Monarch might invade the just Rights of the People nor the People incroach upon the Rights of his Crown and Dignity Having said this you intimate that he told them something upon their presenting Petitions to him at Theobalds and New-market Then it seems that they called upon him likewise and 't is fit my Country-men should know for what seeing you do maliciously withhold it Upon the 1st of March 1641 BOTH HOUSES CALLED UPON HIS MAJESTY by their Petition presented at Theobalds That for the dispatch of the great Affairs of the Kingdom the Safety of his Person the Protection and Comfort of his Subjects he would be pleased to continue his Abode near the Parliament and not to withdraw himself to any the remoter Parts which if he should do must needs be a cause of great Danger and Distraction And they prayed him to accept this humble Counsel as the Effect of that Duty and Allegiance which they owed unto him and which would not suffer them to admit of any Thoughts Intentions or Endeavours but such as were necessary and advantagious for his Majesties Greatness and Honour and the Safety and Prosperity of the Kingdom Expressions surely that do not in the least savour of that Sedition and Rebellion with which at this time by you Doctor and many other WICKED Clergy-men the Memory of this great Parliament is charged The King being deaf to the importunate Supplication of the Lords and Commons for his Return They again called upon him more earnestly sending after him a Declaration to Newmarket by the Earles of Pembroke and Holland and a Committee of the Commons wherein they laid before him the Causes of their own Fears and Jealousies in these Particulars 1. That the design of altering Religion had been potently carried on by those in greatest Authority about him the Queen's Agent at Rome the Pope's Nuncio here are not only Evidences of this Design but have been great Actors in it 2. That the War with Scotland was procured to make way for this Intent and chiefly fomented by the Papists and other Popishly affected whereof we have many Evidences 3. That the Rebellion in Ireland was framed and contrived here in England and that the English Papists should have risen about the same time we have several Testimonies c. The Irish Rebels affirm that they do nothing but by Authority from the King they call themselves the Queen's Army The Booty which they take from the English they mark with the Queen's mark and it is proved that their purpose was to come to England after they had done in Ireland 4. The labouring to infuse into your Majesty's Subjects an evil Opinion of the Parliament and other Symptoms of a Disposition of raising Arms and dividing your People by a Civil War in which Combustion Ireland must needs be lost and this Kingdom miserably wasted and consumed if not wholly ruined and destroyed 5. That your Majesty sent away the Lord Digby by your own Warrant beyond the Sea after a Vote had passed in the House of Commons declaring that he had appeared in a Warlike manner at Kingston upon Thames to the Terror of your Majesty's good Subjects that he being so got beyond Sea he vented his traiterous Conceptions That your Majesty should declare your self and retire to a place of Strength and intimated some Service which he might do in those Parts whereby in probability he intended the procuring of some Foreign Force to strengthen your Majesty in that Condition into which he would have brought you which malicious Counsel we have great Cause to doubt made too deep an Impression in your Majesty CONSIDERING THE COURSE YOU ARE PLEASED TO TAKE OF ABSENTING YOUR SELF FROM YOUR PARLIAMENT and carrying the Prince with you which seems to express a purpose in your Majesty to keep your self in a readiness for the acting of it 6. The manifold Advertisements which we have had from Rome Venice Paris and other parts that they still expect that your Majesty has some great Design in hand for the altering of Religion the breaking the Neck of your Parliament and that you will yet find means to compass that Design That the Pope's Nuncio hath sollicited the Kings of France and Spain to lend your Majesty 4000 Men apiece to help to maintain your Royalty against the Parliament These are some of the grounds of our Fears and Jealousies which made us so earnestly to implore your Royal Authority and Protection for our Defence and Security in all the ways of Humility and Submission which being denied by your Majesty We do with Sorrow apply our selves to the use of that * The Militia Power which by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom resides in us yet still resolving to keep our selves within the Bounds of Faithfulness and Allegiance to your Sacred Person and your Crown And as to the Fears and Jealousies which his Majesty seemed to have entertained of them The Lords and Commons thus answered We have according to your Majesty's Desires laid our Hands upon our Hearts we have ask'd our selves in the strictest Examination of our Consciences we have search'd our Affections our Thoughts considered our Actions and can find none that can give your Majesty and just occasion to absent your self from Whitehall and the Parliament but that you may with more Honour and Safety continue there than in any other place Your Majesty lays a general Charge upon us if you will be graciously pleased to let us know the Particulars we shall give a clear and satisfactory Answer But what hope can we have of ever giving your Majesty Satisfaction when those Particulars which you have been made believe were true yet being produced and made known to us appeared to be false and your Majesty notwithstanding will neither punish nor produce the Authors but go on to contract new Jealousies and Fears upon general and uncertain grounds affording us no means or possibility of particular Answer to the clearing of our selves WE BESEECH YOUR MAJESTY TO CONSIDER IN WHAT STATE YOU ARE how easy and fair a way you have to Happiness Honour and Greatness Plenty and Security if you will join with the Parliament in the Defence of the Religion and publick Good of the Kingdom THIS IS ALL WE EXPECT FROM YOU and for this we return to you our Lives Fortunes and utmost Eadeavours to support your Majesty your just Soveraignty and Power over us but IT IS NOT WORDS THAT CAN SECURE US in these our humble Desires We cannot but too well and sorrowfully remember what GRACIOUS MESSAGES we had from you this Summer when WITH YOUR PRIVITY the bringing up the Army was in Agitation We cannot but with the like Affections recal to our Minds how not two days before your own coming to the Commons House you sent a GRACIOUS MESSAGE that you would always have care of their Priviledges as of your own Prerogative of the Safety of their Persons as of your own Children that which we expect which will give
A LETTER FROM General Ludlow TO Dr. Hollingworth Their Majesties Chaplain AT St. Botolph-Aldgate Defending his former Letter to Sir E. S. which compared the Tyranny of the first Four Years of King Charles the Martyr with the Tyranny of the Four Years of the late Abdicated King And vindicating the Parliament which began in Novemb. 1640. Occasioned by the Lies and Scandals of many bad Men of this Age. Veritas emerget Victrix I acknowledg it were better if we could have Job's Wish That this Day should perish that Darkness and the Shadow of Death should cover it that it should not see the dawning of the Day nor should the Light shine upon it It were better to strike it out of our Kalendar and to make our January determine at the 29th and add these remaining Days to February Dr. Burnet Bishop of Salisbury his Sermon at St. Laurence Church London January 30 1680. AMSTERDAM Printed Anno Dom. 1692. To all sincere Lovers of OLD ENGLAND Inhabiting in the Parish of St. Botolph-Aldgate London Dear Countrymen 'T Was a great Man's Saying That EVERY CLERGY-MAN is not qualified to sustain the Dignity of the Church's Jester That therefore before Men be admitted to so important an Employment it were fit that they underwent a severe Examination and that it might appear 1. Whether they have ANY SENSE for without that how can they pretend and yet they do to be Ingenuous Then Whether they have ANY MODESTY for without that they can only be SCURRILOUS and IMPUDENT Next Whether ANY TRUTH for true Jests are those that do the greatest Execution And lastly 'T were not amiss that they gave some Account too of their CHRISTIANITY For the World has always hitherto been so uncivil as to expect something of that from the CLERGY in the Design and Stile even of their lightest and most uncanonical Writings But With very little regard to these two dull Books have been lately obtruded upon the World by one and the same Author as I am assured The one under the Title of A DEFENCE of King Charles the First OCCASIONED by the Lies and Scandals of many bad Men of this Age By RICHARD HOLLINGWORTH D. D. THEIR MAJESTIES CHAPLAIN at St. Botolph-Aldgate The other called A VINDICATION of their Majesties Wisdom in the late nomination of some Reverend Persons to the vacant Arch-Bishopricks and Bishopricks OCCASIONED by the scandalous Reflections of unreasonable Men By A MINISTER of London Now This Author having sought these OCCASIONS to be troublesome and declaring a doughty Resolution that he will be further so rather than lose the Lechery of his Scribling and the vain Glory of his Pedantry 't is fit that such an arrogant Levite who seats himself in * Epistle Dedicatory to the Defence a Juncto with their Majesties to consult wisely how to preserve them from a People who mean them no Harm should be a little animadverted upon which task I undertook after I found that Persons of better Ability would not trouble themselves with such contemptible Pamphlets I had prepared and did purpose to have sent with this some Remarks upon the pretended Vindication of their Majesties Wisdom but finding that my Notes upon the Doctor 's Defence of King Charles the First are swell'd beyond the Bulk which I intended I have laid aside those Remarks till I have occasion to write again to this mighty Vindicator When I wrote to Sir E. S. this time twelve-Month I only discours'd of the King 's first Four Years and did intend if ever I wrote further upon that Subject to have proceeded regularly with the succeding Years of his Tyranny but having engaged my self to follow the Doctor in his Ramblings I could not at present pursue my Intention but may hereafter do it Having resolved to make this Address to you my honoured Countrymen I will take the liberty to observe two or three things which are omitted in my Letter to the Doctor He saith pag. 3. That great Numbers call this King a Tyrant and A PAPIST too though he so stronuously asserted and pleaded the Protestant Cause as it is professed by THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND That means THEIR PARTY Now that he highly favoured POPERY is most evident and to what I have already offered to evince the Truth of that Charge I do add these Instances I have told the Aldgate-Chaplain that this King by a Letter to the Pope saluted Antichrist with the Title of Most holy Father That Letter from the beginning to the end savours of Popery For 1. He professes therein that nothing could affect him so much as AN ALLIANCE with a Prince that had the same apprehensions of THE TRUE RELIGION with himself That was the KING of SPAIN A NOTABLE PROTESTANT 2. He calls Popery THE CATHOLICK APOSTOLICK Roman RELIGION all other NOVELTY and FACTION 3. He protests he did not esteem it a Matter of greater Honour to be descended from great Princes than to imitate them in the Zeal of their Piety who had often exposed their Estate and LIVES for THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS 4. He solemnly engaged to the Pope to spare nothing in the World and to suffer all manner of Discommodities even TO THE HAZARDING OF ESTATE AND LIFE for to settle a thing so pleasing to God as UNITY WITH ROME Behold what a good Sign of PROTESTANTISM here hangs at the King's Door Moreover when the Pope's Nuncio delivered a Letter to him from the Pope wherein PROTESTANTS are called MONSTERS of HERESIES and the King was invited to return the Possession of these most noble Isles to the PRINCE OF THE APOSTLES He expressed himself in these words I KISS HIS HOLINESS FEET for the Favour and Honour he doth me so much the more esteemed by how much the less deserved of me HITHERTO And HIS HOLINES SHALL SEE WHAT I DO HEREAFTER So that his Holiness shall not repent him of what he hath done He was as good as his word here passed to the Pope as all the World afterwards saw Tho that most horrid IRISH REBELLION broke out the 23d of October 1641. the Lords and Commons who complained that it was framed and cherish'd in England could not obtain a Proclamation to declare those blcody Miscreants Traitors till January ensuing and then the following Warrant went to the King's Printer from his Secretary of State IT is his Majesty's Pleasure that you forthwith print in very good Paper and send unto me for his Majesty's Service forty Copies of the Proclamation inclosed leaving convenient space for his Majesty to sign above and to affix the Privy Signet underneath And HIS MAJESTY'S EXPRESS COMMAND IS THAT YOU PRINT NOT ABOVE THE SAID NUMBER OF FORTY COPIES and forbear to make any further Publication of them till his Pleasure be further signified for which this shall be your Warrant Whitehall January 2 164â— Edw. Nicholas See here what special care was taken that a few only should come to the knowledg of this Proclamation which was at that time more
observable by the late contrary Practice against the Scots who were in a very quick and sharp manner proclaimed and those Proclamations Forthwith dispersed with all imaginable diligence throughout the whole Kingdom and ordered to be read in all Churches accompanied with Publick Prayers and Execrations But his Aversion to the proclaiming and proceeding against the Irish Rebels is not to be much admired at for they called themselves THE QUEEN'S ARMY and declared that they rose to maintain the KING'S PREROGATIVE and the QUEEN'S RELIGION against the PARLIAMENT And he had no sooner yielded to issue this Proclamation than to obstruct the quelling these Rebels and give them time to increase and strengthen themselves the King withdrew from the Parliament and began Domestick Dissentions Having given these slight Touches at the King 's favouring Popery and at his Accession to the Irish Rebellion I do now leave it to you to make a Judgment whether he were so STRENUOUS AN ASSERTER OF THE PROTESTANT CAUSE as your DOCTOR insituates and I care not if once for all I do acknowledg that THE CLERGY may with good pretence to Reason say that HE DIED THEIR MARTYR for his being wrought upon by JESUITICAL COUNSELS to impose a Liturgy upon the Scots who had no such thing before did very much contribute to the bringing him to the FATAL BLOCK I shall now for my own Vindication entreat you do remember that I never call this King A PAPIST and I have ever esteem'd it a piece of Artifice in OUR PRIESTS to amuse the People with the Suggestion that he is falsly charged with Popery thereby to Induct them to disbelieve or forget his Crime which was most visible to all Men the Violation of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom I have therefore chosen to decline the Dispute about his Religion and am sire 't will be found that I have not unjustly tax'd him with the Crimes of his Misgovernment which did so plainly and inexcusably appear to all And why should we not think that such things were cause enough to be stood upon by the Parliament and to justify their Quarrel before God As if the Almighty did not abhor INJUSTICE OPPRESSION AND TYRANNY unless Profession of Religion were also depraved Nay be abhori it more in that place where the purest of Profession is That this King intended to bow or break us to perswade or force us to Slavery is so clear by the whole course of his Reign that 't is amazing that Men even of the highest stamp of TORYISM should have Front enough to deny it The Parasitical Court-Priests did then preach That we were bound to obey whatsoever the King commanded without questioning the Lawfulness And why did they vent such stuff but to flutter and please the King And how could he be delighted with it unless he thought it true and agreeable to his Designs And that he honoured those false Teachers above the Prophets of the Lord is evinâ—â— both by his advancing them and suffering those Sons of Chenaariah to smite those Michaiahs and to push them with Horus of Iron that they might consume them The great Philosopher Themistius did say with equal Truth and Wit that Flattering Clergy-men did not worship God but the Imperial Purple and 't is a sad Truth that in our day they have been SETTING THE PEOPLE ON MADDING and the low Dejection and baseness of Mind in too many of this Generation is to be ascribed to their PULPITSTUFF which has been the Doctrine and perpetual Infusion of Servility and Wretchedness to their Hearers The Case being thus it becomes necessary to expose such Men as these for 't is intolerable that your Doctor in his dull way of Calumniating should as he doth censure reproach and blacken the Actions and Memories of so many excellent Persons both Lords and Gentlemen and also very learned and pious Divines And on the other hand a Reputation is to be won for King Charles the First of Wisdom by Wilfulness and subtile Shifts of Goodness by multiplying Evil of Piety by endeavouring to root out true Religion I have therefore in the ensuing Letter taken some little pains in comparing his fair-spoken Words with his far-differing Deeds for 't is most certain that the World ever looks more at real Actions than verbal Protestations I am sensible my good Friends that I now write to Men endued with Reason let not the Goose quill of a Chaplain at Aldgate make you all Ganders and a sound of Words bewitch you his Tracts which I have mentioned look like pieces of Flattery compiled by A HUNGRY LEVITE gaping after a Deanary or Chaplainship at Whitehall He by his Counterfeit Colours sets off a deformed Cause to gull you Have you read this King in his Actions and shall experimental Knowledge be confuted by this Doctor 's bare Assertions Should we esteem Truth by Words how many Romances would be accounted as Authentick as our Bibles 'T is Truth only which conquers the wise to be captivated by ought else argues Folly My last Request to you is that I may be rightly understood I protest that no intent in trample on the Dead or dishonour his Dust but a Desire to vindicate the Liberties of my Country moved me to this undertaking this unhappy King's Miscarriages and Crimes should have lain buried in Oblivion if ECCLESIASTICAL MAKE-BATES did not rake all up again into fresh Remembrance whether we will or no. I am not conscious to my self that by what I have wrote I have loaded his Memory with other than Matter of Fact and Truth which will be too hard for the greatest Doctor of them all I am Gentlemen Your affectionate Country-man and Servant Edmund Ludlow A LETTER from General LUDLOW to Dr. HOLLINGWORTH their Majesties Chaplain c. MIne to Sir E. S. most Eximious Sir bore date upon your last MADDING DAY Another being now come I esteem my self obliged to justify what I asserted in my last Year's Letter To the end that I may keep my Country-men and in particular those of your Coat right in their Senses and inculcate into the Men of this Generation a due abhorrence of Tyranny and a just Veneration for English Parliaments Having come to this Resolution and that upon the reading your Jewel of a Book which you stile A Defence of King Charles the First occasioned by the Lies and Scandals of many bad Men of this Age which came to me as a New-Year's Gift from an endeared Friend in London I suppose you will readily allow me to pretend to a title to an Acquaintance and Correspondence with you For though in the conclusion of my last to Sir E. S. I gave a Challenge to DOCTOR P. who occasion'd that to * Tho I neither have nor do think that I ever can be convicted of one Falshood in my former Letter or in this which I am writing yet I will confess one Error committed this time twelve-month 't was this I following a very faithful Historian
Inquisition and imprison'd in the Gatehouse Westminster In the Year 1636 Mr. Burton preached a Sermon upon the 5th of November at his Church in Friday-street London wherein he laid open the Innovations in Doctrine Worship and Ceremonies which had lately crept into the Church and wished the People to beware of them For this LAVD caused Articles to be drawn against him in the High-Commission Court and suspended him Then causing his House to be broken open took and committed him to the Fleet close Prisoner and he was shut up there divers Weeks from his Wife and Friends Upon the 11th of March 1636 they exhibited an Information against Dr. Bastwick Mr. Pryn and Mr. Burton in the Star-Chamber And upon the 14th of June 1637 they pass'd this Sentence on them viz. To lose their Ears in the Palace-yard Westminster To pay a Fine of 5000 l. a Man and be perpetually imprisoned in three remote Places of the Kingdom viz. the Castles of Carnarvan Cornwal and Lancaster and Mr. Pryn to be stigmatized in the Cheeks with two Letters S. and L. for a seditious Libeller Upon the 30th of June 1637 to the great regret of the People who strowed their way with Herbs these Confessors for the English Liberties were brought to the Place appointed for the Execution of the accursed Sentence which was done in a manner extraordinarily cruel Dr. Bastwick being upon the Pillory spoke thus to the lamenting People I wrote a Book against the Pope and the POPE OF CANTERBURY said I wrote against him So far am I from base Fear that had I as much Blood as would swell the Thames I would shed it every drop in this Cause Had I as many Lives as I have Hairs on my Head I would give them all for this Cause Being let out of the Pillory he took the Spunge from one of his Ears which was all bloody and waving it over his Head said Blessed be my God who hath counted me worthy and of his mighty Power hath enabled me to suffer any thing for his sake And as I have now lost some of my Blood so am I ready and willing to spill every drop in my Veins in this Cause for which I have now suffered which is for maintaining the Truth of God and the Honour of my King against Popish Vsurpations LET GOD BE GLORIFIED AND LET THE KING LIVE FOR EVER These were not Expressions of a COMMON-WEALTH'S MAN or a Rebel Were they good Doctor Chaplain at Aldgate Mr. Pryn's turn being next he express'd himself thus We are accounted FACTIOVS FELLOWS Hereticks and REBELS for * Discoverers of Plots against the Protestant Religion and English Liberties have been ever used at the rate which Mr. Pryn was ever since Laud's Faction got up in the Church DICOVERING A PLOT OF POPERY Alas POOR ENGLAND What will become of thee and thy Religion if thou maintainest not thy own ESTABLISH'D FAITH you see Doctor Mr. Pryn was for the Church as establish'd by Law AND LAWFVL LIBERTIES Ay that spoils all for it renders him a Common-wealth's man no doubt yet 't is but such a one as the late King Charles the second frankly told the Duke of Buckingham he would have been had he not been a King Christian People proceeded Mr. Pryn I beseech you all stand firm and be zealous for the Cause of God and his true Religion to the shedding of your dearest Blood otherwise you will bring your selves and your Posterities INTO PERPETUAL BONDAGE AND SLAVERY c. The Executioner coming to â—ear and cut his Ears he said Come Friend Come burn me cut me I fear not I have learn'd to fear the Fire of Hell and not what Man can do unto me Come sâ—ar me sear me I shall bear in my Body the Marks of the Lord Jesus The Executioner having done his part and that with the utmost Cruelty Mr. Pryn with a smiling Countenance said Now blessed be God I have conquer'd and triumphed over the Bishop's Malice and returning to the Tower he made these Verses by the way S. L. STIGMATA LAUDIS Stigmata Maxillis referens insignia Laudis Exultans remeo victima grata Deo Triumphant I return My Face descries Laud's scorching Scars God's grateful Sacrifice Next follows Reverend Mr. Burton he being in the Pillory said I was never in such a Pulpit before but little do you know what Fruit God is able to produce from this dry Tree MARK MY WORDS I say through these Holes God can bring Light to his Church Moreover he said My Conscience in the discharge of my Ministerial Duty in admonishing my People to beware of the CREEPING IN OF POPERY and exhorting of them to stick close to God and the King in Duties of Obedience was that which first occasioned my Sufferings For the Truth I have preached I am ready to seal it with my Blood for this is my Crown both here and hereafter After this Execution done they were banished to the remote parts of the Kingdom and there kept several Years in close and solitary Confinement not allowed Pen Ink and Paper nor the sight of any Friend and in this most deplorable case did the Parliament in November 1640 find these three distressed Gentlemen of several Professions the noblest in the Kingdom Divinity Law and Physick but they were soon sent for from their Exile and brought into London by many thousands of rejoycing Gentlemen and Citizens who went out on Horseback to meet and congratulate their Deliverance And the Parliament taking their Case into Consideration voted THAT THE JUDGMENTS GIVEN against them were illegal unjust and against the LIBERTY OF THE SUBJECT Now good Doctor was not here reason with a witness to open every Man's Mouth with Complaints against these most arbitrary and pernicious Courts and to induce the Parliament to remove these Forges of Misery Oppression and Violence Nevertheless the KING with a very unwilling Mind as I have shew'd yielded therein but as he lost much of the Thanks which so great a Grace freely and forwardly express'd might have deserved so I doubt it will be some diminution to your Credit dear Doctor that contrary to what you affirm HE DELAYED and did not presently comply in this matter Well! what follows now The King is still on the giving hand no doubt of it THE SHIP-MONEY you add tho great and very learned Lawyers had given their Opinion Pag. 5. that the exacting of it in some Cases was according to Law yet he GOOD MAN gives up that also Here good Doctor you speak like A MEER CLERGY-MAN and I begin to suspect that you never read any other than Dr. NALSON's HISTORY and are tainted with the Principles of those famous Gentlemen of the Cassock SIBTHORP and MANWARING who as well as some designing Lawyers told your Martyr That Authority of Parliament is not necessary for the raising Aids and Subsidies That all Antiquity is absolutely for absolute Obedience to Princes in all Civil and Temporal Things You make the
Whitehall being under apprehensions of Affronts design'd to be offer'd to his Person if not something worse The Story of these pretended Tumults and Riots dear Doctor is so intermixt with another relating to the greatest Violation of the Privileges of Parliament that ever was committed that 't is most necessary to talk of both together About the beginning of January 1641 the King sought nothing more than to begin a Quarrel and to support himself therein he employed Emissaries to cajole the young Gentlemen of the Inns of Courts to make offer of their Service to him as a Guard of Defence and divers of them to ingratiate themselves repaired to the Court and were highly caressed by the King and Queen He at the same time ordered Canoneers and other Assistants into the Tower and removed the Lieutenant thereof He fortified White-hall with Men and Munition in an unusual manner And about the same time Colonel Lunsford and others gathered Troops of Horse at Kingston upon Thames where the Magazine of Arms for that part of the County of Surrey lay Matters on his part being thus prepared upon the third of January not only against the Priviledg of Parliament but the common Liberty of every Subject he commanded the Chambers Studies and Trunks of the Lord Mandeville a Member of the House of Lords Grandfather to the present Noble Earl of Manchester who inherits as well the Vertnes as Honours of that great Patriot and of Denzel Holles Esq since known by the name of the great Lord Holles Sir Arthur Hasterig Mr. J. Pym Mr. John Hambden Grandfather to that highly deserving Gentleman who at this day bears his Name and in whom his Vertues do live and flourish and Mr. William Strode Members of Parliament * These were all Gentlemen of great Esteem and Reputation in the House Two of them Mr. Holles and Mr. Strode having before suffered many Years of sharp and harsh Imprisonment from the King after the Dissolution of the Parliament in the fourth Year of his Reign for Matters done in Parliament contrary to the Priviledges of that high Court to be sealed up Upon the next day the King came with about 300 Souldiers Papists and others to the House of Commons armed with Swords Pistols and other Weapons and there demanded the said five Members to be delivered to him upon a pretended Charge of High-Treason His Followers at the same time thrusting away the Door-keepers and Attendants of the House held up their Swords and some their Pistols ready cock'd saying I am a good Marks-man I can hit right I warrant you Others of them said A Pox take the House of Commons a Pox of God confound them and violently assaulted and by Force disarmed some of the Servants of the Members and said WHEN COMES THE WORD and afterwards declared that questionless if the Word had been given they should have fallen upon the House of Commons and HAVE CUT ALL THEIR THROATS which Doings the Commons declared were A TRAITEROUS DESIGN against the King and Parliament and that they could not sit any longer without a sufficient * They petitioned the King to allow them a Guard to be commanded by the Lord Chamberlain of his Houshould but could not obtain it Guard wherein they might confide wherefore they adjourned to the Tuesday following having appinted a Committee to sit in the mean time at Guildhall London to consider of all things that might concern the Good and Safety of the Kingdom and the Relief of Ireland And I am to tell you Doctor that the great Lord Falkland was the fourth Person named to this great Committee The Commons further declared That they were so far from protecting any of their Members that should in a due manner be prosecuted according to the Laws of the Kingdom and the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament for Treason or any other Misdemeanours that none should be more ready and willing than themselves to bring them to a speedy and due Trial. And upon the 15th of January they ordered the Attonrny-General who had preferred the Articles of Treason against the Members to bring in his Proof and make them good if he could Whereupon the King sent a Message that HE NOW FOUND CAUSE wholly to dosist from proceeding against them and had commanded his Attourny-General to proceed no further therein nor to produce nor discover any Proof concerning the matter Also BOTH HOUSES petitioned the King for the speedy proceeding against the accused Members IN A LEGAL WAY whereby they might be brought to condign Punishment if guilty or discharged from so heavy an Accusation if innocent The King giving an evasive Answer to this Petition the Lords and Commons apply to him again by a second Petition praying that the Parliament might be informed before Friday then next ensuing what Proof there is against them that they may be called to a Legal Trial. A Petition of about two thousand Freeholders of Backinghamshirs was presented to the King setting forth that Mr. Hambden Knight of their Shire a Gentleman in high Esteem with them and the whole Kingdom was accused of Treason that they believed it to be the Malice which his Zeal to his Majesty's Service and the State had contracted in the Enemies to the King the Church and the Common-wealth had occasioned this foul Accusation and they prayed that he and the other Members might enjoy the Priviledg of Parliament The City of London also petitioned that the Lord Mandeville and the five Members might not be restrained of Liberty or proceeded against otherwise than according to the Priviledges of Parliament To which Petition the King answered that AS HE ONCE CONCEIVED he had ground enough to accuse them so now his Majesty finds as good Cause wholly to desert any Prosecution of them Do you hear this DOCTOR If you ever had till now you would not surely have assumed the Confidence to have said as you do Pa. 11 12. That nothing less would satisfy the Parliament than that he must be obliged AS IT WERE and IN EFFECT to beg the Members Pardon for wronging them with what he thought and COVLD BY GOOD EVIDENCE PROVE MATTER OF TRVTH Now I do AS IT WERE think that you ought not only IN EFFECT but in earnest to humble your self to the Descendents of these honourable and never to be forgotten PATRIOTS for the horrid Slander which you here lay on their great Names and Families For tho the King gave up the Cause saying that HE FOUND GOOD REASON wholly to desist from proceeding against them and at another time that he found GOOD CAVSE wholly to desert any Prosecution of them Yet you forsooth must keep up the wicked Clamour and falsly inform this Generation that his Majesty GOOD MAN had pregnant Evidence to prove them guilty of Treason But to put you to shame if possible 't is what you threatned me with Reverend Sir I shall add a few words more upon this occasion The Lords and Commons told the King
in a third Petition that notwithstanding his Majesty found good cause wholly to desert any further Prosecution of the accused Members yet they remained still under that heavy Charge so imputed unto them And that by two Acts of Parliament viz. 37 and 38 Edw. 3. it was enacted That if any Person whatsoever make Suggestion to THE KING HIMSELF of any Crime committed by another the same Person ought to be sent with the Suggestion before the Chancellor or Keeper of the Great Seal Treasurer or the great Countil there to find Surety to pursue his Suggestion which if he cannâ—t prove he is to be imprisoned till he satisfy the Party accused of his Damages and Slander and made Fine and Ransom to the King Wherefore the Lords and Commons beseeched the King that he would be pleased to send the Person or Persons that in this Case made the Suggestions or Informations to him against the said Members together with the Suggestions or Informations to the Parliament that so such Fruits of the said good Laws may be had as was intended by them and the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament may be vindicated WHICH OF RIGHT AND JVSTICE OVGHT NOT TO BE DENIED Notwithstanding this Petition no Authors nor Witnesses were ever produced to avow the heavy Charge and Accusation of the noble Lord Mandeville and the five Members till now that fifty Years are elapsed You unhappy Doctor are trumping up good Evidence though for want of just Matter which yet never came to light the King let the Business fall of his own accord And see now how neatly you have noos'd your self for by your idle Dedication to their Majesties you have made this false Suggestion TO THE KING HIMSELF and so are fallen into the Mercy of the noble Earl of Manchester and become liable to the severe Penalties in the Statutes of King Edward the Third To dispatch this Head Was it not a Crime against the Law of Nature against the Rules of Justice that innocent Men should be charged with so great an Offence as Treason in the Face of the highest Judicature in the Kingdom without Witness without any possibility of Reparation even in point of Innocency Such was the Case of these great Men for the King denied to discover their Accusers and yet would not pass a Bill for their Discharge unless in the Narration they would desert the avowing their own Innocency Nay was it not an Act of Tyranny beyond Parallel He accused them and yet would produce no Witness he confess'd them clear in his own Judgment yet they must not profess their own Innocency for fear of wounding his Honour We will proceed now Reverend Doctor to what remains to be said about the terrifying Tumults and Riots which frighted his Majesty from VVhitehall You said that he withdrew from thence through Tumults and too much countenanc'd Riots being under apprehension of Affronts design'd to be offer'd to his Person IF NOT SOMETHING WORSE When you return me an Answer to this Letter dear Sir you will infinitely oblige me if you will tell me in plain English what you intend by SOMETHING WORSE than that the Mob would affront his Majesty's Royal Person For according to my present Apprehension you seem to insinuate that HE ABDICATED WHITEHALL under a dread that these wicked Rioters would have forced his COMFORTABLE IMPORTANCE or perpretrated some Act so highly Villanous that you could not find a Name for it For the present till I have better Light herein I will lay before you my Thoughts in this Case In the doing whereof we must examine how things stood at that time whereby 't will be seen whether there were any such Tumules and if there were whether the King himself did not cause them He had tempted the ENGLISH ARMY with no less Reward than the Spoil of the City of LONDON to come up and destroy the PARLIAMENT He had in an unexcusable and hostile manner made a most high Invasion upon the Priviledges of BOTH HOVSES Hereupon many Citizens unarmed resorted to Westminster to present their Petitions and express their stedfastness to the Parliament whose Lives and Safeties by more than slight Rumours they doubted to be in Danger the King having fortified VVhitehall and entertained Armed Men not a few planted them at the * The first Blood that was drawn in this Cause was in that very place where the King 's own Blood was afterwards shed Gate of his Palace where they reviled menaced and with drawn Swords actually wounded many of the Citizens as they passed by in a peaceable manner whereof some died Nay they went farther and were come to that height of Boldness as to give out insolent and menacing Speeches against the Parliament it self and to imbrue their Hands in the Blood of the King's Subjects in VVestminster-Hall and at the Doors of the Parliament as well as at his own Gate And when the Parliament and People complained and demanded Justice for those Assaults 1 K. 21 19. he justifyed and abetted his own Crew in what they did Now the passing by of a multitude of the King's Subjects armed with no other VVeapons than Petitions could neither be justly called Tumults nor could the Parliament have forbid them without breach of the Peoples Freedom Vnarmed Petitioners surely could not be formidable to any And I must remember you Doctor that a very short time before his Majesty pretended to dread these tumultuary Citizens The City entertained feasted and conducted him to Whitehall with at pompous Solemnity and costly Expressions of Love and Duty as ever had been known Nay did he not the very next day after his irruption in the House of Commons than which nothing had more exasperated the People go in his Coach unguarded into the City Did he receive the least Affront much less Violence in any of the Streets but rather humble Demeanours and Supplications He knew the People so full of Awe and Reverence to his Person as to commit himself single amongst the thickest of them at a time when he had most provoked them This shews beyond doubting that all his fear of Tumults was but a meer Pretence and Occasion taken of his resolved absence from the Parliament that he might turn his Slashing at the Court-gate to Slaughtering in the Field Well The King retires first to Hampton-Court commanding his Servants who were Members of Parliament to leave their Service there and to give their Attendance upon his Person Shortly after the QVEEN passes into Holland carrying with her all or the greatest part of the Crown-Jewels which she immediately pawn'd and with the Money bought Arms and Ammunition for the VVar which was not yet begun But I had almost forgot my self Reverend Sir I must attend to what you say in the Case Pag. 8. 'T is this I see The King though withdrawn yet ceases not to call upon the Parliament to consider the Nation 's Good and the settling it upon such Foundations as neither the
Confidence were begot betwixt your Majesty and your Parliament whose grave and loyal Counsels are we humbly conceive the visible way under God to put a speedy end to the Troubles of Ireland and establish your Throne in Righteousness We most humbly supplicate that we may represent our Vnfitness to become Judges betwixt your Majesty and Parliament in any thing or dispute the Authority of either which we humbly conceive do fortify each other We shall be ready to maintain your Majesty's just Rights the Priviledges and Power of Parliaments and the lawful Liberties of the Subjects I have now shown you Doctor that the King wanted not Invitations to return and live in Honour and Safety at London The Parliament importunately press'd it the Gentlemen and Freeholders of Yorkshire humbly supplicated it But nothing is more certain than that instead of hoping to cool the Heats at London by retiring to York 't was his sole purpose and intention to put that Country and the whole Kingdom into a Flame as he quickly did and pursuant to that Design having rejected with Scorn the Petitions I have mentioned he persisted in his former way of raising Forces and made Proclamation requiring all Gentlemen and others of that County to attend him in Arms. The Lords and Commons wisely foreseeing the impending Mischief and observing the Clouds to gather so fast and threaten a Storm they as wisely endeavoured to prevent it and therefore passed a Vote May 20 1642 That it appears the King seduced by wicked Counsel intends to make War against the Parliament who in all their Consultations and Actions have proposed no other end unto themselves but the Care of his Kingdom and the performance of all Duty and Loyalty to his Person 2. That whensoever the King maketh War upon the Parliament it is a Breach of the Trust reposed in him by his People contrary to his Oath and tending to the Dissolution of the Government 3. That whosoever shall serve or assist him in such War are Traitors by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom and have been so adjudged by two Acts of Parliament and ought to suffer as Traitors 11 Rich. 2. 1 Hen. 4. But I must hear you Pag. 10. Sir upon this Point of the first beginning of the unnatural and bloody War you suggest that he was forced to raise an Army which was after the Parliament had voted a Necessity of a War with him Will you never leave your L Doctor The Parliament did not vote a necessity of a War They indeed voted as I told you but now That it appeared that the King intended to make War against them and it was near two Months afterwards viz. the 12th of July 1642 that the Lords and Commons finding his Majesty to persist in that Intention voted that an Army should be forthwith raised for the Safety of the King's Person Defence of both Houses of Parliament and preserving of the true Religion the Laws Liberty and the Peace of the Kingdom That the Earl of Essex should be General and that they will live and die with him in this Cause and that the Earl of Bedford should be General of the Horse Nevertheless they resolved that a Petition should be presented to his Majesty by the Earl of Holland Sir John Holland and Sir Philip Stapleton to move the King to a good Accord with his Parliament to prevent a Civil War which was to the effect following Although We your Majesty's most humble and faithful Subjects the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament have been very unhappy in many former Petitions to your Majesty and with much Sorrow do perceive that your Majesty incensed by many false Calumnies and Slanders doth continue to raise Forces against us and to make great Preparations for War both in the Kingdom and from beyond the Seas yet such is our earnest desire of discharging our Duty to your Majesty and the Kingdom to preserve the Peace thereof and to prevent the Miseries of Civil War That notwithstanding we hold our selves bound to use all the Means and Power which by the Laws and Constitutions of this Kingdom we are trusted with for Defence and Protection thereof and of the Subjects from Force and Violence We do in this our humble and loyal Petition prostrate our selves at your Majesty's Feet beseeching that you will forbear and remove all Preparations and Actions of War That you will come nearer to your Parliament and hearken to their faithful Advice and humble Petitions which shall only tend to the Defence and Advancement of Religion your own Royal Honour and Safety the preservation of our Laws and Liberties And we have been and ever shall be careful to prevent and punish all Tumults and seditious Actings Speeches and Writings which may give your Majesty just cause of Distaste or apprehension of Danger And we for our Parts shall be ready to lay down all those Preparations which we have been forced to make for our Defence And for the Town of Hull and the Ordinance concerning the Militia as we have in both these Particulars only sought the preservation of the Peace of the Kingdom and the Defence of the Parliament from Force and Violence so we shall most willingly leave the Town of Hull in the state it was before Sir John Hotham drew any Forces into it delivering your Majesty's Magazine into the Tower of London We shall be ready to settle the Militia by a Bill in such a way as shall be honourable and safe for your Majesty most agreeable to the Duty of Parliament and effectual for the Good of the Kingdom that the Strength thereof be not employed against it self and that which ought to be for our Security applied to our Destruction And that the Parliament and those who profess and desire still to preserve the Protestant Religion both in this Realm and in Ireland may not be left naked and indefensible to the mischievous Designs and cruel Attempts of those who are the profess'd and confederate Enemies thereof in your Majesty's Dominions and other Neighbour Nations To which if your Majesty's Courses and Counsels shall from henceforth concur We doubt not but we shall quickly make it appear to the World by the most eminent Effects of Love and Duty That your Majesty's personal Safety your Royal Honour and Greatness are much dearer to us than our own Lives and Fortunes which we do most heartily dedicate and shall most willingly imploy for the support and maintenance thereof And now Sir I appeal to you and to all the World Whether these Men talk'd here as though they were resolved to make War and engross all into their own Hands let what would become of the King as a certain Aldgate Doctor of Divinity falsly accuses the Lords and Commons Thanks be to God Sir John Holland as well as Sir John Prattle is yet alive in Norfolk in perfect Health and Understanding and is ready to give the same account I have here given you to any Man that asks
Sword in the other in which the Lords and Commons do IN THE PRESENCE OF ALMIGHTY GOD profess That if his Majesty will forthwith return to his Parliament c. they will receive him with all Honour yield him all due Subjection and Obedience and faithfully endeavour to secure his Person and Estate from all Danger and do the utmost of their Power to procure and establish to himself and his People all the Blessings of a glorious and happy Reign WE DID THEN VERILY BELIEVE AND YET DO that these were the sincere and cordial Intentions of the Lords and Commons and altho the King was so unhappy as to reject that Petition yet they persisted still in the same Loyalty of Intentions and Affections towards him as appears in their many Messages to himself and Declarations to the Kingdom Upon these Grounds we engaged in this CAVSE being called to it by a lawful Authority The TWO HOVSES OF PARLIAMENT BEING THE ORDINANCE OF GOD VNTO THIS NATION FOR THE PREVENTING OF TYRANNY AND THE REGVLATING OF THE EXORBITANCIES OF REGAL POWER and being convinced in our Judgments both of the Equity and Necessity of THE PARLIAMENT'S DEFENSIVE ARMS c. WE APPEAL TO GOD the Searcher of all Hearts to whom we must give an Account of all our Ways THAT THESE WERE THE GROVNDS OF OVR FIRST ENGAGEMENT Now Sir to look back to your Defence of the King I find you frequently glorying in his Majesty's oft-repeated Gracious Messages Offers Proposals and Condescentions for Peace and in relation to the Deportment of the Parliament you thus express your poor Judgment I cannot but perswade my self Pag. 17. they were resolved to continue the War and engross all into their own hands let what would become of the King But yet that they might pacify the Minds of a great number of the Nation who groaned under the Miseries of the War and began to see too much of a private Spirit under publick Pretences they consent to a Treaty at Uxbridg they did so and you declare that two Heads were agreed to be there debated viz. 1. Of Religion and Church Government 2. Of the Militia Now in reading the History of that Treaty I find that a third great thing was agreed to be also debated viz. The business of Ireland but that being a Point which you care not to touch I must not allow you to hide it To discourse a little about this Treaty notwithstanding the King for his Credit-sake and to satisfy his own Party weary of War yielded to a Treaty I cannot perswade my self but he was resolved to continue the War and if you appear not a Man of resolved Prejudices or else of profound and stupid Ignorance I do half think that I may bring you over to my Opinion in this matter For to let you see what disposed him to hearken to this Treaty take his own words in his Letter to the Queen in December 1644. I shall shew thee upon what Grounds I came to a Treaty to the end thou mayst the better understand and APPROVE of my Ways Then know as A CERTAIN TRVTH that all EVEN MY PARTY are strongly impatient for Peace which obliged me so much the more at all occasions to shew my real Intentions to Peace NO DANGER OF DEATH SHALL MAKE ME DO ANY THING VNWORTHY OF THY LOVE At the very instant of this Treaty which was had in February 1644 the King used all imaginable means to bring not only FOREIGN FORCES but the Irish CUT-THROATS against the Parliament to clear up this Point and also to evince how insincere he was in his pretended Intentions of Peace I will briefly present to your view his under-hand Transactions as well with Foreign Princes as those Rebels and in the first place I shall mind you of some Passages between Him and the Queen in relation to this and other Treaties In a Letter to her of January 9 1644 he writes thus The Scots Commissioners have sent to me to send a Commission to their General Assembly WHICH I AM RESOLVED NOT TO DO but to the end of making some use of this occasion by sending an honest Man to London and that I may have the more time for the making A HANDSOME NEGATIVE I have demanded a Passport for Phil. Warwick by whom to return my Answer At another time in the same Month he tells her that as for my my calling those at London * He had agreed to treat with them as a Parliament the Queen upbraided him for so doing and he thus vindicates himself A PARLIAMENT IF THERE HAD BEEN BUT TWO OF MY OPINION I had not done it THE CALLING DID NO WAYS ACKNOWLEDG THEM TO BE A PARLIAMENT upon which Condition and Construction I did it and accordingly it is registred in the Council-Books Nothing is more evident than that the King was steered by the Queen's Counsel in the Management of this Uxbridg Treaty and that which you call the Church of England THE BISHOPS was greatly her Care By Letter in January 1644 before the beginning of that Treaty She instructs him not to abandon those who have served him lest they for sake him in his need that SHE hopes he will have a care of her and HER RELIGION That in her Majesty's Opinion RELIGION SHOULD BE THE LAST THING UPON WHICH HE SHOULD TREAT for if he do agree upon Strictness against the Catholicks it would discourage them to serve him and if afterwards there should be no Peace he could never expect Succours either FROM IRELAND or any other CATHOLICK PRINCE In another of her Letters we find her writing thus Jan. 17 1644. It comforts me much to see the Treaty shall be at Uxbridg I RECEIVED YESTERDAY LETTERS FROM THE DUKE OF LORRAIN WHO SENDS ME WORD IF HIS SERVICE BE AGREEABLE TO YOU HE WILL BRING YOU 10000 MEN ABOVE ALL have a care not to ABANDON those who have served you AS WELL THE BISHOPS AS THE POOR CATHOLICKS By the King's Letters to the Queen in February when the Treaty at Vxbridg was depending he stiles the Parliament UNREASONBLE STUBBORN PERFIDIOUS REBELS presses her to hasten all possible Assistance to him particularly that of the Duke of Lorrain He tells her that the limited days for treating are now almost expired without the least Agreement upon any one Article wherefore I have sent for enlargement of Days THAT THE WHOLE TREATY MAY BE LAID OPEN TO THE WORLD and I ASSURE THEE THOU NEEDEST NOT DOUBT THE ISSUE OF THIS TREATY for MY COMMISSIONERS ARE SO WELL CHOSEN tho I say it that they will neither be threatned nor disputed from the Grounds I have given them which upon my word IS ACCORDING TO THE LITTLE NOTE THOU SO WELL REMEMBERS Be confident that in making Peace I shall ever shew my CONSTANCY IN ADHERING TO BISHOPS AND ALL OUR FRIENDS and not forget to put a short Period to this perpetual Parliament We find him in another Letter dated the 5th of March expressing himself in these
words I have thought of one means more to furnish thee with for my Assistance than hitherto thou hast had it is that I GIVE THEE POWER TO PROMISE IN MY NAME THAT I will * If this were so good a King Why so much Clamour against K. James the Second for designing the same thing take away all the Penal Laws against the Roman Catholicks in England as soon as God shall enable me to do it Another Letter to her of the 20th of March hath this Expression I find that Thou much mistakes Me concerning Ireland I DESIRE NOTHING MORE THAN A PEACE there and never forbad thy Commerce there In relation to Ireland he wrote to the Marquess of Ormond to this effect Jan. 7. THE REBELS HERE have agreed to TREAT AND MOST ASSUREDLY ONE OF THE FIRST and chief ARTICLES they will insist on will be TO CONTINUE THE IRISH WAR WHICH IS A POINT NOT POPULAR FOR ME TO BREAK ON of which you are to make a double use First TO HASTEN WITH ALL POSSIBLE DILIGENCE THE PEACE THERE the timely conclusion of which will take off that Inconvenience which otherwise I may be subject to by the refusal of that Article upon any other Reason Secondly By dexterous conveying to the Irish the Danger there may be of their total and perpetual EXCLUSION FROM THOSE FAVOURS I INTEND THEM in case THE REBELS here elap up a Peace with me NOT DOUBTING OF A PEACE I must again remember you TO PRESS THE IRISH for their speedy Assistance to me here and their Friends in Scotland I DESIRE that THE IRISH would send as great a Body as they can to land about Cumberland WHICH WILL PUT THOSE NORTHERN COUNTIES IN A BRAVE CONDITION Upon the 14th of January he writes thus to the Queen As for the Peace of Ireland to shew thee the Care I have had of it and the Fruits I hope to receive from it I have sent thee the last Dispatches I have sent concerning it FOR GOD'S SAKE LET NONE KNOW THE PARTICULARS OF MY DISPATCHES By another Letter he commanded Ormond To dispatch the Irish Peace out of hand and thereby promises that the PENAL LAWS against Roman Catholicks SHALL NOT BE PUT IN EXECUTION the Peace being made and that when the Irish give him that Assistance which they have promised for the suppression of THIS REBELLION then he would consent to the Repeal of them by a Law and concludes RECOMMENDING TO HIM AGAIN THE SPEEDY DISPATCH OF THE PEACE OF IRELAND Another Letter to Ormond upon the 27th of Feb. 1644 was That HE THOUGHT HIMSELF bound IN CONSCIENCE not to lose that Assistance which he might hope from his IRISH SUBJECTS for such Scruples as in a less pressing condition might reasonably be stuck at by him and therefore commanded him to conclude a Peace with the Irish WHATSOEVER IT COST so that his Protestant Subjects there might be secured and his Regal Authority preserved If the present taking away of the Penal Laws against Papists will do it said he I shall not think it a hard Bargain so that freely and vigorously they engage themselves in my Assistance against MY REBELS of England and Scotland FOR WHICH NO CONDITIONS CAN BE TOO HARD not being aginst Conscience or Honour By another Letter to the Marquess of Ormond in the same Month he writes thus Now again I cannot but mention the Necessity of hastening the Irish Peace for which I hope you are already furnished by me with Materials sufficient But in case against all Expectation and Reason PEACE CANNOT BE HAD UPON THOSE TERMS YOU MUST NOT BY ANY MEANS FALL TO A NEW RUPTURE with them but continue THE CESSATION He wrote to the Duke of Richmond one of his Commissioners for the Vxbridg Treaty There was at this time high Division in London between the Presbyterians and Independents therefore to ruin both by somentiâ—â— Misunderstandings between them the Independents are to be cajoled A thing worthy remembrance in all times TO REMEMBER TO CAJOLE WELL THE INDEPENDENTS AND THE SCOTS Nay he instructed Secretary Nicholas to bribe the Commissioners for the Parliament with the promise of Security Rewards and Places Well now upon the whole Matter pray tell me ingenuously good Doctor Whether did the King or the Parliament more sincerely aim at the desired Peace in this Treaty I am clearly of opinion that he frustrated the Hopes of a happy Composure at this time for whatever you alledg had he used the same moderation here and granted those things he offered to yield to afterwards as I may have occasion to shew you hereafter the unhappy War had then been ended But though he pretended to listen to Overtures of Peace because his own Party were weary of the War yet he was found to use Tricks of Legerdemain and by this and his other Treaties aimed only at the getting some Advantage by secret Treacheries and under-hand Dealings I have told you that one of the three main Heads to be treated upon was Ireland That was to be anticipated and forestall'd by a Peace at any Rate to be huddled up with the Irish Rebels e're the Treaty could begin that he might pretend his Word and Honour past against the popular Arguments which the Parliament might urge upon him for the continuance of that just War The English during the Treaty were called perfidious Rebels the IRISH GOOD AND CATHOLICK SUBJECTS He contrived how to make handsom Negatives For fashion-sake he called the Parliament a PARLIAMENT yet by a Jesuitical Slight he did not acknowledg tho call them so He press'd earnestly for Ten thousand Lorrainers to be transported hither and that a Body of the bloody Irish Rebels might be landed in Cumberland delighting himself that they would put the Northern Counties into A BRAVE CONDITION for he well knew that they had destroyed above One hundred and forty thousand Protestants in their own Kingdom and were therefore without doubt very fit Men to assist him in the maintaining THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND He boasted of his choice of Commissioners for the Treaty and that they would stick close to the NOTE OF INSTRUCTIONS which he and the Queen had concerted and assured her that HE WOULD EVER SHEW HIS CONSTANCY IN ADHERING TO BISHOPS AND PAPISTS He impowered the Queen to treat with the Irish and to give assurance that he would take away THE PENAL LAWS against Papists in England In fine Nothing is more evident than that he used Treaties pretending Peace to no other End than to gain Advantages that might enable him to carry on War And methinks it should not offend you to hear that Opinion not only a Minister but a Martyr for Monâ—â—â—oy had of this King the famous Mr. Christopher Love 〈◊〉 lost his Head upon Tower-hill which I am confident you wâ—â—â— never do for any Cause tho you live near it preaching before the Parliament Commissioners at this Vxbridg Treaty expresâ—â—â— himself thus It would search to the quick to find out WHETHER
KING JAMES AND PRINCE HENRY HIS SON CAME TO A TIMELY DEATH YEA OR NO Some Parliaments have been but short-liv'd when there was but a muttering that enquiry should be made of their Deaths It would search to the quick to know WHETHER ROCHEL and all THE PROTESTANTS in it were not betrayed into the hands of their Enemies AND BY WHOM It would go to the quick to find out WHETHER THE IRISH REBELLION was not plotted promoted countenanced and contrived in England AND BY WHOM Now I hope Reverend Sir that you will not have the face to deny but Mr. Love was a Consciencious and Pious Divine and I will finish this Head in telling you though a little out of course that the Earls of Northumberland Pembroke Salisbury and Denbigh with the Lord Wainman Sir Henry Vane Mr. Pierepont Mr. Holles Mr. Prideaux Mr. St. John Mr. Whitlock and Mr. Câ—â—w Commissioners for the Parliament in the Treaty we have been talking of were as well as you boast the King's Comnissioners to have been Men of Honour and Honesty Men of Fortunes and Estates Men of great Parts and Endowments who understood the Business they went about and were very fond of healing the Nations Breaches and putting things into such a posture as might settle the King upon his just Rights and the People upon their ancient Priviledges Well Sir for my own Comfort if not for yours I purpose to trouble my self at least at this present with but one thing more in your Tract You say That the Scots notwithstanding all their Promises and Obligations SELL THE KING TO THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT 'T is a Divine Truth Men are not only ignorant because they cannot but because they will not know the Truth And I cannot conceive that you believe what you here assert Therefore that my Country-men may be undeceived and our Brethren of Scotland vindicated I will set this Matter in its true Light The King had fled to the Scotish Army at Newcastle then in the Parliament's Service and Pay there Propositions for Peace were made unto him which he rejected The War being happily ended the Parliament were in arrear to the Scots for their assistance in it Four hundred thousand Pounds It was agreed that half that Sum should be presently paid upon receipt whereof the Scots were to deliver up not the King but Berwick Newcastle and Carlisle to the Parliament 'T is far from Truth that this was the Price of the King for the Parliament freely granted to the Scots that they might carry him if they pleased to Edinburgh But they refused it affirming that by his Presence in an unsettled Nation new Commotions might arise They rather desired which was also the King's desire that he might be carried into the Southern parts of England and live in some of his Palaces near London which they thought more convenient for treating of a Peace So that in all the whole Debate they seemed to contend not who should have the King but who should not have him Nevertheless to cast a slander upon both Nations for certainly 't is as wicked a thing to buy as to sell such Merchandize You Sir will have it that the Scots sold him the English bought him but WILFULNESS EVER WAS THE GREATEST BLINDNESS Reverend Sir I shall for the present discharge you and my self from further trouble You think I suppose that you make me a very merciful Offer That if I will repent and do so no more I may hope to live in Peace and you will not further lash me with any more such Scourges as I have been but now tortured with but if I shall persist and appear incorrigible you have more Rods in Piss and will pay me off You have much more to say in the behalf of King Charles the First 't is well if you have for I am sure 't is very little that you have hitherto said and you assure me I shall have it and resolve That as long as you can hold a Pen in your Hand you will not drop his Cause There 's no Remedy then but I must abide your Fury for I resolve never to ask Forgiveness and promise to do so no more But on the contrary to write on as I have leisure and you give me occasion in the defence of the Laws and Liberties of my Country Upon which Subject I have much more to say and if you will not be quiet you shall have it I love the Cause too well to drop it and will wear my Steell Pen to the stumps in its defence And Now seeing we are eternally to differ in this Point I desire to settle two things with you for the more orderly Prosecution of this dreadful War 1. That we as Duellists agree the length of their Weapons may resolve how often to trouble the World with our Impertinencies I think once or if you will have it so twice because there are TWO MADDING-DAYS in a Year may suffice 2. That after you have fairly answer'd this and my former Letter by falsifying which as a Preliminary I shall expect from you the many particular Instances I have brought to shew that your admired Prince was a Tyrant or else to prove that they are not Acts or Evidences of Tyranny you would then in the further Prosecution of that Defence which you have undertaken and indeed of Criminating one of the greatest and best deserving Parliaments that even England saw lay aside your loose and general way of discoursing and come to Particulars when you shall so proceed and are failed of a clear Answer then and not till then the day will be your own For tho throughout your whole Discourse which I have been examining you Rebellize the Lords and Commons and fly in the Face of the Parliament with the King 's gracious MESSAGES SAYINGS c. Othâ—â—s may upon better grounds sum up the humble condescending convincing PETITIONS MESSAGES DECLARATIONS c. of the Parliament and dash them all into your Face than you can those Messages and Sayings of the King into the Faces of all who declare that he was a proud Nimrod a hardened Pharaoh in plain English A MERCILESS TYRANT Lastly To encourage you to further Conversation with me the some Men are so impudent as to say that it is not Day when the Sun it self doth shire you shall see that I am not resolved against Conviction but that being under the Command of good Manners I rest not satisfied in the Confession which I made in the beginning of this Letter of an Error committed in my former in relation to the Noble Lord Conway sometime Secretary of State to King Charles the First but shall more fully do it in this place Being misguided by the Printer's Mistake in Rushworth's first Collections from whence I took it I was led to say in my last Year's Letter pag. 7. That the Lord Conway said in Parliament that he never hated Popery whereas his words were that he ever hared it and I have now certain ground