States In the mean time they have no small umbrage of the Scots Proceedings who had sent to the King then at the Hague and invited him into Scotland with several Propositions in order thereunto But Middleton and Monroe fearing the Kirk Party would hold the King to hard Terms should he come in upon their Propositions rise in the North of Scotland but were soon supprest by Ker and Stranghan upon this our Junto strike in and offering them by their Letters several fair Temptations that they might break with the King promising to stand by them and to defend their Liberty as they called it But this took not And about this time they make a new Act of Treason such as scarce was ever heard of before That to kill the General Lievtenant General or any Member of that House of Parliament or Councel of State should be Treason was to have been put into it but after long debate was omitted betraying too much Cowardise in them and having other ways secured themselves in the Act. For it was made Treason to Act Plot Contrive or speak against this Fag End of the Parliament or their Government and all Endeavours against the Keepers of the Liberties of England and the Councel of State to subvert them as now Constituted and that shall be hereafter Constituted by Parliament what an individuum vagum is here and for every such Act c. to forfeit Life and Estate And also to move and stir up the people against them was declared Treason nay so much as to endeavour to withdraw any Soldier or Officer from their obedience to their Superior Officer or from the present Government aforesaid Also to Counterfeit their great Seal is by this Act made Treasons Are not these in the mean time excellent Conservators of the Liberties of the Nation And a very free State Lilburn in the Tower was kept from Pen Ink and Paper and all allowance for Meat and Drink taken from him tho he petitioned for it so that he was kept three days with half a Meals meat and in a close Chamber none suffered to come at him This under a King had been Tyrannical but is Prudence in this free State About this time also orders were given to certain Committees to inquire upon Oath and to Certifie the improved vallue of every mans Estate both Real and Personal which they intended thorowout the Kingdom following the Conqueror's steps to have by them a Dooms-day Book that they might the better load the people with Taxes and free Quarter in this their new Subjected and Conquered Kingdom called a Free-state Here the House enables their Committees to give Oaths when they had not Power to give any themselves Contrary to that Maxim None can give what he hath not or more Power than is in himself These are the men that were so much troubled with the Oath ex Officio and yet require Oaths against a mans self Nay the Scriveners in London were commanded by these supream Governors to shew their Books that they might inspect what and whose Money they had in their Hands the better to come at it themselves And that they might grasp at all they were Contriving to seize all the Tythes of the Kingdom into their own Hands and to make all Ministers their Stipendary Lecturers and to depend upon the State that they might Preach no Doctrine but what should be agreeable to themselves or in justification of their Actions This was a politick Device Oliver before he went for Ireland took all the politiok Care possible to keep up the Greatness he had acquired and to secure this Junto of Men which he made use of only to set up himself besides the Bridle he had already made them the Councel of State Composed of his Creatures he picks out of the Army left behind in England the chief of his Creatures and Constitutes them a Councel of War or a Councel of Officers to over-awe all with the Power of the Sword for silent Leges inter Arma and now silet Justitia inter Leges filet Jus inter Judices The Government was now a Cerberus with three Heads a Parliament a Councel of State and a Councel of War Many Scruple to pay their illegal Tax of ninety Thousand pound a Month for the Army and therefore have their Goods taken from them by Violence and sold tho they exclaim against it as not done by Law Mr. Prin declares against it and shews it to be against the Statutes Magna Charta 29.30.25 Ed. 1 Chap. 5.6.34 Ed. 1.21 Ed. 3.25 Ed 3.45 Ed. 3.11 Hen. 4.1 Rich 3. The Petition of Right and many more and it was observed to them that no Tax was to be imposed but upon necessity and for the good of the People 25. Ed. 1. Cook Just but for the keeping up an Army when the Wars were done was the bain of the People and that more Taxes had been raised in eight years than in all the Kings Reigns since the Conquest A hundred and fifty thousand Pound was advanced for Oliver's expedition into Ireland who was to be accomptable only of part of it the rest to be disposed at his Discretion for the use of the Common-wealth And now this Junto begin to think of adjourning themselves according to Oliver's desire and in the mean time things to be left to his two Caballs or Councells That of State and that of War but this was a bitter Pill and they knew not how to leave their old Seats where most of them were grown very warm and tho urged to it by the Councells and that some trouble was given to Lenthal their Speaker by Articles drawn up by his Council of Officers but they fearing lest they might not get together again if once separated desired time to finish some Acts they had upon their Hands and then they would adjourn themselves by which you may see how free these Keepers of the Kingdoms freedom were First down went the King and his Power lapsed into the two Houses down went the House of Lords and then all Power was in the House of Commons now they are going down and the supream Power is in a Councel of State who must down too and then the Wheel turns round and all the Power will be in a single Tyrannical person and Usurper Some of the Acts that lay yet on their Hands and which they promised to dispatch were That all Acts concerning Loans Monies Excise Sequestrations Goldsmiths-Hall Haberdashers-Hall Assessments for England and Ireland be passed so that they intended a Continuance of the Peoples Slavery and Burthens Also an Act for the setling the Militia throughout the Kingdom An Act for punishing revolted Seamen An Act for the relief of well affected Tenants against Malignant Land Lords An Act for suppressing Malignant Pamphlets aspersing the Proceeding of this Parliament Councel of State and Army An Act for the suppressing of seditious Preachers An Act for the â—â—â—ing away of a Clause of the Stat. 25.
having made way for the most horrid and Bloody design that ever was heard of the Motion is made in this usurping House to proceed to the Trâ—al of the King as a Capital Offender When the grand Impostor Cromwell stood up and said That if any man moved this upon Design he should think him the greatest Traytor in the World but since Providence and Necessity had cast them upon it he should pray to God to bless their Councells And so on the 28 th of December 1648. Thomas Scot brought in the Ordinance for the Tryal of the King being read and Committed three several times and all the Commissioners names inserted Consisting of divers Gentlemen and Soldiers This Ordinance being pass'd the Junto they send it up to the Lords House by the Lord Grey of Grooby together with their Vote formerly made Viz. Resolved c. That the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament do declare and adjudge That by the Fundamental Laws of the Realm it is Treason in the King of England for the time to come to levy War against the Parliament and Kingdom of England The house of Lords debate the matter and first the Declaratory Vote against which the Earls of Manchester and Northumberland with others spake and declared There was none nor could be any such Fundamental Law in England whereby the King could be a Traytor by leaving War against his People and that thus to declare Treason by an Ordinance when no law was extant to judge it by was most unreasonable Upon which the Lords cast out this Ordinance and Vote and adjourned themselves for seven days This proceeding of the Lords gave them no small trouble and stirr'd up the wrath of some of the Zealots who threatned to hang a Pad-lock on the Lords door and sending up to search their journal Book they found the Lords had made these two Votes That they do not Concur to the said declaratory Vote And Secondly That they rejected the Ordinance for the Tryal of the King Upon which these men resolving to be rid of the Lords as well as of King they Vote That they should Act without them as well they might according to their own Law That all Authority was sounded in the People and that they being the Representatives of the People all Authority lay in them Some of them were for Impeaching the Lords for favouring the grand Delinquent of the Land as they called the King And now to make all sure on their sides that they may Act legally On the 4 th of January they Vote That the People are under God the Original of all just Power That the Commons of England in Parliament assembled being chosen by and representing the People have the Supreme Power of this Nation That whatsoever is declared or Enacted for Law by the House of Commons assembled in Parliament hath the force of Law This makes clear Work and by this our Arbitrary Usurpers may do what they will and cut off their Kings Head according to their own Position legally what need of Kings Lords Laws Rights Liberties Properties or fundamental Government when the Arbitrary Consciences of such men may serve instead of all and conclude thereby all the People of England tho they declare against it and tho opposed by the King or House of Peers And thus notwithstanding the rejection of the Lords these Commons pass their Ordinance and declaratory Vote by the name of An Act of Parliament of the House of Commons which was never before heard of for the Tryal of Charles Stewart King of England This being objected to Hugh Peters that there was no President or Example for the Tryal of a King by a judicial Court he Prophanely applyed That there was never any President before the Virgin Mary of a Womans conceiving and bringing forth a Child without accompanying with a Man therefore they might walk without President for this was an Age to make Examples and Presidents There was yet one thing that passed these men which they had not foreseen which was That it was a very improper thing to make use of the Kings Seal wherein he is styled King of England c. by the Grace of God to seal a Commission against him for his Tryal They were now in hast and could not stay for a new one which they had not as yet thought on therefore it was concluded the Commissioners should proceed upon the Ordinance without any Commission under Seal and that every Commissioner should set his own Hand and Seal to the Instruments of their Proceedings All things being now in a readiness for the Tryal The King is taken from Hurst Castle and brought to Winchester thence to Farnham thence to Winsor and thence to St. James on the 19 th day of January And they had caused for the greater Solemnity of the Business their Serjeant Dandy who was appointed Serjeant at Arms to the Commissioners for the Tryal of his Majesty to proclaim it openly in Westminster-Hall with his Mace on Horse back with six Trumpets and several Officers attending all bare That the Commissioners were to sit to morrow and that all those who had any thing to say against Charles Stewart King of England might be heard This was done in like manner in Cheap-side and at the Royal Exchange The same day the House Voted their great Seal to be broken and ordered a new one to be made Upon this Mr. Prin sends to the Junto a Memento of their unpresidented Proceedings Complaining of the force and Violence put upon their fellow Members warning them from Acting Consulting or ordaining any Act or Ordinance without Concurrence of their fellow-Members being Arbitrary and against Law and that the secluded Members not only declared against such Proceedings but more especially against this horrid Act of theirs for the Tryal of the King shewing them That by the common Law and by the Statute of 25. Ed. 3. and all other Acts concerning Treason it is high Treason for any man to Compass or Contrive the Death of the King or his eldest Son tho never Executed That they were also bound to the Contrary by their Oath of Allâ—giance from which no Power could absolve them That they had in above an hundred Declarations and Ordinances in the name of the Parliament professed That they never intended the least hurt injury or Violence to the Kings person his Crown Dignity or Posterity with several other things very pressing and full as may be seen at large in the printed Paper but all was in vain for they were resolved on the Business tho they could give no kind of colourable Reason for their Actings This Memento was seconded with a Declaration and Protestation signed the 19 th of January by the said Prin and Clement Walker another of the secluded Members which ran very much after the same Tenure and absolutely Protesting against the Junto's Actings and Proceedings declared against the illegal Act of Erecting an high Court of Justice and usurping a Power against
all Law and without all President to try depose and bring to Capital punishment the King and to dis-inherit his Posterity c. But at the same time the Officers of the Army had contrived and ordered two Godly Petitions to be presented to them viz For the abolishing Tythes and the Repealing the Act for the Banishment of the Jews And now Oliver and his Privado Officers having brought their Work to this readiness are fasting and praying as hard as they can no doubt for the Success of it tho they put another Face on the matter and said it was for Direction and Counsel And now it was and not before that this great Usurper of the â—onarchy and Liberties of the people began to lay the great Design of steping into the Soveraignty and laying the Foundation of his Tyrannical reign by the Death and Murther of the King For the private Officers both from the King and his Friends and from the Prince himself in this exigent to save the Life of his Father were not small but he that now aimed at all would not be content with a portion of justly acquired greatness and perhaps he was not sufficiently assured of the Mercy of the Prince he had so highly offended as that he could be able to forgive all those great Crimes he was guilty of but that either himself or his Posterity might remember them to his Prejudice since all he was able to do towards his Majesties Restauration was but what in Duty and Conscience he was bound to do But what ever instiâ—ations he had besides those of the Devil he was not to be shaken tho attempted by a Kinsman of his and of his own Name who as reported was sent either from the Prince himself then at the Haguâ— or from the States of Holland with Credential Letters and a Blank sealed with the Kings and Princes Signets and confirmed by the States for Cromwell to write his own Conditions in if he would preserve the Life of the King This found him at his House recluse with his Privadoes at their Prayers as given out but to what God we may easily Imagine The business being urgent and the Kings Martyrdom approaching the Gentleman with some difficulty got to the private Speech of him to whom he very fully laid open the Hainousness of the Fact he was going about and what an Odium it was about to cast on the English Nation abroad and withal let him understand what Terms he had to offer him and that he might now make himself his Family and Posterity for ever happy and Honourable otherwise he would bring such an Ignoimny on the whole Generation that no time would be able to delete Cromwell after his canting way shifted it off from himself and put the Act upon the Army and Parliament declaring he had sought God very much in the Business but as yet had no return of his Fasting and Prayers about it therefore he desired till night to consider of it and promised that he should hear from him before he went to Bed and accordingly about Twelve or One of the Clock the Gentleman expecting his Answer he sent him word That he might return for he and his Officers had been seeking God and that now it was Resolved the King must dye this was but a night or two before the King's Murther On the 20 th day of January 1648. being Saturday these bloody Commissioners met called an high Court of Justice for the Tryal of the King who was brought before them and with much Patience and sometimes smiling he heard their long Charge but denying the Jurisdiction of the Court refused to plead requiring them to shew by what Law or Authority besides their unjust Usurpation or power of the Sword he was brought before them who were his Subjects I shall not trouble the Reader with any farther Relation of this Tryal it being at large so often printed nor with the Names of the Judges and Officers of this pretended Court it being to be had in every Booksellers shop I intending in these Collections only a brief Narrative of these Usurpers Proceedings that the World might behold the true Picture of Arbitrary Government and Tyrannical rule and not an exact Chronicle or History of those times tho I would not omit any Material thing that may give Satisfaction or Delight to the Reader I shall observe that as an ill Omen the Silver head of the King's Staff dropt off as the Charge was reading which the King wondring at and seeing none so Officious as to take it up he stoop'd himself and taking it up put it into his Pocket At his going from the Court looking very austerely about him without moving his Hat he pointed with his Staff to the Sword and said I do not fear that As he went along the Hall some Cry'd out Justice Justice and others God save the King On Sunday Cromwell Bradshaw and the rest of the Commissioners kept a Fast at White-Hall where preached Joshuah Sprigg whose Text was He that sheds-Man's blood by Man shall his Blood be shed Then Mr. Foxley whose Text was Judge not lest you be Judged Lastly Hugh Peters whose Text was I will Bind their Kings in Chains and their Nobles in Fetters of Iron And thus by their wicked application of the word of God they endeavoured to justifie their most Execrable Murther of their Lawful King There was by some who durst to do any thing against these Cruel and powerful men certain Papers scattered about in which were several Queries as Whether a King of three Kingdoms could be Condemned by one Kingdom alone without the Consent or Concurrence of the other Kingdoms Whether a King if try'd ought not to be try'd by his Peers And whether he could be said to have any such in his Kingdom Whether if a King were Tryable he ought not to be tryed in full Parliament of Lords and Commons Whether the 8 th part of the Members of the Commons meeting in the House under the force of the Army the rest being forcibly restrained from sitting can by any Pretext of Law or Justice erect a Court for the Tryal of the King And whether this could be properly called a Court of Justice without the great Seal of England Whether that those men who by several Remonstrances Speeches and Actions have publickly declared themselves Enemies to the King can either in Law or Conscience be his Judges when it is Exception enough for the basest Felon to any Jury-man to hinder him from being his Judge Whether this most illegal and Arbitrary Tryal of the King by an high Court of Justice may not prove a most Dangerous inlet to absolute Tyranny and bloody Butchery and every mans Life be at the Arbitrary will of his Enemies erected into a Court of Conscience without limits or bounds But words are nothing and these paper Arms tho furnished with the highest Reason could not move these obdurate Men who persisted in their bloody Business driven
by his Writ to confer with him as his Parliament Arduis negotâ—is or about urgent Affairs was Resolued 1 Hen. 4. Rot. Parl. n. 14.14 Hen. 4. Cook 4 th Institut p. 46. c. For it is not natural to suppose and impossible That the Lords and Commons should be a Parliament and make Acts and Laws without the King as for a Body to move and Act without an Head and therefore had there been any such thing intended to have been Enacted it was void because impossible for the Kings Royal assent could not be had after his Death and there is no Clause in the Act that obliges his Successor to Consent which clearly shews they never had any such intention at the making of this Act. And therefore on the death of the King all Commissions both of the Judges and others cease and all Proceedings determined tho the King is said to sit in the Court of the Kings-Bench in his politick Capacity which indeed never dyes so as to cause an Interregnum but other wayes as to the Continuance of Commissions Writs c. which must be renewed Consider also that if these men after the Death of the King could be a Parliament they must be so either by the Common Law and Custom of Parliaments which is clearly against them or by this Statute which as little Countenances them for they would then be another thing distinct from the Parliament which was summoned in the Kings Life for the Country had no Power to elect their Representatives but by the King 's Writ and therefore could receive no more Power from them than the Tenour of the Kings Writ granted which determining with the Kings Life their Representative-Power was also determined and by Consequence they could be no longer a Parliament If it could be thought they could be yet so by that Act then it follows That a Parliament by their Act might create another Parliament to exist after themselves were dissolved which is most absur'd and alters the Root and Foundation of all the Liberties of the Subject for they become no longer their Representatives but a Parliament by their own Act and it will never be thought that the people intended to entrust them with their Authority to change the Government and deprive them of their Fundamental Priviledges The Parliament cannot De jure do any thing against natural Equity quia jura naturae sunt immutabilia And also by the judgement of a Parliament this could not be being against the Law and Custom of Parliament for Ro. Parl. 42. E. 3. no 7. it is declared by the Lords and Commons in full Parliament upon demand made of them in the behalf of the King That they could not assent to any thing in Parliament that tended to the Disherision of the King and his Crown to which they were Sworn Now this Act of the 17 th of Caroli Primi is expresly against the Kings Successors Prerogative to call his own Parliament and therefore they could not make such an Act to the Disherision of his King and Crown A Parliament may be three ways Dissolved by the Declaration of the Kings pleasure or for want of entring their Continuances or by the Kings death whereby the Kings Writ which gives them their Authority is determined These words That this Parliament shall not be Dissolved unless by Act of Parliament is a general Negative which cannot extend to all Causes of Dissolution but have a respect only to that most usually hapning the Pleasure of the King till the pretended Grievances of the time were satisfied Now in all Times the judges have excepted particular Cases out of the general Negative or Affirmative Words of Statutes By the Star of Magna Charta C. 11. 'T is enacted That Common pleas shall not follow or be sued in the Kings-Bench which is a general Negative yet it is holden to be clear in Law That the King is not within these general Words and may sue in his Bench or any other Court at his Pleasure The Statute of Winchester is a general Statute That the Hundred c. shall make Satisfaction for all Robberies and Fellonies within the Hundred yet it is Resolved That the Hundreds shall make no Satisfaction for the Robberies of an House because the House was the owners Castle and he might have defended himself and preserved his Goods Besides this Clause in the said Act That all and every thing done or to be done for the Proroguing or Dissolving of this present Parliament contrary to this present Act shall be utterly voyd and of none Effect By which it appears That the cause of Dissolution which they intended to prevent was something that should consist in Action by the words Thing or Things done or to be done which words can only be applicable to an Actual dissolution by the Kings pleasure And the King's death is not a thing done but a Cessation of his personal being and of the Dependants thereupon And is not an Action but a Termination or Period So that it is most Clear these men could no longer by any the least Colour of Law or Reason pretend to sit and Act as a Parliament But alas What are Arguments to them who had usurp'd the Throne and Power of their Soveraign and had the vain and idle Hopes to keep it And to the strengthening themselves with all the Arbitrary and Tyrannical ways imaginable they proceed First they issue out their spurious Act before mentioned against proclaiming the King tho by the Law of the Land instantly upon the King's decease the imperial Crown of the Kingdom of England was by his inherent Birthright and by an undoubted Succession and Descent Actually vested in our now Soveraign eldest Son to the murthered King and next Heir of the Blood to his Royal Father and that before any Ceremony of Coronation as by Stat. of 1. Jacobi Ch. 1. And that all Peers of the Realm Majors Sheriffs and other chief Officers in all the Cities and Corporations of England are oblig'd by their places and Allegiance to proclaim him under pain of High Treason and forfeiting their City and Corporation Charters And notwithstanding the Junto's Prohibition there were several Proclamations printed and scatter'd about the City which proclaimed and asserted the Right of the Prince as next Heir to the Crown and by Birthright to be the lawful King of Great Britain c. Dated the 1 st of February Then also in like manner was privately scatter'd about another Paper in which were four Propositions briefly declaring That the House of Commons had no Power of themselves alone and without the Concurrance of the King and House of Lords to make any Act of Parliament Ordinance or to impose any Tax Oath Forfeiture or Capital Punishment on any Secondly That the few Members now sitting were no Court of Justice in themselves and could Erect no such Court for the Tryal of any person nor had Power to hear and determine any Civil or Criminal Causes and that
Eliz. and the 1. Jacob against Sectaries An Act of general Pardon and Oblivion to all Persons except such as should be nominated therein An Act for relief of poor Prisoners An Act to secure the Souldiers their Arrears Then they were Considering of some orders which the Councel of State were to put in Execution and which the said Councel desired of them after their recess 1. That they might appoint Commissioners in every County to make an Estimate of all Tyths 2. That the Councel of State may consider of setling future Parliaments and the constant time of Calling Sitting and Ending after this Parliament shall Dissolve themselves 3. That they shall consider an Act for regulating Proceedings at Law and to prevent tediousness of Suits 4. That they should consider what Laws are fit to be repealed Thus they were Cutting out one another Work In the mean time Oliver Cromwell with a brave Army lands at Dublin the whole Kingdom being reduced under the Kings obedience most of the Irish coming in except the Ulster Irish under Owen Roe Oneal being prevailed with by the Popes Nuncio Contrary to his promise not to come in and under-hand there was a Confederacy driven between our new Republicans and this Nuncio but on what Conditions was kept Private for their Assistance of reducing that Kingdom under their obedience tho this being laid in their Dish they impudently deny'd it afterwards Some of the Propositions were That all Laws and Penalties against the Popish Religion should be taken off by Act of Parliament and that Act to extend to them and their Heirs for ever That an Act of Oblivion should be pass'd to extend to all of his Party for all things done since the beginning of the year 1641 So that the horrid Massacre of the Protestants should have been forgotten That Owen Oneal should have a competent Command in the Army That they should enjoy their Lands now in Possession and that rightly they might claim from their Ancestors That all Acts of State that incapacitated them to be taken off That Oneal should in regard of his Merit and good Service to the Parliament in joyning with them have all the Estate of his Ancestors or some Estate equivalent to it in the Counties of Tyrone Ardmagh or London-Derry And that his Army should be provided for c. So that the sweetness of ruling and getting Ireland into their hands as well as England made them thus treat with the Popes Nuncio and a most notorius Rebel and Papist to joyn with them But they who had Confederated with the Devil might well joyn with his Holiness to subdue the Cavaliers and yet at the same time these men cryed out upon the Duke of Ormond for joyning with the Irish for the reducing that Kingdom to the obedience of the King And some of Cromwell's own Soldiers hearing of this Confederacy abominating it deserted him which made him to certifie to his Journey-men in London and caused them to null their Debenters for all their Service which were stated before the Expedition And this Agreement with Oneal went so far that the said Oneal assisted Sr. Charles Coot in raising the Siege of London-Derry as may appear by his Letters to the Parliament says the Author of the History of Independency However they fell to pieces afterwards but this is enough to shew by what Principles they Acted and how much they valued Religion when Gain and Dominion stood in Competition Oliver is successful in Ireland at the taking of Tredagh a strong place twenty miles North of Dublin in which were the Flower of the Irish Army where he put to the Sword all persons whatsoever without Distinction of Age or Sex and lasted for three days he slew about three thousand of their best and stoutest men with their Governour Sr. Arthur Aston Sr. Edmund Varny Collonel Warren Collonel Dun Finglus Tempest and others who all fell by his Eury which so affrighted the rest that he no sooner appeared before a place but it was surrendred to him The next place was Wexford a considerable Town by the Sea South West of Dublin which was betray'd to him and where he after a barbarous manner put to the Sword two Thousand more and among the rest two hundred of the chiefest Women of the place fled to the Market-Cross for shelter and there put to the Sword by his Command tho several of his own Soldiers who had before given them Quarter refused to obey his Bloody Commands After which he took Ross Carick Kilkenny Clonmel and other places Munster Thus with extraordinary diligence and great Slaughter in less than a year that he staid there he subdued the greatest part of Ireland and kill'd and exterminated most part of the Irish leaving his Son-in-Law Ireton to complete the Conquest as Governour or his Lieutenant who there died of the Plague before he had quite finish'd his work In the mean time the King being in Jersey received a Letter from the Scots by Mr. Windram with several Conditions the chief of which was the acknowledging them a Parliament and particularly the two last Sessions of that Assembly and then they would treat with him at Breda concerning his coming to Scotland owning him for their King But those about his Majesty having no good Opinion of the Scots were fearful of having him to put himself into their Hands but to trust to Montross whom with a Commission he had senâ— before into Scotland his valiant Service being most remarkable there for the King his Father and they now hoped from him the like success However the King dispatch'd away Windram with a Letter to the Scotch Parliament wherein he concedes to have them to send Commissioners to him to treat at Breda which they did and on the 16 th of March they met where the Agreement was made and it was concluded That they should enjoy the Presbytery throughout the Kingdom the King himself and Family not expected but bound him to the Covenant Directory and Catechisms which the King his Affairs in Ireland being desperate and his hopes in England as little many Noble-men and Gentlemen flying thence from the bloody Tyranny of the States he was forced with great Reluctancy to Consent and then on their parts they Covenant That his Majesty should be admitted to the Throne of Scotland That his Rights should by Parliament be recovered out of the Hands of Usurpers and That they would assist to bring to Condign Punishment the Murtherers of his Father and to restore him to his Kingdom of England But in the interim of this Treaty the gallant and renowned Montross being landed in the Islands of Orkney with a few German Soldiers accompanied with the Lord Trendraught Sr. John Urry Henry Graham Collonel Johnson George Drummond of Ballack and other Persons his Friends and Confederates he begun with great Resolution and Courage to levy men notwithstanding several Losses of Arms at Sea and disappointments of Men and Monies which he had exspected from other
all Acts by Pretext of such Power were illegal and the adjudging any Person to death and Executing them was Treason and wilful Murther Thirdly That the said Commons had no power to make any great Seal of England and that all Commissions granted under their great Seal were illegal and all Proceedings in Law upon such Writs null and voyd to all intents and purposes Lastly That the denyal of the King's Title to the Crown and the plotting to deprive him of it and the setting it upon the Head of another was High Treason and within the Stat. 25 th Ed. 3. Ch. 2. as likewise their Subverting the fundamental Laws of the Land and introducing an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government was High Treason at the common Law c. This was all the Loyalists could do at present by these weak Indeavours to assert the Kings right and shew the people what Slaves they were become but this affrighted not these Men who in the next place February 1 st Vote That all such Members who assented to the Vote of the 5 th of December 1648. That the Kings Concessions were a Ground for the House to Proceed to a Settlement should not be admitted into the House until they had declared their disapproval of that Vote before they sit and that such as were now in the House should enter their dissent to that Vote being only those who had before Voted in the Negative The Lords were yet sitting but no notice taken of them by the Commons for having overthrown the Monarchy they now lay aside the Lords and therefore Vote them dangerous and useless Frebruary 5 th and so Voted them down with this Proviso That they might be capable to be Elected Knights of the shire and Burgesses and so sit among the Commons Three of them only so debased themselves viz. The Earls of Pembroke Salisbury and the Lord Howard of Estrick The rest of the Peers put forth their Protestation against these Proceedings of the Commons which came forth on the 8 th of Frebruary in which they asserted their own Priviledges and the fundamental Laws of the Nation disclaiming the Votes of the Commons for Erecting an high Court of Justice for the Tryal of the King and altering the Government Law Seal c. and against their Traiterous murthering their Soveraign and disinheriting the Prince the Lawful Heir of the Crown of England and also protesting against their Vote of the 6 th of Frebruary for the abolishing the House of Peers as destructive to the beings of Parliament the Fundamental Laws of the Realm and the Lives Liberties and Properties of the people whom they had made Slaves to their Tyrannical and Arbitrary Government But this affrights not the Commons and to keep the Lords from meeting the Army set a Guard at their Doors of their House and the House now proceeds to set up a Common-wealth and to abolish Monarchy and therefore they formed an Act intituled an Act for the Exheredation of the Royal Line the abolishing of Monarchy in this Kingdom and the setting up a Common-wealth which they ordered to be published in all places And to Vindicate these their most horrid Proceedings they had their Pulpit-Trumpeters who justified their Impious Acts in all places and John Godwin and Milton to write in their Defence of putting the King to death declaring in Print That the King suffered on just Grounds and according to his Demerits And now instead of one King these Common-wealth Rumpers set up forty Tyrants as a Committee of State But the people generally seemed displeased at this Alteration of the Government and Reineldson Lord Major of the City refused to publish their Act for abolishing of Monarchy for whâ—ch he was discharged of his Office and with two Aldermen sent to the Tower and Andrews was chosen in his stead upon this the Rumpers put forth a new Declaration to justifie their Proceedings calling them A Deliverance of the people from the Bondage that was brought in by the Norman Conquest and their Maintenance of the ancient Laws notwithstanding their Alteration of some forms of the Regality which ancient Laws might consist very well with a Republick and that they had only abolished their Abuses promising to establish a safe and firm Peace and to advance the true Protestant Religion the Encouragment of a Godly ministry and of Trade and the Maintenance of the Poor thorowout the Realm Then their Great Seal came forth having on one side a Cross and Harp for the Arms of England and Ireland with this Inscription â— The Great Seal of England And on the other side was the Picture of the Commons with these words In the first year of Freedom by God's blessing restored 1648. Likewise they caused a new Coyn to be minted and stamped their Money with a Cross and Harp instead of the King's Effigies with this Motto God with us Then they took away all Clauses in any former Acts for the taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and made them null and a new Oath framed and tendred to all that were to have any publick place of Trust and assumed to themselves both Judicial and Legislative power of the King and both Houses of Parliament and the Executive power they committed to a Council of State of forty Persons of the most Active men in the Army and others of desperate Fortunes Six of the Judges viz. Justice Bacon Brown Beddinfield Creswell Trevor and Atkins quitted their places not being able to bring their Consciences to Act under this Arbitrary and illegal power six other of them continued who were Justice Rolls St. Johns Pheasanâ— Baron Wild and Baron Yates To their new Council of State they gave Power tâ— Command and settle the Militia of England and Irâ—land Power to set forth Ships and such a Considerable Navy as they should think fit Power to appoinâ— Magistrates and stores for England and Ireland and tâ— dispose of them for the Service of the Nation Anâ— power to Execute all the powers given them for a whole Year to come They had two Seals appointed a great Seal and a Signet Cromwell was made Chaiâ—-man of this Committee and an Oath framed for eveâ—â— Member to take to be true to the Parliament as they termed themselves not to disclose their Secrets anâ— to adhere to the present Settlement of the Government 〈◊〉 a Republick without King or House of Lords Abouâ— this time the Officers of the Army at a Councâ—â— of War debated Whether they should not put to the Sword all that were of the King's Party to secure the Nation to themselves and it was carried in the Negative but by two voyces so near were they to a general Massacre And many Petitions came from several Counties that at least three of the most eminent of the King's party in each County might be put to Death to free the Land from Blood-Guiltiness Cromwell by this as you may perceive had gotten all the executive Power of the Kingdom into his own