General to charge his lordship with High Trea- | son, and other Offences and Misdemeanors of a very high nature, that they might proceed in a legal course against him, according to the justice and usual proceedings of parliament."

Then the Attorney General, sir Rob. Heath, exhibited the following Articles, as a Charge against the said Ea 1.-But when he had begun to read the said Charge, the Earl interrupted him, and said, "That he had exhibited his Petition to the house, that he might come up and be heard in his Accusation against the duke of Buckingham; and that, thereupon, he, being a peer of this realm, was charged with High Treason. That he had heretofore informed the late king, of blessed memory, of the unfaithful service of the said duke; and thereupon the duke laboured that he might be clapped up in the Tower, presently after his return out of Spain: and called upon the lord chamberlain to testify whether the lord marquis Hamilton had not told him as much. That the duke had, since, laboured to keep him from this king's presence, and now he was charged with Treason. That he had been often employed, as ambassador, in weighty affairs, and never came home tainted; and, at his last coming out of Spain, he laboured the late king James, that he might be heard before himself, and his majesty promised it. I pray God, (said the Earl) that promise did him no hurt, for he died soon after. For the said king's promise, he vouched the lord chamberlain: and earnestly desired their lordships to take all these into their considerations; and to consider, also, that this house is already possessed of his said Petition and his Accusation of the said duke; and required that their lordships would first receive his Charge against the lord Conway, and not to invalidate his testimony against them by the king's charge against him. He protested, that he spoke for the king; that he was a peer and a free man of the realm; and desired not to be impeached until his Charge, which was of so high a nature, was first heard."

ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST
EARL OF BRISTOL.

THE

The Earl then tendered to the house his Articles, in writing, against the lord Conway, which the lords received; and, being withdrawn, the Petition of the said Earl presented to the house on the 19th of April, wherein he

desired he might be heard in his Accusation against the Duke, was read; and, after a long debate, it was agreed upon the question, That the Earl's Charge against the Duke and against the lord Conway, should be presently read; all which were read by the Attorney General, as

follows:

"ARTICLES of several High Treasons, and other great and enormous Crimes, Of fences, and Contempts, committed by John Earl of Bristol, against our late Sovereign Lord King James, of blessed memory, deceased, and our Sovereign Lord the King's Majesty, which now is; wherein the said

VOL. II.

Earl is charged, by his Majesty's Attorney General, on his Majesty's behalf, in the most High and Honourable Court of Parliament, before the King and his Lords

there.

"OFFENCES done and committed by the Earl of Bristol, before his majesty's going into Spain when he was Prince.

I. "That the said earl being trusted and employed by the said late king as his ambassador to Ferdinando, then and now emperor of Germany: to Philip 4, then and now king of Spain, in anois 1621, 2, and 3. And having commission, and particular and special direction, to treat with the said emperor and the king of Spain, for the plenary restoring of such parts of the dominions, territories, and possessions of the count Palatine of the Rhine, who married the most excellent lady Elizabeth bis now royal consort, the only daughter of the late king James; which were then wrongfully, and in hostile manner taken, and possessed with and by the armies of the said emperor, and king of Spain, or any other: and for preserving and keeping such other parts thereof, as were not then lost but were then in the protection of the said late king James; and to the use of the said count Palatine and his chil dren: and for the restoring of the electoral dignity unto them: and also to treat with the said king of Spain, for a Marriage to be had between the most high and excellent prince Charles, then Prince of Wales, the only son and heir apparent of the said king James, and now our most sovereign lord, and the most illustrious lady Donna Maria the Infanta of Spain, sister to the now king of Spain: he the said earl, contrary to his duty and allegiance, and contrary to the trust and duty of an ambassador, at Madrid in the kingdom of Spain, to advance and further the designs of the said king of Spain, against our said sovereign lord, his children, friends, and allies; falsely, wilfully, and traiterously, and as a traitor to our said late sovereign lord the king, by sundry letters and other messages sent by the said earl from Maand his ministers of state of England, did confidrid, in the years aforesaid, unto king James dently and resolutely inform, advise, and assure the said late king, that the said emperor and king of Spain would really, fully, and effectually make restitution and plenary restoration

to the said count Palatine and his children of the said dominions, territories, and possessions of the said count Palatine, and of the said electorial dignity: and that the said king of Spain did really, fully, and effectually intend the said Marriage between the said lady his sister, and the said prince our now sovereign lord, according to articles formerly propounded between the said kings: whereas in truth the said emperor and king of Spain, or either of them, never really intended such restitu ion as atore sand: and whereas the said king of Spain never really intended the marriage according to those articles propounded; but the said emperos

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and the king of Spain intended only by those Treaties, to gain time to compass their own ends and purposes, to the detriment of this kingdom; or all which, the said earl of Bristol neither was nor could be ignorant; and the said late king James by entertaining those Treaties, and conturuing them upon those false assurances, given unto him by the said earl, as aforesaid, was made secure, and lost the opportunity of time: and thereby the said dominions, territories, and possessions of the said count Palatine, and the electoral dignity, became utterly lost; and some parts thereof were taken out of the actual possession of the said king James, unto whose protection and safe keeping they were put and committed by the said count Palatine; and the most excellent lady Elizabeth his wife, and their children, are now utterly dispossessed and bereaved thereof; to the high dishonour of our said late sovereign lord king James, to the disherison of the said late king's children and their posterity of their antient patrimony: and to the disanimating and discouraging of the rest of the princes of Germany, and other kings and princes in amity and league with his majesty.

II. That the said earl of Bristol, being ambassador for his late majesty king James, as aforesaid, in the years aforesaid, and having received perfect, plain, and particular instructions and directions from his said late majesty that he should put the king of Spain to a speedy and punctual answer, touching the Treaties aforesaid: and the said earl well understanding the effect of those instructions and directions so given unto him, and taking precise knowledge thereof: and also knowing how much it concerned his late majesty in honour and safety (as bis great affairs then stood) to put these Treaties to a speedy conclusion: yet nevertheless he the said earl, falsly, wilfully and traiterously, contrary to his allegiance, and contrary to the trust and duty of an ambassador, continued those Treaties upon generalities, without effectual pressing the said king of Spain unto particular conclusions according to his majesty's directions as aforesaid; and so the said earl intended to have continued the said Treaties upon generalities, and without reducing them to certainties and to direct conclusions, to the high dishonour of his said late majesty, and to the extreme danger and detriment of his majesty's person, his crown and dominions, confederates and allies.

the said late king and his ministers, extolled and magnified the greatness and power of the said king of Spain: represented unto his said late majesty the supposed dangers which would ensue unto him, if a war should happen between them; and affirmed and insinuated un his said late majesty, That if such a war should ensue, his said late majesty during the rest of his life, must expect neither to hunt nor hawk, nor eat his meat in quiet; whereby the said earl of Bristol did, cunningly and traiterously, strive to retard the resolutions of the said late king to declare himself an enemy to the said king of Spain, who under colour of Treaties and Alliances, had so much abused him, and to resist his arms and forces; to the loss of opportunity of time, which cannot be recalled or regained, and to the extreme danger, dishonour, and detriment of this kingdom.

IV. "That the said earl of Bristol, upou his dispatches out of this realm of England, on his ambassage aforesaid, had communication with divers persons of London, within this realm of England, before his going into Spain, in and about his ambassage concerning the said Treaty; for the negociation whereof the said earl was purposely sent: and he the said earl being then told, that there was little probability that these Treaties would or could ever have any good success, he the said earl acknowledged as much; and yet, nevertheless, contrary to his duty and allegiance, and to the faith and trust of an ambassador, he the said earl said and affirmed, That he cared not what the success thereof would be; for he would take care to have his Instructions perfect, and pursue them punctually; and howsoever the business went, he would make his fortune thereby,' or used words at that time to such effect; whereby it plainly appeareth, That the said earl, from ibe beginning herein, intended not the service or honour of his late majesty, but his own corrupt and sinister ends, and for his own advance

ment.

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V. "That from the beginning of his Negociation, and throughout the whole manag ng thereof by the said earl of Bristol, and during his said ambassage, he the said earl, cotitrary to his faith, and duty to God, the true religion professed by the Church of England, and the peace of this Church and State, did intend and resolve, That if the said Marriage, so treated of as aforesaid, should by his ministry be effect ed, that thereby the Romish religion and professors thereof should be advanced within this

suaded his said late majesty to set at liberty the Jesuits and Priests of the Romish religion: which according to the good, religious and politic laws of this kingdom, were imprisoned or restrained; and to grant and allow unto the Papists and Professors of the Romish religion

free toleration, and silencing of all laws made, and standing force against them.

VI. "That by the false Informations and Intelligence of the said earl of Bristol, during the time aforesaid, unto his said late majesty and to his majesty that now is, being then prince, concerning the said Treaties, and by the assurances aforesaid given by the said earl: his said late majesty, and the prince, his now majesty, being put in hopes, and by the said long delay used, without producing any effect, their majesties being put into jealousies, and just suspicion that there was no such sincerity used towards them as they expected, though so many assurances from the earl on their part had been undertaken; the said prince, our now gracious sovereign, was inforced, out of his love to his country, to his allies, friends, and confederates, and to the peace of Christendom, who all suffered by such intolerable delay, to undertake in his own person, his long and dangerous journey into Spain; that thereby he might either speedily conclude those Treaties, or perfectly discover that, on the emperor's and the king of Spain's part, there was no true and real intention to bring the same to conclusion, upon any fit and honourable terms and conditions: and did accordingly and speedily break them off. By which journey, the person of the said prince, being then heir apparent to the crown of this realm, and in his person, the peace and safety of this kingdom, did undergo such apparent and such inevitable danger, as at the very remembrance thereof, the hearts of all good subjects do even tremble. OFFENCES done and committed by the said Earl, during the Time of the Prince's being in Spain.

VII. "That at the Prince's coming into Spain during the time aforesaid, the earl of Bristol, cunningly, falsely, and traiterously, moved and persuaded the prince, being then in the power of a foreign king of the Romish religion, to change his religion, which was done in this manner. At the prince's first coming to the said earl, he asked the prince for what he came thither; the prince, at first not conceiving the earl's meaning, answered, 'You know as well as I.' The earl replied, 'Sir, servants ⚫ can never serve their masters industriously, although they do it faithfully, unless they know their meanings fully. Give me leave therefore to tell you what they say in the town is the cause of your coming, That you mean to change your religion, and to declare it here.' And yet cunningly to disguise it, the earl added further; Sir, I do not speak this that I ⚫ will persuade you to do it, or that I will promise you to follow your example, though you will do it; but, as your faithful servant, if you will trust me with so great a secret, I will endeavour to carry it the discreetest way I can.' The prince being moved at this unexpected motion again, said unto him, I wonder what you have ever found in me, that you should conceive I would be so base and unworthy, as

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for a wife to change my religion.' The said earl replying, He desired the prince to pardon him, if he had offended him, it was but out of his desire to serve him.' Which persuasions of the said earl were the more dangerous, because the more subtile; whereas it had been the duty of a faithful servant to God and his master, if he had found the prince staggering in his religion, to have prevented so great au error, and to have persuaded him against it, so to have avoided the dangerous consequence thereof, to the true religion and to this state, if such a thing should have happened.

VIII. " That afterward, during the Prince's being in Spain, the said earl having conference with the said prince about the Romish religion, he endeavoured, falsely and traiterously, to persuade the prince to change his religion as aforesaid, and become a Romish Catholic, and to become obedient to the usurped authority of the pope of Rome; and, to that end and purpose, the said earl traiterously used these words unto the said prince: That the state of Eng'land did never any great thing, but when they were under the obedience of the pope of Kome; and that it was impossible they could 'do any thing of note otherwise.'

IX. "That, during the time of the Prince's being in Spain as aforesaid, the prince consulting and advising with the said Earl and others about a new offer made by the king of Spain, touching the Palatinate; which was, that the eldest son of the prince Palatine should marry with the emperor's daughter, but must be bred up in the emperor's court; the said Earl delivered his opinion, that the proposition was reasonable; whereat when sir Walter Aston, then present, falling into some passion, said, that he durst not for his head consent unto it, the earl of Bristol replied, that he saw no such great inconvenience in it, for that he might be bred up in the emperor's court in our religion. But, when the extreme danger, and in a manner the impossibility thereof, was pressed unto the said Earl, he said again, that, without some such great action, the peace of Christendom would never be had; which was so dangerous and desperate a counsel, that one so near to the crown of England should be poisoned in his religion, and put into the power of a foreign prince, enemy to our religion, and an unfriend to our state, that the consequence thereof, both for the present and future times, were infinitely dangerous: And yet hereunto did his disaffection to our religion, the blindness in his judgment, misled by sinister respects, and the too much regard he had to the house of Austria, lead him.

X. "That, when the Prince had clearly found himself and his father deluded in these Treaties, and thereupon resolved to return from the court of Spain; and yet, because it behoved him to part fairly, he left the powers of the desposorios with the said earl of Bristol, to be delivered upon the return of the dispensation from Rome (which the king of Spain