births Marriages and Deaths of Princes which are temporary and momentary things but of the Legal Government of a Nation struggling with Arbitrary Power and Illegal Proceedings so far forth as it was invaded within the time mentioned in the Title A CATALOGUE OF THE TRACTS Contained in This Second Volume 1. THE Earl of Clarendon's Speech about disbanding the Army September 13. 1660. Fol. 1 2. The State of England both at home and abroad in order to the Designs of France considered 6 3. Of the Fundamental Laws or Politick Constitution of this Kingdom 22 4. London's Flames revived Or an Account of several Informations exhibited to a Committee appointed by Parliament Sept. 25. 1666. to inquire into the burning of London
King make unto him certain propositions for taking away some heavy Taxes that had been imposed on them by his Father Solomon which he refusing to gratifie them in and following the Advice of Young Men Ten of the twelve Tribes immediately chose Jeroboam a Servant of Rehoboham's a meer Stanger and of mean Parentage and made him their King and God approved thereof as the Scriptures in express Words do testifie For when Rehoboam had raised an Army of One hundred and fourscore thousand Men intending by force of Arms to have justified his Claim God appeared unto Semaiah and commanded him to go to Rehoboam and to the House of Jadah and Benjamin saying Return every man to his house for this thing is of me saith the Lord. So that since God did permit and allow this in his own Commonwealth which was to be the Pattern for all others no doubt he will approve the same in other Kingdoms whenever his Service and Glory or the Happiness of the Weal-publick shall require it The next instance I shall give you shall be in Spain where Don Alonso de la Cerda having been admitted Prince of Spain in his Father's Life-time according to the Custom of that Realm married Blanoha Daughter of Lewis the First King of France and had by her two Sons Named Alonso and Hernando de la Cerda but their Father who was only Prince dying before Alonso the Ninth then King he recommended them to the Realm as lawful Heirs apparent to the Crown But Don Sancho their Fathers Younger Brother who was a great Warrier and Sirnamed El Bravo was admitted Prince and they put by in their Grandfathers Life-time by his and the States Consent and this was done at a Parliament held at Sagovia in the Year 1276. And in the Year 1284 Alonso the Ninth being dead Don Sancho was aknowledg'd King and the Two Princes Imprisoned but at the Mediation of Philip the Third King of France their Unkle they were set free and Endowed with considerable Revenues in Land and from them do descend the Dukes De Medina Celi at this Day and the present King of Spain that is in Possession descendeth from Don Sancho In France Lewis the Fourth had Two Sons Lothairin who succeeded him and Charles whom he made Duke of Lorrain Lothairin dying left an only Son named Lewis who dying without Issue after he had reigned Two Years the Crown was to have descended on his Unkle Charles Duke of Lorrain But the States of France did exclude him and chose Hugo Capetus Earl of Paris for their King and in an Oration made by their Embassadour to Charles of Lorrain did give an Account of their Reasons for so doing as it is related by Belforest a French Historian in these very words Every Man knoweth Lord Charles that the Sucession of the Crown and Kingdom of France according to the ordinary Rights and Laws of the same belongeth unto you and not unto Hugh Capet now our King But yet the same Laws which do give unto you such Right of Succession do judge you also unworthy of the same for that you have not endeavoured hitherto to frame your Life according to the Prescript of those Laws nor according to the Use and Custom of the Kingdom of France but rather have allied your self with the Germans our old Enemies and have accustomed your self to their vile and base Manners Wherefore since you have abandoned and forsaken the ancient Virtue Amity and Sweetness of your Countrey your Countrey has also abandoned and forsaken you for we have chosen Hugh Capet for our King and have put you by and this without any Scruple in our Consciences at all esteeming it for better and more just to live under Hugh Capet the possessor of the Crown with enjoying the ancient use of our Laws Customs Privileges and Liberties than under you the next Heir by Blood in Oppressions strange Customs and Cruelty For as they who are to make a Voyage in a Ship on a dangerous Sea do not so much respect whether the Pilot claims Title to the Ship or no but rather whether he be skilful valiant and like to bring them in safety to their ways end even so our principal care is to have a good Prince to lead and guide us happily in this way of Civil and Politick Life which is the end for which Princes are appointed And with this Message ended his Succession and Life he dying not long after in Prison And now I shall come home and give you an Instance or two in England since the Conquest and so conclude William Rufus second Son of William the Conqueror by the assistance of Lanfrank Archbishop of Canterbury who had a great opinion of his Virtue and Probity was admitted King by the consent of the Realm his elder Brother Robert Duke of Normandy being then in the War at Jerusalem William dying his younger Brother Henry by his ingenuity and fair carriage and by the assistance of Henry Earl of Warwick who had greatest interest in the Nobility and Maurice Bishop of London a leading-man amongst the Clergy obtained also the Crown And Robert Duke of Normandy was a second time excluded And though this King Henry could pretend no other Title to the Crown than the Election and Admission of the Realm yet he defended it so well and God prosper'd him with success that when his elder Brother Robert came to claim the Kingdom by force of Arms he beat him in a pitch'd-Battel took him Prisoner and so he died miserable in Bonds King Henry had one only Daughter named Maud or Matilda who was married to the Emperor and he dying without Issue she was afterwards married to Geofry Plantagenet Earl of Anjou in France by whom she had a Son named Henry whom his Grandfather declared Heir-apparent to the Crown in his Life-time yet after his Death Henry was excluded and Stephen Earl of Bulloine Son of Adela Daughter of William the Conqueror was by the States thought more fit to Govern than Prince Henry who was then but a Child And this was done by the perswasion of Henry Bishop of Winchester and at the solicitation of the Abbot of Glastenbury and others who thought they might do the same lawfully and with a good Conscience for the publick Good of the Realm But the Event did not prove so well as they intended for this occasioned great Factions and Divisions in the Kingdom for the quieting of which there was a Parliament held at Wallingford which passed a Law That Stephen should be King only during his Life and that Prince Henry and his Off-spring should succeed him and by the same Law debarred William Son of King Stephen from inheriting the Crown and only made him Earl of Norfolk Thus did the Parliament dispose of the Crown in those days which was in the year 1153 which sufficiently proves what I have asserted The sum of all I have said amounts to this That Government in general is by the Law of
truly for him he was never heard to disswade any to take the Test nor to disparage it after it past in an Act only he refused to take it himself without an Explanation which to firetch to a Crime is beyond all example I confess he never cry'd it up as super excellent or Divine a some have done that can alter their tone and decry it as much when ever there shall be occasion The next morning the Earl waited on his Highness expecting yesternights countenance and indeed nothing less than what he met with for beginning to speak with his Highness in private his Highness interrupted him and said he was not pleased with his Explanation The Earl said he did not presume to give it till his Highness allowed him His Highness acknowledged that the Bishop of Edinburgh had told him that the Earl intended an Explanation But says his Highness I thought it had been some short one like Earl Queensburries The Earl answered that his Highness heard what he said His Highness said he did but he was surprized Then the Earl said he had said the same thing in private to his Highness wherewith he at that time appeared satisfied And the Earl being about to say more in his own vindication his Highness interrupting him said well it is past with you but it shall pass so with no other which words the Earl thought did both confirm the Councils acceptance and his explanation and sufficiently clear him of all offence if he had incurred any And whatever hath been his Highness resolution or the Earls misfortune since the Earl is perswaded that his Highness was resolved then to push the affair no further for though some had still the same animosities and prejudices against the Earl yet hitherto they had not adventured to undertake to extract and forge such Crimes out of his words as afterwards they did And it was not till private suggestions were made that Advocates were asked as they were if these words could be stretched to Treason and that when the ablest denied the Kings Advocate complied and was ordered to draw the Indictment and some Judges were engaged and secured about it as will appear when ever His Majesty thinks it his Interest to take an exact trial of that whole affair The Earl did think as I just now said his Highness saying it was past as to him was enough he was resolved to say no more for justifying himself but seeing he is so hardly pressed and his life and honour at the stake it is hoped his Highness will not disown what the Earl hath hitherto so respectfully concealed and is now no less necessary to be spoke out for his vindication And that is that besides that his Highness did allow the Earl to explain and did hear his explanation in Council and approve it The Earl did twice in private once before and once after his Oath in Council repeat to his Highness the same words that the Treason is now founded on viz. That the Earl meant not to bind up himself to wish and endeavour in a lawful way and in his station any alteration he thought to the advantage of Church and State not repugnant to the Protestant Religion and his Loyalty and that his Highness was so far from charging them with Treason that he said plainly both times the Earls scruples were unnecessary and that the Test did not bind him up as he imagined adding further the last time that the Earl had cheated himself for notwithstanding the explanation he had taken the Test To which the Earl only answered that then his Highness should be satisfied Now after all this that Treason should be so earnestly searched for and so groundlessly found in those words is it not strange beyond all example Could it be Treason for the Earl to say He will not bind up himself where his Highness says so oft and so plainly It was not intended that he or any man should be bound up What past the next day after the Earl had taken the Test and was received by the Council is also proper for you to know The Earl being to take it as one of the Commissioners of the Treasury it was commonly thought that he and the other Commissioners were to take it in the Exchequer but after Ten of the Clock about two hours after the Earl had parted from his Highness one told him there was a design upon him to make him swear once more before the Council And accordingly at Twelve there was an extraordinary Council called in the Abbey and there it was found That the Commissioners of Treasury as Officers of the Crown were to take the Test before the Council and it was told the Earl that the Exchequer could not that day sit without him And to make the matter more solemn it was resolved that the Council should meet that Afternoon and that his Highness should be present So as soon as they were met the Oath was tendered and the Earl offering to take it and saying only these words as before the Earl of Roxburgh never heard to speak in Council till then stood up behind his Highness Chair and with Clamour asked what was said To whom his Highness was pleased to turn and inform him upon which Roxburgh prepared for the purpose desired that what the Earl of Argyle had said the day before might be repeated Which the Earl seeing a design upon him did at first decline till he was peremptorily put to it by his Highness and he being Ingenuous and thinking no course more proper to prevent mistakes of words he said he had a Note of what he had said in his Pocket which his Highness called for very earnestly and Commanded him to produce which be done and the Paper read so secure was the Earl of his Innocency that he was willing upon the first motion to sign it But the then new President of the Session now Chancellor and the new Register could not agree whether it was fit or not the Treason not yet appearing when read in Council as when they had talked of it in private so the Earl was removed and then called in and after these two had whered and adjusted their Inventions he was desired positively to sign the Paper he had given in To which he answered he meant well and truly did see no ill in the Paper why he might not and if the words did please them then as they did when they were first pronounced he would do it But if they found the least matter of displeasure in them he would forbear Whereupon being again removed and called in he was told he had not given the satisfaction required by the Act of Parliament in taking the Test And so could not sit in the Council and somewhat more was added as if the matter drew deeper but the particular words I do not know To which the Earl said that he judged all the Parliament meant was to exclude Refusers of the Test from Places of trust And
upon the King and the Government For the writing an answer is no allowance but a condemning Nor can the Council allow any more than they can remit And tho it may justly be denied that the Council heard even the Earls own Explanation yet the hearing or allowing him to sit is no Relevant Plea because they might very justly have taken a time to consider how far it was fit to accuse upon that Head And it is both just and fit for the Council to take time and by express Act of Parliament the negligence of the King Officers does not bind them For if this were allowed Leading men in the Council might commit what Crimes they pleased in the Council which certainly the King may quarrel many years after And tho all the Council had allowed him that day any one Officer of State might have quarrelled it the next day As to the Opinion of Bellarmine Sanderson and others it is ever contended that the principles of the Covenant agree very well with those of the Jesuites and both do still allow Equivocations and Evasions But no solid Orthodox Divine ever allowed That a man who was to swear without any Evasion should swear so as he is bound to nothing as it is contended the Earl is not for the Reasons represented And as they still recommend That when men are not clear they might abstain as the Earl might have done in this case so they still conclude That men should tell in clear terms what the sense is by which they are to be bound to the State Whereas the Earl here tells only in the general and in most ambigious terms That he takes it as far as he can obey and as far as it is consistent with the Protestant Religion and that he takes it in his own sense and that he is not bound by it from making alterations but as far as he thinks it for the advantage of Church or State which sense is a thousand times more doubtful than the Test and is in effect nothing but what the taker pleases himself As to the Treason founded on His Majesties Advocate founds it first upon the Fundamental and Common Laws of this and all Nations whereby it is Treason for any man to make any alteration he shall think for the advantage of Church or State which he hopes is a principle cannot be denied in the general And whereas it is pretended That this cannot be understood of mean alterations and of alterations to be made in a lawful way It is answered That as the thing it self is Treason so this Treason is not taken off by any of these qualifications because he declares he will wish and endeavour any alteration he thinks fit and any alteration comprehends all alterations that he thinks fit Nam propositio indefinita aequipollet universali And the word any is general in its own nature and is in plain terms a reserving to himself to make alterations both great and small And the restriction is not all alterations that the King shall think fit or are consistent with the Laws and Acts of Parliament but he is still to be Judge of this and his Loyalty is to be the Standard Nor did the Covenanters in the last Age nor do these who are daily executed decline that they are bound to obey the King simply but only that they are bound to obey him no otherwise than as far as his Commands are consistent with the Law of God of Nature and of this Kingdom and with the Covenant And their Treason lies in this And when it is asked them Who shall be judge in this they still make themselves Judges And the reason of all Treason being that the Government is not secure it is desired to be known what way the Government can be secured after this paper since the Earl is still Judge how far he is obliged and what is his Loyalty And if this had been sufficient the Covenant had been a very excellent paper for they are there bound to endeavour in their several stations to defend the Kings person but when the King challenged them how they came to make War against him their great Refuge was That they were themselves still Judges as to that And for illustrating this power the Lords of Justitiary are desired to consider Quid Juris if the Earl or any man else should have reserved to himself in this Oath a liberty to rise in Arms or to oppose the lineal Succession tho he had added In a lawful manner for the thing being in it self unlawful this is but sham and Protestatio contraria facto And if these be unlawful notwithstanding of such additions so much more must this general reservation of making any alterations likewise be unlawful notwithstanding of these additions For he that reserves the general power of making any alteration does a fortiori reserve power to make any alteration tho never so fundamental For all particulars are included in the General and whatever may be said against the particulars may much more strongly be said against the general 2. The 130. Act Par. 8. James VI is expressly founded on because nothing can be a greater diminution of the power of the Parliament than to introduce a way or means whereby all their Acts and Oaths shall be made insignificant and ineffectual as this paper does make them for the Reasons represented Nor are any of the Estates of Parliament secure at this rate but that they who reserved a general power to make all alterations may under that â—eneral come to alter any of them 3. What can be a greater impugning of the Dignity and Authority of Parliaments than to say That the Parliament has made Acts for the security of the Kingdom which are in themselves ridiculous inconsistent with themselves and the Protestant Religion And as to what is answered against invading the Kings Prerogative and the Legislative power in Parliaments in adding a part to an Oath or Act is not relevantly inferred since the sense of these words And this I understand as a part of my Oath is not to be understood as if any thing were to be added to the Law but â—â—ly to the Oath and to be an interpretation of the Oath It is replied That after this no man needs to add a Caution to the Oath in Parliament But when he comes to take the Oath do the Parliament what they please he will add his own part Nor can this part be looked upon as a sense for if this were the sense before this paper he needed not understand it as a part of it for it wanted not that part And in general as every man may add his own part so the King can be secure of no part But your Lordships of Justitiary are desired to consider how dangerous it would be in this Kingdom and how ill it would sound in any other Kingdom That men should be allowed to reserve to themselves liberty to make any alteration they thought fit in Church or
and others who offered to obey because it is the defaming the Law as ridiculous and inconsistent with that Protestant Religion and Leasing-making betwixt the King the Nobility and the people the misconstruing and misrepresenting as hath been formerly urged that puts the Earl in a worse condition And all those arguments might be as well urged for any who had uncontrovertedly contravened these Acts as for the Pannel Whereas it is pretended That the King emitted a Proclamation to satisfie Dissenters it is answered That the Proclamation was designed for none who had been Members of Parliament and so should have known the sense but it was designed for meer ignorants not for such as had defamed the Law which is still here charged upon the Pannel As to the Article of Treason it is conceived That it is unanswerably founded upon the Common Law discharging all men to make alteration of the Government as to which there needs no express Statute that being the very essence of Government and needing no Laws Like as it falls positively under all the Laws that discharge the assuming the Royal or Legislative power for to alter the Government is inseparably united to the Crown Like as the Subsumption is as clear the express words not bearing That the Earl reserves to himself a power to propose to His Majesty any alterations or to concur to serve His Majesty in making alterations but owning in most general and arbitrary terms to wish and endeavour any alteration he should think fit for the advantage of Church or State and not determining any thing that could bind him otherwise than according to his own pleasure for the word lawful is still subjected to himself and has subjoyned to it as he should think fit which governs the whole proposition and in that sense and as the words are here set down the greatest Rebel in Scotland will subscribe that Explanation for there is no man but will restrict himself to a lawful obedience provided he be Judge of the lawfulness And seeing all Oaths proposed for the security of Government require a certain depending upon the Legislator and not upon the Taker it is impossible that that end could be attained by any qualification how special soever which is made to depend absolutely upon the Taker and not upon the Legislator And we have often seen how little security there is in those specious words the very Covenant it self having not only the very words above-repeated but attesting all the world to be witnesses to their Loyalty and Sincerity And as to the former instances viz. Rising in Arms or opposing the lawful Successor there is no Covenanter in Scotland but will say he will do neither but in a lawful way and in his station and in a way consistent with his Loyalty for a man were mad to say otherwise but yet when they come to explain this they will only do it as they think fit and will be Judges themselves and then will tell us That defensive Arms are lawful and that no Popish Successor should succeed nor no Successor unless he subscribe the Covenant And whereas it is pretended That no clause in the Test does exclude a man from making alterations it is answered That the alterations which the Test allows are none at all but in subordination to Authority And as to the two points above mentioned it excludes all alterations as to these points And as to the making fundamental alterations this reservation allows to make any alteration and consequently fundamental alterations to preclude which Libertinism this excellent Law was invented Whereas it is pretended That the Pannel designs not to add any thing as a part of the Law but as a part of his Oath it is duplied Since the Oath is a part of the Law whoever adds to the Oath adds to the Law Whereas it is pretended That the Crime of Perjury cannot be inferred here because all Divines allow That the Taker of an Oath is still allowed to declare in what sense he takes the Oath and that this is clear from Sanderson p. 175. It is triplied That where there are two dubious senses Lawyers and Divines allow That the taker should clear himself which of the two he should take which is very just because to which soever of the two he determines himself the Legislator in that case is sure of him But here it is not pretended That there are two senses nor does the Pannel declare in which of the two he takes it or in what clear sence at all he takes it which is indeed liquido Jurare But here the Pannel neither condescends what particular clause of the Test is unclear nor after he has condescended upon the Articles does he condescend upon the sense but in general mysterious words where he can neither be followed or found out he only takes it in so far as it is consistent with it self and the Protestant Religion reserving the squaring all by his own Loyalty as he did in the beginning declare That he took it in his own sense by which general sense neither is the Government secure of any thing it does enjoyn nor could he be punished if he transgressed Nor can it be doubted but Perjury may be inferred by any equivocal or evading sense inter Jurandum as well as by breaking an oath afterwards which is very clear from Sanderson p. 138. The words whereof are alterum perjurii genus est inter Jurandum detorquere verba and which is farther clear by the 28. page but above all from the principles of Reason and the necessity of Commerce and Government For if men may adhibit such glosses even whilst they swear as may make the Oath useless what way will either Government or Commerce be maintained And he deceives as much that deceives in swearing salvis verbis as he who after he has sworn does break the Oath Nay and more too because the breaking may come from forgetfulness or other accidents but the evading by general Clauses which bind no man does from the first instance originally make all Oaths useless and dangerous and that this interpretation eludes the Oath absolutely is very clear from what hath been formerly debated For it may be argued That the Earl broke the Oath in so far as the first day he swears the Oath which bears to be without any evasion and must be so notwithstanding of whatever he could say And the next day he gives in this evasion which is a down-right violation of that Oath and inconsistent with it Nor was this Oath forced but voluntarily emitted to keep his own places And it was the greater Crime that it was done in the Council because that was to make it the more publick and consequently the more to misrepresent the Government After this debate which according to the custom of the Court was verbatim dictate by the Advocates of either side and written by the Clerk and so took up much time and the Court having sate at least twelve
nothing in the Test consistent with either And 3dly If the Protestant Religion and the Earl his reference to it be nothing then is not only the Council sadly reproached who in their Explanation declare this to be the only thing sworn to in the first part of the Test but our Religion quite subverted as far as this Test can do it But next for the Treason the Advocate says That the Earl expresly declares he means not by the Test to bind up himself from wishing or endeavouring in his station and in a lawful way any alteration he shall think for the advantage of Church or State whereby says he the Earl declares himself and others loosed from any obligation to the Government and from the duty of all good Subjects and that they may make what alterations they please A direct contrariety instead of a just consequence as if to be tied to Law Religion and Loyalty were to be loosed from all three Can there be a flatter and more ridiculous contradiction Next the Advocate pretends to found upon the fundamental Laws of this and all Nations Whereby it is Treason for any Man to make any alterations he thinks fit for the advantage of Church or State But first The Earl is not nor cannot be accused of so much as wishing much less endeavouring or making any alteration either in Church or State only he reserves to himself the same freedom for wishing which he had before his Oath and that all that have taken it do in effect say they still retain 2dly For a man to endeavour in his station and in a lawful way such alterations in Church or State as he conceives to their advantage not repugnant to Religion and Loyalty is so far from being Treason that it is the duty of every Subject and the sworn Duty of all His Majesty's Councellors and of all Members of Parliament But the Advocate by fancying and misapplying Laws of Nations wresting Acts of Parliaments adding taking away chopping and changing words thinks to conclude what he pleases And thus he proceeds That the Treason of making Alterations is not taken off by such qualifications of making them in a lawful way in ones station to the advantage of Church or State and not repugnant to Religion or Loyalty But how then Here is a strange matter Hundreds of Alterations have been made within these few years in our Government and in very material Points and the King 's best Subjects and greatest Favourites have both endeavoured and effectuate them And yet because the things were done according to the Earl's qualifications instead of being accounted Treason they have been highly commended and rewarded The Treasury hath been sometimes in the hands of a Treasurer sometimes put into a Commission backward and forward And the Senators of the College of Justice the right of whose places was thought to be founded on an Act of Parliament giving His Majesty the prerogative only of presenting are now commissioned by a Patent under the great Seal both which are considerable alterations in the Government which some have opposed others have wished and endeavoured and yet without all fear of Treason on either hand only because they acted according to these qualifications in a lawful way and not repugnant to Religion and Loyalty But that which the Advocate wilfully mistakes for it is impossible he could do it ignorantly is that he will have the endeavouring of alterations in general not to be of it self a thing indifferent and only determinable to be good or evil by its qualifications as all men see it plainly to be but to be forsooth in this very generality intrinsically evil a Notion never to be admitted on Earth in the frail and fallible condition of humane Affairs And then he would establish this wise Position by an example he adduces That rising in Arms against the King for so sure he means it being otherwise certain that rising in Arms in general is also a thing indifferent and plainly determinable to be either good or evil as done with or against the King's Authority is Treason and says If the Earl had reserved to himself a liberty to rise in Arms against the King tho he had added in a lawful manner yet it would not have availed because and he says well This being in it self unlawful the qualification had been but shams and contrariae facto But why then doth not his own reason convince him where the difference lies viz. That rising in Arms against the King is in it self unlawful whereas endeavouring alterations is only lawful or unlawful as it is qualified and if qualified in the Earl's Terms can never be unlawful But says the Advocate The Earl declares himself free to make all alterations and so he would make Men believe that the Earl is for making All or Any without any reserve whereas the Earl's words are most express that he is Neither for making all or any but only for wishing and endeavouring for such as are good and lawful and in a lawful way which no Man can disown without denying common reason nor no sworn Councellor disclaim without manifest Perjury But the Advocate 's last conceit is That the Earl's restriction is not as the King shall think fit or as is consistent with the Law but that himself is still to be judge of this and his Loyalty to be the standard But first The Earl's restriction is expresly according to Loyalty which in good sense is the same with according to Law and the very thing that the King is ever supposed to think Secondly As neither the Advocate nor any other hitherto have had reason to distinguish the exercise and actings of the Earlâ—s Loyalty from those of His Majesty's best Subjects so Is it not a marvellous thing that the Advocate should profess to think for in reality he cannot think it the Earl's words His Loyalty which all men see to be the same with his Duty and Fidelity or what else can bind him to his Prince capable of any quibble far more to be a ground of so horrid an accusation And whereas the Advocate says The Earl is still to be judge of this It is but an insipid calumny it being as plain as any thing can be That the Earl doth nowise design His thinking to be the rule of Right and Wrong but only mentions it as the necessary application of these excellent and unerring Rules of Religion Law and Reason to which he plainly refers and subjects both his thinking and himself to be judged accordingly By which it is evident that the Earl's restriction is rather better and more dutiful than that which the Advocate seems to desiderate And if the Earl's restrictions had not been full enough it was the Advocate 's part before administrating the Oath to have craved what more he thought necessary which the Earl in the Case would not have refused But it is believed the Advocate can yet hardly propose restrictions more full and suitable to Duty