Cases at the Council Table when great Causes were heard before the King and Council And when matters were agitated at a greater distance I was there also and went on purpose out of a curiosity to see and observe the passages at the Camp at Berwick at the Fight at Newborn at the Treaty at Rippon at the great Council at York and at the meeting of the Long Parliament The Observations I made during all the said time shall be further known if I be encouraged to proceed and that this my Forlorn be not repelled and defeated Thus have I good Reader acquainted thee in plain English with the Lines and rude Draughts of what hath been and what is like to be multorum annorum opus in which as I never did approve so neither could I perswade my self to tread in their Steps who intermingle their Passion with their stories and are not content to write of unless they write also for a Party or to serve an Interest and so declare themselves far better Advocates then Historiansââ I profess that in singleness of heart I aim at truth which to me has alwayes seemed hugely amiable even without the tires and advantages of Wit and Eloquence And therefore in order to my greatest purpose I have esteemed the most unaffected and familiar Stile the best Altum alii teneant And so irresistible is the force of Truth and the Divine Providence so great that howsoever all possible diligence may have been used to carry things in secret and to act by colourable Pretences men often acting like Tumblers that are squint-eyed looking one way and aiming another Yet hath God in these our dayes brought to light such Secrets of State such private Consultations such strânge Contrivances discovered by Letters Papers and Cabinet-memorials seised on in time of the War as otherwise probably neither we nor our Posterity should have ever known I conclude with the learned Spaniards opinion Satis est Historiae si sit vera quae ut reliqua habeat omnia si veritatem non habet obtinere nomen suum non potest J. RUSHWORTH ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã h.e. Anglorum leges Suadam consulta Senatus ausáque cuncta loquor tempore quaeque suo Excipis adverso si pectore ore maligno pluribus invideas Zoile nemo tibi The Printer to the Reader BEing obliged to get this Book finished against the ensuing Term I was constrained to make more haste then ordinary so that possibly some Faults have escap'd which I request the Courteous Reader to Pardon and Amend as they shall be met with VALE The right high and most mightie Monarch âAMES by the Graâce of God King of great Britaine Fraunce and Ireland c Defendor of the Faith Historical Collections THe grand business of State in the latter times of King Iames was the Spanish Match which had the Kings heart in it over-ruled all his Counsels and had a mighty influence upon the Universal State of Christendom This King affecting the name of a King of Peace and Peace-maker as his chief glory had designed what in him lay the setling of a general Peace in Europe and the reconciling of all Parties and professed that if the Papists would leave their King-killing and some other grosser Errors he was willing to meet them half way moreover he was ever zealous for the honor and height of regal Majesty and to maintain the glory of it in his Successors 't was his chief desire and care to match his Son with some Princess of most high descent though of a different Religion There had been a Treaty of Marriage between the late Prince Henry and a Daughter of Spain which on the Spaniards part was found a meer Complement carried on by the accustomed gravity and formality of that Nation For Cecil Earl of Salisbury the great States-man of that time pursued and drove the matter to that point that the Duke of Lerma finding no evasion disclaimed the being of a Marriage Treaty Nevertheless the Spanish Ambassador to acquit himself to this State and to clear his own honesty at a full Council produced his Commission together with his Letters of Instruction given under the Duke's hand Such manner of dealing might have been sufficient Cause of just Indignation against any future motion of this Alliance After death of Prince Henry the King set his thoughts upon a Daughter of Henry the Fourth late King of France as the fittest Match for Prince Charles and by Sir Thomas Edmonds his Legier Ambassador endeavored to know the minde of that State but could not discern their affections and was not willing to discover his own At length taking occasion to send the Lord Hayes Extraordinary Ambassador to the French King to Congratulate his Marriage with Anne the Infanta of Spain he resolved to make a thorow Trial The matter was put forth and in appearance well taken but proved of no effect For the Duke of Savoy was before-hand and prevailed for his Son the Prince of Piedmont During this Negotiation of Alliance with France the Duke of Lerma frequently intimated unto Sir Iohn Digby Ambassador Resident in Spain an extraordinary desire in the King his Master not onely to maintain Peace and Amity with the King of great Britain but to lay hold on all means that might be offered for the nearer uniting of their Majesties and their Crowns as also a disposition in this regard to match his second Daughter to the Prince of Wales The Ambassador replyed that His Majesty had little reason to give ear to this overture having not long since in the Treaty for the late Prince received such an unexpected Answer and Demands so improper and unworthy and that there needed more then ordinary assurance to induce him to believe that there was now so great a change and the match desired in good earnest and not propounded meerly to divert the match with France wherefore he expected the proposal of such terms of advantage and certainty as might gain a belief of their sincere Intentions Lerma promised a further Conference But by reason of a strong report that the Match with France was absolutely concluded and within few dayes to be published the business lay asleep until Sir Iohn Digby going for England was desired by the Duke to give him notice of the state of this Affair From hence Digby gives him to understand that there was no cause of dispair concerning this new overture unless the difficulty of the Conditions should make it desperate but if the Demands in point of Religion were no more then what would satisfie another Catholick Prince and to which his Majesty might yeild with Honor he knows that divers persons not of the meanest power were well inclined and ready to give their helping hand He said further that it were much better not to revive this motion then by impossible and unfitting
better dealing then was used to the deposed House of Saxony by Charls the Fifth an Emperor not worse then this the heir of which House being one of the worthiest Princes in Germany is now in hard conditions before the eyes of the exiled Palatine Unto the second point the exclusion of the Palsgraves person and the setling upon his Son it was thus replied That Spain had always given hope and the Earl of Bristol great assurance even when the Marriage was not so far advanced as now it is That in case of the Emperors refusal they would assist his Majesty and compel the Emperor to an intire Restitution Besides there is little ground of hope from these Treaties as they are managed and wire-drawn by the House of Austria from whom we have ever new Overtures in Winter and new Ruptures in Summer For the Emperor wanteth but two or three years leisure which he will easily gain by a Treaty of Marriage to establish in Germany the Translation of the Electorate and Palatinate without any hope of Recovery Therefore sufficient Assurances should ever precede the Treaties For the present Season did offer a very fair opportunity of recovering the Estate and Dignity The Palatines pretentions were not prejudiced by a long interposition of time the memory of the undue proceedings in the Ban and the Translation and the seisure of his Inheritance are fresh in the mindes of the Princes who by their own Interests are moved to a greater compassion As for the hope of Restitution from the Match with Spain there is little reason to put a difference between the Spaniards and the Imperialists who have with joynt consent conspired the ruine of the Palatinate with the same Forces Counsels and Designs And whilest things have been some times upon terms and always in talk of an Accommodation the Electorate is given to the Duke of Bavaria and avowed by a Congratulatory Message from the Arch-Dutchess the Upper Palatinate is setled in the Bavarians possession and a Portion allowed the Duke of Newburgh for his contentment A principal part of the Lower Palatinate is given to the Elector of Mentz by the consent of those at Bruxels and the rest is promised to be parcelled among other Princes Now for the hopes of a surer way to regain an happy settlement by the Concurrence of the King his Allies and Confederates and the whole Protestant party in Europe let these Matters be weighed in the Ballance of Common Judgment The Electors of Saxony and Brandenburgh and all the Princes save those of the Catholick League have declared That the Peace of Germany depends upon the restoring of the Palatine Besides the Levies which they made in the beginning of the last Summer though by the unfortunate accident of Duke Christian of Brunswick they were soon dismissed do testifie the same affections still remaining in them and the same Resolutions to embrace any good occasion for recovering the liberty of Germany The number of those that have this conjoyned Interest is great and mighty yea the greater part of the people both Horse and Foot which marched under the Catholick Banner were of a contrary Religion and Affection and more inclined to the ruine then preservation of the Catholick League All that is wanting is the concurrence and conduct of some great Prince that may support them against the House of Austria The King of Denmark being a Prince full of circumspection and being unwilling to enter into play alone made answer to all instances That as other Princes have their eyes on him so he hath his eyes on the King of Great Britain Wherefore although for these two or three years past Affairs on this side have gone in a continual decadence and a final ruine be now threatned unless it be withstood by some Princely resolution not of petty but of great Princes yet there is no such despondency in the good party but sufficient vigor yet remaining not onely to subsist but to rise and flourish again And one of those Kingdoms which are in his Majesties possession having wrought great effects in the affairs of Europe even when counter-ballanced by the other two doth demonstrate what may be done by the joynt forces of all three together especially when the peoples affections are raised to the enterprise Thus did the Palsgraves Counsels dissent from our Kings Proposals And there were not wanting both of the Kings Counsel at home and of his Agents in Foreign parts such as frequently warned him of the disappointment and dishonor that would follow those ways of Treating with implacable though flattering Enemies and shewed him the sure and honorable way of reestablishing his Children in their Patrimony not by their Enemies curtesie but by the united strength of the Protestant Arms in all parts of Christendom of which party the King might have made himself the Head and great Commander In the languishing and almost expiring Condition of the Spanish Treaty the United Provinces in the Netherlands appeared ready to embrace the opportunity of renewing the antient Union with England in all mutual confidence and strong assurance And the King was moved to return to those old Confederates the surest supports of his Crowns and Family For it hapned that in latter times a distrust and strangeness had grown betwixt them Bernevelt and the Arminian Faction had drawn the States to new Alliances and commonly procured Answers to be given to King Iames and his Ministers in a harsh and peremptory stile In like manner the King did not care to own them fully esteeming them an evil example for a Monarch to cherish Nevertheless he did them many good turns worthy of acknowledgment and particularly in opposing the Faction of Arminius and Vorstius and the rest of that sort who caused great distractions in the Belgick Church and State Nay he was thought to have done more then requisite in rendring the Cautionary Towns and in conniving with too much patience at the insolencies and misdemeanors of their Mariners But the Prince of Orange expressed good will to an intire friendship with England and assured the English Resident at the Hague That whensoever the King would be to those Provinces as Queen Elizabeth was in her time they would be the same to him as they had been to Queen Elizabeth But as yet they keep themselves reserved because they suspect that the Introductions and Tentatives to a Union with them have been to no other end but to indear the English Merchandize and to inhaunce its price to the King of Spain For they conclude that Spain will never Match with England but for hope or fear hope of reducing those Provinces by the Match or fear if the Match proceed not that the King will joyn with the Provinces in opposition to Spain and in either of these cases they hold the Match as made As for themselves they represent this assurance of a firm Conjunction for that instead of giving an ear to Overtures and Concessions which from day
Sword and Blade and to what place both the head and tail became Vertical together with other secrets Said That not onely all Europe to the elevation of Fifty two degrees was liable to its threatnings but England especially yea That person besides in whose fortune we are all no less imbarked then the Passenger with the Ship is in the Pilot that guideth the same the truth whereof said he a few years will manifest to all men And it was observed by Dr. Bainbridge a famous Astronomer that toward the Declination of it the Eleventh of December it past over London in the morning and so hasted more Northwards even as far as the Orcades Amidst these distractions the House of Austria made no small improvement of their interest in the King of Great Brittain who in the hot pursuit of the Spanish Match was earnest to oblige them And the Spaniards made shew that on their part nothing under Heaven was more desired then this Alliance and in their Discourses magnified the King Queen and Prince of England For the state of their Affairs did press them hard if not to close really yet at least to fain a pressing towards it For the French administred cause of discontent the Truce with the United Provinces was near expiring but above all they took to heart the Bohemian War and resolved to set the main stock upon it Wherefore the King of Spain gave commandment that his Treasure should be gathered together for the Infanta's vast portion being no less then Two Millions and gave hopes of the payment of half a Million beforehand as was desired and with himself all Dispatches seemed to pass freely But his Ministers gave not the same satisfaction and proceeded so slackly in the business that they were suspected either not to intend it at all or not so soon as was pretended Besides the wiser here observed and repined that all difficulties hazards and odious passages must rest on the English side which Spain did little value That King Iames did that to gratifie the Spaniard which rendred him disgusted by his Subjects but if Favor were granted to any Subject of his by the King of Spain it was not without design to engage him in his own Service Which resentments may be collected from a Letter written by a great Minister of State to Mr. Cottington his Majesties then Agent in Spain which for clearer satisfaction you have here at large GOod Mr. Cottington I doubt not but that before these come to your hands you will have heard of the Receipt of all your former Letters These are in answer of your last of the Eighth of October wherein you advertise of the arrival of the Conde Gondomar at Lerma and of his entertainment by that Duke It seemeth unto us here in England that he hath gone but very slowly in his journey and divers seeing how long time he hath spent in the way do make conjecture That it proceedeth from the small affection that he judgeth to be there towards the effecting of the main business saying If the Ambassador were assured that his Master did so really desire the speedy effecting thereof as is pretended he would have made more haste homeward and that it hath not been sincerely intended but meerly used by that State as an amuzement to entertain and busie his Majesty withal and for the gaining of time for their own ends And this is muttered here by very many but I hope we shall ere long receive such an account from thence of their proceedings as will give sufficient satisfaction For my own part I must confess I am yet well perswaded of their intentions for if there be either Honor Religion or Moral honesty in them the Protestations and Professions which I have so often heard them make and you likewise daily advertise hither are sufficient to perswade a man that will not judge them worse then Infidels to expect sincere dealing in the business and whensoever I shall perceive that they go about to do otherwise I must confess my self to have been deceived as I shall ever be on the like terms while I deal with inmost care but withal I shall judge them the most unworthy and persidious people of the World and the more for that his Majesty hath given them so many testimonies of his sincere intentions toward them which he daily continueth as now of late by the causing Sir Walter Rawleigh to be put to death cheifly for the giving them satisfaction whereof his Majesty commanded me to advertise you and concerning whom you shall by the next receive a Declaration shewing the Motives which induced his Majesty to recal his mercy through which he had lived these many years a condemned man In the mean time I think it âit that to the Duke of Lerma the Confessor and the Secretary of State you do represent his Majesties real manner of proceeding with that King and State and how for the advancing of the great business he hath endeavored to satisfie them in all things letting them see how in many actions of late of that nature his Majesty hath strained upon the affections of his people and especially in this last concerning Sir Walter Rawleigh who died with a great deal of courage and constancy and at his death moved the common sort of people to much remorse who all attributed his death to the desire his Majesty had to satisfie Spain Further you may let them know how able a man Sir Walter Rawleigh was to have done his Majesty service if he should have been pleased to imploy him yet to give them content he hath not spared him when by preserving him he might have given great satisfaction to his Subjects and had at command upon all occasions as useful a man as served any Prince in Christendom and on the contrary the King of Spain is not pleased to do any thing which may be so inconvenient unto him as to lessen the affections of his people or to procure so much as murmuring or distractions amongst them And therefore it is to be expected that on his part they answer his Majesty at least with sincere and real proceeding since that is all they are put to the difficulties and hazards being indeed on his Majesties side And truly I should think it âit that not by way of commination but as it were out of zeal to the Peace and Amity betwixt these two Crowns you did intimate to the Duke and the other Ministers how impossible you held it to have peace long continued betwixt their Majesties if in this business wherein so much hath been professed there should be found any indirectness But herein you must be cautious and temperate for as on the one side you and I well know that this stile most perswades with them so on the other side the decency and buen termine that is to be observed betwixt great Princes will hardly admit of Threats or Revenge for a Wooing Language but this I know falleth into so
help of Almighty God which is never wanting unto those who in his fear shall undertake the Defence of his own Cause He may be able to do that with his sword which by a peaceable course shall not be effected After the recess of Parliament the King by Proclamation declared his Grace to his Subjects in matters of Publique Grievance And taking notice that many great affairs debated in Parliament could not be brought to perfection in so short a time And that the Commons thought it convenient to continue the same Session in course of Adjournment And withall observing that divers of those Particulars required a speedy determination and settlement for his peoples good and that they are of that condition and quality as that he needeth not the assistance of Parliament to reform the same and would have reformed them before the Parliament if the true state of his Subjects Grievances had been made known unto him He hath determined and doth declare an immediate redress therein by his own Regal authority as in the business of Informers of Miscarriages of Ministers in Chancery of the Patents for Gold and Silver-Thread for Licensing Pedlers and Petty-Chapmen for the sole Dressing of Arms for the Exportation of Lists and Shreds and for the sole making of Tobacco-pipes Cards and the like And besides the redress of these Grievances he will enlarge his grace unto other kindes for the Subjects ease And that both his own and the ears of his Privy-Council shall be open to his Peoples modest and just Complaints Moreover a second Proclamation was issued forth against Excess of Licentious speech touching State-affairs For notwithstanding the strictness of the Kings former Command the Peoples inordinate liberty of unreverend speech increased daily Wherefore the King threatned severity as well against the Concealers of such Discourses as against the boldness of Audacious Tongues and Pens On the Tenth of Iuly Iohn Williams Doctor of Divinity and Dean of Westminster was sworne Keeper of the Great Seal of England The King was plyed from Spain and Rome to enlarge his favors to Popish Recufants For reports were then brought to Rome That the Catholicks of England Scotland and Ireland were cruelly used And besides this there went a rumor that King Iames in a Speech in Parliament had declared That notwithstanding the Marriage with Spain the English Catholicks should not be one jot in better condition But the King said no more then this That if any of that party did grow insolent let his People count him unworthy to reign if he gave not extraordinary punishment Thus was the King entangled in the ways which he had chosen For it was not possible for him at once to please his People and to satisfie his Foreign Interests About the same time the Lord Digby who was sent Ambassador to the Emperor had Audience at Vienna The principal heads of his Embassie were these That the Elector Palatine and the Children of the King of Great Britain his Master might be received into the Emperors favor and restored to all their Hereditary Goods and the Prince Elector himself to the Title which he enjoyed before the troubles of Bohemia That the Ban Imperial published against him should be revoked and the execution thereof suspended which being done the King of Great Britain will undertake that the Palatine shall render due obedience to his Imperial Majesty and submit to Conditions meet and honest To these Demands he received Answer That the Emperor had a very good will to gratifie the King of Great Britain and those other Kings and Princes that had made the same request for the Palatine But he could not grant it because the Palatine to this hour useth the Counsels of many of the Electors and Princes in opposition to the Emperor And when the Emperor had agreed to a Cessation of Arms according to the desires of the King of Great Britain and had ordered the suspending of all Hostility in the Lower Palatinate at the same time the Palatine gave Commission to raise Forces and do acts of Hostility which was put in execution by Count Mansfeld and Marquis Iagerndorf to begin new troubles in Bohemia Silesia and Moravia Nevertheless the Emperor having appointed an Assembly to meet at Ratisbone will there make known the desires of the King of Great Britain who shall know what Resolution is there taken concerning the Palatine Albert Archduke of Flanders at the request of King Iames had made intercession for the Palsgrave After his decease the Archduchess his wife continued the same mediation by Letters to the Emperor And withall the Kings Ambassador further proposed these Conditions for a Cessation of Arms and a Suspension of the Ban Imperial That Mansfeld and Iagerndorf shall observe the Agreement otherwise the Prince Palatine shall revoke their Commissions and declare them his Enemies and that their Garrisons in Bohemia shall be rendred to the Emperor The Emperor answered the Archduchess That the Archduke her husband in his life-time had exceedingly recommended the Interposition of the King of Great Britain and the great prudence of that King in not approving the Actions of the Palatine Which Recommendation as to a Treaty and Cessation of Arms he shall entertain and consult thereupon with the Deputies of the Electors and Princes of the Empire The English Ambassador departed from Vienna to the Duke of Bavaria who had then entred the Upper Palatinate and had published the Emperors Declaration against Mansfeld and his Adherents and exhorted the States and Princes there to execute the same and the rather for that he had not heard of any King Elector Prince or State no not so much as the King of Great Britain that had approved the seditious Revolt of the Bohemians except some few States and Princes who for interest did countenance the same The Ambassador found the Bavarian acting hostility and committing great spoils in the Country and resolving to reject all Propositions of Peace or Cessation Nor could the Emperor agree upon any Truce without the Duke of Bavaria First in respect of his agreement neither to make War or Peace without the consent of the said Duke which happened because upon the former Truce made with the Archduke the Soldiers that were in the Lower Palatinate and wanted employment came up into the Higher Palatinate to Count Mansfeld and much infested the Duke of Bavaria Secondly in regard the Duke of Bavaria had a great part of Austria in pledge for his satisfaction Thirdly because the Emperor was barred from all other passages but through Bavaria by Bethlem Gabor Jagerndorf and Budiani And the Duke upon receipt of the Emperors Letter touching the Truce sent the Lord Digby a deriding Answer That there was no need to labor for a Truce for the Wars were at an end in that he agreed with Count Mansfeld nor did he doubt of keeping both Palatinates in peace till the Emperor and Palsgrave were agreed So the King
and Doctor Stuart to inform him of the nature of this cause and the scandal that might arise thereupon and to certifie what the same may amount unto whither to an irregularity or otherwise and what means may be found for redress However this consultation was managed the Archbishop was not deprived but a Plant was growing up that over-topped him whilst he lived and after his decease obtained the Primacy Doctor Laud who was first chosen to the Bishoprick of St. Davids by the Mediation of the Lord Keeper Williams and was consecrated by the Bishops of London Worcester Chichester Ely Landaff and Oxon the Archbishop in the mean time was not thought irregular for the Casual Homicide This Bishop Doctor Laud was looked upon in those times as an Arminian and a fierce opposer of Puritans and while he lived in Oxford suspected to incline to Popish Tenents as may appear by his Letter of Complaint sent to his Patron Doctor Neal then Bishop of Lincoln against a Sermon preached by Robert Abbot Doctor of the Chair in Oxford in which Letter he inclosed this amongst other Passages of the Doctors Sermon viz. That men under pretence of Truth and Preaching against the Puritans strike at the heart and root of Faith and Religion now established among us That this Preaching against the Puritans was but the practice of Parsons and Campions counsel when they came into England to seduce yong Students And when many of them were afraid to lose their places if they should professedly be thus the counsel they then gave them was That they should speak freely against the Puritans and that should suffice And they cannot intend that they are accounted Papists because they speak against the Puritans But because they indeed are Papists they speak nothing against them If they do at any time speak against the Papists they do beat a little upon the Bush and that softly too for fear of troubling or disquieting the Birds that are in it I Came time enough saith Mr. Laud to be at the rehearsal of this Sermon upon much perswasion where I was fain to sit patiently and hear my self abused almost an hour together being pointed at as I sate For this present abuse I would have taken no notice of it but that the whole University apply it to me and my own Friends tell me I shall sink my credit if I answer not Dr. Abbot in his own Nevertheless in a business of this kinde I will not be swayed from a patient course onely I desire your Lordship to vouchsafe me some direction what to do c. The Arminian Sect opposed by King Iames and by his special concurrence lately broken in the Netherlands by the beheading of Barnevalt the cheif of them began in his latter times to spring up in England and was countenanced by the said Prelate who had newly obtained the opinion and favor of the Marquess of Buckingham The Kings main design then not suffering the suppressing of that way which in common judgment was inclined to Popery or he thought to recover all his losses and to salve all misfortunes by the Spanish Match And for this cause he released multitudes of Priests and Popish Recusants then imprisoned which the Spaniards professed to be a great demonstration of the Kings sincere affection to confirm the correspondence and amity between the Crowns And that this enlargement might be the more expedite and less chargeable the King gave directions to the Lord Keeper Williams Bishop of Lincoln THat whereas he had formerly given order for the release of Recusants by removing them from the several Goals of this Kingdom to be bailed before the Justices of his Bench And finding that this course will be troublesome to the poorer sort of them he doth now require that Writs be directed to the Justices of Assizes enabling and requiring them to enlarge such Recusants as they shall finde in their several Goals upon such conditions and securities as were required by the Judges of his Bench. Accordingly the Writs were issued forth under the Great Seal and the Lord Keeper wrote to the Judges on this manner THat the King having upon deep Reasons of State and in expectation of the like correspondence from Forein Princes to the Professors of our Religion resolved to grant some Grace to the imprisoned Papists had commanded him to pass some Writs under the Broad Seal for that purpose Wherefore it is his Majesties pleasure that they make no niceness or difficulty to extend his Princely favor to all such as they shall finde prisoners in the Gaols of their Circuits for any Church Recusancy or refusing the Oath of Supremacy or dispersing of Popish Books or any other point of Recusancy that shall concern Religion onely and not matters of State But a general offence was taken at this Indulgence to Papists and the Lord Keepers Letter to the Judges which how the Keeper endevored to renounce may be seen in his Letter written to a Person of Honor. AS the Sun in the Firmament appears unto us no bigger then a Platter and the Stars are but as so many Nails in the Pummel of a Saddle because of the enlargement and disproportion between our eye and the object So is there such an unmeasurable distance between the deep resolution of a Prince and the shallow apprehensions of common and ordinary people That as they will ever be judging and censuring so they must needs be obnoxious to error and mistaking The King is now a most Zealous Intercessor for some case and refreshment to all the Protestants in Europe which were unreasonable if he did now execute the rigor of his Laws against the Roman Catholicks Our Viperous Countrymen the English Iesuites in France had many moneths before this favor granted invited the French King by writing a malicious Book to put all the Statutes in execution against the Protestants in those parts which were Enacted in England against the Papists and as they falsly informed severely executed Besides these Papists are no otherwise out of prison then with their shackles about their heels sufficient Sureties and good Recognizances to present themselves at the next Assizes and their own demeanor and the success of his Majesties Negotiations must determine whether they shall continue in this Grace But to conclude from the favor done to the English Papists that the King savors the Romish Religion is a composition of Folly and Malice little deserved by a gratious Prince who by Word Writing Exercise of Religion and Acts of Parliament hath demonstrated himself so resolved a Protestant As for his own Letter to the Iudges he said it recited onely four kindes of Recusancy capable of the Kings clemency not so much to include them as to exclude many other Crimes bearing the name of Recusancy as using the Function of a Romish Priest seducing the Kings Leige-people from the established Religion aspersing the King Church or State or the present Government All which Offences being
Provinces because among other quarrels they gave refuge to the expulsed Palatine Nevertheless King Iames resolved to wait upon the Match with Spain as the onely means to consolidate these publique fractures in Christendom And now behold a strange Adventure and Enterprise The Prince and the Marquis of Buckingham accompanied with Cottington and Endimion Porter Post in Disguise to Spain to accelerate the Marriage The 17. of February they went privately from Court and the next day came to Dover where they imbarqued for Boloign and from thence rode Post to Paris where they made some stop The Prince shadowed under a bushy Peruque beheld the splendor of that Court and had a full view of the Princess Henrietta Maria who was afterwards his Royal Consort For besides the great privacie of the Journey they had so laid the English Ports that none should follow or give the least advertisement until they had gotten the start of Intelligencers and passed the bounds of France Howbeit they escaped narrowly and a swift Intelligence sent to the King of Spain from Don Carlos Coloma was even at their heels before they arrived at Madrid The Prince and Buckingham being in the Territories of Spain to make but little noise rode Post before their Company The 7. of March they arrived at Madrid the Royal residence and were conveyed with much secrecie into the Earl of Bristols house The next morning the Earl acquainted Gondomar with the arrival of the Marquis of Buckingham Olivares sends immediately to desire leave to visit the Marquis which was by no means permitted but in the evening the Marquis went privately accompanied with the Earl of Bristol Sir Walter Aston and Conde Gondomar and met this great Conde in a place near the Palace and after some Converse was led by a back-way into the Kings quarter and had private Audience of the King who received him with extraordinary courtesies and expressions of so great joy that might signifie he was not ignorant of the Princes arrival also Insomuch that the Conde Olivares having procured the Kings leave went back with the Marquis of Buckingham and kissed the Princes hands After this the King and State devise how to give his Highness the most honorable reception Instantly they decree That upon all occasions of meeting he shall have the precedencie of the King That he shall make his entrance into the Royal Palace in that form of State which is used by the Kings of Spain on the day of their Coronation and that one of the chief quarters in the Kings house shall be prepared for his Lodgings That an Hundred of the Guard attend him and all the Council obey him as the Kings own person The Common sort did magnifie this brave Adventure and express his Welcom by shouts and acclamations of joy and presently they marry him to the Infanta as it were by publique voice And the King to please him with a sight of his Mistress went abroad to visit a Monastery with the Queen the Infanta and his Brothers Don Carlos and the Infant-Cardinal So that his Highness had the happiness of a full View in several places The King in person gave him several Visits and forced him to take the hand and place of him Divers Grandees and prime Officers of State came to present their service and as yet none did visit him but by the Kings special order A General Pardon was published the Prisons were opened and hundreds of Offenders were set at liberty And a late Proclamation against Excess in Apparel was revoked Neither may we forget the Kings strain of Complement in the Advancement of Gondomar to whom he ascribed his great contentment and honor received by his Highness's presence That he had made the Conde whom he was pleased to term an English-man one of his Council of State to the end that his Highness might be confident of their Proceedings and privy to all their Passages The Prince on the day of Publique Entrance was attended in the morning by the Conde Gondomar and divers Councellors of State to S. Ierom's Monastery the place whence the Kings of Spain are wont to make their solemn entrance into Madrid on the day of their Coronation There the Prince was feasted and served by divers great Officers of State waiting bare-headed After dinner the King came to conduct his Highness through the Town to the Royal Palace having prepared all things for the Solemnity in the greatest magnificence and splendor The King setting the Prince on his right hand they rode in great glory under a Canopy of State supported by the Regidors of the Town who were arrayed in Cloth of Tissue The Nobility and Grandees of Spain attended by their several Liveries all very rich and costly went before And after came the Marquis of Buckingham and the Conde Olivares executing their places of Masters of the Horse After them followed the Earl of Bristol and Sir Walter Aston accompanied with divers Councellors of State and Gentlemen of the Kings Chamber And being alighted at the Palace-gate the King led the Prince to the Queens quarters where having entred her chamber he was met and received by her with great respect in manner becoming the state of great Princes three Royal seats were placed the Queen sate in the middle the Prince on her right hand and the King on the left His Highness was thence conducted by the King to the Lodgings prepared for him where after they had conversed a while the King left him After a little pause the Queen by her Major-domo gave him a further and very noble Welcom with sundry rich Presents as Perfumes and costly Wearing-Linen The King sent him two Golden Keys which would open all his Privy-lodgings and his Bed-chamber giving him to understand that he had free access unto him at all hours The Councellors of State presented themselves to let him know That by the Kings express command they were to obey his Highness as exactly as the King himself He was constantly attended and served with Grandees and Tituladoes and was entertained with many Shews and Triumphs and several daily Pastimes And one day running at the Ring in company of divers of the Nobility his Higness was the onely Person that bore the Ring away and that in presence of the Infanta his Mistress which was interpreted a good Omen at the beginning of his Atchievement In fine there wanted nothing which the wit of man could devise for the height of outward glory The Governors of the Town presented the Marquis of Buckingham with the rich Cloth of State which was borne over the King and Prince in the great Solemnity as a Fee belonging to the Place which he then executed From the Court of England many Lords and Gentlemen went after the Prince that by a splendid Train and Retinue of his own People he might appear as the Prince of England And the Marquis of Buckingham was then made a Duke by a Patent
to day were presented to them they have put themselves to the Offensive by preparing a strong Fleet which is ready to set sail to the West-Indies to the end they may at least interrupt the peaceable Annual return of the Gold and Silver of those parts by which the House of Austria do continually advance their greatness And this preparation together with their Voyages into the East-Indies will make them irreconcileable to Spain These enterprises were commended to the King as approved by all good men to be a principal means to cast down the fearful power of Spain Onely it was too vaste a design for that little Countrey but if the King were pleased thoroughly to close with them their Affections and constant interest would so binde them to him that he might absolutely dispose of them and by their forces by Sea and Land conjoyned with his own be able to give the Law to Europe And the present state of the Provinces might incite the King to this Conjunction For the last Summer if the Imperialists had joyned with the Spaniards they had undoubtedly made an irruption into the borders of that State and they are like to break in this next year except some notable Turn shall intervene and then our best Link for a Bond of Friendship is broken and those Provinces of a strong Staff will become a broken Reed Such Râpresentations were made to the Court of England but the Counsels then prevailing were not propense to this Conjunction and Interest although we were then breaking with Spain and the House of Austria About the beginning of December when the Ratification came from the new Pope Bonfires were made throughout all Spain and the great Ordnance thundred out reports of joy And that King to satisfie his Oath made to the Prince of Wales prepared for the Espousals and a day was prefixed and all things appointed for the Solemnity according to the Magnificence of that Court The Infanta's Family was setled her Officers distinguished and the beginning of March was the time for her journey into England From the Princes departure she had applied herself to the learning of the English Tongue The English Ambassadors carried themselves like Subjects towards her as being their Masters Wife or Spouse Many rich presents had she prepared for her future Lord and Husband And the Earl of Bristol had provided many costly Liveries for his Attendants in the Solemnity of the Espousals But all things were instantly discomposed by the opening of the new commands from England to the Earl which were to procure an intire surrender of the Palatinate and Electorate before he move one step further towards the Contract In the Court of Spain there was great resentment of these new delays and they discerned a breach towards The Infanta gave over the study of English and was no more stiled the Princess of England but to the Demands from England the King of Spain replied That if a Treaty be set on foot and the Emperor and Duke of Bavaria will not come to Terms of Conformity he will joyn Arms with England to recover the Palatinate The Spaniards confessing the Demand just but unseasonable professed the Desponsorio's past the Infanta on her knees should have been a Suiter to the King to restore the Palatinate making it thereby her act and drawing the Obligation wholly to her These offers did not satisfie Bristol was called home and all was dashed to peeces It was an amazement to the Christian World that when the Match was brought to such perfection the motion should be rejected by that side which pursued it with so much eagerness and patience as being the master-peece of all their designs In the latter part of this long tedious act the Spaniard appeared real but in the former part their reality was questionable For our parts the business shall remain as we finde it a dark Riddle and Mystery The Earl of Bristol having demurred upon the new Instructions to prevent as he desired the embroiling of the whole Treaty was to make his Apology to the King his Master and for himself he thus pleaded That he understood the Infanta was his yong Masters wife or Spouse at least and that both the King and Prince infinitely desired the Match The powers were drawn by the intervention of both parties the King of Spain accepting them and the Prince legally delivering them and they were deposited with him in trust as the Ambassador of the King of Great Britain with a Publick Declaration how and when he was to deliver them and this was drawn into an Instrument by the Secretary of State According to this state of things he appeals to any Censure which were the more prudent honest and dutiful way whether to put a disgrace upon so great and worthy a Princess who was to be his Masters Wife and a scorn upon the King of Spain by nominating a day for the Marriage when the powers would be expired and not at all to insist upon making good the Publick Trust reposed in him by two so great Monarchs to the hazard and overthrow of so great and important a business or contrariwise to represent to his Majesty the state of things in Truth and Sincerity with his humble opinion of the wrong and disgrace to the Infanta by deferring the Marriage and of the indignity offered to the King of Spain and the danger of the whole Treaty by the detention of the Powers without the pretence of some emergent cause And after all this when his Majesty had declared his pleasure there was ready an exact obedience Wherefore in the confidence of his own innocencie he professeth as great a confidence of his Majesties accustomed grace and favor Bristol being called home acquainted the Conde Olivares with the Letters of Revocation and desired withall to have a day assigned him to take his leave of the King Olivares answered That he had much to say to him by his Majesties order and spake to this effect in the presence of Sir Walter Aston and the Conde Gondomar That the King had received large advertisements with what malice and rancor his Enemies did prosecute him and how powerful they are in England And in regard that the Envy which was drawn upon him proceeded from his earnest endeavors to accomplish the Match and that the particular fault laid to his charge was in point of delivering the Proxies deposited in his hands that his Majesty takes it to heart and judgeth himself touched in his honor if for this cause his Enemies shall prevail so far as to work his ruine or disgrace And therefore he will write to the King of Great Britain and send a particular Ambassador if it be needful to mediate for him for that he had served his Master with that exactness and fidelity which deserved not only to be assisted by all good offices but to be rewarded and published And his Majesty for the example of his own Subjects and for the encouragement
and since the malice of deceitful men hath crost those fair ways abusing his Majesties trust goodness he must cast about and sail by another point of the Compass whereby he might securely and easily attain to his noble and pious ends The means whereunto were these First that his Enemies know the Lyon hath teeth claws Next that he imbrace and invite a strict association and friendship with those whom neighborhood alliance and common Interest of State and Religion had joined to him Feb. 19. the Parliament began at Westminster The King being set in the Throne spake thus I Have assembled you at this time to impart to you a secret and matter of great importance as can bâ to my State and the State of my Children wherein I crave your best and safest advice and counsel according as the Writ whereby you were assembled imports That the King would advise with you in matters concerning his Estate and Dignity And as I have ever endeavored by this the like ways to procure and cherish the love of my people towards me so do I hope and my hope is exceeded by faith for I fully now believe that never any King was more beloved of his people whom as you my Lords and Gentlemen do here represent so would I have you truly âo represent their loves all to me that in you as in a true Mirror or glass I may perfectly behold it and not as in a False glass that represents it not at all or otherwise then it is indeed Give me your free and faithful counsels in the matter I propose of which you have often heard the Match of my Son wherein as you may know I have spent much time with great cost in long Treaties desiring always therein and not without reason hoping to have effected my desires the advancement of my State and Children and the general Peace of Christendom wherein I have always constantly labored depending upon fair hopes and promises At the earnest instance of my Son I was contented although it was of an extraordinary nature to send him to prosecute his desires in Spain and for his more safety sent Buckingham in whom I ever reposed most trust of my person with him with this command continually to be present with him and never to leave him till he returned again fafely unto me Which he perform'd though not with that effect in the busines that I expected yet not altogether without profit For it taught me this point of wisdom Qui versatur in generalibus is easily deceived and that Generality brings nothing to good issue but that before any matter can be fully finished it must be brought to particulars For when as I thought the affair had been before their going produced to a narrow point relying upon their general propositions I found when they came there the matter proved to be so raw as if it had never been treated of the generals giving them easie way to evade and affording them means to avoid the effecting of any thing The particulars that passed in the Treaty I mean not now to discover to you the time being too short I refer you to Charls Buckingham and the Secretaries Reports who shall relate unto you all the particulars And after that super totam materiam I desire your best assistance to advise me what is best and fittest for me to do for the good of the Commonwealth and the advancement of Religion and the good of my Son and my Grandchildren of the Palatine And of our estate I know you cannot but be sensible considering that your welfare consists in ours and you shall be sure to have your share in what misery shall befall us And therefore I need to urge no other Argument to you in this behalf in offering me your wisest and surest Counsel and Furtherance And I assure you in the faith of a Christian King that it is res integra presented unto you and that I stand not bound nor either way engaged but remain free to follow what shall be best advised To plant is not sufficient unless like good Gardiners you pluck up the weeds that will choak your labors And the greatest weeds among you are Jealousies root them out For my Actions I dare avow them before God but Jealousies are of a strange depth I am the Husband and you the Wife and it is subject to the Wife to be jealous of her Husband Let this be far from you I can truly say and will avouch it before the seat of God and Angels that never King governed with a purer sincerer and more uncorruââ heart then I have done far from all will and meaning of the least error or imperfection in my Reign It hath been talked of my remisness in maintenance of Religion and suspition of a Toleration But as God shall judge me I never thought nor meant nor ever in word expressed any thing that savored of it It is true that at times for reasons best known to my self I did not so fully put those Laws in execution but did wink and connive at some things which might have hindred more weighty affairs But I never in all my Treaties ever agreed to any thing to the overthrow and disagreeing of those Laws but had in all a chief preservation of that Truth which I have ever professed And as in that respect I have a charitable conceit of you I would have you have the like of me also In which I did not transgress For it is a good Horse-mans part not always to use his spurs and keep strait the rein but sometimes to use the spurs and suffer the reins more remiss so it is the part of a wise King and my age and experience in Government hath informed me sometimes to quicken the Laws with strait executions and at other times upon just occasion to be more remiss And I would also remove from your thoughts all jealousies that I might or ever did question or infringe any of your lawful Liberties or Priviledges but I protest before God I ever intended you should enjoy the fulness of all those that former Times give good warrant and testimony of which if need be I will enlarge and amplifie Therefore I would have you as I have in this place heretofore told you as S. Paul did Timothy avoid Genealogies and curious Questions and nice Querks and Jerks of Law and idle Innovations And if you minister me no just occasion I never yet was nor never shall be curious or captious to quarrel with you But I desire you to avoid all doubts and hinderances and to compose your selves speedily and quietly to this weighty affair I have proposed for that I have found already delayes have proved dangerous and have bred distraction of this business and I would not have you by other occasions to neglect or protract it God is my Judge I speak it as a Christian King Never any waifaring man that was in the Desarts of Arabia and in
against the Countrey or Dominion which of right appertain and are in truth the just and lawful possession of the King of Spain or the Lady Infanta Isabella And in case any such Hostility shall be acted contrary to this his Majesties intention all such Commissions which shall be granted to that purpose by the said Count Mansfield his Majesty doth declare to be void and that all payments shall cease That on the contrary if Obedience be given hereunto the King wisheth the Count all good success for the recovery of the Palatinate and reestablishment of the Peace in Germany against the Duke of Bavaria and those that are the troublers of the Peace And for the performance hereof the King caused Count Mansfield to take an Oath That he would conform according to the Contents of the said Commission and Declaration of his Majesty which Oath was almost in Terminis of what is before expressed This Army consisting of Twelve Regiments was intended to Land in France but being ready for Transport the French notwithstanding their Promise and the Treaty of Marriage demurred yet not plainly denied their passage Nevertheless the whole Army was shipped and put over to Calice and after a tedious stay in hope yet to land and pass through the Countrey they were forced to set sail for Zealand Neither were they suffered to land there coming so unexpectedly upon the States and in a hard Season for Provision of Victuals Thus they were long pent up in the Ships and suffered the want of all Necessaries by which means a Pestilence came among them and raged extreamly so that they were thrown into the Sea by Multitudes insomuch that scarce a Third part of the men were landed the which also afterward mouldred away and the Design came to nothing The Papist formerly danted by the Breach of the Spanish Match was now again revived by the Marriage-Treaty with France And at this time upon the Death of William Titular Bishop of Calcedon most of the English Secular Priests did Petition the Pope that another Bishop might be sent over into England there to Ordain Priests give Confirmation and exercise Episcopal Jurisdiction Among others Matthew Kellison and Richard Smith were presented And though the Regulars were opposite to the Seculars in this matter yet those of the Order of St. Benedict joyned with the Seculars and Rudesin Barlo President of the English Benedictines at Doway wrote a Letter in their behalf to the Congregation at Rome named of the Propagation of the Faith Dated the Twelfth of December One thousand six hundred twenty and four In which Letter was this passage That there were above Sixty Benedictine Monks in England and that it is not to be doubted said he For that it is already seen the good success under the First Bishop That another Bishop being Constituted there would be more joyful fruits within one two years in the English Mission then hitherto hath been for Sixty years now elapsed But not long after the Episcopal party prevailing Pope Urban the Eight created Richard Smith Bishop of Calcedon and sent him into England with Episcopal Authority over the Priests within the English Dominions King Iames after he had been troubled with a Tertian Fevor four Weeks finding himself near the end of his days called unto him Charles Prince of Wales his onely Son to whom he recommended the Protection of the Church of England advised him to love his Wife but not her Religion and exhorted him to take special care of his Grand-Children the Children of the Elector Palatine by his Daughter and to employ the power he left him to reestablish them in the Estate and Dignities of their Father And lastly he recommended to him his Officers who had faithfully served him and on the Seven and twentieth of March gave up the ghost And shortly after Bishop Laud delivered to the hands of the Duke of Buckingham brief Annotations or Memorables of the Life and Death of King Iames viz. I. HE was a King almost from his Birth II. His great Clemency that he should Reign so long and so moderately that knew nothing else but to Reign III. The difficult times in Scotland during his Minority as much perplexed with Church as State Factions IV. His admirable Patience in those yonger times and his Wisdom to go by those many and great difficulties till God opened him the ways to his just Inheritance of this Crown V. His peaceable Entry into this Kingdom contrary to the fears at home and the hopes abroad not without Gods great blessing both on him and us VI. His Ability as strong in Grace as Nature to forgive some Occurrences VII The continuance of full Two and twenty years reign all in Peace without War from Foreign Enemy or Rebellion at home VIII The infinite advantage which people of all sorts might have brought to themselves and the enriching of the State if they would have used such a Government with answerable care and not made the worst use of peace IX Gods great mercy over him in many deliverances from private Conspirators and above the rest that which would have blown up his Posterity and the State by Gun-powder X. That in all this time of his Reign of England he took away the life of no one Nobleman but restored many XI That the sweetness of his nature was scarce to be paralleld by any other XII It is little less then a Miracle that so much sweetness should be found in so great a heart as besides other things sickness and death it self shewed to be in him XIII Clemency Mercy Justice and holding the State in Peace have ever been accounted the great Vertues of Kings and they were all eminent in him XIV He was not onely a preserver of Peace at home but the great Peace-maker abroad to settle Christendom against the common enemy the Turk which might have been a glorious work if others had been as true to him as he was to the common good XV. He was in private to his Servants the best Master that ever was and the most free XVI He was the justest Man that could sit between parties and as patient to hear XVII He was bountiful to the highest pitch of a King XVIII He was the greatest Patron to the Church which hath been in many Ages XIX The most Learned Prince that his Kingdom hath ever known for matters of Religion XX. His integrity and soundness in Religion to write and speak believe and do live and die one and the same and all Orthodox XXI His tender love to the King his Son our most gratious Soveraign that now is and his constant Reverence in performance of all duties to his Father the greatest Blessing and greatest Example of this and many Ages XXII The Education of his Majesty whom we now enjoy and I hope and pray we may long and in happiness enjoy to be an able King as Christendom hath any the very first day of his Reign the benefit whereof is
attended by all the Servants in Ordinary The day following the Privy-Counsellors to the late King with all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal then about London were in the Council Chamber at Whitehall by Eight of the Clock in the morning ready to go together and present themselves to his Majesty but there came in the mean a Commandment from the King by the Lord Conway and Sir Albertus Morton Principal Secretaries of State to the deceased King that the Lord Keeper of the Great-Seal should be sworn of his Majesties Privy-Council and that he should give the Oath to the Lord President by whom all the rest of the late Kings Council should be sworn Counsellors to his present Majesty The Lord Keeper of the great Seal the Lord President the Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Lord Treasurer of England the Lord Privy-Seal the Duke of Buckingham Lord Admiral of England the Earl of Pembrook Lord Chamberlain the Earl of Montgomery the Earl of Kellye the Earl of Arundel Earl Marshal of England the Lord Viscount Grandison the Lord Conwey the Lord Brook Mr Treasurer Mr Comptroller the Master of the Wards Mr Secretary Morton Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Master of the Rolls were this day sworn accordingly the Lord Keeper did take an Oath apart as Lord Keeper of the Great Seal the Lord Treasurer as Lord Treasurer of England the Lord President as Lord President of the Kings Privy-Council and the Lord Conwey and Sir Albertus Norton as principal Secretaries of State the Lords which were not of his Majesties Privy-Council repaired by themselves to St Iames's and presented themselves to the King and kissed his hand The Council sat immediately and advised of the most important and pressing matters to be offered to the King for his present service and resolved upon these particulars That a Commission be granted to authorize the Great-Seal Privy-Seal and Signet till new ones be prepared also Commissions for authorizng of Judges Justices of Peace Sheriffs and other such Officers for Government that there be a general Proclamation for continuation of Proceedings preservation of Peace and administration of Justice that Letters be prepared for the Ambassadors with foreign Princes to authorize their services to the King that special Messengers be sent unto foreign Princes that the like Proclamations to those of England be sent into Scotland that Commissions be renewed into Ireland to the Deputy and Officers there that the Mint for Coyning of money go on and all things be mannaged by the Officers as then they stood till the Kings pleasure be further known that a Parliament be summoned when the King shall appoint that the Kings pleasure be known concerning the time of his Fathers Funeral and where the Corps shall rest in the mean time as also the time of his Majesties Coronation This being done the whole Council attended the King at St Iames's where the Lord Keeper in the name of all the rest presented their humble thanks that it had pleased his Majesty to have affiance in those that had been Counsellors to his Father to receive them all to be of his Privy-Council the Lord President represented to the King the matters before mentioned which the King allowed and gave order that those of them which required speed should be put in execution and most of the powers he signed presently And first because by the death of the late King the Authorities and powers of the greatest number of Offices and places of Government did cease and fail by the failing of the Soveraign Person from whom the same were derived a Proclamation issued forth signifying his Majesties pleasure that all persons whatsoever who at the decease of the late King were invested in any Office or Place of Government Civil or Martial within the Realms of England and Ireland and namely Presidents Lieutenants Vice-Presidents Judges Justices Sheriffs Deputy Lieutenants Commissaries of Musters Justices of Peace shall continue in their several Offices till his Majesties pleasure were further known In another Proclamation of the same date the King took notice of his Fathers death and that he being his onely Son and undoubted Heir is invested and established in the Crown Imperial of this Realm and all other his Majesties Realms Dominions and Countries with all the Royalties Preeminencies Stiles Names Titles and Dignities to the same belonging and he declared That as he for his part shall by Gods grace shew himself a most benign and gracious Soveraign Lord to all his good Subjects in all their lawfull Suits and Causes so he mistrusteth not but that they on their parts will shew themselves unto him their natural Liege Lord most loving faithfull and obedient Subjects The Council resolved to move the King that his Fathers Funeral might be solemnized within five weeks and within a few dayes after the Ceremonial Nuptials in France and before the Parliament began in England These Resolves the Lord President represented unto the King who accepted of the advices and said he would follow them Moreover he summoned a Parliament to begin the seventeeth of May but by the advice of his Privy-Council Prorogued it to the one and thirtieth of May afterwards to the thirteenth of Iune and then to the eighteenth of the same moneth which Prorogations were occasioned by the Kings going to Dover to receive the Queen April 23. The Body and Herse of King Iames was brought from Theobalds to London being conducted by the Officers of the Guard of the Body all in Mourning every one having a Torch and attended by all the Lords of the Court and great numbers of other persons of quality and was placed in Denmark-House in the Hall of the deceased Queen Anne The seventh of May was the day of Burial the Body and Herse were taken from the said Hall of State and brought in great Pompe and Solemnity to Westminster where the Kings of England use to be interred The new King to shew his Piety towards his deceased Father was content to dispense with Majesty he followed in the Rear having at his right hand the Earl of Arundel at his left the Earl of Pembrook both Knights of the Garter his Train was born up by twelve Peers of the Realm So King Iames who lived in Peace and assumed the title of Peace-maker was peaceably laid in his Grave in the Abby at Westminster King Charles in his Fathers life time was linked to the Duke of Buckingham and now continued to receive him into an admired intimacy and dearness making him Partaker of all his Counsels and Cares and Chief Conductor of his Affairs an Example rare in this Nation to be the Favorite of two succeding Princes The Publick State of Religion and the steering of Church-matters had an early inspection and consultation in the Cabinet Council Bishop Laud who in King Iame's life time had delivered to the Duke a little book about Doctrinal Puritanism now also delivered to the Duke a
good or evil they are to continue or not to be And remember that if in this time instead of mending your Errors by delay you persist in your Errors you make them greater and irreconcileable Whereas on the other side if you do go on cheerfully to mend them and look to the distressed State of Christendom and the Affairs of the Kingdom as it lieth now by this great Engagement you will do your selves honor you shall encourage me to go on with Parliaments and I hope all Christendom shall feel the good of it The Commons upon the Debate of what fell from his Majesty and the Lord Keeper turned the House into a Grand Committee ordered the doors to be locked and no Member to go forth and that all Proceedings in all other Committees shall cease till the House come to a Resolution in this business His Majesty being informed that some things in his own Speeches and the Lord Keepers Declaration were subject to misunderstanding commanded the Duke to explain them at a conference of both Houses in the Painted-Chamber held for that purpose WHereas it is objected by some who wish good Correspondency betwixt the King and People that to prefix a day to give or to break was an unusual thing and might express an inclination in the King to break to remove this as his Majesty was free from such thoughts he hath descended to make this Explanation That as his Majesty would not have you condition with him directly or indirectly so he will not lye to a day for giving further Supply but it was the pressing occasion of Christendom that made him to pitch upon a day His Majesty hath here a Servant of the King of Denmark and another from the Duke of Weymer and yesterday received a Letter from his Sister the Queen of Bohemia who signified that the King of Denmark hath sent an Ambassador with Power to perfect the Contract which was made at the Hague so it was not the King but time and the things themselves that pressed a time Therefore his Majesty is pleased to give longer time hoping you will not give him cause to put you in minde of it again so that you have a greater Latitude if the business require to think further of it I am commanded further to tell you that if his Majesty should accept of a less sum then will suffice it will deceive your expectations disappoint his Allies and consume the Treasure of the Kingdom whereas if you give largly now the business being at the Crisis it comes so seasonably it may give a Turn to the Affairs of Christendom But while we delay and suffer the time to pass others abroad will take advantage of it as the King of Spain hath done by concluding a Peace as 't is though in Italy for the Vatoline whereby our work is become the greater because there can be no diversion that way As it was a good Rule to fear all things and nothing and to be Liberal was sometimes to be Thrifty so in this particular if you give largly you shall carry the War to the Enemies door and keep that Peace at home that hath been Whereas on the contrary if you draw the War home it brings with it nothing but disturbance and fear all Courses of Justice stopt and each mans Revenues lessened and nothing that can be profitable Another Explanation I am commanded to make touching the grievances wherein his Majesty means no way to interrupt your Proceedings but hopes you will proceed in the antient wayes of your Predecessors and not so much seek faults as the means to redress them I am further commanded to tell you That his Majesty intends to elect a Committee of both Houses whom he will trust to take the view of his Estate the Defects whereof are not so fit for the Eyes of a Multitude and this Committee will be for your ease and may satisfie you without casting any ill odour on his Government or laying open any weakness that may bring shame upon us abroad That which is proposed is so little that when the payment comes it will bring him to a worse estate then now he is in therefore wishes you to enlarge it but leaves the augmentation to your selves but is sorry and touch'd in Conscience that the burthen should lie on the poorest who want too much already yet he will not prescribe but wish that you who were the Abettors and Counsellors of this War would take a greater part of the Burthen to your selves and any man that can finde out that way shall shew himself best affected and do the best service to the King and State The Duke then made his Address to them in his own behalf My Lords and Gentlemen YOu were all witnesses yesterday how good and gratious a Master I serve and I shall be likewse glad that you be witnesses how thankful a heart I have And I protest I have a heart as full of zeal to serve my Master as any man and it hath been my study to keep a good correspondency betwixt the King and his people And what ever thought hath been entertained of me I shall not alien my heart from that intention but shall adde spurs to my endeavours and actions to vindicate my self from ill opinion And however I lye under the burthen of the same it lies in your hands to make me happy or not and for my part I wish my heart and actions were known to you all then I assure my self you would resume me to your good opinions When I had with some hazard waited on my Master into Spain it is well known what Testimony I gave of my Religion and no man that comes to a true and near view of my action can justly charge me Let me be excused If I give accompt of this particular when I should speak of the general for this goes near my heart and to dissemble with my Conscience no ends of Fortunes in the World can make me do it For if I had any ill inclination I had such offers made to me in Spain as might have tempted me If I would have been converted my self I might have had the Infanta to put in my Masters Bed and if my discontent should have risen here I might have had an Army to have come with me But I thought the offer foolish ridiculous and scornful in that point of Religion I will now take the boldness to speak a little in the general business and I call it boldness to speak after one who did so well the other day But I had rather suffer in my own particular then not refresh your Memories with that which is materially needful I shall not need to reflect so far back as to the beginning of those Counsels which engaged my Master into the War they are well known onely I will so far touch it as to say That the last years preparations were not Voluntary or out of Wantonness but out of Necessity My Master
had good intelligence that the King of Spains eye was malitiously bent this way which had been pursued accordingly if the employment of the Low-Countrymen to the Bay of Todos los Santos had not diverted it Now for the Counsel which was used for sending out the Fleets I will refer you to the Relation of the Lord Conway who as well in this as other Resolutions can tell you That nothing was carried with single Councils And for my self I know that in all those actions no man can stand up against me to say that I ever did go with single Councils or made breach of any but have been an obedient Servant and Minister unto their Resolutions The proof whereof will appear in a Journal thereof which my Lord Conway keeps I confess all Councils were not ever as your selves would nor have wished they should if you had known them as my Master did in whom the former Affairs of State had bred such affections that the business being altered they were not to be trusted with the Change I will now give you an accompt of all my Negotiations since my being at Oxford both at home and abroad and because there it was charged that those things were carried with single Counsels I was more careful to advise the King to have his Counsel with him in the Country being to enter into War with an Active King And for my part I did diligently wait on the Council left all Recreations all personal occasions studying to serve my Master and to gain the good opinion of both Houses The Council of Woodstock generally advised the going out of the Fleet. And though it were objected that the Season were not fit yet the action shewed the contrary for they all arived in safety And for what was also objected that the Provision was not good experience tells you the contrary for the preparations were all good in quality and proportion And if the Success were not such as any honest man could wish I hope I shall not be blamed being not there in person though I made the greatest suit for it to my Master that ever I did for any thing But his Majesty thought my Service more useful in the Low-Countreys to comfort his Sister and to treat with the Kings oâ Denmark Sweden and the States And though the Success as I said of the Fleet were not answerable to the desires of honest men yet it had these good effects first It put our Enemy to great charge in fortifying his Coasts secondly They took so many Ships as caused many of his Merchants to break whereby the Army in Flanders suffered much And lastly They could carry no Treasure out to pay their Forces in Flanders And for Omissions of what more might have been done I leave that to its proper place and time and let every man bear his own burden From Oxford the Council went to Southampton where the States Ambassadors did wait often on the King and Council and a League Offensive and Defensive betwixt us and them was thought fit to be resolved on whereof some Reasons I will express but not all First They are of our own Religion secondly They are our near Neighbors for situation so useful as when they are in distress it is policy in us to give them relief therefore the King thought fit to do it in such manner as might lay an Obligation on them which if it had not been done they had been pressed with a long War and such a Faction among themselves as if the King had not joyned and in a manner appeared their Protector they had broke among themselves And in this the Kings care was not onely of them but of all Christendom and of his own particular For as before he onely assisted them his Majesties care now used Arguments to draw them to Contribution so that they bear the fourth part of the charge of the War at Sea according to such Conditions as by the Lord Chamberlain you have heard This League being perfected betwixt the States and us his Majesty by Advice of his Council thought fit to send me to get such a League with the other Princes as I could The Rendezvous was in the Low-Countreys being in a manner the Centre for repair for England France and Germany I had Latitude of Commission to make the League with most advantage I could Now I had discovered from Monsieur B. The French Ambassador here that a League Offensive and Defensive would be refused and I found the King of Denmark shie and loth to enter into such a League against the King of Spain and so partly out of Necessity and partly out of Reason of State I was forced to conclude the League in general Terms for the restoring of the Liberty of Germany without naming the King of Spain or the Emperor that other Princes might come in and this to continue till every one had satisfaction and nothing to be treated of debated or concluded on but by consent of all parties It did appear that the Charge was so great that the Kingdom could not endure it and therefore I endeavored in the Low-Countreys to lessen it and so the Sea charge was helped and the Land assistance given unto them is to cease Six moneths hence which the Lord Conway said was to end in September next Also by this Treaty it is conditioned with the King of Denmark That when my Master shall by Diversion equal to this Contribution with his own Subjects enter into an Action then this Charge to cease Or if the King of France may be drawn in of which there is great hope though he hath now made peace in Italy for that the policy of France may not give way unto the greatness of the House of Austria and ambition of Spain whose Dominions do grasp him in on every side And if the business be well carried his Engagement to the King of Denmark may draw him in so there is great possibility of easing our Charge But all is in the discreet taking of the time for it not we may think the King of Denmark will take hold of those fair Conditions which are each day offered him and then the Enemies Army will fall upon the River of Elve and the Lord Conway added upon East-Friezland from whence they would make such progress as in my poor experience would ruine the Low-Countreys And thus I think I have satisfied all of you or at least given an account of my Negotiation in the Low-Countreys with the King of Denmark Sweden and the rest I should be glad before I end to say somewhat of my self but I shall request your favorable construction for I have been too long already but I fear I shall offend and therefore I will restrain my self to generals If in any of these employments my Errors may be shewed me I shall take him for my best friend that will manifest them in particulars I have bent all my thoughts on nothing but my Masters Honor the Service
the other Knight being Robert Clifford it was agreed in Parliament that he should have the voices of both because the other must of necessity be absent And they both amongst other things petitioned the Council that if the King in his Person should come on the Sea they might have such a liberty to wait upon him as they might make their Lieutenant during the time for the service of their places But the Council that allowed the rest or most of their demands answered to that Le Councel ne pent faire Then he estimated the nature of the offence by the consequences which follow the not guarding of the Seas viz. 1. The losses already shewed 2. The prevention of Trade which gives life to the wealth of the Kingdom 3. The weakning of the Naval strength the Merchants being thereby discouraged from building ships which they cannot use In 1 Rich. 2. the Commons opened the two chief and almost whole Causes of the weakning the Kingdom at that time the neglect of Chivalry and eminent vertue not regarded nor rewarded the decay of Trade since the Navy was grown weak besides all the loss of quiet possession of so large a Territory as the Seas of England and Ireland by the free use of which the ancient glory and greatness of the Crown of England hath so constantly subsisted Then he instanced in Michael de la Pool Lord Chancellor who in 9 Rich. 2. mis-spent Subsidies given pro salva custodia maris as appears in the Roll and was adjuged in Parliament though for other offences because some other Lords of the Council had been trusted with him and it was not fit to impeach him sans les companions they taking it for a crime without question fit to be complained of Secondly in William Duke of Suffolk who for the same fault being Admiral onely in the right of Henry Earl of Exeter his Ward was by the King extraordinarily commanded into banishment Then he brought examples of such who had been put to death and confiscated for not safe-guarding Towns and Castles and Forts which are of like nature with not safe-guarding the Seas and with losing the possession of the Crown To the Fifth he said The staying of the ship called the Peter of Newhaven and detaining part of the goods was against the Marine Laws of England against the Common Laws against the Laws of Merchants and consequently the Law of Nations By the Marine Laws agreeable to the Civil Laws sentence given by any Subject or other against the King may upon new proof be revoked but not without new proof He made by his Patent a Judge of all Maritine Causes as well as Keeper of the Seas his Jurisdiction was to be exercised juxta leges nostras civiles Maritimas and accordingly to hear all Causes and generally to proceed ex officio mero mixto promoto secundum leges nostras Civiles Maritimas Against the Common-Laws All Justices and all other deputed to do Law or Right are commanded by Act of Parliament to permit the course of ordinary Justice and although they be commanded to do the contrary that they do execution aright and according to justice as far as in them lies and so for any Letters of Commandment which may come unto them from us or from any other or by any other cause Against the Law of Nations Against what is agreed by the Leagues between us and Forain Nations That the Subjects of Nations in Amity with us shall be well used and permitted without Molestation for what cause or occasion soever according to the Laws and Customs of the places where they shall be Lastly against the Laws of Merchants which is to have Celerem justitiam The Consequences of this Offence are 1. Great damage to our English Merchants that have suffered by reason of it in Forain Parts as they alleadge 2. It is a discouragement to those that are Subjects to the Marine Jurisdiction 3. An example that may serve hereafter to justifie all absolute Authority in the Admiral without Law or Legal course over the ships and good of all Merchants whatsoever and so no security to Merchants Lastly He instanceth in the Duke of Suffolk who was adjudged in Parliament for Treason and among other offences it was laid to his charge that he took to his own use goods Piratically taken and expresly against the Order determined by the Lord Protector and the whole Council whereunto his hand had been for the restitution of them Next were read the Sixth Seventh and Eighth Articles viz. VI. Whereas the honor wealth and strength of this Realm of England is much increased by the Traffick chiefly of such Merchants as imploy and build great warlike Ships a consideration that should move all Counsellors of State especially the Lord Admiral to cherish and maintain such Merchants The said Duke abusing the Lords of the Parliament in the One and twentieth year of the late King Iames of famous memory with pretence of serving the State did oppress the East India Merchants and extorted from them Ten thousand pounds in the subtil and unlawfull manner following About February in the year aforesaid he the said Duke hearing some good success that those Merchants had at Ormus in the parts beyond the Seas by his Agents cunningly in or about the moneth aforesaid in the year of the said late King endeavored to draw from them some great sum of money which their poverty and no gain by that success at Ormus made those Merchants absolutely to deny whereupon he the said Duke perceiving that the said Merchants were then setting forth in the course of their Trade four Ships and two Pinaces laden with goods and merchandise of very great value like to lose their voyage if they they should not speedily depart The said Duke on the first of March then following in the said year of the said late King did move the Lords then assembled in the said Parliament whether he should make stay of any Ships which were then in the Ports as being high Admiral he might and namely those ships prepared for the East India voyage which were of great burthen and well furnished which motion being approved by their Lordships the Duke did stay those ships accordingly but the fifth of March following when the then Deputy of that Company with other of those Merchants did make suit to the said Duke for the release of those Ships and Pinaces he the said Duke said he had not been the occasion of their staying but that having heard the motion with much earnestness in the Lords House of Parliament he could do no less then give the order they had done and therefore he willed them to set down the reasons of their suit which he would acquaint the House withall yet in the mean time he gave them leave to let their said ships and Pinaces fall down as low as Tilbury And the tenth of March following an unusual joynt action was by his procurement entred
Scepter and Sword into his hand and not expose the persons of the people committed to his charge to the unsatiable desires of the King of Spain who hath long thirsted after an Universal Monarchy nor their Consciences to the yoke of the Pope of Rome And that at home he will take that care to redress the just grievances of his good Subjects as shall be every way fit for a good King And in the mean time his Majesty doth publish this to all his loving Subjects that they may know what to think with truth and speak with duty of his Majesties actions and proceedings in these two last dissolved Parliaments Given at his Majesties Palace at Whitehall this Thirtieth day of June in the second year of his Majesties Reign of Great-Britain France and Ireland Moreover the King published a Proclamation taking notice of a Remonstrance drawn by a Committee of the late Commons House and by them intended to have been presented to him wherein he said are many things contained to the dishonor of himself and his Royal Father of blessed memory and whereby through the sides of a Peer of this Realm they wound their Soveraigns honor as also that some Members of that House ill-affected to his service to vent their own passions against that Peer and to prepossess the world with an ill opinion of him before his Cause were heard in a Judicial way have beforehand scattered Copies of that intended Declaration thereby to detract from their Soveraign Wherefore his Majesty for the suppressing of this insufferable wrong to himself doth command upon pain of his indignation and high displeasure all persons of whatsoever quality who have or shall have hereafter any Copies or Notes of the said Remonstrance or shall come to the view thereof forthwith to burn the same that the memory thereof may be utterly abolished and may never give occasion to his Majesty to renew the remembrance of that which out of his grace and goodness he would gladly forget In another Proclamation the King declaring his Religious care of the Peace of this Church and Commonwealth of England and other his Dominions and taking notice that in all ages great disturbances both to Church and State have ensued out of small beginnings when the seeds of contention were not timely prevented and finding that of late some Questions and Opinions seem to have been broached in matters of Doctrine and Tenents of our Religion at first onely intended against Papists have afterwards by the sharp and indiscreet handling of some of either party given much offence to the sober and well grounded Readers and raised some hopes in the Roman Catholicks that by degrees the Professors of our Religion may be drawn first to Schism and afterwards to plain Popery His Majesty in the integrity of his own heart and singular providence for the peaceable Government of that people which God hath committed to his charge hath thought fit by the advice of his reverend Bishops to declare and publish not onely to his own people but also to the whole world his utter dislike of all those who to shew the subtilty of their Wits or to please their own humors or vent their own passions shall adventure to start any new opinions not onely contrary to but differing from the sound and Orthodox grounds of true Religigion established in the Church of England and also to declare his full and constant resolution that neither in Doctrine nor Discipline of the Church nor in the Government of the State he will admit of the least innovation but by Gods assistance will so guide the Scepter of these Kingdoms as shall be most for the comfort and assurance of his sober religious and well-affected Subjects and for the repressing and severe punishing of the insolencies of such as out of any sinister respects or disaffection to his Majesties Person or Government shall dare either in Church or State to disturbe the Peace thereof wherefore he doth straitly charge and command all his Subjects of his Realms of England and Ireland of what degree soever especially thesâ who are Church-men from hence-forth to carry themselves so wisely warily and conscionably that neither by Writing Preaching Printing Conferences or otherwise they raise publish or maintain any other Opinions concerning Religion then such as are clearly warranted by the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England ãâã by Authority And enjoyneth his reverend Archbishops and Bishops in their several Diocesses speedily to reclaim and repress all such spirits as shall in the least degree attempt to violate this bond of Peace And all the Ministers of Justice were required to execute his Majesties pious and royal pleasure herein expressed and if any shall take the boldness to neglect this gracious Admonition his Majesty will proceed against such offenders with that severity as their contempt shall deserve that by their exemplary punishment others may be warned and that those that be studious of the peace and prosperity of this Church and Commonwealth may bless God for his Majesties pious religious wise just and gracious Government The effects of this Proclamation how equally soever intended became the stopping of the Puritans Mouths and an uncontrouled Liberty to the Tongues and Pens of the Arminian party Shortly after an Information was preferred by the Kings special command in the Star-Chamber against the Duke of Buckingham for high Offences and Misdemeanors wherein he was charged amongst other things with the particulars mentioned in the last Article exhibited against him by the House of Commons concerning the Plaister applied to King Iames. To which the Duke put in his Answer and divers Witnesses were examined But the cause came not to a judicial hearing in the Court as it is afterwards expressed And now the King taking into consideration the present streights and inconveniencies into which the Revenue of the Crown was faln and the pressing necessity of his Affairs did by the advice and instance of his Council resolve and declare That all men of what quality and condition soever shall from henceforth upon pain of his displeasure forbear for two years space to present or solicite any Suit for any thing prohibited in the Book of Bounty published in King Iames his time or any other things that shall import the Diminution of his Majesties Revenue And for the advancement of the said Revenue arising by Customs Subsidies and Imposts upon all Goods and Merchandizes exported and and imported The Privy Council declared That it hath been constantly continued for many ages and is a principal and most necessary part of the Revenue of the Crown and that in the two last Parliaments it hath been thought upon but could not be setled by their Authority by reason of their dissolution before the matters therein treated could be brought to perfection Nevertheless that it was then intended to have been confirmed by Parliament as it hath been from time to time by many Descents and Ages Whereupon
they Ordered That all such Duties and Merchandizes shall be levied and paid And they advised the King That the Attorney General prepare for his Majesties Signature an Instrument which may pass under the Great Seal of England to declare his pleasure therein until by Parliament as in former times it may receive an absolute settlement Which passed the Great Seal accordingly The Forfeitures arising to the Crown by the execution of the Laws against Priests Jesuites and Popish Recusants were dedicated to the vast and growing charge of the Designs in hand And Complaint being made against Inferior Officers whose service was herein employed that they had misdemeaned themselves to the oppressing of Recusants without advantage to the King Commissioners of honorable Quality were appointed for the regulating of these proceedings yet no Liberty given to the encouragement or countenance of such dangerous persons as might infect the People or trouble the Peace of Church and State The King therefore Grants a Commission under the Great Seal directed to the most Reverend Father in God Toby Archbishop of York Sir Iohn Savile Knight Sir George Manners Sir Henry Slingsby Sir William Ellis Knights and to divers other Knights and Gentlemen and therein recites THat his Majesty hath received credible Information of the great loss and damages which the Kings Subjects living in Maritime Towns especially in the Northern parts do suffer by depredations attempts and assaults at Sea from Foreign Enemies whereby Trade from those parts are interrupted and the City of London much endamaged for want of Coals and other Commodities usually transported thither from Newcastle upon Tine For redress of which evil his Majesty doth think fit to appropriate and convert all such Debts sums of Money Rents Penalties and Forfeitures of all Recusants inhabiting in the Counties of York Durham Northumberland Cumberland Westmorland Lancaster Nottingham Derby Stafford and Chester which at any time have grown due since the Tenth year of King James and are not yet satisfied or which hereafter shall grow due by reason of any Law or Statute against Recusants to be employed for the maintenance provision arming manning victualling and furnishing of Six able Ships of War for guarding and defending the Coast of this Realm from the furthest North-East point of the Sea unto the mouth of the River of Thames his Majesty further expressing in the said Commission That his Subjects who are owners of CoalâPits the Oast-men of Newcastle upon Tine Owners of Ships and Merchants Buyers and Sellers of Newcastle Coals have béen and are willing to contribute and pay for every Chaldron for the uses aforesaid Wherefore his Majesty upon the considerations before-mentioned doth by his said Commission give power unto the said Commissioners or any four or more of them to treat and make Composition and Agréement with the said Recusants inhabiting within the said Counties for Leases of all their Manors Lands Tenements c. within those Counties for any term of years not excéeding One and forty years and for all Forfeitures due since the Tenth year of King James for their Recusancy in not going to Church to hear Divine Service according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm under such Condition and Immunities as they or any four of them shall sée méet and convenient according to such Instructions as his Majesty hath or shall give for that purpose his Majesty rather desiring their Conversion then Destruction And such Leases his Majesty doth declare made to the said Recusants themselves or to any persons for their use shall be good and effectual any Law or Statute to the contrary notwithstanding And by the said Commission Sir Iohn Savile was appointed Receiver of all such sums of Money as shall be paid upon these Leases and Mr. Alexander Davison of the Town of Newcastle upon Tine Merchant Adventurer was appointed to receive out of the voluntary and free-wil Contribution of the Owners Buyers and Sellers of Coals the Six pence per Chaldron of Coals In pursuance of this Commission the Recusants did make their Composition upon very easie terms as was afterwards complained of in Parliament A Proclamation was published declaring the Kings Resolution to make his Revenue certain by granting his Lands as well holden by Copy as otherwise to be holden in Fee-farm To the Nobles the King sent particularly to let them know That according to the Presidents of former times wherein the Kings and Queens of England upon such extraordinary occasions have had recourse to those Contributions which arose from the Subjects in general or to the private helps of some that were well affected he doth now expect from them such a large and chearful testimony of their Loyalty as may be acceptable to himself and exemplary to his people His Majesty demanded of the City of London the Loan of an Hundred thousand pounds But the peoples excuses were represented to the Council Table by the Magistrates of the City Immediately the Council sent a very strict command to the Lord Major and Aldermen wherein they set forth the Enemies strong preparations as ready for an Invasion and the Kings great necessities together with his gratious and moderate Proposals in the sum required and the frivolous pretences upon which they excuse themselves Wherefore they require them all excuses being set apart to enter into the business again and to manage the same as appertaineth to Magistrates so highly intrusted and in a time of such necessities and to return to his Majesty a direct and speedy Answer that he may know how far he may relie upon their Faith and Duty or in default thereof may frame his Counsels as appertaineth to a King in such extream and important occasions Moreover a peculiar charge was laid upon the several Ports and Maritime Counties to furnish and set out Ships for the present service The Privy Council expressing his Majesties care and providence to guard his own Coasts against attempts from Spain or Flanders by arming as well the Ships of his Subjects as of his own Navy made a distribution to every Port that with the Assistance and Contribution of the Counties adjoyning they prepare so many Ships as were appointed to them severally and in particular the City of London was appointed to set forth Twenty of the best Ships that lay in the River with all manner of Tackle Sea-stores and Ammunition Manned and Victualled for Three Moneths The Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace of Dorset having received the Kings Commandment for the setting forth of Ships from the Ports of Pool Weymonth and Lime with the assistance of Contribution from the Counties adjoyning presented to the Council Table an excuse in the behalf both of the Ports and County and pleaded That the Case was without President The Council gave them a check for that instead of Conformity they disputed the Case letting them know That State occasions and the defence of the Kingdom in times of extraordinary danger were not
and to lend after the rate propounded and among others certain of the Parish of Clement Danes the Savoy the Dutchy and other parts within the Liberties of Westminster who first alledged poverty Whereunto reply was made That if they would but subscribe their ability should be enquired off before any thing were levied upon them and in case they were found unable they should be discharged notwithstanding what they had under written and unto some of them the money demanded was proffered to be given them Nevertheless they afterwards absolutely refused to subscribe their names or to say they were willing to lend if able Whereupon the Council directed their Warrant to the Commissioners of the Navy to impress these men to serve in the Ships ready to go out in his Majesties service The Non-Subscribers of higher Rank and Rate in all the Counties were bound over by Recognisance to tender their appearance at the Council Table and performed the same accordingly and divers of them were committed to prison but the common sort to appear in the Military-Yard near St. Martins in the Fields before the Lieutenant of the Tower of London by him to be there inrolled among the Companies of Soldiers that they who refused to assist with their Purses should serve in their Persons for the common Defence The same Loan being demanded of the Societies and Inns of Court the Benchers of Lincolns Inn received a Letter of Reproof from the Lords of the Council for neglecting to advance the Service in their Society and to return the names of such as were refractory ANd for the advancement of the said Loan Doctor Sibthorpe now publishes in Print a Sermon Preached by him at Northampton February the Two and twentieth One thousand six hundred twenty and six at Lent Assizes entituled Apostolick Obedience This Book was Licenced by the Bishop of London who did approve thereof as a Sermon learnedly and discreetly Preached It was dedicated to the King and expressed to be the Doctors Meditations which he first conceived upon his Majesties Instructions unto all the Bishops of this Kingdom fit to be put in execution agreeable to the necessity of the times and afterwards brought forth upon his Majesties Commission for the raising of moneys by way of Loan His Text was Romans 13.7 Render therefore to all their dues Among other passages he had this And seriously consider how as Jeroboam took the opportunity of the breach betwixt Rehoboam and his Subjects to bring Idolatry into Israel So the Papists lie at wait if they could finde a Rent between our Soveraign and his Subjects which the Lord forbid to reduce Superstition into England I speak no more then what I have heard from themselves whilst I have observed their forwardness to offer double according to an Act of Parliament so providing yea to profess That they would depart with the half of their Goods And how or why can this forwardness be in them but in hope to cast the imputation of frowardness upon us and so to seem that which the Iesuite will not suffer them to be loving and loyal Subjects Also the said Sermon holds forth That the Prince who is the Head and makes his Court and Council it is his duty to direct and make Laws Eccles. 8.3 and 4. He doth whatsoever pleases him Where the word of the King is there is power and who may say unto him What doest thou And in another place he saith If Princes command any thing which Subjects may not perform because it is against the Laws of God or of Nature or impossible Yet Subjects are bound to undergo the punishment without either resistance or railing or reviling and so to yield a Passive Obedience where they cannot exhibite an active one I know no other case saith he but one of those three wherein a Subject may excuse himself with Passive Obedience but in all other he is bound to Active Obedience It is not our purpose to repeat his Sermon the Reader may at leisure inform himself more fully by the Printed Copy Doctor Roger Manwaring promoted the same business in two Sermons Preached before the King and Court at Whitehal wherein he delivered for Doctrine to this purpose That the King is not bound to observe the Laws of the Realm concerning the Subjects Rights and Liberties but that his Royal Will and Command in imposing Loans and Taxes without common consent in Parliament doth oblige the Subjects Conscience upon pain of eternal damnation That those who refused to pay this Loan offended against the Law of God and the Kings Supream Authority and became guilty of impiety disloyalty and Rebellion And that the Authority of Parliament is not necessary for the raising of Aids and Subsidies and that the flow proceedings of such great Assemblies were not fitted for the Supply of the States urgent Necessities but would rather produce sundry impediments to the just designs of Princes The Papists at this time were forward and liberal on this occasion insomuch that it was said in those times That in the point of Allegiance then in hand the Papists were exceeding Orthodox and the Puritans were the onely Recusants Distastes and Jealousies had for a while been nourished between the Courts of England and France which seemed to have risen from Disputes and Differences about the Government of the Queens family By the Articles of Marriage it was agreed That the Queen should have a certain number of Priests for her Houshold Chaplains together with a Bishop who should exercise all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in matters of Religion These with other Romish Priests within this Realm began to practise and teach That the Pope upon the Marriage Treaty assumed to himself or his Delegates the Jurisdiction of the Queens whole family especially the Institution and Destitution of the Ecclesiasticks and that the King of England had no power to intermeddle therein because he was an Heretick the Pope threatning to declare those to be Apostates that should seek their establishment from the King Likewise the Queen insisted to have the ordering of her family as her self pleased and the naming of her Officers and Servants and being therein crossed did somewhat distaste the King and unkindness grew between them These things the King represented to his Brother of France imputing the same to the Crafty and Evil Counsels of her Servants rather then to her own inclination And so declared he could no longer bear with those that were the known causes and fomenters of these disturbances but would presently remove them from about his Wife if there were nothing more then this That they had made her go to Tiborne in devotion to pray there Which action as it was reported his Majesty said can have no greater invective made against it then the bare relation yet his Majesty acknowledged That the deportment of some of them was without offence but others of them had so much abused his patience and affronted his Person reflecting most upon
have communicated the same to the rest of the Members of the House To this Speech Sir Dudley Diggs it being at a free Conference made Reply MY Lords it hath pleased God many ways to bless the Knights Citizens and Burgesses now assembled in Parliament with great comfort and strong hopes that this will prove as happy a Parliament as ever was in England And in their Consultations for the service of his Majesty and the safety of this Kingdom our special comforts and strong hopes have risen from the continued good respect which your Lordships so nobly from time to time have been pleased to shew unto them particularly at this present in your so honorable profession to agree with them in general and desiring to maintain and support the fundamental Laws and Liberties of England The Commons have commanded me in like sort to assure your Lordships they have been are and will be as ready to propugne the just Prerogative of his Majesty of which in all their Arguments searches of Records and Resolutions they have been most careful according to that which formerly was and now again is protested by them Another noble Argument of your honorable disposition towards them is expressed in this That you are pleased to expect no present answer from them who are as your Lordships in your great wisdoms they doubt not have considered a great Body that must advise upon all new Propositions and resolve upon them before they can give answer according to the ancient Order of their House But it is manifest in general God be thanked for it there is a great concurrence of affection to the same end in both Houses and such good Harmony that I intreat your Lordships leave to borrow a Comparison from Nature or natural Philosophy As two Lutes well strung and tuned brought together if one be played on little straws and sticks will stir upon the other though it lye still so though we have no power to reply yet these things said and propounded cannot but work in our hearts and we will faithfully report these Passages to our House from whence in due time we hope your Lordships shall receive a contentful Answer The Commons were not satisfied with these Propositions which were conceived to choak the Petition of Right then under consideration but demurred upon them Monday 28 April The Lord Keeper spake to both Houses of Parliament by the Kings command who was then present MY Lords and ye the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons ye cannot but remember the great and important Affairs concerning the safety both of the State and Religion declared at first from his Majesties own mouth to be the causes of the Assembling of this Parliament the sense whereof as it doth daily increase with his Majesty so it ought to do and his Majesty doubts not but it doth so with you since the danger increaseth every day both by effluxion of time and preparations of the Enemy Yet his Majesty doth well weigh that this expence of time hath been occasioned by the Debate which hath arisen in both Houses touching the Liberty of the Subject in which as his Majesty takes in good part the purpose and intent of the Houses so clearly and frequently professed that they would not diminish or blemish his just Prerogative so he presumes that ye will all confess it a point of extraordinary Grace and Justice in him to suffer it to rest so long in dispute without interruption but now his Majesty considering the length of time which it hath taken and fearing nothing so much as any future loss of that whereof every hour and minute is so pretious and foreseeing that the ordinary way of Debate though never so carefully husbanded in regard of the Form of both Houses necessarily takes more time then the Affairs of Christendom can permit his Majesty out of his great Princely care hath thought of this expedient to shorten the business by declaring the clearness of his own heart and intention And therefore hath commanded me to let you know That he holdeth the Statute of Magna Charta and the other Six Statutes insisted upon for the Subjects Liberty to be all in force and assures you that he will maintain all his Subjects in the just Freedom of their Persons and safety of their Estates And that he will govern according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm And that ye shall finde as much security in his Majesties Royal Word and Promise as in the strength of any Law ye can make so that hereafter ye shall never have cause to complain The conclusion is That his Majesty prayeth God who hath hitherto blessed this Kingdom and put into his heart to come to you this day to make the success thereof happy both to King and People And therefore he desires that no doubt or distrust may possess any man but that ye will all proceed unanimously to the business The Commons being returned from the Lords House Mr. Secretary Cook perswaded them to comply with the King His Majesty said he puts us in minde of the great important Affairs of the State and of his sense thereof that by effluxion of time increaseth in him and he doubts not but that it doth increase in us Ye see his Majesties moderation in the interpretation of all our actions he saith that he hopes we have the same sense he hath he is pleased to consider of the occasion of expence of time that grew from the Debates in both Houses We see how indulgent he is that however the Affairs of Christendom are great yet he omits not this nay he takes in good part our Proceedings and our Declarations that we will not Impeach the Prerogative Also his Majesty presumes that we will confess that he hath used extraordinary Grace in that he hath indured dispute so long he acknowledgeth it Justice to stand as we have done Further out of a Princely care of the Publique he is careful no more time be lost and because he sees some extraordinary course to be taken to satisfie us he observes that in the Form of Debate such length is required as the nature of the business will not indure It is to be presumed that his Government will be according to the Law We cannot but remember what his Father said He is no King but a Tyrant that governs not by Law But this Kingdom is to be governed by the Common Law and his Majesty assures us so much the Interpretation is left to the Judges and to his great Council and all is to be regulated by the Common Law I mean not Magna Charta onely for that Magna Charta was part of the Common Law and the ancient Law of this Kingdom all our difference is in the Application of this Law and how this Law with difference is derived into every Court I conceive there are two Rules the one of Brass that is rigid and will not bend and that is the Law
things better yet certainly the state and condition of the several parts for which we serve their dispositions and inclinations their apprehensions their fears and jealousies are best known unto us and here I pray your Lordships to give me leave to use the Figure called Reticentia that is to insinuate and intimate more then I mean to speak Our chief and principal end in this Parliament is to make up all Rents and Breaches between the King and his Subjects to draw them and knit them together from that distance whereof the world abroad takes too much notice to work a perfect union and reconciliation how unproperly and unapt at this time this Addition will be in respect of this end we cannot but foresee and therefore shun it and do resolve that it is neither agreeable to the Persons of such Counsellors of whom we are nor answerable to that Love and Duty which we owe to his Majesty to hazard an end of such unspeakable consequence upon the admittance of this Addition into our Petition whereof as we have shewed the omission at this time can by no means harm the Kings Prerogative the expression may produce manifold inconveniences and therefore since this admittance of your Lordships Addition into our Petition is incoherent and incompatible with the body of the same since there is no necessary use of it for the saving of the Kings Prerogative since the moderation of our Petition deserveth your Lordships cheerful conjunction with us since this Addition is unseasonable for the time and inconvenient in respect of the place where your Lordships would have it inserted and lastly may prove a disservice to his Majesty I conclude with a most affectionate Prayer to your Lordships to conclude with the House of Commons in presenting this Petition to his Sacred Majesty as it is without this Addition Monday 26. of May The Lord Keeper made this Speech at a Conference Gentlemen YE that are Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons I have many times this Parliament by Command from my Lords declared the great zeal and affection which my Lords have to maintain and nourish the good Concurrence and Correspondency which hath hitherto continued between both Houses that there might be a happy issue in this great business for the common good of the King and Kingdom Now that which I have to say this day from my Lords is to let you know this fair proceeding is not a profession of words onely but really and indeed concerning the Petition which hath been long in agitation as the weight of the cause required since the last Conference my Lords have taken it into their serious and instant consideration and at length are faln upon a Resolution which I am to acquaint you with The Lords have unanimously agreed with you in omnibus and have voted that they will joyn with you in your Petition with the onely alterations of the word means to be put in stead of the word pretext and for the word unlawful to be put out and in place thereof to adde not warrantable by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm which two alterations your selves consented unto So that concerning this business there remains nothing now but that ye having the Petition in your hands will if ye have not already vote it as they have done and so prepare it for his Majesty and my Lords will take order that the King be moved for a speedy access to present the same to his Majesty And after some pause he said There rests one thing which my Lords have commanded me to adde that in regard this Petition toucheth upon certain Charges raised by the Lords Lieutenants and other Persons many times for good use for the service and safety of the Kingdom That ye take it into your Care and Consideration and to provide a Law for assessing of such Charges as the occasion of the time shall require The Lords and Commons being thus happily accorded the Petition with the aforesaid amendments was read in the House two several times together Then it was Voted upon question and that it should be ingrossed and read the third time and the House to sit in the afternoon till it was ingrossed and read and ordered to be presented to the King to which there was not a negative Vote And the Bill of Subsidie was also read the second time and committed Wednesday 28 May the Lords and Commons had a Conference about the maner of delivery of the Petition and Sir Edward Cook reported That their Lordships were agreed that no Addition or Preface be used to the King but that the Petition be preferred to his Majesty by command of the Lords and Commons and his Majesty be desired that to the content of his People he would be pleased to give his gracious Answer in full Parliament About this time Mr. Rouse brought in a Charge against Doctor Ed. Manwaring which some days after was seconded with a Declaration Mr. Speaker I Am to deliver from the Committee a Charge against Mr. Manwaring a Preacher in Divinity but a man so Criminous that he hath turned his Titles into Accusations for the better they are the worse is he that dishonors them Here is a great Charge that lies upon him it is great in it self and great because it hath many great Charges in it Serpens qui serpentem devorat fit draco his Charge having digested many Charges into it becomes a Monster of Charges The main and great one is this Plot and Practise to alter and subvert the Frame and Fabrick of this Estate and Commonwealth This is the great one and it hath others in it that gives it more light To this end 1. He labors to infuse into the Conscience of his Majesty the perswasion of a power not bounding it self with Laws which King James of famous Memory calls in his Speech to the Parliament Tyranny yea Tyranny accompanied with Perjury 2. He endeavors to perswade the Conscience of the Subjects that they are bound to obey Commands illegal yea he damns them for not obeying them 3. He robs the Subjects of the propriety of their Goods 4. He brands them that will not lose this propriety with most scandalous Speeches and odious Titles to make them both hateful to Prince and People so to set a division between the Head and the Members and between the Members themselves 5. To the same end not much unlike to Faux and his fellows he seeks to blow up Parliaments and Parliamentary Powers The fifth being duly viewed will appear to be so many Charges and they make up all the great and main Charge a mischievous Plot to alter and subvert the frame and government of this State and Common-wealth And now though you may be sure that Mr. Manwaring leaves us no propriety in our Goods yet he hath an absolute propriety in this Charge here himself making up his own Charge Here he read several Passages out of his Book and then
meanings Touching which it was observed that most of his places are such as were intended by the Authors concerning absolute Monarchies not regulated by Laws or Contracts betwixt the King and his People and in answer to all Authorities of this kinde were alledged certain passages of a Speech from our late Soveraign King Iames to âhe Lords and Commons in Parliament 1609. In these our times we are to distinguish betwixt the state of Kings in their first original and between the state of setled Kings and Monarchs that do at this time govern in Civil Kingdoms c. Every just King in a setled Kingdom is bound to observe the paction made to his People by his Laws in framing his Government agreeable thereunto c. All Kings that are not Tyrants or perjured will be glad to bound themselves within the limits of their Laws and they that perswade them to the contrary are Vipers and Pests both against them and the Commonwealth It was secondly observed that in the 27. page of his first Sermon he cites these words out of Suarez de legibus lib. 5. cap. 17. Acceptationem populi non esse conditionem necessariam ex vi Iuris naturalis aut gentium neque ex Iure communi the Jesuit adds neque ex antiquo Jure Hispaniae which words are left our by the Doctor lest the Reader might be invited to enquire what was antiquâm jus Hispaniae and it might have been learned from the same Author in another place of that Work that about two hundred years since this liberty was granted to the People by one of the Kings that no Tribute should be imposed without their consent And the Author adds further that after the Law introduced and confirmed by Custome the King is bound to observe it From this place he took occasion to make this short digression That the Kings of Spain being powerful and wise Princes would never have parted with such a mark of absolute Royalty if they had not found in this course more advantage then in the other and the success and prosperity of that Kingdom through the valor and industry of the Spanish Nation so much advanced since that time do manifest the wisedom of that change The third observation of fraud in perverting his Authors was this In the twentieth Page of the first Sermon he cites these words out of the same Suarez de legibus li. 5. ca. 15. fol. 300. Tributa esse maximè naturalia prae se ferre Justitiam quia exiguntur de rebus propriis This he produceth in proof of the just right of Kings to lay Tributes And no man that reads it doubts but that in Suarez opinion the Kings Interest and Propriety in the Goods of his Subjects is the ground of that Justice But the truth is that Suarez in that Chapter had distributed Tributes into divers kinds of which he calls one sort tributum reale and describes it thus Solent ita vocari pensiones quaedam quae penduntur regibus principibus exteris agris quae a principio ad sustentationem illis applicata fuerunt ipsi vero in feodum aliis ea donarunt sub certa pensione annua quae jure civili Canon appellari solet quia certa regula lege praescripta erat So that the issue is this which Suarez affirms for justification of one kinde of Tribute which is no more then a Fee farm of rent due by reservation in the grant of Kings own lands the Doctor herein worse then a Jesuit doth wrest to the justification of all kinds of Tribute exacted by Imposition upon the goods of the Subjects wherein the King had no interest or propriety at all 4. The last aggravation was drawn from his behaviour since these Sermons preached whereby he did continue still to multiply and increase his offence yea even since the sitting of the Parliament and his being questioned in Parliament upon the fourth of May last he was so bold as to publish the same doctrine in his own parish Church of St. Giles the points of which Sermons were these That the King had right to order all as to him should seem good without any mans consent That the King might require in time of necessity Aid and if the Subjects did not supply the King might justly avenge it That the Propriety of Estate and Goods was ordinarily in the Subject but extraordinarily that is in case of the Kings need the King hath right to dispose them These Assertions in that Sermon he said would be proved by very good testimony and therefore desired the Lords that it might be carefully examined because the Commons held it to be a great contempt to the Parliament for him to maintain that so publikely which was here questioned They held it a great presumption for a private Divine to debate the Right and Power of the King which is a matter of such a nature as to be handled only in this High Court and that with moderation and tenderness and so he concluded that point of aggravation In the last place he produced some such precedents as might testifie what the opinion of our Ancestors would have been if this case had fallen out in their time And herein he said he would confine himself to the reigns of the first three Edwards two of them Princes of great glory He began with the eldest Westm. 1. Ca. 33. By this Statute 3. Edw. 1. provision was made against those who should tell any false News or devise by which any discord or scandal may arise betwixt the King his People and great Men of the Kingdom 27. Edw. 3. Rot. part nu 20. It was declared by the Kings Proclamation sent into all the Counties of England That they that reported that he would not observe the Great Charter were malitious people who desired to put trouble and debate betwixt the King and his Subjects and to disturb the peace and good estate of the King the People and the Realm 5. Edw. 2. Inter novas ordinationes Henry de Beamond for giving the King ill Counsel against his Oath was put from the Councel and restrained for coming into the presence of the King under pain of confiscation and banishment 19. Edw. 2. Clause Minidors Commissions were granted to inquire upon the Statute of W. 1. touching the spreading of News whereby discord and scandal might grow betwixt the King and his People 10. Edw. 3. Clause M. 26. Proclamations went out to arrest all them who had presumed to report that the King would lay upon the Wools certain sums besides the antient and due Customes where the King calls these reports exquisita mendacia c. quae non tantum in publicam laesionem sed in nostrum cedunt damnum dedecus manifestum 12. Edw. 3. Rot. Almaniae The King writes to the Archbishop of Canterbury excusing himself for some impositions which he had âaid professeth his great sorrow for it desires the Archbishop by Indulgences and other ways to stir up the
all Ages who shine in vertue and are firm for our Religion but the contrary Faction I like not I remember a character I have seen in a Diary of E. 6. that young Prince of famous memory where he doth expresse the condition of the Bishops of that time under his own hand writing That some for sloath some for age some for ignorance some for luxury and some for Popery were unfit for Discipline and Government We see there are some among our Bishops who are not Orthodox nor sound in Religion as they should be witness the two Bishops complained of the last meeting of the Parliament I apprehend such a feare that should we be in their power we may be in danger to have our Religion overthrown some of these are Masters of Ceremonies and they labour to introduce new Ceremonies into the Church Yet some Ceremonies are useful give me leave to joyn that I hold it necessary and commendable that at the repetition of the Creed we should stand up to testifie the resolution of our hearts that we will defend the Religion which we profess and in some Churches it is added they did not only stand upright with their bodies but with their Swords drawn Let us go to the ground of our Religion and lay down a Rule on which all others may rest then when that is done it will be time to take into consideration the breakers and offendors of that Rule Hereupon after some Debate the Commons entered into this Vow The Vow of the House of Commons in Parliament WEE the Commons in Parliament Assembled do Claim Protest and Avow for truth the sence of the Articles of Religion which were established by Parliament in the thirteenth year of our late Queen Elizabeth which by the publique Act of the Church of England and by the generall and currant Expositions of the Writers of our Church have been delivered unto us And we reject the sence of the Jesuites and Arminians and all others wherein they differ from us Friday the thirtieth of January 1628. Both Houses joyn in Petitioning the King for a Fast. MOst Gracious Soveraign It is the very earnest desire of us your most dutiful Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this Parliament Assembled that this meeting may be abundantly blessed with all happy successe in the great affairs of Church and State upon which we are to consult and that by a cleare understanding both of your Majesties goodness unto us and of our ever faithfull and Loyal hearts to your Majesties Royal Person and service all jealousies and distractions which are apparent signs of Gods displeasure and of ensuing mischief being removed there may this Session and for ever be a perfect and most happy union and agreement between your Majesty and all the Estates of this Realm But acknowledging that neither this nor any other blessing can be expected without the especiall favour of Almighty God upon the observation of the continued increasing miseries of the Reformed Churches abroad whose cases with bleeding hearts we compassionate as likewise of those punishments already inflicted And which are like in great measure to fall upon our selves we have just cause to conceive that the Divine Majesty is for our sins exceedingly offended against us wherefore we do in these and all other pious respects most Dread Soveraign humbly beseech your most excellent Majesty by your Royal consent and Commandment that not only our selves but all people of your Kingdom may be speedily enjoyned upon some certain day by your Majesty to be prefixed by publique Fasting and Prayer to seek reconciliation at the merciful hands of Almighty God So that the prayers of the whole Kingdom joyned with your Majesties most Princely care and the faithful hearts and endeavours of this great Councel assembled may procure honour to Almighty God in the preservation of his true Religion much honour to your Majesty prosperity to your people and comfort to your Majesties Friends and Allies The Kings Answer to the Petition MY Lords and Gentlemen The chief Motive of your Petition being the deplorable Condition of the Reformed Churches abroad is too true And our duty is so much as in us lieth to give them all possible help But certainly fighting will doe them more good then fasting though I doe not wholly disallow of the latter yet I must tell you that the custome of fasting every Session is but lately begun and I confesse I am not fully satisfied with the necessity of it at this time Yet to shew you how smoothly I desire your businesse to go on eschewing as much as I can Questions or jealousies I doe willingly grant your request herein but with this Note That this shall not hereafter be brought into president for frequent Fasts except upon great occasions And for form and time I will advise with my Lords the Bishops and then send you a particular Answer Soon after the House of Commons presented a Declaration to the King touching their resolutions to give precedency to Religion MOst Gracious Sovereign We have within these three dayes received from your Majesty a Message putting us in minde of our present entring upon the consideration of a Grant of Tunnage and Poundage but the manner of possessing the House therewith being disagreeable to our Orders and Priviledges that we could not proceed therein And finding our selves in your Majesties name pressed in that businesse and that we should give precedency thereunto we cannot but expresse some sence of sorrow fearing that the most hearty and forward affections wherewith we desire to serve your Majesty are not clearly represented unto you besides such is the solicitous care we have in preserving our selves in your Majesties most gracious and good opinion that it cannot but breed much trouble in us when ever we find our selves as now we are enforced to spend that time in making our humble Apologies from whence doe usually arise long Debates which we conceive might very profitably be applyed in the greater Services of your Majesty and the Common-wealth which we did with all humble diligence apply our selves unto and finding the extream dangers wherewith our Religion is threatned clearly presenting it unto our thoughts and considerations We thought and we think we cannot without impiety to God disloyalty to your Majesty and unthankfulnesse to those from whom we are put in trust retard our proceedings until something be done to secure us in this maine point which we prefer above our lives and all earthly things whatsoever And here we do with all humble thankfulnesse acknowledge your Majesties most pious care and Princely Intentions to suppresse both Popery and Arminianism the Professor of the one being an open enemy ãâã the maintainer of the other a subtil and more dangerous underminer of the Religion of Almighty God established within your Realmes and Dominions The truth of which our whole Religion or any part thereof as being sufficiently known and received generally here
not all but it is extended to some others who I fear in guilt of Conscience of their own desert do joyn their power with that Bishop and the rest to draw his Majesty into a jealousie of the Parliament amongst them I shall not fear to name the great Lord Treasurer in whose person I fear is contracted all that which we suffer If we look into Religion or Policy I find him building upon the ground laid by the Duke of Buckingham his great Master from him I fear came those ill Counsels which contracted that unhappy conclusion of the last session of Parliament I find that not only in the affections of his heart but also in relation to him and I doubt not to fix it indubitably upon him and so from the power and greatness of him comes the danger of our Religion For Policy in that great Question of Tunnage and Poundage the interest which is pretended to be the Kings is but the interest of that person to undermine the Policy of this Government and thereby to weaken the Kingdom while he invites strangers to come in to drive out Trade or at least our Merchants to trade in strangers bottoms which is as dangerous Therefore it is fit to be declared by us that all that we suffer is the effect of new counsels to the ruine of the Government of the State and to make a protestation against all those men whether greater or subordinate that they shall all be declared as Capital Enemies to the King and Kingdom that will perswade the King to take Tunnage and Poundage without grant of Parliament and that if any Merchants shall willingly pay those Duties without consent of Parliament they shall be declared as Accessaries to the rest Which Words of the said Sir Iohn Elliot were by him uttered as aforesaid falsly and malitiously and seditiously out of the wickedness of his own affections towards your Majesty and your gratious and religious Government and by the Confederacie Agreement and Privity of the âaid other Confederates and to lay a slander and scandal thereupon and not with a purpose or in way to rectifie any thing which he conceiâed to be amiss but to traduce and blast those persons against whom he âad conceived malice for so himself the same day in that house said and laid down as a ground for that he intended to say That no man was ever blasted in that house but a curse fell upon him And further so it is may it please your most excellent Majesty That when the said Sir Iohn Elliot had thus vented that malice and wickedness which lay in his heart and as appeareth by his own words were expressed in the said paper which was prepared as aforesaid the said Walter Longe out of his inveterate malice to your Majesty and to your Affairs and by the confederacy aforesaid then and there said That man who shall give away my Liberty and Inheritance I speak of the Merchants I note them for Capital Enemies to the Kingdome And lest the hearers should forget these wicked desperate Positions laid down as aforesaid and to the end the same might have the deeper impression and be the more divulged abroad to the prejudice of your Majesty and of your great Affairs and to the scandal of your Government the said Denzil Holles collected into several heads what the said Sir Iohn Elliot had before delivered out of that paper and then said Whosoever shall counsel the taking up of Tunnage and Poundage without an Act of Parliament let him be accompted a capital Enemy to the King and Kingdom And further What Merchant soever shall pay Tunnage and Poundage without an Act of Parliament let him be counted a Betrayer of the Liberty of the Subjects and a Capital Enemy of the King and Kingdom Which Positions thus laid the said Denzil Holles neither being Speaker nor sitting in the Chair as in a Committee by direction of the House but in an irregular way and contrary to all course of orderly proceedings in Parliament offered to put these things so delivered by him as aforesaid to the Question and drew from his confederates aforesaid an applause and assent as if these things had been voted by the house And further so it is may it please your most excellent Majesty That the disobedience of the said Confederates was then grown to that height that when Edward Grimston the Serjeant at Arms then attending the Speaker of that house was sent for by your Majestie personally to attend your Highness and the same was made known in the said house the said Confederates notwithstanding at that time forcibly and unlawfully kept the said Edward Grimston locked up in the said house and would not suffer him to go out of the house to attend your Majesty and when also on the same day Iames Maxwel Esquire the Gentleman-Usher of the Black Rod was sent from your Majesty to the said Commons house with a message immediately from your Majesties own person they the said Confederates utterly refused to open the door of the house and to admit the said Iames Maxwel to go to deliver his message After all which the said house was then adjourned until the said tenth day of March then following and on the said tenth day of March the said Parliament was dissolved and ended In consideration of all which premises And for as much as the contempt and disobedience of the said Sir John Ellyot and other the confederates aforesaid were so great and so many and unwarranted by the priviledge and due proceeding of Parliament and were committed with so high a hand and are of so ill example and so dangerous consequence and remain all unpardoned Therefore they pray'd a process against them to answer their contempts in the high Court of Star-Chamber Memorandum That the 29. of May Anno quinto Car. Reg. these words viz. After all which the said House was then adjourned until the said tenth day of March and on the said tenth day of March the said Parliament was dissolved and ended were added and inserted by order of the Court immediately before In tender consideration c. At the same time Sir Robert Heath the Kings Atturny General preferr'd an Information in the Star-Chamber against Richard Chambers of the City of London Merchant wherein first he did set forth the gracious Government of the King and the great Priviledges which the Merchants have in their Trading by paying moderate duties for the goods and merchandises exported and imported and setting forth that the raising and publishing of undutiful and false speeches which may tend to the dishonour of the King or the State or to the discouragement or discontentment of the subject or to set discord or variance between his Majesty and his good People are offences of dangerous consequence and by the Law prohibited and condemned under several penalties and punishments That nevertheless the said Richard Chambers the 28. day of September last being amongst some other merchants
of the opinion of Mr. Atturney General that the word proditore would have made this Treason And for the other matters he agreed with the Judges Therefore by the Court the Defendants were ruled to plead further and Mr. Lenthal of Lincolns-Inn was assigned of Counsel for them Inasmuch as the Defendants would not put in other Plea the last day of the Term judgment was given against them upon a nihil dicit which judgment was pronounced by Iones to this effect The matter of the Information now by the confession of the Defendants is admitted to be true and we think their Plea to the jurisdiction insufficient for the matter and manner of it And we hereby will not draw the true Liberties of Parliament-men into Question to wit for such matters which they do or speak in Parliamentary manner But in this case there was a conspiracy between the Defendants to slander the State and to raise sedition and discord between the King his Peers and People and this was not a Parliamentary course All the Iudges of England except one have Resolved the Statute of 4 Hen. 8. to be a private Act and to extend to Strood only But every Member of the Parliament shall have such Priviledges as are there mentioned but they have no Priviledge to speak at their pleasure The Parliament is an high Court therefore it ought not to be disorderly but ought to give good example to other Courts If a Judg of our Court shall rayl upon the State or Clergy he is punishable for it A Member of the Parliament may charge any great Officer of the State with any particular offence but this was a malevolous accusation in the generality of all the Officers of State therefore the matter contained within the Information is a great offence and punishable in this Court 2. For the punishment although the offence be great yet that shall be with a light hand and shall be in this manner 1. That every of the Defendants shall be imprisoned during the Kings pleasure Sir John Elliot to be imprisoned in the Tower of London and the other Defendants in other Prisons 2. That none of them shall be delivered out of Prison until he give security in this Court for his good behaviour and have made submission and acknowledgment of his offence 3. Sir John Elliot inasmuch as we think him the greatest offender and the ringleader shall pay a fine to the King of 2000 l. and Mr. Holles a fine of 1000 marks and Mr. Valentine because he is of less ability then the rest shall pay a fine of 500 l. And to all this all the other Justices with one voice accorded FINIS APPENDIX His Majesties Declaration to all his Loving Subjects of the Causes which moved him to dissolve the last Parliament March 10. 1628. HOwsoever Princes are not bound to give accompt of their Actions but to God alone yet for the satisfaction of the minds and affections of Our Loving Subjects We have thought good to set down thus much by way of Declaration that We may appeare to the world in the truth and sincerity of Our Actions and not in those Colours in which We know some turbulent and ill-affected spirits to masque and disguise their wicked intentions dangerous to the State would represent Us to the publick view We assembled our Parliament the 17th day of March in the third yeer of Our Reigne for the safety of Religion for securing Our Kingdoms and Subjects at home and Our friends and Allies abroad And therefore at the first sitting down of it We declared the miserable afflicted estate of those of the reformed Religion in Germany France and other parts of Christendome the distressed extremities of Our dearest Uncle the King of Denmark chased out of a great part of his Dominions the strength of that Party which was united against Us That besides the Pope and the house of Austria and their antient confederates the French King professed the rooting out of the Protestant Religion That of the Princes and States on Our party some were over-run others diverted and some disabled to give assistance For which and other important motives We propounded a speedy supply of Treasure answerable to the necessity of the Cause These things in the beginning were well resented by the House of Commons and with much alacrity and readinesse they agreed to grant a liberall aid But before it was brought to any perfection they were diverted by a multitude of Questions raised amongst them touching their Liberties and Priviledges and by other long disputes that the Bill did not passe in a long time and by that delay Our affairs were put into a far worse case then at the first Our Foraigne Actions then in hand being thereby disgraced and ruined for want of timely help In this as We are not willing to derogate from the merit and good intentions of those wise and moderate men of that House to whose forwardnesse We attribute it that it was Propounded and Resolved so soon so We must needs say that the delay of passing it when it was resolved occasioned by causlesse jealousies stirred up by men of another temper did much lessen both the reputation and reality of that Supply And their spirit infused into many of the Commissioners and Assessors in the Country hath returned up the Subsidies in such a scanty proportion as is infinitely short not onely of Our great occasâons but of the presidents of former Subsidies and of the intentions of all well-affected men in that House In those large Disputes as We permitted many of Our high prerogatives to be debated which in the best times of Our Predecessors had never been questioned without punishment or sharp reproof so We did endeavour to have shortned those debates for winning of time which would have much advantaged Our great affairs both at home and abroad And therefore both by speeches and messages We did often declare Our gratious and clear resolution to maintain not onely the Parliament but all our People in their antient and just liberties without either violation or diminution and in the end for their full satisfaction and security did by an Answer framed in the form by themselves desired to their Parliamentary Petition confirm their antient and just Liberties and Rights which We resolve with all constancy and justice to maintain This Parliament howsoever besides the setling Our necessary supply and their own liberties they wasted much time in such proceedings blasting Our Government as We are unwilling to remember yet We suffered them to sit untill themselves desired Us to appoint a time for their Recesse not naming either Adjournment or Prorogation Whereupon by advice of Our Councill We resolved to prorogue and make a Session and to that end prefixed a day by which they might as was meet in so long a Sitting finish some profitable and good Lawes and withall gave order for a gratious Pardon to all Our Subjects which according to the use
Voyages and Land Travels by Englishmen and others By Samuel Purchas in Four Volumes Folio The History of the Parliament of England which began November the Third 1640. With a short and necessary view of some precedent years By Thomas May Esq Folio The Text of the New Testament of Jesus Christ Translated out of the Vulgar Latine by the Papists of the Traiterous Seminary of Rhemes Whereunto is added the Translation out of the Original Greek commonly used in the Church of England c. By W. Fulke D. D. and sometimes Master of Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge Folio The History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland containing Five Books together with some Treatises conducing to the History By Iohn Knox. Folio Two Treatises In the one of which the Nature of Bodies in the other the Nature of Mans Soul is looked into In way of discovery of the Immortality of Reasonable Souls By Sir Kenelme Digby Folio Histoire de l'entre de la Reyne Mere du Roy tres Chrestien danâ les Provinces Vnies des pays has avec des Figures Histoire de l'entre de la Reyne Mere du Roy tres Chrestien dans la Grande Britaigne avec des Figures par le Sieur de la Serre Historiographe Folio Ad Serenissimum Jacobâm primum Britanniarum Monarcham Ecclesiae Scoticanae libellus supplex Authore Jacobo Melvino Quarto Polycarpi Ignatii Epistolae unà cum vetere vulgata interpretatione Latina ex trium Manuscriptorum codicum collatione integritati suae restitutae quibus praefixa est Iacobi Vsserii Archiepiscopi Armachani dissertatio Quarto Appendix Ignatiana in qua continentur 1. Ignatii Epistolae Genuinae 2. Ignatii Martyriam à Philone Agathopode aliis descriptum 3. Tiberiani Plinii Secundi Trajani imp de Constantia Martyrum illius temporis Epistolae 4. Smyrnensis Ecclesiae de Polycarpi Martyrio Epistola 5. In Ignatii Polycarpi Acta atque in Epistolas etiam Ignatio perperà m adscriptas Annotationes Iacobi Vsserii Armachani Quarto ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Clementis ad Corinthios Epistola Prior. Patritius Junius ex lateris Reliquiis vetustissimi examplaris Bibliotherae Regiae eruit Quarto Purchas his Pilgrim Microcosmus or the History of Man relating the wonders of his Generation Vanities in his Degeneration necessity of his Regeneration meditated on the words of David Psal. 39.5 By Samuel Purchas Octavo Saint Augustine his Enchyridion to Laurence or the cheif and principal Heads of all Christian Religion the Second Edition Twelves Theologia Naturalis sive liber Creaturarum Specialiter de homine de Natura ejus in quantum homo de his quae sunt ei necessaria ad cognoscendum Deum seipsum omne debitum ad quod homo tenetur obligatur tam Deo quà m proximo Authore Raymundo de Sabunde Octavo Frederici Spanhemii Epistola ad Nobilisstmum Virum Davidem Buchananum super controversiis quibusdam quae in Ecclesiis Anglicânis agitantur Octavo The Works of Edward Reynolds D. D. containing three Treatises of the Vanity of the Creature Sinfulness of Sin the Life of Christ. An Explication of Psal. C X. Meditations on the Sacrament of the Lords Supper An Explication of the Fourteenth Chapter of Hosea A Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soul Collected in Folio Divers Sermons Preached upon several occasions by Edward Reynolds D. D. Quarto A Treatise touching the Peace of the Church or an Apostolical Rule how to judge aright in differences which concern Religion Published by Authority Quarto A Treatise of Use and Custome By Mer. Causabon D. D. Quarto Deus Natura Gratia sive tractatus de Praedestinatione de meritis peccatorum Remissione sen de Justificatione denique de sanctorum invocatione reliquiarum imaginum veneratione de indulgentiis Purgatorio sub finem de Excommunicatione Accessit Paraphrastica Expositio reliquorum Articulorum confessionis Anglicae Per Fr. Franciscum Sancta Clara. Octavo Apologia Episcoporum seu Sacri Magistratus Propugnatio Multa multorum vocibus ventilantur mendacia adversus sacerdotes Dei de Diaboli ore prolata ad rumpendam Catholicae unitatis concordiam ubique jactantur Authore Francisco à Sancta Clara. Octavo King Iames much desired to match his Son Henry with a daughter of Spain After Prince Henry's death the King propounded a match with France In this interim the Spaniard gives the overture of a match Sir Digby's advice to the King in that matter Gondomar mannages the Treaty on the Spaniards part The English Navie neglected The Cautionary Towns rendred to the Hollander The Spaniard proceeds not sincerely in the Treaty Articles of Religion agreed upon between the Kings of England and Spain The people of England averse from the march The Catholicks desirous of it Gondomar contrives the death of Sir Walter Rawleigh an enemy to Spain A War begins in Germany Both parties Protestant and Catholicks grow jealous and each enter into League The Emperor Matthias Adopts his Cousin-German Ferdinand For joy of this Adoption the Catholicks keep a Jubilee and the Protestants another in memory of Luther An Assembly of the Protestants and States of Bohemia at Prague The first occasion of the troubles of Bohemia A Ryot committed by the Protestants in the Castle of Prague The Protestants put forth a Declaration The Emperor disgusted with the Declaration He publishes a Manifesto Both Parties Arm. A Comet appears at this time King Iames ingages not in these troubles flattering himself with the Spaniards seeming forwardness to effect the Match A Letter from a great Minister of State to Mr. Cottington Nov. 17. Queen Anne dieth Matthias the Emperor dies A Cessation of Arms proposed by Ferdinand is refused King Iames interposes by his Ambassador the Viscount Doncaster The Elector Palatine sends an Ambassador to oppose the Election of Ferdinand The Bohemians chuse the Palatine for their King Bethlem Gabor makes a union with the Protestants The Palatine craves the advice of King Iames touching his accepting the Crown Before answer came he had accepted it King Iames disavows the Act and âââars himself of it to the King of Spainâ The King of Spain testifies his resentment of Viscount Doncasters proceedings in Germany The King of Poland aids the Emperor Ferdinand publishes a Proscription against the Palatine Prince Anhalt Generalissimo of the Bohemians Marquess Ansbach commands the forces of the Princes of the Union Kings Iames will not engage in the War sends Sir Walter Aston Ambassador into Spain to negotiate the March and Gondomar returns Great immunities promised by King Iames to the Catholicks 18 Iacob 1620. A great Army levied in Flanders under the command of Spinola A Regiment under the command of Sir Horatiâ Vere sent from England The Protestant States of Austria renounce the confederacy of the Bohemians The Elector of Saxony assists the Emperor and executes the Ban against the Palatine Spinola prevails much in the Palatinate The Armies
willing Heart and has no longer continuance then whilst the impression of that fear lasts But few words are best to Princes vouchsafe Your Highness Pardon to him who thus presumes to make so mean an Oblation at so high an Altar Your good Acceptation will be the greatest Honor to it and to Your Highness humblest and most Obedient Servant JOHN RUSHWORTH THE PREFACE MY Business in this ensuing Work is to render a faithful account of several Traverses of State and of the most important Passages in debate between the respective Advocates for Prerogative and Liberty the Dispute was ominous and fatal as being the Introduction and that which gave the Alarm to a Civil War a War fierce unnatural and full of wonderful coincidences both in the Causes and Consequences of it Humanum est humanis casibus ingemiscere Therefore if I studied to please my self and gratifie the inclination of my own temper and affection you might peradventure hear from me of the Courage Exploits and Success of my Countrey-men in Forein Expeditions but not of their Animosities in Domestick Encounters Yet certainly of some use it may be to us and of concernment also to those that may come after us Infandum renovare dolorem to consider indifferently how we came to fall out among our selves and so to learn the true causes the rises and growths of our late Miseries the strange Alterations and Revolutions with the Characters of divers eminent Persons the Mutability of Councils the Remarkableness of Actions the Subtilty of Pretentions the Drifts of Interests the Secrets of State and which are the words of an Act of Parliament the deportment of a Prince wisely dissimulating with his People From such premisses the best Deduction which can be made is to look up to and acknowledge God who onely is unchangeable and to admire his Wisdom and Providence even in Humane Miscarriages For Empires and Kingdoms and Commonwealths every where in the World have their Periods but the Histories thereof remain and live for the Instruction of Men and Glory of God I finde an Expression in Sir Walter Raleighs Preface to his History of the World which seems to suit well with these Collections I shall make so far bold with that Memorable Person whose death bears a sad part in this Story as to borrow his own words It is not the least debt saith he which we ow unto History that it hath made us acquainted with our dead Ancestors and delivered us their Memory and Fame Besides we gather out of it a Policy no lesswise then Eternal by the Comparison and Application of other Mens fore-passed Miseries with our own-like Errors and ill-deservings but it is neither of Examples the most lively Instructions nor the Words of the wisest Men nor the Terror of future Torments that hath yet so wrought in our blinde and stupified Mindes as to make us remember That the infinite Eye and Wisdom of God doth so pierce through all our pretences as to make us remember That the Iustice of God doth require no other accuser then our own Consciences And though it hath pleased God to reserve the art of reading mens thoughts to himself yet as the Fruit tells the name of the Tree so do the outward Works of men so far as their Cogitations are acted give us whereof to ghess at the rest No man can long continue masqued in a counterfeit behaviour The things that are forced for pretences having no ground of truth cannot long dissemble their own natures And although Religion saith he and the truth thereof be in every mans mouth what is it other then an universal dissimulation We profess that we know God but by works we deny him Beatitudo non est divinorum cognitio sed vita divina There is nothing more to be admired nothing more to be lamented then the private contention the passionate dispute the personal hatred c. about Religion amongst Christians insomuch as it hath well near driven the practice thereof out of the world So that we are in effect saith he become Comedians in Religion For Charity Justice and Truth have but their being in Terms amongst us In the close of his Preface he adviseth the Reader to take heed how he follows Truth too close at the heels lest it strike out his teeth I hope this Story begins with a distance of time not so far off as the footsteps of Truth are worne out nor yet so near as the heels of it need to be feared But this I am sure That had I not gone so far back as I do I had not reached the Fundamentals to the History of these Times It hath been observed by some That most Historians speak too much and say too little I doubt others will think I speak too little and say too much So it will be difficult to please all I know very well the Collections which I publish will receive no advantage nor commendation from the Collector And that it may likewise receive no prejudice I am as ready to confess as any man in the world is to object my wants and inabilities which indeed to men of sober discourse may render me unfit to be entertained in the Council but not unqualified to be impanelled of the Jury For I began early to take in Characters Speeches and Passages at Conferences in Parliament and from the Kings own mouth when he spake to both the Houses and have been upon the Stage continually and an Eye and Ear-witness of the greatest Transactions imployed as an Agent in and intrusted with Affairs of weightiest concernment Privy also both to the Debates in Parliament and to the most secret Results of Councils of War in times of Action Which I mention without ostentation only to qualifie me to report to Posterity what will rather be their wonder at first then their belief It is pity they should altogether be deprived of the Advantages which they may reap from our Misfortunes Hereafter they will hear that every man almost in this Generation durst fight for what either was or pretended to be Truth They should also know that some durst write the Truth whilst other mens Fancies were more busie then their hands forging Relations building and battering Castles in the Air publishing Speeches as spoken in Parliament which were never spoken there printing Declarations which were never passed relating Battels which were never fought and Victories which were never obtained dispersing Letters which were never writ by the Authors together with many such Contrivances to abet a Party or Interest Pudet haec opprobria Such practices and the experience I had thereof and the impossibility for any man in After-ages to ground a true History by relying on the printed Pamphlets in our days which passed the Press whilst it was without control obliged me to all the pains and charge I have been at for many years together to make a Great Collection and whilst things were fresh in memory to separate Truth from Falshood things
see his Children dispossessed of their Hereditary Rights and hopes his Son in Law will make Overtures of Peace which if slighted by the Emperor he will not lose the season to prepare for the defence of the Palatinate But if his Son will not hearken to his advice he shall be inforced to leave him to his proper Counsels Notwithstanding this open wary and tender proceeding with all care and patience to observe the Spanish humors our State Ministers that were most addicted to Spain discerned their trifling with us which they did not spare to censure and resolved to use a freer Language yet still discovered a willingness to wait their further leisure for the English Patience seemed invincible In the mean time the Privy Council having an eye to the support of the Palatinate began the raising of Moneys by way of free gift and directed Letters of the tenor following to divers Earls Viscounts Bishops and Barons the same Letter being sent to each respectively YOu may formerly have heard how the Palatinate being the ancient Heritage of the Count Palatine his Majesties Son in Law and to discend to his Majesties Grand-children is now invaded by a Foreign Enemy many principal Towns are surprised a great part of the Countrey in the possession of strangers and the inhabitants forced to take an Oath against their Natural Prince Whereupon his Majesty out of considerations of Nature Honor and State hath declared himself in the course of an Auxiliary War for the defence and recovery of the same the occasion being so weighty and pressing hath moved his Majesty by the general advice of us his Council to think of some course for provision of that nature as may serve as well to the maintenance and preserving of the present succors already sent as for the reinforcing them out of those Countries as the occasion of the War shall require And for that the swiftness of the occasion would not permit a supply by other means for the present so readily as was needful we have all concurred to begin with our selves in offer of a voluntary gift unto his Majesty for the advancement of the present occasion nothing doubting but that your Lordship being a Peer of the Kingdom will chearfully and readily follow the example of us begun And if there were much alacrity and readiness found in the Nobility and others to contribute at the motion of his Majesties Sons Ambassador at what time the Palatinate was not invaded neither had his Majesty declared himself you will much more and in a better proportion do it now these two weighty Motives do concur and so nothing doubting of your Lordships readiness herein we bid c. To the Marquess of Winchester To the Earl of Cumberland To the Earl of Darby To the Earl of Northumberland c. Also a Letter of the same form was written to the Lord Major of London But the short Reign of King Frederick was near its period The Imperial Forces under Bavaria Buquoy and D. Balthazar advance towards Prague and the Bohemians quit their Garrisons to make their Army the more compleat Yet neither Count Mansfield nor the English Forces were there On the Eighth day of November being the Lords day both Armies met for the fatal decision of the great Controversie The Bohemians stood upon the advantage-ground betwixt the Imperialists and Prague But the Enemy breaking through scattered and ruined their whole Army and pursued the Victory The King and Queen surprised with this Discomfiture among a wavering people in a City not very defensible were constrained to âlie the next morning Diminution of Honor was added to the Calamity of this Prince because he suffered his Soldiers to mutiny for Pay when he had a mass of Money by him which was left behind to augment the Enemies Conquest Neither was Anhalt the General a fit person for the high trust reposed in him who not long after the Defeat sought and obtained the Emperors favor and was made one of his Generals to debel the Protestant cause and party But Count Mansfield whom Anhalt slighted and closed not with him to bring him up to this Fight made good his fidelity and with his Flying Army became a continual vexation to the Emperor harasing his Countries and forcing Contribution King Iames upon the news of the Palsgrave's overthrow and upon a Narration of the state of Affairs in those parts made unto His Majesty by the Earls of Oxford and Essex newly returned from the Palatinate was pleased to call a full Council together to consider of this great and weighty affair The Order ensuing relates the particulars At the Court at Whitehall Jan. 13. 1620. Present Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer Lord Privy Seal Lord Steward Lord M. Hamilton Lord Chamberlain Earl of Arundel Earl of Kelly Lord V. Doncaster Lord V. Falkland Lord Carew Lord Digby Mr. Treasurer Mr. Secr. Naunton Mr. Secr. Calvert Mr. Chanc. of the Exchequer Master of the Rolls Master of the Wards HIs Majesty being resolved to make some Royal preparations for the Recovery and Protection of the Palatinate being the antient Inheritance of his Majesties Son in law and Grandchildren did in his high wisdom think méet to appoint some persons of knowledge and experience in the Wars to consider of and give their Advice in such Propositions as shall be made unto them by the Board for the better expediting of that service To which purpose the Earl of Oxford and the Earl of Essex the Earl of Leicester the Lord Uiscount Wilmot the Lord Danvers the Lord Calfield Sir Edward Cecyl Sir Richard Harrison Knights and Captain Danbingham were called to the Table and made acquainted with His Majesties pleasure That they or any Five or more of them together with Sir Horace Vere and Sir Edw. Conway Knights if they return into England while this Committee doth continue shall undertake this service and have their méetings and assemblies in the whole Council-chamber here in Whitehall touching the affairs above-mentioned And that for their better assistance they call unto them such others of experience whose advice and opinion they shall think fit to make use of in their several Consultations upon such things as shall be so referred unto them from the Board Which they are to prosecute without intermission or delay And they shall make Report of their Opinions which is to be done in writing under Five of their hands at least The Particulars offered to their Consideration are these First What proportion or number of men as well Horse as Foot with Munition Victuals Shipping and Treasure will be sufficient for that Enterprise And secondly By what time it will be meet that their Forces be in readiness And where the Arms Munition and Victuals may best be provided with such other Circumstances as are incident to any of these Heads For the better direction herein Mr. Secretaries will acquaint them with such Intelligences as they have received touching the
Frankendale if they be taken That within the said term of seventy days a Suspension of Arms in the Palatinate be concluded upon the Conditions last propounded by Sir Richard Weston at Bruxels and that a general Treaty shall be again set on foot upon such honorable terms as were tendered to the Emperor in November last But if these particulars be refused or delayed by the Emperor that the King of Spain shall joyn forces with the King of Great Britain for the recovery of his Childrens Honors and Patrimony And if he cannot give assistance that he will at least allow him a free and friendly passage through his Territories for the forces to be employed in that service Of these points distinctly if the Ambassador should not receive a direct assurance he was to take his leave of that King and to return into his Masters presence But the King annexed this private Instruction That in case a Rupture happened it might be managed to the best advantage Wherefore he should not instantly come away but send him secret intelligence and in publick give out the contrary Immediately upon these Demands an Order was sent from Spain to Bruxels for the relief of Manheim but it came too late for before the arival thereof the Town was yielded into the hands of Tilly But had it come in season the effect thereof might be guessed by Tilly's Reasons presented to the Arch-Dutchess against raising the siege of Manheim and the restoring of Heidelburgh to this purpose That he could not do it without the Emperors express consent and that the winning of Manheim was to be hastned to prevent the machinations of evil Neighbors who were plotting new Commotions in favor of the Count Palatine and especially to obviate the designs of Count Mansfield And lastly That the Emperor and the Catholick League having setled all Germany might give the Law to their Opposites and settle a peace upon their own terms How little the Emperor attributed to the Kings Humanity and upright dealing which he applauded in shew might be discerned by sure Advertisements of his purpose to propound in the Dyet at Ratisbone his promise of translating the Palatine Electorate to the Duke of Bavaria as a thing irrevocable Moreover the King of Spain the Fifth of November 1622. in the height of those Professions made to the English Ambassador touching the Marriage wrote on this manner to his Grand Favorite the Conde Olivares THe King my Father declared at his Death That his intent never was to marry my Sister the Infanta Donna Maria with the Prince of Wales which your Uncle Don Balthazar understood and so treated this Match ever with intention to delay it notwithstanding it is now so far advanced that considering all the aversness unto it of the Infanta it is time to seek some means to divert the Treaty which I would have you finde out and I will make it good whatsoever it be But in all other things procure the satisfaction of the King of Great Britain who hath deserved much and it shall content me so that it be not in the Match Olivares wrote a Letter deliberative the Eighth of November 1622. and propounded an Expedient to the King of Spain in these words SIR Considering in what estate we finde the Treaty of Marriage between Spain and England and knowing certainly how the Ministers did understand this business that Treated it in the time of Philip the Third that is in Heaven that their meaning was never to effect it but by enlarging the Treaties and Points of the said Marriage to make use of the Friendship of the King of Great Britain as well in matters of Germany as those of Flanders And imagining likewise that your Majesty is of the same opinion though the Demonstrations do not shew so joyning to these Suppositions that it is certain the Infanta Donna Maria is resolved to put her self into a Monastery the same day that your Majesty shall press her to this Marriage I have thought fit to represent unto your Majesty that which my good zeal hath offered me in this occasion thinking it a good time to acquaint your Majesty withal to the end you may resolve of that which you shall finde most convenient with the advice of those Ministers you shall think fit to make choice of The King of Great Britain doth finde himself at this time equally engaged in two businesses the one is this Marriage to which he is moved by the conveniencies he findes in your Majesties friendship by making an Agreement with those Catholicks that he thinks are secretly in his Kingdom and by this to assure himself of them as likewise to marry his Son to one of the House of Austria knowing that the Infanta Donna Maria is the best born Lady in the World The other business is the restitution of the Palatinate in which he is more engaged for beside that his Reputation is at stake there is added the love and interest of his Grand-children Sons of his onely Daughter So that both by the Law of Nature and Reason of State he ought to put that forward whatever inconveniencies might follow by dissembling what they suffer I do not dispute whither the King of Great Britain be governed in this business of the Palatinate by Act or Friendship I think a man might say he used both but as a thing not precisely necessary to this Discourse I omit it I hold it for a Maxim that these two Engagements in which he findes himself are inseparable for although the Marriage be made we must fail of that which in my way of understanding is most necessary the restitution of the Palatinate This being supposed Having made this Marriage in that form as it is Treated your Majesty shall finde your self together with the King of Great Britain engaged in a War against the Emperor and the Catholick League A thing which to hear will offend your godly ears or declaring your self for the Emperor and the Catholick League as certainly your Majesty will do then you will finde your self engaged in a War against the King of England and your Sister married with his Son with the which all whatsoever reasons of Conveniency that were thought upon in this Marriage do cease If your Majesty shall shew your self Neutral as it may be some will propound That first will cause very great scandal and with just reason since in matters of less opposition then of Catholicks against Hereticks the Arms of this Crown have taken the godly part against the contrary party and at this time the Frenchmen fomenting the Hollanders against your Majesty your Piety hath been such that you have sent your Arms against the Rebels of that Crown leaving all the great considerations of State onely because these men are Enemies to the Faith and the Church It will oblige your Majesty and give occasion to those of the League to make use of the King of France and of other Catholick Princes ill-affected
that your so vehement desire of a Catholick marriage is a certain voice of God calling you and disposing all things sweetly For it is not necessary that the Omnipotent should always thunder with the voice of his greatness because secret counsels themselves directing men into the way of Salvation are words by which the Eternal Wisdom speaks and declares the command of a Deity Wherefore we have ever endeavored to the utmost of our power that this Honorable Marriage by the blessing of God might be finished From hence you may perceive that none could have been advanced to this heighth of humane Affairs from whom you may expect more expressions of good will or fruits of bounty For your Ancestors which tamed Heretical Impieties and not onely revered but vindicated the Roman Hierarchy do recommend you a most Noble Prince to the Papal Charity For when Monsters of new Opinions broke into the Bulwarks of the Northern Ocean they bridled the endeavors of the wicked with wholesome arms and did not change the truth of God into a lye And if you as you write shall in good earnest glory more in the imitation of your Ancestors then that you are descended of Kings we easily foresee how great joy to the Church of Rome and how great felicity to the British Kingdoms these words do promise which deserve to be written in the Book of Life Such good turns O most desired Son the venerable Assembly of the Scotish Kings exacts and expects from you whose actions without doubt he condemns who revolts from their Religion The Catholick Kings of all Europe require this of you for how can their Concord be the Vow of your care as long as you dissent from them in a matter of the greatest importance that is in the veneration of holy Rites The Roman Church which England reverenced long ago as the Mistress of Truth whose belief you confess you hate not desires forthwith to open unto you the Gates of the Heavenly Kingdom and to bring you back into the possession of your Ancestors Think that now in Spain you are become a spectacle to God and Men and that you shall always be the desire and care of our Reign Take heed most Noble Prince that the Counsels of those who prefer worldly interests before heavenly do not obdure your heart Make glad the Host of Heaven which will fight in your Camps and return O most wished for Son into the embraces of the Church which desires you with the applause and favor of Men and Angels that so rejoycing in your Marriage we may sing with joy The Lord hath reigned and put on comeliness Certainly you who desire the Marriage of a Catholick Virgin ought to espouse the heavenly Bride with whose beauty Solomon the wisest of Kings boasts himself to have been enamored For this is the Wisdom by which Kings reign whose Dowry is the splendor of Glory and an eternal Principality and your Ancestors sought her in the Sanctuary of the Roman Church severed from the contagion of the World and reposing in the Wisdom of God We who write to you this Exhortation and testifie our Papal Charity desire to have your name renowned in the Histories of all Ages and that you may be recorded amongst those Princes who deserving well on Earth of the Kingdom of Heaven are become the example of Vertue to posterity and the measure of wishes We beseech the Father of Lights that this blessed hope by which he promiseth us the return of so great a Prince by the conduct of the Holy Ghost may forthwith fructifie and bring Salvation to Great Britain and joy to all the Christian World Dated at Rome at St. Peters sub annulo Piscatoris die 15 Octob. 1623. in the First year of our Reign Notwithstanding this great business of State began to look with an ill aspect by the concurrence of various Passages tending to a Rupture of the Treaty In England the Spanish Ambassadors demands grew high and peremptory yet the King to give them content directed the Lord Keeper and other Commissioners to draw up a Pardon of all Offences past with a Dispensation for those to come to be granted to all Roman Catholicks obnoxious to any Laws against Recusants and then to issue forth two General Commands under the Great Seal of England The one to all Judges and Justices of Peace and the other to all Bishops Chancellors and Commissaries not to execute any Statute against them The General Pardon was passed in as full and ample manner as themselves could desire or pen it But to that vast Prohibition to the Judges and Bishops some stop was made by the Advice of the Lord Keeper for these Reasons First Because the publishing of this General Indulgence at one push might beget a General Discontent if not a Mutiny but the instilling thereof into the peoples knowledge by little and little by the favors done to particular Catholicks might indeed loosen the Tongues of a few particular persons who might hear of their Neighbors Pardon and having vented their dislikes would afterwards cool again and so his Majesty might with more conveniency by degrees inlarge his favors Secondly Because to forbid the Judges against their Oaths and the Justices of Peace who are likewise sworn to execute the Law of the Land is a thing unpresidented in this Kingdom and would be a harsh and bitter Pill to be digested without some preparative The two Ambassadors with much ado consented That the matter should rest till the end of Six Moneths or the Infanta's arival yet they did it with a shew of discontent as if the King performed nothing The disaffection of these Ministers was supposed to be one rub in the way of this Alliance And on the other side some of the Princes followers in Spain being zealous of the Protestant Religion disliked the Match and shewed their aversness to it Sir Edmund Verney struck an English man a Sorbon Doctor a blow under the Ear for visiting and laboring to pervert one of the Princes Pages who was sick of a mortal Feaver Divers derided the Popish Ceremonies and Spanish Garb and slighted the Country and some committed irreverent actions in the Kings own Chappel Hereupon they began to disgust the English and to rail at Gondomar for informing the King and State That the Prince might be made a Catholick Moreover those many Irish that subsisted by Pensions from the Crown of Spain did no good offices and the French and Venetian Ambassadors in that Court were conceived not to be idle But there were greater things then these The Duke of Buckingham the Princes Companion and Guardian was much disrelished by the Court of Spain His French garb the height of his spirit and his over-great familiarity with the Prince were things opposite to the way and temper of that grave sober and wary people And the Council of Spain took exceptions that he should come with such a superintendent power in that great
I deserved better at their hands After this the King purposing to signifie to the King of Spain That his Parliament had advised him to break off the Treaties and to recover the Palatinate by War The notice of a sharp Petition against Popish Recusants framed by the House of Commons and sent up to the Lords for their Concurrence did a little stagger his Resolution as appeareth by the following Letter written with his own hand to Secretary Conway I Doubt not but you have heard what a stinging Petition against the Papists the Lower House have sent to the Higher House this day that they might joyntly present it unto me Ye know my firm resolution not to make this a War of Religion and seeing I would be loth to be Coney-catched by my people I pray you stay the Post that is going to Spain till I meet with my Son who will be here to morrow morning Do it upon pretext of some more Letters ye are to send by him and if he should be gone hasten after him to stay him upon some such pretext and let none living know of this as you love me And before two in the afternoon to morrow you shall without fail hear from me Farewell James R. The Petition which the King called a stinging one was intended to be presented to his Majesty from both Houses in form as followeth May it please your most Excellent Majesty WE your Majesties most humble and Loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled having to our singular Comfort received your Princely Resolution upon our humble Petition to dissolve the two Treaties of the Match and of the Palatinate and having on our parts with all alacrity and readiness humbly offered our assistance to your Majesty to maintain the War which may ensue thereupon Yet withal sensibly finding what Seditious and Traiterous Positions those Incendiaries of Rome and professed Engines of Spain the Priests and Iesuites infuse into your natural born Subjects what numbers they have seduced and do daily seduce to make their dependance on the Pope of Rome and King of Spain contrary to their Allegiance to your Majesty their Liege Lord What daily resort of Priests and Iesuites into your Kingdoms what Concourse of Popish Recusants much more then usual is now in and about the City of London what boldness yea what insolency they have discovered out of the opinion conceived of their foreign Patronage what publick resort to Masses and other Exercises of the Popish Religion in the houses of foreign Ambassadors there is daily to the great grief and offence of your good Subjects what great preparations are made in Spain sit for an Invasion the bent whereof is as probable to be upon some part of your Majesties Dominions as upon any other place what encouragement that may be to your Enemies and the Enemies of your Crown to have a party or but the opinion of a party within your Kingdoms who do daily increase and combine themselves together for that purpose what disheartening of your good and loving Subjects when they shall see more cause of fear from their false-hearted Countreymen at home then from their professed Adversaries abroad what apparent dangers by Gods providence and your Majesties wisdom and goodness they have very lately escaped which the longer continuance upon those Treaties upon such unfitting Conditions fomented by your own ill-affected Subjects would surely have drawn upon your Majesty and your State Do in all humbleness offer unto your sacred Majesty these their humble Petitions following I. That all Iesuites and Seminary Priests and all others having taken Orders by any Authority derived from the Sea of Rome may by your Maiesties Proclamation be commanded forthwith to depart out of this Realm and all other your Highness ' s. Dominions and neither they nor any other to return or come hither again upon peril of the severest penalty of the Laws now in force against them and that all your Majesties Subjects may hereby also be admonished not to receive entertain comfort or conceal any of that viperous brood upon penalties and forfeitures which by the Lawes may be imposed upon them II. That your Majesty would be pleased to give streight and speedy charge to the Iustices of Peace in all parts of this Kingdom that according to the Laws in that behalf made and the Orders taken by your Majesties Privy-Councel heretofore for policy of State they do take from all Popish Recusants legally convicted or justly suspected all such Armor Gunpowder and Munition of any kinde as any of them have either in their own hands or in the hands of any other for them and to see the same safely kept and disposed according to the Law leaving for the necessary defence of their house and persons so much as by the Law is prescribed III. That your Majesty will please to command all Popish Recusants and all other who by any Law or Statute are prohibited to come to the Kings Court forthwith under pain of your heavy displeasure and severe Execution of your Laws against them to retire themselves their wives and families from or about London to their several dwellings or places by your Laws appointed and there to remain confined within five miles of their dwelling places according to the Lawes of this your Realm And for that purpose to discharge all By-past Licences granted unto them for their repair hither And that they presume not any time hereafter to repair to London or within ten miles of London or to the Kings Court or to the Princes Court wheresoever IV. That your Majesty would forbid and restrain the great resort and concourse of your own Subjects for the hearing of Masse or other Exercises of the Romish Religion to the houses of foreign Ambassadors or Agents residing here for the service of their several Princes or States V. That where of late in several Counties in this Realm some have been trusted in the places of Lord-Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer Iustices of Peace and Captains of their Countries which are either Popish Recusants or Non-Communicants by the space of a year now last past or which do not usually resort to the Church to Divine service and can bring no good Certificate thereof that your Majesty would be pleased to discharge them from these places of trust by which they have that power in the Countrey where they live as is not fit to be put into the hands of persons so affected VI. That your Majesty would be pleased generally to put the Lawes in due Execution which are made and stand in force against Popish Recusants And that all your Iudges Iustices and Ministers of Iustice to whose care these things are committed may by your Maiesties Proclamation be commanded to do their duty therein VII That seeing we are thus happily delivered from that danger which these Treaties now dissolved and that use which your ill-affected Subiects made thereof would certainly have
testimonia invictissimi unà cum Joanne fratre suo juniore in obsidione Francovalenti hic factâ eruptione arreptus ille ictu bombardae percussus occubuere Anno M.DC.XXI This Monument was erected by the Town of Frankendal in memory of those two Brothers who were Uncles to that Valiant Victorious and Self-denying General THOMAS Lord FAIRFAX late Commander in Chief of the Parliaments Armies in England In France the Marriage-Treaty was not so fair smooth and plausible in the progress as in the entrance King Iames admiring the Alliance of mighty Kings though of a Contrary Religion as also fearing the disgrace of another Breach desired the Match unmeasurably which the French well perceived and abated of their forwardness and enlarged their Demands in favor of Papists as the Spaniards had done before them and strained the King to the Concession of such Immunities as he had promised to his Parliament that he would never grant upon the mediation of Forein Princes The Cardinal Richlieu being in the infancie of his favor and appointed to the managing of the Treaty assured the Catholicks of Great Britain that the most Christian King remembring that he was born and raised up no less for the propagation of the Catholick Cause then for the enlarging of his own Dominions was resolved to obtain honorable Terms for Religion or never to conclude the Match And for his own part such was his compassion towards them that if he might work their deliverance or better their condition not only with Counsel interest and authority but with his life and blood he would gladly do it However this Treaty held fewer moneths then the years that were spent in that of Spain Indeed the Motion from England had a braver expression seeing a Wife was here considered as the only object of the Treaty whereas that of Spain was accompanied with a further expectation to wit the rendring of the Palatinate to King Iames his children In August the Match was concluded and in November the Articles were sworne unto by King Iames Prince Charls and the French King The Articles concerning Religion were not much short of those for the Spanish Match The Conclusion of the Treaty was seconded in France with many outward expressions of Joy as Bonfires and the like Whereupon the Privy-Council sent to the Lord Mayor of London requiring the like to be done here This year Count Mansfield arrived in England whose reception was splendid and honorable He was entertained in the Prince his House in S. Iames's and served in great state by some of the Kings Officers A Press went through the Kingdom for the raising of Twelve thousand Foot with two Troops of Horse to go under his Command for the Recovery of the Palatinate These Forces were intended to pass through France into Germany the French having promised as well an Addition of Strength as a free passage In the mean while there were those that secretly sollicited the King to return into the way of Spain and raised suspitions of Mansfields Enterprise saying he was the Palsgraves Scout and Spy And if the Puritans desired a Kingdom they did not wish it to the most illustrious Prince Charls his Majesties best and true Heir but to the Palatine That it was the Dukes Plot and the Parliaments Fury to begin a War with Spain but it will be the glory of his Majesties blessed Reign that after many most happy years that Motto of his Blessed be the Peace-makers might even âo the last be verified of him in the letter and be propounded for imitation to the most illustrious Prince and that the experience of his happy Government should carry the Prince in a connatural motion to the same Counsels of Peace And at the same time the more circumspect party in the Spanish Court held it fit to continue the state of things in a possibility of an Accommodation with the King of Great Britain and Gondomar was coming again for England to procure a Peace notwithstanding the Duke of Bavaria used all diligence to combine himself with that Crown offering to depend wholly thereon so that he may be thereby protected in his new acquired Dignity But in these Motions the Elector of Saxony with many Reasons advised the Emperor to apply himself to the setling of a Peace in Germany and with much instance besought him not to destroy that antient House of the Palatinate Count Mansfield was at this time in England and the Forces raised in the several parts of the Kingdom for the recovery of the Palatinate were put under his Command and Marching to their Rendezvous at Dover committed great Spoils and Rapines in their passage through the Counties At that Rendezvous the Colonels and Captains were assigned to receive their several Regiments and Companies from the Conductors employed by those several Counties where the Men were raised A List of some of the Regiments of Foot designed for that Expedition I. EArl of Lincoln Colonel Lieut. Col. Allen. Serjeant Major Bonithon Sir Edward Fleetwood Captain Wirley Capt. Reynolds Capt. Babbington Sir Matthew Carey Capt. Barlee Capt. Cromwel II. Viscount Doncaster Colonel Sir Iames Ramsey Lieut. Colonel Alexander Hamilton Serjeant Major Capt. Archibald Duglas Capt. Zouch Capt. Iohn Duglas Capt. Pell Capt. William Duglas Capt. George Kellwood Capt. Andrew Heatly III. Lord Cromwel Colonel Lieut. Col. Dutton Serjeant Major Gibson Capt. Basset Capt. Lane Capt. Vincent Wright Capt. Ienner Capt. Vaughan Capt. Owseley Capt. Crane IV. Sir Charles Rich Colonel Lieut. Col. Hopton Serjeant Major Killegrew Sir Warham St. Leiger Sir W. Waller Capt. Burton Capt. Francis Hammond Capt. Winter Capt. Goring Capt. Fowler V. Sir Andrew Grey Colonel Lieut. Col. Boswel Serjeant Major Coburne Capt. David Murray Capt. Murray Capt. Forbois Capt. Carew Capt. Ramsey Capt. Williams Capt. Beaton VI. Sir Iohn Borrough Colonel Lieut. Col. Bret. Serjeant Major Willoughby Capt. William Lake Capt. Roberts Capt. Webb Capt. Skipwith Capt. Thomas Woodhouse Capt. George Capt. Mostian The Duke of Buckingham Lord Admiral was required to employ those Ships that were now in the Narrow Seas or in the Havens ready bound for any Voyage for the Transporting this Army from Dover Count Mansfield received his Commission from King Iames bore date the Seventh of November One thousand six hundred twenty and four and was to this effect That his Majesty at the Request of the Prince Elector Palatine and the Kings Sister his Wife doth impower Count Mansfield to raise an Army for the recovering of the Estate and Dignity of the Prince Elector and appoints that the Forces so raised should be under the Government of the said Count Mansfield for the end aforesaid And his Majesty further declares by way of Negative That he doth not intend that the said Count shall commit any spoil upon the Countreys or Dominions of any of his Majesties Friends and Allies and more particularly He doth require the said Count not to make any invasion or do any act of War
concerning Religion and that his Answer be Inrolled with the force of an Act of Parliament Also that the House consider of the new prepared Fleet and Army and whither intended no Enemy being yet declared That great Sums of Money were given for places to the value of an Hundred and forty thousand pounds at least that the King should contribute to help the Palatinates Cause with his own Estate that the time of the year was too far spent for the Fleet to go forth in Service that inquiry be made whether the Duke brake not the Match with Spain out of Spleen and Malice to Conde Olivares whether he made not the Match with France upon harder terms and whether the Ships lent against Rochel were not maintained with the Subsidies given for the relief of the Palatinate that an Advised Counsel for the Government of the present Affairs and to look into the Kings Estate is necessary that his Majesty be desired to give his Answer concerning the Imposition on Wines and Select Committees draw out these Heads at large to be presented to the King The doing whereof they said was no Capitulation with his Majesty but an ordinary Parliamentary course Without which the Commonwealth could never supply the King nor indeed subsist Soon after the Commons had a Conference with the Lords desiring their Concurrence in presenting to the King these Matters following That notwithstanding the Lords and Commons at their last Meeting this Session did Petition his Majesty for the advancing of Gods true Religion and the suppressing of Popery unto which his Majesty vouchsafed as well from his own Mouth as by the Lord Keeper to return such Answer as assured them of his Royal performance yet at this Meeting they finde That on the 12 of Iuly last his Majesty granted a Pardon unto Alexander Baker a Jesuite and unto Ten other Papists which as the Commons have been informed was gotten by the importunity of some Foreign Ambassador and passed by immediate Warrant and was recommended by the Principal Secretary of State without the payment of the ordinary Fees And further That divers Copies of Letters and other Papers being found in the house of one Mary Estmonds in Dorsetshire by two Justices of Peace who thereupon tendred her the Oath of Alleagiance and upon her refusal committed her to the Constable from whom she made an escape and complained to the King The Principal Secretary did write to those two Justices in favor of her Upon these Passages the Commons made Observations first upon the date of the Pardon which was the next day after his Majesties Answer by the Lord Keeper to their Petition concerning Religion secondly That the Pardon dispenced with several Laws as of the 21 and 27 of Queen Elizabeth and of the Third of King Iames provided to keep the Subjects in due obedience thirdly That the Pardon was signed by the Principal Secretary of State and therefore the Commons declared that these actings tended to the prejudice of true Religion his Majesties dishonor the discountenancing of the Ministers of Justice the grief of the good people the animating of the Popish party who by such examples grew more proud and insolent and to the discouragement of the High Court of Parliament All which they humbly desire his Majesty to take into due consideration and to give effectual and speedy Redress therein The Lord Conway principal Secretary of State being called to give an Accompt of this business answered That he ever hated the Popish Religion That the Pardon was granted before the King answered their Petition though it bore not date till afterwards That the King commanded the doing thereof and that no Fees should be taken That he was commanded by the King to write a Letter in favor of the Woman in Dorset-shire and what he did therein was to take off all scandal from the King though it lighted upon himself This Conference no sooner ended but both Houses were ordered to meet at Christ-Church to receive an Answer to their Petition concerning Religion To every Clause whereof his Majesty answered in a Parliamentary way The Petition Remedies and the Kings Answer we give you intermixt for the better understanding the Answer to every respective Clause distinctly To the Kings most Excellent Majesty Most Gracious Soveraign IT being infallibly true that nothing can more establish the Throne and assure the peace and prosperity of the people then the unity and sincerity of Religion We your most humble and loyal Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of this present Parliament assembled hold our selves bound in conscience and duty to represent the same to your Sacred Majesty together with the dangerous Consequences of the increase of Popery in this Land and what we conceive to be the principal Causes thereof and what may be the Remedies The Dangers appear in these particulars I. In their desperate ends being both the subversion of Church and State and the restlesness of their spirits to attain these ends the Doctrine of their Teachers and Leaders perswading them that therein they do God good service II. Their evident and strict dependencie upon such Forein Princes as no way affect the good of your Majesty and this State III. The opening a way of Popularity to the Ambition of any who shall adventure to make himself Head of so great a Party The principal Cause of the Increase of Papists I. The want of the due execution of Laws against Iesuites Seminary Priests and Popish Recusants occasioned partly by the connivencie oâ the State partly by defects in the Laws themselves and partly by the manifold acuse of Officers II. The interposing of Foreign Princes by their Ambassadors and agents in favor of them III. Their great Concourse to the City and frequent Conferences and Conventicles there IV. The open and usual resort to the Houses and Chappels of Forein Ambassadors V. The Education of their Children in Seminaries and Houses of their Religion in Foreign parts which of late have been greatly multiplied and enlarged for entertaining of the English VI. That in some places of your Realm your people be not sufficiently instructed in the knowledge of true Religion VII The licentious printing and dispersing of Popish and Seditious Books VIII The imployment of men ill-affected in Religion in places of Government who do shall or may countenance the Popish party The Remedies against this outragious and dangerous disease We conceive to be these ensuing I. That the Youth of this Realm be carefully educated by able and Religious Schoolmasters and they to be enjoined to Catechise and instruct their Scholars in the grounds and principles of true Religion And whereas by many Complaints from divers parts of the Kingdom it doth plainly appear That sundry Popish Scholars dissembling their Religion have craftily crept in and obtained the places of Teaching in divers Counties and thereby infected and perverted their Scholars and so fitted them to be transported to the Popish Seminaries beyond
That Images may be used for the instruction of the Ignorant and excitation of Devotion V. That in the same Homily it is plainly expressed That the attributing the defence of certain Countries to Saints is a spoiling God of his honor and that such Saints are but Dii tutelares of the Gentiles Idolators The said Richard Montague hath notwithstanding in his said Book Entituled A Treatise concerning the Invocation of Saints affirmed and maintained That Saints have not onely a Memory but a more peculiar Charge of their Friends and that it may be admitted That some Saints have a peculiar Patronage Custody Protection and Power as Angels also have over certain Persons and Countries by special deputation and that it is no impiety so to believe Whereas in the seventeenth of the said Articles it is resolved That God hath certianly Decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankinde and to bring them by Christ to everlasting Salvation wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to Gods purpose working in due season they through Grace obey the Calling they be justified freely walk Religiously in good works and at length by Gods mercy attain to everlasting felicity He the said Richard Montague in the said Book called The Appeal doth maintain and affirm That men justified may fall away and depart from the state which once they had they may arise Again and become new men possibly but not certainly nor necessarily and the better to countenance this his opinion he hath in the same Book wilfully added falsified and charged divers words of the sixteenth of the Articles before mentioned and divers other words both in the Book of Homilies and in the Book of Common-Prayer and so misrecited and changed the said places he doth alleadge in the said Book called The Appeal endeavouring thereby to lay a most wicked and malicious scandal upon the Church of England as if he did herein differ from the Reformed Churches of England and from the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas and did consent to those pernitious Errors which are commonly called Arminianism and which the late famous Queen Elizabeth and King Iames of happy memory did so piously and diligently labour to suppress That the said Richard Montague contrary to his Duty and Allegiance hath endeavored to raise great Factions and Divisions in this Common-wealth by casting the odious and scandalous name of Puritans upon such his Majesties loving Subjects as conform themselves to the Doctrine and Ceremony of the Church of England under that name laying upon them divers false and malicious Imputations so to bring them into jealousie and displeasure with his most Excellent Majesty and into reproach and ignominy with the rest of the people to the great danger of Sedition and Disturbance in the State if it be not timely prevented That the Scope and end of the said Richard Montague in the Books before mentioned is to give encouragement to Popery and to withdraw his Majesties Subjects from the true Religion established to the Roman Superstition and consequently to be reconciled to the Sea of Rome All which he laboreth by subtile and cunning ways whereby Gods True Religion hath been much scandalized those Mischiefs introduced which the wisdom of many Laws hath endeavored to prevent the Devices and Practices of his Majesties Enemies have been furthered and advanced to the great peril and hazard of our Soveraign Lord the King and of all his Dominions and loving Subjects That the said Richard Montague hath inserted into the said Book called The Appeal divers passages dishonorable to the late King his Majesties Father of famous memory full of bitterness railing and injurious Speeches to other persons disgracefull and contemptible to many worthy Divines both of this Kingdom and of other Reformed Churches beyond the Seas impious and profane in scoffing at preaching meditating and conferring Pulpits Lectures Bible and all shew of Religion all which do aggravate his former Offences having proceeded from malicious and envenomed heat against the Peace of the Church and the sincerity of the Reformed Religion publickly professed and by Law established in this Kingdom All which Offences being to the dishonor of God and of most mischievous effect and consequence against the good of this Church and Commonwealth of England and of other his Majesties Realms and Dominions The Commons assembled in Parliament do hereby pray That the said Richard Montague may be punished according to his Demerits in such exemplary manner as may deter others from attempting so presumptuously to disturb the Peace of Church and State and that the Book aforesaid may be suppressed and Burnt Whether an Answer was made to these Articles by Mr Montague we cannot tell for upon search we can finde none About the same time his Majesty being informed that there was great liberty taken by divers of his Subjects to resort to the hearing of Masse at Durham-house in the Lodgings of a Foraign Ambassodor the Privy Council taking notice thereof and accounting it scandalous to this Church and of ill example to be suffered at any time but much more in this time of Parliament required the Bishop of Durham to apprehend such of his Majesties Subjects as should be present at the Masse and to commit them to Prison There was also a Letter sent from the Attorney-General to the Judges of the Circuits to direct their Proceedings against Recusants to this effect THat their Lordships will not omit to publish the Kings Gracious and Religious Determination to go on really and constantly in this way and that out of his bounty and goodness he hath published his Resolution under the Great Seal of England That whatsoever Revenue or Benefit shall arise hereby from Purses of Popish Recusants shall be set apart from his own Treasure and be wholly imployed for the Service of the Commonwealth and shall not be dispensed with to any of what degree soever nor diverted by any the Suits of his Servants or Subjects 2. That their Lordships will be pleased at their first coming into every County within their Circuit to command the Clerk of Assise and Clerk of the Peace to be carefull for the Indictment of Popish Recusants without respect of Persons of what Degree of Honor or Office soever and that they neither make nor suffer to be made any omission or mistaking in their Indictment or other proceedings and that the next Term within ten dayes of the beginning of the Term they give or send to him viz. the Attorney a note in writing who stand indicted of new and that they fail not to certifie the Recusants convicted into the Exchequer by that time That at their Lordships first coming into the County they call the Iustices of Peace then present and the Grand-Iury men to give their Lordships true Information of the Recusants of any Note or Name in that Country and that
not but to give you an honest accompt of all my Actions herein And if I shall first to my grave I desire if you find me cleer the reputation of an Honest man and an English-man may attend me thereunto Thus I rest Your dutiful and humble Servant SAMUEL TURNER To the Honorable Sir Henage Finch Speaker of the House of Commons The Monday following Sir W. Walter if the Name be not miswritten in our Collections represented to the House That the Cause of all the Grievances was for that according as it was said of Lewis the Eleventh King of France All the Kings Council rides upon one horse And therefore the Parliament was to advise his Majesty as Iethro did Moses to take unto him Assistants with these qualities 1. Noble from among all the People not Upstarts and of a Nights growth 2. Men of Courage such as will execute their own Places and not commit them to base and undeserving Deputies 3. Fearing God who halt not betwixt two opinions or incline to False worship in respect of a Mother Wife or Father 4. Dealing truly for Courtship Flattery and Pretence become not Kings Councellors but they must be such as the King and Kingdom may trust 5. Hating Covetousness No Bribers nor Sellers of Places in Church or Commonwealth much less Honors and Places about the King and least of all such as live upon other mens ruines 6. They should be many set over Thousands Hundreds Fifties and Tens one Man not ingrossing all Where there is abundance of Counsel there is Peace and Safety 7. They must judge of small matters the greater must go to the King himself not all to the Council much less any one Counsellor must alone manage the whole weight but Royal actions must be done only by the King 8. Lastly Moses chose them Elders not Young men Solomon by miracle and revelation was wise being young but neither his Son nor his young Counsellors had that priviledge No more is it expected in any of our Counsellors until by age and experience they have attained it Sir Iohn Elliot continued the Debate and thus spake WE have had says he a representation of great fear but I hope that shall not darken our understandings There are but two things considerable in this business First the Occasion of our Meeting and secondly the present State of our own Country The first of these we all know and it hath at large been made known unto us and therefore needeth no dispute The latter of these we ought to make known and draw and shew it as in a Perspective in this House For our wills and affections were never more clear more ready as to his Majesty but perhaps bauk'd and check'd in our forwardness by those the King intrusts with the affairs of the Kingdom The last Action was the Kings first Action and the first Actions and Designs of Kings are of great observance in the eye of the World for therein much dependeth the esteem or disesteem of their future proceedings And in this Action the King and Kingdom have suffered much dishonor We are weakned in our strength and safety and many of our men and ships are lost This great Design was fixed on the person of the Lord General who had the whole Command both by Sea and Land And can this great General think it sufficient to put in his Deputy and stay at home Count Mansfield's Actions were so miserable and the going out of those men so ill managed as we are scarce able to say they went out That handful of men sent to the Palatinate and not seconded what a loss was it to all Germany We know well who had then the Kings ear I could speak of the Action of Algier but I will not look so far backward Are not Honors now sold and made despicable Are not Judicial Places sold and do not they then sell Justice again Vendere jure potest emerat ille prius Tully in an Oration against Verres notes That the Nations were Suitors to the Senate of Rome that the Law De pecuniis repetundis might be recalled Which seems strange that those that were Suitors for the Law should seek again to repeal it but the reason was it was perverted to their ill So it is now with us besides inferior and subordinate persons that must have Gratuities they must now feed their great Patrons I shall to our present Case cite two Presidents The first is 16 H. 3. The Treasure was then much exhausted many Disorders complained on the King wronged by some Ministers many Subsidies were then demanded in Parliament but they were denied And then the Lords and Commons joined to desire the King to reassume the Lands which were improvidently granted and to examine his great Officers and the Causes of those Evils which the People then suffered This was yielded unto by the King and Hugo de Burgo was found faulty and was displaced and then the Commons in the same Parliament gave Supply The second President was in the Tenth year of Richard the Second Then the Times were such and Places so changeable that any great Officer could hardly sit to be warmed in his Place Then also Monies had been formerly given and Supply was at that Parliament required but the Commons denied Supply and complained that their Monies were misimployed That the Earl of Suffolk then overruled all and so their Answer was They could not give And they petitioned the King that a Commission might be granted and that the Earl of Suffolk might be examined A Commission at their request was awarded and that Commission recites all the Evil then complained of and that the King upon the Petition of the Lords and Commons had granted that Examination should be taken of the Crown-Lands which were sold of the Ordering of his Houshold and the Disposition of the Jewels of his Grandfather and Father I hear nothing said in this House of our Jewels nor will I speak of them but I could wish they were within these walls We are now in the same case with those former Times we suffer alike or worse And therefore unless we seek redress of these great Evils we shall find disability in the wills of the People to grant I wish therefore that we may hold a dutiful pursuance in preparing and presenting our Grievances For the Three Subsidies and Three Fifteens which are proposed I hold the proportion will not suit with what we would give but yet I know it is all we are able to do or can give and yet this is not to be the stint of our affections but to come again to give more upon just occasions In the heat of these Agitations the Commons notwithstanding remembred the Kings Necessities and took the matter of Supply into consideration and Voted Three Subsidies and Three Fifteens to be paid the last day of Iune and the last of October next following and that the Act be brought in as soon as Grievances are
forward he hath been in the service of this House many times since his return from Spain And therefore his Majesty cannot believe that the aim is at the Duke of Buckingham but findeth that these Proceedings do directly wound the Honor and Judgment of himself and of his Father It is therefore his Majesties express and final commandment That you yield obedience unto those Directions which you have formerly received and cease this Unparliamentary Inquisition and commit unto his Majesties care and wisdom and justice the future reformation of these things which you suppose to be otherwise then they should be And his Majesty is resolved that before the end of this Session he will set such a Course both for the amending of any thing that may be found amiss and for the setling of his own Estate as he doubteth not but will give you ample satisfaction and comfort Next to this his Majesty taketh notice That you have suffered the greatest Council of State to be censured and traduced in the House by men whose Years and Education cannot attain to that depth That Forein businesses have been entertained in the House to the hinderance and disadvantage of his Majesties Negotiations That the same Year yea the first Day of his Majesties Inauguration you suffered his Council Government and Servants to be parallel'd with the Times of most Exception That your Committees have presumed to examine the Letters of Secretaries of State nay his own and sent a general Warrant to his Signet-Office and commanded his Officers not only to produce and shew the Records but their Books and private Notes which they made for his Majesties service This his Majesty holds as unsufferable as it was in former times unusual Next I am to speak concerning your Supply of Three Subsidies and Three Fifteens which you have agreed to tender to his Majesty You have been made acquainted with the greatness of his affairs both at home and abroad with the strong Preparation of the Enemy with the Importance of upholding his Allies strengthening and securing both England and Ireland besides the encountring and annoying the Enemy by a powerful Fleet at Sea and the Charge of all This having been calculated unto you you have professed unto his Majesty by the mouth of your Speaker your carefulness to support the Cause wherein his Majesty and his Allies are justly engaged your unanimous consent and real intention to supply his Majesty in such a measure as should make him safe at home and feared abroad And that in the dispatch hereof you would use such diligence as his Majesties pressing and present occasions did require And now his Majesty having erected a proceeding suitable to this engagement he doth observe that in two days onely of twelve this business was thought of and not begun till his Majesty by a Message put you in minde of it whilest your Inquisition against his Majesties direction proceeded day by day And for the measure of this supply his Majesty findeth it so far from making himself safe at home and feared abroad as contrariwise it exposeth him both to danger and disesteem for his Majesty cannot expect without better help but that his Allies must presently disband and leave him alone to bear the fury of a provoked and powerful Enemy So as both he and you shall be unsafe at home and ashamed and despised abroad And for the manner of the Supply it is in it self very dishonourable and full of distrust For although you have avoided the literal word of a Condition whereof his Majesty himself did warn you when he told you of your Parenthesis yet you have put to it the effect of a Condition since the Bill is not to come into your house until your Grievances be both preferred and answered No such thing was in that expression and engagement delivered by your Speaker from which his Majesty holdeth that you have receded both in matter and manner to his great disadvantage and dishonour And therefore his Majesty commandeth that you go together and by Saturday next return your final Answer what further Supply you will add to this you have already agreed on and that to be without condition either directly or indirectly for the supply of these great and important Affairs of his Majesty which for the reasons formerly made known unto you can endure no longer delay and if you shall not by that time resolve on a more ample Supply his Majesty cannot expect a Supply this way nor promise you to sit longer together otherwise if you do it his Majesty is well content that you shall sit so long as the season of the year will permit and doth assure you that the present addition to your supply to set forward the work shall be no hinderance to your speedy access again His Majesty hath commanded me to add this That therein he doth expect your chearfull obedience which will put a happy issue to this Meeting and will enable his Majesty not onely to a Defensive War but to imploy his Subjects in Foreign Actions whereby will be added to them both experience safety and honor Last of all his Majesty hath commanded me in explanation of the gracious goodness of his Royal intention to say unto you that he doth well know that there are amongst you many wise and well tempered men well affected to the Publick and to his Majesties service and that those that are willingly faulty are not many and for the rest his Majesty doubteth not but after his gracious Admonition they will in due time observe and follow the better sort which if they shall do his Majesty is most ready to forget whatsoever is past Then his Majesty spake again I must withall put you in minde a little of times past you may reremember that in the time of my blessed Father you did with your counsel and perswasion perswade both my Father and me to break off the Treaties I confess I was your Instrument for two reasons one was the fitness of the time the other because I was seconded by so great and worthy a body as the whole body of Parliament then there was no body in so great favor with you as this man whom you seem now to touch but indeed my Fathers Government and mine Now that you have all things according to your wishes and that I am so far ingaged that you think there is no retreat now you begin to set the Dice and make your own Game but I pray you be not deceived it is not a Parliamentary way nor it is not a way to deal with a King Mr Cook told you It was better to be eaten up by a Foreign Enemy then to be destroyed at home Indeed I think 't is more honor for a King to be invaded and almost destroyed by a Foreign Enemy then to be despised by his own Subjects Remember that Parliaments are altogether in my power for their Calling Sitting and Dissolution therefore as I finde the fruits of them
unfortunate mistaking of the Speeches I used to Mr. Clark I shall conclude by entreating your Lordships favor That I may understand from you as I hope for my comfort that this Letter hath given his Majesty satisfaction or if there should yet remain any scruple That I may have a clear and plain signification of the Kings pleasure which I shall obey with all Humility Your Lordships humble Servant BRISTOL The Earl of Bristol petitions the House of Lords shewing That he being a Peer of this Realm had not received a Summons to Parliament and desires their Lordships to mediate with his Majesty that he may enjoy the Liberty of a Subject and the Priviledge of his Peerage after almost two years restraint without being brought to a Tryal And if any Charge be brought in against him he prayeth that he may be tryed by Parliament The business is referred to the Committee of Priviledges and the Earl of Hartford reported from that Committee That it is necessary that their Lordships humbly beseech his Majesty that a Writ of Summons may be sent to the Earl of Bristol as also to such other Lords whose Writs are stopped except such as are made uncapable to sit in Parliament by Judgment of Parliament or some other Legal Judgment Hereupon the Duke signified to the House That upon the Earl of Bristols Petition to the King His Majesty had sent him his Writ of Summons And withal he shewed to the Lords the Copy of a Letter written from the King unto the said Earl being as followeth WE have received your Letter addressed unto us by Buckingham and cannot but wonder that you should through forgetfulness make request to us of favour as if you stood evenly capable of it when you know what you behaviour in Spain deserved of us which you are to examine by the observations we made and know you well remember how at our first coming into Spain taking upon you to be so wise as to foresee our intention to change our Religion you were so far from disswading us that you offered your advice and secresie to cocurre in it and in many other Conferences pressing to shew how convenient it was to be a Roman Catholick it being impossible in your opinion to do any great action otherwise And how much wrong disadvantage and disservice you did to the Treaty and to the Right and Interest of our dear Brother and Sister and their Children what disadvantage inconvenience and hazard you intangled us in by your Artifices putting off and delaying our return home the great estimation you made of that State and the low price you set this Kingdom at still maintaining that we under colour of friendship to Spain did what was in our power against them which you said they very well knew And last of all your approving of those Conditions that our Nephew should be brought up in the Emperors Court to which Sir Walter Ashton then said that he durst not give his consent for fear of his head you replying unto him that without some such great Action neither Marriage nor Peace could âe had Upon the receipt of the Writ Bristol again Petitions the House of Lords and annexes to his Petition the Lord Keepers Letter and his own Answer thereto and desires to be heard in accusation of the Duke The humble Petition of Iohn Earl of Bristol Humbly shewing unto your Lordships THat he hath lately received his Writ of Parliament for which he returneth unto your Lordships most humble thanks but ioyntly with it a Letter from my Lord Keeper commanding him in his Majesties name to forbear his personal attendance and although he shall ever obey the least intimation of his Majesties pleasure yet he most humbly offereth unto your Lordships wise considerations as too high a point for him how far this may trench upon the Liberty and Safety of the Peers and the Authority of their Letters Patents to be in this sort discharged by a Letter missive of any Subject without the Kings hand And for your Lordships due information he hath annexed a Copy of the said Lord Keepers Letter and his Answer thereunto He further humbly Petitioneth your Lordships That having been for the space of two years highly wronged inpoint of his Liberty and of his Honor by many sinister aspersions which have been cast upon him without being permitted to answer for himself which hath been done by the power and industry of the Duke of Buckingham to keep him from the presence of his Majesty and the Parliament lâst he should discover many crimes concerning the said Duke He therefore most humbly beseecheth That he may be heard both in the point of his Wrong and of his Accusation of the said Duke wherein he will make it appear how infinitely the said Duke hath both abused their Majesties the State and both the Houses of Parliament And this he is most confident will not be denied since the Court of Parliament never refuseth to hear the poorest Subject seeking for redress of Wrongs nor the Accusation against any be he never so powerfull And herein he beseecheth your Lordships to mediate to his Majesty for the Suppliants coming to the House in such sort as you shall think fitting assuring his Majesty That all he shall say shall not onely tend to the Service of his Majesty and the State but highly to the Honor of his Majesties Royal Person and of his Princely vertues And your Suppliant shall ever pray for your Lordships prosperity The Lord Keeper to the Earl of Bristol March 31. 1626. My very good Lord BY his Majesties commandment I herewith send unto your Lordship your Writ of summons for the Parliament but withal signifie his Majesties pleasure herein further that howsoever he gives way to the awarding of the Writ yet his meaning is thereby not to discharge any former directions for restraint of your Lordships coming hither but that you continue under the same restriction as you did before so as your Lordships personal attendance is to be forborn and therein I doubt not but your Lordship will readily give his Majesty satisfaction And so I commend my service very heartily unto your Lordship and remain Your Lordships assured Friend and Servant THO. COVENTRY C.S. Dorset-Court March 31. 1626. His Answer to the Lord Keeper May it please your Lordship I Have received your Lordships Letter of the 31 of March and with it his Majesties Writ of Summons for the Parliament In the one his Majesty commandeth me that all excuses set aside upon my Faith and Allegiance I fail not to come to attend his Majesty And this under the Great Seal of England In the other as in a Letter missive his Majesties pleasure is intimated by your Lordship that my personal attendance should be forborn I must crave leave ingenuously to confess unto your Lordship that I want judgement rightly to direct my self in this Case as likewise that I am ignorant how far this may trench
upon the Priviledges of the Peers of this Land and upon mine and their safety hereafter For if the Writ be not obeyed the Law calleth it a Misprission and highly fineable whereof we have had late examples and a missive Letter being avowed or not is to be doubted would not be adjudged a sufficient discharge against the Great-Seal of England On the other side if the Letter be not obeyed a Peer may De facto be committed upon a Contempt in the interim and the Question cleared afterwards so that in this case it is above mine abilities I can onely answer your Lordship that I will most exactly obey and to the end I may understand which obedience will be in all kindes most suitable to my duty I will presently repair to my private Lodging at London and there remain until in this and other Causes I shall have petitioned his Majesty and understand his further pleasure For the second part of your Lordships Letter where your Lordship saith That his Majesties meaning is not thereby to discharge any former directions for restraint of your Lordships coming hither but that you continue under the same restriction as before so that your Lordships personal attendance here is to be forborne I conceive your Lordship intendeth this touching my coming to Parliament onely for as touching my comning to London I never had at any time one word of prohibition or colourable pretence of restraint but on the contrary having his late Majesties express leave to come to London to follow my affairs out of my respect to his Majesty then Prince and to the Duke of Buckingham I forbore to come until I might know whether my coming would not be disagreeable unto them whereunto his Majesty was pleased to answer both under the hand of the Duke and of Mr Secretary Conway That he took my respect unto him herein in very good part and would wish me to make use of the leave the King had given me since which time I never received any Letter or Message of restraint onely his Majesty by his Letter bearing date June the last commandeth me to remain as I was in the time of the King his Father which was with liberty to come to London to follow mine own affairs as I pleased as will appear unto your Lordship if you will afford me so much favor as to peruse them I have writ this much unto your Lordship because I would not through misunderstanding fall into displeasure by my coming up and to intreat your Lordship to inform his Majesty thereof And that my Lord Conway by whose Warrant I was onely restrained in the late Kings time of famous memory may produce any one word that may have so much as any colourable pretence of debarring my coming up to London I beseech your Lordship to pardon my desire to have things clearly understood for the want of that formerly hath caused all my troubles and when any thing is misinformed concerning me I have little or no means to clear it so that my chief labor is to avoid misunderstanding I shall conclude with beseeching your Lordship to do me this favor to let his Majesty understand that my coming up is onely rightly to understand his pleasure whereunto I shall in all things most dutifully and humbly conform my self And so with my humble service to your Lordship I recommend you to Gods holy protection and remain Your Lordships most humble Servant BRISTOL Sherborn April 12. 1626. Hereupon the Lord Keeper delivered this Message from the King to the House of Lords THat his Majesty hath heard of a Petition preferred unto this House by the Earl of Bristol so void of duty and respects to his Majesty that he hath great cause to punish him That he hath also heard with what duty and respectfulness to his Majesty their Lordships have proceeded therein which his Majesty conceiveth to have been upon the knowledge they have that he hath been restrained for matters of State and his Majesty doth therefore give their Lordships thanks for the same and is resolved to put the Cause upon the honor and justice of their Lordships and this House And therefore his Majesty commanded him the Lord Keeper to signifie to their Lordships his Royal pleasure That the Earl of Bristol be sent for as a Delinquent to answer in this House his Offences committed in his Negotiations before his Majesties being in Spain and his Offences since his Majesties coming from Spain and his scandalizing the Duke of Buckingham immediately and his Majesty by reflection with whose privity and by whose directions the Duke did guide his Actions and without which he did nothing All which his Majesty will cause to be charged against him before their Lordships in this House The Lords appointed a Committee to attend the King and to present their humble thanks to his Majesty for the trust and confidence he had placed in the honor and justice of their House About this time the Marshal of Middlesex petitioned to the Committee of the House of Commons touching his resistance in seising of Priests goods A Warrant was made by Mr Attorney General to Iohn Tendring Marshal of Middlesex and other therein named to search the Prison of the Clink and to seise all Popish and Superstitious matters there found A Letter also was directed to Sir George Paul a Justice of Peace in Surrey to pray him to take some care and pains to expedite that service On Good Friday April 7. Sir George Paul was ready by six a clock in the morning five or six Constables being charged and about an hundred persons to aid and assist them The Marshall being attended with the persons named in the Warrant and divers others of his own servants and the Aid being provided by Sir George Paul came to the Clink and finding a door open without any Porter or Door-keeper at all entred without resistance at the first appearing But immediately upon discovery of his purpose the Concourse of people without and his unexpected entrance giving occasion thereto the Porter steps up shuts the door and keeps the Marshal and some few that entred together with him within and his Aid without resisting them that would enter their Warrant being shewed notwithstanding until by force another door was broken open by which the other persons named in the Warrant the Marshals men with the Constables and others appointed for their assistance with Halberts did enter also leaving sufficient company without to guard the three several doors belonging to the House Being within the Marshall gave direction to his followers to disperse themselves into several parts of the House to the end that whilest he did search in one part the other parts and places might be safely guarded and so he proceeded in his search in the prosecution whereof he found four several Priests in the house viz. Preston Cannon Warrington Prator Preston was committed to the Clink about 16 years since and discharged of his imprisonment about
used towards them as they expected and with so many Answers from the Earl had on their part been undertaken the said Prince our now gratious Soveraign was inforced out of his love to his Countrey to his Allies Friends and Confederates and to the peace of Christendom who all suffered by those intolerable delays in his own person to undertake his long and dangerous journey into Spain that thereby he might either speedily conclude those Treaties or perfectly discover that on the Emperors and King of Spains part there was no true and real intention to bring the same to conclusion upon any fit and honorable terms and conditions and did absolutely and speedily break them off By which journey the person of the said Prince being then Heir-Apparant to the Crown of this Realm and in his person the peace and safety of this Kingdom did undergo such apparant and such inevitable danger as at the very remembrance thereof the hearts of all good Subjects do even tremble II. Offences done and committed by the said Earl during the time of the Princes being in Spain VII THat at the Princes coming into Spain during the time aforesaid the Earl of Bristol cunningly falsly and traiterously moved and perswaded the Prince being then in the power of a foreign King of the Romish Religion to change his Religion which was done in this manner At the Princes first coming to the said Earl he asked the Prince for what he came thither the Prince at first not conceiving the Earls meaning answered You know as well as I. The Earl replied Sir Servants can never serve their Master industriously although they may do it faithfully unless they know their meanings fully Give me leave therefore to tell you what they say in the Town is the cause of your coming That you mean to change your Religion and to declare it here And yet cunningly to disguise it the Earl added further Sir I do not speak this that I will perswade you to do it or that I will promise you to follow your example though you will do it but as your faithful Servant if you will trust me with so great a secret I will endeavor to carry it the discreetest way I can The Prince being moved at this unexpected motion again said unto him I wonder what you have ever found in me that you should conceive I would be so base and unworthy as for a Wife to change my Religion The said Earl replying desired the Prince to pardon him if he had offended him it was but out of his desire to serve him Which perswasions of the said Earl was the more dangerous because the more subtile whereas it had been the duty of a faithful Servant to God and his Master if he had found the Prince staggering in his Religion to have prevented so great an error and to have perswaded against it so to have avoided the dangerous consequence thereof to the true Religion and to the State if such a thing should have hapned VIII That afterwards during the Princes being in Spain the said Earl having conference with the said Prince about the Romish Religion he endeavored falsly and traiterously to perswade the Prince to change his Religion and to become a Romish Catholick and to become obedient to the usurped Authority of the Pope of Rome And to that end and purpose the said Earl traiterously used these words unto the said Prince That the State of England never did any great thing but when they were under the obedience of the Pope of Rome and that it was impossible they could do any thing of note otherwise IX That during the time of the Princes being in Spain the Prince consulting and advising with the said Earl and others about a new offer made by the King of Spain touching the Palatinates Eldest Son to marry with the Emperors Daughter but then he must be bred up in the Emperors Courts the said Earl delivered his opinion That the Proposition was reasonable whereat when Sir Walter Aston then present falling into some passion said That he durst not for his head consent to it the Earl of Bristol replied That he saw no such great inconvenience in it for that he might be bred up in the Emperors Court in our Religion But when the extream danger and in a manner the impossibility thereof was pressed unto the said Earl he said again That without some great Action the Peace of Christendom would never be had which was so dangerous and so desperate a Counsel that one so near the Crown of England should be poysoned in his Religion and become an unfriend to our State that the consequences thereof both for the present and future times were infinitely dangerous and yet hereunto did his disaffection to our Religion the blindness in his Judgment misled by his sinister respects and the too much regard he had to the House of Austria lead him III. Offences done and committed by the said Earl after the Princes coming from Spain X. THat when the Prince had clearly found himself and his Father deluded in these Treaties and hereupon resolved to return from the Court of Spain yet because it behoved him to part fairly he left the powers of the Desponsories with the Earl of Bristol to be delivered upon the return of the Dispensation from Rome which the King of Spain insisted upon and without which as he pretended he would not conclude the Marriage The Prince foreseeing and fearing lest after the Desponsories the Infanta that should then be his Wife might be put into a Monastery wrote a Letter back to the said Earl from Segovia thereby commanding him not to make use of the said Powers until he could give him assurance that a Monastery should not rob him of his Wife which Letter the said Earl received and with speed returned an Answer thereto into England perswading against this Direction yet promising Obedience thereunto Shortly after which the Prince sent another Letter to the said Earl into Spain discharging him of his farther command But his late Majesty by the same Messenger sent him a more express direction not to dispatch the Desponsories until a full Conclusion were had of the other Treaty of the Palatinate with this of the Marriage for his Majesty said That he would not have one Daughter to laugh and leave the other Daughter weeping In which Dispatch although there were some mistaking yet in the next following the same was corrected and the Earl of Bristol tyed to the same Restriction which himself confessed in one of his Dispatches afterwards and promised to obey punctually the Kings command therein yet nevertheless contrary to his Duty and Alleagiance in another Letter sent immediately after he declared That he had set a day for the Desponsories without any Assurance or so much as treating of those things which were commanded to him as Restrictions and that so short a day that if extraordinary diligence with good success in the Journey had not concurred
of future Actions the Copy whereof is this as followeth SIR THe Opinion which I have ever presumed humbly to offer unto his Majesty concerning your Highness Marriage hath been that both in regard of Conscience and satisfaction unto his Majesties People and Alleys likewise for the security and quiet of your Majesties estates Your Highness might take for Wife some Protestant Princess although she neither were Daughter to a King nor had so ample a Portion as might relieve the Kings present Necessities and Wants for then there might be many ways found to help the Kings wants either by some few years providence and frugality or by winning the affections of the people to the supplying of his Majesty by way of Subsidies in Parliament whereas contrariwise if the number and power of the Papists shall be increased as undoubtedly they will be by your Highness matching with any Catholick Princess through the Concession which must be of necessity for the exercise of her Religion for her self and Family within your Highness Courts and thereby by degrees these two different Religions shall grow to an equality of power it will be of great hazard and disquiet to the State and not to be redressed without great danger and courses of more violence then is usual for this State to put in practice But in case his Majesty out of his wisdom and consideration best known to himself hold it fittest that your Majestie match with France or Spain or any other Catholick either for that the present time affordeth no Protestant Princess who is for years or Blood suitable for your Highness or that can in any considerable measure by the portion supply his Majesties present wants I then conceive that the Match by which this State shall suffer least inconveniency and cumbers and whereby his Majesties necessities shall by the greatness of the Portion be the most relieved is with Spain is such a Match may be made with such Conditions of Religion as other Catholick Princes will contract themselves withall Thus much I thought sit humbly to present unto your Highness for that I see my Imployment liable to the Censure of many worthy Persons with whom though I concur in my Opinion yet I seem much to differ from them many ways For that it is more proper to me to be true to my Masters ends and services then by declaring this to procure their satisfaction Only to your Highness I thought fit to make this Declaration and shall be a Suitor to you for your favor as you shall see me really labor to put this in effect And if his Majesty shall either upon motion of Parliament or any other Proposition that can be made unto him think it fit to proceed with a Protestant Match as I shall wish as well unto it as any man living so I hope in such sort to manage the present business that I have in hand that it shall rather much further then any way cross or hinder it But in case his Majesty shall not be drawn to any Proposition for a Protestant Match I then conceive that your Highness both doth and will approve that I really and effectually labor to procure a Match for your Highness in Spain upon such Conditions in point of Religion and Portion as to his Majesty shall seem fit Besides which Declaration of his Opinion He hath all the days of his life and in all places lived and allowed himself to be a Protestant never having done any the least act that was not suitable to that Profession And in all his former Imployments for the space of Fourteen years of more then Five hundred persons of all qualities that attended on him there was never any perverted in his Religion saving two Irish Footmen who in Ireland had been bred Papists And he humbly desireth the Testimony of Doctor Mason and Doctor Wren his Majesties Chaplains who were with his Majesty in Spain and of Master Sampford one of the Prebends of Canterbury Master Boswell Parson of S. Laurence in London and Master Frewen Divinity-Reader in Magdalen-Colledge in Oxford and now one of his Majesties Chaplains who were his Majesties Chaplains in Spain as well for the frequent use of the Sacrament as constant profession and exercises of Religion and the testimony of such Catholicks as are known to have been his antient Acquaintance and Friends to examine them upon oath Whether publickly or privately in Spain or in England they had known him in any kind to make shew or so much as to forbear upon all occasions to declare the Religion he professeth And that the said Mr. Frewen and Mr. Wake may be also examined Whether in extremity of several sicknesses whereinto he hath of late years fallen he hath not ever setled his Conscience withthem towards God and made a Confession of his Faith resolving as be-fitting a Protestant or good Christian. VIII To the Eighth Article the Earl saith That he did not at any time or in any place endeavor to perswade the Prince touching his religion to become a Roman Catholick and to be obedient to the usurped authority of Rome Neither did the said Earl to that end and purpose or otherwise use unto his Majesty then Prince the words in the Article mentioned But the said Earl acknowledgeth that upon occasion of a Letter that came to his Majesty then Prince putting his Majesty in mind of the great actions of his Royal Progenitors in the Holy War that the great Kings of those times did not only imploy their Forces but in their persons went into the Holy Land The Earl believeth that by way of discourse only and not otherwise he may have said That in regard of the difference in Religion it was of more difficulty to undertake such great actions now then in former Ages and it might well be instanced in the present Treaty of the Marriage wherein the Popes consent was to be obtained And to this effect and upon the like grounds he is confident there were very many that have nay few of neerness about his late Majesty that have not often heard his Majesty say That he was the true Martyr that suffered more for his Religion then all the Princes of Christendom besides instancing in divers particulars but especially in this That he could not match his Children with Kings of his own rank without the Popes leave But the said Earl saith He never alleaged any such thing to any other purpose then to shew that only Conscience and love to Truth in which regard Protestants suffered much not any temporal respects made men constant and zealous to the profession of our Religion By which discourse he ever attributed much to the honor and security of Protestant religion but never used it as an argument to perswade to the contrary as in the Accusation is insinuated Besides he conceiveth by way of Answer thereunto the said Question may be asked which his Majesty was pleased to ask of the Earl in the Seventh Article viz.
but look upon it and for want of Perspectives commend the nearer examination to your Lordships who may behold it at a nearer distance Such a prodigious Comet the Commons take this Duke of Buckingham to be against whom and his irregular ways there are by learned Gentlemen legal Articles of Charge to be delivered to your Lordships which I am generally first commanded to lay open 1. The Offices of this Kingdom that are the Eyes the Ears and the Hands of this Commonwealth these have been ingrossed bought and sold and many of the greatest of them holden even in the Dukes own hands which severally gave in former ages sufficient content to greatest Favorites and were work enough for wisest Counsellors by means whereof what strange abuses what infinite neglects have followed The Seas have been unguarded Trade disturbed Merchants oppressed their Ships and even one of the Royal Navy by cunning practice delivered over into Foreign hands and contrary to our good Kings intention employed to the prejudice almost to the ruine of Friends of our own Religion 2. Next Honors those most pretious Jewels of the Crown a Treasure inestimable wherewith your Noble Ancestors my Lords were well rewarded for eminent and publick Service in the Common-wealth at home for brave exploits abroad when covered all with dust and blood they sweat in service for the honor of this Crown What back-ways what by-ways have been by this Duke found out is too well known to your Lordships whereas antiently it was the honor of England as among the Romans the way to the Temple of Honor was through the Temple of Vertue But I am commanded to press this no further then to let your Lordships know one instance may perhaps be given of some one Lord compelled to purchase Honor 3. As divers of the Dukes poor Kinred have been raised to great honors which have been and are likely to be more chargeable and burthensome to the Crown so the Lands and Revenews and the Treasuries of his Majesty have been intercepted and exhausted by this Duke and his Friends and strangely mis-employed with strange confusion of the Accounts and overthrow of the well established antient Orders of his Majesties Exchequer 4. The last of the Charges which are prepared will be an injury offered to the person of the late King of Blessed memory who is with God of which as your Lordships may have heard heretofore you shall anon have further information Now upon this occasion I am commanded by the Commons to take care of the honor of the King our Soveraign that lives long may he live to our comfort and the good of the Christian World and also of his Blessed Father who is dead on whom to the grief of the Commons and their great distaste the Lord Duke did they conceive unworthily cast some ill odor of his own foul ways whereas Servants were antiently wont to bear as in truth they ought their Masters faults and not cast their own on them undeservedly It is well known the King who is with God had the same power and the same wisdom before he knew this Duke yea and the same affections too through which as a good and gratious Master he advanced and raised some Stars of your Lordships Firmament in whose hands this exorbitancy of will this transcendency of power such placing and displacing of Officers such irregular runing into all by-courses of the Planets such sole and single managing of the great Affairs of State was never heard of And therefore onely to the Lord Duke and his procurement by mis-informations these faults complained of by the Commons are to be imputed And for our most Gratious Soveraign that lives whose name hath been used and may perhaps now be for the Dukes justification the Commons know well That among his Majesties most Royal Virtues his Piety unto his Father hath made him a pious nourisher of his Affections ever to the Lord Duke on whom out of that consideration his Majesty hath wrought a kinde of wonder making Favor Hereditary but the abuse thereof must be the Lord Dukes own And if there have been any Commands such as were or may be pretended his mis-informations have procured them whereas the Laws of England teach us That Kings cannot command ill or unlawful things when ever they speak though by their Letters Patents or their Seals If the things be evil these Letters Patents are void and whatsoever ill event succeeds the Executioners of such Commands must ever answer for them Thus my Lords in performance of my duty my weakness hath been troublesome unto your Lordships it is now high time humbly to entreat your pardon and give way to a learned Gentleman to begin a more particular charge Then were read the First Second and Third Articles viz. 1. THat whereas the great Offices expressed in the said Dukes Stile and Title heretofore have been the singular Preferments of several Persons eminent in Wisdom and Trust and fully able for the weighty Service and greatest Employments of the State whereby the said Offices were both carefully and sufficiently executed by several Persons of such Wisdom Trust and Ability And others also that were employed by the Royal Progenitors of our Soveraign Lord the King in places of less Dignity were much encouraged with the hopes of advancement And whereas divers of the said places severally of themselves and necessarily require the whole care industry and attendance of a most provident and most able person He the said Duke being yong and unexperienced hath of late years with exorbitant Ambition and for his own profit and advantage procured and ingrossed into his own hands the said several Offices both to the danger of the State the prejudice of that Service which should have been performed in them and to the great discouragement of others who by this his procuring and ingrossing of the said Offices are precluded from such hopes as their Vertues Abilities and Publick Employments might otherwise have given them II. Whereas by the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom of England if any person whatsoever give or pay any sum of Money Fee or Reward directly or indirectly for any Office or Offices which in any-wise touch or concern the Administration or Execution of Justice or the keeping of any of the Kings Majesties Towns Castles or Fortresses being used occupied or appointed for places of strength and defence the same person is immediately upon the same Fee Money or Reward given or paid to be adjudged a disabled person in the Law to all intents and purposes to have occupy or enjoy the said Office or Offices for the which he so giveth or payeth any sum of Money Fee or Reward He the said Duke did in or about the Moneth of Ianuary in the Sixteenth year of the late King Iames of Famous memory give and pay to the Right Honorable Charles then Earl of Nottingham for the Office of Great Admiral of England and Ireland and the Principality of
complained of and what punishment it may deserve His fault consisteth in the unjust extorting and receiving the Ten thousand pounds from the East-India Company against their wills by colour of his Office Yet as offenders in this kinde have commonly some colour to disguise and mask their Corruptions so had he His colour was the Release of his pretended right to the Tenth part or some other share of the Goods supposed to be Piratically taken at Sea by the Captain and their Servants of the Company And though his Lordship may perhaps call his act therein a lawful Composition I must crave pardon of your Lordships to say thus That if his supposed right had been good this might peradventure have been a fair Composition The same pretence being unsound and falling away it was a meer naked Bribe and unjust extortion For if way should be given to take money by colour of Releases of pretended rights men great in power and in evil would never want means to extort upon the meaner sort at their pleasures with impunity It remains therefore that I should prove unto your Lordships onely two things First That a pretence of right by the Duke if he had none will not excuse him in this case and in the next place to shew by reason and good warrant That he had in Law no right at all to Release For the former I will relie upon the substance of two noteable presidents of Judgments in Parliament the one antient in the 10 Rich. 2. At which time the Commons preferred divers Articles unto the Lords in Parliament against Michael de la Pool Earl of Suffolk Lord Chancellor of England accusing him amongst other things by the first Article of his Charge That while he was Lord Chancellor he had refused to give Livery to the cheif Master of St. Anthonies of the profit pertaining to that Order till he had security from them with Sureties by Recognisance of Three thousand pounds for the payment of One hundred pounds per annum to the Earl and to Iohn his Son for their lives The Earl by way of Answer set forth a pretended Title in his Son to the cheif Mastership of that Order and that he took that One hundred pound per annum as a Composition for his Sons right The Commons replied shewing amongst other things That the taking of Money for that which should have been done freely was a selling of the Law and so prayed Judgment In conclusion the pretended right of his Son not being just or approved the offence remained single by it self a sale of Law and Justice as the Law termeth it and not a Composition for the Release of his Interest So the Earl for this amongst the rest was sentenced and greatly punished as by the Records appeareth The other President of like nature is more Modern in the Case of the Earl of Middlesex late Lord Treasurer of England who was charged by the Commons in Parliament and transmitted to your Lordships for taking of Five hundred pounds of the Farmers of the Great Customs as a Bribe for allowing of that Security for payment of their Rent to the late Kings Majesty which without such reward of Five hundred pounds he had formerly refused to allow of The Earl pretended for himself That he had not onely that Five hundred pound but Five hundred pounds more in all One thousand pounds of those Farmers for a Release of his Claim to Four of Two and thirty parts of that Farm But upon the proof it appearing to your Lordships That he had not any such part of that Farm as he pretended it was in the Thirteenth day of May in the Two and twentieth year of his late Majesties reign Adjudged by your Lordships in Parliament which I think is yet fresh in your Memories That the Earl for this amongst other things should undergo many grievous Censures as appeareth by the Records of your Lordships house which I have lately seen and perused And now being to prove that the said Duke had no title to any part of the Goods by him claimed against the East-India Company I shall easily make it manifest if his Lordships pretence by his own Allegation in the Admiralty were true That the Goods whereof he claims his share were Piratically taken From which Allegation as he may not now recede so is it clear by Reason and Authority That of such Goods no part or share whatsoever is due to the Lord Admiral in right of his Office or otherways 1. For that the parties from whom the same were taken ought to have restitution demanding it in due and reasonable time and it were an injury to the intercourse and Law of Nations if the contrary should be any way tolerated 2. Secondly by Law for so are the Statutes of this Kingdom and more especially in 27 Edw. 3.13 whereby it was provided That if any Merchant privy or stranger be robbed of his Goods upon the Sea and the same come afterwards into this Realm the owner shall be received to prove such Goods to be his and upon proof thereof shall have the same restored to him again Likewise 1 2 3 Edw. 6.18 in the Act of Parliament touching Sir Thomas Seymour Great Admiral of England who therein amongst divers other things is charged with this That he had taken to his own use Goods Piratically taken against the Law whereby he moved almost all Christian Princes to conceive a grudge and displeasure and by open War to seek remedy by their own hands And therefore for this amongst other things he was attainted of High Treason as appeareth by that Act wherein the Law is so declared to be as before is expressed But if it should be admitted that the Duke had a right in this case for which he might compound yet the manner of his seeking to try and recover such his right is in it self an high Offence and clearly unlawful in many respects whereof I will touch but a few As in making the most Honorable House of Parliament an Instrument to effect his private ends for his profit In proceeding to arest and stay the Ships of men not apt to flie but well able to answer and satisfie any just Suits which he might have against them though their Ships had gone on in their Voyage In prosecuting things so unseasonably and urging them so extreamly by his Advocate for bringing in of so great a sum of money upon the sudden and formally under colour of Justice and Service of the State In reducing that Company into that straight and necessity that it was as good for them to compound though the Duke had no title as to defend their own just right against him upon these disadvantages which by his power and industry he had put upon them Then he read the Seventh and Eighth Articles which he handled joyntly as being not two Charges but two sevearl parts of one and the same Charge and when he had read them he went on speaking further to
then to believe That the said ships were never meant or any way in danger to be imployed against the Rochellors or those of our Religion in France and herein he did great injury and disservice to his Majesty to the great scandal and prejudice of our Religion and Affairs and highly abused both the Lords and Commons by this cautelous and subtile Speech and Insinuation and thereby gave both Houses occasion to forbear Petitioning or suing to his Majesty for Redress in this Business while the time was not then passed for the ships were not as then actually imployed against the Rochellors albeit in truth they were then delivered into the French Kings power And the same time before the Parliament was dissolved Captain Pennington who could have opened the whole truth of the business for the Service of the King and the Realm came to Oxford but was there drawn to conceal himself by means of the Duke and not to publish in due time his knowledge of the Premisses as was there shortly after reported The truth whereof the Lords in this Parliament may be pleased to examine as they shall see cause the Parliament at Oxford being shortly after viz. Aug. 12. unhappily dissolved In or about September 1625. The said ships were actually imployed against the Rochellors and their Friends to their exceeding great prejudice and almost utter ruine It hath been said by some of the French that the Vantguard she mowed them down like grass To the great dishonor of our Nation and the scandal of our Religion and to the disadvantage of the great affairs of this Kingdom and all Christendom Also the Ships themselves were in eminent peril to be utterly lost for lack of sufficient Cautions If they be come home since this Parliament sate down long after the matter was here expounded and taken into examination It may be well presumed that it is by some underhand procuring of the Duke and the secret complying of the French with him to colour out the matter which the Lords may examine as they see cause The one and onely English-man that presumed to stay in one of the Ships and serve against the poor Rochellors of our Religion at his return was slain in charging a Peece of Ordnance not by him well sponged In February last 1625. Monsieur de la Touche having speech with Master Thomas Sherwell a Member of the Commons House of Parliament at Salisbury as he was coming up to the Parliament and Monsieur de la Touche going down into Somerset-shire to Master John Pawlets to Monsieur Sobysa He told Master Sherwell in the hearing also of one Master Iohn Clements of Plymouth who is now in Town the words that the Duke had spoken to him the last Summer touching these Ships and thereupon used these words Ce Duque est un meshant homme Upon this whole Narration of the Fact touching the manner of Delivery of the Ships to the French divers things may be observed wherein the Dukes offences do consist As In betraying a Ship of the Kings Royal Navy unto a Foreign Princes hand without good Warrant for the same The dispossessing the Subjects of this Realm of their Ships and Goods by many artifices and subtilties and in conclusion with high hand and open violence against the good will of the Owners In breaking the duty of Lord Admiral and Guardian of the Ships and Seas of this Kingdom In varying from the original good Instructions and presuming to give others of his own head in matters of State In violating the duty of a sworne Privy-Counsellor to his Majesty In abusing both Houses of Parliament by a cautelous Misinformation under a colour of a Message from his Majesty And in disadvantaging the Affairs of those of our Religion in Foreign parts Offences of an high and grievous nature For the proof of some parts thereof which are not the least I offer to your Lordships consideration the Statute of the 2 3 E. 6. touching the Duke of Somerset wherein is recited That amongst other things he did not suffer the Piers called the Newhaven and Blackerst in the parts beyond the Seas to be furnished with victuals and money whereby the French were encouraged to invade and win the same Aud for this offence amongst others it was Enacted That a great part of his Land should be taken from him And if Non-feazance in a matter tending to lose a fixed Castle belonging to the King be an high offence then the actual putting of a Ship Royal of the Kings into the hand of a Foreign Prince which is a moveable and more useful Castle and Fortress of the Realm must needs be held a greater offence I will forbear to cite any more Presidents of this kind because some of those who have gone before me have touched at divers Presidents of this nature which may be applied to this my part Only because the abuse of the Parliament which is the chiefest Council of State and Court of Judicature in the Realm is not the least offence in this business I shall desire your Lordships to take into consideration the Statute of Westm. 1. cap. 30. whereby such as seem to beguile Courts of Justice are to be sore judged in the same Courts and punished as by that Statute appeareth So he concluded and left the Duke to their Lordships equal Justice The Ninth and Tenth Articles were read next IX Whereas the Titles of Honor of this Kingdom of England were wont to be conferred as great Rewards upon such vertuous and industrious Persons as had merited them by their faithful service The said Duke by his importunate and subtile procurement hath not only perverted that antient and most honorable way but also unduly for his own particular gain he hath enforced some that were rich though unwilling to purchase Honor As the Lord R. Baron of T. who by practice of the said Duke and his Agents was drawn up to London in or about October in the Two and twentieth year of Reign of the late King Iames of famous memory and there so threatened and dealt withall that by reason thereof he yielded to give and accordingly did pay the sum of Ten thousand pounds to the said Duke and to his use For which said sum the said Duke in the moneth of Ianuary in the Two and twentieth year of the said lake King procured the Title of Baron R. of T. to the said Lord R. In which practice as the said Lord R. was much wronged in his particular so the Example thereof tendeth to the prejudice of the Gentry and dishonor of the Nobility of this Kingdom X. Whereas no Places of Judicature in the Courts of Justice of our Soveraign Lord the King nor other like Preferments given by the Kings of this Realm ought to be procured by any Subject whatsoever for any Reward Bribe or Gift He the said Duke in or about the moneth of December in the Eighteenth year of the Reign of the late King Iames of famous
memory did procure of the said King the Office of High Treasurer of England to the Lord Vicount M. now Earl of M. Which Office at his procurement was given and granted accordingly to the Lord Vicount M. And as a Reward for the said procurement of the same Grant he the said Duke did then receive to his own use of and from the said Lord Vicount M. the sum of 20000 l. of lawful money of England And also in or about the moneth of Ianuary in the sixteenth year of the Reign of the said late King did procure of the said late King of famous memory the Office of Master of the Wards and Liveries to and for Sir L. C. afterward Earl of M. which Office was upon the same procurement given and granted to the said Sir L.C. And as a reward for the same procurement he the said Duke had to his own use or to the use of some other person by him appointed of the said Sir L.C. the sum of Six thousand pounds of lawful money of England contrary to the Dignity of our Soveraign Lord the King and against the duty that should have been performed by the said Duke unto him These as also the Eleventh Article were enlarged and aggravated by Mr. Pym in this manner My Lords ALthough I know that I shall speak to my own disadvantage yet I shall labor to speak with as little disadvantage to the matter as I can I have no learning or ornament whereby I might shew my self and I shall think it enough plainly to shew the matter For all that I aim at is that I may lose nothing of the Cause And therefore my Lords I shall apply my self with as much convenient brevity as one that knows that your Lordships time is much more precious then my words Your Lordships being such Judges as will measure things by true and natural proportions and not by the proportion of the action or expression The first entrance into my service must be reading the Articles My Lords This Charge for matter of Fact is so notorious and apparent that it needs no proof that these Honors have been procured And therefore I will only insist upon the Consequence First I will shew That by this fact the Duke hath committed a great Offence And secondly That this Offence hath produced a great Grievance to the Commonwealth And I will conclude in strengthening the whole by some Presidents of former times that Parliaments have proceeded in that course in which your Lordships are like to proceed First to prove it a fault or an offence I must prove that there was a duty for every fault presupposeth a duty And in this case the first work is to shew that the Duke was bound to do otherwise For which I need to alleage nothing else then that he is a sworne Servant and Counsellor to the King and so ought to have preferred his Majesties honor and service before his own pride in seeking to Ennoble all that Blood that concerned him And it is not enough to say that it is not questionable For there have been Great men questioned in the like cases There be some Laws made that are particular according to the temper and occasions of several States There are other Laws that be coessential and collateral with Government and if those Laws be broken all things run to disorder and confusion Such is that Rule observed in all States of suppressing Vice to encourage Vertue by apt Punishment and Rewards And this the fittest Law to insist upon in a Court of Parliament when the Proceedings are not limited either by the Civil or Common Laws but matters are adjudged according as they stand in opposition or conformity with that which is suprema lex Salus populi 2. By this late Law whoever moves the King to bestow Honor which is the greatest reward binds himself to make good a double proportion of Merit in that Party who is to receive it The first of value and excellence the second of continuance and durableness And as this Honor sets men up above others so they should be eminent in vertue beyond others As it is perpetual not ending with their persons but descending upon their posterity so there ought to be in the first root of this Honor some such active merit in the service of the Commonwealth as might transmit a vigorous Example to his Successors whereby they may be raised to an Imitation of the like Vertues He said he would for bear to urge this point further out of a modest respect to those persons whom it did collaterally concern professing his Charge to be wholly against the Duke of Buckingham 3. From the consideration of Honor together with the price of Money The which being compared together may be reduced to two heads may it please your Lordships The one being earthly and base may be bought with a proportionable price of white and red earth Gold and Silver The other which is spiritual which is sublime to which Money cannot be a proportionable price Honor is transcendent in regard it was held a sacred and divine thing insomuch that there was a Temple dedicated to her by the Romans And so I conclude by prescription that Honor is a divine thing for the Scripture calls Kings Gods and then those that are about Kings must needs be resembled to those Powers and Principalities that attend next to the Throne And if Honor be such a divine thing it must not then be bought with so base a price as Money 4. Lastly Honor is a Publick thing it is the reward of Publick Deserts And thus your Lordships have seen that the sale of Honor is an offence unnatural against the Law of Nature Now what an offence this is your Lordships may discern considering the kinds of the offence and the Adjuncts which I now fall upon 1. It extremely deâlowers the Flowers of the Crown for it makes them cheap to all beholders 2. It takes from the Crown the most fair and frugal Reward of deserving Servants For when Honor comes to be at so mean a rate as to be sold there is no Great man will look after it 3. It is the way to make a man more studious for lucre and gain then of sufficiencie in Vertue when they know that they shall be preferred to Titles of Honor according to the heaviness of purse and not for the weightiness of their merit 4. It introduceth a strange confusion mingling the meaner with the more pure and refined metal 5. Lastly It is a prodigious scandal to this Nation as the House of Commons think For Examples and Presidents I am confident there are none and your Lordships can look for none because it is not parallel'd to any President But certainly it is now a fit time to make a President of this man this great Duke that hath been lately raised to this transcendent height in our Sphere who thinketh he cannot shine enough unless he dim your Lordships Honors in
making the same contemptible through the sale of it by the commonness of it Yet I am commanded further to observe another step of Unworthiness in this Gentleman who hath not only set Honor to sale by his Agents but compelled men likewise unwilling to take Titles of Honor upon them For the particular that Noble Gentleman that this concerns I am commanded to say of him from the House of Commons That they conceive of him that he was worthy of this Honor if he had not come to it this way They can lay no blame upon him that was constrained to make this bargain to redeem his trouble But we must distinguish of this as Divines do betwixt the Active and Passive Usurers they condemn the Active speaking favorably of the Passive And I must here observe to your Lordships by the direction of the House of Commons That it seems strange to them that this Great man whom they have taken notice of to be the principal Patron and Supporter of a Semipelagian and a Popish Faction set on foot to the danger of this Church and State whose Tenets are Liberty of Free-will though somewhat mollified That a man imbracing these Tenets should not admit of Liberty in Moral things And that he should compel one to take Honor and Grace from a King whether he will or no what is that but to adde Inhumanity and Oppression to Injury and Incivility But here I must answer a President or two which may be by misunderstanding inforced against me 5 H. 5. There was Martin and Babington and others which were chosen to be Serjeants and they did decline from it out of their modesty and doubted that their Estates were not answerable to their Place yet upon the Charge of the Warden of England they accepted it and appeared to their Writs Likewise there is a Writ in the Register That many by reason of the Tenure of their Lands may be compelled to be made Knights But this makes rather against then for this Faction For it is true that this is the wisdom and policie of the Common-Law that those that be thought fit men for Imployment may be drawn forth to be imployed for the good of the Commonwealth where otherwise they would not take it upon them But that any man for his own gain should force a man to take Degrees of Honor upon him certainly this is beyond all Presidents and a thing not to be exampled either in our Nation or any other And further I am commanded to tell your Lordships That it is dangerous that if a great Lord by his power or strength may compel a Subject to take such Honors why may he not compel them as well to take his Lands at what price he will and to sell them again as he thinks fit yea to marry his Children as it pleaseth him The conference of this is great if that it be well considered And they conceive that it is of so great a consequence that if it be not stopped it may come in time to make way for a dangerous Subversion and demonstrates a great Tyranny of a Subject under a most wise most gracious and most moderate King And thus my Lords I have done with the first Article allotted to my Charge and so I proceed to the next My Lords Before I enter into the enforcement of this Article I shall by way of Protestation from the House of Commons do in this as I did in the other Article And first for the Kings Majesty under whom we are now happily governed and placed I must by their direction say for his honor and our comfort and with humble acknowledgment confess That since his coming to the Crown there have been men of as great parts and learning advanced into Places in Church and Commonwealth as any have been heretofore And then for the first of those Lords whose names are mentioned in this Article I must say that they do not intend to reflect at all upon him nay they think his person so worthy as to be advanced to as high a place without any price at all and that he ought to have kept it longer if those that shuffled in those times had not shuffled him out Now to the matter of this Article which is the Sale of Places of Judicature being an offence And to prove this is all one as to make the glass clear by painting of it The grounds whereon I shall go shall be laid open Magna Charta cap. 29. The words are these Nulli vendemus nulli negabimus Justitiam It may be said this comes not close to my purpose Yet by your Lordships favor I shall make it good that it doth and I shall begin with the latter of the two first Nulli negabimus For if any that hath power or favor with the King should procure him to delay the making of Judges when there were Judges to take it it will not be denied that they do their best endeavor to make the King break his word For if any use their favor about the King to procure Places of Judicature for money they do what in them lies to make Justice it self saleable For it is plain that he that buyes must sell and cannot be blamed if he do sell. I shall open the evil Consequences that depend upon the sale of Places of Judicature or any Places of great trust 1. By this means unable men shall be sure of the precedence unto Places For they being conscious of their own want of Merits they must be made up by the weight in Gold 2. It must needs hence follow that Suits Contentions Brawls and Quarrels shall be increased in the Commonwealth For when men come to seats of Judicature by purchase they must by increase of Suits increase their own profit 3. Men will not study for sufficiencie of Learning to be able to discharge their Places but how they may scrape together Money to purchase Places 4. It will follow that those that have the best Purses though worst Causes will carry away the victory always 5. It will follow that when they be preferred for money to those Places they are tied to make the best of those Places viis modis And then the Great man that sold those Places to them must uphold them in their Bribery and he is tied to it because they are his Creatures nay further he is tied to support them in their Bribery to advance their Places upon the next remove 6. And lastly when good men and well deserving come to any Place they shall not continue there but they shall be quarrelled at so that there may be a vacancie in that Place and then some other shall suddenly step into the saddle by giving a competent price Upon these and the like reasons this fact of selling and buying Places and Offices of Trust hath not only been declaimed against by Christians but also by Moral Pagans Aristotle in his 5 lib. of Ethicks cap. 8. gives it as a Caveat That
no man amongst the Thebans was to take upon him any Place of Government in the Commonwealth if that he were a Merchant unless there were ten years distance between And the reason is this Because Merchants are used to buying and selling It is their Trade and Art to to ãâã Money so that their fingers are accustomed to that which they cannot leave when they come to Places of Trust and Judicature Nay further in honor of the Merchants He is accounted the wisest Merchant that gains most so that if any such comes to Offices and Places of Trust he thinks it best to advance his profit Next to the Pagans the Popes a Generation full of Corruption yet they by their Bulls are full of Declamation against such And this is plain by a Bull of Pius Quintus who lays the Penalty of Confiscation of Goods of any that do for money acquire any Offices and condemns them by his Papal sentence to be great sinners So Gregory the Thirteenth condemns the like And now to come nearer home to come to that which will principally lead your Lordships which are the Judgments of your Ancestors in Parliament wherein it appears by the Statute of 5 H. 6. that the same Statute condemns the Seller and Receiver as well as the Buyer and Giver It further appears by the Preamble of that Statute that such offences were against the Law and they foresaw the Corruptions of those that came into those Places by those means and that it is a hinderance of sufficient and worthy men from those Places And also 2 3 E. 6. which was likewise cited in the Case of the Duke of Somerset by which he was to forfeit his Estate that one thing was for selling of Places in the Commonwealth for money And certainly with your Lordships favor it is most just and probable that they that profess themselves to be Patriots and shew by their actions that they aim at their own lucre and labor to hinder the distributing of Iustice it is most just and proper that those men should return back again to the Publick Treasury of the King and Kingdom what they have by their unsatisfied lucre gotten And so my Lords craving Pardon of you for my boldness confusion and distractions in going through this business I humbly leave my self to the judgments of your favors and charities and this Great man the Duke to your wise Censure and Justice Then was read the Eleventh and Twelfth Articles XI That he the said Duke hath within these ten years last past procured divers Titles of Honor to his Mother Brothers Kindred and Allies as the Title of Countess of Buckingham to his Mother while she was Sir Thomas Compton's wife the Title of Earl of A. to his younger Brother Christopher Villiers the Titles of Baron of M. P. Vicount F. and Earl of D. to his Sisters Husband Sir W. F. the Titles of Baron of S. and Vicount P. to Sir Iohn Villiers elder Brother unto the said Duke and divers more of the like kind to his Kindred and Allies whereby the Noble Barons of England so well deserving in themselves and in their Ancestors have been much prejudiced and the Crown disabled to reward extraordinary Vertues in future times with Honor while the small Estates of those for whom such unnecessary Advancement hath been procured arâ apparently likely to be more and more burthensom unto the King notwithstanding such Annuities Pensions and Grants of Lands annexed to the Crown of great value which the said Duke hath procured for those his Kindred to support these their Dignities XII He the said Duke ãâã contented with the great Advancement formerly received from the late King of famous memory by his procurement and practice in the Fourteenth year of the said King for the support of the many Places Honors and Dignities conferred on him did obtain a grant of divers Manors Parcel of the Revenue of the Crown and of the Duchy of Lancaster to the yearly value of One thousand six hundred ninety seven pounds two shillings halfpenny farthing of the old Rent with all Woods Timber Trees and Advowson part whereof amounting to the sum of Seven hundred forty seven pounds thirteen shillings four pence was rated at Two and thirty thousand pounds but in truth of a far greater value And likewise in the Sixteenth year of the same Kings reign did procure divers other Manors annexed to the Crown of the yearly value at the old Rent of Twelve hundred pounds or thereabouts according as in a Schedule hereunto annexed appeareth In the Warrant for passing of which Lands he by his great favour procured divers unusual Clauses to be inserted viz. that no Perquisites of Courts should be valued and that all Bailiffs Fees should be reprised in the particulars upon which those Lands were rated whereby a president hath been introduced which all those who since that time have obtained any Lands from the Crown have pursued to the damage of his late Majesty and of our Soveraign Lord the King that now is to an exceeding great value And afterwards he surrendred to his said Majesty divers Mannors and Lands parcel of those Lands formerly granted unto him to the value of Seven hundred twenty three pounds eighteen shillings and two pence half-penny per annum in consideration of which surrender he procured divers other Lands of the said late King to be sold and contracted for by his own Servants and Agents and thereupon hath obtained grants of the same to pass from his late Majesty to several persons of this Kingdom and hath caused Tallies to be stricken for the money being the consideration mentioned in those Grants in the Receipt of the Exchequer as if any such monies had really come to his Majesties Coffers whereas the Duke or some other by his appointment hath indeed received the same sums and expended them upon his own occasions And notwithstanding the great and inestimable gain by him made by the sale of Offices Honors and by other Suits by him obtained from his Majesty and for the countenancing of divers Projects and other Courses burthensom to his Majesties Realms both of England and Ireland The said Duke hath likewise by his procurement and practise received into his hands and disbursed to his own use exceeding great sums that were the monies of the late King of famous memory as appeareth also in the said Schedule hereunto annexed And the better to colour his doings in that behalf hath obtained several Privy-Seals from his late Majesty and his Majesty that now is warranting the payment of great sums to persons by his named causing it to be recited in such Privy-seals as if those sums were directed for secret Services concerning the State which were notwithstanding disposed of to his own use and other Privy-seals by him have been procured for the discharge of those Persons without accompt and by the like fraud and practice under colour of free gifts from his Majesty he hath gotten into
his hands great sums which were intendded by his Majesty to be disbursed for the preparing furnishing and victualling of his Royal Navy by which secret and colourable devices the constant and ordinary course of the Exchequer hath been broken there being no means by matter of Record to charge either the Treasurer or Victualler of the Navy with those sums which ought to have come to their hands and to be accompted for to his Majesty and such a confusion and mixture hath been made between the Kings Estate and the Dukes as cannot be cleared by the Legal Entries and Records which ought to be truely and faithfully made and kept both for the safety of his Majesties Treasure and for the indempnity of his Officers and Subjects whom it doth concern And also in the Sixteenth year of the said King and in the Twentieth year of the said King he did procure to himself several Releases from the said King of divers great sums of the Money of the said King by him privately received and which he procured that he might detain the same for the support of his Places Honors and Dignities And these things and divers other of the like kinde as appeareth in the Schedule annexed hath he done to the exceeding diminution of the Revenues of the Crown and in deceit both of our Soveraign Lord the King that now is and of the late King Iames of famous memory and to the detriment of the whole Kingdom Before Mr Sherland entred to open and enlarge upon the Twelfth Article he discoursed in general concerning Honors mentioned in the preceding Article and spake as followeth My Lords IT hath pleased God who hath the disposing even of all things in his hands to cast this service now upon me who did formerly my endeavor to decline it considering the weightiness of the business the greatness of this presence and my manifold defects best known to my self But another that should have with better contentment I doubt not performed this service being fallen now sick there is a necessity imposed on me by the House of Commons wherein I shall be very plain and short according to the warning I had yet I shall deal plainly and faithfully according to the sense of that House by whose command I now appear And since I am now thrust as a Bush into the Gap I hope your Lordships will not expect such a composure and strength of Speech which you have had from others of my Companions The Subject that falls to my lot to speak of before your Lordships are Honor and Iustice two great Flowers of the Crown I confess my self exceeding unfit and unable to speak of these Points before so great an Assembly of such Persons of so great Honor and such Superior Judges of this Kingdom but I must take my Lot It pleaseth your Lordships as in Sphere to take knowledge of the Grievances presented by the Commons House which I desire and hope your Lordships will not take presumption May it please your Lordships the parts of this Charge as you discern upon the reading of it are two the one general the other particular The general is perverting the ancient and noble course of attaining to the Titles of Honor. 2. The other the compulsion or inforcement of men unwilling to purchase Honor. For the first by way of Protestation I am commanded by the House of Commons to say that they repine not at their advancement upon whom those Honors were conferred but they think them worthy thereof yet they wish for their sakes and the safety of this Nation their vertues had solely raised them and that they had not been forced and constrained to contribute to this bottomless Gulf to attain their Titles They complain again of this unworthy way brought in by this great man they fall upon this in this manner and found the Evils under which the Commonwealth suffers and the Causes of them being two principal Evils which are the decay and stopping of the Trade and the Determination of Honor. In examination of which second Evil the Trade and Comerce of Honor we have as the Commons do conceive confitentem reum For he endeavouring to colour the matter sayes for himself That he was not the onely introducer and first bringer in of this but they finde that he was the first that defiled this Virgin of Honor so publickly making an accompt that all things and persons should stoop and subject themselves to his vain desires and extravagancy Now that this comerce of Honor is an Offence then to prove what kinde of Offence it is is the onely thing I shall trouble your Lordships with 1. And first that it is an Offence I shall draw my first Argument from the Nature of Honor Honor is a Beam of Vertue now this Honor can be no more fixed upon an undeserving Person for Money then Fire can be struck out of a Stick 2. From the Suject of Honor which is Merit for the which no price ought to be paid to any great man by any undeserving person for the same but their own merit and desert Then he passed to the Grievances which are caused by the selling of Titles and they are Three 1. First it is prejudicial to the Noble Barons of this Kingdom 2. To the King by disabling him to reward extraordinary vertues 3. To the Kingdom which comprehends both King Lords and people For the first He said he would not trouble their Lordships with recital how Ancient how Famous the Degree of Barons hath been in these Western Monarchies He said the Baronage of England hath longer upheld that Dignity and doth yet retain a greater height then in any other Nation they are great Judges a Court of the last resort they are great Counsellors of State and not onely for the present but as Law-makers Counsellors for the time to come and this not by Delegacy and Commission but by Birth and Inheritance So that when any man shall be made a Member of this great Body who is not qualified for the performance of such noble Functions it must needs be a prejudice to the whole body and dishonor to the head As if a little water be put into a great vessel of Wine as it receives spirit and strength from the Wine so it doth impart some degrees of its own infirmity and coldness to the Wine Secondly It is prejudicial to the King not that it can disable him from giving Honor for that is a power inseparable but by making Honor ordinary it becomes as an incompetent Reward for extraordinavertue when men are made noble they are taken out of the Press of the common sort and how can it chuse but fall in estimation if Honor it self be made a Press Thirdly It is prejudicial to the Kingdom the Stories and Records are full of the great assistance which the Crown hath received from the Barons both in Forein and Domestick Actions not onely by their own persons but by their Retinue and
Tenants and therefore they are called by Bracton Robur Belli how can we now expect the like from such as have no Tenants and are hardly able to maintain themselves But this is not all for the prejudice grows not primitively by defect of that assistance which they might give the State but positively they have been a great burthen to the Kingdom by Gifts and Pensions already received and yet stand in need of more for the future support of their Dignities This makes the Dukes offence the greater that in this weakness and consumption of the Commonwealth he hath not been contented alone to consume the qublick Treasure which is the blood and nourishment of the State but hath brought in others to help him in this work of destruction And that they might do it more eagerly by inlarging their Honors he hath likewise inlarged their Necessities and their Appetites He did second his Charge with two Presidents the first 28 Henry 6. in the Complaint against the Duke of Suffolk in the One and thirtieth Article of that Complaint this was one of his Charges That he William de la Pool Duke of Suffolk had procured one who had married his Niece to be made Earl of Kendal and obtained for him One thousand pounds per annum in the Dutchy of Guienne and yet this Party was the Son of a Noble and well deserving Father So you see this is no new thing for the House of Commons to complain that those that are neer the King should raise their Kindred to an unnecessary Honor and if that were worthy of punishment for advancing of one then what punishment is he worthy of that hath advanced so many The second President is 17 Edw. 4. There passed an Act of Parliment for the Degrading of Iohn Nevil Marquis Montague and Duke of Bedford the reason expressed in the Act is because he had not a Revenue sufficient for the maintaining of that Dignity to which is added another reason of that nature that when men of mean birth are called to a high Estate and have not livelihood to support it it induceth great poverty and causeth briberies and extortions imbraceries and maintenance And now my Lords how far these Reasons shall lead your Judgements in this Case I must leave it to your Lordships Then he read the Twelfth Article being the second part of his Charge the Title whereof was The Exhausting Intercepting and Misimploying the Kings Revenues My Lords This Article consists of several Clauses which in some respects may be called so many distinct Charges for though they all tend to one end and scope the diminishing the Kings Treasure yet it is by divers wayes so that every Clause is a particular Branch Therefore he desired to break it into parts and to select the most material either in point of offence or grievance intenâing to pass through them with this order first to declare the state of the proof and then to add such reasons and inforcements as he did conceive most conduceable to that Judgement which the Commons were to expect from their Lorships He made two main Branches of this Article The first concerns Lands obtained from the Crown the second concerns Money in Pensions Gifts Farms and other kinde of profit Touching the Lands he observed four Things 1. The sum of Three thousand thirty five pounds per annum of old Rent besides the Forest of Layfield of which we have no value and we can finde no Schedule granted by the late King to my Lord of Buckingkham within ten years past as appeareth by the several Grants vouched in the Schedule annexed and it was in it self a great grievance That in a time of such necessity when the Kings Revenues are not able to support such a great charge that so much Land should be conveyed to a private man This he acknowledged was not the Dukes case alone for others had received divers Grants from the King but none in so great measure And because the Commons aim not at Judgement onely but at Reformation he wished That when the King should bestow any Land for support of Honors that the caution which was wont to be carefully observed might again return into use that is to annex those Lands to the Dignity lest being obtained and wasted the Party repair to the King for a new support by which provision the Crown will reap this Benefit That as some Lands go out by new Grants others will come in by spent Intails He said he would not trouble their Lordships with repetition of the Laws heretofore made for preventing the alienation of the Kings Lands and for resuming those that had been alienated nor of the Ordinances made in this high Court for the same purpose and Fines set upon those that presumed to break such Ordinances he onely added as a further enforcement of the Grievance That when the Kings Revenues be unable to defray publick necessities the Commons must needs be more burthened with Supplies 2. His second Point was the unusual Clauses which the Duke by his greatness hath procured to be inserted into the Warrants for passing of those Lands of which two were mentioned the first That the casual profits should not be rated in the particulars the second That all Bailiffs Fees should be reprised Both which are to be proved by the Warrants remaining with the Auditor of the Rates and other Auditors whereupon he presented these Considerations First That it was a mark of Ingratitude and Insatiableness in the Duke thus to strain the Kings Bounty beyond his intention and that he would not receive this Bounty by the ordinary way but by the way of Practice Secondly It argued Unfaithfulness in him that being a sworne Counsellor he should put the King into such Courses of so much prejudice deceitfully in concealing the value of that which he bought so that the King gave he knew not what For under the proportion of Two thousand pounds he gives it may be Four thousand pounds And by this the King did not only sustain great loss for the present but it opened a way of continual loss which hath ever since been pursued by all those who have passed Lands from the Crown Thirdly The King is hereby not left Master of his own Liberality neither in proportion nor certainty for it might so fall out that the Quantity passed from him might be treble to that he intended 3. The third was The Surrender of divers Parcels of these Lands back to the King after he had held them some years and taking others from the King in exchange Where he noted That the best of the Lands and most vendible being passed away the worst lay upon the Kings hand that if he shall have occasion to raise money by sale of Lands that Course is not like to furnish him Besides that in the mean time betwixt the Grants and the Surrenders opportunity was left to the Duke to cut down Woods to infranchise Copiholds to make long Leases and yet
the old Rent remaining still the Land may be surendred at the same value Whether this have been practised he could not affirm not having had time to examine it yet he desired the Lords to enquire after it the rather for that the Manor of G. in Lincolnshire being dismembred and Seventeen pounds of the old Rents sold out of it was by a Surrender turned back upon his Majesty 4. The fourth point of this Branch was The colourable Tallies divers parcels of these Lands had from the Crown in lieu of this surrender being sold and contracted for by his own Agent and the money received by himself or to his use and yet Tallies were stricken out as if it had really come to the Exchequer for his Majesties service This is to be proved by his own Officers by the Officers of the Exchequer and by the Tallies themselves which Tallies amount unto 20563 l. 16 s. 8 d. Whence he observed First That there ran a trade of Falshood toward the King throughout all this his dealing Secondly That this was a Device thought upon to prevent the wisdom of Parliament for by this means the Grant seems to have the face of valuable purchases whereas they were indeed free gifts Thirdly If the Title of those Lands should prove questionable it appearing by Record as if the King had received the money he was bound in honor to make restitution and yet the Duke had the profit But it may be said This was the Purchasors desire for their own security Of which objection he made this use That the Subjects generally took notice of so much Lands given to the Duke that there is good cause ãâã expect a Resumption In the second general branch of this Article concerning Money the first point observed was the Total sum received by him in Ten years space amounting to 162995 l. besides the Grant he hath of the Overplus above Three thousand pounds per annum to be made of the Third imposed upon Strangers goods and besides the Moyetie of Seven thousand pounds out of the Customs of Ireland which he is bound to pay to the King but whether it hath been paid or no is doubtful This he delivered as a Sum Estimative yet so computed as it may be more but not less And this Total ariseth by free gifts by Pensions to himself else by profit of Farms by Pensions to others For Offices whereof he received the profit as the Admiralty and Mastership of the Horse All which appear by a Schedule annexed to this Charge The Grievances consist in this That the Commonwealth hath been bereaved of the use and imployment of so Publick Treasure in a time of as great want and great occasions in this State as it hath had in many Ages when the expences of the Kings Court can hardly be supplied when his Houses and Castles are unfurnished when the Seas have been unguarded the Coasts subject to the incursion and spoil of Enemies by default of provision in the Navy to the dishonor of the Nation and damage of the Subjects and the hazard of the whole And the offence in this that the wants in the Navy and the Stores being within his own Charge he was no more sensible of them whereby it appears he preferred the serving of his own turn before his duty and before the safety of this State The second point observed in this branch was That the Duke under pretence of secret services hath procured great sums of money to be issued by Privy-seals to sundry persons named by himself but afterward imployed to his own use Hereof two instances are propounded The one of Eight thousand pounds paid to Sir Robert Pye 12 Aug. 1620. and by him disbursed for the Dukes purchase of Burleigh and Sir Robert Pye discharged by another Privy-seal 4 Iunii following The second instance is of Sixty thousand pounds paid to Burlimach by a Privy-seal in September 1625. Which time he rather noted because the Parliament at Oxford was broken up a little before out of discontent that the King was not supplied for the setting out of the Fleet which would have been done with a less sum For the proof of that the House of Commons will offer to your Lordships Witnesses The quality of this offence he left to their Lordships judgment yet propounding some things by way of enquiry from whence it might receive measure and proportion 1. Whether it had not affinity with the Crime in the Civil Law called Crimen peculatus which was when a man did unjustly turn to his own use that money which was either sacra dedicated to Gods service religiously or religiosa used about Funerals and Monuments of the dead or publica of which kind the matter now in question is And this offence by that Law was Death and Confiscation of goods and estate Which he notes the rather that their Lordships might perceive that in the wisest State the Publick Treasure was held in the same reputation with that which was dedicated to God and Religion 2. And whether it doth not resembleâ other Crime in the same Law termed Crimen falsi and is defined to be when a man shall imitatione veri suum compendium alieno dispendio per dolum facere by semblance of truth make gain to himself of other mens losses Which in the case of a Bondman was Death and in case of another man Banishment and Confiscation or otherwise very penal as the Judges should find cause of moderation or rigor in the nature and circumstances of the Fact 3. Whether their Lordships will estimate it according to any Sentences in the Star-chamber which have been very frequent in cases of Fraud Or according to the Common-Law which so much detests this kind of dealing as that they term it Covin and make it vitiate ordinary and lawful actions Or lastly whether they will measure it by that Judgment which the Duke hath pass'd against himself in the guilt of his own Conscience Direct Actions are not afraid to appear open-faced but Injustice and Fraud desire to be masked with Subtilty and Closeness It were offence enough if there were no more but a cunning concealing of unthankfulness to hide his Majesties bounty or guilt of unworthiness as if he durst not avow the receit of that which he had not merited both which proceed from Malum culpae Or else that other kind of guilt which proceeds from Malum poenae the fear of punishment foreseeing this Inquisition into his actions and hoping under this disguise of Publick service to escape their Lordships censure The third point in this branch is That he hath received sundry sums of money intended for the maintenance of the Navy whereof there are two instances the one whereof is 20000 l. the other of 30000 l. both in Ianuary 1624. By Privy-seal by the which these sums are issued they appear to be Free gifts But by the affirmation of some in answer for the Duke it hath been said He was only the hand
to convey them to the Treasury of the Navy If the truth be according to the Privy-seal they are to be added to the former Total as parcel of his own gain If according to that allegation it may prove a president of greater damage to the King then the money is worth for by this way his Majesty hath no means by matter of Record to charge the Treasurer of the Navy with these sums and may lose the benefit of the Act of Parliament 13 Eliz. whereby Accomptants Lands are made liable to the paiment of their Debts to the King and in many cases may be sold for his Majesties satisfaction The Treasurer of the Navy is a worthy man but if he should die the King loseth the benefit The fourth point of this branch is That he hath caused so great a mixture and confusion between the Kings Estate and his own that they cannot be distinguished by the Records and Entries which ought to be kept for the safety of his Majesties Treasure and indempnity of the Subject This is proved in divers instances whereof the last alleaged is one and others follow By the wisdom of the Law in the constitution of the Exchequer there be three Guards set upon the Kings Treasure and Accompts The first is a legal Impignoration whereby the Estates personal and real of the Accomptants are made liable to be sold for the discharge of their Debts which I mentioned before The second an apt Controlment over every Office by which the King relies not upon the industry and honesty of any one man but if he fail in either it may be discovered by some other sworne to take notice of it and either to correct his Errors or amend his Faults The third is a durable Evidence and Certainty not for the present time only but for perpetuity because the King can neither receive or pay but by Record All these Guards have been broken by the Duke both in the Cases next before recited and in these which follow The Custom of the Exchequer is the Law of the Kingdom for so much as concerneth the Kings Revenue Every breach of a Law by a particular offence is punishable but such an offence as this being destructive of the Law itself is of a far higher nature The fifth point of this second branch is concerning two Privy-seals of Release the one 16 the other 20 Iac. whereby this Duke is discharged of divers sums secretly received to his Majesties use but by vertue of these Releases to be converted to the support of his own Estate The proof hereof is referred to the Privy-seals themselves From which he made one observation of the subtilty he used to winde himself into the possession of the Kings money and to get that by cunning steps and degrees which peradventure he could not have obtained at once A good Master will trust a Servant with a greater sum that is out of his purse then he would bestow upon him being in his purse and yet after it is out of his hands may be drawn more easily to make a Release then at first to have made a Free gift This is a proper instance to be added to the proof of the point of mingling his own Estate with the Kings and of the same kind be other particulars mentioned in the Schedule though not expressed in the Charge as Twenty thousand pounds received in Composition for the Earl of M. his Fine which cannot be discovered whether part or all be converted to the Dukes benefit and yet it appears by a Privy-seal to be cleerly intended to the Kings own service for the Houshold and Wardrobe till by the Dukes practice it was diverted into this close and by-way Another instance in this is His endeavor to get the money which should be made of Prize-goods into his own hands And for this purpose he first labored to procure that his man Gabriel Marsh might receive it and when it was thought fit some Partner should be joined with him trial was made of divers but none of any credit would undertake the Charge with such a Consort And the Commons have reason to think there was good cause of this refusal for he is so ill an Accomptant that he confessed in their House being examined that by authority from the Duke he received divers bags of gold and silver out of the S. Peter of Newhaven which he never told When this practice of imploying his own man would take no effect then he procured a Commission from Sir William Russell who is indeed without exception an able and worthy Officer but that is not enough for the Kings security For howsoever he was to receive the money it was to be disbursed by and to the Dukes warrant and profit Which Clause hath been altered since this was questioned in Parliament and now it is to be issued from an immediate Warrant from his Majesty But as it was before it may be noted as an incroachment upon the Office of my Lord Treasurer whereby he might make a more easie way to some sinister end of his own so that upon the matter Sir William was but a safeguard of the money for the Duke himself And this I must note of some guilt in the very act of it The last point upon this whole Charge was a reduction of the value of the Land together with the mony into one totall and to that purpose he rated the Land being valued at a reasonable value at forty years purchase for although some of it was sold for thirty yet a great part was worth more then a hundred years purchase so as forty years is conceived to be an easy Medium at this rate 3035 l. amounteth to 121400 l. which being added to the total of the mony received 162995 l. both together make the sum of 284395 l. besides the Forrest of Leyfeild and besides the profit made out of the thirds of Strangers goods and the Moyetie of the profit made out of the Customes of Ireland This is a great sum in it self but much greater by many Circumstances if we look upon the time past never so much came into any private mans hands out of the publique purse if we respect the time present the King never had so much want never so many forreign occasions important and expensive the Subjects never have given greater supplies and yet those supplies unable to furnish these expences But as the Circumstances make the sum greater so there be other Circumstances which make it less if it be compared with the inestimable gain he hath made by the sale of Honors and Offices and by projects hurtfull to the State both of England and Ireland or if it be compared to his profusion it will appear but a little sum All these gifts and other ways of profit notwithstanding he confest before both Houses of Parliament that he was indebted 100000 l. If this be true how can we hope to satisfie his prodigality if false how can we hope to satisfie
the Ship to be out of their Jurisdiction if the Warrant come from the Lord Admiral they will pretend it to be within the Jurisdiction of the Cinque Ports And so whilst the Officers dispute the opportunity of the service is lost 7. When the Kings Ships lie near the Ports and the men come on shore the Officers refuse to assist the Captains to reduce them to the Ships without the Lord Wardens Warrant 8. If the Kings Ships on the sudden have any need of Pilots for the Sands Coasts of Flanders or the like wherein the Portsmen are best experienced they will not serve without the Lord Wardens or his Lieutenants Warrant who perhaps are not near the place 9. When for great occasions for the service of the State the Lord Admiral and Lord Warden must both joyn their Authority if the Officers for want of true understanding of their several Limits and Jurisdictions mistake their Warrants the service which many times can endure no delay is lost or not so effectually performed For these and many other Reasons of the like kinde the Duke not being led either with ambition or hope of profit as hath been objected for it could be no encrease of Honor to him having been honored before with a greater place nor of profit for it hath not yielded him in any matter any profit at all nor is like to yield him above Three hundred pounds per annum at any time but out of his desire to make himself the more able to do the King and Kingdom service and prevent all differences and difficulties which heretofore had or hereafter might hinder the same He did entertain that motion and doth confess that not knowing or so much as thinking of the said Act of Parliament before mentioned he did agree to give the said Lord One thousand pounds in money and Five hundred pounds per annum in respect of his Surrender he not being willing to leave his place without such consideration nor the Duke willing to have it without his full satisfaction and the occasion why the Duke of Buckingham gave that consideration to the Lord Zouch was because the Duke of Richmond in his life time had first agreed to give the same consideration for it and if he had lived he had had that place upon the same terms And when the said Duke of Richmond was dead his late Majesty directed the Duke of Buckingham to go thorow for that place and for the Reasons before-mentioned to put both these Offices together and to give the same consideration to the said Lord which the Duke of Richmond should have given and his late Majesty said he would repay the money And how far this act of his in acquiring this Office accompanied with these Circumstances may be within the danger of the Law the King being privy to all the passages of it and encouraging and directing it he humbly submitteth to your judgement and he humbly leaves it to your Lordships judgments in what third way an antient servant to the Crown by age or infirmity disabled to perform his service can in an honorable course relinquish his place for if the King himself give the Reward it may be said it is a charge to the Crown if the succeeding Officer give the Recompence it may thus be objected to be within the danger of the Law And howsoever it be yet he hopeth it shall not be held in him a crime when his intentions were just and honorable and for the furtherance of the Kings service neither is it without president that in former times of great employment both these Offices were put into one hand by several Grants To this Article whereby the not guarding of the Narrow Seas in these last two years by the Duke according to the trust and duty of an Admiral is laid to his charge whereof the consequence supposed to have been meerly through his default are the ignominious infesting of the Coasts with Pirats and Enemies the endangering of the Dominion of these Seas the extream loss of the Merchants and the decay of the Trade and Strength of the Kingdom The Duke maketh this Answer That he doubteth not but he shall make it appear to the good satisfaction of your Lordships that albeit there hath hapned much loss to the Kings Subjects within the said time of two years by Pirats and Enemies yet that hath not hapned by the neglect of the Duke or want of care and diligence in his place For whereas in former times the ordinary Guard allowed for the Narrow Seas hath been but four Ships the Duke hath since Hostility begun and before procured their number to be much increased for since Iune 1624. there hath never been fewer then Five of the Kings Ships and ordinarily Six besides Pinnaces Merchants Ships and Drumblers and since open hostility Eight of the Kings Ships besides Merchants of greater number and Pinnaces and Drumblers and all these well furnished and manned sufficiently instructed and authorised for the service He saith he hath from time to time upon all occasions acquainted his Majesty and the Council-Bord therewith and craved their advice and used the assistance of the Commissioners for the Navy in this service and for the Dunkirkers who have of late more infested these Coasts then in former years he saith There was that Providence used for the repressing of them that his Majesties Ships and the Hollanders joyning together the Port of Dunkirk was blocked up and so should have continued had not a sudden storm dispersed them which being the immediate hand of God could not by any pollicy of man be prevented at which time they took the opportunity to Rove abroad but it hath been so far from endangering the Dominion of the Narrow Seas thereby as is suggested That his Majesties Ships or Men of War were never yet mastered nor encountred by them nor will they endure the sight of any of our Ships and when the Duke himself was in person the Dunkirkers run into their Harbors But here is a necessity that according to the fortune of Wars interchangeable losses will happen yet hitherto notwithstanding their more then wonted insolency the loss of the Enemies part hath been as much if not more then what hath hapned to us and that loss that hath faln hath cheifly come by this means that the Dunkirkers Ships being of late years exercised in continual hostility with the Hollanders are built of a Mold as fit for flight as for fight and so they pilfer upon our Coasts and creep to the shore and escape from the Kings Ships But to prevent that inconvenience for the time to come there is already order taken for the building some Ships which shall be of the like Mold light and quick of sail to meet with the adverse party in their own way And for the Pirates of Sallie and those parts he saith it is but very lately that they found the way into our Coasts where by surprise they might easily do
gracious Pardon of his now Majesty granted to the said Duke and vouchsafed in like manner to all his Subjects at the time of his most happy Inauguration and Coronation Which said Pardon under the Great Seal of England granted the said Duke beareth date the 10. day of February now last past and here is shewn forth unto your Lordships on which he doth most humbly rely And yet he hopeth your Lordships in your Justice and Honor upon which with confidence he puts himself will acquit him of and from those misdemeanors offences misprisions and crimes wherewith he hath been charged And he hopeth and will daily pray that for the future he shall by Gods grace so watch over his actions both publick and private that he shall not give any just offence to any The Duke having put in this Answer earnestly moved the Lords to send to the Commons to expedite their Reply and the Commons did as earnestly desire a Copy of his Answer The next day his Majesty wrote this Letter to the Speaker TRusty and Welbeloved We greet you well Our House of Commons cannot forget how often and how earnestly we have called upon them for the speeding of that Aid which they intended us for our great and weighty affairs concerning the safety and honor of us and our Kingdoms And now the time being so far spent that unless it be presently concluded it can neither bring us Money nor Credit by the time which themselves have prefixed which is the last of this Moneth and being further deferred would be of little use we being daily advertised from all parts of the great preparations of the Enemy ready to assail us We hold it necessary by these our Letters to give them our last and final admonition and to let them know that we shall account all further delays and excuses to be express denials And therefore we will and require you to signifie unto them that we do expect that they forthwith bring in their Bill of Subsidy to be passed without delay or Condition so as it may fully pass the House by the end of the next week at the furthest Which if they do not it will force us to take other resolutions But let them know if they finish this according to our desire that we are resolved to let them sit together for the dispatch of their other affairs so long as the season will permit and after their recess to bring them together again the next Winter And if by their denial or delay any thing of ill consequence shall fall out either at home or abroad We call God and man to witness that We have done our part to prevent it by calling our People together to advise with us by opening the weight of our occasions unto them and by requiring their timely help and assistance in these Actions wherein we stand engaged by their own Councels And we will and command you that this Letter be publickly read in the House About this time there happened at three a clock in the afternoon a terrible storm of Rain and Hail in and about the City of London and with it a very great Thunder and Lightening The graves were laid open in S. Andrews Church-yard in Holborn by the sudden fall of the Wall which brought away the Earth with it whereby many Coffins and the Corps therein were exposed to open view and the ruder sort would ordinarily lift up the lids of the Coffins to see the posture of the dead Corps lying therein who had been buried of the Plague but the year before At the same instant of time there was a terrible Storm and strange Spectacle upon Thames by the turbulencie of the waters and a Mist that arose out of the same which appeared in a round Circle of a good bigness above the waters The fierceness of the Storm bent it self towards York-House the then habitation of the Duke of Buckingham beating against the stairs and wall thereof And at last this round Circle thus elevated all this while above the water dispersed it self by degrees like the smoke issuing out of a Furnace and ascended higher and higher till it quite vanished away to the great admiration of the beholders This occasioned the more discourse among the Vulgar in that Doctor Lamb appeared then upon Thames to whose Art of Conjuring they attributed that which had happened The Parliament was then sitting and this Spectacle was seen by many of the Members out of the windows of the House The Commons agreed upon this ensuing Petition to his Majesty concerning Recusants To the Kings most Excellent Majesty YOur Majesties most obedient and loyal Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled do with great comfort remember the many Testimonies which your Majesty hath given of your sincerity and zeal of the true Religion established in this Kingdom and in particular your gracious Answer to both Houses of Parliament at Oxford upon their Petition concerning the Causes and Remedies of the Increase of Popery That your Majesty thought fit and would give order to remove from all Places of Authority and Government all such persons as are either Popish Recusants or according to direction of former Acts of State justly to be suspected which was then presented as a great and principal cause of that mischief But not having received so full redress herein as may conduce to the peace of this Church and safety of this Regal State They hold it their duty once more to resort to your Sacred Majesty humbly to inform you that upon examination they find the persons underwritten to be either Recusants Papists or justly suspected according to the former Acts of State who now do or since the first sitting of the Parliament did remain in places of Government and Authority and Trust in your several Counties of this your Realm of England and Dominion of Wales The Right Honorable Francis Earl of Rutland Lieutenant of the County of Lincoln Rutland Northampton Nottingham and a Commissioner of the Peace and of Oyer and Terminer in the County of York and Justice of Oyer from Trent Northwards His Lordship is presented to be a Popish Recusant and to have affronted all the Commissioners of the Peace within the North-Riding of Yorkshire by sending a Licence under his Hand and Seal unto his Tenant Thomas Fisher dwelling in his Lordships Mannor of Helmsley in the said North-Riding of the said County of York to keep an Alehouse soon after he was by an Order made at the Quarter-Sessions discharged from keeping an Alehouse because he was a Popish convict Recusant and to have procured a Popish Schoolmaster namely Roger Conyers to teach Schollers within the said Mannor of Helmsley that formerly had his Licence to teach Schollers taken from him for teaching Schollers that were the children of Popish Recusants and because he suffered these children to absent themselves from the Church whilest they were his Schollers for which the said Conyers was formerly complained of
a manner to engross to himself the administration of your Affairs of the Kingdom which by that means is drawn into a Condition most miserable and hazardous Give us then leave most dear Soveraign in the name of all the Commons of this your Kingdom prostrate at the féet of your Sacred Majesty most humbly to beséech you even for the Honor of Almighty God whose Religion is directly undermined by the practice of that Party whom this Duke supports For your Honor which will be much advanced in the relieving of your people in this their great and general grievance For the honor safety and welfare of your Kingdom which by this means is threatned with almost unavoidable dangers And for the love which your Majesty as a good and loving Father bears unto your good people to whom we profess in the presence of Almighty God the Searcher of all hearts you are as highly estéemed and beloved as ever any of your Predecessors were That you would be graciously pleased to remove this Person from access to your sacred presence and that you will not ballance this one man with all these things and with the Affairs of the Christian world which do all suffer so far as they have relation to this Kingdom chiefly by his means For we protest to your Majesty and to the whole world That until this Great person be removed from intermedling with the Great Affairs of State we are out of hope of any good success and do fear that any money we shall or can give will through his misimploiment be turned rather to the hurt and prejudice of this your Kingdom then otherwise as by lamentable experience we have found in those large Supplies we have formerly and lately given But no sooner shall we receive redress and relief in this which of all others is our most insupportable grievance but we shall forthwith proceed to accomplish your Majesties own desire for Supply and likewise with all cheerfulness apply our selves to the perfecting of divers other great things such as we think no one Parliament in any Age can parallel tending to the stability wealth and strength and honor of this your Kingdom and the support of your Friends and Allies abroad And we doubt not but through Gods blessing as you are the best so shall you ever be the best beloved and greatest Monarch that ever sate in the Royal Throne of this famous Kingdom The Grounds and Causes which the King held forth for dissolving of this and the former Parliament appear in the ensuing Declaration THe Kings most Excellent Majesty since his happy access to the Imperial Crown of this Realm having by his Royal Authority summoned and assembled two several Parliaments the first whereof was in August last by Adjournment held at Oxford and there dissolved and the other begun in February last and continued until the Fiftéenth day of this present moneth of June and then to the unspeakable grief of himself and as he believeth of all his good and well-affected Subjects dissolved also Although he well knoweth that the Calling Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving of Parliaments being his great Council of the Kingdom do peculiarly belong unto himself by an undoubted Prerogative inseparably united to his Imperial Crown of which as of his other Regal actions he is not bound to give an Accompt to any but to God only whose immediate Lieutenant and Uicegerent he is in these his Realms and Dominions by the Divine providence committed to his charge and government Yet forasmuch as by the assistance of the Almighty his purpose is so to order himself and all his Actions especially the great and publck Actions of State concerning the weal of his Kingdoms as may justifie themselves not only to his own Conscience and to his own People but to the whole World His Majesty hath thought it fit and necessary as the Affairs now stand both at home and abroad to make a true plain clear Declaration of the Causes which moved his Majesty to assemble and after enforced him to dissolve these Parliaments That so the mouth of malice it self may be stopped and the doubts and fears of his own good Subjects at home and of his Friends and Allies abroad may be satisfied and the deserved blame of so unhappy Accidents may justly light upon the Authors thereof When his Majesty by the death of his dear and Royal Father of ever blessed memory first came to the Crown he found himself engaged in a War with a potent Enemy not undertaken rashly nor without just and honorable grounds but enforced for the necessary defence of himself and his Dominions for the support of his Friends and Allies for the redéeming of the antient Honor of this Nation for the recovering of the Patrimony of his dear Sister her Confort and their Children injuriously and under colour of Treaties and Friendship taken from them and for the maintenance of the true Religion and invited thereunto and encouraged therein by the humble Advice of both the Houses of Parliament and by their large promises and protestations to his late Majesty to give him full and real assistance in those Enterprises which were of so great importance to this Realm and to the general peace and safety of all his Friends and Allies But when his Majesty entred into a view of his Treasure he found how ill provided he was to proceed effectually with so great an Action unless he might be assured to receive such Supplies from his loving Subjects as might enable him to manage the same Hereupon his Majesty being willing to tread in the steps of his Royal Progenitors for the making of good and wholsom Laws for the better Government of his people for the right understanding of their true Grievances and for the Supply of monies to be imployed for those publick services he did resolve to summon a Parliament with all convenient spéed he might And finding a former Parliament already called in the life of his Father he was desirous for the the spéedier dispatch of his weighty affairs and gaining of time to have continued the same without any alteration of the Members thereof had he not beacute en advised to the contrary by his Iudges and Council at Law for that it had béene subject to question in Law which he desired to avoid But as soon as possibly he could he summoned a new Parliament which he did with much confidence and assurance of the love of his people that those who not long before had with some importunity won his Father to break off his former Treaties with Spain and to effect it had used the mediation of his now Majesty being then Prince and a Member of the Parliament and had promised in Parliament their uttermost assistance for the enabling of his late Majesty to undergo the War which they then foresaw might follow would assuredly have performed it to his now Majesty and would not have suffered him in his first Enterprise of so great an
our Friends and Allies who must prosper or suffer with us would have led them to a due and a timely consideration of all the means which might best conduce to those ends which the Lords of the Higher-House by a Committee of that House did timely and seasonably consider of and invited the Commons to a Conference concerning that great business At which Conference there were opened unto them the great occasions which pressed his Majesty which making no impression with them his Majesty did first by Message and after by Letters put the House of Commons in minde of that which was most necessary the defence of the Kingdom and due and timely preparations for the same The Commons House after this upon the 27 of March last with one unanimous consent at first agreed to give unto his Majesty three intire Subsidies and three Fifteens for a present supply unto him and upon the 26 of April after upon second Cogitations they added a fourth Subsidy and ordered the dayes of payment for them all whereof the first should have been on the last day of this present June Upon this the King of Denmark and other Princes and States being engaged with his Majesty in this common Cause his Majesty fitted his occasions according to the times which were appointed for the payment of those Subsidies and Fifteens and hasted on the Lords Committees and his Council at War to perfect their Resolutions for the ordering and setling of his designs which they accordingly did and brought them to that maturity that they found no impediment to a final conclusion of their Councels but want of mony to put things into action His Majesty hereupon who had with much patience expected the real performance of that which the Commons had promised finding the time of the year posting away and having intelligence not onely from his own Ministers and Sujects in Forrein parts but from all parts of Christendom of the great and powerfull preparations of the King of Spain and that his design was upon this Kingdom or the Kingdom of Ireland or both and it is hard to determine which of them would be of worst consequence He acquainted the House of Commons therewith and laid open unto them truly and clearly how the state of things then stood and yet stand and at several times and upon several occasions reiterated the same But that House being abused by the violent and ill-advised passions of a few Members of the House for private and personal ends ill-beseeming publick persons trusted by their Country as then they were not onely neglected but wilfully refused to hearken to all the gentle admonitions which his Majesty could give them and neither did nor would intend any thing but the prosecution of one of the Peers of this Realm and that in such a disordered manner as being set at their own instance into a legal way wherein the proofs on either part would have ruled the cause which his Majesty allowed they were not therewith content but in their intemperate passions and desires to seek for Errors in another fell into a greater Error themselves and not onely neglected to give just satisfaction to his Majesty in several Cases which happened concerning his Regality but wholly forgot their engagements to his Majesty for the publick defence of the Realm whereupon his Majesty wrote the forementioned Letter to the Speaker dated the ninth day of June 1626. Notwithstanding which Letter read in the House being a clear and gracious Manifest of his Majesties Resolutions they never so much as admitted one Reading to the Bill of Subsidies but instead thereof they prepared and voted a Remonstrance or Declaration which they intended to prefer to his Majesty containing though palliated with glossing terms aswel many dishonorable aspersions upon his Majesty and upon the sacred memory of his deceased Father as also dilatory excuses for their not proceeding with the Subsidies adding thereto also coloured conditions crossing thereby his Majesties direction which his Majesty understanding and esteeming as he had cause to be a denial of the promised Supply and finding that no admonitions could move no reasons or perswasions could prevail when the time was so far spent that they had put an impossibility upon themselves to perform their promises when they esteemed all gracious Messages unto them to be but interruptions His Majesty upon mature advisement discerning that all further patience would prove fruitless on the fifteenth day of this present moneth he hath dissolved this unhappy Parliament The acting whereof as it was to his Majesty an unexpressible grief for the memory thereof doth renew the hearty sorrow which all his good and well affected Subjects will compassionate with him These passages his Majesty hath at the more length and with the true Circumstances thereof expressed and published to the world least that which hath been unfortunate in it self through the malice of the Author of so great a mischief and the malevolent report of such as are ill-affected to this State or the true Religion here professed or the fears or jealousies of Friends and dutifull Subjects might be made more unfortunate in the consequences of it which may be of worse effect then at the first can be well apprehended and his Majesty being best privy to the integrity of his own heart for the constant maintaining of the sincerity and unity of the true Religion professed in the Church of England and to free it from the open contagion of Popery and secret infection of Schism of both which by his publick Acts and Actions he hath given good testimony and with a single heart as in the presence of God who can best judge thereof purposeth resolutely and constantly to proceed in the due execution of either and observing the subtilty of the adverse party he cannot but believe that the hand of Joab hath been in this disaster that the common Incendiaries of Christendom have subtilly and secretly insinuated those things which unhappily and as his Majesty hopeth beyond the intentions of the Actors have caused these diversions and distractions And yet notwithstanding his most excellent Majesty for the comfort of his good and well-affected Subjects in whose loves he doth repose himself with confidence and esteemeth it as his greatest riches for the assuring of his Friends and Allies with whom by Gods assistance he will not break in the substance of what he hath undertaken for the discouraging of his Adversaries and the Adversaries of his Cause and of his Dominions and Religion hath put on this resolution which he doth hereby publish to all the world That as God hath made him King of this great people and large Dominions famous in former ages both by Land and Sea and trusted him to be a Father and Protector both of their Persons and Fortunes and a Defender of the Faith and true Religion so he will go on cheerfully and constantly in the defence thereof and notwithstanding so many difficulties and discouragements will take his
hear one day So when your Soveraign in the Parliament time had spoken sharply to both Houses commanding them to go together again and to give more money and commanding them to meddle no more with the Duke of Buckingham you came the next day and thought to smooth all taking the glory of qualifying disturbances to your self whereas if you had read Books of true State Government wherewithal you are not acquainted sweet things are personally to be acted by Kings and Princes as giving of Honors and bestowing of noted benefits and those things that are sour and distasting are to be performed by their Ministers you go the contray way But as before the whole House falleth on fire some sparks do flie out So before the Message of the King was brought me by the Secretary there were some inklings that such a thing would follow And upon the naming of me by occasion it was said by a Creature of the Dukes That it would not be long before the Archbishop should be sequestred that was the word So well acquainted are the Dukes followers with great actions that are likely to fall out in State Accordingly on Tuesday the Fist of Iuly One thousand six hundred twenty and seven the Lord Conway came unto me to Croyden before Dinner time having travelled as he said a long journey that morning even from Oatlands thither he would say nothing till he had dined then because he was to return to Oatlands that night I took him into the Gallery and when we were both sat down we fell to it in this manner MY Lord I know you coming from Court have somewhat to say to me Secretary It is true my Lord and I am the most unwilling man in the World to bring unpleasing news to any person of quality to whom I wish well and especially to such a one as of whose Meat I have eaten and been merry at his House But I come from the King and must deliver his pleasure I know who you are and much more with very civil language Archb. I doubt not my Lord but you have somewhat to say and therefore I pray you in plain terms let me have it Secre. It is then his Majesties pleasure that you should withdraw your self unto Canterbury for which he will afford you some convenient time Archb. Is that it then I must use the words of the Psalmist He shall not be afraid of any evil tydings for his heart standeth fast and believeth in the Lord. But I pray you what is my fault that bringeth this upon me Secre. The King saith you know Archb. Truly I know none unless it be that I am lame which I cannot help it is against my will and I am not proud of it Secre. The King bad me tell you That if any expostulation were used Archb. No I will not use any expostulation if it be his pleasure I will obey I know my self to be an honest man and therefore fear nothing But my Lord do you think it is for the Kings service in this sort to send me away Secre. No by God! I do not think it and so yesterday I told the King with an Oath but he will have it so Archb. I must say as before He shall not be afraid of any evil tidings for his heart standeth fast and he believeth in the Lord. But I pray you my Lord is the King precisely set upon my going to Canterbury there are questions in Law between me and that Town about the Liberties of my Archbishoprick which I by my Oath am bound to maintain and if I should be among them I have many Adversaries of the Citizens I have there some Tenants and the Dean and Chapter are interessed in the Question I would be unwilling that my Servants and their people should fall together by the ears while I am in the Town His Majesty knoweth this difference to be between us by the token that a Suit which I lately brought against them by a Quo Warranto in the Kings Bench was stopped Justice being denied me which is not usual to be denied to any Subject and the King well knoweth by whose means it was stayed I have therefore another House called Foord Five Miles beyond Canterbury and more out of the way his Majesty may be pleased to let me go thither Secre. I can say nothing to that but I will acquaint the King with it and I conceive nothing to the contrary but that his Majesty will yield so much unto you I have a second Charge to deliver unto you and that is That his Majesty will not have you from henceforth to meddle with the High Commission he will take care that it shall be done otherwise Archb. I do not doubt but it shall be better managed then it hath been by me And yet my Lord I will tell you that for these many years that I have had the direction of that Court the time is to come that ever honest man did finde fault that he had not there Justice done Secre. It is now Vacation time and so consequently little to do and by Michaelmas his Majesty may set all in order Archb. I am sorry that the King proceedeth thus with me and letteth me not know the cause Secre. Although I have no Commission to tell you so it is for a Book which you would not allow which concerned the Kings Service Archb. If that be it when I am questioned for it I doubt not but to give an honest Answer Secre You will never be questioned for it Archb. Then am I the more hardly dealt withal to be censured and not called to my Answer Secre. Well my Lord I will remember that of Foord and will your Grace command me any more Service Archb. No my Lord but God be with you onely I end where I began with the words of the Prophet He shall not be afraid for any evil tydings for his heart standeth fast and believeth in the Lord. It comforted me not a little that the word was now out My confining must be for not allowing of a Book I had much ado to forbear smiling when I heard it because now it was clear it was not for Felony or Treason that was laid to my charge nor for intelligence with the Spaniards or French nor for Correspondency with Jesuites or Seminary Priests or any other grievous crime I thank God for that I had almost forgotten that among many other memorable Speeches that passed between us I used this one That peradventure the King might be offended at me because I was no more present at the matter of the Loan but said I my lameness hindered me therein and I hoped thereby to do my Master better service because if ever course be taken to reconcile the King and his people which if it be not this Kingdom will rue it in the end I would hope among many other to be a good Instrument therein since my hand hath not been in those bitternesses which
attendeth the humor of the heedless Multitude that are full of jealousie and distrust and so unlike to comply to any unusual Course of Levy but by force which if used the effect is fearful and hath been fatal to the State Whereas that by Parliament resteth principally on the Regal person who may with ease and safety mould them to his fit designs by a gracious yielding to their just desires and Petitions If a Parliament then be the most speedy assurance and safe way it is fit to conceive what is the fairest way to act and work that to the present need First for the time of usual Summons Forty days reputed to be too large for this present Necessity it may be by dating the Writs lessened since it is no positive Law so that a care be had that there may a County-day after the Sheriff hath received the Writ before the time of sitting If then the Sum to be levied be once granted and agreed of for the time there may be in the body of the Grant an Assignment made to the Knights of every County respectively who under such assurance may safely give Security proportionable to the Receipts to such as shall adventure in present for the Publick service any Sums of money The last and weightiest Consideration if a Parliament be thought fit is How to remove or comply the Differences between the King and Subjects in their mutual demands And what I have learned amongst the better sort of the Multitude I will freely declare that your Lordships may be the more enabled to remove and answer those Distrusts that either concern Religion publick safety of the King and State or the just Liberty of the Commonwealth Religion is a matter that they lay nearest to their Consciences and they are led by this ground of jealousie to doubt some practices against it First for that though the Spanish Match was broken by the careful industry of my Lord of Buckingham out of his religious care as he then declared that the Articles there demanded might lead to some such Sufferance as might endanger the quiet if not the state of the Reformed Religion here yet there have when he was an Actor principal in the Conditions of France as hard if not worse to the preservation of our Religion passed then those with Spain And the suspect is strengthened by the close keeping of this Agreement and doubt in them of his affection in that his Mother and others many his Ministers of near imploiment about him are so affected They talk much of his advancing men Popishly devoted to Places in the Camp of nearest service and chief Command and that the Recusants have got these late years by his power more courage and assurance then before If to clear these doubts which perhaps are worse in fancie then in truth he take a course it might much advance the Publick service against the squeamish humors that have more of violent Passion then of setled Judgment and are not the least of the opposite number in the Commonwealth The next is The late misfortunes and losses of Men Munition and Honor in the late Undertakings abroad which the more temperate spirits impute to want of Council and the more sublime Wits to Practice They begin with the Palatinate and lay the fault of the loss thereof on the imputed Credit of Gondomar distrusting him for the staying of supply to Sir Horatio Vere when Colonel Cecil was cast on that imployment by which the King of Spain became Master of the Kings Childrens Inheritance And when Count Mansfield had a Royal supply of Forces to assist the Princes of our party for the recovety thereof either Plot or Error defeated the enterprise for us to Spains advantage That Sir Robert Mansfields Expedition to Algiers should purchase only the security and guard of the Spanish Coasts To spend many Hundred thousand pounds in the Cadiz-Voyage against the Advice in Parliament only to warn the King of Spain to be in readiness and so our selves weakned is taken for a sign of an ill affection amongst the Multitude The spending of much Munition Victuals and Money in my Lord Willoughbies Journey is counted an unthrifty error in the Director of it To disarm our selves in fruitless Voyages may seem a plot of danger It was held not long ago a fundamental Rule of our Neighbors and our Security by the old Lord Burleigh That nothing can prevent the Spanish Monarchy but a Fastness of those two Princes whose Amity gave countenance and courage to the Netherlands and German-Princes to make head against his Ambition And we see by this disunion a fearful Defeat hath happened to the King of Denmark and that party to the advantage of the Austrian Family And this waste of Publick Treasure in fruitless Expeditions will be an important Cause to hinder any new Supply in Parliament Another fear that may disturb the smooth and speedy passage of the Kings desires in Parliament is the vast waste of the Kings livelihood whereby is like as in former times to arise this jealousie and fear That when he hath not of his own to support his ordinary Charge for which the Lands of the Crown were setled unalterable and called Sacrum patrimonium Principis that then he must needs of necessity rest upon those assistances of the people which ever were only collected and consigned for the Commonwealth from whence it is like there will be no great labor and stiffness to induce his Majesty to an Act of Resumption since such desires of the State have found an easie way in the will of all Princes from the Third Henry unto the last But that which is like to pass the deepest into their Disputes and care is the late Pressures they supposed to have been done upon the Publick Liberty and Freedom of the Subject in commanding their Goods without assent by Parliament imprisoning and confining their Persons without special Cause declared and that made good against them by the Judges lately and pretending a Writ to command their attendances in Forein war All which they are like to enforce as repugnant to any positive Laws Institutions and Customary Immunities of this Commonwealth And these dangerous distastes to the people are not a little improved by the unexampled course as they conceive of retaining an Inland Army in Winter-season when former times of general fear as in Eighty eight produced none such And makes them in their distracted fears to conjecture idly it was raised wholly to subject their Fortunes to the will of Power rather then of Law and to make good some further breach upon their Liberties and Freedoms at home rather then defend us from any force abroad How far such Jealousies if they meet with any unusual disorder of lawless Soldiers are an apt distemper of the loose and needy Multitude which will easily turn away upon any occasion in the State that they can side withall as a glorious pretence of Religion and Publick safety when their true
Friends and Allies be not sufficient then no Eloquence of Men or Angels will prevail Only let me remember you That my duty most of all and every one of yours according to his degree is to seek the maintenance of this Church and Commonwealth And certainly there never was a time in which this duty was more necessarily required then now I therefore judging a Parliament to be the antient speediest and best way in this time of Common danger to give such Supply as to secure our selves and to save our Friends from imminent ruine have called you together Every man now must do according to his conscience Wherefore if you as God forbid should not do your duties in contributing what the State at this time needs I must in discharge of my conscience use those other means which God hath put into my hands to save that which the follies of particular men may otherwise hazard to lose Take not this as a Threatening for I scorn to threaten any but my Equals but an Admonition from him that both out of nature and duty hath most care of your preservations and prosperities And though I thus speak I hope that your demeanors at this time will be such as shall not only make me approve your former Councels but lay on me such obligations as shall tie me by way of thankfulness to meet often with you For be assured that nothing can be more pleasing unto me then to keep a good Correspondence with you I will only adde one thing more and then leave my Lord Keeper to make a short Paraphrase upon the Text I have delivered you which is To remember a thing to the end we may forget it You may imagine that I came here with a doubt of success of what I desire remembring the distractions of the last Meeting But I assure you that I shall very easily and gladly forget and forgive what is past so that you will at this present time leave the former ways of distractions and follow the Councel late given you To maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace The Lord Keeper seconded his Majesty on this manner YE are here-in Parliament by his Majesties Writ and Royal command to consult and conclude of the weighty and urgent Business of this Kingdom Weighty it is and great as great as the honor safety and protection of Religion King and Country And what can be greater Urgent it is It is little pleasure to tell or think how urgent And to tell it with circumstances were a long work I will but touch the sum of it in few words The Pope and House of Austria have long affected the one a Spiritual the other a Temporal Monarchy And to effect their ends to serve each others turn the House of Austria besides the rich and vast Territories of both the Indies and in Africa joined together are become Masters of Spain and Italy and the great Country of Germany And although France be not under their subjection yet they have invironed all about it The very Bowels of the Kingdom swayed by the Popish Faction They have gotten such a part and such intercession in the Government that under pretence of Religion to root out the Protestants and our Religion they have drawn the King to their adherence so far that albeit upon his Majesties interposition by his Ambassadors and his engagement of his Royal word there was between the King and his Subjects Articles of Agreement and the Subjects were quiet whereof his Majesty interessed in that great Treaty was bound to see a true accomplishment yet against that strict Alliance that Treaty hath been broken and those of the Religion have been put to all extremity and undoubtedly will be ruined without present help So as that King is not onely diverted from assisting the Common Cause but hath been misled to engage himself in hostile acts against our King and other Princes making way thereby for the House of Austria to the ruine of his own and other Kingdoms Other Potentates that in former times did ballance and interrupt the growing greatness of the House of Austria are now removed and diverted The Turk hath made Peace with the Emperor and turned himself wholly into Wars with Asia The King of Sweden is embroiled in a War with Poland which is invented by Spanish practices to keep that King from succoring our part The King of Denmark is chased out of his Kingdom on this and on that side the Zound so as the House of Austria is on the point to command all the Sea-coasts from Dantzick to Embden and all the Rivers falling into the Sea in that great extent So as besides their power by Land they begin to threaten our Part by Sea to the subversion of all our State In the Baltique-Sea they are providing and arming all the Ships they can build or hire And have at this time their Ambassadors treating at Lubeck to draw into their service the Hans-Towns whereby taking from us and our Neighbors the Eastland-Trade by which our Shipping is supplied they expect without any blow given to make themselves Masters of that Sea In these Western parts by the Dunkirkers and by the now French and Spanish Admiral to the ruine of Fishing of infinite consequence both to us and the Low-Countries they infest all our Coast so as we pass not safely from Port to Port. And that Fleet which lately assisted the French at the Isle of Rhee is now preparing at S. Andrews with other Ships built in the Coast of Biscay to reinforce it and a great Fleet is making ready in Lisbon where besides their own they do serve themselves upon all Strangers Bottoms coming to that Coast for Trade And these great preparations are no doubâ to assault us in England or Ireland as they shall find advantage and a place fit for their turn Our friends of the Netherlands besides the fear that justly troubles them lest the whole force of the Emperor may fall down upon them are distracted by their Voyages into the East which hath carried both Men and Money into another World and much weakened them at home Thus are we even ready on all sides to be swallowed up The Emperor France and Spain being in open War against us Germany overrun the King of Denmark distressed the King of Sweden diverted and the Low-Country-men disabled to give us assistance I speak not this to increase fear unworthy of English courages but to press to provision worthy the wisdom of a Parliament And for that cause his Majesty hath called you hither that by a timely provision against those great imminent dangers our selves may be strengthened at home our Friends and Allies encouraged abroad and those great causes of fear scattered and dispelled And because in all Warlike preparations Treasure bears the name and holds the semblance of the nerves and sinews And if a sinew be too short or too weak if it be either shrunk or strained the part becomes
apparent that their true grief is not in the matter of giving but to see the Evil imploying of it when it is given If any man shall pervert this good meaning and motion of yours and inform his Majesty 't is a derogation from his Honor to yield to his Subjects upon Conditions His Majesty shall have good cause to prove such mens Eyes malitious and unthankfull and thereby to disprove them in all their other Actions For what can it lessen the Reputation of a Prince whom the Subject onely and wholy obeyeth that a Parliament which his Majesty doth acknowledge to be his highest Council should advise him and he follow the advice of such a Council What dishonor rather were it to be advised and ruled by one Councellor alone against whom there is just exception taken of the whole Commonwealth Marcus Portio saith That that Commonwealth is everlasting where the Prince seeks to get obedience and love and the Subjects to gain the affection of the Prince and that Kingdom is unhappy where their Prince is served out of ends and hope of Reward and hath no other assurance of them but their service Thursday the 20 of March the House setled their grand Committees for Religion Grievances Courts of Justice and Trade and agreed upon a Petition to the King for a Fast unto which the Lords also consented Most gracious Soveraign WE your most humble and loyal Subiects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in this present Parliament assembled upon a tender and compassionate sence of the extream Calamities of the Reformed Churches abroad and with much sorrow apprehending the displeasure of Almighty God declared against our selves the manifold evils already faln upon us and those which are further threatned as by your sacred Majesty was intimated unto us even to the utter destruction and subversion of this Church and State and which our sins have justly deserved and being now by your Majesties gracious favor assembled in Parliament as the Great Council of this your Kingdom to consult of such means as we think fittest to redress the present and prevent the future evils wherein we through Gods blessing intend to imploy our utmost endeavors humbly beseech your Majesty that by your special Command one or more days may be forthwith solemnly set apart wherein both our selves and the whole Kingdom may by fasting and prayers seek reconciliation at the hands of Almighty God and with humble and penitant hearts beseech him to remove those miseries that lie upon us our neighbor Churches to avert those which are threatned to continue the favors we yet enjoy and particularly to bestow his abundant blessing upon your Majesty and this present Parliament so that all our Counsels and Resolutions being blessed by his Divine assistance may produce much honor and safety to your Majesty your People and Allies Saturday the 22 of March was spent in opening the grievances and state of the Kingdom as billeting of Soldiers Loans by Benevolences and Privy-Seal and the imprisoning certain Gentlemen who refused to lend upon that account who afterwards bringing their Habeas Corpus were notwithstanding remanded to prison nor did the House encline to Supply his Majesty till these Grievances were redressed To which purpose Sir Francis Seimour thus began This is the great Council of the Kingdom and here if not here alone his Majesty may see as in a true glass the state of the Kingdom we are called hither by his Majesties writs to give him faithful counsel such as may stand with his honor but this we must do without flattery we are sent hither by the Commons to discharge that trust reposed in us by delivering up their just grievances and this we must do without fear let us not therfore be like Cambyses Judges who being demanded of their King whether it were not lawful for him to do what in it self was unlawful They rather to please the King then to discharge their own consciences answered that the Persian Kings might do what they listed This base flattery tends to mischief being fitter for reproof then imitation and as flattery so fear taketh away the judgment let us not then be possessed with fear or flattery of corruptions the basest For my own part I shall shun both these and speak my conscience with as much duty to his Majesty as any man but not neglecting the Publick in which his Majesty and the Commonwealth have an Interest But how can we shew our affections whilst we retain our fears or how can we think of giving of Subsidies till we know whether we have any thing to give or no for if his Majesty be perswaded by any to take from his Subjects what he will and where it pleaseth him I would gladly know what we have to give It s true it is ill with those Subjects that shall give Laws to their Princes and as ill with those Princes which shall use force with those Laws that this hath been done appeareth by the billetting of Soldiers a thing no way advantageous to his Majesties service but a burden to the Commonwealth This also appeareth by the last Levy of money against an act of Parliament Again Mr Speaker what greater proof can there be of this then the imprisonment of divers Gentlemen for the Loan who if they had done the contrary for fear their fault had been as great as theirs that were the Projectors in it and to countenance these Proceedings hath it not been preached or rather prated in our pulpits that all we have is the Kings Iure Divino say these time-servers they forsake their own function and turn ignorant States-men we see how willing they will be to change a good conscience for a Bishoprick and Mr Speaker wee see how easie it is for a Prince how just and good soever to be abused in regard he must see with other mens eyes and hear with other mens ears Let us not flatter his Majesty it is too apparent to all the world the King and people suffer more now then ever His Majesty in his Affairs abroad and his People in their Estates at home But will you know the reason of all this let us look back to the Actions of former Princes and we shall find that those Princes have been in greatest want and extreamity that exacted most of their Subjects and most unfortunate in the choice of their Ministers and to have failed most in their undertakings happy is that Prince that hath those that are faithful of his Council That which his Majesty wanted in the management of his Affairs concerning France and Spain I am clear was his want of faithful Council to advise The reason is plain a Prince is strongest by faithfull and wise Council I would I could truly say such have been imployed abroad I will confess and still shall from my heart he is no good Subject nor well affected to his Majesty and the State that will not willingly and freely lay down his life
we may assure our selves of the performance of it Besides we binde his Majesty by relying on his word we have Laws enough it is the execution of them that is our life and it is the King that gives life and execution Sir Thomas Wentworth concluded the Debate saying That never House of Parliament trusted more in the goodness of their King for their own private then the present but we are ambitious that his Majesties goodness may remain to posterity and we are accomptable to a publique trust and therefore seeing there hath been a publique violation of the Laws by his Ministers nothing will satisfie him but a publique mends and our desire to vindicate the Subjects Rights by Bill are no more then are laid down in former Laws with some modest Provision for Instruction Performance and Execution Which so well agreed with the Sense of the House that they made it the subject of a Message to be delivered by the Speaker to his Majesty AMidst those deliberations another Message was delivered from his Majesty by Mr. Secretary Cook That howsoever we proceed in this business we have in hand which his Majesty will not doubt but to be according to our constant professions and so as he may have cause to give us thanks yet his resolution is that both his Royal care and hearty and tender affection towards all his loving Subjects shall appear to the whole Kingdom and all the World that he will govern us according to the Laws and Customs of this Realm that he will maintain us in the Liberties of our Persons and Proprieties of our Goods so as we may enjoy as much happiness as our forefathers in their best times and that he will rectifie what hath been or may be found amiss amongst us so that hereafter there may be no just cause to complain Wherein as his Majesty will rank himself amongst the best of our Kings and shew he hath no intention to invade or impeach our lawful Liberties or Right so he will have us to match our selves with the best Subjects not by incroaching upon that Soveraignty or Prerogative which God hath put into his hands for our good but by containing our selves within the Bounds and Laws of our forefathers without restraining them or inlarging them by new Explanations Interpretations Expositions or Additions in any sort which he telleth us he will not give way unto That the weight of the Affairs of the Kingdom and Christendom do press him more and more and that the time is now grown to that point of maturity that it cannot endure long debate or delay so as this Session of Parliament must continue no longer then Tuesday come sevennight at the furthest In which time his Majesty for his part will be ready to perform what he promised and if the House be not as ready to do that is fit for themselves it shall be their own faults And upon assurance of our good dispatch and correspondence his Majesty declareth That his Royal intention is to have another Session of Parliament at Michaelmass next for the perfecting of such things as cannot now be done This Message was debated the next day being Saturday May 30. whereupon Sir Iohn Elliot spake to this effect The King saith he will rank himself with the best of Kings and therefore he would have us to rank our selves with the best Subjects we will not incroach upon that Soveraignty that God hath put into his hands This makes me fear his Majesty is misinformed in what we go about let us make some inlargement and put it before him that we will not make any thing new as for the time of this Session it is but short and look how many Messages we have so many interruptions and mis-reports and mis-representations to his Majesty produce those Messages Sir Miles Fleetwood continues the Debate and said That this business is of great importance we are to accommodate this The breach of this Parliament will be the greatest misery that ever befell us the eyes of Christendom are upon this Parliament the state of all our Protestant friends are ready to be swallowed up by the Emperors Forces and our own Kingdom is in a miserable straight for the defence of our Religion that is invaded by the Romish Catholicks by the colour of a Commission which is intolerable the defence of our Realm by Shipping is decayed the Kings Revenue is sold and gone where shall the relief be obtained but in Parliament Now we are in the way let us proceed by way of Bill in pursuance of the Kings Message to establish the Fundamental Laws in Propriety of our Goods and Liberty of our Persons It was declared to us that courses by Loan and Imprisonment were not lawful let us touch them in our Bill and that all Precedents and Judgements seeming to the contrary be void and that all Commitments against the Law be remedied and that we be protected against the fear of Commitments In conclusion the Commons agree to an Answer to all the preceding Messages and present it to the King by the mouth of their Speaker The Speakers Speech to the King in Answer to several Messages Most Gracious and Dread Soveraign YOur Loyal and Obedient Subjects the Commons now Assembled in Parliament by several Messages from your Majesty and especially by that your Declaration delivered by the Lord Keeper before both Houses have to their exceeding joy and comfort received many ample expressions of your Princely care and tender affections towards them with a gracious promise and assurance that your Majesty will govern according to the Laws of this Realm and so maintain all your Subjects in the just Freedom of their Persons and Safety of their Estates that all their Rights and Liberties may be by them enjoyed with as much freedom and security in their time as in any age heretofore by their Ancestors under the best of your Progenitors For this so great a favor enlarged by a comfortable intimation of your Majesties confidence in the proceedings of this House they do by me their Speaker make as full return of most humble thanks to your Majesty with all dutiful acknowledgement of your Grace and Goodness herein extended unto them And whereas in one of those Messages delivered from your Majesty there was an expression of your desire to know whether this House would rest upon your Royal Word and Promise assuring them that if they would it should be royally and really performed As they again present their humble thanks for the seconding and strengthning of your former Royal expressions so in all humbleness they assure your Majesty that their greatest confiâââce is and ever must be in your Grace and Goodness without which they well know nothing that they can frame or desire will be of safety or value to them Therefore are all humble Suiters to your Majesty That your Royal heart will graciously accept and believe the truth of theirs which they humbly present as
alledged must be such as may be determined by our Iudges of our Courts of Westminster in a Legal and ordinary way of Iustice whereas the Causes may be such as those Iudges have not capacity of Iudicature nor Rules of Law to direct and guide their Iudgement in cases of that transcendent nature which hapning so often the very incroaching on that constant Rule of Government for so many ages within this Kingdom practised would soon dissolve the very Foundation and Frame of our Monarchy Wherefore as to our Commons we made fair Propositions which might equally preserve the just Liberty of the Subject so my Lords we have thought good to let you know that without the overthrow of Soveraignty we cannot suffer this Power to be impeached notwithstanding to clear our conscience and just intentions this we publish That it is not in our heart nor will we ever extend our Royal Power lent unto us from God beyond the just rule of Moderation in any thing which shall be contrary to our Laws and Customs wherein the safety of our People shall be our onely aim And we do hereby Declare our Royal pleasure and resolution to be which God willing we shall ever constantly continue and maintain That neither we nor our Privy Council shall or will at any time hereafter commit or command to Prison or otherwise restrain the persons of any for not lending Money to us nor for any cause which in our conscience doth not concern the publique good and safety of us and our people we will not be drawn to pretend any cause wherein our judgement and conscience is not satisfied with base thoughts we hope no man can imagine will fall into our Royal breast and that in all cases of this nature which shall hereafter happen we shall upon the humble Petition of the party or address of our Iudges unto us readily and really express the true cause of their Commitment or Restraint so soon as with conveniency and safety the same is fit to be disclosed and expressed and that in all Causes Criminal of ordinary Iurisdiction our Iudges shall proceed to the Deliverance or Bailment of the Prisoner according to the known and ordinary Rules of the Laws of this Land and according to the Statute of Magna Charta and those other Six Statutes insisted upon which we do take knowledge stand in full force and which we intend not to abrogate and weaken against the true intention thereof This we have thought fit to signifie the rather to shorten any long Debate upon this great question the season of the year being so far advanced and our great Occasions of State not lending many more days for longer continuance of this Session of Parliament Given under our Signet at our Palace at Westminster 20º Maii the Fourth year of our Reign The same day the Kings Letter was communicated to the House of Commons they laid it aside and Sir Thomas Wentworth said it was a Letter of Grace but the people will onely like of that which is done in a Parliamentary way besides the Debate of it would spend much time neither was it directed to the House of Commons and the Petition of Right would clear all mistakes For said he some give out as if the House went about to pinch the Kings Prerogative But the further Debate of this matter took up several days May 17. the Lords propounded at a Conference an Addition to be made to the Petition of Right which was delivered by the Lord Keeper to this purpose THat whereas at the late Conference of both Houses there were some things propounded that came from their Lordships out of a desire the Petition might have the easier passage with his Majesty not intending to violate in any maner the substance of the Petition but it was then thought fit that there was another part of the Petition of as great importance and weight My Lords since the time of that Conference have imployed themselves wholly to reduce the Petition to such a frame and order that may give both to you and them hope of acceptance And after many deliberations and much advice taken my Lords have resolved to represent to you something which they have thought upon yet not as a thing conclusive to them or you and according to their desires having mentioned it in the beginning have held it fit to conclude of nothing till that you be made acquainted with it and that there may be a mature advisement between you and them so that there may be the happier conclusion in all their business This being the determination of the Lords that nothing that is now offered unto you should be conclusive yet they thought it convenient to present it unto you This alteration and not alteration but addition which they shall propound unto you to be advised and conferred upon which is no breach of the frame they think it meet if it shall stand with your liking to be put in the conclusion of the Petition which I shall now read unto you WE present this our humble Petition to your Majesty with the care not onely of preserving our own Liberties but with due regard to leave intire that Soveraign Power wherewith your Majesty is trusted for the Protection Safety and Happiness of the People This is the thing the Lords do present unto you this subject of this Conference concerning the adding of this in the conclusion of the Petition and that they know that this is new and that you cannot presently give an answer to it therefore they desire that you do with some speed consider of it and their Lordships will be ready this afternoon This Addition produced several Speeches LEt us look said he into the Records and see what they are what is Soveraign Power Bodin saith That it is free from any Condition by this we shall acknowledge a Regal as well as a Legal Power Let us give that to the King that the Law gives him and no more I Am not able to speak to this question I know not what it is All our Petition is for the Laws of England and this Power seems to be another distinct Power from the Power of the Law I know how to adde Soveraign to his Person but not to his Power Also we cannot leave to him Soveraign Power we never were possessed of it WE cannot admit of those words with safety they are applicable to all the parts of our Petition It is in the nature of a Saving and by it we shall imply as if we had incroached on his Prerogative all the Laws we cite are without a Saving and yet now after the violation of them we must adde a Saving Also I have seen divers Petitions and where the Subject claimed a Right there I never saw a Saving of this nature THis is Magnum in parvo this is propounded to be a conclusion of our Petition It is a matter of great weight and to speak plainly it
Exposition I apprehend must be made of the proposed words being added to our Petition And therefore I conclude that in my opinion we may not consent to this Addition which I submit to better Judgements The Commons afterwards appointed Mr. Glanvile and Sir Henry Martin to manage another Conference to be had with the Lords concerning the said matter and to clear the Sense of the Commons in that point the one argued the Legal the other the Rational part and though the matter delivered by the length of it may seem tedious to the Reader and some matters spoken of before repeated again yet if the Reader observe the Language and Stile as well as the subject Matter perhaps it will be no penance unto him Mr. Glanviles Speech in a full Committee of both Houses of Parliament 23. May 1628. in the Painted Chamber at Westminster MY Lords I have in charge from the Commons House of Parliament whereof I am a Member to express this day before your Lordships some part of their clear sense touching one point that hath occurred in the great Debate which hath so long depended in both Houses I shall not need many words to induce or state the question which I am to handle in this free Conference The subject matter of our meeting is well known to your Lordships I will therefore onely look so far back upon it and so far recollect summarily the proceedings it hath had as may be requisite to present clearly to your Lordships considerations the nature and consequence of that particular wherein I must insist Your Lords may be pleased to remember how that the Commons in this Parliament have framed a Petition to be presented to his Majesty a Petition of Right rightly composed relating nothing but truth desiring nothing but Justice a Petition justly occasioned a Petition necessary and fit for these times a Petition founded upon solid and substantial grounds the Laws and Statutes of this Realm sure Rocks to build upon a Petition bounded within due limits and directed upon right ends to vindicate some lawful and just Liberties of the free Subjects of this Kingdom from the prejudice of violations past and to secure them from future innovations And because my following discourse must reflect chiefly if not wholly upon the matter of this Petition I shall here crave leave shortly to open to your Lordships the distinct parts whereof it doth consist and those are four The first concerns Levies of Moneys by way of Loans or otherwise for his Majesties supply Declaring that no man ought and praying that no man hereafter be compelled to make or yield any Gift Loan Benevolence Tax or such like Charge without common consent by Act of Parliament 3. The second is concerning that Liberty of Person which rightfully belongs to the Free Subjects of this Realm expressing it to be against the ãâã of the Laws and Statutes of the Land that any Freeman should be imprisoned without cause shewed and then reciting how this Liberty amongst others hath lately been infringed it concludeth with a just and necessary desire for the better clearing and allowance of this priviledge for the future 3. The third declareth the unlawfulness of billeting or placing Soldiers or Mariners to sojourn in Free Subjects houses against their wills and prayeth remedy against that grievance 4. The fourth and last aimeth at redress touching Commissions to proceed to the Tryal and Condemnation of Offenders and causing them to be executed and put to death by the Law Marshal in times and places when and where if by the Laws and Statutes of the Land they had deserved death by the same Laws and Statutes also they might and by none other ought to be adjudged and executed This Petition the careful House of Commons not willing to omit any thing pertaining to their duties or that might advance their moderate and just ends did heretofore offer up unto your Lordships consideration accompanied with an humble desire That in your Nobleness and Justice you would be pleased to joyn with them in presenting it to his Majesty that so coming from the whole Body of the Realm the Peers and People to him that is the Head of both our Gracious Soveraign who must crown the Work or else all our labour is in vain it might by your Lordships concurrence and assistance finde the more easie passage and obtain the better answer Your Lordships as your maner is in cases of so great importance were pleased to debate and weigh it well and thereupon you propounded to us some few amendments as you termed them by way of alteration alledging that they were onely in matters of form and not of substance and that they were intended to none other end but to sweeten the Petition and make it the more passable with his Majesty In this the House of Commons cannot but observe that fair and good respect which your Lordships have used in your proceedings with them by your concluding or Voting nothing in your House until you had imparted it unto them whereby our meetings about this business have been justly stiled Free Conferences either party repairing hither disingaged to hear and weigh the others Reasons and both Houses coming with a full intention upon due consideration of all that can be said on either side to joyn at last in resolving and acting that which shall be found most just and necessary for the honor and safety of his Majesty and the whole Kingdom And touching those propounded alterations which were not many your Lordships cannot but remember that the House of Commons have yielded to an accommodation or change of their Petition in two particulars whereby they hope your Lordships have observed as well as ye may they have not been affected unto words or phrases nor over-much abounding in their own sense but rather willing to comply with your Lordships in all indifferent things For the rest of your proposed amendments if we do not misconceive your Lordships as we are confident we do not your Lordships of your selves have been pleased to relinquish them with a new overture for one onely Clause to be added in the end or foot of the Petition whereby the work of this day is reduced to one simple head whether that Clause shall be received or not This yielding of the Commons in part unto your Lordships of other points by you somewhat insisted upon giveth us great assurance that our ends are one and putteth us in hope that in conclusion we shall concur and proceed unanimously to seek the same ends by the same means The clause propounded by your Lordships to be added to the Petition is this WE humbly present this Petition to your Majesty not onely with a care for preservation of our Liberties but with a due regard to leave intire that Soveraign Power wherewith your Majesty is trusted for the Protection Safety and Happiness of your People A clause specious in shew and smooth in words but in effect and consequence most
commanded to illustrate the impertinency of adding it to the Petition by a familiar Case which was put in our House by a Learned Gentleman and of my own Robe The Case is this Two Manors or lordships lye adjoyning together and perchance intermixed so as there is some difficulty to discern the true bounds of either as there may be touching the confines where the Liberty of the Subject and the Prerogative of the Crown do border each upon the other to the one of the Manors the King hath clear Right and is in actual possession of it but the other is the Subjects The King being misinformed that the Subject hath intruded upon his Majesties Manor asketh his Subject whether he doth enter upon his Majesties Manor or pretendeth any Title to it or any part of it The Subject being now justly occasioned maketh answer truly to the King that he hath not intruded nor will intrude upon his Majesties Manor nor doth make any Claim or Title to it or any part of it This answer is proper and fair nay it were unmannerly and ill done of the Subject not so to answer upon this occasion Afterwards the King upon colour of some double or single matter of Record seiseth into his Highness hands upon a pretended Title the Subjects Manor The Subject then exhibiteth his Petition of Right or to his Majesty to attain restitution of his own Manor and therein layeth down Title to his own Manor onely were it not improper and absurd in this Case for him to tell the King that he did not intend to make any Claim or Title to his Majesties Manors which is not questioned Doubtless it were This Case rightly applyed will fit our purpose well and notably explain the nature of our Petition Why should we speak of leaving entire the Kings Soveraign Power whereon we incroach not while we onely seek to recover our own Liberties and Priviledges which have been seised upon by some of the Kings Ministers If our Petition did trench actually upon his Majesties Prerogative would our saying that we intended it not make the thing otherwise then the truth My Lords there needeth no Protestation or Declaration to the contrary of that which we have not done and to put in such a Clause cannot argue less then a fear in us as if we had invaded it which we hold sacred and are assured that we have not touched either in our words or in our intentions And touching your Lordships observation upon the word Leave if it be not a proper word to give any new thing to the King sure we are it is a word as dangerous in another sense for it may amount without all question to acknowledge an old Right of Soveraign Power in his Majesty above these Laws and Statutes whereon onely our Liberties are founded a Doctrine which we most humbly crave your Lordships leaves freely to protest against And âor your Lordships proffering that some Saving should be requisite for preservation of his Majesties Soveraign Power in respect our Petition runneth in larger words then our Laws and Statutes whereon we ground it what is this but a clear coââession by our Lordships that this Clause was intended by you to be that Saving for other Saving then this we finde not tendred by you And if it be such a Saving how can it stand with your Lordships other Arguments that it should be of no other effect then our former expression to his Majesty by the mouth of our Speaker But I will not insist upon Collections of this kinde I will onely shew you the Reasons of the Commons why this Petition needeth no such Saving albeit the words of these Statutes be exceeded in the declaratory part of our Petition Those things that are within the equity and true meaning of a Statute are as good Laws as those which are contained in the express Letter and therefore the Statutes of the 42 Edw. 36 H. 3. Rot. Par. N. 12. and other the Statutes made in this time of King Edw. 3. for the Explanatiân of Magna Charta which hath been so often vouched this Parliament though they differ in words from Magna Charta had no Saving annexed to any of them because they inacted nothing more then was contained in effect In that good Law under the words per legale judicium parium suorum aut per legem terrae which by these latter Laws are expounded to import that none should be put to answer without presentment or matter of Record or by due Process or writ Original and if otherwise it should be void and holden for error It hath not been yet shewen unto us from your Lordships that we have in any of our Expressions or Applications strained or misapplied any of the Laws or Statutes whereon we do insist and we are very confident and well assured that no such mistaking can be assigned in any point of our Petition now under question if therefore it do not exceed the true sense and construction of Magna Charta in the subsequent Laws of Explanation whereon it is grounded what reason is there to adde a Saving to this Petition more then to those Laws since we desire to transmit the fruits of these our labors to posterity not onely for the justification of our selves in right of our present and their future Liberties but also for a brave expression and perpetual testimony of that Grace and Justice which we assure our selves we shall receive in his Majesties speedy and clear Answer This is the thing we seek for and this the thing we hoped for and this the thing onely will setle such an unity and confidence betwixt his Majesty and us and raise such a cheerfulness in the hearts of all his loving Subjects as will make us proceed unanimously and with all expedition to supply him for his great occasions in such measure and in such way as may make him safe at home and feared abroad Sir Henry Martin took up the Argument and proceeded as to the rational part thereof IT is necessary to state the question rightly and to set down the true difference between your Lordships and us Now indeed there is no difference or question between your Lordships and us concerning this additional Clause in the nature and quality of a Proposition For so considered we say it is most true and to be received and embraced by us in toto qualibet parte qualibet syllaba yea and were that the question we should adde to the Addition and in stead of due regard say we have had have and ever will have a special and singular regard where to leave entire Soveraign Power but this were to intimate as if we had first cropt it and then left it but our regard was to acknowledge and confess it sincerely and to maintain it constantly even to the hazard of our Goods and Lives if need be To which purpose your Lordships may be pleased to remember that strict Oath every Member of
ignorant that in a Session of Parliament though it continue as many weeks as this hath done days yet there is nothing Prius Posterius but all things are held and taken as done at one time if so what a strange Collection was this that at the same time the House of Commons should oblige themselves by a fearful adjuration to assist and defend all Priviledges and Prerogatives belonging to the King and at the same time by a Petition cautiously conveyed endeavor or intend to divest and deprive the King of some Prerogatives belonging to his Crown If therefore such fear and sollicitude can neither be grounded upon the words of the Petition nor intention of the Petitioners I humbly pray your Lordships to lay them aside as we do believe that the Proposition of this addition from your Lordships was not onely excuseable but commendable as proceeding from your love So now having heard our Reasons your Lordships would rest satisfied that our refusal to admit them into our Petition proceedeth from the conscience of the integrity and uprightness of our own hearts that we in all this Petition have no such end to abate or diminish the Kings just Prerogative And so much in reply to that Rational part whereby my Lord Keeper laboured to perswade the entertainment of this Addition This being done it pleased the House of Commons to instruct and furnish me with certain Reasons which I should use to your Lordships to procure your absolute conjunction with us in presenting this Petition which albeit I cannot set forth according to their worth and the Instructions given me by the House yet I hope their own weight will so press down into your Lordships consciences and judgements that without further scruple you will cheerfully vouchsafe to accompany this Petition with your right noble presence A personis The first Argument wherewith I was commanded to move your Lordships was drawn from the consideration of the Persons which are Petitioners The House of Commons a House whose temper mildness and moderation in this Parliament hath been such as we should be unthankful and injurious to Almighty God if we should not acknowledge his good hand upon us upon our tongues upon our hearts procured no doubt by our late solemn and publique Humiliation and Prayers This moderation will the better appear if in the first place we may be remembred in what passion and distemper many Members of this House arrived thither what bosoms what pockets full of complaints and lamentable grievances the most part brought thither and those every day renewed by Letters and Packets from all parts and quarters You know the old Proverb Ubi dolor ibi digitus ubi amor ibi oculus it is hard to keep our fingers from often handling the Parts ill affected but yet our Moderation overcame our Passion our Discretion overcame our Affection This Moderation also will the better appear if in the second place it be not forgotten how our Ancestors and Predecessors carried themselves in Parliaments when upon lighter provocations less would not serve their turns but new severe commissions to hear and determine offences against their Liberties publique ecclesiastical Curses or excommunications against the Authors or Actors of such violations accusations condemnations executions banishments But what have we said all this Parliament we onely look forward not backward we desire amendment hereafter no mans punishment for ought done heretofore nothing written by us in blood nay not one word spoken against any mans person in displeasure The conclusion of our Petition is that we may be better intreated in time to come and doth not this moderate Petition deserve your Lordships cheerful conjunction ex congruo condigno If a Worm being trodden upon could speak a Worm would say tread upon me no more I pray you higher we rise not lower we cannot descend and thus much we think in modesty may well be spoken in our own commendation thence to move your Lordships to vouchsafe us your noble company in this Petition without surcharging it with this Addition A tempore Our next Argument is drawn a tempore from the unseasonableness of the time The wise Man saith There is a time for all things under the Sun tempus suum and if in the wise mans judgement a word spoken in its due time be precious as Gold and Silver then an unseasonable time detracts as much from the thing or word done or spoken We hold under your favors that the time is not seasonable now for this Addition it is true that of it self Soveraign Power is a thing always so Sacred that to handle it otherwise then tenderly is a kind of Sacriledge and to speak of it otherwise then reverently is a kind of blasphemy but every vulgar capacity is not so affected the most part of men nay almost all men judge and esteem all things not according to their own intrinsick vertue and quality but according to their immediate effects and operations which the same things have upon them Hence it is that Religion it self receiveth more or less credit or approbation as the Teachers or Professors are worse or better yea if God himself send a very wet harvest or seed-time men are apt enough to censure Divine Power The Soveraign Power hath not now for the present the ancient amiable aspect in respect of some late sad influences but by Gods Grace it will soon recover To intermix with this Petition any mention of Soveraign Power rebus sic stantibus when angry men say Soveraign Power hath been abused and the most moderate wish it had not been so used we hold it not seasonable under your Lordships correction A loco Our next Argument is drawn a loco we think the place where your Lordships would have this Addition inserted viz. in the Petition no convenient or seasonable place your Lordships will easily believe that this Petition will run through many hands every man will be desirous to see and to read what their Knights and their Burgesses have done in Parliament upon their complaints what they have brought home for their five Subsidies If in perusing of this Petition they fall upon the mention of Soveraign Power they presently fall to arguing and reasoning and descanting what Soveraign Power is what is the Latitude whence the Original and where the bounds with many such curious and captious questions by which course Soveraign Power is little advanced or advantaged for I have ever been of opinion that it is then best with Soveraign Power when it is had in tacite veneration not when it is profaned by publique hearings or examinations Our last Argument is drawn from our Duty and Loyalty to his Majesty in consideration whereof we are fearful at this time to take this Addition into our Petition lest we should do his Majesty herein some disservice with your Lordships we make the great Councel of the King and Kingdom and though your Lordships having the happiness to be near his Majesty know other
well-beloved Sir VVilliam Balfoure Knight and Iohn Dolbier Esquire or either of them for levying and providing certain numbers of Horses with Armes for Horse and Foot to be brought over into this Kingdome for our service viz. for the levying and transporting of one thousand Horse fifteen thousand pounds for five thousand Muskets five thousand Corslets and five thousand Pikes ten thousand five hundred pounds and for one thousand Curaseers compleat two hundred Corslets and Carbines four thousand five hundred pounds amounting in the whole to the said summe of thirty thousand pounds And this our letter shall be your sufficient warrant and discharge in this behalf Given under our Privy Seal at our Palace of Westminster the 30th of Ianuary in the third year of our Reign Iune the seventh the King came to the Lords House and the House of Commons were sent for And the Lord Keeper presented the humble Petition of both Houses and said MAy it please your most excellent Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled taking into consideration that the good intelligence between your Majesty and your people doth much depend upon your Majesties answer unto their Petition of Right formerly presented With unanimous consent do now become most humble Suitors unto your Majesty that you would be pleased to give a clear and satisfactory answer thereunto in full Parliament Whereunto the King replyed The answer I have already given you was made with so good deliberation and approved by the judgements of so many wise men that I could not have imagined but it should have given you full satisfaction But to avoid all ambiguous interpretations and to shew you there is no doublenesse in my meaning I am willing to pleasure you as well in words as in substance read your Petition and you shall have an answer that I am sure will please you The Petition was read and this answer was returned Soit droit fait come il est desire C. R. This I am sure said his Majesty is full yet no more then I granted you in my first Answer for the meaning of that was to confirm your liberties knowing according to your own Protestations that ye neither meane nor can hurt my Prerogative And I assure you my Maxime is That the Peoples Liberties strengthen the Kings Prerogative and the Kings Prerogative is to defend the Peoples Liberties You see how ready I have shewed my self to satisfie your demands so that I have done my part Wherefore if this Parliament have not a happy conclusion the sin is yours I am free from it Whereupon the Commons returned to their own House with unspeakable joy and resolved so to proceed as to expresse their thankfulnesse and now frequent mention was made of proceeding with the Bill of subsidies of sending the Bills which were ready to the Lords of perfecting the Bill of Tunnage and Poundage and Sir Iohn Strangeââies also expressed his joy at the answer and further added Let us perfect our Remonstrance King Iames was wont to say He knâw that by Parliaments which otherwise he could never have known After the granting of the Petition of Right the House ordered that the Grand Committees for Religion Trade Grievances and Courts of Justice to sit no longer but that the House proceed only in the consideration of Grievances of most moment And first they fell upon the Commission for Excise and sent to the Lord Keeper for the same who returned answer that he received Warrant at the Councel Table for the sealing thereof and when it was Sealed he carried it back to the Councel Table The Commission being sent it was read in the House viz. CHarles By the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To Sir Thomas Coventry Knight Lord Keeper of the Great Seale of England To James Earl of Malburg Lord High Treasurer or England Henry Earl of Manchester Lord President of our Councel Edward Earl of Worcester Lord Keeper of our Privy Seal George Duke of Buckingham Lord high Admiral of England William E. of Pembrook Lord Steward of Our Houshold Philip Earl of Mountgomery Lord Chamberlain of Our Houshold Theophilus Earl of Suffolk Edward Earl of Dorset William Earl of Salisbury Thomas Earl of Exeter John Earl of Bridgwater James Earl of Carlisle Henry Earl of Holland William Earl of Denbigh George Earl of Totnes Sir George Hay Kt. Lord Chancellor of Scotland William Earl of Morton Thomas Earl of Kelley Thomas Earl of Mellers Edward Uiscount Conway one of our principal Secretaries of State Edward Uiscount Wimbleton Oliver Uiscount Grandison Henry Falkland Lord Deputy of Ireland To the Lord Bp. of Winchester Wil. Lord Bp. of Bath and Wells Fulk Lo. Brook Dudley Ash Lord Carlton Uice Chamberlain of Our Houshold Sir Thomas Edmonds Treasurer of our Houshold Sir John Savil Controler of Our Houshold Sir Robert Nanton Master of the Court of Wards Sir John Cook one of the principal Secretaries of State Sir Richard Weston Chancellour and under Treasurer of our Exchequer Julius Caesar Master of the Rolls and Sir Humphrey May Kt. Chancellour of Our Dutchy of Lancaster Greeting Whereas the presânt Conjuncture of the general affairs of Christendom and our own particular interest in giving assistance unto our oppressed Allies and for providing for the defence and safety of our own Dominions and People do call upon Us to neglect nothing that may conduce to those good ends And because Monies the principal sinâws of War and one of the first and chiefest movers in all great Preparations and Actions are necessary to be provided in the first place and We are carefull the same may be raised by such ways as may best stand with the State of Our Kingdoms and Subjects and yet may answer the pressing occasions of the present times We therefore out of the experience We have had and for the trust we repose in your wisdoms fidelities and dutifull care of your service And for the experience we have of all great Causes concerning us and our State both as they have relation to Foraine parts abroad and as to our Common-wealth and People at home Ye being persons called by us to be of Our Privy Councel have thought sit amongst those great and important matters which so much concern us in the first and chiefest place to recommend this to your special care and diligence And we do hereby authorise and appoint and strictly will and require you that speedily and seriously you enter into consideration of all the best and speediest ways and means ye can for raising of Monies for the most Important occasions aforesaid UUhich without extreamest hazard to Us our Dominions and People and to our Friends and Allies can admit of no long delay the same to be done by Impositions or othârwise as in your wisdoms and best Iudgments ye shall find to be most convenient in a case of this inevitable necessity wherein Form ând
and with bleeding hearts and bended knees to crave your speedy Redresse therein as to your own wisdome unto which we most humbly submit our selves and our desires shall seeme most meet and convenient What the multitude and Potency of your Majesties enemies are abroad What be their malicious and ambitious ends and how vigilant and constantly industrious they are in pursuing the same is well known to your Majesty Together with the dangers threatned thereby to your sacred Person and your Kingdomes and the calamities which have already fallen and do daily encrease upon your Friends and Allies of which we are well assured your Majesty is most sensible and will accordingly in your great wisdome and with the gravest and most Mature Councel according to the exigencie of the times and occasions provide to prevent and help the same To which end we most humbly intreat your Majesty first and especially to cast your eyes upon the miserable condition of this your own Kingdome of late so strangely weakened and dejected that unlesse through your Majesties most gracious Wisdom Goodnesse and Iustice it be speedily raised to a better condition it is in no little danger to become a sudden Prey to the Enemies thereof and of the most happy and flourishing to be the most miserable and contemptible Nation in the World In the discoveries of which dangers mischiefs and inconveniences lying upon us we do freely protest that it is far from our thoughts to lay the least aspersion upon your sacred Person or the least scandal upon your Government For we do in all sincerity of our hearts not only for our selves but in the Name of all the Commons of the Realme whom we represent ascribe as much duty as a most loyal and affectionate people can do unto the best King for so you are and so have been pleased abundantly to expresse your self this present Parliament by your Majesties clear and satisfactory answer to our Petition of Right For which both our selves and our posterity shall blesse God for you and ever preserve a thankful memory of your great goodnesse and Iustice therein And we do verily believe that all or most of these things which we shall now present unto your Majesty are either unknown unto you or else by some of your Majesties Ministers oâfered under such specious pretences as may hide their own ill intentions and ill consequences of them from your Majesty But we assure our selves according to the good example of your Majesties Predecessors nothing can make your Majesty being a wise and Iudicious Prince and above all things desirous of the welfare of your people more in love with Parliaments then this which is one of the principal ends of calling them that therein your Majesty may be truely informed of the State of all the several parts of your kingdome and how your Officers and Ministers do behave themselves in the trust reposed in them by your Majesty which is scarce able to be made known unto you but in Parliament as was declared by your blessed Father when he was pleased to put the Commons in Parliament assembled in minde that it would be the greatest unfaithfulnesse and breach of duty to his Majesty and of the trust committed to them by the Countrey that could be if in setting forth the grievances of the people and the condition of all the parts of this Kingdome from whence they come they did not deal clearly with him without sparing any how near and dear soever they were unto him if they were hurtful or dangerous to the Common-Wealth In confidence therefore of your Majesties gracious acceptation in a matter of so high importance and in faithful discharge of our duties We do first of all most humbly beseech your Majesty to take notice that howsoever we know your Majesty doth with your soul abhor that any such thing should be imagined or attempted Yet there is a general fear conceived in your people of secret working and combination to introduce into this kingdome innovation and change of our holy Religion more precious unto us then our lives and whatever this world can afford And our fears and jealousies herein are not meerly conjectural but arising out of such certain and visible effects as may demonstrate a true and real Cause For notwithstanding the many good and wholesome Laws and provisions made to prevent the increase of Popery within this kingdome and notwithstanding your Majesties most gracious and satisfactory answer to the Petition of both Houses in that behalfe presented to your Majesty at Oxford We finde there hath followed no good execution nor effect but on the contrary at which your Majesty out of the quick sense of your own religious heart cannot but be in the highest measure displeased those of that Reliligion do finde extraordinary favors and respect in Court from persons of great quality and power whom they continually resort unto and in particular to the Countesse of Buckingham who her self openly professing that Religion is a known favourer and supporter of them that do the same which we well hoped upon your Majesties Answer to the aforsaid Petition at Oxford should not have been permitted nor that any of your Majesties Subjects of that religion justly to be suspected should be entertained in the service of your Majesty or your royal consort the Queen Some likewise of that Religion have had Honours Offices and places of Command and Authority lately conferred upon them But that which striketh the greatest terror into the hearts of your Loyal Subjects concerning this is that Letters of Stay of legal proceedings against them have been procured from your Majesty by what indirect meanes we know not And Commissions under the great Seale granted and executed for composition to be made with Popish Recusants with Inhibitions and restraints both to the Ecclesiastical and temporal Courts and Officers to intermeddle with them which is conceived to amount to no leââe then a toleration odious to God full of dishonour and extreame disprosit to your Majesty of great scandal and griefe to your good people and of apparent danger to the present State of your Majesty and of this Kingdome their numbers power and insolency daily increasing in all parts of your Kingdome and especially about London and the Subburbs thereof Where exceeding many Families do make their abode publiquely frequent Masse at Denmark House and other places and by their often meetings and conferences have opportunities of combining their Councels and Strength together to the hazard of your Majesties safety and the State and most especially in these doubtful and calamitous times And as our fear concerning change or subversion of Religion is grounded upon the daily increase of Papists the open and professed Enemies thereof for the Reasons formerly mentioned So are the hearts of your good Subjects no lesse perplexed when with sorrow they behold a daily growth and spreading of the faction of the Arminians that being as your Majesty well knows but a cunning way to
in these words We cannot safely give unless we be in possession and the proceedings in the Exchequer nullified as also the information in the Star-Chamber and the annexion to the Petition of Right for it will not be a gift but a confirmation neither will I give without the removal of these interruptions and a Declaration in the Bill that the King hath no right but by our free gift if it will not be accepted as it is fit for us to give we cannot help it if it be the Kings already we do not give it Hereupon the House ordered that the Barons of the Exchequer be sent unto to make void their injunction and order concerning the staying of Merchants goods to which the Barons returned this answer Whereas the Honourable House of Commons by order of the 12. of this instant February have appointed that notice shall be given to the Lord Treasurer Chancellor Barons of the Exchequer of a Declaration made by Sir Iohn VVolstenholme Abrah Dawes and Rich. Carmarthan in the House of Commons that the goods that the Merchants brought into the Kings Store-house and laid up there for his Majesties use were detained as they conceive onely for the duty of Tunnage and Poundage and other sums comprized in the Book of rates which notice was given to the end the said Court of Exchequer might further proceed therein as to justice shall appertain Now the Lord Treasurer Chancellour and Barons out of their due respect to that honourable House and for their satisfaction do signifie that by the Orders and Injunctions of the said Court of Exchequer they did not determine nor any way touch upon the right of Tunnage and Poundage and so they declared openly in Court at the making of these Orders neither did they by the said Orders or Injunctions barr the Owners of those goods to sue for the same in a lawful course but whereas the said Owners endeavoured to take the same goods out of the Kings actual possession by Writs or Plaints of Replevin which was no lawful action or course in the Kings case nor agreeable to his Royal Prerogative therefore the said Court of Exchequer being the Court for ordering the Kings Revenue did by those Orders and Injunctions stay those Suits and did fully declare by the said Orders that the owners if they conceived themselves wronged might take such remedy as the Law alloweth Richard Weston Iohn Walter Tho. Trevor Lo. Newburgh Iohn Denham George Vernon The Answer of the Lord Treasurer and Barons instead of satisfaction expected by the House was looked upon as a justification of their Actions whereupon a motion was made to go on to consider of their proceedings and whether ever the Court of Exchequer held this course before for staying of Replevins and whether this hath been done by Prerogative of the King in his Court of Exchequer A report was made from the Committee concerning the pardons granted by the King since the last Session to certain persons questioned in Parliament and the reporter informed the House that they do finde upon examination that Dr. Sibthorpe and Mr Cosens did solicite the obtaining of their own pardons and that they said the Bishop of Winchester would get the Kings hand to them and it did also appear to the Committee that the Bishop of Winchester did promise the procuring of Mr. Montagues pardon that Dr. Manwaring solicited his own pardon and that the Bishop of Winchester got the Kings hand to it Mr. Oliver Cromwell being of this Committee informed the House what countenance the Bishop of Winchester did give to some persons that preached flat Popery and mentioned the persons by name and how by this Bishops means Manwaring who by censure the last Parliament was disabled for ever holding any Ecclesiasticall dignity in the Church and confessed the Justice of that Censure is nevertheless preferred to a rich Living If these be the steps to Church preferment said he what may we expect A Petition from the Booksellers and Printers in London was also presented complaining of the restraint of Books written against Popery and Arminianism and the contrary allowed of by the only means of Dr. Laud Bishop of London and that divers of the Printers and Booksellers have been sent for by Pursuivants for ârinting Books against Popery and that Licensing is only restrained to the Bishop of London and his Chaplains and instanced in certain Books against Popery which were denyed to be Licenced Upon which occasion Mr. Selden declared that it is true there is no Law to prevent the Printing of any Books in England only a Decree in Star-Chamber and he advised that a Law might be made concerning Printing otherwise he said a man might be Fined Imprisoned and his Goods taken from him by vertue of the said Decree which is a great Invasion upon the Liberty of the Subject The House of Commons being informed that an Information was preferred in the Star-Chamber against Richard Chambers and others concerning some matters that fell out about their refusal to pay Tunnage and Poundage since the last Session of Parliament because the same was not granted by Act of Parliament they referred the same to a Committee to examine the truth of their proceedings and that whither they ought not to have priviledge of Parliament in regard they had then a Petition depending in Parliament to protect them against the said proceedings and Sir William Acton Sheriff of London being examined before the Committee concerning some matters about the Customers and not giving that cleare Answer which he ought and as the House conceived he might have done was therefore committed to the Tower of London And a Question mas made in the House at that time whether the House had at any time before committed a Sheriff of London to prison to which Mr. Selden made Answer that he could not call to mind a president of sending one Sheriff of London to prison but he well remembred a president of sending both the Sheriffs of London to the Tower and instanced the Case Friday February 13. the Parliament fell into consideration of the great increase of Popery and it was moved to examine the releasing of the Jesuites that were arraigned at Newgate whereof one onely was condemned though they were ten in number and they all Priests and had a Colledge here in London about Clerken-well these men said some could not attempt these acts of boldness but that they have great countenancers Hereupân Secretary Cook declared that a Minister of State having notice of these ten persons and this Colledge intended to be kept at Clarkenwell acquainted his Majesty with it and I should not discharge my duty if I should not declare how much his Mâjesty referred it to the especial care of the Lords of the Councel who examining the same sent those ten persons to Newgate and gave order to Mr. Attourney to prosecute the Law against them He further added
and Southcot Justices That offences committed in Parliament may be punished out of Parliament And 3 Ed. 3.19 it is good Law And it is usual neer the end of Parliaments to set some petty punishment upon offenders in Parliament to prevent other Courts And I have seen a Roll in this Court in 6 H. 6. where judgment was given in a writ of annuity in Ireland and afterwards the said judgment was reversed in Parliament in Ireland upon which judgment Writ of Error was brought in this Court and reversed Hide Chief Justice to the same intent No new matter hath been offered to us now by them that argue for the Defendants but the same Reasons and Authorities in substance which were objected before all the Justices of England and Barons of the Exchequer at Sergeants-Inn in Fleet-street upon an Information in the Star-Chamber for the same matter At which time after great deliberation it was resolved by all of them That an offence committed in Parliament that being ended may be punished out of Parliament And no Court more apt for that purpose then this Court in which we are and it cannot be punished in a future Parliament because it cannot take notice of matters done in a foregoing Parliament As to that that was said That an Inferiour Court cannot meddle with matters done in a Superior True it is That an Inferior Court cannot meddle with judgments of a Superior Court but if the particular members of a Superiour Court offend they are oft-times punishable in an Inferior Court As if a Judg shall commit a capital offence in this Court he may be arraigned thereof at Newgate 3 E. 3.19 and 1 Mar. which have been cited over-rule this case Therefore Whitlock accordingly 1. I say in this Case Nihil dictum quod non dictum prius 2. That all the Judges of England have resolved this very point 3. That now we are but upon the brink and skirts of the Cause for it is not now in Question if these be offences or no or if true or false but only if this Court have jurisdiction But it hath been objected That the offence is not capital therefore it is not examinable in this Court But though it be not capital yet it is criminal for it is sowing of sedition to the destruction of the Commonwealth The Question now is not between us that are Judges of this Court and the Parliament or between the King and the Parliament but between some private Members of the House of Commons and the King himself for here the King himself questions them for those offences as well he may In every Commonwealth there is one supereminent Power which is not subject to be questioned by any other and that is the King in this Commonwealth who as Bracton saith solum Deum habet ultorem But no other within the Realm hath this Priviledge It is true that that which is done in Parliament by consent of all the house shall not be questioned elsewhere but if any private Members exuunt personas judicum induunt malefacientium personas sunt seditiosi is there such Sanctimony in the place that they may not be questioned for it elsewhere The Bishop of Ross as the Case hath been put being Embassadour here practised matters against the State And it was resolved That although Legatus sit Rex in alieno solo yet when he goes out of the bounds of his Office and complots with Traytors in this Kingdom that he shall be punished as an offender here A Minister hath a great Priviledge when he is in the Pulpit but yet if in the Pulpit he utter speeches which are scandalous to the State he is punishable so in this Case when a Burgess of Parliament becomes mutinous he shall not have the Priviledge of Parliament In my opinion the Realm cannot consist without Parliaments but the behaviour of Parliament-men ought to be Parliamentary No outragious speeches were ever used against a great Minister of State in Parliament which have not been punished If a Judge of this Court utter scandalous speeches to the State he may be questioned for them before Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer because this is no judicial act of the Court. But it hath been objected That we cannot examine Acts done by a higher Power To this I put this Case When a Peer of the Realm is arraigned of Treason we are not his Judges but the high Steward and he shall be tryed by his Peers But if errour be committed in this proceeding that shall be reversed by errour in this Court for that which we do is Coram ipso Rege It hath been objected That the Parliament-Law differs from the Law by which we judge in this Court in sundry Cases And for the instance which hath been made That by the Statute none ought to be chosen Burgesse of a Town in which he doth not inhabit but that the usage of Parliament is contrary But if Information be brought upon the said Statute against such a Burgess I think that the Statute is a good warrant for us to give judgement against him And it hath been objected That there is no President in this matter But there are sundry Presidents by which it appears that the Parliament hath transmitted matters to this Court as 2 R. 2. there being a question between a great Peer and a Bishop it was transmitted to this Court being for matter of behaviour and although the Judges of this Court are but inferiour men yet the Court is higher for it appears by the 11 Eliz. Dy. That the Earl Marshal of England is an Officer of this Court and it is always admitted in Parliament That the priviledges of Parliament hold not in three Cases to wit in case of Treason secondly in case of Felony and in suit for the peace and the last is our very case Therefore c. Crook argued to the same intent but I did not well hear him he said That these offences ought to be punished in the Court or no where and all manner off offences which are against the Crown are examinable in this Court It hath been objected That by this means none will adventure to make his complaints in Parliament That is not so for he may complain in a Parliamentary course but not falsely and unlawfully as here is pretended for that which is unlawfully cannot be in a Parliamentary course It hath been objected That the Parliament is a higher Court then this is And it is true But every Member of Parliament is not a Court and if he commit offence he is punishable here Our Court is a Court of high jurisdiction it cannot take cognizance of real Pleas but if a real Plea comes by Error in this Court it shall never be transmitted But this Court may award a grand Cape and other Process usual in real Actions But of all capital and criminal causes we are originally competent Judges and by consequence of this matter But I am not
King 2. It stands not with the dignity of the King to arrest any man C. 4. 73. The King makes a Lease for years rendring rent with condition of re-entry for non-payment he shall take advantage of the condition without any demand and the reason there given is that a decorum and conveniency might be observed So it is not befitting for the King in person to arrest any man but the King may command another to do it Bracton lib. 2. de acquirendo rerum Dominio fol. 55. sayes That the Crown of the King is to do justice and judgment and facere pacem without which the Crown it self cannot subsist Severall constructions are to be made upon those severall words and the last words facere pacem imply that the King hath a coercive power Britton f. 1. amongst the Errata The King said in person Because we are not sufficient in person to do every thing We divide the charge into many parts We are the peoples Iustice and a Iustice implies one that hath power to do justice in every kind to wit by imprisonment or otherwise 20 H. 7.7 C. 11.85 it is said That the King is the chief Iustice. And Lambert in his Justice of Peace fol. 3. saies That in antient Histories the chief Iustice of England is called Capitalis Justicia Prima Justicia after the King in England So that the King hath the same power of Iustice as the Chief Iustice had This imprisonment here which is before conviction for any offenâ is not used towards the Subject as imprisonment for any fault but is rather an arrest or restraint to avoid further inconveniencies 14 H. 7.8 A Iustice of Peace may arrest men riotously assembled for prevention of further mischief And the Book also saies That he may leave his servants there to arrest men for safeguard of the peace It is a case well known that if a house be set on fire every man may pull down the next house for prevention of greater mischief so it seems concerning the Incendiaries of the State they ought to be restrained and supprest lest others should be stirred up by them to the same combustion 22 ass 56. and 22 E. 4.45 in false imprisonment the Defendant justifies because the Plantiff was mad and out of his wits and that he had done some harm and that he had bound and beat him to avoid further harm which might have happened by his madnesse And the justification was held good So it is in matter of Government to avoid commotions the King ought to use his coercive power against those that are enraged The objection was that this course was against the Petition of Right But I answer That this case is out of the words of that Petition the words of the Petition were Whereas by the Statute called The great Charter and by the Statute of 28 E. 3. no free-man may be taken or imprisoned yet against the tenour of the said Statute c. divers of your subjects have of late been imprisoned without any cause shewed and when for their deliverance c. they were brought before the Iustices by Writs of Habeas corpus there to undergo and receive as the Court should order and their Keepers commanded to certifie the cause of their deteyner and no cause was certified but that they were detained by your Majesties speciall command signified by the Lords of your Council and yet were returned back to severall prisons without being charged with any thing to which they might make answer according to Law These last words are observable Without being charged with any thing to which they might make answer These words do not refer to the Return of the Habeas Corpus for the cause returned therein cannot be traversed 9 H. 6. 54. but the Court took it as true But the setting forth of the cause and the answer to the same cause is to be upon other proceedings to wit upon the indictment for the offence or otherwise And there is great difference between the return of a Writ to which a man may answer and the return of an Habeas corpus 10 E. 4. 3 H. 7.11 are that if the Sheriff return Rescous all certainties of every circumstance ought to be shewed because it is fitting that a thing certain be brought into judgment And upon shewing of the grievance as above the Petition is that no free-man in any such manner as before is mentioned be imprisoned or detained such and it hath relation to such imprisonment which is mentioned in the premises And imprisonment mentioned in the premises of the Petition is where no cause at all was mentioned then where any cause is shewed is out of the Petition and that such is the word relative appears by C. 11 62. where many cases are put to the same purpose which see The third objection was That the Return was generall and uncertain The Counsell on the other side had divided the words of the Return but that is to offer violence thereunto for an exposition shall not be made by fractions but upon the whole matter For the first words notable contempts It hath been said that the addition of the word notable is but to make a flourish But I say That notable is not the emphasis of the Return but it onely expresseth the nature of the offence and yet notable is a word observable by it self in the Law and implyes that the thing is known and noted By 27 E. 1. Sheriffs shall be punished that let notorious offenders to bayl and by the Statute of 4 H. 4. chap. 3. a notorious or common thief shall not make his purgation and 26 E. 3.71 in a trespasse for fals imprisonment the Defendant said That the Plantiff came into the Town of Huntington and because he was seen in the company of R. de Thorby who was a notorious thief he as Bailiff of Huntington took him upon suspition I confesse that for contempts is generall yea it is genus generalissimum and within the Petition of Right but the words are against Our Self It hath been said That this might be by irreverent words or gestures and Our Government It hath been said that this might be by contempt to the Kings Writ or by Retraxit as Beechers case is To this I answer That those words which are spoken to one purpose ought not to be wrested to another and this is against the common meaning of the words C. 4. Thou art a murderer the Defendant shall not afterwards explain it to be a murderer of Hares for the highest murder is intended So here the highest Government is intended 4. It hath been objected that for stirring up of sedition against Us may perhaps be but an offence Finable But those words joyned with the former words shew this to be an offence of the highest nature sedition is a speciall contempt And although sedition in it self may be but a generall offence yet here it is Sedition against Us and Our Government which makes
exception The Petition presented again and the word present left out The Kings answer to the Petition so ordered The Kings Answer to the Petition Another Petition of the Lords touchâ the Earl of Arundel The Kings Answer to this Petition The Lords adjourn in disgust till the morrow His Majesties Message to the Lords Upon this Message the Lords adjourn for a seven-night Another Message to the Lords from his Majesty concerning the Earl of Arundel The Lords adjourn again Another Message from the King to the Lords concerning the Earl of Arundel Another Message to the Lords from his Majesty The Earl of Arundel released comes to the House The Duke chosen Chancellor of Cambridge during his Impeachment The Earl of Berk-shire's Letter to Mr. Chester touching Votes conferred upon him in the Choice of the Chancellor of Cambridge The Commons Answer His Majesties Reply The Dukes Letter of Acknowledgement to the University of Cambridge The Kings Letter to the said University The Duke of Buckinghams Speech to the Lords House before he gave in his Answer His Answer and Plea to the Impeachment of the House of Commons His Charge touching Plurality of Offices His Charge touching his buying the Admirals place The Charge touching his buying the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports The Charge touching his not guarding the Seas The Charge touching the unjust stay of the Ship of Newhaven called the St. Peter after Sentence The Charge touching his Extortion of Ten thousand pounds from the East-India Company with the abuse of the Parliament The Charge touching his putting the Ships into the hands of the French Since the Dukes Answer delivered into the House he hath himself openly declared to their Lordships That for the better clearing of his Honor and Fidelity to the State in that part of his Charge which is objected against him by this Seventh Article he hath been an earnest and humble Suiter to his Majesty to give him leave in his Proofs to unfold the whole Truth and Secret of that great Action and hath obtained his Majesties gratious leave therein and accordingly doth intend to make such open and clear Proof thereof that he nothing doubteth but the same when it shall appear will not onely clear him from blame but be a Testimony of his care and faithfulness in serving the State The Charge touching his practice of the employment of them against Rochel The Charge touching the compelling the Lord R. to buy Honor. The Charge touching his selling of places of Judicature The Charge touching his procuring of Honors for his poor Kinred The Charge touching his exhausting intercepting and mis-employing the Kings Revenue The Charge touching his transcendent presumption in giving Physick to the King The Kings Letter to the Speaker touching speedy supply to his Majesty The Commons Petition to the King concerning Recusants The Commons Answer to his Majesties Letter by the Speaker * Mr Glanvile The Kings Declaration of the Causes of assembling and dissolving the two last Parliaments The King takes notice of the intended Remonstrance in a Proclamation Another Proclamation against preaching or disputing the Arminian Controversies pro or con The King commands an Information to be preferred against the Duke in Star-Chamber The King forbids to solicite any Suit prohibited in the Book of Bounty The Council order all Customs to be paid And Forfeitures arising from Recusants A Commission to compound with Recusants A Proclamation to make the Kings Revenue certain The King sends to the Nobles to lend him liberally He demands of the City the Loan of One hundred thousand pounds The Port Towns are to furnish Ships The Ports of Dorsetshire send an excuse The City of London desire an Abatement of their Ships Are checkt by the Council Privy Seals issued out A Fast observed Commissions to Deputy Lieutenants to Muster Try and Array men Inhabitants withdrawn from Ports and Sea Towns required to return Ships sent to the River of Elbe A Fleet prepared The King of Denmarks Declaration why he takes up Arms against the Emperor A Battel between the Dane and the Emperor The overthrow of the King of Denmark an Inducement to the raising of Moneys by Loan A Declaration concerning Loan-Money Private Instructions to the Commissioners for the general Loan Billeting of Soldiers Commissions for Martial Law The Lords to advance the Loan Sir Randolph Crew removed from his place for not furthering the Loan Informations sent to the Council Table against the Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop refuses to proceed Ex Officio against the Puritans * Meaning the Petition against Recusants at Oxford Puritans described by Sir Iohn Lamb. Information in Star-Chamber against the Bishop of Lincoln Bishop Laud his Dream The interpretation thereof Six thousand English in the Service of the Vnited Provinces Sir Charls Morgan General of the English forces Some do refuse the Loan though others offered to lend the refusers money so they would but subscribe They are ordered to be pressed for Soldiers The Refusers to lend were severely deal with An. 1627. Dr. Sibthorps Sermon concerning the Loan Dr. Manwaring in two Sermons promotes the Loan Distastes and jealousies between England and France The French dismissed Ill resented in France Private Transactions to engage in a War against France The King of Great Britains Declaration concerning a War with France The Duke of Buckingham Admiral and General His Commission The Duke sets âail with the Fleet and Army The Rochellers are fearful to admit the English Yet call an Assembly and heard Sir William Beechers Message The Rochellers still timerous A well affected party in Rochel The Duke communicates his design to Sobiez The Duke lands his Army at the Isle of Rhee A âore âight at the landing The Army stays five days after the fight A Fort neglected to be taken in The French astonished at the landing of the English The Duke comes before the Fort at St. Martins Blocks up the Cittadel Gentlemen secured and confined for refusing to part with money upon the Loan Sir John Elliots Petition to the King concerning the Loan Archbishop Abbot in disfavor The Commission to Sequester Archbishop Abbot from all his Ecclesiastiâal Offices The Archbishops Narrative concerning his disgrace at Court His Age when this befel him His indisposition kept him from Court and exposed him to censure The Duke offended with the Archbishop for not stooping to him The Archbishop is foretold of the Dukes displeasure Sibthorps Sermon for Loan Money The Dukes design in having this Sermon sent to the Archbishop to Licence it Mr Murrey sent from the King with the Sermon to the Archbishop to have it Licenced by himself The discourse by way of Dialogue between the Archbishop and Mr. Murrey on that occasion The Archbishops Reasons why he could not Licence it His Majesty returns Answer by Mr. Murrey to those Reasons of the Archbishop The Archbishop desires Bishop Laud may be sent to him to treat of that Sermon The Archbishop sends his Objections to the Court
take up their Winter Quarters A Letter of the Duke of Buckinghams to Gondomar touching King Iames his bent to the German War Octob. 25. Frederick's Forces totally routed in the Battel at Prague His calamity joined with loss of Honor. An Order at the Council-Table for recovering the Palatinate The Spaniards flatter the King Private Instructions to the Spanish Ambassador into England The King calls a Parliament The Protestant Union declines in Germany The Palatine propounds a Peace to the Elector of Saxony The King puts forth a Proclamation forbidding discourse of State-affairs The Kings Speech to the Parliament * Buckingham The Lo. Digby sent Ambassador into Flanders and Mr. Gage to Rome The Palatine and his Princess go into Holland The Emperor proceeds severely with the Bohemians Imperial Protestant Towns reconcile themselves to the Emperor and intercede for the Palatine but in vain Grievances proposed in Parliament Sir Giles Mompesson imprisoned but escapes beyond Sea 19 Iac. An. 1621. The Kings Speech to the Lords Sentence given against Sir Giles Mompesson And Sir Francis Michel his Compartner in Projects Lord Chancellor Bacon accused and convicted of Bribery Sir Henry accused by the Commons Gondomar reviled and assaulted in London streets Sir Rob. Mansel sent into the Mediterranean Sea The Emperor calls in question the Authors of the Commotions in Bohemia The King intends to adjourn the Parliament The Commons take it not well The King resents it The Commons Declaration touching the Palatinate The King by Proclamation reforms the late grievances handled in Parliament Puts forth another Proclamation against Talking of State-affairs The King is sollicited from Spain to enlarge his favors towards Catholicks The chief heads of the Lord Digby's Embassie to the Emperor The Emperors Reply to those Demands The L. Digby's second Proposal to the Emperor The Emperors Answer The English Ambassador goes to the Duke of Bavaria The Emperors Letter to Don Baltazar de Zuniga The Parliament begins again Nov. 20. The Substance of the Lord Keepers Speech Lord Digby's Speech Lord Treasurer's Speech The Commons Petition and Remonstrance to the King At this time the Protestants are ill treated in France The Kings Letter to Sir Tho. Richardson The Commons send the Remonstrance accompanied with another Petition The Kings Answer to the later Petition The Lord Keepers judgment touching the Kings sharp Answer The Lo. Digby to the Peers The Commons Protestation The King takes the Protestation out of the Journal-book with his own hand In the mean time the King dissolves them Some Eminent Members of the Parliament in Prisoned Others sent for punishment into Ireland The Council write to Judges concerning such as speak of State Affairs The Palatine spoiled of his hereditary dominions The terms which King Iames desires the Emperor to accept in behalf of the Palatine The Emperors Answer to King Iames Ian. 14. 1621. King Iames to Philip the Fourth of Spain King Iames his Letter to the King of Spain Prince Charls to the King of Spain King Iames his Letter to the Lord Balthazar of Zuniga The Privy Council by the Kings command issue out an Order for raising Money for the defence of the Palatinate Archbishop Abbot not relished at Court an advantage taken against him Bishop Laud suspected to incline to Popish Tenents while he was of Oxford as appears by a notable passage The Arminians begin to be favored by the King by means of Bishop Laud. Favors shewed to Recusants by the Kings Order Iacobi 20. 1622. The Lord Keepers Letter excusing the Kings favor towards Papists The Kings Letter to the Archbishop for regulating the Clergy Directions concerning Preachers The new K. of Spain Philip the Fourth procures the Popes assent to the Match The Infanta cools in tâe Palsgraves business The pretended Obstacles of the Treaty removed Heidelburgh besieged New Conditions demanded of the King before the Pope gives a Dispensation The Kings Answer to the said Demands The King sends his Resolution to Digby in Spain now made Earl of Bristol Likewise a Letter was âent to âondomar ãâã recalleâ into Spain The Answer to the Memorial presented by the Earl of Bristol to the Spanish King Bristol gives the King hope of the Match Heidelburgh taken The King provoked sends his former Resolutions with anew dispatch into Spain In the mean time Manheim is taken The Emperors Intentions to King Iames not good Nor the King of Spains witness his Letter to Conde Olivares Olivares Answer Bristols Answer from the King of Spain The Popes Demands signed by the King and Prince Frankendale block'd up by Papenheim The King writes to Bristol The Electorate conferred upon the Duke of Bavaria in the Diet at Ratisbone The Protestant Princes plead for the Palatine's restitution The Catholick Princes reply The Protestants reassume the argument The Emperor takes up the debate Sir Dudley Carlton Resident at the ââgue sends his judgment of the matter to the Marquis of Buckingham The Prince and the Marquis of Buckingham go to Spain Buckingham visits Olivares and by him is conducted to the King Orders for the Prince's entertainment The Prince sees the Infanta Is entertained honorably by the King Makes his entrance publiquely into Madrid The King sends the Prince two Golden Keys The Grandees are commanded to attend his Highness The Marquis of Buckingham made Duke The people talk that the Prince is come to change his Religion Endeavors to make the Prince change his Religion * Quare Apostoliâis literis hortamur Catholicam Majestatem ut eum Principem redigere suaviter conetur sub Romanae Ecclesiae ditionem cui veteres Magnae Britanniae Domini coronatum caput imperii fasces Coelo plaudente submiserunt Quare te monemus ut ad Catholicum Regem religiosus Consiliarius accedas easque rationes despicias quibus insigne aliquod beneficium Britanniae Regnis Romanae Ecclesiae in praesenti rerum opportunitate comparetur Res ipsa magna atque gravissima est quare eum verbis amplificare non debemus Regnum Coelorum Britanniae Principi patefacere Regnum Britanniae sedi Apostolicae restituere incipiet qui Regii istius Adoloscentis animum Catholicae Religionis studio inflamaverit atque haeriticae impietatis odio impleverit c. The Pope's Letter to the Prince of Wales There is another Copy of the Princes Letter to the Pope published by several hands somewhat different from this Allurements to make the Prince change his Religion The Prince stedfast in his Religion Is not well dealt with in his Address to the Infanta The Dispensation is at last procured The Dispensation comes clogged Olivares proposes ways of Accommodation The King of Spain proffers to engage himself on the behalf of the King of England and the Prince His Ghostly Fathers approve his intentions The Match is declared publickly The Archbishops Letter to the King against Toleration of Popery Articles sworn to by the King Prince and Privy Council The Oath Private Articles sworne to by the King in