(my Lords) God and Nature have given us the Sea as our beft Guard against our Enemies, and our Ships as our greatest Glory above other Nations; and how barbaroufly would thefe Men have let in the Sea upon us, at once to wash away our Liberties, and to overwhelm, if not our Land, all the Property we have therein, making the Supply of our Navy a Pretence for the Ruin of our Nation; for obferve, I beseech you, the Fruit and Confequence of this Judgment, how this Money has profpered, how contrary an Effect it has had to the End, for which they pretended to take it: On every County a Ship is annually impos'd, and who would not expect, but our Seas by this time fhould be covered with the number of our Ships? Alas (my Lords) the daily Complaints of the Decay of our Navy tell us how ill Shipmoney has maintain'd the Sovereignty of the Sea; and by the many Petitions which we receive from the Wives of thofe miferable Captives at Algier, (being between four and five thousand of our Country Men) it does too evidently appear, that to make us Slaves at home, is not the way to keep us from being made Slaves abroad; fo far has this Judgment been from relieving the prefent, or preventing the future Neceffity, that as it changed our real Property into the fhadow of a Property, fo of a feign'd it has made a real Neceffity. A little before the Approach of the Gauls to Rome, while the Romans had yet no Apprehenfion of that Danger, there was heard a Voice in the Air louder than ordimary, The Gauls are come; which Voice, after they had fack'd the City, and befieged the Capitol, was held fo ominous, that Livy relates it as a Prodigy: This Anti'cipation of Neceffity feems to have been no lefs ominous to us: Thefe Judges, like ill-boding Birds, have call'd Neceffity upon the State in a time, when I dare fay, they thought themselves in greatest Security; but if it seem fuperftitious to take this as an Omen, fure I am, we may look on it as a Cause of the unfeigned Neceffity we now faffer; for what Regret and Difcontent had this Judg ment ment bred among us? As when the Noife and Tumult in a private Houfe grows fo loud as to be heard into the Streets, it calls in the next Dwellers either kindly to appeafe, or to make their own use of domeftick Strife; fo in all likelihood our known Discontents at home have been a concurrent Cause to invite our Neighbours to vifit us, fo much to the Expence and Trouble of both thefe King doms. And here, my Lords, I cannot but take notice of the moft fad Effect of this Oppreffion, the ill Influence it has had upon the ancient Reputation and Valour of the English Nation: And no wonder, for if it be true that Oppreffion makes a wife Man mad, it may well fufpend the Courage of the Valiant: The fame happened to the Romans, when for Renown in Arms, they most excell'd the reft of the World; the Story is but fhort, 'twas in the time of the Decemviri, (and I think the chief Troublers of our State may make up that Number) The Decemviri, my Lords, had fubverted the Laws, fufpended the Courts of Juftice, and (which was the greatest Grievance both to the Nobility and People) had for fome Years omitted to affemble the Senate, which was their Parliament: This, fays the Hiftorian, did not only deject the Romans, and make them defpair of their Liberty, but caufed them to be lefs valu'd by their Neighbours: The Sabines take the Advantage and invade them; and now the Decemviri are forc'd to call the long defired Senate, whereof the People were fo glad that Hoftibus belloque gratiam habur erunt: This Affembly breaks up in Difcontent, neverthelefs the War proceeds; Forces are raised, led by fome of the Decemviri, and with the Sabines they meet in the Field: I know your Lordships expect the Event: My Author's Words of his Countrymen are thefe, Ne quid ductu aut aufpicio Decemvirorum profpere gereretur, vinci se par tiebantur, They chofe rather to fuffer a prefent Diminution of their Honour, than by Victory to confirm the Tyranny of their new Mafters. At their Return from this unfortunate Expedition, after fome Diftempers and Expoftus poftulations of the People, another Senate, that is, a fecond Parliament, is call'd, and there the Decemviri are question'd, depriv'd of their Authority, imprison'd, banish'd, and fome lofe their Lives; and foon after this Vindication of their Liberties, the Romans by their better Success, made it appear to the World, that Liberty and Courage dwell always in the fame Breast, and are never to be divorc'd. No doubt, my Lords, but your Justice shall have the like. Effect upon this difpirited People; 'tis not the Restitution of our Antient Laws alone, but the Restauration of our Ancient Courage which is expected from your Lordfhips I need not fay any thing to move your juft Indignation, that this Man fhou'd fo cheaply give away that which your Noble Ancestors with fo much Courage and Industry had fo long maintained: You have often been told how careful they were, tho' with the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes, to derive those Rights and Liberties as entire to Pofterity as they received them from their Fathers; what they did with Labour you may do with Eafe: What they did with Danger you may do fecurely: The Foundation of our Laws is not fhaken with the Engine of War, they are only blafted with the Breath of these Men, and by your Breath they may be restored. What Judgments your Predeceffors have given, and what Punishments their Predeceffors have fuffered for Of fences of this Nature, your Lordships have already been fo well informed, that I fhall not trouble you with a Repetition of those Precedents: Only (my Lords) fomething I fhall take leave to obferve of the Perfon with whofe Charge I have prefented you, that you may the lefs doubt of the Wilfulness of his Offence. His Education in the Inns of Court, his conftant PraEtice as a Counsellor, and his Experience as a Judge (confi der'd with the Mischief he has done) makes it appear that this Progrefs of his thro' the Law, has been like that of a diligent Spy thro' a Country, into which he meant to conduct an Enemy. Το To let you fee he did not offend for Company, there is one Crime fo peculiar to himself, and of fuch Malignity, that it makes him at once uncapable of your Lordships' Favour, and his own Subfiftence incompatible with the Right and Property of the Subject: For if you leave him in a Capacity of interpreting the Laws; has he not declared his Opinion, That your Votes and Refolutions against Ship-money are void, and that it is not in the Pow er of Parliament to abolish that Judgment? To him, my Lords, that has thus play'd with the Power of Parliament, we may well apply what was once faid to a Goat browsing on a Vine. Rode, Caper, vitem, tamen hinc cum ftabis ad aras, He has cropt and infring'd the Privileges of a banish'd Parliament, but now it is returned, he may find it has Power enough to make a Sacrifice of him, to the better Establishment of our Laws; and in truth what other Satisfaction can he make his injur'd Country, than to confirm, by his Example, thofe Rights and Liberties which he had ruin'd by his Opinion? For the Proofs, my Lords, they are so manifeft, that they will give you little Trouble in the Difquifition; his Crimes are already upon Record, the Delinquent and the Witness is the fame; having from feveral Seats of Judicature proclaim'd himself an Enemy to our Laws and Nation, Ex ore fuo judicabitur. To which purpose I am commanded by the Knights, and Citizens, and Burgeffes of the House of Commons, to defire your Lordfhips that as fpeedy a Proceeding may be had against Mr. Juftice Crawley, as the Courfe of Parliament will permit. Mr. WAL 280] Mr. WALLER'S SPEECH in the House of Commons, on Tuesday, July 4, 1643: Being brought to the Bar, and having Leave given him by the Speaker, to say what he cou'd for himself, before they proceeded to expel him the House. Mr. SPEAKER, Acknowledge it a great Mercy of God, and a great Favour from you, that I am once more fuffered to behold this Honourable Affembly. I mean not to make use of it to say any thing in my own Defence, by Justification or Denial of what I have done; I have already confeffed enough to make me appear worthy, not only to be put out of this House, but out of the World too. All my humble Requeft to you is, that if I feem to you as unworthy to live, as I do to my felf, I may have the Honour to receive my Death from your own Hands, and not be exposed to a Tryal by the Council of War: What-ever you fhall think me worthy to fuffer in a Parliamentary way, is not like to find stop any where else. This (Sir) I hope you will be pleafed for your own Sakes to grant me, who am already fo miferable, that no |