the Army which was the most powerful tho they had a strong party there also but the major part of the Adjutators carried it Amongst these Adjutators there were many ill-wishers of Cromwel looking on him as one who would always make his advantages out of the Army These observed that Cromwel resolved to prosecute his ambitious Ends through all means whatsoever and did not only dissemble but really change his way to those Ends and when he thought the Parliament would make his Fortune resign'd himself totally to them even to the disbanding of the Army before it was paid When the Presbyterians prevailed he took the Covenant When he quitted the Parliament his chief dependence was on the Army which he endeavour'd by all means to keep in Unity and if he could not bring it to his sense rather than suffer any division went over himself and carried his Friends with him into that way the Army did chuse and that faster than any in it Upon this ground when the Army was for the Parliament no man so violent as he in both When the Army became for the King against the Parliament no man drove so furiously as he and when the Army changed a third time for the Parliament and against the King he was still the Leader and if the Army shall change a fourth time to become Levellers tho he will oppose this at first as he did all other Changes no man shall out-go him in Levelling All that he seems to desire is that the Army would be constant in any way that he might not be necessitated to the playing of so many different parts he being equally indifferent to all that will afford him equal Advantages When I came to Reading I found many of the Adjutators jealous that Cromwel was not sincere for the King and desired me if I found him false to their Engagement that I would let them know it and they did not doubt to set him right either with or against his will But in all my Conferences with him I found no man in appearance so zealous for a speedy Blow as he sometimes wishing that the King was more frank and would not tie himself so strictly to narrow Maxims sometimes complaining of his Son Ireton's slowness in perfecting the Proposals and his not accommodating more to his Majesty's sense always doubting that the Army would not preserve their good inclinations for the King I met with him about three days after I came to Reading as he was coming from the King then at Causum He told me that he had lately seen the tenderest sight that ever his eyes beheld which was the Interview between the King and his Children and wept plentifully at the remembrance of it saying That never man was so abused as he in his sinister opinions of the King who he thought was the uprightest and most conscientious of his three Kingdoms that they of the Independent Party as they were called had infinite Obligations to him for not consenting to the Scots Propositions at Newcastle which would have totally ruined them and which his Majesty's Interest seemed to invite him to and concluded with me by wishing that God would be pleased to look upon him according to the sincerity of his heart towards his Majesty I immediately acquainted his Majesty with this Passage who seemed not well edified with it an did believe that all proceeded out of the use Cromwel and the Army had of his Majesty without whom he thought they could do nothing and this I conceive was inculcated daily by Bampfield and Loe at first and afterwards by the Lord Lauderdale who had frequent Accesses to his Majesty from the Scots the Presbyterians and the City of London who knew there was nothing so fatal to them as a Conjunction between the King and the Army Out of all my Observations I drew these Conclusions which I prosecuted to the best of my power That his Majesty was concerned to come to a speedy issue with the Army that he might either agree with them or discover that they intended not to agree with him and in that case that his Majesty should secure his Escape and in the mean time that his Majesty should not give them the least colour of exception to his Actions that seeing the Officers were more easily fixed to his Majesty by a visible prospect of their Interest in case of a Conjunction I took the least pains with them and applied my self to Peters and the Adjutators who sway'd their Officers more than their Officers commanded them and it was more hard to satisfy them being many in point of Interest than their Officers who were few About ten days after my arrival at the Army the Contentions grew high and hot between them and the Presbyterian Party in the House which was the major part by much and the City of London the one contending to have the Parliament purged of corrupt Members and the other to have the Army removed farther from the City This caused the Army's March from Reading to Bedford and consequently his Majesty's Remove with his wonted Guard from Causum to Woborn a House of the Earl of Bedford where I procured his Majesty a sight of the Army's Proposals six or eight days before they were offer'd to him in publick His Majesty was much displeased with them in general saying that if they had a mind to close with him they would never impose so hard terms upon him I replied That I should suspect them more than I did if they had demanded less that they did not intend really to serve his Majesty but only to abuse him since it was not likely that men who had through so great Dangers and Difficulties acquir'd so great Advantages should ever sit down with less than was contained in the Proposals and on the other side never was a Crown so near lost so cheaply recover'd as his Majesty's would be if they agreed upon such terms His Majesty was of another advice and returned That they could not subsist without him and therefore he did not doubt but that he should see them very shortly be glad to condescend farther and then objected to three particular points of the Proposals The first was The Exception of seven not named from Pardon The second the excluding his Party from being eligible in the next ensuing Parliament And the third That tho there was nothing against the Church-Government establish'd yet there was nothing done to assert it To these I replied That after his Majesty and the Army were accorded it would be no impossible work to make them remit in the first point and if he could not when his Majesty was reinstated in his Throne he might easily supply seven persons beyond the Seas in such sort as to make their Banishment supportable to them To the second That the next Parliament would be necessitated to lay great burdens upon the Kingdom and it would be a happiness to the King's Party to have no Voice in them To the third
we supposed best affected to us that they were of opinion the Army should be drawn to a Rendezvouz and their endeavours used to engage them once more to adhere to the Proposals As soon as the tumultuous part of the Army had notice of it they resolved before the day of the Rendezvouz to seize the King's Person I had been now about three weeks removed from the King and about a fortnight after me Mr. Ashburnham Mr. Leg still remained with his Majesty and waited in his Bed-chamber About eight or ten days before the time appointed for the drawing together of the Army Mr. Ashburnham invited me from London and Mr. Leg from Hampton Court to dine with him on a Sunday at Ditton being the other side of the Water They were both there long before me and I a good while before dinner But just as Dinner was ready to come in they took me aside in the room and told me that his Majesty was really afraid of his Life by the tumultuous part of the Army and was resolv'd to make his escape and that they had order from his Majesty to command me in his name to wait on his Majesty in his intended Escape I replied It was a great honor and accompanied with not a little danger but withal it was new to me and therefore nothing occur'd to my thoughts at present but two things the first was that I thought it absolutely necessary that Mr. Ashburnham who kept the King's mony should immediately employ his Servant Dutton who was well acquainted with the Coast to provide three or four Ships in several Ports to be ready in all events the second that I also might receive his Majesty's commands immediately from himself To the first they seemed to concur but nothing was ever done in it which to this day amazes me The other was effected and I went the Tuesday night after to Hampton Court privately being introduced a back way by Mr. Leg. The King told me he was afraid of his Life and that he would have me assist in person in his escape I asked which way his Majesty would go his Majesty replied that both Mr. Ashburnham who was present and I should know that by Will. Leg. The Monday before Mr. Ashburnham and I went to the Head-Quarters to desire Passes to return beyond the Seas and by the way back he told me that the Scots had much tampering with the King but could come to no Agreement that they would fain have his Majesty out of the Army and to that end had much augmented his just fears and therefore ask'd me what I thought of his Majesty's coming privately to London and appearing in the House of Lords I replied Very ill because the Army were absolutely masters both of the City and Parliament and would undoubtedly seize his Majesty and if there should be but two Swords drawn in the scuffle they would accuse his Majesty of beginning a new War and proceed with him accordingly He then ask'd me what I thought of the Isle of Wight I replied better than of London tho I knew nothing of it nor who was Governor He replied that he had had some communication with the Governor of late and conceived good hopes of him but had no assurance from him I then ask'd him Why his Majesty would not make his Retreat secure by quitting the Kingdom He replied not for two Reasons the first was the Rendevouz would be a week after and his Majesty was not willing to quit the Army before that were passed because if the Superior Officers prevailed they would be able to make good their publick Engagement if they were overtopped they must apply themselves to the King for their own security The second was that the Scots were in Treaty with the King and well nigh a Conclusion which they would never come to but out of their desires to separate the King and the Army that if the King went before they would hold him to impossible Conditions and therefore his Majesty was resolved to conclude with them first In which advice Mr. Ashburnham was most positive and told me often that the World would laugh at us if we quitted the Army before we had agreed with the Scots and let them replied I so his Majesty be secure On the Wednesday as I take it we had Orders to send spare Horses to Sutton in Hampshire a place where I never had been and the Thursday after his Majesty with Will. Leg came out at the closing of the evening and immediately went towards Oatlands and so through the Forest where his Majesty was our Guide but lost our way tho he were well acquainted with it the night being excessively dark and stormy When his Majesty fat first out he discoursed long with Mr. Ashburnham and at last called me to him and complained very much of the Scots Commissioners who were the first that presented his Dangers to him and offer'd him Expedients for his escape but when he came to make use of those they had offer'd they were fullest of Objections saying that his coming into London was desperate his hiding in England chimerical and his escape to Jersey prevented because my Ship was discovered which particular my Lord Lanerick affirmed The King thereupon ask'd me if I had ever a Ship ready I answered that I neither had not could have any having not one penny of mony that I had desir'd Mr. Ashburnham earnestly to make provision but knew not what he had done in it The King then ask'd me what I thought might be the reason they should say I had one and that discovered if I had none I replied It was hard for me to affirm what was their meaning in that particular or in general in their proceeding with his Majesty but I did conjecture they were very desirous to have his Majesty out of the Army which made them present his Dangers to him so frequently as they had done and in the next place they desired that his Majesty should put himself again into their hands but wanted confidence or believ'd it would be ineffectual to move it directly to his Majesty because they had given so ill an account when he was last with them and therefore they objected against their own Expedients of coming into London and obscuring himself in England And because they could find no other against his going to Jersey they pretended that I had a Ship discovered believing perhaps that I was totally separated from his Majesty and so should not have had any occasion to contradict it and by this means his Majesty being excluded all other means of escape should have been necessitated to make use of Scotland His Majesty laid his hand upon my shoulder and said I think thou art in the right and believed it afterward more confidently than I did I then ask'd his Majesty which way he would go His Majesty replied that he hoped to be at Sutton three hours before day and that while our Horses were making ready we
MEMOIRS OF Sir John Berkley Containing an ACCOUNT Of his NEGOTIATION WITH Lieutenant General CROMWEL Commissary General IRETON And other Officers of the Army For Restoring King CHARLES the First to the Exercise of the Government of England LONDON Printed by J. Darby in Bartholomew-Close for A. Baldwin in Warwicklane MDCXCIX MEMOIRS OF Sir JOHN BERKLEY IN the Year 1647 her Majesty and his Highness the Prince of Wales were pleased to send me into Holland to condole the Death of the Prince of Orange and having performed that Office I returned with Mr. John and Mr. William Ashburnham to France by the way of Calais where we met with the News of his Majesty's being seized by one Cornet Joyce in Holmby House from whence he was carried with a Guard of 400 Horse towards the Army the Cornet producing no Authority whereby to warrant this proceeding The next Post brought us Advertisement to Calais that his Majesty was well received by the Officers and Soldiers of the Army and that there were great hopes conceived that they would both concur to establish his Majesty in his just Rights From Calais we went to Rouen where we met a Confirmation of this Intelligence and heard withal that one Sir Edward Ford who was Brother-in-law to Commissary General Ireton was sent by her Majesty and his Highness the Prince of Wales into England to discover the Intentions of the Army and to promote an Agreement between his Majesty and them From Rouen we went to St. Germains where we were no sooner arrived but we heard that Mr. Denham who during his Imprisonment had contracted a great Familiarity with Mr. Peters a Preacher and a powerful person in the Army was dispatch'd with a Commission to the like effect with that of Sir Edward Ford. As I was going up to her Majesty I met accidentally with my Lord Culpepper who scarce had saluted me before he told me that I must prepare my self immediately for another Journey her Majesty being resolved to send me into England after Sir Edward Ford and Mr. Denham I answer'd that I had no Pass nor any Acquaintance with any one of the Army and that I doubted if the King's Party should come too thick upon them at first those of the Army would be jealous they should have too many Sharers in the Places and Preferments they might perhaps meditate to procure and preserve to themselves His Lordship replied That if I were afraid to go into England her Majesty and his Highness would serve themselves of some other person because they conceived it necessary to employ some to the Army that might be supposed to have greater Trust both with the Queen in France and with the King in England than either Sir Edward Ford or Mr. Denham had I return'd That if after a serious consideration it should be judged of use to dispatch me into England I would adventure tho I had not the honour to be very well known to his Majesty and therefore could not expect any great Trust from him To that part his Lordship replied That there was an Intention to send Mr. John Ashburnham after me but that he would not go without a Pass and therefore that I should have it added to my Instructions to procure him one Within few days after I had my Dispatch and went by the way of Dieppe where I met with Mr. William Leg of the Bed-chamber to his Majesty He embarked with me for England we arriv'd at Hastings and from thence went the next day towards London Two miles on this side Tunbridg I met with Sir Allen Apsley who had been my Lieutenant-Governor of Exeter and afterwards Governor of Barnstaple in the County of Devon He told me that he was going to me from Cromwel and some other Officers of the Army with Letters and a Cypher and Instructions which were to this effect That he should desire me to remember that in some Conferences with Colonel Lambert and other Officers of the Army upon the rendring of Exeter I had taken notice of the Army 's bitter inveighing against the King's person as if he had been the worst of men and their excessive extolling the Parliament both which being without any colour of ground I had concluded that those Discourses were not out of any perswasion of mind but affected to prepare men to receive the Alteration of Government they intended the Parliament should effect by the assistance of the Army which I had said was not only a most wicked but a very difficult if not an impossible Design for a few men not of the greatest Quality to introduce a Popular Government against the King and his Party against the Presbyterians against the Nobility and Gentry against the Laws establish'd both Ecclesiastical and Civil and against the whole Genius of the Nation that had been accustomed for so many Ages to a Monarchical Government Whereas on the other side if they would but consider that those of their Party had no particular obligations to the Crown as many of the Presbyterians had and therefore ought less to despair of his Majesty's Grace and Favour that the Presbyter began this War upon specious pretences of making the King a glorious King that under that pretext they had deceived many well-meaning men and had brought great things to pass but that now the Mask was taken off and they discovered to have sought their own Advantages and at the same time the Power almost wrested out of their hands to do themselves much good or others hurt and that by the Independent Party who could establish themselves no way under Heaven so justly and prudently as by making good what the Presbyterians had only pretended that is restoring King and People to their just and antient Rights which would so ingratiate them with both that they would voluntarily invest them with as much Trust and Power as Subjects are capable of Whereas if they grasped more it would be with the general hatred and their own destruction To this Discourse of mine they only gave a Hearing but no Consent as proceeding from an Interest much divided from theirs but since they have found by experience all or the most part to be so reasonable that they were resolved to put it in practice as I might perceive by what had already pass'd they desired for the present nothing of me but that I would present them humbly to the Queen and Prince and be Suitor to them in their Names not to condemn them absolutely but to suspend their Opinions of them and their Pretensions towards his Majesty and judg them rather by their future Behaviour of the innocence whereof they had already given some Testimonies to the World and would do more and more daily When I should have done this Office they desired I would come over into England and become an Eye-witness of their Proceedings I thought this Rencounter no ill Omen to my future Proceedings Sir Allen Apsley told me I should have to do with subtil men
that govern'd themselves by other Maxims than the rest of the World I remember I answer'd that the Caution was good and that I would arm my self the best I could but that it was hard to secure our selves from malicious men when we were absolutely in their power I took the best Information I could from Sir Allen Apsley and resolved with him to go into London before I went to the King or the Army that I might be enlighten'd by the most able men of our Party which I did and collected this following Discourse from them During the time his Majesty was at Newcastle the Independent Party was so prevalent in the House of Commons that the Presbyterians were forced to consent to have the King render'd by the Scots to the Parliament and his Majesty was accordingly deliver'd by them to the English Committee and a Guard of English set upon him of the Presbyterian party and no passionate Enemies of his Majesty The Presbyterian party that was very numerous in the House of Commons and over-voted the other in most Questions had engaged themselves privately by some of their Chiefs to the Scots in two points first that the Army should be disbanded and then the King brought to his Parliament with Honour and Safety The disbanding was gone about very seriously by the Parliament and a Committee whereof the Earl of VVarwick was the chief chosen and accordingly sent to Newmarket or Saffron-walden where the Army then lay Many of the Army professed really their Obedience to the Parliament as to the disbanding but none more solemnly than Cromwel who made great Execrations against himself in the House if he did not desire it cordially He had always professed great Submission to the Parliament who had very liberally rewarded him for his Service and was hopeful to have begotten so great a confidence in them that they would have been contented to entertain the Army as their Pretorian Band and therefore was very sorry to see the House bent to license them but durst not appear against it because he had many Ill-willers in the Army and did believe they durst not or would not unanimously oppose the Parliament in that particular and therefore refused to go to the Army tho he was sent for often by the mutinous Party who upon that score were not a little offended with him and at length their Discontents increasing seeing themselves deserted by their Superior Officers thought of some means to secure themselves from their Ungrateful Parliament which they began now perfectly to hate and thereupon chose to themselves Adjutators in every Regiment and in every Troop of Horse by whom they engaged themselves to be absolutely concluded The first Resolution these new-elected Officers took was not to disband and the next to seize the King's Person Cromwel staid very long in London for one that had been the Author of that Design however he at last stole out of Town and joined with the Mutineers but did not so readily concur in the seizing the King's Person or at least pretended not to do it For he sent his Kinsman VVhalley with Orders to use all means but Force to cause his Majesty to return to Holmby but his Majesty absolutely refusing VVhalley marched with his Majesty towards the Army This Account I had from the most discerning of my Acquaintance in London from whence I went to the Head-Quarters at Reading with intention after I had deliver'd my Message to desire leave to wait on his Majesty at Causum I was no sooner arriv'd at Reading but I spoke with Sir Edward Ford and Mr. John Denham Both of them were much of the same Advice with those I had discoursed at London concerning the present Power of the Adjutators by whom the most important Affairs of the Kingdom and Army were transacted By them I learnt that His Majesty came very unwillingly from Holmby that his Majesty would not go to the Army tho he were earnestly invited by the Officers that his Majesty against the Consent of the Army concurr'd with the Vote of the Parliament to go to Richmond where he would have been out of the Army's power and would not be perswaded out of his Resolution till the Army forced the Parliament to recal their Vote Then his Majesty would needs go to Windsor much against the sense of the Army but because they could not perswade his Majesty they forced him from thence by ill usage and that the rather because he would not be intreated to pass by the Army in his way to VVindsor In sum they doubted that his Majesty hearkned to some secret Propositions of the Presbyterians and bent all his thoughts to make an absolute Breach between the Army and the Parliament which Ireton discerned and told his Majesty plainly Sir you have an intention to be the Arbitrator between the Parliament and us and we mean to be it between your Majesty and the Parliament Two or three hours after my arrival Cromwel sent an Officer to excuse him to me that he could not wait on me till ten at night by reason he was sitting with the Committee of Parliament and should not rise till then He came then accompanied with Rainsborough and Sir Hardress VValler After general discourse I told him the sum of my Instructions from the Queen and Prince which were to assure them that her Majesty and his Highness were not partial to the Presbyterians nor any way averse to them that I should endeavor to incline his Majesty to comply with them as far as would stand with his Honor and Conscience and to dispose them to press his Majesty no farther His answer was in these words That whatever the World might judg of them they would be found no seekers of themselves farther than to have leave to live as Subjects ought to do and to preserve their Consciences that they thought no men could enjoy their Lives and Estates quietly without the King had his Rights which they had declared in general terms already to the World and would more particularly very speedily wherein they would comprise the several Interests of the Royal Presbyterian and Independent Parties as far as they were consisting with each other which I understood afterwards to be meant of the Proposals of the Army I went the next day to the General by Cromwel's direction to ask his leave to see the King which he was pleased to grant I deliver'd my Letters and Instructions to his Majesty I found that his Majesty discover'd not only to me but to every one he was pleased to converse with a total Diffidence of all the Army except Huntington and grounded it chiefly upon the Officers backwardness to treat of receiving any Favour or Advantage from his Majesty I was of his Majesty's sense that men whose hands were yet hot with the blood of his most faithful Subjects ought not entirely to be trusted but thought they ought absolutely to be well dissembled with whilst his Majesty was in their hands at least
that he might the better get out of them and to this end offered several Expedients as to suffer Peters to preach before his Majesty of which he was very ambitious and to converse with him and others of the Army with freedom and by all means to endeavour to gain the good Opinion of the most active Adjutators and the like But his Majesty concurred in none of them which made me doubt his Majesty valued my Reasons something the worse for the Author and therefore I meditated nothing so much as to procure a Pass for Mr. John Ashburnham with whom I hoped I might prevail and he with his Majesty which within few days after I did obtain and caused it to be deliver'd to his Servant About four days after my coming to the Army there came two General Officers from the Council of War to me to let me know that they had been informed that I had some wrong done me upon the Rendition of Exeter to a great value and that if I would put the Sum under my hand they would see that I should have satisfaction I gave them most hearty thanks but withal told them that I came not to them upon my own business but that of his Majesty which as soon as they should dispatch no man living would be more ready to receive and acknowledg this or any other favour from them till then it would no way become me to do it This was a Generosity which those Self-denyers thought might do well in discourse and speculation but could not understand it when brought into practice and therefore concluded that I was so great a Presbyterian that I would chuse rather to lose twelve hundred pounds which was my pretension than to offend my Lord Roberts a great Presbyterian who must have made me Reparation in which opinion they were confirmed by two Letters they had lately perused the one from Sir Marmaduke Langdale at Antwerp and the other from Sir William Fleetwood at London both affirming that to their knowledg I was an engaged Presbyterian I was altogether a stranger to them both and therefore did attribute this either to their Envy that I was admitted or Grief that they were excluded from the Employment between his Majesty and the Army However it was upon those surmises Cromwel came to expostulate the matter plainly with me and I replied to him in these words That I was as much Presbyterian as Independent that I as well as others was inclined to think the better of them because they pretended to mind the King's Restoration but bid them be assured that as soon as I should discover they were not real I and I thought all the King's Party would join with any that would but dissemble better than they and concluded that I thought nothing would separate the Crown and the King's Party Cromwel seemed not unsatisfied with this plain dealing and so left me The next day Huntington who was sent to me by the King made me acquainted with two General Officers whom I durst not name because they are obnoxious to the present Power With these I had often and free Communication and inquiring what Opinion they had of the Army in general as to a conjunction with the King they replied that they did believe it was universally desired both by the Officers and Adjutators that if Cromwel was not real in it he was a great Dissembler and so was Ireton that for the present the whole Army was so bent upon it that they durst not be otherwise that if they should ever happen to change they should easily discover it and because they had been in great part the Cause that Sir Allen Apsley was sent to me they thought themselves obliged to give me all the light they could of things and persons which to the last they performed in my opinion most sincerely I let them know at our first meeting that I doubted there would be three great Difficulties which would obstruct the Agreement First they would expect that the King should not only give them Liberty of Conscience but alter the Establish'd Ecclesiastical Government which his Majesty was perswaded he could not in conscience do The second that they would not be contented to separate some few men from the Court and from bearing great Offices unless they and their Posterity were ruined and that by the King's Act which his Majesty could not in Honor permit And thirdly that they would not be contented with a security of the Militia during his Majesties life and his Majesty could not grant it farther but infinitely to the prejudice of his Posterity They assured me that his Majesty would be press'd in none of these particulars and that there was a draught of Proposals which Ireton had drawn and which would certainly be voted by the whole Army wherein there was nothing tending to any such purpose and if his Majesty would consent to them there would be an end of all difficulties and they thought the sooner his Majesty did it would be the better because there was no certainty in the temper of the Army which they had observed to have alter'd more than once already I ask'd whether I might not have a sight of these Proposals they answer'd when I pleased I went with them to Ireton for that purpose and remained with him almost till morning He permitted me to alter two of the Articles and that in most material points and I would have done a third which was the excluding seven persons that were not named from Pardon and the admitting of our Party to sit in the next Parliament To the first he answer'd That being they had prevailed in the War if they should not in the sight of the World make some distinction between themselves and those that were worsted who always bear the blame of publick Quarrels they had so many malicious Enemies both in the Parliament and Army that they should be censured of betraying their Party and to have sought their own ends by private and indirect means To the second He confess'd that he should himself be afraid of a Parliament wherein the King's Party should have the major Vote but after the Agreement if the King's party and they could piece kindly and cordially together there would be nothing easier than to procure his Majesty satisfaction in those two particulars He concluded by conjuring me as I tender'd his Majesties good and welfare that I would endeavour to prevail with him to grant the Proposals that they might with the more confidence propound them to the Parliament and make an end of all differences Out of my Discourses and Inquiries I collected these Observations First that the Army was governed partly by a Council of War and partly by a Council of the Army or Adjutators wherein the General had but a single voice that Fairfax the General had little power in either that Cromwel and his Son Ireton with their Friends and Partisans governed the Council of War absolutely but not that of
That the Law was Security enough for the Church and it was happy that men who had fought against the Church should be reduced when they were Superiours not to speak against it His Majesty broke from me with this expression Well! I shall see them glad ' ere long to accept more equal terms I now began to long impatiently for Mr. Ashburnham as hoping he had some better Topicks for his Majesty and within few days after he arrived to his Majesty's great contentment as well as mine His Instructions referr'd to mine which we were to prosecute jointly I gave him presently all the light I had which he seemed to embrace at first but after he had discoursed more amply with his Majesty I found him so far from crossing him that he abounded in his Majesty's sense and held afterwards this discourse with me That for his part he was always bred in the best Company and therefore could not converse with such sensless Fellows as the Agitators were that if we could gain the Officers sure to the King there was no doubt but they would be able to command their own Army and therefore he was resolved to apply himself totally to them and so did and there grew immediately great familiarities between him and Whalley Captain of the Guard that waited on the King and then with Cromwel and Ireton and daily Messages between his Majesty and the Head-Quarters which Mr. Ashburnham carried and sometimes me with him tho I seldom knew the Message at least he would have me believe I did not for he chose to speak apart with Cromwel and Ireton when I was present alledging that they would not speak freely to two at once What with the pleasure of having so concurring a Second as Mr. Ashburnham and what with the encouraging Messages his Majesty had by my Lord Lauderdale and others from the Presbyterian Party and the City of London who pretended to despise the Army and to oppose them to death his Majesty seemed very much erected insomuch that when the Proposals were solemnly sent to him and his Concurrence most humbly and earnestly desired his Majesty not only to the astonishment of Ireton and the rest but even to mine entertain'd them with very tart and bitter Discourses saying sometimes that he would have no man to suffer for his sake and that he repented of nothing so much as the Bill against the Lord Strafford which tho most true was unpleasant for them to hear That he would have the Church establish'd according to Law by the Proposals They replied It was none of their work to do it that it was enough for them to wave the point and they hoped enough for his Majesty since he had waved the Government it self in Scotland His Majesty said that he hoped God had forgiven him that Sin and repeated often You cannot be without me You will fall to ruin if I do not sustain you Many of the Army that were present and wished well at least as they pretended to the Agreement look'd wishtly and with wonder upon me and Mr. Ashburnham and I as much as I durst upon his Majesty who would take no notice of it until I was forced to step to him and whisper in his ear Sir your Majesty speaks as if you had some secret strength and power that I do not know of and since your Majesty hath concealed from me I wish you had concealed it from these men too His Majesty soon recollected himself and began to sweeten his former Discourse with great power of Language and Behavior But it was now of the latest For Colonel Rainsborough who of all the Army seemed the least to wish the Accord in the middle of the Conference stole away and posted to the Army which he inflamed against the King with all the artificial malice he had As soon as the Conference ended I followed him to Bedford where the Army then lay I met with some of the Adjutators who ask'd me what his Majesty meant to entertain their Commissioners so harshly I told them that Rainsborough had delivered it amiss to them as indeed he had by adding to the truth I then desired a meeting with Ireton and the rest of the superior Officers and obtained it and there ask'd them If the King should grant the Proposals what would ensue They replied they would offer them to the Parliament But if they refused them what would they do then they replied they would not tell me I then returned that I would tell them I would lose no more time with them For if there came of Proposals but the propounding I could then propound as well as they They all replied that it was not for them to say directly what they would do against the Parliament but intimated that they did not doubt to be able to prevail with the Parliament When I appeared not fully satisfied with this Reply Rainsborough spoke out in these words If they will not agree we will make them to which the whole Company consented But we had a harder work with his Majesty who was so far from granting that he sent for Sir Thomas Gardiner Mr. Jeffry Palmer and Sir Orlando Bridgman his learned Counsel Men indeed of great Abilities and Integrity to these were added Mr. Philip Warwick Mr. Ashburnham Mr. Denham Sir Richard Ford Dr. Gough who came over with Mr. Ashburnham from France Dr. Sheldon Dr. Hammond and my self We easily answered the Proposals both in point of Law and Reason But we had to do with what was stronger than both All this while there wanted not those that mediated a better understanding between the Parliament and the Army but that not taking effect the Army advanced nearer London and lodged at Windsor and his Majesty at Stoke At this time those that were supposed best inclined to his Majesty in the Army seemed much afflicted with his Majesty's backwardness to concur with the Army in the Proposals and the rather because they conceived great hopes that within few days they should be masters of London which they doubted might alter the temper of the Army towards the King Cromwel Ireton and the rest of the superior Officers of the Army knew that London would certainly be theirs two days before they communicated it to the Army and therefore sent an Express to Mr. Ashburnham and to me that since his Majesty would not yield to the Proposals yet his Majesty should at least send a kind Letter to the Army before it were commonly known that London would submit We caused a meeting of the above-named persons at Windsor where the Letter was immediately drawn But his Majesty would not sign it till after three or four several Debates which lost one whole days time if not more Mr. Ashburnham and I went with it at last and upon the way met with Messages to hasten it But before we came to Syon the Commissioners from London were arrived and our Letter out of season for tho his Majesty was ignorant of
the success when he signed the Letter yet coming after it was known it lost both the Grace and Efficacy All that the Officers could do they did which was whilst the Army was in the Act of Thanksgiving to God for their success to propose that they should not be elevated with it but keep still to their former Engagement to his Majesty and once more solemnly vote the Proposals which was accordingly done The next day the Army marched into London and some few of the Presbyterian Party that had been most active against the Army disappeared From London the Head-Quarters came to Putney and his Majesty was lodg'd at Hampton Court Mr. Ashburnham had daily some Message or another from the King to Cromwel and Ireton who had enough to do both in the Parliament and Council of the Army the one abounding with Presbyterians the other with Levellers and both really jealous that Cromwel and Ireton had made a private Compact and Bargain with the King Lilburn printing books weekly to that effect and Sir Lewis Dives afterwards acknowledged to me that being his Fellow-prisoner he had daily endeavour'd to possess him with that opinion of which altho he were not perswaded himself yet he judged it for the King's service to divide Cromwel and the Army On the other side the Presbyterians were no less confident of their Surmises and amongst them Cromwel told me that my Lady Carlisle affirmed that I had said to her Ladiship that he was to be Earl of Essex and Captain of the King's Guards I had the honour to be well known to her Ladiship but forbore contrary to my Duty and Inclination to wait on her for fear of giving any Umbrage to the Army she being of the contrary party but having several Messages from her Ladiship by my Lady Newport and others I waited on her I was not long there but Arpin came into her Chamber who was an Adjutator and sent for as I conceived to be an Eye-witness that I was in my Lady Carlisle's Chamber tho nothing pass'd but general Discourses and I should have ly'd if I had said any thing to that purpose But these and like Discourses made great impression on the Army to which Mr. Ashburnham's secret and long Conferences contributed not a little insomuch that the Adjutators who were wont to complain that Cromwel went too slow towards the King began to suspect that he had gone too fast and left them behind him From whence there were frequent Complaints in the Council of the Army of the intimacy Mr. Ashburnham and I had in the Army that Cromwel's and Ireton's door was open to us when it was shut to them that they knew not why Malignants should have so much Countenance in the Army and Liberty with the King These Discourses both in publick and private Cromwel seemed highly to be offended with and when he could carry any thing to his Majesty's advantage amongst the Adjutators could not rest until he had made us privately partakers of it but withal he told Mr. Ashburnham and me that if he were an honest man he had said enough of the sincerity of his intentions if he were not nothing was enough and therefore conjur'd us as we tender'd his Majesty's Service not to come so frequently to his Quarters but send privately to him the suspicions of him being grown to that height that he was afraid to lie in his own Quarters But this had no operation upon Mr. Ashburnham who alledged that we must shew them the necessity of agreeing with the King from their own Disorders About three weeks after the Army had enter'd London the Scots had prevailed with the Parliament for another solemn Address to his Majesty which was performed in the old Propositions of Newcastle some Particulars in reference to the Scots only excepted The Army was very unwiliing the King should grant these Propositions of which the King advised with all the Persons above mentioned who were all of opinion that it was unsafe for his Majesty to close with the Enemies of the Army whilst he was in it and therefore followed the Advice of all the leading part of the Independent Party both in the Parliament and Army by refusing the Articles and desiring a personal Treaty whereof his Majesty thought the Proposals a better ground than the Articles tho there were something in them to which his Majesty could not consent We gave our Friends in the Army a sight of this Answer the day before it was sent with which they seemed infinitely satisfied and promised to use their utmost endeavours to procure a personal Treaty and to my understanding perform'd it for both Cromwel and Ireton with Vane and all their Friends seconded with great resolution this desire of his Majesty But contrary to their and all mens expectation they found a most general opposition and that this Message of his Majesty had confirmed the jealousy of their private Agreement with the King so that the more it was urged by Cromwel c. the more it was rejected by the rest who looked on them as their Betrayers The Suspicions were so strong in the House that they lost almost all their Friends there and the Army that lay then about Putney were no less ill satisfied for there came down shoals every day from London of the Presbyterian and Levelling Parties that fomented these Jealousies insomuch that Cromwel thought himself or pretended it not secure in his own Quarters The Adjutators now begin to change their Discourse and complained openly in their Councils both of the King and the Malignants about his Majesty One of the first they voted from him was my self They said That since his Majesty had not accepted of their Proposals they were not obliged any farther to them that they were obliged to consult their own Safety and the good of the Kingdom and to use such means towards both as they should find rational and because they met with strong opposition from Cromwel and Ireton and most of the Superior Officers and some even of the Adjutators they had many private solemn meetings in London where they humbled themselves before the Lord and sought his good pleasure and desired that he would be pleased to reveal it to his Saints which they interpret those to be who are most violent or Zealous as they call it in the work of the Lord. These found it apparent that God had on the one side hardned the King's heart and blinded his eyes in not passing the Proposals whereby they were absolved from offering them any more and on the other side the Lord had led Captivity captive and put all things under their feet and therefore they were bound to finish the Work of the Lord which was to alter the Government according to their first Design and to this end they resolved to seize the King's Person and take him out of Cromwel's hands These Proceedings struck so great a Terror into Cromwel and Ireton with others of the Officers that
same time that he shall deliver your Majesty's Concessions to them and provide instantly for your Safety About the middle of this discourse with the King Mr. Ashburnham came in and when I had ended very graciously smiling said That this Proposition was good if it were practicable which it was not for tho the Scots should agree to the Substance of all the Articles yet they and all men else would have their several senses concerning the expressions which must be satisfied or no Agreement made and therefore concluded that the Scots were to be sent for To this I replied that Mr. Ashburnham had much reason ordinarily speaking for what he objected but his Majesty's danger made this a very extraordinary Case His reasons carried it clear and Sir William Flemming or Mr. Mungo Murray for they both went and came by turns was sent to invite the Scots Commissioners to come to his Majesty The next day after his departure in the evening the King called me to him and told me I think you are a Prophet for the Scots Commissioners at London have sent an Express desiring me to do the same thing in effect you had moved but that it was now too late for they would be come away before another Express could be gone out of the Island towards them I replied that our concurrence was accidental for I had not the least Intelligence with the Scots Commissioners but when I saw there was no remedy I applied my self to what was next the best I could And God knows there was work enough for abler men than any of us were for at the same time the Scots were coming to the King there were also Commissioners sent by the Parliament to his Majesty with offers of a Treaty upon condition that his Majesty as a pledg of his future sincerity would grant four Preliminary Bills which they had brought ready drawn to his Majesty's hands The first contained the Revocation of all Proclamations and Declarations against the Parliament wherein his Majesty made himself expresly the Author of the War The Second was against the Lords that had bin lately made by his Majesty that they should have no Seat or Vote in Parliament and that his Majesty nor his Successors should make none for the future without consent of Parliament which was to take away the most unquestion'd flower of his Crown his being the sole fountain of Honor. The third was a Bill of exceptions from pardon that included almost all of his Majesty's Subjects that had any considerable Estates The fourth was an Act for the Militia which embraced ten times more power than the Crown ever executed for the two Houses raising men and money arbitrarily which was no more nor less than dethroning of the King and enslaving the People by a Law and in effect to give the King only the leave to discourse whose the Glass Windows should be Nevertheless the Title and Frontispiece of this vast Design was so modest that many well-wishing persons were induced to believe that by all means his Majesty ought to pass those Bills for many reasons but especially because his Enemies would deliver his Majesty to the World as obstinate to his own and the Kingdoms ruin if he should not accept this offer To avoid both the inconveniencies of granting or refusing I drew an Answer of the Treaty before it began that if they would needs think it expedient to require so great Hostages from his Majesty they would not be backward to give some token to his Majesty of their reality and then desired that at the same time his Majesty should pass these four Bills the Houses would pass four of his Majesty's drawing which were all most popular and such as they durst not pass nor well deny at least if they did they could with no colour of justice accuse his Majesty for not granting what was most unjust and most unpopular The first was a Bill for payment of the Army which contained their disbanding as soon as they were paid The second a period to the present Parliament The third for restoring the King Queen and Royal Family to their Revenues The fourth the settling of the Church-Government without any coercive Power and in the mean time till such a Government were agreed on the old to stand without coercive Authority I shew'd this Answer first to Mr. Leg then to Dr. Hammond and Dr. Sheldon who seemed to approve of the Expedient and desir'd Mr. Ashburnham would acquaint the King with it But I never heard any thing from his Majesty and I was resolved never to have it obtruded lest I should appear fond of my own Conceptions By his Majesty's directions an Answer was drawn that gave a full Denial which was in my judgment very well pen'd But I thought good penning did not signify much at that time and therefore made this Objection It is very possible that upon his Majesty's giving an absolute Negative the Commissioners may have Orders to enjoin the Governor to look more strictly to his Person and so his intended Escape would be prevented His Majesty replied immediately That he had thought of a Remedy which was to deliver his Answer seal'd to the Commissioners and so left us I could not hold from letting Mr. Ashburnham find my sense of this sorry Expedient by saying that the Commissioners would either open the Answer or conclude that in effect it was a Denial and proceed accordingly but all was in vain Some few days after the English Commissioners arrived and delivered their Message and desired an Answer within three or four days The next day the Lords Lowdon Lanerick Lauderdale Chiesly and others Commissioners for the Kingdom of Scotland deliver'd a Protestation to the King subscribed by them against the Message as not according with their Covenant From that time they began to treat seriously with his Majesty but would not permit that either Mr. Ashburnham or I should assist at the Treaty for which I forgive them with all my heart for it would have bin very insecure for us to have had any communication with them at that time At last they came to such a conclusion as they could get not such a one as they desired from the King but much short of it which gave an advantage to the Lord Argyle and the Clergy-Party in Scotland to oppose it as not satisfactory and by that means retarded the proceeding of Duke Hamilton and that Army four Months which was consequently the ruin of Laughern in VVales and of the Forces in Kent and Essex and of the Scots Army also which consisted of twenty four thousand men all which Forces were the result of the Treaty which appears to me if it had been sooner dispatch'd to have bin one of the most prudent Acts of his Majesty's Reign however unprosperous When the time was come that the King was to deliver his Answer his Majesty sent for the English Commissioners and before he delivered his Answer ask'd my Lord Denbigh who was