of horses And within two dayes after the Lord Keeper Duke of Richmond Marquiss Hartford Earl of Salisbury Lord Gray of Ruthen with 17 Earls and 14 Barons the Lord Chief Justice Bancks and sundry others of eminent quality and reputation attest His Majesties Declaration and profession that He had no intention to make a War but abhorred it and That they perceived no Councels or preparations tending to any such designe and sent it with His Majesties Declaration to the Parliament In the mean time the Committee of Parliament appointed to make the propositions to the City of of London for the raising of Horse viz. 15. June 1642. Made report to the House of Commons That the Citizens did very cheerfully accept the same there being for indeed there had been some design and resolulution a year before concerning the melting of plate to raise monies already great store of plate and monies brought into Guild-Hall for that purpose and an Ordinance of Parlament was made for the Earl of Warwick to be Lord Admirall and keep the Navy though the King had commanded him on pain of treason to deliver up the Ships to him And the Lord Brook sent down into Warwick-Shire to settle the Militia 17. June 1642. Committee of both Houses was appointed to go to the City of London to enquire what store of Horse Monies and Plate were already raised upon the Propositions 18. June 1642. The King by his Proclamation Disclaiming any intention to make War against his Parlament forbiddeth all levies of Forces without his Majesties express pleasure signified under his Great Seal And 20. June 1642. Informing all his Subjects by his Proclamation of the Lawfulness of his Commissions of Aray That besides many other Warrants and Authorities of the Law Judge Hutton and Judge Crooke in their Arguments against the Ship-money agreed them to be Lawfull and the Earle of Essex himself had in the beginning of this Parlament accepted of one for the County of York Gave his people to understand That he had awarded the like Commissions into all the Counties of England and Dominion of Wales to provide for and secure them in a legall way left under a pretence of danger and want of Authority from his Majesty to put them into a Military posture they should he drawn and engaged in any opposition against him or his just Authority But 21. June 1642. The Lords and Commons in Parlament Declaring The designe of their Propositions of raising Horse and Moneys was to maintain the Protestant Religion and the Kings Authority and Person and that the Forces already attending his Majestie and his preparations at first coloured under the pretence of a guard being not so great a guard as they themselvs had constantly for 6 months before did evidently appear to be intended for some great and extraordinary designe so as at this time also they do not charge the King with any manner of action of War or any thing done in a way or course of war against them and gave just caufe of fear and jealousie to the Parlament being never yet by any Law of God or man accounted to be a sufficient cause or ground for Subjects to make War against their Soveraign did forbid all Mayors Sheriffs Bayliffs and other Officers to publish His Majesties said Letter to the City of London And Declare that if He should use any force for the recovery of Hull or suppressing of their Ordinance for the Militia it should be held a levying Warr against the Parlament and all this done before His Majesty had granted any Commission for the levying or raising of a man and lest the King should have any manner of provision of War to defend himself when their Army or Sir John Hotham should come to assault him Powder and Armes were every whera seized on and Cutlers Gun-Smiths Sadlers and all Warlike Trades ordered not to send any to York but to give a weekly account what was made or sold by them And an Order made the 24 of June 1642. That the Horses which should be sant in for the service os the Parlament when they came to the number of 60. should be trained and so still as the number increased 4. July 1642. The King by his letter under his signe Manuall commanded all the Judges of England in their Circuits to use all means to suppress Popery Riots and unlawfull assemblies and to give the people to understand his resolution to maintain the Protestant Religion and the Laws of the Kingdom and not to govern by any arbitrary way and that if any should give the King or them to understand of any thing wherein they held themselves grieved and desired a just reformation He would speedily give them such an answer as they shall have cause to thank him for his Justice and favour But the same day a Declaration was published by both Houses of Parlament commanding that no Sheriff Mayor Bayliff Parson Vicar Curate or other Sir Richard Gurney the Lord Mayor of London not many days before having been imprisoned for proclaiming the Kings Proclamation against the bringing in of Plate c. should publish or proclaim any Proclamation Declaration or other paper in the Kings name which should be contrary to any Order Ordinance or Declaration of both the houses of Parlament or the proceedings thereof and Order that in case any force should be brought out of one County into another to disturb the peace thereof they should be suppressed by the Train Bands and Voluntiers of the adjacent Counties Shortly after Sir John Hotham fortifieth the Town of Hull whilst the King is at York seizeth on a Ship coming to him with provisions for his Houshold takes Mr. Ashburnham one of the Kings servants prisoner intercepts Letters sent from the Queen to the King and drowneth part of the Countrey round about the Town which the Parlament allows of and promise satisfaction to the owners 5. July 1642. They order a subscription of Plate and Horse to be made in every County and list the Horse under Commanders and the morrow after Order 2000 men should be sent to relieve Sir John Hotham in case the King should besiege him to which purpose Drums were bear up in London and the adjacent parts to Hull The Earl of Warwick Ordered to send Ships to Humber to his assistance instructions drawn up to be sent to the Deputy-Lievtenants of the severall Counties to tender the Propositions for the raising of Horses Plate and Money Mr. Hastings and divers of the Kings Commissioners of Array impeached for supposed high Crimes and misdemeanours and a Committee of five Lords and ten of the House of Commons ordered to meet every morning for the laying out of ten thousand pounds of the Guild-Hall moneys for the buying of 700 Horse and that 10000. Foot to be raised in London and the Country be imployed by direction of the Parlament and the Lord Brook is furnished with 6. pieces of
defence of the Parlament were according to Law and if any man should arrest or trouble any of them for it he is declared to be an enemy to the Common-wealth And when the King to quiet the Parlament 12. January 1641 was pleased to signifie that for the present he would wave his proceedings against the five Members and Kimbolton and assures the Parlament that upon all occasions he will be as carefull of their Priviledges as of his Life or his Crown Yet the next day after they Declared the Lord Digby's coming to Kingstone upon Thames but with a Coach and six horses in it to be in a Warlike manner and disturbance of the Common-wealth and take occasion thereupon to order the Sheriffs of all Counties in England and Wales with the assistance of the Justices of Peace and trayned bands of the severall Counties to suppress any unlawfull Assemblies and to secure the said Counties and all the Magazines in them 14 January 1641. The King by a second Message professeth to them he never had the least intention of violating the least priviledge of Parlament and in case any doubt of breach of Priviledges remain will be willing to clear that and assert those by any reasonable way his Parlament shall advise him to But the design must have been laid by or miscarried if that should have been taken for a satisfaction and therefore to make a quarrell which needed not they Order the morrow after a Charge and Impeachment to be made ready against Sir Edward Herbert the Kings Attorney Generall for bringing into the House of Peers the third of that instant January by the Kings direction a Charge or accusation against Kimbolton and the five Members c. In February 1641. Seize upon the Tower of London the great Magazine and Store-house of the Kingdom and set some of the train-bands of London commanded by Major Generall Skippon to guard it 1. March 1641. Petition for the Militia and tell him If he would not grant it they would settle and dispose of it without him And the morrow after resolved upon the Question That the Kingdom be forthwith put in a posture of defence in such a way as was already agreed upon by both Houses of Parlament and order the Earl of Northumberland Lord high-Admirall to Rig and send to Sea his Majesties Navy and notwithstanding that the King 4 March 1641. by his Letter directed to the Lord Keeper Littleton had signified that he would wholly desist from any proceedings against the five Members and Kimbolton Sir John Hotham a Member of the House of Commons who before the the King had accused the five Members and Kimbolton had by Order of Parliament seized upon the Town of Hull the only fortified place of strength in the Kingdom and made a Garison of it summoned and forced in many of the trayned Souldiers of the County of York to help him to guard it And the eight of March 1641. before the King could get to York it was voted That whatsoever the two Houses of Parliament should Vote or Declare to be Law the people were bound to obey And when not long after the King offered to go in person to suppress the Irish Rebellion That was Voted to be against the Law and an encouragement to the Rebells and they Declare that whosoever shall assist him in his voyage thither should be taken for an enemy to the Common-wealth And 15 of March 1641. Resolved upon the Question that the severall Commissions granted under the great Seal to the Lievtenants of severall Counties were illegall and void and that whosoever should execute any power over the Militia by colour of any such Commission without consent of both Houses of Parliament should be accounted a disturber of the Peace of the Kindom Aprill 1642. Sir John Hotham seizeth the Kings Magazine at Hull and when the King went with a small attendance to demand an entrance into the Town denies him though he had then no Order to do it Notwithstanding all which the 28 of April 1642. they Vote That what he had done was in obedience to the commands of both Houses of Parliament and that the Kings proclaiming him to be a Traytor was a high breach of priviledge of Parliament And Ordered all Sheriffs and Officers to assist their Committees sent down with those their Votes to Sir John Hotham In the mean time the Pulpits flame with seditious invectives against the King and incitements to rebellion and the people running headlong into it had all manner of countenance and encouragement unto it but those Ministers that preached obedience and sought to prevent it were sure to be imprisoned and put out of their places for it Sir Henry Ludlow could be heard to say in the House of Commons that the King was not worthy to Reign in England And Henry Martin That the Kingly Office was forfeitable and the happiness of the Kingdom did not depend upon him and his Progeny And though the King demanded Justice of them were neither punished nor put out of the House Nor so much as questioned or blamed for it The Militia the principall part of the Kings regality without which it was impossible either to be a King or to govern and the Sword which God had given him and his Ancestors for more then a thousand years together had enjoyed and none in the Barons wars nor any Rebellion of the Kingdom since the very being or essence of it durst ever heretofore presume to ask for must now be wrestled for and taken away from him The Commissions of Array being the old legall way by which the Kings of England had a power to raise and levy men for the defence of themselves and the Kingdom Voted to be illegall The passage at Sea defended against him and his Navy kept from him by the Earle of Warwick whilst the King all this while contenting himselfe to be meerly passive and only busying himself in givinganswers to some Parliament Messages and Declarations and to wooe and intreat them out of this distemper cannot be proved to have done any one action like a War or to have so much as an intention to do it unless they can make his demanding an entrance into Hull with about twenty of his Followers unarmed in his Company and undertaking to return and leave the Governor in possession of it to be otherwise then it ought to be 5. Of May 1642. The King being informed that Sir John Hotham sent out warrants to Constables to raise the trained bands of Yorkshire writes his letter to the Sheriff of that County to forbid the trained bands and commands them to repair to their dwelling houses 12 Of May 1642. Perceiving himselfe every where endangered and a most horrid Rebellion framing against him and Sir John Hotham so neer him at Hull as within a days journey of him he moves the County of York for a troop of Horse consisting of the prime Gentry of that County
endeavour to make a doubt whether the King did not more resemble the true mother of the Child in the case before Solomon who did so much and offered to part with so much to save the life of it than the Parliament that would have it more than divided and to be cut and torn all to bits and pieces and would do nothing at all to save but every thing to destroy it And now we have seen a King undone and imprisoned for his endeavours to protect his People and bring againe beloved Peace to those that would not entertain it and heard the report of his murther for most of the Peoples eyes have not seen it nor have their hearts acted in it we shall as most men do after they have lost a good offer or opportunity enquire CHAP. VIII Whether the Conditions offered by the King would not have been more profitable if they had been accepted and what the people have got instead of them IN order to which though so wofull and over-and-over-bitterly Tasted Seen Felt Heard and Vnderstood Experiences of the miseries have come unto us by the Parliaments not accepting the gracious offers and conditions the King made unto them may make it to be as needless to enquire of them as for a man to ask where to finde Pauls Steeple in London when he is in Pauls Church-yard or to enquire for the Sun in the dog-days when he and every man else may see or feele the effects of it we shall be content to consider what the King offered and what the Parliament would have had him to grant What the King would have done and what the Parliament have done and by that see which would have been the better bargain The King like a pater patriae offered over and over to grant all manner of Laws and Liberties which might be good and wholsome for his People and onely denied to grant those things the granting whereof as he said himselfe would alter the fundamental Laws and endanger the very foundation upon which the publick happiness and welfare of his People was founded and constituted or to give them stones in stead of bread or Scorpions in stead of fishes But the Parliament meaning to feed the People neither with bread nor fishes ask the Royal Sword Crown and Scepter Coronation Oath and Conscience and an Arbitrary Power to governe and domineer over their fellow Subjects and to enslave those that trusted them And though the King had already granted enough to preserve the Laws Lives Religion and Liberty of the People and was so willing almost at any rate to purchase a peace for himself and his people as he was content to part with his Sword and Militia and divers other parts of his Regality during his life Yet that would not serve the turn 't was Naboths Vine-yard not Ahabs Fast made all the businesse the Parliament that pretended so much to deny themselves and to dote upon the people doe notwithstanding all they can to continue the War and to cozen force the peoples blood estate and conscience out of them and they must never give over paying of Taxes fighting and fooling till they enable them to imprison their King and not onely murther him but thousands and many ten thousands of their fellow-subjects and the Lawes Religion and Liberties of the people And now that they have done more than the men of the Gun-powder-treason intended to do all England are becom like sheep without a Shepherd wandring on the mountains thousands of Wolves by Votes Ordinances miscalled Acts of Parliament appointed to feed them four or five yeares sad experience in the Wars of the Parliament against the King and almost as much more time spent in setling and subduing the people making them like Camels to kneel down to take up their burdens labour and travel hard and endure hunger and thirst under them yet yield up their veines to be prick'd for blood to enable their drivers to furnish them with a new supply of burdens when they shall be discharged of what they have laid upon them may easily shew us a difference as big as a mountain betwixt our old good Lawes and Liberties enjoyed under a gracious King who had an estate of inheritance large enough of his own besides an oath to oblige him to protect us and a Hell upon Earth and the most Slavish of all the Governments were ever yet put upon a Nation by men of as little wit and estates as they have honesty having no other obligations upon them but their own abominable designs interests For which of the people unless those that have traded in their neighbours blood and ruine but hath made their complaints of their undoing The Religion of the Kingdome once so glorious is now cut into fancies and blasphemies the Churches where God was wont to be worshipped either defaced or pulled down or made stables for horses the Lawes of the Kingdom that were consonant to the Word of God and had in them the Quintessence of all could be found to be extant in the Lawes of Nature Nations Civil Laws or rectified Reason and whatsoever the wisedome and care of all former Kings in Parliament or the usage and customs of this or any other neighbouring Nations could bring to its perfection and were wont to nourish preserve peace and property among us voted out or into that sense or toâ—â—er interest to that every thing or nothing or to that non-sense according as the Lawlesse Unlimited Unjust and Ignorant will of fellow-subjects shall please to misuse them in the Voting house or place of bandying aies or noes For a Parliament which in its legal and primitive Institution consisting of King Lords and Commons and the right use of it is so venerable as no man as our Lawes say ought so much as to speak or think dishonourably of it we cannot without violence to the Lawes and our reason and understanding call it where puâ—lique orders are made without hearing of all or any parties interessed a piece of a cause heard by some and none at aâ—l of it by others votes and parties made and packed and lent to one another before-hand and the best of the Faction and Juglers carry all the businesse as they have a mind to it A way of Justice worse than that â—f there were any in it of a lawlesse Court said to be kept yearly on a Hil betwixt Raleigh and Rochford in Eeslx the wednesday afterevery Michaelmas day where the Steward or Judge sitteth in the night after the first Cock-crowing without any light or candle and calleth all that are bouâ—â—â— to attend the Court with as low a voice as possibly he may write orders with a coal and they that answer not are deeply amerced For that being a particular punishment long agoe inflicted upon the Tenants of certain Manner in Raleigh hundred for a conspiracy against the King is but once a yeare some shift or chance or mercy of
Religion and take away the Laws and Liberties of the People and many other the like seditious delusions the People so much as their misery will give them leave have now found out the way to laugh at either came from the Parlament party or were cherished and turned into advantages by them For they had found the way and lost nothing by it to be ever jealous of the King And whil'st he did all he could to shew them that there was no cause for it they who were jealous without a cause could be so cunning as to make all the hast they could to weaken him and strengthen themselvs by such kind of artifices But he that could not choose but take notice that there were secret ties and combinations betwixt his English and Scortish Subjects the latter of whom the Earl of Essex and Sir Thomas Fairfax themselves understood to be no better then Rebells and therefore served in places of Command in his Majesties Army against them That Sir Arthur Haselrig had brought in a Bill in Parlament to take the Militia by Sea and Land away from him saw himselfe not long after by a printed Remonstrance or Declaration made to the People of all they could but imagine to be errors in his Government arraigned and little less then deposed The Bishops and divers great Lords driven from the Parlament by tumults Was inforced to keep his gates at Whitehall shut and procure divers Captains and Commanders to lodge there and to allow them a Table to be a guard for him and had been fully informed of many Traiterous Speeches used by some seditious Mechanicks of London as that it was pity he should Raign and that The Prince would make a better King was yet so far from being jealous or solicitous to defend himselfe by the Sword and power which God had intrusted him with as when he had need and reason enough to do it he still granted them that he might not seem to deny what might but seem to be for the good of his people every thing they could reasonably ask of him or he could but reasonably tell how to part with though he could not be ignorant but an ill use might be made of them against himself As the putting down of the Star-Chamber and high Commission Court the Courts of Honour and of the North and Welch Marches Commissions for the making of Gun-powder allowing them approbation or nomination of the Lievtenant of the Tower and did all and more then all his predecessors put together to remove their jealousies And when that would not do it He stood still and saw the game plaid on further many Tumults raised many Libells and scandalous Pamphlets publickly printed against his person and Government and when he complained of it in Parlament so little care was taken to redress it as that the peoples coming to Westminster in a Tumultuous manner set on and invited by Pennington and Ven two of the most active Mechanick Sectaries of the House of Commons it was excused and called a liberty of Petitioning And as for the Libells and Pamphlets the Licensing of Books before they should be printed and all other restraint of the Printing Press were taken away and complaints being made against Pamphlets and seditious Books some of the Members of the house of Commons were heard to say the work would not be done without them and complaints being also made to Mr. Pym against some wicked men which were ill affected to the Government He answered It was not now a time to discourage their friends but to make use of them And here being as many Jealousies and fears as could possibly be raised or fancied without a ground on the one side against all the endeavours could be used on the other side to remove them We shall in the next place take a view of the matter of Fact that followed upon them and bring before you CHAP. II. The Proceedings betwixt the King and the Parlament from the Tumultuous and Seditious coming of the People to the Parlament and White-Hall till the 13. of September 1642. being 18. days after the King had set up his Standard at Nottingham WHen all the King could do to bring the Parlament to a better understanding of him did as they were pleased to make their advantage of it but make them seem to be the more unsatisfied that they might the better mis-represent him to the People and petition out of his hands as much power as they could tell how to perswade him to grant them and that he had proofs enough of what hath been since written in the blood and hearts of his People that the five Members and Kimbolton intended to root out Him and His Posterity subvert the Laws and alter the Religion and Covernment of the Kingdom and had therefore sent his Serjeant at Arms to demand their persons and Justice to be done upon them instead of obedience to it an order was made That every man might rescue them and apprehend the Serjeant at Arms for doing it which Parlament Records would blush at And Queen Elizabeth who was wont to answer her better composed Parlaments upon lesser occasions with a Cavete ne patientiam Principis laedatis and caused Parry a Doctor of the Civill Laws and a Member of the house of Commons by the judgement and advice of as sage and learned a privy Councill and Judges as any Prince in Christendom ever had to be hang'd drawn and quartered for Treason in the old Palace of Westminster when the Parlament was sitting would have wondred at And 4. of January 1641. desiring onely to bring them to a Legall tryall and examination went in person to demand them and found that his own peaceable behaviour and fewer attendants then the two Speakers of the Parlament had afterwards when they brought a whole Army at their heels to charge and fright away eleven of their fellow members had all manner of evil constructions put upon it and that the Houses of Parlament had adjourned into London and occasioned such a sedition amongst the people as all the train bands of London must guard them by Land when there was no need of it and many Boats and Lighters armed with Sea-men and murdering pieces by water and that unless he should have adventured the mischief and murder hath been since committed upon him by those which at that time intended as much as they have done since it was high time to think of his own safety and of so many others were concerned in it having left London but the day before upon a greater cause of fear then the Speakers of both Houses of Parlament in July 1647. to go to the Army retires with the Prince his Son whom the Parlament laboured to seize and take into their custody in his company towards York 8. January 1641. A Committee of the House of Commons sitting in London resolved upon the question That the Actions of the City of London for the
and a Regiment of the train-bands of Foot to be for a guard unto him caused the oath of Allegiance to be administred unto them But the Parliament thereupon Vote that it appeared the King seduced by wicked Counsell intended to make a war against them and til then if their own Votes should be true must acquitt him from any thing more then an intention as they call it to do it And whosoever should assist him are Traitors by the fundamentall Laws of the Kingdom The Earl of Essex Lord Chamberlain of the Kings Houshould and all other of the Kings Houshould Servants forbid to go to him and the Kings putting some of them out and others in their places Voted to be an injury to the Parliament Messengers were sent for the apprehending of some Earls and Barons about him and some of his Bed-Chamber as if they had been Fellons The Lord Keepers going to him with the great Seal when he sent for him Voted to be a breach of priviledge and pursued with a warrant directed to all Mayors Bayliffs to apprehend him Cause the Kings Rents and Revenues to be brought in to them and forbid any to be paid him Many of his Officers and Servants put out of their places for being Loyall unto him and those that were ill affected to him put in their Rooms and many of his own Servants tempted and procured by rewards and maintenance to tarry with them and be false and active against him The twenty sixt day of May 1642. a Declaration is sent to the King but printed and published before he could receive it That Whatsoever they should Vote is not by Law to bee questioned either by the King or Subjects No precedent can limit or bound their proceedings A Parliament may dispose of any thing wherein the King or peopl have any right The Soveraign power resides in both Houses of Parlament The King hath no Negative voyce The levying of Warre against the personall commands of the King though accompanied with his presence is not a levying of Warre against the King but a levying War against his Laws and authority which they have power to Declare is levying of War against the King Treason cannot be committed against his person otherwise then as he was intrusted They have power to judge whether he discharge his trust or not that if they should follow the highest precedents of other Parliaments Paterns there would be no cause to complain of want of modesty or duty in them and that it belonged only to them to judge of the Law 27 Of May The King by his Proclamation forbids all his Subjects and trayned bands of the Kingdom to Rise March or Muster But the Parliament on the same day Command all Sheriffs Justices of the Peace and Constables within one hundred 50 miles of York to seize and make stay of all Armes and Amunition going thither And Declaring the said Proclamation to bee voyd in Law Command all men to Rise Muster and March and not to Muster or March by any other Authority or Commission and the Sheriffs of all Counties the morrow after Commanded with the posse Comitatus to suppress any of the Kings Subjects that should be drawn thither by his Command Secure and seize upon the Magazines of the Counties Protect all that are Delinquents against him make all to be Delinquents that attend him and censure and put out of the House of Peers nine Lords at once for obeying the Kings summons and going to him 3 June 1642. The King summoning the Ministers Gentry and Free-holders of the County of York declared to them the reasons of providing himselfe a guard and that he had no intention to make a War and the morrow after forbad the Lord Willoughby of Parham to Muster and train the County of Lincolne who under colour of an Ordinance of Parlament for the Militia had began to do it 10. June 1642. The Parlament by a Declaration signifying That the King intended to make a War against his Parlament invited the Citizens of London and all others well affected as they pleased to miscall them within eighty miles of the City to bring money and plate into the Guild-Hall London and to subscribe for Men Horses and Arms to maintain the Protestant Religion the Kings Person and Authority free course of Justice Laws of the Land and priviledges of Parlament and the morrow after send 19 propositions to the King That the great affairs of the Kingdom and Militia may be mannaged by consent and approbation of Parlament all the great Officers of Estate Privy Councell Ambassadors and Ministers of State and Judges to be chosen by them that the Government Education and Marriage of the Kings Children be by their consent and approbation and all the Forts and Castles of the Kingdome under the Command and Custody of such as they should approve of and that no Peers to be made hereafter should sit or vote in Parliament without the consent of Parliament with several other demands which if the King should have granted would at once in effect not onely have undone and put his subjects out of his protection but have deposed both himself and his posterity and then they would proceed to regulate his Revenue and deliver up the Town of Hull into such hands as the King by consent and approbation of Parliament should appoint But the King having the same day before those goodly demands came to his hands being a greater breach of his former priviledges then his demanding of the five Members and Kimbolton it it had not been lawfull for him so to doe could be of theirs granted a Commission of Array for the County of Leicester to the Earl of Huntington and by a letter sent along with it directed it for the present onely to Muster and Array the Trained Bands And 13. June 1642. Declared to the Lords attending him at York That he would not engage them in any War against the Parliament unless it were for his necessary defence whereupon the L. Keeper Littleton who a little before had either been affrighted or seduced by the Parliament to vote their new Militia The Duke of Richmond Marquess Hartford Earl of Salisbury Lord Gray of Ruthen now Earl of Kent and divers Earls and Barons engaged not to obey any Order or Ordinance concerning the Militia had not the Royal assent to it And fourteenth of June 1642. Being informed That the Parliament endeavoured to borrow great summs of money of the City of London and that there was great labour used to perswade his Subjects to furnish horse and money upon pretence of providing a guard for the Parliament By his letter to the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffs of London disavowing any purpose of making a War declared That He had not the least thought of raising or using of Forces unless he should be compelled to doe it for his own defence and forbiddeth therefore the lending of money or raising
Servants and Friends about Him who pawned and engaged their Plate Jewels and Lands for Him with those Lords and Gentlemen that willingly offered to bear Him company in His Troubles provides what Men and Armâ— He could in His way towards Notting ham where He intended to set up his Standard But the Parliament about the 23 of August 1642. having received some information that He intended to set up his Standard at Nottingham Declare That now it appearâ— to all the world that there is good ground of their fears and jealousies which if ever there had been any as there was no cause at all of any more than that meaning to murder and ruine Him they were often affraid He should take notice of it and seek to defend Himself there was by their own confession till this time no manifest or certain ground appearing that He intended to defend Himself against the Parliament and therefore order That all that shall suffer in their Estates by any force raised by the King without consent of Parliament shall have full reparation of their damages out of the Estates of the actors and out of the Estates of all such persons in any part of the Kingdome who should persist to serve the King in this War against the Parliament and That it should be lawfull for any number of persons to joyn and defend themselves and That the Earl of Essex their Generall should grant out Commissions for Levying and conducting forces into the Northern parts And Sir John Hotham the Governour of Hull assist them and command also the Sheriffs of the County of York and the adjacent Counties with the power of the Counties and Trained Bands to aid them and to seize upon all that shall execute the Commission of Array for his Majestie who was thus sufficiently beset by those that intended what since they have brought to pass against Him 25. August 1642. being some days after the Earle of Bedford had marched with great forces into the West that His Subjects might be informed of His danger and repair to his Succour setting up his Standard at Nottingham being a thing of meer legall necessity if He would have any at all to come to help Him and not forfeit and surprise those that by tenure of their Lands or by reason of Offices Fees or Annuities enjoyed under Him were more immediately bound to assist Him And yet here He must weep over Jerusalem and once again intreat the Parlament and His Rebellious Subjects to prevent their own miseries and therefore sends the Earls of Sonthampton and Dorset to the Parlament to desire a Treaty â—ffering to do all on His own part which might advance the Protestant Religion oppose Popery and Superstition and secure the Laws and Liberties of His Subjects and just pâ—iviledges of Parlament Which after severall scorns put upon those noble Messengers as denying the Earle of Southampton to come and sit in the House of Peers as a right by birth and inheritance due to him and causing the Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons to go before him with the Macê as they use to do before Delinquents They refuse to accept of unless the King would first take down His Standard and recall his Declarations and Proclamations against them To which the King the 5. September 1642. notwithstanding the Earl of Bedford had with great forces in the mean time besieged the Marquis of Hartford in the Castle of Sherborn in Dorset shire replying That he never did Declare or intended for to Declare both his houses of Parlament to be Traitors or set up his Standard against them much less to put them and the Kingdom out of his protection And utterly protesting against it before God and the World offered to recall his Declarations and Proclamations with all cheerfullness the same day that they should revoke their Declarations against those that had assisted him and desiring a Treaty and conjuring them to consider the bleeding condition of Ireland and the danger of England undertakes to bee ready to grant any thing shall be really good for his Subjects which being brought by the Lord Falkland one of his Majesties Secretaries of State and a Member of the House of Commons and not long before in a very great esteem with them all the respect could be afforded him being to stand at the Bar of the House of Commons and deliver his Message to them had onely an answer in a printed Declaration of the Lords and Commons returned unto him That it was Ordered and Declared by the Lords and Commons in Parliament That the Armes which they have been forced to take up or shall be forced to take up for the preservation of the Parliament Religion and the Lawes and Liberties of the Kingdome shall not be laid down until his Majesty shall withdraw his protection from such Persons as have been voted by both Houses of Parliament to be Delinquents or that shall by both Houses of Parliament be voted to be Delinquents which after their mad way of voting might have been himself his Queen or his Heir apparent and leave them to the Justice of Parliament according to their demerits to the end that those great charges and damages wherewithal the Commonwealth hath been burthened since his Majesty departed from the Parliament might be born by the Delinquents and other malignant and dis-affected persons and that those who by Loans of money or otherwise at their charges have assisted the Commonwealth or shall in like manner hereafter assist the Commonwealth in times of extream danger and here they would also provide for future friends and quarrels may be re-paid all summs of money lent for those purposes and satisfied their charges sustained as out of the estates of the said Delinquents and of the Malignant and dis-affected Party in this Kingdome And to make good their words of 8. September 1642. Before their answer could come unto the Kings hands Ordered certain numbers of horse and foot to be sent to Garrison and secure Oxford and the morrow after before the King could possibly reply unto it their Lord General the Earl of Essex marched out of London against him with 20000 men horse and foot gallantly armed and a great train of Artiâ—lery to attend him notwithstanding all which and thosâ— huge impossibilities every day more and more appeared of obtaining a Peace witâ— those who were so much afraid to be loserâ— by it as they never at all intended it The King must needs send one messagâ— more unto them to try if that might noâ— give them some occasion to send Him gentleâ— conditions and therefore 13. September 1642. Being the same day they had impeached the Lord Strange of High-treason for executing the Kings Commission of Array and Ordered the propositions for furnishing of horse plate and money to be tendred from house to house in the Cities of London and Westminster and to be sent into all the Shires and Counties of England to be tendred for the same purpose
but not the English for they were the Kings Subjects and are to be reckoned as Traytors not strangers And the Parliaments own advice to the King to suppress the Irish Rebels that ploughed but with their own Heyfer and pretended as they did to defend their Religion Laws and Liberties and the opinion also of Mr. President Bradshaw as Sir John Owen called him in his late sentence given against the Earls of Cambridge Holland and Norwich Lord Capel and Sir John Owen whom he mistakenly God and the Law knows would make to be the Subjects of their worfer fellow-Subjects may be enough to turn the question out of doors But lest all this should not be thought sufficient to satisfie those can like nothing but what there is Scripture for we shall a little turn over the leaves of that sacred Volume and see what is to be found concerning this matter Moses who was the meekest Magistrate in the world and better acquainted with him that made the fifth Commandement than these that now pretend Revelations against it thought fit to suppress the rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram as soone as he could and for no greater offence than a desire to be coordinate with him procured them to be buried alive with all that appertained unto them When Absolom had rebelled against his father David and it was told him That the hearts of the men of Israel were after him David a man after Gods own heart without any message of peace or Declaration sent unto his dear son Absolom or offering half or any part of his Kingdome to him sent three several Armies to pursue and give him battell When Sheba the sonne of Bichri blew a Trumpet and said We have no part in David every man to his tent O Israel and thereupon every man of Israel followed after him and forsook their King David who knew that Moses would not make a War upon the Amorites though he had Gods commandement for it without offers of peace and messengers sent first unto them said to Amasa Assemble me the men of Judah within three daies and when he tarried longer said unto him Take thou thy Lords Servants and pursue after him lest he get him fenced Cities and escape us For they that would take heed of Cocatrices have ever used to kill them in the shell And diligenti cuique Imperatori ac magistrains danda est opera saith Bodin ut non tam seditiones tollere quam praeoccupare student For sedition saith he once kindled like a span of fire blown by popular fury may sooner fire a whole City than be extinguished Et tales igitur pestes opprimere derepenté necessâ— est Princes and Soveraigns who are bound to protect and defend their Subjects are not to stand still and suffer one to oppress another and themselves to be undone by it afterwards But put the case the Parliament could have been called a Parliament when they had driven away the King which is the Head and Life of it or could have been said to have been two Houses of Parliament when there was not at that time above a third part of the House of Peers nor the half of the House of Commons remaining in them and what those few did in their abfence was either forced by a Faction of their own or a party of seditious Londoners for indeed the Warre rightly considered was not betwixt the Parliament and the King but a War made by a factious and seditious part of the Parliament against the King and the major part of the Parliament and had been as it never was nor could be by the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom coordinate and equal with the King and joint-tenanâ—â— of the Kingdom it would have been necessary to make â— War as just as they could and to have done all that had been in order to it and therefore we hope they which pretend so much to the Justice of the Kingdom will not be offended to have the Justice of their Wars somthing examined CHAP. IV. Suppose the Warre to be made with a neighbour-Prince or between equals Whether the King or Parliament were in the defensive or justifyabie part of it PLâ—rique saith learned Grotius tres statuunt bellorum justas causas defensionem recuperationem punttionem For any defence the Parliament might pretend a necessity of The King neither assaulted them nor used any violence to them when they first of all granted out their Propositions and Commissions of War unIess they can turn their jealousies into a Creed and make the Kings demanding the five Members and Kimbolton being done by warrant of the Law of the Land and the Records and precedents of their own Houses appear to be an assaulting of them Or if any reasonable man knew but how to make that to be an assault or a necessary cause of War for them to revenge it the Kings waving and relinquishing of his charge afterwards against them might have certainly been enough to have taken away the cause of it if there had been any howsoever a Warâ— made onely to revenge a bare demand or request of a thing and was neither so much as forced or a second time demanded of them but totally laid aside and retracted can never be accounted just As for the recovery of things lost or taken away The Parliament it self had nothing taken from them for both they and the people were so far from being loosers at that time by the King as the Remonstrance of the house of Commons made to the people 15. December 1641. of the Kings erroun as they please to call them in the government but indeed the errours rather of his Ministers and themselves also in busying him with brawles and quarrells and denying to give him fitting supplies mentions how much and how many benficeial Laws the King had granted them And so the Parliament and People being no loosers and the King never denying them any thing could in honour oâ— conscience be granted them That part of the justifying of a War will no way also belong to them But if the punishment for offences and injuries past if they could be so properly called being a third cause of justifying a War could be but imagined to be a cause to justifie the Parliaments war against the King Yet they were to remember another Rule or Law of War Ne nimis veteres causae accersentur That they do not pick quarrels by raking up past grievances that it be not propter leviusculas injurias or for trifles For when the King who if he had been no more then coordinate with them had called them to Councell to to advise him followed their advice in every thing he could find any reason for taken away all grievances made a large provision to prevent them for the future by granting the Trienniall Parliament and so large an amends for every thing they could but tell how to complain of there was so little left to the
in the matter of fact hath hitherto among the wisest Princes and Commonwealths in the World been reputed a just and warrantable cause of War Homicide by the Lawes of England shall be excused with a fe defendendo when the assaulted hath but simply defended himself or retired in his own defence so far till by some water or wall he be hindred from going any further Death and destruction marching towards the King Hull fortified and kept behind him and all manner of necessitie compassing him in on every side could then doe no less then rouze him up to make his own defence and he must be as much without his senses as care of his own preservation if he should not then think it to be high time to make ready to defend himself and necessity enough to excuse him for any thing should be done in order to it The Parliament and He as this case stood could not be both at one and the same time in the defensive part For they had all the Money Arms Ammunition and strength of the Kingdom in their hands and multitudes of deluded people to assist them and so hunted and pursued from place to place as it was come to be a saying and a by-word among the apprentices and new levied men at London they would goe a King-catching and were not likely therefore to be guilty of so much patience as the King who was so much in love with peace and so thirsted after it as that and his often sending Messages and Propositions for it would not suffer him to make use of any victories or advantages God had given him Twice did he suffer the Earl of Essex to attempt to force him from Oxford and Sir Thomas Fairfax once to beleager him when he had Power enough to have made London or the associate Counties the Seat of the War and it would be something strange that he who when he had raised forces against his Scottish Rebels and found himself in the Head of so gallant an Army as he had much adoe to keep them from fighting and his enemies so ridiculously weak as he might have subdued them but with looking upon them but a fortnight longer could not be perswaded to draw a Sword against them would now begin an offensive warre without any power or strength at all against those that had before-hand ingrossed it or what policy or wisedome could it be in him to begin a War without Money or Men or Armes to goe through with it or to refuse the assistance of his Catholique Subjects and Forrain Friends and Forces or to spend so much time in Messages and offers of Peace to give them time and ability to disarm him and arm themselves if he had not utterly abhorred a War and as cordially affected peace as he offered fair enough for it Or if we could but tell how to say that the King did begin the War when what he did was but to preserve his Regality and the Militia and Protection of his people which the Parliament in express terms as well as by Petitioning for it acknowledged it to be his Own being but that which every private man that had but money or friends would not neglect to do Did he any more in seeking to preserve his Regality then to defend and keep himself from a breach of trust they fought to make him break Or did he any more then seek to defend himself against those did all they could to force him to break it or could there be a greater perjury or breach of trust in the Kingly office than to put the Sword which God had given him into the hands of mad-men or fools or such as would kill and slay and undo their fellow-subjects with it or to deliver up the protection of his people into the hands of a few of their ambitious fellow-subjects did as much break their own trust to those they represented in asking of it as the King would havedone if he had granted it or why shall it not be accounted an inculpata tutela in the King to preserve and defend that by a War the Laws of God and Man his Coronation-Oath Honour and Conscience and a duty to Himself and his Posterity as well as to his people would not permit him to stand still and suffer to be taken away from him But if the King by any manner of construction could be blamed or censured for denying to grant the Militia which was the first pretence of beginning of the War by those that sought to take it from him for till the besieging of Hull the 16. of July 1642. after many other affronts attempts of as high a nature put upon him the most malicious interpretation of the matter of Fact cannot find him so much as at all to have defended himself as to have done any one act of War or so much as like it who shall be in the fault for all that was done after when he offered to condiscend to all that might be profitable for his people in the matter of Religion Lawes and Liberties Or was it not a just cause of War to defend himself and his people against those would notwithstanding all he could doe and offer make a War against him because he would not contrary to his Oath Magna Charta and so many other Laws he had sworn to observe betray or deliver up his people into their hands to be governed or rather undone by a greater latitude of Arbitrary power then the great Turk or Crim Tartar ever exercised upon their enslaved people and put the education and marriage of his own Children out of his power was never sought to be taken out of the hand of any Father who was not a fool or a mad-man nor yielded to by any who would have the credit to be accounted 〈◊〉 wise or because he would not denude himself of the power of conferring honours or vilifie or discredit his great and lesser Seals and the Authority of them from which many mens Estates and Honours and the whole current of the Justice of the Kingdome had their original and refused to perjure himself by abolishing Episcopacy which Magna Charta and some dozens of other laws bound him to preserve Or if that be not enough to justifie him in his own defence had he not cause enough to deny and they little enough to ask Liberty of Conscience and practice to Anabaptists Blasphemers of God denieâ—s of the Trinity Scriptures and Deity of Christ when the Parliament themselves had taken a Covenant to root them out and made as many of the people as they could force to take it with them or had he not cause enough to deny to set up the Presbyterian Authority would not even have taken away his own Authority but have done the like also with the Lawes and Liberties of the Nation and the ruling part of that they now call the Parliament utterly abhor or if all that could not make the War be made to be defensive
and lawful had he not cause enough to deny and they none at all to ask that he should by Act of Parliament consent to make all those to be Traytors that took his part their Blood and Posterities attainted and their Estates forfeited when as some of the Parliaments own Members were heard to say when those Propositions were sent to him That if he yeelded unto them He was the unworthiest man living and not fit to be a King For certainly if the Laws of God and man and the understanding of all mankind be not changed there was never a juster more defensive unwilling and necessitated Warre than that of the Kings part since man came out of Paradise And if such a War should not be lawfull after so many provocations and necessities for the defence of himself and his People and so many after-generations this War of the Parliament and the curse of it is like to ruine and leave in slavery under what censure and opinion may that of Abraham with Chederlaomer the King of Elam and Tidal King of the Nations be when he fought with them to rescue his brother Lot and his goods and was blessed by Melchisedec the Priest of the most high God for doing of it Or of the War which the Tribes of Israel made against the Tribe of Benjamin and the men of Gibeah for committing lewdnesse and folly in Israel that of David to rescue his Wives that were carried away captive by the Amalekites or to fetch home the Ark of God from the Philistines that which Ahab made with Benhadad the King of Syria who was not half so tyrannical in his Propositions as the Parliament were approved of in Sacred Story or that which was made by Judas Machabeus and his Brethren to rescue the decayed estate of the people of the Jews or that which was used to be made by the heathen pro aris focis were never yet so much as suspected to be unlawfull How shall this of the Kings be condemned that had as much as Abraham David Ahab against Benhadad Judas Machabeus and the tribes of Israel or those heathens that made it pro aris focis put them altogether to warrant it Or by what reason or Law is any man by the Laws of England excused for killing a man in his own defence when he is necessitated or hindred by a Wall or a Water that he can go no farther or for killing thieves that come to assault or rob him in his house or castle If the King shall be hunted from his house through all the parts and corners of his Kingdom for his Life and not onely for his Life but his Honour and not onely for his Life and Honour but his Conscience and yet must never draw his Sword or seek to defend himself or have any body else to do it for him Or how have all the Kings Princes and Magistrates of the world hitherto governed and defended themselves and their people or shall ever be able to give an account of the people committed to their charge if they may not be at liberty to make a legal use of the sword power and reason God hath given them Or how can those State-riddles like those of Sphinx only made to destroy men with all that they fought for the King and Parliament as is alledged in many of their Orders and Declarations and that the War was a Rebellion raised against the King and Parliament as is expressed in the Ordinance of Parliament for association of the Counties of Pembroke Cardigan and Carmarthen be ever understood by any rules of sence or reason if he were on the offensive part of the War and had begun it against them But if any shall be so in love with the sense of the House of Commons as to be out of their owne senses and thinke that though there be no manner of evidence or proof to be had for love or money that the Parliament were constrained to defend themselves by a War yet the Kings admitting of the Preamble of the Parliaments Propositions presented to him at the Isle of Wight that the Parliament was necessitated to take up Arms in their just and lawfull defence makeâ— him who must needs be best acquainted with his own actions to be so clearly guilty of all the blood hath been shed in these Wars as it puts to silence all that can be now alledged or said in his behalf They that made the Preamble and placed it in limine and threshold of the Treaty on purpose to catch and insnare him for either he must have denied it at the very beginning and entrance into the Treaty and leave hiâ— Kingdomes and People to wallow in the blood and misery their Parliament Idols had brought them to and have all the blame laid upon him for hindring a Peace he had so much longed and laboured for or put himself and all his Loyal Subjects that helped to defend him under the burden of those Sins and Shames the Parliament themselves had all the right to can tell their undone and deluded Proselytes how much the King stuck at it how unwilling he was to break off the Treaty and was unwilling to wrong his own Innocency and that when the Parliament Commissioners had not any thing either in Law or Truth or Reason or Argument to perswade him to yield unto it but laid it onely as a case of necessity before him though there was no such preamble at the Treaties of Oxford and Uxbridge nor any such necessity at those times insisted upon that unlesse he would take the guilt upon himself his too Houses of Parliament and the people had engaged with them must necessarily bee guilty of Treason and could not have any security from the guilt and punishment The King be â—â—aning himself and People that must be thus shut out from any hopes of peace intreated some expedient or medium might be found out to reconcile the difference But Cains sins being greater then could bee forgiven him unless Abel can be brought to say he killed Cain they that could afterward find an expedient for 21 of their great Council of State that refused to subscribe to the lawfulnesse of murdering the King after it was done could finde none at all for the King to purchase a peace for the People though many kinds of ways and expedients as allowing him to make the like preamble to his own Proposition or the like might have been easily contrived and thought upon For the truth was the Independent party desired no Peace at all and the Presbyterians desired it onely to get into their hands the Kings Power and Authority and lay the guilt of all the blood they had shed for it upon him and both of them were so well content to have him allow of the preamble as the latter thought himself safe and out of controversie if the King took the blood upon him and the former that it would prove no small
miseries of a civil War but all endeavours proved in effectuall for the French King persisted in his resolutions not to give way to the banishment of the Cardinal hereupon the Duke of Lorraine was sent for with his Army to come and joyn with the Princes the Duke having been tampered with by the contrary party and having advantageous termes desisted hereupon aâ— generall report was spread that his Majesty of England had drawn over the Duke to the Kings party because they were often together this coming to the peoples ears so incensed them not onely against the Duke for his perfidiousness But also against his Majesty and the Queen his mother the fury of the people increased so much that the King was forced for his own preservation to retire from the Louver to St Jermans the Queen his mother received many affronts as she passedin her Coach from the Louver to the Nunnery at Chaliot where she kept her Refidence his Majesty now treateth with Lorraine for the recovery of his kingdom of Ireland out of the hand of the English Republick to this end several Articles are agreed unto by the Lord Taffe agent for the King and the Duke amongst other things it was concluded that the Duke should be vested with the power and title of Protector Royall of Ireland But the Duke having not strength enough for this great enterprise this businesse takes no effect his Majesty having stayed at Saint Jermans till the heat of the popular fury was over returned again to the Louvre During his abode there his ilustrious Brother the Duke of Glocester who for a long time had bin under the custody of the English Juncto and at length dismissed and sent into Holland to his sister was from thence attended into France by Sir Marmaduke Langdale and Sir Richard Grenvile and he was honorably received at Paris by the French King Queen-Mother and the rest of the Grandee during his Majesties abode here arrived Mrs. Jane Lane who had so miraculously preserved the King after the fight at Worcester he being exceedingly glad to hear this news immediately sends some persons of quality with Coaches to conduct her to Paris where being come they rejoyce in each others presence let us now a little cast our eyes into England where Cromwell and the Council at White-Hall having usurped the Regall authority carry all by force before them about the latter end of February several persons of quality are carried to the Tower for being Loyal to his Majesty but because nothing of moment could be proved against them they are set at liberty Cromwell being desirous to strengthen himself in the Tyrannical Reigning over his Majesties subjects bethinks himself of making peace with forein States and Princes to that end presently patches up a very disadvantageous peace with the Dutch presently after concludes a peace also with Christina Queen of Sweden a a little before the resignation of her Crown to her Couzen Carolus Gustavus In May following several persons are charged with high Treason for endeavouring to take away the Protectors life seize upon the Tower and proclaim his Majesty King of Great Brittain a High Court of Justice is erected Col. Gerard Peter Vowel School-master and Somerset Fox are condemned to die the last is reprieved for his ample confessions Col. Gerrard was beheaded at Tower hill and Vowel hanged at Charing-Cross on the same day Don Pantalaon Sa Brother to the Portugal Ambassadour was beheaded for engaging in a quarrel on the New Exchange where one Mr. Greneway was slain His Sacred Majesty having now remained in the Court of France about two or three years sometimes being lifted up high with hopes of regaining his three kingdoms other times being cast down with fears sollicitates the States of Holland again to own his Royall interest but they having made a peace with Oliver onely complement him with a letter full of civility and now that which troubled his Majesty most was this the French Court notwithstanding all means used to the contrary by the King of England his mother and other friends prepare to send over an Ambassadour into England hereupon his sacred yet still suffering Majesty leaves that kingdom having taken his farewell of the King and other great ones from whom he received many Complements and Apologies being accompanied with his brother the Duke of York his Couzens Prince Rubert and Prince Edward Palatine to Chatilion a house belonging to the Prince of Conde where they stayed a while to confider how to dispose of themselves to th' best advantage his Majesty with Prince Rupert resolves for Germany having before sent the Lord Wilmot before Ambassadour to the Emperor to negotiate in his behalf Prince Edward took his journey to Burbone the Duke of York remaining in France till after the peace with England is concluded being Lieutenant General of the French Army the young Duke of Glooester after his Brother was gone into Germany by reason of the Queen his Mother and some others of the Catholique Religion was placed in the Colledge of the Jesuits there to have been bred up in the Romish Religion Intelligence thereof being soon brought to his Majesty he being not a little displeased soon takes order for his remove which was exactly performed Oliver according to one Article in his Government called a Parliament to meet at Westminster Sept. 3. 1654. William Lenthal master of the Roll being chosen Speaker at their first sitting they begin to question the lawfulness of the power by which they were called this highly Offended Oliver Protector and made him resolve to put a Period to their sitting so when they had sat about 5 mouths he dissolved them soon after the dissolution of the Parliament the Court was allarmed with news of a great rising in Shropshire Montgomryshire Wiltshire Nottinghamshire Northumberland and Yorkshire in the behalf of his Royal Majesty Sir Henry Littleton Sir John Packington and Major Wildman are secured and sent Prisoners to the Tower Sunday 11. March a Party about 200. enter Salisbury seize upon Horses take away Commissions from the Judges as they were going there circuit and march towards Cornwal they are met with by Captain Vnton Crook and after a sharp dispute totally routed their chief Captains were taken viz. Penruddock Jones and Grove Sir Joseph Wagstaffe made a shift to escape shortly after Penruddock and Grove were beheaded at Exon and Jones was repreived several other risings in other parts of this Kingdom but were all suppressed and now Cromwel prepares a very great Fleet but for what end none knew but some principal Commanders In the mean time the King of Spain sends over as Extraordinary Ambassador the Marquis of Leda who was here conplemented by our new Court but finding which way things went after a short stay returns to his own Country presently after his departure this great Fleet steer there course towards Hispaniola one of the fairest Islands belonging to the American Dominions of the King of Spain at