wasted the Publique Treasure exhiâ—â—ted Trade decreased thousands of people murthered and infinite other mischiefs committed for all which high offences the said Charles Stuart might long since have been brought to exemplary and condign punishment Whereas also the Parliament well hoping that the restraint and imprisonment of his person after it had pleased God to deliver him into their hands would have quieted the distempers of the Kingdom did forbear to proceed judicially against him but fâ—und by sad experience that such their remisness served only to encourage him and his Complices in the continuance of their evil practices and in raising new Comâ—â—tions Rebellions and Practises For prevention of the like and greater inconveniences and to the end no Chief Officer or Magistrate may hereafter presume traiterously and maliciously to imagine or contrive the enslaving or destroying of the English Nation and to expect impunity Be it Enacted and Ordained by the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and it is hereby Enacted and Ordained that Thomas Lord Fairfax c. the other persons that actually did Siâ— and Sentence are hereafter subjoyned shall be and are appointed Commissioners and Iudges for the Hearing Trying and Iudging of the said Charles Stuart And the said Commissioners or any twenty of them shall be and are hereby Authorized and Constituted an High Court of Iustice to meet at such convenient time and places as by the said Commissioners or the major part or twenty or more of them under their Hands and Seals shall be appointed and notified by publique Proclamation in the great Hall or Palace-yard of Westminster and to adjourn from time to time and from place to place as the said High Court or the major part thereof meeting shall hold fit and to take order for the Charging of Him the said Charles Stuart with the Crimes above-mentioned and for receiving his personal Answer thereunto and for examination of Witnesses upon Oath if need be concerning the same and thereupon or in default of such answer to proceed to final Sentence according to Iustice and the merit of the Cause to be executed speedily and impartially And the said Court is hereby Authorized and required to chuse and appoint all such Officers and Attendants and other Circumstances as they or the Major part of them shall in any sort judge necessary or useful for the ordering and good managing of the Premises And Thomas Lord Fairfax the General with all Officers of Iustice and other well-affected persons are hereby Authorized and Required to be aiding and assisting to the said Commissioners in the due execution of the Trust hereby committed to them Provided that this Ordinance and the Authority hereby granted do continue for the space of one Month from the Date of the making hereof and no longer This Act was followed by a Proclamation Ianuary 9. made by Serjeant Dendy by sound of Drums and Trumpets and Guards of Horse and Foot in Westminster-Hall whereby notice was given that the Commissioners of the pretended High Court of Justice were to sit down on the morrow and that all those that had any thing to say against Charles Stuart King of England might be heard The like was done in Cheap-side and the old Exchange The Actors or Tragical Persons in this Ordinance were stumbled at several illegalities and irregularities thereof which in a presumptuous confidence as drunken men passing over a dangerous Bridge then yet slighted But when it was perfected and the consummatory part of the Seal to be affixed and the whole result to be warranted thereby they were at a stand as knowing the Kings Seal could not be made use of against him while the Army-Familiars inspired them that the King and his Seal was alike unnecessary and that they must now according to their advice act by themselves and their own Authority which direction they followed and gave order for a new Seal to their ensuing Acts as hereafter We have omitted the Cypher-Names specified in the said pretended Act because cause many of them upon reluctancie of Conscience or more happy perswasions of Friends did not undertake the Impiety as also because we would not defame the Names of those Lords and Peers of the Kingdom and the Judges whose Function instructed them to the contrary that were invited and listed onâ—e by the same Treasonable Combination to be partakers in that Guilt but those that appeared and prosecuted their Power and are worthy of their brand are with their due Character here subjoyned The Kings Iudges marked with †are those that were Executed †Oliver Cromwel an English Monster a shame to the British Chronicle a name of ruine and mischief a Native of Huntingdon-shire who needs no other Character than this Chronicle being the Troubler of our Israel whose ruines were his Grave yet hath found another under Tyburn Ian. 30. †Henry Ireton Commissary-General of Horse Cromwel's Second espoused his Daughter as well as his Designes so like Father-in-law like Son-out-law and renterised in the same manner and at the same time 1660. †Iohn Bradshaw President Cum nemini obtrudi potest itur ad Hunc there was no such Villain to be found among the Long-Robâ— who drowned all his wickedness and false practises not to be compared under this most flagitious and scelerate parricide of the King A Cheshire-man born but hateful to his Country more abominable to his Name most odious to his Nation whose hopeful recovery by the first endeavours of his own County under Sir George Booth in 1659. he so pined at that taking a just desperation he died Two Terms before the Perpetration of the Kings Murther he had took the Oath of Allegeance as a Serjeant at Law being called to that Dignity from the scolding and railing of Guild-hall London to convitiate and reproach his most peaceable Sovereign He grew conscious as to the safety of his Body of his Fact when he shewed his aversness to Oliver the very name of a Single Person frighting him but so cauterized as to the salvation of his Soul that he departed in a most damnable obstinacie and maintenance of his Fact presuming there was no High Court of Iustice in Heaven or else that he was judged already The price of this Villany was the Presidencie of their Council of State the Lord Cottington's Estate and the Dutchy of Lancaster with some Advance-Money like Iudas for his undertaking It is observed he died in his Bed advantageously Commented on by the Imps and Abettors of his villany by others at least taken as a note of admiration leaving his Name and Memory to be tortured for ever The good Providence of God removing this wretch and the most implacable Enemies of our Sovereign by the same easie hand which might otherwise have been died in blood with which it restored Him to his Kingdoms and his people to their Laws Liberty and Religion he was likewise digged out of Westminster-Abby and thrown under
of Lords which he at first refused to accept as being a Diminution to his Masters Greatness but at last was forced to accept of the Lord-Commissioner Whitlock Major-General Harrison Sir Henry Vane Thomas Challoner and others being appointed thereunto He delivered his Credentials which were to the Parliament of England and made an excellent Rhetorical Harangue setting forth the Constant Friendship betwixt both Kingdoms and the Civilities they had received formerly and of late from the English and desiring that the late mis-understanding might occasion no further breach thereof but that a firm and new League might be ratified as formerly He had answer that the Committee would report his Message to the Parliament and so after a mutual Salutation upon the Embassadors rising from his Chair he withdrew with the same attendance But the reason he had no solemner Reception was the pride and opimonastry the States had of themselves by the Courtships and flattering Insinuations of the Spanish Kings Embassador who had likewise desired Audience of them and came with a most welcome acknowledgement of their Commonwealth and it was a reciprocal kindness to him not to allow the Portugal his pretended Rebel and a much less potent Prince the said Grandeurs and Legatory Honours considering besides the uninterrupted amity that had yet been maintained by the Spaniard On the 16 of December therefore Don Alonzo de Cardenas who had lain Leiger Embassador in the Kings time throughout the War was with all State received to Audience in the Parliament-house he having delivered his Credentials to the Speaker which were directed Ad Parliamentum Reipublicae Angliae and Conducted back again with large protestations of friendship and good correspondence on their part to be inviolately observed During these Forrain Agencies the New State was Alarmed with an Insurrection in Norfolk where some hundreds of men were gathered together Declaring for King Charles the second but the County-Horse quartering at Lyn and a Troop of Rich's men that were neer at hand being there before having some intelligence of the designe presently dispersed them most flying into Lincolnshire and saved the London-Forces the trouble of a long Journey who were then on their way To try these Insurrectors a High Court of Iustice was Erected by the Parliament at Norwich the Members and Commissioners whereof chose out of themselves Justice Iermin their President and Justice Puliston and Warberton to be his Co-adjutors Those Condemned 24 whereof 20 were Executed the chief of those thus Condemned were Mr. Cooper a Minister in the same County who was Executed at Holt and died a Loyal and Christian Martyr Major Saul formerly an Officer in the Kings Army and a Merchant and a Brewer in the City of Norwich There were several persons of quality besides as Sir Iohn Tracy Gibbons Esq. and others secured and committed but no proof coming in they were at last acquitted While we mention the High Court of Iustice a very remarkable instance of the Justice of Heaven the Highest Court deserves mention One Anne Green a Servant in Sir Thomas Read's House at Dunstu in Oxfordshire being supposed to be gotten with Childe by one of that Family as the woman constantly affirmed when she had no temptation to lye neer the fourth Month of her time with over-working her self by turning of Malt fell in Travel and not knowing what the matter might be went to the House of Office and with some straining the Childe not above a span-long and of what Sex not to be distinquished fell unawares as she all along affirmeth from her Now there appearing the signes of such a thing in the Linnen where the Wench lay and carrying a suspition thereof and she before confessing that she had been guilty of such matters as might occasion his being with Child thereupon a search was made and the above-said Infant was found on the top of the Jakes and she after three days from her delivery being carried to the Castle of Oxford was forthwith Arraigned before Mr. Crook sitting as Judge in a Commission of Oyer and Terminer and by him Sentenced to be Hanged which was Executed on the 14 day of December in the said Castle-yard She hung there neer half an hour being pulled by the Legs and struck on the Brest by divers Friends and above all received several stroaks on her Stomack with the But-end of a Souldiers Musquet Being cut down she was put into a Coffin and brought to a house to be Dissected before a Company of Physicians according to appointment by Doctor Petty the Anatomy-Reader in that University When they opened the Coffin to prepare the Body for Dissection they perceived some small ratling in her Throat and a lusty Fellow standing by thinking to do an act of Charity stamped upon her Breast and Belly Doctor Petty Mr. Willis of Christ-Church and Mr. Clerk of Magdalen-Colledge presently used means and opening a Vein laid her in a warm Bed and caused one to go into Bed to her and continued the use of divers Remedies respecting her senselessness Head Throat and Brest so that it pleased God within 14 hours she spoke and the next day talked and prayed very heartily and was in a hopeful way of perfect health whereupon the Governour presently procured her a Reprieve thousands of people coming to see her and magnifying the just providence of God in asserting her Innocency of Murther After two or three days of her recovery when Doctor Petty heard she had spoken and suspecting that the Women about her might suggest unto her to relate of strange Visions and Apparitions to have been seen by her in that time wherein she seemed dead which they had begun to do having caused all to depart the room but the other Gentlemen of the Faculty she was asked concerning her sense and apprehensions during that time she was Hanged At first she spake somewhat impertinently talking as if she had been now to suffer and when they spake unto her of her miraculous deliverance from so great sufferings she answered That she hoped that God would give her patience and the like Afterward when she was better recovered she affirmed and doth still that she neither remembereth how her Fetters were knocked off how she went out of the Prison when she was turned off tâ—e Ladder whether any Psalm was sung or not nor was she sensible of any pain as she can remember Another thing observable is that she came to her self as if she had awakened out of a Sleep not recovering the use of speech by slow degrees but in a manner all together beginning to speak just where she had left off on the Gallows I have thought this occurrence no way unworthy of a Remembrance in this Chronicle but very fit to be transmitted to Posterity for Gods Glory and Mans Caution in Judging and punishing Several Acts passed the Parliament this Ianuary as namely for continuance of the Committee for the Army and Treasurers at War
it also is to all considering persons that this Parliament through the corruption of some the jealousie of others the non-attendance and negligence of many would never answer those ends which God his People and the whole Nation expected from them but that this Cause which the Lord hath so greately blessed and bore witness to must needs languish under their Hands and by degrees be wholly lost and the Lives Liberties and Comforts of his people delivered into their Enemies hands All which being sadly and seriously considered by the honest people of this Nation as well as by the Army and Wisdome and Direction being sought from the Lord it seemed to be a duty incumbent upon us who had seen so much of the power and presence of God going along with us to consider of some more effectual means to secure the Cause which the good people of this Commonwealth had been so long engaged in and to establish Righteousness and Peace in these Nations And after much debate it was judged necessary and agreed upon that the Supream Authority should be by the Parliament devolved upon known persons men fearing God and of approved Integrity and the Government of the Commonwealth committed unto them for a time as the most hopeful way to encourage and countenance all Gods people reform the Law and administer Iustice impartially hoping thereby the people might forget Monarchy and understanding their true Interest in the Election of successive Parliaments may have the Government setled upon a true Basis without hazard to this glorious Cause or necessitating to keep up Armies for the defence of the same And being still resolved to use all means possible to avoid extraordinary courses we prevailed with about twenty Members of Parliament to give us a Conference with whom we freely and plainly debated the necessity and justness of our Proposals on that behalf and did evidence that those and not the Act under their Consideration would most probably bring forth something answerable to that Work the foundation whereof God himself hath laid and is now carrying on in the World The which notwithstanding found no acceptance but in stead thereof it was offered that the way was to continue still this present Parliament as being that from which we might reasonably expect all good things And this being vehemently insisted upon did much confirm us in our apprehensions That not any love to a Representative but the making use thereof to recruit and so to perpetuate themselves was their aim They being plainly dealt with about this and told that neither the Nation the honest Interest nor we our selves would be deluded by such dealings They did agree to meet again the next day in the Afternoon for mutual satisfaction it being consented to by the Members present that Endeavours should be used that nothing in the mean time should be done in Parliament that might exclude or frustrate the Proposals before-mentioned Notwithstanding this the next Morning the Parliament did make more hast than usual in carrying on their said Act being helped on therein by some of the persons engaged to us the night before none of them which were then present endeavouring to oppose the same and being ready to put the main Question for consummating the said Act whereby our aforesaid Proposals would have been rendered void and the way of bringing them into a fair and full Debate in Parliament obstructed For preventing whereof and all the sad and evil consequences which must upon the grounds aforesaid have ensued and whereby at one blow the Interest of all honest men and of this glorious Cause had been endangered to be laid in the Dust and these Nations embroyled in new Troubles at a time when our Enemies abroad are watching all advantages against us and some of them actually engaged in War with us We have been necessitated though with much reluctancy to put an end to this Parliament which yet we have done we hope out of an honest heart preferring this Cause above our Names Lives Families or Interests how dear soever with clear intentions and real purposes of heart to call to the Government persons of approved fidelity and honesty believing that as none wise will expect to gather Grapes of Thornes so good men will hope that if persons so qualified be chosen the fruits of a just and righteous Reformation so long prayed and wished for will by the blessing of God be in due time obtained to the refreshing of all those good hearts who have been panting after these things Much more might have been said if it had been our desire to justifie our selves by aspersing others and raking into the Mis-government of affairs but we shall conclude with this That as we have been led by Necessity and Providence to act as we have done even beyond and above our own thoughts and desires so we shall and do in that of this great Work which is behinde put our selves wholly upon the Lord for a Blessing professing we look not to stand one day without his support much less to bring to pass any of the things mentioned and desired without his assistance And therefore do solemnly desire and expect that all men as they would not provoke the Lord to their own destruction should wait for such issue as he shall bring forth and to follow their business with peaceable spirits wherein we promise them protection by his assistance And for those who profess their fear and love to the Name of God that seeing in a great measure for their sakes and for Righteousness sake we have taken our Lives in our hand to do these things they would be instant with the Lord day and night on our behalfs that we may obtain Grace from him And seeing we have made so often mention of his Name that we may not do the least dishonour thereunto which indeed would be our confusion and a stain to the whole profession of Godliness We beseech them also to live in all Humility Meekness Righteousness and Love one towards another and towards all men that so they may put to silence the Ignorance of the Foolish who falsly accuse them and to know that the late great and Glorious Dispensations wherein the Lord hath so wonderfully appeared in bringing forth these things by the travel and Blood of his Children ought to oblige them so to walk in the Wisdom and love of Christ as may cause others to honour their holy Profession because they see Christ to be in them of a truth We do further purpose before it be long more particularly to shew the grounds of our Proceedings and the Reasons of this late great Action and Change which in this we have but hinted at And we do lastly Declare That all Iudges Sheriffs Iustices of Peace Mayors Bayliffs Committees and all other Civil Officers and Publick Ministers whatsoever within this Commonwealth or any parts thereof do proceed in their respective Places and Offices and all persons whatsoever are to give Obedience to
some through fear others out of compliance with the major part agreed to the ensuing Articles which for an envious remark I have transcribed First That there be a Cessation of Arms both by Sea and Land from this present Secondly That all Acts of Hostility do thenceforth cease Thirdly That both parties shall peaceably return during the Treaty whatever they possess at the time of the Cessation Fourthly That all such persons who lived in any of his Majesties Forts beyond the River of Tweed shall not exempt their Lands which lye within the Counties of Northumberland and the Bishoprick from such Contributions as shall be laid upon them for the payment of eight hundred pound per diem Fifthly That none of the Kings Forces upon the other side of Tweed shall give any impediment to such contributions as are already allowed for the competency of the Scotch Army and shall fetch no victuals nor forage out of their bounds except that which the inhabitants and owners thereof shall bring voluntarily to them and that any restraints or detention of Victual Cattel or Forage which shall be made by the Scots within those bounds for their maintenance shall be no breach Sixthly That no recruit shall be brought into either Armies from the time of the Cessation and during the Treaty Seventhly That the contribution of eight hundred and fifty pounds per diem shall be onely raised out of the Counties of Northumberland Westmerland and the Bishoprick and the Town of Newcastle and that the not payment thereof shall be no breach of the Treaty but the Counties and Towns shall be left to the Scots power to raise the same but not to exceed the sum agreed upon unless it be for charges of driving to be set by a Prizer of the forage Eighthly That the River Tweed shall be the bounds of both Armies excepting always the Town and Castle of Storkton and the Village of Egyshiff and the Counties of Northumberland and the Bishoprick be the limits within which the Scotish Army is to reside having liberty from them to send such Convoys as shall be necessary onely for the gathering up of the Contribution which shall be unpaid by the Counties of Northumberland and Cumberland Ninth and Tenth Articles of private injuries Eleventhly No new Fortifications to be made during the Treaty against either Party Twelfthly That the Subjects of both Kingdoms may in their trade of Commerce freely pass to and fro without any stay at all but it is particularly provided that no member of either Army pass without a formal Pass under the hands of the General or of him that commands in chief This was the sum of that unlucky Cessation which was afterwards at London concluded in a Treaty soon after the sitting of the Parliament who in February next paid the Scots off giving them the stile of their dear brethren which much pleased them but the money which accrewed by an arrear of 124000 l. was a great deal more acceptable And thus with their pay and dismission out of this Kingdom I dismiss them for this time from any further Narrative and look home to our own affairs in England The Parliament sate down on the third of November and immediately fell to questioning several chief Ministers of State Bishops and Judges pretending thereby both to satisfie this Nation and the Scots Monopolies also were voted down and much more good was promised and expected from the Parliament The principal of those Grandees that were accused was the Earl of Strafford against whom Mr. Pym is sent from the Commons to the Lords with an Impeachment of High Treason whereupon he was sequestred from sitting as a Peer and his Privado Sir George Ratcliff was sent for out of Ireland by a Serjeant at Arms. Soon after the aforesaid Earl was committed to the Usher of the Black Rod and so to the Tower in order to his ensuing Tryal yet he obtained the assignation of Councel and a Sollicitor for the better managing his defence The Bishop of Lincoln contrariwise was released out of the Tower and Mr. Pryn Dr. Bastwick and Mr. Burton returned from their kind of banishment in great pomp and bravery attended by many hundreds on Horseback with boughs in their hands to London for the Tide was turned and ran strong the other way In the interim the Lord Keeper Finch and Sir Francis Windebank Secretary of State both charged with no less than High Treason wisely withdrew themselves into Forein parts and weathered the storm that would have sunk them One Iohn Iames the Son of Sir Henry Iames of Feversham in Kent and of the Romish Religion audaciously adventured to stab Mr. Howard a Justice of Peace in Westminster-Hall the said Mr. Howard being about to deliver to the Committee for Religion a Catalogue of such Recusants as were within his liberty The House of Commons now Voted the Assesment of Ship-mony about which there had been so much ado and so many contests together with the Opinions of the Judges and the Writs for it and the judgment of the Exchequer against Mr. Hambden to be all illegal and the Arguments of the two Justices Crook and Hutton shewing the illegality thereof to be Printed and also ordered a Charge of High-Treason to be drawn up against eight others of the Judges Which business of Ship-money being made so accessary to our ensuing Troubles I have thought fit to insert these Records concerning the same The Case as it was stated by the King to the Judges CHARLES REX WHen the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger Whether may not the King by Writ under the Great Seal of England command all the Subjects in this Kingdom at their charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships with Men Victual and Munition and for such a time as he shall think sit for the defence and safeguard of the Kingdom from such danger and peril and by Law compel the doing thereof in case of refusal and refractoriness And whether in such cases the King is not sole Iudge both of the danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided Their Opinions MAy it please your most excellent Majesty we have according to your Majesties command severally and every man by himself and all of us together taken into serious consideration the Case and Questions signed by your Majesty and enclosed in your Letter And we are of opinion that when the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger your Majesty may by Writ under the great Seal of England command all the Subjects of this your Kingdom at their charge to provide and furnish such a number of Ships with men victual and munition and for such time as your Majesty shall think fit for the defence and safeguard from such a danger and peril and that by law your Majesty may compel the doing thereof
departed a contented King from a contented people The Parliament at Westminster had scarce yet sat in a full House from their Adjournment curiously prying into the Errors and male-Administration of the Government here but the fearful news came of a horrid Rebellion broke forth in Ireland It seems no sooner that careful diligent eye of the Earl of Strafford was first distorted by the Scotch affairs and after put out and extinguished by the English envy but the Irish resumed their wonted desires after liberty which they never yet attempted upon a less foundation than a total Massacre and utter extirpation of the English in that Kingdom so that in effect however the Parliament threw the odium of that Rebellion there upon the King Questionless it can be no where imputable ab extra from without but from their unwarrantable proceeding against the said Earl whose name and presence alone would have been sufficient to have prevented it or his wisdom and power able to have suppressed it This affrighting news when the Kingdom was already in a trepidation labouring with its own fears and pretended dangers soon brought the King from Scotland with all possible haste to London where notwithstanding those troubles he was most welcomly and as magnificently entertained the Citizens on Horseback with Gold-chains and in their several Liveries in Rayles placed along the streets chearfully receiving him the sober part of the Nation not valuing the Irish troubles if the King and his Parliament should but happily agree if the breaches could be but closed here there was no doubt of stanching the wound there But it was otherwise meant by the faction who added that conflagration as fuel to this suggesting to the multitude that what was acted against the Protestants there was likewise intended to be put in Execution here the Authors of one being also so of the other sinisterly traducing the King as inclining to Popery which they point-blank charged upon the Archbishop of Canterbury which imputation diffused it self afterwards upon the whole Order This torrent of the multitude was swelled so high even at this reception of the King that one Walker an Iron-monger as his Majesty passed from Guild-Hall where he was most sumptuously feasted at the City-charge Sir Richard Gurney being then Mayor threw into his Coach a scandalous Libel Intituled To your Tents O Israel which indignity the King complained of and thereupon Walker was put in Prison yet afterwards he Libelled a great deal worse both in Press and Pulpit But since the settlement of the Church he procured a lawful Ordination I mention this man as the shame of that zealotry which so furiously commenced this unnatural War The first business transacted with the King by the two Houses was an account of the Irish Rebellion the King having acquainted them in a short Speech of his composure of the Scotch troubles and soon after conjuring them to joyn with him in the speedy suppressing of the Irish whose dangers grew every day greater Iobs Messengers perpetually bringing over worser and worser news from that Kingdom where most of the Nobility were confederated in that horrid revolt having made Sir Phelim Oneal the chief of the family of Tyrone the late famous Rebel there in the latter part of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth and bred in Lincolns-Inn and then a Protestant but turned a bloody Papist though a most sneaking and silly Coward the supreme Commander of their Forces which then were raised in great numbers throughout all the Provinces Deep waters run stillest and with the least noise so was it with this Plot. It was very strange that a designe of such vastness of so great mischief and horrour should be concealed among a multitude that were concerned in it But this devilish secrecy was imputable onely to the ancient irreconciliable malice of the Irish against the English whose yoke sundry times they had attempted to shake off not for any oppression they were under but out of a natural desire of being Lords and Masters of their own liberty But nevertheless it pleased God that it came in the very nick of the execution of their Plot to be revealed by one of that Nation or otherwise that Kingdom had been in danger to be lost as Sicily was from the French by a sudden massacre The chief Instrument in carrying on this horrible Plot was one Roger Moor descended of an ancient Irish family but allyed to most of the Gentlemen of the English Pale He made several journeys into all the four Provinces of this Kingdom communicating his intelligences from forrain Popish Courts and the transactions of their Priests and Fryars there to the encouragement of this Revolt Another of the greatest confidents and complices in this designe was the Lord Viscount Gormanston of the English Pale which generally sided with the Rebels as being inoculated into Irish stocks and were Papists generally though against all opinion of the Council for that they had been such enemies to the Earl of Tyrone in his grand Rebellion But the menacing speeches and denunciations of the English Parliament against Papists in both Kingdoms especially in this where they threatned a total extirpation cannot be denyed to be one if not the principal cause why they made this defection from their Country and Allegiance The 23 of October was the day pitcht upon for the general rising and the Lord Macguire Col. Mac Mahon Col. Plunket and Capt. Fox Hugh Birn and Roger Moor were appointed for the seizure of Dublin-Castle which would at once have done their work those persons with a competent number of men to their assistance came one day before to Town and had conference together at the Lyon-Tavern near Copper-Ally where one Owen O Conally an Irish Gentleman but a retainer to Sir Iohn Clotworthy was admitted and by Mac Mahon informed of the conspiracy After a large drinking to their next mornings success O Conally privily repaired to the Lord Justice Parsons to whom and Sir Iohn Borlace the other Justice the Government was committed after my Lord Straffords death The Lord Dillon was likewise named and constituted but to avoid the jealousie and grudgings thereat the King had disauthorized him and very disturbedly and confusedly by reason of the drink and his horrour at the story revealed the chiefest part of it It was thereupon advised by the said Lord Justice for a fuller and certainer account to send him back again to the said Mac Mahon commanding him to return that night again to him which he did from the said Tavern and company who would have kept him there all night by pretending to ease himself and thence leaping over a wall and a set of pales into the streets In the mean time the Lord Justice Parsons went to the Lord Borlaces house and there assembled a Council by the coming of Sir Thomas Rotheram and Sir Robert Meredith who resolved first to attend the return of O Conally who in his
having been a traveller and no doubt Jesuitically affected as he made more visibly manifest in the practise of their Doctrine of Regicide ‑ William Cawley a Brewer of Chichester and returned for a recruit of the Long-Parliament could not for Trade-sake but concur with his Brethren Oliver Cromwel and Thomas Scot. ‑ Nicholas Love Doctor Love's Son of Winchester Chamber-fellow with the Speaker Lenthall made one of the six Clerks of Chancery in Master Penrudducks place a violent Enemy against the King and his Friends from the very beginning of our Troubles and an Army-partaker in this horrible Act. ‑ Iohn Dixwell a recruit of the Long-Parliament for Dover Colonel and Governour of Dover-Castle one so far obliged to them for their promotion of him that he could do no less for them than assist them in this grand Conspiracy against the King ‑ Daniel Blagrave a recruit also for Reading in Bark-shire of a small but competent Fortune there to have kept him guiltless of this great offence ‑ Daniel Broughton a Clerk bred up among Committees in the War and preferred therefore at last to be chief Scribe to this Pharisaical murderous crue of the High Court of Justice ‑ Edward Dendy Serjeant at Arms to the said Court who had outed his Father from the employment of the Mace before no wonder such a Rebel to his Father should prove a parricide to his Prince These following being of the Kings Iudges but recanting were pardoned or otherwise mulcted and punished Col. Iohn Hutchison who both Sentenced and Signed to his Majesties Execution by a timely repentance which he publikely testified by tears obtained his pardon being onely discharged the House of Commons and all future Trusts and fined a years profit of his Estate to the King Col. Francis Lassels a York-shire man who sate once but neither Sentenced nor Signed was mulcted accordingly as Colonel Hutchison having alike given proof his sorrow and detestation of that monstrous Fact William Lord Munson Iames Challoner Esq. deceased in the Tower Sir Hen. Mildmay Robert Wallop Esq. Sir Iames Harrington and Iohn Phelps another of the Clerks for sitting in the said pretended High Court of Iustice were by Act of Parliament deprived of their Estates and ordered to be drawn to Tiburn in Sledges with Ropes about their Necks as Traytors are used and so back again to the Tower there to be imprisoned during their natural Lives This is the perfect Catalogue and Character of these unfortunate men who in obedience to the said pretended Act or rather out of dread of Cromwel and his Red-coats though some others named in the said Act wisely withdrew themselves met according to appointment in Westminster-hall having adjourned thither from the Painted-Chamber where they had chosen Serjeant Bradshaw for their Bold President and had made Proclamation at the Palace-gate and in London for the Witnesses whom they had raked out of the refuse and most perdite sort of the People to be ready there with their evidence which Witnesses were numbered to near 40. So much for the preparation come we now to the perpetration The High Court of Iustice. On Saturday being the twentieth day of Ianuary 1648. Bradshaw President of the High Court of Iustice with about seventy of the Members of the said Court having Colonel Fox and sixteen Fellows with Partizans and a Sword born by Colonel Humphrey and a Mace by Serjeant Dendy with their and other Officers of the said Court marching before them came to the place ordered to be prepared for their sitting at the West-end of the great Hall in Westminster where the President in a Crimson-Velvet Chair fixed in the midst of the Court placed himself having a Desk with a Crimson-Velvet Cushion before him The rest of the Members placing themselves on each side of him upon the several seats or benches prepared and hung with Scarlet for that purpose and the Partizans dividing themselves on each side of the Court before them The Court being thus set and Silence made the Great Gate of the said Hall was set open to the end that all persons without exception desirous to see or hear might come into it upon which the Hall was presently filled and Silence again ordered This done Colonel Thomlinson who had the charge of the King as a Prisoner was commanded to bring him to the Court who within a quarter of an hours space brought him attended with about twenty Officers with Partizans marching before him there being Colonel Hacker and other Guard-men to whose care and custody he was then committed marching in his Rear Being thus brought up within the face of the Court the Serjeant at Arms with his Mace received and conducted him streight to the Bar where a Crimson-Velvet Chair was set for the King After a stern looking upon the Court and the people in the Galleries on each side of him he placed himself not at all moving his Hat or otherwise shewing the least respect to the Court but presently rose up again and turned about looking downwards upon the Guards placed on the left side and on the multitude of Spectators on the right side of the said great Hall After Silence made among the people the Act of Parliament for the Trying of Charles Stuart King of England was read over by the Clerk of the Court who sate on one side of the Table covered with a rich Turkey-carpet and placed at the feet of the said President upon which Table was also laid the Sword and Mace After reading the said Act the several names of the Commissioners were called over every one who was present rising up and answering to his call The King having again placed himself in his Chair with his face towards the Court Silence being again ordered the President stood up and said President Charles Stuart King of England The Commons of England Assembled in Parliament being deeply sensible of the Calamities that have been brought upon this Nation which is fixed upon you as the principal Author of it have resolved to make inquisition for Blood and according to that debt and duty they owe to Iustice to God the Kingdom and themselves and according to the Fundamental Power that rests in themselves They have resolved to bring you to Tryal and Iudgement and for that purpose have constituted this High Court of Justice before which you are brought This said Cook Sollicitor-General of the Commonwealth standing within a Bar on the right hand of the King offered to speak but the King having a staff in his hand held it up and laid it upon the said Cooks shoulder two or three times bidding him hold Nevertheless the President ordering him to go on he said Cook My Lord I am commanded to charge Charles Stuart King of England in the name of the Commons of England with Treason and high Misdemeanors I desire the said Charge may be read The said Charge
finde good security and other Royalists were imprisoned and got cleaverly away and in March arrived at Rotterdam in Holland where on the New-bridge he accidently met with Colonel Massey who claiming knowledge of him from Lidbury-fighâ— where they more unhappily encountred each other his Lorâ—ship was civilly and Nobly pleased â—upon the Colonels protestation of a â—â—urn and entire obedience to his Majesties Authority to pass with him in company to the Hague whither this occasion happily directs us The King our Soveraign Charles the second then kept his Court there furnished with Blacks and other mournful Emblâ—â—s of his raâ—â—â—rs Death at the charge of the Prince of Aurange whose moâ—â—â—ignal kindnesses to the Royal Faâ—â—â—y may not pass without a due Commemoration The King was here attended by the Lord Marquess of Montress the Lords Hopton Wilmot Culpeper Weâ—worth and other great Personages Sir Edward Hide Sir Edward Nicholas and a Noble though poor retinue of old Royalists who had vowed to his Majesties Fortunes The Relator was present when the Lord of Loughborough added Colonel Massey to that number both of them kissing the Kings Hand the same morning the Lord in his Majesties Privy-Chamber where he was received by the King with all possible gladness and joy of his escape and other endearments the Colonel was very respectfully and civilly treated and confirmed into the Kings Service and Trust by his Majesties gracious acceptation of his sorrow for his former actions and his resolutions of reparatory Duty The new Estates of England liked not well of his so neer neighbourhood and entertainment in a Commonwealth too and thought their greatness so formidable that it could perswade without any more trouble all places and people to his dereliction and to this purpose they insinuated the same intentions to Myn Heer Pauw the then Dutch Resident here who was sent over by the States as also another Embassador from the French besides the earnest intervention of the Scots Commissioners to intercede for the King with whom they had several discourses about the dangerous greatness of the Prince of Aurange and 't is reported the Man was made by them He departed hence about the middle of March very well pleased with the pronts of his Embassie Though they could not reach the King and though some of his best Subjects had outreached them yet many others could not so escape them Master Beaumount a Minister belonging to the Garison of Pomfret then beleagured by Major-General Lambert in place of Rainsborough who was killed and buried at Wapping neer London as aforesaid was taken for holding correspondence in cypher and by a Council of War Condemned and Hanged before the Castle presently after the Kings Death and deserves to be placed as the Protomartyr for King Charles the second But this was but a puny victime to the ensuing Sacrifices for the old pretence of Justice challenged new does by the evidence of its former administration which would have been thought but a step purposely made to their ambitious Usurpation if other blood not so obnoxious to their grand designe should not in pursuance of their declared impartial bringing to condigne punishment all sorts of Delinquents be offered up to their Idol of Liberty There was also another Reason of State in it for that the House of Lords being so easily laid aside it was requisite while the first violence was yet recent utterly to disanimate the Nobility by another as lawless more bloody infringement of their Priviledges In order to this a new High Court of Iustice was Erected by an Act to that purpose wherein other Drudges were named under the conduct of the former President for that the State-Grandees could not themselves intend such minute matters as the lives of the Peerage Before this Tribunal were brought as in the said Act were named Iames Duke Hamilton as Earl of Cambridge and Naturalized thereby in this Kingdom Henry Rich Earl of Holland George Lord Goring then Earl of Norwich Arthur Lord Capel and Sir Iohn Owen of North-Wales Duke Hamilton was the first of those that came to this Bar where he was soothâ—d by Bradshaw according to instruction in hopes he would be won to discover his partakers in the late Parliament and City and Peters to that purpose gave evidence that Lambert gave him quarter when Colonel Wait who took him denied it to the House but when the Court perceived he was not so free therein offering in lieu of such Treachery 100000 l. for his life and promising to joyn interests with Arguile in Scotland Bradshaw took him up short and for all his plea of quarter and to what he further â—rged against his Naturalization that he himself was never Naturalized but that it was his Father whose right devolved no more to him by the Civil Law than the same Franchise doth to Children in other Countries hastily was answered that in the 15 year of King Charles he was called to Parliament by Writ as Earl of Cambridge They objected against him also his breach of Faith passed to the Governour of Windsor for his true Imprisonment from whence he had escaped and was retaken in Southwark which breach he denied and challenged the Governour of untruth in that particular After much delay which he obtained in hopes of a discovery and several arguments of his Counsel assigned for him Bradshaw at last snapt him up telling him of his Treasons and Murthers and gave final Sentence The Lord Capel likewise after several brave legal Defences as his Peerage c. and his plea of quarter given by Fairfax who in open Court construed that quarter to be but a present saving from the promiscuous slaughter with a reference still to a Judicial proceeding was over-ruled they urged also against him his escape out of the Tower which he proved to amount to no more at the most of it in any other case than a bare Felony and within the benefit of the Clergy His resumed argument when all would not do was the Honour of the Sword which seeing how little those that should have justly asserted it did value he resolved to trouble himself no longer at their Bar but being demanded what he could say more for himself replied nothing but with a chearful resignation of himself to providence expected his Doom then impending over him The Earl of Holland came not to their Bar while they had finished with the other Lords by reason of his indisposition which delayed him at Warwick-Castle but such was their impatient pretensions to Justice that they got him conveyed to their High Court and as they had done by the rest over-ruled his plea which he argued in much weakness taking a spoonful of some Cordial every foot between his words of quarter given and concluded him in the same Sentence The Lord Goring so artificially and wisely pleaded to them in Form Not Guilty and withal insisted upon his Commission and Authority and harmlesness therein that he escaped
of Orkney and Colonel Fitch's Regiment marched towards Innerness The Dutch had rankled with spleen at the successes of this State as no way compatible with but surmounting those indifferent equal Proposals and Overtures made before the accomplishment thereof and perceiving how regardless and cool the Parliament was now as to any further transaction of a League but that on the contrary their Fishing was molested in these Seas upon the old Title of Soveraignty and that upon any the least pretences of French Goods and Lading their Merchant-ships were searched stayed and sometimes adjudged Prize thought it advisable to send over Embassadors as well to obtain reparation for those damages as to provide for future security against the like by a Treaty and in case they perceived the aversness or untowardness of the State thereto to fully inform themselves what Naval preparation there was in hand and in what readiness and how the Nation stood affected to or would yet endure the Government as by a Copy of their Instructions since appeared The Embassadors Myn heeren Catz Schaep and Vande Perre of Zealand as of custome and right one of that Province must be in the Embassie hither were ordered to be gone with all speed upon the notice of the Act for the encouragemâ—nt of the English-Navigation c. But the Wind blowing at Southwest from the very day of the date of the said Act neither they nor other ships bound thence from England with East and West-India Commodities Spice and such-like could stir out of their Ports to the great exasperation of that people who when they see the day elapsed being the first of December and had notice that the Parliament would not allow a day longer even to the English themselves upon any account whatsoever though to the breaking of several Merchants whose Estates were coming over in such Goods thence procured the Lords to make an Arrest and Imbargo upon all English ships then in the Texel but which the States were willing soon after to recal and make shew of good Correspondence and Friendship as in this and other occasions they yet testified The Embassadors with the first opportunity the rather to prevent Monsieur Speering then at the Hague and Commissioned by the Queen of Sweden for her Embassador into England as unwilling to be the last should own this Common-wealth put to Sea and arrived here about the middle of Ianuary and for the greater credit of the sincerity of their intentions to Peace and Amity they brought over their Families by which it might appear they intended to stay till that great affair was finished by them being also men for their particular persons very acceptable to the State here Soon after their Reception they had Audience in the Parliament-house and a Committee appointed to confer with them by whom they were at the entrance of their business choaked with our claim to and their dues for the Herring-fishing with the old story of bloody Amboyna and a demand of a Free-trade in the Schelde from Middleburgh to Antwerpe where the English had a good Trade once within 100 years then the most famous Mart of the Low-countries yea of Europe but by the Hollanders seizing of Flushing and building the Fort Lillo opon that River in their Wars against the Spaniard the Merchants and Inhabitants disaffected otherwise to the King of Spain in the beginning of that War betook themselves to Amsterdam which by the sudden breaking in of the Sea and breaking down of Dams became a most convenient and capacious Harbour and consequently a great Mart as lying most opportune for the Trade of the East and North-East Seas Monsieur Speering arrived here likewise and was well received a short while after and laid a foundation of that Treaty which was afterwards concluded by the Lord Whitlock with that Queen but he deceasing here soon after Monsieur Appleboom Resident also at the Hague was substituted to his Embassie in like manner The 24 of February came out their Act of Oblivion whereout Sir Iohn Webster of Amsterdam was totally excluded together with the Executors of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the slayers of Dorislaus and Ascham the Viscount Mansfield and Lord Goring and General George Lord Goring and Charles his Sons which particulars out of a multitude of publike exceptions as H. Martin discanted on it I thought fit to give the Reader a hint of that such a precious Record of their absolute greatness as the taking upon them to pardon when they needed it onely themselves might not totally be lost the Preface and Induction to it being a fallacy a non concesso that because the generality of the Nation had shewed themselves ready to suppress the late Scotch Invasion at Worcester therefore the Parliament out of meer grace c. but all this favour to be of no benefit to any one without taking the Engagement Their Committee for Regulation of the Law had likewise proceeded so far as to take an account of all Courts and Offices concerning their Fees and to see they did Execution of Justice for corruption wherein Iohn Lilburn and Iosiah Primate having taxed their Commissioners at Haberdashers-hall about a Cole-pit Primate pretended to but Sir Arthur Haslerig had possession of by vertue of one Colonel Wray's Delinquency the said Lilburn was banished on the 30 day of Ianuary and Primate fined 4000 l. to the said Commissioners and Sir Arthur and committed to the Fleet but upon submission Released In Ireland the War was almost at an end nothing considerable but Galloway and some few Castles holding out and some loose parties forraging the Country whereupon the Lord â—lanrickard then in Galloway about the beginning of March sent a Letter to Lieutenant-General Ludlow to desire of him that in order to a composure and conclusion of that bloody wasting War in that Kingdom he or the Commissioners would give safe-conduct for the chief persons of the Irish out of every County to meet and to agree of terms about a Peace not doubting as he expressed if it should be refused but that they were able to maintain themselves till supplies from abroad and courage at home and their wants and discouragements from England should alter the case To this was answered by Ludlow That the Commissioners could not nor would allow such a thing as a Council of the Irish to settle the Kingdom but that if they would submit they should have such Articles and Conditions as was fit for them For that the Parliament whose that Kingdom was would have the ordering and Government of it and that it was not for those in Arms against their Authority to think of such an absurd condescention This Answer being returned to two or three offers of surrender took not effect yet prevailed on several parties as the Lord Muskerry's Fitz Patrick's and the Odwyr's to come in and submit with liberty of transporting their Forces into the service of the King of Spain or to abide
to be to consult any such thing though by the like practises his Father lost his Life and that he feared he should not die right in his Favour for being suspected of such a thing and then most courageously stooped to the Block With him upon the same Scaffold suffered the Portugal Embassador's Brother then Residing with Oliver by Name Don Pâ—ntaleon-Saâ— â— He had a while before made a Riot in the New-Exchange upon conceit of an Affront or some scorn cast upon him there and killed one Greenway a Gentleman standing quietly at a Stall no opposition being made but by this Colonel Gerrard who was now fatally joyned with him in Death The Murther was Committed by a Knight of Maltha who escaped but this Nobleman and four more of the Embassador's Servants among whom was an Irish youth were arraigned before chief-Chief-Justice Rolls Sir Henry Blunt and Recorder Steel Tichburn and others joyned in a Commission of Oyer and Terminer and Tried by a party-Jury of English and Forrainers as of custom and though he at first refused to Plead alledging his Quality he was at last Convicted and Condemned He had made an Escape by the civil industry of the Lady Philip Mohun and attempted it again but was retaken and now Beheaded After the Priests and he had prayed upon the Scaffold he shewed some little aversion of Dâ—ath but whether out of anger or fear is uncertain the people and spectators shewing different passions at the fall of both these Victimes to crafty Tyranny and impartial Justice This was done upon the King of Portugal's order to whom the cause and Execution of Justice in his own Kingdom was first remitted The Embassador soon after the conclusion of a Peace disconsolately departed The Irish Youth suffered at Tyburn the rest were Reprieved and afterwards Released In the same month a ship on Southwark-side took accidental Fire as she lay at Anchor which being cut away the ship as Providence would have it was driven by the flowing Tide upon a Shelf neer the Bridge where she stuck and blew up her powder There were 8 persons killed one a Draper upon his Leads on the Bridge by a Plank of the said ship and had the blow been any nigher it would have broke that famous Pile Another ship neer the same time fired in Fresh-wharf neer the Bridge likewise and generally there were many and very sad Conflagrations that attended this Boutefeu and his Usurpation and as memorable unruly accidents ended it as by the sequel will appear We will now cursorily run over the Highland-War of Scotland where notwithstanding those many divisions and animosities concerning Command that were between the Commanders in this Scotch Army the Earl of Glencarn stomacking the supream Command to be conferred upon General Middleton which was thought the best expedient to unite all Divisions amongst them the said Royal Party was yet re-inforced to the number of 3 or 4000 men whom both General Monke and Colonel Morgan in distinct Bodies and several ways attended Morgan was about Loughaber and Loâ—ghness in the Western Highlands about Arguile's Country and keeping close at the Heels of them who ever and anon took over the Mountains and gave them the slip for it was by no means advised to venture an Encounter but tire their Enemy out and nothing but invincible patience and resolution could have endured it For beâ—ides the want of Provisions in that scarce barren Country against which the Souldiers were armed onely with Bread and Cheese which they eat 20 days together that Nature could hardly discharge it self the Ways were most times so abrupt that hardly more than one could go abreast and over the Hills if a Horse-Foot slipt men were in danger of breaking their Necks down the Precipices and Horse and Man sure to be lost no Quarter to be had but in the Glens and great happiness was it counted to meet with them and fresh Water neer which to pitch Tents the General chearfully undergoing the same necessities After much Traversing these difficult ways which were notwithstanding easie as usual to the Highlander it was the Fortune of Colonel Morgan to light upon General Middleton neer Badgenoth at one of those narrow Passes now proving incommodious to the Natives themselves for they could neither well fight nor retreat so that they Engaged in no order nor figure and after a short Medly or Tumult rather than Battle were forced to flie the General endeavouring what he could to resist his misfortune was so neer being taken that he lost his Commission and Instructions and one of his rich Coats with a Sumpter-horse This happened on the 19 of Iuly and was the total defeat and suppression of that War For immediately the Earl of Glencarn with 500 men submitted at Dumbarton and though there happened some puny Skirmishes afterwards as the defeating of a party of the Earl of Athol Captain Elsmores taking of Sir Arthur Forbes and routing of Mac Naughton at Glenlyon and Captain Lisle with a party from Colonel Cobbet Governour of Dundee defeated the Earl of Kinoule and took him and the Lord Diddup and Lieutenant-Colonel Mercer Prisoner who was returned now to Edenburgh-Castle and the young Marquess of Montross routed by Blair-Castle yet Submissions and Treaties spent most of the time that the Lord Middleton with the Earl of Seaforth staid in Scotland who now with a small party of the Clans were in Catheness the Lords Forrester and Kenmore the Earl of Athol and Marquess of Montross capitulated desiring onely the Terms and mitigation of Fines the Earl of Glencarn had at his Rendition at Dumbarton-Castle Lorn now flew again into Arms to colour those late Treacheries and Treasons he now underhand managed for Cromwel and joyned with Mac Naughton who had surprized Colonel Brayn and Captain Nichols Governour of Innerâ—ra-Castle as they thinking themselves secure in the Confines of the Lowlands had dismiss'd their Convoy and made his Terms by that lucky surprize to his advantage Generally the Noble General Monke gave very obliging Conditions and so did Twisleton and Morgan by his order to those that capitulated with them and shewed all the favour that could be expected in point of Fines and Forfeitures which firmly obliged the Nobles and Gentry to him for the future which no doubt he had then principally in his Eye and also invited General Middleton and the Earl of Seaforth to enter into Treaty with him which was managed and in a manner concluded by Major-General Drummond but rescinded by Middleton as was alledged here because of the English insistency upon the former Fines and Security but judged as proceeding from a principle of Honour and Right since this departure of the King's Lieutenant with Conditions obtained from the Enemy might be construed a Cession of that Kingdom to the Usurper as the Lord Ormond with great Punctilio given him a very noble Precedent He departed not till the beginning of the next year and Glengary had the honour
defend themselves so that the River was quite covered with men and Horses The Count made use of the opportunity not taking so much as one Prisoner so that between killing and drowning very few escap'd though above 10000 in all above a thousand of their Horses were taken coming out of the water A considerable prevention of their entring Stiermark and coming up as far as Grats without any possibility of opposition The like success had the Portugals against the Spaniards taking the Town of Ginaldo in Gallicia wherein was the Magazine of Spain Afterwards giving Battle to Don Iohn of Austria who commanded 7000 Horse 12000 Foot and 18 pieces of Ordnance they routed him in the open field and took all his Bag and Baggage being assisted by the English They slew 1000 took 4000 Prisoners and most of the eminent Commanders But a worse fate had attended the Protestants of Piedmont had not they sâ—outly defended themselves For while their Delegates were pleading for them at Turin under the Protection and Safe-conduct of the Duke of Savoy their Sovereign Prince protesting their Loyalty and Submission to him his Forces to the number of between 16 or 18000 Horse and Foot entred the Valleys at Prerustine St. Bartholomew Rocheplate and other places endeavouring to possess themselves of Angrogue and St. Martins two of the strongest Holds in all the Valley of Piedmont In their way they set all on fire cut and tore the Vines and destroy'd all The Inhabitants seeing themselves assaulted contrary to Faith given and seeing they were undone made head the Fight was hot for the time but though the Savoyards were thirty for one they were at length forc'd to retreat with the loss of above a thousand men kill'd and wounded and many Officers All which was said to be done by the Iesuits Council de Propaganda Fide Anno Dom. 1664. WE shall begin this Year with the Trial of several persons for their Lives being of the same Party with those last Year executed at York The greatest part of their hopes of destroying his Majesty was built upon the confidence of a power they had as well to divide and distract his Friends as unite his Enemies which they endeavour'd to do by divers false and scandalous Rumors which upon all occasions they scatter'd among the people as being one half of their business The Tragedy was to have begun in the Counties of Westmerland Durham and Yorkshire by seizing upon Carlisle all the eminent Persons and Justices of the Peace of the said Counties and what Publick Treasure they could find A small Party met at Kirkby-Steven but failing of their number soon dispers'd themselves again Several were executed particularly at Appleby Robert Waller Stephen Weatherhead and Henry Petty But such was the inveterate malice of these kind of people such was the Influence of Ejected Ministers among them that notwithstanding so many persons had suffer'd the year before yet at Newbury the Mayor and Company of the Town being met upon Easter Tuesday to chuse Church-wardens for the year ensuing they were assaulted by a rude and confus'd multitude of all sorts of Phanaticks some crying one thing and some another and though sundry times excluded by the Constables that were call'd to keep the peace yet they still broke in with fresh clamours crying out that it did not belong to the Mayor and Company but the whole Parish to make the choice In fine they came to this at last that they did not matter who was chosen so one Pocock render'd odious to the Rabble for his Loyalty to the King were not one But Sir Thomas Doleman coming immediately to Town upon notice of the disorder with a Guard of Soldiers seiz'd the chief sticklers who were afterwards proceeded against according to their demerits And understanding that certain Grand Phanaticks being charg'd with Arms refus'd to send in their men he with the rest of the Deputy-Lieutenants caus'd them to be fin'd and levied their fines by distress of their goods In the mean time notice being taken of several dangerous applications made to some Prisoners in the Tower Mildmay Wallop Fleetwood and Garland were sent away to Tangier and certain other Prisoners dispos'd of into other places of security This Month also brought Intelligence of the proceedings of the Earl of Teviot then Governor of Tangier who finding Gayland unwilling to comply with him in his propounded Articles of Peace resolv'd to make use of Force and having worsted the Moor in an Attack which he made upon the English with great courage and vigor for some time afterwards undisturb'd began and finish'd a great part of the outermost Fortifications and to make room for the English and Strangers of better account turn'd all the Jews out of the City Now was it less welcom news for his Majesty to hear that his Embassador Sir Rich. Fanshaw was magnificently receiv'd and entertain'd by the King of Spain in testimony of the high value which that King put upon his Majesties Alliance and the reverence he had for that Correspondence which so great an Embassador was sent to continue and preserve between both Kingdoms But as if the heat of the Spring had warm'd the English bloods His Majesty and his Parliament at this time sitting began to take into their deep Consideration the great Complaints that had been made against the Dutch whose injuries and affronts had not a little enrag'd the Nation Whereupon a Report being made by Mr. Clifford of their Encroachments upon Trade from a Committee appointed to examine that affair Thereupon the House made two Resolves the Substance of which were That the wrongs dishonours and indignities the damages affronts and injuries done by the Subjects of the United Provinces to our Merchants were the greatest Obstructions to Forein Trade That His Majesty should be mov'd to take speedy and effectual course for the redress thereof and that they would assist him with their lives and fortunes against all opposition whatsoever The Lords concurr'd and thereupon both Houses attended his Majesty who declar'd his Royal Sense and high Esteem of their care and tenderness for the Honor and Good of the Nation Letting them farther know That he would examine and prove the particular Complaints that he would demand satisfaction by a Publick Minister and do his utmost endeavour to secure his Subjects from the like Violences for the future depending upon the Promise of both Houses to stand by him Upon which Declaration both Houses return'd their humble and hearty Thanks April 6 th Soon after this the King came to the House pass'd two particular Acts the one for holding Parliaments once in three years at least and repealing a former Act call'd An Act for preventing the inconveniencies by long intermissions of Parliament At the signing thereof his Majesty gave them thanks for their ready concurring in a thing so advantageous to the Nation and for recalling the other so prejudicial and so