DIE Martis, 15 die Aprilis.
REX.
Domini tam Spirituales quam Temporales præsentes
fuerunt:
| | |
Arch. Cant.
Epus. London.
Epus. Durham.
Epus. Carlile.
Epus. Rochester.
Epus. Ely.
Epus. Bath & Wells.
Epus. Landaff.
Epus. Worcester.
Epus. Exon. |
Dux Cumberland.
Ds. Cancellarius.
Ds. Custos Privati Sigilli.
Dux Albemarle.
Marq. Winton.
Comes Oxon.
Comes Kent.
Comes Derby.
Comes Huntingdon.
Comes Bedford.
Comes Suff.
Comes Salisbury.
Comes Bridgewater.
Comes North'ton.
Comes Denbigh.
Comes Bristol.
Comes Clare.
Comes Manchester.
Comes Mulgrave.
Comes Rivers.
Comes Petriburgh.
Comes Winchilsea.
Comes Carnarvon.
Comes Thannet.
Comes Strafford.
Comes Sunderland.
Comes Scarsdale.
Comes Rochester.
Comes St. Alban.
Comes Clarendon.
Comes Essex.
Comes Bath.
Comes Craven.
Comes Aylesbury.
Comes Burlington.
Comes Shaftesbury.
Comes Guilford.
Comes Sussex.
Vicecomes Fauconberg.
Vicecomes Halyfax.
Vicecomes Yarmouth.
Vicecomes Newport. |
Ds. Mowbray.
Ds. Delawar.
Ds. Berkeley.
Ds. Ferrers.
Ds. De Grey.
Ds. Eure.
Ds. Wharton.
Ds. Paget.
Ds. North & Grey.
Ds. Chandos.
Ds. Brooke.
Ds. Grey de Wark.
Ds. Robertes.
Ds. Lovelace.
Ds. Maynard.
Ds. Coventry.
Ds. Howard de Esc.
Ds. Herbert de Cherb.
Ds. Leigh.
Ds. Byron.
Ds. Vaughan.
Ds. Ward.
Ds. Colepeper.
Ds. Lucas.
Ds. Rockingham.
Ds. Gerard de Brand.
Ds. Wotton.
Ds. Delamer.
Ds. Frescheville.
Ds. Arundell de T.
Ds. Butler de M.Park. |
PRAYERS.
The Earl of Craven and the Lord Robertes are added
to the Committee for the Bill concerning the hindering
the Lord Treasurer, and other Officers, from making
undue Advantages of their Places.
The Lord Robertes is added to the Committee for
the Bill concerning the Lord Mohun's Estate.
King's Answer, concerning passing E. Danby's Bill.
The Lord Privy Seal reported, "That he and the
other Lords have presented to His Majesty Yesterday the humble Address of this House, concerning
His giving His Royal Assent to the Bill for the Attainder of the Earl of Danby.
"And His Majesty gives this Answer, That He will
appoint the Lords to be here To-morrow Morning,
in their Robes; and that His Majesty will be here
also."
Popish Lords to give in their Answers.
This Day being appointed for the Lords Prisoners in
The Tower to put in their Answers to the Articles of
Impeachment of the House of Commons against them;
which being called for, and not come:
It is ORDERED, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal
in Parliament assembled, That the Earl of Powis, Lord
Viscount Stafford, Lord Petre, and Lord Arundell of
Wardour, be brought to the Bar of this House To-morrow Morning, at Eleven of the Clock, by the Lieutenant of The Tower, to put in their respective Answers
to the said Articles of Impeachment: And this shall be
a sufficient Warrant on that Behalf.
It was moved, "That the Lord Bellasis's Answer
might be received now, in regard of his Lordship's
Sickness."
Which the House received, and read, as followeth:
Hitherto examined, this 1st of May, 1679, by us,
J. Bridgewater.
Clarendon.
Craven.
P. Bath & Wells.
Vaughan Carbery.
Delamer.
"The several Plea of John Lord Bellasis, now Prisoner in The Tower of London, to Part, and his
several Answer to the Residue, of the Articles of
Impeachment of High Treason, and other high
Crimes and Offences, exhibited to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled,
against the said Lord, and others therein named,
whereof the said Lord stands impeached, by the
Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses in Parliament
assembled, in the Name of themselves and of
all the Commons of England.
L. Bellasis's Answer to his Impeachment.
"The said Lord, in the First Place, and before all
others, protesting his Innocence of and from all the
Treasons, and other Crimes and Offences whatsoever,
in the said Articles contained, and no Way acknowledging, confessing, granting, or admitting, all or
any the Clauses, Articles, or Matters, in the said
Articles of Impeachment contained or specified, so
far as the same any Way concerns him, to be true,
as in and by the same Articles of Impeachment is
supposed; and humbly praying a favourable Construction by this most Honourable House of what the
said Lord shall humbly offer, by Way of Plea, to such
Part of the Impeachment as is hereunder mentioned,
and that the same may not be taken or construed as
any Subterfuge or Evasion of the Justice of this most
Honourable House, to which the said Lord doth, with
all Humility, wholly submit himself; desiring above
all Things the Trial of his Cause by this most Honourable House, so that he may be provided to make
his just Defence, for the clearing of his Innocence
from the great and heinous Crimes charged upon him
by the said Impeachment: This being prayed, as
also Liberty to correct, amend, or explain, any Thing
in this his Plea and Answer contained, which may any
Way give this Honourable House any Occasion of
Offence; and, he hopeth, being granted; the said
Lord, as to that Part of the Impeachment which
containeth the Matter following; namely, "That, for
many Years now last past, there hath been contrived
and carried on, by Papists, a traiterous and execrable
Conspiracy and Plot, within this Kingdom of England
and other Places, to alter, change, and subvert, the
ancient Government and Laws of this Kingdom and
Nation, and to suppress the true Religion therein
established, and to extirpate and destroy the Professors thereof; and that the said Plot and Conspiracy
was contrived and carried on, in divers Places, and by
several Ways and Means, and by a great Number of
Persons of several Qualities and Degrees, who acted
therein, and intended thereby to execute and accomplish their aforesaid wicked and traiterous Designs and
Purposes; that the said John Lord Bellasis, and the
other Lords therein named, together with several
other Persons therein likewise named or mentioned,
as false Traitors to His Majesty and this Kingdom,
within the Time aforesaid, have traiterously consulted, contrived, and acted, to and for the accomplishing
the said wicked, pernicious, and traiterous Designs;
and, for that End, did most wickedly and traiterously
agree, conspire, and resolve, to imprison, depose,
and murder, His Sacred Majesty, and to deprive Him
of His Royal Estate, Crown, and Dignity; and, by
malicious and advised speaking, writing, and otherwise declaring, such their Purposes and Intentions;
and also to subject this Kingdom and Nation to the
Pope, and to His tyrannical Government; and to
seize and share amongst themselves the Estates and Inheritances of His Majesty's Protestant Subjects; and
to erect and restore Abbies, Monasteries, and other
Convents and Societies, which have been long since,
by the Laws of this Kingdom, suppressed, for their
Superstition and Idolatry; and to deliver up and restore to them the Lands and Possessions now vested
in His Majesty and His Subjects by the Laws and
Statutes of this Realm, and also to found and erect
new Monasteries and Convents; and to remove and
deprive all Protestant Bishops, and other Ecclesiastical
Persons, from their Offices, Benefices, and Preferments; and by this Means to destroy His Majesty's
Person, extirpate the Protestant Religion, overthrow
the Rights, Liberties, and Properties, of all His Majesty's good Subjects, subvert the lawful Government
of this Kingdom, and subject the same to the Tyranny
of the See of Rome; and that the said Conspirators,
and their 'Complices and Consederates, traiterously
had and held several Meetings, Assemblies, and Consultations, wherein it was contrived and designed
amongst them, what Means should be used, and what
Persons and Instruments should be employed, to murder His Majesty; and did then and there resolve to
effect it by poisoning, shooting, stabbing, or some
such like Ways and Means;" and also to that Part of
the Impeachment which chargeth, "That the said
Lord Bellasis, and the other Persons in the said Impeachment named, the better to compass their traiterous Designs, have consulted to raise Men, Money,
Horses, Arms, and Ammunition;" the said Lord,
saving to himself the Liberty of answering over and
denying all and singular the said Crimes and Offences
charged upon him, saith, and humbly offereth to this
most Honourable House, That the Charge of those
Crimes and Offences, so imposed upon him by the
said Impeachment, is so general and uncertain, that
he cannot by any Possibility give any direct Answer
thereto, nor make his just and lawful Defence upon
any Trial of the same; for that the said Charge hath
no Manner of Certainty in Point of Time, it being
said only, "for many Years now last past, a traiterous
and execrable Plot and Conspiracy hath been contrived and carried on;" which may be for Five, Ten,
Twenty, or Thirty, or more Years past; whereby,
although the said Lord knoweth himself to be altogether innocent of any such horrid and detestable
Crimes as by the said Impeachment are objected
against him, yet it is no Way possible for him, upon
any Trial thereof, to be prepared with his just and
lawful Defence, by Witnesses, to prove himself absent
and in another Place at the Time of such Meeting
or Consultation to or for any the wicked Designs and
Purposes in the said Impeachment mentioned, as
upon his Trial may be suddenly objected against
him, when he cannot by any Care or Foresight
whatsoever have such Witnesses ready as could disprove the same, if he were certainly charged for
any traiterous Act or Crime at any Time certainly
alledged in the said Impeachment; nor is the same
Charge in the said Impeachment more certain as to
the Place of any such traiterous Meeting or Consultation laid down in the said Impeachment, it being
only alledged to be "at divers Places within the Realm
of England and elsewhere;" which, for the Causes
aforesaid, is likewise so utterly uncertain, that it deprives the said Lord of his just Defence upon his
Trial: The Incertainty likewise of the Number of
Meetings or Consultations to the wicked Purposes in
the Impeachment mentioned, and the not shewing
how many Times the said Lord met and consulted,
and with whom in particular, doth likewise deprive him of all Possibility of making his Defence,
or producing his Witnesses; for that the said Lord
Bellasis, being wholly innocent, cannot suppose or
imagine what Meeting or Consultation, either to
raise Men or Money, for the carrying on of a traiterous Design, or to any other wicked Intent or Purpose in the said Impeachment mentioned, shall or
may be objected against him upon his Trial; and it
is as much impossible for him to bring Witnesses to
prove all the Meetings he hath had with others in
his Life-time, as it is for him to know, upon this
general Charge, what Meeting or Consultation may
upon his Trial be objected against him as a traiterous Meeting, or Consultation: And where it is
in the said Impeachment charged upon the said Lord,
"That he hath uttered Treason, by malicious and
advised speaking, writing, and otherwise declaring;"
that the said Lord saith, That never any traiterous
Thought ever entered into his Heart; and therefore
he cannot possibly know or discover what Words or
Writing he ever spoke, uttered, writ, or declared,
which are now charged upon him as Treason; there
being no Words or Writing at all specified in the
Impeachment, whereby the said Lord might know
how to prepare his Defence against them, or that
this most Honourable House might judge whether
the same Words or Writing were in Law treasonable or not.
This foregoing Answer of the Lord Belasyse could not be examine by us, because the Original of it was, by Order of the House, delivered back to his Lordship before our Meeting to examine the Book; but it was read before us, May 1st, 1679.
J. Bridgewater.
Clarendon.
Craven.
Bath & Wells.
Vaughan Carbery.
Delamer.
"All which Incertainties, and the imminent and
apparent Danger of the said Lord's being
thereupon surprized in his Trial of a Cause
of this Consequence to the said Lord, wherein
his Life, and Honour more dear to him than
his Life, and all else that is dear to him in
this World, are immediately concerned, being
seriously weighed and considered by your
Lordships; he humbly prayeth, as by his
Counsel he is advised, That your Lordships
will not put him to answer the said Impeachment, as to the Charges herein above
recited, till the same be reduced to some
competent Certainty, that the said Lord may
know what to answer unto, and may be
thereby enabled to make his just Defence
accordingly: All which notwithstanding, he
humbly submitteth to your Lordships grave
Judgements and Considerations; professing
himself always ready and willing to do and
submit to whatsoever your Lordships in Justice
shall order and think fit. And as to all other
the Treasons, Crimes, and Offences whatsoever, contained, mentioned, or specified in
the said Impeachment; the said
Lord, protesting that they are incertainly and insufficiently alledged, and therefore saving to himself the Benefit of Exception thereto, for Answer thereto, saith,
That he is not, nor ever was, guilty
of the said Treasons, Crimes, and
Offences, or of any or either of
them, of which he stands charged
by the said Impeachment; and,
for his Trial thereof, putteth himself upon, and humbly submitteth
to, the Judgement of your Lordships; whose Justice the said Lord
now doth, and always shall, rely
upon, and therein acquiesce.
"Belasyse."
To be communicated to H. C.
ORDERED, That this Answer be communicated to
the House of Commons, with this Intimation, That it
be speedily returned.
State of Ireland.
Then the House was put into a Committee, to proceed further in the Consideration of the State and Condition of the Kingdom of Ireland.
The House was resumed.
Address to seize Papists there.
And the Earl of Bridgewater reported, "The Committee of the whole House are of Opinion, That an
Address be made to His Majesty, from this House,
that upon the account of the late horrid Conspiracy, and the present Prospect of Affairs, and that
several Things are under Consideration for preventing the Dangers that may thereby arise, and for the
Preservation of His Majesty's Person, Kingdoms,
and Dominions, that His Majesty will be pleased to
give Order to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in
the mean Time, to seize such Persons, being Papists, in Ireland, as his Lordship and the Council
shall judge to be dangerous to the Government
there."
Agreed to be presented to His Majesty, with the
rest of the Particulars resolved on.
Sir Rowland Belasyse, Leave to go beyond Sea.
The House being moved, "That Sir Rowland Belasyse Knight of the Bath, and Two Servants, may
have Leave to go beyond the Seas:"
It is ORDERED, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, That the said Sir Rowland Belasyse, and Two Servants, videlicet, Thomas Warring, and Edward Part, be, and are hereby, authorized
and permitted to repair to any of His Majesty's Sea
Ports of this Kingdom, and thence to pass into the
Parts beyond the Seas; and for so doing, this shall be
a sufficient Warrant.
Turner versus Sir R. Henley.
Whereas Sir Robert Henly was, by Order of the
Second Day of this Instant April, required to put in
an Answer, in Writing, to the Petition of Gawen Turner and Anne his Wife, within One Week next after
Notice given him for that Purpose:
This House being informed, "That the said Sir
Robert Henly is so sick, as not to be able to obey
the said Order;" and it being moved, "That the
said Sir Robert Henley may therefore have some longer
"Time for that Purpose;" it is thereupon ORDERED,
That the said Sir Robert Henley hath hereby a Fortnight's Time longer given him for putting in his said
Answer, than was granted to him by the Order of the
said Second Day of this Instant April as aforesaid.
Whereas there is a Petition of Appeal of William
Ward, an Infant, by Edward Lord Ward his Guardian
and next Friend, and John Levett Gentleman and Mary
his Wife, depending in this House, to which Mr.
Nathaniell Booth hath put in his Answer in Writing:
Ward & al. versus Booth.
This House being moved, on the Behalf of the said
Nathaniell Booth, "That a Day may be appointed, to
hear Counsel thereon;" it is ORDERED, by the
Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled,
That this House will hear Counsel, at the Bar, on both
Parts, upon the said Petition and Answer, on Tuesday
the Twenty-ninth Day of this Instant April, at Ten of
the Clock in the Forenoon; whereof the said Nathaniell Booth is to cause timely Notice to be given to the
said William Ward's Guardian, and the other Persons
concerned therein.
Howard, Leave to stay in Town.
Whereas Bernard Howard Esquire, who, in Obedience to His Majesty's late Proclamation, had withdrawn
himself from the Cities of London and Westminster, had
Leave given him, on the 18th Day of March last, to
come to and stay in Town for One Month, but no
longer, to attend some Business of great Importance to
him; which is not yet perfected, though the Time
granted for the effecting thereof be near elapsed:
This House being moved, "That he may have Leave
to stay some Time longer for that Purpose;" it is this Day
ORDERED, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in
Parliament assembled, That the said Bernard Howard
be, and is hereby, authorized to stay in the Cities of
London and Westminster, or either of them, for the Purpose aforesaid, for the Space of One Month from the
Date of this Order, but no longer.
Mrs. Thymelby, Leave to stay in Town.
Whereas Mrs. Thymelby, Wife of John Thymelby Esquire, had Leave to come to, and stay in Town, for
the Space of One Month; which Time is now expired:
This House being moved, "That she may have Leave
given her to stay in Town some Time longer;" it is
ORDERED, That the said Mrs. Thymelby be, and is
hereby, authorized and permitted to stay in the Cities
of London and Westminster, or either of them, for the
Space of One Month from the Date of this Order,
but no longer.
Sir W. Andrews, an Agent in the Plot, committed to The Gatehouse.
Whereas Sir William Andrewes, of Essex, is seized
on, and brought to Town in Custody, as an Agent in
the late horrid Conspiracy against the King:
It is this Day ORDERED, by the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal in Parliament assembled, That the Officer
in whose Custody the said Sir William Andrewes now is
shall forthwith deliver the said Sir William Andrewes
into the Prison of The Gatehouse at Westminster, there
to remain a Prisoner till further Order; and this shall
be a sufficient Warrant on that Behalf.
To the Officer in whose Custody the said
Sir William Andrewes now is, and to
the Keeper of the said Prison of The
Gatehouse, his Deputy and Deputies, and
every of them.
His Papers brought in.
The Duke of Albemarle delivered in a Box of Papers sent up, sealed, by Sir Richard Everard, found
in the House of Sir William Andrewes.
Which is referred to the Perusal of the Committee
for Examinations.
Adjourn.
Dominus Cancellarius declaravit præsens Parliamentum continuandum esse usque in diem Mercurii, 16um
diem instantis Aprilis, hora decima Aurora, Dominis
sic decernentibus.