QUAERIES.Propounded to and concerning the Neglectours of Englands grand Grievance, &c.
Quarie I. WHether among the Civill Rights of this Nation,If it be of no value, Why was the violation of it made one of the heynous Articles againſt the E. of Strafford, viz. for occaſioning the diſhonourable loſſe of Newcaſtle to the Sco's? which (in name) have been ſo highly and hotly contended for, her Honour be of ſo inferiour a value, as not to be worthy the leaſt conſideration?
Qu. 2. Whether it be not an abſurdity to aſcribe other Honour to our Nation then to a Slave,For what is a Slave but a Captive ſerving his Conquerour or his Heyres? And moreover, according to your own verdict, if the ſuffering of one Towne to be conquered, was a betraying of the Nations honour; then what is the ſuffering of the whole Nation to ly under a Conqueſt? while ſhe remaines a Captive, & weares the Title and**If you know not what thoſe are, ſee Anti-Normaniſme, p. 2, 13, 14. Badges of Captivity?
Qu. 3. Whether it be not an abſurdity to pretend to reſtore or advance this Nation to her juſt Freed me,The juſt Freedome of this Nation conſiſt in being under a Prince (or his Heyres) of her own Election, Blond, or (at leaſt) Admiſſion, and under her owne Lawes, of which Lawes (alſo) the Supreame next unto Gods glory (according to your own doctrine) ought to be Salus Populi; But ye make her to profeſſe her ſelf to be under the dominion of her uſurping Enemies, (for what's a Conqueror, or any ſuceeding in his Right, but a prevailing and tryumphing Enemy) of which ſort of Dominions (namely thoſe grounded upon Conqueſts) (alſo) the Supreame and Fundamentall Law, and which is unſeparable from that Title, is unqueſtionably (as I ſhall anon prove) the Will, Honour, and benefit of the Conquerour and his Heyres; And yet ye call your ſelves Aſſertors of your Nations Liberties. and yet to leave her under2 the title and injuries of a (pretended) Conquest?
Qu. 4. Whether they are not,Your owne intereſts and claimes you aſſert with Swords; But your Nations juſt Freedome and Honour, that might diſtinguiſh her from a Slave, not with a word. and are not to be repu•ed, of private ſpirits and intereſts (whatever they boaſt) whether they be Councels, Cities, or Armies, that are ſo tender of their owne honours and intereſts, and yet ſo negligent (or elſe ignorant) of their Nations?
Qu. 5. Whether they are not contemptibly ridiculous, that call themſelves men of honour, or ſo much as Free-men (how highly ſoever born,The Right Honourables of an Enſlaved Nation, are but right honourable ſlaves. in what dignity ſoever placed, or whatſoever they have atchieved againſt their owne Country-men) who yet with the ſame mouth confeſſe and profeſſe themſelves Members of a Captive Nation?
Qu. 6. VVhether they are not alſo confeſſedly ſeditious,It is no other then as if one ſhould ſay, Sir, I am and will be your ſlave in right and title, but your Maſter in Act. who profeſſing their Nation, and conſequently themſelves, to be Captives by right of Conqueſt, and2 moreover being (like the Jewes eare-bored ſlaves) nor minded to leave that qualitie and profeſſion, doe yet contend wi•h their Prince for free Subjects Priviledges or rather (Mamaluck-like) to be ſharers in the Supreame Authoritie?
Objection 1.
Yea, but our firſt Normane Prince was admitted upon Tea•ms, as being Legatee and Kinſman of S•. Edward, and upon condition to preſerve our Lawes and Liberties.
Anſw.
Ye contradict it your selves,If perchance you deny that you ſay it, and ſo think to invalidate all my incuſations with that Paradox. What meanes his title of Conqueror, which ye ſtill allow him? the Doctrine of his Conqueſt of this Nation, which without your contradiction remaines a received Maxime in this Kingdome? The Effects and Badges of ſuch a Conqueſt, which you retain as Ornaments? Your ſuffering Magna Charta to be in the mouth of the Law, the foundation of our Liberties? And laſtly) your a Conqueſtu, currant not onely in paſt Acts of Parliament, which (untill you gaineſay them) enjoy your ſuffrage, but alſo in Fines paſt by the Authority of your own Great Scale of England at this day? while ye ſay (how truly I have**Anti-Norm. p. 15. elſe where ſhowne) that hee came in by Conqueſt.
Object 2.
But we have ſithence had a Charter of Liberties granted us.
4Anſw But there is no clauſe in that Charter for libertie to contend for more, the granting you an Inch intitles you not to the taking of an Ell; And as for the Clauſe therin (which Mr. Pryn in his Soveraigne Power, p. 74. ſticks not to alledge as an undeniable Warrant for all your proceedings) That the Prince will not deny or deferre justice or right to any man, by Iustice or Right is plainely meant Execution of Law, and not a fulfilling of your unlimited Deſires, as is manifeſt by the reſt of that Chapter, and confirmed by the Lord Cookes Expoſi•ion of that place.
Object. 3.
But the King is bound by his Coronation Oath to grant all ſuch juſt and reaſonable Lawes as the People (that is the Commons in Parliament) ſhall chooſe.
Anſw.
This I confeſſe (if it were ſo, and according to your own interpretation; that is, to grant all ſuch Lawes as you ſhall ſay are juſt and reaſonable) might ſeeme a bottomleſſe priviledge, able to furniſh you with Licentiouſneſſe enough (I Will not ſay Libertie, for were you inveſted with as many donations & priviledges as Haman, or any Favourite in the Turkiſh Court, yet while you profeſſe to ſerve in reference to a Conqueſt, you are but**For the mitigation of Slavery doth not take away the Eſſence of it. Now you cannot deny, that you ſerve in reference to a Conqueſt, ſeeing you are ſo farre from ever having declared him whom you call your Conquerour, an Vſurper, that you place him, for the Root and Alpha of your right. fulll Kings in the Regall Catalogue. Slaves) Yet for Anſwer, I ſay, It is well known that our preſent King never took any ſuch Oath.
Reply. But hee ought to have taken it.
10Anſw. Whether he ought or not, ſince he did it not, he is not bound by it in Law; and as to his obligement to take it, if any ſuch obligation was, it muſt be either by Statute or Cuſtome, by Statute you will not ſay it was, and as for Cuſtome, to make it obligatorie, it muſt (according to your owne**The Lord Cook and others. Oracle) have both Reaſon, and uſage time out of mind; But this oath by your own**in your Remonſtroof the 2. of Novem. 1642 confeſſion, was vſed neither by Henry the 8. Edward the 6. King James, nor King Charles, So that in ſtead of uſage, here is a diſuſage; and as for Reaſon, there is leſſe; for what reaſon is there that ſome Princes and their Heyres doing ſome Acts of grace and favour (as I ſhall anon prove that you grant this to be) to their people, that therefore all there Poſterity ſhould be obliged to the ſame as duties? ſo that you ſee this Oath cannot in any wiſe bind your Prince, for that he neither took it, nor was bonnd to take it; But although he had taken it, yet I ſhall ſufficiently prove, (notwithſtanding all Mr. Prins impertinent volumes to the contrary) that (while you allow to his Bloud the right of a conqueſt over your nation) the Oath would not ſerve your turn ſo as to give you authority to force to the performance of your deſires; for first, you ſay it was an Oath, Now an Oath or votum hath not you but God for the obiect, ſo that if it be violated, he alone is the vindex, & that it is ſo, is teſtified by this, that the Oath is tendered not by you or your ſubſtitutes but by the Arch-Biſhop, who is Gods Repreſenter teſtified by his Crowning and annoynting the Prince which confers on him, or ſignifies the conferring of the Divine authority; now that it makes him not liable to you, appeares alſo by our owne Laws, for what11 Lawyer ever heard of an Action brought upon an Oath? In all the Regiſter no ſuch writ occurres; But if you will make it a Covenant or Promiſe, that it may be obligatory, it must be grounded upon a valuable conſideration, now that here is no valuable conſideration appeares from your own confeſſion, for you confeſſe him to be your King by right of conquest and ſucceſſion, and accordingly doe reckon his reigne from the death of his Predeceſſor, not his own coronation as being but a ceremony and that alſo adminiſtred neither by you nor your Subſtitutes, So that it is plain that you ſhould have no ſufficient right to exact the performance of it if he had taken it; But grant both that he had taken it, and alſo that he were thereby bound unto you, yet could you not from thence juſtly claime your demaunds, for that which the Oath binds to is the granting of juſt and reaſonable things, but the things that you demaund are proper and fit onely for ingenuous ſubiects, or rather for Conſortibus Imperij, whereas (you know) Non decet Liberorum panem Canibus objicere; you have no reaſon to diſdain the compariſon, ſince that Dogs themſeves are ſo diſdainable beyond other creatures onely for this that they are beyond the reſt, ſuch Servi Voluntari•.
Object. 4.
But the King is bound to theſe things by the Law of nature and inferences from Salus populi which is the ſupreame law:
12Anſw.
Yee have nothing to doe with the priviledges of the Law of nature or Salus populi, while you adhere to a ſubjectedneſſe by right of conqueſt, for in ſo doeing, you renounce them: neither will any man ſay, you deſerve them, while having Liberty (that is Obedience in reference to a ſucceſſion from the legitimate Princes of your own blood) and Servitude (that his ſubiection in reference to a (pretended) Conqueſt) both which Titles are concurrent in His Majeſtie, who (no doubt) is willing to indulge aſwell to the honour as to the benefit of his Subjects, while (I ſay) having theſe two ſet before you, you reject the firſt, and preferre the ſervitude: In this Caſe therefore you are to look onely to the nature of the Law of Co•queſt•, which as you may reade in Caeſar, lib 1. de Bello Gallico, is this, vt hi qui Viciſſent his quos Viciſſent quem admodum Vellent Imperarent, that the Conquered are under the arbitrary Government and power of the Conquerour; And conſequently, while ye are pleaſed to remaine in that qualitie, you are to make much of your Princes Grants of favour, whether paſt, or future, and not to challenge more, for no more belongs to you: In ſumme it is plaine, that while you retain your deare profeſſion of Captivitie (notwithſtanding all allegations whatſoever, that have been, or can be raiſed to the contrarie) in contending for ungranted Priviledges, you doe but act Sedition, and repeat the old Bellum Servile.
Demonſtrations from Scripture (for thoſe that will not underſtand Reaſon) That to be under Conqueſt is to13 be in Slavery, and that ſuch Servitude is a Curſe, and conſequently that it is abſurd to pretend to make this Nation bleſſed (or happy) and yet to leave her in that qualitie.
Of whom a man is overcome,2 Pet. 2.19. of the ſame he is brought in Bondage. Now that ſuch Bondage is a curſe may ſufficiently appeare by Inferences from the following Texts.
Curſed be Cham,Gen. 9.5., R•m. 9, 12, 13. he ſhall be a Servant of Servants. Th'elder ſhall Serve, &c. as it is written, Eſau have I hated; where ſuch Servitude is made a Demonſtration of the divine hatred.
The Stranger that is within thee ſhall get up above thee very high and thou ſhalt come down very low,Deut, 28.12. in that grand Charter if Curſes. he ſhall lend to thee, and thou ſhalt not l•nd to him, (viz. Lawes, Language, Cuſtomes, &c.) he ſhall be the head, and thou ſhalt be the taile, which is ou•very Caſe.
In ſumme, while ye foſter the Right, Title, and Evidences of this (pretended) Conqueſt, Ye make a curſed Slave of your Country an uſurping Forrainer of your King, and your Selves ſtrange Servi•ors to both. And therefore one may juſtly ſay to our Reformers, in the behalfe of England, as Cato once did to Pompey in the Cauſe of Rome, Miſeram quid decipis urbem Si ſervire potes? Never pretend to lead us out of our Grievances into Bleſſedneſſe, If you account the injuries and diſgrace of a (pretended) Conqueſt, for no Burthen, and can be content to ſuffer your ſelves, and your Nation to weare forever the accurſed Title and Badges of Captivitie.
If ye aske what then is to be done? ye may pleaſe to ſee what is ſet down in Anti-Norm. p. 19. which14 may be eaſily eff•cted without injury to or iuſt oppoſition of an•which is alſo required not only by this N•tions Right, but alſo by the Right of his Maj. juſt Title (de•ived from the Engliſh Bloud-Royall, one way, and from St. Edwards Legacie joyned with this N•tions admiſſion of the Normane Bloud, another way) againſt the unjuſt uſurpation of his other Title attributed to his Bloud (at firſt by Traytors and Enemies to this Nation) from a (pretended) Conqueſt, which even Dr. Hudſon in his late Book of Government, p. 123, 124. (though one of the greateſt Royaliſts in the Kingdome) declares to be no bet•er then Sacrilegious Theft and Robberie, and that the ſame ought both in Honour and Conſcience, to be oppugned by all dutifull Patriots with their utmoſt abilities.