to and sent three Officers to London to Treat with as many of theirs These six suddenly concluded without power from the General upon these Articles That the King be excluded a Free State setled the Ministry and Universities encouraged with divers others Which the General liked not and imprisoned one of his Commissioners for exceeding his Commission Whereupon another Treaty was agreed on of five to five But whilst these Treaties were in hand Haslerig a Member of the Rump seized on Portsmouth and the Soldiers sent by the Committee of Safety to reduce it instead of that entred into the Town and joyned with Haslerig Secondly the City renewed their Tumults for a Free-Parliament Thirdly the Lord Fairfax a Member also of the Rump and greatly favour'd in York-shire was raising Forces there behind Lambert who being now between two Armies his Enemies would gladly have fought with the General Fourthly there came news that Devonshire and Cornwal were Listing of Soldiers Lastly Lambert's Army wanting Money and sure they should not be furnished from the Councel of Officers which had neither Authority nor Strength to Levy Money grew discontented and for their free Quarter were odious to the Northern Countries B. I wonder why the Scots were so ready to furnish General Monk with Money for they were no Friends to the Rump A. I know not but I believe the Scots would have parted with a greater Sum rather than the English should not have gone together by the ears amongst themselves The Councel of Officers being now beset with so many Enemies produced speedily their Model of Government which was to have a Free-Parliament which should meet December the 15 th but with such qualifications of no King no House of Lords as made the City more angry than before To send Soldiers into the West to suppress those that were rising there they durst not for fear of the City nor could they raise any other for want of Money There remained nothing but to break and quitting Wallingford-house to shift for themselves This coming to the knowledge of their Army in the North they deserted Lambert and the Rump the 26 th of December repossessed the House B. Seeing the Rump was now re-seated the business pretended by General Monk for his marching to London was at an end A. The Rump though seated was not well setled but in the midst of so many Tumults for a Free-Parliament had as much need of the General 's coming up now as before He therefore sent them word that because he thought them not yet secure enough he would come up to London with his Army which they not only accepted but also intreated him to do and voted him for his Services 1000 l. a year The General marching towards London the Country every where petition'd him for a Free-Parliament The Rump to make room in London for his Army dislodged their own The General for all that had not let fall a word in all this time that could be taken for a Declaration of his final Design B. How did the Rump revenge themselves on Lambert A. They never troubled him nor do I know any cause of so gentle dealing with him but certainly Lambert was the ablest of any Officer they had to do them service when they should have means and need to employ him After the General was come to London the Rump sent to the City for their part of a Tax of 100000 l. a month for six months according to an Act which the Rump had made formerly before their disseizin by the Committee of Safety But the City who were adverse to the Rump and keen upon a Free-Parliament could not be brought to give their Money to their Enemies and to purposes repugnant to their own Hereupon the Rump sent order to the General to break down the City Gates and their Portcullices and to imprison certain obstinate Citizens This he performed and it was the last service he did them About this time the Commission by which General Monk with others had the Government of the Army put into their hands by the Rump before the usurpation of the Councel of Officers came to expire which the present Rump renewed B. He was thereby the sixth part of the General of the whole Forces of the Common-wealth If I had been as the Rump he should have been sole General In such Cases as this there cannot be a greater Vice than pinching Ambition should be liberal A. After the pulling down of the City Gates the General sent a Letter to the Rump to let them know that that Service was much against his Nature and to put them in mind how well the City had serv'd the Parliament throughout the whole War B. Yes But for the City the Parliament could never have made the War nor the Rump ever have murdered the King A. The Rump considered not the merit of the City nor the good Nature of the General They were busie They were giving out Commissions making of Acts for Abjuration of the King and his Line and for the Old Engagement and conferring with the City to get Money The General also desir'd to hear Conference between some of the Rump and some of the Secluded Members concerning the Justice of their Seclusion and of the hurt that could follow from their re-admission And it was granted after long Conference the General finding the Rump's pretences unreasonable and ambitious declared himself with the City for a Free-Parliament and came to Westminster with the Secluded Members whom he had appointed to meet and stay for him at White-hall and replaced them in the House amongst the Rumpers so that now the same Cattle that were in the House of Commons in 1640. except those that were dead and those that went from them to the late King at Oxford are all there again B. But this methinks was no good Service to the King unless they had learnt better Principles A. They had learnt nothing The Major part was now again Presbyterian 'T is true they were so grateful to General Monk as to make him General of all the Forces in the three Nations They did well also to make void the Engagement but it was because those Acts were made to the prejudice of their Party but recalled none of their own Rebellious Ordinances nor did any thing in order to the good of the present King but on the contrary they declared by a Vote that the late King began the War against his two Houses B. The two Houses considered as two Persons were they not two of the King's Subjects If a King raise an Army against his Subject is it lawful for that Subject to resist with force when as in this Case he might have had peace upon his submission A. They knew they had acted vilely and sottishly but because they had always pretended to greater than ordinary wisdom and godliness they were loth to confess it The Presbyterians now saw their time to make a Confession of their Faith and presented it to
they require first That the King be brought to Justice 2. That the Prince and Duke of York be summoned to appear at a day appointed and proceeded with according as they should give satisfaction 3. That the Parliament settle the Peace and future Government and set a reasonable period to their own sitting and make certain future Parliaments Annual or Biennial 4. That a competent number of the King 's Chief Instruments be executed And this to be done both by the House of Commons and by a general Agreement of the People testified by their Subscriptions Nor did they stay for an Answer but presently set a Guard of Soldiers at the Parliament-house-door and other Soldiers in Westminster-Hall suffering none to go into the House but such as would serve their turns All others were frighted away or made Prisoners and some upon divers quarrels suspended Above 90 of them because they had refused to vote against the Scots and others because they had voted against the Vote of Non-Addresses and the rest were an House for Cromwel The Fanaticks also in the City being countenanced by the Army pack a new Common Councel whereof any forty was to be above the Major and their first work was to frame a Petition for Justice against the King which Tichborne the Major involving the City in the Regicide delivered to the Parliament At the same time with the like violence they took the King from Newport in the Isle of Wight to Hurst Castle till things were ready for his Trial. The Parliament in the mean time to avoid perjury by an Ordinance declared void the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance and presently after made another to bring the King to his Trial. B. This is a piece of Law that I understood not before that when many Men swear singly they may when they are assembled if they please absolve themselves A. The Ordinance being drawn up was brought into the House where after three several Readings it was voted That the Lords and Commons of England assembled in Parliament do declare That by the fundamental Laws of the Realm it is Treason in the King of England to Levy War against the Parliament And this Vote was sent up to the Lords and they denying their consent the Commons in anger made another Vote That all Members of Committees should proceed and act in any Ordinance whether the Lords concurred or no and that the People under God are the original of all just Power and that the House of Commons have the Supream Power of the Nation and that whatsoever the House of Commons enacteth is Law All this passed nemine contradicente B. These Propositions fight not only against a King of England but against all the Kings of the World It were good they thought on 't but yet I believe under God the original of all Laws was in the People A. But the People for them and their Heirs by consent and Oaths have long ago put the Supream Power of the Nation into the hands of their Kings for them and their Heirs and consequently into the hands of this King their known and lawful Heir B. But does not the Parliament represent the People A. Yes to some purposes as to put up Petitions to the King when they have leave and are grieved but not to make a Grievance of the King's Power Besides the Parliament never represents the People but when the King calls them nor is it to be imagin'd that he calls a Parliament to depose himself Put the Case every County and Burrough should have given this Parliament for a Benevolence a Sum of Money and that every County meeting in their County-Court or elsewhere and every Burrough in their Town-Hall should have chosen certain men to carry their several Sums respectively to the Parliament Had not these men represented the whole Nation B. Yes no doubt A. Do you think the Parliament would have thought it reasonable to be called to account by this Representative B. No sure and yet I must confess the Case is the same A. This Ordinance contained first a Summary of the Charge against the King in substance this That not content with the Encroachments of his Predecessors upon the freedom of the People he had designed to set up a Tyrannical Government and to that end had raised and maintained in the Land a Civil War against the Parliament whereby the Country hath been miserably wasted the publick Treasure exhausted thousands of people murdered and infinite other mischiefs committed Secondly A Constitution passed of a High Court of Justice that is of a certain number of Commissioners of whom any 20 had Power to try the King and to proceed to Sentence according to the merit of the Cause and see it speedily executed The Commissioners met on Saturday Jan. 20 th in Westminster-Hall and the King was brought before them where sitting in a Chair he heard the Charge read but denied to plead to it either Guilty or Not Guilty till he should know by what Lawful Authority he was brought thither The President told him That the Parliament affirmed their own Authority and the King persevered in his refusal to plead though many words passed between him and the President yet this was the substance of it all On Monday January 22 the Court met again and the Solicitor moved that if the King persisted in denying the Authority of the Court the Charge might be taken pro confesso but the King still denied their Authority They met again January 23 and then the Solicitor moved the Court for Judgment whereupon the King was requir'd to give his final Answer which was again a denial of their Authority Lastly They met again January 27 where the King desir'd to be heard before the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber and promising after that to abide the Judgment of the Court The Commissioners retir'd for half an hour to consider of it and then returning caused the King to be brought again to the Bar and told him that what he proposed was but another denial of the Courts Jurisdiction and that if he had no more to say they would proceed Then the King answering that he had no more to say the President began a long Speech in Justification of the Parliaments Proceedings producing the Examples of many Kings killed or deposed by wicked Parliaments Ancient and Modern in England Scotland and other parts of the World All which he endeavoured to justifie from this only Principle That the People have the Supream Power and the Parliament is the People This Speech ended the Sentence of death was read and the same upon Tuesday after January 30 executed at the Gate of his own Palace of White-hall He that can delight in reading how villainously he was used by the Soldiers between the Sentence and Execution may go to the Chronicle it self in which he shall see what Courage Patience Wisdom and Goodness was in this Prince whom in their Charge the Members of that wicked Parliament
an exceeding great number of Men of the better sort that had been so educated as that in their Youth having read the Books written by famous Men of the ancient Grecian and Roman Common-wealths concerning their Politie and great Actions in which Books the Popular Government was extoll'd by that glorious Name of Liberty and Monarchy disgraced by the Name of Tyranny they became thereby in love with their Forms of Government and out of these Men were chosen the greatest part of the House of Commons or if they were not the greatest part yet by advantage of their Eloquence were always able to sway the rest Fifthly The City of London and other great Towns of Trade having in admiration the prosperity of the Low-Countries after they had revolted from their Monarch the King of Spain were inclin'd to think that the like change of Government here would to them produce the like prosperity Sixthly There were a very great number that had either wasted their Fortunes or thought them too mean for the good Parts they thought were in themselves and more there were that had able Bodies but saw no means how honestly to get their Bread These long'd for a War and hoped to maintain themselves hereafter by the lucky choosing of a Party to side with and consequently did for the most part serve under them that had greatest plenty of Money Lastly The People in general were so ignorant of their duty as that not one perhaps of 10000 knew what right any man had to command him or what necessity there was of King or Common-wealth for which he was to part with his Money against his will but thought himself to be so much Master of whatsoever he possess'd that it could not be taken from him upon any pretence of common safety without his own consent King they thought was but a Title of the highest Honour which Gentleman Knight Baron Earl Duke were but steps to ascend to with the help of Riches and had no Rule of Equity but Presidents and Custom and he was thought wisest and fittest to be chosen for a Parliament that was most averse to the granting of Subsidies or other publick Payments B. In such a constitution of People methinks the King is already outed of his Government so as they need not have taken Arms for it for I cannot imagine how the King should come by any means to resist them A. There was indeed very great difficulty in the business but of that Point you will be better inform'd in the pursuit of this Narration B. But I desire to know first the several Grounds of the Pretences both of the Pope and of the Presbyterians by which they claim a Right to govern us as they do in chief and after that from whence and when crept in the Pretences of that long Parliament for a Democracy A. As for the Papists they challenge this Right from a Text in Deut. 17. and other like Texts according to the old Latin Translation in these words And he that out of pride shall refuse to obey the Commandment of that Priest which shall at that time minister before the Lord thy God that Man shall by the Sentence of the Judge be put to death And because as the Jews were the People of God then so is all Christendome the People of God now they infer from thence that the Pope whom they pretend to be the High-Priest of all Christian People ought also to be obeyed in all his Decrees by all Christians upon pain of death Again whereas in the New Testament Christ saith All Power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth go therefore and teach all Nations and baptize them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and teach them to observe all these things that I have commanded you From thence they infer that the Command of the Apostles was to be obeyed and by consequence the Nations were bound to be govern'd by them and especially by the Prince of the Apostles St. Peter and by his Successors the Popes of Rome B. For the Text in the Old Testament I do not see how the Commandment of God to the Jews to obey their Priests can be interpreted to have the like force in the Case of other Nations Christian more than upon Nations Unchristian for all the World are Gods People unless we also grant that a King cannot of an Infidel be made Christian without making himself subject to the Laws of that Apostle or Priest or Minister that shall convert him The Jews were a peculiar People of God a Sacerdotal Kingdom and bound to no other Law but what first Moses and afterwards every High-Priest did go and receive immediately from the mouth of God in Mount Sinai in the Tabernacle of the Ark and in the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple And for the Text in St. Mathew I know the Words in the Gospel are not Go teach but Go and make Disciples and that there is a great difference between a Subject and a Disciple and between Teaching and Commanding And if such Texts as these must be so interpreted why do not Christian Kings lay down their Titles of Majesty and Sovereignty and call themselves the Popes Lieutenants But the Doctors of the Romish Church seem to decline that Title of Absolute Power in their distinction of Power Spiritual and Temporal but this distinction I do not very well understand A. By Spiritual Power they mean the Power to determine Points of Faith and to be Judges in the Inner Court of Conscience of Moral Duties and of a Power to punish those Men that obey not their Precepts by Ecclesiastical Censure that is by Excommunication and this Power they say the Pope hath immediately from Christ without dependence upon any King or Sovereign Assembly whose Subjects they be that stand Excommunicate But for the Power Temporal which consists in judging and punishing those Actions that are done against the Civil Laws they say they do not pretend to it directly but only indirectly that is to say so far forth as such Actions tend to the hindrance or advancement of Religion and good Manners which they mean when they say in ordine ad spiritualia B. What Power then is left to Kings and other Civil Sovereigns which the Pope may not pretend to be his in ordine ad spiritualia A. None or very little and this Power the Pope pretends to in all Christendome but some of his Bishops also in their several Diocesses Jure Divino that is immediately from Christ without deriving it from the Pope B. But what if a Man refuse obedience to this pretended Power of the Pope and his Bishops What harm can Excommunication do him especially if he be the Subject of another Sovereign A. Very great harm for by the Pope's or Bishop's signification of it to the Civil Power he shall be punish'd sufficiently B. He were in an ill Case then that adventured to write or speak
commend either the Divinity or the Philosophy of those Heathen People but to shew only what the reputation of those Sciences can effect among the People For their Divinity was nothing but Idolatry and their Philosophy excepting the knowledge which the Aegyptian Priests and from them the Chaldaeans had gotten by long observation and study in Astronomy Geometry and Arithmetick very little and that in great part abused in Astrology and Fortune-telling Whereas the Divinity of the Clergy in this Nation considered apart from the mixture that has been introduced by the Church of Rome and in part retained here of the babling Philosophy of Aristotle and other Greeks that has no affinity with Religion and serves only to breed disaffection dissention and finally Sedition and Civil War as we have lately found by dear experience in the differences between the Presbyterians and Episcopals is the true Religion but for these differences both Parties as they came in power not only suppressed the Tenets of one another but also whatsoever Doctrine look'd with an ill aspect upon their Interest and consequently all true Philosophy especially Civil and Moral which can never appear propitious to ambition or to an exemption from their obedience due to the Sovereign Power After the King had accused the Lord Kimbolton a Member of the Lords House and Hollis Haslerigg Hampden Pim and Stroud five Members of the Lower House of High Treason and after the Parliament had voted out the Bishops from the House of Peers they pursued especially two things in their Petitions to his Majesty The one was That the King would declare who were the persons that advised him to go as he did to the Parliament House to apprehend them and that he would leave them to the Parliament to receive condign punishment and this they did to stick upon his Majesty the dishonour of deserting his Friends and betraying them to his Enemies The other was That he would allow them a Guard out of the City of London to be commanded by the Earl of Essex for which they pretended they could not else sit in safety which pretence was nothing but an upbraiding of his Majesty for coming to Parliament better accompanied than ordinary to seize the said five seditious Members B. I see no reason in petitioning for a Guard they should determine it to the City of London in particular and the Command by name to the Earl of Essex unless they meant the King should understand it for a Guard against himself A. Their meaning was that the King should understand it so and as I verily believe they meant he should take it for an affront and the King himself understanding it so denied to grant it though he were willing if they could not otherwise be satisfied to Command such a Guard to wait upon them as he would be responsible for to God Almighty Besides this the City of London petitioned the King put upon it no doubt by some Members of the Lower House to put the Tower of London into the Hands of persons of Trust meaning such as the Parliament should approve of and to appoint a Guard for the safety of his Majesty and the Parliament This Method of bringing Petitions in a Tumultuary manner by great multitudes of clamorous people was ordinary with the House of Commons whose Ambition could never have been served by way of prayer and request without extraordinary terror After the King had waved the prosecution of the five Members but denied to make known who had advised him to come in person to the House of Commons they question'd the Attorney-General who by the King's Command had exhibited the Articles against them and voted him a breaker of the Priviledge of Parliament and no doubt had made him feel their cruelty if he had not speedily fled the Land About the end of January they made an Order of both Houses of Parliament to prevent the going over of Popish Commanders into Ireland not so much fearing that as that by this the King himself choosing his Commanders for that Service might aid himself out of Ireland against the Parliament But this was no great matter in respect of a Petition they sent his Majesty about the same time that is to say about the 27 th or 28 th of January 1641. wherein they desir'd in effect the absolute Sovereignty of England though by the name of Sovereignty they challenged it not whilst the King was living For to the end that the fears and dangers of this Kingdom might be remov'd and the mischievous designs of those who are Enemies to the peace of it might be prevented they pray That his Majesty would be pleased to put forthwith first The Tower of London 2. All other Forts 3. The whole Militia of the Kingdom into the Hands of such persons as should be recommended to him by both the Houses of Parliament And this they stile a necessary Petition B. Were there really any such fears and dangers generally conceiv'd here or did there appear any Enemies at that time with such Designs as are mentioned in the Petition A. Yes But no other fear of danger but such as any discreet and honest man might justly have of the Designs of the Parliament it self who were the greatest Enemies to the peace of the Kingdom that could possibly be 'T is also worth observing that this Petition began with these words Most Gratious Sovereign So stupid they were as not to know that he that is Master of the Militia is Master of the Kingdom and consequently is in possession of a most absolute Sovereignty The King was now at Windsor to avoid the Tumults of the Common People before the Gates of White-hall together with their clamors and affronts there The 9 th of February after he came to Hampton-Court and thence he went to Dover with the Queen and the Princess of Orange his Daughter where the Queen with the Princess of Orange embarqued for Holland but the King returned to Greenwich whence he sent for the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York and so went with them towards York B. Did the Lords joyn with the Commons in this Petition for the Militia A. It appears so by the Title but I believe they durst not but do it The House of Commons took them but for a Cypher Men of Title only without real Power Perhaps also the most of them thought that the taking of the Militia from the King would be an addition to their own power but they were very much mistaken for the House of Commons never intended they should be sharers in it B. What answer made the King to this Petition A. That when he shall know the extent of Power which is intended to be established in those persons whom they desire to be the Commanders of the Militia in the several Counties and likewise to what time it shall be limited That no Power shall be executed by his Majesty alone without the advice of Parliament then he will declare that
oftentimes were little elder than themselves And therefore I think the Parliament did not much reverence that Institution of Universities as to the bringing up of young men to vertue though many of them learned there to preach and became thereby capable of preferment and maintenance and some others were sent thither by their Parents to save themselves the trouble of governing them at home during that time wherein Children are least governable Nor do I think the Parliament cared more for the Clergy than other men did but certainly an University is an excellent Servant to the Clergy and the Clergy if it be not carefully look'd to by their Dissentions in Doctrines and by the advantage to publish their Dissentions is an excellent means to divide a Kingdom into Factions B. But seeing there is no place in this part of the World where Philosophy and other humane Sciences are not highly valued where can they be learned better than in the Universities A. What other Sciences Do not Divines comprehend all Civil and Moral Philosophy within their Divinity And as for Natural Philosophy is it not remov'd from Oxford and Cambridge to Gresham-Colledge in London and to be learned out of their Gazets But we are gone from our subject B. No we are indeed gone from the greater businesses of the Kingdom to which if you please let us return A. The first Insurrection or rather Tumult was that of the Apprentices on the ninth of April but this was not upon the King's account but arose from a Customary Assembly of them for Recreation in Moor-fields whence some zealous Officers of the Trained Soldiers would needs drive them away by force but were themselves routed with Stones and had their Ensign taken away by the Apprentices which they carried about in the Streets and frighted the Lord-Major into his House where they took a Gun called a Drake and then they set Guards at some of the Gates and all the rest of the day childishly swaggered up and down but the next day the General himself marching into the City quickly dispersed them This was but a small business but enough to let them see that the Parliament was ill belov'd of the People Next the Welch took Arms against them There were three Collonels in Wales Langhorne Poyer and Powel who had formerly done the Parliament good service but now were commanded to disband which they refused to do and the better to strengthen themselves declared for the King and were about 8000. About the same time in Wales also was another Insurrection headed by Sir Nicholas Keymish and another under Sir John Owen so that now all Wales was in Rebellion against the Parliament and yet all these were overcome in a months time by Cromwel and his Officers but not without store of Bloodshed on both sides B. I do not much pity the loss of those men that impute to the King that which they do upon their own quarrel A. Presently after this some of the People of Surrey sent a Petition to the Parliament for a personal Treaty between the King and Parliament but their Messengers were beaten home again by the Soldiers that quartered about Westminster and the Mews And then the Kentish Men having a like Petition to deliver and seeing how ill it was like to be receiv'd threw it away and took up Arms. They had many gallant Officers and for General the Earl of Norwich and encreased daily by Apprentices and old disbanded Soldiers In so much as the Parliament was glad to restore to the City their Militia and to keep Guards upon the Thames side and then Fairfax marched towards the Enemy B. And then the Londoners I think might easily and suddenly have mastered first the Parliament and next Fairfax his 8000 and lastly Cromwel's Army or at least have given the Scots Army opportunity to march unfoughten to London A. 'T is true but the City was never good at venturing nor were they or the Scots principled to have a King over them but under them Fairfax marching with his 8000 against the Royalists routed a part of them at Maidstone another part were taking in of places in Kent farther off and the Earl of Norwich with the rest came to Black-heath and thence sent to the City to get passage through it to joyn with those which were risen in Essex under Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle which being denied the greatest part of his Kentish Men deserted him With the rest not above 500 he crossed the Thames into the isle of Dogs and so to Bow and thence to Colchester Fairfax having notice of this crossed the Thames at Gravesend and overtaking them besieged them in Colchester The Town had no defence but a Breast-work and yet held out upon hope of the Scotch Army to relieve them the space of two months Upon the news of the defeat of the Scots they were forced to yield The Earl of Norwich was sent Prisoner to London Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle two Loyal and Gallant Persons were shot to death There was also another little Insurrection headed by the Earl of Holland about Kingston but quickly suppressed and he himself taken Prisoner B. How came the Scots to be so soon dispatch'd A. Meerly as it is said for want of Conduct Their Army was led by Duke Hamilton who was then set at liberty when Pendennis Castle where he was Prisoner was taken by the Parliamentarians He entred England with Horse and Foot 15000 to which came above 3000 English Royalists Against these Cromwel marched out of Wales with Horse and Foot 11000 and near to Preston in Lancashire in less than two hours defeated them and the Cause of it is said to be that the Scotch Army was so ordered as they could not all come to the Fight nor relieve their Fellows After the defeat they had no way to fly but farther into England so that in the pursuit they were almost all taken and lost all that an Army can lose for the few that got home did not all bring home their Swords Duke Hamilton was taken and not long after sent to London But Cromwel marched on to Edenburgh and there by the help of the Faction which was contrary to Hamilton's he made sure not to be hindred in his designs the first whereof was to take away the King's Life by the Hand of the Parliament Whilst these things passed in the North the Parliament Cromwel being away came to it self and recalling their Vote of Non-Addresses sent to the King new Propositions somewhat but not much easier than formerly and upon the King's Answer to them they sent Commissioners to treat with him at Newport in the Isle of Wight where they so long dodged with him about trifles that Cromwel was come to London before they had done to the King's destruction For the Army was now wholly at the devotion of Cromwel who set the Adjutators on work again to make a Remonstrance to the House of Commons wherein
also receiv'd their Commissions in the House it self from the Speaker who was Generalissimo Fleetwood was made Lieutenant General with such and so many Limitations as were thought necessary by the Rump that remembred how they had been served by the General Oliver Also Henry Cromwel Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland having resigned his Commission by Command returned into England But Lambert to whom as was said Oliver had promised the Succession and as well as the Rump knew the way to the Protectorship by Oliver's own foot-steps was resolv'd to proceed in it upon the first opportunity which presented it self presently after Besides some Plots of Royalists whom after the old fashion they again persecuted there was an Insurrection made against them by Presbyterians in Cheshire headed by Sir George Booth one of the Secluded Members they were in number about 3000 and their pretence was for a Free Parliament there was a great talk of another Rising or endeavour to rise in Devonshire and Cornwal at the same time To suppress Sir George Booth the Rump sent down more than a sufficient Army under Lambert which quickly defeated the Cheshire Party and recovered Chester Leverpool and all the other places they had seized Divers also of their Commanders in and after the Battle were taken Prisoners whereof Sir George Booth himself was one This Exploit done Lambert before his return Caressed his Soldiers with an Entertainment at his own House in York-shire and got their consent to a Petition to be made to the House that a General might be set up in the Army as being unfit that the Army should be judged by any power extrinsick to it self B. I do not see that unfitness A. Nor I. But it was as I have heard an Axiom of Sir Henry Vane's but it so much displeased the Rump that they voted That the having of more Generals in the Army than were already setled was unnecessary burthensome and dangerous to the Common wealth B. This was not Oliver's method for though this Cheshire-Victory had been as glorious as that of Oliver at Dunbar yet it was not the Victory that made Oliver General but the Resignation of Fairfax and the profer of it to Cromwel by the Parliament A. But Lambert thought so well of himself as to expect it therefore at his return to London he and other Officers Assembling at Wallingford-house drew their Petition into form and call'd it a Representation wherein the Chief Point was to have a General but many other of less Importance were added and this they represented to the House October the fourth by Major-General Desborough and this so far forth awed them as to teach them so much good manners as to promise to take it presently into debate Which they did and October the 12 th having recovered their Spirits voted That the Commissions of Lambert Desborough and others of the Councel at Wallingford-house should be void Item That the Army should be govern'd by a Commission to Fleetwood Monk Haslerig Walton Morley and Overton till February the 12 th following And to make this good against the force they expected from Lambert they ordered Haslerig and Morley to issue Warrants to such Officers as they could trust to bring their Soldiers next morning into Westminster which was done somewhat too late for Lambert had first brought his Soldiers thither and beset the House and turned back the Speaker which was then coming to it but Haslerig's Forces marching about St. James's Park-wall came into St. Margaret's Church-yard and so both Parties looked all day one upon another like Enemies but offered not to fight whereby the Rump was put out of possession of the House and the Officers continued their Meeting as before at wallingford-Wallingford-house There they chose from among themselves with some few of the City a Committee which they called the Committee of Safety whereof the Chief were Lambert and Vane who with the advice of a General Councel of Officers had power to call Delinquents to Trial. To suppress Rebellions To treat with Forreign States c. You see now the Rump cut off and the Supream Power which is charged with Salus Populi transfer'd to a Councel of Officers And yet Lambert hopes for it in the end But one of their Limitations was That they should within six weeks present to the Army a new Model of the Government if they had done so do you think they would have prefer'd Lambert or any other to the Supream Authority therein rather than themselves B. I think not When the Rump had put into Commission amongst a few others for the Government of the Army that is to say for the Government of the three Nations General Monk already Commander in Chief of the Army in Scotland and that had done much greater things in this War than Lambert how durst they leave him out of this Committee of Safety Or how could Lambert think that General Monk would forgive it and not endeavour to fasten the Rump again A. They thought not of him his Gallantry had been shewn on remote Stages Ireland and Scotland His Ambition had not appear'd here in their Contentions for the Government but he had complied both with Richard and the Rump After General Monk had signified by Letter his dislike of the Proceedings of Lambert and his Fellows they were much surpriz'd and began to think him more considerable than they had done but it was too late B. Why His Army was too small for so great an Enterprize A. The General knew very well his own and their Forces both what they were then and how they might be augmented and what generally City and Country wished for which was the Restitution of the King which to bring about there needed no more but to come with his Army though not very great to London To the doing whereof there was no obstacle but the Army with Lambert What could he do in this Case If he had declar'd presently for the King or for a Free-Parliament all the Armies in England would have joyned against him and assuming the Title of a Parliament would have furnished themselves with Money General Monk after he had thus quarrelled by his Letter with the Councel-Officers secur'd first those Officers of his own Army which were Anabaptists and therefore not to be trusted and put others into their places then drawing his Forces together marched to Barwick Being there he indicted a Convention of the Scots of whom he desir'd that they would take order for the security of that Nation in his absence and raise some maintenance for his Army in their March The Convention promised for the security of the Nation their best endeavour and raised him a Sum of Money not great but enough for this purpose excusing themselves upon their present wants On the other side the Committee of Safety with the greatest and best part of their Army sent Lambert to oppose him but at the same time by divers Messages and Mediators urged him to a Treaty which he consented