of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales Isles of Guernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any part of the said Forces or concerning the Admiralty and Navy or concerning the levying of Moneys for the raising maintenance or use of the said Forces for Land-service or for the Navy and Forces for Sea-service or of any part of them and if that the Royal Assent to such Bill or Bills shall not be given in the House of Peers within such time after the passing thereof by both Houses of Parliament as the said Houses shall judge fit and convenient That then such Bill or Bills so passed by the said Lords and Commons as aforesaid and to which the Royal Assent shall not be given as is herein before expressed shall nevertheless after declaration of the said Lords and Commons made in that behalf have the force and strength of an Act or Acts of Parliament and shall be as valid to all intents and purposes as if the Royal Assent had been given thereunto Provided that nothing herein before contained shall extend to the taking away of the ordinary legal power of Sheriffs Justices of Peace Mayors Bayliffs Coroners Constables Headboroughs or other Officers of Justice not being Military Officers concerning the administration of Justice so as neither the said Sheriffs Justices of Peace Mayors Bayliffs Coroners Constables Headboroughs and other Officers nor any of them do levy conduct employ or command any Forces whatsoever by colour or pretence of any Commission of Array or extraordinary command from his Majesty his Heirs or Successors without the consent of the said Lords and Commons And if any persons shall be gathered and assembled together in warlike manner or otherwise to the number of thirty persons and shall not forthwith disband themselves being required thereto by the said Lords and Commons or command from them or any by them especially authorized for that purpose then such person or persons not so disbanding themselves shall be guilty and incur the pains of High-Treason being first declared guilty of such offence by the said Lords and Commons any Commission under the great Seal or other Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding And he or they that shall offend herein to be incapable of any pardon from his Majesty his Heirs or Successors and their Estates shall be disposed as the said Lords and Commons shall think fit and not otherwise Provided that the City of London shall have and enjoy all their Rights Liberties and Franchises Customs and Usages in the raising and employing the Forces of that City for the defence thereof in as full and ample manner to all intents and purposes as they have or might have used or enjoyed the same at any time before the making of the said Act or Proposition To the end that City may be fully assured it is not the intention of the Parliament to take from them any priviledges or immunities in raising or disposing of their Forces which they have or might have used or enjoyed heretofore The like for the Kingdom of Scotland if the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit XVII That by Act of Parliament all Peers made since the day that Edward Lord Littleton then Lord Keeper of the Great Seal deserted the Parliament and that the said Great Seal was surreptitiously conveyed away from the Parliament being the one and twentieth day of May 1642. and who shall be hereafter made shall not sit or vote in the Parliament of England without consent of both Houses of Parliament And that all Honour and Title conferred on any without consent of both Houses of Parliament since the twentieth day of May 1642. being the day that both Houses declared That the King seduced by evil Council intended to raise War against the Parliament be declared Null and Void The like for the Kingdom of Scotland those being excepted whose Parents were passed the Great Seal before the fourth of June 1644. XVIII That an Act be passed in the Parliament of both Kingdoms respectively for confirmation of the Treaties passed betwixt the two Kingdoms viz. the large Treaty the late Treaty for the coming of the Scots Army into England and the setling of the Garrison of Barwick of the 29th of November 1643. and the Treaty concerning Ireland of the 6th of August 1642. for the bringing of ten thousand Scots into the Province of Vlster in Ireland with all other Ordinances and Proceedings passed betwixt the two Kingdoms and whereunto they are obliged by the aforesaid Treaties And that Algernon Earl of Northumberland John Earl of Rutland Philip Earl of Pembrooke and Mungomery Theophilus Earl of Lincoln James Earl of Suffolk William Earl of Salisbury Robert Earl of Warwick Edward Earl of Manchester Henry Earl of Stanford Francis Lord Dacres Philip Lord Wharton Francis Lord Willoughby Dudly Lord North John Lord Hunsdon William Lord Gray Edward Lord Howard of Estrick Thomas Lord Bruce Ferdinando Lord Fairfax Mr. Nathaniel Fines Sir William Armine Sir Philip Stapilton Sir Henry Vane senior Mr. William Perpoint Sir Edward Aiscough Sir William Strickland Sir Arthur Hesilrig Sir John Fenwick Sir William Brereton Sir Thomas Widdington Mr. John Toll Mr. Gilbert Millington Sir William Constable Sir John Wray Sir Henry Vaine junior Mr. Henry Darley Oliver Saint John Esq his Majesties Sollicitor-General Mr. Denzel Hollis Mr. Alexander Rigby Mr. Cornelius Holland Mr. Samuel Vassell Mr. Peregrin Pelham John Glyn Esq Recorder of London Mr. Henry Martin Mr. Alderman Hoyle Mr. John Blakiston Mr. Serjeant Wilde Mr. Richard Barwis Sir Anthony Irby Mr. Ashurst Mr. Bellingham and Mr. Tolson Members of both Houses of the Parliament of England shall be the Commissioners for the Kingdom of England for conservation of the Peace between the two Kingdoms to act according to the Powers in that behalf exprest in the Articles of the large Treaty and not otherwise That his Majesty give his Assent to what the two Kingdoms shall agree upon in prosecution of the Articles of the large Treaty which are not yet finished That an Act be passed in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively for establishing the joynt Declaration of both Kingdoms bearing date the 30th day of January 1643. in England and 1644. in Scotland with the Qualifications ensuing 1 Qualification That the persons who shall expect no pardon be onely these following Rupert Maurice Count Palatines of Rhine James Earl of Darby John Earl of Bristol William Earl of New-castle Francis Lord Cottington George Lord Digby Matthew Wren Bishop of Ely Sir Robert Heath Kt. Dr. Bramhall Bishop of Derry Sir William Widdrington Col. George Goring Henry Jermin Esq Sir Ralph Hopton Sir John Biron Sir Francis Doddington Sir John Strangewayes Mr. Endymion Porter Sir George Radcliffe Sir Marmaduke Langdale Henry Vaughan Esq now called Sir Hen. Vaughan Sir Francis Windibanke Sir Richard Greenvill Mr. Edward Hide now called Sir Edw. Hide Sir John Marley Sir Nicholas Cole Sir Thomas Riddel Jun. Sir John Colepepper Mr. Richard
but all their said several preferments places and promotions shall be utterly void as if they were naturally dead nor shall they otherwise use their Function of the Ministry without advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament Provided that no Laps shall incurr by such vacancy until six months past after notice thereof 6 Qualification That all persons who have been actually in Arms against the Parliament or have counselled or voluntarily assisted the Enemies thereof are disabled to be Sheriffs Justices of the Peace Mayors or other head-Officers of any City or Corporation Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer or to sit or serve as Members or Assistants in either of the Houses of Parliament or to have any Military employment in this Kingdom without the consent of both Houses of Parliament 7 Qualification The persons of all others to be free of all personal censure notwithstanding any Act or thing done in or concerning this War they taking the Covenant 8 Qualification The Estates of those persons excepted in the first three precedent Qualifications and the Estates of Edward Lord Littleton and of William Laud late Archbishop of Canterbury to pay publick Debts and Damages 9 Qualification Branch 1. That two full parts in three to be divided of all the Estates of the Members of either House of Parliament who have not onely deserted the Parliament but have also voted both Kingdoms Traytors and have not rendred themselves before the first of December 1645. shall be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom Branch 2. That two full parts in three to be divided of the Estates of such late Members of either House of Parliament as sate in the unlawful Assembly at Oxford and shall not have rendred themselves before the first of December 1645. shall be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom Branch 3. That one full moity of the Estates of such persons late Members of either of the Houses of Parliament who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof and shall not have rendred themselves before the first of December 1645. shall be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom 10 Qualification That a full third part of the value of the Estates of all Judges and Officers towards the Law Common or Civil and of all Serjeants Counsellors and Attorneys Doctors Advocates and Proctors of the Law Common or Civil And of all Bishops Clergy-men Masters and Fellows of any Colledge or Hall in either of the Universities or elsewhere And of all Masters of Schools or Hospitals and of all Ecclesiastical persons who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof and have not rendred themselves to the Parliament before the first of December 1645. shall be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom That a full sixth part on the full value of the Estates of the persons excepted in the sixth Qualification concerning such as have been actually in Arms against the Parliament or have counselled or voluntarily assisted the Enemies thereof and are disabled according to the said Qualification be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom 11 Qualification That the persons and Estates of all Common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of England who in Lands or Goods be not worth two hundred pounds sterling and the persons and Estates of all Common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of Scotland who in Lands or Goods be not worth one hundred pounds sterling be at liberty and discharged Branch 1. This Proposition to stand as to the English and as to the Scots likewise if the Parliament of Scotland or their Commissioners shall so think fit Branch 2. That the 1 of May last is now the day limited for the persons to come in that are comprised within the former Qualifications Provided that all and every the Delinquents which by or according to the several and respective Ordinances or Orders made by both or either of the Houses of Parliament on or before the 24th day of April 1647. are to be admitted to make their Fines and Compositions under the rates and proportions of the Qualifications aforesaid shall according to the said Ordinances and Orders respectively be thereto admitted and further also that no person or persons whatsoever except such Papists as having been in Arms or voluntarily assisted against the Parliament have by concealing their quality procured their admission to Composition which have already compounded or shall hereafter compound and be thereto admitted by both Houses of Parliament at any of the rates and proportions aforesaid or under respectively shall be put to pay any other Fine than that they have or shall respectively so compound for except for such Estates or such of their Estates and for such values thereof respectively as have been or shall be concealed or omitted in the particulars whereupon they compound and that all and every of them shall have thereupon their Pardons in such manner and form as is agreed by both Houses of Parliament That an Act be passed whereby the Debts of the Kingdom and the persons of Delinquents and the value of their Estates may be known and which Act shall appoint in what manner the Confiscations and Proportions before-mentioned may be leavied and applied to the discharge of the said Engagements The like for the Kingdom of Scotland if the Estates of Parliament or such as shall have power from them shall think fit XIX That an Act of Parliament be passed to declare and make void the Cessation of Ireland and all Treaties and Conclusions of Peace or any Articles thereupon with the Rebels without consent of both Houses of Parliament And to settle the prosecution of the War of Ireland in both Houses of the Parliament of England to be managed by them and the King to assist and to do no act to discountenance or molest them therein That Reformation of Religion according to the Covenant be setled in the Kingdom of Ireland by Act of Parliament in such manner as both Houses of the Parliament of England have agreed or shall agree upon after Consultation had with the Assembly of Divines here That the Deputy or chief Governour or other Governours of Ireland and the Presidents of the several Provinces of that Kingdom be nominated by both the Houses of the Parliament of England or in the intervals of Parliament by such Committees of both Houses of Parliament as both Houses of the Parliament of England shall nominate and appoint for that purpose And that the Chancellor or Lord Keeper Lord Treasurer Commissioners of the Great Seal or Treasury Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports Chancellor of the Exchequer and Dutchy Secretaries of State Master of the Rolls Judges of both Benches and Barons of the Exchequer of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Vice-Treasurer and the
Lord Bishop of Winchester the Worthy Nicholas Oudart Secretary and Counsellour to the Prince of Orange by Sir John Wederburn Knight by Dr. Richard Owen Professor of Divinity and Rector of St. Swithins in London by Dr. George Ent heretofore Physician to Charles the First and now to the present King and also by Fabian Philips an Attorney who was my Assistant in searching the Rolls Offices and Monuments of the Law that I may not mention Dugard who printed it men above all exceptions although there is an insolent Defamer who pretends I have fathered another mans Work whose Calumnies I neither value nor fear This Passage is inserted by him onely to prove he was the Author of it but is at the same time a strong proof of his integrity for it is very well known these Persons were not all of one side in our late Distractions The first Part of this Piece was first printed about the year 1651 without his name for the information of Strangers and therefore he premiseth a short account of the Prerogatives of the Crown and the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject here which had been so abominably misrepresented to Forreigners that they stood generally in great doubt on which side the right lay and considering the time when it came out first nothing could be of greater use and benefit to the then-oppressed interest of our late Soveraign Nor was it onely useful abroad but at home also for the People of England were then so distracted by the Contradictions betwixt the Royal and the Rebel Party that they at least many of them did as little know on which side to give their Verdict as the Neighbour Nations Hence the Learned and Ingenuous Mr. Henry Foulis in his Preface to his History of the wicked Plots of our pretended Saints gives us this Account of himself As for the Author saith he whilst a School-boy he was too much sway'd to Presbytery and delighting in the Stories of our Times had none to peruse but May Vicars Ricraft and such-like partial Relators by which means believing with the ignorant all things in print to be true he was perswaded to encline to the wrong side But a little before his going to theVniversity lighting by chance upon Dr. Bates 's judicious Book Elenchus Motuum he found the Laws and true Government to be opposite to his former Readings and therein the Knavery and Jugling of their Opposers strange things which he had never heard of before Which with some other assistance so far prevail'd with him that in a short time he threw off Father Schism and ever since like little Loyal John in the Epitaph For the King and Church and Bloud-Royal He went as true as any Sun-Dial There are some others who have acknowledged to the World in print the benefit they and the Government received from this first Part. The Second Part was added by Dr. Bates after his late Majesties Restitution to inform the World of the manner of his Majesties Escape from Worcester and how things were carried till the deposition of Richard Cromwel wherein is an excellent account of the bloudy War in Ireland and the just Judgment of God upon the Scotch Covenanters for joyning with our English Parliamentarians upon pretence of setting up Presbytery here but indeed to inrich themselves the second time with the Spoils of England the effect of which was that Presbytery was ruined even in Scotland by O. C. and his victorious Independant Army and they lost at the same time all their Civil Priviledges and were treated till the Kings return as a conquered People by their fellow-Rebels The Third Part was written by one Dr. Tho. Skynner another Learned Physician to continue and bring down the Story and shew the Joy of our Nation at the Restitution of his late Majesty It is in the Original written in a florid stile and full of curious and ingenuous Reflections The Translations of all these have been managed with great care to make them both true to the Originals and delightful to the Reader onely the Translator thought fit to supply some Papers which are but hinted at or wholly omitted in the Author as the Treaty of the Isle of Wight in the First Part the Coronation-Oath in the Third and others And also when there are any Papers or Expressions mentioned to publish the original Papers and words when he could find them but when not he hath humoured the Translation as near the Latin as the sence of the Author and idiome of the two Languages would permit There is great hope that this short account of our late horrible Confusions here in England which is so acceptable in the Original to all Forreigners and Learned English-men may now translated be no less acceptable to all those who either cannot read the Latin or care not to give themselves so much trouble and that it may contribute something to the interest of the Government by forewarning men how they betake themselves to those courses again which produced such dreadful Effects heretofore A TABLE To the First Part. A. ACcusations against the Lord Keeper and Judges pag. 24 Army fall off from the Parliament and seize the King out of their possession 82. Seem to comply with the King ibid. but relapse 87. The Assembly set up Presbytery 57 B. Beginning of the Troubles 17 Bishops accused 24. Their Lands sold 59 C. Covenant and Solemn League 60. Its fruits 62 Courts several abrogated 28 Cromwel Oliver 77 E. Episcopacy abrogated 56 F. Fairfax Sir Thomas 77 Fasts the noted fore-runners of some mischief 134 H. High Court of Justice falsely so called its beginning and proceedings 139. and inf Hotham Sir John 38 I. Independents 61 71. and inf work the Presbyterians out of power 76 79 Intercessions for the King 142 Ireton's Remonstrance 133 Irish Rebellion its beginning 45 The Junto or Rump of the House of Commons 138 K. King Charles the First goes into Scotland 31. Goes to the House of Commons 34. Withdraws to Windsor and thence towards York 35. Goes to the Scots Army 65. Designed to be murdered 88. Escapes to the Isle of Wight 91. He is murdered 158. His excellent Character 161. Keepers of the Liberties or Council of Forty 166 L. Laud Archbishop 23 Lords House in Parliament abolished 163 M. Militia 33 36 41 Monarchy of England and the Rights thereof 1. Abolished by the Rebels 163. O. Oxford-Parliament 63 P. Parliaments what their Power and Customs 5. and inf Parliament-Factions 22. To sit as long as they please 30. Their scandalous Declaration 32. Their unreasonable Demands 39. Modelled by the Army 137. Peters Hugh 133 143 Prerogative abated 29 The Presbyterian Model 57 Prynn William 137 Q. Queen goes into Holland 35 R. Religion the pretence of the Rebellion 43 S. Scots Rebellion 20. They come into England 62. The King puts himself into their hands 65. They sell him 67. Take up Arms for the Kings deliverance 100. Are defeated 101. Sects and Sectaries
publick whilst the Parliament were at a stand wondering whither he might have fled his Majesty wrote to them sending therewith Concessions that were too easie and great to be expected or indeed to be wished for by any adding thereto invincible Arguments why he could not consent to the Proposals lately sent him by the Parliament He proposes his own Concessions and the Demands of the Army as a fit subject for a personal Treaty and for the sake of the People and Kingdom earnestly desires it being willing on his own part to condescend to any thing that by any means he might procure Peace and Tranquillity to his languishing Kingdoms The Republicans of both sorts as well they that were for a few as for a many-headed Commonwealth endeavouring by all means to put a stop to the Peace proposed and offered by the King take hereby occasion to oppose to his Majesties most just desires four unreasonable Demands as preliminary cautions which if his Majesty would consent to they promise to treat about the rest I. That the Parliament should have power to raise settle and maintain the Forces by Sea and Land within the Kingdoms of England and Ireland c. without the Kings consent it being declared High-Treason for any others to the number of thirty to meet together without the authority of Parliament II. That it should be lawful to the two Houses to sit and adjourn themselves when and where they pleased III. That all Oaths Declarations Proclamations and other proceedings against either House of Parliament during the War should be declared void and null IV. That all Titles and Honour of Peerage conferred on any by the King since his Majesty left the Parliament and since the great Seal was carried away should he declared void All these things they demand that the King would consent might be past into Law if not that things must remain as they were In the mean time the Scottish Commissioners who were then at London give in their Reasons in writing against these Demands and when nevertheless they saw that they were sent to the King they protest against them in his Majesties presence as being flatly opposite to Religion the Crown and the Agreements made betwixt the Kingdoms of England and Scotland What can the King do to get out of these streights If he grant the Demands he voluntarily resignes up the Government and if he refuse he must be deposed with the ignominious brand of Obstinacy The King though wanted neither greatness of Soul nor Wisdom and therefore sends presently back an Answer That the necessity of complying with all engaged interests in these great distempers for a perfect settlement of Peace his Majesty finds to be none of the least difficulties he hath met with since the time of his afflictions which is too visible when at the same time that the two Houses of the English Parliament do present to his Majesty several Bills and Propositions for his consent the Commissioners for Scotland do openly protest against them so that were nothing in the case but the consideration of that difference his Majesty cannot imagine how to give such an answer to what is now proposed as thereby to promise himself his great end A Perfect Peace And when his Majesty farther considers how impossible it is in the condition he now stands to fulfil the desires of his two Houses since the onely ancient and known ways of passing Laws are either by his Majesties personal assent in the House of Peers or by Commission under his great Seal of England he cannot but wonder at such failings in the manner of address which is now made unto him unless his two Houses intend that his Majesty shall allow of a great Seal made without his authority before there be any consideration had thereupon in a Treaty which as it may hereafter hazard the security it self so for the present it seems very unreasonable to his Majesty And though his Majesty is willing to believe that the intention of very many of both Houses in sending those Bills before a Treaty was onely to obtain a Trust from him and not to take any advantage by passing them to force other things from him which are either against his conscience or honour yet his Majesty believes it's clear to all understandings that these Bills contain as they are now penned not onely the divesting himself of all Soveraignty and that without possibility of recovering it either to him or his Successors except by repeal of these Bills but also the making his Concessions guilty of the greatest pressures that can be made upon the Subject as in other particulars so by giving an arbitrary and unlimited power to the two Houses for ever to raise and levy for Land and Sea-service of what persons without distinction and quality and to what numbers they please and likewise for the payment of the Arrears to levy what moneys in such sort and by such ways and means and by consequence upon the Estates of whatsoever persons as they shall think fit and appoint which is utterly inconsistent with the Liberty and Property of the Subject and his Majesties trust in protecting them so that if the major part of both Houses shall think it necessary to put the rest of the Propositions into Bills his Majesty leaves the world to judge how unsafe it would be for him to consent thereunto and if not what a strange condition after passing those four Bills his Majesty and all his Subjects would be cast into And here his Majesty thinks it not unfit to wish his two Houses to consider well of the manner of their proceeding that when his Majesty desires a personal Treaty with them for the setling of a Peace they in answer propose the very subject matter of the most essential part thereof to be first granted a thing which will be hardly credible to Posterity Wherefore his Majesty declares that neither the desire of being freed from this tedious and irksome condition of life his Majesty hath so long suffered nor the apprehension of what shall befal him in case his two Houses shall not afford him a personal Treaty shall make him change his resolution of not consenting to any Act till the whole be concluded Yet then he intends not onely to give full and reasonable satisfaction in the particulars presented to him but also to make good all other Concessions mentioned in his Message of the 16th of Novemb. last which he thought would have produced better effects than what he finds in the Bills and Propositions now presented unto him And yet his Majesty cannot give over but now again earnestly presseth for a personal Treaty so passionately is he affected with the advantages which Peace will bring to his Majesty and all his Subjects of which he will not at all despair there being no other visible way to obtain a well-grounded Peace However his Majesty is very much at ease within himself for having fulfilled the offices
Treasurers at Wars of the Kingdom of Ireland be nominated by both Houses of the Parliament of England to continue Quam diu se bene gesserint and in the intervals of Parliament by the afore-mentioned Committees to be approved or disallowed by both Houses at their next sitting The like for the Kingdom of Scotland concerning the nomination of the Lords of the Privy-Council Lords of Session and Exchequer Officers of State and Justice-General in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit That the Militia of the City of London and Liberties thereof may be in the ordering and government of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons in Common Council assembled or such as they shall from time to time appoint whereof the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs for the time being to be three to be employed and directed from time to time in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament That no Citizen of the City of London nor any of the Forces of the said City shall be drawn forth or compelled to go out of the said City or Liberties thereof for Military service without their own free consent That an Act be passed for the granting and confirming of the Charters Customs Liberties and Franchises of the City of London notwithstanding any Nonuser Misuser or Abuser That the Tower of London may be in the government of the City of London and the chief Officer and Governour thereof from time to time be nominated and removeable by the Common Council And for prevention of inconveniencies which may happen by the long intermission of Common Councils it is desired that there may be an Act that all by-Laws and Ordinances already made or hereafter to be made by the Council assembled touching the calling continuing directing and regulating the same Common Councils shall be as effectual in the Law to all intents and purposes as if the same were particularly enacted by the Authority of Parliament And that the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons in Common Council may adde to or repeal the said Ordinances from time to time as they shall see cause That such other Propositions as shall be made for the City for their further safety welfare and government and shall be approved of by both Houses of Parliament may be granted and confirmed by Act of Parliament That all Grants Commissions Presentations Writs Process proceedings and other things passed under the Great Seal of England in the custody of the Lords and other Commissioners appointed by both Houses of Parliament for the custody thereof be and by Act of Parliament with the Royal assent shall be declared and enacted to be of like full force and effect to all intents and purposes as the same or like Grants Commissions Presentations Writs Process Proceedings and other things under any Great Seal of England in any time heretofore were or have been And that for time to come the said Great Seal now remaining in custody of the said Commissioners continue and be used for the Great Seal of England And that all Grants Commissions Presentations Writs Process Proceedings and other things whatsoever passed under or by any authority of any other Great Seal since the 22th day of May Anno Dom. 1642. or hereafter to be passed be Invalid and of no effect to all intents and purposes Except such Writs Process and Commissions as being passed under any other Great Seal than the said Great Seal in the custody of the Commissioners aforesaid on or after the said 22th day of May and before the 28th day of November Anno Dom. 1643. were afterward proceeded upon returned into or put in ure in any the Kings Courts at Westminster And except the Grant to Mr. Justice Bacon to be one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench And except all Acts and proceedings by virtue of any such Commissions of Goal-delivery Assize and Nisi prius or Oyer and Terminer passed under any other Great Seal than the Seal aforesaid in custody of the said Commissioners before the first of October 1642. And that all Grants of Offices Lands Tenements or Hereditaments made or passed under the Great Seal of Ireland unto any person or persons Bodies politick or corporate since the Cessation made in Ireland the fifteenth day of September 1643. shall be null and void And that all Honours and Titles conferred upon any person or persons in the said Kingdom of Ireland since the said Cessation shall be null and void That the several Ordinances the one intituled An Ordinance of Parliament for abolishing of Archbishops and Bishops within the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales and for seâ—ing of their Lands and Possessions upon Trustees for the use of the Common-wealth the other intituled An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for appointing the sale of Bishops Lands for the use of the Commonwealth be confirmed by Acts of Parliament These were the Conditions of Peace proposed by the Parliament as the subject matter of that Conference which all passionately wished and a great many fought for They were the very same that had been heretofore sent to the King when he was at Hampton-Court and not onely rejected by his Majesty but by the Army also as being too unreasonable they onely differed in this that in those last there was no mention made of the Scots In the mean time the Pacificators are invested with no other authority but that of answering the Royal Arguments and of returning Reasons to induce the King to assent they had no power of softening any Proposition or altering the least word nay nor so much as of omitting the Preface Their Instructions likewise bear that they are to acquaint the Parliament with the Kings Concessions and the whole progress of the Negotiation to treat altogether in writing nay and to debate the Propositions as they lay in order not descending to a new Proposition until the former was adjusted Nor was it thought enough that the Conditions and Commissioners were so strictly limited they confine the Conference also to the Town of Newport in the Isle of Wight and the continuance of it to the space of forty days The King also who was to be present at the Conference was so far well treated as to be permitted to come out of his Prison and have that Island allowed him for a larger confinement but upon promise given that he would not depart out the Island within forty days after the conclusion of the Conference and the sly Oligarchick and Democratick Republicans who had a hand in the Councils were the Authors of those scruples and restrictions With great caution the Parliament permitted some of his Majesties necessary Servants by name some Lawyers Divines and a Secretary to be present but not to be admitted into the Conference onely to be without behind the Curtain in the Lobby So that the King alone was singly to sustain the person of a Politician and Divine against the
Fellow-Subjects some of them who had more sense upon a day appointed went with their Speaker to attend him earnestly beseeching him to take upon himself the Supreme Authority now again fallen at his Feet Cromwell made a shew of wonder denying utterly and rejecting it but at length with much ado suffered himself to be prevailed upon but with this Condition That an Instrument or Form of the Thing under Hand and Seal should be given him This being done though the Inferiour Officers of the Army and the Republicans were against it who promised to themselves profitable Places under that Government and a Licencious Liberty of domineering or at least constant and standing Commands in the Army yet Lambert who at present promised himself the Second Place in the Government and afterterwards the First hiding a proud Ambition under a Cloke of Humility by Words and by his Example persuaded the other Officers not onely to comply with that Monarchy but also to stickle for and desire it So now the Name of a Commonwealth stinks and the Popular State which heretofore they gloried in is despised The Single Government of One Person onely pleases them and what heretofore they had cursed with so many private and publick Imprecations after a Consultation with the Officers is declared to be the Government of this Nation Yet Cromwell would not accept of it by the Title of KING though he was persuaded to it by many lest he might seem to make Shipwrack of all Modesty and too openly to prevaricate But joyning together a Common-wealth and Single Government which formerly were inconsistent under the Title of Protector he takes into his Hands the Reins of Government modelled according to the Conditions of an Instrument which here we shall insert THE Instrument of Government THat the Supreme Legislative Authority should be in a Single Person and the People in Parliament but the Administration thereof to be left to the Lord Protector and to his Council whereof the Number was not to be above Twenty and one That all Charters Patents Writs and Commissions should be passed by the Protector All Power of Magistracy Honours and Titles to be deriv'd from him Likewise the Pardon of all Offences excepting Treason and Murder He also to have the Administration of all things with the Advice of his Council and according to the Tenor of this Instrument That the Militia sitting the Parliament should be in the disposal of the Protector and the Parliament but in the Intervals in the Protector and his Council The Power also of making Peace and War with Foreign Princes to be in the Protector and his Council but he to have no Authority of Repealing or Making any Laws without the Consent of Parliament That the Parliament should be called before the end of Six Months then next ensuing and afterwards once in Three years or oftner if need require and that it should not be in the Protector 's Power to Dissolve the same for the first Five Months without the Consent of the House That the Number of Members for England should consist of full Four hundred Elected according to an equal Distribution for Scotland Thirty and for Ireland the like Number the Number for each County and City to be also assigned That the Calling of such Parliament should be under the Seal of the Commonwealth by Writs to the Sheriff in the Protector 's Name But if the Protector should not call the same within the times limited the Chancellor then to do it under the Penalty of High Treason and if he should fail therein then that the Sheriffs should peform it And after such Election should be made to be transmitted by the Chief Magistrate by Indenture to the Chancellor signed with his Hand Twenty days before the Sitting of the same Parliament Also if the Sheriff or Mayor should make a false Return that he be fined in Two thousand Marks That none should be capable to Elect who had ever born Arms against the Parliament or been Actors in the Irish Rebellion Nor that any Papist should ever be capable to give his Voice And that all Elections against these Rules should be void and the Transgressors fined at Two years Value of their Revenues and a third part of their Goods That no Person under the age of One and twenty years should be capable of being Elected nor any other than of known Credit fearing God and of good Behaviour No Man likewise to have Power of Electing whose Estate should not be worth 20 l. per An. Sterling That the Return of the Persons Elected should be transmitted by Prothonotary in Chancery unto the Council of State within two days after they should come to his Hands to the end that Judgment might be made of the Persons if any Question should arise touching the Lawfulness of the Choice That Sixty Members should be accounted a Parliament in case the rest be absent Nevertheless that it should be lawful to the Protector to call a Parliament when he shall see cause That the Bills agreed on in Parliament should be presented to the Protector for his Assent thereto and if he should not give his Assent to them within Twenty days that then they should have the force of Laws without it That if any Counsellor of State should die or be outed of his Place for Corruption in the Intervals of Parliament the Protector with the rest of the Council to substitute another in his stead That a certain Annual Tax should be made throughout the Three Commonwealths for the Maintenance of Ten thousand Horse and Fifteen thousand Foot which Tax should also supply the Charge of the Navy And that this Rate should not be lessened or altered by the Parliament without the Consent of the Protector and his Council But if it should not be thought necessary hereafter that any Army should be maintained then whatsoever Surplusage of this Tax should be to be kept in the Treasury for sudden Emergencies That if there might happen to be occasion of making extraordinary Choices and to raise new Forces it should not be done without Consent of Parliament but that in the Intervals of Parliament it should be lawful for the Protector and his said Council both to make new Laws and to raise Monies for the present Exigencies That all the Lands Forests and Jurisdictions not then sold by the Parliament whether they had belonged to the King Queen Prince Bishops or any Delinquents whatsoever should thenceforth remain to the Protector That the Office of Protector should thenceforth be Elective but that none of the King's Line should be ever capable thereof and that the Election should belong to the Council That for the present Oliver Cromwell should be Protector That the Great Offices of the Commonwealth viz. Chancellor Keeper of the Seal Governour of Ireland Admiral Treasurer in case they should become void in Parliament-time to be filled up by the approbation of Parliament and in the Intervals by the like approbation