Two speeches of George, Earl of Bristol, with some observations upon them by which it may appear whether or no the said Earl and others of the same principles, deserve to be involved in the common calamity brought upon Roman Catholicks, by the folly and presumption of some few factious papists.

About this Item

Title: Two speeches of George, Earl of Bristol, with some observations upon them by which it may appear whether or no the said Earl and others of the same principles, deserve to be involved in the common calamity brought upon Roman Catholicks, by the folly and presumption of some few factious papists.
Author: Bristol, George Digby, Earl of, 1612-1677.
Publication: London :: [s.n.],; 1674.
Rights/Permissions: To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
Subject terms: Catholic Church -- England.; Church and state -- Catholic Church.
Link to this Item: http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A29572.0001.001
Cite this Item: "Two speeches of George, Earl of Bristol, with some observations upon them by which it may appear whether or no the said Earl and others of the same principles, deserve to be involved in the common calamity brought upon Roman Catholicks, by the folly and presumption of some few factious papists." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A29572.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 19, 2025.

Pages

Page 7

A Speech of the Earl of Bristols to the house of Commons, spoken by him there, on the first of Iuly, 1663. Being a vindication of himself, and of Sir Richard Temple.

Mr. Speaker,

WEre I to be wrought upon by the Arts or Menaces of my ene∣mies, or by the alarums in my behalf of my friends contrary to that firmness and assurance which a cleer heart and a good conscience do always uphold in a man of honour I should have appeared in this place with such fear and trembling as could not chuse but disorder any mans reason and elocution.

The niceness of the subject upon wich I am brought hi∣ther were enough to discompose but over and above that, I am not ignorant what Personal prejudices I am under, and how industriously they have been improved among you.

But Mr. Speaker, when I look round this illustrious assembly, and see above three parts of it composed of men that wear as I do a Sword by their side, and have drawn it so often in his Majesties service Gentlemen of birth, integrity and fortune all apprehensions vanish from a man that hath served, and suffered for the King as I have done.

Mr. Speaker I know the time of this honourable house, upon whose prudent deliberations the happiness of King and Kingdom depends, is too pretious to have and part of it spent in vindication of me; But since not only the reputation and the innocence of one of your Members depends upon what I shall say& but even his Majesties honour is in some sort concerned in the right apprehension of it& I hope it will be thought no presumption in me to begg of you as I do in all humility, one quarter of an hours patience and attention.

Mr. Speaker I am here exposd as the bearer of a message to his Majesty from Sir Richard Temple, which he hath thought worthy to be complained of to this house and which Sir R. T. affirms that he never sent.

Lay your hands upon your hearts Gentlemen, and say truly; does not your innate candor pity a Person of my condition brought into a strait in all appearnce so inextricable? for on the other side is I avow to have carried from Sir R. T. that message, which his Majesty hath made so high and so unusual an ex∣pression of his being offended at, and which Sir R. T. denies to have ever sent? How can men of honour ever forgive me so ungentlemanly a proceeding towards a Person who had trusted me as a friend with the doing him as he thought a good

Page 8

office with His Majesty. On the other side Mr. Speaker should I disavow the having delivered the message from Sir R. T. which His Majesty hath thought fit to affirm that he received from him, and by me, what subject can be strong e∣nough not to sink for ever under the weight of such a contradiction to his Sove∣raign? I ask you again Gentlemen, does not the condition I am brought into by the arts of mine enemies move at the same time your pitty and indignation.

Mr. Speaker, when David was put to his choice of one of the three extream Calamities he made election of the Plague, and why? That he might fall into the hand of the Lord, and not into the hands of Men. In like manner Mr. Speaker, if one of the two extreams that threaten me be as it appears unavoidable, let me fall into the hands of Gods Vice-regent the King.

The world would never pardon me an unworthy action; His Princely goodness I am sure would in time pardon me a generous fault. But when you have heard me out Gentlemen I am confident that you will find that I shall need neither the worlds pardon, nor the Kings; but only yours.

In the first place Mr. Speaker, I am bound to clear Sir R. T. which I here do upon my honour, that he never sent by me any message to the King that had the least tincture in it of an undertaking of his, which I conceive to be the only part that could give offence to His Majesty, or be a ground for the complaint made against him.

In the next place, since the King (who the Law says can do no wrong) hath thought fit to affirm that I brought him that undertaking message from Sir R. T. It must needs be true, and I do with all submission acknowledge whatsoever His Majesty is pleased to affirm of me. But having discharged that duty to my sove∣raign, I hope I may be allowed to lay the fault home upon my self, and to tell you in all truth and sincerity, that my tongue (I know not by what unhappy di∣stemper in delivering that Message) delivered that which was never in my thoughts, so farr was I from thinking to deliver such a Message from Sir R. T. that I protest I did not think my self charg'd with any thing from him by way of Message. It is true, that being much moved at an ill office which had been done Sir R. T. I made a warm adress unto His Majesty in his behalf, wherein I ex∣pressd his great grief that His Majesty should be offended with him, and having joynd thereunto some reasonings of his in justification of his Conduct, in order to His Majesties service, I pursued his expression with such others of mine own upon the same subject, as, all circumstances considered, any body but the King might easily have mistaken, that to be a continuation of a redress from Sir R. T. and an undertaking of his, which was indeed a fervorous discourse, and a confident undertaking of my own. Sir R. Temple being thus clear'd without the least dentraction to His Majesty.

If undertaking for you Gentleman be a guilt, tis only I that stand guilty before you, but you are too noble I sure and too just to condemn me in your judge∣ments

Page 9

before you have heard the nature and circumstances of my undertaking which with your leave I shall now deelare to you the full, taking the matter as I needs must to be rightly understood from a higher original.

Mr. Speaker Having had the honour heretofore to discharge with approbation a place of so high trust as that of Secretary of State to His Majesties Father of blessed memory, and himself; And since my quitting that place, His Majesty ha∣ving had the goodness to admit me frequently to the happiness of his Princely conversation you cannot imagine but that sometimes he hath vouchsafed to speak with me of business especially of Parliament, having the honour to be a Peer at present, and heretofore as much vers'd as some of my contemporaries in the pro∣ceedings of the honourable house of Commons.

I confess unto you Gentlemen, that before you last assembling he did it more then once; And the thing wherein I most constantly delivered my opinion concerning this honourable house was, That never King having been so happy in a house of Commons as he in you, A house compos'd of so many Gentlemen of birth and fortune, eminent in their faithfulness to him, such as could never be suspected for any sinister designs, or any dependance, but upon the Crown, and upon their duty to those that chose them, and such as in the former sessions had manifested their affections to him by such large aids and supplies, nothing could be more important to his service, then to make and preserve you still popular with those that sent you; To which end I took the liberty to tell him that if the necessity of his affairs (of which I that had no part in his Counsell was no good Judge) could admit of it, he ought not in prudence to let you give him any money this sitting, But rather obliege you wholly to apply your selves to the making of such Laws, as might endear both him and you to the people, and make them think all that had been given well bestowed, by which means at another meeting he would be Master of the hearts and Purses of his subjects; But that in case his necessities should urge him, to press you hefore your rising for a new supply, That he ought by all means to let it be accompanied if not preceded by some eminent Acts, for reformation of a former abuses and for the securing his subjects from the like for the future

I persisted Mr. Speaker, in pressing upon all occasions, this advice to His Majesty till some few weeks after your meeting, when as finding my self, I know not by what misfortune, fallen under some prejudices, I thought that a total forbearance from speaking to his Majesty of any business, would be the usefullest way of serving him; Aud I do here protest unto you Gentlemen with all sincerity, that from that time until this business of Sir R. T. I never once opened my lips to his Majesty concerning any publique affair whatsoever

It is true Mr. Speaker, that a ground being given me to enter again with his Majesty upon a subject which my heart was still full of I laid hold upon the occasion, and in pursuance of what I had said in behalf of Sir R. T. I told his Majesty (perhaps with more freedome and fervour then became me) that

Page 10

I feared his Courtiers gave him wrong measures, both of the temper of the house of Commons, and of the means to obtain new supplies from them, whether by way of present gift, or of such settlement in his revenue as might indeed bring him out of necessity, since that there could be no reasonable hopes of obtaining any such assistance, but by a concomitence at least, if not a precedency of such Acts as might be grateful and beneficial to his Subjects, and secure them, that what should be given hereafter should be better managed for his service then those vast sums that had been formerly granted. That if His Majesty in his Princely wisdom should think fit to drive on his business upon such solid grounds and not upon the false and self-intrested measures of some Courtiers, he had a house of Commons composed of Members so full of affection to his Person, and zeal for his prosperity and glory, That not only Sir Richard Temple, but the most unprejudiced and ablest Men in the Kingdom as well as my self durst undertake. That such a house of Commons would neither let him want such present supplies as the true necessities of his affairs should require, nor such an established revenue as was fit to support the greatness and honour of his Crown If this hath been a criminal undertaking, you have before you Gentlemen. Confitentem reum.

But Mr. Speaker, whilst I am endeavouring to do right to Sir R, T. and to vin∣dicate or arraign my self before you, according as you shall be pleased to under∣stand it by telling you what passed from me to his Majesty. I must not omit to give the honour due to him, for the Kingly reply he made me upon that occasion, which was this.

That he had a sense of the affection and merit of the house of Comons towards him, even beyond what I had expressed, and that was the reason why relying so intirely as he did upon the affections of that whole body, he was and should ever be offended at any proposition to carry on his business there by officious under¦takings and Cabals either of his Courtiers or others. An expressiion fit to be written with the rays of the Sun that all the world may read it: An expres∣sion which certainly cannot but inflame the affections of this noble assembly that hears me, and carry you to make good those happy impressions of you which are so deeply stamp'd in his Royal breast, such as I should think it a crime in mē to doubt, But that all suspitions being now vanished of His Majesties owing the supplies desired to any arts or contrivances of others, your own Zeal for his service will even in the proportion and timeliness of that, exceed the vain proposals of all Pick thank undertakers.

Mr. Speaker, I should here put a period to your trouble of hearing me, did I not think I might incurr the imputation of much weakness and supineness in my own highest concernments, if valuing as I do above all earthly things, the savour and esteem of my Countrey, of which you are the illustrious representa∣tive: And knowing what industry has been used by my enemies to blast me with you, I should not lay hold on this just occasion, to remove from me

Page [unnumbered]

unjust prejudices with so great an object of my ueneration. 'Tis that Mr. Speaker, which I humbly beg leave to do in a very few words more.

I appeal Gentlemen to numbers of you that hear me, whether I have not been represented unto you for a giver of advices of a farr different tenor from what you have heard upon this occasion; Nay whether I have not been painted out un∣to you as an inflamer of his Majesty against his Parliament, As an enemy of the Church of England and as a most dangerous driver on of papistical interests.

It is true Mr. Speaker, I am a Catholick of the Church of Rome, not of the Court of Rome, no negotiator there of Cardinals Caps for His Majesties Subjects and Domesticks A true Roman Catholick as to the other world, but a true English-man as to this. Such a one, as had we a King enclined to that profession, (as on the contrary we have one the most firm and zealous in the Protestant Religion that ever sate upon the Throne) should tell him as frankly as the Duke of Sully being a Protestant did to his Grand Father Henry the fourth, That if he meant to be King he must be a con∣stant professor and maintainer of the religion established in his Dominions. Believe me Gentlemen, Roman Catholick as I am, there is no Man among you all more throughly perswaded then I, that the two Pillars that can only uphold this Monarchy must ever be, the maintenance of the subjects just rights and liberties, and the careful preservation of that state ecclesiastical whereof His Majesty is the supreme govern∣nour. And I do clearly profess that should the Pope himself invade that established right of his, I would as readily draw my sword against him as against the late usurper.

Mr. Speaker, One prejudice more I am under, which ought to have great weight indeed with his honourable house if there be a real ground for it and that is. That the Earl of Bristol is one of those, who by the vast things he hath got of the King, hath in part contributed to the groans of the people, to find their King still in such ne∣cessity after such unexampled charges laid upon the subject for his supply.

It is true Mr. Speaker, That though I have neither office to keep, nor office to sell, His Majesties gifts to me have been great in proportion to my merit which is none. For in serving and suffering for him with faithfulness, I did but my duty, which carries a reward with it self enough to raise comfort to me from the very ruine of my fortune.

It is also true I have had the satisfaction from his Majesties goodness, That he never refused me any thing that I asked for my self, But I hope I shall make it appear also, That I have not only been a very modest asker, but also a most careful one to ask no∣thing considerable but what carried advantage with it as well to his Majesties Interests as my own.

I know well Mr. Speaker, that so kind and so generous a nature as our Kings is an ill proportioner of bounty to merit, and consequently that the largeness, and kindness of his royal heart that way; may have contributed much to the present straits he is in.

Page 12

Happy the Nation that hath nothing to fear for the Publique, but from the vertues of their Prince.

It is your proper work Gentlemen to reduce the effects of them to a right tem∣perament ty your inspection, and may you begin it with all my concernments, which I most readily lay at your feet, humbly begging of you to appoint me a time when I may display them all faithfully before you, in hopes that no Man who hath been a partaker of His Majesties bounty will prove himself so unworthy of it as not to follow the example.

Mr. Speaker, If having thus poured out my soul before you, I be so happy as to have begot a right perswasion in this honourable house of the true sincerity of my heart. I shall expect and implore two gratious effects of it.

The first, that you will be pleased to grant me your pardon, if the same zeal for His Majesties service, and the good of my Countrey, which made me presume (being no Counsellor) to press upon him my opinion in affairs of that impor∣tance have transported me also at this time to become in some sort your adviser.

You have heard Mr. Speaker, of the dumb man whose tongue was set free by an iminent danger to his Fathers life, wonder not then Gentlemen if such a lover of my King and Counnrey as I am, remembring to have seen them both, within these three years in a Prospect of so much glory and happiness both at home and abroad, and finding to what a sad condition things are now reduced (by what means is more proper for your wisdom's to examine) and God in Heaven bless your inspection, wonder not I say that a man so affected as I am should by some Eruptions of heart let you see, that Periculum patriae ought to have a more power∣ful effect upon a man of a Publique soul, then Periculum patris, and is capable if I were a mute to make me become a Counsellor.

The next is Mr. Speaker, That if as I said before, I have been so happy in what I have expressed, as to have raised in you some more favourable thoughts con∣cerning me, you will vouchsafe me some demonstration of it, whereby I may no more be made by my enemies such a Bug-bear as I am, as if one gratious look of His Majesty upon me were enough to ruine all his affairs with you, I shall then Mr. Speaker, continue the course I am in with comfort. But if I be so unfortu∣nate as that there still remains in this incomparable representative of my Coun∣trey the least umbrage of danger to it by my access to His Majesty. As dear as the conversation of the most amiable Prince that ever breathd is to me, I shall banish my self for ever from his sight into the obscurest part of his Dominions; ra∣ther then continue upon me the jealousie of those upon whom his prosperity de∣pends. Or it this be not enough, I shall once more try my fortune abroad, where I trust this Sword, this Head, and this Heart, shall make me live again as I have done in spight of mine enemies, with luster to my self, and some honour to my Nation.

FINIS.