Archbishop Laud upon an Accusation of High Treason by the Commons was committed to the Tower And now Episcopacy it self was called in question and though the Lord Digby made a witty and weighty Speech in Defence of it and Archbishop Usher gave his Judgment for the Moderation and Emendation of it and the Liturgy not the Extirpation thereof yet the Wings of Episcopacy were shrewdly clipt for March 10 the Commons Voted That no Bishop should have any Vote in Parliament nor any Judicial power in the Star Chamber nor be concerned in any Temporal matters and that no Clergy-man should be a Justice of Peace Upon Monday March 26 1640. the Earl of Straffords Tryal began in Westminster-hall the King Queen and Prince being present and the Commons likewise being there as a Committee at the managing their Accusation the Earl of Arundel was Lord High Steward and the Earl of Lindsey Lord High Constable the Earl of Strafford though he had but short warning yet had gotten his Defence ready against the time The Accusation was managed by Mr. Pym consisting of Twenty eight Articles to most of which the Earl made Particular Replies But the Commons were resolved to prosecute him to the utmost and had therefore procured the Parliament of Ireland to prosecute him there also as guilty of High Treason which being unexpectedly produced extorted from the Earl this passionate Expression That there was a Conspiracy against him to take away his Life At which the Commons cryed out against him That standing Impeached of High Treason he durst accuse the Parliament of two Kingdoms of Conspiracy against him But besides all these certain notes were produced against him which were taken by Sir H. Vane in a close Committee of select Counsellors whom the King had chosen to consult about his second Expedition against the Scots out of which it was alledged against the Earl That he had given the King advice to borrow an Hundred thousand pound of the City of London To levy Ship-money rigorously and that his Majesty having tryed the Affections of his People was absolved and loosed from all Rules of Government and might do what power would admit and having an Army in Ireland might imploy it for the reducing of this Kingdom which he was sure could not hold out five months And London being full of the Nobility the Commission of Array was to be set on foot and all Opposers thereof to be severely dealt with To this the Earl replyed That he conceived it lawful for a Privy Counsellor to have freedom of Voting with others and as to the matter of the English Army he thought that the single Testimony of one man Secretary Vane was not of Validity in Law much less in Life and Death and that the Depositions of Secretary Vane was doubtful as appeared by several Examinations and that there were present at the Debate but eight Privy Counsellors whereof two were not to be produced and four others declared upon their Honours that they never heard him speak those words or any like them and lastly that if he had spoken them which he yet granted not that the word This Kingdom could not imply England the debate being concerning Scotland there being not the least intention of Landing the Irish Army in England and concluded his Defence with telling the Lords that he was accused as guilty of Treason for endeavouring to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Land but it seemed strange to him that it should be Treason together which was not Treason in any part and lastly desired the Lords to consider how their own Priviledges and other Ministers of State would suffer by his Condemnation The Commons must now justifie their Charge by Law to which end they produced the Salvo annexed to the Stat. of 25 Ed. 3. The words were these Because all particular Treasons could not be then defined therefore what the Parliament should declare to be Treason in time to come should be punished as Treason And so this Salvo was to be the Ground work of the Bill of Attainder This being a point of Law the Earl had Council allowed him who answered on his behalf That the Statute which they cited was but a Declarative and a Penal Law awd would no way admit of such Consequential and Inferential Constructions and that this Salvo was repealed by an Act of Parliament in the Sixth of Henry the fourth And so the Court Adjourned without prefixing any time of Meeting for the Commons proceeded to dispatch their Bill of Attainder and April 19 1641 they Voted the Earl Guilty of High Treason upon the Evidence of Secretary Vane and his Notes And upon the 25th they passed the Bill and sent to the Lords for their Concurrence to whom it seemed at first so perplext a business that the Commons were forced to send Mr. Saint John the Kings Sollicitor to confer with them about it who gave them such satisfaction that thence forward they shewed greater propensity to the Earls Condemnation In the mean time the Commons petitioned the King 1. To remove all Papists from Court. 2. For disarming of them generally throughout the Kingdom 3. For disbanding the Irish Army To which the King answered 1. They all knew what Legal Trust the Crown hath in that particular therefore he shall not need to say any thing to assure them that he shall use it so as there shall be no just cause of scandal 2. As for the second he is content it shall be done by Law And for the last he had entred into Consultation about it finding many difficulties therein and doth so wish the disbanding of all Armies as he did conjure them speedily and heartily to joyn with him in disbanding those two here Scots and English The House of Commons having finished their Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford and the King fearing the Conclusion and being willing to do some good Office to him His Majesty May 1 1641 calls both Houses together and in a Speech tells them That he had been present at the hearing of that great Cause and that in his Conscience positively he could not condemn him of High Treason and yet could not clear him of misdemeanours but hoped a way might be found out to satisfie Justice and their fears without oppressing his Conscience And so he dismissed them to their great discontent which was propagated so far that May 3. near a Thousand Citizens most of them armed with Swords Cudgels and Staves came thronging down to Westminster crying out for Justice against the Earl of Strafford especially applying themselves to the Earl of Montgomery Lord Chamberlain by whose perswasions and promises their fury was partly abated However they posted upon the Gate at Westminster a List of the Names of those who would have acquitted the Earl whom they stiled Staffordians The Parliament being Informed that some endeavours were used to raise a Disgust in the English Northern Army against their Proceedings they now enter into a National
resolved to bring you to Tryal and Judgment and for that purpose have constituted this High Court of Justice before which you are brought This said Mr. Cook Solicitor General for the Common-wealth standing within a Bar on the right hand of the King offered to speak but the King having a Staff in his hand held it up and laid it upon the said Mr. Cooks shoulder two or three times bidding him hold Nevertheless the Lord President ordering him to go on he said Cook My Lord I am commanded to charge Charles Stuart King of England in the name of the Commons of England with Treason and high Misdemeanours I desire the said Charge may be read The said Charge being delivered to the Clerk of the Court the Lord President ordered it should be read but the King bid him hold Nevertheless being commanded by the Lord President to read it the Clerk begun The Charge of the Commons of England against CHARLES STUART King of England of High Treason and other High Crimes exhibited to the High Court of Justice THat the said Charles Stuart being admitted King of England and therein trusted with a Limited Power to govern by and according to the Laws of the Land and not otherwise And by his Trust Oath and Office being obliged to use the power committed to him for the good and benefit of the people and for the preservation of their Rights and Liberties Yet nevertheless out of a wicked design to erect and uphold in himself an unlimited and Tyrannical Power to rule according to his Will and to overthrow the Rights and Liberties of the People Yea to take away and make void the Foundations thereof and of all redress and remedy of misgovernment which by the fundamental Constitutions of this Kingdom were reserved on the Peoples behalf in the Right and Power of frequent and successive Parliaments or National meetings in Councel He the said Charles Stuart for accomplishment of such his Designs and for the protecting of himself and his Adherents in His and their wicked practices to the same end hath traiterously and maliciously levied War against the present Parliament and the people therein represented Particularly upon or about the thirtieth day of June in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and two at Beverly in the Count of York And upon or about the thirtieth day of July in the year aforesaid in the County of the City of York and upon or about the twenty fourth day of August in the same year at the County of the Town of Nottingham when and where he set up his Standard of War and upon or about the twenty third day of October in the same year at Edge-Hill and Keinton-field in the County of Warwick And upon or about the thirtieth day of Nov. in the same year at Brainford in the County of Middlesex And upon or about the thirtieth day of Aug. in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and three at Cavesham-bridge neer Reding in the County of Berks And upon or about the thirtieth day of October in the year last mentioned at or near the City of Glocester And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newberry in the County of Berks and upon or about the one and thirtieth day of July in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and four at Cropredy-bridge in the County of Oxon And upon or about the thirtieth day of September in the last year mentioned at Bodmin and other places near adjacent in the County of Cornwall And upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the last year mentioned at Newberry aforesaid And upon or about the Eighth of June in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and five at the Town of Leicester and also upon the fourteenth day of the same month in the same year at Naseby-field in the County of Northampton At which several times and places or most of them and at many other places in this Land at several other times within the years aforementioned And in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty and six He the said Ch. Stuart hath caused and procured many thousands of the Free-people of the Nation to be slain and by Divisions parties and insurrections within this Land by Invasions from Foreign parts endeavoured and procured by him and by many other evil wayes and means He the said Charles Stuart hath not onely maintained and carried on the said War both by Land and Sea during the years before mentioned but also hath renewed or caused to be renewed the said War against the Parliament and good people of this Nation in this present year One thousand six hundred forty and eight in the Counties of Kent Essex Surrey Sussex Middlesex and many other Counties and places in England and Wales and also by Sea and particularly He the said Charles Stuart hath for that purpose given Commission to his Son the Prince and others whereby besides multitudes of other persons many such as were by the Parliament intrusted and imployed for the safety of the Nation being by Him or His Agents Corrupted to the betraying of Their Trust and revolting from the Parliament have had entertainment and Commission for the continuing and the renewing of War and Hostility against the said Parliament and people as aforesaid By which cruel and unnatural Wars by Him the said Charles Stuart levyed continued and renewed as aforesaid much Innocent Blood of the Free-People of this Nation hath been spilt many Familie have been undone the publick Treasury wasted and exhausted Trade obstructed and miserably decayed vast expence and damage to the Nation incurred and many parts of the Land spoyled some of them even to desolation And for further prosecution of his said evil Designs He the said Charles Stuart doth still continue his Commissions to the said Prince and other Rebels and Revolters both English and Forreigners and to the Earl of Ormond and to the Irish Rebels and Revolters associated with him from whom further Invasions upon this Land are threatned upon the procurement and on the behalf of the said Charles Stuart All which wicked Designs Wars and evil practices of him the said Charles Stuart have been and are carried on for the advancing and upholding of the personal Interest of Will and Power and pretended Prerogative to Himself and his Family against the publick Interest Common Right Liberty Justice and Peace of the people of this Nation by and for whom he was entrusted as aforesaid By all which it appeareth that he the said Charles Stuart hath been and is the Occasioner Author and Contriver of the said Unnatural Cruel and Bloody Wars and therein guilty of all the Treasons Murthers Rapines Burnings Spoils Desolations Damage and Mischief to this Nation acted or committed in the said Wars or occasioned thereby And the said John Cook by protestation saving on the behalf of the people
of England the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Charge against the said Charles Stuart and also of replying to the Answers which the said Ch. Stuart shall make to the Premises or any of them or any other Charge that shall be so Exhibited doth for the said Treasons and Crimes on the behalf of the said people of England Impeach the said Charles Stuart as a Tyrant Traitor Murtherer and a publick and implacable Enemy to the Common-wealth of England And pray that the said CHARLES STVART King of England may be put to answer All and Every the Premises That such Proceedings Examinations Trials Sentence and Judgment may be thereupon had as shall be agreeable to Justice IT is observed that the time the Charge was reading the King sate down in his Chair looking sometimes on the Court sometimes up to the Galleries and having risen again and turned about to behold the Guards and Spectators sate down looking very sternly with a countenance not at all moved till these words viz. Charles Stuart to be a Tyrant and Traitor c. were read at which he laughed as he sate in the face of the Court. Charge being read the Lord President replyed President Sir you have now heard your Charge read containing such matters as appear in it you find That in the close of it it is prayed to the Court in the behalf of the Commons of England that you answer to your Charge The Court expects your Answer King I would know by what Power I am called hither I was not long ago in the Isle of Wight how I came there is a longer story than I think is fit at this time for me to speak of but there I entred into a Treaty with both Houses of Parliament with as much publick Faith as 't is possible to be had of any people in the world I treated there with a number of Honourable Lords and Gentlemen and treated honestly and uprightly I cannot say but they did very nobly with me we were upon a conclusion of the Treaty Now I would know by what Authority I mean lawful there are many unlawful Authorities in the world Thieves and Robbers by the high wayes but I would know by what Authority I was brought from thence and carried from place to place and I know not what and when I know by what lawful Authority I shall answer Remember I am your King and what sins you bring upon your heads and the Judgment of God upon this Land think well upon it I say think well upon it before you go further from one sinto a greater therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I shall not be unwilling to answer in the mean time I shall not betray my Trust I have a Trust committed to me by God by old and lawful Descent I will not betray it to answer to a new unlawful Authority therefore resolve me that and you shall hear more of me President If you had been pleased to have observed what was hinted to you by the Court at your first coming hither you would have known by what Authority which Authority requires you in the name of the people of England of which you are Elected King to answer them King No Sir I deny that President If you acknowledge not the Authority of the Court they must proceed King I do tell them so England was never an Elective Kingdom but an Hereditary Kingdom for neer these thousand years therefore let me know by what Authority I am called hither I do stand more for the Liberty of my people than any here that come to be my pretended Judges and therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I will answer it otherwise I will not answer it President Sir how really you have managed your Trust is known your way of answer is to interrogate the Court which beseems not you in this condition You have been told of it twice or thrice King Here is a Gentleman Lieut. Col. Cobbet ask him if he did not bring me from the Isle of Wight by force I do not come here as submitting to the Court I will stand as much for the Priviledge of the House of Commons rightly understood as any man here whatsoever I see no House of Lords here that may constitute a Parliament and the King too should have been Is this the bringing of the King to his Parliament Is this the bringing an end to the Treaty in the publick Faith of the world Let me see a legal Authority warranted by the Word of God the Scriptures or warranted by the Constitutions of the Kingdom and I will answer President Sir You have propounded a Question and have been answered seeing you will not answer the Court will consider how to proceed in the mean time those that brought you hither are to take charge of you back again The Court desires to know whether this be all the Answer you will give or no King Sir I desire that you would give me and all the world satisfaction in this let me tell you it is not a slight thing you are about I am sworn to keep the Peace by that duty I owe to God and my Country and I will do it to the last breath of my body and therefore you shall do well to satifie first God and then the Country by what Authority you do it if you do it by a usurped Authority that will not last long There is a God in Heaven that will call you and all that give you power to account Satisfie me in that and I will answer otherwise I betray my trust and the Liberties of the People and therefore think of that and then I shall be willing For I do avow that it is as great a sin to withstand lawful Authority as it is to submit to a Tyrannical or any other wayes unlawful Authority and therefore satisfie God and me and all the World in that and you shall receive my Answer I am not afraid of the Bill President The Court expects you should give them a final Answer their purpose is to adjourn till Monday next if you do not satisfie your self though we do tell you our Authority we are satisfied with our Authority and it is upon Gods Authority and the Kingdoms and that peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of Justice and that 's our present work King Let me tell you if you will shew me what lawful Authority you have I shall be satisfied But that you have hitherto said satisfies no reasonable man President That 's in your apprehension we think it reasonable that are your Judges King 'T is not my apprehension nor yours neither that ought to decide it President The Court hath heard you and you are to be disposed of as they have commanded Two things were remarkable in this dayes proceedings 1. It is observed That as the Charge was reading against the King the silver head
of his Staff fell off the which he wondered at and seeing none to take it up he stoop'd for it himself and put it in his pocket 2. That as the King was going away he looking with a very austere countenance upon the Court without stirring of his Hat replyed Well Sir when the L. President commanded the Guard to take him away and at his going down he said I do not fear that pointing with his staff at the Sword The people in the Hall as he went down the stairs cryed out some God save the King and some for Justice O yes being called the Court adjourned till Monday next January 22. at 9. in the morning to the Painted Chamber and from thence to the same place again in Westminster Hall January 21. being Sunday the Commissioners kept a Fast at White-Hall there Preached Mr. Spigge his Text was He that sheds Mans blood by Man shall his blood be shed next Mr. Foxeley his Text Judge not least you be judged Last was Mr. Peters his Text was I will bind their Kings in Chains and their Nobles in fetters of Iron At the High-Court of Justice sitting in Westminster-Hall Monday Jan. 22. 1648. O Yes made Silence commanded The Court called and answered to their Names Silence commanded upon pain of imprisonment and the Captain of the Guard to apprehend all such as make disturbance Upon the Kings coming in a shout was made Command given by the Court to the Captain of the Guard to fetch and take into his custody those who make any disturbance Mr. Solicitor May it please your Lordship my Lord President I did at the last Court in the behalf of the Commons of England exhibit and give into this Court a Charge of High Treason and other high Crimes against the Prisoner at the Bar whereof I do accuse him in the name of the People of England and the Charge was read unto him and his Answer required My Lord he was not then pleased to give an Answer but in stead of answering did there dispute the Authority of this High Court My humble Motion to this High Court in behalf of the People of England is That the Prisoner may be directed to make a positive Answer either by way of Confession or Negation which if he shall refuse to do that the matter of Charge may be taken pro confesso and the Court may proceed according to Justice President Sir You may remember at the last Court you were told the occasion of your being brought hither and you heard a Charge against you containing a Charge of high Treason and other high Crimes against this Realm of England you heard likewise that it was prayed in the behalf of the People that you should give an answer to that Charge that thereupon such proceedings might be had as should be agreeable to justice you were then pleased to make some scruples concerning the Authority of this Court and knew not by what Authority you were brought hither you did divers times propound your Questions and were as often answered that it was by Authority of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament that did think fit to call you to an account for those high and capital misdemeanours wherewith you were then charged Since that the Court hath taken into Consideration what you then said they are fully satisfied with their own Authority and they hold it fit you should stand satisfied with it too and they do require it that you do give a positive and particular Answer to this Charge that is exhibited against you they do expect you should either confess or deny it if you deny it is offered in the behalf of the Nation to be made good againsts you their Authority they do avow to the whole world that the whole Kingdom are to rest satisfied in and you are to rest satisfied with it and therefore you are to lose no more time but to give a positive Answer thereunto King When I was here last 't is true I made that Question and truly if it were onely my own particular case I would have satisfied my self with the Protestation I made the last time I was here against the Legality of this Court and that a King cannot be tryed by any Superiour Jurisdiction on Earth but it is not my case alone it is the Freedom and the Liberty of the people of England and do you pretend what you will I stand more for their Liberties For if power without Law may make Laws may alter the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom I do not know what Subject he is in England that can be sure of his life or any thing that he calls his own therefore when that I came here I did expect particular Reasons to know by what Law what Authority you did proceed against me here and therefore I am a little to seek what to say to you in this particular because the Affirmative is proved the Negative often is very hard to do but since I cannot perswade you to do it I shall tell you my Reasons as short as I can My Reasons why in Conscience and the duty I owe to God first and my People next for the preservation of their Lives Liberties and Estates I conceive I cannot answer this till I be satisfied of the legality of it Here the King would have delivered his Reasons All proceedings against any man whatsoever President Sir I must interrupt you which I would not do but that what you do is not agreeable to the proceedings of any Court of Justice you are about to enter into Argument and dispute concerning the Authority of this Court before whom you appear as a Prisoner and are charged as an high Delinquent if you take upon you to dispute the Authority of the Court we may not do it nor will any Court give way unto it you are to submit unto it you are to give in a punctual and direct Answer whether you will answer to your Charge or no and what your Answer is King Sir by your favour I do not know the forms of Law I do know Law and Reason though I am no Lawyer professed yet I know as much Law as any Gentleman in England and therefore under favour I do plead for the Liberties of the People of England more than you do and therefore if I should impose a belief upon any man without Reasons given for it it were unreasonable but I must tell you That by that Reason that I have as thus informed I cannot yield unto it President Sir I must interrupt you you may not be permitted you speak of Law and Reason it is fit there should be Law and Reason and there is both against you Sir the Vote of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament it is the Reason of the Kingdom and they are these too that have given that Law according to which you should have ruled and reigned Sir you are not to dispute our Authority you are told it again by
time he should stand committed to the Serjeants Ward till Two Thousand Pound Bail could be procured for his appearance next Sessions And though the King took him into Protection as his Servant yet his Bail-bond remained uncancelled Divers Laws were Enacted in this Parliament as one about Observation of the Lord's day another for restraint of Tipling in Inns Alehouses c. These passed likewise in the House of Commons A Bill for Tunnage and Poundage but this miscarried in the House of Lords because the Commons had limited it to a year whereas it was formerly granted to the Kings Predecessors during their lives it being intended to reduce the Customs to the Rate at which they were settled in the Reign of Queen Mary During the fitting of the Parliament the Lord Mordant a Papist and his Wife a Protestant being both desirous of each others Conversion they put their cause upon a dispute between James Usher L. Archbishop of Amargh and one Rookwood a Jesuite who called himself Beaumont this was acted at Drayton in Northamptonshire the points disputed on were Transubstantiation Praying to Saints Images and the Visibility of the Church wherein the Learned Primate so foil'd his Adversary that the Lord Mordant was Convinced and Converted to the Protestant Religion and his Lady further confirmed therein On the Eleventh of July 1626 the Parliament by reason of the sickness Adjourned till August 1. and then met again at Oxford where the King first by himself and next by his two Secretaries the Lord Conway and Sir John Cook declared to them the necessity of setting forth a Fleet for the recovery of the Palatinate which was the Countrey of the Prince Palatine of the Rhyns who married the Kings Sister and was then unjustly detained from him by the Emperour of Germany and the King of Spain the Lord Treasurer likewise instanced the several Sums of Money which King James died indebted to the City of London This occasioned very warm Debates in the House of Commons who alledged That evil Councels guided the Kings Designs That the Treasury was misimployed That our necessties arose through Imprevidence That it would be necessary to Petition the King for a stricter hand and better Councel to manage his Affairs That though a former Parliament engaged the King in a War yet if things were managed with Contrary designs and the Treasure misimployed this Parliament was not bound to be carried blindsold in Designs not guided by sound Council That it was not usual to grant Subsidies upon Subsidies in one Parliament and no Grievances rednessed With several other Passages of the like Nature They likewise very much reflected upon the miscarriages of the Duke of Buckingham who was then a person of very considerable Trust but however they promised to consider of the Kings desires and presented him a Petition against Popish Recusants giving an Account of their damage ascribing certain Causes of their growth and offering divers Remedies thereunto unto which a satisfactory Answer if any thing would have satisfied was returned And hereupon there followed a Debate about Supplies some were for contributing presently others demurr'd as disliking the design in hand and in conclusion the Major part agreed not to give And being incensed against the Duke of Buckingham they began to think of divesting him of his Offices and to require an Account of the Publick Moneys wherewith he had been intrusted all which they intended to include in an humble Remonstrance to prevent which the King resolved to Dissolve the Parliament and accordingly the Usher of the Black Rod was sent from the House of Lords to the Commons who were then resolved into a Grand Committee and understanding the Kings pleasure they caused the Speaker to keep his Seat while they agreed upon a Message of Thanks to his Majesty for his Gracious Answer to their Petition for Religion and for his care of their Health in giving them leave to depart this dangerous time of Sickness with a dutiful Declaration of their Affection and Loyalty and of their purposing to supply him in a Parliamentary way in fit and convenient time After which they were accordingly dissolved Now the War with Spain being intended both for the recovery of the Palatinate and to prevent disturbance in our Civil Estate the Councel hereupon resolve with all speed to set forth a Fleet and to preserve strict Unity and Peace with France Denmark and the United Provinces and with the Hollanders the King had already entered into a League Offensive and Defensive against the House of Austria and likewise had promised to assist them in soliciting other Princes to enter into the same Confederation upon Condition that they should bear a Fourth part of the Charge of the Fleet and in pursuance hereof the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Holland were sent to the Hague and there meeting with the Ambassadors of France and Denmark they concluded a League for restoring the Liberties of Germany the two last Ambassadors having no further power from their Supteams A while after the Dissolution of the Parliament the King published a Proclamation Commanding the return of all Children of Noble-men which had been sent to be Educated in Seminaries and Popish Schools beyond Sea that none who had received Orders from Rome should presume to confer Orders or Exercise Ecclesiastical Functions in any of his Dominions and likewise that the Statute be put in Execution for the departure of Priests and Jesuites out of his Majesties Dominions By reason of the Dissolving the Parliament the Act of Subsidies was prevented and the King was necessitated to take up Money upon Loan of such Persons as were of Ability to lend and to that end he directed his Letters to the Lord Leiutenants of the several Counties To return the Names of those Men whom they thought most sufficient The places of their Habitations and what Sums each might be judged able to lend and to the persons returned Letters were Issued forth in the Kings Name to this purpose That his Majesty having observed in the Presidents and Customs of former times That all the Kings and Queens of this Realm upon extraordinary occasions have used either to resort to those Contributions which arise from the generality of Subjects or to the private helps of some well affected in particular by way of Loan in the former of which as his Majesty has no doubt in the Love and affection of his People when they shall again Assemble in Parliament so for the present he was inforced to proceed in the latter course for supply of some Portions of Treasure for divers publick Services which without manifold Inconveniences to his Majesty and his Kingdoms cannot be deferr'd and therefore this being the first time that his Majesty hath required any thing of this kind he doubts not but he shall receive such a Testimony of good affection from them among other of his Subjects and that with such alacrity and readiness as may make the same so
much the more acceptable especially since his Majesty required but the Sum which few men would deny a Friend and has a mind resolved to expose all his Earthly Fortune for Preservation of the General The Sum which His Majesty requires by these presents is which His Majesty promiseth in the Name of himself his Heirs and Successors to repay to them or their Assigns within Eighteen Months after the payment thereof to the Collector The Person whom his Majesty hath appointed is to whose hands his Majesty doth require them to send it within Twelve days after they have received this Privy Seal which together with the Collectors Acquittance shall be sufficient Warrant to the Officers of Receipt for their payment thereof at the time limited And the Collectors of the Loan were ordered to pay the Sums received into the Exchequer and to return the Names of such as went about to delay or excuse the Payment of the Sums required And now about the beginning of October the Fleet set to Sea the Lord Cecill second Son to the Earl of Exeter commanding the Land Forces and the Earl of Essex being Vice Admiral at Sea but they were surprized by so violent a Storm that the greatest part of the Navy which in all made up Fourscore Ships some being Dutch were dissipated and scattered for seven days together and an excellent Ship with an 170 Passengers in her were all cast away and lost the Design was to have furprized Cadiz in Spain to burn the Ships in the Harbour and to have taken the Spanish Plate Fleet which was daily expected from the Indies but by reason of the Plague amongst them and some other miscarriages of the Commanders the business was wholly disappointed and the Fleet returned home but four days before the Plate Fleet came Upon the Second of February was the Coronation at which the King did not pass through the City in State from the Tower as was usual but went by Water from Whitehall to Westminster for fear of the danger of a Concourse of People the Pestilence which raged the year before not being quite ceased The Bishop of Lincoln as Dean of Westminster should have performed the chief part of the Ceremony but being under displeasure Dr. Laud then Bishop of St. Davids supplied his place Divers considerable Forces had been raised both for Sea and Land for the better Discipline of whom 150 old Souldiers were sent for from the Netherlands by whose Industry they were brought into some good order against the meeting of the next Parliament which was summoned to sit Feb. 6. And being met accordingly the House of Commons chose Sir Henage Finch for their Speaker The first business they insisted upon was the rendring thanks to the King for his gracious Answer to their late Petition concerning Religion then they debated of the Publick Grievances viz. The miscarrying of the Fleet at Cadiz the evil Councellors about the King misimploying the Kings Revenue an Account of the Subsidies and three Fifteens granted in the 21 Year of King James And in the Committee of Grievances these four particulars were insisted on 1. The state of the King in the constant Revenue of the Crown and how much it had been diminished by Gifts of Lands Grants of Pensions Fruitless Embassies the Privy Purse and other ways 2. The Condition of the Subject in his Freedom about laying new impositions multiplying Monopolies Leuying of Customs without Act of Parliament and wasting the Treasure 3. The Cause of the Nations good success in former times whereby it was feared Victorious and Renowned abroad which they judged was occasioned by the Wisdom and Gravity of Counsel who ordered nothing but by publick Debate whereby there arose a readiness in the People to Assist their Soveraign in Purse and Person 4. The present Condition of the Kingdom wherein was represented the loss of its wonted Reputation through the ill success at Algier in the Palatinate in Count Manfields Expedition and at Cadiz and this was imputed to the want of such Counsels as were formerly used since for fear of not succeeding men were now afraid of venturing either there Persons or Purses There was likewise a Committe concerning Religion and the growth of Popery wherein Mr. Richard Montagues two Books before mentioned were again questioned and Articles drawn up against him charging him with several Passages for encouraging Popery and drawing his Majesties Subjects from the true Religion Established into Error and Superstition with other passages dishonourable to the late King and full of injurious and railing Language against other Persons as likewise that he endeavoured to raise Factions in the Kingdom by casting the scandalous Name of Puritan upon such of his Majesties Subjects as conformed themselves to the Doctrine of the Church of England upon which the House of Commons ordered that he should be brought to Exemplary Punishment and to have his Books burnt nor do we find that he ever made any Defence or Answer to those Articles that were brought against him It is affirmed that a while before the sitting of the Parliament Dr. Laud understanding from the D. of Buckingham that the King intended to leave Mr. Montague to a Tryal was heard to utter these words Iseem to see a Cloud arising and threatning the Church of England God in his Mercy dissipate it After this the Commons questioned several persons who were of the Council of War upon the Affairs of the Palatinate concerning the management of that business complaint was likewise made in the House of the Scotch and Irish Nobility for claiming precedency of the Peers of England of which redress was promised but a while after the Lord Martrevers Eldest Son and Heir to the Earl of Arundel Married the Daughter of the late Duke of Lenox contrary to the Kings Mind who intended her for the Lord Lorn Son and Heir of the Earl of Argile whereupon the Earl of Arundel was committed to the Tower which upon the Peers Petitioned to the King alledging That no Peer sitting in the Parliament is to be imprisoned without Order from the House of Lords unless for Felony Treason or denying to give security for the Peace Upon this there arose a Dispute which lasted for the space of two Months and then the Earl was set at Liberty In which time the House of Commons were very busie in searching the Signet Office for the Original of a Letter under the Signet written to the Mayor of York for reprieving divers Jesuites Priests and other Popish Recusants This was reported by Mr. Pim Chairman to the Committee for Religion but their proceedings therein were interrupted by a Meffage from the King sent by Sr. Richard Weston Chancellor of the Exchequer demanding a supply for the English and Irish Forces This was so highly resented that Mr. Clement Cook one of the Members openly Protested That it was better to die by a Forreign Enemy than to be destroyed at home And Dr. Turner another of the House seconded him with
was not admitted in whereupon the King with his Guard of Pensioners were resolved to force their Entrance which the Commons having notice of they suddenly went all out of the House and this was the end of this Parliament After their Dissolution the King publisheth a Declaration of the Causes thereof and then question'd Eleven of the Refractory Members at the Council Table who were all committed to divers Prisons About the same time the Marquis of Huntley Sheriff of the greatest part of Scotland neglecting the Order of the Council for seizing some Priests and Jesuites who publickly said Mass and committed other Insolences at Aberdeen with several other Lords who joyned with him and refused to appear upon Summons and had likewise given notice to the Priests and Jesuites to escape were proclaimed Rebels and Traitors to the King and Kingdom upon which they fled into England The French King having had much loss by the War with England did now therefore propose and conclude a Peace with the King consisting of several Articles A Paper was about this time dispersed abroad containing some Projects how the King might Augment his Revenues without the help of Parliaments upon which the Earls of Bedford Somerset and Clare with others where committed upon Information that they had dispersed some Copies of them but Sir David Fowls soon cleared them who deposed upon Oath that it was contrived near Sixteen years before by Sir Robert-Dudley Son to the Earl of Leicester when he was in Italy The dissolving the last Parliament procured great Animosities in the People against the Prime Ministers of State which occasioned divers Invective Libels to be dispersed abroad whereof one against Bishop Laud was found in the Dean of St. Pauls Yard to this Effect Laud look to thy self be assured thy life is sought as thou art the Fountain of Wickedness repent of thy monstrous sin before thou be taken out of the World and assure thy self Neither God nor the World can endure such a vile Councellor or Whisperer Another very bitter Libel was scattered against the Lord Treasurer Weston On the other side some considering the unsuccesfulness of this and the two former Parliaments advised never for the future to call any more Parliaments and to that end the forementioned Book of Projects was published and addrest to the King proposing some methods to prevent the Impertinency of Parliaments as he called them for time to come by the Example of Lewes 11th of France who pretended that the Commons or Third Estate did incroach too much upon the Nobility and Clergy dissolved it and never after suffered the People freely to Elect their Representatives but nominated certain Eminent Persons himself instead thereof which is called L' Assembly des Notabiles or the Assembly of Chief or Principal Men and the Methods proposed to avoid Parliaments were 1. To have a Fortress in every considerable Town 2. To cause high-ways to be made through all such Towns 3. To make none of the Inhabitants Governors of those Fortresses 4. To let none pass through those Towns without a Ticket 5. To have the Names of all Lodgers taken by Innkeepers 6. To impose a general Oath upon the Subjects not to oppose any of these Contrivances And to increase the Kings Revenue the Advice was 1. To demand the Tenth part of every Mans Estate 2. To buy all Leases upon the Crown Lands 3. To take the benefit of Salt into his own hands 4. To demand a Rate for Sealing the Weights every year 5. To lay a Taxe upon Wools. 6. Upon every Lawyers Fee 7. Upon Inns and Victualling Houses for a Licence 8. Upon all Cattle Flesh and Horses sold in the Market 9. Upon all Lands Alienated 10. To set a Rate upon all Offices in his Majesties Grant 11. To Reduce his Majesties Houshold to board wages 12. To lay a Taxe upon White Meats on fasting days 13. To lay an Imposition upon the Papists Lands 14. To Advance some Hundreds of Persons to Honours 15. To prohibit excess in Apparel which would save the Gentry more Money then what they were Taxed would amount to The Insurection of the Apprentices at Lambeth The E of Strafford beheaded on Towerhill Cheapside Cross pulled down in 1643. Upon May 29. 1630 the Queen was delivered of a Son at St. James's who was Christened Charles and Preserved by Providence to Succeed his Father in these Three Kingdoms as his Rightful Inheritance after the Miseries of a long and tedious Exile from his Native Countrey unto which he was at length happily Restored with the general Consent and Acclamations of the whole Kingdom The King of France and the Prince Elector Yalatine represented by the Duke of Lenox and the Marquis Hamilton were his Godfathers and the Queen Mother of France represented by the Dutchess of Richmond his Godmother It was observed that at his Nativity a Star was seen at Noon-day which might portend some extraordinary Passages of this Princes Life About this time Dr. Leighton was sentenced in the Star Chamber to have his Body Whipt his Fore-head Stigmatized his Ears Cropt his Nose Slit for publishing a Book called Sions Plea wherein he exhorted the late Parliament to smite the Bishops under the Fifth Rib and called the Queen the Daughter of Heth a Canaanite and Idolatress which Sentence was accordingly inflicted on him In Ireland the Papists presumed on St. Stephens day to say Mass in Dublin while the Lords Chief Justices were at Church who having notice thereof ordered the Preists Crucifixes and Vestments to be seized and Eight Popish Aldermen were likewise Imprisoned for not Assisting the Mayor but some Papists making a Tumult rescued the Priests whom the Guards again forced to deliver back Upon Information of this Riot and Insolency Fifteen Houses were by special Order from the Council seized upon for his Majesties use and the Priests and Fryers so disturbed that two of them hanged themselves Neither did the Papists agree together for there were great Contests in England between the Jesuites and Secular Priests The Earl of Essex had many years before married the Lady Howard who complaining of his Insufficiency for Marriage Duties the Cause was brought to a Tryal and it being made appear by a Jury of Midwives and the Earls own Confession That he never could and believed he never should carnally know her Thereupon Sentence of Divorce between him and his Lady was pronounced by the Bishops However the Earl was resolved to try his Fortune once more and therefore upon his return out of the Low Countreys where he had been for some time a Souldier he now Married a Daughter of Sir William Paulet of Wiltshire but a while after she objecting the same cause of complaint desired likewise to be Divorced from him which the Earl easily cousented to and it was done accordingly In the year 1631 and the 7th of his Majesties Reign Mervin Lord Audly and Earl of Castlehaven was Tryed by his Peers upon the Petition of his own
needing no further Abridgment That he was willing to concur with them for removal of any Innovations in Religion by a National Synod That he had no Counsellors nor Ministers of State whom he would not at any time expose to Trial and leave to the Law but cannot agree that any others should have the choice of them but himself That he concurs with them for not altering the Forfeited Lands in Ireland but thinks it not reasonable to resolve before the Event of War be seen and doubts not of their Loyal Endeavours for the support of his Royal State In Answer to the Remonstrance the King Issues out a Declaration to his Subjects the Sum of which was That he thought he had given sufficient satisfaction to his Peoples Fears and Jealonsies concerning Religion Liberty and Civil Interests by the Bills which he had passed this Parliament desiring that misunderstandings might be removed on either side and that the bleeding Condition of Ireland might perswade them to Unity for the relief of that unhappy Kingdom Not long after happened the Insolent Tumults of the London Apprentices who in a riotous manner went to White-hall and Westminster to the great disturbance of the King who thereupon commanded the Lord Mayor and Common Council to keep a double Watch and Guard for preventing mischief and Dec. 28. the King sends a Message to the Lords That he would raise Ten thousand Voluntiers for Ireland if the Commons would undertake to pay them On New-years day a Proclamation was published against the Irish declaring Those that were in Arms with all their Adherents and Abettors to be Rebels and Traytors Two days after the King upon Information that the L. Kimbolton and Five of the House of Commons viz. Mr. Hollis Sir Authur Haslerig Mr. Pym Mr Hamden and Mr. Stroud had correspondence with the Scots and countenanced the late City Tumults He thereupon ordered their Trunks Studies and Chambers to be Sealed up and their Person Seized the former of which was done but having timely notice they went aside upon which the Commons Voted the same day That if any Persons shall Attempt to Seize the Persons or Papers of any Parliament Men such Members shall require the Aid of the Constable to secure such Persons till further Order of the House and that it is lawful for any person to Assist the said Members and that the said Members may stand upon their Guard and make resistance according to the Protestation for defence of the Priviledges of Parliament Hereupon the King charges the L. Kimbolton and the 5 Members with several Articles and Acquaints both Houses That he did intend to prosecute them for High Treason and required that their Persons might be secured And the next day the King Attended with his Guard of Pensioners and some Hundreds of Gentlemen went to the House of Commons and the Guard staying without the King with the Palsgrave entred the House at whose entrance the Speaker rises out of the Chair and the King sitting down therein Views the House round and perceives the Birds he aimed at were flown for having warning they had withdrawn into London whereupon he tells them That he came to look for those 5 Members whom he had accused of High Treason and was resolved to have them where ever he found them and expected to have them sent to him as soon as they should come to the House but would not have them think that this Act of his was any Violation of Parliament This Act of the Kings was so highly resented by the House that the next day January 5 the Commons Voted it a Breach of Priviledge and Scandals were raised in the City that he intended Violence against the House of Commons and came thither with force to Murther several Members and used threatning Speeches against the Parliament with which the City was so possessed That unusual Guards and Watches were set as if some desperate Assault were to be made upon the City and the Houses Adjourned till the Tuesday following appointing a Committee in the mean time to sit at Guild-hall to consider of the most Effectual Means for their Security And then they publish a Declaration That whosoever shall Arrest any Member of Parliament by Warrant from the King only is Guilty of the Breach of Priviledges of Parliament and likewise that all those who attended the King when he came to demand the 5 Members were Guilty of a Traiterous Design against the King and Parliament That the Proclamation for Apprehending and Imprisoning the said Members was False Scandalous and Illegal and not of Validity enough to hinder them from attending the House and that the publishing of the several Articles of High Treason was a Breach of Priviledge wherefore they intreat his Majesty to discover the Names of those Informers and Evil Councellors declaring all such Persons to be publick Enemies to the State In the mean time the Londoners came thronging to Westminster with Petitions inveighing bitterly against some of the Peers but especially the Bishops whom they affronted as they went to the House upon which they were so affrighted that Twelve Bishops absent themselves from the House of Lords drawing up a Protestation against all Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and Determinations as in themselves null and of none effect which had passed or should pass during their forced Absence desiring their Protestation might be entred by the Clerk of the House of Peers Presently after which at a Conference between both Houses it was agreed That this Protestation of the Twelve Bishops did extend to the deep intrenching upon the fundamental Priviledges and Being of Parliaments and in a short time they were accused of High Treason seized and brought on their knees at the Lords Bar Ten of them were committed to the Tower and the other two in regard of their Age to the Black Rod. The King at this time thinking himself unsafe without a Guard accepted of the offer of some Gentlemen of the Inns of Court to be a Guard to him which instead of security was by subtil men made more prejudicial to the King by taking this occasion to raise the rage and jealousie of the City against him for at midnight there were crys made â—n the Streets of London That all People should rise â—o their Defence for the King with his Papists were coming to fire the City and cut their Throats in their Beds than which though nothing were more false yet it found the effects of truth and the People by such Allarms being terrified from sleep the impressions of those night fears lay long upon their Spirits in the day and filled them almost with madness of which the King complained to the Common Council of London But the House of Commons to obviate this upon suspicion of some design upon their persons petition the King for a Guard to be commanded by the Earl of Essex of whose fidelity to the King and State no question was ever made This Petition was denied by the
Nicholas and Sir Lewes Dives signifying That if the King would openly declare his mind and betake himself to some place of security that he might come freely to him he doubted not but he should do him some acceptable Service These Letters were intercepted by the Parliament and by them after perusal sent to the King with their Intreaties to him That he would perswade the Queen not to correspond with Digby or any other whom his Great Council had proclaimed Traytors There was a Report that the Parliament intended to Accuse the Queen of High-Treason as one that had so much power with the King to misadvise him this rumour the Parliament exused as a publick Scandal upon them which she seemed satisfied with yet provides against the danger and therefore prevails with the King to accompany her Daughter Mary Princess of Orange into Holland carrying with her all the Kings and her own Jewels together with those entailed upon the Crown intending with those and some other Assistance to raise a Party sufficient to maintain the King and his Regalities against the Parliament In the mean time Mr. Pym at a Conferrence complaining of the General Flocking of Papists into Ireland affirmed That since the Lieutenant had ordered a stop upon the Ports against all Irish Papists many of the Chief Commanders now in the head of the Rebels had been licensed to pass thither by his Majesties immediate Warrant The King was highly offended at this Speech which he signified to the House who in their Answer to his Message justifie Mr. Pym's words to be the sense of the House and That they had yet in safe Oustody the Lord Delvin Sir George Hamilton Colonel Butler Brother to the Lord Miniard now in Rebellion and one of the Lord Nettervils Sons To which the King replies That he thought Mr. Pym 's Speech was not so well grounded as it ought to have been and that the aforementioned persons had their Passes granted before he knew of the Parliaments Order of Restraint and therefore expected their Declaration for his Vindication from thut odious calumny of conniving or underhand favouring that abhorred Irish Rebellion But this His Majesties desire proved fruitless for they next moved the King to turn out Sir John Byron out of the Lieutenancy of the Tower and at their Nomination Sir John Conyers succeeded they then proceeded to name fit Persons for trust of the Militia in the several Counties and by Act of Parliament Disabled all Clergy-men from exercising Temporal Jurisdiction After which the King by a Message offers them To require by Proclamation all Statutes concerning Popish Recusants to be put in Execution That the seven Condemned Popish Priests shall be Banished and all Romish Priests within twenty days shall depart the Kingdom That he refers the consideration of Church Government and Liturgy wholly to the Houses and offers to go himself in Person against the Rebels in Ireland But the Commons were now busie about a Petition for Vindicating their Five Members wherein they desire the King to send them the Informers against the said Members or otherwise to desert their Prosecution would not suffice because the whole Parliament was concerned in the Charge And then they proceeded to settle the Militia for the defence of the Parliament Tower and City of London under the Command of Serjeant Major General Skippon who had formerly been an Experienced Souldier in the Low-Countries The King had deferred his Answer to their Petition for settling the Militia of the Counties according to their nomination till his return from Dover where he took leave of his Wife and Daughter and so returned to Greenwich from whence he sent to Hampton Court for his two Eldest Sons to come to him though contrary to the mind of the Parliament who would have disswaded him from it And now the Parliament thought fit to consider of the reducing of Ireland and ordered two Millilions and an half of those Acres to be Confiscate of Rebels Lands in Four Provinces shall be allotted to such Persons as will disburse Money for carrying on that War and several other Provisions were made for their Security which the King confirms Feb. 26. 1641 and in pursuance thereof a considerable Sum of Money was raised the People being generally free in their Contributions The King being now at Greenwich sends this Answer to the Petition about the Militia That he is willing to condescend to all the Proposals concerning the Militia of the Counties and the Persons mentioned but not of London and other Corporations whose Government in that particular he thought it neither Justice nor Policy to alter but would not consent to divest himself of the Power of the County Militia for an indefinite time but for some limited space This Answer did not satisfie so that the Breach growing daily wider the King declined these parts and the Parliament and removed to Theobalds taking with him the Prince and the D. of York About the beginning of March he receives a petition from the Parliament wherein they require the Militia more resolutely than before affirming Than in case of denial the imminent dangers would constrain them to dispose of it by Authority of Parliament desiring also that he would make his abode near London and the Parliament and continue the Prince at some of his Houses near the City for the better carrying on of Affairs and preventing the Peoples Jealousies and Fears All which being refused They presently Order That the Kingdom be put into a posture â—f Defence in such a way as was agreed upon by Parliament and a Committee to prepare a publick Declaration from these two Heads 1. The just Causes of the Fears and Jealousies given to the Parliament at the same time clearing themselves from any Jealousies conceived against himself 2. To consider of all matters arising from his Majesties Message and what was fit to be done And now began our Troubles and all the Miseries of a Civil War the Parliament every day entertaining or pretending to entertain new Jealousies and Suspicions of the Kings Actions which howsoever in complement they made shew of imputing only to his Evil Council yet obliquely had had too great a Reflection upon his Person They now proceed on a sudden to make great preparations both by Sea and Land and the Earl of Northumberland Admiral of England is commanded to rig the Kings Ships and fit them for Sea and likwise all Masters and Owners of Ships were perswaded to do the like The Beacons were repaired Sea-marks set up and extraordinary posting up and down with Pacquets all sad Prognosticks of the Calamities ensuing The King being now at Roysion March 9 the Earls of Pembrook and Holland bring him the Parliaments Declaration and read it to him wherein they represent to him some former miscarriages As the attempts to incense the late Nor hern Army against the Parliament The Scotish Troubles L. Jermins Treasons and Transportation by the Kings Warrant The Petition delivered to Captain
Committee of the Lords and Commons to reside there for the better securing the Garrison to them and gave the Governor power to raise the Trained Bands for his defence after which the King hearing that the Parliament had raised a Guard of themselves without his consent and reflecting upon the business of Hotham he summoned the Gentry of Yorkshire to a Meeting and acquainted them That his Magazine at Hull was going to be taken from him against his will the Militia against the Law and his consent put in execution and Sir John Hothams Treason countenanced so that he was resolved to have a Guard to secure his person in which he desired their assistance that he might be able to protect them the Laws and the true Protestant Religion from violation or injury The King had hereby indifferently strengthened himself and more had come in had not those Members of Parliament who came to the King at York prevailed with some of the Free-holders to protest against it And the Parliament declare That the Subjects unless bound to it by special Service could not be commanded to attend the King at his pleasure without transgressing against the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom And that whosoever upon pretence of his Majesties Command shall take up Arms in a warlike manner shall be esteemed disturbers of the peace and to be proceeded against accordingly In the mean while Sir Thomas Gardiner who had been Recorder of London for six years being Impeached by the Parliament and in danger of hanging was glad to shift for himself and by flight escaped to the King at which time his Majesty endeavoured to have removed the Term from London to York but was much opposed therein by the Parliament who Voted it Illegal and forbid the L. Keeper to issue out Writs or Seal any Proclamation to that purpose The Parliament now proceed to put the people into a Military posture requiring all Persons in Authority to put the late Ordinance of the Militia in Execution which the King by his Proclamation forbids but for the Peoples satisfaction the Parliament publish'd a severe Declaration to the same Effect as their former Remonstrance only this was added That the King at his being in Scotland had countenanced the Irish in their Rebellious Designs and that his connivance was manifested by his tedious with-holding the Proclamation whereby they were declared Traytors till Jan. 2. being almost a Quarter of a Year after the breaking out of the Rebellion and then had appointed but forty Copies to be printed none of them to be published without his pleasure signified whereas his Proclamations against the Scots had been dispersed throughout all the Kingdom with publick Prayers and Execrations The King makes a speedy Answer hereunto not much differing from what he had said before yet tells them That as to the business of the Irish his Council in Ireland had desired them no sooner nor so many Copies by twenty as he had Signed and and sent them His Majesty had written a Letter to his Privy Council of Scotland to take away from them all suspicion of those Imputations so frequently laid to his Charge of being Popishly affected to be guilty of the bloodshed in Ireland and to bring in Forreign Forces Wherewith they seemed so satisfied that they returned a most respectful Answer and presently interposed their Mediation to heal the Breach before it grew wider humbly desiring the King to hearken to his Parliament as his greatest his best and most unparallel'd Council and discouraging him from any personal Journey into Ireland This Message was sent by the Earl of Lowden Chancellor of Scotland and after this the Scots Petition to the Kings Privy Council there Not to meddle with any verbal or real Engagement for the King against the Parliament Hereupon the English Parliament publish a Protestation wherein they vindicate their own proceedings and declare the great sense they had of the Affection of their Scotish Brethren manifested unto them in so many particulars and more especially the mentioned Petition The Earl of Bristol an Old Experienced Statesman prudently foresaw that such unhappy beginings must necessarily have a very bad Issue therefore earnestly endeavoured an Accommodation by stating the Case in the House of Lords representing the Offers of the King on the one side and the Professions of the Parliament on the other and likewise the dreadful Effects of a Civil War then likely to ensue by the Example of the woful Desolations in Germany and the expensive Troubles in Scotland and then proposes some methods for preventing these dangers as 1. That a select Committee of Parliament should truly state the matters in difference with the most probable ways of reconciling them 2. To consider particularly what may be expected either in point of supporting the King or releiving his People And lastly how the Conditions agreed upon may be secured And to shew the necessity of this course he discovers the deplorable State of Ireland the debts and necessities of the Crown the distractions which were likely to produce confusion of Religion most dangerous and destructive to a State besides the general Distraction of the Subjects who between Commands and Countermands knew not whom to obey This was admitted as good and solid Reason but Divine Justice would not so permit the Sins of the English Nation to go unpunished and the L. Bristols Speech though well received yet proved ineffectual In the mean time the Kings Guard increases at York which the House Voted a preparation for War against the Parliament a Breach of the Trust reposed in him by his People and that all such as serve him there are Traitors to the Laws of the Kingdom as the 11 Rich. 2. and the 1 Hen. 3. This was followed by another Declaration or Remonstrance of the misactions of the King and their own Priviledges which the King answers and they again reply to and May 28. the Parliament ordain That all Sheriffs Justices c. make stay of all Arms and Ammunition going to the King at York the King on the other side forbids all Persons belonging to the Trained Bands or Militia of the Kingdom to obey any Order or Ordinance of any of the Houses divers Members of both Houses withdrew themselves to the King as being unsatisfied with their proceedings whereupon the Parliament Ordered That all such as did not make their Personal Appearance by June 16 ensuing should be fined an 100 pounds toward the Irish Wars such only excepted as were imployed by the Parliament They likewise understood that the Queen had pawned the Crown Jewels in Holland for Money to be transported to the King which to prevent him of they order That whoever hath or shall pay lend send or bring any Money in Specie into this Kingdom for or upon those Jewels or accept of any Bill hereafter shall be an Enemy to the State June 2. The Parliament sent to the King Nineteen Proposition 1. That all the Kings Privy
E. of Strafford in the Grand Accusation charging him for obtruding thâ— Common Prayer Book and Canons and Constitution Ecclesiastical upon their Nation and for advising thâ— King to dissolve the last Parliament and other suâ—â— matters upon which he was first committed to thâ— black Rod and 10 weeks after Voted Guilty of Higâ— Treason and sent to the Tower where he continueâ— 4 years his Charge was endeavouring the subversiâ—â— 1. Of the Lawes 2. Of Religion 3. Of the Priviledgâ— of Parliament And after many times attending on thâ— House Jan. 4. 1644. they passed their Ordinance oâ— Parliament That he should be drawn hang'd and quartered but upon his Petition They voted him to be beheaded which he suffered Jan. 10. after Jan. 30. a Treaty was begun at Vxbridge between the King and Parliament but took no effect Basing House was relieved by the Kings Forces against which Sir William Waller had lost above 1000 men About this time the E. of Essex was cashiered ouâ— of his Command and Sir Tho. Fairfax was Voted General of the Parliaments Forces Col. Rossiter waâ— defeated by Sir Marm. Langdale and the Kings party In April 1645. Collonel Massey defeated by Prince Rupert at Ledbury and Blechington House delivered to the Parliament In May Oxford was besieged the first time and Leicester taken by the King In June Leicester regained by the Parliament Carlisle after 41 weeks siege deliver'd by Sir T. Glenham to the Scots June 14. 1645. was fought that unfortunate Battell at Naseby which proved so fatal to the King and his Cause This fight was exceeding bloody both Armies being very couragious and numerous there not being above 500 odds On the Parliaments side â—ere slain and wounded above 1000 Officers and â—rivate Souldiers but much more was the loss on 〈◊〉 the Kings side there being taken 6 Collonels 8 â—ieutenant Collonels 18 Majors 70 Captains 8 Lieuâ—â—nants 200 Enfigns and other inferior Officers 4500 â—ommon Souldiers many Women 13 of the Kings â—oushold Servants 4 Footmen 12 pieces of Ordinance â—000 Arms 48 Barrels of Powder 200 Carriages all â—heir Bag and Baggage with store of rich Pillage â—000 Horse the Kings Standard and one of his â—oaches and his Cabinet of Letters and Papers which were afterwards published so that it proved a comâ—leat Victory to the Parliamentarians In July the Kings Forces were defeated at Langâ—ort about 200 slain and 1400 Prisoners Pomfret Castle Bridgwater Scarborough and Bath deliverâ—d to the Parliament In August Sherburn Castle taâ—en by the Parliament In Sept. Bristoll surrendred â—o them and the Kings Forces worsted at Routon Heath In October Basing-House taken by Cromwell â—nd L. Digby defeated in York-shire in Decemb. Laâ—â—am House delivered by the Kings Order and Hereâ—â—rd surpriz'd by the Parliament before which â—lace the Scots in August had lost about 1000 men â—n March L. Ashly defeated near Stow. In April 1646. Ruthen Castle Exeter St. Michaâ—ls Mount Dunster Castle and Woodstock yielded Corf Castle taken by Stratagem Sir Tho. Fairfax resolves â—o march to Oxford which put the King upon thoughts of providing for his own safety and therefore April â—3 he goes out of Oxford in Disguise with Mr. Hudâ—â—… a Minister and Mr. John Ashburnham whose Serâ—ant he personated and went to the Scots Army at Newark In May Oxford was besieged and Banbury â—nd Radnor surrendred to the Parliament In June Litchfield Worcester Wallingford Castle Borstall Oxford and Farringdon and yielded to the Parliament In July Gothridge and Pendennis the like and Conway taken by Storm In August Ragland surrendred by the Marquess of Worcester In September Scilly Island and Castle taken Denbigh Castle also yielded In Novemb Gen. Fairfax marched Triumphantly into London In February the Scotch Army having first sold the King for two hundred thousand Pound marched into Scotland and the King was sent Prisoner to Holmby by the Parliament The King being now in the power of his Enemies they remove him from place to place and at length into the Isle of Wight under the Guard of Coll. Hâ—â—mond and afterwards a Treaty of Peace was there begun wherein things were so managed that his Majesties Concessions were Voted satisfactory After which the Army and some part of the Parliament driving on an Interest contrary to Peace turned all such Members out of the House of Commons as they thought would not comply with their Designs and then conveyed the King to Windsor During which time there happened several Bickerings and Ingagements between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians the Royal Party being in all places defeated especially at Maidstone Pontefract Bow Stratford Kingston and Preston where the Scotch Army received a very great Overthrow losing abundance of men And lastly at Colchester where those two gallant Gentlemen Sir Ch. Lucas and Sir George Lisle were shot to death after quarter given contrary to the Law of Arms. After this the Officers of the Army and those Members then left in the House proceeded to that height as to presume to bring the King to Tryal which because it was an unparallel'd Action it may be necestary to give a more particular Account thereof The King goes from Oxford in disguise 1646 The Illegall Tryall of King Charles the 〈◊〉 The Martyrdom of King Charles 1648 Upon the fourth of January 1648. the House of Commons being turned into a Grand Committee passed these following Votes 1. That the People under God are the Original of all just Power 2. That the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament being chosen by and representing the People have the Supream Authority of the Nation 3. That whatsoever is Enacted and Declared for Law by the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament hath the force of a Law 4. That all the People of the Nation are included thereby although the consent and concurrence of the House of Peers be not had thereunto 5. That to raise Arms against the Peoples Representative or Parliament and to make War upon them is High Treason 6. That the King himself took Arms against the Parliament and upon that account is guilty of the Blood-shed throughout the Civil War and that he ought to explate the Crime with his own Blood After this they proceeded to make a pretended Act for the Tryal of the King which they â—ntituled An Act of the Commons of England Assemâ—led in Parliament for erecting of an High Court of â—ustice for the Trying and Judging of CHARLES STUART King of England which was in the â—orm following WHereas it is notorious That Charles Stuart the now King of England not content with those many incroachments which his Predecessors had made upon the People in their Rights and Freedoms hath had a wicked design totally to subvert the ancient and fundamental Laws and Liberty of the Nation And in their place to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government with fire and sword levyed and maintained a cruel War in the Land against the Parliament and Kingdom Whereby the Countrey hath been miserably wasted
Silence commanded The Court called Seventy three Persons present The King comes in with his Guard looks with an austere countenance upon the Court and sits down The second O Yes made and silence commanded Mr. Cook Solicitor General May it please your Lordship my Lord President This is now the third time that by the great grace and favour of this High Court the Prisoner hath been brought to the Bar before any Issue joyned in the Cause My Lord I did at the first Court exhibit a Charge against him containing the highest Treason that ever was wrought upon the Theatre of England that a King of England trusted to keep the Law That had taken an Oath so to do That had Tribute paid him for that end should be guilty of a wicked design to subvert and destroy our Lawes and introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government in the defiance of the Parliament and their Authority set up his Standard for War against his Parliament and People and I did humbly pray in the behalf of the People of England that he might speedily be required to make an answer to the Charge But my Lord instead of making any Answer he did then dispute the Authority of this High Court your Lordship was pleased to give him a further day to consider and to put in his Answer which day being yesterday I did humbly move that he might be required to give a direct and positive answer either by denying or confession of it but my Lord he was then pleased for to demurre to the Jurisdiction of the Court which the Court did then overrule and command him to give a direct and positive Answer My Lord besides this great delay of Justice I shall now humbly move your Lordship for speedy Judgment against him My Lord I might presse your Lordship upon the whole That according to the known Rules of the Law of the Land That if a Prisoner shall stand as contumacious in contempt and shall not put in an issuable plea Guilty or not Guilty of the Charge given against him whereby he may come to a fair Tryal That as by an implicite confession it may be taken pro confesso as it hath been done to those who have deserved more favour than the Prisoner at the Bar has done but besides my Lord I shall humbly presse your Lordship upon the whole Fact the House of Commons the Supream Authority and Jurisdiction of the Kingdom they have declared That it is notorious That the matter of the Charge is true as it is in truth my Lord as clearas Chrystal and as the Sun that shines at noon-day which if your Lordship and the Court be not satisfied in I have notwithstanding on the people of Englands behalf several witnesses to produce And therefore I do humbly pray and yet I must confess it is not so much I as the innocent blood that hath been shed the cry whereof is very great for justice and judgment and therefore I do humbly pray that speedy Judgement be pronounced against the Prisoner at the Bar. President Sir you have heard what is moved by the Councel on the behalf of the Kingdom against you Sir you may well remember and if you do not the Court cannot forget what dilatory dealings the Court hath found at your hands you were pleased to propound some Questions you have had your Resolutions upon them You were told over and over again That the Court did affirm their own jurisdiction That it was not for you nor any other man to dispute the Jurisdiction of the Supreme and highest Authority of England from which there is no Appeal and touching which there must be no dispute yet you did persist in such carriage as you gave no manner of obedience nor did you acknowledge any Authority in them nor the High Court that constituted this Court of Justice Sir I must let you know from the Court That they are very sensible of these delays of yours and that they ought not being thus Authorized by the supreme Court of England to be thus trifled withall and that they might in justice if they pleased and according to the Rules of Justice take advantage of these delayes and proceed to pronounce judgment against you yet nevertheless they are pleased to give direction and on their behalfs I do require you that you make a positive Answer unto this Charge that is against you Sir in plain terms for Justice knows no respect of persons you are to give your positive and final Answer in plain English whether you be guilty or not guilty of these Treasons laid to your Charge The King after a little pause said When I was here yesterday I did desire to speak for the Liberties of the People of England I was interrupted I desire to know yet whether I may speak freely or not President Sir you have had the Resolution of the Court upon the like Question the last day and you were told That having such a Charge of so high a Nature against you your Work was that you ought to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Court and to Answer to your Charge Sir if you Answer to your Charge which the Court gives you leave now to do though they might have taken the advantage of your Contempt yet if you be able to Answer to your Charge when you have once Answered you shall be heard at large make the best Defence you can But Sir I must let you know from the Court as their commands that you are not to be permitted to issue out into any other discourses till such time as you have given a positive Answer concerning the Matter that is Charged upon you King For the Charge I value it not a Rush it is the Liberty of the people of England that I stand for for me to acknowledge a new Court that I never heard of before I that am your King that should be an example to all the people of England for to uphold Justice to maintain the old Laws indeed I do not know how to do it you spoke very well the first day that I came here on Saturday of the Obligations that I had laid upon me by God to the maintenance of the Libertyes of my People The same Obligation you speak of I do acknowledge to God that I owe to Him and to my people to defend as much as in me lies the ancient Laws of the Kingdom therefore until that I may know that this is not against the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by your favour I can put in no particular Answer If you will give me time I will then shew you my Reasons why I cannot do it and this Here being interrupted he said By your favour you ought not to interrupt me how I came here I know not there 's no Law for it to make your King your Prisoner I was lately in a Treaty upon the publick Faith of the Kingdom that was the known the two Houses of Parliament that was the
Representative of the Kingdom and when that I had almost made an end of the Treaty then I was hurried away and brought hither and therefore Here the President interrupted him and said Sir you must know the pleasure of the Court. King By your favour Sir President Nay Sir by your favour you may not be permitted to fall into these discourses you appear as a Delinquent you have not acknowledged the Authority of the Court the Court craves it not of you and once more they command you to give your positive Answer Clerk Do your Duty King Duty Sir The Clerk reads Charles Stuart King of England you are accused in the behalf of the Commons of England of divers high Crimes and Treasons which Charge hath been read unto you the Court now requires you to give your positive and final Answer by way of confession or denyal of the Charge King Sir I say again to you so that I might give satisfaction to the people of England of the clearness of my proceedings not by way of Answer not in this way but to satisfie them that I have done nothing against that Trust that hath been committed to me I would do it but to acknowledge a new Court against their Priviledges to alter the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Sir you must excuse me President Sir this is the third time that you have publickly disowned the Court and put an affront upon it how far you have preserved the Priviledges of the people your Actions have spoke it but truly Sir mens intentions ought to be known by their Actions you have written your meaning in bloody Characters throughout the whole Kingdom but Sir you understand the pleasure of the Court Clerk Record the default and Gentlemen you that took charge of the Prisoner take him back again King I will onely say this one word to you If it were only my own particular I would not say any more nor interrupt you President Sir you have heard the pleasure of the Court and you are notwithstanding you will not understand it to find that you are before a Court of Justice Then the King went forth with his Guard and Proclamation was made That all persons who had then appeared and had further to do at the Court might depart into the Painted Chamber to which place the Court did forthwith adjourn and intended to meet in Westminster-Hall by Ten of the clock the next morning Cryer God bless the Kingdom of England His Majesty intended to have delivered in writing his Reasons against the Pretended Jurisdicton of the High Court of Justice upon Monday Jan. 22. but was not permitted Saturday the 27 of January 1648. O Yes made Silence commanded The Court called Serjeant Bradshaw Lord President in his Scarlet Robe suitable to the work of this day with sixtie eight other Members of the Court called As the King came into the Court in his usual posture with his Hat on a Cry made in the Hall by some of the Souldiers for Justice Justice and Execution King I shall desire a word to be heard a little and I hope I shall give no occasion of interruption President You may answer in your time hear the Court first King If it please you Sir I desire to be heard and I shall not give any occasion of interruption and it is only in a word a sudden judgment President You shall be heard in due time but You are to hear the Court first King Sir I desire it it will be in order to what I believe the Court will say and therefore Sir a hastie Judgment is not so soon recalled President Sir you shall be heard before the Judgment be given and in the mean time you may forbear King Well Sir shall I be heard before the judgment be given President Gentlemen it is well known to all or most of you here present That the Prisoner at the Bar hath been several times convented and brought before the Court to make answer to a Charge of Treason and other high Crimes exhibited against him in the Name of the People of England to which Charge being required to Answer Here an honourable Lady interrupted the Court saying Not half the People but she was soon silenced he hath been so far from obeying the Commands of the Court by submitting to their Justice as he began to take upon him to offer reasoning and debate unto the Authoritie of the Court and of the highest Court that constituted them to try and judge him but being over-ruled in that and required to make his Answer he was still pleased to continue contumacious and to refuse to submit or Answer Hereupon the Court that they may not be wanting to themselves to the trust reposed in them nor that any mans wilfulness prevent Justice they have thought fit to take the matter into their consideration They have considered of the Contumacy and of that confession which in Law doth arise upon that contumacy They have likewise considered of the notoriety of the Fact charged upon the Prisoner and upon the whole matter they are resolved and have agreed upon a Sentence to be now pronounced against this Prisoner but in respect he doth desire to be heard before the Sentence be read and pronounced the Court hath resolved that they will hear him yet Sir thus much I must tell you before-hand which you have been minded of at other Courts that if that you have to say be to offer any Debate concerning jurisdiction you are not to be heard in it you have offered it formerly and you have indeed struck at the root that is the power and Supreme Authority of the Commons of England which this Court will not admit a debate of and which indeed is an irrational thing in them to do being a Court that acts upon Authority denived from them that they should presume to judge upon their Superiority from whom there is no Appeal But Sir if you have any thing to say in defence of your self concerning the matters charged the Court hath given me command to let you know they will hear you King Since that I see that you will not hear any thing of debate concerning that which I confess I thought most material for the peace of the Kingdom and for the Liberty of the Subject I shall wave it I shall speak nothing to it but only I must tell you That this many a day all things have been taken away from me but that that I call more dear to me than my life which is My Conscience and my Honour and if I had respect to my life more than the Peace of the Kingdom the Liberty of the Subject certainly I should have made a particular defence for my self for by that at least-wise I might have delayed an ugly Sentence which I believe will pass upon me Therefore certainly Sir as a man that hath some understanding some knowledge of the world if that my true zeal to my Countrey had not overborn the care
that I have of my own preservation I should have gone another way to work than that I have done Now Sir I conceive that an hastie Sentence once past may be sooner repented than recalled And truly the self same desire that I have for the Peace of the Kingdome and the Liberty of the Subject more than my own particular does make me now at last desire That having something for to say that concerns both I desire before Sentence be given that I may be heard in the Painted Chamber before the Lords and Commons this delay cannot be prejudicial to you whatsoever I say if that I say no Reason those that hear me must be Judges I cannot be Judge of that that I have if it be Reason and really for the welfare of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject I am sure on it very well it is worth the hearing Therefore I do conjure you as you love that you pretend I hope it is real the Liberty of the Subject the Peace of the Kingdom that you will grant Me the hearing before any Sentence be passed I only desire this that you will take this into your consideration it may be you have not heard of it before-hand if you will I 'le retire and you may think of it but if I cannot get this Liberty I do here protest that so fair shews of Liberty and Peace are pure shews and not otherwise then that you will not hear your KING President Sir You have now spoken King Yes Sir President And this that you have said is a further declining of the Jurisdiction of this Court which was the thing wherein you were limited before King Pray excuse me Sir for my interruption because you mistake me it is not a declining of it you do judge me before you hear me speak I say it will not I do not decline it though I cannot acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court yet Sir in this give Me leave to say I would do it though I did not acknowledge it in this I do protest it is not the declining of it since I say if that I do say any thing but that that is for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberties of the Subject then the shame is mine Now I desire that you will take this into your consideration if you will I 'le withdraw President Sir this is not altogether new that you have moved unto us not altogether new to us though the first time in person you have offered it to the Court Sir you say you do not Decline the Jurisdiction of the Court. King Not in this that I have said President I understand you well Sir but nevertheless that which you have offered seems to be contrary to that saying of yours for the Court are ready to give a Sentence it is not as you say That they will not hear your King for they have been ready to hear you they have patiently waited your pleasure for three Courts together to hear what you would say to the Peoples Charge against you to which you have not vouchsafed to give any answer at all Sir This tends to a further delay Truly Sir such delayes as these neither may the Kingdom nor Justice well bear You have had three several dayes to have offered in this kind what you would have pleased This Court is founded upon that Authority of the Commons of England in whom rests the Supreme Jurisdiction That which you now tender is to have another Jurisdiction and a co-ordinate Jurisdiction I know very well you express your self Sir That notwithstanding that you would offer to the Lords nnd Commons in the Painted Chamber yet nevertheless you would proceed on here I did hear you say so but Sir that you would offer there whatever it is must needs be in delay of the Justice here so as if this Court be resolved and prepared for the Sentence this that you offer they are not bound in justice to grant but Sir according to that you seem to desire and because you shall know the further pleasure of the Court upon that which you have moved the Court will withdraw for a time King Shall I withdraw President Sir you shall know the pleasure of Court presently the Court withdraws for half an hour into the Court of Wards Serjeant at Arms The Court gives command that the Prisoner be withdrawn and they give order for his return again The Court withdraws for half an hour and returns President Serjeant at Arms send for your prisoner Sir You were pleased to make a motion here to the Court to offer a desire of yours touching the propounding of somewhat to the Lords in the Painted Chamber for the Peace of the Kingdom Sir you did in effect receive an answer before the Court adjourned Truly Sir their withdrawing and adjournment was pro forma tantum for it did not seem to them that there was any difficulty in the thing they have considered of what you have moved and have considered of their own Authority which is founded as hath been often said upon the Supreme Authority of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament The Court acts accordingly to their Commission Sir the return I have to you from the Court is this That they have been too much delayed by you already and this that you now offer hath occasioned some little further delay and they are JUDGES appointed by the highest JUDGES and Judges are no more to delay than they are to deny justice they are good words in the old Charter of England Nulli negabimus nulli vendemus nulli deferemus Justitiam There must be no delay but the truth is Sir and so every man here observes it That you have much delayed them in your contempt and default for which they might have long since proceeded to judgment against you and notwithstanding what you have offered they are resolved to proceed to punishment and to Judgment and that is their unanimous resolution King Sir I know it is in vain for me to dispute I am no Sceptick for to deny the power that you have I know that you have power enough Sir I confess I think it would have been for the Kingdoms peace if you would have taken the pains for to have shown the lawfulness of your power for this delay that I have desired I confess it is a delay but it is a delay very important for the peace of the Kingdom for it is not my Person that I look on alone it is the Kingdoms welfare and the Kingdoms peace it is an old sentence That we should think on long before we have resolved of great matters suddenly Therefore Sir I do say again that I do put at your doors all the inconveniency of an hasty Sentence I confess I have been here now I think this week this day eight daies was the day I came here first but a little delay of a day or two further may give peace whereas an Hasty Judgment may bring
under which they must live and by which they must be governed And then Sir the Scripture says They that know their Masters Will and do it not what follows The Law is your Master the Acts of Parliaments the Parliaments were to be kept anciently we find in our Author twice in the year That the Subject upon any occasion might have a ready remedy and redresse for his Grievance Afterwards by several Acts of Parliament in the dayes of your Predecessor Edward the third they must have been once a year Sir what intermission of PARLIAMENTS hath been in your time it is very well known and the sad consequences of it and what in the interim instead of these Parliaments hath been by you by an high and Arbitrary hand introduced upon the People that likewise hath been too well known and felt But when God by his Providence had so brought it about that you could no longer decline the calling of a Parliament Sir yet it will appear what your ends were against the Ancient and your Native Kingdom of Scotland The Parliament of England not serving your ends against them you were pleased to dissolve it Another great necessity occasioned the calling of this Parliament and what your designs and plots and endeavours all along have been for the ruining and confounding of this Parliament hath been very notorious to the whole Kingdom And truly Sir in that you did strike at all that had been a sure way to have brought about that that this layes upon you Your Intention to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Land For the great bulwark of Liberty of the People is the PARLIAMENT of England and to Subvert and Root up that which your aim hath been to do certainly at one blow you had confounded the Liberties and the Propriety of England Truly Sir it makes me call to mind I cannot forbear to express it for Sir we must deal plainly with you according to the merits of your cause so is our Commission it makes me call to mind these proceedings of yours that we read of a great Roman Emperor by the way let us call him a great Roman Tyrant Caligula that wisht that the People of Rome had had but one Neck that at one blow he might cut it off and your proceedings hath been somewhat like to this for the body of the people of England hath been and where else represented but in the Parliament and could you have but confounded that you had at one blow cut off the neck of England but God hath reserved better things for us and hath pleased for to Confound your designs and to break your Forces and to bring your Person into Custodie that you might be responsible to Justice Sir we know very well That it is a question on your side very much Press'd By what president we shall proceed Truly Sir for Presidents I shall not at this present make any long discourse but it is no new thing to cite Presidents almost of all Nations where the People when power hath been in their hands have not sticked to call their Kings to account and where the change of Government hath ensued upon occasions of the Tyranny and Mis-government of those that have been placed over them I will not spend time to mention France or Spain or the Empire or other Countries Volumes may be written of them But truly Sir that of the Kingdom of Arragon I should think some of us have thought upon it where they have the Justice of Arragon that is a man tanquam in medio positus betwixt the King of Spain and the people of the Country that if wrong be done by the King he that is the King of Arragon the Justice hath power to reform the wrong and he is acknowledged to be the Kings Superiour and is the grand preserver of their priviledges and hath prosecuted Kings upon their miscarriages Sir What the Tribunes of Rome were heretofore and what the Ephori were to the Lacedaemonian State we know that is the Parliament of England to the English State and though Rome seem to have lost its liberty when once the Emperours were yet you shall find some famous Acts of Justice even done by the Senate of Rome that great Tyrant of his time Nero condemned and judged by the Senate But truly Sir to you I should not mention these Forreign examples and stories If you look but over Tweed we find enough in your native Kingdom of Scotland If we look to your first King Forgusius that your stories make mention of he was an Elective King he died and left two Sons both in their minority the Kingdom made choice of their Unkle his Brother to govern in the minority afterwards the Elder Brother giving small hopes to the People that he would rule or govern well seeking to supplant that good Unkle of his that governed them justly they set the Elder aside and took to the Younger Sir if I should come to what your stories make mention of you know very well you are the 109th King of Scotland for to mention so many Kings as that Kingdom according to their power and priviledge have made bold to deal withal some to banish and some to imprison and some to put to death it would be too long and as one of your Authors sayes it would be too long to recite the manifold examples that your own stories make mention of Reges say they we do create we created Kings at first Leges c. We imposed Lawes upon them and as they are chosen by the suffrages of the People at the first so upon just occasion by the same suffrages they may be taken down again and we will be bold to say that no Kingdom hath yielded more plentiful experience than that your Native Kingdome of Scotland hath done concerning the deposition and the punishment of their offending and transgressing Kings c. It is not far to go for an example near you your Grandmother set aside and your Father an Infant crowned and the State did it here in England here hath not been a want of some examples they have made bold the Parliament and the People of England to call their Kings to account there are frequent examples of it in the Saxons time the time before the Conquest since the Conquest there wants not some Presidents neither King Edward the second King Richard the second were dealt with so by the Parliament as they were deposed and deprived and truly Sir whoever shall look into their stories they shall not find the Articles that are charged upon them to come near to that height and capitalness of Crimes that are layed to your charge nothing near Sir you were pleased to say the other day wherein they descend and I did not contradict it but take altogether Sir if you were as the Charge speaks and no otherwise admitted K. of England but for that you were pleased then to alledge how that almost for a thousand years these things have
been stories will tell you if you go no higher than the time of the Conquest if you do come down since the Conquest you are the 24th King from William called the Conqueror you shall find one half of them to come meerly from the State and not meerly upon the point of Descent it were easie to be instanced to you the time must not be lost that way And truly Sir what a grave and learned Judge said in his time and well known to you is since printed for posterity That although there was such a thing as a Descent many times yet the Kings of England ever held the greatest assurance of their titles when it was declared by Parliament And Sir your Oath the manner of your Coronation doth shew plainly That the Kings of England and though it 's true by the Law the next person in blood is designed yet if there were just cause to refuse him the people of England might do it For there is a Contract and Bargain made between the King and his People and your Oath is taken and certainly Sir the Bond is reciprocal for as you are the liege Lord so they liege Subjects and we know very well that hath been so much spoken of Ligantis est duplex This we know now the one tye the one Bond is the bond of perfection which is due from the Soveraign the other is the bond of Subjection that is due from the Subject Sir if this bond be once broken farewel Soveraignty Subjectio trahit c. These things may not be denyed Sir I speak it the rather and I pray God it may work upon your heart that you may be sensible of your miscarriages For whether you have been as by your Office you ought to be a Protector of England or the Destroyer of England let all England judge or all the world that hath look'd upon it Sir though you have it by Inheritance in the way that is spoken of yet it must not be denyed that your Office was an Office of Trust and an Office of the highest trust lodged in any single person For as you were the grand Administrator of Justice and others were as your Delegates to see it done throughout your Realms if your great Office were to do Justice and preserve your People from wrong and instead of doing that you will be the great wrong-doer your self If instead of being a Conservator of the Peace you will be the Grand Disturber of the Peace surely this is contrary to your Office contrary to your Trust Now Sir if it be an Office of Inheritance as you speak of your Title by Descent let all men know that great Offices are seizable and forfeitable as if you had it but for a year and for your life Therefore Sir it will concern you to take into your serious consideration your great miscarriages in this kind Truly Sir I shall not particularize the many miscarriages of your Reign whatsoever they are famously known it had been happy for the Kingdom and happy for you too if it had not been so much known and so much felt as the story of your miscarriages must needs be and hath been already Sir That that we are now upon by the command of the highest Court hath been and is to Trie and Judge you for great offences of yours Sir the Charge hath called you Tyrant a Traytor a Murtherer and a publick Enemy to the Common-wealth of England Sir it had been well if that any of all these terms might rightly and justly have been spared if any one of them at all King Ha President Truly Sir we have been told Rex est dum bene regit Tyrannus qui populum opprimet and if so be that be the definition of a Tyrant then see how you come short of it in your Actions whether the highest Tyrant by that way of Arbitrary Government and that you have sought to introduce and that you have sought to put you were putting upon the People whether that was not as high an Act of Tyrannie as any of your Predecessors were guilty of nay many degrees beyond it Sir the term Traytor cannot be spared we shall easily agree it must denote and suppose a breach of Trust and it must suppose it to be done by a Superiour and therefore Sir as the People of England might have incurred that respecting you if they had been truly guilty of it as to the definition of Law so on the other side when you did break your Trust to the Kingdom you did break your Trust to your Superior For the Kingdom is that for which you were trusted And therefore Sir for this breach of Trust when you are called to account you are called to account by your Superiors Minimus ad Majorem in judicium vocat And Sir the People of England cannot be so far wanting to themselves which God having dealt so miraculously and gloriously for they having power in their hands and their great Enemy they must proceed to do Justice to themselves and to you For Sir the Court could heartily desire That you would lay your hand upon your heart and consider what you have done amiss That you would endeavour to make your peace with God Truly Sir These are your high crimes Tyranny and Treason There is a third thing too if those had not been and that is Murther which is laid to your charge All the bloody Murthers that have been committed since this time that the Division was betwixt you and your People must be laid to your charge that have been acted or committed in these late Wars Sir it is an heinous and crying sin and truly Sir if any man will ask us what punishment is due to a Murtherer Let Gods Law let Mans Law speak Sir I will presume that you are so well read in Scripture as to know what God himself hath said concerning the shedding of Mans blood Gen. 9. Num. 35. will tell you what the punishment is and which this Court in behalf of the Kingdom are sensible of of that innocent blood that has been shed whereby indeed the Land stands still defiled with that blood and as the Text hath it It can no way be cleansed but with the shedding of the blood of him that shed this blood Sir we know no Dispensation from this blood in that Commandement Thou shalt do no Murder we do not know but that it extends to Kings as well as to the meanest Peasants the meanest of the People the command is universal Sir Gods Law forbids it Mans Law forbids it nor do we know that there is any manner of exception nor even in mans Laws for the punishment of Murther in you 'T is true that in the case of Kings every private hand was not to put forth it self to this work for their Reformation and punishment But Sir the People represented having power in their hands had there been but one wilful act of Murther by you committed had power to have convented you