and three Fifteens which were by the late Parliament resolv'd on to have been given to the King setting forth a Declaration to manifest the reasons of his requiring that Loan Soon after which he sent away six thousand Foot-Soldiers under the command of Sir Charles Morgan and others for the service of the Vnited Provinces Moreover to heighten and increase these his wants about this time a most unlucky occasion hapned which in short was this that the French Priests and Domestics of that Nation which came into England with the Queen were grown so insolent and had put so many affronts upon the King that as the French King had sent back all the Spanish Courtiers which his Queen brought with her his Majesty was forc'd to send them home But that King not looking on this Example and knowing upon what ill terms our King stood both at home and abroad first seized on all the Merchants Ships which lay in the River of Bourdeaux and then brake out into open war so that the King was constrain'd to make use of those Forces against the French which were design'd to have been used against the Spaniard and to comply with the desire of the Rochellers who humbly sued for his protection and defence but the Fleet set forth for that purpose being encountred with great Tempests was forc'd to return without doing any thing farther then shewing his Majesties good will and readiness to assist them CHAP. IV. BUT the next year the King having made new Preparations for a war with France to manifest what ground he had for it declared that the House of Austria conspiring the ruin of all those of the Reform'd Religion through Christendom as he said plainly appear'd in the wars of Germany had such an influence upon the Councel of France as to prevail with the French to obstruct the landing of Count Mansfield's Army contrary to promise with whom they should have join'd Forces for the relief of the Palatinate and the German Princes the failure wherein proved the ruin of that Army the greatest part whereof perished Furthermore that having by his mediation prevail'd for a Peace between the French King and his Protestant Subjects and engaged his Word that the Protestants should observe the Articles of Agreement nevertheless the King of France contrary to those Articles block'd up their Towns Garrisons and Forts committing many spoils upon them though they had done nothing in violation of the Edict of Peace Whereupon the Duke of Buckingham in order to the relief of the Palatinate being made Admiral and Commander in Chief of the Land-Forces on the 27th of Iune set out from Portsmouth the Fleet consisting of an hundred Sail whereof ten were of the King 's Royal Navy having aboard six or seven thousand Land-Soldiers and towards the later end of Iuly appear'd before Rochel Where attempting to gain the Isle of Rhee which lay before that Town and imbarr'd their Trade his unskilful conduct therein was such that he was forc'd to a retreat with the loss of many valiant men and not a little of his Honour the more full relation of which ill success I refer to our Historians This Expedition proving thus unhappy his Majesties necessitous condition forc'd him to pawn much of his Lands to the City of London for an hundred and twenty thousand pounds which he then borrowed and also to borrow thirty thousand pounds more of the East-India Company But all this being not sufficient to support the charge of the Fleet notwithstanding these former great discouragements still hoping by a Parliament to obtain some reasonable Supply in these his pressing Necessities he call'd another Parliament to begin on the seventeenth of March next following At the meeting whereof he told them None there but knew that common danger was the cause of that Parliament and Supply at that time the Chief end thereof Likewise that if to maintain their own advices and as the case then stood for the following thereof the true Religion Laws and Liberties of this State and the just defence of its true Friends and Allies were not sufficient then no Eloquence of men and Angels could prevail the particular dangers being laid open by the Lord Keeper Hereupon after some time spent in debate of these things five Subsidies were voted and the Petition of Right assented to by his Majesty After which the Parliament was first prorogued from the 26th of Iune till the 20th of October And then by Proclamation till the 20th of Ianuary At which meeting the Clergy also gave the King as many Subsidies In the interim of which Prorogation the Duke of Buckingham who had formerly been the Darling of that Parliament which made use of him to King Iames for breaking the match with Spain being now grown odious and in this Parliament represented to be the chief cause of all their Grievances not only by reason of the losses at the Isle of Rhee but for many other respects as in the Annals of that time may at large be seen hoping as well to regain the honour he lost in the last year's attempt in that Isle as a better opinion of the People design'd another Expedition to Rochel In order whereunto being Commander of the Royal Fleet ready to set sail from Portsmouth he was there desperately murther'd by one Iohn Felton a discontented Officer of the last years Army upon the 23d of August who gave no other reason for that his barbarous and bloody Act then that the Duke had been declared an Enemy to the Commonwealth in a Remonstrance tendred to the King by the House of Commons in the former Session But I proceed notwithstanding this fair shew of an hopeful accordance there were not a few turbulent-spirited men both in the Parliament and elsewhere who sought all advantages for breaking thereof divers Merchants refusing to pay Tonnage and Poundage in regard it had not been granted to the King by a special Act since the death of his Royal Father King Iames. Whereupon his Majesty first sent for those Merchants to the Council-Table and after by a Speech to both Houses told them he expected they should pass the Bill for it But instead of complying therein the Commons publisht a Declaration concerning Religion alledging that they must prefer it before all other business Whereupon the King whose urgent Necessities for want of the Supply expected pressed hard upon them issuing out a special Commission for taking of Tonnage and Poundage Against which the Commons not only protested but some of their Members behaved themselves therein so disobediently and seditiously to the contempt of his Regal authority that fearing they should be dissolved before they had vented their own passions in that particular they lockt the doors of the House of Commons kept the Key and held the Speaker by strong hand in his Chair till they had thunder'd out their Anathema's not
the least to the contrary and imparted to him the substance of what had then passed betwixt them Whereupon the King framing his Answer to those Proposals from the Parliament so brought to him as abovesaid sent it by the same person to Cromwell and Ireton to be perused with liberty to add or alter what they should think fit Which being done by them and returned to His Majesty he wrote it a new and sent it to Westminster But see now the horrid perfidiousness of Cromwell and Ireton No sooner was this candid and gracious Answer from the King Imparted to the House of Commons but that both of them appeared with the highest in their bitter invectives against it The News whereof being forthwith brought to the King he call'd for the person who had been so lately with Cromwell and acquainting him therewith sent him back to Cromwell to require a reason thereof Whose answer was that what he had then said in the House of Commons was to sound the depth of those virulent humours wherewith the Presbytereans whom he knew to be no friends to the King were possess'd with all But after that time he never came more to His Majesty That person therefore whom the King had so imployed to Cromwell observing thus much made it his chief business to find out the Councils and designs of the principal Officers of the Army at Putney and discerning at length how dangerous they were in reference to His Majesty gave him private Advertisement thereof to the end he might consider which way best to preserve himself Whereupon resolving to get privately from Hampton-Court to the City of London the same person so imploy'd as abovesaid undertook to find him out a secure lodging there and accordingly leaving him did provide such a one His Majesty determining that so soon as he should get safe thither to let him have knowledge thereof And now at length being fully sensible of what he had so long feared which was that notwithstanding his own clear and candid dealing with them in all respects and that he did so far rely upon them that he had strictly prohibited all those of his faithful subjects who had served in his Armys that they should not joyn with the Scots in case they should raise any forces in order to his pretended restoration as Cromwell seem'd to suspect that they might though nothing less would have been the effects thereof considering they stuck so close to their solemn League and Covenant he was to expect no better than destruction and ruine to himself and his posterity and absolute slavery to all his good Subjects he caused a Boat to be privately brought to the River-side and upon the eleventh of November about the beginning of the night went alone from the Privy-lodgings through a Door where no Guard stood into the Park and so crossing the Thames landed at Ditton where Sir Iohn Berkley afterwards Lord Berkley Mr. Iohn Ashburnham and Colonel William Legg sometime Groomes of his Bedchamber were placed with Horses But so it hapned that when the King was got on Shore and had stay'd some time for them Mr. Ashburnham diswaded him from going to London and led him into Hantshire where His Majesty demanding of him to what place he intended to conduct him he answered into the Isle of Wight whereof Colonel Hamond was then Governour in whom Mr. Ashburnham had no little confidence To which His Majesty replyed that he would not adventure himself thither unless he might have sufficient assurance under the Governour 's hand for his security from any danger and thereupon sent Mr. Ashburnham and Sir Iohn Berkley into the Isle to treat with Hamond to that purpose staying himself at Lichfield house belonging to the Earl of Southampton with Colonel Legg till they returned strictly charging them that they should not let Hamond know where he was unless he would give him full assurance under his Hand for his freedome and return thence when he pleased But instead of observing these His Majestie 's directions they came back and brought Hamond with them And being come to Lichfield went to the King then in his Bed-chamber leaving Hamond below telling His Majesty what they had done whereat the King being not a little amazed askt them if they had a promise under Hamond's hand for his security and they replying No but thâ—â— he would approve himself a man of Honour He plainly told them that they had betray'd him or words to that purpose concluding then that he was no better than his prisoner Which sharp resentment of his condition 〈…〉 them so neer that they offer'd to kill Hamond 〈◊〉 take some other course for His Majestie 's safety But to this their vain proposal the King did utterly refuse to assent rather choosing to yeild up himself a Sacrifice as he afterwards was made to those bloud-thirsty-men who had resolved his destruction and subversion of the Government than to be guilty of assenting to take away the life of that one Rebel in cold bloud And putting himself thereupon into the hands of that unworthy person was by him kept in no better condition than a prisoner untill he was by his consent taken away by the direction of Cromwell and the rest of those bloudy Regicides who brought him to the Block as we shall see anon But I return At his departure from Hampton-Court he left in his withdrawing-room a Letter directed to the Commissioners which attended him there to be communicated to both Houses of Parliament the effect whereof was to tell them that he had with great patience endured a tedious restraint which he did willingly undergo whilst he had any hopes that it might conduce to the peace of the Kingdoms but then finding by too certain proofs that this his continued patience would not onely turn to his personal ruin but be of much more prejudice than furtherance of the publick good he did conceive that he was bound as well by natural as political obligations to seek his safety by retiring himself for some time from the publick view both of his friends and enemies challenging the judgment of all indifferent men if he had not just cause to free himself from the hands of those who did change their Principles with their condition earnestly urging that all just Interests viz. Presbyterean Independent Army and Scots might be heard together with himself with Honour Freedom and Safety and then that he would instantly break through that cloud of retirement and shew himself to be really Pater patriae In this Letter of his Majestie 's who unparallel'd Sufferings had raised his Observations to an higher pitch than some who have been much magnified for their Wisedom did ever reach it is to be noted that he saw he had just cause to free himself from the Hands of those who did change their principles with their condition Now lest this his expression should be thought to have reference meerly to the Independents in whose power he then
in the House tending thereto first by a Proposal of four then five nay six were mention'd and the motion not dislik'd told them peremptorily that it was in vain for them to think of less than twelve in regard he knew under that number would not be accepted And having by that sinister dealing kept such distance betwixt his Majesty and his good Subjects was by some other of the faction so seconded with a hideous representation of their Grievances together with dangerous Innovations in Religion and fears of introducing Superstition besides certain motions as did not without cause put strange apprehensions in the Queen of peril to her person or at least some others very near unto her that his Majesty was constrain'd to dissolve that Parliament And taking consideration of the Scots rebellious Insolencies which every day increased proposed the business of money to his Privy-Council who contributed a considerable sum to his aid his domestic-Servants and Officers making good addition thereto The Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of Ireland speedily hasting into that Kingdom where he call'd a Parliament raised an Army of eight thousand men with money to maintain them and within the space of six weeks return'd into England That the meeting of these Members of Parliament from all parts of the Realm being many of them men of turbulent Spirits and principles totally Antimonarchical gave opportunity for those contrivances which afterwards were put in Action there is nothing more sure For in the first place they took care to infuse Fears and Iealousies into the people every where that the Government was then design'd to be Arbitrary and Popery like to be introduced to promote which Scandals many seditious Preachers took no small pains in their Pulpits especially in and about London Whereupon several tumultuous meetings were made in divers parts of the Suburbs and a Paper set up in the night at the old Exchange animating the Apprentices to sack Lambeth House Which took such effect that two nights following it was beset with above five hundred of the rascal multitude and an attemt made thereon though without success some of them being taken and imprisoned in Southwark But here they rested not for within a few nights after they broke open the White-Lion and King's-bench Prisons and let out their fellows The Scots also having made such preparations for a second Rebellion continued likewise their Parliament according to the Fundamental Laws as their phrase was having enacted a Band to be subscribed by all men before the first of September to maintain it to be a free and lawful Parliament whereupon they form'd another Army and knowing certainly what store of well-wishers they had in this Kingdom as also how easy the work was like to be made through the subtile contrivances of the factious party here from whom they were sufficiently instructed and animated by private Invitations and large promises invaded this Realm passing the Twede at Barwick But the King being slow to believe what they designed was not so forward as to encounter them upon the Borders his Army which he rais'd that Summer lying at that time about New-Castle of which the Earl of Northumberland was made General who alledging himself to be then ill in health staid in London His Majesty therefore having certain advertisement that the Scots were ready to enter Northumberland intended to have made the Earl of Strafford General who declin'd it out of an honoured respect to the Earl of Northumberland but being much pressed in regard of this present occasion desired to serve as Lieutenant general under him and had his Commission accordingly On Thursday the twentieth of Aug. the King set forwards from London towards the North and on Munday following the Earl of Strafford having in that short time fitted himself for his journey posted from London by Coaches and arriving at York the Wednesday after though then much troubled with the Stone rode to Topcliffe on Fryday At that time the Lord Conway was General of the Horse and at Newcastle with the Army Where by reason of the General 's and Lieutenant-General's absence he had the cheif command thereof but made such slender resistance that the Scots forc'd their passage over the River of Tine at Newburne that very Friday and entred Newcastle without opposition himself then retreating with the Army towards York and in some confusion And now that the Scots had thus possess'd themselves of Newcastle they began to strengthen that place and bring all those Northern-parts under contribution Which strange passages made most men amazed scarce any man knowing whom to trust or speak freely to Much labour indeed there was to make the people believe that all this did work for their good and that the Scots were their surest friends this being the certain way to have a Parliament and that the undoubted cure of all things amiss both in Church and State And truly such a burthen was Ship-money then esteem'd to be and some few other extraordinary Impositions so wanton were many grown being surfeited with that plenty which long peace had produc'd that the Scots then had not a few well-wishers in all parts of this Realm their piety and goodness being so cried up by the whole Puritan-party His Majesty therefore in this difficult Labyrinth took resolution to summon a meeting of the Peers at York a course which had anciently been used especially when exigencies were so great that the Convention of a Parliament could not be staid for and at the meeting of this grand Council represented to them the present danger of this Invasion with desire of their advice touching the maintenance of his Army as not safe to be disbanded whilst the Scotish-Forces were on foot as also what course was fittest to be taken to get them out Whereupon without long deliberating a Treaty was determin'd on and for that end sixteen of the Lords then present were assign'd on the King's part to meet with Eleven of the Scots with power to compose and conclude all differences Whereunto the Scots assented upon condition that the King should first revoke his Proclamation whereby he had declared them Traitors COMMISSIONERS Of the English these Francis Earl of Bedford William Earl of Hertford Robert Earl of Essex William Earl of Salisbury Robert Earl of Warwick Iohn Earl of Bristol Henry Earl of Holland Thomas Earl of Berkshire Philip Lord Wharton William Lord Paget Edward Lord Kymbolton Robert Lord Brook Iohn Lord Paulet Edw. L. Howard of Escrick Thomas Lord Savile Francis Lord Dunsmore Of the Scots these Iohn Earl of Rothess Ch. Earl of Dumfermeling Iohn Lord Lowdon Sir Patrick Hepburne of Waughtone Sir Will. Douglas of Cavers William Drummond of Riccarton Iohn Smith Bailiff of Edenborough Alexand Wedderburn Clerk of Dundee Hugh Kennedy Burgess of Aire Alexander Henderson Archibald Iohnstone Which Treaty began at Rippon upon the ninth of October but what good effect it was like to produce we
cleared and those difficulties explained to him which he then conceived to be destructive to his just regal power in case he should give a full consent to those Propositions as they then stood Engaging himself to give his chearful assent to all such Bills as should be really to the good and peace of his people and to prefer the happiness of this Kingdome before his own particular And as a farther means to work a confidence in them of his own sincerity in these things he offered again to trust them with his own person conjuring them as they were Christians and Subjects and as they were men who desired to leave a good name behind them so to receive and make use of that his Answer that all issues of bloud might be stopped and those unhappy distractions peaceably setled But as his former gracious and frequent offers so this could not then find any acceptance at all with them by reason that it tended to the composure of those lamentable distractions which tended to the utter ruine of the King and Realm their aims at first and continued resolutions still being to share the spoyl which by their strength and power they had most unjustly got Nay in stead of any kindness or comfort which he might rationally expect from their many and most solemn promises and protestations they perpetually tormented his pious Soul with incessant importunities to take their hypocritical Covenant and sent for several of their most rigid Preachers to terrify him with their Kirk-censures upon his refusal thereof In which sad and disconsolate condition I shall for a while leave him and take a short view of the transactions betwixt the Members sitting at Westminster and those at Edenborough with their respective Commissioners The principal work being now done here in England by the help of the Scots the Grandees here as well as others began to be weary of their dear Brethren and for the sooner riddance of them passed a Vote that a Message should be sent to the Scottish Army that in regard they were not usefull in this Kingdome for the present and that the payment thereof would be a great burthen thereto they should with all convenient speed return into their Country But the Scots never intending to be loosers by their journey hither knowing full well how to make the best use of those advantages they then had gave their dear Brethren very good words telling them in their answer to the demands made in pursuance of that Vote that their earnest desires were the setling of Religion and Church Government which as it was the principal ground of their engagement in this Cause so would the perfecting of it be their chiefest joy and Glory of both Kingdomes it being the constant resolution of that Kingdome against all opposition to strengthen and cherish the Brotherly kindness between the Kingdomes and Peace setled with Truth and those things performed by the Honourable Houses which by Treaty they were obliged unto to recall their Army with as great alacrity as they were ready to send the same into England for the assistance of their Brethren And in another Letter speaking of the Arrears due to their Army they had these words This Kingdome lyeth under the burthen of great and vast expence in raising and entertaining of Armies and hath with the lives of many precious men set their own Houses on fire to quench the flame of yours And seeing by the seasonable assistance afforded by this Kingdome to you and by the late successes wherewith God hath blessed your Armies you are in a great measure freed of your troubles and are in a far better capacity to pay the moneys due to our Armies in England and Ireland than you were at any time since the beginning of these Wars we demand of the honourable houses to make payment of the summs of money duly owing to this Kingdome ¶ The state of things standing thus made the Game now to be play'd betwixt these great Masters not a little difficult to each the chief business of the then predominant party at Westminster being to gain the person of the King into their own hands and in case he should not upon the matter totally quit his Regal power to them by taking their Covenant and assenting to those their destructive propositions before-mentioned then to keep him close prisoner and exercise the same power without him And the design of the Scots not onely to use the like Regal-power in Scotland but to get a large sum of mony to boot considering that having the King in their hands the Grandees there were able to make their own terms on the behalf of themselves as to Riches and Honours There was therefore no means unessayed by each for accomplishing their respective ends But the Arguments and debates about this business continuing no less than six months before all things were fully agree'd I shall reserve my observations upon them till then and in the mean time take notice of what else did occur that is most remarkable in order to the carrying on their main work and divide the same into two parts the one touching their attempts upon the King in relation to the Covenant and Propositions the other towards the advancement of the Scepter of Iesus Christ for by that title they called their Presbyterean Doctrine and Discipline As to the first About the beginning of September Iames Duke Hamilton Lindsey Earl of Craford the Earl of Cassiles and some others from the Estates of Scotland came to Newcastle to the King and there earnestly solicited him to take the Covenant and sign the Propositions To second which motion there was a petition presented to His Majesty from the general Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland for Reformation of Religion according to the Covenant and uniformity of Church government denouncing God's anger upon him and the hazard to lose the Hearts of his good subjects in case he assented not thereto Soon after which Mr. Andrew Cant Mr. Robert Blayre and Mr. Iames Douglass came thither also to press him to the same purpose To torment him likewise yet more one of these violent men I mean a rigid Presbyterean-preacher besides many rude and uncivil expressions in his Sermon there before the King called for the 52. Psalm to be sung by the congregation which beginneth thus Why do'st thou Tyrant boast abroad thy wicked works to praise Whereupon His Majesty instantly stood up and called for the 56. Psalm beginning thus Have mercy Lord on me I pray for men would me devour Which the people readily sung waving the other Nay the fierceness of these Scottish-presbyters against His Sacred Majesty was such as that upon certain Proposals made to those of them who were Commissioners from the general Assembly viz. If the King shall come into Scotland and that the Kingdome of England shall exclude him of the Government there for his leaving them without granting the Propositions Whether or not
silenc'd yet by reason of his zeal to God's Glory as they term'd it that is to say his activeness against Episcopacie he was exempted from the Rigour of that sentence Moreover as they took care to disable those of the Clergy which were Orthodox and Loyal from preaching any more so to encourage all others who were for their turn though not at all qualified with learning they gave liberty to every bold and schismatical Mechanick to preach under the notion of Gifted-men To which purpose an Ordinance was brought in to the House and read for approving of such illiterate persons to be Ministers And that Episcopal Government might never return again they passed an Ordinance for the sale of all the Lands belonging to the Bishops with special instructions therein for the Contractors and Surveyors Amongst which Instructions it is not the least observable that for the better encouraging of Purchasers they should sell them at ten years purchase Nay such was their care to make this sacrilegious work as plausible to the people as might be that besides the extraordinary pay their Surveyors of those Lands had viz. 20 s. a day and five shillings a day to every Boy that did but carry the end of the measuring-Chain they gave special directions that the Gentry and other popular-men residing in those parts where such Lands lay should be feasted by the Surveyors which feasts amounted to no small charge saying Wee must pay well and hang well About this time also there was a Committee appointed to inquire into the Value of all Church-livings in order to the planting of an able Ministry as they gave out whereas in truth it was to discover which were the best and fattest Beneficies to the end that the principal Champions for the Cause might make choice of those for themselves whereof some had three a piece and some four as is very well known it being aparent that where any small Benefice was there the Church-dores were shut up The more to justify which practice of theirs I could name an Assembly man who being told by an Eminent person that a certain Church in the West of England had no Incumbent askt what the yearly value of the Benefice did amount unto and he answering sifty pounds per annum the Assembly man reply'd if it be no better worth no Godly-man will accept of it But notwithstanding all this the advancement of the Scepter of Iesus Christ that is to say the establishing the Presbyterean-Government by a Law went but slowly on insomuch as the Covenanting Brethren in London who were dayly agitated with the zealous breath of the Presbyterean Bellows from the Pulpits and otherwise growing hot for the Scotch Discipline busyed themselves not a little in getting Hands to a Petition for prosecuting the ends of the Covenant and that Presbyterie might be established And for the better speed of that blessed work the latter part of their new Confession of Faith being brought in by the Assembly of Divines and read in the House of Commons it was Ordered that marginal notes should be forthwith added thereto to prove every Article by Scripture and that the Assembly should also bring in their Answers to the Quaeres of the House concerning the Ius divinum of Presbyterie CHAP. XXII BUT oh the fates Now that after all this formal combining and Covenanting with the precious Brethren of Scotland Horse Arms Jewels Plate and Money in no small proportion so frankly offered up to this Dagon of Presbyterie and a numerous Army poured in from that Nation to help the Lord against the mighty so many dreadfull battels fought so much English-bloud lamentably spilt and such a vast Treasure spent and all to advance the Scepter of Iesus Christ nay the top stone of this glorious building ready to be laid on Now I say the perfect compleating of this great and glorious work was so near that the main Fabrick should begin to totter specially by the unhappy assaults of their own Godly party and at last to tumble down what could be more deplorable yet so it hapned I must therefore here begin to change my note and as I have Historically manifested whence that sacred Impe of Presbytery originally sprung How 't was first transplanted hither what a luxuriant growth in short time it had and what glorious fruit it produced So shall I now briefly shew how and by what means it fell to decay and how that prodigious Monster of Independencie creeping up by the body thereof at length did much overtop it and triumphing for a while at last produced no less direfull effects than what that old stock of Presbyterie always did even the barbarous destruction of our late gracious King of ever blessed memory in his Royal person after he had been most inhumanly persecuted despoiled of his Kingly authority and most shamefully made Prisoner by those devout Covenanters ¶ That Ambition and Avarice were most assuredly the primary causes which incited this Saint-like Generation to act such horrid things as no age hath formerly seen and to carry on these their foul designs under the specious veile of Religion the Laws of the Land and Liberty of the subject hath been already fully manifested Having therefore by this subtil stratagem got the sword and consequently the wealth of the Realm into their power I now come to observe how through the admirable justice of Almighty God upon these grand Hypocrites which first kindled the flames of Civil war amongst us the same power and wealth was by the like ravenous brood now called Independents which sprung forth of their own pharisaical loyns soon torn and wrested out of their greedy Jaws upon the like principles and what use they made of it By what hath been already said 't is sufficiently manifest how and to what end the establishment of the Scottish Discipline was first and principally aymed at by the Presbyterean party here but the severity thereof being at length discerned by some through a cleerer Light the new Reformers thought it most proper not onely to represent to the People the true face thereof in its proper shape but to hold forth unto them an absolute freedome from the merciless phangs and teeth of that cruel beast under the notion of Christian-Liberty whereby every man might exercise himself in the pretended service of God according to what form or order he list as Independent from any that could call him to account which pleasing Doctrine being not a little gratefull to the vulgar soon obtain'd so fair an entertainment especially amongst the souldiery as that not onely the generallity of the Army and many of the Garisons cheerfully embraced it but most of the people through out all parts of the Realm right willingly inclin'd thereto The Presbyterean-Hedge being therefore thus troden down no wonder was it that like scattered Flocks multitudes were gathered up by other Shepherds into new Congregations Anabaptists Millenaries or fifth Monarchy-men Quakers c.
Army and all being done to give them for the pains hazzard and charges which the said Army should undergo a due recompence by way of Brotherly Assistance Towards the performance of which agreement though these Grandees did manifest that besides much free Quarter the Scots-Army had monthly received nineteen thousand and seven hundred pounds and for the last year ending ultimo Octobris seventy two thousand nine hundred seventy two pounds two shillings and eleven pence for the Customes and other Impositions upon coals onely the Brethren nevertheless having then the better end of the staff in their hands as being possess'd of the King delivered in unto them an account of Arrears besides losses of no less than a Million of money their free Quarter reckoned but with a kind intimationâ— that they would accept of a less sum in gross for a full discharge of all Whereupon a Committee being appointed to treat with them thereon and times of payment they then stoop'd to the one half viz. five hundred thousand pounds whereof two hundred thousand pounds to be paid upon the departure of their Army and the rest within twelve months Much dispute indeed they had about this business yea some high words but at length four hundred thousand pounds was the sum agree'd on the one half in hand upon delivery up of the King Which sum without more ado stop'd the mouths of those Vultures and put a period to all this hot contest All their Oaths and Obligation whereon they had so much insisted meerly to heighten the price of their Sovereign being then set aside as 't is notoriously known Being therefore thus sold and delivered to the Earls of Pembroke Denbigh and Lord Mountagu of Boughton Sir Iames Harington Sir Iohn Holand Sir Walter Earl Sir Iohn Cook Iohn Crew Esq and Major General Brown Commissioners from the Members at Westminster to be carried to Holdenby-House in Northamptonshire his Majestie hoped that he might have two of his own Chaplains admitted to attend him in this sad and disconsolate condition having not one servant of his own about him but that request would not be granted though again seconded ¶ Thus did the bonny Scots part with their native King leaving those Northern countries miserably beggar'd by many grievous Taxes imposed on them by their Army and most lamentable oppressions by Free-Quarter Which burthens were so heavy that the Inhabitants of Cleveland by their petition to the Members at Westminster and Letter therewith sent complained that their oppressions were greater than those who suffered by the Turks both their persons and Estates those under the Turk being quit for a fifth part whereas they in one year did pay their whole Revenues seven times over We are say they in their Letters the absolutest slaves that ever was read of for they assess us at their pleasures leavy as they please If they bid us go and ride none dare refuse The Kill us in hot bloud beat us in cold c. In a word our stock is already wasted our little corn we had ill gotten in by reason of the great moisture we are now thrashing it for the Scots We are eating our last bread Who have been able to get away are gone c. The perfect Diurnal further adds The Country puts up many complaints Bedall a little Town in Yorkshire of 57 li. old Rent and Ayscough a lesser Village of 42 li. have put up their several complaints that they have in less than five months last past paid to the Scots Army quartering upon them almost two thousand pounds besides former Billettings and Taxes by which sad sufferings some have left their Houses others at the point of leaving theirs also Lâ—tters from Richmundshire did likewise intimate that two Constableries of that County the Rent whereof amounted to no more than ninety nine pounds per annum were assessed by the Scottish Army and paid in Free Quarter no less than nineteen hundred pounds in four months But having made such a fair Market of the King leaving those Countries thus harrassed they march'd back over Tweed upon the eleventh of February ¶ Hereupon the Grandees at Westminster having to the view of the World finish'd their great work by getting the person of the king into their power they imployed Phillip Earl of Pembroke Basill Earl of Denbigh Edward Lord Mountagu of Boughton Sir Iames Harington Sir Iohn Holand and Sir Iohn Cook Baronets Sir Walter Earl Knight Iohn Crew Esq and Major General Brown as already hath been observed to bring his Majestie from Newcastle to Holdenby in Northampton shire Who coming to Newcastle upon the 22. of Ianuary after their stay there till the last day of that month they set forwards on the Journey and on the sixteenth of February got to holdenby where they kept him under a strict restraint Colonel Richard Greaves a most confiding Presbyterean having the chief command of his Guards not suffring any of his own servants to come near him no not so much as one Chaplain for performance of such divine offices as common charity could not have denyed to the greatest criminal though often and earnestly moved by his Majestie thereto Which being done they thought of nothing more than singing a Requiem to their Souls In order whereunto in the first place they concluded on the new modelling of their Army lest the tender Independent who grew up apace might otherwise overtop his Presbyterean-parent and therefore resolv'd to cull out those who were not Covenant-proof and send them for Ireland there to encounter as well with hunger and cold as other miseries and hardships of war Then to disband others and make a new establishment consisting of such onely as were pure Covenanters and firm to the good old Cause And next to the end that with more plausibility to the people and security to themselves they might have the full sway of all their drift was to extoâ— the King's consent he being then their prisoner 〈◊〉 this their new designed Dominion For the accomplishment whereof according to their wonted praâ—â—â—ses they caused a petition to be exhibited to the two Houses at Westminster by the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common Council of London Wherein was contained a subtil insinuation of their desires that God would bring his Majestie 's Heart nearer to his chief and greatest Council the Parliament and that he would be perswaded to joyn with them in the National League and Covenant and give satisfaction in the Propositions which the Parliaments of both Nations should make unto him for the full assurance of his People for the future and firm establishment of the Peace and Vnion of the Kingdomes in Church and Commonwealth In which Petition it was also desired that for security to the Parliament and City such as had been in opposition to the Parliament id est loyal to the King might be removed out of the City and kept at a
Government CHAP. XXXVI ALL things being accordingly ready in order thereto upon the Sixteenth of December and about One of the Clock that day Five Regiments of Foot and Three of Horse were drawn out as a Guard from White-Hall to Westminster-Hall whereof one viz. Colonel Goffs was placed within the Precincts of the Hall This being done Cromwel with the Captain of his Guard and some few others passed through these Bands of Souldiers to the Door of Westminster-Hall Where alighting from his Coach there proceeded First the City Marshals Then the Aldermen of London in Scarlet After them the Judges all except their Chief-Justice Rolls Next the Two Keepers of their Great Seal Keble and L'isle Then Four Serjeants at Armes with Maces viz. the Parliament Mace the City Mace the Council of State 's Mace and the Lord Keeper's Mace After thses the Lord Mayor's Sword-bearer with the Cap of Maintenance and Sword but the Sword not Erected Then the Lord Mayor And next to him Cromwel himself in a Black Sute and Cloak Lined with Velvet Boots and a Gold Hatband all bare headed And after him the Principal Officers of the Army and Council of State In which manner they proceeded to the Chancery-Court where a Rich Chair of State was set with a large Cusheon and Carpets on the Floor Being ascended into the court Cromwel standing before the Chair with the Two Keepers and Judges on each hand of him Major General Lambert declaring to him the Dissolution of the Parliament and exigency of the times did in the name of the Army and of the Three Nations desire him to accept of the Protectorship of them Whereunto he assenting a large Instrument extending to a whole skin of Velome was read to him which contained the form of his Government and somewhat called an Oath at which he lifted up his Right Hand and Eyes and assented thereto Then did the Lord Mayor present the Sword to him and the Keepers the Seal Both which he delivered back to them respectively This being done a Common Souldier Seconded with about Twenty more cryed aloud God Bless the Lord Protector of the Common-wealth of England Scotland and Ireland After which there was a General shout made by the Souldiers throughout the Hall and after a little pause the like twice more Then he went back to White-Hall the Lord Mayor carrying the Sword upright before him the Protector having his Hat on After which in the Evening were several Vollies of small shot and some great with Ringing of Bells The Tenor of which Instrument was as followeth viz. That the Supream Legislative Authority should be in a Single Person and the People in Parliament but the Administration thereof to be left to the Lord Protector and to his Council whereof the number was not to be above Twenty and One. That all Charters Patents Writs and Commissions should be passed by the Protector All Power of Magistracy Honours and Titles to be derived from him Likewise the Pardon of all Offences excepting Treason and Murther He also to have the Administration of all things with the Advice of his Council and according to the Tenor of this Instrument That the Militia Sitting the Parliament should be in the disposal of the Protector and the Parliament but in the Intervals in the Protector and his Council The Power also of making Peace and War with Forreign Princes to be in the Protector and his Council but he to have no Authority of Repealing or making any Laws without the consent of Parliament That the Parliament should be called before the end of Six Months then next ensuing and afterwards once in Three Years or oftner if need require and that it should not be in the Protector 's Power to Dissolve the same for the First Five Months without the consent of the House That the Number of Members for England should consist of full Four hundred Elected according to an equal distribution For Scotland Thirty and for Ireland the like Number the number for each County and City to be also assgned That the Calling of such Parliament should be under the Seal of the Common-wealth by Writs to the Sheriff in the Protector 's Name But if the Protector should not call the same within the times limited the Chancellor then to do it under the Penalty of High Treason and if he should fail therein then that the Sheriffs should perform it And after such Election should be made to be transmitted by the Chief Magistrate by Indenture to the Chancellor Signel with his Hand Twenty days before the Sitting of the same Parliament Also if the Sheriff or Mayor should make a false Return that he be Fined in Two thousand Marks That none should be capable to Elect who had ever born Armes against the Parliament or been Actors in the Irish Rebellion Nor that any Papist should ever be capable to give his Voice And that all Elections against these Rules should be void and the transgressors Fined at Two Years value of their Revenues and third part of their Goods That no Person under the Age of One and twenty years should be capable of being Elected nor any other than of known credit fearing God and of good behaviour No man likewise to have power of Electing whose Estate should not be worth Twenty Pound per annum Sterling That the Return of the Persons Elected should be transmitted by the Prothonotary in Chancery unto the Council of State within two days after they should come to his hands to the end that judgment might be made of the Persons if any question should arise touching the lawfulness of the choice That Sixty Members should be accounted a Parliament in case the rest be absent Nevertheless that it should be lawful to the Protector to call a Parliament when he should see cause That the Bills agreed on in Parliament should be presented to the Protector for his assent thereto and if he should not give his assent to them within twenty days that then they should have the force of Laws without it That if any Councellor of State should dye or be outed of his place for corruption in the Intervals of Parliament the Protector with the rest of the Councel to substitute another in his stead That a certain annual Tax shouldbe made throughout the There Common-wealths for the maintenance of Ten thousand Horse and Fifteen thousand Foot which Tax should also supply the charge of the Navy and that this rate should not be lessened or altered by the Parliament without the consent of the Protector and his Council But if it should not be thought necessary hereafter that any Army should be maintained then whatsoever surplusage of this Tax should be to be kept in the Treasury for sudden Emergencies That if there might happen to be occasion of making extraordinary choices and to Raise new Forces it should not be done without consent of Parliament but that in the Intervals of Parliament it should be lawful for the
those at White-Hall with the Protector against those at Wallingford House with the General the Protector in pursuance of the Parliament-Votes forbidding any further Convention of those Officers at Wallingford House Which prohibition signifyed little for the Wallingford House-men being much the more numerous and sturdy at length so awed and daunted his Highness that they obtained his consent to a Commission and Proclamation ready penned to Dissolve the Parliament though he had with great assurance to the Members promised the contrary Whereupon the Usher with the Black Rod was twice sent to the House of Commons by Mr. Nathaniel Fienes Speaker of the Other House requiring them to come up Who being not ignorant upon what errand it was not only scorned to stir but some of them became so couragious to move that the House should declare it High Treason for any person whatsoever to put force upon any Members of the House and that all Votes Acts and Resolutions passed by any Members of Parliament when the rest were detained from or taken out of the House by force should be null and void And finding themselves so unanimous to their Resolves Adjourned the House till next Monday Morning attending their Speaker all in fair Order through Westminster-Hall to his Coach in the face of the Souldiers which had then beset both the Palace-Yards CHAP. XLI BUT on Monday morning all avenues to the House being stopt up by the Souldiers and entrance peremptorily denyed unto any of the Members the Wallingford-House-Officers unto whom most of those at White-Hall were by that time joyned casting off Whalley Goffe and Ingoldesby with some other of the Protectors chiefest Confidents and taking in Lambert Sir Arthur Haselrigg Colonel Okey and some others who had been set aside by Oliver considering with themselves that though they must necessarily govern by a Military-power yet the name and shadow of a Parliament would best captivate the people forasmuch therefore as the Members of that Parliament then so excluded could not properly be readmitted but with much hazard to the Souldiers Interest they procured a private Conference with some Members of the Old Long Parliament formerly turned out by Oliver viz. Sir Henry Vane Sir Arthur Haselrigg Colonel Ludlow Colonel Iones Thomas Scot Thomas Chaloner Major General Lambert and some others to the number of about twenty At which Conference it being agreed that they should take in William Lenthal the Old Speaker and meet in the House on Saturday the seventh of May in order thereto they set forth this following Declaration viz. The Publick concernment of this Common-Wealth being through a vicissitude of dangers deliverances and back-slidings of many brought into that state and posture whereon they now stand and our selves also contributing thereto by wandring divers ways from Righteous and Equal Paths And although there hath been many Essays to obviate the dangers and to settle these Nations in Peace and Prosperity yet all have proved ineffectual the only wise God in the course of his providence disappointing all endeavours therein And also observing to our great grief that the good Spirit which formerly appeared amongst us in the carrying on of this great work did daily decline so as the Good Old Cause it self became a reproach we have been led to look back and examine the cause of the Lord 's withdrawing his wonted presence from us and where we turned out of the way that through mercy we might return and give him the Glory And amongst other things calling to mind that the Long Parliament consisting of the Members there Sitting until the 20 th of April 1653. were eminent assertors of the Cause and had a special presence of God with them and were signally blessed in that work the desires of many good people concurring with ours therein we judg it our duty to invite the aforesaid Members to return to the exercise and discharge of their Trust as before the said 20 th of April 1653. And therefore we do hereby most earnestly desire the Parliament consisting of those Members who continued to Sit from the year 1648. until the 20 th of April 1653. to return to the exercise and discharge of their Trust and we shall be ready in our places to yield them as becomes us our utmost assurance to Sit in safety for the improving present opportunity for setling and securing the Peace and Freedom of this Common-Wealth praying for the presence and blessing of God upon their endeavours Which Declaration was signed by General Fleetwood and the Council of Officers of the Army In order whereunto those Members of the Long-Parliament came the day following to the Painted-Chamber but finding of their designed number which was forty and two that there wanted a couple they sent to the Gaols for a present supply Where having the Lord Munson and Henry Martin ready at hand who lay there upon Executions for Debt with Lisle and Whitlock from the Chancery-Bench they advanced into the House with a Mace born before them their names being as followeth Lord Munson Henry Martin Bulstrode Whitlock Mr. Lisle Thomas Chaloner Alderman Atkins Alderman Penington Thomas Scott Cornelius Holland Henry Vane Mr. Prideaux Sir Iames Harington Lieutenant General Ludlow Michael Oldsworth Sir Arthur Haselrigg Mr. Iones Colonel Purefoy Colonel White Henry Nevil Mr. Say Mr. Blagrave Colonel Bennet Mr. Brewster Sergeant Wilde Iohn Goodwyn Mr. Nicholas Lechmore Augustine Skynner Mr. Downes Mr. Dove Mr. Iohn Lenthal Mr. Iohn Saloway Mr. Iohn Corbet Mr. Walton Gilbert Millington Mr. Gold Colonel Sydenham Colonel Byngham Colonel Ayre Mr. Smith Colonel Ingoldesby Lieutenant General Fleetwood Upon notice of whose Sitting there being many of the Members of that old Parliament then walking in Westminster-Hall and more about the City those in the Hall consulting together and thereupon being satisfied that they had as good right to sit there again as those who were gone in before resolved to follow them into the House or at least to attempt it These being Mr. Annesley Sir George Booth Mr. Iames Herbert Mr. William Prynne Mr. George Montagu Mr. Iohn Evelin Mr. Iohn Herbert Mr. Gowen Mr. Evelyn Mr. Knightley Mr. Clive Mr. Hungerford Mr. Harvey Mr. Packe Who being come to the Door after much expostulation with the Guard for their Priviledges of Sitting were denyed entrance Whereupon resolving to wait a fitter opportunity some of them came again on Monday following viz. Mr. Annesley Mr. Prynne and Mr. Hungerford and went into the House Which free admittance causing Mr. Annesley to presume that the rest might also come in he went out again into the Hall to give others notice thereof but upon his return found it otherwise For those who were met would not go on with any business so long as Mr. Prynne did make his stay amongst them so that they soon adjourned and upon their next meeting ordered That such persons formerly Members of that Parliament who had
ground And that no Surplisses Hoods or other superstitious Vestments shall be any more used within the Realm c. In accomplishment of which Ordinance Sir Robert Harley who sate in the chair of their Committee for Reformation pull'd down that curious and Rich Sereen of Copper gilt belonging to that incomparable Mâ—nument of K. Henry the Seventh at Westminster and sold it to Brasiers and Mettal-men entred the King's Chappel at White-Hall dasht in pieces the Windows broke down the Communion-Table pull'd up the Rails c. And to prevent the future cost on God's House about that time six thousand pounds which had been Collected for the Rebuilding of St. Andrews Church in Holborn was seized on by these great Reformers and four hundred pounds taken out of the Hospital at Guilford in Surrey which was the whole stock of their Treasure and imploy'd to promote the Rebellion After all which to ingratiate themselves with their Brethren the Scots they entred into a most strict combination which they call'd the National League and Covenant devised and sent from Edenborough though absolutely repugnant to their own Declarations and Votes to extirpate and overthrow the Religion and Discipline by Law establisht in the Church of England which was done with the greatest formality and outward shew of sanctity that could be devised by the Members at Westminster in the Church of St Margaret at Westminster that is to say with groaning sighing singing of Psalms c. Mr. White of Dorchester Mr. Nye Alexander Henderson and others of that seditious Tribe then exercising their gifts in extemporary Prayers and Preaching And that there might be nothing wanting to make odious the Orthodox Glergy of the Realm and to enrage the People against them as heretofore the Enemies of the Gospel did those holy Martyrs whom they clothed in the Skins of Wild-beasts to animate Dogs to worry them they caused a most Libellous Pamphlet against divers Divines which endeavoured to oppose their wicked practises to be Printed and Published by special Order Intituled the first Century of scandalous malignant Priests having in Order thereto shortly after the beginning of that Parliament founded a Committee to enquire after scandalous Ministers under which Title few of the reverend and Orthodox Clergy did escape Which Committee made so speedy a Progress in their work that in short time as their Chairman Mr. Corbet reported they had got in nine hundred Petitions against such Ministers I do here omit to make mention of the particular Imprisonments Plundrings and other oppressions exercised by them towards most of our greatest and most able Divines it being so notorious to the World by reason whereof they being constrain'd to fly from place to place to save themselves the service of God in most Churches of this Kingdom was totally neglected And shall now descend to a short view of the Doctrine and Practise of their own Levites notorious Schismaticks and of so many different Sects almost as Congregations but patronized by these Men to advance their Cause as was acknowledged by the Lords Say and Brooke and justified by the Committee of Northampton Ian. 16. 1643. who stuck not to declare That if the Country would not make better discharge of their Duty in the defence of Religion Laws and Liberties for so they term'd this unparallell'd Rebellion the Parliament would call in foreign Nations to assist them In Testimony whereof certain Troopers of Popish Walloons lying about Putney and Kingston and entertain'd in the Rebels service being asked the reason why they would serve against the King answered that it was all one for Point of Religion but only if they served the King they could not be permitted an open excercise of their devotions according to the Church of Rome which the two Houses gave them leave to do But as to this Point of assistance from those Walloons and others of the Romish-Religion let us hearken to a witness without exception viz. Robert Mentet de Salmonet by Birth a Scotchman of good extraction and a secular Priest of the Church of Rome who hath in French written a well esteem'd History of our late civil Wars and Intituled L'Historie des troubles de la grand Bretagne Where in pag. 165. after he hath given an Accompt of Edge-Hill-Fight he saith thus Ce qui surprit le plus tout le monde ce fut qu'on trouua quelques prestres par my les morts du coste des Estats Car encore que dans lours Manifestes ils appellassent l' Armée du Roy le Armée des Papistes pour la vendre odieuse au peuple ils avoient neantmoins deux Compaynies de Walloons d'autres Catholiques dans leur Armée outre qu' ils n' avoient rien oublie pour tascher d' engager en leur party le chevalier Arthur Aston Colonel-Catholique de grand reputation Il est uray que le Roy avoit aussi souffret dans son Armée quelques officiers Catholiques hommes de grande suffisance tres bien intentionnez pour le bien de l'estat ainsi les appellat il dans la Declaration qu'il fit publier apres la Bataille That which did the most surprize every body was that they found amongst the dead of those which were slain on the Parliament side several Popish-Priests For although in their Declarations they called the King's Army a Popish-Army thereby to render it odious to the People yet they had in their Army two Companies of Walloons and other Roman-Catholicks Besides they omitted no endeavours to engage to their party Sr. Ar. Aston K t an eminent Roman Catholick Commander True it is that the King had permitted to serve him in his Army some Roman Catholick Officers Persons of great Abilities and not factiously inclined as His Majesty expresseth in that Manifesto which he published after the Battail So far this French Author whose Abstract I shall not farther follow but rather go on in the very words of the Declaration it self Where his Majesty answering the Paâ—liaments urging and pressing that false and groundless imputation of his favouring and imploying many of that Religion in his Army saith thus For our affection to that Religion our continual practise our constant profession and several protestations will satisfy all the World against which Malice and Treason it self cannot find the least probable objection We wish from our heart the Zeal and affection of these Men to the true Protestant Religion were as apparent as ours For the imploying Men of that Religion in our present service in the Army whosoever considers the hardness and straights the malice and fury of these Men have driven us to their stopping all passages and ways that neither Men or Money might come to us their declaring all such to be Traytors who shall assist us their entertaining Men of all Countries all Religions to serve against us would not wonder if we had been very well
and Poundage contrary to an express Act made also that very Parliament So likewise a new Imposition called Excise upon Victuals and all other Commodities against which they themselves had much declaimed And to countenance these grand Oppressions voted that an Ordinance of Parliament was as binding to the Subject as an Act of Parliament Thereupon ordaining that such Persons as ought to pay any Rents Debts c. due to those who are assessed and refused so to do should be Discharged against the Landlord or Creditor And at length became so bold as that their new Lord Mayor Isaac Pennington chalenging a Sturgeon which was taken above London-Bridge and it being answered that it belonged to the King or Lord Admiral Replyed you Malignant Rogue I would have you to know that there is neither King nor Admiral that hath any Power in London but my self Add thereunto their Ordinance for keeping Michaelmas Terme at Westminster notwithstanding his Majesties Proclamation And another Constituting the Earl of Warwick Governour and Lord Admiral of all the Islands in America Inhabited or Planted by the King's Subjects Another declaring the King's Broad-Seal Invalid and Commanding Obedience to all Writs c. to be issued under a new great Seal made by themselves And Sequestring all Offices of those Clerks in Westminster-Hall which were with the King The authority given to the Earl of Manchester by another Ordinance to deprive and displace all Masters and Fellows of Colledges and Halls in Cambridge and all other Clergy-Men within the Association as he should think convenient The Ordinances for seizing the Kings Queens and Princes Revenew for cutting down their Woods For Commanding all Men to pay nothing to his Majesty the Queen and Prince which was due and ought to have been paid to them for those are the words also the Commitment of Laughern and Vivian to Colchester-Goal for denying to pay two Thousand Pounds which was due to the Prince from them though the Receiver was Plundred of the Money And when it was told Mr. Strode Chair-Man to the Committee for raising Money that no more Money could be advanced their Purses having been so drain'd already he Replyed that they must have no denial for their Money was demanded by the Supream Court of Iudicature adding that those were times of necessity Another of the Members sticking not to say shortly after that if it would advantage their Cause he thought it lawful to unvote whatsoever had passed since the beginning of that Parliament Besides which grievous Impositions upon the Subjects Estates they stuck not at the like to their Persons upon pain of Death restraining all Persons for going from London to the King or Queen And for a farther Testimony of their dealing with the People in point of their Proprietie take their Governour of Abington's Answer viz. Coll. Browne to no less than Seven-score poor People which came thither to him at one time wringing their hands and begging for some small Pittance of what he had caused to be taken from them in the Villages thereabours which was no less than all their Goods even to part of their wearing Apparel which was thus with Tears in his Eyes Alas good People it is not in my Power to help you For if this were done by meet Rudeness of my Souldiers I could say something but you have not lost a Pin but according to the Command of both Houses of Parliament who injoin'd us to spare nothing Therefore said he whispering to one or two of them if you have any thing left 't is your best course to Convey it away quickly for the Parliament hath Commanded me to take all I can carry and burn up the rest before the King comes These and the like as by many Instances might be made apparent have been their Practises in violating the Laws of the Land with the Liberties and Properties of the Subject however Fair and Specious their Promises were otherwise until they had got Power into their hands being at length not ashamed to discover their full Intentions by those Propositions which they tendred to His Majesty at Oxford upon the 23d of November 1644. And whereupon a Treaty was had at Uxbridge Where it was judiciously observ'd by his Majesties Commissioners That after a War of near three Years for which the Defence of the Protestant Religion the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the Priviledges of Parliament were made the cause and Grounds in a Treaty of full twenty days nor indeed in the whole Propositions upon which the Treaty should be there was nothing offered to be treated on concerning the Breach of any Law or of the Liberty or Property of the Subject or Priviledge of Parliament but only Propositions for the altering a Government Established by Law and for the making of new Laws by which all the old were or might be Cancelled there being nothing insisted upon on the part of his Majesties Commissioners which was not Laws or denied by them that the other demanded as due by Law The next and last particular for which they made such great Pretences is the Priviledge of Parliaments Having therefore under that colour justified most of their pernicious Actions let us take notice how consonant to Justice Reason or common Honesty their Practices upon this point have been Did they not soon after the beginning of that Unhappy Parliament without any president found a Close-Committee consisting of eight persons whereof no less than seven were principal Contrivers of the ensuing Rebellion And in the business of the Earl of Strafford was not their Bill for his attainder twice read and voted in one day and fifty-five of the Members Posted for not assenting thereto whose Names to their lasting Honour I have here added 1. George Lord Digby 2. Iames Lord Compton 3. Richard Lord Buckhurst 4. Sr. Robert Hatton 5. Sr. Thomas Fanshaw 6. Sr. Edward Alford 7. Sr. Nicholas Slanyng 8. Sr. Thomas Danby 9. Sr. George Wentworth 10. Sr. Peter Wentworth 11. Sr. Frederick Cornwallis 12. Sr. William Carnaby 13. Sr. Richard Wynn. 14. Sr. Gervace Clifton 15. Sr. William Widdrington 16. Sr. William Pennyman 17. Sr. Patricius Curwen 18. Sr. Richard Lee. 19. Sr. Henry Slingesby 20. Sr. William Portman 21. Mr. Gervase Hollies 22. Mr. Sidney Godolphin 23. Mr. Cooke 24. Mr. Coventrey 25. Mr. Benjamin Weston 26. Mr. William Weston 27. Mr. Selden 28. Mr. Alford 29. Mr. Llhoyd 30. Mr. Herbert 31. Captain Digby 32. Serjeant Hyde 33. Mr. Tailor 34. Mr. Gryffith 35. Mr. Scowen 36. Mr. Bridgman 37. Mr. Fettiplace 38. Dr. Turner 39. Capt. Charles Price 40. Dr. Parry a Civilian 41. Mr. Arundell 42. Mr. Newport 43. Mr. Holburne 44. Mr. Noell 45. Mr. Kirton 46. Mr. Pollard 47. Mr. Price 48. Mr. Trevanion 49. Mr. Iane. 50. Mr. Edgcombe 51. Mr. Chichley 52. Mr. Mallorey 53. Mr. Porter 54. Mr. White Secretary to the Earl of
themselves adding that hereafter he should learn to know the Policies of Spain to be no less than those of Navarr And therefore Intreats them for their Honours Sake and Credit of the holy-Holy-Cause to desist from all Thoughts of altering the Fundamental the salique-Salique-Law of France by Transferring the Crown upon a Woman and Submitting the Kingdom to the Dominion of a Stranger But this Proposal of the Spaniard was resented with no less Indignation by most of the Members of the State than by the Bishop of Saintliz who scorned that Strangers should rule over them as if they were either so base as to make themselves instantly Slaves or so foolish as not to understand their own Interests Above all they of the House of Lorrein were netled at it who thought to have shared the Cake amongst themselves Yea the very People of Paris being wearied out with necessities and wants and having tasted a little of the Sweets of Peace by means of a cessation concluded during the time of the Treaty at Suren did impatiently desire an Accord with the King and began to threaten the States unless they would hearken to an Accommodation The Spaniards being now grown so odious to the Parisians as that their Embassadors could not peep abroad in the Streets but they were entertain'd with Scoffs and Curses though but two Years before they were so high in their Books and gracious in their Eyes that they of Paris thought to have yielded the City freely to be under the Subjection of the King of Spain No sooner was this great Mystery of Spanish Policy and Ambition revealed and publickly made known through the Kingdom and that Assembly of States which was Call'd in Rebellion Dissolv'd in Disorder but that the Cities which formerly held for the League and Governours of the Garrisons made hast to return by their Obedience to the King Meaux led the way Peron Pontois Orliens Bruges Lyons and Aix followed after and Paris it self was not long behind Roan and Amiens and the rest came flocking in and were all received to Grace The Spaniards therefore when they saw their main Project for the Crown thus to fayl had thoughts to reimburse themselves by getting Possession of as many strong places upon the Frontiers of France as they could either by Force or Fraud La Fera in Picardy Capella Croisill and Blavet in Brittany and Calais they Surprized By which means they had so strengthen'd themselves as that the Dukes of Guise and Mayne after they had made their Peace with the King and other Leaders of the League were now content to joyn their Forces to beat them out as Enemies whom they had formerly call'd in as Friends And surely if our Covenanters had been as truly sensible of the Honour of the English Nation and Scottish-Practises as the French Leaguers were of theirs they wanted not as just Provocations on one side from the Scotts and fair Invitations on the other from the King to joyn with him in delivering this exhausted and bleeding Kingdom from the Misery which it did at that time suffer and from that Slavery which most good Men feared was at first intended by the Scotts who had solemnly sworn to subdue this late flourishing Church to the Tyranny of a Scottish-Presbytery And not content with that demanded in effect the Supream Command of Ireland to be put into their Hands As also to have an equal share in the Government of England Which Designs of that insolency in them and dishonour to us were such as our Fore-Fathers would not have endured the mention and at the Memory whereof our Posterity will doubtless blush And to bring these their ends about 't is very well known that they made themselves Masters of the strongest Cities in this Kingdom upon their own confines viz. Barwick Newcastle and Carlisle Out of which and such other Footing as they had gained here how they were got the Precedent Story doth sufficiently manifest whereof I shall not give any touch that of the Spaniards departure out of France having no resemblance therewith For the King of Spain found while he was Fighting to gain the Neighbour Kingdom of France he had almost lost his own in the Low-Countries Likewise that neither his Forces nor Moneys were sufficient to maintain two such Expensive Wars at the same time And that he did not gain so much in France but the Hollanders by occasion of that diversion got as much of him in Flanders and therefore was willing to hearken to a Treaty for Peace And the French whose Kingdom was now miserably wasted by a long Civil War not unwilling to imbrace the motion Whereupon a Peace was concluded betwixt those two Crowns at Uervins upon the second of May Anno. 1598. Whereby the Spantard was to restore all the Towns he had taken in the French Dominion and go away only with Bagg and Baggage It is not unworthy of Observation that in all the several Compositions which the Leaguers made with the King upon their Reconcilement and in all the Articles of the Treaty at Uervins for the general Peace there is not the least mention of Religion or Extirpation of Heresy though that was the great Cause for which they ever pretended to take up Arms Only they were careful to preserve their secular Interests and to secure their Persons and Estates upon as good Terms as they could A plain Evidence that Religion was but the Stale Honours and Preferments being the Mark which they aimed at Yet the Protestants whom they had devoted to Destruction in their Holy-League fared in the end never the worse for it For the King was content to confirm and Republish in Anno. 1595 the same Edict in favour of them which Henry the third had granted in Anno. 1577. and which had been the chief Eye-sore to the Papists and a ground of their League Which Edict he caused to be verified in the Parliament at Paris where Coquilius one of the Judges formerly a Violent Leaguer was a special Instrument to further and facilitate the Publication and reception of it in the Parliament And and when the Kingdom had some Liberty to Breath and Recover her Senses even those that were professed Papists did not much repine at the Toleration of Protestants and enlargement of their Priviledges by the Edict of Nantz Anno. 1598. Which the Historian relating labours in part to excuse by discoursing to the Reader That the Common Peace of France Pressed and almost Oppressed with the Tragical Impetuosities of Schisms and Divisions made every thing that was just to be thought necessary and all that was profitable be esteemed just So that seeing the torrent of Religion could not be stopt without a Breach in the State that the Disease was inveterate and a hard matter to remove what was so deeply setled That the Restauration of a Church is the work of God as well as the Plantation Men must be content to do no