His Excellency Sir Tho. Linch, Governour in Jamaica, his Speech at the convening an Assembly (at St. Jago de la Vega) in Jamaica, Sept. 21. 1682.

AS I expect you should not do much, so I suppose you may imagine I should say but little; the posture of our Affairs does not require it, nor will the disorders of my head permit it: How­ever, I must tell you, The Council and I have convened you by the directions of your own Act, that enjoyns your annual Meeting and Sitting ten days; otherwise it's probable we had not given you this trouble now.

Whatever may be said, I must profess I am glad of the occasion of seeing so many of my good Friends together; but withal, I do assure you, it's not that Consideration made me continue this Assembly: for, to be plain, if I believe you knew (in October when the Laws past) that my Lord C. was removed, I must needs conclude, you were neither partial to me as the King's Governour, nor very kind as your Friend; and who reflects on it now, will say so.

But the reason that induced the Council and me to continue this, rather than call another Assembly, is, we think the Country eased by it; and that they cannot visibly make a worthier Choice: for it's you, Gentlemen, have made these Laws, that we hope will be a Magna Charta to us and our Chil­dren, as well as a Boundary to me and all future Governours. And if there be any thing to be added or retrenched to make them pass at home, we judge it's fit you do it; that you who have had the charge and trouble of raising this great Structure, should have the thanks and glory of finishing it.

I suppose, Gentlemen, no body will enter into Disputes about the Legality [Page 2] of this Assembly; for the Lords at home say it is lawful: And then you all know you are called by the King's Writ, so not dissolved by change of a Governour, no more than Parliaments in England and Ireland are by the death or removal of Lieutenants or Chancellors.

I need not have said this, Gentlemen: for I know you are too wise to enter into Disputes about Niceties; and do consider, that as the King and his Ministers intend we shall have all those just Liberties and Freedoms that belong to English-men and good Subjects, so our reflecting on things that are not pertinent, or reviving those detestable names of Caballers, Prerogative, and Property-men, may give them offence, and that will make us uneasie; and as it will be troublesome now, so may it be ruinous hereafter: for com­mon Sense tells us, We should not kick against the Pricks; and the wise man. That it's madness to contend with those that are too mighty: And indeed the Contest must be fatal, where it is so unequal as to have Pow­er and Right too on the same side.

Though I cannot, Gentlemen, speak any thing directly from our Lords a­bout the Laws, yet I shall take the liberty to say this from my self, that if it's of the utmost import our Laws pass, it may be fit for you to consider now whether they will or no; and if you judge they will not, then resolve of remo­ving the Obstructions. This conjuncture is favourable, and may give more encouragement than can be expected next year, when I shall be foreclosed all Concessions by positive Orders and the Laws determination.

Pray, Gentlemen, consider how much better it is to go voluntarily a step or two back, than run the hazard of being driven God knows how far. I shall explain my self, if you enter into debate of this matter; if not, it must lie at your door: for it's you must answer to this, and it may be fu­ture Ages, the losing another opportunity of establishing the Peace and Laws of this great and prosperous Colony.

I beg you, Gentlemen, to believe, that herein I sollicit not my own Concern: for God hath been pleased to give me a moderate Estate, and the King a competent Salary, that I am sure to be paid here or in England; so I neither need nor desire any thing from you: I onely beg we may do our selves the right to pay the Duty, Submission, and Gratitude we all owe the King as our soveraign Lord and great Benefactor; and that for our Peace and Interest sake, we let no factious or scrupulous Spirits insinuate any thing that may make us mistrust a just Prince, and prudent Ministers: Such is the King, such are those Lords that govern us under him. Do we not know the bitte­rest Enemy his Majesty (or which is worse, Monarchy it self) has, cannot say he ever took the least thing from the meanest Subject by violence, or contrary to Law? And if he has ever erred, has it been in any thing but in the ex­cess of his Bounty and Mercies? Can Faction, Malice, or Impudence it self then suggest, that such a Prince should violate the Laws, to take from a young and needy Colony the Revenue himself gives, and commands to be raised for the support of their own Government, and that at a time he has ap­pointed us an Auditor-General, a particular Office to see it's not misap­plied? Nor is it possible it should, so long as your Act exists; and that e­very one of you knows, and I positively affirm. But pray pardon me; for I am assured, Thoughts so criminal, and Jealousies so unreasonable, are far [Page 3] from every one of us; nor can they lodge in any breast but such as have ba­nisht that Loyalty and Reverence that is due to Majesty and Truth.

I call God to record, I knew of no designe to injure or invade your just Liberties, nor have I other Instructions than to do right, and govern ac­cording to the Laws of England and this Island. I appeal to you all, if you do not know I did not so, to the best of my understanding, when I had the honour to command here before. I must tell you, it's my opinion, it was that Consideration and your Satisfaction, made the King and his Ministers to send me again, that all those Passions that have so long agitated you, might be calmed, and every thing that gave you ombrage, removed.

Believe me therefore, Gentlemen, should our Sins, Caprice, or Follies, make us miss that Port that now frankly offers it self, and launch into the deep of needless Jealousies and Disputes, it's to be fear'd we may find it a wide Sea of Confusion, where we shall not escape Shipwrack without a Miracle; the apprehension of which so discomposes me, that I cannot say more than God have mercy on us, and direct you.

Samuel Barnard Esq Speaker of the Assembly, his Speech to the Governour, Sept. 21. 1682.

TO confirm their own Judgment, the Assembly are pleased to continue me their Speaker; and that I take likewise to be the reason that prevails with you to approve their Choice. I shall not presume, Sir, to be tedious: however, we do in all humility acknowledge the frequent and ample Testimonies of his most Sacred Majesties repeated Favours, whose goodness, like the Sun extends to the utmost corners of his Dominions; and especially for this last and most signal one in returning your Excellency to us, thereby demonstrating your Government to be both to his satisfaction, and that of all his subjects here; who shall always preserve their Loyalty entire to him, and of consequence their Obedience to your Excellency his immediate Mini­ster: and that however represented, we can never believe any distinction between the King's interest and the Peoples; for indeed whoever preaches up that Destructive Position, doth from an ill division of an ill chosen Text, deduce worse Doctrine.

The uncertainties and difficulties, under which for some years past we have laboured, have been very great: I am willing to touch on that no farther than to say, being impartially weighed, it can never be reasonably imagined we had any other designe but to continue under our old form of Government, which his Majesty had been pleased to constitute at first, as near that of his Realm of England, as so great a Volume could be comprised in so small an Epitome, and to preserve the quiet fruition of those Estates which our own industry (blest be divine Providence) had acquired, under the same me­thod of making Laws, as is observed in our Native Country, from which, as the famous Roman saith, there is defended, a greater Inheritance to us, than [Page 4] from our Parents. A truth I may say, without offence, verified in the ma­jor part of the Inhabitants of this Island.

The whole matter of this then being seriously considered to be done upon these ends onely, if we may not presume to merit or lay claim to, yet from so great a goodness, as that of his most Gracious Majesty, I doubt not but we may certainly hope for pardon.

I have now onely to add in behalf of these Gentlemen, humbly to crave the preservation of their usual Priviledges, freedom of Debate, and access to your Person, and in particular your Excellencies pardon of the inadver­tancies of me their Speaker, beseeching you to deem them Errours of Judge­ment, not will.

His Majesties Council and the Gentlemen of the Assembly for his Island of Jamaica, being met at St. Jago de la Vega the 21th day of September 1682. by order of his Excel­lency the Governour Sir Tho. Linch, humbly beseech the Lord President and Lords of his Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council, for governing his Majesties Foreign Planta­tions, to present to his most Sacred Majesty this their most humble Address.

The Governour's Speech at proroguing the Assembly from Octob. the 4th 1682. to May the 4th 1683.

YOu may believe the disorders of my Head, and misfortunes of my Voy­age, are something alleviated, by the joy I have to see this Session so happily and suddenly ended; though God has been pleased to confer on me many great and signal Blessings, yet none of them methinks ever relisht like this, nor is it reasonable they should: they have been particular, and con­cerned my self onely. This is publick, and may, I hope, reach White-hall, and affect not onely us here, but every individual man in this great Island, and those that shall succeed us in it.

We have, Gentlemen, fluctuated many years between Fears and Jealou­sies among our selves, and of our Governours, which has occasioned angry disputes here, that have rather enlarged, than cemented the Breach.

Like ill Sculptures, some would have made the Head too big, as others the Members, neither of them considering that the perfection and beauty of the Figure consists in the symetry and due proportion of the parts: for it's in the Body Politick as in the Natural; if the Head attracts too much nou­rishment, the Members become debile and weak; if the Body does it, the Head will be rendred incapable of exercising the Divine Function lodg'd in it.

[Page 6]But you, Gentlemen, like good Subjects and wise Patriots, have duly weighed this, and considered there's a Duty to be paid a Prince, as well as a Care to be taken of our selves; and that we cannot express our Duty better than in trusting his Majesty, we need not fear to do it, since he has merited so much from us; and that it is certain our Prosperity is his true Interest: for Colonies that do not thrive, are like Scabs, they render nothing to, but draw nourishment from the Body.

We that were of the old Army, thankfully remember the Donative his Majesty gave us: All of us know, he has constantly sent us Supplies in our need, Ships to defend us in our danger; when we could not, he paid our Mi­nisters, & gave Salaries to our Governours and others, allowed Money for our Fortifications, and now gives and permits his Rents to be appropriated to the Charge and Support of our Government: this and much more his Ma­jesty hath done for us, and to make this Care, this Munificence, like himself, perfectly gracious, perfectly obliging. It was done for us here, in those times his Majesty was under the greatest Pressures and Wants at home.

You, Gentlemen, have dutifully and gratefully acknowledged this by sepa­rating your Laws from his Revenue, and by that frank, hearty, and humble submission you make of all, to his Majesties Justice and Grace. I am sure [...]u'll find the advantage of it, and that there's no other method of trans­a [...]ing with Princes: for there is no parity betwixt us and them, they can­no [...] be bound; they must therefore be trusted. And this confidence (were it lawful to make the Comparison) I durst say must necessarily have the s [...]me effect on the King, as our Faith has on God, if we believe, he will do us good.

There's no other way to retrieve the good opinion of our Lords at home, to be setled and united among our selves, and to establish that Credit abroad that may bring People and Trade to us. If we should continue at variance among our selves, or have contest with our Prince and Governours, who would love Jamaica (though it has so many Charms) or stay in it though it has so many Advantages if one could but breath any where else? Does not every one know what influence Agreement and Peace have on mens minds and fortunes? which is the reason, Morality, as well as our Reason, bids us pursue Peace with all men.

If Peace, Gentlemen, be of this import, that it's to be pursued as a sum­mum bonum, what do we all owe to you, that have thus overtaken it, and thus establisht it among us? Surely since Heaven is best described by saying it is the place of Peace and Union, you that have brought down and esta­blisht, and fixed such a Resemblance of it here, ought to expect and have all our Praises, all our Thanks, and every man of you, is sure of all the Services I can ever render him.

God I hope will give to you, all those Blessings in your fortunes, in your minds, and in your persons, promised to Peace-makers; and to us those that are the consequences of Peace and Ʋnion it self.