THat your poor Petitioners, though they be the loweſt and meaneſt Members of this City, yettney do with all humble and hearty acknowledgment confeſſe, that the unceſſant and unexpreſſable care and paines you have aken for the good of both Church and State, in the middeſt of ſo many Plots, Conſpiracies and perills, deſerveth to be recorded to your eternall Fame, and of your poore Petitioners moſt humbly and gratefully accepted of; although thoſe happy effects, you have by your unwearied endeavours laboured for, and your Petitioners long expected, be not yet produced; the caſe of which is, that adverſe malignant-blood ſucking-rebellious Popiſh party in the generall: For particular parties, many of them hath been often mentioned in this Honourable Houſe heretofore: therfore we will omit to make any further mention of them; only your Petitioners doth humbly crave leave to name ſome of thoſe many particular evills, which we have too much cauſe to feare, and are in a great meaſure ſenſible of: as Firſt, that great height of power the Adverſe party is grown unto, in that they are ſo impudent and Inſolent, as to counſell to, and deviſe a way to a • cuſe the Innocent; and when that would not hit, then they counſelled that power Prerogative ſhould trample upon all the Priviledges of Parliament, and the Liberty of the Subject, which if Gods providence and your prudence had not timely prevented this deſigne, the whole Kingdome ere this time, had been involved in blood. Secondly, the dayly growth of the Forces, Inſolencies and outrages of thoſe ſalvage, and more then barbarous Rebells in Ireland, exerciſed upon our poore Brethren by Nation and Religion, whoſe miſerable and diſtreſſed eſtate we truly ſympathize, and doe much condole; and if the good hand of the Allmighty, by your prudence and puiſſance, doe not ſpeedily bridle the adverſarie, they will totally extirpate and extinguiſh the name of the Engliſh, with the Proteſtant Religion in that Nation. And your Petitioners doe humbly conceive, that the hand of the adverſe party is too much ſeen amongſt us here, by contriving and procuring obſtructions and delayes in their reliefe and ſupplyes. Thirdly, the univerſall deadnes of Trading, it hath been a languiſhing long, and ſtrooke in divers branches of it, but now the very body of it is ſtrooke liveleſſe and dead: and the reaſons hereof (as your Petitioners doth humbly conceive) are divers, not only the things before named, but the many feares, jealouſies and diſtractions we lye under: for being the adverſe party ſeeth • hat their ſecret plots, Conſpiracies, and helliſh devices, hath hitherto become abortive, it is to be feared they will break out into open Hoſtilitie, as they have done in Ireland; and moreover, laying of our ſelves open to forreigne Invaſion, by delaying of the fortification of the Cinque Ports, which is (as your Petitioners doe humbly conceive) too great an advantage and encouragement to the Papiſts amongſt us to make Inſurrection, and doth too much animate a forreigne pewer to Invade us. Theſe and many more, which is above and beyond our line and ſoheare of conceiving, are the cauſes of this univerſall deadneſſe of Trading: now this deadneſſe of Trade is the ſolecanſe your poore Petitioners doth want imployment in ſuch a meaſure, that their lives are made very uncomfortable: for beſides the ſingle number mentioned before, which is the leaſt that doe live in that way; there is a treble number which hath their ſubſiſtence of the labour of your poore Petitioners, that is, their Wives and Children: and being your Petitioners can have no better imployment, they are expoſed to many hardſhips for that little, your Petitioners was poſſeſſed of before theſe times, ſince theſe times of Trading grew ſo dead, they have been conſtrained to ſell part, and paund other part, for to buy food for their Families, and now they have ſcarce ſo much left as will ſatisfie their Landlords for Rent, and ſo your Petitioners are very nigh turning into the Streets.

Therfore, the moſt humble requeſt of your poore Petitioners is, that this extreame neceſſity of theirs may be taken into ſerious conſideration, and that this Honourable Houſe would fall upon the ſpeedieſt courſe that your wiſdomes ſeeth beſt, for abateing and quelling of the pride, outrage, and inſolencie of the adverſe party here at home; and that reliefe and ſupply may be ſent to our Brethren in Ireland, if it may be before it be too late. And your Petitioners doe further humbly pray, that this Land May be ſecured, by fortifying the Cinque Ports, and putting the people into a poſture of Defence, that all, or as many of our feares as can, may be removed; that the way and life of Trading may againe be ſet up and opened; that ſo your Petitioners wants may in ſome meaſure be ſupplyed. They further humbly pray that Juſtice may be done upon Offenders, according as the atrocitie of their crimes have deſerved: for if theſe things be any longer ſuſpended, they will force your Petitioners to extremities, not fit to be named, and to make good that ſaying, That neceſſity hath no Law: It is true, that we have nothing to loſe but our lives, and thoſe we will willingly expoſe to the utmoſt perill, in the defence of the Kings Majeſties Royall perſon, Crown and Dignities, and this Honourable Houſe of Parliament, with the Priviledges thereof, with all thereſt, contained in our Proteſtation, to which your Petitioners will adhere to the loſſe of their lives: And they doe moſt humbly deſire a favounble conſtruction and acceptance of theſe few immature and undigeſted expreſſions, and ſo much as is unſavourie in them to impute it to a defect in their underſtanding, and not to any perniciouſneſſe in the will. And your Petitioners doe with all humbleneſſe and ſubmiſſion deſire a ſpeedy Anſwer;