I Will use no Preface, as they do who pre­pare Men for some thing in which they have a particular Interest: I will only propose what I conceive fit for the House to consider: and shall be no more concerned in the Event, than they that shall hear me.

Two things I observe in his Majesties Demands.

First, The Supply.

Secondly, Our speedy dispatch thereof.

Touching the First: His Majesties Occasions for Money are but too evident. For, to say no­thing, how we are neglected abroad, and distra­cted at home; the Calling of this Parliament, and our Sitting here (an Effect which no light Cause could in these times have produced) is e­nough to make any reasonable Man believe, That the Exchequ [...]r abounds not so much in [Page 79] Money, as the State does in Occasions to use it. And I hope we shall all appear willing to disprove those who have thought to disswade his Ma­jesty from this way of Parliaments, as uncertain; and to let Him see, it is as ready, and more safe for the Advancement of His Affairs, than any New, or pretended Old, way whatsoever.

For the speedy Dispatch required, which was the Second thing, not only his Majesty, but Res Ipsa loquitur; the occasion seems to importune no less: Necessity is come upon us like an Arm­ed Man.

Yet the use of Parliaments heretofore (as ap­pears by the Writs that call us hither) was to advise with His Majesty of things concerning the Church and Commonwealth. And it hath ever been the Custom of Parliaments, by good and wholsom Laws to refresh the Commonwealth in general; yea and to descend into the Remedies of particular Grievances; before any mention made of a Supply. Look back upon the best Parliaments, and still you shall find, That the last Acts are for the free Gifts of Subsidies on the Peoples part, and General Pardons on the Kings part. Even the wisest Kings have first acquaint­ed their Parliaments with their Designs, and the Reasons thereof; and then demanded the As­sistance, both of their Council and Purses. But Physicians, though they be called of the latest, [Page 80] must not stomach it, or talk what might have been, but apply themselves roundly to the Cure. Let us not stand too nicely upon Circumstances, nor too rigidly postpone the matter of Supply, to the healing of our lighter Wounds. Let us do, what possibly may be done with reason and Honesty on our parts, to comply with His Majesties Desires, and to prevent the imminent Ills which threaten us.

But consider (Mr. Speaker) that they who think themselves already undone, can never ap­prehend themselves in Danger: and they that have nothing left, can never give freely. Nor shall we ever discharge the Trust of those that sent us hither, or make them believe that they contribute to their own Defence and Safety; un­less his Majesty be pleased, first to restore them to the Propriety of their Goods and Lawful Li­berties, whereof they esteem themselves now out of Possession. One need not tell you, That the Propriety of Goods is the Mother of Cou­rage, and the Nurse of Industry, makes us va­liant in War, and Good-husbands in Peace. The Experience I have of former Parliaments, and my present Observation of the care the Coun­try has had to choose Persons of Worth and Courage, makes me think this House like the Spartans, whose forward Valour required some softer Musick to allay and quiet their Spirits, [Page 81] too much moved with the found of Martial In­struments. 'Tis not the fear of Imprisonment, or, if need be, of Death it self, that can keep a true-hearted English Man from the care to leave this part of his Inheritance as entire to Po­sterity, as he received it from his Ancestors.

This therefore let us first do, and the more speedily, that we may come to the matter of Sup­ply; let us give new Force to the many Laws, which have been heretofore made for the main­taining of our Rights and Priviledges, and endea­vour to restore this Nation to the Fundamental and Vital Liberties, the Propriety of our Goods, and the Freedom of our Persons: No way doubting, but we shall find His Majesty as gracious and rea­dy, as any of his Royal Progenitors have been, to grant our just Desires therein. For not only the People do think, but the Wisest do know, That what we have suffered in this long Va­cancy of Parliaments, we have suffered from his Ministers. That the Person of no King was ever better beloved of his People; and that no Peo­ple were ever more unsatisfied with the Ways of levying Moneys, are Two Truths which may serve one to demonstrate the other: For such is their Aversion to the present Courses, That neither the admiration they have of his Maje­sties native Inclination to Justice and Clemency, nor the pretended Consent of the Judges, could [Page 82] make them willingly submit themselves to this late Tax of Ship-Money. And such is their na­tural Love and just Esteem of his Majesty's Good­ness, That no late Pressure could provoke them, nor any Example invite them to Disloyalty or Disobedience.

But what is it then, that hath bred this mis­understanding betwixt the King and his Peo­ple? How is it, that having so good a King, we have so much to complain of? Why, we are told of the Son of Solomon, that he was a Prince of a tender Heart; and yet we see, by the Advice of violent Counsellers how rough an Answer he gave to his People. That his Finger should be as heavy as his Fathers Loins, was not his own, but the Voice of some Persons about him, that wanted the Gravity and Moderation requisite for the Counsellors of a young King. I love not to press Allegories too far: but the Resem­blance of Job's Story with ours holds so well, that I cannot but observe it to you. It plea­sed God to give his Enemy leave to afflict him more than once or twice, and to take all he had from him; and yet he was not provoked to rebell, so much as with his Tongue: though he had no very good Example of one that lay very near him, and felt not half that which he suffered. I hope his Majesty will imitate God in the benigner part too; and as he was severe [Page 83] to Job only while he discoursed with another concerning him; but when he vouchsafed to speak himself to him, began to rebuke those, who had mistaken and mis-judged his Case, and to restore the patient Man to his former Prospe­rity: So now, that his Majesty hath admitted us to His Presence, and spoken Face to Face with us; I doubt not, but we shall see fairer Days, and be as Rich in the Possession of our own as ever we were.

I wonder at those that seem to doubt the Suc­cess of this Parliament, or that the Misunder­standing between the King and his People should last any longer, now they are so happily met. His Majesties Wants are not so great, but that we may find means to supply him: Nor our De­sires so unreasonable, or so incompatible with Government, but that His Majesty may well sa­tisfie them. For our late Experience, I hope, will teach us what Rocks to shun; and how ne­cessary the use of Moderation is. And for His Majesty, he has had Experiencé enough, how that prospers, which is gotten without the con­current Good Will of his People: Never more Money taken from the Subject; never more want in the Exchequer. If we look upon what has been paid; it is more then ever the People of England were wont to pay in such a time: if we look upon what has been effected therewith▪ [Page 84] it shews, as if never King had been worse supply­ed. So that we seem to have endeavoured the filling of a Sieve with Water. Whosoever gave Advice for these courses, has made good the saying of the Wise Man, Qui conturbat Domum suam, possidebit ventum. By new ways they think to accomplish Wonders; but in truth they grasp the Wind, and are at the same time cruel to us, and to the King too. For if the Commonwealth flourish, then he that hath the Sovereignty can never want nor do amiss: so as he govern not according to the Interest of others; but go the shortest and the safest Ways to his own and the Common Good.

The Kings of this Nation have always go­verned by Parliament: And if we look up­on the Success of things since Parliaments were laid by, it resembles that of the Grecians,

especially on the Subjects part. For though the King hath gotten little; they have lost all.

But His Majesty shall hear the Truth from us; and we shall make appear the Errors of those Divines, who would perswade us, that a Mo­narch must be Absolute, and that he may do all things ad libitum; receding not only from their [Page 85] Text (though that be a wandring too) but from the way their own Profession might teach them, State super Vias antiquas, and Remove not the ancient Bounds and Land-marks which our Fathers have set. If to be Absolute, were to be restrained by no Laws; then can no King in Christendom be so; for they all stand obliged to the Laws Christian. And we ask no more; for to this Pillar are our Priviledges fixt, our Kings at their Coronation taking a sacred Oath not to infringe them.

I am sorry these Men take no more care to gain our Belief of those things, which they tell us for our Souls Health; while we know them so manifestly in the wrong, in that which concerns the Liberties and Priviledges of the Subjects of England: But they gain Preferment; and then 'tis no matter, though they neither believe themselves, nor are believed by others. But since they are so ready to let loose the Consci­ences of their Kings, we are the more carefully to provide for our Protection against this Pulpit-Law, by declaring and reinforcing the Municipal Laws of this Kingdom.

It is worth observing, how new this Opinion is, or rather this way of rising, even among them­selves. For Mr. Hooker, who sure was no re­fractory Man, (as they term it) thinks, That the first Government was Arbitrary, till it was [Page 86] found, that to live by one Mans Will, became the Cause of all Mens Misery: (these are his Words) concluding, That this was the Original of inventing Laws. And if we look further back, our Histories will tell us, that the Pre­lates of this Kingdom have often been the Me­diators between the King and His Subjects, to present and pray redress of their Grievances: and had reciprocally then as much Love and Reve­rence from the People.

But these Preachers, more active than their Predecessors, and wiser than the Laws, have found out a better Form of Government. The King must be a more Absolute Monarch, than any of his Predecessors; and to them he must owe it: though in the mean time, they hazard the Hearts of his People; and involve him in a Thousand Difficulties. For, suppose, this Form of Government were inconvenient; and yet this is but a Supposition, for these Five hundred Years it hath not only maintained us in safety, but made us Victorious over other Nations; but, I say, suppose they have another Idea of one more convenient: we all know how dange­rous Innovations are, though to the better, and what hazard those Princes must run, that enterprize the change of a long establisht Govern­ment. Now of all our Kings that have gone before, and of all that are to succeed in this [Page 87] happy Race; Why should so Pious and so Good a King be exposed to this Trouble and Hazard? Besides, that Kings so diverted can never do any great Matter abroad.

But while these Men have thus bent their Wits against the Laws of their Country; whether they have neglected their own Pro­vince, and what Tares are grown up in the Field which they should have tilled, I leave it to a se­cond Consideration: not but that Religion ought to be the first thing in our Purposes and Desires: but that which is first in Dignity, is not always to precede in order of time. For Well-Being supposes a Being; and the first Impediment, which Men naturally endeavour to remove, is the want of those things, without which they cannot subsist. God first assigned unto Adam Maintenance of Life, and gave him a Title to the rest of the Creatures, before he appointed a Law to observe. And let me tell you, if our Adversaries have any such design, as there is nothing more easie, than to impose Religion on a People deprived of their Liberties; so there is nothing more hard than to do the same upon Freemen.

And therefore (Mr. Speaker) I conclude with this Motion, that there may be an Order present­ly made, that the first thing this House will con­sider of, shall be the restoring this Nation in ge­neral [Page 88] to the Fundamental and Vital Liberties; the Propriety of our Goods, and Freedom of our Persons: and that then we will forthwith consider of the Supply desired.

And thus we shall discharge the Trust reposed in us, by those that sent us hither. His Maje­sty will see, that we make more than ordinary haste to satisfie his Demands: and we shall let all those know, that seek to hasten the matter of Supply, that they will so far delay it, as they give Interruption to the former.

IAm commanded by the House of Commons, to present you with these Articles against Mr. Justice Crawley, which when your Lordships shall have been pleased to hear read, I shall take leave (according to custom) to say something of what I have collected from the sense of that House, concerning the Crimes therein con­tained.

Then the Charge was read, containing his extraju­dicial Opinions subscribed, and judgment given for Ship-money; and afterward, a Declaration in his charge at an Assize, That Ship-money was so Inherent a Right in the Crown, that it would not be in the pow­er of a Parliament to take it away.

My Lords,

NOT only my Wants, but my Affections ronder me less fit for this Employment: For though it has not been my happiness to have the Law a part of my breeding; there is no Man [Page 90] honours that Profession more, or has a greater Re­verence towards the Grave Judges, the Oracles thereof. Out of Parliament, all our Courts of Ju­stice are governed or directed by them: and when a Parliament is call'd; if your Lordships were not assisted by them, and the House of Commons by other Gentlemen of that Robe, Experience tells us, it might run a hazard of being stiled Parliamen­tum indoctorum. But as all Professions are obnoxi­ons to the malice of the Professors, and by them most easily betrayed; so (my Lords) these Arti­cles have told you, how these Brothers of the Coif are become fratres in malo; how these Sons of the Law have torn out the Bowels of their Mother. But this Judge (whose charge you last heard) in one expression of his, excels no less his Fellows than they have done the worst of their Predeces­sors, in this Conspiracy against the Commonwealth. Of the Judgment for Ship-money, and those ex­trajudicial Opinions preceding the same (wherein they are joyntly concern'd) you have already heard: how unjust and pernicious a proceeding that was in so publick a Cause, has been suffici­ently express'd to your Lordships. But this man, adding despair to our misery, tells us from the Bench, that Ship-money was a Right so Inherent in the Crown, that it would not be in the Power of an Act of Parliament to take it away. Here­in (my Lords) he did not only give as deep a [Page 91] Wound to the Commonwealth, as any of the rest; but dipt his Dart in such a Poyson, that, so far as in him lay, it might never receive a Cure. As by those abortive Opinions, subscribing to the Subversion of our Propriety, before he heard what could be said for it, he prevented his Own; So by this Declaration of his, he endeavours to prevent the Judgment of Your Lordships too; and to confine the Power of a Parliament, the only Place where this Mischief might be re­drest. Sure he is more wise and learned, than to believe himself in this Opinion; or not to know how Ridiculous it will appear to a Parliament, and how Dangerous to himself: And therefore, no doubt, by saying, no Par­liament could abolish this Judgment; his mean­ing was, That this Judgment had abolish'd Par­liaments.

This Imposition of Ship-money, springing from a pretended Necessity; was it not enough, that it was grown Annual, but he must entail it upon the State for ever; at once making Necessity inherent to the Crown, and Slavery to the Sub­ject? Necessity, which dissolving all Law, is so much more prejudicial to His Majesty than to a­ny of us, by how much the Law has invested his Royal State with a greater Power, and am­pler Fortune. For so undoubted a Truth, it has ever been, that Kings, as well as Subjects, are in­volved [Page 92] in the Confusion, which necessity pro­duces; that the Heathen thought their Gods also obliged by the same; Pareamus necessitati, quam nec Homines nec Dii superant. This Judge then, having in his Charge at the Assize declared the dissolution of the Law, by this supposed necessi­ty; with what Conscience could he at the same Assize proceed to condemn and punish Men; un­less perhaps he meant, the Law was still in force, for our Destruction, and not for our Preservation? That it should have Power to kill, but none to Protect us? A thing no less horrid, than if the Sun should burn without lighting us; or the Earth serve only to bury, and not feed and nourish us.

But (my Lords) to demonstrate, that this was a supposititious impos'd Necessity, and such as they could remove when they pleased; at the last Convention in Parliament, a Price was set upon it; for Twelve Subsidies you shall reverse this Sentence. It may be said, that so much Money would have removed the present Necessity: but here was a Rate set upon future necessity; for Twelve Subsi­dies you shall never suffer necessity again, you shall for ever abolish that Judgment. Here this Mystery is revealed, this Vizor of Necessity is pull'd off: And now it appears, That this Parliament of Judges had very frankly and bountifully pre­sented His Majesty with Twelve Subsidies, to be [Page 93] levied on Your Lordships and the Commons. Certainly there is no Priviledge which more pro­perly belongs to a Parliament, than to open the Purse of the Subject: and yet these Judges, who are neither capable of sitting among us in the House of Commons, nor with your Lordships, other­wise than as your Assistants, have not only as­sum'd to themselves this Priviledge of Parlia­ment, but presum'd at once to make a present to the Crown, of all that either your Lordships, or the Commons of England do, or shall here­after possess.

And because this Man has had the boldness to put the Power of Parliament in ballance with the opinion of the Judges; I shall entreat your Lord­ships to observe by way of comparison, the so­lemn and safe proceeding of the one, with the precipitate dispatch of the other. In Parliament (as your Lordships know well) no new Law can pass, or old be abrogated, till it has been thrice read with your Lordships, thrice in the Commons House, and then it receives the Royal Assent; so that 'tis like Gold seven times purified: Whereas these Judges by this one Resolution of theirs, would perswade his Majesty, that by naming Ne­cessity, he might at once dissolve (at least suspend) the great Charter two and thirty times confirm'd by his Royal Progenitors, the Petition of Right, and all other Laws provided for the maintenance [Page 94] of the Right and Propriety of the Subject. A strange force (my Lords) in the sound of this word Necessity, that like a Charm it should silence the Laws, while we are dispoyl'd of all we have. For that but a part of our goods was taken, is owing to the Grace and Goodness of the King; for so much as concerns these Judges, we have no more left than they perhaps may deserve to have, when your Lordships shall have passed Judg­ment upon them: This for the neglect of their Oaths, and betraying that publick Trust, which for the conservation of our Laws was reposed in them.

Now for the cruelty and unmercifulness of this Judgment; you may please to remember that in the old Law they were forbid to seeth a Kid in his Mothers Milk; of which the received interpreta­tion is, that we should not use that to the destru­ction of any Creature, which was intended for its preservation: Now (my Lords) God and Nature has given us the Sea as our best Guard against our Enemies, and our Ships as our greatest Glory a­bove other Nations; and how barbarously would these Men have let in the Sea upon us, at once to wash away our Liberties, and to overwhelm, if not our Land, all the Propriety we have therein; making the Supply of our Navy, a pretence for the ruine of our Nation? For observe, beseech you, the fruit and consequence of this Judgment, [Page 95] how this Money has prospered, how contrary an effect it has had to the end, for which they pre­tended to take it: On every County a Ship is an­nually impos'd; and who would not expect, but our Seas by this time should be covered with the number of our Ships? Alas (my Lords) the daily Complaints of the decay of our Navy tell us how ill Ship-Money has maintained the Sovereignty of the Sea; and by the many Petitions which we re­ceive from the Wives of those miserable Captives at Algier, (being between four or five thousand of our Countrymen) it does too evidently appear that to make us Slaves at home, is not the way to keep us from being made Slaves abroad: so far has this Judgment been from relieving the present, or preventing the future necessity; that as it changed our Real Propriety into the shadow of a Propriety, so of a feigned it has made a real ne­cessity.

A little before the approach of the Gaules to Rome, while the Romans had yet no apprehension of that danger, there was heard a voice in the Air, lowder than ordinary, The Gaules are come; which voice after they had sack'd the City, and besieged the Capitol, was held so ominous, that Livie relates it as a Prodigy. This Anticipation of necessity seems to have been no less ominous to us: These Judges, like ill boding Birds, have call'd necessity upon the State, in a time when I dare say they [Page 96] thought themselves in greatest security. But if it seem Superstitious to take this as an Omen; sure I am, we may look on it as a cause of the unfeign­ed necessity we now suffer; for what regret and discontent had this Judgment bred among us? And as when the Noise and Tumult in a private House grows so loud as to be heard into the Streets, it calls in the next Dwellers either kindly to appease, or to make their own use of the do­mestick strife; so in all likelihood our known discontents at home have been a concurrent cause to invite our Neighbours to visit us, so much to the expence and trouble of both these Kingdoms.

And here, My Lords, I cannot but take notice of the most sad effect of this oppression, the ill in­fluence it has had upon the Ancient Reputation and Valour of the English Nation: And no won­der, for if it be true that Oppression makes a wise Man mad; it may well suspend the Courage of the Valiant. The same happened to the Romans, when for renown in Arms they most excell'd the rest of the World; the story is but short, 'twas in the time of the Decemviri (and I think the chief troublers of our State may make up that number.) The Decem­viri, My Lords, had subverted the Laws, suspend­ed the Courts of Justice, and (which was the great­est grievance both to the Nobility and People) had for some years omitted to assemble the Senate, [Page 97] which was their Parliament: This, says the Hi­storian, did not only deject the Romans, and make them despair of their Liberty, but caused them to be less valued by their Neighbours: The Sabines take the advantage and invade them; and now the Decemviri are forc'd to call the long-desired Senate; whereof the People were so glad, that Hostibus belloque gratiam habuerunt: This Assembly breaks up in discontent: nevertheless the War proceeds; Forces are raised, led by some of the Decemviri, and with the Sabines they meet in the Field: I know your Lordships expect the event: My Authors words of his Countrymen are these, Ne' quid ductu aut auspicio Decemvirorum prospere gereretur, vinci se patiebantur: They chose rather to suffer a present diminution of their Honour, than by victory to confirm the Tyranny of their new Masters: At their return from this unfortunate ex­pedition, after some distempers and expostulati­ons of the people, another Senate, that is, a se­cond Parliament, is call'd; and there the Decem­viri are questioned, deprived of their Authority, imprisoned, banish'd, and some lose their Lives: and soon after his vindication of their Liberties, the Romans by their better success, made it appear to the World, that Liberty and Courage dwell al­ways in the same Breast, and are never to be di­vorced. No doubt, my Lords, but your Justice shall have the like effect upon this dispirited peo­ple; [Page 98] 'tis not the restitution of our ancient Laws a­lone, but the restauration of our ancient Courage, which is expected from your Lordships. I need not say any thing to move your just indignation, that this Man should so cheaply give away that which your Noble Ancestors with so much Cou­rage and Industry had so long maintain'd: You have often been told how careful they were, tho' with the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes, to derive those Rights and Liberties as entire to Po­sterity as they received them from their Fathers: what they did with labour, you may do with ease; what they did with danger, you may do securely: the foundation of our Laws is not shaken with the Engine of War; they are only blasted with the Breath of these Men, and by your Breath they may be restored.

What Judgments your Predecessors have gi­ven, and what Punishments their Predecessors have suffered for Offences of this nature, your Lordships have already been so well inform­ed, that I shall not trouble you with a repe­tition of those Precedents: Only (my Lords) something I shall take leave to observe of the Person with whose Charge I have presented you, that you may the less doubt of the wilfulness of his Offence.

[Page 99] His Education in the Inns of Court, his con­stant Practice as a Councellor, and his Experience as a Judge (considered with the mischief he has done) makes it appear, that this Progress of his through the Law, has been like that of a diligent Spie through a Country, into which he meant to conduct an Enemy.

To let you see he did not offend for company; there is one Crime so peculiar to himself, and of such malignity, that it makes him at once unca­pable of your Lordships favour, and his own sub­sistence incompatible with the right and propriety of the Subject: for if you leave him in a capacity of interpreting the Laws; has he not already de­clar'd his opinion, That your Votes and Resoluti­ons against Ship-money are void, and that it is not in the power of a Parliament, to abolish that Judg­ment? To him, my Lords, that has thus play'd with the power of Parliament, we may well ap­ply what was once said to the Goat browsing on the Vine.

He has cropt and infring'd the Priviledges of a banish'd Parliament; but now it is returned, he may find it has power enough to make a Sacrifice of him, to the better establishment of our Laws: [Page 100] and in truth what other satisfaction can he make his injur'd Country, than to confirm by his Exam­ple those Rights and Liberties which he had ru­in'd by his Opinion?

For the proofs, my Lords, they are so manifest, that they will give you little trouble in the disqui­sition: his Crimes are already upon Record, the Delinquent and the Witness is the same; having from several seats of Judicature proclaim'd him­self an Enemy to our Laws and Nation, Ex ore suo judicabitur. To which purpose, I am com­manded by the Knights, Citizens, and Burges­ses of the House of Commons, to desire your Lordships that as speedy a proceeding may be had against Mr. Justice Crawley, as the course of Parliaments will permit.