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<DATE>2014-11-12</DATE>
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<NAME>TCP Staff (Michigan)</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140729.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B28611">
<STC T="W">Q165</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">[ocm]12147215</BIBNO>
<VID>197083</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>QVERES AND CONIECTVRES. Concerning the pre&s;ent &s;tate of this Kingdome.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON</HI> Printed for <HI>Richard Roy&s;ton.</HI> 1643.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="2" REF="2">
<HEAD>Quaere's and Conjectures, concerning the the pre&s;ent &s;tate of this Kingdome.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>1. QVAERE.</HEAD>
<P><HI>What i&s;&s;ue may probably be expected of the&s;e great differences among&s;t us.</HI></P>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>CONIECTURE.</HEAD>
<P>_THere are but three conditions that can po&s;&s;ibly befall us; <HI>Accommodation, Victory,</HI> or the <HI>continuance</HI> of the&s;e <HI>civill warres.</HI></P>
<P>As for Accomodation, there are but &s;lender hopes of that, if a man &s;eriou&s;ly weighs the&s;e particulars.</P>
<P N="1">1. The confidence which both &s;ides have of their owne &s;trength together with their &s;everall &s;ucce&s;&s;es.</P>
<P N="2">2. The mutuall &s;ufferings, whereby they have exa&s;perated one another.</P>
<P N="3">3. The deep ingagements of both parties, not onely of their for|tunes, friends, per&s;ons, but the tye of an Oath (according to &s;eve|rall interpretations,) the bond of religion, which of all other doe make men more eager and zealous in their pro&s;ecution.</P>
<P N="4">4. The great di&s;tance of tearmes on which they &s;tand, each fide expecting that of the other, which according to their owne &s;up|po&s;itions cannot be imagined po&s;&s;ible, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. That &s;uch Delinquentrs &s;hould be delivered up, who by their owne acknowledgement are &s;o prevalent, and of &s;uch autho|rity on each &s;ide, that they carry all bu&s;ine&s;&s;es as they them&s;elves plea&s;e. As if men would con&s;ent to their owne ruines.</P>
<P N="2">2. That they may have the chiefe power and places of the King|dome at their owne di&s;po&s;all, which neither &s;ide can enjoy with a|ny &s;ufficient &s;ecurity to the other.</P>
<P>As for victory, it is not ea&s;ily conceiveable upon what ground
<PB N="3" REF="2">any judicious man and lover of his Countrey can rationally de|&s;ire it; or if he &s;hould, yet it &s;eems &s;till as difficult to imagine what grounds he can have to hope for it; The &s;trength of both parties being late more equally poy&s;ed then before. Tis commonly gran|ted, that with his Maje&s;ty there are the generality of the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, throughout the whole Kingdome, and a great part of the people every where, who of late doe fall off from the other &s;ide every day more and more; So that if he &s;hould perhaps have the wor&s;t in one battaile, yet the e&s;tates, reputations, abilities, multitudes of tho&s;e that are ingaged on his &s;ide in &s;everall places, (e&s;pecially con&s;idering his di&s;per&s;ed Armies) would be able to re|paire it againe, and to hold out for a la&s;ting warre. As for &s;upply of moneys, 'tis as ea&s;ily imaginable, how he &s;hould get more, as how he &s;hould get &s;o much.</P>
<P>On the Parliaments &s;ide, there are, be&s;ide &s;ome Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, the greate&s;t part of the Communalty, the Corporations, Forts, and Navie. Nor is it without ground &s;u&s;pected, that many of tho&s;e who fall off from them, doe it to &s;ave charges, and for fear of future payments. In which kind when his Maje&s;ty &s;hall expect their a&s;&s;i&s;tance, they are like to prove as u&s;ele&s;&s;e to him, as they were be|fore to the Parliament. So that though we &s;hould &s;uppo&s;e, as many of the people to fall off from this &s;ide, as may probably be &s;u&s;pe|cted, yet tho&s;e that are cordially ingaged, with &s;uch advantages as they are like to keep, will be able to hold out &s;o long in a Civil war, till the whole Kingdome be ruined.</P>
<P>Since therefore there is &s;o little likelyhood either of <HI>Accommoda|tion</HI> or <HI>Victory,</HI> it mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily follow, that the mo&s;t probable expectation is the continuance of the&s;e warres.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>2 QVAERE.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Where lyes the fault of this unhappy divi&s;ion.</HI></P>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>CONIECTVRE.</HEAD>
<P>SInce both parties do in this difference appeal to every mans judg|ment, therefore I hope 'tis no great pre&s;umption to venture upon the determination of this <HI>Quaere,</HI> and I am &s;ure no extraordinary thing to mi&s;take in it.</P>
<PB N="4" REF="3">
<P N="1">1. Some there are who attribute all to a great de&s;igne, which hath been a long time acting among&s;t us for the introducing of Po|pery. In the pro&s;ecution of which, they conceive all the&s;e troubles to be rai&s;ed: But this others di&s;-reli&s;h as groundle&s;&s;e, becau&s;e his Maje&s;ty is &s;ufficiently known to be a re&s;olved Prote&s;tant, being na|turally of &s;uch a di&s;po&s;ition as will &s;trongly adhere unto tho&s;e prin|ciples which he hath once embraced.</P>
<P>As for the Bi&s;hops (to who&s;e former violences we owe much of our pre&s;ent mi&s;eries) though they might perhaps affectionatly in|cline to popery, in tho&s;e poynts which &s;eem to promote their owne greatne&s;&s;e; yet for other things, 'tis likely they did only connive at it in oppo&s;ition to Puritanes, whom they e&s;teemed their greate&s;t e|enmies; &s;o that though that religion might con&s;equently by this means have increa&s;ed and &s;toln in among&s;t us; yet 'tis not probable that it was by them directly intended and upon de&s;igne.</P>
<P N="2">2 Others there are, who (according as they are &s;everally ingaged) do a&s;cribe the fault of this divi&s;ion to the &s;everall parties of it. The relations of both &s;ides concerning the occa&s;ions &amp; pa&s;&s;ages of this difference being &s;o faire and plau&s;ible, that either of them alone were enough to in&s;inuate into the beliefe of any indifferent man.</P>
<P>His Maje&s;ty tells us, that at the beginning of this Parliament he did in every thing comply with their advice for the promoting of the publike good, granting unto them &s;o many acts of grace (be|yond any example of his Progenitors) as might abundantly repaire tho&s;e oppre&s;&s;ions and grievances, under which they have formerly &s;uffered. But when he had &s;uch &s;trong rea&s;ons to &s;u&s;pect that there was a prevalent Faction among&s;t them, combin'd together for the utter &s;ubver&s;ion of government, and that they would make Lawes without his a&s;&s;ent, when as fir&s;t by threats and tumults they had frighted away the major part of both Hou&s;es, who were otherwi&s;e affected, not without &s;ome danger to his owne per&s;on; then he was forced to withdraw him&s;elfe, and to provide for his owne per&s;on in remoter places.</P>
<P>On the other &s;ide, the <HI>Parliament</HI> acknowledge tho&s;e many good Lawes which they have propounded, and his Maje&s;ty hath pa&s;&s;ed; But withal they &s;ay, that there is great rea&s;on to &s;u&s;pect, that all the&s;e
<PB N="5" REF="3">acts were but unwillingly a&s;&s;ented unto, onely in &s;atisfaction to the exi|gencie of tho&s;e times, His Maje&s;ties bad Coun&s;ellors being &s;till as pre|valent with him as before, who might afterwards as ea&s;ily per&s;wade him to the breach of the&s;e new act, as they had formerly done to the breach of others: &s;o that all they had done was nothing worth, unle&s;&s;e there might be &s;ome further cour&s;e taken for the removal of the&s;e evill Coun|&s;ellors, and the &s;etling of the power of the Kingdome in &s;uch hands as might pre&s;erve the Lawes, and not de&s;troy them: It being very pro|bable, that tho&s;e Coun&s;ellors, who have now per&s;waded his Maje&s;ty to this oppo&s;ition of his Parliament, if the <HI>Militia</HI> had been at their di&s;po|&s;all, would them&s;elves have u&s;ed the power of it, for the &s;uppre&s;&s;ing of the Parliament.</P>
<P>Such plau&s;ible pretences are there on both &s;ides, that an hone&s;t man may very excu&s;ably mi&s;take, e&s;pecially if he under&s;tand the&s;e thing one|ly by Relation from others, and be not him&s;elfe an inqui&s;itive looker on upon the &s;everall pa&s;&s;ages of them.</P>
<P N="3">3. To me it &s;eems the mo&s;t probable conjecture, that mutuall jealou|&s;ie did fir&s;t make this wound, and mutuall bitterne&s;&s;e hath &s;ince fe&s;te|red and inlarged it.</P>
<P>Where the true&s;t ground of this jealou&s;ie lyes, mu&s;t be found by ex|amining the &s;everall parties, whether that change which hath produced our pre&s;ent troubles hath been in the people, or in the Governours. This may &s;eem hard to determine in this particular ca&s;e, though if a man &s;peake ab&s;tractly and in the generall: the truth is, it is not &s;o common nor &s;o likely for people to ri&s;e up without cau&s;e, as for Governors to oppre&s;s without cau&s;e. And on the other &s;ide, when the people have been much intrenched upon in their properties or liberties, it may probably be expe|cted, that when they doe &s;hew them&s;elves, they &s;hould appeare exa&s;pe|rated unto a high degree of, feare and impatience.</P>
<P>The bitterne&s;&s;e on both &s;ides hath been occa&s;ioned by 1. Violence in opinion. 2. Vnu&s;uall practi&s;es.</P>
<P>There are too many on both &s;ides who are &s;o eager and violent in their opinions, as &s;carce to allow him for an hone&s;t man, who is of a dif|ferent judgement from them, as if it were po&s;&s;ible, that there &s;hould be &s;o great a difference betwixt men of the &s;ame Religion, where per|&s;ons of Learning and Piety &s;hould not bee ingaged on both &s;ides.</P>
<P>Though a man had as good Iudgement and Affections as
<PB N="6" REF="4">he is capable of, yet &s;till they would be liable to the frailties of hu|mane nature. Injuries and hard dealing might exa&s;perate him, hopes and preferment might &s;educe him; conver&s;ation, Dependencies, friends, calling, have a great influence upon the mind, and may unawares in&s;inu|ate &s;trong prejudices. As for the lawfulne&s;&s;e of being ingaged on either &s;ide, I &s;uppo&s;e this ca&s;e hath been &s;o throughly di&s;cu&s;&s;ed <HI>pro</HI> and <HI>con,</HI> that that it is now grown as endle&s;&s;e as other controver&s;ies, &amp; that men of ho|ne&s;t affections may be on both &s;ides, on both parties. So that for matter of opinion, there &s;hould be a liberty granted for every one to goe accor|ding to his owne evidence.</P>
<P>But for matter of outward practi&s;e, as levying taxes upon the e&s;tates of others, and the like; it cannot be rea&s;onably expected, but that every one &s;hould be forced unto a conformity to that &s;ide, under who&s;e power he is. If a man will not willingly contribute, he mu&s;t look to have it ta|ken from him; if he will be active in &s;peaking or preaching again&s;t them, he mu&s;t think to be &s;ilenced and impri&s;oned, though in other re&s;pects he may be of never &s;o much known hone&s;ty and credit, yet he cannot rea|&s;onably imagine, that others &s;hould prefer his private wayes or opinions before that which to them &s;eems mo&s;t conducible to the publike wel|fare. So that &s;uch proceedings by either partie (&s;uppo&s;ing the ca&s;e un|decided, and that the&s;e proceedings be not made odious by circum&s;tan|ces) are in them&s;elves excu&s;able upon the grounds of common rea&s;on and policy: Which if men would equally con&s;ider, it would abate much of that bitterne&s;&s;e and violence on either &s;ide.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>3. QVAERE.</HEAD>
<P><HI>What is the be&s;t cure and remedy for our distempers.</HI></P>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<HEAD>CONIECTVRE.</HEAD>
<P>IF mutuall jealou&s;ie be the di&s;ea&s;e, then mutuall confidence mu&s;t be the cure, which is in his power onely to effect, in who&s;e hands are the hearts of all men.</P>
<P>But for outward applications, the be&s;t way of pre&s;cribing is to ac|commodate this difference by &s;ome middle way, wherein either party &s;hall remit &s;omewhat of the rigour of tho&s;e termes on which now they &s;tand. Onely here will be the difficulty, how to frame &s;uch an accom|modation as may by both &s;ides be e&s;teemed &s;afe and honourable. This perhaps would not be &s;o difficult, if it were not for that which &s;eemes
<PB N="7" REF="4">to make it very ea&s;ie, I meane that neare relation betwixt King and peo|ple, who&s;e mutual concernments &s;hould be &s;o intwined, that the honour and &s;afety of the one &s;hould be &s;o to the other.</P>
<P>But as the ca&s;e now &s;tands, the&s;e two mu&s;t be con&s;idered according to their divided intere&s;ts: And under this notion the chief enquiry mu&s;t be (&s;uppo&s;ing the ca&s;e undecided) which &s;ide may &s;uffer with lea&s;t preju|dice to it &s;elfe, and to the publike welfare.</P>
<P>And here to me it &s;eems for matter of power and &s;afety, that there is le&s;&s;e danger in the Kings yielding too much, than in the Parliaments; for experience tells us, (as hath been often ob&s;erved) that what the people once lo&s;e, is &s;carce ever recovered again; whereas what the King part<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> with, is afterwards by the &s;ubtilty of Stati&s;ts ea&s;ily regained.</P>
<P>And for matter of honour, it is con&s;iderable:</P>
<P N="1">1. That where the fault is lea&s;t, the di&s;honour mu&s;t be lea&s;t. But now the fault mu&s;t needs be le&s;&s;e in his Maje&s;tie, who is but one, and may more ea&s;ily bee deceived by mi&s;-information, than in the Parliament, which being an a&s;&s;embly of &s;o many choy&s;e per&s;ons, cannot be &s;o liable to mi&s;takes, and con&s;equeetly are not &s;o excu&s;able for them.</P>
<P N="2">2 It &s;eems nece&s;&s;arie, for the publike welfare, that the honour of that a&s;&s;embly &s;hould be pre&s;erved mo&s;t inviolable, and with the greate&s;t cau|tion, which is &s;o the &s;upream, that from it there can be no appeale: If this once lo&s;e its re&s;pect, it will pre&s;ently lo&s;e its power: And then the very con&s;titution of this Kingdome is utterly ruined.</P>
<P>But what then (may &s;ome &s;ay) &s;hal tho&s;e per&s;ons &s;uffer that are decla|red Delinquents, for being active on the Kings &s;ide? I an&s;wer, it cannot &s;tand with his Maje&s;ties honor to give them wholy over to puni&s;hment, nor with the Parlame~ts to let them wholy e&s;cape. In this difficulty ther|fore it may perhaps be &s;ome &s;atisfaction in the formality of Law, that they &s;hould be tried &amp; cen&s;ured, though they were afterwards pardoned.</P>
<P>If this may &s;eeme too hard and unequall, let it be con&s;idered, that 'tis no di&s;honour to yield to nece&s;&s;ity, e&s;pecially &s;uch de&s;perate nece&s;&s;i|ty, as that whereunto this Kingdome is now reduced.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="part">
<HEAD>4. QVAERIE.</HEAD>
<P><HI>Whether the likely inconveniences of &s;uch an Accommodation as may pro|bably be obtained, be not much to be preferred before tho&s;e great mi&s;chiefe that may accompany victory, or the continuance of the&s;e warres?</HI></P>
<DIV3 TYPE="section">
<PB N="8" REF="5">
<HEAD>CONIECTURE.</HEAD>
<P>IF the Prote&s;tant Religion may be &s;ecured, the Doctrine ratified, and the Di&s;cipline in &s;ome things reformed, for &s;atisfaction to te<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">der con&s;ciences, as is intended and proffered on both &s;ides. If our Liber|ties and properties may be en&s;afed according to tho&s;e new Acts which have been lately made: then me-thinks men &s;hould rather content them|&s;elves with thus much, than hazard all by further contentions.</P>
<P>The chiefe inconveniences of &s;uch an Accommodation would be:</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>The comming &s;hort of &s;o full a Reformation as &s;ome men aym at.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>The countenancing of tho&s;e per&s;ons that have been the chiefe in&s;truments and occa&s;ions of the&s;e mi&s;eries, and the di&s;countenancing of others that have beene active for the publike good.</HI></P>
<P>The mi&s;eries that may en&s;ue upon a victory (not con&s;idering the great charges, difficulty, and uncertainty of it are briefely the&s;e. 1. <HI>The effu&s;i|on of &s;o much bloud as it will co&s;t for the pre&s;ent; be&s;ides the mi&s;chiefe of a la|&s;ting and de&s;perate divi&s;ion for the future.</HI> 2. <HI>The extremities and violen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> which further oppo&s;ition may provoke unto, and &s;uch &s;ucce&s;&s;e encourage.</HI></P>
<P>If it be &s;ayd, that 'tis better to be cured by a Fever than to dye of a Lethargy; I an&s;wer, tis true where the Fever is a likely cure, and the Lethargie is certaine death, but not when both &s;eem equally mortall, or it may be, the cure more dangerous than the di&s;ea&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>The mi&s;chiefes that will befall us upon the continuance of the&s;e civill warres will be as many, as pre&s;sing, as our owne feares can create, or as our enemies can cur&s;e us with. It may deprive us of our arts, learning, our liberties and proper|ties, our Laws, and (it may be) our Religion too; &s;o that we &s;hall have nothing left us to be pre&s;erved. Many of our neighbrurs can by their owne experience, tell us &s;ad &s;tories of the mi&s;eries they have &s;uffered by it already: And if the begin|nings of it are &s;o cruell, what may be expected when it &s;hall more generally rage through the whole Kingdome, producing famine as it needs mu&s;t, when the hu&s;|bandman dares not &s;ow, or cannot reap, and con&s;equently all pestilentiall di&s;ea|&s;es which will follow upon cour&s;e and unwhol&s;ome dyets?</HI></P>
<P>Both the&s;e particulars have been excellently amplyfied by the Moderator, in whom you may &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> this Quaere &s;trongly and fully re&s;olved. Both &s;ides doe pretend to a defen&s;ive war, it will now appeare who have lea&s;t ground for this pretence by their Aver&s;ene&s;&s;e to Accommodation; &s;ince doubtle&s;&s;e if peace and &s;afety be their chiefe end, it mu&s;t needs be farre better for them to enjoy this with &s;ome inconveniences, than to want it with many more.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FFNIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
