what shall be agreed for me betwixt Your Majesty and these to whom this Affair is trusted by me I bind my self to ratifie To the fifth since the reasons of my Expedition to Germany are the same with Your Majesties I have firmly resolved to help and relieve the oppressed Princes and States of Germany with the ease of all these burdens with which they are now pressed and therefore shall do every thing in order and decently as becomes most friendly Auxiliaries and if any thing be taken by me from the common Enemy I shall desire nothing more than that the right of it be entirely and inviolably Your Majesties To the ninth since I have devoted my whole fortune with all my interests for promoting this our Design I promise that whatever any shall contribute for it shall all be laid out for this War which I shall with my whole Forces manage and carry on till either it please God that You obtain a desired Peace or that the Liberty of Germany which is now oppressed be restored To the tenth since by this Article Your Majesty requires and expects Fidelity from me and my Army I James Marquis of Hamilton by these presents give my Faith for my self and them and bind both my self and them and for the Confirmation of this I do subscribe this Article with all the preceding and put my Seal to it at London the first of March Anno Dom. 1631. Signed Hamilton Locus Sigilli Ramsay had in Commission to deal with any Scotish or English Officers who served beyond Sea to come and serve under the Marquis and finding Mackay the Lord Reay in good reputation Ramsay treats with the Lord Reay he dealt with him to engage in his Service who cordially undertook it and some moneths after that wrote to the Marquis which Letter is preserved That though the King of Sweden had given him the Command of three Regiments and made him Captain of his Guards yet he was so desirous to put life in his noble designs that he would serve him were it but to carry a Pike in his Army and thus Ramsay returned and Colonel Hamilton with him Whereupon the Marquis went about the executing of his designs and the levying of his men but all was according to the Kings Orders and Instructions yet His Majesty seemed onely a consenter to it The Levies went on all this Winter in which many were backward because the King owned them so little As for Money the King advanced a good summe though far short of what was necessary but he gave the Marquis a Lease of the Customs of the Wines in Scotland for 16 years upon which Security he and all his friends raised as much Money as the design required Many of the Marquis his friends did in the beginning dissuade him from the undertaking apprehending the hazards both of his person and fortune which were visible from an attempt that was full of dubious success but when they saw him engaged in it they did all very frankly concur mortgaging their Fortunes for raising such summes of Money as were necessary for the Expedition Next Spring the Marquis sent Ramsay to Holland to see what assistance he might expect from the States An. 1631. and in particular to deal with some British Officers who were then in their Service to come and take employment in his Army He likewise sent one Elphinston to the King of Sweden Ramsay is sent over to the States and Elphinston to the King of Sweden to shew him that he would be ready to land with his Army in Iune or Iuly and to press that the Forces he was to have from the Swede might be ready to meet him where ever he were appointed to land his men or if the King of Sweden could not spare so many men that he would order the money for their Levy and Pay to be sent to Hamburg or to any other Bank that so the Marquis might levy them himself Upon this the King of Sweden sent the Lord Reay first to Denmark and then to Holland for carrying on of those Levies and committed the levying of 3000 Foot and 1000 Horse to Colonel Farensback The King was betrayed by Farensback a Leeflander of good repute in the Wars who had served the Emperour but for I know not what crime had lost his favour and undertaken the Service of the Swede and seemed to be going on with his Levy till the time was past and then did basely run over to the Emperour shewing how great a Service he had done by his cousening the King of Sweden since he hoped the failing of the Swedish Auxiliaries would keep the Marquis of Hamilton's Army from coming over that Summer King Gustavus was now in Germany and by his frequent Letters pressed the Marquis his dispatch He pressed the Marquis to come in all haste for he was then in great straits the Princes of Germany begun to fear his success and were not so forward in joyning with him as he expected and by divers Letters both from himself and Camerarius his Ambassadour in Holland and Salvius his Agent in Hamburg it appears that the Princes of Germany took their measures chiefly from the Kings resolutions The King of Sweden also desired a League with the King and that the King should send over ten thousand men whom the King of Britain should maintain during the Wars and desires a League with the King and that Army with the other twelve thousand should be under the Marquis his Command as General upon which the King of Sweden should oblige himself never to make Peace with the Emperour till the Palatinat were restored To this the King gave a good hearing and promised to send over an Embassadour to finish the Agreement and in the mean time the Marquis his dispatch was hasted forward with all diligence His Army was partly Scots partly English and they were to be transported in the Kings Ships the Scotish Forces were to be shipped at Leith and the English at Yarmouth and Yarmouth-Road was to be their Rendezvous In the end of May both Reay and Ramsay came out of Holland to England Ramsay got nothing done with the States who would give no assistance to the Marquis till the King formally engaged himself yet he got some Officers to come over and in particular that gallant English Gentleman Sir Iacob Ashly who had acquired much reputation in the Dutch Wars but Ramsay drew much trouble on himself for being a man of an intemperate tongue he had talked loosly of the Court of England to the Lord Reay At this time the Marquis was in Scotland drawing the Souldiers together and having made all ready there he returned to Court having nothing more to doe but to kiss His Majesties Hand and receive his last Commands but there was then at Court the Lord Ochiltree Reay acccuseth Ramsay and Ochiltree the Marquis a man of a subtil spirit and good parts had not those endowments
their Act which constituted this Court for his Trial declared him a Traytor it was not to be disputed what the Parliament had Power to do but no Parliament had ever done the like before and the meaning of the Act must be that he should be tried whether guilty of Treason or not since if the Parliament have already declared him a Traytor further Trial was needless And it was clear the Parliament by their Act in Iuly last which declared all the Scots who entred England Enemies considered not the distinction of Post-nati nor judged that inferred Treason since most of them all were Post-nati That many of the Officers of that Army who had been taken Prisoners though clearly Post-nati were ransomed others banished others still in Prison why then should the imputation of Treason be fastned on the Duke when the rest were used only as Enemies And for the Articles they made it appear they were the Publick Faith of the Kingdom when given by persons publickly Authorized upon the observing of which inviolably depended the whole Intercourse of all Nations and their mutual Confidence which is founded on all States being bound by the Acts of their Publick Ministers That this was not a pure Rendition but a Paction concluded upon Deliberation wherein the Parliament lost nothing but on the contrary were Gainers That the Parliament had ratified this upon the matter by Voting a hundred thousand pound Sterling Fine to be the price of the Dukes Liberty That the secret sence the Treaters pretended was not to be considered since all Compacts are to be understood according to the clear meaning of the Words the universal sense of Mankind who look on Articles wherein Life is granted as a sufficient Security not only from the Souldiers but from the Civil Powers and that these Treaters when the Articles were agreed should have made known their secret meaning otherwise it was not to be regarded and it was a most dangerous Precedent to admit of collateral Averments of secret meanings against express words much more in a Case of Life and yet much more in Military Agreements wherein the Concernments of Armies and Nations were included and which concerned the Honour and Security of all Souldiers and for this divers Precedents were cited The Argument ended thus That as the Court consisted of Gentlemen Lawyers and of Martial men so the Plea consisting of three Branches was the more proper for their cognizance a part of it being drawn from the Law of England another part from the Civil Law and a Third part from the Martial Law and if the Plea in any of the three Branches was made good and they doubted not but it would be found so in them all the Court would be satisfied there was Reason Justice for preserving the Dukes life The Tenth Appearance The Court adjourned till Friday the second of March and the Duke being again brought to the Bar the Counsel for the People pleaded but so poorly that all who heard them were asham'd But they had one advantage that neither the Duke nor his Counsel were allowed to speak after them nor to discover their impertinent Allegations which made the Dukes Counsel obviate all they could imagine they might say though they said a great deal so far out of the way of Reason that none could have thought of it and yet it was so weak that it needed neither be obviated nor replied to Yet at the end of every Branch of their Pleading I shall add the Answers against them as they are set down in some Notes taken by the Dukes Counsel The Counsel for the People plead against the Duke They begun with Alienage and studied to make it appear that though he was a Scotchman born yet he was no Alien having enjoyed all the Priviledges an Englishman was capable of as being a Peer a Privy-Councellour possessing Lands and Inheritances and Marrying in England But Naturalization cannot be but by Act of Parliament and not by the Kings single Deed much less by those Priviledges of which any Stranger might participate Next they urged his Fathers Naturalization and since his Name was not in that Act as was in other Acts of Naturalization that proved him to be no Alien otherwise his Name had been put in From that it rather appeared he was an Alien since others found it necessary to insert their Childrens Names which his Father not doing proves the Son an Alien still They also urged his being Post-natus which must be held true since he brought no Evidence to the contrary and it being so his Tie of subjection was as great in England as in Scotland That Allegeance was only due to the King and not to the Kingdom That there was a King when he entred into England and that though he was secluded from the Government yet all Writs were issued in his Name so that this Expedition was a breach of the Allegeance he owed the King This was the oddest part of all their Plea since his Charge was that he assisted the King against the Kingdom and now they did plead he owed no Allegeance to the Kingdom but to the King whom they had so lately murdered the Dukes coming with his Army being only to relieve him from the Barbarous Vsage he had met with They also urged at large That an Englishman's Children in what place of the World soever they were born were Denizens of England and cited many Precedents But the Mis-application of them was gross and palpable those being of Persons who were Englishmen before their Children were born whereas the Duke's Father was naturalized after he was born so that he could not communicate that Priviledge to him which he did indeed transmit to his Children born after his Naturalization Next they pleaded that the Parliament of Scotland had no power to commissionate him to enter into England and that if some of them were there they ought likewise to suffer for it and it was fit he suffered for his Masters who employed him That it was pitty the King had not suffered sooner They also produced many Precedents of Strangers being condemned as guilty of Treason for Treasons committed in England as the Queen of Scots Lopez Perkin Warbeck the Lord Harris Shirley the Frenchman and the Spanish Ambassadour All this was obviated in the former Argument where distinction was made betwixt secret Practices and an open Invasion with a forreign Force They added That Scotland belonged to the Crown of England and so was to be look't on as some of the Counties of England But Scotland had no subjection to the Crown but only to the King of England whom they had murdered and so they had no Power to judge any Scotchman As for the Articles they pleaded it was not in the Power of the Army to absolve any from the Justice of the Parliament which being above them was not tied to their Articles and therefore though they confessed the words ought to have been less
and passed the River Sala pressing the Marquis to pass with him so afraid was he of Papenheim but the Marquis sent Sir Iacob Ashley to view the Pass who told him it was so good that he might safely march away in a quarter of an hours warning in spite of Papenheim and his Army upon which he would not stir Meanwhile Papenheim advanced with his Army but is relieved by Papenheim which he gave out to be ten or twelve thousand though it was onely 4700 men but to make the fame of it greater the Purveyors who went before him made provision for near thrice so many his men were drawn out of Garrisons and brought up in all haste and if Bannier had not been stiff it had been easie to have fought him and the least foil given him had made Magdeburg their own Papenheim getting to Magdeburg and finding that it could not be kept who leaves it marched away with the Garrison and every thing worth carrying with them but when he came out of the Town the Marquis and he fac'd one another in a Plain betwixt Kalbe and Saltsa and the Marquis though very much weaker than he yet had a great mind to have engaged but Bannier would not think of it neither had Papenheim any mind to provoke them and so he marched away thus Duke Weimar's slowness and Bannier's carefulness lost them that occasion After Papenheim was gone the Marquis entred Magdeburg where he found they had left about 40 peece of Cannon and great store of Ammunition with plenty of Corns he staid there till the beginning of February that the King of Sweden ordered him to lie about Halberstadt but his Souldiers were ill-entertained and those he had levied in Germany were pressing for Pay which should have been advanced by the King of Sweden therefore in the middle of February he went to that King who received him with his former kindness and by other Letters from His Majesty he found he was still so happy as to retain the room he had in his Heart which appeared by the two following he found there from His Majesty James I Have received four Letters from you almost all together to wit of the 23th of September of the 8th and 14th of October and of the 11th of November this last being under Henry Vane's Cover which makes me not let this Post go without letting you know of the receipt of your Letters having little other thing to write to you at this time because I am taking two or three days to make a full Dispatch to you and Henry Vane that you may know the uttermost of what you may expect from hence assuring you that in all these Conditions you shall still find me to be Your loving Friend and Cousin CHARLES R. Whitehall 16 Decemb. 1631. James YOu know that I am lazie enough in writing being willing to find excuses to write short Letters therefore though I confess that at this time I have matter sufficient to fill a long Letter yet in earnest having commanded Henry Vane to acquaint you fully with all my resolutions it were needless to trouble my self with writing or you with reading a long Letter therefore I will onely say that you will find that I neither mean to forget or break my Promises to you and that you will not be unluckie if you have but as good fortune in all your actions as is wished to you by Your loving Friend and Cousin CHARLES R. Whitehall 31 Decemb. 1631. But there were great rubs in the Treaty with England the main thing pressed by the Ambassadour was that the King of Sweden should give the Marquis an Army The King of Sweden proposeth unmeasurable terms to the King with which and the Forces and Moneys to be sent from England he should fall in on the Palatinat But the King of Sweden proposed unreasonable Conditions demanding greater Assistance from the King of Bohemia than the whole Palatinat could have given in its most flourishing Condition and some Cities of the Palatinat to be put into his hands till the Wars were ended with many other hard Conditions almost as severe as these which had been proposed by the Emperour so that the Marquis did clearly perceive Gustavus was beginning to reckon on all Germany as his Conquest and that he was to give what Laws he pleased in it Thus the Ambassadour and he were in very ill terms but he continued to use the Marquis with great civility yet he still declined to give him a Commission to levy a new Army neither would he pay him those Summes of Money he had laid out in his Service and his Chancellour said to him they knew very well he had spent none of his own Money having gotten 100000 l. from his Master He answered though that were true he and his Master were to reckon but that must not be set to their Accompt In April the Marquis desired that some order should be taken with the remainders of his Army till he got a new one for their number at that time could onely have made him a Colonel but not a General so they were reduced into two Regiments The Marquis's Army is reduced to two Regiments the one of English and the other of Scots the English were commanded by Colonel Bellandin since made Lord Bellandin and the Scots by Colonel Hamilton and they were put in Duke Weimar's Army The Marquis sent over Sir Iacob Ashley to give the King accounts of what passed who was quickly dispatched back with the following Letter James YOu did very well to acknowledge to the Chancellour of Swede his allegation concerning the 100000 l. that he supposed you had from me for His Masters Service and so much as you did reply to him thereupon was good but methinks you might have addeâ— that that would more plainly have shewed him his error which is That if his Master would not accompt to you for what I gave you yet if he will take notice of it that way it were reason not onely that he shâ—uld thank me for it but also suffer me to put it on his accompt in part of that Assistance I am to give him but if he will as he ought stand to his bargain with you then he must leave you and me to reckon together having nâ—thing to do to enquire particularly what passes betwixt us I need write little more to you at this time the trust and sufficiency of this Bearer making it needless onely to recommend him to you as you did to me and to tell you freely that you had done better in my mind if you had reserved to him the English Regiment when your Army was reduced This I write merely of my self on my word for no body knows that I do this and I never heard any blame you for it and for Jacob Ashley himself he is so far from censuring of you that you need wish to be no better than he calls you and he solicits your business
beyond the diligence and industry of a fee'd Lawyer So referring my self for what else I have to say at this time to him I rest Your constant loving Friend and Cousin CHARLES R. London the last of April 1632. POSTSCRIPT I hope shortly you will be in a possibility to perform your promise concerning Pictures and Statues at Muneken therefore now in earnest do not forget it All this Summer the Marquis followed the King of Sweden in the quality of a Volunteer The King of Sweden refuseth to give a new Commission of which he was sufficiently weary but he found that King was so jealous of him that he was not to expect any Trust near or in the Palatinat where he desired most earnestly to be imployed and that he did put him daily off in which the King of Sweden's design was that by his Impatience he might be quickned to carry on the Treaty with England on any terms But no consideration of his own could make him betray his Masters Service or drive on Propositions which he judged so dishonourable for him as were those he offered about the Palatinat wherefore he wrote to His Majesty to receive his positive Commands what to do His Majesties Answer follows James I Have received three Letters from you by James Lesley about the 25th of July all which I assure you have given me very good satisfaction as well for your right understanding of Affairs in general as to give me a light how to direct yours in particular which at this time is tâ—e onely subject of mine One of two you must chuse either to stay or come away For the first it were very Honourable to doe in the timis of Action if you had an Employment but neither having nor likely to have any hereafter it were dulness not patience to stay any longer yet it is fit to come off handsomly neither shewing impatience nor discontentment if may be although I think you have cause for both therefore I have commanded Henry Vane to propose a new Employment fâ—r you which though I think it will not take effect yet it will shew there is no way unsought for to find you out an Employment with the King of Sweden It is that you may be sent into the Palatinat to assist the French with so many men as my Contribution will maintain which if it may be done they promise me to put the lower Palatinat in my hands This though I do not hold as Gospel yet if this design might be put in practice it might certainly prove useful to my Affairs this being denied as I think it will you have no more to doe but to seek a fair excuse to come home which will be best in my opinion upon the conclusion of the Treaty between Sweden and Me or if any rubs arise that you might be sent to clear it with me So that upon the whole matter my Iudgment is that if you cannot serve me in the Palatinat as I have already said the best way is that you take the first civil excuse to come home to Your loving Cousin and faithful Friend CHARLES R. Oatland 1 Aug. 1632. POSTSCRIPT David Ramsay will as I imagine meet with you before you come hither which if he doe I hope you will remember what I have said concerning him already But at this time Oxenstern demanded a League Offensive and Defensive between the Crowns of Britain and Sweden and that the making of Peace in Germany should be onely in the King of Swedens hands This varying wholly from the former Treaty wherein they had onely treated about the Affairs of Germany and whereby no Peace could be without the Kings consent the Ambassadour and he broke up in very ill terms and on the back of this the Marquis pressing the King of Sweden to assign him a Country for levying a new Army The Treaty breaks up His Majesty answered him with a new delay but he told that King that he had been now fifteen moneths from his own Country and though he had been at a vast expence he had received nothing in that Service and that his Heart was too great to be a perpetual Volunteer as he had been these divers moneths past wherefore he pressed for a present Answer The King of Sweden confessed he had reason to be weary and he acknowledged the great obligation he had to him and that he would always look upon him as one of his best Friends but said the blame of all the delays he met with fell on the English Ambassadour on whom he fell a-railing with the greatest passion that the Marquis had ever seen him in The King of Sweden in â—reat passion and in a huffing way pulled the Marquis his Hat out of his hand and clapped it on his own head and went stamping up and down the room in great rage The Marquis shunned the Discourse since as he could not condemn the Ambassadour so he would not irritat the King of Sweden by an ill-timed Justification of him but the chief reason of his passion was that many of the Princes of Germany were beginning to talk that their Deliverer was like to prove a greater Tyrant than the Emperour had ever been and he suspected the Ambassadour was Caballing with them But the Marquis seeing nothing but delays desired liberty to return to England that he might levy a new Army and remove any Misunderstandings were betwixt his Master and the King of Sweden This Proposition was so fair that it could not be refused so on the 8th of September the King signed a Commission to him for bringing over a new Army The Marquis returns to England and gave him Instructions for ending the Treaty with the King and a little after that he took leave of him and was dismissed by the King of Sweden and all about him with very high expressions of Friendship that King telling him that in whatsoever place of the World he were he would ever look upon him as one of his own As he was returning home he received the following Letter from the King James I Wrote to you in my last to find a pretext to come home but now I must tell you it is not fit to stay any longer where you are for the impossibility of your Employment there and the necessity of your business here requires your return so that at this time I 'le say no more but Nil mihi rescribas attamen ipse veni for you shall be no sooner come than welcome to Your faithful Friend and Cousin CHARLES R. Hampton-Court 24 Sept. 1632. And thus ended the Marquis his Expedition into Germany wherein if he missed that Success which himself or others had expected it was no miscarriage nor neglect of his own nor could it be said that he had failed in a jot of what he undertook though almost in every particular the King of Sweden failed to him neither was any thing so much the occasion of these neglects he met
of the Magazine in the Navy which being done the Fleet was to be sent out of the Frith And accordingly on the 24th of Iune he came to Edinburgh but he met with such Reproaches and Hootings from the Vulgar that he was forced for preventing a Tumult to desire some of the Covenanting Lords to wait on him to the Castle and yet on the way he was all along cried out upon with most unworthy Names as Pyrate Traitour Enemy to God and his Country with other such-like Invectives These he could not but despise though he was sensible of the Dishonour put upon the Kings Commissioner by that Usage yet he might well have expected that it should have secured him from the Jealousies Stories which were spread of him as if he had been all that time so popular that he was looked upon as the chief Friend of the Good Cause which was as well grounded as the rest of these Reports But having executed the Kings Orders about the Castle of Edinburgh he left the Earl of Traquair whom with the Earl of Roxburgh His Majesty had again received into his Favour to see the rest of the Conditions fulfilled The Tables continued to sit The Tables continue to sit pretending it was necessary they should doe so till all were scattered It is true I have in my hands a Copy of a Warrant for them to sit till the 20th of Iuly but whether it was signed I can neither assert nor deny Divers Disorders fell out in Edinburgh and Traquair met with many Insolences in one of which the White-staff which was carried by his Servant before his Coach was pulled out of his Hand and Complaint being made of this to the Town-Council of Edinburgh all the Reparation they offered was to bring my Lord Treasurer another White-staff so it was said they rated the Affront put on the King in the Person of his Treasurer at Six pence Other Insolences were also complained of and the Covenanters partly excused them and the Covenanters are insolent partly denied what was alledged but no Reparation was made These Disorders obliged His Majesty to change his purpose of coming to Scotland in Person resolving to be present onely by his Commissioner The Marquis returned to His Majesty and stated all that was to be thought upon for Scotish Affairs in a Paper presented to His Majesty at Berwick the 5th of Iuly yet extant in these words To leave all that is past the Question is briefly The Marquis his advice to the King WHether the Assembly and Parliament now indicted is fittest to be held or discharged If held the Success of the Assembly will be the Ratisying of what was done at Glasgow or if that point be gained yet certainly most of the Acts that were made there will of new enacted nor is there any hope to prevent their finding Episcopacy to be abjured by their Covenant and the Function against the Constitution of their Church This will be by the Members of Parliament ratified and put to the Kings Negative Voice and if it be not condescended to by him it is more than probable that his Power even in that Court and in that Place will be questioned If it will be discharged nevertheless the Assembly be keeped by the Rebels and the same things done in it by them and thereafter maintained by the generality of the Kingdom this consequently will bring alongst with it the certain loss of Civil Authority and so necessitate the re-establishing the same by Force or otherwise the desertion of that Kingdom So it is to be resolved on whether it be fit to give way to the Madness of the People or of new to intend a Kingly Way If way be given to what is mentioned it is to be considered in that case if the King shall be personally present or not if not present who shall be imployed and how instructed If the Kingly Way be taken what shall be the means to effectuate the intended end particularly how Money may be levied for the waging of this War and if that be feisible without a Parliament If a Parliament what the Consequence may prove So all may be summed up in this Whether to permit the Abolishing of Episcopacy the lessening of Kingly Power in Ecclesiastick Affairs the Establishing Civil Authority in such manner as the Iniquity of the Times will suffer and to expect better and what will be the Consequence of this if way be given thereto or to call a Parliament in England and leave the event thereof to hazard and their discretions and in the interim Scotland to the Government of the Covenanters This Freedom declares how candidly he dealt with the King in all his Counsels It is true he pressed the King earnestly to give way to the abolishing of Bishops judging that to be the onely mean to bring Scotland again into Order but this was out of no other Principle save his Desire to see the King again enjoy the Affections as well as the Obedience of his Subjects of Scotland thinking Episcopal Government not so essential or absolutely necessary as not to be parted with for a time in such an Exigency wherein the Ruine of the King and Kingdom was was so manifestly threatned His Majesty considering that God did not tie him to Impossibilities The King intends to send him again Commissioner into Scotland resolved notwithstanding his Conscientious adhering to Episcopacy in England to give way for some time to lay aside that Government in Scotland hoping to draw more good from it but intended to imploy another for executing it knowing that his Countenance and Carriage would betray the Discord was betwixt his Heart and his Actions if he went himself and being well satisfied with the Marquis his Behaviour desired him to return to Scotland in the same Character and finish that Business But he made use of all his Forces both of Reason Friendship who opposes it with all his Interest and Interest to divert the King from this representing the following Reasons to dissuade him from it in a Paper presented the 8th of Iuly in these words IF Your Majesty give way to the Covenanters Demands it would be seriously considered which will be the fittest way to doe it if by Your Majesties Own Personal Presence or by a Commissioner if Your Self I shall say in that case nothing in this Paper if by a Commissioner then give me leave humbly to represent to Your Majesties Consideration how unfit it is that I should be imployed The Hatred that is generally carried me and in particular by the chief Covenanters will make them hoping thereby either to ruine me or at least make my Service not acceptable stand more peremptorily on these other Points of Civil Obedience which Your Majesty aims at than they would doe to one that is less hated Since they are the same men I have formerly treated with who now again must be principally used they cannot but find these Particulars which I
for the King to do much without a Parliament in England and Subsidies granted by it but they had reason to think the Parliament would begin with Grievances before they went to Subsidies and if their enquiring into the former proved long and fierce as it would protract the Kings Supply it might also breed Irritations and Heats and end in a Rupture without relieving the King Neither could much be expected from a Loan of Money most of the Cities London especially were not well-affected to the Court and so were like to prove backward and narrow and all might be promised from that was to put off one Summer but the Scotish Storm was like to lie longer Besides he believed that if the Loan of Money went through the Scots would think that a good reason for their entring into England to make the Northern Countries the seat of the War which would prejudice the Kings Service in England All this he foresaw well and therefore was rack't with perplexity only he was not doubtful what to doe himself resolving to follow the Kings Interests on all hazards and in these Consultations this Year ended Anno 1640. An. 1640. They prepare in Scotland for War IN Scotland they begun again to prepare for a new War and the Ministers this year were likewise very busie taxing the King as having violated the late Pacification because way was not given to all their Acts. Besides it was preached in the very Pulpits of Edinburgh that the King had caused burn at London by the hand of the Hangman the Articles of the Treaty at Berwick This was founded on the Censure was put on the Paper spoke of last year which they gave out as the Conditions of Agreement and was burned by Order of the Council of England upon the Declaration made by all the English Lords who were on the Treaty That no other Articles were agreed upon beside the Seven above-mentioned yet this took with the People Next they laid on great Taxes for paying the last years Debts and defraying the Expence this year was like to draw on and for procuring of Money they fell on a new Device to cause the Ministers exhort all to lend liberally for the Service of the Cause which they did with so much Art and Zeal that the Women came and brought in their Jewels Rings and Plate however much Money was not got that way and all was far short of what they needed therefore divers of the most zealous of the Lords chiefly the Earls of Rothes and Cassils did give Bonds for great sums of Money and one Dick a rich Citizen of Edinburgh was got to lend them many thousand pounds Lanerick made Secretary of State In February the Earl of Sterlin the Secretary died for whose Place the King made choice of the Marquis his Brother Lord William whom he created Earl of Lanerick It was indeed the Kings choice for neither had the Marquis moved it nor himself pretended to it The Earl of Lanerick did act so considerable a part in Affairs after this that methinks their History should be as little divided as their Counsels and Affections for the Kings Service were and therefore as Lanerick's Actions come in my way they shall not be passed over in silence Being made Secretary his first care was to inform himself of all that belonged to his Place and Duty in the discharge whereof he resolved neither to spare labour or industry that thereby he might supply the defect of his years which were then but four and twenty But to go on with the Series of the Story the King went on carefully with his Preparations only the Charge of a Fleet was so great that he could not think of it this year but sent out as many Ships as stopt the Scotish Trade And finding how ill he had been served by his Lieutenant-Generals the former year and confiding both in the valour fidelity and conduct of the Earl of Strafford then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland he was called over to be Lieutenant-General in this Expedition and the Marquis was designed Colonel of the Kings Regiment of Guards The state of Affairs in Scotland In Scotland they were gathering Money bringing in more Arms and fortifying suspected Places few resisting them except Huntley in the North and Niddisdale in the South but the later was able to doe little The Marquis had divers Letters from my Lord Lindesay which are yet extant complaining of the Preparations they heard were making against them That Officers for the Army were already named Money was gathering not only Berwick Carlisle were fortified but Edinburgh-Castle and Dumbriton also had new men put in them and English-men were put in the former whereupon they were forced to resolve on hazarding the utmost for the Defence of Religion and Liberties and that all were Contributing very liberally and knew of good Friends both in England and abroad wherefore he assured him if things went to extremities they would not end so well as they did last year And he besought him that he would prove a good instrument betwixt the King and the Country protesting that for his own part nothing next to Religion went so near his Heart as the Kings Service In end he conjured him not to accept of any new Service if it went to an open Breach assuring him he would be ruined if he did telling him that God had provided a relief for them beyond their expectation The Marquis carried all these Letters as he got them to his Majesty and by his command wrote the following Answer My Lord I Received yours of February The Marquis his Letter to the Lord Lindsay wherein you endeavour to let me see the hazard that His Majesty may run if he take not a peaceable Course with his Subjects of Scotland which you say I am reported to be no adviser of as likewise the unavoidable Ruine that will befall me in case of my accepting of any Imployment against them The Arguments that you use are the Resolutions of your own People and the assistance that you will have elsewhere the particular way you forbear to write yet you say that God hath provided it beyond your expectation and as it was beyond your expectation so it is still beyond my belief my Reasons you shall have anon But first I will say somewhat concerning my self Know then Brother for a truth that I heartily pray a Curse may follow him and his Posterity that doth not endeavour and wish that these unhappy Troubles may be composed in a fair and peaceable way God who knoweth the Secrets of all mens thoughts can bear me record with how much care pains and zeal I have endeavoured that and I promise you I shall as faithfully continue in that Course as ever man did in any Resolution which was with reason grounded in his heart how few either believe or know this I care not for I have laid my accompt long since and am resolved on the worst that
the World is in so much mis-understanding of me but now be your Lordship pleased to admit me to resort to your noble Expressions and former Friendship that I may carry forth of the â—ourt with me the belief and tokens of it It is told me that the Lords are inclinable to preserve my Life and Family for which their generous Compassions the great God of Mercy will reward them and surely should I die upon this Evidence I had much rather be the Sufferer than the Iudge All that I shall desire from your Lordship is that devested of all Publique Imployment I may be admitted to go home to my own private Fortune there to attend my own Domestick Affairs and Education of my Children with as little asperity of words or marks of Infamy as possibly the Nobleness and Iustice of my Friends can procure for me with a Liberty to follow my own occasions as I shall find best for my self This is no unreasonable thing I trust to desire all considered that may be said in my case for I vow my fault that should justly draw any heavy Sentence on me I yet do not see yet this much obtained will abundantly satisfie a Mind hasting fast to quiet and a Body broken with afflictions and infirmities And as I shall take my self highly bound to any that shall further me therein so I more particularly desire to receive an obligation therein froâ— your Lordship than from others as being purposed in the truth of my former Professions to express my self Your Lordships humbly to be Commanded STRAFFORD Tower 24th of April 1641. But since all His Majesties most vigorous Intercessions were not able to preserve that Great man it is not to be imagined any good Offices done by meaner persons could succeed yet the Marquis acted in it with Great Candor and Friendship but that preserved him not from being suspected of having advised the King to consent to Strafford's Death and for his Vindication I shall only refer the Reader to his own words in the Speech he delivered the morning before he died to be inserted in its proper place The Scotish Bishops who were now at London thought themselves undone and complained of the Marquis as the cause of their Ruine Many complain of the Marquis and yet he had been careful to get them all either provided with Places or relieved with the Kings Money so that all of them in their Letters to him acknowledged him to be their only Patron about the King Traquair was worst pleased of any and complained that the Marquis had opposed the Article of Incendiaries till his own Name was dashed out and then had deserted the rest but his Name was not struck out alone Huntley's and many others being dashed out with him besides the prejudice of that Process was only to be put out of Imployment in Scotland by which the King was engaged in Honour to make up that loss another way wherein the Marquis engaged to serve him faithfully Others of the Court who hated and envied him were glad to find colours of Censure in any of his Actions and it was loudly talked that the King was now to part with his Crown of Scotland with his own hands by granting Concessions so derogatory from Kingly Authority but the King who understood his own Affairs better than any of these Censurers saw the necessity of settling with Scotland immediately For the Marquis represented to His Majesty that though those Acts did very much diminish his Authority yet the Scotish Parliament being governed but by a few Heads who influenced the rest there was no doubt but the gaining of the Leading-men might so prepare things that ere a few years went about all might be brought to a greater Temper for the King was firmly resolved to make good what he now promised and never to violate these Concessions unless he could get them rescinded in Parliament And let me once for all say freely this was the great Measure of all the Marquis his Counsels about Scotland that except when he saw at the beginning as hath been said that the Kings Interest and Honour required his utmost Resentments and that a forcible Redress seemed not improbable and promised success way should be given to the present heats for some time in hope of recovering of them by such Concessions The Earl of Rothes is gained and soon after dies and in pursuance of this design Rothes was much caressed by the King and intirely gained but as he was recovering to his Duty he was overtaken by sickness of which he died at Richmond and was much regrated both by those of the Court and the Covenant being a man of great Abilities and much Honour In Iune the Earl of Dumfermline and Lowdon were sent from London to Scotland with the Articles of the Treaty and a desire that the Parliament there might yet be prorogued for some time since the Affairs of England put a stop to the Kings present Journey They also carried down a Submission from Traquair and were to deal that the Acceptance of it might stop the further agitation of the Pursuit against him All this while there had been divers Meetings of Parliament in Scotland but by reason of the dependence of the Treaty they were still prorogued The Parliament of Scotland is oft prorogued but goes on with the Process against Incendaries Their greatest business was to prepare the Process against the Incendiaries both the President Spotswood and the Clerk of Register Hay being Prisoners in the Castle of Edinburgh since the former Winter The Covenanters required the Kings Advocate to concur with them according to his Place which obliged him to assist in the Pursuit of all Publick Crimes but Lanerick in the Kings Name commanded him to deny his concurrence and this made much ado as also in all the Kings Orders for proroguing the Parliament mention was made of my Lord Traquair as Commissioner against which they always protested But at this time the Parliament would not consent to Prorogue of new only they declared they should be preparing matters and not go on to the Determining any thing before the middle of August against which time the King purposed to be in Scotland As for Traquair's Submission it was rejected and many begun to complain aloud that whereas they signed a Bond to prosecute the Incendiaries yet many were dispensed with and much pains was taken by distinctions to satisfie their Consciences that they meant not to set up an Inquisition by that Oath and that it was only meant of those that were declared and avowed Incendiaries but others said that the words were general and tied them without respect of persons to pursue all equally The Earl of Montrose is made Prisoner for corresponding with the Court. At this time there was a Gentleman seized at Broxmouth with Letters to my Lord Montrose which discovered a new Correspondence of his with the Court for my Lord Traquair's Preservation and with this
We exspect your best endeavors as a real Testimony of your Affection to Our Service We do likewise think fit that a Double of all such Instructions as have already been given or shall hereafter be given to the Commissioners be sent Vs which will exceedingly conduce to the shunning of unnecessary Mistakings And in case there come any Dispute betwixt Vs and Our Parliament here about the Nomination of Officers and Councellors We hope you will remember upon what Grounds We were induced to yield in this particular to the desires of Our Subjects in Scotland it being Our necessary absence from that Our Native Country and you in private did often promise upon occasion to declare that this Kingdom ought not to urge it as a Precedent for the like to them the Reasons not being the same therefore now you are to think upon the most convenient way to make good that Promise and labour to prevent so great an Inconvenience unto Vs which We expect from you as one of the most acceptable Services can be done unto Vs. CHARLES R. Windsor 26th January 1642. POSTSCRIPT With His Majesties own Hand I have commanded this My Servant Mungo Murray to tell you some things which I think not fit to write therefore desiring you to trust what he will say to you from Me I will now only add that your Affections rightly expressed to Me at this time will do Me an unspeakable Service to the effecting of which I expect much from your particular Affection and Dexterity His Majesty also wrote to the same purpose to the Marquis of Argyle and added the following Postscript with His own Hand I Cannot but thank you for your Letter I received by Kinnoul it being the performance of a Promise you made at my last being in Scotland not doubting but you will perform the rest with the same cheerfulness And I assure you this is a time wherein the kything of your Affection to Me will do Me an unexpressible Service as Mungo Murray will tell you more at large whom I desire you to trust in what he shall tell you from Me. CHARLES R. Windsor 26th January 1642. His Majesty named the Officers of the Army that was to go over to the relief of the Protestants in Ireland choosing them so that they might be most acceptable to Scotland and this he did both to gain the more upon them by his Confidence as also to set those troublesom People out of the way though this turned to the great prejudice of his Affairs in Scotland as shall afterwards appear But for this Advice the Marquis deserved no share of the Blame for the King left him behind at London to see what could be effectuated by Mediation with those of the Peers whom he knew to love him and it appears by the following Note that he continued in His Majesties Confidence Hamilton I Desire you to come hither to morrow not only to end our last Discourse but also upon other business of great Importance and you shall find that I am Your constant Friend CHARLES R. Windsor 1st February 1642. What that business was does not appear to the Writer When the King withdrew further from the Parliament and went Northwards the Marquis was kept at London by a great Sickness of some months continuance The King leaves the Parliament and the Marquis stays at â—ondon being sick the length of it being occasioned by his frequent relapses into Fevers and a lingering Recovery out of them yet his ill-willers at Court represented the story of his Sickness to be but feigned that under that pretext he might desert the King when he needed his Service most But he hearing of this was resolved to be carried sick as he was to the King which the King knowing commanded him to stay till God gave him Strength to come without prejudice to his Health In March the Treaty between the Parliament of England and Scotland was closed The Treaty with Scotland for the relief of Ireland is ended and among other Articles one was cast in That an Vniformity of Religion should be endeavoured betwixt the Kingdoms But the King would do nothing that might seem to stop the Irish business and therefore gave way to it though he smelled the design of it abundantly well Besides the words being conceived in general Terms he would not oppose them since he judged an Uniformity of Religion was to be endeavoured as well as they did but with this odds that he thought the Standard of it should be taken from England As soon as this went home the Scotish Armies went over speedily in the beginning of April And the Scotish Council wrote to His Majesty and the Two Houses that they designed to send the Marquis of Argyle over to Ireland but first to send him and the Earl of Lowdon to London to mediate betwixt the King and the Houses with which His Majesty was pleased But the Houses excused it in a fair way pretending that they judged Argyle's presence necessary in Scotland Many wondred whence this Jealousie of him did flow some thought it was because the King consented to it and therefore they misdoubted him others apprehended that their Jealousie was founded on the Friendship that was betwixt the Marquis and him and that finding the Marquis so inflexibly firm to the Kings Interest and averse from theirs they feared that Argyle's Friendships and his was founded on the same designs New Calumnies on the Marquis At this timâ— some of the Marquis his Enemies represented to His Majesty that he made Offers of the Militia to the Houses with other things highly derogatory to His Majesties Authority and that he pretended a Warrant for those Offers was sent him by Mr. Murray of the Bed-Chamber These were the bad offices some fiery spirits studied to do to all who endeavoured the quenching of that Flame which was like to devour Britain but notice being given of this to the Marquis he wrote Mr. Murray this Answer Worthy Friend IT is no new thing for me to find my self traduced to His Majesty but I should wonder very much of which he clears himself if he give Credit to a Report grounded upon such Improbabilities for if His Majesty would be pleased to call to mind how oft he repeated to me that He would never condescend to the Parliaments Demands concerning the Militia no not for an Hour in the way it was I am sure He will not think that I could engage my self to the Parliament that He would perform that which He never gave me Ground to believe my self And as for His return to London I likewise affirm He never gave me cause to hope let be to engage my self to the Parliament for it I have had the Honour to be intrusted in divers Employments from Him and He knows I never exceeded His Instructions I hope He will not now think me so mad or so great a Knave as to do that which might bring Him any Inconvenience for why
should I be an undertaker to the Parliament for either having neither my Instructions nor Directions from Him to mention to the Parliament or any Member there But these Reports proceed from such who perhaps if the matter were looked into have said what probably they will not make good and so endeavour to make other men bear the Burthen I am not sorry they have joyned you with me in this since it cannot prove your disadvantage the thing being so eminently false I see my Enemies malice will have no end and when they want other grounds Sickness is enough for them to take advantage of but if they had been in the Condition that I have been in these three weeks they would have been more charitable and so I leave them The uncertainty of my Recovery hath made me write thus much to you and truely not without trouble that you may let His Majesty know my Innocency in these particulars and that I still continue in a Condition not able to attend Him which is a great grief to Your faithful Friend and Servant HAMILTON Whitehall 7th April 1642. In the middle of April the King signified to his Council in Scotland his Design of going in Person against the Rebels in Ireland The King thinks of going to Ireland which he purposed both to put more vigour in the Army by his Presence as also to refute those Calumnies were spread upon him as if he inclined to Popery and had been accessory to the late Rebellion with which damnable Calumnies his Enemies were beginning to asperse him But the Scotish Council as well as the Two Houses but that motion is disliked by both Nations interceded earnestly with him against this Design pretending the Hazard his Sacred Person would be in Some judged that they were afraid lest by such a real Argument the Calumnies were cast on His Majesty and scattered among the Vulgar for carrying on their Designs might be refuted and some feared lest His Majesty had he gone to the Army might have gained too much upon their Hearts whereby he might have been in a Condition to have over-awed the Two Houses In May the Scotish Council sent up the Lord Chancellor to offer a Mediation for a better Understanding betwixt the King and the Two Houses but the King was much irritated The Chancellor of Scotland sent to mediate betwixt the King and the Two Houses by the Affront he had lately received before Hull from Hotham He likewise found the Chancellor insisting on Vniformity of Church-Government therefore he ordered his return into Scotland and gave him a full account of all had passed betwixt him and his Two Houses requiring him to give a true representation of it to his Council there In the end of the Month the Marquis had recovered so much Strength as to come and wait on the King at York where he would gladly have prosecuted his former Counsels for advancing a Settlement betwixt the King and his Two Houses but he knew not how to advise the King to grant more than he had already yielded to which as the King said to him was more than had been granted by all the Kings of England since the Conquest adding that though he had gone a great length in Concessions to them they had not obliged him by one favourable Vote so that nothing remained for the Marquis but to lament the Kings Misfortune yet he offered the uttermost of his Services to him and subscribed for the pay of threescore Horse in the Kings Army But he represented to His Majesty the Hazard of Scotland's concurring with the Two Houses which the King might easily apprehend both from the late carriage of their Commissioners and from what he knew of their Temper especially of the Ministers Zeal and Power with the People For his own part he said he was able to do the King small Service any where but having neither Interest friends nor followers in England he would be but a burden to His Majesty there but if he could signifie any thing it was in Scotland where he should use his utmost Endeavours to divert them from assisting the Kings Enemies for to expect Aid from them was not to be thought upon His Majesty judging this most expedient sent him to Scotland without any positive Instructions recommending only to him his Service in General of which he was so confident that he wrote the following Letter after him Hamilton and is sent by the King to Scotland I Have no time to write Particulars and to perswade you to serve me I suppose that I have less need than time therefore in a word this is a Time to shew what you are assuring you that at all times I will shew that I am Your most assured and constant Friend CHARLES R. MEMOIRES OF THE LIFE and ACTIONS OF James Duke of Hamilton c. LIB IV. Of the Duke's and his Brother the Earl of Lanerick's Negotiation in Scotland till their Imprisonment THE Marquis came to Edinburgh in the beginning of Iuly Great Jealousies of the King in Scotland and found very many disgusted with him for his late concurrence in the Council at York as a Peer of England He studied by all means to remove the wicked Insinuations which some in England had sent to Scotland against the King the most hurtful of them was about his favouring of Popery and his Designs of falling upon Scotland by Force as soon as he had mastered the Two Houses These were zealously propagated by the Emissaries from England and all Places sounded with the danger Religion was in so that he found his Negotiation was like to prove again unfortunate The only means by which he had any hopes of engaging Scotland in the Kings Quarrel was to move that an Invitation might be sent from Scotland to the Queen for her return whom the Tumults at London had driven beyond Sea that she might mediate for a Settlement betwixt the King and the Two Houses This he judged might insensibly draw them on to own the Kings Service for if the Queen came upon their Invitation they would be obliged in Honour to protect her and see that she met with no Injuries and to resent such as should be done her and therefore he sent a confident Friend to give His Majesty an account of the Posture things were in according to the following Instructions SHew His Majesty with what a prejudicated Opinion I was received by reason of what I have done at York which I still lie under Shew in what Temper I found this Kingdom occasioned as I conceive by the apprehension they have of His Majesties not observing what He hath already granted if He shall be in a Condition to force them seeâ—â—g it is believed that what He hath given was against His Will Next divers eminent Persons apprehend that if He obtain His ends by Force they will be neglected and Persons obnoxious to this Kingdom cherished Shew that some activâ— mâ—n will not lie
which could never be recovered for this raised Jealousies in the minds of the Scotish Lords as if the King had no Confidence in them which was cherished sufficiently by divers Male-contents upon which the Marquis despaired of getting any good done in Scotland All he judged possible thereafter was to prevent and provide against the Evil he feared and that he prosecuted with all the Zeal he was master of which His Majesty understanding by Mr. Mungo Murray Cupbearer wrote him what follows Hamilton YOur Letter and this Bearer hath so fully satisfied me that I cannot be more confident in any thing than that you will beside what you have deserve that mark of Favour I intend you You know me too well to have more words spent upon you only this I think unfit to trust particulars to Paper having so trusâ—y a Messenger whom I stayed this long expecting dayly a Battel but now I think the Rebels want either Courage or Strength to fight before they be forced So referring you to my Servant Mungo I rest Your most assured constant Friend CHARLES R. Wollerhampton the 27th Octob. 1642. The next Meeting of the Conservatours was on the 24th of November The Conservatours become worse affected where their strain seemed much altered to the worse yet they still resolved to interpose in a Mediation betwixt the King and the Parliament of England whereupon they wrote both to the King and the Two Houses for a Safe-conduct to such as they should send up At this time there were great Complaints of some encroachments made upon the Priviledges the Scotish Nation had enjoyed in France The Earl of Louthian is sent to France for Redress whereof the Council thought it necessary to send one to France and made choice of the Earl of Louthian and sent him first to the King with the Instructions they had given him that His Majesty might send him as His Minister to negotiate that Affair One of the Instructions was to get the Marquis put in possession of the Honour and Revenue of Chastle-herault Upon the Earl of Lowthian's coming to Court the Instructions he had from Scotland were called for by His Majesty who judged he had no reason to allow this Precedent of His Subjects instructing His Agents to Foreign Courts and these are yet extant among Lanerick's Papers But the King caused write them over in his Name so that there was no ground from this to charge any thing on the Marquis as tampering with Foreign Princes which was publickly done by his Enemies on this occasion it having been ordinarily recommended by King Iames to all the Ministers he sent from Scotland to France Neither was this done without the Kings particular Knowledge and Orders for besides that the King gave that Instruction with the rest he very seriously recommended it by word of mouth to Lowthian's Care as he informed the Writer After this the Marquis represented to the King that it were fit he should send down some person of Quality to give fresh Assurances and Hopes before they sent up their Commissioners Lanerick is sent back to Scotland whereupon the King sent down the Earl of Lanerick as the person who understood his thoughts best and was ablest to second his Brother in advancing his Service He came from Oxford in the beginning of December and brought the following Letter from the King to his Brother Hamilton THough the Trust of this Bearer needs not a Credential Letter An extraordinary Letter of the Kings yet the Civility of a Friend cannot but under his hand as well as by word of mouth express his Kindness and resentment of Courtesies which of late have been such that you have given me just cause to give you better Thanks than I will offer at in in words I shall not neglect the lazie use of so trusty a Bearer by referring to him not only the estate of my Affairs here but likewise in what way you will be of most use to Me yet I cannot but tell you I have set up my rest upon the Iustice of my Cause being resolved that no extremity or misfortune shall make me yield for I will be either a Glorious King or a Patient Martyr and as yet not being the first nor at this present apprehending the other I think it now no unfit time to express this my Resolution unto you One thing more which but for the Messenger were too much trust to Paper the sailing to one Friend hath indeed gone very near me wherefore I am resolved that no Consideration whatsoever shall ever make me doe the like Vpon this Ground I am certain that God hath either so totally forgiven me that he will still bless this Good Cause in my Hands or that all my Punishment shall be in this World which without performing what I have resolved I cannot flatter my self will end here This accustomed Freedom will I am confident add chearfulness to your honest Resolutions seeing beside Generosity to which I pretend a little my Conscience will make me stick to my Friends assuring you I have none if I am not Your most assured constant Friend CHARLES R. Oxford 2d Decemb. 1642. This excellent Letter will both shew what pious Resentments His Majesty carried along with him in the greatest perplexities of his Affairs and discover how he did not think that the Marquis had either neglected or abused his Trust. Lanerick acted with more briskness and spoke more home and roundly than his Brother which preserved him in a high degree from the Jealousies which the smoothness of his carriage brought upon him Now the Pulpits were not idle for the Ministers begun again to work on the People The Ministers perswade the People to Arms. for the Defence of the Good Cause now in hazard which was ecchoed back with the applause of the Vulgar The Marquis and Argyle at enmity At this time the Marquis his Friendship with Argyle grew to a Coldness which after a few moneths turned into an Enmity for he finding Argyle so backward in all motions for the Kings Service and that he could not be prevailed upon to continue in a Neutrality in the English quarrel broke with him There was then in Scotland one Pickering an Agent from England who studied to poyson all with Misinformations of the Kings Proceedings and Designs The Marquis is complained of England as the Incendiary He wrote to Mr. Pym that he found good inclinations with all in Scotland to own their Quarrel and declare for them only the Marquis with his Friends resisted it so powerfully that till he were laid aside the success of his Negotiation was to be feared Wherefore he advised to proceed against him roundly and either to summon him to the House of Peers or to send down a Warrant to pursue him in Scotland as the Incendiary betwixt the two Kingdoms and he sent threatnings of this to the Marquis but he found his firmness to the Kings Service was proof against all
Instrument of his producing it which was also refused so having taken witness of it he withdrew and none of these Lords would sit in the Convention any more After this some came to the Duke and asked his Advice if they should sit or not he suspected their Intentions were only to betray him and told them that his Practice declared his own Judgment which he wished the whole Convention had followed but for particular Advices he left it to themselves Others of their Friends were by them all thought necessary to sit still in the Convention to keep up delays in the approaching Treaty with the English but divers of their Friends being over-awed with the Power of the Church-party did forsake them Great Jealousies and Divisions in Scotland At the same time some of the Church-party who feared the Duke more than all that opposed them knowing the depth of his Designs and the smoothness of his Address took a strange Course to render him suspected to the Kings Party which was to let a Whisper fly out but so as they should not appear in it that he and they kept a Correspondence which was too easily believed by many who were already ill-affected to his Person and displeased with his Methods and the great forwardness of some for appearing in the Kings Service made them impatient of all Delays But the Duke sent divers Messages by Mr. Murray of the Bed-chamber who was at that time sent by His Majesty to Scotland to those of the Kings Friends who he saw were displeased with him to mediate a Reconciliation who dealt in it with all possible diligence but their Jealousies of the Duke were insuperable And a little after that in the end of Iuly some of them went to Court to represent to the King how ill His Affairs were managed by those He trusted them to and to offer their Serviâ—e if He would change his Tools and Methods The Duke upon this wrote to the King that he found himself betwixt two Tides of those who were perverse on the one hand and over-forward on the other yet he wished not only Life and Fortune but his Soul might perish if he left any thing unessayed and undone that was in his power for the Kings Service But all in which he could hope to prevail was Delays which to draw out longer than this Winter he could not promise And the Methods he used to draw out the Treaty by Delays were to set some on work to get Scotland to insist on their Demands for the rest of the Brotherly Assistance and for what was agreed to by the former years Treaty to be paid for the Army in Ireland before they engaged further all which amounted to a round Sum and he knew it would neither be soon nor easily advanced The time of the Assembly was also approaching wherefore they advised the King for his Advocates encouragement to Name him Commissioner for it The Convention did little at first only they begun a new Process against some alledged Incendiaries and named many Committees waiting still for the English Commissioners who were daily expected On the first of August came the Kings Advocat's Commission with his Instructions and a Letter to the Assembly His Instructions were First to assure the Assembly of the Kings constant adherence to the late Establishment and his willingness to encourage all good Motions He was to oppose all Treaty with England or Declarations about the Commotions there He was to oppose any new Commission of the Kirk He was to hinder any Censure to pass on those who had subscribed the Cross Petition On the second of August the Assembly sat down The General Assembly sitâ— but no curb could hold them so high was their Zeal and so void were they of respect of Persons that the opposition the Kings Commissioner gave them was little regarded for they went on at a great rate The Convention voted an hundred thousand Marks Sterling to be raised by a Loan this was a pretty Device to fine all that were not judged well-affected for they were appointed to lend Sums upon the Publick Faith which every one knew would turn to no Security for their Money On the ninth of August came the much-longed for Commissioners from England Commissioners come from England with a large Declaration from the Two Houses justifying all their Procedure and intreating the assistance of their Brethren in Scotland This was cheerfully welcomed by the Assembly and some did run so far back as to remember how Queen Elizabeth helped the Lords of the Congregation in the Scotish Reformation in opposition to the Queen Regent and therefore it was but Justice that they should now repay them with the like Assistance But that which generally prevailed to engage the greater part of the Nation in the War The Arguments that prevailed for entring in a League with them shall here be set down with that fulness and freedom that becomes a Historian The now Duke of Newcastle had raised a great Army in the North of England for the King upon which that Countrey was like to be for some time the seat of the War and though Berwick and Carlisle had no Garrisons in them according to the Treaty between both Kingdoms yet it was not to be doubted but either the one side or the other would see their advantage in putting Garrisons in these places upon which all in Scotland judged it necessary to raise some Forces otherwise the best Counties in Scotland which lye toward the South had been put under Contribution by those Garrisons and they had been all a prey to the prevailing Army yea and which side soever were either beaten or straitned it was not to be doubted but they would send in Parties to Scotland to bring Provisions and what else could be had therefore it was Concluded that a Force must be raised for the Security of Scotland This being laid down it was not uneasie to perswade all that it was better to carry in and maintain their Army in England than keep it in Scotland to be a vast Charge upon themselves And the Forces that were raised in the years 1639 and 40 had been very heavy on the chief Nobility and Gentry nor had the Brotherly Assistance which the Two Houses had Voted to be raised for their reimbursement come to their Supply the War of England intercepting it therefore they had generally a great mind to Quarter their Army in England Now this could not be done they keeping up the Neutrality they were then in therefore they must either joyn with the King or the Two Houses For joyning with the King many Arguments were used both from the Laws of Scotland that obliged all the Subjects to assist the King in his Wars and from the Covenant wherein they swore to assist Him in every cause in which His Majesties Honour was concerned There were also private assurances given not only to the leading Men but to the whole Nation of signal
when the Convention sat the Defendant did often and no way ambiguously See p. 224. but very plainly declare he did not own their Authority nor would give obedience to any of their Acts that were beyond the Bounds prefixed in His Majesties Letter upon which he withdrew with divers of his Friends and did advise and prevail on many to follow his Example It is true some came and asked his Advice of whose Fidelity he had no reason to be assured judging not without grounds that they came to him on design to trepan him and therefore he told them that for his own part he was resolved not to acknowledg their Authority nor give obedience to their Commands by which they might easily judge what he would advise seeing his Practice It is also false that the Defendant procured from His Majesty an allowance to that Convention since the Letter His Majesty wrote was so far from allowing it that it particularly challenged the Illegality and Nullity of that Meeting See p. 232. and the Convention was so far from thinking themselves Authorised by it that they refused to stand to it or so much as to put it on Record It is also false that any such Offers as are vainly and without truth said to have been made to Mr. Murray were ever brought by him to the Defendant or others intrusted with him he was indeed imployed to deal with them to overcome their untoward Jealousies and ambitious Vanity but with no success as he reported and is ready to make good but they venting their implacable Hatred and ill-grounded Jealousies of His Majesties faithful Servants left the Kingdom in the Summer and possessed many with such Prejudices that they infinitely retarded His Majesties Service and divided the small Party that adhered to him yet His Majesty sustained no Prejudice from Scotland all that year which was the uttermost that ever the Defendant gave His Majesty any hope of But it is most basely false that the Defendant did bring the Convention of Estates to the wished period since he did all that was in his power to hinder its Sitting and to get it broken up assoon as it sat down It is also false that the Defendant was on the design of raising the Army in Scotland which he opposed by all the probable and honest ways were in his power and was ever ready upon the least appearances or hopes of Success to have hazarded his Life and Fortune to hinder it and therefore sent frequently to England for those Supplies without which their Attempt could signifie nothing but the exposing the Kings Party in Scotland to the scorn and malice of their Enemies But the necessity of His Majesties Affairs in England did so retard the Answers that opportunities were lost and the other Party had prevailed over all which forced the Defendant to fly out of that Kingdom Order being given for seizing on his Estate and taking and imprisoning his Person and yet Affairs there are not quite desperate but the Defendant had many very probable Propositions to have offered to His Majesty the Maintaining of whose Prosperity and Authority hath been the constant designofhis whole Life Charge That he hath endeavoured to set on foot a Title to the Crown of Scotland Article 8. having Treated with Forreign Princes touching his Claim thereunto and desired their Aid and Assistance to his Right protecting and maintaining such as wrote Treatises in his behalf and Claim to the Crown Besides all which particulars of his treacherous sowing of Sedition 'twixt His Majesty and His Subjects his undervaluing and reviling his own Sacred Person his fomenting all the unhappy Differences betwixt King and People his exciting of each against the other his pouring of oyl into the fire betwixt them both his direct Attempts upon the Crown and intentions to Vsurp his late Carriage doth give too evident a Character of his invincible Disloyalty as particularly his treacherous Carriage before in the time and at the late Convention his juggling in the business of the Counterpetition and that of the late pretended Bond which are so notorious Truths and so evidently to be instructed by all His Majesties good Subjects but more particularly by those with whom by His Majesties special Command he kept a seeming Correspondence Besides divers other circumstances whereby it may be clearly demonstrated that he is of the Party with them that have raised this Rebellion in Scotland namely that in the Instructions given by that Faction to the Earl of Lowthian in his late French Negotiation one of the particulars earnestly recommended to him was to desire of the Crown of France Restitution of the Dutchy of Chastleherault to him which in all probability they would never have done in his favour if they had taken him for an Enemy to their designs and purposes Last of all it is craved that in respect of his unexpected Arrival here there may be liberty to add and amplifie this Charge as occasion shall offer One particular omitted above is not amiss to be here inserted at what time the business of the Scotish Covenant was at the greatest height a distressed Gentleman of Scotland Sir John Ferguson desired the Loan of some Money from Sir John Hamilton of Broomhill whose Relation and Interest every way to the Duke are known to every one who knows them both who answered him in flat terms he would neither give nor lend him a penny except he and his Sons would bind themselves to go home and sign the Covenant upon which Condition he offered to lend him what he sought We do engage from our faithful respects to His Majesties Service without any consideration or interest else whatsoever to make good this Charge some of the weightiest points by several Witnesses and all the rest by some and strong Probabilities Answer The Answer to the eighth Article To the eighth Article the Defendant says here lies the Master-piece of his Enemies Malice and Calumny to charge him with a point treasonable in the highest degree without offering one circumstance to make the Truth of it appear probable and such publick things as the setting on foot a pretence to the Crown the Treating with Forreign Princes touching his Claim to it the Authorising and Protecting of any who wrote in defence of his Title must have been notour and known things and yet no particular is here named which clearly shews the Forgery of the whole on design to beget in His Majesty Jealousies of the Defendant who knows of no such Title to the Crown but acknowledges His Majestie 's and His Posteritie's whom he prays God to preserve their undoubted Right to the Crown And as the Defendant acknowledgeth the great Honour of his Relation to the Royal Blood so there is no more reason to Charge him on that account than to Charge any others who are more nearly related to His Majesty as are all the Noble branches of the Prince Elector Palatin's Family But as the Honour of
time than Mr. Henderson did his They were given by His Majesty to Sir Robert Murray to transcribe the Copies under Sir Robert Murray's hand were by him delivered to Mr. Henderson and Mr. Henderson's hand not being so legible as his he by the Kings Appointment transcribed them for His Majesty and by His Majesties permission kept Mr. Henderson's Papers and the Copies of the Kings as was signified to the Writer by himself a few days before His much-lamented Death All this while they were consulting at Westminster They consult at VVestminster about Propositions to be made to the King about the Propositions to be sent to His Majesty for now the Independent Party begun to prevail and as they were certainly the strongest in the English Army so they had a great Party in the House of Commons Their Design was to perpetuate a Military Power in their own hands and to set up a Toleration of all Sects and so the Propositions at Vxbridge were much altered The Scotish Commissioners The Scotish Commissioners are for making them easie to the King in the Papers they gave in concerning the Propositions first complained That the Settling of Religion was conceived in general Terms and that no particulars about Vniformity of Religion were laid down next they opposed much the Propositions about the Militia desiring that no new ones differing from what had been offered at Uxbridge might be made that so it might appear they were not taking advantages from the Straits His Majesty was in to diminish His Iust Power and Greatness to which they were bound both by Covenant and Treaties and which had been often repeated in all their Declarations adding that they could not consent to any Proposition that should take from their Soveraign the Power of Protecting and Defending His Subjects which necessarily followed were the Militia put into the hands of the Parliament wherefore they pressed that the Militia might not be settled in the hands of the Parliament but of the King and Parliament jointly and so consigned to such Commissioners of both Kingdoms as should be chosen by the King and them together This they backed with a Paper Many Papers past betwixt them and the Two Houses containing the Extracts and Citations of the former Declarations and Papers emitted by Both Houses to the same purpose both about Uniformity of Religion and the Maintaining the Kings Authority even in the matter of the Militia which was a long and smart Paper They also in another Paper appealed to all the Treaties that had been betwixt the Kingdoms since the beginning of that War wherein the Maintenance of the Kings Just Power had still been laid down as a ground on which they were to proceed in order to a Peace But upon this the Independent Party begun to say that the Agreement made with Scotland An. 1643. was no Treaty and that the Parliament was not bound to make good what was agreed to in it And this drew from the Scotish Commissioners another large Paper proving That to be a Treaty wherein they did shew How that the Kingdom of Scotland had engaged both in the Irish and English War upon the invitation the Two Houses sent them by Commiâ—sioners impowered with ample Credentials Signed by the two Speakers which gave them power to Treat and conclude both about the Scotish Army then in Ireland and the Army they invited to come to their Assistance in England upon which an Agreement was treated and concluded betwixt the Committee of Estates in Scotland and the Commissioners from England and Signed by them and so transmitted to the Two Houses who by frequent Letters to Scotland expressed their Ratification of that Agreement and whereas in some of the Articles then Agreed to there was an Alternative concerning the Scotish Army then in Ireland their Stay there or their Transportation upon which the Independents founded their Allegation that matters were not finally concluded they did shew how false that was since that Alternative was emitted in their Agreement then made to the Determination of the Two Houses who thereupon declared by repeated Letters to what branch of it they agreed So they made it appear that no obligation could be brought on any State by any Treaty that was wanting in that But at length the Propositions were all agreed on The Propositions are agreed on and the Scotish Commissioners though they opposed that Article of the Militia yet gave way to it rather than hazard on a Rupture The Propositions being so oft in Print need not be at length set down only the Heads of them follow taken from the Original that was delivered to the King which he gave to the Earl of Lanerick and is among his Papers FIrst The annulling of all Oaths The Heads of them and Declarations against the Parliaments and Kingdoms was desired The next five Propositions were about establishing the Covenant the Abolition of Episcopacy and Liturgy and the Kings taking and authorizing the Covenant The next five were against Popery and Papists The 12th was for the observation of the Lords Day and against Pluralities and Nonresidences and about Vniversities 13 That the Militia should be in the hands of the Parliament for 20 years who should also have a power to raise Money and that after those years the Two Houses might raise what Forces they pleased by their Bills though His Majesty gave not his assent to them and that the Rights of the City of London should be confirmed 14 That all Honours and other Writs passed under the great Seal since it was taken away from Westminster should be annulled 15 That the Treaties betwixt England and Scotland should be ratified 16 Delinquents were to be excepted from the general Oblivion and those were put in several Classes and accordingly several Punishments designed against them 17 The late Cessation granted by the King in Ireland to be annulled and the management of that War to be remitted to the Two Houses The 18 was about the City of London 19 That all Writs passed under the Parliaments Great Seal should be in force In Iuly the Duke came to Newcastle to wait on His Majesty The Duke waits on the King and is well received by him and and when he first kissed the Kings Hand His Majesty and he blushed at once and as the Duke was retiring back with a little Confusion into the croud that was in the Room the King asked if he was afraid to come near him upon which he came to the King and they entred into a large Conversation together wherein His Majesty expressed the sense he had of his long Sufferings in terms so full of affection that he not only brake through all of his Resentments but set a new edge again upon his old Affection and Duty He told him He ever had Iudged him Innocent as to the bulk of things though he confessed there were some particulars he was not so well satisfied with but that his Restrain was extorted from
least you will find that according to My Professions I am Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. His Majesty also expressed His Concerns for Traquair in the following Letter Lanerick ALbeit I am confident that you will further all My Friends Affairs yet I must not be so negligent in Traquair's behalf as not to name his business to you for admittance to his Place in Parliament of which I will say no more but you know his Sufferings for Me and this is particularly recommended to you by Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Newcastle 17th November 1646. POSTSCRIPT I account writing to you or your Brother all one They consult in Scotland how to dispose of their Armies But the main Business was what to do with their Armies that were in England The Kingdom was groaning under a heavy and unsupportable Burden for their Maintenance so disbanding was a very plausible Motion and all desired that only such Forces should be kept up as were necessary for the Preservation and Security of Scotland The Duke and his Brother regrated much that so many Gallant Men should be disbanded who might be very useful for the Kings Service therefore they opposed all these Propositions arguing that till a final Peace were settlâ—d in England they might look for no Security to Scotland And in their Letters to His Majesty they continued to represent the desperate estate of Affairs if he did not quickly satisfie them in the business of Religion and that the Money for the Pay of the Army was now coming in daily at London and would be quickly ready and after that was sent down they could not keep the Army any longer in England without a present Breach to which they found no inclinations in the Scotish Parliament as long as they were not satisfied in what was so earnestly desired But the King was firm to his first Resolution Master Lesley at his return to the King brought him such assurances of the Affection and Duty of both the Brothers that the next Dispatch carried the following Letters to them Hamilton I Remember yet so much Latine as an old Proverb comes to which is quod valde volumus id sacile credimus This I apply to Robin Lesley's report of your Carriage in My present Service concerning which I will only say that you shall not more certainly make good what he hath promised Me in your Name than I will to you what he hath said in Mine and even in something by way of speaking beyond My Power I doubt not but to make it good as concerning your French particular But I shall leave all things not only of this nature to this honest Bearers relation but likewise whatsoever else may concern the Service of Your most assured real faithful constant Friend CHARLES R. Newcastle 24th Nov. 1646. Lanerick I Have according to your Advice given a quick Return to this Trusty Bearer having instructed him fully in what I conceive necessary to My Affairs wherein in many things I have given him a Latitude to govern them according to your Directions wherefore I will say no more because if I should enter into Particulars I would not know how to end but that with Contentment I find daily more and more cause to be Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Newcastle 24th November 1646. POSTSCRIPT I recommend particularly the Earl of Morton's Affairs Matters were now ripening unto much Confusion and Mischief which made His Majesty think of a full Answer to the Propositions but before He sent it to London He communicated it to my Lord Lanerick in the following Letter Newcastle 4th Decemb. 1646. Lanerick The Kings Letter about His Answer to the Propositions ACcording to My Promise by little Nobs I send you here inclosed the Answer which I have resolved to send to London wherein you will find a Clause in favour of the Independents to wit the Forbearance I give to those who have Scruples of Conscience and indeed I did it purposely to make what I send relish the better with that kind of People But if My Native Subjects will so countenance this Answer that I may be sure they will stick to Me in what concerns My Temporal Power I will not only expunge that Clause but likewise make what Declarations I shall be desired against the Independents and that really without any reserve or equivocation yet know that no Perswasion or Threatning whatsoever shall make Me alter a tittle of any thing else in it nor that neither but upon these Assurances The end therefore why I send you this before it go to the English Parliament is to try before-hand how I can procure it to be countenanced by My Scotish Friends for which you are to use all possible industry not seeking a full Approbation but taking what you can get absolutely commanding you not to hazard it in a Publick Way unless you be sure that I shall receive no rub in it For this I conceive it were a wrong to you to use any Arguments to make you do your best but to tell you this is Coup de partie assuring you that I shall not judge you by the Event but by your Endeavours which I am confident will be according to your Professions and for Gods sake do not so much as expect much less linger after any other or further matter from Me whereby to serve Me in this great Business for upon the Faith of a Christian you shall have no more than what is now laid before you And know that I rather expect the worse than the better Event of things being resolved by the Grace of God and without the least repining at him to suffer any thing that Injury can put upon Me rather than sin against My Conscience of which upon My credit you see the furthest Extent in relation to the present Affairs I say no more but difficilia quae pulchra and so God bless your Endeavours Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. POSTSCRIPT In order to that I have written and sent you herein I have commanded this Trusty Bearer Sir James Hamilton to tell you as many things as I can remember whom I desire you to return to Me or some other Trusty Messenger assoon as you may with what I am to expect from thence The inclosed Paper is marked on the back by the Kings Hand thus The Answer to the Propositions which I have resolved to send to London which I insert because it is not among His Majesties Printed Messages His Majesties Answer to the Propositions tendered to Him by the Commissioners from the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. AS it is His Majesties chief desire to make such a Return to the Propositions The Kings Answer to the Propositions as may speedily produce a blessed firm and lasting Peace in all His Dominions so He hath employed His uttermost endeavours
with the like apprehensions to minister much Comfort to him only he pressed him not to give way to languishing Sorrow but to see what could be done for setting things right again and for infusing that sense of Shame and Horrour in all People for the late Action which might prepare them to a Noble Reparation of it by a generous Engaging in the Kings Quarrel And upon this much pains was taken to infuse Jealousies of the Independents in the minds of the Kirk-men though there were other violent persons as careful to refute them Most of this Year was spent in possessing all mens Minds with these Apprehensions so preparing them for what they designed to execute upon the first Opportunity The Duke and the Earls of Lauderdale and Lanerick were they who united most closely and cordially for the contriving and prosecuting of that Design The King was Prisoner at Holmby without any other Liberty save that of taking the air sometimes all his Servants were denied access to him and so cruel was the zeal of his Enemies that it reached to his Soul for they refused liberty for his Chaplains to wait on him a favour not denied to the worst of Malefactors but God was his Refuge who supported him in all his Sufferings and Solitudes The Two Houses wrote to the Committee of Estates in Scotland that they should take such a joynt Course with them as might tend most to bring things to a happy Peace But now the Jealousies betwixt the Parliament and the Army begun to grow visible and above board for the Presbyterian Party in the Parliament saw their Error too late Disorders rise in England most of them seemed to have intended the Kings Good only they were mistaken in Judging that the Parliament in which they were most numerous would never be disobeyed by the Army but being disappointed in this they ruined all their confidence in their Power in Parliament having been the cause why they let the Scotish Army go home for till they were gone the Independents crouched under them and trepanned them into Severities against the King and the Dismissing of the Scots who were no sooner gone but the Army acted what had been before projected but most industriously concealed from the Presbyterians Lauderdale is sent to England In April the Earl of Lauderdale was sent from Scotland to London to insist on the motion for a Settlement with the King and chiefly to hinder the adding of any new Propositions and he was also Instructed to deal for a permission to the Duke and the Earl of Dumfernline to go and serve the King in his Bedchamber But the Earl of Lauderdale found matters in great confusion at Westminster for the chief thing thought on was the Disbanding of the Army which was an unnecessary Burden to the Kingdom many grounds of Fear appearing that their Designs were to keep themselves up and govern the Nation by a Military and Arbitrary Power therefore such as were best-affected judged it necessary once to disband them before they engaged in a new Treaty with the King But for that private Proposition concerning the Duke and Dumfernline the Earl of Lauderdale seeing it would not take because there was not a Family yet settled about the King nor could it be expected that any from Scotland would be the first they would set about His Majesties Person did not present it and indeed the Duke's late Behaviour in opposing the Delivery of the King had forfeited his Credit with those of England then in Power But it is not my meaning to go on with a regular History of the irregular Transactions that past in England this Year I shall only say so much of them as will make appear what reason the Scots had for their Proceedings and to clear what may have relation to the Dukes Concerns In the middle of May the King sent a new Message to the Parliament of England in order to a Treaty but his Offers were the same upon the matter they had been at Newcastle and so not like to take and the Two Houses were then busied about Disbanding the Army They therefore ordered the Army to be disbanded and some of the Forces they kept up to be sent over to Ireland and all Satisfaction being offered The Army refuses obedience to the Parliament the time of their Disbanding was named But the Ring-leaders of the Army disposed them to mutiny against the Parliament upon pretence of want of Satisfaction in matter of Money and Reparation in point of Honour so the Army drew to a Body and erected a Court who were called the Agitators Mean-while Cromwel puts his Party in the House of Commons on the Recalling oâ— their Declarations against the Army and goes to the Army though his Commission was expired More Money was offered to the Army but nothing was accepted only divers of the Presbyterian Officers submitted and subscribed for Ireland whereupon they were by the prevailing part of the Army disbanded and takes the King from Holmby And the Army to make a sure game for their Party sent one Ioice a Taylor by Trade but now a Cornet by his Employment to Holmby who came at twelve a clock at night and forced the King to go with him against his will Upon which the Earl of Lauderdale emitted a Declaration in Name of the Scotish Nation against that Force put on the Kings Person contrary to all their Treaties and Declarations and demanded that His Majesties Person might be presently set at Liberty and brought with Honour Freedom and Safety to some of His Houses in or about London and after that he went to Newmarket to wait on the King who was there with the Army But the Army begun to abuse His Majesty into some Confidence in them And use Hiâ— civilly and used Him at another rate than had been done at Holmby They gave free access to all His Servants to come to Him they allowed His Chaplains to attend about Him and serve in their Office according to the Liturgy and permitted Him free Correspondence with the Queen and every body else and in their Discourses intimated their willingness to lay aside the Covenant and allow the Toleration of Episcopacy and the Liturgy all which though smoothly said was meant to cajole Him to his Ruine Assoon as His Majesty was at Liberty He wrote the following Letter to my Lord Lanerick Lanerick THe present condition of My Affairs is such He writes to Lanerick that I believe you and your Brother may do Me better Service at London than where you are therefore I desire that both or at least one of you would come up assoon as you could the rest I leave till meeting and so farewel Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Newmarket 22th Iune 1647. To this my Lord Lanerick wrote this Answer Sir YOur Majesties Letter of the 22th of June had been immediately obeyed Lanerick's Answer if our Stay here for some time had not
Lanerick Cousin YOu will perceive by this that you cannot make more haste in obliging Me A Letter from the Queen to Lanerick than I shall on My part in witnessing My Acknowledgements of it I ascribe a great deal of the good Inclinations your Commissioners do now express to the good Offices you do of which I intreat the Continuance The testimonies of Friendship which I receive from those of your Family surprize Me less than what I met with from other Hands and I promise My Self to see further effects of it And as I have all the esteem of you that you can expect so you owe Me the Iustice of believing that I shall give evidence of it upon every occasion that shall be offered to Me nor shall I rest satisfied with that but shall diligently search out every opportunity of expressing it Therefore I entreat you to believe that I am Cousin Your very good and very affectionate Friend and Cousin HENRIETA MARIA R. Towards the end of December the Earls of Lowdon Lauderdale and Lanerick The Scotish Commissioners go to His Majesty followed the English Commissioners to the Isle of Wight and after they had protested against the Bills they concluded their Treaty with His Majesty to engage for his Rescue and Re-establishment on his Throne and to bring in an Army into England assoon as it were possible for that effect An Agreement with the King to bring an Army for His Service The King on the other hand engaged to them for all the Assistance they could demand from the Queen or Prince or any other who would obey His Authority and that the Prince should come to Scotland assoon as they found it convenient to invite him and that His Majesty should grant all the Desires of Scotland which with a good Conscience he could grant And the Commissioners having advised and agreed with His Majesty both about the Methods of carrying on their Designs and the ways of keeping Correspondence with him they resolved to return home to Scotland and so they left His Majesty at Wight in the end of the Year But upon the Kings refusing to pass the Bills he was made close Prisoner and a Vote passed in both Houses against all further Addresses to him MEMOIRES OF THE LIFE and ACTIONS OF James Duke of Hamilton c. LIB VI. Of the Dukes Engagement for the Kings Preservation and what followed till His Death Anno 1648. An. 1648. THe former Book has given the Reader a just and full Representation of His Majesties Imprisonment and the Danger his Person was in of the Force put on the Two Houses by the Army and of the breach of former Treaties with the Scotish Nation and now it cannot but be imagined that such Illegal and Unjust Proceedings must have inflamed the Resentments of all good Subjects and more signally of such who had formerly been carried away in the crowd to act against the Kings Interests but now seeing how fatal the Breach between the King and his People was likely to prove to both were much concerned to correct all former Errours and expiate all past Faults by a vigorous appearance for the Kings Rescue out of his Imprisonment In order to this Design the Duke was not idle in Scotland The Dukes endeavours in Scotland but by all the Art and Diligence he was Master of did study to rouse up and work upon the Fidelity and Loyalty of that Nation representing that now an Occasion was in their Hands to witness to the World the sincerity of their Intentions for their King when he was under so base a Restraint and Designs were hatching against his Life Would they now look on and see the King murdered the Parliament of England over-awed the City of London oppressed the whole English Nation enslaved the Treaties with Scotland so unworthily violated the Covenant and Religion so neglected and swarms of Sectaries over-run all Now or never was the time for declaring themselves and if Duty did not move them yet the apprehension of their own Danger might provoke them to look to themselves for did they think to escape the fury of the Sectaries if they were so tame as to suffer them to prevail in England therefore all Laws Divine and Humane did oblige them to look to themselves and to those Enemies of theirs And there was good reason to hope for success since besides the Blessing of God which might be expected upon so just and Noble Enterprizes the People of England were groaning under this Usurpation and would be ready to assist them and they had reason to expect a welcome from the City of London and the better part of the Two Houses These things did prevail much on the most of the Nobility and Gentry Three Parties in Scotland But at this time Three Parties begun to appear in Scotland The one was of those who would hear of no Proposition for the Kings Delivery unless he first gave satisfaction in matters of Religion and this was made up of the Preachers and a few of the Nobility and the Western Counties Others were for a direct Owning of the Kings Quarrel without any restrictions and for taking all Persons who had been in Arms for the Kings Service within it The Earls of Traquair and Calendar were the chief of these and many Noblemen were of it who called themselves the Kings Party but their Power in the Country was not great The Duke was as much for that in his thoughts as any of them but saw it impossible to effectuate the Kings business at that rate and therefore judged it best to go on in so great a Design by degrees The present Strait was that he first looked to which was the Rescue of the Kings Person and he doubted not if they once got a good Army engaged upon that account though all were at first clogged with many severe Restrictions yet it would be easy afterwards to carry things that were not to be then spoken of and this way took with almost the whole Gentry of Scotland The Scotish Commissioners spent much of the month of Ianuary at London The Commissioners return to Scotland establishing a good Correspondence with the Kings Friends in England and they had Letters from St. Germans in France in which the Queen and Prince undertook to make good to them all that had been promised by the King in their Name And in the Commissions the Prince gave to Sir Marmaduke Langdale and others for Levying of Forces in the North of England he commanded them to receive their Orders from the Earls of Lauderdale and Lanerick and follow their Commands Thus having laid down the best Methods they could think of with their Friends in England they set out for Scotland about the end of Ianuary At their coming to Scotland they found a general dissatisfaction with the Kings Message in November about Religion And though all the Duke's Friends were ready to have hazarded their Lives for His
being a necessity of searching divers Records for Precedents which required a competent time as had been allowed in former cases but the Court refused to promise it only they said they would take it into their consideration The Counsel insisted and said plainly they declined the Imployment on those terms and would be forced to declare it Monday the 26th the other two Officers that had signed the Capitulation for the Duke and his Troops The ninth Appearance who had been sent for a great way off were examined who agreed with the former Witnesses in matters of Fact and also with Lilburn that by signing the Articles they only meant the Duke should be preserved from the Violence of the Souldiers and not from the Justice of the Parliament Then the Counsel began to Plead and all four spoke on the several Heads of the Plea Mr. Heron spoke cursorily and elegantly but not very materially Mr. Parsons a young man spoke boldly and to good purpose Mr. Chute the Civilian spoke learnedly and home and Mr. Hales since the much-renowned Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench elaborately and at length The Heads of their Arguments follow The Duke's Counsel at Law plead for him The Duke being as was granted a born Scotch-man his Tie of obligation and subjection to that Kingdom was indispensable and indissoluble so that his late Imployment could not be refused when laid on him by the Authority of that Kingdom no more than a Native of England living in it can disobey the Commands of this Parliament whereas any Subjection the Duke owed the Parliament of England was only acquired and dispensable That since no man can be a Subject of two Kingdoms whatever Tye lay on him to the Kingdom of England it was not to be put in Competition with what he owed Scotland it being a Maxim in Law that Major relatio trahit ad se minorem and that Ius Originis nemo mutare potest That there was an Allegeance due to the King and another to the Kingdom and no Treason could be without a Breach of Faith and Allegeance due to them against whom it was committed for these Kingdoms were two distinct Kingdoms and though the Allegeance due to the King was the same in both Kingdoms yet that due to the Kingdoms was distinct nor was the Actual administration of the Kingdoms in the Kings Person when the Duke got his Imployment therefore as his Allegeance to the Kingdom of Scotland was ancienter and stronger than any Tie that lay on him in England so what he did by their Order might well make him an Enemy to this Kingdom but could not infer Treason Yet all this of the Allegeance due to the Kingdom was founded on no Common or Statute Law as Mr. Hales himself confessed afterwards but he urged this well against those who asserted it it being the universally received Maxim at that time That whether he was a Post-natus or Ante-natus did not appear but though he were it did not vary the Case nor his obligation to the place of his Nativity and so though he were Post-natus or accounted a Denizen by his Fathers Naturalization his Offence could not be Treason but Hostility at most and by that supposed Hostility he could only lose his Priviledge of a Denizen but could not be made a Traitor there being no Precedent where ever any man was attainted of Treason for a hostile Invasion and it was questionable if this Offence could amount to that nor could any case be alledged where one born in another Independent Kingdome acting by a Commission from that Kingdom and residing there when he received his Commission and raising the Body of his Army in that Kingdom and coming into this in an Open Hostile manner was ever judged guilty of Treason Naturalization was intended to be a Benefit and not a Snare so that one might well lose it but was not to be punished for it And so when France and England were under one Soveraign divers of both Nations were naturalized in the other yet when Hostility broke out betwixt them many so naturalized fought on the side of their Native Kingdom for which none were put to death though divers were taken Prisoners And in Edward the third's time though he claimed France as his by Right yet when the Constable of France invaded England and was taken Prisoner he was not tried nor put to death but sent back to France as being a Native of that Kingdom And when David Bruce King of Scotland invaded this Kingdom and was taken Prisoner great endeavours were used to find a Legal ground for his Trial he being Earl of Huntington in England but this Plea was waved for it was found that it could not be done justly that being but a less degree of Honour though King Edward claimed a kind of Homage from the Crown of Scotland That if the Duke were on that account put to death it might prove of sad consequence in case there was War any more betwixt the Kingdoms since most of the present Generation were Post-nati and all would be so quickly and yet if the Lord Fairfax who was both a Post-natus and had his Honour in Scotland were commanded to lead an Army thither and being taken were put to death it would be thought hard measure For the Duke's Father's Naturalization it was true by the Statute of the 25 Ed. 3. provision was made that Children born without the Kingdom whose Parents were then in the King's Allegeance should be Denizens but the Duke was born before his Father's Naturalization which can never reach him none but the Issue after his Father's Naturalization being included within it and the word Haeres in the Act is only a word of Limitation and not of Creation nor did his making use of the assistance of some English Forces make him a Traytor It is true if an Englishman conduct a Foreign Army or if a Foreigner come of his own head or in a Rebellious way to assist an English Rebellion it will amount to Treason for the Act of such an Alien is denominated from the crime of those he assist here where he owed a local Obedience which was the Case of Shirley the Frenchman and of Lopez but if an Alien come with a Foreign Force though he make use of English Auxiliaries that only infers a Hostility but no Treason and was the case of the Lord Harris a Scotchman 15 Eliz. and of Perkin Warbeck both having English help and though Warbeck was put to death it was by no Civil Judicatory but only by the Will of Henry the 7th who erected a Court-Marshall for that purpose The present case was yet clearer where the Alien had Authority from his Native Kingdom and was commanded by them to make use of English help so that though Langdale's assisting the Duke did make himself a Traytor yet the Duke's accepting of it only infers an Act of Hostility And whereas it was objected that the Parliament had already by
that the Duke was suffered to return to Scotland with the King But at His Majesties Landing one appointed by the Parliament to put him from the King required him to withdraw and when the King pressed the Commissioners with the Articles of their Treaty they said they could not oppose an Order of Parliament The King was much offended with this and was inclining to resent it both as an unworthy Usage and as a Breach of Treaty but the Duke told him that at that time Argyle was the person who was most able to render him considerable Service in Scotland therefore though he knew he designed nothing so much as his Ruin yet he advised His Majesty to use all possible means to gain him absolutely to his Party and to neglect himself as much as Argyle desired and not at all to seem much concerned in him adding that he knew when His Majesties Affairs were in a better posture he would not forget his faithful Servants This particular His Sacred Majesty vouchsafed to tell the Writer It was in vain for him to claim either the benefit of the Treaty at Sterlin or Breda Interest and Jealousy prevailing more with these who then ruled than any other Tie so the Duke was forced to retire to the Isle of Arran And goes to Arran where he stayed till the end of Ianuary 1651 nor could his Petitions with the Intercessions of his Friends prevail for allowing him the liberty of coming to fight for his King and Country so that he was forced to stay at Arran till the best half of Scotland was lost Cromwell enters Scotland But God who had suffered the Church-party to prevail long did blast their Force and Success at once for Cromwel upon the Parliament of Scotland's bringing home their King entred it with his Army The Church-party as they had no mind to invade England on the Kings account so were very careful to declare that their Arming against Cromwel was not on the Kings account which they excluded from the state of the Quarrel by an Act of their Committee and declared that they stood only to their own Defence against that Hostile Invasion which was contrary to their Covenant and Treaties They were also very careful to model their Army so that neither Malignant nor Engager that had been of the Kings Party should serve in it for though when His Majesty came to their Army at Leith the Souldiers were much animated by his Presence and with the coming of two thousand brave Gentlemen with him to the Army yet the Leaders of that Party pretended that since the Malignants were in their Army God would be provoked to give them up to the Enemy and therefore forced the King to leave the Army They also forced away all those Gentlemen who came and offered their Service I shall not pursue this account further but only add that notwithstanding all their Confidence of their Army and though they had the Enemy at great disadvantages so that he and all his Officers gavethemselves for gone yet they were with very little Opposition broken and routed near Dunbar on the third of September 1650 Dunbar-Fight and even those who two years before had insulted over the Misfortunes of the Engagement were now themselves taught how ill an Argument Success was to evince the Goodness of a Cause The King is better used in Scotland This procured a great change in the Counsels of Scotland for by that time the honester and better part of the Clergy were by the Murther of the King and the other Proceedings in England filled with distast and horrour at them and began to think how defective they had hitherto been in their Duty to the King and therefore resolved to adhere more faithfully to it in all time coming Others of the Church-party did also see that as Cromwel was setting up a Common-wealth in England so they found many of the forwarder amongst themselves very much inclined to it in Scotland This divided them from the other violent Party made them joyn more cordially with the King and be willing to receive his other faithful Servants to oppose the Common Enemy therefore it was brought under debate if the Act of Classes that excluded them from Trust should not be rescinded and all Subjects allowed to enjoy their Priviledges and suffered to resist the Common Enemy after long debate it was carried in the Affirmative yet none vvere to be received but upon particular Applications and Professions of Repentance The Church-party divided The Commission of the Kirk being also asked their Opinions declared that in such an Exigency vvhen the Enemy vvas Master of all on the South of Forth and Clide all fensible persons might be raised for the Defence of the Country This vvas called the Resolution of the Commission of the General Assembly and was ratified by the subsequent General Assembly But against this many Ministers protested and from thence arose great Heats and Divisions among those of the Kirkmen who owned the Publick Resolutions An. 1652. and those who Protested against them the one being called the Publick-Resolutioners and the other Protesters And now all Churches were full of pretended Penitents for every one that offered his Service to the King was received upon the Publick profession of his Repentance for his former Malignancy wherein all saw they were only doing it in compliance to the peremptory Humour of that time It was about the end of Ianuary that the Duke was suffered to come and wait on the King The Duke is suffered to wait on the King but at that time Cliddisdale with the other Places where his Interest lay were in the Enemies hands who had put Garrisons in Hamilton Douglas Carnwath Boghall and other Houses of that Country Yet the Duke got quickly about him a brave Troop of about an hundred Horse made up of many Noblemen and Gentlemen who rode in it among whom were divers Earls and Lords whose Lands being also possessed by the Enemy they could do no more but hazard their own Persons in his Majesties Service the rest were his Vassals and Gentlemen of his Name and they were commanded under him by a gallant Gentleman Sir Thomas Hamilton of Preston whom he sent with 18 Horse to Cliddisdale to try if the Enemy could be catched at any disadvantage and the People of the Country raised for the King The Enemy kept so good Guards and was so strong at Hamilton that he could not fall in there therefore he went to Douglas where he took about 80 Horse that belonged to the Garrison but could not surprize the House for it was too strong to be taken without Cannon He likewise took all the Horse that belonged to the Garrison at Boghall and killed twenty Souldiers This made the Enemy keep closer at Hamilton upon which the Duke resolved to raise ten Troops of Horse and appointed Sir Thomas Hamilton Lieutenant-Collonel but the Enemies Garrisons gave great interruptions to his
Designs At that time the Enemy landed at Innerkeething in Fife The King marches to England and the great Loss the King had there did both raise the Enemies boldness and much daunt his faithful Friends for now Cromwell was betwixt His Majesty and the Northern Counties of Scotland which were both most affectionate to his Service and from whence he was to expect Provisions and Supplies so that it was not possible for the King to maintain the War any longer in Scotland and therefore he resolved on a March to England being put in hopes of great Accessions of force to his Army from the Royal Party there and this gave a trial to the Fidelity and Courage of many of the Scotish Nation but too many looking on the Attempt as desperate being more careful of their Lives and Fortunes than to hazard either in the King's Service shrunk away though divers of them had Charges in the Army Against these base Deserters of their King and Country the Duke was moved with such just Indignation that he vowed if ever he returned with Life and Liberty he should make these in whom he had interest answer for it But the Duke's thoughts of this March and his sad apprehensions of the whole Business will appear from the following Letter he wrote to his Neece that succeeded him Dear Neece INdeed I know not what to say to you I would fain say something more encouraging than my last was but I cannot lie our Condition is no better and since that time we have a thousand men I fear twice that number run from our Army Since the Enemy shuns Fighting with us except upon advantage we must either starve disband or go with a handful of Men into England This last seems to be the least Ill yet it appears very desperate to me for more reasons than I will trouble you with I fear your own Reason will afford you too many Dear Neece it is not your Courage I will desire you to make use of in this Extremity look for Strength to bear it from a higher Power all your Natural Virtues will not resist it therefore look to him who hath in former times assisted you to resist a great Affliction and can do it again if you seek to him aright you have already lost so much that all other Earthly Losses were drowned in that Those you meet with now are Christian Exercises wherewith oftimes the Lord visits his own to wean their Affections from things here below that we may place them upon himself in whom we have all things and if we could as we ought set our Hearts upon him we should find our selves very little concerned in most things which bring us greatest Trouble here on Earth where we are but for a minute in our way to Eternity O consider that word Eternity and you will find we struggle here for that that 's even less than nothing why trouble we our selves for Earthly Losses for when we have lost all we have there are thousands as dear to God as we as poor as we We are rich though we lose the whole World if we gain him let us set before our eyes the example of those who to give testimony to the Truth rejoyced to lay down their Lives nay let us with humble presumption follow the Pattern of our Blessed Saviour who for our sakes suffered more than man can think on the burthen of all our Sins and the Wrath of his Father and shall we then repine to lay down our Lives for him when he calls for it from us to give us a nearer admittance to him than we can hope for while we are clog'd with our Clay-Tenements Dear Neece I should never be weary to talk with you though this be a Subject I confess I cannot speak of well but even that Happiness is bereft me by the importunity of a Crowd of Persons that are now in the Room with me grudging the time I take in telling you that while I am I am Yours c. Sterlin 28th July 1651. The Duke waited on the King in the whole March and gave Order that the Troops which he had levyed should follow with all possible haste Seven of them came up and joyned the Army at Moffet but the interruptions the Enemy gave made that the rest could not be raised nor were these Troops full The Duke welcomed them with great affection and assured them they should be as dear to him as his own Life and that if God blessed the King with Success he should be very careful to see them rewarded as they should deserve but seeing they made in all but betwixt two and three hundred he feared too many Standards would make them look like the remains of a broken Army and therefore he set up only his own Standard and so turned his small Regiment into a great Troop and marched on with the Army When the Army came to Warington-Bridge An. 1651. and beat Lambert from it the Duke Commanded the Brigade where his Horse were that was in the Reer of the Foot Lambert is beat from Warington-bridge but that and the other Brigade of Horse being commanded to halt he sent his Major to the Lieutenant-General for Orders to March that the Enemy might be vigorously pursued but the Lieutenant-General would have the Foot led over first and so that occasion was lost which he with many others did infinitely greater with great demonstrations of Grief Then it was debated which way the King should hold the Duke pressed that they should March streight to London which was the desire of the whole Army and that which Lambert apprehended for in his Retreat he took the London-Road There were also many other reasons used to enforce it but the English Nobility and Gentry who were in the Army and the Earl of Derby who with many Gentlemen came to the Army that night gave many reasons against that March The Duke seeing them so much against it though his Reason could not go along with theirs yet that he might not oppose so many brave and LoyalGentlemen went out of the Kings Tent for he would not by his Presence seem to consent to that which he apprehended would prejudice the Kings Service but was so far from disparaging the other Counsels and enhancing the value of his own that he went and laboured with all the Officers of the Army to engage them to a cheerful Concurrence in the Resolutions that were taken and studied even to perswade them to assent to that which had not yet prevailed on his own Reason The Resolution being taken to go to Worcester and storm it The King entered Worcester the Army marched and when they came near the Town some Horse and Dragoons which were sent thither by Lambert two days before retired to Glocester and the King entred Worcester with two Bodies of Foot the rest Marched through the Town over the Severn The day after the King came to Worcester the Duke with many
you is that which you must pay your King I know you need no Incitements to this Duty else I would insist longer upon it but I conceive it mine to recommend it to you as the Earthly thing which in the first place you ought to study Next unto that prefer your Duty to the preservation of the House of Hamilton to all things else in this World and make no difference in the testimonies of your kindness to it whether the Lord shall think fit to continue the memory of that House in your own or my dear Brothers Issue And I do conjure you if you have any respect to my desires not to suffer any difference or mistakes to arise betwixt you and them but remember him who prefer'd me to them and what consequently my Duty and yours is to his Next I recommend to you the care of the Education of our Children for the Lords sake study to get them acquainted with God in their young years and to imprint his fear in their tender hearts keep all light and idle company from them and labour to make them rich in Piety and Vertue Loyal to their King and dutiful to the House of Hamilton As I hope all my Friends and Kindred will be dutiful to you so I intreat you for my sake continue your respects and kindness to them Be careful to keep none but pious and discreet Servants in your Family that the Lord being served and worshipped in it according to his Will may delight to dwell in it and to bless every member of it And now Sweet Heart seeing you know that these divers years my Life hath been a burden to me receive my Removal as a Mercy from God with that moderation which he commandeth and the hope of a Ioyful meeting in our Resurrection perswadeth being confident that the Lord hath placed me in Eternal Happiness with himself in Heaven where he hath already laid up some pieces of my self little James and Diana The Lord who hath wounded you bind up your sores and pour the Balm of Gilead in your Heart even the Comforts of the Holy Spirit in the assurance of the Remission of your sins and peace with him in Iesus Christ that his Grace in you may shine to the World in a godly and vertuous Life which having finished in his fear you may hereafter enter with him into that Glory which I trust in the Mercies and Mediation of Iesus Christ my Redeemer I shall be shareing of when you shall be reading these last words and expressions from Dear Heart Your HAMILTON THe Dispositions which you made to me of your Lands in England I do here again return to you to be disposed upon by you as you shall think fit being confident that you will not wrong the House of Hamilton or your Children in the Disposal thereof The Conclusion I shall conclude this Work with these Papers which though some nice Palats may think not so fit for the Publick and better for private Closets than the World yet I could not be of that opinion for in an Age in which the sense of Piety and Religion is so much decayed I thought such testimonies to the Power of it were not to be suppressed by which it will appear that a high-spirited and Great Person who had tasted of all the Follies that bewitch the greatest part of men did in end in the vigour of his Years and Spirits abandon them with all the seriousness of a hearty and lively Repentance and found in God and true Religion such solid satisfaction and joy as did wholly overcome him and engage him into a course of strict Piety and of a holy Life I wish this may work some effect upon a loose and debauched Generation and if the World becomes either better or wiser through my pains I have gained my chief end and design in this Work THE END THE CONTENTS Lib. I. Of what happened from his Fathers Death till the Year 1638. Anno 1625. THe Marquis of Hamilton dies Pag. 1. His Son succeeds him ibid. His Father's Character ibid. King James dies p. 2. An. 1626. The Marquis goes into Scotland ibid. The King writes to him p. 3. and invites him to Court ibid. but he lives retired ibid. The Earl of Denbigh goes for him p. 4. An. 1628. He comes to Court ibid. His Preferments there ibid. The State of Germany ibid. An. 1629. The Q. of Bohemia writes to him p. 5. The K. of Sweden desires a League with the King ibid. Who appoints the Marquis to treat with him p. 6. The Marq. sends Coll. Hamilton ibid. and David Ramsay to the King of Sweden ibid. An. 1630. Articles signed by the K. of Sweden p. 7. The Prince of Wales is born p. 8. The Marq. made Knight of the Garter ib. Articles with the K. of Sweden signed by the Marq. p. 9. Ramsay deals with the Lord Reay p. 10. and Negotiates with the States of Holland ibid. Farensbach's Treachery ibid. The K. of Swed presses the Marq. to come to Germany ibid. And desires a League with the King p. 11. An. 1631. Reay accuses Ramsay ibid. And L. Ochiltree accuses the Marq. ib. The Marq. Innocence appears p. 12. L. Weston is his Enemy ibid. But the K. will receive no ill Impressions of him ibid. And makes him lye in his Bed-chamber that night p. 13. Ochiltreeis tried and punished for his false Accusation ibid. Reay and Ramsay desire to fight p. 14. The Kings Letter about that matter ib. The Marq. sails to Germany p. 15. And goes through the Soundt ibid. The King writes to him ibid. He lands in Germany with 6000 men which did the K. of Sweden great Service p. 16. The Marq. goes to the K. of Sweden ib. The K. of Sw. sends him to guard some Passes on the Oder ibid. The Plague breaks in upon his Army ib. He relieves Crossen p. 17. And takes Guben ibid. He is called to besiege Magdeburg ib. Sir H. Vane Ambassadour to the King of Sweden p. 18. The King's Letters to the Marq. ibid. The Marq. goes to the K. of Swed p. 19. Magdeburg is brought to a Parly ib. but is relieved by Papenheim p. 20. who draws out the Garrison and leaves it ibid. Two Letters of the King 's to the Marq. p. 20 21. An. 1632. The K. of Swed proposes unreasonable terms to the King p. 21. The Marq. Army comes to nothing ibid. The K. of Sw. will not give him a new Commission p. 22. The King writes to him about a new Imployment for him p. 23. The Treaty between the King and the K. of Sweden breaks up ibid. The passion of the K. of Swden p. 24. The Marq. returns to England upon the King's Commands ibid. The K. of Sweden's Death p. 25. An. 1633. The King is Crowned in Scotland ibid. The King assigns a Taxation to the Marq. for repaying the expence of his Army p. 26. Lib. 2. Of what passed when he was the Kings Commissioner in Scotland in
the Frith ibid. The Marq. puts his Souldiers aboard ibid. Some alterations in the Proclamation p. 122. The King orders the Marq. not to go to the North p. 123. The Marq. sails into the Frith p. 124. He sends the Kings Proclamation to Edinburgh ibid. The Covenanters write to him p. 125. To which he answers p. 126. Some come and treat with him p. 127. The Kings Advices to him ibid. A Proposition about the Ferries in Scotland p. 128. The Earl of Rothes writes sharply to the Marq. p. 129. The Marq. Answers him p. 130. The Marq. sends some proposals for a Treaty to the King p. 131. Which the K. is pleased with ibid. The state of the Covenanters Forces p. 132. The K. sends for two Regiments from the Marq. p. 133. A Conference between the Marq and some Covenanters ibid. The K. sends some Lords to the Marq. p. 135. And the Viscount of Aboyn p. 136. The K. is willing to enter on a Treaty p. 137. And is well satisfied with the Marq. ibid. Some on the Borders gained to the Kings Party p. 138. The K. Orders the Marq. to proceed to Hostilities ibid. Who sets about it ibid. But gets new Orders and goes to Court p. 139. A Treaty is begun p. 140. and concluded p. 141. The Kings Declaration ibid. The Articles of the Treaty p. 142. It is variously censured p. 143. And not like to take effect ibid. The Castles are delivered to the K. p. 144. The Marq. offers advice to the K. p. 145. The King thinks to send him again Commissioner ibid. But he gives many reasons against it p. 146. Traquair is made Commissioner p. 148. The K. writes for many Covenanters ibid. Some only come ibid. The Kings Order to the Marq. about them ibid. Montrose is gained by the King p. 149. Traquair's Instructions ibid. Lib. 3. Of what passed after he laid down his Commission till July 1642. THe Marq. retires from Publick Affairs p. 153. Traquair goes to Scotland ibid. The King writes to the Scotish Bishops p. 154. Their Declinatour of the Assembly p. 155. The Assembly sits and are very high p. 156. The King sends further directions to Traquair ibid. A new explanation of the Covenant p. 157. Traquair signs the Covenant p. 158. The King is much displeased with him ibid. Tâ—e Parliament sits p. 159. But is Prorogued ibid. The Covenanters send up their Complaint to the King p. 160. Whom Traquair incites to a War ibid. The Earl of Lowdon put in the Tower ibid. and the reason of it p. 161. A new War resolved on ibid. An. 1640. The Covenanters preparations p. 162. Lanerick is made Secretary of State ibid. Lindsay writes to the Marq. to prevent a War ibid. The Marq. answers him by the King's Orders p. 163. The Grounds of the Covenanters confidence p. 165. A short Parl. in England p. 166. The Privy Councellours lend money ibid. And so does the Marquis ibid. The Parl. in Scotland sits without any Commissioner from the King ibid. And send up their Acts to the K. p. 167. With which the King is much offended p. 168. A Memorial of Lowdon's p. 169. An Agreement between the Marq. and him in two Papers p. 170 171. He is set at Liberty ibid. Lanerick writes by him in the King's name to the Committee in Scotland ibid. Their Answer to that Letter p. 172. The Scots Complaints p. 173. They come into England ibid. The K. declares them Traitors ibid. They beat the Kings Forces at Newburn ibid. And pass Tine and take Newcastle p. 174. They write again to Lanerick ibid. And send a Petition to the K. p. 175. The K. answers it p. 176. They send another Letter p. 177. The K. appoints a Treaty p. 178. The Marq. presses a Pacification ibid. A breach between the Marq. and Montrose p. 179. The Treaty begins at Rippon p. 180. and is carried on at London ibid. The Kings Answer to the Remonstrance of the Two Houses ibid. An. 1641. The King yields to the demands of the Covenanters p. 181 The E. of Strafford writes to the Marq. p. 182 Many complain of the Marq. p. 183 The E. of Rothes dies p. 184. The Parl. proceeds against Incendiaries ibid. Montrose is put in Prison ibid. The K. goes to Scotland ibid. The Members of Parl. there subscribe the Covenant p. 185. The Marq. is vindicated by Act of Parl. from the Calumnies some did cast on him ibid. But the K. grows jealous of him ibid. An account of the Incident p. 186. He again recovers the Kings favour ib. The Rebellion in Ireland p. 187. The Marq. Friendships designed for the Kings Service ibid. The K. returns to London ibid. Some design to impeach the Marq. in England ibid. But that is prevented p. 188. An. 1642. The Scotish Commissioners stickle in England against Episcopacy ibid. The King is offended with them for it p. 189. And requires them to do so no more ibid. He writes about it to Lowdon and Argyle ibid. The Scotish Army is sent to Ireland p. 191. The Marquis's sickness p. 192. The Treaty between Scotland and England ibid. New Calumnies on the Marquis ibid. But he clears himself p. 193. The K. thinks of going to Ireland ibid. The Marq. waits on the King p. 194. And is sent by him to Scotland ibid. Lib. 4. Of the Duke's and his Brother the Earl of Lanerick's Negotiation in Scotland till their Imprisonment IN Scotland they favour the Two Houses p. 195. The Marq. sends the K. an account of it p. 196. An Assembly in Scotland ibid. They declare against Episcopacy ibid. Motions for a meeting of the Conservators of the Peace p. 197. The K. writes about Vniformity in Religion ibid. The Scots keep a Resident at London ibid. Mr. Murray's Letter about the Affairs of Scotland p. 198. Lanerick's Letter about Affairs in England p. 199. The Marq. studies to gain many to the King p. 200. The Kings Letter to the Conservators ibid. They incline to serve the K. p. 201. And to invite the Queen back ibid. But the K. did not approve of it p. 202. Yet is sensible of the Marq. fidelity ibid. The Earl of Louthian is sent to France ibid. An Extraordinary Letter of the Kings to the Marquis p. 203. The Marquis and Argyle at Enmity p. 204. Great debates in the Council ibid. The King has a great sense of the Marq. Services p. 205. An. 1643. Many Petitions come in to favour the Two Houses p. 206. The Cross Petition ibid. It is condemned by the Ministers p. 209. Commissioners are sent to Treat between the King and the Two Houses ibid. The King rejects their Mediation p. 210. And answers the desires of the Ministers ibid. A Petition against the Annuities p. 211. signed by many ibid. Montrose proposes to the Queen to begin a War in Scotland p. 212. The Marq. opposes it ibid. The Kings Answer about the Mediation of the Scotish Commissioners p. 213. They are called home p. 215. The Marq. writes
to the Queen about it ibid. They take leave and come home p. 216. The King sends his Friends to Scotland p. 217. The Queen writes to the Marq. ibid. They agree in Scotland to summon a Convention of Estates p. 218. And write to the King about it ibid. The Kings Instructions to the Marq. and others p. 219. The Kings Declaration about the War in England p. 221. The Marq. is made a Duke p. 224. Some of the Kings Party accused as Incendiaries ibid. Lanerick gives the King an account of Affairs p. 225. The Kings Friends consult what to do p. 226. And send a Message to the King ibid. The Duke writes of the great danger he saw things in to Mr. Jermin p. 227. And to the Queen p. 228. The Queens Answer p. 229. He writes again to Her ibid. The Kings Letter forbidding the Convention p. 230. He writes to Lanerick ibid. Another Letter by the Earl of Lindsay p. 231. The King's Letter to the Convention p. 232. Means used for the Kings Service p. 233. The Convention sits ibid. After much debate they vote themselves a free Convention ibid. The Duke leaves them p. 234. Great Iealousies and Divisions among the Kings Party ibid. The General Assembly sits p. 235. Commissioners come from England ibid. The Arguments that prevailed to make a League with them ibid. The Solemn League and Covenant p. 237. The Censures that passed upon it p. 239. The King and Queen write kindly to the Duke ibid. The Kings Letter to his good Subjects in Scotland p. 241. The Kings Friends send Propositions to the King p. 242. The heads of the Treaty between Scotland and England ibid. The Kings Letter to the Conservatours p. 243. His Letter to the Council p. 244. His Letter to Lanerick p. 245. His Letter about a Proclamation p. 246. His Letter to Lanerick about that ibid. He writes with great confidence to the Duke p. 247. The Kings Affairs in Scotland decline ibid. A Message sent up by Traquair p. 248. All are commanded to take the Covenant p. 249. The Duke's endeavours for the Kings Service ibid. A meeting of the Kings Friends p. 250. They part without doing any thing ibid. The Committee sends out severe Orders against such as took not the Covenant ib. The Duke ill-represented at Court ibid. He goes to Court p. 251. and is made Prisoner ibid. He sees the Charge given against him and Answers it p. 252. Charge against the Duke Article first p. 253. A General Answer ibid. Answer to the first Article p. 254. The second Article ibid. The Answer to it p. 255. The third Article ibid. The Answer to it p. 256. The fourth Article p. 257. The Answer to it p. 258. The fifth Article p. 260. The Answer to it ibid. The sixth Article p. 261. The Answer to it ibid. The seventh Article ibid. The Answer to it p. 264. The eighth Article p. 267. The Answer to it p. 268. Laner presses for a present Trial p. 269. But could not obtain it p. 270. He makes his Escape ibid. And draws a Party for the K. in Scotl. ib. The Duke is hardly used ibid. And continues a Prisoner p. 271. He is set at liberty p. 272. Lib. 5. Of the Dukes and his Brother's Imployments after his Enlargement till the Year 1648. THe Kings Affairs grow desperate p. 273. The Duke resolves to retire ibid. The K. goes to the Scotish Army p. 274. Commissioners are sent to him from Scotland ibid. They press him to settle matters ibid. The K. complains of ill usage ibid. The Army petition him about the Covenant p. 275. The King proposes a Treaty ibid. An Account of Montrose's Affairs ibid. The King recalls his Commission p. 277. The K. is much pressed to take the Covenant ibid. The King scruples ibid. His Conference with Mr. Henderson ib. Debates about the Propositions to the King p. 278. The Papers given in by the Scotish Commissioners about them ibid. The Propositions are agreed to p. 279. The heads of them ibid. The Duke is well received by the K. ibid. The K. employs him to preserve Montrose p. 280. He does it ibid. The King is much pressed to grant the Propositions p. 281. But resolves to adhere to his Conscience ibid. His first thoughts of the Propositions ibid. His denying them much resented p. 283. The Scotish Commissioners serve him ibid. The K. sends Argyle to London ibid. The Dukes endeavours in Scotl. p. 284. He is much opposed by the Ministers ib. The Duke and others sent to deal with the King for his granting the Propositions p. 285. The Kings Answer to them ibid. Another Paper of the Kings to the same purpose p. 286. The Duke resolves to go beyond Sea p. 288. The Independents cajole the King ibid. But Lauderdale disabuses him ibid. The Duke obtains the Kings leave to retire p. 289. The Kings Letter recalls that ibid. The Queen writes to him p. 291. The Dukes Letter to the King ibid. The Kings Letter to Lanerick p. 292. And to the Duke p. 293. The Scot. Commis serve the King at London ibid. Conferences between the Two Houses and them p. 294. A Parliament in Scotland ibid. Huntley is in Arms p. 295. The King writes about it ibid. And about Traquair p. 296. The Consultations in Scotland ibid. Two Letters of the Kings p. 297. The Kings Letter about the Propositions p. 298. His Answer to them p. 299. Lanerick's Letter to the King about it p. 302. The Kings Answer to him p. 303. Two other Letters of the Kings p. 305. An Account of the Resolutions in Scotland p. 306. Which the Duke and Lanerick oppose but in vain p. 307. Lanerick writes to the King p. 308. Resolutions taken about the Kings Person p. 309. The Scotish Commissioners leave London ibid. An. 1647. Commissioners sent to the King from Scotland p. 310. Who deliver to him the Votes of Parl. ibid. In Scotland they resolve to deliver up the King p. 311. The Duke and Lanerick oppose it much ibid. But in vain ibid. It is variously censured p. 312. The Kings Letter to the Duke p. 313. The Duke and Laner begin a new design for the King ibid. New Disorders in England p. 314. The Earl of Lauderdale is sent to London ibid. The Army revolts ibid. And take the K. from Holmby ibid. They use him civilly p. 315. The K. writes to Lanerick ibid. Lanerick's Answer ibid. Two Letters of the Kings to Lanerick p. 316. Lanerick's Answer p. 317. Another Letter of the Kings p. 318. The Army forces the Parliament ibid. Lauderdale is ill used by them p. 310. This is resented in Scotland ibid. But many are intractable ibid. Instructions sent by Mr. Lesley p. 320. The Kings Answer p. 321. The King is abused by the Army ibid. Lanerick's Letter about the delay of his coming to wait on the King ibid. The Kings Answer to it p. 322. The Scotish Commissioners come to the King p. 323. They intend to rescue him p. 324.
steps their Progenitors went in or had departed from them therefore I told the Duke and Dutchess of Hamilton that now are that if I might have the favour and trust of perusing such Papers as remained in their hands I should do my endeavours to make the best use of them I could upon which they were pleased to send them all to me The Collection was great and in as great disorder yet by a little care I brought them into some Order and found I had very authentical and full Materials for a greater Work than I had at first designed but having read many scandalous Pamphlets that had charged these Dukes in divers particulars with an equal degree of Injustice and Malice I found it necessary to enquire as far as their Papers could carry me into the Truth of these Reports which forced me to be more particular than had been otherwise needful And yet I hope the Reader shall have no great cause to complain of my tediousness but that he shall find an Entertainment through the whole Work that shall not be unpleasant to him I have opened the Intrigues and Counsels of those Times as clearly as I could This some that perused the Work have censured much as a disclosing the Secrets of Government and because in some places errours of Government are neither concealed nor palliaâ—ed some advised me to pass these over and not insist on them but with this I could-by no means comply for I know no good that History does the World so much as the making Posterity the wiser both by shewing the Faults of Ministers that raised the Discontents and the Follies and Madness of those who put all in confusion to get Grievances redressed For the Iealousies that were conceived either from the ill opinion of Ministers or the consciousness of their own Guilt made the Fomenters of those Troubles think that neither Concessions nor Pardons were a sufficient Security but that assoon as the Country and Government was settled what they had done would be remembred and punished and did drive the Faction much further than it seems they intended at first All this I wrote with the more Assurance after I had presumed to tell His Majesty that since I was writing of the late Times I sound it necessary to set down some Errours that were committed even by some of the Ministers of the King his Blessed Father and I could give no true account of matters if these were not likewise related upon which His Majesty most graciously told me That such things were unavoidable in a History and therefore He allowed me to tell the Truth freely Vpâ—â— so gracious a Permission I was the more emboldened to lay open things clearly and to trace the Troubles of Scotland to their first Beginnings It is true there were some things that had much influence on Peoples Minds of which I have given no Account having found no Papers in this Collection to direct me in them and these were the whole Progress of the Design for thâ— Resumption of the Tithes into the Crown and the restoring them to the Church with all the steps that were made in it which was so nice a point and had so much of the subtilties of Law in it that I did not think fit to meddle with it especially it not lying before me in these Papers nor having any Relation to the Concerns of these two Brothers The other was the Proceeding in Parliament Anno 1633 when His late Majesty was Crowned with the Petition that was afterwards drawn for which the Lord Balmerino was tried and found Guilty and had Sentence of Death passed on him Then did the Party begin to be more united and secret Engagements were given either to rescue him by Force or to revenge his Death upon which the Earl of Traquair procured a Pardon for him but from that time the date of the Confederacy of that Party is to be reckoned and though it lay quiet for some years yet it was still fermenting which made it burst forth upon the Crisis that afterwards appeared They were also much encouraged to all that followed by the Informations they had of the Malecontents in England for a Gentleman of Quality of the English Nation who was afterwards a great Parliament-man went and lived some time in Scotland before the Troubles broke out and represented to the men that had then greatest Interest there that the business of the Ship-mony and the Habeas Corpus with divers other things of which there was much noise made afterwards had so irritated the greatest part of the English Nation that if they made sure work at home they needed fear nothing from England And of this the Duke of Hamilton who had lived so many years in England could not be ignorant for so great a disease in the Body Politick as a Civil War does not break out on a sudden but there go before it many Symptomes which are well discerned by men of Iudgment and Fore-sight the matter must be brought to the nature of Tinder or Gun-powder before a Spark can set it on Fire And it was the Prospect he had of what was like to follow in England if once a War begun that made him employ all his Endeavours to carry the King to as full Concessions as he could possibly obtain This to such as do not reflect on the State of England at that time may perhaps appear mean or Malice may give it a worse Character But as no sort of provocation will justifie any man though of the clearest Courage that will go and fight with a Sword loose in the hilt but he must be concluded rash and inconsiderate so the Duke knowing the disjoynted condition of England and apprehending that by all appearance the War would be unsuccessful and that the Demands of the Faction would then grow higher did as became a Wise and Faithful Minister in trying all the ways he could think of to settle Matters before there should be any Breach since the keeping the Kingdom in quiet though upon terms which had been hard to the King and derogatory to His Authority was much to be preferred to a War that was like to prove fatal to the King and Kingdoms For all that while the Affection of the English to the Party in Scotland did discover it self in many high Expressions which others could not but see and the King sadly but too late felt afterwards for Princes most commonly see such things last of all their People their pretending Flatterers who are in truth their greatest Enemies keeping up such Advertisements from them as long as can be as if one out of fear to awaken his Master should let him sleep when his House is on fire till it were scarce possible for him either to quench or escape the Flames All these things concurred to set on the hot Zealots to begin the Troubles that ended so tragically in the Murder of the King and Slavery of the Nations And therefore nothing seems more
needful in our present circumstances than to represent those things truly That Ministers on the one hand considering the ill effects that followed on a stretched Prerogative and the People on the other hand apprehending the dismal consequences of Tumults Iealousies and Civil War there may be such an Vniversal Harmony between the King and his Subjects as may rejoyce all good men and disappoint and confound all the Enemies of our Peace and Happiness But all those things not being yet so fully clear to me and not lying in the Papers that were in my hands I have given no account of them in this Work which I confined to the Negotiations of those two Brothers whose Papers I perâ—sed Nor have I written any thing of the Affairs of England further than was necessary by their Relation to and Intermixture with those of Scotland and though there are very considerable Papers in that Collection that were sent to Scotland both from the Committee of both Kingdoms and from some Eminent men of both Houses yet there is not a continued thread in them and therefore I have published none of them Nor have I drawn down my Relation farther than Worcester-Fight where the younger of these Brothers lost his Life for though I have been much pressed to write a full History of Scotland from K. James his Death where the most Reverend Dr. Spotswood ended his so much and so justly valued History and to bring it down to the present Time yet I will see how the World is satisfied with what I now publish before I give my self and others more trouble of this sort At first I wrote this Work Historically and only drew the most material heads and passages out of the Papers that lay before me but that Noble and Iudicious Gentleman Sir Robert Murray to whose Memory I owe the most Grateful Acknowledgments that can be payed by a Person infinitely obliged to him and that did highly value his extraordinary Parts and rare Virtues gave me such reasons to change the whole Work and to insert most of the Papers at their full length that prevailed on me to do it and when it was written over again as I now offer it to the World he was so much pleased with it that though I know the setting down his words would add a great value to it among all that knew him yet they are so high in the Commendation of it that I cannot but conceal them Some have wondered to find sewer of the Duke's Letters here than of other Persons but the truth is these are so full and so particular in the Advices and Advertisements he wrote to the King that it was by no means thought fit to publish too many of them though the Originals of them are yet extant being written on the back by the King's hand The Vouchers of this whole Work lie at Hamilton where Curious Persons may both be satisfied about the truth of what is now published and about many other very important things from which I drew these MEMOIRES only in a few particulars for supplying some defects I was forced to seek Informations from Persons of great Honour and Worth My writing from such Vouchers was the cause that sometimes the angry Language I found in Letters did slip into my pen. I know there is nothing that does more misbecome an Historian than to mix Passion with the Account he gives and so I studied to cleanse this Work from it all I could and read it over once or twice to throw out all those angry words which I had mixed in it carelesly having among other things Copied them from the Letters that were in my hands But upon a further Review I find that some of these Reflections do still remain for which I am very sorry but I can assure the Reader I had no design to leave needless Imputations on any Persons for I took great care to write with all possible Respect and Caution even of those who were the greatest Enemies that both these Dukes had and those that know the present circumstances of that Family and of the Writer himself will find that no Resentments for any hard Vsage they have met with has biassed him from what becomes an honest Man and a faithful Historian I thought it unworthy of my pains to set down and confute those base and malicious Calumnies which fill many Books that pass for the Histories of the late Times The Truth of this Work is a fuller Confutation than any other could be These Writings indeed made me examine all the Duke's Papers more carefully particularly the Copies of their Letters to their nearest and most assured Friends with the Letters they received from them most of these were written in Câ—pher and the decyphering of them was no small trouble yet I resolved to spare no pains that might give me a full satisfaction about their most secret Correspondencies But after all that search I was still more and more confirmed of the great Integrity of their Professions and of their constant Fidelity to the Crown I publish these MEMOIRES with the more confidence because they having been seen and perused by divers of the most Considerable and most Intelligent Persons of both Kingdoms either they went very far with their Civility and Complement or were well satisfied with them I shall enlarge this Preface no further but desire that all the faults in the Style or way of Writing may be charged only on my self and may leave no Imputation on those Worthy Persons whose Actions I relate nor on those wâ—o now represent them since they deserved a far better Pen to be employed in writing their History All that is good in this Work is only from them and all that is evil in it must fall entirely to my share and I alone must bear it They have suffered too much already from the Malice of their Enemies it will therefore be very unjust to make them suffer more for the Indiscretion or Weakness of an ill Writer I shall not stand longer on laboured and formal Apologies which are more used to shew the Wit of the Writer in making them gracefully than from any humble opinion they have of their own Performances who make them If I have not done this to the best advantage it is because I could do it no better for the Importance of these Transactions the Merit of the Persons and the great Honour I pay the Family and the Duke and Dutchess of Hamilton that now are made me judge it very well worth all the Application and Industry I could bestow upon it ERRATA THough a great deal of care was used to revise the sheets yet the following Errata must be corrected Literal Faults and some errours in the punctation are not marked which it is supposed the Reader will easily perceive Pâ—ge 11. Line 30. for Titles read Tithes p. 11. l. 44. for Cleazar r. Eleazar p. 13. l. 1. for seeming r. seemed p. 40. l. 28. for at r. as p.
is here said of these matters shall be It is well known that in Scotland the first Reformation from the corruptions of Popery was Popular without the concurrence or allowance of Supreme Authority though the Nobility for the most part joyned in it and the Preachers being the chief actors and prosecutors of it came to have great power over the People and interest with the Nobility The Ministers were popular and factious It continued thus during King Iames his Minority but no sooner came he to assume the Government and to consider the state of the Kingdom than he found the power the Ministers had with the People was swelled to such insolence that it was more than necessary to limit it to its just bounds for nothing passed in the Court or Council but their Pulpits did ring with it and no favour was shewed to any that were Popishly affected but Jealousies were infused into the minds of the People as if Religion had been in hazard and the People being then in their first fervours against Popery were apt to take those Alarms pretty hot neither did the King cherish any who was not devoted to them but they did represent him a Favourer of Popery They also held Opinions which savoured too much of that Church which was so odious to them concerning the power of their Assemblies and their not being accountable for what they preached how Treasonable soever till it were first judged by the Church-Judicatory where all such things were sure of a mild Censure to say no worse divers other Tenets they held which were judged inconsistent with good Government But many of them being popular Preachers and of insinuative tempers they were much depended upon by the People who looked on all their Excesses as holy zeal King Iames bent all his thoughts to the regulating of this King Iames brought in Episcopacy and judging that the onely course to effectuate it was to have some few of greater temper and discretion to be set over the rest he studied by all means to get Episcopacy introduced in Scotland promising himself by that means an infallible remedy of all these Evils of which he was extremely sensible though his great Gentleness made him very slow in punishing them but they foreseeing well the Kings Intentions and the effects they might produce did as cautiously resist all his attempts that way though not without great and long opposition I shall not tell what endeavours that wise and peaceable King used for compassing of his designs nor with what hindrances they were obstructed but no sooner was he happily settled on the Throne of England but he went more roundly to work and yet it was not without opposition that he got Episcopacy settled and ratified in Parliament Anno 1612. But though great art was used to get Assemblies framed to the Kings designs he could never compass it Episcopacy being settled King Iames also erected a High Commission Court for punishing such as offended against that Constitution of the Church This Court was made up of Bishops and other Noblemen and Gentlemen but the Bishops being those who kept the Diets of it best most of the Secular persons absenting themselves often on design and the Bishops leading all matters in it it was counted their Court and the odium of all that passed there fell to their share This step being made King Iames advanced towards an Uniformity with England in Worship and other Ceremonies moved to it either that he might thereby make way for the Union of both Kingdoms which of all things he most desired or that he might root the seeds of Puritanism out of Scotland But in this he met greater opposition and all the progress he made in it was that in one Assembly it was decreed there should be a Liturgy drawn for the use of the Church of Scotland and in another at Perth the Five Articles that bore the name of that place were settled not without great contradiction and these were the Confirmation of Children Private Baptism Private Communion in cases of necessity Kneeling in Communicating the Observation of the Holy days of the Nativity Passion Resurrection Ascension and Pentecost Those were also established in Parliament Anno 1621. where the Marquis his Father was Commissioner and managed that Affair so dexterously that it gained him an equal share of esteem and hatred these things being generally very odious As King Iames was going on warily in this design he died King Iames dies lamented and admired by all the World and even those who had irritated him most when alive did bewail his Death with deep and just regrates He was succeeded in his Throne by his onely Son CHARLES the First who was zealously conscientious for Episcopacy King Charles goes on in hiâ— designs for the Church so what his Father begun out of Policy was prosecuted by him out of Conscience The Bishops therefore were cherished by him with all imaginable expressions of kindness and confidence but they lost all their esteem with the People and that upon divers accounts The People of Scotland had drunk in a deep prejudice against every thing that savoured of Popery Prejudices are conceived against the Biâ—hops This the Bishops judged was too high and therefore took all means possible to lessen it both in Sermons and Discourses mollifying their Opinions and commending their Persons not without some reflections on the Reformers But this was so far from gaining their design that it abated nothing of the zeal was against Popery they are charged with Popery but very much heightned the rage against themselves as favouring it too much There were also subtile Questions started some years before in Holland about Predestination and Grace and Arminius his Opinion and Arminianism as it was condemned in a Synod at Dort so was generally ill reported of in all Reformed Churches and no-where worse than in Scotland but most of the Bishops and their Adherents undertook openly and zealously the defence of these Tenets and breach of Sabbath Likewise the Scotish Ministers and People had ever a great respect to the Lords Day and generally the Morality of it is reckoned an Article of Faith among them but the Bishops not onely undertook to beat down this Opinion but by their Practices expressed their neglect of that Day and after all this they declared themselves avowed Zealots for the Liturgy and Ceremonies of England which were held by the Zealous of Scotland all one with Popery Upon these accounts it was that they lost all their esteem with the People Neither stood they in better terms with the Nobility The Nobility became jealous of them who at that time were as considerable as ever Scotland saw them and so proved both more sensible of Injuries and more capable of resenting them They were offended with them because they seemed to have more interest with the King than themselves had so that Favours were mainly distributed by their
asked why His Majesty had called him the King said to be a Witness of what was done and because he had been before acquainted with the proceedings of that business he was also to be informed of what passed thereafter Then the Marquis desired to know what the Bishops expected he could doe they answered nothing but procure the Peace of the Country and good of the Church he desired they would contribute their assistance for reclaiming the Ministery who were once conformable and for the Ministers that were censured but were now stirring he should deal with them They answered their power was small at that time and their danger great and so inclined to stay still at London but that was overruled the Marquis undertaking that so far as in him lay he should stand betwixt them and danger The Archbishop of Canterbury said much and well on this head so it was agreed that they should go home Next the King expressed how necessary he conceived it was that every one of them should live in their own Diocese Canterbury seconded this and the Bishops acknowledged it was the best way Much was said concerning General Assemblies and that Ecclesiastical matters ought to have been introduced by them and the Marquis was ordered to give assurance that in all time coming nothing substantial should be introduced in the Church but by them Much debate passed about the Oath of admission of Ministers and it was concluded it should be no other than what was warranted by the Law and the Bishops were required to be sparing and moderate for the present both in urging that and the Ceremonies All this His Majesty concluded with his wishes for good success adding that the Marquis had been so far from seeking this Imployment that he had commanded him much against his will to undertakâ— the journey This was in the beginning of May and upon the 7th of May Letters were directed to Scotland giving notice of the Resolutions taken to the Nobility the Marquis wrote also to all his Friends and Dependers to meet him at Hadington the 5th of Iune The next thing that was taken into consideration was the drawing up of his Instructions A Commission in the ordinary form being first drawn there were two Proclamations signed by the King both which are extant the one written with the Earl of Traquair's hand the other by the Marquis the first whereof follows CHARLES R. CHARLES by the Grace of God King of Scotland England The Proclamation sent by the Marquis France and Ireland Defender of the Faith to our Lovits our Sheriffs in that part conjunctly and severally specially constitute Greeting Forsamiekle as We are not ignorant of the great Disorders which have happened of late within this Our ancient Kingdom of Scotland occasioned as is pretended upon the introduction of the Service-book Book of Canons and High Commission thereby fearing Innovations of Religion and Laws for satisfaction of which Fears We well hoped that the two Proclamations of the eleventh of December and nineteenth of February had been abundantly sufficient nevertheless finding that Disorders have daily so increased that a powerful rather than a persuasive way might have been justly expected from Vs yet We out of Our innate Indulgence to Our People grieving to see them run themselves so headlong into Ruine are graciously pleased to try if by a fair way We can reclaim them from their faults rather than let them perish in the same And therefore once for all We have thought fit to declare and hereby to assure all Our good People that We neither are were nor by the Grace of God ever shall be stained with Popish Superstition but by the contrary are resolved to maintain the true Protestant Christian Religion already professed within this Our ancient Kingdom And for further clearing of Scruples We do hereby assure all men that We will neither now nor hereafter press the practice of the aforesaid Canons and Service-book or any thing of that nature but in such a fair and legal way as shall satisfie all Our loving Subjects that We neither intend Innovation in Religion or Laws and for the High Commission We shall so rectifie it with the help of advice of Our Privy Council that it shall never impugn the Laws nor be a just Grievance to Our Loyal Subjects And as hereby it may appear how careful We are to satisfie the foresaid Fears how needless soever of Our good Subjects * So We do hold Our Selves obliged both in Conscience and Honour to hinder the course of that which may prejudge that Royal Authority which God has endued Vs with wherefore understanding that many of Our Subjects have run themselves into seditious and undutiful courses and willing to reduce them rather by a benign than forcible mean because We hope that most of them are drawn thereto blindly out of fear of Innovations are content hereby to declare and promise upon the Word of a King to pardon what is past and not to take notice of the by-gone faults no not so much as of those factious and seditious Bonds upon condition that they seek to Our Mercy by disclaiming the same and in testification of the true sense of their Misdemeanors that they deliver up or continuâ— with their best endeavours to procure the delivering up of the said Bonds into the hands of Our Council or such as Our Council shall appoint Declaring always likeas We by these presents do declare all these to be esteemed and reputed as Traitors in all time coming that shall not renounce and disclaim the said Bond or Bonds within after the publication hereof that is to say Whosoever will from henceforth be thought a good Subject and capable of Our Mercy must either deliver up the same in case he have it or concur with his best endeavours to the delâ—vering up thereof or at least must come to some of Our Privy Council or chief Officers in Burgh or Land and testifie to him that he renounces and disclaims the said Bonds Our Will is therefore and We charge you straitly and command that incontinent this Our Letteâ— seen c. C. R. The other Proclamation penned by the Marquis agrees with the former to the place that is marked * after which it follows thus Another Proclamation So We expect that their behaviour will be such as may give testimony of their Obedience and how sensible they are of Our Grace and Favour that thus pass over their Misdemeanours and by their future carriage make appear it was onely the fear of Innovations that caused those Disorders that have happened of late in this Our Kingdom which now cannot but by this Our Declaration be removed from the hearts of Our loving Subjects but on the contrary if we find not this performed with that chearfulness and alacrity that becomes good and obedient Subjects We declare and hold Our Self obliged in Honour and Conscience to make use of those forcible means which God hath armed Royal Authority with
as also that many of the Covenanters were broken in their Estates so that if Justice were patent some of the most troublesom of them might be driven away but chiefly the settling them again in Edinburgh looked like a resolution of going on with a Treaty of which it was fit they should be persuaded till the King were in a good posture for reducing them He tried what assurance he might have of the Lords of the Session being fixed to their Duty Divers of them who were no ill-wishers to the Kings Authority yet durst not own it being threatned by the Covenanters of some he had all reason to hope well yet the greater part of that Court what through fear what through inclination was so biassed that he saw little hope of prevailing with the Colledge of Justice whether Judges or Lawyers to declare the Covenant seditious or treasonable and he was secure of none who sate on the Bench save Sir Robert Spottiswood President Sir Iohn Hay Clerk-Register and Sir Andrew Fletcher of Innerpeffer Halyburton of Fotherance and one or two more the first of these was among the most accomplished of his Nation equally singular for his Ability and Integrity but he was the Archbishop of S. Andrews his Son and so his Decision in that would have been of the less weight On the 16th of Iune the Covenanters came and presented their Petitions to the Marquis craving a present redress of their Grievances The Covenanters press speedy satisfaction otherwise they said they would be put off no longer by delays and they desired he would propose the matter to the Council and give them a speedy Answer He told them that His Majesty did resolve to call both an Assembly and Parliament for the redress of all Grievances but if this was not yet done they had nothing but the Disorders of the Country to blame for it which should be no sooner composed but all their Desires should be fully examined They went away no way satisfied with this Answer but the Marquis found all the Lords of Council inclined to the granting of what they demanded so that he durst call no Council about it lest they should have avowedly sided with the Covenanters of which he advertised His Majesty shewing him that persons of all ranks pressed him to represent to him that the Covenant was not illegal and that if His Majesty would allow of the Explication of the Bond of mutual Defence Many move that an Explanation of the Covenant might be received which they offered that they meant not thereby to derogate any thing from the Kings Authority for whom they were ready to hazard their Lives all might be settled without more trouble either to the King or Country and that otherwise it must needs end in Blood He desired His Majesty would consider well in what forwardness his Preparations were before he hazarded on a Rupture lest if they had the start of him all his faithful Servants in Scotland should be ruined ere he could come to their rescue England wanted not its own Discontents and they in Scotland seemed confident that they had many good Friends there France had not forgot the Isle of Rhea and had certainly a hand in cherishing those Broils in Scotland He also added the Covenanters resolution was upon the first Rupture to march into England and make that the seat of the War Upon all this he craved His Majesties Pleasure which he would punctually obey and ended begging pardon for the fair hopes he had given him in his last protesting that his desire of seeing Royal Authority again settled without a bloody Decision for which he was gladly willing to sacrifice his Life made him too easie sometimes to believe what he so earnestly desired Thus I give the most material Heads of the Marquis his Dispatches to His Majesty for though the Originals of them be in my hands yet they are not inserted both because of their being too long and too particular for publick view as also that the substance of them may be seen in the Kings Answers which for many reasons are set down at their full length But to this I shall adde a surprising thing that I find the Archbishop of S. Andrews was for accepting an Explanation of the Covenant for a draught of it yet remains under his Pen which follows The Archbishop of S. Andrews his draught of an Explanation WE the Noblemen Barons Burgesses Ministers and others that have joyned in a late Bond or Covenant for the maintaining of true Religion and purity of Gods Worship in this Kingdom having understood that Our Sovereign Lord the Kings Majesty is with this our doing highly offended as if we thereby had usurped His Majesties Authority and shaken off all Obedience to His Majesty and to His Laws for clearing our selves of that Imputation do hereby declare and in the presence of God Almighty solemnly protest that it did never so much as enter into our thoughts to derogate any thing from His Majesties Power and Authority Royal or to disobey and rebell against His Majesties Laws and that all our Proceedings hitherto by Petitioning Protesting Covenanting and whatsoever other way was and is onely for the maintaining of true Religion by us professed and with express reservation of our Obedience to His most Sacred Majesty most humbly beseeching His Majesty so to esteem and accept of us that he will be graciously pleased to call a National Assembly and Parliament for removing the Fears we have not without cause as we think conceived of introducing in this Church another form of Worship than what we have been accustomed with as likewise for satisfying our just Grievances and the settling of a constant and solid Order to be kept in all time coming as well in the Civil and Ecclesiastical Government which if we shall by the intercession of Your Grace obtain we faithfully promise according to our bounden duties to continue in His Majesties Obedience and at our utmost powers to procure the same during our Lives and for the same to rest and remain Your Graces obliged Servants c. His Majesties Answer follows Hamilton I Do not wonder though I am very sorry for your last Dispatch to which I shall answer nothing concerning what you have done or mean to doe because I have approved all and still desire you to believe I do so untill I shall contradict it with my own Hand What now I write is first to shew you in what Estate I am and then to have your Advice in some things My Train of Artillery consisting of 40 Peece of Ordnance with the appurtenances all Drakes half and more â—f which are to be drawn with one or two Horses apiece is in good forwardness and I hope will be ready within six weeks for I am sure there wants neither Money nor Materials to doe it with I have taken as good order as I can for the present for securing of Carlisle and Berwick but of this you
the Accompts of his Trustees at that time Upon the Kings Pleasure that was signified by the Archbishop of Canterbury the Marquis emitted a Proclamation for the Sessions sitting down on the second of Iuly at Edinburgh The Session sits again at Edinburgh and thither he went that day to intimate to them His Majesties Goodness for them in noâ— putting them to the trouble and expence of removing their Families elsewhere wherefore he recommended His Majesties Service to them and that if any thing came from the Tables they should not fail to pass that Censure on it which was according to Law Next he called for the Covenanters Petitions which he promised to present to His Majesty and return them an Answer betwixt that and the fifth of August with which they were satisfied for that time On the fourth of Iuly he held a Council and presented the Kings Declaration to the Councellours and having before-hand prepared most of them with a great deal of industry he got it signed by them all an Act passed The Kings Proclamation is published and protested against that the Subjects ought to rest satisfied with it It was immediately sent to the Market-cross and proclaimed but notwithstanding all the Grace it contained it met with a Protestation from the Tables But upon the back of this the Marquis met with one of the most troublesome passages of his whole Negotiation There were some Councellours who were not satisfied with the Declaration and those he got to be absent from Council that day but divers of thosâ— who had signed the Act that the Subjects ought to rest satisfied with the Declaration came afterwards to him telling him that he had pressed them to what they had not well considered when they did it but upon second thoughts they found they had wronged their Consciences wherefore they desired he would call a new Council The Council is inconstant that they might retract what they had done This he studied to divert by all means representing how contrary it would be to their Honour and to the Kings Service and Good of the Country and so he shook them off that night but next day those and many more came to him with the same Desires and say or do what he could nothing would prevail with them for they told him plainly if he called not a Council they would find another way to make their Retractation well enough known and that was to subscribe the Covenant The Marquis having spoken with the whole Council apart found that three parts of four would immediately fall off if he gave them not satisfaction and judging that such a visible breach with the Council would ruine the Kings Affairs therefore since the Act was not registred but onely subscribed he thought the Course that had least danger in it was to tear it before them by this means he got that storm calmed All this while that he had been in Scotland he had not forgot the Kings Orders about his Castles The Marquis takes care of the Kings Castles Dumbriton was secured though it run a risque the Constable being at London and the Under-keeper taking the Covenant but he called home Sir William Stewart who was Constable under the Duke of Lennox to wait on his Charge and this delivered him from that hazard As for Edinburgh-Castle which was then in the Earl of Marre's hand it cost him more trouble Divers of the Earl of Marre's friends who had much credit with him being not well inclined and much being trusted to the Constable he durst not in the Kings Name require him to yield it up lest that had hasted on a Rupture and he could not prevail by fairer ways at first but the issue of this shall be told in its due place This being done the Marquis took his Journey He takes Journey and on the way he had the following Letter from His Majesty Hamilton I Hope that this will find you on the way hitherward wherefore remitting all business till I speak with you these Lines are only to hearten you in your Iourney for I think that it will be very much for my Service So desiring you to make as much haste as the weather will permit I rest Your assured constant Friend CHARLES R. Greenwich the 9th July 1638. POSTSCRIPT Forget not to bring with you the Copies of all the Proclamations and Protestations that have been made When he came to Court he gave the King a full account of all had passed in Scotland and of the strength and fury of the Covenanters and gives the King an account of Affairs together with the inconstancy of many of the Council and how His Majesty had been abused in the hopes he was put in of the readiness of his Preparations in England which I gather from some little Notes he took of things and the Copies of his Letters He next told His Majesty that nothing prevailed so much on the Vulgar in Scotland as the cursed insinuations were given of His Majesties staggering in the Protestant Religion wherefore he proposed that His Majesty might cause renew the Confession of Faith which was established at the Reformation and ratified in Parliament An. 1567 and to that His Majesty did readily consent At length His Majesty having considered for some days of the whole Affair and having fully debated every particular with the Marquis and my Lord of Canterbury in end His Goodness and Paternal Affection for his poor Subjects overcame all that Indignation which their Actions had raised in him wherefore he resolved on enlarging his Instructions which he did as follows CHARLES R. YOV shall try by all means to see if the Council will sign the Confession of Faith established by Act of Parliament and gets new and fuller Instructions with the new Bond joyned thereto but you are not publickly to put it to Voting except you be sure to carry it and thereafter that probably they will stand to it If the Council do sign it though the Covenanters refuse you shall proceed to the indicting of a free General Assembly and though you cannot procure the Council to sign it yet you are to proceed to the indicting thereof if you find that no other Course can quiet business at this time You shall labour by all fair means that the sitting of the Assembly be not before the first of November or longer if you can obtain it for the place We are pleased to leave it to your election for the manner of indicting you must be as cautious as you can and strive to draw it as near as may be to the former Assemblies in my Fathers time You must labour that Bishops may have Votes in Assemblies which if you cannot obtain then you are to protest in their Favours in the most formal manner you can think of As for the Moderator in the Assembly you are to labour that he may be a Bishop which though you cannot obtain yet you must give way to
such Petitions wherein the Bishops were not designed as they ought to have been but were called either pretended Bishops or late Ministers of the Places where they served before their Promotion were rejected and some Signatures being offered in Exchequer wherein they were so designed Traquair took them and tore them to pieces Of all this the Covenanters complained as if Justice were denied but it was told them that if they went to force the Session it would be High Treason and that they would never yield to them But the four Covenanting Lords of the Session having passed Petitions wherein the Bishops were so called these were stopt at the Signet The Covenanters made also great Complaints to the Council of some persons who had written to England of their Designs to invade it of which they protested themselves innocent and craved liberty to pursue their Slanderers but that was laid aside only a Letter was written about it to the King Yet all at least most of the Council what through fear what through inclination went along with the Covenanters and such as stood firm to their Duty were forced to fly into England The Covenanters made sure work of all the Shires They become Masters of all Scotland onely in Tweddale Traquair resisted them a little and got their Meetings to be deserted for two or three Diets but that was all he could doe In Teviotdale the Earl of Roxburgh kept all right and begun to levy men as well as others but he was faintly followed The Marquis of Douglass was not able to doe His Majesty that Service his Illustrious Ancestours had done the former Kings for himself was a Papist and so not followed by the Friends and Dependers of that Noble Family so that all the Marquis could doe was to go and wait upon His Majesty and offer his House of Tentallon to be made use of as the King pleased But the Covenanters seized both it and his House of Douglass and thus all on the South of Tay was lost without stroke of Sword But in Angus the Earls of Airly and Southesk made more vigorous resistance to the Attempts of the Covenanters and were able to have made that Country good for the King but could not withstand the Force came upon them from other Places They all armed and Earl Airly stood out to the Pacification but Southesk was fitter for a Council than a Camp and seeing inevitable Ruine to follow since the Kings Preparations went on so slowly he struck sail and came to Edinburgh Huntley gave them more trouble for my Lord of Montrose and Kinghorn with some others coming to hold a Committee at Turreff in that County he gathered so many together and came so near them that they were forced to disperse themselves yet he kept up his Commission of Lieutenantry acting onely in the quality of a Peer and Councellour But they resolved since they could doe nothing against him with the men of that Shire to bring a Body from other Places to ruine him The want which pinched the Covenanters most at first was of good Officers and this made General Lesley who at that time had acquired much Fame in the Wars of Germany get an earnest Invitation sent him from the Earl of Rothes in the name of the Covenanteâ—s to come home to command their Forces upon which he did quit his Employment there and came to Scotland with many other Commanders He was chosen their General and undertook the Service with much Joy And this was the Posture and Preparations of Scotland which I draw from the Letters that are yet extant written to the Marquis from the Lords of Traquair Huntley Airly and Roxburgh Mean-while the King went on making all the haste with his Levies and Preparations that was possible in which none acted his part with more Fidelity and better Dispatch than the Earl of Northumberland who was Admiral and discharged what was committed to him so well that nothing was defective that concerned the Fleet. But the Marquis found the Hearts of many of the English Nobility both backward and cold and in particular he assured the King that he saw much Heartiness was not to be expected from some of the general Officers which the King apprehending The King emits his Declaration of the Reasons of the War trusted them as little as was possible About the middle of March the King published a Declaration of the Reasons of his Expedition against Scotland which was followed by a larger one commonly called the Large Declaration or Manifesto penned by Balcanqual and revised by His Majesty in which a full account was given of the rise and progress of the Combustions of Scotland of which no more shall be said it being so commonly known save that from the account hath been given it will appear how unjustly that Book was charged to be full of Lies and Calumnies The Covenanters begin the War The News of this coming to Scotland set all a-flaming whereupon they first sent in Papers and Letters through all England and to the Court vindicating themselves with high Protestations that they designed not the Invasion of England as had bâ—en misrepresented and therefore they expected no Hostility from thâ—m to whom they neither did nor intended hurt These Letters were said not to be ill-received even by some at Court who were in the highest Trust. The Covenanters also resolved to take the start of the King and so on the 23th of March General Lesley with some Companies went to the Castle of Edinburgh and petarded the Gates and set Ladders to the Walls and carried it no resistance being made from those within It is true much could not be made but that could not wipe off their stain who yielded that impregnable and important Place so faintly The occasion of their negligence was that a Gentlewoman of good Quality was sent in under pretence of visiting the Captain of the Castle to keep him in discourse she dined with him and engaged him to play at Cards so that they were about his ears before he was apprehensive of danger Dumbriton run the same fate it being surrendred by Sir William Stewart whose only excuse was that at his coming down the former year he found the whole Garrison Covenanters that he durst not turn them off nor take on new Souldiers without a powerful assistance and so finding them resolved both to deliver him and the Castle up he could do nothing alone besides that he was unprovided of every thing that was necessary for a Siege The next day after the Castle of Edinburgh was seized the Covenanters went to the Session to force the Lords to take the Covenantâ— but most of them refused it then they seized on the Privy-Seal aâ—d thought to have got the Great Seal which the Marquis had committed to the keeping of an honest Servant Mr. Iohn Hamilton by their endeavours to prevail with him for it but he refused to part with it except with his Life and so
have heard nothing of but We are easily induced to believe that what you wrote of his undutiful Carriage is true and that you will easily make it appear to which We will give no unwilling Ear. Thus you have your last Letter answered with what for the present and on such a sudden hath come into Our thoughts and so We bid you Farewell Whitehall Octob. 1. 1639. The Parliament sate at Edinburgh the day appointed The Parliament sits in Scotland but their Actings can onely be overly related they being too remote from the Marquis his Story so that onely such Generals are to be hinted as occur among his Papers They consented that for that time Traquair as Commissioner should name those Lords of the Articles that were for the Nobility who should have been named by the Bishops but protested it should be no Precedent for the future And they went roundly to take away the Lords of the Articles totally and were framing all their Acts at the rate of the Assembly But Traquair finding he could not hold pace with them and keep close to his Instructions to the Letter of which he resolved to adhere and is quickly prorogued did on the 30th of October prorogue the Parliament to the 14th of November next The Covenanters though they resolved not to sit till the day to which it was prorogued yet protested against the Legality of any Prorogation without consent of Parliament and sent up the Earls of Dumfermline and Lowdon with the Acts of the Assembly to the King desiring he would order his Commissioner to give way to their Ratification in Parliament as also to purge themselves of any Misrepresentations the King might have received of their Actions They came to London on the 8th of November but His Majesty resolved not to see them since they came from Scotland without His Commissioners Warrant wherefore they were commanded presently to return home They sent a Letter to the Marquis for he would not see them desiring him to interpose for procuring them a Hearing and that they might not be condemned unheard whose Answer was That the Order which the King had sent them was upon mature Deliberation and that nothing remained for them but Obedience so they returned And the King ordered Traquair to prorogue the Parliament Proroguing and Adjourning are all one in Scotland to the second of Iune next and to come up and give an account of Affairs which accordingly he did but got a cold Reception the King being highly displeased with his Subscription of the Covenant as was before marked But he complained that he could have no Assistance from them to obtain any thing if he had not done that and that it was impossible to prevail with these People Traquair incites the King to a new War except by Force or by a total Compliance The Bishops failed not to take advantage at this trip of his to pursue him with much eagerness and he to recover himself was the more earnest to press the King to a new Invasion assuring him that Ruthwen was so strong in the Castle of Edinburgh that he would teach them their Duty and was very formidable to them He also furnished the King with a great many Grounds for justifying his following Procedure against them a chief one being a Letter he had got which the Covenanters had written to the French King desiring his Protection and Assistance which was High Treason by the Law of Scotland as being a Treaty with a Foreign Prince without the Kings Permission And upon these Grounds it was that the Earl of Traquair was afterwards pursued as the Grand Incendiary The Marquis saw there was too much Ground for His Majesties Resentments either to contradict or condemn them but that which grieved him was that he saw not a way how His Majesty should be able to defray the Expence of a War without calling a Parliament in England which was no less formidable to the Court than the Covenanters in Scotland they foreseeing what followed At this time the Covenanters sent up their Petition to His Majesty by one Cunningham desiring permission to send some of their Number for their own Vindication which His Majesty granting the Earls of Lowdon and Dumfermline were again sent up But Lowdon being accused of that Letter to the French King The Earl of Lowdon committed to the Tower was committed to the Tower Yet he vindicated himself first that the Letter was not finished and had neither Date nor Direction since that which was on the back of it Au Roy was added afterwards and by another Hand next that it was written before the Pacification and so was buried by the Oblivion that it was never sent and that it was designed onely that the French King should interpose and mediate for them Upon all this he offered himself to a strict Trial by his Peers in Scotland but added that he being sent by the States of Scotland and come upon His Majesties Warrant was first to be returned a Freeman thither and thereafter to be accused and tried This Accident troubled the Marquis extremely for he knew it would raise Clamours against His Majesties Justice among those who were inclined to misconstrue his Actions and indeed it was highly resented by the Scotish Lords as a violation of the Law of Nations to meddle with any publick Messenger but the King judged no Consideration could warrant his Subjects to commit Treason nor secure them from Trial and Censure when found Guilty There were some ill Instruments about the King who advised him to proceed capitally against Lowdon which is believed went very far but the Marquis opposed this vigorously assuring the King that if that were done Scotland was for ever lost They would then have somewhat to pretend against so much as Petitioning and Treating besides it was against the Laws of Scotland to proceed against a Scotish Peer for a Crime committed in Scotland but by the Peers of Scotland And after all this he assured His Majesty that he knew few of the Covenanters who might be more able to serve the Kings Interest and could be more easily gained than Lowdon And the truth was that Letter was signed by six of the Covenanting Lords but being put in the hands of the Lord Mirtland to sign it as he told the Writer he found it was False French and so it was laid aside for that time and never again taken into consideration but one taking up the Letter brought it to Traquair His Majesty being of himself both Just and Good did reject those cruel Counsels as hurtful to his Service yet Lowdon continued prisoner for some months his Enlargement shall be mentioned in its proper place But how to proceed in the publick Affairs was a hard Chapter A new War with Scotland Which way the Counsels were taken this Winter doth not appear to the Writer but from the Effects Only the Marquis was full of apprehensions foreseeing that it would be impossible
all so that no clear Proof being brought the Parliament could come to no other Decision but that the Lords had good reason to withdraw themselves and so they were invited to return to their place in Parliament But he is again in His Majesties favour This was a tedious business and put a great stop to the Settlement betwixt the King and the Nation but further Particularities are thought needless to be set down since this Matter vanished no effect following on it The Marquis quickly recovered his former â—oom in the Kings Affection so that there remained not so much as a vestige of this cross Adventure Things in Scotland took presently a Settlement and those were called Plotters and Banders after examination and a delivering up of their Bond which was burnt by the hand of the Common Hangman were set at Liberty after some time of further Restraint but the Process of the alledged Incendiaries was to go on yet they were to enjoy their Liberty and undergo no other Censure but the loss of Publick Imployment which though yielded at London was long resisted in Scotland they pretending their Oath to bring them to condign Punishment But as the King was going on with the Settlement of one Kingdom The Rebellion breaks out in Ireland he got the saddest News that ever were heard out of Ireland of the desperate Rebellion and Massacre had broken out there whereupon His Majesty recommended to the Parliament of Scotland the Relief of his oppressed Protestant Subjects in Ireland which they undertook very willingly But because of the interest England had in Ireland Commissioners were appointed to Treat with the Parliament of England for Concluding a Peace betwixt the two Nations and Settling of Trade and particularly about the Terms upon which they should engage in the War of Ireland and so about the middle of November the King having granted to the Scotish Nation all they could demand ended the Parliament there and returned to London about the end of that month But before the Marquis left Scotland he by the Kings particular Command entred in a close Friendship with Argyle considering that besides the great Power of that Family his Interest with the Clergy and Covenanters was such that none could be so useful to His Majesties Service as he And this Friendship was to be twisted closer by a Bond of a near Alliance betwixt their Children But from all the Letters that passed betwixt them yet to be seen it is as clear as can be that all the Marquis his design in this Friendship was for the Kings Service and that all that time Argyle expressed a hearty concurrence in it To gratifie the Covenanters the more the King had created him a Marquis Lowdon was also made Chancellor Lesley Earl of Leven and Lindsay put in a fair way to be Treasurer Traquair being turned out The King at his return to London The King returns to London where he finds matters worse found the Edge he had left on some of their spirits was no way blunted but growing into more sharpness When the Marquis was in Scotland a Member of the House of Commons laying out their Grievances among other things inveighed against Monopolies and spoke so plainly that all understood he meant the Marquis as a Person that deserved to be accused as well as either Strafford or Canterbury but others of that same Cabal took him up sharply And now upon the Kings return his Enemies finding their designs against him could not take with the King in whose Favour he was as much as ever they took a strange Course to destroy him which was to set on some Members of the House of Commons to accuse him as the Incendiary betwixt England and Scotland who had engaged England into all that Expence who had also invited the Scots to march into England and had been always the third in Strafford's and Canterburie's Counsels who had advised the Dissolving of the former Parliament and had oppressed the Subjects by the grants of many Monopolies which he had This was smelled out even by some of the same Cabal who perswaded their Friends to desist shewing them That for his Carriage betwixt England and Scotland an Oblivion was passed in the late Treaty which was ratified by the Parliament of England That for other things though his Engagement in the Court had carried him along to some extreme Counsels yet they said it was well enough known how moderate his Inclinations were how great an Instrument he had been in the late Settlement of Scotland and how much he was hated upon that account and that this was a design to destroy him either out of malice or because some feared his moderate Counsels in England as much as they hated them in Scotland This seems to have flowed from the Friendship which divers of the Leaders in the House of Peers had for him whom he had often obliged and as they were not unsensible nor forgetful of his good Offices so they seem to have had a particular kindness for his Person And while he was in Scotland he kept Correspondence with Mandevil Essex and others and chiefly with the Lord Say and Seale but all their Letters shew that his greatest business with them was to prepare them to a better Correspondence with the King But when the Marquis smelled out the design against him he gave the King an account of it and told him that if His Majesty intended to go on in his Affairs in a Kingly way he would wait on his Commands and expose himself to the displeasure of the House of Commons but if His Majesty intended to settle Matters by an absolute Compliance with the Parliament then he conceived it was fit that his Servants should use their endeavours for their own Preservation that so they might be afterwards useful to his Service yet he said he would do nothing for himself but by His Majesties Allowance and Direction being it is like taught more caution by the Jealousies had been taken from his care of vindicating himself in the Parliament of Scotland The King upon this allowed him to use all means for his own Preservation which he so managed that the designed Accusation came to nothing This particâ—lar His Sacred Majesty vouchsafed to tell the Writter adding that he had it from the Queen His Mother Anno 1642. An. 1642. THe Tumults and Disorders about Whitehall and Westminster rose to that height that the King withdrew to Windsor in the beginning of the year The Scotch Commissioners continued Treating about their engaging for Ireland The Sâ—ots Commissioners animate the Houses to press the change of the Laws about Church-Government which the King pressed forward very earnestly but some of the Commissioners begun to tamper with those who were most opposite to the Court in the Two Houses and in stead of Moderating them were instigating them to persist in their Demands about Religion to get Episcopacy brought down and Presbytery set up To
the first of these most assented but few were cordial for the latter In order to this on the 15th of Ianuary the Scotish Commissioners seconded the Desires of the Two Houses with a Paper which they presented to the King on that Subject and afterwards Printed it The King was highly displeased that they were not satisfied with the Opposition they made him in Scotland with which the King was highly displeafed norwith the Concessions he had granted them there but were now come to foment Troubles in England It was not long since they made loud Complaints against the designed Uniformity with England and the Interest the Englishmen had in managing the Affaiâ—s of the Scotish Kirk and would they now act that part which they had condemned in others They could not alledge that against Episcopacy in England which they pretended in Scotland that it had never been fully nor clearly settled in it or that the stream both of Clergy and Laity had run cross to it the contrary of all that was clear in England where Episcopacy was deeply rooted in their Law And ever since the Reformation for eighty years together the Church of England had flourished under Episcopacy so that it was the wonder and envy of the World till of late that some Brownists and other Sectaries begun to disturb its quiet They knew he declared the Grounds on which he dispensed with Episcopacy in Scotland were not from his own Judgement about it but meerly to comply with their A version to it but the case was very different in England All this he said for giving them satisfaction and it is the sum of what he repeated afterwards upon the like occasions But in the end he told them their Commission was not to mediate betwixt him and the Two Houses and therefore on the 19th of Ianuary he signed the following Order to Lanerick CHARLES R. WE have thought fit to require you to repair to the Commissioners from Our Parliament of Scotland and let them know The King forbids their doing so any more that We expected before they should have interessed themselves in any manner of way betwixt Vs and Our Parliament of England they would according to Our Desire expressed to them by Our Letter of the 13th of this Instant have acquainted Vs with their Resolutions in private and that for the time coming We are very confident out of the respect due to Vs from them and their earnest Desires to shun Mistakes and Disputes they will no way engage themselves in these present Differences without first they communicate their Intentions with Vs in private whereby all Iealousies and Suspicions may be removed and they better enabled to do Vs Service Given at Our Honor of Windsor the 19 th of Ianuary 1641. Directed TO Our Right Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousin and Councellor the Earl of Lanerick Our Secretary for Scotland After this the King sent Mr. Mungo Murray to Scotland with Complaints of the Commissioners signified by the following Letter to the Chancellor Right Trusty and right well-beloved Cousin and Chancellor We Greet you well AS it hath been alwaies Our care and Study to have a right Vnderstanding betwixt Vs and Our Subjects of Scotland and complains of them in his Letters to Scotland so nothing can joy Vs more than to hear the effects thereof to be such as that they in peace and quietness enjoy the benefit of Our Courts of Iustice and that under Our Government they reap the fruits of those sound and wholesome Laws established in that Kingdom by Vs and Our Predecessors for their good and happiness We cannot but take kindly from you your representing unto Vs the Miseries and Afflictions to which Our good Subjects of Ireland are reduced through the inhumane and unheard-of Cruelties of the Rebels there We on Our part have left nothing undone which We thought could express how sensible We are of their Sufferings but the present Distractions of this Kingdom do both delay the sending of those necessary Aâ—sistances and Supplies which they ought to expect from hence and prolong the Treaty with Our Commissioners of Scotland so that if some extraordinary Course be not taken for their present Supply it is not like their Miseries will end sooner than their Days The Consideration whereof induceth Vs to require you to move Our Council that these Forces that are already on foot in Scotland may be presently sent over thither and We will oblige Our Selves to see them readily and punctually paid by this Parliament which if they shall refuse to do We will engage Our own Revenues rather than delay so good and necessary a Work to which purpose We shall issue forth such Commissions and give such Warrants under Our great Seal of England as Our Council of Scotland shall think necessary for their Service and grant all such their Desires for the advancement of this Work as in reason can be demanded from Vs and therefore do require you with all possible diligence to return Vs their Resolutions herein which We are confident will be such as will testifie their Respect to Vs and Affection to their distressed Brethren in Ireland And now We are confident We shall not need to remember you of those Dutiful expressions of Respect and Fidelity you made to Vs at Our late being in Scotland for the same Affection which produced those expressions will induce you to make them good by your Actions We remember well you expressed your readiness to hazard both Life and Fortune for the maintenance of Our Temporal Power and even in matters Ecclesiastick though you wished Vniformity therein betwixt the two Nations yet you would not interest your selves in these Differences further than should be with Our knowledge and good liking We wish Our Commissioners of Scotland had taken that Course and not meddled nor offered to mediate betwixt Vs and this Parliament before they had first made their Intentions known unto Vs in private acâ—ording to Our express Desire nor made their private Advice publickly known unto Both Houses which is now in Print We did conceive the Intention of the Commission granted them by Vs in Parliament was for finishing the remainder of the Treaty for Seâ—tling of Trade and Commerce and keeping a right Vnderstanding betwixt the two Nations not betwixt Vs and Our Parliament here It is true they were to receive their particular Instructions from the Council which We believe to have been limited to these Generals which certainly never could have reached this Particular But we shall pass by this and remember it no more so we may find Our Council hereafter give them no further Warrant to meddle any more betwixt Vs and this Parliament but in so far as We shall first know and approve of it which truely We conceive to be the only Means to shun those Suspicions and Iealousies that might breed any interruption of that happy Vnderstanding that is now established betwixt Vs and that Our Native Kingdom Herein
Hearts to yield much more than the Authority of the Kings Commands who having got notice of it from the Earl of Lindsay wrote down to Scotland peremptorily commanding them to desist from any such pursute if it were begun requiring also his Advocate to appear for them in His Majesties Name if they were pursued The Earl of Lanerick wrote to the King what follows May it please Your Majesty I Shall here Humbly presume to let Your Majesty know that before any of Your Scotish Servants who lately parted with Your Majesty at Oxford Lanâ—rick 's account of Affairs to His Majesty could possibly come hither the Chancellour had made his Report to the Council and Conservatours of the Treaty and Mr. Henderson to the Commissioners of the General Assembly of their Employments to Your Majesty where Your Answers to their Desires were found not satisfactory and thereafter Your Majesties Council Commissioners for the Treaty and Common Burdens having joyned together for giving of Security for such Moneys as should be levyed for the Maintenance of Your Majesties Scotish Army in Ireland they thought fit without admitting of any delay until Your Majesties Pleasure were known to call a Convention of the Estates as their several Acts and Proclamations to that effect here inclosed will more particularly shew Your Majesty And for the present Your Majesties Servants who came lately hither having only met with three or four of those whom Your Majesty appointed them to consult with have thought fit to advise with some others of the same Affection and Forwardness to Your Majesties Service before they presume to give Your Majesty any Advice upon the present Occasions being matters of so great Weight and so highly concerning Your Majesties Service but they have taken the readiest and most speedy Course they can think upon for Meeting and Consulting with them and thereafter are immediately to return hither from whence they will with all diligence offer unto Your Majesty their humble Opinion In the mean time I have dispatched Your Majesties Letters to such Noblemen and Burroughs as Your Majesty was pleased to direct me shewing Your Resolution of preserving here what you have been pleased so Graciously to establish in Church and State not having been able to deliver Your Majesties Letter to Your Council who were dissolved before my coming and my Lord Chancellour is gone out of Town without whose Appointment there can be no extraordinary Meeting so that I believe Your Majesties Gracious Declaration to Your Scotish Subjects cannot be published before that time nor till then can I be able to give Your Majesty any further account of Your Affairs here though in the mean time I shall study to serve Your Majesty faithfully according to the Duty of Your Majesties Most humble and most faithful and most obedient Subject and Servant LANERICK Edinburgh 18th May. 1643. In the end of May there was a Meeting of about thirty Noblemen where these two Questions were proposed The Lords consult what to advise His Majesty First if it were fit for the Kings Service that the Convention should be suffered to hold Next if it held whether those who were well-affected to the Kings Service should fit in it There were three or four Days spent in debating upon these Heads some moved that since by the calling of this Convention the other Party had so far encroached upon the King they should presently break with them this Motion came chiefly from other Lords who would not come to that Meeting But it was answered that the King as he would not give Commissions for raising an Army in England till he knew the Parliament had first done it on their side so it was his positive Pleasure that his Party should not make the first Breach which the King judged so much for his Honour that no Consideration could move him to dispense with it yet these who made that Proposition were desired to lay down ways how it could be made effectual since it was Madness and not Courage to hazard the Ruine of the Kings Service and Friends without at least a likelyhood of being able to carry it through with some Success All things being examined it was concluded that the following Message should be sent to His Majesty which was set down in a Paper dated the 5th of Iune but because of the War in England they committed it verbally to a Trusty Bearer lest it had been intercepted A Convention was indicted by the Chancellour and such others of the Council as have signed His Majesties Letter thereabout with the Advice and Concurrence of the Committees for conserving the Treaty and Common Burdens to be kept at Edinburgh the 22th of June whereby it is conceived His Majesty suffers exceedingly in His Regal Authority in the Calling thereof without his Special Warrant A Proclamation for the Indicting thereof is likewise issued forth in His Majesties Name expressing a danger to Religion His Majesties Person and the Peace of this Kingdom from Papists in Arms in England which in that appears to be contrary to His late Declaration sent to Scotland Hereupon divers Noblemen and Gentlemen well-affected to His Majesties Service met at Edinburgh and after three or four days Debate considering the exigency of Time the present posture of Affairs and the disposition and inclination of the People of this Country did not conceive it fitting that His Majesty should absolutely discharge that Meeting which certainly would be kept notwithstanding of any Discharge from Him which would both bring His Authority in greater Contempt and lose more of the Affections of the People whereby the Power of His Majesties Servants would be lessened but rather that His Majesty should so far take notice of the Illegal Calling thereof and His Own Suffering thereby that the same remaining upon Record may be an evidence to Posterity that this Act of theirs can infer no such Precedent for the like in the future but afterwards His Majesty or His Successors may Legally question the same And that His Majesties Servants here may be better enabled and strengthened with the assistance of others of His Majesties faithful Subjects who truly and really intend nothing but the Security of Religion as it is here established and are altogether averse from and against the Raising of Arms or Bringing over the Scotish Army in Ireland whereby His Majesties Affairs or their own Peace may be disturbed they conceive it fit that His Majesty should permit this Convention to Treat and conclude upon such Particulars as may secure their Fears from any danger of Religion at home without interessing themselves in the Government of the Church of England And in respect that the Two Houses of Parliament have not sent Supplies for Entertaining the Scotish Army in Ireland whereby they may have some colour or ground for recalling them it is conceived necessary that this Convention should have a Power from His Majesty to advise and resolve upon all fair and Legal wayes for Entertaining the
marks of His Majesties Favour and Confidence in the disposal of all Offices and Places at Court that every third time they should be filled with Scotish men together with other particulars not needful to be mentioned But against all this it was objected that those who had the Ascendant in the Councils at Oxford were either Papists or men of Arbitrary Principles and the Clamours that always follow Generals and Armies where there is no certain Pay were carried to Scotland not without great additions against the Kings Forces to possess people with a deep alienation from them It was likewise said that since the King notwithstanding the Declining of his Affairs in England would not grant what was desired there about Episcopacy it might be from thence gathered what he would do if his Arms were successful and therefore all People were possessed with the jealousies of his subverting the whole Settlement with Scotland assoon as he had put the War in England to a happy Conclusion And though it was answered to this that the Kings putting things to hazard rather than sin against his Conscience was the greatest assurance possible that he would faithfully observe what He had granted to this Malicious people said that it would be easie to find distinctions to escape from all Engagements and if the putting down of Episcopacy was simply sinful according to the Kings Conscience then that alone would furnish Him with a very good reason to overturn all since no Men are bound to observe the promises they make when they are sinful upon the Matter And these Reasons did generally prevail with the Covenanters to refuse to joyn with the Kings Party in England therefore they concluded it necessary to Engage with the Two Houses both because the Cause was dear to them it being a pretence for Religion and Liberty It was also said often that they owed their Settlement partly to the backwardness of the Armies the King had raised against them in England and partly to the Council of the Peers who had advised the King to grant a Treaty and afterwards a full Settlement to them And that Paper which was sent down in the Year 1640 as the Engagement of 28 of the Peers of England for their Concurrence with the Scotish Army that year was shown to divers to engage them unto a Grateful return to those to whom it was pretended they were so highly obliged For though the Earl of Rothes and a few more were well satisfied about the Forgery of that Paper yet they thought that a Secret of too great Importance to be generally known therefore it was still kept up from the Body of that Nation And upon these Pretences and Inducements it was that it came to be generally agreed to to enter into a Confederacy with the Two Houses So Fatal did the Breach between the King and his People prove that even when it seemed to be well made up by a full Agreement there was still an after-game of Jealousies and Fears which did again widen it by a new Rupture which to these men seemed at this time unavoidable otherwise they found the ease of a Neutrality to be such that the Men of the greatest Interest in those Councils have often told the Writer they had never engaged again had it not been for those Jealousies with which they were possessed to a high degree There was a Committee of Nine appointed to Treat with the Commissioners the English pressed chiefly a Civil League and the Scots a Religious one but though the English yielded to this yet they were careful to leave a door open for Independency Thus the Treaty with the English Commissioners went on notwithstanding a Letter the King wrote to the Chancellour to be communicated to the Council requiring them not to Treat with them since they came without His Majesties Order but they who had leaped over all other matters could not stand at this And now came to light that which had been a hatching these many Months among the Iunto's which was the Solemn League and Covenant which follows The Solemn League and Covenant of the three Kingdoms WE Noblemen Barons Knights Gentlemen Citizens and Burgesses The Solemn League and Covenant Ministers of the Gospel and Commons of all sorts in the Kingdoms of Scotland England and Ireland by the Providence of God living under one King and being of one Reformed Religion having before our eyes the glory of GOD and the advancement of the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ the Honour and Happiness of the Kings Majesty and His Posterity and the true publick Liberty Safety and Peace of the Kingdom wherein every ones private condition is included And calling to mind the treacherous and bloody Plots Conspiracies Attempts and Practices of the Enemies of GOD against the true Religion and Professors thereof in all places especially in these three Kingdoms ever since the Reformation of Religion and how much their Rage Power and Presumption are of late and at this time encreased and exercised whereof the deplorable estate of the Church and Kingdom of Ireland the distressed estate of the Church and Kingdom of England and the dangerous estate of the Church and Kingdom of Scotland are present and publick testimonies We have now at last after other means of Supplication Remonstrance Protestations and Sufferings for the preservation of our selves and our Religion from utter ruine and destruction according to the commendable practice of these Kingdoms in former times and the example of Gods People in other Nations after mature deliberation resolved and determined to enter into a mutual and Solemn League and Covenant Wherein we all subscribe and each one of us for himself with our hands lifted up to the most high GOD do Swear THat we shall sincerely really and constantly through the grace of GOD endeavour in our several Places and Callings the preservation of the Reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government against our common Enemies the Reformation of Religion in the Kingdoms of England Ireland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Word of GOD and the example of the best Reformed Churches And shall endeavour to bring the Churches of GOD in the three Kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and Vniformity in Religion Confession of Faith Form of Church-Government Directory for Worship and Catechising that we and our Posterity after us may as Brethren live in Faith and Love and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us That we shall in like manner without respect of persons endeavour the extirpation of Popery Prelacy that is Church-Government by Arch-bishops Bishops their Chancellours and Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-deacons and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on that Hierarchy Superstition Heresie Schism Prophaneness and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound Doctrine and the Power of Godliness lest we partake in other mens sins and thereby be in danger to
glad to get it carried on at any rate But many judged the oddest part of it all was their Oath to maintain the Priviledges of both Parliaments since that was never defined and was scarce capable of a Definition and the Priviledges of the Parliament of England were far enough from the knowledge and divination of the Scotish People who in this case must believe all that to be Priviledge which they called so The Covenant was carried up by those trusted with it to the Two Houses to be approved by them and being returned to Scotland the Committee of Estates did by their Printed Act of 22th of October ordain it to be Sworn and Subscribed by all the Subjects under the pain of being punished as Enemies to Religion His Majesties Honour and the Peace of these Kingdoms and to have their Goods and Rents confiscated and they not to enjoy any Benefit or Office within the Kingdom and to be cited to the next Parliament as enemies to Religion King and Kingdoms and to receive what further punishment His Majesty and the Parliament should inflict on them At this time His Majesty sent Mr. Mungo Murray to Scotland to assure his Friends of his Confidence in them who brought the following Letters from the King and Queen to the Duke Hamilton Letters from the King and Queen to the Dukâ— I Find there hath been a great Mistaking about that mark of Favour which I thought fit to bestow upon you the particulars I have commanded Mungo Murray to tell you only this I assure you that my Confidence of you is not lessened from what I commanded your Brother to assure you of in my Name for you shall find me Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Cousin AS soon as I had occasion since my Arrival hither to write to you I have resolved to do it both to assure you of all that I said to you when I was at York as also to tell you that I am none of the least sharers in rejoycing at the Honour the King hath put on you This is a mark of the Confidence He hath in you which I am assured you will make the World see was founded on very good reason The Bearer is a Person who will tell you more than I can write to him I refer my self and shall say no more but that I am Your affectionate Cousin HENRIETA MARIA R. Oxford 28th August The Kings Friends had gone to the several places where their Interests lay to see what likelyhood there was of Raising any Force for advancing the Kings Service by extreme ways and to put a better colour on their Gathering of People together they carried with them the following Letter which was Signed by His Majesty and of which Lanerick was ordered to give an attested Copy to all who were well-affected CHARLES R. RIght Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousin and Councellour The Kings Letter to His good Subjects in Scotland We Greet you well Since nothing on Earth can be more dear to Vs than the Preservation of the Affections of Our People and amongst them none more than those of Our Native Kingdom which as the long and uninterrupted Government of Vs and Our Predecessors over them doth give Vs just reason in a more near and special manner to challenge from them so may they justly expect a particular Tenderness from Vs in every thing that may contribute to their Happiness but knowing what industry is used by scattering Seditious Pamphlets and employing private Agents and Instructions to give bad impressions of Vs and Our Proceedings under a Pretence of danger to Religion and Government to corrupt their Fidelities and Affections and to engage them in an unjust Quarrel against Vs their King We cannot therefore but endeavour to remove these Iealousies and secure their fears from all possibility of any hazard to either of these from Vs We have therefore thought fit to require you to call together your Friends Vassals Tenants and such others as have any dependance upon you and in Our Name to shew them Our Willingness to give all the Assurances they can desire or We possibly grant if more can be given than already is of preserving inviolably all those Graces and Favours which We have of late granted to that Our Kingdom and that We do faithfully promise never to go to the contrary of any thing there established either in Ecclesiastical or Civil Government but that We will inviolably keep the same according to the Laws of that Our Kingdom and We do wish God so to bless Our Proceedings and Posterity as We do really make good and perform this Promise We hope this will give so full satisfaction to all that shall hear of this Our solemn Protestation that no such persons as study Division or go about to weaken the Confidence betwixt Vs and Our People and justly deserve the name and punishment of Incendiaries shall be sheltred from the hand of Iustice and all such others as shall endeavour Peace and Vnity and Obedience to Vs and Our Laws may expect that Protection and increase of Favours from Vs which their Fidelity deserves So expecting your Care hereof We bid you heartily farewell From Our Court at Oxford the 21st of April 1643. These Lords appointed at parting to meet again about the end of August The Lords whom theKing employed meet and send Propositions to the King which accordingly they did and when they met divers told they found much coldness among their Friends Many professed a cordialness to the Kings Service but they had neither Armes nor Ammunition nor saw they a place of Security for a Rendezvouz nor of Safety for a Retreat in case of a Misfortune so that divers of the Noblemen said It was not in their power to bring any with them to the fields but their own Domesticks Whereupon it was agreed by them all to send one Neal Servant to Mr. Murray of the Bed-Chamber to the Marquis of Newcastle to desire him to seize on Berwick which was of great Importance and was at time without a Garison that it might be the Place whither they might bring what Forces they could draw together which was indeed the most proper Place for them since the Counties that lay next it were best-affected They likewise desired my Lord Newcastle to send them such Arms and Ammunition as could be spared them out of the Kings Magazins which were then in his hands they also ordered Neal to go forward from him to Oxford to give the King an account of their Desires that they might be presently supplied He was dispatched on the 29th of August but on the 4th of September my Lord Newcastle wrote back to them a short answer referring them to Neal who in a large one both which are extant told them that my Lord Newcastle said he could spare them neither Armes nor Ammunition and as for Berwick he could not seize on it without bringing Ruine on himself and his Posterity unless
he had a Commission for it under the Great Seal of England it being contrary to the Articles of the late Treaty of the two Kingdoms which was ratified in Parliament At this time the Treaty betwixt the Two Houses in England The Treaty betwixt Scotland and England is concluded and the Convention in Scotland was closed Against the 5th of October a hundred thousand pounds Sterling was to be paid in Scotland and against the Twentieth of that Month an Army of Twenty thousand Horse and Foot was to be on the Borders from Scotland who were to have thirty thousand pounds Sterling a Month for Pay only the hundred thousand pounds Sterling was to serve for the first three Months The General was to be chosen by the Scots the Army was to receive Orders from a Commitee of both Kingdoms no Peace should be treated or concluded without the Scots and the Publick Faith was given by the Convention of Estates in Scotland that their Army should return out of England when a Peace was concluded by both Kingdoms And so the Convention Adjourned till Ianuary having chosen a Committee of Estates to whom they gave full Power in all matters Civil and Military About the middle of September the fairest opportunity of all was lost for the Parliament of England apprehending the hazard of the loss of Berwick sent down some Ships by which Berwick seized on by the Parliament with the Concurrence of the Scots it was presently Garrisoned and the Committee of Estates issued out toward the middle of September Commissions for making of Levies â—hrough the Kingdom so that nothing kept them from Marching but that they heard not of Money from England The Kings Friends were now in the greatest perplexities imaginable they saw his Affairs in a ruining Condition and themselves able to do nothing but regrate it All September passed over ere they had a return from Oxford and since the hope of Berwick was irrecoverably lost nothing remained but Despair The Church-party became daily more resolute and the Kings-party became fainter At length in the beginning of October Mr. Mungo Murray came from Court but brought no present Relief only large hopes of Assistance to follow quickly He also brought Letters from the King both to the Council and the Conservatours of the Peace that to the Conservatours of the Peace follows CHARLES R. RIght Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousins and Councellours Right Trusty and well-beloved Councellours and Trusty and well-beloved The Kings Letters to the Conservatours of the Treaty We greet you well No Industry hitherto could have so far prevailed with Vs as to gain any belief that Our Scotish Subjects would countenance much less assist this bloody Rebellion in England yet We know not how to understand the Levying of Forces both Foot and Horse within Our Native Kingdom and their entring Our Town of Berwick in an hostile manner You are particularly trusted by Vs and Our Parliament and solemnly sworn to be faithful in the discharge of that Trust of seeing the Articles of the late Treaty observed which here is most grosly violated therefore We require you as you will be answerable to God to Vs and Our Parliament to take speedy and present Order for recalling and suppressing those Forces Our most malicious Enemies must bear Vs witness how religiously We have observed these Articles on Our part whereof if We had not been more tender than the advisers of the Breach have been of the Publick Faith it is obvious to any how easily We could have secured that Town from all Rebels We have likewise thought fit to take notice of the private Preparations in that Our Kingdom of Raising an Army by a new Authority to come into Our Kingdom of England under the pretence of securing themselves from a Popish and Prelatical Army falsly alledged to be upon the Borders such Forces as We have there being only for Protecting of Our distressed Subjects from the Incursion of Rebels from their Ships at Berwick and Holy-Island and for no other end Such then as shelter themselves under that Pretext will find from thence but a slender Warrant before God who knows the integrity of Our Heart and how inviolably We intend to preserve all that We have granted to that Kingdom so long as they suffer themselves to be capable of Our Protection and those Favours We do require you not only to oppose and suppress all such unwarrantable Levies but by your Publick Declaration to disabuse those Rebels in England who endeavour to engage you in their Rebellion and expect Assistance from you in all which We look for ready Obedience and expect a present account thereof We bid you heartily farewell Given at Our Court at Oxford the 26th day of September in the 19th Year of Our Reign 1643. The Letter to the Council follows CHARLES R. The Kings Letter to the Council RIght Trusty and Right well-beloved Cousins and Councellours and Trusty and well-beloved Councellours We greet you well Whereas Our desire of preserving Peace within Our Native Kingdom and preventing such Disputes which malicious Instruments might so heighten as to divide Vs and any of Our Scotish Subjects moved Vs by Our Letter of the tenth of June to dispense with the unwarrantable Calling together of the Nobility Commissioners of Shires and Burroughs at Edinburgh the twenty second of June 1643 and so far to give way to the Meeting as to allow them to take into Consideration the best ways of Maintaining Our Scotish Army in Ireland for Suppressing of that bloody Rebellion there since Our Two Houses of Parliament here had failed in the performance of the Treaty concluded upon betwixt the Two Nations for that effect and likewise for such other Particulars as Our said Letter doth more fully contain expecting they would have limited their Resolutions thereunto and paid an equal Gratitude of Duty and Obedience to Vs and Our Iust Commands as We have so lately and so many ways expressed Our Affection to that Our Kingdom in General and so many Members of that Meeting in their own particulars all which notwithstanding they have proceeded to Resolutions as unjustifiable as their Meeting and would engage Our Subjects to an Obedience of their Arbitrary Commands beyond the Power of any of the most Free and Lawful Conventions of the Estates Our Authority and Consent being so absolutely contemned that they have exâ—eeded the Bounds We have prescribed and proceeded to Conclusions of the highest nature without so much as acquainting Vs therewith Such high Indignities to Vs and Our Authority make Vs believe they have forgot they have a King and their Oaths in preserving Vs in Our Iust Power as their King but God will discover and punish such undutiful Thoughts how closely soever they be clouded with pretences of Safety to Religion and Liberty which they know will ever be dearer to Vs than Our Own Preservation Our good Subjects will likewise suffer with Vs by their heavy Taxes upon
most to conduce to Our Honour and the Good and Advancement of Our Service as you will answer for it to Vs at your peril and for your so doing these shall be your Warrant Given at Our Court at Oxford the 26th of September 1643. With these Publick Letters the King wrote to the Duke Hamilton HAving much to say and little time to write The Kings Letter to the Duke I have commanded this Trusty Bearer to supply the shortness of this Letter which though it be chiefly to give trust to what he shall say to you in my Name yet I cannot but assure you by my own Hand that no ill Offices have had the Power to lessen my Confidence in you or my Estimation of you for you shall find me Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Oxford 28th September 1643. The Lords whom the King trusted seeing no present help of Men The Kings Affairs in Scotland decline nor relief of Armes like to come from England were like men desperate and some moved desperate Propositions that according to what had been in some former cases practiced in Scotland there should be Orders given out requiring all to kill the chief Leaders of the Church-party where-ever they could find them setting Prices on their Heads and that with such Orders some of the Blanks should be filled up But the Duke opposed this strongly and said he would take it on him without an Instruction to assure them that he knew His Majesty would rather patiently suffer all things than consent to a Course so barbarous and unchristian As for the practices of some former ruder times these were to be no Precedents now Besides if this were done on the one side they might expect the same Orders would be presently issued out against them from the Comittee of Estates which would bring on an unheard-of Butchery and lay all their Throats open to their Servants whereupon it was laid aside only the Proposition with the Precedents is yet extant and they resolved to see what Force they could bring together under the pretence of their Attendants to the Countess of Roxburgh her Funeral which was to be in the beginning of November But there was some Difference about the Methods of carrying on their designs among these Lords and divers others who were called to their Consultations besides those who were particularly trusted by His Majesty Those whose Fortunes were broken were for brisker Courses and those whose Estates were intire and had the most followers thought it fitter to delay an open Breach as long as was possible This diversity of Opinion raised some Animosities and Jealousies among them so that they fell into a mutual distrust neither was Secrecy though not only enjoyned but sworn closely kept for all their Designs broke out and and yet some who were guilty of this were among the busiest to fasten it on the Duke But the Writer designs only an account of his Affairs without reflecting needlesly on others and therefore here he restrains his Pen. So quickly did their closest Secrets fly abroad that when the Duke was returning home from one of their Meetings a Covenanter Lord came from Edinburgh to meet him on his way and told him to a word all had past at their Meeting as that Lord informed the Writer On the 24th of October the Earl of Traquair went to Court A Message sent to Court by the Earl of Traquair whom the Lords that were trusted by the King had carried along with them in all their Counsels though his Name could not be in the Instructions by reason of the Act that was past against him at the former Parliament With him they sent the following Instructions containing the grounds and steps of their whole Procedure which is the fullest and clearest Dispatch was sent this year most of the other Messages being verbal and so will give great light to the rest It is desired it may be represented to His Majesty that now all He expected from our Affection and Industry here is performed this Summer being spent and he having received no other Prejudice from hence than what might rise from words which we did never pretend to prevent being no ways a Party in the Iudicatories To shew our readiness still to venture our Lives and Fortunes in His Majesties Service which we will make good not only by verbal Expressions but real Actions when we shall see the least probability of Success to His Affairs though to our Ruine To represent the Reasons that hitherto we have not been in Action which have been grounded First upon our Desire of Protracting time the chief thing we had Commission to study in which our Endeavours have not been fruitless Secondly that they not His Majesty should be the first Breakers both a pious just and popular Motive and thirdly our expectation of Supplies both of Men Arms Ammunition and Moneys which we were confident should have been provided for us and without which we never conceived our Strength to be considerable To represent that we would immediately draw our selves together into a Body being thereto authorized by His Majesty if we had the least hope of making it considerable and if we had any proportion of Arms or Ammunition a Place of surety for our Rendezvouz and of safety for a Retreat in case of a Misfortune having by divers Messages represented our Wants and pressed for Supplies with the securing of some Places now lost but still without Success without which many who would joyn with us in this Quarrel of serving His Majesty are unwilling to hazard and divers very considerable and most affectionate Noblemen and Gentlemen have declared that for that reason they cannot bring to that Meeting more than their Domestick Servants so that we justly fear we cannot draw together so considerable a Body as could resist much less offend our Enemies and likewise an impossibility for those and other Noblemen and Gentlemen being only so backed and lying at so great a distance one from another and from the Place which of necessity must be appointed for our Rendezvous to joyn with us And considering these necessities we cannot but be the more tender of going unto present Action seeing His Majesty hath so wisely commanded us to weigh the Consequences of angering before he be able to punish and the Prejudices which may thereby arise to His Service wherein we must proceed as we shall be answerable upon our Perils and therefore we dare not presume to advise the present Engaging of His Majesty by drawing our selves into a Body for many would oppose us seeing then we would be esteemed Rebels within this Kingdom that would be unwilling to go into England which probably cannot be done this Winter though we dare give no assurance thereof but do humbly advise that present Preparation be made for the worst and in discharge of our Consciences and Duties to His Majesty we cannot but represent our Fears of the great Disservices He may receive
they were now coming to Court to be Intelligencers to his Enemies therefore it was necessary to secure him upon his first Arrival and particularly to hinder his access to the King since it was to be feared that his Majesties Affection with his Innocency which they in their Consciences knew was unstained would quickly break through all those Arts that had been contrived for his Ruin The Duke was not ignorant of all that was designed against him The Duke goes to Court nor so totally destitute of Friends as to be let perish without sending him advertisements Any Loyalty less than his would upon such advices have kept out of the way till he had sent his Justification before him and had cleared himself of all Imputations but being confident of his own Innocency he resolved to go on and put all to hazard so on the 16th of December he came to Oxford There was at the Ports an Order left to stop him till the Governour were advertised but the Captain of the Guard thinking he was in the Coach that followed not knowing himself who was on horseback let him pass without stopping him But he was presently followed with an Order from the King and is made Prisoner confining him and his Brother to their Chambers during his Majesties Pleasure The Duke answered that as he had ever given a ready obedience to his Majesties Commands so in this he would punctually obey his Order At night Secretary Nicholas came to him and told him that his Majesty had received an Accusation of a high nature against him and that he could not be answerable to himself if he had not taken this Course with him but that he might expect from him all Favour that in Justice he could grant him and that himself would be graciously pleased to hear as much of his Cause as he could and that all haste should be used in it The Duke answered that he humbly thanked his Majesty for his Goodness thus in general to let him know the Cause of his Restraint and for any favour in that Charge he desired it not but trusted to the King's Justice and his own Integrity only he intreated he might have a speedy Trial. And for his Majesties constant Goodness to him he had no more to return to him but his humble Thanks since he had received greater proofs of it than he had either merited or could ever deserve Next the Secretary called for his Brother who was a little indisposed and told him he had the Liberty of the Town only he might not come to the King 's or Queen's Court without Permission and after that a Guard was set at the Duke's Lodgings with Orders that none might speak with him except in the presence of one of the Secretaries But Mr. Murray of the Bed-chamber had been with him at his first Arrival and the Duke desired him to give the King a full account of his Behaviour in Scotland and of the necessities that his Duty had forced him to when he left the Kingdom and he desired he might have that Justice done him to see the Charge that had been given against him that so he might justify himself since he was absolutely ignorant of it and his own Conscience did not charge him with any Guilt in reference to the King's Service The Duke gets a Copy of his Charge and Answers it At night Mr. Murray returned to him with a very favourable Message from the King expressing his Confidence that he should clear himself of the Charge given against him And by what the Writer could learn it was he that brought him a Copy of the Charge that was drawn up against him for the Duke got the Copy of it before it was put in the due form of an Impeachment being liker a Historical Information presented to the King than a Legal Accusation That Paper was never brought into any Court nor did any thing ever follow upon it for the business went not the length of a Trial yet it seems too important a Transaction of the Duke's Life not to be inserted with the Answers that were drawn to it for assoon as the Duke got it he sent to the best Counsel then at Oxford who drew an Answer to it wholly in point of Law and himself drew an Answer as to matter of Fact and penned a long Speech which he intended to make at his first Appearance But those Papers which do yet remain were afterwards digested into one full Answer and therefore that the Reader may not be wearied too much I shall insert that instead of all the rest setting down the Answer after every Article of the Charge Only I shall here promise what I copied out of an Original Letter of one of the most zealous Covenanters who was a very considerable man among them and one of the Iunto to his Correspondent by which the Reader may judge what he is to think of the Truth of matter of Fact alledged in the Charge I have seen the Charge against the Duke and though he has been a great Enemy to our Cause and Work I cannot but pity him since he suffers from their hands whom he has been serving and after that he adds he is in no hazard if he get Iustice for the Accusation is false and can never be proved This will discover both what the secret thoughts of the Covenanters were of the Duke and how false the Charge was in matter of Fact But the most material Evidences that do clear his Innocence and justifie the Answers to the Charge have been already set down in the former parts of this Work to which the Reader will find some References marked in the Margent The Accusation given against the Duke of Hamilton at Oxford December 1643. THat the Duke of Hamilton hath of a long time yea almost ever since he had any considerable meddling in Business Article 1. endeavoured in the way of a constant and continued Design both by Words and Actions to beget in His Majesties Subjects both a Hate against the Government and a Contempt of His Majesties own Sacred Person as particularly he himself using most contemptible and undervaluing Expressions of His Majesty and His Emissaries Instruments or Creatures suggesting upon the other part all Prejudices to the People as that they were now but a Province unto England and had lost their Liberty and that Scotland was now under a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph The Answer to the former Charge THe Defendant is charged with many things of a high nature Answer some whereof if true will involve him in the guilt of High Treason other particulars infer a breach of Trust and an abusing of His Majesties Confidence in him with several other heinous Aggravations which if true the Defendant acknowledgeth that no Punishment could be found equal to his Guilt and in a matter wherein his Life his Fortune his Honour and Posterity lye at stake it cannot seem strange if the Defendant plead in
Letter the Earl of Airly wrote him See p. 140. which he got after His Majesty called the two Regiments from the Fleet and about that time His Majesty commanded him to stop all Hostilities and give attendance on His Person See p. 123. He had likewise express Orders from His Majesty not to think of the North till some good were done in the South and it is most falsly alledged that when he was there See p. 117. he abandoned the Marquis of Huntley who was taken Prisoner before either he or his men were Shipped and the Orders he sent that Marquis were by His Majesties express Commands founded on very good reason that he should not make a Rupture till His Majesties Forces were drawn together and near the Borders lest as by the event did appear the Enemy should have overpowered him if he begun too soon and as the Defendant hath been informed that Business was ruined not by the Restraint these Orders gave but by the Treachery of some of the Defendant's Accusers who were then in Arms against him See p 135.137 and took that Marquis under Trust. And when the Viscount of Aboyn came to the Defendant with His Majesties Letters which were of a very old Date he was supplied to his hearts desire as himself professed His Majesty had before his coming called away two of the Regiments that were with the Defendant and he had Orders not to weaken the other so false is it that he had Orders to send Byron's Regiment to the North but he gave the Viscount of Aboyn some experienced Officers Arms Ammunition and Money And the Defendant hath been well informed that the Miscarriage of that Attempt did not flow from those he sent with that Lord but that being encountred by Souldiers commanded by some of the Defendant's Accusers his Lordship betook himself to his heels but the others whom the Defendant sent with him behaved themselves gallantly and laid all the blame of their bad success on that Lord. It is also false that Byron's Regiment was kept to die below Decks since from the time they went aboard till they were discharged there died not ten of their number so false is this Article in all its branches and assertions Charge That in all his demeanour he went about to advance the designs of that People against the King Article 5. as by secret encouraging them to persist in their obstinate Courses so by private discouraging of well-affected men to persevere in their Allegeance and in particular did advise some Noblemen who craved his Opinion how they should behave themselves in these Distractions to agree with the Country and go home and make their own Peace Like-as after the Pacification at Berwick continuing in his wonted strain of incensing in an underhand way the People against their King being demanded why he denuded himself of his former Commission his Answer was because he knew the King intended to keep nothing of that which at that time he had condescended unto otherwise he would not easily have parted with the Honour of that Service By which he did so wound the King in the Opinion of His Subjects of the sincerity of His Intentions That as no one thing did at that time breed more rubs and difficulties to His Majesties Service so is there nothing by which the People are more readily and easily stirred up to the present Rising in Arms than the Opinion they then and by his continual underhand working have since drunk in of the King's Intention to reverse in case he should prevail in England all the Acts and Favours he had condescended unto to His Subjects of Scotland Answer The Answer to the fifth Article To the fifth Article the Defendant says he ever studied by all the means that became a good Subject and Countryman to bring the Differences betwixt His Majesty and His Subjects to a happy Temper and he desires the Malice of his Accusers in forming this Article as all the rest be considered wherein base Discourses and Advices are fastned on him without naming the Persons to whom they were given and in this he cannot but commend his Accusers Prudence who have named no Person till they have tried upon whom they can so far prevail as to be guilty of the wickedness of owning such Lies The Defendant can prove the contrary by many in whose Preservation it is to be supposed he is more concerned than in any they can name with whom he used his utmost endeavours to perswade them to adhere closely to His Majesties Interests which prevailed on some though not on all nor did he advise any to agree with the Country till he knew His Majesty was resolved to end the Business in a Treaty in which case it could be no Crime to advise any to make their own Peace nor did he ever infuse into any Person a jealousie that His Majesty would void the happy Settlement of Scotland sure he is he said and did all was in his power to root these jealousies out of the Subjects minds which he can prove by innumerable Witnesses and Presumptions and no man durst say he heard any of the Discourses mentioned in the Article from the Defendant if he were in a capacity to call him to an account for it Nor did he desire to be free'd of his Commissionon the account that is falsly alledged in this Article but finding his continuing in that Place gave a Jealousie not only to the Country See p. 146. but to the Counsellours and Officers of State as if too great a Trust had been heaped on one Person and apprehending that the expence and greatness of that Character continuing long in one man would breed Envy and much retard his Majesties Service he desired a fitter Person might be put in that High Trust and that he might be suffered to continue about His Majesties Person who he supposes does remember well upon what grounds he desired to be free'd of that Great but Invidious Character thus this Article is also intirely false Charge That in the Petition to His Majesty for discharging the Annuity which was not so much pretended for that Article 6. as to be a pretext under which a firm Bond and Association might have been contracted amongst all Loyal Subjects for the Preservation of the Kings Person Honour and Authority and a strict Conjunction amongst themselves he could not be induced to put his hand to it until a Clause conceived in favours of His Majesty to the effect above-expressed as too great an eye-sore was dasht out and the same thus dashed being sent up to Court and the desire of the Petition most Graciously condescended unto by His Majesty and delivered unto the Earl of Lanerick chief Secretary the same was kept up to the great amazement of all those Noblemen and Gentlemen who had signed the same and total discouragement of others to appear in that or any such Course thereafter Answer To the sixth Article the
that he might make trial of all those large professions of Affection and Duty they had alwayes made This Design was communicated to the Earl of Lauderdale then at London but he as he informed the Writer studied to disswade His Majesty from it assuring him that he knew the Army and the Church-party whiâ—h then prevailed in Scotland would not be firm to him unless he yielded to their Demands about Religion but notwithstanding that upon some slender Assurances got from Mons. de Montrevil Agent from the French King His Majesty went to the Scotish Army the particulars whereof and of the subsequent as well as fore-going Publick Affairs not being the chief business of these Memoires little more is any-where toucht of them than what is necessary for making out the thread of the Dukes Concerns so as it may set them in their true light The Commissioners are sent to him from Scotland Assoon as this was known at Edinburgh the Committee of Estates which was then sitting sent the Earl of Lanerick and some others to wait on His Majesty with great expressions of their Duty and good Intentions protesting how dear the Preservation of His Sacred Person and His Just Power and Greatness should ever be to them wherefore they expected His Majesty would give full satisfaction to the Just Desires of His Subjects and as a preparation to this that He would recall any Commissions He had given against the Kingdom of Scotland But these Commissioners were ordered to do nothing that might raise Jealousies betwixt the Kingdoms and therefore were to Treat joyntly with such Commissioners as should be sent from the Two Houses And as they of Scotland sent their Commissioners with these Instructions yet extant so they emitted a Proclamation forbidding any to go out of the Kingdom without Publick Permission which was done to hinder those of the Kings Party from coming to him What Reception my Lord Lanerick had from His Majesty doth not appear to me but I find he was very quickly as well seated in the King's Affection and Confidence as ever On the 13th of May the Scotish Commissioners presented their first Paper which went not beyond general things containing a Welcome with an offer of their Service according to the Covenant But in their next Paper they pressed the King to send a Message to his Two Houses for a Happy Peace who press the King to settle matters not being satisfied with that Letter he had formerly written to the Speaker of the House of Peers since no grounds were laid down for a Pacification a Treaty being only in general terms desired Of all these Papers that passed the Originals do yet remain Next day the King called both for the chief Officers of the Army The King complains of the ill usage he met with and the Commissioners sent to him out of Scotland and in presence of Mons. de Montrevil did expostulate That whereas He had come to their Army upon the Assurances Mons. de Montrevil had given him that He should be safe in His Person Honour and Conscience the two last were not kept for he was pressed to settle Religion as they desired wherewith his Conscience was not satisfied next His Subjects had not free access to Him but Proclamations were issued out forbidding them to come to Him neither was the Ceremony due to Him as King suffered to be paid Him at His entry to Newcastle and lastly His Servants were not suffered to wait on Him And His Majesty attested Montrevil if those conditions were not made to Him who confidently affirmed it in all their presence and that he had the authentick Assurances in French The Commissioners retired to think of an answer but when they returned they desired His Majesty would put Montrevil to it to declare what those Assurances were and who gave them but this was not done Next they said they would not Treat with the King in his Presence nor admit of the interposition of any Foreign Agents betwixt them and their Native Prince And the Commissioners of the Army resolved that no suspected Person should be suffered to wait on the King with which His Majesty was highly displeased and for some days would not eat in publick but only in his Chamber But because there were many in the Army who would have engaged cordially for the King on any terms to lesâ—en the apprehension of this they got a Petition to be signed by almost all the Considerable Officers of the Army yet extant that His Majesty would settle Religion according to the Covenant and that He would enter into it Himself and authorize it by His Command On the 18th of May His Majesty wrote another Letter to the Two Houses desiring them to send Propositions for Peace and in order to that The King moves for a Treaty He again offered to put the Militia into their hands for 7 years as had been offered at Vxbridge He demanded also a Safe-conduct for sending Orders to stop all further Proceedings in Ireland since He was resolved to leave the management of that War wholly to the Two Houses He shewed His Letter to the Scotish Commissioners but because it contained no Offer about Religion they were not satisfied with it yet it was sent The next thing the Commissioners from Scotland moved was that His Majesty would recall the Commissions He had given out against the Scotish Nation for the clearing whereof somewhat must be resumed that passed in those years which I have run over so hastily In the beginning of the year 1644. the King gave a Commission to the Marquis of Montrose A short Account of Montrose's Affairs to see what could be done in Scotland by Force for diverting the Army that was then entring into England He had great hopes of making a strong Party in Scotland and doubted not but he should be able with the Assistance Antrim undertook to send him out of Ireland to give the Scotish Army work enough at home but his hopes failed him for all were so over-awed by the Power of the Covenanters that none would stir till about the end of the year Some came out of Ireland but far short of the number that was promised and with these and a few of the Scotish Nation he adventured to disturb the Covenanters the particular Narration of whose Enterprizes is not to be here prosecuted This was judged by all a bold and desperate Attempt for as his Force was small so they wanted Arms and every thing necessary Some of the Wisest of the Covenanters advised them not to engage with him in any Action except on terms full of advantage but to follow him up and down whither he went securing the Country from Spoil and Plunder for they judged that his Men being so unprovided as they understood they were would not hold out long in the Hills but be forced either to lay down their Arms or break out in Mutinies among themselves whereby they should have been starved with
small Trouble except the loss of some Time which this lingring Course would have cost whereas if they fought with them it was to be feared that the Irish with some Scotish Highlanders and other Gentlemen that joyned with Montrose being desperate would be too hard for such raw Souldiers as would be drawn together to oppose them for the Covenanters resolved not to bring any of their Forces out of England or Ireland till they were forced to it by necessity Besides the Plague at that time had broken in upon Scotland and swept away many thousands which filled all Places with so much fear and horrour that the hearts and hands of all did fail them and so a faint Resistance was to be expected in such a general Consternation But the more forward did not relish these Advices and many Church-men being full of hopes of Success and the opinion of Gods Favour to their Way were for engaging into present Action This Advice was plausible for they hoped for a speedy issue of it whereas Delays drew a vast expence on the Nation This their errour cost them dear and opened a way for a great deal of Honour to Montrose who managed his small Force with as much Conduct as Success and carried all down before him with a torrent of Victories till at length after his last Victory at Kilsyth the High-landers loaded with Prey would needs go home to their Lurking-holes which he could not resist his Authority over them being but precarious And instead of retiring with them into the Hills he came down into the South-Country with the little handful that adhered to him in hopes that many should have flockt about his Victorious Standard but he was generally hated by the Vulgar so powerfully had the Excommunications and Thunders of the Church wrought upon them Besides many Outrages had been committed by his Irish and High-land Souldiers which had been indeed resisted by him as much as was possible but having no Pay to give them he durst not exercise that severity of Martial Discipline which had been otherwise necessary Yet all was imputed to his Orders by his Enemies which made him very odious to the generality of those who knew him not and hence it was that wise men did not hope for a good account of the Kings Affairs from this Design therefore he was not assisted with such Forces as he had promised himself from the Kings Friends in the South-Countrey But he was become too secure of Victory and began to apprehend the Fame of his former Conquests was able to scatter any Force could be brought against him therefore notwithstanding some Advertisements he had of Lieutenant General Lesley's coming down with a good Body of Horse from the Scotish Army in England he still remained in the low Countrey till he was surprized and routed of a sudden Then he went again to the Hills but there he saw how groundless it was to expect any real Aid from those wild and disorderly People he traversed to and again through the Hills sparing neither Labour Industry nor Art to draw together new Forces but was never able to effectuat it a small Body of a few hundreds being all the Strength he could ever make only he was in hopes of great matters And thus it continued till this time that the Scotish Commissioners moved the King for recalling his Commission His Majesty was willing to grant this only he desired he might have liberty to send for him with a Safe-conduct and that he might be suffered to kiss his Hand after which he should go beyond Sea never again to return without their Consent But to this they would not hearken wherefore His Majesty being constrained to yield to all their Demands His Majesty call in his Commissions to Montrose did by Proclamation call in his Commission and sent a Gentleman with Orders to him and such as were with him to lay down their Arms immediately To this Montrose answered by a Dispatch yet extant dated the second of Iune that as he had proposed nothing to himself in all he had done but His Majesties Service so he was not now to dispute his Obedience to His Commands Only he desired that Security might be granted for those Gentlemen who had hazarded their Lives for the Kings Service that they might not be laid open to the Fury of their Enemies but might live at quiet in their own Houses and as for such as were counted unpardonable he desired they might have Passes to go beyond Seas and at this it stuck for some time When this was done His Majesty began to be importuned from all hands to settle Religion according to the Covenant The King is much pressed to take the Covenant Addresses being made to him for that effect both from the Army the Commissioners sent from Scotland the Committee of Estates in Scotland and the Commissioners from the General Assembly But to all those the King answered That when he was satisfied in Conscience with the lawfulness of what they desired then but never till then could he grant their Demands wherefore he said he was willing to enter in Conference with any they should appoint Protesting that if he got satisfaction to his Conscience in those two Points the one being that he judged Episcopacy of Divine Appointment and the other that by his Coronation-Oath in England he was tied to the Defence of the Church as it was then established he should not be ashamed to change his Iudgement and alter his Resolutions Whereupon Mr. Henderson was pitched upon as the man of greatest Abilities and Discretion for that task and during the Month of Iune Papers passed to and again betwixt the King and him of which they being so often published I shall say no more but that from these it appears had His Majesties Armes been as strong as his Reason was he had been every way unconquerable since none have the dis-ingenuity to deny the great advantages His Majesty had in all these Writings And this was when the help of his Chaplains could not be suspected they being so far from him And it is indeed strange to see a Prince not only able to hold up with but so far to outrun so great a Theologue in a Controversie which had exercised his thoughts and studies for so many years And that the King drew with his own Hand all his Papers without the help of any is averred by the Person who alone was privy to the interchanging of them that worthy and accomplished Gentleman Sir Robert Murray who at that time was known to His Majesty and he discovering in him those great parts and excellent qualities that recommended him to the love and esteem of all vertuous persons that knew him honoured him with a great deal of Freedom and it was believed few were more in the Kings Favour than he was him therefore did His Majesty imploy in that exchange of Papers being all written with his own Hand and in much less
to come and wait on Him And for the Militia the Scots had declared themselves satisfied with the Kings Concessions about it wherefore He desired they would stick to Him according to their Promises As for Religion He desired they would represent to those who were best-affected how dangerous it would be to insist too much on that at this time when the greatest hazard was from the Sectaries and that His Majesties consenting to a temporary Establishment of what they craved did put them in a fair way to their Desires And beside all this it was recommended to them to procure a delay of the Desire for an answer to the Propositions till the 16th of September When these Instructions were given them the King desired their promise first of Secrecy next of Fidelity in discharging what was intrusted to them for the second they undertook it but refused the first except the King also promised Secrecy His Majesty presently apprehended their Design was that the Duke and his Brother might understand nothing of their Imployment and finding it was a thing wherein neither of them was concerned He thought it unfit to disoblige Argyle by that Refusal since he was so able to serve him if he should be Cordial in it and He was secure of the two Brothers that if they mistook His Reservedness it would be easie for Him to clear Himself afterwards Yet this Secret was ill-kept among them for the Earl of Lauderdale had notice of it as he told the Author before they came to London but opposed much the seeking a Delay to a prefixed day since he knew that could not be granted without adding a dreadful Sanction of Deposing the King in case a favourable Answer came not against the day appointed and found it would be easier to procure a Delay by other Methods than by asking it The Duke and his Brother were much troubled with the Kings Reservedness in that Affair but assoon as they understood the ground of it they were satisfied But what success that Negotiation had or how it was managed doth not appear to me from any of the Duke's Papers In the beginning of August the Duke went to Scotland where his greatest Care was to see what could be done to get the Committee of Estates to be satisfied with the Kings Concessions The Duke deals with the Committee of Estates to get them to acquiesce in His Majesties Concessions representing to them how they did at once put England in the possession of the desired Church-Government and set the other out of the way which was a great stop to their full satisfaction He desired they would consider how inhumane and unchristian it was to force the Kings Conscience and how much it favoured of the Violence they had lately condemned in the Bishops It was visible that nothing but Conscience could be imagined to lye in the way of the Kings Accepting the Propositions and were His Majesty like many Princes to swallow down all things and belch them up at their Pleasure there would be less ado made but the Kings sticking at what He could not yield did abundantly secure them of His making good to them all that was promised On the other hand they were to consider that if they should now desert the King and bring their Army out of England it would make them odious through the whole World and the payment of the Arrears of their Army would pass under a far worse Character Besides England was divided and the Party that was most prevalent among them waâ— the Independent with the other Sectaries who would never carry on the Settlement of Religion and by their present carriage at London it appeared what Friendship they had for Scotland wherefore he moved earnestly that their Army should not be brought out of England till a firm Peace should be established according to the first Treaty Anno 1643. but was opposed by the Ministers This did shake many but some of the Leading Church-men were not satisfied with this and represented to their Party that all this was said smoothly to engage them to the Kings Quarrel which they were resolved never to do till the Covenant were taken by Him Neither were they well-satisfied with the Duke for his being instrumental in the Agreement with Montrose and his Party and it was preached to his face that all the Bloud that was lately shed would lye on them and their Posterity who for the pleasing of men had procured such Favour to the Enemies of God and of his Cause and People In the end of August they sent the Duke with the Earls of Crawford and Casilis and some others to deal with His Majesty for a speedy granting of the Propositions The Duke is sent to the King to obtain from him the granting the Propositions and to represent to him all the inconveniences that followed even upon a Delay much more upon a Denial The Duke had no willingness to the Employment misdoubting the Success and knowing his engaging avowedly in such a Message would be misrepresented but there was no avoiding of it for had he declined it he would have been suspected of being an ill Instrument and of Aversion from the thing which would have disabled him much from going on with the Kings Service They came to Newcastle in the beginning of September where they discharged themselves of their Commission to the full But the King answered them in the following Paper yet extant under His Majesties Hand My Lords I Shall begin by answering what you have now said for I assure you I had not thus long delayed My Answer The Kings Answer to their Desires but to weigh fully those Reasons and Arguments which you have laid before Me whereby to use the uttermost of My Endeavours to give you all poâ—sible Satisfaction for you having told Me nothing but what I have heard before the change of Answer could hardly be expected And now I do earnestly desire you to consider what it is that I desire which is To be heard which if a King should refuse to any of His Subjects He would for that be thought a Tyrant For this if I had but slight Reasons it were the less to be regarded but they are such upon which such a Peace as we all desire doth depend for albeit it is possible that if I should grant all you desire a Peace might be slubbered up yet it is impossible that it should be durable unless there should be a right Vnderstanding betwixt Me and My People which cannot be without granting of what I desire Yet I desire to be rightly understood for though many like to Esops Fable will call Ears Hornes yet let men say what they will I am far from giving you a Negative nay I Protest against it My only Desire being to be heard for I am confident that upon Debate I shall so satisfie them in some things as likewise I believe they may satisfie me in many things that we shall come to
a most happy Agreement This I believe is not much neeâ—ful to satisfie your Iudgements for I am not ignorant how really yâ—ur Commissioners at London have endeavâ—ured a satisfactory Answer to My Message as likewise what good Instructions have been sent them â—ut of Scotland so that the force of Power more than the force of Reason hath made you so instant with Me as you have been with which I am so far from finding fault that what you have done I take well knowing it proceeds out of the abundance of your Zeal to My Service therefore as you see I do not mistake you so I am careful not to be mistaken by you Wherefore again I desire you to take notice that I do not give a Denyal My Desire being only to be heard as likewise that you will take things as they are since neither you nor I can have them as we would wherefore let us make the best of every thing and now as you have fully performed your Duty to me so I cannot doubt but you will continue to press those at London to hear Reason And certainly you can little expect fair dealing from those who shall reject so much Reason and of that sort which you have and I hope will offer to them Not to stay you too long upon so unpleasing a Subject I assure you that nothing but the Preservation of that which is dearer to Me than My Life could have hindred Me from giving you full satisfaction for upon My word all the dangers and inconveniences which you have laid before Me do not so much trouble Me as that I should not give full satisfaction to the Desires of My native Country especially being so earnestly pressed upon Me. And yet here again I must tell you for in this case repetitions are not impertinent that I do not give you a Denyal nay I protest against it and remember it is your King that desires to be heard To this Paper I shall adde another given by His Majesty to the Committee then at Newcastle but by the Copy extant written with Lanerick's hand it doth not appear when it was sent them The Paper follows My Lords Another Paper of His Masties to the same purpose 'T Is a very great grief to Me that what I spoke to you Yesterday and offered to you in Writing concerning Religion hath given so little satisfaction yet lest the Reasons I then told you should not be so fully understood I think it necessary at this time to set them down to you in this Paper I then told you that whatsoever was My particular Opinion I did no ways intend to perswade you to do any thing against your Covenant wherefore I desire you to consider whether it be not a great step to your Reformation which I take to be the chief end of your Covenant that Presbyterial Government be Legally settled It is true I desire that My Own Conscience and those that are of the same opinion with me might be preserved which I confess doth not as yet totally take away Episcopal Government but then consider withall that this will take away all the superstitious Sects and Heresies of the Papists and Independents to which you are no less obliged by your Covenant than the taking away of Episcopacy And this that I demand is most likely to be but temporary for if it be so clear as you believe that Episcopacy is unlawful I doubt not but God will so enlighten Mine eyes that I shall soon perceive it and then I promise you to concurr with you fully in matters of Religion But I am sure you cannot imagine that there is any hope of Converting or Silencing the Independent Party which undoubtedly will get a Toleration in Religion from the Parliament of England unless you joyn with Me and in that way I have set down for the re-establishing My Crown or at least that you do not press Me to do this which is yet against My Conscience until I may do it without Sinning which as I am confident none of you will perswade Me to do so I hope you have so much Charity not to put things to such a desperate Issue as to hazard the loss of us all because for the present you cannot have full satisfaction from Me in Point of Religion Not Considering that besides the rest of the Mischiefs which may happen it will infallibly set up the innumerable Sects of the Independents nothing being more against your Covenant than permitting of those Schisms to encrease As for the Message which I think fit at this time to send I have chosen rather to mention the Point of Religion in a general than particular way lest not knowing all these Reasons which I have set down to you which are most unfit for a Message it may give less satisfaction than I desire Nevertheless I do conjure you by that Love and Loyalty you have always professed unto Me that you make use of what I offered Yesterday in Writing with these Reasons which I have now set down to you and those further Hopes I have now given you for the best advantages of My Service With this particular Explanation That whereas I mentioned that the Church-Government should be left to My Conscience and those of My opinion I shall be content to restrict it to some few Diocesses as Oxford Winchester Bristol Bath and Wells and Exceter leaving all the rest of England fully to the Presbyterian Government with the strictest Clauses you shall think upon against Papists and Independents POSTSCRIPT I require you to give a particular and full account hereof to the General Assembly now sitting in Scotland shewing them that I shall punctually make good My last Letter to them and that this is a very great step to the Reformation desired not only by the present putting down all Sects and Independents but likewise presently establishing Presbyterian Government â—oping that they as Ministers of Gods Word will not press upon Me untimeously the matter of Church-Government and Discipline until I may have leisure to be so perswaded that I may comply with what they desire without Breach of Conscience which I am confident they as Church-men cannot press me to do The Duke left nothing unsaid that could be devised The Duke seeing matters desperate resolves to retire out of Britain to prevail with the King for satisfying Scotland in the point of Religion assuring him that he found a great willingness in them to serve him in all other things should he yield to them in that one That for the point of the Militia they would study to bring it to what the King desired and in the point of the Delinquents they would labour to get it brought to that in which the Process of the Incendiaries in Scotland had ended that they should only be secluded from Trust but he assured him he found it impossible to make them abate a tittle of the Demand of Religion Yet His Majesty continued on his former
Discontent Constructions which are not possible for him to make but obvious to malevolent humours That although you should not be suspected to be any ways accessory to disloyal Courses it will be said you are one of those who could have best hindred them That your Countrey and Friends may say you have deserted them in their greatest Exigences and that Differences may be reconciled betwixt His Majesty and His Subjects by the endeavours of others These Commands were both peremptory and obliging so that they could not fail of conquering all his Resistance and carrying his Obedience after them which were strengthened from the Letter he had at that same time from Her Majesty which follows Cousin THe account the King hath given me of your Aâ—fection for His Interest and those marks of it which from other hands have met me do so sensibly affect me that without any difficulty or scruple I do now entertain you with my Acknowledgments and Resentments of it before I have heard from you and I assure you of the satisfaction I shall ever have of the Continuance of it from you which I shall desire may be as intire and full as the Returns I shall study to make to you being resolved to lay hold on all occasiâ—ns by which I may discover my Friendship for you and to express the Esteem I have of your Friendship by all means that may depend on my cares which I shall imploy in giving you day by day new Proofs that I am and ever shall be Your affectionate Cousin and Friend HENRIETA MARIA R. St. Germanes 22th September Upon these Intreaties and Assurances he was made to change his purpose though he could not so easily part with his Melancholy thoughts which he expressed in this following Letter May it please Your Sacred Majesty THe Reasons You were pleased to offer to my Brother And writes to the King and Sir Robert Murray for diverting my Resolution of leaving Your Majesties Dominions at this time were I confess of strength enough to have fixed me in any place of the World where Your Majesties Service was concerned but now seeing Your Majesty hath honoured me so much as by Your Gracious Letter Your Self to shew me still Your dislike thereof how dare I dispute what Your Majesty thinks unfit and now Sir the Thoughts I formerly had of leaving as it were the World because I would not be a witness of what I feared Your Majesties Fall since as I conceive I could not be instrumental to Your Service or Preservation upon the Grounds Your Majesty went on shall be changed into a Resolution of being most miserable in Your Dominions if it shall not please God to deliver You out of those Difficulties Your Majesty is in for I take God to witness upon Your Happiness depends my greatest worldly Ioy how unfortunately soever I have of late been misunderstood And though I cannot promise my self so much good Fortune as to prove useful to Your Majesty yet I dare and do engage for a cheerful Willingness and perfect Fidelity in Your Majesties Service and trust that God in his Mercy will so direct Your Majesty as by timeously granting the now necessary and most pressing Demands of Your Kingdoms the great Evils will be prevented that threaten Your Sacred Self the Queens Majesty and Your Royal Posterity and likewise that of having any other Guard to attend Your Royal Person than such as shall be approved of by You or Your Majesties being necessitated to retire into Scotland vpon the return of the Scotish Army where I apprehend Your Majesties Entertainment will not answer Your Expectation nor prove at all advantagious to Your Service More I will not presume to say but shall really study in all things to serve Your Majesty and ever give such ready Obedience to Your Commands as becometh Your Majesties most faithful most loyal and most obedient Subject and Servant HAMILTON Kinneel 6th Octob. 1646. A day or two after His Majesty received this Letter He wrote the following Letter to my Lord Lanerick the Post-script whereof seems to relate to the Letter he had received from his Brother Lanerick BEfore now I had not matter to write to you and now I have so much that I shall say the less leaving this inclosed to speak for me But thus much I must assure you of that I have herein gone the utmost length as you call it to give all possible Satisfaction for upon my word one jot further cannot be gone by Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Newcastle 15th Octob. 1646. POSTSCRIPT Tell your Brother that it were a fault to him to trouble my Self in Complementing with him and indeed to either of you any ways to doubt but that you will make the best use you may of what I now send you for my Service The inclosed Paper is to be found among His Majesties printed Messages to the Two Houses and therefore it is not inserted here But the satisfaction the King had in the Dukes consenting to stay still in Scotland appears by the end of the next Letter he wrote to himself Hamilton THis is rather to perform my Promise to a Lady than that I believe it to be needful in respect of you for I know you naturally so much favour all my Friends and know so well the great Estimation I have of the Earl of Brainford beside what hath been told you concerning him by your Brother Lanerick by my Directions that I am certain without this you will favour his business what you can and since I am writing I must say that there is no particular Mans business wherein you can give me so much Contentment as this of which I need say no more but only that you will shew his Wife that my Recommendation to you of her Lords Affairs is real and hearty Nor can I end this without taking notice to you of the Contentment I had that my last Letter to you had the wished for operation for besides the obtaining my end which several ways is satisfactorily useful to Me I see that all men have not forsaken Reason or at least that I am sometimes in the Right as I am confident you will make appear the great Reason I have to be Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. But to return to Publick Affairs the Duke at his coming to Scotland The Duke labours to engage Scotland for a Personal Treaty procured new Instructions to be sent to their Commissioners at London to press a Personal Treaty and that the King might be with Safety and Honour in England and that it might be declared that the Government of England should still continue according to the Fundamental Laws The chief business at Westminster was to be rid of their Brethren of Scotland wherefore they fell a-treating about the Removal of the Army and the Delivery of the Garrisons The Scots demanded five hundred thousand pounds Sterlâ—ng and of that Sum two hundred thousand pound
that particular Freedoms should be esteemed Publick Obligations yet if they think they have so great a catch of it so that Scotland will declare for Me I will stand to the least tittle of these Instructions nothing being omitted according to their plain Grammatical sense As for the Officers of State certainly My Advocate will clear that Mistaking for all the Alteration concerning them is only for the better Conformity of that Paper which he brought from London And for the Great Seal upon the perusal of all My Papers I have not wit enough to find from whence the ground of going less can be taken but for Religion I know not what to say except endeavouring to be civil be termed a going less if so that fault shall be soon helped And indeed I cannot but think it strange that rather than to comply any thing with My Conscience you will I speak not personally to you but to the Kingdom in general submit to the Wills of those who at least can never prove your Friends and that to the visible Prejudice I may say more both of you and Me though I express My endeavouring to content you by shewing you more than a probable way for attaining your Pretensions which you make altogether desperate by rejecting My Offer And truly I am confident not to be single to think your Exceptions strange for first civil Ingenuity uses not to be misliked then I rather expected Thanks for giving of some time to Presbyterial Government than to have the Limitation of it objected against Me especially since that without Me it cannot be established And is it unfit for Me to have what is granted to all Publick Ministers by the Law of Nations Yes I cry you mercy for Kings use to dispense not to be dispensed with And why will ye not have Twenty Divines of My Nomination to speak amongst your grave Assembly Is it that you misdoubt your Cause or that you will not have it disputed neither of these Reasons can I submit to a third I cannot find Lastly as for your Covenant when and not before I shall be satisfied in My Conscience that I may allow it I will but I see no way for that satisfaction unless by such a Conference as I have proposed Now for sad Consequences I know no Antidote so good as a clear Conscience which by the Grace of God I will preserve whatsoever else happen to Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Newcastle 14th December 1646. POSTSCRIPT I have so much work now that if you had ten Brethren what I have written is enough for them all A few days after this His Majesty sent His last Message to the Two Houses to be presented to the Scotish Parliament with which he wrote the following Letters to the two Brothers Hamilton I Thank you for the timeous advertisement you and your Brother have sent Me by this Bearer whom I have returned to you with some Queries which I desired a Friend of yours to write more at large to you than I have now time for to which and to this Bearer referring you I rest Your most assured real faithful constant Friend CHARLES R. Newcastle December 19th 1646. Lanerick SInce I saw by what Sir James Hamilton brought Me from you what Reception My intended Message to London was likely nay sure to have and since My Conscience will not permit Me a further Length I know not what I may do upon a full and free Debate at London I have sent another the Copy whereof is here inclosed which I expresly send you to acquaint the Scotish Parliament with what I have done and to desire their Assistance in it in which knowing that your Fidelity needs no spurs nor your Ability information what to say I will say no more but that I am Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Newcastle 19th Decemb. 1646. But as for the inclosed Message it being Printed among His Majesties Messages it is needless to insert it here And now came on the fatal Turn of matters in Scotland which shall be set down from a Letter of my Lord Lanerick's that follows but to whom the Writer knows not the Direction being lost SInce my last our Debates have been of so great Importance that I cannot conceal them Yesterday we spent two Hours in the grand Commitee the whole Parliament being present and indeed to good purpose for it was resolved that present Instructions should be sent to our Commissioners to press His Majesties coming to London with Honour Safety and Freedom and that we should declare our Resolutions to maintain Monarchical Government in His Majesties Person and Posterity and His Iust Title to the Crown of England But I confess this Day is the saddest I ever saw for after Resolutions were taken of sending to His Majesty it is carried that nothing but a Grant to the whole Propositions must be demanded and in case of a Refusal the former Certifications given to His Majesty put in execution of Securing the Kingdom and Settling a Government without Him and lest His Majesty should have hopes of engaging this Kingdom on easier terms or thinking to come to Scotland where though He should lose England He might exercise the Office of a King it is to be Declared that this Kingdom cannot lawfully engage themselves for His Majesties Preservation albeit He should be even Deposed in England He not taking the Covenant satisfying in Religion and giving a satisfactory Answer to the rest of the whole Propositions presented to Him in name of both Kingdoms Besides it is to be Declared that His Majesty will not be admitted to come to Scotland where though He were His Regal Function would be susâ—ended and even His Royal Pâ—rson at least be put under Restraint if not delivered up to the Parliament While we were on these Debates the inclosed Warning was presented to the Parliament by the Commission of the Kirk which though you may think possibly high yet really it is very moderate in regard of these Motions have been in Publick for now all Private Meeting is quit by us in relation to His Majesties Person which certainly will not only not be admitted to come into Scotland but a joynt Course will be taken by both Kingdoms for keeping him in Restraint in England And you may be confident that will certainly be carried in despight of those that will oppose it And to prepare us the better before we come to a Resolution we are to morrow to have a kind of Fast and hear two Sermons in the Morning according to our Custom at St. Andrews before the Executions and the rest of the Day is to be imployed in taking a Final Resolution which without all peradventure will be to send Commissioners to His Majesty to demand the whole Propositions for Religion will not satisfie and to settle both Kingdoms without His Majesties Regal Authority and imprison His Person in England for He will not be admitted to come to
the full as it is demanded neither will it be in the power of any in this Kingdom to prevent Affronts and Danger to Your Majesties Person if You should have any thoughts of coming hither Sir I take God to witness I write this with a sadder heart than I would receive a sentence of Death against my self and shall grieve more at the performance of that than I should at the execution of this upon Your Majesties most humble most faithful most obedient Subject and Servant LANERICK Edinburgh December 22th 1646. His Majesties last Message was presented to the Scotish Parliament His Majesties Message rejected in Scotland on the 23th of December by the Earl of Lanerick and backed by him with the warmest language that he could use but nothing that was new being offered by it a Compliance with it was not to be expected It was also sent to London and at London and first presented to the House of Peers whereat all even those who were best-affected hung their Heads and sent it down to the House of Commons without a word and there it met with the same Entertainment The next Debate was about the Kings Person and the mildest opinion was that He should be kept Prisoner some being for the excluding Him for ever from the Government And for the place of His Restraint some were for His stay at Newcastle but it was carried that He should go to Holmby And this passed without communicating it to the Scotish Commissioners But when He was ordained to be kept in Safety for His Person Henry Martin objected that the King had broken the Peace and why must the Parliament bind for His Safety Some moved to preserve His Person according to the Covenant and it was carried which was thought a great point For now it was esteemed that the Covenant was that which must preserve the King though His Ruine had been formerly imputed to it In the end of the year the Scotish Commissioners parted from London and it being moved in the House of Commons to send some with a Complement to them before they went with the Thanks of the House for their Civilities and good Offices those of the Independent Cabal argued much against that of good Offices done by them and reckoned many bad ones since the King went to Newcastle and it being put to the Vote it was carried by 24 Votes to dash out good Offices and only thank them for their Civilities And so all those Noble Characters they were wont to give of the Scotish Commissioners upon every occasion concluded now in this that they were well-bred Gentlemen Thus ended this present year but none saw an end of miseries like to come An. 1647. Anno 1647. IN the beginning of the next Year Commissioners were sent from the Parliament of Scotland Commissioners are sent to the King from Scotland to represent their late Resolutions to His Majesty On the 12th of Ianuary they presented their first Paper wherein they laid out all they could devise for the pressing a satisfactory Answer to the Propositions expressing with what earnestness all Men were waiting for it and that it would be received with more Ioy than had been ever seen at any Coronation in England But after they had delivered this Message and the 14th day was come wherein the King promised His Answer He told them He must be resolved of two things before He could give His Answer The first was if He was a Free-man or a Prisoner adding That if He were a Prisoner it was the opinion of many Divines that Promises made by a Prisoner did not oblige though He did not assert that to be His own sense the next was whether He might go to Scotland with Honour Freedom and Safety or not They declined long to give an Answer and in that Debate three hours were spent at length being put to it they delivered all their severe Message in the following Paper May it please Your Majesty And deliver the Votes of the Parliament WE are commanded by the Parliament of Scotland to represent to Your Majesty the many Inconveniencies will ensue upon Your Majesties Denial or Delay of Granting the Propositions concerning Religion and the Covenant and not giving a satisfactory Answer to the remanent Propositions and particularly to represent the Prejudice will thereby arise to the true Reformed Protestant Religion abroad and to the Reformation of Religion in these Kingdoms the Danger of Your Majesties Person and to Your Own and Posterities Government If Your Majesty not granting the Propositions concerning Religion and the Covenant and not giving satisfactory Answers to the other Propositions shall relinquish England we are commanded by the Parliament of Scotland to represent to Your Majesty That in that case they find it unlawful for them to assist Your Majesty for Recovery of the Government Your Majesty not granting the Covenant and Propositions as aforesaid We are commanded by the Parliament of Scotland to represent to Your Majesty That they find Your Majesties Coming to Scotland not granting the Propositions concerning Religion and the Covenant and not giving a satisfactory Answer to the remanent Propositions dangerous to the Cause to Your Majesty to Your Native Kingdom and to the Vnion betwixt Scotland and England and that the Kingdom of Scotland will be necessitated to take Course to prevent Your Coming Both Kingdoms will take Course for disposal of Your Majesties Person until such time as Your Majesty grants the Propositions or otherwise agree with Your Majesties Parliaments We are commanded to make known to Your Majesty that until Your Majesty grant the Propositions in manner fore-said or that some Course be resolved by both Kingdoms concerning the disposal of Your Majesties Person Your Majesty cannot be admitted to come or remain in Scotland with Freedom And in case Your Majesty do come we are commanded to represent to Your Majesty That the Kingdom of Scotland will be necessitated to put such Attendants and Guards about Your Majesties Person as may preserve You in Safety and Your Kingdoms in Peace and may prevent all Tumults Insurrections and Gatherings of Malignants We are further warranted to represent to Your Majesty That if You do not grant the Propositions concerning Religion and the Covenant and give a satisfactory Answer about the remanent Propositions the Kingdom of Scotland will be necessitated to continue the Government without Your Majesty as hath been done these years by-past Newcastle 14th January 1647. But the Answer they got shewed The King stands firmly to His Conscience that the King could not be threatned to the Doing of any thing He judged contrary to His Honour or Conscience His Majesties Answer being returned back to Edinburgh on the 16th of Ianuary which was Saturday it was debated in Parliament what should be done with His Majesties Person It is resolved to deliver up the King which the Duke and â—anerick much oppose All inclined to deliver Him up immediately to
been conceived of more use to Your Majesties Service Your condition is so variously represented here that Your faithfullest Servants know not how to carry themselves therefore the intimation of Your Majesties Own Pleasure would be of great use No sooner shall the temper of People here which for the present is strangely inflamed be any thing allayed than one or both of us You commanded shall attend You according to the Duty of Your Majesties most humble most faithful most obedient Subject and Servant LANERICK His Majesty upon that wrote what follows Lanerick The Kings account of the usage he had in the Army IT is impossible for Me at present to give a Categorical Answer to your I confess necessary Question all I can say is that I am now at much more Freedom than I was at Holmby for My Friends have free access to Me My Chaplains wait upon Me according to their Vocation and I have free Intelligence with My Wife and any Body else whom I please all which was flatly denied me before besides the Professions are much more frank and satisfactory to what I desire of this Army than ever was offered by the Presbyterians And truly if these People rightly understood their own Condition and Interests they must do what they profess which is that King Parliament and People may each have respectively what is their own and yet it must be their Actions not Words alone which shall make Me put Confidence in them Hitherto they have made Me no particular Offers though daily pressed by Me but assoon as I can clearly see through their Intentions one way or other I will not fail to advertise you with My Commands thereupon In the mean time having truly though shortly set you down the true estate of My present Condition I leave you to judge and do what you shall find best for My Service So I rest Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Casam 12th July 1647. POSTSCRIPT I have intrusted this trusty Bearer with several Particulars which I thought too long for a Letter And the day after that he wrote again Lanerick THis is first to recommend this honest Bearer to your Care to further him in passing of those small Favours I have bestowed upon him next that you would do your best for the relief of those Gordons who were lately taken both which as to you were needless but that I know it is fit for Me at all occasions to express the Care I have of those that wish Me well So farewell Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Casam 13th July 1647. POSTSCRIPT Send me word if you have yet remembred your Promise to Me concerning the late Archbishop of St. Andrews his Book To which my Lord Lanerick wrote this Answer May it please Your Majesty YOurs of the 12th I received yesterday Lanerick's Answer We are joyed for what you write of the Civilities you met with but are full of doubts and fears of their Continuance especially since we are informed that notwithstanding all Publick Professions strange Demands are preparing to be offered to Your Majesty I ever hated thralling of Consciences yet I shall be sorry there were no other price of Spiritual Freedom than Your Majesties loss of all Temporal Power This Kingdom will be easily induced to venture their Lives for the last but none will hazard the first since they will not declare for Your Majesty but clogged with the Covenant It was thought fit to delay all Resolutions untill the 5th of August next expecting against that time either from the nature of the Demands we hear are now to be made to Your Majesty or from the carriage of the Army to Your Sacred Person grounds will be given either to rest satisfied or to resent it as becomes Loyal Subjects It is wished Your Majesties true Condition and positive Pleasure may be made known from Your Self if possible against that time when certainly the sense both of this Church seeing the General Assembly will be then sitting and State upon the present Differences in England as they have relation to or can have influence upon Scotland will be made known It is wished Your Majesties Prudence may prevent further Prejudice by going at first the full length You intend in granting what Conditions shall be demanded or if You find them absolutely destructive to You to put Your Self in that Condition that our Persons and Lives may be of use to Your Majesty which shall be the constant care of Your Majesties most faithful most loyal most obedient Subject and Servant LANERICK Edinburgh 21th July 1647. POSTSCRIPT I have not as yet been able to put Your Commands in execution concerning the Bishop of St. Andrew's Book in regard the Copy I have is both uncorrect and wanting in many essential things but I have already taken a Course to have that supplyed from a true Copy of the Original now in the possession of our Commissioners at London His Majesties Answer follows Lanerick YOurs of the 21th Instant I received yesterday having before resolved to have written to you though I had received none from you to shew you from time to time what My Condition is And yet for easing My pains I have thought fit to refer you to the Bearer John Chisley to tell you the true State of Affairs with My Opinion thereupon to whom I have largely and fully spoken My Mind wherefore I will only say this one word that whatsoever you resolve on you must not think to mention as to England either Covenant or Presbyterial Government for it will ruin you and do Me no good experience of which was clearly seen at Newcastle So desiring you to trust this Bearer I rest Your most assured real constant Friend CHARLES R. Wooburn 27th July 1647. The Army forces the Parliament The Army drew nearer London declaring they came to restore the King and to reform the Parliament This was Popular and took with many wherefore the Parliament to undeceive both King and People Voted His Majesties coming to Richmond for a Personal Treaty and that the Army should not come within thirty miles of London But the Army refused obedience and carried the King with them and sent threatning Messages for Recalling of those Votes and they designed next to model the Two Houses whereupon a frivolous general Charge was drawn against 11 of the most considerable Members who withstood their Designs and they pressed their Suspension from the House But it was Voted in Parliament to be against Law to suspend any Member upon a general Charge without bringing in and proving special matter And the Two Houses did choose a Committee of Safety to Treat with the City of London for Raising a new Militia for their own Security and some of the Trained Bands were drawn together under Presbyterian Officers Upon this the Army came to London forced the Houses to recall their Votes and disband their Forces and drove away the eleven Members And thus having
over-â—wed both Parliament and City they began to levy new Forces but assoon as they withdrew from London the Citizens of London came in great numbers to Westminster and petitioned to have their Militia settled again according to their former Votes which being granted the Parliament next day was at liberty and the Secluded Members returned About the end of Iuly the Earl of Lauderdale going to wait on His Majesty who was then at Wooburn was not only hindred access but by the Violence of the Souldiers carried away and say or complain what he would of the Violation of the Treaty with Scotland and the Law of Nations by that Affront put upon a Publick Minister of another Kingdom he could not prevail but was forced to be gone After this the King was Voted to come to London But the Army instead of Obedience came thither again and by the interposition of some treacherous People got the City surrendred to them whereupon they marched through it in Triumph with Lawrels in their Hats and came to Westminster bringing with them the two Speakers and some other Members of their Party who had run away from the Parliament pretending Fear though no appearance of it had been in the Proceedings of the Parliament Fairfax was declared Captain-General of all England Constable of the Tower of London and Commander of all the Garisons and then they fell to the Purging of the House And besides the forcing the eleven Members to flee seven of the Lords were also impeached and all Orders that past in the absence of the Speakers were repealed yet this was not carried but upon a fortnights Debate Divers of the City of London with the Mayor and some Aldermen were likewise charged and imprisoned and all this was upon a general Accusation of their designs to raise a new War Those in Scotland being advertised by their Commissioners of all that passed failed not to make good use of it This is resented in Scotland to stir up the Affection and Duty of all to appear for His Majesty which prevailed generally and even the Ministers begun both from their Pulpits and by their Remonstrances to complain of the Prevailings of the Sectarian Party and of the Force that was put on the Kings Person But the old language of the Covenant and Presbytery was still in their mouths yet all were pretty forward for a real Resentment of the late Disorders in England Only Mr. George Gillespie who was indeed of good parts but bold beyond all measure withstood these Inclinations and represented that the greatest Danger to Religion was to be feared from the King and the Malignant Party He was suspected of correspondence with the Sectaries which some Letters in my hand written in Cypher give good grounds to believe Certain it is that he proved a very ill instrument and marred that great Design by which all former Errors might have been corrected Thus as the Duke and his Friends designs began to appear there was a violent Party no less careful to withstand them Therefore it was not judged fitting the Duke should leave Scotland his Service in it being greater than any he could do in England besides his being a Peer in England made him more obnoxious to their fury than any other Scotchman could be But His Majesties Concessions about Religion pinched them much and the Liberty offered to Tender Consciences did very much disgust the Scotish Clergy for in Scotland a Toleration was little less odious than Episcopacy and nothing but Presbytery would satisfie them In the end of August they sent Mr. Lesley to His Majesty to represent the State of Affairs in Scotland according to the following Instructions The Duke sends a Message to the King YOu shall shew what Endeavours have been used to incense this Kingdom against the Proceedings of the Army under the Command of Sir Thomas Fairfax witness George Windram 's Relation the Declaration of the General Assembly and the Voice of the daily cryes from the Pulpit You shall represent what Industry was used to precipitate a present Engagement upon the grounds of the Covenant and for Settling Presbyterial Government in England who were the pressers and who were the opposers of it You shall shew what Pains were taken by the moderate Party here to procure the sending of Commissioners to His Majesty and the Parliament thereby to procrastinate and delay all Resolutions till their return or a report from them which will probably consume the rest of this Summer and for this Year prevent a new War except upon eminent advantage You are therefore to represent how necessary it is for preventing Prejudices from hence that a free Passage and all other Encouragements be given to those who are now to be employed if that shall be refused or the Law of Nations in their Persons violated a Breach betwixt the Kingdoms cannot be longer prevented You shall shew that if it had not been for His Majesties Commands to the Moderate Party here a Scotish Army had e're this time been in England which so long as His Majesty is well used they are hopeful to prevent but if His re-establishing be delayed a greater Army than ever Scotland raised will own His Quarrel You shall shew that the Instructions now given to our Commissioners who Treat with the Parliament are only Generals the chief whereof is That His Majesty be again invited to come to London with Honour Freedom and Safety the delay whereof is exceedingly ill taken here and nothing would give so general satisfaction to this Kingdom nor more stop the mouths of Incendiaries than that His Majesty were so at London You shall shew that the Message that was to be sent to His Majesty was only to represent to Him the constant Affection of this Kingdom their longings to see Him re-established in His Throne their Resolutions never to withdraw themselves from under His Government and their Desires to know immediately from Himself in what Condition He is since the Safety of this Kingdom so much depends upon the Safety of His Person You shall shew that the Disorders in the High-lands are now composed and our Army is to be scattered in several quarters through the whole Shires of the Kingdom With these Instructions My Lord Lanerick wrote what follows to His Majesty Sir SInce eminent Advantages for Your Majesties Service could not at this time be procured but at the old rate of satisfaction in Religion and the Covenant our Study hath been to prevent Prejudices and Disservices wherein our endeavours have not proved unsuccessful though â—ven in that we met with extraordinary Opposition The Particulars will be shewed to Your Majesty by the Bearer with the humble sense and advice upon the whole as it now stands in relation to this Kingdom of Your Majesties most humble most faithful most loyal and most obedient Subject and Servant LANERICK Edinburgh 23th August 1647. To which His Majesty answered Lanerick I Very much like and approve of Robin
urge more out of my Duty to Him than kindness to our selves The next was of the 24th of April 1648. SInce my last to you I have received yours of the 18th and 22th of the last Moneth We have made an indifferent good progress in our Parliament here for we have stated all the Breaches of Covenant and Treaties we have resolved upon some Demands to be sent to the Houses of Parliament for Religion for His Majesty and for Disbanding of the present Army of Sectaries and we have pressed a Declaration containing the Grounds of our Resolutions In order to all these we likewise Voted the present putting of this Kingdom into a posture of War and this Week we are to nominate and make choice of all the Officers of our Army The Church doth still violently oppose us and threatens us with cross Declarations if not the extremity of Church-Censures Argyle and his Party maintain them in their Obstinacy or rather they do him in his Disloyalty but neither the fear of their Curses nor want of their Prayers can fright us from our Duty so soon as we are ready to act which possibly may be sooner than you imagine The next was of the 28th of April to His Majesty MY last to you was of the 13th of this Moneth by the Conveyance of Doctor Frazer Since that time we have perfected what was then designed for we have made choice of all the Officers of our Forces wherein we have been forced to spend much time and the next Week we intend to model our Army for England which we hope shall be upon the Borders against the 21th of the next Moneth which is the time limited for the Return of our Messenger from London who this day parts from hence with the three Demands to the Houses of Parliament wherof my last made mention and with a positive Command to stay only 15 days for his Answer We intend likewise in the beginning of the next Week to dispatch Sir William Fleming to the Queen and Prince to give them an account of our Proceedings and to know his Highness's Resolution concerning his coming hither and to desire the present sending of Arms and Ammunition to us whereof we are absolutely unprovided so that if the Queen or Prince of Orange to whom we beg Your Majesty would write do not supply us it will infinitely retard the Service We have passed a Declaration which is full of many rude Restrictions both in order to Your Majesty and Your faithful Servants But we are forced to them for the satisfaction of the Nice Consciences of the Clergy and their Proselytes whom we find still so inflexible that nothing can perswade them to a Conjunction with us in the Work on the contrary we meet with all imaginable Opposition from them yet as we have carried the Declaration and all that is yet done against their strongest Endeavours so we hope in despight of them to be Instruments in accomplishing the chief end it drives at which is Your Majesties Rest and Restauration Our next will certainly bring you the Knowledg of some Acting in order to that which we dare not hazard to this Cypher lest there may be more Copies of it than what we have with Your Majesty The slowness of their Motions in Scotland begun to give great Jealousies of their Proceedings every-where Jealousies of the Scotish Proceedings At Paris the Prince was much courted to go to Ireland but he resolved rather to go to Scotland and designed to go first to Holland Yet there were some about him who studied to give him ill Impressions of all that passed in Scotland grounding them on the old Calumnies that had been cast on the Duke and on the slowness of their Procedure at that time in Scotland together with the extraordinary Cajolery they gave the Church-party all which were made use of for alienating his Highness from that Resolution But he resolved to obey the Kings Commands and sent them new Assurances of that by Sir William Fleming and to oblige the Duke the more a Book being dedicated to his Highness containing some passages much to the Dukes dishonour he refused to accept of it and ordered it to be called in While things were thus preparing in Scotland His Majesty in the Isle of Wight was contriving an Escape being resolved if it succeeded to have come to Scotland but the means failed oftener than once which being discovered made his Prison the straiter He was also courted under hand with new Propositions from the Parliament of England but refused to enter into any Treaty without the Concurrence of the Scotish Nation Yet it troubled him much to hear no more of the progress of their Designs on which all his Hopes were then set for in that disorderly time it was not easy to transmit frequent and clear accounts of all that passed At length having understood from Scotland what advance was made in that Affair he was satisfied with the Fidelity of those he had imployed there At London there went various Constructions on the Scotish Actions The Commissioners of the Two Houses that were at Edinburgh wrote up that the Church-party would undoubtedly keep the Duke and his Party in play at least that Year and that the zeal of the Ministers would make the Levies go slowly on they either believing this themselves or at least designing that others should do so At this time there was a great Inclination all over England to shake off the Armies Arbitrary Yoke Great Disorders in England Stirs were rising in every place The Duke with his other Friends in Scotland dealt earnestly with their Correspondents in England to get all kept quiet till they were ready to march that so there might be an universal Rising at once which would have undoubtedly divided the Army that was against them into so many Fractions as might make way for their easier Overthrow This Design was zealously promoted by many who saw the great advantage it might produce but many were too jealous of the Scotish Designs and so did precipitate their own Ruin Others apprehended from their Declarations that the Bondage would be the same only the Masters changed if they prevailed and this made the Kings Party resolve rather to perish than receive any help from the Scots on these terms Their slowness made others despair of their Sincerity and the reports of the Power of the Church-party made all suspect their Strength so the untimely Rising in England was the Ruin of this Years Design for they rose only to be destroyed and to animate the Army with those many Victories they obtained over them And as these Defeats did much discourage the Scotish Army so it forced them to march into England before they were ready and e're they had looked well to the Security of Affairs behind them The first Rising was by Poyer in Wales to whom Langhorn came within a little and Commanded most of the Country At Westminster as they understood the state
of the Scotish Affairs better than the Rabble did so they did more apprehend the Danger of it And first great pains were taken to reconcile the Presbyterian and Independent Parties at least to unite them against the Scots wherefore they Voted that the Government should be by King Lords and Commons yet the Independents opposed this so that it was carried but by 45 Voices They also appointed that the Propositions offered at Newcastle should be the Grounds of settling the Kingdom and they Voted that it should be lawful notwithstanding the Vote of Non-Addresses to make new Applications to His Majesty Their Design in this was visible for they hoped the Scots could not pass from these Propositions and they were assured the King would never consent to them particularly to that of Religion which was so dear to Scotland But Cromwel was not at all pleased with these Votes and as little with the City and if the Stirs over England had not given him other Employment he would have made a Journey to London with his Army for the Purging the House a-new They in Scotland were much straitned with want of Ammunition and Mony therefore they sent Sir William Bellandin to Holland to see what could be had from the Prince of Orange they likewise wise sent Sir William Fleeming to Paris to the Queen and Prince with the following Letters May it please Your Majesty ALL verbal Assurances would justly appear too low and mean testimonies of our Fidelity Letters to the Queen and Prince from the Duke and his Friends since Actions are now the only touch-stones of Loyalty which we hope e're long shall be better than what we can in this Common way speak of our real Affections to His Majesties Service We have presumed from the Encouragements we have received from Your Majesty to hope the Prince his Highness will countenance our Endeavours for his Father's Rescue with his presence amongst us which would certainly give an extraordinary vigour and life to all our Motions For that end we have instructed this worthy Bearer with our humble desires therein to Your Majesty and to his Highness and with such other Particulars as are necessary for enabling us to carry on the Work to whom we beg Your Majesty would be pleased to give Trust and further to believe that nothing was ever more absolutely fixed than are our Resolutions either to perish or eminently to shew our selves Your Majesties most humble most faithful and most obedient Subjects and Servants Hamilton Lauderdale Crawford Lanerick Roxburgh Calender May 1st 1648. May it please Your Highness THe deep sense we have of His Majesties sad Condition invites us to these Actions of Duty and Loyalty to which we are by so many Relations and Tyes bound and obliged and having divers Encouragements from His Majesty and from the Queen to hope for your Highness's Presence amongst us in countenancing our faithful Endeavours for His Majesties Rescue we have presumed humbly to address our selves to your Highness that from your Self we might know your own Inclinations that accordingly such publick Assurances and Invitations may come from hence as your Highness shall think fit to require being confident that before we can receive your Highness's Directions herein we shall be in some condition to evidence our Loyalties otherwise than by Words So until we give a more real testimony thereof we shall only beg to be esteemed of by your Highness as Persons that have vowed themselves to this Service and who are faithfully Your Highness's most humble most faithful and most obedient Servants Hamilton Lauderdale Crawford Lanerick Roxburgh Calender May 1st 1648. Next they modelled the Army which will better appear by the following Letters written to the King SIR YOu now find the effects of what my last of the 28th of April promised we are now engaged and Sir Marmaduke Langdale's successful Attempt upon Berwick and Carlisle will be resolutely seconded by Your Servants here Letters to His Majesty To morrow Sir William Fleeming and Mr. Murray part for France the last acknowledges the baseness of his new Friend Argyle We hope the Prince will now countenance with his Presence our Endeavours for Your Majesties Rescue since the Duke of York is escaped for he will give an extraordinary life and vigour to all our Motions The Kirk hath this day declared against our Declaration and Engagement but all it hath procured is a Vote of thirty thousand Foot and near six thousand Horse which is this day remitted to the Consideration of the several Bodies and I hope will pass the House to morrow 2d May. 1648. SInce my last we are far advanced in our Designs of serving Your Majesty our new Army is modelled which I hope will be more considerable than any Army that ever went out of Scotland the Old General hath laid down his Charge and the Duke of Hamilton is to Command in chief who joys to meet with so happy an occasion to vindicate his Loyalty He will be found active in his Trust and seconded by the most gallant and eminent persons of the Kingdom his Election was carried very unanimously in Parliament Argyle and only six with him dissenting Calender with the same Vnanimity and the same Opposition is chosen Lieutenant-General and David Lesley Lieutenant-General of the Horse but he hath not as yet accepted of his Charge Middleton is appointed Major-General of the Horse who is most eminent for his Loyalty and forward in this Service Our Armie will be on foot about the end of the Moneth and that the Raising of men may the more actively be gone about we have adjourned the Parliament till the first of June We have sent Commissioners with Instructions and Money to invite our Army in Ireland to come and joyn with us in this Service Our Opposition from Argyle and the Ministers is still as great as they can make we are undone for want of Arms and a little Money if we be not supplied from France or Holland this glorious and most hopeful Vndertaking that ever this Nation had may be in hazard to miscarry Sir William Fleeming and Mr. Murray went ten days ago for France and this day we have dispatched Sir William Bellandin to Holland We are much dejected because we have not heard from Your Majesty since the 17th of March which makes us fear You involve us in the Guilt of the by-past deadness and slowness of their Motions here but we take God to witness we are as free thereof as we shall be faithful to the Vows we have made of perishing or of serving Your Majesty in such a loyal and dutiful way as hath been professed by Your Majesties c. 17th May. The Differences that were among the Lords were adjusted The Levies are much retarded by the Ministers and most of the Officers were also well named yet the Levies went on dully though many of the Lords were so cordial that they who had allowance from the Publick but for 80 Horse
inclinations over England should prove too hard for them but Mr. Marshall Great Disorders in England who was sent back from the English Commissioners in Scotland comforted them the best he could giving them all assurance that the Designs there would meet with vigorous Opposition wherefore it was moved that some of the Forces might be presently sent down before the Army were drawn together who might hope for good Assistance in Scotland But he also told them that nothing would be so likely to divide them in Scotland as to declare for the Covenant and the Propositions sent to Newcastle and indeed this was much dreaded by the Duke and his Friends since there was nothing so popular in Scotland as that the Parliament and Army of England had fallen from the Covenant but they resolved though that were granted to accept of no Treaty till the Army were presently disbanded for which the former Years Transactions did furnish them with very good reasons Mr. Marshall did what he could to reconcile the Presbyterians and Independents in London and that they might not fall out about Religion it was Voted that the Kingdom should be first settled before Religion was fallen upon The City of London was generally well-affected to the Scotish Design though some studied to alienâ—te them from it by telling them that those in Scotland were in Correspondence with the Cavaliers in England The City was inconstant and the Citizens feared the Armies falling on them to plunder them so that they were easily over-awed and at that time the Agitators of the Army were upon the Fining of the City in a Million of English Mony A general Answer was returned to the Scotish Demands by the day they had prefixed with the Promise of a more particular one to follow shortly which was looked on as a Design to shift them off by Delays At this time the Two Houses were much lifted up with a Defeat given to Langhorn in Wales which was represented to be greater than indeed it was But to allay their Joy there came in Petitions from many Counties of England for a Personal Treaty with the King and for being disburdened of the Army one came from Essex which was subscribed by twenty four thousand Hands and eight thousand men came out of Surrey with their Petition upon whom the Souldiers fell barbarously and killed about Twenty of them wounding above an Hundred Next the Kentish men rose in a formidable number but it was more terrible that the Navy was staggering and many of the Captains of the Ships declared against their Proceedings This was sad News for London by reason of their Trade which was like to be blockt up And now Cromwel to please the City of London drew the Forces out of it and left the Militia of London in their own Hands only he got Skippon who was of their own Cabal made Major-General of their Trained Bands and there was no small Disorder in the Army the Agitators being for the most part Levellers and against Cromwel as was by some supposed With all this Tragical visage of things they at Wâ—stminster were not a little mortified A Fast at Westminster so they appointed a Day of Humiliation and when they were naming the reasons for the Fast one of the Members had a singular opinion that notwithstanding the Self-denying Ordinance they had past yet they had ingrossed all Places of Power and Profit to themselves by which Juggling God was mocked wherefore he moved that they might devest themselves of these but the rest were not of his mind And if three Sermons and a great many long Prayers would reconcile God to them they would be at the cost but were resolved to quit none of their Power nor Places All these Tumults in England as they had hindered the Two Houses from sending down their Forces to Scotland so they called aloud for hasty Relief from the Scotish Army which from all places was called for But the Oppositition the Clergy and their Party made had so fore-slowed their Levies that they could not overtake this fair opportunity but were forced to leave the poor People in England to be knockt down by the insulting Army The Parliament of Scotland re-assembled in Iune The Parliament adjourns and after few days Sitting and the emitting of new Declarations both for Scotland and England but of a milder strain than their former of April had been being now weary of their hopeless courting of the Clergy they adjourned for Two Years having chosen a Committee of Estates sure to their Designs and they were drawing their Army together with all possible diligence But the great matter now debated in Scotland was A present March is disswaded by some whether they should first make all sure at home or leave things in that disordered posture and make haste into England Lanerick was for taking order with the Opposite Party and the Lords that headed them before they stirred out of Scotland lest otherwise assoon as they were gone the Ministers might blow up the People into Sedition which would either force them to send back a part of their Army for curbing them or lose Scotland totally by their Tumults while their Army should be strugling with an uncertainty in England Besides they were neither well-furnished with Arms Ammunition nor Mony but had good Assurances of large Supplies from the Queen and Prince by Sir William Fleeming and the Prince though much disswaded by these who were both Enemies to the Scotish Nation in General and the Duke in particular continued still firm to his first Resolutions of going to them when all things were brought to that Posture that it were fit for him to hazard himself amongst them and therefore in the middle of Iune Sir William Fleeming was dispatched again from his Highness to Scotland with the following Letter directed For the Lord Duke Hamilton and the Earls of Lindsay Roxburgh Lauderdale Lanerick and Calender My Lords YOu will receive by Sir William Fleeming who is amply instructed the full account of My Intentions and he is not more particularly charged with any thing than to let you know the sense I have of Your Affections yet I thought fit to reserve unto My Self the assuring you that as I conceive I am not capable of being more obliged than I have been by you so I shall be most exactly just in the discharge of my Acknowledgments when it shall please God to make My Condition fit for it In the mean time I have nothing to say but to desire you to be intirely confident of it and that I am most truly My Lords Your Affectionate Friend CHARLES P. Sir William Bellandin met with more Opposition in Holland for Judgments were passed on the Scotish Proceedings from their Declarations and all he could say was not able to take off those Impressions so that no good was expected from Scotland The States of Holland had no great inclination to the Kings Party and the Prince of Orange
was at that time much influenced by the Dukes Enemies yet Bellandin got many promises made him of a large supply of Mony and Ammunition Upon these Expectations the Earl of Lanerick was against a speedy March into England but much pressed by others but this was opposed by the Earl of Lauderdale who pressed a present Dispatch They were called upon so earnestly from their Friends in England that to linger still was to lose the Kings Party there for now the Kentish men were broken and some of them had passed over unto Essex where many rose with them and carried Colchester and made a good Body both of Horse and Foot but were not able to hold out long against the Army yet they gave them divers foils But that of the greatest Importance was that most of the Navy had declared for the King and desired a Correspondence with Scotland and Willoughby who was made Vice-Admiral by the Prince was a great Friend to the Scotish Nation The Earl of Inchequin also with his Army in Ireland had declared against the Parliament and sent to Scotland a very kind Message for a good Understanding with that Parliament and finally a part of the English Army being much sollicited by the Church-party in Scotland who complained that they were now exposed by them to Ruin was coming North-ward under the Command of Lambert and Langdale had written to them that he could not be able to stand long before Lambert if he were not speedily relieved and that Carlisle also would be in great hazard neither was the hazard only the loss of Carlisle of which they made less account but the Army which was with Langdale whose Wives and Children were in Carlisle did threaten to leave him and Capitulate if that Place were not preserved Besides all this they at Westminster to temper the general Hatred against them had called back the Secluded Members of both Houses and were Levying new Forces and had Voted a Personal Treaty with the King at which time also one Osburn avouched that there were Designs against the Kings Person and that himself had been sollicited to assist in the poysoning him All these Considerations were pressing and could admit of no delays wherefore Lauderdale insisted for a present March and that the Dukes Carriage might shew it was the Kings Service and not a Faction he was designing nor Resentments against these who withstood him in Scotland for so did Lauderdale mistake Lanerick's advice for curbing of the Church-party and punishing their Leaders The Duke saw great reason on both sides and is resolved on and though his own Judgment went along with his Brothers Advice knowing well it was easie for him to have forced all Scotland very soon into a Compliance with their Design which being once done he could have marched into England upon greater advantages and with a far better Army yet he was content to be over-ruled believing that if they were prosperous in England upon which depended all their hopes it would be no great Work to Master any Opposition might be made in Scotland And thus did the unripened forwardness of those in England force the Duke on a fatal Precipitation of Counsels The resolution was taken and a General Rendezvous appointed to be at Annan near the Borders of England on the 4th of Iuly All this while my Lord Lanerick had not forgotten the Kings Commands about the Marquis of Huntley but the ill Opinion the Church-men had of them was such that to have proceeded roundly in that matter would have given greater grounds of Jealousie to that Party therefore the Iunto sent him word to the Castle of Edinburgh where he was then Prisoner that though at that time it was not fit to set him at liberty by an Order yet they were willing he should make his Escape and they offered their Assistance for conveying him safe away But he said he was brought thither by Order and he would not steal out as a Thief and from this fatal stiffness they could not get him removed yet they resolved to liberate him openly when they should be better able to avow their Actions The Opposition the Church-men made to the Raising of the Army An Insurrectâ—on at Mauchlin did still retard the Levies and discourage the Souldiers though the Officers were generally resolute Some Forces were sent West-ward under the Command of Sir Iames Turner to keep that Country quiet who found a little Authority vigorously managed did quickly tame some of the most unruly But at Mauchlin there was a great Gathering under the Colour of an Assembly to a Solemn Communion and many went thither Armed pretending hazard from the danger of that time Turner got notice that an Insurrection was designed there and advertised the Duke of it who ordered Turner not to stir till the Earls of Calander and Middleton should come to assist him who came to Pasely on the Saturndy before that Communion they drew out the Forces that lay there consisting of two Regiments of Foot and fourteen Troops of Horse and marched to Steuarton where the Earl of Glenâ—airn and others of the Nobility met them Some advised a March of the whole Forces others thought a few Troops were sufficient for dispersing that Multitude whereupon Middleton was commanded out with six Troops who found them near two thousand strong Horse and Foot but being ill-commanded they were soon disordered Middleton and Hurry gave the Charge and were briskly encountered so that they were made to retreat with the loss of some men and both Middleton and Hurry got slight Wounds but the Party that had given them this rude Shock having cleared a way for themselves made their Retreat The report of this Disorder was brought hot to Calender who leaving the Foot at Kilmarnock went with the eight Troops he had with him to assist Middleton but upon his appearing all run away The Horse were not pursued sixty Foot Souldiers were taken and five Officers and some Ministers who were all dismissed only the Officers were condemned to dye by a Council of War but were afterwards pardoned by Calander Some Forces were sent towards the Borders After this before a General Rendezvous was possible the Duke for animating those of Carlisle who began to be sore put to it sent Collonel Lockhart with some Regiments of Horse to lye at Annan and Collonel Turner with five or six Regiments of Foot to lye at Dumfrice hoping thereby to hinder Lambert from coming near Carlisle wherein his expectation did not fail him for no sooner came Lockhart to Annan but Lambert drew his Troops nearer and Sir Marmaduke Langdale got air a while for Provision both for his Men and Horses and against the day appointed the General came from Edinburgh to Annan with Calander Middleton and Baylie and several Regiments of Horse and Foot The Army enters England Turner also came to him from Dumfrice with the Regiments that lay there and some Ammunition and abundance of Meal
expecting the rest of our Forces who came up to us yet far short of the Numbers appointed by the Parliament of which there was wanting more than a third part so that in all we were about Ten thousand Foot and Four thousand Horse This is the true account of the Strength of our Army Turner who being our General-Adjutant did often muster the Infantry avers on his Honour they were no more and both Middleton and Lockhart did also assert there were not above Four thousand Horse so far short was our Number of what was appointed by the Parliament and generally given out to be the Strength of our Army We also waited for the Irish Forces which Monro had brought over In the mean while Langdale besieged Appleby and lest Lambert had faced about Turner was ordered to lie near him with two Brigades of Foot till the Castle capitulated which it did in a very few dayes Here I shall add a Letter of Sir Marmaduke Langdale's to the Earl of Lanerick written from this Place Langdalâ— 's Letter My most honoured Lord GIve me leave to give your Lordship many hearty and humble Thanks for your Favours and to beg so much trouble to you as to give your Brother Thanks for me who is as careful of me and all those under my Command as if they were his own furnishing us with Arms and Ammunition and upon all occasions with his own Forces to assist us All I can render to so great a Person considering my Condition is to be thankful and I hope neither my self nor none that joyn with me will ever be so ungrateful or ungracious as to forget his particular Favours besides the general good to the whole Nation wherein what we have or are like to enjoy is by his Endeavours with the hazard of his own Person and Friends and all they can call dear unto them These are Benefits can never be forgotten by Gentlemen whereof one with many more is Your Lordships most humble devoted Servant MAR. LANGDALE Appleby 1st August 1648. We next marched to Kendal and from that to Hornby where it was hotly debated whether we should march to Yorkshire or Lancashire The General and Baylie and Turner were for Yorkshire but Lancashire was resolved on which many blamed that County being so disaffected that little goâ—â— Intelligence was to be hoped for there whereas Yorkshire was well-affected but Calander and Langdale pressed it earnestly alledging it would ease our Friends and weaken our Enemies By this time the Irish Forces had come over The Irish Forces come over consisting of the number above-mentioned all well-trained and experienced Souldiers They met with some danger and difficulty in their Transportation for the Parliament of England apparently fearing by their utter neglect of that Army that some such Course would be taken by them sent two Men of War to guard the Passage betwixt Scotland and Ireland who intercepted about Three hundred Foot of Dalyel's Regiment whom they disarmed and kept two days but for want of Victuals were willing to dismiss them again The rest made use of small Vessels aâ—d the Night-time by which means and the narrowness of the Sea they arrived all safe albeit divers were chased upon the Scotish Shoar and as they landed in parcels they were ordered to march straight towards Carlisle But as they went through the Shire of Galloway and Stuartry of Kirkudbright they were unfavourably used for none of the Country-Gentlemen excepting one or two did own them so being left to themselves without any person to appoint orderly Quarters for them and being railed at from the Pulpits and Curses denounced against them and that whole Engagement cryed out to be unlawful and the Ministers in every Parish discharging their Parishioners to have any meddling with or accession thereto it was no wonder if Abuses were committed but nothing answerable to the great Clamours purposely spread abroad against them by those of that Country It was at Kendal in Westmoreland where Sir George Monro had the first Meeting and Conference with the Duke who was upon his March with the Army towards Preston in Lancashire Sir George and those with him followed upon his Reer to Kirby-Lumsdale near the Border of that Shire The Duke had a great mind to have joyned them to the Army for they were resolute and well-trained especially the Foot and he was well assured both of Officers and Souldiers but Monro had no mind to take Orders either from Calander or Baylie and this made Calander unwilling to bring them up He also saw that most of their Officers depended on the Duke and so he had no kindness for them therefore though the Duke pressed much the bringing them to the Army yet Monro was sent back with Orders from the Duke in writing to stay at that Place and wait for some Cannon coming out of Scotland and to conduct them to the Army but withall in case it should happen he were attack't by the Enemy not to Engage but to make his Retreat back to Appleby-Castle or Carlisle and there to secure himself till further Order As he stayed at that Village Sir Philip Musgrave and Sir Thomas Tilslie the one Lieutenant-General the other Major-General to Sir Marmaduke Langdale with two Regiments of Foot then raised in the Northern Counties joyned him Our March into Lancashire being concluded the Van was led by Langdale who undertook to provide Guides and Pioneers and to get us Intelligence but the want of this helped us to our Ruine for he was well-nigh totally routed before we knew that it was Cromwell vvho attack't us And here the Cavalry complaining of scarcity of Forrage in these Parts and thâ—â—â— Officers pretending a necessity to enlarge Quarters desired liberty to advance before the Infantry against which the General gave many Reasons yet to prevent a Mutiny he yielded to it not apprehending how near the Enemy was of which we were secure resting on Langdale's Intelligence which was only that one Ashton had raised two or three thousand Presbyterians together to stop our March and amuse us pretending it was because we came out of Scotland without the approbation of the Kirk Calander and Middleton went on with the Cavalry to Wiggan some Regiments of Horse being only reserved for a Reer-guard to the Infantry and we marched forward to Preston Preston fight Upon the day after our Army was thus divided being the 18th of August Calender got some hint of Cromwel's joyning Lambert Upon this Calander thought it fit to bring the Cavalry nearer the Infantry intending to go himself that night to the General whereupon some Regiments of Horse were drawn into the Moor near Wiggan and commanded to stay there till further Orders which late at night they got to return home to their Quarters then Calander went to the General and Middleton stay'd with the Horse which was the Ruine of the Army for all judged that Calander ought to have brought the Horse with him since he
could to the Army but he was first to go to Holland where he intended to stay some few days The Earl of Lauderdale had got Instructions from Scotland to go to the Prince of Orange and the States General to give them an account of their Affairs and to crave their Assistance in Money Arms Ammunition and Shipping to see also what Money could be borrowed upon the Publick Faith of Scotland for the prosecuting the Engagement and to desire from them the three Scotish Regiments that were then in the States Service and to settle a firm Alliance with them and from them he was to go to France with Letters to the Queen and to treat with the Queen Mother of France for the Assistance of that Nation according to the ancient Alliances between the Crowns of France and Scotland All these Instructions being communicated to his Highness he judged the Imployment might be of good use but would not let the Earl of Lauderdale leave him intending to carry him with him to Holland and was very well pleased that Sir Robert Murray was appointed to go to France in case the other went not yet he resolved to carry him along likewise to Holland Upon which the Earl of Lauderdale sent advertisement to Scotland to make ready for his Highness Reception This was done on the 20th of August and as the Prince was making ready the sad news of the Defeat of the Army was brought him so that Design vanished But in Scotland the news of the routing of the Army was received by the opposite Party with all the insultings of Joy they adding infamous opprobries to their Invectives Some observing that the Division of the Duke's Army which was its Ruin was on the 17th day of August the day in which the Covenant was first made which from thence some used to call Saint Covenants day this Conjuncture of Affairs was held a visible Declaration of Gods Displeasure for their breaking the Covenant and their Juggling in it by those who took upon them to expound all Gods Providences The Western Counties were commanded and animated to an Insurrection by the Lord Chancellour and the Earl of Eglinton together with their Ministers who came leading out whole Parishes with such Arms as could be had and when these failed with Staves and Pitch-forks and Sythes When the Resolutions for raising an Army were taken in the Parlialiament divers of the Nobility did dissent from them An Insurrection in Scotland the chief of whom were Lowdon who was then Lord Chancellour and Argyle and now Lowdon upon the notice of the misfortune in England gave out Orders for raising the Western Counties and all others who would zealously own the Covenant against the late Engagement Those that were raised were at first commanded by the Earl of Eglinton and the Marquis of Argyle made all the haste he could to come down with his Highlanders the Earl of Cassilis was slowest with his men for though he had dissented from the Engagement yet he was long unsatisfied with the Tumultariness of the Insurrection but after some times consulting about it he came up to them at Linlithgow This together with the sad account of Affairs from England did not a little disorder the Committee of Estates who as they drew a few Troops that were kept in the Country for their Guard nearer them so were not well resolved what to do They looked on the business as desperate by the ruin of the Army in England Many in the Committee of Estates incline to yield to them and though it was easie to scatter the confused Bodies were coming from the West yet they apprehended that certainly they finding their own weakness would call for the Assistance of the English Army before which they knew they could not stand Most of the Committee were men of good Estates who apprehending certain ruin to their Fortunes were resolved to see to their own Preservation the best way they could Others were much addicted to the Ministers and though they had gone along with the Service notwithstanding the opposition of the Clergy yet now that they knew they were resolved to excommunicate all who were for the Engagement their hearts failed them Many of the Ministers did also represent to them and some of their Friends that their Designs being blasted by God why should they fight any longer against him and assured them that if they would lay down Arms and accommodate matters without Blood all should go well that they would all own the Kings Quarrel according to the Covenant but if on the other hand they persisted in their opposition to the Church the English Army would be called in which would undoubtedly destroy both the Country and them These things prevailed with most of the Committee of Estates But the Earl of Lanerick opposed all these Resolutions judging it base and dishonourable to treat with those Rebels and abandon so good a Cause because of a Misfortune He thought it therefore necessary to recall Sir George Monro with his Forces and secure themselves of Sterlin and St. Iohnstoun and then to raise all the North by which they might gather a new Army and the time of the Year told them that Cromwel durst not stay long in these Parts so that upon his going to London they might make themselves Masters of Scotland and force a new Army into England the next Year Yet in this he was almost alone and many of the Committee of Estates plied him hard especially with one Argument that if more Bloud were shed in Scotland their Enemies would undoubtedly revenge themselves on his Brother and then all the World would say his Ambition to succeed him had made him contribute to his Ruin But on the other hand the Ministers and their Adherents gave great Assurances that they should procure his Brother's Liberty if matters were packt up This being constantly pressed on him he yielded to be passive and let them be doing and so after some days Debate they resolved to prosecute the Engagement no more and to pack up the business if it were possible therefore they sent the Lords of Lee and Humby to the Western Forces who were come in their March the length of Hamilton to see what their Demands were and to propose a Cessation in order to a Treaty they also sent Orders to Sir George Monro to return to Scotland But here I shall stop a little to give account of the motions of his Army in England The account of the Irish Army Musgrave had got intelligence that Cromwel with his Army was upon his March to stop the Duke's progress and had advanced the length of Skipton-Castle in Yorkshire which Advertisement was instantly dispatched to the Duke at Preston and a small Party of about forty Horse was sent under the Command of one Galbreath to examin the truth of these Reports who returned with this Account That having concealed their Party within a Hedge near that Place some of them came to a
no Conjunction so it did not appear that they were his Letters only Peters asserted they were like his hand Then a Vote of the Two Houses was read repealing a former Vote of setting an hundred thousand pounds Sterling upon him for Ransome and proof was brought that notwithstanding Articles were given yet some had been forced to take the Negative Oath and thereby they studied to evince that the Parliament did not hold themselves bound to stand to Articles After this his Grace resumed the substance of all those Evidences and shewed that it was not proved he was a post-natus nor that he joyned with Sir Marmaduke Langdale who neither received Orders nor the Word from him but marched and quartered apart and that though he had done otherwise it could not be criminal in him since he had no Orders to the contrary from the Parliament of Scotland but was commanded by them to joyn with all who would concur with him for prosecuting the ends of the Engagement of which Sir Marmaduke approving he had no reason to refuse Concurrence with him neither could this be made Treason by the Law of England of all which it seemed the Parliament was once well-satisfied since by a Vote they had fined him in an hundred thousand pound Sterling as the price of his Liberty by which it appeared they look'd not on him as a Traytor but as an Enemy who had Life granted him by Articles Upon this the Court adjourned till Thursday the 22d and his Counsel were appointed to plead and he was to close his Evidence The Duke was brought to the Bar The eiâ—ht Appearance and by divers Witnesses it was proved that there was no Rendition made to the Lord Gray but a plain Refusal and that the Treaty was ended the Articles signed and Lambert come up before the Lord Gray came thither There was also produced an Order of Parliament made four years before that No Quarters should be given to any of the Irisâ— in Arms which inferred that others might have them and another Order was read of the 14th Iuly last declaring all the Scoâ—s who entred England Enemies and all the English and Irish who assisted them Trâ—ytors and with this he closed his Evidence and since he was not to be suffered to speak any more he enlarged on all the parts of his Plea and spake at length as follows That he was sent by the Kingdom of Scotland which was a free Kingdom The Duke pleads largely for himself and independent on England That he having had his Birth Honour and Fortune there was bound to give obedience to their Orders That for himself he had lived much out of business and was seldom in Publick Trust in that Kingdom nor very desirous of any but that being commanded to undertake the Charge of General for ends which he conceived lawful and no way contrary to the Peace or Interest of England he was obliged to follow their Orders and that by some Papers emitted by the Parliament of England against that Expedition they declared they looked on it as a National Breach whereby Scotland had violated their Leagues and Treaties with them so that it was no private Act of his That the entring of the Scotish Army into England Anno 1640 was accounted no Invasion nor Treason but on the contrary was acceptable to this Kingdom which gave a Brotherly Assistance for it and that the late unfortunate Army was designed fully for as good Ends and would have been so looked on had it prospered And for his joyning with Sir Marmaduke Langdale he answered it as was before set down Therefore he being taken Prisoner in such a War he conceived it without a Precedent that he should be Tried for his Life for serving his Native Kingdom in an open War As for his being an Alien he referred that to his Counsel but said it was undeniable he was born in Scotland nor was he proved a post-natus he was also born before his Father's Naturalization and so not included in it and his own Naturalization had been in agitation in the beginning of this Parliament That his sitting in Parliament did not conclude him an English Earl for if questioned he might probably have been expelled out of the House of Peers as his Countryman Mr. Walter Stuart was out of the House of Commons and that his being an Earl did not naturalize him that being the King 's single Act where as Naturalization was only by Act of Parliament As for the Articles it was clear that Lambert being a General Officer commissionated by Parliament was impowered to Capitulate both by the Parliament and by Cromwel the L. Gray having no Authority from the Parliament but only from Cromwel's Letter that he became the Lord Gray's Prisoner only by Lambert's Order and that he made no Surrender till the Articles were signed and delivered that though the Lord Gray had protested against it and yet only an intention to do it was proved he was not concerned in it nor bound to take notice of it Lambert being the Parliaments Officer and sent against him by them That Articles were to be expounded by their plain meaning and not by any mental reserves pretended by the Commissioners That by the first Article he was a Prisoner of War and that it was seldom known that the Life of any such was taken and that by the second Article Life and Safety of Person were expresly secured without any exception That if Articles were now violated it would make the sequel of the Wars if any more followed a down-right Butchery since none would any more trust to a Capitulation which Mischief he prayed God to avert That his Escape out of Prison was no Breach he being only bound by the Articles to deliver himself Prisoner which he did but not to continue so and he concluded that he was confident had he no better Plea his Articles were sufficient according to the Laws of all Nations to preserve his Life Then the President asked him if he had any thing to say as he was Earl of Cambridge whereupon he and his Counsel moved that if what he had said and proved was not satisfactory for the Averment of his Plea he might answer the Charge exhibited which he had not yet done But to this neither the Court nor their Counsel would yield though they gave no reason for it save only that it implyed a desire of Delay but the reason as was said was that they knew had they yielded to that the Charge had been overthrown since the Law of England does not admit that to be Treason which they charged on him that he had assisted the King against the Kingdom and People by levying War Then the Court told his Counsel that Saturday was the longest time they allowed them for performing their part but the Counsel answered that it was impossible for them to undertake it and discharge their Consciences to their Client having so short a time allowed them there
while you are on Earth and thereafter Crown you with eternal Happiness Time will permit me to say no more so the Lord bless guide and preserve you which is the Prayer of Your most loving Father HAMILTON St. James's 9th March 1649. Let this remember me to my dear Sisters Brothers and other Friends for it is all I write He did also apprehend that they might either be hindred to speak their Consciences freely on the Scaffold or that the noise and disorder there might make him be ill-heard or perhaps occasion disorder from the Souldiers which might provoke Passion or Discomposure and therefore delivered the following Speech before all in the Room which his Brother published from the Original he sent him I Know you that are here to be true and faithful to me I will therefore in your hearing say somewhat in order to my self His Speech before his Death and to my present Condition and give you also this Copy of it which after I am gone may perhaps be thought necessary to be published as the last Testimony of my Loyalty to my King for whom I now die and of my Affection to my Country for the pursuance of whose pious and loyal Commands I am now to suffer That my Religion hath always been and still is Orthodox I am confident no man doubts I shall not therefore need to say much to that particular only that I am of the true Reformed Protestant Religion as it is professed in the Church of Scotland I take God to witness that I have been constantly a loyal and faithful Subject and Servant to his late Majesty in spight of all Malice and Calumny I have had the honour since my Child-hood to attend and be near him till now of late and during all that time I observed in him as eminent Virtues and as little Vice as in any man I ever knew and I dare say he never harboured thought of countenancing Popery in any of his Dominions otherwise than was allowed by the Laws of England and that among all his Subjects there could not be found a better Protestant than himself and surely also he was free from having any intent to exercise any Tyranny or Absolute Power over his Subjects and that he hath been so unfortunate I rather impute the Cause of it to the sins of his People than to his own For my own part I do protest never to have swerved from that true Allegeance which was due to him and that hath constantly been payed to my Comfort I speak it to his Progenitors by my Ancestors for many Ages without spot or dishonour and I hope shall be still by my Successors to his Posterity I do heartily wish well to and pray for his Royal Issue and shall die a true and loyal Subject to his eldest Son Charles the Second the unquestionable King by right of all his Father's Kingdoms I hope though I do not live to see it that God's Justice and Goodness will in his own time establish him on the Throne of his Father which I doubt not some of you will see come to pass and I am confident till then and so long as men deeply plung'd in Guilt and Self-interest usurp Power and Government these Kingdoms will fall short either of Peace or any other permanent Happiness I speak this from my just Affection to the Royal Race and much Compassion to his Majesties Subjects but not from any Malice Anger or desire of Revenge against any for what I have or am to suffer for I forgive all men It is well known what Calumnies and Aspersions have been thrown upon me by men of several Parties and Interests not excepting those who would seem to carry much Affection to his late Majesty as if I had expressed Disservice or Disloyalty unto him the which how malicious and groundless they were I appeal to God who with my own Conscience clearly beareth witness of my Innocency therein and I shall beg Mercy from him to whom I am now to give an account of all my Thoughts and Actions as I have still had a faithful and loyal Heart to my Master It hath been a General Complaint that I perswaded His Majesty to pass the Act of continuing this Parliament I dispute not whether the doing of it at that time might have been reputed good or bad but surely it was not I that did perswade it Neither did I at all deal with His Majesty for his Consent to the Bill of Attainder for taking away the Life of the Earl of Strafford whose great Parts and Affection 't is known I highly valued yet some have been pleased to attribute to me the cause of that Concession but were His Majesty now living I am confident he would publickly clear me in both these as He hath been pleased many times in private formerly to do And truly I am not conscious to my self though I have been for many years a Privy-Councellour to him of ever giving him any Advice that tended to other ends as I conceived than the Good and Peace of His Majesty and His Dominions It hath been rumoured since my last Imprisonment that I should confess my self to be the greatest Instrument under His Majesty by making use of his Scotish Great Seal for authorizing the War in Ireland a Report so false and simple as in my opinion judicious and honest men will not believe it And truly as I am free from having hand therein in any manner of way so I am of nothing more confident than that His Majesty was also absolutely free thereof and that he was not in any case a Causer or Countenancer of those Irish Troubles I have been often examined touching Persons of several qualities within this Kingdom that as is supposed did invite into England the late Army from Scotland or promised Assistance after their coming and of late much Perswasion hath been used with me to that purpose as that upon my Discovery thereof depended the only means of my Preservation I will not say that I had any thing to reveal which would have been satisfactory but this I desire you to attest to the World that I have not accused or said any thing that may reflect on any man of what degree soever within the Kings Dominions and indeed it was so contrary to my Conscience and so derogatory to my Honour that if I had been able yet should I never have prejudiced any in that nature though it had been to save me a hundred Lives Touching that foul and senseless Slander that I betray'd the Army under my Conduct the care and pains I then took to prevent the loss of it and the near approach of my suffering for it will I suppose abundantly contradict this Aspersion I was satisfied with the Justness and Necessity of that Engagement upon the grounds of the Declaration of the Parliament of Scotland fearing then the sad Confusions which have since followed here both in Church and State and particularly the fatal Fall of
general Stories If all his Friends were not at all times so fixed to their Duty as they ought to have been that left no Blame upon him for no man can be lyable for his Friends nor charged with the faults of other men but when any of them strayed from their Duty his Friendship made him not the less but the more severe to them and many of them being yet alive have witnessed with what honest zeal he always studied to engage them to a Cordial adherence to the Kings Service But to sum up all those who after they see how in his last Speech delivered at his Death he begs Pardon and Mercy from God as he hath been a faithful Servant to his Master and do still retain their Jealousies are beyond the cure of any Perswasion for none but a desperate Atheist could have adventured so far with a defiled Conscience Neither can it be alledged here that all in those times pretended to be for the King for perhaps many thought the methods they took vvere the best for securing and settling his Throne But had the Duke been faulty as the World accused him it must not have been a Mistake in his thoughts but a Crookedness of his Heart a betraying of his Trust and a falsifying of his Engagements and who can suppose that the Parties who were prevalent both in England and Scotland at the time of his Death and pursued him and his Memory with all the excesses of Malice would not have discovered such Treachery to load him with the greater Infamy if there had been any grounds for it since they were the persons who musâ— have known it best As for that ridiculous and Devilish Forgery of his pretending to the Crown of Scotland never any were alledged to have heard a hint of it from himself no not in raillery and câ—â—tainly if so great a Design had ever been discovered to any person it must have been to his Friends and he must have taken pains to have made some Party sure for it but for this nothing was ever whispered but Surmises and those hanging so ill together that they retained not so much as the shadow of Probability For his Country His love to his Country as he had as great Interest in it as any Subject so his Affection yielded to none And it is certain that if his Counsels to the King seem at any time to fall short of the higher ways of Authority nothing but his Affection for his Country gave him the byass for he confessed the thing in the World at which he had the greatest horror was the engaging in a Civil War with his Country-men He was far from any Designs of engrossing either Power or Places of advantage to himself or his Friends nor was he ever the occasion of any Burden to the Country for the Assignments he had on some Taxations were only for payment of the Debts he had contracted by his Majesties Command for his Expedition to Germany And so little fond was he of being the Kings Commissioner in Scotland that in divers of his Letters he proposed others to his Majesty for that Trust protesting it was a Place which of all other he hated most and when he saw Jealousies taken at his being so long in that Trust as if the King had been to govern Scotland by a Commissioner he pressed his Majesty to change him so careful was he to avoid every thing which might be a Grievance to his Country and retard the Kings Service He was the great Patron of all Scotishmen in the Court which drew on several occasions a large share of Malice upon him as appear'd particularly in the Case of one Colonel Lesley whom Colonel Sanderson's Friends were pursuing in the Court alledging that Lesley had killed that Colonel unworthily in Muscovia The Crime was not committed in the Kings Dominions and Lesley was Legally acquitted from it in Russia who upon a National account being a Scotishman laid claim to the Dukes Protection but this irritated Colonel Sanderson's Brother who pretends to have written the History of King Charles the First into so much Rage against him that forgetting the Laws of History he breaks out on all occasions into the most passionate Railings that his spiteful but blunt and impotent Malice could devise And the best of all is he bewrays his Ignorance as well as his Passion in all the Account he gives of the Scotish Affairs so that it is hard to say whether his Folly in attempting to write a History on such slender Informations or his Impudence in forging or venting Lies with such Confidence deserves the severer Censure And since I mention this Lesley I shall only add that though Sanderson tells a formal Story of the signal Judgments of God on him in his Death he was alive many years after that Book was published which can be well proved by many who knew him His Temperance The Duke was very sumptuous and magnificent in his way of Living but abhorred that debauched custom of Entertainments by Drinking and was an example of Temperance which cost him dear in Denmark where he refusing the ordinary Entertainments of that Court in drinking was not only ill used but made pay a great Sum under the pretence of Passage-dues Temperance was particularly recommended to him by his Majesty when he went to Germany and his returning from that Court without once transgressing these Laws was such an evidence of his observing them that afterwards few would tempt him to those Excesses His Ingenuity Of all Vertues he esteemed Ingenuity and Candor most as that which was the Ground of all Confidence and the only Security among men and therefore recommended it chiefly to others and studied to observe it most himself I confess when I consider his whole method of framing and carrying on his Designs how streight and candid they were if I oft admire his Invention I do much more esteem the Ingenuity of his proceedings for I never find him vailing Truth with a Lye nor carrying on business with a Cheat and to speak freely the greatest departing from these Rules appeared in the Declaration emitted in April 1648 where among other things the Parliament declared they would not admit His Majesty to the exercise of His Royal Authority till He by Oath obliged Himself to swear and ratifie the Covenant The Duke stuck long ere he would give way to this at length finding the violent Party that crossed the Engagement implacable and being desirous to withdraw from them all colours or pretences for opposing that Design he yielded to it and at that time said to a Friend of his that the Preservation of the King went so near his Heart that he could refuse nothing which might make way for that But it was far from his thoughts to seclude the King from the exercise of his Royal Power and therefore it was excused at the same time both by the Letters his Brother wrote to the King and in the
in his Breast Nothing did so much support his spirit under the heavy Pressure that lay over it as the desire he had to preserve his Life for His Majesties Service of which he was prodigal when he saw it useless to his Master for his Life had been of a great while burdensome to him and indeed it was no wonder to see Death so welcome to one who had so little reason to desire to live and so much ground to hope in Death for when the Tossings and unjust unmerciful Usage he met with in those years he survived his Brother are well looked into it is a wonder they forced him not unto the horridest Resolutions imaginable I use his own words and to pursue private and publick Injuries with a mortal Resentment yet his zeal for the Kings Service and the Countries Quiet over-ruled all other thoughts From Scotland he went to Holland where he was scarce landed when he heard the sad and dismal news of the Kings Murder nor had he recovered of the extreme Grief that raised in him when he heard likewise how his Brother was murthered which afflicted him beyond expression nor did any thing grieve him more than his laying down Arms at Sterlin for when he saw too late how they had been abused in it he censured it more severely than any of his Enemies could do He was ill used by his Enemies and the Preachers In Scotland the Parliament if that Meeting could ever deserve that name wherein there were scarce any of the Nobility present not only condemned the Engagement for the King but passed an Act against all the Engagers ranking them in several Classes whence it got the name of an Act of Classes whereby they were excluded from all Offices publick Trust and Vote in Parliament nor were they ever to be admitted to Trust till they had satisfied the Church by a publick profession of their Repentance for their accession to the unlawful Engagement as it was then called and were by them recommended to the favour of the State and those that ruled were resolved to readmit none but such as would depend on them and adhere to their Interests They were also particularly severe to the Duke for breaking Confinement and leaving Scotland without their Pass The Duke upon his arrival in Holland offered his Service to his Master our Gracious Soveraign who now Reigns which he received and entertained with so much Royal Goodness as if the Affection and Confidence of their Masters had been the Inheritance of these Brothers and what the late King was to the Elder his Majesty was to the Younger who continues to this day to honour his Memory with the highest Commendations And indeed his Royal Favour was not misplaced on one that was either unsensible or ungrateful for never Subject served Master with more Honesty Zeal and Affection so that no consideration either of Hope or Fear wrought so much on him as the Affection he bore his Master neither expressed he anxiety for any thing at his Death save for His Majesties Person fearing lest he might fall into their cruel hands whom he knew to be thirsting for his Blood He stayed in the Netherlands till His Majesty came to Scotland He adviseth the King to settle with Scotland and though those that governed there were so much his Enemies that they would have the King stand to their Act of Classes and made that one of the Articles of their Treaty at Breda yet the Duke seeing the desperate posture the Kings Affairs were in and that no visible hope remained unless His Majesty settled fully with Scotland was not only satisfied to consent to that severe Demand but did earnestly press His Majesty to agree with that Kingdom whatever might become of him Many were for extremer Methods and pressed the Duke to concur for making a forcible Impression upon Scotland but he well foresaw the mischief of that Course and how little could be promised from it for as no great Concurrence could be expected in the condition things were then driven to so all that could follow even on a little success was to expose the Country to the rage of a prevailing Army from England against which Scotland entirely united would have had work enough though it had not been weakned by a Civil War and therefore he was against all Divisions which might also have tempted the prevailing Party to joyn with the English Army The Treaty with the Scotish Commissioners was held at Breda where things stuck long their Demands being very high and uneasy to the King The chief of the Commissioners was the Earl of Cassilis who did truly love the King and Kingly Government so that when the Usurpation proved sucessful by the Conquest of Scotland afterwards though Usurper studied by the greatest Offers he could make to gain him to his Party considering the high esteem he was in for his Piety and Vertue could never prevail so far as to make him advance one step towards him even in outward Civilities yet he was a most zealous Covenanter but of so severe a Vertue and so exactly strict to every thing in which he judged his Honour or Conscience concerned that he would not abate an ace of his Instructions but stood his ground so that nothing could beat or draw him out of it But he did it with so much Fairness and Candor that the King though troubled enough with the difficulties that bred him yet was much taken with the Openness of his Proceeding with him and conceived so high an Opinion of his Fidelity to him that nothing could ever chaâ—ge or lessen it so so excellent a thing is Ingenuity that it begets an esteem wherever it is to be found even when we are most displeased with the Instances in which it appears The next in the Commission was the Earl of Lothian who though he was deeply engaged in Friendship and Interests with the Marquis of Argyle yet was of a Noble Temper had great Parts and a high sense of Honour The other Commissioners depended on them and went easily along with them in what they agreed to The Commissioners seeing the good Offices the Duke did were willing he should return with his Majesty to Scotland Anno 1650 and enjoy the common Priviledges of Scotchmen only be secluded from all publick Trust and from his Vote in Parliament But the leading-men in Scotland judged it necessary for the Peace of that Kingdom that the Duke might not return with His Majesty and sent Orders for stopping his Voyage These Orders came not to Holland before most of the Commissioners were aboard only the Earls of Cassilis and Lothian were ashore when they got them they were much troubled to get such severe Commands obliging them to break the Treaty they had so lately signed But since most of their fellow-Commissioners were gone But is put from His Majesty at his return to Scotland and they without them made not a Quorum they could do nothing so
Scotland This I thought fit to shew you from others you will hear what hath been every mans particular Carriage in the Debates and our future Actions though they prove not useful to His Majesty yet shall witness to the World and Posterity how we detest such Resolutions However I shall boldly say tâ—at some who professed at their parting from His Majesty as much if not more than I did and for ought I know were more trusted have this day shewed themselves to the World in their natural colours for truly I never remember to have seen any thing carried with so much violence and bitterness as tâ—e Resolution of not suffering His Majesty to come to Scotland our Declaring it unlawful to espouse His Interest and the fitness of Restraining His Person in England I dare not advise any thing only this whatsoever His Majesty intends to do I wish it be done quickly and I dare say upon my Honour within few days He will not be master of Himself nor His Resolution anâ— then I doubt his Offers will come too late I shall conclude you never saw the stream so strong in Scotland nor so desperate an Affliction as doth now possess the heart of Your most humble Servant LANERICK And with this long account he wrote to His Majesty what follows SIR I Shall not presume to trouble Your Majesty with the sad relation of our Carriages here these last two days the Particulars will be represented to You by others Only give me leave to beg that what Your Majesty intends to do be quickly done for our Resolutions here will be sudden and sharp Whatsoever other mens Carriage be I am resolved to die rather than concur with them This is the fixed Resolution of Your Majesties most humble most faithful most obedient Subject and Servant LANERICK Edinburgh 17th Decemb. 1646s Now were the two Brothers The Duke and Lanerick oppose things as much as they can but in vain according to the variety of their tempers swallowed up with the excesses of Passion The Duke was all Melancholy and Despair and Lanerick was full of Fury and Rage But say or do what they could all was in vain One rare instance of the Kings temper appeared at this time for after he had got this account which brought him such ill tidings he took no notice of it to those about him but continued in a Game at Chess and was as chearful as before He was at that time thinking of making an escape from Newcastle by Sea but whither he intended to have gone does not appear to the Writer to that Lanerick's Letters do relate when they press his speedy resolving on what he intended The design was thus laid Mr. Murray had provided a Vessel by Tinmouth and Sir Robert Murray was to have conveyed the King thither in a disguise and it proceeded so far that the King put himself in the disguise and went down the back-Stairs with Sir Robert Murray But His Majesty apprehending it was scarce possible to pâ—ss through all the Guards without being discovered and judging it hugely undecent to be catched in such a condition changed His Resolution and went back as Sir Robert informed the Writer This came to be known to some and one suspecting the Duke was in it wrote to him earnestly to concur in no such design and that the Kings getting out of their hands again would ruin all that no man of Honour and Conscience ought to serve the King since he would not serve God according to the Covenant adding that it seemed God had no mercy for the King or His Family since His Heart was still so hardned in the matter of the Covenant so high-flown were men at that time At London things went on with great dispatch for the Retiring of the Scotish Army another hundred thousand pounds sterling was Voted to be paid presently and other two hundred thousand pounds to bâ— raised out of the Sale of Bishops Rents and Delinquents Estates whereupon it was agreed that the Army should return to Scotland upon the delivery of the Mony which was immediately to be sent down to Newcastle In Scotland upon the evening of the next day after the Fast mentioned in the Earl of Lanerick's Letter these infamous Resolutions set down in his Letter were Voted and all that could be said by the two Brothers or any few of their Friends who adhered to them had no other effect but to drive it off a few minutes the Tide made so strong the other way The King at this time was much pressed both by the Queen from France and by Believre the French Ambassadour to consent to their Demands but all was to no purpose and my Lord Lanerick's last Letter prevailed no more than the former Most Sacred Soveraign Lanerick writes again to the King BY Monsieur Montrevil I received Your Majesties of the 14th Instant and do humbly acknowledge Your Gracious Reception of the Freedom I used in my former Letter And now when Your Majesty doth see to what a height the Publick Resolutions here are grown Your Majesty will soon find how just my Fears were that Your intended Answer to the Propositions of Peace if published here would have received no Countenance nor Assistance hence Satisfaction in Religion being still waved without which as then so I have always assured Your Majesty there would be an absolute impossibility of preventing Your receiving eminent Prejudices from this Country I shall not presume to reply to the Answers Your Majesty makes to the Objections were made here for I did not then speak mine own Language against Your Answer to the Propositions I never laboured to perswade Your Majesty to grant them from a sense of their Iustness but only out of an opinion of their fitness in relation to Your present Condition which by what Your Majesty will learn from the Bearer is more threatning now than ever I know the representation of Your Danger in what horrid shape soever it may with Reason lie before You will be as impertinent an Argument as any yet though Your Majesty should neglect it in reference to Your Self pity Your hopeful Children and Posterity pity Your Subjects and suffer us not to ruine our selves which the Confusions we are running into will certainly bring upon us and pity all those who have suffered for You who will be exposed to certain Ruine All possible means have been used in a Parliamentary way which is the only mean left to prevent the extreme Resolutions that are now taken but all is to no purpose our best Friends forsake us upon any Motion which may infer the least Latitude about the Covenant and Religion and therefore as in the presence of God I must discharge my self to Your Majesty and shew you the Resolutions now taken here in relation to the restraining of Your Majesties Person and Governing the Kingdom without You will be infallibly put in execution if Your Majesty does not satisfie in the Covenant and Religion to