The HIS T 0 RY of the PuRITANs. VoL. IT. Cl Ki 1 ng Il counties. The king in his fpeech at the opening the feffions, lvfarch 11a~;;, · 2 I'. reflecl:ed fcverely on the !all parliament, and fa id, he was rejolved to ~ mamtain the Jucce!Jion of the crown in the right line, and for quieting people's fears, he was willing to put the adminiftration into the hands of They revive a proteftant regent; but the commons rejected the propofal, to the in– the bill of exprefilble joy of the duke's party, and ordered the bill rj exclujion to exclujim. b b h . . J h . . d fi <J'heir pr~· e roug t m agatn. n t e mean t1me a mot1on was ma e to con 1 _ ceeding about der of the lofs of the bill in favour of the d!/Jenters !aft parliament. Sir the withWilliam Jones faid, " the bill was of great moment and fervice to the d~awmg the" country, and might be to their lives, in the time of a popi(h fuccelfor . ~~~~:011011 " but be the bill what it will, the precedent was of the higheft confe~ " quence; the king has a mgative to all bills, but furely the clerk of " the parliament has not. -- If this way be found out, that bills " !hall be thrown by, it may her.eafter be fa id, tbey were forgot and '' laid by, and fo we !hall never know whether the king would pafs " them or no: If this be fuffered 'tis in vain to fpend time " here -- " Jn conclufion this affair was referred to a conference with the houfe of lords, which was fruftrated by the hafly diffolution of the parliament. Fitz Harris'~ They next went upon the libel of one Fitz-Harris, an irifh paptjt, foam plot ~e- which was a fecond meal tub plot, promoted in the name of the non– jif~'f}t'nfl conformifl:s; the libel was to be fent by penny poll: letters to the lords who ~~r~e;nt;~s. had protefted in favour of the bill of excluGon, and to the leading men 497· ' in the houfe of commons, who were immediately to be apprehended Eachard. and fearched. Ewrard, who was Fitz-Harris's confident, and betray– ed the fecret, affirmed that the king himfelf was privy to it, as Fitz– Harris's wife averred to a perfon of worth many years after; that his majefty had given Fitz-.Harris money, and promifed him more if it His libel. met with fuccefs. The libel was to traduce the king and the royal fa– mily as papifls, and arbitrarily affeCted from the beginning, and fays, that king Charles I. had a band in the irijh rebellion -- That th e act forbidding to call the king a papift, was only to fl:op mens mouth~, and that it was as much in the power of the people to depofe a popijh prf– .fejfor as a popijh .fucceJ!Or. It was entituled the true englifh-man;peaking plain englifh; and adds, "If jAMES be confcious and gui lty, CHARLES· " is fo too; believe me thefe two brothers in iniquity are in confedera– " cy with the pope and the french, to introduce popery and arbitrary go– " vernment, and to call: off parliaments, magna charta, and the liberty " of the fubject, as heavy yokes, and to be as arbitrary as the king of " France --Let the englijh move and rife as one man to [elf-defence; .. blow the trumpet, ftand on your guard, and withftand them as bears '' and
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