extraordinary Guards but according to Law in case of actual Rebellion or Invasion 17. That it will please your Majesty to confirm your Leagues with the United Provinces and other Princes of the Protestant Religion that you may be the more capable to defend it against Popish Attempts which will bring much Reputation to your Majesty and encourage your Subjects to endeavour in a Parliamentary way to re-establish your Sifter and her Children and other Princes oppressed for the same Cause 18. That it will please your Majesty to clear by an Act of Parliament the Lord Kimbolton and the five Members of the House of Commons so that future Parliaments may be secured against the Consequence of such ill Examples 19. That it will please your Majesty of your Grace to pass an Act That the Peers created hereafter shall have no Place nor Voice in Parliament at least unless they are admitted thereunto by the Parliament These humble Requests being granted unto us by your Majesty we shall endeavour as we ought to regulate the Revenue of your Majesty and to increase it more and more in such sort that it shall support the Dignity Royal with Honour and Abundance beyond whatever the Subjects of this Kingdom have allowed to their Kings your Majesty's Predecessors We will put also the Town of Hull into such Hands as your Majesty shall please with the Approbation of the Parliament and will give a good Account of the Munitions of War and of the Magazine And to conclude we shall chearfully do our Endeavours to give unto your Majesty Testimony of our Affection Duty and Faithfulness to preserve and maintain your Royal Honour the Greatness and Safety of your Majesty and of your Posterity These Propositions were delivered to the King by the Commissioners of the Parliament but without Success he being resolved to steer another Course presuming he might obtain as good Terms as these if reduced to the last Extremity and that if his Arms succeeded according to his Hopes his Will might pass for a Law pursuant to the Opinion of those who thought no way so likely to render his Authority absolute as the making of a War upon his People And now the Fire began to break out in the West Sir John Stawell and others drawing a Party together in Somersetshire for the King where Captain Preston and others opposed them and about Martials Elm on PoldenHill some of those who declared for the Parliament were killed Whereupon the Parliament ordered some Horse to be raised which they sent down under the Command of the Earl of Bedford to protect their Friends in those Parts By which means the Enemy being forced to quit the Field betook themselves to the Castle of Sherburn in Dorsetshire which after a short Siege was surrendred to the Parliament Portsmouth was also secured for the Parliament by the young Lord Goring then Governour thereof but he afterwards declaring for the King it was besieged and reduced by their Forces and the Government of it entrusted to Sir William Lewis The King having set up his Standard at Nottingham the 24 th of August 1642. the Parliament thought themselves obliged to make some Preparations to defend themselves having discovered that he had sent abroad to procure what Assistance he could against his People particularly applying himself to the King of Denmark acquainting him that the two Houses to make their Work sure against him were endeavouring to prove Queen Ann a Whore and thereby illegitimate all her Issue earnestly pressing him in vindication of his injured Sister as well as in consideration of his own relation to him to send him Succours This Letter was intercepted and brought to the Parliament who by a Declaration protested that no such thing had ever entred into their Thoughts The King also endeavoured under pretence of Law to take away the Lives of Dr. Bastwick and Captain Robert Ludlow for acting in obedience to the Commands of the Parliament and had proceeded to their Execution had not the Parliament by a Message sent to Judg Heath and delivered to him on the Bench threatned a Retaliation by executing two for one in case they went on which put a stop to that Design The Parliament having passed the following Votes 1. That the King seduced by evil Counsel intends to levy War against the Parliament 2. That when the King doth levy War against the Parliament he breaks his Trust and doth that which tends to the Dissolution of the Parliament 3. That whosoever shall assist him in such a War are Traitors and shall be proceeded against accordingly prepared for the raising of an Army and published several Declarations inviting the good People of England to assist them with their Prayers Persons and Purses to carry on this War which they were necessitated to enter into for the Defence of the Religion Laws Liberties and Parliament of England The Protestation taken by both Houses and by them proposed to the People to stand by each other in their just and necessary Undertaking was readily and chearfully taken by many in London and elsewhere and divers hundreds on Horseback from the Counties of Buckingham Hartford and Essex came up with their several Petitions acknowledging the Care and Faithfulness of the Parliament in the discharge of their Trust and promising to stand by them in the carrying on of what they had declared for Declarations were also set forth by the two Houses encouraging the People to provide Horses and Arms and to bring in Plate and Money for their necessary Defence engaging the Credit of the Publick for the Reimbursement of what should be so advanced Which Contributions arising to the Value of a great Sum they declared their Intentions of raising a certain Number of Horse and Foot with a proportionable Train of Artillery and voted the Earl of Essex to be their General whom the King to take him off from the Publick Interest had lately made Chamberlain of his Houshold Upon the same account he had also preferred the Lord Say to be Master of the Court of Wards and Mr. Oliver St. Johns to be his Solicitor General But this could not corrupt the Earl of Essex nor hinder him from discharging vigorously that Trust which the Parliament had reposed in him Divers of the Lords and Commons engaged their Lives with him and under him Of the Lords the Earl of Bedford who was General of the Horse the Lord Peterborough the Lord Willoughby of Parham the Lord Denbigh the Lord St. John the Lord Rochford and of the Commons Mr. Hampden and Mr. Hollis who raised Regiments Sir Philip Stapylton who commanded the Earl of Essex's Guard and Mr. Oliver Cromwell who commanded a Troop of Horse and divers others The Earl of Northumberland who was High Admiral staid with the Parliament The Earl of Warwick whom they made Vice-Admiral kept the greatest part of the Fleet in obedience to them Things being brought to this Extremity the Nation was driven to a necessity of Arming in
England and the Common Council of the City of London presented a Petition to the Parliament by the hands of Col. Titchborn to that effect but some of the Commonwealths-men desired that before they consented to that Method it might be resolved what Government to establish fearing a Design in the Army to set up some one of themselves in his room others endeavoured to perswade them that the execution of Justice ought to be their first Work in respect of their Duty to God and the People that the failure therein had been already the occasion of a second War which was justly to be charged on the Parliament for neglecting that Duty that those who were truly Commonwealths-men ought to be of that Opinion as the most probable means to attain their Desires in the establishment of an equal and just Government and that the Officers of the Army who were chiefly to be suspected could not be guilty of so much Impudence and Folly to erect an Arbitrary Power in any one of themselves after they had in so publick a manner declared their Detestation of it in another In order to the accomplishment of the important Work which the House of Commons had now before them they voted That by the Fundamental Laws of the Land it is Treason for the King of England for the time being to levy War against the Parliament and Kingdom To which the Lords not concurring they passed it the next day without their Consent and the day after declared That the People are under God the Original of all just Power That the House of Commons being chosen by and representing the People are the Supreme Power in the Nation That whatsoever is enacted or declared for Law by the Commons in Parliament hath the Force of a Law and the People are concluded thereby tho the Consent of King or Peers be not had thereto This Obstruction being removed several Petitions were brought to the Parliament for so the House of Commons now stiled themselves from the City of London Borough of Southwark and most of the Counties in England requesting that the King might be brought to Justice in order to which they passed an Act authorizing the Persons therein named or any thirty of them to proceed to the Arraignment Condemnation or Acquittal of the King with full Power in case of Condemnation to proceed to Sentence and to cause the said Sentence to be put in Execution This High Court of Justice met on the 8 th of January 1648 in the Painted Chamber to the number of about fourscore consisting chiefly of Members of Parliament Officers of the Army and Gentlemen of the Country where they chose Serjeant Aske Serjeant Steel and Dr. Dorrislaus to be their Counsel Mr. John Coke of Grays-Inn to be their Solicitor and Mr. Andrew Broughton their Secretary and sent out a Precept under their Hands and Seals for proclaiming the Court to be held in Westminster-Hall on the tenth of the said Month which was performed accordingly by Serjeant Dendy attended by a Party of Horse in Cheapside before the old Exchange and in Westminster-Hall On the the tenth they chose Serjeant Bradshaw to be their President with Mr. Lisle and Mr. Say to be his Assistants and a Charge of High Treason being drawn up against the King the Court appointed a convenient Place to be prepared at the upper end of Westminster-Hall for his Publick Trial directing it to be covered with Scarlet Cloth and ordered twenty Halberdiers to attend the President and thirty the King All things being thus prepared for the Trial the King was conducted from Windsor to St. James's from whence on the 20 th of January he was brought to the Bar of the High Court of Justice where the President acquainted the King with the Causes of his being brought to that Place For that He contrary to the Trust reposed in him by the People to see the Laws put in execution for their Good had made use of his Power to subvert those Laws and to set up his Will and Pleasure as a Law over them that in order to effect that Design he had endeavoured the Suppression of Parliaments the best Defence of the Peoples Liberties That he had levied War against the Parliament and People of England wherein great numbers of the good People had been slain of which Blood the Parliament presuming him guilty had appointed this High Court of Justice for the Trial of him for the same Then turning to Mr. Broughton Clerk of the Court he commanded him to read the Charge against the King who as the Clerk was reading the Charge interrupted him saying I am not intrusted by the People they are mine by Inheritance demanding by what Authority they brought him thither The President answered that they derived their Authority from an Act made by the Commons of England assembled in Parliament The King said the Commons could not give an Oath that they were no Court and therefore could make no Act for the Trial of any Man much less of him their Soveraign It was replied that the Commons assembled in Parliament could acknowledg no other Soveraign but God for that upon his and the Peoples Appeal to the Sword for the Decision of their respective Pretensions Judgment had been given for the People who conceiving it to be their Duty not to bear the Sword in vain had appointed the Court to make Inquisition for the Blood that had been shed in that Dispute Whereupon the President being moved by Mr. Solicitor Coke in the Name and on the Behalf of the good People of England commanded the Clerk of the Court to proceed in the reading of the Charge against him which being done the King was required to give his Anser to it and to plead guilty or not guilty The King demurred to the Jurisdiction of the Court affirming that no Man nor Body of Men had Power to call him to an account being not intrusted by Man and therefore accountable only to God for his Actions entring upon a large Discourse of his being in Treaty with the Parliament's Commissioners at the Isle of Wight and his being taken from thence he knew not how when he thought he was come to a Conclusion with them This Discourse seeming not to the purpose the President told him that as to his Plea of not being accountable to Man seeing God by his Providence had over-ruled it the Court had resolved to do so also and that if he would give no other Answer that which he had given should be registred and they would proceed as if he had confessed the Charge In order to which the President commanded his Answer to be entred directing Serjeant Dendy who attended the Court to withdraw the Prisoner which as he was doing many Persons cried out in the Hall Justice Justice The King being withdrawn the Court adjourned into the Painted Chamber to consider what farther was fit to be done and being desirous to prevent all Objections tending to accuse them
unwarrantable Courses but he made his Escape by Water for that time and one of the most active of the People was seized and executed which served only to exasperate the rest Upon the near Approach of the English and Scots Army a considerable Party of each side encountred and the English contrary to their wonted Custom retired in Disorder not without Shame and some Loss Of such Force and Consequence is a Belief and full Perswasion of the Justice of an Undertaking tho managed by an Enemy in other respects inconsiderable The King startled at the Unsuccessfulness of his first Attempt upon the Petition of a considerable number of the well-affected Nobility requesting him that to avoid the Effusion of more Blood he would call an Assembly of the Nobility consented thereunto This Council accordingly met at York and advised the King to a Cessation of Arms and the Calling of a Parliament to compose Differences which to the great trouble of the Clergy and other Incendiaries he promised to do assuring the Scots of the Paiment of twenty thousand Pounds a Month to maintain their Army till the Pleasure of the Parliament should be known In order to which Writs were issued out for the Meeting of a Parliament on the 3 d of November 1640. The time prefix'd for their assembling being come they met accordingly and as they were very sensible that nothing but an absolute Necessity permitted their coming together so they resolved to improve this happy Opportunity to free the People from their Burdens and to punish the Authors of the late Disorders To this end they declared against Monopolies and expelled the Authors of them out of the House The Opinions of the Judges concerning Ship-Money they voted unjust and illegal fining and imprisoning those that had warranted the Lawfulness thereof And that the Offenders against the Publick might not escape they ordered the Sea-Ports to be diligently guarded and all Passengers to be strictly examined This being done they impeached the Lord Keeper Finch the Earl of Strafford and the Arch-bishop of Canterbury of High Treason in endeavouring to subvert the Laws and to erect an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power They declared that they would pay the English and Scots Armies to the end of May 1641. and assist the Prince Palatine with Men and Money to recover his Country And now having the Charge of two Armies to pay and all Men suspecting they might be abruptly dissolved as had often hapned before and therefore refusing to credit them with such Sums as were necessary unless an Act might pass to secure their sitting till they should think fit to dissolve themselves by Act of Parliament the King gave his Assent to one drawn up and passed to that purpose Another Act likewise passed to assert that according to the antient Fundamental Laws of England a Parliament ought to be held every Year and directing that in case one was not called in three Years the Lord Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal should issue out Writs as is therein expressed and if he fail in his Duty he is declared guilty of High Treason and a certain number of Lords impowered to summon the said Parliament and is they should neglect so to do the Sheriffs and Constables are vested with the same Authority But if it should happen that all the forementioned Powers should be wanting in their Duty the People of England are thereby authorized to put the said Act in execution by meeting and electing Members to serve in Parliament tho not summoned by any Officers appointed to that end The Parliament then proceeded to correct the Abuses that had been introduced in the preceding Years Whereupon the Star-Chamber the High Commission Court the Court of Honour with some others were taken away by Act of Parliament and the Power of the Council-Table restrained The Commissioners of the Custom-House who had collected Customs contrary to Law were fined and such as had been imprisoned by any of the above-mentioned Arbitrary Courts were set at liberty A Protestation was also agreed upon by the Lords and Commons which they took and presented to others to take whereby all those that took it obliged themselves to defend and maintain the Power and Privileges of Parliament the Rights and Liberties of the People to use their utmost Endeavours to bring to condign Punishment all those who should by Force or otherwise do any thing to the contrary and to stand by and justify all such as should do any thing in prosecution of the said Protestation The Day prefix'd for the Earl of Strafford's Trial being come he was brought before the House of Peers where the Charge against him was managed by Members of the House of Commons appointed to that end The chief Heads of the Accusation were That he had governed the Kingdom of Ireland in an Arbitrary manner That he had retained the Revenues of the Crown without rendring a due Account of them That he had encouraged and promoted the Romish Religion That he had endeavoured to create Feuds and Quarrels between England and Scotland That he had laboured to render the Parliament suspected and odious to the King That he was the Author of that Advice That since the Parliament had denied to grant the King such Supplies as he demanded he was at liberty to raise them by such Means as he thought fit and that he had an Irish Army that would assist him to that end It being the Custom that a Lord High Steward should be made to preside at the Trial of a Peer that Honour was conferred upon the Earl of Arundel The King the Queen the House of Commons the Deputies of Scotland and Ireland with many other Persons of Quality of both Sexes were there present I remember the Earl of Strafford in his Defence objected against the Evidence of the Earl of Cork denying him to be a competent Witness because his Enemy To which George Lord Digby who was appointed one of the Managers of the Charge against him replied That if that Objection should be of any weight with the Court the Earl of Strafford had found out a certain way to secure himself from any sarther Prosecution Yet this Man who then spoke with so much Vigour soon after altered his Language and made a Speech to the House in his favour which he caused to be printed and also surreptitiously withdrew a Paper from the Committee containing the principal Evidence against the said Earl The Parliament resenting this Prevarication ordered his Speech to be burnt by the Hands of the Common Hangman The House of Commons having passed a Bill for the Condemnation of the Earl it was carried to the Lords for their Concurrence which they gave The King not satisfied therewith consulted with the Privy Council some Judges and four Bishops And all of them except one advise the throwing of Jonas over-board for the appeasing of the Storm Upon which the Earl of Arundel the Lord Privy Seal and two more were commissionated by
defence of the Laws openly and frequently violated by the King who had made it the chief business of his Reign to invade the Rights and Privileges of the People raising Taxes by various Arts without their Consent in Parliament encouraging and preferring a formal and superstitious Clergy discouraging the sober and vertuous amongst them imposing upon all the Inventions of Men in the room of the Institutions of God And knowing that Parliaments were the most likely means to rectify what was amiss to give a check to his Ambition and to punish the principal Instruments of that illegal Power which he had assumed had endeavoured either to prevent their Meeting or to render them fruitless to the People and only serviceable to his corrupt ends by granting him Money to carry on his pernicious Designs A Parliament being now called and an Act passed authorizing them to fit till they should think fit to dissolve themselves And it being manifest to them and to all those who had any Concern for the Happiness of the Nation that the King would do nothing effectually to redress the present or to secure the People from future Mischiefs chusing rather to contend with them by Arms than for their satisfaction to entrust the Militia in faithful Hands resolving to impose that by the Force of his Arms which he could not do by the Strength of his Arguments I thought it my Duty upon consideration of my Age and vigorous Constitution as an English-man and an Invitation to that purpose from my Father to enter into the Service of my Country in the Army commanded by the Earl of Essex under the Authority of the Parliament I thought the Justice of that Cause I had engaged in to be so evident that I could not imagine it to be attended with much Difficulty For tho I supposed that many of the Clergy who had been the principal Authors of our Miseries together with some of the Courtiers and such as absolutely depended upon the King for their Subsistence as also some Foreigners would adhere to him yet I could not think that many of the People who had been long oppressed with heavy Burdens and now with great difficulty had obtained a Parliament composed of such Persons as were willing to run all Hazards to procure a lasting Settlement for the Nation would be either such Enemies to themselves or so ungrateful to those they had trusted as not to stand by them to the utmost of their Power at least tho some might not have so much Resolution and Courage as to venture All with them yet that they would not be so treacherous and unworthy to strengthen the Hands of the Enemy against those who had the Laws of God Nature and Reason as well as those of the Land on their side Soon after my Engagement in this Cause I met with Mr. Richard Fynes Son to the Lord Say and Mr. Charles Fleetwood Son to Sir Miles Eleetwood then a Member of the House of Commons with whom consulting it was resolved by us to assemble as many young Gentlemen of the Inns of Court of which we then were and others as should be found disposed to this Service in order to be instructed together in the use of Arms to render our selves fit and capable of acting in case there should be occasion to make use of us To this end we procured a Person experienced in military Affairs to instruct us in the use of Arms and for some time we frequently met to exercise at the Artillery-Ground in London And being informed that the Parliament had resolved to raise a Life-Guard for the Earl of Essex to consist of a hundred Gentlemen under the Command of Sir Philip Stapylton a Member of Parliament most of our Company entred themselves therein and made up the greatest part of the said Guard amongst whom were Mr. Richard Fynes Mr. Charles Fleetwood afterwards Lieutenant General Major General Harrison Colonel Nathanael Rich Colonel Thomlinson Colonel Twisleton Colonel Bosewell Major Whitby and my self with divers others It was not long before the Army under the Command of the Earl of Essex was raised and ready to march so cheerfully did the People hoping that the time of their Deliverance was come offer their Persons and all that was necessary for the carrying on of that Work The appearance for the King was not very considerable whilst he continued at York but when he removed to Shrewsbery great Numbers out of Wales and the adjacent Parts resorted to him The Earl of Essex having notice that the King directed his March that way advanced with his Army towards Worcester and upon his approach to that Town received Advice that a Detachment commanded by Prince Rupert had possessed themselves of it for the King and that a Party of ours impatient of Delay had engaged the Enemy before our General could come up with great Disadvantage as I after wards observed upon view of the Place Ours consisted of about a thousand Horse and Dragoons the Enemy being more in number and drawn up in a body within Musquet-shot of a Bridg between Parshot and Worcester over which our Men resolved to march and attack them but before half their number was got over not being able to advance above eight or ten abreast by reason of a narrow Lane through which they were to pass till they came within Pistol-shot of the Enemy they were engaged and forced to retreat in Disorder tho they did as much as could well be expected from them upon so disadvantageous a Ground Some were killed upon the place amongst whom was Major Gunter a very gallant Man who as I have heard had endeavoured to disswade them from that Attempt others were drowned and divers taken Prisoners of the last was Colonel Sands who commanded the Party and was carried to Worcester where being mortally wounded he soon died with all possible Expressions of his hearty Affection to the Publick Cause The Body of our routed Party returned in great Disorder to Parshot at which place our Life-Guard was appointed to quarter that Night where as we were marching into the Town we discovered Horsemen riding very hard towards us with drawn Swords and many of them without Hats from whom we understood the Particulars of our Loss not without Improvement by reason of the Fear with which they were possessed telling us that the Enemy was hard by in pursuit of them whereas it afterwards appeared they came not within four Miles of that place Our Life-Guard being for the most part Strangers to things of this nature were much alarm'd with this Report yet some of us unwilling to give credit to it till we were better informed offered our selves to go out upon a surther Discovery of the matter But our Captain Sir Philip Stapylton not being then with us his Lieutenant one Bainham an old Souldier a Generation of Men much cried up at that time drawing us into a Field where he pretended we might more advantageously charge if there should be
Officers were either omitted by the Parliament or had quitted their Commands in the Army judging himself Master of the Field marched towards Leicester and by this time was grown so considerable that the Committee of both Kingdoms thought it high time to look after him and to that end commanded the General with the Army to march and observe his Motions but before he could overtake him the King had made himself Master of Leicester by storm and plundered it with the loss of about seven hundred Men on his side and about one hundred of the Town Being encouraged with this Success and with the consideration that he was to encounter with an unexperienced Enemy upon advice that our Army was in search of him he advanced towards them and both Armies met in the Field of Naseby on the 14 th of June 1645. Some days before one Col. Vermuyden an old Souldier who commanded a Regiment of Horse had laid down his Commission whether through diffidence of Success or what other Consideration I know not and in the beginning of the Engagement Major General Skippon the only old Souldier remaining amongst the chief Officers of the Army received a shot in the Body from one of our own Party as was supposed unwillingly whereby he was in a great measure disabled to perform the Duty of his Place that day tho extreamly desirous to do it Under these Discouragements the Horse upon our Left Wing were attacked by those of the Enemies Right and beaten back to our Cannon which were in danger of being taken our Foot giving ground also But our Right Wing being strengthned by those of our Left that were rallied by their Officers fell upon the Enemies Left Wing and having broken and repulsed them resolving to improve the Opportunity charged the main Body of the King's Army and with the Assistance of two or three Regiments of our Infantry entirely encompassed the Enemies Body of Foot who finding themselves deserted by their Horse threw down their Arms and yielded themselves Prisoners By this means our Horse were at leisure to pursue the King and such as fled with him towards Leicester taking many Prisoners in the pursuit who with those taken in the Field amounted in all to about six thousand and amongst them six Colonels eight Lieutenant Colonels eighteen Majors seventy Captains eighty Lieutenants eighty Ensigns two hundred inferiour Officers about one hundred and forty Standards of Horse and Foot the King's Footmen and Servants and the whole Train of Artillery and Baggage This Victory was obtained with the Loss of a very few on our side and not above three or four hundred of the Enemy In the Pursuit the King's Cabinet was taken and in it many Letters of Consequence particularly one from the Lord Digby advising the King before any Act of Hostility on either side to betake himself to some Place of Strength and there to declare against the Parliament by which Men perceived that the Design of making War upon the Parliament was resolved upon early the King having followed this Council exactly The Parliament had impeached Finch of High Treason for advising the illegal Tax of Ship-money soliciting the Judges to declare it lawful and threatning those who refused so to do for which good Service the King had preferred him to be Keeper of the Great Seal but the Place being vacant upon his Flight the King would not entrust it with Littleton before he had obliged him by an Oath to promise to send the Seal to the King whensoever he should by any Messenger require it of him which I am inclined to believe to have been the Cause why Littleton left the Parliament not daring to stay after he had according to his Oath sent the Seal to the King by one Mr. Elliot dispatched to him by the King for that purpose The Seal being thus carried away the Parliament finding Justice obstructed through the want of it declared that the Seal ought to attend them during their Sitting and therefore that all that was or should be done since it was carried to the King was null and void Upon which a new Seal was ordered to be made and Commissioners nominated for the keeping of it and putting it in execution to all Intents and Purposes the Parliament thereby exercising the Supreme Authority in virtue of their frequent Declarations That the King doth nothing in his personal Capacity as King but in his politick Capacity according to Law of which the Judges of Westminster-hall are Judges in the Intervals of Parliament and during the sitting of Parliament the Two Houses being the Great Council both of King and People are the sole Judges thereof In the King's Cabinet were also found Letters from the Queen blaming him for owning those at Westminster to be a Parliament and warning him not to do any thing to the prejudice of the Roman Catholicks with a Copy of his Answer wherein he promised his Care of the Papists and excused his owning the two Houses at Westminster to be a Parliament assuring her that if he could have found two of his Mongrel Parliament at Oxford as he called them of his mind therein he would never have done it and that tho he had done it publickly the Parliament refusing to treat with him otherwise yet he had given Order to have it entred in the Journal of his Council that this notwithstanding should not be of any Validity for the enabling them to be a Parliament Another Paper was found with them giving some Account of the Troubles in Ireland wherein the Papists who had taken Arms being qualified Rebels that term was struck out and the word Irish added by the King himself There was likewise a Letter to the French King complaining of the Unkindness and Ingratitude of the Queen and of the Reasons of the Removal of her Servants that she brought over with her of which it had been Discretion in the King to have kept no Memorials such Matters when buried in Oblivion being next best to the not having any Differences between so near Relations Many more Letters there were relating to the Publick which were printed with Observations by Order of the Parliament and others of no less Consequence suppressed as I have been credibly informed by some of those that were instructed with them who since the King's Return have been rewarded for it One Paper I must not omit which was here found being that very Paper which contained the principal Evidence against the Earl of Strafford and had been as before mentioned purloined from the Committee appointed by the House of Commons to manage the Charge against him having these Words written upon it with the King 's own Hand This Paper was delivered to me by George Digby tho he as well as the rest of that Committee had solemnly protested that he had neither taken that Paper away nor knew what was become of it The Prisoners and Standards taken in the Fight were brought through London to Westminster The Standards
William Cawley gave his single Negative On the 13 th of April 1646. Exeter was delivered to ours upon Articles by which all such as were in the Town and Garison were admitted to compound for their Estates paying two Years Value for the same Barnstable Dunstar-Castle and Michael's-Mount in Cornwall were also surrendred in the last of which Places the Marquiss of Hamilton was Prisoner by the King's Order and restored to his Liberty upon the Surrender of it which Favour he acknowledged to the Members of the House of Commons attending in Person at their door to that end The most considerable Body of Men remaining in the Field for the King was commanded by Sir Jacob Ashley who being on his March towards Oxford was attacked by Col. Morgan and Sir William Brereton at Stow in the Woald where after a sharp Dispute on both sides Sir Jacob Ashley's Forces were entirely defeated many of them killed and wounded and himself taken Prisoner During his Confinement he was heard to say That now they had no hopes to prevail but by our Divisions Which deserves the more Reflection because he being well acquainted with the King 's Secrets was not ignorant that many amongst us who at the beginning appeared most forward to engage themselves and to invite others to the War against the King finding themselves disappointed of those Preferments which they expected or out of some particular Disgusts taken had made Conditions with the King not only for their Indemnity but for Places and Advancements under him endcavouring by a Treaty or rather by Treachery to betray what had cost so much Blood to obtain These Men to strengthen their Interest applied themselves to the Presbyterian Party who jealous of the Increase of Sectaries of which the Army was reported chiefly to consist readily joined with them By which Conjunction most of the new elected Members were either Men of a neutral Spirit and willing to have Peace upon any Terms or such who tho they had engaged against the King yet finding things tending to a Composition with him resolved to have the Benefit of it and his Favour tho with the Guilt of all the Blood that had been shed in the War upon their Heads in not requiring Satisfaction for the same nor endeavouring to prevent the like for the future designing at the most only to punish some inferiour Instruments whilst the Capital Offender should not only go free but his Authority be still acknowledged and adored and so the Nation more enslaved than ever to a Power which tho it destroys the People by Thousands must be accountable to none but God for so doing whom some Persons as it is apparent by their Usage of Mankind either think not to be or not at all superiour to them Another sort of Men there was amongst us who having acquired Estates in the Service of the Parliament now adhered to the King's Party for the preserving of what they had got who together with such as had been discharged from their Employments by the Reform of the Army or envied their Success combined together against the Commonwealth This Party was encouraged and supported upon all occasions by the Scots and the City of London The first of them tho they began the War and tho their Assembly of Ministers had declared the King guilty of the Blood of Thousands of his best Subjects their Covenant engaging them in the preservation of his Person so far only as might consist with the Laws of the Land and Liberty of the Subject yet having had many good Opportunities in England and hoping for more supposing it to be in their Power to awe the King to whatsoever they should think fit they were contented to swallow that Ocean of Blood that had been shed pressing the Parliament by their Commissioners to conclude upon such Terms with the King as shewed them rather Advocates than such as had been Enemies to him The latter having had their Treasure much exhausted by the War and their Trade long interrupted besides the Influence the Scots had upon them by the means of their Ministers the Common Council being also debauched by Serjeant Glyn and others of that Party in the House of Commons it was not so much to be wondred at if they earnestly solicited for a speedy Determination of the Difference by a Treaty The King also perceiving Judgment to be given against him by that Power to which both Parties had made their solemn Appeal thought it advisable to make use of the Foxes Skin and for a time to lay aside that of the Lion sending Messages to the Parliament to desire of them a safe Conduct for his coming to London in Honour Freedom and Safety there personally to treat with the Two Houses about the means of settling a firm and lasting Peace the Scots in the mean time repeating their Instances with the Parliament to enter into the Consideration of the Articles of Religion contained in the Covenant to give a speedy Peace to his Majesty to pay them near two hundred thousand Pounds which they pretended to be due to them for their Arrcars and to make a just Estimate of the Losses they had sustained by Sea and Land since the beginning of the War for want of such Supplies as were promised them which they computed at more than the former Sum. The Parliament for divers Reasons thought it not convenient to comply with the King's Propositions and in answer to the Scots demanded of them an exact Account of what was due to them requiring them to withdraw their Garisons from such Places as they possessed in England Some Differences they had also with the Scots Commissioners concerning the Exclusion of the King from having any thing to do with the Militia and touching the Scots intermedling with the Government of England about the Education of the King's Children the disbanding of Armies and an Act of Oblivion in which Matters the Parliament of England would not permit the Scots to interpose and therefore their Commissioners acquainted them that they had not Power to consent to any Demands of that nature whereupon the Deputies of Scotland applied themselves to the Two Houses demanding that they would enlarge the Powers of their Commissioners to that end But there being found in these Demands of the Scots some Expressions highly reflecting upon the Parliament the Two Houses declared them to be injurious and scandalous and ordered them to be burnt by the Hands of the Common Hangman After which they commanded the Army to besiege Oxford who in order to that Design blocked up Farringdon Wallingford and Woodstock but before they could form the Siege of Oxford the King escaped from thence on the 27 th of April 1646. of which notice being given to the Parliament by Col. Rainsborough who lay before Woodstock they suspecting that he designed to come to London to raise a Party against them published an Ordinance declaring That whosoever should harbour or conceal the King's Person should be proceeded
MEMOIRS OF Edmund Ludlow Esq Lieutenant General of the Horse Commander in Chief of the Forces in Ireland One of the Council of State and a Member of the Parliament which began on November 3 1640. In Two Volumes VOL. I. Switzerland Printed at Vivay in the Canton of Bern. MDCXCVIII To their EXCELLENCIES The LORDS of the Council FOR THE Canton of BERN. YOUR Excellencies having been the Protectors of the Author of these Memoirs during the many Years of his Exile are justly entituled to whatever Acknowledgment can be made for those Noble Favours which you extended so seasonably and so constantly to him and his Fellow-Sufferers 'T is well known to your Lordships that the Lieutenant General would have accounted himself happy to lay down that Life for your Service which you had preserved by your Generosity But since he lived not to have so Glorious an Occasion of expressing his Gratitude no Prince how powerful soever being hardly enough to attack that Liberty which is so well secured by the Bravery and good Discipline of your own People nothing now remains to be a Monument of his Duty and your Bounty but these Papers and therefore as a just Debt they are most humbly presented to your Excellencies THE PREFACE NO History can furnish us with the Example of a Man whose Life and Actions have been universally applauded Malice or a different Interest being always ready to wound the Noblest Integrity The Vertues of Scipio and Cato the best and greatest of the Romans could not preserve them from the Assaults of Envy and Calumny of which the groundless Accusations of the former to the People and the Volumes of Aspersions published against the latter by the Vsurper Julius are a sufficient Testimony 'T is therefore no wonder that Men who endeavour to imitate those great Examples and make the Service of their Country the principal Care of their Lives should meet with the same hard Vsage What the Author of these Papers did and suffered on that account the ensuing Relation will in part witness wherein it will appear that he contended not against Persons but Things That he was an Enemy to all Arbitrary Government tho gilded over with the most specious Pretences and that he not only disapproved the Vsurpation of Cromwel but would have opposed him with as much Vigour as he had done the King if all Occasions of that nature had not been cut off by the extraordinary Jealousy and Vigilance of the Vsurper Concerning his Extraction if that be any thing it may be justly said he was descended of an Antient and Worthy Family originally known in Shropshire and from thence transplanted into the County of Wilts where his Ancestors possessed such an Estate as placed them in the first Rank of Gentlemen and their personal Merits usually concurring with their Fortune gave them just Pretences to stand Candidates to represent the County in Parliament as Knights of the Shire which Honour they seldom failed to attain His Father Sir Henry Ludlow being chosen by his Country to serve in that Parliament which began on the 3d of November 1640 was one of these who slrenuously asserted the Rights and Liberties of the People against the Invasions made upon them by the pretended Prerogatives of the Crown The Example of his Father together with a particular Encouragement from him joined to a full perswasion of the Necessity of arming in Defence of his Country mounted our Author then very young on Horseback His first Essay was at the Battel of Edg-hill where he fought as Voluntier in the Life-guard of the Earl of Essex His Father dying some time after the Eruption of our Troubles he went down to Wiltshire and was unanimously chosen by that County to be one of their Knights of the Shire to represent them in Parliament where his Integrity and Firmness to the true Interest of his Country soon became so remarkable that he was thought worthy to be intrusted with the Command of an Independent Regiment of Horse to defend the County for which he served from the Incursions of the Enemies Army And how great a Progress he made afterwards in the Science of War the Military Honours he received in a time when Rewards were not blindly bestowed may sufficiently manifest After the Death of King Charles the First he was sent into Ireland by the Parliament in the Quality of Lieutenant General of the Horse This Employment he discharged with Diligence and Success till the Death of the Lord Deputy Ireton and then acted for some time as General tho without that Title the growing Power of Oliver Cromwel who knew him to be true and faithful to the Commonwealth always finding out some Pretext to hinder the conferring that Character upon him The finishing Part was only wanting to the compleat Suppression of the Irish Rebellion and the last stroke had been given by this Gentleman if the Vsurpation of Cromwel had not prevented him Vnder that Power he never acted And tho the Vsurper employed all his Arts to gain him he remained immovable and would not be perswaded to give the least Colour or Countenance to his Ambition After the Death of Cromwel some Endeavours were made to cause the Publick Affairs to revert to their former Channel in which Attempts our Author was not an idle Spectator But Oliver had so choaked the Springs that the Torrent took another Course and all the Efforts that were made to restore the Commonwealth proving vain and fruitless Charles the Second was permitted to act his part Thereupon this Gentleman who had gone through innumerable Hazards for the Liberties of England was stripped of his Estate and under the odious name of Traitor forced to abandon his native Country That he escaped the Searches made after him in England and safely arrived in Switzerland was almost a Miracle The Preservation of his Life which was in the utmost hazard by reason of the Prejudices then reigning obliged him to confine himself to the deepest Privacy and for a short time kept him unknown till his exemplary Life made him not only to be observed but admired This Stranger for more than thirty Years was the Care of that Country and it may be justly said that by their Vigilance rather than his own the frequent Designs that were formed against his Life were defeated and some of them exemplarily punished on the Heads of their Authors During his Exile he wrote the following Memoirs conjecturing and I think he was not mistaken that some of the Family of Charles the Martyr might act such things as would make his Country relish the Relation and regret the Vsage he had found But it can never be expected that all Men should be of the same Mind And therefore when the whole Kingdom of Ireland London-derry only excepted was unhappily fallen into the hands of the Irish Papists and the Lieutenant General I hope I may say it without Offence was sent for as a fit Person to be employed to recover it
from them When the British Refugees were glad to hear him named for that Service and he in an Extasie to serve his Country any where was arrived in England the Reception he found there was such as ought rather to be forgotten than transmitted to Posierity with any Remarks upon that Conjuncture Thus being denied the Honour of dying for his Country he returned to the more hospitable Place from whence he came But England had not one good Wish the less from him on the account of her last Vnkindness For at the very Article of Death some of his last Words were Wishes for the Prosperity Peace and Glory of his Country and that Religion and Liberty might be established there on so sure and solid a Foundation that the Designs of ill Men might never bring them into Danger for the time to come MEMOIRS OF EDMVND LVDLOW Esq. HAving seen our Cause betrayed and the most solemn Promises that could be made to the Asserters of it openly violated I departed from my Native Country And hoping that my Retirement may protect me from the Rage and Malice of my Enemies I cannot think it a mispending of some part of my leisure to employ it in setting down the most remarkable Counsels and Actions of the Parties engaged in the late Civil War which spread it self through the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland wherein I shall not strictly confine my self to a relation of such things only in which I was personally concerned but also give the best Account I can of such other memorable Occurrences of those Times as I have learn'd from Persons well inform'd and of unsuspected Fidelity Those who make any Enquiry into the History of K. James's Reign will find that tho his Inclinations were strongly bent to render himself Absolute yet he chose rather to carry on that Design by Fraud than Violence But K. Charles having taken a nearer view of Despotick Government in his Journey to France and Spain tempted with the ghttering Shew and imaginary Pleasures of that empty Pageantry immediately after his Ascent to the Throne pulled off the Masque and openly discovered his Intentions to make the Crown absolute and independent In the beginning of his Reign he marry'd a Daughter of France who was not wanting on her part to press him upon all occasions to pursue the Design of enlarging his Power not omitting to solicite him also to mould the Church of England to a nearer Compliance with the See of Rome Wherein she was but too well seconded by corrupt Ministers of State of whom some were professed Papists and an ambitious Clergy whose Influence upon the King was always greater than could well consist with the Peace and Happiness of England 'T is true he called some Parliaments in the first Years of his Reign but the People soon became sensible he did it rather to empty their Purses than to redress their Grievances The Petition of Right as it was called passed in one of them yet by the manner of passing it and more by the way of keeping or rather breaking it in almost every Particular they clearly saw what they were to expect from him And the by the Votes passed in the House of Commons after a Message from the King to require their Attendance in order to a Dissolution thereby to prevent their Enquiry into his Father's Death complaining of the Grievances of the Nation and asserting the Liberties thereof declaring it Treason for any to pay Custom or other Taxes without the Authority of Parliament locking the Door of the House of Commons and compelling the Speaker to continue in the Chair till it pass'd He might have observed the Pulse of the Nation beating high towards Liberty yet contrary to his Promise to preserve the Privileges of Parliament he caused the Studies of their Members to be searched their Papers to be seized and their Persons to be imprisoned in the Tower where Sir John Elliot who was one of them lost his Life Divers others suffered in their Health and Estates being prosecuted with all Severity at the Common Law for discharging their Duty in Parliament After the Dissolution of which a Proclamation was published whereby it was made criminal in the People to speak any more of Parliaments The King having assumed this extraordinary Power resolved to make War against France not upon the account of those of the Reformed Religion as was pretended but grounded upon personal Discontents and to gratify the Revenge and Lust of his Favourite The Rochellers who once before upon Encouragement from England had endeavoured to desend their just Rights against the Encroachments of the French King till being deserted by the King of England they were necessitated to accept Terms from their King very disadvantageous to their Affairs were again by frequent Importunities and fair Promises prevailed with tho very unwillingly to assist the English with Provisions and such other things as they wanted in their Expedition against the Isle of Rhee From whence our Forces being repulsed the French King sent his Army against the Protestants of Rochel whose Provisions being before exhausted by the English they applied to the King of England for Succours according to his Promise Who as if he intended to assist them effectually caused a certain Number of Ships to be fitted out under the Conduct of Sir John Pennington But private Differences being soon after composed Sir John receiv'd a Letter from the King signed Charles Rex which was afterwards found by the Parliament amongst his Papers requiring him to dispose of those Ships as he should be directed by the French King and if any should refuse to obey those Orders to sink or fire them The King's Command was put in execution accordingly and by the help of those Ships the French became Masters of the Sea and thereby inabled to raise a Work composed of Earth Stones and Piles with which they entirely shut up the Mouth of the Harbour and so prevented them from any ReLef that way Being thus straitned on all sides they were forced to yield to the Pleasure of their King and that strong Town of 〈◊〉 wherein the Security of the Protestants of France chiefly consisted by this horrible Treachery was delivered up to the Papists and those of the Reform'd Religion in all Parts of that Kingdom exposed to the Rage of their bloody and cruel Enemies About this time the most profitable Preferments in the English Church were given to those of the Clergy who were most forward to promote the Imposition of new Ceremonies and Superstitions An Oath was enjoined by them with an c. several new Holy Days introduced and required to be observed by the People with all possible Solemnity at the same time that they were encouraged to profane the Lord's Day by a Book commonly called The Book of Sports printed and published by the King 's especial Command But this was not the only Work of which the Clergy were judged capable and therefore divers of them
entered the Lists as Champions of the Prerogative asserting that the Possessions and Estates of the Subject did of Right belong to the King and that he might dispose of them at his pleasure thereby vacating and annulling as much as in them lay all the Laws of England that secure a Propriety to the People Arbitrary Courts were erected and the Power of others enlarged such were the High Commission Court the Star-Chamber the Court of Honour the Court of Wards the Court of Râ—â—â—â—â—s c. Patents and Monopolies of almost every thing were granted to private Men to the great Damage of the Publick Knighthood Coat and Conduct-Money and many other illegal Methods were revived and put in execution to rob the People in order to support the Profusion of the Court And that our Liberties might be extirpated at once and we become Tenants at will to the King that rare Invention of Ship-Money was found out by Finch whose Solicitation and Importunities prevailed with the major part of the Judges of Westminster-Hall to declare for Law That for the Supply of Shipping to defend the Nation the King might impose a Tax upon the People That he was to be Judg of the Necessity of such Supply and of the Quantity to be imposed for it and that he might Imprison as well as Destrain in case of Refusal Some there were who out of a hearty Affection to the Service of their Country and a true English Spirit opposed these illegal Proceedings Amongst whom Mr. John Hampden of Buckingham-shire Judge Croke and Judge Hutton were of the most eminent Prerogative being wound up to this height in England and the Affairs of the Church tending to a Conjunction with the See of Rome before any farther Progress should be made therein here it was thought expedient that the Pulse of Scotland should be felt and they perswaded or compelled to the like Conformity To this end a Form of Publick Prayer was sent to Scotland more nearly approaching the Roman Office than that used in England The reading of this New Service-Book at Edinburgh was first interrupted by a poor Woman but the People were so generally discontented with the Book it self as well as the manner of imposing it that she was soon seconded by the Generality of them those who officiated hardly escaping with their Lives This produced divers Meetings of many of the Nobility Clergy and Gentry who entred into an Agreement or Covenant to root out Episcopacy Heresy and Superstition Those of the Clergy of England who had been the chief Advisers and Promoters of this Violence prevailed with the King to cause all such as should persist in their Opposition after a certain time to be proclaimed Traitors But the Scots not at all afrighted with these Menaces resolved to make good their former Undertaking Which the King perceiving and that this violent way took not effect began to incline to more moderate Counsels and by Commission empowered the Marquiss of Hamilton to treat them into a Submission consenting to the Suppression of the Liturgy High Commission Court and Articles of Perth But the Scots insisting upon the Abolition of Episcopacy and the King refusing his Consent to it they did it themselves in an Assembly held at Glasco and being informed that the King was preparing an Army to compel them to Obedience agreed upon the raising of some Forces to defend themselves The Clergy in England were not wanting to promote the New Levies against the Scots contributing largely thereunto which was but reasonable it being manifest to all that they were the principal Authors and Fomentors of these Troubles The Nobility and Gentry were likewise required to further this Expedition in which tho divers of them did appear yet was it rather out of Compliment than Affection to the Design being sensible of the Oppressions they themselves lay under and how dangerous to the People of England a thorow Success against the Scots might prove The King perceiving an Universal Dislike to this War as well in the People as in the Officers and Souldiers of his Army concluded an Agreement with the Scots at Berwick the 17 th of June 1639. But upon his Return to London under colour that many false Copies of the said Articles were published and dispersed by the Scots to the great Dishonour of the King the said Agreement was disowned and order'd to be burnt by the Hands of the Hangman Thereupon hoping that a Parliament would espouse his Quarrel and furnish him with Money for the carrying on of his Design he sammoned one to meet at Westminster on the 3 a of April 1640. which sitting but a little time thereby obtained the Name of the short Parliament The King by his Agents earnestly pressed them to grant him present Supplies for the Use of his Army but they sensible of former Usage after they had gratified him in that Particular and of the insupportable Burdens and Oppressions they lay under refused to grant any Subsidies till their Grievances should be redressed Whereupon the King put a Period to their sitting the fifth of May following the Earl of Strafford and others of his Council advising him so to do and to make use of other Means for his Supply as appeared to the ensuing Parliament by the Minutes of the Secretary of State taken at that Cabal and produced at the Trial of the said Earl The Sum of whose Advice was to this effect Sir You have now tried your People and are denied by them therefore you are clear before God and Man if you make use of other Means for your Supply You have an Army in Ireland c. This Counsel was prosecuted and new Preparations made for the carrying on of the War against the Scots all imaginable ways used to raise Supplies Privy Seals sent throughout the Nation for the Loan of Money Ship-Money Coat and Conduct-Money pressed to the height Commodities taken up on Credit and sold for ready Money Warrants also were delivered out to press Men to serve in the Army Brass-Money was propounded and some prepared but that Project took no effect The Clergy being permitted and encouraged by the King to sit in Convocation after the Dissolution of the Parliament took upon them not only to frame Canons and Oaths but also to impose four Shillings in the Pound upon Ecclesiastical Benefices throughout the Kingdom The King to give life to the Advance of his Army marched with them in Person the Earl of Northumberland as most popular wearing the name of General whilst Strafford with the Title of Lieutenant General had the principal Management of all The City of London had refused to pay some of the illegal Taxes before-mentioned whereupon divers of their chief Officers were imprisoned and an Order issued forth to take away the Sword from the Lord Mayor Whereupon the People rise and beset the House of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who in conjunction with the Earl of Strafford was supposed to put the King upon these violent and
the King to sign the Warrant for his Execution Which they did upon the twelfth of May following and the 22 d of the same Month the Earl of Strafford was beheaded accordingly At this time a treacherous Design was set on foot not without the Participation of the King as appear'd under his own Hand to bring up the English Army and by Force to dissolve the Parliament the Plunder of London being promised to the Officers and Souldiers as a Reward for that Service This was confessed by the Lord Goring Mr. Piercy and others The Scots Army was also tried and the sour Northern Counties offered to be given to them in case they will undertake the same Design And tho neither of these Attempts did succeed yet the King pleased himself with hopes that a seasonable time for dissolving the Parliament would come and then all Power reverting into his own Hands he would deal with their new enacted Laws as he had done besore with the Petition of Right and with their Members as he had done with those of the former Parliaments And that he might not long languish in this Expectation he sent to the House desiring that at once they would make their full Demands and prepare Bills accordingly for his Assent assuring them of his Readiness to comply with their Desires But they perceiving the Design return'd for answer That they could not suddenly resolve on so weighty a Work but would do it with all possible speed In the mean time to improve the present Opportunity they prevail with the King to pass an Act for the Exclusion of the Bishops out of the House of Lords for tho he was unwilling to grant the Parliament any thing yet the State of his Affairs was such that he durst deny them no reasonable thing And now having paid to the Scots and English Armies what was due to them they dismissed them to their respective homes The King having laid his Designs in Ireland as will afterwards appear was not without great Difficulty prevailed with by the Parliament to consent to the disbanding of those eight thousand Irish Papists that had been raised there by the Earl of Strafford Soon after which he resolved upon a Journey to Scotland and tho the Parliament endeavoured to disswade him from it or at least to defer it to a fitter Opportunity he refused to hearken to them under pretence that the Affairs of that Kingdom necessarily required his Presence but in truth his great business was to leave no means unattempted to take off that Nation from their Adherence to the Parliament of England Before his Departure he signed a Commission to certain Persons impowering them to pass the Bills that should be tender'd in his Absence Whilst he was about this Work in Scotland the News of the Irish Rebellion was brought to him that the Papists throughout that Kingdom were in Arms that their Design to surprize and seize the Castle of Dublin had not succeeded being discovered by one O Connelly a Servant of Sir John Clotworthy's and that the Lord Macquire and Mac-mahon who were appointed to that end were taken and sent into England where they were soon after executed for the same The News of this Rrebellion as I have heard from Persons of undoubted Credit was not displcasing to the King tho it was attended with the Massacre of many thousands of the Protestants there Having made what Progress he could in Scotland confirming by Act of Parliament not only what he had formerly granted them but also what they had done in their Assembly at Glascow and in effect whatsoever they desired of him he returned to London where being received with Acclamations and treated at the Expence of the City he became elevated to that degree that in his first Speech to the Commons he sharply reproved them for that instead of thanking him for what he had done they continued to multiply their Demands and Dissatisfactions Whereupon the Parliament were confirmed in their Suspicions that he design'd to break what he had already granted so soon as he had Opportunity and Power in his hands to plead that he was under a Force as some of his Predecessors had done and so reverse what had been enacted for the Good of the People revenge himself on those who had been Instruments in compelling him thereto and fortify himself against the like for the future These Apprehensions made them carnestly insist upon settling the Militia of the Nation in such Hands as both Houses of Parliament should recommend to him particularly representing the great Dissatisfaction of the City of London that Sir William Bâ—lfeur for refusing to permit the Earl of Strafford to escape was dismissed from his Charge of Lieutenant of the Tower and the Government of it put into the hands of one Lunsford a Souldier of Fortune of a profligate Conversation and fit for any wicked Design With much difficulty this Lunsford was removed and Sir John Conyers put into his place but the Parliament and City not satisfied with this Choice and having discovered that Sir John Suckling under pretence of raising a Regiment for Portugal was bringing together a number of Mento seize the Tower for the King it was at last entrusted to the Custody of the Lord Mayor of London About this time great Numbers of English Protestants flying from the bloody Hands of the Irish Rebels arrived in England filling all Places with sad complaints of their Cruelties to the Protestants of that Kingdom Whereupon the Parliament earnestly pressed the King to proclaim them Rebels but could not obtain it to be done till after many Weeks and then but forty of those Proclamations were printed and not above half of them published which was the more observed and resented by reason of the different Treatment that the Scots had met with who no sooner appeared in a much better Cause but they were forth with declared Rebels in every Parish-Church within the Kingdom of England The Rebels in Ireland pretended a Commission from the King for what they did which so alarm'd the People of England that the King thought himself necessitated to do something therein and therefore to carry on his Design he acquainted the Parliament that when an Army was raised he would go in Person to reduce them but they apprehending this pretended Resolution to be only in order to put himself at the Head of an Army that he might reduce the Parliament to his Will refused to consent and procured an Act to pass for the leaving of that War to the management of the two Houses the King obliging himself not to give Terms to any of the Rebels or to make Peace with them without the Parliament's Consent In this Act Provision was made for the satisfying of such as should advance Money for the reduction of Ireland out of the Rebels Lands in several Provinces according to the Rates therein mentioned Upon which considerable Sums of Money were sâ—on brought in The Parliament neglecting no Opportunity
to carry on this necessary Work procured some Forces to be sent from Scotland into the North of Ireland and put into their hands the Town and Castle of Carrickfergus They also dispatched several Regiments of English thither who were blessed with wonderful Success against the Rebels particularly about Dublin where the Earl of Ormond commanded Those of the English Pale by fair Pretences procured Arms to be delivered to them yet basely cut off a Party of five or six hundred Men sent to relieve Sir Richard Titchburn then besieged at Droghedah who finding no hopes of Relief made his Retreat to Dublin by Sea The Lord Forbes a Scots-man was sent with a Party into Munster where he greatly annoyed the Enemy and being furnished with some Ships sailed up the Shannon and secured several Places upon that River particularly Bonratte the Residence of the Earl of Thomond where he found about threescore Horse fit for Service Major Adams was made Governour of that House But the Enemy frequently resorting to a Place called Six-Miles-Bridg about two or three Miles from thence the English pressed the Earl to assist them to fall upon the Irish who unwilling to oppose the English Interest and no less to make the Rebels his Enemies endeavoured to excuse himself yet upon second thoughts resolved to comply if some care might be taken to spare his Kindred Whereupon some of the English Officers proposing to him that his Relations should distinguish themselves by some Mark and he concluding it to be in order to secure them to the English Interest chose rather to withdraw himself into England and to leave his House to the Souldiers where tho he pretended he had no Money to lend them to supply their wants they found two thousand Pounds buried in the Walls which they made use of for the paiment of their Forces The King finding that nothing less would satisfy the Parliament than a thorow Correction of what was amiss and full Security of their Rights from any Violation for the suture considered how to put a stop to their Proceedings and to that end encouraged a great number of loose debauch'd Fellows about the Town to repair to Whitehall where a constant Table was provided for their Entertainment Many Gentlemen of the Inns of Court were tamper'd with to assist him in his Design and things brought to that pass that one of them said publickly in my hearing What! shall we suffer these Fellows at Westminster to domineer thus Let us go into the Country and bring up our Tenants to pull them out Which Words not being able to bear I questioned him for them and he either out of fear of the publick Justice or of my Resentment came to me the next Morning and asked pardon for the same which by reason of his Youth and want of Experience I passed by By these Actions of the King the Suspicions of the Parliament were justly increased and therefore they desired leave to provide a Guard to secure themselves from Violence which the King refused to grant unless it might be of his own Appointment alledging that their Fears were groundless But they thought otherwise being convinced that neither what had been already done was sufficiently secured unless the Militia might be placed in such hands as they could trust nor themselves safe unless attended by a Guard of their own Nomination The King 's violent ways not succeeding he fell upon other Measures in appearance more moderate yet continued his Resolution to subdue the Parliament and to colour his Proceedings with a Form of Law he lent Sir Edward Herbert his Attorny General and a Member of the House of Commons to accuse of High Treason in the Name of his Majesty Mr. William Stroud Mr. John Pym Mr. John Hampden Sir Arthur Haslerig and Mr. Denzil Hollis Members of that House and the Lord Kimbolton of the House of Lords acquainting them that he intended to proceed against them according to Law upon the following Articles 1. That they intended to change the Government of the State and to dispossess the King of his Sovereign and Lawful Power and to attribute to Subjects an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Power 2. That by false Reports and Calumnies sown against his Majesty they had endeavoured to alienate from him the Affections of his People 3. That they had done their utmost to debauch the Troops of his Majesty and to engage them in their persidious Designs 4. That they had traitorously sought to overthrow the Rights and true Form of Parliaments 5. That they had used Force and Terror to constrain the Parliament to engage in their pernicious Designs and to that end had stirred up Tumults against the King and Parliament 6. That they had by a great Treason resolved to raise Arms and had actually raised Arms against the King 7. That they had endeavoured to procure a Foreign Power to invade England Upon this the House made answer to the Attorney General that they were the proper Judges of their own Members That upon his producing the Articles that he had to accuse their Members with and the consideration of them if they found cause they would leave them to be proceeded against according to Law but commanded him at his Peril not to proceed any farther against them or any other Member without their Consent After which they published a Declaration forbidding the seizing of any of their Members without their Order authorizing them to stand upon their Guard and requiring all Justices of the Peace Constables and other Officers and People to be assisting to them and sent the Attorny General to Prison for his Proceedings in this matter The King finding his Instruments thus discouraged and being resolved to remove all Obstructions in his way went in Person to the House of Commons attended not only with his ordinary Guard of Pensioners but also with those Desperadoes that for some time he had entertained at Whitehall to the number of three or four hundred armed with Partizans Sword and Pistol At the door of the House he left his Guard commanded by the Lord Roxberry entring accompanied only by the Prince Palatine where taking possession of the Speaker's Chair and not seeing those that he looked for he said The Birds are flown For upon notice given by a Lady of the Court of the King's Intention they were retired into the City The King then demanded of the Speaker where such and such were naming the five Members to which he answered in these Words I have neither Eyes to see Ears to hear nor Tongue to speak in this place save what this House gives me The King replied I think you are in the right and then addressing himself to the House said That he was sorry he had been necessitated to come thither That no King of England had been more careful to preserve the Privileges of Parliament than he desired to be but that those five Members being dangerous Persons he had been obliged to pursue them not by Force but
by the ordinary Forms of Justice That he hoped the Parliament would send them to him to justify themselves if they could if not he knew how to find them Which said he retired The Parliament sensible of this violation of their Privileges and fearing they might be further intrenched upon ordered a Committee of the House to sit in the City of London whither their five Members were gone before for Protection The King followed them thither with a slender or rather no Guard so far was he from fearing either Parliament or City designing to engage the Citizens to deliver up the five Members to him and to stand by him in this horrid Enterprize but they would not be perswaded to comply with his Desires in that matter This violent Attempt proving unsuccessful the Parliament to assert their just Rights voted it to be a Breach of their Privileges and that the like might be prevented for the future after the Committee had sat a few days in the City they returned to Westminster accompanied with Guards from the City both by Land and Water Which the King being informed of and finding that the Design which he had laid had highly provoked the Parliament and People he retired to Hampton-Court whither those that he had formerly entertained at Whitehall soon repaired and at Kingston upon Thames appeared in a military Posture with the Lord Digby and Colonel Lunsford at the head of them The two Houses having notice thereof desired the King to disperse the said Troops and to return to the Parliament The Lord Digby was also required to attend his Duty in the House but he being conscious of his own Guilt and knowing that the King's Affairs were not yet in a posture to bid open defiance to the Parliament chose rather to betake himself to flight as the Queen did soon after upon notice that the two Houses were about to accuse her of High Treason both of them designing not only to withdraw themselves from the Prosecution of the Parliament but also to make what Preparations they could for the raising of an Army against them In order to which the Queen carried with her the Jewels of the Crown and pawned them in Holland for Arms and Money The Parliament having discovered that the Lord Digby had by a Letter advised the King to retire to some Place of Strength and there to declare against them they caused him to be proclaimed a Traitor Notwithstanding which the King instead of returning to London at the earnest Desire of both Houses in prosecution of the Lord Digby's Counsel went farther from them During his Absence many Papers passed between him and the Parliament The chief Aim of those of the latter was to perswade the King to return to London and to settle the Militia in such hands as the Parliament should advise that so all Jealousies between him and his People might be removed Those from the King were to let them know that he could not part with the Militia esteeming it to be the best Jewel of his Crown nor return to London with Safety to his Person The Declarations on both sides proving ineffectual and the King's Designs both at home and abroad being grown ripe he expressed his Dissatisfactions more openly and withdrew to York where several Lords and others affected to his Interest resorted to him with Plate Money Men Horses and Arms Amongst whom were many Papists who tho to cover the King's Designs from the People they were forbidden to come into the Court were yet privately encouraged and daily listed and armed And as the distance of York from the Parliament was one reason why the King went thither so its Nearness to Hull was another This Town he endeavoured to possess himself of being a Place of Strength where great Quantities of Arms and Ammunition had been laid up upon disbanding the Army which was lately on foot in those Parts and very convenient for the landing of Men from Holland But the Parliament suspecting the Design had sent Sir John Hotham thither to keep and defend it for their use Notwithstanding which the King persisted in his Resolution and endeavoured by sending divers Persons of Quality into the Town to surprise it but that way not taking effect he appeared in Person before it demanding Entrance of Sir John Hotham which he absolutely refused to permit alledging that he was entrusted with the Place by the Parliament for the Service of his Majesty and the Nation and that he could not surrender it without their Order The King finding that he could not prevail either by Promises or Threatnings caused Sir John Hotham to be proclaimed a Traitor and returned to York from whence he complained to the Parliament of the Affront he had received at Hull who to manifest their Approbation of Sir John Hotham's Conduct declared that he had done his Duty in denying the King admittance into the Town asserting that the Command of the Militia was entrusted with the King to be employed for the Good of the Nation of which the two Houses of Parliament sitting are the proper Judges The Parliament began now to provide for the Security of all Places and sent a Committee of four of their Members to invite the King to return to Westminster and to endeavour to promote their Interest in the Northern Parts and being informed that there was laid up in the Town of Leicester a considerable Quantity of Arms and Ammunition provided for the County and that Mr. Hastings then Sheriff under pretence of bringing with him a Guard to attend the Judges at the Assizes resolved to secure the said Magazine for the King 's Use they made choice of Officers for three Companies of Foot impowering them to raise the said Companies for the defence of the said Magazine The Captains nominated to this Employment were one Major Grey Dr. Bastwick and one of my Brothers who having been for some time in the Service of the States of Holland was newly returned to England These three having received their Commissions from the Parliament went to Leicester in order to raise their Companies which they had not fully effected when the King with all his Cavalry consisting of about two thousand Horse arrived at Leicester against whom three Companies being no way sufficient to defend the Town they resolved only to secure that Place where the Magazine lay but that not being large enough to receive more than one Company the three Captains cast Lots whose part it should be to defend it which falling upon Major Grey the other two dispersed their Men and set forwards for London but had not rode many Miles when they were seized by a Party of Horse which the King commanded the Sheriff to send after them who brought them back to Leicester from whence they were removed to York where they were kept in the Common Goal and very cruelly treated These were the first Prisoners taken on either side The Magazine by Capitulation was dispersed into several parts of the
County as properly belonging to them The Parliament that they might leave no means unattempted to perswade the King to return to them sent down Propositions directing their Commissioners at York to deliver them to him And because much of the Intentions of the Parliament appear in the said Proposals and for that they were in effect the principal Foundation of the ensuing War I conceive it will not be amiss to recite them in this place as they were agreed on by both Houses the Second of June 1642. with the Title of their Humble Petition and Advice in Nineteen Propositions sent to the King The most Humble and most Faithful Subjects of Your Majesty the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament HAving nothing in their Thoughts and Desires more precious and of higher Esteem after the Honour and immediate Service of God than the just and faithful discharge of their Duty towards Your Majesty and this Kingdom and being most sensible of the Destruction and Disorders and of the imminent Dangers and Miseries which threaten your Majesty and Subjects the which have proceeded from the subtle Informations malicious Practices and wicked Counsels of Persons ill-affected to the true Religion of God to the Peace and Honour of your Majesty and to the Good of the Commonwealth after a serious Consideration of the Causes of these Mischiefs in all Humility and Sincerity they present to Your Majesty this Petition and Advice full of Duty to the end that by Your Royal Prudence for the Establishment of your Honour and Safety and by a tender Sense of the Good and Safety of your Subjects and your Estates you may please to consent and agree unto these humble Desires and Propositions as the most necessary and most effectual means by the Blessing of the Lord to remove the Jealousies and Differences that are unhappily begot between You and your People and to procure to You and them a constant Current of Honour Peace and Happiness Proposition 1. That the Lords and all others of your Majesty's Privy Council and such other Chief Officers of State as well within the Kingdom as on the other side of the Sea be put out of all Offices and Employments except such as the two Houses of Parliament shall approve and that those who shall be put into their Places shall be approved by Parliament and that those of the Council shall take an Oath for the due execution of their Charge in such Form as the Parliament shall agree 2. That the great Affairs of the Kingdom shall not be concluded nor passed by the Advice of private Persons nor by any Counsellors unknown or that shall not have taken Oath but that such Matters as concern the Publick and are proper for the High Court of Parliament that is your Majesty's Great and Supreme Council shall be debated resolved and passed in Parliament and there only and those who shall persume to do any thing to the contrary shall be subject to the Censure and Judgment of the Parliament And other Matters of State that are proper for the Privy Council of your Majesty shall be debated and concluded by the Nobles and others who shall be chosen for that end from time to time by the two Houses of Parliament and that every publick Act that concerns the Affairs of the Kingdom and shall be agreed by the Council shall be esteemed of no force and as not proceeding from the Royal Authority if at least the greatest part of your Council have not consented thereunto and signed the same and that your Council shall be brought to a certain Number that shall not exceed twenty five nor be under fifteen and if it happen that any Counsellor's Place becomes void during the Intervals of Parliament it shall be supplied by the Plurality of Voices of those of your Council which shall be either confirmed or voided at the first Sessions of Parliament 3. That the Lord High Steward of England the Great Constable the Chancellor the Keepers of the Seals the Great Treasurer the Keeper of the Privy Seal the Earl Marshal the Admiral the Governour of the Cinque-Ports the Lieutenant of Ireland the Chancellor of the Exchequer the Master of the Court of Wards the Secretaries of State the two Chief Justices and the Chief Baron shall be chosen with the Approbation of the two Houses of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament by the major part of the Privy Council with the Condition above mentioned in the Choice of the Counsellors of State 4. That the Governour of the Children of the King shall be chosen with the Approbation of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament in the manner before-mentioned and of the Servants that are already about them the Parliament shall change such as they think fit 5. That the Children of the King shall not marry without the Advice of the Parliament and those who shall be employed therein without their knowledg shall be punished by the Parliament 6. That the Laws against Popish Recusants shall be put in effectual execution and that those of them who are Prisoners shall not be set at liberty without giving good Security 7. That Papists shall have no Vote in Councils and that their Children shall be brought up in the Protestant Religion 8. That the Parliament shall reform the Liturgy and the Government of the Church as they shall think fit with the Advice of Divines That your Majesty shall assist to put a stop to Innovations to expel suspicious and scandalous Ministers and for the countenancing of a godly and preaching Ministry throughout the Nation 9. That it will please your Majesty to content your self with the Order that the Parliament hath established in the Militia until an Act be agreed on for that purpose and that your Majesty will recal the Declarations and Proclamations against the Orders given therein by the Parliament 10. That every Member of Parliament that hath been put out of his Employment or Office shall be re-established or Satisfaction given him 11. That the Privy Counsellors and Judges shall take such Oath as shall be agreed on by Parliament for the doing of Justice and observing the Statutes that shall be agreed on by this Parliament and that Report be made every Session of Parliament of the evil Administration of Justice 12. That all Officers shall enjoy their Places so long and no longer than they behave themselves well therein 13. That all Persons shall be subject to the Justice of the Parliament even altho they remove themselves beyond the Seas 14. That the Amnesty accorded by your Majesty shall have such Exceptions therein as the Parliament shall think fit 15. That the Fortresses of the Kingdom shall have Governours of the Choice of your Majesty yet of the Approbation of the Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament as is afore said 16. That the extraordinary Guard that your Majesty hath at present about you may be discharged and that for the time to come you will raise no such
occasion commanded us to wheel about but our Gentlemen not yet well understanding the difference between wheeling about and shifting for themselves their Backs being now towards the Enemy whom they thought to be close in the Rear retired to the Army in a very dishonourable manner and the next Morning rallied at the Head-quarters where we received but cold Welcome from the General as we well deserved The Night following the Enemy left Worcester and retreated to Shrewsbery where the King was upon which the Earl of Essex advanced to Worcester where he continued with the Army for some time expecting an Answer to a Message sent by him to the King from the Parliament inviting him to return to London This Time the King improved to compleat and arm his Men which when he had effected he began his March the Earl of Essex attending him to observe his Motions and after a day or two on Sunday Morning the 23d of October 1642. our Scouts brought advice that the Enemy appeared and about nine a Clock some of their Troops were discovered upon Edge-hill in Warwickshire Upon this our Forces who had been order'd that Morning to their Quarters to refresh themselves having had but little Rest for eight and forty Hours were immediately countermanded The Enemy drew down the Hill and we into the Field near Keinton The best of our Field-pieces were planted upon our right Wing guarded by two Regiments of Foot and some Horse Our General having commanded to fire upon the Enemy it was done twice upon that part of the Army wherein as it was reported the King was The great Shot was exchanged on both sides for the space of an hour or thereabouts By this time the Foot began to engage and a Party of the Enemy being sent to line some Hedges on our right Wing thereby to beat us from our Ground were repulsed by our Dragoons without any Loss on our side The Enemy's Body of Foot wherein the King's Standard was came on within Musquet-shot of us upon which we observing no Horse to encounter withal charged them with some Loss from their Pikes tho very little from their Shot but not being able to break them we retreated to our former Station whither we were no sooner come but we perceived that those who were appointed to guard the Artillery were marched off and Sir Philip Stapylton our Captain wishing for a Regiment of Foot to secure the Cannon we promised to stand by him in defence of them causing one of our Servants to load and level one of them which he had scarce done when a Body of Horse appeared advancing towards us from that side where the Enemy was We fired at them with Case-shot but did no other Mischief save only wounding one Man through the Hand our Gun being overloaded and planted on high Ground which sell out very happily this Body of Horse being of our own Army and commanded by Sir William Balfour who with great Resolution had charged into the Enemy's Quarters where he had nailed several pieces of their Cannon and was then retreating to his own Party of which the Man who was shot in the Hand was giving us notice by holding it up but we did not discern it The Earl of Essex order'd two Regiments of Foot to attack that Body which we had charged before where the King's Standard was which they did but could not break them till Sir William Balfour at the head of a Party of Horse charging them in the Rear and we marching down to take them in Flank they brake and ran away towards the Hill Many of them were killed upon the place amongst whom was Sir Edward Varney the King's Standard-bearer who as I have heard from a Person of Honour engaged on that side not out of any good opinion of the Cause but from the Sense of a Duty which he thought lay upon him in respect of his Relation to the King Mr. Herbert of Glamorganshire Lieutenant Colonel to Sir Edward Stradling's Regiment was also killed with many others that fell in the Pursuit Many Colours were taken and I saw Lieutenant Colonel Middleton then a Resormade in our Army displaying the King's Standard which he had taken but a Party of Horse coming upon us we were obliged to retire with our Standard and having brought it to the Earl of Essex he delivered it to the Custody of one Mr. Chambers his Secretary from whom it was taken by one Captain Smith who with two more disguising themselves with Orange-colour'd Scarfs the Earl of Essex's Colour and pretending it unfit that a Penman should have the Honour to carry the Standard took it from him and rode with it to the King for which Action he was knighted Retreating towards our Army I fell in with a body of the King's Foot as I soon perceived but having passed by them undiscovered I met with Sir William Balfour's Troop some of whom who knew me not would have fired upon me supposing me to be an Enemy had they not been prevented and assured of the contrary by Mr. Francis Russell who with ten Men well mounted and armed which he maintained rode in the Life-Guard and in the heat of the pursuit had lost sight of them as I my self had also done I now perceived no other Engagement on either side only a few great Guns continued to fire upon us from the Enemy but towards the close of the Day we discovered a body of Horse marching from our Rear on the left of us under the Hedges which the Life Guard whom I had then found having discovered to be the Enemy and resolving to charge them sent to some of our Troops that stood within Musquet-shot of us to second them which tho they refused to do and we had no way to come at them but through a Gap in the Hedg we advanced towards them and falling upon their Rear killed divers of them and brought off some Arms. In which Attempt being dismounted I could not without great difficulty recover on Horse-back again being loaded with Cuirassiers Arms as the rest of the Guard also were This was the Right Wing of the King's Horse commanded by Prince Rupert who taking advantage of the Disorder that our own Horse had put our Foot into who had opened their Ranks to secure them in their Retreat pressed upon them with such Fury that he put them to flight And if the time which he spent in pursuing them too far and in plundering the Wagons had been employed in taking such Advantages as offered themselves in the place where the Fight was it might have proved more serviceable to the carrying on of the Enemy's Designs The Night after the Battle our Army quartered upon the same Ground that the Enemy sought on the day before No Man nor Horse got any Meat that Night and I had touched none since the Saturday before neither could I find my Servant who had my Cloak so that having nothing to keep me warm but a Sute of Iron
I was obliged to walk about all Night which proved very cold by reason of a sharp Frost Towards Morning our Army having received a Reinforcement of Colonel Hampden's and several other Regiments to the number of about four thousand Men who had not been able to join us sooner was drawn up and about Day-light we saw the Enemy upon the top of the Hill so that we had time to bury our Dead and theirs too if we thought fit That Day was spent in sending Trumpeters to enquire whether such as were missing on both sides were killed or Prisoners Those of ours taken by the Enemy were the Lord St. Johns who was mortally wounded and declared at his Death a full Satisfaction and Cheerfulness to lay down his Life in so good a Cause Colonel Walton a Member of Parliament and Captain Austin an eminent Merchant in London of whom the last died through the hard Usage he received in the Goal at Oxford to which he was committed It was observed that the greatest Slaughter on our side was of such as ran away and on the Enemy's side of those that stood of whom I saw about threescore lie within the compass of threescore Yards upon the Ground whereon that Brigade fought in which the King's Standard was We took Prisoners the Earl of Lindsey General of the King's Army who died of his Wounds Sir Edward Stradling and Colonel Lunsford who were sent to Warwick-Castle That Night the Country brought in some Provisions but when I got Meat I could scarce eat it my Jaws for want of use having almost lost their natural Faculty Our Army was now refreshed and Masters of the Field and having received such a considerable Addition of Strength as I mentioned before we hoped that we should have pursued the Enemy who were marching off as fast as they could leaving only some Troops to face us upon the top of the Hill but instead of that for what reason I know not we marched to Warwick of which the Enemy having notice sent out a Party of Horse under Prince Rupert who on Tuesday Night fell into the Town of Keinton where our sick and wounded Souldiers lay and after they had cruelly murdered many of them returned to their Army The King as if Master of the Field marched to Banbury and summoned it and tho about a thousand of our Men were in the Town yet pretending it not to be sufficiently provided for a Siege they surrendred it to him From thence the King went to Oxford and our Army after some Refreshment at Warwick returned to London not like Men that had obtained a Victory but as if they had been beaten The Parliament ordered them to be recruited and about the same time sent to the King who was advanced with part of his Army to Maidenhead or thereabouts to assure him of their earnest Desire to prevent the effusion of more Blood and to procure a right Understanding between his Majesty and Them The King in his Answer which was brought by Sir Peter Killegrew professed to desire nothing more and that he would leave no means unattempred for the effecting thereof Upon which Answer the Parliament thought themselves secure at least against any sudden Attempt But the very next day the King taking the advantage of a very thick Mist marched his Army within half a Mile of Brentford before he was discovered designing to surprize our Train of Artillery which was then at Hammersmith the Parliament and City which he had certainly done if two Regiments of Foot and a small Party of Horse that lay at Brentford had not with unspeakable Courage opposed his Passage and stopt the March of his Army most part of the Afternoon During which time the Army that lay quarter'd in and about London drew together which some of them and particularly the Life-Guard had opportunity the sooner to do being at that very time drawn into Chelsey-Fields to muster where they heard the Vollies of Shot that passed between the Enemy and our little Party the Dispute continued for some Hours till our Men were encompassed quite round with Horse and Foot and then being over-power'd with Numbers on every side many brave and gallant Men having lost their Lives upon the Place the rest chusing rather to commit themselves to the Mercy of the Water than to those who were engaged in so treacherous a Design leap'd into the River where many Officers and private Souldiers were drowned and some taken Prisoners However the Enemies Design was by this means defeated and they discouraged from any farther Attempt that Night The Parliament also were alarm'd in such a manner with the Danger and Treachery of this Enterprize that they used all possible Diligence to bring their Forces together so that by eight of the Clock the next Morning we had a Body of twenty thousand Horse and Foot drawn up upon Turnham-green a Mile on this side Brentford Those of ours also that lay at Kingston were marching to us by the way of London The Enemy drew out a Party of theirs towards the Hill at Acton which we attacked and forced to retire in Disorder to their main Body And here again in the opinion of many judicious Persons we lost as at Edge-hill before a favourable opportunity of engaging the Enemy with great Advantage our Numbers exceeding theirs and their Reputation being utterly lost in the last Attempt But the Earl of Holland and others pretending to encourage our Army by their Presence made use of their time to disswade the Earl of Essex from fighting till the rest of our Forces arrived magnifying the Power of the Enemy to him and thereby giving them an opportunity to draw off their Forces and Artillery towards Kingston which they did as sast as they could leaving only a body of Horse to face us between the two Brentfords the rest having secured themselves by a timely Retreat Upon this Party some of our great Guns guarded by a Regiment of Foot were towards the Evening ordered to be fired The like Guard was drawn up in the High-ways to secure our Foot from any Attempt of Horse that might be made upon them which some Great Men who pretended a Resolution to fight in that Troop blamed charging the Advisers thereof with Rashness in hazarding them in such a Pound where they must inevitably be cut off if the Enemy should advance upon them But I fear this great care was only counterfeit and that those Persons well knew the Enemy to be in a flying and not in a charging Condition as it quickly appeared for our Cannon no sooner began to play upon them but they retired to the main Body of their Army the Rear of which had by that time recovered Hounslow-heath The Enemy took up their Head-quarters at Kingston where by the advantage of the Bridg over the Thames they hoped to be able tho inferiour in Number to defend themselves against a more numerous Army if they should be attacked and to put in execution
any Design they might have upon the City or Places adjacent To prevent which our General caused a Bridg of Boats to be laid over the River between Putney and Battersey which was no sooner finished but the Enemy retired to Oxford by the way of Reading which Place they fortified and placed a Garison therein a Party of ours having quitted it upon their Approach Garisons were also placed by them in the Towns of Newcastle upon Tyne Chester Worcester and several others as they had done before in York and Shrewsbery Some of ours likewise had possessed themselves of Glocester Bristol Exeter Southampton Dover and divers other Places The Enemy being retired our Army advanced to Windsor and made it our Head-quarters for the most part of that Winter and so desirous was the Parliament to prevent any further Effusion of Blood that notwithstanding the treacherous Design of the late Expedition they again sent Propositions of Peace to the King at Oxford being the same in effect with those delivered to him before at York but they sound no better Reception than the others had done I do not remember any thing remarkable perform'd by either Party this Winter save only an Attempt of the Enemy upon one of our Quarters at Henly where two Regiments of Foot one of which was Major General Skippon's then were who being tired with a long March and dispersed to their respective Quarters were fallen upon by a great body of the Enemy that had advanced to the Town 's end undiscovered but a small Party of our Men getting together one of our Gunners hastned to the Artillery which was planted upon the Avenue fired once or twice upon them and made so great a Slaughter especially of those Officers who were at the head of their Party that they retreated in great Disorder without any farther Attempt Our General having notice that the Enemy had a Design upon Bristol sent a Party commanded by Colonel Nathanael Fines to reinforce that Garison by which means it was prevented and some of their Correspondents in the Town thereupon executed About this time Sir Edward Hungerford having obtained the Command of the Forces in the County of Wilts for the Parliament invited me to raise a Troop of Horse in his Regiment in order to which I attended him at the Devizes and from thence went with him to Salisbury where he seized some quantity of Horse and Arms from Persons disafsected and with them mounted and armed part of his Men. And I having done what was convenient at that time for the raising of my Troop returned to the Head-quarters at Windsor where I gave them an account of the good Condition of Colonel Fines and Sir Edward Hungerford at which they were not a little surprized having been made to believe that they and their Troops were routed and cut in pieces by the Enemy Sir Ralph Hopton Sir Bevil Greenvil and others were very active in raising Forces for the King in Cornwall and the remote parts of Devonshire and had possessed themselves of Pendennis Dartmouth and Barnstaple as Colonel Ashburnham and others had done of Weymouth in Dorsetshire And the Parliament had ordered Garisons to be put into Plymouth Lyme and Pool In the Spring our Army was Master of the Field the King making it his business to be only upon the defensive till the Queen should arrive in England with an Army to his Assistance hoping to exhaust the Treasure of the City of London by Delays and thereby to cause them to abate their Zeal for the Publick omitting no opportunity by his Emissaries to create and foment Differences amongst them endeavouring by all means to procure an Insurrection for him to compel the Parliament to submit to such terms as he pleased to impose The Earl of Essex marched with the Army to besiege Reading a Frontier Town of the King 's which he had strongly fortify'd and garison'd The General himself sat down on the Northwest side and the Lord Grey of Wark on the South-east side of the Town the great Shot did some Damage to the Houses from one of which a Tile salling upon the Head of Sir Arthur Ashton a Papist and Governour thereof disabled him from executing that Charge during the rest of the Siege and Colonel Fielding was made Governour in his room The King thinking this Place to be of great Importance to him brought together all the Forces he could and marching on Cansam-side in order to relieve it was opposed by a small Party of ours who taking the advantage of some Ditches and Pales to shelter themselves repulsed his Men and forced him to retreat to Oxsord Upon this the Town was surrendred upon Articles to the Earl of Essex Colonel Fielding the Governour retiring to Oxford where he was tried and condemned to die but not executed At my coming into Wiltshire with three more of the Life-Guard two whereof were to be Officers in my Troop and the third in another Troop of the same Regiment I found Sir Edward Hungerford with the Forces of Wilts and Colonel Stroud with part of those of Somersetshire besieging Warder-Castle before which they had been about a week battering it with two small Pieces whereby they had done little other hurt save only to a Chimney-piece by a Shot entring at a Window But there being a Vault on each side of the Castle for the conveying away of Filth two or three Barrels of Powder were put into one of them and being fired blew up some part of it which with the grazing of a Bullet upon the Face of one of the Servants and the threatning of the Besiegers to spring the other Mine and then to storm it if it was not surrendrcd before an Hour-glass which they had turn'd up was run out so terrified the Ladies therein whereof there was a great Number that they agreed to surrender it The Government of this Castle was entrusted to my care by Sir Edward Hungerford who left with me a Company of Foot commanded by Captain Bean and my own Troop to defend it The Earl of Marlborough with some Horse possessed himself of a House in our Neighbourhood called Fount-hill with a Design to block us up but Sir Edward sent a party of Horse who fell upon him there and obliged him to quit it I levelled the Works that had been raised during the Siegc sunk a Well broke down the Vaults about the Castle and furnished it with Provisions expecting to be besieged as I was soon after For within a Fortnight after I was possessed of it the Lord Arundel to whom it belonged and whose Father died soon after he had received News that it was taken supposing to find me unprovided came with a Party of Horse and summoned me to deliver the Place for his Majesty's Use. Some who were with me advised me so to do yet I return'd the Enemy answer That I was entrusted to keep the Castle for the Service of the Parliament and could not surrender it without their Command
The Enemy not being at that time ready to make any Attempt upon us retreated to their main Body of which tho the Marquiss of Hertford carried the name of General that thereby the Country might be encouraged to come in yet Prince Maurice as he had then the principal Influence over them so he was soon after placed in the head of them as more likely to promote that Arbitrary and boundless 〈◊〉 which the King endeavoured to set up over the People Having notice that some of the King's Forces were at Salisbury I went out with six of my Troop to procure Intelligence and to do what Service I could upon the Enemies Straglers When I came to Sutton I was informed that six of them were gone up the Town just before Whereupon we made after them and by their Horses which we saw tied in a Yard supposed them to be in the House to which it belonged upon which I went in and was no sooner within the door but two of them shut it upon me but my Party rushing in they ran out at another and escaped a third mounted one of my Mens Horses and rid away the other three who were in a Room of the House upon promise of quarter for Life surrendred themselves with whom and six Horses we returned to the Castle Our Army after they had possest themselves of Reading did nothing remarkable that Summer only there hapned some Skirmishes in one of which that most eminent Patriot Col. Hampden lost his Life by a Shot in the Shoulder Sir William Waller commanded a Party in the West with which he did considerable Service tho it was so small that he marched for the most part in the Night to conceal his Weakness He reduced Higham-house a place of Strength garisoned by the Enemy and protected the Gentlemen of the Country whilst they were raising Forces for the Parliament And being joined by Sir Arthur Hasterig's Regiment of Horse and the Forces of Wilts Somerset and Dorset with as many as could be spared from Bristol he was become so considerable as to put a stop to the March of the King 's Western Army which coming to the Town where my Father's House was wholly ruined it and destroyed his Park But upon their Removal from thence conceiving I might take some Straglers or some way or other annoy the Enemy I went thither the Night after with about forty Horse where tho I could hear of no Men yet I found much Provision which a Gentlewoman had obliged the People of the Town to bring together and which she was preparing to send to the King's Army with Horses and Carts ready to carry it amongst which there was half a dozen Pasties of my Father's Venison ready baked which with as much of the other Provisions as we could we carried away with us The two Armies before-mentioned engaged about Lansdown where the Success was doubtful a good while but at last ours obtained the Victory The Cornish-men commanded by Sir Bevil Greenvil stood their Ground till they came to push of Pike but were then routed and Sir Bevil killed The Enemy retreated to the Devizes and ours pursued them The News of this Action being brought to us I marched out with my Horse towards Warmister and in the way searching the Houses of some Persons disaffected to the Publick we found two of our most active Enemies whom we carried away Prisoners But the great Hopes we had conceived of enjoying some Quiet in the West by the means of this Victory were soon blasted for a body of Horse sent from Oxford not being attended by any from our Army tho as I have heard commanded so to do engaged our Horse on Roundway-hill where the Over-forwardness of some of our Party to charge the Enemy upon disadvantageous Ground was the principal Cause of their Defeat The Horse being routed our Foot also quitted their Ground and shifted for themselves many of whom were taken and many killed the rest retreated to Bristol where they made the best Preparation they could to defend themselves expecting suddenly to be besieged as it fell out Sir William Waller with what Horse he had left marched to London where no means were omitted to recruit them Exeter was surrendred to the Enemy upon terms and Bristol besieged which being stormed on one side and ours not doing their Duty part of the Enemy being entred the Governour desired to capitulate and delivered up the Town upon Articles which were not well kept in retaliation as they pretended for the like breach by ours at the taking of Reading The Governour of Bristol was hereupon tried and condemned by a Court Martial how justly I know not but the Parliament ordered the execution of the Sentence to be suspended About this time a Gentleman of the Country related to the Lord Cottington desired a Conference with me wherein he endeavoured to perswade me to surrender the Castle of Warder promising me any Terms I would desire and assuring me that several of the Western Gentlemen finding our Affairs desperate had made their Peace with the King and that the Kentish Men who were risen for him would be sufficient to accomplish his Work tho he had no other Army Also Colonel Robert Philips my Friend and Kinsman coming before the Castle some time after with a Party of Horse and desiring to speak with me was earnest with me to the same effect my Answers to both were that I had resolved to run all Hazards in the discharge of that Trust which I had undertaken The two Houses of Parliament notwithstanding the many Difficulties they met with at home having sent over Forces to subdue the Rebels in Ireland thought it also their Duty to send Recruits thither and at the same time presented the Earl of Ormond with a Jewel as a Testimony of their acceptance of his Service at the Battle of Rosse where there was above forty of his own Name and Kindred killed upon the place and the Enemy totally routed tho for a long time they had much the better of the day The Earl of Leicester having been voted Lieutenant of Ireland by the Parliament and approved by the King wanted nothing but his Commission to begin his Journey for that Kingdom which after several Delays he received from the King but being at Chester in order to take Shipping the Carriages and Draught-Horses which lay there for that Service as also the Clothes and other Provisions designed by the Parliament for the Souldiers in Ireland were seized by the King's Order and made use of for his Service here whilst his Agents there endeavoured to perswade the English Souldiers in that Country that they were neglected by the Parliament Upon which false Suggestion he prevailed with them to serve him in England against the Parliament and contrary to his Engagement to both Houses not to treat with the Rebels without their Concurrence made a Cessation with them and brought over many of them to serve in his Army against the
Parliament who being encompassed with Difficulties on all hands and understanding that the Queen was landing with a considerable Strength at Bridlington-Bay in the County of York sent Commissioners to treat with their Friends in Scotland to march into England to their Assistance In the mean timethe King's Army besieged the City of Glocester the King being there in Person to countenance the Siege The Besieged made a vigorous Defence for about a Month during which the Parliament took care to recruit their Army in order to relieve them Their Rendezvouz was appointed on Hounslow-heath whither some Members of Parliament of which my Father was one were sent to inspect their Condition that their Wants being known might be the better supplied who found them a very shatter'd and broken Body but the City being then very affectionate to the Publick soon recruited them and drew forth so many of their Trained Bands and Auxiliary Regiments as made them up a gallant Army In their March towards Glocester some of ours fell upon a Party of the Enemy at Cirencester of whom they took many Prisoners and seized a great quantity of Provisions which they found prepared for the Enemy who upon our Approach raised the Siege The Earl of Essex having relieved the Town was marching back again when he perceived the Enemy endeavouring to get between him and London and to that end falling upon his Rear with a strong Party of Horse they so disordered his Men and retarded the March of his Army that he sound himself obliged to engage them at Newbury The Dispute was very hot on both sides and the Enemy had the better at the first but our Men resolving to carry their point and the City-Regiments behaving themselves with great Bravery gave them before Night so little cause to boast that the next Morning they were willing to permit the Earl of Essex to march to London without interruption Few Prisoners were taken on either side The Enemy had several Persons of Quality killed the principal of whom were the Earl of Carnarvan the Earl of Sunderland the Lord Falkland and a French Marquiss We lost a Colonel of one of the City-Regiments together with some inferiour Officers Some of the Lords and Commons contrary to their Duty withdrew themselves from the Parliament at Westminster and went to the King at Oxford where they met together but never did any thing considerable for the King's Service and shewed themselves so little willing to assume the name of a Parliament that the King in a Letter to the Queen a Copy whereof was afterwards found amongst his Papers called them his Mongrel Parliament In the mean time the Earl of Manchester received a Commission from the Parliament to raise Forces in the associated Counties of Suffolk Norfolk Essex Cambridg Huntington c. which was very necessary for the King was Master of all Places of Strength from Berwick to Boston except Hull and two small Castles in Lincolnshire and Ferdinando Lord Fairfax not able to keep the Field against the Earl of Newcastle was retired with his Horse and Foot to Hull the Enemies Strength in the North no way inferiour to what it was in the West and none considerable enough to oppose their March into the South The Earl of Newcastle upon advice that the Lord Willoughby of Parham had possessed himself of the Town of Gainsborough for the Parliament sent his Brother Col. Cavendish Lieutenant General of his Army with a great Party of Horse and Dragoons to summon it himself marching after with the Foot Col. Oliver Cromwell having notice thereof and understanding by fresh Experience that Victory is not always obtained by the greater Number having lately defeated near Grantham twenty four Troops of the Enemies Horse and Dragoons with seven Troops only which he had with him resolved to endeavour the Relief of Gainsborough and with twelve Troops of Horse and Dragoons marched thither where he found the Enemy who were drawn up near the Town to be more than thrice his Number and no way to attack them but through a Gate and up-hill notwithstanding which Disadvantages he adventured to fall upon them and after some Dispute totally routed them killing many of their Officers and amongst them Lieutenant General Cavendish Thus was Gainsborough relieved but the Conquerors had little time to rejoice for within two or three hours the routed Enemy rallying and joining with the rest of Newcastle's Army marched against them Upon which they retreated to Lincoln that night in good order and without any Loss facing the Enemy with three Troops at a time as they drew off the rest Lincoln not being defensible Col. Cromwell marched the next day to Boston that he might join the Earl of Manchester who with his new-rais'd Forces had very seasonably reduced Lynn a Town in Norfolk not far from the Sea naturally strong and might have proved impregnable if Time had favoured Art and Industry to have fortified and furnished it with Provisions But Sir Hammond Lestrange who had before surprized it for the King was soon surprized himself and being suddenly summoned by the Earl of Manchester and threatned with a Storm after he had fired a few great Shot against the Besiegers thought fit to surrender it upon Articles From thence the Earl of Manchester marched to Boston where being joined by Col. Cromwell appointed by the Parliament to command under him and a Party of Horse brought by Sir Thomas Fairfax by Sea from Hull he mustered about six thousand Foot and thirty seven Troops of Horse and Dragoons To prevent any further addition to his Forces the Earl of Newcastle advanced with his Army and sent a strong Detachment of Horse and Dragoons towards Boston appearing by their Standards to be eighty seven Troops commanded by Sir John Henderson an old Souldier who hearing that Col. Cromwell was drawn out towards him with the Horse and Dragoons made haste to engage him before the Earl of Manchester with the Foot could march up as accordingly it fell out at a place called Winsby-field near Horn-castle In the first shock Col. Cromwell had his Horse kill'd under him yet the Encounter was but short tho very sharp for there being Field-room enough the Fight lasted but a quarter of an hour before the Earl of Newcastle's Forces were totally routed and many of them killed amongst them the Lord Widdrington Sir Ingram Hopton and other Persons of Quality The Enemy had no time to rally being pursued by ours almost as far as Lincoln which was fourteen Miles off in which Pursuit divers of them were killed and made Prisoners and many Horse and Arms taken Neither were they suffered to rest at Lincoln the Earl of Manchester marching thither the day following where the Enemies broken Troops had endeavoured to fortisy the higher part of the City called the Close but had not quite finished their Works when the Earl arrived and summoned them to surrender which they resusing our Foot and Horse fell on and took it
by storm with little loss on our side About this time a considerable Party in Kent rose and declared for the King which was dispersed by some Forces sent from London under the Command of Col. Brown whereby the Committee of Kent were encouraged and enabled to raise a good Body of Horse and Foot for the Service of the Parliament My Father apprehending that I was not likely to be relieved in three or four Months in case I were besieged and knowing that the Enemies were Masters of the Field in those Parts and that I was about twenty Miles from any of our Garisons procured an Order from the Parliament impowering me to slight the Castle of Warder and to draw off the Garison if I saw cause which Care of theirs quickned my Zeal to their Service and put me upon endeavouring as well as I could to prepare for the worst To that end being in want of Ammunition I went to Southampton where I bought what they could spare and returned to the Castle where being in great want of Money having always paid the Country People for whatsoever I had from them I made a seasonable Discovery of Money Plate and Jewels to the value of about twelve hundred Pounds walled up by the Enemy Part of this Sum I expended upon the Garison and gave an account thereof to the Parliament The Enemy was now beginning to draw about us yet would not actually besiege us before they had endeavoured to reduce us by Treachery To this end one Capt. White a Papist of Dorsetshire having found a Boy at Shaftsbury fit for the purpose gave him such Instructions as he thought fit He was not above twelve Years of Age and yet as I was afterwards informed had already attempted to poison his Grandfather This Boy he sent to the Castle to desire of me to be admitted to turn the Spit or perform any other servile Employment to which I consented his Youth freeing him as I thought from any Suspicion About three or four days after a Party of the Enemies Horse appeared before the Castle and making a great shout the Cattle belonging to the Garison consisting of about forty Cows and one Bull which they all followed ran away at the Noise Some of us endeavouring to turn them the Enemy fired so thick upon us that one of my Souldiers and my self were forced to betake our selves to a Tree for shelter where my Souldier levelling his Musquet through a hole of the Tree which was about a Foot in diameter a Ball from the Enemy grazing upon the upper part of the Hole and thereby forced downwards shot the young Man through the Hand and me into the Leg which obliged me to keep my bed for two days A great Wall-gun called a Harquebuz de Croq being fired from the top of the Castle burst in the middle At night as this Boy was sitting with the Guard by the fire some of them conceived a Jealousy of him and strictly examining him about the cause of his coming he affirmed it to be because the Master whom he served had used him cruelly for speaking some Words in favour of the Parliament With which Answer they not being satisfied threatned that unless he would confess the truth they would hang him immediately and to afright him tied a piece of Match about his Neck and began to pull him up on a Halbert Upon this he promised to confess all if they would spare his Life and thereupon acknowledged that Capt. White had hired him to number the Men and Arms in the Castle to poison the Arms the Well and the Beer to blow up the Ammunition to steal away one of my best Horses to carry him back to them for which Service he was to receive half a Crown confessing that he had accordingly poisoned two Cannon and the Harquebuz that was broken but pretended that his Conscience would not give him leave to poison the Water and the Beer The great Guns were made serviceable again by oiling and making a fire in them The Poison he used was of a red Colour and made up in the shape of a Candle with part of which he had rubbed three of our Guns After this Deliverance we got in some Cattle for our Provision but the Enemy drawing into the Villages about us soon prevented us from bringing in any more Yet we ventured one Morning knowing it to be Market-day to draw out between forty and fifty Pikes and Firelocks with which we went about a quarter of a Mile from the Castle upon the Road that leads to Shaftsbury According to our expectation the Market-people came with Carts and Horses loaded with Corn and other Provisions which we seized and sent to the Castle paying for it the Market-price at which they were not a little surprized By this means we furnished our selves with three Months more Provision than we had before which we had no sooner taken in when the Enemy drew round the Castle and from that time blocked us up more closely raising a Breastwork by casting up of Earth about a Tree which we had cut down on the side of a Hill from whence they commanded the Gate of the Castle the only way that we had to sally out upon occasion and shot several of our Men amongst the rest my Gunner as they fetched in Wood. The Person that commanded the Party which lay before us was one Capt. Christopher Bowyer of Dorsetshire who to get us out of the Castle proposed to grant us what terms we desired to which we replied that we designed to discharge our Duty by keeping it as long as we could Upon this he threatned us with great Numbers of Horse and Foot attended with several pieces of Cannon which he said were drawing towards us boasting of the Justice of his Cause and representing to us the Greatness of our Danger and the inevitable Ruin that must ensue upon our Obstinacy But Capt. Bean who at that time served as Cannoneer ours being shot as I mentioned before told him that we were not at all afrighted with his Menaces but upon confidence of the Justice of our Cause were resolved to defend the Place to the utmost and warning him to look to himself fired a Gun with which he wounded him in the Heel and it being unsafe for any to carry him off by day his Wound gangreened before night and he died about two days after In the room of Capt. Bowyer one Col. Barnes was sent by the King to command the Forces that lay before us he was Brother to an honest Gentleman who was Chaplain to my Father for whose sake and because he had the Reputation of being an old Souldier a thing much valued by the Parliament at that time my Father had procured him a considerable Employment in their Service in which he continued as long as their constant Pay lasted but that failing he ran away to the King Upon his coming he raised a Fort within Musquet-shot of us on the Hill that
surrounded the Castle except only on the West-side where was a Pond of about six Acres The Enemy possessed themselves of all the Out-houses but used them only by night not thinking it safe to come at them by day which we observing one Evening conveyed forty Men through a Vault leading to those Houses ordering them to lie private and endeavour to surprize them when they came which had been effected if one of ours contrary to order upon the entrance of the first of the Enemy had not fired his Pistol and thereby given warning to the rest to shift for themselves The Man who was the occasion of this Disappointment was deprived of the use of his Arms till he should attempt something for the redeeming of his Reputation which soon after upon a Sally we made on the Enemy he did in which we took two of the Enemies Horses and made some Prisoners How many of them were killed we could not learn On our side some were wounded of whom one died soon after A Kinsman of mine who was related to the Lord Cottington was sent from Oxford to offer me what Terms I would desire I permitted him to come in that seeing our Strength and Provision he might make his Report to the Enemy to our Advantage For things were fo ordered by removing our Guards from place to place filling up our Hogsheads with empty Barrels and covering them with Beef and Pork and in like manner ordering our Corn that every thing appeared double to what it was to them The Substance of the Conditions I proposed was That if I understood from the Earl of Essex that he could not relieve us within six Months we would then deliver the Castle upon condition that it should not be made a Garison That the Parliament should have two thousand Pounds for what they had expended in the taking and keeping of it with some other Particulars which the Gentleman carried to Oxford with him but we never had any Return from him about them neither indeed did we expect any Our Beer was now spent our Corn much diminished and we had no other Drink but the Water of our Well which tho we drunk dry by day yet it was sufficiently supplied every night But being resolved to keep the Castle as long as we could we shortned our Allowance so that three Pecks and a half of Wheat one day and a Bushel of Barley another served near a hundred Men which was all our Force my Troop being sent away before for want of Conveniency for Horse This Allowance was so short that I caused one of the Horses we had taken to be killed which the Souldiers eat up in two days besides their Ordinary The Forces that had been sent by the Parliament to the Assistance of the distressed Protestants in Ireland being under pretence that they were neglected as hath been before mentioned brought into England to serve against those who raised them and the Rebels by the Pacification made with them by the King's Order contrary to his Promise to the Parliament left in the full Enjoyment of what they had gotten from the English by Rapine and Murder part of those who came out of Ireland landed at Chester and drew before Nantwich they were commanded by one Capt. Sandford Brother to Sir William Sandford a worthy Person of Grays-Inn to whom he had solemnly promised never to engage against the Parliament Yet did he send in a very threatning Summons to the Town and seconded it with a most furious Assault whilst the Works were but slenderly defended the Guard consisting for the most part of Townsmen who were then gone to dinner But it so happened that a Boy of the Age of fifteen firing a Musquet from the Town shot him dead in the place which discouraged his Souldiers from any farther Attempt Col. George Monk who had been sent by the Parliament into Ireland against the Rebels for some time scrupled to quit that Service and to engage in this being upon that account secured on Ship-board by the Earl of Ormond whilst he sent those Forces into England lest he should have obstructed their going over yet having afterwards his liberty to wait on the King was prevailed with to join with them and soon after taken Prisoner by a Party from Yorkshire commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax who sent him Prisoner to Hull from whence some time after he was conveyed to the Tower of London Another Party of the Forces from Ireland landed in the West and marched as far as Hinden towards Warder-Castle in order to besiege it but being informed that the Person whom they were to dispossess was a Protestant and he into whose hands they were to put it was a Papist they mutinied against their Offcers and refused to be employed against us The Queen landed with an Army of French Walloons and other Foreigners and brought with her great store of Ammunition and Money procured by pawning the Crown-Jewels in Holland With these and other Forces the Earl of Newcastle marched to besiege Hull of which Place the Lord Ferdinando Fairfax was Governour who with the Assistance of the Seamen belonging to some Ships that lay in the Harbour made so fierce a Sally upon the Enemy that they were forced to quit some of their Guns and withdraw to a greater distance leaving many of their Men behind them of whom some were killed and others taken Prisoners Col. Overton carried himself as I am well informed with much Honour and Gallantry in this Action This bad Success so dispirited the Enemy that they abandoned the Siege and retired to York to which also the approach of Winter and the Preparations of the Scots to march into England did not a little contribute For the Parliaments of both Kingdoms had at length agreed upon Terms and removed the last and greatest Difficulty consisting in some doubtful Words in the Covenant which was to be taken by both Nations concerning the preservation of the King's Person and reducing the Doctrine and Discipline of both Churches to the Pattern of the best Reformed For which Sir Henry Vane one of the Commissioners of the Parliament found out an Expedient by adding to the first Clause these or the like words In preservation of the Laws of the Land and Liberty of the Subject and to the Second according to the Word of God Which being an Explanation that could not be refused prevented any farther Contestation about that Matter About this time the Enemy by cruel Usage put a period to the Life of my Brother Capt. Robert Ludlow who was their Prisoner as I before related The News of this and of the Danger I was in so afflicted my Father together with his constant Labours in the publick Service and possibly his Dissatisfaction about the Imprisonment of his good Friend Mr. Henry Martin for Words spoken in the House as he conceived in discharge of his Duty that he died expressing himself deeply sensible of the Condition of the bleeding Nation and heartily
praying for the Prosperity of the Publick Cause The Words spoken by Mr. Martin in the Parliament were to this purpose That it was better one Family should perish than that the People should be destroyed And being required to explain himself he ingenuously confessed that he meant the Family of the King for which he was committed to the Tower but afterwards released and re-admitted to his Place in the Parliament About the same time Mr. John Pym also died who had been very instrumental in promoting the Interest of the Nation His Body was for several days exposed to publick view in Derby-house before it was interred in confutation of those who reported it to be eaten with Lice The Enemy before Warder-Castle kept their Guards within Pistol-shot of it day and night so that we could not expect any more Intelligence from abroad yet one of ours sent by us into the Country a Week before to informs us of the state of Affairs met at an honest Man's House not far from the Castle a Souldier whom the Enemy had pressed to serve them whose Heart being with us these two agreed that when Relief should be coming he who was without should appear with a white Cap on his Head and blow his Nose with his Handkerchief In the mean time the Besiegers raised a Battery and by a shot from thence cut off the Chain of our Portcullis which rendring our Gate unserviceable to us we made it so to them by barricading it up on the inside so that now we had no way out but through a Window our other Doors being walled up before But the Battery not answering their expectation they resolved to try other Experiments either by digging a Hole in the Castle-wall and putting a sufficient quantity of Powder therein to blow it up or by undermining the said Wall and supporting it with Timber and then setting it on fire whereby they supposed to destroy that also on which the Wall rested and so to bring down the Wall In order to this they prepared Materials to defend them whilst they were about the Work and brought together about two dozen of Oaken Plants three Inches thick which they endeavoured in a dark Night to set up against the Castle-wall half of them on one side and half on the other Our Sentinels discovered them on one side and beat them off forcing them to leave their Boards behind them On the other side they set them up and in the Morning were hard at work under their Shelter We heard a noise of digging but for some time could not perceive where at length we discovered the place and endeavoured to remove them by throwing down hot Water and melted Lead tho to little purpose At last with Hand-granadoes we obliged them to quit their Work and to leave their Tools behind them with their Provisions for three or four days and tho we had no way out of the Castle but by a narrow Window yet we brought in their Materials and Provisions for that Morning having shot the Officer that commanded their Guard in the Head their Trenches not being finished to secure their Approaches to the Out-houses under the shelter of which they kept their Guard and being admonished by what befel Capt. Bowyer of the danger of delaying to dress a Wound they desired leave to carry off their wounded Man which I granted on condition that they would commit no Act of Hostility in the mean time And when five or six of them who carried him off were about Pistol-shot from the Wall I appeared with forty Musqueteers ready to fire on the top of the Castle and ordered three or four Men out of the Window mentioned before who brought in their Materials A Relation of mine one Capt. Henry Williams who commanded a Company in Colonel Barns his Regiment desiring to be admitted to speak with me and I consenting he endeavoured to perswade me to a Surrender offering me any Conditions I would ask but his Arguments made no Impression upon me In the mean time the King to encourage his Friends in the City to rise for him sent them a Commisiion to that purpose by the Lady Aubogny which she brought made up in the Hair of her Head but the Design being discovered she sled for Resuge to the House of the French Ambassador who refusing to deliver her to Sir Henry Vane and Mr. John Lisle sent by the Parliament with a Guard to seize her pretending his Privilege the House being informed by Sir Francis Knowles that at the time of the bloody Massacre at Paris one of the French King's Secretaries who was of the Reformed Religion flying to the English Ambassador's House for Protection and disguizing himself amongst the Grooms was forced 〈◊〉 thence by the King's Command ordered this Lady to be treated in the like manner which was done accordingly Hereupon an Order was passed for the Trial of those who were engaged in this Conspiracy and Mr. Thomson and Mr. Challoner were found guilty and executed for it Sir John Hotham and his Son were also condemned to lose their Heads for endeavouring to betray the Garison of Hull to the Enemy which Sentence was put in execution upon the Son the 1 st of January 1643. and on the Father the day following Sir Alexander Carew was also beheaded for endeavouring to betray Plimouth with the Government of which he was entrusted by the Parliament About the 16 th of the same January the Scots marched into England and having Berwick secured for them the first thing they attempted was the taking of Newcastle which they did by storm The Lords and Commons for their Encouragement having sentenced and caused execution to be done upon William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury their Capital Enemy o◠the 10 th of the same Month. Sir William Waller being reinforced with some City-Regiments thought himself strong enough to take the field and because the Western Clothiers were often obstructed in their Passage to London by the Garison of Basinghouse which was kept for the King he attempted to reduce it but was repulsed with loss After which he marched to Arundel in Sussex where he soon beat the King's Garison out of the Town into the Castle which after some time and the loss of some Men was surrendred to him with several Persons of Quality therein at Mercy About the middle of January Sir William assured us that if we held out a Fortnight longer he would relieve us or lay his Bones under our Walls We had also some hopes given us from Southampton and Pool the latter of which Places about this time some of the Inhabitants endeavoured to betray to the Lord Crawford but the Design being discovered as the Enemy was entring the Outworks and expecting to be admitted into the Town some great Guns loaded with small Shot were fired upon his Men and made a great Slaughter amongst them Between these two Garisons of Southampton and Pool lay my Troop of Horse to do what Service they could
the Inn several of them pressing me to discourse and particularly concerning the Justice of our Cause I excused my self by reason of my present Circumstances but they still persisting I thought my self obliged to maintain the necessity of our taking up Arms in defence of our Religion and Liberties but some of them being wholly biassed to their Interest as they went from me met a Relation of mine one Col. Richard Manning who tho a Papist commanded a Regiment of Horse in the King's Service and told him that they came from one of the boldest Rebels that they had ever seen The Colonel coming to visit me informed me of this Discourse advising me whatsoever I thought not to be so free with them lest they should do me some Mischief The next Morning before our Departure for Oxford Sir Francis Doddington brought me to Sir Ralph Hopton's Lodgings which being the Head-quarters we found there most of the Principal Officers of that Army where the General after he had saluted me demanded how I being a Gentleman could satisfy my self to bear Arms against my King I told him that as I conceived the Laws both of God and Man did justify me in what I had done Well said he I understand you are so fixed in your Principles that I am like to do little good upon you by my Perswasions but shall desire the Archbishop of Armagh to take the pains to speak with you when you come to Oxford and if he cannot work on you I know not who can This Bishop was very learned and of great Reputation for Piety yet I was assured by one who had his Information from Mr. Bernard of Batcomb that when the said Mr. Bernard earnestly pressed him to deal faithfully with the King in the Controversy which was between him and the Parliament concerning Episcopacy according to his own Judgment in that matter which he knew to be against it representing to him the great and important Service he would thereby do to the Church of God the Archbishop answered that if he should do as Mr. Bernard proposed he should ruin himself and Family having a Child and many Debts For this reason those Arguments which could not prevail with me when used by others were not likely to be of more Efficacy from him who in a business of such Concernment had been diverted from the discharge of his Duty by such low and sordid Considerations The next day I came to Oxford conducted by a Party of Horse commanded by one who was Captain Lieutenant to Sir Francis Doddington where reposing a while at a House near Christ-Church till the Pleasure of the King might be known concerning me there came to me two Persons very zealous to justify the King's Cause and to condemn that of the Parliament These Men were Irish Papists sent over by the Rebels in Ireland to treat with the King on their part about assisting him against the Parliament This I afterwards understood from one of them whose Name was Callaghan O Callaghan when together with the Brigade commanded by the Lord Musquerry he laid down his Arms to me in Ireland The King looking upon such Men as most fit to be confided in gives the Presidentship of Munster vacant by the Death of Sir William St. Leger to the Lord Musquerry an Irish Rebel which the Lord Inchequin Son-in-law to Sir William soliciting for and claiming a Right to it took so ill that the Lord Broghill as he since informed me found no great difficulty to prevail with him to declare for the Parliament who thereupon made him their President of Munster In this Capacity he performed many considerable Services against the Irish taking great store of Plunder from them and not sparing even his own Kindred but if he found them faulty hanging them up without distinction Having brought together an Army he marched into the County of Tipperary and hearing that many Priests and Gentry about Cashell had retired with their Goods into the Church he stormed it and being entred put three thousand of them to the Sword taking the Priests even from under the Altar Of such Force is Ambition when it seizes upon the Minds of Men. About this time Sir Edward Deering came from the King's Quarters at Oxford and surrendred himself at Westminster where being examined in the House of Commons he said that since the Cessation made with the Rebels in Ireland seeing so many Papists and Irish in the King's Army and his Councils wholly governed by them his Conscience would not permit him to remain longer with the King and therefore he was come to throw himself upon the Mercy of the Parliament and in conformity to their Declaration to compound for his Delinquency Accordingly he was admitted to Composition and an Order made to proceed in like manner towards such as should come in after him Whereupon the Earl of Westmorland and divers others came in to the Parliament and desired the Benefit of their Declaration for Composition Whilst I was attending the King's Pleasure at Oxford the Captain that conveyed me thither brought me word that he was ordered to deliver me to Mr. Thorpe the Keeper of the Castle and pretending much Affection to me told me that the said Keeper would take from me my upper Garment my Money and all that was loose about me advising me therefore to leave such things with him and promising to bring them to me in the Morning I not suspecting his Design delivered him my Cloke with my Money and some other things all which he carried away with him the next day neither could I have any Redress tho I wrote to Sir Francis Doddington complaining of this Treachery the Keeper of the Castle not laying the least Claim to any such thing Our sick and wounded Men after they had been kept for some time Prisoners in the Hall of Warder-Castle where a Popish Priest very solemnly with his Hands spread over them cursed them three times were carried from thence to Bristol In the Castle at Oxford I met with Mr. Balsum and other Friends who had been with me in Warder-Castle with many more who were detained there for their Affection to the Parliament amongst whom were Col. Shilborn of Buckinghamshire Col. Henly of Dorsetshire Capt. Haley of Glocestershire and Capt. Abercromy a Scots-man I had a Friend in the Town who furnished me with what I wanted those who had not any such means of Relief were supplied from London by a Collection of the Sum of three hundred Pounds made for them by some Citizens and conveyed down to them Neither was Oxford it self destitute of some who contributed to their Relief one Dr. Hobbs in particular who preached then at Carfax an honest Man of the Episcopal Party usually putting them in mind of it after his Sermon The Prisoners taken by the King's Party had been treated very cruelly especially at Oxford by Smith the Marshal there but the Members of Parliament that deserted their Trust at Westminster coming thither and
sitting in Council there having not quite lost the Affections of English-men took the examination of that Affair into their hands and suspended Smith from the execution of his Office till he should give Satisfaction concerning those things of which he was accused They committed the Management of the Place to one Thorp and sent some of their own Number to enquire concerning our Usage In the mean time Smith came to me by Order and offered me the liberty of the Town and to lodg where I pleased therein upon my Parole to be a true Prisoner but demanding of him whether in case I accepted his Offer I might have the liberty to visit my Friends in the Castle when I thought fit and he answering that it would not be allowed I chose rather to be confined with my Friends than at liberty with my Enemies The Lord Arundel endeavouring to make good his Promise of procuring my Exchange for his two Sons earnestly solicited the King to it but tho he had been a great Sufferer for his Service the King positively refused to grant his Request telling him he had no use of Children The Lady Byron came to me and desired me to procure her Husband who was Prisoner in the Tower to be exchanged for me and carried a Letter from me to my Mother then at London about it who soliciting the Earl of Essex our General to that effect was desired by him not to trouble her self any more therein assuring her that he would be as careful of me as if I were his own Son A Person from Sir Edward Stradling came also to me in order to an Exchange between us telling me that the King had promised that nothing of that nature should be done before Sir Edward Stradling and Col. Lunsford were exchanged The Lord Willmot sent a Gentleman to acquaint me that he had procured a Grant from the King that I should be exchanged for Sir Hugh Pollard and that if I would write a Letter to the Earl of Essex with the Proposal he would send it by a Trumpeter but I judging this Exchange to be very unequal Sir Hugh being a Person much esteemed for his Interest and Experience proposed in my Letter to the Lord General that he would put some other Person with me into the Balance against him Whilst I was in expectation of the General 's Answer we received Advice that most of our Foot that lay before Newark commanded by Sir John Meldrum a worthy Scots-man were defeated and made Prisoners by Prince Rupert But this Loss was in some measure recompensed by a Victory obtained at Cherington in Hampshire by our Forces commanded by Sir William Waller against those of the King commanded by Sir Ralph Hopton The Numbers on each side were very near equal and the Success had been doubtful for the most part of the day but at last the Enemy was totally routed and put to flight And had good use been made of this Victory the Controversy had soon been decided in the West but we were not yet so happy to improve our Advantages by which Negligence we got little more than the Field and the Reputation of the Victory tho the Enemy lost some of their principal Officers in the Fight amongst whom were the Lord John Brother to the Duke of Lennox Sir Edward Stawell Col. Richard Manning formerly mentioned and that Smith who had been knighted by the King for rescuing his Standard out of the hands of Mr. Chambers Secretary to the Earl of Essex This Fight at Cherington happened on the 29 th of March 1644. about a Fortnight after the Surrender of Warder-Castle till which time had I been able to keep it I should have been relieved The Enemies Officers came to the Castle at Oxford to solicit the Prisoners to take Arms under them but finding their Endeavours to prove ineffectual they soon desisted from that Attempt After three Weeks Confinement here my Exchange was agreed the Lord General Essex expressing much Generosity and Readiness in it as he had promised to my Mother for lest the King should be reminded of his Promise to Sir Edward Stradling and Col. Lunsford or of that to my Lord Willmot in favour of Sir Hugh Pollard and so on either hand the design of my Liberty come to be obstructed he consented to the Exchange of all the three for Col. Houghton Sir John Savil Capt. Abercromy and my self Col. Henley went off also with us being exchanged for Lieutenant Colonel Robert Sandys I was led blindfold through the City of Oxford till I had passed their Works and the next day arrived at London where I found the Earl of Essex disposed to an Exchange for my Officers and Souldiers which was soon after made and with them for Mr. Balsum whom he entertained as his Chaplain to the time of his Death He expressed a great Desire to provide me with a Command in his Army but the Parliament upon the Instances of the Gentlemen that served for the County of Wilts having appointed me Sheriff thereof upon an Invitation of Sir Arthur Haslerig to be Major of his Regiment of Horse in Sir William Waller's Army which was designed for the Service of the West I accepted of it and mounted the choicest of my old Souldiers with me Sir Arthur buying a hundred Horse in Smithfield for that purpose the rest of my Men the Lord General took into his own Company As soon as my Troop was compleated and furnished with all things necessary I repaired to the Regiment then with Sir William Waller near Abingdon who was directed by the Parliament with his Army to block up the King at Oxford on one side whilst the Earl of Essex should do the same on the other Which Storm the Queen foreseeing withdrew to Exeter where she was delivered of a Daughter which she leaving in the Custody of the Lady Dalkeith returned to France as well to secure her self as to solicit for Supplies In the mean time the King breaking out from Oxford marched towards Worcestershire upon which the Earl of Essex commanded Sir William Waller to march after him whilst he himself with his Army marched westward This Order seemed very strange to the Parliament and to most of us being likely to break Sir William Waller's Army which consisted for the most part of Western Gentlemen who hop'd thereby to have been enabled to secure the Country and to promote the Publick Service The Parliament sent to the Lord General to observe his former Orders and to attend the King's Motions but he sending them a short Answer continued his March West in which he took Weymouth and relieved Lyme that had endured a long Siege and with the Assistance of the Seamen tho their Works were inconsiderable had often repulsed the Enemy and killed great numbers of them in several Sallies that they made upon them A Party commanded by Sir Robert Pye was ordered to Taunton which he reduced to the Obedience of the Parliament Upon the Advance of the
see they were not at liberty to ravage the Country I drew out my Troop and faced them upon which they sent out what Horse they had to skirmish with us amongst whom observing one Mr. William Neale who was of my Acquaintance and formerly my School-fellow I called to him telling him that I was sorry to see him there but since it was so I offered to exchange a shot with him and riding up to that purpose he retreated towards his Party where making a stand he called to me to come on which I did but he retreated again till he came within the shelter of their Foot and one with him dismounting fired a Musquet at me loaded with a brace of Bullets of which one went into the Belly of my Horse the other struck upon my Breast-plate within half an Inch of the bottom of it my Horse carried me off but died that Night The Necessities of my Men being great and this Service not immediately belonging to me I thought it my Duty to return into Wiltshire where I might expect to be better supplied than in Hampshire to which County I had no relation therefore sending to Col. Norton to make provision for the Service at Winchester I marched with fourscore Horse to Salisbury which Town having triumphed upon our Defeat I thought most proper to supply us with what we wanted And to that end having procured a List of the disaffected in the Town I required them without delay to collect amongst themselves five hundred Pounds for the recruiting and paying of my Troop who had not received any Pay since they came out The Town made many Excuses and at last prevailed with me to take two hundred Pounds with which I paid and recruited my Troop and having disposed them in the best manner I could for the Service of the Country I went to London to compleat my Regiment and to furnish it with Arms and all such things as were necessary In the mean time Sir Francis Doddington had caused the two Men that he had taken at Warder to be hanged upon pretence that they ran away from him and having brought some Pieces of Cannon before Woodhouse made a Breach so considerable in the Wall that the Besieged were necessitated to surrender at Mercy but they found very little for they were presently stripp'd of all that was good about them and Sir Francis Doddington being informed by one Bacon who was Parson of the Parish that one of the Prisoners had threatned to stick in his skirts as he call'd it for reading the Common-Prayer struck the Man so many Blows upon the Head and with such Force that he broke his Skull and caused him to fall into a Swound from which he was no sooner recovered but he was picked out to be one of the twelve which Sir Francis had granted to Sir William St. Leger to be hanged in lieu of six Irish Rebels who had been executed at Warum by Col. Sydenham in pursuance of an Order from the Parliament to give them no Quarter These twelve being most of them Clothiers were hanged upon the same Tree but one of them breaking his Halter desired that what he had suffered might be accepted or else that he might fight against any two for his Life notwithstanding which they caused him to be hanged up again and had proceeded much farther had not Sir Ralph Hopton sent Orders to put a stop to their Butcheries The King having ranged about for some time thought fit to return towards Oxford and being joined by some Foot from thence skirmished with Sir William Waller's Army at Cropredy-bridg wherein little hurt being done on either side the King marched into the West in order to a conjunction with his Forces in those Parts commanded by Prince Maurice When I first took Arms under the Parliament in Defence of the Rights and Liberties of my Country I did not think that a Work so good and so necessary would have been attended with so great Difficulties but finding by Experience the strong Combination of Interests at home and abroad against them the close Conjunction of the Popish and Prelatical Parties in opposition to them what vast Numbers depended upon the King for Preferments or Subsistence how many of the Nobility and Gentry were contented to serve his Arbitrary Designs if they might have leave to insult over such as were of a lower Order and adding to all this the great Corruption of the Nation I became convinced of my former Error and began now more to wonder that they found so many Friends to assist them in their just and lawful Undertaking than I had done before at the Opposition they met with In these Thoughts I was every day more confirmed by observing the strange Divisions amongst our own Party every one striving to enlarge his own Power in a factious and ambitious way not caring tho thereby they obstructed and ruined the Cause it self Of this I had some Experience in my own Particular as well as others of a much greater Figure than my self for tho my Country-men had in my Absence prevailed with the Parliament to make me Sheriff of the County of Wilts and engaged themselves to raise a Regiment for me yet because I refused to deliver up my former Commission received from Sir William Waller and to take a new one from the Earl of Essex tho that I had from Sir William obliged me to obey the said Earl as much as one given me immediately from himself those of my Country-men who were of the Faction of the Earl of Essex obstructed me in the raising of my Regiment keeping from me those Arms that were bought to that end countenancing my Major for whom I had procured that Employment against me and detaining our Pay from us so that I and my Men had nothing to keep us faithful to the Cause but our Affection to it Yet were we not wanting to improve every Opportunity in the best manner we could to the Service of the Country for having notice that a Garison was put into the Lord Sturton's House and another into that of Sir Ralph Hopton at Witham I marched in the Night first to Sturton-house which was defended against us till each of us carrying a Fagot to one of the Gates wherewith we set them on fire together with one of the Rooms of the Castle those that kept it slipped out at a back-door through the Garden into the Park which they did undiscovered by reason of the Darkness of the Night Having rendred that Place untenable we hastned to Witham where we found in the Park near a hundred Cattle belonging to Sir Ralph Hopton which served for the Paiment of my Souldiers Those who were within desired to treat and demanded liberty to return home which was granted upon condition to deliver up their Arms and to engage to keep no Garison in that Place for the time to come Being upon my Return I took with me my Hangings Pictures best Beds and other things which
my Father's Servants had so well conceal'd at the first breaking out of the War in a private part of my House that they escaped the Search of the Enemy who had plundered all they could find broken all the Windows taken away the Leads and pulled up the Boards in most parts of the House Whilst I was at London that Party which I left in the Country had taken some Wool and other things from the Lord Cottington the Lord Arundel and others which they sold and divided the Money amongst themselves From the Lord Cottington's they brought amongst other things a Horse that had been taken from me before at Warder-Castle The Lord Fairfax the Earl of Manchester and the Scots besieged York of which the Earl of Newcastle was Governour having with him a Garison consisting of six or seven thousand Foot besides Horse After some time spent in the Siege Prince Rupert arrived with about eighteen thousand Men and caused the Besiegers to raise the Siege who joining their Forces resolved to observe his Motions and to fight him if they found an occasion but that they might be a little refreshed and furnished with Provisions which they wanted they marched towards Tadcaster If Prince Rupert who had acquired Honour enough by the Relief of York in the view of three Generals could have contented himself with it and retreated as he might have done without fighting the Reputation he had gained would have caused his Army to increase like the rolling of a Snowball but he thinking this nothing unless he might have all forced his Enemies to a Battel against the Advice of many of those that were with him in which the Lest Wing of the Enemy charging the Right Wing of ours consisting of English and Scots so totally routed them that the three Generals of the Parliament quitted the Field and fled towards Cawood Castle The Left Wing of our Army commanded by Col. Cromwell knowing nothing of this Rout engaged the Right Wing of the Enemy commanded by Prince Rupert who had gained an advantageous piece of Ground upon Marston-Moor and caused a Battery to be erected upon it from which Capt. Walton Cromwell's Sister's Son was wounded by a shot in the Knee Whereupon Col. Cromwell commanded two Field-pieces to be brought in order to annoy the Enemy appointing two Regiments of Foot to guard them who marching to that purpose were attacked by the Foot of the Enemies right Wing that fired thick upon them from the Ditches Upon this both Parties seconding their Foot were wholly engaged who before had stood only facing each other The Horse on both sides behaved themselves with the utmost Bravery for having discharged their Pistols and flung them at each others Heads they sell to it with their Swords The King's Party were encouraged in this Encounter by seeing the Success of their Left Wing and the Parliament's Forces that remained in the Field were not discouraged because they knew it not both sides eagerly contending for Victory which after an obstinate Dispute was obtained by Cromwell's Brigade the Enemies Right Wing being totally routed and flying as the Parliament's had done before our Horse pursuing and killing many of them in their Flight And now the Enemies Left Wing who had been Conquerors returned to their former Ground presuming upon an entire Victory and utterly ignorant of what had befallen Prince Rupert but before they could put themselves into any order they were charged and entirely defeated by the Reserves of Cromwell's Brigade Prince Rupert upon the routing of the Parliament's Right Wing concluding all to be his own had sent Letters to the King to acquaint him with the Victory upon which the Bells were rung and Bonfires made at Oxford Sir Charles Lucas Major General Porter Major General Tilyard with above a hundred Officers more were taken Prisoners by the Parliament's Forces All the Enemies Artillery great Numbers of Arms and a good quantity of Ammunition and Baggage fell also into their hands The Prince's own Standard with the Arms of the Palatinate was likewise taken with many others both of Horse and Foot Fifteen days after this Fight being the 16 th of July 1644. the City of York was surrendred to the Parliament's Forces upon Articles and the Earl of Newcastle having had some Dispute with Prince Rupert before the Engagement wherein some Words had passed which the Earl could not well digest soon after left England and the Prince retired to Bristol The Earl of Essex was marched with his Army into Cornwall yet to what publick end I could never understand for the Enemy there had already dispersed themselves Some said that he was perswaded to march thither by the Lord Roberts to give him an opportunity to collect his Rents in those Parts Upon this the King drew out what Forces he could from Oxford designing to join them with some others in the West by which Conjunction the Parliament apprehending their Army under Essex to be in danger ordered Sir William Waller to observe the King's Motions But whether the Neglect of relieving him at the Devizes or the Affront put upon him by commanding him to follow the King after he had been ordered to attend the Service of the West or what else it was that had sower'd him I cannot say yet visible it was that so much Care and Expedition was not used in attending the King in his Marches as was requisite However Lieutenant General Middleton then under Sir William Waller was sent with a Party of Horse to the Assistance of the Earl of Essex but he kept at such a distance from him that he afforded him little Help Neither was there that Diligence as should have been then used by the Earl of Essex himself to engage the King before his Conjunction with the Western Forces or to fight them when they were united they not much if at all exceeding ours in Number and in Courage and Affection to the Cause engaged in much inferiour But the Earl of Essex and the Lord Roberts having led the Army into a Corner of Cornwall betook themselves to the Ships with which the Earl of Warwick attended the Motion of the Army Being thus deserted the Horse broke through the Enemy under the Conduct of Sir William Balfour the Foot and Train of Artillery being left with Major General Skippon about Bodmin who was forced about the latter end of September 1644. to make the best Terms he could with the Enemy for them agreeing to leave their Arms and Cannon behind them and to be conducted into the Parliament's Quarters with whatsoever belonged to them but before the Convoy had done with them they lost most of their Clothes and in that condition arrived at Portsmouth where they found their General the Earl of Essex The Parliament soon caused them to be armed and clothed again and the Horse having forced their way as before mentioned the Army was speedily recruited scarce a Man having taken Arms on the other side The Earl of Manchester and Sir
considering that the Entercourse between London and the West was much interrupted by that Carison The Enemy contrary to all expectation appeared again in a Body near Newbury where our Army lay who drew out to oppose them Some small Skirmishes happened between them but a general Engagement was opposed in a Council of War by some of the greatest amongst us Whereupon the King in the face of our Army twice as numerous as his had time to send his Artillery from Dennington-Castle towards Oxford without any opposition to the Astonishment of all those who wished well to the Publick But by this time it was clearly manifest that the Nobility had no further Quarrel with the King than till they could make their Terms with him having for the most part grounded their Dissatisfactions upon some particular Affront or the prevalency of a Faction about him But tho it should be granted that their Intentions in taking Arms were to oblige the King to consent to redress the Grievances of the Nation yet if a War of this nature must be determined by Treaty and the King left in the Exercise of the Royal Authority after the utmost violation of the Laws and the greatest Calamities brought upon the People it doth not appear to me what Security can be given them for the future Enjoyment of their Rights and Privileges nor with what Prudence wise men can engage with the Parliament who being by Practice at least liable to be dissolved at pleasure are thereby rendred unable to protect themselves or such as take up Arms under their Authority if after infinite Hardships and Hazards of their Lives and Estates they must fall under the Power of a provoked Enemy who being once re-established in his former Authority will never want means to revenge himself upon all those who in Desence of the Rights and Liberties of the Nation adventure to resist him in his illegal and arbitrary Proceedings In the Council of War before-mentioned things were managed with such heat as created great Differences between the principal Officers of the Army by which this favourable Conjuncture was lost and the Season being far advanced the Army was dispersed into Winter-quarters The Blockade of Basinghouse was also ordered to be broken up after which I returned with those under my Command into the County of Wilts In the Winter the Parliament caused Abingdon to be fortified of which Place Col. Brown was Governour who holding Correspondence with the Lord Digby then Secretary to the King promised him that so soon as he had finished the Fortifications and received all things necessary from the Parliament to defend it he would deliver it to the King by which means he kept the King's Forces from interrupting him till he had perfected the Work But then as is probable by his Carriage since observing the Affairs of the Parliament in a better posture than those of the King he altered his Resolution and in desiance of the Lord Digby published the Correspondence that had been between them about that matter The Dissatisfaction that arose upon the permission given the King to carry off his Artillery rested 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the House of Commons was made acquainted with it by Col. Cromwell who commanded under the Earl of Manchester whom he charged with the breach of his Trust but he and his Friends endeavoured to lay the blame on others the Earl of Essex and his Party adhering to the Earl of Manchester Whilst I was before Basing some of the Enemies under the Conduct of Col. Coke came to Salisbury and were sortifying the Close for the King of which Major Wansey having advice marched thither with the Forces which I had sent into Wiltshire and falling upon them caused them to retire in haste but finding the Gates fortified against him he set fire to them and seizing upon all their Horse took the Colonel and fourscore more Prisoners and sent them to Southampton At my Return into Wiltshire I received Orders from the Committee of both Kingdoms to send what Men I could spare out of my Regiment to reinforce a Party commanded by Major General Holborn who was ordered to march into the West to the Relief of Col. Blake besieged by the Enemy in Tauntoa I drew out two hundred Horse for that Service and was necessitated to march with them my self my Major who had got possession of good Quarters at Deane a House belonging to Sir John Evelyn being not willing to remove Col. Edward Popham Col. Starr Col. Brewin and Sir Anthony Ashley came from London with this Party In our March we were joined by the Forces of Dorsetshire When we were advanced near the Enemy my Troop was ordered to a Quarter of which they were in possession but quitted it upon our Approach as they did also the Siege soon after contrary to our expectation We made use of the Opportunity and furnished the Town with Provisions and all things necessary which being done the Forces of Wilts and Dorsetshire marched back to the said Counties Being returned to Salisbury I was informed that the Enemy had put a Garison into Langford-house two Miles from thence whereupon I resolved to fortify the Belfrey in the Close where I might keep a small Guard to secure it for a Horse-Quarter and to that end had summoned Workmen to perform that Work At Night having drawn up my Regiment in order to acquaint them with the necessity that lay upon them to be more than ordinarily diligent in their Duty at that juncture as also to divide their Watches between them and to appoint the Guard for that Night I received an Alarm of the Enemies Approach and that they were advanced as far as Amesbury Of which desiring to have certain Information I sent threescore Horse under the Command of Capt. Sadler the only Captain of my Regiment then with me some of them being absent with leave and others without to advance towards the Enemy till by taking of Prisoners or some other way he might get some certain Intelligence concerning them and then to come back to me With the rest of my Men I marched slowly after him being unwilling to retire into our Quarters till I had made a further Discovery concerning the Enemy Capt. Sadler according to his Instructions marched to Amesbury and sent me word from thence that he had advice the Enemy was not far off I sent to him to continue his March with the same Orders as before my self with the rest of the Regiment following and being come to Nether-Haven as I think it is called I received notice from Capt. Sadler that he had engaged an advanced Party of the Enemy and could not get off which unexpected News and contrary to my Orders caused me to advance with all Diligence to his Relief who had approached so near their main Guard as to give them an Alarm to draw together and yet had not pursued his Charge which if he had done he might easily have dispersed the Guard and prevented the
such as had served under Sir William Waller The Committee would have named me for the Command of a Regiment but the Gentlemen who served in Parliament for the County of Wilts pretended then that they could not spare me yet soon after observing me not fit to promote a Faction and solely applying my self to advance the Cause of the Publick they combined against me and procured me to be laid aside under colour that they stood not in need of more than four Troops for the Service of the County of which they offered me the Command and I should not have declined it had I found my Endeavours answered with sutable Acceptance or that they whom I served had been willing the Publick Cause for which I was ready to sacrifice my Life should prosper but the contrary being most evident and tho some of the Gentlemen continued to manifest their Fidelity to the Publick and their Affection to me yet most of them having now espoused another Interest and rejoicing at any Loss that fell upon ours I chose rather to desist and wait for a better Opportunity to improve my Talent for the Service of the Publick My Major notwithstanding his Artifices being disappointed in his Expectation to command these Troops openly pulled off the Mask and with about thirty of his Troop and some Strangers under pretence of beating up a Quarter of the Enemy went over to them having sent his Wife before to give them notice of his Design But his Lieutenant continuing faithful to the Publick hindred most part of his Troop from following him Soon after he undertook to raise a Regiment in the North Parts of Wiltshire for the King but whilst he was attempting to effect it an Encounter happened between him and some Forces of the Parliament wherein being worsted and endeavouring to save himself by leaping over a Ditch he fell with his Horse into it and was so bruised with his Fall that he never spoke more thereby receiving such a Recompence as was due to his Treachery About the same time that the Parliament made Sir Thomas Fairfax General of their Forces the King made Prince Rupert General of his notwithstanding his late ill Success at Marston-Moor to the great Dissatisfaction of many of his Council The Committee of Wilts divided themselves one part of them to sit at Malmsbury and the other to reside about Salisbury but wanting a Place for their Security they put a Garison into Falston-house and Capt. Edward Doyly contending with Major William Ludlow for the Government thereof the Committee at London gave it to the latter who with his Troop somewhat restrained the Excursions of the King's Party from their Garison thereabouts That part of the Committee which sat at Malmsbury having some Affairs to dispatch at Marlborough went thither accompanied by Col. Devereux Governour of the Place The first Night after their Arrival a Party of the King 's surprized them there and took some of the Committee with the said Governour and most of the Forces they had with them Prisoners The Parliament tho they were not wanting to make all fitting Preparations for War yet neglected no honest Endeavours to procure Peace assuring themselves that they should be the better enabled to bear whatsoever might be the Event of the War if they took care to discharge their Consciences in that Particular and to manifest that as they had been compelled to it by mere Necessity so if it must be continued it should not be through their Choice or Obstinacy To this end it was agreed that Commissioners should be sent from the Parliament to treat with others to be sent from the King about Conditions of Peace The Place of their Meeting was at Vxbridg where after the King had owned the two Houses as a Parliament to which he was not without difficulty perswaded tho he had by an Act engaged that they should continue to be a Parliament till they dissolved themselves which they had not done and consented that his Commissioners should treat in the same Quality they were in before the War the Commissioners of Parliament declining to give them the Titles conferred upon them since they made some Progress in the Treaty which began the 13 th of January 1645. but the Proposition concerning the Bishops being rejected it came to nothing During the Treaty Mr. Love one of the Chaplains attending the Commissioners of Parliament preaching before them averred That the King was a Man of Blood and that it was a vain thing to hope for the Blessing of God upon any Peace to be made with him till Satisfaction should be made for the Blood that had been shed For these Words the King's Commissioners demanded Satisfaction but the Treaty breaking up nothing was done in order thereunto And now both Parties renewed the War Weymouth being seized for the King and some Advantage obtained against the Parliament near Pomfret On the other side the Forces of the Parliament surprized the important Town of Shrewsbury whereby the King's Correspondence with Wales became much interrupted They also recovered Weymouth by the help of the Garison of Melcolm-Regis which is separated from the said Town by a small Arm of the Sea with a Bridg over it and which was preserved by the Industry of the Governour Col. Sydenham Col. Cromwell notwithstanding the Self-denying Ordinance was dispensed with by the Parliament and being impower'd to command the Horse under Sir Thomas Fairfax he marched with a Party of Horse and Dragoons from Windsar and at Islip-Bridg met fought and defeated the Queen's Regiment of Horse together with the Regiments of the Earl of Northampton the Lord Wilmot and Col. Palmer taking five hundred Horse and two hundred Foot Prisoners whereof many were Officers and Persons of Quality After which he summoned Blechington-house which was surrendred to him by Col. Windebank Son to the late Secretary of State who coming to Oxford was shot to death for so doing He forced Sir William Vaughan and Lieutenant Colonel Littleton with three hundred and fifty Men into Bampton-bush where he took them both and two hundred of their Men Prisoners with their Arms sending Col. Fiennes after another Party who took a hundred and fisty Horse three Colonels and forty private Souldiers Prisoners with their Arms and being reinforced by about five hundred Foot from Col. Brown he attempted Faringdon-house but without Success General Fairfax leaving Lieutenant General Cromwell to block up the King at Oxford with the Body of the Army marched Westward with a design to relieve Taunton but being ordered by the Committee of both Kingdoms to besiege Oxford he appointed Col. Welden to relieve that Town which he easily effected the Enemy marching off at his Approach apprehending them to be the whole Army marching against them as they before had been informed The King sent the Prince of Wales accompanied with Hyde and Culpeper into the West to raise Forces and despising the New Model as it was called because most of the old
were ordered to be hung up in Westminster-Hall and the Prisoners were secured in the Artillery-Ground near Tuttle-fields a Committee being appointed to consider how to dispose of them who permitted those to return home that would give Security for their living peaceably for the future but such as did not which was much the greater Number were shipped off to serve in Foreign Parts upon Conditions This Success was astonishing being obtained by Men of little Experience in Affairs of this nature and upon that account despised by their Enemies yet it proved the deciding Battel the King's Party after this time never making any considerable Opposition Leicester capitulated two days after and was surrendred and some of our Forces besieged Chester whilst the Scots did the like to Hereford The General Sir Thomas Fairfax marched with the Army to relieve our Friends at Taunton where Col. Welden was besieged took Highworth in his March and dissipated the Club-men defeated Goring's Forces at Lamport possessed himself of the Towns of Bridgwater and Bath by Capitulation and of Sherburn-Castle by storm Bristol also was surrendred after the Outworks and Fort had been taken by Assault with divers other Successes of less importance and therefore unnecessary to be mentioned here Lieutenant General Cromwell being sent to reduce such Garisons as were in the way to London began with the Castle of Winchester which was delivered to him upon Articles after which he marched to Basinghouse and erected a Battery on the East-side of it by which having made a Breach he stormed and entered it putting many of the Garison to the Sword and taking the rest with the Marquiss of Winchester whose House it was Prisoners Col. Robert Hammond had been before made Prisoner by the Marquiss and was kept here by him in order to secure his own Life which he did by putting himself under the Colonel's Protection when ours entred the Place It was suspected that Col. Hammond ' being related to the Earl of Essex whose half-Sister was married to the Marquiss of Winchester had suffered himself to be taken Prisoner on design to serve the said Marquiss The next Place he attempted was Langford-house near Salisbury which was yielded in a day or two upon Articles The Works about Basing were levelled Sherborn-Castle slighted as also Falston-house of which Major Ludlow was Governour who was removed to undertake the same Charge at Langford-house wherein the Parliament thought fit to keep a Garison by reason of its nearness to the Enemy The King as well to secure himself by getting as far from our Forces as he could as to raise a new Army if possible marched with the Horse that he had left towards North-Wales hoping in his way to relieve Chester besieged by Sir William Brereton and by his Presence in Wales to prevail with them to furnish him with a Body of Foot but he found himself frustrated in both these Designs For being worsted near Routen Heath by Major General Pointz who commanded a Brigade of the Parliament's in those Parts he saw the Face of Affairs much altered both in North and South-Wales In the last of which tho he was entertained civilly by some particular Persons yet the generality of the Country that during his Successes had subjected themselves even slavishly to his Instruments now fearing he might draw the Army of the Parliament after him and make their Country the Seat of War began to murmur against him and drew together a numerous Body in the nature of a Club-Army whispering amongst themselves as if they intended to seize his Person and deliver him to the Parliament to make their Peace Which being reported to the King he thought fit to retire from thence with his Forces only leaving a small Garison in the Castle of Cardiff which together with the County was soon after reduced to the Obedience of the Parliament by Col. Pritchard where Sir John Strangwaies was amongst others taken Prisoner who by order of the Parliament was sent up to London and committed to the Tower The Isle of Anglesey and such Places of North-Wales as had been held for the King were surrendred to the Parliament but Glamorganshire and the parts adjacent continued not long in their Duty but revolted at the Instigation of one Mr. Kerne of Winny who pretending great Fidelity to the Parliament was intrusted by them as their Sheriff for that County and made use of that Authority to raise the Country against them and to besiege Colonel Pritchard and the rest of their Friends in the Castle of Cardiff who being reduced to some necessity had been probably constrained to surrender it had not speedy relief been procured from the Parliament under the Conduct of Colonel Kirle of Glocestershire who falling suddenly upon the Enemy routed and killed many of them The King's Affairs being in this low condition in England and Wales he resolved to try what might be done in Scotland in order to which he commands the Lord Digby to march thither with a Party of sixteen hundred Horse and to join the Marquiss of Montross then in Arms for him in that Kingdom In obedience to the King's Order the Lord Digby marched from Newark and in his way surprized about eight hundred of ours near Sherbon but was afterwards routed by Col. Copley who recovered the Men and Arms taken from ours killed forty of the Enemy upon the spot took four hundred of them Prisoners and about six hundred Horses The Lord Digby's Coach and Papers were also taken This Party was defeated a second time by Sir John Brown and a third by Col. Bright who took two hundred of them Prisoners the Lord Digby with about twenty more hardly escaping to the Isle of Man and from thence to Ireland At the approach of Sir Thomas Fairfax's Army the Enemy raised the Siege of Taunton from thence the General marched to Honyton and the next day to Colompton from whence the Enemy retired in great disorder On October 20. the Army tho much weakned by hard Duty and the Rigour of the Season resolved upon the Blockade of Exeter Carmarthen Castle Monmouth and divers other Places were surrendred to the Parliament so that the King looking upon the Rebels in Ireland as his last Refuge sends Orders to the Earl of Ormond not only to continue the Cessation but to conclude a Peace with them upon condition they would oblige themselves to send over an Army to his Assistance against the Parliament of England The Supreme Council of Ireland as they called themselves having notice of it invited the Earl of Ormond to Kilkenny to treat about the same who being willing to see his Relations and his Estate in those Parts as also to expedite that Service accepted their Invitation and marched thither with about three or 4000 Horse and Foot for his Guard which by the advice of the Lord Mountgarret and the Supreme Council were dispersed into Quarters in the Villages thereabouts the Earl of Ormond suspecting nothing having sent Orders to
Sir Francis Willoughby who commanded that Party under him to that purpose but he being an old and experienced Commander well acquainted with the Treachery of that Nation and particularly of those of the Popish Religion knowing how easy it would be for the Irish to cut them off in the Quarters assigned for them resolved not to consent to the dispersing of his Men and therefore desired of the Earl of Ormond that he might quarter with them in the Field or where his Lordship should appoint desiring if this would not satisfy he might have Liberty to return home advising him not to trust his Person with them notwithstanding their fair Words My Lord hereupon leaves the Care of quartering his Men to Sir Francis Willoughby but resolves himself to stay at Kilkenny Sir Francis draws the Troops into Goran a Town five Miles from Kilkenny where he kept his Guards with as much Caution as if he had been in an Enemies Country The Enemy being by this means disappointed of their Design to cut off the Party by surprize resolved to attempt it by open Force and all the favour that the Earl of Ormond could get amongst his Relations was to have notice to shift for himself which with much difficulty he did sending Orders to his Forces to march towards Dublin in which he was very readily obeyed by them having had advice that the Country was rising upon them which they did in such numbers that if Col. Bagnal Governour of Loughlyn had not permitted them to pass the Bridg there they had in all appearance been cut off When they had recovered their own Quarters they discovered a piece of Treachery as Sir Francis Willoughby who gave me this account judged it to be tho he knew not on whom to charge it for they found that they had not been in a condition to make any Opposition if the Enemy had fallen upon them the Powder with which they were furnished having no force in it which came to be discovered upon the trial of a Musquet at a Mark by the small report it gave and the fall of the Bullet half way from it Whereupon searching further into the matter they found all their Store to be of the same sort The Irish seized upon all the Earl of Ormond's Plate and whatsoever he had with him at Kilkenny his Haste not permitting him to save any thing By this Usage his Zeal for the prosecution of the Treaty with the Rebels became much abated The King's Commission to the Earl of Ormond was not of so large an extent as he was willing to allow in case the Treaty with the Irish came to any effect and therefore the Earl of Glamorgan afterwards Earl of Worcester was impowered by private Instructions from him to promise them the Liberty of the Romish Religion with divers other Advantages to the Irish Rebels upon which he treated with them But because this when it came to be publickly known in England was highly resented by many even of the King's Party the Lord Digby who was ordered by the King to assist in that Affair finding that the Treaty was not like to take effect to give a specious Colour to the matter as if Glamorgan had in that particular exceeded his Commission accused him of High Treason and procured him to be imprison'd by the Earl of Ormond but in Letters intercepted from the Lord Glamorgan to his Lady he desired that she would not entertain any Fears concerning him for that he doubted not if he could be admitted to be heard that he should be able to justify his Proceedings to the Confusion of those who had caused his Imprisonment The English Officers and Souldiers provoked by the late Treachery of the Irish and apprehending that without Assistance from England they might fall into their hands would not be satisfied unless a Message were sent to the Parliament to treat about Conditions for the putting of Dublin and the Protestant Forces of Ireland into their Hands In order to which the Parliament sent over Commissioners to treat with the Earl of Ormond and the Council But tho the Earl was not willing that any thing should be concluded at that time yet Sir Francis Willoughby was as I have heard him say so far convinced of the Necessity and Duty that lay upon them so to do that he promised our Commissioners to preserve the Castle of Dublin of which he was then Governour for the Service of the Parliament whensoever they should command it Montross having obtained a Victory against those whom the Scots had left to preserve the Peace of Scotland by the means of which he was become Master of a great part of that Kingdom David Lesley was sent thither from Hereford with most of the Scotish Horse where he defeated the Army of Montross and reduced that Nation to its former Obedience After the Surrender of Bristol to the Forces of the Parliament Prince Rupert who had been Governour thereof returned to Oxford where he found so cool a Reception from the King by reason of the Loss of that Place that Col. Leg then Governour of Oxford was turned out of that Command for being of his Faction and the Government of that City put into the Hands of Sir Thomas Glenham The Prince was for some time forbidden to wear a Sword and tho he was soon after restored to that Liberty yet he was never more intrusted with any Command The House of Commons finding their Business to increase and their numbers to diminish by the Death of some and Desertion of others to the King at Oxford ordered the Commissioners of the Seal to issue out Writs to such Counties Cities and Boroughs as the House by their particular Order should direct for the Election of Members to serve in Parliament They ordered also a Jewel to be prepared of the Value of about seven hundred Pounds to be presented to Sir Thomas Fairfax it had the House of Commons represented on one side and the Battel of Naseby on the other three Members of Parliament were deputed to carry the Present to him the Opportunity of whose Guard I took to go into the West without disturbance which was difficult to do at that time many of the King's Party hovering about the Downs from whence they were called Col. Downs his Men who rendring the Rode unsafe I procured a Guard of twenty or thirty of the County Horse to accompany me during my stay in those Parts So small a Number not being sufficient either to defend me or to make any Attempt I betook my self to Col. Massey's Party commanded at that time by Col. Edward Cook where I had not been long before an Alarm was given that a Party of Horse from Oxford had marched by with a design to relieve Corse-Castle besieged at that time by our Forces But before we could get our Men together they had surprized part of ours in Warham and beaten off the Guard between that Place and the Castle which they relieved with
what they could and were returned back again In this Action a Brother of my Father 's was mortally wounded taken Prisoner by the Enemy and died the next day Col. Cook was forced to content himself to reinforce the Besiegers and to return to his former Station The Army commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax having left a strong Party to block up Exeter advanced Westward towards the Enemy and at Bovey Tracy fought the Brigade commanded by the Lord Wentworth took four hundred Horse and about a hundred Foot Prisoners with six Standards one of which was the King's Two Regiments of ours appeared before Dartmouth and summoned it but the Garison being numerous and furnished with all things necessary refused to surrender upon which the Army advancing possessed themselves of their Outworks and having turned their Cannon upon them two Forts distant about a Mile from the Town wherein were thirty four Pieces of Cannon and two Ships of War that were in the Harbour surrendred which the Governour understanding capitulated and delivered the Town upon Articles being permitted to march off himself but Sir Hugh Pollard the Earl of Newport Col. Seymour four Colonels with divers others were to remain Prisoners and a French Vessel coming into the Harbour not knowing what had passed was seized and Letters of Consequence found in her from the Queen The Prince of Wales who to countenance their Affairs had the name of General in the Western Parts finding their Affairs desperate shipped himself for Scilly leaving the Command of their Forces to Sir Ralph Hopton who was soon after summoned by General Fairfax to lay down his Arms and after several Messages four Commissioners on each side met at Tresilian-Bridg and came to an Agreement the Substance of which was to deliver up all their Arms Artillery and Ammunition except what was excepted by the Articles to be admitted to compound according to the Rates fixed by the Parliament and to have Liberty granted for such as desired it to go beyond Sea which Sir Ralph Hopton and some others did The People of Padstow seized a Ship coming from Ireland and perceiving a Letter floating in the Sea took it up and opening it found it to be from the Earl of Glamorgan therein acquainting the King's Party that six thousand Irish were ready to be embarked for their Assistance and that four thousand more should follow them in a short time Upon the dispersion of Sir Ralph Hopton's Army most of the Forts and tenable Places in the West procured the best Conditions they could for themselves Hereford was surprized on the 18 th of December by Col. Birch and Col. Morgan after it had been besieged for about two Months ineffectually by the Scots In this Place was taken that inveterate Enemy to the Parliament Serjeant Jenkins with some others In February following Byron the Governour of Chester surrendred that Place upon Terms The best Friends of the Parliament were not without fears what the Issue of their new Elections might be for tho the People durst not chuse such as were open Enemies to them yet probably they would such as were most likely to be for a Peace upon any Terms corruptly preferring the Fruition of their Estates and sensual Enjoyments before the Publick Interest which fort of Men were no less dangerous than the other and therefore honest Men in all Parts did what they could to promote the Election of such as were most hearty for the Accomplishment of our Deliverance judging it to be of the highest Importance so to wind up things that we might not be over-reach'd by our Enemies in a Treaty that had not been able to contend with us in open War To this end I endeavoured that my Uncle Mr. Edmund Ludlow might be chosen for the Borough of Hinden where tho he was elected and returned by the principal Burgesses and Bailiff yet the Rabble of the Town many of whom lived upon the Alms of one Mr. George How pretending that they had chosen the latter the Sheriff returned them both By this means Mr. How got first into the House but they being informed of the matter of Fact commanded him to withdraw till the Case should be decided by the Committee of Privileges Shortly after a Writ being issued out for the Election of two Knights to serve for the County of Wilts in the room of my Father who died in their Service and of Sir James Thynne who contrary to his Trust had deserted to the King at Oxford the Earl of Pembroke sent to me and acquainted me that he understood that the Country was inclined to chuse me to serve for one of their Knights in Parliament desiring me to endeavour that his second Son Mr. James Herbert might be chosen for the other promising that tho he was young yet he would undertake he should vote honestly for the Commonwealth I inform'd him that I knew nothing of the Intentions of the County to elect me but hoped that if they elected his Son he would make good his Promise His Son also entred into the like Engagement for himself At the Day appointed for the Election having had several Invitations so to do I attended according to Custom and the Words of the Writ which require the Candidates to be present at the Place of Election The Earl of Pembroke's Friends desired me to consent that his Son might have the first Voice which I did tho many of the Country Gentlemen were unwilling to permit it which done the County was pleased to confer the Trust upon me without any Opposition Some who were not present took it ill that I sent not to them to desire their Company which I excused assuring them that I had not sent to any Person having forborn so to do not out of any Disrespect to them or Confidence in my own Interest but out of a Sense of my own Inability to undertake so great a Charge as well as out of a Desire to have a clear and unquestionable Right to an Employment of such Importance When I came to the House of Commons I met with Col. Robert Blake attending to be admitted being chosen for Taunton where having taken the usual Oaths we went into the House together which I chose to do assuring my self he having been faithful and active in the Publick Service abroad that we should be as unanimous in the carrying it on within those Doors The Parliament being sensible that the King had corrupted those Forces that they had sent over to suppress the Rebellion in Ireland and that they had no great Assurance of the Lord Inchequin nominated the Lord Viscount Lisle Son to the Earl of Leicester and a Member of the House of Commons to be Lieutenant for Ireland looking upon him as the most considerable Person of Integrity they could think upon He procured the Liberty of Col. Monk then Prisoner in the Tower upon information that he had good Experience in that War and an Interest in the Souldiers there to which Mr.
against as a Traitor to the Common-wealth Within three or four days they received a Message from the Scots Army informing the Parliament of the King 's coming to them and pretending to be much surprized at it but it appeared afterwards that this Resolution had been communicated to them before The King was accompanied in this Expedition by one Hudson and Mr. Ashburnham passing as a Servant to the latter Upon this notice the House of Commons sent an Order to their Commissioners in the Scots Army to demand the Person of the King judging it unreasonable that the Scots Army being in their Pay should assume the Authority to dispose of the King otherwise than by their Order resolving further that the King should be conducted to the Castle of Warwick and that those who came out of Oxford with him should be brought to London The next day they commanded their Army to advance in order to hinder the Conjunction of the King's Forces with the Scots The King soon after his Arrival at the Scots Quarters gave order for the Delivery of Newark into their Hands which having received they surrendred to the English and marched with the King to Newcastle whereof the House of Commons being informed and that the Earl of Leven General of the Scots Army had by Proclamation forbidden his Forces to have any Communication with the King's Party they desisted from their Resolution of advancing their Army and of conducting the King to Warwick ordering the Scots to keep him for the Parliament of England Mr. Ashburnham was permitted by the Scots to make his Escape but Mr. Hudson was brought to London and upon Examination at the Bar of the House of Commons confessed some things about the King's Journey from Oxford Commissioners being appointed by the Parliament to be sent down to the Scots Army in this Conjuncture they made choice of two Lords of whom the Earl of Pembroke was one and four of the Commons in which number Col. Brown the Woodmonger being nominated to that Imployment he turned about to me who sat behind him in the House assuring me that he would be ever true to us And truly I then believed him having met him at the beginning of the War in Smithfield buying Horses for the Service of the Parliament where he spoke very affectionately concerning their Undertaking and served them afterwards very successfully especially at Abingdon as I mentioned before but this wretched Man soon discovered the Corruption of his Nature and Malignity that lay concealed in his Heart for no sooner had the King found out his ambitious Temper and cast some slight Favours upon him giving him a Pair of Silk Stockings with his own Hand but his low and abject Original and Education became so prevalent in him as to transform him into an Agent and Spy for the King proving as will be hereaster related one of the bloodiest Butchers of the Parliament's Friends The Scots having the King in their Power pressed him to write to the Earl of Ormond his Lieutenant in Ireland and to the Governours and Commanders of Places that remained in Arms for him to lay down their Arms and to deliver the said Places to such as the Parliament of England should appoint to receive them acquainting him that otherwise they could not protect him Submitting to this Necessiry he sent Orders to that effect which some obeyed and others resused to comply with looking upon him to be under a Force Amongst those who yielded Obedience to the King's Orders was Montross who disbanded the Forces he had left and went beyond Sea The City of Oxford having been blocked up for some time began to capitulate lest their farther Obstinacy should prove prejudicial to them particularly in the matter of Compositions for their Estates the most considerable of the King's Party being there Commissioners were appointed on both sides to treat and came to an Agreement on the 22 d of June 1646. upon such Terms as the Parliament were unwilling to confirm but whilst they were in Debate concerning the Articles they understood that Prince Rupert and others of the King's Party were marched out of the Town in pursuance of them and that the Garison would be entirely evacuated before they could signify their Pleasure to the Army Wherefore tho they did not approve the Conditions yet they thought not fit to do any thing in order to break them The principal Reason given by the Army of their proceeding so hastily to a Conclusion of the Treaty was lest the King should make Terms with the Scots and bring their Army to the Relief of Oxford Farringdon-house Wallingford-Castle and Woodstock were surrendred to the Parliament Worcester and Litchfield soon after as also Pendennis and Ragland-Castle The Scots by their Commissioners pressed the Parliament to send Propositions of Peace to the King wherein they were seconded by an insolent Address from the Mayor and Common-Council of the City of London in which after some Acknowledgments of the Care and Courage of the Parliament in the Refermation of the Church and Preservation of the Laws they desired of them that such Assemblies as were privately held to introduce new Sects might be suppressed lest they should breed Disturbances in Church and State that they would hasten the Establishment of Peace in the three Kingdoms that they would consider the great Services of the Scots and dismiss those who were distinguished by the name of Independents from all Imployments Civil and Military esteeming them to be Firebrands that might endanger the Publick Peace with other Particulars of the same nature The Answer of the Parliament to the said Address was not much to the Satisfaction of the Petitioners being a positive Declaration that they resolved to preserve their Authority entire to themselves There was a Party in the House of the same Temper with the Addressers who earnestly endeavoured to break the Army as the principal Obstacle to their Designs pretending the necessity of relieving Ireland the Loss of which they said would be infinitely prejudicial to England and that the way to prevent it was to send thither some part of the Army who being united in Affection and of great Reputation both for Courage and Conduct would strike a Terror into the Enemy and undoubtedly accomplish that important Work not forgetting to urge that the People of England were not able to bear their present Burdens and therefore must be eased To these Pretences it was replied That it could not consist with the Honour or Safety of the Parliament to lessen their Forces whilst they had an Army of another Nation in their Bowels who tho they were united in the same Cause and Interest with us yet the best way to continue them so was to be in such a Posture as might secure us from any fear of their breaking with us and that the more Reputation the Army had the fitter they were to be kept together for that end After a long Debate the Question was put Whether two Regiments
of the Army should be sent to the Relief of Ireland and it was carried in the Negative by one Voice only The Commonwealth-Party taking Advantage of the Arguments used in the House for the Relief of Ireland and Ease of the People of England procured an Order for the disbanding of Col. Massey's Brigade and Money to be sent to the Devizes in the County of Wiles where they were ordered to be drawn together for that purpose Alderman Allen and my self who served sor that County were commissionated to see it put in execution In order to which we repaired to the Lord General who lay then at Cornbury and prevailed with him and Commissary General Ireton with two Regiments of Horse to draw to the Devizes which we found to be very necessary for tho many of that Brigade were glad of the Opportunity to return home to their several Callings having taken up Arms and hazarded their Lives purely to serve the Publick yet divers idle and debauched Persons especially the Foreigners amongst them not knowing how to betake themselves to any honest Employment endeavoured to stir up the Brigade to a Mutiny but not being able to effect that some of them listed themselves to serve against the Rebels in Ireland under Sir William Fenton and others there present to receive them for which we had Instructions from the Parliament the rest dispersed themselves and returned home The Forces also that served in the North under Major General Pointz were soon after disbanded The City of London had made it their Request in the Petition before-mentioned that some Commissioners from them might accompany those from the Parliament to the King but their own Party in the House fearing perhaps to be outbid by them or it may be not having quite lost all Sense of Honour rejected that Motion with Contempt alledging that they had their Representatives in Parliament and were concluded by what they acted as well as other Men upon which Mr. Martin said That tho he could not but agree with what had been affirmed touching their being involved in what their Representatives did and their not sending Commissioners as desired yet as to the Substance of what they proposed he could not so much blame them as others had done they therein shewing themselves in the end of the War no less prudent than they had expressed themselves honest in the beginning for as when the Parliament invited them to stand by them in the War against the King in Defence of their Religion Lives Liberties and Estates they did it heartily and therein shewed themselves good Christians and true English-men so now the War being ended and the Parliament upon making Terms with the King and thinking fit to sue to him now their Prisoner for Peace whom they had all incensed by their Resistance the Citizens having considerable Estates to lose shewed themselves prudent Men in endeavouring to procure their Pardons as well as others And tho said he you will not permit them to send as they desire they have expressed their good Will which without doubt will be well accepted The Commissioners of Parliament joining with those who were before with the King endeavoured to perswade him to agree to the Propositions of the Parliament but he disliking several things in them and most of all the abolition of Episcopacy to which Interest he continued obstinately stedfast refused his Consent upon private Encouragement from some of the Scots and English to expect more easy Terms or to be received without any at all The Parliament willing to bring this Matter to a Conclusion sent the same Propositions a second time to the King and desired the Scots to use their utmost Endeavours to procure his Consent to them The Scots Commissioners especially the Lord Loudon pressed the King very earnestly to comply with them telling him that tho the Propositions were higher in some Particulars than they could have wished notwithstanding their Endeavours to bring them as low as they could according to their Promises yet if he continued to reject them he must not expect to be received in Scotland whither they must return and upon his resusal of the Conditions offered deliver him up to the Parliament of England But whatsoever they or the English could say making no Impression upon the King the Parliament's Commissioners returned with a Negative from him The Interposition of the Scots in this Affair proving ineffectual the War being at an end and such considerable Forces altogether unnecessary the Parliament appointed Commissioners to conser with those of Scotland concerning such things as remained to be performed by the Treaty between them that the fraternal Union might continue and the Scots depart towards their own Country In order to which the Accounts of their Army were adjusted and a great Sum of Money agreed to be paid to them at the present and other Sums upon certain days to their full Satisfaction Major General Skippon with a considerable Body of Men carried down the Money in specie for the Paiment of the Scots Army which being received by them they delivered the King into the hands of the Parliament's Commissioners that attended him there and began their March for Scotland having delivered Newcastle to the English and drawn their Men out of Berwick and Carlisle which two Places were agreed not to be garisoned without the Consent of both Kingdoms About this time the Earl of Essex having over-heated himself in the Chace of a Stag in Windsor Forest departed this Lise His Death was a great Loss to those of his Party who to keep up their Spirits and Credit procured his Funeral to be celebrated with great Magnificence at the Charge of the Publick the Lords and Commons with a great number of Officers and Gentlemen accompanying him to the Grave In the mean time I observed that another Party was not idle for walking one Morning with Lieutenant General Cromwell in Sir Robert Cotton's Garden he inveighed bitterly against them saying in a familiar way to me If thy Father were alive he would let some of them hear what they deserve adding farther That it was a miserable thing to serve a Parliament to whom let a Man be never so faithful if one pragmatical Fellow amongst them rise up and asperse him he shall never wipe it off Whereas said he when one serves under a General he may do as much Service and yet be free from all Blame and Envy This Text together with the Comment that his after-Actions put upon it hath since perswaded me that he had already conceived the Design of destroying the Civil Authority and setting up of himself and that he took that Opportunity to feel my Pulse whether I were a fit Instrument to be employed by him to those ends But having replied to his Discourse that we ought to perform the Duty of our Stations and trust God with our Honour Power and all that is dear to us not permitting any such Considerations to discourage us from the
prosecution of our Duty I never heard any more from him upon that point Whilst the King was at Newcastle the President de Bellievre came over into England in the Quality of an Ambassador from the French King with Orders to endeavour a Reconciliation between the King and the Parliament He had a favourable Audience from the Two Houses and their Permission to apply himself to the King but being on his way towards him upon farther Debate they judged it not fit to subject that Affair to the Cognizance of any Foreign Prince resolving to determine it themselves without the Interposition of any having experienced that most of the neighbouring States especially the Monarchical were at the bottom their Enemies and their Ambassadors and Residents so many Spies upon them as appeared more particularly by Letters taken in the King's Cabinet after the Battel of Naseby which discovered that the Emperor 's Resident in London held a private Correspondence with the King and there was ground to believe that the Ambassador of Portugal did the like from Letters therein found from that King These Applications to the King together with the Permission granted by the Parliament to the Turky Company to address themselves to him for the commissionating of one whom they had nominated to be their Agent with the Grand Signior under pretence that he would not otherwise be received To which may be added the frequent Overtures of Peace made by the Parliament to the King tho he had not a Sword left wherewith to oppose them and the great Expectations of the People of his Return to the Parliament being informed that the Heads of the Presbyterian Party had promised the Scots upon the Delivery of the King that as soon as they had disbanded the Army they would bring him to London in Honour and Safety these things I say made the People ready to conclude that tho his Designs had been wonderfully defeated his Armies beaten out of the Field and himself delivered into the Hands of the Parliament against whom he had made a long and bloody War yet certainly he must be in the right and that tho he was guilty of the Blood of many thousands yet was still unaccountable in a condition to give Pardon and not in need of receiving any which made them flock from all Parts to see him as he was brought from Newcastle to Holmby falling down before him bringing their Sick to be touched by him and courting him as only able to restore to them their Peace and Settlement The Party in the House that were betraying the Cause of their Country became Encouragers of such Petitioners as came to them from the City of London and other Places to that effect very many of whom had been always for the King's Interest but their Estates lying in the Parliament's Quarters they secured them by their Presence in the House and at the same time promoted his Designs by their Votes There was another sort of Men who were contented to sacrifice all Civil Liberties to the Ambition of the Presbyterian Clergy and to vest them with a Power as great or greater than that which had been declared intolerable in the Bishops before To this end they encouraged the reduced Officers of the Earl of Essex such as Massey Waller Pointz and others to press the Parliament for their Arrears in a peremptory and seditious manner that being furnished with Money they might be enabled to stand by these their Patrons in whatsoever Design they had to carry on And the better to facilitate the disbanding of the Army which they so much desired they resolved to draw off a considerable part of them for the Service of Ireland and to render the Work more acceptable voted Major General Skippon to command them joining the Earl of Warwick and Sir William Waller in Commission with Sir Thomas Fairfax to draw out such Forces as were willing to go to continue such as should be thought necessary for the Security of this Nation and to disband the rest The Army being well informed of the Design begun to consult how to prevent it and tho many of the Officers were prevailed with to engage by Advancements to higher Commands yet the major part absolutely resused The Commissioners of the Parliament having done what they could in prosecution of their Instructions ordered those who had engaged in the Irish Service to draw off from the Army which then lay at Saffron Walden and about Newmarket and to be quartered in the way to Ireland which done they returned to London with an Account of their Proceedings The Parliament being informed of what passed were highly displeased with the Carriage of the Army but the Prudence and Moderation of Major General Skippon in his Report of that Matter to the House much abated the heat of their Resentment Yet some menacing Expressions falling from some of them Lieutenant General Cromwell took the occasion to whisper me in the Ear saying These Men will never leave till the Army pull them out by the Ears Which Expression I should have resented if the state of our Affairs would have permitted In this Conjuncture five Regiments of Horse chose their Agitators who agreed upon a Petition to the Parliament to desire of them to proceed to settle the Affairs of the Kingdom to provide for the Arrears of the Army and to declare that they would not disband any of them till these things were done deputing William Allen afterwards known by the addition of Adjutant General Edward Sexby afterwards Col. Sexby and one Philips to present it which they did accordingly at the Bar of the House of Commons After the reading of the Petition some of the Members moved that the Messengers might be committed to the Tower and the Petition declared seditious but the House after a long Debate satisfied themselves to declare That it did not belong to the Souldiery to meddle with Civil Affairs nor to prepare or present any Petition to the Parliament without the Advice and Consent of their General to whom they ordered a Letter to be sent to desire for the future his Care therein with which acquainting the three Agents and requiring their Conformity thereunto they dismissed them But this not satisfying another Petition was carried on throughout the Army much to the same effect only they observed the Order of the Parliament in directing it to their General desiring him to present it The House having notice of this Combination against them from Col. Edward Harley one of their Members who had a Regiment in the Army expressed themselves highly dissatisfied therewith and some of them moved that the Petitioners might be declared Traitors alledging that they were Servants who ought to obey not capitulate Others were not wanting who resolved the securing of Lieutenant General Cromwell suspecting that he had under-hand given countenance to this Design but he being advertised of it went that Afternoon towards the Army so that they missed of him and were not willing to shew
their Teeth since they could do no more The Debate continued till late in the Night and the Sense of the House was that they should be required to forbear the prosecution of the said Petition but when the House wearied with long sitting was grown thin Mr. Denzil Hollis taking that opportunity drew up a Resolution upon his Knee declaring the Petition to be seditious and those Traitors who should endeavour to promote it after such a day and promising Pardon to all that were concerned therein if they should desist by the time limited Some of us fearing the Consequence of these Divisions expressed our Dissatisfaction to it and went out which gave them occasion to pass two or three very sharp Votes against the Proceedings of the Army The Agitators of the Army sensible of their Condition and knowing that they must fall under the Mercy of the Parliament unless they could secure themselves from their Power by prosecuting what they had begun and fearing that those who had shewed themselves so forward to close with the King out of Principle upon any Terms would now for their own Preservation receive him without any or rather put themselves under his Protection that they might the better subdue the Army and reduce them to Obedience by Force sent a Party of Horse under the Command of Cornet Joyce on the 4 th of June 1647. with an Order in Writing to take the King out of the Hands of the Commissioners of Parliament The Cornet having placed Guards about Holmby-house sent to acquaint the King with the occasion of his Coming and was admitted into his Bed-chamber where upon Promise that the King should be used civilly and have his Servants and other Conveniences continued to him he obtained his Consent to go with him But whilst Cornet Joyce was giving Orders concerning the King's Removal the Parliament's Commissioners took that occasion to discourse with the King and perswaded him to alter his Resolution which Joyce perceiving at his Return put the King in mind of his Promise acquainting him that he was obliged to execute his Orders whereupon the King told him that since he had passed his Word he would go with him and to that end descending the Stairs to take Horse the Commissioners of the Parliament being with him Col. Brown and Mr. Crew who were two of them publickly declared that the King was forced out of their hands and so returned with an account of what had been done to the Parliament The King's Officers who waited on him were continued and the chief Officers of the Army began publickly to own the Design pretending thereby to keep the private Souldiers for they would no longer be called Common Souldiers from running into greater Extravagancies and Disorders Col. Francis Russell and others attending on the King became soon converted by the Splendor of his Majesty and Sir Robert Pye a Colonel in the Army supplied the Place of a Querry riding bare before him when he rode abroad so that the King began to promise to himself that his Condition was alatered for the better and to look upon the Independent Interest as more consisting with Episcopacy than the Presbyterian for that it could subsist under any Form which the other could not do and therefore largely promised Liberty to the Independent Party being fully perswaded how naturally his Power would revive upon his Restitution to the Throne and how easy it would be for him to break through all such Promises and Engagements upon pretence that he was under a Force The principal Officers of the Army made it so much their business to get the good Opinion of the King that Whalley being sent from them with Orders to use all means but Constraint to cause him to return to Holmby and the King refusing Whalley was contented to bring him to the Army Yet in the mean time a Charge of High Treason was drawn up by the Army against eleven Members of the House of Commons who were Mr. Denzil Hollis Sir Philip Stapylton Sir John Clotworthy Serjeant Glyn Mr. Anthony Nichols Mr. Walter Long Sir William Lewis Col. Edward Harly Commissary Copley Col. Massey and Sir John Maynard for betraying the Cause of the Parliament endeavouring to break and destroy the Army with other Particulars This Charge they accompanied with a Declaration shewing the Reasons of what they had done affirming that they were obliged by their Duty so to do as they tendred the preservation of the publick Cause and securing the good People of England from being a Prey to their Enemies The great end of this Charge of Treason being rather to keep these Members from using their Power with the Parliament in opposition to the Proccedings of the Army than from any Design to proceed capitally against them they resolved rather to withdraw themselves voluntarily than to put the Parliament or Army to any farther Trouble or their Persons to any more Hazard By these means the Army in which there were too many who had no other Design but the Advancement of themselves having made the Parliament the Scots and the City of London their Enemies thought it convenient to enlarge their Concessions to the King giving his Chaplains leave to come to him and to officiate in their way which had been denied before Whilst this Design was on foot I went down to their Quarters at Maidenhead to visit the Officers where Commissary General Ireton suspecting that these things might occasion Jealousies of them in me and others of their Friends in Parliament desired me to be assured of their stedfast Adherence to the Publick Interest and that they intended only to dispense with such things as were not material in order to quiet the restless Spirits of the Cavaliers till they could put themselves into a condition of serving the People effectually I could not approve of their Practices but many of the chief of them proceeding in the way they had begun gave out that the Intentions of the Officers and Souldiers in the Army were to establish his Majesty in his just Rights The News of this being brought to the Queen and Prince of Wales who were in France they dispatched Sir Edward Ford Brother-in-law to Commissary General Ireton into England to found the Designs of the Army and to promote an Agreement between the King and them Soon after which Mr. John Denham was sent over on the like Errand Sir John Barkley also upon his Return to the Queen from Holland where he had been ordered to condole the Death of the Prince of Orange came into England by the same Order and to the same Purpose It was in his Instructions to endeavour to procure a Pass for Mr. John Ashburnham to come over to assist him in his Negotiation which with many other Particulars relating to this Business I have seen in a Manuscript written by Sir John Barkley himself and left in the Hands of a Merchant at Geneva Being at Diepe in order to embark for England he met with Mr.
William Leg who was of the Bed-chamber to the King and they two came over together into England They landed at Hastings and being on their way towards London were met by Sir Allen Appesley who had been Lieutenant Governour to Sir John Barkley at Exeter by whom he understood that he was sent to him from Cromwell and some other Officers of the Army with Letters and a Cypher as also particular Instructions to desire Sir John Barkley to remember his own Discourse at a Conference with Col. Lambert and other Officers upon the Surrender of Exeter wherein he had taken notice of the bitter Invectives of those of the Army against the King's Person and presuming that such Discourses were encouraged in order to prepare Mens Minds to receive an Alteration of the Government had said that it was not only a most wicked but difficult Undertaking if not impossible for a few Men not of the greatest Quality to introduce a Popular Government against the King the Presbyterians the Nobility Gentry and the Genius of the Nation accustomed for so many Ages to a Monarchical Government advising that since the Presbyterians who had begun the War upon divers specious Pretences were discovered to have sought their own Advantages by which means they had lost almost all their Power and Credit the Independent Party who had no particular Obligations to the Crown as many of the Presbyterians had would make good what the Presbytery had only pretended to and restore the King and People to their just and antient Rights to which they were obliged both by Prudence and Interest there being no means under Heaven more likely to establish themselves and to obtain as much Trust and Power as Subjects are capable of whereas if they aimed at more it would be accompanied with a general Hatred and their own Destruction He had Orders also to let him know that tho to this Discourse of his they then gave only the hearing yet they had since found by Experience that all or the most part of it was reasonable and that they were resolved to act accordingly as might be perceived by what had already passed desiring that he would present them humbly to the Queen and Prince and be a Suitor to them in their Names not to condemn them absolutely but to suspend their Opinions of them and their Intentions till their future Behaviour had made full Proof of their Innocence whereof they had already given some Testimonies to the World and that when he had done this Office he would return to England and be an Eye-witness of their Proceedings Thus did the Army-Party endeavour to fortify their Interest against the Presbyterians who tho they were very much weakened by the Absence of the eleven Members yet not to be altogether wanting to themselves passed a Vote that the King should be brought to Richmond whither he was inclined to go having conceived a Distrust of the Army grounded chiefly upon the Refusal of the Officers to receive any Honours or Advantages from him and would not be disswaded from this Resolution till the Army had obliged the Parliament to recal their Vote After which he insisted upon going to Windsor much against the Sense of the Army and could not be prevailed with to pass by the Army in his way thither This caused them to suspect that he hearkned to some secret Propositions from the Presbyterians and designed to make an absolute Breach between the Parliament and the Army which Commissary General Ireton discerning said these Words to him Sir you have an Intention to be Arbitrator between the Parliament and us and we mean to be so between You and the Parliament But the King finding himself courted on all hands became so confident of his own Interest as to think himself able to turn the Scale to what side soever he pleased In this Temper Sir John Barkley found him when he delivered the Queen's Letters to him which he did after leave obtained from Cromwell and a Confirmation received from his own Mouth of what had been communicated before to him by Sir Allen Appesley with this Addition that he thought no Man could enjoy his Life and Estate quietly unless the King had his Rights which he said they had already declared to the World in general Terms and would more particularly very speedily wherin they would comprize the several Interests of the Royalists Presbyterians and Independents as far as they were consistent with one another Sir John Barkley endeavoured to perswade the King that it was necessary for him who was now in the Power of the Army to dissemble with them and proposed that Mr. Peters might preach before him that he would converse freely with others of the Army and gain the good Opinion of the Agitators whose Interest he perceived to be very great amongst them But this Advice made no Impression upon the King He gave him also a relation of what had formerly passed between himself and Cromwell whom he met near Causum when the Head-quarters were at Reading where Cromwell told him that he had lately seen the tenderest Sight that ever his Eyes beheld which was the Interview between the King and his Children that he wept plentifully at the Remembrance thereof saying that never Man was so abused as he in his sinister Opinion of the King who he thought was the most upright and conscientious of his Kingdom that they of the Independent Party had infinite Obligations to him for not consenting to the Propositions sent to him at Newcastle which would have totally ruined them and which his Majesty's Interest seemed to invite him to concluding with this Wish that God would be pleased to look upon him according to the Sincerity of his Heart towards the King With this relation the King was no more moved than with the rest firmly believing such Expressions to proceed from a necessity that Cromwell and the Army had of him without whom he said they could do nothing And indeed the King was not without reason of that Opinion for some of the principal Agitators with whom Sir John Barkley conversed at Reading expressing to him their Jealousy that Cromwell was not sincere for the King desired of him that if he found him false to acquaint them with it promising that they would endeavour to set him right either with or against his Will Major Huntington a Creature of Cromwell and therefore entrusted by him to command the Guard about the King either believing him to be in earnest in his Pretensions to serve the King or else finding the King's Affairs in a rising Condition became one of his Confidents and by Order of the King brought two General Officers to Sir John Barkley recommending them to him as Persons upon whom he might rely these two had frequent Conferences with Sir John Barkley and assured him that a Conjunction with the King was universally desired by the Officers and Agitators and that Cromwell and Ireton were great Dissemblers if they were not real in
it but that the Army was so bent upon it at present that they durst not shew themselves otherwise protesting that however things might happen to change and whatsoever others might do they would for ever continue faithful to the King They acquainted him also that Proposals were drawn up by Ireton wherein Episcopacy was not required to be abolished nor any of the King's Party wholly ruined nor the Militia to be taken away from the Crown advising that the King would with all Expedition agree to them there being no Assurance of the Army which they had observed already to have changed more than once To this end they brought him to Commissary General Ireton with whom he continued all Night debating upon the Proposals before-mentioned altering two of the Articles as he saith himself in the Manuscript in the most material Points but upon his endeavouring to alter a third touching the Exclusion of seven Persons not mentioned in the Papers from Pardon and the admission of the King's Party to sit in the next Parliament Ireton told him that there must be a Distinction made between the Conquerors and those that had been beaten and that he himself should be afraid of a Parliament where the King's Party had the major Vote In Conclusion conjuring Sir John Barkley as he tendred the King's Welfare to endeavour to procure his Consent to the Proposals that they might with more Confidence be offered to the Parliament and all Differences accommodated Cromwell appeared in all his Conferences with Sir John Barkley most zealous for a speedy Agreement with the King insomuch that he sometimes complained of his Son Ireton's Slowness in perfecting the Proposals and his Unwillingness to come up to his Majesty's Sense at other times he would wish that Sir John Barkley would act more frankly and not tie himself up by narrow Principles always affirming that he doubted the Army would not persist in their good Intentions towards the King During these Transactions the Army marched from about Reading to Bedford and the King with his usual Guard to Woburn a House belonging to the Earl of Bedford where the Proposals of the Army were brought to him to peruse before they were offered to him in publick He was much displeased with them in general saying That if they had any Intention to come to an Accommodation they would not impose such Conditions on him to which Sir John Barkley who brought them to him answered That he should rather suspect they designed to abuse him if they had demanded less there being no appearance that Men who had through so many Dangers and Difficulties acquired such Advantages would content themselves with less than was contained in the said Proposals and that a Crown so near lost was never recovered so easily as this would be if things were adjusted upon these Terms But the King being of another Opinion replied that they could not subsist without him and that therefore he did not doubt to find them shortly willing to condescend farther making his chief Objections against the three following Points 1. The Exclusion of seven Persons from Pardon 2. The incapacitating any of his Party from being elected Members of the next ensuing Parliament 3. That there was nothing mentioned concerning Church-Government To the first it was answered That when the King and the Army were agreed it would not be impossible to make them remit in that point but if that could not be obtained yet when the King was restored to his Power he might easily supply seven Persons living beyond the Seas in such a manner as to make their Banishment supportable To the second That the next Parliament would be necessitated to lay great Burdens upon the People and that it would be a Happiness to the King's Party to have no hand therein To the third That the Law was Security enough for the Church and that it was a great point gained to reduce Men who had fought against it to be wholly silent in the matter But the King breaking away from them said Well I shall see them glad e're long to accept of more equal Terms About this time Mr. Ashburnham arrived to the King 's great Contentment and his Instructions referring to Sir John Barkley's which they were to prosecute jointly Sir John gave him what light he could into the state of Affairs but he soon departed from the Methods proposed by Sir John Barkley and entirely complying with the King's Humour declared openly that having always used the best Company he could not converse with such sensless Fellows as the Agitators that if the Officers could be gained there was no doubt but they would be able to command their own Army and that he was resolved to apply himself wholly to them Upon this there grew a great Familiarity between him and Whalley who commanded the Guard that waited on the King and not long after a close Correspondence with Cromwell and Ireton Messages daily passing from the King to the Head-quarters With these Encouragements and others from the Presbyterian Party the Lord Lauderdale and divers of the City of London assuring the King that they would oppose the Army to the Death he seemed so much elevated that when the Proposals were sent to him and his Concurrence humbly desired he to the great Astonishment not only of Ireton and the Army but even of his own Party entertained them with very sharp and bitter Language saying That no Man should suffer for his sake and that he repented him of nothing so much as that he passed the Bill against the Earl of Strafford which tho it must be confessed to have been an unworthy Act in him all things considered yet was it no less imprudent in that manner and at that time to mention it and that he would have the Church established according to Law by the Proposals To which those of the Army replied that it was not their Work to do it and that they thought it sufficient for them to wave the point and they hoped for the King too he having already consented to the abolition of the Episcopal Government in Scotland The King said that he hoped God had forgiven him that Sin repeating frequently these or the like words You cannot be without me You will fall to Ruin if I do not sustain you This manner of Carriage from the King being observed with the utmost Amazement by many Officers of the Army who were present and at least in appearance were Promoters of the Agreement Sir John Barkley taking notice of it looked with much wonder upon the King and stepping to him said in his Ear Sir you speak as if you had some secret Strength and Power which I do not know of and since you have concealed it from me I wish you had done it from these Men also Whereupon the King began to recollect himself and to soften his former Discourse but it was too late for Col. Rainsborough who of all the Army seemed the least to desire an Agreement
having observed these Passages went out from the Conference and hastned to the Army informing them what Entertainment their Commissioners and Proposals had found with the King Sir John Barkley being desirous to allay this heat demanded of Ireton and the rest of the Officers what they would do if the King should consent By whom it was answered that they would offer them to the Parliament for their Approbation The King having thus bid defiance to the Army thought it necessary to bend all his Force against them and especially to strengthen their Enemies in the Parliament To this end a Petition was contrived to press them to a speedy Agreement with the King and presented in a most tumultuous manner by great numbers of Apprentices and Rabble back'd and encouraged by many dismissed and disaffected Officers who joined with them Whilst the Two Houses were in Debate what Answer to give to this insolent Multitude some of them getting to the Windows of the House of Lords threw Stones in upon them and threatned them with worse Usage unless they gave them an Answer to their liking Others knocked at the door of the House of Commons requiring to be admitted but some of us with our Swords forced them to retire for the present and the House resolved to rise without giving any Answer judging it below them to do any thing by compulsion Whereupon the Speaker went out of the House but being in the Lobby was forced back into the Chair by the Violence of the insolent Rabble whereof above a thousand attended without doors and about sorty or fifty were got into the House So that it was thought convenient to give way to their Rage and the Speaker demanding what Question they desired to be put they answered That the King should be desired to come to London forth with which Question being put they were asked again what further they would have they said That he should be invited to come with Honour Freedom and Sasety to both which I gave a loud Negative and some of the Members as loud an Affirmative rather out of a prudential Compliance than any Affection to the Design on foot By these Votes and the coming down of divers well-affected Citizens to appease them the Tumult was somewhat allayed and the Members of Parliament with their Speaker passed through the Multitude safely The next Morning I advised with Sir Arthur Haslerig and others what was fittest to be done in this Conjuncture and it was concluded that we could not sit in Parliament without apparent Hazard of our Lives till we had a Guard for our Defence it being manifestly the Design of the other Party either to drive us away or to destroy us Therefore we resolved to betake our selves to the Army for Protection Sir Arthur Haslerig undertaking to perswade the Speaker to go thither to which he consented with some Difficulty and having caused a thousand Pounds to be thrown into his Coach went down to the Army which lay then at Windsor Maidenhead Colebrook and the adjacent Places Having acquainted as many of our Friends as I could with our Resolution to repair to the Army I went down and the next day being the same to which the Parliament had adjourned themselves the Army rendezvouzed upon Hownslow-heath where those Members of Parliament as well Lords as Commons who could not with Safety stay at Westminster appeared in the Head of them at which the Army expressed great Joy declaring themselves resolved to live and die with them At night the Earl of Northumberland the Lord Say the Lord Wharton and other Lords the Speaker and Members of the House of Commons aforesaid with Sir Thomas Fairfax and many principal Officers of the Army met at Sion-house to consult what was most advisable to do in that Juncture which whilst they were doing an Account was brought of the Proceedings of those at Westminster that day by the Serjeant of the House who came with his Mace to the no little Satisfaction of the Speaker He acquainted them that the remaining Members being met in the House of Commons had for some time attended the coming of their Speaker but being informed that he was gone to the Army they had made choice of one Mr. Pelham a Lawyer and Member of the House to be their Speaker After which they had appointed a Committee of Lords and Commons to join with the Directors of the Militia of London in order to raise Forces for the Defence of the Parliament the Success of which Attempt they desired to see before they would declare against the Army To this end Massey Pointz Brown and Sir William Waller encouraged by the Common Council and others who by various Artifices had been corrupted used all possible Diligence to list Men and prepare a Force to oppose the Army but their Proceedings therein were much obstructed by divers honest Citizens who importunately solicited them to treat with the Army and also by the News of the General Rendezvouz upon Hounslow-heath Tho the Lords had been removed from the Command of the Army yet it was manifest that their Influence there still continued partly from a desire of some great Officers to oblige them and partly from the Ambition of others to be of their Number who to shew their earnest Desires to serve the King being morally assured the Parliament and City were likely to be shortly in the Power of the Army who might be induced to take other Counsels in relation to the King upon such Success especially considering his late Carriage towards them they sent an Express to Sir John Barkley and Mr. Ashburnham advising that since the King would not yield to their Proposals that he would send a kind Letter to the Army before it were known that London would submit Whereupon a Letter was prepared immediately but the King would not sign it till after three or four Debates which lost one whole day's time At last Mr. Ashburnham and Sir John Barkley going with it met with Messengers from the Officers to hasten it But before they could come to Sion-house the Commissioners from London were arrived and the Letter out of season For coming after it was known with what Difficulty it had been obtained and that Matters were like to be adjusted between the Parliament and Army it lost both its Grace and Efficacy Notwithstanding all which the Officers being resolved to do what they could proposed whilst the Army was in the very Act of giving Thanks for their Success that they should not be too much elevated therewith but keep still to their former Engagement to the King and once more solemnly vote the Proposals which was done accordingly The face of Affairs in the City was at this time very various according to the different Advices they received for upon the Report of the Advance of the Army and the taking of some of their Scouts they cried out Treat Treat And at another time being informed that Men listed in great numbers the word
was Live and die Live and die but when Southwark had let in part of the Army and joined with them they returned to the former Cry of Treat Treat to which the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council consenting were ready to admit the Army as Friends being not able to oppose them as Enemies and afterwards to attend those Members who had retired to the Army being in all about a hundred to the Parliament Having resumed our Places in the House as many of the eleven Members as had returned to act immediately withdrew and Pointz with other reduced Officers who had endeavoured to form a Body against the Army fled But we had other Difficulties to encounter for tho that Vote by which the Petition of the Army was declared seditious and those guilty of Treason who should prosecute the same after such a day was razed out of the Journal yet by reason that the bulk of the opposite Party was left still in the House the Militia of London could not be changed without much Difficulty and some other Votes of great Consequence could not be altered at all However the Parliament appointed a Committee to inquire into the late Force that was put upon them who having made their Report Sir John Maynard was impeached and Recorder Glyn with Mr. Clement Walker and others imprisoned A day or two after the Restitution of the Parliament the Army marched through the City without offering the least Violence promising to shew themselves faithful to the Publick Interest but their Actions furnished occasion to suspect them particularly their discountenancing the Adjutators who had endured the Heat of the day the free Access of all Cavaliers to the King at Hampton-Court and the publick Speeches made for the King by the great Officers of the Army in a Council of War held at Putney some of that Party taking the same liberty in the House of Commons where one of them publickly said That he thought God had hitherto blasted our Counsels because we had dealt so severely with the Cavaliers These things caused many in the Army who thought themselves abused and cheated to complain to the Council of Adjutators against the Intimacy of Sir John Barkley and Mr. Ashburnham with the chief Officers of the Army affirming that the doors of Cromwell and Ireton were open to them when they were shut to those of the Army Cromwell was much offended with these Discourses and acquainted the King's Party with them telling Mr. Ashburnham and Sir John Barkley that if he were an honest Man he had said enough of the Sincerity of his Intentions and if he were not that nothing was enough and therefore conjured them as they tendred the King's Service not to come so frequently to his Quarters but to send privately to him the Suspicion of him being grown so great that he was afraid to lie in them himself This had no effect upon Mr. Ashburnham who said that he must shew them the necessity of complying with the King from their own Disorders About three Weeks after the Army entred London the Scots prevailed with the Parliament to address themselves again to the King which was performed in the old Propositions of Newcastle some Particulars relating to the Scots only excepted The King advising with some about him concerning this Matter it was concluded to be unsafe for him to close with the Enemies of the Army whilst he was in it Whereupon the King refused the Articles and desired a Personal Treaty The Officers of the Army having seen his Answer before it was sent seemed much satisfied with it and promised to use their utmost Endeavours to procure a Personal Treaty Cromwell Ireton and many of their Party in the House pressing the King's Desires with great Earnestness wherein contrary to their Expectations they found a vigorous Opposition from such as had already conceived a Jealousy of their private Agreement with the King and were now confirmed in that Opinion and the Suspicions of them grew to be so strong that they were accounted Betrayers of the Cause and lost almost all their Friends in the Parliament The Army that lay then about Putney were no less dissatisfied with their Conduct of which they were daily informed by those that came to them from London so that the Adjutators began to change their Discourse and to complain openly in Council both of the King and the Malignants about him saying that since the King had rejected their Proposals they were not engaged any further to him and that they were now to consult their own Safety and the Publick Good that having the Power devolved upon them by the Decision of the Sword to which both Parties had appealed and being convinced that Monarchy was inconsistent with the Prosperity of the Nation they resolved to use their Endeavours to reduce the Government of England to the Form of a Commonwealth These Proceedings strook so great a Terror into Cromwell and Ireton that they thought it necessary to draw the Army to a general Rendezvouz pretending to engage them to adhere to their former Proposals to the King but indeed to bring the Army into subjection to them and their Party that so they might make their bargain by them designing if they could carry this point at the Rendezvouz to dismiss the Council of Adjutators to divide the Army and to send those to the most remote Places who were most opposite to them retaining near them such only as were fit for their purpose This Design being discovered by the Adjutators amongst whom Col. Rainsborough had the principal Interest they used all possible Industry to prevent the general Muster which was appointed to be at Ware supposing the Separation thereupon intended to be contrary to the Agreement made upon taking the King out of the hands of the Parliament and destructive to the Ends which they thought it their Duty to promote In the mean time Cromwell having acquainted the King with his Danger protesting to him that it was not in his Power to undertake for his Security in the Place where he was assuring him of his real Service and desiring the Lord to deal with him and his according to the Sincerity of his Heart towards the King prepared himself to act his part at the General Rendezvouz The King being doubtful what to do in this Conjuncture was advised by some to go privately to London and appear in the House of Lords to which it was answered That the Army being Masters of the City and Parliament would undoubtedly seize the King there and if there should be any Blood shed in his Defence he would be accused of beginning a new War Others counselled him to secure his Person by quitting the Kingdom Against which the King objected that the Rendezvouz being appointed for the next Week he was not willing to quit the Army till that was passed because if the superiour Officers prevailed they would be able to make good their Engagement if not they must apply themselves to him
it was now too late to think upon any thing but going through the way he had forced him upon wondering how he could make so great an Oversight At which Expression Mr. Ashburnham having no more to say wept bitterly In the mean time Col. Hammond and Capt. Basket beginning to be impatient of their long Attendance below in the Court Sir John Barkley sent a Gentleman of the Earl of Southampton's to desire that the King and Mr. Ashburnham would remember that they were below About half an hour after the King sent for them up and before Col. Hammond and Capt. Basket had kissed the King's Hand he took Sir John Barkley aside and said to him Sir John I hope you are not so passionate as Jack Ashburnham Do you think you have followed my Directions He answered No indeed but it is not my Fault as Mr. Ashburnham can tell you if he please The King perceiving that it was now too late to take other measures received Col. Hammond cheerfully who having repeated to him what he had promised before conducted them over to Cowes The next Morning the King went with the Governour to Carisbrook and on the way thither was met by divers Gentlemen of the Island by whom he understood that the whole Island was unanimously for him except the Governours of the Castles and Col. Hammond's Captains that Hammond might be easily gained if not more easily forced the Castle being day and night full of the King's Party and that the King might chuse his own time of quitting the Island having liberty to ride abroad daily So that not only the King and those that were with him but also his whole Party approved of the Choice which he had made The King and Mr. Ashburnham applied themselves to the Governour with so good Success that he and those with him seemed to desire nothing more of the King than to send a civil Message to both Houses signifying his Propensity to Peace which was done accordingly No sooner was the King's Escape taken notice of by the Guards but Col. Whalley hastened to the Parliament with the Letter which the King had left upon his Table shewing the Reasons of his withdrawing and his Resolution not to desert the Interest of the Army and tho it was visible that the King made his Escape by the Advice of Cromwell and therefore in all appearance with the Consent of Whalley yet he pretended for his Excuse to the Parliament that Mr. Ashburnham had broken his Engagement to him at his first coming to Woburn whereby he had undertaken that the King should not leave the Army without his Knowledg and Consent Upon this Advice the Parliament declared it Treason for any Person to conceal the King but the manner of his Escape being soon after discovered and that he had put himself into the hands of the Governour of the Isle of Wight they sent a Messenger to the Island for Mr. Ashburnham Sir John Barkley and Mr. Leg but the Governour refused to deliver them The time for the General Rendezvouz of the Army being now come the Commonwealth Party amongst them declared to stand to their Engagement not to be dispersed till the things they had demanded were effected and the Government of the Nation established to make good which Resolution several Regiments appeared in the Field with distinguishing Marks in their Hats But Lieutenant General Cromwell not contenting himself with his part in an equal Government puffed up by his Successes to an expectation of greater things and having driven a bargain with the Grandees in the House either to comply with the King or to settle things in a factious way without him procured a Party to stand by him in the seizing some of those who appeared at the Rendezvouz in opposition to his Designs To this end being accompanied with divers Officers whom he had preferred and by that means made his Creatures he rode up to one of the Regiments which had the distinguishing Marks requiring them to take them out which they not doing he caused several of them to be seized and then their Hearts failing they yielded Obedience to his Commands He ordered one of them to be shot dead upon the place delivering the rest of those whom he had seized being eleven in number into the hands of the Marshal and having dispersed the Army to their Quarters went to give an account of his Proceedings to the Parliament and tho when an Agreement with the King was carried on by other hands he could countenance the Army in opposition to the Parliament yet now the bargain for the Peoples Liberty being driven on by himself he opposed those who laboured to obstruct it pretending his so doing to be only in order to keep the Army in subjection to the Parliament who being very desirous to have this Spirit suppressed in the Army by any means not only approved what he had done but gave him the Thanks of the House for the same Whereunto tho singly I gave as loud a No as I could being fully convinced that he had acted in this manner for no other end but to advance his own Passion and Power into the room of Right and Reason and took the first opportunity to tell him that the Army having taken the Power into their hands as in effect they had done every drop of Blood shed in that extraordinary way would be required of them unless the Rectitude of their Intentions and Actions did justify them of which they had need to be very careful Whilst these things were doing the Earl of Ormond finding that the Irish used him treacherously and that the Inclinations of his Army tended towards a Submission to the Parliament of England invited them to send Commissioners to treat about the Surrender of Dublin and the Forces commanded by him into their hands Which was done and Articles agreed upon indemnifying all Protestants in Ireland for what they had done there unless they had been in the Rebellion during the first Year and admitting them to compound for their Estates in England at two Years Value A certain Sum was also promised to be paid to the Earl of Ormond in consideration of what he had disbursed for the Army This Agreement being concluded the City of Dublin and the Forces before-mentioned were delivered to Col. Michael Jones who was ordered by the Parliament to receive the same and the Earl of Ormond came to London where his Money was paid him and he soon after retired into France The chief Officers of the Army having subdued those of their Body who upon just Suspicion had opposed their Treaty with the King thought themselves obliged by their former Engagement to press for a Personal Treaty with him which they procured to be offered in case he would grant four preliminary Bills The first of which contained the Revocation of all Proclamations against the Parliament The second to make void all such Titles of Honour as had been granted by the King since he had left
the Parliament and that for the future none should be conferred upon any Person without the Consent of Parliament The third was a Bill to except some Persons from Pardon And the fourth for investing the Militia in the Two Houses All which those who thought it reasonable and necessary to proceed judicially with him were afraid he would grant it being visible that had he been restored to the Throne upon any Terms he might easily have gratified his Friends and revenged himself upon all his Enemies Col. Hammond and Mr. Ashburnham had frequent Conferences with the King who had made such Promises to the Colonel that he declared himself extremely desirous that the Army might resume their Power and clear themselves of the Adjutators whose Authority he said he had never approved To this end he sent one Mr. Traughton his Chaplain to the Army to perswade them to make use of their Success against the Adjutators and two or three days after earnestly moved the King to send some of those about him to the Army with Letters of Compliment to the General and others of greater Confidence to Cromwell and Ireton promising to write to them himself which he did conjuring them by their Engagements their Honour and Conscience to come to a speedy Agreement with the King and not to expose themselves to the Fantastick Giddiness of the Adjutators Sir John Barkley was made choice of for this Employment who taking Mr. Henry Barkley his Cousin German with him departed from the Island with a Pass from the Governour of Cowes and being on his way met Mr. Traughton on his Return between Bagshot and Windsor who acquainted him that he had no good News to carry back to the King the Army having taken new Resolutions touching his Person Being gone a little farther he was met by Cornet Joyce who told him that he was astonished at his Design of going to the Army acquainting him that it had been debated amongst the Adjutators whether in justification of themselves the King should be brought to a Trial of which Opinion he declared himself to be not out of any ill Will as he said to the King's Person but that the Guilt of the War might be charged upon those that had caused it About an hour after his Arrival at Windsor Sir John Barkley went to the General 's Quarters where he found the Officers of the Army assembled and being admitted delivered his Letters to the General who having received them ordered him to withdraw After he had attended about half an hour he was called in again and told by the General with some Severity on his Face that they were the Parliament's Army and therefore could say nothing to the King's Motion about Peace but must refer those Matters and the King's Letters to their Consideration Then Sir John looked upon Cromwell Ireton and the rest of his Acquaintance who saluted him very coldly shewing him Hammond's Letter to them and smiling with disdain upon it Being thus disappointed he went to his Lodging and staid there from four till six of the Clock without any Company to his great Dissatisfaction At last he sent out his Servant with Orders to find out if possible some of his Acquaintance who met with one that was a General Officer by whom he was ordered to tell his Master that he would meet him at Midnight in a Close behind the Garter-Inn At the Time and Place appointed they met where the Officer acquainted him in general that he had no good News to communicate to him and then descending to Particulars said You know that I and my Friends engaged our selves to you that we were zealous for an Agreement and if the rest were not so we were abused That since the Tumults in the Army we did mistrust Cromwell and Ireton whereof I informed you I come now to tell you that we mistrust neither and that we are resolved notwithstanding our Engagement to destroy the King and his Posterity to which end Ireton has made two Propositions this Afternoon One that you should be sent Prisoner to London The other that none should speak with you upon pain of Death and I do now hazard my Life by doing it The way designed to ruin the King is to send eight hundred of the most disaffected in the Army to secure his Person and then to bring him to a Trial and I dare think no farther This will be done in ten days and therefore if the King can escape let him do it as he loves his Life Sir John then asking the reason of this Change seeing the King had done all things in compliance with the Army and that the Officers were become superiour since the last Rendezvouz he replied that he could not certainly tell but conceived the ground of it to be that tho one of the Mutineers as he call'd him was shot to Death eleven more made Prisoners and the rest in appearance over-aw'd yet they were so far from being so indeed that two thirds of the Army had been since with Cromwell and Ireton to tell them that tho they were certain to perish in the Enterprize they would leave nothing unattempted to bring the whole Army to their Sense and that if all failed they would make a Division in the Army and join with any who would assist them in the Destruction of those that should oppose them That Cromwell and Ireton argued thus If the Army divide the greatest part will join with the Presbyters and will in all likelihood prevail to our Ruin by forcing us to make our Applications to the King wherein we shall rather beg than offer any Assistance which if the King shall give and afterwards have the good Fortune to prevail if he shall then pardon us it will be all we can pretend and more than we can certainly promise to our selves thereupon concluding that if they could not bring the Army to their Sense that it was best to comply with them a Schism being utterly destructive to both In pursuance of this Resolution Cromwell bent all his Thoughts to make his Peace with the Party that was most opposite to the King acknowledging as he knew well how to do on such occasions that the Glory of this World had so dazled his Eyes that he could not discern clearly the great Works that the Lord was doing He sent also comfortable Messages to the Prisoners that he had seiz'd at the general Rendezvouz with Assurances that nothing should be done to their Prejudice and by these and the like Arts he perfected his Reconciliation For my own part I am inclined to believe that his Son Ireton never intended to close with the King but only to lay his Party asleep whilst they were contesting with the Presbyterian Interest in Parliament And now having secured themselves of the City and perswaded the King to deny the Propositions of the Parliament subdued the Army and freed themselves from the Importunity of the King and his Party they became willing to
quit their hands of him since their Transactions with him had procured them so much Opposition and to leave the Breach with him upon the Parliament where they found the Presbyterian Party averse to an Agreement with him upon any Proposals of the Army and the Commonwealth Party resolved not to treat with him upon any at all Sir John Barkley being return'd to his Lodging dispatch'd his Cousin Henry Barkley to the Isle of Wight with two Letters one to the Governour containing a general Relation and doubtful Judgment of things in the Army another in Cypher with a particular account of the foresaid Conference and a most passionate Supplication to the King to meditate nothing but his immediate Escape The next Morning he sent Col. Cooke to Cromwell to let him know that he had Letters and Instructions to him from the King who returned in Answer by the Messenger that he durst not see him it being very dangerous to them both bidding him be assured that he would serve the King as long as he could do it without his own Ruin but desired that it might not be expected that he should perish for his sake Having received this Answer Sir John took Horse for London resolving not to acquaint any with the Inclinations of the Army or with the King 's pretended Escape which he presumed would be in a few days the Queen having sent a Ship to that purpose and pressed it earnestly in her Letters The next day after his Arrival at London he received a Message from the Scots Lords Lanerick and Lauderdale desiring a Meeting with him presuming he had a Commission from the King to treat but he acquainting them that the King had said at his parting from him that he would make good whatsoever he should undertake to any Person in his Name the Lord Lanerick replied he would ask no other Commission from him At their second Meeting they came near to an Agreement and resolved to conclude on the Monday following but the next day Sir John Barkley receiving a Letter from Mr. Ashburnham requiring him in the King's Name to lay aside all other business and to return immediately to the King was constrained to go out of Town that Night and to leave the Treaty unfinished to the great Dissatisfaction of both Parties At his return to the Island he found the King determined not to attempt his Escape till he had concluded with the Scots who he said being very desirous to have him out of the hands of the Army would on that account come to an Accommodation upon reasonable Conditions whereas if he should leave the Army before any Agreement with the Scots they would never treat with him but upon their own Terms To this end the King ordered Sir John Barkley Mr. Ashburnham Dr. Hammond and Mr. Leg to review the Papers relating to the Treaty with the Scots which had been managed in London chiefly by Dr. Gough a Popish Priest who in the Queen's Name had conjur'd the King to make his speedy Escape and in his own beseeched him not to insist too nicely upon Terms in the present Exigency of his Affairs but Mr. Ashburnham hesitated much upon many Expressions in the Articles relating to the Covenant and Church of England of which he was a zealous Professor making many Replies and Alterations and at last insisted that the King would send for the Scots Commissioners to come to him Accordingly Sir William Flemming was sent to that purpose and the next day after an Express came from the said Commissioners to the King desiring that two Papers might be drawn the one to contain the least he would be contented with and the other the utmost that he would grant to the Scots which last they desired he would sign promising to do the like to the first and to deliver it to Dr. Gough upon the reception of his Paper so signed But this matter was delay'd so long that they concluded the Scots Commissioners would be on their way before another Express could be gone out of the Island At the same time that the Scots were coming to the King Commissioners were also sent to him by the Parliament with offers of a Personal Treaty on condition that the King in testimony of his future Sincerity would grant the four Preliminary Bills formerly mentioned Whilst these two sorts of Commissioners were one day attending the King as he walked about the Castle they observed him to throw a Bone before two Spaniels that followed him and to take great delight in seeing them contesting for it which some of them thought to be intended by him to represent that Bone of Contention he had cast between the two Parties It was proposed by some of his Party that the King should give a dilatory Answer to the Scots that he might have the better opportunity to escape and at the same time it was moved that he should offer the four following Bills to the Parliament upon presumption that they could not well refuse them nor durst grant them The first was for the Payment of the Army and for their disbanding as soon as paid The second to put a Period to the present Parliament The third to restore the King and Queen to the Possession of their Revenues The fourth to settle a Church-Government without any coercive Power and till such a Government were agreed on the present to continue without any coercive Authority This they advised upon apprehensions if the King should give a positive Denial that the Commissioners might have Orders to enjoin the Governour to keep a stricter Guard over his Person and thereby his designed Escape be prevented To this Advice the King replied that he had found out a Remedy against their Fears which was to deliver his Answer to the Commissioners sealed up The next day after the English Commissioners had delivered their Message and desired the King's Answer within three or four days the Commissioners of Scotland Lowden Lanerick Lauderdale and others delivered a Protestation to the King subscribed by them against the Parliament's Message affirming it to be contrary to the Covenant being sent without their Participation or Consent and from this time began seriously to treat with the King concluding at last upon such Terms as they could obtain rather than such as they desired from him When the time to receive the King's Answer was come he sent for the English Commissioners and before he delivered his Answer demanded of the Earl of Denbigh who was the Principal Commissioner whether they had power to alter any of the substantial or circumstantial Parts of the Message and they replying that they had not he delivered his Answer sealed up into the hands of the Earl of Denbigh Having received the King's Answer the Commissioners withdrew for a little time and being returned the Earl of Denbigh seem'd to be offended that the King had delivered his Message sealed alledging that they were required by their Instructions to bring his Answer which whether his
Letter were or no they could not know unless they might see it saying that he had been his Ambassador and in that Employment would never have delivered any Letter without a preceding sight of it The King told him that he had employ'd twenty Ambassadors and that none of them had ever dared to open his Letters but having demanded whether what the Earl of Denbigh had said were the sense of them all and finding it so to be Well then said the King I will shew it to you on condition you will promise not to acquaint any one with the Substance of it before you have delivered it to the Parliament which they consenting to he desired the Company might withdraw The Commissioners proposed that the Governour Col. Hammond might be permitted to stay which the King being unwilling to allow yet not thinking it convenient to refuse gave way to and by this means the Governour as well as the Commissioners came to understand that the King had waved the Interests both of the Parliament and Army to close with the Scots the Substance of his Letter being an absolute refusal of his Consent to the four Bills presented to Him The Impression which the discovery of these things made upon the Governour was so great that before he departed from Carisbrook to accompany the Farliament's Commissioners to Newport he gave Orders for a strict Guard to be kept in his Absence and at his return commanded the Gates to be lock'd up and the Guards to be doubled sitting up himself with them all Night whereby the King 's intended Escape was obstructed The next Morning he ordered the King's Servants to remove not excepting Dr. Hammond his own Kinsman who taking leave of the King acquainted him that they had left the Captain of the Frigat and two trusty Gentlemen of the Island to assist him in his Escape assuring him that they would have all things in readiness on the other side of the Water to receive him At their Departure the King commanded them to draw up a Declaration and send it to him the next Morning to sign which they did and it was afterwards published in the King's Name When they came to Newport one Capt. Burleigh caused a Drum to beat to draw People together in order to rescue the King but there were few besides Women and Children that followed him having but one Musquet amongst them all so that the King's Servants thought not fit to join with or encourage them but went over to the other side where they continued about three Weeks expecting the King's Arrival leaving Capt. Burleigh who with divers of his Followers was committed to Jail Upon the return of the King 's Negative to the four previous Bills before mentioned the Parliament voted That no farther Addresses should be made to the King by themselves or any other Person without the leave of both Houses and that if any presumed so to do they should incur the Guilt of High-Treason They also publish'd a Declaration prepared by Colonel Nathanael Fiennes shewing the Reasons of their said Resolutions wherein amongst other Miscarriages of the King's Reign was represented his breaking of Parliaments the betraying of Rochel his refusal to suffer any Inquiry to be made into the Death of his Father his levying War against the People of England and his rejecting all reasonable Offers of Accommodation after six several Applications to him on their part Col. Rainsborough was appointed Admiral of the Fleet and Mr. Holland my self and another Member of the House of Commons sent down to the head Quarters at Windsor with Orders to discharge from Custody Capt. Reynolds and some others called in derision Levellers who had been imprisoned by the Army for attempting to bring about that which they themselves were now doing and to exhort the Officers to contribute the best of their Endeavours towards a speedy Settlement The Scots in pursuance of their Treaty with the King made what Preparations they could to raise an Army wherein the Presbyterians and Cavaliers join'd tho with different Designs The same Spirit began to appear also in England many of our Ships revolting to the King at the Instigation of one Capt. Batten who had been Vice-Admiral to the Parliament and others encouraged by the City and the Presbyterian Party The Seamen on board the Ship commanded by Col. Rainsborough refused to receive him having before-hand secured one of my Brothers with others whom they suspected to be faithful to their Commander The Earl of Warwick as most acceptable to them was appointed to go down to reduce them to Obedience by which means part of the Fleet was preserved to the Parliament who immediately issued out Orders for the fitting out of more Ships to reinforce them With the revolted Ships Prince Charles block'd up the Mouth of the River and about the same time his Brother the Duke of York who upon the Surrender of Oxford had been brought by Order of the Parliament to St. James's and Provision made for him there escaped from thence to serve the King's Designs The Castles of Deal and Sandwich declar'd also for the King and Col. Rich was sent with a Party of the Army to reduce them In the mean time Lieutenant General Cromwell not forgetting himself procured a meeting of divers leading Men amongst the Presbyterians and Independents both Members of Parliament and Ministers at a Dinner in Westminster under pretence of endeavouring a Reconciliation between the two Parties but he found it a Work too difficult for him to compose the Differences between these two Ecclesiastical Interests one of which would endure no Superior the other no Equal so that this Meeting produced no Effect Another Conference he contrived to be held in King-street between those called the Grandees of the House and Army and the Commonwealths-Men in which the Grandees of whom Lieutenant General Cromwell was the Head kept themselves in the Clouds and would not declare their Judgments either for a Monarchical Aristocratical or Democratical Government maintaining that any of them might be good in themselves or for us according as Providence should direct us The Commonwealths-Men declared that Monarchy was neither good in self nor for us That it was not desirable in it self they urged from the 8 th Chapter and 8 th Verse of the first Book of Samuel where the rejecting of the Judges and the choice of a King was charged upon the Israelites by God himself as a Rejection of him and from another Passage in the same Book where Samuel declares it to be a great Wickedness with divers more Texts of Scripture to the same effect And that it was no way conducing to the Interest of this Nation was endeavoured to be proved by the infinite Mischiefs and Oppressions we had suffered under it and by it that indeed our Ancestors had consented to be governed by a single Person but with this Proviso that he should govern according to the Direction of the Law which he always bound himself by
Oath to perform that the King had broken this Oath and thereby dissolved our Allegiance Protection and Obedience being reciprocal that having appealed to the Sword for the Decision of the things in dispute and thereby caused the Effusion of a Deluge of the Peoples Blood it seemed to be a Duty incumbent upon the Representatives of the People to call him to an account for the same more especially since the Controversy was determined by the same means which he had chosen and then to proceed to the Establishment of an equal Commonwealth founded upon the Consent of the People and providing for the Rights and Liberties of all Men that we might have the Hearts and Hands of the Nation to support it as being most just and in all respects most conducing to the Happiness and Prosperity thereof Notwithstanding what was said Lieutenant General Cromwell not for want of Conviction but in hopes to make a better Bargain with another Party professed himself unresolved and having learn'd what he could of the Principles and Inclinations of those present at the Conference took up a Cushion and flung it at my Head and then ran down the Stairs but I overtook him with another which made him hasten down faster than he desired The next day passing by me in the House he told me he was convinced of the Desirableness of what was proposed but not of the Feasibleness of it thereby as I suppose designing to encourage me to hope that he was inclined to join with us tho unwilling to publish his Opinion lest the Grandees should be informed of it to whom I presume he professed himself to be of another Judgment Much time being spent since the Parliament had voted no more Addresses to be made to the King nor any Messages received from him and yet nothing done towards bringing the King to a Trial or the settling of Affairs without him many of the People who had waited patiently hitherto finding themselves as far from a Settlement as ever concluded that they should never have it nor any Ease from their Burdens and Taxes without an Accommodation with the King and therefore entred into a Combination through England Scotland and Ireland to restore him to his Authority To this end Petitions were promoted throughout all Countries the King by his Agents fomenting and encouraging this Spirit by all means possible as appeared by his intercepted Letters so that Lieutenant General Cromwell who had made it his usual Practice to gratify Enemies even with the Oppression of those who were by Principle his Friends began again to court the Commonwealth-Party inviting some of them to confer with him at his Chamber with which acquainting me the next time he came to the House of Commons I took the Freedom to tell him that he knew how to cajole and give them good Words when he had occasion to make use of them whereat breaking out into a Rage he said they were a proud sort of People and only considerable in their own Conceits I told him it was no new thing to hear Truth calumniated and that tho the Commonwealths-men were fallen under his Displeasure I would take the liberty to say that they had always been and ever would be considerable where there was not a total Defection from Honesty Generosity and all true Vertue which I hoped was not yet our Case The Earl of Warwick with the Fleet equipped for him by the Parliament sell down the River towards the Ships commanded by Prince Charles who presuming either that he would not fight him or perhaps come over to him lay some time in expectation but finding by the manner of his Approach that he was deceived in that Particular he thought it convenient to make all the sail he could for the Coast of Holland Our Fleet followed him as far as the Texel but according to the defensive Principle of the Nobility our Admiral thinking he had sufficiently discharged his Duty by clearing the Downs and driving the other Fleet from our Coast declined to fight tho he had an opportunity to engage Deal and Sandown Castles were reduced by Col. Rich and many of our revolted Ships not finding things according to their Expectation being constrained to serve under Prince Rupert instead of the Lord Willoughby who they desired might command them returned to the Obedience of the Parliament The Scots making all possible Preparations to raise an Army for the Restitution of the King Sir Thomas Glenham and Sir Marmaduke Langdale went to Scotland to join with them in that Enterprize and to draw what English they could to promote the Design The first of these seized upon Carlisle by order of the Scots tho contrary to their Articles whereupon the Parliament thinking it necessary to provide for the Security of Berwick placed a good Garison therein and resolving to reinforce the Militia of each County sent down some of their Members to give Life to the Preparations Amongst others I was appointed to go down to the County for which I served where we agreed to raise two Regiments of Foot and one of Horse In the mean time the Enemy was not idle and taking advantage of the Discontents of Capt. Poyer Governour of Pembroke they prevailed with him to revolt and declare for the King Other disaffected Parts of the Nation not yet ready for open Opposition acted with more Caution preparing and encouraging Petitions to the Parliament for a Personal Treaty with the King of which the Principal were Surrey Essex and Kent In Essex they met at Chelmsford in a tumultuous manner and seized Sir William Masham and other Members of Parliament who being ready to use all gentle Methods to prevent farther Inconveniences sent down Mr. Charles Rich second Son to the Earl of Warwick and Sir Harbottle Grimston two of their Members to endeavour to quiet that tumultuous Spirit with Instructions and Power to promise Indemnity to all that should desist from the prosecution of what they desired in this violent way which Commission they managed so well that upon their Promise to present the Requests of the Petitioners which were drawn up in writing to the Parliament and to return them an Answer the People of the Country dispersed themselves to their own Houses But the Sedition of the Surrey-men was not terminated so easily of whom many hundreds came to the doors of the Parliament and not being satisfied with the Answer the Parliament thought fit to give to their Petition after they had been heated with Drink and animated by the Cavalier Party they resolved to force from them another Answer and with intolerable Insolence pressed upon their Guard beating the Sentinels to the main Guard which was drawn up at the upper end of Westminster-Hall where they wounded the Officer who commanded them and being intreated to desist became more violent so that the Souldiers were necessitated in their own Defence and discharge of their Duty to fire upon them whereby two or three of the Country-men were
Army to advance himself it being manifest that the preferring this Accusation at that time was principally designed to take him off from his Command and thereby to weaken the Army that their Enemies might be the better enabled to prevail against them The Design of the King's Escape was still carried on but by the Vigilance of the Governour of the Isle of Wight and his Officers it was discovered and prevented The next Morning after the Discovery they found the Iron Bars of the King's Chamber-window eaten through by something applied to them Whereupon those who were to have been instrumental in his Escape not knowing otherwise how to revenge themselves on those who had defeated their Enterprize accused Major Rolfe a Captain in that Garison very active and vigilant in his Charge of a Design to kill the King raising such a Clamour about it that the Parliament thought not sit to decline the putting him upon his Trial but the Accusation appearing to the Grand Jury to be grounded upon Malice they refused to find the Bill About the same time Capt. Burleigh who had beat a Drum at Newport for the rescuing of the King was brought to his Trial and the Jury having found him guilty of High Treason he was executed according to the Sentence Those of the Enemies commanded by the Lord Goring who had fled into Essex grew to a considerable Number but being new-raised Men and not well acquainted one with another upon the Advance of our Army retreated to Colchester with a Body so much exceeding ours which pursued and besieged them in that Place that Commissary General Ireton compared the Town and those therein to a great Bee-hive and our Army to a small Swarm of Bees sticking on one side of it but the number of ours was soon increased by the Forces which the well-affected in the Counties of Essex Suffolk Norfolk and Cambridg sent to their Assistance The Earl of Holland who at the beginning of the Parliament had appeared active for them and afterwards leaving them had gone to the King at Oxford when he supposed him to grow strong then again returning to the Parliament upon the declining of the King's Affairs publishing a Declaration at his coming to London that he left the King because he saw the Irish Rebels so eminently favoured by him in this low Condition of the Parliament revolted again and formed a Party of about a thousand Horse with which he marched from London and declared against them accompanied by the Duke of Buckingham whose Sequestration upon the account of his Minority when he first engaged with the King the Parliament had freely remitted and the Lord Francis his Brother prevailing also with Dalbeir formerly Quarter-Master-General to the Earl of Essex to join with them Their Rendezvouz was appointed to be upon Bansted-Downs but the Vigilance of the Parliament was such that a Party of Horse and Foot was soon sent after them commanded by Sir Michael Lewesey who without much Dispute put those Courtly Gentlemen to the rout The Lord Francis presuming perhaps that his Beauty would have charmed the Souldiers as it had done Mrs. Kirke for whom he made a splendid Entertainment the Night before he left the Town and made her a Present of Plate to the Value of a thousand Pounds stayed behind his Company where unseasonably daring the Troopers and refusing to take Quarter he was killed and after his Death there was found upon him some of the Hair of Mrs. Kirk sew'd in a piece of Ribbon that hung next his Skin The rest fled towards St. Neots in the County of Huntington where being fallen upon again they were routed a second time in which Action the Parliament's Souldiers to express their Detestation of Dalbeir's Treachery hewed him in pieces The Earl of Holland was taken and sent Prisoner to Warwick-Castle but the Duke of Buckingham escaped and went over to France Pomfret-Castle being seized by some of the King's Party was besieged by the Country assisted by some of the Army Sir Hugh Cholmely commanding at the Siege but the Army finding little Progress made therein ordered Col. Rainsborough with more Forces thither appointing him to command in the room of Sir Hugh Cholmely Whilst he was preparing for that Service being at Doncaster ten or twelve Miles from Pomfret with a considerable Force in the Town a Party of Horse dismounting at his Quarters and going up as Friends to his Chamber under pretence of having business with him seized him first and upon his Refusal to go silently with them murdered him After his Death another Commander being appointed in his place to carry on the Siege those in the Castle were reduced to such Extremities that some of the most desperate of them resolved together with their Governour one Morris who had been Page to the Earl of Strassord to endeavour the breaking through our Forces on Horseback which they attempted and tho most of them were beaten back to the Castle by the Besiegers yet this Morris made his way through but was afterwards taken as he passed through the Country in the Disguise of a Beggar and carried to York where he was arraigned before Justice Thorpe and being found guilty of Treason was executed for the same Lieutenant General Cromwell with that part of the Army which was with him besieged the Town and Castle of Pembroke whither the chief of that Party that fled from St. Faggons had made their Retreat as I said before but wanting great Guns he was obliged to send for some to Glocester which with much difficulty were brought to him This Place detained the greatest part of our Army about six Weeks but it was remarkable that about the time the Scots were entring into England the Garison for want of Provisions was forced to capitulate and surrender upon Articles by which some of them were to remain Prisoners and others to be banished into Ireland for three Years amongst the latter were Col. Thomas Stradling Sir Henry Stradling Col. Button and Major Butler of the first were Col. Laughern Col. Poyer and Col. Powell Twenty Thousand Scots being upon their March into England under the Conduct of Duke Hamilton with about five Thousand English commanded by Sir Marmaduke Langdale some of us who had opposed the Lieutenant General 's Arbitrary Proceedings when we were convinced he acted to promote a selfish and unwarrantable Design now thinking our selves obliged to strengthen his Hands in that necessary Work which he was appointed to undertake writ a Letter to him to encourage him from the Consideration of the Justice of the Cause wherein he was engaged and the Wickedness of those with whom he was to encounter to proceed with Chearfulness assuring him that not withstanding all our Discouragements we would readily give him all the Assistance we could The House of Commons declared the Scots who had invaded England to be Enemies and ordered the Lieutenant General to advance towards them and fight them But the Lords in this doubtful Posture
of Affairs declined to concur with them in the same Yet both of them with the City of London joined in driving on a Personal Treaty with the King in the Isle of Wight and to that end the Lords and Commons revoked the Votes for Non-Addresses whereby the King seemed to be on sure ground for that if the Scots Army failed he might still make Terms with the Parliament The King's Party in Colchester were also much encouraged with hopes of Relief from the Scots Army who were very numerous and well furnished with all things but a good Cause To fight this formidable Army the Lieutenant General could not make up much above seven thousand Horse and Foot and those so extremely harassed with hard Service and long Marches that they seemed rather fit for a Hospital than a Battel With this handful of Men he advanced towards the Enemy and about Preston in Lancashire both Armies met on the 17 th of August 1648. The English who were in the Scots Army had the Honour of the Van and for a time entertained ours with some Opposition but being vigorously pressed by our Men they were forced to retreat to a Pass which they maintained against us whilst they sent to their General for Succours which he not sending on purpose as was said that the English might be cut off and his Party kept intire to enable him to set up for himself and give Law to both Nations they began to shift for themselves which made such an Impression upon the Scots that they soon followed their Example retreating in a disorderly manner Ours followed them so close that most of their Foot threw down their Arms and yielded themselves Prisoners Many of the principal Officers of their Foot were taken with all their Artillery Ammunition and Baggage Hamilton with four or five thousand Horse in a Body left the Field and was pursued by Col. Thorney a Member of Parliament and Colonel of a Regiment of Horse a worthy and a valiant Man who following them too close and unadvisedly run himself upon one of their Lances wherewith he was mortally wounded which he perceiving by the wasting of his Spirits to express his Affection to his Country and Joy for the Defeat of the Enemy desired his Men to open to the right and left that he might have the Satisfaction to see them run before he died The Enemies Body of Horse kept themselves together for some days roving up and down the Country about Leicestershire which County the Lord Grey of Grooby had raised and brought together about three thousand Horse and Foot to preserve the Country from Plunder and to take all possible Advantages against the Enemy and tho a Body of Horse from the Army was in pursuit of the Scots yet the Leicestershire Party came up first to them at Uttoxeter in Staffordshire where the Body of the Enemies Horse was and whilst the Scots were treating with the other Party from the Army the Lord Grey's Men observing no Guards kept entred upon them before any Conditions were made whereupon Hamilton surrendred himself to Col. Wayte an Officer of the Leicestershire-Party delivering to him his Scarf his George and his Sword which last he desired him to keep carefully because it had belonged to his Ancestors By the two Parties the Scots were all made Prisoners and all their Horses seized the Duke of Hamilton was carried Prisoner to Windsor-Castle and all their Standards of Horse and Foot were taken and sent up to London where the Parliament ordered them to be hung up in Westminster-Hall The House of Lords who had avoided to declare the Scots Enemies whilst their Army was entire now after their Defeat prevented the House of Commons and moved that a Day might be appointed to give God Thanks for this Success The News of this Victory being carried to the Isle of Wight the King said to the Governour that it was the worst News that ever came to England to which he answered That he thought the King had no cause to be of that Opinion since if Hamilton had beaten the English he would certainly have possessed himself of the Thrones of England and Scotland The King presently replied You are mistaken I could have commanded him back with the motion of my Hand Which whether he could do or no was doubtful but whatever Reasons he had for this Opinion it seemed very unseasonable to own it openly in that Conjuncture Lieutenant General Cromwell marched with part of his Army to Edinburgh where he dispossessed the Hamiltonian Party of their Authority and put the Power into the hands of the Presbyterians by whom he was received with great Demonstrations of Joy and tho lately they looked upon the Independent Party as the worst of their Enemies yet now they owned and embraced them as their best Friends and Deliverers and having notice given them that the English Army was about to return into England they prevailed with the Lieutenant General to leave Major General Lambert with a Body of Horse till they could raise more Forces to provide for their own Safety The Treaty with the King being pressed with more heat than ever and a Design visibly appearing to render all our Victories useless thereby by the Advice of some Friends I went down to the Army which lay at that time before Colchester where attending upon the General Sir Thomas Fairfax to acquaint him with the state of Affairs at London I told him that a Design was driving on to betray the Cause in which so much of the Peoples Blood had been shed that the King being under a Restraint would not account himself obliged by any thing he should promise under such Circumstances assuring him that most of those who pushed on the Treaty with the greatest Vehemency intended not that he should be bound to the performance of it but designed principally to use his Authority and Favour in order to destroy the Army who as they had assumed the Power ought to make the best use of it and to prevent the Ruin of Themselves and the Nation He acknowledged what I said to be true and declared himself resolved to use the Power he had to maintain the Cause of the Publick upon a clear and evident Call looking upon himself to be obliged to pursue the Work which he was about Perceiving by such a general Answer that he was irresolute I went to Commissary General Ireton who had a great Influence upon him and having found him we discoursed together upon the same Subject wherein we both agreed that it was necessary for the Army to interpose in this matter but differed about the time he being of opinion that it was best to permit the King and the Parliament to make an Agreement and to wait till they had made a full Discovery of their Intentions whereby the People becoming sensible of their own Danger would willingly join to oppose them My Opinion was that it would be much easier for the Army to keep them
from a Conjunction than to oppose them when united it being highly probable that the first things they would fall upon after their Union would be such as were most taking with the People in order to oblige them to assist in the disbanding of the Army under pretence of lesiening their Taxes and then if the Army should in any manner signify a Dislike of their Proceedings they would be esteemed by the Majority of the People to be Disturbers of the publick Peace and accused of designing nothing save their own particular Advantages The King's Party in Colchester expecting to be included in the Peace which was treating between him and the Parliament held out to the utmost but being in extreme want of Provisions and destitute of all hopes of Relief since the Defeat of the Scots they were sorced to surrender on the 28 th of August 1648. upon Articles whereby some of the principal of them being Prisoners at Discretion the Court Martial assembled and condemned Sir Charles Lucas Sir George Lisle and Sir Barnard Gascoin to die the last of whom being a Foreigner was pardoned and the other two were shot to death according to the Sentence The Lord Goring and the Lord Capel were sent Prisoners to London and committed to the Tower by an Order of the Parliament The Two Houses finding things in this posture hastened the Departure of their Commissioners to the Isle of Wight with Powers and Instructions to treat with the King who principally insisted on that Article concerning Bishops whom he accounted to be by Divine Right or rather essentially necessary to the Support of Arbitrary Power whereupon Ministers of each side were appointed to dispute touching that Subject in order to satisfy the King's Conscience But the Army having now wonderfully dispersed their Enemies on every part began to consider how to secure themselves and the Common Cause against those Counsels that were carried on in opposition to them under pretext of making Peace with the King and to that end drew up a Declaration at St. Albans dated the 16 th of November 1648. shewing that the Grounds of their first Engagement was to bring Delinquents to Justice that the King was guilty of the Blood shed in the first and second War and that therefore they could not trust him with the Government This Remonstrance they presented to the Parliament on the 20 th of November 1648. The King and Parliament seeing this Cloud beginning to gather endeavoured by all means possible to hasten their Treaty to a Conclusion The Army also were not wanting to fortify themselves against that Shock sending some of their own Number to those Members of Parliament whom they esteemed most faithful to the Common Cause to invite them down to the Army after they should in a publick manner have expressed their Dissatisfaction to the Proceedings of those who had betrayed the Trust reposed in them by the good People of England and declared that finding it impossible to be any farther serviceable in Parliament they had resolved to repair to the Army in order toprocure their Assistance in settling the Government of the Nation upon a just Foundation At a Meeting of some Members of Parliament with the said Officers from the Army it was resolved That tho the way proposed by them might be taken in case all other means failed yet seeing there was more than a sufficient Number of Members in the Parliament to make a House who were most affectionate to the Publick Cause it would be more proper for the Army to relieve them from those who rendred them'useless to the Publick Service thereby preserving the Name and Place of the Parliament than for the Members thereof to quit their Stations wherein they were appointed to serve and to leave the Civil Authority in the hands of those who would be ready to fall in with any Power that would attempt to frustrate what should be agreed on by them and the Army In prosecution of this Result the Army drew to Colebrook from whence Commissary General Ireton sent me word that now he hoped they should please me which I must acknowledg they did by the way which they were taking not from any particular Advantages that I expected from it except an equal share of Security with other Men but that the People of England might be preserved in their just Rights from the Oppressions of violent Men the Question in dispute between the King's Party and us being as I apprehended Whether the King should govern as a God by his Will and the Nation be governed by Force like Beasts or whether the People should be governed by Laws made by themselves and live under a Government derived from their own Consent Being fully perswaded that an Accommodation with the King was unsafe to the People of England and unjust and wicked in the nature of it The former besides that it was obvious to all Men the King himself had proved by the Duplicity of his dealing with the Parliament which manifestly appeared in his own Papers taken at the Battel of Naseby and elsewhere Of the latter I was convinced by the express Words of God's Law That Blood desileth the Land and the Land cannot be cleansed of the Blood that is shed therein but by the Blood of him that shed it Numbers Chap. 35. v. 33. And therefore I could not consent to the Counsels of those who were contented to leave the Guilt of so much Blood upon the Nation and thereby to draw down the just Vengeance of God upon us all when it was most evident that the War had been occasioned by the Invasion of our Rights and open Breach of our Laws and Constitution on the King's part The Commissioners that were appointed to manage the Treaty with the King returned with the King's Answer containing neither a positive Grant nor an absolute Denial As to the Bishops he still retained his Principle of their Divine Right and therefore declared that he could not dispense with the Abolition of them but for present Satisfaction hoping by giving ground to gain a better opportunity to serve them he consented that those who had bought their Lands should have a Lease of them for some Years and for satisfaction for the Blood that had been shed he was willing that six should be excepted but withal Care was taken that they should be such as were far enough from the reach of Justice By another Article the Militia was to remain in the Parliament for ten Years thereby implying if I mistake not that the Right of granting it was in the King and consequently that we had done him wrong in contending with him for it By such ways and means did some Men endeavour to abuse the Nation Some of our Commissioners who had been with the King pleaded in the House for a Concurrence with him as if they had been imployed by him tho others with more Ingenuity acknowledged that they would not advise an Agreement upon those Terms were it not
to prevent a greater Evil that was like to ensue upon the Refusal of them But Sir Henry Vane so truly stated the matter of Fact relating to the Treaty and so evidently discovered the Design and Deceit of the King's Answer that he made it clear to us that by it the Justice of our Cause was not asserted nor our Rights secured for the future concluding that if they should accept of these Terms without the Concurrence of the Army it would prove but a Feather in their Caps Notwithstanding which the corrupt Party in the House having bargain'd for their own and the Nation 's Liberty resolved to break through all Hazards and Inconveniences to make good their Contract and after twenty four hours Debate resolved by the Plurality of Votes That the King's Concessions were Ground for a future Settlement At which some of us expressing our Dissatisfaction desired that our Protestation might be entred but that being denied as against the Orders of the House I contented my self to declare publickly that being convinced that they had deserted the Common Cause and Interest of the Nation I could no longer join with them the rest of those who dissented also expressing themselves much to the same purpose The day following some of the principal Officers of the Army came to London with expectation that things would be brought to this issue and consulting with some Members of Parliament and others it was concluded after a full and free Debate that the Measures taken by the Parliament were contrary to the Trust reposed in them and tending to contract the Guilt of the Blood that had been shed upon themselves and the Nation that it was therefore the Duty of the Army to endeavour to put a stop to such Proceedings having engaged in the War not simply as Mercenaries but out of Judgment and Conscience being convinced that the Cause in which they were engaged was just and that the Good of the People was involved in it Being come to this Resolution three of the Members of the House and three of the Officers of the Army withdrew into a private Room to consider of the best means to attain the ends of our said Resolution where we agreed that the Army should be drawn up the next Morning and Guards placed in Westminster-Hall the Court of Requests and the Lobby that none might be permitted to pass into the House but such as had continued faithful to the Publick Interest To this end we went over the Names of all the Members one by one giving the truest Characters we could of their Inclinations wherein I presume we were not mistaken in many for the Parliament was fallen into such Factions and Divisions that any one who usually attended and observed the business of the House could after a Debate upon any Question easily number the Votes that would be on each side before the Question was put Commissary General Ireton went to Sir Thomas Fairfax and acquainted him with the necessity of this extraordinary way of proceeding having taken care to have the Army drawn up the next Morning by seven of the Clock Col. Pride commanded the Guard that attended at the Parliament-doors having a List of those Members who were to be excluded preventing them from entring into the House and securing some of the most suspected under a Guard provided for that end in which he was assisted by the Lord Grey of Grooby and others who knew the Members To justify these Proceedings the Army sent a Message to the House representing That whereas divers Members had been expelled the House upon account of the Violence done to the Parliament by the City of London and others in 1647. yet upon the Absence of many well-affected Members by reason of their Employments in the Army and elsewhere against the Enemy the said Persons were re-admitted without any Trial or Satisfaction in the things whereof they were accused whereby the Scots had been drawn to invade this Kingdom and the House prevented by the Intruders and their Accomplices from declaring against the Invaders who had made up the Number of ninety odd Votes to that purpose And whereas by the prevalency of the same corrupt Counsels Justice had been obstructed and a Settlement of Affairs hindred and lastly the King's Concessions declared to be a Ground for the Settlement of Peace notwithstanding the Insufficiency and Defects of them they therefore most humbly desired that all those Members who are innocent in these things would by a publick Declaration acquit themselves from any Guilt thereof or Concurrence therein and that those who shall not so acquit themselves may be excluded or suspended the House till they have given clear Satisfaction therein that those who have faithfully performed their Trust may proceed without interruption to the execution of Justice and to make speedy provision for an equal Succession of Representatives wherein Differences may be composed and all Men comfortably acquiesce as they for their parts thereby engaged and assured them they would The House wherein there was about six score was moved to send for those Members who were thus excluded by the Army which they did as I presume rather upon the account of Decency than from any desire they had that their Message should be obeyed and that it might clearly appear that this Interruption proceeded from the Army and not from any Advice of the Parliament to the end that what they should act separately might be esteemed to be only in order to prevent such Inconveniences as might otherwise fall upon the Nation if the whole Power should be left in the hands of an Army and that their Actions appearing to be founded upon this Necessity they might the better secure the Respect and Obedience of the People Upon such Considerations when the Serjeant returned and acquainted them that the excluded Members were detained by the Army the House proceeded in the business before them Lieutenant General Cromwell the Night after the Interruption of the House arrived from Scotland and lay at Whitehall where and at other Places he declared that he had not been acquainted with this Design yet since it was done he was glad of it and would endeavour to maintain it Major General Harrison being sent by the Army with a Party of Horse to bring the King from the Isle of Wight Col. Hammond who was entrusted with the Custody of him by the Parliament disputed to deliver him but finding that those about him inclined to comply he thought it not convenient to make any farther Opposition So that the King was conducted from the Island to Hurst-Castle and from thence to Windsor by Major General Harrison Being on his way he dined at Mr. Leviston's in Bagshot-Park who had provided a Horse for him to make his Escape but this Design also was discovered and prevented The King being at Windsor it was debated what should be done with him The Army were for bringing him to a Trial for levying War against the Parliament and People of
of Haste or Surprize they resolved to convene him before them publickly twice more after which if he persisted in his Demurrer to the Jurisdiction of the Court then to give Judgment against him And that nothing might be wanting in case he should resolve to plead they appointed Witnesses to be examined to every Article of the Charge At the King 's second Appearance before the Court which was on the 22 d of January he carried himself in the same manner as before whereupon his Refusal being again entred and he withdrawn the Court adjourned to the Painted Chamber On the twenty third of January the King was brought a third time before the Commissioners where refusing to plead as he had done before his Refusal was entered and Witnesses examined publickly to prove the Charge of his levying War against the Parliament After which Solicitor General Coke demanded of the Court that they would proceed to the pronouncing of Sentence against the Prisoner at the Bar whereupon the Court adjourned into the Painted Chamber and upon serious consideration declared the King to be a Tyrant Traitor Murderer and a publick Enemy to the Commonwealth that his Condemnation extend unto Death by severing his Head from his Body and that a Sentence grounded upon those Votes be prepared which being agreed upon the King should be ordered on the next day following to receive it The Sentence being engrossed was read on the 27 th of January and thereupon the Court resolved that the same should be the Sentence which should be read and published in Westminster-Hall the same Day that the President should not permit the King to speak after the Sentence pronounced that he should openly declare it to be the Sense and Judgment of the Court and that the Commissioners should signify their Consent by standing up In the Afternoon the King was brought to the Bar and desired that he might be permitted to make one Proposition before they proceeded to Sentence which he earnestly pressing as that which he thought would tend to the reconciling of all Parties and to the Peace of the three Kingdoms they permitted him to offer it The effect of which was that he might meet the two Houses in the Painted Chamber to whom he doubted not to offer that which should satisfy and secure all Interests designing as I have been since informed to propose his own Resignation and the admission of his Son to the Throne upon such Terms as should have been agreed upon This Motion being new and unexpected to the Court who were not willing to deny or grant any thing without serious Deliberation they withdrew to consider of it into the Inner Court of Wards and being satisfied upon debate that nothing but loss of time would be the consequence of it they returned into the Court with a Negative to his Demand telling him that they met there as a Court of Justice commissionated by the Parliament of whose Authority they were fully satisfied that by their Commission they were not authorized to receive any Proposals from him but to proceed to the Trial of him that in order thereto his Charge had been read to him to which if he would have pleaded the Counsel for the Commonwealth were ready to have proved it against him that he had thrice demurred to the Jurisdiction of the Court which Demurrer the Court had overruled and registred ordering to proceed against him as if he had confessed the Charge and that if he had any Proposition to make it was proper for him to address it to the Parliament and not to them Then the Presideut enlarged upon the horrid Nature of those Crimes of which he had been accused and was now convicted declaring that the only just Power of Kings was derived from the Consent of the People That whereas the People had intrusted him to see their Laws put in Execution he had endeavoured throughout the whole Course of his Reign to subvert those good Laws and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government in the room of them That to cut off all hopes of redress he had attempted from the beginning of his Reign either wholly to destroy Parliaments or to render them only subservient to his own corrupt Designs That tho he had consented the publick Necessities so requiring that this Parliament should not be dissolved but by an Act of themselves he had levied War against them that he might not only dissolve them but by the Terrour of his Power for ever discourage such Assemblies from doing their Duty That in this War many thousands of the good People of England had lost their Lives That in obedience to what God commanded and the Nation expected the Parliament had appointed this Court to make Inquisition for this Blood and to try him for the same That his Charge had been read to him and he required to give an Answer to it which he having thrice refused to do he acquainted him that the Court had resolved to pronounce Sentence against him and thereupon commanded the Clerk to read it which he did being to this effect That the King for the Crimes contained in the Charge should be carried back to the Place from whence he came and thence to the Place of Execution where his Head should be severed from his Body which Sentence being read the Commissioners testified their unanimous Assent by their standing up The King would have spoken something before he was withdrawn but being accounted dead in Law immediately after Sentence pronounced it was not permitted The Court withdrew also and agreed that the Sentence should be put in Execution on the Tuesday following which would be the 30 th of January 1648. The King having refused such Ministers as the Court appointed to attend him desired that Dr. Juxton late Bishop of London might be permitted to come to him which being granted and Adjutant General Allen sent to acquaint the Doctor with the King's Condition and Desires he being altogether unprepared for such a Work broke out into these Expressions God save me what a Trick is this that I should have no more Warning and I have nothing ready but recollecting himself a little he put on his Scarf and his other Furniture and went with him to the King where having read the Common Prayer and one of his old Sermons he administred the Sacrament to him not forgetting to use the Words of the Confession set down in the Liturgy inviting all those that truly repent to make their Confession before the Congregation then gathered together tho there was none present but the King and himself The High Court of Justice appointed a Committee to inspect the Parts about Whitehall for a convenient place for the Execution of the King who having made their Report it was agreed that a Scaffold should be erected to that purpose near the Banqueting-House and order given to cover it with black The same day being the 29 th of January they signed a Warrant for his Execution to which
about threescore of the Commissioners set their Hands and Seals directing it to Col. Hacker Col. Hunks and Col. Phaier or either of them The Duke of Glocester and the Lady Elizabeth waited on the King the same day to take their leave of him An Extraordinary Ambassador from the United Provinces had his Audience in the Parliament his business was to intercede with them for the Life of the King and to preserve a fair Correspondence between England and the States The next day about eight in the Morning the King attended by a Guard was brought from St. James's through the Park to Whitehall where having drunk a Glass or two of red Wine and stayed about two hours in a private Room he was conducted to the Scaffold out of a Window of the Banqueting-house and having made a Speech and taken off his George he kneeled down at the Block and the Executioner persormed his Office The Body was ordered to be interred at Windsor The Duke of Lenox the Marquiss of Hertford the Earls of Southampton and Lindsey with some others having Leave from the Parliament attended it to the Grave A Report of the Proceedings of the High Court of Justice being made to the Parliament they declared That the Persons imployed in that important Service had discharged their Trust with Courage and Fidelity that the Parliament was well satisfied with the Account of their Proceedings ordering them to be engrossed and recorded amongst the Parliament-Rolls in order to transmit the Memory thereof to Posterity and resolved that the Commissioners of the Great Seal should issue a Certiorari to their Clerk to record those Proceedings in the Chancery and that the same should be sent to the other Courts at Westminster and to the Custos Rotulorum of each County Judg Jenkins Sir John Stowel and divers other Persons who were Prisoners and had carried themselves very insolently now finding the Parliament to be in earnest began to come to a better Temper Colonel Middleton who was also a Prisoner at Newcastle upon Parole ran away to Scotland and being required to return answered That his Life was dearer to him than his Honour Sir Marmaduke Langdale made his escape also and Sir Lewis Dives through a House of Office in Whitehall The Lord Capel got out of the Tower but being discovered by a Waterman as he crossed the Thames he was seized in a House at Lambeth Duke Hamilton also escaped out of Windsor-Castle and came to Southwark where knocking at the Door of an Inn he was seized by a Souldier who knew him and was passing by that way whereupon he was committed to the Tower The House of Lords becoming now the Subject of the Consideration and Debate of the Parliament Lieutenant General Cromwell appeared for them having already had a close Correspondence with many of them and it may be presuming he might have farther use of them in those Designs he had resolved to carry on but they not meeting in their House at the time to which they had adjourned much facilitated their Removal so that the Question being put Whether the House of Commons should take Advice of the House of Lords in the Exercise of the Legislative Power it was carried in the Negative and thereupon resolved That the House of Peers was useless and dangerous and ought to be abolished and an Act was soon after passed to that effect After this they proceeded to declare That the Office of a King in this Nation is unnecessary burdensome and dangerous to the Liberty Safety and publick Interest of the People and therefore ought to be abolioshed and that they will settle the Government of the Nation in the way of a Commonwealth To this end they ordered a Declaration to be published whereby it was declared Treason for any Person to endeavour to promote Charles Stuart to be King of England or any other single Person to be chief Governour thereof They also ordered the Great Seal and other Seals which had the Image of the late King on them to be defaced and appointed new ones to be made with the Stamp of the House of Commons on one side accompanied with this Inscription The Great Seal of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England On the other side was engraven the Cross and the Harp being the Arms of England and Ireland with this Inscription God with us Ordering all Writs formerly running in the King's Name to be issued out in the Name of the Keepers of the Liberty of England A High Court of Justice was constituted by Act of Parliament for the trying of Duke Hamilton the Earl of Holland the Lord Goring the Lord Capel and Sir John Owen Duke Hamilton pleaded that he entred into England as an Enemy being of another Nation and born before the Act of Union and consequently not to be tried by the Laws of this besides he had surrendred himself upon Conditions The rest of the Lords pleaded Articles also and so did Sir John Owen But that Allegation appeared to be of no weight by the Testimony of the General in relation to the Lords Goring and Capel and by the Evidence of Col. Wayte touching Duke Hamilton the like being affirmed by other Witnesses against the Earl of Holland and Sir John Owen for if there had been any Promise made to any of them either implicitely or by word of Mouth it could only extend to protect them from the Military not the Civil Sword And as to the Plea for Duke Hamilton that he was born before the two Nations were united it was answered that they tried him not as Duke Hamilton but as Earl of Cambridg in which Capacity he had sate as a Peer of England and therefore a Subject thereof So that upon full Evidence they were all sentenced by the Court to have their Heads struck off for High Treason in levying War against the Parliament of England Earnest Solicitations and Petitions were made for them to the Parliament but they thought not fit to reprieve the Duke the Earl of Holland or the Lord Capel Touching the Lord Goring the House was equally divided and the Speaker having upon such Occasions the determining Voice gave it for his Reprieve Commissary General Ireton observing no Motion consider that he was a Commoner and therefore more properly to have been tried in another way by a Jury whereupon the House reprieved him also The other three were executed a day or two after in the New Palace-Yard before Westminster-Hall in pursuance of a Warrant signed by the Court to that purpose the Parliament refusing to hearken to the Earl of Denbigh who proposed on the behalf of Duke Hamilton his Brother-in-law to give them a Blank signed by the said Duke to answer faithfully to such Questions as should be there inserted The Parliament having resolved to constitute a Council of State the better to carry on the executive part of the Government authorized five of their Members to agree upon the Number and Persons of such as they
thought fit to be proposed to the Parliament for their Approbation The five impowered to this end by the Parliament were Mr. John Lisle Mr. Cornelius Holland Mr. Luke Robinson Mr. Thomas Scot and Me who tho sensible of my Unfitness for so great a Work and of the Envy it would be attended with yet being required by my Country to assist in this Service I resolved to use the best of my Endeavours therein The Number agreed upon was thirty five which we filled up with such Persons as we thought best qualified with Integrity and Abilities sutable to so important a Station Four of them were Lords and the rest Commoners The House agreed to our Report only they were pleased to add us five to the number proposed by us The Parliament being desirous to exclude from their Places those who were likely to undo what they had done and yet unwilling to lose the Assistance of many honest Men who had been in the Country during the late Transactions passed an Order that such Members as had not sate since the Trial of the King should not be admitted to fit till the House should be particularly satisfied concerning them appointing the former five or any three of them to be a Committee to receive Satisfaction touching the Affections to the Publick Interest of every Member who had not sate since the time aforesaid and the Reasons of his Absence and to make their Report to the Parliament concerning them Prince Charles finding his Affairs in England to be in a desperate Condition concluded an Agreement with the Irish Rebels granting them full Indemnity for what they had hitherto acted and encouraging them to carry on their Cruelties against the English by his Commission The Lord Inchequin had already declared for him and joined with the Irish Rebels The Earl of Ormond was dispatched to Ireland for the same purpose and as a Pledg that Prince Charles would follow his Baggage and Horses were sent thither before The Scots fearing their Clergy would not be permitted long to insult over the People expressed themselves highly dissatisfied with our Proceedings in England and chose rather to espouse the Interest of Prince Charles than to enjoy the Fruit of what they had contended for against his Father publickly declaring that they were obliged by the Covenant to promote the Government of a King Lords and Commons which Government the Parliament of England had thought fit to alter We endeavoured to satisfy their Commissioners by shewing them the Reasons of our late Resolutions but they refusing to hear them returned home to their own Country where they found things disposed to an Accommodation with Prince Charles upon presumption that when by his Assistance they had destroyed the Sectarian Party as they called them they should be able to govern him well enough but he supposing he had an easier part to act with the Irish whose Principles were more sutable to his Inclinations refused to hearken to them at that time Col. Edward Popham Col. Richard Dean and Col. Robert Blake were appointed by the Parliament to command the Fleet the latter being designed with a Squadron to cruise upon the Irish Coast in order to meet and fight the Ships commanded by Prince Rupert Col. Popham was sent towards Lisbon to intercept the Portugal Fleet coming home from their Islands because they had protected some Ships that had revolted from us and sheltred them from our Fleet that was in pursuit of them and had offered some Affronts to our Agent Mr. Vane who was sent thither to endeavour a right Understanding between the two Nations General Dean with another Squadron was ordered to remain for the Service of the Channel This they did well understanding how great Reputation a considerable Fleet would give to their Affairs and of what Importance it is to this Nation always to guard the Seas and more particularly in that Conjuncture The Parliament much inclining to preserve a good Correspondence with the States General of the United Provinces sent Dr. Dorislaus into Holland to be their Agent there who a little after his Arrival at the Hague was assaulted by about ten Assassins English and Scots who broke into his Lodgings and murdered him and tho this Action was so infamous and contrary to the Right of Nations yet the Dutch were not very forward to find out the Criminals in order to bring them to Justice Mr. Ascham who was sent into Spain with a Publick Character also was used in the like manner by three Persons coming to his House at Madrid where pretending to be English Merchants they were admitted and as he saluted the first of them was struck into the Head by him with a Poniard and his Secretary endeavouring to make his Escape was killed with him The Murderers took Sanctuary in a Church but by an Order of State they were forced from thence and committed to Prison of which the Church-men loudly complained after their usual manner as an injurious violation of their Immunities The Squadron commanded by Col. Blake being first ready set fail for the Irish Coast where Prince Rupert thinking himself not in a condition to fight him retired with his Ships into the Harbour of Kingsale under the Protection of the Fort. Col. Popham was next dispatched with his Squadron for Portugal and was pleased to employ a Brother of mine as Lieutenant of that Ship which was commanded by himself The Spanish Ambassador was the first that made application to us from any Foreign State But the Parliament not being satisfied with the Address of his Credentials refused to receive them till it should be directed to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England declaring that tho they did not affect any slattering Titles yet they resolved to have their Authority owned by all these who made their Addresses to them With which the Court of Spain being made acquainted the Ambassador received Instructions from the King his Master to that end and framed the Direction according to our Desires Our Affairs beginning to acquire Reputation and to carry a fair Probability of Success divers Members of Parliament who had been long absent addressed themselves to the Committee before mentioned in order to their admission to sit in Parliament and some of them would not scruple to give any Satisfaction that was desired to the Questions proposed unto them which were Whether they joined in or approved that I'ote declaring the King's Concessions a Ground for a future Settlement Whether they approved of the Proceedings against the King and whether they would engage to be true to a Commonwealth Government But we apprehending such extraordinary Expulsions as had been lately used to be extremely hazardous to the Publick Safety made it our Endeavour to keep those from a Re-admission who might necessitate another occasion of using the like Remedy And therefore tho all possible Satisfaction were given in Words we did by weighing the former Deportment of every particular Member who presented himself desire to be
in some measure assured that they would be true to what they promised in case the Common-wealth Interest should come to be disputed before we would report their Condition to the House Some of the House of Lords having procured themselves to be chosen by the People sat in Parliament upon the Foot of their Election in which Number was Philip Earl of Pembroke who being chosen by the Freeholders of the County of Berks upon his admission to the House signed the Engagement as the rest of the Members who sat there had done the Contents of which was To be true and faithful to the Commonwealth as it was established without a King or House of Lords The same Engagement was taken by the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Edward Howard when they took their Places in Parliament after they had been elected to serve there Whilst we were thus providing for our Security in England our Affairs in Ireland had not the same Success the Earl of Ormond having reconciled the English in Munster to the Supreme Council of the Irish Rebels the Scots also in the North falling in with them against us with whom some Gentlemen of those Parts joined tho they had engaged themselves to the contrary Yet one thing happened tending very much to the preservation of Dublin and those few Places that were kept for the Parliament which was that Owen Roe O Neal who was General of the Old Irish as they were termed could by no means be brought to a Conjunction with the English Sir Charles Coote being besieged in London-derry agreed to supply the Besiegers with Powder upon their engaging to furnish him with such Provisions as he wanted which was performed on both sides and the Lord Inchequin who was besieging Dundalk promised to do the like for Colonel Monk who then commanded in that Place upon the same Conditions which was performed on Monk's part but as his Men were carrying off the Ammunition they were fallen upon by a Party of Inchequin's Horse the Ammunition taken away and many of them killed The Scots drawing about Dundalk most of the Garison revolted to them whereupon Monk delivered up the Place upon condition that he should be permitted to return into England where being arrived he met with a cold Reception from the Parliament upon suggestion that he had corresponded with the Irish Rebels About this time an Agent from Owen Roe O Neal came privately to London and found out a way to acquaint the Council of State that if they thought sit a grant him a safe Conduct he would make some Propositions to them that would be for their Service The Council to avoid any Misconstruction of their Actions refused to hear him but appointed a Committee to speak with him of which I was one ordering us to report to them what he should propose His Proposition was that the Party commanded by O Neal should submit to and act for the Parliament if they might obtain Indemnity for what was passed and Assurance of the Enjoyment of their Religion and Estates for the time to come We asked him why they made application to us after they had refused to join with those who had been in Treaty with the King He answered that the King had broken his Word with them for tho they had deserved well of him and he had made them many fair Promises yet when he could make better Terms with any other Party he had been always ready to sacrifice them We asked him farther Why they had not made their Application sooner he told us because such Men had been possessed of the Power who had sworn their Extirpation but that now it was believed to be the Interest of those in Authority to grant Liberty of Conscience promising that if such Liberty might be extended to them they would be as zealous for a Commonwealth as any other Party instancing in many Countries where they were so We informed him that it was our Opinion that the Council would not promise Indemnity to all that Party they being esteemed to have been the principal Actors in the bloody Massacre at the beginning of the Rebellion Neither did we think that they would grant them the Liberty of their Religion believing it might prove dangerous to the Publick Peace The Council upon our Report of what had passed at the Conference concurred with our Opinion so that having no more to do with the Agent he was required to depart within a limited time The Farl of Ormond General Preston and the Lord Inchequin beginning to draw their Forces towards Dublin resolved first to reduce Tredah in order to which they sent Col. Worden thither with a strong Detachment of Horse and Foot who attempting to take it by Assault entred with most of his Men but was beat out again by an inconsiderable Number of ours Notwithstanding which the Garison wanting Men to desend their Works their Provisions also being almost consumed was obliged to capitulate and surrender upon condition that the Souldiers should have liberty to march to Duklin the rest to return home and to enjoy Protection there Dundalk and Tredagh being surrendred to the Enemy and Dublin threatned with a speedy Siege by the Forces of the Royalists and Irish combined together for the destruction of the English the Parliament taking into their serious Consideration the deplorable State of their distressed Friends resolved to send them Relief with all Expedition In the mean time the Enemy marched towards Dublin having sent a Party of Horse before to invest the Place and to prevent any Relief from Meath-side upon whose Approach Col. Jones with the Forces he had with him was obliged to retire to Jones A Party of Horse from the Town made a Sally upon the Enemy and were repulsed with some Loss but being reinforced from England by a Regiment of Horse commanded by Col. Reynolds and two Regiments of Foot Col. Jones being also come into the Town they resolved upon a vigorous Defence Immediately after the landing of these Supplies Dublin was formally besieged by the Enemy who had a great Army provided with all Necessaries for the carrying on of the Siege and furnished by the Country with Provisions in great abundance their Head-quarters being at Rathmims a Mile from Dublin towards Wicklom They took Rathfarnham by storm and sent fifteen hundred Men to fortify Baggatrath in order to hinder our Army from landing at Ringsend being within a quarter of a Mile of it and lying triangular with it and Dublin Baggatrath had a Rampart of Earth about it and the Enemy had wrought upon it to augment its Strength a whole Night before they were discovered But the next Morning Col. Jones perceiving their Design concluded it absolutely necessary to endeavour to remove them from thence before their Works were finished To that end he drew all his Forces both Horse and Foot to the Works that faced the Enemy and leaving as many as he thought necessary for the Defence of the Town sallied
the Place beat a Parley and sent out Commissioners to treat Articles were agreed and signed on both sides whereby it was concluded that the Town with all the Arms and ammunition therein should be delivered up the next Morning to such of our Forces as should be appointed to receive the same After this Agreement was made and signed the General was informed that Col. Hugh O Neal Governour of the Place with all the Garison had marched out at the beginning of the Night towards Waterford before the Commissioners came out to treat It something troubled the Commanders to be thus over-reach'd but Conditions being granted they thought it their Duty to keep them with the Town Dungarvan and Carrick were next reduced where Col. Reynolds being left with his Regiment of Horse the Lieutenant General with the Army marched towards the County of Waterford The Enemy having observed ours marching on the other side of the River took that Advantage to draw together a considerable Body of Horse and Foot with which they marched with all diligence to Carrick and stormed it not at all doubting to carry the Place wherein there was nothing but Horse armed only with Swords and Pistols to defend a Wall of great compass Yet did our Men manage their Defence so well making use of Stones and whatsoever might be serviceable to them that the Enemy was beaten off with loss so that tho Forces were sent from the Army to relieve their Friends upon the first notice of their Danger yet they found the Work done at their Arrival The Army began now to prepare for the Siege of Waterford but by the hard Service of this Winter and other Accidents being much diminished and those that remained being but in a sickly Condition it was thought fit to send Orders to Dublin requiring the Forces there who were in better Health to march towards Wexford in order to reinforce the Army before Waterford The Lord Inchequin who had notice of their March having formed a Body of two thousand five hundred Horse and some Foot resolved to fall upon them which he did between Arclo and Wexford our Forces not amounting to more than fifteen hundred Foot and five hundred Horse The Enemies charged our Horse with such Fury and Numbers that they were forced to retreat to their Foot after which falling upon our Foot they obliged them to retire to the Rocks that were on the Shore in great Disorder but some of our Horse with a part of our Foot rallying again charged a Body of their Horse with such Vigour that they broke them and killed many of them amongst whom were divers considerable Persons which so discouraged the rest that tho they were the choicest of the Enemies Men and many of ours so distempered with the Flux that they were forced to fight with their Breeches down yet durst they not make any farther Attempt against them but drew off and permitted ours to march to their designed Rendezvouz without any more Interruption By which it eminently appeared of what Importance it is towards the obtaining Success to fight in the Cause of our Country for these very Men as long as they were engaged with us performed Wonders against the Rebels and now being engaged with them were almost as easily overcome as they had beaten the Irish before and this was so visible even to the Irish themselves that some time after at a Consultation of the Chief Officers of Leinster where it was debated what Course to take in order to destroy our Army some advising to draw into a Body and fight us others to betake themselves to the Woods and Bogs and from thence to break our Forces by Parties the Lord of Glanmaleiro assured them of a way which if taken would certainly effect it and that was to induce us to make Peace with them for said he they are a successful Army and our Men are dispirited and not likely to get any thing by fighting with them and to weary them out by our Surprizes and Depredations is impossible as long as the way from England is open for their Supplies but the other way proposed will infallibly ruin them for did not our Ancestors by the same means render the Conquests of Queen Elizabeth fruitless to England and have we not thereby ruined the Earl of Ormond and Inchequin already who having been always successful when against us have been famous for nothing since their Conjunction with us but the Losses and Repulses which they have sustained so that if we can perswade this Army to make a Truce or League with us they will become as unfortunate as the fornier Whilst the Lieutenant General was making Preparations for the Siege of Waterford a Letter was brought to him from the Parliament requiring his Attendance in England In order to which he left the Command of the Army with Commissary General Ireton to carry on the remaining part of the Work going himself to visit those Places in Munster which had lately submitted to the Parliament with intention to settle the Civil as well as Military Affairs of that Province To this end he impowered John Coke Esq to be Chief Justice of Munster and having accomplished such things as he designed embarked for England and soon after landed at Bristol In the mean time the Treaty between Prince Charles and the Presbyterian Party in Scotland hastening towards a Conclusion the Forces which they had raised by the Encouragement of our Army after they had rescued them from the Power of the Hamiltonian Party fell upon Montrose killed many of his Men and took him with divers other Officers Prisoners and amongst them Major General Hurry and Capt. Spotiswood who was said to have been concerned in the Assassination of Dr. Dorislaus our Agent in Holland They were all three condemned to death and hanged Montrose being carried to the Place of Execution in an ignominious manner with the Declarations issued out by him for the King tied about his Neck where he was executed on a Gibbet of thirty Foot high His Quarters were placed upon the Gate through which their King was to pass at his coming to Edinburgh which could not but move his Indignation if he had the least Sense of Honour because he had acted by his Commission and in order to vest him with that absolute and uncontrolable Power which Kings think to be most for their Advantage but the King being instructed with other Maxims struck up the bargain with the Presbyterians and engaged to take the Covenant whereupon they cried him up for a great Convert Some Sycophants in the English Parliament a Race of Men never wanting in great Councils pressed earnestly for settling two thousand five hundred Pounds a Year upon the Lieutenant General according to a Vote formerly passed in the House or that it might at least be read once or twice before his Arrival at Westminster he being then upon his way from Bristol Upon this Motion I took the liberty to acquaint the House
Waller had earnestly solicited for this Employment of Lieutenant General of the Horse in Ireland and that the General not thinking it convenient to entrust him with it yet unwilling he should know so much perswaded him to believe that the Parliament had over-ruled him therein The Parliament then passed an Act constituting Commissioners for the Administration of Civil Affairs in Ireland and agreed upon Instructions of sufficient Latitude for them to act by in particular to lay a Tax on that Nation not exceeding the Sum of thirty thousand Pounds To give order for the distribution of Justice as near to the Rules of the Law as the nencessity of the Times would permit and to consider of a Method of Proceeding in the Courts of Justice there to be offered to the Parliament for their Approbation The Commissioners were those that I mentioned before only Major Salloway desiring to be excused from that Service Mr. Miles Corbet a Member of Parliament was inserted in his room Some Suspicions there were at this time that the Presbyterian Party in England especially those about London entertained a private Correspondence with their Brethren in Scotland where tho that Nation had received a great Blow at Dunbar yet it was resolved that their King should be crowned upon his taking the Solemn League and Covenant and obliging himself thereby to endeavour the extirpation of Popery and Episcopacy This Action was performed with all the Circumstances and Solemnities that could be used in the Condition of their Affairs The Nobility swore Fidelity to him and the Marquiss of Argile put the Crown upon his Head with his own Hands And now having a King like other Nations and a Covenanting King too they doubted not of Success under his Conduct presuming by this means most certainly to retrieve all their Losses and Reputation But the Parliament who had removed one King was not frighted with the setting up of another and therefore proceeded in the Settlement of their Affairs both Military and Civil and to that end ordered a thousand Pounds to be advanced to the Commissioners of the Civil Affairs in Ireland directing them to receive also a thousand Pounds yearly They like wise gave Orders for the payment of a thousand Pounds to me by way of Advance upon my Pay as Lieutenant General of the Horse that I might be enabled to furnish my self with Tents Horses and other things necessary for that Service The Committee of Irish Affairs raised also a Troop consisting of a hundred Horse to accompany me and armed them with Back Breast Head-pieces Pistols and Musquetoons with two Months Pay advanced The Lord Deputy Ireton's Lady Daughter to General Cromwell prepared to go over with us to her Husband who had removed his Head-quarters to Waterford partly because he thought that Place most convenient for the Service as the Enemy then lay and partly from some Disgust conceived against Dublin where the Inhabitants had extorted unreasonable Rates for their Provisions and other Necessaries sold to our Army at their Arrival there for the Relief of Ireland Therefore resolving to pass through South Wales I hastned out of Town before the rest of my Company in order to take leave of my Friends in the West and from thence going to Glamorganshire I stayed there with some Relations of my Wife till the rest of the Company came down Before I left the Parliament some Difference happening between the Countess of Rutland and the Lord Edward Howard of Escrick Col. Gell who was a great Servant of the Countess informed Major General Harison that the Lord Edward Howard being a Member of Parliament and one of the Committee at Haberdashers-Hall had taken divers Bribes for the excusing Delinquents from Sequestration and easing them in their Compositions and that in particular he had received a Diamond Hatband valued at eight hundred Pounds from one Mr. Compton of Sussex concerning which he could not prevail with any to inform the Parliament Major General Harrison being a Man of severe Principles and zealous for Justice especially against such as betrayed the Publick Trust reposed in them assured him that if he could satisfy him that the Fact was as he affirmed he would not fail to inform the Parliament of it and upon Satisfaction received from the Colonel touching that Matter said in Parliament That tho the Honour of every Member was dear to him and of that Gentleman in particular naming the Lord Howard because he had so openly owned the Interest of the Commonwealth as to decline his Peerage and to sit upon the foot of his Election by the People yet he loved Justice before all other things looking upon it to be Honour of the Parliament and the Image of God upon them that therefore he durst not refuse to lay this Matter before them tho he was very desirous that the said Lord might clear himself of the Accusation The Parliament having received his Information referred the Consideration of the Matter to a Committee where it was fully examined and notwithstanding all the Art of Counsel learned in the Law who are very skilful at putting a good Appearance upon a bad Cause and all the Friends the Lord Howard could make so just and equitable a Spirit then governed that the Committee having represented the Matter to the Parliament as they found it to be they discharged him from being a Member of Parliament sent him to the Tower and fined him ten thousand Pounds About the beginning of January the Commissioners of Parliament the Lady Ireton and my self met at Milford in order to embark for Ireland three Men of War lying ready for us in the Harbour with several Ships for the Transportation of my Troop with our Goods and Horses We came to Milford on Saturday and on Monday following the Lady Ireton and the Commissioners set sail with fair Wind leaving the Guinea-Frigat for me and to be Convoy to those Vessels that were appointed to transport the Horse and other things of which but one could be ready time enough to set sail with them my Troop being not yet mustered The next day Mr. Lort by order of the Committee of Parliament mustered my Troop so that I began to ship them on Wednesday in the Afternoon and on Thursday Morning they being all embarked we set sail and tho the Weather proved very calm we arrived the next day under the Fort of Duncannon near Waterford where I understood that the Lady Ireton and the Commissioners had landed there the day before and were gone to the Lord Deputy at Waterford Immediately after my Arrival I went to wait on the Lord Deputy Ireton who was much surprized at my landing so soon after the rest of the Company and ordered good Quarters to be assigned to my Troop that they might be refreshed before they entred upon Duty for it was observed that the English Horses were not so fit for Service till they had been seasoned for some time with the Air and Provisions of that Country
purpose Commissioners were appointed on both Parts to treat The Articles were the same in effect with those granted to the Irish in Leinster and other Places But much time was spent in the discussion of some Particulars especially that concerning the Murder of the English which was an Exception we never failed to make so that the Irish Commissioners seeming doubtful whether by the wording that Article they were not all included desired that it might be explained to which we consented and it was accordingly done They also made it their Request that instead of that Article relating to their real Estates whereby they were to enjoy such a part as should be allotted to them by the Qualifications to be agreed upon it might be expressed that they wholly submitted to the Mercy of the Parliament therein The Exercise also of their Religion was earnestly insisted upon by them but we refused to oblige our selves to any thing in that Particular declaring only that it was neither the Principle or Practice of the Authority which we served to impose their way of Worship upon any by violent means With these Explanations the Commissioners after a Fortnight's Debate concluded the Agreement the Lord Muskerry and my self confirming it his Son with Sir Daniel Obryan were delivered to me as Hostages for the performance of the Articles in consequence of which about five thousand Horse and Foot laid down their Arms and surrendred their Horses Whilst this was doing in Munster Col. Grace with some Forces that had not submitted passed the Shannon and being joined by many of the Irish of Connaught and Galway began to grow considerable being about three thousand most of them Foot Col. Ingoldsby having notice of them drew together a Party about Limerick and marching with them to find out the Enemy attacked them at a Pass which they disputed for some time but our Horse breaking in upon some of their Foot and encouraging the rest to fall on the Irish quitted their Post and shifted for themselves In this Action many of them were killed and taken Prisoners the rest escaping to the Bogs and Woods After this Defeat Col. Grace and his Party was forced to submit and to that end treated with Col. Zanchey but found that his obstinate Resistance so long had done him no Service for Col. Zanchey upon the Surrender of Inch to him and the Submission of Col. Grace's Forces caused a Captain a Lieutenant and a Serjeant with other Officers to be shot to death for revolting at Carrick to the Enemy according to the Liberty he had reserved to himself in that case by the Capitulation In the North of Ireland Col. Theophilus Jones being sent out with seven Troops of Horse one of Dragoons and three hundred Foot to get Provisions for the Relief of those Parts met with a Party of the Enemy consisting of sixteen hundred Foot and three hundred Horse whom he charged and after a sharp Dispute routed and put to flight killing many of their Officers and three hundred Souldiers upon the Place All the Arms of their Foot were taken and a hundred and fifty Horse with the Loss only of six of our Men killed and about twenty wounded The Earl of Clanrickard finding the Irish Affairs in a desperate Condition with what Forces he had left retired into the Isle of Carrick where being encompassed by our Men on all sides he submitted and obtained Liberty to transport himself with three thousand Men to any foreign Country in Friendship with the Commonwealth within the space of three Months The Parliament having already sent over to us five Companies of Foot under the Command of Licutenant Colonel Finch who had done very good Service at the Battel of Worcester resolved to send eight hundred more out of the Regiment of Major Gen. Lambert and an intire Regiment commanded by Col. Clark which Forces were procured rather to promote the Designs of General Cromvel than from any need we had of them our military Service in Ireland by the Blessing of God drawing towards a Conclusion most of the Irish Forces having submitted and laid down their Arms no Garison of any Strength holding out against us and many Thousand of the Enemy sent into foreign Service The Souldiers of Lambert's Regiment were countermanded upon his refusal to go to Ireland without the Character of Deputy but the Regiment of Col. Clark being throughly principled for Cromvel's Design continued their March by order of the Parliament who were perswaded to constitute Lieutenant General Fleetwood Commander in Chief of their Forces in Ireland and one of their Commissioners for the Civil Affairs in that Nation The States General upon the Return of their Ambassadors from England dispatched Orders to their Admiral to take all Advantages against the English and solicited the King of Denmark to break with us also encouraging him to detain twenty two English Merchant Ships which he had formerly seized coming through the Sound The Parliament to prevent the Dangers that might ensue by farther Delay gave Orders to General Blake to fall upon the Subjects of Holland wheresoever he should meet them and particularly to interrupt their Fishery upon the Northern Coast sending the Regiments of Col. Ingoldsby and Col. Goff on board the Fleet. General Blake having received these Instructions set sail for the North where meeting with about six hundred Herring-Busses under a Convoy of twelve Men of War he took and sunk the whole Convoy and having seized the Fish that the Busses had taken he released all the Vessels with the Seamen belonging to them Which Action was blamed by some who thought that by the help of those Ships we might have been enabled to erect a Fishery and thereby have made some Reparation to the English Nation for the Damages which they had sustained from the Dutch and that by detaining their Mariners we might have weakned and distressed them considerably they wanting Men for the management of their Shipping In the mean time Sir George Ayscue who was lately returned from the Reduction of Barbadoes and had convoyed into the River five Merchant Ships richly laden from the East Indies fell upon a Fleet of Hollanders consisting of sorty Merchant-men under the Convoy of four Men of War Of this Fleet he took seven forced divers on shore and the rest narrowly escaped About the same time a Ship from Guiny valued at forty thousand Pounds was by some of ours taken srom the Dutch with many other rich Ships to the great Prejudice and Interruption of their Trade To apply some Remedy to this the Dutch Admiral with his Fleet came into the Downs and anchored by Sir George Ayscue who was retired under Dover-Castle being much inferiour in Number to the Enemy but the Hollanders after a short stay left our Fleet and set sail without attempting any thing against us At Leghorn some of their Men of War preparing to seize such English Merchants Ships as lay in that Port the Grand Duke sent a Message to