Chap. XII. The HISTORY of the PURITANS. 809 2. It was argued further, that the kinghad provided againft any future K. Charles.I. opprefjions ofthefubjeel, by confenting to the attfor triennialparliaments! `6 To which it was replied, that the triennial att, in the prefent fitua- tion of the court, was not a fufl'rcient fecurity of our laws and liberties ; for fuppofe at the end of three years, when the king was in full poffef- fion of the regal power, having all the forts and garrifons arms and am- munition of thekingdom at his difpofal, with his old ministry about him, the council should declare, that the NECESSITY OF HIS MAJESTY'S AFFAIRS obliged him to difpenfe with the triennial ail, what sheriff of a county, or other officer, would venture to put it in execution ? Be- fides, had not the king, from this very principle, fufpended and broke" through the laws of the land for twelve years together before the meeting of this prefent parliament ? And did not his majefty yield to the new laws with a manifeft reluctance ? Did he not affect to call them acts of grace and not of justice ? Were not forte of them extorted from him by such arguments as thefe ? That his confent to them beingforced, they were in them- [e elves invalid, and might be avoided in better times. Lord Clarendon Voi. II. fays, he had reafon to believe this and if his lordship believed it, I can't P. 430. fee how it can reafonably becalled in queltion. Bithop Burnet is of the fame mind, and declares in the hiftory of his life and times, 00 that his " majesty never came into his conceffions feafonably, nor with a good "grace ; all appeared to be extorted from him ; and there were grounds " to believe, that he intended not to ftand to them any longer than he " lay under that force that vifibly drew them upon him, contrary to his " own inclinations." To all whichwe may add the words of father Or- leans the jefuit, who fays, that all mankind believed at that time, that " theking did not grant fo much but in order to revoke all." 3. It was laid, that the king hadfees: his mflake, and hadAce voweá and protelled in the mollfolemn manner, thatfir the future he would go- vern according to law. To which it was replied; that if the PETITION OF RIGHT fo fo- lemnly ratified from the throne, in prefence of bothhonks of parliament, was fo quickly broke through, what dependance could be had upon the royal promifi? For though the king himfelf might be a prince of virtue and honour, yet his fpeeches (lays Mr. Rapin) were full of ambiguities and fecret reserves, that left room for different interpretations; betides; many things were tranfaéted without his knowledge, and therefore fo long as the queen was at the head of his councils, they looked upon his royal word only as the promife of a minor, or of 'a man under fuperior direc- tion, which was the molt favourable interpretation could be made of the many violations of it in the course of fifteen years. " The queen, who VoL. I. 5 L " was
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