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
themselves as well as him and the Publick Cause affirming his Intentions to be directed entirely to the Good of the People and professing his Readiness to sacrifice his Life in their Service I freely acknowledged my former Dissatisfaction with him and the rest of the Army when they were in Treaty with the King whom I looked upon as the only Obstruction to the Settlement of the Nation and with their Actions at the Rendezvouz at Ware where they shot a Souldier to Death and imprisoned divers others upon the account of that Treaty which I conceived to have been done without Authority and for sinister ends yet since they had manifested themselves convinced of those Errors and declared their Adherence to the Commonwealth tho too partial a hand was carried both by the Parliament and themselves in the distribution of Preferments and Gratuities and too much Severity exercised against some who had formerly been their Friends and as I hoped would be so still with other things that I could not entirely approve I was contented patiently to wait for the accomplishment of those good things which I expected till they had overcome the Difficulties they now laboured under and suppressed their Enemies that appeared both at home and abroad against them hoping that then their Principles and Interest would lead them to do what was most agreeable to the Constitution of a Commonwealth and the Good of Mankind He owned my Dissatisfaction with the Army whilst they were in Treaty with the King to be founded upon good Reasons and excused the execution done upon the Souldier at the Rendezvouz as absolutely necessary to keep things from falling into Confusion which must have ensued upon that Division if it had not been timely prevented He professed to desire nothing more than that the Government of the Nation might be settled in a free and equal Commonwealth acknowledging that there was no other probable means to keep out the Old Family and Government from returning upon us declaring that he looked upon the Design of the Lord in this day to be the freeing of his People from every Burden and that he was now accomplishing what was prophesied in the 110 th Psalm from the consideration of which he was often encouraged to attend the effecting those Ends spending at least an hour in the Exposition of that Psalm adding to this that it was his Intention to contribute the utmost of his Endeavours to make a thorow Reformation of the Clergy and Law but said he the Sons of Zerrviah are yet too strong for us and we cannot mention the Reformation of the Law but they presently cry out We design to destroy Propriety Whereas the Law as it is now constituted serves only to maintain the Lawyers and to encourage the Rich to oppress the Poor affirming that Mr. Coke then Justice in Ireland by proceeding in a summary and expeditious way determined more Causes in a Week than Westminster-Hall in a Year saying farther that Ireland was as a clean Paper in that Particular and capable of being governed by such Laws as should be found most agreeable to Justice which may be so impartially administred as to be a good Precedent even to England it self where when they once perceive Propriety preserved at an easy and cheap rate in Ireland they will never permit themselves to be so cheated and abused as now they are At last he fell into the Consideration of the Military Government of Ireland complaining that the whole Weight of it lay upon Major General Ireton and that if he should by Death or any other Accident be removed from that Station the Conduct of that Part would probably fall into the hands of such Men as either by Principle or Interest were not proper for that Trust and of whom he had no certain Assurance He therefore proposed that some Person of Reputation and known Fidelity might be sent over to command the Horse there and to assist the Major General in the Service of the Publick that Employment being next in order to his own desiring me to propose one whom I thought sufficiently qualified for that Station I told him that in my Opinion a fitter Man could not be found than Col. Algernon Sidney but he excepted against him by reason of his Relation to some who were in the King's Interest proposing Col. Norton and Col. Hammond yet making Objections against them at the same time That against Col. Hammond I remember was that by his late Deportment with relation to the King he had so disobliged the Army that he apprehended he would not be acceptable to them After this he entred upon a large Commendation of the Country and pressed me earnestly to think of some Person capable of that Employment By this time I perceived something of his Intentions concerning me but the Condition of my Affairs was such having lately married and by purchasing some Lands contracted a great Debt that I resolved not to accept of it The time for the General 's Departure for the Expedition of Scotland drawing near he moved the Council of State that since they had employed him about a Work which would require all his Care they would be pleased to ease him of the Affairs of Ireland which they refusing to do he then moved that they would at least send over some Commissioners for the Management of the Civil Affairs assuring them also that the Military being more than Major General Ireton could possibly carry on without the Assistance of some General Officer to command the Horse which Employment was become vacant by the Death of the brave Lieutenant General Jones it was absolutely necessary to commissionate some Person of Worth to that Employment and to authorize him to be one of their Commissioners for the Civil Government telling them that he had endeavoured to find out a Person proper for that Service and to that end had consulted with one there present desiring him to recommend one fit for the same but that neither of them had proposed any that he could approve so well as the Person himself and therefore moved that he might be appointed to that Employment acquainting them that tho he himself was impowered by virtue of his Commission from the Parliament to nominate the Lieutenant General of the Horse yet because the Gentleman he proposed upon which he named me was a Member of Parliament and of the Council of State he desired for the better securing the Obedience of the Army to me that the Parliament might be moved to nominate and appoint me to that Charge I endeavoured as well as I could to make the Council sensible of my Unfitness for an Employment of so great Importance acquainting them that upon the General 's Desire I had recommended one to him of such Abilities as I doubted not they would judg better qualified for it than my self who besides my want of Experience sufficient for that Service was so incumbred with Debts and Engagements at that time that I could
from them When the British Refugees were glad to hear him named for that Service and he in an Extasie to serve his Country any where was arrived in England the Reception he found there was such as ought rather to be forgotten than transmitted to Posierity with any Remarks upon that Conjuncture Thus being denied the Honour of dying for his Country he returned to the more hospitable Place from whence he came But England had not one good Wish the less from him on the account of her last Vnkindness For at the very Article of Death some of his last Words were Wishes for the Prosperity Peace and Glory of his Country and that Religion and Liberty might be established there on so sure and solid a Foundation that the Designs of ill Men might never bring them into Danger for the time to come MEMOIRS OF EDMVND LVDLOW Esq. HAving seen our Cause betrayed and the most solemn Promises that could be made to the Asserters of it openly violated I departed from my Native Country And hoping that my Retirement may protect me from the Rage and Malice of my Enemies I cannot think it a mispending of some part of my leisure to employ it in setting down the most remarkable Counsels and Actions of the Parties engaged in the late Civil War which spread it self through the Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland wherein I shall not strictly confine my self to a relation of such things only in which I was personally concerned but also give the best Account I can of such other memorable Occurrences of those Times as I have learn'd from Persons well inform'd and of unsuspected Fidelity Those who make any Enquiry into the History of K. James's Reign will find that tho his Inclinations were strongly bent to render himself Absolute yet he chose rather to carry on that Design by Fraud than Violence But K. Charles having taken a nearer view of Despotick Government in his Journey to France and Spain tempted with the ghttering Shew and imaginary Pleasures of that empty Pageantry immediately after his Ascent to the Throne pulled off the Masque and openly discovered his Intentions to make the Crown absolute and independent In the beginning of his Reign he marry'd a Daughter of France who was not wanting on her part to press him upon all occasions to pursue the Design of enlarging his Power not omitting to solicite him also to mould the Church of England to a nearer Compliance with the See of Rome Wherein she was but too well seconded by corrupt Ministers of State of whom some were professed Papists and an ambitious Clergy whose Influence upon the King was always greater than could well consist with the Peace and Happiness of England 'T is true he called some Parliaments in the first Years of his Reign but the People soon became sensible he did it rather to empty their Purses than to redress their Grievances The Petition of Right as it was called passed in one of them yet by the manner of passing it and more by the way of keeping or rather breaking it in almost every Particular they clearly saw what they were to expect from him And the by the Votes passed in the House of Commons after a Message from the King to require their Attendance in order to a Dissolution thereby to prevent their Enquiry into his Father's Death complaining of the Grievances of the Nation and asserting the Liberties thereof declaring it Treason for any to pay Custom or other Taxes without the Authority of Parliament locking the Door of the House of Commons and compelling the Speaker to continue in the Chair till it pass'd He might have observed the Pulse of the Nation beating high towards Liberty yet contrary to his Promise to preserve the Privileges of Parliament he caused the Studies of their Members to be searched their Papers to be seized and their Persons to be imprisoned in the Tower where Sir John Elliot who was one of them lost his Life Divers others suffered in their Health and Estates being prosecuted with all Severity at the Common Law for discharging their Duty in Parliament After the Dissolution of which a Proclamation was published whereby it was made criminal in the People to speak any more of Parliaments The King having assumed this extraordinary Power resolved to make War against France not upon the account of those of the Reformed Religion as was pretended but grounded upon personal Discontents and to gratify the Revenge and Lust of his Favourite The Rochellers who once before upon Encouragement from England had endeavoured to desend their just Rights against the Encroachments of the French King till being deserted by the King of England they were necessitated to accept Terms from their King very disadvantageous to their Affairs were again by frequent Importunities and fair Promises prevailed with tho very unwillingly to assist the English with Provisions and such other things as they wanted in their Expedition against the Isle of Rhee From whence our Forces being repulsed the French King sent his Army against the Protestants of Rochel whose Provisions being before exhausted by the English they applied to the King of England for Succours according to his Promise Who as if he intended to assist them effectually caused a certain Number of Ships to be fitted out under the Conduct of Sir John Pennington But private Differences being soon after composed Sir John receiv'd a Letter from the King signed Charles Rex which was afterwards found by the Parliament amongst his Papers requiring him to dispose of those Ships as he should be directed by the French King and if any should refuse to obey those Orders to sink or fire them The King's Command was put in execution accordingly and by the help of those Ships the French became Masters of the Sea and thereby inabled to raise a Work composed of Earth Stones and Piles with which they entirely shut up the Mouth of the Harbour and so prevented them from any ReLef that way Being thus straitned on all sides they were forced to yield to the Pleasure of their King and that strong Town of 〈◊〉 wherein the Security of the Protestants of France chiefly consisted by this horrible Treachery was delivered up to the Papists and those of the Reform'd Religion in all Parts of that Kingdom exposed to the Rage of their bloody and cruel Enemies About this time the most profitable Preferments in the English Church were given to those of the Clergy who were most forward to promote the Imposition of new Ceremonies and Superstitions An Oath was enjoined by them with an c. several new Holy Days introduced and required to be observed by the People with all possible Solemnity at the same time that they were encouraged to profane the Lord's Day by a Book commonly called The Book of Sports printed and published by the King 's especial Command But this was not the only Work of which the Clergy were judged capable and therefore divers of them
the King to sign the Warrant for his Execution Which they did upon the twelfth of May following and the 22 d of the same Month the Earl of Strafford was beheaded accordingly At this time a treacherous Design was set on foot not without the Participation of the King as appear'd under his own Hand to bring up the English Army and by Force to dissolve the Parliament the Plunder of London being promised to the Officers and Souldiers as a Reward for that Service This was confessed by the Lord Goring Mr. Piercy and others The Scots Army was also tried and the sour Northern Counties offered to be given to them in case they will undertake the same Design And tho neither of these Attempts did succeed yet the King pleased himself with hopes that a seasonable time for dissolving the Parliament would come and then all Power reverting into his own Hands he would deal with their new enacted Laws as he had done besore with the Petition of Right and with their Members as he had done with those of the former Parliaments And that he might not long languish in this Expectation he sent to the House desiring that at once they would make their full Demands and prepare Bills accordingly for his Assent assuring them of his Readiness to comply with their Desires But they perceiving the Design return'd for answer That they could not suddenly resolve on so weighty a Work but would do it with all possible speed In the mean time to improve the present Opportunity they prevail with the King to pass an Act for the Exclusion of the Bishops out of the House of Lords for tho he was unwilling to grant the Parliament any thing yet the State of his Affairs was such that he durst deny them no reasonable thing And now having paid to the Scots and English Armies what was due to them they dismissed them to their respective homes The King having laid his Designs in Ireland as will afterwards appear was not without great Difficulty prevailed with by the Parliament to consent to the disbanding of those eight thousand Irish Papists that had been raised there by the Earl of Strafford Soon after which he resolved upon a Journey to Scotland and tho the Parliament endeavoured to disswade him from it or at least to defer it to a fitter Opportunity he refused to hearken to them under pretence that the Affairs of that Kingdom necessarily required his Presence but in truth his great business was to leave no means unattempted to take off that Nation from their Adherence to the Parliament of England Before his Departure he signed a Commission to certain Persons impowering them to pass the Bills that should be tender'd in his Absence Whilst he was about this Work in Scotland the News of the Irish Rebellion was brought to him that the Papists throughout that Kingdom were in Arms that their Design to surprize and seize the Castle of Dublin had not succeeded being discovered by one O Connelly a Servant of Sir John Clotworthy's and that the Lord Macquire and Mac-mahon who were appointed to that end were taken and sent into England where they were soon after executed for the same The News of this Rrebellion as I have heard from Persons of undoubted Credit was not displcasing to the King tho it was attended with the Massacre of many thousands of the Protestants there Having made what Progress he could in Scotland confirming by Act of Parliament not only what he had formerly granted them but also what they had done in their Assembly at Glascow and in effect whatsoever they desired of him he returned to London where being received with Acclamations and treated at the Expence of the City he became elevated to that degree that in his first Speech to the Commons he sharply reproved them for that instead of thanking him for what he had done they continued to multiply their Demands and Dissatisfactions Whereupon the Parliament were confirmed in their Suspicions that he design'd to break what he had already granted so soon as he had Opportunity and Power in his hands to plead that he was under a Force as some of his Predecessors had done and so reverse what had been enacted for the Good of the People revenge himself on those who had been Instruments in compelling him thereto and fortify himself against the like for the future These Apprehensions made them carnestly insist upon settling the Militia of the Nation in such Hands as both Houses of Parliament should recommend to him particularly representing the great Dissatisfaction of the City of London that Sir William Bâ—lfeur for refusing to permit the Earl of Strafford to escape was dismissed from his Charge of Lieutenant of the Tower and the Government of it put into the hands of one Lunsford a Souldier of Fortune of a profligate Conversation and fit for any wicked Design With much difficulty this Lunsford was removed and Sir John Conyers put into his place but the Parliament and City not satisfied with this Choice and having discovered that Sir John Suckling under pretence of raising a Regiment for Portugal was bringing together a number of Mento seize the Tower for the King it was at last entrusted to the Custody of the Lord Mayor of London About this time great Numbers of English Protestants flying from the bloody Hands of the Irish Rebels arrived in England filling all Places with sad complaints of their Cruelties to the Protestants of that Kingdom Whereupon the Parliament earnestly pressed the King to proclaim them Rebels but could not obtain it to be done till after many Weeks and then but forty of those Proclamations were printed and not above half of them published which was the more observed and resented by reason of the different Treatment that the Scots had met with who no sooner appeared in a much better Cause but they were forth with declared Rebels in every Parish-Church within the Kingdom of England The Rebels in Ireland pretended a Commission from the King for what they did which so alarm'd the People of England that the King thought himself necessitated to do something therein and therefore to carry on his Design he acquainted the Parliament that when an Army was raised he would go in Person to reduce them but they apprehending this pretended Resolution to be only in order to put himself at the Head of an Army that he might reduce the Parliament to his Will refused to consent and procured an Act to pass for the leaving of that War to the management of the two Houses the King obliging himself not to give Terms to any of the Rebels or to make Peace with them without the Parliament's Consent In this Act Provision was made for the satisfying of such as should advance Money for the reduction of Ireland out of the Rebels Lands in several Provinces according to the Rates therein mentioned Upon which considerable Sums of Money were sâ—on brought in The Parliament neglecting no Opportunity
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
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
occasion commanded us to wheel about but our Gentlemen not yet well understanding the difference between wheeling about and shifting for themselves their Backs being now towards the Enemy whom they thought to be close in the Rear retired to the Army in a very dishonourable manner and the next Morning rallied at the Head-quarters where we received but cold Welcome from the General as we well deserved The Night following the Enemy left Worcester and retreated to Shrewsbery where the King was upon which the Earl of Essex advanced to Worcester where he continued with the Army for some time expecting an Answer to a Message sent by him to the King from the Parliament inviting him to return to London This Time the King improved to compleat and arm his Men which when he had effected he began his March the Earl of Essex attending him to observe his Motions and after a day or two on Sunday Morning the 23d of October 1642. our Scouts brought advice that the Enemy appeared and about nine a Clock some of their Troops were discovered upon Edge-hill in Warwickshire Upon this our Forces who had been order'd that Morning to their Quarters to refresh themselves having had but little Rest for eight and forty Hours were immediately countermanded The Enemy drew down the Hill and we into the Field near Keinton The best of our Field-pieces were planted upon our right Wing guarded by two Regiments of Foot and some Horse Our General having commanded to fire upon the Enemy it was done twice upon that part of the Army wherein as it was reported the King was The great Shot was exchanged on both sides for the space of an hour or thereabouts By this time the Foot began to engage and a Party of the Enemy being sent to line some Hedges on our right Wing thereby to beat us from our Ground were repulsed by our Dragoons without any Loss on our side The Enemy's Body of Foot wherein the King's Standard was came on within Musquet-shot of us upon which we observing no Horse to encounter withal charged them with some Loss from their Pikes tho very little from their Shot but not being able to break them we retreated to our former Station whither we were no sooner come but we perceived that those who were appointed to guard the Artillery were marched off and Sir Philip Stapylton our Captain wishing for a Regiment of Foot to secure the Cannon we promised to stand by him in defence of them causing one of our Servants to load and level one of them which he had scarce done when a Body of Horse appeared advancing towards us from that side where the Enemy was We fired at them with Case-shot but did no other Mischief save only wounding one Man through the Hand our Gun being overloaded and planted on high Ground which sell out very happily this Body of Horse being of our own Army and commanded by Sir William Balfour who with great Resolution had charged into the Enemy's Quarters where he had nailed several pieces of their Cannon and was then retreating to his own Party of which the Man who was shot in the Hand was giving us notice by holding it up but we did not discern it The Earl of Essex order'd two Regiments of Foot to attack that Body which we had charged before where the King's Standard was which they did but could not break them till Sir William Balfour at the head of a Party of Horse charging them in the Rear and we marching down to take them in Flank they brake and ran away towards the Hill Many of them were killed upon the place amongst whom was Sir Edward Varney the King's Standard-bearer who as I have heard from a Person of Honour engaged on that side not out of any good opinion of the Cause but from the Sense of a Duty which he thought lay upon him in respect of his Relation to the King Mr. Herbert of Glamorganshire Lieutenant Colonel to Sir Edward Stradling's Regiment was also killed with many others that fell in the Pursuit Many Colours were taken and I saw Lieutenant Colonel Middleton then a Resormade in our Army displaying the King's Standard which he had taken but a Party of Horse coming upon us we were obliged to retire with our Standard and having brought it to the Earl of Essex he delivered it to the Custody of one Mr. Chambers his Secretary from whom it was taken by one Captain Smith who with two more disguising themselves with Orange-colour'd Scarfs the Earl of Essex's Colour and pretending it unfit that a Penman should have the Honour to carry the Standard took it from him and rode with it to the King for which Action he was knighted Retreating towards our Army I fell in with a body of the King's Foot as I soon perceived but having passed by them undiscovered I met with Sir William Balfour's Troop some of whom who knew me not would have fired upon me supposing me to be an Enemy had they not been prevented and assured of the contrary by Mr. Francis Russell who with ten Men well mounted and armed which he maintained rode in the Life-Guard and in the heat of the pursuit had lost sight of them as I my self had also done I now perceived no other Engagement on either side only a few great Guns continued to fire upon us from the Enemy but towards the close of the Day we discovered a body of Horse marching from our Rear on the left of us under the Hedges which the Life Guard whom I had then found having discovered to be the Enemy and resolving to charge them sent to some of our Troops that stood within Musquet-shot of us to second them which tho they refused to do and we had no way to come at them but through a Gap in the Hedg we advanced towards them and falling upon their Rear killed divers of them and brought off some Arms. In which Attempt being dismounted I could not without great difficulty recover on Horse-back again being loaded with Cuirassiers Arms as the rest of the Guard also were This was the Right Wing of the King's Horse commanded by Prince Rupert who taking advantage of the Disorder that our own Horse had put our Foot into who had opened their Ranks to secure them in their Retreat pressed upon them with such Fury that he put them to flight And if the time which he spent in pursuing them too far and in plundering the Wagons had been employed in taking such Advantages as offered themselves in the place where the Fight was it might have proved more serviceable to the carrying on of the Enemy's Designs The Night after the Battle our Army quartered upon the same Ground that the Enemy sought on the day before No Man nor Horse got any Meat that Night and I had touched none since the Saturday before neither could I find my Servant who had my Cloak so that having nothing to keep me warm but a Sute of Iron
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
of Affairs declined to concur with them in the same Yet both of them with the City of London joined in driving on a Personal Treaty with the King in the Isle of Wight and to that end the Lords and Commons revoked the Votes for Non-Addresses whereby the King seemed to be on sure ground for that if the Scots Army failed he might still make Terms with the Parliament The King's Party in Colchester were also much encouraged with hopes of Relief from the Scots Army who were very numerous and well furnished with all things but a good Cause To fight this formidable Army the Lieutenant General could not make up much above seven thousand Horse and Foot and those so extremely harassed with hard Service and long Marches that they seemed rather fit for a Hospital than a Battel With this handful of Men he advanced towards the Enemy and about Preston in Lancashire both Armies met on the 17 th of August 1648. The English who were in the Scots Army had the Honour of the Van and for a time entertained ours with some Opposition but being vigorously pressed by our Men they were forced to retreat to a Pass which they maintained against us whilst they sent to their General for Succours which he not sending on purpose as was said that the English might be cut off and his Party kept intire to enable him to set up for himself and give Law to both Nations they began to shift for themselves which made such an Impression upon the Scots that they soon followed their Example retreating in a disorderly manner Ours followed them so close that most of their Foot threw down their Arms and yielded themselves Prisoners Many of the principal Officers of their Foot were taken with all their Artillery Ammunition and Baggage Hamilton with four or five thousand Horse in a Body left the Field and was pursued by Col. Thorney a Member of Parliament and Colonel of a Regiment of Horse a worthy and a valiant Man who following them too close and unadvisedly run himself upon one of their Lances wherewith he was mortally wounded which he perceiving by the wasting of his Spirits to express his Affection to his Country and Joy for the Defeat of the Enemy desired his Men to open to the right and left that he might have the Satisfaction to see them run before he died The Enemies Body of Horse kept themselves together for some days roving up and down the Country about Leicestershire which County the Lord Grey of Grooby had raised and brought together about three thousand Horse and Foot to preserve the Country from Plunder and to take all possible Advantages against the Enemy and tho a Body of Horse from the Army was in pursuit of the Scots yet the Leicestershire Party came up first to them at Uttoxeter in Staffordshire where the Body of the Enemies Horse was and whilst the Scots were treating with the other Party from the Army the Lord Grey's Men observing no Guards kept entred upon them before any Conditions were made whereupon Hamilton surrendred himself to Col. Wayte an Officer of the Leicestershire-Party delivering to him his Scarf his George and his Sword which last he desired him to keep carefully because it had belonged to his Ancestors By the two Parties the Scots were all made Prisoners and all their Horses seized the Duke of Hamilton was carried Prisoner to Windsor-Castle and all their Standards of Horse and Foot were taken and sent up to London where the Parliament ordered them to be hung up in Westminster-Hall The House of Lords who had avoided to declare the Scots Enemies whilst their Army was entire now after their Defeat prevented the House of Commons and moved that a Day might be appointed to give God Thanks for this Success The News of this Victory being carried to the Isle of Wight the King said to the Governour that it was the worst News that ever came to England to which he answered That he thought the King had no cause to be of that Opinion since if Hamilton had beaten the English he would certainly have possessed himself of the Thrones of England and Scotland The King presently replied You are mistaken I could have commanded him back with the motion of my Hand Which whether he could do or no was doubtful but whatever Reasons he had for this Opinion it seemed very unseasonable to own it openly in that Conjuncture Lieutenant General Cromwell marched with part of his Army to Edinburgh where he dispossessed the Hamiltonian Party of their Authority and put the Power into the hands of the Presbyterians by whom he was received with great Demonstrations of Joy and tho lately they looked upon the Independent Party as the worst of their Enemies yet now they owned and embraced them as their best Friends and Deliverers and having notice given them that the English Army was about to return into England they prevailed with the Lieutenant General to leave Major General Lambert with a Body of Horse till they could raise more Forces to provide for their own Safety The Treaty with the King being pressed with more heat than ever and a Design visibly appearing to render all our Victories useless thereby by the Advice of some Friends I went down to the Army which lay at that time before Colchester where attending upon the General Sir Thomas Fairfax to acquaint him with the state of Affairs at London I told him that a Design was driving on to betray the Cause in which so much of the Peoples Blood had been shed that the King being under a Restraint would not account himself obliged by any thing he should promise under such Circumstances assuring him that most of those who pushed on the Treaty with the greatest Vehemency intended not that he should be bound to the performance of it but designed principally to use his Authority and Favour in order to destroy the Army who as they had assumed the Power ought to make the best use of it and to prevent the Ruin of Themselves and the Nation He acknowledged what I said to be true and declared himself resolved to use the Power he had to maintain the Cause of the Publick upon a clear and evident Call looking upon himself to be obliged to pursue the Work which he was about Perceiving by such a general Answer that he was irresolute I went to Commissary General Ireton who had a great Influence upon him and having found him we discoursed together upon the same Subject wherein we both agreed that it was necessary for the Army to interpose in this matter but differed about the time he being of opinion that it was best to permit the King and the Parliament to make an Agreement and to wait till they had made a full Discovery of their Intentions whereby the People becoming sensible of their own Danger would willingly join to oppose them My Opinion was that it would be much easier for the Army to keep them
from a Conjunction than to oppose them when united it being highly probable that the first things they would fall upon after their Union would be such as were most taking with the People in order to oblige them to assist in the disbanding of the Army under pretence of lesiening their Taxes and then if the Army should in any manner signify a Dislike of their Proceedings they would be esteemed by the Majority of the People to be Disturbers of the publick Peace and accused of designing nothing save their own particular Advantages The King's Party in Colchester expecting to be included in the Peace which was treating between him and the Parliament held out to the utmost but being in extreme want of Provisions and destitute of all hopes of Relief since the Defeat of the Scots they were sorced to surrender on the 28 th of August 1648. upon Articles whereby some of the principal of them being Prisoners at Discretion the Court Martial assembled and condemned Sir Charles Lucas Sir George Lisle and Sir Barnard Gascoin to die the last of whom being a Foreigner was pardoned and the other two were shot to death according to the Sentence The Lord Goring and the Lord Capel were sent Prisoners to London and committed to the Tower by an Order of the Parliament The Two Houses finding things in this posture hastened the Departure of their Commissioners to the Isle of Wight with Powers and Instructions to treat with the King who principally insisted on that Article concerning Bishops whom he accounted to be by Divine Right or rather essentially necessary to the Support of Arbitrary Power whereupon Ministers of each side were appointed to dispute touching that Subject in order to satisfy the King's Conscience But the Army having now wonderfully dispersed their Enemies on every part began to consider how to secure themselves and the Common Cause against those Counsels that were carried on in opposition to them under pretext of making Peace with the King and to that end drew up a Declaration at St. Albans dated the 16 th of November 1648. shewing that the Grounds of their first Engagement was to bring Delinquents to Justice that the King was guilty of the Blood shed in the first and second War and that therefore they could not trust him with the Government This Remonstrance they presented to the Parliament on the 20 th of November 1648. The King and Parliament seeing this Cloud beginning to gather endeavoured by all means possible to hasten their Treaty to a Conclusion The Army also were not wanting to fortify themselves against that Shock sending some of their own Number to those Members of Parliament whom they esteemed most faithful to the Common Cause to invite them down to the Army after they should in a publick manner have expressed their Dissatisfaction to the Proceedings of those who had betrayed the Trust reposed in them by the good People of England and declared that finding it impossible to be any farther serviceable in Parliament they had resolved to repair to the Army in order toprocure their Assistance in settling the Government of the Nation upon a just Foundation At a Meeting of some Members of Parliament with the said Officers from the Army it was resolved That tho the way proposed by them might be taken in case all other means failed yet seeing there was more than a sufficient Number of Members in the Parliament to make a House who were most affectionate to the Publick Cause it would be more proper for the Army to relieve them from those who rendred them'useless to the Publick Service thereby preserving the Name and Place of the Parliament than for the Members thereof to quit their Stations wherein they were appointed to serve and to leave the Civil Authority in the hands of those who would be ready to fall in with any Power that would attempt to frustrate what should be agreed on by them and the Army In prosecution of this Result the Army drew to Colebrook from whence Commissary General Ireton sent me word that now he hoped they should please me which I must acknowledg they did by the way which they were taking not from any particular Advantages that I expected from it except an equal share of Security with other Men but that the People of England might be preserved in their just Rights from the Oppressions of violent Men the Question in dispute between the King's Party and us being as I apprehended Whether the King should govern as a God by his Will and the Nation be governed by Force like Beasts or whether the People should be governed by Laws made by themselves and live under a Government derived from their own Consent Being fully perswaded that an Accommodation with the King was unsafe to the People of England and unjust and wicked in the nature of it The former besides that it was obvious to all Men the King himself had proved by the Duplicity of his dealing with the Parliament which manifestly appeared in his own Papers taken at the Battel of Naseby and elsewhere Of the latter I was convinced by the express Words of God's Law That Blood desileth the Land and the Land cannot be cleansed of the Blood that is shed therein but by the Blood of him that shed it Numbers Chap. 35. v. 33. And therefore I could not consent to the Counsels of those who were contented to leave the Guilt of so much Blood upon the Nation and thereby to draw down the just Vengeance of God upon us all when it was most evident that the War had been occasioned by the Invasion of our Rights and open Breach of our Laws and Constitution on the King's part The Commissioners that were appointed to manage the Treaty with the King returned with the King's Answer containing neither a positive Grant nor an absolute Denial As to the Bishops he still retained his Principle of their Divine Right and therefore declared that he could not dispense with the Abolition of them but for present Satisfaction hoping by giving ground to gain a better opportunity to serve them he consented that those who had bought their Lands should have a Lease of them for some Years and for satisfaction for the Blood that had been shed he was willing that six should be excepted but withal Care was taken that they should be such as were far enough from the reach of Justice By another Article the Militia was to remain in the Parliament for ten Years thereby implying if I mistake not that the Right of granting it was in the King and consequently that we had done him wrong in contending with him for it By such ways and means did some Men endeavour to abuse the Nation Some of our Commissioners who had been with the King pleaded in the House for a Concurrence with him as if they had been imployed by him tho others with more Ingenuity acknowledged that they would not advise an Agreement upon those Terms were it not
England and the Common Council of the City of London presented a Petition to the Parliament by the hands of Col. Titchborn to that effect but some of the Commonwealths-men desired that before they consented to that Method it might be resolved what Government to establish fearing a Design in the Army to set up some one of themselves in his room others endeavoured to perswade them that the execution of Justice ought to be their first Work in respect of their Duty to God and the People that the failure therein had been already the occasion of a second War which was justly to be charged on the Parliament for neglecting that Duty that those who were truly Commonwealths-men ought to be of that Opinion as the most probable means to attain their Desires in the establishment of an equal and just Government and that the Officers of the Army who were chiefly to be suspected could not be guilty of so much Impudence and Folly to erect an Arbitrary Power in any one of themselves after they had in so publick a manner declared their Detestation of it in another In order to the accomplishment of the important Work which the House of Commons had now before them they voted That by the Fundamental Laws of the Land it is Treason for the King of England for the time being to levy War against the Parliament and Kingdom To which the Lords not concurring they passed it the next day without their Consent and the day after declared That the People are under God the Original of all just Power That the House of Commons being chosen by and representing the People are the Supreme Power in the Nation That whatsoever is enacted or declared for Law by the Commons in Parliament hath the Force of a Law and the People are concluded thereby tho the Consent of King or Peers be not had thereto This Obstruction being removed several Petitions were brought to the Parliament for so the House of Commons now stiled themselves from the City of London Borough of Southwark and most of the Counties in England requesting that the King might be brought to Justice in order to which they passed an Act authorizing the Persons therein named or any thirty of them to proceed to the Arraignment Condemnation or Acquittal of the King with full Power in case of Condemnation to proceed to Sentence and to cause the said Sentence to be put in Execution This High Court of Justice met on the 8 th of January 1648 in the Painted Chamber to the number of about fourscore consisting chiefly of Members of Parliament Officers of the Army and Gentlemen of the Country where they chose Serjeant Aske Serjeant Steel and Dr. Dorrislaus to be their Counsel Mr. John Coke of Grays-Inn to be their Solicitor and Mr. Andrew Broughton their Secretary and sent out a Precept under their Hands and Seals for proclaiming the Court to be held in Westminster-Hall on the tenth of the said Month which was performed accordingly by Serjeant Dendy attended by a Party of Horse in Cheapside before the old Exchange and in Westminster-Hall On the the tenth they chose Serjeant Bradshaw to be their President with Mr. Lisle and Mr. Say to be his Assistants and a Charge of High Treason being drawn up against the King the Court appointed a convenient Place to be prepared at the upper end of Westminster-Hall for his Publick Trial directing it to be covered with Scarlet Cloth and ordered twenty Halberdiers to attend the President and thirty the King All things being thus prepared for the Trial the King was conducted from Windsor to St. James's from whence on the 20 th of January he was brought to the Bar of the High Court of Justice where the President acquainted the King with the Causes of his being brought to that Place For that He contrary to the Trust reposed in him by the People to see the Laws put in execution for their Good had made use of his Power to subvert those Laws and to set up his Will and Pleasure as a Law over them that in order to effect that Design he had endeavoured the Suppression of Parliaments the best Defence of the Peoples Liberties That he had levied War against the Parliament and People of England wherein great numbers of the good People had been slain of which Blood the Parliament presuming him guilty had appointed this High Court of Justice for the Trial of him for the same Then turning to Mr. Broughton Clerk of the Court he commanded him to read the Charge against the King who as the Clerk was reading the Charge interrupted him saying I am not intrusted by the People they are mine by Inheritance demanding by what Authority they brought him thither The President answered that they derived their Authority from an Act made by the Commons of England assembled in Parliament The King said the Commons could not give an Oath that they were no Court and therefore could make no Act for the Trial of any Man much less of him their Soveraign It was replied that the Commons assembled in Parliament could acknowledg no other Soveraign but God for that upon his and the Peoples Appeal to the Sword for the Decision of their respective Pretensions Judgment had been given for the People who conceiving it to be their Duty not to bear the Sword in vain had appointed the Court to make Inquisition for the Blood that had been shed in that Dispute Whereupon the President being moved by Mr. Solicitor Coke in the Name and on the Behalf of the good People of England commanded the Clerk of the Court to proceed in the reading of the Charge against him which being done the King was required to give his Anser to it and to plead guilty or not guilty The King demurred to the Jurisdiction of the Court affirming that no Man nor Body of Men had Power to call him to an account being not intrusted by Man and therefore accountable only to God for his Actions entring upon a large Discourse of his being in Treaty with the Parliament's Commissioners at the Isle of Wight and his being taken from thence he knew not how when he thought he was come to a Conclusion with them This Discourse seeming not to the purpose the President told him that as to his Plea of not being accountable to Man seeing God by his Providence had over-ruled it the Court had resolved to do so also and that if he would give no other Answer that which he had given should be registred and they would proceed as if he had confessed the Charge In order to which the President commanded his Answer to be entred directing Serjeant Dendy who attended the Court to withdraw the Prisoner which as he was doing many Persons cried out in the Hall Justice Justice The King being withdrawn the Court adjourned into the Painted Chamber to consider what farther was fit to be done and being desirous to prevent all Objections tending to accuse them
that tho I would not oppose that Motion yet it was but reasonable to make good their Promises also to Persons that had served them usefully in former occasions desiring them to remember the past Services of those that they knew continued still to be faithful to them tho not then in actual Employment and particularly not to forget the important Services of Major General Skippon nor the Vote they had passed to settle one thousand Pounds a Year upon him which hitherto had been insignificant to him Upon this Motion the Parliament ordered that the said Sum should be paid yearly to him out of the Receipt at Goldsmiths-Hall till so much should be settled upon him out of the forseited Lands in Ireland by Act of Parliament In consideration of this piece of Justice the Major General did me ever after the Honour to call me his Real Friend And now the Parliament being desirous to let the People see that they designed not to perpetuate themselves after they should be able to make a compleat Settlement of Affairs and provide for the Security of the Nation from Enemies both abroad and at home whom they had yet in great Numbers to contend with resolved that the House would upon every Wednesday turn themselves into a Grand Committee to debate concerning the manner of Assembling and Power of future successive Parliaments the Number of Persons to be appointed to serve for each County that the Nation might be more equally represented than hitherto had been practised and touching the Qualifications of the Electors as well as those to be elected which Order was constantly observed and considerable Progress from time to time made therein The Lieutenant General being arrived and having resumed his Place in the House the Parliament ordered their Speaker to give him Thanks in their Name for the Services he had done for the Commonwealth in the Nation of Ireland And now the Council of State concluding it highly necessary to make some Preparations against the Storm which threatned us from the North and knowing that the Satisfaction of their General was of great Importance to that Service desired the Lord Fairfax to declare his Resolution concerning the same who after a day or two's Consideration at the Instigation chiefly as was thought of his Wife upon whom the Presbyterian Clergy had no small Influence seemed unwilling to march into Scotland but declared that in case the Scots should attempt to invade England he would be ready to lay down his Life in opposing them We laboured to perswade him of the Reasonableness and Justice of our Resolution to march into Scotland they having already declared themselves our Enemies and by publick Protestation bound themselves to impose that Government upon us which we had found necessary to abolish and to that end had made their Terms with Prince Charles waiting only an Opportunity as soon as they had strengthned themselves by foreign Assistance which they expected to put their Design in execution after we should be reduced to great Difficulties incident to the keeping up of an Army in expectation of being invaded by them 〈◊〉 him that we thought our selves indispeusably obliged in Duty to our Country and as we tendred the Peace and Prosperity of it as well as to prevent the effusion of the Blood of those who had been and we hoped upon better Information would be our Friends to march into Scotland and either to understand from them that they are our Friends or to endeavour to make them so chusing rather to make that Country the Seat of the War than our own But the Lord Fairfax was unwilling to alter his Resolution in consideration of any thing that could be said Upon this Lieutenant General Cromwell pressed that notwithstanding the Unwillingness of the Lord Fairfax to command upon this occasion they would yet continue him to be General of the Army prosessing for himself that he would rather chuse to serve under him in his Post than to command the greatest Army in Europe But the Council of State not approving that Advice appointed a Committee of some of themselves to confer farther with the General in order to his Satisfaction This Committee was appointed upon the Motion of the Lieutenant General who acted his part so to the Life that I really thought him in earnest which obliged me to step to him as he was withdrawing with the rest of the Committee out of the Council-Chamber and to desire him that he would not in Compliment and Humility obstruct the Service of the Nation by his Refusal but the Consequence made it sufficiently evident that he had no such Intention The Committee having spent some time in Debate with the Lord Fairfax without any Success returned to the Council of State whereupon they ordered the Report of this Affair to be made to the Parliament Which being done and some of the General 's Friends informing them that tho he had shewed some Unwillingness to be employed in this Expedition himself yet being more unwilling to hinder the undertaking of it by another he had sent his Secretary who attended at the door to surrender his Commission if they thought fit to receive it the Secretary was called in and delivered the Commission which the Parliament having received they proceeded to settle an annual Revenue of five thousand Pounds upon the Lord Fairfax in consideration of his former Services and then voted Lieutenant General Cromwell to be Captain General of all their Land Forces ordering a Commission forthwith to be drawn up to that effect and referred to the Council of State to hasten the Preparations for the Northern Expedition A little after as I sat in the House near General Cromwell he told me that having observed an Alteration in my Looks and Carriage towards him he apprehended that I had entertained some Suspicions of him and that being perswaded of the Tendency of the Designs of us both to the Advancement of the Publick Service he desired that a Meeting might be appointed wherein we might with freedom discover the Grounds of our Mistakes and Misapprehensions and create a good Understanding between us for the future I answered that he had discovered in me what I had never perceived in my self and that if I troubled him not so frequently as formerly it was either because I was conscious of that weight of Business that lay upon him or that I had nothing to importune him withal upon my own or any other account yet since he was pleased to do me the Honour to desire a free Conversation with me I assured him of my Readiness therein Whereupon we resolved to meet that Afternoon in the Council of State and from thence to withdraw to a private Room which we did accordingly in the Queen's Guard-Chamber where he endeavoured to perswade me of the Necessity incumbent upon him to do several things that appeared extraordinary in the Judgment of some Men who in opposition to him took such Courses as would bring Ruin upon