of the people let all England and the World Iudge King Sir under favour it was the Liberty Freedom and Laws of the Subject that ever I took defended my self with Arms I never took up Arms against the people but for my people and the Laws President The command of the Court must be obeyed no answer will be given to the Charge King Well Sir Then the President ordered the default to be recorded and the contempt of the Court and that no Answer would be given to the Charge And so the King was guarded forth to Sir Robert Cotton's house Then the Court adjourned to the Painted-chamber on Tuesday at twelve a clock and from thence they adjourned again to Westminster-hall at which time all persons concerned were to give their attendance At the High Court of Iustice sitting in Westminster-hall Tuesday January 23. 1648. O yes made Silence commanded The Court called seventy three persons present The King came in with his Guard looking with an austere countenance upon the Court and sate down Cook Sollicitor-General May it please your Lordship my Lord President This is now the third time that by the great grace and favour of this high Court the Prisoner hath been brought to the Bar before any Issue joyned in the Cause My Lord I did at the first Court Exhibit a Charge against him c. My Lord after this great delay of Justice I shall now humbly move your Lordship for speedy Judgment against him My Lord I might press your Lordship upon the whole according to the known Rules of the Law of the Land That if a Prisoner shall stand as contumacious in contempt and shall not put in an Issuable Plea Guilty or not Guilty of the Charge given against him whereby he may come to a fair Tryal that as by an implicite Confession it may be taken pro confesso as it hath been done to those who have deserved more fâ—vour than the Prisoner at the Bar has done but besides my Lord I shall humbly press your Lordship upon the whole Fact The House of Commons the supreme Authority and Jurisdiction of the Kingdom they have Declared that it is notorious that the matter of the Charge is true as it is in truth my Lord as clear as Crystal and as the Sun that shines at Noon-day which if your Lordship and the Court be not satisfied in I have notwithstanding on the People of Englands behalf several Witnesses to produce And thereâ—ore I do humbly pray and yet I must confess it is not so much I as the â—nnocent Blood that hath been shed the cry whereof is very great for Justice and Judgement and therefore I do humbly pray that speedy Judgement be pronounced against the prisoner at the Bar. President Sir you have heard what is moved by the Counsel on the behalf of the Kingdom against you Sir you may well remember and if you do not the Court cannot forget what Dilatory dealings the Court hath found at your hands You were told that it was not for you nor any other man to dispute the Jurisdiction of the Supreme and highest Authority of England from which there is no appeal and touching which there must be no dispute yet you did persist in such carriage as you gave no manner of obedience nor did you acknowledge any Authority in them nor the High Court that constituted this Court of Justice Sir I must let you know from the Court that they are very sensible of these delays of yours and that they ought not being thus Authorized by the Supreme Court of England to be thus trifled withal and that they might in Iustice if they pleased and according to the Rules of Iustice take advantage of the delays and proceed to pronounce Iudgement against you yet nevertheless they are pleased to give direction and on their behalfs I do require you that you make a positive Answer unto this Charge that is against you Sir in plain terms for Iustice knows no respect of persons you are to give your positive and final Answer in plain English whether you be Guilty or not Guilty of these Treasons laid to your charge The King after a little pause said When I was here yesterday I did desire to speak for the Liberties of the people of England I was interrupted I desire to know yet whether I may speak freely or not President Sir you have heard the resolution of the Court upon the like Question the last day and you were told that having such a Charge of so high a Nature against you and your Work was that you ought to acknowledge the Iurisdiction of the Court And to Answer to your Charge Sir if you Answer to your Charge which the Court gives you leave now to do though they might have taken the advantage of your contempt yet if you be able to Answer to your Charge when you have once Answered you shall be heard at large make the best Defence you can But Sir I must let you know from the Court at their commands that you are not to be permitted to issue out into other discourses till such time as you have given a positive Answer concerning the Matter that is Charged upon you King For the Charge I value it not a Rush it is the Liberty of the People of England that I stand for for me to acknowledge a new Court that I never heard of before I that am your King that should be an example to all the people of England to uphold Justice to maintain the old Laws indeed I do not know how to do it you spoke very well the first day that I came here on Saturday of the Obligations that I had laid upon me by God to the maintenance of the Liberties of my people The same Obligation you spake of I do acknowledge to God that I owe to Him and to my people to defend as much as in me lies the antient Laws of the Kingdom therefore until I may â—now that this is not against the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by your fâ—voâ—r I can put in no particular Answer If you will give me time I will then shew you my Reasons why I cannot do it and this Here being interrupted he said Bâ— your favour you ought not to interrupt me how I came here I know noâ— thâ—re's no Law for it to make your King your Prisoner I was lately in a Treaty up on the publike Faith of the Kingdom that was the known the two Houses of Parliament that was the Representative of the Kingdom and when that I had almost made an end of the Treaty then I was hurried away and brought hither and therefore Here the President interrupted him and said Sir you must know the pleasure of the Court. King By your favour Sir President Nay Sir by your favour you may not be permitted to fall into these discourses you appear as a Delinquent you have not acknowledged
to the charge of the Lord Gray of Grooby who afterwards sold his own Inheritance to purchase some of this Lord's whom the Parliament had peremptorily summoned to appear by a day at Westminster which he wisely declining as having heard sufficiently of their High Court of Iustice they proceeded to sale and although afterwards he convicted the abovesaid Villain of wilful Perjury and afterwards prosecuted his right before a Committee appointed to adjudge claims where Bradshaw had the Chair who to captate an opinion of Justice seemed to favour the merit of the Cause and gave a resolution accordingly yet could his Lordship by no means recover his possession being baukt and wearied with a fruitless Suit and Attendance during the Usurpation To single also out of the number of the Honourable the Loyal Commoners Sir Iohn Stawel who for all the Honour of the Sword his Articles at Exeter which as they saved his Life should in the same manner have preserved his Estate was now put into this Black Bill of Forfeiture and Attainder the Estates of them all being vested in the hands of William Skinner William Robinson Sampson Sheffield Samuel Gookin Henry Seely William Lisle and Arthur Samuel as Trustees Robert Manwaring Register-Accountant Randal Manwaring Comptroller and Iohn Baker Surveyor-General These were again named to the same trusts in the second Edition of this libellous Act which began with a Preface of Treason and Rebellion against the Commonwealth and great fear there was that such Acts would at last become as constant as those of the Monthly Assessments till they had not left a Royalist but what was enslaved and sold. And that they might appear the more like to what they had reduced them in this emptiness and meanness of Estate they Enacted the stripping them of those Honours which their Loyalty and worth had purchased them that they might be fit Peers to sit with any Lower-House and the Gentry be sutable Mates and Company to their finical Rabble who had now Coached their Fellow-Servant-maids with all the other distinctions of Gentility even to the laughter of the enraged people who perceived they had Fought for those that were so much uninteressed in the Quarrel as to what they had to lose as the meanest of those wretches who sneak in for Drink to Games and Matches have in the Stake and Adventure It was made by these men a penalty of 5 l. for any Knight proportionably 50 l. for a Duke to receive a Title which had been conferred on him since Ianuary 1641. And the several Patentees or Titulado's were Commanded to bring in their Patents by such a time or else to incur worser Forfeitures But this not being such an Affront and Indignity as the abrogating the power of the whole Peerage was taken but for a bravado nor did I ever hear any one that paid for giving or receiving this due civility which even such of them as had Breeding and Manners would be guilty of themselves In Ireland the Lord Broghal had given a notable defeat to the Lord Muskerry who having beaten up his Quarters could not so conveniently and nimbly retire but Brogal was at his Heels It was a dispute with all Cavalry no Foot on either side which before had not happened in Ireland there was loss on both sides but the least thereof with the Victory fell to the English About the same time Sir Charles Coot having attended a Pass over the Shanon which was guarded all along the other side by the help of three Cotts and a Boat landed some few Forces upon one of the Enemies Guards who suspected no Boats possible to be had without danger of sinking as they passed and mastered it whereupon all the Irish Forces disposed thereabouts in several Posts ran away to Limerick leaving the River free which was laid over presently with a Bridge to bear Horse and Artillery Athlone a week before had been delivered by the Lord Dillon to the said Sir Charles by which means the whole Irish Council and the Marquess of Clanriekard and Castlehaven were put into great straights and confusion of Councils The English Army in Scotland was now in motion for grass and marched upon their old designe of Sterling to Newbridge so to Lithgow from whose Castle-Battlements they might espy the Tents of the Scotch Army Encamped in Tor-wood some four miles off this side Sterling whither Warriston was now summoned by the Commissioners of the Assembly peremptorily by the third of Iuly having cast up a regular and well-fortified Line with Bulworks mounted with Guns and having a River behind them which they might pass at pleasure in this posture they awaited the English who coming up and facing them the third of Iuly in the night following the Scots drew up their Cannon and planted them on the brow of the Hill and next morning saluted Cromwel with 50 Great Guns but with little Execution which made him quickly draw out of shot and give over his once-begun resolution of attaquing them at so much disadvantage The English therefore marched back again Major-General Lambert being sent from Glascow a week after to view the Passes which he reported by reason of the boggy approaches there to be very hazardous Upon their departure from Lithgow to Glascow the Scots removed from Tor-wood and Encamped at Kilfith a place environed with insuperable desences having a Bog on one hand and craggy Mountains on the other but the English Army having eaten up all at Glascow and those parts and trod down the Corn standing that the Scots might finde no sustenance that way if they should march appearing and marching with great noise on the one side they imaging the English meant to clap in between them and Sterling hastened back again to their old Line at Tor-wood Iuly 13 whither Cromwel followed and to provoke them to an Engagment Stormed Calendar-house in their view and put all the Defendants except the Governour to the Sword and then seeing there was no possibility of fighting with them but that they were resolved to keep them in play till Winters scarcity of Horse-meat should make them give over and depart the Kingdom he Encamped himself awaiting the success of his designe by Boat into Fife In the mean while Newark-house lying before Dunbarton-Castle was taken and two Houses more Prince Rupert and Captain Pen Commander of a Fleet in the Streights for the Parliament were now both at Sea together but it was not their fortune to meet one another The Prince had lately taken a Spanish Ship worth 100000 Crowns and had put forth a Declaration shewing the reason thereof satisfying partly his own Revenge for the Spanish injuries towards the Palatinate which were First That Kings giving Protection and Free Port to the Kings Rebels and Owning them and denying the like to His Majesties ships contrary to the Treaty between both Crowns his forcing the Marriners that were put on shore by Blake on
almost run from their Wits in rage and madness Cromwel was Appointed and Declared for Protector of this Infant-Commonwealth and it was a tedious interval to him the Chancery-Court at Westminster-hall being prepared for the Ceremony of the Instalment in this manner after the usual seeking of God by the Officers of the Army The Protector about one of the clock in the afternoon came from White hall to Westminster to the Chancery-Court attended by the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal of England Barons of the Exchâ—quer and Judges in their Robes after them the Council of the Commonwealth and the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Recorder of the City of London in their Scarlet Gowns then came the Protector attended with many of the chief Officers of the Army A Chair of State being set in the said Court of Chancery the Protector stood on the left hand thereof uncovered till a large Writing in Parchment in the manner of an Oath was read there being the power with which the Protector was Invested and how the Protector is to Govern the three Nations which the Protector accepted of and subscribed in the face of the Court and immediately hereupon sate down covered in the Chair The Lords Commissioners then delivered up the Great Seal of England to the Protector and the Lord Mayor his Sword and Cap of Maintenance all which the Protector returned immediately to them again The Court then rose and the Protector was attended back as aforesaid to the Banqueting-house in White-hall the Lord Mayor himself uncovered carrying the Sword before the Protector all the way and coming into the Banqueting-house an Exhortation was made by Mr. Lockyer after which the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Judges departed The Instrument or Module framed to be the Foundation of this present Government was chiefly made up of these following Heads 1. The Protector should call a Parliament every three years 2. That the first should Assemble on the third of September 1654. 3. That he would not Dissolve the Parliament till it had sat five Months 4. That such Bills as they offered to him he not Passing them in twenty days should Pass without him 5. That he should have a select Council not exceeding one and twenty nor under thirteen 6. That immediately after his Death the Council should chuse another Protector before they rose 7. That no Protector after him should be General of the Army 8. That the Protector should have power to make Peace or War 9. That in the Intervals of Parliament he and his Council might make Laws that should be binding to the Subjects c. With some other popular Lurdes and common incidencies of Government not worth the recital which were confirmed and strenuously validated by this his Oath I Promise in the presence of God not to violate or infringe the matters and things contained in the Instrument but to observe and cause the same to be observed and in all things to the best of my understanding govern the Nations according to the Laws Statutes and Customs to seek their Peace and cause Justice and Law to be equally administred The Feat needed no more security as good altogether as its Authority in this foâ—lowing Proclamation which was published throughout England Scotland and Ireland in these words Whereas the late Parliament Dissolved themselves and resigning their Powers Authorities the Government of the Commonwealth of England Scotland and Ireland in a Lord Protector and successive Triennial Parliaments is now established And whereas Oliver Cromwel Captain-General of all the Forces of this Common-wealth is declared Lord Protector of the said Nations and hath accepted thereof We have therefore thought it necessary as we hereby do to make publication of the Premises and strictly to charge and command all and every person or persons of what quality and condition soever in any of the said three Nations to take notice hereof and to conform and submit themselves to the Government so established And all Sheriffs Mayors Bayliffs c. are required to publish this Proclamation to the end none may have cause to pretend Ignorance in this behalf Great shooting off Guns at night and Vollies of acclamations were given at the close of this mock-solemnity by Cromwel's Janizaries while the Royalists were more joyfully disposed at the hopes of the King's Affairs but no body of any account giving the Usurper a good word or miskiditchee with his Greatness save what was uttered in Fur by the Lord Mayor and the Complices in this Fact who tickled his Ears with the Eccho of the Proclamation done with the usual Formalities These Triumphs so disgusted Harrison as also Colonel Rich that he withdrew himself from the Gang and turned publick Preacher or Railer against his Comrade Oliver who was glad to be rid of such a busie and impertinent Assistant in the moduling of Government So Cromwel had now two Commonwealth contra-divided Factions against him the old and the new Parliaments and therefore it neerly concerned him to make much of the Anabaptist and Sectary which now succeeded Independency as the Religion maintained and favoured above all other and Kiffin a great Leader and Teacher was now in great request at the Court at White-hall and contrarily Sir Henry Vane jun. was looked on a-skue as also Sir Ar. Hazilrig and Bradshaw and Scot. And so the Babel-builders were confounded one amongst another The Council appointed by Officers or taken rather by himself by whose advice he was to govern were 14 at first Lord Lambert Lord Viscount Lisle General Desbrow Sir Gilbert Pickering Major-General Skippon Sir Anthony Ashly-Cooper Walter Strickland Esquire Sir Charles Wolsley Colonel Philip Iones Francis Rous Esquire Richard Major Esquire Iohn Lawrence Esquire Colonel Edward Montague Colonel William Sydenham By these another Proclamation came out enabling all Officers Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace to continue in their respective places and Audience and Conference was given to the Dutch Embassadors who besides their last loss by Fight had suffered very greatly by the same storm that endangered our Fleet as De Wit was returning from the Sound which made them ply hard for a Cessation in order to a speedy Peace And General Monke was now riding at St. Hellens-point by the Isle of Wight with a considerable Fleet Colonel Lilburn was likewise ordered to Command in chief the Forces of Scotland who had defeated the Earl of Kinoule and his party and Sir Arthur Forbes another Chieftain of the Royal party was routed neer Dumfrieze and himself desperately wounded while the main Army Quartered in Murrey-land and thence to Elgin Colonel Morgan being sent to attend their motion The Noble Wogan who from France had by the way of Durham and Barwick and through a Fayr in open day marched into Scotland and had joyned with those Scotch Royalists and done excellent service in beating up of Quarters and attempting them in all their marches and advances came now at
Scouts giving him continual notice of Fairfax's approach he finally departed to prevent the enemies hastie advance and to get an opportunity of joyning with the Forces which he expected to his assistance from the King To this purpose he commodiously quartered his Army at Long Sutton keeping the River betwixt him and his enemies having the Garrisons of Bridgewater Langport Burrough and Ilchester and several Passes upon the River to friend the Bridges every where broken down and it would have been hazardous to force a passage in view of his Army who were in good order ready to receive any attempt It was therefore concluded by the Parliamentarians to force a passage at a Town called Evil and there to put up the bridge again and so fall upon him The Royalists understanding that Evil was gained marched to Langport and quitted Ilchester and a Pass at Load-bridge and made show as if leading the most part of the Army that way they would surprize Taunton To prevent that Major-General Massey was ordered to fall on their Rear being of that side the water which he resolutely attempted but with loss for nevertheless the Royalists kept themselves in their station and way The next day Iuly the 10 General Goring advanced from Langport with his Foot to the Pass having lined the hedges thick with Musqueteers and drawn up his Ordnance the main Body being placed in good order upon a hill about a Musquet-shot from the Pass The fight began with the roaring of the Cannon from Fairfax's Camp with some execution then the Foot advanced and beat the Royalists from their hedges and made way for their Horse who charged resolutely under Major Bethel and were couragiously received by the Royalists Horse drawn up in a lane who with pure valour beat them back in disorder and made notable execution especially the Regiment of Colonel Nevil formerly that of the Earl of Carnarvan did with their wonted yet extraordinary magnanimity renew the encounter till Desbrough coming in with fresh supplies of which Goring knew they had store he in some handsome order drew off having given their Cavalry such a smart entertainment that they were willing to stay till their Foot came up By this time the Royalists had marched two miles in the Lanes when the whole Army appearing again giving another Charge they drew off in haste and confusion towards Bridgewater having fired and deserted Langport In this fight and pursuit of both sides were slain about 1000 about 1200 Prisoners taken some 1000 Horse two Pieces 30 Colours of Horse and Foot the flight and pursuit continuing till within two miles of Bridgewater where that night Fairfax took up his Quarters in deliberation whether he should follow the Lord Goring or besiege that Town through which the Royalists in their flight pâ—â—â—ed to the North of Devonshire where Sir Richard Greenvile and Sir Iohn Berkley joyned with him making 6000 strong and Prince Charles and the Lord Hopton were raising Forces in Cornwal for the same purpose Fairfax determined therefore not to weary his Foot with a sudden march but to attaque Bridgewater and resolution was made after a little respite to storm it It was a natural-well-fortified place lying level with the adjacent valley the Works about it very regular and strong the Foss or Ditch deep and about 30 foot wide which was filled up every Tide to the brim the Line of no great compass and well manned with 1800 Souldiers having a Castle also of a considerable strength within and the support and maintenance of all provision victual and Ammunition every way sufficient Such was the difficulty of undertaking it and the disreputation of leaving it after a siege was cast likewise into the danger But trusting to their uncontroulable Fortune the Parliamentarians resolved to storm it as a way conducing to free the Army to follow their success abroad and make a final end Accordingly on Munday-morning Iuly 22. Hugh Peters having encouraged them the day before just at break of day the Forlorn was led on by Lieutenant-Colonel Hewson and seconded by Lieutenant-Colonel Ashfield men known and infamous afterwards who daâ—ingly having thrown their Bridges over the Graft mounted the Walls and for all the showers of Bullets beat the defendants from their Cannon and turned them upon the Town and let down their Draw-bridge where Captain afterwards Colonel and Comissary Reynolds entred with the Forlorn of Horse immediately and secured that part of the Town called Eastover charging as far as the Draw-bridge of the other Hereupon 600 of the defendants who were assigned to the defence of that place and had made manful resistance craved Quarter and had it granted the whole Storm falling upon them while the other on the West-side were but alarmed but they perceiving this unhappy stratagem soon after with Granadoes fired that part of the Town possessed by the enemy and gave signs of an obstinate resistance Both sides continued in quiet till Tuesday-night at which time another round alarm onely was given to keep the besieged waking the General then sent in another Summons which was refused but the Cannon playing and several Granadoes lighting in the Town after some Messages past the General proving very difficult to any Conditions and prepared for an Assault the Town was rendred by the Governour upon Quarter onely for life on the 23 of Iuly 1000 more Gentlemen Clergy and common Souldiers being made Prisoners Both Towns were lamentably fired The adjacent Garrison of Burrough was a little while before rendred to Colonel Okey After this surrender the General before he would march further Westward resolved to reduce the Clubmen who were so peremptory in their demands Colonel Fleetwood on the second of August encompassed them in Shaftsbury with 1000 Horse and took fifty of the principal who were Mr. Hollis Dr. Goche Mr. Cary c. and disarmed and sent them to Prison but on the fourth of August Lieutenant-General Cromwel was sent against several parties of 10000 of them who threatned much danger some he perswaded to return to their dwellings but on Hambleton-hill neer Strawton 4000 of them stood on their guard in a place which had been an old Roman-Work deeply trenched Thereupon Cromwels Troop charged up the hill and were repulsed at the passage into the Fort but Desborough coming behind on their Rear they were presently dispersed some 40 killed and 200 wounded and 400 taken Prisoners with about 12 Colours taken in one whereof was Written If you offer to plunder or take our Cattel Be assured we will bid you Battel No doubt as was said before they had some design for the King as was guessed from the general affection of these parts formerly and constantly to his Cause but what ever it was it was now defeated and the Club-folks had club-Club-law Sherburn-Castle was now besieged while Colonel Rich took in the City of Bath having none but Horse and
Soveraignty but the difficulty of doing it in regard of those mutual distrusts that waxed every day stronger betwixt the two factions of Presbytery and Independency delayed a while the actual fruition of their desires The Bucket of interest went up and down a long while one side secretly closing with the King in a seeming tenderness for his Rights and Person to ballance the other who by an obstinacy against him and his Government engaged most of the first leaven of that tumultuous rabble to an adherence and strengthning of their party from an expectation of spoil and preferment upon their Models after their subversion of Monarchy In these their distractions the onely expedient for both was to protract time and await a more advantagious and favourable juncture for either of them wherein to compass and accomplish their several aims and divided projections upon the Kingdom Therefore the same publike ends and common concernments which were the pretended causes of the War were now declared to be insisted on as to constant and perpetual security viz. the Laws Religion and Liberty That the bâ—â—ting the Enemy in the Field was not sufficient alone to that purpose but that some provision must be made for the future and that those establishments of the publike upon a firm Peace would require time after so many commotions and dislocations such disorder and confusion of the policy of the Government To this purpose the King was held out to his people as an obstinate person no way changed in his mind as to their good but that all his offers of Treaty and Peace were meerly to impose upon their credulous affections intending nothing less than satisfaction to his Parliament against whom he had waged a long and bloody War That in a just resolution they had proceeded and would persist on their way of Propositions on which alone a lasting Peace might be grounded and expected That in the mean time they would take care that the Common Enemy should take no advantage of raising a new War indeed their tyrannical method of Composition for their Loyalty in the first might well make them as good as their words And with the old flourishes of Liberty and happy times inculcating their Successes and ascribing them to their Cause they thus offered to amuse the people exchanging their fineness and smoothness of words for the real repose and tranquillity looked for by the Kingdom This proceeding highly exasperated the Kings party and as much encouraged the desperadoes of their own to claw them with Petitions and Addresses of Thanks for these resolutions proving the onely means to continue the rupture and consequently their Power and Authority which how then and hereafter they executed we will now more particularly relate having laid down these SEEDS of the SECOND WAR as they and from then their Sequestrators and Committees were most wrathfully pleased to call it when they wrongfully placed it upon their score and account These were the transactions and the devices of the English Parliament and Army it will be requisite to see what the same bodies of Scotland do in reference to the Peace of both Kingdoms and we shall finde them in as great a strangeness to it as the former and not with far different purposes and intentions For the Scots would have money in Coyn and Specie the other were for the value in great penny-worths and purchases of Delinquents Estates The Scots as was said before had the King in their possession a good pawn and pledge for the debt accrued to them before for the pay due for their service in England which being not over-hastily pay'd they quitted their post at the Siege of Newark and with the King marched Northwards bearing him in hand that they were his gude Subjects and would stand as far as 't was consistent with their Covenant for his person and interests As the Army marched so did the King making the limits of their Quarters to be his Court until by leasurable journeys and which were interrupted by several Expostulations Expresses from Westminster he came at last and took up his residence at Newcastle where appeared such a deal of Scotch bravery especially among the Commanders of their Army that the place appeared like the revived Court of King Iames after his assumption to the Crown of England Every rag worn by them being bought and purchased if so fairly come by with English gelt In the mean while the Parlianent were debating concerning the Person of the King but it was so ticklish a point that they agreed not to any present positive settlement or entertainment of it but negatively in signifying to the Scots that in England his Majesty might be disposed by none but the Parliament of England That their Army in England is theirs and under their pay and pretending the inconvenience of the great distance of the King from them as to obtaining of his assent and then the Covenant This begat in the King another meditation in his Eikon Basil. where he discourseth and deplores those events which put him to such a choice but resolutely fixeth himself on his own Honour and Conscience however it should please God to order this disposition of him in the Scots hands And contrariwise it raised in the faction Soliloquies and Charms which way they might extricate this puzling difficulty As the first expedient the old stalk of courting the Prince was agreed upon and therefore they sent a Letter to the Governour of Gâ—ernsey to be conveyed to him At the Kings Arrival at Newcastle he was there received with all demonstrations of respect both from the Town and the Scots on the Towns part with the usual customes of Bone-fires and ringing of the bells and apprecations for his Majesties happy restitution and speedy accommodation with his Parliament on the Scots in a semblance of the same gladness and duty with protestations to the same purpose as the inhabitants wishes but which suddenly lost belief when their General signified by Proclamation not onely that no Papists or Delinquents should come neer his Person but also That although his Majesties Person were present yet all men whatsoever should yield Authority to the Ordinances of the Parliament A parcel of which Authority they themselves imitated laying heavy Assessments upon all the Northern Counties pretending the Parliaments negligence of their pay so that those poor people were ready to rise and free themselves from these oppressors having in vain Petitioned them at Westminster for relief which the Scots senting they privately sent for their Horse under David Lesly who had defeated Montross at Philipshaugh of which briefly before and driven him far enough into the High-lands to return to their main Army then at Newcastle to reinforce it and to secure themselves in their Quarters till the bargain should be made They at Westminster understanding hereof do resent this additional force of Scots and thereupon in anger Vote That this Kingdom hath no further
My thoughts and what hopes of Settlement is there so long as Power reigns without Rule or Law changing the whole frame of that Government under which this Kingdom hath flourished for many hundred years nor will I say what will fall out in case this lawless unjust Proceedings against me do go on And believe it the Commons of England will not thank you for this Change for they will remember how happy they have been of late years under the reign of Queen Elizabeth the King my Father and my Self until the beginning of these unhappy Troubles and will have cause to doubt that they shall never be so happy under any new And by this time it will be too sensibly evident that the Arms I took up were onely to defend the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom against those who have supposed my Power hath totally changed the antient Government Thus having shewed you briefly the Reasons why I cannot submit to your pretended Authority without violating the Trust which I have from God for the Welfare and Liberty of my People I expect from you either clear Reasons to convince my Iudgement shewing me that I am in an Error and then truly I will Answer or that you will withdraw your proceedings ¶ This the King intended to speak in Westminster-hall on Monday Jan. 22. but against Reason was hindred The Proceedings of the High Court of Iustice sitting at Westminster-hall on Saturday the 27 of January 1648. O yes made Silence commanded The Court called Serjeant Bradshaw President in his Scarlet-Robe sutable to the work of this day with sixty eight other Members of the Court called As the King came into the Court in his usual posture with his Hat on a cry made in the Hall by some of the Souldiers for Iustice Iustice and Execution King I shall desire a word to be heard a little and I hope I shall give no occasion of interruption President You may Answer in your time hear the Court first King If it please you Sir I desire to be heard and I shall not give any occasion of interruption and it is onely in a word A sudden judgment President You shall be heard in due time but you are to hear the Court first King Sir I desire it it will be in order to what I believe the Court will say and therefore Sir a hasty Judgement is not so soon re-called President Sir you shall be heard before the Iudgement be given and in the mean time you may forbear King Well Sir shall I be heard before the Judgement given President Gentlemen it is well known to all or most of you here present That the Prisoner at the Bar â—ath been several times convented and brought before the Court to make Answer to a charge of Treason and other high Crimes exhibited against him in the name of the People of England to which Charge being required to Answer he hath been so far from obeying the commands of the Court by submitting to their Iustice as he began to take upon him to offer Reasoning and debate unto the Authority of the Court and of the highest Court that constituted them to try and judge him but being over-ruled in that and required to make his Answer he was still pleased to continue contumacious and to refuse to submit or Answer c. But Sir if you have any thing to say in defence of your self concerning the matter charged the Court hath given me command to let you know they will hear you King Since I see you will not hear any thing of debate concerning that which I confess I thought most material for the Peace of the Kingdom and for the Liberty of the Subject I shall wave it I shall speak nothing to it but onely I must-tell you that this many a day all things have been taken away from me but that that I call more dear to me than my life which is My Conscience and my Honour and if I had respect to my life more than the Peace of the Kingdoms and the Liberty of the Subject certainly I should have made a particular defence for my self for by that at least-wise I might have delayed an ugly Sentence which I believe will pass upon me therefore certainly Sir as a man that hath some understanding some knowledge of the world if that my Zeal to my Country had not over-born the care that I have of my own preservation I should have gone another way to work than that I have done Now Sir I conceive that an hasty Sentence once past may be sooner repented than recalled and truely the self-same desire that I have for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject more than my own particular does make me now at last desire that having somethimg to say that concerns both I desire before Sentence be given that I may be heard in the Painted Chamber before the Lords and Commons this delay cannot be prejudicial to you whatsoever I say if no Reason those that hear me must be Judges if it be Reason and real for the Welfare of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject I am sure on it it is very well worth the hearing therefore I do conjure you as you love that you pretend I hope it is real the Liberty of the Subject the Peace of the Kingdom that you will grant me the hearing before any Sentence â—e passed I onely desire you will take this into your consideration it may be you have not heard of it beforehand if you will I 'le retire and you may think of it but if I cannot get this Liberty I do here protest that so fair shews of Liberty and Peace are pure shews and not otherwise and that you will not hear your KING President Sir you have now spoken King Yes Sir President And this that you have said is a further declining of the Iurisdiction of this Court which was the thing wherein you were limited before King Pray excuse me Sir for my interruption because you mistake me it is not a declining of it you do Judge me before you hear me speak I say it will not I do not decline it though I cannot acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court yet Sir in this give me leave to say I would do it though I did not acknowledge it in this I do protest it is not the declining of it since I say if that I do say any thing but that that is for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject then the shame is mine Now I desire that you will take this into your consideration if you will I 'll withdraw President Sir this is not altogether nâ—w that you have moved unto us not altogether new to us though the first time in person you have offered it to the Court Sir you say you do not Decline the Iurisdiction of the Court King Not in this that I have said President I understand you well
very desperate Captain Gibbons with 100 men staid in Kerry where the Irish out of fear and distrust of any preservation or favour from the English rose in Arms again there remained too the Island of Enisbuffin whose Forces had in December to the number of 500 in Boats fallen down upon the Isles of Arran Garrisoned by an English company of 150 under a Captain who upon the first Summons rendred the Fort in that Island upon leave to depart for which he was condemned to dye and the Officers under him Cashiered To recover this Isle being of consequence to the peace of the Neighbouring Country Commissary-General Reynolds was sent with a sufficient Force and likewise to reduce Enisbuffin At his approach to Arran it rendred to him upon the first Summons as before it was lost on the 15 of Ianuary where he left some ships for the better securing of it their absence being the occasion of the loss of it before and so marched to Enisbuffin but with more hast than good speed 300 of the Van of his Forces being cut off but the Island being blockt up Colonel Câ—sack the Governour accepted of the usual Articles for Transportation and Surrendered that place Never were any Christian people or Nation in such a wretched condition as those Irish who from a vain conceit of obtaining their Liberty and shaking off the English Yoâ—k by their Rebellion now found iâ— set closer and harder on suffering the very extremity of Revenge and the dregs of Rage from a merciless Conquering Enemy to whom first the crying Sin of their barbarous Massacres and then their contempt of the Kings Authority when received among them and lastly their fatal divisions among themselves caused by their Fryers and the Nuncio-party had given them over As to the Priests they were by Proclamation upon pain of Death Banished for ever out of the Kingdom as the like had been done lately before in England and many of them had already been snapt by the Irish High Court of Iustice. The Parliament were no way insensible of the Damage and disgrace they had suffered from the Dutch in the Downs and to minde them the more of it Cromwel and his Officers kept a Fast by themselves upon that occasion but added other causes viz. the delay of the new Representative according to the old strain and therefore thinking the meanness of their Pay might dishearten the Seamen from serving in the Fleet they raised their Wages from 19 to 24 shillings a month and 20 Nobles for every Gun in any ship they should take from the Enemy with other advantages as to the shares of the Prizes and the better to defray this allowance they ordered the Sale of Somerset-house Windsor-Castle Greenwich Hampton Court Vaâ—â—â— hall in Lambeth Cornbury-Park For the invitation to which purchases and all other Forfâ—iâ—â—d Lands they had abated the interest of Moneys from eight to six per cent that the advantages of laying out their Money with them might appear to the Usurer who by such Bargains could not get less than 50 l. per cent provided it would last and the Lands continue in their possession Those Houses notwithstanding escaped by the hinderance and artful delays of Oliver Cromwel who designed them for his own greatness and State in his projected Supremacy He was now debating in Council with his Bashaws about the very same matter and the Parliament fell presently upon the Bill to prevent him and his Armies desires for the same Representative and offered fair Ianuary the fifth The Danish Embassadors had in the beginning of October departed England and by the way visited Holland and continued their Journey by Land home where upon their arrival that King had declared himself for the Hollander yet the Parliament hoping to reclaim him and the want of those Merchandizes he had seized urging them to it sent Bradshaw a bold fellow like his Kinsman who preferred him to Copenhagen from Hamburgh where he resided with that City as their Agent He came to the Court before Christmas but was delayed Audience till after the Holy-daies and when he had it granted it was to so little purpose and of so great danger to him at his return he being besides affronted highly in the streets that he wisht himself quit of his Employment and at home again At his request for a Guard to convey him back and his payment of them and passing by-ways and over several Waters he at last in much fear being certainly way-laid recovered Hamburgh whence he sent the Parliament an account of his fruitless Negotiation for the goods were unladen and sold and the Merchants Books of Accompt seized and in the Kings hands desiring also the repayment of those Moneys he had disbursed for the carrying the Masters and Seamen of those ships to Lubeck and those parts being not able to stay in Denmark any longer where a Comet newly appeared the effects whereof were very visible in those calamities that presently began in this and the Swedish War in which that King was desperately Engaged The Dutch had been Commanded to Sea from Porto Longone some while before by the Spanish Governour so that the English ships were at liberty and Badiley was now at Leghorn of whom the Great Duke demanded the Phoenix to be restored to the Dutch at their instance to him as taken in his Port which being refused he commanded that those English ships that then lay within the Mole being six in number should put to Sea within ten daies the debate had lasted a good while before this resolution which the Duke said he could not in justice and by the Law of Nations deny to the Hollander the event of which we will presently relate At home the Dutch were still far perter Songs and by words and Pictures made of this English defeat the names of the ships discanted upon that were taken as ominous to us having lost the Garland c. and the like devices this the Vulgar the Great ones were consulting of sending a Fleet to seize all our America-Isles and to Lord it there as their Ships did in the Streights and de Wit was also now almost ready to put to Sea with another Fâ—eet of 40 ships and Van Trump was ordered to come away speedily with such Merchant-men as were râ—â—dy to set Sail and Anchor at the Thames mouth and block up General Blake and the Fleet that was there ready but he came too late to effect it for on the 8 of February from Quinborough the General set sail with about 60 men of War intending to joyn with 20 more from Portsmouth such a Force and of so sudden a rise that the Dutch found themselves much deceived in their designe abroad and Conclusions at home On the 11 of February the Portsmouth-Fleet the Wind blowing Eastward joyned with the General at Beechy head and thence sailed over against Portland where they lay a cross the Channel half Sea over to
the English Fleet discovered them and about eleven or twelve a clock Engaged them and Fought till six at Night in the bâ—ginning of the fight and the first Broad-side General Dean was shot almost off in the Middle by a Cannon-Bullet as he stood by General Monke who without any disturbance bad his Servants and Seamen to remove him and continued the Service without further notice of the accident Of the Dutch side an Admiral was blown up the Captain Cornelius Van Velso and Captain Bolter's ship and three more sunk which made Trump sail for the Dunkirk-Coast between and some of his ships over the Flats in hope to strand the English upon the pursuit and in case the great ships should with more heed desist from the Chase that the nimble and formost Frigats being too far Engaged and that without succour from them in those Shallows might fall without recovering into his hands by his turning upon them with his ablest and lightest Vessels of which he had store and so escaped that night In this days fight Rear-Admiral Lawson so Engaged with de Ruyter and two other Flag-ships and part of their Squadrons with his that Trump was forced to come in to his Relief with other of his best ships whilst the ordinary Men of war were catcht up and Boarded there being six more reckoned taken and sunk in the night whereof Trump by good Piloting made to the Coast aforesaid over those Shallows but the English found them again and Engaged them about eight in the Morning General Blake being now joyned with them with a Squadron of 18 more Men of War and continued till eleven or twelve when the Dutch began to flye for it and Van Trump to fire at those ships that ran but they being not to be staid run all into a huddle which made them an easie prey by reason of their confusion ninety Men of War being so mingled one with another that they could not come to do any Execution upon us without greater damage to themselves This lucky pursuit was continued till night and some fifteen more ships taken and had day lasted few of them had escaped Trump now steered S. and by E. with a fresh Eastward Gale it having been calm before and General Monke E. N. E. to Zealand and came to an Anchor at seven Fathom water and found the Dutch Fleet arrived at Blackenburgh one of those places of strength pawned to Queen Elizabeth for security of that assistance in men and money she afforded those States Van Trump laid the misfortune of this Defeat upon the ignorance and unskilfulness of his Captains And thus ended this Dutch Bravado upon our Coast and in the Downs where they had first attempted the tryal of strength and to wrest the Soveraignty of the Seas to the so breaking of their Stomacks that a resolution for Peace and Agreement was presently taken up and a Vessel with a white Flag and a Messenger to prepare the way for two Embassadors was sent into England so uncertain and ridiculous is the greatest Humane confidence The Council of State now issued out Summons for the Parliament-men the Officers had nominated and presented to Cromwel being persons of Integrity and Fidelity to the Commonwealth as the project was because there was no choice could be made by the Country without apparent hazard to the good Cause so long contested for for that the disaffected would creep in and therefore this extraordinary Proceeding was to be Authorized by the safety of the people the Supreme Law This was Sophistry in the Parliament it was the highest reason now with Oliver though the most palpable and bold subversion of the English Freedom that could be imagined but Oliver had the Sword and thought he gratified the people another way in exchange by freeing them from the Task-masters of the Parliament than whom with the Old Woman they thought they could not have worse whoever came next And that the new Commonwealth and its friends might see that there was no good to be done by a Parliament after the utmost experiment of it and to prepare the greater acceptableness of his Image of Government which had the Brass the Iron and the Clay to its Composition in its rise maintenance and perishment he gave them a tast and sight of the gross and most absurd destructive errours of this Purest Convention men differenced from the rest by the Character of Nathaniel being without Guile to whom he directed this Paper Forasmuch as upon the Dissolution of the late Parliament it became necessary that the Peace should be provided for and in order thereunto divers persons fearing God c. and of approved Fidelity and Integrity c. are by my self and the Council of Officers nominated to the Trust c. and having good assurance of your Love and courage for God and the Interest of his Cause and good people I Oliver Cromwel Captain General of all the Forces raised and to be raised within this Commonwealth do require and Summon You being one of the persons nominated to appear in the Chamber commonly called the Council-Chamber in Whitehall in the City of Westminster on the 4 of July there to take upon you the Trust c. to which ye are called and appointed a Member for the County of A. And these good men and true resolved to come together and give their Verdict against the Publick A good juncture now offered it self to the Scotch Nobility and the Loyal Party their adherents to redeem themselves and Country from the slavery of their new Master a great deal more costly and absolute than their Kirk-Rulers as having no other Communion with this than in the perillous concerns of Person and Estate The chief of these Nobles were the Earls of Glencarne Seaforth and Athol the Lairds Mac Cloud Mac Renalds the Frazers the Lord Kenmore the Earl of Kinoule though at present a Prisoner in Edenburgh-Castle from whence he Colonel Montgomery and Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Hay very nearly afterwards escaped into this Party They had lately received a Commission from the King and in Parties appeared up and down in order to their raising new Levies which they encreased to some competent numbers expecting additional supplies from beyond Sea and their Friends in the Low-lands and some English Auxiliaries of all which and the Velitatory War made by them hereafter in its place expect an Abstract and Epitome Nothing remarkable in Ireland but the raging of the Plague which followed the Sword and accompanied the High Court of Iustice as if no affliction could satisfie for the Barbarous Wickedness of that Nation on whom notwithstanding it fell not alone but spread it self afterwards into the English Quarters and carried away a great number of people Colonel Sullyman was now defeated in Kerry and his Major Fitz Gerald taken Prisoner and the Transplantation now begun The English still lay upon the Coast of Holland having for a while refreshed themselves at Soal-Bay into
his interest and the Cause being the same the same Mercies have been continued And I doubt not but if the intended Change or rather Restitution be made as I hope it will the same God will continue his Blessings to that Good Old Cause wherein we are engaged and that good men will receive satisfaction by it Your Highness hath been told that the Title of King is upon the Foundation of Law and that a new Title must have a constitution to make the Laws relate unto it and that unto the Laws I shall onely adde this that a Title by relation is not so certain and safe as a Title upon the old Foundation of the Law and that a Title upon a present single Constitution as any new Title must be cannot be so firm as a Title both upon the present Constitution and upon the old Foundation of the Law likewise which the Title of King will be If any inconvenience should ensue upon your acceptance of this Title which the Parliament adviseth your Highness satisfaction will be that they did advise it On the contrary part if any inconvenience should arise upon your Highness refusal of this Title which the Parliament hath advised your burden will be the greater And therefore whatsoever may fall out will be better answered by your Highness complying with your Parliament than otherwise This question is not altogether new some instances have been given of the like to which I shall adde two or three The Title of the Kings of England in the Realm of Ireland was Lord of Ireland and the Parliament in the 33 year of Hen. 8. reciting that inconveniencies did arise there by reason of that Title did Enact that Hen. 8. should assume the Stile and Title of King of Ireland which in the Iudgement of this Parliament was preferred before the other In the State of Rome new Titles proved fatal to their Liberties Their case was not much unlike ours they were wearied with a Civil War and coming to a Settlement Cuncta discordiis civilibus â—â—ssa nomine principis sub imperium accepit some would not admit the Title Rex to be used but were contented to give the Titles of Caesar perpetuus Dictator Princeps Senatus Imperator Non sum Râ—x sed Caesar came at last to this Voluntas Caesaris pro lege habebatur The Northern people were more happy amongst themselves a private Gentleman of a Noble Family took up Arms with his Country-men against a Tyrant and by the blessing of God rescued their Native Liberties and Rights of their Country from the oppression of that Tyrant This Gentleman had the Title of Marshal given unto him which continued for some years Afterwards their Parliament judging it best to resume the old Title Elected this Gentleman King and with him was brought in the liberty of Protestant Religion and the establishment of the Civil Rights of that people which have continued in a prosperous condition ever since unto this day Sir I shall make no other application but in my prayers to God to direct your Highness and the Parliament as I hope be will to do that which will be most for his honour and the good of his people Cromwel's Speech to the Parliament in the Banquetting-house at White-hall the 8 of May. Mr. Speaker I Come hither to answer that that was in your last Paper to your Committee you sent to me which was in relation to the desires which were offered to me by the House in that they called their Petition I confess that business hath put the House the Parliament to a great deal of trouble and spent much time I am very sorry that it hath cost me some and some thoughts and because I have been the unhappy occasion of the expence of so much time I shall spend little of it now I have the best I can revolved the whole business in my thoughts and I have said so much already in testimony of the whole that I think I shall not need to repeat any thing that I have said I think it is a Government that the aims of it seek much a setling the Nation on a good foot in relation to Civil Rights and Liberties which are the Rights of the Nation and I hope I shall never be found to be of them that shall go about to Rob the Nation of these Rights but to serve them what I can to the attaining of them It hath also exceeding well provided for the safety and security of honest men in that great Natural and Religious Liberty which is Liberty of Conscience These are great Fundamentals and I must bear my testimony to them as I have and shall do still so long as God lets me live in this World that the intentions of the things are very honourable and honest and the Product worthy of a Parliament I have onely had the unhappiness both in my Conferences with your Committees and in the best thoughts I could take to my self not to be convicted of the necessity of that thing that hath been so often insisted upon by you to wit the Title of King as in it self so necessary as it seems to be apprehended by your selves and I do with all honour and respect to the judgment of the Parliament testifie that caeteris patibus no private judgement is to lye in the Ballance with the judgement of a Parliament but in things that respect particular persons every man that is to give an account to God of his actions he must in some measure be able to prove his own Work that is to have an approbation in his own Conscience of that he is to do or forbear and whilst you are granting others Liberties surely you will not deny me this it being not onely a liberty but a duty and such a duty as I cannot without sinning forbear to examine my own Heart and thoughts and judgement in every work which I am to set mine Hand to or to appear in or for I must confess therefore that though I do acknowledge all the other yet I must be a little confident in this that what with the circumstances that accompany Humane Actions whether they be circumstances of time or persons whether circumstances that relate to the whole or private or particular circumstances that compass any person that is to render an account of his own actions I have truely thought and do still think that if I should at the best do any thing on this account to answer your expectation it would be at the best doubtingly and certainly what is so is not of faith whatsoever is not of faith is sin to him that doth it whether it be with relation to the substance of the action about which the consideration is conversant or whether to circumstances about it which make all indifferent actions good or evil to him that doth it I lying under this consideration think it my duty onely I could have wished I had done it sooner for the sake of the House
Mr. Ansley walking afterwards into the Hall the House not being ready to sit to let the Members know that though they were repulsed by force on Saturday the House was open for honest men this day at his return Captain Lewson of Goff's Regiment as he confessed himself and other Officers denied him entrance he asking them whether they were a Committee to judge of Members without doors they said No but they were Commanded by their superiour Officers to let none in that had not sate till April 1653. After some reasoning the case with them the Captain told Mr. Ansley that if he would give his Parol to return without sitting he might go in and speak with whom he pleased so upon his Parol passed to the Captain he was permitted to go in the second time and soon after returned telling the Captain as he came out that he had kept his Parol and wished he and the Souldiers would do the like Mr. Pryn continued still there and resolved so to do since he saw there was Force again upon the House and had some discourse within doors and made them lose that Morning and adjourn by reason of his presence without the Speakers taking the Chair he attempted to sit again in the Afternoon but found there a Troop of Horse and two Companies of Red-coats Keepers of the Liberties of England and so bid them farewel immediately after which to prevent further interruption in their works of Darkness from Honest men they barred the Door against three parts of four of the Members of the House by the following Vote Ordered That such persons heretofore Members of this Parliament as have not sate in this Parliament since the year 1648. and have not subscribed the Engagement in the Roll of Engagement of this House shall not sit in this House till further order of the Parliament Whereupon Sir George Booth Mr. Ansley Mr. Knightly Mr. Pryn and the rest who had agreed on a Letter to be sent to them finding them in their old temper of trampling the priviledges of Parliament under foot and Judging without Hearing resolved to make no application to them Thus we saw to the vexation of the Kingdom the same pretended Parliament as was sitting in 1653. till the Protector Oliver by the best act of his life pull'd them out of the House sitting again upon a Declaration of the Army whose Slaves they were to do what they please as time discovered And that we might see they could trust few but themselves and were not changed for all their fained repentance they were already returned to the Good Old Cause of preferring one another and their Friends into good Offices and Commands and Counsellors places as appeared by their Vote of the 9th of May viz. The Parliament doth declare That all such as shall be employed in any place of Trust or Power in the Commonwealth be able for the discharge of such Trust and that they be persons fearing God and that have given testimony to all the people of God and of their faithfulness to this Commonwealth according to the Declaration of Parliament of the 7 th of May 1659. And such their proceedings thereupon that forthwith they chose of their own Members for a Council of State 21. viz. Sir Arthur Haslerig or the Bishop of Durham Sir Henry Vane Ludlow Io. Iones Sydenham Scot. Saloway Fleetwood Sir Iames Harrington Col. Walton Nevil Chaloner Downes Whitlock Herb. Morley Sidney Col. Thompson Col. Dixwel Mr. Reynolds Oliver St. Iohn Mr. Wallop Of Persons without the House 10. viz. Bradshaw Lambert Desborough Lord Fairfax Berry Sir Tho. Honeywood Sir Archi. Iohnson Iosiah Berners Sir Anth. Ashley Cooper a Gentleman too wise honest to sit in such company Sir Hor. Townsend a Gent. of too good an Estate to be hazarded with such a crew Next they discontinued the Term to the great damage and discontent of the people because many Suits were depending against Vane and Haslerig In fine what they were like to prove or what good rather what evil was dreaded and expected from them to an utter despair and enragement of the whole Nation did sufficiently appear from the esteem the people had of them in the Elections to the last Parliament wherein though none but persons well-affected to Parliaments had Votes and the persons now sitting laboured hard to be chosen very few of them were Elected the people generally looking upon them as apostates from the Good Old Cause and therefore no wonder they would have that Parliament to which onely they were chosen never dissolved Going about by the example of the Army whose Apes they were to cozen the people of their Religion Laws Liberties Parliaments and Money with a Rattle called the Good Old Cause which was a Cheat greater than any of the former Being thus reseated and having entred for qualitie though not for number worse if worse could be than when they were turned out before they fell as readily as if there had been no disaster on their power upon selling the remainder of the King's Lands as Hampton-court Somerset-house Greenwich c. All persons were commanded to quit White-hall whence the miserable Richard for whom the Army had conditioned for ten thousand per annum for his life c. in fear of Arrests had withdrawn himself into the Country Thither these his Masters sent to him a Committee for his submission and resignation to which they sweetned him with a kinde demand of his Debts of which by their Conditions they were tied to discharge him He at first answered not home to the Resignation but being urged for they knew his Title was as good as theirs to do it he in express terms added He had learnt not to be unquiet under Gods hand and should cause all persons relating to him to behave themselves peaceably under the Government from whom he expected Protection May 25. Then he gave them a Transcript of his Debts by the hands of his Steward and they thereupon took him off a debt of 29640 l. and gave him a Protection for six Months and together his dismission having taken and seized all the Plate Hoshould-stuff and other Utensils whatsoever in White-hall together with what Jewels they could finde into their possession and so exit Richard in such a pitiful regardless condition but by his Creditors that we shall hear but little of him further in this Chronicle They were next saluted with an Address from the Army in Scotland wherein they confessed and lamented their former miscarriages towards them but at the end thereof there was a hard word subjoyned That the defection was fomented and caused by some of themselves and this was afterwards construed as a bone of Contention and Jealousie thrown in amongst them At home the Judges Commissions being expired they appointed Serjeant Nudigate for the Kings-Bench Serjeant Atkins and Archer for the Common-Pleas and Serjeant Parker for the Exchequer where Wilde and Hill were afterwards placed and