Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	let_v	lord_n	praise_v	1,625	5	9.2054	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57925	The Tryal of Thomas, Earl of Strafford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, upon an impeachment of high treason by the Commons then assembled in Parliament, in the name of themselves and of all the Commons in England, begun in Westminster-Hall the 22th of March 1640, and continued before judgment was given until the 10th of May, 1641 shewing the form of parliamentary proceedings in an impeachment of treason : to which is added a short account of some other matters of fact transacted in both houses of Parliament, precedent, concomitant, and subsequent to the said tryal : with some special arguments in law relating to a bill of attainder / faithfully collected, and impartially published, without observation or reflection, by John Rushworth of Lincolnes-Inn, Esq.	Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of, 1593-1641, defendant.; Rushworth, John, 1612?-1690.; England and Wales. Parliament. House of Commons.	1680 (1680)	Wing R2333; ESTC R22355	652,962	626

pretence that he is impeached of Treason But they profess and he believeth them That when Sir George Ratcliffe came out of Ireland they had received in Money 80000 l. and they had layed forth in Rent buying Tobacco Stock and Charges 86000 l. so that they had not in their Money by 60000 l. And Sir George Ratcliffe who is now in Town and though his misfortunes are heavy and sad enough yet is known to be a person of Honesty and Worth he dares say will take his oath on it and they that know him know he would not take a false oath to gain all the world That there be indeed some debts which are not gathered and some collected and paid into the Exchequer and this he said is to the value of the bargain and where he hears the Gentleman say the Customs have been worth to him and his Partners 300000 l. Surely the Informations have been much mistaken from them that gave the notice out of Ireland for it is to be understood that whatsoever the Profits are the Kings Rent must be taken out which is 15500 l. of the rest the King hath ⅝ parts and himself but ¼ part so that on the matter he thinks they have been worth to him 4 or 5 or 6000 l. a year better than the Rent though the value is not considerable in his Charge against him of Treason That their Lordships might see the Reasons why he could not prepare a particular Account of these things His Majesty had had a particular Account had not the Ministers been so dealt withal laid in prison and abused If you will speak of a tyrannical and arbitrary way of Government The Commons expressing some distaste at this Egression my Lord of Strafford saith he complains of Ireland not of things here and desires leave to read two Orders of the Commons House who have seized on all given order for sale of them taken the Contractors imployed and imprisoned them and he thereby rendred altogether unable to clear things as otherwise he might have done and these things they do he knows not how but to his undoing indeed Mr. Maynard did here interpose and desire to know to what purpose he would have them read and whereas he speaks of a Tyrannical usage he desires to know whom he presses whether the House of Commons there or here And Mr. Whitlock added That my Lord of Strafford in his defence of the last Article let fall some things that were an Aspersion on the whole state of Ireland the Lords and Commons there Assembled for he said Their Lordships might perceive the truth of the Remonstrance presented from thence on a former occasion and now he speaks of a Tyrannical Government on his making of Orders which himself mentions to be made by the House of Commons in Ireland And therefore their Lordships were desired to vindicate the Honor of the Kingdom of Ireland which suffers by those aspersions Sir Iohn Clotworthy further insisted on it That their Lordships are witnesses of the many Commendations my Lord of Strafford hath formerly issued concerning the people of Ireland as long as they were subservient to his Courses and could not find a way to extricate themselves from his Lord ships yoke they were cryed up to be numbred amongst the best of His Majesties Subjects Now when they are seeking to vindicate and relieve themselves from his heavy yoke they must be called a people he knows not how bad and therefore beseeches their Lordships that they may be set right in their Lordships opinions The reading of the Order being opposed by the Committee as tending nothing to the Cause Mr. Maynard alleadging that my Lord would have them ready to give their Lordships satisfaction why they should not be read for he imports they be tyrannical and something he would deduce out of them to the aspersion of others Whence my Lord of Strafford added only on the execution of them And Mr. Maynard replyed prove them on the Execution they were at last permitted to be read One dated 27 Feb. 1640. importing THat whereas great sums of Money have been raised by Customs above the Rent and my Lord of Strafford and Sir George Ratcliff are impeached of High Treason therefore it is Ordered That all persons that have Money of His Majesties in their hands concerning the Monopolies shall forthwith bring the same into his Highness Receipt and the Commissioners appointed to oversee the Ports shall bring in their Letters Patents to be considered of and because the Customs of Dublin amount to ⅝ of Ireland and the now Collector is not responsible for his great charge if he should miscarry therefore Sir Edw. Bagshaw Kt. now Customer and Collector shall collect all the Customes and pay the same into the Receipt That the Magazine-keeper of Tobacco shall forthwith return a true List of all Tobacco remaining in his hands and what was sold since Michaelmas 1637. and to what account and what Moneys are received and to whom the same is paid and what Money Bonds Bills and other Debts remain unpaid of the Premisses and in whose hands they be And that all Customers and Officers in the Ports and Creeks do deliver into this House within two moneths a true List of all such seizures of Money Tobacco and other Commodities that they or any of them have made or compounded for or what remains in their hands and likewise all forfeited Bonds for Goods transported into England c. and of all Fees they have received and their Warrants and a Note of all such persons as receive Fees and are no Officers and what Fees c. for seven years last past The Second Order was dated 3 Mar. 1640. importing in effect That FOrasmuch as much Tobacco lies in the Magazines which is perished It is Ordered that certain persons in the Order named shall make sale thereof to the best advantage and the Contractors are required to make weekly Accounts of all the Moneys they shall receive or which shall accrue out of the Tobacco by them sold and deliver the Money to certain persons therein named or any two of them who are required to take the burden on them and receive the Account weekly due c. and to be answerable to His Majesty c. My Lord of Strafford observed that these he shewed to justifie that he could not give particular satisfaction those imployed being in prison And further that in the whole proceeding of this he had done nothing but what 's warrantable and howsoever it proves a good or a bad bargain that 's not in question for he never knew the goodness of a Bargain could make a Treason If every one that makes a bad bargain with the King should be a Traitor it were hard but at that time none would be a partner with them among them all that say it was so great a bargain That in fine the worst of this can but be that it is a Monopolie a sole buying and selling of

thus levyed His Lordship added That the next Point he should have endeavoured to prove was That the Gentry that granted the Six score thousand pounds for Supply of the Army in my Lord Faulklands time agreed That the same should not be brought into the Kings Exchequer but be levyed by Soldiers nor be mentioned in any Accompt of the Kings least it should be mentioned to their prejudice but let the Gentlemen that manages the Evidence labour to prove this And Mr. Palmer declared again That they agreed to it Whence my Lord of Strafford observed That it concerned him both to make good the truth of his Answer and to tell their Lordships how narrowly he is moved to look to himself for though they now agree it to be done by the Agents and practised by them yet the first part of this Killing Charge is That he should Traiterously and Wickedly devise to subdue the Subjects of that Realm by levying Money on them But Mr. Palmer explained himself That they did admit the Contribution to be levied by the Agreement of the Agents and by consent but they intend not to admit that it did extend to a practice by his Predecessors for that it was formerly done they did in no sort admit And Mr. Pym added That they do not Charge him with levying the Contribution Money but with levying Money after the Contribution was paid which was more than the Contribution but that is not in issue So my Lord of Strafford concluded that Point That the Contribution for eight years before his coming was levied by Soldiers is admitted So that for all the things concerning that Contribution he did no more than was agreeable to the Agents themselves His Lordship then desired That the Second Article of my Lord of Faulklands Instructions might be Read by which he was expresly appointed to lay Soldiers on such as paid not their Rent to the King And it was Read ARTICLE II. FOr the Collection of our Rents in Cases of Default That First a Summoning Process shall Issue Secondly The Pursivant sent And Lastly if this be not sufficient in case the same be not levyed then our Vice-Treasurer by Warrant of our Deputy and Council shall appoint a competent number of Soldiers of the next Ayding and Garrison to collect the Rents of the charge of the Parties complained of having care that no man be burdened with a greater number of Soldiers than the Service shall necessarily require Mr. Palmer desiring That the first Article of these Instructions might be Read it was read accordingly AT the humble Request of our Subjects We are graciously pleas'd to direct for the better preservation and ease of our Subjects the Soldiers shall be called in c. My Lord of Strafford from his Proofes inferred That he had made it clearly appear That notwithstanding the Statute cited it had been the frequent use and custome of Ireland to assess Soldiers on Septs of Offenders for the levying of Exchequer-rents levying Debts as appears in one particular Case which is left in Dublin for the levying of the Composition Rents by Troops of Horse and Horsemen and for the Contribution that State gives no difference betwixt sessing for the Kings Rents and for contempts and disobedience to Justice and certainly it would be High-Treason for if the Deputy had power to assess the Soldiers without being guilty in the former Case certainly his assessing of Soldiers on Contemners to bring them to be ameneable to the Kings Justice cannot be by any construction made Treason in him So that though it comes not to the particular individuum yet it comes thus far that sessing of the Soldiers is a power that was in the Deputies of Ireland and so he trusts was by the Law of that Land without making them Traytors His Lordship did further alleadg That when he came into Ireland he found that none of the Kings Rents were levyed in other manner Paper-Attachments being given unto the Captains and they on these assignements levying the Money for their Entertainments that he was willing to remedy this being not much in love with the course and since his time it was never practised the Rents being brought in before it comes to that though if they had not been paid sooner it must have come to that And therefore he desired he might show them a Proclamation Issued within three months after he came into Ireland to show that he brought not the Custom with him but found it there Which Proclamation was Read being Dated 27 th December 1633. And Imported THat whereas the Surplusage of his Majesties Revenue is appointed to be applyed towards the Payment of the Army thereby to give the Countrey more ease c. To which Proclamation divers of the Counsellors Names were added and were now Read So that if Sessing of Soldiers in any case be Treason certainly it is in this Posito That if the Law be good it equally goes to both And so he conceives he hath shewed the use that hath been and must be of the Officers of the Army being the most ready way to procure obedience to the Kings Courts His Lordship observed That the Gentlemen at the Barr waved part of his Charge though there was a Book in Print wherein he appears to be charged in a Trayterous manner to subdue c. He waves the Article And though they decline it he besought their Lordships he might give an Account of this particular least it should stick with their Lordships when they read the Article and find no Answer to it But the Committee opposed it as conceiving it not fit he should Answer to an Article to which he was not pressed specially since they have not wholly laid it aside and that he had notice yesterday that they intended not for the present to proceed upon it which my Lord of Strafford confessed and gave thanks to the House of Commons for it His Lordship then proceeded in his Defence setting forth to their Lordships That the first Instruction to my Lord of Faulkland is no limitation to him it being not good as to him unless it were given him which he mentions onely by the way For the Warrants charged to be by him Issued and the Execution of them His Lordship desires to free himself from the Testimony given by Mr. Berne and Mr. Kennedy concerning a very foul misdemeanour committed by some Soldiers under pretence of coming to see the Kings Writ executed and his Justice complyed withal before he comes to that that concerns Mr. Savill 1. It appears these Soldiers were laid when he was not in Ireland so that he is not answerable to any thing Deposed by these Gentlemen further than that he gave a Warrant for it to Mr. Pigott II. He denies that ever Pigott had any such Warrant from him nor is any Proofe to that purpose offered Therefore it is not to be laid to his Accompt III. Only Patrick Clear sayes Pigott threatned to lay

You are acquitted before God and Men You have an Army in Ireland which You may Imploy here to Reduce this Kingdom or some words to this effect And Sir Henry Vane added That he desires to speak clearly to it It is true My Lord of Strafford said these words You may But by that he the Examinant cannot say it was intended but that the words were spoken and if it were the last hour he is to speak it is the Truth to his best Remembrance Being Asked on the several Motions of my Lord of Clare and my Lord Savil Whether by this Kingdom he meant the Kingdom of England or Scotland and Whether it was meant That he might imploy the Army in England or in Ireland because he said The Army might be there imployed He Answered That he shall as near as he can And because he would have-Truth appear he shall desire That if in this Case any word fall which may be uncouth in the Sence they would resort to his Examinations for there it remains under his Hand and Oath But to his best remembrance he thinks neither then nor there were used But Your Majesty hath an Army in Ireland You may Imploy to reduce this Kingdom But far be it from him the Examinant to Interpret them He tells their Lordships the words and no other Being directed by the Lord Steward to repeat what he had spoken He Answered That he shall plainly and clearly do it These words were spoken as my Lord of Northumberland hath testified at the Committee of Eight for the Scotch Affairs It was an occasion of a Debate Whether an Offensive or a Defensive War with the Kingdom of Scotland That on some Debate then some being of Opinion for a Defensive some for an Offensive War he did say the words related as he conceives That in a Discourse the Earl of Strafford said these words or words to this effect Your Majesty having tryed all wayes and refused in this case of extream necessity and for the Safety of Your Kingdom and People You are loose and absolved from all Rules of Government You are acquitted before God and Men You have an Army in Ireland You may imploy it to reduce this Kingdom Being Asked How long this was after the Parliament was Dissolved He Answered He cannot tell the time but it was suddenly after or within few dayes after the dissolution of the Parliament Being Asked on my Lord of Clares motion Whether these words You have an Army in Ireland did immediately follow these words You are Absolved c. He Answered That to his best remembrance it did interpose and my Lord of Strafford did speak it once or twice And to his best remembrance at first it was agitated to press the Offensive War for there were divers Reasons given as the Kingdom stood then that there should be no Offensive War and he must speak clearly and plainly he the Examinant did move for a Defensive War For the Subjects of England how they stood affected to this War they knew and besides a breach of a Parliament he thought it would but induce an ill effect On these Controversions the words were spoken Here Mr. Whitlock observed That these words were spoken in England on this occasion Of the Kings trying His People c. which cannot be intended any other place but England where the Parliament was broken and where the King had tried his People Being Asked on the motion of the Earl of Southampton Whether he sayes positively my Lord of Strafford did say these words or words to that effect or whether to his best remembrance He Answered That he speaks positively either those words or words to that effect The Earl of Clare desiring further satisfaction to the Question formerly proposed on this Motion Whether he meant by this Kingdom the Kingdom of England or the Kingdom of Scotland The Lord Steward put his Lordship in mind That Sir Henry Vane testifies to the Words not to the Interpretation And Mr. Maynard said The Question is put Whether this Kingdom be this Kingdom And so Mr. Whitlock said They should conclude their Evidence conceiving the last words spoken to be very fully proved and by connexion with those other words proved before he thinks it is very clear and manifest That my Lord of Strafford had a strong Design and Endeavour to subvert and change the Fundamental Laws and Government of England and to bring in an Army upon us to force this Kingdom to submit to an Arbitrary Power That he shall not trouble their Lordships with repitition of words nor with the Application of them for indeed they be above Application and to aggravate them were to allay them they have in themselves more bitterness and horror then he is able to express and so he left them to their Lordships consideration and application expecting my Lord of Straffords Answer to them Only he desired their Lordships in one point to hear what Mr. Treasurer can say further concerning the breach of the last Parliament and what Words and Messages he heard of during the sitting of that Parliament procured by my Lord of Strafford unless their Lordships will reserve that till the rest of the Witnesses come to morrow morning and then they shall be ready to produce all relating to that point together Whereupon liberty was granted for the reserving of them accordingly My Lord of Strafford did hereupon crave of their Lordships leave to recollect his Notes being as he said a little Distracted how to give Answer to these things for diverse Articles are mingled together which will make his Answer not so clear as otherwise he had hoped to have made it but trusts he shall do it still He desires leave to Answer Article by Article and how much horror soever this Gentleman is pleased to say there is in these words he trusts before he goes out of the Room to make it appear that though there may be error of Judgment yet nothing that may give offence when the Antecedents and Consequents are brought together and that he shall give such an account that whether or no their Lordships will clear him as to the Charge of an Indiscreet Man he knows not but as for Treason to the King and His People he shall give clear satisfaction that no such thing was spoken or intended His Lordship desired He might be favoured with the sight of my Lord of Northumberlands Examinations But this Mr Glyn opposed and said His Lordship being to Answer to matter of Fact let him first say how it stands and then prove it To which my Lord of Strafford Answered That in truth they make much more of it then he did for he trusts by the blessing of Almighty God to give the Answer of an honest Man to all Objections he will not say of a discreet Man and once for all he humbly besought their Lordships and so he knows in their Wisdom and Judgment they will to

heard out and we shall not interrupt my Lrod of Strafford in asking what questions he pleases in his just defence Let the Witness proceed To your Lordships Order and in all things I shall pay Obedience I desire nothing in the World but a clear understanding of the Truth in this business and so I am sure every man doth that hears me and without Offence and with all Reverence I humbly offer That the Witnesses may stand apart from the Committee for the Commons the Committe asking the Witnesses many questions which I conceive by your Lordships Rule should be asked by your Lordships only For which I crave pardon if I have offended in moving of it I standing for my Life and which is dearer my Honour and my Children Their Lordships Rule hath been kept and things shall be carried clearly on all hands We desire the Witness may proceed to speak concerning his own Imprisonment and the Lord Steward Interrogating him accordingly he kept to the same Point F. Thorpe proceeds saying That he could give no other ground for it though another occasion was taken yet he conceived the true ground because he was too busie in medling with Prohibitions That the Pursevant attending the Council at York came to his house and carried him before the Lord President and Council where he attended a day and then had liberty to speak with my Lord That his Lordship was pleased to tell him there was an Accusation against him but they that laid it were not come to Town therefore he must attend and that they were his betters and therefore he had reason to attend He desired to know what it was but could not have that favour but some eight days after being in the mean time in the Pursevants Custody he was brought to the Council-Table again and his Lordship sitting at the upper end commanded him to kneel he coming as a Delinquent which he did accordingly bringing with him a spirit of submission knowing very well his ruine depended on his opposition and on his rising his Lordship was offended he stayed no longer kneeling Afterwards a Letter was read from some Gentlemen in the Country wherein they had written That I had spoken at the Sessions a little more than became me to the Court in defence of a Client on a Traverse to an Indictment And what they had written I confessed was very true for it was thus upon the Traverse of an Indictment the question being Whether the bare Indictment were Evidence to the Petit Jury I did say it was no Evidence and I desired to Appeal to the Judges My Lord President was pleased to say He would teach me to know there were other men for me to complain to viz. The President and the Council I told his Lordship I was ready to complain to any where I might have Right And I Appeal to the Kings learned Council Whether it was not Law what I spoke I was then put out and direction sent I must find Sureties and make publick submission at the Sessions for saying these words I did find Sureties and when I went to Sir W. Ellis to enter the Recognizance He told me I am sorry but I cannot help you for my Lord of Strafford over-ruled us and you are to be bound to the good Behaviour and make submission at the Sessions And he said further That what he was enjoyned he did perform And all this I conceive originally grew for that I did oppose the Jurisdiction of the Court at York and not for the Causes pretended And this binding to my good Behaviour was eight or ten years ago And being further asked Whether he knew of any other that had been oppressed with this Exorbitant Power or no F. Thorpe answered He had heard of many but he was not present at their Commitment nor saw their Orders and can say nothing of his knowledge only he knew Sir Thomas Gore was under Custody George Hawes was produced next and interrogated What he knew of Sir Conyers Darcies Fining I confess I was there and gave consent to his Fining but it was not by vertue of the said Commission for it was before my time The Manager did now sum up the Evidence and my Lord of Strafford's Answer was expected I desire a little time to retire And after some debating thereof betwixt his Lordship and the Committee It was Resolved his Lordship should have some little space to rest and peruse his Notes at the Bar which the Manager alledged to be unusual in any Court of Justice in a proceeding of this Nature My Lords there is a great deal of difference betwixt the Case of a man that answers for a bloody hainous and known Treason by the Statutes of the Realm before the Lord Steward and his Peers in an ordinary way of proceeding and him that answers a mixt Charge partly Misdemeanors and partly as apprehended Treason There is nothing in this that can be Treason and when 1000 misdemeanors will not make one Felony shall 28 Misdemeanors heighten it to a Treason And in that Point in due time I shall desire my Council may express themselves Whether any thing in this Charge admit it all to be true be Treason that if they be but Misdemeanors I should be admitted Council and examine Witnesses by Commission I had no leave to summon a Witness before Friday last and the greatest part of my Proofs and Charge comes out of Ireland and to be debarred from these under pretence of Treason I conceive to be in this Case a little severe But I shall proceed to my Defence And first As for the Instructions which I am charged withall being 21. March 8 Car. they were not procured by me I knew nothing of them The Commission and Instructions to the President and Council of York are of course renewed on the death of one of the Council of the Fee in Ordinary and the putting in of a Counsellor at large is only by Letter Sir Arthur Ingram who was Secretary going out and Sir Iohn Melton succeeding these Instructions of 21 March 8 Car. were renew'd That in the Case of such Renewing the Kings Councell of the Fee do by the Secretary offer the Kings learned Council such things as they conceive conducing to the clearing and bettering of the Kings Service in those parts And it finally comes to the Lord Keeper or Lord Chancellor and they agree it I protest that I gave no direction in these nor do I conceive any thing offered proves me to be the man that procured them As to the Execution of it from the date of that Commission to this hour I did never one Act nor stayed a minute as President of the Council of York The Commission being granted 21 March Oct. Car. and I went towards Ireland in Iuly following which I can prove by my Servants if they might be sworn And before I be convinced of a Misdemeanor I conceive

no greater measure God be praised than these are My Lords these being the words that passed from me in Ireland there are other words that are charged upon me to have been spoken in England but if your Lordships will give me leave though perhaps in no very good method I shall not fail to touch first or last the words in every Article The next Article then that I am charged withal for words is the second Article and these are the words that I should say concerning the Finger and the Loins My Lords I may alledge much new matter but I will observe your Lordships Order punctually by the Grace of God for what I may say in that case if it might be admitted I keep it to my self but the truth is they that do prove the words to be thus That I would make the little finger of the Law heavier than the Kings Loins they do not tell you the occasion of the Speech or what went before or what after for my Lords if they had told the occasion which methinks they should as well have remembred as the words it would plainly and clearly have appeared to your Lordships that Sir William Pennymans Testimony was most true for the occasion was such that to have said those words had been to have spoken against that to which I intended the discourse but speaking them as I said it makes very strong for that purpose to which I directed them which was to appease the Countrey and quiet the Discontents for having been double charged with the Knight-money and therefore it was not properly threatening them further to have provoked them My Lords you have Sir Will. Pennymans testimony that it was so and my profession who under favour will not speak an untruth to save my life I protest before God that I say I verily believe or else I will never speak it indeed and there it is they have proved it to have been said one way we another way we give the occasion of our Speech and disavow theirs and so we must leave it and howsoever these words so spoken can never be drawn as I humbly conceive as premises to prove their conclusions that therefore I am guilty of High Treason they have made me guilty of a foolish Word and that I confess and if they please I will confess it all the day long for I have been foolish all the days of my life and I hope hereafter I shall look unto my ways that I offend not with my Tongue for if I cannot rule it abroad I will rule it within doors else I will never stirr abroad but bound it so to my own business and affairs that I trust I shall give no offence The next Article that chargeth me with words is the 22 Article and these be words spoke in England The first part of them which concerns the bringing in of the Irish Army I have spoken to already but in the conclusion there are other words and shortly the said Earl of Strafford returned to England and to sundry persons declared his opinion to be That His Majesty should first try the Parliament here and if that did not supply him according to his occasions he might then use his Prerogative as he pleased to levy what he needed and that he should be acquitted both of God and Man if he took some other courses to supply himself though it were against the will of his Subjects My Lords as unto this I conceive the Charge is not proved by any Witness that hath been here produced against me and in truth my Lords I must needs say this under favour if it be an error in my Judgement I must humbly crave your Lordships pardon through the whole Cause I have not seen a weaker proof and if I had had time to have gotten my Witnesses out of Ireland I hope that should be proved and so clearly as nothing could be proved more but I must stand or fall to what I have proved and so I do my Lords the proof they offer for this as I conceive is the Testimony of my Lord Primate and his Testimony is That in some discourse betwixt us two touching Levying upon the Subject in case of imminent necessity he found me of opinion that the King might use his Prerogative as he pleased My Lords this is under favour a single Testimony it is of a discourse between him and me and there is not any other that witnesses any thing concerning it so that under favour My Lords I conceive this will not be sufficient to bring me any ways in danger of Treason being but a single Testimony and my Lords it is to be thought and to be believed and it were a great offence for any man to think otherwise that in this case any thing can please the King he is so Gracious and Good but what shall be Just and Lawful and then there is no doubt but so far as with Justice and Lawfulness he may use his Prerogative in case of imminent danger when ordinary means will not be admitted At most he saith it was but an opinion and opinions may make an Heretick but they shall not I trust make a Traitor The next is the Testimony of my Lord Conway and the words that his Lordship testifies are these That in case the King would not be otherwise supplyed by Subsidies he might seek means to help himself though it were against the will of his Subjects Truly my Lords if I should acknowledge these words I do not see how they can be any way Capital in my case but this again is but a single Testimony and there is no other that says it but himself and if there be a good sense given to them certainly the words may very well bear it for I think it is a very natural motion for any man to preserve himself though it be to the disliking of another and why a King should not do it as well as a Subject it is such a prerogative of Kings as I never yet heard of for I thought though they had been Gods on earth yet they are men and have affections as men and should preserve themselves being not only accountable for themselves to God Almighty but also for their Subjects whose Good and Benefit is wrapt up and involved in theirs and therefore the King ought more to regard his own preservation than the Common-wealth The Third is That Mr. Treasurer says that to his best remembrance I did say That if the Parliament should not succeed I would be ready to assist His Majesty any other way God forbid this should be any offence for to say so either in him or me for I will swear if it please you that he said so as well as I therefore God forbid it should endanger either of us both for my Lords to say I will serve the King any other way it is no other than what became a good and faithful servant to do always provided the way be good and lawful

House resolved presently to send 12 of the Peers Messengers to the King humbly to signifie That neither of the Two Intentions expressed in the Letter could with duty in them or without danger to Himself his dearest Consort the Queen and all the Young Princes their Children possibly be Advised all which being done accordingly and the Reasons shewed to His Majesty He suffered no more words to come from them but out of the fulness of His heart to the observance of Justice and for the Contentment of His People told them That what He intended by His Letter was with an if if it might be done without Discontentment of His People if that cannot be I say again the same I Writ Fiat Justitia My other Intnetion proceeding out of Charity for a few days Respite was upon certain Information that his Estate was so distracted that it necessarily required some few days for settlement thereof Whereunto the Lords Answered Their purpose was to be Suitors to His Majesty for favour to be shewed to his Innocent Children and if himself had made any provision for them the same might hold This was well-liking unto His Majesty who thereupon departed from the Lords At His Majesties parting they offered up into His hands the Letter it self which He had sent but He was pleased to say My Lords What I have Written to you I shall be content it be Registred by you in your House In it you see my mind I hope you will use it to my Honour This upon return of the Lords from the King was presently Reported to the House by the Lord Privy-Seal and Ordered that these Lines should go out with the Kings Letter if any Copies of the Letter were dispersed The House being informed That the Queen-Mother apprehending Her self in some danger by reason that divers words were scattered among the Tumultuous Assembly as if they had some design upon Her Person and those Priests which she had for Her own Houshold desired a Guard for Her Security Concluded that as to the Security of Her own Person they were bound in honour not to suffer any Violence to be done unto Her and so referred it to a Committee to consider what was fit to be done in order thereto Which being Reported by Mr. Henry Martyn he declared That the Committee had duely considered Her Majesties just Fears and therefore should agree to all good ways and means that might conduce to the safety of her Person But fearing that the said means may notwithstanding prove ineffectual for Her Protection That therefore the House would intreat the Lords to joyn with them humbly to beseech His Majesty That the Queen Mother may be moved to depart the Kingdom the rather for the Quieting of those Jealousies in the Hearts of His Majesties well-affected Subjects occasioned by some ill Instruments about the said Queens Person by the flocking of Priests and Papists to Her House and by the Use and Practice of the Idolatry of the Mass. Wednesday the 12th of May. THe Earl of Strafford was brought from the Tower to the Scaffold upon Tower-Hill where the Bishop of Armagh the Earl of Cleeveland Sir George VVentworth Brother to the said Earl of Strafford and others of his Friends were present to take their Leaves of him But before he fitted himself to Prostrate his Body to Execution he desired patience of the People to hear him speak a few words which the Author took from his Mouth being then there on the Scaffold with him viz. MY Lord Primate of Ireland and my Lords and the rest of these Noble Gentlemen It is a great Comfort to me to have your Lordships by me this day because I have been known to you a long time and I now desire to be heard a few words I come here my Lords to pay my last Debt to Sin which is Death And through the Mercies of God to rise again to Eternal Glory My Lords if I may use a few words I shall take it as a great Curtesie from you I come here to submit to the Judgment that is passed against me I do it with a very quiet and contented Mind I do freely forgive all the World a forgiveness not from the Teeth outward as they say but from my heart I speak in the presence of Almighty God before whom I stand that there is not a displeasing thought that ariseth in me against any Man I thank God I say truly my Conscience beares me Witness that in all the Honor I had to serve His Majesty I had not any Intention in my heart but what did aime at the Joynt and Individual prosperity of the King and His People although it be my ill hap to be misconstrued I am not the first Man that hath suffered in this kind It is a Common Portion that befalls men in this Life Righteous Judgment shall be hereafter here we are subject to Error and Misjudging one another One thing I desire to be heard in and do hope that for Christian Charities sake I shall be believed I was so far from being against Parliaments that I did always think Parliaments in England to be the happy Constitution of the Kingdom and Nation and the best means under God to make the King and His people happy As for my Death I do here acquit all the World and beseech God to forgive them In particular I am very glad His Majesty conceives me not meriting so severe and heavy a punishment as the utmost Execution of this Sentence I do infinitely rejoyce in it and in that Mercy of His and do beseech God to Return Him the same that He may find Mercy when He hath most need of it I wish this Kingdom all prosperity and happiness in the World I did it Living and now Dying it is my Wish I profess heartily my apprehension and do humbly recommend it to you and wish that every Man would lay his hand on his heart and consider seriously Whether the beginning of the peoples Happiness should be Written in Letters of Blood I fear they are in a Wrong Way I desire Almighty God that no one drop of my Blood rise up in judgement against them I have but one word more and that is for my Religion My Lord of Armagh I do profess my self seriously faithfully and truly to be an obedient Son of the Church of England In that Church I was born and bred in that Religion I have lived and now in that I dye Prosperity and Happiness be ever to it It hath been said I was inclined to Popery if it be an Objection worth the answering let me say truly from my heart that since I was Twenty one years of age unto this day going on 49 years I never had thought or doubt of the truth of this Religion nor had ever any the boldness to suggest to me the contrary to my best remembrance And so being reconciled to the Mercies of Jesus Christ my Saviour into whose bosom I

Lords I must tell you the First Articles exhibited are Grounds and Foundations whereupon the rest are gathered and to which they resort and apply themselves severally I do conceive my self in a manner by themselves clear of seven of these for they have in a manner relinquished Five of them So that the First Article is the main Article whereupon I must be touched and that is laid in the Charge thus That I have Trayterously endeavoured to subvert the Fundamental Lawes and Government of the Realmes of England and Ireland and have by Trayterous Words Councils and Actions declared the same and have advised His Majesty to Compel His Subjects to submit thereunto by force My Lords I must confess I have many times with my self considered with wonder at the Wisdom of our Ancestors that set the Pillars of this Monarchy with that singular Judgment and Providence that I have ever observed that so oft as either the Prerogative of the Crown or Liberty of the Subject Ecclesiastical or Temporal powers exceed those modest bounds set and appointed for them by the sobriety and moderation of former times the exercise of it over-turn'd to the Prejudice and to the Detriment of the Publick Weale all the Strings of this Government and Monarchy have been so perfectly tuned through the skill and attention of our Fore-Fathers that if you wind any of them any thing higher or let them lower you shall infallible interrupt the sweet accord that ought to be entertained of King and People With this Opinion I had the honour to sit many years in the Commons House and this Opinion I have carry'd along with me exactly and intirely for Fourteen years in the Kings Service ever Resolving in my heart Stare super vias antiquas to prove with equal care the Prerogative of the Crown and the Liberty of the Subject to Introduce the Laws of England into Ireland ever setting before my self a Joynt and Individual well-being of King and People for either they must be both or neither which made my Misfortune the greater to be now in my Gray Haires charged as an under-worker against that Government a Subverter of that Law I most affected and a Contriver against that Religion to the truth whereof I would Witness by the Sealing of it with my Blood My Lords As to the latter part concerning my Religion they have quitted me and I have nothing to answer to that because it is waved and I trust my Lords I shall clear my self in the first part concerning my being a Subverter of the Fundamental Laws that I shall stand clear to your Lordships Judgments in that Case My Lords This Subversion must be by words by Councils and by Actions in Ireland and in England My Lords I shall first give you an Accompt of the words wherewithall I am Charged forth of Ireland and the first words are in the third Article where I am Charged to have said That Ireland is a Conquered Nation and that the King may do with them as he pleaseth And to the City of Dublin That their Charters are nothing worth and bind the King no farther than he pleaseth These are the words Charged My Lords methinks it is very strange under favour that this can be made an Inducement to prove this Charge because I said That Ireland is a Conquer'd Nation therefore I endeavour to subvert the Fundamental Laws when I speak the Truth for certainly it is very true it was so My Lords under favour I remember very well there was as much said here at this Bar since we began and yet I dare well Swear and acquit him that spake it from intending to Subvert the Lawes For my Lords you were told and told truely That Ireland was a Conquered Nation and that it was Subordinate to England and God forbid that it should be otherwise and that they have received Lawes from the Conqueror My Lords the words testified by my Lord Gormonstone and Kilmalock to be spoken are not the words wherewith I am charged and so under favour I conceive cannot be brought to my prejudice as to this Tryal and they are words that are denied by me For my words concerning their Charters your Lordships remember very well I doubt not wherefore I said they were void For their misuse of them and that I told them so not with the intent to overthrow their Patents or Charters but to make them more conformable to those things that the State thought fit for encrease of Religion and Trade and encouraging and bringing English into that Town And that it was meant so and no otherwise Whatsoever was said it appeares by this their Charters were never touched nor infringed nor medled withal by me during the time I was in that Kingdom so that words so spoken and to such a purpose that they should go to prove such a Conclusion I conceive there is great difference betwixt those Premises and that Conclusion The next Charge for words in Ireland is in the Fourth Article where I am Charged to have said That I would neither have Law nor Lawyers Dispute or Question my Orders and that I would make the Earl of Cork and all Ireland know that as long as I had the Government there any Act of State should be as binding to the Subjects of that Kingdom as an Act of Parliament My Lords I humbly beseech your Lordships to give me leave to say for my self that these words of the Charge are onely Sworn by my Lord of Corke and no man else and his Lordship appeared a little mistaken the other day in one point on the Reading of an Order of the Council-Board for so it appears as I conceive so that for one single Witness and he the Party Aggrieved by these words to be the Man that must convince me I conceive your Lordships will not think that to stand with the ordinary Rules of proceeding For the rest to say Acts of State in Ireland should be Binding so long as they are not contrary to Law I confess I then conceived it had been no Offence for I thought them to be as binding being not contrary to Law but the Elder we grow the wiser we may grow if God give us the Grace and Attentions and so I trust I shall by these Gentlemen that have taught me to forbear those kind of Speeches hereafter My Lords These are all the Words charged against me for Ireland saving onely some things that I shall come to anon that is Charged upon me in one of the latter Articles concerning Scotland I say my Lords these are all the Words that have slipped from me in Seven years time having been well watched and observed as your Lordships may perswade your selves I have been But in Seven years time I say these are all the words brought to my Charge and in truth I conceive a wiser Man than my self might be forgiven for one Error or slip of his Tongue of that Nature in a years time seeing it is in