the Power of levying Money to maintain it for twenty Years 2. That the King justifie the Proceedings of the Parliament in the late War and that all Declarations c. against them be declared void 3. That all Titles of Honour conferr'd by the King since the Great Seal was carried to Oxford in May 1642 be taken away 4. That the Parliament might adjourn themselves when where and for what time they pleas'd But the King refusing to grant them the Parliament Vote there should be no more Addresses made him And upon Cromwell's laying his Hand upon his Sword and telling them the People expected their Safety from them and not from a Man whose Heart God had hardned the Vote of Non-Addresses was made into an Ordinance and that it should be High-Treason to receive any Message from him And now Compassion for the King's Sufferings with the discovery of their Hypocrisie had begotten such a general Indignation against the Parliament that all Wales declare for the King The Surrey Men Petition the Parliament for a Personal Treaty the same was Kent coming up to have done but seeing how evilly those of Surrey had been Treated they threw away their Petition and took Arms under the Earl of Norwich The same did others at Maidstone Black-heath Kingstone c. Which though they were all defeated yet the Houses seeing how the Inclinations of the Kingdom went and Cromwell being out of the way in securing Edinburgh they revoke their Ordinance of Non-Addresses and send the King new Propositions not much easier than the former and upon his Answer to them they sent Commissioners to treat with him at Newport in the Isle of Wight Sept. 2. 16â—â— the Treaty to be transacted with Honour Freedom and Safety in which the King made such Concessions Decemb. 5. 16â—â— that it was resolv'd upon the question by the Commons That the King's Answers to the Propositions of both Houses are a ground for the House to proceed upon for the settling the Peace of the Kingdom But it seems they had been so long dodging about Trifles that Cromwell was come to London before any thing was done Nov. 20. 1648. For Fairfax and the General Officers had remonstrated and amongst other things requir'd That the Capital and grand Author of our Troubles the Person of the King be brought to Justice for the Treason Blood and Mischief he is therein guilty of c. But the Presbyterian Party standing strong to the Resolve aforesaid a Guard is set upon the House the major part of the Members are excluded and the King made a closer Prisoner in Carisbrook-Castle which brings me to these His Majesty's Meditations upon Death In which as from the precedent of several of his Predecessors both of England and Scotland well he might he makes this Judgment That there are but few steps between the Prisons and Graves of Princes And now we 'll see what this Accuser says when having lopp'd off more than three quarters of the Title that he may bring the rest to his own Model he goes on All other humane things are disputed and will be variously thought of to the World's end but this business of Death is a plain Case and admits no Controversie Nevertheless since out of those few mortifying Hours he can spare time enough to inveigh bitterly against that Iustice which was done upon him it will be needful to say something in defence of those Proceedings And makes this his Justice the Justification of that horrid Parricide from that universal Law Whosoever sheddeth Man's Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed And that other of Moses Ye shall not take Satisfaction for the Life of a Murtherer No exception in either of them And well may he call it Iustice when he so often blasphemes God in making him the Favourer of those the before unheard-of Villainies of that Usurpation and Tyranny as here also so wretchedly detorts Scripture to give it a Colour Whereas it was Injustice it self in its very Foundation as being directly contrary to the Law of God the Law of the Land and the Practice of the Jews from whom he draws his Authority To the Law of God whereby we are commanded First Negatively not to think ill of the King Curse not the King Eccles 10.20 no not in thy Thoughts Much less then may we speak it Thou shalt not speak Evil of the Ruler of thy People Exod. 22.18 Least of all may we do him hurt Touch not mine Anointed Secondly Affirmatively Psal 105.25 To Honour him as by the fifth Commandment and that with a Blessing annex'd to it That thy Days may be long in the Land To keep his Commandments Eccles 8.2 4. and that in regard of the Oath of God Neither may we give him any cause of Anger Prov. 20.2 for he that provoketh him sinneth against his own Soul And if thus far be true then I am sure it was Injustice to murther him To the Law of the Land Where besides what I have before said to the Soveraignty of the Crown of England to imagine the King's Death Chap. 6 To levy War against him in his Realm 25 Ed. 3. c. 2. or adhere to such as do so that it proveably appear by some Overt Act is High-Treason 3 Inst 12. The like is the Preparation by some Overt Act to take the King by force and strong hand and imprison him until he hath yielded to certain Demands And what must it then be to sit in Judgment upon him â— Ed. 3.19 who having neither Equal nor Superiour in his Realm cannot be Judged And greater than this what must it be to murther him And lastly contrary to the Practice of the Jews from whom he draws his Authority The Israelites had a hard Bondage under the Egyptians 〈◊〉 12 37. and yet that Moses whom he quotes and Six Hundred Thousand Footmen with him besides Children and a mix'd Multitude fled from Pharaoh 1 Sam 22.2 but did not rebel against him David in the head of an Army and those if we consider the Persons desperate enough fled from Saul And Eliah from Jezabel Seven Thousand Men yet left in Israel who had not bow'd their Knees to Baal 1 Kings 19.18 So that if Scripture Law or Practice have any Authority I think I need not labour the matter to prove it execrable as well as unjust Besides with what common Modesty could he tax the King with Blood when the Houses had form'd an Army so long before him as I have shewn before And therefore who shall be or was ever said to be guilty of the Blood spilt in a War the Aggressor or the Defendant when the Law chiefly regards the Original act Nor will Success more be able to alter the Nature of it than as says His Majesty The prosperous Winds which often â—ill the Sails of Pyrates do justifie their Pyracy and Rapine And were that true saith he which is most false
times at what time it pleas'd God in Mercy to these Kingdoms to restore King Charles the Second to the Throne of his murther'd Father but that they yet expect the Advancement of the Sceptre and that as obstinately as the Jews their Messias were there no other Argument the very re-impression of this Book may seem sufficient to evince especially if we consider the following Circumstances 1. That it bears the Impress from Amsterdam a Popular State to the freedom of whose Presses we are beholding for many things we had otherwise miss'd However whether it were that Amsterdam or another of the same Name in or near London as Printers have a way to themselves it matters not its Principles are altogether Republican and whoever he were that thus shuffled it into the World took the right course in chusing darkness rather than light because his Way was evil To have offered at a Commonwealth directly had been Madness and yet who knew how he might turn it about by a Side Wind 2. That a Book which from its first impression had been Waste-Paper and never read by any good Man without Contempt should after an interval of two and forty Years be raked out of its forgotten Embers if the design at bottom had not been to re-mind the People of the days of old and hint to them how the same Cards may be play'd over again as God shall enable them i. e. as opportunity shall offer And if this be not the drift of it let any Man judge when in bespattering that good King it represents to them by a false Glass what they may expect from other Kings and in effect tells them A Lyon is still a Lyon and tho' his laws be pared they 'll grow agen 3. That as if there had been some private agreement between them it was seconded by another to the same Tune intituled A Letter from Major General Ludlow to Sir E. S. which whether it were his or his Name only made use of to serve a turn will not be much in the Case tho' it confirm the Design The name is yet a popular name among that Faction and himself a daring Man witness his late regress into England and that not Incognito but in the face of the Sun in Westminster-Hall a Parliament and Judges then sitting where once he sate Judge himself and had there been a third of Mr. Jenkins's to have rung All-in What wonder if the Sheep had followed their Bell-weathers And if this were not the Design strange it seems and no small breach of Politicks to have thrust it on the World at a time when three of the Grand-Children of that King are yet Living and two of them in possession of the Throne It was one of Milton's Sarcasms to Salmatius Patrem defendis ad fillum mirum ni causam obtineas You defend the Father to the Son no wonder if you carry the Cause But on the other hand how can any of His Posterity think themselves secure while the murther of the Grandfather is yet mention'd without abhorrence When in a manner it hints the Faction with the Proverb Stultus qui patre caeso pepercit liberis tandem aliquando patriae necis futuros vindices He 's a Fool that kills the Father and spares the Children who some time or other will be sure to revenge it But malicious and nothing but malicious could be the Printing the Advertisement at the end of his Preface grounded it seems upon a Memorandum of the Earl of Anglesey's Viz. King Charles the Second and the Duke of York did both in the last Session of Parliament 1675. when I shewed them in the House of Lords the Written Copy of this Book meaning â—con Basilica wherein are some corrections and alterations written with the late King Charles the First 's own Hand assure me That it is none of the said King 's compiling but made by Dr. Gawden Bishop of Exeter which I here insert for the undeceiving others in this point by attesting so much under my hand Anglesey And that the Earl might have left such a Memorandum as is said I do not doubt because I have heard of it so often but what end the first Publisher of it had I cannot devise unless it were to Crucifie his Lord again and by putting in his Stab to His Memory expose him a second time which the more merciful Jews did but once to our Saviour with a Behold the Man and yet notwithstanding all this I doubt not to evince it to every unbiass'd Man that this The Portraiclure of his Sacred Majesty King Charles the First in his Solitudes and Sufferings was an Original drawn by Himself and not by any other Hand or Pencil For 1. He was able to do it as having been early bred up to Letters in design if Prince Henry had lived to be King for the Archbishoprick of Canterbury To which if it be said He had some little difficulty of Speech I answer Jer. 1.6 Exod. 4.10 Nescivit Jeremias loqui and Moses himself was Impeditioris Linguae And what of that It is the Office of a Steward to see the Provision be good and that the Family have it in due Season but I think no Man will say to Cook it himself 2. These Meditations are written feelingly and carry with them the Sense and Language of a Person under such Circumstances Jeremiah in his Prophecy denounceth Judgments to others and speaks with the Tongue of him that sent him but in his Lamentations we see him in distress himself and his Stile is as mournful as the City he bewails And he that reads Job with due consideration instead of doubting whether he wrote it himself cannot but sit down and weep with him Especially taking this with it that the Holy Ghost in his Pen labours more to describe that affliction than ever it did the Felicities of Solomon 3. Neither the Thought nor Stile are in the least like that of Bishop Gawden nor is it to be doubted if he had been the Author of so well a design'd Service to the Memory of a distress'd Father but that he might on the Son's Restauration have reasonably deserv'd a better Bishoprick than that of Exeter especially when so many of those Vacancies were fill'd with Covenanters Whereas on the other hand do but compare this Icon with his Majesty's Speeches in Parliament with his Discourse about Religion with the Marquess of Worcester His Papers with Henderson touching Episcopacy His Letters to the Queen Those his frequent tho' fruitless Messages to both Houses from Hampton-Court and the Isle of Wight when he was under restraint debarr'd of every one that might assist or comfort Him and the Company obtruded upon Him was more sad than any Solitude could be compare I say this Icon Icon. Basâ— 195. and them together and then tell me whether they do not all breathe the same Soul and consequently whether they can justly be denied to have proceeded from the same Pen. And for
the Commonwealth And of the Law 1 Inst 73. Id. Inst 99. which he is presum'd to carry in Scrinio pectoris sui And then for the Statute-Law besides those Statutes that call the Kingdom the Kings Ligeance 27 Ed. 3. c. 1. 10 11. R. 2. c. 1. 25. H. 8. c. 3. the King Liege Lord the People his Leige Men it is further declared 16 R. 2. c. 5. That the Crown of England hath been ever so free that it is in no Earthly Subjection but subject to God in all things touching the Regality of the same Crown and to none other So that of Henry the Eighth which says That by sundry old Authentick Histories and Chronicles it is manifestly declar'd and expressed that this Realm of England is an Empire govern'd by one Supream Head and King 24 H. 8. c. 12. unto whom both Spiritualty and Temporalty are bound and owen to bear next to God a natural and humble Obedience And in another of the same King 25 H. 8. c. 21. the Crown of England is called An Imperial Crown recognizing no Superiour under God but only your Grace i. e. the King Which Statutes being declaratory Statutes as others of that kind made in affirmance of the Common-Law are a guide in praeteritis 2 Inst 308. as saith Sir Edw. Coke and shew us what the Law as before the making of those Statutes Which I the rather urge because our Answerer makes such a sputter about the old Law though as well here as generally throughout his Book he has an odd way with him of keeping it to himself However if this be to have a Superiour be the Superiour he that will and keep it without Envy And for what concerns me I hope I have prov'd that the King of England has no Superiour but God and that neither the Law nor his Coronation-Oath require his undeniable Assent to what Laws the Parliament agree upon but that he may well refuse them without the Imputation of Incomparable Arrogance aâ—â—Vnsufferable Tyranny as he is pleas'd to term it One thing I had forgot Suppose the King had never been Crown'd by which means he could not have taken the Coronation Oath was he the less King for that I should think not And if I am mistaken 3 Inst 7. Sir Edw. Coke was mistaken before me when he says The King iâ— King before Coronation So 7 Coke Calvin's Case and Coronation is but an Ornament or Solemnity of Honour Which in other Words may amount to this That he promises no more at that time that what he was morally pre-oblig'd to do viz. To discharge that Duty honourably which the Laws of God and Nature had requir'd of him without that Royal Promise CHAP. VII Vpon the Queen's Departure and Absence out of England AND truly this Chapter being but a kind of Re-capitulation of the mutual Endearments between the King and his Queen whose Sympathy with his Afflictions had assur'd him and might the World that she lov'd him and not his Fortunes might one would think if not for the King 's have for her own sake escap'd his Venom but poor Lady she was the King's Wife and Malice like Fear where it finds no real Object will be sure to create one And truly it was once in my Thoughts to have spoken more at large to it and had done it but that I fear'd even Truth it self might incurr the suspicion of Flattery What my end was in making this Reply I have already shewn it was to vindicate that good King from this ill Man's Calumnies and the Method I have taken in it has been from the History of that time and the Prior Law of the Land as it came in my way and therefore not to break that Method as I find him hereafter running wide of that Matter I shall purposely leave him as I do at present CHAP. VIII Vpon His Majesty's repulse at Hull and the Fates of the Hothams THIS my repulse at Hull saith the King was the first overt Essay to be made how patiently I could bear the loss of my Kingdoms The hand of that Cloud which was soon after to over-spread the whole Kingdom and cast all into disorder and darkness Which how Prophetically true it was the miserable effects of it both before and since the Restauration have too visibly spoken it And yet our Answerer thus slubbers it over That Hull a Town of great Strength and Opportunity both to Sea and Land Affairs was at that time the Magazine of all those Arms which the King had bought against the Scots The King had left the Parliament and was gone Northward The Queen into Holland where she pawn'd and set to Sale the Crown Jewels a Crime heretofore counted Treasonable in Kings and to what purpose the Parliament was not ignorant and timely sent Sir John Hotham Knight of that County to take Hull into his Custody and some of the Train'd-bands to his Assistance and seeing the King's Drift in raising a Guard for his Person send him a Petition that they might have leave to remove the Magazine of Hull to the Tower of London which the King denies and soon after goes to Hull with Four Hundred Horse and requires the Governour to deliver him up the Town whereof the Governour prays to be excused till he could send notice to the Parliament who had entrusted him and the King being incens'd at it Proclaims him a Traytor before the Town Walls and demands Justice of them as upon a Traytor who declare that Sir John Hotham had done no more than his Duty and therefore was no Traytor And this is the Substance of his 57. 58. 59 Pages How and by their own Authority which was none the Houses had rais'd an Army and made Essex General I have already shewn and though the King had not yet set up his Standard he knew he had a Magazine at Hull which might either help to defend himself or certainly annoy him if it fell into his Enemies Hands and therefore in order to a Self-Preservation takes a Journey to York where the Parliament had been before him with a Committee then lying there as Spies upon his Actions However upon Petition of that County to have the Magazine of Hull to remain there for the greater Security of the Northern Parts His Majesty thought fit to take it into his own Hands and appointed the Earl afterwards Duke of Newcastle to be Governour of Hull but the Townsmen had been so influenc'd by that Committee that they refused the Earl The Queen also had borrow'd some Moneys of the Hollanders upon the Crown Jewels a Crime heretofore counted treasonable in Kings but not a word of when or by what Law not in the least considering the Crown it self was the King's or how the King of England could commit Treason against himself The Houses during this time wanting no Intelligence from their Committee nick the Opportunity and send down Sir John Hotham who was receiv'd as
That the Lord High-Steward of England Lord High-Constable Lord Chancellor Nine other Principal Officers the Two Chief Justices and Chief Baron be always chosen with the Approbation of Both Houses and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Major Part of the Council The same may be said to this as to the First with this farther that though the like had been often attempted it never continued longer than the Rebellion that set it on foot 4. That the Government of the King's Children be committed to such as Both Houses shall approve of and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Privy Council And the Servants then about them against whom the Houses have just Exception to be removed This had been to abridge the King of that Privilege which the meanest of Subjects has in his Family nor had themselves yet try'd it in theirs 5. That no Marriage for any of them be treated or concluded without Consent of Parliament The same also here as to the Fourth 6. That the Law in Force against Jesuits Priests and Popish Recusants be strictly put is Execution And where had the King ever refused it 7. That the Votes of Popish Lords in the House of Peers be taken away This had been to take away their Birth-right a Right as ancient as any thing but the Monarchy it self 8. The the King will be pleased to reform the Church-Government and Liturgy as both Houses shall advise This had been already settled by several Acts of Parliament 9. That he would rest satisfied with what they have done for ordering the Militia and recall his Declarations and Proclamations against it This confesses an Usurpation upon the King 's Right and in that who began the War For if it were not so what need was there for the King to recall his Declarations c. when in doing it he had made himself Guilty of the War and all the Blood therein spill'd 10. That such Members as have been put out of any Place or Office since this Parliament began be restored or have Satisfaction But how does this agree with the Self-denying 11. That all Privy Counsellors and Judges take an Oath to be settled by Act of Parliament for the Maintenance of the Petition of Right and certain Statutes made by them The Judges are ex Officio oblig'd to take notice of a General Act of Parliament and such the Petition of Right is but who knew what those Acts of this Parliament might be 12. That all Judges and Officers plac'd by Approbation of the Houses may hold their Places quamdiu se bene gesserint To the intent that if any Confiding Person how Ignorant or Factious soever had been approv'd by them it should not be in the King's Power to remove him without a Sute at Law in which themselves or their Creatures were sure to be Judges 13. That all Delinquents whether within the Kingdom or fled out of it and all Persons cited by either House may appear and abide the Censure of Parliament That is all such Persons as upon an innate Honour according to their Duty and the Statute of the 11th of Henry VII had stood firm and Loyal to the King against their Usurpation 14. That the General Pardon offered by his Majesty be granted with such Exceptions as shall be advised by Both Houses But who knew what those Exceptions might be Saving this that they intended them not to any of themselves A thing that carried Rancour and Venom in it and which was his Majesty's whole drift to take off 15. That all Forts and Castles be put into such Hands as the King with Approbation of Both Houses shall appoint That is to keep them in their own Hands as they were when yet the Undoubted Right was the King's and the Grant of it had given away the Sovereignty An old Trick which together with the Three first Propositions they borrow'd from Montfort's Rebellion in Henry III.'s Time 16. That the King 's Extraordinary Guards 〈◊〉 discharg'd and none rais'd for the Future but according to Law in Case of actual Rebellion and Invasion Like the Wolves in the Fable that would come to no Terms with the Sheep unless they first discharg'd their Dogs Whereas his Majesty had not rais'd those Guards but according to Law in the Case of an actual Rebellion a◠Home and a then threatning Invasion from the Scots 17. That his Majesty enter into a more strict Alliance with the Vnited Provinces and other Neighbour Protestant Princes and States The King is the only Supream Arbiter of Peace and War and what honourable Alliance with any of them had he ever refus'd 18. That his Majesty be pleased by Act of Parliament to clear the Lord Kimbolton and the Five Members If they were Guilty why should they be less brought to Tryal than were Canterbury and Strafford And if they were Innocent what need of an Act of Parliament to clear them 19. That a Bill be passed for restraining Pears made hereafter from sitting or voting in Parliament unless they be admitted with Consent of Both Houses The King is the Fountain of Honour and to have granted this Article had been if not to damm up that Fountain to turn it into another Channel Nor could the King have done it without a manifest Contradiction to himself I have blessed him said Isaac and he shall be blessed Such were these Propositions this at Least the true Substance of them which if his Majesty had conceded to what other were it than as himself says of it As if Sampson should have consented not only to bind his own Hands and cut off his Hair but to put out his own Eyes that the Philistines might with the more Safety Mock and Abuse him He had rendred himself not a half Duke of Venice nor much better than that Inutile lignum of which Horace speaks who Serm. l. 1. Sat. 8. tho' he were God of the Gardens could not keep a Crow from muting upon his Head Nor ought they says his Majesty to have been obtruded upon him with the Point of a Sword nor urg'd with the Injuries of a War To which our Answerer in his bold Way And which of the Propositions were obtruded upon him with the Point of the Sword till he first with the Point of the Sword thrust from him both the Propositions and the Propounders Which how egregiously and scandalously False it is let any Man judge Rush 2. part 307. when these Propositions were not sent the King till the Second of June 1642. Five Months before which they had not only forced him from Whitehall but disposed of the Militia as appears by the Ninth Proposition where they pray the King that he would rest satisfied with what they ordered in it As resolv'd it seems that Will or Nill he should And thence he runs off again to the Coronation Oath and That the Parliament is the King 's Superiour Chap. 6 Touching which I have said so much already and not from any
to say no Answer belongs to it He knew there was none to be given and therefore Magisterially slighted it He holds it also neither wise nor comely that the falling out of Brethren be debated before a Common Enemy and tacitly implies his Reason least the Uncircumcised rejoice But I think I can tell ye a better When Presbytery rode the fore-Horse no one kept up with it more than himself but when he found it began to faulter he was loth to lose Company and jogg'd on with the rest The first leading Men that carried on the War were Presbyterians and their General upon the New-Model was as right as they could wish to have had him And yet he was in the Hands of the Army and that Army in the Hands of his Lieutenant-General Cromwell A grand mistake of theirs in thinking to Settle Presbytery with an Army of Anabaptists Independents Fifth-Monarchy-Men and what not Bone of their Bone and Flesh of their Flesh 't is true but as Mortal Enemies to them as were the Jews to the Samaritans and yet both of them had Abraham to their Father And for Cromwell though no one could say of what Religion he was besides that he ever match'd the Colour that was in Fashion he still protested Obedience and Fidelity to the Parliament and by that Means got his Ends of the King and them And whether our Answerer took it not right judge when he says Some of the former Army touch'd with Envy to be out-done by a New Model and being prevalent in the House of Commons took advantage of Presbyterian and Independant Names and the War being ended thought slightly to have discarded them without their due Pay and the reward of their invincible Valour But they i. e. the Independants who had the Sword yet in their hands disdaining to be made the first Objects of Ingratitude and Oppression after all that Expence of their Blood for Justice and the Common Liberty seiz'd the King their Prisoner whom nothing but their matchâ—ess Deeds had brought so low as to surrender his Person By which we see the Bottom of this Good Old Cause when the only quarrel was about dividing the Spoil And truly when they that once had it could not keep it what had our Answerer to do to gape after them any longer And brings into my Head that Story of the Friars Crucifixus est etiam pro nobis But to go on with the Matter The King is now in the Army's Hands but our Answerer thinks not fit to say a Word to the Distractions in the Two Houses the Army and the City that ensued it but has left it out of his Title And why but that it must not be spoken in Gath when yet every Man here is not a Dweller of Askalon Cromwell found that the Parliament out-carded him as having gotten the King their Prisoner May 4 1646. and put the Militia of London into the Hands of a Committee of Citizens whereof the Lord Mayor for the time being to be One and therefore unless he could give them the Cross-bite and bring the Army to mutiny against their Masters he knew he must expect no better of them than what Essex had found from them To this purpose he and Ireton his Son-in-Law take advantage of a Vote of theirs 25. May 1647. for Disbanding the whole Army excepting Five Thousand Horse and One Thousand Dragoons and some Fire-locks to be kept up for the Safety of the Kingdom and some to be sent for Ireland and spread a Whisper through the Army that the Parliament now they had the King intended to Disband them to cheat them of their Arrears and send them into Ireland to be destroy'd by the Irish And it ran like Wild-fire for the Army were so inrag'd at it that they set up a new Council among themselves of Two Private Soldiers out of every Troop and Foot Company to consult for the Good of the Army and to assist at the Council of War and advise for the Peace and Safety of the Kingdom And these they called Agitators or Adjutators it matters not which for whatever Cromwell who yet stood unsuspected by the Houses had a mind to be done there needed no more but putting it into these Agitators Heads And the Effect of their first Consultation was to take the King from Holmby where upon his being deliver'd up by the Scots Feb. 16. 1646. the Parliament had lodged him with Colonel Graves and bring him to the Army Amongst these there was one Joyce a stubbed bold ignorant Enthusiastick Journey-man Taylor who from the Service of Denys Bond had gone out to the Assistance of the Lord against the Mighty and much about this time made a Cornet of Horse And however the matter was contriv'd for Commission he had none he went off by Night in the Head of a Thousand Horse and having surpriz'd the Parliament-Guards at Holmby early in the Morning importunately demands admittance into the King's Bed-Chamber as from the Army and was hardly prevail'd upon to stay so long as till the King could get up but being come in told his Majesty he was sent by the Lieutenant-General to secure his Person from his Enemies and bring him to the Army On which the King demanding to see his Commission Joyce opens a Window and points to the Body of Horse that stood drawn up on the Side of the Hill before the House An undeniable Argument says his Majesty and so went with him who brought him to the Head-quarters at New-Market Cromwell seems no less surpriz'd at it than the King however since he was among them assur'd him he should have no Cause to repent it and in a seeming passionate Manner promis'd him to restore him to his Right against the Parliament On this the Parliament send to the General to have the King redeliver'd to their Commissioners and this the rather for that the General by his Letters to them had excus'd himself and Cromwell and the Body of the Army as ignorant of the Fact and that the King came away willingly with those Souldiers that brought him And yet instead of giving them an Answer Jun. 23. 1647. the Army send a Charge against Eleven of their Members all active leading Men and require them to appoint a Day to determine this Parliament and in the mean time to suspend the Eleven Members sitting in the House to which last they only answer and say they could not do it by Law till the Particulars of the Charge were produced and were soon replied to with their own Proceedings against the Earl of Strafford and the Archbishop of Canterbury The London Militia had been yet in the Cities Hands till Cromwell taking the opportunity of a thin House Jul. 26. 1647. procures the Ordinance of the Fourth of May aforesaid to be revok'd and the Militia put into other Hands more favourable to the Army On which a Rabble of Apprentices and Disbanded Soldiers headed by the Sheriffs under the