THe Contexture of this tedious Remonstrance is much like that of the new Government which they aime at, having neither forme nor fashion in it, and is so replenished with confused Repetitions, that it brings more trouble to recollect the scattered Fancies into some orderly Frame, than to blast them with a Confutation. No lesse than 60. Pa­ges are spent in a Preamble, before they come to the things intended; and all to win the world (quorum magn apars capitur Ambagibus) with a world of smooth Pretences; the vanity whereof I shall indeavour to de­monstrate in a few sheetes, which they have wrap't up in so many, that when the Monster appeares without disguise, it may become abominable in the eyes of all good men.

In the first place they insinuate their tender Regard to the Priviledges and freedom of Parliament, in not interposing in their Councells and determi­nations, &c. For the falshood of this, I shall give you two Instances of famous (or rather in famous) memory. The first is taken out of their Remonstrance, dated June 23. 1647. at S. Albans, wherein they threatned to march up against the Parliament, in case the 11. Members were not sus­pended the House by a short certain day, and their desires not granted.

The second may be collected out of the prodigious carriage of the Ar­my and their Creatures in the Houses, when the Ordinance was debated for nulling and making void all things whatsoever done in the absence of the two Renegado Speakers, when they ran to the Army. This Ordinance was set forward by the Army-party, and had been debated five, or six severall times, and still rejected in the Negative; yet they brought it in play again still, and not being able to prevail by reason they had recourse to Menaces and Threats. Sollicitor S. Johns threatned that they must have recourse to the power of the Sword; the longest sword take all, since they were ingaged to live and die with the Army. Sir Arthur Haslerige said then, some heads must flie off, and he feared the Parliament of England would not save the Kingdom of England, so that they must look another way for safety. They could not satisfie the Army, but by declaring all void ab Initio; and the Lords were so far in­gaged, that no middle way would serve. And when it was answered, that this [Page 2] was an Appeale from the Parliament to the Army, then the Threats were re-doubled by Sir John Evelyn Junior, Sir Harry Vane Junior, Prideaux, Gourdon, Sir Harry Mildmay, Scot, Holland, and divers others. When no­thing would doe, at length the Speaker pulled a Letter out of his pocket, together with the Remonstrance from the Army, full of vilanous Language and Threats against those Members that sate while the two Speakers were in the Army; calling them pretended Members, charging them (in gene­rall) with Treason, Treachery, and Breach of Trust; And protested, that if they should presume to sit before they had cleared themselves, that they did not give their Assents to such and such Votes, they should sit at their perill, and be taken prisoners of Warr, and tryed at a Councell of Warr. Certainly, never any King of England ever offered so great a violence to the fundamentall priviledges of Parliament, as to deny them the liberty of voting yea, and no freely: And yet this very same Army hath the confidence to alledge their tender regard of the Priviledges and Freedom of Parliament.

And that the world may take notice, how they intend to behave them­selves toward the Houses in time to come, in the very next Paragraph you may read a strange kind of construction of that old abused Maxim, Salus populi suprema Lex, which they say many have made use of in these times, but none with so much justice as themselves; and of this they make their successe the only Argument, in justification of their Rebellion against both King and Parliament, as if happy events were the only Touchstones of lawfull enterprizes; and that by these God had given the verdict on their side.

And therefore they proceed to pronounce themselves magisterially to be the onely competent Judges of the safety of the People, which to be, is the inseparable Prerogative of the supreme Magistrate (or Magistrates) only, in all Governments whatsoever; And in prosecution of their humor, they do as good as tell the House, in case those pretences of danger be not remedied and those remedies which they remonstrate not followed, they shall not feare to make such Appeales to God (that is, their sword) as formerly they have done. From whence we may collect these following tenets destructive to all Government.

First, That the People (or as the case now stands, that part of the Peo­ple which are prevalent in Armes) are the true and sole Judges of their owne safety.

Secondly, That they may appeale to the Sword against the Authority of their Governers, in order, as they conceive, to the publique safety, which two Conclusions, if admitted, must needs open a Gap to perpetu­all Faction and Rebellion; forasmuch as the People, who are ever floating, [Page 3] and apt to find Fault, will upon such a liberty, never be content and sa­tisfied with their Governers.

Neverthelesse upon these Anarchicall Grounds, they proceed in the next place to tax the House for quitting their Votes of non-Addresse unto his Majesty, and admitting of a personall Treaty; and hereunto they sub­joyne no lesse than three notorious Fictions to strengthen the Votes of Non-Addresse, and gain them a new Reputation to the prejudice of the Treaty, First, they steele their Fore-heads with this bold Assertion; that the House was in a condition of Freedom, and not Acted beyond their own Judgements, nor by any Impulsion from the Army, when they passed those Votes. Secondly, that before the passing of those Votes, the People and Soldi­ery were full of discontents and distempers throughout the Kingdom; but that after the passing of them they were re-setled in good Order and discipline, and the whole Affaires of the Kingdom in an hopefull posture for a Settlement. Thirdly, That when the Houses recalled those Votes and took Resolutions for a Treaty, their Judgement was not with due, and former Freedom, &c. To the first I an­swer, and shall make it evident, that the Parliament was acted beyond their free Judgments, and by Impulsion from the Army, when the 4. Votes of Non-Addresse were passed in either House: For, the designe of these Votes was driven on first in the Army, Sir Harry Vane Junior, Sir John Evelyn of Wilts, Nath. Eines, and Soll. S. Johns having been imployed by the Independent Grandees, to joyne with a select Committee of the Ar­my, to debate the meanes of procuring the passage of those 4. Votes in the House; which when they had contrived, they hastned to put in execution at Westminster, having a pat occasion offered them on Monday January 3. when the King's Answer of deniall to the four Bills presented to him in the Isle of Wight, came to be debated in the House of Commons: At which time Commissary Ireton, the wise pen-man of this Remonstrance, made bold to speak the sence of the Army, under the notion of many thousand god­ly men, who had ventured their lives to subdue their Enemies, and said, The King had denyed safety unto his people by denying the foure Bills: That subjection to him was but in lieu of his protection to his People; which being denyed, they might well deny any more Subjection to him, and settle the King­dom without him: That it was now expected after so long patience they should shew their Resolution; and not desert those valiant men, who had ingaged for them beyond all possibility of Retreat, and would never forsake the Parliament, unlesse the Parliament forsook them first. And what was the intent of this I pray you, but to deliver the sence of the Army against the King? and to insianute a cunning close Threat, that if they did not joyn Issue with them, they should be look't upon as Enemies?

But when divers exceptions were taken at this Speech of Ireton's, and the Debate drawing to an up-shot, his Father-in-law Cromwell be ought up the [Page 4] Reare in very furious La [...]guage; and to signifie, that the Gainsayers must expect more then words, he laid his hand upon his sword, and stood in a threatning posture, saying, It was now expected the Parliament should defend and govern the Kingdom by their own power and resolutions, and not teach the people any longer to expect safety and government from an obstinate man, whose heart God had hardned: That those men who had defended the Parliament from so many dangers with expence of their Bloud, would defend them herein with fi­delity and courage, against all opposition. Teach them not by neglecting your own and the Kingdomes safety (in which their own is involved) to think them­selves betrayed, and left hereafter to the rage and malice of an irreconcileable Enemy, whom they have subdued for your sake; and therefore are likely to find his future government of them insupportable, and fuller of revenge than Justice, lest despaire teach them to seek their safety by some other meanes than by adhe­ring to you, who will not stick to your selves. And how destructive such a Resolu­tion in them will be to you all, I tremble to think, and leave you to judge. Upon the concluding of Oliver, the Question was immediately put, and not a man daring to mutter, it was concluded, that no further Applications should be made unto the King. The other 3. Votes followed of course, as depend­ing thereupon.

Now the grand difficulty was to make them passe with the Lords, they having very hotly debated against them, insomuch that there were ten Lords to ten: But to turne the Scales, at the very instant, a Regiment of Foot and another of Horse, came to garrison White-Hall and the Newes, which frighted their Lordships to a quick condescention: So that now I leave the world to judge the falshood of the Remonstrance in this particular, it being cleare, that that the Houses were acted beyond their free Judgement, and by Impulsion from the Army, in passing the Votes of Non-Addresse unto his Majesty: And the truth is, they have acknowledged among themselves; That they rule by Power only, and that the House is no longer theirs than they over-awe them; which is the very reason, why they appear now upon the very Close of the Treaty with this high-flowne Remonstrance.

To the second, whereas the Remonstrance sayes, that before the passing those 4. Votes, the people were full of discontents and distempers, but after they were passed, the Kingdom was in a hopefull posture of settlement, I answer; That though the people generally distasted the Proceedings of the Gran­dees, upon the Imprisonment of their King; yet they were not so inraged, as to rush into Arms, till the passing these 4. Votes; which were so far from promoting a settlement, that they inflamed the minds of the whole Com­monalty with Revenge, and suspicion what Form of Government the Gran­dees intended to erect, now they had laid by the King; and every mans mind presaged a new War, which indeed the Independent Grandees were willing to have, to colour their keeping up this Army, and raising money [Page 5] to maintain them. It is moreover, That the whole Kingdom was so far out of charity with the Grandees for those four Votes, that every man, even among the moderate well-affected (as they call them) did detest the proceed­ings; insomuch, that none would second them by Petition, or otherwise, though they proceeded almost so far as to compel them: Witness the Designe of Prideaux to ingage the whole County of Sommerset, but could prevail no further then with a few Sectaries of the Town of Taunton, to thank the House for those Votes by a Petition, which was seconded through the inoustry of Serjeant Wilde, as he rode the Circuit, by the subscription of a packt grand Jury for the County. Colonel Puresoy was at the same work in Warwickshire, and Sir Arthur Haslerig about Newcastle; but all with as small success, as Sir Harry Mildmay had in the County of Essex: For, the people instead of countenancing the four Votes, began every where, openly to protest against them, and to turn their Petitions into a contrary strain, for recalling the Votes, and appointing a Personal Treaty with His Majesty; the rejecting of which Petitions, murthering some of the Petitioners (as the Surrey men) and dis­countenancing the rest, was the true cause of all the late Insurrections: So that it appears evident (against the sence of the Remonstrance,) That the four Votes rather unsettled the Kingdom, then brought it into a hopeful posture of settle­ment.

To the third Falshood of the Romonstrance; That when the Houses recalled the four Votes, their judgment was not with due Freedom. I answer, That when the face of affairs changed, so that the Army could no longer over-aw the House, then having liberty to Vote with Freedom, and according to their Consciences, they immediatly recalled the Votes of Non-Address, upon the Petitions of the City of London, and other Counties about; which were de­bated in the Houses freely, being then released from that terror wherein they were held formerly by the Army; as appears when they were first passed by the Lords, and communicated by them unto the Commons on Wednesday the 16 of August, where they received a full and free Concurrence, with very little contradiction. Thus the falshood of these three Particulars being cleared, all the superstructures of Discourse upon them in this fi [...]st part of the Remon­strance must fall to nothing.

Having caluminated the just and honorable proceedings of the Houses, in recalling the Votes of Non-Addresse, and yielding to a Personal Treaty with His Majesty: in the next place they insinuate the great evil or danger of seek­ing to the King by Treaty, and of an Agreement or Accommodation with him, including his impunity, and restitution to his Freedom, Revenue, and Dignity; and all under pretence, that sufficient provision is not made thereby for the publike Interest. Herein they tacitly condemne the Propositions of both [Page 6] Houses, as if in them they had not been carefull of the good and welfare of the People, and propou [...]d another way of their own, as the only meanes to preserve the publike Interest of the Nation, which they say consists in these Principall Heads,

1. That for all matters of supreme Trust, or concernment to the Safety of the whole, there be a supreme Councell, or Parliament.

2. That the power of making and repealing Lawes, and the finall power of Judgment in all things, without further Appeal, many rest in that Councell, or Representative Body of the People, and that it may not be in the will of the King, or any other particular Persons, to oppose, or make void their determina­tions.

These things they set down as the Epitome of the publike Interest, and the true Subject of the Contest betwixt the King and Parliament. But that a Supreme Councell so quallified, is no part of the publike Interest in this King­dom, I shall make cleare, when I come to handle those particulars which they propound in the winding up of the Remonstrance: Nor hath it been the Subject of the Contest betwixt King and Parliament; and therefore they cannot ground any just accusation or charge upon them against the King, as they indeavour here to doe: For, the first Contest betwixt the King and Par­liament was about the possession of the Militia, which they claimed to have in their hands for a time, under pretence of danger, &c. Yet never proceeded so far as to question the Kings negative voice in Parliament, but acknowledged in severall Declarations; that their Ordinances are not binding without the Royall Assent, However afterwards they fell to practise the contrary, as the Breach grew wider betwixt them and His Majesty. It being false then which they here suppose, viz. That the Kings negative voice hath been the Ground of the Contest in the late Wars; (for, the Houses never so declared) all their Arguments following against the King, being founded upon a false Supposition, are utterly inconclusive, though if their Supposition were true. I could not allow them as justifiable. But I shall not stand to prove that now, onely I shall trace them in their own way: For, they charge the King to have stretch­ed his negative voice so far, as to advance his own will and Interest onely in an unlimited power over the lives, liberties, and goods of the People. For this they urge the frequent dissolving Parliaments; but if it were true, that the fre­quent dissolution were acted on purpose to invade the Liberty of the Subject (as all the World knowes it was not, but was occasioned by the petulancy of divers Subjects, who under the shelter of Parliamentary priviledge, indea­vored to establish a Faction contrary to the received customes and policy, both of Church and State, as the event hath manifested;) yet what Inconvencie was crept into the Kingdom, through the discontinuing of Parliaments, for [Page 7] which His Majesty did not graat a Remedy in the beginning of this Parlia­ment? And did He not likewise to remove all occasion of Jealousie co [...]cern­ing the like pressures in time to come, give His full and free Consent, for the calling of Parliaments hereafter every three yeares, whereby all grievances might have a certain Remedy? Nay. He proceeded so for, that to give Satis­faction, He granted that fatall Act of eternity to this Parliament, that there might not remain the least shadow of Arbitrary power to Himself; and therfore it is apparent, that the Ground of the Contest betwix [...] Him and the Houses, could not be occasioned by any designe (on His part) for the advancing of an unlimited and unlawful Prerogative, by making use of His negative voice, either to the dissolution of this Parliament, or denying remedy to their Grie­vances: But rather, that it was occasioned through a designe (on their part) after His Majesty had granted so much, still to invade more of His just Royall Rights and Prerogatives, (as the power of the Militia, without which He could not be a King, &c.) whereby He was given clearly to understand, that they intended to leave Him nothing at all, before they would be satisfied.

Thus having cleared His Maj [...]sty from occasioning the former War, I shall examine their Charge against Him concerning the later; Which (say they) was raised by Commissions from Himself and the Prince, to force the Parliament, in a personal Treaty, to seek Peace at his will, and that to this end the Scots last coming in was procured. The malicious vanity of this is very evident, seeing He had neither Scale, nor opportunity to grant Commissions, all men being barr'd of accesse to His Majesty, and he utterly ignorant of Affaires, and so kept at that time, when the Scotish Ingagement was first set on foot, and the general discontents of the Kingdom had made them break forth into Insur­rections. And for what was done by the Prince, that cannot be charged upon His Majesty, his Highnesse having acted therein for his own Interest, as Heir apparent of the Crown, which was invaded and rifled by sacrilegious hands; and as a dutifull Son, for the restitution of his Royall Father from a barbarous Imprisonment: By which it is manifest, that His Majesty was wholly pas­sive, and not at all active, in relation to the last War, and so this Charge is fully refuted.

After this, they charge His Majesty with refusing the four Bills presented to Him at Carisbrooke Castle, upon no other consideration, but meer Interest of will and power alone without a Parliament. To refute this, I shall prove, that the Bills were rejected meerly to preserve the Interest of both King, Parliament, and People, according to the Law. For, as being destruct [...]ve to the Legal Interest of the King, They were called the four dethroning Bills: This will appear by that Bill for the power of the Militia to be in their hands for 20. yeares, and after the said term of 20. yeares, it prohibited the King, [Page 8] or His Heirs, to exercise the Militia, without the consent of the Lords and Commons; but they only to Act, and all Bills drawn up by them for levying and raising of Forces, to have the Force of Acts of Parliament, without the Royall Assent: Which Bill (if it had been granted) as it would have taken away the Kings negative voice (invested in Him by Law) and made an Ordi­nance equall to an Act of Parliament; so it would have setled an Arbitrary power in the Lords and Commons over the Estates and persons of their Fellow-Subjects, and have caused the same miseries to return upon us, which happen­ed in the dayes of our Fore-fathers under Henry the third, when the 24. Con­servators of the Peace were called totidem Tyranni, so many Tyrants: For, what might not our Grandees have done, when the Sword had been theirs by Act of Parliament? Besides, if the King had given them His Sword, they might have taken all the rest of the Propositions demanded, without a Treaty.

Nor had the granting the four Bills been destructive onely to the legall In­terest of the King, and the liberty of the People, but also to the Freedom of Parliament; one of the four being for Adjournment of both Houses to any other place besides Westminster, &c. Which was a Plot of the Grandee-Faction in the Houses and Army, to gain power of Adjourning the Houses from time to time, to, or near the Head Quarters of the Army: where those Members that would refuse to be of their Party, should neither sit with ac­commodation, nor safety, and so be shaken off at last, which had been a new way of purging the Houses; and so His Majesties passing those four Bills would have been destructive likewise to the Interest and Freedom of Parlia­ment. Whereby it appears, that His Majesty, in rejecting those Bills, was not swayed with any consideration of establishing His own will and power, above or without a Parliament, but with a tender respect onely to His own Legal Rights, the Priviledges and Freedom of Parliament, and the Liberties of the People.

Having hitherto manifested the vanity of all their Suppositions; and in par­ticular, those by way of Charge against His Majesty, I shall in the next place examine their Inferences against Him, which being raised upon such sandy Grounds, cannot stand: For, taking all for granted which they say, they first affirm, That there can be no just ground of a Treaty, or accommodation with the King: First, because by perverting the Trust reposed in him, to the hurt and prejudice of the Generality, and indeavouring to establish himself in a tyrannical power, he hath forfeited all that trust and power, and doth set the people free to take their best Advantage, and (if he fall within their power) to proceed in Judgment against him. Secondly, Because he ingaged to uphold his will and Interest, against the Supreme Councel of the Kingdom, must needs be the Author of an unjust War, and therein guilty of all the blood spilt thereby, and of all the [Page 9] evils consequent, or concomitant thereunto, and likewise of the highest Treason. For the verity of these things, they refer us to what hath been before spoken; and so must I the Intelligent Reader likewise, where he shall finde how cause­lesse these unworthy Slanders are against His Majesty, under presence where­of they condemne as unjust, any accommodation with him by Treaty.

And therefore it is, that their malice proceeds further, even to the bringing of his Sacred Person to a publike Tryal, and execution, without which (they say) the publike Justice of the Kingdom cannot be satisfied, the Blood and Rapine, &c. expiated, nor the wrath of God appeased. Never was such damnable doctrine vented before in the World: For, the Persons of Soveraign Princes have ever been held sacred (in respect of their immediate Authority under God) even among the most barbarous Nations; and though in many King­doms they have been regulated by force of Arms, and sometimes (for the security of the grand Rebels) deposed, and afterward privately murthered; yet in no History can we finde a Parallel for this, that ever the rage of Rebels extended so far, as to bring their Soveraigne Lords to publike tryal and exe­cution, it being contrary to the law of Nature, the Custome of Nations, and the sacred Scriptures. Put case the hand of Heaven should give them and us so far over, as to permit this; What Court shall their King be tryed in? who shall be his Peeres? what Form of Processe shall be made? who shall give Sentence? what eyes dare be so impious to behold the execution? and what Arm be stretcht out to give the stroke against the Lords Anointed, and shall not wither like that of Jeroboam, when he lifted it up against an Anointed Prophet?

But that they might not seem to indeavour this without Precedent, they say, the same Offences which they pretend to be in our King, have been judged capital in several of his Predecessors, from whom he claims; which is very false, not one of our Princes having ever been brought to publike Tryal, nor put to death, for any offence whatsoever: The onely sad examples of unfor­tunate Royalty, were Edward the second, and Richard the second; yet neither of these proceeded against capitally, though they Articled against the latter; but both of them being (to the dishonor of our Nation) deposed, were after­wards cruelly murthered in private: The first, not without the instigation or consent of a faithlesse wife, to make room in her Bed for an Adulterer; the other to secure the Ambition of a Kinsman, which had usurped the Crown by the name of Henry the fourth; so that neither of these can afford a Patern to these Times, for any capital Proceeding against their Lord and Soveraign: But if it please the Tirrels and the Gourneys of our Age, they may draw hence a patern of private parricide (as it is to be feared they will, instead of publ [...]ke) and finish that work, which their dear Rolph had brought to so near a point of execution.

[Page 10] And lest they should want a plausible Ground for their bloody Intentions, being conscious to themselves of their own weak Proofs of Guilt in His Ma­jesty, the Remonstrance insinuates further unto the world, as if His Majesty were guilty of all the Blood by his own confession; and for this they urge the Preamble of the first Proposition, which they say, He hath passed in justifica­tion of the Grounds of the War on the Parliaments part, and the condemna­tion of His own, though all the World knowes (and themselves confesse also in this Remonstrance) that it was passed but conditionally, in order to a full A­greement, and out of necessity, because the Treaty would not be proceeded in without it: And yet they raile against it also, as the greatest Hypocrisie that ever was before God and the World; and because this confession (they say) pro­ceeded not out of inward Remorse and Conviction, it must stand for a ground of condemnation against him. Thus you see, since they have kennel'd their King, and used him like a Dog, it is an easie matter to finde a staffe to beat him.

Now the Remonstrance having hitherto, upon idle Suppositions and Slanders against their King, precended that an Accommodation with Him by Treaty, cannot be just or good; in the next place, they pretend that it cannot be safe, in regard it hath not been usual to restore Princes when they have been once sub­dued by their Subjects, in the prosecution of their Liberties. And in this Asser­tion they are so confident; that they challenge all Story for an Instance to the contrary. This is a strange peremptory challenge, considering that nothing is more obvious in History then Examples of this Nature. Not need we go any further for a Testimony then our own; witnesse the Feuds betwixt King John and the Barons, and also betwixt his son, Henry the third and them, who having vindicate their Liberties (as they pretended) and reduced Henry within their power, and sometime under restraint, and regulated him for divers yeares, yet (neverthelesse) at length he was restored to his Crowne and Dignity. How many Instances could I collect else where I But I need not light a Candle to the Sun, nor would I willingly to the Devil; for I suppose the Penner of the Remonstrance could not but see, unlesse his memory were obscured with too great a Cloud of Witnesses.

Next, they think (they say) an Agreement with the King by Treaty can­not be safe, because it is the Custome of Princes, when they are over thrown by Force of their Subjects, usually to bestow and yield the Things contended for, when they can no longer hold them, and be take themselves by Fraud, to recover them afterward, and be revenged on those that opposed them. So that you see they are led by Machiavels Rule, Never to trust that Prince whom they have once injured, and conclude with Catiline in the Poet, that

[Page 11] Because they have provoked their King▪ is counted Reason sufficient to de­stroy Him, rather then hazard their guilty necks under His Government. When men are once perswaded thus, they are past recovery, and betray themselves to be most implacable Traytors, and that they have a never dying worme in the Chest, which gnawes their Consciences with the Remembrance of their Treason. And the punishment due to it being perpetually before their eyes, their only Refuge (in order to their own security) is to scandalize the Prince, as one not to be trusted, a violater of Faith, Oaths, Promises, and Protestations, in hope to palliate their villainies, by indeavouring to render Him odious, and so preserve their own Reputation with the People; But if we do but scand the Proceedings of the Abbettors of this Remonstrance, since their Faction came in power, the World cannot produce greater or more odious Examples of Hypocrisie, Treachery, and fained Protestations, then they have manifested by their Breach of Faith, and Promise with the King and Kingdom, as I shall prove in due place by and by.

Another Argument of theirs, why an Agreement now cannot be safe, is. The Facility of a Prince's finding occasion and quarrel after such an Agreement, to make a Breach, when he [...] his Advantage: And this they fear the King may easily do for several Reasons, which I shall but touch, because I must be brief: First, because the King is conceived to be in prison still (at least not so free as he ought to be) during the Treaty: it being so expressed by the Prince, in his Declaration in Answer to the Earl of Warwick's Summons, and so nothing can be concluded now, but may (upon that pretence) be broken hereafter. Besides, they say, The Inlargement now afforded the King (with the pettit State added) is but a Mock-liberty, and Counterfeit of State, onely to set him up in a colourable posture to Treat, but not being free from Force, be cannot be so free in what he grants, as to render it oblieging when granted. Where take notice of the desperate Hypocrisie and cunning of these Followes, that they should declaime against Force, as rendring the Treaty in vaine, when themselves have put this Force upon it; so that it is evident, That all those additional Forces lately joyned to the ordinary Guards of the Iland, were sent thither unpurpose to raise a prejudice upon the Treaty, that so they might have some plausible Pretence to except against an Agreement by it. Secondly, Because if the King comes in with the Reputation of having long sought Peace, by a Personal Treaty, he will be looked upon as the Repairer of Broaches, the Restorer of Trade, Peace, and Plenty; and if the Army should keep up (as it must) to be maintained by Taxes, then the Houses and they would be look [...]ed on as Oppr [...]ssors, and so the Jealousies and Discontents of the People be raised and [...] against them, and make them apt to joyn Issue [Page 12] with the Kings Interest again, against the Publike. Let the World take notice of this strange way of Arguing. Because the King is like to be hugg'd and beloved by his People, therefore they cannot trust Him, but fear by His Interest in their Afflictions, they may be called to Accompt for all their Doings. Observe likewise, that they make it their Interest, to keep their King in prison, the Kingdom out of Settlement, and the People in perpetual Taxes and Payments, to support these their Taskmasters, in their new established Tyranny, in opposition to His Majesty: So that the People of England, so long as they have no King, shall have neither Trading, Peace, nor Plenty.

Thirdly, they insinuate, how easie it is, not onely for a Prince to make a Breach to the prejudice of the publike Interest; but also the hazard of those that ingaged for it against Him, by making use of the Peoples Affections after an Accommodation: For, they say, 'tis possible, the People may yield them up a sacrifice, to appease the King and his inraged Party. Here indeed the shoe wrings Them, and the Curse of Cain pursues Them, sup­posing their Iniquities are greater then can be forgiven, and being of the same Faith with the Italian Atheist, that Injuries done to Princes may sleep a while in their m [...]mories, but revive again, sooner or later, as they finde an Opportunity to Revenge Them. Some Examples there are indeed of this Nature, but very few among the Princes of this Nation. The most no­torious Rebellion (next to this) that ever was in our Iland, happened against Henry the third, whose sufferings were parallel to those of King CHARLES in every point. He was bandied against in Parliament, driven thence, forced to Surrender the Royal Authority into the hands of twenty four Persons, taken Prisoner, and carried up and down in an Army, after­ward was confined close upon the very same Pretences, and so continued, till the People being tired out by the new Tyrants in Arms, and Taxes, he recovered their Affections, and His Crown both together. And now when the chief Ring-leaders expected nothing but Revenge from their abused Prince, He pardoned those lives which were forfeited to His Mercy, not so much as one man of them being executed, but had a general Act of oblivion, and liberty to sue out their Pardons upon very moderate Fines; of which in­comparable piece of Clemency, that ancient Record, called Dictum de Kenelworth, remains a Monument to this day. And though the Beateseus of our Age (being conscious of their heinous guilt) might hope as little for par­don, as those their Elder Brethren; yet I am confident, were our King re­stored to His pristine power, they should all of them (the worse of them even the very Cromwelites among them) taste of the same Bounty and Mercy: For, [Page] look upon him impartially in all the Passages of his life, and you may dismisse him with a ‘Quo nihil in terris clementius aspicit aether,’ even with this Character, that the world cannot produce a more rare patern of piety, patience, and humanity.

But suppose, that we grant all they pretend to; That King's are such faithlesse Creatures, as they would make them; and that our King intended to make a Breach hereafter, and to recover that by Fraud, which he lost by Force, and to be revenged, &c. yet what ground of Iealousie will be left, when their safety is so fairely provided for in the Propositions of both Houses? For, if there be an Agreement upon them, his Mai [...]sty (it is apparent to all the world) must return so naked, and devested of all power, and with his hands so tyed behind him, that he will remaine no more but a Cipher of Kingly power, not able to help himself or friends, and become far lesse than Buchanan's King, or a Duke of Venice. He will not have so much as a voice in the Senate, nor an Office in the Common-wealth, nor so much Power left as the meanest petty Constable, further than his Guardians shall be pleased to indulge him, his Person, and regall Authority being wholly surrendred up to them in Wardship. Hence then we may justly conclude against the sence of the Remonstrance; that were the King led by principles of Falshood and Revenge▪ yet being so bound up in point of power by the Propositions, it will be safe as well as iust for the Houses, to make an Agreement with him by the Treaty. I am sure it must be done one time or another, why then not now? an Accommodation with the King being the only Basis of a settlement in the Nation, except the Houses have so little courage as to comply with our Remonstrants, and let it continue no longer a Kingdome, but change the whole Frame of Government, and turn all Topsi-turvy.

A fourth Argument (founded as the rest are upon matter of Jealou­sie, not Equity) which they make use of unto the Houses, against an A­greement with the King by Treaty, is taken from the Divisions of the Parliamentary Party, and the Jealousies they have of each other; alled­ging, that if the King were returned, it is more than probable; That each Party would be apt to strive, which should most and first comply with him. And left this course should be objected against themselves▪ as having taken it formerly for their own Advantage, when they had the King with them in the Army, they in the next place excuse it thus, and say first; That they did not seek to the King, but were sought unto by him, and were drawn into some negative complyances; only for prevention of mischiefe [Page] to the publique, but still profestly refused any thing of Coniunction with him or his: Secondly, That all their Declarations at that time were but Hypothe­ticall, ana with carefull Caution for the publique Interest: Thirdly, That they aimed not at the strengthning of themselves, by their then preiending for the King: The Falshood of all which I shall clearely demonstrate to their everlasting Infamy, and give you some briefe Evidences of their double dealing, and how that they professed absolutely to close with the legall Interest of his Maiesty.

As for their publique professions in their Declarations and Proposalls, They are so notoriously known unto the world, that J need not men­tion them; But their Private hypocriticall Trucking with his Maiesty will be the only Touchstone to try them by. And because their Resolu­tions pretended then for his Maiesty were as high as these are now against him, I shall be very punctuall to satisfie all men of the Truth, That the world may know what fine white Devills our new Saints are, and abhor their Hypocrifie. But before I produce my Evidences, I must declare whence I had them; even from Major Huntington, Cromwell's own Major, a partaker formerly of his Secrets, and so intimate, that Oliver was pleased to call him Mistresse, and was imployed as a Messenger betwixt the King, and him, and Ireton.

That their private Truckings with the King were not Hypotheticall, but pretended absolute for his Interest, and of their own seeking, is manifest by what passed at Caversham, where the King was continu­ally sollicited by Messengers from Cromwell, and Ireton, proffering any thing his Maiesty should desire, as Revenues, Chaplins, Wife, Children, Servants of his owne, visitation of Friends, accesse of Letters; and by Ireton himself (who pleads so cruelly against him in this bloody Re­monstrance) that his Negative voice should not be medled with all, for that he had convinced those that reasoned against it at the Generall Councell of the Army: And all this they would doe, that his Maiesty might the better see into all their Actions, and know their Principles, which lead them to give him all those things out of Conscience; For that they were not a people hating his person, on Monarchicall govern­ment, but that they did like it as the best, and that by this King, saying also, that they held it a very unreasonable thing, for the Parliament to abridge him of them, often promising, that if his Maiesty would sit still, and not Act against them, they would in the first place restore him to all these, and make him the most glorious Prince in Christendome; and that for this end they were drawing up Proposalls; which if any power should oppose, and there were but six men in the Kingdom that would [Page] stand for them, Ireton said, himself would make the seventh to iustifie and make them good.

His Maiesty being removed to Wooborne, the Proposalls were sent to him by Maior Huntington, at which time the King said at first, he would not Treat upon them, but afterwards yielded and then Ireton, Rainsborough, Hammond, and Rich attended the King at Wooborne, debating the whole businesse with him upon the Proposalls; upon which debate, many of the most materi­all things which the King disliked were struck out, and many other things much abated by Promises, whereupon his Maiesty was pretty well satisfied. Afterward, his Maiesty being remo­ved to Stoke, told Maior Huntington he feared an Ingagement between the Army and City, and bade him goe tell Ireton, that he would wholly throw himself upon them, and trust them for a settlement of the Kingdom. which Message being de­livered by Maior Huntington to Ireton at Colebrooke, he seemed to receive with ioy, saying, That they should be the veryest Knaves that lived, if in every thing they made not good what ever they had promised, because the King, by his not declaring against them, had given them great Advantage against their Adversaries. But who I pray you were these Adversaries? Even the Presby­terian Party. By this then we may iudge them out of their own mouths; That they had no other end by their then pretend­ing for the King, but to strengthen themselves against the Pres­byterians, to suppresse their Faction, and advance their own: So that Iretons own words will witnesse in this Particular, a­gainst the Falshood of this his Remonstrance.

When the Army at length began to falter in their proceed­ings, and the King feared, they intended not to make good what they had promised, he sent Major Huntington to Crom­well to tell him he was unsatisfied with the proceedings of the Army, because he understood that himself and Ireton agreed with the house in some late Votes that opposed the Proposalls of the Army. It was replyed, that they would not have his [Page] Maiesty mistrust them, for that since the House would goe to high, they only concurred with them, that their unreasonable­nesse might the better appeare to the Kingdom. And Cromwell bade Huntington assure the King, that if the Army remained an Army, his Maiesty should trust the proposalls, with what was also promised, to be the worst of his Conditions which should be made for him; and striking his hand on his Breast (in his Chamb [...]r at Putney) bade the Maior tell the King, he might rest confident, and assured of it: Which Message was sent many times to the King from them both; but with this addition from Ireton; That they would purge and purge, and never leave purging the houses, till they had made them of such a temper as should doe his Maiesties businesse: And rather than they would fall short of what was promised, he would ioyne with Cavalier, French, or Spaniard, or any that would ioyne with them to force them to it.

Yet notwithstanding all this, it was not long after that his Maiesty was [...]gled away into the Isle of Wight; where he had not been above 6. dayes, but the very same Ireton, the godly Promiser) standing by the fire side in his Quarters at Kingston, and some speaking of an Agree­ment of Peace lik [...] to be made between the King and the Houses, now he was out of the power of the Army Ireton replyed with a disconten­ted-coun [...]enance: That he hoped it would be such a Peace, as they might with a good conscience fight against them both.

By these fore going Passages then it appeares plainly, to the shame of this R [...]monstrance; First, that the Army first sought to the King, and not he to them: Secondly, that their dealings with the King were pre­tended as high and absolute for his Interest, as ever were the indea­vours of his own party: And lastly, That their only aim in all this, was to give advantage to suppresse the Presbyterian party, and advance their own, and then to cast off the King, and domineer over him and his People. This last Particular will be more cleare by that saying of Cromwell's in his Chamber at Kingston, when he had plaid all his Prankes, and brought his design to perfection; That he knew nothing to the contrary, but that himself was as able to govern the Kingdom, as Hollis and Stapleton did before him. So that you see, Dominion and Rule was the only end of this unparallel'd Hypocrisie; he and his Son Ireton be­ing both apt Schollars of Machiavell, and follow his rules; who [Page] counsells those that meane to effect great matters, to make small reckoning of keeping their words, and to know by their craft to turn and wind men about. Also, that such men ought not to keep their faith given, when the observance there of turnes to the disadvantage of their designes, and the occasions that made them promise are once past. Likewise, that it is advantagious to seeme, pittifull, faithfull, mild, religions, and of integrity, and indeed to be so; Pro­vided, they be of such a composition, that if need require them to use the con­trary, they can, and know how to apply themselves thereto, and now and then to doe contrary to faith, charity, humanity, and religion; and to have a mind so disposed, as to turn and take the advantage of all winds and fortunes. These are Maximes which the godly ones of our Age have thriven by; this is the Gospel which our new Saints have practised, to attaine unto this height of Tyrannys And now nothing will satisfie, but the destruction of that gracious Prince, to whom they made such high promises: Hee must be brought to the Block to secure their Ambition, or else have at the Parliament: For, it is a professed Maxim of their own, as Maior Huntington hath discovered. That it is lawfull to passe through any formes of Government▪ for the accomplishing of their ends; and therefore either to purge the Houses, and support the remaining Party by power everlastingly, or put a period to them by Force.

Nor doth Maior Huntington only discover this; but themselves do as good as declare thus pag. 45. when they make another Argument a­gainst the safety of an Accommodation with his Maiesty; because (say they) if the King return, and this Parli [...]ment continue long and unlimited, he will be able to make a party among them. Nay (say they) he hath bid fair for it among the Commons already, & the Lords are his own out of question; & therfore we dare not trust the King among them: which is as much as to say, that if they close with the King, they shal not sit any longer but be dissolved by Force: which must be looked for at last, it being a necessary preparative to that devilish design of bringing al under the military power, that is, the Power of themselves and their Creatures. And therefore it is, that they declare for a dissolution of this Parliament, after a certaine time, and they will so order the matter, that the next Parliament ensu­ing shall be altered from the fundamentall Forme, to be meerly popular, and none but those of their own Faction to be elected; and then fare­wel for ever the glory of the kingdom. But more of this by and by, when I come to examine the severall Propositions in the close of their Remon­strance.

Their last Argument against the safety of an Accommodation by this Treaty is, because no Provision is made by the Houses against the Impu­nity [Page] of Kings in time to come, so as that they may remaine accountable for their Actions, and lyable to Iustice, or against the Impunity of this King in particular; which they conceive would be the only meanes of security to themselves and the publique, and here they take occasion to inveigh against those maxims of our Law, that say, the King can doe no wrong; which were founded upon the same equitable Considerations of Policie in our own, as in other Kingdoms, it having been presumed ever by all Legislators; That Kings, who are the common Fathers of the people cannot be so unnaturall, as to doe any thing willingly to their preiudice; and that if by accident they did, yet for the reverence due to royall Maiesty, it should rather be imputed to the ill Councell of those about them, than their own Inclination; forasmuch as if a Soveraign Prince should be left lyable to Accompt in a Criminall way, it would introduce confusions in government, and the putting it once in execu­tion would bring more dammage and Inconveniences upon the Com­mon-wealth, than all the Enormities and Tyrannies he could commit throughout his whole Reigne. Upon which considerations it is that all wise Statesmen of our own and other Nations, have reckoned Impunity as a part of the Princes Prerogative, and inseparable from his Crown and Dignity. And therefore away with the vanity of these puny Poli­ticians, whom nothing will satisfie, but that transcendent piece of Treason (on which the Jesuits themselves durst never venture) to bring the sacred persons of Kings, to publique tryall and Execution.

Having heitherto driven on the designe of their Remonstrance, not upon matter of equity, but Iealousies concerning their own security, and prosecuted it so farre, as that to save themselves from supposed af­terclaps of Revenge, they make it lawfull to destroy their Prince; they in the next place proceed to answer what may be obiected against this Course from the Covenant; which binds all that have taken it, to the preservation of the Kings person and Authority. This they say, is not to be understood absolutly; but in a way subordinate to Religion and the pub­lique Interest, which were the principall and supreme matters ingaged for by Covenant; as appeares by that Clause [viz. In the preservation of the true Religion and liberties of the kingdoms▪] It hath been alwayes fear­ed that some such use would be made (one time or other) of that clause of the Covenant: And therefore it was, that many learned and pious men refused the taking of it, witnesse those incomparable Reasons of the Vniversity of Oxford against it; among which this is one, that they knew not what construction might be put upon that large clause, to the preiu­dice of his Maiesties royall person and authority. But though they indea­vour [Page] to make a nose of wax of it, and turne it any way by interpreta­tions most suitable to their Antimonarchicall principles and Designs, yet they cannot found any pretence thereupon to subvert the Lawes of the Land and Fundamentall constitutions of the Kingdome, the Covenant obliging in expresse termes to the maintenance of them, and these un­doubtedly are the true Foundations of the publique Jnterest, and the Supporters also of the Kings person and Authority. By the Lawes of the Land, the King is the only Soveraign and supreame, and above the reach of all penall statutes. which make it high Treason for any to attempt the least force upon his person. Therefore to make such a construction of the Covenant (upon pretence of any Clause in it) that shall clash with the Lawes of the Land, the maintenance whereof is one of the primary ends of it, is absurd and rediculous. And therfore as long as by the fun­damentall Lawes and Constitutions of the Kingdom, the King is ex­empt from all Criminall proceedings against him by his Subiects, cer­tainly all men that have taken the Covenant are absolutely and unde­niably bound by it, to defend his Maiestie from such horrid, and trea­sonable intents and practises, to the dammage of his person, and de­struction of Kingly power.

Moreover, the Scotish nation, who were the first Founders of the Co­venant, and both Houses of Parliament have published in severall Declarations and all their Priests in the Pulpits; that the intent of the Covenant, in respect of his Maiestie, was only, that His Throne should be established in righteousnesse; and though they made use of that Clause, thereby to suspend him from the Ex­ercise of regall power, till satisfaction given to the desires of the Parliament of both Kingdomes, yet it was never in their thoughts to strain it so farr, as that in case he stood out against their de­sires, they would proceed in a Criminall way against their Lord and Soveraigne. And therefore it is cleare against these Anarchists, both from the primary civill end of the Covenant, and the practise of its Founders, that it obligeth all those which have taken it, to defend the Person of the King's most Excellent Maiesty, according to the Fundamentall Lawes and Constitutions of the Kingdom, against all treasonous, illegall, and arbitrary Proceedings, by way of Criminall Accusation.

Now we are come at length to the Conclusion of this tedi­dious Remonstrance, which consists of severall Propositions, grounded upon the frivolous premises already confuted. They [Page] are of two sorts. In the first they propound such things, as they pretend are for the satisfaction of publique Iustice. In the second such as are for the setling (or rather un-setling) of the King­dom. In order to justice, first they propound; That the person of the King may be speedily brought to Iustice. If I should cite the innumerable Testimonies of Antiquity and our Modern writ­ters against this prodigious principle, I might swell into a vo­lumne it is contrary to the very law of nature, reason, the constituti­ons of all Kingdomes and the whole tenor of the Scriptures; Im­punity being an inseparable adiunct of Kings as they are Supreme in their Kingdomes, For, if there can be no true kingdome where the King is not invested in the Supremacy. As King he is Iudge of Iudges, and subiect to the judgement of none other but God himself: For, it is contrary to nature, that the Superior should be judged by the Inferior; but the people (take them collective) are Inferior to their Monarch; for, that cannot bee called a Monarchy, which admits either of a Superior or an e­quall: And therefore the People cannot exercise any power or Iurisdiction over their Soveraigne; forasmuch as it proceeds from himself, and cannot subsist one moment without him, he being as it were the Fountain of Authority. As say all our sta­tute and Law-Books, S. Peter bids us, Submit to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake, whether it be to the King as supreme; or unto Governours as those that are sent by him. As free, and not using your liberty for a Cloake of maliciousnesse, but feare God, Ho­nour the King. A text which plainly shewes, that the people should not stretch their liberty to the preiudice of the royall au­thority. Thou shalt not speak ill of the Governour of the people, much lesse destroy him. Give the people liberty once of iudgeing their King, and all things are presently out of Order considering the ignorance, the audacity, the levity and inconstancie of the vul­gar, For by this meanes it falles out oftentimes, that those Princes which diserve best, are worst handled; as histories do witnesse concerning Coriolanus, Camillus, Themistocles, Phocian, and divets others both antient and modern.

[Page 21] For, such is the nature of the multitude, that they are greedy still after Novelties, and great admirers of them, till they have a little expe­rience, and then they would willingly change again, being led with vaine hopes of advantage, upon every Innovation. And therefore if Princes were under the correction of their Subjects, both good and bad would suffer alike. Such was the insolence of the Lacedemonian Ephori toward their Kings, that they would call them to accompt for every Trifle, and punished King Archidamus for no other cause, but because he took a little woman to wife; and it was usuall among the Goths in Spain, to murther their Kings, as oft as they distasted them. Moreover, should all Kings of this Nation remain lyable to question by the people (as our Remonstrants require) in time to come, they must ever be subject to Slanders and Snares, because then every ambi­tious popular person would be ready to pick holes in their Coates, to bring them into disfavour of the People; and so that would be suffici­ent cause of condemnation.

Admit these things once, and who sees not, how all things would run to confusion, and how great mischiefes, such a dissolute and licen­tious Liberty would bring upon Kings and Kingdomes? But it happens also most often in these Cases, That not all the People, nor the ma­jor part, do consent to the condemning of their King, but some few (perhaps) that have gotten the power into the hands of their Faction. These (to set off their Actions) cry up their own Interest for the Inte­rest of the Common-wealth, and so under pretence of the publick Good, prosecute their private ends, to the ruine of the Prince, and condemne him as an Enemy to the People.

An example of this we have among our neighbours, in Henry the Third of France; against whom some few Cities revolted at first, which were headed by some small number of the Nobility; afterwards more and more, till at length the Rebels grew formidable; and though they were but a contemptible part in comparison of the rest, yet they assumed the Reputation of the whole, pretended the publique Good, declared against their King as a Tyrant, to defend the Rights and Li­berties of the People, and at length proceeded so high as to give Sen­tence against Him, and renounce the Allegiance to Him, & give publick Command, that none should dare to acknowledge Him their King. The Parallel to this, was the Conspiracy occasioned by the Bastard Murray, against that unfortunate Lady, Mary Queen of Scots, our Kings [Page 22] Grandmother; so likewise is his own case at present, being at the mercy of a mercilesse petty Faction, that have usurped the power of the Kingdome into the power of their hands, cry up their own corrupt Interest to be the Interest of the Kingdome, Themselves to be the People, and so by a new kind of Logick conclude him to be the publique Enemy of the People, and a Tyrant, because they have no way to establish their own Tyranny, but by destroying His Person, under pretence of Justice, and cashiere Kingly Government, to in­troduce a new Forme of their owne, wherein themselves will be Princes.

In order whereunto it is, and not out of any consideration of equity, (for in this there can be none) that they would bring His Majesty to publique Execution; because they well know, this one stroke would give the fatall Blow to Monarchy; For it would take away the very life of Majesty, which consists in the Impunity, or exemption from penall Sta­tutes. Subject a King once to be judged and condemned by the Peo­ple, upon any pretence whatsoever, then it followes presently, that the power is declared in their Hands, and so the Kingly Government is defunct, and changed ipso facto to a popular. And therefore it is ap­parent, that the Army, by Remonstrating against their King, and demanding Him thus to Justice, intend no lesse then the ruine of Mo­narchy, and the rearing up of a kind of a military-democraticall Forme of Government; which, by abolishing our old Lawes, and leaving none but that of the Sword, must needs be absolutely Tyrannicall over our Estates, Lives, and Liberties. This is the true drift of their first Proposition. Give ear, and regard, O ye Commons of England, lest under a specious pretence for the Liberty of the People (which Cromwell himself once called a meer Chimaera, and a thing not to be conten­ded for) ye be drawne into Parricide and perpetuall Slavery.

Nor doe they rage only against the Person of the King, but in the se­cond Proposition, they endeavour to shake off His Posterity; and there­fore they propound these harsh Conditions concerning the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York, either to yeild themselves up to their mercy at a certaine day; to acquit themselves of their Capitall Delin­quency (as they call it) or else to be at their discretion, whether they shall follow their Royall Father to the Shambles. These are fine Con­ditions for the two Princes to be summoned in upon, are they not? But knowing these wil never be accepted, this Summons is but pretended to blear the eyes of the People, and insinuate their Guilt, if they re­fuse [Page 23] to appear; that so they may exclude the next Heires of the Crown, the more plausibly, in order still to their designe of changing the Government. And therefore it is likewise, that in this Proposition, they demand the Revenue of the Crown may continue still in Huck­sters hands, and the Pomp of it be suspended, to make amends (they say) for publique Debts, (which are all in the Pockets of their Faction) and repaire the losses of the People, but indeed to be shared among them and their Creatures, who usurpe the name and reputation of the PEOPLE; all which whosoever seriously considers, will see these things are but preparatory to the cashiering of Kingly Government. In Order to this designe still, it is also, That in the third and fourth-Pro­positions, they demand the bringing of His Majesties Principall Friends to the Block, not reckoning themselves safe, as long as their Heads are on their shoulders. And for the rest that have served Him, though they claw with them in pressing, that moderate Fines may be set upon them for Delinquency; yet they deprive them of their native Birth-rights, so long as shall seeme good unto these new Conquerors, and so they shall be no more but in the condition of Slaves to this insolent Faction, all over the Kingdome. And thus you see, what is the designe, and like to be the Issue of their pretended publique Justice.

Next, they proceed to propound towards the Settlement of the Kingdome both in relation to the Parliamentary and Kingly power, in time to come. First, as the Parliamentary, they demand, That some reasonable, and certaine period may be set to this Parliament, by which time, that Supreme Trust in them may return unto the People. That is, themselves and their Faction; for, They only will be the People. But the People of England may do well to consider, that the King being outed of all Power, there is no visible Authority left at present, but that in the two Houses, who are now the only Bulwarks against mili­tary Tyranny; and the dissolving them before the King be re-invested, will leave us all in the power of the Army, and then as that Leveller Major White said at Putney in the Generall Councell, (for, he knew it was designed then, and could not chuse but utter it) there will be no visible Authority left in the Kingdome, but the power of the Sword; which will introduce a new Parliament of its own Creatures, as ap­peares by what followes, wherein they exclude all from the power of Election, or being elected, that are not of their Faction. And so fare­well the Government, and glory of our Nation.

For proof of this, observe next what they propound concerning the [Page 24] Sucession of future Parliaments: First, that none shall be capable of electing, or being elected, that have ingaged against the publique Interest, nor any that oppose them in this Agreement.

Secondly, that Elections may be so distributed, as to render the House of Commons, as near as may be, a Representative of the whole People; and that the certainty of the Peoples meeting to Elect may be provided for. So farewell the ancient Legall way of Electing, by the Kings Writ or Summons; it being inherent in the Prerogative of all Kings, to call, and dissolve the Supreme Assemblies. If this course also be taken to give all men voices in Electing, then it will seldome happen, that they wil ever agree; which will be the cause of innumerable Riots and Confusions, at every Election.

Thirdly, That it be declared, that the Representatives of the People (by them Elected) shall have the Supreme Trust and Power, as to making of Lawes. So farewell the Negative Voice of the King and Nobility, and with it the Ancient and Legall Constitutions of Parliament.

Lastly, They propound, that our Kings in time to come may be Elective, and upon their Coronation disclaime any Negative Voice to the determinations of the said Representatives, and subscription to this Agreement. And so instead of Kings, they would set up meere Scare-crowes of Royaltie. But (alas) this is to amuse the People with the name of King, when as they intend no such matter; for, an Elective Kingship without a Negative Voice is none at all, it being a received Maxim among all Polititians; That there is a necessity the Supreme Power should reside in the hands of one, or of few, or of many. The first is the Government of a Monarch, or King; the second, that of States; the third is Democraticall, or Popular. Now though it cannot be de­nied, that the power of a King may be more or lesse absolute, accor­ding to the severall Qualifications or Restrictions laid upon it, by the mixture of any other Power with it (as by the constitution of this King­dome, there is a mixture of all the three Powers in King, Lords, and Com­mons;) yet if either of these Powers incroach upon the other, they change their nature. As for example, if the Aristocraticall part prescribe rules to the Monarch, and take away his Negative Voice, it can be no longer a Monarchie or Kingdome; and so, if the Popular presume to take away Ius imperii from the Aristocracy, it can be no longer a Government by States: so that the Remonstrants in allowing us an elective King, but denying Him a Negative voice (the very substance of Soveraignty) do but delude us with a Mockery, and by placing the supreme power [Page 25] of making and repealing Lawes in the People, do aime to establish a meere popular Tyrannie, which they will assume unto themselves, under the Nation of the PEOPLE, to the destruction of our Laws and Li­berties: For, it is a sure Rule, That those that seeke to make themselves Lords, by force of Armes, over their fellow-subjects, under pretence of reforming their Princes defects in government, are alwaies, if they have successe, more cruell and tyrannous, then those against whose govern­ment they fancied Exceptions; and regard the common-good no further, then it conduceth to their own wicked ends and purposes.

There are too many evidences of this Truth, to be found in History; I shall instance onely in two most notable, and which come close to our Time. The first is fetch'd from the City Syracusa, which had been long governed by hereditary Kings, virtuous and just, save onely Thrasihulus, the last of the race of Gelon, was suspected to be a Tyrant, and therefore the Syracusians deposed him after ten monethes govern­ment. After they had deposed him, to prevent the greatnesse of any one among them for the future, they devised a kind of Banishment of such among them as should at any time be suspected, taking pattern from the Athenian ostracisme; and this their new devised judgement they called Petalismus, wherein every one wrote upon an Olive-leafe (as at Athens they did upon shels) the name of him, whom they would have expelled the City; and he that had most suffrages against him, was banished the City for five years. Hhereby in a short time it came to passe, that the Nobility having learned to banish one another, the State became wholly popular, which was a curse sufficient to their City, since nothing is so terrible in any State, as a powerfull, and authorised ig­norance. This Democracy carried it self so wickedly, that God raised up Dionysius the Tyrant, to take vengeance as well of their cruelty toward strangers, as their owne best Citizens; for, they had made it their pastime to reward the worthiest with disgrace, or death. So that the meanes by which Dionysius got their favour, grew from his accu­sing the principal men. It is the delight of base people to domineere over their betters: wherefore he helpe them to breake, as Fetters impriso­ning their liberty, the Bars that held it under safe Custody. And after that he had usurped the Government to himselse (I pray God our Cromwell take not after him, for, he hath traced him thus far already) he spared none of his known, nor suspected Enemies: he was the grea­test Robber that ever lived in any State, and the most impartially cruell, rnd so proved a fit scourge to them for expelling their Kings, and erecting a popular Government.

[Page 26] But my second instance (and the most notorious one) is from Athens. This City, and Territory of Attica, had been originally go­verned, and very prosperously by hereditary Kings. And because that Codrus the thirtieth King of that Race, willingly died for the safety of his People, he was therefore so honoured, as thinking none worthy to succeed him, they changed their former government from Monarchi­call, to Princes for tearme of life; of which Medon the son of Codrus was the first; of whom his successours by election which were twelve in number, were called Medontidae: But after experience, that those Elective Princes (who had no hereditary right to the Crowne, but only a limitation of government to their lives) and for that onely reason made a prey of the People, & studied more to rob them for particular advantage, then to manage the government for the publique good, they laid aside that forme of Government, and appointed Archons, or De­cennall Governors, that is, one Prince for ten years; but finding the like inconvenience in that, with somewhat a more swift rapine, be­cause their time of gaine was shorter, then after the tryall of seven of these Decennall Governors, they buried that Forme, and set up annuall or yearly Magistrates: But their oppression was so great, that that Forme continued but seven successions, of whom Solon, that most excellent Lawgiver, was the last: And and so after many experiments, this gid­dy People finding no better rest then in Monarchy, submitted againe to it under Pisistratus, who left the Crowne to his Son Hippias; and then another Toy taking these inconstant Athenians, they drove him out of his Kingdome, and enforced him to flye unto Darius King of Persia, to crave aid for restitution; which was the onely cause of all the Wars, Commotions, and Troubles, that followed in Greece, for 300. yeares after, to the utter ruine, and inslaving of the Nation.

After Hippias was thus driven out, they erected a pure Democracy, or Government by the people. Herein they were so insolent, that no Integrity, no good desert was able to preserve the estate of any such as had born any great Office, longer then by flattering the rascall Multi­tude, he could form all his words and Actions to their good liking: (behold here, O ye Nobles and Gentry of England, and yee wealthy Citizens of London, what ye must come to) Nay, they banished their famous Generall Themistocles (looke to it then Fairfax) who had been their only deliverer from the fury of the Persian, onely for in­deavouring to restraine by wise counsels the riotous excesse of their ex­treame folly and Madnesse. At length the principall men of Athens [Page 27] conspiring with the Captaines abroad, caused them to set up the Forme of an Aristocracy in the Townes of their Confederates, & in a short time the Majesty of Athens was usurped by foure hundred men, who imbroyled the State in a bloody and furious War with the Pelopone­sians, which was the ruine of their City, and subversion of their Wals.

After a time reviving againe, in hope to better their distracted con­dition, they chose thirty Governours, commonly called the thirty Ty­rants of Athens. These having (by degrees) drawne all Power into their hands, were more carefull to hold it then deserve it, and imployed it onely to oppression, and shedding the Blood of all those whom they made, or counted their Enemies, that they might in rich themselves and friends, with their Lands and possessions. And the bet­ter to maintaine and secure themselves in these cruell courses, after they had by Force over-awed all the Territories of that State round about, they made a Faction of their owne in the City of Athens (as our Remonstrants have now in London;) which being done, they disarmed all others whom they could not draw to their Party, and setled a Mi­litia of three thousand Citizens to keepe the rest of their fellows in sub­jection. Looke to thy selfe then London; for, if they cannot worke thee to ingage with them, they must of necessity take the same course with thee to carry on their designe: And then thou must looke to fare no better then did the poor Athenians. For when the thirty Tyrants had thus established their Tyrannie, they far exceeded their former Villanies, plundring all without fear or shame, dispoyling them of Lands and Goods, and forcing them to flye into Banishment to save their lives. In conclusion, the City being tired out with these outrages and extre­mities, when they had smarted sufficiently, began to find their owne strength, and all as one man rose up, and slew them; which done, to avoid future inconveniences, all was salved up with a generall Act of Oblivion, and the State recovered its former Peace and Tranquillity.

Many more instances might be given, but none more pat then these for the present occasion; wherein (as in a glasse) every man may be­hold those fatall miseries and confusions, that must needs ensue a change of the Kingly to a popular, or (as the case now stands with us) to a Military Government; which I have proved clearly unto the world to be the designe of this Remonstrance, to the utter subversion of our Laws, the fundamentall constitutions and Priviledges of Parliament, with the destruction of the King and His Posterity, and the inslaving of the Kingdome. What remaines then, but that the Lords and Commons [Page 28] in Parliament, doe stand up now for their Priviledges, the Laws, and the maintenance of Monarchy, and yet (if it be possible) revive the dying hopes of the Nation with an Agreement by this Treaty; for as much as His Majesty is (and of necessity must be) the Basis of a settle­ment. Let the people understand how much you abhor the contrary, and then you can never want their hearts and hands to assist you: And if any of you should miscarry, and be purged out of the House (as some of you have been heretofore by this Faction) and forced to banish­ment, it will be your chiefest glory in time to come, that you suffered in the behalfe of your King and Country.

If I perish, I perish.