BEing given to understand that your Lordship and the Court of Aldermen have lately taken into considera­tion the bus'ness of Seditious Libells, and Papers; and that for want of particular Enformation, the matter proceeded no further at that time, then to a Generall Admoni­tion; which extended to the Innocent, as well as to the Guilty, through the False and Malitious Practices of the Criminalls, for the Involving of both forts under the same Scandall, and Con­demnation; I reckon it my duty to the King, the Church, the Ci­ty, to every Honest man, and in the last place, to my Self, to present your Lordship and the Bench of Aldermen your Bre­thren, with the means of distinguishing the One from the Other; In full assurance, that your Loyalty, Generosity, and Wisedom; your love of Truth, Peace, and Common Equity, will dispose you to Vindicate his Majesties Crown and Dignity; the Royal Family, the honour of the Government, and all that is Sacred in humane Society, against all Insults whatsoever; and Cause Exemplary Justice to be done upon such Offenders in these Cases, as shall be found properly under your Authority, and Jurisdiction. I shall not Clog this Paper with Instances, either superfluous, or of Ancient Date; but keep my self within compass, both for Time, and Bulk; Citing the Book, and the Page; still as I go along with the Publishers Name in the Margent. And it will likewise appear from the Pamphlets themselves, that there's a Form'd Conspiracy against both Church and State, for the de­struction of the Whole, and of every Part of it, Root and Branch.

[Page 2] The Book that deserves the first place in this consideration,John Kid­gel [...], and Richard Baldwin. was printed for John Kidgel, at the Atlas in Cornhill 1682. and publish'd by Rich [...]rd Baldwin, in the Old-Bayly: A Bold, and a Common Agent for the promoting of Sedition; and it carries the designe, in the very Title, and Face on't. [Rights of the Kingdom, or Customs of our Ancestors, touching the Duty, Power, Election or Succession of our Kings, and Parliaments, Our TRVE Liberty, DUE Allegeance, Three Estates, THEIR Legislative Power, Originall, Judiciall, and Executive; with the Militia: Freely discussed, through the Brittish, Saxon, Norman Laws & Histories]

This Gallimawfrey of Fragments was first publish'd in 1649. in favour of Cromwells Proceeding, and Government: the main Stress of the Discourse, resting upon these two Points. First, that the Late King was lawfully put to death. Secondly, that the English Monarchy is not Hereditary, but Elective: And so the Author, by Presidents, either Impertinent, Unwarranta­ble, Perverted, or misapply'd, supports his Pretensions the best he can.

Finding this Treasonous Piece to be now Re-printed, I could not but bethink my self To what end? And this Curiosity put me upon comparing the Two Editions, to see, how far they Agreed; wherein they Differ'd: or whether this Latter Impression were the very same with the Original. Upon the Ex­amination, I find severall sly Variations, and Additions, and many things Omitted in the Latter Copy; which gives first to understand that this is not the work of a Bookseller, or Prin­ter, for profit; but a Regular, and Industrious Disposition of the matter for some other purpose: And what that Purpose is may be easily gather'd from the Pulse and Biass of the Treatise; For the Omissions, though Many, & Large are only such as apply the Arguments for the Sovereign Power of a Parliament or the People, to the Defence of the Late Kings Murther; or else such as strike so directly at the Subversion of the Monarchy; that the Age is not as yet either so Mad, or so Wicked as to bear it: But his Arguments, and Reasonings all this while, for the Peo­ples Right of Calling their Kings to an Account, remain Whole, and Vntouch'd; So that his Maintenance of the Peoples Power over the King, even to the Deposing and putting of him to Death, stands [Page 3] as good against this King as it did against his Father; and speaks the Publisher and the Author to be both of a mind in the Case. In One word, the two Pos [...]ions of this Villanous Book, are the Two Pillars of the Associating Plot. And if the Faction can but first perswade the Multitude, that if the King will not do as the People would have him, the People may deal with the King as they please: And Secondly, That this is an Elective Monarchy; there's the King's, the Duke of York's, and the Governments bu­siness done at a Blow. But I shall leave the Author to Expound his own meaning in three or four passages omitted in this new Edition.

This is sufficient to shew the Opinion, and the Drift of the Author; wherein he declares himself, that the Late King was Justly put to death, and undertakes by Law and Reason to prove it; So that his Pretended Proofs being now Expos'd to the Publick, by Kidgell, and Baldwin, in the very same terms [Page 4] with the Original, must necessarily render the Late Publishers as Guilty as the Author. There runs a Vein of Sedition through the whole Tract; but some Few Instances out of this late Im­pression shall serve the Turn.

[Let us Discusse it (says he) by Law and Reason, what is our Legall Fcalty; how made, how Limited, how kept, or how DIS­SOLV'D. P. 11.] So that our Allegeance may be Dissolv'd, it seems, and is only Conditionall. And again. [Allegeance was ad Legem to the Laws, the Kingdom, and the Kingdoms good, or Profit, together with the King. P. 18.] We'l see now what he says to the Point of Election or Succession. [In the time (says he) of Hen. 1. and Hen. 2. there were some Speciall Acts of Parliament for settling the Crown on Maud the Empress, or her Issue. P. 24. — But all such Acts (for Tying the Crown to such or such a Family) do not Evince a Former Right of Succession. P. 25.—And then further [I say not (says he Ibid.) how often it hath been adjudg'd that Affirmative Statutes do not annull the Common Law; and that one may Prescribe against a Statute Negative, but in Affirmance of the Common Law,—So that if an English King was Elective by the Common Law, the Kingdom might Prescribe a­gainst Late Statutes, which might Erre much more then they could Oblige All Future Parliaments, but they might still be free and most of all in what was due before by Common Law. Ibid.] And more­over P. 75. He grounds his Pretence upon the Speech of Hubert at the Coronation of King John (an Excellent President for his turn) [It is well known to you all that no man hath Right of Suc­cession to this Crown, Except, that by Unanimous Consent of the Kingdom, with Invocation on the Holy Ghost, he be Elected from his own Deserts; but if any of the last Kings race be more worthy and better then others, his Election is more Proper, or more Reasonable, as it now is in Earl John here present.—Which (says he, Ibid.) seemeth most rightly to State the nature of Succession as it was in this Kingdom. So that all did amount but to this, That if a King had such Children; so Qualify'd, and so Educated, that they were above o­thers in Virtue, Wisdom, and True worth (or at least Caeteris Pa­res) they were the most likely Candidates for the Crown.] So that his Malitious Imposture resolves at last wholly into this. He sets the Parliament and the People above the King; and makes the Government Elective, by the Common Law, and from thence [Page 5] Concludes all those Statutes that Assert the Kings Sole Sove­reignty, and the Right of Hereditary Succession, as Nullities, for then Repugnance thereunto.

' [...]is true that Care, and Janeway; (for they are both one in the Impartial) have publish'd Num. 82. a Rude Advertise­ment, as if Baldwin had not publish▪d this Book; Whereas O [...]e or [...]wo of Baldwins Servants were taken at One a Clock on a Sunday Morning Posting up the Title Pages; which is as much a Publishing them, as if he had sold them Openly in his own shop: Beside, that tis probable he knew the Malice of the Book, by the Close, and Unseasonable course he took for the Notifying and dispersing of it. I have been forc'd to speak at large upon This; but I shall be shorter in the rest, and go on a little upon the same Head of Sedition.

[All Considering People will now see that Conventiclers are not punish▪d and ruin'd for holding Conventicles;Richard Baldwin. but for being zealous for the Protestant Religion, and Government by advice of Parliament, against Popery, and Clandestine Arbitrary Councells.] Post­script to Remarques upon Sr. William Smiths Speech at Hicks Hall; Publish'd by Baldwin again.

Here is first a Vote of the Commons, set up above the Autho­rity of several Establish'd Laws. 2ly. The King himself charg'd with a design of Suppressing the Protestant Religion, and Advan­cing the Interest of Popery, in Requiring the Execution of 'em; and with Clandestine Arbitrary Councells, over and above.

Double your Watches (says Janeway in his Vox Patriae) Chain up the Streets of the City day and night. Richard Janeway. Suffer not any Body of Arm­ed Soldiers, Greater, or Less (other then the Trained Bands of this City) to march through any part of the City, P 1.]

Here's a Proposall of keeping his Majesty out of Louden by Force, and the Rebells did his Father out of Hall: and the Print­ing of this Paper can have no other End, then to Invite and Encourage the Nation into a Tumult. And what's the Ground of this Audacious Proposall, but the [Surprizing Prorogation of the Parliament. Ibid.] So that the King shall not Exercise the undoubted 'Prerogatives of his Royall Authority, upon pain of Janeways denoun [...]ing War against him.

In the same Libell P. 17 he has a Pretended Address from Suffex to the Knights of the Shire, Richard Janeway. declaring that [they will [Page 6] stand by and defend them with their Lives and Fortunes in do­ing whatsoever they shall judge necessary for the Peace, Safety, and Prosperity of the Nation (if any danger should threaten them.) And the People of Winchelsea undertake as far to their Burgesses, P. 20. Thereby disowning their duty to their Sove­reign, and transferring their Allegeance to their Fellow-Sub­jects. The Burden of the Song from one end to the other of this Pamphlet being the Exclusion of his Royall Highness, and Barring the Kings Supply, with an intermixture of demanding the Artillery, the Militia, the Regulation of Courts Ecclesiasti­cal, and Civil, a Bill of Association; the disposing of all Publick Offices and Charges, &c.

The Sheriffs Case makes [King, Lords, and Commons, Suppos'd by Bald­wyn. to be a Corporation] which amounts to no less then a 'Deposing of the King.

[That Bugbear Passive-Obedience (says Jo.Starkey in the Character of a Popish Successor. John Starkey. P. 20.) is a Notion crept into the world, and most zealously, and perhaps as Ignorantly defend­ed.] What is this but a Papall Absolution? But then in the Second Part P. 34. the Nail is driven to the Head. [Have we not bad a Late King of Portugal Deposed, as Deliri­ous and Frantick, and consequently render'd by Law Vncapa­ble of Reigning; and all this done by his own Subjects, and those of his own Religion, without the least Reflection of Treason or Rebellion, or the Aspersion of Lifting a hand against the Lords Anointed?] What is this but to tell the People, that there needs no more to the Deposing of a Prince, then the Outcry of the Multitude, that he is not fit to Govern?

These Outrages upon the Laws of God and man will never find Protection within the Walls of this Loyal City; And this Licence is not more the Shame of the Govern­ment, then the Vile Instruments are in truth the Dishonour of Mankinde.

The Desperate Practices, Declarations and Positions of the Scottish Covenanters, even to the barefac'd avowing of it to be their Duty to destroy the King, the Royal Family, and the Per­sons as well as the Order of the Bishops, is too notorious to be either Conceal'd, Palliated, or Deny'd; which put the Govern­ment, in Conclusion, upon a Test; as the only Expedient [Page 7] for the securing both of the Church and State, against the Violent, and Impious Machinations of those Diabolical Spirits; and (in effect) for preserving the Peace of the Two Kingdoms. Just now, upon this very Instant of Time, when the Scottish Faction were Meditating New Commotions; out comes Curtis's Cheat, and Mockery of the Arraignment, Tryal, Langley Curtis. and Condemnation of a Dogg for refusing the Test, and the whole Process Ridicul'd in the very Form and Terms of the Law; and Dress'd up in so Contemptuous a manner that nothing was ever more Rudely and Spitefully treated then the Kings Authority, and the Wisdom of the Scot­tish Nation in that Act of State.

After these Affronts upon the King himself, it is not to be ex­pected that they should treat his Royal Highness, at a Civiller rate: But how this Privilege of Questioning Sovereign Authority; Dis­charging Subjects of their AllegJance; and Disposing of the Crowns of Princes, comes to be the Subject of every Mean, and Merce­cenary Pen; will be taken I hope into a seasonable Considera­tion.

One of the most Seditious Impostures that has yet seen the Light,Hen. Care. was a Libel that passed under the Title of [Bedlo's Nar­rative of the Fires,] which was almost wholly, and Verbatim ta­ken out of other Scandalous Libels of Former Date, and Fobb'd upon the Nation under the Name, and Authority of one of the Kings Witnesses. Care put it together, and it was Printed in Bedlo's Absence. The main Scope of the Pamphlet, was to pos­sess the People as if the Duke of York, the Guards, and the Court-Party, had Countenanced, and Promoted the Conflagration. [The Kings Life-Guard (he says) rescued a Man that was taken in the Act of Firing a House. Pag. 9.] And again [One of the Life-Guard threw Fire-Balls into a Womans Lapp. Pag. 10.] [The Duke of York too a French-man into his Custody, and said I will secure him, but he was heard of no more, Ibid.:] Four Life-Guard-men rescued another French-man, &c. Ibid.] Another French-man carried before the D. of Y. and heard of no more. Pag. 11. And so another in like manner. Pag. 13. There's another Charg'd with Burning the City, and his Father is said to answer for him; [My Son doth nothing but what he has a Patent from the King for. Pag. 11.]

[Page 8] In the Popish Courant of Jan. 14. 1680.Hen. Care. Langley Curtis. The same Henry Care and Langley Curtis kill two Birds with one Stone. ['Tis certain every Papist is (Implicitly at least) a Rebel, and a Traytor.] Here's no Exception of either Queen, or Duke, nor of the very Preservers of his Sacred Majesty, when the Rebellious Schisma­ticks pursued him, to Murther him. Nay, 'tis so far from an Ex­ception, that he points with his Finger to That he would be at. [If ever (says the Courantier a little below) we get a Popish Suc­cessor into the Saddle, and the Black Tantivy-men, to hold the Stirrup, whilst his Holiness rides the dull Beasts at Pleasure, We'll burn all the Heretical Doggs, &c.] so that it seems we have a Popish Clergy too as well as a Popish Successor. And then to Fi­nish his Complement, July 22. 1681. [We have (says he) got a New Fry of Church-men, prepared by Hobbs, and the Play­house, that care not a farthing for any Religion, provided they may but Swagger and Domineer, and Swear, and Damn, and Drink Healths with a Huzza.]

I shall only take a Taste here,Jo. Starkey. of that Venemous [Character of a Popish Successor.] Though sufficient to give any Honest man Horror for the very Syllables of it, but much more to see such Daring Insolencies pass Unpunished. He calls his Royal Highness Pag. 10. [the Greatest, and only Grievance of the Nation; the Universal Object of their Hate and Fear, and the Subject of their Cla­mours, and CURSES. And a little further, with as much Ma­lice to the King as to the Duke, he pronounces his Majesty as good as lost for his Friendship (as he Expresses it) to [that One GANGREEND Branch of Royalty.] This is a Subject too Foul to Enlarge upon, and I make no question, but those Generous and Loyal Magistrates that Entertained so Honourable an Indignation for a Brutal Outrage upon the Duke's Picture will be answerably sensible of these Affronts upon Common Morality, and Justice; and the Honour of their Sovereign in the Person of his Royal Bro­ther.

How does Janeway Rage in his Vox Patriae against The Wretched Pensioners in Pag. 2.Janeway. Those Execrable Villains that by receiving Pensions betray'd our Trusts, and our Libertys in the Late Long Parlia­ment, Pag. 17.] [Those Abominable Monsters. Pag. 20.] And what were these Pensioners at last; but a List of Honest Gentlemen, Proscribed as the StraffordJans were, upon the Entrance into the late Rebel­lion; [Page 9] for Adhering to their Consciences, and their Duty's. Divers Privy Councellors, and other Persons of Value and Credit, in their Stations, and of Unquestionable Worth, in the Opinion of all that ever knew them?

And the Addressers are to be served with the same Sauce too.Rich. Bald­win. [A Popish and Arbitrary Design at the Bottom. Baldwin's tendency of Addresses.F Pag. 9.] [The Scum and Refuse of the Places where they live. Pag. 12.] Though the most Eminent Subjects of the Nation. [Some little Bankrupt Tradesmen; a Scandalous and Dis­grac'd Attorney, one whose Necessity Exposes him to be Biassed by Crusts of Bread and Pots of Ale. Ibid.] And now to Janeway and Care in Conjunction.

[Most of the Subscribers (says the Impartial. Numb. 15.) are RuffJans,Care, and Janeway. and Beggerly Vermin, drawn in by Pots of Ale, and not Apprentices] and there's nothing scapes better that falls in their way. And the Impartial again, Numb. 16.

[Alderman Pilkington, Care and Janeway. and Mr. Shute are fit Persons to Serve the City next Year in Quality of Sheriffs, &c.—But there are a Pack of People that scarce know what they would have; Most Industriously Endeavouring, by Caballs, and Drunken, Factious Clubs, to pull up some other Persons, &c.] This is to say, in short; that whoso­ever gives his Vote for any other man is a Drunken, Factious Ras­cal.

What work has Janeway made,Janeway and Care. (Impartial. Numb. 47.) With a Scandalous, and Malicious Forgery of a Debaucht com­mitted upon Michaelmas day last, in the Church of All-hallows Staining, and the Story False from one end to the other! But it was the Spleen of the Faction, when they could not disappoint the Election, (though by the Meanest Practices Imaginable) to be Revenged upon those Honest Gentlemen that were desi­rous, by Ringing the Bells, to welcome the Person Elected into his Office.

It would be Endless, (and truly as Needless) to run through the History of the Scandals upon all those Places, and Persons, that have Acted Dutifully and Affectionately for the Common Ser­of the Church and the Crown. Is not the King Twitted for his Venison to some of the Addressers? Is not Norwich, Bristol, &c. Charged with Designs of Setting up Popery and Arbitrary Power? The Artillery Company of Bristol, Blasted as an Illegal Usurpation, [Page 10] and Calumniated for a Private Test, as if there were a Popish Con [...]piracy in the Bottom of it? Let but any Man open his Mouth for the King and the Government, and he is presently a Bogg-Trot­ter, a Witness in such a Cause, a Jury-man in such a One, a Judge in another; and Branded for all the Villanies which that Sink of Infamy, the Faction can throw upon him. A Turn-Coat, a Fidler, a Beggarly Rascal; a Drunken, Blaspheming Wretch; a Sworn Papist: One that has Whor'd his Mother, Betray'd his Prince, and in short; 'tis but Raking of Hell for a Catalogue of the most Damning Sins that ever carried any man thither to furnish out the Character of a Person that Honestly Interposes betwixt Reli­gion, and Sacrilege, betwixt Sedition and the Laws; betwixt the Prince and the Regicide, and betwixt Order, and Confusion.

Neither are the King's Ministers, Rich. Bald­win. Magistrates, Justices, Juries, and Witnesses, nay, the King himself one jot more respectfully handled in Baldwin's two Parts of the No Protestant Plot; and the Scandals run through from one end to the other.

Janeway (in his strange News from Hicks's Hall) calls the Middlesex Justices, Janeway. Adulterers, Whore-mongers, Swearers, Drunk­ards, Janeway. Cheats, Pag. 6. and Janeway again in his Ignoramus Justices (but of the other day) takes upon him to Arraign and Declare Law, and to Juggle the People into a Mis-un­derstanding and Contempt of all those wholsome Statutes which the Wisdom of our Fore-Fathers hath provided for the Security of the Protestant Religion, and the Peace of the Kingdom: With this Sawcy Reflection upon the Bench in the very Title Page [Some Directions to the Officers that may be Threatned, or Perswaded to Act by such Umwarrantable Orders from such IGNORAMUS JUSTI­CES.]

It is the Opinion of Men well vers'd in the Trade of Book-Selling, that there has not been so little as 30000 Ream of Pa­per spent upon this Seditious Subject, in this Late Liberty of the Press. But I shall stop here, with an Humble Recommenda­tion of the whole Matter to the Right Honourable your Lord­ship, and to the Right Worshipful the Aldermen your Brethren. I shall not need to suggest that the Government of the City can never be fafe, while That of the Kingdom; is in danger for it was notoriously the Effect of this intolerable Licence, that subjected the Regular Authority of the City to Arbitrary Armies and Com­mittees; [Page 11] that stripp'd the Magistracy of their Privileges and Or­naments, and set up Thimble-makers, Dray-men and Coblers for their Lords and Masters. I need not mind your Lordship of the Agreement betwixt the Past and Present Degrees, Methods and Pre­tences of Proceeding, betwixt their Godly Party, and our True Prote­stants, falsly so called; nay, I have heard of the same Faces now at work again, under the same Vizors. It is not a thing forgotten, that when the fear of Tyranny was pretended, the very Pre­tenders to those Fears exercised the most Barbarous Tyranny in Nature, themselves; nor was there ever so Base and Scanda­lous a Vassallage, as that which the unwary Multitude drew up­on themselves under the hope of Liberty. The apprehensions of Popery Vanished in the Destruction of the Canonical Clergy; the setting up of a Preaching Ministry concluded in the Plun­dering, Ejecting, Sequestring, &c. All the Orthodox and Loyal Di­vines of the Kingdom; turning the Churches into Stables, and supplying the Pulpits with Red-Coats and Mechanicks; Consecra­ting at last, the Pretended Purity of the Gospel with the most Un­christJan Outrages of a Barbarous Sacrilege. A Tory is the Name now, for a Popish Dogg, or a Malignant of Forty One: And the In­solency of the Rabble upon Captain Griffith, in November last, when they cry'd Kill him; he's a Tory, Kill him; knowing him at the same time to be an Officer of the Lieutenancy, an Ancient Common Council-man, and at that instant, upon his Duty, and within his own Precinct. That Insolence (with submission) looks like an Earnest of their good Will to the subverting of the Go­vernment in General, and that of the City in particular; and an Essay toward the accomplishing of that Work. To say nothing of other Inconveniencies that may arise by Forcing men upon Personal Revenges, unless these Scandalous Liberties may be Ad­verted upon by Publick Justice.

Having here laid before your Lordship both the Quality of the Crimes suggested, and the Names of several of the Crimi­nals; and all of them Persons too, within the reach of your Command: It is not so much L'Estrange, as the Common Voice of an Injur'd Government and People that makes this Application.

But I am further to represent to your Lordship, that at the same time, while these Libellous Papers and Agents go Scot­free, the Authors and Publishers of other Books and Papers, [Page 12] whose Business is only to vindicate the Government from the Forgeries, Calumnies, Malice and Sedition of the Dayly Libels of Care, Curtis, Janeway, Baldwin, &c. are Presented, and the Bills found; as Mrs Brome particularly, for the Observator, by a a c [...]rtain Grand Jury, who, according to their Oath, could neither see, nor hear of any thing on the other hand; while yet at the same time, almost every Stall is cover'd, and every Cof­fee-House furnished with News-Papers and Pamphlets (both written and Printed) of Personal Scandal, Schism and Treason. But I shall now desire your Lordship and your Right Worshipful Brethren to take Notice what it is that the Animals of this Age call the Favouring of Popery, and the Creating of Misunderstanding betwixt His Majesty and People.

The Observator, Num. 27. (after some Remarks upon the Practices and Positions of a Phanatical Party) says to this purpose; [Never Mince the Matter; but instead of Demanding This or That, under a Disguise, speak plain, and put the Sence of the Party into the Form of a Petition:] And then follows the Petition at length, in these very Syllables.

Your Majesties most Humble and Obedient Subjects, having suffered many Disappointments, by reason both of Short and of Long Parliaments; and the late Executing of the Law against Dissenters; the Pretences of Tyran­ny and Popery being grown stale, the Popish Plot drawn almost to the Dregs; and the Eyes of the People so far open, that they begin to see their Friends from their Enemies; to the Disheartning of All True Protestants, and the Encouraging of the Sons of the Church: We your Majesties Dissenting Subjects, being thereby brought unto so low a state, that without a Timely Relief, We the Godly People of the Land, must inevitably Perish.

The Observator above-mention'd, concludes in these Words; [All the Rest is Cant and Gibberish; but This is English.] This Personated Petition is no more, in fine, than a Compendium of their Demands and Cemplaints, dress'd up in their own Hypocritical Terms: So that the Sedition lies in the Defending of the King's Crown and Dignity, and the Laws of the Land; which necessari­ly implies an Allowance and Justification of the Libellous Opposers of the Government.