Yesterday was a day of desolation among us in Parliament, and this
day we fear will be the day of our dissolution: Upon Tuesday Sir
John Eliot moved, that as we intended to furnish his Majesty with
money, we should also supply him with Counsel, which was one part
of the occasion why we were sent by the Country, and called for
by his Majesty; And since that House was the greatest Council of
the Kingdom, where, or when should His Majesty have better Council
than from thence? So he desired there might be a Declaration made
to the King of the danger wherein the Kingdom stood by the decay
and contempt of Religion, the insufficiency of his Generals, the
unfaithfulness of his Officers, the weakness of his Councils, the
exhausting of his Treasure, the death of his Men, the decay of Trade,
the loss of Shipping, the many and powerful Enemies, the few and the
poor Friends we had abroad.
In the enumerating of which, the Chancellor of the Duchy said it was
a strange language, yet the House commanded Sir John Eliot to go
on. Then the Chancellor desired if he went on, that himself might go
out, whereupon they all bade him be gone, yet he stayed and heard
him out, and the House generally inclined to such a Declaration to
be presented in an humble and modest manner, not prescribing the
King the way, but leaving it to his Judgment for reformation. So
the next day, being Wednesday, we had a Message from his Majesty
by the Speaker that the Session should end on Wednesday, and that
therefore we should husband the time, and despatch the old businesses
without entertaining new.... The House was much affected to be so
restrained, since the House in former times had proceeded by finding
and committing John of Gaunt the King's Son and others, and of late
have meddled with, and sentenced the Lord Chancellor Bacon, and the
Lord Treasurer Cranfield. Then Sir Robert Philips spake, and mingled
his words with weeping. Mr. Prynne did the like, and Sir Edward Coke,
overcome with passion, seeing the desolation likely to ensue, was
forced to sit down when he began to speak, through the abundance of
tears, yea, the Speaker in his Speech could not refrain from weeping
and shedding of tears; besides a great many whose great griefs made
them dumb and silent, yet some bore up in that storm and encouraged
others. In the end they desired the Speaker to leave the Chair, and
Mr. Whitby was to come into it, that they might speak the freer and
the frequenter, and commanded that no man go out of the House upon
pain of going to the Tower. Then the Speaker humbly and earnestly
besought the House to give him leave to absent himself for half an
hour, presuming they did not think he did it for any ill intention;
which was instantly granted him; then upon many Debates about their
Liberties hereby infringed, and the imminent danger wherein the
Kingdom stood, Sir Edward Coke told them, he now saw God had not
accepted of their humble and moderate carriages and fair proceedings,
and the rather, because he thought they dealt not sincerely with
the King, and with the Country in making a true Representation of
the causes of all these miseries, which now he repented himself
since things were come to this pass, that he did it not sooner, and
therefore he not knowing whether ever he should speak in this House
again, would now do it freely, and there protested that the author
and cause of all those miseries was the Duke of Buckingham, which was
entertained and answered with a cheerful acclamation of the House,
as when one good Hound recovers the scent, the rest come in with a
full cry: so they pursued it, and every one came on home, and laid
the blame where they thought the fault was, and as they were Voting
it to the question whether they should name him in their intended
Remonstrance, the sole or the Principal cause of all their Miseries
at home and abroad: The Speaker having been three hours absent, and
with the King, returned with this Message; That the House should then
rise (being about eleven a clock, and no Committees should sit in the
afternoon) till to-morrow morning; What we shall expect this morning
God of Heaven knows. We shall meet timely this morning, partly for
the business sake, and partly because two days since we made an
Order, that whosoever comes in after prayers, pays twelve pence to
the poor. Sir, excuse my haste, and let us have your prayers, whereof
both you and we have here need: So in scribbling haste I rest,
Affectionately at your service,
THOMAS ALURED.
This 6 of June, 1628.