do not know That to levy War against the King is high-High-Treason both by the Common Statute Law or That an actual Rebellion or Insurrection is a levying of War against the King That a gathering of Force for the Removal of Counsellors altering of Laws or the like though with pretence of Reformation yet being without Warrant from the King is a levyiug of War against the King or that the holding of a Fort or Castle by force of Arms against the King and his Power is a levying of War against the King What Construction then do we think it will have if we shall be found to rise in Arms against the King's Lieutenant publishing his Commission and commanding Obedience to it and by Force and Arms to with-hold the Militia and all Forces by Sea and Land and all Forts and places of Strength in a whole Collony or Province from the King against his plain Commission published under the great Seà l Do we not know That an Ambassadour from a Ferreign Prince though an Enemy ought to have safe Conduct in all the King's Dominions and 't is against the Law of Nations to offer him any Violence or Indignity The Turks themselves would abominate that Or can we be ignorant of this That Disobedience and Contempt offered to the Kings Ministers redounds and is done to the King himself Is it not a sure Rule in Humane as well as Divine Things He that despises me despises him that sent me What face then will our Behaviour hà ve when it shall appear that our own Kings Lieutenant cannot come among us to execute their Majesties Command bût beside other vile Indignities ùnfit to be named he is in danger of his very Life Such as assert their Allegiance and declare their Submission run the same hazard and others who are willing to serve their Majesties dà re not take Commissions for fear of being destroyed And by this means his Excellency Returns without effecting his Business and with as much Disgrace as we can well cast upon him Yea if any man advise or move another to take a Commission from their Majesties Lieutenant it is accounted a Wicked thing and he an henïous Offender Will this be acceptable News to their Majesties Or will they not rather resent it as David did that Reproach of his Messengers by Hanun Verily a Contempt and Abuse from Subjects is a thousand times worse than from Aliens Some may imagine they hà ve found a neat way to defeat the Kings Commission They will not take Commissions from his Lieutenant themselves but will also deter others that they shall not dare to do it and think it a Project worthy to be gloryed in Truly we have many wayes made it evident enough what low thoughts we have of his Majesty But what do we think he is to be put off in this manner by our scurvey silly little Tricks or do we think that our Obedience is an Arbitrary thing and the King must be beholding to us for it or that he is made up all of Grace and hath nothing of Justice in him If so we do doubtless we shall find our selves mistaken and that he is like Christ whom he serves both a Lamb and a Lyon I believe he will decide the Controversie and make us know who is King before he hath done with us For how can it consist with his Crown and Dignity or with the safety of his Government to pass by such high handed and mischievous Offences without suitable Annimadversion We very much forget Solomon's Advice as if we had never read it I counsel thee says he to keep the Kings Commandment and that in regard of the Oath of God Be not hasty to go out of his sight Stand not in an evil thing for he doth whatsoever pleases him Where the Word of a King is there is Power and who may say to him what dost thou Whoso keeps the Commandment shall feel no evil thing Eccles 8. 2 3 4 5. Yea but the Kings Wrath is as the roaring of a Lyon and as Messengers of Death but his Favour is as the Dew upon the Grass Prov. 19. 12. There is Life in the one but Death in the other We forget also the Parable of the Citizens that hated their Lord and woûld not have him to reign over them Those mine Enemies says he that would not that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me It is but a Comparison taken from things reasonable among men And how easie a thing is it for their Majesties more ways than one to make ns weary of our Rebellion What if their Majesties should hereupon fetch over whom they see cause to England and there proceed against them according to their Demerits Shall we not hereby ruin our selves and our Posterity Or what if they should declare us Rebels and put us out of their Protection and prohibit all their Subjects any Commerce with us For how can we expect that their Majesties should protect us who scorn to be governed and protected by them but by our Unruliness break their Measures in the very point of Protection Or if they should reduce us to our Obedience by Force and keep us under the awe of a strong Garrison and lay the Charge of it upon us Or if they should but lay a sore heavy Fine upon us If they should do any of these or the like what shall we do with our selves Verily we are in their Majesties hands and it is a new sort of Grace if they do nothing Let all good Subjects then consider and as they would deliver themselves from the common Guilt so let them distinguish themselves and make haste to yeild their due Obedience and as for the rest we may say Father forgive them they know not what they do But against all this divers things are objected let us consider them also 1 Objection The Militia is very well disposed of already King Charles the second of happy Memory did by his Charter for himself and his Successors grant it to us and our Successors in the Year 1662. Answ To this I answer divers things 1 st We overween our Charter in more things than one to the no little Prejudice both of King and Subjects Modesty might incline us to think that the King understands our Charter and how well the Militia was thereby disposed of at least as well as we do and he knows what is his own Right and our Right much better than we Their Majesties have given us no cause to suspect that they will take any thing from us that doth of right belong to us But to let other things pass let us here consider That the Charter never granted us a standing Militia but only a Lisence upon occasion of Invasion or the like to array men c. for our special Defence and safety in such case The Charter never gave us Power to raise and send men à broad for the Defence and Aid of others The King's Letter of the
where is my Honour If I be a Master where is my fear Mal. 1. 6. If their Majesties be our King and Queén where is our Obedience to them Yea let us deal plainly and uprightly with one another also We aré not willing to be kept in Ignorance deluded and led hood-winked till we are so fast and unawares entangled in the Snare laid for our Life that we shall not be able to get out of it There are many of us that bear a good affection to our Charter-Government and for the sake of that have countenanced at least not discountenanced so much as some others the late Revolution and have been willing to contribute to the support and continuance of that Government if it might be But we always understood it in subordination not in opposition to the King his Government and Laws and with a salvo of all their Majesties Royal Rights We never intended to Invade the Liberties of our Fellow-subjects or to use Rigour towards such as were not altogether of our mind but desired that moderation might be used and that we might in no sort exceed the Powers sometime granted to us much less did we intend to invade the Throne and refuse to render to Caesar that which is his and we thought that our Leaders and principal Actors in this matter had been of the same mind We thought also we had spoken as we meant when at the Revolution May the 9 th 1689. we declared That we took the Government only till we should receive further Orders from the King And in our Address to his Majesty we shewed his Majesty the same thing and withal professed our selves his Humble and Obedient Súbjects and prayed his Majesty in his Clemency to give us such Directions as to his Princely Wisdom should seem meet and we thought that it was our sincere and unanimous purpose and resolution to follow his Majesties Directions when given and not to put a Trick upon him But now we are afraid we are deluded and not without Reason He is blind that hath not taken notice of that notorious Falshood that hath been used and the innumerable Lyes of all sorts that have all along from time to time been and are still raised aud fomented the advantage that hath been taken of mens Ignorance and the Endeavours that have been and are used to keep men in the Dark as if we designed to train them up in a blind Obedience to us beside other ill measures taken and now at last such open and resolûte Opposition and Defiance is made to their Majesties and their Royal Commission of Lieutenancy first and second These things make us jealous And therefore if all our Declarations à nd Protestations aforesaid be but a Cheat and Rebellion be indeed coûched and lurk under the specious and enticing Terms of a Charter our Liberties Priviledges and Government c. pray deal plainly and truly with us and let us know it We hope that upon good Consideration the generality of the good People in this Collony intend no such thing and therefore let us not be plunged blind-fold into the Pit of Rebellion Some of us remember and consider that in the forementioned Passages we have given our Hand to their Majesties But it may be some may think to avoid this also and say We are willing with all our hearts to obey their Majesties in all lawful things good Words but we are not to obey unlawful Commands True Therefore yet further 3 dly Consider Is not this Commission lawful Is not the Militia the Kings and at his dispose Why then shall we not give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's If we could say the Commission was unlawful it might excuse our suitable Non-submission to it though not oùr Contempt For althô the unlawful Commands of lawful Authority be they Unlawful in regard of the Law of God or Man are not to be performed yet in such case our Behaviour ought to be Humble and Honourable Let us therefore inform our selves in this point it is declared by two several Acts of Parliament of 13 13 14 Car. 2. and of this their Majesties were pleased to put us in mind by express mention of the first of these Statutes in the Commission to Sir William Phips That within all their Majesties Realms and Dominions the sole and supream Power Government Command and Disposition of the Militia and of all Forces by Sea and Land and of all Forts and Places of Strength is and by the Laws of England ever was the undoubted Right of his Majesty and his Royal Predecessors Kings and Queens of England and that both or either Houses of Parliament cannot nor ought to pretend to the same nor can nor lawfully may raise any War Offeusive or Defensive against his Majesty his Heirs or Lawful Successors c. Shall we then think that our Corporation may pretend to it c. thô the Parliament may not And that this is indeed so we may see beside other Authorities in that great case of Ship-Money so largely and learnedly argued Anno 13 Car. 1. wherein it was agreed on all hands That the King is raised to the Throne for the Safeguard of the Law and of the Bodies and Estates of the Subjects and therefore the Defence is the Kings The Safety of the People committed to him is incumbent upon our Lord the King That the Law hath entrusted the King with the care of the Defence both Domestick and Forreign That all Jurisdiction legal is wholly in his Majesty that this is evident even by the Law of Nations That the King is Pater Patriae the Father of his Country and therefore bound both in Honour and by his Oath to provide for its safety on every side That for this end the Law hath put the armed Power and means of Defence wholly into his Majesty's hands and when the Enemy is discovered and declared 't is not in the power of the Subject to order the way and means of Defence either by Sea or by Land as they think fit for no man without Commission or special Lisence from his Majesty may set forth any Ships to Sea for that purpose nor without such Commission or Lisence unless upon suddain coming of Enemies may erect a Fort Castle or Bullwark though upon his own ground Nor but upon some such cause is it lawful for any Subject without special Commission to arm or draw together âny Troops or Companies of Souldiers or to make any general Collection of Money on any of the Kings Subjects though with their consent That the King is Generalissimo so that none may advance toward the Enemy withoût his Signal or in other manner than by his Direction and thà t he is armed with all other Powers requisit for the full Execution of so high a place as well in time of eminent Danger as of actual War That the Law layes the burthen of this Defence upon all Qui sentit commodum c. He that feels the
but when Temptation and Opportunity met together he did it notwithstanding and verily so should we 8 thly Let us look through all their Majesties Realms and Dominions and see where we can find any such President or Example We are too apt to admire our selves and to bless God that we are not as this Publican But who so Ungrateful who so Disobedient as we Their Majaesties may look upon themselves to be very Unhappily and Unequally yoked as to us The best of Princes with the worst of Subjects 9 thly Consider we the Time Is this a time for us to be Refractory and Disobedient to our Prince Between four and five Years ago when there was no War with France we would needs have made the King and and the World believe That we were in continual danger of our Lives by reason of the Natives being at War with us with whom we said we had just fears of our Neighbouring French to joyn and therefore not receiving Orders or Directions what Methods to take for our Security we were necessitated to put our selves into some form of Government And yet now there hath been open and strong Wà r with France and with the French in all parts above this three Years and that attended with not a few or small Difficulties à nd Disappointments and now that their Majesties have given their Orders and Directions whà t Methods to take for our Security in this difficult and hazardous Time there is yet so little danger that we will not receive their Majesties Directions but spurn at their Commission scorn at their Lieûtenant and will yeild no Obedience What do we indeed intend to fall off to the French We had as good fall to the French as fall from our King and if we intend so to do let us speak out if not surely this is not a time to be Disobedient For how is it possible for any Prince to provide for the safety of his Subjects or to manage the weighty Affairs of War with effect and more especially at such a Distance if his Subjects will slight à nd disobey his Commissions or take upon themselves to wage War without or against them 10 thly We are now addressing their Majesties for their Favour so we say and to the end that we may recommend our selves to them as it seems their most Proud and Disobedient Subjects at this very time we disobey their Commission Can we think that Disobedience and Contempt âre the most likely way to obtain access and acceptance Is that the way to find favour or do we think that the King is afraid of us and we shall force him to comply with us Verily I doubt we shall tempt him and prove him Prayers and Pride Supplication and Rebellion do not sort well together 11 thly Our great Champion in whom we trusted to vindicate ûs and defend our Cause yeilds the Cause and leaves us in the Lurch Our Goliah who defied all as Pigmies that durst appear against us the stone is sunk in his fore-head and he is fallen upon the Earth he is convinced in his Conscience and tells us with all the honesty and plainness that he can That he will not ruin himself and his Posterity That he will not Hang for any of us No doubt but whatever he hath don◠yet now he speaks as he thinks and shall we yet harden our selves shall we ruin our selves and our Posterity Believe it we shall find it hard kicking against the Pricks Therefore 12. Lastly Let us consider seriously the end and event of these things and what may reasonably follow thereupon The fools Eyes are in his Heels He can see nothing but what is past and repent when it is too late But Solomon tells us The wise mans Eyes are in his Head He looks before him The Prudent man fore-sees the Evil and hides himself but the simple pass on and are punished Prov. 22. 3. Therefore it is said That the Wise Man begins at the end and it were good for us to begin there too Let us consider it then What do we think will be the end of these strange Behaviours What good can we promise our selves 1 st Where the Word of a King is there is Power and in the Execution of his Regal Authority who may say to him what dost thou Eccles 8. 4. What Aspect then will these things have abroad in the world among those who know what a King is Such carriage would hardly have been expected from any part of New-England Friends will be ashamed Enemies will insult 2 dly What aspect do we think they will have at Home with the King and Council Surely their Majesties promised themselves better things from their Subjects in Connecticut 3 dly The Defence and safety of the Subject in all parts is their Majesties great Interest and Care and it is not easie for us to conceive how we prejudice their Majesties Interest frustrate their Intentions break their Designs defeat their Councils and obstruct their Service for the Defence of their People both here and else-where the very end of this Commission by our Disobedience The Commission takes no Notice of à ny former Military Commissions but that which was the last year given to Sir William Phips and that is expresly determined by the Publication of this So that by our Disobedience we are without Defence our selves and incapable of helping others And who knows whà t a Day much more a Quarter or Half a Year may bring forth We may desire that this Disobedience to our Prince should not be told in Gath nor spoken of in the Streets of Askelon but our desire is vain Thé Hittites dwell in the Land and observe our Actions The Report of it will sooner fly to Canada and it may be to France too than some of us could wish and what Inferences will there be made and Resolutions taken thereupon is not impossible to guess They may conclude they have Connecticut to Friend at least in a posture of Neutrality which will animate them not a little The Mohaques also and other Nations of Indians will soon have the News of it if they have it not already and who knows but it may give them occasion to go over to the French the effects whereof may be such as are not to be desired unless we intend to follow them But if none of these should be yet our Behaviour in this matter renders their Majesties and their great Officers vile contemptible and our selves base in the sight of the very Heathen 4 thly Is not their Majesties Commission under the great Seal of England sufficent to authorize their Majesties Lieutenant in Connecticut if it be not what else can do it The World is at an end there is no more to be done in a fair way But if it be why do we not submit to it Verily if the King 's Broad Seal will not run to be obeyed in Connecticut we may justly expect that something else shall Are we so ignorant that we
3d of March last gave more power in that behalf to those to whom it was directed than ever we had by the Charter The Power of Arms grantéd by the Charter was not given to the General Court but only to the Governours chief Commanders and Officers for the time being c. The Charter never granted us the command of aÌ„ny Forts or places of Strength Let us examine the Charter and see if we can find these things there 2 dly Suppose we that all this had been granted by the Charter from King Charles the second and his Successors to us and our Successors yet then the Grant had been void because the Militia is a Jewel of the Crown not to be granted by the King from his Successors It is like Abishag the Shunamite And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunamite for Adonijah ask him for the Kingdom also sayes Solomon Beware of the next words God do so to me c. If the King give away his Militia he may give his Kingdom too And of the truth of this our present Behaviour is an undeniable Instà nce 3 dly Suppose we That it had been so granted and that the Grant had been good yet we should remember that our Succession was determined in the Year 1688. So that we cannot talk of our Succession or Successors without some new Grant And when their Majesties came to the Crown the Militia and all Forces c. and all Forts and places of strength were in their Majesties hands And this was either by right or by wrong If it were so by Right there is no colour for this Objection If by Wrong we might then have preferred our Petition of Right for the Recovery of it But for us without their Majestïes Notice or Lisence either surrepetitiously or by force to take and with hold the Militia from the King is such a Presumption as I know not who will undertà ke to justifie or excuse â— Object But we suspect that this Commission is a Cheat because the King was in Flanders at the date of it Answ But 1 st Can we prove it to be a Cheat otherwise this is a very bold Objection 2 dly It is only our Ignorance that makes us suspect it to be a Cheat. For we should know 1 st That the King is wont when he goes out of the Reà lm by his Letters Patents under the great Seal to constitute and leave behind him his Proxer or Deputy who is Guardian or Keeper of the Realm to exercise the Government in his absence 2 dly Bût now there is a Queen Regent his Majesty was pleased to commit the Government to the Queen in his absence and accordingly it was by Act of Parlià ment of anno 2. W. M. May 20. 1690. provided That as often as his Majesty shall be absent out of the Realm of England the Queen shall exercise and administer the Regal Power and Government of the Kingdom of England Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed and the Plantations and Territories thereto belonging in the Names of both their Majesties c. The King's absence therefore is no argument that the Commission is a Cheat for if the King did not give his Writ of Privy Seâ—l before he went for the affixing of the great Seal the Queen might lawfully do it in his absence 3 Object But if it be not a Cheat yet the King hath given us no command to surrender the Militia to his Excellency Answ 1 st A poor shift as if their Majesties Commission to his Excellency to command were not a command for us to obey or as if his Excellency's command pursuant to his Commission received from their Majesties were not their Majesties Command He commands in their Majesties Name and for this he hath their Majesties Authority Warrant and Commission under the great Seal and do not their Majesties then command us to submit to him His Excellency demands no surrender of the Militia of us but Obedience to his Commission The Militia is the Kings and he hath constituted his Lieutenant over it and thereby furnished him with all the Powers that any of their Majesties Captain Generals do or have lawfully exercised Now the Kings Lieutenants or Captain Generals may lawfully assemble men form Regiments Troops and Companies commissionate Officers muster lead and conduct them or cause them to be mustered led and conducted either for Military Exercise or for actual Service as occà sion requires And the Law not only requires Obedience of all but in particular requires all Officers and Ministers to be aiding and assisting to the Kings Captain Generals in the execution of their Commissions He hath Power to require assistance of whom he will and they must assist him at their Peril 2dly Did their Majesties ever give their Subjects any command to yeild Obedience to our resumed Power We lately received a Letter from their Majesties Did their Majesties therein or any otherwise give the People any immediate and express Command to obey us in what we were thereupon about to do Yet we expect Obedience from them without any such command And are not we their Majesties Subjects as well as the rest of the People 4 Obj. But we cannot manage our Government without the Militia Answ Then we may either go to the King to help us or let it alone The Kings Government is more General more Necessary more Worthy and more Legal than ours and how shall the King manage or maintain his Government without the Militia Laws and Arms are necessary in a King that he may rightly govern the Times both of Peace and War as à foresaid Our Government is but a particular thing and we may not set our Government in Competition with much less in Opposition to the Kings Government 5 Obj. But we are afraid that if we let the Militia go our Government will go too and we shall be annexed to York Answ That is no necessary consequence but ìf it should be so what then Whether we be annexed to York or York annexed to us 't is as long as broad York hath been annexed to us once or twice à lready and what hurt did we receive by it it was in some sort annexed by our Charter which extended to the South Sea and then it was I suppose with our consent seperated again York was again annexed to us by the late King James and I know not any detriment that ensued upon that We have also once in great measure annexed our selves to York and without question the King may as well annex us to York as we annex our selves We may remember how readily at Leysler's motion under the pretence of an Expedition against Canada we confederated with him took Commission from him and put their Majesties Subjects under his command à nd have not their Majesties a better Right to put us under their own Lieùtenant commissionated by themselves Will the King take this well at our hands that we should obey any man rather than himself We can