THE PEOPLE Informed of their OPPRESSORS AND OPPRESSIONS.  
With a Remedy against both.  
Unto which is added the sentence of Deposition against King RICHARD the second, and Edward the second; with the happiness that ensued to this Nation thereupon.  
Latabitur justus quum viderit ultionem  
Periat potius unus quam unitas.  
LONDON, Printed in the Year. MDCXLVIII.   

The People informed of their Oppressors and Oppressions.  
PArliaments are sacred, keeping within Parliamentary Rules, discharging that trust which the People their Masters reposed in them, and is to preserve their Freedom, and restore those Laws( so long violated) which their careful Ancestors, with the expense of much blood, to that purpose provided, and left to them as a rich inheritance. That this Parliament hath not been so faithful, all ingenuous men must confess, this trust being broken even in the first week of their sitting; for that this Kings whole reign hath been a continued Tyranny, their own consciences did bear them witness; as also that this Parliament was, what he was necessitated to for his own security, not called for any love to the people, whom he hath ever( both before and since the calling of it) endeavoured to enslave and possess himself of the whole Land and the wealth of it, not leaving more then a temporary propriety in any person of what he( should enjoy, nor did they less know that he choose to walk in those crooked paths, more moved thereunto by his own wicked desires, then by the advice of any evil counselor; for it is well known to all men learned,( either by experience or reading,) that to a Prince( that's not a fool) well inclined, no man dares give Malignant counsel: This notwithstanding beginning to reform, they lay all the Kings faults at other mens doors, excuse, nay Court him the greatest offender, punish the Accessaries with death, and justify the Principle, as lead by evil council; if the Representatives of the People charge the evil actions of their Prince upon his Councellors, letting him go unpunished, they encourage him to become worse, they establish Tyranny by a Law, they betray their Trust, and deserve that punishment which they ought to have inflicted on him. It hath been the custom of our Ancestors to give great reverence to good Kings, but the Oppressors of the People were secured from doing further mischief by deposing, after which death followed immediately, as in the case of Edward and Richard the second; the evils of both, whose reigns ●ut together, cannot weigh down one of five the least bad action of this King, whom the Parliament( steering their old course of acquitting his Majesty, and accusing his evil council) had well near set up again in Honor, Safety, and Freedom, to make his little finger heavier upon the People, then his loins were heretofore, had not the Army( by whose ●nde●ors, and Gods blessing upon them, this poor Nation is yet safe) taken upon them to do that Justice which the Parliament ●● purged, wanted either the courage or honesty to do. These two unhappy Kings were truly misled by evil Councellors, but this King was hurried on by his own inordinate desire of Arbitrary power, to rule both without and against Law. Edward the second at the age of 23▪ received the Crown, a weak Prince, o● little courage, and of whom the people conceived small hopes, began to reign at 25. ● Prince from whom the Nation expected much good, and of extraordinary abilities to have satisfied their expectation, had he disposed them the right way. Edward choose for his companion, and chief councillor, pierce Gaveston, whom( being bread together from their childhood) he passionately loved. This King choose to be governed by the Duke of Buckingham, whose enemy he was till a few moneths before his fathers death; and it is more then doubted by honest and discreet men, that they contracted friendship, and agreed to divide the Empire upon condition of poisoning the old man. Gaveston, notwithstanding the great Interest that he had in the Kings affections, was, upon the petition of the Lords, banished into Ireland: Buckingham being charged in Parliament upon Articles of high Treason, of which one was the murder of King James, and which divers persons then in and attending the Parliament were ready to prove; the King, lest his fathers death should be enquired into,( fearing that himself might be found too much concerned in it,) protects him against Law, and disolves the Parliament. Edward, after the death of Gaveston, takes to himself new favourites, the two Spencers, father and son, by whose advice he was guided the remainder of his reign; this King, after the death of Buckingham, never had any favourite that was not absolutely at his command. By the advice of the two Spencers Tho. Earl of Lancaster, with divers other Noblemen, were put to death, but they were taken in the wars which themselves had levied without any Authority, & might justly be called a rebellion. But this King( a wickedness that no Age, no Nation, can parallel) professing the Protestant Religion, granted a Commission to his good friends the Irish Papists to destroy his Irish Protestant Subjects; in order to which Commission, in a very short space, they murdered above two hundred thousand persons peaceably and quietly living at home, having neither raised nor thinking to raise War, notwithstanding that they lived under as much oppression as ever any people did under a Christian Prince. This unfortunate Prince never betrayed his friends to whom he had promised succour, as this King at Rochel, who in stead of relieving them according to his engagement, lent his Fleet to their Enemies, and so treacherously put them into a condition of being less able to defend themselves. I pass by the multitude of Taxes imposed upon the people against Law, the selling Offices of Judicature, with many more oppressions; only I cannot forget that which, but for the Irish massacre, had been an unparalleled villainy, The raising an unnatural War against the Parliament to destroy it, the onely fence of Liberty, the greatest happiness of a Nation. The life of Richard the second is much like that of Edward the second, only Edward was a grown man, and Richard but a boy, when he began to reign: Both these Kings repented them of their evil actions, The first before his trouble, the latter after his imprisonment; yet were they both deposed by Parliament; both put to death either by Commission or Connivance of the supreme power. This King, notwithstanding his wickedness, far exceeds the worst of his Progenitors, shows no sign of Repentance, but hardens his heart and employs his thoughts to contrive new Rebellions, and sends Mr Germin and his wife with his two so●s, into parts beyond the Seas, to be the happy instruments of bringing those his good purposes to pass. The Parliament sand him conditions of Peace, but he▪ l none of them, plea●ing himself with hopes of doing more mischief; and so big he swells with malice, and desire of revenge, that in the time of the last Treaty receiving certain informa●ion that the ships which in the spring revolted from the Parliament were returned to their duty, bu●st into tears even in the pre●ence of the honestest of the Commissioners; and indeed he had some reason so to do, for that princely Thing his son seems born to be unfortunate, since i● his first employment( which was Piracy) he hath been so lamentable unlucky of a Prince, that hath thus rebel●'d against God and the People, and continues to harden his heart against them both, whats to be resolved. The two forenamed unhappy Kings in the judgement of all men( not wholly subsisting by the Court) deserved to die: That they were unfit to rule, is confessed of all sides; and that there can be no security for peace, living a deposed King, no man can deny. This king( baiting all his murders in the English and Irish Rebellions) deserves as much in justice as necessity to suffer death. It may be objected, that though 'tis true, that you have said, and that he is a perjured man, and cannot be trusted,( for so Mr Hollis and the rest of the Malignant Members at their night-work confessed,) yet there is no Law to punish him? To this I answer, That there is no Government under the Sun, neither can there be any constituted so perfect, but that there must be something left to discretion, which is the Reason of a supreme power, and that is onely in the Parliament. When the people would no longer bear the ill Government of Richard the second( who chasti●●d them with rods, but this King hath done it with scorpions) a Parliament was called by command of the Nobility, and Articles were drawn up against him, and brought into Parliament, where being publicly red, the judgement of Parliament was demanded concerning the truth of those Articles, they agreed that the Crimes were notorious, and that the King was worthy for the same to be deposed from all kingly Dignity, in prosecution whereof Commissioners were appointed by both Houses to pronounce the sentence of deposition against King Richard in manner as followeth:  

IN the Name of God, Amen. We John Bishop of Asaph. John Abbot of Glassenbury, Thomas Earl of gloucester, Thomas Lord Barkley, Sir Thomas Erpingham, and Sir Thomas Grey, Knights, and William Thurning Justice, Commissioners for the Causes hereafter specified by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons of the Realm of England, representing all the States of our Kingdom, specially deputed, sitting in place of judgement▪ considering the manifold Perjuries, Cruelties, and many other the Crimes and Offences, by Richard, late King of this Realm, committed and done( contrary to good Government) in the Realms and Dominions aforesaid, during the time of His reign; also considering the Articles which were openly considered and red before the said States, which were so public notorious, manifest, and famous, that they could nor can by any shift, or cover, be concealed or avoided, as may be red at large in the Parliament Rolls;( and which for brevity sake, I omit, onely remembering the conclusion.) In pursuance whereof, We Pronounce, Decree, and Declare, the said Richard to have been, and be unprofitable, unable, and a●together unsufficient, and unworthy of the Rule and Government of the said Realms; and in regard of the Premises, worthy to be deposed from all Kingly dignity and ho●or,( if any such dignity and honor, remain in Him;) and for the like cautel, depose Him by Our Sentence Definitive in this Writing, inhibiting from henceforth expressly, all and singular Lords, Archbishops, Bishops, Prelates, Dukes, &c. and all other Persons of the said Realms, the Subjects of the same, and every of them, That from henceforth none obey or intend to obey, the said Richard, as King, or Lord of the Dominions aforesaid, &c.   
This Sentence being pronounced, the Parliament proceeded to the Election of a King, and the unhappy Richard was sent first to the Castle of Leeds in Kent, after to Pontefract, where in order to the public Safety, he departed this life. Thus also mutatis mutandis, died Edward the second.  
Upon the deposing of these two Kings, I shall make this observation, That it pleased God to place in their Thrones( as a sure sign of his approbation) two such Princes, as were not else in all Europe to be found; Edward the third, and Henry the fourth, the latter of which( besides the great advantage that His reign brought to the Kingdom in general) was the happy Father of Henry the fift, the most pious and most glorious King, that ever swayed the English sceptre.  
That Kings may be deposed, is clear by the forementioned Precedent, and that Precedents are Law, will not be denied by any man that deserves to wear a bare Gown. The Common Law of England, is the general Custom of England, which Custom must necessary have a beginning, and that was a Precedent which hath been still continued.  
That this Kings Crimes have deserved deposing( since it is sufficiently proved, that there is Law to warrant such an action,) will not, I am confident, be denied; for I refer the truth of those Treasons, which I have charged upon Him, to the memory of all men, that have age enough to remember the beginning of His reign; and for the satisfaction of other men, I shall desire that they will inform themselves by the Parliaments Declarations, and Remonstrances, together with the History of the Parliament of England, and an History of these Wars, written impartially by one Hornius a Dutchman in latin.  
FINIS.