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"tions give him the title Sir, tell him their bu "finess, and demand justice of him. But where "these adulations are admitted, though it doth "not ftrike fuddenly into fome incurable dif"eafe, yet the fame hand can make them con"fume, and in the end wafte to nothing."

JAMES HOWELL, Esq.

THIS learned writer took up his pen very early in the disputes between Charles and his Parliament. He wrote feveral pamphlets on the fide of the King. In one of them, called "The "Land of Ire," he has this observation:

"Touching the originals of Government and "Ruling Power, queftionless the first amongst "mankind was that natural power of the father "over his children, and that defpotical fuperin"tendance of a mafter of a house over his fa

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mily. But the world multiplying to fuch a "mafs of people, they found that a confused

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equality and a loofe unbridled way of living "like brute animals to be fo inconvenient, that they chofe one perfon to protect and govern, "not fo much out of love to that perfon, as for "their own conveniency and advantage, that they might live more regularly, and be fe

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"cured from rapine and oppreffion; as alfo, "that justice might be administered, and every "one enjoy his own without fear and danger. "Such Governors had a power invested in "them accordingly; alfo to appoint fubfer"vient able Minifters under them, to help to "bear the burden."

Mr. Howell, in his "Italian Prospective,” thus defcribes the fituation of England during the time of the Republic:

"The King's fubjects," fays he, "are now "become perfect flaves; they have fooled them"felves into a worse flavery than Jew or Greek "under the Ottomans, for they know the bot"tom of their fervitude by paying fo many "Sultaneffes for every head, but here in Eng"land people are now put to endless unknown

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tyrannical taxes, befides plundering and accife, "which two words, and the practice of them,

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(with ftorming of towns,) they have learnt of "their pure brethren of Holland. And for plun"derings, these Parliamenteer Saints think they 66 may rob any that adheres to them as lawfully "as the Jews did the Egyptians! 'Tis an unfom"mable maffe of money these Reformers have

fquandered in a few years, whereof they have "often promis'd, and folemnly voted, a public "account to fatisfie the kingdom; but as in a "hundred

"hundred things more, fo in this precious par"ticular they have dispensed with their votes: "they have confum'd more treasure with pre"tence to purge one kingdom, than might have "ferved to have purchafed two; more (as I am "credibly told) than all the Kings of England fpent of the public ftock fince the Saxon Con

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queft. Thus they have not only beggared "the whole Island, but they have hurl'd it into "the most fearful chaos of confufion that ever 66 poor country was in. They have torn to "pieces the reins of all Government, trampled

upon all Laws of Heaven and of Earth, and ❝ violated the very dictates of Nature, by forcing "mothers to betray their fons, and the fons "their fathers; but fpecially that Great Char"ter, which is the Pandect of all the laws "and liberties of the free-born fubject, which 66 at their admiffion into the House of Parliament

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they are folemnly sworn to maintain, is torn to "fritters: befides these feveral oaths they forged "themselves, as the Proteftation and the Cove"nant, where they voluntarily fwear to main"tain the King's honour and rights, together

with the establish'd laws of the land. Now I

* A poor woman being asked by one of the Puritanical Leaders, if fhe did not think the Government of her country much better by the fyftem of reform made by his party? her answer was, that the only perceived one effect from it, which was, that the paid double taxes.

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"am told, that all Acts of Parliament in Eng"land are Laws, and they carry that majesty "with them, that no power can fufpend or re

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peal them but the fame power that made them, "which is the King fitting in full Parliament; "but these mongrel Politicians have been fo "notoriously impudent as to make an inferior "Ordonance of their's to do it, which is point"blank against the fundamentals of the Governcc ment of England and their own oaths; which "makes me think that there never was such a "pack of perjured wretches upon earth, fuch "monsters of mankind."

Howell feems to have been fo weary of the oppreffion caused by the Republican Government of England, that though a Royalist, and a strong partifan of Charles the First, yet in one of his pamphlets he compliments Cromwell upon affuming the title of Protector, and compares him to Charles Martel.

PRESIDENT BRADSHAW.

VERY little is known of this extraordinary perfon, who by a wonderful concurrence of circumstances prefided at the trial of his Sovereign.

He

He is mentioned, however, occafionally in " Lud"low's Memoirs," as diftinguished for his attachment to a Republican form of Government, and for his deteftation and abhorrence of any attempt to place the government of this country in any one hand whatever.

"In a debate in Parliament, during the Pro"tectorate of Cromwell," fays Ludlow, "whe"ther the fupreme legislative power of the nation “should be in a fingle perfon, or in the Parlia"ment; in this debate Sir Arthur Haflerig, "Mr. Scott, and many others, particularly the "Lord Prefident Bradshaw, were very inftru"mental in opening the eyes of many young "Members, who had never before heard their "interests fo clearly stated and afferted, so that "the Commonwealth party increased daily, and "that of the fword loft ground.

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"Soon after Cromwell's death, when the

army had been guilty of violence to the Par"liament, and whilft one of their Officers of the "Council of State, at which Bradfhaw prefided, "was endeavouring to juftify the proceedings of "the army, and was undertaking to prove that they were neceffitated to make ufe of this laft remedy, by a particular call of the Divine "Providence; Lord Prefident Bradshaw," fays Ludlow,

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