Nicholas and Sir Lewes Dives signifying That if the King would openly declare his mind and betake himself to some place of security that he might come freely to him he doubted not but he should do him some acceptable Service These Letters were intercepted by the Parliament and by them after perusal sent to the King with their Intreaties to him That he would perswade the Queen not to correspond with Digby or any other whom his Great Council had proclaimed Traytors There was a Report that the Parliament intended to Accuse the Queen of High-Treason as one that had so much power with the King to misadvise him this rumour the Parliament exused as a publick Scandal upon them which she seemed satisfied with yet provides against the danger and therefore prevails with the King to accompany her Daughter Mary Princess of Orange into Holland carrying with her all the Kings and her own Jewels together with those entailed upon the Crown intending with those and some other Assistance to raise a Party sufficient to maintain the King and his Regalities against the Parliament In the mean time Mr. Pym at a Conferrence complaining of the General Flocking of Papists into Ireland affirmed That since the Lieutenant had ordered a stop upon the Ports against all Irish Papists many of the Chief Commanders now in the head of the Rebels had been licensed to pass thither by his Majesties immediate Warrant The King was highly offended at this Speech which he signified to the House who in their Answer to his Message justifie Mr. Pym's words to be the sense of the House and That they had yet in safe Oustody the Lord Delvin Sir George Hamilton Colonel Butler Brother to the Lord Miniard now in Rebellion and one of the Lord Nettervils Sons To which the King replies That he thought Mr. Pym 's Speech was not so well grounded as it ought to have been and that the aforementioned persons had their Passes granted before he knew of the Parliaments Order of Restraint and therefore expected their Declaration for his Vindication from thut odious calumny of conniving or underhand favouring that abhorred Irish Rebellion But this His Majesties desire proved fruitless for they next moved the King to turn out Sir John Byron out of the Lieutenancy of the Tower and at their Nomination Sir John Conyers succeeded they then proceeded to name fit Persons for trust of the Militia in the several Counties and by Act of Parliament Disabled all Clergy-men from exercising Temporal Jurisdiction After which the King by a Message offers them To require by Proclamation all Statutes concerning Popish Recusants to be put in Execution That the seven Condemned Popish Priests shall be Banished and all Romish Priests within twenty days shall depart the Kingdom That he refers the consideration of Church Government and Liturgy wholly to the Houses and offers to go himself in Person against the Rebels in Ireland But the Commons were now busie about a Petition for Vindicating their Five Members wherein they desire the King to send them the Informers against the said Members or otherwise to desert their Prosecution would not suffice because the whole Parliament was concerned in the Charge And then they proceeded to settle the Militia for the defence of the Parliament Tower and City of London under the Command of Serjeant Major General Skippon who had formerly been an Experienced Souldier in the Low-Countries The King had deferred his Answer to their Petition for settling the Militia of the Counties according to their nomination till his return from Dover where he took leave of his Wife and Daughter and so returned to Greenwich from whence he sent to Hampton Court for his two Eldest Sons to come to him though contrary to the mind of the Parliament who would have disswaded him from it And now the Parliament thought fit to consider of the reducing of Ireland and ordered two Millilions and an half of those Acres to be Confiscate of Rebels Lands in Four Provinces shall be allotted to such Persons as will disburse Money for carrying on that War and several other Provisions were made for their Security which the King confirms Feb. 26. 1641 and in pursuance thereof a considerable Sum of Money was raised the People being generally free in their Contributions The King being now at Greenwich sends this Answer to the Petition about the Militia That he is willing to condescend to all the Proposals concerning the Militia of the Counties and the Persons mentioned but not of London and other Corporations whose Government in that particular he thought it neither Justice nor Policy to alter but would not consent to divest himself of the Power of the County Militia for an indefinite time but for some limited space This Answer did not satisfie so that the Breach growing daily wider the King declined these parts and the Parliament and removed to Theobalds taking with him the Prince and the D. of York About the beginning of March he receives a petition from the Parliament wherein they require the Militia more resolutely than before affirming Than in case of denial the imminent dangers would constrain them to dispose of it by Authority of Parliament desiring also that he would make his abode near London and the Parliament and continue the Prince at some of his Houses near the City for the better carrying on of Affairs and preventing the Peoples Jealousies and Fears All which being refused They presently Order That the Kingdom be put into a posture â—f Defence in such a way as was agreed upon by Parliament and a Committee to prepare a publick Declaration from these two Heads 1. The just Causes of the Fears and Jealousies given to the Parliament at the same time clearing themselves from any Jealousies conceived against himself 2. To consider of all matters arising from his Majesties Message and what was fit to be done And now began our Troubles and all the Miseries of a Civil War the Parliament every day entertaining or pretending to entertain new Jealousies and Suspicions of the Kings Actions which howsoever in complement they made shew of imputing only to his Evil Council yet obliquely had had too great a Reflection upon his Person They now proceed on a sudden to make great preparations both by Sea and Land and the Earl of Northumberland Admiral of England is commanded to rig the Kings Ships and fit them for Sea and likwise all Masters and Owners of Ships were perswaded to do the like The Beacons were repaired Sea-marks set up and extraordinary posting up and down with Pacquets all sad Prognosticks of the Calamities ensuing The King being now at Roysion March 9 the Earls of Pembrook and Holland bring him the Parliaments Declaration and read it to him wherein they represent to him some former miscarriages As the attempts to incense the late Nor hern Army against the Parliament The Scotish Troubles L. Jermins Treasons and Transportation by the Kings Warrant The Petition delivered to Captain
whereupon the Commons fell upon the memorable Petition of Right and after several of the Members had delivered their Opinions at large concerning some Clauses in it the Lords agreed that without any Addition or Preface it should be presented to the King the Substance whereof was 1. They do pray his most Excellent Majesty That no man hereafter be compelled to make or yield any Gift Loan Benevolence Tax or such like Charge without common consent by Act of Parliament and that none be called to make Answer or to take such Oath or to give Attendance or be confined or otherwise be molested or disquieted concerning the same or for Refusal thereof 2. That no Freeman be taken and imprisoned or be disseised of his Freehold of Liberty or his free Customs or be outlawed or exiled but by the lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Laws of the Land 2. That your Majesty would be pleased to remove the Souldiers and Marriners now Billeted in several Counties and that your People may not be so burdened for the time to come 4. That the late Commissions for proceeding by Martial Law may be revoked and annulled and that hereafter no Commission of like Nature may Issue forth to any Person or Persons whatsoever to be Executed least by colour of them any of your Majesties Subjects be destroyed or put to death contrary to Law and the Franchises of the Law All which we most humbly pray your most Excellent Majesty as their Rights and Liberties according to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm And that your Majesty would also vouchsafe to declare That all Awards Doings or proceedings to the prejudice of your People shall not be drawn hereafter into consequence and Example After this there came a Letter from the King to the House of Lords wherein among other things His Majesty declared it to be his Royal pleasure which God willing he would ever continue and constantly maintain That neither he nor his Privy Council should or would hereafter command to Prison or otherwise restrain the Persons of any for not lending Money nor for any Cause which in his Conscience did not concern the publick good nor would he be drawn to pretend any cause wherein his judgment was not fully satisfied This Sir Thomas Wentworth afterwards Earl of Strafford said Was a Letter of Grace but that the People were not so satisfied but by a Parliamentary way That the debate would spend much time That it was not directed to the House of Commons and that the Petition it self would rectify all mistakes When the Petition of Right was presented to the King the Answer following was quickly returned The King willeth that Right be done according to the Laws and Customs of the Realm and that the Statutes be put in due Execution that his Subjects may have no cause to complain of any wrong or Oppressions contrary to their just Rights and Liberties to the Preservation Whereof he holds himself in Conscience as well obliged as to that of his Prerogative This Answer being Read in the House of Commons was not judged Satisfactory and therefore upon their Humble Petition for a clear and satisfactory Answer to the Petition of Right His Majesty to shew how free and candid his Concessions were to his Subjects sent them this short but full Answer Soit Droit Lait come il est desire Let it be done according to your desire Which Answer was Received with the general joy and Satisfaction of both Houses and the Citizens made Bonefires and Rung Bells and his Majesty for further Satisfaction was pleased to receive into Favour Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury Bishop Williams and several others His Majesty likewise suffered the Commission of Loan and Excise to be cancelled in his presence so that all discontents of every side seemed to be banished In 1628 the Fourth year of his Majesties Reign the Parliament not being satisfied of their former disappointment about the Duke of Buckingham drew up another Remonstrance against him and likewise against Bishop Neal and Bishop Laud which they presented to the King with the Bill of Subsidies His Majesty telling them That he expected not such a Return for his favourable Answer to the petition of Right and as for the Grievances he would take time to consider of them An Information being likewise Exhibited against the Duke in the Star Chamber for divers Offences and Misdemeanors an Order was made in that Court that all proceedings thereupon should be taken off the File by the Kings express Will and Pleasure And because it had been reported by a Member of Parliament that the Duke should say at his Table Pish it matters not what the Parliament doth for without my leave and Authority they shall not be able to touch the Hair of a Dog The Duke made Protestation in the House of Lords That be never had those words so much as in his Thoughts But the King being resolved to hold up the Duke sent so brisk an Answer to their Remonstrances as provoked the Commons who had soon forgot his Majesties late Act of Grace to question his taking Tunnage and Poundage which being of too valuable consideration to be hazarded his Majesty obviated by Adjourning the Parliament to the 20th of October there being several Acts passed by them One About the Lords day Another To restrain the sending any to be Popishly bread beyond the Seas Another for Confirmation of the Subsidies granted by the Clergie and for the grant of Five Entire Subsidies upon the Temporality and divers more Much about this time Dr. Lamb who was in great Favour with the Duke of Buckingham and had been formerly twice Arraigned once for Necromancy and another time for a Rape was killed by the furious Multitude in Lothbury who hated him both for his own sake and the Dukes he being called the Dukes Devil and though he were guarded by four Constables and their Attendants yet the Rabble struk him down beat out one of his eyes and left him half dead on the Ground from whence he was called to the Poultrey Counter where he died according to his own Prediction the year before being pitied by few and loved of none The Earl of Denbigh having a while since sailed with Fifty Ships to the relief of Rochel was repelled with much loss so that despairing of Success he returned back to Plymouth whereupon another Expedition was resolved on with a more considerable Navy and the Duke of Buckingham was designed Admiral who going to Portsmouth in order to hastning of business one John Felton a Leiutenant stabbed him to the heart with a Knife which the Murtherer flying left sticking in his Body till the Duke himself dragg'd it out and immediately after died Felton was soon apprehended by the Servants and laden with Irons and being asked what inclined him to commit so horrid an Action He boldly answered He killed him for the cause of God and his Countrey He likewise fastned a Paper in the Crown of his
Archbishop Laud upon an Accusation of High Treason by the Commons was committed to the Tower And now Episcopacy it self was called in question and though the Lord Digby made a witty and weighty Speech in Defence of it and Archbishop Usher gave his Judgment for the Moderation and Emendation of it and the Liturgy not the Extirpation thereof yet the Wings of Episcopacy were shrewdly clipt for March 10 the Commons Voted That no Bishop should have any Vote in Parliament nor any Judicial power in the Star Chamber nor be concerned in any Temporal matters and that no Clergy-man should be a Justice of Peace Upon Monday March 26 1640. the Earl of Straffords Tryal began in Westminster-hall the King Queen and Prince being present and the Commons likewise being there as a Committee at the managing their Accusation the Earl of Arundel was Lord High Steward and the Earl of Lindsey Lord High Constable the Earl of Strafford though he had but short warning yet had gotten his Defence ready against the time The Accusation was managed by Mr. Pym consisting of Twenty eight Articles to most of which the Earl made Particular Replies But the Commons were resolved to prosecute him to the utmost and had therefore procured the Parliament of Ireland to prosecute him there also as guilty of High Treason which being unexpectedly produced extorted from the Earl this passionate Expression That there was a Conspiracy against him to take away his Life At which the Commons cryed out against him That standing Impeached of High Treason he durst accuse the Parliament of two Kingdoms of Conspiracy against him But besides all these certain notes were produced against him which were taken by Sir H. Vane in a close Committee of select Counsellors whom the King had chosen to consult about his second Expedition against the Scots out of which it was alledged against the Earl That he had given the King advice to borrow an Hundred thousand pound of the City of London To levy Ship-money rigorously and that his Majesty having tryed the Affections of his People was absolved and loosed from all Rules of Government and might do what power would admit and having an Army in Ireland might imploy it for the reducing of this Kingdom which he was sure could not hold out five months And London being full of the Nobility the Commission of Array was to be set on foot and all Opposers thereof to be severely dealt with To this the Earl replyed That he conceived it lawful for a Privy Counsellor to have freedom of Voting with others and as to the matter of the English Army he thought that the single Testimony of one man Secretary Vane was not of Validity in Law much less in Life and Death and that the Depositions of Secretary Vane was doubtful as appeared by several Examinations and that there were present at the Debate but eight Privy Counsellors whereof two were not to be produced and four others declared upon their Honours that they never heard him speak those words or any like them and lastly that if he had spoken them which he yet granted not that the word This Kingdom could not imply England the debate being concerning Scotland there being not the least intention of Landing the Irish Army in England and concluded his Defence with telling the Lords that he was accused as guilty of Treason for endeavouring to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Land but it seemed strange to him that it should be Treason together which was not Treason in any part and lastly desired the Lords to consider how their own Priviledges and other Ministers of State would suffer by his Condemnation The Commons must now justifie their Charge by Law to which end they produced the Salvo annexed to the Stat. of 25 Ed. 3. The words were these Because all particular Treasons could not be then defined therefore what the Parliament should declare to be Treason in time to come should be punished as Treason And so this Salvo was to be the Ground work of the Bill of Attainder This being a point of Law the Earl had Council allowed him who answered on his behalf That the Statute which they cited was but a Declarative and a Penal Law awd would no way admit of such Consequential and Inferential Constructions and that this Salvo was repealed by an Act of Parliament in the Sixth of Henry the fourth And so the Court Adjourned without prefixing any time of Meeting for the Commons proceeded to dispatch their Bill of Attainder and April 19 1641 they Voted the Earl Guilty of High Treason upon the Evidence of Secretary Vane and his Notes And upon the 25th they passed the Bill and sent to the Lords for their Concurrence to whom it seemed at first so perplext a business that the Commons were forced to send Mr. Saint John the Kings Sollicitor to confer with them about it who gave them such satisfaction that thence forward they shewed greater propensity to the Earls Condemnation In the mean time the Commons petitioned the King 1. To remove all Papists from Court. 2. For disarming of them generally throughout the Kingdom 3. For disbanding the Irish Army To which the King answered 1. They all knew what Legal Trust the Crown hath in that particular therefore he shall not need to say any thing to assure them that he shall use it so as there shall be no just cause of scandal 2. As for the second he is content it shall be done by Law And for the last he had entred into Consultation about it finding many difficulties therein and doth so wish the disbanding of all Armies as he did conjure them speedily and heartily to joyn with him in disbanding those two here Scots and English The House of Commons having finished their Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford and the King fearing the Conclusion and being willing to do some good Office to him His Majesty May 1 1641 calls both Houses together and in a Speech tells them That he had been present at the hearing of that great Cause and that in his Conscience positively he could not condemn him of High Treason and yet could not clear him of misdemeanours but hoped a way might be found out to satisfie Justice and their fears without oppressing his Conscience And so he dismissed them to their great discontent which was propagated so far that May 3. near a Thousand Citizens most of them armed with Swords Cudgels and Staves came thronging down to Westminster crying out for Justice against the Earl of Strafford especially applying themselves to the Earl of Montgomery Lord Chamberlain by whose perswasions and promises their fury was partly abated However they posted upon the Gate at Westminster a List of the Names of those who would have acquitted the Earl whom they stiled Staffordians The Parliament being Informed that some endeavours were used to raise a Disgust in the English Northern Army against their Proceedings they now enter into a National
Council great Officers and Ministers of State may be put out except such as the Parliament shall approve and that an Oath be tendered them 2. That all Affairs of State be managed by the Parliament except such matters as are transferr'd by them to the Privy Council and to be concluded by the major part of the Nobility under their hands the full number not to exceed twenty five nor to be under Fifteen If any place shall fall Void in the interval of Parliament then that the major part of the Council chuse one to be confirmed at the next Session of Parliament 3. That all great Officers of the Kingdom shall be chosen with Approbation of Parliament 4. That the Government and Education of the Kings Children be by appointment of Parliament 5. That their Marriages be treated and concluded by Parliament 6. That the Laws against Papists Priests and others be executed without Toleration or Dispensation except by Parliament 7. That no Popish Lord or Peer have Vote in Parliament and their Children be educated in the Protestant Faith 8. That Church Government be reformed as the Parliament shall advise 9. That the Militia be settled as the Parliament have ordered and that the King recall all his Declarations published against their Ordinances therein 10. That all Privy Councellors and Judges take an Oath for the maintenance of The Petition of Right and other Statutes which shall be made this Parliament 11. That all Officers placed by Parliament hold their places Quam diu bene segesserint as long as they shall act justly 12. That all Members of Parliament put out during this time be restored again 13. That the Justice of Parliament pass upon all Delinquents and that they appear or abide their censure 14. That the general Pardon pass with Exceptions as the Parliament shall advise 15. That all Forts and Castles of this Kingdom be disposed of by Parliament 16. That the King discharge all his Guards and Forces now in being and not raise any other but in case of actual Rebellion 17. That the King enter into strict Alliance with all Protestant Kingdoms and States for their Assistance to recover the Rights of his Sister and her Princely Issue to those Dignities and Dominions which belong to them 18. That the Lord Kimbolton and the Five Members be cleared by Act of Parliament 19. That no Peer hereafter to be made shall sit in Parliament without their consent These propositions were rejected by the King as inconsistent with his Regality so that now Men began to dispair of any good issue for both sides make preparations for War The King sending out his Commissions of Array and the Parliament published an Order June 10. for bringing in money or plate to maintain the Horse Horse-men and Arms for the publick peace and defence of the King and both Houses of Parliament and declared the Kings Commission to be against the Law Liberty and property of the Subject and the Actors therein to be disturbers of the peace and Betrayers of the Subjects Liberty At this time the Lord keeper Littleton having delivered the Great Seal to one Eliot whom the King sent for it durst not stay behind for fear of being questioned but went to the King to York as many of the Peers did likewise whom the King summoning together as also his Privy Council he declares and protests to them That he would not Usurp any Illegal Authority over them but is ready to maintain them against all others that would And that he would defend them from all Votes and Orders of Parliament together with the true Protestant Religion the lawful Liberty of the Subject and the just Priviledges of the Three Estates of Parliament nor will he Engage them in any War but what shall be for the necessary defence of his and their rights Whereupon they all ingaged to him their Duty and Allegiance in a most Solemn-Protestation After which the King sent Letters to Sir Rich. Gurney L. Mayor and the Aldermen and Sheriffs of London forbidding them upon peril of having their Charter questioned to levy Arms or raise Money upon pretence of a Guard to the Parliament or any other Account except only the relief of Ireland or the payment of the Scotch Subjects At this time the King publisheth a General Declaration wherein he descants upon all the Parliaments Declarations for the last 7 Months but especially the last professing that hence forward he expects they should break out into disloyal Actions declaims against their making the defence of the King to be the pretence for their raising Forces protests his own constant Resolution for the preserving of Peace Religion the Laws and Subjects Liberties and expects all his Subjects to assist him against the Traiterous Attempts of such Men as would destroy his Person Honour and Estate and bring on a Civil War engaging that whosoever shall bring to him Money Ammunition Horse or Arms shall receive Eight Pound per Cent. Consideration and have good Assurance of both Principal and Interest upon his Forrest Lands Parks and Houses After this the King by Proclamation forbids all Levies of Forces and all Contributions to such Levies without his express pleasure grounding it upon several Statutes as 7 Edw. 1. 2 Edw. 3. And then minds them of their Oath of Allegiance by which they were bound to be Faithful not to the King only as King but to his Person as King Charles contrary to the Parliaments distinction betwixt his Person and his Authority his Person at York and his Authority in Parliament and concludes with justifying his Commission of Array which were now Issued out in several Counties in England and Wales to this the Parliament reply and the King again to them which was followed by several Messages to and fro all which rather exasperated than allayed the difference and now began England to be divided as Italy once was into Guelphes and Gibbellines so they into Rovallists and Presbyterians or Cavaleers and Roundheads After this the King makes a Progress from York into the Counties of Nottingham and Lincoln and Summons the Gentlemen and Freeholders to Newark he Caresses them with the most obliging expressions imaginable And July 11 1642 His Majesty sends a Message to the Parliament to Certifie them of his Intentions to reduce Hull by force if not forthwith delivered to him which if they should do he would then admit of their future Addresses and return such Propositions as might best conduce to prevent the approaching War together with this Message he sent them likewise a Copy of the Proclamation which he had publish'd against Sir J. Hotham wherein he complains of the Affront done to his Person by Sir J. and of the Parl. justifying that Action by their Votes and Orders That Hotham having fortified the Town and drown'd the Countrey had also set out a Pinnace at Sea which had intercepted his Pacquet Boat with the Queens Letters and that the E. of Warwick contrary to the Kings Command
much the more acceptable especially since his Majesty required but the Sum which few men would deny a Friend and has a mind resolved to expose all his Earthly Fortune for Preservation of the General The Sum which His Majesty requires by these presents is which His Majesty promiseth in the Name of himself his Heirs and Successors to repay to them or their Assigns within Eighteen Months after the payment thereof to the Collector The Person whom his Majesty hath appointed is to whose hands his Majesty doth require them to send it within Twelve days after they have received this Privy Seal which together with the Collectors Acquittance shall be sufficient Warrant to the Officers of Receipt for their payment thereof at the time limited And the Collectors of the Loan were ordered to pay the Sums received into the Exchequer and to return the Names of such as went about to delay or excuse the Payment of the Sums required And now about the beginning of October the Fleet set to Sea the Lord Cecill second Son to the Earl of Exeter commanding the Land Forces and the Earl of Essex being Vice Admiral at Sea but they were surprized by so violent a Storm that the greatest part of the Navy which in all made up Fourscore Ships some being Dutch were dissipated and scattered for seven days together and an excellent Ship with an 170 Passengers in her were all cast away and lost the Design was to have furprized Cadiz in Spain to burn the Ships in the Harbour and to have taken the Spanish Plate Fleet which was daily expected from the Indies but by reason of the Plague amongst them and some other miscarriages of the Commanders the business was wholly disappointed and the Fleet returned home but four days before the Plate Fleet came Upon the Second of February was the Coronation at which the King did not pass through the City in State from the Tower as was usual but went by Water from Whitehall to Westminster for fear of the danger of a Concourse of People the Pestilence which raged the year before not being quite ceased The Bishop of Lincoln as Dean of Westminster should have performed the chief part of the Ceremony but being under displeasure Dr. Laud then Bishop of St. Davids supplied his place Divers considerable Forces had been raised both for Sea and Land for the better Discipline of whom 150 old Souldiers were sent for from the Netherlands by whose Industry they were brought into some good order against the meeting of the next Parliament which was summoned to sit Feb. 6. And being met accordingly the House of Commons chose Sir Henage Finch for their Speaker The first business they insisted upon was the rendring thanks to the King for his gracious Answer to their late Petition concerning Religion then they debated of the Publick Grievances viz. The miscarrying of the Fleet at Cadiz the evil Councellors about the King misimploying the Kings Revenue an Account of the Subsidies and three Fifteens granted in the 21 Year of King James And in the Committee of Grievances these four particulars were insisted on 1. The state of the King in the constant Revenue of the Crown and how much it had been diminished by Gifts of Lands Grants of Pensions Fruitless Embassies the Privy Purse and other ways 2. The Condition of the Subject in his Freedom about laying new impositions multiplying Monopolies Leuying of Customs without Act of Parliament and wasting the Treasure 3. The Cause of the Nations good success in former times whereby it was feared Victorious and Renowned abroad which they judged was occasioned by the Wisdom and Gravity of Counsel who ordered nothing but by publick Debate whereby there arose a readiness in the People to Assist their Soveraign in Purse and Person 4. The present Condition of the Kingdom wherein was represented the loss of its wonted Reputation through the ill success at Algier in the Palatinate in Count Manfields Expedition and at Cadiz and this was imputed to the want of such Counsels as were formerly used since for fear of not succeeding men were now afraid of venturing either there Persons or Purses There was likewise a Committe concerning Religion and the growth of Popery wherein Mr. Richard Montagues two Books before mentioned were again questioned and Articles drawn up against him charging him with several Passages for encouraging Popery and drawing his Majesties Subjects from the true Religion Established into Error and Superstition with other passages dishonourable to the late King and full of injurious and railing Language against other Persons as likewise that he endeavoured to raise Factions in the Kingdom by casting the scandalous Name of Puritan upon such of his Majesties Subjects as conformed themselves to the Doctrine of the Church of England upon which the House of Commons ordered that he should be brought to Exemplary Punishment and to have his Books burnt nor do we find that he ever made any Defence or Answer to those Articles that were brought against him It is affirmed that a while before the sitting of the Parliament Dr. Laud understanding from the D. of Buckingham that the King intended to leave Mr. Montague to a Tryal was heard to utter these words Iseem to see a Cloud arising and threatning the Church of England God in his Mercy dissipate it After this the Commons questioned several persons who were of the Council of War upon the Affairs of the Palatinate concerning the management of that business complaint was likewise made in the House of the Scotch and Irish Nobility for claiming precedency of the Peers of England of which redress was promised but a while after the Lord Martrevers Eldest Son and Heir to the Earl of Arundel Married the Daughter of the late Duke of Lenox contrary to the Kings Mind who intended her for the Lord Lorn Son and Heir of the Earl of Argile whereupon the Earl of Arundel was committed to the Tower which upon the Peers Petitioned to the King alledging That no Peer sitting in the Parliament is to be imprisoned without Order from the House of Lords unless for Felony Treason or denying to give security for the Peace Upon this there arose a Dispute which lasted for the space of two Months and then the Earl was set at Liberty In which time the House of Commons were very busie in searching the Signet Office for the Original of a Letter under the Signet written to the Mayor of York for reprieving divers Jesuites Priests and other Popish Recusants This was reported by Mr. Pim Chairman to the Committee for Religion but their proceedings therein were interrupted by a Meffage from the King sent by Sr. Richard Weston Chancellor of the Exchequer demanding a supply for the English and Irish Forces This was so highly resented that Mr. Clement Cook one of the Members openly Protested That it was better to die by a Forreign Enemy than to be destroyed at home And Dr. Turner another of the House seconded him with
granted to Five Bishops to Execute his Office After which the Bishop Published a Narrative of the Cause and Manner of his Suspension Five of those Gentlemen who were Imprisoned about the Loan had their Habeas Corpus granted and were brought to their Tryal before Sir Nicholas Hyde Lord Chief Justice where after arguing the Case between Council on both sides the L. Chief Justice concluded That since they were Committed by the Kings Authority the Court could not Free them so that they were remanded to Prison till the Order came out for a General Release The Irish Papists in hope of some Remission of the Penal Laws offered to Furnish the King at their own Charge with a standing Army of 5000 Foot and 500 Horse and a large Contribution for securing the Narrow Seas which was opposed in England by Sir John Savil and in Ireland by the Lord Primate of Armagh and divers others as tending to preserve the Papists Interests and sinking the Protestants upon which the L. Deputy moved the Primate to endeavour to prevail with the Protestants to supply the Kings Necessities which he attempted to do in a very learned Speech though not with the expected Success In 1627 being the Third Year of his Majesties Reign the Duke of Buckingham to clear his Reputation as to the Charge of Negligence in his Admiralship with much ado compleated his Naval Forces consisting of Six Thousand Horse and Foot in Ten Ships Royal and Ninety Merchant Men with which he set Sail from Portsmouth June 27 and published a Manifesto of the Kings Affection to the Reformed Churches in France and his displeasure against the last misimploying of his Ships against the Rochellers But by several Accidents this great Design miscarried with the Death of near Two Thousand common Souldiers Thirty Prisoners of Note and Fourty four Colours taken But notwithstanding this Expedition of the Isle of Rhe miscarried yet at Sea there was somewhat better Success a great French Ship was taken upon the Coasts of Holland Laden with great Guns Arms and Ammunition of all sorts to a very considerable value Sir John Pennington likewise took Thirty Four Rich French Merchantmen homeward bound which were all safely brought to England the poor remains of the Army which came from the Isle of Rhe most of them Irish and Scots and consequently rude and boisterous were quartered in the Countrey Villages which was very troublesome to the People At this time the Exchequer was very low and several late Enterprizes having miscarried the Rochellers being also now more distressed than ever the causes of these evils were gravely represented by Sir Robert Cotton to several Lords of the Councill whereupon it was resolved on by the Council that a Parliament should be called and Writs were presently Issued out A Commission likewise passed under the Great Seal for raising Moneys through the Kingdome in Nature of an Excise and the Lord Treasurer was ordered to pay Thirty Thousand Pound to Philip Burmelack a Dutch Merchant to be returned to Sir William Balfour and John Dalbier in the Low Countreys for raising a Thousand Horse which caused strange jealousies and suspicions among the People as if these German Horse were designed to inforce the payment of the Excise There was some discourse about Levying Ship money but it was declined at that time because of the Parliament approaching In the mean time a company of Jesuites were apprehended in an House at Clerkenwell which was designed for a Colledge of that Order where among other Papers a Letter was found discovering their secret Designs they had laid for imbroiling Church and State Upon the 17th of March 1627 the Parliament Assembled the Commons chusing Sin John Finch Speaker the King in a Speech tells the two Houses That the greatness of the danger was such as required a speedy Supply and that therefore they might rest assured it was the principal cause of their Meeting wherein he hoped they would shew themselves such true Patriots of the true Religion the Laws and Liberties of this State and the just defence of their Friends and Allies now in such hazard by Popish Enemies as not to deceive his Expectations which were very great though indeed somewhat nipt by Remembrance of the Distractions of the last Meeting The Lord Keeper likewise Inforc'd the Kings Speech and earnestly pressed them to consider of some speedy way for Supplying his Majesties Necessities Before the Parliament began any debate a Letter came to them Directed To the Members of the House of Commons called A Speech without Doors discovering the Grievances and Inconveniences of the State from one who had been a Member of the former Parliament The first thing taken into Consideration by the Commons was the Grievances of the Kingdom and the first thing Insisted on was the Case of those Gentlemen for refusing the Loan and who notwithstanding their Habeas Corpus were Remanded to Prison and after a long Debate between several Members who asserted the Illegality of the Loan and also their Imprisonment for refusing it the Lord Chief Justice Hyde and several other Judges were desired to declare themselves who justified their own proceedings alledging That if they had granted them Bail upon Habeas Corpus it would have reflected upon the King as if he had unjustly Imprisoned them But in conclusion it was resolved upon the Question in the House of Commons Nemine Contradicente 1. That no man ought to be restrained by the Command of the King or Privy Council without some Cause of the Commitment 2. That the Writ of Habeas Corpus ought to be granted upon Request to every Man that is restrained though by the Command of the King the Privy Council or any other 3. That if a Freeman be imprisoned by the Command of the King the Privy Council or any other and no Cause of such Commitment expressed and the same be returned upon an Habeas Corpus granted for the said Party then he ought to be delivered or Bailed Then the Parliament proceeded to draw up a Petition against Popish Recusants consisting of these particulars 1. That all Laws and Statutes against Jesuites and Popish Priests be put in power and Execution 2. That a strict course be taken for the Apprehending and Discovering of them 3. That all Popish Recusants be prohibited from coming to Court or within Ten Miles of London 4. That no place of Trust or Authority shall be committed to Popish Recusants with several other particulars to the same purpose which Petition was presented from the Lords and Commons to the King by the Lord Keeper who gave a full and satisfactory Answer to every Article after which Five Subsidies were granted to the King which gave so great satisfaction to his Majesty that he sent them Word He would deny them nothing of their Liberties which any of his Predecessors had granted A Petition was then presented against Quartering Souldiers in the Countries to which the King promised an Answer in convenient time
Son and Heir for Rape and Sodomy many unnatural and beastly Actions being proved against him whereupon he received Sentence to be Hanged but had the Favour to be Beheaded at Tower-hill This Earl was born of a very honourable Family and educated in the Protestant Religion but turned Papist to have the more liberty to commit wickedness in which he grew to so great aheight that he impudently declared in the presence of some Lords As others had their several Delights some in one thing some in another so his whole Delight was in damning Souls by enticing Men to such Acts as might surely effect it About this time Sir Giles Allington was Convented for Marrying his own Niece and was fined Twelve thousand Pound to the King and to give Twenty thousand Pound Bond never to cohabit or come in private with his Niece again and both of them to do Penance at St. Pauls Cross or St. Maries in Cambridge which they accordingly did The Protestants were very much discontented in Ireland that the Papists were discharged from paying the State Penalty of Twelve Pence a Sunday for not going to Church whereby their Number was wonderfully increased Whereupon the King recalled the Lords Justices who then governed that Kingdom and sent Viscount Wentworth afterward Earl of Strafford thither as Lord Deputy as judging that these distempers would be better composed under a single Government In the year 1633 and the 9th of his Majesties Reign the King made a Journey into Scotland attended with several of the Nobility and Persons of Quality and June 18 was solemnly Crowned King at Edenbourgh which Solemnity being finished the King calls a Parliament and passeth an Act for Ratification of the old Acts though some affirmed That the Confirmation of Episcopacy was intended thereby and therefore though in vain opposed it upon which some of those Persons became a while after principal Men among the Covenanters In this Scottish Parliament that Nation shewed then some signs of diaffection to the King by Reason of several Acts which then passed and the generality of the People who without doubt were influenced by the greater Malecontents would not suffer the Bishop of Dumblain Dean of the Kings Private Chappel there to perform Prayers twice a day after the English manner neither durst they receive the Communiou on their knees nor wear a Surplice upon Sundays and Holy days Not long before his Majesty went to Scotland being desirous if possible to have prevented that Trouble the King writ to a Scottish Lord who was intrusted with that Crown to bring it into England that he might be Crowned here but the Lord returned Answer That he durst not be so false to his Trust but if his Majesty would be pleased to accept thereof in Scotland he should find those his People ready to yield him the highest Honour but if he should long defer that Duty they might perbaps be inclined to make choice of another King A very strange and unusual Answer from a Subject to a Prince October 13 1633. The Queen was delivered of her Second Son who was Baptized James and designed Duke of York and about that time died George Abbot L. Archbishop of Canterbury and William Laud Bishop of London was Elected into his place In the Year 1634 the English Coasts were very much Infested by Pyrates and the Fishing Trade almost ingrossed by the Hollanders and his Majesty having occasion for Money to Regain his Absolute Dominion over the Brittish Seas the Design of Shipmoney was first set on foot and Attorney General Noy being consulted about it he out of some old Records finds an Ancient President of Raising a Tax upon the Nation by the Authority of the King alone for setting out a Navy in case of danger which was thereupon accordingly put in Execution and by this Tax the King raised by Writ above Twenty thousand pound a Month though not without great discontent both among the Clergy and Laiety The Discontents in Scotland began to increase and a Book was published charging the King with indirect proceedings in the last Parliament and a tendancy to the Romish Belief and to blow up these Scoth Sparks to a Flame Cardinal Richlieu sent over his Chaplain and another Gentleman to heighten their Discontents The Author of that Book was seized and found to be abbetted by the Lord Balmerino the Treacherous Son of a perfidious Father who was thereupon Arraigned by his Peers and Sentenced to Death but Pardoned by the King At this time Gregory Panzani a Priest was sen over by the Pope with a Commission of Oyer and Terminer to decide the difference between the Jesuites and Secular Priests and Insinuating himself into the Favour of the Lord Cottington and Secretary Windebank he endeavours to discover how far the King might be perswaded about giving Toleration to the Popish Religion as to allow them a Popish Bishop to reside here but nominated and limited by the King and that the Pope might send a Nuncio to the Queen but having made some agreement between the Jesuites and Priests Panzani returned to Rome and left the further transacting of Business to Seignior Con who staid in his room In the year 1635 A Noble Fleet was fitted out by the Supply of Shipmoney consisting of Forty Sail under the Earl of Lindsey to scour the Seas from Pyrates at which time the French and Hollanders had confederated against the Spaniard in Flanders both by Land and Sea but the English Fleet removed the Hollanders from before Dunkirk and the Common People inraged by the French insolencies at Land rose up against them and Assisted the Spaniard to expel them the Countrey One Robert Par of Shropshire a Man almost an Hundred and threescore years old was this year brought to London by the Earl of Arundel as a Rarity or Miracle where he dyed soon after though it is very probable he might have lived much longer if he had continued at home for his removal from his own Air change of Diet and the tediousness of so long a Journey may be supposed to have hastned his end December 23 1635. the Lady Elizabeth the Kings Second Daughter was born and to Congratulate the Queens happy delivery the Hollander sent an Ambassador with a present of an extraordinary value that is a Massy Piece of Ambergreece Two large and almost Transparent China Dishes a Clock of most excellent Workmanship which was made by Rodulphus Emperour of Germany and likewise several curious pieces of Painting Dr. William Juxon Bishop of London about this time was made Lord Treasurer in the place of the L. Weston Earl of Portland deceased And now great differences arose about Church matters chiefly occasioned by Arch Bishop Lauds strict and zealous Enjoyning of Ceremonies as placing the Communion Table at the East end of the Church upon an Ascent with Rails Altar fashion with many other things not formerly strictly insisted on and now vehemently opposed by those who were usually called Puritans and
acquainted them with a Declaration which he had procured of the King That he did discharge the Service Book Book of Canons and high Commission and likewise did annul and rescind all Acts for establishing them and did discharge the urging the Practice of the Five Articles of Perth and that all Persons whomsoever shall be liable to the Censure of Parliament General Assembly or any other Judicatories according to the Nature of the Offence That the Ancient Confelsion of Faith and Band annexed shall be subscribed and received as in K. James time That a General Assembly be holden at Glafcow Nov. 21. 1638 and a Parliament at Edenbourgh May 15. 1639 All former Offences to be pardoned and a General Fast appointed This Declaration being published the Marquess and Council subscribed the Covenanters Confession of Faith c. yet still some matter remained for a Protestation which was read by one Johnson wherein the People were exhorted to consider with whom they had to deal and exceptions were made against Bishops and their Voting in the Assembly After this they Elect Commissioners for the Assembly whom they moved to cite the Archbishops and Bishops to appear there as Guilty Persons which being refused they themselves present a Bill of Complaint against them to the Presbytery at Edenbourgh who accordingly warned them to appear at the next General Assembly At their Meeting the Bishops sent in a Protestation against their Assembly which the Covenanters would not vouchsafe to read but presumed to forbid Six Lords of the Privy Council to fit in their Assembly though nominated by the King His Majesty having notice of their proceedings as to the Bishops and other matters ordered their Assembly to be dissolved which was done accordingly Nov. 21. 1638 and the Covenanters immediately according to their usual method Issued out a Protestation against it and likewise declared 6 former Meetings which were opposite to their ways to be void and of none Effect and soon after they abolished Episcopacy and then prepared for a War as being sensible that the King would maintain the Rights of the Bishops and would likewise strictly call them to Account for their late Transactions About this time a Letter was sent by the Scots to the King of France to implore his Assistance Signed by several of the Nobility The King of England prepares an Army for Scotland with which in the year 1639 he marcheth in Person into the North but while he stayed at York some of the Scots Nobility tampered with the Eaglish telling them that the ruin of the Scots would enable the King to be more severe toward his English Subjects by which Intelligence and Correspondence it was evident that the English had no mind to Fight though their Army was much stronger than the Scots whereupon by the Mediation of some Persons a Treaty of Peace was begun and soon finished wherein it was agreed That His Majesty should publish a Declaration whereby all should be confirmed which his Commissioners had promised in his Name That a General Assembly and a Parliament be held at Edenbourgh in a short time And lastly That upon disbanding their Forces dissolving their Councils and restoring the King to his Forts and Castles c. the King was to recall his Fleet and Forces and make restitution of their Goods since the Breach The Kings Declaration was no sooner published but the Covenanters set forth another Protestation for adhereing to there Assembly at Glasco and their Covenant whereupon the King who intended to be present at their General Assembly not finding the Scots punctual in performing Articles and perceiving they would treat of some matters distasteful to him goes into England after which the Assembly sate at Edenbourgh and abolished Episcopacy the Liturgy High Commission and Book of Canons and then made several demands of the King of a various nature His Majesty understanding how things went and that the Scots levyed Taxes and prepared Arms he commanded by his Commissioner the Earl of Traquair that their Parliament should be Adjourned for some time but the Covenanters declared against this Command and sent a Remonstrance to the King and afterward Hamilton and Traquair likewise came to London where there were such proceedings as did the more exasperate the jarring parties against each other In this year 1639 a Spanish Fleet of near Seventy Sail and Twenty five thousand Men designed to be landed at Dunkirk for the relief of Flanders were set upon by the Dutch in the Downs and Eleven of them taken and sent into Holland three perished upon the Coast of France one near Dover and five were sunk in the Fight What the real intent of this Fleet was is yet uncertain for it seemed unlikely that Twenty five thousand Men should be sent only for a Recruit and the Admirals refusing to shew his Commission when required thereto by the King makes it seem yet mon suspicious The Scots Commissioners having delivered their Message return home to Edenbourgh Nov. 19. 1639. the same night that a great part of the Castle Walls fell down and the Anniversary of the King Birth day A while after the King sent the Lord Estrich and others to tepair the Walls who were resisted by the Covenanters as not judging the Lord Estrich to be a fit Governour for the Castle which Office was designed him by the King The King being hereat extreamly offended resolved since fair means would not prevail to force the Scots to reason and to that end considers how to make provisions for Men and Money and calling a secret Cabinet Council consisting only of Archbishop Laud the Earl of Strafford and Duke Hamilton who drove on his own particular interest it was concluded That for the Kings supply a Parliament must be called in England and another in Ireland but because the Debates of Parliament would take up some time it was resolved that the Lords should subscribe to lend the King money The Earl of Strafford subscribed Twenty thousand pound the Duke of Richmond as much but Hamilton pretended poverty preserving his money for other uses the rest of the Lords Judges Officers and other Dependants and many of the Gentry yea even several Popish Recusants contributed according to their ability The Scots on the other side fore-seeing the storm prepared for their own Defence making Treaties in Denmark Sweden Holland and Poland and the Jesuits who are never idle did likewise endeavour to foment the differences to which end Con the Popes Nuncio Sir Toby Matthews Read and Maxwell two Scots endeavoured to perswade the discontented People That the King designed to iuslave them to his will and pleasure Which practices of theirs were discovered by Andreas Habernsfield a Nobleman of Bohemia who declared That many of the Nobility of England and chief Favourites at Court were consenting to these Transactions and particularly the Earl and Countess of Arundel Secretary Windebank and Endymion Porter Con also performed the part of a Firebrand as all his Successors
December 3. they presented their Petition against their Prosecutors And now the Papists began to fear a Cloud for Justice Howard was to deliver up a Catalogue of all Recusants within the Liberties of Westminster to prevent which he was stabbed by one Mr. John James in Westminster hall for which he was imprisoned in the Gate-house in order to a more severe punishment But Sir Francis Windebank Secretary of State fearing to be called to Account by the Parliament for reprieving Jesuits and Priests which he knew would be produced against him if not worse matters fled privately into France December 7th the Commons Voted Ship-money with the Opinion of the Judges thereupon to be Illegal and a Charge of High Treason was ordered to be drawn up against eight of them and they resolved to begin with the Lord Keeper Finch December 11th Alderman Pennington and some hundreds of Citizens presented a Petition subscribed by 15000 Hands against Church Discipline and Ceremonies and a while after the House of Commons Voted That the Clergy in a Synod or Convocation have no power to make Canons or Laws without Parliaments and that the Canons are against the Fundamental Laws of this Realm the Kings Prerogative the Property of the Subject the Right of Parliaments and tend to Faction and Sedition In pursuance hereof a Charge was ordered to be drawn up against Arch-bishop Laud as the principal framer of those Canons and other Delinquencies which Impeachment was seconded with another from the Scotch Commissioners upon which he was committed to the Black Rod and 10 weeks after Voted Guilty of High Treason and sent to the Tower The Scots likewise prefer a charge against the Earl of Strafford then in Custody requiring Justice against them both as the great Incendiaries and Disturbers of Church and State and Sir George Ratcliff the Earls Bosom Friend had Articles also drawn against him to this purpose That he had conspired with the Earl to bring Ireland under an Arbitrary Government and to subvert the Fundamental Laws and to bring an Army from Ireland to subdue the Subjects of England That he perswaded the Earl to use Regal Power and to deprive the Subjects of their Liberties and Properties That he countenanced Papists and built Monasteries to alienate the Affections of the Irish from England That he withdrew the Subjects of Scotland from their King And lastly That to preserve himself and the Earl of Strafford he laboured to subvert the Liberties and Priviledges of Parliament in Ireland The Lord Keeper Finch was the next Person designed to be censured and notwithstanding a Speech made in his own Vindication he was Voted a Traytor upon several Accounts and among the rest for soliciting perswading and threatning the Judges to deliver their Opinions for raising Ship-money and for several ill Offices done in moving the King to Dissolve the last Parliament and causing the publishing the Kings Declaration thereupon Next day he was accused before the Lords but he foresaw the Storm and went over into Holland The Parliament having now removed their Enemies and increasing in Reputation were designing a Bill for a Triennial Parliament for promoting which Petitions came from divers places one whereof was subscribed with 800 Hands directly against Episcopacy which the King took notice of and calling both Houses together tells them Of their slowness and the charge of Two Armies in the Kingdom and that he would have them avoid two Rocks the one about the Hierachy of Bishops which he was willing to Reform but not to alter The other concerning frequent Parliaments which he liked well but not to give his Power to Sheriffs and Constables About this time one Goodman a Popish Priest condemned at the Sessions in London was reprieved by the King upon which both Houses petitioned to know who were the Instruments of it and receiving an unsatisfactory Answer they Remonstrated against the Toleration of Papists and the Popes Nuncio Rosetti and this Goodman whom they desired might be left to the Justice of the Law To this the King answers That the increase of Popery and Papists in his Dominions is extreamly against his mind and that he would use all possible means for the restraining of it As for the Popes Nuncio Rosetti he had no Commission but only to preserve Correspondence between the Queen and the Pope which was allowed her by the Articles of Marriage however he had prevailed with her to remove him and is contented to remit the particular Case of Goodman to both Houses The Scots had been now quartered in England five months during which a Cessation had been concluded at Rippon but the full Pacification was reserved for London where Commissioners sate on both Parties to hear the Demands of the Scots and to make answer thereunto After which the Scots presented the great Account of their Charges which was Five hundred fourteen thousand one hundred twenty eight pounds nine Shillings besides the loss of their Nation which was Four hundred and forty thousand pounds This Reckoning startled the English Commissioners till the Scots told them They did not give in that Account as expecting a Total Reparation of their Charges and Losses but were content to bear a part of it hoping for the rest from the Justice and Kindness of England There was some opposition made to the Demands however Moneys were raised for the present from the City of London for the Supply of both the Northern Armies as the Parliament had done once before At this time a Match was propounded between the young Prince of Orange and the Lady Mary Eldest Daughter to the King which his Majesty liked well of and communicated it to the Parliament with whom it found an unanimous and general Reception in regard of the Alliance to be thereupon concluded with the States General and likewise that he was of the same Protestant Religion with England so that the Marriage was soon concluded Presently after four Members of the Commons delivered a Message to the Lords of a Popish Design of Levying an Army of Fifteen thousand in Lancashire and Eight thousand in Ireland and that the main promoters thereof were the Earls of Strafford and Worcester In February Sir Robert Berkly one of the Judges about Ship-money was accused of High Treason and committed Prisoner to the Black Rod. In this Month the King passed that Act for a Triennial Parliament and to let them know what value he put upon this great favour his Majesty told the Two Houses That hitherto they had gone on in those things which concerned themselves and now he expected they should proceed upon what concerned him The King then likewise signed the Bill of Subsidies which gave them such universal content that Sir Edward Littleton Lord Keeper was ordered To return the Humble Thanks of Both Houses to his Majesty at Whitehall Upon which there were Bonefires and Bells ringing in and about London in the same manner as formerly upon granting the Petition of Right March 1 1640
Protestation to maintain with Life Power and Estate the True Reformed Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England against all Popery and Popish Innovations Which was ordered to be printed and published through the Kingdom May 5. The Lords acquainted the Commons That they thought it the safest course to lay by the Bill of Attainder because it brought in the King for Judge And the next day they debated the several Articles of his Impeachment and voted the Earl guilty of High Treason upon Two of them that is the 15th For Levying of moneys in Ireland by force in a Warlike manner And the 16th For Imposing an Oath upon the Subjects of Ireland The Commons had now finished a Bill For the Continuance of the Parliament which having passed the Lords was tendred to the King to be signed together with the Bill of Attainder His Majesty answered That on Monday following he would satisfie them and on the Sunday before the King spent the whole day in consulting about the Earl of Strafford with the Judges and Bishops The Judges told him That in point of Law according to the Oath made by Sir H. Vane of the Earls advice to raise Horse to awe this Nation he was guilty of Treason In the evening the Five Bishops viz. of Armagh London Durham Lincoln and Carlisle were called in to the King to satisfie his Conscience about it who all agreed That the King might shew mercy without any scruple and that he could not condemn the Earl if he did not think him Guilty This was to matter of Fact but as to matter of Law He was to rest in the Opinion of the Judges Monday May 10. The King gives Commission to several Lords to pass Two Bills one the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford The other For Continuing the Parliament during the pleasure of both Houses Which last Act was occasioned for satisfying the Scots who required Vast Sums of Money and for disbanding both the Armies whereby great Taxes were laid upon the People by Act of Parliament which could not possibly be levied in a short time and therefore there needed a present Supply from the City of London who as it was alledged would not part with their money least a Dissolution of the Parliament should happen before payment upon which Account the King was pressed to pass this Act. The same day the Bill was passed against the Earl of Strafford the King sent Sir Dudley Carlton Secretary of State to acquaint the Earl with what was done and the motives thereto whereat the Earl was greatly astonisht but the next day the King being troubled writes a Letter with his own hand to the House of Lords and sent it by the Prince of Wales telling them That whereas Justice had been satisfied in his Condemnation an intermixture of mercy would not now be unseasonable and therefore he desired them that if it might be done without any discontent to the People the Earl might be permitted to fulfil the Natural Course of his Life in close Imprisonment sequestred from all Publick Affairs provided he never attempted to make an Escape however he thought it a work of Charity to repreive him till Saturday But nothing could be obtained in favour of him but that the Lords said Their Intention was to be suitors to His Majesty to shew favour to his innocent Children and that whatever provision himself had made for them it might be confirmed Some Designs were said to have been laid for his Escape however May 12 1641 the Earl of Strafford was conveyed from the Tower by a Guard consisting of the Trained Bands Marshals men Sheriffs Officers and Warders of the Tower Before him went his Gentleman-Usher bare headed and he himself followed accompanied with the Archbishop of Armagh and others As he went along he passed by Arch-bishop Lauds Lodging and spying him at the Window he called to him for his Prayers and his Blessing but the Bishop at the sight of him was so surpriz'd that for some time he could not recollect himself and being reprehended by his Friends of an undecent Pusillanimity He Replyed That he doubted not but when that bitter Cup should come to his turn he should taste it with a most Christian Courage The Earl being come to the Scaffold upon Tower-hill addrest himself to the Arch-bishop of Armagh to this Effect That he was come to pay the laâ—â— Debt he owed to Sin with a good hope of rising agaiâ— to Righteousness That he dyed willingly forgave alâ— and submitted to Justice He professed himself guiltless as to the matter for which he dyed He wished aâ—â— prosperity to the King and People and acquitted him from the guilt of his death as having acted thereiâ— no otherwise then as constrained He advised his Adversaries to repent of their Violent Proceedings againâ—â— him and telling them that he thought it a strange waâ— to write in Blood the beginning of Reformation and Settlement of the Kingdom However he wished that hiâ— Blood might rest and not cry against them He declared He died in the Faith of the Church of England for whose happiness he prayed and concluded his Speech with intreating the Spectators to pray for him After which he kneeled down to Prayer and rising up again took his last leave of his Brother Sir George Wentworth and all his Friends sending his Love to his Wife and his Blessing to his Children with a most strict Injunction to His Onely Son Never to meddle with the Patrimony of the Church And theâ— giving the sign to the Executioner his head waâ— severed from his body at the first stroke This was the end of that Great and Able Minister of State who is reported when he heard the King had consented to the Bill of Attainder to have lift up his Eyes to Heaven and clapping his hand upon his heart to have cried out perhaps in immitation of Cardinal Woolseys Complaint Put not your Trust in Princes nor in the Sons of Men for in them is no Salvation And indeed it seemed very hard that he shou'd be made guilty of High Treason by a Bill framed on purpose without former President and to which His Majesties Consent was in a manner extorted and which he afterward bewailed with great remorse of Conscience though it is said the King was not so much convinced by any thing said to him but the chief Motive was a Letter from the Earl wherein he thus concluded Sir To set your Majesty's Conscience at Liberty I do most humbly beseech you for the Preventing of such mischiefs as may happen by your refusal to pass the Bill by this means to remove praised be God I cannot say this accursed but this Unfortunate Thing forth of the way towards that blessed Agreement which God I trust shall forever establish between You and Your Subjects My consent herein shall more acquit you to God then all the world can do beside To a willing man there is no injury
done His Character is Expressed by the King his Master in his Eikon Basilike who said He looked upon the Earl of Strafford as a Gentleman whose great Abilities might make a Prince rather afraid than ashamed to Imploy him in the greatest Affairs of State The fall of this powerful man so startled other great Officers of State that several resigned their places About the same time some discontents arose between the Parliament and the English Army in the North but a while after both Armies were disbanded The payment of Tonnage and Poundage had been much questioned since 1628 but now the King at the request of the Commons was content to relinquish his Claim to it and afterward pasied a Bill for Pole-money and two others for putting down the Star chamber and High Commission Courts which had proceeded with too much severity having so far out grown the power of the Law that they would not be limited nor guided by it July 5. A Charge was brought into the House of Commons against Dr. Wren Bishop of Ely being accused of some Treasonable Misdemeanors in his Diocess who thereupon Voted him unworthy and unfit to hold or exercise any Office or Dignity in Church or State and desired the Lords to join with them to request the King for his Removal from his service and so he was committed to the Tower and about the same time the Writs for Ship money and all the Proceedings therein were by the Kings consent adjudged void and 5. of the Judges that gave their Opinions for it were Impeached of high misdemeanors that is Bramston Trevor Weston Davenport and Crawly and Berkly another of the Judges was accused for Treason but no further prosecution was made therein August 6. Both the English and Scotch Armies were disbanded and four-days after the King went toward Scotland and was entertained with great demonstrations of Affection by that Nation and conferred several Places of Honour and Power upon divers of them confirming likewise the Treaty between the two Nations by Act of Parliament October 23 1641. A Horrid and Notorious Rebellion broke out in Ireland which was managed with such secrecy that it was not discovered till the night before it was to have been put in Execution which was in divers places carried on with such fury that Two hundred thousand English Men Women and Children were in a short space barbarously murdered by all manner of most cruel torments that their Devlish minds could invent And this was chiefly occasioned by the Instigation of the Irish Popish Priests Monks and Fryers who every where declaimed loudly against the Protestants saying That they were Hereticks and not to be suffered any longer to live amongst them That it was no more sin to kill one of them then to kill a dog and that it was a mortal and unpardonable sin to relieve or protect any of them Yea the Priests gave the Sacrament to divers of the Irish upon Condition they should spare neither Man Woman nor Child of the Protestants saying That it did them a great deal of good to wash their hands in their blood and that they were worse than Dogs and if any of them died in the Quarrel before their bodies were cold their souls should be in Heaven without ever calling in at Purgatory by the way This bloody Rebellion happened in a time wherein the Irish had all the Priviledges and Liberty they could reasonably expect and the ancient hatred which the Irish had born to the English did now seem to be forgotten Forty Years of Peace having compacted and cemented them together both by Alliances and Marriages which were all now miserably broken and destroyed The Castle of Dublin wherein were Ten thousand Arms and all other Forts and Magazines in the Kingdom were to have been surprized and all the English Protestants that would not joyn with them were to be murdered but the seizing of the Castle was happily prevented by one Owen Conally from some discourse accidentally in a Tavern with one Hugh Mac Mahon Grandson to the Great Earl of Tyrone the night before the intended Execution Upon this Discovery Mac Mahon and Lord Mac-Guire were seized by the Lord Chief Justices of Ireland and many Principal Conspirators 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 in Arms at the day appointed in all the Counties round about and poor English Protestants daily arrived there robbed and spoiled of all they had giving lamentable Relations how their Houses were seized the Towns and Villages fired and in all parts all manner of cruel Outrages and Villanies committed The Lords Justices Sir William Parsons and Sir John Burlace taking those Arms which they found in Dublin and Arming whom they could to defend themselves sent Sir Henry Spotswood to the King then in Scotland with an Account of all that happened who dispatched Sir James Stuart with Instructions to the Lords of the Privy Council in Ireland and to carry all the Money his present Stores would supply He likewise moved the Parliament of Scotland as being nearest for their assistance but they excused it because Ireland was a dependant upon the Crown of England but if the State of England would use any of their men for that service they would make Propositions in order to it At the same time likewise the King sent Post to the Parliament of England and a while after Owen O Conally the First Discoverer of the Plot came to London and brought Letters to the Earl of Leicester who was chosen Deputy but not yet gone over wherein the Lords Justices desired some Reward might be given him upon which the Parliament Voted him a Gift of 500 l. and an Annuity of 200 l. a year and at a Conference of both Houses they passed several Votes for the Relief of Ireland yet little was done till the Kings return from Scotland which was about the end of November The Irish to dishearten the English from any resistance bragged That the Queen was with their Army That the King would come amongst them also and asist them That they did but maintain his Cause against the Puritans That they had the Kings Commission for what they did shewing indeed a Patent themselves had drawn but thereto was affixed an Old Broad Seal which had been taken from an Ancient Patent out of Farnham Abby by one Plunket in the presence of many of their Lords and Priests as was afterwards attested by the Confession of several That the Scots were in the Confederacy with them And to seem to confirm this last they abstained for some time from destroying the Estates or murdering any of that Nation And on the otherside to incourage the Irish they produced pretended Letters wherein they said they were informed from England That the Parliament had passed an Act all the Irish should be compelied to the Protestant worship
needing no further Abridgment That he was willing to concur with them for removal of any Innovations in Religion by a National Synod That he had no Counsellors nor Ministers of State whom he would not at any time expose to Trial and leave to the Law but cannot agree that any others should have the choice of them but himself That he concurs with them for not altering the Forfeited Lands in Ireland but thinks it not reasonable to resolve before the Event of War be seen and doubts not of their Loyal Endeavours for the support of his Royal State In Answer to the Remonstrance the King Issues out a Declaration to his Subjects the Sum of which was That he thought he had given sufficient satisfaction to his Peoples Fears and Jealonsies concerning Religion Liberty and Civil Interests by the Bills which he had passed this Parliament desiring that misunderstandings might be removed on either side and that the bleeding Condition of Ireland might perswade them to Unity for the relief of that unhappy Kingdom Not long after happened the Insolent Tumults of the London Apprentices who in a riotous manner went to White-hall and Westminster to the great disturbance of the King who thereupon commanded the Lord Mayor and Common Council to keep a double Watch and Guard for preventing mischief and Dec. 28. the King sends a Message to the Lords That he would raise Ten thousand Voluntiers for Ireland if the Commons would undertake to pay them On New-years day a Proclamation was published against the Irish declaring Those that were in Arms with all their Adherents and Abettors to be Rebels and Traytors Two days after the King upon Information that the L. Kimbolton and Five of the House of Commons viz. Mr. Hollis Sir Authur Haslerig Mr. Pym Mr Hamden and Mr. Stroud had correspondence with the Scots and countenanced the late City Tumults He thereupon ordered their Trunks Studies and Chambers to be Sealed up and their Person Seized the former of which was done but having timely notice they went aside upon which the Commons Voted the same day That if any Persons shall Attempt to Seize the Persons or Papers of any Parliament Men such Members shall require the Aid of the Constable to secure such Persons till further Order of the House and that it is lawful for any person to Assist the said Members and that the said Members may stand upon their Guard and make resistance according to the Protestation for defence of the Priviledges of Parliament Hereupon the King charges the L. Kimbolton and the 5 Members with several Articles and Acquaints both Houses That he did intend to prosecute them for High Treason and required that their Persons might be secured And the next day the King Attended with his Guard of Pensioners and some Hundreds of Gentlemen went to the House of Commons and the Guard staying without the King with the Palsgrave entred the House at whose entrance the Speaker rises out of the Chair and the King sitting down therein Views the House round and perceives the Birds he aimed at were flown for having warning they had withdrawn into London whereupon he tells them That he came to look for those 5 Members whom he had accused of High Treason and was resolved to have them where ever he found them and expected to have them sent to him as soon as they should come to the House but would not have them think that this Act of his was any Violation of Parliament This Act of the Kings was so highly resented by the House that the next day January 5 the Commons Voted it a Breach of Priviledge and Scandals were raised in the City that he intended Violence against the House of Commons and came thither with force to Murther several Members and used threatning Speeches against the Parliament with which the City was so possessed That unusual Guards and Watches were set as if some desperate Assault were to be made upon the City and the Houses Adjourned till the Tuesday following appointing a Committee in the mean time to sit at Guild-hall to consider of the most Effectual Means for their Security And then they publish a Declaration That whosoever shall Arrest any Member of Parliament by Warrant from the King only is Guilty of the Breach of Priviledges of Parliament and likewise that all those who attended the King when he came to demand the 5 Members were Guilty of a Traiterous Design against the King and Parliament That the Proclamation for Apprehending and Imprisoning the said Members was False Scandalous and Illegal and not of Validity enough to hinder them from attending the House and that the publishing of the several Articles of High Treason was a Breach of Priviledge wherefore they intreat his Majesty to discover the Names of those Informers and Evil Councellors declaring all such Persons to be publick Enemies to the State In the mean time the Londoners came thronging to Westminster with Petitions inveighing bitterly against some of the Peers but especially the Bishops whom they affronted as they went to the House upon which they were so affrighted that Twelve Bishops absent themselves from the House of Lords drawing up a Protestation against all Laws Orders Votes Resolutions and Determinations as in themselves null and of none effect which had passed or should pass during their forced Absence desiring their Protestation might be entred by the Clerk of the House of Peers Presently after which at a Conference between both Houses it was agreed That this Protestation of the Twelve Bishops did extend to the deep intrenching upon the fundamental Priviledges and Being of Parliaments and in a short time they were accused of High Treason seized and brought on their knees at the Lords Bar Ten of them were committed to the Tower and the other two in regard of their Age to the Black Rod. The King at this time thinking himself unsafe without a Guard accepted of the offer of some Gentlemen of the Inns of Court to be a Guard to him which instead of security was by subtil men made more prejudicial to the King by taking this occasion to raise the rage and jealousie of the City against him for at midnight there were crys made â—n the Streets of London That all People should rise â—o their Defence for the King with his Papists were coming to fire the City and cut their Throats in their Beds than which though nothing were more false yet it found the effects of truth and the People by such Allarms being terrified from sleep the impressions of those night fears lay long upon their Spirits in the day and filled them almost with madness of which the King complained to the Common Council of London But the House of Commons to obviate this upon suspicion of some design upon their persons petition the King for a Guard to be commanded by the Earl of Essex of whose fidelity to the King and State no question was ever made This Petition was denied by the
Leg with the Kings own hand with the Direction signed C. R. The business of the Lord Kimbolton and the five Members The suspicious designing a Guard about his Person and under hand promoting the Irish Rebellion The ordering Sir John Pennington to land the Lord Digby beyond Sea from thence to alienate the King from his Parliament and to procure Forreign Forces for his Assistance which now said they appeared more credible by reason of his removal with the Prince and the manifold Advertisements from Rome Venice Paris and other parts certifying that the Popes Nuncio had sollicited the Kings of France and Spain to lend his Majesty 4000 Men apeice in reference to some Design against Religion and the Parliament and lastly They desire him to turn away his wicked Councellors and to rely upon his Parliament which if he would do they would sacrifice their Lives Fortunes and utmost endeavours to the Supportation of his Soveraignty After the reading of the Declaration the Lords would have perswaded the King to come near the the Parliament and to grant the Militia for a time which his Majesty refused and told them in short That their Fears and Doubts and Jealousies were such as he would take time to satisfy the whole World of but that his own doubts were not Trivial occasioned by so many Scandalous Pamphlets and Seditious Sermons divers publick Tumults hitherto uninquired into and unpunished and sometime after the King published a Declaration to the People in Answer to theirs the sum of which was That he had no evil Councellors about him but leaves such to their censure where they should find them That he desired the Judgments of Heaven might be manifested upon those who had any design against the Protestant Profession That the Scottish Troubles were buried in perpetual silence by the Act of Oblivion and passed in Parliaments of both Kingdoms That they charging him with any inclining to the Irish Rebels was a high and causless injury to his Royal Reputation That he never intended to exasperate the late Army or in any wise to use them against the Parliament That Captain Leg's Petition was brought to him subscribed by the Officers of the Army desiring that the Parliament might not be hindred from reforming the Church and State to the Model of Queen Elizabeths days and was advantageous to them And to assure Sir Jacob Ashly of his Opinion therein he writ C. R. That the Lord Digby and Mr. Jermin neither were at White-hall nor had any Warrant from him after the Restraint That he had given sufficient Answer about Kimbolton and the five Members That the care of his own safety caused him to raise a Guard at White-hall and to receive the Loyal Tender which the Gentlemen of the Inns of Court did make him of their Service And that he looked upon their Forreign Advertisements by them mentioned as meerly wild and irrational The King goes further Northward whilst the Parliament Voted the Ordinance for Defence of the Kingdom not to be prejudicial to the Oath of Allegiance but to be obeyed as the Fundamental Laws and that the Kings Commands for Lieutenancy over the several Counties were illegal and void but he coming to Huntington sends them a Message March 15. That he intends to make his Residence at York and desires them to hasten their Succours for Ireland and not upon any pretence of Order or Ordinance to which he is not a Party of the Militia or any other thing to Do or Execute against the Laws which he himself was to keep and his Subjects to obey declaring his Subjects not to be obliged to obey any Act Order or Injunction to which he hath not given consent In answer to which they resolve That the absence of the King so far from his Parliament was destructive to the Relief of Ireland and therefore all those Councellors which advised him to it are to be suspected as Favourers of that bloody Rebellion as likewise those who perswaded his Majesty to question or contradict their Votes which was a high breach of Priviledge of Parliament March 16. The King at Stamford published a Proclamation for putting the Laws in Execution against Popish Recusants and from thence he goes to York and there March 24 Repeals his Grant for passing the Bill against Tonnage and Poundage of June 22 last past commanding the payment thereof for the future according to the Act of the First of King James and so this year ended It was now the year 1642 and the 18th of his Majesties Reign when a fresh Difference arose for the Earl of Northumberland Admiral of England being indisposed the King ordered Sir John Pennington Vice Admiral to take the charge of the Summer Fleet for the Narrow Seas but the Parliament earnestly desired that it might be conferred upon the Earl of Warwick but were refused by the King to their great distaste During the Assizes at York the Gentry Ministers and Freeholders of that County presented a Petition to the King to endeavour an Agreement with the Parliament who advises them to apply themselves to the Parliament for the good of all And next day he sends a Message to the Houses That he intended to raise his Guard out of the Counties near Chester Two thousand Foot and Two hundred Horse to be supplied with Arms from the Magazine at Hull upon taking the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance That if the Parliaments Undertaking for the Irish War would not suffice to defray the Charges of raising and paying them he would pawn or sell his Land or Houses desiring them withal to quicken their Levies for Munster and Connaught as the Scots already did theirs of Ulster and offers his Person against the Rebels The Parliament having for some time mistrusted the Kings going North to be intended for seizing the Magazine at Hull endeavoured to prevent it declaring their suspicion of his design to raise an Army and therefore pray That it might be removed from thence to the Tower of London as a place of more safety and easier transport for Ireland and that the Repreive for the popish priests in Newgate may be recalled and they executed And to make all sure Sir John Hotham a Member of the House of Commons is sent down to take upon him the Government of that place who by his sudden coming thither prevented the Earl of New-castle who was designed by the King to be Governor thereof so that when the King came to Hull in Person with his Guard consisting of Lords and Gentlemen April 23. 1642 he finds the Gates shut upon him and the Bridges drawn up but from the Wall Hotham appears and upon his knees intreats his Majesty Not to command that which without the breach of his Trust he could not yeild obedience to Whereupon the King finding his entrance prevented caused Hotham instantly to be proclaimed Traytor and by Letters to the Parliament complained of that Indignity and required satisfaction but they justified him therein and sent a
safe conduct for those who were to present it for the King refused to receive any Address from those whom he accused of High Treason of whom the E. of Essex was one The King then marches from Shrewsbury toward London upon which the Parliament ordered the Forces of the Associated Counties of Essex Hartford Middlesex and London to be ready at an hours warning They likewise order that the Lands Rents and Profits of Archbishops and Bishops shall be Sequestred as likewise the Kings Fines about Wards A while after Collonel Fines and Sands were routed at Worcester by Prince Rupert while they endeavoured to take the Town from Sir John Byron who had it in possession for the King but Essex making his approach with his Army Prince Rupert and Byron quitted the Town to him then were Glocester Bristol and other places made Garrisons for the Parliament But in York-shire and Cornwall the Kings Party grew powerfull and likewise in Wales where the E. of Worcester had got together a great number of Welchmen so that the King seeing his Army increased resolved to march toward London and was gotten one dayes Journey before Essex who perceiving his Error of staying so long at Worcester hastens after him to the relief of his Masters the King disdaining to be pursued by a Subject turns back to meer him and October 23. 1642. both Parties drew into the Field between Keinton and Edghill in Warwick-shire where on both sides were slain between five and 6000. men that day but night parting them the next day both parties quit the Field the King then marches to Coventry and from thence sends a Proclamation of Pardon to the Cities of London and Westminster some Persons only excepted This Battell of Edge-hill was fought on Sunday the same day twelve Month the Irish Rebellion brake out The King then takes in Banbury the Town and Castle being surrendred without a blow and two Regiments of Foot and a Troop of Horse took Arms under him from thence the King marches to Oxford and Essex goes to London where he was received with great Honour The Parliament to recruit their Army declare That all Apprentices who will List themselves shall be free from their Masters for that time and shall afterward be received again into service By which means abundance were induced to turn Souldiers they likewise invite the Scots to come in to their assistance which the King by a Letter to the Lords of the Privy Council in Scotland endeavours to prevent but in vain At this time several of the Lords and Commons present a Petition to the King at Colebrook to desire him to appoint a place to treat in To which he answered He would expect them at his Castle of Windsor and desires them to hasten the Treaty At the same time the King hearing that Essex had drawn his Forces and Ordnance out of London toward him and that unless he gained Brainford he would be hemm'd in by the Parliaments Army who possessed most of the Towns round about him the King marches thither that night where part of Col. Hollis's Regiment that quartered there made a stout resistance till the L. Brooks's and Coll. Hamdens Regiments came in to their relief who maintained the Fight till night and then retreated out of Town which the King presently took possession of with some Prisoners Arms and Amunition 11 Colours and 15 pieces of Ordnance Essex hearing this soon came thither followed with the City Militia and Trained Bands which together made a formidable Army so that the King thought fit to march back again to Oxford This Action in a time of Treaty though not without sufficient ground was so ill resented by the Houses that they Voted to have no Accommodation Yet afterward upon consideration they again Petition him to desert his Army and return to his Parliament but with the same success as formerly At this time a Letter from one of the Kings Agents in Holland was intercepted in which he is advertis'd of considerable Forces ready to be sent over for his Service from Denmark likewise Arms are sent for ten thousand Foot and 2500 Horse with a Train of Artillery and every thing proportionable even to the Drums and Halberts In York-shire the Earl of Newcastle had a sharp rencounter at Tadcaster with the L. Fairfax and forced him to retreat The Counties of Norfolk Suffolk Essex Hartford Cambridge the Isle of Ely and the City of Norwich are authorized by Parliament to associate under the L. Gray of Wark and Winchester and Chester are gained by the Paliament Dec. 15. Collonel Goring with the Kings Standard 80 Old Commanders and store of Warlike Provision joyn with the E. of Newcastle About which time the City of London Petitioned the King and profess their grief for his distrust of their Loyalty with large Protestations of their zealous Intentions to defend him with all the Love and Duty which became good Subjects The King replies That he hath a good Opinion of many of them and could freely and willingly Pardon all except Pennington the present Maior Venn and some others and concludes with declaring his high displeasure against such as shall continue acting and assisting his Adversaries Many of them were startled with this Answer yet were revived again with what Mr. Pryn and the Parliament Committee told their Common Council of the Parliaments great Love and Affection to them and Resolution to live and dye in their Defence In the North Sir Hugh Cholmly encounters with several Partyes of the Kings Horse at Malton and Jan. 16. joyning with Sir Matthew Boynton routed a Party of 600 Horse and Foot under Col. Slingsby Sir Thomas Fairfax likewise takest Leeds with little loss on his side but 500 Royallists were made Prisoners six of them Commanders 4 Colours and much Arms and Ammunition were taken The Kings Forces next leave Wakefield and Doncaster which are presently garrisoned for the Parliament The E. of Newcastle brings his Forces to York to prepare for entertaining the Queen and Jan. 17. he proclaims the L. Fairfax and his Son Sir Thomas Traytors as the E. of Cumberland had done before which the Parliament resenting proclaimed the L. Newcastle the same The Parliament Febr. 1. make the following Prepositions to the King at Oxford which were presented by the Earls of Northumberland Salisbury Pembrook and Holland with 8. of the House of Commons To disband his Army and to return home to his Parliament To leave all Delinquents to Tryal and all Papists to be disarmed To pass an Act for Abolishing the present Church Governors and such other Bills as shall be prepared in order to a Reformation All Popish Recusants to abjure and renounce Popery All Malignant Councellors to be removed the Militia to be setled according to the Parliaments minds such Persons to be preferr'd to Great Offices and Places of Judicature as the Parliament shall name and all such Justices of Peace as have been lately turned out of Commission to be again
taken in That an Act pass to Vindicate the L. Kimbolton and the 5 Members And an Alliance be entred into with our Protestant Neighbours for Recovery of the Palatinate That a General Pardon pass with exception to the E. of Newcastle L. Digby and some others That such Members of Parliament as have been displaced be restored to Offices and Places and satisfaction made them for their Losses On the other side the King Proposed That his own Revenue Magazines Towns Ships and Forts be restored That what hath been done contrary to Law and the King Rights may be renounced and recalled That all Illegal Power claimed or acted by any Orders of Parliament be disclaimed And as the King will readily consent to the Execution of all Laws made or to be made concerning Popery and Reformation so he desires a Bill for the preserving the Book of Common-Prayer against Sectaries And that all Persons excepted against in the Treaty may be Tryed per Pares by the Equals That there be a Cessation of Arms and a Free Trade This made way for a Treaty of Peace but little was done in it till March 4. 1642. when Sir Ben. Rudyard one of the Commons told the Parliament plainly That the War would ruine all whereupon they appointed Commissioners that is the E. of Northumberland Mr. Perpoints Sir William Ermine Sir John Holland and Mr. Whitlock who were to attend the King at Oxford Feb. 23. 1642. The Queen landed at Burlington Key with Officers Ammunition and Mony from Holland from whence the E. of Montross and the Lord Ogilby conveyed her to York where she was honourably received by the Earls of Cumberland and Newcastle and there she began to form her Army In the mean time Coll. Massey advances against Capt. Bridges who kept Sudly Castle in Glocestershire with 60 Souldiers and all other things sufficient for the L. Shandois on the Kings behalf Coll. Massy offers to storm the Castle but is repulsed yet next day he possessed the Garden under the Castle and firing some hay and straw made so great a smother in the House that taking the opportunity thereof he planted his great Guns so conveniently as forced the Besieged to surrender upon Quarter leaving their Arms and ingaging to pay 500 pounds in six days for the goods in the Castle or else to lose them Yet had the Parliament no great cause of boasting of this Victory For soon after P. Rupert with 4000 Horse and Foot making shew to regain it marches to Cirencester where the strength and great part of the Magazine of the County lay and Feb. 1. he masters the Gaurd and forces his Passage into the Town which in two hours he gained taking 1100 Prisoners and 2000 Arms And next day he summons Glocester which Coll. Massey was resolved to defend and to strengthen it deserts Sudly Castle and other our Garrisons The Earl of Worcester and his son the L. Herbert had now raised an Army of near 1500 Welchmen for the King with whom he marched to the Forrest of Dean and beat Coll. Bourroughs Regiment out of a small Town call'd Coford near Monmoth from thence they march to Hingham within 2 miles of Glocester and Coll. Bret demands the Town for the King but was answered with scorn for Massey with assistance from Capt. Fines at Bristol weakned them with continual Shirmishes till Sir William Waller having taking Malmsbury came to Glocester and joyned his Forces with the other so that this Welch Army spent near five weeks without doing any Memorable Action But now Coll. Massey draws out all his Horse with 500 Foot and some Ordnance and held them play the first day the next morning the great Guns give the Alarum and both Parties engage very fiercely and the Welch were like to have routed him and taken his Ordnance at which instant Sir William Waller comes in to Masseys assistance who taking courage thereby they run furiously upon the Welchmen and drive them back to Hingham house which they began presently to batter with their Cannon whereupon the Welch found a Parley and surrender the Place and themselves Prisoners but the Officers were to receive Quarter according to their Qualities and next day Waller and Massey led their booty in Triumph to Glocester The assistance of the Scots had been formerly desired by the Parliament which notwithstanding their late Protestations not to take Arms against their Prince they now hearken to and having compleated their Army March 13. 1641. they cross the River Tyne and march Southward to imploy the E. of Newcastle The Irish Rebels about this time notwithstanding the defeats they met with at Tredagh and Dundalk were much increased in number And the the Pope a more unhappy Fisher than his pretended Predecessor St. Peter who was for saving but he for destroying men sends two Letters to them one subscribed to Owen Oneal and the other to all Archbishops Bishops Nobles and People of the Kingdom of Ireland in both which he commends those who had already appeared in the Quarrel and exhorts others to engage in the same declaring his great Joy for their late Butcheries and Massacres upon the Protestants and bestowing upon them his Fatherly Benediction and Plenary Pardon and Absolution for whatever Villanies they had committed By the Popes thus publickly declaring himself for them the Rebels grew very powerful and many who were at first afraid of being concerned now openly appeared for them insomuch that all parts of Ireland were overwhelmed by them as with an Innundation This year was remarkable for the death of Cardinal Richlieu that great Firebrand and disturber of Europe but more pertcularly these three Kingdoms of whose distractions he was both a Principal causer and Fomenter He led the way to his Master Lewis 13. who deceased soon after in the midst of his Conquests in Catalonia leaving for his successer his eldest son Lewis 14. the present French King under the Government of the Queen Dowager and Cardinal Mazarine succeeded in Richlieus stead The year 1643. and the nineteenth of his Majesties Reign began with a Treaty of Peace which was formerly agreed on but proceeded slowly till it was again revived by Sir Ben. Rudyard The Commissioners on both parties now met at Oxford and began to Treat of the Kings Propositions concerning his Revenue Magazines Forts and Ships And the Parliaments Propositions concerning the disbanding of Armies which particulars taking up more time than the King expected his Majesty April 12. 1643. sends this Message to the Parliament That as soon as he was satisfied concerning his own Revenue Magazines Ships and Forces in which he desired nothing but his Just and Legal known Rights to be restored to him and to Persons Trusted by him And as soon as the Members of both Houses should be restored to the same capacity of sitting and Voting in Parliament as they had upon January 1. 1641. excluding such whose Votes had been taken away by Bill or by New Elections or New Writts
E. of Strafford in the Grand Accusation charging him for obtruding thâ— Common Prayer Book and Canons and Constitution Ecclesiastical upon their Nation and for advising thâ— King to dissolve the last Parliament and other suâ—â— matters upon which he was first committed to thâ— black Rod and 10 weeks after Voted Guilty of Higâ— Treason and sent to the Tower where he continueâ— 4 years his Charge was endeavouring the subversiâ—â— 1. Of the Lawes 2. Of Religion 3. Of the Priviledgâ— of Parliament And after many times attending on thâ— House Jan. 4. 1644. they passed their Ordinance oâ— Parliament That he should be drawn hang'd and quartered but upon his Petition They voted him to be beheaded which he suffered Jan. 10. after Jan. 30. a Treaty was begun at Vxbridge between the King and Parliament but took no effect Basing House was relieved by the Kings Forces against which Sir William Waller had lost above 1000 men About this time the E. of Essex was cashiered ouâ— of his Command and Sir Tho. Fairfax was Voted General of the Parliaments Forces Col. Rossiter waâ— defeated by Sir Marm. Langdale and the Kings party In April 1645. Collonel Massey defeated by Prince Rupert at Ledbury and Blechington House delivered to the Parliament In May Oxford was besieged the first time and Leicester taken by the King In June Leicester regained by the Parliament Carlisle after 41 weeks siege deliver'd by Sir T. Glenham to the Scots June 14. 1645. was fought that unfortunate Battell at Naseby which proved so fatal to the King and his Cause This fight was exceeding bloody both Armies being very couragious and numerous there not being above 500 odds On the Parliaments side â—ere slain and wounded above 1000 Officers and â—rivate Souldiers but much more was the loss on 〈◊〉 the Kings side there being taken 6 Collonels 8 â—ieutenant Collonels 18 Majors 70 Captains 8 Lieuâ—â—nants 200 Enfigns and other inferior Officers 4500 â—ommon Souldiers many Women 13 of the Kings â—oushold Servants 4 Footmen 12 pieces of Ordinance â—000 Arms 48 Barrels of Powder 200 Carriages all â—heir Bag and Baggage with store of rich Pillage â—000 Horse the Kings Standard and one of his â—oaches and his Cabinet of Letters and Papers which were afterwards published so that it proved a comâ—leat Victory to the Parliamentarians In July the Kings Forces were defeated at Langâ—ort about 200 slain and 1400 Prisoners Pomfret Castle Bridgwater Scarborough and Bath deliverâ—d to the Parliament In August Sherburn Castle taâ—en by the Parliament In Sept. Bristoll surrendred â—o them and the Kings Forces worsted at Routon Heath In October Basing-House taken by Cromwell â—nd L. Digby defeated in York-shire in Decemb. Laâ—â—am House delivered by the Kings Order and Hereâ—â—rd surpriz'd by the Parliament before which â—lace the Scots in August had lost about 1000 men â—n March L. Ashly defeated near Stow. In April 1646. Ruthen Castle Exeter St. Michaâ—ls Mount Dunster Castle and Woodstock yielded Corf Castle taken by Stratagem Sir Tho. Fairfax resolves â—o march to Oxford which put the King upon thoughts of providing for his own safety and therefore April â—3 he goes out of Oxford in Disguise with Mr. Hudâ—â—… a Minister and Mr. John Ashburnham whose Serâ—ant he personated and went to the Scots Army at Newark In May Oxford was besieged and Banbury â—nd Radnor surrendred to the Parliament In June Litchfield Worcester Wallingford Castle Borstall Oxford and Farringdon and yielded to the Parliament In July Gothridge and Pendennis the like and Conway taken by Storm In August Ragland surrendred by the Marquess of Worcester In September Scilly Island and Castle taken Denbigh Castle also yielded In Novemb Gen. Fairfax marched Triumphantly into London In February the Scotch Army having first sold the King for two hundred thousand Pound marched into Scotland and the King was sent Prisoner to Holmby by the Parliament The King being now in the power of his Enemies they remove him from place to place and at length into the Isle of Wight under the Guard of Coll. Hâ—â—mond and afterwards a Treaty of Peace was there begun wherein things were so managed that his Majesties Concessions were Voted satisfactory After which the Army and some part of the Parliament driving on an Interest contrary to Peace turned all such Members out of the House of Commons as they thought would not comply with their Designs and then conveyed the King to Windsor During which time there happened several Bickerings and Ingagements between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians the Royal Party being in all places defeated especially at Maidstone Pontefract Bow Stratford Kingston and Preston where the Scotch Army received a very great Overthrow losing abundance of men And lastly at Colchester where those two gallant Gentlemen Sir Ch. Lucas and Sir George Lisle were shot to death after quarter given contrary to the Law of Arms. After this the Officers of the Army and those Members then left in the House proceeded to that height as to presume to bring the King to Tryal which because it was an unparallel'd Action it may be necestary to give a more particular Account thereof The King goes from Oxford in disguise 1646 The Illegall Tryall of King Charles the 〈◊〉 The Martyrdom of King Charles 1648 Upon the fourth of January 1648. the House of Commons being turned into a Grand Committee passed these following Votes 1. That the People under God are the Original of all just Power 2. That the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament being chosen by and representing the People have the Supream Authority of the Nation 3. That whatsoever is Enacted and Declared for Law by the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament hath the force of a Law 4. That all the People of the Nation are included thereby although the consent and concurrence of the House of Peers be not had thereunto 5. That to raise Arms against the Peoples Representative or Parliament and to make War upon them is High Treason 6. That the King himself took Arms against the Parliament and upon that account is guilty of the Blood-shed throughout the Civil War and that he ought to explate the Crime with his own Blood After this they proceeded to make a pretended Act for the Tryal of the King which they â—ntituled An Act of the Commons of England Assemâ—led in Parliament for erecting of an High Court of â—ustice for the Trying and Judging of CHARLES STUART King of England which was in the â—orm following WHereas it is notorious That Charles Stuart the now King of England not content with those many incroachments which his Predecessors had made upon the People in their Rights and Freedoms hath had a wicked design totally to subvert the ancient and fundamental Laws and Liberty of the Nation And in their place to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government with fire and sword levyed and maintained a cruel War in the Land against the Parliament and Kingdom Whereby the Countrey hath been miserably wasted
the publick Treasury exhausted Trade decayed and thousands of People murthered and infinite of other mischiefs committed For all which High and Treasonable Offences the said Charles Stuart might long since justly have been brought to exemplary and condign punishment Whereas also the Parliament well hoping that the restraint and imprisonment of his Person after it had pleased God to deliver him into their hands would have quieted the disturbers of the Kingdom did forbear to proceed judicially against him But found by sad experience that such their remissives served only to encourage him and his Complices in the Continuance of their evil practices and in raising of new Commotions Designs and Invasions For prevention therefore of the like greater inconveniencies and to the end that no Magistrate or Officer whatsoever may hereafter presume traiterously and malitiously to imagine or contrive the inslaving or destroying of the English Nation and to expect impunity in so doing Be it Ordained and Enacted by the Commons is Parliament assembled and it is hereby Ordained and enacted by the Authority thereof That Thomas L. F. O. C. c. shall be and are hereby appointed Commissioners and Judges for the Hearing Trying and Judging of the said Charles Stuart and the said Commissioners or any Twenty or more of them shall be and are hereby authorized and Constituted an High Court of Justice to meet at such convenient times and places as by the said Commissioners or the major part or twenty or more of them under their Hands and Seals shall be appointed and notified by publick Proclamation in the great Hall or Palace-yard of Westminster and adjourn from time to time and from Place to place as the said High Court or the major part thereof meeting should hold fit and to take Order for charging of him the said Charles Stuart with the Crimes above-mentioned and for the receiving his Personal Answer thereunto and for Examination of Witnesses upon Oath if need be concerning the same and thereupon or in default of such Answer to proceed to final Sentence according to Justice and the merit of the Cause and to be Executed speedily and Impartially c. Presently after this was published Proclamation was made That those who had any thing to say against the King should have a hearing given them This was proclamed first in Westminster-Hall by the Serjeant at Arms to the Commissioners Riding into the Hall with his Mace attended with six Trumpeters and other Officers who likewise rode bare into the Hall with him the Drums of the Guard beating in the mean time without in the Palace-yard And the day after Proclamation was made to the same effect in Cheapside and at the Old-Exchange And in order to this grand Tryal Hillary Term which usually begins Jan. 23. was adjourned for fourteen dayes The House of Lords refusing to concur with the Commons in their Ordinance for the Kings Tryal the Commons resolve and Vote That all Members and others appointed to Act in any Ordinance are impowered and enjoyned to Sit Act and Execute notwithstanding the House of Peers joyn not with them And now the Ministers in general and the Presbyterians likewise who had been active against the Kings Cause declare themselves both in their Pulpits and by earnest Petitions to the Parliament to be zealous abhorrers of the Kings death and every where publickly protest against this Tryal The Nobility likewise offer themselves Pledges on the Kings behalf and the People universally seem greatly troubled and astonisht Notwithstanding all which the House of Commons and the Army went desperately on and a New and Illegal Tribunal called An High Court of Justice was erected the Commissioners whereof met in the Painted Chamber to consult what course to take about the Tryal of the King Fryday Jan. 19. 1648. The King was brought with a strong Guard of Horse from Windsor to St. James's and the next day Serjeant Bradshaw President of the pretended High Court of Justice with about seventy of the Members of the said Court having Coll. Fox and sixteen Gentlemen with Partizans and a Sword born by Coll. Humphrey and a Mace by Serj. Dandy with their and other Officers of the faid Court marching before them came to the place ordered to be prepared for their sitting at the West end of the Great Hall in Westminster where the Lord President in a Crimson Velvet Chair fixed in the midst of the Court placed himself having a Desk with a Crimson Velvet Cushion before him The rest of the Members placing themselves on each side of him upon the several Seats or Benches prepared and hung with Scarlet for that purpose and the Partizans dividing themselves on each side of the Court before them The Court being thus set and silence made the great Gate of the said Hall was set open to the end That all persons without exception desirous to see or hear might come into it upon which the Hall was presently filled and Silence again ordered This done Colonel Thomlinson who had the charge of the King as a Prisoner was commanded to bring him to the Court who within a quarter of an hours space brought him attended with about twenty Officers with Partizans marching before him there being Coll. Hacker and other Gentlemen to whose care and Custody he was likewise committed marching in his Rear Being thus brought up within the face of the Court the Serjeant at Arms with his Mace receives and conducts him streight to the Bar where a Crimson Velvet Chair was set for the King After a stern looking upon the Court and the people in the Galleries on each side of him he places himself not at all moving his Hat or otherwise shewing the least respect to the Court but presently rises up again and turns about looking downwards upon the Guards placed on the left side and on the multitude of Spectators on the right side of the said great Hall After Silence made among the people the Act of Parliament for the Trying of CHARLES STVART King of England was read over by the Clerk of the Court who sate on one side of the Table covered with a rich Turkey Carpet and placed at the feet of the said Lord President upon which Table was also laid the Sword and Mace After reading the said Act the several Names of the Commissioners were called over every one who was present rising up and answering to his Call The King having again placed himself in his Chair with his face towards the Court Silence being again ordered the Lord President stood up and said President CHARLES STVART King of England The Commons of England Assembled in Parliament being deeply sensible of the Calamities that have been brought upon this Nation which is fixed upon you as the Principal Author of them have resolved to make inquisition for Blood and according to that Debt and Duty they owe to Justice to God the Kingdom and themselves and according to the Fundamental Power that rests in themselves They have
under which they must live and by which they must be governed And then Sir the Scripture says They that know their Masters Will and do it not what follows The Law is your Master the Acts of Parliaments the Parliaments were to be kept anciently we find in our Author twice in the year That the Subject upon any occasion might have a ready remedy and redresse for his Grievance Afterwards by several Acts of Parliament in the dayes of your Predecessor Edward the third they must have been once a year Sir what intermission of PARLIAMENTS hath been in your time it is very well known and the sad consequences of it and what in the interim instead of these Parliaments hath been by you by an high and Arbitrary hand introduced upon the People that likewise hath been too well known and felt But when God by his Providence had so brought it about that you could no longer decline the calling of a Parliament Sir yet it will appear what your ends were against the Ancient and your Native Kingdom of Scotland The Parliament of England not serving your ends against them you were pleased to dissolve it Another great necessity occasioned the calling of this Parliament and what your designs and plots and endeavours all along have been for the ruining and confounding of this Parliament hath been very notorious to the whole Kingdom And truly Sir in that you did strike at all that had been a sure way to have brought about that that this layes upon you Your Intention to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Land For the great bulwark of Liberty of the People is the PARLIAMENT of England and to Subvert and Root up that which your aim hath been to do certainly at one blow you had confounded the Liberties and the Propriety of England Truly Sir it makes me call to mind I cannot forbear to express it for Sir we must deal plainly with you according to the merits of your cause so is our Commission it makes me call to mind these proceedings of yours that we read of a great Roman Emperor by the way let us call him a great Roman Tyrant Caligula that wisht that the People of Rome had had but one Neck that at one blow he might cut it off and your proceedings hath been somewhat like to this for the body of the people of England hath been and where else represented but in the Parliament and could you have but confounded that you had at one blow cut off the neck of England but God hath reserved better things for us and hath pleased for to Confound your designs and to break your Forces and to bring your Person into Custodie that you might be responsible to Justice Sir we know very well That it is a question on your side very much Press'd By what president we shall proceed Truly Sir for Presidents I shall not at this present make any long discourse but it is no new thing to cite Presidents almost of all Nations where the People when power hath been in their hands have not sticked to call their Kings to account and where the change of Government hath ensued upon occasions of the Tyranny and Mis-government of those that have been placed over them I will not spend time to mention France or Spain or the Empire or other Countries Volumes may be written of them But truly Sir that of the Kingdom of Arragon I should think some of us have thought upon it where they have the Justice of Arragon that is a man tanquam in medio positus betwixt the King of Spain and the people of the Country that if wrong be done by the King he that is the King of Arragon the Justice hath power to reform the wrong and he is acknowledged to be the Kings Superiour and is the grand preserver of their priviledges and hath prosecuted Kings upon their miscarriages Sir What the Tribunes of Rome were heretofore and what the Ephori were to the Lacedaemonian State we know that is the Parliament of England to the English State and though Rome seem to have lost its liberty when once the Emperours were yet you shall find some famous Acts of Justice even done by the Senate of Rome that great Tyrant of his time Nero condemned and judged by the Senate But truly Sir to you I should not mention these Forreign examples and stories If you look but over Tweed we find enough in your native Kingdom of Scotland If we look to your first King Forgusius that your stories make mention of he was an Elective King he died and left two Sons both in their minority the Kingdom made choice of their Unkle his Brother to govern in the minority afterwards the Elder Brother giving small hopes to the People that he would rule or govern well seeking to supplant that good Unkle of his that governed them justly they set the Elder aside and took to the Younger Sir if I should come to what your stories make mention of you know very well you are the 109th King of Scotland for to mention so many Kings as that Kingdom according to their power and priviledge have made bold to deal withal some to banish and some to imprison and some to put to death it would be too long and as one of your Authors sayes it would be too long to recite the manifold examples that your own stories make mention of Reges say they we do create we created Kings at first Leges c. We imposed Lawes upon them and as they are chosen by the suffrages of the People at the first so upon just occasion by the same suffrages they may be taken down again and we will be bold to say that no Kingdom hath yielded more plentiful experience than that your Native Kingdome of Scotland hath done concerning the deposition and the punishment of their offending and transgressing Kings c. It is not far to go for an example near you your Grandmother set aside and your Father an Infant crowned and the State did it here in England here hath not been a want of some examples they have made bold the Parliament and the People of England to call their Kings to account there are frequent examples of it in the Saxons time the time before the Conquest since the Conquest there wants not some Presidents neither King Edward the second King Richard the second were dealt with so by the Parliament as they were deposed and deprived and truly Sir whoever shall look into their stories they shall not find the Articles that are charged upon them to come near to that height and capitalness of Crimes that are layed to your charge nothing near Sir you were pleased to say the other day wherein they descend and I did not contradict it but take altogether Sir if you were as the Charge speaks and no otherwise admitted K. of England but for that you were pleased then to alledge how that almost for a thousand years these things have