REASON'S why the House of Commons ought In Justice forthwith to suspend the MEMBERS Charged by the Army, from sitting in the House, And to proceed in Judgement against them. Or else the City is obliged by way of requital to help the ARMY to justice upon them.  
London, Printed in the Year 1647.   

REASON'S why the House of Commons ought In Justice forthwith to suspend the Members charged by the Army, from sitting in the House, and to proceed in Judgement against them, Or else the City is obliged by way of requital to help the Army to Justice upon them.  
WHerein to speak with all due Reverence to the Honourable House, the question rightly stated will be thus; Whether it be any breach of privilege to require such a present suspension for such reasons and matters which are already fully known to the House, having been acted in the House, or there examined and fully proved? Or whether those other high misdemeanours charged against them ought first to be proved, which will require some time, and I conceive that there ought to be an immediate and present Sequestration of their persons from that great Counsel; and that I may make forth this truth for the satisfaction of the intelligent Reader, in point of rational conviction, grounded upon the Laws of this Kingdom; I shall premise a few Considerations and argue the point as in quiet times upon the Law of the Land, which is the only rule of justice in times of peace.  
1. That it hath ever been the course of all arbitrary Courts, not to suffer their privileges to be questioned, nor to be known to any, but to themselves; that so when they are minded to oppress any Client, if they be nonplussed in point of reason, they may fly to the course of the Court, and say it is but the privilege of the Court, as King James in his speech in the Star-chamber says that the privileges of that Court were so transcendent that they were not to be disputed by common Lawyers, and charged the Chancellor to check the presumptuous boldness of such Lawyers as durst argue and dispute of the limits and extents of his Prerogative, and the decapitated Archbishop in the high Commission Court made an express Inhibition that no Minster should preach of Predestination and matters of such high concernment; and formerly in the Court of Wards, he that argued for the King, to finda Tonure to fetter and clog the subject's Lands, could never want a reason; for if neither Common Law; nor Statute law, not Custom, not the King's Prcrogativo could carry it, than it was the privilege of the Coure so to do; that if the Counsel should say, give my Client what is his due by the Common Law, then says the Court give us what is our due by the privilege of the Court, the Honour and Rites whereof we sit here to maintain; and upon that ground the Papists made marriage a Sacrament, that if Caesar should say give me my due, marriage belongs to the Civil Magistrate; the Answer is, give God his due, Sacraments belong to the Church; and so it was in our Spiritual (or rather Carnal) Courts, when the unreasonableness of Excommunication for trifles was objected, oh 'tis ' the privilege of the Court so to do.  
But blessed be God the subject is well enfranchised in these Particulars, and yet King Charles must have his due, the Army have declared their desires therein, and his Majesty says he desires no more, and certainly he deserves no less: I cannot but observe what plotting there is to make the King's late party believe that his Majesty dislikes the Armies proceed; one B. Rheymes informing the Right Honourable the House of Peers thereof; a Relation was printed by Order, as was but just for every Court gives indubitate credence to informations, 〈◊〉 the contrary appear, or 〈…〉; 〈…〉 every 〈…〉 to consider of the improbability of it; that the King should desire private conference with 〈◊〉 stronger (for the 〈◊〉 was never any Courtier nor so much as known to the King) is very strange to me, and the Relation indeed is repugnant in itself, for my own part I think it is something like the Romish Translation, and not a word of 〈◊〉 true, for I find the Areny expressing the contrary, and where his Majesty's best interest and hopes lie, I refer the Reader to the Kingdom's 〈◊〉 lately printed, with this, that King Charles shall be King of Pree men governing according to just and whole some Laws, by which to command one man is more honourable in the Judgement of men that are truly so, then to have absolute power of life and death over ten thousand Galley slaves.  
2. Concerning the Pauliament privileges, there are very few Cases printed in any Law books, the Houses have always been the proper Judges of their own Proviledges: the Journal books and books of Remembrances and Orders in both Houses being matters of Record and Registers of their Privileges and Proceed, and when a special case happen for which there is no Precedent then right Reason must be judge.  
For the Honerable House of Commons, the represenudtive body of the Kingdom, the privileges of that House are great, for Parliament are must being the greatest 〈…〉 in the Kingdom; the trusties must have inswrabled Privileges; now a Privilege is private 〈◊〉, an Exemption from some general Law for the ease and benefit of the privileged party, and a private Law must be 〈◊〉 as well as a public Law, but the power of the House is far above the privilege of the House, they being impowered for the common good; and themselves privileged for the better carrying on of the same.  
The first day of Parliament M. Speaker in his speech to the King always concludes with a prayer in the name of the House that they may enjoy their ancient and undoubted privileges, the essentials whereof are Three.  
First, freedom from Ar●es●● for themselves their necessary servants.  
2. Freedom of debate, the very life of Counsels  
3. That they may not be drawn 〈…〉, but ●yed by themselves, unless for Treasons or Felonies, which are apparently so, as if a Member should kill a man there is no question but he ought to be tried by the Common Law, which is the common arbiter of life and death.  
This being laid as a substratum and groundwork, I conceive thereby that if any considerable number of men, free from all faction and conspiracy, shall by Petition or Remonstrance, which is an humble way, make a complaint to the House of Ten or Twenty of the Members, charging them with high misdemeanours, and amongst the rest that they by artisicial practices seduce the House and poison the very fountain of Justice, that they cause divisions between the Parliament and the Kingdom, and such men as have given most large testimonies of their cordial affections to the Parliament and Kingdom, and are ready to aver and make good their Charge, praying that the parties may be suspended from voting in the House for the present; this Petition ought to be granted for these Reasons.  
1. Because the suspension is but in order to the trial; A Petition to the House is equivalent to an original writ; upon every action or accusation something by the Law must be done in order to the trial: a man is arrested for money, possibly there is nothing due; yet bail must be given or the party imprisoned before the right of the matter appears: If the Charge be for treason the party is not bailable, the punishment is so heinous, unless in some special case, or that malice is evident; if for felony, in some cases the judges will take bail, if the party be not taken in committing the crym; if for other offences and misdemeanours, the matter, nature, and rise of the Charge is principally considerable; but always something must be done in order to the trial; As for any bail or caution to answer the Charge it is improper, but the first thing properly to be done is suspension from the House, that they may do no more hurt in the House, and this is but in the nature of an Injunction to prevent further mischief; which is granted in ordinary Courts of justice, upon a bare suggestion that a man hath Committed waste and spoil upon the ground before the title be tried, an injunction is granted to stay any further wastes. The writ called de leproso amovendo, to remove a Leper is granted upon a bare suggestion, before it be tried, whether the party be a Laper●● not, that the healths of others may not be endangered.  
2. This can be no prejudice to the Members, for if the Honest please to hear the proofs, the matter may be ended in a short time; but if they sit there, it cannot be imagined (whatsoever they may pretend) that they desire a speedy trial, if the House please to suspend them, but for a month, and hear the proofs in that time, what prejudice can it be in right reason? The matter of every Charge where no malice is apparent, is presumed to be true, and that's the reason that the Law favours the Plaintiff, presuming the cause of Action to be just; for though the most confident Accusation, is not the least proof to condemn, for than none should be Innocent, yet 'tis a violent presumption that 'tis true, and the party to be seoured, for the Law says that a Common fame that saith a man is guilty of felony is sufficient cause for a Justice of peace to Restrain a man's Liberty, a thing in law most precious. Now no malice can be presumed in the Army towards the Members accused, they which have ventured their lives for the Parliament and Kingdom, can be supposed to intent nothing but the Common good. what they do is for the pure love of Justice, they and the whole Kingdom desire peaee, and speedy Justice; which only can cure the Consumption of this Kingdom; these are the principal obstructers of Justice, and hinderers of poor Ireland's relief, and these men to accomplish their ambitious ends, study to embroil this poor Kingdom in a second and more bloody war; and care not to set all on fire; so as they may Nerelike warm themselves: and so great is their influence in the Honourable House, that so long as they sit there, no Reformation can be expected, and therefore they ought to be suspended.  
But it may be demanded, 
Object.  why may not these men sit in the House and vote in other matters, till the whole Charge be proved against them?  
By no means for so the matter will be endless, men that have cunning wits will drive every Vote to their own ends: 
Respon.  when the House or Committee should sit to hear the complants against them, they shall procure an order to put it off for ten days, or bring on other businesses, and pretend absence of witnesses; besides, as upon every Summons at Law there are fifteen days given, so is it in Committees, Tediens protractions, and dangerous delays, which the Condition of the Army cannot admit, to go a Circular course of Law against them, by way of Bill, Answer, and Replication; but if they were not guilty of the matters Charged against them they would not fear being suspended: some of them can be out of the House months together, for their own ease or profit, why should not the House do right to the Army in this particular?  
Obs. But must not the House preserve itself? if Ten Members may be suspended in this manner, why not as well Twenty or a Hundred, and so the whole House might be dissolved, and so a failer of Justice.  
Resp. No suchmatter, every Court hath an intrinsecal power, by the Rules of Law to conserve itself: if the chief Justice of the King's bench or common Pleas be liable to any action, the writ may be taken out against him in the name of the Secondary Judgs' and so against Three Judges, in the name of the Fourth. But if the four judges be all bound in one bound jointly, this Bond cannot be sued against them all in this Court, for then there would be a failer of justice; they may not be judges in their own case, but one or two of the judges may be sued in their own Court, and they are to be Removed from off the bench, and sit below amongst the officers of the Court, uncovered; and therefore one of the judges, in the Queen's time, being sued in an action of Debt, because he might not sit in the Court while the Action against him was depending, by consent came to a speedy trial, and the matter was ended in a day or two; what a happy thing would it be for this Kingdom, if every man's cause might be ended so soon, or at least in a month or two, the Lord grant it may be so.  
But out the case, that there was a Law that no Member of the House of Commons should be suspended, nor accused, but by the Oaths of Twenty witnesses, as the Cardinals are not to be Impeached but by Twenty Accusers, shall an Army of such gallant faithful men that have been Instruments to save the Kingdom, be subject to a dead Letter? the Kingdom now entreats them to see justine done, shall the Houses to gratify those few Incendiaries endanger the ruin of the whole Kingdom? or shall the Army to preserve an unnecessary privilege, neglect to see the Common Rights, and Liberties of the people settled, which they have fought for all this while? must we to prevent a small inconvenience enforce a greater? there is no previledge of the House of Commons that must stand in competition with the safety of the people: the Law is Lord of particular cases and persons, but the universal good is Lord over it: what Law was there to restrain any man from going between Oxford and London, but the safety of the people? and what schism is it in the body, to pull out an aching tooth, though seated in the head? This is a fare stronger case than strafford's or Canterbury's, who yet lay long in prison before they were tried: the Army are so fare from the least face of revenge, that though these men have voted them enemies to the State, for that which the Parliament since acknowledge to be just, that they do not so much as desire to have them imprisoned, which in justice they might well expect, but they desire only their absence from the House, that their hands and tongues may be tied from doing further hurt to the Kingdom.  
If the case of the five Members should be objected, there is no comparison between them; for the King cannot accuse any subject; and they were demanded in a hostile manner, because they voted for the liberty of the people; but these Members of late have voted nothing in the House, but merely to enslave the people: he that was one of the five, is as a star fallen from heaven, which was no star, but a Comet: 'tis pity good parts should be employed to make slaves of those that entrusted them.  
But still it will be said, can words make any man guilty? I answer, their actions clearly bespeak their intentions, which is the ruin of this Army, to disgrace and oppress every man that will not conform to their practices, but stands in the way of their Domination, to Lord it over the Lord's inheritance; all their Votes tend to enslave them whom they should enfranchise; and it is most apparent that they neither intent to do right to the King nor the people: This is sufficiently known to the House, that these were the principal actors in procuring that hasty Declaration against this Army, which is the wonderment of Heathens, that men who with the venture of their lives had vindicated the Petitions of Right, should be denied the right and Liberty to present their grievances to their noble General, and this Declaration to be passed in the House late in the night, contrary to Order of the House, that it should not be debated till the next day, when the Armies friends were gone away, and so the House surprised, and abused; and these are the men that afterwards of their own accord, without any warrant from the House, called back those three Regiments out of Worcester-shire, that were going for the relief of Ireland, and what plotting there was between some of these Members, and the Reformadoes, abetting them to come down to the House, and imprison the Members in the House till some of them by their elegant speeches pacified them; and what high affronts have been and are daily offered to those that are the Armies friends, let but every reasonable man seriously consider, Whether the House in justice has not sufficient clear ground to suspend these men from any longer sitting, till the other heads of the Charge be clearly united; which if it be denied, if the Army cannot find justice from the House in the Hundred, how shall they expect it in the Shire? If these men have such an influence and power in the House, that they may not be suspended in Order to a trial, what hopes has the Army, that the House should inflict condign punishment upon them according to their demerits, though I believe the Army desires they should be more mercifully dealt withal then they intended towards the Army, had they been disbanded?  
If one strike a man in Westminster-Hall, in the face of the Court, he shall lose his hand without any further proof; and if the Court adjudge an Infant of sixteen to be of full age, by inspection, there is no averment against it; now not only the House, but every man that walks in Westminster-Hall, knows that these men are the principal firebrands in the House.  
But come you worthy Citizens, what if the honourable House of Commons will not do justice upon them, for my part I know no other way to the safety of this Kingdom, 〈◊〉 by the present suspending of these Members; for as sure as the Lord is in heaven, if they continue in the House, they will embroil this Kingdom in a new war, by private listings, inviting the Scots, or rather than fail, to make a peace with the Irish Rebels, and bring them over, calumniating the Army, or otherwise, what will you do in this case? pray let me give you counsel without a fee; if it taste bitter, as I hope it will not, to any found palate, swallow it down, for it is wholesome; do not I beseech you (upon any pretences) raise any Forces against this Army; do not allege you must defend the City, of whom are you afraid? Is not the Army the best friend that ever the City had, have they not been your strongest walls and Bulwarks? will you be briers and thorns to them? had not your enemies long since deflowered your Virgin City, had not they stood in the gap? Rejoice rather, never such true cause of ringing the bells, and making bonfires, gallant Sir Thomas Fairfax, and his Army, under God, preservers of your City, is coming; now keep holiday, and write over your doers, Victoria: this is the second nativity of London, every thing shall be settled for the good of us, and this Kingdom, as well as heart can wish; let's give them our best wine to drink, that have ventured their lives for us; truly 'tis but justice so to do; 'tis no charity to relieve that poor man that has saved my life; all the wealth in the City is not sufficient to requite this Army: But me thinks I hear a poor honest heart say, this would do well, if there were not a difference between the Parliament and Army; good friend do not mistake, the Charge is not against the Parliament, but some corrupt worms in the body, that are to be purged out, that the Body Politic may be the sounder: but what if we be commanded to our Arms? Oh consider what you do, and ask counsel from heaven! a war is quickly begun but not easily ended, the first blow is like leaping into a deep pit, or as opening the floodgates; if there should be a breach between Parliament and Army, which God forbidden, who made it? who gives the first blow? what had the Army done to be declared enemies, for presenting a Petition to the noble General, which (by the Law of Arms, all soldiers have liberty to do) in case they should persist in it? which since the Parliament has acknowledged to be but just; and though that Declaration be since retracted, the unbending of the bow does not heal the hurt made by the arrow; when the wound is cured (though I think all sober men counted it at the best, but an impolitike and hasty Declaration, full of ingratitude; to say no more of it) yet the scar remains so fare, as that it was a sufficient Declaration how the chief promoters of it intended to deal with the Army when disbanded, Rebels, Traitors Heretics, and Schismatics, men not worthy to have a mouthful of air in the Kingdom, though under God they had saved it; but when by their means a blessed Reformation (for the good of this poor Kingdom) shall be effected, and justice and common honesty shall be highly exalted; how will the world then stand and admire, and say with David, mirabilis Deus in sanctis suis, God is greatly to be admired in his Saints. Do but consider seriously of it, for which of the Armies good works at Naesby, Bristol etc. must they in all haste be stoned? Weigh their proceed in an equal balance, since the Charge sent up against the eleven Members, they have kept at a distance, expecting justice to be done upon them, it cannot be obtained; they approach the City for that purpose only: Oh bid them welcome, the sword is but the servant of justice, and servants of justice are the Kingdom's best friends; take heed you do them no wrong, my life on it they will do you none; you know they are no cowards, when their cause is good, the justice of heaven is for them, they have assisted you against those who had designed the ruin of your famous City: It is but justice and common equity, that you should assist them against those that had designed theirs, and in them the ruin of the whole Kingdom; for believe it, under the specious pretences of government, order, and uniformity, the design of these men and their Accomplices, was no other but to get the King's power into their own hands, to monopolise all the great places to themselves and their Adherents, to continue Grandees of Parliament during their lives, and to make us the most absolute slaves that ever were in this Kingdom, both for souls, bodies, and estates: consider further, what can you get by opposing this Army, for though the Commanders and Officers be not Soldiers of fortune, but Gentlemen of worth and quality, and few of the soldiery but know how to live comfortably; for you see it is not money they aim at, being acted by more noble principles, the love of justice, and virtue, for which they first engaged, yet if they find resistance, nature justifies self-defence, and justice must be done; you may lose much, and in the loss of this Army, you and yours are likely to be enslaved for ever, you know God has owned this Army as those that are holy, faithful, and chosen, and all Counties where they come own them and love them, and fear nothing but their disbanding before the peace of this Kingdom be settled, and the Liberties of the Subject vindicated: pray read the 8. of Numbers, the Lord is with them, and the shout of a King is amongst them.  
Therefore as you love this Kingdom, make not the least head, nor face of resistance against them; you and they are as two vessels at sea, if you clash upon one another, you are broken: he that gives the first blow engages the Justice of Heaven against him, set open your gates, if you have no intestine troublers, you may throw down your works; the Army under God, will be your sufficient defence: do not object that to require justice in this manner is to enforce the Parliament, force and right are opposed; force being properly of things unlawful, 'tis no force to make a man to be honest; these Members accused, might have acted and voted freely for the enfranchisement of the people, but they are not free to vote for our inslavement; 'tis a common Argument, that by this means the Houses are overawed, and not in a free capacity; but it bears not the weight of a feather: For;  
1. God, and nature, law, and reason all command the execution of justice, and he that ordains the end, always appoints some means or other conducing to that end: therefore, when the Liberty of a people cannot be settled but by a defensive war, that must needs be lawful: but this is the case, there happens an unhappy difference between the Houses, and the Army, the Parliament say, they will make the Kingdom happy; the Army fears it, and says it will not be done unless these Incendiaries be removed: Now the Question is, Whether the Army ought not in Law and conscience to continue in arms till this difference be ended, and there is nothing more clear, then that they ought; for it is a rule in Law, and universal reason, that when a suit is begun all things must rest as they then are till the matter be ended and adjudged, for to deliver up the sword, is to release the right.  
2. Here is no force unlawfully raised, but commissionated by the Parliament for the freedom of themselves, and the whole Kingdom, not to fight with an implicit faith, but for justice, and common Liberties, and properties; and there can no Argument be used against the Army, for whetting their glistering swords, against the injustice of these men, and keeping them unsheathed until the King and Kingdom be settled in Honour, and safety, but what may be improved against the Parliament, for the first raiseing of this Army?  
Let not these and such like Incendiaryes, nor their accomplices in pulpits nor elsewhere, abuse you into any prejudices or jealousies, as that the Army was raised and paid by the Parliament, and that the servants oppose their Masters; just as the Bishops argued, we are the shepherds, ye are the sheep, shall the sheep oppose the shepherds? 'tis the Kingdom that pays the Army, and they contribute thereunto out of their own estates, but the Parliament are so wise in all their declarations, to exempt themselves from payments; the Army fight for themselves, and for the good of the Kingdom, and are true to their first principles, justice and Lawful Liberties, for the love whereof they will adventure ten thousand lives a piece, if they had them: For my part, if they should willingly disband, before our Liberties be settled and secured, I should proclaim it to all the world, that they had betrayed us. Have honest men laid out themselves to their very shirts, and must they now be trampled upon, and made at the best hewers of wood and drawers of water, if so much favour may be granted them, to breath in the Land of their nativity? How is justice vinegar at the best, and gall to the most? Protestants by a new trick made Papists, and indicted upon the Statutes of Recusants, honest men imprisoned every where, as if it were no more to imprison a man then to whip a Schoolboy; Petitions burnt, a thing never heard of amongst Heathen Magistrates, that dries up the fountain of all relief; and these persons are the chief incendiaries and promoters of all these mischiefs; these are the Phaeton's that would set all on fire before the general conflagration at the day of judgement; for I have a most reverend and honourable esteem of many in both Houses, who in my conscience, really and sincerely, without those unworthy and base ends of enriching themselves upon the ruins of others, intent the glory of God, and the good of this Kingdom, but are over-voted and silenced, as wheat lies buried amongst the chaff.  
Therefore, this being no time to write much; All you honest Citizens, go down to the Parliament, and cry justice, justice, against these men; take your Bibles, and mark well the 20. Chapter of the second Book of Samuel, let these Sheba's be but suspended the House and justice done upon them, and the Army, if you desire it, will make an honourable retreat, so as they may have monies not to be chargeable to the almost quite exhausted countries': The Army desires an account of the many millions of money that have been raised for the Kingdom's service: In the name of God, let the Treasurers, Committee-men, and those that have swallowed down the money, vomit it up again; why should they not? let quick and cheap justice be done to rich and poor; I assure you, the work will be glorious if you hinder it not; if you make any opposition against this Army, you are undone. Farewell the glory of London-Towne: the Lord give you wisdom to know your friends from your foes: In this will God's love be manifest to the city: I hope your unthankful Remonstrance may be forgotten, because you were at the first a Sanctuary for honest men; I trust God will inspire you to foresee and prevent your ruin, which can only be by complying with this Army, for which I shall pray and conclude myself an unfeigned wellwisher of peace and truth, of the honour of the King, and just Rights and Liberties of the Parliament and Kingdom.  
FINIS.