be graciously pleased to hear his faithful Servants inform him of the Truth he shall direct that which is just and right and with the same assurance I dare promise him Obedience The interest your Lordship has in this poor Kingdom but more particularly the Duty you owe to His Majesty and the true respect I know you have ever carried to His Majesties Honour and the good of his Service makes me thus bold to acquaint your Lordship with this business which in good faith is by the folly and misgovernment of some of our Clergie-men come to that height that the like has not been seen in this Kingdom of a long time But I hope your Lordship will take in good part my true meaning and ever construct favourably the actions of Your loving faithful Friend and humble Servant TRAQVAIR Edinburgh Aug. 27. After all inquiry was made it did not at all appear that any above the meaner sort were accessory to that Tumult the sequel whereof in the Afternoon had almost been Tragical not onely to the Bishop of Edinburgh but to the Earl of Roxburgh for having him in his Coach But His Majesty though he was willing to be gentle to the Transgressours yet continued firm to his former Resolutions of having the Liturgy and Book of Canons established In October thereafter a new Tumult fell out in Edinburgh against the Earl of Traquair and some of the Bishops whom the People in their fury went about to have killed upon which by Proclamation the Council and Session and other Courts were removed from Edinburgh Hereupon the Earl of Roxburgh who was then Lord Privy-Seal went to Court to give the King an account of Affairs for all this time divers had petitioned the Council against these Books complaining they were contrary to Religion in the matter of them and the Laws of the Land in the manner of bringing them in but all he could procure was a Pardon for what was past to such as should thenceforth live quietly and that was proclaimed in December but was far from giving satisfaction for by this time the Malecontents were become considerable and had formed themselves into a Body It was also studiously infused in the minds of all through Scotland that the Bishops were introducing Popery that many points of Popery were in these Books and that the whole of them was both superstitious and illegal This took mightily with the Vulgar and the malecontented Ministers began every-where to talk high in their Pulpits against the Bishops they also formed themselves into a Body called the Table where there were Deputies from the Shires and Burroughs and a great many Noblemen and Ministers That which they pretended was the Security of Religion They pretend the Security of Religion and swear the Covenant with the preserving the Fundamental Laws and Liberties of the Land the Honour of the King and the defence of his Authority and for this end it was judged fit and necessary to renew the Covenant made in King Iames his time against Popery and signed by that King with his Council and Family which according to the new draught was made up first of King Iames his Covenant next of a long Narrative of all Acts of Parliament whereby the Reformed Religion was ratified thirdly of an Addition wherein the late Innovations were sworn against till they were judged in a free General Assembly and declared also to be abjured in the old Covenant as formally as if they had been expresly named in it and all ended with a Bond of Defence for adhering to one another in pursuing the ends of the Covenant This was no sooner moved but the advice took as if it had been an Oracle so the Covenant was sworn first at Edinburgh in the moneth of February and then sent every-where through the Country to get the example of those in Edinburgh imitated which was accordingly done not without great appearances of Devotion among all sorts of People they pretending it was nothing but the preservation and purity of Religion they aimed at For the Covenant I judge it needless to insert it here both because of its length and that it is in the large Manifesto of the Affairs of this year published in His Majesties Name and therefore that Book being both common and of great Authority I do not insert Papers at their length that are to be found there and shall onely adde that the Originals and other authentick Justifications of that Declaration are in my hands The Session or Term was held that Winter at Sterlin but the Council sate often at Dalkeith within four miles of Edinburgh which being then so full of People it was not judged fit for the Council to withdraw too far from it Petitions were often offered to the Council encouraged from the Table full of Complaints against the Bishops and the late Innovations but they were as often rejected Upon this the Earl of Traquair went to Court and gave a full account both of the Petitions the Humours and the Strength of the Malecontents and that all was occasioned by the Bishops misgovernment and by the introducing the lately-authorized Books with which scarce a Member of the Council the Bishops onely excepted was well satisfied neither were all these cordially for them for the Archbishop of S. Andrews from the beginning had withstood these designs foreseeing how full of danger the executing of them might prove The Archbishop of Glasgow was worse pleased but the Bishops of Ross Dumblane Brechin and Galloway were the great Advancers of them Traquair represented also that the Body of all Scotland was staggering if not wholly alienated from their Duty to the King and that nothing could recover them out of this distemper but assurances of His Majesties affection to the Protestant Religion and of his aversion from Popery together with the laying aside of these Books at least till better Times At this time also the Covenanting Lords wrote to the Duke of Lenox the Marquis of Hamilton and the Earl of Morton who were then at Court representing their Grievances and desiring they would offer their Petition to His Majesty which was humble enough though full of Complaints against these Books desiring they might be heard to object against them offering under the highest pains to prove they contained things both contrary to Religion and the Laws of the Land But all the Earl of Traquair said was suspected his prejudices against the Bishops being known The opposition he had made the Bishops had rendered him hitherto very Popular in Scotland and there want not grounds to suspect him a secret worker in this opposition to these Books though he seems to have been far from cherishing any further designs All he could procure from the King was a Proclamation The King proclaims his firmness to the Protestant Re-Religion Giving assurance of His Majesties firmness to the Protestant Religion and that great care was used in drawing the Liturgie so that not onely it was not
been conceived of more use to Your Majesties Service Your condition is so variously represented here that Your faithfullest Servants know not how to carry themselves therefore the intimation of Your Majesties Own Pleasure would be of great use No sooner shall the temper of People here which for the present is strangely inflamed be any thing allayed than one or both of us You commanded shall attend You according to the Duty of Your Majesties most humble most faithful most obedient Subject and Servant LANERICK His Majesty upon that wrote what follows Lanerick The Kings account of the usage he had in the Army IT is impossible for Me at present to give a Categorical Answer to your I confess necessary Question all I can say is that I am now at much more Freedom than I was at Holmby for My Friends have free access to Me My Chaplains wait upon Me according to their Vocation and I have free Intelligence with My Wife and any Body else whom I please all which was flatly denied me before besides the Professions are much more frank and satisfactory to what I desire of this Army than ever was offered by the Presbyterians And truly if these People rightly understood their own Condition and Interests they must do what they profess which is that King Parliament and People may each have respectively what is their own and yet it must be their Actions not Words alone which shall make Me put Confidence in them Hitherto they have made Me no particular Offers though daily pressed by Me but assoon as I can clearly see through their Intentions one way or other I will not fail to advertise you with My Commands thereupon In the mean time having truly though shortly set you down the true estate of My present Condition I leave you to judge and do what you shall find best for My Service So I rest Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Casam 12th July 1647. POSTSCRIPT I have intrusted this trusty Bearer with several Particulars which I thought too long for a Letter And the day after that he wrote again Lanerick THis is first to recommend this honest Bearer to your Care to further him in passing of those small Favours I have bestowed upon him next that you would do your best for the relief of those Gordons who were lately taken both which as to you were needless but that I know it is fit for Me at all occasions to express the Care I have of those that wish Me well So farewell Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Casam 13th July 1647. POSTSCRIPT Send me word if you have yet remembred your Promise to Me concerning the late Archbishop of St. Andrews his Book To which my Lord Lanerick wrote this Answer May it please Your Majesty YOurs of the 12th I received yesterday Lanerick's Answer We are joyed for what you write of the Civilities you met with but are full of doubts and fears of their Continuance especially since we are informed that notwithstanding all Publick Professions strange Demands are preparing to be offered to Your Majesty I ever hated thralling of Consciences yet I shall be sorry there were no other price of Spiritual Freedom than Your Majesties loss of all Temporal Power This Kingdom will be easily induced to venture their Lives for the last but none will hazard the first since they will not declare for Your Majesty but clogged with the Covenant It was thought fit to delay all Resolutions untill the 5th of August next expecting against that time either from the nature of the Demands we hear are now to be made to Your Majesty or from the carriage of the Army to Your Sacred Person grounds will be given either to rest satisfied or to resent it as becomes Loyal Subjects It is wished Your Majesties true Condition and positive Pleasure may be made known from Your Self if possible against that time when certainly the sense both of this Church seeing the General Assembly will be then sitting and State upon the present Differences in England as they have relation to or can have influence upon Scotland will be made known It is wished Your Majesties Prudence may prevent further Prejudice by going at first the full length You intend in granting what Conditions shall be demanded or if You find them absolutely destructive to You to put Your Self in that Condition that our Persons and Lives may be of use to Your Majesty which shall be the constant care of Your Majesties most faithful most loyal most obedient Subject and Servant LANERICK Edinburgh 21th July 1647. POSTSCRIPT I have not as yet been able to put Your Commands in execution concerning the Bishop of St. Andrew's Book in regard the Copy I have is both uncorrect and wanting in many essential things but I have already taken a Course to have that supplyed from a true Copy of the Original now in the possession of our Commissioners at London His Majesties Answer follows Lanerick YOurs of the 21th Instant I received yesterday having before resolved to have written to you though I had received none from you to shew you from time to time what My Condition is And yet for easing My pains I have thought fit to refer you to the Bearer John Chisley to tell you the true State of Affairs with My Opinion thereupon to whom I have largely and fully spoken My Mind wherefore I will only say this one word that whatsoever you resolve on you must not think to mention as to England either Covenant or Presbyterial Government for it will ruin you and do Me no good experience of which was clearly seen at Newcastle So desiring you to trust this Bearer I rest Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Wooburn 27th July 1647. The Army forces the Parliament The Army drew nearer London declaring they came to restore the King and to reform the Parliament This was Popular and took with many wherefore the Parliament to undeceive both King and People Voted His Majesties coming to Richmond for a Personal Treaty and that the Army should not come within thirty miles of London But the Army refused obedience and carried the King with them and sent threatning Messages for Recalling of those Votes and they designed next to model the Two Houses whereupon a frivolous general Charge was drawn against 11 of the most considerable Members who withstood their Designs and they pressed their Suspension from the House But it was Voted in Parliament to be against Law to suspend any Member upon a general Charge without bringing in and proving special matter And the Two Houses did choose a Committee of Safety to Treat with the City of London for Raising a new Militia for their own Security and some of the Trained Bands were drawn together under Presbyterian Officers Upon this the Army came to London forced the Houses to recall their Votes and disband their Forces and drove away the eleven Members And thus having
great Interest and good Information Next to these those that have had the perusal of the Cabinets of great Ministers and of Publick Records are the best qualified for giving the World a true Information of Affairs This makes the most celebrated History of the Council of Trent be received over all the World as a Pattern of History Strada and Grotius are also highly valued upon the same account But it has been commonly found that Historians being generally of a Party and having Ends to serve or being under the curb of procuring Licences have accommodated their Relation to the tast of those they intended to flatter and so have corrupted the Truth with the concealment of many things fit to be known and to make amends for that have added as many Sophisticating Colours to make the best things look ill and to give some fair appearances to the worst things And this has generally detracted so much from the value of History that most people begin to neglect such Books for they do not believe that they write Truth And it is no wonder many are full of such prejudices at Ancienter Histories for they reckon that men in all Ages were pretty near the same temper they find them to be of at this day and there is such foul dealing in the Histories of our own Time and things that are so eminently false are positively asserted that from thence many conclude all other Writings of that nature are likewise to be suspected only Forgery and Impudence has not now so much Art to conceal or disguise it with as it had in former Ages since most of our late Histories are written either in the style and strain of Panegyricks or Satyrs which of all things an Historian that would be believed ought to avoid most carefully for naturally all people are apt to suspect Interest or Malice when they find much Flattery or Passion in a History Too much Art does but disgrace it for though Father Paul has written his History of the Council of Trent in as flat and plain a style as was possible and Cardinal Pallavicini has adorned his with all the Beauty of Art and Wit yet there appears somewhat so native in the one and so laboured in the other that it does much prepossess the Reader with an inclination to believe the one and disbelieve the other A short and concise style though it succeeded wonderfully with Tacitus and not ill with Grotius yet by the common Verdict of all men is judged not so proper for a History which should open up things fully so as to be easily understood by every Reader These common failings of Historians have in this last Age made people desire to see Papers Records and Letters published at their full length Livy begun the making of Speeches in Councils and at the heads of Armies for States-men and Generals and was much followed till within this Age that these things became Vniversally distastful and instead of that which was but the issue of the Writers brain the World desires nothing so much as to see the Truth of things as they were really designed and acted rather from some Original Papers than from the Collections or Extracts of persons of whose Fidelity or Iudgment they are not well assured Of all Nations in the world the French have delighted most in these Writings so that the Memoires written in that Nation and Language since the days of Henry the 3d would almost make up a Library and every year we get over new Memoires of some one Great Person or another And though there are great Indiscretions committed in publishing many Secrets and Papers not fit for Publick View yet this way of Writing takes now more in the World than any sort of History ever did There is but one in this Island that hath hitherto written in that Method and his Collections are so well received that it gives great encouragement to any who will follow him in it And indeed it is a much easier thing to write in this way than any other for when a man undertakes a History he ought to be well informed of all that passed on both sides and is obliged to publish every thing that is of Importance for opening up the secretest Causes and Beginnings of great Changes or Revolutions this being the chief Instruction that men receive from History by which they are most enabled to provide against and prevent mischief for the future But he that writes Memoires from a Collection of Papers that are in his hands has no such ties on him being only obliged to give a faithful account of such things as are in his Papers and where these fail he is at no loss but may well pass over such Particulars as occur not to him For the Lives of Great Persons though it might have been expected that after the many excellent Patterns Plutarch had left the World those should have been generally well written yet there is no sort of History worse done they being so full of gross Partiality and Flattery and often swelled with trifling and impertinent things so that it is no great wonder if this kind of Writing be much decried and neglected I had all these Considerations before me when I designed and drew this Work and therefore will be more guilty if I transgress the Laws of Writing History without Partiality and Passion The late Civil Wars of this Island deserve a good and full History as much as any Transaction in any part of the World For it was a strange and unheard-of thing to see a Prince whose Title was unquestioned and who had great Virtues and eminent Piety and was of the same Religion with His Subjects and had never put any of them unjustly to Death so oppressed by a prevalent Faction and that a Party which was not headed by any new Pretender nor under the united Authority of any one Person but on the contrary was divided from the very beginning into two great Factions should become so successful as to defeat Him in the Field take all His Garrisons imprison His Person and in end put Him to Death openly with a Form and shew of His Iustice many thousands of His lamenting Subjects looking on and that all this was done near so great and populous a City which did universally pity His Condition and abhor the Crime and yet not so much as one Person made a Tumult to oppose it The Rise and Progress of such a War is a thing which every one desires to be particularly informed about for though many have published Relations of those times on both sides yet there is scarce any body satisfied either with the Truth of Matters of Fact or with their way of Writing But the first beginning and rise of the Civil Wars having been in Scotland from whence they moved Southwards there can be no clear Vnderstanding of what followed until these first Disorders be truly stated This made me oft wish that some Moderate Pen were employed in
recommendation they were also upon all Affairs nine of them were Privy Counsellours divers of them were of the Exchequer Spottiswood Archbishop of S. Andrews was made Chancellour and Maxwell Bishop of Ross was fair for the Treasury and engaged in a high rivalry with the Earl of Traquair then Treasurer which tended not a little to help forward their Ruine And besides this they began to pretend highly to the Tithes and Impropriations and had gotten one Learmonth a Minister presented Abbot of Lindoris and seemed confident to get that State of Abbots with all the Revenue and Power belonging to it again restored into the hands of Churchmen designing also that according to the first Institution of the Colledge of Justice the half of them should be Churchmen This could not but touch many of the Nobility in the quick who were too large sharers in the Patrimony of the Church not to be very sensible of it They were no less hateful to the Ministry because of their Pride which was cried out upon as unsupportable Their Presbyters dislike them Great complaints were also generally made of Simoniacal pactions with their Servants which was imputed to the Masters as if it had been for their advantage at least by their allowance They also exacted a new Oath of Intrants besides what was in the Act of Parliament for obedience to their Ordinary in which they were obliged to obey the Articles of Perth and submit to the Liturgy and Canons They were also making daily Inroads upon their Jurisdiction of which the Ministers were very sensible and universally their great rigour against any that favoured of Puritanism together with their medling in all Secular Affairs and relinquishing their Dioceses to wait on the Court and Council made them the object of all mens fury The Liturgy is appointed for Scotland But that which heightned all to a Crisis was their advising the King to introduce some Innovations in the Church by his own Authority things had prospered so ill in General Assemblies that they thought of these no more And in the Parliament 1633. that small addition to the Prerogative that the King might appoint what Habits he pleased to the Clergy met vigorous opposition notwithstanding the King seemed much concerned for it those who opposed it being sharply taken up and much neglected by His Majesty which stuck deep in their hearts the Bishops bearing all the blame of it At this time a Liturgy was drawn for Scotland or rather the English reprinted with that Title save that it had some Alterations which rendred it more invidious and less satisfactory and after long consulting about it and another Book of Canons they were at length agreed to that the one should be the form of the Scotsh Worship and the other the Model of their Government which did totally vary from their former Practices and Constitutions and as if all things had conspired to carry on their Ruine the Bishops not satisfied with the general High Commission Court produced Warrants from the King for setting up such Commissions in their several Dioceses in which with other Assessors Ministers and Gentlemen all of their own nomination they might punish offenders That was put in practice onely by the Bishop of Galloway who though he was a pious and learned man yet was fiery and passionate and went so roundly to work that it was cried out upon as a yoke and bondage which the Nation was not able to bear And after all this the King advised by the Bishops commanded the Service-book to be received through Scotland and to be read according to the new book at Edinburgh on Easter-day in the year 1637. yet by the Council it was delayed till the 23th of Iuly A Tumult at reading Divine Service but then it met with a tumult from Women and the meaner sort of people whom though none owned in that Attempt yet there wanted not enough who suspected them to have been set on by others However certain it was that the constant Discourse of the discontented Ministers and Noblemen was that Popery was to be introduced and Liberties like to be destroyed and the Bishops to blame for all By such Insinuations it was that the People were animated unto an unparallelled Fury so that they threw Stools at the Dean of Edinburgh when he begun to read the Service and interrupted it often notwithstanding all the means used by the Lords of Council and Magistrates of Edinburgh to hinder it The Lords of Council as they complained to the King of this Disorder so they spared not to lay the greatest blame of it upon the Bishops which appears from the following Letter written by the Earl of Traquair to the Marquis My Noble Lord AT the meeting of the Council here at Edinburgh the 23th of this instant Traquair 's Letter about the occasion of the Troubles we found so much appearance of Trouble and Stir like to be amongst people of all qualities and degrees upon the urging of this new Service-book that we durst no longer forbear to acquaint His Majesty therewith and humbly to represent both our Fears and our opinions how to prevent the Danger at least our opinions of the way we would wish His Majesty should keep therein or before he determine what course to take for pacifying of the present Stir or establishing of the service-Service-book hereafter wherein all I will presume to adde to what the Council hath written is to intreat your Lordship to recommend to His Majesty that if he be pleased to call to himself any of the Clergie he would make choice of some of them of the wisest and most calm Dispositions for certainly some of the leading men amongst them are so violent and forward and many times without ground or true judgment that their want of right understanding how to compass business of this nature and weight does often breed us many difficulties and their rash and foolish Expressions and sometimes Attempts both in private and publick have bred such a Fear and Iealousie in the hearts of many that I am confident if His Majesty were rightly informed thereof he would blame them and justly think that from this and the like proceedings arises the ground of many Mistakes amongst us They complain that the former Ages have taken from them many of their Rents have robb'd them of their Power and Iurisdiction and even in the Church it self and Form of Gods Worship have brought in some things that require Reformation but as the deeds of these Times at least the beginnings thereof were full of notour and tumultuary disorder so shall I never think it will prove for the good either of Gods Service or the Kings by the same ways or manner of dealing to press to rectifie what was then done amiss We have a wise and judicious Master who will nor can urge nothing in this poor Kingdom which may not be brought to pass to his contentment and I am most confident if he shall
such Petitions wherein the Bishops were not designed as they ought to have been but were called either pretended Bishops or late Ministers of the Places where they served before their Promotion were rejected and some Signatures being offered in Exchequer wherein they were so designed Traquair took them and tore them to pieces Of all this the Covenanters complained as if Justice were denied but it was told them that if they went to force the Session it would be High Treason and that they would never yield to them But the four Covenanting Lords of the Session having passed Petitions wherein the Bishops were so called these were stopt at the Signet The Covenanters made also great Complaints to the Council of some persons who had written to England of their Designs to invade it of which they protested themselves innocent and craved liberty to pursue their Slanderers but that was laid aside only a Letter was written about it to the King Yet all at least most of the Council what through fear what through inclination went along with the Covenanters and such as stood firm to their Duty were forced to fly into England The Covenanters made sure work of all the Shires They become Masters of all Scotland onely in Tweddale Traquair resisted them a little and got their Meetings to be deserted for two or three Diets but that was all he could doe In Teviotdale the Earl of Roxburgh kept all right and begun to levy men as well as others but he was faintly followed The Marquis of Douglass was not able to doe His Majesty that Service his Illustrious Ancestours had done the former Kings for himself was a Papist and so not followed by the Friends and Dependers of that Noble Family so that all the Marquis could doe was to go and wait upon His Majesty and offer his House of Tentallon to be made use of as the King pleased But the Covenanters seized both it and his House of Douglass and thus all on the South of Tay was lost without stroke of Sword But in Angus the Earls of Airly and Southesk made more vigorous resistance to the Attempts of the Covenanters and were able to have made that Country good for the King but could not withstand the Force came upon them from other Places They all armed and Earl Airly stood out to the Pacification but Southesk was fitter for a Council than a Camp and seeing inevitable Ruine to follow since the Kings Preparations went on so slowly he struck sail and came to Edinburgh Huntley gave them more trouble for my Lord of Montrose and Kinghorn with some others coming to hold a Committee at Turreff in that County he gathered so many together and came so near them that they were forced to disperse themselves yet he kept up his Commission of Lieutenantry acting onely in the quality of a Peer and Councellour But they resolved since they could doe nothing against him with the men of that Shire to bring a Body from other Places to ruine him The want which pinched the Covenanters most at first was of good Officers and this made General Lesley who at that time had acquired much Fame in the Wars of Germany get an earnest Invitation sent him from the Earl of Rothes in the name of the Covenanteâ—s to come home to command their Forces upon which he did quit his Employment there and came to Scotland with many other Commanders He was chosen their General and undertook the Service with much Joy And this was the Posture and Preparations of Scotland which I draw from the Letters that are yet extant written to the Marquis from the Lords of Traquair Huntley Airly and Roxburgh Mean-while the King went on making all the haste with his Levies and Preparations that was possible in which none acted his part with more Fidelity and better Dispatch than the Earl of Northumberland who was Admiral and discharged what was committed to him so well that nothing was defective that concerned the Fleet. But the Marquis found the Hearts of many of the English Nobility both backward and cold and in particular he assured the King that he saw much Heartiness was not to be expected from some of the general Officers which the King apprehending The King emits his Declaration of the Reasons of the War trusted them as little as was possible About the middle of March the King published a Declaration of the Reasons of his Expedition against Scotland which was followed by a larger one commonly called the Large Declaration or Manifesto penned by Balcanqual and revised by His Majesty in which a full account was given of the rise and progress of the Combustions of Scotland of which no more shall be said it being so commonly known save that from the account hath been given it will appear how unjustly that Book was charged to be full of Lies and Calumnies The Covenanters begin the War The News of this coming to Scotland set all a-flaming whereupon they first sent in Papers and Letters through all England and to the Court vindicating themselves with high Protestations that they designed not the Invasion of England as had bâ—en misrepresented and therefore they expected no Hostility from thâ—m to whom they neither did nor intended hurt These Letters were said not to be ill-received even by some at Court who were in the highest Trust. The Covenanters also resolved to take the start of the King and so on the 23th of March General Lesley with some Companies went to the Castle of Edinburgh and petarded the Gates and set Ladders to the Walls and carried it no resistance being made from those within It is true much could not be made but that could not wipe off their stain who yielded that impregnable and important Place so faintly The occasion of their negligence was that a Gentlewoman of good Quality was sent in under pretence of visiting the Captain of the Castle to keep him in discourse she dined with him and engaged him to play at Cards so that they were about his ears before he was apprehensive of danger Dumbriton run the same fate it being surrendred by Sir William Stewart whose only excuse was that at his coming down the former year he found the whole Garrison Covenanters that he durst not turn them off nor take on new Souldiers without a powerful assistance and so finding them resolved both to deliver him and the Castle up he could do nothing alone besides that he was unprovided of every thing that was necessary for a Siege The next day after the Castle of Edinburgh was seized the Covenanters went to the Session to force the Lords to take the Covenantâ— but most of them refused it then they seized on the Privy-Seal aâ—d thought to have got the Great Seal which the Marquis had committed to the keeping of an honest Servant Mr. Iohn Hamilton by their endeavours to prevail with him for it but he refused to part with it except with his Life and so
you are to warn and assist Ruthwen for the defence of the Castle of Edinburgh and to take in general the like care of all Our Houses and Forts in that Kingdom and likewise to advertise all such who are affected to Our Service that timously they may secure themselves And so We bid you heartily farewell The greatest Point gained in the Assembly was an Explication of the Bond of Defence which was conceived in these Words WE do swear not onely our mutual concurrence and assistance for the cause of Religion and to the uttermost of our power The Explication of the Covenant with our Means and Lives to stand to the Defence of our Dread Soveraign and His Authority in the preservation and defence of the said true Religion Liberties and Laws of this Kirk and Kingdom but also in every cause which may concern His Majesties Honour we shall according to the Laws of this Kingdom and Duties of good Subjects concur with our Friends and Followers in quiet manner or in Arms as we shall be required of His Majesties Council or any having His Authority The Clause about Episcopacy was worded That it was unlawful in this Church Episcopacy abjured in Scotland Upon this the Covenant was presented to the Commissioner and Council on the 30th of August with a desire that it might be signed and it was accordingly done which was received with great Joy witnessed by Bonfires and ringing of Bells and all the Pulpits and Streets were full of Traquair's Praises But His Majesty was no way satisfied with this as appears from the following Letter CHARLES R. Right Trusty c. The King displeased with Traquair YOur Letter of September the 27th to Hamilton We have seen and think fit to return Answer thereunto Our Self and the rather because We find by yours that some Points in the former Letter were not so fully expressed but that you desire more clear Answers First you say that in all your Directions it is condescended that by Act of Assembly Episcopacy should be declared unlawful in this Kirk and that by all the Capitulations of Agreement and Instructions given to you that same is allowed to be ratified in Parliament upon the foresaid terms agreed upon in the Assembly In this Point We must tell you that you are much mistaken for though you have Power for giving way to the Abolition of Episcopacy as contrary to the Constitutions of the Church of Scotland yet you will not find either in your Instructions or any other Direction since sent you that We have consented to declare the same Unlawful We making a great difference therein for many things may be contrary to the Constitutions of a Church which of thâ—mselves are not simply unlawful for whatsoever is absolutely unlawful in one Church cannot be lawful in the other of the same Profession of Religion but there may be many several Constitutions and yet they all lawful Therefore if I do acknowledge or consent That Episcopacy is unlawful in the Church of Scotland though as you have set it down in your consenting to the Act the word Unlawful may seem onely to have a relation to the Constitutions of that Kirk yet the Construction thereof doth run so doubtfully that it may be probably inferred That the same Function is acknowledged by Vs to be unlawful in any other Churches in Our Dominions Therefore as we totally disapprove of your consenting to the word Unlawful as well to the Function as Civil Places and Power of Church-men in the Act of the General Assembly so We absolutely command you not to ratifie the same in these terms in the Parliament but onely as contrary to the Constitutions of that Kirk and to declare that We ratifie this Act meerly for the Peace of the Land though otherwise in Our Own Iudgment We neither hold it convenient nor fitting which you are to declare at the Ratifying of the same And for the rest of your Declaration in the Assembly to be registred in the Books of Council for brevities sake We send you herewith a Copy of the same as likewise that of the Covenant interlined in those places which We disapprove of and conceive to be the contrary to your Instructions and some other Directions As We have formerly written to you We cannot consent to the rescinding any Acts of Parliament made in favour of Episcopacy nor do We conceive that Our refusal to abolish those Acts is contradictory to what We have consented to or to that we was obliged to there is less danger in discovering any future Intentions of Ours or at the best letting them guess at the same than if We should permit the rescinding those Acts of Parliament which Our Father with so much expence of Time and Industry established and which may hereafter be of so great use to Vs. And though it should perhaps cast all loose as you express yet We take God to witness We have permitted them to doe many things in this Assembly for establishing of Peace contrary to Our Own Iudgment And if on this point a Rupture happen We cannot help it the fault is on their own part which one day they may smart for So you have in this Point Our full Resolution We likewise wrote formerly to you that We thought it not fit at this time that the Power of the Lords of the Articles should be defined and that you are to avoid the same and to be sure not to consent thereunto Now your last Letter gives Vs ground to repeat the same again and to declare to you that We remain in Our former Opinion And whereas you say that it is to no purpose to vex Vs with all the indiscreet and mad Propositions that are made since they go about not onely to reform all pretended Abuses of what nature soever but to constitute and define the Power of all Iudicatories from the highest to the lowest and that you are like to agree in few or none of the General Acts If you find that what We have commanded you to doe is likely to cause a Rupture their impertinent Motions give you a fair occasion to make it appear to the World that We have condescended to all matters which can be pretended to concern Conscience and Religion and that now they aim at nothing but the Overthrow of Royal Authority contrary to all their Professions which We can neither with Honour nor Safety suffer And therefore We hope and expect that if a Rupture happen you will make this appear to be the cause thereof and not Religion which you know not onely to be true but must see it will be of great advantage to Vs and therefore must be seriously intended by you We have no Directions of new to give you concerning the Marquis of Huntley Sir Donald Mack-donald or any others to whom Malice is carried for their Zeal for Our Service but again recommend them to your care What hath past betwixt your self and the Earl of Argyle We
them and possibly by their desperate Resolutions of their Engaging them in a bloody and unnatural War Those Injuries to Vs and Oppreâ—sions upon them We expect you whom We have with Advice of Our Parliament entrusted with managing the greatest Affairs of that Our Kingdom will particularly resent and therefore We have thought fit to require you immediately after the receipt hereof to publish in Our Name a Proclamation to all Our loving Subjects of that Our Native Kingdom prohibiting them under all highest pains to give Obedience to any Act or Ordinance of that pretended Convention or of any Committee pretending a Power or Authority from them but to oppose by Armes or otherways all such Persons as shall endeavour to put in execution any Acts of theirs but such as We expressed in Our Letter We mentioned of the tenth of June which was so much slighted as it was refused to be Recorded for the Raising of Forces or Recalling Our Scotish Army in Ireland or any part thereof without Our Knowledge and Consent and We do likewise require that no Taxes imposed upon Our Subjects by that pretended Authority be paid assuring all Our Loving Subjects of Our Protection in the Obedience of these Our Commands for which these shall be your Warrant which We require you to Record Given at Our Court at Oxford the 26th of September in the 19th Year of Our Reign 1643. With these His Majesty wrote to my Lord Lanerick CHARLES R. RIght Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousin and Councellour The Kings Letter to Lanerick We Greet you well We have sent to Our Privy-Council of Scotland Our Letters of Direction what they shall do now that the General Meeting there hath proceeded to such strange and undutiful Resolutions beyond the Matter We prefixed them to treat upon by Our former Letter Of those Our Letters We have sent you an exact Copy and particular Directions to your self what you shall do in order thereunto when you shall think fit for Our Service to make use of the same But We leave it now to your Discretion and the Iudgment of the rest whom We have entrusted with the Affairs of that Our Kingdom to deliver these Our Letters to Our said Privy-Council at that time and no sooner than you shall conceive to be most conducible to Our Service and the Good of that Kingdom for if you shall find that no Obedience is likely to be given to those Our Commands you are to consider how far you who are Our faithful Servants there will be able to withstand those Insolences which of necessity must follow upon such Disobedience and what the Consequence will be to anger before We be able to punish such Offenders But Our Will is that you forthwith publish the other anent the Proclamation Precept or Warrant falsly published in Our Name and We further require you to do whatsoever else you with the rest whom We have trusted with the Affairs of that Our Kingdom shall conceive most to conduce to Our Service as you will answer to Vs at your peril and for so doing this shall be a sufficient Warrant to you and those others entrusted by Vs as aforesaid Given at Our Court at Oxford 26th of September 1643. The Lords whom His Majesty trusted judged it not fitting to present the Letter written to the Council and suppressed it But His Majesty wrote another Letter to the Council about the Proclamation which was issued forth in his Name by the Convention of Estates which follows CHARLES R. The Kings Letter about the Proclamation to the Council RIght Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousin and Councellours and Trusty and well-beloved Councellours We greet you well Whereas We were graciously pleased to condescend that this present Meeting in Our Kingdom of Scotland of Our Nobility there and the Commissioners for Shires and Burroughs should resolve and conclude of such particular Affairs as We specified and allowed to them for the Security and Good of that Our Kingdom in Our late Letters to them dated the 10th of June last and for as much as we have to Our great amazement newly seen a Paper in form of a Proclamation Precept or Warrant in Our Royal Name dated at Edinburgh the 18th of August subscribed Per Actum Dominorum Conventionis Arch. Primrose Cler. Conven Being a Paper most impudently set forth without Our Privity or any Authority from Vs and tending to cast Our beloved People of that Our Native Kingdom into the like and more bloody Combustions and Rebellions Violation of their Religion and Allegeance to Vs and Laws of that Our hitherto peaceful Native Kingdom as hath been here practised by the malicious enemies of Peace and Government We have therefore upon good Deliberation and out of Our Princely and Gracious Care of Our People and of the Tranquility of that Our Native Kingdom as it was so lately and well setled by Our Self thought fit to Declare and we do hereby Declare unto you that We utterly dislike and disallow it forbidding all Our Subjects to obey the same and all other Papers published in Our Name which shall not immediately be warranted by Vs and We do hereby will and command you forthwith openly to publish these Our Letters to let all Our People understand Our Pleasure herein And lastly Our Pleasure and Command is that you cause these Our Letters to be forthwith recorded in the Books of Our Privy Council of that Our Native Kingdom for all which these Our said Letters shall be your sufficient Warrants Given at our Court at Oxford the 26th day of September in the 19th Year of Our Reign 1643. He wrote also to the same purpose to the Earl of Lanerick CHARLES R. His Majesties Letter to Lanerick to the same purpose RIght Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousins and Councellour We Greet you well Whereas We have thought fit for the Good of Our Service and Safety of Our People to require Our Council to publish a Proclamation in Our Name to all Our loving Subjects in Scotland discharging them to give Obedience to any Act or Ordinance of the Pretended Convention of the Estates at Edinburgh the 22d of June or of any Commitee pretending Authority from them but to oppose with Arms or otherways all such Persons as shall endeavour to put in execution any Act of theirs but if Our Privy Council shall not give present Obedience to Our Commands and publish this Our Pleasure these are to require you to take what Course you shall think most fit to make this Known to all Our loving Subjects either by giving Warrant in Our Name to Print Our Letter to Our Council or by sending attested Copies thereof to all the Nobility Sheriffs of Counties and Majors of Towns within Our Kingdom of Scotland a Duplicate whereof you will herewith receive under Our Own Royal Hand and We further require you to do whatsoever else you with the rest whom We have trusted with the Affairs of that Our Kingdom shall conceive