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<DATE>2014-12-15</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<P>A DISCOVRSE in defen&s;e of the Londoners la&s;t Petition for PEACE: Shewing the Legality, Hone&s;ty, Iu&s;tice, and Commodity of the &s;aid Petition to the high Court of Parliament,</P>
<P>Again&s;t the opinions of &s;ome factious and turbulent &s;pirits, who de&s;ire a continuance of the war.</P>
<P>Written by <HI>H.G.C.L.B.</HI></P>
<Q LANG="lat">Nulla &s;alus bello, pacens nos po&s;cimus omnes.</Q>
<P><FIGURE>
<Q LANG="lat">IN DOMINO CONFIDO</Q>
<FIGDESC>printer's device consisting of a fleur-de-lis against a plain background with the motto "In Domine confido" (See McKerrow nos. 268-272.)</FIGDESC>
</FIGURE></P>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>Iohn Carter.</HI></P>
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<PB N="3" REF="3">
<HEAD>A Di&s;cour&s;e in defence of the Lon|doners la&s;t Petition for Peace.</HEAD>
<P>_GOd is the God of Peace, (&s;aith the Pro|phet;) &s;o is he called the Lord of Ho&s;ts, and the God of Battels: <HI>Peace</HI> is the At|tribute of his mercy, War of his ju&s;tice; by it he brui&s;eth offending Nations with a rod of Iron, &s;cattering them in his wrath, and con&s;uming them in his hea|vie di&s;plea&s;ure: by Peace he poures upon them the ble&s;&s;ing of Peace, the dew of Hermon, which alwayes engenders wealth, happine&s;&s;e, and plenty. Such have been the heaven|ly &s;howres, that have for many yeeres fertilized the beaute|ous face of this Kingdome, now for the &s;ins of the people o|ver-whelmed with a tempe&s;t of civill and inte&s;tine differen|ces, raging like an earth-quake in its very bowels: war on the one &s;ide (namely the Parliaments) having beene appa|rently nece&s;&s;ary and defen&s;ive; on his Maje&s;ties, mi&s;advi&s;ed by malignant coun&s;ells, de&s;tructive and ruinous.</P>
<P>For the compo&s;ition of the&s;e di&s;tractions, divers hopefull overtures have been propounded betwixt his Maje&s;ty and his high Court of Parliament, which had they been as gra|ciou&s;ly received, as heartily and loyally intended, wee had now enjoyed (that ble&s;&s;ing and te&s;timony of the Almighties love) peace in our dwellings. In the&s;e wars (as wee may rightly terme them on our &s;ide) for our countrey, the honou|rable
<PB N="4" REF="4">and ancient City of London hath been mo&s;t forward and zealous in their bounties, towards the &s;upport of the charge which hath depended on the&s;e military procee|dings: but &s;urely Man, in his owne nature being a rationall creature, mu&s;t needs delight in that which is accident to his rea&s;on, nay in&s;eparable from it, the de&s;ire of peace,
<Q LANG="lat">&mdash;<HI>pacem nos po&s;cimus omnes,</HI></Q> di&s;cord and di&s;&s;en&s;ion being the prop<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">rty of &s;avage bea&s;ts, who by the ferocity of their nature thir&s;t after blood: And certainly in no one thing doth man more re&s;emble the divine goodne&s;&s;e then in gentlene&s;&s;e and pitty. This de&s;ire of peace (as I am engaged to beleeve) hath induced many able and hone&s;t religious Citizens of London, to entreat in all humi|lity the high Court of Parliament to &s;hape &s;ome cour&s;e in their wi&s;edomes, for the compo&s;ing all differences with his Maje&s;ty. Which petition of theirs (di&s;liked by many facti|ous and turbulent &s;pirits) I &s;hall endevour to prove legall, hone&s;t, ju&s;t, and commodious, &s;o far as it is concurrent with and directed by the Votes of the honourable the high Court of Parliament. And fir&s;t, to prove its legality; that mu&s;t needs be legall which &s;eeks the pre&s;ervation of the funda|mentall Lawes of this Kingdome; This Petition &s;eekes the pre&s;ervation of the &s;aid Fundamentall Lawes; Therefore legall is this Petition. Nought in this Syllogi&s;me can com|prehend a doubt, except the <HI>minor,</HI> which is thus ea&s;ily pro|ved: That &s;eeks the pre&s;ervation of the Fundamentall laws, which labours to induce the pre&s;erver of all lawes: Peace is the pre&s;erver of all lawes, which this Petition labours to induce; <HI>Ergo,</HI> This Petition is legall. The Declaration is e|vident. Againe, the legality of this Petition is onely proved <HI>quatenus</HI> it is concurrent with, and directed by the Votes of the high Court of Parliament, that being the fountaine from whence the Fundamentall lawes of this Kingdome are deri|ved; and what&s;oever &s;trikes at the root of our lawes, mu&s;t needs &s;trike the lawes them&s;elves: Therefore neither this Petition, nor its abettors, can be &s;aid any longer to carry lega|lity
<PB N="5" REF="4">in their proceedings, then tho&s;e proceedings are con|current with, and directed by the Vetes of that &s;acred a&s;|&s;embly. But certainly the good and able Citizens, in their Petition &s;o humbly drawne and pre&s;ented, never intended any thing, but what &s;hould be con&s;onant and con&s;entaneous to the di&s;po&s;e of the Parliament: and if &s;o, the legality of their Petition may ju&s;tly ari&s;e triumphant over all the calum|nies of tho&s;e fiery and factious &s;pirits, that &s;o delight in war and blood-&s;hed.</P>
<P>Again, its hone&s;ty is &s;o con&s;picuous, (the clau&s;e afore&s;aid ob&s;erved) that it is as it were <HI>Sol quidem <Q LANG="grc"><GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 word"></Q></HI> (as the Greeks call it) a Sun inlightning every one, and &s;hining eve|ry way. For if we may believe that Stoicall Legi&s;lator of the Romanes, <HI>Cicero</HI> in his Paradox, namely, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Quod <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="4 words">,</HI> That onely is good that is hone&s;t; what can be hone&s;ter then this Petition, &s;ince there is nothing can be more repleni&s;hed with goodne&s;&s;e: good|ne&s;&s;e in re&s;pect of its obedience to the divine mandate, which bids us &s;eeke peace and en&s;ue it, pronouncing in an|other place, <HI>Beati p<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">cefice;</HI> and <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they that &s;eeke the peace of Sio<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> Good it is certainly in re&s;pect of the effect it would produce, namely, an union between the King and his people, a reconciliation betweene the di&s;&s;entious and Cadmean Brethren of this Nation, who with ho&s;tile hands &s;eek to teare out one anothers throats: Good al&s;o in regard of the definition of hone&s;ty it &s;elfe, which is in briefe, <HI>nihil iniu&s;te agere,</HI> and what better way can there be to compo&s;e the inju&s;tices now emergent in this Kingdome, then to take away the cau&s;e of them, <HI>Sublata cau&s;a tollitur effectus;</HI> the cau&s;es of innumerable rapines, thefts, murthers, burning and plundring (then which there can be no greater or more dire inju&s;tice) hath been the&s;e wars; they taken away (as is the intent of this Petition) tho&s;e inju&s;tices wold ea&s;ily cea&s;e, and therefore the hone&s;ty of the Petition <HI>(Luce meridiaenae cluri|us)</HI> is con&s;picuous to all indifferent judgements; tho&s;e men that would &s;till have warre, taxing them&s;elves of di&s;hone&s;ty
<PB N="6" REF="5">in di&s;allowing the hone&s;ty of this Petition, as far as it is concurrent with, and directed by the votes of Parliament, that is, as farre as it and the authours of it doe in all hu|mility &s;ubmit their judgements to the directions of that il|lu&s;trious Senate, the univer&s;all body of the Kingdome, who no doubt, know in their wi&s;domes, how, and on what termes to propound peace to his Maje&s;tie for the good o the Subject and &s;afety of the Kingdome, and will no longer &s;eeke to continue this fatall and unnaturall war, then the nece&s;&s;ary defence of the &s;tate injoynes them; and certainely, &s;o long as this City Petition was but an humble tender of their wi&s;hes to the high Court of Par|liament, leaving them to be directed and effectuated by their di&s;cretions, who can but grant it hone&s;t and legall? Thus much for the two fir&s;t points of the argument: briefly to the two la&s;t.</P>
<P>For its ju&s;tice, if that ju&s;tice <HI>qui tribuit &s;uum cuique pro|prium,</HI> as infallibly it is, nothing can be furni&s;h'd with a clearer equity then this Petition: fir&s;t, it &s;eekes to give to God Almighty that which is his owne, namely, the &s;etling of his due and true wor&s;hip: &s;econdly, it &s;trives to give the King that which is his owne, the obedience of his &s;ubjects: and thirdly, it endeavours to confer on the &s;ub|ject that which is his owne, the confirmation of their pri|viledges and properties: For &s;ure no man can imagine that the&s;e petitioning Citizens can be &s;o fooli&s;h as to intreat the Parliament to thinke of Propo&s;itions for peace, that might in&s;lave and inthr<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ll their liberties, and the immunities of their fellow &s;ubjects, they would &s;urely rather hazard and con&s;ume their e&s;tates and lives in the ju&s;t defence of the Parliaments proceedings: If they have any other &s;ini&s;ter end re&s;erv'd to them&s;elves, their Petition can neither be ju&s;t, hone&s;t nor legall, becau&s;e it can have then no concurrency with the votes of the high Court of Parliament, who being intru&s;ted with the &s;ecurity and freedome of the King|dome, will rather indure all the horrors of a warre then
<PB N="7" REF="5">by a prejudiciall peace give away, nay, as it were, betray the very e&s;&s;ence of the &s;ubject his liberty. For the commo|diou&s;ne&s;&s;e which is aym'd at in this Petition, &s;urely there can none &s;o much abu&s;e his owne rea&s;on, as to doubt it.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, by the&s;e wars this City, the mo&s;t famous Empo|rium or Mart towne of all <HI>Europe,</HI> is deve&s;ted of the greate&s;t part of the glory, honour and riches accrued to it by mer|chandize, forrainers being fearefull to bring their wares in|to any Countrey which is plung'd over head and eares in dome&s;tique troubles; and till peace and happy concord be &s;ettled &s;ome way in this Kingdome, that increa&s;e of com|merce can never be e&s;tabli&s;hed in this City; nor can they export out of this City their commodities into the Country, which is now &s;o full of Malignants &s;ouldiers nothing of value can e&s;cape their rapacious fingers: and certainly, if the taking away di&s;commodities may be allowed com|modious, nothing can be fuller of utility to this City and Kingdome then peace, &s;uch a peace I meane, as may be concurrent with, and directed by the votes of the high Court of Parliament, and pa&s;t di&s;pute, in the matter of this Petition nothing can be found which is either ille|gall, di&s;hone&s;t, unju&s;t, or di&s;commodious, if the manner of it doe not render it guilty of all of them; I meane the man|ner of pre&s;enting it, &s;uch a multitude following the deli|very of it to <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter</HI> to the high Court of Parliament, &s;uch an a&s;&s;embly rather carrying the face of a tumult then of men who came to Petition for redre&s;&s;e of grievances. <HI>Frustra &s;it per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora;</HI> halfe a dozen of the mo&s;t &s;ub&s;tantiall of the Petitioners, might with as much ea&s;e, and a more free acceptance, have had ac|ce&s;&s;e to the honourable the high Court of Parliament, then &s;uch a numerous company; but they demeaned them&s;elves civilly and peaceably, yet it had been ea&s;ier for them to have done &s;o, being but a few, then in &s;uch a multitude, among which, all could not be alike in their behaviour. But to conclude all this di&s;cour&s;e, the <HI>Atlas</HI> of our <HI>Engli&s;h</HI>
<PB N="8" REF="6">heaven the Parliament knowes better in their wi&s;edome what is fit, honourable and ju&s;t, for the City of <HI>London,</HI> and the whole Kingdome, then the Citizens or Subjects them|&s;elves; wee having onely matters contingent to our owne &s;afeties by relation, they by evident proofe, having a &s;ure and notorious intellgience of all the machinations of the Malignants again&s;t our lives and liberties: no mans Pe|tition therefore for peace (though in it &s;elfe, <HI>pax est opti|mum rerum</HI>) can be either legall, hone&s;t, ju&s;t, or commo|dious, further then it is concurrent with, and directed by the Votes of the honourable the high Court of Parliament, whom God in his mercy pre&s;erve for ever.</P>
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