Eikn basilik - 1824 Author:Charles Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: III. UPON HIS MAJESTIES GOING TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. My going to the House of Commons to demand justice upon the five members, was an act, which My enemies ... more »loaded with all the obloquies and exasperations they could. It filled indifferent men with great jealousies and feares; yea, and many of My friends resented it as a motion rising rather from passion then reason, and not guided with such discretion, as the touchinesse of those times required. But these men knew not the just motives, and pregnant grounds, with which I thought My selfe so furnished, that there needed nothing to such evidence, as I could have produced against those I charged, save onely a free and legall triall, which was all I desired. Nor had I any temptation of displeasure, or revenge against those mens persons, further then I had discovered those (as I thought) unlawful correspondencies they had used, and engagements they had made, to embroyle my king- domes : of all which I missed but little to have produced writings under some mens owne hands,who were the chief contrivers of the following innovations. Providence would not have it so, yet I wanted not such probabilities as were sufficient to raise jealousies in any Kings heart, who is not wholly stupid and neglective of the publique peace, which to preserve by calling in question half a dozen men, in a faire and legall way (which God knowes was all my design) could have amounted to no worse effect, had it succeeded, then either to do Me, and My kingdome right, in case they had been found guilty ; or else to have cleared their innocency, and removed my suspicions; which, as they were not raised out of any malice, so neither were they in reason to be smothered. What flames of discontent this spark (tho I sought by all speedy and possible mean...« less