A REMONSTRANCE OR THE DECLARATION Of the LORDS and Commons, now Assembled in PARLIAMENT, 26. of May. 1642.  
In answer to a Declaration under His Majesty's Name concerning the business of Hull, sent in a MESSAGE to both Houses the 21. of May, 1642.  

According to an Order made in the House of Commons, on Saturday last, I have examined this Copy with the Original, and have mended it.  
H. Elsi. Cler. Par. D. Com.   
LONDON: Printed for Tho. Slater at the Swan in Ducklane. 1642.   

THE THIRD REMONSTRANCE.  
ALthough the great affairs of this Kingdom, and the miserable and bleeding condition of the Kingdom of Ireland, afford us little leisure to spend our time in Declarations, and in Answers and Replies, yet the Malignant party about His Majesty, taking all occasions to multiply Calumnies upon the Houses of Parliament, and to publish sharp Invectives under His Majesty's Name against them and their proceed, a new Engine which they have invented to heighten the destructions of this Kingdom, and to beget and increase distrust and disaffection between the King and His Parliament and the People, We cannot be so much wanting to our own Innocence, or to the duty of our Trust, as not to clear ourselves from those false aspersions, and (which is our chiefest care) to disabuse the People's minds, and open their eyes, that under the false shows and pretexts of the Law of the Land, and of their own Rights and Liberties, they may not be carried into the Road way, that leadeth to the utter ruin and subversion thereof. A late occasion that these wicked spirits of division have taken to defame, and indeed to arraign the proceed of both Houses of Parliament, hath been from our Votes of the 28. of April, and our Declaration concerning the business of Hull, which because we put forth, before we could send our Answer concerning that matter unto His Majesty, those mischievous Instruments of dissension, between the King, the Parliament, and the People, whose chief labour and study is to misrepresent our Actions to His Majesty and to the Kingdom, would needs interpret this as an appeal to the people, and a declining of all Intercourse between his Majesty and us, as if we thought it to no purpose to endeavour any more to give him satisfaction, and without expecting any longer our answer, under the name of a Message from His Majesty to both Houses, they themselves have indeed made an Appeal to the people as the message itself doth in a manner grant it to be, offering to join issue with us in that way, and in the nature thereof, doth clearly show itself to be no other, Therefore we shall likewise address our Answer to the Kingdom, not by way of Appeal as we are charged) but to prevent them from being their own executioners, and from being persuaded under false colours of defending the Law, and their own Liberties, to destroy both with their own hands, by taking their lives, Liberties and Estates out of their hands whom they have chosen and entrusted therewith, and resigning them up unto some evil Counsellors about His Majesty, who can lay no other foundation of their own greatness, but upon the Ruin of this, and in it of all Parliaments, and in them of the true Religion, and the freedom of this Nation. And these are the men that would persuade the people, that both Houses of Parliament containing all the Peers, and representing all the Commons of England, would destroy the Laws of the Land and Liberty of the people; wherein besides the trust of the whole, they themselves in their own particulars, have so great an interest of honour and estate, That we hope it will gain little credit, with any that have the least use of reason, that such as must have so great a share in the misery, should take so much pains in the procuring thereof, and spend so much time, and run so many hazards to make themselves slaves, and to destroy the property of their estates, But that we may give particular satisfaction to the several imputations cast upon us, we shall take them in Order as they are laid upon us in that Message First, we are charged for the avowing of that act of Sir John Hotham, which is termed unparalelled and an high & unheard of affront unto his Majesty, and as if we needed not to have done it, he being able, as is alleged, to produce no such command of the Houses of Parliament. Although Sir John Hotham had not an Order that did express every circumstance of that case, yet he might have produced an Order of both Houses which did comprehend this Case, not only in the clear intention, but in the very words thereof, which knowing in our Consciences to be so, and to be most necessary for the safety of the Kingdom, we could not but in Honour and Justice avow that Act of his, which we are confident will appear to all the world to be so far from being an affront to the King, that it will be found to have been an act of great Loyalty to His Majesty, and to his Kingdom.  
The next charge upon us is, that instead of giving his Majesty satisfaction, we published a Declaration concerning that business as an appeal to the people, and as if our intercourse with his Majesty, and for his satisfaction, were now to no more purpose, which course is alleged to be very unagreeable to the modesty and duty of former times, and not warrantable by any Precedents, but what ourselves have made. If the Penner of this Message had expected a while, or had not expected that two Houses of Parliament, (especially burdened as they are at this time with so many pressing and urgent affairs) should have moved as fast as himself, he would not have said that Declaration was instead of an Answer to His Majesty, which we did dispatch with all the speed and diligence we could, and have sent it to His Majesty by a Committee of both Houses, whereby it appears that we did it not upon that ground, that we thought it was no more, to any purpose to endeavour to give his Majesty satisfaction. And as for the duty and modesty of former times from which we are said to have varied, and to want the warrant of any Precedents therein, but what ourselves have made: but if we have made any Precedents this Parliament, we have made them for posterity, upon the same or better grounds of reason and Law then those were upon which our Predecessors first made any for us, and as some Precedents ought not to be rules for us to follow; so none can be limits to bond our proceed, which may and must vary according to the different condition of times, and for this particular of setting forth Declarations for the satisfaction of the people, who have chosen and entrusted us with all that is dearest to them, If there be no example for it, it is because there were never any such Monsters before that, ever attempted to disaffect the people from a Parliament, or could ever harbour a thought that it might be effected; were there ever such practices to poison the people with an ill apprehension of the Parliament, were there ever such imputations and scandals laid upon the proceed of both Houses; were there ever so many, and so great breaches of privilege of Parliament, were there ever so many, and so desperate designs of force and violence against the Parliament, and the Members thereof, If we have done more than ever our Ancestors have done, we have suffered more than ever they have suffered, and yet in point of modesty and duty we shall not yield to the best of former times, and we shall put this in issue, whether the highest and most unwarrantable precedents of any of His Majesty's Predecessors, do not fall short and much below what hath been done unto us this Parliament; And on the otherside, whether if we should make the highest Precedents of other Parliaments our patterns, there would be cause to complain of want of modesty and duty in us, when we have not so much as suffered such things to enter into our thoughts, which all the world knows they have put in act.  
Another Charge which is laid very high upon us (and which were indeed a very great Crime if we were found guilty thereof) is that by avowing this act of Sir John Hotham, we do in Consequence confound and destroy the title and Interest of all his Majesty's good subjects to their lands and goods, and that upon this ground, That his Majesty hath the same title to his town of Hull, which any of his subjects have to their houses or lands, and the same to his Magazine and Munition there, that any man hath to his money, plate, or Jewels; and therefore that they ought not to have been disposed of without or against his consent, no more than the house, land, money, plate, or Jewels, of any subject aught to be without or against his will.  
Here that is laid down for a Principle which would indeed pull up the very foundation of the liberty, property and interest of every subject in particular, and of all the subjects in general, if we should admit it for a truth that his Majesty hath the same right and Title to his Towns and to his Magazine (bought with the public moneys as we conceive that at Hull to have been) that every particular man hath to his house, lands, and goods, for his Majesty's towns are no more his own, than his Kingdom is his own, and his Kingdom is no more his own, than his people are his own, and if the King had a propriety in all his Towns, what would become of the subject's propriety in their houses therein, and if he had a propriety in his Kingdom, what would become of the subject's propriety in their lands throughout the Kingdom; or of their liberties, if his Majesty had the same right in their persons, that every subject hath in their lands, or goods: and what should become of the subject's interest in the Towns and Forts of the Kingdom, and in the Kingdom itself, if his Majesty might sell or give them away, or dispose of them at his pleasure, as a particular man may do with his Lands and with his Goods. This erroneous maxim, being infused into Princes that their Kingdoms are their own, and that they may do with them what they will as if their Kingdoms were for them, and not they for their Kingdoms) is the Root of all the subject's misery, and of the Invading of their just Rights and Liberties; whereas indeed they are only entrusted with their Kingdoms, and with their Towns, and with their people, and with the public, Treasure of the Commonwealth, and whatsoever is bought therewith and by the known Law of this Kingdom: the very Jewels of the Crown are not the King's proper goods, but are only entrusted to him for the use and ornament thereof. As the Towns, Forts, Treasure, Magazine, Offices and people of the Kingdom, and the whole Kingdom itself is entrusted unto him for the good and safety and best advantage thereof. And as this trust is for the use of the Kingdom; so ought it to be managed by the advice of the Houses of Parliament, whom the Kingdom hath trusted for that purpose; it being their duty to see it be discharged according to the condition and true intent thereof, and as much as in them lies by all possible means to prevent the contrary: Which if it hath been their chief care and only aim in the disposing of the town and Magazine of Hull in such manner as they have done, they hope it will appear clearly to all the world, that they have discharged their own trust, and not invaded that of His Majesties, much less his property which in this case they could not do.  
But admitting His Majesty had indeed had a property in the Town and Magazine of Hull, who doubts but that a Parliament may dispose of any thing wherein His Majesty or any Subjects hath a right, in such a way, as that the Kingdom may not be exposed to hazard or danger thereby, which is our case in the disposing of the Town and Magazine of Hull. And whereas His Majesty doth allow this and a greater power to a Parliament, but in that sense only as he himself is a part thereof, we appeal to every man's Conscience that hath observed our proceed, whether we disjoined His Majesty from His Parliament, who have in all humble ways sought his Concurrence with us, as in this particular about Hull, and for the removeall of the Magazine there, so also in all other things, or whether these evil Counsels about him have not separated him from his Parliament, not only in distance of place, but also in the discharge of this joint trust with them for the peace and safety of the Kingdom in this and some other particulars.  
We have given no occasion to His Majesty to declare His resolution with so much earnestness, that he will not suffer either or both Houses by their Votes without or against his consent to enjoin any thing that is forbidden by the Law, or to forbid any thing that is enjoined by the Law. For our Votes have done no such thing, and as we shall be very tender of the Law (which we acknowledge to be the safeguard and custody of all public and private Interesses) so we shall never allow a few private Persons about His Majesty, nor His Majesty Himself in His own Person & out of his Courts to be Judge of the Law, and that contrary to the judgement of he highest Court of Judicature: In like manner that His Majesty hath not refused to consent to any thing that might be for the peace and happiness of the Kingdom, we cannot admit it in any other sense, but as His Majesty taketh the measure of what will be for the peace and happiness of the Kingdom from some few ill affected persons about him, contrary to the advice and judgement of His great Council of Parliament. And because the Advice of both Houses of Parliament hath through the suggestions of evil Councillors been so much undervalved of late, and so absolutely rejected and refused, we hold it fit to declare unto the Kingdom (whose honour and interest is so much concerned in it) what is the privilege of the great Council of Parliament herein, and what is the Obligation that lieth upon the Kings of this Realm to pass such Bills as are offered unto them by both Houses of Parliament, in the name, and for the good of the whole Kingdom, whereunto they stand engaged both in conscience and in justice to give their royal assent; In conscience, in respect of the Oath that is or aught to be taken by the KINGS of this Realm at their CORONATION, as well to confirm by their Royal assent such good Laws as their people shall choose, and to remedy by Law such inconveniences as the Kingdom may suffer, as to keep and protect the Laws already in being, as may appear both by the form of the Oath upon Record, and in books of good Authority, and by the Statute of the 25. Edw. 3. entitled the Statute of Provisors of Benefices, the form of which Oath, and the cause of that Statute concerning are as followeth:  

Rot. Parl. 1. H. 4. N. 17. 2.  
Forma juramenti soliti & consueti praestari, per Reges Angliae in eorum Coronatione  
Servabis Ecclesiae Dei, Cleroque & populo pacem ex integro & concordiam in Deo secundum vires tuas?  
Respondebit, Servabo.  
Facies fieri in omnibus judicis tuis equam & rectam justitiam & discretionem in misericordid & lenitate secundum vires tuas?  
Respondebit, Faciam.  
Concedis justas leges & consuetudines esse tenendas & permittis per te eas esse protegendas & ad honorem Dei corroborandas quas vulgus elegerit secundum vires tuas?  
Respondebit, Concedo & permitto.  
Adijcianturque praedictis interrogationibus quae justa fuerint, pernunciat isque omnibus confirmet Rex se omnia servaturum sacramento super altare praestito coram cunctis.   
A Clause in the Preamble of a Statute made 25. Edw. 3. Entitled the Statute of Provisors of Benefices.  
Whereupon the said Commons have prayed our said Lord the King, that sigh the right of the Crown of England, and the Law of the said Realm is such, that upon the mischiefs and damages which happen to his Realm, he ought, and is bound by hid Oath with the accord of his people in his Parliament, thereof to make remedy and Law, and in removing the mischiefs and damages which thereof ensue, that it may please him thereupon to ordain remedy.  
Our Lord the King seeing the mischiefs and damages , and having regard to the said Statute, made in the time of his said Grandfather, and to the causes contained in the same, which Statute holdeth always his force, and was never defeated, repealed, nor anulled in any point, and by so much he is bounden by his Oath to cause the same to be kept as the Law of his Realm, though that by sufferance and negligence it hath been since attempted to the contrary, also having regard to the grievous complaints made to him by his people in divers His Parliaments holden heretofore, willing to ordain remedy for the great damages and mischiefs which have happened, and daily do happen to the Church of England by the said cause.  
Here the Lords and Commons claim it directly as the right of the Crown of England, and of the Law of the Land, and that the King is bound by his Oath, with the accord of his people in Parliament to make remedy and Law upon the mischiefs and damages which happen to this Realm, and the King doth not deny it, although he take occasion from a Statute formerly made by his Grandfather, which was laid as part of the grounds of this Petition, to fix his Answer upon another branch of his Oath, and prefermits that which is claimed by the Lords and Commons, which he would not have done if it might have been excepted against.  
In justice they are obliged thereunto in respect of the trust reposed in them, which is aswell to preserve the Kingdom by the making of new Laws where there shall be need, as by the observing of Laws already made. A Kingdom being many times as much exposed to ruin for the want of a new Law, as by the violation of those that are in being, and this is so clear a right, that no doubt His Majesty will acknowledge it to be as due unto his people as his protection; but how fare forth he is obliged to follow the judgement of his Parliament therein, that is the question. And certainly, besides the words in the King's Oath, referring unto such Laws as the people shall choose, as in such things which concern the Public Weal and good of the Kingdom, they are the most proper Judges who are sent from the whole Kingdom for that very purpose, so we do not find that since Laws have passed by way of Bills (which are read thrice in both Houses, and committed, and every part and circumstance of them fully weighed and debated upon the commitment, and afterwards passed in both Houses) that ever the Kings of this Realm did deny them otherwise then is expressed in that usual Answer, Le Roy savisera, which signifies rather a suspension then a refusal of the Royal Assent, and in those other Laws which are framed by way of Petitions of Right, the Houses of Parliament have taken themselves to be so fare Judges of the Rights claimed by them that when the King's answer hath not in every point been fully according to their desire, they have still insisted upon their claim, and never rested satisfied till such time as they had an answer according to their own demand, as was done in the late Petition of Right, and in former times upon the like occasion, and if the Parliament be Judge between the King and his people in the Question of Right (as by the manner of the claim in Petitions of Right, and by Judgements in Parliament, in Cases of illegal Impositions and Taxes, and the like it appeareth to be) why should they not be so also in the question of the common good, and necessity of the Kingdom, wherein the Kingdom hath as clear a right also to have the benefit and remedy of Law, as in any thing whatsoever, and yet we do not deny but in private Bills, and also in public Acts of Grace, as Pardons and the like grants of favour, His Majesty may have a greater latitude of granting or denying as he shall think fit.  
All this considered, we cannot but wonder that the Conniver of this Message, should conceive the people of this Land to be so void of common sense, as to enter into so deep a mistrust of those that they have and his Majesty ought to repose so great a trust in as to despair of any security in their private Estates, by Descents, Purchases, Assurances, or Conveyances, unless His Majesty should by his Vote prevent the prejudice they might receive therein, by the Votes of both Houses of Parliament, As if they who are especially chosen and entrusted for that purpose, and who themselves must needs have so great a share in all grievances of the Subject, had wholly cast off all care of the Subjects good, and His Majesty had solely taken it up; And as if it could be imagined that they should by their Votes overthrow the rights of Descents, Purchases, or of any Conveyance or Assurance, in whose judgement the whole Kingdom hath placed all their particular Interesses, if any of them should be called in question in any of those Cases, & that (as knowing not where to place them with greater security) without any appeal from them to any other person or Court whatsoever.  
But indeed we are very much to seek how the case of Hull should concern Descents, and Purchases, or Conveyances, and Assurances, unless it be in procuring more security to men in their private Interesses by the preservation of the whole from confusion and destruction, and much less do we understand how the Sovereign Power was resisted and despised therein; Certainly no command from His Majesty, and his high Court of Parliament (where the Sovereign Power resides) was disobeyed by Sir John Hotham, nor yet was his Majesty's Authority derived out of any other Court, nor by any legal Commission, or by any other way, wherein the Law hath appointed His Majesty's commands to be derived to his Subjects, and of what validity his verbal Commands are, without any such stamp of his Authority upon them, and against the order of both Houses of Parliament, whether the not submitting thereunto be a resisting and despising of the Sovereign Authority, we leave it to all men to judge, that do at all understand the government of this Kingdom.  
We acknowledge that His Majesty hath made many expressions of his zeal and intentions against the desperate designs of Papists, but yet it is also as true, that the Counsels which have prevailed of late with him, have been little suitable to those expressions and intentions: For what doth more advance the open and bloody design of the Papists in Ireland, (whereon the secret plots of the Papists here, do in likelihood depend) than His Majesty's absenting himself, in that manner that he doth from his Parliament, and setting forth such sharp Invectives against them, notwithstanding all the humble Petitions, and other means which his Parliament hath addressed unto him for his return, & for his satisfaction concerning their proceed. And what was more likely to give a rise to the designs of Papists, (whereof there are so many in the North near to the Town of Hull) and of other malignant & illaffected persons, which are ready to join with them, or to the attempts of foreigners from abroad, than the continuing of that great Magazine at Hull at this time, and contrary to the desire and advice of both Houses of Parliament; So that we have too much cause to believe that the Papists have still some way and means, whereby they have influence upon his Majesty's Counsels for their own advantage.  
For the Malignant party his Majesty needeth not a definition of the Law, nor yet a more full Character of them from both Houses of Parliament for to find them out; if he will please only to apply the Character that himself hath made of them to those unto whom it doth properly & truly belong, who are so much disaffected to the peace of the Kingdom, as they that endeavour to disaffect his Majesty from the Houses of Parliament, and persuade him to be at such a distance from them both in place and affection: Who are more dis-affected to the government of the Kingdom, than such as lead his Majesty away from harkening to his Parliament, which by the constitution of this Kingdom is his greatest & best Council, & persuade him to follow the malicious counsels of some private men, in opposing and contradicting the wholesome advices, & just proceed of that his most faithful Council and highest Court? Who are they that not only neglect and despise, but labour to undermine the Law, under colour of maintaining of it. But they that endeavour to destroy the fountain and Conservatory of the law, which is the Parliament; and who are they that set up other Rules for themselves to walk by, than such as are according to Law, but they that will make other judges of the Law; then the Law hath apppointed, and so dispense with their obedience, to that which the Law calleth Authority, and to their determinations and resolutions to whom the judgement doth appertain by Law: For when private persons shall make the Law; o be their Rule, according to their own understandings, contrary to the judgement of those that are competent judges thereof; they set up unto themselves other Rules than the Law doth acknowledge: Who these persons are, none knoweth better than his Majesty himself: And if he will please to take all possible caution of them, as destructive to the Common wealth, and himself, and would remove them from about him, it would be the most effectual means to compose all the distractions, and to cure the distempers of this Kingdom.  
For the Lord Digby his letter, we did not make mention of it as a ground to hinder his Majesty from visiting his own fort, but we appeal to the judgement of any indifferent man that shall read that Letter, and compare with the posture that his Majesty then did, and still doth stand in, towards the Parliament, and with the circumstances of that late action of his Majesty, in going to Hull, whether the Advisor of that journey, intended only a visit of that fort and Magazine? as to the ways and overtures accommodation, and the meffage of the 20 of january last, so often pressed, but still in vain, as is alleged Our Answer is, that although so often as the 20. of januarie hath been pressed, so often have our privileges been clearly infringed; that a way and method of proceeding should be prescribed unto us, as well for the settling of his Majesties Revene, as for the presedting of our desires (a thing which in former Parliaments hath always been excepted against as a breach of privilege) pet in respect of the matter contained in that message, and out of our earnest desire to beget a good understanding between his Majesty, and us, we swallowed down all matters of Circumstance, and had ere this time presented the chief of our desires to his Majesty, had we not been inrerrupted with continual Denials even of those things that were necessary for our present security and subsistence, and had not those denials been followed with perpetual Invectives against us and our proceed, and had not those invectives been beaped upon us so thick one after another, (who were already in a manner wholly taken up with the pressing affairs of this Kingdom, and of the Kingdom of Ireland) that as we had little encouragement from thence to hope for any good Answes to our desires, so we had not so much time left us to perfect them in such a manner as to offer them unto his Majesty.  
We confess it is a Resolution most worthy of a Prince, and of his Majstie, to shut his ears against any that would incline him to a civil War, and to abhor the very apprehension nf it, but we cannot believe that mind to have been in them that came with his Majesty to the House of Commons, or in them teat accompanied his Majstie to Hampton Court, and appeared in a warlike manner at Kingston upon Thames, or in divers of them that followed his Majesty now latley to Hull, or in them that after drew their Swords at York, demanding who would be for the King, nor in them that advised his Majesty to declare Sir John Hotham a Traitor before the Message was sent concerning that business to the Parliament, or to make Propositions to the Gentlemen of the County of York, to assist His Majesty to proceed against him in a way of force before he had, or possible could receive an Answer from the Parliament, to whom he had sent to demand Justice of them against Sir John Hotham for that Fact; and if those Malignant spirits shall ever force us to defend our Religion, the Kingdom, the Privileges of Parliamants, and the Rights and Liberties of the Subjects, with our swords, the blood and destruction that shall ensue thereupon must be wholly cast upon their Account, God and our own consciences tell us that we are clear, and we doubt not but God and the whole world will clear us therein.  
For Captain Legg we did not say that he was accused, or that there was any charge against him for the bringing up of the Army, but that he was employed in that business. And for that question concerning the Earl of New Castle mentioned by his Majesty, which is said to have been asked long since, and that is not easy to be answered; We conceive that it is a question of more difficulty and harder to be answered: Why, when his Majesty held it necessary, upon the same grounds that first moved from the Houses of Pa liament; That a Governor should be placed in that Town, Sir john Hotham a Gentleman of known Fortune and Integrity, and a person of whom both Houses of Parliament had expressed their confidence, should be refused by his Majesty, and the Earl of New Castle (who by the way was so far named in the business of the bringing up of the Army, that although there was not ground enough for a judicial proceeding, yet there was ground of suspicion, at least his reputation was not left so unblemished thereby, as that he should be thought the fittest man in England for that employment of Hull) should be sent down in a private way from his Majesty to take upon him the government, and why he should disguise himself under another name when he came thither, as he did. But whosoever shall consider, together with these circumstances; that of the time when Sir john Hotham was first appointed by both Houses of Parliament to take upon him that employment, which was presently after his Majesty's coming to the House of Commons, and upon the retiring of himself to Hampton Court, and the L. Digbies assembling of Cavaliers at Kingston upon Thamis, will find reason enough why that Town of Hull should be committed rather to Sir john Hotham by the authority of both Houses of Parliament, then to the Earl of New Castle, sent from his Majesty in that manner that he was. And for the power that Sir john Hotham hath from the Houses of Parliament, the better it is known and understood; we are confident the more it will be approved of and justified: And as we do not conceive that his Majesty's refusal to have that Magazine removed could give any advantage against him to have it taken from him, and as no such thing is done, so we cannot conceive for what other reason any should council his Majesty not to suffer it to be removed, upon the desire of both Houses of Parliament, except it be that they had an intention to make use of it against them.  
We did not except against those that presented a petition to His Majesty at York for the continuance of the Magazine at Hull, in respect of their condition, or in respect of their number, because they were mean persons, or because they were few; but because they being but few, and there being so many more in the County of as good quality as themselves (who have by their petition to His Majesty disavowed that act of theirs) that they should take upon them the stile of all the Gentry and Inhabitants of that County, and under that title should presume to interpose their advice contrary to the Votes of both Houses of Parliament; and if it can be made to appear, that any of these petitions that are said to have been presented to the Houses of Parliament, and to have been of a strange nature, were of such a nature as that, we are confident that they were never received with our consent and approbation.  
Whether there was an intention to deprive Sir john Hotham of his life, if His Majesty had been admitted into Hull, and whether the information were such, as that he had ground to believe it, we will not bring it into question; for that was not, nor aught to have been the ground for doing what he did, neither was the number of His Majesty's Attendants, for being more or fewer, much considerable in this case: For although it be true, that if His Majesty had entered with twenty horse only, he might haply have found means for to have forced the entrance of his Train, who being once in the Town, would not have been long without Arms; yet that was not the ground that Sir john Hotham was to proceed upon, but upon the admittance of the King into the Town at all, so as to deliver up the Town and Magazine unto him, and to whomsoever he should give the command thereof, without the knowledge and consent of both Houses of Parliament, by whom he was entrusted to the contrary; and His Majesty having declared that to be his intention concerning the Town, in a Message that he sent to the Parliament not long before he went to Hull, saying, That he did not doubt but that Town should be delivered up to him whensoever he pleased, as supposing it to be kept against him; and in like manner concerning his Magazine, in his Message of the four and twentieth of April, wherein it is expressed, That His Majesty went thither with a purpose to take into his hands the Magazine, and to dispose of it in such manner as he should think fi●; upon these terms Sir john Hotham could not have admitted his Majesty, and have made good his trust to the Parliament, though his Majesty would have entered alone, without any Attendance at all of his own, or of the Prince, or Duke, his sons, which we do not wish to be less than they are in their number, but could heartily wish that they were generally better in their conditions.  
In the close of this Message, His Majesty states the case of Hull, and thereupon inferreth that the act of Sir john Hotham was levying of war against the King, and consequently that it was no less than high Treason, by the Letter of the Statutes of 25 Edw. 3. cap. 2. unless the sense of that Statute be very far differing from the Letter thereof.  
In the stating of this Case divers particulars may be observed wherein it is not rightly stated: As first, That His Majesties going to Hull was only an endeavour to visit a Town and Fort of his; whereas it was indeed to possess himself of the Town and Magazine there, and to dispose of them as he himself should think good, without and contrary to the Advices and Orders of both Houses of Parliament, as doth clearly appear by his Majesty's own Declaration of his intentions therein, by his Messages to both Houses immediately before and after that journey. Nor can we believe that any man that shall consider the circumstances of that journey to Hull, can think that his Majesty would have gone thither at that time, and in that posture, that he was pleased to put himself in towards the Parliament, if he had intended only a visit of the Town and Magazine. Secondly, it is said to be His Majesty's own Town, and his own Magazine: which being understood in that sense as was before expressed, as if his Majesty had a private interest of propriety therein, we cannot admit it to be so. Thirdly, (which is the main point of all) Sir john Hotham is said to have shut the gates against his Majesty, and to have made resistance with armed men in defiance of his Majesty; whereas it was indeed in obedience to his Majesty and his authority, and for his service, and the service of the kingdom, for which use only all that interest is that the King hath in the Town; and it is no further his to dispose of, than he useth it for that end: And Sir John Hotham being commanded to keep the Town and Magazine for his Majesty and the Kingdom, and not to deliver them up, but by his Majesty's authority signified by both Hourses of Parliament, all that is to be understood by those expressions of his denying and opposing his Majesty's entrance, and telling him in plain terms he should not come in, was only this, That he humbly desired his Majesty to forbear his entrance, till he might acquaint the Parliament, and that his authority might come signified to him by both Houses of Parliament, according to the trust reposed in him. And certainly if the Letter of the Statute of 25 Ed. 3. cap. 2. be thought to import this, that no war can be levied against the King, but what is directed and intended against his person; or that every levying of forces for the defence of the King's authority, and of his Kingdom, against the personal commands of the King opposed thereunto, though accompanied with his presence, is levying war against the King, it is very far from the sense of that Statute; and so much the Statute itself speaks (besides the authority of Book-causes, Precedents of divers Traitors condemned upon that interpretation thereof:) For if the Clause of levying of war had been meant only against the King's person, what need had there been thereof, after the other branch of Treason in the same Statute of compassing the King's death, which would necessarily have employed this; and because the former clause doth imply this, it seems not at all to be intended in this latter branch, but only the levying of war against the King, that is, against his Laws and Authority, but in the maintenance thereof, is no levying of war against the King, but for him. Here is then our case; In a time of so many successive plots and designs of force against the Parliament and Kingdom; in a time of probable invasion from abroad, and that to begin at Hull, and to take the opportunity of seizing upon so great a Magazine there; In a time of so great distance and alienations of his Majesty's affections from his Parliament, and in them from his Kingdom, which they represent, by the wicked suggestions of a few Malignant persons, by whose mischievous counsels he is wholly led away from his Parliament, and their faithful advices and counsels; In such a time the Lords and Commoos in Parliament command Sir John Hotham to draw in some of the trained Bands of the parts adjacent to the Town of Hull, for the securink of that Town and Magazine, for the service of his Majesty and of the Kingdom; of the safety whereof there is a higher trust reposed in them then any where else, and they are the proper judges of the danger thereof.  
This town and Magazine being sntrusted to Sir john Hotham, with eupresse order not to deliver them up, but by the ling authority signifieth by both Houses of Parliament; his Majesty, contrnry to the advice and direction of both Houses of Parliament, without the authority of any Court, or of any legal way wherein the Law appoints the King to speak and command, accompanied with the same evil Council about him that he had before, by a verbal command repuires Sir john Hotham to admit him into the Town, that he might dispose of it, and of the Magazine there, according to his own, or rather according to the dleasure of those evil Counselors, which are still in so much credit about him: in like manner as the Lord Dygby hath continual recourse unto, and continuanne from the Queen's Majesty ie Holland, by which means he hath opportunity still to communicate hss traitorous suggestions and concieptions to bosh their Majesties, such as those wos concerning his Majesty's retiring to a place of strength, and declaring himself, and his own advancing of his Majesty's service in such a way beyond the seas, and after that resorting to his Majesty in such a place of strength; and divers other things of tna nature, eontained in his letter to the Queen's Majesty, and to Sir Lewes Dsves, a person that had not the least part in this late business of Hull; and was presently dispatched away into Holland, soon after his Majesties return from Hull, for what purpose we leave the world to judge.  
Upon the refusal of Sit john Hotham to admit his Majesty into Hull, presently without any due process of Law, before His Majesty had sent up the norration of his fact to the Parliament, he was proclaimed Traitor; and yet it is said, that therein there was no violalation of the Subjects right; nor any breach of the law, nor of the privilege of Parliament; though Sir John Hotham be a Member of the House of Commons: And that his Majesty must have better reason then bare Votes to believe the contrary. Although the Votes of the Lords and Commons in Parliament, being the great Council of the Kingdom, are the reason of the King and of the Kingdom, yet these Votes do not want clear and apparent reason for them: For if the solemn proclaiming a man a Traitor signify any thing, it puts a man, and all those that any way aid, assist, or adhere unto him, into the same condition of Traitors, and draws upon him all the consequences of Treason; and if his may be done by Law, without due process of Law, the Subject hath a very poor defence of the Law, and a very small, if any portion of liberty thereby: and it is as little satisfaction to a man that shall be exposed to such penalties, by that declaration of him to be a Traitor, to say he shall have a Legal trial afterwards, as it is to condemn a man first, and try him afterwards: And if there be a necessity for any such proclaiming a man a Traitor without due process of Law yet there was none in this case; For his Majesty might have as well expected the Justice of the Parliament (which was the right way) as he had leisure to send to them to demand Justice against Sir John Hotham. And the breach of Privilege of Parliament in this case as the subversion of the Subjects common right: For though the Priuledges of Parliament do extend to those cases mentioned in the Declaration of Treason, Felony, and breach of the peace, so as to exempt the Members of Parliament from punishment, nor from all manner of Process and trial, as it doth in other cases, yet it doth privilege them in the way and method of their trial and punishment, and that the Parliament should have the cause first brought before them, that they may judge of the fact, and of the grounds of the accusation, and how far forth the manner of their trial may concern or not concern the Privilege of Parliament: otherwise it would be in the power not only of his Majesty, but of every private man, under pretensions of Treasons, or those other crimes, to take any man from his service in Parliament, and so as many one after another as he pleaseth, and consequently to make a Parliament what he will, when he will, which would be a breach of so essential a privilege of Parliament, as that the very being thereof depends upon it: and therefore we no ways doubt, but every one that hath taken the Protestation, will according to his solemn Vow and Oath, defend it with his life and fortunes. Neither doth the sitting of a Parliament, suspend all or any Law, in maintaining that Law which upholds the Privilege of Parliament, which upholds the Parliament which upholds the Kingdom; And we are so far from believing that his Majesty is the only person against whom Treason cannot be committed, that is some sense we acknowledge he is the only person against whom it can be committed; that is, as he is King, and that Treason which is against the Kingdom is more against the King, then that which is against his Person, because he is King: For that very Treason is not Treason, as it is against him as a man, but as a man that is a King; and as he hath relation to the Kingdom, and stands as a person entrusted with the Kingdom and discharging that trust. Now the case is truly stated, and all the world may judge where the fault is, although we must avow that there can be no competent judge of this or any the like case but a Parliament, and we are as confident, that His Majesty shall never have cause to resort to any other Court or Course, for the vindication of his just Privileges, and for the recovery and maintenance of his known and undoubted Rights, if there should be any Invasion or violation thereof, than to his high Court of Parliament. And in case wicked Counselors about him shall drive him into any other Course from and against his Parliament, whatever are his Majesty's expressions and intentions, we shall appeal to all men's consciences, and desire that they would lay their hands upon their hearts, and think with themselves, whether such persons as have of late and still do resort to his Majesty, and have his care and favour most, either have been or are more zealous Assertors of the true Protestant Profession (although we believe they are more earnest in the Protestant Profession, then in the Protestant Religion) or of the Law of the Land, the Liberty of the Subject, and the Privileges of the Parliament, than the Members of both Houses of Parliament, who are insinuated to be the Desertors, if not the Destroyer's of them: And whether if they could master this Parliament by force, they would not hold up the same power to deprive us of all Parliaments, which are the ground and p●llar of the Subjects Liberty, and that which maketh England only a free Monarchy.  
For the Order of Assistance to the Committees of both Houses, as they have no directions or instructions, but what have the Law for their Limits, and the safety of the Land for their ends; so we doubt not but all persons mentioned in that Order, and all his Majesty's good Subjects will yield obedience to His Majesty's Authority signified therein by both Houses of Parliament: And that all men may the better know their duty in matters of that nature, and upon how su●e a ground they go that follow the judgement of Parliament for their guide, we wish them judiciously to consider the true meaning and ground of that Statute made in the eleventh year of Hen. 7. cap. 1. which is printed at large in the end of His Majesty's Message of the fourth of May. This Statute provides, that none that shall attend upon the King, and do him true Service, shall be attainted or forfeit any thing: What was the scope of this Statute? To provide that men should nor suffer as Traitors for serving the King in His Wars according to the duty of their Allegiance. If this had been all, it had been a very needless and ●idicalous Statute: Was it then intended (as they may seem to take the meaning of it to be, that caused it to be printed after his Majesty's Message,) that they should be free from all crime and penalty that should follow the King and serve him in War in any case whatsoever; whether it were for or against the Kingdom, and the Laws thereof? That cannot be, for that could not stand with the duty of their Allegiance; which in the beginning of this Statute is expressed to be, to serve the King for the time being in his Wars, for the defence of Him and the Land; and therefore if it be against the Land, (as it cannot be understood to be otherwise if it be against the Parliament, the representative body of the Kingdom,) It is a declining from the duty of Allegiance, which this Statute supposeth may be done, though men should follow the King's Person in the War: Otherwise there had been no need of such a Proviso in the end of this Statute, that none should take benefit thereby that should decline from the Allegiance. That therefore which is the Principle Verb in this Statute, is the serving of the King for the time being; which cannot be meant of a Perkin Warbeck, or any that should call himself King; but such a one as what ever Title might prove, either in himself or in his Ancestors, should be received and acknowledged for such by the Kingdom; the consent whereof cannot be discerned but by Parliament; the Act whereof is the Act of the whole Kingdom by the personal suffrage of the Peers, and the delegate consent of all the Commons in England: And Aen. 7. a wise King, considering that what was the Case of R. 3. his Predecessor, might by chance of battle be his own, and that he might at once by such a Statute as this, satisfy such as had served his Ptodecessor in his Wars; and also secure those that should serve him, who might otherwise fear him in his Wars, lest by chance of Battle that might happen to him also if a Duke of York had set up a Title against him) which had happened to his Prodecessor: he procured this Statute to be made, that no man should be accounted a Traitor for serving the King in his Wars for the time being; that is, which was for the present allowed and received by the Parliament in behalf of the Kingdom; and as it is truly suggested in the Preamble of the Statute. It is not agreeable to reason or conscience that it should be otherwise, seeing men should be put upon an impossibility of knowing their duty, if the judgement of the Highest Court should not be a Rule and guide to them: and if the judgement thereof should be followed, where the question is who is King? Much more, what is the best service of the King and Kingdom, and therefore those that shall guide themselves by the judgement of Parliament, aught what ever happen to be secure and free from all account and penalties, upon the grounds and equity of this very Statute.  
We shall conclude, that although those wicked Councillors about his Majesty, have presumed under his Majesty's name to put that dishonour and affront upon both Houses of Parliament, as to make them the countenancers of Treason; enough to have dissolved all the bands, sinews of confidence between his Majesty and his Parliament, (of whom the Maxim of the law is, That a dishonourable thing ought not to be imagined of them) yet we doubt not but it shall in the end appear to all the world, that our endeavours have been most hearty and sincere, for the maintenance of the true Protestant Religion, the King's just Prerogatives, the Laws and Liberties of the Land, and the Privileges of Parliament; in which endeavours by the grace of God we will still persist, though we should perish in the work: which if it should be, it is much to be feared, That Religion, Laws, Liberties and Parliaments, would not be long-lived after us.  
FINIS.