Montross his deplorable Fate ibid. The Kings Letter to the Scots 75 His shrewd Treaty with their Commissioners 76 The English Juncto sit uneasie alarm'd with the Scots Proceedings ibid. Cromwel call'd out of Ireland and made General 81 The King Lands at the Spey in Scotland 82 1650. Cromwel Marches Northwards ibid. The Scots at difference before among themselves thereupon Unite 83 The King most Solemnly Crown'd at Schone 84 Raises an Army himself Personal Valour 162 The Kings promotes a Peace between France and Spain 165 Goes Incognito to the place of Treaty 166 The Duke of York offer'd the Constableship of Castile 169 1659. The King gives forth new Commissions 171 Sir George Booth Rises 172 Is unfortunately defeated 174 And taken Prisoner 175 The King at St. Malloes 176 An Overture to try Monk 177 Monks Brother sent into Scotland to him 178 Monk undertakes the Kings Restauration 182 Sends his Brother to the Parliament 184 A Prophetick Speech 185 Monk prepares for England 187 Whence Dr. Clergies comes to him 189 Lambert sends Morgan into Scotland 192 A Convention at Edenborough ibid. Monks Commissioners sign an Agreement 193 The Rump sits again 194 Invite Monk to London but distrust him 195 The People address to him 196 He desires the Parliament to remove their Guards 197 Was to have been sent to the Tower 198 But goes to the Parliament ibid. Made one of the Council of State 199 Pulls down the City-Gates 201 Sends a Letter to the Rump 202 Marches into the City 203 The Rump dissemble their Indignation 204 Employ their Adjutators 205 A Conference about the secluded Members 206 Who are readmitted 207 Monk made General ibid. They discharge Booth ibid. Dissolve themselves and call a free Parliment 208 Appoint a Council of State ibid. 1660. Greenvile introduc'd to the General by Morris 210 Delivers him a Letter from the King 211 The General commends his Secrecy 212 Desires him to acquaint the King with his Resolution to Restore him 213 Which was accordingly done at Brussels 214 Monk leaves his Reward to the Kings pleasure 215 The King gives Greenvile a Warrant for an Earldom 216 Signs a Commission for Monks being General 217 Removes privately to Breda ibid. Lambert escapes from the Tower but is retaken by Ingolsby 218 The free Parliament meets 219 Greenvile delivers the Kings Letter to the General 220 And his Letters and Declaration to the two Houses 221 The Reverence exprest by the Commons at reading them with Resolves thereupon 222 The Kings Letter delivered to General Mountague and the Joy it occasioned in the Fleet. 224 The Parliament Invites the King 〈◊〉 225 The Commissioners arrive at Breda ibid. The King Proclaim'd 226 The King prepares for his Return 228 Treated and presented by the Dutch ibid. The Sâ—ates Speech to him â—â—at parting 229 He leaves Holland with a glorious Fleet. 232 And Arrives at Dover 234 The General meets him there ibid. He goes to Canterbury 235 To Chattham 230 Is presented with an Address ibid. Views the Army ibid. Comes to London 237 Rides in Triumph through London ibid. Is received by the Parliament 240 He thanks them for their Loyalty ibid. He goes to the Parliament house 241 Chooses his Privy-Council 242 The Act of Oblivion 243 The General madâ— Duke of Albemarle c. 245 Several others advanc'd ibid Resignation of Purchases 246 Embassadors congratulate his Restauration ibid. The Oblivion-Act comprehensive 247 29th of May Annisary ibid. The Army Disbanded ibid. The Kings Speech at the Adjournment 248 Duke of Glocester dies 349 The Kings care to settle the Church ibid. Regicides brought to Tryalâ— 251 The Queen Mother comes into England 252 Argile sent back to Scotland 253 Princess of Orange dies 254 The healing Parliament dissolv'd ibid. Cromwels Carkass upon the Gallows 255 The Fifth-Monarchy mens Adventure 256 Preparations for the Kings Coronation 260 1661. Four Triumphal Arches erected by the City 261 The Order of his Cavalcade through the City 268 The manner of his Crowning 273 The Thunder that day the Censures thereon 279 He calls a fresh Parliament 280 The Presbyterians stickle in Elections 282 He Rides in State to the Parliament which he acquaints with his design of Marrying the Infanta of Portugal 283 A Convocation of the Clergy 284 The Act of Oblivion confirmed by that Parliament 285 The Act for Regulating Corporations ibid. Pryn censur'd by the Parliament 286 The Bishops restored to their Peerage ibid. The Lord Munson and others censured 287 Parliament adjourn'd by the King ibid. The Duke of York Captain of the Artillery Company 288 Barbone and others secured 289 The Kings Piety to the memory of his Friends 290 The Quarrel between the French and Spanish Embassadors 291 Harry Martyn no humble Servant to Proclamations ibid. The Duke of Ormond made Deputy of Ireland ibid. Episcopacy restored in Scotland 293 1662. A Fleet sent for the Queen and a Garrison to Tangier ibid. The Agreeableness of the King and Queens Fortunes 294 Her arrival at Portsmouth ibid. Queen of Bohemia dies 295 The King married at Portsmouth 296 The African Potentates allarmed 297 Tangier made a free Port. 298 The dreadful St. Bartholomew 299 Several Cities and Towns dismantl'd ibid. Dunkirk return'd to the French 300 Philips and others excuted for Plotting 301 An Embassy out of Russia ibid. 1663. The Kings Progress into the West 303 Oates and others executed 304 1664. The Parliament for War with the Dutch ibid. The King fits out two Fleets 306 His Personal care and industry 307 The Plague begins in London ibid. Prince Rupert at the Spithead 310 The Dutch afraid to put to Sea ibid. An Embargo on Dutch Ships 311 The Act for a Royal Aid 312 War Proclaimed against Holland 313 1665. A General Fast enjoyned 314 His Royal Highness Lord High Admiral ibid The Dutch allarm'd 315 Are Beaten 316 The Sickness increasing in London 317 The King and Parliament at Oxford 318 The Duke of Albemarl left in London 320 A Fast kept on every Wednesday ibid. The English Fleet upon the Coast of Holland 321 The Earl of Sandwich Attacques the Dutch in Berghen ibid. France takes part with Holland 322 A Plot discover'd ibid. 1666. Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle Admirals 324 They fight the Dutch 325 London in Ashes 327 The Kings great compassion in that distress 330 Various Opinions about that Fire ibid. The Kings Prudence and Care in its Rebuilding 331 The first Invention of Ensuring houses from Fire 332 An Act of Parliament for the Rebuilding of London ibid His Pious care for Rebuilding the Churches 335 Sir Jonas More the first Rebuilder 336 A Prodigious Storm 337 A Commotion in Scotland ibid. War with Denmark 338 A Treaty at Breda 339 The Dutch spend a Summer in needless Preparations ibid. They come to Chattham 340 Peace concluded with Holland 341 1667. The Earl of Clarendon in disgrace 342 1669 Earl of Carlisle Embassador to Sweden 343 Queenmother dies 344 The Duke of Albemarle
you that grace which will teach and enable us to want as well as to wear a Crown which is not worth the taking up or enjoying upon sordid dishonourable or irreligious terms Do you always keep firm to the true Principles of Piety Virtue and Honour and you shall never want a Kingdom It will be your honour to afford all respect love and protection to your Mother who hath many ways deserved well of me especially in being a means to bless me with so many hopeful Children and being content with incomparable magnanimity to suffer with me and them May you be an Anchor of hope to these weather-beaten Kingdoms your Wisdom Justice Piety and Valour a repairer of what the folly and wickedness of some men have so far ruined as to leave nothing intire to the Crown Nobility Clergy or Commons of Laws Liberties Estates Order Honour Conscience or Lives Let those that love me find me when I am gone in your presence and vertues What good I intended do you perform when God shall put it into your power I pray God bless you and establish your Kingdom in Righteousness your Soul in true Religion and your Honour in the Love of God and your People Farewel till we meet if not on Earth yet in Heaven The good King having thus resigned himself and all his Affairs into the hand of God patiently submitted to his Cross and in a way of renunciation as it were and self-disposition of his Government transferred and bequeathed the Scepter together with his Advice and Direction for his wielding of it He applied himself wholly to the making preparation for his departing from an earthly to a heavenly Kingdom being assisted in his Piety and Devotion by Dr. Juxon Bishop of London And being upon the fatal 30th of January brought upon a Scaffold erected before his own Palace of Whitehall where he was barbarously murdered by his own Rebellious Subjects he delivered himself in the following Speech Being not likely to be much heard I could be silent did not silence intimate a submission to the guilt as well as to the punishment charged upon me But in my duty to my God and Country to clear my self an Honest Man a good King and a good Christian I protest before God to whom I must instantly give an account that as may appear from the date of their Commissions and mine I begun not the War against the Parliament nor intended I any incroachment upon their Priviledges they began with me and the Militia which they confest was mine but thought it fit to have it from me yet I charge not the guilt of these unhappy troubles upon the two Houses for I believe ill instruments betwixt us was the cause of all this Bloodshed however this Sentence is just upon me for an unjust Sentence permitted by me What Christian I am this good Man pointing to Dr. Juxon and others that have been inwardly familiar with me and know me as well as my self may bear witness I die in Communion with the Professors of the Reformed Religion that hath been Establisht in the Church of England in Queen Eliz. and my Fathers time of Blessed Memory and in Charity with all the World forgiving the worst of mine Enemies and praying God that this be not laid to their Charge As a good King I advise my Subjects not to ground your selves in Conquests without a good cause that you would give God the King and the People their dues You may give God his due by the advice of a national Synod freely chosen and freely debating among themselves How you may give the King his due the Law will instruct you and the People have their due when they have that Government and those Laws whereby their Lives and Goods are most their own I have delivered my Conscience I pray God you take those courses that may be for the Kingdoms and your own good Having finisht this Speech and poured forth his Divine Soul to God in Prayer it was sent by death to him that gave it where the great Assembly in Heaven joyfully welcomed that Martyred King and made room for Charles of Great Brittain The Life and Reign of Charles the first being thus determined by this untimely and fatal stroak his Eldest Son who likewise bore his Name immediately Succeeded him by the Title of Charles the Second Who was the Lawful and undoubted Heir not only of all his Dominions but also of his admirable and Heavenly Vertues being endowed with all those Qualifications which are requisite to or could possibly be desired in a Prince and under the influence of whose happy Reign these Nations might have enjoyed as much happiness and felicity as their Hearts would wish had not their own folly and madness for a time prevented it For no sooner had the Fatal Ax severed England and her Liberties by cutting off the Head of her King but the Parliament as the Juncto still presumed to call themselves the better to crush Monarchy and maintain what they had now so far prosecuted issued forth a Proclamation that none under penalty of being deemed guilty of High Treason should presume to Proclaim declare publish or any way promote the Prince of Wales Son to the late King or any other Person whatsoever to be King or Chief Magistrate of England or of any part of the Dominions or any part thereof by Colour of Inheritance Succession or Election or any other claim or pretence whatsoever without the free consent of the People in Parliament and which Proclamation altho not publisht till the 2 of February yet was in part Proclaimed on the very day of the Kings Murder And for the more ensuring and the better carrying on their Government with the more plausibility they publish an Act of State for the alteration of Writs wherein instead of King the Name Stile and Test and Custodes Libertatis Angliae Anthoritate Parliamenti should be used and no other All Writs being ordered to run so and those concerned in the Law required to take notice thereof yet they provided that all Patents granted by the late King should still stand in full force and vertue And having cast off the chief of those three Estates by which the Nation had been so long Governed they think likewise of abolishing the second that so they might usurp the whole power into their own hands in order whereunto having first Voted that they would make no farther Addresses to them nor receive any from them they made an Ordinance for abolishing the House of Lords as dangerous and useless And then having abolished the Ancient Governments of this Kingdom they proceeded to the consideration of Establishing another but found it a work of so much intricacy that they could come to no resolution but only agreed in a Negative Voice that there should for the future be no Government in England either by King or House of Lords and thereupon ordered the old Great Seal to be broken and a new one to
Montross was removed by an unfortunate death Wherefore he sent Sir Will. Fleming beforehand to complement the States he returned them his Answer in the following Letter which he sent back by Liberton We have received your Letter by Mr. Windram of Liberton and graciously accept your good affections towards us your Resentment of our Condition and our Fathers Murder And out of a gracious desire of a good understanding between us and our Subjects of Scotland for their Peace Happiness and Comfort we command and desire you to send us Commissioners sufficiently Authorized to treat and agree with us about those things which concern the Interest of our Subjects of Scotland and our Interest in England Scotland and Ireland at Breda on the 5th of March. That all the World may know how sincerely we desire Agreement we have addressed these to you under the Name and Title of Committeee of Estates of our Kingdom of Scotland and do expect you use this Grace no otherwise for the prejudice of us and our Affairs than for the Treaty and in order to it Given at our Court in Jersey Jan. 6. 1649. Charles Rex Another Letter to the same purpose being likewise directed by him to the Committee of the Kirk The Scots gladly received those Letters and presently made choice of Commissioners to repair to Holland sufficiently instructed for the concluding of a Treaty with the King who arrived at Breda on the 16th of March and were on the 19th conducted by the L. Wentworth Master of the Ceremonies to their Audience when they delivered to His Majesty the following Propositions 1. That the Excommunicated should be forbid the Covenant 2. That all the Acts of Parliament be ratified the Covenant taken the Presbyterian Government establisht and practised in His Majesties Family and elsewhere and that he himself swear to it 3. That all Civill matters might be determined by subsequent Parliaments and all Ecclesiastical matters by the general Kirk assembled Which Propositions of theirs being delivered he distinguisht the Civil part of their Proposals from those that concerned Ecclesiastical matters and told them that as to what concerned Civil Affairs he would confirm all the Acts and Ordinances of the last Session of their Parliament And that all Affairs concerning that Kingdom should be transacted in a Parliamentary way as they had been in his Royal Father and Grandfathers time And that as long as any person did stand excommunicated he should be uncapable of any Office or place of trust in that Nation And as to what concerned the Ecclesiastical matters he told them That the Covenant seemed more proper for Subjects than for a King in regard Allegiance unto Soveraignty was a considerable part of it And that as to those parts of it wherein he thought himself concerned he would upon the word of a Prince with the limitation allowed in the Covenant viz. as far as he did or might in his Conscience according to the Word of God endeavour in his place the Reformation in Religion and Worship in England Scotland and Ireland Assuring them moreover that he would allow the Scottish Nation a Liberty as large as he enjoyed himself And that in case the generality of the Scottish Nation assembled in Parliament would propose unto him the Presbyterian Government as the way wherein that Nation would walk in fellowship with God he would confirm and establish it by his Royal Authority And finally That in order to his making good those particulars he would with all convenient speed repair to his Ancient Kingdom of Scotland desiring to be excused if his Fathers and his own ancient and faithful Friends who had constantly attended on him in all his sufferings should come along with him thither since he could not in point of gratitude discharge those from the Advantages of Loyalty whose faithfulness to him was so great that no hazards whatsoever could discharge them from the Services Employments and Dangers of it telling them he should be a King in vain if Allegiance in his Court were esteemed a fault that deserved cashiering These Proposals and Answers were rationally debated by Commissioners on both sides the Scots standing very stifly to their Principles and the Kings Commissioners resolved not to yield to all their demands whereupon by an influence which the English had upon some of the Commsssioners for they had their Active Agents both their and in Scotland streneously endeavouring to countermine the honest endeavours of all sides for pacification the treaty was like to break off as unhappily as by them it was thought to be begun but by the mediation of the States General the Queen of Bohemia and the Prince of Orange it was reassumed and brought to a Conclusion upon the Covenant Terms on the Kings part with the forementioned limitation it was the Religious part of the Treaty which kept them at the greatest distance and was the most difficult to be agreed upon controversies of that nature being ever the most irreconcileable the civil part ever quickly dispatcht in regard he was of such a condescending temper that conld contentedly quit much of his interest for the Peace and welfare of his People but was unwilling to quit any of his conscience which he knew to be a far more weighty and sacred matter On the Scots side it was agreed that his Majesty should be admitted to the Throne of Scotland and his just Rights in that Kingdoms recovered by Parliament from the hands of those who had usurpt them and that they should assist his Majesty in bringing the Murderers of his Royal Father to condign punishment restore him to the Kingdom of England and the vindicating his Right thereunto against the present Usurpers c. The Treaty being thus finisht the Commissioners both of the Kirk and the State were splendidly treated by the Prince of Orange and highly honoured by his Majesty after which they returned into Scotland exceedingly satisfied in their success and entertainment Nor were the Scots alone in their Endeavours at this time to restore His Majesty to his lost Dominions For many of the Presbyterians in England did likewise by their Agents at Bâ—â—da engage all their Interest for the promotion thereof But Cromwel's Emissaries being so thick that three could scarcely meet together but one of them would in the end prove his Spie they were betrayed and their Designs came to nothing Many eminent persons especially of their Ministers being taken and brought to Tryal as Case Jenkins Jackson Love and others some whereof were executed upon the importunity of Cromwel who protested to the Juncto that if they did not Justice in England he would not fight in Scotland viz. Love and Gibbons The Juncto were very much allarumed when they understood that notwithstanding all their Endeavours to the contrary the Treaty at Breda is concluded And that among other things the Scots had engaged to assist His Majesty to bring them and the Rebels of their Conspiracy to condign pnnishment and â—o recover those
Judicial proceedings And then he return'd to White-Hall where he chose the Lords of his Privy Council amongst whom were several of the long Parliament that had given sufficient Testimony of their sincere repentance and their resolution to be Loyal for the future and he appointed Judges for the Benches and Courts of Judicature Several Addresses were likewise made to him from the Nobility and Gentry of all the Countreys in England wherein they congratulated his Restitution to his Crown and Kingdom assuring him of their exceeding Joy and willingness to maintain his Royal Person and Authority Divers persons that had been eminent for their service and affection to him were about that time also dignified with the honour of Knighthood And several men guilty of his Fathers murder having made their escape beyond-Sea a Proclamation was Issued forth wherein all those persons who had â—ate gave Judgment or any way assisted in that horrid and detestable fact were commanded to surrender themselves within fourteen days to the Speaker or Speakers of Parliament to the Lord Mayor of London or the Sheriff of that County wherein they then resided forbidding all persons to conceal or harbour them under misprision of Treason whereupon divers submitted themselves and were secur'd in the Tower The Commons in drawing up the Act of Oblivion order'd that some others besides those who had actually sate in Judgment upon the late King should be excepted out of it viz. Broughton Phelps Cook Dâ—nby and Hugh Peters which so affrighted others who had a hand in that execrable murder that Col. John Hutchinson a Member of that Parliament and Coll. Frâ— Lussels presented their Petition to them wherein they confest their guilt and declar'd the artifices which were us'd to draw them in by which submission they obtain'd pardon upon some small forfeitures only But Peters being shortly after taken in Southwark was clapt up into the Tower And the Parliament not looking upon themselves nor the people of England free from the guilt nor safe from the punishment which in those unhappy times they had contracted unless they laid hold of the Kings offer of Grace in his Declaration from Breda did therefore resolv'd in a full house that they did in the name of themselves and of all the Commons of England lay hold on the gracious pardon mention'd in that Declaration with reference to the exclusion of such as should be excepted in an Act of Pardon and they order'd a Declaration that their Resolution should be drawn up which was done accordingly and presented to the King by Denzell afterward Lord Hollis some of the most eminent in Office under the late Usurpers having in the mean while to make sure of that Grace gotten their particular pardons exemplified under the great Seal of England To prevent which trouble the King was more than ordinary pressing for the speedy passing the Act of Oblivion taking care to express his grateful sentiments of the Loyalty and services of several Illustrious personages that were principally instrumental in accomplishing his Restauration by dignifying them with Places and Titles of honour And to shew how highly the Generals Loyalty had advanc'd him in his good Opinion he was dignifi'd by him with the Titles of Duke of Albemarle Earl of Torrington and Baron of Potheridge Beauchamp Teyes had his Temples deserv'dly incircl'd with a Ducal Coronet by the hand of his Majesty being thereby invested with the right of Peerage in all the three Kingdoms whose equal Felicity and Honour he had preferr'd before his own and therefore now most deservingly shar'd with them therein by his Investure in those Dignities which were compleated on the 13th of the following July by his taking his place in the House of Lords being attended by the Commons and introduc'd by the Duke of Buckingham Montague was made Earl of Sandwich Ormond Earl of Brecknock and Lord Steward of the Kings Houshold the Earl of Lindsey Lord High Chamberlain Manchester L. Chamberlain of the Kings Houshold Southhampton Lord High Treasurer Greenvile Earl of Bath and Groom of the Stole Sir Frederick Cornwallis Treasurer of the Kings Houshold by an old grant and Sir John Berkley Controller Divers rich Presents were now made to him from the several Cities and Burroughs of the Kingdom in Gold and Plate and the resignation of several Feefarm Rents which had been purchas'd from the Usurpers the City of London among the rest with a Complement of their good Stewardship rendred their grant of new Perk in Surrey and all the Rents accruing at Michaelmas Day were now secured from the late Purchasers of Crown and Church Laws to the utter disappointing of their unjust and covetous expectations from such base and unwarrantable Penny-worths A Peace was now made Proclaim'd between us and Spain and a Splendid Embassy dispatcht from Denmark to congratulate his happy Restauratian The Court of Soissons who had Married Cardinal Mazarines Neece being sent from the French King on the same Errand entring London with all the sumptuous and extraordinary Magnificence imaginable and there was no Prince nor State in Europe but what sent an Embassador thither to congratulate him upon that happy and wonderful occasion And the Parliament having after many debates and disputes alterations and insertions at last finish'd the long desir'd Act of Oblivion which was extraordinary comprehensive and indulgent even to the regret of many injur'd Loyalists who found no better Argument to perswade their acquiescing therein than their unchangeable Loyalty to the King whose special Act that was There were no more excepted out of it but only the Regicides and Murderers of the late King only Lambert Vane and twenty more were thereby reserv'd to such forfeitures as should be afterward declar'd by Parliament the principal whereof was Hazelrick St. John Lenthal the Speaker Philip Nye Burton of Tarmouth and some Sequestrators Officers and Major Generals of the Army among whom was Desbrough Pine Butler Ireton c. They likewise past an Act for the perpetual Anniversary Thanksgiving on the 29 of May which was the day both of his Birth and Restauration and therefore deserv'd a perpetual memorial and to be made by a Parliamentary Canonization the most auspicious in the English Kallender to both which he gave his Royal assent and shortly after at their adjournment to another for disbanding the Army and paying off the Navy which although they once threatned us with a perpetuating our slavery yet were now forc'd by the happy conjunction of his Fortune with his Wisdom and Goodness after many models to submit to its last desolation And the Commons having after the passing of their Bills acquainted him that they had nothing more to ask or offer at that time but that if his Majesties occasions would permit they might adjourn and go into their own Countries where they should endeavour to make his subjects sensible of their extraordinary happiness in having such a King to Rule and Govern them He consented to it telling
Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle which was performed with abundance of splendor at Colchester the place which they had bravely defended for him and where they were at its Reduction basely shot to death all the Gentry of those Parts together with the Townesmen in Armes and Mourning attending their Hearses As he had done a little before for the Earl of Montross in Scotland Count Coningsmark who was sent hither from the Young King and Queen of Sweden being upon his departure another more splendid Embassy was sent from thence at whose Reception near the Tower a Fray or Conflict happened between the French and Spanish Ambassadors upon a Quarrel for Precedency whose Coach should follow next after that wherein the Swedish Ambassador rode Both Parties came prepared for the Encounter but the French were basely worsted and seven or eight of them slain which was like to have proved the ground of a new War between those Crowns the French King sending a Messenger to Madrid to demand satisfaction But at the entreaty of the new married Queen and the Spanish King consenting that the French Ambassador should for the time to come have the Precedency upon such occasions the difference was composed Now also several Prisoners in the Tower Regicides and others were by reason of the unwearied Practices of their Parties abroad sent to several remote Castles and Islands for securing the Peace The adjournment being expired the Parliament met again on the 20th of November when the Lords Spiritual the Bishops by vertue of the Act of Repeal made in the former Session took their places again in Parliament which the King was very much pleased to behold and in his Speech to both Houses did Congratulate with them for their enjoyment of their former priviledges as a Felicity he had much desired to see accomplisht in that goodly restored and re-establisht Fabrick of the Government and the Regicides that came in upon Proclamation and were upon that account respited after Sentence to the Pleasure of the Parliament being brought to the Bar of the House of Lords and demanded what they had to say Why Judgment should not pass upon them according to Sentence pleaded the Proclamation Harry Martyn adding that he never obeyed any Proclamation before and therefore hoped he should not be then hanged for taking the Kings word whereupon they were remanded back again to the Tower till further Order Ireland having been hitherto governed by three Lords Justices The Duke of Ormond having been a faithful Servant and constant Attender upon the King in all his Troubles was now nominated Deputy of that Kingdom and Episcopacy after it had been so long banished out of Scotland and so many Miseries and Confusions had befallen that Kingdom through the Fury and Zeal of the Kirke was reduced with all gladness and sufficient testimonies of a welcome reception the four Bishops that had been a little before Consecrated at Lambeth restored whereof Dr. James Sharpe Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews and Metropolitan of Scotland was one who Consecrated others in that Kingdom the whole Order being defunct by the long Usurpation of the Presbyterian Discipline A Fleet was at this time sent to fetch home the Queen from Portugal and carry Forces to Garrison Tangier which being part of the Queens Dowry was delivered by them to Sir Richard Stayner who with Five Hundred Men had taken possession of it in his Masters behalf and was to maintain it till the Earl of Peterborough who was nominated for Governour should arrive and the King supposing her to be by this time at Sea on her way for England acquainted the Parliament therewith and desired that as a Complement to her they would cause the Streets and High-wayes of London to be fitted and cleansed against Her Reception This Royal Bride seems to have been fitted and predisposed by Heaven for his Princely Embraces for besides being designed for him by her Father in the beginning of the late Troubles her Family had suffered a long Eclipse by the interposition of the Spanish Monarchy for the space of near one hundred Years and had now newly recovered its Splendor by her Fathers assuming the Crown which was almost as miraculous a Revolution and as strange a turn of Providence as that of our Captivity by his recovery of his Dominions On the 14th of May She arrived safe at Portsmouth in the Charles which had brought the King over to England after a tedious and dangerous Voyage the joy whereof served to alleviate the grief and wipe away the Tears occasioned by the death of his Aunt the Queen of Bohemia who died a little before having lived to survive all the Misfortunes of her Family which almost from the very time of Her Marriage in the Year One Thousand Six Hundred and Twelve had fallen very thick upon it Her death was followed with a most violent and Tempestuous Wind whereby divers Persons were killed and much damage done as well in Forraign parts as in these Kingdoms as if Heaven had designed thereby to intimate to the World that those Troubles and Calamities suffered by that Princess and the Royal Family and by which most parts of Europe had been tempested were now all blown over and was like her to rest in a perpetual Repose Several Bills which were ready for His Royal Assent detained him at White-Hall somewhat longer then he was willing had their weight and tendency been of less importance but in regard their being past into Acts would set the Nation right where it was before the Troubles began by providing remedies against those mischiefs which had then unhinged the Kingdoms happiness such as the Forbidding armed or tumultuary Petitions and ordering that not above Twelve shall resort together at any time to deliver Petitions to the King whereby they provided so far as Humane Wisdom could foresee against the like dangers by insensible degrees brought upon the Nation in the late Confusions But having once signed those Acts and thereby furnisht his Subjects with so many good and wholsome Laws as no Age of our fore-Fathers could ever boast of he posted away to Portsmouth having sent the Bishop of London thither before Him who was to consummate the Sacred Rights of Marriage which was performed in private and the Queen Conducted soon after by Him to Hampton-Court and from thence to London in great Pomp and Splendour The Parliament of Ireland having about that time for the better defraying his necessary Charge given him a subsidy of One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Pounds to be raised in two Years The Affrican Potentates alarumed by the Arrival of the English and terrified by the Fame of those Warlike and Martial Atchievements began to fear that if they suffered them quietly to possess Tangier they should thereby give them incouragement to incroach farther upon them which consideration drew thither Gayland a War-like Prince but then a Rebel against the Emperour of Fez and Morocco having usurpt part of his Dominions who continued there
be made which was delivered to the keeping of three Commissioners viz Keeble Whitlock and Lisly and considered of new Oaths to be adminstred to the Judges who thereupon met and upon debate six of them were contented to continue in their Employments provided the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom were not altered For whose satisfaction the Juncto by their Declaration of the Ninth of February did assure them that they were fully resolved to maintain and would uphold preserve and keep the Fundamental Laws of this Nation for and concerning the preservation of the Laws Properties and Liberties of the People with all things incident thereunto They proceeded likewise to appoint such Persons as they thought would be most firm to their Interest to exercise the Offices of Justices of the Peace throughout the Nation and constituted a Council of State consisting of about forty in number whereof five might be Lords And finally to secure all whereas they had before onely repealed they now abolish and make void the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy But notwithstanding all their endeavours to render themselves secure and firm in their Government yet the People began now to be generally discontented And those who had formerly affected them growing sensible of the Inconveniencies that were like to ensue upon the cutting off of their Prince beginning to abhor their practices there was a general Plot carried on against them in all the Counties of England Which obliged them to send Forces into most parts to awe them and thereby the better to keep them in order Notwithstanding which Contrivances of theirs to bar up the way to that Imperial Throne which they had impudently invaded and parted into shares amongst themselves there were some who had Courage and Loyalty enough left them to assert the King's Right and their own Duty in a Printed Proclamation thrown about the Streets And to convince the Juncto at Westminster that all men would not be wheedled to run a gadding after their Calves at Bethel but that there were some still left who would tread in the old Path and beaten Tract of Government in the succession of Charles the Second to the Crown of England which Proclamation was as follows We the Noblemen Judges Knights Lawyers Gentlemen Ministers Free-holders Merchants Citizens c. and other Freemen of England do according to our Allegiance and Covenant by these presents heartily joyfully and unanimously acknowledge and proclaim the Illustrious Charles Prince of Wales next Heir of the Blood Royal to his Father King Charles whose late wicked and traiterous Murder we do from our Souls abominate and all Parties and Consenters thereunto to be by hereditary Birthright and lawful Succession Rightful and undoubted King of Great Brittain France and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging And that we will faithfully constantly and sincerely in our several places and callings defend and maintain His Royal Person Crown and Dignity with our Estates Lives and last drop of our Blood against all Opposers thereof whom we do hereby declare to be Traitors and Enemies to His Majesty and His Kingdoms In testimony whereof we have ordered and caused to be published and proclaimed throughout all Countrys and Corporations of this Realm the first day of February and the first year of His Majesties Reign God save King Charles the Second Which Proclamation although without any Solemnity or indeed open Appearance met with the same chearful Reception and inward Loyal Resolutions as if Vent had been given to a publick manifestation of Duty and Joy by His Majesties present ascending the Throne For it revived the hearts of his mourning and disconsolate Subjects to see the sure and certain Succession thereof asserted and continued in the same most beloved and darling Name the Eldest Branch and descended of their martyr'd Soveraign in whose Ruins the Regicides thought to have rak'd up and buried all Claims and Just Titles to the Imperial Diadem of these Kingdoms The said Out-cries and lamentable Groans sent forth by all Loyal Subjects at the Loss of their Head together with the Martyrs Instructions and his George which were according to his Fathers desire sent him by the Dutch Embassador found him at the Hague in Holland where he then kept his Court and was first saluted King and the horrour thereof so seized his great Soul with wonder and astonishment that it had certainly sunk under the weight of it had not the Religious Consideration that he ought not to sorrow as one without hope buoyed up his Spirit and Reason forbid him to cast away himself with grief who was then become the only hope of three Kingdoms Generous Rage prompting Princes to Revenge rather than Despair which was not to be accomplisht by weeping Eyes but by wise Counsels and valiant Performances Wherefore he bravely cheered up and reassumed his wonted Courage Comfort State and Majesty And for the better managing of his Affairs went soon after to Paris to solicit that Court to embrace his Interest and afford him some Assistance for the recovery of his Right and the redressing his Subjects miseries by discountenancing the English Rebels and furnishing him with that competency of Money Men Arms and Ammunition which might enable him not to Invade his Country but to encourage his own Subjects to rescue themselves from a forced Slavery But the French King being under Age and Cardinal Mazarine who then governed the great Affairs of that Kingdom being no Friend to this banisht and distressed King but holding a correspondence with his rebellious Subjects he was able to procure no Assistance from thence Whereupon he next applied himself to Spain whither he sent the Lord Cottington as his Embassador who upon his arrival there was confronted by a Competitor viz. Ascham who called himself an Embassador from the then New Majesties of England until he was dispatcht by some Switz After which Cottington was dismist with this Answer That were it any thing in the King of Spain's own Dominion which his Master of Great Brittain had desired it should have been no sooner requested than granted But being a Forreign Quarrel he could not interest himself therein in regard it was not reasonable he should busie himself in other mens matters who had so many Irons in the fire himself But in the mean time the Emperor the Princes of Germany the Kings of Denmark and Sweden being acquainted with the present circumstance of his Affairs by his several Embassadors sent to each of them they highly resented his deplorable condition and resolved his speedy assistance and supply And Holland upon his Account and the Interest of his Sister the Princess of Orange did upon terms agreed on between the late King and their Embassador two days before his death resolve not to vail to this younger Sisters State as they had been wont to do to the Kings of England but by the Forlorn of some private acts of Hostility begin that difference which soon after brake out into an open War Nor