THE ARTICLES OR CHARGE EXHIBITED IN PARLIAMENT AGAINST Sir Francis Windebanck, Secretary of State to his Majesty, Whereunto is annexed The Letter that he sent to the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlain, from Calais, jan: 11. 1640.  
Printed Anno Dom. 1641.   

ARTICLES OF THE HOUSE OF Commons in Parliament against Secretary WINDEBANKE.  
INprimis, Seventy four Letters of grace to Recusants, within this four years, signified with Secretary Windebankes own hand.  

2. Sixty four Priests in the Gatehouse, within this four years discharged, for the most part, by Secretary Windebanke.  
3. Twenty nine, discharged by a verbal Warrant of Secretary Windebankes.  
4. A Warrant to protect one Muffon, a condemned Priest, and all the houses he frequented.  
5. One committed by the Kings own hand, and discharged by Secretary Windebanke, without signification of the King's pleasure therein.  
6. A Petition of St. Giles in the Fields, near London, to the King, of the increase of Popery in their Parish, wherein Twenty one persons was seduced and turned by two Priests, the which Priests was both discharged by Secretary Windebanke.    

Secretary Windebancks Letter to my Lord Chamberlain, from Calais, jan. 11.  
MY Lord, I own myself to your Lordship, for your late favours; and therefore much more the account of myself, though 〈◊〉 debt in either respect be of little consideration, and the calling of both may be of greater advantage to you, then to continue the Obligation.  
This account had been presented to your Lp. 〈◊〉 my first arrival here with my first dispatches, but I was so mortified with my hazardous passage in an open shallop, and so perplexed with the thoughts of miseries, into which I sinned myself plunged, and besides, the departure of the messenger that carried those letters, was so sudden, that it was not possible to perform this duty to your Lordship sooner; for the which I do most humbly crave pardon. your Lordship may now please to accept the expressions from the saddest and most wounded soul in the whole World, who am a spectacle of misery in myself, in my distressed Wife and children, and in my whole fortunes, who have left the attending of my Sovereign and Master, and access to the best Prince in the world, who am become a scorn and byword to all the world, both at home and abroad, a wanderer, and exile from mine own Country, now in the declination of my years, and likely to end my days in a remote Country, and far from the comfort of all my friends. What I am guilty off, none knows so well as his Majesty, whom I have served faithfully, diligently, painfully, and with as true and loyal an heart, according to my poor abilities, as any other whatsoever, and if I found my Conscience charged with any crime of baseness, corruption, infidelity, or any thing else unworthy of a Gentleman, I should not venture to address these Complaints to your Lordship, or to any other person of Honour, in this disconsolate estate, being an object not altogether unworthy of your Lordship's compassion, be it for no other respect, but that I have long served the King and Queen's Majesties. I doubt not but your Lordship, in your generosity and goodness, will have a lively sense & feeling of my sufferings, and vouchsafe me such relief as in your Honour you may; and if myself, who by course of Nature cannot be now of long continuance, be not considerable, I most humbly beseech your Lordship to have pity upon my poor innocent wife, and children, that they receive such comfort and assistance from you in my absence, that they may be preserved from perishing. And to that end I most humbly crave your Lordship's favour to this Bearer my Son, and to give him the Honour of access whensoever he shall make his addresses to you, wherein you shall do a work of singular charity; And because there is an opinion in the world, that I have much improved my fortunes by the Roman party; And there hath been some design by my ministry to introduce Popery into England, I shall most humbly crave your Lordship's patience in giving me leave to clear those two great misunderstandings, which if they were true, were sufficient to render me uncapable of his Majesty's favours, or of the compassion of any person of honour whatsoever; For the first, it is notorious to all the world that having now served his Majesty in the place of a Secretary above eight years, I have not added one foot of Land to the inheritance left me by my Father, which in Land and Lease was not above 500 pounds per annum, a poor and inconsiderable estate for a Secretary, and such an one as most Secretaries have more then trebled in a short time; for my manner of living, it hath been much under the dignity of a Secretary, and if I had not been very frugal, I could not have subsisted; where then this concealed mass of Treasure is (I wish those that speak so liberally of it) would let me know; for I do protest to God I am utterly to seek where to discover it, and at this present, I am so unfurnished with moneys, that if his Majesty cause me not to be supplied, I am unable to subsist in these parts without exposing my family in England to the danger of starving, and yet neither my purpose nor inclination is to live otherwise here, then in the greatest obscurity and closeness that possible I may; I assure your Lordship that those of the Roman party that passed my hands by his Majesty's commandment, were poor distressed creatures, and fare from being able to enrich me, and besides how little I have attended my own private, and how freely and like a Gentleman I hope I may speak the truth without ostentation I have done courtesies to all, I wish it should rather appear by the testimony of such as have made use of my services, then by mine own. My Father and I, haved served the Crown of England near 80. years together, in which time, if a greater estate had been raised it might well have been justified, considering the great employments near the persons of Queen Elizabeth, King james, and his Majesty that now is, we both have had; and your Lordship may believe it (for I avow it upon the faith of a Christian) that it is no more than I have , and whether there are not many from less employments have risen to be Noblemen, and made their fortunes accordingly, I leave to the world to judge.  
For the other suspicion of my being a favourer or an advancer of Popery, I protest before the Almighty God, & as I shall answer at the last dreadful day, that I know no ground for the least suspicion thereof, neither am I myself, nor is any other to my knowledge guilty of the least thought of any such purpose; For myself I received my Baptism in the Church of England, and I know nothing in the Church of Rome that can win me from that Church wherein I was made a Christian; I do therefore hold this Church of England, not only a true and Orthodox Church, but the most pure, and near the Primitive of any in the Christian world, and this I will be ready to seal with my blood, whensoever there shall be occasion (with this further protestation) that if I did not hold it so, I would not continue in it for any worldly respects whatsoever.  
For that which hath passed my hands for favour of that party, it hath been merely ministerial, as his Majesty best knows, and I must be bold to say, that his Majesty hath not been deceived by it, but hath received many greater advantages; besides that if a Secretary of State should not hold intelligence with the party is absolute to disable him for the service of the state, & that hath been done always more or less, and so must always continue. Kings and their ministers of State, have ever had, and might ever have a Latitude according to time and occasion, & cannot be so tied according to strictness of law as others are, without peril to the government, therefore when the Roman party were practic and busy about the state, there was reason to be more strict, but now by the wisdom of the Queen & her good Officers, they are better tempered, less severity hath been used, it being the prerogative of the Prince to use moderation according to accusation, further than this I have not had to do with the Roman party, nor thus fare but in obedience to my Master's commandment, which I hope shall not be censured a crime, this being my condition, I most humbly submit it to your Lordship's wisdom and goodness, and seeing there is no malignity in it, nor prejudice to the state, That your Lordship would vouchsafe me your favour and protection, and preserve me from perishing.  
Calais January 11. 1640. Your Lordship's most humble and faithful, though much distressed Servant. FRAN: WINDEBANCK.   
FINIS.