them with an absolute negative and there passed something then which perhaps may be fit to be inserted herein as containing that which is something extraordinary I received the relation from a noble person who was one of the Commoners then sent and this it is After having received his Majesties answer the Committy being still at Theobalds retired it self to take into consideration the terms of it that there might be no difference in reporting to the several Houses of Parliament As soon as the Committy was set the Earl of Warwick was called out to speak with his brother the Earl of Newport He went out and speedily returned with this account of the business that the Earl of Newport had acquainted him that the King was even then so pressed to give a more satisfactory answer as he was confident they should have such an answer if they would but defer their departure for a small season To this the whole company seemed to assent with much chearfulness when suddenly young Sir Henry Vain declared himself to mervail at it for said he is there any person here who can undertake to know the Parliaments mind that is whether this which we have or that which is called a more satisfactory answer will be more pleasing to the Houses For my part I cannot and if there be any that can let him speak to this no man made any answer and so having agreed upon the report to be made they departed I have related this to shew how easily one subtle ill-disposed person may overthrow a general good intention Now were the well affected party as it was then termed stirred up in all parts to give incouragement to the House of Commons in the way of pretended Reformation by petitions whereof some were delivered dayly at the bar and the deliverers had thanks given by the Speaker which was a thing altogether new And as a general return to these and to keep the people in perfect heat it was resolved that a general and publick declaration of the State of the kingdom should be made to the Nation In time of former Princes the House of Commons had some times but very rarely made remonstrances of that nature to the King which were never pleasing to him yet not justly to be excepted against because it is exprest in the writs of Summons that they are to advise his Majesty but for any advising or treating with the people it was always held illegal and of mischievous consequence Upon these grounds the declaration being brought into the House caused a very long debate but was at last passed with the dissent of very many of the most considerable Members Our Nation being in such disorder the rebellion broke out in Ireland and the Lords of the Council being yet in London imparted their new received intelligence to the House of Commons who seemed chearfully to embrace the business of reducing that Kingdom to obedience and thereupon endeavoured the raising of a stock of money by adventure upon security of the living Bears-skin which was the Estates of such persons as were in Rebellion Upon this the King made offer of going in person to suppress the rebellion if he might be supplied with money and other necessaries for the work which offer was so far from being hearkned unto at Westminster as it created new jealousie But the Parliament made good use of the Irish business for by that means they listed Officers and made full enquiry concerning their inclinations which succeeded happily with them afterwards Every day produced new differences between the King and Parliament for that unsatiable Monster of publick security caused the making of a proposition to his Majesty which was that the Parliament might govern the Militia or Trained-bands for some time at least which was rejected by the King as a power not to be parted withal no not for an hour whereupon the Parliament made new Lieutenants for each County who assumed the exercise of that power by Parliamentary authority in many parts of the Kingdom And upon the same ground of publick security Sir John Hotham seised upon the Town of Kingston upon Hull with the Kings Magazin there which his Majesty cried out upon not only as rebellious but as a robbing him of his Arms and Ammunition being personal Goods bought with his money and this before any the least act of hostility shewed on his part The King was then retired to the City of York as a place of more safety than nearer to London And there first of all the Warrants of Parliament being sent by express Messengers for Delinquents by them so stiled were flatly disobeyed which was no unwelcome news to the great managers of affairs at Westminister for they pretended such obstruction of Justice to be a justifiable sufficient ground for the raising of forces When the opposition was grown to this height his Majesty judged it fit that such Members of both Houses as had resolved to engage against the Parliament should withdraw themselves and one of the last that continued sitting in the House of Commons was Mr. Sidney Godolphin who for a farewel declared That by a War the Parliament would expose it self to unknown dangers for said he when the Cards are once shuffled no man knows what the Game will be which was afterwards found by the Parliament too true when their own Army became their Masters But in the mean time this Secession of Members did very much facilitate the entry into and continuance of the War all dispute being taken away within the Houses and the House of Commons would not lose this convenience and therefore they soon excluded the withdrawn Members by special Votes This abscission or cutting off of Members had been formerly used in this and other Parliaments but very rarely and for offences extraordinary and such an offence was this obedience to his Majesty then adjudged to be so unfitting a time for Judgment is the heat of a Civil War in matters relating to that War This War first began in Paper by Manifestoes and Declarations on both parts which brings to remembrance a pleasant passage in the House of Commons upon this account One of the Members brought with him into the House a Declaration of his Majesties which he had newly bought and complained much of those who were so insolent as freely to sell such papers of the Kings At this a young Gentleman of those who were accounted Fanaticks in those days but one who never spake publickly in the House grew into a seeming impatience and said with much earnestness Why not his papers as well as every mans else Which though loudly yet being spoken without standing up was answered only with looks and smiles This passage is scarcely worthy of a place in any serious discourse yet it seemeth naturally to express the small ingenuity of those times which allowed not to a Sovereign Prince in his own Dominions that freedom which every petty fellow assumed without exception At this time
a General without Command surrendred his Commission with many expressions of good affection to the Parliament and wholly bent himself to a retirement being the first person and last of the Nobility employed by the Parliament in Military affairs which soon brought him to the period of his life and he may be an example to all future Ages to deter all persons of like dignity from being instrumental in setting up a Democratical power whose interest it is to keep down all persons of his condition Yet they did him all possible honour in his Funerals at the publick charge so acceptable is an opportune death In pursuance of the great design all the old Commanders were wormed out by little and little and none admitted to Commands but those persons who were known not only to be of an Antimonarchical spirit but purely disposed to the Armies interests which the Army found very useful afterwards when it began to contend with the House of Commons for the Sovereign power By this it may appear how supinely negligent the Parliament was in forbearing to mould the army with surer dependence upon it self which might have been effected in the nomination of Colonels and chief Officers at first if care had been taken for choice of many persons who were resolved to stand fall with their interest such as were Colonel Harley and Sir Robert Pye who forsook the army when it opposed it self to the Parliament and for want of associates could effect nothing but their own prejudice As soon as this new army began to move it was thought necessary by the House of Commons to send Cromwel to them who was there not only received but intrusted with command of all the cavalry by the title of Lieutenant General there being then no General of the horse This army had but ill success at first having laid siege to Oxford and failed when in the mean time the King with a brave army had taken Leicester town and struck a great terror into all the parts adjacent But all this was useful only to bring on a greater misfortune for General Fairefax drew his army that way and the opposing of his passage brought on that fatal battail of Naseby where there was so absolute a defeat of his Majesties forces as the after strivings were but as labouring for breath by a person not long before his decease After this Oxford was besieged again and yielded by treaty which was followed by a total dissolution of all his Majesties military power Yet the King assayed to engage a powerful army for him which was that of the Scots at Newark and that he might the more endear himself to these he put his Royal person wholly into their power At first the Scots carried themselves as if they intended to appear worthy of so great confidence for they presently marched Northwards The Parliament gave no time to consider but made a peremptory demand to have the King's person delivered to them and had the help of Themistocles his two great gods Vis Suada the terror of a victorious army ready to fall upon them in case of refusal and by way of perswasion a representation of their duty that army being then in the Parliaments pay and obliged to act only in their service to which with many other reasons was added a promise of their arrears by very ready payment The first of these was more likely to give offence than terror to so powerful a body and as to that pretended duty of the army it could not extend it self to the extinguishing of natural allegiance which is a duty personal But whatsoever arguments were used the Scots consented to deliver him and performed it to their eternal infamy which infamy is much encreased by a breach of trust for having received his Majesty they ought to have set him in a state of freedom as good as he had when he came and because the contracting for mony makes the business appear as a sale of their Soveraign Prince Soon after the King's forces were wholly dispersed the army being without imployment made business for it self by interposing in publick matters appertaining to the Government which was begun by a mutinous accusation of Mr. Hollis with other members to the number of eleven and a drawing up of the army Southwards whereupon the Parliament sent Commissioners to them to expostulate about their remove Southwards and to promise all reasonable satisfaction in general terms but nothing would serve without the exclusion of those Members from the House of Commons But I should have related how upon delivery of the King's person the Parliament placed him at holdenby-Holdenby-house with a guard of Soldiers and a Committy of Lords and Commons to attend him and to order matters there for his security At this the army seemed to take offence disliking the choice of Commanders for his guard but surely their main intention was since now an opposition to the Parliament was designed to have the Royal person only in the power of the army and thereupon they sent a party to take him from Holdenby which was effected without the least opposition and so they held his Majesty with or near the army till being at Hampton Court the chief Officers grew jealous that his residence with the Soldiery might have an influence endangering the power of them the Commanders At this time Cromwel who was the chief manager of affairs in the army carried himself with such respect to his Majesty as his party grew highly jealous of him insomuch as John Lilborn the great Leveller offered a kind of 〈◊〉 against him at the bar in the House of Commons wherunto there was little car given by the house in general but those who abhorred all reconciliation with his Majesty remained unsatisfied and began to complain bitterly of him one to another as a person persidious but their fear was causless for he never intended to be an instrument of so much good to the nation and therefore his courtship must be thought to have had some other intention which may be guessed at by that which followeth While the army lay about Hampton Court the Houses were informed that the King had made an escape from thence and that the chief Commanders were very much distracted with the thought of it This was very well dissembled since it soon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the King had been perswaded to withdraw himself and was never fully out of power for being quickly seized upon again they placed him according to their hearts desire in the Isle of Wight where there could be no addresses made to him but by their permission Yet here the army was content the Parliament should have the honour that his Majesties perseemed to be in their custody for the guard and care of him was referred to a person nominated or at least approved of by them who was Colonel Hammond And now the English Nation though all too late was grown so generally sensible of their Prince his distressed estate
as it drew on a treaty at Caris-brook Castle in the Isle of Wight where the King had his forced residence called the personal treaty because none were admitted to be present at the debate but the King his self and the Commissioners of Parliament It is true that the King might retire at any time into another room to advise with Divines and others being persons of his own choice but they were not admitted to be present with him for assistance in the debate There were terms of very great disadvantage yet the King carried himself even to admiration of the Commissioners I remember that it hapned after the report had been made in the House of Commons as we passed through Westminster-hall that one of us was speaking of his Majesties great abilities in the hearing of one of our Grandees who turning his face to him who spake used these words perceive you take notice of the King 's great abilities and you may thence conclude with your self that you have the more cause to take heed of him which speech I could not but find very strange as if it were dangerous to a Nation to be governed by a Prince of parts extraordinary But this treaty had the like issue with others though the unsatisfactoriness of the King's concessions could not be voted in the House as it was then constituted which caused a new purgation of it by the army Before this personal treaty the Parliament for a long time was enforced to take for payment whatsoever reasons the army Officers were pleased to tender for their justification but in the year 1647. the army was grown to that insolence as the Presbiterian party in Parliament thought it unsufferable and thereupon they took heart and having made some resolute votes sent a Committy of both Houses to the City of London to ingage them in an opposition to the army together with the Parliament but there was then as great a Schisme or rent in the City as in the Parliament and the Borough of Southwork siding wholly with the army it was impossible for the City to stand out against it so as that ill grounded opposition fell wholly to ground and the Speakers of both Houses who easily foresaw the issue and together with many other Members had made an escape to the army returned triumphantly to Westminster and the army with much greater triumph marched in body quite through London and by means of this opposition became more eminently powerful than ever And thus the great City of London was made to stoop and it may be observed in this business taking it wholly from the beginning to its happy conclusion that all other persons and parties which had been much cryed up for eminent power were brought low as the great favorites in Church and State the Scottish armies the Houses of Parliament and the Royal Soveraign his self whom it pleased God to humble even unto violent death as it was with his and our Blessed Saviour And as for this triumphant army with its brave and politick Commanders Divine Providence reserved it and them to an utter dissolution as to that great power wherewith they so afflicted the world which came upon them at last though with leaden feet And to shew unto those insolent Commanders of the army the unstableness of their condition it pleased God before this personal treaty that there was a strong design laid to draw on a total change of affairs by insurrections in divers Counties and a fresh coming in of the Scots who now began to understand themselvs better Yet as is usual in matters wherein several and distant parties undertake together these could not hold time one with another so as some were overthrown before others appeared to stir But as preparatory to these troubles the Parliament by a just judgment of God as a return for their own miscarriage in the same kind was much disquieted with tumultuating Petitioners from Surrey Kent and other Counties who carried themselves with such violence as some of the Petitioners lost their lives by the guard which attended in the new Palace-yard the loss of these persons was so ill resented abroad as Kent suddenly arose in a great body for the King and had Essex held time with them it might have somewhat distracted the army but Essex men stayd till the Kentish strength was broken at Maidstone and then began to stir whereupon the remainder of Kentish men crossed the Thames and came into Essex where not being able to resist a complete army the whole party of both Counties was constrained to retire into Colchester town and was there besieged by General Fairesax and enforced to surrender for want of provisions About the same time the Earl of Holland made a party and took arms on the other side of London but finding no assistance from the Countrey he retired Northwards after some damage received and being pursued by forces sent by the army his party was routed at St. Neots in Huntington shire and he his self there taken prisoner Neither had the Scots under Duke Hamilton any better success for Cromwel having gathered together a competent force fell upon them in their quarters when they had scarcely heard of him and he cannot be said to have routed them for they were never suffered to gather themselves into a body so as all that great army fell to nothing without making the least opposition in any considerable number and in the pursuit the Duke their General was also taken prisoner Now the army having once more cleared the coast had good leisure to fall into mutiny again but it was against the Parliament and not against their Officers who made use of the common Soldiers to demand Justice as they called it against the King and for whatsoever else they the Officers had in their desires and for this they found out a new and unheard of way giving the Soldiers leave to chuse agitators being substitutes receiving denomination from agitating their businesses which then consisted only in medling with affairs concerning the publick These persons were busie-headed fellows pointed out by the Officers but elected by the Soldiery and held their assemblies wherein they questioned all parts of the Government and proposed what new models they thought fit This made the people in general almost mad fearing that all would fall into absolute confusion but the army Officers meant no such thing as parting at this time with their old Masters who had not yet done all their work and who would be governed as they knew by experience which perhaps a new and more numerous representive body would not have endured and therefore they resolved only upon the seclusion of all those Members whom they had found to be principled opposite to their interest and so having had good trial upon our great debate concerning the personal Treaty and time to make a Catalogue of such persons names as they intended to seclude during one days adjournment made by the House after having
as long as Episcopacy stood firm in England in which respect they could not but be willing to assist those whose design it was to abolish it Before this time it was thought sit to deprive the King of two prime Counsellors the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earl of Strafford whose names were delivered in by the Scottish-Commissioners as incendiaries between the two Nations which was done in the way of an impeachment by the House of Commons at the Lords Bar for High Treason Upon this Impeachment it was found requisite to commit them presently to the Tower so as the King was immediately deprived of their advice in Council and the Earl of Strafford was speedily brought to Trial in Westminster-Hall with much solemnity which had continuance for many days and at last was broken up with heat and violence by the House of Commons such as ill became the gravity of that Assembly and they did it conceiving that the Lords carried themselves partially in relation to the person impeached but his condemnation was finished afterwards by the Legislative power in a Bill of Attainder which could not pass the Lords till many of them were so terrified by tumults as they found it for their safety to be absent at the last Reading And this business of the Bill was carried on with such violence as there was a kind of proscription of such persons as in the House â—f Commons had Voted against the Bill for their names were posted up in London by the care of some malicious body The Archbishop was reserved to a Trial less legal as to the form but no less fatal to his ruine being some few years after condemned by a Bill passed in both Houses but wanting the Royal assent At or about the time of Straffords Trial there was a general licentiousness used The Parliament-houses were daily haunted with a rabble of tumultuating people crying out for that which they called justice There was also a Liberty assumed and connived at to Print and publish what every man thought fit which for the most part was in defamation of the Governors Ecclesiastical and Temporal Within the City of London the Pulpits were almost wholly possest by Presbyterian-Ministers whose eloquence was altogether employed the same way In the Country or at least in divers parts there was such encouragement given under-hand as the common people fell upon Popish Recusants and plundered their houses with all severity And the House of Commons being made acquainted with the inconvenience and terror of these Tumults as well by their own members as by a Message from the house of Lords would not be drawn to discountenance much to declare against them It was not long after the Pacification that the Scots much urged the King to go into Scotland to be crowned whereunto his Majesty assented at the last which gave great jealousie again at Westmirster in so much as the Parliament made some addresses to the King desiring that he would not depart out of the Kingdom at that time but those addresses became altogether fruitless the King declaring his absolute and peremptory engagement to go And the apprehensions of this journey were so powerful as a very active Member of the house of Commons standing at the door of the Lords House upon occasion of a Message having fetch'd a great sigh made a profession he thought we were all undone but the Presbyterian Scots continued true to their own interest with a respect also to their profit and expecting to be called again into England as it came to pass afterwards The Scottish Coronation being past the King returned to London and then the exasperations grew higher than ever It seems his Majesty was willing to impute the disorders in Parliament to some particular persons Members of both Houses whom he had found to have held intelligence with his enemies and therefore he directed his Atturny General to accuse the five members whose names are well known in Parliament of high Treason which was so ill resented in both Houses as the Impeachment was refused whereupon his Majesty fell upon that unhappy resolution of coming personally into the House of Commons which gave so great offence as both Houses pretending they could not sit securely at Westminster without a guard adjourned themselvs for some days and appointed to meet during the vacancy in London as grand Committies to consider what was to be done upon the pretended breach of Priviledge This gave a great advantage against the King for by this means they had opportunity to fix their correspondence with the Citizens and to engage them in their defence Between this time and the Kings return out of Scotland the Court had been annoyed with a confluence of unruly people so as it was thought fit to have a Corps de guard or a Court of guard as they call it kept in the passage before Whitehal to keep the rabble at a distance But during this Adjournment the Citizens of London became so engaged as upon the day of the Houses meeting again at Westminster they sent a little army with some field pieces for their security these passed by land and by water on each side of Whitehal and the noise of their coming was so loud as it was concluded fit for the guard of Middlesex trayned bands to withdraw and so their passage became free This was interpreted at Court as the beginning of a war and thereupon his Majesty thought good to retire to Hampton-Court After this there were many addresses to the King by the Parliament but not any that could be in the least measure pleasing to him It happened that Mr. Pim had newly and publickly at a conference between the House as I take it used some words of disrespect to the King wherewith his Majesty exprest himself to be offended and thereupon the House of Commons having notice of the Kings resentment took a resolution to send his Majesty a paper in full justification of that which Mr. Pim had said I my self was present at this resolution and appearing dissatisfied with it immediately went out of doors which being observed by a back friend of mine he named me one of the four to carry it This unwelcome news was brought to me to my own house by one of our Serjeants with a copy of the order which must not be disobeyed and so we went and delivered the paper to his Majesty at Hampton-Court which being read he began to discourse upon it as if he expected reason from us and seem'd to address his Speech more particularly to me perhaps having heard of my dislike but Sir John Culpepper then Chancellor of the Exchequer and chief of the four told his Majesty we had not power to speak one word whereupon we were dismissed and returned to London After this the King left Hampton-Court and went to Theobalds whither the Parliament sent a Committie of Lords and Commons but with a message either so unreasonable or unseasonable as the King thought fit to dismiss
both parties were employed in raising of forces The Earl of Essex being made Captain-General for the King and Parliament as the stile of the War was then with full power to nominate Officers and I can affirm that the Army was raised with great difficulty there being immediately upon grant of that Commission the greatest solitude at Westminster that I had seen whereof I my self taking notice before a Member who was designed to a principal command in the Army as a thing of small encouragement he made this answer That he thought the people of England were mad being so blind to the discerning of their own interest but the Parliaments business was more and more facilitated every day there being a Committy erected of Lords and Commons called the Committy of Safety in the nature of a Privy Council and Money or Plate coming in freely upon the propositions for contribution in London beyond any mans expectation But that which most advanced the Levies was a Liberty declared for Apprentices to forsake their Masters service at this time without loss of freedom and the nomination of Collonels Members of both Houses being persons eminent for popularity so as the Army consisted very much of boys at the first but there being great scarcity of experienced Commanders the General thought it necessary to accept the service of divers Scottish-men whom the assurance of good pay had invited to offer themselves being not only able persons for Command but also better hardened in the way of Military opposition to the Royal power than our English Now there passed every day Acts of hostility for the King appearing in person before Hull and entrance being denied raised a battery against the Town and laid a kind of siege to it On the other side the Parliaments forces seized every day upon such places as they found necessary in the way of advantage for War so as Mars began to exercise his power in several parts of the Kingdom even to bloud by wrestlings between the respective Partisans when they met as also by the siege of Warwick-Castle by the Earl of Northampton who soon after lost his life in the Kings service and the Parliament it self then seemed to have assumed a new nature according to the businesses there agitated which were only relating to the War After several skirmishes between parties the Armies came to face one another at Edgehill in the year 1642 whereupon ensued a battel and notice being given at Westminster we were in continual expectation of the issue and the House being set in an afternoon there came a Messenger who brought word that the Parliaments Army was so worsted as he his self saw the Earl of Essex's Cannon seized upon by the Kings forces This gave so great a terror as the Speaker Lentall addressed himself to some of us and used these terms Gentlemen you shall do well to send to his Majesty betimes to ask conditions lest by delaying you come too late to effect your security Such a terror did the present apprehension strike into him and many others but it was not long before an express Messenger came from the General himself signifying that he was Master of the field and had been once possest of the Royal Standard This gave fresh courage yet the intelligence brought by the first person was true for the Parliaments left wing had been routed and their Cannon possessed but for want of discipline the prevailers applied themselves to plunder the baggage and so the other part of his Majesties Army was born down and the Earl of Essex remained possessed of the field or Champ de bataigle as the French call it but with his Forces so broken as the Kings Army having done their business in forcing a passage pursued their design and marched forwards which Essex in his Letters termed a flight and said that for want of horse he could not prosecute his victory without a fresh supply from London And thus the victory is pretended to on both sides and not without a fair colour Not long after this the King having refreshed his army at Oxford marched with it towards London yet could not do this with such expedition but that General Essex was gotten thither before him and the Citizens of London were so fearful of being plundered as they came out unanimously for defence and so his Majesty thought good to retreat to Oxford which gave a period to action for that year Somewhat before the late encounter near Brainford the house of Commons ordered me to go into the Countrey for which I served where I found all full of terror the common people generally apprehending that the Cavaliers as the Royallists were then called were coming to plunder them This fear was artificially put into them as I could easily perceive for the Countrey was full of strange fictions of their inhumane carriage in other countreys and being at my usual Mansion we had scarcely any rest no not in the night for Messengers giving the allarm and the manner was to bring a paper of intelligence without any subscription and this must be taken for truth without any farther proof These allarms generated strange wild and indigested propositions such as were not to be hearkned unto by any person of Judgment and experience yet they were some way tending to the great design of raising the terror to a height and putting arms into the hands of Schismatical people under the name of Voluntiers and by those means to form a new power to be disposed of upon occasion in any part of the Kingdome without the limits of their own Counties as it came to pass afterwards when Majors General were established But since the Kings forces did not really make any approach towards us and since I had not accepted of any Command to oblige my stay in the Countrey I made my return to London and applyed my self to my constant course of attending in Parliament where I found the state of business somewhat altered for General Essex began now to appear to the private Caballists somewhat wresty so as they found it necessary to raise new forces to be commanded less immediately by him Upon this there was a kind of army put under command of Sir William Waller and Sir Arthur Hasellrigg whose actions were afterwards as much cryed up as the Generals were cryed down And then there were also Ordinances of Parliament which kind of law grew now in fashion framed and past for constituting associations whereof the Eastern was chief and much promoted by Cromwel who founded his greatness there though for the present he was commanded by the Lord Grey of Warke chosen Major General of that association and placed in that Command as a person less active and more to be wrought upon than he afterward proved to be which made Essex who had yet power sufficient to crush him cause him after about a years service in that Command to be summon'd to his attendance in the Lords house with a substitution of the
deprivation instead of a withdrawing By this means and by the absence of those Lords who withdrew themselves to serve his Majesty the House of Peers was grown so empty as their Authority became little considerable which was not much regarded by our Leaders in the House of Commons who in likelihood had at that time a resolution to dissolve that House as it came to pass afterwards As great assertors of priviledge of Parliament as that House of Commons pretended to be yet they cared not how far they encroached upon the Lords nor how they violated their priviledges as may appear by a message delivered at their Bar near the beginning of the Parliament which was to this effect That the Commons found in that House so great an obstruction of matters tending to the good of the Common-wealth as they desired their Lordships to make known the names of such Lords as were the causes of it that they might be dealt with as enemies to the State So as in those days the House of Commons might properly use the French proverbial saying Je n'ayme pas le bruit si je ne le faits I love no noise but what I make my self But their own House began to be almost as much cried out upon for paucity of Members and for this they had provided a remedy sufficient by the new great Seal and there was little danger of bringing in evil Members for no writ of election could be issued but by Warrant from the Speaker and consent of the House who would not grant it for places where the people were known to be disaffected to the Parliament By this means the House became pretty well filled and many of the new Members were Officers of the Army who had been so used to command as at the last they found a way to command even the House it self Besides this the new Great Seal enabled the Parliament to constitute Judges and to set up again the Courts at Common Law as also to make what Justices of the Peace they thought sit whereof there was very great want in the Parliament Quarters till then so as now there were complete judicial proceedings both Criminal and Civil which gave great satisfaction to the people and would have deserved high applause but that all men knew this convenience to be raised upon a most unjust and insolent foundation Before this recruiting of the House of Commons as it was then called the Military affairs of Parliament were much advanced for by the help and countenance of the Scottish Army his Majesties strength in the North was so broken as the Parliament had first besieged Newark and then the City of York but both these Towns were very bravely relieved by Prince Rupert and could that Prince have been contented with the honour of having effected his business in the dissolution of those sieges it had been happy but he as a Souldier knew what a fear usually is attendant upon Armies in a retreat having been forced to forsake a siege and thereupon he gave the Parliament Forces Battel at Marston-Moor and was defeated wholly yet with such a confusion on both parts as six Generals present in that sight were said to take wing at the same time conceiving their party to be utterly overthrown whereof General Lesly of the Scottish was one This set the Parliaments reputation very high in point of strength and gave opportunity to our Caballists of abating or rather dissolving Essex his power who as they conceived and perhaps grounding their conceit upon his Letter for propositions to his Majesty in which Letter he also exprest much care that the Royal person might be preserved in safety had no mind to an utter overthrow of the Regal Authority So as when the Armies were withdrawn into their Winter-quarters our grand Politicians set themselves upon the effecting of this great work which must have influence as well upon Essex his chief adherents as upon himself The manner of this critical business was thus It was affirmed in the House of Commons as impossible that the War could be brought to an end by an Army that had totally lost its discipline whereupon it was moved and assented to that a Committy should be nominated for examination of corruptions and abuses in the Army This Committy sate many days and was very full of employment till at last a Report was called for Then arose up Mr. Tate the Chair-man with a great bundle of papers in his hand being a very great Presbyterian and little suspecting that his business would become the ruine of his party as it did in conclusion He appeared unwilling to make the Report but being pressed to do it he desired that the House would first give him leave to speak a few words And then he uttered his parable concerning a man much troubled with Botches and Boiles in several parts of his body who had recourse to a Physician for cure his Doctor told him that he could give him plaisters to cure any part of his body so disaffected but that whatsoever was healed in one member would break out again in another for the whole habit of his body was corrupted and that if he would have perfect health he must procure for himself a better habit of body by much purgation with a new diet and so the Ulcers would be healed of themselves This saith Mr. Tate is so applicable to the business in hand as I hope the House will find no need of a Report and yet upon command I am ready to make it Hereupon other Members who had prepared themselves spake against the Report and said that abroad out of doors all our ill successes were imputed to the absence of Members from Parliament and then a motion was made that there might be a self-denying Ordinance by which all the Members of either House might be deprived of other employments that diverted them from their service in Parliament This was very hard of digestion to many Members who had profitable Offices yet for publick satisfaction and for better reforming of the Army it was consented to that there should be such an Ordinance which was afterwards brought in and passed both Houses By this means Essex Denbigh Manchester Grey of Groby Sir William Waller Haselrig Brereton Cromwell and divers others were deprived of Command though the last was never intended to suffer by this Ordinance as it appeared afterwards But notwithstanding all this Essex had not surrendred his Commission and therefore something must be done to shew him a perfect necessity So the House of Commons proceeded in nomination of Collonels for their new Army whereof Sir Thomas Fairfax was one and at last he was Voted to be General of it He was a person eminent for valour vaillant comme son espée fearless as his sword but of a temper more flexible than Essex and very many others which pleased Cromwell who meant to be the chief Steersman Not long after this Essex finding himself imperatorem sine exercitu
Earl of Manchester in his place of Major General being one of his own near relations The House of Commons was employed in providing money without which they could have no good effect of their armies Several ways were found but no one nor all of them together answerable to their occasions One was by Sequestration of Delinquents estates not excepting the King 's own revenue which last yielded the best supply being manag'd by a Committy of Parliament whereas they were inforced to use ravenous people in the Sequestration of private estates making a very slender account to the publick and converting most of the profits to their own use whereof the Parliament was not in condition to take much notice at that time Another way of raising mony there was by requiring a twentieth part of goods and a fifth part of every man's revenue This began upon persons disaffected to the Parliament but came at last to be a calling dance being made general and herein both parties did good service by giving complete information concerning one anothers estates But the last and surest was a monthly tax for the army which was the first of that kind and likeliest to continue in being And now the case is wholly altered for every demand must be answered there being armies on foot very well disposed to constrain payment in case of refusal About this time those persons who had been nominated Committies in each County for money matters held meetings in imitation of the Covenanters tables in Scotland and took upon them the decision of businesses relating to the County in general but especially as to the war which comprized the suppression of the Royallists and by this means they exercised an unlimited power being assured of Indemnity at Westminster for all things done in the way of advantage to their military affairs While the asperities of war lay thus frozen up in winter quarters it pleased his Majesty to send the Earl of South-hampton and Sir John Culpepper with a proposition for a treaty of peace and a considerable member of our House made this relation to me of Mr. Pims opinion concerning it This Gentleman said he met Mr. Pim going into the Committy of Safety and desiring a word with him asked if he knew the substance of Southhampton's message and what he thought of it Mr. Pim's answer was that he knew the particulars and praised God in his heart hoping that the issue of it would be happy for the Kingdome But it seems that being entred into the Committy his mind soon changed for the General with other Lords there were absolutely for the refusal of it which was the event of it also in Parliament and not without some harshness in the manner for South-hampton and Culpepper would have delivered their message in the respective Houses within the Bar as Members which was refused to them and so their message being made known and unanimously concluded unseasonable by reason of the Generals standing yet together with divers other eminent persons declared Traytor they both returned to Oxford This may appear strange since the General was conceived to wish and labour for peace which may the better be believed because after this time he sent a letter to the Parliament to express his sense of the Nations miserable condition under a war and to desire that there might be propositions of peace sent to his Majesty a fault never to be forgiven by the private Caballists which desire of restoring peace continued with him even to his end as was hinted in his funeral Sermon wherein he was compared to Abner who perished being in such a design but it is usual for such persons to dislike all pacification saving what is procured by themselves wherein their own interests are fully provided for and it is very likely that Essex would have had the business to pass chiefly through his own hands whereby we may see how far a poor Nation may suffer by the on of some principal persons But howsoever it was with others it is not to be doubted but some of the close Cabal rather than to yield to any pacification were disposed to make use of the pious intimation delivered by a Minister in a Fast Sermon preached before the House of Commons which was this That if they could not effect the desired reformation yet it would be in their power to break the pillars and as Sampson did to pull down the house over the heads of their enemies Yet for publick satisfaction the people being wearied with a war it was always in agitation to bring the business to a treaty though not without much jealousie on the Parliaments side which might be much encreased by a letter from a Lord at Oxford to a Commander in that army which became publick being intercepted and contained these words Do but cudgel them into a Treaty and we shall do well enough with them Before drawing the armies out in the year 1643. there had been a hopeful treaty of peace both parties having tendred propositions and Commissioners being sent to Oxford to treat but this was soon rendred fruitless by the Parliament who too far straightned the time of treaty and bound up their Commissioners by instructions obliging them in the first place to treat upon and conclude the proposition for disbanding of the armies which could not be consented to by his Majesty without assurance first had that the other most important articles would be agreed upon And so at this time the poor people were defeated of their hopes it being one of our Cabals greatest arts to give way to a treaty of peace for publick satisfaction and then to bring it to a rupture in some plausible way as here it was upon the article of disbanding which was a thing so much desired by the people This year 1643. businesses were transacted at Westminster with greater heighth than ever for the Queen being returned to the King's quarters with some assistance the House of Commons assumed the boldness to impeach her of high treason at the Lord's bar and about the same time both Houses voted a new great Seal to be made which is the instrument of Royal power far above all others and the doing of these two things could not but much exasperate his Majesty yet their military affairs were never less succesful for the West of England was wholly lost by defeat of the Earl of Stamford's army and Bristow forced by Prince Rupert In the Northern parts the Earl of Newcastle was prevalent almost wholly And certainly had the King instead of besieging Glocester marched to London and the Earl of Newcastle instead of besieging Hull forced his way into the Eastern association the war had come to a period but Divine Providence had designed a more gentle end and disposed the minds of the Northern and Western armies so as they would not forsake their own Countries till they saw them cleared from all opposition The Parliaments business being in this evil condition it was easily
judged fit to call in the Scots which matter being moved in the House of Commons and it being objected that it would be fruitless to call them without proposing to them at the same time something of great advantage by it there stood up presently that great Patriot Henry Martin and desired with much confidence that an offer might be made them of the Counties of Northumberland and Cumberland and in case they were not therewith contented to add two such other Counties in the North as should be most convenient for them So little care had he in that conjuncture of the honour and advantage of the English Nation This was justly thought extravagant yet that business of calling in the Scotts being communicated to the Lords there was a Committy of Lords and Commons nominated to go into Scotland and matters were so transacted with the Scots as they entred into England with an army the February following I should have related how in the former year after the King 's retiring from Parliament there was set up at Westminster an assembly of Divines being an Ecclesiastical body of strange constitution and composed of persons nominated by the Knights and Burgesses of each County to which were added a small number named by the Lords and some few Commissioners deputed by the Kirk of Scotland This assembly being so extraordinary in the constitution was certainly designed to produce great effects but the success was not answerable for they could never perfect their model of Church Government not well agreeing among themselves by reason of the Independent members who approved of no Church discipline other than Parochial and even that part of the model which was concluded upon with approbation of Parliament could never be put in execution the Presbyterian discipline being so strict as made it unpleasing to most of the people and especially to those of the Gentry who found themselves likely to be over-powered by the Clergy even in the places of their habitation But the Army after it became new modelled was wholly averse to it I conceive the intentions of calling an Assembly to have been these two First to have a Synod of Divines concurring in the subversion of the Bishops and their Hierarchy and in this the Parliament had their end fully for the matter very well pleased all such persons as were earnestly of their party And secondly to agree upon some uniformity in Divine Service which was the ground of their Directory but all Uniformity or colour of it was distasteful to the Independents which became the growing opinion and at last so over-spread the Army as the sight of a black-coat grew hateful to them and so the Directory fell to ground of it self These Assembly-men might well be discouraged since hopes were given at first that the Lands of Bishops and of Collegiate Churches should be setled in some way for the raising of all Parochial Churches a competency of means for the Ministers but the necessities belonging to War exposed these to sale and frustrated that hope I should have related how the House of Commons finding the Pulpits filled with persons disaffected to them made a breach upon the Lords in point of Judicature and erected a Committy called of plundered Ministers and by this Committy they ejected the old Ministers and placed new at pleasure but because the ejected had been possest of a Freehold the Committy ordered to his Wife and Children a fifth part of the profits if cause were not shewed to the contrary which must be this That the person displaced was otherwise possest of temporal means sufficient and to my observation there was scarcely any of the new-placed who did not dispute that provision at the Committy But it seems that this Committy could not dispatch that business fast enough for the Earl of Manchester was afterwards invested with a power by both Houses to do the same thing within his association as also to reform the University of Cambridge where he had the like arbitrary power of ejection But the Parliament had a way of cementing their fluctuating faction by religious bands of union which certainly they found very effectual though upon differing grounds or else they would never have had three of them in three or four years time which I think is not to be paralell'd in any other revolt The first of these was a protestation in the year 1641 which being before the War began took into it the defence of his Majesties Royal person Estate and Dignity The second was termed a Vow and Covenant set on foot in the year 1642 and this containeth no mention of the King but in the way of forcible opposition to him by prosecuting the War And the third was the Scottish-Covenant which again taketh in the defence of his Majesties Royal person but in so perplexed and complicated a way as it signified little And in this was also contained a total abrogation of the Government Ecclesiastical by Archbishops Bishops c. with the whole Hierarchy so as this Covenant may be said to have spoken perfect Scottish The taking of the first and last of these in their proper time was pressed upon the people in general with all terror and the Vow and Covenant which related much to a particular conspiracy only upon the Members of both Houses and certainly it was a very useful policy to engage the most considerable persons in these oaths and in other things rendring them odious to their Prince and exposing them to confiscation of their Estates upon conquest which could not but make them stick the more closely to common defence All the time of this Parliament it was the design of our Caballists to abate the power of the Lords House and in pursuance of that design at the very beginning in Straffords business they prevailed to have the Recusant Lords deprived of Voting there and afterwards they had not patience to stay till the Bishops were excluded by the Ordinance but took advantage of a protestation made by such Bishops as then sate in the House of Lords being about half their number and to my best remembrance thus it was Those Bishops having taken a resolution not to continue sitting long after his Majesties forsaking the Southern parts yet finding that there was an Ordinance coming for abolition of their Order which must pass the Lords House they used their endeavours to enervate that which might be done in their absence and upon that ground they entred a Protestation subscribed with their names against all such determinations to their prejudice This being become matter of record the House of Commons took notice of it and came up presently with an impeachment of those Bishops by name as guilty of a Praemunire in assuming to themselves a power to invalidate that which is otherwise the Law of the Land viz. the Jurisdiction of Parliament and upon this ground how justly I know not for the matter was never brought to Judgment those Bishops unhappily formed to themselves a
way that I did upon putting the question and yet upon division of the House they were ashamed to own it for then they associated themselves with our great managers of business in the way of opposition to his then Majesty Of so great force is the desire of popularity with too many which could not but have a very great influence upon matters of greatest consequence that were usually determined without any great disparity in the Votes Yet were not businesses always carried on in the House according to the mind and intended Order of the leading persons for the business of that Protestation made in the year 1641 had been taken into consideration at a private meeting of the Grandees and was there concluded to be unseasonable Yet Henry Martin being unsatisfied with their determination moved it the next day in Parliament and found the House so disposed as a Vote was presently passed for a Protestation which was afterwards worded by a select Committy and approved of in both Houses And to this the Leaders would not oppose themselves though they conceived it to be improper at that time Having herein insinuated the different constitutions and inclinations of that House of Commons I may demonstrate it by particular resolutions in the case of this Henry Martin who as well by that of the Protestation as by some other successes in the seditious way being exalted in mind adventured to cast himself upon a Rock and thus it was When it had been some ways expressed in the House that the good and happiness of this Nation depended upon his Majesties safety and continuance of the Royal Line Henry Martin stood up and affirmed it to be a mistake for as he conceived this Nation might be very happy though the Royal Line were extinct Upon these words he was presently questioned and after some debate Voted out of the House and he continued long under that exclusion But the War being begun and carried on it was conceived that Henry Martin might do good service as a Member and so his restitution was moved for but answer was soon made that he was a person dead civilly and could not be restored to life Hereupon young Sir Henry Vane one of the Oracles of those times arose and said That the matter was very easie to be effected by expunging out of the Journal-book that Order whereby he had been cast out and that the House was ever understood to be Mistriss of her own Orders This was found so ready a way as the matter was presently determined and Henry Martin having notice came into the House again disposed to do farther mischief And that the House was otherwise disposed before the Members who fully embraced the Royal interest had forsaken the Parliament may appear by the difficult saving of Sir Henry Ludlow who thus exposed himself to danger The House had newly received a message from his Majesty which was so far from being satisfactory as many persons spake against it with much vehemency and among the rest Sir Henry Ludlow who very resolutely used these terms He who sent this Message is not worthy to be King of England Upon saying this he was immediately interrupted and the words were agreed upon preparatory to a Charge but before his withdrawing in order to a Censure Mr. Pym arose and said That those words contained nothing of dishonor to the King which being found very strange he thus cleared his meaning If these words be such as a fair conclusion is naturally deducible from them then they cannot be evil in themselves but that a fair conclusion naturally ariseth from them may be proved by this Syllogism He who sent this Message is not worthy to be King of England but King Charles is worthy to be King of England And therefore King Charles sent not this Message Now saith Mr. Pym I leave it to judgment whether or no this Syllogism comprize any thing in it worthy of your Censure This argument was so ingenious as Sir Henry Ludlow with his ill meaning came freely off without punishment whereas those Members who were of the Royal party found no such effectual intecessions but were ejected many in a day and the House was replenished again with Soldiers and other persons most of them of a Tribunicial spirit and temper so as no wonder it is that a Body so fallen from its Primitive Constitution having contracted so much evil habit and prostituted it self to the embraces of an insolent and rebellious Army governed by Commanders highly ambitious should yield births of so horrid and prodigious a nature which as we hope shall never be paralelled in any future Age. And now it is more than time to conclude also this Supplemental Discourse which is become greater than I my self at first intended Spicas aliquot legi messem validioribus linquo FINIS