provision of Arms and Powder out of England that the Court was extreamly corrupted and that the matters of Church and State were so out of frame as must tend to a Change There were no Witnesses and the Defendant denying what the Appellant affirmed the Tryal was thought must be by Duel In order to which the King grants a Commission for a Court-Marshal where though the presumptions of Ramsey's guilt were more heightned yet the King hinders any further process by Combat which is doubted whether it be lawful either thinking none so foolish as to strive for Empire which He found so full of Trouble or knowing that Magistracy being the sole Gift of Heaven it was vain to commit a Crime in hope of enjoying it or in fear of losing it which was the Principle upon which Excellent Princes have neglected the diligent Inquisition of Conspiracies and fatally continues Hamilton in that favour as did enable him afterwards more falsly to act that Treason of which he was then accused Some Tumults in Ireland shewed a defect in that Government which made the King send over as Deputy thither the Lord Wentworth An. 1632 a most accomplished Person in affairs of Rule of great Abilities equal to a Minister of State The King 's choice of him he soon justified by reducing that tumultuary people to such a condition of Peace and security as it had never been since its first annexion to this Crown and made it pay for the Charges of its own Government which before was deducted out of the English Treasury their Peace and Laws now opening accesses for Plenty This enjoyment of Peace and Plenty through all the King's Dominions made Him mindful of employing some fruits of it to the Honour of that God that caused it and not to let so great a Prosperity wholly corrupt the minds of men to a neglect of Religion which is usual He shewed his own Zeal for the Ornaments of it and spent part of His Treasure towards the repair of St Paul's Church and by His Example Admonitions and Commands drew many of His Subjects to a Contribution for it and had restored it to its primitive lustre and firmness adorned it to a magnificence equal with the Structure which is supposed the goodliest in the Christian World had not the Malice of His Enemies forced him to Arms mingled His Mortar with the blood of innocent people and sacrilegiously diverted all the Treasure and Materials gathered for this pious design to maintain an impious and unjust War and afterwards to dishonour His cares for Religion they barbarously made it a Stable for their Horse and Quarters for their unhallowed Foot Some reasons of State drew the King from London An. 1633 May 13. to receive the Imperial Crown of Scotland Himself professed that He had no great stomach to the Journey nor delight in the Nation being a race of men that under the Scheme of an honest animosity and specious plain-dealing were most perfidious A full Character of their great Movers Yet as He had been nobly treated all along His Journey by the English Nobility so was He there magnificently received and crowned at Edinburgh June 10th But the King soon found all those Caresses false For the Nobility and Laick Patrons could not concoct His Revocation though legal and innocent of such things as had been stoln from the Crown during His Father's Minority with a Commission for Surrendry of Superiorities and Tithes to be retaken from the King by the present Occupants who could as then pretend no other Title than the unjust usurpation of their Ancestors on such conditions as might bring some Profit to the Crown to which they justly belonged some Augmentation of the Clergy and far more ease and benefit to the common People whom by advantage of those illegal Tenures they oppressed with a most bitter Vassalage This Act of His Majesty being so full of equity and publick good those whose greatness was builded upon Injustice did not bare-facedly oppose it but endeavoured to hinder that and all the other designs of Peace and Order by opposing in the Parliament next after the Coronation the Act of Ratification of all those Laws which King James had made in that Nation for the better regulating the affairs of that Church both as to the Government and Worship of it This was highly opposed by such as were sensible of their diminution by a legal restitution of their unrighteous Possessions And although the King carried it by the major part of Voices yet to prevent their own fires with the publick Ruine they did most assiduously slander it among the People as the abetting of Popery and the betraying their Spiritual Liberty to the Romish yoke These Calumnies received more credit by the King's Order for a more decent and reverend Worship of God at His Royal Chappel at Edinburgh conformably to the English Usage Their noise grew lowder by the Concent of their party of Malecontents in England who also took advantage to diffuse their poison from the King's Book of Sports which King JAMES had in his time published in Lancashire and was now ratified by King CHARLES for a more universal Observance The Occasision of which was the Apostasie of many to Popery whose Doctrines and Practices are more indulgent to the licentious through the rigid Opinion of some Preachers who equall'd all Recreations on the Sabbath as they call'd it to the most prodigious transgressions On the contrary some of the ignorant Teachers had perverted many to down-right Judaisme by the consequence of so strict an Observance of the Sabbath And some over-busie Justices of Peace had suppressed all the ancient Feasts of the Dedications of Churches The King therefore intended by this Edict to obstruct the success of the Enemies on both sides and to free His People from the yoke of this Superstition But such is the weakness of Humane Prudence that the Remedies it applies to one Inconvenience are pregnant of another and whereas the Generality of men seldom do good but as necessitated by Law when Liberty is indulged all things are soon filled with Disorder and Confusion And so it happened in this that the Vulgar abusing the King's Liberty which was no more than is granted in other Protestant Churches and committing many undecencies made many well-temper'd Spirits too capable and credulous of those importunate Calumnies of the Faction that His Majesty was not well-affected to Religion The boldness of the Pickeroons An. 1634 Turks and Dunkirk-Pirates infesting our Coasts damaging our Traffique the Usurpation of the Holland Fishers on the King's Dominion in the Narrow Seas and His Right disputed in a Tract by the Learned Grotius call the King 's next Cares for His own Honour and the People's Safety But the Remedy appeared exceeding difficult the furnishing of a Navy for so honourable an undertaking being too heavy a burden for His Exchequer which although not emptied by any luxuriant Feasts nor profusely wasted on some prodigal and unthirsty Favourite
or the not few years that I have been setled in my Principles it ought to be no strange thing if it be found no easie work to make Me alter them and the rather that hitherto I have according to Saint Paul's rule Rom. 14. 22. been happy in Not condemning my self in that thing which I allow Thus having shewed you How it remains to tell you what I believe in relation to these miserable Distractions No one thing made Me more reverence the Reformation of My Mother the Church of England than that it was done according to the Apostles defence Acts 24. 18. neither with multitude nor with tumult but legally and orderly and by those whom I conceive to have the Reforming power which with many other inducements made Me alwaies confident that the work was very perfect as to Essentials of which number Church-Government being undoubtedly one I put no question but that would have been likewise altered if there had been cause Which opinion of Mine was soon turned into more than a confidence when I perceived that in this particular as I must say of all the rest we retained nothing but according as it was deduced from the Apostles to be the constant universal custom of the Primitive Church and that it was of such consequence as by the alteration of it we should deprive our selves of a lawful Priesthood and then how the Sacraments can be duly administred is easie to judge These are the principal Reasons which make Me believe that Bishops are necessary for a Church and I think sufficient for Me if I had no more not to give my consent for their expulsion out of England But I have another obligation that to My particular is a no less tie of Conscience which is my Coronation Oath Now if as S. Paul saith Rom. 14. 23. He that doubeth is damned if he eat what can I expect if I should not only give way knowingly to my Peoples sinning but likewise be perjured My self Now consider ought I not to keep My self from presumptuous sins and you know who saies What doth it profit a Man though he should gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Wherefore my constant maintenance of Episcopacy in England where there was never any other Government since Christianity was in this Kingdom methinks should be rather commended than wondred at my Conscience directing Me to maintain the Laws of the Land which being only my endeavours at this time I desire to know of you what warrant there is in the Word of God for Subjects to endeavour to force their King's Conscience or to make him alter Laws against his will If this be not My present case I shall be glad to be mistaken or if my Judgment in Religion hath been misled all this time I shall be willing to be better directed till when you must excuse Me to be constant to the Grounds which the King my Father hath taught Me. Newcastle May 29. 1646. C. R. II. Mr Alexander Henderson's First Paper For His MAJESTY SIR IT is Your Majestie 's Royal Goodness and not my merit that hath made Your Majesty to conceive any opinion of my Abilities which were they worthy of the smallest testimony from Your Majesty ought in all duty to be improved for Your Majestie 's satisfaction And this I intended in my coming here at this time by a free yet modest expression of the true motives and inducements which drew my mind to the dislike of Episcopal Government wherein I was bred in my younger years in the University Like as I did apprehend that it was not Your Majestie 's purpose to have the Question disputed by Divines on both sides which I would never to the wronging of the Cause have undertaken alone and which seldom or never hath proved an effectual way for finding of Truth or moving the minds of Men to relinquish their former Tenents Dum res transit à judicio in affectum witness the Polemicks between the Papists and us and among our selves about the matter now in hand these many years past 1. SIR when I consider Your Majestie 's Education under the hand of such a Father the length of time wherein Your Majesty hath been setled in Your Principles of Church-Government the Arguments which have continually in private and publick especially of late at Oxford filled Your Majestie 's ears for the Divine Right thereof Your Coronation Oath and divers State reasons which Your Majesty doth not mention I do not wonder nor think it any strange thing that Your Majesty hath not at first given place to a contrary impression I remember that the famous Joannes Picus Mirandula proveth by irrefragable Reasons which no rational man will contradict That no man hath so much power over his own Vnderstanding as to make himself believe what he will or to think that to be true which his Reason telleth him is false much less is it possible for any Man to have his Reason commanded by the will or at the pleasure of another 2. It is a true saying of the School-men Voluntas imperat intellectui quoad exercitium non quoad specificationem Mine own will or the will of another may command me to think upon a matter but no will or command can constrain me to determine otherwise than my Reason teacheth me Yet Sir I hope Your Majesty will acknowledge for Your Paper professeth no less that according to the saying of Ambrose Non est pudor ad meliora transire It is neither sin nor shame to change to the better Symmachus in one of his Epistles I think to the Emperours Theodosius and Valentinian alledgeth all those motives from Education from Prescription of time from worldly Prosperity and the flourishing condition of the Roman Empire and from the Laws of the Land to perswade them to constancy in the ancient Pagan profession of the Romans against the imbracing of the Christian Faith The like reasons were used by the Jews for Moses against Christ and may be used both for Popery and for the Papacy it self against the Reformation of Religion and Church-Government and therefore can have no more strength against the Change now than they had in former times 3. But Your Majesty may perhaps say That this is petitio principii and nothing else but the begging of the Question and I confess it were so if there can be no Reasons brought for a Reformation or Change Your Majesty reverences the Reformation of the Church of England as being done legally and orderly and by those who had the Reforming Power and I do not deny but it were to be wish'd that Religion where there is need were alwaies Reformed in that manner and by such power and that it were not committed to the Prelates who have greatest need to be reformed themselves nor left to the multitude whom God stirreth up when Princes are negligent Thus did Jacob reform his own Family Moses destroyed the golden Calf the good Kings of Judah reformed the Church
the eighteenth day of June in the eighteenth year of Our Reign 1642. Votes of the Lower House for raising an Army against the KING Die Martis 12 Julii 1642. Resolved upon the Question THAT an Army shall be forthwith raised for the Safety of the King's Person defence of both Houses of Parliament and of those who have obeyed their Orders and Commands and preserving of the true Religion the Laws Liberty and Peace of the Kingdom Resolved upon the Question That the Earl of Essex shall be the General Resolved upon the Question That this House doth declare that in this Cause for the Safety of the King's Person defence of both Houses of Parliament and of those who have obeyed their Orders and Commands and preserving of the true Religion the Laws Liberty and Peace of the Kingdom they will live and die with the Earl of Essex whom they have nominated General in this Cause MDCXLII Aug. 8. A Declaration of the Lords and Commons for raising of Forces against the KING Together with His MAJESTY'S Declaration in Answer to the same A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for the raising of all Power and Force as well Trained Bands as others in several Counties of this Kingdom to lead against all Traitors and their Adherents and them to Arrest and Imprison and to Fight with Kill and Slay all such as shall oppose any of His Majesty's loving Subjects that shall be imployed in this Service by either or both Houses of Parliament WHereas certain Information is given from several parts of the Kingdom That divers Troops of Horse are imployed in sundry Counties of the Kingdom and that others have Commission to raise both Horse and Foot to compel His Majesty's Subjects to submit to the Illegal commission of Array out of a Traiterous intent to subvert the Liberty of the Subject and the Law of the Kingdom and for the better strengthening themselves in this wicked attempt do joyn with the Popish and Jesuitical Faction to put the Kingdom into a Combustion and Civil War by levying Forces against the Parliament and by these Forces to alter the Religion and the Antient Government and lawful Liberty of the Kingdom and to introduce Popery and Idolatry together with an Arbitrary Form of Government and in pursuance thereof have Traitorously and Rebelliously levied War against the King and by force robb'd spoil'd and slain divers of His Majesty's good Subjects travelling about their lawful and necessary occasions in the King's Protection according to Law and namely that for the end and purpose aforesaid the Earl of Northampton the Lord Dunsmore Lord Willoughby of Eresby Son to the Earl of Lindsey Henry Hastings Esquire and divers other unknown persons in the Counties of Lincoln Nottingham Leicester Warwick Oxford and other places the Marquess of Hartford the Lord Paulet Lord Seymour Sir John Stawel Sir Ralph Hopton John Digby Esquire and other their Accomplices have gotten together great Forces in the County of Somerset The Lords and Commons in Parliament duly considering the great Dangers which may ensue upon such their wicked and traitorous Designs and if by this means the Power of the Sword should come into the hands of Papists and their Adherents nothing can be expected but the miserable ruine and desolation of the Kingdom and the bloody massacre of the Protestants they do Declare and Ordain That it is and shall be lawful for all His Majesty's loving Subjects by force of Arms to resist the said several Parties and their Accomplices and all other that shall raise or conduct any other Forces for the ends aforesaid and that the Earl of Essex Lord General with all his Forces raised by the Authority of Parliament as likewise the Lord Say Lieutenant of Oxfordshire Earl of Peterborough Lieutenant of Northamptonshire Lord Wharton Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire Earl of Stamford Lieutenant of Leicestershire Earl of Pembroke Lieutenant of Wiltshire and Hampshire Earl of Bedford Lieutenant of Somersetshire and Devon Lord Brook Lieutenant of Warwickshire the Lord Cranborne Lieutenant of Dorsetshire the Lord Willoughby of Parham Lieutenant of Lincolnshire and all those who are or shall be appointed by Ordinance of both Houses to perform the place of Deputy-Lieutenants and their Deputy-Lieutenants respectively Denzil Hollis Esquire Lieutenant of the City and County of Bristol and the Mayors and Sheriffs of the City and Deputy-Lieutenants there and all other Lieutenants of Counties Sheriffs Mayors Deputy-Lieutenants shall raise all their Power and Forces of their several Counties as well Trained Bands as others and shall have power to conduct and lead the said Forces of the said Counties against the said Traitors and their Adherents and with them to fight kill and slay all such as by force shall oppose them and the Persons of the said Traitors and their Adherents and Accomplices to Arrest and Imprison and them to bring up to the Parliament to answer these their Traiterous and Rebellious Attempts according to Law and the same or any other Forces to transport and conduct from one County to another in aid and assistance one of another and of all others that shall joyn with the Lords and Commons in Parliament for the defence of the Religion of Almighty God and of the Liberties and Peace of the Kingdom and in pursuit of those wicked and Rebellious Traitors the Conspirators Aiders and Abettors and Adherents requiring all Lieutenants of Counties Sheriffs Mayors Justices of Peace and other His Majesty's Officers and loving Subjects to be aiding and assisting to one another in the Execution hereof And for so doing all the parties above-mentioned and all others that shall joyn with them shall be justified defended and secured by the Power and Authority of Parliament Die Lunae Aug. 8. 1642. Ordered that this Declaration be forthwith Printed and Published Hen. Elsinge Cler. Parl. D. Com. His MAJESTY's Declaration in Answer to a Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for the raising of all Power and Force as well Trained Bands c. AS much experience as We have had of the inveterate Rancour and high Insolence of the Malignant Party against Us We never yet saw any expression come from them so evidently declaring it as the Declaration entituled A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for the raising of all Power and Force as well Trained Bands as others in several Counties of this Kingdom to lead against all Traitors and their Adherents c. In which that Faction hath as it were distilled and contracted all their Falshood Insolence and Malice there being in it not one period which is not either Slanderous or Treasonable And nothing can more grieve Us than that by their infinite Arts and Subtilty employed by their perpetual and indefatigable Industry and by that Rabble of Brownists and other Schismaticks declaredly ready to appear at their Call they should have been able so to draw away some and drive away others of Our good Subjects from Our
do most concern Our Rights Our Quarrel is not against the Parliament but against particular Men who first made the Wounds and will not now suffer them to be healed but make them deeper and wider by contriving fostering and fomenting Mistakes and Jealousies betwixt Body and Head Us and Our two Houses of Parliament whom We name are ready to prove them guilty of High Treason We desire that the Lord Kimbolton Mr. Hollis Mr. Pym Mr. Hampden Sir Arthur Hesilrigge Mr. Stroud Mr. Martin Sir Henry Ludlow Alderman Pennington and Captain Venn may be delivered into the hands of Justice to be tried by their Peers according to the known Law of the Land if we do not prove them guilty of High Treason they will be acquitted and their Innocence will justly triumph over Us. Against the Earl of Warwick the Earl of Essex Earl of Stamford Lord Brook Sir John Hotham Serjeant Major General Skippon and those who shall henceforth exercise the Militia by virtue of the Ordinance We shall cause Indictments to be drawn of High Treason upon the Statute of the 25. year of King Edward the Third Let them submit to the Trial appointed by Law and plead their Ordinances if they shall be acquitted We have done And that all Our loving Subjects may know that in truth nothing but the preservation of the true Protestant Religion invaded by Brownisme Anabaptisme and Libertinisme the Safety of Our Person threatned and conspired against by Rebellion and Treason the Law of the Land and Liberty of the Subject oppressed and almost destroyed by an Usurped Unlimited Arbitrary Power and the Freedom Priviledge and Dignity of Parliament awed and insulted upon by Force and Tumults could make us put off Our long-loved Robe of Peace and take up defensive Arms We once more offer a free and a gracious Pardon to all Our loving Subjects who shall desire the same except the persons before named and shall be as glad with Safety and Honour to lay down these Arms as of the greatest Blessing We are capable of in this World But if to justify these Actions and these Persons our Subjects shall think fit to engage themselves in a War against Us We must not look upon it as an Act of Our Parliament but as a Rebellion against Us and the Law in the behalf of these Men and shall proceed for the suppressing it with the same Conscience and Courage as We would meet an Army of Rebels who endeavour to destroy both King and People And We will never doubt to find honest Men enough of Our minds MDCXLI April ¶ The true Copy of the Petition prepared by the Officers of the late Army and subscribed by His Majesty with C. R. To the KING' 's most Excellent Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal the Knights Citizens and Burgesses now assembled in the High Court of Parliament The Humble Petition of the Officers and Souldiers of the Army Humbly sheweth THat although our Wants have been very pressing and the Burthen we are become unto these parts by reason of those Wants very grievous unto us yet so have we demeaned our selves that Your Majesty's great and weighty Affairs in this present Parliament have hitherto received no interruption by any Complaint either from us or against us A temper not usual in Armies especially in one destitute not only of Pay but also of Martial Discipline and many of its principal Officers That we cannot but attribute it to a particular blessing of Almighty God on our most hearty affection and zeal to the Common good in the happy success of this Parliament to which as we should have been ready hourly to contribute our dearest blood so now that it hath pleased God to manifest his blessing so manifestly therein we cannot but acknowledge it with thankfulness We cannot but acknowledge his great Mercy in that he hath inclined Your Majesties Royal heart so to co-operate with the wisdom of the Parliament as to effect so great and happy a Reformation upon the former Distempers of this Church and Commonwealth As first in Your Majesties gracious condescending to the many important Demands of our neighbours of the Scotish Nation secondly in granting so free a course of Justice against all Delinquents of what quality soever thirdly in the removal of all those Grievances wherewith the Subjects did conceive either their Liberty of Persons Propriety of Estate or Freedom of Conscience prejudiced and lastly in the greatest pledge of security that ever the Subjects of England received from their Soveraign the Bill of Triennial Parliaments These things so graciously accorded unto by Your Majesty without bargain or compensation as they are more than expectation or hope could extend unto so now certainly they are such as all Loyal hearts ought to requiesce in with thankfulness which we do with all humility and do at this time with as much earnestness as any pray and wish that the Kingdom may be settled in peace and quietness and that all Men may at their own homes enjoy the blessed fruits of Your Wisdom and Justice But may it please Your Excellent Majesty and this High Court of Parliament to give us leave with grief and anguish of heart to represent unto You that We hear that there are certain persons stirring and practical who in stead of rendring Glory to God Thanks to his Majesty and acknowledgment to the Parliament remain yet as unsatisfied and mutinous as ever who whilest all the rest of the Kingdom are arrived even beyond their wishes are daily forging new and unseasonable demands who whilest all Men of Reason Loyalty and Moderation are thinking how they may provide for your Majesties Honour and Plenty in return of so many Graces to the Subject they are still attempting new Diminutions of Your Majesty's just Regalities which must ever be no less dear to all honest Men than our own Freedoms in fine Men of such turbulent Spirits as are ready to sacrifice the Honour and Welfare of the whole Kingdom to their private fancies whom nothing else than a subversion of the whole frame of Government will satisfie Far be it from our thoughts to believe that the Violence and Vnreasonableness of such kind of persons can have any influence upon the Prudence and Justice of the Parliament But that which begets the trouble and disquiet of Our Loyal hearts at this present is That we hear those ill-affected persons are backed in their Violence by the Multitude and the power of raising Tumults that thousands flock at their call and beset the Parliament and White-Hall it self not only to the prejudice of that freedom which is necessary to great Councils and Judicatories but possibly to some personal danger of Your Sacred Majesty and Peers The vast consequence of these Persons Malignity and of the Licentiousness of those Multitudes that follow them considered in most deep care and zealous affection for the safety of Your Sacred Majesty and the Parliament Our Humble Petition is that in Your
take in those of another Kingdom to their Resolutions who are not bound by our Laws But what violation soever they make of the Laws they are forward to put the King in mind of His Duty and therefore tell Him That He is sworn to maintain the Laws as they are sworn to their Allegiance to Him these Obligations being reciprocal It is true in some sense that the Oath of the King and Subjects is reciprocal that is each is bound to perform what they swear the King as well as the Subjects but he that will well weigh their Letter and make one part have connexion with the other and examine that part of their Covenant whereby they swear they will defend the Kings Person and Authority no further or otherwise than in preservation of their Religion and Liberties may easily find another construction viz. That the Subjects Allegiance is no longer due than the King performs His Duty nay no longer than He in their opinion observes His Duty whereof they themselves must be Judges and if He fail in His Duty they may take up Arms against Him A Principle which as it is utterly destructive to all Government so we believe they themselves dare not plainly avow it lest as they now make use of it against the King so the People finding their failure of Duty and breach of Trust should hereafter practise it by taking up Arms against them and so shake of that yoak of Tyranny imposed by their fellow Subjects which lies so heavy upon them It were well as they still press upon the King maintenance of the Laws they would also know that their Obligation to observe the same is reciprocal and while they here resolve to defend and preserve the full Power of this Parliament which in their sense can be no other than the Power they have exercised this Parliament they would take notice that they are therein so far from observation of the Laws that they desperately resolve an utter subversion of them For what can more tend to the destruction of the Laws than to usurp a Power to themselves without the King and against His will to raise Arms to attribute to their Orders or pretended Ordinances the power of Laws and Statutes to inforce Contributions Loans and Taxes of all sorts from the Subject to imprison without cause shewed and then prohibit Writs of Habeas Corpus for their enlargement to lay Excises upon all Commodities to command and dispose of the Lives and Estates of the free-born Subjects of this Kingdom at their pleasure to impose Tonnage and Poundage contrary to the Law declared in the late Act for Tonnage and Poundage and all this done and justified as by a legal civil Power founded and inherent in them All which are manifest breaches of the Petition of Right and Magna Charta the great Evidence of the Liberties of England which Charter by express words binds them and us though assembled in Parliament as well as the King And though it be not now as heretofore it hath been taken by solemn Oath on the Peoples part as well as on the Kings nor a Curse as heretofore pronounced on the Violators yet they having taken a Protestation to maintain the Laws and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject and inclusively that Charter let them take heed whilst they make use of this their pretended Power to the destruction of the Law lest a Curse fall upon them and upon their Posterity God knoweth and it is too certain a truth that our selves and many other good Subjects in this Kindom even under the Power of the Kings Army have suffered exceedingly in Liberty and Estates during this present Rebellion by many heavy Charges the sad consideration whereof makes our hearts bleed because we can see no way for relief so long as this unnatural Rebellion continues But as these things were first practised by them and thereby necessitated upon the Kings Army so it was never yet pretended that they were done by virtue of a Law but either by Consent or by the unhappy and unavoidable exigences of War and to expire with the present Rebellion which God in mercy hasten For our parts we have the inward comfort of our own Consciences witnessing with us that we have improved all opportunities and advantages for the restoring of this Kingdom to its former Peace and we must witness for His Majesty His most hearty desires thereof And though both His Majesty and our endeavours therein have been made frustrate yet God in his great goodness hath raised up our spirits not to desert our Religion our King our Laws our Lives the Liberties of us English free-born Subjects and by God's assistance and His Majesty's concurrence we do resolve to unite our selves as one Man and cheerfully adventure our Lives and Estates for the maintenance and defence of the true Reformed Protestant Religion of the Church of England of which we profess our selves to be for the defence of the Kings Person and Rights of His Crown for the regaining and maintaining the Rights and Privileges of Parliament and the Liberty of the Subjects Person and Property of his Estate according to the known Laws of the Land to repel those of the Stotish Nation that have in a warlike manner entred this Realm and to reduce the Subjects thereof now in Rebellion to the Kings Obedience And we doubt not but the same God will enlighten the eyes of the poor deceived People of this Land like true-hearted honest English-Men to joyn unanimously with us in so just and pious a work And the God of Heaven prosper us according to the goodness of the Cause we have in hand The Names of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford who did subscribe the Letter to the Earl of Essex dated January 27. 1643. CHARLES P. YORK CUMBERLAND Ed. Littleton C. S. Fra. Cottington D. Richmond M. Hartford E. Lindsey E. Dorset E. Shrewsbury E. Bath E. Southampton E. Leicester E. Northampton E. Devonshire E. Carlisle E. Bristol E. Berkshire E. Cleveland E. Rivers E. Dover E. Peterburgh E. Kingston E. Newport E. Portland V. Conway L. Digby L. Mowbray and Maltravers L. Wentworth L. Cromwell L. Rich. L. Paget L. Chandois L. Howard of Charleton L. Lovelace L. Savile L. Mohun L. Dunsmore L. Seymour L. Percy L. Wilmott L. Leigh L. Hatton L. Jermyn L. Carrington JOhn Fettiplace Esq Sir Alex. Denton Sir John Packington Sir Tho. Smith F. Gamul Esq Jo. Harris Esq Joseph Jane Esq Rich. Edgcombe Esq Jonathan Rashleigh Esq G. Fane Esq P. Edgcombe Esq Will. Glanvill Esq Sir Ro. Holborne Sir Ra. Sydenham Fra. Godolphin Esq Geo. Parry D. of Law Amb. Manaton Esq Ri. Vivian Esq Jo. Polewheele Esq John Arundell Esq Tho. Lower Esq Sir Edw. Hide Will. Allestree Esq Sir Geo. Stonehouse Ed. Seymour Esq Peter Sainthill Esq Sir Will. Poole Roger Matthew Esq Ri. Arundell Esq Ro. Walker Esq Giles Strangwaies Esq Sir John Strangwaies Sir Tho. Hele. Sir Ger. Naper Sam. Turner
have said in that Protestation you mention and We thank you for being satisfied with it in which God knows Our Resolution to be so firm and stedfast that We will give any Security under Heaven for the observation of it And as Our greatest desire at this present is to meet in a full and free Convention of Parliament which We are confident would quickly put an end to all these Troubles So when it shall please God to restore that Blessing to Us We shall value and esteem that Council and frequently consult with it and be advised by it as the best means to make both King and People truly happy and We shall then by an Act given wipe out the footsteps of these extraordinary Supplies which nothing but this real visible Necessity which oppresses us all could have compelled Us to make use of and which shall never be mentioned or remembred by Us to the least Prejudice of your Rights and Liberties And in the mean time We shall leave nothing undone for the preservation of particular Contracts and prevention of the disorder and licence of the Souldier which is in Our Power to do no particular Person enduring half that sadness of heart for those Breaches and Pressures which We Our Self do For the prevention and suppression whereof We shall proceed with all Rigour and Severity Lastly as the support and maintenance of the Religion Laws and Privileges of Parliament is as you well know the only Argument of Our defensive Arms so those being secured We shall with all imaginable Joy lay down those Arms And as you have been Our Witnesses and Our Assistants in Our earnest desires of Peace so We promise you We shall not only with the same earnestness always embrace it if it shall be offered but pursue and press it upon the least likelihood of Opportunity And this Our Resolution by God's Blessing shall never be altered by any Advantages or prosperous Success His MAJESTY'S Protestation I DO Promise in the presence of Almighty God and as I hope for his Blessing and Protection That I will to the utmost of My Power defend and maintain the true Reformed Protestant Religion established in the Church of England and by the Grace of God in the same will live and die I desire to Govern by the known Laws of the Land and that the Liberty and Property of the Subject may be by them preserved with the same care as My own just Rights And if it please God by His blessing upon this Army raised for My necessary defence to preserve Me from this Rebellion I do solemnly and faithfully Promise in the sight of God to maintain the just Privileges and Freedom of Parliament and to govern by the known Laws of the Land to My utmost Power and particularly to observe inviolably the Laws consented to by Me this Parliament In the mean while if this time of War and the great necessity and streights I am now driven to beget any violation of those I hope it shall be imputed by God and Man to the Authors of this War and not to Me Who have so earnestly laboured for the preservation of the Peace of this Kingdom When I willingly fail in these particulars I will expect no Aid or Relief from any Man or Protection from Heaven But in this Resolution I hope for the chearful Assistance of all good Men and am confident of God's Blessing MDCXLIV The Declaration of the most Excellent and Potent Prince CHARLES King of Great Britain sent to the Protestant Churches beyond the Seas CHARLES by the Providence of Almighty God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith To all those who profess the true Reformed Protestant Religion of what Nation degree and condition soever they be to whom this present Declaration shall come Greeting Whereas We are given to understand that many false Rumors and Scandalous Letters are spread up and down amongst the Reformed Churches in Foreign parts by the politick or rather the pernicious industry of some ill-affected Persons that We have an inclination to recede from that Orthodox Religion which We were born baptized and bred in and which We have firmly professed and practised throughout the whole course of Our Life to this moment and that We intend to give way to the introduction and publick Exercise of Popery again in Our Dominions Which Conjecture or rather most detestable Calumny being grounded upon no imaginable foundation hath raised these horrid Tumults and more than barbarous Wars throughout this flourishing Island under pretext of a kind of Reformation which would not only prove incongruous but incompatible with the Fundamental Laws and Government of this Kingdom We desire that the whole Christian World should take notice and rest assured that We never entertained in Our Imagination the least thought to attempt such a thing or to depart a jot from that holy Religion which when we received the Crown and Sceptre of this Kingdom We took a most Solemn and Sacramental Oath to profess and protect Nor doth Our most constant practice and quotidian visible presence in the exercise of this sole Religion with so many Asseverations in the head of Our Armies and the publick Attestation of Our Barons with the circumspection used in the Education of Our Royal Off-spring besides divers other undeniable Arguments only demonstrate this but also that happy Alliance of Marriage We contracted betwixt Our Eldest Daughter and the Illustrious Prince of Orange most clearly confirms the reality of Our Intentions herein by which Nuptial Engagement it appears further that Our endeavours are not only to make a bare Profession thereof in Our Own Dominions but to inlarge and corroborate it abroad as much as lyeth in Our Power This most holy Religion of the Anglicane Church ordain'd by so many Convocations of Learned Divines confirm'd by so many Acts of National Parliaments and strengthned by so many Royal Proclamations together with the Ecclesiastick Discipline and Liturgy thereunto appertaining which Liturgy and Discipline the most eminent of Protestant Authors as well Germans as French as well Danes as Swedes and Switzers as well Belgians as Bohemians do with many Elogies and not without a kind of envy approve and applaud in their publick Writings particularly in the Transactions of the Synod of Dort wherein besides other of Our Divines who afterwards were Prelates one of Our Bishops assisted to whose Dignity all due respects and precedency was given this Religion We say which Our Royal Father of blessed Memory doth publickly assert in that His famous Confession address'd as We also do this Our Protestation to all Christian Princes this this most holy Religion with the Hierarchy and Liturgy thereof We solemny protest that by the help of Almighty God We will endeavour to Our utmost Power and last period of Our Life to keep entire and inviolable and will be careful according to Our duty to Heaven and the tenor of the aforesaid most sacred Oath at Our
by the unparallel'd prosperity of Solomon's Court and so corrupted to the great diminution both for Peace Honour and Kingdom by those Flatteries which are as unseparable from prosperous Princes as Flies are from Fruit in Summer whom Adversity like cold weather drives away I had rather You should be Charles le Bon than le Grand Good than Great I hope God hath designed You to be both having so early put You into that exercise of his Graces and Gifts bestowed upon You which may best weed out all vicious inclinations and dispose You to those Princely Endowments and Employments which will most gain the love and intend the welfare of those over whom God shall place You. With God I would have You begin and end who is King of Kings the Soveraign Disposer of the Kingdoms of the world who pulleth down one and setteth up another The best Government and highest Soveraignty You can attain to is to be subject to Him that the Scepter of his Word and Spirit may rule in your Heart The true Glory of Princes consists in advancing God's Glory in the maintenance of true Religion and the Churches good also in the dispensation of Civil Power with Justice and Honour to the publick Peace Piety will make You prosperous at least it will keep You from being miserable nor is he much a loser that loseth all yet saveth his own Soul at last To which center of true Happiness God I trust hath and will graciously direct all these black lines of Affliction which he hath been pleased to draw on Me and by which he hath I hope drawn Me nearer to Himself You have already tasted of that Cup whereof I have liberally drank which I look upon as God's Physick having that in Healthfulness which it wants in Pleasure Above all I would have You as I hope You are already well grounded and setled in your Religion the best Profession of which I have ever esteemed that of the Church of England in which You have been educated Yet I would have your own Judgment and Reason now seal to that sacred Bond which Education hath written that it may be judiciously your own Religion and not other mens Custom or Tradition which You profess In this I charge You to persevere as coming nearest to God's Word for Doctrine and to the Primitive examples for Government with some little Amendment which I have other-where expressed and often offered tho in vain Your fixation in matters of Religion will not be more necessary for your Souls than your Kingdoms Peace when God shall bring You to them For I have observed that the Devil of Rebellion doth commonly turn himself into an Angel of Reformation and the old Serpent can pretend new Lights When some mens Consciences accuse them for Sedition and Faction they stop its mouth with the name and noise of Religion when Piety pleads for Peace and Patience they cry out Zeal So that unless in this point You be well setled You shall never want temptations to destroy You and Yours under pretensions of Reforming matters of Religion for that seems even to worst men as the best and most auspicious beginning of their worst Designs Where besides the Novelty which is taking enough with the Vulgar every one hath an affectation by seeming forward to an outward Reformation of Religion to be thought Zealous hoping to cover those Irreligious deformities whereto they are conscious by a severity of censuring other mens opinions or actions Take heed of abetting any Factions or applying to any publick Discriminations in matters of Religion contrary to what is in your Judgment and the Church well setled Your partial adhering as Head to any one side gains You not so great advantages in some men hearts who are prone to be of their King's Religion as it loseth You in others who think themselves and their profession first despised then persecuted by You. Take such a course as may either with Calmness and Charity quite remove the seeming differences and offences by impartiality or so order affairs in point of Power that You shall not need to fear or flatter any Faction For if ever You stand in need of them or must stand to their courtesie You are undone The Serpent will devour the Dove You may never expect less of Loyalty Justice or Humanity than from those who engage into Religious Rebellion Their Interest is always made God's under the colours of Piety ambitious Policies march not only with greatest security but applause as to the populacy You may hear from them Jacob's voice but You shall feel they have Esau's hands Nothing seemed less considerable than the Presbyterian Faction in England for many years so compliant they were to publick Order nor indeed was their Party great either in Church or State as to mens Judgments But as soon as Discontents drave men into Sidings as ill Humors fall to the disaffected part which causes Inflammations so did all at first who affected any Novelties adhere to that Side as the most remarkable and specious note of difference then in point of Religion All the lesser Factions at first were officious Servants to Presbytery their great Master till Time and Military success discovering to each their peculiar Advantages invited them to part stakes and leaving the joynt stock of Uniform Religion pretended each to drive for their Party the trade of Profits and Preferments to the breaking and undoing not only of the Church and State but even of Presbytery it self which seemed and hoped at first to have ingrossed all Let nothing seem little or despicable to You in matters which concern Religion and the Churches Peace so as to neglect a speedy reforming and effectual suppressing Errors and Schisms which seem at first but as a hand-breadth yet by Seditious Spirits as by strong winds are soon made to cover and darken the whole Heaven When You have done Justice to God Your own Soul and his Church in the profession and preservation both of Truth and Unity in Religion the next main hinge on which Your Prosperity will depend and move is that of Civil Justice wherein the setled Laws of these Kingdoms to which You are rightly Heir are the most excellent Rules You can Govern by which by an admirable temperament give very much to Subjects Industry Liberty and Happiness and yet reserve enough to the Majesty and Prerogative of any King who owns his People as Subjects not as Slaves whose Subjection as it preserves their Property Peace and Safety so it will never diminish Your Rights nor their ingenuous Liberties which consist in the enjoyment of the fruits of their Industry and the benefit of those Laws to which themselves have consented Never charge Your head with such a Crown as shall by its heaviness oppress the whole Body the weakness of whose parts cannot return any thing of strength honour or safety to the Head but a necessary debilitation and Ruin Your Prerogative is best shewed and exercised in remitting
among the Conspirators and both heated and directed their Fury against Him They were as importunate in their Calumnies of Him even after His Death as were the vilest of the Sectaries which they had never done could they have imagined Him to be theirs for His Blood would in their Calendar have out-shamed the Multitude of their fictitious Saints For His sake they continued their hatred to His Family abetted the Usurpations of the following Tyrant by imposing upon the World new Rules of Obedience and Government invented fresh Calumnies for the Son and obstructed by various Methods His return to the Principality because He was Heir as well of the Faith as of the Throne of His Father Although this Honour is not to be denied to many Gallant Persons of that perswasion that their Loyalty was not so corrupted by their Faith to Rome but that they laboured to prevent the Father's Overthrow and to hasten the Son's Restitution He was not satisfied in being Religious as a particular Christian but would be so as a King and endeavoured that Piety might be as Universal as His Empire This He assayed by giving Ornaments and Assistances to the External Exercise and Parts of it which is the proper Province of a Magistrate whose Power reaches but to the Outward man that so carnal minds if they were not brought to an Obedience might yet to a Reverence and if men would not honour yet they should not despise Religion This He did in taking Care for the Place of Worship that Comeliness and Decency should be there conspicuous where the God of Order was to be adored And it was a Royal Undertaking to restore Saint Paul's Church to its primitive strength and give it a beauty as magnificent as its Structure He taught men not to contemn the Dispensers of the Gospel because He had so great an esteem for them admitting some to His nearest Confidence and most Private Counsels as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the greatest Place of Trust as the Bishop of London to the Treasury consulting at once the Emolument of Religion whose Dictates are more powerfully impressed when the Minister is honoured by the Magistrate and the Benefit of the State which wise Princes had before found none to seek more faithfully if any did more prudently than Church-men Though a Voluntary Poverty did much contribute to the lustre and increase of the Church in the Purer times yet a necessitated would have destroyed it in a Corrupt age therefore the King to obstruct all access of Ruine that way secured her Patrimony and recovered as much as He could out of the Jaws of Sacrilege which together with time had devoured a great part of it His endeavours this way were so strong that the Faction in Scotland found no Artifice able to divert them but by kindling the flame of a Civil War the Criminals there seeking to adjust their Sacrilegious Acquisitions by Rebellious practices and to destroy that Church by force which His Majesty would not suffer them to torture with famine In Ireland the Lord Lieutenant Wentworth by His Command and Instructions retrived very great Possessions which the tumults of that Nation had advantaged many greedy Persons to seise upon and would not suffer Sedition to be incouraged with the hopes of Impiety In England He countenanced those just Pleas which Oppressed Incumbents entred against Rapacious Patrons and this way many Curates were put into a Condition of giving Hospitality who before were contemptible in their Ministry because they were so in their Fortune His Enemies knew how Inviolable was the Faith of His Majesty in this and therefore pressed Him with nothing more to obstruct Peace than the Alienation of Church-Lands rather than which He did abandon His Life and parted sooner with His Blood than them He used to say Though I am sensible enough of the Dangers that attend My Care of the Church yet I am resolved to defend it or make it My Tomb-stone alluding to a Story which He would tell of a Generous Captain that said so of a Castle that was committed to his trust He had so perfect a Detestation of that Crime that it is said He scarce ever mentioned Henry VIII without an Abhorrency of His Sacriledge He neglected the Advices of His own Party if they were negligent of the Welfare of the Church Those Concessions He had made in Scotland to the prejudice of the Church there were the subject of His grief and penitential Confessions both before God as appears in His Prayers and men For when the Reverend Dr Morley now Lord Bishop of Winchester whom He had sent for to the Treaty in the Isle of Wight where he employed his diligence and prudence to search into the Intrigues and Reserves of the Commissioners had acquainted Him how the Commissioners were the more pertinacious for the abolishing of Episcopacy here because His Majesty had consented to it in Scotland and withal told Him what Answer he himself had made to them That perchance the King was abused to those Grants by a misinformation that that Act which was made in King James ' s Minority against Bishops was yet unrepealed and that His Concession would but leave them where the Law had The King answered It is true I was told so but whenever you hear that urged again give them this Answer and say that you had it from the King Himself That when I did that in Scotland I sinned against My Conscience and that I have often repented of it and hope that God hath forgiven Me that great Sin and by God's grace for no Consideration in the World will I ever do so again He was careful of Uniformity both because He knew the Power of Just and Lawful Princes consisted in the Union of their Subjects who never are cemented stronger than by a Unity in Religion but Tyrants who measure their greatness by the weakness of their Vassals work that most effectually by caressing Schisms and giving a Licence to different Perswasions as the Usurpers afterwards did Besides He saw there was no greater Impediment to a sincere Piety because that Time and those Parts which might improve Godliness to a growth were all Wasted and Corrupted in Malice and Slanders betwixt the Dissenters about forms He was more tender in preserving the Truths of Christianity than the Rights of His Throne For when the Commissioners of the Two Houses in the Isle of Wight importunately pressed him for a Confirmation of the Lesser Catechism which the Assembly at Westminster had composed and used this motive because it was a small matter He answered Though it seem to you a small thing it is not so to Me I had rather give you one of the Flowers of My Crown than permit your Children to be corrupted in the least point of their Religion Thus though He could not infuse Spiritual Graces into the minds of His Subjects yet He would manage their Reason by Pious Arts and what the Example of a King which through
People leaving such debates to a time that may better bear them If this be not accepted the fault is not Mine that this Bill pass not but theirs that refuse so fair an offer To conclude I conjure you by all that is or can be dear to you or Me that laying away all disputes you go on chearfully and speedily for the reducing of Ireland XXXV To the House of Commons about the Five Members January 4. MDCXLI II. GEntlemen I am sorry for this occasion of coming unto you Yesterday I sent a Serjeant at Arms upon a very important occasion to apprehend some that by My Command were accused of High Treason whereunto I did expect Obedience and not a Message And I must declare unto you here that albeit no King that ever was in England shall be more careful of your Priviledges to maintain them to the uttermost of His Power than I shall be yet you must know that in cases of Treason no person hath a Priviledge And therefore I am come to know if any of those persons that were accused are here For I must tell you Gentlemen that so long as those persons that I have accused for no slight crime but for Treason are here I cannot expect that this House can be in the right way that I do heartily wish it Therefore I am come to tell you that I must have them wheresoever I find them Well sithence I see all the Birds are flown I do expect from you that you shall send them unto Me as soon as they return hither But I assure you in the word of a King I never did intend any force but shall proceed against them in a legal and fair way for I never meant any other And now sithence I see I cannot do what I came for I think this no unfit occasion to repeat what I have said formerly That whatsoever I have done in favour and to the good of My Subjects I do mean to maintain it I will trouble you no more but tell you I do expect as soon as they do come to the House you will send them to Me otherwise I must take My Own course to find them XXXVI To the Citizens of LONDON at GUILD-HALL January 5. MDCXLI II. GEntlemen I am come to demand such Prisoners as I have already attained of High Treason and do believe they are shrowded in the City I hope no good man will keep them from Me their offences are Treason and Misdemeanours of an high nature I desire your loving assistance herein that they may be brought to a Legal Trial. And whereas there are divers suspicions raised that I am a favourer of the Popish Religion I do profess in the name of a King that I did and ever will and that to the utmost of My power be a prosecutor of all such as shall any ways oppose the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom either Papist or Separatist and not only so but I will maintain and defend that true Protestant Religion which My Father did profess and I will still continue in during Life XXXVII To the Committe of both Houses at the delivery of the Petition for the Militia at THEORALDS Mar. 1. MDCXLI II. I Am so amazed at this Message that I know not what to answer You speak of Jealousies and Fears lay your hands to your hearts and ask your selves whether I may not likewise be disturbed with Fears and Jealousies and if so I assure you this Message hath nothing lessened them For the Militia I thought so much of it before I sent that Answer and am so much assured that the Answer is agreeable to what in justice or reason you can ask or I in Honour grant that I shall not alter it in any point For my residence near you I wish it might be so safe and honourable that I had no cause to absent My self from White-Hall Ask your selves whether I have not For My Son I shall take that care of him which shall justifie Me to God as a Father and to My Dominions as a King To conclude I assure you upon My Honour that I have no thought but of Peace and Justice to My People which I shall by all fair means seek to preserve and maintain relying upon the goodness and providence of God for the preservation of My Self and Rights XXXVIII To the Committee of both Houses at the presenting of their Declaration at NEW-MARKET March 9. MDCXLI II. I Am confident that you expect not I should give you a speedy Answer to this strange and unexpected Declaration And I am sorry in the Distractions of this Kingdom you should think this way of Address to be more convenient than that proposed by My Message of the 20th of Jan. last to both Houses As concerning the grounds of your Fears and Jealousies I will take time to answer particularly and doubt not but I shall do it to the satisfaction of all the world God in his good time will I hope discover the secrets and bottoms of all Plots and Treasons and then I shall stand right in the eyes of all My People In the mean time I must tell you that I rather expected a vindication from the imputation laid on Me in Master Pym's Speech than that any more general Rumours and Discourses should get credit with you For My Fears and Doubts I did not think they should have been thought so groundless or trivial while so many seditious Pamphlets and Sermons are looked upon and so great Tumults remembred unpunished uninquired into I still confess My Fears and call God to witness that they are greater for the true Protestant Profession My People and Laws than for My own Rights or Safety though I must tell you I conceive that none of these are free from danger What would you have Have I violated your Laws Have I denied to pass any one Bill for the ease and security of My Subjects I do not ask you what you have done for Me. Have any of My People been transported with Fears and Apprehensions I have offered as free and general a Pardon as your selves can devise All this considered There is a Judgment from Heaven upon this Nation if these Distractions continue God so deal with Me and Mine as all My thoughts and intentions are upright for the maintenance of the true Protestant Profession and for the Observation and Preservation of the Laws of this Land And I hope God will bless and assist those Laws for My preservation As for the Additional Declaration you are to expect an Answer to it when you shall receive the Answer to the Declaration it self Some Passages that happened Mar. 9. between His Majesty and the Committee of both Houses when the Declaration was delivered When His Majesty heard that part of the Declaration which mentioned Master Jermin's Transportation His Majesty interrupted the Earl of Holland in reading and said That 's false which being afterwards touch'd upon again His Majesty then said 'T is a lie And when He
it was part of my wonder that men whom I thought heretofore discreet and moderate should have undertaken this imployment and that since they came I having delivered them the Answer you have heard and commanded them to return personally with it to the Parliament they should have flatly disobeyed Me upon pretence of the Parliament's Command My end in telling you this is to warn you of them for since these men have brought me such a Message and disobeyed so lawful a Command I will not say what their intent of staying here is Only I bid you take heed not knowing what Doctrine of Disobedience they may preach to you under colour of obeying the Parliament Hitherto I have found and kept you quiet the enjoying of which was a chief cause of My coming hither Tumults and Disorders having made Me leave the South and not to make this a seat of War as Malice would but I hope in vain make you believe Now if Disturbances come I know whom I have reason to suspect To be short You see that my Magazine is going to be taken from me being my Own proper Goods directly against my will the Militia against Law and my Consent is going to be put in execution and lastly Sir Hotham's Treason is countenanced All this considered none can blame me to apprehend Dangers Therefore I have thought fit upon these real grounds to tell you that I am resolved to have a Guard the Parliament having had one all this while upon imaginary Jealousies only to secure my Person In which I desire your concurrence and assistance and that I may be able to protect you the Laws and the true Protestant Profession from any affront or injury that may be offered which I mean to maintain my self without charge to the Countrey intending not longer to keep them on foot than I shall be secured of my just apprehensions by having satisfaction in the particulars before mentioned XLI To the Inhabitants of Nottinghamshire at NEWARK July 4. MDCXLII GEntlemen Your honest Resolutions and Affections to Me and your Country for the defence of My Person and the Laws of the Land have been and are so notable that they have drawn Me hither only to thank you I go to other places to confirm and undeceive my Subjects but am come hither only to thank and incourage you You have made the best judgment of happiness by relying on that Foundation which the experience of so many hundred years hath given such proof of The Assurance and Security of the Law And assure your selves when Laws shall be altered by any other Authority than that by which they were made your Foundations are destroyed and though it seems at first but to take away my Power it will quickly swallow all your Interest I ask nothing of you though your demeanure gives Me good evidence that you are not willing to deny but to preserve your own affections to the Religion and Laws established I will justifie and protect those affections and will live and die with you in that quarrel XLII To the Inhabitants of Lincolnshire at LINCOLN July 15. MDCXLII GEntlemen If I could have suspected your Affections or have censured the Duty of this County by some late Actions in it I should not have taken this pains to have given you a testimony of my Affection to you and to remove those Objections which being raised by a Malignant party may by their cunning and industry get credit even with honest minds The truth is I come to you to assure you of My purposes and Resolutions for the defence of whatever is and should be dear unto you your Religion your Liberty your common Interest and the Laws of the Land and to undeceive you of that opinion which I hear hath mis-led many of you that the pretended Ordinance of the Militia is warranted by my Consent and Authority As I have already informed you by my several Declarations and Messages that the same is against the known Law and an invasion of my unquestionable Right and of your Liberty and Property so I do now declare unto you that the same is imposed upon you against my express Consent and in contempt of my Regal Authority And therefore whosoever shall henceforth presume to execute or obey the same I shall proceed against them as against such who promote Rebellion and actually levy War against Me. And I doubt not but you will sadly consider that if any Authority without and against my Consent may lawfully impose such burthens upon you it may likewise take away all that you have from you and subject you to their lawless Arbitrary Power and Government And how far they are like to exercise that jurisdiction towards you you may guess by the insolence of Sir John Hotham at Hull who being a Subject not only presumes to keep his Sovereign by force of Arms out of His Town but murthers his fellow-Subjects imprisons them burns their houses drowns their land takes them captive and commits such Outrages and acts of Hostility as the most unequal and outragious Enemies practise in any Country That you may see how impossible it is for your Liberties and Properties to be preserved when your King is oppressed and His just Rights taken from Him Who hath brought these Calamities upon your Neighbours at Hull every man sees and they only can bring the same upon you I will not believe you to be so insensible of the benefits you have received from Me that I need put you in mind of the Gracious Acts passed by Me this Parliament on your behalfs And if there be any thing wanting to the making you the happiest Subjects in the world I am sure it is not My fault that you have not that too Be not deceived with words and general expressions It is not in your power to name one particular which might make you happy that I have refused to grant Be not frighted with apprehensions that this Country is like to be the seat of War The seat of a War will be only where persons rise in Rebellion against Me that will not I hope be here and then you shall be sure of My Protection I will live and dye in your defence And that you may be in a readiness and a posture to defend your selves and Me against any Invasion or Rebellion I have armed several Persons of Honor Quality and Reputation amongst you and of your own Country with a Commission of Array to that purpose There is no honest end declared in that Ordinance which is not provided for by this Commission which being according to the old known Law is fit for your obedience and I doubt not but you will find it In a word I assure you upon the Faith and Honor of a Christian King I will be always as tender of any thing which may advance the true Protestant Religion protect and preserve the Laws of the Land and defend the just Privilege and Freedom of Parliament as of My Life or
entred into a Combination to destroy Us. And all this done under pretence of a Trust reposed by the People How far you are from committing any such Trust most of the persons trusted by you and your own expressions of Duty to Me have manifested to all the world and how far the whole Kingdom is from avowing such a Trust hath already in a great measure and I doubt not will more every day appear by the professions of every County For I am wholly cast upon the affections of My People and have no hope but in the blessing and assistance of God the justness of My Cause and the Love of My Subjects to recover what is taken from Me and them for I may justly say they are equal losers with Me. Gentlemen I desire you to consider what course is to be taken for your own security from the excursions from Hull and the violence which threatens you from thence I will assist you any way you propose Next I desire you out of the publick provision or your private store to furnish Me with such a number of Arms Muskets and Corslets as you may conveniently spare which I do promise to see fully repay'd to you These Arms I desire may be speedily delivered to the custody of My Lord Mayor of York for my use principally for those parts which by reason of their distance from Hull are least subject to the fear of violence from thence And whosoever shall so furnish Me shall be excused from their attendance and service at Musters till their Arms shall be restored which may well be sooner than I can promise or you expect I desire nothing of you but what is necessary to be done for the preservation of God's true Religion the Laws of the Land the Liberty of the Subject and the very Being of this Kingdom of England for 't is too evident all these are at stake For the compleating of My Son's Regiment for the Guard of His Person under the Command of my Lord of Cumberland I referr it wholly to your selves who have expressed such forwardness in it XLV To His Army after the Reading of His Orders between Stafford and Wellington September 19. MDCXLII GEntlemen You have heard these Orders read it is your part in your several places to observe them exactly The time cannot be long before we come to Action therefore you have the more reason to be careful And I must tell you I shall be very severe in the punishing of those of what condition soever who transgress these Instructions I cannot suspect your Courage and Resolution Your Conscience and your Loyalty hath brought you hither to fight for your Religion your King and the Laws of the Land You shall meet with no enemies but Traitors most of them Brownists Anabaptists and Atheists such who desire to destroy both Church and State and who have already condemned you to ruine for being Loyal to Us. That you may see what use I mean to make of your Valour if it please God to bless it with success I have thought fit to publish My Resolution to you in a Protestation which when you have heard Me make you will believe you cannot fight in a better Quarrel in which I promise to live and die with you I do promise in the presence of Almighty God and as I hope for His Blessing and Protection that I will to the utmost of My Power defend and maintain the true Reformed Protestant Religion established in the Church of England and by the Grace of God in the same will live and die I desire to govern by the known Laws of the Land and that the Liberty and Property of the Subject may be by them preserved with the same care as My own just Rights And if it please God by his blessing upon this Army raised for My necessary Defence to preserve Me from this Rebellion I do solemnly and faithfully promise in the sight of God to maintain the just Privileges and Freedom of Parliament and to govern by the known Laws of the Land to My utmost power and particularly to observe inviolably the Laws consented to by Me this Parliament In the mean while if this time of War and the great necessity and streights I am now driven to beget any violation of those I hope it shall be imputed by God and Man to the Authors of this War and not to Me who have so earnestly laboured for the preservation of the Peace of this Kingdom When I willingly fail in these particulars I will expect no aid or relief from any Man or protection from Heaven But in this Resolution I hope for the chearful assistance of all good men and am confident of God's Blessing XLVI To the Inhabitants of Denbigh and Flint at WREXHAM September 27. MDCXLII GEntlemen I am willing to take all occasions to visit all My good Subjects in which number I have cause to reckon you of these two Counties having lately had a good expression of your Loyalty and Affections to Me by those Levies which at your charge have been sent Me from your parts which forwardness of yours I shall alwayes remember to your advantage and to let you know how I have been dealt with by a powerful Malignant party in this Kingdom whose designs are no less than to destroy my Person and Crown the Laws of the Land and the present Government both of Church and State The Leaders of these men by their subtilty and cunning practices have so prevailed upon the meaner sort of people about London that they have called them up into frequent and dangerous tumults and thereby have chased from thence My self and the greatest part of the Members of both Houses of Parliament Their power and secret Plots have had such influence upon the small remaining part of both Houses that under colour of Orders and Ordinances made without the Royal Assent a thing never heard of before this Parliament I am robb'd and spoiled of my Towns Forts Castles and Goods my Navy forcibly taken from me and imployed against me all my Revenues stopt and seised upon and at this time a powerful Army is marching against me I wish this were all They have yet further laboured to alienate the affections of my good People they have most injuriously vented many false reproaches against my Person and Government they have dispersed in print many notorious false scandals upon my actions and intentions and in particular have laboured to cast upon me some aspersions concerning the horrid bloody and impious Rebellion in Ireland They tell the People that I have recalled two Ships appointed for the Guard of these Seas 'T is true but they conceal that at the same time I sent my Warrants to the Downs commanding four as good Ships to attend that service instead of those should be recalled which Warrant by their means could not find obedience They forget that they then imployed forty Ships many of them my Own and all of them set forth at the
publick charge of this and that Kingdom to rob and pillage me of my Goods to chase my good Subjects and maintain my own Town of Hull against me and that by the absence of those Ships from the Irish Seas the Rebells have had opportunity to bring store of Arms Ammunition and Supplies to their succours to which we may justly impute the Calamities which have over whelmed my poor Protestant Subjects there They cry out upon a few suits of cloaths appointed as they say for Ireland which some of my Forces took but conceal that they were taken as entring into Coventry then in open Rebellion against me where I had reason to believe they would have been disposed of amongst their Soldiers who then bore Arms against me They talk of a few horses which I have made use of for my Carriages concealing that they were certified to be useless for the service of Ireland when they themselves have seised an hundred thousand pounds particularly appointed by Act of Parliament for the relief of Ireland where my Army is ready to perish for want of it and imployed it together with such part of the four hundred thousand pound Subsidie as they have received to maintain an unnatural Civil War at home Neither have they used their fellow-Subjects better than they have done me their King By their Power the Law of the Land your birth-right is trampled upon and in stead thereof they govern my People by Votes and Arbitrary Orders Such as will not submit to their unlimited power are imprisoned plundered and destroyed such as will not pay such exactions as they require toward this Rebellion are threatned to be put out of Protection as they call it of the Parliament such as conscientiously remember their Duty and Loyalty to me their Soveraign are reviled persecuted and declared Traitors such as do desire to maintain the true Protestant Religion as it is established by the Laws of the Land are traduced and called Popish and Superstitious and on the contrary such as are known Brownists Anabaptists and publick depravers of the Book of Common Prayer are countenanced and incouraged They exact and receive Tonnage and Poundage and other great duties upon Merchandises not only without Law but in the face of an Act of Parliament to the contrary past this present Parliament which puts all men into the condition of a Praemunire that shall presume so to oppress the People If you desire to know who are the Contrivers of these wicked designs you shall find some of their names in particular and their actions at large in my Declaration of the twelfth of August to which I shall refer you I wish their craft and power were not such that few of those Copies can come to the view of my good People Since that time these men so thirst after the destruction of this Kingdom that they have prevailed to make all my offers of Treaty which might bring Peace to this Kingdom and beget a good understanding between Me and my Parliament fruitless In this distress into which these men have brought Me and this Kingdom my confidence is in the Protection of Almighty God and the affections of my good People And that you may clearly see what my Resolutions are I shall cause my voluntary Protestation lately taken to be read to you And I desire that the Sheriffs of these two Counties will dispose Copies of that and what I now deliver unto you having no other way to make it publick these men having restrained the use of my Presses at London and the Universities XLVII To the Inhabitants of Shropshire at SHREWSBURY Sept. 28. MDCXLII GEntlemen It is some benefit to me from the insolencies and misfortunes which have driven Me about that they have brought Me to so good a part of my Kingdom and to so faithful a part of my People I hope neither you nor I shall repent My coming hither I will do My part that you may not and of you I was confident before I came The residence of an Army is not usually pleasant to any place and Mine may carry more fear with it since it may be thought being robbed and spoiled of all My Own and such terror used to fright and keep all men from supplying Me I must only live upon the aid and relief of My People But be not afraid I would to God my poor Subjects suffered no more by the insolence and violence of that Army raised against Me though they have made themselves wanton even with Plenty than you shall do by Mine And yet I fear I cannot prevent all Disorders I will do my best and this I will promise you No man shall be a loser by Me if I can help it I have sent hither for a Mint I will melt down all my own Plate and expose all my Land to Sale or Morgage that if it be possible I may not bring the least pressure upon you In the mean time I have summoned you hither to invite you to do that for Me and your selves for the maintenance of your Religion and the Law of the Land by which you enjoy all that you have which other men to against us Do not suffer so good a Cause to be lost for want of supplying Me with that which will be taken from you by those who pursue Me with this violence And whilst these ill men sacrifice their Mony Plate and utmost Industry to destroy the Commonwealth be you no less liberal to preserve it Assure your selves if it please God to bless Me with success I shall remember the Assistance every particular man here gives Me to his Advantage However it will hereafter how furiously soever the minds of some men are now possessed be honor and comfort to you that with some charge and trouble to your selves you did your part to support your King and preserve the Kingdom I desire Master Sheriff and the rest of the Gentlemen to distribute themselves in that method that they may best receive the expressions which you shall make of your affections the which I will have particularly represented to Me. XLVIII To the Inhabitants of Oxfordshire at OXFORD Nov. 2. MDCXLII GEntlemen Though you see My Army marching from hence I do not intend to leave you My Residence shall be so near that My Power shall have an influence upon this place of which I will besides take a particular care for your preservation Therefore fear not to express your affections to Me with that courage which becomes you I know how and by whom the Countrey hath been awed but I hope no man shall have more power to fright you from your Loyalty than I have to restore you to it and I shall guess by the evidence of this day at your natural dispositions In assisting Me you defend your selves for believe it the Sword which is now drawn against Me will destroy you if I defend you not I have and will venture My Life for you 't will be a shame for
fervently encrease My desires by how much I may have better grounded hopes to attain what I so earnestly desire When I mention Peace I would be understood to intend that Peace which is built upon such foundations as are most likely to render it firm and stable wherein God's true Religion may be best secured from the danger of Popery Sectaries and Innovations the Crown may possess those just Prerogatives which may inable Me to protect and govern My People according to Law and the Subject be confirmed in those Rights which they have derived from their Forefathers and which I have granted to them in Parliament to which I shall always be ready to add such new Graces as I shall find most to conduce to their Happiness This is the Peace which I labour for wherein I may justly expect your best assistance with your hearts and hands and purses Neither shall I be more burthensome to you with My Army than of necessity I must for its support so far I must desire your help being violently robb'd of all My Revenues I have and shall use all possible means to suppress the disorders of the Souldiers The best way to do it is by taking order that they be not provoked with want of necessary Provisions That being done by you Master Sheriff and the Commissioners of this County which I most earnestly commend to your care you shall find Me very strict in such discipline as may best secure you This night I hope to have joyned to Me other considerable Forces which are upon their march towards Me and tomorrow morning we shall humbly ask God's blessing on us and begin the Work This care I shall further take for you that as soon as possibly I can other men to be levied by Impress shall supply the place of such of you as I shall then give liberty to return to your Harvest I shall conclude with this promise to you that I shall look upon your chearfulness in this Service as the greatest expression of your Loyalty and Affections that you can make or I receive which I shall require if it be in My power If I live not to do it I hope this young man My Son your fellow-Souldier in this Expedition will to Whom I shall particularly give it in charge LIV. To the Committee of both Houses at the delivery of the Votes for a Personal Treaty at CARISBROOK Castle Aug. 7. MDCXLVIII ON Monday the seventh of August the Commissioners being admitted into the King's presence the Votes were first read and then presented to His Majesty by the Earl of Middlesex who desired His Majestie 's speedy Answer for that their return was limited to ten days The King then asked Whether the ten days were not to be counted from that of the delivery of the Message The Earl answering No Sir they are to be counted from the day of our setting forth The King replied I have not then five days allowed Me to consider of My Answer which I presume you expect in writing and I have none to help Me no not so much as a Clerk to transcribe However I will really contribute My best endeavours to an happy Peace After a short pause He added I would have sent to the Parliament but I desire them to take notice that My long Silence proceeds not from a dull stupid Laziness or My being insensible of My Own or the Kingdoms condition but from the incapacity that lay on Me by reason of former Votes But now a way is opened to a Treaty which I ever apprehended as the only means to a durable Peace I shall chearfully embrace it and none shall more speedily run to it than My Self And for My part as being more concerned than any one in this Kingdom nay should I say more than all I speak it without vanity I hope it will be thought no Hyperbolical expression for I am assured whosoever gains I shall be a loser His Majesty then read the Votes to Himself after which He said I like them well My desires being included in these Votes for what can I desire more than to treat with Honor Freedom and Safety upon the Propositions and such other things as either I or the two Houses shall offer Then asking Whether the Commissioners to treat were yet nominated The Earl of Middlesex answered No Sir And the King added In a Treaty two sorts of things are considerable some Necessary others convenient Then breaking off He said I will go and apply my Self to my Answer that I may not delay a minute to promote so good a Work And so withdrew dismissing the Commissioners Thursday Aug. 10. THe Commissioners coming to receive His Majestie 's Answer upon their entrance he told them He was sorry He was limited to so short a time and had so little helps for dispatch yet notwithstanding He had prepared His Answer Before the reading of it He added That the last Message He sent to the Houses was delivered to the Commissioners sealed and had it been so presented it would have been better for Him But now he thought it fit to send this open because He could not be in a worse condition being under so close a Restraint none being suffered to speak a word to Him without suspicion Then producing His Answer He read it aloud in the Presence-Chamber being full of company Which done he said That He hoped He had therein endeavoured to give satisfaction to His Parliament there being nothing in it but but what He conceived was implied in their Votes And further added That there might be some that would oppose this Treaty as being gainers by these Wars and therefore desired the continuance of it Others might think Him revengeful but He said He was so far from seeking Revenge that if a Straw lay in their way to hurt them He would stoop and take it up to prevent it God forgive them for I do Then the Commissioners coming to take their leaves His Majesty asked them How they liked His Answer They answered They thought and hoped it would produce a sudden and happy well-grounded Peace LV. To the Commissioners of both Houses at the first Close of the Treaty at NEWPORT Nov. 4. MDCXLVIII HIS Majesty said That He hoped they were now sensible that none was more desirous of a good and lasting Peace than Himself That He had gone very far to give His two Houses satisfaction That He thought though the time for the Treaty was ended yet the Treaty it self was not That He expected to hear from His two Houses about His own Propositions and would be ready to make His Concessions binding by giving them the force of Laws He desired That they would put a good interpretation upon His vehement expressions in some of His Debates there being nothing in His intentions but Kindness and that as they had taken abundance of freedom and shewed great Abilities in their Debates which have taken His Majesty off from some of His Own Opinions so He
on either part would have ruled the cause which His Majesty allowed they were not therewith content but in their intemperate passions and desires to seek for errors in another fell into a greater error themselves and not only neglected to give just satisfaction to His Majesty in several cases which happened concerning His Regality but wholly forgot their ingagements to His Majesty for the publick defence of the Realm whereupon His Majesty wrote a Letter to the Speaker dated the ninth day of June 1626. in these words TRusty and well-beloved We greet you well Our House of Commons cannot forget how often and how earnestly We have called upon them for the speeding of that aid which they intend unto Vs for Our great and weighty Affairs concerning the safety and honour of Vs and Our Kingdoms and now the time being so far spent that unless it be presently concluded it can neither bring Vs money nor credit by the time which themselves have prefixed which is the last of this month and being further deferred would be of little use We being daily advertised from all parts of the great preparation of the Enemy ready to assail us We hold it necessary by these Our Letters to give them Our last and final admonition and to let them know that We shall account all further delays and excuses to be express denials and therefore We will and require you to signifie unto them that We do expect that they forthwith bring forth their Bill of Subsidy to be passed without delay or condition so as it may fully pass that House by the end of the next week at the furthest which if they do not it will force Vs to take other resolutions But let them know that if they finish this according to Our desire that We are resolved to let them sit together for the dispatch of their other affairs and after their recess to bring them together again the next Winter And if by their denial or delay any thing of ill consequence shall fall out either at home or abroad We may call God and man to witness that We have done Our part to prevent it by calling Our people together to advise with Vs by opening the weight of Our occasions unto them and by requiring their timely help and assistance in those Actions wherein We stand ingaged by their own Counsels And We will and command you that this Letter be publickly read in the House Notwithstanding which Letter read in the House being a clear and gracious manifest of His Majesty's resolutions they never so much as admitted one reading to the Bill of Subsidies but in stead thereof they prepared and voted a Remonstrance or Declaration which they intended to prefer to His Majesty containing though palliated with glosing terms as well many dishonourable aspersions upon His Majesty and upon the Sacred memory of His deceased Father as also dilatory excuses for their not proceeding with the Subsidies adding thereto also coloured conditions crossing thereby His Majestie 's direction which His Majesty understanding and esteeming as He had cause to be a denial of the promised Supply and finding that no admonitions could move no reasons or perswasions could prevail when the time was so far spent that they had put an impossibility upon themselves to perform their promises when they esteemed all gracious Messages unto them to be but interruptions His Majesty upon mature advisement discerning that all further patience would prove fruitless on the fifteenth day of this present month He hath dissolved this unhappy Parliament the acting whereof as it was to his Majesty an unexpressible grief so the memory thereof doth renew the hearty sorrow which all His good and well-affected Subjects will compassionate with Him These passages his Majesty hath at the more length and with the true Circumstances thereof expressed and published to the world lest that which hath been unfortunate in it self through the Malice of the authors of so great a mischief and the malevolent Report of such as are ill-affected to this State or the true Religion here professed or the fears or jealousies of Friends and dutiful Subjects might be made more unfortunate in the Consequences of it which may be of worse effect than at the first can be well apprehended And his Majesty being best privy to the integrity of His own heart for the constant maintaining of the sincerity and unity of the true Religion professed in the Church of England and to free it from the open contagion of Popery and secret infection of Schism of both which by His publick Acts and Actions He hath given good testimony and with a single heart as in the presence of God who can best judge thereof purposeth resolutely and constantly to proceed in the due execution of either and observing the subtilty of the adverse party He cannot but believe that the hand of Joab hath been in this disaster that the common Incendiaries of Christendom have subtilly and secretly insinuated those things which unhappily and as his Majesty hopeth beyond the intentions of the Actors have caused these diversions and distractions and yet notwithstanding His most Excellent Majesty for the comfort of His good and well-affected Subjects in whose loves He doth repose Himself with confidence and esteemeth it as his greatest riches for the assuring of his Friends and Allies with whom by God's assistance He will not break in the substance of what he hath undertaken for the discouraging of his Adversaries and the adversaries of his Cause and of his Dominions and Religion hath put on this resolution which He doth hereby publish to all the world That as God hath made him King of this great People and large Dominions famous in former Ages both by Land and Sea and trusted him to be a Father and Protector both of their persons and fortunes and a Defender of the Faith and true Religion so He will go on chearfully and constantly in the defence thereof and notwithstanding so many difficulties and discouragements will take his Scepter and Sword into his hand and not expose the persons of the people committed to his charge to the unsatiable desires of the King of Spain who hath long thirsted after an universal Monarchy nor their Consciences to the yoke of the Pope of Rome and that at home he will take care to redress the just Grievances of his good Subjects as shall be every way fit for a good King And in the mean time his Majesty doth publish this to all his loving Subjects that they may know what to think with truth and speak with duty of his Majesties Actions and Proceedings in these two last dissolved Parliaments Given at His Majestie 's Palace at White-Hall this thirtieth day of June in the Second year of His Majestie 's Reign of Great Britain France and Ireland His MAJESTIE's Declaration to all His Loving Subjects of the Causes which moved Him to dissolve His Third Parliament Published by His Majestie 's special command By the
KING A Proclamation about the dissolving of the Parliament WHereas We for the general good of Our Kingdom caused Our High Court of Parliament to assemble and meet by Prorogation the twentieth day of January last past sithence which time the same hath been continued and although in this time by the malevolent dispositions of some ill-affected persons of the House of Commons We have had sundry just causes of offence and dislike of their proceedings yet We resolved with patience to try the uttermost which We the rather did for that We found in that House a great number of sober and grave persons well affected to Religion and Government and desirous to preserve Unity and Peace in all parts of Our Kingdom and therefore having on the five and twentieth day of February last by the uniform Advice of Our Privy Council caused both Houses to be adjourned until this present day hoping in the mean time that a better and more right understanding might be begotten between Us and the Members of that House whereby this Parliament might have an happy end and issue and for the same intent We did again this day command the like Adjournment to be made until the tenth day of this month It hath so happened by the disobedient and seditious carriage of those said ill-affected persons of the House of Commons that We and Our Regal authority and Commandment have been so highly contemned as Our Kingly Office cannot bear nor any former Age can parallel And therefore it is Our full and absolute resolution to dissolve the same Parliament whereof We thought good to give notice unto all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and to the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of this present Parliament and to all others whom it may concern that they may depart about their needful affairs without attending any longer here Nevertheless We will that they and all others should take notice that We do and ever will distinguish between those who have shewed good affection to Religion and Government and those that have given themselves over to Faction and to work disturbance to the Peace and good order of our Kingdom Given at Our Court at White-hall this second day of March in the fourth year of Our Reign of Great Britain France and Ireland God save the KING His MAJESTIE's Speech at the Dissolving of the Parliament My Lords I Never came here upon so unpleasant an occasion it being the Dissolution of a Parliment Therefore men may have some cause to wonder why I should not rather chuse to do this by Commission it being a general Maxim of Kings to leave harsh commands to their Ministers Themselves only executing pleasing things Yet considering that Justice as well consists in reward and praise of Vertue as punishing of Vice I thought it necessary to come here to day to declare to you and all the world that it was meerly the undutiful and seditious carriage in the lower House that hath made the Dissolution of this Parliament And you my Lords are so far from being causes of it that I take as much comfort in your dutiful demeanors as I am justly distasted with their proceedings Yet to avoid mistakings let me tell you that it is so far from me to adjudge all the House alike guilty that I know that there are many there as dutiful Subjects as any in the world it being but some few Vipers amongst them that did cast this mist of undutifulness over most of their eyes yet to say truth there was a good number there that could not be infected with this contagion insomuch that some did express their duties in speaking which was the general fault of the House the last day To conclude as these Vipers must look for their reward of punishment so you my Lords may justly expect from Me that favour and protection that a good King oweth to His loving and dutiful Nobility And now my Lord Keeper do what I have commanded you His MAJESTIE's Declaration to all His loving Subjects of the Causes which moved Him to Dissolve the Parliament HOwsoever Princes are not bound to give account of their Actions but to God alone yet for the satisfaction of the minds and affections of Our loving Subjects We have thought good to set down thus much by way of Declaration that We may appear to the world in the truth and sincerity of Our own Actions and not in those colours in which We know some turbulent and ill-affected Spirits to masque and disguise their own wicked intentions dangerous to the State would represent Us to the publick view We assembled Our Parliament the seventeenth day of March in the third year of Our Reign for the safety of Religion for securing Our Kingdoms and Subjects at home and Our Friends and Allies abroad and therefore at the first sitting down of it We declared the miserable afflicted estate of those of the Reformed Religion in Germany France and other parts of Christendom the distressed extremities of Our dearest Uncle the King of Denmark chased out of a great part of his Dominions the strength of that party which was united against Us that besides the Pope and house of Austria and their ancient Confederates the French King professed the rooting out of the Protestant Religion that of the Princes and States on Our party some were over run others diverted and some disabled to give assistance For which and other important motives We propounded a speedy supply of Treasure answerable to the necessities of the Cause These things in the beginning were well resented by the House of Commons and with much alacrity and readiness they agreed to grant a liberal aid But before it was brought to any perfection they were diverted by a multitude of questions raised amongst them concerning their Liberties and Priviledges and by other long disputes that the Bill did not pass in a long time and by that delay Our affairs were put into far worse case than at the first Our forein actions then in hand being thereby disgraced and ruined for want of timely help In this as We are not willing to derogate from the merit and good intentions of those wise and moderate men of that House to whose forwardness We attribute it that it was propounded and resolved so soon so We must needs say that the delay of passing it when it was resolved occasioned by causless jealousies stirred up by men of another temper did much lessen both the reputation and reality of that supply and their spirit infused into many of the Commissioners and Assessors in the Country hath returned up the Subsidies in such a scanty proportion as is infinitely short not only of Our great Occasions but of the precedents of former Subsidies and of the intentions of all well-affected men in that House In those large disputes as We permitted many of Our high Prerogatives to be debated which in the best times of Our Predecessors had never been questioned without punishment or sharp reproof so We
used that Power Iustly which unjustly he did Usurp Place this P. 241. The most high ruleth in the Kingdome of Men and giueth it to Whoâ—sâ—ever he will and setteth up over it the Basest of men Dan 4. v. 17. Ph. Fruitiers deliâ— Iac. Neeâ—â—s sculp 〈◊〉 DECLARATIONS AND PAPERS Concerning the Difference betwixt His MAJESTY AND HIS Fifth Parliament MDCXLI Decemb. 1. The House of Commons PETITION and Remonstrance of the state of the Kingdom with his Majesties Answers The PETITION of the House of Commons which accompanied the Declaration of the state of the Kingdom when it was presented to His MAJESTY at Hampton-Court Most Gracious Sovereign YOUR Majesties most humble and faithful Subjects the Commoners in this present Parliament assembled do with much thankfulness and joy acknowledge the great mercy and favour of God in giving Your Majesty a safe and peaceable return out of Scotland into Your Kingdom of England where the pressing Dangers and Distempers of the State have caused us with much earnestness to desire the comfort of Your gracious presence and likewise the Unity and Justice of your Royal Authority to give more life and power to the dutiful and loyal Counsels and Endeavours of Your Parliament for the prevention of that imminent Ruine and Destruction wherein Your Kingdoms of England and Scotland are threatned The duty which we owe to Your Majesty and our Country cannot but make us very sensible and apprehensive that the multiplicity sharpness and malignity of those evils under which we have now many years suffered are fomented and cherished by a corrupt and ill-affected party who amongst other their mischievous devices for the alteration of Religion and Government have sought by many false scandals and imputations cunningly insinuated and dispersed among the People to blemish and disgrace our proceedings in this Parliament and to get themselves a party and faction amongst Your Subjects for the better strengthening of themselves in their wicked courses and hindering those provisions and remedies which might by the Wisdom of Your Majesty and Counsel of Your Parliament be opposed against them For preventing whereof and the better information of Your Majesty Your Peers and all other Your loyal Subjects we have been necessitated to make a Declaration of the state of the Kingdom both before and since the Assembly of this Parliament unto this time which we do humbly present to Your Majesty without the least intention to lay any blemish upon Your Royal Person but only to represent how Your Royal Authority and trust have been abused to the great prejudice and danger of Your Majesty and of all Your good Subjects And because we have reason to believe that those malignant parties whose proceedings evidently appear to be mainly for the advantage and increase of Popery are composed set up and acted by the subtile practice of the Jesuites and other Engineers and Factors for Rome and to the great danger of this Kingdom and most grievous affliction of Your loyal Subjects have so far prevailed as to corrupt divers of Your Bishops and others in prime places of the Church and also to bring divers of these Instruments to be of Your Privy Council and other employments of trust and nearness about your Majesty the Prince and the rest of Your Royal Children And by this means have had such an operation in Your Council and the most important affairs and proceedings of Your Government that a most dangerous division and chargeable preparation for War betwixt your Kingdoms of England and Scotland the increase of Jealousies betwixt Your Majesty and Your most obedient Subjects the violent distraction and interruption of this Parliament the Insurrection of the Papists in Your Kingdom of Ireland and bloody Massacre of Your People have been not only endeavoured and attempted but in a great measure compassed and effected For preventing the final accomplishment hereof Your poor Subjects are enforced to ingage their Persons and Estates to the maintaining of a very expenceful and dangerous War notwithstanding they have already since the beginning of this Parliament undergone the charge of 150000. pounds sterling or thereabouts for the necessary support and supply of Your Majesty in these present and perillous Designs And because all our most faithful endeavours and engagements will be ineffectual for the peace safety and preservation of Your Majesty and Your People if some present real and effectual course be not taken for suppressing this wicked and malignant party We Your most humble and obedient Subjects do with all faithfulness and humility beseech Your Majesty 1. That You will be graciously pleased to concurre with the humble desires of Your People in a Parliamentary way for the preserving the peace and safety of the Kingdom from the malicious designs of the Popish party For depriving the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament and abridging their immoderate power usurped over the Clergy and other Your good Subjects which they have most perniciously abused to the hazard of Religion and great prejudice and oppression of the Laws of the Kingdom and just Liberty of Your People For the taking away such oppressions in Religion Church-Government and Discipline as have been brought in and fomented by them For uniting all such Your loyal Subjects together as joyn in the same Fundamental Truths against the Papists by removing some oppressions and unnecessary Ceremonies by which divers weak Consciences have been scrupled and seem to be divided from the rest For the due execution of those good Laws which have been made for securing the Liberty of Your Subjects 2. That Your Majesty will likewise be pleased to remove from Your Council all such as persist to favour and promote any of those Pressures and Corruptions wherewith Your People have been grieved and that for the future Your Majesty will vouchsafe to employ such persons in Your great and publick Affairs and to take such to be near You in places of trust as Your Parliament may have cause to confide in that in Your Princely Goodness to Your People You will reject and refuse all mediation and solicitation to the contrary how powerful and near soever 3. That You will be pleased to forbear to alienate any of the forfeited and escheated Lands in Ireland which shall accrue to Your Crown by reason of this Rebellion that out of them the Crown may be the better supported and some satisfaction made to Your Subjects of this Kingdom for the great expences they are like to undergo this War Which humble desires of ours being graciously fulfilled by Your Majesty we will by the blessing and favour of God most chearfully undergo the hazard and expences of this War and apply our selves to such other courses and counsels as may support Your Royal Estate with Honour and Plenty at home with Power and Reputation abroad and by our Loyal Affections Obedience and Service lay a sure and lasting foundation of the Greatness and Prosperity of Your Majesty and Your Royal Posterity in future times A REMONSTRANCE
shall not think it below Our Kingly Dignity to descend to any particular which may compose and settle the affections of Our meanest Subjects since We are so conscious to Our Self of such upright Intentions and Endeavours and only of such for which We give God thanks for the Peace and Happiness of Our Kingdom in which the Prosperity of Our Subjects must be included that We wish from Our heart that even Our most secret Thoughts were published to their view and examination Though We must confess We cannot but be very sorry in this conjuncture of time when the unhappiness of this Kingdom is so generally understood abroad there should be such a necessity of publishing so many Particulars from which We pray no Inconveniences may insue that were not intended We shall in few words pass over that part of the Narrative wherein the Misfortunes of this Kingdom from Our first entring to the Crown to the beginning of this Parliament are remembred in so sensible expressions and that other which acknowledgeth the many good Laws passed by Our Grace and Favour this Parliament for the Security of Our People of which we shall only say thus much That as We have not refused to pass any Bill presented to Us by Our Parliament for redress of those Grievances mentioned in the Remonstrance so We have not had a greater Motive for the passing those Laws then Our own resolution grounded upon Our Observation and understanding the state of Our Kingdom to have freed Our Subjects for the future from those Pressures which were grievous to them if those Laws had not been propounded which therefore We shall as inviolably maintain as We look to have Our own Rights preserved not doubting but all Our loving Subjects will look on those Remedies with that full gratitude and affection that even the memory of what they have formerly undergone by the Accidents and necessities of those times will not be unpleasant to them and possibly in a pious sense of God's blessing upon this Nation how little share soever We shall have of the acknowledgment they will confess they have enjoyed a great measure of happiness even these last sixteen years both in Peace and Plenty not only comparatively in respect of their Neighbours but even of those times which were justly accounted Fortunate The Fears and Jealousies which may make some impression in the minds of Our People We will suppose may be of two sorts either for Religion or Liberty and their Civil Interests The Fears for Religion may haply be not only as Ours here established may be invaded by the Romish party but as it is accompanied with some Ceremonies at which some tender Consciences really are or pretend to be scandalized for of any other which have been used without any legal Warrant or Injunction and already are or speedily may be abolished We shall not speak Concerning Religion as there may be any suspicion of favour or inclination to the Papists We are willing to declare to all the world That as We have been from Our Childhood brought up in and practised the Religion now established in this Kingdom so it is well known We have not contented simply with the Principles of Our Education given a good proportion of Our time and pains to the examination of the grounds of this Religion as it is different from that of Rome and are from Our Soul so fully satisfied and assured that it is the most pure and agreeable to the Sacred Word of God of any Religion now practised in the Christian world that as We believe We can maintain the same by unanswerable reasons so We hope We should readily seal to it by the effusion of Our Blood if it pleased God to call Us to that sacrifice And therefore nothing can be so acceptable unto Us as any proposition which may contribute to the advancement of it here or the propogation of it abroad being the only means to draw down a Blessing from God upon Our selves and this Nation And We have been extremely unfortunate if this profession of Ours be wanting to Our People Our constant practice in Our own Person having always been without ostentation as much to the evidence of Our Care and Duty herein as We could possibly tell how to express For differences amongst our selves for matters indifferent in their own nature concerning Religion We shall in tenderness to any number of Our loving Subjects very willingly comply with the advice of Our Parliament that some Law may be made for the exemption of Tender Consciences from punishment or prosecution for such Ceremonies and in such cases which by the judgment of most men are held to be matters indifferent and of some to be absolutely unlawful Provided that this ease be attempted and pursued with that modesty temper and submission that in the mean time the Peace and Quiet of the Kingdom be not disturbed the Decency and comeliness of Gods Service discountenanced nor the pious sober and devout actions of those Reverend Persons who were the first labourers in the blessed Reformation or of that time be scandal'd and defamed For We cannot without grief of heart and without some Tax upon Our Self and Our Ministers for the not execution of Our Laws look upon the bold Licence of some men in printing of Pamphlets in preaching and printing of Sermons so full of bitterness and malice against the present Government against the Laws established so full of Sedition against Our Self and the Peace of the Kingdom that We are many times amazed to consider by what Eyes these things are seen and by what Ears they are heard And therefore We have good cause to command as We have done and hereby do all Our Judges and Ministers of Justice Our Attorney and Sollicitor General and the rest of Our learned Counsel to proceed with all speed against such and their Abettors who either by writing or words have so boldly and maliciously violated the Laws disturbed the peace of the Commonwealth and as much as in them lies shaken the very foundation upon which that Peace and Happiness is founded and constituted And We doubt not but all Our loving Subjects will be very sensible that this busie virulent demeanour is a fit Prologue to nothing but Confusion and if not very seasonably punished and prevented will not only be a blemish to that wholsome Accommodation We intend but an unspeakable scandal and imputation even upon the Profession and Religion of this Our Kingdom of England Concerning the Civil Liberties and Interest of Our Subjects We shall need to say the less having erected so many lasting Monuments of Our Princely and Fatherly care of Our People in those many excellent Laws passed by Us this Parliament which in truth with very much content to Our self We conceive to be so large and ample that very many sober men have very little left to wish for We understood well the Right and pretences of Right We departed from in the consenting to the
Bills of the Triennial Parliament for the Continuance of this present Parliament and in the Preamble to the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage the matter of which having begot so many disturbances in late Parliaments We were willing to remove that no Interest of Ours might hereafter break that correspondence abundantly contenting Our self with an Assurance which we still have that We should be repaired and supplyed by a just proportion of Confidence Bounty and Obedience of Our People In the Bills for the taking away the High-Commission and Star-chamber Courts We believed We had given that real satisfaction that all jealousies and apprehensions of arbitrary pressures under the Civil or Ecclesiastical State would easily have been abandoned especially when they saw all possible doubts secured by the visitation of a Triennial Parliament These and others of no mean consideration We had rather should be valued in the hearts and affections of Our People then in any mention of Our own not doubting but as We have taken all these occasions to render their condition most comfortable and happy so they will always in a grateful and dutiful relation be ready with equal tenderness and alacrity to advance Our Rights and preserve Our Honour upon which their own Security and subsistence so much depends And We will beso careful that no particular shall be presented unto Us for the compleating and establishing that Security to which We will not with the same readiness contribute Our best assistance If these Resolutions be the effects of Our present Councils and We take God to witness that they are such and that all Our loving Subjects may confidently expect the benefit of them from Us certainly no ill design upon the Publick can accompany such Resolutions neither will there be great cause of suspicion of any Persons preferred by Us to degrees of Honour and places of Trust and imployment since this Parliament And We must confess that amongst Our misfortunes We reckon it not the least That having not retained in Our Service nor protected any one person against whom Our Parliament hath excepted during the whole sitting of it and having in all that time scarce vouchsafed to any man an instance of Our Grace and Favour but to such who were under some eminent character of Estimation amongst Our People there should so soon be any misunderstanding or jealousie of their Fidelity and uprightness especially in a time when We take all occasions to declare that We conceive Our self only capable of being served by honest men and in honest ways However if in truth We have been mistaken in such Our election the particular shall be no sooner discovered to Us either by Our own observation or other certain information then We will leave them to publick Justice under the marks of Our Displeasure If notwithstanding this any Malignant Party shall take heart and be willing to sacrifice the Peace and Happiness of their Country to their own sinister ends and ambitions under what pretence of Religion and Conscience soever if they shall endeavour to lessen Our Reputation and Interest and to weaken Our lawful Power and Authority with Our good Subjects if they shall go about by discountenancing the present Laws to loosen the Bonds of Government that all Disorder and Confusion may break in upon Us We doubt not but God in his good time will discover them unto Us and the wisdom and courage of Our High Court of Parliament joyn with Us in their suppression and punishment Having now said all that We can to express the clearness and uprightness of Our Intensions to Our People and done all We can to manifest those Intentions We cannot but confidently believe all Our good Subjects will acknowledge Our part to be fully performed both in Deeds past and present Resolutions to do whatsoever with Justice may be required of Us and that their quiet and prosperity depends now wholly upon themselves and is in their own power by yielding all obedience and due reverence to the Law which is the inheritance of every Subject and the only security he can have for his Life Liberty or Estate and the which being neglected or disesteemed under what specious shews soever a great measure of Infelicity if not an irreparable Confusion must without doubt fall upon them And We doubt not it will be the most acceptable Declaration a King can make to His Subjects that for Our part We are resolved not only duely to observe the Laws Our Self but to maintain them against what opposition soever though with the hazard of Our Being And Our hope is that not only the Loyalty and good Affections of all Our loving Subjects will concur with Us in the constant preserving a good understanding between Us and and Our People but at this time their own and Our Interest and compassion of the lamentable condition of Our poor Protestant Subjects in Ireland will invite them to a fair Intelligence and Unity amongst themselves that so We may with one heart intend the relieving and recovering that unhappy Kingdom where those barbarous Rebels practise such inhumane and unheard-of Outrages upon Our miserable people that no Christian ear can hear without horrour nor Story parallel And as We look upon this as the greatest affliction it hath pleased God to lay upon Us so Our unhappiness is increased in that by the Distempers at home so early remedies have not been applyed to those growing evils as the expectation and necessity there requires though for Our part as We did upon the first notice acquaint Our Parliament of Scotland where We then were with that Rebellion requiring their aid and assistance and gave like speedy intimation and recommendation to our Parliament here so since Our return hither We have been forward to all things which have been proposed to Us towards that Work and have lately Our Self offered by a Message to Our House of Peers and communicated to Our House of Commons to take upon Us the care to raise speedily ten thousand English Voluntiers for that Service if the House of Commons shall declare that they will pay them Which particulars We are in a manner necessitated to publish since We are informed that the Malice of some persons hath whispered it abroad That the no speedier advancing of this business hath proceeded from some want of alacrity in Us to this great Work whereas we acknowledge it a high crime against Almighty God and inexcusable to Our good Subjects of Our three Kingdoms if We did not to the utmost imploy all Our powers and faculties to the speediest and most effectual assistance and protection of that distressed People And we shall now conjure all Our good Subjects of what degree soever by all the Bonds of Love Duty or Obedience that are precious to good men to joyn with Us for the recovery of the Peace of that Kingdom and the preservation of the Peace of this to remove all their Doubts and Fears which may interrupt their Affection to Us
the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Profession many about Us can witness with Us that we have often delivered Our Opinion that such a course with God's blessing upon it would be the most effectual for the rooting out of Popery out of this Kingdom We shall therefore thank you for it and encourage you in it and when it comes unto Us do Our Duty And We heartily wish for the publick good that the time you have spent in making Ordinances without Us had been imployed in preparing this and other good Bills for Us. For the Eighth touching the Reformation to be made of the Church-Government and Liturgy We had hoped that what We had formerly declared concerning the same had been so sufficiently understood by you and all good Subjects that We should not need to have expressed Our Self further in it We told you in Our Answers to your Petition presented to Us at Hampton-Court the first of December That for any illegal Innovations which may have crept in We should willingly concurre in the removal of them that if Our Parliament should advise Vs to call a National Synod which may duely examine such Ceremonies as give just cause of Offence to any We should take it into Consideration and apply Our Self to give due satisfaction therein that We were perswaded in Our Conscience that no Church could be found upon the Earth that professeth the true Religion with more Purity of Doctrine then the Church of England doth nor where the Government and Discipline are jointly more beautified and free from Superstition then as they are here established by Law which by the Grace of God We will with Constancy maintain while We live in their Purity and Glory not only against all Invasions of Popery but also from the Irreverence of those many Schismaticks and Separatists wherewith of late this Kingdom and Our City of London abounds to the great dishonour and hazard both of Church and State for the suppression of whom We required your timely and active assistance We told you in Our first Declaration printed by the Advice of Our Privy Council That for differences amongst our selves for matters indifferent in their own nature concerning Religion We should in tenderness to any number of Our loving Subjects very willingly comply with the Advice of Our Parliament that some Law might be made for the exemption of tender Consciences from punishment or prosecution for such Ceremonies and in such Cases which by the judgment of most men are held to be matters indifferent and of some to be absolutely unlawful Provided that this ease should be attempted and pursued with that modesty temper and submission that in the mean time the Peace and Quiet of the Kingdom be not disturbed the Decency and Comeliness of God's Service discountenanced nor the Pious Sober Devout actions of those Reverend Persons who were the first Labourers in the blessed Reformation or of that time be scandaled and defamed And we heartily wish that others whom it concerned had been as ready as their Duty bound them though they had not received it from Us to have pursued this Caution as We were and still are willing and ready to make good every particular of that Promise Nor did we onely appear willing to joyn in so good a Work when it should be brought Us but prest and urged you to it by Our Message of the fourteenth of February in these words And because His Majesty observes great and different troubles to arise in the hearts of His People concerning the Government and Liturgy of the Church His Majesty is willing to declare That He will refer the whole consideration to the wisdom of His Parliament which he desires them to enter into speedily that the present Distractions about the same may be composed but desires not to be pressed to any single Act on His part till the whole be so digested and settled by both Houses that His Majesty may clearly see what is fit to be left as well as what is fit to be taken away Of which We the more hoped of a good success to the general satisfaction of Our People because you seem in this Proposition to desire but a Reformation and not as is daily preached for as necessary in those many Conventicles which have within these nineteen months begun to swarm and which though their Leaders differ from you in this opinion yet appear to many as countenanced by you by not being punished by you few else by reason of the Order of the House of Commons of the 9th of September daring to do it a destruction of the present Discipline and Liturgy And We shall most chearfully give Our best assistance for raising a sufficient maintenance for Preaching Ministers in such course as shall be most for the encouragement and advancement of Piety and Learning For the Bills you mention and the Consultation you intimate knowing nothing of the particular matters of the one though We like the Titles well nor of the manner of the other but from an Informer to whom We give little credit and We wish no man did more common Fame We can say nothing till We see them For the Eleventh We would not have the Oath of all Privy Counsellors and Judges streightned to particular Statutes of one or two particular Parliaments but extend to all Statutes of all Parliaments and the whole Law of the Land and shall willingly consent that an enquiry of all the breaches and violations of the Law may be given in charge by the Justices of the Kings Bench every Term and by the Judges of Assize in their Circuits and Justices of Peace at the Sessions to be presented and punished according to Law For the Seventeenth We shall ever be most ready and We are sorry it should be thought needful to move Us to it not only to join with any particularly with the States of the United Provinces of which We have given a late proof in the Match of Our Daughter for the defence and maintenance of the Protestant Religion against all designs and attempts of the Pope and his Adherents but singly if need were to oppose with Our Life and Fortune all such Designs in all other Nations were they joyned And that for Considerations of Conscience far more then any temporal end of obtaining access of Strength and Reputation or any natural end of restoring Our Royal Sister and her Princely Issue to their Dignities and Dominions though these be likewise much considered by Us. For the Eighteenth It was not Our fault that an Act was not passed to clear the Lord Kimbolton and the Five Members of the House of Commons but yours who inserted such Clauses into both the Preamble and Act perhaps perswaded to it by some who wish not that you should in any thing receive satisfaction from Us as by passing the Preamble We must have wounded Our Honour against Our Conscience and by another Clause have admitted a Consequence
from which We could never have been secured by declaring That no Member of either House upon any Accusation of Treason could have his Person seized without the Consent of that House of which he is a Member though the known Law be That Privilege of Parliament extends not to Treason and if it did any Member the House being for a short time adjourned and so their Consent not being so had how treasonable soever his Intentions were how clearly soever known and how suddenly soever to be executed must have fair leave given him to go on and pursue them no way how Legal soever after the passing such a Clause being left to prevent it To conclude We conjure you and all men to rest satisfied with the Truth of Our Professions and the Reality of Our Intentions not to ask such things as deny themselves that you declare against Tumults and punish the Authors that you allow Us Our Propriety in Our Towns Arms and Goods and Our share in the Legislative Power which would be counted in Us not only breach of Privilege but Tyranny and Subversion of Parliaments to deny to you And when you shall have given Us satisfaction upon those Persons who have taken away the one and recalled those Declarations particularly that of the 26. of May and those in the point of the Militia Our just Rights wherein We will no more part with then with Our Crown lest We enable others by them to take that from Us which would take away the other and declined the beginnings of a War against Us under pretence of Our Intention of making one against you as We have never opposed the first part of the Thirteenth Demand so We shall be ready to concurre with you in the latter And being then confident that the Credit of those men who desire a general Combustion will be so weakned with you that they will not be able to do this Kingdom any more harm We shall be willing to grant Our general Pardon with such Exceptions as shall be thought fit and shall receive much more joy in the hope of a full and constant Happiness of Our People in the True Religion and under the Protection of the Law by a blessed Union between Us and Our Parliament so much desired by Us then in any such increase of Our own Revenue how much soever beyond former Grants as when Our Subjects were wealthiest Our Parliament could have settled upon Us. His MAJESTIES Declaration made the 13 of June 1642. to the Lords attending his Majesty at York and to others of His Majesties Privy Council there Together with their Promise thereupon subscribed by them Charles R. WE do declare That We will not require nor exact any Obedience from you but what shall be warranted by the known Law of the Land as We do expect that you shall not yield to any Commands not legally grounded or imposed by any other And We do further declare That We will defend every one of you and all such as shall refuse any such Commands whether they proceed from Votes and Orders of both Houses or any other way from all dangers and hazards whatsoever And We do further declare That We will defend the true Protestant Religion established by the Law of the Land the lawful Liberties of the Subjects of England and just Privileges of all the three Estates of Parliament and shall require no further Obedience from you then as accordingly We shall perform the same And We do declare That we will not as is falsly pretended engage you or any of you in any War against the Parliament except it be for Our necessary defence and safety against such as do insolently invade or attempt against Us or such as shall adhere to Us. York 13. Junii 1642. The Promise of the said Lords and others WE do engage our selves not to obey any Orders or Commands whatsoever not warranted by the known Laws of the Land We do engage our selves to defend Your MAJESTIES Person Crown and Dignity together with Your Majesties Just and Legal Prerogative against all persons and power whatsoever We will defend the true Protestant Religion established by the Law of the Land the lawful Liberties of the Subject of England and just Priviledges of Your Majesty and both Your Houses of Parliament And lastly we engage our selves not to obey any Rule Order or Ordinance whatsoever concerning any Militia that hath not the Royal Assent York 13. Junii 1642. Subscribed by Lord Keeper L. D. of Richmond L. Marquess Hartford E. of Lindsey E. of Cumberland E. of Huntington E. of Bath E. of Southampton E. of Dorset E. of Salisbury E. of Northampton E. of Devonshire E. of Cambridge E. of Bristol E. of Westmorland E. of Berkshire E. of Monmouth E. of Rivers E. of Newcastle E. of Dover E. of Carnarvon E. of Newport L. Mowbray and Maltravers L. Willoughby of Eresby L. Rich. L. Ch. Howard of Charleton L. Newark L. Paget L. Chandos L. Falconbridge L. Paulet L. Lovelace L. Savile L. Coventry L. Mohun L. Dunsmore L. Seymour L. Grey of Ruthen L. Capell L. Falkland Mr. Comptroller Mr. Secretary Nicholas Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer L. Chief Justice Banks His MAJESTY's Declaration to all His loving Subjects occasioned by a false and scandalous Imputation laid upon His Majesty of an intention of Raising or Levying War against His Parliament and of having raised Force to that end Published at His Court at York the 16 day of June THough We have these last seven months met with so many several Encounters of strange and unusual Declarations under the names of both Our Houses of Parliament that we should not be amazed at any new Prodigy of that kind and though their last of the six and twentieth of May gave Us a fair warning that the Contrivers of it having spent all their stock of bitter and reproachful Language upon Us We were to expect they should now break out into some bold and disloyal Actions against Us and having by that Declaration as far as in them lies divested Us of that Preeminence and Authority which God the Law the Custom and Consent of this Nation had placed in Us and assumed it to themselves that they should likewise with expedition put forth the fruits of that supreme Power for the violating and suppressing that Power they despised an effect of which Resolution of their wild Declaration against Our Proclamation concerning the pretended Ordinance for the Militia and the punishing of the Proclaimers appears to be yet We must confess in their last Attempt We speak of the last We know they may probably since or at this present have outdone that too they have outdone what We conceive was their present intention and whosoever hears of Propositions and Orders for bringing in of Money or Plate to maintain Horse Horsemen and Arms for the preservation of the publick Peace or for the Defence of the King and both Houses of Parliament such is their Declaration or what else
they please to call it of the tenth of June will surely believe the Peace of this Kingdom to be extreamly shaken and at least the King himself to be consulted with and privy to these Propositions But We hope that when Our good Subjects shall find that this goodly pretence of the Defence of the King is but a specious bait to seduce weak and inconsiderate men into the highest Acts of Disobedience and Disloyalty against Us and of Violence and Destruction upon the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom they will no longer be captivated by an implicite Reverence to the name of both Houses of Parliament but will carefully examine and consider what number of persons are present and what persons are prevalent in those Consultations and how the Debates are probably managed from whence such horrid and monstrous Conclusions do result and will at least weigh the Reputation Wisdom and Affection of those who are notoriously known out of the very horrour of their Proceedings to have withdrawn themselves or by their skill and violence to be driven from them and their Counsels Whilst their Fears and Jealousies did arise or were infused into the people from Discourses of the Rebels in Ireland of Skippers at Roterdam of Forces from Denmark France or Spain how improbable and ridiculous soever that bundle of Informations appeared to all wise and knowing men it is no wonder if the easiness to deceive and the willingness to be deceived did prevail over many of Our weak Subjects to believe that the Dangers which they did not see might proceed from Causes which they did not understand But for them to declare to all the world That We intend to make War against Our Parliament whilest We sit still complaining to God Almighty of the Injury offered to Us and to the very Being of Parliaments and that We have already begun actually to levy Forces both of Horse and Foot whilest We have only in a Legal way provided a smaller Guard for the security of Our own Person so near a Rebellion at Hull than they have had without lawful Authority above these eight Months upon imaginary and impossible Dangers to impose upon Our peoples Sense as well as Understanding by telling them We are doing that which they see We are not doing and intending that they all know as much as Intentions can be known We are not intending is a boldness agreeable to no power but the Omnipotence of those Votes whose absolute Supremacy hath almost brought Confusion upon King and People and against which no Knowledge in matter of Fact or Consent and Authority in matter of Law they will endure shall be opposed We have upon all occasions with all possible Expressions professed Our fast and unshaken Resolutions for Peace And We do again in the presence of Almighty God Our Maker and Redeemer assure the World that We have no more thought of making a War against Our Parliament than against Our own Children that We will maintain and observe the Acts assented to by Us this Parliament without Violation of which that for the frequent assembling of Parliaments is one and that We have not or shall not have any thought of using any force unless We shall be driven to it for the security of Our Person and for the defence of the Religion Laws and Liberty of the Kingdom and the just Rights and Privileges of Parliament And therefore We hope the Malignant Party who have so much despised Our Person and usurped Our Office shall not by their specious fraudulent insinuations prevail with Our good Subjects to give credit to their wicked Assertions and so to contribute their Power and Assistance for the ruine and destruction of Us and themselves For Our Guard about Our Person which not so much their Example as their Provocation inforced Us to take 't is known it consists of the prime Gentry in Fortune and Reputation of this County and of one Regiment of Our Trained Bands who have been so far from offering any Affronts Injuries or Disturbance to any of Our good Subjects that their principal end is to prevent such and so may be Security can be no Grievance to our People That some ill affected persons or any persons have been employed in other parts to raise Troops under colour of Our Service or have made large or any offers of Reward and Preferment to such as will come in is for ought We know and as We believe an Untruth devised by the Contrivers of this false Rumour We disavow it and are confident there will be no need of such Art or Industry to induce Our loving Subjects when they shall see Us oppressed and their Liberties and Laws confounded and till then We shall not call on them to come in to Us and to assist Us. For the Delinquents whom We are said with a high and forcible hand to protect let them be named and their Delinquency and if We give not satisfaction to Justice when We shall have received satisfaction concerning Sir John Hotham by his legal Trial then let Us be blamed But if the Design be as it is well known to be after We have been driven by force from Our City of London and kept by force from Our Town of Hull to protect all those who are Delinquents against Us and to make all those Delinquents who attend on Us or execute Our lawful Commands We have great reason to be satisfied in the Truth and Justice of such Accusation lest to be Our Servant and to be a Delinquent grow to be terms so convertible that in a short time We be left as naked in Attendance as they would have Us in Power and so compel Us to be waited on only by such whom they shall appoint and allow and in whose presence We should be more miserably alone than in Desolation it self And if the seditious Contrivers and Fomenters of this Scandal upon Us shall have as they have had the power to mis-lead the major part present of either or both Houses to make such Orders and send such Messages and Messengers as they have lately done for the apprehension of the great Earls and Barons of England as if they were Rogues or Felons and whereby Persons of Honour and Quality are made Delinquents merely for attending upon Us and upon Our Summons whilst other men are forbid to come near Us though obliged by the Duty of their Places and Oaths upon Our lawful Commands 't is no wonder if such Messengers are not very well intreated and such Orders not obeyed Neither can there be a surer and a cunninger way found out to render the Authority of both Houses scorned and vilified than to assume to themselves merely upon the Authority of the Name of Parliament a power monstrous to all Understandings and to do Actions and to make Orders evidently and demonstrably contrary to all known Law and Reason as to take up Arms against Us under colour of defending Us to cause Money to be brought in to
to Our Assistance and that this wicked Charge of intending to introduce Propery Idolatry and Arbitrary Government laid by Implication upon Us because We defend Our Selves and would recover Our own will be so far from being a Motive against Us that this intolerable Indignity and damnable Scandal so daily and visibly confuted by all Our Professions and Actions will encrease Our good Subjects zeal towards Us and their Indignation against the Contrivers and they will esteem themselves obliged by the Religion of Almighty God to oppose this War so impiously so treasonably and so groundlesly made upon Us their King and His Anointed We therefore require all Our Commissioners of Array Sheriffs and all Our other Officers and Ministers to raise all the Power and Forces of their several Counties to assist the Marquess of Hartford the Earl of Northampton the Lord Willoughby of Eresby the Lord Dunsmore the Lord Paulet the Lord Seymour Henry Hastings Esquire Sir John Stawell Sir Ralph Hopton John Digby Esquire and all other in the legal and necessary Execution of Our Commissions of Array and in the raising and conducting of such Horse and Foot as shall be raised by Our Commission and by force of Arms to oppose the Earl of Essex the Lord Say and all other that shall raise or conduct any Forces raised by pretence of Authority of both Houses and the Persons of all such Traitors and their Adherents and Accomplices to Arrest and Imprison to the end they may be brought to a fair and legal Tryal by their Peers and according to the law And this We require from them as they tender the Defence of Our Person the true Religion the Law of the Land the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the true and just Privileges of Parliament And for so doing they shall be defended and secured by Us and by the Law with whom and with which We doubt not but Our Subjects will sooner chuse to live and dye than with the Earl of Essex and his Adherents MDCXLII August 9. By the King A Proclamation for the suppressing of the present Rebellion under the Command of Robert Earl of Essex And the gracious offer of His Majesty's free Pardon to him and all such of his Adherents as shall within six days after the date hereof lay down their Arms. WHereas now at the last those Seditious and Traitorous Counsels and Consultations which have been long in design and which long since We foresaw have produced such manifest and open effects of Treason and Rebellion against Us that there are already great numbers of Horse and Foot Raised Arraied Mustered and Trained under pretence of Authority of Our two Houses of Parliament without and against Our Consent in and about Our Cities of London and Westminster in a warlike manner and there are many more in Raising with speed and Robert Earl of Essex by the said pretended Authority without Our Consent hath been nominated to be Captain General of those Troops and Forces and forgetting the Duty and Allegiance which he oweth to Us his Sovereign hath taken upon him and accepted that Title and Command of Captain General and in that quality appeareth amongst the Souldiers animating and encouraging himself and them in these Traitorous and Rebellious Designs and as it is now notoriously known the said Earl and his Adherents intend speedily to march from thence towards the North where We now reside and in a warlike manner to assail and oppose Us and those who shall attend or assist Us under pretence of defending Our Person and the two Houses of Parliament and prepare traitorously to surprise or besiege Our Town of Portsmouth and to possess themselves thereof with force the same being a Town and Port of great importance in the Western parts of this Kingdom and also to surprise or by force to take and possess themselves of all other Castles Forts and places of strength within this Kingdom and all this to strengthen them and their Party in these their Traitorous and Rebellious Designs all which are not now taken up by Us upon Information of others and by Conjecture but do manifestly appear to the whole World by that insolent and prodigious Commission of Captain General over the whole Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales which in the name of the two Houses of Parliament is granted unto the said Earl but hath indeed been contrived by some few Malignant persons Members of either House whereby they have mentioned to conferr upon him and the said Earl under that colour hath assumed unto himself those Titles and begun to put in execution those Powers and Authorities which are inconsistable with Our Sovereignty all which is so done contrary to all Rules of Religion Laws Allegiance or common Honesty We do now therefore publish and declare by this Our Royal Proclamation That the said publick and notorious Acts and Actions of the said Earl are Acts and Actions of High Treason being a manifest levying of War against his natural Liege Lord and King expresly within the words and meaning of the Statute made in the twenty fifth year of King Edward the Third declaring the same of which in Law there neither is nor can be any doubt and that the said Earl of Essex is a Rebel and Traitour unto Us and to Our Crown and that he and all Colonels Captains and Officers which upon notice hereof shall not immediately quit their Commands under him or any others by the like unlawful and usurped power without and against Us are also guilty of High Treason within that Statute and ought to be adjudged and esteemed and proceeded against as Traitors and Rebels And yet out of Our Grace and Clemency towards such of Our Subjects as have been abused and misled by the said Earl and such others as joyn themselves with him in these desperate Courses and to preserve the Peace of this Kingdom if it be possible and to avoid the shedding of blood We abhorring the name of a Civil War if it can by any good means be avoided do by this Our Royal Proclamation admonish the said Earl and all Our Subjects whom it may concern which are now already joyned or shall joyn themselves to the said Earl in this act of Hostility that forthwith they lay down their Arms as well Horse as Foot and all other preparations for the War and instantly without delay return to their own homes and habitations and there quietly and peaceably imploy and bestow themselves in their proper Vocations and Callings and that hereafter they meddle not or interpose themselves in these or any the like Rebellious and Traitorous Undertakings or Actions Which if the◠do readily and really perform within six days after the date of these presents W◠do hereby promise and undertake in the Word of a King that We will freely extend 〈◊〉 Mercy unto them and grant unto them Our free and full Pardon for all that hath been or shall be committed before that time But if
they shall neglect this Our Grace and Favour now extended unto them and persist in any acts of Hostility against Us or not disband upon notice of this Our Proclamation We shall esteem of them as Rebells and Traitors to Us and to Our Crown and as publick Enemies to the happy Peace of this Kingdom and that from thence We shall proceed against them and deal with them as Rebels and Traitours and by the blessing of God in whom We put Our confidence and by the assistance of Our faithful and good Subjects upon whose Fidelity and Affections We rely We doubt not but We shall so prevail against all their Traitorous Conspiracies and Rebellious Machinations as shall vindicate Our Honour and the Honour of Our Crown preserve Our good and loyal Subjects from their Malice and Fury and restore and settle the Peace of this Kingdom and make the Delinquents so exemplary as shall deterr others from ever attempting the like Insolencies And We hereby require and command all Our Commissioners of Array Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants Sheriffs Justices of Peace Mayors and all other Our Officers Ministers and loving Subjects that they and every of them in their several places do there best and uttermost endeavours to resist and subdue the said Earl and his Adherents and those who shall assist them or any of them and to apprehend or otherwise to destroy them and every of them that so they may receive condigne punishment for their Disloyalty and that they be ready according to their Duties and Allegiance to assist Us and those Our good Subjects who do adhere unto Us according to Our just Commands in or concerning the Premisses And more particularly We require and command Our Commissioners of Array Lords Lieutenants Deputy-Lieutenants Captains and Officers of Our Trained Bands of or in Our Counties of Southampton Sussex and Surrey that so many of them as to that purpose Colonel Goring shall call to his aid as he shall see cause shall with such Forces as are under their command repair unto Our said Town of Portsmouth to assist the said Colonel George Goring Our Captain and Governour of the said Town for the defence of the said Town and to Oppose Resist and Destroy all those who under the command of the said Earl of Essex or any other shall attempt any Violence against the said Town And We do further require and command Our Right Trusty and Right Well-beloved Couzin and Counsellor William Marquess Hartford that with all speed he raise all the Forces he can within all or any the Counties contained within that Commission We have given unto him whereby he is made Our Lieutenant General of all Our Forces within Our Counties of Devon Cornwal Somerset Dorset Wilts Southampton Gloucester Berks Oxford Hereford Monmouth Radnor Brecknock Glamorgan Carmarthen Pembroke Cardigan Our Cities of Excester Bristol Gloucester Oxford Bath and Wells new Salisbury and Hereford and the Counties of the same the Towns of Pool and Southampton and Haverford-West and the Counties of the same and with the Trained Bands of those Counties and others who shall voluntarily offer their Service to march against the said Earl or any others under his command or under the command of any others not authorized by Us and them to Resist Oppose and Subdue and especially for the defence of the said Town of Portsmouth and for the Isle of Wight in Our County of Southampton as there shall be occasion And We do hereby desire and require Our loyal and loving Subjects of and within the said Counties being of the Trained Bands or voluntary Levies within the said Commission to repair with their Horse and Foot well Armed Arrayed and Furnished to such place or places as the said Marquess shall appoint and that they and all other Our good and loving Subjects within this Realm shall according to such Directions as We shall give to that purpose repair to Us at such place where We shall pitch and set up Our Royal Standard and where We purpose in Our own Person to be present and there and in such places whither We shall conduct them or cause them to be conducted to serve Us for the Defence of Us and of Our Kingdom and of the true Protestant Religion and the known Laws of the Land and the just Liberties of Our Subjects and the just Privileges of Parliament and to suppress the notorious and insolent Rebellion of the said Earl and his Adherents and reduce them to their due Obedience and for re-setling of the happy Peace of this Kingdom And in this time of urgent Necessity which so much importeth the Safety and even the very Subsistence of Us and Our Good People We shall take it as an acceptable Service to Us and much conducing to the Peace of Our Kingdom if Our loving and well-affected Subjects within Our said Counties contained within Our Commission granted to the said Marquess do and will chearfully and voluntarily contribute unto Us and give unto Us such assistance in Money or Plate as they shall think fit by loan or otherwise to be delivered to the hands of the said Marquess or of the Commissioners of Array for those several Counties respectively to be disposed of to this publick use and not otherwise and that Our loving and well-affected Subjects of all other the Counties of this Kingdom will to the same use and not otherwise contribute unto and assist Us in like manner such Contribution and assistance to be paid and delivered to Our use into the hands of Our Commissioners of Array for those other Counties respectively or to such of them as they shall nominate and appoint to that purpose And lastly in all these Our just and necessary Commands We require that ready Obedience from all Our Commissioners Sheriffs Justices of Peace Mayors Constables and other Officers and loving Subjects in their several and respective places which appertaineth to their several Duties as they tender Our Honour and Safety and the Honour Safety Peace and Prosperity of the Church and Kingdom of England and as they will answer their neglects at their uttermost perils Given at Our Court at York the ninth day of August in the eighteenth year of Our Reign 1642. By the KING A Proclamation by His MAJESTY requiring the Aid and Assistance of all His Subjects on the North side Trent and within twenty Miles Southward thereof for the suppressing of the Rebels now marching against Him WHereas divers Persons bearing an inward Hatred and Malice against Our Person and Government and ambitious of Rule and places of Preferment and Command have raised an Army and are now Traitorously and Rebelliously though under the specious pretence of Our Royal Name and Authority and of the defence of Our Person and Parliament marching in battel-array against Us their Liege-Lord and Sovereign contrary to their Duty and Allegiance whereby the common Peace is like to be wholly destroyed and this flourishing Kingdom in danger to perish under the miseries of a Civil War
Parliament being resolved that it should not be Our fault if all those particulars were not speedily provided for which seemed then to be the grounds of their desire Let all the World now judge what greater Obligations of Justice Favour Affection and Trust can a Prince lay upon His Subjects than We did upon both Our Houses of Parliament by these Acts and whether We did not in Our free Grace and Favour grant much more than had been asked of Us by that Petition presented to Us by some Lords at York in which was then thought to be contracted all that was grievous to Our People and all that was just and gracious for Us to do for them And in all the time in which these Acts were framing and passing though Our own personal Wants were notoriously known and unkindly unprovided for and themselves had asked leave to look into and settle Our Revenue which We consented to and therefore We might have expected some fruit of that pretended Care We never pressed them or made the least overture to them for Our own supply only desired them and 't was almost the only thing We did desire of them that they would use all possible expedition in the business of the Treaty that the two Armies might be speedily disbanded and Our Subjects eased of that heavy burthen which in time would grow insupportable and waste the whole stock of the Kingdom But We found the Faction We feared in the beginning grew still stronger and nothing converted or reconciled by all those Acts of Ours which would have made any Nation happy That whilst We were busie in providing for the publick they were contriving particular Advantages of Offices and Places for themselves made use under-hand of the former Grievances of the Subject in things concerning Religion and Law to change the Religion and Law of this Kingdom labouring that neither any thing the Subject had suffered from the Crown might be forgotten nor any satisfaction from the Crown to the Subject might be remembred And therefore in stead of acknowledging Our great Justice and singular Favour in passing those Acts they infused into Our People that We passed them unwillingly whereas We never made the least pause upon any of them but one that for the High-Commission Court and whether that was penned with that wariness and animadversion that there be not more determined by it than the major part of both Houses intended at the passing of it let themselves judge and that We meant not to observe them and grew so much confounded with the full measure of Our Favour that they would allow themselves no security of enjoying what We had freely given but by taking away any power from Us of giving more they must have a through alteration both in Church and State or else they should never enjoy the benefit of the Reformation We had willingly made Hereupon they oppose the disbanding of the Armies and give all delays to the Scots Treaty though the Commissioners for that Nation very earnestly pressed the hastning of it and in plain English declare That they cannot yet spare them that the sons of Zerviah were too strong for them And finding more haste to be made in the asserting the Civil Interests than they desired having a design to ingage this Kingdom into so vast a Debt that there might be no way of paying it but by the Lands of the Church and lest Our good Subjects might be too soon satisfied they hastned on to their design upon the Church which they at first disguised with a purpose only of removing the Bishops from their Votes in the Lords House This Bill passed the House of Commons in the House of Peers it endured several long free debates and in the end upon great and solemn deliberation was by the consent of very much the major part of that House absolutely rejected This was no sooner done but that Faction glad of the miscarriage of their former Bill the passing whereof they knew would have satisfied many of those whom they hoped now further to seduce produced a Bill to be tendred in the House of Commons for the abolition of Bishops out of the Church of England Root and Branch according to their first resolution as Mr. Pym told a Member of the Lords House by way of reproof That it was not enough to be against the Persons of the Bishops if he were not against the Function and for extirpation of all Deans and Chapters and reducing that admirable Frame of Government and support of Learning into a Chaos of Confusion that out of it they might mold an Vtopia no six of them had nor We believe yet have agreed on further than to destroy the present and out of the goodly Revenue which the pious Bounty and Devotion of former Ages had been so long in raising for the encouragement and advancement of Learning and Religion and which God hath blessed with so many eminent Men whose Learning and Lives have advanced the Doctrine of the Protestant Religion and many of them given their Bodies to the Fire as a Sacrifice to that Truth and Religion to erect Stipends to their own Clergy and to raise estates to repair their own broken fortunes And for the free passing of this Bill which to this hour they could never tell what to make of two Armies must be kept in the bowels of the Kingdom at 80000 pound a Month charge to the Commonwealth For about this Bill the House of Commons was so wholly taken up that in ten weeks none or very little other business could be thought of About this time or a little before after several Intimations of Treasons Plots and Conspiracies by the Papists of great Provisions of Arms by them and training Men under ground and many other false reports created spread and countenanced by themselves upon some general apprehensions of Designs against them a Protestation is made in the House of Commons for some union and consent amongst themselves to perform those Duties which if they had meant no more than they expressed had been sufficiently provided for by the Oaths they had already taken and what their former Duties obliged them to Hereupon a Protestation is framed and being put into such words as no honest Man could believe himself obliged by it to any unlawful Action was voluntarily taken by all the Members of the House of Commons and presently recommended to the House of Lords where it received the same countenance that is was looked upon as containing nothing in it self unlawful though some Members of that House refused to take it being voluntary and not imposed by any Lawful Authority Then 't is recommended to the City of London and over all the Kingdom by order from the House of Commons a strange and unheard-of Usurpation to be taken by all persons But in very few days upon conference amongst themselves and with those Clergy-men who daily solicite their unlawful and unwarrantable designs with the People they find
by these Men is not less the Argument of Our present Quarrel and Undertaking than Our own Honour Interest and Safety those being no way so securely to be preserved as by preserving Parliaments and their just Priviledges Neither is there any Protestation to Our knowledge published in Our name of Our tenderness of the Miseries of Ireland and Our Resolution to maintain the Protestant Religion and Laws of this Kingdom that is not the Protestation of Our Soul and manifested in all Our Actions and We hope that false Scandal that divers of the Irish Traitors and Rebels the known Favourers of them and Agents for them are admitted to Our presence with favour and imployed in Our Service will gain no credit with good Men who remember well the notorious imputation so confidently and groundlesly heretofore cast on Us by Mr. Pym of which as there could never be the least Proof so We could never receive any satisfaction for that high Injury which might have been a warning to them to have published no more such Untruths if they had not found that Truth and their Ends cannot meet together For the Horses taken for Our Service which were provided for the Service of Ireland 't is true We were compelled for the bringing Our own Waggons from Chester for the Carriage of Our Munition to make use of them being few in number and of small value after they were certified to be of no use for the Service for which they were provided And for the Clothes upon enquiry We find that some few were taken by Our Soldiers but without any Order from Us going to Coventry and as was probably believed for the relief of that place then in actual Rebellion against Us. But how far We have been and are from diverting any of those Provisions made for the Relief of that poor Kingdom the thought of whose miserable Condition makes Our heart bleed may appear by Our express Command given for the speedy transportation of 3000 Suits of Clothes which We found provided at Chester but neglected to be sent and which no necessity of Our own Army here could prevail with Us to seize And how bold soever the Reproaches of that kind have been upon Us We are confident Malice it self cannot lay the least probable imputation upon Us for the neglect of Our Duty towards that Kingdom What one thing in Our power have We neglected or omitted which might contribute to the assistance or ease of Our poor Protestant Subjects there We first recommended the care of that business to both Our Houses of Parliament We consented to all Propositions made on the behalf offered to raise 10000 Voluntiers which if then accepted had shortned that Work offered to venture Our own Person in the Service what interpretation that Offer of Ours found is known to all the World We parted with Our Interest in the Land of the Rebels to encourage such who were willing to adventure in that business and when Mony is raised by Our Consent for that sole purpose they have at once seized on a hundred thousand pound particularly appointed by Act of Parliament for the relief of Ireland Our Army being ready to perish for want of it and imployed it to maintain this unnatural Civil War at home They have levied Men and entertained Commanders for that Service and then compelled them to joyn in this Rebellion and to march against Us. And though they have complained of Our keeping the Lieutenant of Ireland some weeks with Us when in truth it was a season of extraordinary business after We had in vain for many months pressed his dispatch yet themselves now detain him when his going is so necessary for the Preservation of that Kingdom And no doubt these Men and these alone by begetting this miserable Distraction of England are guilty before God and Man of all the insupportable Calamities that Our Kingdom of Ireland endures Let all the World judge where the desire of Peace is and upon whose account the Blood and Confusion which hath been shed and must follow shall be cast and whether the several Proclamations and Declarations published by Us have not been extorted from Us by such unheard-of Insolencies and Injuries which no former times ever produced Neither can any sober Man wonder when We are publickly reproached traduced and reviled to Our People a practice never known till this Parliament that We endeavour by a true Relation and Declaration of Our Actions and Intentions and of their Conspiracies who have vowed Our Destruction to inform Our good Subjects of the Cunning and Malice they are to encounter with and when a Combination is entred into to destroy Us and to alter the Religion and Law of the Kingdom and to that purpose an Army raised and marching against Us that We proclaim the General of that Army and such who shall assist him in levying a War against Us to be Traitours and have set up Our Royal Standard and required all Our good Subjects to come to Our defence And yet both in that Proclamation and in all Our Declarations We have never accused Our Parliament but such factious seditious Members of both Houses whom We have named and whom We are ready to prove according to the Rules of the known Law to be guilty of High Treason We well know and all the Kingdom knows that of near 500. Members which the House of Commons contains there remains not now there 100. neither hath above such a number consented almost to any thing of which We have ever complained the rest have either been driven away by Tumults and Threats of the Persons whom We have accused or out of Conscience withdrawn themselves from their desperate Consultations and of about 100. Peers of the Realm there are not above 15. or 16. who concurre in these miserable Resolutions which disturb the publick Peace many of which being of desperate fortunes have no other support than the Commands now given them to make War upon Us and now these Men must sit upon the Lives and Fortunes of all the Nobility Gentry and Commons of England and because We will not put Our Self into the hands Government and disposal of them all Our good Subjects are invited and encouraged to Rebel against Us. Yet We have been and are still far from accusing all that small number of both Houses who are yet left together We believe many of them are misled by the Cunning and Malice and frighted by the Power of those Men whom We have accused against every one of whom We have evidence of matter of Fact that the known Law of the Land determines to be High Treason And now that all Our good Subjects may see how desirous these Men and their Adherents are to prevent the effusion of blood and the lasting Miseries of a Civil War they will make themselves so considerable that except We will recall Our Proclamations and Declarations whereby those Persons particularly named for particular Actions which the Law hath defined to
MAJESTY The humble Petition of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford according to Your MAJESTY'S Proclamation WE most humbly acknowledge Your Princely Goodness in calling us to receive our Advices for preservation of the Religion Laws and Safety of the Kingdom and to restore it to its former Peace and Security How earnestly we have sought a Peace with Your Majesty's most gracious Concurrence doth appear by the printed Declaration of our Proceedings touching a Treaty for Peace wherein we aimed at a free and full Convention of Parliament as the most hopeful way to unite these unhappy Divisions And since that hath been refused we have applyed our Advices for supporting Your Armies the visible means now left for maintaining our Religion restoring the Laws and procuring the Safety of the Kingdom being assured from Your Majesty You do and will employ Your Armies to no other end And although our selves are most fully satisfied of Your Majesty's pious and just Resolutions herein yet because Fears and Jealousies have been and are maliciously scattered amongst Your Subjects to poison their Affections and corrupt their Loyalty to Your Majesty therefore to the end we may be enabled by Your gracious Answer to satisfie all the World or to leave them unexcusable who will not be satisfied we do in all humility present to Your Majesty these Petitions That Your Majesty will give direction for the re-printing Your Protestation made in the head of Your Army and Your other Declarations wherein Your constant Resolution is declared to maintain and defend the true reformed Protestant Religion and that the same may be with more diligence published amongst the People that so Your Princely Christian Zeal and Affection to that Religion and to maintain the same against all Popery Schism and Profaneness may be manifested and which we beseech Your Majesty upon this our Petition to declare again to all the World to the discountenance and suppression of those Scandals laid upon Your Majesty by those who disturb our Peace That when there may be a full and free Convention of Parliament a National Synod may be lawfully called to advise of some fit means for the establishing the Government and Peace of our Church to whom may be recommended a care for the ease of the tender Consciences of Your Protestant Subjects Touching our Laws we cannot ask more of Your Majesty than to declare and continue Your former Resolutions to hold and keep them inviolable and unalterable but by Act of Parliament And for avoiding the Scandal maliciously infused into many of Your Subjects that if Your Majesty prevail against this Rebellion You intend not to use the frequent Council of Parliaments we humbly pray and advise Your Majesty to declare the sincerity of Your Royal Heart therein to satisfie Your seduced Subjects against such false and malicious Aspersions And in respect the present Contributions Loans Taxes and other Impositions for maintenance of Your Armies have been submitted unto as Exigences of War and Necessity because of this unexampled Rebellion and Invasion we humbly beseech Your Majesty to Declare That they shall not be drawn into example nor continue longer than the present Exigence and Necessity nor be at any time mentioned as Precedents And that for the farther security of Your People Your Majesty will vouchsafe to promise Your Royal Assent to a Law to be made and declared to that purpose in a full and free Convention of Parliament And that for the present ease and encouragement of those under Contributions by Contract with Your Majesty You will be pleased that those Contracts may be so observed that Your Subjects may not have just cause of complaint against the Commanders Governors Officers or Souldiers of Your Army or of or in any Your Garrisons Castles or Forts for taking any Money Horses or other Cattel Provisions or other Goods or any Timber or Woods of any Your Subjects or Free-Billet or Free-Quarter in any place where the Contributions and Taxes agreed on are paid humbly beseeching Your Majesty's gracious Care herein and that the Offenders may receive exemplary punishment Lastly That Your Majesty will retain Your pious endeavours to procure the Peace of this languishing Kingdom not to be removed or altered by any advantages or prosperous success His MAJESTY'S Gracious Answer to the aforesaid Petition AS We shall always acknowledge the great Comfort and Assistance We have received by your Councils since your Meeting here according to Our Proclamation so We must give you very particular Thanks for the Expressions you have made in this Petition of your Confidence in Us and for the Care you have therein taken that all Our good Subjects may receive ample satisfaction in those things upon which the Good and Welfare of their Condition so much depends We have long observed though not without wonder the sly subtile and groundless Insinuation infused and dispersed amongst our People by the disturbers of the Publick Peace of Our favouring and countenancing of Popery And therefore as in Our constant visible practice We have to the utmost of Our Power and We hope sufficiently manifested the gross falshood of those Imputations and Scandals so We have omitted no opportunity of publishing to all the World the clear Intentions and Resolutions of the Soul in that point We wish from Our heart that the true Reformed Protestant Religion may not receive greater Blemish by the Actions and Practices of these Men than it doth or shall by any Connivence of Ours We will take the best care We can and We desire your assistance in it to publish to all Our good Subjects that Our Protestation and those Declarations you mention And We do assure you there is not an Expression in either of them for the maintenance and advancement of Our Religion with which Our Heart doth not fully concur and in which We shall be so constant that if it shall not please God to enable Us by Force to defend it We shall shew Our Affection and Love to it by dying for it We may without vanity say It hath pleased God to enlighten Our Understanding to discern the clear Truth of the Protestant Religion in which We have been born and bred from the Mists and Clouds of Popery the which if it hath made any growth or progress of late within the Kingdom as We hope it hath not is more beholding to the unchristian Rage and Fury of these Men than to any Connivence or Favour of Ours For a National Synod We have often promised it and when God shall give so much Peace and Quiet to this Kingdom that regular and lawful Conventions may be esteemed shall gladly perform that Promise as the best means to re-establish Our Religion and make up those Breaches which are made And We shall then willingly recommend unto them a special care of the ease of tender Consciences of Our Protestant Subjects as We have often expressed For the Laws of the Land We can say no more than We
Coronation that all Our Ecclesiasticks in their several degrees and incumbences shall preach and practise the same Wherefore We enjoyn and command all Our Ministers of State beyond the Seas as well Ambassadors as Residents Agents and Messengers and We desire all the rest of Our loving Subjects that sojourn either for curiosity or commerce in any Foreign parts to communicate uphold and assert this Our solemn and sincere Protestation when opportunity of time and place shall be offered Given in Our Vniversity and City of Oxford the 14th day of May 1644. The goodly CEDAR of Apostolick EPISCOPACY compâ—â—â—d with the moderne Shoots Slips of divided NOVELTIES in the Church before the Introduction of the Apostles Lives PAPERS AND PASSAGES CONCERNING THE TREATY OF PEACE AT UXBRIDGE MDCXLIV XLV By the King A Proclamation declaring His Majesty's Resolution for settling a speedy Peace by a good Accommodation and an Invitation to all His Loyal Subjects to joyn together for His Assistance therein AMongst the many Troubles wherewith for more than two years last past We have been involved nothing hath more afflicted Us than the real sense of Our Subjects Sufferings occasioned by this most unnatural War and the chief of Our Care hath been and by God's assistance shall still be to settle them in a happy Peace with that freedom of enjoyning the exercise of their Religion Rights and Liberties according to the Laws of this Kingdom as they or any of their Ancestors enjoyed the same in the best times of the late Queen Elizabeth or Our Royal Father And as we have always profest in the sincerity of Our Heart That no Success should ever make Us averse unto Peace so have We always when God hath blessed Us with any eminent Victory sollicited the Members of both Houses of Parliament remaining at Westminster by frequent Messages for a Treaty conducing thereunto and in particular upon Our late Victory over the Earl of Essex his Army in Cornwal which We wholly attribute to the immediate hand of God We presently dispatch'd a Message to them to desire a Treaty for Peace and Accommodation of which as likewise of that former Message for Peace which We sent them from Evesholm the fourth of July last We have yet received no Answer and therefore have resolved with Our Army to draw presently towards London and Our Southern and Eastern Counties not looking upon those parts as Enemies to Us and so to suffer by the approach of Our Army or the disorders thereof which We will use all possible means to prevent but as Our poor Subjects oppressed by Power of which We rest assured the greater part remain Loyal to Us and so deserving Our Protection And We hope that at a nearer distance of place there may be begot so right an understanding between Us and Our People that at length We may obtain a Treaty for Peace and a full free and peaceable Convention in Parliament and therein make an end of these unhappy Differences by a good Accommodation In which We hereby assure all Our People upon Our Royal Word and the Faith of a Christian which is the greatest Security We can give them that We will insist only upon the setling and continuance of the true Reformed Protestant Religion Our own undoubted known Rights the Privileges of Parliament and Our Subjects Liberty and Property according to the Laws of the Land and to have all these settled in a full and free Parliament whereby the Armies on both sides may be presently disbanded this Kingdom may be secured from the danger of a Conquest by Foreign Forces all Strangers now in Arms may return to their own Countries and Our poor Subjects be freed of those grievous burthens which by reason of the late Distractions have much against Our Will too much pressed them And to the end Our Subjects may no longer be misled be false pretences We do desire all of them as well in Our own Quarters as where the Rebels have usurped a Power to take into serious consideration the Duty and Loyalty which by the Law of God and their Oath of Allegiance they owe unto Us and more particularly that part thereof which concerns the Defence of Our Person and Assistance of Us against Rebels and such as rise in Arms against Us which they may find plainly set down in the Statute of the II. year of King Henry the Seventh Cap. 1. And We do hereby require Our Subjects within Our own Quarters through or near which We shall pass by that Duty they owe to Us and their Country that they forthwith prepare themselves with the best Arms they can get to be ready and joyn and go along with Us in this present Expedition We resolving to take special care to place them under the Command of Gentlemen of Quality of their own Countries to their good content and satisfaction And we likewise require and authorize all Our good Subjects as well the Trained Bands as others of Our City of London and Our Southern and Eastern Counties to chuse their own Commanders and Leaders amongst those Gentlemen and Citizens that are of approved Loyalty to Us and Lovers of the Peace of their Country and upon Our approach towards those parts to put themselves into Arms and march in warlike manner to assist Us in this good Work and free themselves from the Tyranny of their fellow-Subjects under which they groan commanding and authorizing them to seize such places of Strength in those Southern and Eastern Counties as the Rebels have possessed themselves of to oppose with force of Arms such Persons as shall resist them in obeying these Our Commands and to apprehend and secure the Persons of all such as shall endeavour to continue this Rebellion and to hinder the settling of the Peace of this Kingdom in a full and free Convention of Parliament the only visible means lest by blessing of God to redeem this Nation from utter Ruine wherein We will afford Our utmost Protection and Safety unto all Our Subjects that shall give Obedience to these Our Commands And as We doubt not but that all Our good Subjects will come chearfully to Our assistance for so good an end beyond which We do not require it so We trust that God who hath hitherto wonderfully preserved Us will crown this Action with happy Success for his Glory and the welfare of this poor Nation Given at Our Court at Chard the thirtieth day of September 1644. God Save the KING By the King A Proclamation for a Solemn Fast on Wednesday the Fifth of February next upon occasion of the present Treaty for Peace VVHereas Almighty God in his Justice to punish the Common and Crying Sins of the Land hath sent a Civil Sword throughout all Our Dominions which hath miserably wasted and threatens a speedy and utter Desolation to the same and now in the height of these Calamities a Treaty is assented to to begin at Vxbridge on Thursday the Thirtieth day of this instant January touching
we have offered so weighty Doubts and Considerations to your Lordships in this days Debate concerning several parts in the Bill for abolishing of Episcopacy your Lordships having confined and limited our Debate to that individual Bill as it is now penn'd not the consideration of abolishing Episcopacy in general that your Lordships cannot expect a positive Answer from us now being after eleven a clock at night touching that Bill But we shall be ready by the next day assigned for the Treaty upon this Argument to deliver our Opinions to your Lordships the which we shall be then the better able to do when we have found by the progress in our other Debates how far a blessed and a happy Peace is like to be advanced by our endeavouring to give your Lordships satisfaction in this particular This being the last of the three first days assigned for the Treaty upon Religion that Subject was again taken up the 11 th of February being the first of the second three days appointed for Religion And their Commissioners delivered this Paper 11. Feb. HAving received no satisfaction in the first three days appointed to Treat upon the Propositions for Religion we do now desire your Lordships clear and full Answer to our former Demand on this Subject that no farther time may be lost in a matter which doth so much concern the Glory of God the Honour of the King and the Peace and Happiness of His Kingdoms The King's Commissioners Answer 11. Feb. VVE gave your Lordships as much satisfaction in the first three days appointed to Treat upon the Propositions for Religion as in so short a time and upon so little information from your Lordships could reasonably be expected in a matter of so great and high importance And as we have given your Lordships already many Reasons concerning the Injustice and Inconveniency which would follow upon passing the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy according to your first Proposition so we are now ready by Conference to satisfie your Lordships why we conceive that the said Bill is not for the Glory of God or the Honour of the King and consequently cannot be for the Peace and Happiness of His Kingdoms And if your Lordships Reasons shall convince us in those particulars we shall willingly consent to what you desire if otherwise we shall offer to your Lordships our Consent to such other Alterations as we conceive may better contribute to the Reformation intended and such as may stand with the Glory of God and in truth be for the Honour of the King and the Peace and Happiness of His Kingdoms Their Reply 11. Feb. VVE have received no satisfaction from your Lordships concerning the Propositions delivered in by us for Religion in the name of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms not have you made appear unto us any Injustice or Inconveniency in the passing of the Bill for abolishing of Episcopacy And as it cannot be denied but the settling of Religion is a matter which doth highly concern the Glory of God the Honour of the King and the Peace and Happiness of his Kingdoms so do we desire your Lordships will grant those Demands which have been made unto you by us to that end and we are ready by present Conference to receive what your Lordships will offer upon any of those Propositions and to return that which may give your Lordships just satisfaction The King's Commissioners Answer 11. Feb. YOUR Lordships having expressed in your Paper of the first of February that there are other things touching Religion to be propounded by your Lordships to us we presume that by this time you may be enabled by your Instructions to propose the same and therefore we desire to receive them from your Lordships Which we hope your Lordships will think very reasonable when you consider how incongruous a thing it will appear to most Men to consent to real and substantial Alterations in the matter of Religion without having a view of the whole Alterations intended when at the same time there is mention of other Alterations Their Answer thereunto 11. Feb. WE shall deliver in very speedily that which remains with us touching Religion to be propounded unto your Lordships But we do desire as before your Lordships Answers unto our Demands in the same order that we have proposed them not conceiving it reasonable there should be any time spent in Debates or Answers upon what we shall hereafter offer till we have received satisfaction in our former Propositions which we desire may be speedily done lest otherwise the Treaty be retarded and the Expectation of both Kingdoms altogether frustrated Notwithstanding this they delivered in this further Answer 11. Feb. IN Answer to your Lordships Paper this day delivered to us we desire that His Majesty do give His Royal Assent to an Act of Parliament for the due Observation of the Lords Day and to the Bill for suppressing of Innovations in Churches and Chapels in and about the Worship of God c. and for the better advancement of the Preaching of God's Holy Word in all parts of this Kingdom and to the Bill against enjoying of Pluralities of Benefices by Spiritual persons and non-Residency And we shall in due time give in to your Lordships our Demands concerning Papists contained in the sixth seventh eighth ninth and tenth Propositions and for His Majesty's Assenting to an Act to be framed and agreed upon in both Houses of Parliament for the regulating and reforming of both Universities of the Colleges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton and for the Education and Marriage of His Majesty's Children and the Children of His Heirs and Successors in the true Protestant Religion as in the 21 Proposition Some part of the 11th and most part of the 12th of February was spent in Argument by Divines touching Episcopacy and the Presbyterial Government Afterwards their Commissioners gave in this Paper 12. Feb. THere having now been several days spent in debate upon the Propositions for Religion and all Objections alledged to the contrary either from Conscience Law or Reason being fully answered and the time allotted for that so important a part of the Treaty almost elapsed we should be wanting to the Trust reposed in us if we should not press and Expect as we now do a clear and positive Answer to those Demands concerning Religion which we have offered unto your Lordships from the Parliaments of both Kingdoms as most necessary for the settling of a safe and well-grounded Peace in all His Majesty's Dominions The King's Commissioners Answer 12. Feb. WE deny that the Objections alledged by us against the passing the for abolishing Episcopacy from Conscience Law or Reason have been fully answered by your Lordships or that indeed we have received any satisfaction from your Lordships in these particulars We have received no Information from your Lordships to satisfie us that Episcopacy is or hath been an impediment to a perfect Reformation to the growth of Religion or that it
learned to thirst the more by how much the more they drank whom no fountain of Royal Bounty was able to overcome so resolved they seemed either utterly to exhaust it or barbarously to obstruct it Sure it ceases to be Counsel when not Reason is used as to men to perswade but Force and Terror as to beasts to drive and compel men to assent to whatever tumultuary Patrons shall project He deserves to be a Slave without pity or redemption that is content to have the Rational soveraignty of his Soul and liberty of his Will and Words so captivated Nor do I think my Kingdoms so considerable as to preserve them with the forfeiture of that Freedom which cannot be denied Me as a King because it belongs to Me as a Man and a Christian owning the dictates of none but God to be above Me as obliging Me to consent Better for Me to die enjoying this Empire of my Soul which subjects Me only to God so far as by Reason or Religion he directs Me than live with the Title of a King if it should carry such a vassalage with it as not to suffer Me to use My Reason and Conscience in which I declare as a King to like or dislike So far am I from thinking the Majesty of the Crown of England to be bound by any Coronation-Oath in a blind and brutish formality to consent to whatever its Subjects in Parliament shall require as some men will needs infer while denying me any power of a Negative voice as King they are not ashamed to seek to deprive Me of the liberty of using My Reason with a good Conscience which themselves and all the Commons of England enjoy proportionable to their influence on the publick who would take it very ill to be urged not to deny whatever My self as King or the House of Peers with Me should not so much desire as enjoyn them to pass I think My Oath fully discharged in that point by my Governing only by such Laws as My People with the House of Peers have chosen and My self consented to I shall never think My self conscientiously tied to go as oft against My Conscience as I should consent to such new Proposals which My reason in Justice Honour and Religion bids Me deny Yet so tender I see some men are of their being subject to Arbitrary Government that is the Law of anothers will to which themselves give no consent that they care not with how much dishonour and absurdity they make their King the only man that must be subject to the will of others without having power left him to use his own Reason either in Person or by any Representation And if my dissentings at any time were as some have suspected and uncharitably avowed out of Error Opinionativeness Weakness or Wilfulness and what they call Obstinacy in Me which not true Judgment of things but some vehement Prejudice or Passion hath fixed on My Mind yet can no man think it other than the badg and method of Slavery by savage Rudeness and importunate obtrusions of Violence to have the mist of his Error and Passion dispelled which is a shadow of Reason and must serve those that are destitute of the substance Sure that man cannot be blameable to God or Man who seriously endeavours to see the best reason of things and faithfully follows what he takes for Reason The uprightness of his Intentions will excuse the possible failings of his Understanding If a Pilot at Sea cannot see the Pole-star it can be no fault in him to steer his course by such Stars as do best appear to him It argues rather those men to be conscious of their defects of Reason and convincing Arguments who call in the assistance of mere force to carry on the weakness of their Counsels and Proposals I may in the truth and uprightness of my Heart protest before God and Men that I never wilfully opposed or denied any thing that was in a fair way after full and free debates propounded to Me by the Two Houses further than I thought in good Reason I might and was bound to do Nor did any thing ever please Me more than when My Judgment so concurred with theirs that I might with good Conscience consent to them yea in many things where not absolute and moral necessity of Reason but temporary convenience on point of Honour was to be considered I chose rather to deny My self than them as preferring that which they thought necessary for My Peoples good before what I saw but convenient for My self For I can be content to recede much from My own Interests and Personal Rights of which I conceive My self to be Master but in what concerns Truth Justice the Rights of the Church and my Crown together with the general good of my Kingdoms all which I am bound to preserve as much as morally lies in Me here I am and ever shall be fixt and resolute nor shall any man gain my consent to that wherein my Heart gives my Tongue or Hand the Lye nor will I be brought to affirm that to Men which in my Conscience I denied before God I will rather chuse to wear a Crown of Thorns with My Saviour than to exchange that of Gold which is due to Me for one of Lead whose embased flexibleness shall be forced to bend and comply to the various and oft contrary dictates of any Factions when in stead of Reason and Publick Concernments they obtrude nothing but what makes for the interest of Parties and flows from the partialities of private Wills and Passions I know no resolutions more worthy a Christian King than to prefer his Conscience before his Kingdoms O my God preserve thy Servant in this Native Rational and Religious Freedom for this I believe is thy will that we should maintain who though Thou dost justly require us to submit our Vnderstandings and Wills to thine whose Wisdom and Goodness can neither err nor misguide us and so far to deny our carnal Reason in order to thy Sacred Mysteries and Commands that we should believe and obey rather than dispute them yet dost Thou expect from us only such a reasonable Service of Thee as not to do any thing for Thee against our Consciences and as to the desires of men enjoinest us to try all things by the touch-stone of Reason and Laws which are the Rules of Civil Justice and to declare our Consents to that only which our Judgments approve Thou knowest O Lord how unwilling I was to desert that place in which Thou hast set Me and whereto the Affairs of My Kingdoms at present do call Me. My People can witness how far I have been content for their good to deny My self in what Thou hast subjected to My disposal O let not the unthankful importunities and Tumultuary Violence of some mens Immoderate demands ever betray Me to that dangerous and unmanly slavery which should make Me strengthen them by my Consent in those things which I
think in my Conscience to be against thy Glory the good of my Subjects and the discharge of my own duty to Reason and Justice Make Me willing to suffer the greatest Indignities and Injuries they press upon Me rather than commit the least sin against my Conscience Let the just Liberties of my People be as well they may preserved in fair and equal ways without the slavery of my Soul Thou that hast invested Me by thy Favours in the power of a Christian King suffer Me not to subject my Reason to other mens Passions and Designs which to Me seem unreasonable unjust and irreligious So shall I serve Thee in the truth and uprightness of my Heart tho I cannot satisfie these men Though I be driven from among them yet give Me grace to walk always uprightly before Thee Lead Me in the way of Truth and Justice for these I know will bring Me at last to Peace and Happiness with Thee though for these I have much trouble among men This I beg of Thee for my Saviours sake VII Vpon the QUEENS Departure and Absence out of ENGLAND ALthough I have much cause to be troubled at my Wifes departure from Me and out of my Dominions yet not her absence so much as the scandal of that Necessity which drives Her away doth afflict Me That She should be compelled by My own Subjects and those pretending to be Protestants to withdraw for her Safety This being the first example of any Protestant Subjects that have taken up Arms against their King a Protestant For I look upon this now done in England as another Act of the same Tragedy which was lately begun in Scotland the brands of that fire being ill quenched have kindled the like flames here I fear such motions so little to the adorning of the Protestant profession may occasion a further alienation of Mind and divorce of Affections in Her from that Religion which is the only thing wherein We differ Which yet God can and I pray he would in time take away and not suffer these practices to be any obstruction to her Judgment since it is the motion of those men for the most part who are yet to seek and settle their Religion for Doctrine Government and good Manners and so not to be imputed to the true English Protestants who continue firm to their former setled Principles and Laws I am sorry my relation to so deserving a Lady should be any occasion of her Danger and Affliction whose Merits would have served her for a protection among the savage Indians while their Rudeness and Barbarity knows not so perfectly to hate all Virtues as some mens Subtilty doth among whom I yet think few are so malicious as to hate Her for Her self The fault is That She is my Wife All Justice then as well as Affection commands Me to study Her Security who is only in danger for My sake I am content to be tossed weather-beaten and shipwrackt so as She may be in safe Harbor This comfort I shall enjoy by Her Safety in the midst of My Personal Dangers that I can perish but half if She be preserved In whose Memory and hopeful Posterity I may yet survive the Malice of My Enemies altho they should be satiated with my Blood I must leave her and Them to the Love and Loyalty of my good Subjects and to his Protection who is able to punish the Faults of Princes and no less severely to revenge the Injuries done to Them by those who in all duty and Allegiance ought to have made good that Safety which the Laws chiefly provide for Princes But common Civility is in vain expected from those that dispute their Loyalty Nor can it be safe for any relation to a King to tarry among them who are shaking hands with their Allegiance under pretence of laying faster hold on their Religion 'T is pity so noble and peaceful a Soul should see much more suffer the Rudeness of those who must make up their want of Justice with Inhumanity and Impudence Her sympathy with Me in my Afflictions will make her Virtues shine with greater lustre as Stars in the darkest nights and assure the envious world that She loves Me not my Fortunes Neither of Us but can easily forgive since We do not much blame the unkindness of the Generality and Vulgar for we see God is pleased to try both our Patience by the most self-punishing sin the Ingratitude of those who having eaten of our Bread and being enriched with our Bounty have scornfully lift up themselves against Us and those of our own Houshold are become our Enemies I pray God lay not their sin to their charge who think to fatisfie all obligations to duty by their Corban of Religion and can less endure to see than to sin against their Benefactors as well as their Soveraigns But even that Policy of my Enemies is so far venial as it was necessary to their designs by scandalous Articles and all irreverent demeanor to seek to drive Her out of my Kingdoms lest by the influence of her Example eminent for Love as a Wife and Loyalty as a Subject She should have converted to or retained in their Love and Loyalty all those whom they had a purpose to pervert The less I may be blest with her company the more I will retire to God and my own Heart whence no Malice can banish Her My Enemies may envy but they can never deprive Me of the enjoyment of her Virtues while I enjoy My self Thou O Lord whose Justice at present sees fit to scatter Vs let thy Mercy in the due time re-unite Vs on Earth if it be thy Will however bring Vs both at last to thy Heavenly Kingdom Preserve Vs from the hands of our despiteful and deadly Enemies and prepare Vs by our Sufferings for thy presence Tho We differ in some things as to Religion which is my greatest temporal Infelicity yet Lord give and accept the sincerity of our Affections which desire to seek to find to embrace every Truth of thine Let both our hearts agree in the Love of thy self and Christ crucified for us Teach Vs both what Thou wouldst have Vs to know in order to thy Glory our publick relations and our Souls eternal good and make Vs careful to do what good We know Let neither Ignorance of what is necessary to be known nor Vnbelief or Disobedience to what We know be our misery or our wilful default Let not this great Scandal of those my Subjects which profess the same Religion with Me be any hindrance to her love of any Truth thou wouldst have Her to learn nor any hardning of Her in any Error Thou wouldst have cleared to Her Let mine and other mens Constancy be an Antidote against the poyson of their Example Let the truth of that Religion I profess be represented to Her Judgment with all the beauties of Humility Loyalty Charity and Peaceableness which are the proper fruits and ornaments of it not
intended do You perform when God shall give you Power Much Good I have offered more I purposed to Church and State if Times had been capable of it The deception will soon vanish and the Vizards will fall off apace This mask of Religion on the face of Rebellion for so it now plainly appears since My Restraint and cruel Usage that they fought not for Me as was pretended will not long serve to hide some mens Deformities Happy times I hope attend You wherein Your Subjects by their Miseries will have learned That Religion to their God and Loyalty to their King cannot be parted without both their Sin and their Infelicity I pray God bless You and establish Your Kingdoms in Righteousness Your Soul in true Religion and Your Honour in the Love of God and Your People And if God will have Disloyalty perfected by My Destruction let My Memory ever with My Name live in You as of Your Father that loves You and once a KING of Three flourishing Kingdoms whom God thought fit to honour not only with the Scepter and Government of them but also with the suffering many indignities and an untimely Death for them while I studied to preserve the rights of the Church the power of the Laws the Honour of My Crown the Priviledg of Parliaments the Liberties of My People and My own Conscience which I thank God is dearer to Me than a thousand Kingdoms I know God can I hope he yet will restore Me to My Rights I cannot despair either of his Mercy or of My Peoples Love and Pity At worst I trust I shall but go before You to a better Kingdom which God hath prepared for Me and Me for it through My Saviour Jesus Christ to whose Mercies I commend You and all Mine Farewell till We meet if not on Earth yet in Heaven XXVIII Meditations upon Death after the Votes of Non-addresses and His MAJESTIES closer Imprisonment in Carisbrook-Castle AS I have leisure enough so I have cause more than enough to meditate upon and prepare for my Death for I know there are but few steps between the Prisons and Graves of Princes It is God's Indulgence which gives Me the space but Man's Cruelty that gives Me the sad occasions for these thoughts For besides the common burthen of Mortality which lies upon Me as a Man I now bear the heavy load of other mens Ambitions Fears Jealousies and cruel Passions whose Envy or Enmity against Me makes their own lives seem deadly to them while I enjoy any part of Mine I thank God My Prosperity made Me not wholly a stranger to the contemplations of Mortality Those are never unseasonable since this is always uncertain Death being an Eclipse which oft happeneth as well in clear as cloudy days But My now long and sharp Adversity hath so reconciled in Me those natural Antipathies between Life and Death which are in all men that I thank God the common terrors of it are dispelled and the special horror of it as to My particular much allayed for altho My Death at present may justly be represented to Me with all those terrible aggravations which the policy of Cruel and Implacable enemies can put upon it affairs being drawn to the very dregs of Malice yet I bless God I can look upon all those stings as unpoisonous tho sharp since My Redeemer hath either pulled them out or given Me the Antidote of his Death against them which as to the Immaturity Unjustice Shame Scorn and Cruelty of it exceeded whatever I can fear Indeed I never did find so much the Life of Religion the Feast of a good Conscience and the brazen wall of a judicious Integrity and Constancy as since I came to these closer conflicts with the thoughts of Death I am not so old as to be weary of Life nor I hope so bad as to be either afraid to dye or ashamed to live true I am so afflicted as might make Me sometime even desire to dye if I did not consider that it is the greatest glory of a Christians life to die daily in conquering by a lively Faith and patient Hopes of a better life those partial and quotidian deaths which kill us as it were by piece-meals and make us overlive our own fates while we are deprived of Health Honour Liberty Power Credit Safety or Estate and those other Comforts of dearest relations which are as the Life of our lives Tho as a KING I think My self to live in nothing temporal so much as in the Love and good will of My People for which as I have suffered many deaths so I hope I am not in that point as yet wholly dead notwithstanding My Enemies have used all the poison of Falsity and violence of Hostility to destroy first the Love and Loyalty which is in my Subjects and then all that content of Life in Me which from these I chiefly enjoyed Indeed they have left Me but little of Life and only the husk and shell as it were which their further Malice and Cruelty can take from Me having bereaved Me of all those worldly Comforts for which Life it self seems desirable to men But O my Soul think not that life too long or tedious wherein God gives Thee any opportunities if not to do yet to suffer with such Christian Patience and Magnanimity in a good Cause as are the greatest Honour of our lives and the best improvement of our Deaths I knows that in point of true Christian Valour it argues Pusillanimity to desire to dye out of weariness of life and a want of that heroick greatness of spirit which becomes a Christian in the patient and generous sustaining those Afflictions which as shadows necessarily attend us while we are in this Body and which are lessened or enlarged as the Sun of our Prosperity moves higher or lower whose total absence is best recompenced with the dew of Heaven The assaults of Affliction may be terrible like Sampsom's Lion but they yield much sweetness to those that dare to encounter and overcome them who know how to overlive the witherings of their Gourds without discontent or peevishness while they may yet converse with God That I must dye as a man is certain that I may dye a King by the hands of my own Subjects a violent sudden and barbarous death in the strength of my years in the midst of my Kingdoms my Friends and loving Subjects being helpless Spectators my Enemies insolent Revilers and Triumphers over me living dying and dead is so probable in humane reason that God hath taught Me not to hope otherwise as to mans Cruelty however I despair not of God's infinite Mercy I know my Life is the object of the Devils and Wicked mens Malice but yet under God's sole custody and disposal whom I do not think to flatter for longer Life by seeming prepared to die but I humbly desire to depend upon him and to submit to his will both in life and death in what order soever he
is pleased to lay them out to Me. I confess it is not easie for Me to contend with those many horrors of Death wherewith God suffers Me to be tempted which are equally horrid either in the suddenness of a Barbarous Assassination or in those greater Formalities whereby my Enemies being more solemnly cruel will it may be seek to add as those did who crucified Christ the Mockery of Justice to the Cruelty of Malice That I may be destroyed as with greater Pomp and artifice so with less Pity it will be but a necessary policy to make my Death appear as an act of Justice done by Subjects upon their Soveraign who know that no Law of God or Man invests them with any power of Judicature without Me much less against Me and who being sworn and bound by all that is Sacred before God and Man to endeavour my preservation must pretend Justice to cover their Perjury It is indeed a sad fate for any man to have his Enemies to be his Accusers Parties and Judges but most desperate when this is acted by the insolence of Subjects against their Soveraign wherein those who have had the chiefest hand and are most guilty of contriving the publick Troubles must by shedding My Blood seem to wash their own hands of that innocent blood whereof they are now most evidently guilty before God and man and I believe in their own Consciences too while they carried on unreasonable demands first by tumults after by Armies Nothing makes mean spirits more cowardly-cruel in managing their usurped power against their lawful Superiors than this the Guilt of their unjust Vsurpation notwithstanding those specious and popular pretensions of Justice against Delinquents applied only to disguise at first the monstrousness of their designs who despaired indeed of possessing the power and profits of the Vineyard till the Heir whose right it is be cast out and slain With them my greatest Fault must be that I would not either destroy My self with the Church and State by my word or not suffer them to do it unresisted by the Sword whose covetous Ambition no Concessions of Mine could ever yet either satisfie or abate Nor is it likely they will ever think that Kingdom of Brambles which some men seek to erect at once weak sharp and fruitless either to God or man is like to thrive till watered with the Royal Blood of those whose right the Kingdom is Well God's will be done I doubt not but my innocency will find him both my Protector and my Advocate who is my onely Judge whom I own as King of Kings not onely for the eminency of his Power and Majesty above them but also for that singular Care and Protection which he hath over them who knows them to be exposed to as many Dangers being the greatest Patrons of Law Justice Order and Religion on Earth as there be either Men or Devils which love Confusion Nor will he suffer those men long to prosper in their Babel who build it with the Bones and cement it with the Blood of their KINGS I am confident they will find Avengers of my Death among themselves the Injuries I have sustained from them shall be first punished by them who agreed in nothing so much as in opposing Me. Their impatience to bear the loud cry of my Blood shall make them think no way better to expiate it then by Shedding theirs who with them most thirsted after Mine The sad Confusions following my Destruction are already presaged and confirmed to Me by those I have lived to see since my Troubles in which God alone who onely could hath many ways pleaded my Cause not suffering them to go unpunished whose confedaracy in Sin was their only Security who have cause to fear that God will both further divide and by mutual Vengeance afterward destroy them My greatest conquest of Death is from the Power and Love of Christ who hath swallow'd up Death in the Victory of his Resurrection and the glory of his Ascension My next Comfort is That he gives Me not only the Honour to imitate his Example in suffering for Righteousness sake though obscured by the foulest charges of Tyranny and Injustice but also that Charity which is the noblest Revenge upon and Victory over my Destroyers by which I thank God I can both forgive them and pray for them that God would not impute my Blood to them further than to convince them what need they have of Christs Blood to wash their Souls from the guilt of shedding Mine At present the Will of my Enemies seems to be their only rule their Power the measure and their Success the exactor of what they please to call Justice while they flatter themselves with the fancy of their own Safety by My Danger and the security of their Lives and Designs by My Death forgetting that as the greatest temptations to Sin are wrapped up in seeming Prosperities so the severest Vengeances of God are then most accomplished when men are suffered to compleat their wicked purposes I bless God I pray not so much that this bitter cup of a Violent Death may pass from Me as that of his Wrath may pass from all those whose hands by deserting Me are sprinkled or by acting and consenting to my Death are embrued with my Blood The will of God hath confined and concluded Mine I shall have the pleasure of dying without any pleasure of desired Vengeance This I think becomes a Christian toward his Enemies and a King toward his Subjects They cannot deprive Me of more than I am content to lose when God sees fit by their hands to take it from Me whose Mercy I believe will more than infinitely recompence whatever by mans Injustice he is pleased to deprive me of The glory attending my Death will far surpass all I could enjoy or conceive in Life I shall not want the heavy and envied Crowns of this world when my God hath mercifully crowned and consummated his Graces with Glory and exchanged the shadows of my Earthly Kingdoms among men for the substance of that Heavenly Kingdom with Himself For the censures of the world I know the sharp and necessary Tyranny of my Destroyers will sufficienly confute the Calumnies of Tyranny against Me I am perswaded I am happy in the judicious Love of the ablest and best of my Subjects who do not only pity and pray for Me but would be content even to die with Me or for Me. These know how to excuse my Failings as a man and yet to retain and pay their Duty to Me as their KING there being no Religious necessity binding any Subjects by pretending to punish infinitely to exceed the faults and errors of their Princes especially there where more than sufficient Satisfaction hath been made to the publick the enjoyment of which private Ambitions have hitherto frustrated Others I believe of softer tempers and less advantaged by My Ruin do already feel sharp Convictions and some remorse in their Consciences where they
of the Archbishop Abbot who was then with the Prince and the Duke and other of the Nobility waiting in the Privy Chamber for the King 's coming out on his Brother's head adding That if He continued a good Boy and followed His Book he would make him one Day Archbishop of Canterbury Which the Child took in such disdain that He threw the Cap on the Ground and trampled it under His Feet with so much eagerness that he could hardly be restrained Which Passion was afterward taken by some over-curious as a presage of the ruine of Episcopacy by His Power But the event shewed it was not ominous to the Order but to the Person of the Archbishop whom in his Reign he suspended from the Administration of his Office An. 1611 In his eleventh Year he was made Knight of the Garter An. 1612 and in the twelfth Prince Henry dying Novemb. 6. He succeeded him in the Dukedome of Cornwal and the Regalities thereof and attended his Funeral as Chief Mourner on Decemb. 7. On the 14th of Feb. following He performed the Office of Brideman to the Princess Elizabeth his Sister who on that Day was Married to Frederick V. Prince Elector Palatine the Gayeties of which Day were afterwards attended with many fatal Cares and Expences His Childhood was blemished with a supposed Obstinacy for the weakness of his Body inclining him to retirements and the imperfection of His Speech rendring Discourse tedious and unpleasant He was suspected to be somewhat perverse But more age and strength fitting Him for Manlike Exercises and the Publick Hopes inviting Him from his Privacies He delivered the World of such Fears for applying Himself to Action he grew so perfect in Vaulting riding the great Horse running at the Ring shooting in Cross-bows Muskets and sometimes in great Pieces of Ordnance that if Principality had been to be the Reward of Excellency in those Arts He would have had a Title to the Crown this way also being thought the best Marks-man and most graceful Manager of the great Horse in the three Kingdoms His tenacious humour He left with his Retirements none being more desirous of good Counsel nor any more Obsequious when he found it yea too distrustful of his own Judgment which the issue of things proved always best when it was followed When he was sixteen Years old An. 1616 on Nov. 3. He was created Prince of Wales Earl of Chester and Flint the Revenues thereof being assigned to maintain his Court which was then formed for Him And being thus advanced in Years and State it was expected that He should no longer retain the Modesty which the Shades of his Privacy had accustomed Him unto but now appear as the immediate Instrument of Empire and that by Him the Favours and Honours of the Court should be derived to others But though Providence had changed all about yet it had changed nothing within Him and He thought it Glory enough to be great without the diminution of others for He still permitted the Ministry of State to His Father's Favourites which gave occasion of Discourse to the Speculativi Some thought He did it to avoid the Jealousies of the Old King which were conceived to have been somewhat raised by the popularity of Prince Henry whose breast was full of forward Hopes For Young Princes are deemed of an impatient Ambition and Old ones to be too nice and tender of their Power in which though they are contented with a Successor as they must have yet are afraid of a Partner And it was supposed that therefore King James had raised Car and Buckingham like Comets to dim the lustre of these rising Stars But these were mistaken in the nature of that King who was enclined to contract a private friendship and was prodigal to the Objects of it before ever he had Sons to divert his Love or raise his Fears Some that at a distance looked upon the Prince's actions ascribed them to a Narrowness of Mind and an Incapacity of Greatness while others better acquainted with the frame of his Spirit knew His prudent Modesty enclined Him to learn the Methods of Commanding by the practice of Obedience and that being of a peaceful Soul He affected not to embroil the Court and from thence the Kingdom in Factions the effects of impotent minds which He knew were dangerous to a State and destructive to that Prince who gives Birth unto them that therefore He chose to wait for a certain though delayed Grandeur rather then by the Compendious way of Contrasts get a precocious Power and leave too pregnant an Example of Ruine Others conceived it the Prudence of the Father with which the Son complyed who knew the true use of Favourites was to make them the objects of the People's impatience the sinks to receive the Curses and Anger of the Vulgar the Hatred of the Querulous and the Envy of unsatisfied Ambition which he would rather have fall upon Servants that His Son might ascend the Throne free and unburthened with the discontents of any This was the rather believed because He could dispence Honours where and when He pleased as He did to some of His own Houshold as Sir Robert Cary was made Lord Cary of Lepington Sir Thomas Howard Viscount Andover and Sir John Vaughan Lord of Molingar in Ireland The Evenness of His Spirit was discovered in the loss of His Mother An. 1618 whose Death presaged as some thought by that notorious Comet which appeared Nov. 18. before happened on March 2. Anno 1618. which He bewailed with a just measure of Grief without any affected Sorrows though she was most affectionate to Him above all her other Children and at her Funeral he would be chief Mourner The Death of the Queen was not long after followed with a sharp Sickness of the King wherein his Life seeming in danger the consequences of his Death began to be lamented Dr Andrews then Bishop of Ely bewailed the sad Condition of the Church if God should at that time determine the days of the King The Prince being then only conversant with Scotch men which made up the greatest part of his Family and were ill-affected to the Government and Worship of the Church of England Of this the King became so sensible that he made a Vow If God should please to restore his Health he would so instruct the Prince in the Controversies of Religion as should secure His affections to the present Establishment Which he did with so much success as he assured the Chaplains who were to wait on the Prince in Spain that He was able to moderate in any emergent Disputations which yet he charged them to decline if possible At which they smiling he earnestly added That CHARLES should manage a Point in Controversy with the best-studied Divine of them all In His 19th Year An. 1619 on March 24. which was the Anniversary of King James's coming to the Crown of England He performed a Justing at White-hall together with several of
Honour than those who had even forced Him to it like those malignant and damned Spirits who upbraid unhappy Souls with those Crimes and ruines to which they themselves have tempted and betrayed them But the heaviest Censor was Himself for he never left bewailing His Compliance or rather Connivence with this Murder till the issue of his Blood dried up those of His Tears By the other Bill He had as some censured renounced His Crown and granted it to those men who at present exercised so Arbitrary a Power that they wanted nothing but length of time to be reputed Kings and this they now had gotten But the more Speculative concluded it an act of especial Prudence for the King made that an evidence of His sincere intention to oblige His people and overcome the Malice of His Enemies with Benefits which the Faction would have usurped and by the boldness of the attempt ingaged the People to them as the only Patrons of their Liberty And they were furnished with an Example for it by their Confederates in Scotland who indicted an Assembly without the King's leave and continued it against His pleasure and as all imitations of Crimes exceed their first pattern it was conceived these men whose furies were more unjust and so would be more fierce intended to improve that Precedent to the extreamest guilt The Bill was no sooner signed but they hastened the Execution and so much the more eagerly because the King desired in a most passionate Letter delivered by the Prince to the Lords that the Excellent Soul which found so much Injustice on Earth might have the more time to fit it self for the Mercy of Heaven But this favour which became Christians to grant agreed not with the Religion of his Adversaries and therefore the second day after he was brought to the Scaffold on Tower-Hill in his Passage thither he had a sight of the Archbishop of Canterbury whose Prayers and Blessing he with a low Obeisance begged and the most pious Prelate bestowed them with Tears where with a greater presence of mind than he had looked his Enemies in the face did he encounter Death and submitted his neck to the stroke of the Executioner He was a person of a generous Spirit fitted for the noblest enterprises and the most difficult parts of Empire His Counsels were bold yet just and he had a Vigour proper for the Execution of them Of an Eloquence next to that of his Master's masculine and most excellent He was no less affectionate to the Church than to the State and not contented while living to defend the Government and Patrimony of it he commended it also to his Son when he was about to die and charged his abhorrency of Sacriledge His Enemies called the Majesty of his Miene in his Lieutenancy Pride and the undaunted execution of his Office on the contumacious the insolency of his Fortune He was censured for committing that fatal Errour of following the King to London and to the Parliament after the Pacification with the Scots at York and it was thought that if he had gone over to his charge in Ireland he might have secured both himself and that Kingdom for his Majesty's Service But some attributed this Counsel to a necessity of Fate whose first stroke is at the brain of those whom it designs to ruine and brought him to feel the effects of Popular Rage which himself in former Parliaments had used against Government and to find the Experience of his own advices against the Duke of Buckingham Providence teaching us to abhor over-fine Counsels by the mischiefs they bring upon their Authors The Fall of this Great Man so terrified the other Officers of State that the Lord High Treasurer resigned his Staff to the Hands from whence he received it the Lord Cottington forsook the Mastership of the Court of Wards and the Guardian of the Prince returned Him to the King These Lords parting with their Offices like those that scatter their Treasure and Jewels in the way that they might delude the violence of their greedy pursuers But the King was left naked of their faithful Ministery and exposed to the Infusions and Informations of those who were either Complices or Mercenaries to the Faction to whom they discovered his most private Counsels When the Earl of Strafford was dead then did the Parliament begin to think of sending away the Scots who hitherto had much impoverished the Northern Counties and increased the charges of the Nation but now they were voted to receive 300000 l. under the notion of a Brotherly assistance but in truth designed by the Faction as a reward for their Clamours for the Earl's Blood yet were they kept so long till the King had passed away more of His Prerogative in signing the Bills to take away the High-Commission and the Star-Chamber After which spoils of Majesty they disband the English and the Scotch Armies August 6. and on the 10th of that Month the King follows them into Scotland to settle if it were possible that Kingdom But the King still found them as before when he satisfied their greedy appetites then would they offer Him their Lives and Fortunes but when gain or advantage appeared from His Enemies they appeared in their proper nature ungrateful changeable and perfidious whom no favours could oblige nor any thing but Ruine was to be expected by building upon their Love While the King was in Scotland labouring to settle that Nation by granting all that the Covetousness and Ambition of their Leaders pretended was for the Publick good and so aimed at no less than a Miracle by His Benefits to reduce Faith which like Life when it is once departed doth never naturally return into those perfidious breasts the Parliament adjourns and leaves a standing Committee of such as were the Leaders or the Servants of the Faction These prepared new Toils for His Majesties return and by them was the Grand Remonstrance formed in it were reckoned for Grievances all the Complaints of Men that were impatient of Laws and Government the Offences of Courtiers the unpleasing Resolves of Judges the Neglects or Rigours of the Ministers of Justice the undigested Sermons of some Preachers yea the Positions of some Divines in the Schools were all exaggerated to defame the present Government both in Church and State and to magnifie the skill of these State-Physicians that offered Prescripts for all these Distempers Beside more easily to abuse the Vulgar who reckon Misfortunes as Crimes unpleasing accidents were represented as designs of Tyranny and those things which had been reformed were yet mentioned as continued burthens From which the People were assured there could be no deliverance but by the Wisdom and Magnanimity of the Remonstrants To prepare the way for this the most opprobrious parts of it were first whispered among the Populacy that by this seeming suppression men impatient of Secrets might more eagerly divulge them and the danger appear greater by an affected silence Then prodigious Calumnies
attempts the King first opposes the Law in several Declarations manifests the Power of Arms to be the ancient and undoubted Right of the Crown by many Proclamations charges all men under the Crime and Penalties of Treason to forbear the Execution of those Ordinances which were published to license their Rebellion and answers with a wonderful Diligence and Eloquence all the fictious Pretensions of the Parliament to that Power in their several Remonstrances But though the King had in the judgment of all understanding and uninteressed persons the Juster Cause and the more powerful Pen yet the Faction's Hast which is most essicacious in civil Discords the Slanders they had raised of Him and impressed in the minds of the People the terrors of that Arbitrary Power which the House of Commons had a long while exercised in the vexatious prosecution of all such as did oppose their imperious Resolves for they would by their Messengers send for the Great Earls and Prime Barons of the Kingdom as Rogues and Felons and weary them and others with a tedious and chargeable Attendance oppress them with heavy and unproportionable Censures and restrain them by Illegal Imprisonments and the hopes of licence and spoil in the ruine of Church and State had so preoccupied the Minds of the inferiour Multitude that neither Law nor Religion could have the least consideration in their practices and those Persons whom His Majesty appointed as Commissioners of Array in few places found that Obedience which was due to the just Commands of a Gracious Prince who vainly expected that Reverence to Justice in others which Himself gave After the experience of their Power in these their Successes at Land and having gotten the whole Navy at Sea being made Masters of the most and greatest Strengths of the Kingdom they then thought it might be safe for them to publish the aims and ends of their most destructive designs which if sooner manifested when the King by his Message of the 20th of Jan. from Windsor-Castle advised them to prescribe the limits of their Privileges give full Boundaries to His own Power and propose what was in their judgments proper to make the People happy and most religiously promised an equal tenderness of theirs and the Peoples Rights as of His own and what was for the Publick good should not be obstructed for His Particular Emolument they had justly drawn upon themselves all that popular hatred which they endeavoured to fling upon the King and had been buried under those ruines which they projected for the Grave of Majesty But then the Faction confided not so much in their own force nor were the Vulgar then so blinded with fury as to chuse their own destruction and therefore to that Message of Peace nothing was returned but Complaints that by such Advisoes their Counsels were disturbed that it was contrary to their unbounded Privileges to be minded of what was necessary But now they were furnished with a Power equal to their Ambition they thought it expedient to confirm their newly-gotten Empire with some pretensions to Peace but with a great deal of Caution that the affectation of it might not disappoint them of their hopes which were all built upon War and Confusion Therefore they formed the Conditions such as the King could not in Honour or Conscience grant them nor expect Peace by them Or if He did they should be instated in such a Grandeur that they might reap for themselves all the reproachful Honours and unlawful gains of an Arbitrary Power the thing they aimed at and leave the King overwhelmed with shame and contempt for their miscarriages in Government These Conditions were digested into Nineteen Propositions which when presented to the King He saw by an assent to them He should be concluded to have deposed Himself and be but as an helpless and idle Spectator of the Miserie 's such Tyrants would bring upon the People whom God had committed to His Trust Therefore He gave them that denial which they really desired and expected and adjusts His refusal in a Declaration wherein He sets forth the Injustice of each Proposition His Answer He sent by the Marquess of Hertford and Earl of Southampton Persons of great Integrity and Prudence with Instructions to treat in the House of Peers upon more equal Conditions But it behoved the Faction not to let the Kingdom see any way to Peace therefore denying any admittance to those Lords before ever the King's Answer could publickly discover who were the obstructours of the Peoples quiet they Ordered a Collection to be made of Money and Plate to maintain Horse Horse-men and Arms for the ensuing War The specious Pretences for which were the Safety of the King's Person and the taking Him out of the hands of Evil Counsellors the Defence of the Privileges of Parliament the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the maintenance of the ancient Laws of the Land Such inviting causes as these inflamed the Minds of the Multitude and filled them with more aiery hopes of Victory than the noise of Drums and Trumpets But that which was most powerful were the Sermons of such who being displeased with the present Ecclesiastical Government were promised the richest Benefices and a partage of the Revenues which belonged to Bishops Deans and Chapiters These from their Pulpits proclaimed War in the Name of Christ the Prince of Peace and whatsoever was contributed to the spilling of the Blood of the Wicked was to build up the Throne of the meekest Lamb and besides the satisfaction they were to expect from the Publick Faith which the Parliament promised there was a larger Interest to be doubled upon them in the Kingdom of Saints that was now approaching Deluded by these Artifices and Impostures People of all Conditions and all Sexes some carried by a secret Instinct others hurried by some furious Zeal and a last sort led by Covetousness cast into this Holy Treasury the Banck for Blood all the Ornaments of their Family all their Silver Vessels even to their Spoons with the Pledges of their first Love their Marriage-rings and the younger Females spared not their Thimbles and Bodkins the obliging Gifts of their Inamorato's from being a part of the Price of Blood But while these Preparations were made at London the King at York declares against the Scandal that He intended to Levy War against the Parliament calling God to witness how far His desires and thoughts were from it and also those many Lords who were Witnesses of His Counsels and Actions do publish to the World by a Writing subscribed with all their Names to the number of Forty and odd that they saw not any colour of Preparations or Counsels that might reasonably beget the belief of any such Design and were fully perswaded that He had no such intention But all was in vain for the Faction chose that the People should be rather guilty of committing Rebellion that only of favouring the Contrivers of it and decreed to try
their Honour that it should not be any prejudice to Him But His Majesty had no sooner read it than they finding it not to the Gust of those that sent them notwithstanding the Faith they had given cause their Just Soveraign to be kept close Prisoner force away His Chaplains Dr. Sheldon now Lord Bishop of London and Dr. Hammond both which He highly valued for their Integrity Wisdom Piety and Learning and His other Servants even those whom the Parliament had placed formerly about Him and in whom His Goodness had wrought both an Affection and Admiration of Him and permit none about him but such as they hoped would be a Watch upon Him and whose barbarous Souls might trample on His Fortune Besides they set strict Guards at His Doors and Windows lest any Letters might come to Him or be sent from Him The like reception His Letter found with the Parliament For Cromwell and his Officers were resolved to go on with their Design and having so long used the Adjutators as served to frighten the King into the Toils they had set they soon quiet them which was not difficult being a Company of hot-headed Fellows that could only talk not form a Counsel or a Party to endure a Storm by executing some of their most pertinacious Leaders and being free of that Care applied their Practices wholly to the Destruction of His Majesty To this purpose they mould the Four Votes for No Addresses to the King but before they bring them into Publick they send into their several Counties about Forty or Fifty of the Principal Members who they thought would oppose them to raise Money for the Souldiers Nevertheless the first of those Votes was contested against so strongly that the Debates lasted from Ten of the Clock in the Morning till Seven in the Evening and though they thus wearied the more Honest Party yet could it not pass till the Conspirators had engaged that no worse thing should be done to the King The remaining Votes were dispatched in half an Hours time when those of the most sober Principles were gone forth to refresh themselves and the Conspirators still kept their Seats The House of Peers were not so hasty in them as the Commons had been and their Debates vexed the Conspirators with Delays till those who were sent by the Army to thank the Lower House for their Consent to these Desires of the Souldiers did also threaten the Upper for their long Deliberations some new Terrors were also added for they quartered two of their Regiments at White-Hall under colour of guarding the Parliament but in truth to work upon the Lords which had its effect for many that had the most Honourable thoughts in this Business forsook the Parliament and then three or four which often was the fullest Number about those times in that House joyn with the Commons in their Votes for no Addresses This prodigious Perfidiousness in Parliament and Army both which had so frequently declared and engaged themselves by Oaths and Promises to preserve the King in his Just Rights fill'd all men with amazement and indignation to see how little they valued their Faith who pretended so high to Religion therefore each of them were put to satisfie the Common Fame Cromwell to some would have cover'd this Impiety with another that as He was praying for a Blessing from God on his Vndertakings to restore the King to His Pristine Majesty his Tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth that he could not speak one word more which he took as a return of Prayer and that God had rejected Him from being King To others he did impudently assert That it was lawful to circumvent a wicked man with deceit and frauds The Conspirators in the Parliament strove to honest their Proceedings by a Declaration and assign in it for Causes of their Perjuries all the Calumnies that had been raised against the King by His most professed Enemies or from those uncertain Rumours which themselves had invented adding and repeating others which had even in the Parliament House been condemned as Forgeries yet now were used as necessary Veils for a more execrable Falshood Which infamous Libel they caused to be sent to all the Parishes of the Kingdom to be divulged supposing that none did dare to refute their black and most malicious Slanders or that none could publickly do it because they set strict Watches upon all the Printing-Presses They likewise commanded the Curates to read it in their several Churches and commend it to the People And that these might the more readily observe their Orders they at the same time strictly enjoyn the payment of Tithes and Vote that the Dean and Chapiter's Lands which they had designed for profane Uses and never intended they should be for the Emolument of Church-men should be set apart for Augmentations for their Preachers pretending a servent zeal for the propagation of the Gospel when they did most dishonour it By their Agents and the Anabaptists with other Hereticks and Schismaticks they sollicite the unacquainted Rabble to sign to Gratulatory Addresses to approve what they had already done and petition for a speedy progress in the Ruine of His Majesty But all these their cursed Projects failed for several Answers to their Defamations were published One writ by the King Himself another by Sir Edward Hyde and a third by Dr. Bates all which proved the Monstrous Falshoods of their Paper and that the Faction were guilty of what they imputed to the King and this with such Evidence that none of their most mercenary Writers or the most foul-mouthed Conspirators did dare or hope with Success to reply unto The Curates coldly if at all observed their Orders and there came so few Petitions and those signed by such contemptible and lewd persons as they rather loaded the Faction with more hatred than gave them any credit While generally in every place none of the People could contain their Fury against these Impostors but publickly cursed them and their Infamous Adherents For their Miserie 's made them sensible of the want of that Prince whose gentle and just Rule had brought them to such an inebriating Prosperity that they had forgot the Minister of their Happiness But now they found Government when it was out of His hand like Moses's Rod cast on the ground transformed to a Serpent and that those who pretended to free them from Tyranny had deluded them into the most insufferable Slavery wherein they were either totally despoiled of all things that render our Being comfortable or they were not secure in the use of them Religion the Ornament of the present and the Pledge of a future Life was so dishonoured by Schisms and Heresies somented to weaken the People by Divisions to a tameness under their Oppressors by Fasts for the most impious Designs and Thanksgivings for prosperous Crimes that some men concluded it to be nothing else but the Invention of Tyrants and the Disguise of Villains
an adjoyning Scaffold where she stood she cried out with a loud Voice but not without danger that It was a Lye not the Tenth part of the People were guilty of such a Crime but all was done by the Machinations of that Traytor Cromwell But the King after the Charge was read with a Countenance full of Majesty and Gravity demands by what Authority they proceeded with Him thus contrary to the Publick Faith and what Law they had to try Him that was an absolute Sovereign Bradshaw replying that of the Parliament His Majesty shewed the detestable Falsehood in pretending to what they had not and if they had it yet it could not justifie these Practices To which Reply when they could not answer they force Him back to the place of His Captivity The Magnanimity of the King in this Days Contest with these inhumane Butchers did much satisfie the People and they were glad while they thought not of His Danger that He wanted not either Speech or Courage against so powerful Enemies that He had spoken nothing unworthy of Himself and had preserved the Fame of His. Vertues even in so great Adversities For He seemed to triumph over their Fortune whose Arms He was now subject to The Parricides sought to break his Spirit by making His appearances frequent before such contemptible Judges and often exposing Him to the contempt of the Armed Rabble therefore four days they torture Him with the Impudence and Reproaches of their Infamous Sollicitor and President But He still refused to own their Authority which they could not prove lawful and so excellently demonstrated their abominable Impiety that He made Colonel Downes one of their Court to boggle at and disturb their Proceedings They therefore at last proceeded to take away that Life which was not to be separated from Conscience and Honour and pronounced their Sentence of Death upon their Lawful and Just Sovereign Jan. 27. not suffering Him to speak after the Decree of their Villany but hurrying Him back to the place of His Restraint At His departure He was exposed to all the Insolencies and Indignities that a phanatick and base Rabble instigated by Peters and other Instructors of Villany could invent and commit And He suffer'd many things so conformable to Christ His King as did alleviate the sense of them in Him and also instruct Him to a correspondent Patience and Charity When the barbarous Souldiers cried out at His departure Justice Justice Execution Execution as those deceived Jews did once to their KING Crucisie Him Crucifie Him this Prince in imitation of that most Holy King pitied their blind fury and said Poor Souls for a piece of Money they would do as much for their Commanders As He passed along some in defiance spit upon His Garments and one or two as it was reported by an Officer of theirs who was one of their Court and praised it as an evidence of his Souldiers Gallantry while others were stupefied with their prodigious baseness polluted His Majestick Countenance with their unclean spittle the Good King reflecting on His great Exemplar and Master wiped it off saying My Saviour suffer'd far more than this for me Into His very Face they blowed their stinking Tobacco which they knew was very distasteful to Him and in the way where He was to go just at His Feet they flung down pieces of their nasty Pipes And as they had devested themselves of all Humanity so were they impatient and furious if any one shewed Reverence or Pity to Him as He passed For no honest Spirit could be so forgetful of humane fruilty as not to be troubled at such a sight to see a Great and Just King the rightful Lord of three flourishing Kingdoms now forced from His Throne and led captive through the Streets Such as pull'd off their Hats or bowed to Him they beat with their Fists and Weapons and knock'd down one dead but for crying out God be merciful unto Him When they had brought Him to His Chamber even there they suffered Him not to rest but thrusting in and smoaking their filthy Tobacco they permitted Him no Privacy to Prayer and Meditation Thus through variety of Tortures did the King pass this Day and by His Patience wearied His Tormentors nothing unworthy His former greatness of Fortune and Mind by all these Affronts was extorted from Him though Indignities and Injuries are unusual to Princes and these were such as might have forced Passion from the best-tempered meekness had it not been strengthned with assistance from Heaven In the Evening the Conspirators were acquainted by a Member of the Army of the King's desire that seeing His Death was nigh it might be permitted him to see His Children and to receive the Sacrament and that Doctor Juxon then Lord Bishop of London now Arch-Bishop of Canterbury might be admitted to pray with Him in His private Chamber The first they did not scruple at the Children in their power being but two the Lady Elizabeth and the Duke of Glocester and they very young The second they did not readily grant Some would have had Peters to undertake that Employment for which the Bishop was sent for But he declined it with some Scoffs as knowing that the King hated the Offices of such an unhallowed Buffoon So that at last they permitted the Bishop's access to the King to whom his eminent Integrity had made him dear For with so wonderful a Prudence and uprightness he had managed the envious Office of the Treasury that that accusing age especially of Church-men found not matter for any Impeachment nor ground for the least Reproach The next day being Sunday the King was removed to St. James's where the Bishop of London read Divine Service and preached before Him in private on these words In the day when God shall judge the secrets of all men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel While the King and the Bishop at this time and also at other times were performing the Divine Service the rude Souldiers often rushed in and disturbed their Offices with vulgar and base Scoffs vain and frivolous Questions The Commanders likewise and other impertinent Anabaptists did interrupt His Meditations who came to tempt and try Him and provoke Him to some unnecessary disputations But He maintained His own Cause with so irrefragable Arguments that He put some to silence the petulancy of others He neglected and with a modest contempt dissembled their Scoffs and Reproaches In the narrow space of this one Day and under so continued Affronts and Disturbances the King whose whole Soul was totally composed to Religion applied Himself as much as was possible to the Reading Holy Scriptures to Prayer Confession of Sins Supplications for the forgiveness of his Enemies the receiving the Eucharist holy Conferences and all the Offices of Piety so under the utmost Malice and Hatred of men He laboured for the Mercy of God and to fit Himself for His last victory over Death While the King thus spent this day
took no notice of it although it was so weighty an Occurrence to have His prime Minister cut off in the busie Preparations for a great Design till He had finished His Addresses to Heaven and His Spirit was dismissed from the Throne of Grace to attend the Cares of that on Earth This was so clear an Evidence of a most fixed Devotion that those who built their Hopes upon His Reproaches slanderously imputed it to a secret Pleasure in the fall of him whose Greatness was now terrible to the Family that raised it which both His Majesties care of the Duke's Children afterwards as also the Consideration of His Condition did evince to be false and that the King neither hated him nor needed to fear him whom He could have ruined with a Frown and have obliged the People by permitting their Fury to pass upon him Besides His Majestie 's constant Diligence in those Duties did demonstrate that nothing but a principle of Holiness which is alwaies uniform both moved and assisted Him in those sacred Performances to which He was observed to go with an exceeding Alacrity as to a ravishing pleasure from which no lesser Pleasures nor Business were strong enough for a Diversion In the morning before He went to Hunting His beloved Sport the Chaplains were before Day call'd to their Ministry and when He was at Brainford among the Noise of Arms and near the Assaults of His Enemies He caused the Divine that then waited to perform his accustomed Service before He provided for Safety or attempted at Victory and would first gain upon the Love of Heaven and then afterwards repel the Malice of Men. Those that were appointed by the Parliament to attend Him in His Restraints wondred at His constant Devotions in His Closet and no Artifice of the Army was so likely to abuse Him to a Credulity of their good Intentions as the Permission of the Ministery of His Chaplains in the Worship of God a Mercy He valued to some of His Servants above that of enjoying Wife and Children At Sermons He carried Himself with such a Reverence and Attention that His Enemies which hated yet did even admire Him in it as if He were expecting new Instructions for Government from that God whose Deputy He was or a new Charter for a larger Empire and He was so careful not to neglect any of those Exercises that if on Tuesday Mornings on which Dayes there used to be Sermons at Court He were at any distance from thence He would ride hard to be present at the beginnings of them When the State of His Soul required He was as ready to perform those more severe parts of Religion which seem most distastful to Flesh and Blood And He never refused to take to Himself the shame of those Acts wherein He had transgressed that He might give Glory to His God For after the Army had forced Him from Holmeby and in their several removes had brought Him to Latmas an house of the Earl of Devonshire on Aug. 1. being Sunday in the Morning before Sermon He led forth with Him into the Garden the Reverend Dr Sheldon who then attended on Him and whom He was pleased to use as His Confessour and drawing out of His Pocket a Paper commanded him to read it transcribe it and so to deliver it to Him again This Paper contained several Vows which He had obliged His Soul unto for the Glory of His Maker the advance of true Piety and the emolument of the Church And among them this was one that He would do Publick Penance for the Injustice He had suffered to be done to the Earl of Strafford His consent to those Injuries that were done to the Church of England though at that time He had yielded to no more than the taking away of the High Commission and the Bishops power to Vote in Parliament and to the Church of Scotland and adjured the Dr that if ever he saw Him in a Condition to observe that or any of those Vows he should solicitously mind Him of the Obligations as he dreaded the guilt of the breach should ly upon His own Soul This voluntary submission to the Laws of Christianity exceeded that so memorable humiliation of the good Emperour Theodosius for he never bewailed the Blood of those seven thousand Men which in three hours space he caused to be spilt at Thessalonica till the resolution of St Ambrose made him sensible of the Crime But the Piety of King Charles anticipated the severity of a Confessor for those Offences to which He had been precipitated by the Violence of others This Zeal and Piety proceeded from the Dedication of His whole Soul to the Honour of His God for Religion was as Imperial in the Intellectual as in the Affectionate Faculties of it This Profession of the Church of England was His not so much by Education as Choice and He so well understood the Grounds of it that He valued them above all other Pretensions to Truth and was able to maintain it against all its Adversaries His Discourse with Henderson shews how just a Reverence He had for the Authority of the Catholick Church against the Pride and Ignorance of Schismaticks yet not to prostitute His Faith to the Adulterations of the Roman Infallibility and Traditions Nevertheless the most violent Slanders the Faction laboured to pollute Him with were those that rendred Him inclinable to Popery From which He was so averse that He could not forbear in His indearments to the Queen when He committed a secret to Her Breast which He would not trust to any other and when He admired and applauded Her affectionate Cares for His Honour and Safety in a Letter which He thought no Eye but Hers should have perused to let Her know that He still differ'd from Her in Religion for He says It is the only thing of Difference in Opinion betwixt Vs. Malice made the Slanderers blind and they published this Letter to the World than which there could not be a greater Evidence imaginable of the King 's most secret thoughts and Inward Sincerity nor a more shameful Conviction of their Impudence and damnable Falshood Nor did He only tell the Queen so but He made Her see it in His Actions For as soon as His Children were born it was His first Care to prevent the satisfaction of their Mother in baptizing them after the Rites of Her own Church When He was to Die a time most seasonable to speak Truth especially by Him who all His Life knew not how to Dissemble He declares His Profession in Religion to be the same with that which He found left by His Father King James How little the Papists credited what the Faction would have the World believe was too evident by the Conspiracies of their Fathers against His Life and Honour which the Discovery of Habernefield to whose relations the following practices against Him and the Church of England gained a belief brought to light They were mingled likewise
the Corruptions of men is more efficacious to Impiety than to Vertue could not do that His Law should and He would restrain those Vices which He could not extirpate Religion was never used by Him to veil Injustice for this was peculiar to His Adversaries who when they were plotting such acts as Hell would blush at they would fawn and smile on Heaven and they used it as those subtle Surprisers in War who wear their Enemies Colours till they be admitted to butcher them within their own Fortresses But His Majesty consulted the Peace of His Conscience not only in Piety to God but also in Justice to Men. He was as a Magistrate should be a speaking Law It was His usual saying Let me stand or fall by My own Counsels I will ever with Job rather chuse Misery than Sin He first submitted His Counsels to the Censure of the Lawyers before they were brought forth to Execution Those acts of which the Faction made most noise were delivered by the Judges to be within the Sphere of the Prerogative The causes of the Revenue were as freely debated as private Pleas and sometimes decreed to be not good which can never happen under a bad Prince The Justice of His Times shewed that of His Breast wherein the Laws were feared and not Men. None were forced to purchase their Liberty with the diminution of their Estates or the loss of their Credit Every one had both security and safety for His Life Fortune and Dignity and it was not then thought as afterwards to be a part of Wisdom to provide against Dangers by obscurity and Privacies His Favours in bestowing Great Offices never secured the Receivers from the force of the Law but Equity overcame His Indulgences For He knew that Vnjust Princes become Odious to them that made them so He submitted the Lord Keeper Coventrey to an Examination when a querulous person had accused him of Bribery He sharply reproved one whom He had made Lord Treasurer when he was petitioned against by an Hampshire Knight on whose Estate being held by Lease from the Crown that Treasurer had a design and He secured the Petitioner in his right The greatest Officer of His Court did not dare to do any the least of those injuries which the most contemptible Member of the House of Commons would with a daily Insolency act upon his weaker Neighbour In the Civil Discords He bewailed nothing more than that the Sword of Justice could not correct the illegal Furies of that of War Though by His Concessions and Grants He diminished His Power yet He thought it a Compensation to let the World see He was willing to make it impossible for Monarchy to have an unjust Instrument and to secure posterity from evil Kings Although He proved to a Leading Lord of the Faction That a People being too cautious to bind their King by Laws from doing Ill do likewise fetter Him from doing Good and their fears of Mischief do destroy their hopes of Benefit And that such is the weakness of Humanity that he which is intrusted only to Good may pervert that Power to the extremest Ills. And indeed there is no security for a Community to feel nothing in Government besides the Advantages of it but in the Benignity of Providence and the Justice of the Prince both which we enjoyed while we enjoyed Him Though He was thus in Love with Justice yet He suffered not that to leven His Nature to Severity and Rigour but tempered it with Clemency especially when His Goodness could possibly find out such an Interpretation for the Offence that it struck more at His Peculiar than the Publick Interest He seemed almost stupid in the Opinion of Cholerick Spirits as to a sense of His own Injuries when there was no fear lest His Mercy should thereby increase the Miseries of His People And He was so ambitious of the Glory of Moderation that He would acquire it in despight of the Malignity of the times For the Exercise of this Vertue depends not only on the temper of the Prince but the frame of the People must contribute to it because when the Reverence of Majesty and fear of the Laws are proscribed sharper Methods are required to from Obedience Yet He was unwilling to cut off till He had tried by Mercy to amend even guilty Souls Thus He strove to oblige the Lord Balmerino to peaceful practices by continuing that Life which had been employed in Sedition and forfeited to the Law Soon after His coming into the Isle of Wight by which time He had experienced the numerous Frauds and implacable Malice of His Enemies being attended on by Dr Sheldon and Dr Hammond for they were the earliest in their duties at that time a discourse passed betwixt His Majesty and the Governour wherein there was mention made of the fears of the Faction that the King could never forgive them To which the King immediately replies I tell thee Governour I can forgive them with as good an appetite as ever I eat My Dinner after an hunting and that I assure you was not a small one yet I will not make My self a better Christian than I am for I think if they were Kings I could not do it so easily This shewed how prone His Soul was to Mercy and found not any obstruction but what arose from a sense of Royal Magnanimity He sooner offered and gave life to His captive Enemies than their Spirits debauched by Rebellion would require it and He was sparing of that blood of which their fury made them Prodigal No man fell in battel whom He could save He chose rather to enjoy any Victory by Peace and therefore continually sollicited for it when He seemed least to need it than make one triumph a step to another and though He was passionate to put all in Safety yet He affected rather to end the War by Treaty than by Conquest The Prisoners He took He used like deluded men and oftener remembred that God had made them His Subjects than that the Faction had transformed them to Rebels He provided for them while in His Power and not to let them languish in Prison sent them by Passes to their own homes only ingaging them by Oath to no more injuries against that Sovereign whom they had felt to be Gracious for so He used those that were taken at Brainford But yet the Casuists of the Cause would soon dispense with their Faith and send them forth to die in contracting a new guilt Those whom the fury of War had left gasping in the Field and fainting under their wounds He commends in His Warrants as in that to the Mayor of Newbury to the care of the Neighbourhood either tenderly to recover or decently bury and His Commands were as well for those that sought to murther Him as those that were wounded in His Defence This made the Impudence and Falshood of Bradshaw more portentous when in his Speech of the Assassination he belch'd
changes of Government and Variety of reproachful Usurpers that they became the Scorn of Neighbouring Nations and the miserable Example of a disquiet Community so torn in pieces by Factions in the State and Schisms in the Church each party mutually armed to suppress its contrary and destroy the publick that it was impossible for them to re-unite or consent in common to seek the benefit of Society until they had submitted to Him as to the common Soul to be governed by Him in the paths of Justice He is now and long may He be so our Dread Sovereign CHARLES II. 3. James born in the same place Octob. 13. An. 1633. entituled Duke of York by His Majesty's Command at His Birth and afterwards so created He was a Companion of His Brother in Exile spending His time abroad both in the French and Spanish Camps with Glory and returned with Him into England 4. Henry Duke of Gloucester born in the same place Jul. 8. An. 1639. who after the Death of His Father was by the Parricides permitted to go beyond Sea to His Mother with the promise of an Annual Pension which they never intended to pay A very hopeful Prince who resisted the strong practices of some in the Queen's Court to seduce Him to the Church of Rome which His Brother hearing sent for Him into Flanders and He also attended Him to His Throne but not long after died of the Small Pox Sept. 13. An. 1660. 5. Mary born on Nov. 4. An. 1631. married to Count William of Nassau Eldest Son to Henry Prince of Orange by whom she was left a Widow and a short time after the Mother of the now Prince of Orange and coming over to visit her Brothers and the place of her Nativity she died also of the Small Pox Decem. 24. An. 1660. 6. Elizabeth born Jan. 28. An. 1635. who survived her Father but lived not to see the Restoring the Royal Family dying at Carisbrook the place of her Father's Captivity being removed thither by the Murtherers that the place might raise a grief to end her Days 7. Anne born Mar. 17. An. 1637. died before her Father 8. Katharine who died almost as soon as born 9. Henrietta born at Exceter June 16. An. 1644. in the midst of the Wars conveyed not long after by the Lady Dalkeith into France to her Mother and is now married to the Duke of Anjou only Brother to the King of France Having left this Issue He died in the forty ninth year of His Age and 23. of His Reign having lived Much rather than Long and left so many great and difficult Examples as will busie Good Princes to imitate and Bad ones to wonder at A man in Office and Mind like to that Spiritual Being which the more men understand the more they Admire and Love and that may be said of Him which was said of that Excellent Roman who sought Glory by Vertue Homo Virtuti simillimus per omnia Ingenio Diis quà m Hominibus propior Qui nunquam rectè fecit ut rectè facere videretur se dui a aliter facere non poterat Cuique id solum visum est Rationem habere quod haberet Justitiam Omnibus Humanis vitiis Immunis semper in Potestate suâ Fortunam habuit Vell. Paterc lib. 2. Thus Reader thou hast a short account how this best of Princes Lived and Died a Subject that was fit to be writ only with the point of a Scepter none but a Royal Breast can have Sentiments equal to His Vertues nor any but a Crowned Head can frame Expressions to represent His Worth He that had nothing Common or Ordinary in His Life and Fortune is almost prophaned by a Vulgar Pen. The attempt I confess admits no Apology but this That it was fit that Posterity when they read His Works for they shall continue while these Islands are inhabited to upbraid Time and reproach Marble Monuments of weakness should also be told that His Actions were as Heroick as His Writings and His Life more elegant than His Style Which not being undertaken by some Noble hand that was happy in a near approach to Majesty and so could have taken more exact measures of this Great Example for Mighty Kings rendred it in more full Proportions and given it more lively Colours I was by Importunity prevailed upon to imitate those affectionate Slaves who would gather up the scattered Limbs of some great Person that had been their Lord yet fell at the pleasure of his Enemies burn them on some Plebeian Pyle and entertain their ashes in an homely Urne till future times could cover them with a Pyramid or inclose them in a Temple by making a Collection from Writers and Persons worthy of Credit of all the Remains and Memoires I could get of this Incomparable Monarch Whose Excellent Vertues though they often tempted the Compiler to the Liberty of a Panegyrick yet they still perswaded him to as strict an observance of Truth as is due to an History For He praises this King best who writes His Life most faithfully which was the Care and Endeavour of Thine Richard Perrinchiefe THE PAPERS WHICH PASSED BETWIXT HIS SACRED MAJESTY AND Mr ALEXANDER HENDERSON CONCERNING THE CHANGE OF CHURCH-GOVERNMENT AT NEW-CASTLE MDCXLVI I. His MAJESTY's First Paper For Mr Alexander Henderson Mr Henderson I Know very well what a great disadvantage it is for Me to maintain an Argument of Divinity with so able and learned a Man as your self it being your not My profession which really was the cause that made Me desire to hear some learned man argue My Opinion with you of whose Abilities I might be confident that I should not be led into an Errour for want of having all which could be said layed open unto Me. For indeed my humour is such that I am still partial for that side which I imagine suffers for the weakness of those that maintain it alwaies thinking that equal Champions would cast the balance on the other part Yet since that you thinking that it will save time desire to go another way I shall not contest with you in it but treating you as my Physician give you leave to take your own way of cure only I thought fit to warn you lest if you not I should be mistaken in this you would be fain in a manner to begin anew Then know that from my Infancy I was blest with the King my Fathers love which I thank God was an invaluable Happiness to me all his daies and among all his cares for my Education his chief was to settle Me right in Religion in the true knowledge of which He made Himself so eminent to all the World that I am sure none can call in question the brightness of his Fame in that particular without shewing their own ignorant base Malice He it was who laid in Me the grounds of Christianity which to this day I have been constant in So that whether the Worthiness of my Instructor be considered
Truth but follow their own Fancies 3. Ratione Finis when the Interpretation is not proposed as Authentical to bind others but is intended only for our own private satisfaction The first is not to be despised the second is to be exploded and is condemned by the Apostle Peter the third ought not to be censured But that Interpretation which is Authentical and of supreme Authority which every mans conscience is bound to yield unto is of an higher nature And although the General Council should resolve it and the Consent of the Fathers should be had unto it yet there must always be place left to the judgment of Discretion as Davenant late Bishop of Salisbury beside divers others hath learnedly made appear in his Book De Judice Controversiarum where also the Power of Kings in matter of Religion is solidly and unpartially determined Two words only I add One is that notwithstanding all that is pretended from Antiquity a Bishop having sole power of Ordination and Jurisdiction will never be found in Prime Antiquity The other is that many of the Fathers did unwittingly bring forth that Antichrist which was conceived in the times of the Apostles and therefore are incompetent Judges in the Question of Hierarchy And upon the other part the Lights of the Christian Church at and since the beginning of the Reformation have discovered many secrets concerning the Antichrist and his Hierarchy which were not known to former Ages And divers of the Learned in the Roman Church have not feared to pronounce That whosoever denies the true and literal sense of many Texts of Scripture to have been found out in this last Age is unthankful to God who hath so plentifully poured forth his Spirit upon the Children of this Generation and ungrateful towards those men who with so great pains so happy success and so much benefit to God's Church have travailed therein This might be instanced in many places of Scripture I wind together Diotrephes and the Mystery of iniquity the one as an old example of Church-ambition which was also too palpable in the Apostles themselves and the other as a cover of Ambition afterwards discovered which two brought forth the great Mystery of the Papacy at last 6. Although Your Majesty be not made a Judge of the Reformed Churches yet You so far censure them and their actions as without Bishops in Your Judgment they cannot have a lawful Ministery nor a due Administration of the Sacraments Against which dangerous and destructive Opinion I did alledge what I supposed Your Majesty would not have denied 1. That Presbyters without a Bishop may ordain other Presbyters 2. That Baptism administred by such a Presbyter is another thing than Baptism administred by a private person or by a Midwife Of the first Your Majesty calls for proof I told before that in Scripture it is manifest 1 Tim. 4. 14. Neglect not the Gift that is in thee which was given thee by the Prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery so it is in the English Translation And the word Presbytery To often as it is used in the New Testament always signifies the Persons and not the Office And although the Offices of Bishop and Presbyter were distinct yet doth not the Presbyter derive his power of Order from the Bishop The Evangelists were inferiour to the Apostles yet had they their power not from the Apostles but from Christ The same I affirm of the Seventy Disciples who had their power immediately from Christ no less than the Apostles had theirs It may upon better reason be averred that the Bishops have their power from the Pope than that Presbyters have their power from the Prelats It is true Jerome saith Quid facit exceptâ ordinatione Episcopus quod non facit Presbyter But in the same place he proves from Sccipture that Episcopus and Presbyter are one and the same and therefore when he appropriates Ordination to the Bishop he speaketh of the degenerated custom of his time Secondly Concerning Baptism a private person may perform the external Action and Rites both of it and of the Eucharist yet is neither of the two a Sacrament or hath any efficacy unless it be done by him that is lawfully called thereunto or by a person made publick and cloathed with Authority by Ordination This Errour in the matter of Baptism is begot by another Errour of the Absolute Necessity of Baptism 7. To that which hath been said concerning Your Majesties Oath I shall add nothing not being willing to enter upon the Question of the subordination of the Church to the Civil Power whether the King or Parliament or both and to either of them in their own place Such an Headship as the Kings of England have claimed and such a Supremacy as the Two Houses of Parliament crave with the Appeals from the supreme Ecclesiastical Judicature to them as set over the Church in the same line of Subordination I do utterly disclaim upon such Reasons as give my self satisfaction although no man shall be more willing to submit to Civil powers each one in their own place and more unwilling to make any trouble than my self Only concerning the application of the Generals of an Oath to the particular case now in hand under favour I conceive not how the Clergy of the Church of England is or ought to be principally intended in Your Oath For although they were esteemed to be the Representative Church yet even that is for the benefit of the Church Collective Salus Populi being Suprema lex and to be principally intended Your Majesty knows it was so in the Church of Scotland where the like alteration was made And if nothing of this kind can be done without the consent of the Clergy what Reformation can be expected in France or Spain or Rome it self It is not to be expected that the Pope or Prelates will consent to their own ruine 8. I will not presume upon any secret knowledge of the Opinions held by the King Your Majesty's Father of famous Memory they being much better known to Your Majesty I did only produce what was profest by Him before the world And although Prayers and Tears be the Arms of the Church yet it is neither acceptable to God nor conducible for Kings and Princes to force the Church to put on these Arms. Nor could I ever hear a reason why a necessary Defensive War against unjust Violence is unlawful although it be joyned with Offence and Invasion which is intended for Defence but so that Arms are laid down when the Offensive War ceaseth by which it doth appear that the War on the other side was in the nature thereof Defensive 9. Concerning the forcing of Conscience which I pretermitted in my other Paper I am forced now but without forcing of my conscience to speak of it Our Conscience may be said to be forced either by our selves or by others By our selves 1. When we stop the ear of our Conscience
intentions in His former Messages He doth now declare that if His Personal repair to London as aforesaid shall be admitted and a Peace thereon shall ensue He will then leave the nomination of the Persons to be intrusted with the Militia wholly to His two Houses with such power and limitations as are expressed in the Paper delivered by His Majesty's Commissioners at Vxbridge the sixth of February 1644. for the term of seven years as hath been desired to be given immediately after the conclusion of the Peace the disbanding of all Forces on both sides and the dismantling of the Garrisons erected since these present Troubles so as at the expiration of the time before mentioned the power of the Militia shall entirely revert and remain as before And for their further security His Majesty the Peace succeeding will be content that pro hac vice the two Houses shall nominate the Admiral Officers of State and Judges to hold their places during life or quam diu se bene gesserint which shall be best liked to be accountable to none but the King and the two Houses of Parliament As for matter of Religion His Majesty doth further declare That by the Liberty offered in His Message of the 15 present for the ease of their Consciences who will not communicate in the Service already established by Act of Parliament in this Kingdom He intends that all other Protestants behaving themselves peaceably in and towards the Civil Government shall have the free exercise of their Religion according to their own way And for the total removing of all Fears and Jealousies His Majesty is willing to agree that upon the conclusion of Peace there shall be a general Act of Oblivion and free Pardon past by Act of Parliament in both His Kingdoms respectively And lest it should be imagined that in the making these Propositions His Majesty's Kingdom of Scotland and His Subjects there have been forgotten or neglected His Majesty declares That what is here mentioned touching the Militia and the naming of Officers of State and Judges shall likewise extend to His Kingdom of Scotland And now His Majesty having so fully and clearly expressed His intentions and desires of making a happy and well-grounded Peace if any person shall decline that Happiness by opposing of so apparent a way of attaining it he will sufficiently demonstrate to all the World his intention and design can be no other than the total subversion and change of the ancient and happy Government of this Kingdom under which the English Nation hath so long flourished Given at Our Court at Oxon the 29. of January 1645. XXI From OXFORD Feb. 26. MDCXLV VI. For an Answer to the Former For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty needs to make no excuse though He sent no more Messages unto you for He very well knows He ought not to do it if He either stood upon punctilio's of Honour or His Own private Interest the one being already call'd in question by His often sending and the other assuredly prejudg'd if a Peace be concluded from that He hath already offered He having therein departed with many His undoubted Rights But nothing being equally dear unto Him to the preservation of His People His Majesty passeth by many scruples neglects and delayes and once more desires you to give Him a speedy Answer to His last Message for His Majesty believes it doth very well become Him after this very long delay at last to utter His Impatience since the Goods and Blood of His Subjects crie so much for Peace Given at our Court at Oxford the 26. day of February 1645. XXII From OXFORD Mar. 23. MDCXLV VI. Concerning His Return to the Houses For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster CHARLES R. NOtwithstanding the unexpected Silence in stead of Answer to His Majesty's many and gracious Messages to both Houses whereby it may appear that they desire to obtain their ends by Force rather than by Treaty which may justly discourage His Majesty from any more overtures of that kind yet His Majesty conceives He shall be much wanting in His duty to God and in what He oweth to the safety of His people if he should not intend to prevent the great inconveniences that may otherwise hinder a safe and well-grounded Peace His Majesty therefore now proposeth that so He may have the Faith of both Houses of Parliament for the preservation of His Honour Person and Estate and that Liberty be given to all those who do and have adhered to His Majesty to go to their own Houses and there to live peaceably enjoying their Estates all Sequestrations being taken off without being compelled to take any Oath not enjoyned by the undoubted Laws of the Kingdom or being put to any other molestation whatsoever He will immediately disband all His Forces and dismantle all His Garrisons and being accompanied with His Royal not His Martial Attendance return to His two Houses of Parliament and there reside with them And for the better security of all His Majesties Subjects He proposeth that He with His said two Houses immediately upon His coming to Westminster will pass an Act of Oblivion and free Pardon and where His Majesty will further do whatsoever they will advise Him for the good and Peace of this Kingdom And as for the Kingdom of Scotland His Majesty hath made no mention of it here in regard of the great loss of time which must now be spent in expecting an answer from thence but declares that immediately upon His coming to Westminster He will apply himself to give them all satisfaction touching that Kingdom If His Majesty could possibly doubt the success of this offer He could use many arguments to perswade them to it but shall only insist on that great One of giving an instant Peace to these afflicted Kingdoms Given at our Court at Oxford the 23. of March 1645. XXIII From SOUTHWELL May 18. MDCXLVI With his further Concessions for the obtaining of Peace For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty having understood from both His Houses of Parliament that it was not safe for Him to come to London whither He had purposed to repair if so He might by their advice to do whatsoever may be best for the good and Peace of these Kingdoms until He shall first give His consent to such Propositions as were to be presented to Him from them and being certainly informed that the Armies were marching so fast up to Oxford as made that no fit place for Treating did resolve to withdraw Himself hither only to secure His Own Person and with no
Advocate Rives and D. Duck. And afterward in a Letter of one of the Commissioners for the two Houses He sent inclosed this Note Nov. 2. C. R. The Bishop of Armagh the Bishop of Excester the Bishop of Rochester the Bishop of Worcester Dr. Ferne Dr. Morley XXXVIII From NEWPORT Sept. 29. MDCXLVIII Containing His Concessions HIS Majesty did use many earnest endeavours for a Personal Treaty which He hoped might have been obtained at Westminster between Him and His two Houses of Parliament immediately yet they having made choice of this way by you their Commissioners His Majesty did gladly and chearfully accept thereof in this place as a fit means to begin a Treaty for Peace which might put an end to His own sad condition and the Miseries of His Kingdom For an entrance whereunto His Majesty hath already expressed His consent to the First Proposition But finding you are limited by Instructions which you have no warrant to communicate unto Him and having cause by your Paper of the twentieth of this present to believe that you have no power to omit or alter any thing though He shall give you such reasons as may satisfie you so to do without transmitting the Papers to the two Houses at a far distance where His Majesties reasons expressions and offers upon debate cannot be fully represented and from whence their Answers cannot be returned without much waste of the time allotted for the Treaty here and having lately received another Paper concerning the Church containing in it self many particulars of great importance and referring to divers Ordinances Articles of Religion and other things eleven or twelve in number of great length and some of them very new and never before presented to His Majesty the due consideration whereof will take up much time and require His Majesties presence with His two Houses before a full resolution can well be had in matters of so high consequence To the end therefore that the good Work now in hand may by God's blessing proceed more speedily and effectually to an happy conclusion and that His two Houses of Parliament may at present have further security and an earnest of future satisfaction His Majesty upon consideration had of yours makes these Propositions following Concerning the Church His Majesty will consent that the calling and sitting of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster be confirmed for three years by Act of Parliament And will by Act of Parliament confirm for three years the Directory for the publick Worship of God in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales And will likewise confirm for three years by Act of Parliament the Form of Church-Government which ye have presented to Him to be used for the Churches of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales Provided that His Majesty and those of His Judgment or any others who cannot in Conscience submit thereunto be not in the mean time obliged to comply with the same Government or Form of Worship but have free practice of their own profession And that a free consultation and debate be had with the Assembly of Divines at Westminster in the mean time twenty of His Majesties nomination being added unto them whereby it may be determined by His Majesty and His two Houses of Parliament how the said Church-Government and Form of Publick Worship after the said time may be setled or sooner if Differences may be agreed and how also Reformation of Religion may be setled within the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Dominion of Wales And the Articles of Christian Religion now delivered to Him may in like manner be then considered of and determined and care taken for the ease of tender Consciences And concerning the Bishops Lands and Revenues His Majesty considering that during these troublesom times divers of His Subjects have made contracts and purchaces and divers have disbursed great summs of moneys upon security and engagement of those Lands His Majesty for their satisfaction will consent to an Act or Acts of Parliament whereby legal estates for lives or for years at their choice not exceeding 99 years shall be made of those Lands towards the satisfaction of the said Purchasers Contractors and others to whom they are engaged at the old Rents or some other moderate Rent whereby they may receive satisfaction And in case such Leases shall not satisfie His Majesty will propound and consent to some other way for their further satisfaction Provided that the propriety and inheritance of those Lands may still remain and continue to the Church and Church-men respectively according to the pious intentions of the Donors and Founders thereof and the rent that shall be reserved to be for their maintenance His Majesty will give his Royal assent for the better observation of the Lord's day for suppressing of Innovations in Churches and Chappels in and about the Worship of God and for the better advancement of the Preaching of God's Holy Word in all parts of this Kingdom and to an Act against enjoying pluralities of Benefices by Spiritual persons and Non-residency and to an Act for regulating and Reforming both Universities and the Colledges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton His Majesty will consent to an Act for the better discovery and speedy conviction of Popish Recusants as is desired in your Propositions and also to an Act for the education of the children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion As also to an Act for the true levying of the penalties against Papists to be levied and disposed in such manner as both Houses shall agree on and as is proposed on His Majesties behalf As also to an Act to prevent the practices of Papists against the State and for putting the Laws in Execution and for a stricter course to prevent hearing and saying of Mass But as to the Covenant His Majesty is not yet therein satisfied that He can either sign or swear it or consent to impose it on the Consciences of others nor doth He conceive it proper or useful at this time to be insisted on Touching the Militia His Majesty conceives that your Proposition demands a far larger power over the persons and estates of His Subjects than hath ever hitherto been warranted by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm Yet considering the present Distractions require more and trusting in His two Houses of Parliament that they will make no further use of the power therein mentioned after the present Distempers setled than shall be agreeable to the legal exercise thereof in times past or just necessity shall require His Majesty will consent to an Act of Parliament That the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England now assembled or hereafter to be assembled or such as they shall appoint during the space of ten years shall arm train and discipline or cause to be armed trained or disciplined all the Forces of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernesey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick
never after to bear Arms against the King were freely released Again they seem to have good Memories saying that the King once sent them a specious Message of renewing a Treaty when at the same time His Messenger was instructed how to manage that bloody Massacre in London which was then design'd by virtue of the King's Commission since published And hath the King sent but one Message for the renewing of a Treaty Then what was that from Tavestock in August 1644. and five others from Oxford the next year But indeed this that is here mentioned they knew not how to answer for at that time they knew not the way of silence but by this forged Accusation against the Messenger who I dare say knew nothing of that which might have been at that time intended for the King's service by some who had more Zeal than Judgment But that there was a Massacre intended or that any Commission from the King should countenance such a Design is a most notorious Slander As for the King 's mentioned Letter to the Queen I am confident that any judicious Reader will find the Gloss made upon it very much wrested And certainly after-Ages will think these Times very barbarous wherein private Letters betwixt Man and Wife are published to open view and in other Countries there is such respect carried to private Letters of Princes that to my knowledge the last Emperour in the greatest heat of the Bohemian War having intercepted a Packet wherein were private Letters to King JAMES of blessed Memory who was then known no great Friend to the Emperour from His only Daughter then avowedly the Emperour 's greatest Enemy yet He sent them to the King without the least offer of violence to the Seals And now I come to their Determination upon the whole matter what Course they have resolved to take with the King their words are But notwithstanding this and other former Tenders we have now received such a Denial that we are in Despair of any good by Addresses to the King neither must we be so injurious to the People in further delaying their Settlement as any more to press His Consent to these or any other Propositions Besides it is Resolv̄ed upon the Question That they will receive no more any Message from the King and do enjoyn That no persons do presume to receive or bring any Message from the King to both or either Houses of Parliament or to any other person Thus you see that the King is laid by but that is not all for He must neither justifie His Innocency against Calumny nor is there any way left Him to mend any Errour that He may have committed Is this a Just way of proceeding when Truth though offered must not be heard and that no way must be left to recant an Errour And why all this Severity Because as I have already shewn you the King will not injure His Conscience or Honour nor suffer His People to be oppressed to which they give the Term of such a Denial though really it was none But since they thus seek to hoodwink the People it is no great Wonder that they forbid the King to repent Him of those Faults which He never committed and I believe all Indifferent men will easily judge of the King's Innocency even by their way of accusation for those who will lay such high Crimes to His charge as the breach of Oaths Vows Protestations and Imprecations would not spare to bring their Proofs if they had any But on the contrary it is known to all the World that He had not suffer'd as He has done if He would have dispensed with that part of His Coronation-Oath which He made to the Clergy which is no great sign that He makes slight of His Engagements of which it is so universally known that He has been so Religiously careful as I hold it a wrong to His Innocency to seek to clear Him of such Slanders for which there are no Proofs alledged for Malice being once detected is best answered with Neglect and Silence And was there ever greater or more apparent Malice than to offer to put the horrid slander of Parricide upon Him who was eminently known to be as obedient and loving a Son to His blessed Father as any History can make mention of But indeed the loss of Rochel doth fitly follow to shew how Malice when it is at the height is ordinarily accompanied for there are none but ignorant or forgetful men who know not that it was merely the want of Assistance from the Two Houses of Parliament contrary to their Publick General Engagement that lost Rochel and there is nothing more clear to any who hath known French Occurrences than that real Assistance which the King to the uttermost of His Power gave to those of the Religion at that time made the Cardinal Richelieu an irreconcileable enemy to the King Wherefore I cannot but say that it is a strange forgetful Boldness to charge the King with that which was evidently other mens faults There are also other things that to any knowing man will rather seem Jeers than Accusations as the German Horse and Spanish Fleet in the year 1639. But my Affection shall not so blind me as to say that the King never erred yet as when a just Debt is paid Bonds ought to be cancell'd so Grievances be they never so just being once redressed ought no more to be objected as Errours And it is no Paradox to affirm that Truths this way told are no better than Slanders and such are the Catalogue of Grievances here enumerated which when they are well examined every one of them will not be found such as here they are described to be Now as concerning those Discourses which mention the beginnings of these Troubles which are in Two several places of this Declaration I will only say this that what the King did upon those Occasions was merely to defend the Rights of His Crown which were and are evidently sought to be torn from Him Nor can I acknowledge all those Relations to be true such as Private Levies of men by Popish Agents Arming of Papists in the North Calling in of Danish Forces and the like And as for the stale Slander of calling up the Northern Army now renewed it is well known that the Two Houses even at that time were not so partial to the King as to have conceal'd a Practice of that kind if they could have got it sufficiently proved But if the Irish Rebellion can be justly charged upon the King then I shall not blame any for believing all the rest of the Allegations against Him only I protest against all Rebels Testimony as good Proof it being most certain by experience that they who make no Conscience of Rebelling will make less of Lying when it is for their Advantage And it is no little wonder that so grave an Assembly as the House of Commons should so slightly examine a Business of that Great
Weight as to alledg that the Scots Great Seal did countenance the Irish Rebellion when I know it can be proved by Witnesses without exception that for many months before until the now Lord Chancellor had the keeping of it there was nothing at all Sealed by it Nor concerning this great point will I only say that the King is Innocent and bid them prove which to most Accusations is a sufficient Answer but I can prove that if the King had been obeyed in the Irish Affairs before He went last into Scotland there had been no Irish Rebellion and after it was begun it had in few months been suppressed if His Directions had been observed For if the King had been suffered to have performed His Engagements to the Irish Agents and had disposed of the discontented Irish Army beyond Sea according to His Contracts with the French and Spanish Ambassadours there is nothing more clear than that there could have been no Rebellion in Ireland because they had wanted both Pretence and Means to have made one Then when it was broken forth if those vigorous courses had been pursued which the King proposed first to the Scots then to the English Parliament doubtless that Rebellion had been soon suppressed But what He proposed took so little effect that in many months after there was nothing sent into Ireland but what the King Himself sent assisted by the Duke of Richmond before He came from Scotland unto Sir Rob. Steward which though it were little will be found to have done much service as may be seen by the said Sir Robert's voluntary Testimony given in writing to the Parliament Commissioners then attending the King at Stoak And certainly a greater Evidence for Constancy in Religion there cannot be than the King shewed in His Irish Treaty for in the time that He most needed Assistance it was in His Power to have made that Kingdom declare unanimously for Him and have had the whole Forces thereof employed in His Service if He would have granted their Demand in Points of Religion they not insisting on any thing of Civil Government which His Majesty might not have granted without prejudice to Regal Authority and this can be clearly proved by the Marquess of Ormond's Treaties with the Irish not without very good Evidence by some of the King's Letters to the Queen which were taken at Naseby that are purposely concealed lest they should too plainly discover the King's detestation of that Rebellion and His rigid firmness to the Protestant Profession Nor can I end this Point without remarking with wonder that Men should have so ill Memories as again to renew that old Slander of the King 's giving Passes to divers Papists and Persons of Quality who headed the Rebels of which He so cleared Himself that He demanded Reparation for it but could not have it albeit no shew of Proof could be produced for that Allegation as is most plainly to be seen in the first book of the Collection of all Remonstrances Declarations c. fol. 69 70. Thus having given a particular Answer to the most material Points in this Declaration the rest are such frivolous malicious and many of them groundless Calumnies that Contempt is the best Answer for them Yet one thing more I must observe that they not only endeavour to make Fables pass for currant Coyn but likewise seek to blind mens Judgements with false Inferences upon some Truths For Example it is true that the King hath said in some of His Speeches or Declarations That He oweth an Accompt of His Actions to none but God alone and that the Houses of Parliament joynt or separate have no Power either to make or declare any Law But that this is a fit foundation for all Tyranny I must utterly deny Indeed if it had been said that the King without the Two Houses of Parliament could make or declare Laws then there might be some strength in the Argument but before this Parliament it was never so much as pretended that either or both Houses without the King could make or declare any Law and certainly His Majesty is not the first and I hope will not be the last King of England that hath not held Himself Accomptable to any Earthly Power Besides it will be found that this His Majesty's Position is most agreeable to all Divine and Humane Laws so far it is from being Destructive to a Kingdom or a Foundation for Tyranny To conclude I appeal to God and the World whether it can be parallel'd by Example or warranted by Justice that any man should be slander'd yet denied the sight thereof and so far from being permitted to answer that if he have erred there is no way left him to acknowledge or mend it and yet this is the King 's present Condition who is at this time laid aside because He will not consent that the old Fundamental Laws of this Land be changed Regal Power destroyed nor His People submitted to a new Arbitrary Tyrannical Government III. His Majesty's Declaration concerning the Treaty and His dislike of the Armies Proceedings Nov. 22. MDCXLVIII Delivered by His Majesty to one of His Servants at His departure from the Isle of Wight and commanded to be published for satisfaction of all His Subjects WHen large pretences prove but the shadows of weak performance then the greatest labours produce the smallest effects and when a period is put to a work of great concernment all mens ears do as it were hunger till they are satisfied in their expectations Hath not this distracted Nation groaned a long time under the burthen of Tyranny and Oppression and hath not all the blood that hath been spilt these seven years been cast upon My head who am the greatest sufferer though the least guilty and was it not requisite to endeavour the stopping of that flux which if not stopt will bring an absolute destruction to this Nation And what more speedy way was there to consummate those distractions than by a Personal Treaty being agreed upon by My two Houses of Parliament and condescended to by Me And I might declare that I conceive it had been the best Physick had not the operation been hindred by the interposition of this imperious Army who were so audacious as to style Me in their unparallel'd Remonstrance their capital Enemy But let the World judge whether Mine endeavours have not been attended with reality in this late Treaty and whether I was not as ready to grant as they were to ask and yet all this is not satisfaction to them that pursue their own ambitious ends more than the welfare of a miserable Land Were not the dying hearts of My poor distressed People much revived with the hopes of a happiness from this Treaty and how suddenly are they frustrated in their expectations Have not I formerly been condemned for yielding too little to My two Houses of Parliament and shall I now be condemned for yielding too much Have I not formerly been imprisoned
or be taken away from honest men in possession but as much profit as you will With this last you are only to acquaint Richmond Southampton Culpepper and Hide XXIV To the QUEEN OXFORD Feb. 15. 25. MDCXLIV V. Dear Heart 20. THE expectation of an Express from Thee as I find by Thine of the 4. Febr. is very good news to Me as likewise that Thou art now well satisfied with My diligence in Writing As for our Treaty there is every day less hopes than other that it will produce a Peace But I will absolutely promise Thee that if we have one it shall be such as shall invite Thy return for I avow that without thy company I can neither have peace nor comfort within My self The limited days for treating are now almost expired without the least agreement upon any one Article wherefore I have sent for enlargement of days that the whole Treaty may be laid open to the world And I assure Thee that Thou needest not doubt the issue of this Treaty for My Commissioners are so well chosen though I say it that they will neither be threatned nor disputed from the grounds I have given them which upon My word is according to the little Note Thou so well remembrest And in this not only their obedience but their judgments concur I confess in some respects Thou hast reason to bid Me beware of going too soon to London for indeed some amongst us had a greater mind that way than was fit of which perswasion Percy is one of the chief who is shortly like to see Thee of whom having said this is enough to shew Thee how he is to be trusted or believed by Thee concerning our proceedings here In short there is little or no appearance but that this Summer will be the hottest for War of any that hath been yet And be confident that in making Peace I shall ever shew My constancy in adhering to Bishops and all our Friends and not forget to put a short period to this perpetual Parliament But as Thou lovest Me let none perswade Thee to slacken Thine assistance for Him who is eternally Thine C. R. Oxford 15. 25. Feb. 1644. 5. 3. 20. To My Wife 15. Feb. 1645. by P. A. XXV To the Marquess of ORMOND OXFORD 16 Feb. MDCXLIV Ormond I Should wrong My own service and this Gentleman Sir Timothy Fetherston if I did not recommend him and his business to you for the particulars of which I refer you to Digby And now again I cannot but mention to you the necessity of hastening of the Irish Peace for which I hope you are already furnished by Me with materials sufficient But in case against all expectation and reason Peace cannot be had upon those terms you must not by any means fall to a new rupture with them but continue the Cessation according to a Postscript in a Letter by Jack Barry a Copy of which Dispatch I herewith send you So I rest POSTSCRIPT In case upon particular mens fancies the Irish Peace should not be procured upon powers I have already given you I have thought good to give you this further Order which I hope will prove needless to seek to renew the Cessation for a year for which you shall promise the Irish if you can have it no cheaper to joyn with them against the Scots and Inchequin for I hope by that time My condition may be such as the Irish may be glad to accept less or I be able to grant more XXVI To the QUEEN OXFORD 19. Feb. MDCXLIV V. 21. Oxford 19. Feb. Old style DEAR Heart I cannot yet send Thee any certain word concerning the issue of our Treaty only the unreasonable stubbornness of the Rebels gives daily less and less hopes of any accommodation this way wherefore I hope no rumours shall hinder Thee from hastning all Thou mayest all possible assistance to Me and particularly that of the D. of Lorrain's concerning which I received yesterday good news from Dr Goffe that the P. of Orange will furnish Shipping for his Transportation and that the rest of his Negotiation goes hopefully on by which and many other ways I find Thy affection so accompanied with dexterity as I know not whether in their several kinds to esteem most But I will say no more of this lest Thou mayest think that I pretend to do this way what is but possible to be done by the continued actions of My Life Though I leave news to others yet I cannot but tell Thee that even now I have received certain intelligence of a great defeat given to Argyle by Montross who upon surprize totally routed those Rebels killed 1500 upon the place Yesterday I received Thine of 27. Jan. by the Portugal Agent the only way but Expresses I am confident on either to receive Letters from Thee or to send them to Thee Indeed Sabrian sent Me word yesterday besides some Complements of the Imbargo of the Rebels Ships in France which I likewise put upon Thy score of kindness but is well enough content that the Portugal should be charged with Thy Dispatches As for trusting the Rebels either by going to London or disbanding My Army before a Peace do no ways fear my hazarding so cheaply or foolishly for I esteem the interest Thou hast in Me at a far dearer rate and pretend to have a little more wit at least by the Sympathy that is betwixt Us than to put My self into the reverence of perfidious Rebels So impatiently expecting the Express Thou hast promised Me I rest eternally Thine I can now assure Thee that Hertogen the Irish Agent is an arrant knave which shall be made manifest to Thee by the first opportunity of sending Pacquets 11. 21. To My Wife 19 Feb. 1645. by P. A. XXVII To the Marquess of ORMOND OXFORD Feb. 27. MDCXLIV V. Ormond THE impossibility of preserving My Protestant Subjects in Ireland by a continuation of the War having moved Me to give you those powers and directions which I have formerly done for the concluding of a Peace there and the same growing daily much more evident that alone were reason enough for Me to enlarge your powers and to make My commands in the point more positive But besides these considerations it being now manifest that the English Rebels have as far as in them lies given the command of Ireland to the Scots that their aim is a total subversion of Religion and Regal Power and that nothing less will content them or purchase Peace here I think My self bound in Conscience not to let slip the means of setling that Kingdom if it may be fully under My obedience nor to lose that assistance which I may hope from My Irish Subjects for such scruples as in a less pressing condition might reasonably be stuck at by Me. For their satisfaction I do therefore command you to conclude a Peace with the Irish whatever it cost so that My Protestant Subjects there may be secured and my Regal Authority preserved But
will only say one word to you Now that you are the Speaker I command you to do the office of a Speaker which is faithfully to report the great Cause of the Meeting that My Lord Keeper in My Name did represent unto you the last day with this assurance That you giving Me your timely help in this great Affair I shall give a willing ear to all your just Grievances XIX To the House of Lords at WESTMINSTER April 24. MDCXL His Majesty said THAT the cause of His coming was to put them in mind of what had been delivered by the Lord Keeper in His Name unto both Houses the first day of the Parliament and after at White-Hall How contrary to His expectation the House of Commons having held Consultation of matter of Religion Property of Goods and Liberty of Parliament and voted some things concerning those three Heads had therefore given them the precedence before the matter of His Supply That His Necessities were such they could not bear delay That whatsoever He had by the Lord Keeper promised He would perform if the House of Commons would trust Him For Religion that His Heart and Conscience went together with the Religion established in the Church of England and He would give Order to His Arch-Bishops and Bishops that no Innovation in matter of Religion should creep in For the Ship-money that He never made or intended to make any profit to Himself of it but only to preserve the Dominion of the Seas which was so necessary that without it the Kingdom could not subsist But for the way and means by Ship-money or otherwise He left it to them For Property of Goods and Liberty of Parliament He ever intended His People should injoy them holding no King so Great as he that was King of a rich and free People and if they had not Property of Goods and Liberty of Persons they could be neither rich nor free That if the House of Commons would not first trust Him all His Affairs would be disordered and His business lost That though they trusted Him in part at first yet before the Parliament ended He must totally trust them and in conclusion they must for execution of all things wholly trust Him Therefore since the matter was no more than who should be first trusted and that the trust of Him first was but a trust in part He desired the Lords to take into their consideration His and their own Honour the Safety and Welfare of this Kingdom with the great Danger it was in and that they would by their Advice dispose the House of Commons to give His Supply the precedence before the Grievances XX. To the Lords and Commons at the Dissolving of His Fourth Parliament at WESTMINSTER May 5. MDCXL MY Lords There can no occasion of My coming to this House be so unpleasing to Me as this is at this time The fear of doing that which I am to do at this day made Me not long agoe come to this House where I expressed as well My fears as the remedies I thought necessary for the eschewing of it Unto which I must confess and acknowledge that you My Lords of the Higher House did give me so willing an ear and with such affection did shew your selves thereafter that certainly I may say if there had been any means to have given an happy end to this Parliament you took it So that it was neither your Lordships fault nor Mine that it is not so Therefore in the first place I must give your Lordships thanks for your good endeavours I hope you remember what My Lord Keeper said to you the first day of the Parliament in My Name what likewise he said in the Banquetting-House in White-Hall and what I lately said to you in this place My self I name all this unto you not in doubt that you do not well remember it but to shew that I never said any thing in way of favour to My People but that by the Grace of God I will really and punctually perform it I know that they have insisted very much on Grievances and I will not say but that there may be some though I will confidently affirm that there are not by many degrees so many as the publick voice doth make them Wherefore I desire you to take notice now especially at this time that out of Parliament I shall be as ready if not more willing to hear and redress any just Grievances as in Parliament There is one thing which is much spoken of though not so much insisted on as others and that is Religion Concerning which albeit I expressed My self fully the last day in this place to your Lordships yet I think it fit again on this occasion to tell you that as I am most concerned so I shall be most careful to preserve that purity of Religion which I thank God is so well established in the Church of England and that as well out as in Parliament My Lords I shall not trouble you long with words it being not My fashion wherefore to conclude What I offered the last day to the House of Commons I think is well known to you all as likewise how they accepted it which I desire not to remember but wish that they had remembred how at first they were told in My Name by My Lord Keeper That Delay was the worst kind of Denial Yet I will not lay this fault on the whole House for I will not judge so uncharitably of those whom for the most part I take to be Loyal and well-affected Subjects but that it hath been the malicious cunning of some few seditiously-affected men that hath been the cause of this Misunderstanding I shall now end as I began in giving your Lordships thanks for your affection shewed to Me at this time desiring you to go on to assist Me in the maintaining of that Regal Power that is truly Mine And as for the Liberty of the People that they now so much seem to startle at know My Lords that no King in the World shall be more careful to maintain them in the Property of their Goods Liberty of their Persons and true Religion than I shall be And now My Lord Keeper do what I have commanded you XXI To the Great Council of Lords at YORK September 24. MDCXL MY Lords Upon sudden Invasions where the dangers are near and instant it hath been the custom of My Predecessors to assemble the Great Council of the Peers by their Advice and Assistance to give a timely remedy to such evils as cannot admit a delay so long as must of necessity be allowed for the assembling the Parliament This being our condition at this time and an Army of Rebels lodged within the Kingdom I thought it most fit to conform My self to the practice of My Predecessors in like cases that with your advice and assistance we might joyntly proceed to the chastisement of their Insolencies and securing of Our good Subjects In the first
touching which is a great deal of inconvenience Therefore I think it very necessary to lay before you the state of My Affairs as they now stand thereby to hasten not to interrupt your proceedings First I must remember you that there are two Armies in the Kingdom in a manner maintained by you the very naming of which doth more clearly shew the inconvenience thereof than a better tongue than Mine can express Therefore in the first place I shall commend unto you the quick dispatch of that business In the next place I must recommend unto you the state of My Navy and Forts the condition of both which is so well known unto you that I need not tell you the particulars Only thus much they are the walls and defence of this Kingdom which if out of order all men may easily judge what encouragement it will be to our Enemies and what disheartning to our Friends Last of all and not the least to be considered I must lay before you the Distractions that are at this present occasioned through the connivence of Parliament for there are some men that more maliciously than ignorantly will put no difference between Reformation and Alteration of Government Hence it cometh that Divine Service is irreverently interrupted and Petitions in an ill way given in neither disputed nor denied But I will enter into no more particulars but shew you a way of Remedy by shewing you My clear intentions and some Rocks that may hinder this Good Work I shall willingly and chearfully concur with you for the Reformation of all Innovations both in Church and Commonwealth and consequently that all Courts of Justice may be reformed according to Law For My intention is clearly to reduce all things to the best and purest times as they were in the time of Queen Elizabeth Moreover whatsoever part of My Revenue shall be found illegal or heavy to My Subjects I shall be willing to lay down trusting in their Affections Having thus clearly and shortly set down My intentions I will shew you some Rubs and must needs take notice of some very strange I know not what term to give them Petitions given in in the names of divers Counties against the present established Government of the Church and of the great threatnings against the Bishops that they will make them to be but Cyphers or at least their Voices to be taken away Now I must tell you that I make a great difference between Reformation and Alteration of Government Though I am for the first I cannot give way to the latter If some of them have overstretched their power and incroached too much upon the Temporalty if it be so I shall not be unwilling these things should be redressed and reformed as all other Abuses according to the wisdom of former times So far I shall go with you Nay further if upon serious debate you shall shew Me that Bishops have some Temporal Authority inconvenient to the State and not so necessary for the Government of the Church and upholding Episcopal Jurisdiction I shall not be unwilling to desire them to lay it down But this must not be understood that I shall any way consent that their Voices in Parliament should be taken away For in all the times of My Predecessors since the Conquest and before they have enjoyed it and I am bound to maintain them in it as one of the Fundamental Constitutions of this Kingdom There is another Rock you are on not in Substance but in Form yet the Form is so essential that unless it be reformed it will marr the Substance There is a Bill lately put in concerning Parliaments The thing I like well to have frequent Parliaments But to give power to Sheriffs and Constables and I know not whom to use My Authority that I cannot yield unto But to shew you that I am desirous to give you contentment â—n Forms which destroy not the Substance you shall have a Bill for this purpose so that it trench neither against My Honour nor against the ancient Prerogative of the Crown concerning Parliaments To which purpose I have commanded My Learned Counsel to wait on you My Lords with such Propositions as I hope will give you content For I ingenuously confess that frequent Parliaments are the best means to keep a right understanding between Me and My People which I so much desire To conclude I have now shewed you the state of My Affairs My Own clear intentions and the Rocks I wish you to eschew in all which you may perceive the desire I have to give you content as you shall find also by those Ministers I have or shall have about Me for the effecting of these My good intentions which I doubt not will bring peace and happiness to My Subjects and contentment to you All. Concerning the Conference you shall have a direct Answer on Monday which shall give you satisfaction XXV To the Lords and Commons in Answer to their Remonstrance about Papists Feb. 3. MDCXL XLI HAving taken into My serious Consideration the late Remonstrance of the Houses of Parliament I give you this Answer That I take in good part your care of the true Religion established in this Kingdom from which I will never depart as also your tenderness of My Safety and the Security of this State and Government It is against My mind that Popery or Superstition should any way increase within this Kingdom I will restrain the same by causing the Laws to be put in execution I am resolved to provide against the Jesuits and Papists by setting forth a Proclamation with all speed commanding them to depart the Kingdom within one Month of which if they fail or shall return then they shall be proceeded against according to the Laws Concerning Rosetti I give you to understand that the Queen hath always assured Me that to Her knowledge he hath no Commission but only to retain a Personal Correspondence between Her and the Pope in things requisite for the exercise of Her Religion which is warranted to Her by the Articles of Marriage which gave Her a full liberty of Conscience Yet I have perswaded Her that since the misunderstanding of that Persons condition gives offence She will within a convenient time remove him Moreover I will take a special care to restrain My Subjects from resorting to Mass at Denmark-House Saint James's and the Chappels of Ambassadors Lastly concerning John Goodman the Priest I will let you know the reason why I reprieved him that as I am informed neither Queen Elizabeth nor My Father did ever avow that any Priest in their times was executed merely for Religion which to Me seems to be this particular Case Yet seeing that I am pressed by both Houses to give way to this because I will avoid the inconvenience of giving so great discontent to My People as I conceive this Mercy may produce therefore I do remit this particular case to both the Houses But I desire them to take into their
hither I do stand more for the Liberty of My People than any here that come to be My pretended Judges and therefore let Me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I will answer it otherwise I will not answer it Bradshaw Sir how really you have managed your Trust is known your way of Answer is to interrogate the Court which beseems not you in this Condition You have been told of it twice or thrice KING Here is a Gentleman Lieutenant Colonel Cobbet ask him if he did not bring Me from the Isle of Wight by force I do not come here as submitting to the Court. I will stand as much for the Privilege of the House of Commons rightly understood as any man here whatsoever I see no House of Lords here that may constitute a Parliament and the King too should have been Is this the bringing of the King to His Parliament Is this the bringing an end to the Treaty in the Publick Faith of the World Let Me see a Legal Authority warranted by the Word of God the Scriptures or warranted by the Constitutions of the Kingdom and I will answer Bradshaw Sir you have propounded a Question and have been answered Seeing you will not answer the Court will consider how to proceed In the mean time those that brought you hither are to take charge of you back again The Court desires to know whether this be all the Answer you will give or no. KING Sir I desire that you would give Me and all the World satisfaction in this Let Me tell you It is not a slight thing you are about I am sworn to keep the Peace by that Duty I owe to God and My Countrey and I will do it to the last breath of My body And therefore you shall do well to satisfie first God and then the Country by what Authority you do it If you do it by an usurped Authority you cannot answer it There is a God in Heaven that will call you and all that give you Power to account Satisfie Me in that and I will answer otherwise I betray My Trust and the Liberties of the People and therefore think of that and then I shall be willing For I do avow That it is as great a Sin to withstand Lawful Authority as it is to submit to a Tyrannical or any otherways unlawful Authority And therefore satisfie God and Me and all the World in that and you shall receive My Answer I am not afraid of the Bill Bradshaw The Court expects you should give them a final Answer Their purpose is to adjourn till Monday next If you do not satisfie your self though we do tell you our Authority we are satisfied with our Authority and it is upon God's Authority and the Kingdoms and that Peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of Justice and that 's our present Work KING For Answer let Me tell you you have shewn no Lawful Authority to satisfie any reasonable man Bradshaw That 's in your apprehension we are satisfied that are your Judges KING 'T is not My apprehension nor yours neither that ought to decide it Bradshaw The Court hath heard you and you are to be disposed of as they have commanded So commanding the Guard to take Him away His Majesty only replied Well Sir And at His going down pointing with His Staff toward the Ax He said I do not fear that As He went down the stairs the People in the Hall cried out God save the King notwithstanding some were there set by the Faction to lead the clamour for Justice O yes being called they adjourn Westminster-Hall Monday Jan. 22. Afternoon SVnday being spent in Fasting and Preaching according to their manner of making Religion a pretence and prologue to their Villanies on Monday afternoon they came again into the Hall and after Silence commanded called over their Court where Seventy persons being present answered to their Names His Majesty being brought in the People gave a shout Command given to the Captain of their Guard to fetch and take into his custody those who make any Disturbance Then their Solicitor Cook began May it please your Lordship my Lord President I did at the last Court in the behalf of the Commons of England exhibite and give into this Court a Charge of High Treason and other high Crimes against the Prisoner at the Bar whereof I do accuse him in the name of the People of England and the Charge was read unto him and his Answer required My Lord he was not then pleased to give an Answer but in stead of answering did there dispute the Authority of this High Court My humble motion to this High Court in behalf of the Kingdom of England is That the Prisoner may be directed to make a Positive Answer either by way of Confession or Negation which if he shall refuse to do that the matter of Charge may be taken pro confesso and the Court may proceed according to Justice Bradshaw Sir you may remember at the last Court you were told the occasion of your being brought hither and you heard a Charge read against you containing a Charge of High Treason and other high Crimes against this Realm of England you heard likewise that it was prayed in the behalf of the People that you should give an Answer to that Charge that thereupon such proceedings might be had as should be agreeable to Justice you were then pleased to make some scruples concerning the Authority of this Court and knew not by what Authority you were brought hither you did divers time propound your Questions and were as often answer'd That it was by the Authority of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament that did think fit to call you to account for those high and capital Misdemeanours wherewith you were then charged Since that the Court hath taken into consideration what you then said they are fully satisfied with their own Authority and they hold it fit you should stand satisfied with it too and they do require it that you do give a positive and particular Answer to this Charge that is exhibited against you They do expect you should either confess or deny it If you deny it is offered in the behalf of the Kingdom to be made good against you Their Authority they do avow to the whole World that the whole Kingdom are to rest satisfied in and you are to rest satisfied with it and therefore you are to lose no more time but to give a positive Answer thereunto KING When I was here last 't is very true I made that Question and if it were only My own particular Case I would have satisfied My self with the Protestation I made the last time I was here against the Legality of this Court and that a King cannot be tried by any superior Jurisdiction on Earth But it is not My Case alone it is the Freedom and the Liberty of the People of England and do you pretend what
wish that they may repent for indeed they have committed a great Sin in that particular I pray God with Saint Stephen that this be not laid to their charge Nay not only so but that they may take the right way to the Peace of the Kingdom For My Charity commands me not only to forgive particular men but My Charity commands Me to endeavour to the last gasp the Peace of the Kingdom So Sirs I do wish with all My Soul and I do hope there is some here will carry it further that they may endeavour the Peace of the Kingdom Now Sirs I must shew you both how you are out of the way and will put you in a way First you are out of the way For certainly all the way you ever have had yet as I could find by any thing is in the way of Conquest Certainly this is an ill way For Conquest Sir in My opinion is never just except there be a good just Cause either for matter of Wrong or just Title and then if you go beyond it the first quarrel that you have to it that makes it unjust at the end that was just at the first But if it be only matter of Conquest then it is a great Robbery as a Pirate said to Alexander that He was the great Robber he was but a petty Robber And so Sir I do think the way that you are in is much out of the way Now Sir for to put you in the way believe it you will never do right nor God will never prosper you until you give God his Due the King his Due that is My Successors and the People their Due I am as much for them as any of you You must give God his due by regulating rightly his Church according to his Scripture which is now out of order For to set you in a way particularly now I cannot but only this A National Synod freely called freely debating among themselves must settle this when that every Opinion is freely and clearly heard For the King indeed I will not Then turning to a Gentleman that touched the Axe He said Hurt not the Axe that may hurt Me. For the King the Laws of the Land will clearly instruct you for that therefore because it concerns My Own particular I only give you a touch of it For the People And truly I desire their Liberty and Freedom as much as any body whomsoever but I must tell you that their Liberty and Freedom consists in having of Government those Laws by which their Life and their Goods may be most their own It is not for having share in Government Sir that is nothing pertaining to them a Subject and a Soveraign are clear different things And therefore until they do that I mean that you do put the People in that Liberty as I say certainly they will never enjoy themselves Sirs It was for this that now I am come here If I would have given way to an Arbitrary way for to have all Laws changed according to the power of the Sword I needed not to have come here and therefore I tell you and I pray God it be not laid to your charge that I am the Martyr of the People In troth Sirs I shall not hold you much longer for I will only say this to you That in truth I could have desired some little time longer because that I would have put this that I have said in a little more order and a little better digested than I have done and therefore I hope you will excuse Me. I have delivered My Conscience I pray God that you do take those courses that are best for the good of the Kingdom and your own Salvation Then the Bishop said Though it be very well known what Your Majesty's affections are to the Protestant Religion yet it may be expected that You should say somewhat for the Worlds satisfaction in that particular Whereupon the King replied I thank you very heartily My Lord for that I had almost forgotten it In troth Sirs My Conscience in Religion I think is very well known to all the World and therefore I declare before you all That I die a Christian according to the Profession of the Church of England as I found it left Me by My Father and this honest man I think will witness it Then turning to the Officers he said Sirs Excuse Me for this same I have a good Cause and I have a gracious God I will say no more Then to Colonel Hacker He said Take care that they do not put Me to pain And Sir this and it please you But a Gentleman coming near the Axe the King said Take heed of the Axe pray take heed of the Axe And to the Executioner He said I shall say but very short Prayers and when I thrust out My hands Then He called to the Bishop for His Cap and having put it on asked the Executioner Does My Hair trouble you Who desired Him to put it all under His Cap which as he was doing by the help of the Bishop and the Executioner He turned to the Bishop and said I have a good Cause and a gracious God on My side The Bishop said There is but one Stage more which though turbulent and troublesome yet is a very short one You may consider it will soon carry You a very great way it will carry You from Earth to Heaven and there You shall find to Your great joy the prize You hasten to a Crown of Glory The King adjoyns I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown where no disturbance can be no disturbance in the world Bishop You are exchanged from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown A good Exchange Then the King asked the Executioner Is My Hair well And taking off His Cloak and George He delivered His George to the Bishop saying Remember Then putting off His Doublet and being in His Wast-coat He put on His Cloak again and looking upon the Block said to the Executioner You must set it fast Execut. It is fast Sir KING It might have been a little higher Execut. It can be no higher Sir KING When I put out My hands this way then Then having said a few words to Himself as He stood with hands and eyes lift up immediately stooping down He laid His Neck upon the Block and the Executioner again putting His Hair under His Cap His Majesty thinking he had been going to strike bad him Stay for the Sign Execut. Yes I will and it please Your Majesty After a very short pause His Majesty stretching forth his hands the Executioner at one blow severed His Head from His Body Which being held up and shewed to the People was with His Body put into a Coffin covered with black Velvet and carried into His Lodging His Blood was taken up by divers persons for different ends by some as Trophies of their Villany by others as Reliques of a Martyr and in some hath had the
of War And Justice stands a Prisoner at the Bar. This Scene was like the Passion-Tragedy His Saviour's Person none could Act but He. Behold what Scribes were here what Pharisees What Bands of Souldiers what false Witnesses Here was a Priest and that a Chief one who Durst strike at God and His Vicegerent too Here Bradshaw Pilate there This makes them twain Pilate for Fear Bradshaw condemn'd for Gain Wretch couldst not thou be rich till Charles was dead Thou might'st have took the Crown yet spar'd the Head Th' hast justifi'd that Roman Judge He stood And washt in Water thou hast dipt in Blood And where 's the Slaughter-House White-hall must be Lately His Palace now His Calvary Great CHARLES is this Thy dying-place And where Thou wer 't our KING art Thou our MARTYR there Thence thence Thy Soul took flight and there will we Not cease to Mourn where Thou didst cease to Be. And thus blest Soul He 's gone a Star whose fall As no Eclipse proves Oecumenical That Wretch had skill to sin whose Hand did know How to behead three Kingdoms at one blow England hath lost the Influence of her KING No wonder that so backward was her Spring O dismal Day but yet how quickly gone It must be short Our SUN went down at Noon And now ye Senators is this the Thing So oft declar'd is this your Glorious King Did you by Oaths your God and Country mock Pretend a Crown and yet prepare a Block Did you that swore you 'd Mount CHARLES higher yet Intend the Scaffold for His Olivet Was this Hail Master Did you bow the knee That you might murther Him with Loyalty Alas two Deaths what Cruelty was this The Axe design'd you might have spar'd the Kiss London didst thou Thy Prince's Life betray What could Thy Sables vent no other way Or else didst thou bemoan His Cross then ah Why would'st thou be the cursed Golgotha Thou once hadst Men Plate Arms a Treasury To bind thy KING and hast thou none to free Dull beast thou should'st before thy Head did fall Have had at least thy Spirits Animal Did You Ye Nobles envy CHARLES His Crown Jove being fal'n the Puny-gods must down Your Raies of Honour are eclip'st in Night The Sun is set from whence You drew your Light Religion Veils her self and Mourns that she Is forc'd to own such horrid Villany The Church and State do shake that Building must Expect to fall whose Prop is turn'd to Dust But cease from Tears-CHARLES is most blest of men A God on Earth more than a Saint in Heav'n THE END A COLLECTION OF DECLARATIONS TREATIES AND OTHER Principal Passages concerning the DIFFERENCES BETWIXT King Charles I. AND HIS TWO HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT Clearly Manifesting The Justice of His Cause His Sincerity in Religion His Constant Endeavours for Peace Bona agere mala pati Regium est LONDON Printed MDCLXXXVII THE PREFACE TO THE NOBILITY and GENTRY OF ENGLAND I Might call this Collection A Complete Body of English Politicks as comprehending both the Duty and the Interest of all true English-men and those largely set forth in some of the most excellent Discourses that were ever written in this kind Which for their own sakes might claim some better respect from the present Age than to be cast aside as out-dated Pamphlets or at the best confusedly scattered like the Leaves of Sibylla without any care of conserving and transmitting them to Posterity The sad Experience of so many years hath taught this Nation to their cost how miserable even the greatest Subjects make themselves by incroaching upon that Soveraignty which alone can protect them from the Injuries and the Scorn of their Inferiours Here you will discover the Arts the Means and the Degrees by which those Mischiefs were attempted and atchieved Which whensoever you see repeated you will know the Plot is as well against your Privilege and the Liberty of your Countrey as the Prerogative of your Prince Indeed If it were as easie to root out the remembrance of the ill Examples as it is to remit the punishment of the Crimes by Acts of Grace and Pardon and Oblivion it were perhaps no Imprudence to let those Mischiefs sleep with their Authors and leave their Memories buried in the Ruines they have made But since many that are content to take the utmost advantage of a Pardon are yet too good to acknowledge they ever stood in need of any since most will remember only What hath been done and few trouble themselves to inquire How or Why it cannot be thought impertinent together with the Actions to represent also the true Causes that have produced such Effects and the Circumstances that attended them which may remain as Marks to warn Posterity of those Errors which have cost the present Age so dear This is here done not from the private phancies or observations of any one Person or Party but from the Publick and Authentick Writings of Both digested in such order that the Reader may compare what both sides had to say for themselves and thereby discern whose Designs and what Counsels tended most to the Peace and Welfare of the Nation A study most proper for those Ranks of men whom the Favour of Princes hath raised above the Common Multitude to this one End that they may assist Them in the administration of Their Government and in keeping Peace and good order in their Countries To have Collected all that passed in these great Contests would have been the Work of many Volumes But the most material and most necessary to carry on the Series of Times and Things which in a manner comprehend the Sum or at least shew the Result of all the rest are here disposed according to their most natural order of time under these few heads I. His Majesties Declarations concerning His Proceedings in His Four first Parliaments p. 217. II. Declarations and Papers concerning the Differences betwixt His Majesty and His Fifth Parliament p. 241. III. Declarations and Paper concerning the Treaty of Peace at Oxford MDCXLII III. p. 325. IV. A Declaration concerning the Cessation in Ireland Also Declarations and Passages of the Parliament at Oxford p. 401. V. Papers and Passages concerning the Treaty of Peace at Vxbridge p. 437. VI. Messages Propositions and Treaties for Peace With divers Resolutions and Declarations thereupon MDCXLV VI. VII VIII p. 547. HIS MAJESTIES DECLARATIONS CONCERNING HIS PROCEEDINGS IN HIS FOUR FIRST PARLIAMENTS A Declaration of the true Causes which moved His MAJESTY to Assemble and after inforced Him to Dissolve the First and Second Meetings in Parliament THE King 's most Excellent Majesty since His happy access to the Imperial Crown of this Realm having by His Royal Authority summoned and assembled two several Parliaments the first whereof was in August last by adjournment held at Oxford and there dissolved and the other begun in February last and continued until the fifteenth day of this present month of June and then to the unspeakable grief
and still must pursue those ends and undergo that Charge for which it was first granted to the Crown it having been so long and constantly continued to Our Predecessors as that in four several Acts of Parliament for the granting thereof to King Edward the Sixth Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth and Our blessed Father it is in express terms mentioned to have been had and enjoyed by the several Kings named in those Acts time out of mind by authority of Parliament And therefore upon these reasons We held it agreeable to Our Kingly Honour and necessary for the safety and good of Our Kingdom to continue the receipt thereof as so many of Our Predecessors had done Wherefore when a few Merchants being at first but one or two fomented as it is well known by those evil Spirits that would have hatched that undutiful Remonstance began to oppose the payment of Our accustomed duties in the Custom-house We gave order to the Officers of Our Customs to go on notwithstanding that opposition in the receiving of the usual duties and caused those that refused to be warned to attend at the Council-board that by the wisdom and authority of Our Council they might be reduced to obedience and duty where some of them without reverence or respect to the honour and dignity of that presence behaved themselves with such boldness and insolency of speech as was not to be endured by a far meaner Assembly much less to be countenanced by a House of Parliament against the body of Our Privy Council And as in this We did what in honour and reason was fit for the present so Our thoughts were daily intentive upon the re-assembling of Our Parliament with full intention on Our part to take away all ill understanding between Us and Our people whose loves as We desired to continue and preserve so We used Our best endeavours to prepare and facilitate the way to it And to this end having taken a strict and exact survey of Our Government both in the Church and Commonwealth and what things were most fit and necessary to be reformed We found in the first place that much exception had been taken at a book intituled Appello Caesarem or An Appeal to Caesar and published in the year 1625. by Richard Mountague then Batchelour of Divinity and now Bishop of Chichester and because it did open the way to those Schisms and Divisions which have since ensued in the Church We did for remedy and redress thereof and for satisfaction of the Consciences of Our good people not only by Our publick Proclamation call in that Book which ministred matter of offence but to prevent the like danger for hereafter reprinted the Articles of Religion established in the time of Queen Elizabeth of famous memory and by a Declaration before those Articles We did tie and restrain all Opinions to the sense of those Articles that nothing might be left for private fancies and innovation For We call God to record before whom We stand that it is and always hath been Our hearts desire to be found worthy of that Title which We accompt the most glorious in all Our Crown Defender of the Faith neither shall We ever give way to the authorizing of any thing whereby any Innovation may steal or creep into the Church but preserve that unity of Doctrine and Discipline established in the time of Queen Elizabeth whereby the Church of England hath stood and flourished ever since And as We were careful to make up all breaches and rents in Religion at home so did We by Our Proclamation and Commandment for the execution of Laws against Priests and Popish Recusants fortifie all ways and approaches against that foreign Enemy which if it have not succeeded according to Our intention We must lay the fault where it is in the subordinate Officers and Ministers in the Country by whose remissness Jesuites and Priests escape without apprehension and Recusants from those convictions and penalties which the Laws and Our Commandment would have inflicted on them For We do profess that as it is Our duty so it shall be our care to command and direct well but it is the part of others to perform the Ministerial Office And when We have done Our Office We shall account Our Self and all charitable men will accompt Us innocent both to God and Men and those that are negligent We will esteem as culpable both to God and Us and therefore will expect that hereafter they give Us a better accompt And as We have been careful for the setling of Religion and quieting the Church so were We not unmindful of the preservation of the just and ancient Liberties of Our Subjects which We secured to them by Our gracious Answer to the Petition in Parliament having not since that time done any Act whereby to infringe them but Our care is and hereafter shall be to keep them intire and inviolable as We would do Our own Right and Sovereignty having for that purpose enrolled the Petition and Answer in Our Courts of Justice Next to the care of Religion and of Our Subjects Rights We did Our best for the provident and well ordering of that aid and supply which was granted Us the last Session whereof no part hath been wastfully spent nor put to any other use than those for which it was desired and granted as upon payment of Our Fleet and Army wherein Our care hath been such as We chose rather to discontent Our dearest Friends and Allies and Our nearest Servants than to leave Our Souldiers and Mariners unsatisfied whereby any vexation or disquiet might arise to Our people We have also with part of those Moneys begun to supply Our Magazines and stores of Munition and to put Our Navy into a constant form and order Our Fleet likewise is fitting and almost in a readiness whereby the Narrow Seas may be guarded Commerce maintained and Our Kingdom secured from all forein attempts These Acts of Ours might have made this impression in all good minds that We were careful to direct Our counsels and dispose Our actions so as might most conduce to the maintenance of Religion honour of Our Government and safety of Our People But with mischievous men once ill-affected Seu bene seu malè facta premunt and whatsoever once seemed amiss is ever remembred but good endeavours are never regarded Now all these things that were the chief complaints the last Session being by Our Princely care so seriously reformed the Parliament re assembled the twentieth of January last We expecting according to the candor and sincerity of Our own thoughts that men would have framed themselves for the effecting a right understanding between Us and Our people But some few malevolent persons like Empiricks and lewd Artists did strive to make new work and to have some Disease on foot to keep themselves in request and to be imployed and entertained in the Cure And yet to manifest how much offences have been diminished the Committees
it to be read A most audacious insolency for any to presume to do that of their own heads which if the whole House had done in that manner had been above their power and had deserved the highest censure But the Speaker refusing to read it the Author of it took on him most seditiously and factiously to declare the contents of it and he and other his Adherents required it should be put to the question Which being misliked by many grave and wise men in the House and refused by the Speaker as We doubt not but all good men will believe he had cause and even abhor the memory of that insolent and seditious Act yet many bitter taunts and invectives were uttered against the Speaker by those factious persons and the doors being fast locked such as were well-affected to Our service were against their wills kept in the House all the time of this tumult and disorder And when some Advertisement came to Us that the House was in great distemper We first sent for the Serjeant of the House whom they after they knew Our pleasure therein presumptuously detained And after We sent a Message unto them by the Gentleman-usher of the Higher House but he coming to the door and declaring that he had a Message from Us was refused to be admitted and being kept at the door a long time at last the House adjourned themselves without receiving Our Message A proceeding so irregular as no Parliament can parallel when Our absolute Commands warranted by Law and precedents of former times were disobeyed the Speaker violated Our Messenger and message excluded which ought to have been admitted if they were a House and if they were not a House they ought not at all to have disputed much less to blast the honour of Our Servants to proscribe Our best Subjects and give Law to Sovereignty striking at the very essence of Monarchy By all which it appears that there wanted not men in that House that would get themselves a name by setting Diana's Temple on fire and make themselves popular by putting all the Kingdom in combustion For what other end could there be in that malicious speech whereby a wicked Shimei at that time would make Us odious in the eyes of all Our people as if it were meant to transfer all Trade and give the fatness of the Land to Strangers A conceipt We call God to witness which never entred into Our Soul and We think never harboured in any heart but that seditious heart which first broached it For God forbid We should love any ends so well as by any necessity to be driven to forget that indissoluble bond between Us and Our people We could and would have expected longer had We conceived any hope of their returning to their duty Whilest the Duke of Buckingham lived He was intituled to all the distempers and ill events of former Parliaments and therefore much endeavour was used to demolish him as the only wall of separation between us and Our people But now he is dead no alteration was found amongst those envenomed spirits which troubled then the blessed harmony between Us and Our Subjects and continue still to trouble it For now under the pretence of publick care of the Common-wealth they suggest new and causeless fears which in their own hearts they know to be false and devise new engines of mischief so to cast a blindness upon the good affections of Our people that they may not see the truth and largeness of Our heart towards them so that now it is manifest the Duke was not alone the mark that those men shot at but was only as a near Minister of Ours taken upon the by and in their passage to their more secret designs which only were to cast Our Affairs into a desperate condition to abate the powers of Our Crown and to bring Our Government into obloquy that in the end all things may be overwhelmed with anarchy and confusion We do not impute these disasters to the whole House of Commons knowing that there were amongst them many religious grave and well-minded men but the sincerer and better part of the House being over-born by the practices and clamors of the other who careless of their duties and taking advantage of the Times and Our Necessities have forced Us to break off this meeting which had it been answered with like duty on their parts as it was invited and begun with love on Ours might have proved happy and glorious both to Us and this whole Nation We have thus declared the manifold causes We had to dissolve this Parliament whereby all the world may see how much they have forgotten their former ingagements at the entry into the War themselves being perswaders to it promising to make us feared by Our Enemies and esteemed by Our Friends and how they turned the necessities grown by that War to enforce Us to yield conditions incompetible with Monarchy And now that Our people may discern that these provocations of evil men whose punishment We reserve to a due time have not changed Our good intentions to Our Subjects We do here profess to maintain the true Religion and Doctrine established in the Church of England without admitting or conniving at any backsliding either to Popery or Schism We do also declare that We will maintain the ancient and just Rights and Liberties of Our Subjects with so much constancy and justice that they shall have cause to acknowledge that under Our Government and gracious protection they live in a more happy and free estate than any Subjects in the Christian world Yet let no man hereby take the boldness to abuse that Liberty turning it to licentiousness nor misinterpret the Petition by perverting it to a lawless liberty wantonly or frowardly under that or any other colour to resist lawful and necessary Authority For as We will maintain Our Subjects in their just Liberties so We do and will expect that they yield as much submission and duty to Our Royal Prerogatives and as ready obedience to Our Authority and Commandments as hath been performed to the greatest of Our Predecessors And for Our Ministers We will not that they be terrified by those harsh proceedings that have been strained against some of them For as We will not command any thing unjust or dishonourable but shall use Our Authority and Prerogatives for the good of Our People so We will expect that Our Ministers obey Us and they shall assure themselves We will protect them As for Our Merchants We let them know We shall always endeavour to cherish and enlarge the trade of such as be dutiful without burthening them beyond that which is fitting but the duty of five in the hundred for the guarding of the Seas and defence of the Realm to which We hold Our selves still obliged and which duty hath continued without interruption so many successions of Ages We hold no dutiful or good Subject will deny it being so necessary for the good of
not My fashion wherefore to conclude what I offered the last day to the House of Commons I think is well known to you all as likewise how they accepted it which I desire not to remember but wish that they had remembred how at first they were told in My Name by my Lord Keeper That delay was the worst kind of denial Yet I will not lay this fault on the whole House for I will not judge so uncharitably of those whom for the most part I take to be Loyal and well-affected Subjects but that it hath been the malicious cunning of some few seditiously-affected men that hath been the cause of this Misunderstanding I shall now end as I began in giving your Lordships thanks for your affection shewn to Me at this time desiring you to go on to assist me in the maintaining of that Regal power that is truly Mine and as for the Liberty of the People that they now so much seem to startle at know My Lords that no King in the world shall be more careful to maintain them in the Property of their Goods Liberty of their Persons and true Religion than I shall be And now My Lord Keeper do what I have commanded you Then the Lord Keeper added My Lords and you Gentlemen of the House of Commons The King's Majesty doth dissolve this Parliament BY all the proceedings herein declared it is evident to all men how willing and desirous his Majesty hath been to make use of the ancient and noble way of Parliament used and instituted by his Royal Predecessors for the preservation and honour of this famous Monarchy and that on his Majestie 's part nothing was wanting that could be expected from a King whereby this Parliament might have had an happy conclusion for the comfort and content of all his Majesties Subjects and for the good and safety of this Kingdom On the contrary it is apparent how those of the House of Commons whose sinister and malitious courses enforced his Majesty to dissolve this Parliament have vitiated and abused that ancient and noble way of Parliament perverting the same to their own unworthy ends and forgetting the true use and institution of Parliaments For whereas these meetings and assemblies of his Majesty with the Peers and Commons of this Realm were in their first original and in the practice of all succeeding ages ordained and held as pledges and testimonies of Affection between the King and his People the King for his part graciously hearing and redressing such Grievances as his People in humble and dutiful manner should represent unto Him and the Subjects on their part as Testimonies of their Duty supplying His Majesty upon all extraordinary occasions for the support of his Honour and Soveraignty and for preserving the Kingdom in glory and safety those ill-affected Members of the House of Commons instead of an humble and dutiful way of presenting their Grievances to his Majesty have taken upon them to be the Guiders and Directors in all matters that concern his Majestie 's Government both Temporal and Ecclesiastical and as if Kings were bound to give an account of their Regal Actions and of their manner of Government to their Subjects assembled in Parliament they have in a very audacious and insolent way entred into examination and censuring of the present Government traduced his Majestie 's administration of Justice rendred as much as in them lay odious to the rest of his Majestie 's Subjects not only the Officers and Ministers of State but even his Majestie 's very Government which hath been so just and gracious that never did this or any other Nation enjoy more Blessings and Happiness than hath been by all his Majestie 's Subjects enjoyed ever since his Majestie 's access to the Crown nor did this Kingdom ever so flourish in Trade and Commerce as at this present or partake of more Peace and Plenty in all kinds whatsoever And whereas the ordinary Revenues of the Crown not sufficing to defray extraordinary charges it hath ever been the usage in all Parliaments to aid and assist the Kings of this Realm with free and fitting supply towards the maintenance of their Wars and for making good their Royal undertakings whereby the Kingdom intrusted to their protection might be held up in splendor and greatness those ill-affected persons of the House of Commons have been so far from treading in the steps of their Ancestors by their dutiful expressions in this kind that contrarily they have introduced a way of bargaining and contracting with the King as if nothing ought to be given Him by them but what He should buy and purchase of them either by quitting somewhat of His Royal Prerogative or by diminishing and lessening His Revenues Which courses of theirs how repugnant they are to the duty of Subjects how unfit for His Majesty in Honour to permit and suffer and what hazard and dishonour they subject this Kingdom to all men may easily judge that will but equally and impartially weigh them His Majesty hath been by this means reduced to such streights and extremities that were not His care of the Publick good and safety the greater these men as much as in them lies would quickly bring ruine and confusion to the State and render contemptible this glorious Monarchy But this frowardness and undutiful behaviour of theirs cannot lessen His Majestie 's care of preserving the Kingdoms intrusted to His Protection and Government nor His gracious and tender affection to His people for whose good and comfort His Majesty by God's gracious assistance will so provide that all His loving Subjects may still enjoy the happiness of living under the blessed shade and protection of His Royal Scepter In the mean time to the end all His Majestie 's loving Subjects may know how graciously His Majesty is enclined to hear and redress all the just Grievances of His People as well out of Parliament as in Parliament His Majesty doth hereby further declare His Royal will and pleasure that all His loving Subjects who have any just cause to present or complain of any Grievances or Oppressions may freely address themselves by their humble Petitions to His Sacred Majesty who will graciously hear their complaints and give such fitting redress therein that all His people shall have just cause to acknowledge His Grace and Goodness towards them and to be fully satisfied that no persons or assemblies can more prevail with His Majesty than the Piety and Justice of His own Royal nature and the tender affection He doth and shall ever bear to all His people and loving Subjects THE PARABLE OF IOTHAN IUD 9 And the Bramble sayd unto the Trees If in truth ye anoint me King over you then come and put your trust in my shadow and if not let Fire come out of the Bramble and devour the Cedars of Lebanon Iudg. 9. v. 15. Imperium Flagitio acquisitum nemo unquam bonis Artibus exercuit Tacit. Hist. lib. 1. i. e. NO man ever
of the State of the Kingdom THE Commons in this present Parliament assembled having with much earnestness and faithfulness of affection and zeal to the publick good of this Kingdom and His Majesties Honour and Service for the space of twelve months wrastled with the great Dangers and Fears the pressing Miseries and Calamities the various Distempers and Disorders which had not only assaulted but even overwhelmed and extinguisht the Liberty Peace and Prosperity of this Kingdom the comfort and hopes of all His Majesties good Subjects and exceedingly weakned and undermined the foundation and strength of His own Royal Throne do yet find an abounding malignity and opposition in those Parties and Factions who have been the cause of those evils and do still labour to cast aspersions upon that which hath been done and to raise many difficulties for the hinderance of that which remains yet undone and to foment Jealousies betwixt the King and the Parliament that so they may deprive Him and His People of the fruit of his own gracious intentions and their humble desires of procuring the publick Peace Safety and Happiness of this Realm For the preventing of those miserable effects which such malicious endeavours may produce We have thought good to declare First The Root and the growth of these mischievous Designs Secondly The Maturity and ripeness to which they have attained before the beginning of the Parliament Thirdly The effectual Means which have been used for the extirpation of those dangerous evils and the Progress which hath therein been made by His Majesties Goodness and the wisdom of the Parliament Fourthly The ways of Obstruction and Opposition by which that progress hath been interrupted Fifthly The courses to be taken for the removing those Obstacles and for the accomplishing of our most dutiful and faithful intentions and endeavours of restoring and establishing the ancient Honour Greatness and Security of this Crown and Nation The Root of all this mischief we find to be a malignant and pernicious design of subverting the Fundamental Laws and Principles of Government upon which the Religion and Justice of this Kingdom are firmly establish'd The Actors and Promoters hereof have been First The Jesuited Papists who hate the Laws as the obstacles of that Change and subversion of Religion which they so much long for Secondly The Bishops and the corrupt part of the Clergy who cherish Formality and Superstition as the natural effects and more probable supports of their own Ecclesiastical Tyranny and Vsurpation Thirdly Such Counsellors and Courtiers as for private ends have engaged themselves to further the interests of some foreign Princes or States to the prejudice of His Majesty and the State at home The Common Principles by which they moulded and governed all their particular Counsels and Actions were these First To maintain continual Differences and Discontents betwixt the King and the People upon questions of Prerogative and Liberty that so they might have the advantage of siding with Him and under the notions of men addicted to His Service gain to themselves and their parties the places of greatest trust and power in the Kingdom A Second To suppress the purity and power of Religion and such persons as were best affected to it as being contrary to their own ends and the greatest impediment to that Change which they thought to introduce A Third to conjoyn those parties of the Kingdom which were most propitious to their own ends and to divide those who were most opposite which consisted in many particular observations to cherish the Arminian part in those Points wherein they agreè with the Papists to multiply and enlarge the Differences betwixt the common Protestants and those whom they call Puritans to introduce and countenance such Opinions and Ceremonies as are fittest for accommodation with Popery to encrease and maintain ignorance looseness and prophaneness in the People that of those three parties Papists Arminians and Libertines they might compose a body fit to act such Counsels and resolutions as were most conducible to their own ends A Fourth To disaffect the King to Parliaments by Slanders and false Imputations and by putting Him upon other waies of supply which in shew and appearance were fuller of advantage then the ordinary course of Subsidies though in truth they brought more loss than gain both to the King and People and have caused the great Distractions under which we both suffer As in all compounded bodies the Operations are qualified according to the predominant Element so in this mixt party the Jesuited Counsels being most active and prevailing may easily be discovered to have had the greatest sway in all their determinations and if they be not prevented are likely to devour the rest or to turn them into their own nature In the beginning of His Majesties Reign the party begun to revive and flourish again having been somewhat dampt by the breach with Spain in the last year of King James and by His Majesties Marriage with France the Interests and Counsels of that State being not so contrary to the good of Religion and the prosperity of this Kingdom as those of Spain and the Papists of England having been evermore addicted to Spain then France yet they still retained a purpose and resolution to weaken the Protestant parties in all parts and even in France whereby to make way for the Change of Religion which they intended at home The first effect and evidence of their recovery and strength was the dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford after there had been given two Subsidies to His Majesty and before they received relief in any one Grievance many other more miserable effects followed The loss of the Rochel Fleet by the help of our Shipping set forth and delivered over to the French in opposition to the advice of Parliament which left that Town without defence by Sea and made way not only to the loss of that important place but likewise to the loss of all the strength and security of the Protestant Religion in France The diverting of His Majesties course of Wars from the West Indies which was the most facile and hopeful way for this Kingdom to prevail against the Spaniard to an expenceful and succesless attempt upon Cales which was so ordered as if it had rather been intended to make us weary of War then to prosper in it The precipitate breach with France by taking their Ships to a great value without making recompence to the English whose goods were thereupon imbarg'd and confiscate in that Kingdom The Peace with Spain without consent of Parliament contrary to the promise of King James to both Houses whereby the Palatine Cause was deserted and left to chargeable and hopeless Treaties which for the most part were managed by those who might justly be suspected to be no friends to that Cause The charging of the Kingdom with billetted Souldiers in all parts of it and that concomitant design of Germane horse that the Land might either submit with fear or
the advice of private men or by any unknown or unsworn Counsellors but that such matters as concern the publick and are proper for the High Court of Parliament which is Your Majesties great and supreme Council may be debated resolved and transacted only in Parliament and not elsewhere and such as shall presume to do any thing to the contrary shall be reserved to the censure and judgment of Parliament And such other matters of State as are proper for Your Majesties Privy Council shall be debated and concluded by such of the Nobility and others as shall from time to time be chosen for that place by approbation of both Houses of Parliament And that no publick Act concerning the Affairs of the Kingdom which are proper for Your Privy Council may be esteemed of any validity as proceeding from the Royal Authority unless it be done by the advice and consent of the major part of Your Council attested under their hands And that Your Council my be limited to a certain number not exceeding twenty five nor under fifteen And if any Counsellors place happen to be void in the Intervals of Parliament it shall not be supplied without the assent of the major part of the Council which choice shall be confirmed at the next sitting of the Parliament or else to be void III. That the Lord High Steward of England Lord High Constable Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Lord Treasure Lord Privy Seal Earl Marshal Lord Admiral Warden of the Cinque-Ports chief Governor of Ireland Chancellor of the Exchequer Master of the Wards Secretaries of State two Chief Justices and Chief Baron may always be chosen with the approbation of both Houses of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament by assent of the major part of the Council in such manner as is before exprest in the choice of Counsellors IV. That he or they unto whom the government and education of the King's Children shall be committed shall be approved of by both Houses of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliaments by the assent of the major part of the Council in such manner as is before exprest in the choice of Counsellours And that all such Servants as are now about Them against whom both Houses shall have any just exception shall be removed V. That no Marriage shall be concluded or treated for any of the King's Children with any foreign Prince or other person whatsoever abroad or at home without the consent of Parliament under the penalty of a Praemunire unto such as shall so conclude or treat any Marriage as aforesaid and that the said Penalty shall not be pardoned or dispensed with but by the consent of both Houses of Parliament VI. That the Laws in force against Jesuites Priests and Popish Recusants be strictly put in execution without any toleration or dispensation to the contrary and some more effectual course may be enacted by authority of Parliament to disable them from making any disturbance in the State or eluding the Law by trusts or otherwise VII That the Votes of Popish Lords in the House of Peers may be taken away so long as they continue Papists And that His Majesty would consent to such a Bill as shall be drawn for the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion VIII That Your Majesty will be pleased to consent that such a Reformation be made in the Church-Government and Liturgy as both Houses of Parliament shall advise wherein they intend to have consultations with Divines as is expressed in their Declaration to that purpose And that your Majesty will contribute Your best assistance to them for the raising of a sufficient maintenance for Preaching Ministers through the Kingdom And that Your Majesty will be pleased to give Your consent to Laws for the taking away of Innovations and Superstition and of Pluralities and against Scandalous Ministers IX That Your Majesty will be pleased to rest satisfied with that course that the Lords and Commons have appointed for ordering the Militia until the same shall be further setled by a Bill And that Your Majesty will recall Your Declarations and Proclamations against the Ordinance made by the Lords and Commons concerning it X. That such Members of either House of Parliament as have during this present Parliament been put out of any Place and Office may either be restored to that Place and Office or otherwise have satisfaction for the same upon the Petition of that House whereof he or they are Members XI That all Privy-Counsellours and Judges may take an Oath the form whereof to be agreed on and setled by Act of Parliament for the maintaining of the Petition of Right and of certain Statutes made by this Parliament which shall be mentioned by both Houses of Parliament And that an inquiry of all the breaches and violations of these Laws may be given in charge by the Justices of the King's Bench every Term and by the Judges of Assize in their Circuits and Justices of Peace at the Sessions to be presented and punished according to Law XII That all the Judges and all Officers placed by approbation of both Houses of Parliament may hold their places Quam diu bene se gesserint XIII That the Justice of Parliament may pass upon all Delinquents whether they be within the Kingdom or fled out of it And that all persons cited by either House of Parliament may appear and abide the censure of Parliament XIV That the General Pardon offered by Your Majesty may be granted with such Exceptions as shall be advised by both Houses of Parliament XV. That the Forts and Castles of this Kingdom may be put under the Command and Custody of such persons as Your Majesty shall appoint with the approbation of Your Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament with the approbation of the major part of the Council in such manner as is before expressed in the choice of Counsellours XVI That the extraordinary Guards and Military Forces now attending Your Majesty may be removed and discharged And that for the future You will raise no such Guards or extraordinary Forces but according to Law in case of actual Rebellion or Invasion XVII That Your Majesty will be pleased to enter into a more strict Alliance with the States of the United Provinces and other neighbour-Princes and States of the Protestant Religion for the defence and maintenance thereof against all designs and attempts of the Pope and his adherents to subvert and suppress it whereby Your Majesty will obtain a great access of strength and reputation and Your Subjects be much encouraged and enabled in a Parliamentary way for Your aid and assistance in restoring Your Royal Sister and the Princely Issue to those Dignities and Dominions which belong unto them and relieving the other distressed Protestant Princes who have suffered in the same Cause XVIII That Your Majesty will be pleased by Act of Parliament to clear the Lord Kimbolton and the
them and to forbid Our own Money to be paid to Us or to Our use under colour that We will imploy it ill to beat Us and starve Us for Our own good and by Our own Power and Authority which must in short time make the greatest Court and the greatest Person cheap and of no estimation Who those sensible men are of the publick Calamities of the Violations of the Privileges of Parliament and the Common Liberty of the Subject who have been baffled and injured by Malignant men and Cavaliers about Us We cannot imagine And if those Cavaliers are so much without the fear of God and Man and so ready to commit all manner of Outrage and Violence as is pretended Our Government ought to be the more esteemed which hath kept them from doing so insomuch as We believe no Person hath cause to complain of any injury or of any damage in the least degree by any man about or who hath offered his service to Us. All which being duly considered if the Contrivers of these Propositions and Orders had been truly sensible of the Obligation which lies upon them in Honour Conscience and Duty according to the high Trust reposed in them by Us and Our People they would not have published such a sense and apprehension of imminent Danger when themselves in their Consciences know that the greatest and indeed only Danger which threatens this Church and State the blessed Religion and Liberty of Our People is in their own desperate and seditious Designs and would not endeavour upon such weak and groundless Reasons to seduce Our good Subjects from their Affection and Loyalty to Us to run themselves into Actions unwarrantable and destructive to the Peace and Foundation of the Commonwealth And that all Our loving Subjects may see how causless and groundless this scandalous Rumour and Imputation of Our raising War upon Our Parliament is We have with this Our Declaration caused to be printed the Testimony of those Lords and other Persons of Our Counsel who are here with Us who being upon the place could not but discover such Our Intentions and Preparations and cannot be suspected for their Honours and their Interests to combine in such mischievous and horrid Resolutions And therefore We streightly charge and command all Our loving Subjects upon their Allegiance and as they will answer the contrary at their peril That they yield no Obedience or Consent to the said Propositions and Orders and that they presume not under any such Pretences or by colour of any such Orders to Raise or Levy any Horse or Men or to bring in any Money or Plate to such purpose But if notwithstanding this clear Declaration and Evidence of Our Intentions these men whose Design is to compell Us to raise War upon Our Parliament which all their Skill and Malice shall never be able to effect shall think fit by these Alarms to awaken Us to a more necessary care of the defence of Our Self and Our People and shall themselves under colour of Defence in so unheard-of a manner provide and seduce others to do so too to offend Us having given Us so lively testimony of their Affections what they are willing to do when they have once made themselves able all Our good Subjects will think it necessary to look to Our Self and We do then excite all Our well-Affected people according to their Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and according to their solemn Vow and Protestation whereby they are obliged to defend Our Person Honour and Estate to contribute their best Assistance to the Preparations necessary for the opposing and suppressing of the Traitorous Attempts of such wicked and Malignant persons who would destroy Our Person Honour and Estate and ingage the whole Kingdom in a Civil War to satisfie their own lawless Fury and Ambition and so rob Our good Subjects of the blessed fruit of this present Parliament which they already in some degree have and might still reap to the abundant satisfaction and joy of the whole Kingdom if such wicked hands were not ready to ruine all their possession and frustrate all their hopes We do therefore declare That whosoever of what degree or quality soever shall then upon so urgent and visible necessity of Ours and such an apparent Distraction of the Kingdom caused and begotten by the Malice and Contrivance of this Malignant Party bring in to Us and to Our use ready Money or Plate or shall underwrite to furnish any number of Horse Horsemen and Arms for the preservation of the publick Peace the defence of Our Person and the vindication of the Privilege and Freedom of Parliament We shall receive it as a most acceptable Service and as a testimony of his singular Affection to the Protestant Religion the Laws Liberties and Peace of the Kingdom and shall no longer desire the continuance of that Affection than We shall be ready to justifie and maintain those with the hazard of Our Life And We do farther declare That whosoever shall then bring in any sums of Money or Plate to assist Us in this great Extremity shall receive consideration after the rate of eight pounds per cent for all such Moneys as he shall furnish Us withall and shall upon the payment of such Money to such persons whom We shall appoint to receive the same receive Security for the same by good lawful Assurance of such of Our Lands Forests Parks and Houses as shall be sufficient for the same and more real Security than the name of Publick Faith given without Us and against Us as if We were no part of the Publick and besides We shall always look upon it as a service most affectionately and seasonably performed for the preservation of Us and the Kingdom But We shall be much gladder that their submission to those Our Commands and their desisting from any such attempts of raising Horse or Men may ease all Our good subjects of that trouble charge and vexation His MAJESTY's Declaration and Profession disavowing any Preparations or Intentions in Him to Levy War against His Houses of Parliament By the KING THere having been many Rumours spread and Informations given which may have induced many to believe that We intend to make War against Our Parliament We profess before God and declare to all the World that We always have and do abhorr all such Designs and desire all Our Nobility and Council who are here upon the place to declare whether they have not been witnesses of Our frequent and earnest Declarations and Professions to this purpose whether they see any colour of Preparations or Counsels that might reasonably beget a belief of any such Design and whether they be not fully perswaded that We have no such Intention but that all Our Endeavours according to Our many Professions tend to the firm and constant settlement of the true Protestant Religion the just Privileges of Parliament the Liberty of the Subject the Law Peace and Prosperity of this Kingdom Given at
if the Malice and Rage of these Persons be not instantly resisted And as We do and must rely on Almighty God the Protector and Defender of his Anointed to defend Us and Our good People against the Malice and pernicious Designs of these men tending to the utter Ruine of Our Person the true Protestant Religion the Laws established the Property and Liberty of the Subject and the very Being of Parliaments so We doubt not but Our good People will in this necessity contribute unto Us with all Alacrity and Chearfulness their assistance in their Persons Servants and Money for the suppression of the same Rebellion And therein We cannot but with much contentment of heart acknowledge the Love and Affection of Our Subjects of Our County of York and divers other Counties in their free and ready assistance of Us which We shall never forget and Our Posterity will as We hope ever remember for their good Nevertheless in this Our extreme necessity though We have been most unwilling We are now inforced for Our most just and necessary Defence again to call and invite them and all other Our Subjects of the true Protestant Religion residing on the North-side of Trent or within twenty miles Southward thereof whose hearts God Almighty shall touch with a true sense and apprehension of Our Sufferings and of the ill use which the Contrivers and Fomenters of this Rebellion have made of Our Clemency and desire of Peace That according to their Allegiance and as they tender the Safety of Our Person the Property of their Estates their just Liberties the true Protestant Religion and Privileges of Parliament and indeed the very Being of Parliaments they attend Our Person upon Monday the two and twentieth day of this instant August at Our Town of Nottingham where and when We intend to erect Our Standard-Royal in Our just and necessary Defence and whence We resolve to advance forward for the suppression of the said Rebellion and the Protection of Our good Subjects amongst them from the burthen of the Slavery and Insolence under which they cannot but groan till they be relieved by Us. And We likewise call and invite all Our Subjects of the true Protestant Religion in the remoter parts of this Our Kingdom to whom notice of this Our Proclamation cannot so soon arrive That with all speed possible as they tender the forenamed Considerations they attend Our Person in such place as We shall then happen to encamp And such of Our said Subjects as shall come unto Us either to Our said Town of Nottingham or to any other place where We shall happen to encamp Armed and Arrayed with Horse Pistols Muskets Pikes Corslets Horses for Dragoons or other fitting Arms and Furniture We shall take them into Our pay such of them excepted who shall be willing as Voluntiers to serve Us in this Our necessity without pay And whosoever shall in this Our Danger and necessity supply Us either by Gift or Loan of Money or Plate for this Our necessary Defence wherein they also are so nearly concerned We shall as soon as God shall enable Us repay whatsoever is so lent and upon all occasions remember and reward those Our good Subjects according to the measure of their Love and Affections to Us and their Country Given at Our Court at York the twelfth day of August in the eighteenth year of Our Reign 1642. His MAJESTY's Declaration to all His Loving Subjects of the 12 of Aug. 1642. 'T IS more than time now after so many Injuries and Indignities offered to Our Royal Person so many Affronts and Scorns put upon Our Kingly Office so many Scandalous Seditious and Traitorous Pamphlets against Our Self and Our Government to vindicate Our Self from those wicked and damnable Combinations and Conspiracies which the implacable Malice and insatiable Ambition of some Persons have contrived against Us and to let all Our loving Subjects know how much they are concerned in Our Sufferings and how much their Peace and Security is shaken in the Assaults which are made and the Wounds which are given to Our Honour and Authority and how specious soever their pretences are of Religion and Liberty that in truth their end is nothing but Anarchy and Confusion in either In the relation and consideration whereof though We take no delight in the sharpness and bitterness of expressions 't is no wonder if being compelled to take notice of Actions of an high and injurious nature and to consider and answer words impetuously directed against Majesty it self We be likewise enforced to use a Dialect rougher and different from what We have used to treat in 't is a weapon We blush to find Our Self put to exercise and We call the Almighty God to witness That though We were extremely sensible of the violent and unjustifiable Imposition upon Our Royal Office and Authority of the apparent Hazard and Danger which threatened Our own Person and Safety yet not so much the particular consideration of Our Self hath engaged Us in the resolution We have now taken as the publick Care of the true Protestant Religion the Preservation of the Law and the Liberty of the Subject and the upholding the whole Frame and Constitution of this Kingdom so admirably founded and continued by the Blessing of God and the wisdom of Our Ancestours to the wonder and envy of all the neighbouring Kingdoms which the Faction and Ambition of a few discontented spirits with their counterfeit shews of Religion and pretences of Liberty endeavour to shake and rend asunder and to bring Our Self and all the Subjects of this Kingdom into perpetual Subjection unto their vast unlimited Arbitrary Seditious Jurisdiction We shall begin Our discourse from the beginning of this Parliament for of the unhappy Dissolution of the last by the mis-information and advice of some persons looked upon now under another Character We shall forbear to speak being resolved that no disregard or undutifulness of other men towards Us shall ever prevail with Us to do what We think unsuteable to the Honour and Reputation of a Just Prince and of a good and loving Master When We resolved to summon this Parliament which We did out of Our own earnest and affectionate desire to beget a good and right intelligence between Us and Our People and before the meeting of Our great Council at York and uncompelled by any violence but of Our love to Peace We presented to Our Self the unhappy Condition wherein the state of this Kingdom then stood considered the nature of the Pressures then more freely represented to Us which in themselves were grievous to Our good Subjects and in the Consequences of them might appear more terrible We took a full and clear prospect of the Inconveniences and mischiefs which had grown by the long intermission of Parliaments and by the parting too much from the known Rule of the Law to an Arbitrary power and upon the whole resolved without puting any Gloss upon Our own former Commands or
taken all possible pains to destroy King and People or such whom they shall recommend to succeed that the same Faction may be carried through the whole Kingdom which these Men have raised in both Houses of Parliament that all Affairs of the Kingdom be managed not only by their Advice but their absolute Direction and Command lest any Man should think himself Our Servant that the Education and Marriage of Our Children be committed to them lest any Christian Prince should make addresses to Us in such Treaties in a word that in gratitude to their Modesty and Duty for not deposing Us We will not now depose Our Self and suffer the People and Kingdom which God and the Law hath committed to Our Government and Protection and for which We must make an account to be devoured by them Sure these Men think 't is no affront to ask any thing But can Our good Subjects be longer kept in this Trance Can the Nobility Gentry Clergy Commonalty of England sacrifice their Honour Interest Religion Liberty to Terms and the meer sound of Parliament and Privilege Can their Experience Reason and Understanding be captivated by words and assumptions contradictory to all Principles What one thing have We denied that with reference to the publick Peace and Happiness were to be bought with the loss of the meanest Subject And yet into what a Sea of blood is the rage and fury of these Men launching out to wrest that from Us which We are bound if We had a thousand lives to lose in the contention to defend Nay what one thing is there that makes life precious to good Men which We do not defend and these Men oppose and would evidently destroy What Grievance or Pressure have Our People complained of and been eased by Us whch is not now brought upon them in an unlimited degree Is the true Reformed Protestant Religion sealed by the blood of so many Reverend Martyrs and established by the Wisdom and Piety of former blessed Parliaments dear to them We must appeal to all the world being called upon by the Reproaches of these men whether Our own practice the best evidence of Religion and all the assistance and offers We can give have been wanting to the Advancement of that Religion And what can be more done by Us to satisfie and secure Our People in that point On the other side let all Our good Subjects consider and weigh what pregnant Arguments they have to fear Innovation in Religion if these desperate persons prevail when the principal Men to whose care and authority they have committed the managery of that part refuse Communion with the Church of England as much as the Papists do and have not only with that freedom they think fit to use reproached the Book of Common-Prayer and the Government of the Church in their Speeches but have published those Speeches in the view of all Men in Print that the World might see by what Measure and Rule the Reformation they so much talk of is to be made when such Petitions have been contrived by them and accepted with publick thanks which revile the Book of Common-Prayer calling it a Mass-book in scorn and contempt of the Law whilest other Petitions for the Government established by Law have been rejected discountenanced and the Petitioners punished and when two Armies were kept in the bowels of the Kingdom ten weeks at the charge of fourscore thousand pounds a Month for the countenance of a Bill to eradicate Episcopacy Root and Branch when such licence is given to Brownists Anabaptists and Sectaries and whilst Coachmen Felt-makers and such Mechanick persons are allowed and entertained to preach by those who think themselves the principal Members of either House when such barbarous Outrages in Churches and heathenish Irreverence and Uproars even in the time of Divine Service and the Administration of the blessed Sacrament are practised without control when the blessed means of advancing Religion the Preaching of the Word of God is turned into a licence of Libelling and Reviling both Church and State and venting such Seditious Positions as by the Laws of the Land are no less than Treason and scarce a Man in Reputation and Credit with these grand Reformers who is not notoriously guilty of this whilest those Learned Reverend Painful and Pious Preachers who have been and are the most eminent and able Assertors of the Protestant Religion are to the unspeakable joy of the Adversaries to Our Religion disregarded and oppressed lastly when for the settling and composing all these Distractions and Distempers instead of a free and general Synod of Grave and Learned Divines which hath been so much talked of and to whose deliberations We were and are willing to commit the Consideration of those Affairs a Conference is desired with particular Men nominated by themselves contrary to the Rights and Practice of the Church the major part of whom though We confess there are many Reverend Learned and Pious persons amongst them are not of Learning nor Understanding sutable to so great a Work or are of known avowed Disaffection to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church and of those who have preached Seditiously and Treasonably against Our Person and Authority as Doctor Downing and others Whoever from his Soul desires a true Examination and Reformation in Religion cannot expect it from the results of these Mens Counsels nor think the true service of God is like to be advanced or preserved by such practices And all sober Men must look with strange Horrour and Indignation upon the last Declaration of the Lords and Commons which after such unprecedented Outrages and Violences against Us publishes the ground of their taking up defensive Arms as they call them to be for the maintetenance of the true Religion the taking and keeping of Hull Our Navy Our Money and Goods the exercising of the Militia and all the other Injuries We complain of to be for the maintenance of Religion But whosoever believes them to be for the preservation of Our Person may believe the other too Would Men enjoy the Laws they were born to the Liberty and Property which makes the Subjection of this Nation famous and honourable with all neighbouring Kingdoms We have done Our part to make a Wall of Brass for the perpetual defence of them whilest these ill Men usurp a Power to undermine that Wall and to shake those Foundations which cannot be pulled down but to the confusion of Law Liberty Property and the very Life and Being of Our Subjects Is the Dignity Privilege and Freedom of Parliament Parliaments whose Wisdom and Gravity have prepared so many wholsome Laws and whose Freedom distinguishes the Condition of Our Subjects from those of any Monarchy in Europe precious unto Our People Where was that Freedom and that Privilege when the House of Commons presumed to make Laws without the House of Peers as they did in their Vote upon the Protestation and of the 9th of September when the House
be Treason are so accused and others warned from involving themselves in their Guilt and except We will take down Our Standard that Our good Subjects may not repair to Us for Our Defence when so many Armies are raised against Us in several parts of the Kingdom and ready to destroy Us and such of Our good Subjects who dare continue loyal to Us and except We will return to London from whence with Violence We have been driven We must not be treated with or receive any Answer to so gracious a Message It can no longer be doubted by any Man who hath not wilfully forsaken his Understanding that it is no more a Quarrel undertaken by the Parliament but contrived and somented by the persons We have named and now continued solely in their defence to whose Ambition Faction and Malice the true Reformed Protestant Religion the just Right Honour Safety and Life of Us and Our Posterity the Law of the Land which hath so long preserved this Nation Happy the Liberty of the Subject established by that Law and the glorious Frame and Constitution of this Kingdom must be sacrificed But as We have hitherto left no Action unperformed which in Honour Justice and Conscience We were obliged to do or in Christian Policy and Prudence We could conceive might probably prevent these Calamities so We thank God he hath given Us a full Courage and Resolution to run the utmost hazard of Our Life for the suppression of this Horrible Rebellion in the which no disproportion of Power Arms or Money shall discourage Us. And We hope that all Our good Subjects besides by the common Duty of Allegiance will be stirred up for their own sakes for the preservation of the blessed Protestant Religion and for the upholding this whole admirable Frame of Government which being dissolved all their private and particular Rights and Interests must be immediately confounded to bring in their utmost power and Assistance unto Us in this desperate Exigent And We do declare that whosoever shall lose his life in this Service for Our defence the Wardship of his Heir shall be granted by Us without Rent or Fine to his own use and We shall hold Our Self obliged to take all possible care for the support relief and protection of all their Wives and Children who shall have the hard fortune to dye in this Service CHARLES R. Our express pleasure is That this Our Declaration be published in all Churches and Chappels within the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales by the Parsons Vicars or Curates of the same MDCXLII His MAJESTY's Declaration to all His loving Subjects after His late Victory against the Rebels on Sunday the 23. of October AS We must wholly attribute the Preservation of Us and Our Children in the late bloody Battel with the Rebels to the Mercy and Goodness of Almighty God who best knowing the Justice of Our Cause and the Uprightness of Our Heart to his Service and to the good and welfare of Our People would not suffer Us and this whole Kingdom to be made a Prey to those desperate Persons so We hold it Our Duty still to use all possible means to remove that Jealousie and Mis-understanding from Our good Subjects which by the Industry and Subtilty of that Malignant Party which hath brought this Mischiefand Confusion upon the Kingdom hath been infused into them and to that purpose thugh even those Scandals are sufficiently answered by many of Our Declarations and Messages and by Our late Protestation made in the head of Our Army which We shall always by the help of God stedfastly and solemnly observe We shall take notice of those subtile Insinuations by which at this present according to that observation We can make and Information We can receive they endeavour to poyson the hearts and corrupt the Allegiance of such of Our good Subjects who cannot so clearly discern their Malice and Impostures First by urging and pressing that false groundless Imputation of Our favouring Popery and Our imploying many of that Religion now in Our Army secondly by seducing Our good People to believe that this Army raised and kept for Our necessary Defence and without which in all probability the Malice of these Men had before this taken Our Life from Us is to fight against and subdue the Parliament to take away the Privileges thereof and thereby to root out Parliaments If either of which were true We should not have the courage with an Army much greater than Ours to hope for success For the First for Our Affection to that Religion Our continual Practice Our constant Profession and several Protestations will satisfie all the World against which Malice and Treason it self cannot find the least probable Objection We wish from Our heart the zeal and affection of these Men to the true Protestant Religion were as apparent as Ours For the imploying Men of that Religion in Our present Service in the Army whosoever considers the hardness and streights the Malice and Fury of these Men have driven Us to their stopping all passages and ways that neither Men nor money might come to Us their declaring all such to be Traitours who shall assist Us their entertaining Men of all Countries all Religions to serve against Us would not wonder if We had been very well contented to have received the service and assistance of any of Our good Subjects who had Loyalty enough whatsoever their Religion is to bring them to Our Succour All Men know the great number of Papists which serve in their Army Commanders and others the great Industry they have used to corrupt the Loyalty and Affection of all Our Subjects of that Religion the private Promises and Undertakings they have made to them that if they would assist them against Us all the Laws made in their prejudice should be repealed yet neither the weakness of Our own condition nor the other Arts used against Us could prevail with Us to invite those of that Religion to come to Our succour or to recal Our Proclamation which forbad them to do so And We are confident though We know of some few whose eminent Abilities in Command and Conduct and moderate and unfactious Dispositions hath moved Us in this great Necessity to imploy them in this Service that a far greater number of that Religion is in the Army of the Rebels than in Our own And We do assure Our good Subjects though We shall always remember the particular services which particular Men have or shall in this Exigent of Ours perform to Us with that Grace and Bounty which becomes a just Prince yet We shall be so far from ever giving the least countenance or encouragement to that Religion that We shall always use Our utmost endeavour to suppress it by the execution of those good and wholsome Laws already in force against Papists and concurring in such further Remedies as the care and wisdom of Us and both Houses of Parliament shall think most necessary for the
which was so really and so much desired by His Majesty that this Proceeding seems to Him purposely by some intended to divert which it could not do that His Inclination That His Majesty had no intention to master the City by so advancing besides His Profession which how meanly soever they seem to value it He conceives a sufficient Argument especially being only opposed by suspicions and surmises may appear by His not pursuing His Victory at Brainceford but giving orders to His Army to march away to Kingston as soon as He heard that place was quitted before any notice or appearance of farther Forces from London Nor could He find a better way to satisfie them before-hand that He had no such intention but that His desire of Peace and of Propositions that might conduce to it still continued than by that Message of the twelfth For which care of His He was requited by such a reception of His Message and Messenger as was contrary at once both to Duty Civility and the very Customs and Law of War and Nations and such as theirs though after this Provocation hath not found from Him His Majesty wonders that His Souldiers should be charged with thirsting after Blood who took above five hundred Prisoners in the very heat of the Fight His Majesty having since dismissed all the common Souldiers and entertain'd such as were willing to serve Him and required only from the rest an Oath not to serve against Him And His Majesty supposes such most apt and likely to maintain their Power by Blood and Rapine who have only got it by Oppression and Injustice That His is vested in Him by the Law and by that only if the destructive Counsels of others would not hinder such a Peace in which that might once again be the Universal Rule and in which Religion and Justice can only flourish He desires to maintain it And if Peace were equally desired by them as it is by His Majesty He conceives it would have been proper to have sent Him such a Paper as should have contained just Propositions of Peace and not an unjust Accusation of His Counsels Proceedings and Person And His Majesty intends to march to such a distance from His City of London as may take away all Pretence of Apprehension from His Army that might hinder them in all security from yet preparing them to present to Him and there will be ready either to receive them or to end the Pressures and Miseries which His Subjects to His great Grief suffer through this War by a present Battel The Humble Petition of Both Houses of Parliament presented to His Majesty on the 24. of November With His Majesties Gracious Answer thereunto To the Kings most Excellent Majesty The humble Petition of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament May it please Your Majesty IT is humbly desired by both Houses of Parliament That Your Majesty will be pleased to return to Your Parliament with Your Royal not Your Martial Attendance to the end that Religion Laws and Liberties may be settled and secured by their advice finding by a late and sad accident that Your Majesty is invironed by some such Counsels as do rather perswade a desperate Division than a joyning and a good Agreement with Your Parliament and People And we shall be ready to give Your Majesty assurances of such Security as may be for Your Honour and the safety of Your Royal Person His MAJESTY's Answer to the aforesaid Petition WE expected such Propositions from you as might speedily remove and prevent the Misery and Desolation of this Kingdom and that for the effecting thereof We now residing at a convenient place not far from Our City of London Committees from both Our Houses of Parliament should attend Us for you pretended by your Message to Us at Colebrook that those were your Desires instead thereof and thereby let all the World judge of the design of that Overture We have only received your humble Petition That We would be pleased to return to Our Parliament with Our Royal not Our Martial Attendance All Our good Subjects that remember what We have so often told you and them upon this Subject and what hath since past must with Indignation look upon this Message as intended by the Contrivers thereof for a Scorn to Us and thereby designed by that Malignant party of whom We have so often complained whose Safety and Ambition is built upon the Divisions and Ruines of this Kingdom and who have too great an Influence upon your Actions for a Wall of Separation betwixt Us and Our People We have told you the Reasons why We parted from London how We were chased thence and by whom We have often complained that the greatest part of Our Peers and of the Members of Our House of Commons could not with safety to their Honours and Persons continue and Vote freely among you but by violence and cunning practices were debarred of those Priviledges which their Birth-rights and the Trust reposed in them by their Countries gave them the truth whereof may sufficiently appear by the small number of those that are with you We have offered you to meet both Our Houses in any place free and convenient for Us and them but We never could receive the least satisfaction in any of these particulars nor for those Scandalous and Seditious Pamphlets and Sermons which swarm amongst you That 's all one you tell Us it is now for Our Honour and the Safety of Our Royal Person to return to Our Parliament wherein your formerly denying Us a Negative Voice gives Us cause to believe that by giving your selves that Name without Us you intend not to acknowledge Us to be part of it The whole Kingdom knows that an Army was raised under pretence of Orders of both Houses an Usurpation never heard of before in any Age which Army hath pursued Us in Our own Kingdom gave Us Battel at Keynton and endeavoured to take away the life of Us and Our Children and yet these Rebels being newly recruited and possessed of Our City of London We are courteously invited to return to Our Parliament there that is into the Power of this Army Doth this signifie any other thing than that since the traitourous endeavours of those desperate Men could not snatch the Crown from Our Head it being defended by the Providence of God and the Affections and Loyalty of Our good Subjects We should now tamely come up and give it them and put Our Selves Our Life and the lives liberties and fortunes of all Our good Subjects into their merciful hands Well We think not fit to give any other Answer to this part of your Petition But as We impute not this Affront to both Our Houses of Parliament nor to the major part of those that are now present there but to that dangerous Party We and the whole Kingdom must cry out upon so We shall for Our good Subjects sake and out of Our most tender sense of their
by Your Letters Patents to make Sir John Brampston Chief Justice of Your Court of Kings Bench William Lenthal Esquire the now Speaker of the Commons House Master of the Rolls and to continue the Lord Chief Justice Banks Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and likewise to make Master Serjeant Wilde Chief Baron of Your Court of Exchequer and that Master Justice Bacon may be continued and Master Serjeant Rolls and Master Serjeant Atkins made Justices of the Kings Bench that Master Justice Reeves and Master Justice Foster may be continued and Master Serjeant Phesant made one of Your Justices of Your Court of Common Pleas that Master Serjeant Creswel Master Samuel Brown and Master John Puleston may be Barons of the Exchequer and that all these and all the Judges of the same Courts for the time to come may hold their places by Letters Patents under the great great Seal quamdiu se bene gesserint and that the several persons not before named that do hold any of these places before mentioned may be removed IX That all such persons as have been put out of the Commissions of Peace or Oyer and Terminer or from being Custodes Rotulorum since the first day of April 1642. other than such as were put out by desire of both or either of the Houses of Parliament may again be put into those Commissions and Offices and such that persons may be put out of those Commissions and Offices as shall be excepted against by both Houses of Parliament X. That Your Majesty will be pleased to pass the Bill now presented to Your Majesty to vindicate and secure the Privileges of Parliament from the ill consequence of the late Precedent in the Charge and Proceeding against the Lord Kimbolton now Earl of Manchester and the five Members of the House of Commons XI That Your Majesty's Royal Assent may be given unto such Acts as shall be advised by both Houses of Parliament for the satisfying and paying the Debts and Damages wherein the two Houses of Parliament have ingaged the Publick Faith of the Kingdom XII That Your Majesty will be pleased according to a Gracious Answer heretofore received from You to enter into a more strict Alliance with the States of the United Provinces and other Neighbour Princes and States of the Protestant Religion for the defence and maintenance thereof against all designs and attempts of the Popish and Jesuitical Faction to subvert and suppress it whereby Your Subjects may hope to be free from the mischiefs which this Kingdom hath endured through the power which some of that Party have had in Your Counsels and will be much encouraged in a Parliamentary way for Your Aid and Assistance in restoring Your Royal Sister and the Prince Elector to those Dignities and Dominions which belong unto them and relieving the other distressed Protestant Princes who have suffered in the same Cause XIII That in the General Pardon which Your Majesty hath been pleased to offer to Your Subjects all Offences and Misdemeanours committed before the tenth of January 1641. which have been or shall be questioned or proceeded against in Parliament upon complaint in the House of Commons before the tenth of January 1643. shall be excepted which offences and misdemeanours shall never the less be taken and adjudged to be fully discharged against all other inferiour Courts That likewise there shall be an exception of all Offences committed by any person or Persons which hath or have had any hand or practice in the Rebellion of Ireland which hath or have given any counsel assistance or encouragement to the Rebels there for the maintenance of that Rebellion as likewise an exception of William Earl of Newcastle and George Lord Digby XIV That Your Majesty will be pleased to restore such Members of either House of Parliament to their several places of Services and Imployment out of which they have been put since the beginning of this Parliament that they may receive satisfaction and reparation for those places and for the profits which they have lost by such removals upon the Petition of both Houses of Parliament and that all others may be restored to their Offices and Imployments who have been put out of the same upon any displeasure conceived against them for any Assistance given to both Houses of Parliament or obeying their Commands or forbearing to leave their Attendance upon the Parliament without licence or for any other occasion arising from these unhappy Differences betwixt Your Majesty and both Houses of Parliament upon the like Petition of both Houses These things being granted and performed as it hath always been our hearty Prayer so shall we be enabled to make it our hopeful Endeavour That Your Majesty and Your People may enjoy the blessings of Peace Truth and Justice the Royalty and Greatness of Your Throne may be supported by the Loyal and bountiful Affections of Your People their Liberties and Privileges maintained by Your Majesty's Protection and Justice and this publick Honour and Happiness of Your Majesty and all Your Dominions communicated to other Churches and States of Your Alliance and derived to Your Royal Posterity and the future Generations in this Kingdom for ever H. Elsinge Cler. Parl. D. Com. His MAJESTY'S Answer to the Desires and Propositions of both Houses February the third 1642. Received at a Conference with the Lords February the sixth 1642. IF His Majesty had not given up all the faculties of His Soul to an earnest endeavour of a Peace and Reconciliation with His People or if He would suffer Himself by any Provocation to be drawn to a sharpness of Language at a time when there seems somewhat like an Overture of Accommodation He could not but resent the heavy charges upon Him in the Preamble of these Propositions and would not suffer Himself to be reproached with protecting of Delinquents by force from Justice His Majesty's desire having always been that all Men should be tryed by the known Law and having been refused it with raising an Army against His Parliament and to be told that Arms have been taken up against Him for the defence of Religion Laws Liberties Privileges of Parliament and for the sitting of the Parliament in safety with many other Particulars in that Preamble so often and so fully answered by His Majesty without remembring the world of the time and circumstances of raising those Arms against Him when His Majesty was so far from being in a condition to invade other mens Rights that He was not able to maintain and defend His own from violence and without telling His good Subjects that their Religion the true Protestant Religion in which His Majesty was born hath faithfully lived and to which He will die a willing Sacrifice their Laws Liberties Priviledges and safety of Parliament were so amply settled and established or offered to be so by His Majesty before any Army was raised against Him and long before any raised by Him for His defence that if nothing had
the way thereunto were not such as were reasonable and necessary for them to make and just and honourable for His Majesty to grant and whether His Majesty's Answers to these Propositions are satisfactory or correspondent to His Expression to have given up all the faculties of His Soul to an earnest endeavour of a Peace and Reconciliation with His People But they must confess that they had just cause to suspect that this would be the happy issue of the Treaty for the prevalency of the enemies thereof who like that evil Spirit do most rage when they think they must be cast out was such that they would not proceed therein one step without some attempt or provocation laid in the way to interrupt and break it off for after they had resolved to present their humble Desires and Propositions to His Majesty their Committee must not without a special safe Conduct and Protection from Him have access to Him a liberty incident to them not only as they are Members of the Parliament and employed by both Houses but as they were free-born Subjects and yet when they passed over this His Majesty refused a safe Conduct to the Lord Viscount Say and Seal being one of the Committee appointed by both Houses to be employed upon that occasion such a breach of Priviledge that they believe is not to be parallel'd by the example of former times and yet their desire was such to obtain the end they drive at that is a happy and lasting Peace that they resolved not to interrupt the Treaty for that time by insisting upon it And then they had no sooner entred upon the Treaty but a Proclamation dated at Oxon the 16 of February 1642. entituled His Majesty's Proclamation forbidding all His loving Subjects and the Counties of Kent Surrey Sussex and Hampshire to raise any Forces c. and another Proclamation dated the 8 of February forbidding the assessing and payment of all Taxes by vertue of an Ordinance of both Houses and all entring into Associations were published in His Majesty's Name containing most bitter invectives and scandals against the proceedings of both Houses by styling them and such as obeyed them Traitors and Rebels charging them under the name of Brownists Anabaptists and Atheists to endeavour to take away the Kings Life and to destroy His Posterity the Protestant Religion and the Laws of the Kingdoms with many other such scandals and aspersions and even at this time were many designs practising against the Parliament which in all probability were the grounds and reasons of His Majesty's confidence and denial of their just desire Insomuch that His Majesty in a Letter sent from Him to the Queen and read in the House of Commons did declare That He had so many fine designs laid open to Him that He knew not which first to undertake One whereof probably was the most bloody and barbarous design upon Bristol attempted though by God's infinite mercy prevented during the Treaty And whether that of Sir Hugh Cholmley's in betraying of Scarborough Castle wherewith he was entrusted by the Parliament to the Queens hands and acted likewise during the Treaty and that of Killingworth Castle which should have been likewise betrayed and a design discovered by a Letter found in the Earl of Northampton's pocket slain near Stafford written to Him from Prince Rupert were some of the other designs mentioned in His Majesty's Letter they cannot certainly affirm but conjecture And when these collateral provocations and attempts could not prevail to make them desert the Treaty then comes in His Majesty's Message of the fourth of April which they have mentioned before charging them to abuse the people with imaginary Dangers and pretended Fears to use Force and Rapines upon His good Subjects with publishing new doctrines That it is unlawful for the King to do any thing and lawful to do any thing against Him with Malice and Subtilty to abuse the People that their Pleasure is all their bounds with many other such bitter expressions that no Man could think such an Answer could be any part of a Treaty or at least to proceed from a heart that desired a happy issue thereunto Notwithstanding all which the Lords and Commons were so resolutely fixed to prosecute that Treaty and if possibly they could to bring it to a blessed and happy conclusion that they were content to lie under all these Scandals and endure all these wounds so they might make up the breaches of the Commonwealth and therefore they did forbear the returning of an Answer to any of these provocations And then when the Malignant and Popish party too-too prevalent with his Majesty perceived their constancy not to be provoked to break that Treaty of their part they found it necessary to seduce His Majesty to refuse His Consent to their most necessary and just Desires and to propound such things as could not with the peace and safety of the Church and State be yielded to and so effected their own desires All which the Lords and Commons thought it their duty to publish to the Kingdom to the end that they may see that what hath been long endeavoured by subtile and secret practices is now resolved to be effected by open Violence and Hostility that is the destruction of our Laws and the Protestant Religion and introducing of Popery and Superstition and that there is little or no hope by any endeavour of a Treaty to procure the Peace of this Church and Kingdom unless both be exposed to the will and pleasure of the Popish party until the Army and Forces now raised and continued by them be first destroyed or suppressed And therefore the Lords and Commons do hope that not only such as are already convinced of their Design and Malice but even those that by their subtile and false pretences have been ignorantly seduced to joyn with them that love their Liberty and the Protestant Religion will now with one heart and mind unite together to preserve their Religion and Liberty in the defence whereof the Lords and Commons are resolved to offer up themselves their lives and fortunes a willing Sacrifice Die Sabbati 6 May 1643. A Declaration upon the Result of the Treaty brought in with some Amendments was this day read in the House of Commons and ordered to be delivered unto the Lords at a Conference And it is further Ordered by this House That this Declaration shall be Printed and Master Glyn do take care for the Printing of it and that none shall Print or re-print it but such as Master Glyn shall appoint to the end that by his care the Records may be rightly cited and the Letters and other matters Ordered to be Printed with it be carefully Printed H. Elsinge Cler. Parliament D. Com. His MAJESTY's Declaration to all His Loving Subjects in Answer to a Declaration of the Lords and Commons upon the Proceedings of the late Treaty of Peace and several Intercepted Letters of His MAJESTY to the QUEEN and of
a yielding and submission we know not what is left to Treat upon These things are too apparent to every ordinary understanding And yet we are not forward to apprehend the Scorn of that Letter or take it for a Denial of a Treaty but being still sollicitous for that happy Peace which alone could redeem this Kingdom from Ruine we resolved to try another way and for avoiding Delay or Cavil about Names or Titles or descants upon words to forbear writing and humbly besought His Majesty to send Messengers with Instructions to desire a Treaty for Peace Who was pleased to name Mr. Richard Fanshaw and Mr. Thomas Offly Gentlemen of clear Repute and Integrity and to avoid their danger in repairing to Westminster at our desire commanded the Earl of Forth His General to write to theirs for a safe Conduct for those two Messengers for such is our Condition at present that a free-born Subject sent upon the Kings Message cannot but with such leave repair to London or Westminster without danger of his Life The Letter for the safe Conduct was as followeth My Lord I Cannot so willingly write to you in any business as in that of Peace the Endeavour thereof being the principal Duty of those who are trusted in places of our Commands especially when the Blood that is spilt is of persons under the same Allegiance of the same Country and Religion His Majesty continuing constant in His pious and fervent desires of a happy end to these bloody Distractions I do hereby desire your Lordship to send me a safe Conduct to and from Westminster for Mr. Richard Fanshaw and Mr. Tho Offly to be sent by His Majesty concerning a Treaty for Peace I rest Your Lordships humble Servant Forth To this was returned a Letter directed to the Earl of Forth in these words viz. My Lord YOV shew your Nobleness in declaring your willingness to write to me in any business as of that of Peace and I joyn with you in the same opinion that it ought to be a principal Duty of those who are trusted in places of our Command and therefore whensoever I shall receive any directions to those who have intrusted me I shall use my best endeavours and when you shall send for a safe Conduct for those Gentlemen mentioned in your Letter from His Majesty to the Houses of Parliament I shall with all cheerfulness shew my willingness to further any way that may produce that Happiness that all honest Men pray for which is a true understanding between His Majesty and His faithful and only Council the Parliament Your Lordships humble Servant Essex Essex-House 19. Feb. 1643. That this doth neither grant a safe Conduct nor give any direct Answer to the Earl of Forth 's Request every ordinary Eye may see and yet such Requests amongst Generals are rarely denied and we may easily thereby discern how fearful they at Westminster are lest the poor distressed People of this Kingdom should by the advantage of a Treaty and free debate of the present Difference see how grossly they had been deceived and misled and so obtain an end of their Miseries for otherwise who could have believed that when these Differences arose and were continued for want of a free Convention in Parliament and that a main end of the Treaty was to resolve how we according to Our Duty and the Trust reposed in us by our Countries might with them freely debate and advise His Majesty in those things that concerned the maintenance of our Religion Parliament-Privileges the Kings Rights and the Subjects Liberty and Property that this Letter should tell us that the Party we are to Treat withal is the Kings only Council excluding all others not only our selves called by the same Authority to Council as they were but His Privy-Council also and Council at Law so that we could have no hopes of a Treaty unless we should first agree that they are the Parliament and the Kings only Council whereby they that are parties would bccome the only Judges of all things in question which would be a Submission and not a Treaty Having received these frivolous delays which we might have interpreted absolute denials of any Treaty of Peace we yet resolved not to give over our endeavours for that which so much concerned the good of our Country and the welfare of all Professors of the true Protestant Religion but by our humble and earnest desires to his Majesty prevailed with Him to write His Royal Letters and once more desire a Treaty for Peace though it had been so often formerly rejected and to avoid all colour of Exception to direct it To the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster which was done and enclosed in a Letter from the Earl of Forth to their General A Copy of both which Letters hereafter follows My Lord I Have received your Letter of the 19 th of this Month which according to my Duty I shewed to His Majesty Who observing in it your expressions concerning Peace that whensoever you shall receive any directions to those that have entrusted you you shall use your best endeavours is graciously pleased to send this enclosed which is desired may be delivered according to the directions Directed to the Earl of Essex Subscribed by the Earl of Forth C. R. OVT of Our most tender and pious sense of the sad and bleeding condition of this Our Kingdom and Our unwearied desires to apply all Remedies which by the blessing of Almighty God may recover it from an utter Ruine by the Advice of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford We do propound and desire That a convenient number of fit Person may be appointed and authorized by you to meet with all convenient speed at such Place as you shall nominate with an equal number of fit Persons whom We shall appoint and authorize to Treat of the ways and means to settle the present Distractions of this Our Kingdom and to procure a happy Peace and particularly how all the Members of both Houses may securely meet in a full and free Convention of Parliament there to Treat consult and agree upon such things as may conduce to the maintenance and defence of the true Reformed Protestant Religion with due consideration to all just and reasonable ease of tender Consciences to the settling and maintaining of Our just Rights and Privileges of the Rights and Privileges of Parliament the Laws of the Land the Liberty and Property of the Subject and all other Expedients that may conduce to that blessed end of a firm and lasting Peace both in Church and State and a perfect understanding betwixt Vs and Our People wherein no Endeavours or Concurrence of Ours shall be wanting And God direct your hearts in the ways of Peace Given at Our Court at Oxford the third day of March 1643. Superscribed To the Lords and Commons of Parliament Assembled at Westminster We now appeal to all the World what could more have been done
well-affected to rise as one man and to come to the House of Commons next Morning for that 20000 Irish Rebels were landed which direction and information was likewise that day given in Pulpits by their Seditious Preachers and in some of those Papers were subscribed That the Malignant Party had over-voted the good and if not prevented there would be Peace the Propositions for Peace being the day before carried by nine and twenty Voices A Common-council was called late at night though Sunday and a Petition there framed against Peace which was the next morning brought to the House countenanc'd by Alderman Pennington a known Promoter and Governour of those Tumults and attended with a multitude of mean Persons who used Threats Menaces and Reproaches to the Members of both Houses Their Petition took notice of Propositions passed by the Lords for Peace which if allowed would be destructive to Religion Laws and Liberties and therefore desired an Ordinance according to the Tenor of an Act of their Common-council the night before Thanks was given them by the Commons whilst the Lords complained of the Tumults and desired a concurrence to suppress them and to prevent the like many of the People telling the Members of both Houses That if they had not a good Answer they would be there the next day with double the number By these Threats and Violence the Propositions formerly received were rejected and all thoughts of Peace laid aside Shortly after great numbers of Women resort to the House where the Commons sate with a Petition for Peace Troops of Horse were hereupon sent for who wound and kill several of the Women and disperse the rest Then special notice was taken of those Members who seemed most importunate and desirous of Peace and thereupon the late Covenant eagerly and severely pressed upon them By reason whereof and the other miscarriages whereby their freedom was absolutely taken from them divers of both Houses withdrew themselves And we must now appeal to all our fellow-Subjects of this Kingdom who have taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy who have any knowledge of the Rights Customs and Privileges of Parliament or of the Frame and Constitution of this Realm whether we or they have failed in our Duty to our King or Country and whether we have not in discharge of a good Conscience undergone the evils we have born And then we doubt not we shall not be thought less Members of Parliament though we are not at Westminster than if that City were in the possession of a Foreign Enemy Yet we confess the Place to be so material that if there were that Liberty and Freedom which is due to the Members and indeed is the life of Parliament the Act of those in the House being a lawful Act is the Act of the House though there were a greater number absent all who were of another opinion but in our case when we are by force driven away and by force kept away and when nothing can be said to justifie the Actions which are done but the Reputation and Number of the Actors we rely so much upon the understanding and honesty of our Country-men that they will believe when they see our concurrence and unanimity in Resolutions and Counsel for their Peace welfare and security as we are confident the number of those who concur in this Declaration is greater than hath concurred in most if not in any of those things of which we complain that it will be better for them to be advised by us at Oxford than by those at Westminster from whence we are absent only by reason of those Outrages and Violence offered to our Persons or our Consciences which takes away all Freedom and consequently all Authority from those Councils and where indeed these men ought not to undertake to act any thing till that Freedom and Liberty be restored to us who as long as this Parliament shall continue notwithstanding all the Votes of those who are guilty of Treason and Rebellion mustaccount our selves and shall be accounted by our Country the true and lawful Members of Parliament Having said thus much to undeceive our Brethren and that our fellow-Subjects may be no longer seduced to unlawful actions by colour and pretence of Parliament we shall briefly present to their view and consideration the danger and condition of His Majesty's Person His Honour and Rights the Religion and Liberty of the Kingdom the defence and maintenance of which those Persons with whom we cannot agree seem and pretend to undertake For their Care of the Honour and Safety of His Majesty's Person to the which we are so absolutely obliged and so solemnly sworn we shall need only to mention which we mention with great sadness of Heart and Horrour the taking by force His Majesty's Forts Towns Navy the assuming a power over the Militia of the Kingdom the denying his Majesty's Negative Voice the uncomely insolent and disloyal mentioning of His Majesty's Person the neglect contempt and violation of Leagues made by His Majesty with Foreign Princes in the Injuries and Affronts done to their publick Ministers and otherwise the transcendent presumption of sending Agents to Foreign Princes and in the Name of the States of England the traytourcus distinction between the Person of the King and His Office and declaring that an attempt upon His Life is not High-Treason which Doctrine is so much countenanced that Persons who have threatned to Kill the King having been complained of have been left unpunished and the Witnesses and Prosecutors threatned or discountenanced the raising an Army against Him and therewith giving Battle to His Person All which are known to be very unagreeable with the Affection Duty and Loyalty of Subjects and English-men Concerning Religion we cannot but with bleeding Hearts and trembling Souls consider the unheard-of Impieties and Prophanations exercised in Churches and Consecrated places the Countenance and licence given to scandalous debosh ignorant Lay-persons to Preach and exercise the Office of the Ministry the suppressing and cruel using and imprisoning in Gaols and on Ship-board Godly Learned Orthodox Divines famous and exemplary in their Lives and Doctrine the most eminent Assertors of the Protestant Religion against Popery and Innovations the scurrilous and scandalous reviling scoffing and suppressing the Book of Common-Prayer compiled by glorious Martyrs for the Protestant Religion established by Law and so long and so publickly used and acknowledged as an excellent and unparallel'd form of Devotion and Divine Service the suspending the execution of the Act of Parliament made in the first year of Queen Elizabeth of famous memory for Uniformity of Common-Prayer by an Order under the hand of a private Member of the House of Commons and that during the recess of both Houses the stirring up and inciting the People to Rebellion in Pulpits and which is the greatest Scandal and Reproach to the Protestant Religion that can be imagined the making Religion it self the ground and cause of Rebellion
considered your Propositions and finds it very difficult in respect they import so great an Alteration in Government both in Church and State to return a particular and positive Answer before a full debate wherein those Propositions and all the necessary Explanations and Reasons for assenting dissenting or qualifying and all inconveniences and mischiefs which may ensue and cannot otherwise be so well foreseen may be discussed and weighed His Majesty therefore proposeth and desireth as the best Expedient for Peace That you will appoint such a number of Persons as you shall think fit to Treat with the like number of Persons to be appointed by His Majesty upon the said Propositions and such other things as shall be proposed by His Majesty for the preservation and defence of the Protestant Religion with due regard to the ease of tender Consciences as His Majesty hath often offered the Rights of the Crown the Liberty and Property of the Subjects and the Privileges of Parliament and upon the whole matter to conclude a happy and blessed Peace Unto which Message this Answer of the 27. of December was returned to His Majesty May it please Your most Excellent Majesty VVE Your Majesty's humble and Loyal Subjects of both Kingdoms have considered of Your Majesty's Message of the 13. of December 1644. sent by the Duke of Richmond and the Earl of Southampton directed to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland now at London and do in all humbleness return this Answer That we do consent there be a Treaty for a safe and well-grounded Peace but find that it will require some time to resolve concerning the Instructions and manner of that Treaty and therefore that Your Majesty might not be held in suspence touching our readiness to make use of any opportunity for attaining such a blessed and happy Peace in all Your Majesty's Dominions we would not stay Your Majesty's Messengers till we did resolve upon all those particulars which we will take into our serious consideration and present our humble desires to Your Majesty with all convenient speed Westminster the 20. of December 1644. Signed in the name and by warrant of the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland Lowdon Gray of Wark Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore William Lenthal Speaker of the Commons House assembled in Parliament And afterwards upon the 18th of January following Sir Peter Killegrew brought this farther Answer to His Majesty May it please Your most Excellent Majesty VVE Your Majesty's humble and Loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland do make our further Answer to Your Majesty's Message of the 13 th of December last 1644. concerning a Treaty for Peace as followeth We do consent that there be a Treaty for a safe and well-grounded Peace between Your Majesty and Your humble and Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliament of both Kingdoms and for the present have appointed Algernon Earl of Northumberland Philip Earl of Pembrook and Montgomery William Earl of Salisbury Basil Earl of Denbigh Thomas Lord Viscount Wenman Denzill Hollis William Pierrepont Sir Henry Vane junior Oliver St. John Bulstrode Whitelock John Crew Edmund Prideaux for the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and John Earl of Lowdon Lord Chancellor of Scotland Archibald Marquefs of Argyle John Lord Maitland John Lord Balmerino Sir Archibald Johnston Sir Charles Erskin George Dundas Sir John Smith Master Hugh Kennedy and Master Robert Barclay for the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland together with Master Alexander Henderson upon the Propositions concerning Religion Who or any Ten of them there being always some of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms are appointed and authorized to meet at Vxbridge on what day Your Majesty shall be pleased to set down before the last day of this present January with such persons as Your Majesty shall appoint under Your Sign Manual for that purpose and the number of the persons to Treat not to exceed Seventeen on either part unless the persons named for the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland now not here or any of them shall come and then Your Majesty may have the like number if You please there to Treat upon the Matters contained in the Propositions we lately sent unto Your Majesty according to such Instructions as shall be given unto them and the Propositions for Religion the Militia and for Ireland to be first Treated on and agreed and the time for the Treaty upon the said Propositions for Religion the Militia and for Ireland not to exceed Twenty days And for the things mentioned in Your Message to be propounded by Your Majesty when the Persons sent by Your Majesty shall communicate the same to the Committees appointed by us as aforesaid we have directed them to send the same to us that they may receive our Instructions what to do therein And to the end that the Persons that are to be sent from Your Majesty and from us with their Retinue not exceeding the number of one hundred and eight on either part may repair to Vxbridge stay there and return at their pleasure without interruption that mutual safe Conducts be granted to the said Persons according to the several Lists of their Names Signed by Order of the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster Signed in the name and by warrant of the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland Lowdon Grey of Wark Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore William Lenthall Speaker of the Commons House in the Parliament of England Whereunto His MAJESTY returned an Answer inclosed in a Letter from Prince Rupert to the Earl of Essex dated the 21 of January which Letter and Answer were as followeth The Letter My Lord I Am commanded by His Majesty to return this His Answer to the Message lately sent Him from the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland by Sir Peter Killegrew I have likewise sent your Lordship His Majesty's safe Conduct for the persons desired and also a List of the names of those His Majesty hath appointed to Treat for whom together with their Retinue His Majesty hath desired a safe Conduct The Answer inclosed HIS Majesty having received a Message by Sir Peter Killegrew from the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland concerning a Treaty returns this Answer That His Majesty doth very willing consent that there be a Treaty upon the Matters contained in the Propositions lately sent unto Him in such manner as is proposed and at the place appointed in the said Message and to that purpose His Majesty will send the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hartford the Earl of
ye businesse shall require or as they sall be commandit ather be the Committie from the Parliament heir they being in Scotland or be the Committie with the Army they being in England And Ordeanes thame to joyne with the remanent Commissionaris to the effect above-mentionat conforme to the Commissione and Instructiones givin or to be givin to the Commissionaris or thair quorums thairanent be the Estaites of this Kingdom or Committies yrof And the Estaites of Parliament be thir presentis haldis and sall halde firme and stable all and what summe ever thinges the Commissionaris abovenamit or any thrie or mae of thame sall do conforme to this Commissionne and to the Instructionnes givin or to be givin to thame Estractit furthe of the buikes of Parliament be me Sir Alexander Gibsonne of Dunrie Kynt Clerk of His Majesty's Registers and Rollis under my signe and subscriptione Manuel Alexander Gibsonne Cler. Regist After the Commissions read their Commissioners delivered to His Majesty's Commissioners this Paper January the 30. VVE are directed by our Instructions to Treat with your Lordships upon the Propositions concerning Religion the Militia and Ireland three days apiece alternis vicibus during the space of twenty days from the 30 of January beginning first with the Propositions of Religion and accordingly we shall deliver unto your Lordships a Paper to morrow morning upon those Propositions Accordingly the Treaty did proceed upon those Subjects three days apiece alternis vicibus beginning with that of Religion upon Friday the last of January and so continuing Saturday the first and Monday the third of February which was after resumed Tuesday the 11. Wednesday the 12 and Thursday the 13. of February and again the two last days of the 20. And the like course was held touching the Militia and Ireland But because the Passages concerning each Subject severally will be more clearly understood being collected and disposed together under their several heads therefore all those which concern Religion the Militia and Ireland are put together And in like manner the Passages preparatory to the Treaty concerning the Commissions the Manner of the Treaty and a Seditious Sermon made the first day appointed for the Treaty and such as hapned in the Treaty touching His Majesty's Propositions the demands of farther time to Treat and other emergent Passages which have no relation to those of Religion the Militia and Ireland are in like manner digested under their several heads with their particular dates And first those which concern the Commissions Friday the last of January His Majesty's Commissioners delivered unto their Commissioners this Paper Ult. January VVE having perused the Power granted to your Lordships in the Paper delivered by the Earl of Northumberland and finding the same to relate to Instructions we desire to see those Instructions that thereby we may know what Power is granted to you and we ask this the rather because by the Powers we have seen we do not find that your Lordships in the absence of any one of your number have power to Treat Their Answer 31. January BY our Instructions we or any Ten of us whereof some of either House of the Parliament of England and some of the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland to be present have power to Treat with your Lordships Their farther Answer ult Jan. VVHereas your Lordships have expressed unto us a desire of seeing our Instructions to know what Power is granted us and this the rather because you say you find not by what you have seen that in the absence of any one of our number we have power to Treat to this we return in Answer That since the Paper already delivered in by us declaring that by our Instructions any Ten of us whereof some of either House of Parliament of England and some of the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland to be present had power to Treat with your Lordships hath not given you satisfaction in the particular of the Quorum we shall send unto the two Houses of Parliament to have the Quorum inserted in the Commission and do expect the return of it so amended within two or three days when we shall present it unto your Lordships But as for your desire in general to see our Instructions it is that for which we have no Warrant nor is it as we conceive at all necessary or proper for us so to do for that the Propositions upon which we now Treat have been already presented from the Parliaments of both Kingdoms unto His Majesty and whatsoever is propounded by us in order unto them is sufficiently warranted by what both Parliaments have done in the passing and sended of those Propositions and by the Commissions authorizing us to Treat upon them already shewn unto your Lordships so as there can be no need to shew any other Power Accordingly on Saturday the first of February they did deliver their Commission for the English Commissioners renewed as followeth Die Sabbati primo Febr. BE it Ordained by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament that Algernon Earl of Northumberland Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery William Earl of Salisbury Basil Earl of Denbigh Thomas Lord Viscount Wenman Denzil Hollis William Pierrepont Sir Henry Vane junior Oliver St. John Bulstrode Whitelock John Crew and Edmund Prideaux shall have power and authority and are hereby authorized to joyn with the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland together with Alexander Henderson upon the Propositions concerning Religion only or any Ten of them whereof some of either House of the Parliament of England and some of the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland are to be present to Treat with the Lord Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hartford the Earl of Southampton the Earl of Kingston the Lord Dunsmore Lord Capel Lord Seymour Sir Christopher Hatton Sir John Culpeper Sir Edward Nicholas Sir Edward Hyde Sir Richard Lane Sir Orlando Bridgeman Sir Thomas Gardner Master John Ashburnham and Master Jeffrey Palmer or any Ten of them upon the Propositions formerly sent to His Majesty for a safe and well-grounded Peace from His Majesty's humble and Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms together with Doctor Steward upon the Propositions concerning Religion only and upon His Majesty's Propositions according to such Instructions as have been given to them or as they from time to time shall receive from both Houses of Parliament Jo. Browne Cler. Parliam The same last of January their Commissioners delivered to His Majesty's Commissioners this Paper January 31. HAving considered your Commission and Power from His Majesty given in last night by your Lordships we find that you are authorized to Treat only upon certain Propositions sent to His Majesty from the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster and upon His Majesty's Answers Messages and Propositions to them and their Returns to His Majesty wherein we observe that the Propositions sent to His Majesty
your Lordships are not satisfied that such Words as we have charged him with were spoken by him we are ready to produce the proof thereof to your Lordships Their further Answer 1. February WE will represent both your Lordships Papers concerning Master Love unto the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster who will proceed therein according to Justice In the next place according to the order before mentioned do follow the Passages and Papers concerning Religion Their Paper 31. January ACcording to the Paper delivered by us to your Lordships yesternight we do now offer these Propositions following which concern Religion That the Bill be passed for abolishing and taking away of all Arch-Bishops Bishops c. according to the Third Proposition That the Ordinances concerning the Calling and sitting of the Assembly of Divines be confirmed by Act of Parliament That the Directory for Publick Worship already passed both Houses of the Parliament of England and the Propositions concerning Church-Government hereunto annexed and passed both Houses be enacted as a part of Reformation of Religion and Uniformity according to the Fifth Proposition That His Majesty take the Solemn League and Covenant and that the Covenant be enjoyned to be taken according to the Second Proposition To this was annexed the following Paper of the 31. January That the ordinary way of dividing Christians into distinct Congregations and most expedient for Edification is by the respective bounds of their Dwellings That the Minister and other Church-Officers in each particular Congregation shall joyn in the Government of the Church in such manner as shall be established by Parliament That many particular Congregations shall be under one Presbyterial Government That the Church be governed by Congregational Classical and Synodical Assemblies in such manner as shall be established by Parliament That Synodical Assemblies shall consist both of Provincial and National Assemblies The King's Commissioners Paper 1. February HAving considered your Lordships Paper containing the Propositions concerning Religion with the Paper annexed and finding the same to contain absolute Alterations in the Government both of the Ecclesiastical and Civil State we desire to know whether your Lordships have power to Treat and debate upon the said Propositions and upon debate to recede from or consent to any Alterations in the said Propositions if we shall make it appear to be reasonable so to do or whether your Lordships are bound up by your Instructions to insist upon the Propositions without any Alteration Their Answer 1. February OUR Paper given in to your Lordships concerning Religion doth contain no Alterations but such as are usual in a time of Reformation and by the wisdom of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms are judged necessary at this time for settling Religion and Peace And as by our Commissions and Papers formerly shewed your Lordships we have made known our Power to Treat upon them so are we ready by Debate to shew how reasonable they are and that there will be no reason to expect that we should alter or recede from them But as for your demand of our shewing what farther Power we have by our Instructions it is that we have no warrant to do as we have already signified to your Lordships by a former Paper The King's Commissioners Paper 1. February YOUR Lordships first Proposition in the Paper concerning Religion referring to the Third Proposition sent to His Majesty we find that refers to the Articles of the late Treaty of the date at Edenburgh 29. Nov. 1643. and to the joynt Declaration of both Kingdoms We desire your Lordships we may see those Articles and Declarations and your Lordships second Proposition in that Paper referring to the Ordinances concerning the Calling and sitting of the Assembly of Divines we desire to see those Ordinances Their Answer 1. Feb. ACcording to your Lordships desire in the third Paper we now deliver in the Articles of the late Treaty of the date at Edenburgh 29. of November 1643. and the joynt Declaration of both Kingdoms and we shall speedily deliver to your Lordships the Ordinances concerning the Calling and sitting of the Assembly of Divines The King's Commissioners Paper 1. Feb. VVE desire to know whether the Propositions which we have received from your Lordships touching Religion be all we are to expect from you upon that Subject Their Answer 1. Feb. THere are other things touching Religion to be propounded by us unto your Lordships upon the Propositions formerly sent unto His Majesty from the Parliaments of both Kingdoms which we shall in due time give in unto your Lordships But we do first desire your Answer to the Paper touching Religion given in yesterday that some good progress may be made therein before the three days assigned to Treat upon Religion in the first place do expire The King's Commissioners Paper 1. Feb. VVE desired to know whether the Propositions we formerly received from your Lordships concerning Religion were all that would be offered concerning that Subject because we thought it very necessary since so great Alterations are proposed by you to have a full view of the whole Alterations that are desired since in an Argument of the greatest weight and highest importance we cannot possible give a present Judgment of any part till we have a prospect of the Whole But since your Lordships do not yet think it time to let us have a sight of the rest but first desire our Answer to the Paper delivered yesterday which contains many particulars of which we never heard before we shall apply our selves to understand the things proposed by you in such manner as we may return your Lordships a speedy Answer and to that purpose must desire your Lordships information in some particulars which are comprized in your Lordships paper And when your Lordships consider that the Directory for Worship being so long was delivered to us but yesterday that the Covenant the Articles of the Treaty of Edenburgh the Declaration of both Kingdoms which are comprehended within the First Proposition were delivered to us but this day and therefore we could return no Answer concerning the Bill for abolishing Arch-bishops and Bishops which is proposed to be passed according to the Third Proposition in which the said Articles and Declarations are comprehended and that the Ordinances for the Sitting of the Assembly are not yet delivered unto us we are confident your Lordships will not think us negligent in making as good a progress in the Treaty upon Religion as is in our power which we shall endeavour to advance with all diligence and the best of our understanding Afterwards the same first of February the Ordinances for the Assembly of Divines were delivered in After some debate touching the nature of the Church Government intended by the Paper annexed to the first Paper upon the Subject of Religion which are here before set down the Kings Commissioners delivered in this following Paper 1. Feb. THE Information we
desire from your Lordships for the present is Whether by the Words in the first of those Propositions in your Lordships Paper annexed the respective bounds of their Dwellings you intend the several bounds of their dwelling Houses or the bounds of Parishes or whether you intend an alteration of the bounds of Parishes In the second Proposition What other Church-Officers your Lordships intend shall joyn with the Ministers in the Government of the Church and what Jurisdiction they shall exercise in order to that Government and from whom they shall derive it and in what degree be subordinate to the power from whom they derive it and what you intend by Presbyterial Government in your third Proposition In the fourth Proposition What your Lordships intend by Congregational Classical and Synodical Assemblies How Synodical Assemblies Provincial and National shall be constituted as to Persons and Causes and what shall be the bounds and limits of their Jurisdiction and from whom the several Jurisdictions above mentioned shall be derived To these particulars we would be glad if your Lordships think it fit to receive satisfaction by Debate where Questions may be asked and Replies made before any Answer be returned in writing which may ask much time and be less satisfactory but we refer the way to your Lordships Their Answer 1. Feb. VVE cannot but be sensible of the great loss of time occasioned by your Lordships Questions for Information in your last Paper and shall have small hopes of good success in this Treaty having these two days made so little progress unless your Lordships be pleased to give us full Answers to our Demands concerning Religion Yet to give all satisfaction with as little expence of time as may be we are ready by present Conference to clear the Questions in your Paper The King's Commissioners Reply in two several Papers next following 2. Feb. VVE conceive there was no cause your Lordships should apprehend any loss of time occasioned by our Questions for that your Propositions concerning Religion were not delivered to us till Friday last and the Directory then delivered with them so long that the reading of it spent the residue of that day and divers other Papers to which the Propositions referred and without which we could not consider them were not delivered us before yesterday and some of them not till after the Paper which imputes a delay to us and your Lordships having propounded only general heads of a Presbyterial Government without any particular Model of it which in several Reformed Churches as we are informed is various both in Names and Powers it was necessary to understand the particular expressions in your Paper the Alteration desired being so great and being proposed to be enacted which will require His Majesty's Consent whom we ought to satisfie having so great a Trust reposed in us And we desire your Lordships to consider how impossible it hath been for us to give your Lordships in less than two days a full Answer which in your last Paper you require to what you propose which is in effect to consent to the utter abolishing of that Government Discipline and publick Form of the Worship of God which hath been practised and established by Law here ever since the Reformation and which we well understand and the Alteration of which in the manner proposed takes away many things in the Civil Government and provides no remedy for the Inconveniences which may happen thereby And to consent to the Alienation of the Lands of the Church by which for ought appears besides infinite other Considerations so many Persons may be put to beg their Bread to oblige His Majesty and all His Subjects to the taking a new Oath or Covenant and to receive and consent to a new Government we do not nor without information cannot understand and which in truth appears to us by your Lordships Propositions not to be yet agreed upon in the particulars and your Lordships having declared to us that you have other things to propose to us concerning Religion which you do not yet think it fit time to acquaint us withal Notwithstanding all which difficulties we shall proceed with all possible expedition and desire your Lordships will not object Delays to us till we give you just occasion February 2. THAT we may make a right use of the Information your Lordships were pleased yesterday to afford us in debate upon the questions proposed by us concerning the Propositions in your Lordships Paper annexed for the future Government of the Church and so have some understanding of that Government intended by your Lordships in place of that you propose to be abolished we desire to receive your Lordships Answer in writing whether these short Collections upon the Debate yesterday be the Sum of your Lordships Resolutions or Informations upon the Questions formerly proposed by us We conceive that the information given to us in debate by your Lordship 's to the Questions we proposed to you in writing was 1. That the Congregational Assemblies consist of the Ministers and Ruling Elders 2. That the Classical Assemblies consist of many Congregational Assemblies 3. That the Provincial Assemblies are constituted to the several Classical Assemblies 4. That all these Congregational Classical and Provincial Assemblies together constitute a National Assembly 5. That the Authority and Jurisdiction of the several Assemblies shall be setled by Parliament And if your Lordships have any thing else to inform us concerning this Government we desire to receive the same from your Lordships The Kings Commissioners Paper 3. February VVE are readyby present Conference to enter upon consideration of your Lordships First Proposition concerning Religion and shall desire to receive or give satisfaction whereby we may be of one mind in that Argument And for the better entering into this Debate we desire to know whether in respect of Alteration mentioned in the Third Proposition to be made in the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy you would have this individual Bill pass or not Their Answer 3. Feb. VVE desire the Bill for the utter abolishing of Episcopacy which now remains with His Majesty may be passed without prejudice to us to insist upon the Alterations mentioned in the Third Proposition and we are ready to give your Lordships a present Conference upon the First proposition concerning Religion according to your desire After a Conference wherein much time was spent in debate concerning that individual Bill which was presented for abolishing Episcopacy their Commissioners delivered this Paper 3. February VVE desire your Lordships Answer to our Demands upon the Propositions for Religion and in the first place to the Bill for abolishing of Episcopacy which hath been so much debated that upon the expiring of the first three days appointed to Treat concerning Religion we may be able to return such an account to the Parliaments of both Kingdoms as may give them hopes of a happy progress in this Treaty The King's Commissioners Answer 3. Feb. VVE conceive
approbation and consent of the Presbyters or the major part of them That competent maintenance and provision be established by Act of Parliament to such Vicarages as belong to Bishops Deans and Chapters out of the Impropriations and according to the value of those Impropriations of the several Parishes That for the time to come no Man shall be capable of two Parsonages or Vicarages with Cure of Souls That towards the settling of the publick Peace one hundred thousand pounds shall be raised by Act of Parliament out of the Estates of Bishops Deans and Chapters in such manner as shall be thought fit by the King and two Houses of Parliament without the Alienation of any of the said Lands That the Jurisdiction in Causes Testamentary Decimal Matrimonial be settled in such manner as shall seem most convenient by the King and two Houses of Parliament And likewise that one or more Acts of Parliament be passed for regulating of Visitations and against immoderate Fees in Ecclesiastical Courts and the abuses by frivolous Excommunications and all other abuses in the exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in such manner as shall be agreed upon by His Majesty and both Houses of Parliament And if your Lordships shall insist upon any other thing which your Lordships shall think necessary for Reformation we shall very willingly apply our selves to the consideration thereof 13. February FOR the confirmation of the Ordinances concerning the Calling and Sitting of the Assembly of Divines and the taking the Covenant we conceive neither of them need be insisted on if the alterations of Church-Government be agreed upon between us and if they be not it will not be reasonable that we consent to those Ordinances And for the Covenant we cannot advise His Majesty to swear and sign the same nor consent that an Act of Parliament should pass for enjoyning the taking thereof by His Majesty's Subjects 13. February VVE do not yet conceive that the Directory for publick Worship delivered to us by your Lordships ought to be enacted or that it is so likely to procure and preserve the Peace of this Kingdom as the Liturgy or Common-Prayer-Book already established by Law against which we have not yet received from your Lordships any Objections which Liturgy as the same was compiled by many Learned and Reverend Divines of whom some dyed Martyrs for the Protestant Religion we conceive to be an Excellent Form for the Worship of God and hath been generally so held throughout this Kingdom till within these two or three years at the most And therefore since there are no Inconveniences pretended to arise from the Book of Common-Prayer to which we conceive the Directory is not more liable and since there is nothing commendable in the Directory which is not already in the Book of Common-Prayer we conceive it much better and more conducing to the Peace of this Kingdom still to observe the said Form with such Dispensations as we have expressed in our first Paper now presented to your Lordships and if there shall be any Alterations proposed by your Lordships of such particulars in the Book of Common-Prayer as good men are scrupled at we shall willingly endeavour to give your Lordships satisfaction in those particulars but as yet can make no further or other Answer than we have already done but shall be ready to receive such Objections as your Lordships shall think fit to make against the Book of Common-Prayer and your Reasons for introducing the Directory And for the Proposition concerning Church-Government annexed to your first Paper we have no Information how that Government shall be constituted in particular or what Jurisdiction shall be established or by whom it shall be granted or upon whom it shall depend And therein also we desire further Information from your Lordships 13. February VVE desire to see the Bills for the Observation of the Lord's day for suppressing of Innovations in Churches and Chapels and for the better advancement of the Preaching of God's Holy Word which are mentioned in your Lordships Paper of the 11. of Febr. we being very ready to consent to the subject Matter of those Bills We have expressed in our Paper delivered to your Lordships what we conceive fit to be done in the business of Pluralities which will prevent any inconveniences that way And when your Lordships shall give us your Demands concerning Papists and when we shall see the Acts for the regulating and reforming of both Universities of the Colleges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton and for the Education and Marriage of His Majesty's Children and the Children of His Heirs and Successors in the true Protestant Religion we shall give your Lordships such Answers as shall be fit being very willing to concur with your Lordships in any good means for the suppressing of Popery and advancement of the Protestant Religion And we are well assured that His Majesty hath taken a pious care for the Education of all His Children in the true Protestant Religion and having already married one of His Children to the satisfaction we conceive of all His good Subjects we are confident in due time His Majesty will so dispose of the rest in Marriage as shall be most for the advancement of Religion and the good and welfare of all His Dominions Their Answer to the First 13. February VVHereas we expected your Lordships resolution for His Majesty's assent unto the Bill for the utter Abolishing of Arch-Bishops Bishops c. we find by your Paper given in this Evening that your Lordships are not yet satisfied that the Bill should pass and you are pleased to express several Reasons and Objections against it which were at large answered and cleared at the publick Debate But what was then said by us is now by your Lordships wholly omitted nor may we in writing represent it again unto your Lordships it not being agreeable to the usage of Parliament to deliver Reasons for or against a Bill though we were willing by Conference in the Treaty to satisfy all doubts and remove all scruples which remained with you And so far were we from consenting that Episcopacy hath continued from the Apostles times by continual Succession that the contrary was made evident unto your Lordships and the Unlawfulness of it fully proved And as for that which your Lordships have propounded for uniting and reconciling all differences in the matter of Religion it is a new Proposition which wholly differs from ours is no way satisfactory to our desires nor consisting with that Reformation to which both Kingdoms are obliged by their solemn Covenant therefore we can give no other Answer to it but must insist to desire your Lordships that the Bill may be past and our other Demands concerning Religion granted The King's Commissioners Reply thereunto 13. February VVE conceive that our Answer to your Lordships concerning the Bill for the utter Abolishing of Arch-bishops Bishops c. was so reasonable that it clearly appears thereby that the passing that
because the private Interest of the Subscribers for Money was concerned in it To which we give this Answer That their Interest was conditional upon Payment of their Moneys for the maintenance of the War which was not performed and that if they had paid their Moneys yet this Cessation was rather for the advance of that Interest there being as it appears by the Papers no other visible means of preservation of the Army in Ireland and that the Statute which gave that private Interest doth not take away the Kings Power of making a Cessation and we conceive that Argument of Interest was waved But if your Lordships shall insist upon it we again desire as we did formerly that a Case may be made of it and that the Debate may be again resumed Neither do we know that any Argument was used by your Lordships from the Proceedings in Parliament and if you shall give any we shall be ready to answer it And we conceive that the Advice given to his Majesty from the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland and the Testimony of the Officers of the Army expressing the miserable condition of that Kingdom and inability to bear the War should appear to your Lordships to be just grounds for His Majesties assenting to the Cessation One of the Letters delivered by us to your Lordships bearing date the fourth of April 1643. was sent by the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland to Mr. Secretary Nicholas in which was inclosed their Letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons of which your Lordships have likewise an Extract and a Remonstrance of the Officers of the Army to the Lords Justices and Council there and the other Letter of the fifth of May 1643. to His Majesty was from the Lords Justices and Council of that Kingdom All which if your Lordships please shall be examined by you with the Originals And we are therefore of opinion that our Answer formerly delivered is a good Answer to the point of Cessation in question and that it was not unfit for His Majesty to agree to that Cessation nor destructive to the Protestant Religion nor for the advantage of the Popish Rebels but much for the advantage of the Protestant Subjects there who were in apparent hazard of Destruction by Force and Famine occasioned by the want of Supplies which had been promised to them as we have formerly said And we shall give your Lordships a further Answer to your other Propositions concerning Ireland when the time comes again for that Debate Here ended the first three days of the Treaty concerning Ireland and the night before the return of the next three days their Commissioners delivered this Paper 17. February WE conceived that the Arguments used by us that His Majesty neither had nor hath Power to make the Cessation with the Rebels of Ireland might have fully satisfied your Lordships and if any Doubts yet remain we are ready by Conference to clear them Your Lordships may well call to mind the several Clauses we insisted upon in the Statute and the Arguments we have given from the Common-Law and other Proceedings in Parliament And we do affirm that several great Sums of Money were paid by particular Persons and by Corporations who according to the true intent of the Statute ought to have the benefit of the same according to divers other Acts of Parliament in pursuance thereof and upon failer of Payment by any particular Persons the Forfeiture was to accrue to the common benefit of the rest not failing and we do deny that the Argument of Interest was at all waved by us And we conceive those Wants alledged by your Lordships if any such were in justifying the Cessation were supplied from time to time by the Houses of Parliament until His Majesties Forces were so quartered in and about the common Roads to Ireland that Provisions going thither were intercepted and neither Money Cloaths Victuals or other things could pass by Land with safety to be transported And when that both Houses of Parliament were desirous further to supply those Wants and for that purpose did tender a Bill to His Majesty it was refused And we will still alledge that we have no reason to be satisfied concerning the Cessation by any Arguments used by your Lordships or by any thing contained in the Extracts of the Letters and Papers delivered to us by your Lordships as from the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland and the Officers of the Army nor though desired by us have your Lordships afforded us liberty to compare those Extracts with the Originals whereby we might have the Names of the Persons by whom they were written which we now again desire We are therefore still clearly of opinion as is expressed in our former Paper of the 10. of February concerning the Cessation and do desire your Lordships full Answer to our Demands concerning Ireland The King's Commissioners Answer 18. Feb. WE did not conceive that your Lordships had believed that any Arguments used by you could satisfie us against His Majesties Power to make a Cessation with the Rebels in Ireland which appears to have been made by him by the Advice of His Council there and for the Preservation of His Majesties Protestant Subjects of that Kingdom who in all probability would have perished by Famine and the Sword if that Cessation had not been made and we shall be very ready to receive farther Information from your Lordships by Conference or otherwise in that particular either concerning any Clauses in the Statute or Arguments at Common-Law or Proceedings of Parliament your Lordships having never mentioned the one or made any Case upon the other upon which you intend to insist And for the several great Sums of Money that were paid by particular Persons and Corporations upon that Statute mentioned by your Lordships we are sorry that we are compelled by your Lordships insisting thereon to inform your Lordships that His Majesty had clear Information that not only much of the money raised by the Act for the four hundred thousand Pound which was passed for the better suppressing that most wicked and execrable Rebellion in Ireland and for the payment of the Debts of this Kingdom but also of the Money raised by the Statute on which your Lordships insist for the speedy and effectual reducing of the Rebels of Ireland c. and other Moneys raised by Contribution and Loan for the relief of His Majesties distressed Subjects of that Kingdom were expended contrary to the intent of the Acts by which the same were levied and of the Persons who lent and contributed the same towards the maintenance of the Forces in this Kingdom under the Command of the Earl of Essex and that many Regiments of Horse and Foot levied for the War of Ireland under the Command of the Lord Wharton the Lord Kerry Sir Faithful Fortescue and others were likewise imployed in that Army under the Earl of Essex at Edge-hill and therefore His Majesty
refused to consent to the Bill presented to His Majesty after this for the levying more Money for Ireland justly fearing that the same might be used as the former had been And for the few Cloaths for there were no Moneys intercepted by his Majesties Souldiers in His Majesties Quarters which are said to be intended for Ireland the same were intercepted near Coventry and going thither after that City had refused to receive His Majesty though at the Gates But His Majesty never refused to give any safe Pass through His Quarters for any Goods or Provisions which were intended or prepared for Ireland neither was the same ever desired For the Extracts and Copies of the Letters delivered by us to your Lordships from the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland and the Officers of the Army we have been and are willing that your Lordships should compare them with the Originals but for your having the Names of the Persons who writ the same since there can be no doubt of the truth of our Assertions we conceive it not reasonable to desire the same not knowing what inconvenience any of them since you seem not to like that Advice might incur if at any time they should be found within your Quarters And having now satisfied your Lordships in the matter of the Cessation we shall gladly proceed in the Treaty with your Lordships upon any thing that may be apparently good for His Majesties Protestant Subjects there and the re-setling of that Kingdom in His Majesties Obedience Their Reply 18. Feb. WE do conceive that the Arguments used by us might have fully satisfied your Lordships against His Majesties Power to make a Cessation with the Rebels in Ireland having answered whatsoever your Lordships have hitherto alledged to the contrary and offered if any other Doubts yet remain by Conference to clear them which still we are ready to do and we have heard nothing just or reasonable for that Cessation It will be made evident that the Necessities which by your Lordships were made Excuses for the Cessation were created on purpose to colour the same and we are compelled by your Lordships Paper to let you know that the Committees of Parliament sent into Ireland to endeavour to supply their Necessities were discountenanced by the principal Instruments for that Cessation and when they had taken up 2000 l. upon their personal security for the Army there they were presently after commanded from the Council by a Letter brought thither from His Majesty by the Lord Ormond's Secretary and when the Officers of the Army were contented to subscribe for Land in satisfaction of their Arrears it was declared from His Majesty that He disapproved of such Subscriptions whereby that course was diverted And we do affirm that whatever Sums of money raised for Ireland were made use of by both Houses of Parliament were fully satisfied with advantage and as we are informed before the Bill mentioned in our former Paper was refused by His Majesty And for the Regiments of Horse and Foot mentioned by your Lordships to be raised for Ireland and imployed otherwise by the Houses of Parliament it is true that Forces were so designed and when the Money Arms and other Provisions were all ready and nothing wanting but a Commission from His Majesty for the Lord Wharton who was to command them the same could not be obtained which was the cause those Forces did not go thither and when twelve Ships and six Pinnaces were prepared with a thousand or more Land-Forces for the Service of Ireland and nothing desired but a Commission from His Majesty the Ships lying ready and staying for the same were three Weeks together at three hundred Pound a day charge yet the same was denyed though often desired And where your Lordships seem to imply that the Provision seized by His Majesties Forces were going for Coventry it was made known to His Majesty that the same were for Ireland And your Lordships must needs conceive that the Papers you delivered to us being but Extracts and for that you deny us so to compare them with the Originals as to have the Names of the Persons by whom they were written it is altogether unreasonable for us to give any credit to them it being manifest by this and our former Papers and Debates that the Cessation with the Rebels in Ireland is both unjust and unlawful We therefore insist on our Demands concerning Ireland as apparently good for His Majesties Subjects there and for reducing that Kingdom to His Majesties Obedience Before His Majesties Commissioners gave Answer to this last Paper they being also to answer the rest of the Demands concerning Ireland for their necessary Information touching some Doubts that did arise upon those Demands and the Articles of the Treaty of the 6 th of August concerning Ireland and Ordinances delivered with them the King's Commissioners gave in these several Papers The King's Commissioners First Paper 19. Feb. IN the eighth Article of the Treaty for the coming of the Scots Army into England dated 29. Novemb. 1643. at Edenburgh delivered to us by your Lordships among the Papers for Ireland and desired by the twelfth Proposition to be confirmed by Act of Parliament It is agreed that no Cessation nor any Pacification or Agreement for Peace whatsoever shall be made by either Kingdom without the mutual advice and consent of both Kingdoms or the Committees in that behalf appointed who are to have full power for the same in case the Houses of the Parliament of England or the Parliament or Convention of Estates in Scotland shall not sit We desire to know whether that Article extend to any Cessation Pacification or Agreement in Ireland Their Answer 19. Feb. WE did in Answer to your Lordships Paper of the first of February upon the Propositions concerning Religion deliver the Treaty of the 29. of November 1643. mentioned by your Lordships and not among the Papers for Ireland to which it hath no relation The King's Commissioners Reply 20. Feb. YOur Lordships did deliver the Treaty of the 29. of November 1643. to us with the Papers concerning Ireland and on the 7. day of this instant February and not upon the first of February upon the Propositions concerning Religion Their Answer 20. Feb. WHen your Lordships peruse your Papers you will rest satisfied with our Answer of the 19. of this instant to your first Paper that day given to us for it will appear appear by your Lordships third Paper of the first of February and our Paper given to your Lordships in answer of it that the Treaty of the date at Edenburgh 29. Novemb. 1643. was delivered to your Lordships on the first of February upon the Proposition of Religion and not upon the third of February with the Papers concerning Ireland The Article of the Treaty of the 29. of November 1643. which occasioned these Papers being by their Papers thus acknowledged not to concern Ireland and so not pertinent to that Subject the Kings
no Answer to us whether any Commission be now on foot or other Authority given by his Majesty for any Peace or Cessation of Arms in Ireland other then that which determines in March next nor to our desire that no Cessation of Arms or Peace in Ireland may be Treated upon or concluded without consent of both Houses of the Parliament of England nor do we understand why your Lordships should delay your Answer herein till the Peace in England be concluded since it hath been so clearly manifested to your Lordships by the true meaning of the Act passed by His Majesty this Parliament that His Majesty can make no Peace nor Cessation without the Consent of the two Houses and that your Lordships satisfactory Answer to this and our other Demands concerning Ireland will much conduce to the settling the Peace of this Kingdom We therefore again desire your Lordships full and clear Answer to the particulars expressed in our sixth and seventh Papers yesterday delivered to your Lordships The King's Commissioners Answer 20. Febr. VVE do not hold our selves any ways obliged to answer your Lordships Demand whether any Commission be on foot or other Authority from His Majesty for a Peace or Cessation of Arms in Ireland that Question not arising upon any Propositions on His Majesties part yet for your Lordships satisfaction we do again assure you we do not know there is any Peace or Cessation made there other than that which determines in March next But what Commission the Marquess of Ormond as Lievtenant of Ireland or General of the Forces there hath to that purpose we do not know and therefore cannot inform your Lordships And as to the other particulars in that Paper we do refer our selves to the Answers formerly given in to your Lordships Demands touching that Subject with this that we do conceive it to be most clear that His Majesty is in no wise restrained by express words or by the meaning of any Act made this Parliament from making a Peace or Cessation in Ireland without the consent of the two Houses Their Paper 19. Feb. THere being but three days left to Treat upon the Propositions for Religion the Militia and for Ireland and for that your Lordships have given no satisfactory Answers to our Demands concerning them we therefore now desire to confer with your Lordships how to dispose of the three days yet remaining that we may receive your Lordships full and clear Answers thereunto The King's Commissioners Answer 19. February VVE see no cause why your Lordships should think our Answers upon the Propositions for Religion and the Militia were not satisfactory And for that of Ireland we have received many Papers from your Lordships concerning that business besides the Propositions themselves to all which we doubt not to give a full and clear Answer to your Lordships to morrow being the time assigned and the last day of the Treaty upon that Subject After we shall be ready to confer with your Lordships of disposing the remainder of the time Accordingly after the before-mentioned Demands and Answer thereunto of the 19. of February the King's Commissioners in Answer to theirs of the 18. of February n. 149. delivered in this Paper 20. February VVE have already told your Lordships how far we are from being satisfied by what you have alledged against His Majesties Power to make a Cessation with the Rebels in Ireland neither have your Lordships in any degree answered the important Reasons which induced his Majesty so to do it being very evident that by the Cessation there His Majesties Protestant Subjects have been preserved and subsisted which without it they could not have done the two Houses forbearing to send any relief or supply to them and His Majesty not being able And we desire your Lordships to consider how impossible it was whilst the War continued in England with such fierceness and animosity by Arms to reduce the Kingdom of Ireland to His Majesties Obedience and therefore His Majesty had great reason to preserve that by a Cessation which he could not reduce by a War And we are most confident that the Necessities which are not offered as excuses for but were the real grounds of the Cessation were very visible to all those in that Kingdom whose Advices His Majesty ought in reason to follow and whose Interests were most concerned and would not have given such Advice if any other way could have been found out to preserve them And we have been credibly informed that the Committee sent into Ireland which His Majesty never understood to be sent thither to supply the Necessities but to observe the Actions of His Majesties Ministers there having in their Journey thither signed Warrants in their own names to apprehend the Persons of Peers of this Realm and Persons of His Majesties Privy Council were never discountenanced there for His Majesties directions that Persons who were not of His Privy Council there should not be present at those Councils cannot be interpreted a discountenance to them in any thing they ought to do And we are most assured that His Majesty sent no Message or Letter to divert the course of the Officers subscribing for Land in satisfaction of their Arrears but the Soldiers were meerly discouraged from the same by discerning that for want of Supplies they should not be able to go on with that War And we do assure your Lordships that His Majesty doth not believe that the Sums of Money raised for Ireland which your Lordships do admit to have been made use of by both Houses of Parliament otherwise then was appointed are yet satisfied in any proportion the greatestpart of the Money raised upon the Bill for 400000 l. and of the Moneys raised upon the charitable Collections as well as the Adventurers Moneys being imployed upon the War here and if the same were since satisfied it doth no ways excuse the diverting of them when in the mean time that Kingdom suffered by that diversion and that the fear that other Moneys so raised might likewise be misimployed was a great reason amongst others that made His Majesty not consent to that Bill mentioned by your Lordships And for the Regiments of Horse and Foot which your Lordships in your Paper of the 18. of this Month say were designed for Ireland though they were imployed otherwise because a Commission could not be obtained for the Lord Wharton who was to command those Forces it is well known that those Forces were raised before His Majesties Commission was so much as desired and then the Commission that was desired should have been independent upon His Majesties Lieutenant of that Kingdom and therefore His Majesty had great reason not to consent to such a Commission and so the damages of keeping those six Pinnaces and the 1000 Land-Forces if any such were proceeded not from any default of His Majesty And for the Provisions seized by His Majesties Forces it is notorious that they were seized in the way
be satisfied in those particulars which so highly reflect upon his Majesty we desire your Lordships to receive the Answers which we shall prepare to those Papers in the Evening to morrow dated as of this night and we doubt not to give your Lordships clear satisfaction therein This desire was not granted nor any Paper delivered in Answer to it but soon after the Treaty broke off During the Twenty days Treaty upon Religion Militia and Ireland the particular passages whereof are before expressed some other passages did occur concerning His Majesties Propositions and particularly for a Cessation and touching His Majesties return to Westminster after disbanding of Armies and further time for continuing or renewing the Treaty which do here follow And first touching His Majesties Propositions the King's Commissioners delivered in this Paper the second day of the Treaty 1. February WE desire to know whether your Lordships have any Instructions concerning His Majesties Propositions for settling a safe and well-grounded Peace and if you have any touching the same we desire to have a sight of them Their Answer 1. February WE have not yet received Instructions concerning His Majesties Propositions and shall therefore acquaint the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England with the desires expressed in that Paper who having taken those Instructions into their consideration before our coming from them will send them to us in time convenient After upon the third of February His Majesties Commissioners delivered this Paper concerning His Majesties sixth Proposition for a Cessation of Arms. 3. February WE desire to know whether your Lordships have received any Instructions concerning that Proposition of His Majesties for a Cessation and if your Lordships have not received any that you will endeavour to procure Authority to Treat thereupon which we have power to do and conceive it very necessary that during the time we are endeavouring to establish a blessed and happy Peace the issues of Blood may be stopped in this miserable Kingdom and His Majesties oppressed and languishing Subjects have some earnest and prospect of the Peace we are endeavouring by God's blessing to procure for them To this no particular Answer was given The King's Commissioners Paper 10. Febr. HAving now spent three days severally upon each of your Lordships three Propositions concerning Religion the Militia and Ireland we desire to know whether your Lordships have received any Instructions concerning His Majesties Propositions that we may prepare our selves to Treat upon them when your Lordships shall think fit Their Answer 11. Febr. WE have received Instructions concerning His Majesties Propositions and when the Houses of Parliament shall be satisfied in the good Progress of the Treaty upon their Propositions concerning Religion the Militia and Ireland they will give time for the Treaty upon those Propositions sent by His Majesty But there was not any time given to Treat upon His Majesties Propositions Touching further time for continuing or reviving the Treaty and His Majesties Return to Westminster after disbanding these Papers were delivered The King's Commissioners Paper 14. Feb. WE have this day received Directions from His Majesty to move your Lordships that you will endeavour to procure an addition of time for this Treaty after the expiration of the days limited for the same upon the Reasons mentioned in His Majesties Letter which Letter we herewith deliver to your Lordships The Letter mentioned in the last Paper from His Majesty to His Commissioners is this RIght Trusty c. Having received from you a particular accompt of your proceedings in the Treaty and observing thereby how impossible it is within the days limited to give such full Answers to the three Propositions you are now upon as you might if upon Consideration had of the rest of the Propositions you could clearly see what fruit such Answers will produce in order to a blessed Peace for the present and the future good and Happiness of this Kingdom We have thought it fit to advise you that you propose and desire of the Commissioners with whom you Treat that they will procure such farther time to be allowed after the expiration of the Twenty days as may be sufficient for you upon a full understanding one of another upon the whole to make such a Conclusion that all our Subjects may reap the Benefit good men pray for Deliverance from these bloody Distractions and be united in Peace and Charity And if you think fit you may communicate this our Letter to them And so we bid you heartily farewell Given at Our Court at Oxford 13. Feb. 1644. By His Majesties Command George Digby To Our Right Trusty c. the Lords and others Our Commissioners for the Treaty at Uxbridge Their Answer 14. Feb. COncerning the Paper delivered by your Lordships for addition of time for the Treaty we can give no other Answer than that we will send Copies of His Majesties Letter and of the Paper unto the Houses of Parliament and after signification of their pleasure we will give further Answer Afterwards on the 18. of Feb. they delivered this Paper 18. Febr. YOur Lordships may please to take notice that in the twenty days appointed to Treat upon the Propositions concerning Religion Militia and Ireland the first Thursday and three Sundays are not to be included The King's Commissioners Paper 20. Febr. BY our Paper delivered to your Lordships the 14. of this Month we moved your Lordships to endeavour an addition of time for this Treaty after the expiration of the days limited for the same upon the Reasons mentioned in His Majesties Letter which Letter we then delivered to your Lordships whereunto your Lordships then returned Answer that you would send Copies of His Majesties Letter and of our Paper to the Houses of Parliament and after signification of their pleasure you would give farther Answer We now desire to know whether there may be an addition of time for this Treaty after the expiration of the days limited for the same upon the Reasons mentioned in His Majesties said Letter and what time may be added Their Answer 20. Feb. YOur Lordships Paper of the 14. of this Month for an addition of time for this Treaty together with His Majesties Letter concerning the same were sent by us to the Houses of Parliament who as we have already acquainted your Lordships have declared That if they shall be satisfied in the good progress of the Treaty upon the Propositions concerning Religion the Militia and Ireland they will give time for the Treaty upon the Propositions by His Majesty but farther then this have not as yet signified their pleasures unto us The King's Commissioners Paper 20. February HAving now spent 18. days with your Lordships in the Treaty upon Religion the Militia and Ireland and besides the present satisfaction we have given your Lordships in those particulars we having offered that further consideration and order be taken therein by His Majesty and the Two Houses of Parliament and
being to that purpose Fourthly it is agreed That there shall be levied and furnished by the Kingdom of England Ten Troops of sufficient and well armed Horse-men consisting of sixty in a Troop besides the Officers and that there shall be a Commissary General a Serjeant-Major and a Quarter-master appointed over them which shall joyn and remain with the Body of the Scotish Foot and shall receive and obey the Orders and Instructions of the Commanders of the Scotish Army and that there shall be presently advanced the sum of Twelve hundred Pounds sterling for the levying of a Troop of one hundred Horsemen in Scotland besides the Officers to be a Guard to the General of the Scotish Army Fifthly it is agreed That the Commanders and Soldiers of the Scotish Army shall have such Pay respectively as the Commanders and Soldiers of the English Army have according to a List presently agreed upon by the Commissioners of both Kingdoms as also that the Officers of that Army shall have such allowance for their Wagons as is contained in the said List Sixthly it is agreed That the Towns and Castle of Carickfergus and Colrane shall be put into the hands of the Scotish Army to be places for their Magazines and Garrisons and to serve them for Retreat upon occasion and that the Magistrates and Inhabitants thereof shall be ordained to carry themselves to the Commanders of the said Army as is fitting and ordinary in such Cases and that the said Towns and Castle shall remain in the Scots hands until the War shall end or that they shall be discharged of that service Like as the Commissioners for the Kingdom of Scotland do promise in the Publick Faith of that Kingdom to re-deliver the said Towns and Castle to any having Commission from the King and Parliament of England as also the Commissioners for the Kingdom of England do promise in the name and on the Publick Faith of that Kingdom that Payment shall be made to the Kingdom of Scotland and their Army of all dues that shall arise upon this present Treaty and that when the Scotish Army imployed in the service of Ireland shall be discharged they shall be disbanded by Regiments and no lesser proportions and so many of them payed off as shall be disbanded and the residue kept in pay till they be disbanded Seventhly it is agreed That the Towns of Carick fergus and Colrane shall by the Kingdom of England be with all expedition provided with Victuals necessary for Soldiers either in Garrisons or Expeditions according to a List to be agreed on and subscribed by the Commissioners of both Kingdoms and that such quantities thereof as the Scotish Army shall have occasion to use shall be sold unto them and bought by them at the several Prices contained in the aforesaid List and also that the said Towns of Carickfergus and Colrane shall be provided by the Kingdom of England with Powder Ball Match and other Ammunition for the service of the said Army conform to the particular List to be condescended unto by both Commissioners and that Carts and Waggons shall be provided by the Kingdom of England for carrying of Ammunition for the use of the said Army in Marches as also that there shall be Gun-Smiths Carpenters and one or two Enginers appointed to attend the Army and that hand-Mills shall be provided to serve the Companies in Marches Eighthly it is agreed That the Kingdom of England shall deposite two thousand Pounds English Money in the hands of any to be appointed by the Scotish Commissioners to be disbursed upon accompt by warrant of the General of their Army upon Fortifications Intelligences and other Incidents so that there be not above the sum of two thousand Pounds in a year imprested upon these occasions without particular and special Warrant from the Parliament of England as also that there shall be deposited Two thousand and five hundred Pounds English to be disbursed upon Accompt for the providing of a thousand Horses for the Garriage of the Artillery the Baggage and Victual of their Army and for Dragooners upon occasion and likewise that the Scotish Army during the time of the War shall have power to take up such Horses in the Country as be necessary for the uses aforesaid Ninthly it is agreed That the Inhabitants of the Towns and Villages in the Province of Vlster and in any other Province of Ireland where the Scotish Army shall be by it self for the time shall receive Orders from the Scotish Commanders and shall bring in Victuals for Money in an orderly way as shall be directed by them with Provision of Oats Hay and Straw and such other Necessaries and that the Countrey People shall rise and concur with the Scotish Troops when the Commanders thereof shall find it for the good of the Service and shall receive Orders and Directions from the said Commanders of the Scotish Army Tenthly it is agreed That the said Ten thousand Men to be sent out of the Kingdom of Scotland shall go in the way and order of an Army under their own General and subaltern Officers and the Province of Vlster is appointed unto them wherein they shall first prosecute the War as in their Judgment they shall think most expedient for the Honour of the King and Crown of England and that the Commanders of the said Army shall have power to give Conditions to Towns Castles and Persons which shall render and submit themselves as shall be most expedient for the Service according to the course of War Provided no Toleration of the Popish Religion be granted nor any condition made touching or concerning any of the Rebels Lands and that the Commanders of the Scotish Army shall be answerable for their whole deportment and proceedings to His Majesty and the two Houses of the Parliament of England only but shall from time to time give an accompt thereof to His Majesty the two Houses of the Parliament of England and to the chief Governour or Governours of Ireland for the time being That such Towns and Places as shall be recovered from the Rebels by the Scotish Army shall be at the diposing of the Commanders thereof during their abode for that Service in those parts where such Towns and Places are And if it shall be found for the good of the Service that the Scotish Army shall joyn with the Kings Lieutenant of Ireland and his Army in that case the General of the Scotish Army shall only cede to the Kings Lieutenant of Ireland and receive in a free and honourable way Instructions from him or in his absence from the Lord Deputy or any other who shall have the chief Government of that Kingdom for the time by Authority derived from the Crown of England and shall precede all others and that he only shall give Orders to the Officers of his own Army and that the Armies shall have the right and left hand Van and Reare Charge and Retreat successively and shall not mix in
considering any thing contained in those Papers or Writings framed by the said Earl and those Commissioners with whom he Treated as he doth absolutely disavow him therein and hath given Commandment to the Lord Lieutenant and the Council there to proceed against the said Earl as one who either out of falseness presumption or folly hath so hazarded the blemishing of his Majesties Reputation with his good Subjects and so impertinently framed those Articles of his own head without the Consent Privity or Directions of his Majesty or the Lord Lieutenant or any of his Majesties Council there But true it is that for the necessary preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects in Ireland whose Case was daily represented unto him to be so desperate his Majesty had given Commission to the Lord Lieutenant to Treat and conclude such a Peace there as might be for the safety of that Crown the preservation of the Protestant Religion and no way derogatory to his own Honour and publick Professions But to the end that his Majesties real Intentions in this business of Ireland may be the more clearly understood and to give more ample satisfaction to both Houses of Parliament and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland especially concerning his Majesties not being engaged in any Peace or Agreement there he doth desire if the two Houses shall admit of his Majesties repair to London for a Personal Treaty as was formerly proposed that speedy notice be given thereof to his Majesty and a Pass or safe Conduct with a Blank sent for a Messenger to be immediately dispatched into Ireland to prevent any accident that may happen to hinder his Majesties Resolution of leaving and managing of the business of Ireland wholly to the two Houses and to make no Peace there but with their Consent which in case it shall please God to bless His endeavours in the Treaty with success His Majesty doth hereby engage himself to do And for a further explanation of his Majesties Intentions in his former Messages he doth now Declare That if his Personal repair to London as aforesaid shall be admitted and a Peace thereon shall ensue he will then leave the Nomination of the Persons to be entrusted with the Militia wholly to his two Houses with such Power and Limitations as are expressed in the Paper delivered by his Majesties Commissioners at Vxbridge the 6. of Febr. 1644. for the term of seven years as hath been desired to begin immediately after the Conclusion of the Peace the disbanding of all Forces on both sides and the dismantling of the Garrisons erected since these present Troubles so as at the expiration of the time before mentioned the Power of the Militia shall entirely revert and remain as before And for their further security his Majesty the Peace succeeding will be content that pro hac vice the two Houses shall nominate the Admiral Officers of State and Judges to hold their places during Life or quamdiu se bene gesserint which shall be best liked to be accomptable to none but the King and the two Houses of Parliament As for matter of Religion his Majesty doth further Declare That by the Liberty offered in his Message of the 15. present for the ease of their Consciences who will not communicate in the Service already established by Act of Parliament in this Kingdom he intends that all other Protestants behaving themselves peaceably in and towards the Civil Government shall have the free exercise of their Religion according to their own way And for the total removing of all Fears and Jealousies His Majesty is willing to agree That upon the Conclusion of Peace there shall be a general act of Oblivion and Free Pardon past by Act of Parliament in both his Kingdoms respectively And lest it should be imagined that in the making these Propositions his Majesties Kingdom of Scotland and his Subjects there have been forgotten or neglected his Majesty Declares That what is here mentioned touching the Militia and the naming of Officers of State and Judges shall likewise extend to his Kingdom of Scotland And now his Majesty having so fully and clearly expressed his Intentions and Desires of making a happy and well-grounded Peace if any person shall decline that Happiness by opposing so apparent a way of attaining it he will sufficiently demonstrate to all the World his intention and design can be no other then the total subversion and change of the ancient and happy Government of this Kingdom under which the English Nation hath so long flourished Given at the Court at Oxford the 29. of January 1645. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Oxford Feb. 26. 1641. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty needs to make no excuse though he sent no more Messages unto you for he very well knows he ought not to do it if he either stood upon punctilioes of Honour or his own private Interest the one being already call'd in question by his often sending and the other assuredly prejudic'd if a Peace be concluded from that He hath already offer'd He having therein departed with many of his undoubted Rights But nothing being equally dear unto Him to the preservation of His People His Majesty passeth by many scruples neglects and delays and once more desires you to give Him a speedy Answer to His last Message For His Majesty believes it doth very well become Him after this very long Delay at last to utter His Impatience since that the Goods and Blood of His Subjects cries so much for Peace Given at the Court at Oxford the 26 th of Febr. 1645. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Oxford March 23. 1645-46 For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster CHARLES R. NOtwithstanding the unexpected silence instead of Answer to His Majesties many and gracious Messages to both Houses whereby it may appear that they desire to attain their ends by Force rather than Treaty which may justly discourage His Majesty from any more Overtures of that kind yet His Majesty conceives He shall be much wanting to His Duty to God and in what He oweth to the Safety of His People if He should not intend to prevent the great inconveniences that may otherwise hinder a safe and well-grounded Peace His Majesty therefore now proposeth That so He may have the Faith of both Houses of Parliament for the preservation of His Honour Person and Estate and that liberty be given to all those who do and have adhered to His Majesty to go to their own Houses and there to live peaceably enjoying their Estates all Sequestrations being taken off without being compelled to take any Oath not enjoyned by the undoubted Laws of the Kingdom or being put to any other molestation whatsoever He will
of such late Members of either House of Parliament as sate in the unlawful Assembly at Oxford and shall not have rendred themselves before the first of December 1645. shall be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom 3. Branch That one full moiety of the Estates of such Persons late Members of either of the Houses of Parliament who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof and shall not have rendred themselves before the first of Decemb. 1645. shall be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom 10. Qualification That a full third part on the value of the Estates of all Judges and Officers towards the Law Common or Civil and of all Serjeants Councellors and Attorneys Doctors Advocates and Proctors of the Law Common or Civil and of all Bishops Clergy-men Masters and Fellows of any Colledge or Hall in either of the Universities or elsewhere and of all Masters of Schools or Hospitals and of Ecclesiastical Persons who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof and have not rendred themselves before the first of December 1645. shall be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom That a full sixth part on the full value of the Estates of the Persons excepted in the sixth Qualification concerning such as have been actually in Arms against the Parliament or have counselled or voluntarily assisted the Enemies thereof and are disabled according to the said Qualification to be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom 11. Qualification That the Persons and Estates of all common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of England who in Lands or Goods be not worth two hundred pounds Sterling and the Persons and Estates of all common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of Scotland who in Lands or Goods be not worth one hundred pounds Sterling be at liberty and discharged 1. Branch This Proposition to stand as to the English and as to the Scots likewise if the Parliament of Scotland or their Commissioners shall so think fit 2. Branch That the first of May last is now the day limited for the persons to come in that are comprised within the former Qualification That an Act be passed whereby the Debts of the Kingdom and the Persons of Delinquents and the value of their Estates may be known and which Act shall appoint in what manner the Confiscations and Proportions before mentioned may be levied and applied to the discharge of the said Engagements The like for the Kingdom of Scotland if the Estates of Parliament or such as shall have power from them shall think fit XVII That an Act of Parliament be passed to declare and make void the Cessation of Ireland and all Treaties and Conclusions of Peace or any Articles thereupon with the Rebels without Consent of both Houses of Parliament and to settle the Prosecution of the War of Ireland in both Houses of the Parliament of England to be managed by them and the King to assist and to do no Act to discountenance or molest them therein That Reformation of Religion according to the Covenant be setled in the Kingdom of Ireland by Act of Parliament in such manner as both Houses of the Parliament of England have agreed or shall agree upon after Consultation had with the Assembly of Divines here That the Deputy or chief Governour or other Governours of Ireland and the Presidents of the several Provinces of that Kingdom be nominated by both the Houses of the Parliament of England or in the Intervals of Parliament by such Committees of both Houses of Parliament as both Houses of the Parliament of England shall nominate and appoint for that purpose and that the Chancellour or Lord Keeper Lord Treasurer Commissioners of the great Seal or Treasury Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports Chancellour of the Exchequer and Dutchy Secretaries of State Master of the Rolls Judges of both Benches and Barons of the Exchequer of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Vice-Treasurer and Treasurers at Wars of the Kingdom of Ireland be nominated by both Houses of the Parliament of England to continue quam diu se bene gesserint and in the Intervals of Parliament by the fore-mentioned Committees to be approved or disallowed by both Houses at their next sitting The like for the Kingdom of Scotland concerning the nomination of the Lords of the Privy Council Lords of Session and Exchequer Officers of State and Justice General in such manner as the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit XVIII That the Militia of the City of London and Liberties thereof may be in the ordering and government of the Lord Maior Aldermen and Commons in Common Council assembled or such as they shall from time to time appoint whereof the Lord Maior and Sheriffs for the time being to be three to be imployed and directed from time to time in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament That no Citizen of the City of London nor any of the Forces of the said City shall be drawn forth or cempelled to go out of the said City or Liberties thereof for Military service without their own free Consent That an Act be passed for the granting and confirming of the Charters Customs Liberties and Franchises of the City of London notwithstanding any Non-user Misuser or Abuser That the Tower of London may be in the Government of the City of London and the chief Officer and Governour thereof from time to time be nominated and removeable by the Common-Council And for prevention of inconveniences which may happen by the long intermission of Common-Councils it is desired that there may be an Act that all by-Laws and Ordinances already made or hereafter to be made by the Lord Maior Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council assembled touching the calling continuing directing and regulating the same Common-Councils shall be as effectual in Law to all Intents and Purposes as if the same were particularly Enacted by the Authority of Parliament and that the Lord Maior Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council may add to or repeal the said Ordinances from time to time as they shall see cause That such other Propositions as shall be made for the City for their further Safety Welfare and Government and shall be approved of by both Houses of Parliament may be granted and confirmed by Act of Parliament XIX That all Grants Commissions Presentations Writs Process Proceedings and other things passed under the Great Seal of England in the custody of the Lords and other Commissioners appointed by both Houses of Parliament for the custody thereof be and by Act of Parliament with the Royal Assent shall be declared and Enacted to be of like full force and effect to all intents and purposes as the same or like Grants Commissions Presentations Writs Process Proceedings and
Westminster with that Honour which is due to their Sovereign there solemnly to confirm the same and legally to pass the Acts before mentioned and to give and receive as well satisfaction in all the remaining particulars as likewise such other pledges of mutual Love Trust and Confidence as shall most concern the good of Him and His People Upon which happy Agreement His Majesty will dispatch His Directions to the Prince His Son to return immediately to Him and will undertake for his ready Obedience thereunto Holdenby May 12. 1647. MDCXLVII Jul. The Londoners Petition and Engagement To the Right Honourable the Lord Maior the Right Worshipful the Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in the Common or Guild-Hall of the City of London assembled The Humble Petition of the Citizens Commanders Officers and Soldiers of the Trained Bands and Auxiliaries the Young men and Apprentices of the Cities of London and VVestminster Sea-Commanders Sea-men and Water-men together with divers other Commanders Officers and Soldiers within the Line of Communication and Parishes mentioned in the Weekly Bills of Mortality Sheweth THat your Petitioners taking into serious consideration how Religion His Majesties Honour and Safety the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject are at present greatly endangered and like to be destroyed and also sadly weighing with our selves what means might likely prove the most effectual to procure a firm and lasting Peace without a further effusion of Christian English Blood have therefore entred into a solemn Engagement which is hereunto annexed and do humbly and earnestly desire that this whole City may joyn together by all lawful and possible means as one man in hearty endeavours for His Majesties present coming up to His two Houses of Parliament with Honour Safety and Freedom and that without the nearer approach of the Army there to confirm such things as He hath granted in His Message of the 12. of May last in answer to the Propositions of both Kingdoms and that by a Personal Treaty with his two Houses of Parliament and the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland such things as are yet in difference may be speedily settled and a firm and lasting Peace established All which we desire may be presented to both Houses of Parliament from this Honourable Assembly And we shall pray c. A solemn Engagement of the Citizens Commanders Officers and Soldiers of the Trained Bands and Auxiliaries the Young men and Apprentices of the Cities of London and VVestminster Sea-Commanders Sea-men and Water-men together with divers other Commanders Officers and Soldiers within the Line of Communication and Parishes mentioned in the Weekly Bill of Mortality WHereas we have entred into a solemn League and Covenant for Reformation and Defence of Religion the Honour and Happiness of the King and the Peace and Safety of the Three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland all which we do evidently perceive not only to be endangered but ready to be destroyed we do therefore in pursuance of our said Covenant Oath of Allegiance Oath of every Free-man of the Cities of London and Westminster and Protestations solemnly engage our selves and vow unto Almighty God That we will to the utmost of our power cordially endeavour that His Majesty may speedily come to His two Houses of Parliament with Honour Safety and Freedom and that without the nearer approach of the Army there to confirm such things as He hath granted in His Message of the 12. of May last in Answer to the Propositions of both Kingdoms and that by a Personal Treaty with His two Houses of Parliament and the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland such things as are yet in difference may be speedily settled and a firm and lasting Peace established For effecting whereof we do protest and re-oblige our selves as in the presence of God the searcher of all hearts with our Lives and Fortunes to endeavour what in us lies to preserve and defend His Majesties Royal Person and Authority the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject in their full and constant Freedom the Cities of London and Westminster Lines of Communication and Parishes mentioned in the Weekly Bills of Mortality and all others that shall adhere with us to the said Covenant Oath of Allegiance Oath of every Freeman of London and VVestminster and Protestation Nor shall we by any means admit suffer or endure any kind of Neutrality in this Common Cause of God the King and Kingdom as we do expect the Blessing of Almighty God whose help we crave and wholly devolve our selves upon in this our Undertaking A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament Die Sabbathi 24. Julii 1647. THE Lords and Commons having seen a printed Paper intituled A Petition to the Right Honourable the Lord Maior the Right VVorshipful the Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in the Common or Guild-Hall of the City of London assembled under the Name of divers Citizens Commanders Officers and Soldiers of the Trained Bands Auxiliaries and others Young men and Apprentices Sea-Commanders Sea-men and VVater-men together with a dangerous Engagement of the same persons by Oath and Vow concerning the King 's present coming to the Parliament upon Terms far different from those which both Houses after mature deliberation have declared to be necessary for the good and safety of this Kingdom casting Reflections upon the Proceedings both of the Parliament and Army and tending to the imbroiling the Kingdom in a new War and the said Lords and Commons taking notice of great endeavours used by divers ill-affected persons to procure Subscriptions thereunto whereby well-meaning people may be misled do therefore declare That whosoever after Publication or notice hereof shall proceed in or promote or set his Name to or give Consent that his Name be set unto or any way joyn in the said Engagement shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall forfeit Life and Estate as in cases of High Treason accustomed H. Elsynge Cler. Par. Dom. Com. Die Lunae 26. Julii 1647. BE it ordained by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That the Declaration of the twenty fourth of this instant July which declares all those Traitors and so to forfeit Life and Estate who shall after Publication thereof act thereupon to get Subscriptions be Null and Void any thing in the said Declaration to the contrary notwithstanding Joh. Browne Cler. Par. Hen. Elsynge Cler. Par. Dom. Com. Die Lunae 26. Julii 1647. REsolved upon the Question That His Majesty shall come to Londo Die Saturni 31. Julii 1647. Resolved upon the Question That the King's Majesty come to one of His Houses nearer London that Propositions may be sent and Address made to His Majesty from both Houses of the Parliament of England and the Kingdom of Scotland for Peace MDCXLVII His MAJESTIES Declaration and Profession disavowing any Preparations in Him to levy War against His two Houses of Parliament CHARLES R. THere having been many
Peers pro tempore and William Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons My Lord and Mr. Speaker I Have received your Letter of the second of this Month containing the Names of those who are to Treat with Me and though they do not come at the time appointed I shall not wonder at first judging it too short in respect of My two Houses not of My self so that I did not imagine it could be kept as I then commanded Sir Peter Killegrew to tell you by word of Mouth and therefore it shall be far from Me to take Exceptions for their having elapsed the appointed time for God forbid that either my two Houses or I should carp at circumstances to give the least impediment to this Treaty much less to hinder the happy finishing of it I say this the rather because I know not how it is possible in this I shall wish to be deceived that in Forty days Treaty the many Distractions of these Kingdoms can be setled and if so it were more than strange that time enough should not be given for the perfecting of this most great and good Work which as I will not believe can be stuck on by the two Houses so I am sure it shall never be by Carisbrook 7. Sept. 1648. Your good Friend CHARLES R. I think fit to tell you because I believe in this Treaty there will be need of Civil Lawyers I have sent for My Advocate Rives and D. Duck. And afterward his Majesty desired the Persons named in this Note inclosed in a Letter of one of their Commissioners Novemb. 2. to be sent to Him C. R. The Bishop of Armagh the Bishop of Excester the Bishop of Rochester the Bishop of Worcester Dr. Fern Dr. Morley The Propositions of both Houses being the same which had been presented to his Majesty at Hampton-Court and little differing from those which had been largely discussed in the former Treaties at Oxford and Uxbridg for this reason as also because neither Party did publish the particulars of this Treaty we have thought fit to represent only what is Authentick and therefore shall add only His Majesties fair Offers in order to a Peace His MAJESTIES Propositions 29. Sept. 1648. HIS Majesty did use many earnest endeavours for a Personal Treaty which he hoped might have been obtained at Westminster between Him and His two Houses of Parliament immediately yet they having made choice of this way by you their Commissioners His Majesty did gladly and chearfully accept thereof in this place as a fit means to begin a Treaty for a Peace which might put an end to His own sad Condition and the Miseries of His Kingdom For an entrance whereunto His Majesty hath already expressed His Consent to the First Proposition But finding you are limited by Instructions which you have no Warrant to communicate unto Him and having cause by your Paper of the 20. of this present to believe that you have no power to omit or alter any thing though He shall give you such Reasons as may satisfie you so to do without transmitting the Papers to the two Houses at a far distance where His Majesties Reasons Expressions and Offers upon Debate cannot be fully represented and from whence their Answers cannot be returned without much wast of the time allotted for the Treaty here and having lately received another Paper concerning the Church containing in it self many particulars of great importance and referring to divers Ordinances Articles of Religion and other things eleven or twelve in number of great length and some of them very new and never before presented to His Majesty the due consideration whereof will take up much time and require His Majesties Presence with His two Houses before a full resolution can well be had in matters of so high consequence To the end therefore that the good work now in hand may by God's blessing proceed more speedily and effectually to an happy Conclusion and that His two Houses of Parliament may at present have further security and an earnest of future satisfaction His Majesty upon consideration had of yours makes these Propositions following Concerning the Church His Majesty will consent That the Calling and sitting of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster be confirmed for three years by Act of Parliament And will by Act of Parliament confirm for Three years the Directory for the Publick worship of God in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales And will likewise confirm for Three years by Act of Parliament the form of Church-Government which ye have presented to Him to be used for the Churches of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales Provided that His Majesty and those of His Judgement or any others who cannot in Conscience submit thereunto be not in the mean time obliged to comply with the same Government or form of Worship but have free practice of their own profession And that a free Consultation and debate be had with the Assembly of Divines at Westminster in the mean time Twenty of His Majesties Nomination being added unto them whereby it may be determined by His Majesty and His two Houses of Parliament how the said Church-Government and form of Publick Worship after the said time may be setled or sooner if Differences may be agreed and how also Reformation of Religion may be setled within the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales And the Articles of Christian Religion now delivered to Him may in like manner be then considered of and determined and care taken for the ease of tender Consciences And concerning the Bishops Lands and Revenues His Majesty considering that during these troublesome times divers of His Subjects have made Contracts and Purchases and divers have disbursed great Sums of Money upon security and engagement of those Lands His Majesty for their satisfaction will consent to an Act or Acts of Parliament whereby legal Estates for Lives or for Years at their choice not exceeding ninety nine years shall be made of those Lands towards the satisfaction of the said Purchasers Contractors and others to whom they are engaged at the old Rents or some other moderate Rent whereby they may receive satisfaction And in case such Lease shall not satisfie His Majesty will propound and consent to some other way for their further satisfaction Provided that the Propriety and Inheritance of those Lands may still remain and continue to the Church and Church-men respectively according to the pious intentions of the Donors and Founders thereof And the rest that shall be reserved to be for their maintenance His Majesty will give His Royal Assent for the better observation of the Lords day for suppressing of Innovations in Churches and Chappels in and about the Worship of God and for the better advancement of the Preaching of God's Holy Word in all parts of this Kingdom and to an Act against enjoying Pluralities of Benefices by Spiritual Persons and Non-residency and to an Act for Regulating and
and Dishonour by what is committed whereby in all Policy Reason and Religion having least cause to give the least consent and most grounds of utter detestation I might be represented by them to the World the more inhumane and barbarous like some Cyclopick Monster whom nothing will serve to eat and drink but the flesh and blood of My own Subjects in whose common Welfare My Interest lies as much as some mens doth in their Perturbations who think they cannot do well but in evil times nor so cunningly as in laying the odium of those sad events on others wherewith themselves are most pleased and whereof they have been not the least occasion And certainly 't is thought by many wise men that the preposterous rigor and unreasonable severity which some men carried before them in England was not the least Incentive that kindled and blew up into those horrid flames the sparks of Discontent which wanted not predisposed fewel for Rebellion in Ireland where Despair being added to their former Discontents and the fears of utter Extirpation to their wonted Oppressions it was easy to provoke to an open Rebellion a people prone enough to break out to all exorbitant violence both by some Principles of their Religion and the natural desires of Liberty both to exempt themselves from their present restraints and to prevent those after Rigors wherewith they saw themselves apparently threatned by the covetous Zeal and uncharitable Fury of some men who think it a great Argument of the truth of their Religion to endure no other but their own God knows as I can with truth wash My hands in Innocency as to any Guilt in that Rebellion so I might wash them in my Tears as to the sad apprehensions I had to see it spread so far and make such waste And this in a time when Distractions and Jealousies here in England made most men rather intent to their own safety or designs they were driving than to the relief of those who were every day inhumanly butchered in Ireland whose Tears and Blood might if nothing else have quenched or at least for a time repressed and smothered those sparks of Civil Dissentions and Jealousies which in England some men most industriously scattered I would to God no man had been less affected with Ireland's sad estate than My self I offered to go My self in Person upon that expedition But some men were either afraid I should have any one Kingdom quieted or loath they were to shoot at any mark here less than My self or that any should have the glory of my Destruction but themselves Had My many offers been accepted I am confident neither the Ruine had been so great nor the Calamity so long nor the Remedy so desperate So that next to the sin of those who began that Rebellion theirs must needs be who either hindred the speedy suppressing of it by Domestick Dissentions or diverted the Aids or exasperated the Rebels to the most desperate resolutions and actions by threatning all Extremities not only to the known Heads and chief Incendiaries but even to the whole community of that Nation resolving to destroy Root and branch men women and children without any regard to those usual pleas for Mercy which Conquerors not wholly barbarous are wont to hear from their own breasts in behalf of those whose oppressive Fears rather than their Malice engaged them or whose imbecillity for Sex and Age was such as they could neither lift up a hand against them nor distinguish between their right hand and their left Which preposterous and I think un-evangelical Zeal is too like that of the rebuked Disciples who would go no lower in their revenge than to call for fire from Heaven upon whole Cities for the repulse or neglect of a few or like that of Jacob's sons which the Father both blamed and cursed chusing rather to use all extremities which might drive men to desperate obstinancy than to apply moderate remedies such as might punish some with exemplary Justice yet disarm others with tenders of mercy upon their submission and our protection of them from the fury of those who would soon drown them if they refused to swim down the popular stream with them But some kind of Zeal counts all merciful moderation Lukewarmness and had rather be cruel than counted cold and is not seldom more greedy to kill the Bear for his skin than for any harm he hath done the confiscation of mens Estates being more beneficial than the Charity of saving their Lives or reforming their Errors When all proportionable succors of the poor Protestants in Ireland who were daily massacred and overborn with numbers of now desperate Enemies was diverted and obstructed here I was earnestly entreated and generally advised by the chief of the Protestant party there to get them some respite and breathing by a cessation without which they saw no probability unless by Miracle to preserve the remnant that had yet escaped God knows with how much Commiseration and solicitous Caution I carried on that business by persons of Honour and Integrity that so I might neither incourage the Rebels Insolence nor discourage the Protestants Loyalty and Patience Yet when this was effected in the best sort that the necessity and difficulty of affairs would then permit I was then to suffer again in my Reputation and Honour because I suffered not the Rebels utterly to devour the remaining handfuls of the Protestants there I thought that in all reason the gaining of that respite could not be so much to the Rebels advantages which some have highly calumniated against Me as it might have been for the Protestants future as well as present safety if during the time of that Cessation some men had had the grace to have laid Ireland's sad condition more to heart and laid aside those violent motions which were here carried on by those that had better skill to let blood than to stanch it But in all the misconstructions of my Actions which are prone to find more credulity in men to what is false and evil than love or charity to what is true and good as I have no Judg but God above Me so I can have comfort to appeal to his Omniscience who doth not therefore deny my Innocence because he is pleased so far to try my Patience as he did his servant Job's I have enough to do to look to My own Conscience and the faithful discharge of My Trust as a KING I have scarce leisure to consider those swarms of reproaches which issue out of some mens mouths and hearts as easily as smoke or sparks do out of a furnace much less to make such prolix Apologies as might give those men satisfaction who conscious to their own depth of wickedness are loath to believe any man not to be as bad as themselves 'T is Kingly to do well and hear ill if I can but act the one I shall not much regard to hear the other I thank God I can hear with
religious Reformations by the Sword as to polish them by fair and equal Disputations among those that are most concerned in the Differences whom not Force but Reason ought to convince But their design now seemed rather to cut off all Disputation here than to procure a fair and equal one For it was concluded there that the English Clergy must conform to the Scots pattern before ever they could be heard what they could say for themselves or against the others Way I could have wished fairer proceedings both for their credits who urge things with such Violence and for other mens Consciences too who can receive little satisfaction in these Points which are maintained rather by Soldiers fighting in the Field than Scholars disputing in free and learned Synods Sure in matters of Religion those Truths gain most on mens Judgments and Consciences which are least urged with secular Violence which weakens Truth with Prejudices and is unreasonable to be used till such means of rational Conviction have been applied as leaving no excuse for Ignorance condemns mens Obstinacy to deserved penalties Which no Charity will easily suspect of so many Learned and Pious Church-men in England who being always bred up and conformable to the Government of Episcopacy cannot so soon renounce both their former Opinion and practice only because that Party of the Scots will needs by Force assist a like Party here either to drive all Ministers as sheep into the common fold of Presbytery or destroy them at least fleece them by depriving them of the benefit of their Flocks If the Scotch sole Presbytery were proved to be the only institution of Jesus Christ for all Churches Government yet I believe it would be hard to prove that Christ had given those Scots or any other of My Subjects Commission by the Sword to set it up in any of My Kingdoms without My consent What respect and obedience Christ and his Apostles pay'd to the chief Governors of States where they lived is very clear in the Gospel but that he or they ever commanded to set up such a Parity of Presbyters and in such a way as those Scots endeavour I think is not very disputable If Presbytery in such a supremacy be an institution of Christ sure it differs from all others and is the first and only Point of Christianity that was to be planted and watered with so much Christian blood whose effusions run in a stream so contrary to that of the Primitive Planters both of Christianity and Episcopacy which was with patient shedding of their own blood not violent drawing other mens Sure there is too much of Man in it to have much of Christ none of whose institutions were carried on or begun with the temptations of Covetousness or Ambition of both which this is vehemently suspected Yet was there never any thing upon the point which those Scots had by Army or Commissioners to move Me with by their many solemn Obtestations and pious Threatnings but only this To represent to Me the wonderful necessity of setting up their Presbytery in England to avoid the further miseries of a War which some men chiefly on this design at first had begun and now further engaged themselves to continue What hinders that any Sects Schisms or Heresies if they can get but numbers strength and opportunity may not according to this opinion and pattern set up their ways by the like methods of violence All which Presbytery seeks to suppress and render odious under those Names when Wise and Learned men think that nothing hath more marks of Schism and Sectarism than this Presbyterian way both as to the Ancient and still most Universal way of the Church-Government and specially as to the particular Laws and Constitutions of this English Church which are not yet repealed nor are like to be for Me till I see more Rational and Religious motives than Soldiers use to carry in their Knapsacks But we must leave the success of all to God who hath many ways having first taken us off from the folly of our Opinions and fury of our Passion to teach us those Rules of true Reason and peaceable Wisdom which is from above tending most to Gods glory and his Churches good which I think My self so much the more bound in Conscience to attend with the most judicious zeal and care by how much I esteem the Church above the State the glory of Christ above Mine own and the Salvation of mens Souls above the Preservation of their Bodies and Estates Nor may any men I think without sin and presumption forcibly endeavour to cast the Churches under My care and tuition into the moulds they have fancied and fashioned to their designs till they have first gained My consent and resolved both My own and other mens Consciences by the strength of their Reasons Other violent motions which are neither Manly Christian nor Loyal shall never either shake or settle My Religion nor any mans else who knows what Religion means and how far it is removed from all Faction whose proper engine is Force the Arbitrator of Beasts not of reasonable Men much less of humble Christians and loyal Subjects in matters of Religion But men are prone to have such high conceits of themselves that they care not what cost they lay out upon their Opinions especially those that have some temptations of Gain to recompence their losses and hazards Yet I was not more scandalized at the Scots Armies coming in against my will and their forfeiture of so many Obligations of Duty and Gratitude to Me than I wondred how those here could so much distrust Gods assistance who so much pretended Gods Cause to the People as if they had the certainty of some Divine Revelation considering they were more than competently furnished with My Subjects Arms and Ammunition My Navy by Sea My Forts Castles and Cities by Land But I find that men jealous of the justifiableness of their doings and designs before God never think they have humane strength enough to carry their work on seem it never so plausible to the People What cannot be justified in Law or Religion had need be fortified with Power And yet such is the inconstancy that attends all minds engaged in violent motion that whom some of them one while earnestly invite to come in to their Assistance others of them soon after are weary of and with nauseating cast them out what one Party thought to rivet to a setledness by the strength and influence of the Scots that the other rejects and contemns at once despising the Kirk-Government and Discipline of the Scots and frustrating the Success of so chargeable more than charitable Assistance For sure the Church of England might have purchased at a far cheaper rate the Truth and Happiness of Reformed Government and Discipline if it had been wanting tho it had entertained the best Divines of Christendom for their Advice in a full and free Synod which I was ever willing to and desirous of
that matters being impartially setled might be more satisfactory to all and more durable But much of Gods Justice and Mans folly will at length be discovered through all the films and pretensions of Religion in which Politicians wrap up their designs In vain do men hope to build their Piety on the ruines of Loyalty Nor can those confederations or designs be durable when Subjects make Bankrupt of their Allegiance under pretence of setting up a quicker trade for Religion But as my best Subjects of Scotland never deserted Me so I cannot think that the most are gone so far from Me in a Prodigality of their love and respects toward Me as to make Me to despair of their return when besides the bonds of Nature and Conscience which they have to Me all Reason and true Policy will teach them that their chiefest interest consists in their Fidelity to the Crown not in their serviceableness to any Party of the People to a neglect and betraying of my Safety and Honour for their own advantages However the less cause I have to trust to men the more I shall apply My self to God The troubles of My Soul are enlarged O Lord bring Thou Me out of My distress Lord direct Thy Servant in the ways of that Pious Simplicity which is the best Policy Deliver Me from the combined strength of those who have so much of the Serpents Subtility that they forget the Doves Innocency Tho hand joyn in hand yet let them not prevail against My Soul to the betraying of My Conscience and Honour Thou O Lord canst turn the hearts of those Parties in both Nations as Thou didst the men of Judah and Israel to restore David with as much loyal zeal as they did with inconstancy and eagerness pursue him Preserve the love of thy Truth and Vprightness in Me and I shall not despair of My Subjects affections returning towards Me. Thou canst soon cause the overflowing Seas to ebb and retire back again to the bounds which Thou hast appointed for them O My God I trust in Thee let Me not be ashamed let not My Enemies triumph over Me. Let them be ashamed who transgress without a cause let them be turned back that persecute My Soul Let Integrity and Vprightness preserve Me for I wait on Thee O Lord. Redeem thy Church O God out of all its Troubles XIV Vpon the COVENANT THE Presbyterian Scots are not to be hired at the ordinary rate of Auxiliaries nothing will induce them to engage till those that call them in have pawned their Souls to them by a Solemn League and Covenant Where many engines of Religious and fair pretensions are brought chiefly to batter or rase Episcopacy This they make the grand evil Spirit which with some other Imps purposely added to make it more odious and terrible to the Vulgar must by so solemn a Charm and Exorcism be cast out of this Church after more than a Thousand years possession here from the first plantation of Christianity in this Island and an universal prescription of time and practice in all other Churches since the Apostles times till this last Century But no Antiquity must plead for it Presbytery like a young Heir thinks the Father hath lived long enough and impatient not to be in the Bishops Chair and Authority tho Lay-men go away with the Revenues all Art is used to sink Episcopacy and lanch Presbytery in England which was lately boyed up in Scotland by the like artifice of a Covenant Altho I am unsatisfied with many passages in that Covenant some referring to My self with very dubious and dangerous limitations yet I chiefly wonder at the design and drift touching the Discipline and Government of the Church and such a manner of carrying them on to new ways by Oaths and Covenants where it is hard for men to be engaged by no less than swearing for or against those things which are of no clear Moral necessity but very disputable and controverted among Learned and Godly men whereto the application of Oaths can hardly be made and enjoined with that Judgment and certainty in ones self or that Charity and candor to others of different Opinion as I think Religion requires which never refuses fair and equable Deliberations yea and Dissentings too in matters only probable The enjoyning of Oaths upon People must needs in things doubtful be dangerous as in things unlawful damnable and no less superfluous where former Religious and Legal Engagements bound men sufficiently to all necessary duties Nor can I see how they will reconcile such an Innovating Oath and Covenant with that former Protestation which was so lately taken To maintain the Religion established in the Church of England since they count Discipline so great a part of Religion But ambitious minds never think they have laid snares and gins enough to catch and hold the Vulgar credulity for by such politick and seemingly-pious Stratagems they think to keep the populacy fast to their Parties under the terror of Perjury Whereas certainly all honest and wise men ever thought themselves sufficiently bound by former ties of Religion Allegiance and Laws to God and Man Nor can such after-Contracts devised and imposed by a few men in a declared Party without My consent and without any like power or precedent from God's or Mans Laws be ever thought by judicious men sufficient either to absolve or slacken those Moral and Eternal bonds of Duty which lie upon all my Subjects Consciences both to God and Me. Yet as things now stand good men shall least offend God or Me by keeping their Covenant in honest and lawful ways since I have the Charity to think that the chief End of the Covenant in such mens intentions was To preserve Religion in Purity and the Kingdoms in Peace To other than such ends and means they cannot think themselves engaged Nor will those that have any true touches of Conscience endeavour to carry on the best designs much less such as are and will be daily more apparently factious and ambitious by any unlawful means under that Title of the Covenant unless they dare prefer ambiguous dangerous and unauthorized Novelties before their known and sworn Duties which are indispensable both to God and My self I am prone to believe and hope that many who took the Covenant are yet firm to this Judgment That such later Vows Oaths or Leagues can never blot out those former gravings and characters which by just and lawful Oaths were made upon their Souls That which makes such Confederations by way of Solemn Leagues and Covenants more to be suspected is That they are the common road used in all Factions and Powerful Perturbations of State or Church Where formalities of extraordinary Zeal and Piety are never more studied and elaborate than when Politicians most agitate desperate designs against all that is setled or sacred in Religion and Laws which by such screws are cunningly yet forcibly wrested by secret steps and less sensible degrees from
I am afflicted by those whose Prosperity I earnestly desire and whose Seduction I heartily deplore If they had been my open and forein Enemies I could have born it bur they must be my own Subjects who are next to my Children dear to Me and for the restoring of whose Tranquility I could willingly be the Jonah if I did not evidently foresee that by the divided Interests of their and Mine Enemies as by contrary winds the storm of their Miseries would be rather encreased than allayed I had rather prevent my Peoples Ruine than rule over them nor am I so ambitious of that Dominion which is but my Right as of their Happiness if it could expiate or countervail such a way of obtaining it by the highest Injuries of Subjects committed against their Soveraign Yet I had rather suffer all the miseries of Life and die many Deaths than shamefully to desert or dishonourably to betray my own just Rights and Soveraignty thereby to gratify the Ambition or justifie the Malice of my Enemies between whose Malice and other mens Mistakes I put as great a difference as between an ordinary Ague and the Plague or the Itch of Novelty and the Leprosie of Disloyalty As Liars need have good memories so Malicious persons need good inventions that their Calumnies may fit every mans fancy and what their Reproaches want of truth they may make up with number and shew My Patience I thank God will better serve Me to bear and my Charity to forgive than my Leisure to answer the many false aspersions which some men have cast upon Me. Did I not more consider my Subjects Satisfaction than My own Vindication I should never have given the Malice of some men that pleasure as to see Me take notice of or remember what they say or object I would leave the Authors to be punished by their own evil Manners and seared Consciences which will I believe in a shorter time than they be aware of both confute and revenge all those black and false Scandals which they have cast on Me and make the world see there is as little truth in them as there was little worth in the broaching of them or Civility I need not say Loyalty in the not-suppressing of them whose credit and reputation even with the People shall ere long be quite blasted by the breath of that same fornace of Popular obloquy and detraction which they have studied to heat and inflame to the highest degree of infamy and wherein they have sought to cast and consume my Name and Honour First nothing gave Me more cause to suspect and search My own Innocency than when I observed so many forward to engage against Me who had made great professions of singular Piety For this gave to vulgar minds so bad a reflection upon Me and My Cause as if it had been impossible to adhere to Me and not withal depart from God to think or speak well of Me and not to blaspheme him so many were perswaded that these two were utterly inconsistent to be at once Loyal to Me and truly Religious toward God Not but that I had I thank God many with Me which were both Learned and Religious much above that ordinary size and that vulgar proportion wherein some men glory so much who were so well satisfied in the cause of my Sufferings that they chose rather to suffer with Me than forsake Me. Nor is it strange that so religious Pretensions as were used against Me should be to many well-minded men a great temptation to oppose Me especially being urged by such popular Preachers as think it no sin to lye for God and what they please to call Gods Cause cursing all that will not curse with them looking so much at and crying up the goodness of the End propounded that they consider not the lawfulness of the Means used nor the depth of the Mischief chiefly plotted and intended The weakness of these mens Judgments must be made up by their Clamors and activity It was a great part of some mens Religion to scandalize Me and Mine they thought theirs could not be true if they cryed not down Mine as false I thank God I have had more tryal of his Grace as to the constancy of My Religion in the Protestant profession of the Church of England both abroad and at home than ever they are like to have Nor do I know any Exception I am so lyable to in their opinion as too great a Fixedness in that Religion whose judicious and solid grounds both from Scripture and Antiquity will not give My Conscience leave to approve or consent to those many dangerous and divided Innovations which the bold ignorance of some men would needs obtrude upon Me and My People Contrary to those well-tryed foundations both of Truth and Order which men of far greater Learning and clearer Zeal have setled in the Confession and Constitution of this Church in England which many former Parliaments in the most calm and unpassionate times have oft confirmed in which I should ever by Gods help persevere as believing it hath most of Primitive Truth and Order Nor did My using the assistance of some Papists which were my Subjects any way fight against My Religion as some men would needs interpret it especially those who least of all men cared whom they imployed or what they said or did so they might prevail 'T is strange that so wise men as they would be esteemed should not conceive that differences of perswasion in matters of Religion may easily fall out where there is the sameness of Duty Allegiance and Subjection The first they owe as Men and Christians to God the second they owe to Me in common as their KING Different professions in point of Religion cannot any more than in civil Trades take away the community of Relations either to Parents or to Princes And where is there such an Oglio or medly of various Religions in the World again as those men entertain in their service who find most fault with Me without any scruple as to the diversity of their Sects and Opinions It was indeed a foul and indeleble shame for such as would be counted Protestants to enforce Me a declared Protestant their Lord and King to a necessary use of Papists or any other who did but their duty to help Me to defend My self Nor did I more than is lawful for any King in such exigents to use the aid of any his Subjects I am sorry the Papists should have a greater sense of their Allegiance than many Protestant Professors who seem to have learned and to practise the worst Principles of the worst Papists Indeed it had been a very impertinent and unseasonable scruple in Me and very pleasing no doubt to My Enemies to have been then disputing the points of different Beliefs in My Subjects when I was disputed with by Swords points and when I needed the help of My Subjects as Men no less than their Prayers as Christians The
noise of my Evil Counsellors was another useful device for those who were impatient any mens counsels but their own should be followed in Church or State who were so eager in giving Me better counsel that they would not give Me leave to take it with Freedom as a Man or Honour as a King making their counsels more like a Drench that must be poured down than a Draught which might be fairly and leisurely drank if I liked it I will not justifie beyond humane errors and frailties My self or my Counsellors They might be subject to some Miscarriages yet such as were far more reparable by second and better thoughts than those enormous Extravagances wherewith some men have now even wildred and almost quite lost both Church and State The event of things at last will make it evident to my Subjects that had I followed the worst counsels that My worst Counsellors ever had the boldness to offer to Me or My self any inclination to use I could not so soon have brought both Church and State in Three flourishing Kingdoms to such a Chaos of Confusions and Hell of Miseries as some have done out of which they cannot or will not in the midst of their many great advantages redeem either Me or my Subjects No men were more willing to complain than I was to redress what I saw in Reason was either done or advised amiss and this I thought I had done even beyond the expectation of moderate men who were sorry to see Me prone even to injure My self out of a Zeal to relieve my Subjects But other mens insatiable desire of Revenge upon Me My Court and My Clergy hath wholly beguiled both Church and State of the benefit of all my either Retractations or Concessions and withal hath deprived all those now so zealous Persecutors both of the comfort and reward of their former pretended Persecutions wherein they so much gloried among the Vulgar and which indeed a truly-humble Christian will so highly prize as rather not to be relieved than be revenged so as to be bereaved of that Crown of Christian Patience which attends humble and injured Sufferers Another artifice used to withdraw My Peoples Affections from Me to their designs was The noise and ostentation of Liberty which men are not more prone to desire than unapt to bear in the Popular sense which is to do what every man liketh best If the divinest Liberty be to will what men should and to do what they so will according to Reason Laws and Religion I envy not my Subjects that Liberty which is all I desire to enjoy My self so far am I from the desire of oppressing theirs Nor were those Lords and Gentlemen which assisted Me so prodigal of their Liberties as with their Lives and Fortunes to help on the enslaving of Themselves and their Posterities As to Civil Immunities none but such as desire to drive on their Ambitious and Covetous Designs over the Ruines of Church and State Prince Peers and People will ever desire greater Freedoms than the Laws allow whose bounds good men count their Ornament and Protection others their Manacles and Oppression Nor is it just any man should expect the Reward and Benefit of the Law who despiseth its Rule and Direction losing justly his Safety while he seeks an unreasonable Liberty Time will best inform my Subjects that those are the best preservers of their true Liberties who allow themselves the least licentiousness against or beyond the Laws They will feel it at last to their cost that it is impossible those men should be really tender of their fellow-Subjects Liberties who have the hardiness to use their King with so severe restraints against all Laws both Divine and Humane under which yet I will rather perish than complain to those who want nothing to compleat their mirth and Triumph but such Musick In point of true Conscientious Tenderness attended with Humility and Meekness not with proud and arrogant activity which seeks to hatch every egg of different opinion to a Faction or Schism I have oft declared how little I desire my Laws and Scepter should intrench on Gods Soveraignty which is the only King of mens Consciences and yet He hath laid such restraints upon men as commands them to be subject for Conscience sake giving no men liberty to break the Law established further than with Meekness and Patience they are content to suffer the Penalties annexed rather than perturb the publick Peace The truth is some mens thirst after Novelties others despair to relieve the necessities of their Fortunes or satisfie their Ambition in Peaceable times distrusting Gods Providence as well as their own Merits were the secret but principal impulsives to these Popular Commotions by which Subjects have been perswaded to expend much of those plentiful Estates they got and enjoyed under My Government in peaceable times which yet must now be blasted with all the odious Reproaches which impotent Malice can invent and My self exposed to all those Contempts which may most diminish the Majesty of a King and encrease the ungrateful insolences of my People For mine Honour I am well assured that as mine Innocency is clear before God in point of any Calumnies they object so My Reputation shall like the Sun after Owls and Bats have had their freedom in the night and darker times rise and recover it self to such a degree of splendor as those feral Birds shall be grieved to behold and unable to bear For never were any Princes more glorious than those whom God hath suffer'd to be tried in the furnace of Afflictions by their injurious Subjects And who knows but the just and merciful God will do Me good for some mens hard false and evil speeches against Me Wherein they speak rather what they wish than what they believe or know Nor can I suffer so much in point of Honour by those rude and scandalous Pamphlets which like fire in great Conflagrations flie up and down to set all places on like flames as those men do who pretending to so much Piety are so forgetful of their duty to God and Me by no way ever vindicating the Majesty of their KING against any of those who contrary to the precept of God and precedent of Angels speak evil of dignities and bring railing accusations against those who are honoured with the name of Gods But 't is no wonder if men not fearing GOD should not Honour their KING They will easily contemn such shadows of God who reverence not that Supreme and adorable Majesty in comparison of whom all the Glory of Men and Angels is but obscurity yet hath he graven such Characters of Divine Authority and Sacred power upon Kings as none may without sin seek to blot them out Nor shall their black veils be able to hide the shining of My face while God gives Me a heart frequently and humbly to converse with him from whom alone are all the irradiations of true Glory and Majesty Thou O Lord knowest
constitution The Abuses of which deserve to be extirpated as much as the use retained for I think it far better to hold to Primitive and Uniform Antiquity than to comply with divided Novelty A right Episcopacy would at once satisfie all just desires and interests of good Bishops humble Presbyters and sober People so as Church affairs should be managed neither with Tyranny Parity nor Popularity neither Bishops ejected nor Presbyters despised nor People oppressed And in this Integrity both of My Judgment and Conscience I hope God will preserve Me. For Thou O Lord knowest my Vprightness and Tenderness As Thou hast set Me to be a Defender of the Faith and a Protector of thy Church so suffer Me not by any violence to be over-born against My Conscience Arise O Lord maintain thine own Cause let not thy Church be deformed as to that Government which derived from thy Apostles hath been retained in purest and Primitive times till the Revenues of the Church became the object of secular Envy which seeks to rob it of all the encouragements of Learning and Religion Make Me as the good Samaritan compassionate and helpful to thy afflicted Church which some men have wounded and robbed others pass by without regard either to pity or relieve As My Power is from Thee so give Me grace to use it for Thee And though I am not suffered to be Master of my other Rights as a KING yet preserve Me in that liberty of Reason love of Religion and thy Churches welfare which are fixed in My Conscience as a Christian Preserve from Sacrilegious invasions those temporal Blessings which thy Providence hath bestowed on thy Church for thy Glory Forgive their Sins and Errors who have deserved thy just permission thus to let in the wild Boar and subtile Foxes to waste and deform thy Vineyard which thy right hand hath planted and the dew of Heaven so long watered to a happy and flourishing estate O let Me not bear the infamous brand to all posterity of being the first Christian KING in this Kingdom who should consent to the oppression of thy Church and the Fathers of it whose Errors I would rather with Constantine cover with silence and reform with meekness than expose their Persons and Sacred Functions to vulgar contempt Thou O Lord seest how much I have suffered with and for thy Church make no long tarrying O my God to deliver both Me and It from unreasonable men whose counsels have brought forth and continue such violent Confusions by a precipitant destroying the ancient boundaries of thy Churches Peace thereby letting in all manner of Errors Schisms and Disorders O thou God of Order and of Truth in thy good time abate the Malice asswage the Rage and confound all the mischievous Devices of Thine Mine and thy Churches Enemies That I and all that love thy Church may sing Praises to Thee and ever magnifie thy Salvation even before the Sons of men XVIII Vpon Uxbridg Treaty and other Offers made by the KING I Look upon the way of Treaties as a retiring from fighting like Beasts to arguing like Men whose strength should be more in their Understandings than in their Limbs And tho I could seldom get opportunities to Treat yet I never wanted either desire or disposition to it having greater confidence of my Reason than my Sword I was so wholly resolved to yield to the first that I thought neither My self nor others should need to use the second if once we rightly understood each other Nor did I ever think it a diminution of Me to prevent them with expresses of My Desires and even Importunities to Treat It being an office not only of Humanity rather to use Reason than Force but also of Christianity to seek peace and ensue it As I was very unwillingly compelled to defend My self with Arms so I very willingly embraced any thing tending to Peace The events of all War by the Sword being very dubious and of a Civil War uncomfortable the End hardly recompencing and late repairing the mischief of the Means Nor did any success I had ever enhaunce with Me the price of Peace as earnestly desired by Me as any man tho I was like to pay dearer for it than any man All that I sought to reserve was Mine Honour and My Conscience the one I could not part with as a KING the other as a Christian The Treaty at Vxbridg gave the fairest hopes of an happy Composure had others applied themselves to it with the same Moderation as I did I am confident the War had then ended I was willing to condescend as far as Reason Honour and Conscience would give Me leave nor were the remaining Differences so essential to my Peoples Happiness or of such consequence as in the least kind to have hindred My Subjects either Security or Prosperity for they better enjoyed both many years before ever those demands were made some of which to deny I think the greatest Justice to My self and Favor to my Subjects I see Jealousies are not so easily allayed as they are raised Some men are more afraid to retreat from violent Engagements than to engage what is wanting in Equity must be made up in Pertinacy Such as had little to enjoy in Peace or to lose in War studied to render the very name of Peace odious and suspected In Church affairs where I had least liberty of Prudence having so many strict ties of Conscience upon Me yet I was willing to condescend so far to the setling of them as might have given fair satisfaction to all men whom Faction Covetousness or Superstition had not engaged more than any true Zeal Charity or love of Reformation I was content to yield to all that might seem to advance true Piety I only sought to continue what was necessary in point of Order Maintenance and Authority to the Churches Government and what I am perswaded as I have elsewhere set down My thoughts more fully is most agreeable to the true Principles of all Government raised to its full stature and perfection as also to the primitive Apostolical Pattern and the practice of the Universal Church conform thereto From which wholly to recede without any probable reason urged or answered only to satisfie some mens wills and phantasies which yet agree not among themselves in any point but that of extirpating Episcopacy and fighting against Me must needs argue such a softness and infirmity of Mind in Me as will rather part with Gods Truth than Mans Peace and rather lose the Churches Honour than cross some mens Factious humors God knows and time will discover who were most to blame for the unsuccessfulness of that Treaty and who must bear the guilt of after-calamities I believe I am very excusable both before God and all unpassionate men who have seriously weighed those Transactions wherein I endeavoured no less the restauration of Peace to My People than the preservation of My own Crowns to My Posterity Some men have that
Images they should form and set up If there had been as much of Christs Spirit for Meekness Wisdom and Charity in mens hearts as there was of his Name used in the pretensions to reform all to Christs Rule it would certainly have obtained more of God's Blessing and produced more of Christs Glory the Churches good the Honour of Religion and the Unity of Christians Publick Reformers had need first act in private and practise that on their own hearts which they purpose to try on others for Deformities within will soon betray the Pretenders of publick Reformation to such private Designs as must needs hinder the publick good I am sure the right methods of Reforming the Church cannot consist with that of perturbing the Civil State nor can Religion be justly advanced by depressing Loyalty which is one of the chiefest Ingredients and Ornaments of true Religion for next to Fear God is Honour the King I doubt not but Christs Kingdom may be set up without pulling down Mine nor will any men in impartial times appear good Christians that approve not themselves good Subjects Christ's Government will confirm Mine not overthrow it since as I own Mine from Him so I desire to Rule for his Glory and his Churches good Had some men truly intended Christ's Government or knew what it meant in their hearts they could never have been so ill governed in their words and actions both against Me and one another As good Ends cannot justifie evil Means so nor will evil Beginnings ever bring forth good Conclusions unless God by a miracle of Mercy create Light out of Darkness Order out of our Confusions and Peace out of our Passions Thou O Lord who only canst give us beauty for ashes and Truth for Hypocrisie suffer us not to be miserably deluded with Pharisaical washings in stead of Christian Reformings Our greatest Deformities are within make us the severest Censurers and first Reformers of our own Souls That we may in clearness of Judgment and Vprightness of heart be a means to reform what is indeed amiss in Church and State Create in us clean hearts O Lord and renew right spirits within-us that we may do all by thy directions to thy Glory and with thy Blessing Pity the Deformities which some rash and cruel Reformers have brought upon this Church and State quench the fires which Factions have kindled under the pretence of Reforming As thou hast shewed the world by their Divisions and Confusions what is the pravity of some mens Intentions and weakness of their Judgments so bring us at last more refined out of these fires by the methods of Christian and charitable Reformations wherein nothing of Ambition Revenge Covetousness or Sacrilege may have any influence upon their counsels whom thy Providence in just and lawful ways shall entrnst with so great good and now most necessary a work That I and My People may be so blest with inward Piety as may best teach us how to use the Blessing of outward Peace XXI Vpon His MAJESTIES Letters taken and divulged THE taking of My Letters was an opportunity which as the malice of Mine Enemies could hardly have expected so they knew not how with honour and civility to use it Nor do I think with sober and worthy minds any thing in them could tend so much to My Reproach as the odious divulging of them did to the infamy of the Divulgers The greatest experiments of Virtue and Nobleness being discovered in the greatest advantages against an Enemy and the greatest Obligations being those which are put upon us by them from whom we could least have expected them And such I should have esteemed the concealing of My Papers The freedom and secrecy of which commands a Civility from all men not wholly barbarous nor is there any thing more inhumane than to expose them to publick view Yet since Providence will have it so I am content so much of My Heart which I study to approve to Gods Omniscience should be discovered to the world without any of those dresses or popular captations which some men use in their Speeches and Expresses I wish my Subjects had yet a clearer sight into My most retired Thoughts Where they might discover how they are divided between the Love and Care I have not more to preserve My own Rights than to procure their Peace and Happiness and that extreme Grief to see them both deceived and destroyed Nor can any mens Malice be gratified further by My Letters than to see My Constancy to my Wife the Laws and Religion Bees will gather Honey where the Spider sucks Poyson That I endeavour to avoid the pressures of my Enemies by all fair and just Correspondencies no man can blame who loves Me or the Commonwealth since My Subjects can hardly be happy if I be miserable or enjoy their Peace and Liberty while I am oppressed The World may see how some Mens design like Absolom's is by enormous Actions to widen differences and exasperate all Sides to such distances as may make all Reconciliation desperate Yet I thank God I can not only with Patience bear this as other Indignities but with Charity forgive them The Integrity of My Intentions is not jealous of any injury My Expressions can do them for although the confidence of Privacy may admit greater freedom in Writing such Letters which may be liable to envious exceptions yet the Innocency of My chief Purposes cannot be so stained or mis-interpreted by them as not to let all men see that I wish nothing more than an happy composure of Differences with Justice and Honour not more to My own than My Peoples content who have any sparks of Love or Loyalty left in them who by those My Letters may be convinced that I can both mind and act My own and My Kingdoms Affairs so as becomes a Prince which Mine Enemies have always been very loth should be believed of Me as if I were wholly confined to the Dictates and Directions of others whom they please to brand with the name of Evil Counsellors It 's probable some men will now look upon Me as My own Counsellor and having none else to quarrel with under that notion they will hereafter confine their anger to My self Altho I know they are very unwilling I should enjoy the liberty of My own Thoughts or follow the light of My own Conscience which they labour to bring into an absolute captivity to themselves not allowing Me to think their Counsels to be other than good for Me which have so long maintained a War against Me. The Victory they obtained that day when My Letters became their prize had been enough to have satiated the most ambitious thirst of Popular glory among the Vulgar with whom Prosperity gains the greatest esteem and applause as Adversity exposeth to their greatest slighting and disrespect As if good fortune were always the shadow of Virtue and Justice and did not oftner attend Vicious and Injurious actions as to this world But
solicitous for My Friends safety than Mine own chusing to venture My self upon further hazards rather than expose their resolute Loyalty to all extremities It is some skill in play to know when a game is lost better fairly to give over than to contest in vain I must now study to re-inforce my Judgment and fortifie my Mind with Reason and Religion that I may not seem to offer up My Souls Liberty or make My Conscience their Captive who ought at first to have used Arguments nor Arms to have perswaded My Consent to their new demands I thank God no Success darkens or disguises Truth to Me and I shall no less conform my words to my inward dictates now than if they had been as the words of a KING ought to be among Loyal Subjects full of power Reason is the Divinest power I shall never think My self weakned while I may make full and free use of that No eclipse of outward fortune shall rob me of that light what God hath denied of outward Strength his Grace I hope will supply with inward Resolutions not morosely to deny what is fit to be granted but not to grant any thing which Reason and Religion bids me deny I shall never think My self less than My self while I am able thus to preserve the Integrity of My Conscience the only Jewel now left Me which is worth keeping O Thou Soveraign of our Souls the only Commander of our Consciences tho I know not what to do yet mine eyes are toward Thee To the protection of thy Mercy I still commend My self As Thou hast preserved Me in the day of Battel so Thou canst still shew Me thy strength in My weakness Be Thou unto Me in My darkest night a pillar of Fire to enlighten and direct Me in the day of my hottest Affliction be also a pillar of Cloud to overshadow and protect Me be to Me both a Sun and a Shield Thou knowest that it is not any perverseness of Will but just perswasions of Honour Reason and Religion which have made Me thus far to hazard my Person Peace and safety against those that by Force have sought to wrest them from Me. Suffer not My just Resolutions to abate with My outward Forces let a good Conscience always accompany Me in my greatest Solitude and Desertions Suffer Me not to betray the powers of Reason and that Fortress of My Soul which I am intrusted to keep for Thee Lead Me in the paths of thy Righteousness and shew Me thy Salvation Make My ways to please Thee and then Thou wilt make Mine Enemies to be at Peace with Me. XXIII Vpon the SCOTS delivering the KING to the English and His Captivity at Holdenby YET may I justifie those Scots to all the world in this that they have not deceived Me for I never trusted to them further than to men If I am sold by them I am only sorry they should do it and that My price should be so much above my Saviour's These are but further Essays which God will have Me make of mans Uncertainty the more to fix Me on Himself who never faileth them that trust in him Tho the Reeds of Egypt break under the hand of him that leans on them yet the Rock of Israel will be an everlasting stay and defence Gods Providence commands Me to retire from all to himself that in him I may enjoy My self whom I lose while I let out my hopes to others The Solitude and Captivity to which I am now reduced gives Me leisure enough to study the World's Vanity and Inconstancy God sees it fit to deprive Me of Wife Children Army Friends and Freedom that I may be wholly His who alone is all I care not much to be reckoned among the Unfortunate if I be not in the black list of Irreligious and Sacrilegious Princes No Restraint shall ensnare My Soul in sin nor gain that of Me which may make My Enemies more insolent My Friends ashamed or My Name accursed They have no great cause to triumph that they have got My Person into their power since My Soul is still My own nor shall they ever gain My Consent against My Conscience What they call Obstinacy I know God accounts honest Constancy from which Reason and Religion as well as Honour forbid Me to recede 'T is evident now that it was not Evil Counsellors with Me but a good Conscience in Me which hath been fought against nor did they ever intend to bring Me to My Parliament till they had brought My Mind to their obedience Should I grant what some men desire I should be such as they wish Me not more a King and far less both Man and Christian What Tumults and Armies could not obtain neither shall Restraint which tho it have as little of Safety to a Prince yet it hath not more of Danger The Fear of men shall never be My Snare nor shall the love of any Liberty entangle my Soul Better others betray Me than My self and that the price of my Liberty should be My Conscience The greatest Injuries My Enemies seek to inflict upon Me cannot be without My own Consent While I can deny with Reason I shall defeat the greatest impressions of their Malice who neither know how to use worthily what I have already granted nor what to require more of Me but this that I would seem willing to help them to destroy My self and Mine Altho they should destroy Me yet they shall have no cause to despise Me. Neither Liberty nor Life are so dear to Me as the Peace of My Conscience the Honour of My Crowns and the welfare of My People which My Word may injure more than any War can do while I gratifie a few to oppress all The Laws will by God's blessing revive with the Love and Loyalty of my Subjects if I bury them not by My Consent and cover them in that grave of dishonour and injustice which some mens Violence hath digged for them If my Captivity or Death must be the price of their Redemption I grudg not to pay it No condition can make a King miserable which carries not with it his Souls his Peoples and Posterities Thraldom After-times may see what the Blindness of this Age will not and God may at length shew My subjects that I chose rather to suffer for them than with them Haply I might redeem My self to some shew of Liberty if I would consent to enslave them I had rather hazard the Ruin of one King than to confirm many Tyrants over them from whom I pray God deliver them whatever becomes of Me whose Solitude hath not left Me alone For Thou O God infinitely good and great art with Me whose Presence is better than Life and whose Service is perfect Freedom Own Me for thy Servant and I shall never have cause to complain for want of that Liberty which becomes a Man a Christian and a King Bless Me still with Reason as a Man with Religion as a Christian
devout retirements where neither the solemnity of the Duty nor the modest regard to others do require so great exactness as to the outward manner of performance Tho the light of Understanding and the fervency of Affection I hold the main and most necessary requisites both in constant and occasional solitary and social Devotions So that I must needs seem to all equal minds with as much Reason to prefer the service of My own Chaplains before that of their Ministers as I do the Liturgy before their Directory In the one I have been always educated and exercised in the other I am not yet Catechised nor acquainted And if I were yet should I not by that as by any certain Rule and Canon of Devotion be able to follow or find out the indirect extravagancies of most of those men who highly cry up that as a piece of rare composure and use which is already as much despised and disused by many of them as the Common-prayer sometimes was by those men a great part of whose piety hung upon that popular pin of railing against and contemning the Government and Liturgy of this Church But I had rather be condemned to the woe of Vae soli than to that of Vae vobis Hypocritae by seeming to pray what I do not approve It may be I am esteemed by my Deniers sufficient of My self to discharge My Duty to God as a Priest tho not to Men as a Prince Indeed I think both Offices Regal and Sacerdotal might well become the same Person as anciently they were under one name and the united rights of primogeniture Nor could I follow better precedents if I were able than those two eminent Kings David and Solomon not more famous for their Scepters and Crowns than one was for devout Psalms and Prayers the other for his Divine Parables and Preaching whence the one merited and assumed the name of a Prophet the other of a Preacher Titles indeed of greater honour where rightly placed than any of those the Roman Emperors affected from the Nations they subdued it being infinitely more glorious to convert Souls to Gods Church by the Word than to conquer men to a subjection by the Sword Yet since the order of Gods Wisdom and Providence hath for the most part always distinguished the gifts and Offices of Kings and Priests of Princes and Preachers both in the Jewish and Christian Churches I am sorry to find My self reduced to the necessity of being both or enjoying neither For such as seek to deprive Me of My Kingly Power and Soveraignty would no less enforce Me to live many months without all Prayers Sacraments and Sermons unless I become My own Chaplain As I owe the Clergy the protection of a Christian KING so I desire to enjoy from them the benefit of their Gifts and Prayers which I look upon as more prevalent than My own or other mens by how much they flow from Minds more enlightned and Affections less distracted than those which are encumbred with Secular affairs besides I think a greater Blessing and acceptableness attends those Duties which are rightly performed as proper to and within the limits of that calling to which God and the Church have specially designed and consecrated some men And however as to that Spiritual Government by which the Devout Soul is subject to Christ and through his Merits daily offers it self and its services to God every private believer is a King and a Priest invested with the honour of a Royal Priesthood yet as to Ecclesiastical order and the outward Polity of the Church I think confusion in Religion will as certainly follow every mans turning Priest or Preacher as it will in the State where every one affects to rule as King I was always bred to more modest and I think more Pious Principles The consciousness to my Spiritual defects makes Me more prize and desire those Pious assistances which holy and good Ministers either Bishops or Presbyters may afford Me especially in these Extremities to which God hath been pleased to suffer some of my Subjects to reduce Me so as to leave them nothing more but my Life to take from Me and to leave Me nothing to desire which I thought might less provoke their Jealousy and offence to deny Me than this of having some means afforded Me for my Souls comfort and support To which end I made choice of men as no way that I know scandalous so every way eminent for their Learning and Piety no less than for their Loyalty nor can I imagine any exceptions to be made against them but only this That they may seem too able and too well-affected toward Me and my Service But this is not the first service as I count it the best in which they have forced Me to serve My self tho I must consess I bear with more grief and impatience the want of my Chaplains than of any other my Servants and next if not beyond in some things to the being sequestred from my Wife and Children since from these indeed more of human and temporary Affections but from those more of Heavenly and Eternal Improvements may be expected My comfort is that in the enforced not neglected want of ordinary means God is wont to afford extraordinary supplies of his Gifts and Graces If his Spirit will teach Me and help my infirmities in Prayer Reading and Meditation as I hope he will I shall need no other either Orator or Instructor To Thee therefore O My God do I direct my now solitary Prayers What I want of others help supply with the more immediate assistances of thy Spirit which alone can both enlighten my darkness and quicken my dulness O thou Sun of Righteousness thou Sacred Fountain of Heavenly Light and Heat at once clear and warm my Heart both by instructing of Me and interceding for Me. In Thee is all Fulness from Thee is all Sufficiency by Thee is all Acceptance Thou art company enough and comfort enough Thou art my King be also my Prophet and my Priest Rule Me teach Me pray in Me for Me and be Thou ever with Me. The single wrestlings of Jacob prevailed with Thee in that Sacred Duel when he had none to second him but Thy self who didst assist him with power to overcome Thee and by a welcome violence to wrest a Blessing from Thee O look on Me thy Servant in infinite mercy whom Thou didst once bless with the joint and sociated Devotions of others whose fervency might inflame the coldness of my Affections towards Thee when we went to or met in thy House with the Voice of joy and gladness worshipping Thee in the unity of Spirits and with the bond of Peace O forgive the neglect and not improving of those happy Opportunities It is now thy pleasure that I should be as a Pelican in the wilderness as a Sparrow on the house top and as a Coal scattered from all those pious glowings and devout reflections which might best kindle preserve
rather than exacting the rigor of the Laws there being nothing worse than Legal Tyranny In these two points the preservation of established Religion and Laws I may without vanity turn the reproach of My Sufferings as to the worlds censure into the honour of a kind of Martyrdom as to the testimony of My own Conscience the Troublers of My Kingdoms having nothing else to object against Me but this That I prefer Religion and Laws establisht before those Alterations they propounded And so indeed I do and ever shall till I am convinced by better Arguments than what hitherto have been chiefly used towards Me Tumults Armies and Prisons I cannot yet learn that Lesson nor I hope ever will You That it is safe for a King to gratifie any Faction with the Perturbation of the Laws in which is wrap'd up the publick Interest and the good of the Community How God will deal with Me as to the removal of these Pressures and Indignities which his Justice by the very unjust hands of some of My Subjects hath been pleased to lay upon Me I cannot tell nor am I much solicitous what Wrong I suffer from men while I retain in My Soul what I believe is right before God I have offered all for Reformation and Safety that in Reason Honour and Conscience I can reserving only what I cannot consent unto without an irreparable injury to My own Soul the Church and My People and to You also as the next and undoubted Heir of My Kingdoms To which if the Divine Providence to whom no Difficulties are insuperable shall in his due time after My decease bring You as I hope he will My Counsel and Charge to You is that You seriously consider the former real or objected Miscarriages which might occasion My Troubles that You may avoid them Never repose so much upon any mans single Counsel Fidelity and Discretion in managing affairs of the first magnitude that is matters of Religion and Justice as to create in Your self or others a diffidence of Your own Judgment which is likely to be always more constant and impartial to the interests of Your Crown and Kingdom than any mans Next beware of exasperating any Factions by the crosness and asperity of some mens Passions Humors or private Opinions imployed by You grounded only upon the differences in lesser matters which are but the skirts and suburbs of Religion Wherein a charitable Connivence and Christian Toleration often dissipates their strength whom rougher opposition fortifies and puts the despised and oppressed Party into such Combinations as may most enable them to get a full revenge on those they count their Persecutors who are commonly assisted by that Vulgar commiseration which attends all that are said to suffer under the notion of Religion Provided the Differences amount not to an insolent opposition of Laws and Government or Religion established as to the essentials of them Such motions and minings are intolerable Always keep up solid Piety and those Fundamental Truths which mend both hearts and lives of men with impartial Favour and Justice Take heed that outward circumstances and formalities of Religion devour not all or the best incouragements of Learning Industry and Piety but with an equal eye and impartial hand distribute favours and rewards to all men as You find them for their real Goodness both in Abilities and Fidelity worthy and capable of them This will be sure to gain You the hearts of the best and the most too who tho they be not good themselves yet are glad to see the severer ways of Virtue at any time sweetned by temporal rewards I have You see conflicted with different and opposite Factions for so I must needs call and count all those that act not in any conformity to the Laws established in Church and State No sooner have they by force subdued what they counted their Common Enemy that is all those that adhered to the Laws and to Me and are secured from that fear but they are divided to so high a rivalty as sets them more at defiance against each other than against their first Antagonists Time will dissipate all Factions when once the rough horns of private mens covetous and ambitious designs shall discover themselves which were at first wrap'd up and hidden under the soft and smooth pretensions of Religion Reformation and Liberty As the Wolf is not less cruel so he will be more justly hated when he shall appear no better than a Wolf under Sheeps cloathing But as for the seduced Train of the Vulgar who in their simplicity follow those disguises My charge and counsel to You is That as You need no palliations for any designs as other men so that You study really to exceed in true and constant demonstrations of Goodness Piety and Virtue towards the People even all those men that make the greatest noise and ostentations of Religion so You shall neither fear any detection as they do who have but the face and mask of Goodness nor shall You frustrate the just expectations of Your People who cannot in reason promise themselves so much good from any Subjects Novelties as from the virtuous Constancy of their King When these mountains of congealed Factions shall by the Sunshine of God's Mercy and the splendor of Your Virtues be thawed and dissipated and the abused Vulgar shall have learned that none are greater Oppressors of their Estates Liberties and Consciences than those men that entitle themselves the Patrons and Vindicators of them only to usurp power over them let then no Passion betray You to any study of Revenge upon those whose own Sin and Folly will sufficiently punish them in due time But as soon as the forked arrow of factious Emulations is drawn out use all Princely arts and Clemency to heal the Wounds that the smart of the Cure may not equal the anguish of the Hurt I have offered Acts of Indemnity and Oblivion to so great a latitude as may include all that can but suspect themselves to be any way obnoxious to the Laws and which might serve to exclude all future Jealousies and Insecurities I would have You always propense to the same way whenever it shall be desired and accepted let it be granted not only as an Act of State-policy and Necessity but of Christian Charity and Choice It is all I have now left Me a power to forgive those that have deprived Me of all and I thank God I have a heart to do it and joy as much in this Grace which God hath given Me as in all my former enjoyments for this is a greater argument of God's love to Me than any Prosperity can be Be confident as I am that the most of all sides who have done amiss have done so not out of Malice but Mis-information or Mis-apprehension of things None will be more loyal and faithful to Me and You than those Subjects who sensible of their Errors and our Injuries will feel in their own Souls most vehement
motives to Repentance and earnest desires to make some reparations for their former defects As Your quality sets you beyond any Duel with any Subject so the Nobleness of Your Mind must raise You above the meditating any Revenge or executing Your Anger upon the many The more conscious You shall be to Your own Merits upon Your People the more prone You will be to expect all Love and Loyalty from them and to inflict no Punishment upon them for former Miscarriages You will have more inward complacency in Pardoning one than in Punishing a thousand This I write to You not despairing of God's Mercy and My Subjects affections towards You both which I hope You will study to deserve yet we cannot merit of God but by his own Mercy If God shall see fit to restore Me and You after Me to those enjoyments which the Laws have assigned to Us and no Subjects without an high degree of Guilt and Sin can divest Us of then may I have better opportunity when I shall be so happy to see You in Peace to let You more fully understand the things that belong to God's Glory Your own Honour and the Kingdoms Peace But if You never see My face again and God will have Me buried in such a barbarous Imprisonment and Obscurity which the perfecting some mens Designs requires wherein few hearts that love Me are permitted to exchange a word or a look with Me I do require and entreat You as Your Father and Your KING that You never suffer Your Heart to receive the least check against or disaffection from the true Religion established in the Church of England I tell You I have tried it and after much search and many Disputes have concluded it to be the best in the world not only in the Community as Christian but also in the special notion as Reformed keeping the middle way between the pomp of Superstitious Tyranny and the meanness of Fantastick Anarchy Not but that the draught being excellent as to the main both for Doctrine and Government in the Church of England some lines as in very good Figures may haply need some sweetning or polishing which might here have easily been done by a safe and gentle hand if some mens Precipitancy had not violently demanded such rude Alterations as would have quite destroyed all the Beauty and Proportions of the whole The scandal of the late Troubles which some may object and urge to You against the Protestant Religion established in England is easily answered to them or Your own thoughts in this That scarce any one who hath been a Beginner or an active Prosecutor of this late War against the Church the Laws and Me either was or is a true Lover Embracer or Practiser of the Protestant Religion established in England which neither gives such Rules nor ever before set such Examples 'T is true some heretofore had the boldness to present threatning Petitions to their Princes and Parliaments which others of the same Faction but of worse Spirits have now put in execution But let not counterfeit and disorderly Zeal abate your value and esteem of true Piety both of them are to be known by their fruits The sweetness of the Vine and Fig-tree is not to be despised tho the Brambles and Thorns should pretend to bear Figs and Grapes thereby to rule over the Trees Nor would I have you to entertain any aversation or dislike of Parliaments which in their right constitution with Freedom and Honour will never injure or diminish your Greatness but will rather be as interchangings of Love Loyalty and Confidence between a Prince and his People Nor would the events of this Black Parliament have been other than such however much biassed by Factions in the Elections if it had been preserved from the Insolencies of Popular dictates and Tumultuary impressions The sad effects of which will no doubt make all Parliaments after this more cautious to preserve that Freedom and Honour which belongs to such Assemblies when once they have fully shaken off this yoke of Vulgar encroachment since the Publick Interest consists in the mutual and common good both of Prince and People Nothing can be more happy for all than in fair grave and honourable ways to contribute their Counsels in common enacting all things by publick consent without Tyranny or Tumults We must not starve our selves because some men have surfeited of wholsom food And if neither I nor You be ever restored to Our Rights but God in his severest Justice will punish My Subjects with continuance in their Sin and suffer them to be deluded with the prosperity of their Wickedness I hope God will give Me and You that Grace which will teach and enable Us to want as well as to wear a Crown which is not worth taking up or enjoying upon sordid dishonourable and irreligious terms Keep You to true Principles of Piety Virtue and Honour You shall never want a Kingdom A Principal point of Your Honour will consist in Your conferring all Respect Love and Protection on Your Mother My Wife who hath many ways deserved well of Me and chiefly in this that having been a means to bless Me with so many hopeful Children all which with their Mother I recommend to your Love and Care She hath been content with incomparable Magnanimity and Patience to suffer both for and with Me and You. My Prayer to God Almighty is whatever becomes of Me who am I thank God wrapt up and fortified in My own Innocency and his Grace that he would be pleased to make You an Anchor or Harbour rather to these tossed and weather-beaten Kingdoms a Repairer by Your Wisdom Justice Piety and Valour of what the Folly and Wickedness of some men have so far ruined as to leave nothing intire in Church or State to the Crown the Nobility the Clergy or the Commons either as to Laws Liberties Estates Order Honour Conscience or Lives When they have destroyed Me for I know not how far God may permit the Malice and Cruelty of My Enemies to proceed and such apprehensions some mens words and actions have already given Me as I doubt not but My Blood will cry aloud for Vengeance to Heaven so I beseech God not to pour out his Wrath upon the generality of the People who have either deserted Me or engaged against Me through the Artifice and hypocrifie of their Leaders whose inward Horror will be their first Tormentor nor will they escape exemplary Judgments For those that loved Me I pray God they may have no miss of Me when I am gone so much I wish and hope that all good Subjects may be satisfied with the Blessings of Your Presence and Virtues For those that repent of any defects in their Duty toward Me as I freely forgive them in the word of a Christian King so I believe You will find them truly zealous to repay with interest that Loyalty and Love to You which was due to Me. In sum what Good I
cannot but see the proportions of their evil dealings against Me in the measure of Gods retaliations upon them who cannot hope long to enjoy their own thumbs and toes having under pretence of paring others nails been so cruel as to cut off their chiefest strength The punishment of the more insolent and obstinate may be like that of Korah and his Complices at once mutining against both Prince and Priest in such a method of Divine Justice as is not ordinary the Earth of the lowest and meanest People opening upon them and swallowing them up in a just disdain of their ill-gotten and wors-used Authority upon whose support and strength they chiefly depended for their building and establishing their Desings against Me the Church and State My chiefest comfort in Death consists in My Peace which I trust is made with God before whose exact Tribunal I shall not fear to appear as to the Cause so long disputed by the Sword between Me and My causless Enemies where I doubt not but his Righteous Judgment will confute their fallacy who from worldly Success rather like Sophisters than sound Christians draw those popular Conclusions for God's Approbation of their actions whose wise Providence we know oft permits many events which his revealed Word the only clear safe and fixed Rule of good Actions and good Consciences in no sort approves I am confident the Justice of my Cause and Clearness of my Conscience before God and toward my People will carry Me as much above them in God's decision as their Successes have lifted them above Me in the Vulgar opinion who consider not that many times those undertakings of men are lifted up to Heaven in the prosperity and applause of the world whose rise is from Hell as to the Injuriousness and Oppression of the Design The prosperous winds which oft fill the sails of Pirats do not justifie their Piracy and Rapine I look upon it with infinite more content and quiet of Soul to have been worsted in my enforced Contestation for and Vindication of the Laws of the Land the Freedom and Honour of Parliaments the Rights of my Crown the just Liberty of my Subjects and the true Christian Religion in its Doctrine Government and due Encouragements than if I had with the greatest advantages of Success over-born them all as some men have now evidently done what-ever Designs they at first pretended The Prayers and Patience of my Friends and loving Subjects will contribute much to the sweetning of this bitter Cup which I doubt not but I shall more cheerfully take and drink as from God's hand if it must be so than they can give it to Me whose hands are unjustly and barbarously lifted up against Me. And as to the last event I may seem to owe more to my Enemies than my Friends while those will put a period to the Sins and Sorrows attending this miserable Life wherewith these desire I might still contend I shall be more than Conqueror through Christ enabling Me for whom I have hitherto suffered as he is the Author of Truth Order and Peace for all which I have been forced to contend against Error Faction and Confusion If I must suffer a Violent Death with my Saviour it is but Mortality crowned with Martyrdom where the debt of Death which I owe for Sin to Nature shall be raised as a gift of Faith and Patience offered to God Which I humbly beseech him mercifully to accept and altho Death be the wages of My own Sin as from God and the effect of others Sins as men both against God and Me yet as I hope My own Sins are so remitted that they shall be no ingredients to imbitter the cup of my Death so I desire God to pardon their Sins who are most guilty of my Destruction The Trophees of my Charity will be more glorious and durable over them than their ill-managed Victories over Me. Tho their Sin be prosperous yet they had need to be penitent that they may be pardoned Both which I pray God they may obtain that my Temporal Death unjustly inflicted by them may not be revenged by God's just inflicting Eternal Death upon them for I look upon the Temporal Destruction of the greatest King as far less deprecable than the Eternal Damnation of the meanest Subject Nor do I wish other than the safe bringing of the Ship to shore when they have cast Me over-board though it be very strange that Mariners can find no other means to appease the Storm themselves have raised but by drowning their Pilot. I thank God my Enemies Cruelty cannot prevent my Preparation whose Malice in this I shall defeat that they shall not have the satisfaction to have destroyed my Soul with my Body of whose Salvation while some of them have themselves seemed and taught others to despair they have only discovered this that they do not much desire it Whose uncharitable and cruel Restraints denying Me even the assistance of any of my Chaplains hath rather enlarged than any way obstructed my access to the Throne of Heaven Where Thou dwellest O King of Kings who fillest Heaven and Earth who art the fountain of Eternal Life in whom is no shadow of Death Thou O God art both the just Inflicter of Death upon us and the merciful Saviour of us in it and from it Yea it is better for us to be dead to our selves and live in Thee than by living in our selves to be deprived of Thee O make the many bitter aggravations of my Death as a Man and a King the opportunities and advantages of thy special Graces and Comforts in my Soul as a Christian If Thou Lord wilt be with Me I shall neither fear nor feel any evil tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death To contend with Death is the work of a weak and mortal man to overcome it is the Grace of Thee alone who art the Almighty and Immortal God O my Saviour who knowest what it is to die with Me as a man make Me to know what it is to pass through Death to Life with Thee my God Tho I die yet I know that Thou my Redeemer livest for ever tho Thou slayest Me yet Thou hast incouraged Me to trust in Thee for Eternal Life O withdraw not thy Favour from Me which is better than Life O be not far from Me for I know not how near a violent and cruel Death is to Me. As thy Omniscience O God discovers so thy Omnipotence can defeat the Designs of those who have or shall conspire my Destruction O shew Me the goodness of thy Will through the wickedness of theirs Thou givest Me leave as a man to pray that this Cup may pass from Me but Thou hast taught Me as a Christian by the example of Christ to add Not My will but thine be done Yea Lord let our wills be one by wholly resolving Mine into Thine let not the desire of Life in Me be so great as that of doing or
My Crown And when I fail in either of these I will not look for your assistance Till then you are concerned not to see Me suffer XLIII To the Inhabitants of Leicester at LEICESTER July 20. MDCXLII GEntlemen Since I have found My Presence so very acceptable amongst My Good Subjects in these Northern parts and that the Errors and Mistakes among them have wholly proceeded from misinformation and are removed with more satisfaction and ease to them than they were received I hold it a piece of My Duty to take the utmost pains I can fully to inform and undeceive My People and rather to prevent Crimes than to punish them In this Errand I am come to you amongst whom there hath not been the least misunderstanding to shew you that I do not suspect any malice in the Place or in the People though persons of as ill dispositions have been busie in it and amongst you as in any County in England and such who have taken as great pains to do mischief and to bring confusion as good men should for Peace and happiness Though 't is as true that very many worthier Persons amongst you have appeared of contrary affections which I shall always acknowledge I am come to you in a time too when nothing could invite Me to such a journey but My affection to and good esteem of you having sent such Propositions of Peace and Accommodation to My two Houses of Parliament that I hope to have no other use of your affections but in your Prayers being sure they will submit to them with alacrity if the unexcusable enemies of the Peace of the Kingdom be not strong enough to prevail And then you will find your selves so much concerned for I have required nothing that with more justice can be denied Me if it be duly weighed than My Crown or My Life may be taken from Me that I shall not need to ask your assistance I know you will bring Horse Men Money and Hearts worthy such a Cause Your Religion your Liberties your Laws which I will defend with My Life I mean the good known Laws of the Land not Ordinances without My Consent which till within these twelve months were never heard of from the Foundation of this Kingdom will be the Quarrel and in such a Cause the taking away My Towns Ships Arms and Money from Me shall not dishearten Me. The concurrence and affection of My People with God's blessing will supply and recover all XLIV To the Gentry of Yorkshire Aug. 4. MDCXLII GEntlemen when I directed that Summons should be sent out for your meeting here this day My principal end was That I might give you thanks for the great forwardness and expressions you have made of your affections to Me since I came into this Country and to assure you that as the whole Kingdom hath great reason to value you exceedingly for it so I shal be ever unsatisfied with My self till I have found some way to fix a mark of favour and estimation upon this County and this People which may tell Posterity how good Subjects you have been and how much Gentlemen and I am confident the memory of it will grow up with My Sons too in a just acknowledgment This was the most I intended to say to you But there is an unquiet spirit abroad which every day throws in new accidents to disturb and confound the publick Peace How I was driven from London when I chose this place for My Safety is so notorious that all men know it who know any thing With what strange violence and indignities I have been pursued since I came hither needs no other evidence than Sir Hotham's behaviour at Hull who is now arrived to that insolence that he will not suffer his Treason to be longer confined within those walls but makes Sallies out of the Town upon his fellow-Subjects drowns their land burns and plunders their Houses murthers and with unheard of cruelty torments their persons and this with so much delight that he would not have the patience to wait what Answer should be sent to My just Demands though in that respect I engaged My self to forbear to use any force and kept My word but chose the night before that came as if he knew well what Answer I was to receive to act those outrages Ye see the sad effects of Fears and Jealousies the miseries they have produced no man can tell you the least good they have brought forth or the least evil they have prevented What inconvenience and burthen My Presence hath been here what disturbance it hath brought upon the Publick or grievance upon any private person your selves are best judges And whatever scandal some men have pleased to cast upon the Cavaliers which they intend should reach all My Retinue and by degrees shall involve all Gentlemen I am confident there hath not been any eminent disorder or damage befallen any man by any person of My Train or under My protection I am sure My directions have been very strict in that point and if they had not been observed I think I should have heard of it by nearer complaints than from London I pray God the same care may be taken there I am sure it hath not been And to give you the fullest testimony of My affection to you and to the Peace of this County and to shew you that no provocation shall provoke Me to make this place to be the seat of the War I have for your sakes passed over the considerations of Honor and notwithstanding the reproaches every day laid on Me laid no siege to that place that they may not have the least pretence of doing you mischief but resolve by God's help to recover Hull some other way for that I will ever sit down under so bold and unexcusable a Treason no honest man can imagine But it seems other men are not of My mind but resolve to make a War at your own doors whatsoever you do or I suffer To what purpose else is their new General armed with an Authority to kill and destroy all My good Subjects their levies of Horse and Foot some whereof are upon their march towards you with Canon mounted and the sending so many new Soldiers into Hull when there is no approach made towards it but to sally out and to commit rapine and by degrees to pour out an Army upon you In this I must ask you advice what you would do for your selves and what you would have Me do for you You see how I am stript of my Navy at Sea which is employed against Me of My Forts and Towns at Land which are filled with armed men to destroy Me My Money and Provisions of My House taken from Me and all My Subjects forbid and threatned if they come near Me that I may be Famine or Solitariness be compelled to yield to the most dishonourable Propositions and to put My self and Children into the hands of a few Malignant persons who have
Parliament as they had upon the first of January 1641. the same of right belonging unto them by their Birth-rights and the free Election of those that sent them and having been Voted from them for adhering to His Majesty in these Distractions His Majesty not intending that this should extend either to the Bishops whose Votes have been taken away by Bill or to such in whose places upon new Writs new Elections have been made 3. As soon as His Majesty and both Houses may be secured from such tumultuous Assemblies as to the great breach of the Privileges and the high Dishonour of Parliaments have formerly assembled about both Houses and awed the Members of the same and occasioned two several complaints from the Lords House and two several desires of that House to the House of Commons to joyn in a Declaration against them the complying with which desire might have prevented all these miserable Distractions which have ensued which Security His Majesty conceives can be only settled by Adjourning the Parliament to some other place at the least twenty Miles from London the choice of which His Majesty leaves to both Houses His Majesty will most chearfully and readily consent that both Armies be immediately disbanded and give a present meeting to both His Houses of Parliament at the time and place at and to which the Parliament shall be agreed to be Adjourned His Majesty being most confident that the Law will then recover the due credit and estimation and that upon a free debate in a full and peaceable Convention of Parliament such Provisions will be made against Seditious Preaching and Printing against His Majesty and the established Laws which hath been one of the chief causes of the present Distractions and such care will be taken concerning the Legal and known Rights of His Majesty and the Property and Liberty of His Subjects that whatsoever hath been published or done in or by colour of any illegal Declaration Ordinance or Order of one or both Houses or any Committee of either of them and particularly the Power to raise Arms without His Majesty's Consent will be in such manner recalled disclaimed and provided against that no seed will remain for the like to spring out of for the future to disturb the Peace of the Kingdom and to endanger the very Being of it And in such a Convention His Majesty is resolved by His readiness to consent to whatsoever shall be proposed to Him by Bill for the Real good of His Subjects and particularly for the better discovery and speedier conviction of Recusants for the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion for the prevention of practices of Papists against the State and the due execution of the Laws and true levying of the Penalties against them to make known to all the World how causeless those fears and jealousies have been which have been raised against Him and by that so distracted this miserable Kingdom And if this Offer of His Majesty be not consented to in which He asks nothing for which there is not apparent Justice on His side and in which He defers many things highly concerning both Himself and People till a full and peaceable Convention of Parliament which in Justice He might now require His Majesty is confident that it will then appear to all the World not only who is most desirous of Peace and whose fault it is that both Armies are not now disbanded but who have been the true and first cause that this Peace was ever interrupted or these Armies raised and the beginning or continuance of the War and the Destruction and Desolation of this poor Kingdom which is too likely to ensue will not by the most interessed passionate or prejudicate Person be imputed to His Majesty His MAJESTY'S Message to both Houses May 19. in pursuance of the foregoing Message SInce His Majesty's Message of the twelfth of April in which he conceived He had made such an Overture for the immediate Disbanding of all Armies and Composure of these present miserable Distractions by a full and free Convention in Parliament that a perfect and settled Peace would have ensued hath in all this time above a full Month procured no Answer from both Houses His Majesty might well believe Himself absolved before God and Man from the least possible Charge of not having used His utmost endeavour for Peace Yet when He considers that the Scene of all this Calamity is in the Bowels of His own Kingdom that all the Blood which is spilt is of His own Subjects and that what Victory soever it shall please God to give Him must be over those who ought not to have lifted up their hands against Him when He considers that these desperate civil Dissentions may encourage and invite a Foreign Enemy to make a Prey of the whole Nation that Ireland is in present danger to be totally lost that the heavy Judgments of God Plague Pestilence and Famine will be the inevitable Attendants of this unnatural Contention and that in a short time there will be so general a habit of uncharitableness and Cruelty contracted throughout the Kingdom that even Peace it self will not restore His People to their old Temper and Security His Majesty cannot but again call for an Answer to that His Message which gives so fair a Rise to end these unnatural Distractions And His Majesty doth this with the more earnestness because He doubts not the condition of His Armies in several parts His strength of Horse Foot and Artillery His plenty of Ammunition which some Men lately might conceive He wanted is so well known and understood that it must be confessed that nothing but the Tenderness and Love to His People and those Christian Impressions which always have and He hopes always shall dwell in His heart could move Him once more to hazard a Refusal And He requires them as they will answer to God to Himself and all the World That they will no longer suffer their fellow-Subjects to welter in each others Blood that they will remember by whose Authority and to what end they met in that Council and send such an Answer to His Majesty as may open a door to let in a firm Peace and Security to the whole Kingdom If His Majesty shall again be disappointed of His Intentions herein the Blood Rapine and Distraction which must follow in England and Ireland will be cast upon the Account of those who are deaf to the motion of Peace and Accommodation CHARLES R. May 19. 1643. OUR express Pleasure is That this Declaration of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford be read by the Parson Vicar or Curate in every Church and Chapel within Our Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales MDCXLIV April 15. The Petition of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford Presented to His MAJESTY the day before the Recess And His MAJESTY'S Gracious Answer to the same To the Kings most excellent