King CHARLES the First no Man OF BLOOD BUT A MARTYR FOR HIS PEOPLE OR A sad and impartiall enquiry whether the King or Parliament began the Warre which hath so much ruined and undon the Kingdom of England and who was in the defensive part of it Exoritur aliquod majus è magno malum Nondum ruentis Ilij fatum stetit SENEC Traged in Troade Act 3. Printed in the Yeare 1649. King CHARLES the First No Man of Blood BUT A Martyr for his People THAT there hath beene now almost seaven yeeres spent in Civill-Warres aboundance of Blood-shed and more Ruine and Misery brought upon the Kingdome by it then all the severall Changes Conquests and Civill-Warres it hath endured from the time of Brute or the first Inhabitants of it every mans wofull experience some only excepted who have beene gayners by it will easily assent unto No mervaile therefore that many of those who if all they alledge for themselves that they were not the cause of it could bee granted to be true might eyther have hindred or lessned it would now put the blame of so horrid a businesse from themselves and lay it upon any they can perswade to beare it And that the Conquerours who would binde their Kings in Chaynes and their Princes with fetters of Iron and thinke they have a Commission from Heaven to doe it the guilt of it being necessarily either to bee charged upon the Conquerors or conquered are not willing to have their triumphant Chayres and the glories as they are made beleeve that hang upon their shoulders defiled with it but do all they can to load their Captives with it But howsoever though the successe and power of an Army hath frighted it so farre out of question as to charge it upon the King and take away his life for it by making those that must of necessity bee guilty of the fact if he should have beene as in all reason hee ought to have beene acquited of it the only Judges of him It may well become the judgement and conscience of every man that will bee but eyther a good Subject or a Christian not to lend out his Soule and Salvation so much on trust as to take those that are parties and the most ignorant sort of mens words for it but to enter into a most serious examination of the matter of Fact it selfe and by tracing out the foote-steps of Truth see what a conclusion may be drawn out of it In pursuance wherof for I hope the originall of this Sea of blood will not prove so unsearchable as the head of Nile Wee shall enquire who first of all raysed the Feares and Jelousies Secondly represent and set down the truth of the matter of Fact and proceedings betwixt the King and Parliament from the tumultuous seditious coming of the People to the Parliament and White-hall untill the 25. Aug. 1642. when he set up his Standard at Nottingham from the setting up of his Standard untill the 13 Sep. 1642. when the Parliament by their many acts of hostility a negative Churlish answer to his propositions might well have put him out of hope of any good to be obteined from them by messages of Peace sent unto them Thirdly whether a Prince or other Magistrate labouring to suppresse or punish a rebellion of the People be tied to those rules are necessary to the justifying of a warre if it were made betweene equalls Fourthly suppose the warre to bee made with a neighbour Prince or between equalls whether the King or Parliament were in the defensive or justifiable part of it Fiftly Whether the Parliament in their pretended magistracy have not taken lesser occasions to punish or provide against insurrections treasons rebellions as they are pleased to call them Sixtly Who most desired Peace and offered faireliest for it Seventhly Who laboured to shorten the Warre and who to lengthen it Eightly Whether the Conditions proffered by the King would not have beene more profitable for the People if they had beene accepted and what the Kingdome and People have got insteed of it CHAP. I. Who first of all Raised the Feares and Jealousies THE desiring of a guard for the Parliament because of a tale rather then a plot That the Earle of Crawford had a purpose to take away the Marquis of Hamiltons life in Scotland the refusing of a legall guard offered by the King and His Protestation to bee as carefull of their safety as of the safety of His Wife and Children The dreame of a Taylor lying in a ditch in Finsbury fields of this and the other good Lord and Common-wealths men to be taken away The trayning of horses under ground and a plague plaister or rather a clout taken from a galled horse back sent into the house of Commons to Mr. Pym A Designe of the Inhabitants of Covent-Garden to murther the City of London News from France Italy Spaine and Denmarke of Armies ready to come for England and a supposition or feaverish fancy That the King intended to introduce Popery and alter Religion and take away the Lawes and Liberties of the People and many other the like seditious delusions the People so much as their misery will give them leave have now found out the way to laugh at either came from the Parliament partie or were cherished and turned into advantages by them For they had found the way and lost nothing by it to be ever jealous of the King And whilest he did all he could to shew them that there was no cause for it they who were jealous without a cause could bee so cunning as to make all the haste they could to weaken Him and strengthen themselves by such kind of artifices But hee that could not choose but take notice that there were secret ties and combinations betwixt his English and Scottish Subjects the latter of whom the Earle of Essex and Sir Thomas Fairfax themselves understood to be no better then Rebels and therfore served in places of Command in His Majesties Army against them That Sir Arthur Haselrig had brought in a Bill in Parliament to take the Militia by Sea and Land away from him saw himselfe not long after by a Printed remonstrance or declaration made to the People of all they could but imagine to bee errours in his government arraigned and little lesse then deposed The Bishops and divers great Lords driven from the Parliament by Tumults Was inforced to keepe his gates at Whitehall shut and procure divers Captaines and Commanders to lodge there and to allow them a table to bee a guard for him and had beene fully informed of many Trayterous Speeches used by some seditious mechaniques of London as that It was pitty Hee should raigne and that The Prince would make a better King was yet so farre from being jealous or solicitous to defend himself by the Sword and power which God had intrusted him with as when he had need reason enough to do it he still
hee went out of the field sent Sir William Le-neve Clarenciâ—ux King of Armes to Warwick whither the Earle of Essex was fled with a Proclamation of pardon to all that would lay downe armes which though they scornefully received and the Herald threatned to bee hanged if hee did not depart the sooner cannot perswade him from sending a Declaration or Message to the Parliament to offer them all that could bee requested by Subjâ—cts but all the use they made of it was to make the Citty of London beleeve they were in greater danger then ever if they lent them not more moneyes and recruited the Earle of Essex his broken Army and to cosen and put the People on the more to seeke their owne misery a day of thanks giving was publiquely kept for the great Victory obtained against the Kâ—ng And Stephen Marshall a Factious bloody minister though hee confessed hee was so carried on in the crowde of those that fled from the battell as hee knew not where hee was till hee came to a Marâ—et Towne which was some miles from Edge-hill where the Battell was fought preaches to the people too little beleeving the Word of God and too much beleeving him That to his knowledge there was not above 200. men lost on the Parliaments side that hee picked up bullets in his black Velvet cap and that a very small supply would now serve to reduce the King and bring him to his Parliament And here yee may see Janus Temple wide open though the doores of it were not lift off the hinges or broken open at once but pickt open by those either knew not the misery of the War or knowing it will prove to be the more guilty promoters of it That we may the better therfore find out though the matter of Fact already represented may bee evidence enough of it selfe who it was that let cut the fury and rage of Warre upon us we shall consider CHAP. III. Whether a Prince or other Magistrate labouring to suppresse or punish a Rebellion of the People bee tyed to those rules are necessary for the justifying of a Warre if it were made betweene equalls VVArre was first brought in by necessitie where the determining of controversies betweene two strange Princes of Equâ—lâ— power could not bee had bâ—cause they have no superiour A Rebell therefore cannot properly bee called an enemy for Hostis nomen notat equalitatem and when any such armes are borne against Rebells it is not to bee called a Warre but an Exercise of Jurisdiction upon traterous and dis-loyall Persons at què est ratio manifesta saith Albericus Gentilis qui enim jure judex est superior non jure cogitur ad subeundas partes partis aequalis non est bellum cum latronibus praedonibus aut piratis quanquam magnâ—â— habeant excercitus provide nec ulla cum illis belli jura saith Besoldus The Romans who were so exact and curious in their publique denouncing of Warre and sending Ambassadors before they made Warre against any other Nation did not doe it in cases of Rebellion and defection and therefore Fidenatibus Campanis non denunciant Romani And Cicero that was of opinion that nullum bellum justum haberi videtur nisi nunciatum nisi indictum nisi repetitis rebus stood not upon those solemnities in the Cataline conspiracy for the rules of justifying a Warre against an enemy or equalls as demanding restitution denunciation and the like are not requisite in that of punishing of Rebells Pompey justifies the Warre maintayned by the Senate against Caesar not then their Soveraigne with neque enim vocari praelia justa decet c. Cicero did not think it convenient to send Ambassadors to Anthony nor intreat him by faire words but that it was meet to enforce him by armes to raise his siege from Mutina for hee said They had not to doe with Haniball an enemy to the Common-wealth but with a Rebellious Citizen The resisting of the Kings Authourity when the Sheriffe of a County goes with the posse Comitatus to execute it was never yet so much as called a Warre but Rebellion and Insurrection or Commotion were the best termes bestowed upon it such attempts are not called Warres but Robberies of which the Law taketh no other care of but to punish them The haste that all our Kings and Princes in England have made in suppressing Rebellions as that of the Barons Warres by Henry the 3. and his sending his sonne the Prince to besiege Warren Earle of Surrey in his Castle of Rygate for affronting the Kings Justices saying That hee would hold his Lands by the Sword That which Ri. 2. made to suppresse Wat. Tiler H. 6. Jack Cade H. 8. Ket and the Norfolk Rebells and Queene Eliz. to suppresse the Earles of Northnmberland and Westmerland may tell us that they understood it no otherwise then all the Kings and Magistrates of the World have ever practised it by the Lawes of England if Englishmen that are Traytors goe into France and confederate with Aliens or Frenchmen and come afterwards and make a Warre in England and bee taken prisoners the strangers may bee ransomed but not the English for they were the Kings Subjects and are to be reckoned as Traytors not strangers And the Parliaments owne advise to the King to suppresse the Irish Rebells that ploughed but with their owne Heyfer and pretended as they did to defend their Religion Lawes and Liberties and the opinion also of Mr. President Bradshaw as Sir John Owen called him in his late sentence given against the Earles of Cambridge Holland and Norwich Lord Capell and Sir John Owen whom hee mistakenly God and the Law knowes would make to bee the Subjects of their worser fellow Subjects may be enough to turne the question out of doores But lest all this should not bee thought sufficient to satisfie those can like nothing but what there is Scripture for wee shall a little turne over the leaves of that sacred Volume and see what is to bee found concerning this matter Moses who was the meekest Magistrate in the World and better acquainted with him that made the fifth Commandement then these that now pretend Revelations against it thought fit to suppresse the Rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram as soone as hee could and for no greater offence then a desire to bee coordinate with him procured them to be buried alive with all that appertained unto them When Absolom had Rebelled against his father David and it was told him That the hearts of the men of Israel were after him David a man after Gods owne heart without any Message of Peace or Declaration sent unto his deare sonne Absolom or offering halfe or any parte of his Kingdome to him sent three severall armies to pursue and give him battaile When Sheba the sonne of Bichri blew a Trumpet and said Wee have no part in David every man to his Tent ô Israel
conditions the King made unto them may make it to bee as needlesse to enquire of them as for a man to aske where to find Pauls Steeple in London when hee is in Pauls Church-yard or to enquire for the Sunne in the dog-dayes when hee and every man else may see or feele the effects of it wee shall bee content to consider what the King offered and what the Parliament would have had him to grant What the King would have done and what the Parliament have done and by that see which would have beene the better bargaine The King like a pater patriae offered over and over to grant all manner of Lawes and Liberties which might bee good and wholsome for his People and only denyed to grant those things the granting whereof as hee said himselfe would alter the fundamentall Lawes and endanger the very foundation upon which the Publique happinesse and welfare of his People was founded and constituted or to give them Stones instead of bread or Scorpions insteade of Fishes But the Parliament meaning to feede the People neither with bread nor Fishes ask the Royall-Sword Crowne and Scepter Coronation-Oath and Conscience and an Arbitrary-Power to Governe and Domineere over their fellow Subjects and to enslave those that trusted them And though the King had already granted enough to preserve the Lawes â—ives Religion and Liberty of the people and was so willing almost at any rate to purchase a peace for himselfe and his people as hee was content to part with his Sword and Militia and divers other parts of his Regality during his life Yet that would not serve the turne 't was Naboths vineyeard not Ahabs Fast made all the businesse the Parliament that pretended so much to deny themselves and to dote upon the people doe notwithstanding all they can to continue the Warre and to cozen and force the Peoples blood estates and conscience out of them and they must never give over paying of taxes fighting and fooling till they enable them to imprison their King and not only murther him but thousands and many ten thousands of their fellow-subjects and the Lawes Religion and Liberties of the people And now that they have don more then the men of the Gunpowder-treason intended to do and all England are become like Sheep without a Sheepheard wandring on the mountains and thousands of Wolves by votes and ordinances and mis-called Acts of Parl. appointed to feed them 4 or 5 years sad experience in the Warres of the Parliament against the King and almost as much more time spent in setling and subduing the people making them like Camels to kneel down to take up their burdens labour and travell hard and endure hunger and thirst under them yet yeild up their veines to bee prick't for blood to enable their drivers to furnish them with a new supply of burdens when they shal be discharged of what they have laid upon them May easily shew us a difference as big as a mountaine betwixt our old good Lawes and Liberties enjoyed under a gracious King who had an Estate of inheritance large enough of his owne besides an Oath to obliege him to protect us and a Hell upon Earth and the most Slavish of all the governments were ever yet put upon a Nation by men of as little wit and Estates as they have honestie having no other obligations upon them but their owne abhominable designes and interests For which of the People unlesse those that have traded in their neighbours blood and ruine but hath made their complaints of their undoing The Religion of the Kingdome once so glorious is now cut into fancies and blasphemies the Churches where God was wont to bee worshiped either defaced or pulled downe or made Stables for horses the Lawes of the Kingdome that were consonant to the Word of God and had in them the Quintessence of all could bee found to bee extant in the lawes of nature Nations Civill lawes or rectified reason and whatsoever the wisdome and care of all former Kings in Parliament or the usage and customes of this or any other neighbouring Nations could bring to it's perfection and were wont to nourish and preserve peace and propertie among us voted out or into that sense or tother interest to that every thing or nothing or to that non-sence according as the Lawlesse Unlimited Unjust and Ignorant will of fellow Subjects shall please to misuse them in the voting-house or place of bandying aies or noes for a Parl. which in it 's legall and primitive institution consisting of King Lords CoÌ„mons the right use of it is so venerable as no man as our Laws say ought so much as to speak or thinke dishonorably of it we cannot without violence to the Laws and our own reason and understanding call it where Publique orders are made without hearing of all or any parties interessed a peece of a cause heard by some none at all of it by others votes and parties made and picked and lent to one another before hand and the best of the Faction and juglers carry all the businesse as they have a mind to it A way of Justice worse then that if there were any in it of a lawles Court said to be kept yearly on a Hill betwixt Raleigh and Rochford in Essex the wednesday after every Michaelmas-day where the Steward or Judge sitteth in the Night after the first Cockcrowing without any light or Candle and calleth all that are bound to attend the Court with as low a voice as possibly he may writes orders with a coals and they that answer not are deepely amerced For that being a particular punishment long agoe inflicted upon the tenants of certaine Mannors in Raleigh hundred for a conspiracy against a King is but once a yeare and some shift or change or mercy of the Steward or an appeale may take away the inconveniency of it A way of government worse then to bee Subject to the rule of so many fooles for they might perchance doe that would bee just or so many Knaves who but in playing the Knaves one with another or for reward might sometimes do that which was right or Mad men which at intervals might doe something which was reasonable worse then for every Subject of England to bee put to play at dice for his life or Estate or any thing else hee should crave a Justice to get or keep for then hee might by skill or chance obtaine some thing In fine worse then any example or way of Government the World hath as yet produced and can have nothing worse but Hell it selfe The Parliament and priviledges of it are destroyed and every mans Life and Estate in no better a condition then at the pleasure of the next pretenders to it All the Charters and Liberties of Citties and corporate Townes Corporations of Trade and Companies of Merchants made voide all the Merchandise Trade and manufacture of the Kingdome laid open and in common to
that witheld it from his obedience and sought to ruine and undoe Him aswell as his Loyall Subjects he had not fought with them afterwards at Newbery had not his Olive branches been flung in the fire by those he sent them unto hee had not beene put to defend himselfe at Cropredy-bridg Had any thing beene able to prevaile with the Parliament to pitty their fellow Subjects hee had not taken such a tedious and dangerous march to relieve those they would have ruined at Bodmin in Cornwall Had the Treaty at Vxbridge taken effect hee needed not afterwards have adventured so much to defend himselfe at Newbery Had not the newmodel'd Army after so many tenders of Peace refused by their masters been sent out to destroy him hee had not beene put to the trouble of taking Lecester for his security And had not hee beene surrounded and almost surprised by them might have reserved himselfe to a better successe and advantage then hee had at Naseby Had his voluntary resigning up of the remainder of his Armies and Garrisons beene able to perswade any thing with them there had not beene so much as a relique of Warre left in the Kingdome or could so many messages for Peace and so many Petitions of the people for it have made but any impression on the Parliament so many divisions parties and insurrections had not since broken the Harpes of the Children of Israel noâ— should the drums have out gone the voice of the Turtle Hee that could not bring himselfe to the common actions of Warre to hang a Spie in so much as when one of them was hanged before hee was told hee was taken hee was intreating the Governour of Oxford to spare him Hee that when he had John Lilborne one of the most factions that were against him Wingate and Daâ—ley Parliament men Collonell Ludlow an actor of that Treason his father had not long before spoken against him and Dr. Bastwick one of the bellowes and principall factours of this horrid Rebellion did no more then imprison some of them and giving the rest a legall Tryall shewed them what the Law they made silly People beleive they tooke up armes to maintain would judg of them suffered them to be exchanged to doe what they could afterwards against him Hee that when hee had taken 400. prentise-boyes in the fight at Brainford did but dismisse and pitty them when he had compelled the E. of Essex the Parliament General at Lestiâ—hiel in Cornwall to fly away by Sea in a Cock-boat and leave all the Artillery and foot of his Army to his mercy did no more but disarme them and take an oath of them never more to serve against him and being then in the height of his prosperity sent a Message and offer of peace to the Parliament who were low enough at that time if their designes would have given them leave to have received it Hee that could say hee should bee more afraid to take away any mans life unjustly then to loose his owne was not likely to bee guilty of blood seeking or the sheding of it Hee that had experience enough how much his Life and Crowne were sought for yet to shew them the way to peace and to take off all pretences to hinder it could Sheath his owne Sword and put himselfe into the hands of those hee had so little reason to trust as hee knew them to bee the great contrivers of the Warre against him caused the Marquesse of Montrosse one of his mightie men of war to disband when hee was master of a strong and not long before fortunate Army in Scotland commanded Newarke Oxford Wallingford and Worcester very strong and almost impregnable Townes and Garrisons in England to be delivered up and all acts of hostility by Sea Land and all the preparations his friends could make eyther in forraigne parts or at home to cease Hee that could indure five yeares Ballading Libelling and Preaching against him and such heapes of numberlesse affronts and injuries of all kindes done unto him and two years imprisonment afterwards yet so long as he enjoy'd but the libertie of Pen Inke or a Messenger to carry it did so tire them with Messages offers of Peace as they voted it to be Treason for any to bring any message from him and notwithstanding all that made shift to throw a message or declaration to his people made up like a ball out of the place of his close Imprisonment at Carisbrook was not like to desire the lengthening that war he did all hee could to avoid offered so much to make an end of but on the contrary if we take into our consideration the more then Gothish unheard of inhumane cruelties acted and done by the Parliament against their better fellow Subjects their Plundrings Sequestrations and racking of every mans estate they pleased to call Delinquents severities in all their actions standing upon every punctilio or word or superscription of a Letter not abating a tittle of their demands as if they had been the Decalogue or some other place of Scripture though rivolets of blood hundred thousands of ruined families and thronged Hospitalls of sick and wounded men Widowes and Fatherlesse cried aloud to them for Peace and their killing and murthering those that but petitioned for it and a foundation laid of a new Warre may last as long as that of the Netherlands and Germany There will bee enough and enough again to insure us of this most cleere and evident truth the King did all hee could and more then any man else would have done to obtaine Peace and the Faction or Parliament all they could to avoid it for certainly if there bee any rules of Learning Truth or Reason left us to judge by hee must bee sequestred of all his braines that can but endeavour to make a doubt whether the King did not more resemble the true mother of the Child in the case before Salomon who did so much and offered to part with so much to save the life of it then the Parliament that would have it more then devided and to bee cut and torne all to bits and peeces and would doe nothing at all to save but every thing to destroy it And now wee have seene a King undone and imprisoned for his endeavours to protect his People and bring againe beloved Peace to those that would not entertaine it and heard the report of his murther for most of the Peoples eyes have not seene it nor have their hearts acted in it wee shall as most men doe after they have lost a good offer or opportunity enquire CHAP. VIII Whether the Conditions offered by the King would not have beene more profitable if they had beene accepted and what the People have got instead of them IN Order to which though so woefull and over-and-over-â—itterly-Tasted Seene Felt Heard and Vnderstood-Experiences of the miseries have come unto us by the Parliaments not accepting the gracious offers and
Turk and the King as their Henry Scobell or Towne Clearke but subscribe it their Spirituall as well as their Temporall Estate and their Soules as well as their Bodies must bee voted and forced to it And now let the People that have tasted too much of such a kind of happinesse and are like to continue in it as long as their misery-makers can by any help of the Devill or his angells hold them to it consider whether they or their forefathers though some have thought themselves to have wit enough to adventure to call them fooles were the wiser whether they that setled the government and were contented with it or they that pulled it in peeces and whether the tearing up of the fundamentall Lawes of Monarchy Peerage Parliament and Magna Charta even since the day the King was murthered for defending of them which every one but themselves desired to uphold bee not enough besides the Scottish combination and the plots to ruine Monarchy and the King and his posterity before the five Members and Kimbolton had so farâ—â— engaged themselves in it to informe them if nothing else had beene demonstrated unto them That the King did all hee could to preserve the Lawes Religion and Liberties of the People which diverâ— peeces of his coyne will help to perpetuate the truth as well as the memory of and the parliament all they could to destroy them And that as hee actually endeavoured to defend them so have they as actually undone and destroyed them And let the greatest search of history can bee made or time it selfe bee Judge if ever any warre was more made in the defensive or upon juster grounds or greater necessities or if ever any King before fought for the Liberties of those hee was to governe and for Lawes to restraine himselfe withall or if it were possible for him to suffer so much in any mans opinion as to have it thought to bee unlawfull or that he was a murtherer of his people for seeking to protect them How shall any King or Majestrate bee able to beare or use the Sword when they themselves shall bee in continuall danger to bee beaten with it King Edward the 2. of England was not murthered for the blood that was shed in the Barrons Warres though some of them had drawne their swords but in performance of his fathers will to take away his favorite Gavestson from him King Rich. 2. in those many dâ—vised Articles charged against him was not deposed for the blood was shed in Wat Tilers Commotion nor Hen. 6. publiquely accused for that of Jack Cades Rebellion and the most bloody differences of the White and Red-Roses nor Queene Elizabeth for all that was spilt in reducing Ireland when her favorite the Earle of Essex made it to bee the more by his practises with Tyrone nor for the blood of Hacket who pretended to bee Christ nor of Penry and other Sectaries lesser Incendiaries then Burton Prynnâ— and Bastwick for disturbing the Common-Wealth the great Henry of France was not endeavoured by his Catholick Subjects to be brought to triall for sheding so much of their Blood to reduce them to his obedience nor by his Protestant Subjects after hee was turned Catholique for spending so much of their blood to another purpose then they intended it Nor have the stout harted Germans though many of them great and almost free Princes in their late peace and accord made betwixt the Swedes and the Emperour thought it any way reasonable or necessary to demand reparation for those millions of men Women and Children houses and Estates were ruined and spoyled by a 30. yeares warre to reduce the Behemians and Prince Elector Palatine to their obedience For what rules or bounds shall bee put to every mans particular fancy or corrupted interest if they shall bee at Libertie to question and call to account the authority God hath placed over them Shall the sonne condemne or punish the father for his owne disobedience the Wife her Husband for her owne act of Adultery or the Servant the Master for his owne unfaithfullnesse or can there bee any thing in the Reason or understanding of man to perswade him to think the King was justly accused for the shedding of his Subjects blood which the accusers themselves were only guilty of And Bradshaw himselfe like the Jewes high Priest confessing a truth against his will in the words he gave insteed of reason for murthering the King against the will and good liking of 9. parts in every 10. of the Commons of England could make his Masters that call themselves the Parliament of England to bee no better then the Tribum plebis of Rome and the Ephori of Sparta the former of which for manifold mischiefes and inconveniences were abrogated and laid aside and never more thought fit to bee used and the latter not being halfe so bad as our new State Gipsies killed and made away to restore the People againe to their Liberties But the opinion and Judgement of the Learned Lord Chiefe Justice Popham who then little thought his grand-child Collonell Popham should joyne with those that sate with their Hats on their heads and directed the murther of their Soveraigne and if hee were now living would sure enough have hanged him for it and those other learned Judges in the case and Tryall of the Earle of Essex in the Raigne of Queene Elizabeth That an intent to hurt the Soveraigne Prince as well as the Act of it was Treason And that the Lawes of England doe interpret every act of Rebellion or Treason to aime at the death or deposing the Prince For that Rebels by their good will never suffer that King or Prince to live or Raigne that understands their purposes and may revenge them agreeable to that of the Civill Law That they that goe about to give Lawe to their Prince will never suffer him to recover Authority to punish it is now written in the blood of the King and those many iterated complaints of the King in severall of his Declarations published to the People in the mid'st of the Parliaments greatest pretences and promises that they intended to take away his life and ruine him are now gone beyond suspicion and every man may now know the meaning of their Cannoneeres levelling at the King with perspective glasses at Copredy bridge the acquitting of Pym the â—nnâ—keeper who said hee would wash his hands in the Kings Heart Blood stifling of 15. or 1â— severall indictments for treasonable words and Rolfe rewarded for his purpose to kill him and the prosecutor chequed and some of them imprisoned for it For the Sunne in the Firmament and the foure great quarters of the Earth and the Shapes and Lineaments of man are not so universally knowne seene or spoken of as this will bee most certaine to the present as well as after ages The end hath now verified the beginning and Quoâ— primum fuit in intentione ultimo loco agitur Seaven yeares
Negative voyce The levying of Warre against the Personall commands of the King though accompanied with His presence is not a levying of Warre against the King but a levying Warre against His Lawes and Authority which they have Power to declare is levying of Warre against the King Treason cannot bee committed against his Person otherwise then as Hee was intrusted They have Power to judge whether hee discharge His trust or not that if they should follow the highest precedents of other Parliaments paternes there would bee no cause to complaine of want of modesty or duty in them and that it belonged only to them to Judge of the Law 27 of May The King by his Proclamation forbids all his Subjects and trayned bands of the Kingdome to Rise March or Muster But the Parliament on the same day Command all Sheriffs Justices of Peace and Constables within one hundred and fifty miles of Yorke to seize and make stay of all Armes and Amunition going thither And Declaring the said Proclamation to bee void in Law Command all men to Rise Muster and March and not to Muster or March by any other Authority or Commission and the Sheriffs of all Counties the morrow after Commanded with the posse Commitatus to suppresse any of the Kings Subjects that should bee drawne thither by his Command Secure and seize upon the Magazines of the Counties Protect all that are Delinquents against him make all to bee Delinquents that attend him and censure and put out of the house of Peeres nine Lords at once for obeying the Kings summons and going to him 3. June 1642. The King summoning the Ministery Gentry and Free-holders of the Countie of Yorke declared to them the reasons of providing himselfe a guard and that he had no intention to make a Warre and the morrow after forbad the Lord Willoughby of Parham to Muster and Trayne the Countie of Lincolne who under colour of an Ordinance of Parliament for the Militia had begun to doe it 1â— June 1642. The Parliament by a Declaration signifying That the King intended to make a War against his Parliament invited the Citizens of London all others well affected as they pleased to mis-call them within 80. miles of the City to bring money or plate into the Guild-Hall London and to subscribe for Men Horses and Army to maintaiâ—e the Protestant Religion the Kings Person and Authority â—ree course of Justice Lawes of the Land and priviledges of Parliament and the morrow after send 19. propositions to the King That the great affaires of the Kingdome and Militia may bee mannaged by consent and approbation of Parliament all the great officers of Estate Priâ—y Councell Ambassadors and Ministers of State and Judges bee chosen by them that the Grvernment Education and Marriage of the Kings Children bee by their consent and approbation and all the Forts and Castles of the Kingdome put under the Command and Custody of such as they should approve of and that no Peeres to bee made hereafter should sit or vote in Parliament without the consent of Parliament with severall other demands which if the King should have granted would at once in effect not only have undone and put his Subjects out of his protection but have deposed both himselfe and his posteritie and then they would proceede to regulate his Revenue and deliver up the Towne of Hull into such hands as the King by consent and approbation of Parliament should appoint But the King having the same day before those goodly demands came to his hands being a greater breach of his Royall Priviledges then his demanding of the 5. Members and Kimbolton if it had not beene Lawfull for him so to doe could be of theirs granted a Commission of array for the Countie of Lecester to the Earl of Huntington and by a letter sent along with it directed it for the present only to Muster and Array the Trayned-Bands And 13. June 1642. Declared to the Lords attending Him at York That Hee would not engage them in any Warre against the Parliament unlesse it were for his necessary defence wherupon the L. keeper Litleton who a little before had either beene affrighted or seduced by the Parliament to vote their new Militia The Duke of Richmond Marquis Hartford Earle of Salsbury Lord Gray of Ruthen now Earle of Kent and divers Earles and Barrons engaged not to obey any Order or Ordinance concerning the Militia had not the Royall assent to it And fourteenth of June 1642. Being informed That the Parliament endeavored to borrow great summes of money of the City of London and that there was great labour used to perswade His Subjects to furnish horse and money upon pretence of providing a guard for the Parliament By His letter to the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffes of London disavowing any purpose of making a Warre declared That He had not the least thought of raising or using of forces unlesse Hee should bee compelled to doe it for His owne defence and forbiddeth therefore the lending of money or raising of horses And within two dayes after the Lord Keeper Duke of Richmond Marquis Hartford Earle of Salisbury Lord Gray of Ruthen with 17 Earles and 14. Barons the Lord Chiefe-Justice Bancks and sundrie others of eminent qualitie and reputation attest His Majesties Declaration and profession that Hee had no intention to make a Warre but abhorred it and That they perceived no Councells or preparations tending to any such designe and send it with His Majesties Declaration to the Parliament In the meane time the Committee of Parliament appointed to make the propositions to the Cittie of London for the raising of Horse vizt. 15. June 1642. Made report to the house of Commons That the Citizens did very cheerfully accept the same there being for indeede there had beene some designe and Resolution a yeare before concerning the melting of plate to raise monies already great store of plate and monies brought into Guild-Hall for that purpose and an Ordinance of Parliament was made for the Earle of Warwick to bee Lord Admirall and keepe the Navy though the King had commanded him upon payne of Treason to deliver up the Ships to Him And the Lord Brooke sent downe into Warwick-shire to settle the Militia 17. June 1642. A Committee of both Houses was appointed to goe to the Citie of London to enquire what store of Horse Monies and Plate were already raised upon the Propositions 18. June 1642. The King by His Proclamation Disclaiming any intention to make Warre against His Parliament forbiddeth all levies of Forces without His Majesties expresse pleasure signified under His Great-Seale And 20. June 1642. Informing all His Subjects by His Proclamation of the Lawfullnesse of His Commissions of Array That besides many other Warrants and Authorities of the Law Judge Hutton and Judge Crooke in their arguments against the Ship-money agreed them to be Lawfull and the Earle of Essex himselfe had
in the beginning of this Parliament accepted of one for the Countie of Yorke Gave His People to understand That Hee had awarded the like Commissions into all the Counties of England and Dominion of Wales to provide for and secure them in a legall way lest under a pretence of danger and want of Authority from His Majestie to put them into a Military postuâ—e they should bee drawne and engaged in any opposition against Him or His Just Authority But 21. June 1642. The Lords and Commons in Parliament Declaring The Designe of their Propositions of raising Horse and Moneys was to maintaine the Protestant Religion and the Kings Authoritie and Person and that The Forces already attending His Majestie and His preparations at first coloured under the pretence of a guard being not so great a guard as they themselves had constantly for 6. moneths before did evidently appeare to bee intended for some great and extraordinary designe so as at this time also they doe not charge the King with any manner of action of Warre or any thing done in a way or course of Warre against them and gave just cause of feare and jealousie to the Parliament being never yet by any Law of God or man accounted to be a sufficient cause or ground for Subjects to make a Warre against their Soverainge did forbid all Mayors Sheriffes Bayliffes and other Officers to publish His Majesties said Letter to the Citie of London And declare that if Hee should use any force for the recovery of Hull or suppressing of their Ordinance for the Militia it should bee held a levying Warre against the Parliament and all this done before His Majestie had granted any Commission for the levying or raising of a man and lest the King should have any manner of provision of Warre to defend Himselfe when their Army or Sir John Hotham should come to assault Him Powder and Armes were every where seized on and Cutlers Gun-smiths Sadlers and all Warlike Trades ordered not to send any to Yorke but to give a weekely account what was made or sold by them And an Order made the 24. day of June 1642. That the Horses which should bee sent in for the Service of the Parliament when they came to the number of 60. should bee trayned and so still as the number increased 4. July 1642. The King by His letter under His signe Manuall commanded all the Judges of England in their circuits to use all meanes to suppresse Popery Riots and unlawfull assemblies and to give the People to understand His Resolution to maintaine the Protestant Religion and the Lawes of the Kingdome and not to governe by any Arbitrary way and that if any should give the King or them to understand of any thing wherein they held themselves grieved and desired a just reformation Hee would spedily give them such an answer as they should have cause to thank Him for His Justice and favour But the same day a Declaration was published by both houses of Parliament Commanding That no Sheriffe Mayor Bayliffe Parson Vicar Curate or other Sir Richard Gurney the Lord Mayor of London not many dayes before having beene imprisoned for proclaming the Kings Proclamation against the bringing in of Plate c. should publish or Proclaime any Proclamation Declaration or other Paper in the Kings name which should bee contrary to any Order Ordinance or Declaration of both houses of Parliament or the proceedings thereof and Order That in case any Force should bee brought out of one County into another to disturbe the Peace thereof they should bee suppressed by the Trayned Bands and Voluntiers of the adjacent Counties Shortly after Sir John Hotham fortifieth the Towne of Hull whilest the King is at Yorke seizeth on a Ship comming to Him with provisions for His Houshold takes Mr. Ashburnham one of the Kings Servants Prisoner intercepts Letters sent from the Queene to the King and drowneth part of the Countrey round about the Towne which the Parliament allowes of and promise satisfaction to the owners 5. July 1642. They Order a subscription of Plate and Horse to bee made in every Countey and list the Horse under Commanders and the morrow after Order 2000. men should bee sent to relieve Sir John Hotham in case the King should besiege him to which purpose Drummes were beat up in London and the adjacent parts to Hull The Earle of Warwick Ordered to send Ships to Humber to his assistance instructions drawne up to bee sent to the Deputie-Lievetenants of the severall Counties to tender the Propositions for the raising of Horses Plate and Money Mr. Hastings divers of the Kings Commissioners of Array impeached for supposed high Crimes and misdemeanours and a Committee of five Lords and ten of the house of Commons ordered to meete every morning for the laying out of ten thousand pounds of the Guild-hall moneys for the buying of 700. Horse and that 10000. Foote to bee raised in London and the Countrey bee imployed by dirction of the Parliament and the Lord Brooke is furnished with 6. peeces of Ordnance out of the Tower of London to fortifie the Castle of Warwick And 9. July 1642. Order That in case the Earle of Northampton should come into that County with a Commission of Array they should raise the Militia to suppresse him And that the Common Councell of London should consider of away for the speedy raising of the 10000. Foote and that they should bee listed and put in Pay within foure dayes after 11. July 1642. The King sends to the Parliament to cause the Towne of Hull to bee delivered unto him and desires to have their answer by the 15. of that moneth and as then had used no force against it But the morrow after before that message could come unto them they resolve upon the Question That an Army shall bee forthwith raised for the defence of the Kings Person and both houses of Parliament and those who have obeyed their Orders and Commands in perserving the true Religion the Lawes Liberties and the Peace of the Kingdome and that they would live and dye with the Earle of Essex whom they nominate Generall in that Cause And 12. July 1642. Declare That they will protect all that shall be imployed in their assistance and Militia And 16. July 1642. Petition the King to forbeare any preparations or actions of Warre and to dismisse His extraordinary guards to come neerer to them and harken to their advice but before that Petition could bee answered wherein the King offered when the Towne of Hull should bee delivered to Him hee would no longer have an Army before it and should bee assured that the same pretence which tooke Hull from him may not put a Garrison into Newcastle into which after the Parliaments surprise of Hull Hee was inforced to place a Governour and a small Garrison Hee would also remove that Garrison and so as his Magazine and Navy might bee delivered