For the speedy redress of great evils and mischiefs, and of the chief of these evils and mischiefs, which this kingdom of England now grievously suffereth; and of late years hath suffered, and to the honour and safety of our Sovereign Lord the King, and of his crown and dignity, and to the good and welfare of his people; the Commons in this present Parliament, by the authority of our said Sovereign Lord the King assembled, do, by this their bill, shew and declare against George, Duke, Marquis and Earl of Buckingham, Earl of Coventry, Viscount Villiers, Baron of Whaddon, Great Admiral of the kingdoms of England and Ireland, and of the principality of Wales and of the dominions and islands of the same, of the town of Calais and of the marches of the same, and of Normandy, Gascony, and Guienne, General Governor of the seas and ships of the said Kingdoms, Lieutenant General, Admiral, Captain General and Governor of His Majesty's Royal Fleet and Army, lately set forth, Master of the Horse of our Sovereign Lord the King, Lord Warden, Chancellor, and Admiral of the Cinque Ports and of the members thereof, Constable of Dover Castle, Justice in Eyre of all the forests and chases on this side of the river of Trent, Constable of the Castle of Windsor, Gentleman of His Majesty's Bedchamber, one of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council in his realms both in England, Scotland and Ireland, and Knight of the most Honourable Order of the Garter; the misdemeanours, misprisions, offences, crimes, and other matters, comprised in the articles hereafter following; and him the said Duke do accuse and impeach of the said misdemeanours, misprisions, offences and crimes.
1. First, that whereas the great offices expressed in the said Duke's style and title have been the singular preferments of several persons eminent in wisdom and trust, and fully able for the weighty service and greatest employment of the State, whereby the said offices were both carefully and sufficiently executed, by several persons of such wisdom, trust, and ability; and others also that were employed by the royal progenitors of our Sovereign Lord the King, in places of less dignity, were much encouraged with the hopes of advancement; and whereas divers of the said places, severally of themselves, and necessarily, require the whole care, industry, and attendance of a most able person; he the said Duke, being young and inexperienced, hath of late years, with exorbitant ambition and for his own profit and advantage, procured and engrossed into his own hands the said several offices both to the danger of the State, the prejudice of that service which should have been performed in them, and to the great discouragement of others, that, by this procuring and engrossing of the said offices, are precluded from such hopes, as their virtues, abilities and public employments might otherwise have given them.
2. Whereas by the laws and statutes of this kingdom of England, if any person whatsoever give or pay any sum of money, fee or reward, directly or indirectly, for any office or offices, which in any wise touch or concern the administration of justice, or the keeping of any of the King's Majesty's towns, fortresses, or castles, being used, occupied or appointed as places of strength and defence, the same person is immediately, upon the same fee, money or reward, given or paid, to be adjudged a disabled person in the law to all intents and purposes, to have, occupy, and enjoy the said office or offices, for the which he so giveth or payeth any sum of money, fee or reward; he the said Duke did, in or about the month of January, in the sixteenth year of the late King James, of famous memory, give and pay unto the Right Honourable Charles then Earl of Nottingham, for the office of Great Admiral of England and Ireland, and the principality of Wales, and office of the General Governor of the seas and ships, to the intent that the said Duke might obtain the said offices to his own use, the sum of three thousand pounds of lawful money of England; and did also about the same time, procure from the said King a further reward, for the surrender of the said office to the said Earl, of an annuity of a thousand pounds by the year, for and during the life of the said Earl; and, by the procurement of the said Duke the said King of famous memory, did by his letters patents, dated the 27th day of January, in the said year of his reign, under the Great Seal of England, grant to the said Earl the said annuity, which he the said Earl accordingly had and enjoyed during his life; and, by reason of the said sum of money so as aforesaid paid by the said Duke, and of his the said Duke's procurement of the said annuity, the said Earl of Nottingham did, in the same month, surrender unto the said late King of famous memory, his said offices, and his letters patents of them; and thereupon, and by reason of the premises, the said offices were obtained by the said Duke, for his life, from the said King of famous memory, by letters patents made to the said Duke of the same offices under the Great Seal of England, dated the 28th day of January, in the said sixteenth year of the said King of famous memory: And the said offices of Great Admiral and Governor, as aforesaid, are offices that highly touch and concern the administration and execution of justice, within the provision of the said laws and statutes of this realm; which notwithstanding, the said Duke hath unlawfully, ever since the first unlawful obtaining of the said grant of the said offices, retained in his hands, and exercised them against the laws and statutes aforesaid.
3. The said Duke did likewise, in and about the month of December, in the twenty-second year of the said late King James, of famous memory, give and pay unto the Right Honourable Edward late Lord Zouch, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and of the members thereof, and Constable of the Castle of Dover, for the said offices, and for the surrender of the said offices of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of the said Castle of Dover to be made to the said late King, of famous memory, the sum of one thousand pounds of lawful money of England; and then also granted an annuity of five hundred pounds yearly to the said Lord Zouch, for the life of the said Lord Zouch, to the intent that he the said Duke might thereby obtain the said offices to his own use; and for and by reason of the said sum of money so paid by the said Duke, and of the annuity so granted to the said Edward Lord Zouch the fourth day of December, in the year aforesaid, did surrender his said offices, and his letters patents of them, to the said late King; and thereupon, and by reason of the premises, he the said Duke obtained the said offices for his life from the late king, by his letters patents under the Great Seal of England, dated the sixth day of December, in the said twenty-second year. And the said office of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and of the members thereof, is an office that doth highly touch and concern administration of justice; and the said office of Constable of the Castle of Dover is an office that highly concerneth the keeping and defence of the town and port, and of the said Castle of Dover, which is and hath ever been, appointed a most eminent place of strength and defence of this kingdom; which notwithstanding, the said Duke hath unlawfully, ever since his first unlawful obtaining of the said offices, retained them in his hands, and executed them against the laws and statutes aforesaid.
4. Whereas the said Duke, by reason of his said offices of Great Admiral of the kingdoms of England and Ireland, and of the principality of Wales, and of Admiral of the Cinque Ports, and General Governor of the seas and ships of the said kingdoms, and by reason of the trust thereunto belonging, ought at all times since the said offices obtained, to have safely guarded, kept and preserved the said seas, and the dominion of them; and ought also, whensoever there wanted men, ships, munition or other strength whatsoever that might conduce to the better safe-guard of them, to have used, from time to time, his utmost endeavour, for the supply of such wants to the Right Honourable the Lords and others of the Privy Council, and by procuring such supply from his sovereign or otherwise; he the said Duke hath ever since the dissolution of the two treaties mentioned in the Act of Subsidy of the one and twentieth year of the late King, of famous memory, that is to say, the space of two years last past, neglected the just performance of his said office and duty; and broken the said trust therewith committed unto him; and hath not, according to his said offices, during the time aforesaid, safely kept the said seas, in so much that, by reason of his neglect and default therein, not only the trade and strength of this kingdom of England hath been, during the said time, much decayed, but the same seas also have been, during the same time, ignominiously infested by pirates and enemies, to the loss both of very many ships and goods, and of many of the subjects of our Sovereign Lord the King; and the dominion of the said seas being the undoubted patrimony of the Kings of England, is thereby also in most eminent danger to be utterly lost.
5. Whereas, about Michaelmas last year, a ship, called the St. Peter of Newhaven[6] (whereof John Mallewe was master) laden with divers goods, merchandises, monies, jewels and commodities, to the value of forty thousand pounds or thereabouts, for the proper account of Monsieur de Villiers, the then Governor of Newhaven, and other subjects of the French king, being in perfect amity and league with our Sovereign Lord the King, was taken at sea, by some of the ships of His Majesty's late fleet, set forth under the command of the said Duke, as well by direction from the said Duke as Great Admiral of England as by the authority of the extraordinary commission which he then had, for the command of the said fleet; and was by them, together with the said goods and lading, brought into the port of Plymouth, as a prize, amongst many others, upon probabilities that the said ship or goods belonged to the subjects of the King of Spain; and that divers parcels of the said goods and loading were thence taken out of the said ship of St. Peter's; that is to say sixteen barrels of cochineal, eight bags of gold, three and twenty bags of silver, two boxes of pearls and emeralds, a chain of gold, jewels, monies, and commodities, to the value of twenty thousand pounds or thereabouts; and by the said Duke were delivered into the private custody of one Gabriel Marsh, servant to the said Duke; and that the said ship with the residue of her said goods and lading, was sent from thence up the river of Thames; and there detained; whereupon there was an arrest at Newhaven, in the kingdom of France, on the seventh day of December last, of two English merchant ships trading thither, as was alledged in a certain petition by some English merchants trading into France, to the Lords and others of His Majesty's most honourable Privy Council. After which, that is to say, on the 28th day of the said month, His Majesty was pleased to order, with the advice of his Privy Council, that the said ship and goods belonging to the subjects of the French king, should be re-delivered to such as should re-claim them; and accordingly information was given unto His Majesty's Advocate, in the Chief Court of Admiralty, by the Right Honourable Sir John Coke, Knight, one of His Majesty's principal secretaries of state, for the freeing and discharging of the said ship and goods in the said Court of Admiralty. And afterwards, that is to say on the six and twentieth day of January last, it was decreed in the said Court, by the judge thereof, with the consent of the said advocate, that the said ship with whatsoever goods as seized or taken in her (except three hundred Mexico hides, sixteen sacks of ginger, one box of gilt beads, and five sacks of ginger more, mentioned in the said decree), should be clearly released from further detention, and delivered to the said master; and therefore a commission under seal was in that behalf duly sent out of the said Court unto Sir Allen Apsley, Sir John Wolstenholme, and others, for the due execution thereof: the said Duke, notwithstanding the said order, commission and decree, detained still to his own use the said gold, silver, pearls, emeralds, jewels, monies, and commodities, so taken out of the said ship as aforesaid; and for his own singular avail and covetise, on the sixth day of February last, having no information of any new proof, without any legal proceedings, by colour of his said office, unjustly caused the ship and goods to be again arrested and detained in public violation and contempt of the laws and statutes of this land, to the great disturbance of trade, and prejudice of the merchant.
6. Whereas the honour, wealth and strength of this realm of England is much increased by the traffic chiefly of such merchants as employ and build great warlike ships, a consideration that should move all Councillors of State, especially the Lord Admiral, to cherish and maintain such merchants; the said Duke, abusing the Lords of the Parliament in the twenty-first year of the late King James, of famous memory, with pretence of serving the State, did oppress the East Indian merchants, and extorted from them ten thousand pounds, in the subtle and unlawful manner following: — About February, in the year aforesaid, he the said Duke, hearing some good success that those merchants had at Ormuz, in parts beyond the seas; by his agents, cunningly, in or about the month aforesaid, in the said year of the said King, endeavoured to draw from them some great sum of money; which their poverty and no gain by that success at Ormuz, made those merchants absolutely deny; whereupon he the said Duke, perceiving that the said merchants were then setting forth in the course of their trade, four ships and two pinnaces, laden with goods and merchandize of very great value, like to lose their voyage if they should not speedily depart; the said Duke, on the first day of March then following, in the said year of the said late King did move the Lords then assembled in the said Parliament, whether he should make stay of any ships which were in the ports (as being High Admiral he might); and namely those ships prepared for the East India voyage, which were of great burthen and well furnished; which motion being approved by their lordships, the Duke did stay those ships accordingly: But the fifth of March following, when the then deputy of that company, with other of those merchants, did make suit to the said Duke for the release of the said ships and pinnaces, he the said Duke said, he had not been the occasion of their staying; but that, having heard the motion with much earnestness in the Lords' House of Parliament, he could do no less than give the order they had done; and therefore he willed them to set down the reasons of tlieir suit, which he would acquaint the house withall; yet in the mean time he gave them leave to let their said ships and pinnaces down as low as Tilbury. And the tenth of March following, an unusual joint action was, by his procurement, entered in the chief Court of Admiralty, in the name of the said late King, and of the Lord Admiral, against fifteen thousand pounds, taken piratically by some captains of the said merchant ships, and pretended to be in the hands of the East India Company; and thereupon the King's Advocate, in the name of advocate from the King and the said Lord Admiral, moved and obtained one attachment, which by the Sergeant of the said Court of Admiralty was served on the said merchants, in their court, the sixteenth day of March following: Whereupon the said merchants, though there was no cause for this their molestation by the Lord Admiral, yet the next day they were urged in the said Court of Admiralty to bring in the fifteen thousand pounds or go to prison; wherefore immediately the company of the said merchants did again send the deputy aforesaid and some others, to make new suit unto the said Duke, for the release of the said ships and pinnaces, who unjustly endeavouring to extort money from the said merchants protested that the ships should not go, except they compounded with him; and when they urged many more reasons for the release of the said ships and pinnaces, the answer of the said Duke was, that the then Parliament House must be first moved. The said merchants being in this perplexity in their consultation, the three and twentieth of that month, ever ready to give over that trade; yet, considering that they should lose more than was demanded, by unloading their ships, besides their voyage, they resolved to give the said Duke ten thousand pounds for his unjust demands; and he the said Duke by the undue means aforesaid, and under colour of his office and upon false pretence of rights, unjustly did exact and extort from them the said merchants, the said ten thousand pounds, and received the same about the twenty-eighth of April following the discharge of those ships; which were not released by him, till they the said merchants had yielded to give him the said Duke the said ten thousand pounds for the said release, and for the false pretence of rights made by the said Duke as aforesaid.
7. Whereas the ships of our Sovereign Lord the King and of his kingdoms aforesaid are the principal strength and defence of the said kingdoms and ought therefore to be always preserved, and safely kept, under the command, and for the service of our said Sovereign Lord the King, no less than any of the fortresses and castles of the said kingdoms; and whereas no subject of this realm ought to be dispossessed of any of his goods or chattels, without order of justice, or his own consent first duly had and obtained; the said Duke, being Great Admiral of England, Governor General and keeper of the said ships and seas, and thereof ought to have and take especial and continual care and diligence how to preserve the same; the said Duke, on or about the end of July last, in the first year of our Sovereign Lord the King, did, under the colour of the said office of Great Admiral of England, and by indirect and subtle means and practices, procure one of the principal ships of His Majesty's navy royal, called the Vanguard, then under the command of Captain John Pennington, and six other merchant ships of great burthen and value, belonging to several persons inhabiting in London, the natural subjects of His Majesty, to be conveyed over, with all their ordnance, ammunition, tackle and apparel, into the ports of the kingdom of France, to the end that being there, they might be more easily put into the hands of the French king, his ministers and subjects, and taken into their possession, command and power; and accordingly the said Duke, by his ministers and agents with menaces and other ill means and practices, did there, without order of justice, and without the consent of the said masters and owners unduly compel and enforce the said masters and owners of the said six merchant ships to deliver their said ships into the said possession, command and power of the said French king, his ministers and subjects; and by reason of this compulsion, and under the pretext of his power as aforesaid, and by his indirect practices as aforesaid, the said ships aforesaid, as well the said ship royal of His Majesty, as the others belonging to the said merchants, were there delivered into the hands and command of the said French king his ministers and subjects, without either sufficient security or assurance for re-delivery, or other necessary condition in that behalf taken or propounded, either by the said Duke himself, or otherwise by his direction, contrary to the duty of the said offices of Great Admiral, Governor General and keeper of the said ships and seas, and to the faith and trust in that behalf reposed, and contrary to the duty which he owed our Sovereign Lord the King in his place of Privy Councillor, to the apparent weakening of the naval strength of this kingdom, to the great loss and prejudice of the said merchants, and against the liberty of those subjects of our Sovereign Lord the King that are under the jurisdiction of the Admiralty.
8. The said Duke, contrary to the purpose of our Sovereign Lord the King and His Majesty's known zeal for the maintenance and advancement of the true religion established in the church of England, knowing the said ships were intended to be employed by the said French king against those of the same religion at Rochelle, and elsewhere in the kingdom of France, did procure the said ship royal, and compel as aforesaid the six other ships to be delivered unto the said French king's ministers and subjects as aforesaid, to the end that the said ships might be used and employed by the said French king, in his intended war against those of the said religion, in the said town of Rochelle, and elsewhere in the kingdom of France, and the said ships were, and have been since, so used and employed by the said French king, his subjects and ministers against them; and this the said Duke did as aforesaid, in great and most apparent prejudice of the said religion, contrary to the purpose and intention of our Sovereign Lord the King, and against his duty in that behalf, being a sworn councillor to His Majesty, and to the great scandal and dishonour of this nation; and notwithstanding the delivery of the said ships by his procurement and compulsion as aforesaid, to be employed as aforesaid, the said Duke in cunning and cautelous manner to mask his ill intentions, did at the parliament held at Oxon., in August last, before the committees of both Houses of the said Parliament intimate and declare, that the ships were not, nor should they be, so used and employed against those of the said religion, as aforesaid, in contempt of our Sovereign Lord the King, and in abuse of the said Houses of Parliament, and in violation of that truth which every man should profess.
9. Whereas the titles of honour of this kingdom of England were wont to be conferred as great rewards, upon such virtuous and industrious persons as had merited them by their faithful service; the said Duke by his importunate and subtle procurement, hath not only perverted that ancient and most honourable way, but also unduly for his own particular gain, he hath enforced some that were rich (though unwilling) to purchase honour, as the Lord Robartes, Baron of Truro, who, by practice of the said Duke and his agents, was drawn up to London, in or about October, in the two and twentieth year of the reign of the late King James of famous memory, and there so threatened and dealt withall, that by reason thereof, he yielded to give, and accordingly did pay the sum of ten thousand pounds to the said Duke and to his use, for which said sum the said Duke, in the month of January, the two and twentieth year of the said late King, procured the title of Baron Robartes of Truro, to the said Lord Robartes; in which practice as the said Lord Robartes was much wronged in his particular, so the example thereof tendeth to the prejudice of the gentry and dishonour of the nobility of this kingdom.
10. Whereas no places of judicature, in the courts of justice of our Sovereign Lord the King, or other like preferments given by the Kings of this realm, ought to be procured by any subjects whatsoever, for any reward, bribe, or gift; he the said Duke in or about the month of December, in the eighteenth year of the reign of the late King James of famous memory, did procure of the said King the office of High Treasurer of England to the Lord Viscount Mandeville, now Earl of Manchester; which office at his procurement was given and granted accordingly to the Lord Viscount Mandeville; and as a reward for the said procurement of the same grant, he the said Duke, did then receive to his own use, of and from him the said Lord Viscount Mandeville, the sum of twenty thousand pounds, of lawful money of England. And also in or about the month of January in the sixteenth year of the said late King did procure of the said King of famous memory, the office of Master of the Wards and Liveries to and for Sir Lionel Cranfield, afterwards Earl of Middlesex, which office was upon the same procurement given and granted to the said Sir Lionel Cranfield; and as a reward for the same procurement, he the said Duke had to his own use or the use of some other person by him appointed, of the said Sir Lionel Cranfield, the sum of six thousand pounds of lawful money of England, contrary to the dignity of our Sovereign Lord the King, and against the duty which should have been performed by the said Duke unto him.
11. That he the said Duke hath within these ten years last past, procured divers titles of honour to his mother, brothers, kindred, and allies; as the title of Countess of Buckingham to his mother, whilst she was Sir Thomas Compton's wife; the title of Earl of Anglesea to his younger brother Christopher Villiers; the titles of Baron of Newnham Paddox, Viscount Feilding and the Earl of Denbigh to his sister's husband, Sir William Feilding; the title of Baron of Stoke, and Viscount Purbeck, to Sir John Villiers, elder brother of the said Duke, and divers more of the like kind to his kindred and allies; whereby the noble Barons of England, so well deserving in themselves and in their ancestors, have been much prejudiced, and the Crown disabled to reward extraordinary virtues in future times with honour; while the poor estate of those for whom such unnecessary advancement hath been procured is apparently likely to be more and more burdensome to the King; notwithstanding such annuities, pensions, and grants of lands annexed to the Crown, of great value, which the said Duke hath procured for those his kindred, to support their dignities.
12. He the said Duke not contented with the great advancement formerly received from the late King, of famous memory, by his procurement and practice, in the fourteenth year of the said King, for the support of the many places, honours, and dignities conferred on him, did obtain a grant of divers manors, parcel of the revenue of the Crown, and of the Duchy of Lancaster, to the yearly value of one thousand six hundred and ninety-seven pounds, two shillings, half-penny farthing of the old rent, with all woods, timber, trees, and advowsons; part whereof amounting to the sum of seven hundred forty seven pounds, thirteen shillings, and four pence, was rated at two and thirty thousand pounds, but in truth of a far greater value; and likewise, in the sixteenth year of the same King's reign, did procure divers other manors, annexed to the Crown, of the yearly value at the old rent of twelve hundred pounds or thereabouts, according as in a schedule hereunto annexed appeareth; in the warrant for passing of which lands he by his great favour, procured divers unusual clauses to be inserted; videlicet, that no perquisites of courts should be valued and that all bailiffs' fees should be reprised in the particulars upon which those lands were rated; whereby a precedent hath been introduced, which all those that since that time have obtained any lands from the Crown have pursued to the damage of his late Majesty, and of our Sovereign Lord the King that now is, to an exceeding great value; and afterwards he surrendered to his said Majesty divers manors and lands, parcel of those lands formerly granted unto him to the value of seven hundred twenty three pounds, eighteen shillings, two pence half-penny per annum; in consideration of which surrender, he procured divers other lands of the said late King, to be sold and contracted for by his own servants and agents; and thereupon hath obtained grants of the same, to pass from his late Majesty to several persons of this Kingdom, and hath caused tallies to be strucken for the money, being the consideration mentioned in these grants in the receipt of the exchequer, as if such money had really come to his Majesty's coffers; whereas the said Duke (or some other by his appointment) hath indeed received the same sums, and expended them upon his own occasions; and, notwithstanding the great and inestimable gain by him made by the sale of offices, honours, and by other suits by him obtained from His Majesty and for the countenancing of divers projects and other courses burthensome to His Majesty's realms both of England and Ireland; the said Duke hath likewise, by his procurement and practice, received into his hands, and disbursed unto his own use, exceeding great sums, that were the monies of the late King, of famous memory, as appeareth also in the said schedule hereunto annexed; and the better to colour his doings in that behalf, hath obtained several privy seals from his late Majesty, and His Majesty that now is, warranting the payment of great sums to persons by him named, causing it to be recited in such privy seals, as if those sums were directed for secret services concerning the State, which were notwithstanding disposed of to his own use, and other privy seals by him procured for the discharge of those persons without accompt; and by the like fraud and practice, under colour of free gifts from His Majesty, he hath gotten into his hands great sums, which were intended by His Majesty to be disbursed for the preparing, furnishing and victualling of his royal navy; by which secret and colourable devices the constant and ordinary course of the exchequer hath been broken, there being no means by matter of record, to charge either treasurer or victualler of the navy with those sums which ought to have come to their hands, and to be accounted for to His Majesty; and such a confusion and mixture hath been made between the King's estate and the Duke's as cannot be cleared by the legal entries and records, which ought to be truly and faithfully made and kept, both for the safety of His Majesty's treasure and for the indemnity of his officers and subjects, whom it doth concern: and also in the sixteenth year of the said King, and in the twentieth year of the said King, did procure to himself several releases from the said King, of divers great sums of the money of the said King by him privately received; and which he procured that he might detain the same for the support of his places, honours, and dignities; and those things, and divers others of the like kind, as appeareth in the said schedule annexed, hath he done, to the exceeding diminution of the revenues of the Crown, and in deceit both of our Sovereign Lord the King that now is, and of the late King James of famous memory; and to the great detriment of the whole kingdom.
13. Whereas especial care and order hath been taken by the laws of this realm to restrain and prevent the unskilful administration of physic whereby the health and life of man may be much endangered; and whereas most especially the royal persons of kings of this realm, in whom we their loyal subjects humbly challenge a great interest, are and always have been, esteemed by us so sacred, that nothing ought to be prepared for them, or administered unto them, in the way of physic or diet, in the times of their sickness, without the consent of some of their sworn physicians, apothecaries, or surgeons; and the boldness of such (how near soever unto them in place and favour) who have forgotten their duty so far as to presume to offer any thing unto them beyond their experience, hath been always ranked in the number of high offences[7] and misdemeanours; and whereas the sworn physicians of our late Sovereign Lord King James of blessed memory, attending on His Majesty in the month of March, in the two and twentieth of his most gracious reign, in the times of his sickness, being an ague, did, in due and necessary care of and for the recovery of his health and preservation of his person, upon and after several mature consultations in that behalf had and holden, at several times in the same month, resolve and give directions, that nothing should be applied or given unto His Highness by way of physic or diet during his said sickness, but by and upon their general advice and consents, and after good deliberation thereof first had; more especially, by their like care, and upon like consultations, did justly resolve, and publicly give warning to and for all the gentlemen, and other servants and officers, of his said late Majesty's bed-chamber, that no meat or drink whatsoever should be given unto him within two or three hours before the usual time of and for the coming of his fit in the said ague, nor during the continuance thereof, nor afterwards untill his cold fit were past; the said Duke of Buckingham, being a sworn servant of his late Majesty, of and in His Majesty's said bedchamber, contrary to his duty and the tender respect which he ought to have had of his most sacred person, and after the consultations, resolutions, directions, and warning aforesaid, did nevertheless, without any sufficient warrant in that behalf, unduly cause and procure certain plaisters and a certain drink or potion, to be provided for the use of his said Majesty, without the direction or privity of his said late Majesty's physicians, not prepared by any of His Majesty's sworn apothecaries or surgeons, but compounded of several ingredients to them unknown; notwithstanding the same plaister, or some plaister like thereunto, having been formerly administered unto his said Majesty, did procure such ill effects as that some of the said sworn physicians did altogether disallow thereof, and utterly refuse to meddle any further with his said Majesty until those plaisters were removed, as being prejudicial to the health of His Majesty; yet nevertheless the same plaister, as also a drink or potion, was provided by the said Duke, which he the said Duke by colour of some insufficient and slight pretences, did upon Monday the one and twentieth day of March in the two and twentieth year aforesaid, when His Majesty (by the judgment of his said physicians) was in the declination of his disease, cause and procure the said plaister to be applied to the breast and wrists of his said late Majesty; and then also at and in His Majesty's fit of the said ague, the same Monday, and at several times within two hours of the coming of the same fit, and before His Majesty's then cold fit was passed, did deliver and cause to be delivered several quantities of the said drink or potion to his late Majesty; who thereupon, at the same times, within the seasons in that behalf prohibited by His Majesty's physicians as aforesaid did, by the means and procurement of the said Duke, drink and take divers quantities of the said drink or potion applied and given unto and taken and received by his said Majesty as aforesaid, great distempers and divers ill symptoms appeared upon his said Majesty, insomuch that the said physicians, finding His Majesty the next morning much worse in the estate of his health, and holding a consultation thereabouts, did by joint consent, send unto the said Duke, praying him not to adventure to minister unto His Majesty any more physic, without their allowance and approbation, and his said Majesty himself, finding himself much diseased and affected with pain and sickness after his then fit, when, by the course of his disease, he expected intermission and ease, did attribute the cause of such his trouble unto the said plaister and drink, which the said Duke had so given and caused to be administered unto him. Which said adventurous act, by a person obliged in duty and thankfulness, done to the person of so great a King, after so ill success of the like formerly administered, contrary to such directions as aforesaid, and accompanied with so unhappy an event, to the great grief and discomfort of all His Majesty's subjects in general, is an offence and misdemeanour of so high a nature, as may justly be called, and is by the said Commons deemed to be, an act of transcendent presumption and of dangerous consequence.
And the said Commons by protestation saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other accusation or impeachment against the said Duke, and also of replying to the answers that the said Duke shall make unto the said articles, or to any of them, and of offering further proof also of the premises, or any of them, as the case shall (according to the course of Parliament) require, do pray that the said Duke may be put to answer to all and every the premises; and that such proceeding, examination, trial, and judgment, may be upon every of them had and used, as is agreeable to law and justice.