been committed to the Tower six months before was beheaded Of this man of the crimes laid to his charge as likewise of his Pompous and remarkable trial we cannot but make some mention About the end of January a charge was read against him in the House of Commons consisting of nine Articles out of which by subdivision were branched many more which though too tedious to be verbally here set down I shall deliver by expressing the contents He was accused for ruling Ireland and the North of England in an arbitrary way against the Laws For retaining the Kings revenue without account For encreasing and encouraging Popery For maliciously striving to stir up and continue enmity betwixt England and Scotland of which some particulars are exprest For laboring to subvert Parliaments and incense the King against them Upon which occasion Mr. Pym a Member of the House of Commons in his Speech and Declaration to the Lords shewing the quality of the offence spake as followeth It is an offence comprehending all other offences in that he governed contrary to Law the Law is that which puts a difference between good and evil It is the Law that doth intitle the King to the Allegeance and service of his people it intitles the people to the protection and justice of the King It is God alone who subsists by himself all other things subsist in a mutual dependence and relation He was a wise man that said That the King subsisted by the field that is tilled it is the labor of the people that supports the Crown If you take away the protection of the King the vigor and cheerfulness of Allegeance will be taken away though the obligation remain The Law is the Boundary the Measure betwixt the Kings Prerogative and the peoples Liberty Whiles these move in their own Orb they are a support and security to one another The Prerogative a cover and defence to the Liberty of the people and the people by their Liberty are enabled to be a foundation to the Prerogative but if these bounds be so removed that they enter into contestation and conflict one of these mischiefs must needs ensue If the Prerogative of the King overwhelm the Liberty of the People it will be turned into Tyranny If Liberty undermine the Prerogative it will grow into Anarchy The Law is the safeguard the custody of all private interest Your Honors your Lives your Liberties and Estates are all in the keeping of the Law without this every man hath a like right to any thing and this is the condition into which the Irish were brought by the Earl of Strafford And the reason which he gave for it hath more mischief in it than the thing it self THEY WERE A CONQUERED NATION There cannot be a word more pregnant and fruitful in Treason than that word is There are few Nations in the world that have not been Conquered and no doubt but the Conqueror may give what Laws he please to those that are Conquered But if the succeeding Pacts and Agreements do not limit and restrain that right what people can be secure England hath been Conquered and Wales hath been Conquered and by this reason will be in little better case than Ireland If the King by the Right of a Conqueror gives Laws to his people shall not the people by the same reason be restored to the right of the Conquered to recover their Liberty if they can What can be more hurtful more pernitious to both than such Propositions as these A little after Such arbitrary power is inconsistent with the peace the wealth the prosperity of a Nation to industry to valor c. For who will take pains for that which when he hath gotten is not his own Or who will fight for that wherein he hath no other Interest but such as is subject to the will of another The ancient encouragement for men to defend their Countries was this That they were to hazard their persons in defence of their Religion and their Houses but by such arbitrary wayes as were practised in Ireland and counselled here no man had any certainty of either or of any thing else c. Such arbitrary courses have an ill operation on the courage of a Nation by embasing the hearts of the people a servil condition doth beget in men a slaves temper and disposition shall it be Treason to embase the Kings Coyn though but a piece and must it not needs be the effect of a greater Treason to embase the spirits of his Subjects c. A little further As it is a Crime odious in the nature of it so it is odious in the judgment and estimation of the Law to alter the settled frame and constitution of government is Treason in any estate The Laws whereby all other parts of a Kingdom are preserved should be very vain and defective if they had not a power to secure and preserve themselves The forfeitures inflicted for Treason by our Law are of Life Honor and Estate even all that can be forfeited and this prisoner having committed so many Treasons although he should pay all these forfeitures will be still a Debtor to the Common-wealth Nothing can be more equal then that he should perish by the Justice of that Law which he would have subverted Neither will this be a new way of blood There are marks enough to trace this Law to the very original of this Kingdom And if it hath not been put in execution as he allegeth this 240 yeers it was not for want of Law but that all that time hath not bred a man bold enough to commit such Crimes as these which is a circumstance much aggravating his offence and making him no whit less liable to purishment because he is the only man that in so long a time hath ventured upon such a Treason as this The Commissioners of Scotland then resident at London had a charge also against this Earl for matters done against their Nation which were notwithstanding implied in the Parliaments Charge To this Charge the Earl gave in his Answer in the House of Lords where the King himself was present at the reading of it upon the 23 day of February but his trial in Westminster Hall began on the 22 day of March following and was a most memorable fight The Hall was Scaffolded on both sides to contain the whole House of Commons sitting there in a Committee the Peers sate all there besides the Commissioners from Scotland and besides other spectators and auditors and a great number of the Lords of Ireland The Earl of Arundel was Lord high Steward and the Earl of Lindsey Lord high Constable the King himself sate privately in a close Gallery every day taking Notes in writing of what passed in the tryal Fifteen dayes the Earl answered personally from the 22 of March with few dayes intermission till the 16 of April Misdemeanors in an high degree were proved against him but that which the Earl labored to maintain
in any thing for what I would have you do I have already written to your mother to whom I would have you obedient in all things except Religion about which I know she will not trouble you and go no whither without her or my Command write often to me God bless you Your loving Father C. R. This Letter was intercepted going from Newcastte to Jersey in a small Vessel and read in Parliament to their great grief Soon after the surrender of Oxford followed the end of this fierce War for Worcester Wallingford Pendennis and Ragland yeilded also to the Conquerors Peace now seemed to be restored to England but they had no security for the Parliament having vanquished the common Enemy were grievously troubled with Factions among themselves and divided under the unhappy names of Presbyterians and Independents nor was it onely in those things which concerned Church-government but in the transaction of almost all other businesses they debate fiercely and were divided in their Votes The same difference namely of Presbyterian and Independent troubled not onely the Parliament House but the City the Country and some of the Camps seeming a thing that threatned danger and the Parliament feared that Massey's forces which had deserved very well of the Common-wealth being quartered about the Devizes might under that name make a Mutiny wherefore Generall Fairfax was sent from Oxford into the West to disband the War being ended those forces of Massey being two thousand five hundred horse which thing was quietly done within eight dayes and all those Souldiers with ready obedience left their Colours although they were not fully paid at that time for which Massey as for other things was much commended in being careful by advising his souldiers that this business without any difficulty should be so ended The War being now quite finished Fairfax the Victorious Preserver of the English Parliament returned to London about the midst of November All good men longed to see that great Souldier whom they could not but admire by whose valour they were delivered from the worst of evils and were now in expectation of an happy peace The next day after he came to London That he might see the gratitude of the Parliament the House of Peers sent their Speaker Manchester whom the Earls of Northumberland Pembrook and many other Nobles accompanied who congratulated his return and gave him great thanks for his most faithful and happy services to the Common-wealth When the Lords were gone Lenthal the Speaker of the House of Commons with almost 300. Members of that House came to congratulate the General to whom Lenthal made a speech wherein he discoursed of the greatness of his actions extolling them by examples of the most great and famous Heroes of ancient times You said he noble General shall all posterity admire and honour and the people of England since they can give you no thanks equal to your merits do freely confess themselves for ever indebted to you as the happy instrument of God and finisher of our Wars with incredible suceess To which the modest Fairfax made a short reply Acknowledging himself unworthy of so great an honour and giving most humble thanks to the Parliament accounting it his greatest happiness in this world to be made by God instrumental for the good of his Country But the General staid not long at London being presently after sent to carry the money for the Scots into the North of which we shall speak afterwards in the mean time we will return to the King and Scots On the sixth of May 1646. long before the surrender of Oxford when the Parliament of England understood that the King was with the Scots when the Scots also had disobeyed their Orders which were That they should detain the King at Southwel and that Ashburnham with the rest of his followers should be sent to London of which the Scots obeyed neither letting Ashburnham and the rest escape and carrying the King into the North the Parliament after a long debate of both Houses at last Voted That the person of the King should be disposed of by the authority of both Houses of the Parliament of England But the Scots excusing themselves and defying to deliver up the King a great dissention hapned between the two Nations which did much animate the Royalists and seemed dangerous to the two Kingdoms Many complaints were made upon this occasion and many sharp invective Writings on both sides for the space of divers moneths The Scots alleaged that he was no less King of Scotland than of England and that therefore their Kingdom had some right to the disposing of him the English affirmed that his person was to be disposed by the authority of that Kingdom in which he then was but that they set forth as a very strange thing that a Scottish Army paid by the Parliament of England and which by the Compact of both Kingdoms was to be governed by Commissioners of both Kingdoms upon the place should notwithstanding receive the King of England without the consent or knowledge of the English Commissioners and carry him away to Newcastle a Town of England and there keep him without the consent of the Parliament of England In the midst of these great dissentions which notwithstanding the prudence of some men did so well moderate whilest the common enemy and factious spirits sought to aggravate them that they proved not pernitious to the Kingdoms the main business and things necessary for the Common good were unanimously and friendly transacted by the two Nations and among other things concerning the sending of propositions to the King for a firm and well grounded peace it was debated and at last agreed that nineteen Propositions so many therewere should be sent to Newcastle to the King which because they are long and fully recited in a larger History I will not relate in this Epitome These Propositions were sent away to the King upon the fifteenth day of July one thousand six hundred forty six and presented to his hands at Newcastle by the Commissioners of both Houses of Parliament namely the Earl of Pembrooke Earl of Denbigh and the Lord Mountague of the Peers and six of the House of Commons the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland being present and consenting to them And that the King might conceive himself dealt withal like a King not a vanquished man and a captive this preface by the consent of Parliaments of both Kingdoms was set before the Propositions May it please your Majesty WE the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdom of England and Ireland and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland do humbly present unto your Majesty the humble desires and propositions for a safe and well grounded Peace agreed upon by the Parliaments of both Kingdomes respectively unto which we do pray your Majesties assent and
by leave of the Parliament made a voluntary Secession for six moneths Concerning that Order of Parliament that the King should go to Richmond the General desired to be excused intreating them not to command that untill things were more quiet and that they would appoint no Residence for the King nearer to London than they would allow the Quarter of the Army to be After which the King was conveied to Roiston thence to Hatfield no long after to Causum while the Army quartered at Reading From whence when the General with his Army marched to Bedford the King went to the Earl of Bedfords House neer Ouborn About that time was rumoured a very dangerous conspiracy in London of Citizens Apprentices and others against the Army namely that many Citizens and Apprentices and other people had privately listed themselves to make a Force against the Army The General hearing this certified the Cities Commissioners who were then with him at the Head-quarters of it Who made hast to London to examine and quiet those troubles but at that time between the two embittered Factions nothing but suspitions and tumults could be These Jealousies daily encreasing on July 22. the Parliament made an Order to change that Militia of the City which had been established upon the fourth of May and put others which were better affected to the Army in their rooms Upon which Order the Citizens of that faction were wonderfully incensed and petitioned the House on the twenty six of July which being read seemed rather a command than a petition This was carried and followed by a dissolute multitude of Citizens Apprentises and other unruly persons who pressed to the very doors of the Parliament and cried out in a threatning way that before the House rise they must order according to their Petition and so far did their violence prevail that they extorted an Order for the re-establishing of the former Militia But not content with that when the House was rising they took the Speaker and rudely thrust him again into his chair detaining both him and the rest of the Members there an unheard of violation of Parliament until they enforced from them another Order which was That the King should come to London After this rude violation the Houses adjourned until Fryday next which was the thirtieth of July Upon which day both the Speakers being absent for they with the greatest part of the Members had left London and withdrawn themselves to the Army new Speakers were chosen the Lord Hunsdon and Mr. Henry Pelham a Barrester by whom Orders were made that day 1. That the King should come to London 2. That the Militia of London should be authorized to raise Forces for defence of the City 3. Power was given to the same Militia to choose a General for those Forces It was likewise Ordered that the aforesaid eleven Members Impeached by the Army should return to their seats in Parliament The Citizens armed with these Orders presently proceed to raising of Forces of which they Elected Massey to be their General In the mean time the Lords and Commons who had left London consulting with the General and chief Commanders of the Army made an Order That all Acts and Decrees that had passed on the 26. of July and since should be accounted null and void and that they did adhere to the Declaration of the General and Councel of the Army It was likewise Decreed that the General with his Army should march to London But when the Citizens heard of the Armies approach their stomacks being somewhat abated and their opinions so much divided in Common-Councel that it appeared impossible for them suddenly to raise any forces to oppose the Army they sent to the General for a Pacification which by the consent of the Members of parliament then with him was granted to them upon these conditions 1. That they should desert the Parliament now sitting and the Eleven Impeached Members 2. That they should recall their Declaration lately divulged 3. They should relinquish their present Militia 4. They should deliver up to the General all their Forts and the Tower of London 5. They should disband all the Forces they had raised And do all things else which were necessary for the publick tranquillity All which things none of them daring to deny were presently ratified On the sixt day of August the General with his Army came to Westminster and with him the Speakers of both Houses together with the rest of the Lords and Commons whom he restored all to their former Seats Both the Speakers in the name of the whole Parliament gave thanks to the General they made him Commander of all the Forces in England and in Wales and Constable of the Tower of London a moneths pay was likewise given as a gratuity to the Army The next day General Fairfax Lieutenant General Cromwel Major General Skippon and the rest of the Commanders with the whole Army marched through London from the Western part thereof to the Tower where some Commands were changed and the Militia otherwise setled Then least the City should swell with too much power her Militia by Order of Parliament was divided and Authority given to Westminster Southwark and the Hamblets about the Tower to exercise and command their own Militiaes Thus was the Presbyterian faction depressed and the Parliament thus restored were very intent upon the business of annulling all those Acts which in their absence and by that tumultuous violence had been made and in punishing the Authors of those Seditions FINIS Book III. A short mention of the Originall and Progress of the Second War THe Parliament restored the Militia of London setled and the other Commands fitly disposed the General Fairfax marched out of London and quartered his Army in the Towns and Villages adjacent onely leaving some Regiments about White-Hall and the Mews to guard the Parliament his Head-Quarters being at Putney the King about the middle of August was brought to the most stately of all his Palaces Hampton Court While the King remained at Hampton Court he seemed not at all a restrained man But a Prince living in the splendor of a Court so freely to his presence were all sorts of people admitted to kiss his hands and do all obeysances whatsoever None were forbidden to wait upon him Nor did the people from London onely and the adjacent Towns resort to the King but his Servants also from beyond the Seas even those who by Order of Parliament had been forbidden and Voted Delinquents such as Ashburnham Barkley and the rest who now by the permission of the Army had safe recourse to him But upon what reasons or design this permission was many wondred Stirred up by these examples if not sent for by the King the Lords formerly of his Councel at Oxford the Duke of Richmond Marquess Hartford the Earls of Southampton and Dorset with the Lord Seymor about the beginning of October came to the King as if to consult and give their
by the Parliament created which Title he had born at the beginning of these Wars Lord High Admiral of England Whilest Warwick was serving the Parliament his Brother the Earl of Holland unhappily rise in Arms against it Relying as it seems upon the opportunity of time while the Navy was revolted whilest Fairfax in Kent Cromwel in Wales were busied he built likewise upon the affections of the Citizens of London of whom he made tryal and joyning the young Duke of Buckingham and his Brother with others to him he appeared in Arms by Kingston with five hundred Horse but by Sir Michael Levesey and others who took occasion by the fore-sock he was thereput to flight the Lord Francis Villiers was slain Holland flying with the remainder of his Horse was within few dayes after at the Town of St. Needs by Col. Scroop whom the General had sent from Colchester for that purpose altogether subdued Dalbeer and some other Gentlemen slain Holland himself was taken and by the Parliament committed prisoner to Warwick-Castle At the same time Rossiter also obtained for the Parliament a gallant victory over the forces of Pomfret-Castle whom as they were pillaging the Country and plundering up and down being a thousand Horse Rossiter fell upon vanquished and took prisoners all their Commanders took all their Arms and Baggage Rossiter himself which for a time abated the joy of this victory was grievously wounded but he recovered These victories obtained everywhere by the Parliament though some of them may seem small yet will appear great and worthy of commemoration to all those who consider how much the Commonwealth if but one of these fights had miscarried had been endangered and the Parliament it self weighing the number and variety of their hazards may the better acknowledge the continuance of Gods providence and his very hand with them By these little victories also a way was made for higher Trophies and an absolute subjugation of all their Enemies which about this time miraculously happened For now most opportunely was Pembrook-Castle surrendred to Cromwel which Poyer and Laughorn confiding in the strength of the place had so long stifly maintained But at last brought to extremities they delivered it without conditions rendring themselves Prisoners at mercy Which fell out at the same time Fates calling Cromwel to a greater atcheivement that Duke Hamilton with a numerous Army of Scots had entred England about the beginning of of July was further strengthned by the addition of Langdales Forces Hamilton marched above five and twenty thousand stong striking a great terror every-where scarce in the whole time of these wars did any Army exercise greater cruelty toward the poor inhabitants of England And yet when the Parliament debated concerning this Army the House of Peers could hardly be brought to declare them Enemies For the House of Commons had declared That the Scots that under Duke Hamilton Invaded England were Enemies and that all the English which joyned with them were Traitors to their Country To which Vote the Lords at last after much debate assented The chief Citizens of London and others called Presbyterians though the Presbyterian Scots abominated this Scotish Army wished good success to these Scots no less then the Malignants did Whence let the Reader judge of the times Lambert though too weak in all probability for so potent an enemy was not discouraged but resolved to oppose the present danger and if need required to fight the Scots but he daily expected the coming of Cromwel to whose conduct this victory was reserved In the mean time with prudent retreates some Skirmishes not onely with Langdale but Hamilton himself he spun out the time so long until that Hamilton's great Army having on the twentieth of August entred into Lancashire Cromwel was arrived with his forces who with the addition of Lambert's strength made an Army of almost ten thousand This famous battel was fought neer to Preston in Lancashire in which all the forces of Hamilton and Langdale were vanquished and put to flight whom the Conqueror pursuing as far as Warrington about twenty miles and killing many in the chase took Lieutenant General Baily prisoner with a great part of the Scottish Army granting them onely quarter for their lives In this battel were slain three thousand Scots and taken prisoners about nine thousand Duke Hamilton himself within few dayes after having fled with a good party of Horse to Uttoxeter was there taken prisoner by the Lord Grey and Colonel Wait with Hamilton were taken about three thousand Horse Langdale also not long after was taken prisoner in a little Village by Widmerpool a Parliament-Captain This was the success of Hamilton's invading England Presently after this famous victory of Cromwel Colchester was surrendred to General Fairfax three months almost had the General lien before that Town with a small Army in respect of the number of the besieged in a lamentable rainy season where the Souldiers patience no less then their valour was tried Goring Capel Hastings Lucas and the other Commanders until they were reduced to extream necessity would not hear of yielding but despised all conditions their courages were long upheld by vain hopes besides the smalness of the General 's Army of aid by insurrections at London and of the success of Hamilton Langdale or the E. of Holland and more especially of succor by Sea from Prince Charls who was now possessed of those Ships which had revolted from the Parliament and having taken divers Merchants Ships besides was himself in person with no contemptible Fleet come into the narrow Seas But about the end of August the besieged in Colchester despairing of any relief and reduc'd to extremities for they had long fed upon Horse-flesh yielded themselves to the mercy of the Conqueror Two onely suffered Sir Ch. Lucas and Sir George Lisle who were shot to death Goring Capel and Hastings were sent to prison to abide the doom of Parliament Thus was the Parliament everywhere victorious by Land nor were they unhappy by Sea For considering that revolt of the Navy it was to be accounted a great felicity that no more revolted after them or no farther mischief ensued But the Earl of Warwick was very careful and it pleased God by this fright rather then loss to let the Parliament know the frailty of their own condition About the end of August Warwick with a good Fleet was in the River Thames when Prince Charls with a greater force about twenty sail was come upon the River against him and sent a command to Warwick to take down his Flag and yield obedience to him as supream Admiral having the King's Commission to that purpose But Warwick true to the Parliament obeyed not the Summons nor was there any convenient place in that narrow Channel especially for the larger Vessels to make a naval fight and Warwick's Fleet not strong enough to encounter the Prince stayed for the coming of their friends the Porchmouth-Fleet The government and bringing
strange a thing was the name of a Parliament grown But rational men did not like it that it should be deferred so long and that preparations for a War with Scotland went on in the mean time They were likewise troubled that the Earl of Strafford Deputy of Ireland a man of deep policie but suspected honesty one whom the King then used as a bosom-Councellor was first to go into Ireland and call a Parliament in that Kingdom besides the King at that time had broken up the Parliament in Scotland which the Scots complained of the business of State depending as a great breach of their Liberties and against the Laws of that Kingdom Upon which they sent some Lords into England to intreat the King to grant them a redress of such Injuries as they had received since the Pacification which were That their Parliament was broken off before any business done That Edinburgh-Castle was Garisoned with far more Souldiers then were needful That Dun-Britain-Castle was Garisoned with English Souldiers That the Scots that traded in England and Ireland were enforced to take new Oaths contrary to their Covenant and altogether contrary to the Articles of Pacification The King imprisoned those Lords sending one of them the Earl of Lowden to the Tower and commanded a Charge of Treason to be drawn against him concerning a Letter which the Scotish Covenanters had written to the King of France for his assistance and Lowden had subscribed but the accusation was frivolous easily answered and came to nothing because those Letters were not sent at all and besides it was before the Pacification upon which an Oblivion of all things was agreed although the King at the beginning of the English Parliament produced that Letter against them as a ground of his second War for now on the thirteenth of April the Parliament of England was begun before which time the Earl of Strafford was returned out of Ireland where he had held a Parliament and gotten four Subsidies The King was very urgent with his Parliament to give money to enable him for a War against Scotland and pay that Army and Officers which he had already raised he demanded twelve Subsidies of them for which he promised to release Shipmoney he promised them that he would afterwards redress the Kingdoms grievances but desired money in the first place to go on with his designed War It was answered by many Members of the House in several Speeches that redress of Grievances was the chiefe end of Parliaments and should go before Subsidies That the King asked a great summe of money for releasing of that which he had no title to hold but had taken illegally by power That the people had no reason to pay for a War which they desired not but abhorred a War not for their good but their own ruine that nothing was so just as to punish the contrivers of that wicked War But so strange was the obedience and complyance of that Parliament towards the King that although the money which he asked was against themselves yet they took the Subsidies into consideration but while they were debating the King whatsoever his reasons were whether he thought it a delay or not came into the House on the fifth of May and dissolved the Parliament The people were grieved in an extraordinary manner to see this Parliament so suddenly broken up and as much to see the King break his word so immmediately upon the dissolution of it for he protested in the House at that time that he would rule for the future as legally as if a Parliament were constantly sitting Yet nevertheless he imprisoned some Members the next day after Mr. Belosis Sir John Hotham and M. Crew he commanded the Lord Brookes his Study his Cabinet and pockets to be searched for Letters He Commanded the Convocation of Divines to continue their sitting an unexampled thing who by authority from him made Canons and imposed Oaths upon the people contrary to their Laws and Liberties The King to defray the charges of this War besides the Contribution of the Clergy and Papists issued out again Writs of Shipmoney in a greater proportion then before he seized the Bullion in the Tower and took up Commodities to be sold again at an under-rate and consulted about Coyning of brass-money but that went not forward But the War went on the Earl of Strafford commanding in chiefe the Earl of Northumberland not being in health who had been appointed General but the Scots had not been backward for having been debarred of their trade and lost their ships by seizure they entered into England with an Army expressing their intentions in writing to the English and bringing with them a Petition to the King But the King in this War found a greater want then that of Money which was the hearts of the Souldiers especially the common Souldiers who could not be easily brought to engage against the Scots as hating the Cause many of them mutinying against their Officers and Commanders which might be one cause that the War proved not so bloody and fatal as it was designed some Skirmishes but not very considerable happened at Newburn and at Dunsian not far from Barwick Thus proceeded this unhappie business until some English Peers Earls and Barons about twenty grieved at the dishonour which England suffered by the unhappie actions of the King made a Petition to him declaring in some part their former sufferings by illegal Government the dissolution of the last and other Parliaments the miserable condicion of the Kingdom at present the sad consequence of this wicked War desiring him to summon a Parliament within some convenient time where the Kingdoms Grievances may be redressed this War composed and the Authors of these wicked counsels punished Upon this Petition the King caused all the Lords to meet at York on the 24. of September And there told them his intention of calling a Parliament with all possible speed which was to begin on the 3. of November It was there also consulted and debated how to end this War upon fair termes and after some time spent between Lords chosen out of both Nations the matter was composed according to these Articles 1. A Truce or cessation of Arms was made for two moneths till the 16. of December 2. That 850. li. a day should be paid to the Scots during that Truce 3. That if it were not paid the Scots might force it from the Counties of Northumberland Cumberland Westmerland and Durham 4. That those Counties should be allowed the Scots for their Winter-quarters 5. No new preparations for War to be made 6. That private Injuries should not break the Truce so satisfaction were made upon complaint 7. That Merchants might freely traffique in either Kingdomes without letters of safe conduct but Souldiers without leave might not pass their limits Thus was the state of things altered and that VVar which was intended for an enslavement of both Nations became the bond of Concord between them and
and Bailiffs of Barwick upon Tweed and to all and every other Officers and Persons to whom Writs have used to be directed for the electing of the Knights Citizens Barons and Burgesses of and for the said Counties Cities Cinque-ports and Boroughs of England Wales respectively in the accustomed form to appear and serve in Parliament to be held at Westminster on the said Monday which shall be in November aforesaid which said Knights Citizens Barons and Burgesses chosen by vertue of the said Writs shall then and there appear and serve in Parliament accordingly And the said Lord Chancellor Lord Keeper Commâ—ssioner and Commissioners aforesaid shall respectively take a solemn Oath upon the holy Evangelist for the due issuing of Writs according to the tenor of this Act viz. in haec verba YOu shall Swear that you shall truly and faithfully issue forth and send abroad all Writs of Summons to Parliament for both Houses at such time and in such manner as is expressed and enjoyned by an Act of Parliament intituled An Act for the preventing of inconveniencies happening by the long intermission of Parliaments Which Oath is forthwith to be taken by the present Lord Keeper and to be administred by the Clerk of the Crown to every Lord Chancellor Lord Keeper Commissioner and Commissioners aforesaid and that none of the said Officers shall henceforth execute any the said Offices bâ—fore they have taken the said Oath And if the said Lord Chancellor Lord Keeper or any the said Commissioners shall fail or forbear so to issue out the said Writs according to the true meaning of this Act then he or they respectively shall beside the incurring of the grievous sin of perjury be disabled and become by vertue of this Act incapable ipso facto to bear his and their said Offices respectively and be further liable to such punishments as shall be inflicted on him or them by the next or any other ensuing Parliament And in case they neglect then the Peers of this Realm shall by vertue of this Act be enabled and are enjoyned to meet in the old Palace of Westminster in the usual place there on the third Monday in the said Month of November and they or any twelve or more of them then and there assembled shall on or before the last Monday of November next following the tenth day of September aforesaid by vertue of this Act without other Warrant issue out Writs in the usual form in the name of the Kings Majesty His Heirs or Successors attested under the hands and seals of twelve or more of the said Peers to the several and respective Sheriffs of the several and respective counties for the electing of the Knights Citizens Barons and Burgesses to be and appear at the Parliament at Westminster aforesaid to be held on the third Monday in January then next following And in case the said Lords or twelve or more of them shall fail to issue forth such Writs or that the said Writs do not come to the said several counties cities cinque-ports and borroughs so that an election be not thereupon made And in case there be not a Parliament assembled and held before the three and twentieth day of the said Month of January then in every such case as aforesaid the Parliament shall assemble and be held in the usual place at VVestminster on the second Tuesday which shall be in the month of March next after the said three and twentieth day of January At which Parliament the Peers of this Realm shall make their appearance And for the better assembling of the Knights Citizens Barons and Burgesses to the said Parliament as aforesaid It is further Enacted That the several and respective Sheriffs of their several and respective counties cities and boroughs of England and VVales and the Chancellor Masters and Scholars of both and every of the Universities and the Major and Bailiffs of the Borough of Barwick upon Tweed shall at the several courts and places to be held and appointed for their respective counties universities cities and boroughs next after the said three and twentieth day of January cause such Knight and Knights citizen and citizens Burgess and Burgesses of their said counties universities cities and boroughs respectively to be chosen by such persons and in such manner as if several and respective Writs of summons to Parliament under the Great Seal of England had issued and been awarded And in case they do not before ten of the clock in the forenoon of the same day wherein the several and respective courts and places shall be held or appointed for their several respective counties universities cities and boroughs as aforesaid begin and proceed on according to the meaning of this Law in causing Elections to be made of such Knight and Knights citizen and citizens Burgess and Burgesses of their said counties Universities cities and boroughs as aforesaid then the Freeholders of each county and the Masters and Scholars of every of the Universities and the citizens and others having voices in such Election respectively in each University city and borough that shall be assembled at the said courts or places to be held or appointed as aforesaid shall forthwith without further Warrant or direction proceed to the Election of such Knight c. And it is further enacted That the several and respective Sheriffs shall after the said three and twentieth day of January and before the eighth day of February then immediately next ensuing award and send forth their Preceps to the several and respective cities and boroughs within their several counties and likewise unto the said Cinque-ports respectively commanding them respectively to make choice of such citizen and citizens Barons Burgess and Burgesses to serve in the said Parliament at the time and place aforesaid Which said cities cinque-ports and boroughs respectively shall before the last day of the said month of February make election of such citizen and citizens barons burgess or burgesses as if Writs for summoning of a Parliament under the Great Seal of England had issued and been awarded And in case no such Precept shall come unto the said cities cinque-ports and boroughs respectively by the time herein limited Or in case any Precept shall come and no election be made thereupon before the said last day of February That then the several citizens burgesses and other persons that ought to elect and send citizens barons and burgesses to the Parliament shall on the first Tuesday in March then next ensuing the said last day of February make choice of such citizen and citizens barons burgess and burgesses as if a Writ of Summons under the Great Seal of England had issued and been awarded and shall each of them be liable unto such pains censures for his their not appearing serving then and there in Parliament as if he or they had been elected and chosen by vertue of a Writ under the great Seal of England shall be likewise subject unto such further pains
were drawn up and read against them in the House of Commons for in December before when the debate had been concerning Ship-money and the offence of those Judges who had given their extrajudicial opinions for it was examined upon which the Lord Keeper Finch fled the thing was condemned as most illegal Three Judges had been honest Judge Crook Hutton and Baron Denham whose Arguments were very famous the other were examined by sixteen Members of the House of Commons who were appointed to present those particular Charges against every Judge who were Judge Bramston Baron Trever Baron Weston Baron Davenport and Judge Crawley for Judge Barclay was charged with high Treason Of this a certain Gent. spake as followeth The Root of most of our present mischiefs the ruine of all posterity do I hold to be that extrajudicial Judgment I cannot say but rather doom delivered by all the Judges under their hands out of Court yet recorded in all Courts to the subversion of all our Fundamental Lawes Liberties and Annihilation if not Confiscation of our Estates That in case of danger the King may impose upon his subjects that he is the sole Judge of the danger necessity and proportion which in brief is to take what when and where he will which though delivered in the time of a gracious merciful Prince who we hope will not wrest it beyond our abilities yet left to the interpretation of a succeeding Tyrant if ever this Nation be so fortunate to fall into the hands of such It is a Record wherein every man might read himself a slave that reads it having nothing he can call his own all prostitute to the will of another What to do in such a case we are not to seek for precedents our honorable Ancestors taught us in the just and exemplar punishments of chief Justice Tresilian and his Complices for giving their judgments out of Parliament against the established Laws of Parl. how tender they were of us how careful we ought to be to continue those Laws to preserve the Liberty of our Posterity Those Charges were now brought in about the beginning of August but little was afterwards done against any of them or almost any other offendor the King had designed a journey into Scotland and would go though the Houses earnestly entreated his stay for a while longer because the Kingdoms business required his presence the King alledged that the affairs of Scotland did necessarily require his presence and further told them that he would Pass any good Bill which they had for him before he went Which he accordingly did and signed a Commission for passing of Bills in his absence the Commissioners were the Lord-Keeper Littleton the Lord Privy-seal Earl of Manchester the Lord great Chamberlain Earl of Lindsey the Marquess of Harford Earl of Essex Earl of Bath Earl of Dorset The Earl of Essex also by a Bill which the King then signed was made General of all his forces on this side Trent with power to levy Arms in case of necessity But before the King went the Earl of Holland chosen both by him and the Parliament as General for that purpose was gone into the North to disband the English Army there The King departing from London the tenth of August made haste towards Scotland and passed by the Armies as they were disbanding Whether he did under-hand attempt any thing with the Scotish Army as a Scotish writer hath published to engage them against the Parliament of England with large promises of Spoil and offering Jewels of great value in pawn for performance of it I leave as uncertain for the reader to judge by what afterwards fell out But if he did it was a matter of great falsehood having as yet declared no enmity against the English Parliament But what the Kings design was of going into Scotland was not understood in England The same Author saies it was to make sure those Noble men of that Kingdom whom he doubted of as not willing to serve his turn against England And true it is that about September Letters came from Scotland to the standing Committee at Westminster for the two Houses had rejourned themselves from the eighth of September till the twentieth of October and appointed a standing Committee of fifty Members during that time that a Treasonable Plot was discovered there against the lives of some of the greatest Peers in the Kingdom upon which the standing Committee fearing some mischief from the same spring placed strong guards in divers parts of the City of London However the mischiefs might fall out by chance or by design the Kings journey into Scotland was sure to hinder the English business and to retard the cure of all their Grievances which was little less then a plain destruction For after the tenth of August the day of his departure little was done in the Parliament until the recess On the 23 of October whilst the King remained in Scotland broke forth that cursed conspiracy of the Irish Rebels and the inhumane butchery of Protestants through the whole Island more tragical then any effect of a calamitous War in which was put in execution whatsoever could be imagined from the licentious cruelty of a barbarous people so long kept under the English yoke or whatever the dire dictates of superstition or wicked exhortations of Priests could infuse into them It was wonderful that so devilish a design could so long be kept close whereby 200000 Protestants in two months space were murdered and many by exquisite torments and many more despoiled of all their wordly fortunes This divelish design was to be put in execution on the 23 of October upon which day not only the Castle of Dublin the Kingdoms chief Magazine a storehouse of ten thousand Arms at that time but all other Forts and Magazines in that Kingdom were to be surprised and all the English or Protestants that joyned not with them to be murdered The seizure of Dublin Castle to which purpose many of the chief Rebels came to the City the day before was prevented by timely discovery of the Plot to the two Lords Justices by one Owen O Conally a Servant to Sir John Clotworthy which discovery was but the very night before that fatal day and the occasion of it very accidental or rather a strange providence of God by Mac-Mahons unadvised trusting this Owen with some relations concerning it at a Tavern Upon which discovery Mac-Mahon and the Lord Maguire were presently apprehended by the Lords Justices and many Conspirators of great note escaped that night out of Dublin So was Dublin saved that all Ireland might not be lost in one day But the horrid design was past prevention as to the general for the Conspirators were up at the day in all Counties round about and poor English Protestants arrived at Dublin every day robbed and spoiled of all they had relating how their houses were seized how Towns and Villages in all parts were fired and cruel outrages
committed The Lords Justices Sir William Parsons and Sir John Burlace taking those Arms which they found in Dublin and arming whom they could on a sudden to defend themselves dispatched Letters to the King in Scotland and the Earl of Leicester then chosen Deputy but staying in England Money was wanting and no supplies neerer then England Owen O Conally the first discoverer of the Plot brought the first Letters to London upon receipt of which they rewarded Owen with a gift of 500.l and an annuity of two hundred pounds per annum and presently both Houses of Parliament met at a Conference and the House of Commons forthwith resolved into a Committee to consider of Irelands relief and also to provide for the safety of England for distractions began then to appear in England the Parliament every day considered of Irelands relief and presently ordered supplies of money to be borrowed of the City of London Victuals and Ammunition for that purpose But all relief could be but slow in such a sudden disease For the Rebellion encreased and spread through all the Kingdom and many Papists and ill-affected fled from Dublin into the Country to joyn with the Rebels whilest the City in their rooms was daily filled with poor spoiled Protestants who came naked and famished thither many of them being past relief and there perished in the City It were an endless thing to relate the pitiful condition of those woful people and what sad stories they there told concerning the bloody rage of those inhumane Irish Rebels and several tortures by which the unhappy English were brought to their ends But the Lords of the Councel and Lords Justices in a short time with those Arms of Dublin had armed many well-affected Gentlemen and sent many active Commanders out of the City to defend places neer against the approach of the Rebels About the middle of November were in Arms Sir Charles Coot Sir Henry Tichburn the Lord Lambert Sir Thomas Lucas Capt. Armstrong Capt. Yarner and the Earl of Ormond came to Dublin with an hundred Horse well armed At which time the Parliament of England till greater sums could be raised sent them over as a present comfort twenty thousand pounds But it was a long time before they could send over any forces to the relief of that bleeding Kingdom the first was a Regiment Commanded by Sir Simon Harcourt who arrived on the last of December 1641. While Ireland was thus miserably distressed the King returned out of Scotland into England and was entertained by the City of London with most pompous solemnity the whole multitude of Citizens distinguished by their several Companies in such costly Equipage as never before was known with Horse and Arms met the King and guarded him through the whole City to his Palace at White-hall Some condemned that costly entertainment of the City at such a sad time others hoped it might gain the Kings dubious affection to his people but it wrought a contrary effect in the King who began now to think he could never lose the love of the City whatsoever he did and was flattered by some with a hope that the City would assist him in curbing of the Parliament it self he grew therefore more disdainful toward the Parliament and to endear the City invited divers of the chief to Hampton Court where he feasted them and Knighted some But the honest Citizens perceiving that no good use was made of their dutiful expressions toward the King but that some bad people did openly say that the City were weary of the Parliament and would joyn with the King against it they framed a Petition to the Parliament wherein the contrary is professed and that they would live and die with the Parliament for the good of the Common-wealth While the King remained at Hampton Court the House of Commons presented him with a Remonstrance wherein the Grievances of the Kingdom are expressed but no fault laid upon himself in plain words but a Malignant party as they call them and evil Counsellors Irelands calamities seemed to be quite forgotten or rather that those inhumane Rebels were countenanced every body wondring that the King would not proclaim them Rebels and some honest Lords advising the King to proclaim them speedily that a better course might be taken against them they desired him to wash off that foul stain from himself by proceeding severely against those wicked villains who reported every where that they had authority from him to seize upon the Holds of the English Protestants that they were the Queens Souldiers and rise to maintain the Kings Prerogative against the Puritan Parliament in England they therefore advised him by all means to purge himself of that crime then which a greater on earth could not be But so strangely were things carried that although the Rebellion brake out upon the twenty third of October the King did not proclaim them Rebels till the first of January and then gave a strict command that no more then forty Copies of that Proclamation should be Printed and that none of them should be published till his Majesties pleasure were further signified so that a few only could take notice of it which made all men extreamly wonder when they observed the late contrary proceedings against the Scots who were in a very quick and sharp manner proclaimed and those Proclamations forthwith dispersed with as much diligence as might be thorow all the Kingdom But before this Proclamation came out the Parliament being somewhat troubled with some speeches of which they had been informed as if a Plot were contrived against them desired the King to allow them a Guard for security of their persons and that the Earl of Essex then Lord Chamberlain of his Majesties Houshold might be Commander of it But the King denied them a Guard giving them many fair promises of his care for their safety and that he would command such a Guard to wait upon them as he would be responsible for to Almighty God Three days after the Proclamation against those Irish Rebels being the fourth of January the King attended with about three hundred Armed Gentlemen came to Westminster and entring in Person into the House of Commons and seating himself in the Speakers Chair demanded five Members of that House to be delivered to him Mr. Hollis Sir Arthur Haslerig Mr. Pym Mr. Hamden and Mr. Strode Those five Members had by command of the House upon information of the Kings intent absented themselves Which the King finding went away after a short Speech delivered concerning them That he intended a fair Trial against them and that he was and would be as careful to maintain the Priviledges of Parliament as ever any King of England was He had the day before demanded them by his Atturney Sir Edward Herbert a Member of the House of Commons pretending a Charge of high Treason against them and with them against the Lord Mandevile a Member of the House of Lords But the Parliament did not think
firm in appearance Voted with them and gave his Voice for setling of the Militia by Ordinance of Parliament But about the end of June one Master Eliot a Courtier was sent closely from York to him who having gotten privacy with the Lord Keeper so far prevailed at last that he got the Great Seal into his hands and rid away with it to the King at York The Lord Keeper Littleton after some serious thoughts with himself not being able to answer it to the Parliament rode away himself next day to the King also The reason which he gave to some friends of his afterwards for so parting with the Seal was this The King when he made him Lord Keeper gave him an Oath in private which he took That whensoever the King should send to him for the Great Seal he should forthwith deliver it This Oath he said he could not dispence with in Conscience but was sorry he had taken the Office with such an Oath The Seal was given him since this Parliament sate which made it appear what intentions the King even then had to the Parliament The King having now gotten the Great Seal issued forth many Proclamations and among other one That no man should obey the Parliaments Warrants about setling the Militia and they on the other side by Ordinances forbad any man to raise Arms by Warrant from the King without the authority of Parliament The Parliament being then intent upon setling the Militia by Land they took care also to seize the Navy into their hands for security of the Kingdom against forreign invasions To that purpose the Earl of Warwick a Nobleman of good experience in Sea-affairs and undoubted fidelity to his Countrey was by an Ordinance of both Houses chosen to be Lord Admiral But the King had chosen Sir John Penington to that place in the room of the Earl of Northumberland and sent a Command to the Earl of Warwick to resign the place to him But the Earl-chose rather to obey the Ordinance of Parliament and with great courage and policy got the Fleet into his hands though many of the Captains stood out against him alleaging they had the Kings Command to obey Sir John Penington but the Earl deprived them of their Commands and possessed himself of the Ships taking shortly after another Ship called the Lion of great import coming out of Holland and laden with Gunpowder which proved a great addition to his strength All men at this time began to despair of the Kings return to his Parliament and therefore on the 10 of June was an Order made in Parliament for bringing in money and plate to raise Arms for the Cause the publick Faith for repayment to them that brought it in was engaged by the Parliament and interest of eight in the hundred Which was accordingly brought in in great abundance by well-affected people as also Horses and Arms for that service The King at that time had received Money and Arms with Ammunition out of Holland upon the pawning of the Crown-Jewels which the Queen had carried over in February before He then sent out his Commissions of Array to Arm the people into all Counties wherein he used the Parliaments own words as in a Jeer of them For the Parliament professed that their receiving of plate and money and levying of Forces was To maintain the Protestant Religion the Kings Person dignity and authority the Laws of the Land the peace of the Kingdom and priviledge of Parliament The Kings words were the same namely To maintain the Protestant Religion his own person and authority the Laws Kingdoms Peace and priviledge of Parliament And whereas the Parliament in their Declarations both then and afterward used to say That they did arm against a malignant party by whom the Kings person was in danger he in his said the like and that for the safety of his own person and people there was an inevitable necessity of putting the Kingdom into a posture of defence using those very words in his Commission of Array which they did in their Ordinance for the Militia And invited people to bring plate and money to him in that language which the Parliament did nor did it prove less effectual for many Lords Gentlemen and others very freely brought in Money and plate to serve the King within a short space In all this heat of preparations the King before those Lords that were with him in the North made a solemn Protestation as before God that he would not engage them in any War against the Parliament but only for his necessary defence that his desire was to maintain the Protestant Religion the liberties of the Subject and priviledge of Parliament Upon which those Lords made a solemn Protestation as before God and subscribed their Names to it That they did believe the Kings intention to be as he said namely That he had no purpose to Levy War against the Parliament and that he endeavored only to maintain the Protestant Religion the Laws Liberties of the Subject and just priviledge of Parliament The King immediately after this took a progress about the Countries adjacent and at divers places made speeches to the Gentlemen and inhabitants full of gracious promises and declaring his intentions to preserve the peoples Liberties and priviledge of Parliament after which he returned to York and having raised an Army of three thousand Foot and one thousand Horse went to Beverly with an intention to besiege Hull making Proclamation beforehand That no man should presume to assist Hull against him or bring any force thither The Parliament on the other side published a Declaration for the preservation and safety of the Kingdom and of the town of Hull with assurance of satisfaction to all those who sustained any loss by their service for the safety of that Town or by overflowing of water upon the grounds there The King was within two hours march of Hull when Sir John Hotham calling a Councel of War by whom it was thought so fit drowned the Countrey about Hull drawing up the Sluce giving the Owners time to remove their Cattel and Goods the Parliament being to satisfie their damages upon the publick Faith Sir John Meldrum an old Souldier was assistant to Hotham who sallying bravely out of the Town with five hundred Townsmen made the Kings party retreat to Beverly some being slain and taken in the Chase Within a short time after when five hundred men sent from London arrived at Hull Sir John Meldrum made a fiercer Sally and forced most of the Leaguer to retire disorderly one and twenty of them being slain and fifteen taken prisoners and following his good success came to Aulby where the Kings Magazine of Arms Ammunition and Fire-balls were kept in a Barn all which he took and fired the Barn Upon which the King calling a Councel of War upon their advice broke up the siege before Hull On the twelfth of July the Parliament Voted that an Army should be raised for the
safety of the Kings person and defence of the Parliament Of which the Earl of Essex a man of eminent fidelity and worth was by an unanimous consent of both Houses chosen General Some Lords and Members of the Commons were sent down into the Counties to settle the Militia and raise Forces for defence of several Towns and places And divers Members of the Houses Listed themselves in the Lord General Essex his Army and took Commissions from him as Colonels But immediately after this time the Kings Commissions of Array were sent down into every County though often declared by the Parliament to be illegal and were obeyed in many places more than the Parliaments Ordinances for the Militia by reason that so many Lords and Gentlemen adhered to him now against the Parliament But there were scarce any Counties free from contention betwixt the Commissioners of the one and the Ordinances of the other which strugled together with great Nobility and Gentry on both sides Neither had the Kings Proclamations nor the Parliaments Ordinances obedience from all only as far as the now-drawing swords enforced it During these Divisions in several Counties London it self was not free for the Lord Major of London Sir Richard Gurney was by the Parliament committed prisoner to the Tower of London for moving sedition in the Kingdom by causing the Kings Commission of Array a thing declared illegal by both Houses to be proclaimed in the City and afterwards an additional impeachment was brought in against him by the Common-Councel of London for divers breaches of his Oath in that Office and contemning the Orders of Parliament After many days attendance concerning these Accusations on the twelfth day of August he received his Censure at the House of Lords which was That he should be turned out of his Majoralty That he should never bear any Office in the City or Common-wealth That he should be incapable of any Honor or Dignity to be conferred on him by the King and Committed Prisoner to the Tower during the pleasure of both Houses Many Proclamations about that time passed from the King and Declarations from the Parliament one from the King against the Earl of Essex as a Rebel and all that adhered unto him and a Declaration from the Parliament recounting all that the Kings evil counsel for so they call it had done illegally against them the Parliament likewise published what in particular had been done by his party against Ireland and how that unhappy Kingdome had been of late robbed of many Reliefes of Cloathes Victuals and Arms which the Parliament had sent them by the King and his party While these writings on both sides lasted the King removed often to gather strength and in several places made Speeches to the Countries with many Protestations of his affection to the people At last he came to Nottingham where about the middle of August he set up his Standard-Royal Very few People came to it nor had the King at that time any considerable strength nor if the Parliament would then have seized upon his person could he have kept himself out of their hands From Notingham on the twenty fifth of that Month he sent a Message to the Parliament by the Earls of Southampton and Dorset and Sir John Culpeper In that Message he signifieth a desire to compose the difference by a Treaty that a certain number of Persons sent and enabled by the Parliament may treat in some indifferent place with the like number authorized by him The Parliament answer That until he put them in a condition to treat that is until he take down his Standard and recall those Proclamations wherein he calleth a thing unheard of before both Houses of Parliament Traytors and Rebels they cannot by the Fundamental Priviledges of Parliament or by the publick trust reposed in them or with the general good of the Realm admit of any such Treaty The KING denied that he advanced his Standard against the Parliament or that he called them Rebels but within few dayes in his Instructions to his Commissioners of Array Marquess Harford the Earl of Cumberland and the Lord Strange he again called the Earl of Essex Rebel and Traytor Thus did they contend for some time by Declarations and Proclamations which proved all fruitless as to satisfying of the people nor could this lamentable War be averted Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice the the second and third Sons of the late King of Bohemia were now come into England the beginning of September to offer their service to the King their Uncle whom presently he put into Commands Prince Rupert the Elder and Fiercer by nature Commanding a Body of Horse flew with great fury through divers Counties raising men for the King's service in a rigorous way Committing outrages to those who favoured the Parliament upon which the Houses fell into a debate agreeing that a Charge of Treason should be drawn up against him for endeavouring the Destruction of this State and abusing that Court which represented it The King marched another way and passing through Derbyshire Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire he commanded the Trained Bands of those Counties to attend and Guard his Person and when they were met he disarmed the greatest part of them taking as many Arms as served for two thousand men besides good summs of Money which he borrowed by constraint protesting still as usually he did to maintain the Protestant Religion the Laws and Liberties of the Subject and the priviledges of Parliament The Parliament-Army raised under the Conduct of the General Essex was now grown into a considerable Bulk consisting of about fourteen thousand Horse and Foot their general Rendezvouz was at Northampton where many of the chief Commanders stayed with them expecting the presence of the General himself The Lord General Essex on the ninth of September taking his leave of the Parliament and City of London went towards Northampton and was waited on by the trained Bands and a great number of armed Gentlemen from Essex-house to the end of the City with great solemnity The Parliament sent a Petition to the General at Northampton to be by him presented to the King in a safe and honourable way the effect of which was humbly to entreat his Majesty to withdraw his presence from those wicked persons about him and not to mix his danger with theirs but that he would return to his Parliament and such-like things The King intending to seize upon Worcester sent Prince Rupert thither with some Horse which Essex fearing to prevent the King commanded part of his forces to march thither speedily himself following with his Army Some Skirmishes happened between that party of Parliamentarians and Prince Rupert before the coming of General Essex but Prince Rupert when the forerunners of Essex his Army were in sight with great speed fled out of Worcester General Essex leaving a Garison at Northampton marched to Coventry which Town he also garisoned as likewise Warwick and marched from thence with his
notwithstanding the War in England without strangers help went on with rage and bloud enough In midst of these calamities of War some hope of peace began to appear though it soon vanished again and conditions were proposed both by King and Parliament upon which in the following February as hereafter shall be said they both treated The end of this year and beginning of the next were notably tragical in the punishment and death of eminent men the two Hothams Father and Son having been condemned for Treason for breaking the trust of Parliament and conspiring with the enemy to betray Hull with other crimes after they had been imprisoned above a whole year in the Tower of London were this December both beheaded and Sir Alexander Carew not many dayes before who was condemned for the same crime suffered the same punishment Famous also at that time was the death of William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury the crimes objected against him were too many and of too various a nature to be here related four years almost had this unhappy old man been a prisoner yet not enjoyed so much as the quiet of a prison for oftentimes about fourscore several dayes he was carried from the Tower to Westminster and there arraigned in the House of Lords so the Fates were pleased in a sad compensation to equal his adversity even in time with his prosperity This January he was beheaded his life being spun out so long till he might see which was the observation of many some few daies before his death the book of Liturgy abolished and the Directory composed by the Sinod at Westminster established Though the King and Parliament were both thinking of a Treaty for Peace yet the care of War was not neglected the King being solicitous about getting of forreign aid and the Parliament about new modelling their own Army About this business which seemed of the highest concern there was some debate between the Lords and Commons the Lords were against that Change alleagïng that there was no need of new Commanders where the old ones could be accused of no fault that men of the noblest rank were fittest to command Armies the contrary whereof might breed confusion in the Common-wealth The House of Commons on the other side though they made a noble mention of the Earl of Essex and those other Peers which commanded in the Armies alleaged notwithstanding that the Parliament forces had been often distracted through the emulation of Commanders from whence it proceeded that some things very well designed had not had a prosperous issue that the Army would be better disciplined under one sole Commander At last when they were agreed a General was chosen to command the new Army which was Sir Thomas Fairfax a man of eminent valour and as much modesty who was then absent in the North but so great a business could not suddainly be finished and now the time approached for the Treaty of Vxbridge in which three heads were to be debated 1. Of Religion and Church government 2. Of the Militia of England 3. Concerning the business of Ireland But the King before this Treaty began used all meanes to assure himself of forreign aid by Letters he urged the Queen who was then in France to solicite that King and other Catholikes to assist him and that the Queen Regent would detain the Parliaments Ships in France He was very earnest likewise for assistance from the Duke of Lorraign that he might get into England that wicked Army of his so notorious through Germany and Flanders for all Villany of which Army as of that of Marius when the entred Rome it may be said Nulli gestanda dabantur Signa Ducis nisi qui scelerum jam fecerat usum Attuleratque in Castra nefas No man his Ensigns bore But who the badge of some known mischeif wore And brought guilt to the Camp At last hope was given him from the Duke of Lorraign of ten thousand men and for bringing of these Souldiers into England Goffe was sent into Holland to negotiate for shipping and other necessaries The King likewise desired assistance at that time from the bloudy Irish Rebels and by his Letters commanded Ormond to make a peace with those Rebels and to promise and grant to them a free exercise of their popish Religion and to assure them that if by their assistance he could but finish his War in England he would abrogate all those Laws heretofore made against the Papists there he gave thanks likewise to Muskery Plunket and other of those Rebels promising a pardon for all that was past But they were much troubled at the Treaty for peace with the Parliament not being ignorant that one necessary condition of such a peace must be that the War in Ireland against them should be continued and prosecuted The King therefore to remove this their scrupulous fear wrote to Ormond to this effect That he could not refuse to make a peace with his Parliament onely in favour of those Irish yet notwithstanding from that very consideration if Ormund handled the matter wisely he might raise an advantage to hasten a peace with those Irish in letting them know their own danger how they were excluded from all hope of pardon by the Parliament For saith he if we agree upon all other conditions it will not be convenient for me to disagree onely concerning those Irish therefore let them take what I offer while time is and hasten the Peace and when once my faith is passed no humane force shall make me break it The Queen also remaining in France writing to her husband seemed to grieve much that at Vxbridge they were to treat of Religion in the first place affirming That if any thing severe against the Catholikes should be concluded and yet a peace not be made the King could not hope hereafter for any assistance from the Catholike Princes or from the Irish who must needs think that after they had done their best they should at last be forsaken She often entreats the King that he would never forsake the Bishops the Catholikes nor those faithful friends of his that served him in his Wars the King promiseth her that he would never forsake his friends for a peace onely perswades her to hasten as much as she can the aides from France saying That whilest London is distracted between the Presbiterians and Independents both may be ruined In February the Commissioners on both sides met at Vxbridge to treat for peace For the King came the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hartford the Earls of Southampton Dorset and Chichester the Lords Dunsmore and Capel with Seimour Culpeper Gardiner Hide Lane Bridgman Palmer and others For the Parliament the Earls of Northumberland Pembrooke Salisbury and Denbigh of the House of Commons Wainmar Vane Perpoint Hollis Prideaux Saint John Whitlock and Crew and besides these six Commissioners of the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland But nothing at all was concluded at that Treaty The King would
advice to him concerning the Propositions of Parliament or other business The Parliament were displeased at this thing neither would the Army long suffer it considering that the King had not yet in any thing at all given satisfaction to the Parliament Whereupon those Lords being told of it after two daies stay at Hampton Court returned to their own houses On the seventh day of September Propositions agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland concurring also were sent to the King at Hampton Court To which they did humbly beseech his Majesty that he would give his answer within six dayes The Commissioners appointed for this business of the Parliament of England were the Earl of Pembrook Lord Mountague Sir James Harrington Sir John Cook Sir John Holland and Major General Brown For the Kindom of Scotland the Earl of Louderdale Sir Charls Erskins The King although he denied as before to grant the Propositions wrote notwithstanding an Answer to the Parliament in which he sayes That to some things he can assent namely about establishing Presbytery for 3 years about granting the Militia as it was before offered to him But in the other things he must altogether dissent He affirms that he could rather hearken to the Proposals of the Army for the Army had lately published some proposals in the manner of the Parliament Propositions about setling the peace of the Kingdom and desired the Parliament that they would consider of those Proposals The Parliament not yet deterred by these often denials of the King fell upon debate about making Propositions to him again When the Commissioners of Scotland residing at London after that Louden and Lanerick who came newly out of Scotland had talked privately with the King at Hampton Court sent Letters to the Parliament in which they require that the King may come to London and then personally treat with the parliament about the things controverted those very Scots who not long before both in their Orations and Letters Denied it to be just or convenient for the Common-wealth that the King before he had given satisfaction and security to the People should be admitted to London or to any Personal Treaty with the Parliament Those very Scots who denyed to receive the King into Scotland for fear he might raise commotions in their Country would now have him brought to London a City filled with Malignants and fit for any Tumults in which the Parliament it self without the guard of an Army could not safely sit That which moved them to this demand as they alleaged was because the King had been taken from Holmby against his will and without the consent of Parliament by the violence of Souldiers and still remained under the power of an Army not in that freedom which was thought fit for a King treating about a business of so great moment At the end of their Epistle they seem content that he may stay if London be denied at Hampton Court so he be not under the power of the Army but in such a condition as that the Commissioners of both Parliaments may have a free recourse to him But the Parliament were again framing Propositions with some alterations to be sent to the King when lo on a sudden they were strucken with an unexpected Message That the King was privily fled out of Hampton Court To which purpose Letters came about midnight from Cromwel to the Speaker For on the twelfth day of November whilest the Commissioners of Parliament and Colonel Whaley who commanded the Guard expected when the King should come out of his Chamber to Supper and wondered at his long stay at last about nine of the clock some of them going in and not finding the King they found his cloak left there and a letter written with his own hand to the Commissioners to be by them communicated to both Houses of Parliament in which letter after he had discoursed somewhat about captivity and the sweetness of liberty he protested as before God that he had not taken this design of withdrawing himself to disturb the publike peace or any treaty tending to the establishment thereof but onely to preserve his own safety against which he understood there was a treasonable Conspiracy But toward the end of his Letter he useth these words Now as I cannot deny but that my personal security is the urgent cause of this my retirement so I take God to witness that the publick Peace is no less before mine eyes And I can finde no better way to express this my profession I know not what a wiser man may do then by desiring and urging that all chief interests may be heard to the end each may have just satisfaction as for example The Army for the rest though necessary yet I suppose are not difficult to consent ought in my judgement to enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences and have an Act of Oblivion or Indempnity which should extend to the rest of all my Subjects and that all their Arrears should be speedily and duly paid which I will undertake to do so I may be heard and that I be not hindred from using such lawful and honest means as I shall chuse To conclude let me be heard with freedom honour and safety and I shall instantly break thorow this cloud of retirement and shew my self ready to be Pater Patriae Charles Rex But the Parliament being much at first troubled with this unexpected news of the King's departure at last lest the Kingdomes peace should thereby be disturbed they ordered that men of fidelity should be speedily sent to all the Sea-ports lest the King should pass into any Forreign Country And when tidings though false were brought unto them that the King was concealed within the City of London they ordered That if any man should closely detain the King's Person and not reveal it to the Parliament he should be punished with the loss of his estate and life This Cloud soon dissolved and the Parliament were informed by Col. Hammond who was newly by consent of both Houses made Governor of the Isle of Wight that the King was come into that Island and had delivered himself into his protection Hammond signified himself to be ready to obey the Parliament-commands in all things The Parliament commending Hammond did also command him with all diligence to guard the King but to wait upon him with all respect and honour promising that they would take care that provisions of every kinde should not be wanting nor money to defray the King's expences While the Parliament were again deliberating about Propositions to be sent to the King in the Isle of Wight a Letter of great length from the King superscribed To the Speaker of the Lords House to be communicated also to the House of Commons was read upon the eighteenth day of November In which he delivered his Sense and Opinion concerning many things contained in the former Propositions especially concerning the abolition of