It would not be beleeved (at least great pains have been taken that it might not) that the pretended Ordinance of the Mi­litia (the first attempt that ever was to make a Law by Ordinance without Our consent) or the keeping Vs out of Hull, and taking Our Arms and Muni­tion from Vs, could any way concern the Interest, Pro­perty, or Liberty of the Subject, and it was confessed by that desperate Declaration it self of the 26, of May, that if they were found guilty of that charge of destroying the title and interest of Our Subjects to their Lands and Goods, it were indeed a very great Crime. But it was a strange fatall Lethargy which had seized Our good People, and kept them from discerning, that the Nobi­lity, Gentry, Commonalty of England, were not onely stripped of their Preeminences and Priviledges, but of their Liberties and Estates, when Our just Rights were denyed Vs; and that no Subject could from thence­forth expect to dwell at home, when We were driven from Our Houses and Our Towns. It was not possible, that a Commission could be granted to the Earle of Essex, to raise an Army against Vs, and for the safety of Our [Page 10] Person, and preservation of the Peace of the Kingdom, to pursue, kill & stay Vs and all who wish well to Vs, but that in a short time inferior Commanders, by the same Authority, would require Our good Subjects for the maintenance of the Property of the Subject, to supply them with such summes of Money as they think fit, up­on the penalty of being Plundred withall extremity of War (as the stile of Sir Edward Baytons Warrant runs against Our poore Subjects in Wiltshire) and by such Rules of unlimited Arbitrary Power, as are incon­sistent with the least pretence or shadow of that Property it would seem to defend.

If there could be yet any understanding so unskilfull and Supine to beleeve, That these Disturbers of the publike peace do intend any thing but a generall confusi­on, they have brought them a sad Argument to their own doores to convince them; after this Ordinance and Declaration, 'tis not in any sober mans power to be­leeve himself worth any thing, or that there is such a thing as Law, Liberty, Property left in England, under the Iurisdiction of these men, and the same power that robbs them now of the Twentieth part of their Estates, hath by that but made a claime and entitled it self to the other Ninteen, when it shall be thought fit to hasten the generall ruine. Sure, if the minds of all men be not stubbornly prepared for Servitude, they will looke on this Ordinance as the greatest Prodigie of Arbitrary Power and Tyranny that any Age hath brought forth in any Kingdom; other Grievances (and the greatest) have been conceived intolerable, rather by the Logique and Consequence, then by the Pressure it self, this at once sweeps away all that the Wisdom and Iustice of Parliaments have provided for them. Is their Pro­perty in their Estates (so carefully looked to by their An­cestors, [Page 11] and so amply established by Vs against any possi­bility of Invasion from the Crown) which makes the meanest Subject as much a Lord of his own as the greatest Peer, to be valued or considered? here is a Twentieth part of every mans Estate (or so much more as four men will please to call the Twentieth part) taken away at once, and yet a Power left to take a Twentieth still of that which remains, and this to be levied by such circumstances of severity, as no Act of Parliament ever consented to. Is their liberty which distinguishes Sub­jects from Slaves, and in which this free-born Nation hath the Advantage of all Christendom, dear to them? they shall not onely be imprisoned in such places of this Kingdom, (a latitude of Iudgement no Court can chal­lenge to it self in any Cases) but for so long time as the Committee of the house of Commons for examination shall appoint and order; the House of Commons it self having never assumed, or in the least degree pretended to a power of Iudicature, having no more Authority to ad­minister an Oath (the onely way to discover and finde out the truth of facts) to, then to cut off the heads of any of Our Subjects; and this Committee being so far from being a part of the Parliament, that it is destructive to the whole, by usurping to it self all the power of King, Lords, & Commons. All who know any thing of Parlia­ments, know, That a Committee of either House ought not by the Law to publish their own Results, neither are their conclusions of any force without the Confirma­tion of the House, which hath the same power of con­trolling them as if the matter had never been debated; but that any Committee should be so contracted (as this of Examination, a stile no Committee ever bore before this Parliament) as to exclude the Members of the House, who are equally trusted by their Countrey, from [Page 12] being present at the Counsells, is so monstrous to the Priviledges of Parliament, that it is no more in the power of any man to give up that freedom, then of him­self to order, That from that time the place for which he serves, shall never more send a Knight or Burgesse to the Parliament; and in truth is no lesse then to alter the whole frame of Government, to pull up Parliaments by the Roots, and to commit the Lives, Liberties, and Estates of all the People of England to the Arbitrary power of a few unqualified Persons, who shall dispose thereof according to their discretion, without account to any Rule or Authority whatsoever.

Are their Friends, their Wives, and Children (the greatest blessings of Peace and the comforts of Life) pre­cious to them? would even their penury and imprison­ment be lesse grievous by those cordialls? they shall be devorced from them, banished, and shall no longer re­main within the Cities of London and Westminster, the Suburbs and the Counties adjacent; and how far those adjacent Counties shall extend no man knows.

Is there any thing now left to enjoy, but Liberty to Rebell, and destroy one another? are the outward blessings onely of Peace, Property, and Liberty taken, and forced from Our Subjects? are their Consciences free and unassaulted by the violence of these fire-brands? sure the Liberty and freedom of Conscience cannot suf­fer by these men: Alasse! all these punishments are im­posed upon them, because they will not submit to Actions contrary to their naturall Loyalty, to their Oathes of Allegiance and Supremacy, and to their late volunta­ry Protestation, which obliges them to the care of Our Person and Our just Rights. Now many Persons of Honour, Quality, and Reputation of the severall Coun­ties of England, are now Imprisoned, without any ob­jection [Page] [Page] [Page 13] against them, but suspicion of their Loyalty? how many of the gravest and most substantiall Citizens of London, by whom the Government and Discipline of that City was preserved, are disgraced, robbed, and im­prisoned, without any Processe of Law, or colour of ac­cusation, but of obedience to the Law and Government of the Kingdom? whilest Anabaptists and Brownists, with the assistance of vicious and deboshed Persons, of desperate Fortunes, take upon them to break up and rifle houses, as publike and avowed Ministers of a new in­vented Authority: How many godly, pious, and pain­full Divines, whose Lives and Learning hath made them of reverend, Estimation, are now standered with inclination to Popery, discountenanced, and imprisoned, for discharging their Consciences in instructing the People in the Christian duty of Religion and Obedi­ence, whilest Shismaticall, Illiterate, and Scandalous Preachers till the Pulpits and Churches with Blas­phemy. Irreverence, and Treason, and incite their Au­ditory to nothing but Murther and Rebellion. We passe over the vulgar charm, by which they have captivated such who have been contented to dispence with their Consciences for the preservation of their Estates, and by which they perswade men cheerfully to part with this twentieth part of their Estate to the good work in hand, for whoever will give what he hath, may scape robbing; They shall be repaid upon the Publike Faith, as all other Mo­neys lent upon the Propositions of both Houses; It may be so, but men must be condemned to a strange unthrifti­nesse who will lend upon such Security. The Publike Faith indeed is as great an earnest as the State can give, and engages the Honour, Reputation and Honesty of the Nation, and is the Act of the Kingdom, 'tis the Se­curity of the King, the Lords and Commons, which can [Page 14] never need an Executor, can never dye, never be Bank­rupt, and therefore We willingly consented to it for the Indemnity of Our good Subjects of Scotland, (who We hope will not thinke the worse of it for being so often & so cheaply mentioned since.) But that a Vote of one or both Houses should be an engagement upon the Publike Faith, is as impossible, as that the Committee of the House of Commons for Examinations, should be the High Court of Parliament.

And what is or can be said with the least shadow of reason to justifie these Extravagances? We have not lately heard of the old fundamentall Laws which used to warrant the Innovations, this needs a Refuge even be­low those foundations: They will say they cannot man­nage their great undertakings without such extraordi­nary wayes; We think so too, but that proves onely they have undertaken somewhat they ought not to under­take, not that it is lawfull for them to do any thing that is convenient for those ends: We remembred them long agoe, and We cannot do it too often, of that excellent Speech of M. Pyms: The law is that which puts a difference betwixt good and evill, betwixt just and unjust if you take a­way the Law, all things will fall into a confusion, every man will become a Law unto himself, which in the depraved con­dition of humane nature, must needs produce many great enor­mities, Lust will become a Law, and Envy will become a Law, Covetousnesse and Ambition will become Laws, and what Dictates, what Decisions such Laws will produce may easi1y be discerned. It may indeed by the sad Instances over the whole Kingdom: But will Posterity beleeve, that in the same Parliament this Doctrine was avowed with that Acclamation, and these Instances after produced; That in the same Parliament such care was taken that no man should be committed in what case soever, with­out [Page] [Page 14] [...] [Page] [Page] [Page 15] the cause of his Imprisonment expressed, and that all men should be inmediately bayled in all Cases bayle­able, and during the same Parliament that Alderman Pennington, or indeed any body else, but the sworn Mi­nisters of Iustice, should imprison whom they would, and for what they would, and for as long time as they would; That the King should be reproached with breach of Pri­viledge for accusing Sir Iohn Hotham of High Treason, when with force of Arms he kept Him out of Hull, and despised Him to His face, because in no case a Member of either House might be committed or accused without leave of that House of which he is a Member, and yet that during the same Parliament, the same Alderman should commit the Earle of Middlesex (a Peer of the Realm) & the Lord Buckhurst (a Member of the House of Commons) to the Counter, without reprehension; That to be a Traitor (which is defined and every man un­derstands) should be no crime, and to be called Malig­nant (which no body knows the meaning of) should be ground enough for close Imprisonment; That a Law should be made, That whosoever should presume to take Tunnage & Poundage without an Act of Parliament, should incur the penalty of a Premunire, & the same Par­liament, that the same imposition should be laid upon our Subjects, & taken by an Order of both houses, without & against Our consent. Lastly, that the same Parliament, a Law should be made to declare the proceedings & judge­ment upon Ship-money to be illegall and void, and du­ring that Parliament, that an Order of both Houses shall, upon pretence of necessity, inable four men to take away the twentieth part of their Estates from all their Neighbours, according to their discretion.

But Our good Subjects will no longer looke upon [Page 16] these and the like Results, as upon the Counsells and conclusions of both Our Houses of Parliament; (though all the world knows even that Authority can never justi­fie things unwarrantable by the Law) they well know how few of the Persons trusted by them are present at their Consultations, of above 500 not 80. and of the House of Peers, not a fifth part, That they who are pre­sent enjoy not the Priviledge and Freedom of Parlia­ment, but are besieged by an Army, and awed by the same Tumults which drave Vs and their fellow Mem­bers from thence, to consent to what some few Sediti­ous, Schismaticall Persons amongst them do propose; These are the men, who joyning with the Anabaptists & Brownists of London, first changed the Government and Discipline of that City, and now by the pride and power of that City would undoe the Kingdom, whilst their Lord Major (a Person accused and known to be guilty of high Treason) by a new Legislative Power of his own, suppresses and reviles the Book of Common-Prayer; robbs and imprisons whom he thinks fit, and with the rabble of his Faction gives Laws to both Houses of Parliament, & tells them, They will have no Accommo­dation whilest the Members sent and entrusted by their Countreys are expelled the House, or committed for re­fusing to take the Oath of Association, to live and dye with the Earle of Essex, as very lately Sir Sidney Mount­ague. These are the men who have presumed to send Em­bassadors, and to enter into Treaties with Forraign States in their own behalfs, having at this time an Agent of their own with the States of Holland, to nego­ciate for them upon private Instructions. These are the men, who not thinking they have yet brought mischief [Page] [Page] [Page 17] enough upon this Kingdom, at this time invite and sol­licite Our Subjects of Scotland to enter this Land with an Army against Vs. In a word, these are the men who have made this last devouring Ordinance to take away all Law, Liberty, and Property from Our People, and have by it really acted that upon Our People, which with infinite malice, and no colour or ground, was la­boured to be infused into them to have been Our Inten­tion by the Commissions of Array.

We have done; What Power and Authority these men have, or will have, We know not; for Our Self We chal­lenge none such. We looke upon the Pressures and In­conveniences Our good Subjects bear, even by Vs and Our Army, (which the Army first raised by them enfor­ced Vs to levy in Our defence, and their refusall of all offers and desires of Treaty enforceth Vs to keep) with very much sadnesse of heart. We are so farre from requi­ring a Twentieth part of their Estates (though for their own visible preservation) that as We have already sold or pawned Our own Iewells, and coyned Our own Plate, so We are willing to sell all Our own Land, and Houses for their relief. Yet We do not doubt but Our good Subjects will seriously consider Our Condition and their own Duties, and think Our readinesse to pro­tect them with the utmost hazard of Our Life, deserves their readinesse to assist Vs with some part of their For­tunes; and whilest other men give a Twentieth part of their Estates, to enables them to forfeit the other Nine­teen, that they will extend themselves to Vs in a libe­rall and free proportion for the preservation of the rest, and for the maintenance of Gods true Religion, the laws of the Land, the Liberty of the Subject, and the [Page 18] safety and very being of Parliaments, and this King­dom: for if all these ever were, or can be in manifest dan­ger, tis now in this present Rebellion against Vs.

Lastly, We will and require all Our loving Subjects of what degree or quality soever, as they will answer it to God, to Vs and to Posterity, by their Oathes of Alle­giance and Supremacy, as they would not be looked up­on now, and remembred hereafter as Betrayers of the Laws and Liberty they were born to, that they in no de­gree submit to this wilde pretended Ordinance, and that they presume not give any encouragement or assi­stance to the Army now in Rebellion against Vs: which if notwithstanding they shall do, they must expect from Vs the severest punishment the Law can inflict, and a perpetuall In­famy with all good men.