A Memorial Offered to John Williams, Part of biography 2 · Letter 3
My Lords and Gentlemen all,
YOU have heard his Majeſty's Speech, though ſhort, yet Full and Princely, and rightly Imperatorious, as Tacitus ſaid of Galbas: Neither muſt we account that Speaker to be ſhort, Qui materiae immoratur, that keeps himſelf cloſe unto his Theme, and Subject. For as Pliny made his cenſure ofHomer and Virgil, Brevis uterque eſt, ſed facit quod inſtituit:Either of them ſeem to be ſhort, for they do their work ſo ſuccinctly, there falls not a word beſides the purpoſe. His Majeſty hath himſelf abundantly expreſt the ſubſtance, of what he offers to your Conſideration at this Meeting. Some few Circumſtances I ſhall, by his Royal Command, add thereunto, as touching the time, the manner, and the end of that loving and dutiful Expreſſion, which his Majeſty may, without any fear of Immodeſty, as he conceives, promiſe unto himſelf from this firſt Seſſion of his firſt Parliament. The main reaſon of his calling the Parliament at this time (beſide the looking upon the Faces of his Subjects in this perfect repreſentation, which he is reſolv'd to make his moſt pleaſant Theater under Heaven, as long as God ſhall give him Life) is to let you underſtand thoſe deep Engagements for the recovery of the Palatinate (that is for the Honour of the Britiſh Nation) by Leagues, Alliances, Diverſions, Wars by Sea and by Land which his aying Father hath impoſed upon the King; or peradventure the King in part upon his Father: or rather, to ſpeak truly and hiſtorically, your ſelves (but upon grave and juſt Conſideration) upon them both. For the breaking of both the Treaties with that potent King, that of the Alliance, and that of the Reſtitution, moved originally from you, mediately by the King our Sovereign, finally to the King his Father of Bleſſed Memory, accompanied in all the Ways, and Paſſages with your Promiſe, and Aſſurance, to feed the Enterprize from time to time with all fu…ing, and neceſſary Supplies. Hereupon our late Sovereign, that is with God, to the very time of his recovering Heaven, had no other Object of his Conſultations, Reſolutions, and Actions, than the recovery of the Palatinate. The Foreign Treaties and Alliances, the Supply of the Low Countries, the Forces under the Conduct of Count Mansfield, the Reparation of the Forces in England, the Troops ſent over into Ireland, laſtly, this great, and (by God's Aſſiſtance) invincible Fleet, and Navy, though they ſhew like ſo many Lines ſcattered, and divided in the Circumference, yet do they meet and unite themſelves in the Recovery of the Palatinate, as in the Center that bears, and ſupports them all. Theſe great Deſigns the Holy Ghoſt, I hope, hath inſpir'd into you, you to the King our Sovereign, he and you to the King his Father. He before his Death had ſo ripened, and prepared, as the King our Maſter finds himſelf ſo wrapped, and engaged in the Enterprize, as it fares with his Heroical Heart, as with that Pompey, Neceſſe eſt ut eam, non ut vivam. He would more willingly go on to his Grave (which God of his Goodneſs will not permit) than not go onward with this brave Deſign. Now all your Subſidies, and Fifteens: and fully (to ſpeak in meaſure and compaſs) as much more of the Means of the Crown being ſpent in the Preparation, forward the Action cannot move without a new Support, and Supply; which is the Subſtance of all which his Majeſty hath now recommended unto you.
9. The firſt Circumſtance remembred unto you, is that of Time. A moſt preſſing, and important Circumſtance, foreign, as Sophocles calls it, the greateſt Commander of all our Actions. For as Dion Caſſius obſerves, Lib. 11. Non rebus tempora, ſed res temporibus inſerviunt, Actions do not govern Times, but Times govern Actions, be they never ſo weighty. And as Quintilian ſays wiſely, Plaerumque ſera pro nullis ſunt, That Supply, which comes too late, proves many times no ſupply at all. His Majeſty knows very well that you are wiſe, and provident to obſerves Times and Seaſons. You cannot but obſerve, that Europe ſtands this day like the Pool of Betheſda, the Waters are ſtirred every where; and we hope by a good Angel. The Honour ofEngland, which hath languiſhed for theſe late Years, ſtands at the brink, and now, or not in haſte, is to be healed, and repaired. His Majeſty therefore deſires you to conceive, that this Meeting in this Seſſion is but as a Meeting in a General's Tent, a Conſultation in the heat of an Action, which will endure no long Debate. He expects therefore that you will be pleaſed to beſtow this Seſſion upon him, or rather upon this Action, and to haſten for that Cauſe. And his Majeſty will appoint the next as ſoon, and as long, as you pleaſe, for yours, and our own home Affairs. This much concerning Time: The ſecond Circumſtance is for the Manner, which looks upon the Time, as the Time doth upon the Action. For if the manner of gathering this Supply ſhould prove heavy, and ſlow, Time, as Calliſtratus in his Statutes ſets him forth, hath foreign, a Pair of Wings at his Feet, and will quite out-run it. If therefore, in your own Judgments, and Reſolution, you ſhall find the uſual way, and manner of Supplies by Subſidy to be too ſlow, and backward for theſe preſent, and undelayable Occaſions, his Majeſty, (no friend to Innovation, Etiam cum illi neceſſitas lenocinetur, not now when neceſſity might ſeem to priviledge the ſame) doth rather deſire to hear, and to receive from you, then to project, and propound unto you the manner of ſupplying this preſent Action. This is the ſecond Circumſtance: The Laſt is the End, and the Iſſue of the Action, which hath no meaner Conſequence, than the Fame, and Reputation of our ſweet, and gracious Sovereign, for many Years after. For as Theodoricus, that brave King of Lombardy, was wont to ſay, Ipſa initia plantare debent Principis nominis famam, as a King ſows his Reputation in his firſt Actions, ſo ſhall he reap his Harveſt of Glory in the Progreſs of his Life, And therefore I muſt ſay of our gracious Maſter, as the Orator ſaid of himſelf, Haec actio illi aures hominum, haec famae januam patefaciet. His Majeſty at this time puts his Fame, and Reputation (that is all that he hath of a King: For what is a King without theſe?) very much upon your Love and Affections. And this, not as Caeſar upon his Army at all Adventures, with a Jacta eſt alea, a Mum-chance, a caſt of a Dye, but with the greateſt Confidence, and Aſſurance that ever was plac'd by a loving King, on a moſt loving and indulgent People. Witneſs that Poſie of his in his new ſtamp'd Coin, not to be engraven, as it is, in Silver or Gold, but in the ſolid Subſtance of Loyal Hearts, Amor civium regis munimentum; ſhewing that he cares little for other Forts, being ſo well aſſured of the Love of his People. And therefore as in Nature, Rex & ſubditus, the King and the People are proper Relatives, and conſequently ſimul naturâ, of one and the ſame Date and Exiſtence: So doth his Majeſty little doubt, that as ſoon as himſelf ſhall be known in Europe to be an actual King, you alſo ſhall be known by advancing his, nay your Enterterprize, to be a valiant, faithful, and obedient People. And now you are directed to chooſe your Speaker, and preſent him to his Majeſty.
Which was Sir Thomas Crew, ſo well tryed for his worth in the Precedent Parliament, that he was elected again in this. To whoſe Oration the next day the Lord-Keeper anſwer'd as followeth.