THE PETITION OF THE LORDS AND COMMONS Assembled in Parliament Presented to His MAJESTIE at Beverley the 16 of July 1642. With His MAJESTIES Answer thereunto By the King OUR expresse pleasure is That this Our Answer be read and published throughout all Churches and Chappels of the Kingdome of England and Dominion of Wales by the severall Parsons Vicars or Curates of the same EDINBURGH Printed by Evan Tyler Printer to the Kings most excellent Majestie Anno 1642. THE HVMBLE PETITION Of the LORDS and COMMONS assembled in Parliament Presented to His Majestie at Beverley the 16. of July 1642. May it please your Majestie ALthough we Your Majesties most humble and faithfull Subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled have been very unhappy in many former Petitions and Supplications to Your Majesty wherein we have represented our most dutifull Affections in advising and desiring those things which wee held most necessary for the preservation of Gods true Religion Your Majesties safety and Honour and the peace of the Kingdome And with much sorrow do perceive That Your Majesty incensed by many false calumnies and slanders doth continue to raise Forces against us and Your other peaceable and loyall Subjects and to make great preparations for War both in the Kingdome and from beyond the Seas And by Arms and Violence to over-rule the judgment and advice of Your great Councell and by force to determine the Questions there depending concerning the Government and Liberty of the Kingdome Yet such is our earnest desire of discharging our dutie to Your Majesty and the Kingdome to preserve the peace thereof and to prevent the miseries of Civill War amongst Your Subjects That notwithstanding we hold our selves bound to use all the means and power which by the Lawes and Constitutions of this Kingdome wee are trusted with for defence and protection thereof and of the Subjects from force and violence We do in this our humble and loyall Petition prostrate our selves at Your Majesties feet beseeching Your Royall Majesty That You will be pleased to forbear and remove all preparations and actions of War particularly the Fores from about Hull from Newcastle Tinmouth Lincoln and Lincolnshire and all other places And that your Majestie will recal the Commissions of Array which are illegall dismisse Troops and extraordinary Guards by You raised That Your Majestie will come neerer to Your Parliament and hearken to their faithfull advice and humble Petitions which shall onely tend to the defence and advancement of Religion Your Own Royall Honour and Safety the preservation of our Lawes and Liberties And we have been and shall ever be carefull to prevent and punish all Tumults and seditious Actions Speeches and Writings which may give Your Majestie just cause of distaste or apprehension of danger from which publike aims and resolutions no sinister or private respect shall ever make us to decline That Your Majestie will leave delinquents to the due course of Justice And that nothing done or spoken in Parliament or by any Person in pursuance of the command and direction of both Houses of Parliament bee questioned any where but in Parliament And we for our parts shall be ready to lay down all those preparations which wee have beene forced to make for our defence And for the Town of Hull and the Ordinance concerning the Militia as we have in both these particulars onely sought the preservation and peace of the Kingdome and the defence of the Parliament from force and violence so we shall most willingly leave the town of Hull in the state it was before Sir John Hotham drew any Forces into it delivering Your Majesties Magazine into the Tower of London and supplying whatsoever hath been disposed by us for the service of the Kingdome We shall be ready to settle the Militia by a Bill in such a way as shall be honorable and safe for Your Majesty most agreeable to the dutie of Parliament and effectual for the good of the Kingdom that the strength thereof be not imployed against it self and that which ought to be for our security applyed to our destruction and that the Parliament and those who professe and desire still to preserve the Protestant Religion both in this Realm and in Ireland may not be left naked and indefensible to the mischievous designes and cruell attempts of those who are the profest and confederated enemies thereof in Your Majesties dominions and other neighbour-nations To which if Your Majesties courses and counsels shall from henceforth concur we doubt not but we shall quickly make it appear to the world by the most eminent effects of love and dutie That Your Majesties personall safety Your Royall Honour and Greatnesse are much dearer to us then our own lives and fortunes which we do most heartily dedicate and shall most willingly imploy for the support and maintenance thereof HIS MAJESTIES ANSWER To the aforesaid PETITION THough His Majestie had no great reason to beleeve That the directions sent to the Earle of Warwick to go to the river of Humber with as many Ships as He should think fit for all possible Assistance to Sir John Hotham whilest His Majestie expected the giving up of the Town unto Him and to carry away such Arms from thence as his discretion thought fit to spare out of His Majesties Own Magazin The chusing a Generall by both Houses of Parliament for the Defence of those who have obeyed their Orders and Commands be they never so extravagant and illegall Their Declaration That in that Case they would Live and Die with the Earle of Essex their Generall all which were Voted the same day with this Petition and the Committing the Lord Major of London to Prison for executing His Majesties Writs and Lawfull Commands were but ill Prologues to a Petition which might compose the miserable distractions of the Kingdome Yet His Majesties passionate desire of the Peace of the Kingdome together with the Preface of the Presenters That they had brought a Petition full of Duty and Submission to His Majestie and which desired nothing of Him but His consent to Peace which His Majestie conceived to bee the Languge of both Houses too begot a greedy hope and expectation in Him That this Petition would have been such an Introduction to Peace that it would at least have satisfied His Message of the eleventh of this Moneth by delivering up Hull unto His Majestie But to His unspeakable grief His Majestie hath too much cause to beleeve That the end of some persons by this Petition is not in truth to give any reall satisfaction to His Majestie but by the specious pretences of making offers to Him to Mis-lead and Seduce His People and lay some imputation upon Him of denying what is fit to be granted otherwise it would not have thrown those unjust Reproaches and Scandalls upon His Majestie for making necessary and just Defence for His Own Safetie and so peremptorily justified such Actions against Him as by no rule of Law
keep it And so refusing to deliver it with threats if he or any other of his fellow-servants should again repair to Hull about it and in taking and detaining Prisoners divers Gentlemen and others in their passage over the Humber into Lincolnshire about their necessary occasions and such other indignities as all Gentlemen must resent in his Majesties behalf his Majestie to shew his earnest desire of Peace for which he will dispence with his Own honour and how far he is from desire of Revenge will grant a free and generall Pardon all persons within that Town That his Majesties Magazine taken from Hull bee forthwith put into such hands as he shall appoint That his Navie be forthwith delivered into such hands as he hath directed for the government thereof the detaining thereof after his Majesties directions published and received to the contrary and imploying his Ships against him in such manner as they are now used being notorious high-treason in the Commanders of those Ships That all Arms Levies and Provisions for a War made by the Consent of both houses by whose example his Majesty hath been forced to make some preparations be immediatly laid down and the pretended Ordinance for the Militia and all power of imposing Lawes upon the Subject without his Majesties consent be disavowed without which the same pretence will remain to produce the same mischiefs all which his Majesty may as lawfully demand as to live and can with no more Justice be denyed him then his Life may be taken from him These being done and the Parliament adjourned to a safe and secure place his Majesty promises in the presence of God and bindes himself by all his confidence and assurance in the affection of his people that he will instantly and most cheerfully lay down all the force hee shall have raised and discharge all his future and intended Levies that there may be a generall face of Peace over the whole Kingdome and will repair to them And desires that all differences may bee freely debated in a Parliamentary way whereby the Law may recover its due reverence the Subject his just Liberty and Parliaments themselves their full vigour and estimation and so the whole Kingdome a blessed Peace Quiet and Prosperity If these Propositions shall be rejected his Majesty doubts not of the protection and assistance of Almighty God and the ready concurrence of his good Subjects who can have no hope left them of enjoying their own long if their King may be oppressed and spoyled and must be remedilesse And though his Towns his Ships his Arms and his Money be gotten and taken from him He hath a good Cause left and the hearts of his people which with Gods blessing he doubts not will recover all the rest Lastly if the preservation of the Protestant Religion the defence of the Liberty and Law of the Kingdome the Dignity and Freedome of Parliament and the Recoverie and the Relief of bleeding and miserable Ireland be equally precious to the Petitioners as they are to his Majesty who will have no quarrell but in defence of these there will be a cheerfull and speedy consent to what his Majesty hath now proposed and desired And of this his Majestie expects a full and positive Answer by Wednesday the 27. of his instant July till when he will not make any attempt of force upon Hull hoping in the Affection Duty and Loyalty of the Petitioners and in the mean time expects That no supply of Men be put into Hull or any of his Majesties goods taken from thence FINIS
or Justice can admit the least colour of defence and after so many free and unlimited Acts of Grace passed by His Majestie without any Condition have proposed such things which in Justice cannot be denyed to Him upon such Conditions as in Honour He cannot Grant However that all the world may see how willing His Majesty would be to embrace any overture that might beget a right understanding between Him and His two Houses of Parliament with whom He is sure He shall have no contention when the private practices and subtill insinuations of some few Malignant Persons shall bee discovered which His Majestie will take care shall bee speedily done He hath with great care weighed the particulars of this Petition and returnes this Answer That the Petitioners were never unhappy in their Petitions or Supplications to His Majestie whilest they desired any thing which was necessary or convenient for the preservation of Gods true Religion His Majesties safety and honour and the Peace of the Kingdome and therefore when those generall envious foundations are laid His Majestie could wish some particular instances had been applyed Let Envie and Malice object one particular Proposition for the preservation of Gods true Religion which His Majestie hath refused to consent to what Himself hath often made for the ease of tender consciences and for the Advancement of the Protestant Religion is notorious by many of His Messages and Declarations what regard hath been to His Honour and safecy when He hath been driven from some of His Houses and kept from other of His Towns by Force and what care there hath been of the peace of the Kingdome when endeavour hath been used to put all His Subjects in Arms against Him is so evident that His Majestie is confident He cannot suffer by those generall imputations T is enough that the world knowes what He hath granted and what He hath denyed For His Majesties raising Forces and making preparations for War whatsoever the Petitioners by the ill Acts of the Enemies to His Majesties Person and Government and by the calumnies and slanders raised against His Majestie by them are induced to beleeve all men may know what is done that way is but in Order to His Own Defence Let the Petitioners remember That which all the world knowes His Majestie was driven from His Palace of White-hall for fafety of His Life That both House of Parliament upon their own Authority raised a Guard to themselves having gotten the Command of all the Train-bands of London to that purpose without the least colour or shadow of Danger That they usurped a Power by their pretended Ordinance against all principles and elements of Law over the whole Militia of the Kingdome without and against His Majesties Consent That they tooke Possession of His Town Fort and Magazine of Hull and committed the same to Sir John Hotham who shut the Gates against His Majestie and by force of Arms denyed entrance thither to His Own Person That they justified this Act which they had not directed and took Sir John Hotham into their protection for whatsoever He had done or should do against His Majestie And all this whilst His Majestie had no other attendance then His Own meniall Servants Upon this the duty and affection of this County prompted His Subjects here to provide a small Guard for His Own Person which was no sooner done but a Vote suddenly passed of His Majesties intention to levie War against His Parliament which God knowes His Heart abhorreth and notwithstanding all His Majesties Professions Declarations and Protestations to the contrary seconded by the cleer Testimony of so great a number of Peers upon the place Propositions and Orders for levies of Men Horse and Arms were sent throughout the Kingdome Plate and Money brought in and received Horse and Men raised towards an Army mustered and under Command and all this contrary to the Law and to His Majesties Proclamation And a Declaration published That if He should use force for the recovery of Hull of suppressing the pretended Ordinance for the Militia it should be held levying War against the Parliament and all this done before His Majestie granted any Commission for the leavying or raising a Man His Majesties Ships were taken from Him and committed to the custody of the Earle of Warwick who presumes under that Power to usurp to himself the Soveraignty of the Sea to chase fright and imprison such of His Majesties good Subjects as desire to obey His lawfull Commands although He had notice of the legall Revocation of the Earle of Northumberlands Commission of Admirall whereby all Power derived from that Commission ceased Let all the world now judge who began this War and upon whose account the miseries which may follow must be cast what His Majestie could have done lesse then He hath done and whether He were not compelled to make provision both for the Defence of Himself and recovery of what is so violently and injuriously taken from Him and whether these Injuries and Indignities are not just grounds for His Majesties Feares and Apprehensions of further mischief and danger to Him Whence the Feares and Jealousies of the Petitioners have proceeded hath never been discovered the dangers they have brought upon His good Subjects are too evident what those are they have prevented no man knowes And therefore His Majestie cannot but look upon that charge as the boldest and the most scandalous hath been yet laid upon Him That this necessary provision made for his Own Safety and Defence is to over-rule the judgement and advice of his great Councell and by force to determine the questions there depending concerning the Government and Liberty of the Kingdome If no other force had been raised to determine those questions then by his Majestie this unhappy mis-understanding had not been And his Majesty no longer desires the Blessing and Protection of Almighty God upon Himself and His Posterity then he and they shall solemnly observe the due execution of the Laws in the defence of Parliaments and the just freedome thereof For the Forces about Hull His Majestie will remove them when He hath attained the end for which they were brought thither when Hull shall be reduced again to His subjection He will no longer have an Army before it and when He shall be assured That the same necessity and pretence of publike good which took Hull from Him may not put a Garrison into Newcastle to keep the same against Him He will remove His from thence and from Tinmouth till when the example of Hull will not out of His memory For the Commissions of Array which are legall and are so proved by a Declaration now in the Presse His Majestie wonders why they should at this time bee thought grievous and fit to be recalled If the feares of Invasion and Rebellion be so great that by an illegall pretended Ordinance it is necessary to put His Subjects into a posture of defence to Array Traine and Muster them
He knows not why the same should not be done in a Regular Known Lawfull way but if in the execution of that Commission any thing shall bee unlawfully imposed upon His Subjects His Majesty will take all just and necessary care for their redresse For His Majesties coming nearer to His Parliament His Majestie hath expressed Himself so fully in His severall Messages Answers and Declarations and so particularly avowed a reall fear of His safety upon such instances as cannot bee answered that He hath reason to take Himself some what neglecsted That sines upon so manifest reasons it is not safe for His Majestie to come to them both His Houses of Parliament will not come neerer to His Majesty or to such a Place where the Freedome and Dignity of Parliament might bee preserved However His Majestie shall be very glad to hear of some such example in their punishing the Tumults which He knowes not how to expect when they have declared that they knew not of any Tumults though the House of Peeres desired both for the Dignity and Freedome of Parliament that the House of Commons would joyne with them in a Declaration against Tumults which they refused that is neglected to do and other seditious Actions Speeches and Writings as may take that apprehension of danger from Him Though when He remembers the particular complaints Himself hath made of businesses of that nature and that in stead of inquiring out the Authors neglect of examination hath been when offer hath been made to both Houses to produce the Authors as in that treasonable Paper concerning the Militia and when he sees every day Pamphlets published against His Crown and against Monarchy it self as the Observations upon His late Messages Declarations and Expressions and some Declarations of their own which give too great encouragement in that Argument to ill-affected persons His Majestie cannot with confidence entertain those hopes which would be most welcome to Him For the leaving Delinquents to the due course of Justice His Majestie is most assured He hath been no shelter to any such if the tediousnesse and delay in prosecution the vast charge in Officers Fees the keeping men under a generall Accusation without tryall a whole year and more and so allowing them no way for their defence and vindication have frighted men away from so chargeable and uncertain an attendance the remedy is best provided where the disease grew If the Law be the measure of Delinquency none such are within His Majesties protection But if by Delinquents such are understood who are made so by Vote without any trespasse upon any known or established Law If by Delinquents those nine Lords are understood who are made Delinquents for obeying His Majesties Summons to come to Him after their stay there was neither safe nor honourable by reason of the Tumults and other Violences and whose impeachment He is confident is the greatest breach of priviledge that before this Parliament was ever offered to the House of Peeres If by Delinquents such are understood who refuse to submit to the pretended Ordinance of the Militia to that of the Navie or to any other which His Majesty hath not consented to Such who for the peace of the Kingdome in an humble manner prepare Petitions to Him or to both Houses as His good Subjects of London and Kent did whilest seditious ones as that of Essex and other places are allowed and cherished If by Delinquents such are understood who are called so for publishing His Proclamations as the Lord Major of London or for reading his Messages and Declarations as divers Ministers about London and elsewhere when those against him are dispersed with all Care and Industry to poyson and corrupt the loyalty and affection of his people If by Delinquents such are understood who have or shall lend his Majesty money in the Universities or in any other places his Majesty declares to all the world that he will protect such with his utmost power and strength and directs That in these Cases they submit not to any Messengers or Warrants it being no lesse his duty to protect those who are innocent then to bring the guilty to condigne punishment of both which the Law is to be judge And if both houses do think fit to make a Generall and to raise an Army for defence of those who obey their Orders and Commands his Majesty must not sit still and suffer such who submit to his just power and are solicitous for the Laws of the Land to perish and he undone because they are called Delinquents And when they shall take upon them to dispence with the attendance of those who are called by his Majesties Writ whilst the send them to Sea to rob his Majesty of his Ships or into the severall Counties to put his Subjects in Arms against him his Majesty who onely hath it will not lose the power to dispence with them to attend his Own person or to execute such Offices as are necessary for the preservation of himself and the Kingdome but must protect them though they are called Delinquents For the manner of the proceeding against Delinquents his-Majesty will proceed against those who have no priviledge of Parliament or in such Cases where no priviledge is to be allowed as he shall be advised by his learned Councell and according to the known and unquestionable rules of the Law it being unreasonable that he should bee compelled to proceed against those who have violated the known and undoubted Law only before them who have directed such violation Having said thus much to the particulars of the Petition though his Majesty hath reason to complain That since the sending this Petition they have beaten their Drums for Souldiers against him armed their new Generall with a Power destructive to the Law and Liberty of the Subjects and chosen a Generall of their horse his Majesty out of his Princely Love Tendernesse and Compassion of his People and desire to preserve the peace of the Kingdom that the whole force and strength of it may be united for the defence of it self and the relief of Ireland in whose behalf he conjures both his houses of Parliament as they will answer the contrary to Almighty God his Majestie to those that trust them and to that bleeding miserable Kingdome that they suffer not any Moneyes granted and collected by Act of Parliament to be diverted or imployed against his Majesty whilest his Souldiers in that Kingdome are ready to mutiny or perish for want of pay and the barbarous Rebels prevail by that encouragement is graciously pleased once more to propose and require That his Town of Hull be immediately delivered up to him which being done though his Majesty hath been provoked by unheard of Insolencies of Sir John Hotham since his burning and drowning the Countrey in seizing his Wine and other Provisions for his house and scornfully using his Servant whom he sent to require them saying It came to him by Providence and he will