A

DEFENCE

OF THE

PEOPLE OF ENGLAND,

IN ANSWER TO

SALMASIUS'S DEFENCE OF THE KING*.

THE PREFACE.

LTHOUGH I fear, left, if in defending the people of England, I fhould be as copious in words, and empty of matter, as moft men think Salmafius has been in his defence of the king, I might feem to deferve juftly to be accounted a verbofe and filly defender; yet fince no man thinks himself obliged to make fo much hafte, though in the handling but of any ordinary fubject, as not to premife fome introduction at leaft, according as the weight of the fubject requires; if I take the fame courfe in handling almoft the greateft fubject that ever was (without being too tedious in it) I am in hopes of attaining two things, which indeed I earnestly defire: the one, not to be at all wanting, as far as in me lies, to this most noble caufe, and moft worthy to be recorded to all future ages: the other, that I may appear to have avoided myfelf that frivoloufnefs of matter, and redundancy of words, which I blame in my antagonist. For I am about to difcourfe of matters, neither inconfiderable nor common, but how a moft potent king, after he had trampled upon the laws of the nation, and given a fhock to its religion, and begun to rule at his own will and pleafure, was at laft fubdued in the field by his own fubjects, who had undergone a long flavery under him; how afterwards he was caft into prifon, and when he gave no ground,

This tranflation of the author's "Defenfio pro Populo Anglicano" Mr. Toland afcribes to Mr. Washington, a gentleman of the Temple. either

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either by words or actions, to hope better things of him, he was finally by the fupreme council of the kingdom condemned to die, and beheaded before the very gates of the royal palace. I fhall likewife relate (which will much conduce to the eafing men's minds of a great fuperftition) by what right, efpecially according to our law, this judgment was given, and all these matters tranfacted; and fhall eafily defend my valiant and worthy countrymen (who have extremely well deferved of all fubjects and nations in the world) from the moft wicked calumnies both of domestic and foreign railers, and efpecially from the reproaches of this moft vain and empty fophifter, who fets up for a captain and ringleader to all the reft. For what king's majefty fitting upon an exalted throne, ever fhone fo brightly, as that of the people of England then did, when thaking off that old fuperftition, which had prevailed a long time, they gave judgment upon the king himself, or rather upon an enemy who had been their king, caught as it were in a net by his own laws, (who alone of all mortals challenged to himself impunity by a divine right) and fcrupled not to inflict the fame punifhment upon him, being guilty, which he would have inflicted upon any other? But why do I mention these things as performed by the people, which almost open their voice themselves, and teftify the prefence of God throughout? who, as often as it feems good to his infinite wisdom, ufes to throw down proud and unruly kings, exalting themselves above the condition of human nature, and utterly to extirpate them and all their family. By his manifeft impulfe being fet on work to recover our alinoft loft liberty, following him as our guide, and adoring the impreffes of his divine power manifefted upon all occafions, we went on in no obfcure, but an illuftrious paffage, pointed out and made plain to us by God himfelf. Which things, if I fhould fo much as hope by any diligence or ability of mine, fuch as it is, to difcourfe of as I ought to do, and to commit them fo to writing, as that perhaps all nations and all ages may read them, it would be a very vain thing in me. For what ftyle can be auguft and magnificent enough, what man has parts fufficient to undertake fo great a talk? Since we find by experience,

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experience, that in fo many ages as are gone over the world, there has been but here and there a man found, who has been able worthily to recount the actions of great heroes, and potent states; can any man have fo good an opinion of his own talents, as to think himself capable to reach thefe glorious and wonderful works of Almighty God, by any language, by any ftyle of his? Which enterprife, though fome of the moft eminent perfons in our commonwealth have prevailed upon me by their authority to undertake, and would have it be my bufinefs to vindicate with my pen against envy and calumny (which are proof againft arms) thofe glorious performances of theirs, (whofe opinion of me I take as a very great honour that they fhould pitch upon me before others to be ferviceable in this kind to thofe moft valiant deliverers of my native country; and true it is, that from my very youth, I have been bent extremely upon fuch fort of ftudies, as inclined me, if not to do great things myfelf, at leaft to celebrate thofe that did) yet as having no confidence in any fuch advantages, I have recourfe to the divine affiftance; and invoke the great and holy God, the giver of all good gifts, that I may as fubftantially, and as truly, difcourfe and refute the faucinefs and lies of this foreign declamator, as our noble generals pioufly and fuccefsfully by force of arms broke the king's pride, and his unruly domineering, and afterwards put an end to both by inflicting a memorable punishment upon himself, and as thoroughly as a fingle perfon did with eafe but of late confute and confound the king himself rifing as it were from the grave, and recommending himself to the people in a book published after his death, with new artifices and allurements of words and expreffions. Which antagonist of mine, though he be a foreigner, and, though he deny it a thousand times over, but a poor grammarian; yet not contented with the falary due to him in that capacity, chofe to turn a pragmatical coxcomb, and not only to intrude in ftateaffairs, but into the affairs of a foreign ftate: though he brings along with him neither modefty, nor understanding, nor any other qualification requifite in fo great an arbitrator, but faucinefs, and a little grammar only. Indeed

if

if he had published here, and in English, the fame things as he has now wrote in Latin, fuch as it is, I think no man would have thought it worth while to return an answer to them, but would partly defpife them as common, and exploded over and over already, and partly abhor them as fordid and tyrannical maxims, not to be endured even by the moft abject of flaves: nay, men that have fided with the king, would have had these thoughts of his book. But fince he has fwoln it to a confiderable bulk, and difperfed it amongst foreigners, who are altogether ignorant of our affairs and conftitution; it is fit that they who mistake them, fhould be better informed; and that he, who is fo very forward to speak ill of others, fhould be treated in his own kind. If it be afked, why we did not then attack him fooner, why we fuffered him to triumph fo long, and pride himself in our filence? For others I am not to anfwer; for myself I can boldly fay, that I had neither words nor arguments long to feek for the defence of fo good a caufe, if I had enjoyed fuch a measure of health, as would have endured the fatigue of writing. And being but weak in body, I am forced to write by piecemeal, and break off almost every hour, though the fubje&t be fuch as requires an unintermitted study and intenseness of mind. But though this bodily indifpofition may be a hindrance to me in fetting forth the juft praifes of my moft worthy countrymen, who have been the faviours of their native country, and whofe exploits, worthy of immortality, are already famous all the world over; yet I hope it will be no difficult matter for me to defend them from the infolence of this filly little fcholar, and from that faucy tongue of his, at leaft. Nature and laws would be in an ill cafe, if flavery fhould find what to fay for itself, and liberty be mute and if tyrants fhould find men to plead for them, and they that can mafter and vanquish tyrants, fhould not be able to find advocates. And it were a deplorable thing indeed, if the reafon mankind is endued withal, and which is the gift of God, fhould not furnish more arguments for men's prefervation, for their deliverance, and, as much as the nature of the thing will bear, for making them equal to one another, than for their oppreffion,

preffion, and for their uttter ruin under the domineering power of one fingle perfon. Let me therefore enter upon this noble caufe with a cheerfulnefs, grounded upon this affurance, that my adverfary's caufe is maintained by nothing but fraud, fallacy, ignorance and barbarity; whereas mine has light, truth, reason, the practice and the learning of the beft ages of the world, of its fide.

But now, having faid enough for an introduction, fince we have to do with critics; let us in the firft place confider the title of this choice piece: "Defenfio Regia pro Car. Primo, ad Car. Secundum: a Royal Defence (or the king's defence) for Charles the Firft, to Charles the Second." You undertake a wonderful piece of work, whoever you are; to plead the father's caufe before his own fon a hundred to one but you carry it. But I fummon you, Salmafius, who heretofore fculked under a wrong name, and now go by no name at all, to appear before another tribunal, and before other judges, where perhaps you may not hear thofe little applaufes, which you ufe to be fo fond of in your fchool. But why this royal defence dedicated to the king's own fon? We need not put him to the torture; he confeffes why. "At the king's charge," fays he. O mercenary and chargeable advocate! could you not afford to write a defence for Charles the father, whom you pretend to have been the beft of kings, to Charles the fon, the most indigent of all kings, but it must be at the poor king's own charge? But though you are a knave, you would not make yourself ridiculous, in calling it the king's defence; for you having fold it, it is no longer yours, but the king's indeed: who bought it at the price of a hundred jacobuffes, a great fum for a poor king to disburse. I know very well what I fay and it is well enough known who brought the gold, and the purfe wrought with beads: we know who faw you reach out greedy fifts, under pretence of embracing the king's chaplain, who brought the prefent, but indeed to embrace the prefent itself, and by accepting it to exhaust almost all the king's treasury.

But now the man comes himself, the door creaks; the actor comes upon the stage.

In