West the King had much the better of the Parliament for in the North at the very beginning of the year March 29 th the Earls of New-Castle and Cumberland defeated the Lord Fairfax who commanded in those parts for the Parliament at Bramham-Moore which made the Parliament to hasten the assistance of the Scots In June following the Earl of New-Castle routed Sir Thomas Fairfax Son to the Lord Fairfax upon Adderton-Heath and in pursuit of them to Bradford took and kill'd 2000 Men and the next day took the Town and 2000 Prisoners more Sir Thomas himself hardly escaping with all their Arms and Ammunition And besides this made the Lord Fairfax quit Halifax and Beverly Lastly Prince Rupert relieved Newark besieged by Sir John Meldrun for the Parliament with 7000 Men whereof 1000 were slain the rest upon Articles departed leaving behind them their Arms Bag and Baggage To ballance in part this success the Earl of Manchester whose Lieutenant-General was Oliver Cromwel got a Victory over the Royalists near Horncastle of whom he slew 400 took 800 Prisoners and 1000 Arms and presently after took and plundred the City of Lincoln In the West May 16 th Sir Ralph Hopton at Stratton in Devonshire had a Victory over the Parliamentarians wherein he took 1700 Prisoners 13 Brass Pieces of Ordnance and all their Ammunition which was 70 Barrels of Powder and their Magazine of their other Provisions in the Town Again at Landsdown between Sir Ralph Hopton and the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller was fought a fierce Battle wherein the Victory was not very clear on either side saving that the Parliamentarians might seem to have the better because presently after Sir William Waller followed Sir Ralph Hopton to Devizes in Wiltshire though to his Cost for there he was overthrown as I have already told you After this the King in Person marched into the West and took Exeter Dorcester Barnstable and divers other places and had he not at his return besieged Glocester and thereby given the Parliament time for new Levies 't was thought by many he might have routed the House of Commons But the end of this year was more favourable to the Parliament for in January the Scots entred England and March the first crossed the Tyne and whilst the Earl of New-Castle was marching to them Sir Thomas Fairfax gathered together a considerable Party in York-shire and the Earl of Manchester from Lyn advanced towards York so that the Earl of New-Castle having two Armies of the Rebels behind him and another before him was forced to retreat to York which those three Armies joyning presently besieged and these are all the considerable Military Actions of the Year 1643. In the same Year the Parliament caused to be made a new Great Seal The Lord Keeper had carried the former Seal to Oxford Hereupon the King sent a Messenger to the Judges at Westminster to forbid them to make use of it This Messenger was taken and condemn'd at a Councel of War and hang'd for a Spy B. Is that the Law of War A. I know not but it seems when a Soldier comes into the Enemies Quarters without address or notice given to the Chief Commander that it is presumed he comes as a Spy The same Year when certain Gentlemen at London receiv'd a Commission of Array from the King to Levy Men for his Service in that City being discovered they were condemn'd and some of them executed This Case is not much unlike the former B. Was not the making of a new Great Seal a sufficient proof that the War was raised not to remove evil Councellors from the King but to remove the King himself from the Government What hope then could there be had in Messages and Treaties A. The Entrance of the Scots was a thing unexpected to the King who was made to believe by continual Letters from his Commissioner in Scotland Duke Hamilton that the Scotch never intended any Invasion The Duke being then at Oxford the King assur'd that the Scotch were now entred sent him Prisoner to Pendennis Castle in Cornwal In the beginning of the Year 1644. the Earl of New-Castle being as I told you besieged by the joynt Forces of the Scots the Earl of Manchester and Sir Thomas Fairfax the King sent Prince Rupert to relieve the Town and as soon as he could to give the Enemy battle Prince Rupert passing through Lancashire and by the way having stormed that seditious Town of Bolton and taken in Stockford and Leverpool came to York July the first and relieved it the Enemy being risen thence to a place called Marston-Moor about four Miles off and there was fought that unfortunate Battle which lost the King in a manner all the North. Prince Rupert returned by the way he came and the Earl of New-Castle to York and thence with some of his Officers over the Sea to Hamburgh The Honour of this Victory was attributed chiefly to Oliver Cromwel the Earl of Manchester Lieutenant-General The Parliamentarians returned from the Field to the Siege of York which not long after upon honourable Articles was surrendred not that they were favoured but because the Parliament employed not much time nor many Men in Sieges B. This was a great and sudden abatement of the King's prosperity A. It wat so but amends was made him for it within five or six weeks after For Sir William Waller after the loss of his Army at Roundway-down had another raised for him by the City of London who for the payment thereof imposed a weekly Tax of the value of one meals meat upon every Citizen This Army with that of the Earl of Essex intended to besiege Oxford which the King understanding sent the Queen into the West and marched himself towards Worcester This made them to divide again and the Earl to go into the West and Waller to pursue the King By this means as it fell out both their Armies were defeated for the King turned upon Waller routed him at Copredy-Bridge took his Train of Artillery and many Officers and then presently followed the Earl of Essex into Cornwal where he had him at such advantage that the Earl himself was fain to escape in a small Boat to Plimouth his Horse brake through the King's Quarters by night but the Infantry were all forced to lay down their Arms and upon condition never more to bear Arms against the King were permitted to depart In October following was fought a second and sharp Battle at Newbury for this Infantry making no Conscience of the Conditions made with the King being now come towards London as far as Basingstoke had Arms put again into their hands to whom some of the Train'd-Bands being added the Earl of Essex had suddenly so great an Army that he attempted the King again at Newbury And certainly had the better of the day but the night parting them had not a compleat Victory And it was observ'd here that no part of the Earl's Army fought so
they thought worthy even to be Senators of Rome and to give every one of the Common People the Priviledges of the City of Rome by which they were protected from the Contumelies of other Nations where they resided Why were not the Scotch and English in like manner united into one People A. King James at his first coming to the Crown of England did endeavour it but could not prevail But for all that I believe the Scotch have now as many Priviledges in England as any Nation had in Rome of those which were so as you say made Romans for they are all naturaliz'd and have right to buy Land in England to themselves and their Heirs B. It 's true of them that were born in Scotland after the time that King James was in possession of the Kingdom of England A. There be very few now that were born before But why have they a better Right that were born after than they that were born before B. Because they were born Subjects to the King of England and the rest not A. Were not the rest born Subjects to King James And was not he King of England B. Yes but not then A. I understand not the subtilty of that distinction But upon what Law is that distinction grounded Is there any Statute to that purpose B. I cannot tell I think not but it is grounded upon Equity A. I see little Equity in this that those Nations that are bound to equal obedience to the same King should not have equal priviledges And now seeing there be so very few born before King James's coming in what greater priviledge had those ingrafted Romans by their Naturalization in the State of Rome or in the State of England the English themselves more than the Scotch B. Those Romans when any of them were in Rome had their Voice in the making of Laws A. And the Scotch have their Parliaments wherein their assent is requir'd to the Laws there made which is as good Have not many of the Provinces of France their several Parliaments and several Constitutions and yet they are all equally natural Subjects to the King of France and therefore for my part I think they were mistaken both English and Scotch in calling one another Forreigners Howsoever that be the King had a very sufficient Army wherewith he marched towards Scotland and by that time he was come to York the Scotch Army was drawn up to the Frontiers and ready to march into England which also they presently did giving out all the way that their March should be without damage to the Countrey and that their Errand was only to deliver a Petition to the King for the redress of many pretended Injuries they had receiv'd from such of the Court whose Counsel the King most followed so they passed through Northumberland quietly till they came to a Ford in the River of Tine a little above New-Castle where they found some little opposition from a Party of the King's Army sent thither to stop them whom the Scotch easily master'd and as soon as they were over seiz'd upon New-Castle and coming farther on upon the City of Duresme and sent to the King to desire a Treaty which was granted and the Commissioners on both sides met at Rippon The Conclusion was that all should be referr'd to the Parliament which the King should call to meet at Westminster on the third of November following being in the same Year 1640. and thereupon the King returned to London B. So the Armies were disbanded A. No the Scotch Army was to be defrayed by the Counties of Northumberland and Duresme and the King was to pay his own till the disbanding of both should be agreed upon in Parliament B. So in effect both the Armies were maintain'd at the King's charge and the whole Controversie to be decided by a Parliament almost wholly Presbyterian and as partial to the Scotch as themselves could have wished A. And yet for all this they durst not presently make War upon the King there was so much yet left of reverence to him in the Hearts of the People as to have made them odious if they had declared what they intended they must have some colour or other to make it believ'd that the King made War first upon the Parliament and besides they had not yet sufficiently disgraced him in Sermons and Pamphlets nor removed from about him those they thought could best counsel him Therefore they resolv'd to proceed with him like skilful Hunters first to single him out by Men disposed in all parts to drive him into the open Field and then in case he should but seem to turn head to call that a making of War against the Parliament And first they call'd in question such as had either preached or written in defence of any of those Rights which belonging to the Crown they meant to usurp and take from the King to themselves Whereupon some few Preachers and Writers were imprisoned or forced to fly The King not protecting these they proceeded to call in question some of the King 's own Actions in his Ministers whereof they imprisoned some and some went beyond Sea And whereas certain persons having endeavoured by Books and Sermons to raise Sedition and committed other crimes of high nature had therefore been censured by the King's Council in the Star-Chamber and imprisoned the Parliament by their own Authority to try it seems how the King and the People would take it for their persons were inconsiderable ordered their setting at liberty which was accordingly done with great applause of the People that flocked about them in London in manner of a Triumph This being done without resistance the King 's Right to Ship-Money B. Ship-Money what 's that A. The Kings of England for the defence of the Sea had power to tax all the Counties of England whether they were Maritime or not for the building and furnishing of Ships which Tax the King had then lately found cause to impose and the Parliament exclaim'd against it as an oppression and one of their Members that had been taxed but 20 s. mark the oppression a Parliament-man of 500 l. a year Land taxed at 20 s. they were forced to bring it to a Tryal at Law he refusing payment and he was cast Again when all the Judges of Westminster were demanded their Opinions concerning the Legality of it of Twelve that there are it was judged legal by Ten for which though they were not punished yet they were afrighted by the Parliament B. What did the Parliament mean when they did exclaim against it as illegal Did they mean it was against Statute-Law or against the Judgments of Lawyers given heretofore which are commonly called Reports or did they mean it was against Equity which I take to be the same with the Law of Nature A. It is a hard matter or rather impossible to know what other Men mean especially if they be crafty but sure I am Equity was not their ground for
TRACTS OF M R. THOMAS HOBBS OF Malmsbury CONTAINING I. Behemoth the History of the Causes of the Civil Wars of England from 1640. to 1660. printed from the Author 's own Copy Never printed but with a thousand faults before II. An Answer to Arch-Bishop Bramhall's Book called the Catching of the Leviathan Never printed before III. An Historical Narration of Heresie and the Punishment thereof Corrected by the true Copy IV. Philosophical Problems dedicated to the King in 1662. but never printed before LONDON Printed for W. Crooke at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Bar MDCLXXXII Behemoth THE HISTORY Of the Causes of the Civil-Wars OF ENGLAND And of the Councels and Artifices by which they were carried on from the year 1640. to the year 1660. Written by THOMAS HOBBS of Malmsbury Printed from the Author 's true Copy Bella per Angliacos plusquam civilia campos Jusque datum sceleri loquimur LONDON Printed for W. Crooke at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Bar MDCLXXXII THE BOOKSELLER TO THE READER MY Duty as well to the Publick as to the Memory of Mr. Hobbs has obliged me to procure with my utmost diligence that these Tracts should come forth with the most correct exactness I am compell'd by the force of Truth to declare how much both the World and the Name of Mr. Hobbs have been abus'd by the several spurious Editions of the History of the Civil Wars wherein by various and unskilful Transcriptions are committed above a thousand faults and in above a hundred places whole Lines left out as I can make appear I must confess Mr. Hobbs upon some considerations was averse to the publishing thereof but since it is impossible to suppress it no Book being more commonly sold by all Booksellers I hope I need not fear the Offence of any Man by doing Right to the World and this Work Which I now Publish from the Original Manuscript done by his own Amanuensis and given me by himself above twelve years since To this I have joyn'd the Treatise against Arch-Bishop Bramhall to prevent the like prejudice which must certainly have faln on it there being so many false Copies abroad if not thus prevented as also the Discourse of Heresie from a more correct Copy and have likewise annex'd his Physical Problems as they were translated by himself and presented to His Majesty with the Epistle prefix'd in the Year 1662. at the same time they came forth in Latin These things premis'd there remains nothing but to wish for my self good sale to the Buyer much pleasure and satisfaction Your Humble Servant William Crooke Behemoth OR THE EPITOME OF THE Civil Wars OF ENGLAND PART I. A. IF in time as in place there were degrees of high and low I verily believe that the highest of time would be that which passed between 1640. and 1660. for he that thence as from the Devils Mountain should have looked upon the World and observ'd the Actions of Men especially in England might have had a Prospect of all kinds of Injustice and of all kinds of Folly that the World could afford and how they were produced by their Hypocrisie and self-conceit whereof the one is double Iniquity and the other double Folly B. I should be glad to behold that Prospect You that have liv'd in that time and in that part of your Age wherein Men use to see best into good and evil I pray you set me that could not see so well upon the same Mountain by the Relation of the Actions you then saw and of their Causes Pretensions Justice Order Artifice and Event A. In the Year 1640. the Government of England was Monarchical and the King that reigned Charles the first of that name holding the Sovereignty by right of a descent continued above 600 years and from a much longer descent King of Scotland and from the time of his Ancestors Henry the second King of Ireland a Man that wanted no vertue either of Body or Mind nor endeavour'd any thing more than to discharge his Duty towards God in the well governing of his Subjects B. How could he then miscarry having in every County so many Trained Soldiers as would put together have made an Army of 60000 Men and divers Magazines of Ammunition in places fortified A. If those Soldiers had been as they and all other of his Subjects ought to have been at his Majesties command the Peace and Happiness of the three Kingdoms had continued as it was left by King James but the People were corrupted generally and disobedient persons esteemed the best Patriots B. But sure there were Men enough besides those that were ill-affected to have made an Army sufficient to have kept the People from uniting into a Body able to oppose him A. Truly I think if the King had had Money he might have had Soldiers enough in England for there were very few of the Common People that cared much for either of the Causes but would have taken any side for pay and plunder but the Kings Treasure was very low and his Enemies that pretended the Peoples ease from Taxes and other specious things had the command of the Purses of the City of London and of most Cities and Corporate Towns in England and of many particular persons besides B. But how came the People to be so corrupted and what kind of People were they that did so seduce them A. The Seducers were of divers sorts One sort were Ministers Ministers as they call'd themselves of Christ and sometimes in their Sermons to the People God's Ambassadors pretending to have a right from God to govern every one his Parish and their Assembly the whole Nation Secondly there were a very great number though not comparable to the other which notwithstanding that the Popes power in England both Temporal and Ecclesiastical had been by Act of Parliament abolished did still retain a belief that we ought to be governed by the Pope whom they pretended to be the Vicar of Christ and in the Right of Christ to be the Governour of all Christian People and these were known by the Name of Papists as the Ministers I mentioned before were commonly called Presbyterians Thirdly There were not a few who in the beginning of the Troubles were not discovered but shortly after declared themselves for a Liberty in Religion and those of different Opinions one from another some of them because they would have all Congregations free and independent upon one another were called Independents Others that held Baptism to Infants and such as understood not into what they are baptized to be ineffectual were called therefore Anabaptists Others that held that Christ's Kingdom was at this time to begin upon the Earth were called Fifth-monarchy-men besides divers other Sects as Quakers Adamites c. whose Names and peculiar Doctrines I do not well remember and these were the Enemies which arose against his Majesty from the private Interpretation of the Scripture exposed to every Man 's scanning in his Mother-Tongue Fourthly There were
they sent up to some of their Friends at Court a certain Paper containing as they pretended the Articles of the said Pacification a false and scandalous Paper which was by the King's Command burnt as I have heard publickly and so both parts returned to the same condition they were in when the King went down with his Army B. And so there was a great deal of Money cast away to no purpose But you have not told me who was General of that Army A. I told you the King was there in Person He that commanded under him was the Earl of Arundel a Man that wanted not either Valour or Judgment But to proceed to Battle or to Treaty was not in his power but in the King 's B. He was a Man of a most Noble and Loyal Family and whose Ancestors had formerly given a great overthrow to the Scots in their own Country and in all likelihood he might have given them the like now if they had fought A. He might indeed but it had been but a kind of superstition to have made him General upon that account though many Generals heretofore have been chosen for the good luck of their Ancestors in like occasions In the long War between Athens and Sparta a General of the Athenians by Sea won many Victories against the Spartans for which cause after his death they chose his Son for General with ill success The Romans that conquered Carthage by the Valour and Conduct of Scipio when they were to make War again in Africk against Caesar chose another Scipio for General a Man valiant and wise enough but he perished in the Employment And to come home to our own Nation the Earl of Essex made a fortunate Expedition to Cadiz but his Son sent afterwards to the same place could do nothing 'T is but a foolish superstition to hope that God has entail'd success in War upon a Name or Family B. After the Pacification broken what succeeded next A. The King sent Duke Hamilton with Commission and Instructions into Scotland to call a Parliament there and to use all the means he could otherwise but all was to no purpose for the Scotch were now resolv'd to raise an Army and to enter into England to deliver as they pretended their Grievances to his Majesty in a Petition because the King they said being in the hands of evil Councellors they could not otherwise obtain their Right but the truth is they were animated to it by the Democratical and Presbyterian English with a promise of reward and hope of plunder Some have said that Duke Hamilton also did rather encourage them to than deter them from the Expedition as hoping by the disorder of the two Kingdoms to bring to pass that which he had formerly been accus'd to endeavour to make himself King of Scotland But I take this to have been a very uncharitable censure upon so little ground to judge so hardly of a Man that afterwards lost his life in seeking to procure the Liberty of the King his Master This resolution of the Scots to enter England being known the King wanting Money to raise an Army against them was now as his Enemies here wished constrained to call a Parliament to meet at Westminster the 13 th day of April 1640. B. Methinks a Parliament of England if upon any occasion should furnish the King with Money now in a War against the Scots out of an inveterate dissaffection to that Nation that had always anciently taken part with their Enemies the French and which always esteemed the Glory of England for an abatement of their own A. 'T is indeed commonly seen that neighbour Nations envy one anothers Honour and that the less potent bears the greater malice but that hinders them not from agreeing in those things which their common ambition leads them to And therefore the King found not the more but the less help from this Parliament and most of the Members thereof in their ordinary Discourses seemed to wonder why the King should make a War upon Scotland and in that Parliament sometimes called them Their Brethren the Scots But in stead of taking the Kings business which was the raising of Money into their Consideration they fell upon the redressing of Grievances and especially such ways of levying Money as in the late Intermission of Parliaments the King had been forced to use such as were Ship-Money for Knighthood and such other Vails as one may call them of the Regal Office which Lawyers had found justifiable by the Ancient Records of the Kingdom Besides they fell upon the Actions of divers Ministers of State though done by the King 's own Command and Warrant in so much that before they were to come to the business for which they were called the Money which was necessary for this War if they had given any as they never meant to do had come too late It is true there was mention of a Sum of Money to be given the King by way of bargain for the relinquishing of his Right to Ship-Money and some other of his Prerogatives but so seldom and without determining any Sum that it was in vain for the King to hope for any success and therefore upon the 5 th of May following he dissolved it B. Where then had the King Money to raise and pay his Army A. He was forced the second time to make use of the Nobility and Gentry who contributed some more some less according to the greatness of their Estates but amongst them all they made up a very sufficient Army B. It seems then that the same Men that crossed his business in the Parliament now out of Parliament advanced it all they could What was the reason of that A. The greatest part of the Lords in Parliament and of the Gentry throughout England were more affected to Monarchy than to a Popular Government but so as not to endure to hear of the King 's Absolute Power which made them in time of Parliament easily to condescend to abridge it and bring the Government to a mixt Monarchy as they call'd it wherein the absolute Sovereignty should be divided between the King the House of Lords and the House of Commons B. But how if they cannot agree A. I think they never thought of that but I am sure they never meant the Sovereignty should be wholly either in one or both Houses Besides they were loth to desert the King when he was invaded by Forreigners for the Scots were esteemed by them as a Forreign Nation B. It is strange to me that England and Scotland being but one Island and their Language almost the same and being governed by one King should be thought Forreigners to one another The Romans were Masters of many Nations and to oblige them the more to obey the Edicts and Laws sent unto them from the City of Rome they thought fit to make them all Romans and out of divers Nations as Spain Germany Italy and France to advance some that
of Henry the third the Lords were descended most of them from such as in the Invasions and Conquests of the Germans were Peers and Fellow-Kings till one was made King of them all and their Tenants were their Subjects as it is at this day with the Lords of France but after the time of Henry the third the Kings began to make Lords in the place of them whose Issue failed Titulary only without the Lands belonging to their Title and by that means their Tenants being no longer bound to serve them in the Wars they grew every day less and less able to make a Party against the King though they continued still to be his Great Councel And as their Power decreased so the Power of the House of Commons increased but I do not find they were part of the King's Councel at all nor Judges over other men though it cannot be denied but a King may ask their advice as well as the advice of any other but I do not find that the end of their summoning was to give advice but only in case they had any Petitions for redress of Grievances to be ready there with them whilst the King had his Great Councel about him But neither they nor the Lords could present to the King as a Grievance That the King took upon him to make the Laws To choose his own Privy-Councellors To raise Money and Soldiers To defend the Peace and Honour of the Kingdom To make Captains in his Army To make Governours of his Castles whom he pleased for this had been to tell the King that it was one of their Grievances that he was King B. What did the Parliament do whilst the King was in Scotland A. The King went in August after which the Parliament September the 8 th adjourned till the 20 th of October and the King return'd about the end of November following in which time the most seditious of both Houses and which had design'd the change of Government and to cast off Monarchy but yet had not wit enough to set up any other Government in its place and consequently left it to the chance of War made a Cabal amongst themselves in which they projected how by seconding one another to govern the House of Commons and invented how to put the Kingdom by the power of that House into a Rebellion which they then called a posture of Defence against such dangers from abroad as they themselves should feign and publish Besides whilst the King was in Scotland the Irish Papists got together a great Party with an intention to Massacre the Protestants there and had laid a Design for the seizing of Dublin Castle in October the 20 th where the King's Officers of the Government of that Countrey made their Residence and had effected it had it not been discovered the night before The manner of the Discovery and the Murders they committed in the Country afterwards I need not tell you since the whole Story of it is extant B. I wonder they did not expect and provide for a Rebellion in Ireland as soon as they began to quarrel with the King in England for was there any body so ignorant as not to know that the Irish Papists did long for a change of Religion there as well as the Presbyterians in England Or that in general the Irish Nation did hate the name of Subjection to England Or would longer be quiet than they feared an Army out of England to chastise them What better time then could they take for their Rebellion than this wherein they were encouraged not only by our weakness caused by this division between the King and his Parliament but also by the Example of the Presbyterians both of the Scotch and English Nation But what did the Parliament do upon this occasion in the King's absence A. Nothing but consider what use they might make of it to their own ends partly by imputing it to the King 's evil Counsellors and partly by occasion thereof to demand of the King the power of pressing and ordering of Soldiers which power whosoever has has also without doubt the whole Sovereignty B. When came the King back A. He came back the 25 th of November and was welcomed with the Acclamations of the Common People as much as if he had been the most beloved of all the Kings that were before him but found not a Reception by the Parliament answerable to it They presently began to pick new quarrels against him out of every thing he said to them December the second the King called together both Houses of Parliament and then did only recommend unto them the raising of Succors for Ireland B. What quarrel could they pick out of that A. None but in order thereto as they may pretend they had a Bill in agitation to assert the Power of Levying and Pressing Soldiers to the two Houses of the Lords and Commons which was as much as to take from the King the Power of the Militia which is in effect the whole Sovereign Power for he that hath the power of Levying and Commanding of the Soldiers has all other Rights of Sovereignty which he shall please to claim The King hearing of it called the Houses of Parliament together again on December the 14 th and then pressed again the business of Ireland as there was need for all this while the Irish were murdering of the English in Ireland and strengthening themselves against the Forces they expected to come out of England and withal told them he took notice of the Bill in agitation for pressing of Soldiers and that he was contented it should pass with a Salvo Jure both for him and them because the present time was unseasonable to dispute it in B. What was there unreasonable in this A. Nothing What 's unreasonable is one question what they quarrel'd at is another They quarrel'd at this That his Majesty took notice of the Bill while it was in debate in the House of Lords before it was presented to him in the course of Parliament and also that he shewed himself displeas'd with those that propounded the said Bill both which they declared to be against the Priviledges of Parliament and petitioned the King to give them reparation against those by whose evil Counsel he was induced to it that they might receive condign punishment B. This was cruel proceeding Do not the Kings of England use to sit in the Lords House when they please And was not this Bill in debate then in the House of Lords It is a strange thing that a Man should be lawfully in the company of Men where he must needs hear and see what they say and do and yet must not take notice of it so much as to the same company for though the King was not present at the Debate it self yet it was lawful for any of the Lords to make him acquainted with it Any one of the House of Commons though not present at a Proposition or Debate in
when the Parliament was ended and the favour shewed to Papists by Secretary Windebank and others B. All this will go current with common People for misgovernment and for faults of the King 's though some of them were misfortunes and both the misfortunes and the misgovernment if any were were the faults of the Parliament who by denying to give him Money did both frustrate his Attempts abroad and put him upon those extraordinary ways which they call Illegal of raising Money at home A. You see what a heap of evils they have raised to make a shew of ill government to the People which they second with an enumeration of the many Services they have done the King in overcoming a great many of them though not all and in divers other things and say that though they had contracted a Debt to the Scots of 2200 l. and granted six Subsidies and a Bill of Pole-Money worth six Subsidies more yet that God had so blessed the endeavours of this Parliament that the Kingdom was a gainer by it and then follows the Catalogue of those good things they had done for the King and Kingdom For the Kingdom they had done they said these things They had abolished Ship-Money They had taken away Coat and Conduct-Money and other Military Charges which they said amounted to little less than the Ship-Money That they suppress'd all Monopolies which they reckoned above a Million yearly saved by the Subject That they had quelled living Grievances meaning evil Counsellors and Actors by the death of my Lord of Strafford by the flight of the Chancellor Finch and of Secretary Windebank by the Imprisonment of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and of Judge Bartlet and the Impeachment of other Bishops and Judges That they had pass'd a Bill for a Triennial Parliament and another for the Continuance of the present Parliament till they should think fit to dissolve themselves B. That is to say for ever if they be suffered But the sum of all these things which they had done for the Kingdom is that they had left it without Government without Strength without Money without Law and without good Councel A. They reckoned also putting down of the High-Commission and the abating of the power of the Council-Table and of the Bishops and their Courts The taking away of unnecessary Ceremonies in Religion Removing of Ministers from their Livings that were not of their Faction and putting in such as were B. All this was but their own and not the Kingdoms Business A. The good they had done the King was first they said The giving of 25000 l. a month for the relief of the Northern Counties B. What need of relief had the Northern more than the rest of the Counties of England A Yes in the Northern Counties were quartered the Scotch Army which the Parliament called in to oppose the King and consequently their Quarter was to be discharged B. True but by the Parliament that call'd them in A. But they say no and that this Money was given to the King because he is bound to protect his Subjects B. He is no farther bound to that than they to give him Money wherewithal to do it This is very great impudence to raise an Army against the King and with that Army to oppress their Fellow-Subjects and then require that the King should relieve them that is to say be at the charge of paying the Army that was raised to fight against him A. Nay farther They put to the King's Account the 300000 l. given to the Scots without which they would not have invaded England besides many other things that I now remember not B. I did not think there had been so great impudence and villany in mankind A. You have not observ'd the World long enough to see all that 's ill Such was their Remonstrance as I have told you With it they sent a Petition containing three Points 1. That his Majesty would deprive the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament and remove such Oppressions in Religion Church Government and Discipline as they had brought in 2. That he would remove from his Council all such as should promote the Peoples Grievances and employ in his Great and Publick Affairs such as the Parliament should confide in 3. That he would not give away the Lands Escheated to the Crown by the Rebellion in Ireland B. This last Point methinks was not wisely put in at this time it should have been reserv'd till they had subdued the Rebels against whom there were yet no Forces sent over 'T is like selling the Lyons Skin before they had kill'd him But what answer was made to the other two Propositions A. What answer should be made but a Denial About the same time the King himself exhibited Articles against six Persons of the Parliament five whereof were of the House of Commons and one of the House of Lords accusing them of High Treason and upon the 4 th of January went himself to the House of Commons to demand those five of them but private notice having been given by some Treacherous Person about the King they had absented themselves and by that means frustrated his Majesties Intentions and after he was gone the House making a hainous matter of it and a high breach of their Priviledges adjourned themselves into London there to sit as a General Committee pretending they were not safe at Westminster for the King when he went to the House to demand those Persons had somewhat more attendance with him but not otherwise armed than his Servants used to be than he ordinarily had and would not be pacified though the King did afterward wave the prosecution of those persons unless he would also discover to them those that gave him Counsel to go in that manner to the Parliament House to the end they might receive condign punishment which was the word they used in stead of cruelty B. This was a harsh demand Was it not enough that the King should forbear his Enemies but also that he must betray his Friends If they thus tyrannize over the King before they have gotten the Sovereign Power into their hands how will they tyrannize over their Fellow-Subjects when they have gotten it A. So as they did B. How long staid that Committee in London A. Not above two or three days and then were brought from London to the Parliament House by Water in great triumph guarded with a tumultuous number of Armed Men there to sit in security in despite of the King and make traiterous Acts against him such and as many as they listed and under favour of these tumults to frighten away from the House of Peers all such as were not of their own Faction For at this time the Rabble was so insolent that scarce any of the Bishops durst go to the House for fear of violence upon their persons in so much as twelve of them excused themselves of coming thither and by way of Petition to the King remonstrated That they were
Cromwel after he had gotten into his own hands the absolute power of England Scotland and Ireland by the Name of Protector did never dare to take upon him the Title of King nor was ever able to settle it upon his Children His Officers would not suffer it as pretending after his death to succeed him nor would the Army consent to it because he had ever declared to them against the Government of a single person B. But to return to the King What Means had he to pay What Provision had he to Arm nay Means to Levy an Army able to resist the Army of the Parliament maintained by the great Purse of the City of London and Contributions of almost all the Towns Corporate in England and furnished with Arms as fully as they could require A. 'T is true the King had great disadvantages and yet by little and little he got a considerable Army with which he so prospered as to grow stronger every day and the Parliament weaker till they had gotten the Scotch with an Army of 21000 Men to come into England to their Assistance But to enter into the particular Narration of what was done in the War I have not now time B. Well then we will talk of that at next meeting Behemoth PART III. B. WE left at the Preparations on both sides for War which when I considered by my self I was mightily puzled to find out what possibility there was for the King to equal the Parliament in such a course and what hopes he had of Money Men Arms Fortified places Shipping Councel and Military Officers sufficient for such an Enterprize against the Parliament that had Men and Money as much at command as the City of London and other Corporation Towns were able to furnish which was more than they needed And for the Men they should set forth for Soldiers they were almost all of them spightfully bent against the King and his whole Party whom they took to be either Papists or Flatterers of the King or that had designed to raise their Fortunes by the plunder of the City and other Corporation Towns And though I believe not that they were more valiant than other Men nor that they had so much experience in the War as to be accounted good Soldiers yet they had that in them which in time of Battle is more conducing to Victory than Valor and Experience both together and that was spight And for Arms they had in their hands the Chief Magazines the Tower of London and the Town of Kingston upon Hull besides most of the Powder and Shot that lay in several Towns for the use of the Train'd Bands Fortified places there were not many then in England and most of them in the hands of the Parliament The King's Fleet was wholly in their Command under the Earl of Warwick Councellors they needed no more than such as were of their own Body so that the King was every way inferior to them except it were perhaps in Officers A. I cannot compare their Chief Officers for the Parliament the Earl of Essex after the Parliament had voted the War was made General of all their Forces both in England and Ireland from whom all other Commanders were to receive their Commissions B. What moved them to make General the Earl of Essex And for what cause was the Earl of Essex so displeased with the King as to accept that Office A. I do not certainly know what to answer to either of those Questions but the Earl of Essex had been in the Wars abroad and wanted neither Experience Judgment nor Courage to perform such an undertaking And besides that you have heard I believe how great a Darling of the People his Father had been before him and what Honour he had gotten by the Success of his Enterprize upon Cales and in some other Military Actions To which I may add that this Earl himself was not held by the people to be so great a Favorite at Court as that they might not trust him with their Army against the King And by this you may perhaps conjecture the Cause for which the Parliament made choice of him for General B. But why did they think him discontented with the Court A. I know not that nor indeed that he was so He came to the Court as other Noble-men did when occasion was to wait upon the King but had no Office till a little before this time to oblige him to be there continually but I believe verily that the unfortunateness of his Marriages had so discountenanced his Conversation with Ladies that the Court could not be his proper Element unless he had had some extraordinary favour there to ballance that Calamity but for particular discontent from the King or intention of revenge for any supposed disgrace I think he had none nor that he was any ways addicted to Presbyterian Doctrines or other Fanatick Tenets in Church or State saving only that he was carried away with the Stream in a manner of the whole Nation to think that England was not an absolute but a mixt Monarchy not considering that the Supream Power must always be absolute whether it be in the King or in the Parliament B. Who was General of the King's Army A. None yet but himself nor indeed had he yet any Army but there coming to him at that time his two Nephews the Princes Rupert and Maurice he put the Command of his Horse into the Hands of Prince Rupert a Man than whom no man living has a better Courage nor was more active and diligent in prosecuting his Commissions and though but a young man then was not without experience in the conducting of Soldiers as having been an Actor in part of his Fathers Wars in Germany B. But how could the King find Money to pay such an Army as was necessary for him against the Parliament A. Neither the King nor Parliament had much Money at that time in their own Hands but were fain to rely upon the Benevolence of those that took their parts Wherein I confess the Parliament had a mighty great advantage Those that helped the King in that kind were only Lords and Gentlemen which not approving the proceedings of the Parliament were willing to undertake the payment every one of a certain number of Horse which cannot be thought any very great assistance the persons that payed them being so few For other Moneys that the King then had I have not heard of any but what he borrowed upon Jewels in the Low Countries Whereas the Parliament had a very plentiful Contribution not only from London but generally from their Faction in all other places of England upon certain Propositions published by the Lords and Commons in June 1642. at what time they had newly voted that the King intended to make War upon them for bringing in of Money or Plate to maintain Horse and Horse-men and to buy Arms for the preservation of the publick Peace and for the defence of the
oftentimes were little elder than themselves And therefore I think the Parliament did not much reverence that Institution of Universities as to the bringing up of young men to vertue though many of them learned there to preach and became thereby capable of preferment and maintenance and some others were sent thither by their Parents to save themselves the trouble of governing them at home during that time wherein Children are least governable Nor do I think the Parliament cared more for the Clergy than other men did but certainly an University is an excellent Servant to the Clergy and the Clergy if it be not carefully look'd to by their Dissentions in Doctrines and by the advantage to publish their Dissentions is an excellent means to divide a Kingdom into Factions B. But seeing there is no place in this part of the World where Philosophy and other humane Sciences are not highly valued where can they be learned better than in the Universities A. What other Sciences Do not Divines comprehend all Civil and Moral Philosophy within their Divinity And as for Natural Philosophy is it not remov'd from Oxford and Cambridge to Gresham-Colledge in London and to be learned out of their Gazets But we are gone from our subject B. No we are indeed gone from the greater businesses of the Kingdom to which if you please let us return A. The first Insurrection or rather Tumult was that of the Apprentices on the ninth of April but this was not upon the King's account but arose from a Customary Assembly of them for Recreation in Moor-fields whence some zealous Officers of the Trained Soldiers would needs drive them away by force but were themselves routed with Stones and had their Ensign taken away by the Apprentices which they carried about in the Streets and frighted the Lord-Major into his House where they took a Gun called a Drake and then they set Guards at some of the Gates and all the rest of the day childishly swaggered up and down but the next day the General himself marching into the City quickly dispersed them This was but a small business but enough to let them see that the Parliament was ill belov'd of the People Next the Welch took Arms against them There were three Collonels in Wales Langhorne Poyer and Powel who had formerly done the Parliament good service but now were commanded to disband which they refused to do and the better to strengthen themselves declared for the King and were about 8000. About the same time in Wales also was another Insurrection headed by Sir Nicholas Keymish and another under Sir John Owen so that now all Wales was in Rebellion against the Parliament and yet all these were overcome in a months time by Cromwel and his Officers but not without store of Bloodshed on both sides B. I do not much pity the loss of those men that impute to the King that which they do upon their own quarrel A. Presently after this some of the People of Surrey sent a Petition to the Parliament for a personal Treaty between the King and Parliament but their Messengers were beaten home again by the Soldiers that quartered about Westminster and the Mews And then the Kentish Men having a like Petition to deliver and seeing how ill it was like to be receiv'd threw it away and took up Arms. They had many gallant Officers and for General the Earl of Norwich and encreased daily by Apprentices and old disbanded Soldiers In so much as the Parliament was glad to restore to the City their Militia and to keep Guards upon the Thames side and then Fairfax marched towards the Enemy B. And then the Londoners I think might easily and suddenly have mastered first the Parliament and next Fairfax his 8000 and lastly Cromwel's Army or at least have given the Scots Army opportunity to march unfoughten to London A. 'T is true but the City was never good at venturing nor were they or the Scots principled to have a King over them but under them Fairfax marching with his 8000 against the Royalists routed a part of them at Maidstone another part were taking in of places in Kent farther off and the Earl of Norwich with the rest came to Black-heath and thence sent to the City to get passage through it to joyn with those which were risen in Essex under Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle which being denied the greatest part of his Kentish Men deserted him With the rest not above 500 he crossed the Thames into the isle of Dogs and so to Bow and thence to Colchester Fairfax having notice of this crossed the Thames at Gravesend and overtaking them besieged them in Colchester The Town had no defence but a Breast-work and yet held out upon hope of the Scotch Army to relieve them the space of two months Upon the news of the defeat of the Scots they were forced to yield The Earl of Norwich was sent Prisoner to London Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle two Loyal and Gallant Persons were shot to death There was also another little Insurrection headed by the Earl of Holland about Kingston but quickly suppressed and he himself taken Prisoner B. How came the Scots to be so soon dispatch'd A. Meerly as it is said for want of Conduct Their Army was led by Duke Hamilton who was then set at liberty when Pendennis Castle where he was Prisoner was taken by the Parliamentarians He entred England with Horse and Foot 15000 to which came above 3000 English Royalists Against these Cromwel marched out of Wales with Horse and Foot 11000 and near to Preston in Lancashire in less than two hours defeated them and the Cause of it is said to be that the Scotch Army was so ordered as they could not all come to the Fight nor relieve their Fellows After the defeat they had no way to fly but farther into England so that in the pursuit they were almost all taken and lost all that an Army can lose for the few that got home did not all bring home their Swords Duke Hamilton was taken and not long after sent to London But Cromwel marched on to Edenburgh and there by the help of the Faction which was contrary to Hamilton's he made sure not to be hindred in his designs the first whereof was to take away the King's Life by the Hand of the Parliament Whilst these things passed in the North the Parliament Cromwel being away came to it self and recalling their Vote of Non-Addresses sent to the King new Propositions somewhat but not much easier than formerly and upon the King's Answer to them they sent Commissioners to treat with him at Newport in the Isle of Wight where they so long dodged with him about trifles that Cromwel was come to London before they had done to the King's destruction For the Army was now wholly at the devotion of Cromwel who set the Adjutators on work again to make a Remonstrance to the House of Commons wherein
6000 Horse for themselves To relieve Ireland the Rump had resolved to send eleven Regiments thither out of the Army in England This hap'ned well for Cromwel for the Levelling Soldiers which were in every Regiment many and in some the major part finding that in stead of dividing the Land at home they were to venture their Lives in Ireland flatly denied to go and one Regiment having cashier'd their Collonel about Salisbury was marching to joyn with three Regiments more of the same Resolution but both the General and Cromwel falling upon them at Burford utterly defeated them and soon after reduced the whole Army to their obedience And thus another of the Impediments to Cromwel's Advancement was soon removed This done they came to Oxford and thence to London and at Oxford both the General and Cromwel were made Doctors of the Civil Law and at London feasted and presented by the City B. Were they not first made Masters and then Doctors A. They had made themselves already Masters both of the Laws and Parliament The Army being now obedient the Rump sent over those eleven Regiments into Ireland under the Command of Dr. Cromwel intituled Governour of that Kingdom the Lord Fairfax being still General of all the Forces both here and there The Marquess now Duke of Ormond was the King's Lieutenant of Ireland and the Rebels had made a Confederacy amongst themselves and these Confederates had made a kind of League with the Lieutenant wherein they agreed upon liberty given them in the exercise of their Religion to be faithful to and assist the King To these also were joyned some Forces raised by the Earls of Castlehaven and Clanricard and my Lord Inchiquin so that they were the greatest united strength in the Island but there were amongst them a great many other Papists that would by no means subject themselves to Protestants and these were called the Nuntio's Party as the other were called the Confederate Party These Parties not agreeing and the Confederate Party having broken their Articles the Lord-Lieutenant seeing them ready to besiege him in Dublin and not able to defend it did to preserve the Place for the Protestants surrender it to the Parliament of England and came over to the King at that time when he was carried from place to place by the Army From England he went over to the Prince now King residing then at Paris But the Confederates affrighted with the News that the Rump was sending over an Army thither desir'd the Prince by Letters to send back my Lord of Ormond engaging themselves to submit absolutely to the King's Authority and to obey my Lord of Ormond as his Lieutenant And hereupon he was sent back this was about a year before the going over of Cromwel In which time by the Dissentions in Ireland between the Confederate Party and the Nuntio's Party and discontents about Command this otherwise sufficient power effected nothing and was at last defeated August the second by a Sally out of Dublin which they were besieging Within a few days after arrived Cromwel who with extraordinary diligence and horrid executions in less than a twelvemonth that he stayed there subdued in a manner the whole Nation having killed or exterminated a great part of them and leaving his Son-in-law Ireton to subdue the rest But Ireton dyed there before the business was quite done of the Plague This was one step more towards Cromwel's exaltation to the Throne B. What a miserable condition was Ireland reduced to by the Learning of the Roman as well as England was by the Learning of the Presbyterian Clergy A. In the latter end of the preceding year the King was come from Paris to the Hague and shortly after came thither from the Rump their Agent Dorislaus Doctor of the Civil Law who had been employed in the drawing up of the Charge against the late King but the first night he came as he was at Supper a Company of Cavaliers near a dozen entred his Chamber killed him and got away Not long after also their Agent at Madrid one Ascham one that had written in defence of his Masters was killed in the same manner About this time came out two Books one written by Salmasius a Presbyterian against the Murder of the King another written by Milton an English Independent in answer to it B. I have seen them both They are very good Latin both and hardly to be judged which is better and both very ill reasoning hardly to be judged which is worse like two Declamations Pro and Con made for exercise only in a Rhetorick School by one and the same Man So like is a Presbyterian to an Independent A. In this year the Rump did not much at home save that in the beginning they made England a Free State by an Act which runs thus Be it enacted and declar'd by this present Parliament and by the Authority thereof That the People of England and all the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging are and shall be and are hereby constituted made and declared a Common-wealth and Free State c. B. What did they mean by a Free State and Common-wealth Were the People no longer to be subject to Laws They could not mean that for the Parliament meant to govern them by their own Laws and punish such as broke them Did they mean that England should not be subject to any Forreign Kingdom or Common-wealth That needed not be enacted seeing there was no King nor People pretended to be their Masters What did they mean then A. They meant that neither this King nor any King nor any single person but only that they themselves would be the Peoples Masters and would have set it down in those plain words if the People could have been cozned with words intelligible as easily as with words not intelligible After this they gave one another Money and Estates out of the Lands and Goods of the Loyal Party They enacted also an Engagement to be taken by every man in these words You shall promise to be true and faithful to the Common-wealth of England as it is now established without King or House of Lords They banished also from within 20 Miles of London all the Royal Party forbidding also every one of them to depart more than five Miles from his Dwelling house B. They meant perhaps to have them ready if need were for a Massacre But what did the Scots in this time A. They were considering of the Officers of the Army which they were Levying for the King how they might exclude from Command all such as had loyally serv'd his Father and all Independents and all such as commanded in Duke Hamilton's Army and these were the main things that passed this year The Marquess of Montrosse that in the year 1645. had with a few men and in little time done things almost incredible against the late King's Enemies in Scotland landed now again in the beginning of the year 1650. in the North of Scotland with
Commission from the present King hoping to do him as good Service as he had formerly done his Father but the Case was altered for the Scotch Forces were then in England in the Service of the Parliament whereas now they were in Scotland and many more for their intended Invasion newly raised Besides the Soldiers which the Marquess brought over were few and Forreigners nor did the Highlanders come in to him as he expected in so much as he was soon defeated and shortly after taken and with more spightful usage than revenge requir'd executed by the Covenanters at Edenburgh May 2. B. What good could the King expect from joyning with these men who during the Treaty discovered so much malice to him in one of his best Servants A. No doubt their Church-men being then prevalent they would have done as much to this King as the English Parliament had done to his Father if they could have gotten by it that which they foolishly aspir'd to the Government of the Nation I do not believe that the Independents were worse than the Presbyterians both the one and the other were resolv'd to destroy whatsoever should stand in the way to their Ambition but necessity made the King pass over both this and many other Indignities from them rather than suffer the pursuit of his Right in England to cool and be little better than extinguished B. Indeed I believe a Kingdom if suffered to become an old Debt will hardly ever be recover'd Besides the King was sure wheresoever the Victory lighted he could lose nothing in the War but Enemies A. About the time of Montrosse his death which was in May Cromwel was yet in Ireland and his work unfinished but finding or by his Friends advertised that his presence in the Expedition now preparing against the Scots would be necessary to his design sent to the Rump to know their pleasure concerning his return but for all that he knew or thought it was not necessary to stay for their Answer but came away and arriv'd at London the sixth of June following and was welcomed by the Rump Now had General Fairfax who was truly what he pretended to be a Presbyterian been so catechis'd by the Presbyterian Ministers here that he refus'd to fight against the Brethren in Scotland nor did the Rump nor Cromwel go about to rectifie his Conscience in that Point and thus Fairfax laying down his Commission Cromwel was now made General of all the Forces in England and Ireland which was another Step to the Sovereign Power B. Where was the King A. In Scotland newly come over He landed in the North and was honourably conducted to Edenburgh though all things were not yet well agreed on between the Scots and him for though he had yielded to as hard Conditions as the late King had yielded to in the Isle of Wight yet they had still somewhat to add till the King enduring no more departed from them towards the North again But they sent Messengers after him to pray him to return but they furnished these Messengers with strength enough to bring him back if he should have refused In fine they agreed but would not suffer either the King or any Royalist to have Command in the Army B. The sum of all is the King was there a Prisoner A. Cromwel from Barwick sends a Declaration to the Scots telling them he had no quarrel against the People of Scotland but against the Malignant Party that had brought in the King to the disturbance of the Peace between the two Nations and that he was willing either by Conference to give and receive satisfaction or to decide the Justice of the Cause by Battle To which the Scots answering declare That they will not prosecute the King's Interest before and without his acknowledgment of the sins of his House and his former ways and satisfaction given to God's People in both Kingdoms Judge by this whether the present King were not in as bad a condition here as his Father was in the hands of the Presbyterians of England B. Presbyterians are every where the same they would fain be absolute Governours of all they converse with and have nothing to plead for it but that where they Reign 't is God that Reigns and no where else but I observe one strange Demand that the King should acknowledge the sins of his House for I thought it had been certainly held by all Divines that no man was bound to acknowledge any man's sins but his own A. The King having yielded to all that the Church requir'd the Scots proceeded in their intended War Cromwel marched on to Edenburgh provoking them all he could to Battle which they declining and Provisions growing scarce in the English Army Cromwel retir'd to Dunbar despairing of success and intending by Sea or Land to get back into England And such was the Condition which this General Cromwel so much magnified for Conduct had brought his Army to that all his Glories had ended in Shame and Punishment if Fortune and the faults of his Enemies had not relieved him For as he retir'd the Scots followed him close all the way till within a Mile of Dunbar There is a ridge of Hills that from beyond Edenburgh goes winding to the Sea and crosses the High-way between Dunbar and Barwick at a Village called Copperspeith where the passage is so difficult that had the Scots sent timely thither a very few men to guard it the English could never have gotten home For the Scots kept the Hills and needed not have fought but upon great advantage and were almost two to one Cromwell's Army was at the foot of those Hills on the North side and there was a great Ditch or Channel of a Torrent between the Hills and it so that he could never have got home by Land nor without utter ruine of the Army attempted to Ship it nor have stayed where he was for want of Provisions Now Cromwel knowing the Pass was free and commanding a good Party of Horse and foot to possess it it was necessary for the Scots to let them go whom they bragged they had impounded or else to fight and therefore with the best of their Horse charged the English and made them at first to shrink a little but the English Foot coming on the Scots were put to flight and the flight of the Horse hindered the Foot from engaging who therefore fled as did also the rest of their Horse Thus the folly of the Scottish Commanders brought all their odds to an even Lay between two small and equal Parties wherein Fortune gave the Victory to the English who were not many more in number than those that were killed and taken Prisoners of the Scots and the Church lost their Canon Bag and Baggage with 10000 Arms and almost their whole Army The rest were got together by Lesly to Sterling B. This Victory happened well for the King for had the Scots been Victors the Presbyterians both here and there would
have domineer'd again and the King been in the same condition his Father was in at New-Castle in the hands of the Scottish Army For in pursuit of this Victory the English at last brought the Scots to a pretty good habit of obedience for the King whensoever he should recover his Right A. In pursuit of this Victory the English marched to Edenburgh quitted by the Scots fortified Leith and took in all the Strength and Castles they thought fit on this side the Frith which now was become the Bound betwixt the two Nations and the Scotch Ecclesiasticks began to know themselves better and resolv'd in their new Army which they meant to raise to admit some of the Royalists into Command Cromwel from Edenburgh marched towards Sterling to provoke the Enemy to fight but finding danger in it return'd to Edenburgh and besieged the Castle In the mean time he sent a Party into the West of Scotland to suppress Straughan and Kerr two great Presbyterians that were there Levying of Forces for their new Army And in the same time the Scots Crowned the King at Schone The rest of this year was spent in Scotland on Cromwel's part in taking of Edenburgh Castle and in attempts to pass the Frith or any other ways to get over to the Scottish Forces and on the Scots part in hastening their Levies for the North. B. What did the Rump at home during this time A. They voted Liberty of Conscience to the Sectaries that is they pluckt out the Sting of the Presbytery which consisted in a severe imposing of odd Opinions upon the People impertinent to Religion but conducing to the advancement of the power of the Presbyterian Ministers Also they Levied more Soldiers and gave the Command of them to Harrison now made Major-General a Fifth monarchy-man and of these Soldiers two Regiments of Horse and one of Foot were raised by the Fifth-monarchy-men and other Sectaries in thankfulness for this their Liberty from the Presbyterian Tyranny Also they pulled down the late King's Statue in the Exchange and in the Nick where it stood caused to be written these words Exit Tyrannus Regum ultimus c. B. What good did that do them and why did they not pull down the Statues of all the rest of the Kings A. What account can be given of Actions that proceed not from reason but spight and such like passions Besides this they receiv'd Ambassadors from Portugal and from Spain acknowledging their Power And in the very end of the year they prepared Ambassadors to the Netherlands to offer them friendship All they did besides was persecuting and executing of Royalists In the beginning of the year 1651. General Dean arrived in Scotland and on the 11 th of April the Scottish Parliament assembled and made certain Acts in order to a better uniting of themselves and better obedience to the King who was now at Sterling with the Scottish Forces he had expecting more now in Levying Cromwel from Edenburgh went divers times towards Sterling to provoke the Scots to fight There was no Ford there to pass over his Men at last Boats being come from London and New-Castle Collonel Overton though it were long first for it was now July transported 1400 Foot of his own besides another Regiment of Foot and four Troops of Horse and intrencht himself at North-ferry on the other side and before any help could come from Sterling Major-General Lambert also was got over with as many more By this time Sir John Browne was come to oppose them with 4500 Men whom the English there defeated killing about 2000 and taking Prisoners 1600. This done and as much more of the Army transported as was thought fit Cromwel comes before St. Johnstons from whence the Scttuish Parliament upon the news of his passing the Frith was removed to Dundee and summons it and the same day had news brought him that the King was marching from Sterling towards England which was true but notwithstanding the King was three days march before him he resolved to have the Town before he followed him and accordingly had it the next day by Surrender B. What hopes had the King in coming into England having before and behind him none at least none Armed but his Enemies A. Yes there was before him the City of London which generally hated the Rump and might easily be reckoned for 20000 well Armed Soldiers and most men believ'd they would take his part had he come near the City B. What probability was there of that Do you think the Rump was not sure of the Service of the Major and those that had command of the City Militia And if they had been really the King's Friends what need had they to stay for his coming up to London They might have seized the Rump if they had pleas'd which had no possibility of defending themselves at least they might have turned them out of the House A. This they did not but on the contrary permitted the recruiting of Cromwel's Army and the raising of Men to keep the Country from coming in to the King The King began his March from Sterling the last of July and August the 22 d came to Worcester by the way of Carlisle with a weary Army of about 13000 whom Cromwel followed and joyning with the new Levies environ'd Worcester with 40000 and on the third of September utterly defeated the King's Army Here Duke Hamilton Brother of him that was beheaded was slain B. What became of the King A. Night coming on before the City was quite taken he left it it being dark and none of the Enemies Horse within the Town to follow him the plundering Foot having kept the Gates shut lest the Horse should enter and have a share of the Booty The King before morning got into Warwick-shire 25 Miles from Worcester and there lay disguis'd a while and afterwards went up and down in great danger of being discover'd till at last he got over into France from Brighthemsted in Sussex B. When Cromwel was gone what was farther done in Scotland A. Lieutenant-General Monk whom Cromwel left there with 7000 took Sterling August 14 th by Surrender and Dundee the third of September by Storm because it resisted this the Soldiers plundered and had good Booty because the Scots for safety had sent thither their most precious Goods from Edenburgh and St. Johnstons He took likewise by Surrender Aberdeen and the place where the Scottish Ministers first learned to play the fools St. Andrews Also in the Highlands Collonel Alured took a knot of Lords and Gentlemen viz. four Earls and four Lords and above twenty Knights and Gentlemen whom he sent Prisoners into England So that there was nothing more to be fear'd from Scotland all the trouble of the Rump being to resolve what they should do with it At last they resolv'd to unite and incorporate it into one Common-wealth with England and Ireland And to that end sent thither St. Johns Vane and other Commissioners
Important of them were First That he would exercise the Office of Chief Magistrate of England Scotland and Ireland under the Title of Protector and govern the same according to the said Petition and Advice and that he would in his life-time name his Successor B. I believe the Scots when they first rebell'd never thought of being governed absolutely as they were by Oliver Cromwel A. Secondly That he should call a Parliament every three years at farthest Thirdly That those Persons which were Legally chosen Members should not be secluded without consent of the House In allowing this Clause the Protector observ'd not that the Secluded Members of this same Parliament are thereby re-admitted Fourthly the Members were qualified Fifthly The Power of the other House was defin'd Sixthly That no Law should be made but by Act of Parliament Seventhly That a constant yearly Revenue of a Million of Pounds should be setled for the maintenance of the Army and Navy and 300000 l. for the support of the Government besides other Temporary Supplies as the House of Commons should think fit Eighthly That all the Officers of State should be chosen by the Parliament Ninthly That the Protector should encourage the Ministry Lastly That he should cause a Profession of Religion to be agreed on and published There are divers others of less Importance Having signed the Articles he was presently with great Ceremony installed anew B. What needed that seeing he was still but Protector A. But the Articles of this Petition were not all the same with those of his former Instrument For now there was to be another House and whereas before his Councel was to name his Successor he had power now to do it himself so that he was an absolute Monarch and might leave the Succession to his Son if he would and so successively or transfer it to whom he pleas'd The Ceremony being ended the Parliament adjourned to the 20 th of January following and then the other House also sate with their Fellows The House of Commons being now full took little notice of the other House wherein there were not of sixty Persons above nine Lords but fell a questioning all that their Fellows had done during the time of their Seclusion whence had followed the avoidance of the Power newly placed in the Protector Therefore going to the House he made a Speech to them ending in these words By the Living God I must and do dissolve you In this year the English gave the Spaniard another great Blow at Santa Cruz not much less than that they had given him the year before at Cadiz About the time of the Dissolution of this Parliament the Royalists had another Design against the Protector which was to make an Insurrection in England the King being in Flanders ready to second them with an Army thence But this also was discover'd by Treachery and came to nothing but the ruine of those that were engaged in it whereof many in the beginning of the next year were by a High Court of Justice imprison'd and some executed This year also was Major General Lambert put out of all Employment a man second to none but Oliver in the favour of the Army but because he expected by that favour or by promise from the Protector to be his Successor in the Supream Power it would have been dangerous to let him have Command in the Army the Protector having design'd for his Successor his eldest Son Richard In the year 1658. September the third the Protector died at White-hall having ever since his last Establishment been perplexed with fear of being kill'd by some desperate attempt of the Royalists Being importun'd in his sickness by his Privy-Council to name his Successor he nam'd his Son Richard who encouraged thereunto not by his own Ambition but by Fleetwood Desbrough Thurloe and other of his Council was content to take it upon him and presently Addresses were made to him from the Armies in England Scotland and Ireland His first business was the chargeable and splendid Funeral of his Father Thus was Richard Cromwel seated in the Imperial Throne of England Scotland and Ireland Successor to his Father lifted up to it by the Officers of the Army then in Town and congratulated by all the parts of the Army throughout the three Nations scarce any Garrison omitting their particular flattering Addresses to him B. Seeing the Army approved of him how came he so soon cast off A. The Army was inconstant he himself irresolute and without any Military Glory And though the two principal Officers had a near relation to him yet neither of them but Lambert was the great Favorite of the Army and by courting Fleetwood to take upon him the Protectorship and by tampering with the Soldiers had gotten again to be a Collonel He and the rest of the Officers had a Councel at Wallingford-house where Fleetwood dwelt for the dispossessing of Richard though they had not yet considered how the Nations should be govern'd afterwards for from the beginning of the Rebellion the Method of Ambition was constantly this first to destroy and then to consider what they should set up B. Could not the Protector who kept his Court at White-hall discover what the business of the Officers was at Wallingford-house so near him A. Yes he was by divers of his Friends inform'd of it and councel'd by some of them who would have done it to kill the Chief of them but he had not courage enough to give them such a Commission He took therefore the Counsel of some milder Persons which was to call a Parliament Whereupon Writs were presently sent to those that were in the last Parliament of the other House and other Writs to the Sheriffs for the Election of Knights and Burgesses to assemble on the 27 th of January following Elections were made according to the Ancient manner and a House of Commons now of the right English temper and about 400 in number including twenty for Scotland and as many for Ireland Being met they take themselves without the Protector and other House to be a Parliament and to have the Supream Power of the three Nations For the first business they intended the Power of that other House but because the Protector had recommended to them for their first business an Act already drawn up for the Recognition of his Protectoral Power they began with that and voted after a fortnights Deliberation that an Act should be made whereof this Act of Recognition should be part and that another part should be for the bounding of the Protector 's Power and for the securing the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject and that all should pass together B. Why did these Men obey the Protector at first in meeting upon his only Summons Was not that as full a Recognition of his Power as was needful Why by this Example did they teach the People that he was to be obeyed and then by putting Laws upon him teach them
also receiv'd their Commissions in the House it self from the Speaker who was Generalissimo Fleetwood was made Lieutenant General with such and so many Limitations as were thought necessary by the Rump that remembred how they had been served by the General Oliver Also Henry Cromwel Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland having resigned his Commission by Command returned into England But Lambert to whom as was said Oliver had promised the Succession and as well as the Rump knew the way to the Protectorship by Oliver's own foot-steps was resolv'd to proceed in it upon the first opportunity which presented it self presently after Besides some Plots of Royalists whom after the old fashion they again persecuted there was an Insurrection made against them by Presbyterians in Cheshire headed by Sir George Booth one of the Secluded Members they were in number about 3000 and their pretence was for a Free Parliament there was a great talk of another Rising or endeavour to rise in Devonshire and Cornwal at the same time To suppress Sir George Booth the Rump sent down more than a sufficient Army under Lambert which quickly defeated the Cheshire Party and recovered Chester Leverpool and all the other places they had seized Divers also of their Commanders in and after the Battle were taken Prisoners whereof Sir George Booth himself was one This Exploit done Lambert before his return Caressed his Soldiers with an Entertainment at his own House in York-shire and got their consent to a Petition to be made to the House that a General might be set up in the Army as being unfit that the Army should be judged by any power extrinsick to it self B. I do not see that unfitness A. Nor I. But it was as I have heard an Axiom of Sir Henry Vane's but it so much displeased the Rump that they voted That the having of more Generals in the Army than were already setled was unnecessary burthensome and dangerous to the Common wealth B. This was not Oliver's method for though this Cheshire-Victory had been as glorious as that of Oliver at Dunbar yet it was not the Victory that made Oliver General but the Resignation of Fairfax and the profer of it to Cromwel by the Parliament A. But Lambert thought so well of himself as to expect it therefore at his return to London he and other Officers Assembling at Wallingford-house drew their Petition into form and call'd it a Representation wherein the Chief Point was to have a General but many other of less Importance were added and this they represented to the House October the fourth by Major-General Desborough and this so far forth awed them as to teach them so much good manners as to promise to take it presently into debate Which they did and October the 12 th having recovered their Spirits voted That the Commissions of Lambert Desborough and others of the Councel at Wallingford-house should be void Item That the Army should be govern'd by a Commission to Fleetwood Monk Haslerig Walton Morley and Overton till February the 12 th following And to make this good against the force they expected from Lambert they ordered Haslerig and Morley to issue Warrants to such Officers as they could trust to bring their Soldiers next morning into Westminster which was done somewhat too late for Lambert had first brought his Soldiers thither and beset the House and turned back the Speaker which was then coming to it but Haslerig's Forces marching about St. James's Park-wall came into St. Margaret's Church-yard and so both Parties looked all day one upon another like Enemies but offered not to fight whereby the Rump was put out of possession of the House and the Officers continued their Meeting as before at Wallingford-house There they chose from among themselves with some few of the City a Committee which they called the Committee of Safety whereof the Chief were Lambert and Vane who with the advice of a General Councel of Officers had power to call Delinquents to Trial. To suppress Rebellions To treat with Forreign States c. You see now the Rump cut off and the Supream Power which is charged with Salus Populi transfer'd to a Councel of Officers And yet Lambert hopes for it in the end But one of their Limitations was That they should within six weeks present to the Army a new Model of the Government if they had done so do you think they would have prefer'd Lambert or any other to the Supream Authority therein rather than themselves B. I think not When the Rump had put into Commission amongst a few others for the Government of the Army that is to say for the Government of the three Nations General Monk already Commander in Chief of the Army in Scotland and that had done much greater things in this War than Lambert how durst they leave him out of this Committee of Safety Or how could Lambert think that General Monk would forgive it and not endeavour to fasten the Rump again A. They thought not of him his Gallantry had been shewn on remote Stages Ireland and Scotland His Ambition had not appear'd here in their Contentions for the Government but he had complied both with Richard and the Rump After General Monk had signified by Letter his dislike of the Proceedings of Lambert and his Fellows they were much surpriz'd and began to think him more considerable than they had done but it was too late B. Why His Army was too small for so great an Enterprize A. The General knew very well his own and their Forces both what they were then and how they might be augmented and what generally City and Country wished for which was the Restitution of the King which to bring about there needed no more but to come with his Army though not very great to London To the doing whereof there was no obstacle but the Army with Lambert What could he do in this Case If he had declar'd presently for the King or for a Free-Parliament all the Armies in England would have joyned against him and assuming the Title of a Parliament would have furnished themselves with Money General Monk after he had thus quarrelled by his Letter with the Councel-Officers secur'd first those Officers of his own Army which were Anabaptists and therefore not to be trusted and put others into their places then drawing his Forces together marched to Barwick Being there he indicted a Convention of the Scots of whom he desir'd that they would take order for the security of that Nation in his absence and raise some maintenance for his Army in their March The Convention promised for the security of the Nation their best endeavour and raised him a Sum of Money not great but enough for this purpose excusing themselves upon their present wants On the other side the Committee of Safety with the greatest and best part of their Army sent Lambert to oppose him but at the same time by divers Messages and Mediators urged him to a Treaty which he consented
forth they were erecting that High Court of Justice which took away the Lives of Duke Hamilton the Earl of Holland and the Lord Capel Whatsoever they meant by a fundamental Law the erecting of this Court was a breach of it as being warranted by no former Law or Example in England At the same time also they Levied Taxes by Soldiers and to Soldiers permitted Free quarter and did many other Actions which if the King had done they would have said had been done against the Liberty and Propriety of the Subject B. What silly things are the common sort of people to be cozened as they were so grosly A. What sort of people as to this matter are not of the common sort The craftiest Knaves of all the Rump were no wiser than the rest whom they cozened for the most of them did believe that the same things which they imposed upon the generality were just and reasonable and especially the great Haranguers and such as pretended to Learning for who can be a good Subject in a Monarchy whose Principles are taken from the Enemies of Monarchy such as were Cicero Seneca Cato and other Politicians of Rome and Aristotle of Athens who seldom spake of Kings but as of Wolves and other ravenous Beasts You may perhaps think a man has need of nothing else to know the Duty he owes to his Governour and what Right he has to order him but a good Natural Wit but it is otherwise for it is a Science and built upon sure and clear Principles and to be learned by deep and careful study or from Masters that have deeply studied it and who was there in the Parliament or in the Nation that could find out those evident Principles and derive from them the necessary Rules of Justice and the necessary Connexion of Justice and Peace The People have one day in seven the leisure to hear Instruction and there are Ministers appointed to teach them their Duty but how have those Ministers performed their Office A great part of them namely the Presbyterian Ministers throughout the whole War instigated the People against the King so did also Independents and other Fanatick Ministers The rest contented with their Livings preached in their Parishes Points of Controversie to Religion impertinent but to the breach of Charity among them selves very effectual or else eloquent things which the People either understood not or thought themselves not concerned in But this sort of Preachers as they did little good so they did little hurt The mischief proceeded wholly from the Presbyterian Preachers who by a long practiced Histrionique faculty preached up the Rebellion powerfully B. To what end A. To the end that the State becoming popular the Church might be so too and governed by an Assembly and by consequence as they thought seeing Politicks are subservient to Religion they might govern and thereby satisfie not only their covetous humour with Riches but also their malice with power to undo all men that admir'd not their wisdom Your calling the People silly things obliged me by this Digression to shew you that it is not want of Wit but want of the Science of Justice that brought them into these troubles Perswade if you can that man that has made his fortune or made it greater or an Eloquent Orator or a Ravishing Poet or a subtil Lawyer or but a good Hunter or a cunning Gamester that he has not a good Wit and yet there were of all these a great many so silly as to be deceiv'd by the Rump and Members of the same Rump They wanted not Wit but the knowledge of the Causes and Grounds upon which one Person has a Right to govern and the rest an Obligation to obey which Grounds are necessary to be taught the People who without them cannot live long in peace amongst themselves B. Let us return if you please to the Proceedings of the Rump A. In the rest of this year they voted a new Stamp for the Coyn of this Nation They considered also of Agents to be sent to Forreign States and having lately receiv'd applause from the Army for their work done by the High Court of Justice and encouragement to extend the same farther they perfected the said High Court of Justice in which were tryed Duke Hamilton the Earl of Holland Lord Capel the Earl of Norwich and Sir John Owen whereof as I mentioned before the three first were beheaded This affrighted divers of the King's Party out of the Land for not only they but all that had born Arms for the King were at that time in very great danger of their Lives For it was put to the question by the Army at a Councel of War whether they should be all Massacred or no where the Noes carried it but by two Voices Lastly March the 24 th they put the Major of London out of his Office fined him 2000 l. disfranchised him and condemned him to two months Imprisonment in the Tower for refusing to proclaim the Act for abolishing the Kingly Power And thus ended the year 1648. and the Monthly Fast God having granted that which they fasted for the Death of the King and the Possession of his Inheritance By these their Proceedings they had already lost the Hearts of the generality of the People and had nothing to trust to but the Army which was not in their power but in Cromwel's who never failed when there was occasion to put them upon all Exploits that might make them odious to the people in order to his future dissolving them whensoever it should conduce to his ends In the beginning of 1649. the Scots discontented with the Proceedings of the Rump against the late King began to Levy Soldiers in order to a new Invasion of England The Irish Rebels for want of timely resistance from England were grown terrible and the English Army at home infected by the Adjutators were casting how to share the Land amongst the Godly meaning themselves and such others as they pleased who were therefore called Levellers Also the Rump for the present were not very well provided of Money and therefore the first thing they did was the laying of a Tax upon the People of 90000 l. a month for the maintenance of the Army B. Was it not one of their quarrels with the King That he had Levied Money without the consent of the People in Parliament A. You may see by this what reason the Rump had to call it self a Parliament for the Taxes imposed by Parliament were always understood to be by the Peoples consent and consequently Legal To appease the Scots they sent Messengers with flattering Letters to keep them from engaging for the present King but in vain for they would hear nothing from a House of Commons as they called it at Westminster without a King and Lords But they sent Commissioners to the King to let him know what they were doing for him for they were resolv'd to raise an Army of 17000 Foot and