I Am extreamly glad that in this time of ge­nerall Distraction and Ruine, (of which Pragmaticalnesse and want of Charity are both the effect and the cause) there is yet so much Leizure and kindnesse left, even in the most busy and most ill-natur'd place, to admit a thought of a Person no more considerable, and to afford a letter to a Malignant and a Ca­valier, and that you put me not out either of your Memory or Your Care, when those you live with put me out of the House. And truly, if you could, in despight of the Infection of Your Climate, have as well preserv'd your Logick as your good Na­ture, either you might have brought me to your Opinions, or have left me hopes that I might perswade you into mine; Whereas now I see no probability of either, your way of arguing being so different from your own usuall rationall way, that you seem to mee to have burnt your Aristotles Organon, and to have learnt a new manner of making Syllogismes from M^r Gordon and Serjeant Wilde. Sir, I as­sure you, that though you have there inflicted a Punishment upon me, which in the beginning of the Parliament would have broke my Heart, and that for no other cause (for ought appeared to you) then for having businesse at Yorke, when you had banisht the King from London, yet I am more troubled with the decay of Reputation which both Houses suffer by such unreasonable and unjust Votes, then for my own Concerne in their unreasonablenes and Injustice, being sufficiently comforted against my share in them, by the Com­pany [Page 2] you have given me, having expel'd whole Sholes (sometimes twenty in a morning) of Gentlemen, first chosen and still esteemed by their Countries, for continuing in, and demeaning themselves according to the same Principles, by which they had obtained that Choyce and Estimation.

1. You know Sir, you and I were, both at once, both committed about the Loanes, and put out of the Commission of the Peace for opposing Shipmony, and how sensible We after found the Parlia­ment of all mens sufferings in that kind, and for those causes. And did either of us then think to have lived to have seen any so much as discountenanced by both Houses of Parliament for refusing a loane, though it were called a Contribution, or opposing an Ordinance as illegall as that Writ, grounded upon a Necessity as hard to be disco­vered as that which was then pretended? How often have you told me (when you have heard the Courtiers argue that without such a Power in the Crowne, no Parliament sitting, the Kingdom might be unavoydably destroyed) that with▪ or without that Power We should be liable to mighty dangers, but the Wisdom of the Law had avoyded those most that were likely to come oftnest; That now besides, the Question was not what was best to be Law, but what was Law; That Arguments from Convenience are good considera­tions in framing of Lawes or founding of States, but that the State being framed it was most ridiculous and dangerous to retyre from the Law to a disputable convenience or Necessity, and put our selves back again into the same Maze of Debates and Questions, which Lawes were framed to be rules to us to deliver us from; And yet then, Sir, We might have known this present fundamentall (and indeed only Law now left) of nature and Necessity, And Salus Populisuprema▪ Lex▪ was a sentence that was no stranger to Vs, and these are sure better Pretences for one Estate, when the other two are not in being, then for two Estates in the presence and in the de­spight of the Third.

2. You and I, Sir, were both of that Parliament in which my Lord of Bristolls dispute with my Lord Duke of Buckingham, and our dislike of my Lord Duke got my Lord of Bristoll all those that dis­likt the other, to labour to assist and protect him, and you know how studious most men were in that work, when my Lord of Bristoll was accus'd of Treason by the Kings Atturney in the Lords House, and [Page 3] yet the accusation stood received till the end of the Parliament. And could We ever have then believed, that an Accusation in the same manner, by the same Officer, in the same Court, before almost all the very same men (no difference in the case but between Bristoll and Kimbolton) should be voted a high breach of Priviledge, should be a Reason to censure the Atturney, and the maine and most suffi­cient Pretence for most necessary and defensive Armes, at least for a horrid Rebellion under that Title?

3. You and I were both of that Parliament in which my Lord of Arundell being Committed, you know how both Houses labou­red his Discharge. You know how tender we were then of Our Priviledges, and how much more likely to claime a Priviledge that we had not, then to quit a Priviledge we had, and how many able, honest, judicious Lawyers we had of the House, that would not have suffered us to have overseen Our Right. And when in that Parliament a Petition framed by both Houses did admit their Privi­ledge of Parliament not to extend to Cases either of Treason, Felo­ny, or refusing to give sureties for the Peace, could we ever have thought to see it claimed as a Priviledge, that no member be restrai­ned without order of the House, though in case of Treason to be immediatly acted upon the Kings Person? And could we ever have thought to have seen the People, engaged by Order of the House of Commons alone, and under Pretence of an uncommanded Protesta­tion, to have assisted all such as should be so restrained, in despight of this Declaration of both Houses, and in Opposition to the known Lawes of the Land?

4. You and I Sir have been of many other Parliaments, and when we saw so many Bills offered, and some pass't, and others laid by, sometime with Our sorrow, but never with our complaint, when we all acknowledged, with the old▪ Act of Parliament, that is was of the Kings Regality to grant or deny them, and no one of us so much as whispered to any friend, that the King had done illegally in do­ing so, or broke the Oath taken at His Coronation, because of the Clause, Quas vulgus Elegerit, could we ever have thought then to have seen the whole frame of Monarchy destroyed, by seeing the Kings Negative voyce denyed Him, and He call'd by consequence a perjur'd man, for not consenting to any publique Bill from both Houses, though it were to depose Himselfe?

[Page 4]5. When in those Parliaments We saw so little prevalency in the Puritan party, that they were never able to passe a Bill, even in the House of Commons, for such an ease of weake consciences in the point of indifferent Ceremonies, as I alwayes wish't them, and as the King hath now often profest Himselfe ready to joyne in, (which Profession would sure have been more readily entertained, if they had not fear'd, that this would have been so full a satisfaction to so many, that their side would have been much weakned by it) could we then ever thinke to have liv'd to see the Common-Prayer Book totally neglected, and publiquely affronted, and those neglects and affronts not onely conniv'd at, but as publiquely countenanced and encouraged by that honourable Assembly, and to see a Bill pass't both Houses, for the totall extirpation of Bishops, Root and Branch, and this Bill offered to His Majesty among Propositions for Peace?

6. In those Parliaments though some of us often express't our dislike of some illegall Clauses, in the Commissions given to, and executed by Lords and Deputy. Lievtenants, yet did we ever heare, or looke to heare of the least pretence, that the Militia of this King­dom was either not under the Kings Command, or under any Com­mand but His? And did both Houses so much as suspect themselves upon any pretence, or in any time, to have any Right to order and dispose of it?

7. In those Parliaments though we have often humbly repre­sented to His Majesty some things, wherein we suppos'd there was some failour in His Ministers in those particulars which we then all confest the Law had solely trusted to Him, as of Ships not set out, or Forts ill guarded, or the like; yet did we ever thinke it possible both Houses should ever pretend to such a supervisorship over that Trust, that whensoever they would say He did not discharge it as He ought, they might legally lay hold on it themselves, and having seiz'd His Ships, Forts, Magazines, &c. take up Armes to maintaine what they had done, and to keep this their Trust Paramount in per­petuall execution?

8. In those Parliaments did we ever see the same things seve­rall times prest to the Lords House by the House of Commons (after they had been upon mature advice rejected by them) as if they had meant to say, Deny it if you dare; and at last past there with the Peoples helpe, either a thinne House being watcht for, or some of [Page 5] the Lords out of anger, and some out of▪ feare absenting themselves?

9. In all those Parliaments did we ever see any Declarations of both Houses against the King, or of one House against the other, Printed and publisht to the people, calling them to their assistance, and laying before them their destruction if they assisted not?

10. In all those Parliaments, did we ever see when any thing had been propos'd to, and rejected by the House of Lords, the House of Commons notwithstanding proceed in it, and expresse their mindes of it to the people, as in the point of the Bill for the Protesta­tion, or when the House of Lords had publisht an Order for the esta­blisht Law, as they did now upon the ninth of September, did we ever see the House of Commons oppose them and the Law toge­ther, and disgrace the one, and endeavour to suppresse the other, as they did now by a Printed Order to the contrary, of the same Date?

11. Did we ever see the House of Commons in all those Parlia­ments so invade the Priviledge of the House of Lords, as first to question particular Members for words spoken in that House (as my Lord Duke and my Lord Digby) and next to question the whole House by bringing up and countenancing a mutinous and seditious Petition, which demanded the names of those Lords, who consen­ted not with the House of Commons in those things which that House (that is the Major part of it) had twice denied, and joyning with them in that Demand?

12. Did We ever see Petitions brought by armed Mechanicks countenanced by the House of Commons, the Assaults made by them upon their owne Members, though complained of, not enquired into, and these multitudes termed their Friends by the principall Governours, the House of Lords refused to be joyn'd with in their modest desire, onely of a Declaration against the like for the future, the guard against the like placed by vertue of a Writ, issued by com­mand of the Lords House, discharged, the Iustice of Peace that pla­ced them committed, & the ordinary legall Inquisition upon Riots stopt and hindred by an order of the House of Commons alone?

Sir, some of these things having been done in former Parliaments so contrary to what is now done, & so many things now done, which were never attempted in (and if they had been thought of would have been condemned by) those former Parliaments; you must par­don me if I thinke that charge of Apostacy (which under other mens [Page 6] names you your selfe lay upon me) to be very injurious, and I ap­peal to any man that shall consider and examine my Action and these particulars, whether I left the Houses till they left the Law, and whether to quit the place and retaine the principles, or to quit the principles, and be only constant to the place, be the greater and the truer Apostacy.

The next Objection you make is this, That whereas Wee here pretend to stand for Law, yet it is only for such a Law, of which we Our selves will only be Iudges, refusing to stand to the Iudgement of the supream Iudicatory of the Kingdome, both Houses of Parlia­ment. And truly Sir, if this objection were made by a stranger only made acquainted with the generall Scheme of the Constitution of the Kingdom, & neither with the particular Lawes, nor the parti­cular Occurrences, I should not wōder; but from one who hath been a constant Member of the Parliament, I wonder to receive it. First, Sir, I appeal to you, whether you doe not beleeve, that suppose, (which were hardly possible to be supposed) that both Houses (in the fullest and freest condition of Parliament that is imaginable) should declare, that by the Law of the Land, The Kings Crowne and the Subjects Property and Liberty were to be dispos'd of by them, and should take up Armes to make this good for Law, and declare that by Law all the Subjects of the Land were obliged to assist their Armes thus taken up; Suppose this, I say; Doe you not beleeve, that their being the Supream Iudicatory could not satisfie Our con­sciences (who have taken the Oathes of Allegiance and Suprema­cy) in a Iudgement as contrary to those Oathes and the knowne Law, as it is knowne that by the Law both Houses have Power to judge in any other Cases, or that there are at all two Houses of Par­liament? And sure this is now (as to what is done, though not as to their condition who doe it) either the Case, or very neere it. In­deed, Sir, till the Parliament was made perpetuall, such a Case was absolutely unimaginable, for being a dissoluble Body, kept them from invading the known Rights either of King or Subjects, of nei­ther of which they need now to have the same apprehension, having strengthned themselves by a Bill against the one, and by an Army against the other.

But, Sir, I cannot allow you so much, The Houses now are nei­ther full nor free; Really the Major part of the Commons, and [Page 7] evidently the Major part of the Lords, doe not, cannot, dare not come to you. How much you were wont to mislike Tumults, ap­peares to me by your former bitternesse against them, when they came downe to presse even those things, for the passing of which you had been very earnest in the House, and you may remember you apprehended them so much, that I had much adoe, during the time they lasted, to perswade you to venture your selfe any neerer to Westminster, then your Chamber in Fleet-street, and that you an­swered me, when I told you that you needed not feare, for those People tooke you for their Friend, that a Brickbat was an ill distin­guisher of friends, and that you saw enough of those Gentlemen out of your Window as they past along the streets, to make you not de­sire to keep them company without a Wall between you. Sir, if a few within, shall have power to draw a multitude from without, to awe the rest, and make them either retire, or judge as they please, and then judge so (as in the point of the Militia, Hull, and taking up of Armes) as with safety of Conscience no man can rest in their Iudgements, nor with safety of Purse and Liberty oppose them, and shall keep themselves still by this meanes the Major part to judge on as they have begun, and yet may still retaine the Authority of the Supream Iudicatory, then really, Sir, it must of necessity follow, That the Subjects will still be in the power of the seditious & facti­ous, and it is not the men but the Walls that make the two Houses of Parliament. No, Sir, it is you, who refuse to secure the Parlia­ment from Tumults where it is, or to remove it thither where it may be secure, that refuse to have it tryed what is Law by the Su­pream Iudicatory of the Kingdome, all you say now is but the same, as if the Lord Chief Iustice of the Kings Bench, out of Parliament time, should by force drive away his Brethren of the same Bench, and then Iudge there, that none of those other Iudges were more then His meer Assistants in that Court, & then find fault with them for not submitting to that Iudgement as made and delivered by the highest Court of Iustice.

But, Sir, foreseeing this Objection of the Tumults would come strongly upon you, you prepare the Ward for that Blow, and tell me that though some disorders indeed there were, yet this was but the pretence of Our absence, for the Tumults did precede Our ab­senting Our selves by many weekes, in which time We came often [Page 8] to the House, and securely oppos'd the sense thereof. The disor­ders, Sir, you speake of were such, and did so awe the Members, that you know some discourse, in order to doing of that which this put really in execution, was voted Treason by Our House, but the same awing of the Parliament, when it is done by the well-affected, and countenanced by the worthy Members, and the good Lords is, it seemes, but disorder, and no Treason: These Tumults first caused Our infrequent meeting at the House, who differed from their Opi­nions that had such Satellites abroad, and this Infrequency gave leave to the rest to command such things as our Consciences would not allow us to obey. If We took not up Armes in obedience to your Ordinance of the Militia; If We would not live and dye with my Lord of Essex &c. you would punish and imprison us; If We did, the known Law, agreeing with His Majesties Proclamation, told us, We were Traytors, and the Protestation We had taken to defend the Kings just Rights, told us, We were forsworne; If We ioyned together to over-vote you in it (for as long as We came and oppo­sed you not, or oppos'd you and carryed it not against you, or carryed only that which was not much materiall, I confesse we were safe enough) the precedent Tumults had sufficiently told us, That they would beat out our Braines; So what was left for us to doe, but to be gone? And yet We could not goe till We could goe somewhe­ther, and therefore were to beare our Condition as well as We could, till His Majestie were in Posture to give us that Protection which He ought us by the Law. And this was the true Cause both why We went, and why no sooner.

But your next Objection is of all other the most unreasonable, That you have discovered by this Treaty, That the King is averse to Peace. And in the name of God, whereupon is this discovery foun­ded? It is well knowne that in all severall Conditions, the King hath equally prest for Peace, and the Rulers of the House of Commons have equally oppos'd it; And probably they would have gone fur­ther, and us'd their old Arts to have stopt the consent to this Treaty by violence too, if they had not lookt upon their appearing so to breake it, when so many desir'd it, as too great a burthen of Envy, and knowne their Interest to be enough to be able to breake it be­fore it could be concluded, with lesse disgust then at that time, as being easier to perswade the people, that any individuall Peace was [Page 9] not good for them, then that no Peace at all was, which a Totall rejection of all Treaty did cleerly imply. And did they not (when the sense of their misery had given their followers Courage to over­vote them in this) clogge the Treaty as much as possibly they could; First, with a Resolution that their Committee should Treat only with His Majesty, (which He might well, and so they hoped He would refuse) then with such Limitation of Articles to two, and of dayes to foure, and of Instructions to hardly any, That they might have sent downe their Papers by Edgerley the Carrier to His Maje­sty, and he might as easily have concluded a Peace with Him, as with so bounded and untrusted a Committee? But in the Treaty what did the King aske or deny that shewed so little desire of Peace▪ If He had askt together with His Ships, Forts, and Castles, the Lives of those who tooke them from Him, (which if He had, He had askt no more then belongs to Him by Law, as the proper Secu­rity that the like violence should be offered Him no more) and if He had required an end of the whole Treaty before He disbanded, (which is yet the usuall course of Treaties) you might have had some Colour for what you object; But now the whole Objection is this, His Majesties owne Ships, Forts, Magazines, &c. were by violence, and that of Subjects, taken from Him, and this unreasona­ble, unpeaceable, blood-thirsty Prince desires to have them againe. An excellent Argument of Aversion to Peace. When the Cessation was in Debate, the King demanding the Approbation of the Com­manders of the Ships, It was replyed, That this Demand was to de­sire the strength of one party to the other before the difference were ended; and upon this Reason the King receded from that Condition, never expecting that they would so soon have forgotten their owne Logicke, and have demanded, That when Differences were ended, this Approbation, that is this strength should for three yeares con­tinue in them. And sure the King is in a miserable Condition, if neither a Cessation nor a Treaty be a fit time or meanes for Him to recover his Owne. But say you the Feares and Iealousies of the People must be satisfied. Say I, the People must be satisfied, That there was Cause of Feares and Iealousies. And one Cause of their Demand is, That these things would appeare to have been taken without Reason, if they were restored without Conditions. But this may be an Argument to them to aske it, I am sure it can be none [Page 10] to the King to grant, for then by the contrary Argument the King is necessitated to insist that they be restored without Limitations or Conditions, because He can never confesse that they were taken from Him with any Reason or Colour.

Sir, though you have great Abundance of Feares and Iealousies, yet you have not hoorded them so up, but you have given some to the King, certainly if when these things were in his Hands they were wrested by you from Him, you may doe it with much greater case, if you have more then halfe the Hold (as you confesse in the Poynt of the Shipps, that the allowing of Approbation of the Com­manders gives up the strength.) And nothing can be more ridicu­lous then for you to pretend to feare Him when He shall have those, whom you did not feare when He had them. Certainly if you had apprehended this Power as you pretend, you would never when he was vested in it have offered Him such injuries, and deni­ed Him such Rights, as you never offered or denied to His Prede­cessors, at least you would have thought that Power if not able to punish you, yet able to defend it selfe, and you would never have attempted so hard a work as to take it from Him. This, Sir, is the truth, and that most visibly; These Powers are so farre from enabling Him to oppresse you, That the least Colour of such an intention after a Peace would be the same as delivering them up to you againe; They were your Leavies that made His; It was you that raysed Him an Army when you gave Him the Law of His side, and He will not be able to rayse another if He have once disbanded this, till you give Him againe the same Advantage, and you will be able to op­presse Him if He shall give it you. For to feare that He shall con­quer England with three or foure small Garrisons, when those who now assist Him (that is almost all the Gentry of England) must look upon Him as the most perjurd man alive, and upon themselves as dispenc't with by Him from any Obedience or Loyalty to Him, is so hypocondriacall a fancy, that it is either to be mad, or to resolve that He is so. Nothing else can so puffe Him up with some Shipps, and a few Forts (which without mony to Man and pay them, are but so many Hulkes, and but bare walles) as not rather to be en­clin'd to comply in any reasonable thing with the only Legall Root and spring of Mony, the House of Commons, that He may live in Glory and Peace, then without Mony to hope to begin and conquer [Page 11] in an unjust Warre, Who hath found it so difficult to defend Him­selfe in so visibly a just one. There is yet another reasonable Feare & Iealousy for the King to apprehend, The Nineteen Propositions (in which there was presented to Him a perfect Platforme of a totall change of Government, by which the Counsellors were to have been Kings, and the King to have become scarce a Counsellor, and nothing of the present State to have remained, but Eadem Magi­stratuum vocabula) cannot easily get out of the Kings Head, or ap­peare to Him not to be still in theirs, who were the framers and Contrivers. And He hath great cause to be very wary after such an instance of some mens ends and designes (this Parliament being by Law perpetuall, and a Trienniall one being however to be) not to give any Ground to any such Power in both Houses as may make this submitting of His known Rights, in the choyce of these particu­lars, to their Approbation, a ground to continue these, and draw on more of the same kind, and to divide at least that Dependence with them which the Law (for excellent and necessary Reasons) meant only to the Crowne; If Feares and Iealousies be so rewarded, I doubt I shall see new ones at the Three years end, that this share in conferring of Places of Power and trust may be rather encreased then lost. And there could not be a greater justification and fortifi­cation of this Iealousy, then to see a new Book printed by order of a Committee of the House of Commons with a Members (Iohn White's) hand to it, whole Title is, The Soveraigne Power of Par­liaments and Kingdoms, asserting the Parliament and Kingdoms Right and Interest in, and power over not only the Militia, Ports, Forts, & Ammunition of the Realme, but likewise to make choice of the Keeper, Treasurer▪ Privy-Seale, Privy-Councellors, Iudges and Sheriffes of the Kingdom, and denying the Kings negative Voyce to such publique Bills as both Houses deem necessary and just; And if all this belong to both Houses, I wonder what is left to belong to the King, but to give Warrants for Bucks, without con­sent of Parliament.

But say you, If the King would have named persons to them, He should have seen how moderate you would have been in your Ex­ceptions. Truly, Sir, what you would have been perhaps neither of us know, but by your refusing to make the Law your Rule, it seems you intended to give a very arbitrary Approbation. And though [Page 12] you now say (as we alwaies heare much of the moderation inten­ded by you, whensoever a Treaty is either broken or diverted) that you would have excepted against none but impeach't persons, yet I am sure in the Bill for the Militia, the King offering you the same Persons, whom within a few Weekes before you had offered Him for the same employments, you yet excepted against fowre, my Lord Marques of Hertford, my Lord of Cumberland, my Lord of Derby, and my Lord of Lincolne, because in the Interim they did not accept of a Command over the Militia without the Kings con­sent, (who could only Legally give it them) and yet since, the last (having so much submitted his Conscience to Power, that from be­ing unsatisfied with raising Armes, without the King, He is come to make no scruple of bearing Armes against Him) is now again so fully confided in by you, that Respect to the King, and Reverence to the Law appear to be the Qualities you cannot confide in, and the King after such an instance hath great Reason to be wary, how He either approve of your confiding, or confide in your Approbation. And if they really meant, onely to except against impeacht Per­sons, why did they not say so much in the Treaty, to have made the breach of the Treaty, on their side, somewhat more popular? And since to direct their Exceptions they knew who were Legally ve­sted in those Places, (for the King only named those whom the Law had named first) Why did they not except at such of them as were impeach't, and give that as a Reason, or make some other (at least colourable) exception against them, which upon debate and mutuall reasoning might have produced either their satisfaction or the Kings, unlesse an agreement were not that effect of their Treaty, which they aymed at most. Truly I am very confident the King knew not (and I am the more confident of it, because I am certain, I knew nothing of it my selfe) that any Persons now in those Com­mands had ever been impeacht, and then sure the King had no Rea­son to take it so farre for granted, that any deserv'd to be excepted at against whom He knew no exceptions Himselfe, as without a pre­sent Charge to dispossesse them of those Commands to which they had a present Right. And God forbid, Sir, That a meer Charge not prov'd, nor yet answer'd to, should dispossesse men of their Rights, especially in a time in which a Charge comes so easily, that men are voted Traytors for assisting the King against a Rebellion against [Page 13] Him. You instance only [...] men Will: L [...]gg, and Mr G [...]ring. And for the first, I pray, what is he charg'd with, only for being em­ployed by the King as a meer messenger in the delivery of a Petiti­on, which having been Printed ever since the twelfth of August, I could never yet heare either publiquely or privately any objecti­on made against it, and which I am sure must appear very just, hum­ble, and modest, even to the most passionate, if they compare it to the Petition of Hertfordshire, or to that of the Thousands of poore People about London, or to diver [...] others which received the Countenance of one House, and Thankes from both. And sure if the Crime had been so great as you would now intimate, you would never for so long a time have suffered him to have gone whe­ther he pleas'd upon Baile. For the second Person I am not enough of his Acquaintance to be able to answer for him▪ but certainly you can lay nothing but Loyalty to his Change, since to the very Minute of his declaring for the King, when Armes were raised against His Majesty, you confided so much in him, that I am credibly informed you meant to have made him (Lievtenant Generall of your whole Army, and I am sure when I left London, he was esteemed by you an excellent Patriot, one who had sav'd the Kingdome from a grea­ter then the Gunpowder Treason, and was the very Darling and Favorite of the Common-wealth.

This is, Sir, the true state of the case, after that the House of Lords (whereof the major part by above twenty, there being then hardly any Bishop in Town uncommitted, and not one Popish Lord left in Town, had twice refused to joyn in asking the Militia, Forts, Ports, &c. of the King) were forc'd by the threatning Petitioners, and the Countenance given to them by the House of Commons, to ioyne with them perforce in their feares and jealousies, and in that De­maund which was grounded upon them, and after that in an humble pursuance of these desires, these things (with the Magazines and Shipps to boot) are forced from His Majestie, (whom & His Ance­stors the Law had as irrevocably vested in them, as it hath any man in England in his House, Goods, or Land) it is thought an Aversion to Peace in the King, that He will not by now assenting condemne Himselfe as guilty of this Warre, for not having rather at first then now assented to these Desires, which were their ground of it; That He will not by this Assent condemne the Lords House for not ha­ving [Page 14] sooner discovered the Causes of feares and Iealousies, (which occasioned, and, as they say, did necessitate the continuance of those Desires) till their Eyes were opened by the Threats and Tumults of the People; That He will not justifie these forcible proceedings a­gainst Himselfe in taking these things from Him, by submit­ting to any Conditions or Limitations whatsoever to recover them againe, but doth pertinaciously insist to have His own restored to Him, and thinks to put them off with Iustice, and with the Law of the Land. For though the Militia were not named either in the Proposition of both Houses, or in the Kings, yet even that too is hook­ed in in their Limitations in such a manner as the People may not see it, and not only they deliver not what is the Kings to Him, but, as it were demand satisfaction from Him for having taken it, and not only (without any regard to the Right of the Persons legally vested, or offering any legall or colourable Exception against them) require still that such be named in those Places as they may confide in, (though We may take a measure by what Rule they will confide, by the Precedents I quoted before) and not only they require this for once at first, but if any dye within three yeares they must confide againe, and indeed that is a faire time taken to be sure by that time to have more feares and Iealousies ready made to keep up the per­petuity, and to extend the Power of confiding; But yet farther these Officers and the Admirall and others must take an Oath to suppresse all Forces that shall be raised, during that time, without the consent of both Houses▪ so that by this, His Majesty, even in Case this Parlia­ment should end sooner (if perhaps they have not resolv'd it shall not, and have prepar'd this as a Reason why it should not) and in case never so great a Rebellion should rise, or never so terrible an invasion should come in upon us, must neither increase his Garri­sons, nor raise other Forces to resist them, unlesse a Parliament both be, and be willing to afford Him their Consent, and His Majesty having sworne to protect His Subjects must quit the old legall way of doing it Himselfe▪ and (at best) be obliged to call upon others to help Him not to be foresworne. Truly, Sir, unlesse like one that hath been so long in the darke, that he takes a Rush Candle for the Sunne, you have now so long kept unreasonable Company▪ that you thinke any thing on this side the Ninteen Propositions to be reasonable, you would never approve a demand which doth thus slyly and by [Page 15] the by devest the King of that sole Power over the Militia (& that for a yeare longer then your owne Bill askt it) which was the first and chiefest Dispute between the King and the Commons, (for the Lords had had no Iealousies, if they had had no Feares) and which is so principall a Prerogative of the Crowne, as without it He will hold the Crowne it selfe by no better a Tenure, then durante bene placito. Nor could you expect that He should grant you that (toge­ther with such other things) having an Army at Oxford, which alone and naked He refus'd at Hampton-Court and Windsor. What else doe you except at in the Treaty? Why say you the King pretends to aske nothing but what is Law, why doth He require us to adjourne from London? Sir, He never required it. He required a security from Tumults and violence for Himselfe and both Houses, and this sure is due to Him by the Law; the other course He only propos'd, as that which in his Opinion could only effect it, and truly if the minds of the Rabble of London be not much altered since I left it, I must be much of his mind.

But say you, The King was ever offered that; He was indeed, Sir, but at the same time they defended, that there had been no Tu­mults, so that the King could not receive so much of Security from their Offer, as the Tumults must needs receive of encouragement from their Defence, the sense of what they said put together be­ing only this, That they would secure Him and us from any thing which they would confesse to be a Tumult. But for my part if I be cōstrained & in danger, it is not enough for me that you vote me free and safe; Call them Tumults or not, as you please, if there be that which lookes as like Tumults as the last did, I shall be, though per­haps in more safety, yet in no more security then at Edgehill.

But say you, what an ungratefull thing were it of the Parliament to desert that City from which they have received so large Assi­stance? Truly, Sir, the Country (God forgive it) hath contributed not a little to your Assistance too, and ought to have some part of your Care, and for the City it selfe (besides that Allegiance is a du­ty as well as Gratitude, and a precedent Bond to this) in my Opi­nion even for their sake you ought to consent to this advice▪ Doe you thinke That City will be able to beare that burthen of Envy which must fall upon them from all the rest of the Nation, if they see you for this consideration expose them to all the miseries of [Page 16] Warre, rather then remove twenty miles from thence, though the King allow you your owne Choice of a place out of all the whole Kingdome besides? Nay, doe you thinke, that if the Armies were disbanded, the Peace againe begunne, and the whole Parliament now met at S^t Albans, that the City would not find both their charge much diminisht, and their Trade and gettings much increa­sed, and a miraculous change of their condition to the better? Nor can any inconvenience come by it, unlesse you thinke Freedome not only not essentiall to, but not consistent with such meetings, and unlesse it be your opinion, that no Tumults, no Parliament.

But say you, suppose the King in Iustice might aske and refuse all He does; Were it not yet prudent for the King rather to consent to part with some of His Right then to venture all the rest; And were it Iustifiable in Him to destroy His Kingdome and so many Innocents, by not ending the Warre when now He may? Sir, I am confident since you are able to say nothing against it (or if you are, why doe you not?) you would as well have granted as have suppo­sed this, if you had not feard S^r Robert Pyes fortune, That your Let­ter might have been read at the close Committee; and till you give me Reasons why you cannot grant it, I must assume it as if you did. And then truly, I must tell you, that this Logicke will in all times render the wise and the welnatured a Prey to the unreasonable and the furious, and that as there are some outward medicines for the Stone and the Gout, which only stupifying and not removing the Cause give only a little ease for the present, but make the fits both more frequent and more fierce; so the accepting of such Conditions might ease us for the present of this Rebellion, but (when it were seen that to seize and usurp all the Kings Rights, and peremptorily to resolve rather to destroy the Kingdome then to give them up againe, were the way to perswade Him to relinquish a good part of them) it may so farre encourage future Rebellions, that We may doubt they would be hereafter as Trienniall as Parliaments, till the King by this Logicke and little by little, have given so much to ap­pease them, that nothing will be left Him either to give or to keep, and out of His Care of His People He have made them none of His, and have engag'd them besides into the miseries of many Warres, by paying so dearly for the end of this.

But, Sir, I pray turne your Argument on the other side. Both [Page 17] Houses have not Kingdomes of their own to see destroyed by the Warre, but they have Rights as Houses, and Estates as Persons▪ which being their all, is to be prudentially of the same Concern to them; And suppose the King did ask them to part with some of their Rights or Estates, were it prudent or justifiable in them by the same reason to venture all their Rights, rather then part with some, and to destroy their fortunes, the Kingdome and so many Innocents by not ending the Warre when they might? But Alas! how much more imprudent and unjustifiable is it in them, to venture all and de­stroy the Kingdom, and so many Innocents, by continuing this War▪ rather then to grant to the King what is justly and notoriously His own, or forbeare to insist, that He should grant that to them, which you do not so much as pretend in Iustice to belong to them? And do you think whether the People will not be excellently satisfied, and whō they will adhere unto in it, when they see the cause of the Con­tinuance of this miserable Warre thus shortly, truly, and clearly sta­ted and layd open? Can you, Sir, pretend any longer to be thought one of the moderate, (by any other title then by living among those who are somewhat madder then your selfe) if you can beleeve that the requiring much that is neither reasonable, nor theirs, argue Incli­natiō to Peace in both Houses, & the Kings asking but somwhat that is reasonable and his own, show an Aversion to it in His Majesty, & if you continue to blame the King for not granting what you only sup­pose it Prudence to grant, & continue to joyne with, & assist those against your Allegiance, and against Him, who insist upon that, which the same Rule of Prudence doth oblige them not to insist upon, and the Rule of Iustice obliged them not to have askt; Especially since, If your Assistance, and that of such as you are, did not give them their strength, there were then no Colour of any Argument left so much as from Prudence, to perswade the King to grant what they now ask Him, and Peace it selfe is not more desirable, then the Conditi­ons of it would be reasonable, which would then be had from them.

But Feares and jealousies keep you still on that side. And to this I can only answer; First, that of the King there is no ground of Fears and Iealousies, If there be, they must be both of His Will and of His Power, and I can see no pretence for either. Here have been during His Government many and great Illegalities suffered and commit­ted by His Ministers. But was He ever bred in any of the Innes of [Page 18] Court, and then is it reasonable to lay the fault of that to His Charge, which as He often knew not to be done at all, So He never knew to be illegally done? Did He not ever leave the tryall to the lawes? Did He ever Sollicite or threaten any Iudge to say that was Law which was not? Did He ever offer to protect any from this Parlia­ment, that had either offended against Law, or Iudg'd amisse of Law, though in the Cases most to His own advantage? And hath he not gi­ven all possible Personall Satisfaction for other mens faults, both by publique acknowledgements (a thing unusuall for Princes to de­scend to) of things past, by extraordinary Provisions for the future, by the Punishment of His nearest and most trusted Setvants in no or­dinary way, by quitting many Rights pretended to by His Ance­stors, and many more confest to be Legally in Him, by frequent and Solemne Protestations and Execrations (which are much strength­ned by the Person of the Protestor, known to be neither revenge­full, nor guilty of any of those Crimes, or liable to any of those temp­tations, which most usually engage men into breach of so publique a faith) And lastly (which should most worke with them who are most wrought upon by that) Is it not evident that His Interest joynes with His Conscience in the requiring this observance from Him, and that for Him to break what the promises to His whole Kingdom, and in the observance of which the whole Kingdome is concern'd, were the way to turne the Cavaliers into Roundheads, and the same thing as for Him to mediate a League between His Friends and His Enemies against Himselfe? The King, Sir, hath had great Ex­perience by what meanes the Court lost their Interest in the Peo­ple, and (by the Advantage that hath been since made out of it upon Him) of what Consequence that Interest is, and He is more to be trusted that He will never hazard the like losse by the same way, then any new Prince in whose time there had been no misgovern­ments and misfortunes. He cannot but know that a Kingdome is like a Torch, which having been once on Fire, though after put out, will take Fire againe much more easily, then another which was never kindled.

Secondly, I answer, That the King hath reason to have Fears and Iealousies, not only in Case He accepted of their Propositions, but although His own Propositions were granted to Him, if His care of His People did not prevaile with Him above them. For both the [Page 19] Will and the Power of others doth sufficiently appeare, by what hath been already attempted and effected both by them and against Him. And when His Army is once disbanded with no fuller satis­faction in their Pay (and perhaps with much lesse to some of their Hopes) then He is able to give them, He will be so much more un­likely to be able to raise another, if a Necessity of it should come a­gaine; and the zeale of their Army of Separatists is so well known, and in how short warning upon the least signe they would flock to­gether againe; And how much they are the more Plotting, more u­nited, more industrious, and more violent Party of the Houses and of the Kingdom, and what influence Arts, union, Industry and vio­lence have upon the People to mislead, carry away or bear down the divided and the indifferent, that is the Major part of the rest, is so well known too, that whether by beginning a new warre if they see Cause, or by awing the Parliament againe, (for they will be ready to travail farther then twenty miles in so good an errand) or by per­petuall Diligence in the House observing and complying with the Interests and affections of the Members to gain them over, or in watching when the House is emptiest and fittest for their Turne, or by any other Art that can conduce to their ends with the People, first to seduce, and then to inflame them, they are likely to have no small advantage of His Majesty, and are most unlikely not to im­prove to the uttermost any Advantage they shall have.

Thirdly, I answer, That the Kingdom hath as much Cause as the King to have Fears and Iealousies of the same Persons; And that in those poynts which are most deere and most important to them. Doth Alteration of the Religion establisht deserve a Iealousy? What Printing, Preaching and violence doe we daily heare and see against the Government and Liturgy of this famous Protestant Church? Doe they not avowedly fight to take it away? What swarmes of Lay Tub-Preachers, what strange unheard of Innovations daily a­rise among us? Nor are those Innovations only about words or Acti­ons in themselves indifferent, (as calling a Table an Altar, a Mini­ster a Priest, or receiving the Communion rather at the window, then in the middle of the Chancell, Innovations, which yet you know, Sir, I never approved) nor yet about opinions meerly specula­tive, (as some of those are which have formerly troubled Parlia­ments) but in such opinions as disorder all Government and dis­solve [Page 20] civill society in order to setting up Iesus Christ in a Throne, in which no History can tell us that ever he sate yet, throughout any one Province, or in any one Parish. And all this I will not say how unpunisht, but how countenanc't, and by whom, but by those men, who make use of Your Authority to produce none of your ends.

Doth the danger, or rather the destruction of the Property and Li­berty of the Subject deserve a Iealousy? Is not all they have or as much as is thought fit, taken from them by Orders of both Houses, who have no more right to that power then a Grand-jury? Are not men committed in an arbitrary way, no cause exprest nor Legall cause known, by both Houses, and then in despight of all Habeas Corpusses retayn'd? Nay, Are not they ordinarily committed by the House of Commons alone, which till of late, never pretended to a­ny right of committing any Body but the Members of their own House, or such out of it as had broken some Priviledge of theirs? Nay, is not the publique Liberty given up into the Hands of Com­mittees and strangers delegated by them, and all this done by the Power of these men?

Doth the Alteration of the Civill State, and of the very frame and Constitution of Parliaments deserve a Iealousy? Have not the Arts, Industry and violence of those Men, and of their Party so wrought and framed both Houses, as to prevaile with them to oppose and u­surpe all the Rights and Power of the King? Have not they since with great Justice to the Lords House, prevailed with the House of Commons (with the helpe of the Common People, and Common-Councell) as wholly to swallow up the Lords Power, as their Lordships former concurrence had enabled them to devoure the Kings? And have they not again squees'd that Power into a close Committee, and thence again into a sub-Committee yet closer then that, that is in to themselves? And by their sole Orders, and to their sole ends is not this whole Commonwealth upon the matter wholy governed and disposed? Doe they not not only justify all this to be Law in time of Warre, (though indeed they only offer such Reasons for it, as will as well justify any unpaid Souldier in their Army to Plunder Legally, according to the same fundamentall Lawes of Na­ture and Necessity) but even as to the unjustifiable Illegall Votes and Actions publisht and committed before the Warre, doe they either make any acknowledgement or Retractation of, or give any [Page 21] satisfaction for what is past, or offer any such security against the like for the future, as the King hath done for those things for which the Iealousies are still pretended to continue against Him? And there­fore if you be jealous still of the King, and they having done all this, and in this manner, you are notwithstanding not jealous that they will continue the same things as long as they continue in the same Power, I cannot but wonder to see you so jealous on the one side, and so secure on the other, unlesse perhaps what I imply they will doe be a thing so evident to you, that you count it the object rather of foresight, then of Iealousy.

Fourthly I answer, That supposing you had no grounds to be jealous of them, and had grounds to be jealous of His Majesty, yet this were no sufficient excuse for the Countenance you give by your Presence, and for the Assistance you give by your Purse, to those Armes which upon no stronger a ground are raised against Him; For it is not justifiable in you to violate your duty, for feare least another may not discharge his. Consider this as seriously as the matter de­serves, and you will be of my opinion, that when that sinne shall be laid to your charge at the day of Iudgement, it will be then found that a future possible Tyrant will not excuse a present certain Re­bell.

But, Sir, I will count all this cast away upon you. I will be confi­dent that since in order to Peace, and immediat disbanding of the Armies, the King desires nothing but what is Law, and denies no­thing that is so; since He askes not all that by Law He might aske, but only that so much as was by violence taken from Him, before the Warre, may be now quietly restored to Him, and submits all the o­ther Injuries He hath received, and all those Delinquents He hath been so charg'd to protect, to be considered and tryed in a full, peace­ble and secure convention in Parliament; since after this offer no­thing can be so impudent, as to pretend your Armes to be any longer necessary and defensive; since you can say nothing to perswade the King to yeeld to what they aske, but only that unlesse He will yeeld to what you will not say is reasonable, they are unreasonable enough to choose to destroy the Kingdom by continuing the Warre, I will be confident, that suppose this unreasonablenesse seem a Reason for the King to take their Conditions, it can appeare none to you to take their Parts, and you will never continue with those men of whom [Page 22] you have those thoughts. No, Sir, you are too much a Lover of uni­ty and Government, too good natured, too much a Gentleman to be a ROUNDHEAD, that is to fight to introduce nothing but Brow­nisme, Independance, Insolence, Hardheartednesse and Parity, and to put the Kingdom into such hands, as before this businesse began, were known to few men in it. I know you were ingaged into this insensibly and by degrees, and (though you had then both a worse Opinion of the Court, and a better of the House of Commons, then their different demeanors since hath by this time perswaded you to have) yet if you had ever guest it would have come to this, you would as soon have medled with a Serpent as with the Militia, and would have left them as soon as I did. I know nothing but the un­justifiable shame of confessing a past Error to avoyd a perpetuall one, hath since kept you with them, and therefore doubt not but you will now submit to that shame (as a punishment due for the fault of having been ashamed to doe your duty so long, and as a trouble that will bear no Proportion to the delight of having at last satis­fied your Conscience) and leave those, who in my Conscience love those among you who stay with them, and are not of them, worse then they doe any evill Counsellor in Oxford, and who, when you have sufficiently establisht their Power for them, will sufficiently show it. And in confidence (upon these Reasons) that you will bring me a sudden Answer to this Letter your selfe, I remaine