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<DATE>2014-06-30</DATE>
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<NAME>TCP Staff (Michigan)</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140511.apex.</ITEM>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P> A PERTINENT SPEECH Made by an Honourable MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, TENDING To the E&s;tabli&s;hment of Kingly Go|vernment, as the only way to the &s;etling of the&s;e three di&s;tracted Nations in their due Rights, Privileges and Immunities.</P>
<P>LONDON, Printed in the Year, 1660.</P>
<PB REF="2">
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<DIV1 TYPE="oration">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>THE SPEECH Of a VVorthy Member of Parliament, Upon the pre&s;ent Debates of &s;et|ling a Government and Qualificati|ons of Members, to be elected in the next Parliament.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Mr. Speaker,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>AS&punc; we who were forcibly excluded by the Ambition of General <HI>Cromwell,</HI> and his Re|bellious Army, from &s;itting in the Hou&s;e, or performing tho&s;e Tru&s;ts impo&s;ed on us by the People as their Repre&s;entatatives in Parliament, Ought to acknowledge our Re-inve&s;ting, as a high providence of God, and look upon it as a gracious di&s;pen&s;ation of his mercy to us and the&s;e three Nations; So, I think it our Duty and Obligation in an&s;wer to &s;uch a mercy, to endeavour to the ut|mo&s;t of our power, the re-e&s;tabli&s;hing of the&s;e Nati|ons in Peace and Quietne&s;&s;e, and the &s;ettlement of &s;uch a Government as may be&s;t quadrate with the Spirits and Temper of the people.</P>
<P>That Vici&s;&s;itudes and Changes of Government (&s;uch as hath lately been impo&s;ed upon us by a par|cel of the mo&s;t fanatique, mad-brain'd Spirits of the Nation) do clearly tend to the ruine of any King|dom, Common-wealth, or Society of men what&s;oe|ver,
<PB N="2" REF="3"> we have lately &s;een by too &s;ad Experience. Such Changes being only the Scourges wherewith God cha&s;ti&s;es Rebellious Kingdoms, and &s;uch Spirits on|ly &s;ent into the World to be ruine and di&s;traction of tho&s;e Nations they live in.</P>
<P>I need not at all in&s;i&s;t upon our forcible exclu&s;ion, tho&s;e things we re&s;olved on before it; The Solemn League and Covenant we took (to e&s;tabli&s;h and de|fend the King, his Succe&s;&s;ors in their E&s;tate,) The many Fallacyes and cheats &s;ince put upon the Nati|on, by tho&s;e, who under a pretence of Right to e|&s;tabli&s;h a Government over them, have only endea|voured to maintain their own, or introduce others to execute an unju&s;t, illegal, and arbitrary Power over the&s;e Kingdoms.</P>
<P>But Mr. Speaker, let me &s;ay a little to the pre&s;ent &s;en&s;e of the Nation, let us take the genera|lity of the People, even to the very Plough|man (who is not po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with a Fanatick Spirit) and we &s;hall find, that they were now &s;o highly &s;en|&s;ible of the Oppre&s;&s;ions and Burthens laid upon them; that like de&s;perate men they are ready to catch at what they before di&s;avowed, and gape after the Government by a King, which they formerly &s;o re&s;olutely declamed and fought again&s;t; by &s;o &s;ad experience have they learned <HI>the difference be|tween the Government by a Prince and by Pea&s;auts:</HI> and though they might (if tho&s;e who then pretended them&s;elves a Parliament, and the Supreme Autho|rity of the Nation had &s;truck whil&s;t the Iron was hot) have accepted of a Government by a Common|wealth, which was then &s;o highly pretended to be e&s;tabli&s;hed; Yet having now found out the frandu|lent de&s;igns of tho&s;e men who under &s;uch pretences endeavoured only to perpetuate them&s;elves in the Government, to en&s;lave the People, intrench upon their Liberties, and ingro&s;&s;e their E&s;tates, they are wholly revived from that Fanatick Slumber, &s;o far, that had God continued &s;till his Scourge upon this
<PB N="3" REF="3"> Nation, the name of a Parliament would ere 1660. had been pa&s;t have grown as odious to the People, (who were &s;ufficiently gull'd with Mock-Repre&s;enta|tives) as that of a King was in 1648. And &s;uffici|ently odious indeed alteady grown, the whole Na|tion groauing under their Exorbitances, having turn'd the Scale, and made the Name of a King grown &s;weet again in their Mouths, they finding by expe|rience, that the Government of a King, though Ty|rannical is far better, than the u&s;urping Tyranny of many Plebeians.</P>
<P>Nor Sir, do the Common people only under&s;tand their own particular intere&s;t, but begin to pry into a National; the lawfull Heir, who was formerly cryed up for the Common enemy of <HI>Englands</HI> peace, is now (with as much applau&s;e, as before with di&s;|grace) &s;ainted, and now look'd upon as the only Per&s;on, who&s;e readmi&s;&s;ion to the Crown, can make the&s;e Nations happy, and re&s;tore them to their due Rights, Liberties, and Privileges, there being many who are now li&s;tned to as Oracles, living to recount the <HI>Halcyon</HI> daies they enjoyedunder his Father.</P>
<P>'Tis (Sir) an old Proverb, and has proved as true as old <HI>Vox Populi, Vox Dei.</HI> The general voice of the people is the Oracle by which God declares his mind, They are his Prophet by whom he &s;peaks: What have we then to do? 'tis the voice of God, 'tis the hearty de&s;ires of the people, 'tis the Intere&s;t of the Nation, 'tis according to our own Oath in the Solemn League and Covenant, and &s;hall we when pre&s;t by all the&s;e &s;till re&s;i&s;t the re-admittance of the lawfull Heir to the Crown? Shall we &s;till re&s;i&s;t our own Intere&s;t? Shall we &s;till deny the cry of the people for Right? Or &s;hall we further provoke the vengeance of God upon us for tho&s;e crying &s;ins of his Fathers Murder and his Expul&s;ion.</P>
<P>But Mr. Speakes, there are many people (&s;ay &s;ome) who&s;e Intere&s;ts are &s;o oppo&s;ite to that of the lawfull Heir, that they cannot &s;ub&s;i&s;t together, the&s;e
<PB N="4" REF="4"> men have bought his, the Bi&s;hops, Deans, and Chap|ters Lands, have ventured their lives and fortunes a|gain&s;t him; Nay it may be objected, that the whole Nation hath been engaged again&s;t him to regain their Liberties, and free them&s;elves from the preten|ded Tyrannies of his Father. But Sir, Did the Parliament when it was free and full ever deem, or vote the late King a Tyrant or Traytor? Was his Impri&s;onment, much le&s;&s;e his Death, ever voted in the Hou&s;e when &s;o? Was not the fir&s;t taking up of Arms under Declaration to maintain the Parlia|ments Privileges, without infringing the Kings Pre|rogative? Did we not all unanimou&s;ly &s;wear to maintain the King in his due Rights, to bring him back to his Parliament, to &s;ettle him in his Throne with glory? How comes it then to pa&s;&s;e, that we who when we were excluded the Hou&s;e, left a King alive, left a Hou&s;e of Lords, the &s;econd E&s;tates of the Kingdom, (and which onely can compleat a free Parliament) &s;itting without a Hou&s;e of Com|mons full and cho&s;en by the free Votes of the peo|ple? Now at our admi&s;&s;ion find our King murde|red, Our Hou&s;e of Peers excluded, the Hou&s;e of Commons reduced to the fifth part of their due num|ber, and their numerous fellow-Members impeded &s;itting for eleven years. I think Mr. Speaker, it would not be ami&s;&s;e to examin by what Authority the&s;e things have been done. <HI>Is it thus, that the whole Na|tion was engaged to regain their Liberties?</HI> A fair ha|zard! But what power had tho&s;e who continued &s;itting, to execute this Arbitrary Authority? which of the Fundamental Laws of the Land did inve&s;t them with Authority to cut off their Kings head, to degrade the Bi&s;hops, to di&s;inherit his po&s;terity, to aboli&s;h Kingly Government, under which this Na|tion had &s;o long and happily flouri&s;hed, and to &s;ell the Kings, Queens, Princes, Bi&s;hops, Deans and Chapters Lands, or rather to en&s;lave them&s;elves in them, and to act at their will and plea&s;ure, though to the ruine of the Nation?</P>
<PB N="5" REF="4">
<P> The Law affords any man to take his own goods where he finds them, though bought by the then po&s;&s;e&s;&s;or, Why &s;hould not then the&s;e men who have bought tho&s;e Lands which were in effect &s;tolen (the others having no power to &s;ell them) be inforced to re&s;tore them, and (if there could be any, their Woods and Rents having already more than made good the Purcha&s;es) &s;it down with the lo&s;&s;e for their &s;urreptitious bargains?</P>
<P>But Sir, 'tis objected, that the violent Re&s;taura|tion of the&s;e Lands, will (together with that bug|bear <HI>Liberty of Con&s;cience)</HI> breed a new Civil War; That the Land hath been &s;ufficiently watered with its Native blood, That a new di&s;turbance will be the ruine of the whole, and that we have found by experience, that it's better to &s;it &s;till and content our &s;elves, under the oppre&s;&s;ion, than &s;eek help by Civil Di&s;turbance, who&s;e Remedy proves often wor&s;e than the di&s;ea&s;e, &s;o that the&s;e Lands not being re&s;tored the re&punc;admi&s;&s;ion of the lawfull Heir may be judged impo&s;&s;ible, there being no E&s;tate found to maintain a Kingly Court and Charge.</P>
<P>Could we Mr. Speaker find wayes to maintain our a&s;piring General <HI>Cromwel,</HI> and to keep his Court in more &s;plendor than ever did King of <HI>England?</HI> and cannot we as well find means to maintain the true and lawfull Heir, the Charge likewi&s;e likely to be abated by the pay of the Army being clearly ta|ken off, which by his re admitment will be found &s;u|perfluons?</P>
<P>I need not at all inlarge my &s;elf in rea&s;ons, there's none &s;o dull but mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily yield to his re-ad|mitment, except their Intere&s;t infatuates their under|&s;tandings. Let us then Mr. Speaker, who are yet look'd upon by the people to have our hands dip'd in &s;ome mea&s;ure in the Nations mi&s;eries, by beginning that deplorable War, lay a plai&s;ter to the wounds and Bal&s;ome to the &s;ores of the&s;e di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Nations, by <HI>Re&s;toring them their Kings as at the fir&s;t, and their Princes as at the beginning.</HI> </P>
<PB N="6" REF="5">
<P> No<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> let us be a&s;hamed after having &s;o long gone out of the way, after all this ob&s;tinacy of Spirit, af|ter the expence of &s;o much blood and Trea&s;ure, to re|turn again unto tho&s;e paths of truth from which we have &s;o gro&s;&s;ely deviated, but rather repent for the wrongs we have done our Prince, for the wrongs we have done our Countrey, and for the wrongs we have done our &s;elves, and recall our true and rightful Prince, who will without doubt be &s;o gracious to par|don all offences.</P>
<P>But if Sir, there be &s;ome particular crimes of &s;o high a nature that they admit not pardon, &s;hall the Nation &s;till remain mi&s;erable for the offences of tho&s;e particular men? Shall <HI>England</HI> &s;till be unhappy for want of an ax or an halter to be be&s;towed on &s;ome who have &s;o ju&s;tly de&s;erved it? it mu&s;t not, can|not be.</P>
<P>Pardon Sir, this pa&s;&s;ion and prolixity, and give me leave to an&s;wer one more objection <HI>(i. e)</HI> that the people would be better &s;atisfied if this Parliament would wholly omit the &s;ettling of any Government, and leave it to a free Parliament; though this be di&s;|putable, yet we will grant it, but then what a Par|liament &s;hall they have, we have been long debating about their qualificatione. Shall the people have a free Parliement, or &s;hall they not? if they &s;hall have a free Parliament, then mu&s;t they have free liberty to choo&s;e whom they plea&s;e, if not, we do but fol|low former &s;teps, and &s;till endeavour to en&s;lave them.</P>
<P>To conclude, Mr. Speaker, we may in rea&s;on judge, that the fir&s;t thing done by a free Parliament, will be to invite the lawfull Heir to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, there being no likelyhood that any other Government can be &s;ettled, and therefore <HI>I</HI> think we had as good do it now upon &s;uch Terms and Conditions, as may &s;e|cure the peace and quiet of this Nations, and be &s;afe to them who have engaged again&s;t him.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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