by the ordinary Forms of Justice That he hoped the Parliament would send them to him to justify themselves if they could if not he knew how to find them Which said he retired The Parliament sensible of this violation of their Privileges and fearing they might be further intrenched upon ordered a Committee of the House to sit in the City of London whither their five Members were gone before for Protection The King followed them thither with a slender or rather no Guard so far was he from fearing either Parliament or City designing to engage the Citizens to deliver up the five Members to him and to stand by him in this horrid Enterprize but they would not be perswaded to comply with his Desires in that matter This violent Attempt proving unsuccessful the Parliament to assert their just Rights voted it to be a Breach of their Privileges and that the like might be prevented for the future after the Committee had sat a few days in the City they returned to Westminster accompanied with Guards from the City both by Land and Water Which the King being informed of and finding that the Design which he had laid had highly provoked the Parliament and People he retired to Hampton-Court whither those that he had formerly entertained at Whitehall soon repaired and at Kingston upon Thames appeared in a military Posture with the Lord Digby and Colonel Lunsford at the head of them The two Houses having notice thereof desired the King to disperse the said Troops and to return to the Parliament The Lord Digby was also required to attend his Duty in the House but he being conscious of his own Guilt and knowing that the King's Affairs were not yet in a posture to bid open defiance to the Parliament chose rather to betake himself to flight as the Queen did soon after upon notice that the two Houses were about to accuse her of High Treason both of them designing not only to withdraw themselves from the Prosecution of the Parliament but also to make what Preparations they could for the raising of an Army against them In order to which the Queen carried with her the Jewels of the Crown and pawned them in Holland for Arms and Money The Parliament having discovered that the Lord Digby had by a Letter advised the King to retire to some Place of Strength and there to declare against them they caused him to be proclaimed a Traitor Notwithstanding which the King instead of returning to London at the earnest Desire of both Houses in prosecution of the Lord Digby's Counsel went farther from them During his Absence many Papers passed between him and the Parliament The chief Aim of those of the latter was to perswade the King to return to London and to settle the Militia in such hands as the Parliament should advise that so all Jealousies between him and his People might be removed Those from the King were to let them know that he could not part with the Militia esteeming it to be the best Jewel of his Crown nor return to London with Safety to his Person The Declarations on both sides proving ineffectual and the King's Designs both at home and abroad being grown ripe he expressed his Dissatisfactions more openly and withdrew to York where several Lords and others affected to his Interest resorted to him with Plate Money Men Horses and Arms Amongst whom were many Papists who tho to cover the King's Designs from the People they were forbidden to come into the Court were yet privately encouraged and daily listed and armed And as the distance of York from the Parliament was one reason why the King went thither so its Nearness to Hull was another This Town he endeavoured to possess himself of being a Place of Strength where great Quantities of Arms and Ammunition had been laid up upon disbanding the Army which was lately on foot in those Parts and very convenient for the landing of Men from Holland But the Parliament suspecting the Design had sent Sir John Hotham thither to keep and defend it for their use Notwithstanding which the King persisted in his Resolution and endeavoured by sending divers Persons of Quality into the Town to surprise it but that way not taking effect he appeared in Person before it demanding Entrance of Sir John Hotham which he absolutely refused to permit alledging that he was entrusted with the Place by the Parliament for the Service of his Majesty and the Nation and that he could not surrender it without their Order The King finding that he could not prevail either by Promises or Threatnings caused Sir John Hotham to be proclaimed a Traitor and returned to York from whence he complained to the Parliament of the Affront he had received at Hull who to manifest their Approbation of Sir John Hotham's Conduct declared that he had done his Duty in denying the King admittance into the Town asserting that the Command of the Militia was entrusted with the King to be employed for the Good of the Nation of which the two Houses of Parliament sitting are the proper Judges The Parliament began now to provide for the Security of all Places and sent a Committee of four of their Members to invite the King to return to Westminster and to endeavour to promote their Interest in the Northern Parts and being informed that there was laid up in the Town of Leicester a considerable Quantity of Arms and Ammunition provided for the County and that Mr. Hastings then Sheriff under pretence of bringing with him a Guard to attend the Judges at the Assizes resolved to secure the said Magazine for the King 's Use they made choice of Officers for three Companies of Foot impowering them to raise the said Companies for the defence of the said Magazine The Captains nominated to this Employment were one Major Grey Dr. Bastwick and one of my Brothers who having been for some time in the Service of the States of Holland was newly returned to England These three having received their Commissions from the Parliament went to Leicester in order to raise their Companies which they had not fully effected when the King with all his Cavalry consisting of about two thousand Horse arrived at Leicester against whom three Companies being no way sufficient to defend the Town they resolved only to secure that Place where the Magazine lay but that not being large enough to receive more than one Company the three Captains cast Lots whose part it should be to defend it which falling upon Major Grey the other two dispersed their Men and set forwards for London but had not rode many Miles when they were seized by a Party of Horse which the King commanded the Sheriff to send after them who brought them back to Leicester from whence they were removed to York where they were kept in the Common Goal and very cruelly treated These were the first Prisoners taken on either side The Magazine by Capitulation was dispersed into several parts of the
William Cawley gave his single Negative On the 13 th of April 1646. Exeter was delivered to ours upon Articles by which all such as were in the Town and Garison were admitted to compound for their Estates paying two Years Value for the same Barnstable Dunstar-Castle and Michael's-Mount in Cornwall were also surrendred in the last of which Places the Marquiss of Hamilton was Prisoner by the King's Order and restored to his Liberty upon the Surrender of it which Favour he acknowledged to the Members of the House of Commons attending in Person at their door to that end The most considerable Body of Men remaining in the Field for the King was commanded by Sir Jacob Ashley who being on his March towards Oxford was attacked by Col. Morgan and Sir William Brereton at Stow in the Woald where after a sharp Dispute on both sides Sir Jacob Ashley's Forces were entirely defeated many of them killed and wounded and himself taken Prisoner During his Confinement he was heard to say That now they had no hopes to prevail but by our Divisions Which deserves the more Reflection because he being well acquainted with the King 's Secrets was not ignorant that many amongst us who at the beginning appeared most forward to engage themselves and to invite others to the War against the King finding themselves disappointed of those Preferments which they expected or out of some particular Disgusts taken had made Conditions with the King not only for their Indemnity but for Places and Advancements under him endcavouring by a Treaty or rather by Treachery to betray what had cost so much Blood to obtain These Men to strengthen their Interest applied themselves to the Presbyterian Party who jealous of the Increase of Sectaries of which the Army was reported chiefly to consist readily joined with them By which Conjunction most of the new elected Members were either Men of a neutral Spirit and willing to have Peace upon any Terms or such who tho they had engaged against the King yet finding things tending to a Composition with him resolved to have the Benefit of it and his Favour tho with the Guilt of all the Blood that had been shed in the War upon their Heads in not requiring Satisfaction for the same nor endeavouring to prevent the like for the future designing at the most only to punish some inferiour Instruments whilst the Capital Offender should not only go free but his Authority be still acknowledged and adored and so the Nation more enslaved than ever to a Power which tho it destroys the People by Thousands must be accountable to none but God for so doing whom some Persons as it is apparent by their Usage of Mankind either think not to be or not at all superiour to them Another sort of Men there was amongst us who having acquired Estates in the Service of the Parliament now adhered to the King's Party for the preserving of what they had got who together with such as had been discharged from their Employments by the Reform of the Army or envied their Success combined together against the Commonwealth This Party was encouraged and supported upon all occasions by the Scots and the City of London The first of them tho they began the War and tho their Assembly of Ministers had declared the King guilty of the Blood of Thousands of his best Subjects their Covenant engaging them in the preservation of his Person so far only as might consist with the Laws of the Land and Liberty of the Subject yet having had many good Opportunities in England and hoping for more supposing it to be in their Power to awe the King to whatsoever they should think fit they were contented to swallow that Ocean of Blood that had been shed pressing the Parliament by their Commissioners to conclude upon such Terms with the King as shewed them rather Advocates than such as had been Enemies to him The latter having had their Treasure much exhausted by the War and their Trade long interrupted besides the Influence the Scots had upon them by the means of their Ministers the Common Council being also debauched by Serjeant Glyn and others of that Party in the House of Commons it was not so much to be wondred at if they earnestly solicited for a speedy Determination of the Difference by a Treaty The King also perceiving Judgment to be given against him by that Power to which both Parties had made their solemn Appeal thought it advisable to make use of the Foxes Skin and for a time to lay aside that of the Lion sending Messages to the Parliament to desire of them a safe Conduct for his coming to London in Honour Freedom and Safety there personally to treat with the Two Houses about the means of settling a firm and lasting Peace the Scots in the mean time repeating their Instances with the Parliament to enter into the Consideration of the Articles of Religion contained in the Covenant to give a speedy Peace to his Majesty to pay them near two hundred thousand Pounds which they pretended to be due to them for their Arrcars and to make a just Estimate of the Losses they had sustained by Sea and Land since the beginning of the War for want of such Supplies as were promised them which they computed at more than the former Sum. The Parliament for divers Reasons thought it not convenient to comply with the King's Propositions and in answer to the Scots demanded of them an exact Account of what was due to them requiring them to withdraw their Garisons from such Places as they possessed in England Some Differences they had also with the Scots Commissioners concerning the Exclusion of the King from having any thing to do with the Militia and touching the Scots intermedling with the Government of England about the Education of the King's Children the disbanding of Armies and an Act of Oblivion in which Matters the Parliament of England would not permit the Scots to interpose and therefore their Commissioners acquainted them that they had not Power to consent to any Demands of that nature whereupon the Deputies of Scotland applied themselves to the Two Houses demanding that they would enlarge the Powers of their Commissioners to that end But there being found in these Demands of the Scots some Expressions highly reflecting upon the Parliament the Two Houses declared them to be injurious and scandalous and ordered them to be burnt by the Hands of the Common Hangman After which they commanded the Army to besiege Oxford who in order to that Design blocked up Farringdon Wallingford and Woodstock but before they could form the Siege of Oxford the King escaped from thence on the 27 th of April 1646. of which notice being given to the Parliament by Col. Rainsborough who lay before Woodstock they suspecting that he designed to come to London to raise a Party against them published an Ordinance declaring That whosoever should harbour or conceal the King's Person should be proceeded
England and the Common Council of the City of London presented a Petition to the Parliament by the hands of Col. Titchborn to that effect but some of the Commonwealths-men desired that before they consented to that Method it might be resolved what Government to establish fearing a Design in the Army to set up some one of themselves in his room others endeavoured to perswade them that the execution of Justice ought to be their first Work in respect of their Duty to God and the People that the failure therein had been already the occasion of a second War which was justly to be charged on the Parliament for neglecting that Duty that those who were truly Commonwealths-men ought to be of that Opinion as the most probable means to attain their Desires in the establishment of an equal and just Government and that the Officers of the Army who were chiefly to be suspected could not be guilty of so much Impudence and Folly to erect an Arbitrary Power in any one of themselves after they had in so publick a manner declared their Detestation of it in another In order to the accomplishment of the important Work which the House of Commons had now before them they voted That by the Fundamental Laws of the Land it is Treason for the King of England for the time being to levy War against the Parliament and Kingdom To which the Lords not concurring they passed it the next day without their Consent and the day after declared That the People are under God the Original of all just Power That the House of Commons being chosen by and representing the People are the Supreme Power in the Nation That whatsoever is enacted or declared for Law by the Commons in Parliament hath the Force of a Law and the People are concluded thereby tho the Consent of King or Peers be not had thereto This Obstruction being removed several Petitions were brought to the Parliament for so the House of Commons now stiled themselves from the City of London Borough of Southwark and most of the Counties in England requesting that the King might be brought to Justice in order to which they passed an Act authorizing the Persons therein named or any thirty of them to proceed to the Arraignment Condemnation or Acquittal of the King with full Power in case of Condemnation to proceed to Sentence and to cause the said Sentence to be put in Execution This High Court of Justice met on the 8 th of January 1648 in the Painted Chamber to the number of about fourscore consisting chiefly of Members of Parliament Officers of the Army and Gentlemen of the Country where they chose Serjeant Aske Serjeant Steel and Dr. Dorrislaus to be their Counsel Mr. John Coke of Grays-Inn to be their Solicitor and Mr. Andrew Broughton their Secretary and sent out a Precept under their Hands and Seals for proclaiming the Court to be held in Westminster-Hall on the tenth of the said Month which was performed accordingly by Serjeant Dendy attended by a Party of Horse in Cheapside before the old Exchange and in Westminster-Hall On the the tenth they chose Serjeant Bradshaw to be their President with Mr. Lisle and Mr. Say to be his Assistants and a Charge of High Treason being drawn up against the King the Court appointed a convenient Place to be prepared at the upper end of Westminster-Hall for his Publick Trial directing it to be covered with Scarlet Cloth and ordered twenty Halberdiers to attend the President and thirty the King All things being thus prepared for the Trial the King was conducted from Windsor to St. James's from whence on the 20 th of January he was brought to the Bar of the High Court of Justice where the President acquainted the King with the Causes of his being brought to that Place For that He contrary to the Trust reposed in him by the People to see the Laws put in execution for their Good had made use of his Power to subvert those Laws and to set up his Will and Pleasure as a Law over them that in order to effect that Design he had endeavoured the Suppression of Parliaments the best Defence of the Peoples Liberties That he had levied War against the Parliament and People of England wherein great numbers of the good People had been slain of which Blood the Parliament presuming him guilty had appointed this High Court of Justice for the Trial of him for the same Then turning to Mr. Broughton Clerk of the Court he commanded him to read the Charge against the King who as the Clerk was reading the Charge interrupted him saying I am not intrusted by the People they are mine by Inheritance demanding by what Authority they brought him thither The President answered that they derived their Authority from an Act made by the Commons of England assembled in Parliament The King said the Commons could not give an Oath that they were no Court and therefore could make no Act for the Trial of any Man much less of him their Soveraign It was replied that the Commons assembled in Parliament could acknowledg no other Soveraign but God for that upon his and the Peoples Appeal to the Sword for the Decision of their respective Pretensions Judgment had been given for the People who conceiving it to be their Duty not to bear the Sword in vain had appointed the Court to make Inquisition for the Blood that had been shed in that Dispute Whereupon the President being moved by Mr. Solicitor Coke in the Name and on the Behalf of the good People of England commanded the Clerk of the Court to proceed in the reading of the Charge against him which being done the King was required to give his Anser to it and to plead guilty or not guilty The King demurred to the Jurisdiction of the Court affirming that no Man nor Body of Men had Power to call him to an account being not intrusted by Man and therefore accountable only to God for his Actions entring upon a large Discourse of his being in Treaty with the Parliament's Commissioners at the Isle of Wight and his being taken from thence he knew not how when he thought he was come to a Conclusion with them This Discourse seeming not to the purpose the President told him that as to his Plea of not being accountable to Man seeing God by his Providence had over-ruled it the Court had resolved to do so also and that if he would give no other Answer that which he had given should be registred and they would proceed as if he had confessed the Charge In order to which the President commanded his Answer to be entred directing Serjeant Dendy who attended the Court to withdraw the Prisoner which as he was doing many Persons cried out in the Hall Justice Justice The King being withdrawn the Court adjourned into the Painted Chamber to consider what farther was fit to be done and being desirous to prevent all Objections tending to accuse them
out with the rest being between four and five thousand and falling upon them beat them from their Works killing Sir William Vaughan who commanded them and most of the Men that were with him closely pursuing the rest who fled towards their main Army where the Earl of Ormond thought fit at last to throw down his Cards which he had before refused to do in contempt of our Forces and with his Royal Army as it was called retreated in great Disorder towards Rathmims Col. Jones pursued him close finding little Opposition except from a Party of the Lord Inchequin's Horse that had formerly served the Parliament who defended a Pass for some time but were after some Dispute broken and forced to fly Having routed these he marched with all Diligence up to the Walls of Rathmims which were about sixteen Foot high and contained about ten Acres of Ground where many of the Enemies Foot had shut up themselves but perceiving their Army to be entirely routed and their General fled they yielded themselves Prisoners After this our Men continuing their Pursuit found a Party of about two thousand Foot of the Lord Inchequin's in a Grove belonging to Rathgar who after some Defence obtained Conditions for their Lives and the next day most of them took up Arms in our Service This Success was the more remarkable because unexpected on both sides our handful of Men being led step by step to an absolute Victory whereas their utmost Design at the beginning of the Action was only to beat the Enemy from Baggatrath and so surprizing to our Enemies that they had not time to carry off their Money which lay at Rathfarnham for the paying of their Army where Col. Jones seized four thousand Pounds very seasonably for the paiment of his Men. The Parliament having an Army ready to send to Ireland a sormidable Fleet to put to Sea another Army to keep at home for their own Defence and a considerable Force to guard the North against the Scots who had declared themselves Enemies and waited only an Opportunity of shewing it with Advantage thought themselves obliged to expose to sale such Lands as had been formerly possessed by Deans and Chapters that they might be enabled thereby to desray some part of that great Charge that lay upon the Nation To this end they authorized Trustees to sell the said Lands provided they could do it at ten Years Purchase at the least but such was the good Opinion that the People had conceived of the Parliament that most of those Lands were sold at the clear Income of fifteen sixteen and seventeen Years one half of the Sums contracted for being paid down in ready Money besides which the Woods were valued distinctly and to be paid for according to the Valuation All Impropriations belonging to the said Deans and Chapters as well as those of the Bishops either in Possession or Reversion were reserved from sale to enlarge the Maintenance of poor Ministers Yet this was not sufficient to restrain that Generation of Men from inveighing against the Parliament and conspiring with their Enemies both at home and abroad to weaken their hands and if possible to render them unable to carry on the Publick Service The Fee-farm Rents formerly belonging to the Crown were also sold and yet such was the necessity of Affairs that notwithstanding all this the Parliament found themselves obliged to lay a Tax of a hundred and twenty thousand Pounds a Month upon the Nation which Burden they bore for the most part without regret being convinced that it was wholly applied to the Use of the Publick and especially because those who imposed it paid an equal Proportion with the rest The Crown-Lands were assigned to pay the Arrears of those Souldiers who were in Arms in the Year 1647. which was done by the Influence of the Officers of the Army that was in present Service whereby they made Provision for themselves and neglected those who had appeared for the Parliament at the first and had endured the Heat and Burden of the day In the Month of September 1649 the Army embarked and set sail for Ireland Commissary General Ireton with one part of them designing for Munster and Lieutenant General Cromwell being appointed Lieutenant of Ireland with the rest for Dublin But the Wind blowing a strong Gale from the South they were both put into the Bay of Dublin where they were received with great Joy for tho the Enemies Army had been beaten from the Siege of that Place and Col. Jones with the small Forces he had with him had made the best Improvement he could of that Advantage by reducing some Garisons that lay nearest to him yet the Enemies were still in possession of nine Parts in ten of that Nation and had fortified the most considerable Places therein After our Army had refreshed themselves and were joined by the Forces of Col. Jones they mustered in all between sixteen and seventeen thousand Horse and Foot Upon their Arrival the Enemies withdrew and put most of their Army into their Garisons having placed three or four thousand of the best of their Men being most English in the Town of Tredah and made Sir Arthur Ashton Governour thereof A Resolution being taken to besiege that Place our Army sat down before it and the Lieutenant General caused a Battery to be erected against an Angle of the Wall near to a Fort which was within called the Windmill-Fort by which he made a Breach in the Wall but the Enemy having a Half-moon on the Out-side which was designed to flank the Angle of the Wall he thought fit to endeavour to possess himself of it which he did by storm putting most of those that were in it to the Sword The Enemy defended the Breach against ours from behind an Earth-work which they had cast up within and where they had drawn up two or three Troops of Horse which they had within the Town for the Encouragement and Support of their Foot The Fort also was not unserviceable to them in the defence of the Breach The Lieutenant General well knowing the Importance of this Action resolved to put all upon it and having commanded some Guns to be loaded with Bullets of half a Pound and fired upon the Enemies Horse who were drawn up somewhat in view himself with a Reserve of Foot marched up to the Breach which giving fresh Courage to our Men they made a second Attack with more Vigour than before Whereupon the Enemies Foot being abandoned by their Horse whom our Shot had forced to retire began to break and shift for themselves which ours perceiving followed them so close that they overtook them at the Bridg that lay cross the River and separated that part where the Action was from the principal part of the Town and preventing them from drawing up the Bridg entred pell-mell with them into the Place where they put all they met with to the Sword having positive Orders from the Lieutenant General to give no
quarter to any Souldier Their Works and Fort were also stormed and taken and those that defended them put to the Sword also and amongst them Sir Arthur Ashton Governour of the Place A great Dispute there was amongst the Souldiers for his Artificial Leg which was reported to be of Gold but it proved to be but of Wood his Girdle being found to be the better Booty wherein two hundred Pieces of Gold were found quilted The Slaughter was continued all that day and the next which extraordinary Severity I presume was used to discourage others from making Opposition After that the Army besieged Wexford and having erected a Battery against the Castle which stood near the Wall of the Town and fired from it most part of the day whereby a small Breach was made Commissioners were sent in the Evening from the Enemy to treat about the Surrender of it In the mean time our Guns continued firing there being no Cessation agreed whereby the Breach in the Castle being made wider the Guard that was appointed to defend it quitted their Post and thereupon some of our Men entred the Castle and set up their Colours at the top of it which the Enemy having observed left their Stations in all parts so that ours getting over the Walls possessed themselves of the Town without Opposition and opened the Gates that the Horse might enter tho they could do but little Service all the Streets being barred with Cables But our Foot pressed the Enemy so close that crowding to escape over the Water they so over-loaded the Boats with their Numbers that many of them were drowned Great Riches were taken in this Town it being accounted by the Enemy a Place of Strength and some Ships were seized in the Harbour which had much interrupted the Commerce of that Coast. Commissioners were appointed by the Lieutenant General to take care of the Goods that were found in the Town belonging to the Rebels that they might be improved to the best Advantage of the Publick After these Successes the Army grew sickly many dying of the Flux which they contracted by hard Service and such Provisions as they were not accustomed to The Plague also which had been for some time amongst the Inhabitants of the Country and the Irish Army now began to seize upon ours Of one or both these Distempers Col. Michael Jones who by his Courage and Conduct in the Service of his Country had justly deserved the Applause of all and had been lately made Lieutenant General of the Horse by the Parliament feel so desperately sick that being no longer able to continue in the Army he was carried not without Reluctancy to Wexford where in a few days he died much lamented by the Army and by all that desired the Prosperity of the English Interest In the mean time the Parliament was careful to send Money Recruits and all manner of Supplies necessary to Ireland which they were the better enabled to do by those great Sums of Money daily brought in by the Purchasers of the Lands of Deans and Chapters which they thought fit for the Reasons before-mentioned to expose to sale which as it was an Advantage to the Nation in general by easing them of some part of their Contributions so was it no Detriment to any of those Purchasers who were heartily engaged in the Publick Service since if the Tide should turn and our Enemies become prevalent such Persons were likely to have no better Security for the Enjoyment of their own Paternal Estates Upon this Consideration I contracted with the Trustees commissionated by the Parliament for the Mannors of Eastknoel and Vpton in the County of Wilts wherein I employed that Portion which I had received with my Wife and a greater Sum arising from the Sale of a part of my Patrimonial Estate The Winter approaching and the Season being very tempestuous General Blake was obliged to enter into Harbour by which means Prince Rupert with the Ships that were with him having an Opportunity to escape set sail for Lisbon where they were received and protected but General Popham who had waited some time for the Portugal Fleet bound thither from the Islands took eighteen of them loaden with Sugars and other valuable Merchandizes which he sent to England under a Convoy entrusting the Conduct thereof to my Brother who as I said before was his Lieutenant and died in his Voyage homewards With the rest he continued cruizing on the Coast of Portugal attending Prince Rupert's Fleet which being drawn up under the Protection of their Guns and most of the Men on shore ours took that occasion to seize one of their Frigats by surprizing the Watch and keeping the rest of the Men under Deck by which means they brought her off safe to the Fleet. Our Army in Ireland tho much diminished by Sickness and harassed by hard Duty continued their Resolution to march into the Enemies Quarters where they reduced Rosse with little Opposition Goran also was surrendred to them together with the Officers of that Place by the Souldiers of the Garison upon promise of Quarter for themselves their Officers being delivered at Discretion were shot to death The next Town they besieged was Kilkenny where there was a strong Castle and the Walls of the Town were indifferent good Having erected a Battery on the East-side of the Wall our Artillery fired upon it for a whole Day without making any considerable Breach on the other side our Men were much annoyed by the Enemies shot from the Walls and Castle But the Garison being admonished by the Examples made of their Friends at Tredah and Wexford thought fit to surrender the Town timely upon such Conditions as they could obtain which was done accordingly Youghall Cork and Kinsale were delivered to the Forces of the Parliament by the Contrivance and Diligence of some Officers and well-affected Persons in those Places and thereupon the Lieutenant General sent a Detachment under the Command of the Lord Broghil to their Assistance in case any thing should be attempted by Inchequin or any other to their Disturbance whilst he with the rest of the Army marched towards Clonmel Being upon his March thither he was met by the Corporation of Feather with a Tender of their Submission wherewith the Lieutenant General was so satisfied the Army being far advanced into the Enemies Quarters and having no place of Refreshment that he promised to maintain them in the Enjoyment of their Privileges Having left our sick Men here he marched and sat down before Clonmel one side of which was secured by a River and the rest of the Town encompassed with a Wall that was well furnished with Men to defend it Our Guns having made a Breach in the Wall a Detachment of our Men was ordered to storm but the Enemy by the means of some Houses that stood near and Earth-works cast up within the Wall made good their Breach till Night parted the Dispute when the Enemy perceiving ours resolved to reduce
Enemy And because the Propositions offered by the late Lord Deputy to those of Galway had been no farther prosecuted by reason of his Death Orders were dispatched to Sir Charles Coote authorizing him to conclude with them in case they should accept the Conditions at or before the ninth of the next January According to their Orders the Officers met at Kilkenny by whom being informed of what they thought necessary for the ensuing Service we acquainted the Parliament and Council of State with the Particulars of such things as were requisite desiring them to send them over with all convenient speed that no time might be lost when the Season of the Year should permit us to take the Field We published two Proclamations to prevent the Country from supplying the Enemy with Arms and other Necessaries wherein drawing a Line as it were about the Irish Quarters we required all Persons to withdraw themselves and their Goods from the places of their resort within a limited time which if they refused to do we declared them Enemies and ordered all Officers and Souldiers to treat them accordingly commanding also all Smiths Armourers and Sadlers that lived in the Country to retire in twenty days with all their Families Forges and Instruments into some Garison of the Parliament on pain of forfeiture of their Goods and Tools besides six months Imprisonment for the first Offence and of Death for the second We ordered also that all those who had withdrawn themselves out of our Protection and joined with the Enemy since the coming over of General Cromwell should be deprived of the benefit of Quarter Having published these and other Orders of the like tenour we appointed the Lord Broghil Commissary General Reynolds Sir Hardress Waller Colonel Axtel and the rest of the Officers to cause them to be put in execution as occasion should require Having finished our Affairs at Kilkenny and dismissed the Officers to their respective Quarters I resolved to go to Portumna to make all things ready for the Siege of Galway Being on my March on the other side of Nenagh an advanced Party found two of the Rebels one of whom was killed by the Guard before I came up to them the other was saved and being brought before me at Portumna and I asking him if he had a mind to be hanged he only answered If you please so insensibly stupid were many of these poor Creatures The Commissioners having done their business in this Place and given Directions for the carrying on the Siege of Galway with Power to treat as before mentioned to Sir Charles Coote we returned to Dublin and at our arrival were informed that the Barony of Bâ—rren relying upon the security of their places of Retreat had refused to pay the Contributions which they had promised upon which Sir Hardress Waller had been obliged to lay the Country waste and to seize what he could find that it might be no longer useful to the Enemy We had advice also from Vlster that some of our Troops had killed and drowned about a hundred and forty Tories who infested that Province with their Robberies The time limited by the Proclamation requiring the Irish to withdraw from the places mentioned therein being expired I marched with a Party of Horse and Foot into the Fastnesses of Wicklo as well to make Examples of such as had not obeyed the Proclamation as to place a Garison there to prevent the Excursions of the Enemy Talbot's Town was the Place I thought fittest for that end which having rendred defensible against any sudden attempt and furnished with all things necessary I marched farther into the Country The next morning I divided my Men into three Parties sending away Colonel Pretty with one of them to his own Quarters lest the Enemy should fall upon them in his absence with the other two we scoured by different ways the Passes and Retreats of the Irish but met not with many of them our Parties being so big that the Irish who had Sentinels placed upon every Hill gave notice of our March to their Friends so that upon our Approach they still fled to their Bogs and Woods When I came to Dundrum a Place lying in the heart of the Enemy's Quarters I perceived the Walls and Roof of an old Church standing wherein I placed Captain Jacob with his Company who was afterwards very serviceable against the Enemy The like Methods being taken by the Lord Broghil Colonel Zanchey Colonel Abbot and other Officers the Irish were reduced to great Extremities About fourscore of the Inhabitants of Galway went privately out of the Town and seizing a hundred Head of Cattel designed to drive them thither but being upon their Return they were met by a Party of ours who killed threescore of them and recovered all the Cattel This Disappointment was attended with another much greater for two Vessels loaden with Corn endeavouring to get into the Harbour of Galway being pursued by two of our Frigats one of them was taken and the other forced upon the Rocks near the Isle of Arran where she was lost The Parliament having received an Account of the hopeful Condition of their Affairs in Ireland and of the great Appearance there was of a speedy Determination of that War appointed a Committee to summon before them those Adventurers who in the Year 1641 had advanced Monies upon the Lands in Ireland The said Persons being met at Grocers-Hall chose twenty eight Deputies to manage the Business with the Committee in the Names of all the rest In conformity to this Proceeding the Commissioners of Parliament in Ireland began to consider of Qualifications and Heads under which the Irish should be brought that the Innocent might be freed from their Fears and Apprehensions that Justice might be done and the Guilty punished according to the different nature of their Crimes Of which the Irish having notice and considering the declining Condition of their Affairs in all Parts sent a Letter directed to the Commissioners of the Parliament of England from the Principal as they called themselves of the Kingdom of Ireland and subscribed by Gerald Fitz-Gerald on the behalf of their Assembly held at Glanmaliero in the Province of Leinster representing That being advised that the Commonwealth of England is in a condition to give honourable and sure Terms to them they are in an entire Disposition to receive them and to that effect desire in the Name of that and the rest of the Provinces a safe Conduct for every one of them with Blanks subscribed to that end that they may impower and send some of their Members to present Propositions to the Commissioners that are or should be authorized to that purpose To this the Commissioners answered in substance That tho the Letter was subscribed by one under the pretext of an Authority which they could not own without prejudice to that of the Parliament yet for the satisfaction of those concerned they thought fit to declare That the Establishment of this
Nation doth of Right belong only to the Parliament of England who will distinguish those who have always lived peaceably or have already submitted to their Authority and put themselves under their Protection from such as have committed and countenanced the Murders and Massacres of the Protestants during the first Year of the Rebellion as well as from those who continue still in Arms to oppose their Authority That they cannot in Justice consent to an Act so prejudicial to the Peace of the Country as would involve quiet and peaceable People in the same Prosecution with those who are in open Hostility That they cannot grant safe Conducts to such as persist in their Opposition to the Parliament to assemble from all Provinces and to communicate their Designs to each other But that all those who will lay down their Arms and submit to the Common-wealth shall have as favourable Conditions as they can justly expect This Resolution of the Commissioners being made publick the Irish fell upon another Expedient in pursuance of which the Earl of Clanrickard who had been left Deputy by the Earl of Ormond sent a Letter directed to me then Commander in Chief of the Forces of the Parliament in Ireland in the Words following SIR MANY of the Nobility Clergy and other Persons of Quality Subjects of this Kingdom with the Corporation of Galway having considered the present State of Affairs and the ruinous Effects which this long War hath produced have solicited me to desire of you a Conference for the establishment of the Repose of this Nation and to obtain a safe Conduct for the Commissioners whom by their Advice I shall judg capable to be sent to you for that end It is this which hath obliged me to send you an Express with this Protestation that I shall not abandon them till I see such Conditions granted them as they may with Honour accept for want of which I am resolved to continue the Authority and Protection of his Majesty over them even to Extremity not doubting but by Divine Assistance with the Forces we have already and the Succours which shall be sent us by his Majesty and Allies we shall be found in a condition to change the present State of Affairs or at least to render your former Conquests of little advantage and in the end to sell our Lives at a dear rate if we shall be forced thereto the which leaving to your Consideration and expecting your certain Answer and Resolution I remain 24 March 1652. SIR Your Servant CLANRICKARD POSTSCRIPT If you please to send a safe Conduct I desire it may be addressed to Sir Charles Coote or whom you shall think fit near to this Place with a Pass for the number of five Commissioners and their Retinue of about twenty Persons to the end that having notice thereof I may send a List of the Names of the said Commissioners To this I returned the following Answer My Lord IN answer to yours of the 24 th of March by which you propose a Treaty for the Settlement of this Country and desire a safe Conduct for the Commissioners you shall judg fit to employ in the management of that Affair I think fit in pursuance of the Advice of the Commissioners of the Parliament of England and of many Officers of the English Army to advertise you as hath been already answered to those who have sent Propositions of the like nature That the Settlement of this Nation doth of Right belong to the Parliament of the Common-wealth of England to whom we are obliged in duty to leave it being assured that they will not capitulate with those who ought to submit to them and yet oppose themselves to their Authority and upon vain and frivolous hopes have refused such Offers of Favour as they would gladly accept at present so that I fear they will be constrained to proceed against them with the highest Severity which that you may prevent by your timely Submission is the Desire of My Lord Your humble Servant EDMVND LVDLOW That Passage in my Answer touching their Readiness to accept such Terms as they had formerly rejected was grounded upon notice sent by Sir Charles Coote that the Town of Galway since the time limited by the Commissioners for their Submission was expired desired a Treaty whereupon I had acquainted him that seeing the Besieged had refused the Conditions formerly offered they ought not now to expect the like after such an addition of Trouble and Charge as they had lately put us upon yet for all this Caution Sir Charles Coote concluded a Treaty with them immediately after the Return of my Answer to the Earl of Clanrickard upon Conditions much more advantagious to them than those formerly proposed and very prejudicial to the Publick undertaking to get them ratified by the Commissioners of Parliament within twenty days and in the mean time promising that they should be inviolably observed The Commissioners of Parliament having received the Articles and conceiving it to be unjust as well as imprudent to give the best Terms to those who made the longest Opposition and of what dangerous Consequence it might be if that Place were not fully secured to the English Interest spent the whole Night in Consultation with the Officers of the Army and in the end resolved That they could not consent that any should receive the Benefit of those Articles who had been any way concerned in the murdering of the English in the first Year of the War That they would not oblige themselves to permit any to live in Galway whom they should hereafter think fit to remove from thence for the Security of the Place That they cannot consent that the Burgesses shall enjoy any more than two thirds of their Estates lying near the Town That they will not suffer the Habitations of such as have been forced to quit the Place upon the account of their Affection to the Parliament to be detained from them With these and some other Alterations they declared their Consent to the rest of the Articles before-mentioned which if those of the Town refused they ordered that our Men should not enter and if entred that they should restore the Possession of it to the Garison but notwithstanding this Expedition the Messenger that was dispatched with the Resolutions of the Commissioners came too late and all that could be obtained was a Promise from Sir Charles Coote to endeavour to perswade those of Galway to accept of the Articles with the Amendments made by the Commissioners The Parliament having resolved upon the Incorporation of Scotland with the Nation of England into one Free State or Commonwealth and to reimburse themselves some part of that Treasure they had expended in their own Defence against the Invasions of the Scots declared the Goods and Lands formerly belonging to the Crown of Scotland to be confiscated and also those that were possessed by such Persons as had assisted in the Invasion of England by Duke Hamilton in the
Year 1648 or had appeared in Arms since under the King of Scots in order to subvert the present Government excepting those who since the Battel of Dunbar had abandoned the said King of Scots and by their Merits and Services had rendred themselves worthy of Favour That all such who are not comprehended under the said Qualifications and shall concur with them in their just Enterprize shall receive the Benefit of their Protection and enjoy their Liberties and Goods equally with the free People of England In pursuance of this Declaration of the Parliament their Commissioners in Scotland published another wherein they discharge from Confiscation all Merchants and Tradesmen who possess not in Lands or Goods above the Value of five hundred Pounds and are not Prisoners of War Souldiers of Fortune Moss Troopers or such as have killed or committed Outrages against the English Souldiers contrary to the Laws and Customs of War They also emitted a Proclamation abolishing in the name of the Parliament all manner of Authority and Jurisdiction derived from any other Power but that of the Commonwealth of England as well in Scotland as in all the Isles belonging to it After this they summoned the Counties Cities and Boroughs to agree to the Incorporation before mentioned of which eighteen of one and thirty Counties and twenty four of fifty six Cities and Boroughs consented to send their Deputies to the Parliament of England most of the rest excusing themselves for want of Money to defray the Expences of their Representatives This Business being accomplished and an Act passed for the Incorporation of England and Scotland into one Commonwealth the Parliament were prevailed with by the Importunities of some of their own Members and in particular of General Cromwell that so he might fortify himself by the Addition of new Friends for the carrying on his Designs to pass an Act of General Pardon and Amnesty whereby tho it had thirty eight several Exceptions many Persons who deserved to pay towards the Reimbursement of the Publick no less than those who had been already fined escaped the Punishment due to their Misdemeanours and the Commonwealth was defrauded of great Sums of Money by which means they were rendred unable to discharge many just Debts owing to such as had served them with Diligence and Fidelity In Ireland the Rebels were so pressed by our Forces in all Parts that they began to think it necessary to treat about Conditions of Submission and many of them obtained Liberty to be transported into foreign Service wherein the Commissioners of Parliament assisted them with Ships so that the Irish Officers were in many Places deserted by their own Souldiers Col. Fitzpatrick was the first who submitted on condition to be transported with his Regiment into the Service of the King of Spain which was a great blow to the Irish Confederacy who were very desirous to treat in conjunction hoping to obtain more favourable Terms in consideration of their Numbers insomuch that they published Declarations against him and the Irish Clergy excommunicated him and all those who joined with him Notwithstanding which Col. Odowyer Commander in Chief of the Irish in the Counties of Waterford and Tipperary followed his Example and proposed a Treaty to Col. Zanchey who having received Instructions from the Commissioners concluded an Agreement with him the principal Articles whereof were to this effect That the Arms and Horses belonging to the Brigade of Col. Edmund Odowyer shall be delivered up at a certain price That he and his Party shall enjoy their personal Estates and such a proportion of their real Estates as others under their Qualification shall be permitted to do That the Benefit of the Articles shall not extend to such as had murdered any of the English or had been engaged in the Rebellion during the first Year or to any Romish Priests or to those who had been of the first General Assembly those also who had taken away the Life of any of ours after Quarter given and those who had deserted us and joined themselves to the Enemy were excepted out of the Treaty All others to have Liberty to live in our Quarters or to transport themselves into the Service of any foreign State in Friendship with the Commonwealth of England Whilst the Ambassadors from Holland were in Treaty with the Commissioners appointed by the Parliament to that end the Dutch Fleet consisting of forty three Ships of War commanded by the Heer Van Tromp came into the Downs Major Bourn having with him a Squadron of eight Men of War perceiving two of the Dutch Ships making sail towards him sent to them to demand the Reason of their Approach and an Answer being returned that they had a Message to deliver from Admiral Van Tromp to the English Commander of that Squadron they were permitted to come up to that purpose The Captains of the two Dutch Ships after they had saluted Major Bourn by striking the Flag went on board him and acquainted him that they were sent by their Admiral to let him know that riding with his Fleet near Dunkirk he had lost many Cables and Anchors by bad Weather and was now brought by a North Wind more Southward than he designed of which he thought himself obliged to give him notice to prevent any Misunderstanding Major Bourn told them he was willing to believe what was said and that the Truth of it would best appear by their speedy Retreat With this Answer the two Captains returned to their Fleet which coming within Cannon-shot of Dover-Castle with their Sails up and Flag at the Top-mast not saluting the Fort according to Custom the Garison was constrained to fire three Guns at the Hollanders to put them in mind of their Duty But their Admiral made no Answer and still keeping up his Flag lay in the Road till the next day about Noon at which time he weighed Anchor and set sail towards Calais The rest of the English Fleet consisting only of thirteen Men of War commanded by General Blake who had been upon the Coast of Sussex returning into the Downs soon after the Departure of the Dutch was joined by Major Bourn and those eight Ships he had with him But Admiral Van Tromp being obliged to take care of some rich Merchant Ships bound home to Holland from the Straits returned towards the Downs and being come within Cannon-shot of our Fleet without striking their Flag General Blake commanded three several Guns one after the other to be fired at him Whereupon he answered with one Gun which shot through the English Flag and followed it with a whole Broad-side setting up a red Standard on his Topmast as a Signal to the whole Fleet to prepare to fight The Engagement began about four in the Afternoon and lasted till nine at Night with great Loss to the Enemy and little Damage on our side tho their Fleet was double our Number We took two of their Men of War in the Fight one of which was brought away