Churches under their government The King answered With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my Pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your charge all Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Justice and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King in his Kingdom in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their government Then the King arose and was led by the Bishops of Duresme and Bath and Wells to the Communion-Table where he made a solemn Oath in sight of all the People to observe the Premises and laying his hand upon the Bible said The OATH The things which I have here promised I shall perform and keep So help me God and the Contents of this Book On the eighth of May a new Parliament met which continued many years Since the year before the Regicides had been brought to condign punishment the three Estates of Parliament now condemned to the flames the Solemn League and Covenant the Bond of the English and Scottish Conspiracy and Sacrament of the Presbyterian Villany The same was done by the Parliament of Scotland and Ireland and that which had raised a Civil Combustion and propagated the same all over Britain and Ireland is now burnt by the hand of the Hangman and by its own ashes expiated at length the wickedness of three Nations This year was concluded or the new begun by the further punishment of Regicides For by Order of Parliament Mouson an upstart Lord Sir Henry Mildmay heretofore Keeper of the Jewels to the late King and therefore the more criminal and Robert Wallop on the seven and twentieth of January the day whereon the blessed King had been condemned were in Hurdles with Halters about their necks dragged to Tyburn and back again to Town being sentenced to perpetual imprisonment It was sufficiently made out that they had been Members of that execrable High Court of Justice but because they had not signed the Warrant for the Kings execution they were onely punished by Bonds and Imprisonment Hazelrigg in the mean time one of the bitterest of all the Traytors being sentenced to the same punishment pined away with anger and grief and unable to bare his disgrace prevented the dishonour and his captivity by a timely death in the Tower of London The same punishment was inflicted upon the Traytors who as we said before came in upon the Kings Proclamation For being brought to the Bar because waving all defence they humbly acknowledged their Crime and that they were a Crew most part of them of silly seduced Rascals drawn in either by the arts or threatnings of Cromwel they redeemed their necks from the Gallows which they had so often deserved by a perpetual imprisonment to which being closely confined they lived to see their Villany punished by Infamy But fortune was more favourable to the Traytors that came in at home than to those who fled abroad for about that time Sir George Downing being Embassadour in Holland had intelligence that three of the Fugitive Regicides Barkstead Okey and Corbet being come back out of Germany lurked in Delf He therefore having obtained a Warrant from the States General seized them and sent them over to England where being brought to a tryal they were condemned for High-Treason and April the nineteenth executed at Tyburn They went all to death with a fanatical ostentation of Piety But Barkstead and Corbet approaching to their end after many ugly delays and cups of Strong-waters unwillingly put their trembling necks into the Halter which quickly put an end to the Wretches half dead already for fear But Okey being a man of an undaunted mind and making use of his courage to the last went off with the bravoury of a Souldier and not undecently had he so died for his Country Corbet was heretofore an inspired prating Lawyer more skilful in the Principles of Fanaticks than in the Laws he got to be a Member of that long and black Parliament and no man was more professedly an implacable Enemy to the King The low extraction of Okey is buried in obscurity Being a Tallow-chandler in London and weary of his poor condition he followed the profitable Wars of the Parliament where his daringness advanced him to the place of a Colonel and at length to be one of the chief Judges in trying and sentencing the King Barkstead was heretofore a whifling Goldsmith in London and had raised himself upon the Ruines of his Country But those who knew the cunning of Oliver in chusing his Magistrates wondered that he preferred so silly and idle a fellow even to be a Colonel and Lieutenant of the Tower of London besides other Offices But that kind of stupid fierceness was more useful to Cromwel than the cunninger knavery of others for the Tyrant himself for the most part looked another way and commanded the Villanies which he would not behold so that this fellow no doubt was privy to the furious Councils of Cromwel and a trusty Minister of his Protectoral Cruelty And so long as he was chief Jaylor to Oliver the barbarous Villain was never startled at the sight of the Murders and Imprisonments of so many Nobles and worthy Subjects His head was set upon a Gate of the Tower whereof heretofore he had been Governour that upon the same Stage where he acted his greatest Crimes he might suffer his greatest Punishment The first Prodigy of the Regicides was their matchless impudence in putting to death the King and their next their obstinacy to the last For when they had murdered the best of Kings to the shame of Christianity the infamy of the Reformation and the universal reproach and malediction of Fanatick Zeal these godly Regicides were ashamed when Treason stuck in their breasts to confess their hypocritical pretending Religion even at the last gasp Nay their Godliness made them so impudent as rather to know themselves guilty and deny it to save their reputation amongst their Brethren than humbly and modestly to acknowledge their Crimes The Authority of Parliament was the onely thing that all of them alleadged to justifie their Parricide as if a Gang of fifty Robbers who had so often violated that Authority had been worthy of that name when there was neither the colour nor resemblance of a House of Commons left Nec color Imperii nec frons fuit illa Senatûs But since they could live no longer to do mischief their whole care was at their death to harden the minds of their Party by a fanatical assertation of dying good men when it was rather the highest Judgment of an offended God to let them fill up the Cup of their bold Indignities by a desperate end It was time now for the King who was a Batchelour to think of Marriage that he might leave a Posterity for the future
67 infra Strafford Earl 21 23. His Tryal 24. T. Tryal of his Sacred Majesty K. Charles I. 144 Tumults and Riots 25 Tunnage and Poundage 18 V. Vote of Non-Addresses 95. Is rescinded 102. W. War its beginning 42 Wight Isle the Treaty there 102. inf The Kings Concessions there voted satisfactory 136. Writs of Summons to Parliament the form 7 ERRATA'S To the First Part. PAge 1. line 8. for to read of p. 66. l. 3. r. honour p. 67. l. 33. for shewing r. shew p. 74. l. 9. adde from p. 82. l. 2. r. muttering p. 102. l. 10. r. levitie p. 137. l. 23. adde who p. 159. l. 9. r. reported ibid. l. 11. r. harmonious p. 162. l. 2. r. bounds ibid. l. 11. r. Rectitude p. 163. l. 3. r. Charge To the Second Part. PAge 22. line 7. read Rathmeenes p. 27. l. 3. r. Arts p. 30. l. 21. r. Butler p. 48. l. 15. r. envied p. 58. l. 7. adde most p. 66. l. 31. adde for p. 67. l. 12. r. Execute p. 74. l. 26. r. Nor p. 87. l. penult dele are p. 96. l. 14. r. make p. 104. l. 35. r. hand p. 108. l. 28. r. Dirlton p. 121. l. 35. r. Massey p. 124. l. 1. r. Coming presently to blows at the Town of Wigan p. 125. l. 23. r. Keith p. 204. l. 35. r. obey To the Third Part. PAge 15. line 2. read retained p. 41. l. 1. r. farce p. 44 l. 14. r. Leicester Vicount Hereford p. 53. l. 29. r. Sollicitor-General p. 63. l. 23. r. Sir Richard Baker's p. 66. l. 16. r. Mounson p. 82. l. 29. r. Falmouth p. 86. l. 20. dele was p. 90. l. 2. r. fight A short HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE Rise and Progress OF THE Late Troubles in England ENgland as all the Records of our Antiquity tell us never was governed but by the authority of a King and though it hath been divided into several Kingdoms or rather Camps yet it never had rest from intestine Commotions nor foreign Invasions till it came under the Obedience and Protection to one sole Monarch Since that it is now above a thousand years that Kings in a continued succession have reigned with supreme Authority in England And so great all along hath been the Love and Reverence that the People have had towards a Prince that he was always judged the fittest and most worthy of the Government who was next in Bloud to the King so that no factious Election but lawful Birthright could ever warrant a Title to the Crown The Royal Heir of the last King though an Infant is immediately carried to the Throne even in the Cradle And in this kind of immortality in reigning the Laws glory That the King of England never dies Nay and by the ancient common Law all Subjects above twelve years of age are bound by Oath to bear a peculiar Faith by the Laws called Allegiance to the lawful Prince to him alone and for ever even before he be crowned and that their Obedience may be confirmed upon a double account a religious Oath that of Supremacy is likewise to be taken to the King I must here beg the Readers pardon if in the very beginning I speak of the Kings Prerogative the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the People which to our Country-men who have studied the point perhaps may be tedious though to the Work we now undertake it be absolutely necessary seeing thereby it will appear who have been the Violators and who the Observers of the Laws In the first place what great power the King has over the lives and fortunes of his Subjects is hereby made manifest that mediately or immediately they all hold their Estates of the King that is to say that whatever Lands and Possessions they enjoy in fee or feudal rights they owe them more to the bounty of the King than to Fortune And therefore all Estates failing of lawful Heirs or when the Owners forfeit them by Felony or Treason flow back to the Kings Exchequer as to the Ocean from whence they have been derived The King as Father of the Country has the care of the persons of Pupils and Lunaticks and enjoys their Rents and Revenues Nay by the ancient Laws it is not lawful for them to contract Marriage without his consent and if they do they are to be severely censured And that what is to be given to Caesar may be known by the publick Money the matter form manner and value of Coyn is varied according to the will and pleasure of the King All Honours Titles and Priviledges all publick Corporations and Societies flow from and are constituted by the Crown the Admiral Chancellor Treasurer Judges Sheriffs Justices of Peace are onely made by the King in whose name alone their Writs Warrants and Sentences pass nor does any of them enter into Office before he hath taken an Oath of Fidelity to the King and of faithful administration None but the King has power of Peace and War who orders Military Discipline according to his will and pleasure and not by the forms or prescripts of Laws and as he himself thinks fit disposes of the Forces both by Sea and Land it being necessary that he who watches for the safety of the Common-wealth should be invested with sufficient Power to repress intestine Seditions and repel foreign Invasions Upon that account it belongs onely to him to appoint Musters and Levies of Souldiers secure the Castles and Garisons with which maritim Fortifications England even in the profoundest time of Peace is no less secured than by the Seas as often as there is need also to fit out a Fleet and to set Governours and Commanders over both Nor is the Sword neither to be weilded by any other hand but that which sways the Scepter so that if any one without the Kings command take up Arms for the defence of the Kings Person and Rights he is by so doing guilty of High-Treason and liable to the punishment of a Traytor without a special Pardon from the King Nor is his Power more limited in Ecclesiastical than Civil affairs for since the authority of the Pope being shaken off the Church was made part of the Kingdom and the Clergy after long reluctancy began to be contented with the common priviledges of Subjects the King became at length Custos utriusque tabulae and as he ever was in right before so was he then acknowledged and confirmed by Law to be supreme Head and Governour in spiritual as well as temporal affairs and owned to be in a manner the Bishop of the Kingdom wherein in the promotion of Bishops conferring of Dignities appointing Fasts enjoyning Rites and Ceremonies in the Church he hath with the advice of the Fathers and Rulers of the Church always exercised a supreme and sacred Power and Authority He hath also so great power over the Laws themselves though he obliges himself to govern
famous Colonel Knight received the Salutations and Respects of the Forces in their Arms and having praised them for their dutifulness and affection proceeded forwards the people strewing Flowers and Leaves of Trees in the way and in all places offering him the choicest marks of their Honour When he was come near the City the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London welcomed him upon their knees The Mayor delivered his Majesty the Sword the Badge of his Dignity which the King graciously gave him back again and being conducted into a large and richly-adorned Pavillion was entertained at a splendid Collation From thence with a magnificent train of Persons of all quality over London-bridge he entered the City amidst such a glorious appearance of brave and great men that scarcely in any Age the triumphal Bridge of Rome ever bore a greater Pomp or victorious Tyber saw or Euphrates of old or the yet more ancient Tygris Along the Streets from London-bridge to White-hall on the one side in a continued order the Trained-bands of the City were drawn up and on the other the Companies in their Livery-gowns the houses on each side being hung with Tapistry The tops of the houses and windows were filled with vast multitudes of Spectators the People from all places flocking to this glorious and joyful Show There were no less than twenty thousand richly attired on horseback The first that led the Cavalcade were some Troops of young Gentlemen in a various most rich dress and shining Arms with Trumpets sounding before them The Sheriffs of London's men with their Spears followed after next after whom marched six hundred of the chief Citizens in Velvet-coats and Gold-chains Then followed the Kings Horse-guards led by the Lord Gerrard their Captain With the chearful musick of Drums Trumpets and Waits next advanced the Sheriffs and Aldermen of London in their Scarlet-gowns and their Horses richly deckt with Trapings their Footmen attending them shining with Gold and Silver Then followed the Kings of Arms and Heralds in their rich Coats and next to them the Lord Mayor carrying in his right hand the naked Sword and after him the Illustrious Duke of Buckingham and the renowned General Monk And now appeared Charles the Wishes of all good men and the Joys of the happy conspicuous in a triumphant Majesty On the right hand rode the Duke of York on the left the Duke of Gloucester he himself on a stately horse in the middle carrying all Triumphs and Diadems in his looks which seemed then more than humane After his Majesty came his chief Courtiers and Servants General Monk's Life-guard commanded by Sir Philip Howard and then five Regiments of Horse of Monk's Army led by Colonel Knight This Triumphal Procession was brought up by a vast body of Noblemen and Gentlemen with red Colours fringed with Gold in rich Attire shining Arms their Swords drawn and Plumes of Feather in their Hats In this order the King marched slowly through the City amidst the shouts acclamations and joyful looks of his Subjects which he triumphantly heard and beheld And now entring his Royal Palace he mounted the Throne of his Forefathers on the twenty ninth of May heretofore the day of his Birth and now of his Restauration after he had been since Worcester-fight ten years banished his Country The Members of both Houses of Parliament came to wait on his Majesty in the Banquetting-house there to express their joyful Congratulations for his Return and unfeigned Loyalty to the Government which was eloquently done by the Earl of Manchester for the House of Lords and Sir Harbotle Grimstone for the Commons The King tired out with the Fatigues of his triumphant Journey made them this short Answer I Am so disordered by my Journey and with the noise still sounding in my ears which I confess was pleasing to me because it expressed the Affections of my People as I am unfit at the present to make such a Reply as I desire yet thus much I shall say unto you That I take no greater satisfaction to my self in this my Change than that I find my heart really set to endeavour by all means for the restoring of this Nation to their Freedom and Happiness and I hope by the advice of my Parliament to assert it Of this also you may be confident That next to the honour of God from whom principally I shall ever own this Restauration to my Crown I shall study the welfare of my People and shall not onely be a true Defender of the Faith but a just Assertor of the Laws and Liberties of my Subjects The night following was consecrated to Joy The Conduits running Wine and the whole City lighted by Bonfires The loyal Citizens willing to lull asleep the memory of twenty years Calamities merrily spent the night in the noise of Trumpets Drums and Volleys of shot The providence of God Almighty never appeared more visible in humane affairs for now the Golden Age returns a Happiness too good for our times the blessed day shone forth wherein King Charles being restored to his Country restored his Country to it self and united Liberty and Monarchy two things thought incompatible under the traiterous Usurpers The honour of the Laws which makes all things firm and durable returned The splendour of the Church of England and the ancient Rites of Worship also returned Piety coming in place of Sectarian Superstition The King having tasted a little of the delights of his Return seriously set about the setling of the State entangl'd with so many Civil Dissentions and rent by Divisions and in the first place appointed a Privy-Council and disposed of the chief places of his Kingdom and Court The King makes the most Illustrious James Duke of York Lord High Admiral a Prince renowned at home and abroad and crowned with many Victories Edward Hide Earl of Clarendon was made Lord Chancellor in Eloquence not inferiour to the most famed Orators nor in Prudence to the greatest Statesmen The uncorrupted Earl of Southampton with Honour and Integrity discharged the Office of Lord High Treasurer The Illustrious charge of Steward of the Kings Houshold was conferred upon the Duke of Ormond a Peer of a steddy Judgment of the Honesty of elder times and renowned both in Peace and War The Earl of Manchester whose Loyalty had been proved was created Lord Chamberlain of the House Nicholas and Morrice two aged Knights and consummated in business were the Principal Secretaries of State Monk the Restorer formerly by the Kings Commission made General of all the British Forces is now advanced to be Master of the Horse and honoured with the Illustrious Title of Duke of Albemarle For his noble Extraction gave him a claim to the Honour of the Albemarlian Family and the bounty of the King in rewarding his good Services an Estate to support it Nor was the most Religious King less careful of the
for the deceased or sung their Praises in hanging Elegies his Poetry surpassing his Oratory especially when he treated of such monstrous subjects Strangers may perhaps wonder and no less our Posterity at home that such base and contemptible fellows many of them Brewers others who drank as they had brewed and spent their Estates and some again whose ignominious Poverty was a scandal to the Nation should overturn the flourishing state of England and get to the top of Authority and Government Would we know the cause of it These were the Spoils and these the Trophies of Heresie which taking its rise from the Sermonizing Presbyterian Ministers increased by the Independants hurried on by the Kennel of all the Sectarians and by a kind of flying Contagion spread over all the Forces could not be stopt till they had shed the Royal Bloud subverted the Parliament and made one ruinous heap of all good Subjects Some time before September the twenty third the Princess of Orange was come into her Native Country more fatal to her than a foreign Land to congratulate his Majesties return but falling sick of the Small Pox at London on Christmas-Eve she died being snatched away amidst the Triumphs and fresh Lawrels of her Brother Charles she onely shared in the adverse fortune of her Family and renewed the Mourning wherein the Court still was for the untimely death of the Duke of Gloucester I shall begin the year with the Solemnities of the Coronation of King Charles On the two and twentieth of May the King from the Tower of London as the custom is at the Coronation of our Kings passed through the City where in honour of so great a Solemnity the Citizens of London in the more eminent places of the streets erected four Triumphal Arches of a vast height and bigness elaborate Pieces of Art and exquisite Engines of Pomp bearing Inscriptions and Devices and adorned with Painting and gilding The first Arch bore in its Frontispice the Triumph of Charles upon his return To CHARLES the II. By the grace of G. K. of G. Brit. To the Best and Greatest And ever most Venerable Ever most August The most Happy most Pious Who was born for our Good Who of his Native Britain And of Mankind in general Has deserved most To the Father of our Country The Extinguisher of Tyranny The Restorer of our Liberty The Founder of our Quiet In memory of his happy And long-desired Restitution We Willingly and Joyfully Have placed this S. P. Q. L. CAROLO II. D. G. Britanniarum Imp. Optim Maxim Vbique Venerando Semper Aug. Beatissimo Piissimo Bono Reip. Nato De Avitâ Britan. De omnium Hominum genere Meritissimo P. P. Extinctori Tyrannidis Restitutori Libertatis Fundatori Quietis Ob Faelicem Reditum Ex voto L. M. P. S. P. Q. L. The second being a Naval bore this Inscription To the British Neptune CHARLES the II. By whose Authority The Sea Is free or restrain'd NEPTVNO Britannico CAROLO II. Cujus Arbitrio Mare Vel Liberum vel Clausum The third placed in the middle of the City represented the Temple of Concord with this Inscription The Temple of CONCORD Erected in honour of the best of Princes By whose return The British Sea and Land being appeas'd and By its ancient Laws reform'd He has restored Enlarged and adorned it S. P. Q. L. Aedem CONCORDIAE In Honorem Optimi Principis Cujus Adventu Britannia Terrâ Marique Pacata Et Priscis Legibus Reformata est Ampliorem Splendidioremque Restituit S. P. Q. L. The last exhibited the Garden of Plenty and Cornucopia's with the Statues of Bacâ—bus Ceres Flora and Pomana with this Inscription To Plenty and to Augustus The fire of Civil War Being Extinguished And the Temple of War shut This Lofty Altar Was built by the S. A. P. O. L. VBERTATI Aug. Extincto Belli Civilis Incendio Clausoque Jani Templo Aram Celsiss Construxit S. P. Q. L. Under all these the King rode on horse-back streight to his Palace in a triumphant manner with Trumpets Musick and the joyful Acclamations of the People being attended by the Nobility his Majesties Ministers and Servants the Heralds Kings at Arms the Kings Judges and Knights of the Bath The solemnity of this day though it was not so great in the number of Attendents yet in richness and splendour of Cloaths and Arms it surpassed the triumphant Entry of the King upon his return Next morning the King was in great pomp conducted to Westminster-Abbey where in his Imperial Robes the Prelates in their Myters and the Nobles in their Parliament-Robes conducted him to his Throne and the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed him with the sacred Oyl Afterwards all the ancient and usual Ceremonies upon such occasions were performed ¶ The Author of this History designing the utmost brevity hath not mentioned any of these Ceremonies but Mr. Philips in his Continuation of Dr. Richard Baker's Chronicle has very exactly set forth all the Rituals then used but hath omitted the Coronation-Oath and onely given an Epitom of it and there having of late years been strange Pretences raised upon the account of this Oath it is thought fit to insert the same here from Mr. Sanderson's History of Charles the First with that variety of Circumstances which were used in the Coronation here mentioned expressed by Mr. Philips Coronation-Oath SIR said the Bishop of London will you grant and keep and by your Oath confirm to the People of England the Laws and Customs to them granted by the Kings of England your Lawful and Religious Predecessors and namely the Laws Customs and Franchises granted to the Clergie by the Glorious King St. Edward your Predecessor according to the Laws of God the true Profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom agreeable to the Prerogative of the Kings thereof and the ancient Customs of the Realm The King's Answer I grant and promise to keep them Bishop Sir Will you keep Peace and goodly Agreement according to your power both to God the holy Church the Clergie and the People King I will keep it Bishop Sir Will you to your power cause Law Justice and Discretion with Mercy and Truth to be executed to your Judgment King I will Bishop Sir Will you grant to hold and keep the Laws and rightful Customs which the Commonalty of this Kingdom have and will you defend and uphold them to the honour of God so much as in you lieth King I grant and promise so to do Then the Bishop of Rochester read this Admonition to the King before the People with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to your charge all Canonical Priviledges and do Law and Justice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King to his Kingdoms ought to be Protector and Defender of the Bishops and the
intersint ad consentiendum his quae tum ibidem de communi concilio Regni nostri Divinâ favente clementiâ contigerit ordinari Teste Meipso c. The ancient form of the Writ to the Peers The Kings Writ to the Nobles or Peers runs thus CHARLES by the grace of God c. to the most Reverend Father in Christ if it speaks to any of the Bishops to Our Cousin if it is addressed to any Duke Marquess or Earl To our Beloved and Faithful if to a Baron Whereas by the advice of Our Council We have ordained that Our Parliament shall be holden at Westminster c. for the dispatch of certain difficult and urgent Affairs concerning or pertaining to Us and the State and Defence of Our Kingdom of England and of the Church of England and there to hold a Colloquy and Treat with you and with the rest of the Prelates Great men and Nobles of Our said Kingdom of England Therefore We by the Fidelity and Love if the Writ be sent to the Bishops by the Fidelity and Allegiance if to any of the Peers which you owe to Us streightly injoyning command you that in consideration of the difficulty of the aforesaid Affairs and of the Dangers impending laying aside all Excuses at the day and place aforesaid you personally appear to treat with Us together with the rest of the Prelates Great men and Nobles concerning the Affairs aforesaid and thereupon give Us your counsel And this you are not to omit as you love Us and Our Honour and the Safety of Our said Kingdom and the expedition of the said Affairs And if the Writ be directed to a Bishop it goes on further thus And you are to forewarn the Dean and Chapter of your Church and all the Clergy of your Diocess that the said Dean and the Archdeacons be personally present and the said Chapter by one and the said Clergy by two sufficient Procurators having full and sufficient power from the said Chapter and Clergy at the day and place aforesaid to Consent to those things which then and there by the favour of the divine Clemency shall happen to be ordained by the Common Council of Our Kingdom Witness my self c. Ad Communes seu Inferioris Confessus Senatores Aliud Rescriptum ad Vicecomites Praesides Civitatum seu Municipiorum conceptis hisce verbis ità se habet Rex Vicecomiti salutem Quia de advisamento assensu Concilii nostri c. progreditur ut superius ibidem cum Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus Regni nostri Colloquium habere tractatum Tibi praecipimus firmiter injungentes quòd factâ Proclamatione in Comitatu tuo post receptionem hujus Brevis nostri Parliamenti tenendi die loco praedictis duos Milites gladiis cinctos magis idoneos discretos Comitatûs praedicti de qualibet Civitate Comitatûs illius duos Cives de quolibet Burgo duos Burgenses de discretioribus magìs sufficientibus liberè indifferenter per illos qui Electioni huic interfuerint juxta formam Statutorum indè edictorum provisorum eligi nomina eorundem Militum Civium Burgensium in quibusdam Indenturis inter te illos qui hujusmodi Electioni interfuerint conficiendis sive hujusmodi electi praesentes fuerint sive absentes inseri eósque ad dictum diem locum venire facies Ità quòd iidem Milites plenam sufficientem potestatem pro se Communitate praedicti Comitatûs ac dicti Cives Burgenses pro se Communitatibus Civitatum Burgorum praedictorum divisim ab ipsis habeant ad faciendum consentiendum his quae tum ibidem de communi Concilio Regni nostri favente Deo contigerit ordinari super negotiis antè dictis ità nè pro defectu potestatis hujusmodi seu propter improvidam Electionem Militum Civium aut Burgensium praedictorum praedicta negotia infecta maneant quovis modo Nolumus tamen quòd tu nec aliquis alius Vicecomes dicti Regni nostri aliqualiter sit electus To the Members of the House of Commons Another Writ directed to the Sheriffs and Chief Magistrates of Cities and Corporations runs thus The King to the Sheriff greeting Whereas by the Advice and Assent of Our Council c. as before then and there to hold a Colloquy and Treaty with Our Prelates Great men and Nobles of Our Kingdom c. We command and streightly injoyn you that a Proclamation being made in your County Court after the receipt of this Our Writ concerning Our Parliament to be holden at the day and place aforesaid you do cause two Knights of the most fitting and discreet of your County aforesaid and of every City in the said County two Citizens and of every Burrow or Corporation two Burgesses of the most discreet and sufficient to be freely and indifferently chosen according to the form of the Statutes in that case made and provided by those who shall be then present at the said Election and you are also to insert the names of the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses whether the persons so elected be present or absent in certain Indentures to be made betwixt you and those who shall be present at the said Election and you shall cause them to appear at the day and place aforesaid so as the said Knights have full and sufficient power for themselves and the Community of the aforesaid County and the said Citizens and Burgesses for themselves and the Communities of the said Cities and Corporations severally to do and consent to those things which by the favour of God shall by the Common Council of Our Kingdom be ordained concerning the Affairs aforesaid so that by the want of such Power or by the improvident Election of the Knights Citizens or Burgesses aforesaid the Affairs aforesaid be not in any way left unfinished undispatched Yet We will not that you or any other Sheriff of Our said Kingdom be by any means elected These things being punctually performed according to exactness of Law the Members in a solemn and splendid Procession such as may imprint an Awe and Reverence in the minds of the People go first to Church and then to the Parliament-house And at that time the King coming into the House of Lords and having called up the Members of the House of Commons either speaks to them himself or causes the Lord Chancellor to declare to them the weighty causes of their meeting and what it is he would have them consult and deliberate about for the Publick Good The King is not obliged afterward unless he please to be present at their Consultations except at the end of a Session that he may give the strength and vigour of a Law to their Bills The Knights and Burgesses of the Lower House have severally the Oath of Allegiance administred unto them by one appointed for that effect by the King which amongst other things
interposeth and very often whilst the Presbyterians were at the helm disturb the religious meetings of the other Sectarians by hurling of Stones amongst them The liberty of a great many being contrary to expectation restrained the Parliament settle the Presbyterian government onely for three years that in that time they might have a tryal how it would fadge This Novelty set mens humours wonderfully a working The Politicians and Lawyers were highly offended that there were as many Judicatures established as there were Parishes in England and these almost arbitrary putting the Rule into the hands of unskilful men and for the most part incapable of government and began to foresee at a distance I know not what calamities ready to spring from thence in Families Parishes Counties nay and in the whole Kingdom also Most part of the people grumble to be put again to School and to be taught the Rudiments and Principles of their Religion wherein they thought themselves already very well instructed Those that were zealous for Episcopal government and the Service-book bite the bit But none repined more than the Independants Anabaptists and the other Sects who saw their beloved liberty of Conscience in danger for which they had at first taken up Arms against the King hazarded their lives in so many battels and suffered so much labour cost watchings and danger Nevertheless the Government went bravely on in London but so and so in the other Cities and populous Towns and but very coldly in the Country so that the triennial Essay being over and no new Act made to confirm it it had much ado to keep life And thus far concerning Church-affairs which we thought fit to relate together though they happened not all at the same time Let us now return to the other arts whereby they wheadled the Scots Amongst which it was of greatest moment no less for endearing the Scots to them than for raising their power and authority amongst the Natives to sell the Bishops Lands at very easie rates so that Purchasers flocked in from all quarters who with the materials of demolished Palaces and the Timber they cut down having paid for their Purchases got large and entire Mannors almost for nothing And that once for all I may tell it they lay Excise Customs and such heavy and continual Taxes and Impositions upon the people as none of all the Kings that ever sat upon the Throne of England durst ever before that time impose and such as were not onely sufficient to defray all publick expenses but in some measure also the insatiable avarice and voraciousness of their Factors and Agents besides what they got by plundering sequestration and other ways The Scots being allured by these Morsels are tooth and nail for the interests of the Parliament The Scots the declared enemies of Episcopacy fearing the worst if the King should obtain the victory over the Parliament and being drawn in by the aforementioned baits enter into Articles of a Confederacy among which to give a colour of honesty and integrity to the rest the chief was That no hurt be attempted against his Majesties person nor prejudice done to the Rights or Heirs of the Crown an Oath being likewise taken by the Members of both Houses and all the Inhabitants of both Kingdoms being forced to do the same This they call the Solemn League and Covenant and in it promise That according to their Places and Callings they shall endeavour the preservation of the reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government The reformation of Religion in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Word of God and the example of the best reformed Churches and shall endeavour to bring the Churches of God in the three Kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in Religion c. That they shall also endeavour the extirpation of Popery Prelacy Superstition Heresie Schism Profaneness c. That they shall mutually endeavour to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Parliaments and the Liberties of the Kingdoms and to preserve and defend the Kings Majesties person and authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms That the World may bear witness with their Consciences of their Loyalty that they have no thoughts or intentions to diminish his Majesties just power and greatness That they shall endeavour to discover all Incendiaries and Malignants branding with those aspersions all that favoured the Kings Party that they may be brought to publick tryal and receive condign punishment That they shall endeavour that the Kingdoms may remain conjoyned in a firm Peace and Vnion to Posterity shall assist and defend all those that enter into that League and Covenant and shall zealously and constantly all the days of their lives continue therein No inconsiderable Authors of entering into this Covenant were the Independents Anabaptists and Republicans and the chief and most severe in forcing it upon others who were unwilling to take the same though many of themselves purposely refrained from swearing it lest upon that account they should oblige themselves to the defence of the Kings person It is also to be observed that the clause of defending the Kings Majesties person and authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms was by their artifices foisted in contrary to the sence and tenour of the Covenant under colour forsooth that the safety of his Majesties person was sufficiently secured by other Oaths that the repetition of the same promise would but harden the Kings mind against the Parliament and make the People scrupulous in obeying the same But in reality as appeared afterward that all obstacles being as much as might be removed they might make way for the murther of the King These things being contrived and carried on betwixt the factious Scots and English those who took that Covenant with an honest purpose as many good men did being won over by fear delusion or false hope called themselves Presbyterians other Factious of less note as Independents Anabaptists and other Fanaticks not disdaining to list themselves in the same Cause These cruelly persecute all Dissenters who will not engage in that holy Covenant though they had acted nothing before against the Parliamentary Faction though they had not refused to pay any Taxes and Impositions nay though they had freely contributed for the pay of the Parliament-forces The Parsons especially who enjoyed fat Benefices are sequestrated and deprived of their Houses Goods and Livings put into Prisons and Dungeons for many years together nay and put on board of Ships upon the Thames in the heat of Summer in order to transportation without being either accused or heard where they suffered all the incommodities of hunger watching and nastiness By the Religion of this Covenant Children were taught to persecute inform against and
both of a Christian and a King and will patiently wait the good pleasure of Almighty God to incline the hearts of his two Houses to consider their King and compassionate their fellow-Subjects miseries The King having delivered this Answer sealed up to be carried to the Parliament the Earl of D. who hankered too much after the Oligarchick Republicans desired it to be opened again that the Commissioners might be acquainted with what they brought back as he said was fitting they being Commissioners and not Posts or Couriers though no such thing was contained in their publick instructions he having past his promise that no prejudice should therefrom accrew to the King But so soon as the King to satisfie them had read over his Answer himself without any respect had to their faith and promise they confine the best of Princes to closer imprisonment in â—arisborough-Castle where then he was They put from him all his Servants except some new comers and enemies whom they placed about his person rather in derision and as a Guard than for attending and serving him And that he might not have the use of the least bit of Paper secretly conveyed to him by any Messenger they set Sentinels at all the entries at the doors and windows of his Chamber The Oligarchick Rebels Cromwel and the other Commanders of the Army being resolved to pursue their designe the Kings Answer wrought no good effect in the Parliament yet the emulation of the Democratick Republicans and of the Adjutators for some time put a stop to their proceedings That they might suppress this Party of whom they had now enough a general muster of the Forces is appointed amongst whom one whole Regiment having got the Democratical Proposals which they termed the Ordinance of the People put into writing they carried the Paper as a signal in their hats the Oligarchick Republicans by their sollicitations had gained one or two Regiments and the rest of the Army consisted of both Parties promiscuously jumbled together The chief Commanders who were of the first as the inferiour were of the other Party drawing together into a ring they command the private Souldiers to throw away their Paper-signals which when they refused to do according as they had laid the designe they break in amongst them and pulling out some of the more sawcy fellows of the Regiment they cause them presently to be shot to death which made the rest throw away their Badges and submit to the pleasure of the Generals This danger being over they began to publish the villany they had so long concealed to rail openly against the King in the House make Speeches exhort the other Members and to contrive four Interdicts rather than Votes whereby 1. It is resolved That the Lords and Commons do declare that they will make no further Addresses or Applications to the King 2. That no Application or Address be made to the King by any person whatsoever without leave of both Houses 3. That the person or persons that shall make breach of this Order shall incur the penalties of High-Treason 4. That the Lords and Commons do declare that they will receive no more any Message from the King to both or either Houses of Parliament or to any other person But neither were these carried in the House of Commons without tricks and the usual artifices For before any mention was made of these Propositions in the House fourty or fifty leading-men who for the most part would have withstood those attempts are sent into their several Counties upon pretext of raising money to pay off the Souldiers that by their absence fewer opposing and the greater part of the House being packt the matter might be easily carried Nevertheless this execrable motion made to the scandal of mankind of abjuring their King was debated to and again from ten in the morning until seven at night and had not after all found the Votes rather tired out than perswaded unless the chief of the Oligarchick Party had given them hopes that they would attempt nothing worse against the King The three last Votes past in the space of half an hour with much precipitation whilst the Factious got into the places of the dissenting Members who had withdrawn out of the House to take a little refreshment However the Vpper House was more hardly brought over to an assent for there the Debate lasted many days until Commissioners coming from the Army upon pretext of thanking the Lower House for those Votes and protesting the Army would protect the Commons therein threatned the Lords if they persisted to oppose them and shortly after whilst they still delayed forced them out of fear to consent two Regiments of Souldiers being sent into Westminster-hall under colour of a Guard to the Lower House but in reality to awe the dissenting Lords This having terrified the three or four Lords that met who at that time often usurped to themselves the authority of the Upper House many stealing out of the way they agree to the Votes of the House of Commons And then Commissioners were likewise sent from the Army to thank the Lords for that good service done to the Kingdom and solemnly to assure them in name of the whole Army That they would maintain and defend the Rights and Priviledges of the Vpper House The Reader may be pleased to observe what Cloak Cromwel used for this perfidiousness This Blade whilst he was praying that Almighty God would be pleased to prosper his endeavours in raising again the King to the Throne and Majesty of his Ancestors here the words stuck between his teeth so that he could not utter one word more which he interpreting as a signe of Gods displeasure concluded the King to be rejected of God But to others he roundly expressed himself That it was lawful to circumvent a wicked deceiver by craft and deceit After this comes out a Proclamation by authority of the House of Commons wherein the sticklers both for Oligarchy and Democracy who agreed very well together against the King declare the Reasons that enclined them to pass those Votes of none Addresses to his Majesty This they stuff with all the Calumnies that were raised against the King by the Clubs and Conferences of his lewdest enemies or by uncertain Rumours spread abroad by themselves to which they adde other Aspersions which though they had been bawled over and over again in the House yet were found not to have had the least shadow of truth and were onely invented and exaggerated to create greater hatred They cause this infamous Libel to be sent about into all the Parishes of the Kingdom being secure that no body durst or indeed could undergo the danger of answering it since all the Presses were narrowly watched The Ministers are commanded to read it to the people in the Church and to preach as well as they could in praise of it And that they might be the
Argile with the Forces he had raised being no less an Army at home than Cromwel was abroad reduced them in a short time to such streights that the Army which had been raised by order of Parliament was forced to lay down Arms and submit to the discretion of Argile's Faction Then was a new Parliament called all being excluded who had taken up Arms or voted for engaging in a War for the delivery of the King In this the Acts of the last Parliament were recinded the War declared to have been unlawful Cromwel had the publick thanks and Argile privately engaged as Cromwel himself boasted that he would concur with the Oligarchicks of England and root out Monarchy when occasion offered in Scotland as well as in England Besides many Ships the Tyde turning according to the innate levine of Seamen prepare to make defection from the Prince casting themselves into the protection of the Earl of Warwick who had won their hearts by frequent Largesses and who was set over a new Fleet for a time that he might draw over the Seamen again to the obedience of the Parliament but being beset with the Spies Of the Oligarchick Rebels and having done their job he justly received the usual Reward from these Masters that is he was turned out and laid aside Whilst the Army is busied in these Wars the Members of Parliament being a little rid of the yoak of the Army and Cromwel that were now at a distance and seriously considering how ill all the People of the Kingdom would resent the injuries done to the King and how ticklish their own affairs stood they begin to think of Peace and growing wise behind hand against the advice of the Oligarchick Republicans they rescind the Votes of None Addresses by the unanimous consent of both Houses They appoint a Conference with the King for composing Differences but by Commissioners and that in the Isle of Wight For this purpose they commissionate five Lords for the Vpper House and ten Commoners for the Lower The Propositions to be debated in that Conference are prescribed to the Commissioners ¶ That the Translator relates all which verbatim though it be contrary to the designe of this Work and of the Author who hath onely entred the short Articles marked with the numbers I. II.III I hope the Reader will not dislike since the Articles at large contain so excellent a description of the Changes that were then intended to be made in the Government of England that it is thought very fit to publish them according to the perfect Copy printed by order of both Houses the 29th of August 1648. May it please your Majesty WE the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland Do humbly present unto your Majesty the humble desires and Propositions for a safe and well-grounded Peace agreed upon by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively unto which we do pray your Majesties Assent And that they and all such Bills as shall be tendered to your Majesty in pursuance of them or any of them may be Established and Enacted for Statutes and Acts of Parliament by your Majesties Royal Assent in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively I. WHereas both Houses of the Parliament of England have been necessitated to undertake a War in their just and lawful defence and afterwards both Kingdoms of England and Scotland joyned in Solemn League and Covenant were engaged to prosecute the same That by Act of Parliament in each Kingdom respectively all Oaths Declarations and Proclamations heretofore had or hereafter to be had against both or either of the Houses of the Parliament of England the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland and the late Convention of Estates in Scotland or Committees flowing from the Parliament or Convention in Scotland or their Ordinances and Proceedings or against any for adhering unto them or for doing or executing any Office Place or Charge by any Authority derived from them and all Judgments Indictments Outlawries Attainders and Inquisitions in any the said Causes and all Grants thereupon made or had or to be made or had be declared Null suppressed and forbidden And that this be publickly intimated in all parish-Parish-Churches within his Majesties Dominions and all other places needful II. That his Majesty according to the laudable example of his Royal Father of happy memory may be pleased to swear and signe the late Solemn League and Covenant and that an Act of Parliament be passed in both Kingdoms respectively for enjoyning the taking thereof by all the Subjects of the three Kingdoms and the Ordinances concerning the manner of taking the same in both Kingdoms be confirmed by Acts of Parliament respectively with such Penalties as by mutual advice of both Kingdoms shall be agreed upon III. That a Bill be passed for the utter abolishing and taking away of all Archbishops Bishops their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans and Sub-Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-Deacons Canons and Prebendaries and all Chaunters Chancellors Treasurers Sub-Treasurers Succentors and Sacrists all Vicars Choril and Choresters old Vicars and new Vicars of any Cathedral or Collegiate-Church and all other their under-Officers out of the Church of England and Dominion of Wales and out of the Church of Ireland with such alterations concerning the Estates of Prelates as shall agree with the Articles of the late Treaty of the date at Edenburgh 29 November 1643. and joynt Declaration of both Kingdoms IV. That the Ordinances concerning the calling and sitting of the Assembly of Divines be confirmed by Act of Parliament V. That Reformation of Religion according to the Covenant be setled by Act of Parliament in such manner as both Houses have agreed or shall agree upon after consultation had with the Assembly of Divines For as much as both Kingdoms are mutually obliged by the same Covenant to endeavour the nearest Conjunction and Uniformity in matters of Religion That such Unity and Uniformity in Religion according to the Covenant as after consultation had with the Divines of both Kingdoms now assembled is or shall be joyntly agreed upon by both Houses of the Parliament of England and by the Church and Kingdom of Scotland be confirmed by Acts of Parliament of both Kingdoms respectively VI. That for the more effectual disabling Jesuits Priests Papists and Popish Recusants from disturbing the State and deluding the Laws and for the better discovering and speedy conviction of Popish Recusants an Oath be established by Act of Parliament to be administred to them wherein they shall abjure and renounce the Popes Supremacy the Doctrine of Transubstantiation Purgatory worshipping of the Consecrated Hoast Crucifixes and Images and all other Popish Superstitions and Errours and refusing the said Oath being tendred in such manner as shall be appointed by the said Act to
be a sufficient Conviction of Popish Recuâ—ancy An Act or Acts of Parliament for Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion VIII An Act or Acts for the true Levie of the Penalties against them which Penalties to be levied and disposed in such manner as both Houses shall agree on wherein to be provided that his Majesty shall have no loss IX That an Act or Acts be passed in Parliament whereby the practices of Papists against the State may be prevented and the Laws against them duly executed and a stricter course taken to prevent the Saying or Hearing of Mass in the Court or any other part of this Kingdom or the Kingdom of Ireland The like for the Kingdom of Scotland concerning the four last preceding Propositions in such manner as the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit X. That the King do give his Royal assent to an Act for the due observation of the Lords Day XI And to the Bill for the suppression of Innovasions in Churches and Chappels in and about the Worship of God XII And for the better advancement of the preaching of Gods holy Word in all parts of this Kingdom XIII And to the Bill against the enjoying the pluralities of Benefices by Spiritual Persons and Non-Residency XIV And to an Act to be framed and agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament for the reforming and regulating of both Universities of the Colledges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton XV. And to such Act or Acts for raising of Moneys for the payment and satisfying of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom and other publick uses as shall hereafter be agreed on by both Houses of Parliament and that if the King do not give his Assent thereunto then it being done by both Houses of Parliament the same shall be as valid to all intents and purposes as if the Royal Assent had been given thereunto The like for the Kingdom of Scotland And that his Majesty give assurance of his consenting in the Parliament of Scotland to an Act acknowledging and ratifying the Acts of the Convention of Estates of Scotland called by the Council and Conservers of the Peace and the Commissioners for the common Burthens and assembled the two and twentieth day of June 1643. and several times continued since and of the Parliament of that Kingdom since convened XVI That the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England assembled shall during the space of twenty years from the first of July 1646. arm train and discipline or cause to be armed trained and disciplined all the Forces of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed already raised both for Sea and Land-service and shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years raise levy arm train and discipline or cause to be raised levied armed trained and disciplined any other Forces for Land and Sea-service in the Kingdoms Dominions and places aforesaid as in their Judgments they shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years think fit and appoint and that neither the the King his Heirs or Successors nor any other but such as shall act by the authority or approbation of the said Lords and Commons shall during the said space of twenty years exercise any of the Powers aforesaid And the like for the Kingdom of Scotland if the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit That Moneys be raised and levied for the maintenance and use of the said Forces for Land-service and of the Navy and Forces for Sea-service in such sort and by such ways and means as the said Lords Commons shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years think fit and appoint and not otherwise That all the said Forces both for Land and Sea-service so raised or levied or to be raised or levied and also the Admiralty and Navy shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years be employed managed ordered and disposed by the said Lords and Commons in such sort and by such ways and means as they shall think fit and appoint and not otherwise And the said Lords and Commons during the said space of twenty years shall have power 1. To suppress all Forces raised or to be raised without authority and consent of the said Lords and Commons to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any of them 2. To suppress any foreign Forces who shall invade or endeavour to invade the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Dominion of Wales the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any of them 3. To conjoyn such Forces of the Kingdom of England with the Forces of the Kingdom of Scotland as the said Lords and Commons shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years judge fit and necessary To resist all foreign Invasions and to suppress any Forces raised or to be raised against or within either of the said Kingdoms to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the said Kingdoms or any of them by any authority under the Great Seal or other Warrant whatsoever without consent of the said Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England and the Parliament or the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively And that no Forces of either Kingdom shall go into or continue in the other Kingdom without the advice and desire of the said Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland or such as shall be by them appointed for that purpose And that after the expiration of the said twenty years neither the King his Heirs or Successors or any person or persons by colour or pretence of any Commission Power Deputation or Authority to be derived from the King his Heirs or Successors or any of them shall raise arm train discipline employ order mannage disband or dispose any of the Forces by Sea or Land of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland the Dominion of Wales Isles of Guernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed Nor exercise any of the said Powers or Authorities in the precedent Articles mentioned and expressed to be during the said space of twenty years in the said Lords and Commons Nor do any act or thing concerning the execution of the said Powers or Authorities or any of them without the consent of the said Lords and Commons first had and obtained That after the expiration of the said twenty years in all cases wherein the Lords and Commons shall declare the safety of the Kingdom to be concerned and shall thereupon pass any Bill or Bills for the raising arming training disciplining employing mannaging ordering or disposing of the Forces by Sea or Land of the Kingdoms
Bradshaw was made Head with the Title of Lord President and a yearly Salary of two thousand pounds as the price of Regicide Moreover a Writing is commanded to be taken by all whereby they were bound to approve whatsoever the Rebels had acted against the King and Kingdom Yet when many had refused to take it they were nevertheless admitted upon this condition That with their lives and fortunes they should maintain and defend for the future the State and Mock-Parliament in the same condition they were Henceforward none of the secluded Members nor of those who had withdrawn were admitted into the House unless they approved underhand the late Villanies Nevertheless they command all to appear against a certain day or otherways to be excluded for ever and others chosen in their places So that some for fear of Sequestration and I know not what hurt and damage they were apprehensive of others out of hopes of profit to be got in publick changes by a base temporizing strike in with the Republican Vsurpers and are admitted into a share of the labour and danger but not of the Government About the same time the secluded Members meet in Lincolns-Inne to consult together and take the advice of S. a Lawyer what was fittest to be done in the present state of affairs But he readily gave his opinion that the late changes were made against the tenor of the Laws the Customs and Interest of the Country and the Dictates of right Reason and that no commerce could be kept with the Usurpers without the guilt and horrid crime of Treason and indeed he frightened many of the Members from coming to the House who could never afterward be brought to joyn in council with the Regicides Nevertheless within a few days he himself became a leading-man in the Rebel-Parliament and the Council of the Keepers of the Liberties and submitted to their Authority nay and did not reject the place of Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas conferred upon him by the same men though the King before the Troubles had honoured him with the title of his Attorney-General These things are carried on under pretext of speedy setling the State but in reality with designe to secure the Government to themselves to whom all the rest almost being cow'd into a submission the Popular Republicans onely resist These demand that the Representative so often desired and so often promised might be established by a free and equal election of the people the Rump of the Mock-Parliament being dismissed In Writings and Conferences they inveigh against the arbitrary dominion of the Vsurpers the High Court of Justice Council of State or of the Keepers of the Liberties as onely the softer names of a harder Tyranny nay they cry out against the Kings murder as unjust and committed against all Law and just Authority that the People had changed but not shaken off the Yoke that they had rather live ten years under the government of the worst of Kings than one year under their dominion that the loins of King Charles were lighter than their little finger So great force has truth as that it draws such Expressions even from the unwilling At length they flie to Arms and the private Souldiers especially the Troopers who formerly consented with them in most things being everywhere stirred up they at length begin to gather together in form of an Army But the Vsurpers who were never wanting to occasion obviate the beginnings and under pretext of composing Differences amongst honest men who minded the same things though they mutually entertained bad opinions one of another having corrupted and gained some of them to their Party they suddenly fall upon the rest and defeat them disarm the Prisoners and having caused the chief Authors of the Stirs to be shot and others to be punished more mildly they terrifie all the rest from disturbing for the future the Rulers either with cutting Truths or sharper Arms. The Vsurpers being fixed in the Saddle publish a Proclamation forbidding all men to accuse them of Tyranny to object any thing against them by word or in writing or to attempt any alteration under pain of High-Treason They appoint a solemn Thanksgiving-day to render publick thanks to God for their prosperous success against the Democraticks that so by mocking of God they might the more easily make the silly people rejoyce in their Calamities And the same day they are sumptuously feasted by the Mayor and Aldermen of London not without the Reproaches and Curses of almost all the Spectators where amidst the tears and miseries of a great many that perished by a famine that then raged they junket it deliciously Fairfax and Cromwel are complemented with splendid Presents of Gold and Silver And that the wretched Citizens might not seem to have lost all their labour in feeding these Ravens they bestow upon them the Kings new Park under colour of making them some recompence for their late Magnificence but in reality that the distracted men being allured by the sweetness of that morcel might be won over to their Party and wish well to the new Government Henceforward there is nothing to them sacred or holy They either distribute amongst themselves or sell at easie rates the Kings Houshold-furniture Lands and Houses the Revenues and Lands of the Church which belonged to the Deans and Chapters and which remained intire till now by the Votes of both Houses of Parliament for the use of the new Clergy or Presbyterian Ministry That by these arts they might both glut their own Avarice and by involving many in the same guilt with themselves make them firmer to their Faction Nor being yet satiated by the Crown and Church-lands and the Estates of the Noblemen and Gentlemen who disagreeing from them made up the far greater part of the Kingdom which they had seized long ago by way of Sequestration nor by the Goods and Chattels of those aforementioned whom they had plundered and the vast sums of money which those that had been for the King dayly paid for redeeming their Estates and purchasing favour they daily raise an incredible quantity of money from the Customs and the Excise a Tax which before would not have been endured in England Not to mention the secret Veins of Wealth I mean Bribes and Gifts which those that stood for Places or had business and Law-suits slipt privately into their pockets Nay they were not ashamed to flea the so-often fleeced people by a most heavy Imposition of ninety thousand pounds a month to pay the idle Souldiers However the spoils and government of one Kingdom was not enough to satisfie them they invade the Irish also that were ready to submit to the King whom whilst they were Rebels most part of them praised few at least did hostilely assault them promising themselves certain victory over them and hoping that Ireland being subdued they might easily reduce Scotland