defence of the Laws openly and frequently violated by the King who had made it the chief business of his Reign to invade the Rights and Privileges of the People raising Taxes by various Arts without their Consent in Parliament encouraging and preferring a formal and superstitious Clergy discouraging the sober and vertuous amongst them imposing upon all the Inventions of Men in the room of the Institutions of God And knowing that Parliaments were the most likely means to rectify what was amiss to give a check to his Ambition and to punish the principal Instruments of that illegal Power which he had assumed had endeavoured either to prevent their Meeting or to render them fruitless to the People and only serviceable to his corrupt ends by granting him Money to carry on his pernicious Designs A Parliament being now called and an Act passed authorizing them to fit till they should think fit to dissolve themselves And it being manifest to them and to all those who had any Concern for the Happiness of the Nation that the King would do nothing effectually to redress the present or to secure the People from future Mischiefs chusing rather to contend with them by Arms than for their satisfaction to entrust the Militia in faithful Hands resolving to impose that by the Force of his Arms which he could not do by the Strength of his Arguments I thought it my Duty upon consideration of my Age and vigorous Constitution as an English-man and an Invitation to that purpose from my Father to enter into the Service of my Country in the Army commanded by the Earl of Essex under the Authority of the Parliament I thought the Justice of that Cause I had engaged in to be so evident that I could not imagine it to be attended with much Difficulty For tho I supposed that many of the Clergy who had been the principal Authors of our Miseries together with some of the Courtiers and such as absolutely depended upon the King for their Subsistence as also some Foreigners would adhere to him yet I could not think that many of the People who had been long oppressed with heavy Burdens and now with great difficulty had obtained a Parliament composed of such Persons as were willing to run all Hazards to procure a lasting Settlement for the Nation would be either such Enemies to themselves or so ungrateful to those they had trusted as not to stand by them to the utmost of their Power at least tho some might not have so much Resolution and Courage as to venture All with them yet that they would not be so treacherous and unworthy to strengthen the Hands of the Enemy against those who had the Laws of God Nature and Reason as well as those of the Land on their side Soon after my Engagement in this Cause I met with Mr. Richard Fynes Son to the Lord Say and Mr. Charles Fleetwood Son to Sir Miles Eleetwood then a Member of the House of Commons with whom consulting it was resolved by us to assemble as many young Gentlemen of the Inns of Court of which we then were and others as should be found disposed to this Service in order to be instructed together in the use of Arms to render our selves fit and capable of acting in case there should be occasion to make use of us To this end we procured a Person experienced in military Affairs to instruct us in the use of Arms and for some time we frequently met to exercise at the Artillery-Ground in London And being informed that the Parliament had resolved to raise a Life-Guard for the Earl of Essex to consist of a hundred Gentlemen under the Command of Sir Philip Stapylton a Member of Parliament most of our Company entred themselves therein and made up the greatest part of the said Guard amongst whom were Mr. Richard Fynes Mr. Charles Fleetwood afterwards Lieutenant General Major General Harrison Colonel Nathanael Rich Colonel Thomlinson Colonel Twisleton Colonel Bosewell Major Whitby and my self with divers others It was not long before the Army under the Command of the Earl of Essex was raised and ready to march so cheerfully did the People hoping that the time of their Deliverance was come offer their Persons and all that was necessary for the carrying on of that Work The appearance for the King was not very considerable whilst he continued at York but when he removed to Shrewsbery great Numbers out of Wales and the adjacent Parts resorted to him The Earl of Essex having notice that the King directed his March that way advanced with his Army towards Worcester and upon his approach to that Town received Advice that a Detachment commanded by Prince Rupert had possessed themselves of it for the King and that a Party of ours impatient of Delay had engaged the Enemy before our General could come up with great Disadvantage as I after wards observed upon view of the Place Ours consisted of about a thousand Horse and Dragoons the Enemy being more in number and drawn up in a body within Musquet-shot of a Bridg between Parshot and Worcester over which our Men resolved to march and attack them but before half their number was got over not being able to advance above eight or ten abreast by reason of a narrow Lane through which they were to pass till they came within Pistol-shot of the Enemy they were engaged and forced to retreat in Disorder tho they did as much as could well be expected from them upon so disadvantageous a Ground Some were killed upon the place amongst whom was Major Gunter a very gallant Man who as I have heard had endeavoured to disswade them from that Attempt others were drowned and divers taken Prisoners of the last was Colonel Sands who commanded the Party and was carried to Worcester where being mortally wounded he soon died with all possible Expressions of his hearty Affection to the Publick Cause The Body of our routed Party returned in great Disorder to Parshot at which place our Life-Guard was appointed to quarter that Night where as we were marching into the Town we discovered Horsemen riding very hard towards us with drawn Swords and many of them without Hats from whom we understood the Particulars of our Loss not without Improvement by reason of the Fear with which they were possessed telling us that the Enemy was hard by in pursuit of them whereas it afterwards appeared they came not within four Miles of that place Our Life-Guard being for the most part Strangers to things of this nature were much alarm'd with this Report yet some of us unwilling to give credit to it till we were better informed offered our selves to go out upon a surther Discovery of the matter But our Captain Sir Philip Stapylton not being then with us his Lieutenant one Bainham an old Souldier a Generation of Men much cried up at that time drawing us into a Field where he pretended we might more advantageously charge if there should be
praying for the Prosperity of the Publick Cause The Words spoken by Mr. Martin in the Parliament were to this purpose That it was better one Family should perish than that the People should be destroyed And being required to explain himself he ingenuously confessed that he meant the Family of the King for which he was committed to the Tower but afterwards released and re-admitted to his Place in the Parliament About the same time Mr. John Pym also died who had been very instrumental in promoting the Interest of the Nation His Body was for several days exposed to publick view in Derby-house before it was interred in confutation of those who reported it to be eaten with Lice The Enemy before Warder-Castle kept their Guards within Pistol-shot of it day and night so that we could not expect any more Intelligence from abroad yet one of ours sent by us into the Country a Week before to informs us of the state of Affairs met at an honest Man's House not far from the Castle a Souldier whom the Enemy had pressed to serve them whose Heart being with us these two agreed that when Relief should be coming he who was without should appear with a white Cap on his Head and blow his Nose with his Handkerchief In the mean time the Besiegers raised a Battery and by a shot from thence cut off the Chain of our Portcullis which rendring our Gate unserviceable to us we made it so to them by barricading it up on the inside so that now we had no way out but through a Window our other Doors being walled up before But the Battery not answering their expectation they resolved to try other Experiments either by digging a Hole in the Castle-wall and putting a sufficient quantity of Powder therein to blow it up or by undermining the said Wall and supporting it with Timber and then setting it on fire whereby they supposed to destroy that also on which the Wall rested and so to bring down the Wall In order to this they prepared Materials to defend them whilst they were about the Work and brought together about two dozen of Oaken Plants three Inches thick which they endeavoured in a dark Night to set up against the Castle-wall half of them on one side and half on the other Our Sentinels discovered them on one side and beat them off forcing them to leave their Boards behind them On the other side they set them up and in the Morning were hard at work under their Shelter We heard a noise of digging but for some time could not perceive where at length we discovered the place and endeavoured to remove them by throwing down hot Water and melted Lead tho to little purpose At last with Hand-granadoes we obliged them to quit their Work and to leave their Tools behind them with their Provisions for three or four days and tho we had no way out of the Castle but by a narrow Window yet we brought in their Materials and Provisions for that Morning having shot the Officer that commanded their Guard in the Head their Trenches not being finished to secure their Approaches to the Out-houses under the shelter of which they kept their Guard and being admonished by what befel Capt. Bowyer of the danger of delaying to dress a Wound they desired leave to carry off their wounded Man which I granted on condition that they would commit no Act of Hostility in the mean time And when five or six of them who carried him off were about Pistol-shot from the Wall I appeared with forty Musqueteers ready to fire on the top of the Castle and ordered three or four Men out of the Window mentioned before who brought in their Materials A Relation of mine one Capt. Henry Williams who commanded a Company in Colonel Barns his Regiment desiring to be admitted to speak with me and I consenting he endeavoured to perswade me to a Surrender offering me any Conditions I would ask but his Arguments made no Impression upon me In the mean time the King to encourage his Friends in the City to rise for him sent them a Commisiion to that purpose by the Lady Aubogny which she brought made up in the Hair of her Head but the Design being discovered she sled for Resuge to the House of the French Ambassador who refusing to deliver her to Sir Henry Vane and Mr. John Lisle sent by the Parliament with a Guard to seize her pretending his Privilege the House being informed by Sir Francis Knowles that at the time of the bloody Massacre at Paris one of the French King's Secretaries who was of the Reformed Religion flying to the English Ambassador's House for Protection and disguizing himself amongst the Grooms was forced 〈◊〉 thence by the King's Command ordered this Lady to be treated in the like manner which was done accordingly Hereupon an Order was passed for the Trial of those who were engaged in this Conspiracy and Mr. Thomson and Mr. Challoner were found guilty and executed for it Sir John Hotham and his Son were also condemned to lose their Heads for endeavouring to betray the Garison of Hull to the Enemy which Sentence was put in execution upon the Son the 1 st of January 1643. and on the Father the day following Sir Alexander Carew was also beheaded for endeavouring to betray Plimouth with the Government of which he was entrusted by the Parliament About the 16 th of the same January the Scots marched into England and having Berwick secured for them the first thing they attempted was the taking of Newcastle which they did by storm The Lords and Commons for their Encouragement having sentenced and caused execution to be done upon William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury their Capital Enemy o◠the 10 th of the same Month. Sir William Waller being reinforced with some City-Regiments thought himself strong enough to take the field and because the Western Clothiers were often obstructed in their Passage to London by the Garison of Basinghouse which was kept for the King he attempted to reduce it but was repulsed with loss After which he marched to Arundel in Sussex where he soon beat the King's Garison out of the Town into the Castle which after some time and the loss of some Men was surrendred to him with several Persons of Quality therein at Mercy About the middle of January Sir William assured us that if we held out a Fortnight longer he would relieve us or lay his Bones under our Walls We had also some hopes given us from Southampton and Pool the latter of which Places about this time some of the Inhabitants endeavoured to betray to the Lord Crawford but the Design being discovered as the Enemy was entring the Outworks and expecting to be admitted into the Town some great Guns loaded with small Shot were fired upon his Men and made a great Slaughter amongst them Between these two Garisons of Southampton and Pool lay my Troop of Horse to do what Service they could
the Inn several of them pressing me to discourse and particularly concerning the Justice of our Cause I excused my self by reason of my present Circumstances but they still persisting I thought my self obliged to maintain the necessity of our taking up Arms in defence of our Religion and Liberties but some of them being wholly biassed to their Interest as they went from me met a Relation of mine one Col. Richard Manning who tho a Papist commanded a Regiment of Horse in the King's Service and told him that they came from one of the boldest Rebels that they had ever seen The Colonel coming to visit me informed me of this Discourse advising me whatsoever I thought not to be so free with them lest they should do me some Mischief The next Morning before our Departure for Oxford Sir Francis Doddington brought me to Sir Ralph Hopton's Lodgings which being the Head-quarters we found there most of the Principal Officers of that Army where the General after he had saluted me demanded how I being a Gentleman could satisfy my self to bear Arms against my King I told him that as I conceived the Laws both of God and Man did justify me in what I had done Well said he I understand you are so fixed in your Principles that I am like to do little good upon you by my Perswasions but shall desire the Archbishop of Armagh to take the pains to speak with you when you come to Oxford and if he cannot work on you I know not who can This Bishop was very learned and of great Reputation for Piety yet I was assured by one who had his Information from Mr. Bernard of Batcomb that when the said Mr. Bernard earnestly pressed him to deal faithfully with the King in the Controversy which was between him and the Parliament concerning Episcopacy according to his own Judgment in that matter which he knew to be against it representing to him the great and important Service he would thereby do to the Church of God the Archbishop answered that if he should do as Mr. Bernard proposed he should ruin himself and Family having a Child and many Debts For this reason those Arguments which could not prevail with me when used by others were not likely to be of more Efficacy from him who in a business of such Concernment had been diverted from the discharge of his Duty by such low and sordid Considerations The next day I came to Oxford conducted by a Party of Horse commanded by one who was Captain Lieutenant to Sir Francis Doddington where reposing a while at a House near Christ-Church till the Pleasure of the King might be known concerning me there came to me two Persons very zealous to justify the King's Cause and to condemn that of the Parliament These Men were Irish Papists sent over by the Rebels in Ireland to treat with the King on their part about assisting him against the Parliament This I afterwards understood from one of them whose Name was Callaghan O Callaghan when together with the Brigade commanded by the Lord Musquerry he laid down his Arms to me in Ireland The King looking upon such Men as most fit to be confided in gives the Presidentship of Munster vacant by the Death of Sir William St. Leger to the Lord Musquerry an Irish Rebel which the Lord Inchequin Son-in-law to Sir William soliciting for and claiming a Right to it took so ill that the Lord Broghill as he since informed me found no great difficulty to prevail with him to declare for the Parliament who thereupon made him their President of Munster In this Capacity he performed many considerable Services against the Irish taking great store of Plunder from them and not sparing even his own Kindred but if he found them faulty hanging them up without distinction Having brought together an Army he marched into the County of Tipperary and hearing that many Priests and Gentry about Cashell had retired with their Goods into the Church he stormed it and being entred put three thousand of them to the Sword taking the Priests even from under the Altar Of such Force is Ambition when it seizes upon the Minds of Men. About this time Sir Edward Deering came from the King's Quarters at Oxford and surrendred himself at Westminster where being examined in the House of Commons he said that since the Cessation made with the Rebels in Ireland seeing so many Papists and Irish in the King's Army and his Councils wholly governed by them his Conscience would not permit him to remain longer with the King and therefore he was come to throw himself upon the Mercy of the Parliament and in conformity to their Declaration to compound for his Delinquency Accordingly he was admitted to Composition and an Order made to proceed in like manner towards such as should come in after him Whereupon the Earl of Westmorland and divers others came in to the Parliament and desired the Benefit of their Declaration for Composition Whilst I was attending the King's Pleasure at Oxford the Captain that conveyed me thither brought me word that he was ordered to deliver me to Mr. Thorpe the Keeper of the Castle and pretending much Affection to me told me that the said Keeper would take from me my upper Garment my Money and all that was loose about me advising me therefore to leave such things with him and promising to bring them to me in the Morning I not suspecting his Design delivered him my Cloke with my Money and some other things all which he carried away with him the next day neither could I have any Redress tho I wrote to Sir Francis Doddington complaining of this Treachery the Keeper of the Castle not laying the least Claim to any such thing Our sick and wounded Men after they had been kept for some time Prisoners in the Hall of Warder-Castle where a Popish Priest very solemnly with his Hands spread over them cursed them three times were carried from thence to Bristol In the Castle at Oxford I met with Mr. Balsum and other Friends who had been with me in Warder-Castle with many more who were detained there for their Affection to the Parliament amongst whom were Col. Shilborn of Buckinghamshire Col. Henly of Dorsetshire Capt. Haley of Glocestershire and Capt. Abercromy a Scots-man I had a Friend in the Town who furnished me with what I wanted those who had not any such means of Relief were supplied from London by a Collection of the Sum of three hundred Pounds made for them by some Citizens and conveyed down to them Neither was Oxford it self destitute of some who contributed to their Relief one Dr. Hobbs in particular who preached then at Carfax an honest Man of the Episcopal Party usually putting them in mind of it after his Sermon The Prisoners taken by the King's Party had been treated very cruelly especially at Oxford by Smith the Marshal there but the Members of Parliament that deserted their Trust at Westminster coming thither and
Officers were either omitted by the Parliament or had quitted their Commands in the Army judging himself Master of the Field marched towards Leicester and by this time was grown so considerable that the Committee of both Kingdoms thought it high time to look after him and to that end commanded the General with the Army to march and observe his Motions but before he could overtake him the King had made himself Master of Leicester by storm and plundered it with the loss of about seven hundred Men on his side and about one hundred of the Town Being encouraged with this Success and with the consideration that he was to encounter with an unexperienced Enemy upon advice that our Army was in search of him he advanced towards them and both Armies met in the Field of Naseby on the 14 th of June 1645. Some days before one Col. Vermuyden an old Souldier who commanded a Regiment of Horse had laid down his Commission whether through diffidence of Success or what other Consideration I know not and in the beginning of the Engagement Major General Skippon the only old Souldier remaining amongst the chief Officers of the Army received a shot in the Body from one of our own Party as was supposed unwillingly whereby he was in a great measure disabled to perform the Duty of his Place that day tho extreamly desirous to do it Under these Discouragements the Horse upon our Left Wing were attacked by those of the Enemies Right and beaten back to our Cannon which were in danger of being taken our Foot giving ground also But our Right Wing being strengthned by those of our Left that were rallied by their Officers fell upon the Enemies Left Wing and having broken and repulsed them resolving to improve the Opportunity charged the main Body of the King's Army and with the Assistance of two or three Regiments of our Infantry entirely encompassed the Enemies Body of Foot who finding themselves deserted by their Horse threw down their Arms and yielded themselves Prisoners By this means our Horse were at leisure to pursue the King and such as fled with him towards Leicester taking many Prisoners in the pursuit who with those taken in the Field amounted in all to about six thousand and amongst them six Colonels eight Lieutenant Colonels eighteen Majors seventy Captains eighty Lieutenants eighty Ensigns two hundred inferiour Officers about one hundred and forty Standards of Horse and Foot the King's Footmen and Servants and the whole Train of Artillery and Baggage This Victory was obtained with the Loss of a very few on our side and not above three or four hundred of the Enemy In the Pursuit the King's Cabinet was taken and in it many Letters of Consequence particularly one from the Lord Digby advising the King before any Act of Hostility on either side to betake himself to some Place of Strength and there to declare against the Parliament by which Men perceived that the Design of making War upon the Parliament was resolved upon early the King having followed this Council exactly The Parliament had impeached Finch of High Treason for advising the illegal Tax of Ship-money soliciting the Judges to declare it lawful and threatning those who refused so to do for which good Service the King had preferred him to be Keeper of the Great Seal but the Place being vacant upon his Flight the King would not entrust it with Littleton before he had obliged him by an Oath to promise to send the Seal to the King whensoever he should by any Messenger require it of him which I am inclined to believe to have been the Cause why Littleton left the Parliament not daring to stay after he had according to his Oath sent the Seal to the King by one Mr. Elliot dispatched to him by the King for that purpose The Seal being thus carried away the Parliament finding Justice obstructed through the want of it declared that the Seal ought to attend them during their Sitting and therefore that all that was or should be done since it was carried to the King was null and void Upon which a new Seal was ordered to be made and Commissioners nominated for the keeping of it and putting it in execution to all Intents and Purposes the Parliament thereby exercising the Supreme Authority in virtue of their frequent Declarations That the King doth nothing in his personal Capacity as King but in his politick Capacity according to Law of which the Judges of Westminster-hall are Judges in the Intervals of Parliament and during the sitting of Parliament the Two Houses being the Great Council both of King and People are the sole Judges thereof In the King's Cabinet were also found Letters from the Queen blaming him for owning those at Westminster to be a Parliament and warning him not to do any thing to the prejudice of the Roman Catholicks with a Copy of his Answer wherein he promised his Care of the Papists and excused his owning the two Houses at Westminster to be a Parliament assuring her that if he could have found two of his Mongrel Parliament at Oxford as he called them of his mind therein he would never have done it and that tho he had done it publickly the Parliament refusing to treat with him otherwise yet he had given Order to have it entred in the Journal of his Council that this notwithstanding should not be of any Validity for the enabling them to be a Parliament Another Paper was found with them giving some Account of the Troubles in Ireland wherein the Papists who had taken Arms being qualified Rebels that term was struck out and the word Irish added by the King himself There was likewise a Letter to the French King complaining of the Unkindness and Ingratitude of the Queen and of the Reasons of the Removal of her Servants that she brought over with her of which it had been Discretion in the King to have kept no Memorials such Matters when buried in Oblivion being next best to the not having any Differences between so near Relations Many more Letters there were relating to the Publick which were printed with Observations by Order of the Parliament and others of no less Consequence suppressed as I have been credibly informed by some of those that were instructed with them who since the King's Return have been rewarded for it One Paper I must not omit which was here found being that very Paper which contained the principal Evidence against the Earl of Strafford and had been as before mentioned purloined from the Committee appointed by the House of Commons to manage the Charge against him having these Words written upon it with the King 's own Hand This Paper was delivered to me by George Digby tho he as well as the rest of that Committee had solemnly protested that he had neither taken that Paper away nor knew what was become of it The Prisoners and Standards taken in the Fight were brought through London to Westminster The Standards
prosecution of our Duty I never heard any more from him upon that point Whilst the King was at Newcastle the President de Bellievre came over into England in the Quality of an Ambassador from the French King with Orders to endeavour a Reconciliation between the King and the Parliament He had a favourable Audience from the Two Houses and their Permission to apply himself to the King but being on his way towards him upon farther Debate they judged it not fit to subject that Affair to the Cognizance of any Foreign Prince resolving to determine it themselves without the Interposition of any having experienced that most of the neighbouring States especially the Monarchical were at the bottom their Enemies and their Ambassadors and Residents so many Spies upon them as appeared more particularly by Letters taken in the King's Cabinet after the Battel of Naseby which discovered that the Emperor 's Resident in London held a private Correspondence with the King and there was ground to believe that the Ambassador of Portugal did the like from Letters therein found from that King These Applications to the King together with the Permission granted by the Parliament to the Turky Company to address themselves to him for the commissionating of one whom they had nominated to be their Agent with the Grand Signior under pretence that he would not otherwise be received To which may be added the frequent Overtures of Peace made by the Parliament to the King tho he had not a Sword left wherewith to oppose them and the great Expectations of the People of his Return to the Parliament being informed that the Heads of the Presbyterian Party had promised the Scots upon the Delivery of the King that as soon as they had disbanded the Army they would bring him to London in Honour and Safety these things I say made the People ready to conclude that tho his Designs had been wonderfully defeated his Armies beaten out of the Field and himself delivered into the Hands of the Parliament against whom he had made a long and bloody War yet certainly he must be in the right and that tho he was guilty of the Blood of many thousands yet was still unaccountable in a condition to give Pardon and not in need of receiving any which made them flock from all Parts to see him as he was brought from Newcastle to Holmby falling down before him bringing their Sick to be touched by him and courting him as only able to restore to them their Peace and Settlement The Party in the House that were betraying the Cause of their Country became Encouragers of such Petitioners as came to them from the City of London and other Places to that effect very many of whom had been always for the King's Interest but their Estates lying in the Parliament's Quarters they secured them by their Presence in the House and at the same time promoted his Designs by their Votes There was another sort of Men who were contented to sacrifice all Civil Liberties to the Ambition of the Presbyterian Clergy and to vest them with a Power as great or greater than that which had been declared intolerable in the Bishops before To this end they encouraged the reduced Officers of the Earl of Essex such as Massey Waller Pointz and others to press the Parliament for their Arrears in a peremptory and seditious manner that being furnished with Money they might be enabled to stand by these their Patrons in whatsoever Design they had to carry on And the better to facilitate the disbanding of the Army which they so much desired they resolved to draw off a considerable part of them for the Service of Ireland and to render the Work more acceptable voted Major General Skippon to command them joining the Earl of Warwick and Sir William Waller in Commission with Sir Thomas Fairfax to draw out such Forces as were willing to go to continue such as should be thought necessary for the Security of this Nation and to disband the rest The Army being well informed of the Design begun to consult how to prevent it and tho many of the Officers were prevailed with to engage by Advancements to higher Commands yet the major part absolutely resused The Commissioners of the Parliament having done what they could in prosecution of their Instructions ordered those who had engaged in the Irish Service to draw off from the Army which then lay at Saffron Walden and about Newmarket and to be quartered in the way to Ireland which done they returned to London with an Account of their Proceedings The Parliament being informed of what passed were highly displeased with the Carriage of the Army but the Prudence and Moderation of Major General Skippon in his Report of that Matter to the House much abated the heat of their Resentment Yet some menacing Expressions falling from some of them Lieutenant General Cromwell took the occasion to whisper me in the Ear saying These Men will never leave till the Army pull them out by the Ears Which Expression I should have resented if the state of our Affairs would have permitted In this Conjuncture five Regiments of Horse chose their Agitators who agreed upon a Petition to the Parliament to desire of them to proceed to settle the Affairs of the Kingdom to provide for the Arrears of the Army and to declare that they would not disband any of them till these things were done deputing William Allen afterwards known by the addition of Adjutant General Edward Sexby afterwards Col. Sexby and one Philips to present it which they did accordingly at the Bar of the House of Commons After the reading of the Petition some of the Members moved that the Messengers might be committed to the Tower and the Petition declared seditious but the House after a long Debate satisfied themselves to declare That it did not belong to the Souldiery to meddle with Civil Affairs nor to prepare or present any Petition to the Parliament without the Advice and Consent of their General to whom they ordered a Letter to be sent to desire for the future his Care therein with which acquainting the three Agents and requiring their Conformity thereunto they dismissed them But this not satisfying another Petition was carried on throughout the Army much to the same effect only they observed the Order of the Parliament in directing it to their General desiring him to present it The House having notice of this Combination against them from Col. Edward Harley one of their Members who had a Regiment in the Army expressed themselves highly dissatisfied therewith and some of them moved that the Petitioners might be declared Traitors alledging that they were Servants who ought to obey not capitulate Others were not wanting who resolved the securing of Lieutenant General Cromwell suspecting that he had under-hand given countenance to this Design but he being advertised of it went that Afternoon towards the Army so that they missed of him and were not willing to shew
extraordinary Guards but according to Law in case of actual Rebellion or Invasion 17. That it will please your Majesty to confirm your Leagues with the United Provinces and other Princes of the Protestant Religion that you may be the more capable to defend it against Popish Attempts which will bring much Reputation to your Majesty and encourage your Subjects to endeavour in a Parliamentary way to re-establish your Sifter and her Children and other Princes oppressed for the same Cause 18. That it will please your Majesty to clear by an Act of Parliament the Lord Kimbolton and the five Members of the House of Commons so that future Parliaments may be secured against the Consequence of such ill Examples 19. That it will please your Majesty of your Grace to pass an Act That the Peers created hereafter shall have no Place nor Voice in Parliament at least unless they are admitted thereunto by the Parliament These humble Requests being granted unto us by your Majesty we shall endeavour as we ought to regulate the Revenue of your Majesty and to increase it more and more in such sort that it shall support the Dignity Royal with Honour and Abundance beyond whatever the Subjects of this Kingdom have allowed to their Kings your Majesty's Predecessors We will put also the Town of Hull into such Hands as your Majesty shall please with the Approbation of the Parliament and will give a good Account of the Munitions of War and of the Magazine And to conclude we shall chearfully do our Endeavours to give unto your Majesty Testimony of our Affection Duty and Faithfulness to preserve and maintain your Royal Honour the Greatness and Safety of your Majesty and of your Posterity These Propositions were delivered to the King by the Commissioners of the Parliament but without Success he being resolved to steer another Course presuming he might obtain as good Terms as these if reduced to the last Extremity and that if his Arms succeeded according to his Hopes his Will might pass for a Law pursuant to the Opinion of those who thought no way so likely to render his Authority absolute as the making of a War upon his People And now the Fire began to break out in the West Sir John Stawell and others drawing a Party together in Somersetshire for the King where Captain Preston and others opposed them and about Martials Elm on PoldenHill some of those who declared for the Parliament were killed Whereupon the Parliament ordered some Horse to be raised which they sent down under the Command of the Earl of Bedford to protect their Friends in those Parts By which means the Enemy being forced to quit the Field betook themselves to the Castle of Sherburn in Dorsetshire which after a short Siege was surrendred to the Parliament Portsmouth was also secured for the Parliament by the young Lord Goring then Governour thereof but he afterwards declaring for the King it was besieged and reduced by their Forces and the Government of it entrusted to Sir William Lewis The King having set up his Standard at Nottingham the 24 th of August 1642. the Parliament thought themselves obliged to make some Preparations to defend themselves having discovered that he had sent abroad to procure what Assistance he could against his People particularly applying himself to the King of Denmark acquainting him that the two Houses to make their Work sure against him were endeavouring to prove Queen Ann a Whore and thereby illegitimate all her Issue earnestly pressing him in vindication of his injured Sister as well as in consideration of his own relation to him to send him Succours This Letter was intercepted and brought to the Parliament who by a Declaration protested that no such thing had ever entred into their Thoughts The King also endeavoured under pretence of Law to take away the Lives of Dr. Bastwick and Captain Robert Ludlow for acting in obedience to the Commands of the Parliament and had proceeded to their Execution had not the Parliament by a Message sent to Judg Heath and delivered to him on the Bench threatned a Retaliation by executing two for one in case they went on which put a stop to that Design The Parliament having passed the following Votes 1. That the King seduced by evil Counsel intends to levy War against the Parliament 2. That when the King doth levy War against the Parliament he breaks his Trust and doth that which tends to the Dissolution of the Parliament 3. That whosoever shall assist him in such a War are Traitors and shall be proceeded against accordingly prepared for the raising of an Army and published several Declarations inviting the good People of England to assist them with their Prayers Persons and Purses to carry on this War which they were necessitated to enter into for the Defence of the Religion Laws Liberties and Parliament of England The Protestation taken by both Houses and by them proposed to the People to stand by each other in their just and necessary Undertaking was readily and chearfully taken by many in London and elsewhere and divers hundreds on Horseback from the Counties of Buckingham Hartford and Essex came up with their several Petitions acknowledging the Care and Faithfulness of the Parliament in the discharge of their Trust and promising to stand by them in the carrying on of what they had declared for Declarations were also set forth by the two Houses encouraging the People to provide Horses and Arms and to bring in Plate and Money for their necessary Defence engaging the Credit of the Publick for the Reimbursement of what should be so advanced Which Contributions arising to the Value of a great Sum they declared their Intentions of raising a certain Number of Horse and Foot with a proportionable Train of Artillery and voted the Earl of Essex to be their General whom the King to take him off from the Publick Interest had lately made Chamberlain of his Houshold Upon the same account he had also preferred the Lord Say to be Master of the Court of Wards and Mr. Oliver St. Johns to be his Solicitor General But this could not corrupt the Earl of Essex nor hinder him from discharging vigorously that Trust which the Parliament had reposed in him Divers of the Lords and Commons engaged their Lives with him and under him Of the Lords the Earl of Bedford who was General of the Horse the Lord Peterborough the Lord Willoughby of Parham the Lord Denbigh the Lord St. John the Lord Rochford and of the Commons Mr. Hampden and Mr. Hollis who raised Regiments Sir Philip Stapylton who commanded the Earl of Essex's Guard and Mr. Oliver Cromwell who commanded a Troop of Horse and divers others The Earl of Northumberland who was High Admiral staid with the Parliament The Earl of Warwick whom they made Vice-Admiral kept the greatest part of the Fleet in obedience to them Things being brought to this Extremity the Nation was driven to a necessity of Arming in
I was obliged to walk about all Night which proved very cold by reason of a sharp Frost Towards Morning our Army having received a Reinforcement of Colonel Hampden's and several other Regiments to the number of about four thousand Men who had not been able to join us sooner was drawn up and about Day-light we saw the Enemy upon the top of the Hill so that we had time to bury our Dead and theirs too if we thought fit That Day was spent in sending Trumpeters to enquire whether such as were missing on both sides were killed or Prisoners Those of ours taken by the Enemy were the Lord St. Johns who was mortally wounded and declared at his Death a full Satisfaction and Cheerfulness to lay down his Life in so good a Cause Colonel Walton a Member of Parliament and Captain Austin an eminent Merchant in London of whom the last died through the hard Usage he received in the Goal at Oxford to which he was committed It was observed that the greatest Slaughter on our side was of such as ran away and on the Enemy's side of those that stood of whom I saw about threescore lie within the compass of threescore Yards upon the Ground whereon that Brigade fought in which the King's Standard was We took Prisoners the Earl of Lindsey General of the King's Army who died of his Wounds Sir Edward Stradling and Colonel Lunsford who were sent to Warwick-Castle That Night the Country brought in some Provisions but when I got Meat I could scarce eat it my Jaws for want of use having almost lost their natural Faculty Our Army was now refreshed and Masters of the Field and having received such a considerable Addition of Strength as I mentioned before we hoped that we should have pursued the Enemy who were marching off as fast as they could leaving only some Troops to face us upon the top of the Hill but instead of that for what reason I know not we marched to Warwick of which the Enemy having notice sent out a Party of Horse under Prince Rupert who on Tuesday Night fell into the Town of Keinton where our sick and wounded Souldiers lay and after they had cruelly murdered many of them returned to their Army The King as if Master of the Field marched to Banbury and summoned it and tho about a thousand of our Men were in the Town yet pretending it not to be sufficiently provided for a Siege they surrendred it to him From thence the King went to Oxford and our Army after some Refreshment at Warwick returned to London not like Men that had obtained a Victory but as if they had been beaten The Parliament ordered them to be recruited and about the same time sent to the King who was advanced with part of his Army to Maidenhead or thereabouts to assure him of their earnest Desire to prevent the effusion of more Blood and to procure a right Understanding between his Majesty and Them The King in his Answer which was brought by Sir Peter Killegrew professed to desire nothing more and that he would leave no means unattempred for the effecting thereof Upon which Answer the Parliament thought themselves secure at least against any sudden Attempt But the very next day the King taking the advantage of a very thick Mist marched his Army within half a Mile of Brentford before he was discovered designing to surprize our Train of Artillery which was then at Hammersmith the Parliament and City which he had certainly done if two Regiments of Foot and a small Party of Horse that lay at Brentford had not with unspeakable Courage opposed his Passage and stopt the March of his Army most part of the Afternoon During which time the Army that lay quarter'd in and about London drew together which some of them and particularly the Life-Guard had opportunity the sooner to do being at that very time drawn into Chelsey-Fields to muster where they heard the Vollies of Shot that passed between the Enemy and our little Party the Dispute continued for some Hours till our Men were encompassed quite round with Horse and Foot and then being over-power'd with Numbers on every side many brave and gallant Men having lost their Lives upon the Place the rest chusing rather to commit themselves to the Mercy of the Water than to those who were engaged in so treacherous a Design leap'd into the River where many Officers and private Souldiers were drowned and some taken Prisoners However the Enemies Design was by this means defeated and they discouraged from any farther Attempt that Night The Parliament also were alarm'd in such a manner with the Danger and Treachery of this Enterprize that they used all possible Diligence to bring their Forces together so that by eight of the Clock the next Morning we had a Body of twenty thousand Horse and Foot drawn up upon Turnham-green a Mile on this side Brentford Those of ours also that lay at Kingston were marching to us by the way of London The Enemy drew out a Party of theirs towards the Hill at Acton which we attacked and forced to retire in Disorder to their main Body And here again in the opinion of many judicious Persons we lost as at Edge-hill before a favourable opportunity of engaging the Enemy with great Advantage our Numbers exceeding theirs and their Reputation being utterly lost in the last Attempt But the Earl of Holland and others pretending to encourage our Army by their Presence made use of their time to disswade the Earl of Essex from fighting till the rest of our Forces arrived magnifying the Power of the Enemy to him and thereby giving them an opportunity to draw off their Forces and Artillery towards Kingston which they did as sast as they could leaving only a body of Horse to face us between the two Brentfords the rest having secured themselves by a timely Retreat Upon this Party some of our great Guns guarded by a Regiment of Foot were towards the Evening ordered to be fired The like Guard was drawn up in the High-ways to secure our Foot from any Attempt of Horse that might be made upon them which some Great Men who pretended a Resolution to fight in that Troop blamed charging the Advisers thereof with Rashness in hazarding them in such a Pound where they must inevitably be cut off if the Enemy should advance upon them But I fear this great care was only counterfeit and that those Persons well knew the Enemy to be in a flying and not in a charging Condition as it quickly appeared for our Cannon no sooner began to play upon them but they retired to the main Body of their Army the Rear of which had by that time recovered Hounslow-heath The Enemy took up their Head-quarters at Kingston where by the advantage of the Bridg over the Thames they hoped to be able tho inferiour in Number to defend themselves against a more numerous Army if they should be attacked and to put in execution
by storm with little loss on our side About this time a considerable Party in Kent rose and declared for the King which was dispersed by some Forces sent from London under the Command of Col. Brown whereby the Committee of Kent were encouraged and enabled to raise a good Body of Horse and Foot for the Service of the Parliament My Father apprehending that I was not likely to be relieved in three or four Months in case I were besieged and knowing that the Enemies were Masters of the Field in those Parts and that I was about twenty Miles from any of our Garisons procured an Order from the Parliament impowering me to slight the Castle of Warder and to draw off the Garison if I saw cause which Care of theirs quickned my Zeal to their Service and put me upon endeavouring as well as I could to prepare for the worst To that end being in want of Ammunition I went to Southampton where I bought what they could spare and returned to the Castle where being in great want of Money having always paid the Country People for whatsoever I had from them I made a seasonable Discovery of Money Plate and Jewels to the value of about twelve hundred Pounds walled up by the Enemy Part of this Sum I expended upon the Garison and gave an account thereof to the Parliament The Enemy was now beginning to draw about us yet would not actually besiege us before they had endeavoured to reduce us by Treachery To this end one Capt. White a Papist of Dorsetshire having found a Boy at Shaftsbury fit for the purpose gave him such Instructions as he thought fit He was not above twelve Years of Age and yet as I was afterwards informed had already attempted to poison his Grandfather This Boy he sent to the Castle to desire of me to be admitted to turn the Spit or perform any other servile Employment to which I consented his Youth freeing him as I thought from any Suspicion About three or four days after a Party of the Enemies Horse appeared before the Castle and making a great shout the Cattle belonging to the Garison consisting of about forty Cows and one Bull which they all followed ran away at the Noise Some of us endeavouring to turn them the Enemy fired so thick upon us that one of my Souldiers and my self were forced to betake our selves to a Tree for shelter where my Souldier levelling his Musquet through a hole of the Tree which was about a Foot in diameter a Ball from the Enemy grazing upon the upper part of the Hole and thereby forced downwards shot the young Man through the Hand and me into the Leg which obliged me to keep my bed for two days A great Wall-gun called a Harquebuz de Croq being fired from the top of the Castle burst in the middle At night as this Boy was sitting with the Guard by the fire some of them conceived a Jealousy of him and strictly examining him about the cause of his coming he affirmed it to be because the Master whom he served had used him cruelly for speaking some Words in favour of the Parliament With which Answer they not being satisfied threatned that unless he would confess the truth they would hang him immediately and to afright him tied a piece of Match about his Neck and began to pull him up on a Halbert Upon this he promised to confess all if they would spare his Life and thereupon acknowledged that Capt. White had hired him to number the Men and Arms in the Castle to poison the Arms the Well and the Beer to blow up the Ammunition to steal away one of my best Horses to carry him back to them for which Service he was to receive half a Crown confessing that he had accordingly poisoned two Cannon and the Harquebuz that was broken but pretended that his Conscience would not give him leave to poison the Water and the Beer The great Guns were made serviceable again by oiling and making a fire in them The Poison he used was of a red Colour and made up in the shape of a Candle with part of which he had rubbed three of our Guns After this Deliverance we got in some Cattle for our Provision but the Enemy drawing into the Villages about us soon prevented us from bringing in any more Yet we ventured one Morning knowing it to be Market-day to draw out between forty and fifty Pikes and Firelocks with which we went about a quarter of a Mile from the Castle upon the Road that leads to Shaftsbury According to our expectation the Market-people came with Carts and Horses loaded with Corn and other Provisions which we seized and sent to the Castle paying for it the Market-price at which they were not a little surprized By this means we furnished our selves with three Months more Provision than we had before which we had no sooner taken in when the Enemy drew round the Castle and from that time blocked us up more closely raising a Breastwork by casting up of Earth about a Tree which we had cut down on the side of a Hill from whence they commanded the Gate of the Castle the only way that we had to sally out upon occasion and shot several of our Men amongst the rest my Gunner as they fetched in Wood. The Person that commanded the Party which lay before us was one Capt. Christopher Bowyer of Dorsetshire who to get us out of the Castle proposed to grant us what terms we desired to which we replied that we designed to discharge our Duty by keeping it as long as we could Upon this he threatned us with great Numbers of Horse and Foot attended with several pieces of Cannon which he said were drawing towards us boasting of the Justice of his Cause and representing to us the Greatness of our Danger and the inevitable Ruin that must ensue upon our Obstinacy But Capt. Bean who at that time served as Cannoneer ours being shot as I mentioned before told him that we were not at all afrighted with his Menaces but upon confidence of the Justice of our Cause were resolved to defend the Place to the utmost and warning him to look to himself fired a Gun with which he wounded him in the Heel and it being unsafe for any to carry him off by day his Wound gangreened before night and he died about two days after In the room of Capt. Bowyer one Col. Barnes was sent by the King to command the Forces that lay before us he was Brother to an honest Gentleman who was Chaplain to my Father for whose sake and because he had the Reputation of being an old Souldier a thing much valued by the Parliament at that time my Father had procured him a considerable Employment in their Service in which he continued as long as their constant Pay lasted but that failing he ran away to the King Upon his coming he raised a Fort within Musquet-shot of us on the Hill that
intended to have these included I should have particularly named them I told him that it was needless every Particular being included in the Vniversal and that if I had suspected such Usage I would have died before I would have delivered the Castle them He said that if I disliked the Conditions they would withdraw and leave me as they found me I replied that seeing they were now acquainted with my Necessities that Proposition was as unworthy and disingenuous as their Interpretation of the Articles and that if they proceeded to Extremities against the two Souldiers because the Power was at present in their hands I did not doubt that God would give me an opportunity to resent it and if not I was fully assured that He would do it himself In the Afternoon I was desired to go to Sir Francis Doddington's Quarters which were at a Gentleman's House about half a Mile from the Castle to which place I was accompanied by one Lieutenant Elsing Brother to the Clerk of the Parliament of that name with whom I had a free Debate concerning the Justice of our Cause and the Evil of their Undertaking especially of those amongst them who having been sent by the Parliament against the Rebels in Ireland had returned and drawn their Swords against those that had raised them which was his case He was so convinced of the truth of what I said that he took the first opportunity he could find to return to us and to that end went to the Garison of Glocester where he was employed and behaved himself so well that he was advanced to the Command of a Lieutenant Colonel in a Regiment of Foot in which Capacity he went afterwards into Ireland where he lost his Life against the Rebels Having received notice that a Council of War was sitting upon the two Souldiers before-mentioned and also that they endeavoured to find some Pretext to take away the Life of Mr. Balsum our Minister I sent to admonish them to be careful to preserve themselves from the Guilt of innocent Blood putting them in mind that if they proceeded to such a breach of their Faith they must expect to account for it at another time Upon this Message one Capt. Bishop observing them to persist in their bloody Intentions withdrew from the Council and soon after from the Party But Sir Francis ' Doddington and Capt. Leicester so ordered the matter at the Council that the two Souldiers were condemned and most persidiously executed They also discovered all imaginable Malice against Mr. Balsum but finding no colour to proceed against him in this publick way they sell upon a more secret and baser Method to take away his Life to that end sending three Men who broke in upon him whilst he was at Prayer but he rising up and looking steddily upon them observing them to stand still demanded of them the cause of their coming who standing some time with Horror and Confusion in their Faces after some Conference with each other confessed to him that they were sent to destroy him but that they found a Superiour Power restraining them and convincing them of the Wickedness of their Intentions offering to convey him out of the hands of his Enemies or to do any thing else for him that he should desire He thanked them for their Kindness and being unwilling they should hazard themselves for his sake desired only some sew Necessaries the Weather being cold and he in great want which they readily furnished him with Soon after he was carried away to Salisbury and the rest of the Officers and Souldiers of our Garison sent to Oxford contrary to the express Words of the third Article of our Capitulation the Enemy pretending to a positive Order of the King for so doing Sir Francis Doddington having dispatched some Affairs in the Country took me with him to Winchester and in our way thither shewed me a Letter from Sir Ralph Hopton desiring him to use all means possible to draw me to their Party which he endeavoured by making use of the best Arguments he could to prove the Justice of their Cause the Probability of their Success and the Inconsiderableness of our Strength in all Parts accompanying them with all the Incouragements imaginable The first Night of our Journey we lay at one Mr. Awbery's of Chalk where we met with Dr. Earl and young Mr. Gataker whom he desired to assist him in his design to convert me Mr. Gataker rather chid than argued with me Dr. Earl accused the Parliament of endeavouring the Destruction of Learning which I desiring him to make appear he told me that by abolishing Episcopacy we took away all Encouragement to it for that Men would not send their Sons to the University had they not some hopes that they might attain to that Preferment To this I replied that it would be much more honest for such Men to train up their Children at the Plow whereby they might be certainly provided with a Livelihood than to spend their Time and Money to advance them to an Office pretended to be spiritual and instituted for spiritual Ends upon such a sordid Principle and Consideration Sir Francis as I conceived ashamed of the Doctor 's Discourse put an end to the Conversation The next day we went to Salisbury where tho multitudes of People were in the Streets and in the Inn where I was lodged no Person offered me the least Incivility tho I took the liberty in my Chamber to maintain the Justice of our Cause in the Presence of forty or fifty of the Town Mr. John Penruddock High Sheriff of the County having confined Mr. Balsum to the County-Goal and sent to him to prepare himself to die assuring him that he was to be executed in a short time came to me and with many other Expressions of Kindness desired me that in case of any Extremity I would send to him assuring me that he wished me as well as his own Children and promising that he would ride Night and Day to serve me This poor Gentleman was so unhappy during his Shrievalty to have two of his Nephews presuming upon their Uncle's Interest and pressing through his Guards killed by them he having given Order that none should be permitted to pass without a strict Examination In our way to Winchester one Mr. Fisher an Acquaintance of mine then an Officer of the King 's saluted me and enquiring how I did I answered him As well as one could be in my condition he thereupon replying Why I hope they use you civilly do they not Yes said I very civilly Sir Francis Doddington over-hearing him took it so ill that he caused him to be immediately disarmed telling him that he was too bold to call in question the Usage of his Prisoner Being arrived at Winchester I staid at an Inn till a private Lodging was provided for Sir Francis at whose Quarters according to his Promise I lodged whilst in his Custody Most of the Officers about the Town came to me at
see they were not at liberty to ravage the Country I drew out my Troop and faced them upon which they sent out what Horse they had to skirmish with us amongst whom observing one Mr. William Neale who was of my Acquaintance and formerly my School-fellow I called to him telling him that I was sorry to see him there but since it was so I offered to exchange a shot with him and riding up to that purpose he retreated towards his Party where making a stand he called to me to come on which I did but he retreated again till he came within the shelter of their Foot and one with him dismounting fired a Musquet at me loaded with a brace of Bullets of which one went into the Belly of my Horse the other struck upon my Breast-plate within half an Inch of the bottom of it my Horse carried me off but died that Night The Necessities of my Men being great and this Service not immediately belonging to me I thought it my Duty to return into Wiltshire where I might expect to be better supplied than in Hampshire to which County I had no relation therefore sending to Col. Norton to make provision for the Service at Winchester I marched with fourscore Horse to Salisbury which Town having triumphed upon our Defeat I thought most proper to supply us with what we wanted And to that end having procured a List of the disaffected in the Town I required them without delay to collect amongst themselves five hundred Pounds for the recruiting and paying of my Troop who had not received any Pay since they came out The Town made many Excuses and at last prevailed with me to take two hundred Pounds with which I paid and recruited my Troop and having disposed them in the best manner I could for the Service of the Country I went to London to compleat my Regiment and to furnish it with Arms and all such things as were necessary In the mean time Sir Francis Doddington had caused the two Men that he had taken at Warder to be hanged upon pretence that they ran away from him and having brought some Pieces of Cannon before Woodhouse made a Breach so considerable in the Wall that the Besieged were necessitated to surrender at Mercy but they found very little for they were presently stripp'd of all that was good about them and Sir Francis Doddington being informed by one Bacon who was Parson of the Parish that one of the Prisoners had threatned to stick in his skirts as he call'd it for reading the Common-Prayer struck the Man so many Blows upon the Head and with such Force that he broke his Skull and caused him to fall into a Swound from which he was no sooner recovered but he was picked out to be one of the twelve which Sir Francis had granted to Sir William St. Leger to be hanged in lieu of six Irish Rebels who had been executed at Warum by Col. Sydenham in pursuance of an Order from the Parliament to give them no Quarter These twelve being most of them Clothiers were hanged upon the same Tree but one of them breaking his Halter desired that what he had suffered might be accepted or else that he might fight against any two for his Life notwithstanding which they caused him to be hanged up again and had proceeded much farther had not Sir Ralph Hopton sent Orders to put a stop to their Butcheries The King having ranged about for some time thought fit to return towards Oxford and being joined by some Foot from thence skirmished with Sir William Waller's Army at Cropredy-bridg wherein little hurt being done on either side the King marched into the West in order to a conjunction with his Forces in those Parts commanded by Prince Maurice When I first took Arms under the Parliament in Defence of the Rights and Liberties of my Country I did not think that a Work so good and so necessary would have been attended with so great Difficulties but finding by Experience the strong Combination of Interests at home and abroad against them the close Conjunction of the Popish and Prelatical Parties in opposition to them what vast Numbers depended upon the King for Preferments or Subsistence how many of the Nobility and Gentry were contented to serve his Arbitrary Designs if they might have leave to insult over such as were of a lower Order and adding to all this the great Corruption of the Nation I became convinced of my former Error and began now more to wonder that they found so many Friends to assist them in their just and lawful Undertaking than I had done before at the Opposition they met with In these Thoughts I was every day more confirmed by observing the strange Divisions amongst our own Party every one striving to enlarge his own Power in a factious and ambitious way not caring tho thereby they obstructed and ruined the Cause it self Of this I had some Experience in my own Particular as well as others of a much greater Figure than my self for tho my Country-men had in my Absence prevailed with the Parliament to make me Sheriff of the County of Wilts and engaged themselves to raise a Regiment for me yet because I refused to deliver up my former Commission received from Sir William Waller and to take a new one from the Earl of Essex tho that I had from Sir William obliged me to obey the said Earl as much as one given me immediately from himself those of my Country-men who were of the Faction of the Earl of Essex obstructed me in the raising of my Regiment keeping from me those Arms that were bought to that end countenancing my Major for whom I had procured that Employment against me and detaining our Pay from us so that I and my Men had nothing to keep us faithful to the Cause but our Affection to it Yet were we not wanting to improve every Opportunity in the best manner we could to the Service of the Country for having notice that a Garison was put into the Lord Sturton's House and another into that of Sir Ralph Hopton at Witham I marched in the Night first to Sturton-house which was defended against us till each of us carrying a Fagot to one of the Gates wherewith we set them on fire together with one of the Rooms of the Castle those that kept it slipped out at a back-door through the Garden into the Park which they did undiscovered by reason of the Darkness of the Night Having rendred that Place untenable we hastned to Witham where we found in the Park near a hundred Cattle belonging to Sir Ralph Hopton which served for the Paiment of my Souldiers Those who were within desired to treat and demanded liberty to return home which was granted upon condition to deliver up their Arms and to engage to keep no Garison in that Place for the time to come Being upon my Return I took with me my Hangings Pictures best Beds and other things which
their Teeth since they could do no more The Debate continued till late in the Night and the Sense of the House was that they should be required to forbear the prosecution of the said Petition but when the House wearied with long sitting was grown thin Mr. Denzil Hollis taking that opportunity drew up a Resolution upon his Knee declaring the Petition to be seditious and those Traitors who should endeavour to promote it after such a day and promising Pardon to all that were concerned therein if they should desist by the time limited Some of us fearing the Consequence of these Divisions expressed our Dissatisfaction to it and went out which gave them occasion to pass two or three very sharp Votes against the Proceedings of the Army The Agitators of the Army sensible of their Condition and knowing that they must fall under the Mercy of the Parliament unless they could secure themselves from their Power by prosecuting what they had begun and fearing that those who had shewed themselves so forward to close with the King out of Principle upon any Terms would now for their own Preservation receive him without any or rather put themselves under his Protection that they might the better subdue the Army and reduce them to Obedience by Force sent a Party of Horse under the Command of Cornet Joyce on the 4 th of June 1647. with an Order in Writing to take the King out of the Hands of the Commissioners of Parliament The Cornet having placed Guards about Holmby-house sent to acquaint the King with the occasion of his Coming and was admitted into his Bed-chamber where upon Promise that the King should be used civilly and have his Servants and other Conveniences continued to him he obtained his Consent to go with him But whilst Cornet Joyce was giving Orders concerning the King's Removal the Parliament's Commissioners took that occasion to discourse with the King and perswaded him to alter his Resolution which Joyce perceiving at his Return put the King in mind of his Promise acquainting him that he was obliged to execute his Orders whereupon the King told him that since he had passed his Word he would go with him and to that end descending the Stairs to take Horse the Commissioners of the Parliament being with him Col. Brown and Mr. Crew who were two of them publickly declared that the King was forced out of their hands and so returned with an account of what had been done to the Parliament The King's Officers who waited on him were continued and the chief Officers of the Army began publickly to own the Design pretending thereby to keep the private Souldiers for they would no longer be called Common Souldiers from running into greater Extravagancies and Disorders Col. Francis Russell and others attending on the King became soon converted by the Splendor of his Majesty and Sir Robert Pye a Colonel in the Army supplied the Place of a Querry riding bare before him when he rode abroad so that the King began to promise to himself that his Condition was alatered for the better and to look upon the Independent Interest as more consisting with Episcopacy than the Presbyterian for that it could subsist under any Form which the other could not do and therefore largely promised Liberty to the Independent Party being fully perswaded how naturally his Power would revive upon his Restitution to the Throne and how easy it would be for him to break through all such Promises and Engagements upon pretence that he was under a Force The principal Officers of the Army made it so much their business to get the good Opinion of the King that Whalley being sent from them with Orders to use all means but Constraint to cause him to return to Holmby and the King refusing Whalley was contented to bring him to the Army Yet in the mean time a Charge of High Treason was drawn up by the Army against eleven Members of the House of Commons who were Mr. Denzil Hollis Sir Philip Stapylton Sir John Clotworthy Serjeant Glyn Mr. Anthony Nichols Mr. Walter Long Sir William Lewis Col. Edward Harly Commissary Copley Col. Massey and Sir John Maynard for betraying the Cause of the Parliament endeavouring to break and destroy the Army with other Particulars This Charge they accompanied with a Declaration shewing the Reasons of what they had done affirming that they were obliged by their Duty so to do as they tendred the preservation of the publick Cause and securing the good People of England from being a Prey to their Enemies The great end of this Charge of Treason being rather to keep these Members from using their Power with the Parliament in opposition to the Proccedings of the Army than from any Design to proceed capitally against them they resolved rather to withdraw themselves voluntarily than to put the Parliament or Army to any farther Trouble or their Persons to any more Hazard By these means the Army in which there were too many who had no other Design but the Advancement of themselves having made the Parliament the Scots and the City of London their Enemies thought it convenient to enlarge their Concessions to the King giving his Chaplains leave to come to him and to officiate in their way which had been denied before Whilst this Design was on foot I went down to their Quarters at Maidenhead to visit the Officers where Commissary General Ireton suspecting that these things might occasion Jealousies of them in me and others of their Friends in Parliament desired me to be assured of their stedfast Adherence to the Publick Interest and that they intended only to dispense with such things as were not material in order to quiet the restless Spirits of the Cavaliers till they could put themselves into a condition of serving the People effectually I could not approve of their Practices but many of the chief of them proceeding in the way they had begun gave out that the Intentions of the Officers and Souldiers in the Army were to establish his Majesty in his just Rights The News of this being brought to the Queen and Prince of Wales who were in France they dispatched Sir Edward Ford Brother-in-law to Commissary General Ireton into England to found the Designs of the Army and to promote an Agreement between the King and them Soon after which Mr. John Denham was sent over on the like Errand Sir John Barkley also upon his Return to the Queen from Holland where he had been ordered to condole the Death of the Prince of Orange came into England by the same Order and to the same Purpose It was in his Instructions to endeavour to procure a Pass for Mr. John Ashburnham to come over to assist him in his Negotiation which with many other Particulars relating to this Business I have seen in a Manuscript written by Sir John Barkley himself and left in the Hands of a Merchant at Geneva Being at Diepe in order to embark for England he met with Mr.
was Live and die Live and die but when Southwark had let in part of the Army and joined with them they returned to the former Cry of Treat Treat to which the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council consenting were ready to admit the Army as Friends being not able to oppose them as Enemies and afterwards to attend those Members who had retired to the Army being in all about a hundred to the Parliament Having resumed our Places in the House as many of the eleven Members as had returned to act immediately withdrew and Pointz with other reduced Officers who had endeavoured to form a Body against the Army fled But we had other Difficulties to encounter for tho that Vote by which the Petition of the Army was declared seditious and those guilty of Treason who should prosecute the same after such a day was razed out of the Journal yet by reason that the bulk of the opposite Party was left still in the House the Militia of London could not be changed without much Difficulty and some other Votes of great Consequence could not be altered at all However the Parliament appointed a Committee to inquire into the late Force that was put upon them who having made their Report Sir John Maynard was impeached and Recorder Glyn with Mr. Clement Walker and others imprisoned A day or two after the Restitution of the Parliament the Army marched through the City without offering the least Violence promising to shew themselves faithful to the Publick Interest but their Actions furnished occasion to suspect them particularly their discountenancing the Adjutators who had endured the Heat of the day the free Access of all Cavaliers to the King at Hampton-Court and the publick Speeches made for the King by the great Officers of the Army in a Council of War held at Putney some of that Party taking the same liberty in the House of Commons where one of them publickly said That he thought God had hitherto blasted our Counsels because we had dealt so severely with the Cavaliers These things caused many in the Army who thought themselves abused and cheated to complain to the Council of Adjutators against the Intimacy of Sir John Barkley and Mr. Ashburnham with the chief Officers of the Army affirming that the doors of Cromwell and Ireton were open to them when they were shut to those of the Army Cromwell was much offended with these Discourses and acquainted the King's Party with them telling Mr. Ashburnham and Sir John Barkley that if he were an honest Man he had said enough of the Sincerity of his Intentions and if he were not that nothing was enough and therefore conjured them as they tendred the King's Service not to come so frequently to his Quarters but to send privately to him the Suspicion of him being grown so great that he was afraid to lie in them himself This had no effect upon Mr. Ashburnham who said that he must shew them the necessity of complying with the King from their own Disorders About three Weeks after the Army entred London the Scots prevailed with the Parliament to address themselves again to the King which was performed in the old Propositions of Newcastle some Particulars relating to the Scots only excepted The King advising with some about him concerning this Matter it was concluded to be unsafe for him to close with the Enemies of the Army whilst he was in it Whereupon the King refused the Articles and desired a Personal Treaty The Officers of the Army having seen his Answer before it was sent seemed much satisfied with it and promised to use their utmost Endeavours to procure a Personal Treaty Cromwell Ireton and many of their Party in the House pressing the King's Desires with great Earnestness wherein contrary to their Expectations they found a vigorous Opposition from such as had already conceived a Jealousy of their private Agreement with the King and were now confirmed in that Opinion and the Suspicions of them grew to be so strong that they were accounted Betrayers of the Cause and lost almost all their Friends in the Parliament The Army that lay then about Putney were no less dissatisfied with their Conduct of which they were daily informed by those that came to them from London so that the Adjutators began to change their Discourse and to complain openly in Council both of the King and the Malignants about him saying that since the King had rejected their Proposals they were not engaged any further to him and that they were now to consult their own Safety and the Publick Good that having the Power devolved upon them by the Decision of the Sword to which both Parties had appealed and being convinced that Monarchy was inconsistent with the Prosperity of the Nation they resolved to use their Endeavours to reduce the Government of England to the Form of a Commonwealth These Proceedings strook so great a Terror into Cromwell and Ireton that they thought it necessary to draw the Army to a general Rendezvouz pretending to engage them to adhere to their former Proposals to the King but indeed to bring the Army into subjection to them and their Party that so they might make their bargain by them designing if they could carry this point at the Rendezvouz to dismiss the Council of Adjutators to divide the Army and to send those to the most remote Places who were most opposite to them retaining near them such only as were fit for their purpose This Design being discovered by the Adjutators amongst whom Col. Rainsborough had the principal Interest they used all possible Industry to prevent the general Muster which was appointed to be at Ware supposing the Separation thereupon intended to be contrary to the Agreement made upon taking the King out of the hands of the Parliament and destructive to the Ends which they thought it their Duty to promote In the mean time Cromwell having acquainted the King with his Danger protesting to him that it was not in his Power to undertake for his Security in the Place where he was assuring him of his real Service and desiring the Lord to deal with him and his according to the Sincerity of his Heart towards the King prepared himself to act his part at the General Rendezvouz The King being doubtful what to do in this Conjuncture was advised by some to go privately to London and appear in the House of Lords to which it was answered That the Army being Masters of the City and Parliament would undoubtedly seize the King there and if there should be any Blood shed in his Defence he would be accused of beginning a new War Others counselled him to secure his Person by quitting the Kingdom Against which the King objected that the Rendezvouz being appointed for the next Week he was not willing to quit the Army till that was passed because if the superiour Officers prevailed they would be able to make good their Engagement if not they must apply themselves to him
from a Conjunction than to oppose them when united it being highly probable that the first things they would fall upon after their Union would be such as were most taking with the People in order to oblige them to assist in the disbanding of the Army under pretence of lesiening their Taxes and then if the Army should in any manner signify a Dislike of their Proceedings they would be esteemed by the Majority of the People to be Disturbers of the publick Peace and accused of designing nothing save their own particular Advantages The King's Party in Colchester expecting to be included in the Peace which was treating between him and the Parliament held out to the utmost but being in extreme want of Provisions and destitute of all hopes of Relief since the Defeat of the Scots they were sorced to surrender on the 28 th of August 1648. upon Articles whereby some of the principal of them being Prisoners at Discretion the Court Martial assembled and condemned Sir Charles Lucas Sir George Lisle and Sir Barnard Gascoin to die the last of whom being a Foreigner was pardoned and the other two were shot to death according to the Sentence The Lord Goring and the Lord Capel were sent Prisoners to London and committed to the Tower by an Order of the Parliament The Two Houses finding things in this posture hastened the Departure of their Commissioners to the Isle of Wight with Powers and Instructions to treat with the King who principally insisted on that Article concerning Bishops whom he accounted to be by Divine Right or rather essentially necessary to the Support of Arbitrary Power whereupon Ministers of each side were appointed to dispute touching that Subject in order to satisfy the King's Conscience But the Army having now wonderfully dispersed their Enemies on every part began to consider how to secure themselves and the Common Cause against those Counsels that were carried on in opposition to them under pretext of making Peace with the King and to that end drew up a Declaration at St. Albans dated the 16 th of November 1648. shewing that the Grounds of their first Engagement was to bring Delinquents to Justice that the King was guilty of the Blood shed in the first and second War and that therefore they could not trust him with the Government This Remonstrance they presented to the Parliament on the 20 th of November 1648. The King and Parliament seeing this Cloud beginning to gather endeavoured by all means possible to hasten their Treaty to a Conclusion The Army also were not wanting to fortify themselves against that Shock sending some of their own Number to those Members of Parliament whom they esteemed most faithful to the Common Cause to invite them down to the Army after they should in a publick manner have expressed their Dissatisfaction to the Proceedings of those who had betrayed the Trust reposed in them by the good People of England and declared that finding it impossible to be any farther serviceable in Parliament they had resolved to repair to the Army in order toprocure their Assistance in settling the Government of the Nation upon a just Foundation At a Meeting of some Members of Parliament with the said Officers from the Army it was resolved That tho the way proposed by them might be taken in case all other means failed yet seeing there was more than a sufficient Number of Members in the Parliament to make a House who were most affectionate to the Publick Cause it would be more proper for the Army to relieve them from those who rendred them'useless to the Publick Service thereby preserving the Name and Place of the Parliament than for the Members thereof to quit their Stations wherein they were appointed to serve and to leave the Civil Authority in the hands of those who would be ready to fall in with any Power that would attempt to frustrate what should be agreed on by them and the Army In prosecution of this Result the Army drew to Colebrook from whence Commissary General Ireton sent me word that now he hoped they should please me which I must acknowledg they did by the way which they were taking not from any particular Advantages that I expected from it except an equal share of Security with other Men but that the People of England might be preserved in their just Rights from the Oppressions of violent Men the Question in dispute between the King's Party and us being as I apprehended Whether the King should govern as a God by his Will and the Nation be governed by Force like Beasts or whether the People should be governed by Laws made by themselves and live under a Government derived from their own Consent Being fully perswaded that an Accommodation with the King was unsafe to the People of England and unjust and wicked in the nature of it The former besides that it was obvious to all Men the King himself had proved by the Duplicity of his dealing with the Parliament which manifestly appeared in his own Papers taken at the Battel of Naseby and elsewhere Of the latter I was convinced by the express Words of God's Law That Blood desileth the Land and the Land cannot be cleansed of the Blood that is shed therein but by the Blood of him that shed it Numbers Chap. 35. v. 33. And therefore I could not consent to the Counsels of those who were contented to leave the Guilt of so much Blood upon the Nation and thereby to draw down the just Vengeance of God upon us all when it was most evident that the War had been occasioned by the Invasion of our Rights and open Breach of our Laws and Constitution on the King's part The Commissioners that were appointed to manage the Treaty with the King returned with the King's Answer containing neither a positive Grant nor an absolute Denial As to the Bishops he still retained his Principle of their Divine Right and therefore declared that he could not dispense with the Abolition of them but for present Satisfaction hoping by giving ground to gain a better opportunity to serve them he consented that those who had bought their Lands should have a Lease of them for some Years and for satisfaction for the Blood that had been shed he was willing that six should be excepted but withal Care was taken that they should be such as were far enough from the reach of Justice By another Article the Militia was to remain in the Parliament for ten Years thereby implying if I mistake not that the Right of granting it was in the King and consequently that we had done him wrong in contending with him for it By such ways and means did some Men endeavour to abuse the Nation Some of our Commissioners who had been with the King pleaded in the House for a Concurrence with him as if they had been imployed by him tho others with more Ingenuity acknowledged that they would not advise an Agreement upon those Terms were it not
Waller had earnestly solicited for this Employment of Lieutenant General of the Horse in Ireland and that the General not thinking it convenient to entrust him with it yet unwilling he should know so much perswaded him to believe that the Parliament had over-ruled him therein The Parliament then passed an Act constituting Commissioners for the Administration of Civil Affairs in Ireland and agreed upon Instructions of sufficient Latitude for them to act by in particular to lay a Tax on that Nation not exceeding the Sum of thirty thousand Pounds To give order for the distribution of Justice as near to the Rules of the Law as the nencessity of the Times would permit and to consider of a Method of Proceeding in the Courts of Justice there to be offered to the Parliament for their Approbation The Commissioners were those that I mentioned before only Major Salloway desiring to be excused from that Service Mr. Miles Corbet a Member of Parliament was inserted in his room Some Suspicions there were at this time that the Presbyterian Party in England especially those about London entertained a private Correspondence with their Brethren in Scotland where tho that Nation had received a great Blow at Dunbar yet it was resolved that their King should be crowned upon his taking the Solemn League and Covenant and obliging himself thereby to endeavour the extirpation of Popery and Episcopacy This Action was performed with all the Circumstances and Solemnities that could be used in the Condition of their Affairs The Nobility swore Fidelity to him and the Marquiss of Argile put the Crown upon his Head with his own Hands And now having a King like other Nations and a Covenanting King too they doubted not of Success under his Conduct presuming by this means most certainly to retrieve all their Losses and Reputation But the Parliament who had removed one King was not frighted with the setting up of another and therefore proceeded in the Settlement of their Affairs both Military and Civil and to that end ordered a thousand Pounds to be advanced to the Commissioners of the Civil Affairs in Ireland directing them to receive also a thousand Pounds yearly They like wise gave Orders for the payment of a thousand Pounds to me by way of Advance upon my Pay as Lieutenant General of the Horse that I might be enabled to furnish my self with Tents Horses and other things necessary for that Service The Committee of Irish Affairs raised also a Troop consisting of a hundred Horse to accompany me and armed them with Back Breast Head-pieces Pistols and Musquetoons with two Months Pay advanced The Lord Deputy Ireton's Lady Daughter to General Cromwell prepared to go over with us to her Husband who had removed his Head-quarters to Waterford partly because he thought that Place most convenient for the Service as the Enemy then lay and partly from some Disgust conceived against Dublin where the Inhabitants had extorted unreasonable Rates for their Provisions and other Necessaries sold to our Army at their Arrival there for the Relief of Ireland Therefore resolving to pass through South Wales I hastned out of Town before the rest of my Company in order to take leave of my Friends in the West and from thence going to Glamorganshire I stayed there with some Relations of my Wife till the rest of the Company came down Before I left the Parliament some Difference happening between the Countess of Rutland and the Lord Edward Howard of Escrick Col. Gell who was a great Servant of the Countess informed Major General Harison that the Lord Edward Howard being a Member of Parliament and one of the Committee at Haberdashers-Hall had taken divers Bribes for the excusing Delinquents from Sequestration and easing them in their Compositions and that in particular he had received a Diamond Hatband valued at eight hundred Pounds from one Mr. Compton of Sussex concerning which he could not prevail with any to inform the Parliament Major General Harrison being a Man of severe Principles and zealous for Justice especially against such as betrayed the Publick Trust reposed in them assured him that if he could satisfy him that the Fact was as he affirmed he would not fail to inform the Parliament of it and upon Satisfaction received from the Colonel touching that Matter said in Parliament That tho the Honour of every Member was dear to him and of that Gentleman in particular naming the Lord Howard because he had so openly owned the Interest of the Commonwealth as to decline his Peerage and to sit upon the foot of his Election by the People yet he loved Justice before all other things looking upon it to be Honour of the Parliament and the Image of God upon them that therefore he durst not refuse to lay this Matter before them tho he was very desirous that the said Lord might clear himself of the Accusation The Parliament having received his Information referred the Consideration of the Matter to a Committee where it was fully examined and notwithstanding all the Art of Counsel learned in the Law who are very skilful at putting a good Appearance upon a bad Cause and all the Friends the Lord Howard could make so just and equitable a Spirit then governed that the Committee having represented the Matter to the Parliament as they found it to be they discharged him from being a Member of Parliament sent him to the Tower and fined him ten thousand Pounds About the beginning of January the Commissioners of Parliament the Lady Ireton and my self met at Milford in order to embark for Ireland three Men of War lying ready for us in the Harbour with several Ships for the Transportation of my Troop with our Goods and Horses We came to Milford on Saturday and on Monday following the Lady Ireton and the Commissioners set sail with fair Wind leaving the Guinea-Frigat for me and to be Convoy to those Vessels that were appointed to transport the Horse and other things of which but one could be ready time enough to set sail with them my Troop being not yet mustered The next day Mr. Lort by order of the Committee of Parliament mustered my Troop so that I began to ship them on Wednesday in the Afternoon and on Thursday Morning they being all embarked we set sail and tho the Weather proved very calm we arrived the next day under the Fort of Duncannon near Waterford where I understood that the Lady Ireton and the Commissioners had landed there the day before and were gone to the Lord Deputy at Waterford Immediately after my Arrival I went to wait on the Lord Deputy Ireton who was much surprized at my landing so soon after the rest of the Company and ordered good Quarters to be assigned to my Troop that they might be refreshed before they entred upon Duty for it was observed that the English Horses were not so fit for Service till they had been seasoned for some time with the Air and Provisions of that Country