Parliament Assembled not for any Doubt or Ambiguity which may be conceived or thought of for or concerning the Premisses nor of the ensuing Questions But for the manifestation and declaration of the Clear Truth and of the said Laws and Statutes already planted and for many Ages past settled in this Kingdom the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses do therefore pray That the House of the Lords may be pleased to Command the Judges of this Kingdom forthwith to declare in Writing their Resolutions of and unto the ensuing Questions and subscribe to the same Quest 1. WHether the Subjects of this Kingdom be a Free People and to be Governed only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom 2. Whether the Judges of this Land do take the Oath of Judges And if so Whether under pretext of any Act of State Proclamation Writ Letter or Direction under the Great or Privy Seal or Privy Signet or Letter or other Commandment from the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy Justice Justices or other Governor or Governors of this Kingdom they may hinder stay or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon If so in what Cases And whether if they do hinder stay or delay such Suit Judgment or Execution thereupon what Punishment did they incur for their deviation or transgression therein 3. Whether the Kings Majesties Privy Council either with the Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom or without him or them be a Place of Judicature by the Common Laws and wherein Causes between Party and Party for Debts Trespasses Accompts Possessions or Title of Lands or any of them And which of them may be heard and determined and of what Civil Causes they have Jurisdiction and by what Law And of what Force is their Order or Decree in such Cases or any of them 4. The Like of the Chief Governor alone 5. Whether Grants of Monopolies be warranted by the Law and of what and in what Cases and how and where and by whom are the pretended Transgressors against such Grants punishable and whether by Fine Mutilation of Members Imprisonment Loss and Forfeiture of Goods or otherwise and which of them 6. In what Cases the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom and Council may punish by Fine Imprisonment Mutilation of Members Pillory or otherwise And whether they may Sentence any to such the same or the like punishment for infringing the Commands of or concerning any Proclamation of and concerning Monopolies and what punishment do they incur that Vote for them 7. Of what Force is an Act of State or Proclamation in this Kingdom to bind the Liberties Goods Possessions or Inheritance of the Natives thereof whether or any of them can alter the Common Law or the Infringers of them loose their Goods Chattels or Leases or forfeit the same by Infringing any such Act of State or Proclamation or both And what punishment do the sworn Judges of the Law that are Privy Councellors incur that Vote for such Act and Execution thereof 8. Are the Subjects of this Kingdom subject to the Martial Law And whether any man in time of Peace no Enemy being in the Field with Banners displayed can be Sentenced to death If so by whom and in what Cases If not What Punishments do they incur that in time of Peace execute Martial Law 9. Whether Voluntary Oaths taken freely before Arbitrators for Affirmance or Disaffirmance of any thing or for the true performance of any thing be punishable in the Castle-Chamber or any other Court and why and wherefore 10. Why and by what Law or by what Rule of Policy is it that none is admitted to Reducement of Fines or other Penalties in the Castle-Chamber or Council Table untill he confess the Offence for which he is Censured when as Revera he might be innocent thereof tho suborned Proofs or Circumstances might induce the Censure 11. Whether the Judges of the Kings-Bench or any other Judge of Gaol-Delivery or of any other Court and by what Law do or can deny Copies of Indictment of Felony or Treason to the Parties accused contrary to Law 12. What Power have the Barons of the Court of Exchequer to raise the Respite of Homage arbitrarily to what Rate they please to what Value they may raise it by what Law they may distinguish between the Respit of Homage upon the diversity of the true value of the Fees when as Escuage is the same for great and small Fees and are apportionable by Parliament 13. Whether it be Censurable in the Subjects of this Kingdom to repair into England to appeal to his Majesty for Redress of Injuries or other Lawful Occasions If so why and in what Condition of Persons and by what Law 14. Whether Deans or other Dignitaries of Cathedral Churches be properly and de Mero jure Donative by the King and not Elective or Collative If so Why and by what Law And whether the Confirmation of a Dean de Facto of the Bishops Grant be good or valid in Law or no If not by what Law 15. Whether the issuing of Quo Warranto's out of the Kings-Bench or Exchequer against Boroughs that antiently and recently sent Burgesses to the Parliament to shew Cause why they sent Burgesses to the Parliament be Legal If not what punishment ought to be inflicted upon those that are or have been the Occasioners Procurers and Judges of and in such Quo Warranto's 16. By what Law are Jurors that give Verdict according to their Conscience and are the sole Judges of the Fact Censured in the Castle-Chamber in great Fines and sometime Pillored with loss of Ears and bored through the Tongue and marked sometimes in the Forehead with an Hot Iron and other like Infamous Punishments 17. By what Law are men Censurable in the Castle-Chamber with the Mutilation of Members or any other Brand of Infamy and in what Cases and what punishment in each Case there is due without Respect to the quality of the Person or Persons 18. Whether in the Censure in the Castle-Chamber Regard be to be had to the words of the Great Charter viz. Salvo Contenemento c. 19. Whether if one that steals a Sheep or commits any other Felony and after flyeth the Course of Justice or lyeth in Woods or Mountains upon his keeping be a Traytor If not whether a Proclamation can make him so 20. Whether the Testimony or Evidence of Rebels Traytors Protected Thieves or other infamous Persons be good Evidence in Law to be pressed upon the Tryals of Men for their Lives or whether the Judge or Jurors ought to be Judge of the matter in Fact 21. By what Law are Fairs and Markets to be held in Capite when no other express Tenure is mentioned in his Majesties Letters Patents or Grants of the same Fairs and Markets Altho the Rent or Yearly Sum be reserved thereout 22. Whether it stands with the Integrity of the
come in further Agitation and discussion in this Honourable House 9. Lastly The Judges Opinions are not usually call'd upon in Parliament but when upon Debate great and difficult Points in Law do arise where this most Honourable doth think fit to Command their Opinions but no Resolutions do belong unto the said Judges in Parliament but unto your Lordships yet in the Front and Preamble of the said Questions the Resolution of the said Questions by the Judges is forthwith desired to be required by your Lordships in Writing Although the first Question Viz. Whether the Subjects of this Kingdom c. be positively resolved by the Preamble to the said Questions in which it is likewise declared That the said Judges Answers thereunto are not desired For any Doubt or Ambiguity which may be conceived or thought of for or concerning the Premisses nor of the said Questions but for Manifestation and Declaration of a clear Truth and of the Laws and Statutes already planted and setled in this Kingdom And they conceive it is impossible to make any Manifestation or Declaration of Law or Statutes which may hold or be useful upon such general Questions as most of these are namely by what Laws in what Cases of what Power of what Force How Where and Why by Whom Wherefore what punishment by what Rule of Policy in what Condition of Persons In regard that the next succeeding Judges may be of another Opinion and that a Circumstance may alter the Reason of the Law in many particular Cases which the Wit of Man is not able to foresee or give a general Rule in And they say That to give any satisfaction to your Lordships or the Honourable House of Commons would make up a great Volume and require far more time then your Lordships have afforded unto the said Judges considering their great Toyl in the Circuits the last long Vacation their other Employments in the Common-wealth at their daily Attendance on your Lordships in Parliaments and in ordering Courts of Justice and yet lest they may seem to come any way short in performance of that Duty which they confess to be due unto your Lordships or be wanting in promoting and advancing the Good of the Common-wealth which they believe to be aimed at by the said Questions though it may seem to draw Damage or Prejudice upon their Particulars They do in all humbleness present unto your Lordships the ensuing Answers unto the said Questions which is as much as by their Oaths or in their Duty they owe unto His Sacred Majesty before his Princely pleasure be therein signified they can answer thereunto TO the First they Answer That the Subjects of this Kingdom are a Free People and are for the general to be Govern'd only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom yet they say That as in England many Statutes are grown obsolete and out of use and some particular Ancient Laws as well in Criminal as Civil Causes have been changed by Interpretation of the Judges there as they found it most agreeable for the general Good of the Common-wealth and as the Times did require it so our Predecessors the Judges of this Kingdom as the Necessity of the Times did move them did declare the Law in some particular Cases otherwise then the same is practised in England which the now Judges cannot alter without apparent diminution of a great part of His Majesties standing Revenue and opening a Gap for the shaking and questioning the Estates of many of His Majesties Subjects and the overthrowing of several Judgments Orders and Decrees which depend thereupon For Example If it be found by Office of Record sufficient for Form That a Man was killed in actual Rebellion and at the time of his Death he was seised of Lands Hereditaments Goods or Chattels by the constant Declaration of Law and Practise in former times here the Crown was Intitled to such Lands Goods and Chattels and many Mens Estates depend thereupon and yet the Law is not so taken in England So If one or more commit Felony and then stand out upon his or their keeping and he or they will not submit themselves to be tryed by the Law but being in that Case do rob or spoil and terrifie His Majesties People whereby the Country is disquieted This by the constant Opinion of our Predecessors in this Kingdom hath been adjudged a Levying of War within the Statute of 25 E. 3. and so consequently Treason Also by the common received Opinion and Practice of this Kingdom the Wife is to have a Third of all the Goods and Chattels and Credits of her Husband the Debts being paid although he dispose of all by his Will from her And yet the constant Practise is otherwise in England And other Instances of that kind might be made so that that word Only must receive a benign Exposition before the first Question can receive a general Answer in the Affirmative Secondly Many Causes of great Weight and Consequence in this Kingdom are to be Decreed and Ordered by Equity in the proper Courts of Equity and in Course of State at the Council Board and by particular Customes not contrary to Law for which the Common Law and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom gave no Remedy Thirdly There are several other Laws of Force in England and Ireland so far as they have been received which though some would have to be part of the Common Law of England yet we find them particularly distinguished from it in our Printed Books and Parliament Rolls in England As Lex Consuetudo Parliamenti jura Belli Ecclesiastical or Canon Law in certain Cases Civil Law in some Cases not only in Ecclesiastical Courts but in the Courts of Constable and Marshal and of the Admiralty and upon particular occasions in other Courts Lex Mercatoria c. 2. To the Second they say That the Judges of this Kingdom do take the Oath of Judges which Oath is specified amongst the Statutes in 18 E. 3. And is afterwards explained by the Stat. of 20 E. 3. And that they may not stay hinder or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon otherwise than according to the Law and Course of the Court when they Sit under pretence of any Act of State Proclamation Writ Letter or Direction under the Great or Privy Seal or Privy Signet or Letter or other Commandment Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy Justice Justices or other Chief Governors of this Kingdom most of which doth appear by their Oath expressed in the Statutes and the Statute of 20 E. 3. c. 8. And the Statute of 20 E. 3. c. 2. as to the Barons of the Exchequer And that as they know no Punishments due to Judges for their Deviations and Transgressions without other Aggravation so they know no punishment laid down by any Law against them for their Deviations and Transgressions in hindering staying or delaying of Justice contrary to their said Oath
the ordinary Course and Courts of Justice declined 3. The proceedings in Civil Causes at Council-Board contrary to the Law and great Charter not limited to any certain time or season 4. That the Subject is in all the material parts thereof denied the benefit of the Princely Graces and more especially of the Statute of Limitations of 21 of Jac. granted by his Majesty in the Fourth Year of His Reign upon great Advice of the Councils of England and Ireland and for great Consideration and then published in all the Courts of Dublin and in all the Counties of this Kingdom in open Assizes whereby all Persons do take notice That contrary to His Majesties Pious Intentions His Subjects of this Land have not enjoyed the benefit of His Majesties Princely Promise thereby made 5. The extrajudicial avoiding of Letters Patents of Estates of a very great part of His Majesties Subjects under the Great Seal the Publick Faith of the King dom by private Opinions delivered at the Council-Board without Legal Evictions of their Estates contrary to Law and without President or Example of any former Age. 6. The Proclamation for the sole emption and uttering of Tobacco which is bought at very low Rates and uttered at high and excessive Rates by means whereof thousands of Families within this Kingdom and of His Majesties Subjects in several Islands and other parts of the West-Indies as your Petitioners are informed are destroyed and the most part of the Coin of this Kingdom is ingrossed into particular Hands insomuch that your Petitioners do conceive that the Profit arising and ingrossed thereby doth surmount His Majesties Revenue certain or casual within this Kingdom and yet his Majesty receiveth but very little profit by the same 7. The universal and unlawful encreasing of Monopolies to the advantage of a few the disprofit of His Majesty and impoverishment of His people 8. And the extream cruel Vsage of certain late Commissioners and other Stewards of the British Farmers and Inhabitants of the City and County of London-Derry by means whereof the worthy Plantation of that Country is almost destroyed and the Inhabitants are reduced to great Poverty and many of them forced to forsake the Country the same being the first and most useful Plantation in the large Province of Ulster to the great weakning of the Kingdom in this time of danger the said Plantation being the Principal Strength of those parts 9. The late Erection of the Court of High Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical in these necessitous Times the Proceedings of the said Court in many Causes without legal Warrant and yet so supported as Prohibitions have not been obtained though legally sought for And the excessive Fees exacted by the Ministers thereof and the encroaching of the same upon the Jurisdiction of other Ecclesiastical Courts of this Kingdom 10. The exorbitant Fees and pretended Customs exacted by the Clergy against the Law some of which have been formerly represented to your Lordship 11. The Petitioners do most heartily bemoan that His Majesties Service and Profit are much more impaired than advanced by the Grievances aforesaid and the Subsidies granted in the last Parliament having much encreased His Majesties Revenue by the buying of Grants and otherwise And that all His Majesties Debts then due in this Kingdom were satisfied out of the said Subsidies and yet his Majesty is of late as the Petitioners have been informed in the House of Commons become indebted in this Kingdom in great Sums And they do therefore humbly beseech That an exact Account may be sent to His Majesty how and in what manner His Treasure is issued 12. The Petitioners do humbly conceive just and great fears at a Proclamation published in this Kingdom in Anno Domini 1635. prohibiting men of Quality or Estates to depart this Kingdom into England without the Lord-Deputie's Licence whereby the Subjects of this Kingdom are hindred and interrupted from free access to address to His Sacred Majesty and Privy-Council of England to declare their just Grievances or to obtain Remedies for them in such sort as their Ancestors have done in all Ages since the Reign of King Henry the Second and great Fees exacted for every of the said Licences 13. That of late His Majesties Attorney-General hath exhibited Informations against many ancient Burroughs of this Kingdom into His Majesties Court of Exchequer to shew cause by what Warrant the said Burgesses who heretofore sent Burgesses to Parliament should send the Burgesses to the Parliament and thereupon for want of an Answer the said Priviledges of sending Burgesses was seized by the said Court which Proceedings were altogether Coram non Judice and contrary to the Laws and Priviledges of the House of Parliament and if way should be given thereunto would tend to the Subversion of Parliaments and by Consequence to the Ruin and Destruction of the Common-wealth And that the House of Commons hath hitherto in this present Parliament been deprived of the Advice and Counsel of many profitable and good Members by means thereof 14. By the Powerfulness of some Ministers of State in this Kingdom the Parliament in its Members and Actions hath not its natural Freedom 15. And lastly That the Gentry and Merchants and other His Majesties Subjects of this Kingdom are of late by the Grievances and Pressures before said and other the like brought very near to Ruin and Destruction And the Farmers of Customs Customers Waiters Searchers Clerks of Vnwarrantable Proceedings Pursevants and Goalers and sundry others very much enriched whereby and by the slow Redress of the Petitioners Grievances His Majesties most Faithful and Dutiful People of this Kingdom do conceive great fears that their readiness approved upon all occasions hath not been of late rightly represented to his Sacred Majesty For Remedy whereof the said Petitioners do humbly and of right beseech your Lordships That the said Grievances and Pressures may be speedily Redressed and if your Lordship shall not think fit to afford present Relief that your Lordship might admit a Select Committee of this House of Persons uninteressed in the benefit arising of the aforesaid Grievances to be licensed by your Lordship to repair to His Sacred Majesty in England for to pursue the same and to obtain fitting remedy for their aforesaid and other just Grievances and Oppressions and upon all just and Honourable Occasions they will without respect of particular Interest or Profit to be raised thereby most humbly and readily in Parliament extend their utmost endeavour to serve His Majesty and comply with His Royal and Princely Occasions and shall pray c. To this the Earl replyed that their Lordships might observe that it bore Date Feb. 22 1640. which was since his Impeachment and that it is followed by Faction and Confederacy and a strong Conspiracy against him as if he had time and opportunity he could make it appear And indeed the Complaints of the Irish Nation against him who had in all things endeavoured to promote and
grants and otherwise And that all His Majesties debts then due in this Kingdom were satisfied out of the said Subsidies and yet His Majesty is of late as the Petitioners have been informed in the House of Commons become indebted in this Kingdom in great Sums And they do therefore humbly beseech that an exact accompt may be sent to His Majesty how and in what manner his Treasure issued 12. The Petitioners do humbly conceive just and great fears at a Proclamation published in this Kingdom in Anno Domini 1635. Prohibiting Men of Quality or Estates to depart this Kingdom into England without the Lord Deputies License wherein the Subjects of this Kingdom are hindred and interrupted from free access to Address to His Sacred Majesty and Privy Council of England to declare their just Grievances or to obtain Remedies for them in such sort as their Ancestors have done in all Ages since the Reign of King Henry the Second and great Fees exacted for every of the said Licenses 13. That of late His Majesties late Attorney General hath exhibited Informations against many Boroughs of this Kingdom into His Majesty's Court of Exchequer to shew cause by what Warrant the said Burgesses who heretofore sent Burgesses to the Parliament should send the Burgesses to the Parliament and thereupon for want of an Answer the said Priviledges of sending Burgesses was seised by the said Court which proceedings were altogether Coram non Judice and contrary to the Laws and Priviledges of the House of Parliament and if way should be given thereunto would tend to the Subversion of Parliaments and by consequence to the ruine and destruction of the Common-wealth And that the House of Commons hath hitherto in this present Parliament been deprived of the Advice and Counsel of many profitable and good Members by means thereof 14. By the powerfulness of some Ministers of State in this Kingdom the Parliament in its Members and Actions hath not his natural Freedom 15. And lastly That the Gentry and Merchants and other His Majesty's Subjects of this Kingdom are of late by the Grievances and Pressures beforesaid and other the like brought very near to Ruine and Destruction And Farmers of Customs Customers Waiters Searchers Clerks of unwarrantable proceedings Pursivants and Goalers and sundry others very much enriched whereby and by the slow Redress of the Petitioners His Majesties most Faithful and Dutiful People of this Kingdom do conceive great fears that their readiness approved upon all occasions hath not been of late presented to his Sacred Majesty For remedy whereof the said Petitioners do humbly and of right beseech your Lordship that the said Grievances and Pressures may be speedily redressed and if your Lordship shall not think fit to afford present relief that your Lordship might admit a select Committee of this House of Persons uninteressed in the benefit arising of the aforesaid Grievances to be licensed by your Lordship to repair to his Sacred Majesty in England for to pursue the same and to obtain fitting remedy for their aforesaid and other just Grievances and Oppressions and upon all just and honourable occasions they will without respect of particular interest or profit to be raised thereby most humbly and readily in Parliament extend their uttermost endeavour to serve His Majesty and comply with his Royal and Princely occasions And shall pray c. Not long after the Lord Deputy Wendesford died Lord Deputy Wendesford dies viz. the Third of December following whereupon Robert Lord Dillon of Kilkenny-west and Sir William Parsons Knight and Baronet Master of the Court of Wards L. Dillon and Sir William Parsons made Lords Justices were Constituted Lords Justices of Ireland and were accordingly Sworn the 30th of December 1640. But the Lord Dillon whose Son had married the Earl of Strafford's Sister and who being a Person of great Parts and Abilities and passionately devoted to the Earl's Interests both by Alliance and Inclination was no way grateful to the Faction it was not long therefore before the King who in all things endeavoured to sweeten them by gratifying them in whatever they desired was prevailed with L. Dillon displaced and Sir John Borlase substituted in his room at the Importunities of the Irish Committees then at the Court to displace the Lord Dillon and appoint the aforesaid Sir William Parsons and Sir John Borlase to be Lords Justices of the Kingdom of Ireland These Gentlemen by His Majesties Command applied themselves to give such satisfaction to His Majesties Subjects of Ireland as in reason they could desire and among other things His Majesty was pleased to reduce the Subsidies from 40000 l. a Subsidy to 12000 a piece and all things seemed to be in a most quiet and peaceable Posture and Condition of Settlement But yet even then which seems much to confirm the Lord Macguire's Confession this Rebellion was upon the Anvil for about the latter end of the year 1640 the King received some advertisements of a Design then on Foot to raise some Commotions in Ireland whereupon the King whose care for the Security of his Kingdom and Protestant Subjects of Ireland was always awake caused Sir Henry Vane his Principal Secretary of Estate to advertise the Lords Justices Parsons and Borlase of it and to Command them to take care therein The Letter which I find in Dr. Borlase's History was delivered to the Lord Parsons and found after his Death in his Study by Sir James Barry Lord Baron of Santry and presented to His present Majesty and was in these Terms Right Honourable HIS Majesty hath Commanded me to acquaint your Lordships with an Advice given him from abroad Sir H. Vane's Letter to the Lords Justices concerning some Informations of danger in Ireland and confirm'd by his Ministers in Spain and elsewhere which in this Distemper'd Time and Conjuncture of Affairs deserves to be seriously consider'd and an especial care and watchfulness to be had therein which is That of late there have passed from Spain and the like may well have been from other Parts an unspeakable number of Irish Church-men for England and Ireland and some good old Soldiers under pretext of asking leave to raise Men for the King of Spain whereas it is observed among the Irish Friars there a whisper runs as if they expected a Rebellion in Ireland and particularly in Connaght Wherefore His Majesty thought fit to give your Lordships this notice that in your Wisdoms you might manage the same with that Dexterity and Secresie as to Discover and Prevent so pernicious a Design if any such there should be and to have a watchful Eye on the Proceedings and Actions of those who come thither from abroad on what pretext soever and so herewith I rest Your Lordships most Humble Servant Henry Vane White-Hall March the 16 th 1640. The preservation of this Letter appears very uncommon and looks as if Providence interessed in the Vindication of Oppressed Innocence had reserved it to clear the
this Kingdom and in Pursuance thereof they and every of them have Traiterously Contrived Introduced and Exercised an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law thorowout this Kingdom by the Countenance and Assistance of Thomas Earl of Strafford then Chief Governor of this Kingdom II. That they and every of them the said Sir Richard Bolton Knight Lord Chancellor of Ireland John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerard Lowther Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas and Sir George Radcliffe Knight have Traiterously assumed to themselves and every one of them regal Power over the Goods Persons Lands and Liberties of his Majesties Subjects in this Realm and likewise have Maliciously Perfidiously and Traiterously Given Declared Pronounced and Published many False Unjust and Erroneous Opinions Judgments Sentences and Decrees in Extrajudicial manner against Law and have Perpetrated Practised and Done many other Traiterous and unlawful Acts and Things whereby as well divers Mutinies Seditions and Rebellions have been raised as also many Thousands of his Majesties Liege People of this Kingdom have been Ruined in their Goods Lands Liberties and Lives and many of them being of good Quality and Reputation have been utterly defamed by Pillory Mutilation of Members and other infamous Punishments By means whereof his Majesty and the Kingdom have been deprived of their Service in Juries and other Publick Imployments and the general Trade and Traffick of this Island for the most part destroyed and his Majesty highly Damnified in his Customs and other Revenues III. That they the said Sir Richard Bolton John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerard Lowther Knight and Sir George Radcliffe and every of them the better to preserve themselves and the said Earl of Strafford in these and other Traiterous Courses have laboured to Subvert the Rights of Parliament and the ancient Course of Parliamentary Proceedings all which Offences were contrived Committed Perpetrated and done at such time as the said Sir Richard Bolton Sir Gerard Lowther and Sir George Radcliffe Knights were privy Counsellors of State within this Kingdom and against their and every of their Oaths of the same at such times as the said Sir R. Bolton Knight was Lord Chancellor of Ireland Chief Baron of his Majesties Court of Exchequer within this Kingdom and Sir Gerard Lowther Knight was Lord Chief Justice of the said Court of Common-Pleas and against their Oaths of the same and at such time as the said John Lord Bishop of Derry was actual Bishop of Derry within this Kingdom and were done and speciated contrary to their and every of their Allegiance several and respective Oaths taken in that behalf IV. For which the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses do Impeach the said Sir Richard Bolton Lord Chancellor of Ireland John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerard Lowther Knight Lord Chief Justice of his Majesties said Court of Common-Pleas and Sir George Radcliffe Knight aforesaid and every of them of High-Treason against our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity The said Knights Citizens and Burgesses by Protestation saving to themselves the Liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any Accusation or Impeachment against the said Sir Richard Bolton John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerard Lowther and Sir George Radcliffe aforesaid and every of them and also of replying to them and every of their Answers which they and every of them shall make to the said Articles or any of them and of offering Proof also of the Premisses or of any other Impeachment or Accusation as shall be by them Exhibited as the Case shall according to the Course of Parliament require And the said Knights Citizens and Burgesses do pray that the said Sir Richard Bolton Knight Lord Chancellor of Ireland John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerard Lowther Knight Lord Chief Justice of his Majesties said Court of Common-Pleas and Sir George Radcliffe Knight and every of them be put to Answer to all and every of the Premisses and that all such Proceedings Examinations Tryal and Judgment may be upon them and every of them had and used as is agreeable to Law and Justice Copia vera Signed PHILIP PHERNESLY Cler. Parliamenti Thus did these Popular Reforming Protestants help to unhinge the Government and not only helped forward the Designs of the Irish if Sir John Temple's observation before mentioned be true of their endeavours to push out the present Ministers and to get into their places but they gave great Countenance especially to the Vulgar and colourable pretences to the Ensuing Rebellion when even the Protestants of the Parliament of Ireland as well as the Parliament of England by their severe Procedure against the Earl of Strafford for misgovernment and Oppressions done in Ireland by impeaching of these Persons and by their repeated loud Complaints of Grievances Wrongs and Injustice publickly defamed his Majesties Government and proclaimed to the whole World That those Miseries which the Irish suffered under those their Governors and for the Redress of which they pretended to take up Arms were so great real and intolerable that both the Parliaments of England and Ireland were so deeply sensible of them as to acknowledg and thus bitterly inveigh against them Nor were the active men of the Commons House there less busie but the Lawyers Darcy Martin Plunket Cusack Brown Linch Bodkin Evers and others took upon them with much confidence to declare the Law and to frame several Queries which being proposed to the Judges and their Modest Answers not being satisfactory they gave out Resolutions of their own upon them such as might serve their Interest and Designs rather then comport with the Honor Duty and Allegiance which they owed to their Soveraign The Queries together with the Judges Answers to them as also their own Resolutions which were transmitted hither I find in the Paper-Office as followeth Questions wherein the House of Commons humbly desires that the House of the Lords would be pleased to require the Judges to deliver their Resolutions IN as much as the Subjects of this Kingdom are Free Queries propounded by the Parliament of Ireland to the Judges of that Kingdom Loyal and Dutiful Subjects to his most Excellent Majesty their Natural Liege-Lord and King and to be governed only by the Common Lawes of England and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom in the same manner and form as his Majesties Subjects of the Kingdom of England are and ought to be Governed by the said Common-Laws and Statutes of Force in that Kingdom which of Right the Subjects of this Kingdom do Challenge and make their Protestation to be their Birth-right and best Inheritance Yet in as much as the unlawful Actions and Proceedings of some of his Majesties Officers and Ministers of Justice of late years introduced and practised in this Kingdom did tend to the infringing and violation of the Laws Liberties and Freedom of the said Subjects of this Kingdom contrary to his Majesties Royal and Pious Intentions Therefore the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in
Majesty's said Letters or the said Act of State and not otherwise The Commons not being satisfied with these Sober and Calm Resolutions of the Judges fell to Voting their own Sense and to make Declarations of the Law upon their former Queries as followeth Questions propounded in Parliament And Declarations of the Law thereupon in Parliament Quest 1. The Declaration of the Commons in Ireland upon the Queries propounded to the Judges WHether the Subjects of this Kingdom be a Free People and to be Governed only by the Common Laws of England and Statutes of Force in this Kingdom Declarat The Subjects of this his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland are a free People and to be Governed only according the Common Law of England and Statutes made and established by Parliament in this Kingdom of Ireland and according to the Lawful Customs used in the same 2. Quest Whether the Judges of this Land do take the Oath of Judges And if so Whether under pretext of any Act of State Proclamation Writ Letter or Direction under the Seal or Privy Seal Signet or Letter or other Commandment from the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy Justice Justices or other Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom they may hinder stay or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon If so in what Cases And whether if they do hinder stay or delay such Suit or Judgment or Execution thereupon what Punishment do they incur for their deviation and transgression therein Declarat That Judges in Ireland ought to take the Oath of the Justices or Judges declared and established in several Parliaments of Force in this Kingdom and the said Judges or any of them by Color or under Pretext of any Act of State or Proclamation or under Color or Protext of any Writ Letter or Direction under the Great Seal Privy Seal or Privy Signet from the King 's Most Excellent Majesty or by Color or Pretext of any Letter or Commandment from the Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom ought not to hinder or delay the Suit of any Subject or his Judgment or Execution thereupon and if any Letters Writs or Commands come from his Majesty or from any other or for any other Cause to the Justices or to the other deputed to do the Law and right according to the Usage of the Realm in disturbance of the Law or of the Execution of the same or of Right to the Party the Justices and others aforesaid ought to proceed and hold their Courts and Processes where the Pleas and Matters be depending before them as if no such Letters Writs or Commandments were come to them And in case any Judge or Judges Justice or Justices be found in default therein he or they so found in default ought to incur and undergo due Punishment according to the Law and former Declarations and Provisions in Parliament in that Case made and of Force in this Kingdom or as shall be Ordered Adjudged or Declared in Parliament And the Barons of the Exchequer Justices of the Assize and Goal-delivery if they be found in default as aforesaid It is hereby declared That they ought to undergo the Punishment aforesaid 3. Quest Whether the Kings Majesties Privy Council either with the Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom or without him or them be a Place of Judicature by the Commons Laws and wherein Causes between Party and Party for Debts Trespasses Accompts Possessions or Title of Lands or any of them or which of them may be heard and determined and of what Civil Causes they have Jurisdiction and by what Law And of what Force is their Order or Decree in such Cases or any of them Declarat The Council Table of this Realm either with the Chief Governor or Governors or without the Chief Governor or Governors is no Judicatory wherein any Action Real Personal Popular or Mixt or any Suit in the Nature of the said Actions or any of them can or ought to be Commenced Heard or Determined and all Proceedings at the Council Table in any Suit in the nature of any of the said Actions are void especially Causes particularly provided for by express Acts of Parliament of Force in this Kingdom only excepted 4. Quest The Like of the Chief Governor alone Declarat The Proceedings before the Chief Governor or Governors alone in any Action Real Personal Popular or Mixt or in any Suit in the Nature of any of the said Actions are Coram non Judice and void 5. Quest Whether Grants of Monopolies be warranted by the Law and of what and in what Cases and how and where and by whom are the pretended Transgressors against such Grants punishable and whether by Fine Mutilation of Members Imprisonment Loss and Forfeiture of Goods or otherwise and which of them Declarat All Grants of Monopolies are contrary to the Laws of this Realm and therefore void and no Subject of the said Realm ought to be Fined Imprisoned or otherwise Punished for exercising or using the Lawful Liberty of a Subject contrary to such Grants 6. Quest In what Cases the Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governor or Governors of this Kingdom and Council may punish by Fine Imprisonment Mutilation of Members Pillory or otherwise And whether they may Sentence any to such the same or the like punishment for infringing the Commands of or concerning any Proclamation of and concerning Monopolies and what punishment do they incur that Vote for the same Declarat The Lord Lieutenant Lord Deputy or other Chief Governor or Governors and Council of this Realm or any of them ought not to imprison any of his Majesties Subjects but only in Cases where the Common Laws or Statutes of the Realm do inable and warrant them so to do and they ought not to Fine or to Consure any Subject in mutilation of Member standing on the Pillory or other shameful Punishment in any Case at the Council Table and no Subject ought to be Imprisoned Fined or otherwise Punished for Infringing any Commands or Proclamation for the support or Countenance of Monopolies and if in any Case any Person or Persons shall be committed by the Command or Warrant of the Chief Governor or Governors and Privy Council of this Realm or any of them That in every such Case every Person or Persons so Committed restrained of his or their Liberty or suffering Imprisonment upon Demand or Motion made by his or their Counsel or other imployed by him or them for that purpose unto the Judges of the Court of Kings-Bench or Common-Pleas in open Court shall without delay upon any Pretence whatsoever for the ordinary Fees usually paid for the same have forthwith granted unto him or them a Writ or Writs of Habeas Corpus to be directed generally unto all and every Sheriff Goaler Minister Officer or other Person in whose Custody the Party or Parties so Committed or Restrained shall be shall at the Return of the said Writ or Writs and
9. That a Presbytery without a Bishop was in the World before it was at Geneva 10. That it is a hainous sin to be present when Prayers are read out of a Book 11. That to communicate in presence of a Prophane Person is to partake of his prophaneness 12. That Christs Kingdom hath been a Candle under a Bushel whilst Antichrist hath out-raigned him for 1600 years together Many more instances at little leisure I can gather which together have begotten a general increase of open Libertinisme secret Atheisme bold Arminianisme desperate Socinianisme stupid Anabaptisme and with these the new Chiliastes and the wilfulness of Papists strangely and strongly confirmed by these distractions Good God! look down and direct our consultations The best Issue whereof I think would be to debate the whole debate of Religion out of our Doors by putting it into a free Synod whereupon I doubt not but we should grow unanimous in all our other works So that from this Speech here is an undeniable Authority how from the Infancy of this Idol of Presbyterian Reformation Hell seemed to be broke loose and all the seducing Spirits assisted the beginnings of it And certainly the effects of it we still feel at this day God Grant our Posterity may not do so too This day the Lords entred upon the Debate of the List of Recusants Tuesday Novemb. 22. The Resolution of the Lords concerning securing of the Recusants in the List sent up to the Commons whom the Commons desired might be secured and it was upon the Debate Resolved That the Kingdom was in such Danger at this time as required the securing of the Persons of Recusants and that this shall be done by a legislative Way And a Committee was appointed to draw up a Bill immediately to that purpose In the Commons House the reforming Faction were this day tugging sorely at the Oars to bring the Declaration of the State of the Kingdom which was now ingrossed and read into safe Harbor there blew a fresh Gale from the Coast of Loyalty beyond their Expectation who were the Contrivers of it and several Alterations were made in it and pity it was that it was not after all the shaking and shaking served as the common Opinion is Cucumbers ought to be thrown away as more dangerous to the Health of the Body then their agreeableness to the Palate can compensate the House was divided four several times upon the Question but at the last all that which they called Amendments being read it was put to the Question Whether it should pass and the House dividing upon it with the Yeas were 159 with the Noes were 148. so it was carried in the Affirmative The Question was then put again Whether it should be Printed or not the House was again divided with the Noes were 124 with the Yeas 101. So that passed in the Negative the time for Printing was not yet come Upon this Occasion Sir Edward Deering made this following Speech Mr. Speaker THis Remonstrance is now in Progress upon its last Foot in this House Sir Edward Deering's Speech against the passing of the Remonstrance Nov. 22. 1641. I must give a Vote unto it one way or other my conscience bids me not to dare to be affirmative so sings the Bird in my breast and I do chearfully believe the Tune to be good This Remonstrance whensoever it passeth will make such an impression and leave such a Character behind both of his Majesty the People the Parliament and of this present Church and State as no time shall ever eat it out whilst Histories are written and men have Eyes to read them How curious then ought we to be both in the Matter and the Form Herein is a severe point of conscience to be tryed Let us be sure that every particular substance be a Truth and let us cloath that Truth with a free language yet a modest and a sober language Mr. Speaker this Remonstrance is in some kind greater and more extensive then an Act of Parliament that reacheth only to England and Wales but in this the three Kingdoms will be your immediate supervisors and the greatest part of Christendom will quickly borrow the Glass to see our deformities therein They will scan this work at leisure which I hope we shall not shut up in haste Some pieces here are of excellent use and worth but what is that to me if I may not have them without other parts that are both doubtful and dangerous The Matter Form and final end of this Remonstrance all of them do argue with me not to remonstrate thus The end to what end do we decline thus to them that look not for it Wherefore is this descension from a Parliament to a people they look not up for this so extraordinary courtesie the better sort think best of us and why are we told that the people are expectant for a Declaration I did never look for it of my Predecessors in this place nor shall do from my Successors I do hereby profess that I do not know any one Soul in all that Country for which I have the honour to serve who looks for this at your hands They do humbly and heartily thank you for many good Laws and Statutes already Enacted and pray for more That is the Language best understood of them and most welcome to them They do not expect to hear any other Stories of what you have done much less promises of what you will do Mr. Speaker When I first heard of a Remonstrance I presently imagined that like faithful Counsellors we should hold up a Glass unto his Majesty I thought to represent unto the King the wicked Counsels of pernicious Counsellors the restless turbulency of practical Papists The Treachery of false Judges The bold Innovations and some superstition brought in by some pragmatical BB and the rotten part of the Clergy I did not dream that we should remonstrate downward tell stories to the people and talk of the King as of a third person The use and end of such Remonstrance I understand not at least I hope I do not Mr. Speaker In the Form of this Remonstrance if it were presented to you from a full Committee yet I am bold to make this Quaere Whether that Committee have presented to us any heads in this Remonstrance which were not first agitated here and recommended to them from this House if they have there wanteth then for so much the Formal Power that should actuate and enlive the work so brought unto us 10. Novem. 1640. as may be well observed by perusing the Order now above a Twelve Month old for constituting that Committee In the matter of this Remonstrance I except against several Particulars but upon the transient reading of it not having any view thereof I will gather up two instances only very obvious very easie to be observed First L. Viscount Faulkland as was also observed by a Learned Noble Lord who spake last
nearly interested in the Ruin of this great Person than any other he satiated his private Revenge by the pretence of Publick Justice and when in all likelyhood the Earl must have Escaped the Prosecution of his Adversaries he produced that Fatal Scrip of Paper of which mention will be made hereafter which had lain so long Dormant or rather which was newly framed upon which the Bill of Attainder in the House of Commons was founded to take away that Life which a Legal Tryal would otherwise have acquitted though not of Misdemeanors yet of the Capital Crime of High Treason My Lord Wentworth being now made one of his Majesties Privy Council gave such daily Testimonies of his singular Wisdom as soon recommended him to the Observation of that Great Man William Laud then Bishop of London and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury and that Discernment of each others Merits which generally in great Minds produces Emulation Envy and too commonly Aversion and Animosity begat in them a Friendship which being cemented by the common bond of Loyalty and Fidelity to their great Masters Service and Interest proved so firm and indissolvable as to have no other Period but that of their Untimely Deaths Nor did Fortune who seemed now wholy imployed in bestowing her treacherous Caresses upon this Noble Lord stop here for he was in a little time advanced to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland one of the Trusts and Honours as near the wearing of a Crown as any thing can be that is not actually possessed of one when he came to that Government he found all things in great Disorder the Revenue so low that Ireland was a Burthen to the Crown of England which by his Wise Management he not only took off but so improved the Trade of the Nation and the Revenue of the Crown that that Kindom was not only able to support it self but to lend supplies to England And as he was an Extraordinary Zealous promoter of the Interest and Glory of the Established Church and the Protestant Episcopal Party for which possibly there was a stricter bond of amitie between him and the Arch-Bishop he did by the assistance of that great Metropolitane procure from his Majesty the Restoring of all the Impropriations which in that Nation were then in the Crown to the Bishops and Clergy thereby rescuing the Church-men from those disadvantages which Contempt and Poverty in these declining Ages of Religion had reduced them to and by proposing Rewards to Merit Virtue Learning and Piety encouraged men of Parts to dedicate themselves to those Nobler Studies That contenting themselves with those competent Provisions they might be enabled to resist the Temptations of applying themselves to the more gainful Arts of Secular Professions In short how he managed the Government of that Kingdom notwithstanding the turbulent Humor of the Native Irish whose Religion being Popish and whose Interest to dispossess the English whom they ever esteemed incroachers and invaders continually prompted them to Rebellions this is the clearest Testimony that during all the time that he was his Majesties Vice-Roy in that Kingdom there was not the least murmur of Sedition but all things buried in a most profound Peace and Quiet But no sooner were the Reigns of his Government taken off and even before the blood was cold which dyed his blushing Scaffold but that Kingdom was all in a blaze and from thence such sparks of Jealousie flew over into England as set this miserable Nation into such an Universal Conflagration as was not Extinguished but with whole Rivers of Blood which one may say not altogether Poetically seemed to be sacrificed by the Revenging Deity to the Manes of this Illustrious Man And now the Sun of his Glory was gotten to the Top of his Meridian and from thence had Exhaled those Vapours and sulphureous ingredients which being condensed into Clouds of Popular Discontents raised so horrible a Storm as forced him to set in a dismal Cloud Laetis hunc Numina Rebus Crescendi posuêre modum Innocence is no Protection against Envy and those Merits which raised Admiration and Satisfaction in Good and Virtuous Men produced Emulation and Hatred in the Minds of the Turbulent and Discontented and as formerly all the Complaints and Grievances of the Nation seemed to Centre in the Duke of Buckingham so now the Noble Earl of Strafford for to that Honour he was advanced inherited with the Favour of his Prince all that was Black and Criminal in a Favourite which was now become a certain mark of the Peoples Hatred The long Discontinuance of Parliaments the Imposition of Ship-mony and the Design of introducing Arbitrary Government were all placed to his Score as the intentions of bringing in Superstitions Innovations and Popery were charged upon the Archbishop of Canterbury But above all he had so Exasperated the Scottish Faction and their Friends in England that his or their Ruin as they concluded was inevitable for he had raised a Considerable Army in Ireland and being in the Sickness of the Earl of Northumberland made Lieutenant General of the Army in the North he was an utter Enemy to the Treaty and of Opinion by force of Arms to drive the Scots out of England and so confident was he in the height of his Courage that it might Easily be Effected that in one of his Letters to the Archbishop he writ That he would venture his head if he did not drive the Scots out of England and though he did not think it proper for him as the Case now stood to give the King that Advice Yet if any of the Lords would propose to the King to try the Fortune of a Battle he made not the least scruple to send the Scots back again in more haste than they came into England And had his Majesty pursued those Counsels in all humane Probability this Noble Earl might have saved not only his own but the Royal Head of his Master and that vast Expence of Blood and Treasure as well as the Honour of the English Nation which suffered infinitely abroad by all the succeeding Accidents and Events which Ensued that dishonourable Treaty but Diis aliter visum est No sooner was the Parliament met at Westminster Friday November 6. and the necessary affairs of choosing a Speaker taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and upon Friday Novemb. 6. the Grand Committees for Religion Grievances Courts of Justice Trade and Priviledges settled but Mr. Pym moved for a Committee of the whole House to take into Consideration the Irish Affairs from whence there were great and numerous Complaints This was seconded by Sir John Clotworthy in a Speech wherein though he did not name the Earl of Strafford yet the pointed reflections were so easie to be interpreted that the whole House knew he was the Person at whose head the Thunderbolt was levell'd After some Debate the House was Divided upon the Question and there being Yeas 165 Noes 152 it was carried in the affirmative
This Vote for a Grand Committee of the whole House for Irish affairs presently gave the Alarm to those Gentlemen of the House whose Friendship for the Earl made them Vigilant in attending the Motions of his Enemies whose Designs as well as hatred of him were not unknown to them Immediately they posted Letters down to him in the North where he was still with the Army advertising him of what was done in the House of Commons and the apprehension they had that a Storm was gathering which would shortly discharge it self upon him and leaving it to his deliberation whether to come up to the Parliament or not however they advised him if he did resolve to come that he should come prepared to impeach some of the Principal of his Enemies of a Confederacy with the Scots in their invading of England and thereby as the Duke of Buckingham had formerly treated the Earl of Bristol to crush their Accusations in the bud and disable them from his Prosecution by obliging them first to clear themselves But those who were his intimate Friends advised him either to continue with the Army over whom he had got a most powerful influence or to retire to Ireland which then also was intirely at his Devotion or lastly to take a retreat in some Eorreign Country till the Fury of the Storm was spent that from thence upon a favourable turn of his affairs he might be able to recover his Station and vindicate his Innocence they represented to him how impossible it would be for him to stand the shock of his Combined Adversaries of the Scottish Nation and Faction in both the Houses and that to run upon inevitable Ruin though it might speak Innocence and Courage yet among Wise men it would make his Judgment and Wisdom extreamly censured since the worst that could happen to him by retiring was to have Sentence passed upon him for non-appearance but that in recompence of that disadvantage and the seeming Loss of his Honour and Reputation he would certainly preserve his Life and Liberty and reserving himself for a better Destiny might as multitudes of Great Men have done before him not only recover his Glory and Integrity from under the present Eclipse but render his Reputation far more bright by coming from under the black Clouds of Calumny and Injustice Whereas should he adventure to stand the Test of Parliament he could expect little Mercy and less Justice from such of his Enemies who could not but resolve his Ruin to prevent their own and that if notwithstanding all his Integrity should Sentence of Condemnation pass upon him he should not only lose his Honor Life and Estate but endanger the present loss of his Fame if not the future too ignoble Minds being apt to judge the Condemned alwayes Criminal and that Posterity who may much more probably want those assistances to rescue a suffering Innocence from Injustice which even the Age wherein it was transacted was not sufficiently able to do will be apt to believe the Certainty of Fact which speaks a Guilt rather then the uncertainty of a Traditional Innocence though it has so happened to the Ashes of this Illustrious Innocent that the Guilt has by solemn Act of Parliament been obliterated and as he suffered by the Injustice of a Lex post nata so he had all the Reparation the Justice of a Posthumus Law could do his Memory But such was the high Courage of this Noble Earl who had much more of the Oak than the Willow about his Heart that all the Arguments and Remonstrances of his Friends were lost upon him To stay with the Army from whence he would assuredly if impeached be commanded or to retire to Ireland he judged would look too like Rebellion from which as he had the strongest aversion so it would give his Enemies some colourable foundation for a real Guilt and to take Sanctuary under the Protection of any Forreign Court was to abandon his Innocence and tacitly to confess himself a Criminal and would in the Opinion of the World make him appear guilty of all the Crimes his Accusers should lay to his Charge In the Confidence of his own Innocence and of the guilt of his Enemies of whose Confederacy with the Covenanters of Scotland he had as he thought got sufficient Evidence to Impeach several both of the Lords and Commons as guilty of an Invitation of the Scots to Invade England he takes Post for London intending as soon as he was arrived at the Parliament to present it to the House of Peers But his Enemies proved too diligent for him and knowing how great influence the first blow would have before he could accomplish his Intention they prevented him by an Impeachment as Quick as Unexpected for upon Wednesday the Eleventh of November Wednesday Novemb. 11. the Doors of the House of Commons being locked up and the Key brought up to the Table the Impeachment of the Earl was moved in the House and Messengers were sent to the Lords to desire a Conference concerning the Earl of Strafford and Mr. Pym Mr. Strode Mr. St. Johns Serjeant Grimston Lord Digby Committee to prepare a Charge against the Earl of Strafford Sir John Clotworthy Sir Walter Erle Mr. Hambden were appointed to be a Select Committee to prepare Matter for a Conference with the Lords and to draw up a Charge against the Earl of Strafford and in order to it to withdraw immediately into the Committee Chamber This retirement was only pro formâ for they had all the Charge ready and therefore they immediately returned and reported to the House a Charge against the Earl whereupon it was Resolved upon the Question That a Message be sent to the House of Lords to Impeach the Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of Ireland of High Treason which Mr. Pym who by Command of the House carried it up and delivered in these Words My Lords THE Knights Citizens and Burgesses now Assembled in the Commons House in Parliament have received Informations of divers Trayterous Designs and Practices of a great Peer of this House and by virtue of a Command from them I do here in the Name of the Commons now Assembled in Parliament and in the Name of all the Commons of England accuse Thomas Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of Ireland of High Treason and they have Commanded me further to desire your Lordships that he may be Sequestred from Parliament and forthwith Committed to Prison They have further Commanded me to let you know That they will within a very few dayes resort to your Lordships with the particular Articles and Grounds of this Accusation The Earl then being commanded to withdraw it was put to the Question by the Lords Whether He should be Imprisoned upon a general Accusation of Treason and being carried in the affirmative he was called in kneeling at the Barr and afterwards standing up the Lord Keeper by Command of the House spake to him as followeth MY Lord of
Strafford The House of Commons in their own Name and in the Name of the whole Commons of England have this day accused your Lordship to the Lords of the Higher House of Parliament of High Treason the Articles they will in a few dayes produce in the mean time they have Resolved That your Lordship shall be Committed into Safe Custody to the Gentleman Vsher and be Sequestred from the House till your Lordship shall clear your self of the Accusations that shall be laid against you Whereupon he was immediately taken into Custody by James Maxwell Usher of the Black Rod. And that the Commons might Disable him of the Testimony and Assistance of Sir George Radcliff his great Friend and Confident it was resolved to make him a Party and accuse him of High Treason and Confederacy with the Earl which was accordingly done as is more at large related before to which the Reader is referred only a Debate worth the Observation arose upon his being a Member of the Parliament in Ireland Whether he could without Breach of Priviledge be sent for Upon which it was Resolved as a thing out of all Doubt That in case of High Treason Priviledg of Parliament neither here nor there doth reach to Protect him Notwithstanding which when afterwards his Majestie accused the Lord Kimbolton and the Five Members of High Treason and Exhibited Articles against them they did not only protect them but arraigned that proceeding as the Highest Violation of the Priviledges of Parliament making it one of the main Foundations upon which they built the Justice of the succeeding Rebellion and their taking up Arms against his Majesty It was Ordered Wednesday Novemb. 18. That no Member of the House of Commons shall visit the Earl of Strafford during his restraint without Licence first obtained from the House And the same Order was taken in the House of Peers and all the time of his Imprisonment the Lieutenant of the Tower brought in a Weekly account of the Names of those persons who visited him and by whose Order Upon Munday Munday Nov. 23. Novemb. 23. Mr. Pym presented a draught of Articles to the House which being referred to the Committee who were to prepare a Charge against the Earl were by them reported and agreed to by the House and Mr. Pym ordered to go up with them to the Lords which upon Wednesday following he did accordingly Wednesday Nov. 25. and before their Lordships laid out his Talent of Speech-making upon that subject as follows The Articles being first tendred and Read which were these I. THat he the said Thomas Earl of Strafford Articles of Impeachment against the Earl of Strafford Nov. 25. hath Trayterously endeavoured to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of the Realms of England and Ireland and instead thereof to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law which he hath declared by Trayterous Words Counsels and Actions and by giving his Majesty advice by force of Armes to compel his Loyal Subjects to submit thereunto 2. That he hath Trayterously assumed to himself Regal power over the Lives Liberties Persons Lands and Goods of his Majesties Subjects in England and Ireland and hath exercised the same Tyrannically to the subversion and undoing of many both of Peers and others of his Majesties Liege people 3. That the better to enrich and enable himself to go thorow with his Trayterous Designs he hath detained a great part of his Majesties Revenue without giving legal account and hath taken great Summes out of the Exchequer converting them to his own use when his Majesty was necessitated for his own urgent occasions and his Army had been a long time unpaid 4. That he hath Trayterously abused the power and authority of his Government to the encreasing countenancing and encouraging of Papists that so he might settle a mutual dependance and confidence betwixt himself and that Party and by their help prosecute and accomplish his malicious and tyrannical designs 5. That he hath maliciously endeavoured to stir up enmity and hostility between his Majesties Subjects of England and those of Scotland 6. That he hath Trayterously broken the great Trust reposed in him by his Majesty of Lieutenant General of his Army by wilfully betraying divers of his Majesties Subjects to death his Army to a dishonourable defeat by the Scots at Newborn and the Town of New-Castle into their hands to the end that by the effusion of blood by dishonour and so great a loss of New-Castle his Majesties Realm of England might be engaged in a National and Irreconciliable quarrel with the Scots 7. That to preserve himself from being questioned for those and other his Trayterous Courses he laboured to subvert the Right of Parliaments and the ancient course of Parliamentary Proceedings and by false and malicious slanders to incense his Majesty against Parliaments By which Words Counsels and Actions he hath Trayterously and contrary to his allegiance laboured to alienate the hearts of the Kings Liege people from his Majesty to set a division between them and to ruin and destroy his Majesties Kingdoms for which they impeach him of High Treason against our Soveraign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity 8. And he the said Earl of Strafford was Lord Deputy of Ireland and Lieutenant General of the Army there viz. His most excellent Majesty for his Kingdoms both of England and Ireland and the Lord President of the North during the time that all and every the Crimes and Offences before set forth were done and committed and he the said Earl was Lieutenant General of all his Majesties Army in the North parts of England during the time that the Crimes and Offences in the fifth and sixth Articles set forth were done and committed 9. And the said Commons by protestations saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Earl and also of replying to the Answers that he the said Earl shall make unto the said Articles or to any of them and of offering proofes also of the premisses or any of them or any other impeachment or accusation that shall be exhibited by them as the cause shall according to the course of Parliaments require do pray that the said Earl may be put to answer for all and every the premisses that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments may be upon every of them had and used as it is agreeable to Law and Justice My Lords THese Articles have exprest the Character of a great and dangerous Treason Mr. Pym's Speech after the Reading the Articles against the Earl of Strafford Nov. 25. such a one as is advanced to the highest degree of Malice and of Mischief It is enlarged beyond the limits of any description or definition it is so hainous in it self as that it is capable of no aggravation a Treason against God betraying his Truth and Worship against the King obscuring the Glory and weakning the foundation
time had a Petition depending in the House of Lords delivered Jan. 12 craving to be discharged of the Fine of Three thousand pounds imposed upon him by Decree of the Star-Chamber for Scandalous words against the Earl of Strafford Upon the 30th of Jan. a Day so Fatal to King Charles the First Saturday Jan. 30. the further Impeachment of the Earl of Strafford consisting in 28 Articles was by Mr. Pym carried up to the Lords which were as follow Articles of the Commons Assembled in Parliament The further Impeachment of the Earl of Strafford Jan. 30. against Thomas Earl of Strafford in maintenance of their Accusation whereby he stands Charged with High Treason WHereas the said Commons have already Exhibited Articles against the said Earl in haec verba c. Now the said Commons do further Impeach the said Earl as followeth That is to say I. That the said Earl of Strafford the 21 day of March in the Eighth Year of his Majesties Reign was President of the Kings Council in the Northern Parts of England That the said Earl being President of the said Council on the 21 of March a Commission under the Great Seal of England with certain Schedules of Instructions thereunto annexed was directed to the said Earl or others of the Commissioners therein named whereby among other things Power and Authority is limited to the said Earl and others the Commissioners therein named to hear and determine all Offences and Misdemeanors Suits Debates Controversies and Demands Causes Things and Matters whatsoever therein contained and within certain Precincts in the said Northern Parts therein specified and in such manner as by the said Schedule is limited and appointed That among other things in the said Instructions it is directed That the said President and others therein appointed shall hear and determine according to the Course of Proceedings in the Court of Star-Chamber divers Offences Deceits and Falsities therein mentioned Whether the same be provided for by Acts of Parliament or not so that the Fines imposed be not less than by the Act or Acts of Parliament provided against those offences is appointed That also amongst other things in the said Instructions it is directed that the said President and others therein appointed have power to examine hear and determine according to the course of proceedings in the Court of Chancery all manner of Complaints for any matter within the said Precincts as well concerning Lands Tenements and Hereditaments either Free-hold Customary or Copy-hold as Leases and other things therein mentioned and to stay proceedings in the Court of Common Law by Injunction or otherwise by all wayes and means as is used in the Court of Chancery And although the former Presidents of the said Councel had never put in practice such Instructions nor had they any such Instructions yet the said Earl in the Moneth of May in the said 8th Year and divers Years following did put in practice exercise and use and caused to be used and put in practice the said Commission and Instructions and did direct and exercise an exorbitant and unlawful power and jurisdiction on the persons and estates of his Majesties Subjects in those parts and did Disin-herit divers of his Majesties Subjects in those parts of their Inheritances sequestred their Possessions and did fine ransome punish and imprison them and caused them to be fined ransomed punished and imprisoned to their ruine and destruction and namely Sir Coniers Darcy Sir John Bourcher and divers others against the Laws and in subversion of the same And the said Commission and Instructions were procured and issued by the advice of the said Earl And he the said Earl to the intent that such illegal and unjust power might be exercised with the greater licence and will did advise Counsel procure further directions in and by the said instructions to be given that no prohibition be granted at all but in cases where the said Councel shall exceed the limits of the said instructions And that if any Writ of Habeas Corpus be granted the party be not discharged till the party perform the Decree and Order of the said Councel And the said Earl in the 13. year of his now Majesties Reign did procure a new Commission to himself and others therein appointed with the said Instructions and other unlawful additions That the said Commission and Instructions were procured by the solicitation and advice of the said Earl of Strafford 2. That shortly after the obtaining of the said Commission dated the 21 of March in the 8 year of his now Majesties Reign to wit the last day of August then next following he the said Earl to bring his Majesties liege People into a dislike of his Majesty and of his Government and to terrifie the Justices of the Peace from executing of the Laws He the said Earl being then President as aforesaid and a Justice of Peace did publickly at the Assizes held for the County of York in the City of York in and upon the said last day of August declare and publish before the People there attending for the administration of Justice according to the Law and in the presence of the Justices sitting That some of the Justices were all for Law but they should find that the Kings little finger should be heavier then the loyns of the Law 3. That the Realm of Ireland having been time out of mind annexed to the Imperial Crown of England and governed by the same Laws The said Earl being Lord Deputy of that Realm to bring his Majesties liege People of that Kingdom likewise into dislike of his Majesties Government and intending the Subversion of the Fundamental Laws and settled government of that Realm and the destruction of his Majesties liege People there did upon the 30. day of September in the ninth year of his now Majesties Reign in the City of Dublin the chief City of that Kingdom where his Majesties Privy Councel and Courts of Justice do ordinarily reside and whither the Nobility and Gentry of that Realm do usually resort for Justice in a publick Speech before divers of the Nobility and Gentry and before the Mayor Aldermen and Recorder and many Citizens of Dublin and other his Majesties Liege People declare and publish that Ireland was a conquered Nation and that the King might do with them what he pleased and speaking of the Charters of the former Kings of England made to that City he further said that their Charters were nothing worth and did bind the King no further then he pleased 4. That Richard Earl of Cork having sued out process in course of Law for recovery of his Possessions from which he was put by colour of an order made by the said Earl of Strafford and the Councel Table of the said Realm of Ireland The said Earl of Strafford upon a paper Petition without legal proceeding did the 20. day of February in the 11. year of his now Majesties Reign threaten the said Earl of Cork being
breach of and contrary to the Lawes and Statutes of this Realm in that behalf established 19. That the said Earl having Taxed and Levied the said Impositions and raised the said Monopolies and committed the said Oppressions in his Majesties Name and as by his Majesties Royal Command he the said Earl in May the 15th Year of his Majesties Reign did of his own authority contrive and frame a new and unusual Oath by the purport whereof among many other things the party taking the said Oath was to swear that he should not protest against any of his Majesties Royal Commands but submit themselves in all Obedience thereunto Which Oath he so contrived to enforce the same on the Subjects of the Scottish Nation inhabiting in Ireland and out of a hatred to the said Nation and to put them to a Discontent with his Majesty and his Government there and compelled divers of his Majesties said Subjects there to take the said Oath some he grievously Fined and Imprisoned and others he destroyed and Exiled and namely the 10th of October Anno Dom. 1639. he fined Henry Steward and his Wife who refused to take the said Oath 5000 pounds apiece and their two Daughters and James Gray 3000 pounds apiece and Imprisoned them for not paying the said Fines The said Henry Steward's Wife and Daughters and James Gray being the Kings Liege People of the Scottish Nation and divers others he used in like manner And the said Earl upon that occasion did declare That the said Oath did not onely oblige them in point of Allegiance to his Majesty and acknowledgment of his Supremacy only but to the Ceremonies and Government of the Church established or to be established by his Majesties Royal Authority and said That the refusers to obey he would prosecute to the blood 20. That the said Earl in the 15 and 16 Years of his Majesties Reign and divers years past laboured and endeavoured to beget in his Majesty an ill Opinion of his Subjects namely those of the Scottish Nation and divers and sundry times and especially since the Pacification made by his Majesty with his said Subjects of Scotland in Summer in the 15th Year of his Majesties Reign he the said Earl did labour and endeavour to perswade incite and provoke his Majesty to an Offensive War against his said Subjects of the Scottish Nation And the said Earl by his Counsel Actions and Endeavours hath been and is a principal and chief Incendiary of the War and Discord between his Majesty and his Subjects of England and the said Subjects of Scotland and hath declared and advised his Majesty That the Demand made by the Scots in this Parliament were a sufficient cause of War against them The said Earl having formerly expressed the height and rancor of his mind towards his Subjects of the Scottish Nation viz. the tenth day of October in the 15 year of his Majesties Reign he said that the Nation of the Scots were Rebels and Traytors and he being then about to come to England he then further said That if it pleased his Master meaning his Majesty to send him back again he would root out of the said Kingdome meaning the Kingdom of Ireland the Scottish Nation both root and branch Some Lords and others who had taken the said Oath in the Precedent Article onely excepted and the said Earl hath caused divers of the said Ships and Goods of the Scots to be stayed seized and molested to the intent to set on the said War 21. That the said Earl of Strafford shortly after his Speeches mentioned in the last precedent Article to wit in the fifteenth year of his Majesties Reign came into this Realm of England and was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and continued his Government of that Kingdom by a Deputy At his arrival here finding that his Majesty with much wisedom and goodness had composed the troubles in the North and had made a Pacification with his Subjects of Scotland he laboured by all means to procure his Majesty to break that Pacification incensing his Majesty against his Subjects of that Kingdome and the proceedings of the Parliament there And having incensed his Majesty to an offensive War against his said Subjects of Scotland by Sea and by Land and by pretext thereof to raise Forces for the maintenance of that War he counselled his Majesty to call a Parliament in England yet the said Earl intended if the said proceedings of that Parliament should not be such as would stand with the said Earl of Strafford's mischievous designs he would then procure his Majesty to break the same and by ways of Force and Power to raise Monies upon the said Subjects of this Kingdom And for the incouragement of his Majesty to hearken to his advice he did before his Majesty and his Privy-Councel then sitting in Councel make a large Declaration that he would serve his Majesty in any other way in case the Parliament should not supply him 22. That in the month of March before the beginning of the last Parliament the said Earl of Strafford went into Ireland and procured the Parliament of that Kingdome to declare their assistance in a War against the Scots And gave directions for the raising of an Army consisting of 8000 Foot and 1000 Horse being for the most part Papists as aforesaid And confederating with one Sir George Radcliffe did together with him the said Sir George Trayterously conspire to employ the said Army for the ruine and destruction of the Kingdome of England and of his Majesties Subjects and of altering and subverting of the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdome And shortly after the said Earl of Strafford returned into England and to sundry persons declared his opinion to be That his Majesty should first try the Parliament here and if that did not supply him according to his occasions he might use then his Prerogative as he pleased to levy what he needed and that he should be acquitted both of God and man if he took some other courses to supply himself though it were against the will of his Subjects 23. That upon the thirteenth day of April last the Parliament of England met and the Commons house then being the representative Body of all the Commons in the Kingdome did according to the trust reposed in them enter into debate and consideration of the great grievances of this Kingdome both in respect of Religion and the publick liberty of the Kingdome and his Majesty referring chiefly to the Earl of Strafford and the Archbishop of Canterbury the ordering and disposing of all matters concerning the Parliament He the said Earl of Strafford with the assistance of the said Archbishop did procure his Majesty by sundry Speeches and Messages to urge the said Commons house to enter into some resolution for his Majesties Supply for maintenance of his War against his Subjects of Scotland before any course was taken for the relief of the great and pressing Grievances wherewith this Kingdom was then
Earl came attended from the Tower by 6. Barges wherein were about 100 Souldiers with Partisans for his Guard and 50 pair of Oars came along with him At his Landing in Westminster he was attended by 200 of the Train-Bands who Guarded him into the Hall the Entrances at White-Hall Kings-street and Westminster were Guarded by the Constables and Watchmen from 4. of the Clock in the Morning to prevent the concourse of base idle and inferior Degrees of People who are apt upon such occasions to flock together and produce mischief and disorders The King the Queen and Prince came to the Hall about 9. of the clock but did not appear publiquely only the Prince came out once or twice to the Cloth of Estate so that the King saw and heard all that passed but was seen by none Some give the Reason of this to proceed from the received Practice of England in such Cases Others were of Opinion That the Lords intreated his Majesty either to absent himself or to be there privately lest hereafter it might give occasion to pretensions that his being there was to over-aw or some other ways interrupt the Course of Justice A third That the King was not willing to appear as an Actor in the Process till it came to his part but rather he chose to be present Incognito that he might Observe and vnderstand whether any Violence Rigor or Injustice were used in the Trial. At the Lieutenant's Entrance into the Hall the Porter of the Hall whose Office it is inquired of Mr. Maxwell Whether the Ax should be carried before him or no who answered That the King had Expressly forbidden it Nor was it ever the Custom of England to use that Ceremony but only when the Party accused was to be put upon his Jury At the Trial the Lords of the Upper House sate Covered the Members of the Lower House uncovered The Lords Spiritual were not at all present having on Saturday before absolutely declined appearing in Causa Sanguinis thô withal Entring a Protestation That their Absence should not prejudice them of that or any Priviledg appertaining to them as Lords Spiritual in Parliament The Earl of Arundel who was by His Majesty constituted and appointed Lord High Steward by Commission under the Great Seal of England sate apart by himself and all things being now in a Readiness the Managers of the Evidence standing at the Barr the Noble Prisoner was called for and being brought by Sir William Balfour Lieutenant of the Tower after an Obeysance given he came to the Barr and kneeled and after standing up the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surrey Lord High Steward of England acquainted him That his Lordship was called before the Lords in Parliament to Answer to and be Tryed upon the Impeachment presented to them by the Commons House in Parliament in the Name of themselves and all the Commons of England And that their Lordships are resolved to hear both the Accusation and Defence with all Equity and therefore thought fit that in the first place his Lordship should hear the Impeachment of High Treason read which was done accordingly the Articles being delivered in by Mr. Pym. While it was reading a Chair was brought for him by the Gentleman Usher and by the Direction of the Lords he was permitted to repose himself After the Charge the Earl's Answer was likewise read which took up the whole time of the First Day The Queen went from the House about 11 of the Clock the King and Prince stayed till the Assembly was Adjourned which was about Two of the Clock and the Earl was remanded to the Tower with his Guard and appointed to appear again upon Tuesday at 9. of the Clock The Confluence of People was neither numerous nor insolent all of them Saluted him both at his Landing and Return which with a Generous Humility he did most courteously receive and return By which it is Evident how false the Rumors were which Malevolent Persons Raised that the Populace was so inraged at him that they would go near to tear him in pieces The Multitude is an Unruly Animal but yet certainly Report does in these cases encrease the Danger and a Tumult is not altogether so insensible of punishment as not to fear it notwithstanding Numbers seem to plead an Exemption from it and to frighten Justice from her Seat But this sluggish Creature the Mobile is then certainly most Dangerous when like the Unstable Element it does Resemble it is raised by the Turbulent breath of Sedition to overflow the Bounds of Duty and outrage all that is called Justice and there wanted not such spirits who by spreading these Rumors of the Discontents of the People taught them to be Discontented and by predicting of Disorders learnt at least their own Faction to know what was Expected from them upon Occasion and how calm soever the People seemed to be yet the Conclusion of this Tragedy will make it appear that some Persons had Tumults at Command and could upon Occasion raise the dangerous Tempest of the Madness of the People not inelegantly coupled with the Raging of the Sea by the Royal Prophet Upon Tuesday in the Morning the Earl came accompanied as before to Westminster The Second Day Tuesday March 23. and having stayed in the Exchequer Chamber till 9. of the Clock the King Queen and Prince being come and that High and Illustrious Court being set he was again brought to the Barr and the Lord High Steward having commanded the Committee of the Commons who were to manage the Evidence to proceed Mr. Pym in a large and studied Oration full of Hyperbolical Figures and Insulting Eloquence opened amplified and inforced the Charge by raveling the Answer of the Earl to his Articles of Impeachment in manner following My Lords WE stand here by the Commandment of the Knights Mr. Pym's Speech at the Trial of the Earl of Strafford March 23. Citizens and Burgesses now Assembled for the Commons in Parliament and we are ready to make good that Impeachment whereby Thomas Earl of Strafford stands charged in their Name and in the Name of all the Commons of England with High Treason This My Lords is a great Cause and we might sink under the weight of it and be astonished with the Lustre of this Noble Assembly if there were not in the Cause Strength and Vigour to support it self and to encourage us It is the Cause of the King it concerns His Majesty in the Honour of His Government in the Safety of His Person in the Stability of His Crown It is the Cause of the Kingdom It concerns not only the Peace and Prosperity but even the Being of the Kingdom We have that piercing Eloquence the Cries and Groans and Tears and Prayers of all the Subjects assisting us We have the Three Kingdoms England and Scotland and Ireland in Travail and Agitation with us bowing themselves like the Hindes spoken of in Job to cast out their Sorrows Truth
Behaviour and Eloquence between the Extremes of Baseness and Dejection and the vanity of Disdain or Ostentation as raised an admiration of him even in his very Enemies The first Witness that was produced was Sir Pierce Crosby Witnesses Sir Pierce Crosby set aside for the present against whom the Earl excepted as having been sentenced in the Star-Chamber in Ireland for Conspiring to take away his Life for breaking Prison and making his Escape from which Circumstances it was probable he might be Transported by the desire of private revenge beyond the bounds of Truth and Publick Justice so that for the present he was set aside Then Sir John Clotworthy was sworn Sir John Clotworthy all that he deposed was that Sir George Radcliff being a teller of the No's in a Vote of Parliament to which he had given his Negative contrary to the Mind of the Earl who had a desire the Bill should pass Sir George asked him if he had not a Lease in such a place to which he answering yes Sir George replyed remember that That as to Sir Pierce Crosby's imprisonment he did apprehend it was for giving his Vote contrary to the Lord Lieutenant's mind for that he heard Sir George say to him after he had Voted this is not Privy Counsellor like or to that Effect The Lord Ranulagh deposed that Sir Pierce Crosby was by the Opinion of the Board sequestred from the Privy-Council for Voting against a Bill transmitted by the Lord Deputy and Council to the Parliament Lord Ranulagh The Lord Mountnorris deposed to the same Effect Lord Mountnorris and that he was Sequestred from the Council by the Voices of the Board among which the Earl gave his Mr Nicholas Barnwell deposed that for his differing in Opinion in the Parliament from Sir George Radcliff Nic. Barnwell Sir George asked him if his House would hold 500 Men to which he smiling answered you know how many my house will hold whereupon Sir George replyed it was no laughing matter and that he should have 500 men laid upon him but this upon the Earl's Question he said was spoken when the Earl was out of the Kingdom upon which Mr. Pym made this prity Observation That the Spirit of my Lord Strafford could move in Sir George Radcliff wheresoever it was spoken as if a man could commit Treason had it been such by his Proxie The next thing was about oppressing the Subjects of Ireland Mr. Egor a Witness and particularly the City of Dublin by quartering Soldiers upon them to which Mr. Egor was sworn deposed that the City of Dublin is put to 55 l. per mensem for billetting of Horse which the Earl avoided by the Practice of his Predecessors in the like Case which the Witness confessed as to Foot Guards The Managers then desired the Remonstrance from Ireland might be read which the Earl opposed as being New matter and not in the Charge but come over since his Impeachment to which they replyed that the Subverting of Laws and Corruption of Government was in general laid and they produce this to prove his answer Untrue as to his Integrity in the Administration whereupon the Lord Baltinglass and Lord Digby of Ireland vouching the Truth of the Copy it was read in haec Verba To the Right Honourable the Lord-Deputy The Humble and just Remonstrance of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Parliament Assembled Shewing THat in all Ages since the happy Subjection of this Kingdom to the Imperial Crown of England The Irish Remonstrance it was and is a Principal Study and Princely Care of his Majesty and His Noble Progenitors Kings and Queens of England and Ireland to the vast Expence of Treasure and Blood that their Loyal and Dutiful people of this Land of Ireland being now for the most part derived from British Ancestors should be Governed according to the Municipal and Fundamental Laws of England that the Statute of Magna Charta or the Great Charter of the Liberties of England and other Laudable Laws and Statutes were in several Parliaments here Enacted and Declared That by the means thereof and of the most Prudent and Benign Government of His Majesty and His Royal Progenitors this Kingdom was until of late in its growth a Flourishing Estate whereby the said people were heretofore enabled to answer their humble and natural desires to comply with His Majesties Princely and Royal Occasions by their free Gift of 150 Thousand Pounds Sterling and likewise by another free Gift of 120 Thousand Pounds more during the Government of the Lord Viscount Faulkland and after by the Gift of 40 Thousand Pounds and their free and chearful Gift of Six entire Subsidies in the 10th Year of His Majesties Reign which to comply with His Majesties then Occasions signified to the then House of Commons They did allow should amount in the Collections unto 250 Thousand Pounds although as they confidently believe if the Subsidies had been levied in a moderate Parliamentary way they would not have amounted to much more than half the Sum aforesaid besides the four intire Subsidies granted in this present Parliament So it is May it please Your Lordship by the occasion of the insuing and other Grievances and Innovations though to His Majesty no considerable Profit this Kingdom is reduced to that extream and universal Poverty that the same is less able to pay Subsidies than it was heretofore to satisfie all the before recited great Payments And His Majesties most Faithful people of the Land do conceive great fears that the said Grievances and Consequences thereof may be hereafter drawn into Presidents to be perpetuated upon their Posterity which in their great Hopes and strong Beliefs they are perswaded is contrary to His Royal and Princely intention towards His said people some of which said Grievances are as followeth 1. The general apparent decay of Trades occasioned by the new and illegal raising of the Book of Rates and Impositions upon Native and other Commodities Exported and Imported by reason whereof and of extream Vsage and Censures Merchants are beggered and both disinabled and discouraged to Trade and some of the honourable Persons who gain thereby are often Judges and Parties and that in the conclusion His Majesties Profit thereby is not considerably advanced 2. The Arbitrary decision of all civil Causes and Controversies by Paper Petitions before the Lord Lieutenant and the Lord Deputy and infinite other Judicatories upon reference from them derived in the nature of all Actions determinable at the Common Law not limited into certain time cause season or thing whatsoever And the consequences of such proceedings by receiving immoderate and unlawful Fees by Secretaries Clerks Pursevants Serjeants at Arms and otherwise by which kind of Proceedings His Majesty loseth a considerable part of his Revenue upon Original Writs and otherwise and the Subject loseth the benefit of his Writ of Error Bill of Reversal Vouchers and other Legal and just Advantages and
true I confess I think Bishop Atherton was unknown to His Majesty and that I my self recommended him to the Bishoprick and at that time I thought the Bishop a Person fit for that Charge But suppose he had a secret fault of his own God knowes it was unknown to me may not a man be deceived in his Judgment of a man but this shall be turned against him It is a very easie thing for a man to cover his faults from the eye of the World I thought him not a Vicious man he proved so and he had his merit he suffered for it And unless I had the Inspection of Almighty God I suppose this cannot be laid to my Charge if any private End or Respect should appear in the doing of it I desire no more of Your Lordships Favour and I profess I had rather be out of the World than not have the Favour of Your Lordships and the Honourable House of Commons of whom I desire that they would hear me with that Equity that they hear every thing For the Bishop of D. all that is mentioned against him is That he is Impeached of High Treason by the Commons House of Parliament in Ireland And how the Bishop will acquit himself I know not but for that the Bishop must Answer for himself not I. This Bishop hath lived in my House a long time as my Chaplain and I humbly recommended him to that Bishoprick taking him and I hope he will so approve himself to be a very Learned man and that I think no body will deny certainly he hath the Elements to make him a very Worthy Church-man as most I know For that Gwyn I profess I never heard of him before nor do I know him But recollecting my thoughts I think he was recommended to me by my Lord of D. for in Matters of the Church I did use that Gentleman and if I were to begin the World again I would use him still holding him a very honest Worthy Man And I think there was some Rectory or Impropriation that the Earl of Corke had possession of which was restored to the Church and it was of so small and trivial a value that they knew not who to get to serve the Cure and on that occasion this man was recommended to it And I think that if it shall come to be examined Thirty pounds a Year will go far in his Preferment And if such a thing should happen and miscarry in his hands it is no such hainous Crime as is objected But I desire leave to shew what I have done in this kind instead of this Mr. Gwyn and Your Lordships may see a List of those I have preferred to the Church of Ireland and perhaps they may be known to some of Your Lordships and to many Gentlemen of the House of Commons And first I say I preferred Mr. Gray and have done for him according to the means I had by the Favour and Goodness of the King perhaps he hath that which is worth 3 or 4 or 500 l. a Year by my Gift And this Mr. Gray if I be not mistaken was sometimes Chaplain to a Noble Person that sits on the Earls Bench and if it were material further to enquire of him I might give satisfaction what he is I likewise brought into that Kingdom Mr. Tilson now Bishop of Elphin and sometimes Fellow of Vniversity Colledge of Oxford a most Worthy Honest Religious Person he is and those that know him I am sure will give him that Testimony I likewise preferred Dr. Margetson Dean of Christs Church he was of Cambridge and a Worthy man Mr. Forward Dean of Drummore an Oxford man who if he were known would appear worthy of that Preferment Mr. Dean Cressy an Oxford man Mr. Roade Dean of Derry a Cambridge man of Sydney Colledge Dr. Wentworth Dean of Armagh of Oxford Dr. Price Dean of Conaught of Christs Church in Oxford Mr. Thorpe a Cambridge man I preferred likewise one Mr. Parry whom I found in Ireland but all the rest I brought and sent for out of England Nay I sent for them and did those things for them before they did ask the Question or knew of it That being a means under Gods Blessing to conform that Kingdom to the Church of England And these and far greater numbers than these to my best Judgment and Understanding I made use of as Instruments to Gods Glory His true Service and the reducing of the People to the Profession of the same Religion that 's here in England and for no other end But concerning my Carriage of the Trust reposed in me by the King touching these Ecclesiastical Preferments I desire no other Testimony or Witness for me but the Lord Primate of Ireland who is sick and cannot come hither To whom I will appeal whether I have not in my preferring to the Church Preferments carried my self with all clearness and care I could possibly To the point of increasing of Protestants if Your Lordships please to hear any thing in that kind I shall call my Lord Dillon and Sir Adam Loftus who if they should be asked Whether there be more Protestants in Dublin now than when I first came thither I doubt not but they would give an account of a greater number My preferring of none but Protestant Officers if I mistook not E. of Strafford the Noble Gentleman did acknowledge meaning Mr. Pym. To the disposing of the Army without Grievance to the Subject I leave that Billetting of Soldiers in Dublin which was spoken with so much Advantage and Ability above any thing that from such a poor man as my self could be expected and proceed to that which was proved observing That one only Testimony was produced viz. Alderman J. who said they have a special Charter at Dublin to exempt them from Billetting of Soldiers But whether it be so or no it hath ever been denyed by the Deputies And by his own Confession the Foot-Companies of my Lord of Faulkland were Billetted in Dublin And whereas it was said they had Lodgings not Money That was altered upon a Composition with the Soldiers who can expect only Lodging but if for the Ease of the Town they will allow the Soldier Money and leave him to provide for himself it is all one For the Horse Troops My own is and ever since I was there hath been Billetted in Dublin And it is in the power of the Deputy to Garrison part of the King's Army where he pleases and without controversie hath been so at all times And I desire that my Lord Ranulagh may be asked Whether the Soldiers of the Company he hath be not Billetted in Athlone at least some part of it It is true my Lord of Faukland's Troop was not Billetted in Dublin but they were in the Counties round about which was more chargeable And besides here is produced but one single Witness and I hope my own Answer may stand equal and in as much Credit as a
accordingly yea their Houses broke open and their Goods taken away and brought to my Lord of Strafford 's House where they were employed in his works The like we shall instance in Tobacco 15. Next we shall shew to Your Lordships how he hath levied War upon the King's Subjects We opened in the beginning what an Arbitrary Jurisdiction he set up here we shall shew how he used it by a meer course of Enmity and Hostility For My Lords this was the course If a Decree or Order were made by him and not obeyed he issues a Warrant to the Serjeant at Arms to go to the next Garrison and take Soldiers with an Officer and carry them to the House of the party in question it is no matter where it was but to the House of them that were pretended to be disobedient they were to go If the Decree had been to raise so much money or to put parties in possession In plain terms the Soldiers were to lye like Free-booters and Enemies on the King's People to eat them up They have killed their Sheep their Oxen and they have lain not on the parties only but on their Tenants till the party comes in and renders himself They have burnt their Houses taken their Wives and Friends and carried them away till Obedience was rendered and this is a levying of War upon the King For the King and the People are both so united in Affection and Right of Law that there cannot be Violence offered to the King but it redounds to the People nor can any Oppress the People in this sort but it redounds to His Majesty Besides it is contrary to a Law of that Kingdom whereby it is Enacted That if any person shall assess Horse or Foot on any of the King's People without their consent it is High Treason The next thing we shall go to is the Favour he shewed to the Papists in their Compositions and Exemptions from all penalties of Law for they were expresly not to be proceeded against nor to be Convicted and so that which hath influence into Religion and Reformation is quite taken away and nothing but matter of Profit is left The next Article is that that concerns the Kingdom of Scotland First he begins with them in Ireland contrives an Oath which is set forth in the Articles That they shall obey the King's Royal Commands without exception This he enforceth by Fining and Imprisoning them that disobeyed him And so in all the other particulars when his Proclamations were broken his course was by Fine and Imprisonment to enforce an Obedience My Lords He doth not only press them in their Estates but strives to infuse into His Majesty an ill Opinion of them he provokes and incites Him by all his Arguments to lay down his Mercy and Goodness and Justice and to fall into an offensive War against that Kingdom He gives out that the Nation of them not this or that man are Rebels and Traytors And if it please the King to bring him back to the Sword indeed he is fit for that it is a violent weapon he will root out the Scottish Nation Branch and Root some few excepted of those that had taken the Oath When he comes into England he finds that His Majesty with great Wisdom had pacified those Storms and Troubles that threatned us there Yet he doth incense the King still to follow this to an Offensive War and prevails He plots to call a Parliament but with an intention if it furnished not his design it should be broken and he would set up other ways of force to raise Moneys of the Kingdom and this fell out unhappily For thus far his project took the Parliament was broken and broken at the very time when the Subject was in debate and consideration how to have yielded Supply to His Majesty But that he might break it he falsly informs the King That the Parliament had denied to Supply him there is his Counsel that the Parliament had forsaken the King and now the King having tryed his People might use all other ways for the procuring and raising of moneys and the same day wherein that Parliament was unhappily Dissolved he gives his further Counsel to His Majesty which because no man can put such a Spirit of Malice into the words besides himself I shall take the boldness to read That having tryed the Affections of his People he was loose and absolved from all Rules of Government and he was to do every thing that Power would admit And that His Majesty had tryed all ways and was refused and should be acquitted both of God and Man And that His Majesty had an Army in Ireland which he might employ to reduce this Kingdom It is added in the printed Book to reduce them to Obedience I know not who Printed it but the Charge is only to reduce this Kingdom And My Lords you may please to consider what a sad time this man took to reflect upon these bad Councels when our Hearts were swoln with Sorrow for that unhappy breach of the last Parliament And what doth he advise the King what positions offers he That he was absolved from all Rules of Government If there be no Rule of Government My Lords where is the Rule of Obedience for how shall the People know to obey when there is no Rule to direct them what to obey He tells the King he was refused which was untrue for he was not refused to the last breath we had in Parliament but we spake in that point how to supply the King and to prefer it at that time before the Complaints of our just Grievances But what doth he fall into that which in another Article we charge him with a Plot and Conspiracy betwixt him and Sir George Ratcliffe to bring in the Irish Army for our Confusion to root out our Laws and Government a pernicious Counsel He says not you shall do it but he that perswades it doth as much as if in express terms he had counselled the acting of it Doth he mean that we should be to his Irish Pattern for speaking of the Irish Army consisting of Papists and his Adherents he said that he would make it a Pattern for all the Kingdoms did he mean to reduce us to the Pattern that he hath placed in Ireland Surely he meant to reduce us to a Chaos and Confusion He would have us without all Rules of Government and these be the means wicked and cruel Councels and the Cruelty of an Army inspired with his Spirit and consisting of Papists Enemies of our Religion And what Mercy could we of this Religion expect from Popish Enemies with Swords in their hands That cannot but strike all English Hearts with Horrour and Dread that an Irish Army should be brought into England to reduce the Subjects of England I hope we never were so far gone in any thing as that we should need an Army to reduce us I cannot but say here is the Counsel of
think fit and to direct a Course for the Licensing the Sale thereof to the best improvement yet so as to take care to prevent the bringing in Vnsound Tobacco Then he offered the Contract of Carpenter Bartholomew Peatly and others for 11 Years at 5000 l. the first 5 Years and 10000 l. the Six last freed from Custom and paying only 3 d. Impost In which he did nothing but with the assistance of the Council there That there was an Act of Parliament in agitation to settle it in the Crown That he always judged a Proclamation Lawful till a Parliament confirms it As to the Punishments they were for Perjury and in terrorem and where it is objected That it is not sold at Reasonable Rates the Contractors are to Justifie themselves and he doubts not but they can That to the vast profit of 100000 l. it is admirable for at his coming away the Contractors were 6000 l. out of purse and for his gains by the Customs he dealt freely they were about 4 5 or 6000 l. per annum better then the Rent which he thinks is not considerable in the Charge of Treason He told their Lordships that he could not give a particular account the Ministers had been so dealt withal laid in prison and abused if you will speak of a Tyrannical and Arbitrary way of Government At which Expression exceptions were taken but he explained it of Ireland not of things here for which he produced two Orders for the seizure of his Goods concluding it was at worst but a Monopoly and that he never heard was judged Treason To which Mr. Maynard replied Managers Reply That this was no good service to His Majesty that when the Commons shall desire something may be done therefore any thing may be done and that it was never their Intention to put such Cruelties upon the Subject that his Majesties Letter was upon misinformation that if it had been so a Monopoly set up in England could not justifie the setting up one in Ireland that his Crime was the greater by endeavouring to justifie it under a name so Sacred as his Majestie 's That though a Proclamation hath a Temporary Power yet not to take away the Goods of the Subject This Day the 13th Article was read Article 13. Thursday April 1. Article was read wherein the Earl of Strafford was Charged with putting the Natives of Ireland upon working of Flax in a way unknown to them and seizing their Goods upon pretence of their disobeying his Orders to his own Vse whereby Thousands were undone To prove this his Proclamations were read as also a Warrant to one Benjamin Croky and his Deputy Witnesses Benjamin Croky Sir John Clotworthy to seize all Yarn made contrary to Proclamation To this Benjamin Croky sworn deposed That he did seize Yarn and it was taken from him by one Joseph Carpenter who converted it to my Lord's Looms Sir John Clotworthy deposed That he saw the Proclamation and Warrant being a Justice of Peace and Examined several People who were abused which Examinations he sent to the Lord-Deputy for which he was severely threatned and hardly Escaped being sent for by a Serjeant at Arms that upon these Proclamations the Markets were deserted and they sold it privately to avoid seizure thereupon the Officers came to him for assistance and threatned the Constables and broke open Chests that he took away the Yarn from them and restored it to the Proprietors That this made great Disorders and many People were starved losing all they had provided for their half Years Rent The Lord Ranulagh deposed That at Athlone Complaints were made to him of one Dennis who had seized a great quantity of Yarn that conceiving it an abuse he sent a Gentleman to inform the Lord Deputy to whose Intention he thought this proceeding not agreeable and that my Lord withdrew the Warrants Then part of the Remonstrance of the Commons in Ireland was read shewing That the Pursivants by seizing the Yarn destroyed the Market that the Merchants meeting the People at private Houses they way-layd them and took away their Yarn and Cloth seizing on all not leaving the poor people so much as to cover their nakedness That they took away their Iron Pots upon a pretence of another Proclamation and by this cruelty exceeding Pharoah their poor Children were forced to eat Grass with the Beasts where they lay down and died by Thousands as will be proved by 20 Thousand That the Judges procured the Lord Lieutenant to Recall the aforesaid Proclamations Mr. Fitzgarret deposed Mr. Fitzgarret That Yarn and Cloth were the staple Commodities of Ulster that the Proclamation and Execution of it impoverished that whole Province That the Officers used extreme cruelty and that one Dr. Cook told him he thought in his Conscience many Thousands were Famished To this the Earl answered The Earl's Defence Here was something like oppression but nothing like Treason That the Intention of these Proclamations was the Improvement of the Manufacture for the good of the Kingdom and to take away abuses That however the Proclamations are not his single acts but of the Deputy and Council That he conceives they had Power to bring them to the English Customs as in other Cases of drawing by the Horse tails burning the straw to get out the Corn and such Irish Customs That his principal design was to prevent the prejudice of the Woollen Manufacture of England the Wool of Ireland increasing and he thought to set up the Linnen Trade would advance Ireland and not prejudice the clothing Trade of England That he lost 3000 l. by attempting it that he cannot be accountable for the abuses of the Officers of whom Croky was the chief now a Witness against him as my Lord Ranulagh has informed their Lordships That he cannot conceive so many Thousands should be starved by his Looms when the whole yearly value came not to above 16 or 1700 l. He is sorry for that Remonstrance of the Commons thinking he had merited a better opinion from that Kingdom and having a little fortune there honestly got could not but wish well to it and he hoped when misinformations were cleared still to regain their good esteem where to the best of his Conscience he had done Justice and deserved well That Mr. Fitzgarret speaks by Report which is no proof and the Commons Remonstrance being but a Charge and not upon Oath he conceives cannot be the proof of a Charge concluding as he began That there might be oppression in the Execution but nothing of Treason in himself or the rest of the Council Mr. Maynard replyed That he was still striking the same string Managers reply no Treason though a high and wilful overthrow of the fundamental Rules of Justice in the Kingdom was evident that a good intention is no excuse to the taking away mens Goods and applying them to his own Vse that the good Company he speaks of is only to
Subjects of the Scotish Nation inhabiting in Ireland for the Covenant sworn by some of their Countrey-men in Scotland without His Majesties Authority and Consent Their dislike thereof and the consideration that their causes of that action may be understood to reflect on the Petitioners though innocent They crave leave to vindicate themselves from so great a Contagion and desire his Lordship to prescribe a way by Oath or otherwise to free themselves from these proceedings to declare their acknowledgment of the King 's Regal Power and their dislike of that Covenant and of all other Covenants entred into c. without His Majesties Regal Authority which they are desirous to manifest by offering their Lives and Fortunes to vindicate the Honor c. of their Sovereign which they are ready to do in equal manner and measure with other His Majesties Subjects c. and divers names were to the said Petition subscribed In consideration of which Petition we cannot but commend the Wisdom of the Petitioners which we will not fail humbly to represent to His Majesty and for that we know many of this Kingdom have expressed good Affection to His Majesty and His Service and dislike those Disorders We hold it fit c. to free them the better from the Crimes and Scandals which their Countrey-men have gone into as also to free them from all prejudice and to approve to the King and to the whole World their Allegiance to him and his Regal Power and the dislike of that unlawful Oath and Covenant We do therefore Ordain That all and every Person of the Scotch Nation that inhabit or have Estates or any Houses Lands Tenements or Hereditaments within Ireland shall take the Oath herein expressed on the Holy Evangelists on pain of His Majesties High Displeasure The tenor of which Oath follows c. To several select persons c. Authorizing them to call before them and administer the Oath to every person of the Scotch Nation c. At such time and place c. And such Instructions as shall be in that behalf given by the Deputy and Council c. And to certifie the Names of all that take the Oath and if any refuse to certifie their Names Quality and Residences to the Lord Deputy c. And there is a Command That all of the Scotch Nation do appear before the said Commissioners at times by them to be appointed and to take the said Oath before them and that all persons may have due notice we think fit this be published Dated May 1639. To prove the Design of betraying Knockfergus Slingsby Mr. Slingsby Examined attested That it was Advertized that when the King was at Berwick one Trueman had writ a Letter for betraying the Castle there he was sent to Dublin and Examined remanded back Tryed found Guilty Condemned and Executed for the Fact My Lord added further That at the same time there was the like Oath and proceedings in England That what he did was for securing the Peace of Ireland and had it been done by himself solely as Deputy he humbly conceives it no Treason but he had the King's Letter of his own hand-writing which he produced as followeth WENTWORTH COnsidering the great number of Scots that are in Ireland The King's Letter to the Lord-Deputy about the Oath and the dangerous consequences may follow if they should joyn with the Covenanters in Scotland I hold it necessary you should use your best Endeavour to try them by an Oath not only to disclaim their Countreymens Proceedings but likewise never to joyn with any in Covenant or otherwise against Me To which purpose I Command you to frame and administer such an Oath to the abovesaid intent to my Scotish Subjects of that Kingdom that I may know the well from the ill-affected of that Nation of which fail not as you love my Service And so I rest Your assured Friend Ch. R. Dated 16 Jan. 1638. Whitehall That therefore having his Majesties Warrant he conceives doth justifie him and that he had rather suffer by his Obedience then dispute his Majestie 's Command As to the Fining of Stuart c. it was the Act of the whole Court of Castle-Chamber where he had but one Vote the greatness of the Fine was to shew the greatness of the Crime and that little of it was paid that to refuse the Oath of Allegiance is Praemunire in comparison of which this was a moderate Fine That there is nothing of Ecclesiastical concern but temporal Allegiance in the Oath To the words about the Scottish Nation he absolutely denied he ever spake them or thought them he owes more Honour to His Majestie 's Native Countrey and from his Soul wisheth it all Prosperity that he must be out of his Witts to call a whole Nation Traytors knowing many of them to be faithful Loyal Subjects whatever he spake was concerning the Faction in it as to the multitudes going away Sir John Clotworthy names not one of that multitude and if they did go rather then give that Pledg of their Allegiance who could help it As to the Schoolmaster 's Testimony he is positive that my Lord spoke the rancorous Words against the Scottish Nation Octob. 10. 1639. but he proved by Mr. Little and Mr. Ralton that he came from Ireland Sept. 12. 1639. a month before and was in London Sept. 21. 1639. and therefore being a single Witness and Evidently swearing false in the first part he hopes their Lordships will credit him accordingly As to the last he having not yet learned his Lesson perfectly that Loftus makes it another thing swearing the Earl said He hoped to root c. such as would not submit to the Ecclesiastical Orders whereas there are few of the Scottish Nation that do not submit He then produced Sir Philip Manwaring who attested Sir Philip Manwaring That he heard the whole Speech and that my Lord spoke only against a Faction of the Scottish Nation whom he would endeavour to bring to Obedience and that he Explained himself to speak of those of Ireland not of Scotland whose Laws and Customs he did not understand and that he heard not one word of Root and Branch or Stock and Branch but that he heard Mr. Wainsford Master of the Rolls commend my Lord for his Caution that he had reflected on the Faction not on the Nation Then my Lord concluded That he hoped nothing was proved against him of Treason for if Obeying Commands in this Case be so he confessed being not better informed if it were to do again he should be that Traitor over again Mr. Whitlock presently laid hold of this and said Managers Reply This justifying his Offence against Law in that Great Presence was a great aggravation of his Crime That it is well known a new Oath cannot be imposed without Assent in Parliament it is Legislativa Potestas That he obtained the King's Letter upon Mis-information As to Steward 's Sentence his fault is the
ready to assist His Majesty in any other way Sir Robert King deposed to Sir George Ratcliff's words about 30000 men and 400000 l and that the King could not want Money Sir Rob. King he had an Army The Lord Ranulagh deposed to the same Effect concerning Sir George Radcliff Lord Ranulagh Sir Tho. Barrington deposed Sir Thomas Barrington That on private discourse about the Parliament Sir George Wentworth said The Commonwealth was sick of Peace and will not be well till it be Conquered again Sir Robert King further said That the Lord Ranulagh was displeased at Sir George Ratcliff 's words conceiving it was an intention to raise Money forcibly in England and that they must turn their Swords upon them from whom they were descended and cut their Throats for their own Safety which the Earl confirmed by offering to sell the said Lord his Estate in Ireland though he thought they would be quieter there than in England From whence the Managers inferred his Design was against England To prove this Design Sir Tho. Jermin deposed Sir Thomas Jermin That he heard my Lord Strafford say something of the Parliaments forsaking the King The Earl of Bristol deposed The Earl of Bristol That discoursing of the Distractions of the Times the Mutiny of the Soldiers and Danger of a War with Scotland he proposed the Summoning a new Parliament as the best way to prevent those Desperate Vndertakings which discourse and his Reasons my Lord Strafford seemed not to dislike but said He thought it not counselable at that time in regard of the slow Proceedings of Parliaments and the real and pressing Dangers and that the Parliament had refused Supplies and therefore the King was to provide for the Safety of the Kingdom Salus Reipublicae being Suprema Lex and that the King must not suffer himself to be mastered by the stubborness and undutifulness of his people or rather Stubberness and disaffection of some particular men meaning some Members of Parliament as he conceives being discoursing of the Parliament The Lord Newborough deposed That he heard words to this Effect Lord Newborough That seeing the Parliament had not supplyed the King His Majesty might take other courses for Defence of the Kingdom But thô he cannot swear the Earl spake these words Earl of Holland he verily believes he heard him speak something to that purpose The Earl of Holland deposed much to the same Purport Then they proceeded to the 23. Article and the Examination of the Earl of Northumberland was read That in case of Necessity for Defence of the Kingdom if the People refuse to Supply the King the King is absolved from Rules of Government and that every thing is to be done for the Preservation of the King and his People and that by some discourses to His Majesty he believes if the King was not supplyed by Parliament some Course was intended to raise Money by Extraordinary wayes but that the Irish Army was to land in the West of Scotland and he hath not heard that these Forces were to be imployed in England to compel or awe the Subjects to pay Taxes imposed Sir Henry Vane deposed Sir Hen. Vane That upon debate of the Question Whether Offensive or Defensive War the Earl said Your Majesty having tryed all wayes and being refused in case of Extream Necessity for the Safety of the Kingdom you are loose and absolved from all Rules of Government you are acquitted before God and Man You have an Army in Ireland you may imploy it to reduce this Kingdom But he will not interpret whether my Lord meant England or Scotland but afterwards he said positively to reduce this Kingdom applying it to England Mr. Whitlock summed up the Evidence That it was clear my Lord of Strafford had a strong Design and Endeavour to Subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of England and to bring in an Army upon us to force this Kingdom to submit to an Arbitrary Power That he would not aggravate these words which were to allay them having in them more Bitterness and Horror than he is able to Express After some little pause The Earl's Defence the Earl made his Defence And first to the Earl of Traquair's Deposition the said Earl sayes That it was the Resolution of the Council-Board and that he gave his Vote among the other Lords That if the Commissioners of Scotland gave not Satisfaction the King might put himself into a posture of War So that his Opinion was the same with the rest and he thinks himself in great Safety having the Concomitant Opinion of so many wiser Persons than himself And for the Earl of Moreton 's Deposition he hopes when the Council of England had resolved it it was no great Crime for him to say That the unreasonable Demands of Subjects in Parliament was a good ground for the King to put himself into a posture of Defence and for his saying it was not Religion but the Root of Government they strook at that he thinks he and every man that thought so had reason to say as he did As to Sir H. Vane the War being resolved and whether Offensive or Defensive the Question he hopes it is not Treasonable for a Privy Councellor to give his Opinion according to his Conscience to do so being their Duty and according to their Oaths and that he was as free to give his Reasons one way as any other person another As to the seizing the Ships Barnwell 's Testimony is only by hearsay but he will inform their Lordships by proof that the Scots Ships were stayed by the Lord Admiral 's Warrant which Mr. Slingsby attested so that the Earl said it might appear he was no such Stirrer or Incendiary between the King and his Subjects as he was represented To the 21 Article and the Lord Primate's Examination about the King 's using his Prerogative it is but singularis testis and only in way of Argument but that the words fairly construed and clearly understood have no ill sence for the King may use his Prerogative as he pleases because the King's Pleasure is always just and to think the King will use his Prerogative otherwise were a high Offence or to think he will use his Prerogative otherwise then as befits a Christian and Pious King To my Lord Conway 's Testimony That the King might help himself though it were against their Will He answered That to help a man's self is Natural for Self is the last Creature that leaves any person and what is natural to every man is so to the King who is accountable not only for Himself but his People To Mr. Secretary Vane 's Testimony That if the Parliament should not succeed he would be ready to assist His Majesty any other way He sees not where the heynousness or venom of the words is to endanger his Life and Honor and he conceives Mr. Treasurer said as much and the Wayes the King could command
or he serve him in he took to be lawful wayes and that in all Debates he concluded That the safest and surest Expedient was a Parliament to make both the King and People Happy As to his procuring the Parliament of Ireland to declare their Assistance in a War against the Scots he desired the Remonstrance of the Parliament before the 4. Subsidies might be read which was THat whereas they have with one Consent cleerly given to His Majesty Part of the Remonstrance of Parliament in Ireland about War with the Scots Four entire Subsidies towards His present Preparations to reduce His Disaffected Subjects the Covenanters in Scotland to their due Obedience They still hope that His Majesties great Wisdom and unexampled Clemency may yet prevail with the worse affected of those His Subjects to bring them to that conformity and submission which by the Laws of God and Nature they owe to him But if His Majesty shall be enforced to use His Power to vindicate His just Authority This House for Themselves and the Commons of this Kingdom do profess That their Zeal and Duty shall not stay here at these Four Subsidies but humbly promise That they will be ready with their Persons and Estates to their uttermost ability for His Majesties future Supply in Parliament as His great Occasions by the continuance of His Forces against that distemper shall require This they pray that it may be represented to His Majesty by the Lord Lieutenant and Recorded as an Ordinance of Parliament and published in Print as a Testimony to all the World and succeeding Ages That as this Kingdom hath the happiness to be Governed by the best of Kings so they desire to give cause That he shall account this People among the best of His Subjects If he had procured this Declaration it had been no Crime but he had no part in it but it was their own voluntary free and chearful Action For the Confederacy charged between him and Sir George Radcliff to bring over the Irish Army to destroy England if it be made appear that he had so much as a thought of it he would give Judgment against himself as unworthy to live who would enslave himself and his Posterity That he hath a Heart that loves Freedom as well as another man and values it as highly and in a modest and dutiful way will go as far to defend it it is an Opinion he learnt in the Honourable House of Commons That to stand for Property and Liberty renders a man the best Subject That this Opinion hath gone along with him ever since and he hopes he shall carry it to his Grave That what is deposed by Sir Robert King and Lord Ranulagh as to Sir George Ratcliff cannot affect him since the meanest Subject in the Kingdom cannot commit Treason by Letter of Attorney And it is a priviledg which though he hath the honour to be a Peer he never desires to do it by Proxy and that the Army was never intended to set foot on English Ground Earl of Northumberland he desires my Lord Northumberland 's Examination may witness for him by which it appeared they were designed for the West of Scotland nor did he ever hear of any Design of reducing the Subjects of England by that Army Marquess Hamilton Sir Tho. Lucas Mr. Slingsby The Lord Marquess Hamilton also attested the same Sir Tho. Lucas Serjeant Major General of the King's Horse attested the same Mr. Slingsby who was of the Councel of War affirmed the design was to land them at Ayre in Scotland and that he had order to provide a Magazine Shipping and Flat-Bottom Boats for that Design and that he had a Coast Map drawn of that Place for that purpose Sir William Pennyman also attested Sir William Pennyman That some of the Lords Petitioning the Irish Army might not land in England my Lord Strafford told him He wondred at it for there never was any such intention As to the Testimony of his Brother deposed by Sir Tho. Barrington That England would never be well till it was conquered again he observed That his Brother his Friends his Table his House his Bed every place is searched to convince him of that which he thanked God he was never guilty of That what his Brother sayes is nothing to him and he desired he might be Examined but Mr. Maynard opposed it as tending to clear himself and so he was not heard The discourse between my Lord Bristol and himself he confesses but that what he said was in case of Extream Necessity as Invasion when there is not time to call a Parliament he conceives the King being accountable to God Almighty for Himself and People he may Use his Power And for the other words That the King is not to be Mastered by the frowardness c. he does not remember it but relyes so on the Honour of my Lord Bristol that he affirming it he will not deny it but reserves to himself in this case the Benefit of the Law that it is but a single Testimony He owns what my Lord Newborough deposed and thinks the King is not secluded more then another person from doing the best for himself in a fair and just and honourable way The same he sayes to my Lord of Holland 's Deposition That it is grounded upon Salus Populi Suprema Lex and speaking it as he did with these Limitations doth quite alter the Case besides that these discourses were private and rather argumentative and problematical then positive and to make these Treason were to debar men the joy and comfort of human society But all this while these were but words which by Act of Parliament though much higher are not Treason citing a Clause of 1 Ed. 6. c. 12. Be it Enacted by c. if any Person or Persons do compass and imagine by open Preaching Express words or Saying to depose or deprive the King his Heirs or Successors from his or their Royal Estate or Title or openly publish or say by Express words or saying That any other Person or Persons other then the King his Heirs or Successors of Right ought to be c. yet the first and second offences are not made Treason but only the third That it was the wisdom of their Lordships Noble Ancestors to chain up this Lion by concluding what is Treason and not to suffer him to tear us all in pieces by Arbitrary Treason which would make actions of Treason more common than Actions of Trespass To the words charged in the 23d Article spoken at Council Board or Committee of Scotch affairs of the King 's being absolved from all Rules of Government c. Mr. Treasurer who deposed them hath reversed his Testimony saying first Your Majesty hath an Army in Ireland which you may employ there Afterwards upon being Ordered to repeat his Testimony he said which you may employ in England and whereas he calls in aid of my Lord of Northumberland his Lordship
I remember Lastly in farther taking away of this Testimony I have proved it by a great many Witnesses beyond all exception that there was never any such intendment of the bringing this Army into England nay that the Design was quite otherwise and this hath been apparently cleared before your Lordships By the Testimony of my Lord of Northumberland Marquess of Hamilton Sir Thomas Lucas and Mr. Slingsby And might have been further justifi'd by the Testimony of my Lord of Ormond President of Munster and Sir John Burlace Master of the Ordnance in Ireland if they had been here to have been produced So that all these laid together the strong and clear proof on my part the producing of a single Witness which by the Proviso of 1 Edw. 6. cannot rise in Judgment against any man for High-Treason I trust all these laid together I shall appear to your Lordships clear and free from these two points whereupon they enforce me to be within the compass of Treason by the Statute alleadged The Third Treason that is laid to my Charge is upon the 27th Article where Four Musquettiers being sent to Egton by Sergeant Major Yaworth to call for their Eight pence a day is prest upon me as a Levying of War upon the King and His People and to be High-Treason upon the Statute of 25 E. 3. These be wonderful Wars if we have no greater Wars then such as four men are able to raise by the Grace of God we shall not sleep very unquietly But How do they prove this to be done by me they produce to your Lordships the Warrant of Sir William Pennyman but had no Warrant at all of mine to shew Sir William Pennyman doth not alledge any Warrant of mine to that purpose he speaks of a General Warrant wherein I and the Deputy-Lieutenants joyn for the paying of the Fortnights pay as they call it and that is very true but that I should give Warrant to Levy by Soldiers no such thing is proved no such thing is shewed no such thing is alleadged by Sir William Pennyman that best knew it and should do it in his own Justification if there were such a thing but on the other side I must humbly beseech your Lordships to mind you what a clear and full proof I made thereof to you till you were weary though I think I I could have continued it a year longer if need had been that there was nothing done by me in the Levying of the first Months pay or the second Fortnights pay but with full consent of the Country nothing being of Constraint nothing being of force put upon them The Second Point was a Warrant shewed to your Lordships or at least pretended from Sir Edward Osborne the Vice-President wherein he charges them to obey and persue the substance and direction of his Warrant on pain of Death and this must likewise be laid to me My Lords I confess I have faults enough more than a good many though I trust neither so crying nor grievous as some would pretend them to be but Faults I have more then too many I need not take nor add to my self other Mens but whether this be a Fault or no I cannot undertake to Judge But certainly I am in no Fault for I was at when this Warrant issued from Mr. Vice-President and I dare say he is a Gentleman so worthy and noble and so great a Lover of Truth that let him be examined upon Oath if he shall not absolutely clear me from Privity or Direction of it I so much rely on him that I will be thought Guilty before your Lordships for this Charge Now my Lords having gone over all that first part which I thought fit to apply my self to and that is Statute-Treason There is no Statute-Treasons in the whole Charge nor colour or pretence thereof save onely that of Newcastle which was waved In these my Lords I hope I am clear before your Lordships and sure I am they give me little disquiet for in good faith I am clear in my own poor Judgment Then comes in the second Condition of Treason in the Charge and that is Constructive Treason and it is laid down in the first Article of the General Charge For my Lords I must tell you the First Articles exhibited are Grounds and Foundations whereupon the rest are gathered and to which they resort and apply themselves severally I do conceive my self in a manner by themselves clear of seven of these for they have in a manner relinquished Five of them So that the First Article is the main Article whereupon I must be touched and that is laid in the Charge thus That I have Trayterously endeavoured to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of the Realms of England and Ireland and have by Trayterous Words Councils and Actions declared the same and have advised His Majesty to Compel his Subjects to submit thereunto by force My Lords I must confess I have many times with my self considered with wonder at the Wisdom of our Ancestors that set the Pillars of this Monarchy with that singular Judgment and Providence that I have ever observed that so oft as either the Prerogative of the Crown or Liberty of the Subject Ecclesiastical or Temporal Powers exceed those modest bounds set and appointed for them by the sobriety and moderation of former times the exercise of it over-turn'd to the Prejudice and to the Detriment of the Publick Weale all the Strings of this Government and Monarchy have been so perfectly tuned through the skill and attention of our Fore-Fathers that if you wind any of them any thing higher or let them lower you shall infallibly interrupt the sweet accord that ought to be entertained of King and People With this Opinion I had the honour to sit many years in the Commons House and this Opinion I have carry'd along with me exactly and intirely for Fourteen Years in the King's Service ever Resolving in my heart Stare super vias antiquas to promote with equal care the Prerogative of the Crown and the Liberty of the Subject to Introduce the Laws of England into Ireland ever setting before my self a Joynt and Individual well-being of King and People for either they must be both or neither which made my Misfortune the greater to be now in my Gray Hairs charged as an under-worker against that Government a Subverter of that Law I wost affected and a Contriver against that Religion to the truth whereof I would Witness by the Sealing of it with my Blood My Lords As to the latter part concerning my Religion they have quitted me and I have nothing to answer to that because it is waved and I trust my Lords I shall clear my self in the first part concerning my being a Subverter of the Fundamental Laws that I shall stand clear to your Lordships Judgments in that Case My Lords This Subversion must be by Words by Councils and by Actions in Ireland and in England My Lords
who am this day to Answer before you For if you take away the Power of the Deputy you shall not have that Kingdom long depend upon this Crown for it rests under God and His Majesty and must principally rest upon the care of him that is intrusted with that Charge And therefore give me leave on the behalf of the Crown of England to beseech you to be wary of lessening the Deputie's Power too much for if you do I fear you will find it a great Disservice to the Crown My Lords the next thing I am Charged with is the 9th Article That is a Warrant of Assistance to the Bishop of Down and Connor and for that your Lordships see there was but one of them and have heard it proved that before my time such Warrants were frequent indeed no man was denyed them But my Lords it must likewise be remembred that of my own accord I did recall it before I was ever questioned for it and it is very hard if he that mends his Faults should be afterward punished for it for it is a degree of Repentance and it is hard that a man should be finally Condemned after Repentance and therefore my Lords I trust seeing there was but one of them seeing I did my self recall it so willingly as soon as I found the Inconvenience I hope that will be easier remitted to me The next is the 10th Article that concerns the Customes and that is rather to be looked on as a Fraud then as a Treason as I conceive it there is no Treason in the Business sure But I have proved the Bargain was honestly made That there was more offered for it by me then any other That I had it upon no other Terms then it was formerly let to others That I was constrain'd to it whether I would or no And then My Lords if the Bargain by the Increase of that Kingdom prove a good and profitable Bargain it is a very hard Case that if it be increased through the King's Wisdom and Goodness and the Kingdoms Growth Trade and Traffick that this should be turned upon me as an Argument to make me Guilty of Treason I never found a good Bargain should be so charged so long as it was honest and fair But whereas they press That I have gained Three Hundred Thousand Pounds Estate by it it is a very strange mistake For the King has out of it his Rent of 15 or 16 Thousand Pounds a year and Five entire parts of Eight clear to Himself and therefore it was a strange Calculation and much mistaken by them that that gave the Information of it to the Gentlemen For the book of Rates it was none of mine but was agreed on before my time I had nothing to do with it and therefore have nothing to Answer for it And when it shall come to be proved it will appear that the Rates were set fairly and justly and equal betwixt King and People according to the Law whatsoever hath been said to the contrary The next is the 11th Article concerning Pipe-Staves and that is by them waved and well they may for the plain truth is if it had been proceeded in it would have appeared that there is come Fifteen hundred pounds gain to the King and Four hundred pounds loss to my self and preserving of Woods and that is all that would be made from that Article The next is the business of the Tobacco which is not applyable to Treason in any kind but because I would be clear in every Man's Judgment that hears me I beseech your Lordships to call to mind it was the Petition of the Commons-House of Ireland That the Grant of Impost on the Tobacco should be taken in and converted to the King's use so that whatsoever was done was pursuing their intention and desire That there was no way but this to make benefit and profit of it is most manifestly shewed that there was a Proclamation in England of the like nature and a Command of the King to proceed in it accordingly and an Act of Parliament Transmitted here for passing it to the Crown according to the intention of the Commons-House and for the greatness of the Bargain no Proof hath been offered to your Lordships but only the Estimate of a Merchant and how far your Lordships would be guided by the Estimate of a Merchant I know not but I have had Trial of some of them and their Estimates never hold for they have alwayes told me I shall gain much and when I came to the point I gained nothing and if Sir George Ratcliff should be sworn to the Point he should say confidently that we are Fourscore and six thousand out of Pursâ— and when he came out of Ireland but Fourscore thousand pounds received and this is the Profit Estimated by the great Merchants at a Hundred and Forty Thousand Pounds a year But at the worst it is but a Monopoly and a Monopoly of the best condition because it was begun by a Parliament I have seen many Monopolies question'd in Parliament and many overthrown in Parliament but I never heard a Monopoly charged for a Treason My Lords The next is the 13th Article and that is concerning the Flax business For that my Lords if I had thought it any way concerning me I could have cleared it in a very great measure But I had no private Interest in the business much less of private profit but only an endeavour and desire to bring in the Trade of Linnen-Cloth to that Kingdom which would be much advantage to both Kingdoms and no prejudice to this Kingdom which a Woollen Trade would have been if set up there And the Proclamation when it was found not so well liking to the People was called in of our own accord before it was question'd and so laid aside given over For any matter of private Benefit you have no Witness but Crokay a Fellow brought out of Prison Here is but a single Witness and a sorry one a Fellow who by mis-behaving and mis-using the trust committed to him was turned out and upon the turning of him out the Proclamation was absolutely called in and now he comes to be a Witness being himself the only offender in the Cause But I beseech your Lordships to think I have not lived with so mean a heart in the World that I should look to gain Four Nobles more or less upon a Cart Load of Flax It is very well known my thoughts have carried me free enough from gaining so poor and petty a matter as that is I know nothing in the World of it no more than the man in the Moon but when it comes to be heard your Lordships will find me extreme pure in that for I thank God I have clear hands I assure you The 14th is waved by them concerning an unlawful Oath given to Masters and Officers or Ships and it might very well be waved for I conceive it to be Warranted by the Law
operation upon the courage of a Nation by embasing the hearts of the People A servile condition does for the most part beget in men a slavish temper and disposition Those that live so much under the Whip and the Pillory and such servile Engines as were frequently used by the Earl of Strafford they may have the dregs of Valour Sullenness and Stubborness which may make them prone to mutinies and discontents But those Noble and Gallant affections which put men to brave designs and attempts for the preservation or enlargement of a Kingdom they are hardly capable of Shall it be Treason to embase the King's Coin though but a piece of Twelve-pence or Six-pence and must it not needs be the effect of a greater Treason to embase the Spirits of his Subjects and to set a Stamp and character of Servitude upon them whereby they shall be disabled to do any thing for the Service of the King and Commonwealth The Fifth Consideration is this that the exercise of this Arbitrary Government in times of suddain danger by the invasion of an enemy will disable His Majesty to preserve himself and His Subjects from that danger This is the only pretence by which the Earl of Strafford and such other mischievous Counsellors would induce his Majesty to make use of it and if it be unfit for such an occasion I know nothing that can be alledged in maintainance of it When War threatens a Kingdom by the coming of a Forraign Enemy it is no time then to discontent the people to make them weary of the present Government and more inclinable to a change The supplies which are to come in this way will be unready uncertain there can be no assurance of them no dependance upon them either for time or proportion And if some Money be gotten in such a way the distractions divisions distempers which this course is apt to produce will be more prejudicial to the publique safety than the Supply can be advantagious to it and of this we have had sufficient experience the last Summer The Sixth That this crime of Subverting the Laws and introducing an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government is contrary to the Pact and Covenant betwixt the King and his People that which was spoken of before was the legal union of Allegiance and Protection this is a personal union by mutual agreement and stipulation confirmed by Oath on both sides The King and his People are obliged to one another in the nearest relations he is a Father and a Child is called in Law pars patris He is the Husband of the Commonwealth they have the same interests they are inseparable in their condition be it good or evil he is the Head they are the Body there is such an incorporation as cannot be dissolved without the destruction of both When Justice Thorp in Edward the III. time was by the Parliament condemned to death for bribery the reason of that Judgment is given because he had broke the King's Oath not that he had broke his own Oath but he had broken the King's Oath that solemn and great Obligation which is the security of the whole Kingdom If for a Judge to take a small summ in a private Cause was adjudged capital how much greater was this offence whereby the Earl of Strafford hath broken the King's Oath in the whole course of his Government in Ireland to the prejudice of so many of his Majesties Subjects in their Lives Liberties and Estates and to the danger of all the rest The Doctrine of the Papists Fides non est servanda cum Haereticis is an abominable Doctrine yet that other Tenet more peculiar to the Jesuits is more pernicious whereby Subjects are discharged from their Oath of Allegiance to their Prince whensoever the Pope pleaseth This may be added to make the third no less mischievous and destructive to humane Society than either of the rest That the King is not bound by that Oath which he hath taken to observe the Laws of the Kingdom but may when he sees cause lay Taxes and Burthens upon them without their consent contrary to the Laws and Liberties if the Kingdom This hath been Preached and published by divers And this is that which bath been practised in Ireland by the Earl of Strafford in his Government there and endeavoured to be brought into England by his Counsel here The Seventh is this It is an offence that is contrary to the end of Government The end of Government was to prevent oppressions to limit and restrain the excessive power and violence of great men to open the passages of Justice with indifferency towards all This Arbitrary Power is apt to induce and encourage all kind of insolencies Another end of the Government is to preserve men in their Estates to secure them in their Lives and Liberties but if this design had taken effect and could have been setled in England as it was practised in Ireland no man would have had more certainty in his own then Power would have allowed him but these two have been spoken of before there are two behind more important which have not yet been touched It is the end of Government that Vertue should be cherish'd Vice supprest but where this Arbitrary and unlimited Power is set up a way is open not only for the security but for the advancement and encouragement of evil such men as are apt for the execution and maintenance of this Power are only capable of preferment and others who will not be instruments of any unjust commands who make a conscience to do nothing against the Laws of the Kingdom and Liberties of the Subject are not only not passable for employment but subject to much jealousie and danger It is the end of Government that all Accidents and Events all Counfels and Designs should be improved to the publique good But this Arbitrary Power is apt to dispose all to the maintainance of it self The wisdom of the Council-Table The authority of the Courts of Justice The industry of all the Officers of the Crown have been most carefully exercised in this the Learning of our Divines the Jurisdiction of our Bishops have been moulded and disposed to the same effect which though it were begun before the Earl of Strafford's imployment yet it hath been exceedingly furthered and advanced by him Under this colour and pretence of maintaining the King's Power and Prerogative many dangerous practises against the peace and safety of the Kingdom have been undertaken and promoted The increase of Popery and the favours and encouragement of papists have been and still are a great grievance and danger to the Kingdom The innovation in matters of Religion the Usurpations of the Clergy the manifold burthens and taxations upon the people have been a great cause of our present distempers and disorders and yet those who have been chief furtherers and actors of such mischiefs have had their Credit and Authority from this that they were forward to maintain this
rather what was safe than what seemed just preferring the outward peace of my Kingdoms with men before that inward exactness of Conscience before God And indeed I am so far from excusing or denying that complyance on my part for plenary consent it was not to his destruction whom in my judgment I thought not by any clear Law guilty of death that I never did bear any touch of Conscience with greater regret which as a sign of my repentance I have often with sorrow confessed both to God and Men as an Act of so sinful frailty that it discovered more a fear of man than of God whose Name and Place on Earth no man is worthy to bear who will avoid inconveniencies of State by Acts of so high injustice as no publick convenience can expiate or compensate I see it a bad exchange to wound a mans own Conscience thereby to salve State sores to calm the storms of popular discontents by stirring up a Tempest in a mans own bosom Nor hath Gods Justice failed in the event and sad consequences to shew the World the fallacy of that Maxim Better one man perish though unjustly than the people be displeased or destroyed For in all likelihood I could never have suffered with my people greater calamities yet with greater comfort had I vindicated Strafford's innocency at least by denying to Sign that destructive Bill according to that Justice which my Conscience suggested to me then I have done since I gratified some mens unthankful importunities with so cruel a favour and I have observed that those who counsell'd me to Sign that Bill have been so far from receiving the rewards of such ingratiatings with the People that no men have been harassed and crushed more than they he only hath been least vexed by them who counselled me not to consent against the Vote of my own Conscience I hope God hath forgiven me and them the sinful rashness of that business To which being in my Soul so fully Conscious those Judgments God hath pleased to send upon me are so much the more welcome as a means I hope which his mercy hath sanctified so to me as to make me repent of that unjust Act for so it was to me and for the future to teach me that the best rule of policy is to prefer the doing of Justice before all enjoyments and the peace of my Conscience before the preservation of my Kingdoms Nor hath any thing more fortified my resolutions against all those violent importunities which since have sought to gain a like consent from me to Acts wherein my Conscience is unsatisfied than the sharp touches I have had for what passed me in my Lord of Straffords business Not that I resolved to have employed him in my affairs against the advice of my Parliament but I would not have had any hand in his death of whose guiltiness I was better assured than any man living could be Nor were the crimes objected against him so clear as after a long and fair hearing to give convincing satisfaction to the major part of both Houses especially that of the Lords of whom scarce a third part were present when the Bill passed that House And for the House of Commons many Gentlemen disposed enough to diminish my Lord of Strafford 's Greatness and Power yet unsatisfied of his Guilt in Law durst not condemn him to dye who for their integrity in their Votes were by posting their Names exposed to the popular Calumny Hatred and Fury which grew then so exorbitant in their clamors for Justice That is to have both my self and the Two Houses Vote and do as they would have us that many 't is thought were rather terrified to concur with the condemning party than satisfied that of right they ought so to do And that after Act vacating the Authority of the precedent for future imitation sufficiently tells the world that some remorse touched even his most implacable Enemies as knowing he had very hard measure and such as they would be very loath should be repeated to themselves This tenderness and regret I find in my Soul for having had any hand and that very unwillingly God knows in the shedding one mans Blood unjustly though under the colour of the Formalities of Justice and pretences of avoiding publick Mischiefs which may I hope be some Evidence before God and Man to all Posterity that I am far from bearing justly the vast load and guilt of all that blood which hath been shed in this unhappy War which some men will needs charge upon me to ease their own Souls who am and ever shall be more afraid to take away any mans life unjustly than to lose my own Nor was this all for besides what he said at his own Death he acquainted Doctor Shelden afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury with his Resolution if ever he was in a Condition to perform his Vows of which this was one To do publick Pennance for the injustice he had suffered to be done to the Earl of Strafford as may be large be seen in his Life written by Dr. Perinchief fol. 119. Nothing was sounded in the Kings Ears but Fears Terrors and Threatnings of Worse and Worse Tumults and Rebellions from every quarter of the City and every corner of the Kingdom and indeed the King who had seen the effects of them both in Scotland and England could not but have very terrible apprehensions of them At last having wrastled him breathless he was vanquished by Importunity and necessity and yielded to the Passing of these two Fatal Bills by Commission the one for the Earl's and the other as it proved in the Event for his own Execution Upon Monday May the 10th Monday May 10. Bill of Attainder passed by Commission Mr. Maxwell Gentleman-Usher to the Lords came to acquaint the Commons with the good news that His Majesties Assent to the two Bills was to be given by Commission and that their Lordships did expect Mr. Speaker and the House of Commons to come up It seems the Gentleman was something transported as sure all the world was out of their wits for he came without the Black Rod and entred without being called in at which there was Exceptions taken but the News he brought was so agreeable that the transport of it did him the favour to take off the Resentments of the House who at another time would not have pocketted up such an affront with silence The Commission was granted under the Great-Seal of England directed unto the Lord Privy-Seal Lord Great Chamberlain Lord Steward The manner of passing Bills by Commission or any two of them for passing the Royal Assent to two Bills the one intituled An Act of Attainder of Thomas Earl of Strafford of High-Treason the other An Act to prevent the Inconveniencies which may happen by the untimely Adjourning Proroguing or Dissolving of this present Parliament The Lords being all in their Robes and the Commissioners sate upon a Form standing across the House
hand and therefore in his own words take the following account of that Affair WHen the King had Dissolved the Parliament in April An account of Sir Henry Vanes Notes so fatal to the Earl of Strafford 1640. He committed the management of his greatest concernments to certain Lords of his Council who were called the Juncto At this Table Sir Henry Vane as Secretary of State was present and had taken some rude and imperfect Notes of such Speeches as those Lords had severally delivered to the King by way of Debate whether he Transcribed those Notes is uncertain yet his great care in keeping them makes it more then probable he designed to have something in readiness if an occasion should be offered that might turn to the Earl of Strafford's prejudice against whom he had a private hatred the Earl having obtained from the King the Title of Raby for his Barony which was the hereditary possession of Sir Henry Vane though by Gift from the King But this Grudge lay concealed lest the intended Revenge against the Earl should not take Effect in the proper season for if Sir Henry Vane's Malice had been professed the Earl of Strafford's Power would easily have disordered and disappointed all his opposite Attempts These Notes were therefore laid up in his Cabinet till he found the differences betwixt the King and his Subjects of Scotland to be in a fair way of composure and then he thought it the fittest time to discover those private Councils and engage the Lords and Commons when ever they met in Parliament to an irreconcilable hatred against him But his fears were great in owning himself as an Informer or Accuser lest he should lose the Place and Favour which he held in Court and be looked upon by the King as a Perjur'd Councellor a false and unworthy Servant Yet he thought it might prove unsafe and unsuccessful to imploy a Stranger in a business of so great Concernment to him he therefore resolves to improve his Malice and Subtilty by one whom nature had made his living Copy and he takes such a Course as might cast the blemish upon his Son yet gain the means of that Revenge which he designed He was then in a Treaty of Marriage for his Son with the Daughter of Sir Christopher Wray and being called upon to produce the chief Writings of his Estate he being then at his Country House in Kent gave his Son the Keys of his Cabinet at Whitehall and directed him to such a Drawer were he should find those Writings which were desired but no sooner had his Son opened the Cabinet and the Drawer according to his Fathers directions but he found a Paper with this Indorsment Notes taken at the Juncto This Paper either from his own Curiosity or his Fathers Direction he opens and reads and having a particular Acquaintance with Mr. Pym he repairs to him with great Expressions of a troubled Mind not knowing what way to steer himself betwixt the Discharge of his Duty to the Common-wealth and his faithfulness to his Father Mr. Pym endeavoured to answer his Scruples and having perused the Paper he found many Expressions of dangerous consequence he therefore took a Copy of those Notes for his own use but when the Parliament met he resolved to make use of them for the Service of the Publique and assured Mr. Vane that all tender care should be had of his Reputation and of his Fathers security and that his name should not be made use of as the Author of this Information unless it should appear to him to be of absolute necessity to avow the Discovery of it For these reasons the close Committee was desired preparatory Examinations were contrived that the truth of these Counsels and Advices delivered to the King by the Earl of Strafford might have been gained from the Confession of those Lords which were present at the Debates Upon this desire of the House of Commons the Lords declared that no Examination ought to be taken before the particular Charge against the Earl of Strafford were given in and that they understood the desire of the House of Commons in no other sence and therefore they Ordered That for that time and in that case all the Peers should be Examined upon Oath as Witnesses and that the Assistants should likewise be Examined upon Oath if it were required and that they would endeavour with their best care to have the business kept secret and that such of the House of Commons as should be made choice of might be present at the taking such Preparatory Examinations as should be desired by them for perfecting of the Charge against the Earl of Strafford Sir Henry Vane's Papers the 5th of May 1640. L. L. Ireland Sir Henry Vane's Notes taken at the Juncto No danger in undertaking the War whether the Scots are to be reduced or not To reduce them by force as the State of this Kingdom stands If his Majesty had not declared himself so soon he would have declared himself for no War with Scotland They would have given him plentifully The City to be called immediately and quickned to lend One Hundred Thousand Pounds The Shipping Money to be put vigorously upon Collection those two ways will furnish his Majesty plentifully to go on with Arms and War against Scotland The manner of the War Stopping of the Trade of Scotland no prejudice to the Trade free with England for Cattel A Defensive War totally against it Offensive War into the Kingdom His Opinion few Months will make an end of the War do you invade them L. Arch. Lord Archbishop If no more Money then proposed how then to make an Offensive War a dissiculty Whether to do nothing and let them alone or to go on with a vigorous War L. L. Ireland Go vigorously on or let them alone no Defensive War loss of Honour or Reputation the quiet of England will hold out long you will languish as between Saul and David Go on with an Offensive War as you first designed loosed and absolved from all Rules of Government Being reduced to extreme necessity every thing is to be done as power will admit and that you are to do They refused you are acquitted toward God and Man You have an Army in Ireland you may imploy here to reduce this Kingdom Confident as any thing under Heaven Scotland will not hold out Five Months one Summer well imployed will do it venture all I had I would carry it or lose it Whether a Defensive War as impossible as an Offensive War or whether to let them alone L. Arch. Tryed all ways and refused all ways By the law of God you should have subsistence and ought to have and lawful to take it L. Cott. Lord. Cott. Leagues abroad they make and will and therefore the defence of this Kingdom The Lower House are weary both of King and Church month May 1641. It always hath been just to raise Moneys by this unavoidable
Disloyalties I will omit and passing by as well particular Bishops and Prelates as Stephen Arch-Deacon of Norwich and others as also of them in general I will only relate one villanous passage of Trayterous Disloyalty whereof as good Authors deliver the Archbishops and Prelates were principal Abettors and Conspirers The King being at Oxford the Bishops and Barons came thither with armed Multitudes without number and forced him to yield that the Government should be swayed by 25 Selected Peers Paris Thus one of the greatest Soveraigns was but the Six and twentieth petty King in his own Dominions c. To him Succeeded his Son K. H. 3. who being at Clerkenwel in the House of the Prior of Saint John's was told by him no less sawcily than disloyally if I may not say traiterously That he should be no longer King than he did Right to the Prelates Whereto he answered What do you mean to deprive me of my Kingdom and afterward Murther me as you did my Father And indeed they performed little less as shall hereafter appear But now to take the particular passages in order In this King's Reign Stephen then Archbishop of Canterbury as we read was the Ring-Leader of Disorders both in Church and State and no better was Peter Bishop of Winchester But not to speak of them in particular but of them all in general and that in Parliament at Oxford saith Matth. Paris and Matth. Westm came the Seditious Earls and Barons with whom the Bishops Pontifices ne dicam Pharisei those were his words had taken Counsel against the King the Lord 's Anointed who sternly propounded to the King sundry traiteterous Articles to which they required his Assent but not to reckon all the Points you shall hear what the same Authors deliver of their Intent I will repeat the words as I find them These turbulent Nobles saith M. West had yet a further Plot than all this which was first hatched by the Disloyal Bishops which was That four and twenty Persons should there be Chosen to have the whole Administration of the King and State and yearly appointment of all great Officers reserving only to the King the highest Place at Meetings Primus Accubitus in Coenis and Salutations of Honour in Publick Places To which they forced him and his Son Prince Edward to Swear for fear as mine Author saith of Perpetual Imprisonment if not worse for the Traiterous Lords had by an Edict threatned Death to all that resisted And the Perfidious and wicked Archbishop and Bishops Cursing all that should rebel against it Which impudent and Traiterous Disloyalty saith Matth. Paris and Matth. Westm the Monks did detest asking With what fore-heads the Priests durst thus impair the Kingly Majesty expresly against their sworn Fidelity to him Here we see the Monks more Loyal and Honest than the Lord Bishops we have Cashiered the poor Monks and are we afraid of the Bishops Lordliness that they must continue and sit in Parliament to the Prejudice of the King and People And so we may observe That this * This which he accounts Treason in the Bishops was no more than this Man and his fellow-Members would have imposed upon the King in the 19 Propositions Traiterous Bishop did make this King as the former had done his Father meerly Titular From him I pass to his Son Edward the First In his Reign Boniface was Archbishop of Canterbury and Brother to the Queen what he and the rest of the Prelates did in prejudice to the Regal Authority and Weal Publick I will pass over the rather for that they declare themselves in his Son's Reign so wicked and disloyal that no Age can Parallel of which thus in brief Doth not Thomas de la More call the Bishop of Hereford Arch-Plotter of Treason Omnis mali Architectum and not to speak of his contriving the Death of the late Chancellor and other particular Villanies he is Branded together with Winchester then Chancellor and Norwich Lord Treasurer to occasion the dethroning of this Prince Nay after long Imprisonment his very Life taken away by Bishop Thorlton's Aenigmatical Verse though he after denied it Edwardum Occidere nolite timere bonum est But this Adam de Orleton alias Torleton and his fellow Bishops in this King's Reign I may not slightly pass over Therefore I desire we may take a further view of them First of this Adam Bishop of Hereford we find that he was stript of all his Temporalties for supporting the Mortimers in the Barons Quarrel He being saith Thomas de la More a Man of most subtil Wit and in all wordly Policies profound daring to do great Things and Factious withal who made against King Edward the Second a great secret Party To which Henry Burwash Bishop of Lincoln for like Causes deprived of his Temporalties joyned himself as also Ely and others Walter Stapleton Bishop of Exeter a Turn-Coat left the Queen and came to England to inform the King of his Queens too great familiarity with Mortimer which afterward cost him his Head Perhaps some now as Thomas de la More will say he was therein a good Man yet I will take leave to think not do I fear to speak it This was no part of Episcopal Function But I will pass him by not concluding him either good or bad every Man may think as he pleaseth I will declare the Traiterous and Disloyal Actions of the other Bishop formerly mentioned This Bishop of Hereford whom I find called the Queens bosom Councellor Preaching at Oxford took for the Text My Head my Head aketh 2 Kings 4.19 concluding more like a Butcher than a Divine that an Aking and Sick Head of a Kingdom was of necessity to be taken off and not to be tampered with by any other Physick whereby it is probable that he was the Author of that Aenigmatical Verse formerly recited Edwardum occidere c. And well may we believe it for we find that he caused Roger Baldock Bishop of Norwich the late Lord Chancellor to die miserably in Newgate Not much better were Ely Lincoln Winchester and other Bishops that adhered to the Queen Mortimer and others of her part Nor can I commend those Bishops that were for the King and the Spencers The Archbishop of Canterbury and his Suffragans decreeing the Revocation of those Pestilent Peers the Judgment given against them judged as Erronious Thus these Lord Bishops as all in a manner both before and after instead of Feeding the Flock of Christ only Plotted dismal Wars Death and Destruction of Christians I might tell you how in this King's Reign as in others * Certainly this was made a President for such were the Pretences and Practises of this Man and his Associates they perswaded the Lords and Peers of the Realm that they had Power and Right not only to reform the King's House and Council and to place and displace all great Officers at their Pleasure but even a joynt Interest in
and Concourse of People to those places Thirdly To the Poor who found there a constant relief from their Hospitality Fourthly To the King's Revenues for that besides their First-fruits Tenths c. no sort of Men did more readily grant Subsidies to his Majesty or were more willing at this time to contribute to the publick Charges of the Kingdom He trusted much he said in the Honour and Justice of this Honourable House in regard that though they were Accused of great and flagitious Crimes yet he could not hear of the least proof offered against them and therefore he hoped that they who professed so much sincerity in Religion would never have St. Paul's censure deservedly laid upon them Thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge Which he did not see how it could be avoided if they destroyed these Religious Foundations which were dedicated and set apart for the solemn Service and Honour of God Concluding That upon the Ruine of the Rewards of Industry and Learning no Structure could be raised but Ignorance and upon the Chaos of Ignorance nothing but Confusion Prophaneness Irreligion and Atheism But Alas All this was but Surdis Canere Upon this there arose a warm debate and the Episcopal Party in the House who were by far over-numbered urged That they took the late Protestation to be the meaning and intention of the House to defend the Protestant Religion and not to destroy it according to the first Clause of the said Protestation But they soon found themselves in Solomon's Snare who informs them that is a Snare to devour holy things and after vows to make Enquiry for whatever their intention was in taking it the imposers had one very far different and meant it as an Engine to pull down the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy as a Relique of Popery and therefore they now explained their meaning to be That Explanation of the Protestation by the True Reformed Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England against all Popery and Popish Innovations within the Realm contrary to the same Doctrine is meant only the Publick Doctrine professed in the said Church so far as it is opposite to Popery and Popish Innovations and that the said Words are not to extend to the maintaining of any Form of Worship Discipline or Government nor of any Rites or Ceremonies of the said Church of England So that upon the Matter hereby the Government of the Church by Arch-bishops Bishops c. together with the Liturgy were plainly designed for Extirpation which is the Presbyterian way of Reforming Thus by an unhappy Artifice were many worthy and sound men not only for the Doctrine but Government of the Church as it were drawn into a Confederacy to destroy her And if their too inconsiderate compliance drew them into this danger how deeply were they Guilty who designedly drew them into the making a solemn Protestation Vow and Promise in the presence of Almighty God to perform something which by their own Confession was so mysterious and doubtful as to need an Explication a Vow made without the knowledge or consent of their Supreme Lord and Sovereign and as they Explained it not only directly contrary to their Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy but such a one as their Sovereign could not permit them to keep but he must violate his Coronation Oath by which he had obliged himself to defend the Church in all her Priviledges and Immunities as then by Law possessed and enjoyed A most impious affront to the Supreme Majesty of Heaven making him a Party to a Vow so rashly made that the very framers of it to their Eternal Infamy acknowledged by this Explanation carried so much Ambiguity as to render it not sufficiently understood to be taken with a safe Conscience nor by many of those who took it be kept without perjury and making shipwrack of their Consciences However this advantage Posterity will be able to make of it not to be again imposed upon by such wily stratagems of pretenders to Reformation but for the future will more easily be able to discover the design and meaning of such Protestations and Associations and in what sense they who diffent from the Church of England understand the True Protestant Religion of which they boast themselves such great Champions and Assertors and that though for a time to serve their Interest they may dissemble yet they esteem the Discipline Rites and Ceremonies of the present Established Church of England no better than Popery and Popish Innovations And that notwithstanding the Testimony of Antiquity long before either Popery or Presbytery came into the World recommends them to us as the Primitive Government and Usages of the Universal Church notwithstanding that the first Reformers set to their Testimony by Martyrdom which they suffered from the Papists an evident demonstration that they are not Popish Notwithstanding that they are agreeable to the Rule of Scripture enjoyned by those Laws and Legislators who detested abhorred and banished the Pope and Popery out of England yet if ever they can get the Power proportionable to their Wills they will endeavour to Extirpate Root and Branch the most truly Primitive and Apostolical Church in the whole Christian World A Message from the House of Commons by Mr. Arthur Goodwin Message from the Commons about the Bill to restrain Ecclesiastical persons from medling in Secular Affairs who delivered the Bill for the abbreviation of Michaelmas Term which the Commons had passed with the amendments And to desire their Lordships from the Commons to take into Consideration as soon as they can the Bill touching the Restraining of Bishops and Persons in Holy Orders from intermedling in Secular Affairs This day two Letters were read in the House of Commons one from Mr. Peter Heywood Thursday May 13. Fears of the French another from Thomas Smith of Dover to one James Buckhurst of the great fears of the French and their being about to Ship many thousands of men to be landed in England the Consideration of which were referred to the Committee of Seven Thus did they by continual Alarms of Fears and Dangers even upon the slightest and most trivial Grounds as it were to keep the People perpetually awake and force them into those dreadful State-Phrensies which were the deplorable Consequences of these Reports and Rumors His Majesty came this day into the House of Lords and having Seated himself in his Chair of State the Lords being in their Robes fitting uncovered the House of Commons were sent for the Royal Assent being to be given to three Bills viz. One for the Abbreviation of Michaelmas Term Another for Pressing and Levying of Marriners and others for the Service of the Kingdom and the third For the Remainder of the Six Subsidies Upon the presenting of which Mr. Speaker made this Speech as I find it in the Book of Speeches Pag. 204. May it please Your Most Excellent Majesty Mr. Speaker's Speech at the passing
and others of the Privy Council whose hands are at the Warrant for the Commitment of Sir John Corbet ought to joyn in this Reparation viz. the Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Coventry Archbishop of York Earl of Manchester Lord Cottington Edw. Lord Newburgh Sir Henry Vane Sir Francis Windebank Then the House took into Consideration the Reasons which the Lords had offered at the Conference concerning the Bishops having Votes in Parliament Answers to the Lords Reasons for Bishops Voting in Parliament and it was agreed to offer these Reasons in Answer to them 1. The Commons do conceive that Bishops ought not to have Votes in Parliament First Because it is a very great hinderance to the Exercise of their Ministerial Function 2. Because they do vow and undertake at their Ordination when they enter into Holy Orders That they will give themselves wholly to that Vocation 3. Because Councils and Canons in several Ages do forbid them to meddle in Secular Affairs 4. Because the 24 Bishops have dependency on the two Archbishops by their Oath of Canonical Obedience to them 5. Because they are but for their Lives and therefore are not fit to have Legislative power over the Honors Inheritances Persons and Liberties of others 6. Because of Bishops Dependancy and Expectancy of Translation to Places of greater Profit 7. Because that several Bishops have of late much Encroached upon the Consciences and Liberties of the Subject and they and their Successors will be much Encouraged still to Encroach and the Subjects will be discouraged from complaining against such Incroachments if Twenty six of that Order be to be Judges upon those Complaints The same Reason Extends to their Legislative Power in any Bill to pass for Regulation of their Power upon any emergent inconvenience by it 8. Because the whole number of them is interessed to maintain the Jurisdiction of Bishops which hath been found so grievous to the Three Kingdoms that Scotland hath abolished it and Multitudes in England and Ireland have Petitioned against it 9. Because the Bishops being Lords of Parliament it setteth too great a distance between them and the rest of their Brethren in the Ministry which occasioneth Pride in them Discontent in others and Disquiet in the Church To their having Votes a long time If inconvenient Time and Vsage are not to be considered with Law-makers and some Abbots voted as anciently in Parliament as Bishops yet taken away That for the Bishops Certificate to plenarty of Benefice and Loyalty of Marriage the Bill Extends not to them the Bishops making return of them by Course of Common Law That Argument taken from the Canons and Laws Ecclesiastical This Passage is in the Report of this Conference in the Lords Journal but not in the Commons They Judged these Canons not binding so did the Bishops too yet they must be lawful against them must be considered as a fight against the Bishops with their own Weapon as a kind of Goliah 's Sword to cut off Goliah 's head but not as though the House of Commons did hereby Justifie the Legality of any thing of that Nature That for the Proviso for the Vniversities and Temporal Lords it may stand in the Bill if it please their Lordships It was added That there is an ACT preparing for the Regulating of the Vniversities and this Proviso is but permitted to remain there by way of Provision till that be Effected For the Secular Jurisdiction of the Dean of Westminster the Bishops of Durham and Ely and the Archbishop of York if they are to Execute them in their own persons the former Reasons shew the inconvenience of them and for the Temporal Courts and Jurisdictions which are Executed by their Temporal Officers the Bill doth not concern them How deeply Guilty these Anti-Episcopal Grandees of the Faction were of Hypocrisie and Collusion this Passage makes clearly apparent The deep Hypocrifie of the Grandees of the Anti-Episcopal Faction for whereas by the Bill upon which this Conference with the Lords was had and for the supporting of which these Reasons were Framed they seemed only to desire that the Bishops might not Sit and Vote in the Lords House as Peers of the Realm and not to take away the Office or Function they had at that very instant as the Reader by casting his Eye but a little backward may see a Bill before them for the utter Abolition and Extirpation of the Office it self with all its appennages commonly known by the name of the Root and Branch Bill It is not my Province to descend into so great a Field of Controversie as these Reasons against the Bishops Votes would afford a Pen of Greater Leizure however because these Papers may fall into some hands who may not be so well Antidoted against the well gilt Poyson I will adventure to give them some short strictures And therefore First the Reader is to Consider in general That the Lords Spiritual being by the Common Law of this Realm Peers in Parliament and by the Statute Law declared to be one of the Three Estates of the Kingdom if any such Inconveniences as are here objected against them were sufficient ground for the abolition of them and consequently altering the Frame of the Government then Paritate Rationis it would follow That the like or greater inconveniences would be a sufficient ground for the utter abolishing or taking away of either or both the other Two Estates viz. The Lords Temporal and Commons which Assertion evidently destroyes the Being and Foundation of Parliaments which sure no Englishman can without Horror and Detestation hear And indeed this very Consequence led these very Persons afterwards to Vote the House of Lords Vseless and Dangerous and wholly to lay them aside and divest them of all the Priviledges of their Peerage in Parliament to the utter Subversion of the Ancient Frame of the Government Nor indeed were these Inconveniencies which they represent here as so Formidable and Dangerous of any weight or moment in themselves For as to the First The hinderance of the exercise of their Ministerial Function The very share they have in preparing Laws and giving their Assent to them in that Station is one of the most weighty parts of their Episcopal Function to take Care that such Laws may be made in a Christian Kingdom as may be for the Glory of God the Advancement of true Piety and the Well Government of the Church And for any other parts of their Office though they should not be so well able to perform them during the times of Session of Parliaments which yet for any thing made appear to the contrary they may do Yet the great necessity and advantage of their Legislative Right may very well give a dispensation to the omission of the less necessary Offices of their Function for so small a time as the Sessions of Parliament Used to be till these Men obtained of the King that perpetuating ACT of which it may truly be
Barcock George Ewer George Pitcher Tho. Low The Names of those that committed the Disorder in the Church of St. Olaves in Southwark in time of administring the Communion Robert Wainman _____ Bonace Hugh Evans John Moor. Ordered That the persons aforenamed be sent for to appear before this House as Delinquents to answer their several Offences The Commons fell this Day upon the Root and Branch Bill Friday June 11. Debate about the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy c. and the House being resolved into a Grand Committee of the whole House the Title of the Bill was first Voted and many Speeches and Arguments were on both sides Urged for and against it but it is my Misfortune as I must always complain as well as the Reader 's loss that he can hear little of the matter but Ex parte for such was then the prevalency of the Faction that what Ever was spoken in the behalf of Episcopacy was stifled discouraged and suppressed and in this small Tract of time since the Revolution utterly lost and forgotten whereas all the Speeches of the Leading Men of the Faction were either by their own or by the Order of the House Printed Published and Dispersed throughout the Kingdom by which Art they did not only then persuade the Nation who saw nothing in Answer to these Libellous Speeches that their Reasons were unanswerable but they came by falling into so many hands to be preserved I hope as Eternal Monuments of Infamy to their Authors and Excellent Cautions to future Ages who will Easily be able to Judge when they hear of the like Speeches what a kind of Reformation and what defences of Liberty and Property they are to Expect from such pretended Patriots and Speech-makers who pull up the very Foundations of the Government under the pretence that it is Unsound and Rotten And indeed were it not that these Collections are generally like to fall into such Judicious hands as will be able to separate the insinuating Malice and Poison from them and thereby make them Useful by framing Arguments against them and winnowing the Chaffy part of their reasoning from them I could not judge it Expedient to transmit these four Grapes to Posterity nor to revive them did I not believe they might serve as useful precautions to preserve their Teeth from being set on Edge Upon this subject Sir Henry Vane who was now become not only the Proselyte but Favourite of the Faction for the Famous Blow he had given the Earl of Strafford made this insuing Speech at the Committee of the whole House Mr. Hide being in the Chair Mr. Hide THE Debate we are now upon is Sir Henry Vane's Speech against Episcopal Government June 11. 1641. Whether the Government by Archbishops Bishops Chancellors c. should be taken away out of the Church and Kingdom of England For the right stating whereof we must remember the Vote which passed Yesterday not only by this Committee but the House which was to this Effect That this Government hath been found by long Experience to be a great impediment to the perfect Reformation and Growth of Religion and very Prejudicial to the Civil State So that then the Question will lie thus before us Whether a Government which long Experience hath set so ill a Character upon importing Danger not only to our Religion but the Civil State should be any longer continued amongst us or be utterly abolished For my own part I am of the Opinion of those who conceive that the strength of Reason already set down in the Preamble to this Bill by Yesterdays Vote is a necessary decision of this Question For one of the main Ends for which Church-Government is set up is to advance and further the perfect Reformation and Growth of Religion which we have already Voted this Government doth contradict so that it is destructive to the very end for which it should be and is most necessary and desireable in which respect certainly we have cause enough to lay it aside not onely as useless in that it attains not its end but as dangerous in that it destroyes and contradicts it In the second place we have Voted it prejudicial to the Civil State as having so powerful and ill an influence upon our Laws the Prerogative of the King and Liberties of the Subject that it is like a spreading Leprosie which leaves nothing untainted and uninfected which it comes near May we not therefore well say of this Government as our Saviour in the Fifth of Matthew speaks of Salt give me leave upon this occasion to make use of Scripture as well as others have done in this Debate where it is said that Salt is good But if the Salt hath lost its savour wherewith will you season it It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men So Church-Government in the general is good and that which is necessary and which we all desire but when any particular Form of it hath once lost its savour by being destructive to its own ends for which it is set up as by our Vote already passed we say this hath then surely Sir we have no more to do but to cast it out and endeavour the best we can to provide our selves a better But to this it hath been said That the Government now in question may be so amended and reformed that it needs not be pulled quite down or abolished because it is conceived it hath no original sin or evil in it or if it have it is said regeneration will take that away Unto which I answer I do consent that we should do with this Government as we are done by in regeneration in which all old things are to pass away and all things are to become new and this we must do if we desire a perfect Reformation and growth of our Religion or good to our Civil State For the whole Fabrick of this Building is so rotten and corrupt from the very Foundation of it to the top that if we pull it not down now it will fall about the Ears of all those that endeavour it within a very few years The universal rottenness or corruption of this Government will most evidently appear by a disquisition into these ensuing particulars First Let us consider in what Soil this root grows Is it not in the Pope's Paradise do not one and the same Principles and Grounds maintain the Papacy or universal Bishop as do our Diocesan or Metropolitan Bishops All those authorities which have been brought us out of the Fathers and Antiquity will they not as well if not better support the Popedome as the Order of our Bishops So likewise all these Arguments for its agreeableness to Monarchy and cure of Schisme do they not much more strongly hold for the acknowledgment of the Pope than for our Bishops And yet have Monarchies been ever a whit the more absolute for the Pope's universal Monarchy or their Kingdoms less
Clergy-man no Dignitary whose Books have cost him a Thousand Pounds which when he dies may be worth to his Wife and Children about Two Hundred It will be a shameful reproach to so flourishing a Kingdom as this to have a poor beggarly Clergy For my part I think nothing too much nothing too good for a good Minister a good Clergy-man They ought least to want who best know how to abound Burning and shining Lights do well deserve to be set in good Candlesticks Mr. Hide I am as much for Reformation for purging and maintaining Religion as any man whatsoever but I profess I am not for Innovation Demolition nor Abolition Possibly the Reader will now be desirous to see this Bill which gave so much business to the Parliament and therefore I here present him with a Copy of it as I find it in the Paper-Office An Act for the Abolishing and taking away of all Arch-Bishops Bishops their Chancellours and Commissaries Deans Deacons and Chanters Arch-Deacons Prebendaries and Canons and all other their Under-Officers of the Church of England WHereas the Government of the Church of England by Arch-Bishops and Bishops The Bill against Episcopal Government and the Hierarchy of the Church their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans Arch-Deacons and others their Cathedral Officers have been found by lang experience to be a great Impediment to the perfect Reformation and Growth of Religion prejudicial to the Civâ—l Government of this Kingdom Be it therefore Enacted by the King 's most excellent Majesty the Lords and Commons Assembled in this present Parliament by the Authority of the same That from henceforth there shall be no Arch-Bishops Chancellors or Commissaries of any Bishopricks Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-Deacons Prebendaries Chanters Canons or Pety-Canons or any other of their Officers within this Church or Kingdom And every Parson that shall hereafter use or exercise any Power Iurisdiction Office or Authority Ecclesiastical or Civil by Collection of any such Name Title Dignity or Office or Iurisdiction to incur the Penalty and a Forfeiture contained in the Act of Premunires made in the 16 R. 2. That all which hereafter done by any Arch-Bishopricks their Chancellors Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-Deacons Prevendaries Canons Petty-Canons or any other Office by Collection of any of their Dignities or Officers aforesaid shall be meérly void in Law any Statute or Ordinance heretofore made to the contrary any wise notwithstanding And that all Mannors Lands Territories Impropriations Houses Rents Services and other Hereditaments whatsoever of the said Arch-Bishopricks Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-Deacons Prebendaries Canons Petty-Canons which they or any of them have in Right of the said Churches or Dignities shall be disposed and ordered of in such manner sort and form as the King 's most excellent Majesty the Lords Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled shall appoint And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction fit to be exercised within this Church and Kingdom of England shall be committed to such a number of Persons and in such manner as by this present Parliament appointed Divers Papers were upon this occasion presented to the Consideration of the House of Commons and many even of the Presbyterians who were for altering some things yet were not for Extirpation of Root and Branch among the rest I find these two in the Paper-Office THe Agitation of change of Government in the Church A Proposition concerning Bishops and Ecclesiastical Affairs and Church Government in the House of Commons is a Business of so high a Consequence that it is necessary to prevent any Resolution by Voting their judgment alone lest that being brought up with prejudice to the Lords who are and ought to be equally interessed may also prejudice the Cause It is a doubtful Case in the heat of this dispute how farr the Commons may go in the Declaration of their Opinions in which if the Lords shall not concur it may prove a great Rock of offence between the two Houses Therefore 't is very requisite that the Lords of the Higher House do timely interest themselves in the discussion and before any Resolution in either House To this purpose the Lords may be pleased to make a Committee in their House for the Reformation of Church Affairs and Government and thereupon demand a Conference with the Committee of the House of Commons that the business may be handled by Consultation on both sides pari passu and gradu At this Conference the Lords may be pleased to propose these grounds 1. That neither by Example nor Reason in any Age or State Matters Ecclesiastical or Mutations in Church Affairs were ever alone determined by Lay-men 2. In the Primitive Church and most Ancient times matters of this nature were always debated in General Councils or National Synods in the blessed Reformation the business was agitated by a Choice number of Divines who communicated their proceeding with Reformed Divines abroad and admitted some Strangers into their Consultations for the satisfaction of their Brethren and Peace of the Church 3. The publick Enemy of our Religion will take infinite advantage at every Alteration and especially at any that shall be resolved above by Lay-men 4. It must of necessity produce a dangerous Schism in the Church if without all Respect of Edification and satisfaction to the Parties different in judgment any conclusion should be imposed upon both without their consent 5. It is impossible that any Resolution taken in Heat and Passion can be so permanent but that time will discover a Necessity of fresh alterations to the shame of the whole Reformation 6. It is necessary to proceed in such a way as may not be Scandalous to the Churches abroad and may give satisfaction to both Parties opposite and contending at Home and may be Honourable Durable Obliging and Fortified with the consent and agreement of the Ecclesiastick and the Authority of the Parliament To effect which it is most agreeable to true Wisdom and Policy that both Houses of Parliament determine and declare for the present that the Laws Established for Church Government shall be obeyed And because all things in the first Reformation could not be fore-seen or some things were necessarily for other respects overseen which Time and great Liberty and Light have discovered and which may now be more fitly taken into consideration That therefore both Houses may be pleased to move His Majesty for the calling of a National Synod I mean of a Select number of Divines of all three Nations subject to His Majesty equally and impartially chosen of Moderate and Learned Men of both sides in which may be discussed and resolved a setled and uniform Model of Government to be presented unto the Parliament of all the Kingdoms there to receive Strength and Approbation In which Assembly Godly Men and lovers of Peace assisted by the Spirit of God may doubtlessly be induced to receive satisfaction from one another in
and Subdivisions made under them The first Head concerning the Disbanding of the Army First Head that is in the Forefront because it is first to be done and to make way for all the rest And of this four several Branches 1. The House of Commons desires the five Regiments to be first Disbanded according to the former Order agreed upon by both Houses 2. The Commissioners for the Scots to be desired to retire some of their Troops from the Teeze 3. That their Lordships would joyn with the House of Commons in an humble motion to his Majesty to declare these Five Regiments to be Disbanded and the rest of the Army as soon as Mony may be provided and for the punishment of those that shall refuse to Disband if any such should be 4. That the Lord General should be intreated forthwith to repair to the Army upon Saturday at the furthest at which time the Mony will be there And that the Lord Newport Master of the Ordnance may likewise be there to take care of the Ordnance and all things under his Charge The Second Head was Second Head That his Majesty will be pleased to allow a convenient time before his journey into Scotland that so the Army may first be Disbanded and that some of the important Affairs now depending in Parliament some in both Houses and other some in the House of Commons may be dispatched before his Majesties Journey This Proposition he backs with these Four Reasons 1. The Safety of his Majesties Person 2. The Removing of the Jealousies of his good Subjects 3. The Cutting off the hopes of those which are ill affected and have any Design of disturbing the Kingdom by means of the Armies 4. The great advantage in his Majesties own Affairs and contentment of his People if before his going the Royal Assent may pass to divers Bills concerning the Reformation of the Church and State whereof some are already sent up and others in Preparation as the Bill intended for further Grant of Tonnage and Poundage and other Customs That some time may be employed to Regulate the King's Estate and Revenue to free them of unnecessary Burthens and to employ them for the good of the Commonwealth All which require his presence in Parliament The Third Head was about his Majesties Councels Third Head 1. That his Majesty may be humbly Petitioned to remove such evil Counsellors against whom there shall be any just Exceptions And for the Committing of his own Business and the Affairs of the King to such Counsellors and Officers as the Parliament may have cause to conside in The Reasons Because all those ill effects we feel were produced by those ill Counsels in all the three Fundamentals before spoken of 1. In matters of Religion 2. In the King 's private Estate 3. In the good of the whole Kingdom All these Three have decayed but those of another Kind and Allay have much prospered of late amongst us as matters of Monopolies matters of Projects and new Inventions Here he told your Lordships a Tale of a Gardner who being demanded why the Weeds grew so fast and the Flowers so thin in his Ground-Plot answered That the Weeds were the true Children but the Flowers were but so many Slips and Bastards So saith he it is written That Kings should be our Nursing-Fathers and Queens our Nursing-Mothers but we have found here of late by reason of bad Counsellors no Nurses but Hirelings of the Publick State these therefore are especially to be removed for the reducing of the Kingdom to a better Condition and Posture Howbeit this Request is by the Commons recommended but in general for the present without pointing out or designing of particulars in hope the King will find them out himself Otherwise it will cause the House of Commons to reduce this Petition to Names of Particulars and therefore they desire your Lordships so to commend it to his Majesty that he would put the Affairs of his own and the Kingdom into such hands as his Majesty and the Parliament may confide in The Fourth Head concerns the Queens Majesty Fourth Head and consists of several Branches 1. That his Majesty will be graciouslyy pleased by Advice of his Parliament to persuade the Queen to take some of the Nobility and others of Trust into her Service in such Places as are now of her disposing Reason She shewed her self ready to do any thing for the Common good of the Kingdom and this is of that kind 2. That no Jesuit be entertained into Her Majesties Service nor any Priests Natives of his Majesties Dominions The Reasons of this First Because Banished in all other Courts of Catholique Princes Secondly Against the Laws of our Nation that Native Priests should be here 3. That the Colledg of Capuchins at Denmark House may be dissolved and the Persons sent away out of the Kingdom for these Four Reasons 1. Their being here is a Scandal to our Religion and a Danger to our Peace 2. Disaffection to the State manifested in Two Letters dated May 6. whereby many Slanders are cast upon the Parliament and the good Subjects under the Name of Puritans as disaffected and injurious to the Queens Person and thereupon the Cardinal excited to some Design against England 3. The Letter of Nathanael Phillips wherein by way of Reproach unto the Parliament he writes That the Protestation taken in both Houses is like the Scottish Covenant but somewhat worse 4ly That divers Informations are given of great quantity of Gold Transported by these Priests 4. The Fourth Branch concerning the Queen is upon the special Occasion of his Majesties absence That your Lordships would joyn with the House of Commons to Advise the King That some of the Nobility and others of Quality with a competent Guard may be appointed to attend the Queen for the Security of her Royal Person against all Designs of the Papists and others ill-affected to the Peace of the Kingdom The Reasons for this First To secure Her from Popish Attempts Secondly By the Watchfulness of those Worthy Persons Priests and Jesuits may be kept from the Court. He protested That herein they intended nothing of Disrespect he said it was a blessed thing to be kept from Temptation and to be rid of those Flies would gain the Queen the Love of the People in his Majesties Absence The Fifth Head concerning the Prince Fifth Head and the rest of the Royal Issue That some Person of Publique Trust and well-affected in Religion may by Advice of the Parliament be placed about the Prince and may take Care of his Education Especially in matters of Religion and the like Care to be taken of the rest of his Majesties Children The Sixth Head concerning Papists coming to Court Sixth Head consisted of Four Branches 1. Humbly desired by the Commons who desire your Lordships to Joyn with them in that Petition That his Majesty would be sparing in Licensing Papists to come to
of Aid and Supply to your Lordships in the Ancient and due Form But perhaps your Lordships will say you question not that general right we have of granting Subsidies that it is to receive its Birth and Being from the House of Commons but that in this particular case of Poll-money you expect a particular satisfaction and much more to see it proved that the Peerage of England were ever before rated in such a Bill For the first my Lords this way is an Ancient and a known way it began in the time of that Wise and Victorious Prince King Ed. 3. as appears upon Record in Rotulo Parliamenti de Anno 51. Ed. 3. Numero 19. And I assure my self neer upon three hundred years continuance is able to challenge both allowance and imitation from this present Age. During the Reign of R. 2. his Grand-child this course of raising money by the Poll was again put in practice as an advantagious and a speedy way Your Lordships shall find one example of it in the Parliament Roll de Anno 4. Rich. 2. n. 15. being almost the same with that rate and proportion granted in the time of Edward the Third But that Record which comes home to this case and is an identical president in the very particular before your Lordships to give you full satisfaction is found in Rotulo Parliamenti in Parliamento 2. for the miseries at home and the calamities abroad caused in one year sometimes two sometimes three Parliaments in those elder times de An. 2. Rich. 2. n. 14. where the Dukes Earls and Barons are all particularly rated and the Duke of Britain is there assessed as a Duke though he were a Free Prince and had only the Title of Earl of Richmond in England Nay my Lords the House of Commons at this time hath come far short of the same president in favour of the Noble Ladies for whereas the Countesses Dowagers were rated at the same proportions with Earls and the Widows of Barons at as high a rate as the Barons themselves we have now eased them of two parts of that and only charged them with the third I hope now your Lordships have seen both reason and president for our proceedings at this time you will be pleased to believe that the House of Commons will be as careful and tender of your Lordships Rights and Priviledges as of their own We know my Lords that this is the way to preserve peace and unity between us which as it is always expedient so is it at this time most necessary For the two Houses are as the two Arms of the Kingdom if we hold fast together we shall be able to Accomplish great things worthy to be transmitted to after-Ages but if we dissever and disunite we may end in ruin and calamity So much of the said Record as concerns the rating of the Nobility and Gentry is here added it being presented thus ready written at the said Conference Rot. Parliamen in Parliamento 2. de An. 2. Rich. 2. N. 14. Le Duc de Lancastre le Duc de Bretaigne chescun a x. Markes chescun Conte D'engleterre iiii l. Chescun Countesses veoves en Engleterre a tant come les Count iiiii l. Chescun Baron Baneret ou Chivaler qui poet a tant dispendere xl s. Chescun Baronesse veove paiera come Baron Banresse come le Baneret xl s. Chescun Bachiler chescun Esquier qui per Le statute deveroit estre Chivaler xx s. Chescun veove Dame feme de Bachiler on Esquier al afferant xx s. Chescun Esquire de meindre estate vi s. viii d. Chescun feme veoxe de tiel Esquire ou Marchant suffisant vi s. viii d. Chescun Esquier nient possession de terres ne chateux quest en service ou ad este armes iii. s. iiii d Captain Pollard this day Petitioned the House Captain Hugh Pollard Bailed that he might have liberty to go into the Country to visit his Father who lay very sick and was so far displeased with him upon the misfortune of his Accusation that he was afraid he would dis-inherit him and the Earl of Essex and another Lord offering to be Bail for him it was Ordered That by Warrant from the Speaker he should be delivered from the Gate-House to the Serjeant at Arms who was to take Bail of 1000 l. from himself and 500 l. apiece from his Bail Thursday July 1. Stannery Bill passed the Commons The Articles against the Judges Voted for his appearing upon Monday three weeks The Bill for Regulating the Court of Stanneries was this day read a third time and passed the Commons Mr. Hide reports the Articles against Judge Crawley Sir Humphrey Davenport Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Trevor Baron of the Exchequer Sir Richard Weston Baron of the Exchequer which were singly Voted and ordered to be Engrossed and a Conference to be desired with the Lords and that Sir Randal Crew 's Case be then recommended to their Lordships to move his Majesty to recompence him with Honour for his Sufferings for the Publick Upon Mr. Peard's reporting of the Case of Mr. Faunt Mr. Peard Reports Mr. Faunt's Case it was Resolved c. That the Sentence in the Star-Chamber against Sir William Faunt was without ground of any thing that appears either in answer or proof Resolved c. That the said Mr. Faunt and his Father as Co-executors ought to be restored to all that was paid either by Sir William Faunt or them Resolved c. That the Cause be represented to the Lords to the end the Sentence may be reversed and the Parties restored to all that they and their Testators have paid Resolved A Vote against the Council Board c. That neither the Body of the Lords of the Council nor any one of them in particular as a Privy-Councellor hath any power to imprison any Free-born Subject except in such Cases as they are warranted by the Statutes of the Realm Engrossed Articles against Lord Chief Justice Bramston Friday July 2. Lord Chief Baron Davenport the Judges Crawley Weston Trevor and Berkley voted to be carried up to the Lords The Bills against the Court of Star-Chamber and High-Commission Court Bills against Star-Chamber c. Carried up to the Lords with the amendments passed and carried up to the Lords by Mr. Capel as also the Bill for raising Mony for the speedy disbanding the Armies and to move their Lordships to desire of his Majesty his Royal Assent to them with all convenient Expedition The Bill for the Poll-mony with the Amendments were twice read in the House of Lords and agreed to with this Memorandum Memorandum A Salvo entered by the Lords about the Poll Money That a Salvo be entred for the preserving the Priviledges of Peers of this Realm for Rating and Taxing themselves in Subsidies by Members of this House in time of Parliament This day was read a third
the right Way It behoves us therefore and is expedient that we should add a Period to these Irregular ways that the Vulgar may no longer wander ill in these distracted parts Master Speaker I have now unloaded my mind of her weary burthen and I beseech you digest my words with your serious considerations in this respect of establishing the Church-Government in true sincere perfect and unpoluted Religion which if we do perform and fully effect we shall do great Honour to God get great Credit to our Selves and give great Satisfaction to the whole Kingdom This is my Opinion this is my Expectation this is my Prayer and lastly this is my Hope A Message was sent this Morning from the House of Commons by the Lord Viscount Wainman Message about a Bill for Clerk of the Market c. who said he was Commanded to deliver to their Lordships Three Bills which had passed the House of Commons 1. Entituled An Act for the better ordering the Office of Clerk of the Market allowed and confirmed by this Statute and for the Reformation of the false Weights and Measures 2. An Act against divers Encroachments and Oppressions in the Stannery Courts 3. An Act for the Confirmation of his Majesty's Letters Patents to the Town of Plymouth and for dividing the Parish and building of a new Church And he was further to desire a dispatch of some Bills brought up formerly as the Bill against Pluralities and that their Lordships would appoint some time when their Lordships shall be at leisure that the Commons may come up with the Impeachment against the Judges The Answer which was returned to the Message was The Lords Answer That their Lordships will give a dispatch to these Bills now brought up with all convenient speed and will in a short time give a dispatch to the Bill against Pluralities And further it was told them That their Lordships have appointed great business this Morning concerning the safety of the Kingdom but will Sit this Afternoon at Three of the Clock at which time they will give the House of Commons a meeting concerning the Impeachments of the Judges The House of Commons this Day fell upon the matter of their Priviledges in the Case of Mr. Hollis and others 3 Car. Tuesday July 6. and upon the Debate of the House came to these following Votes Votes about Priviledge in the Case of Hollis c. 3 Car. Resolved c. That the Warrants of the Lords and others of the Privy Council compelling Mr. Hollis and others to appear before them during that Parliament is a Breach of Priviledg Resolved c. That the Committing of Mr. Hollis and others by the Lords and others of the Privy Council 3 Car. during that Parliament is a Breach of Priviledg Resolved c. That the Searching and Sealing of the Chambers Studies and Papers of Mr. Hollis Mr. Selden and Sir John Eliot being Members of Parliament and issuing out Warrants for that purpose is a breach of Priviledg Resolved c. That the Exhibiting an Information in the Court of Star-Chamber against Mr. Hollis and others for Matters done by them in Parliament being Members of Parliament is a breach of Priviledg Resolved c. That Sir Robert Heath Sir Humphrey Davenport Sir Heneage Finch Mr. Hudson and Sir Robert Berkley that subscribed the said Informations are guilty of the breach of Priviledg Resolved c. That there was a Delay of Justice towards Mr. Hollis and others upon the Habeas Corpora in that they were not Bayled in Easter or Trinity Term 5 Car. Resolved c. That Sir Nicholas Hide then Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Kings-Bench is guilty of this Delay Resolved c. That Sir William Jones one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench is guilty of this Delay Resolved c. That Sir James Whitlock Knight one of the Justices of the Kings-Bench is guilty of this Delay A Conference was had with the Lords in the Painted Chamber at the transmitting of the Impeachments of the Judges at which time Mr. William Perpoint upon the reading the Articles against Sir Robert Berkley Knight one of the Justices of the Court of Kings-Bench made this Speech in aggravation of their Crimes My Lords I Am Commanded to present to your Lordships these Articles Mr. William Perpoint's Speech at the Impeachment of Sir Robert Berkley July 6. 1641. with which the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons House of Parliament in their own Name and in the Name of all the Commons of England Impeach Sir Robert Berkley Knight one of the Justices of his Majesties Court of Kings-Bench in maintenance of their Accusation of High Treason and other great Misdemeanours The Articles they desire may be read The Articles were read by Mr. Newport The High Treason is in the first Article in his Endeavours to Subvert the Fundamental Laws of this Realm and to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government which hath been lately adjudged Treason in the Cause of the Earl of Strafford The other Articles prove the first By his Opinions Certificates Judgments by his denials of the benefits of our Laws which have been read to your Lordships No Fundamental Law to the Subject is left our Goods our Lands our Bodies the peace of a good Conscience are by him given up to Arbitrary Tyrannical Government Nothing hath been omitted to make a Judge know the Lawes to make him Just or fear him from being Evil We have Inns of Court peculiar to that Study Judges from thence onely chosen seldom any but what have been Twenty Years there Honours and Revenues are given to Judges Encouragements to do well this Judge had these Judges are sworn according to Law to serve the King and his People according to Law to Counsel the King and for not so doing to be at his Will for Body Lands and Goods this Judge took that Oath The Lawes the Judges study impose the greatest punishments upon unjust Judges shew that these punishments have been inflicted more could not be done to perswade or fear a Judge His Offences shew in him great Ambition yet he was most timorous of displeasing the Great in Power He did not only forbear doing what he was sworn to do but was most active against our Laws and in opposing and punishing any that did maintain them To have only received Bribes though they blind the Eyes and though the Desire to get Money encreaseth with Age that hainous Crime in a Judge had been in comparison with his Offences a tolerable Vice for from such a Judge Justice is also to be had for money Ambition is violent and ruines whilst Covetousness is making a Bargain The words of his Opinion and Judgment are for the King's Power It is pleasing to the Nature of Man that others should obey his Will and well framed dispositions of Princes may easily be perswaded their Power is unlimited when they are also put in mind that therefore they have
forbear doing to be Great to be Rich had he Children or Kindred or had none This highly unjust Judge by continuing sins maintained his Actions to preserve himself he knows to be found guilty in one of his offences the penalty of the Law for it therefore covers the offences committed with inventing and acting other For a Judge to be Unjust more hurts the Publique than any other he is not suspected What a Judge doth is looked on as a thing that ought to be done The most pernicious Great Man that by cunning hath got to himself the Heart and Tongue of his Prince his ill acts have dyed with him if not taken up by others and then they walk in darkness No man will justifie what he doth by saying Such a Favorite did it but the Unjust Judgments of this Judge were given in the Noon-day were done in the face of the whole Kingdom in the hearing of such as might carry the News to all Parts of the Realm and was therefore done His Unjust Judgments were our Records We have seen Wicked Great Men most Craftily Politique they hated our Laws yet not meeting with Active Judges moulded to their purposes they and their acts have dyed the Realm flourished but of late others less Politick meeting with most Unjust Judges every way as ill as they could wish them to be then did the Kingdom faint under the Load of its Misery did long struggle now it 's rising I assure my self your Lordships will assist to take off the Burden If the Designs of some would not have such a man to be at liberty a Warrant from some Lords of the Council would soon have laid him in Prison and given no cause had he moved this Judge to be Discharged or Bailed he could have obtained neither if their wayes would not have endured that man to live a Judge reviling the Prisoner and his Councel that moved for his Discharge or Bail joyned with the hate of some Great Man might soon have moved a Gaoler for unwholsome Rooms and Lodging and ill Dyet for his Prisoner and they may soon take Life away month July 1641. Offenders in Prisons are looked after to be safe only such are brought in by Power against Law are abused Had a great Man desired the Estates of others the breach of a Proclamation might readily have been charged against them in the Star-Chamber but they it may be could have answered and cleared themselves and proved their Answers by Testimonies had they been referred to this Judge he would have expunged the one suppressed the other Then followed Fines to the value of their Estates or more then Imprisonments of course till they paid such Fines your Lordships have heard what this Judge did to the Sope-boylers The Country-man followed the Plough and his thinking he was assured of his Right of Property and Liberty gave him ability to do it He believed his Neighbour his Landlord his King could not take his Goods from him without his consent He knew the usual payments by Law and in Extraordinary Causes thought to have that Care to choose such for his Knights of his Shire or for his Burgesses as might be mindful of the cause of payment and of his Estate This man hath heard the Opinions and Judgment of this Judge hath seen his Goods taken from him without his or his Knights of the Shire or Burgesses consent or advise These have made him his Wife and Children to joyn in tears to wish they had never been born they have made them think on many wayes to keep safe that Estate which was yet left them have made them desire to sell all their Goods and hide the Money but then he remembers this Judge how that he shall be carried to Prison and remain there if he pay not what please others to assess him Then they think idle persons the drones and moths of the Common-wealth to be a wise people who to be unworthy to live they formerly conceited They expect and can think of nothing but to be Beggars Where publick and enormous Offences have been committed eminent and notorious punishments must be such will make your Lordships Proceedings highly esteemed else there will be so many offenders as none without danger can be punished This Judge Subverting our Laws took away the Hearts of many he subscribed for the Kings Power but so as he put him on taking his Subjects Goods and of all other such ways be most dangerous For we know his Majesty is not the last that suffers and is not the King worth many Thousands The place of this Judge was to have given and preserved to the King the Hearts of his Subjects the due execution of the Laws had done this and when such notice is taken of a Prince none will conspire against him who cannot fain to themselves Safety before or after any fact committed Forraign Enemies will not Invade his Kingdoms Thus hath his Majesty now got our Hearts and will for ever have them This Judge is to answer for what his Majesty and for what we have suffered I am Commanded by the House of Commons to desire of your Lordships That the Proceedings against Sir Robert Berkley Knight one of the Justices of his Majesties Court of Kings-Bench may be in as speedy a way of Trial as the Course of Parliament will allow The Articles were as follow The Atticles of Impeachment of Sir Robert Berkley Knight one of the Justices of the Court of the Kings-Bench by the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled in their Own Name and in the Name of all the Commons of England in Maintenance of their Accusation whereby he standeth Charged with High Treason and other great Misdemeanors INprimis That the said Sir Robert Berkley Articles of Impeachment against Sir Robert Berkley c. July 6. 1641. then being One of the Justices of the said Court of Kings-Bench hath Trayterously and Wickedly endeavoured to Subvert the Fundamental Laws and Established Government of the Realm of England and instead thereof to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law which he hath declared by Trayterous and Wicked Words Opinions Judgments Practices and Actions appearing in the several Articles Ensuing 2. Whereas by the Statute made in the 25th Year of the Reign of King Henry the 8th Prices of Victuals are appointed to be rated in such manner as in the said Statute is declared But it is manifest by the said Statute Corn is none of the Victuals thereby intended Nevertheless some ill-affected persons endeavouring to bring a Charge upon the Subjects contrary to Law did surmise that the Prices of Corn might be rated and set according to the Direction of that Statute and thereupon great Gain might be raised to his Majesty by Licences and Dispensations for selling Corn at other Prices And a Command from his Majesty being procured to the Judges and sent to them by William Noy Esquire his Majesties then Attorney-General to deliver their Opinions touching
the Heirs their Livery in prejudicium impregnaturae This was conceived negotium novum difficile and the King having commanded the Chancellour and Judges to deliver their Opinions in writing they returned Quod non audebant dictum negotium definire nec Domino Regi consulere sine assensu magnatum propter raritatem difficultatem Whereupon day was given to the Parties ad proximum Parliamentum And your Lordships well know the special care that is taken by the Statute of 14 Ed. 3. cap. 5. that such matters as for the difficulty are not fit for the Judges or through eminent delay are not dispatched by the Judges shall be determined in Parliament Not such matters as the parties concerned had rather venture upon your Lordships judgments then upon the Rules and Proceedings of the Law God knows what mischief and confusion may fall out upon that admission there must be such difficulty such delay before that Statute meant your Lordships Justice should be concerned in the resolution I wish these Gentlemen had thought this business a matter of that difficulty as had been fit for such a delay My Lords We come next to the Charge concerning Knighthood Mr. Maleverer appears upon the Process of that Court pleads and submits to his Fine ponit se in gratiam Curiae The Barons refuse to impose any Fine they had no power to do that he must treat with certain Commissioners appointed for that purpose and compound with them Your Lordships have not met in the same Men such contradictions of Crimes who would suspect the same Men in one Charge to have the mettle to Usurp the Power and Exercise the Jurisdiction of the highest Court the Court of Parliament and presently to want the Spirit to do that which was so restrained and peculiar to their places to have done as that none else could do it They had no power to Fine as if the sole business of Sworn Judges in a Court of Law were to summon and call Men thither and then to send them on Errands to other Commissioners for Justice 'T is true the Commissioners of 1 Edw. 1. to Tiptoffe and Berk and since to others were and have been to compound with those who desired to compound not otherwise they had no power to compel any to fine any that trust by the Law was and is only in the Judges so that if this duty were aright to his Majesty and the Persons lyable refuse to compound for ought these Judges can do the King must lose this Duty they can impose no Fine only they have found a Trick which they call the Course of the Court to make his Majesty a saver appear while you will plead what you will submit to the mercy of the Court Issues shall go on still as if you did neither till you have done somewhat that Court will not order you to do nor is bound to take notice of when you have done your Lordships will help us out of this Circle And that you may see how incapable they are of any excuse in this point the very Mittimus out of Chancery gives them express Command amongst other things Vt fines omnium illorum qui juxta proclamationem predict ' ordinem ante predict ' diem suscepisse debuerunt capiatis c. 'T is only worth your Lordships observation this misfortune commonly attends and may it ever those absolute disused Rights that be the thing in it self in a degree lawful the Advisers and Ministers of it so fail in the Execution that as it usually proves as grievous to the Subject so by some Circumstances it proves as penal to the Instruments as if it were in the very nature of the thing against all the Laws of Government I have wearied your Lordships You see in what a dress of injustice subtilty and oppression I am very unwillingly compelled to present these Judges to you if they appear to your Lordships under any other Character of known and confessed learning in the whole course of their lives how far that will aggravate their fault your Lordships must only judge If under the excuse of Ignorance or not much Knowledge in the duty of their places your Lordships will easily conclude what infinite mischief of which your Lordships have no particular Information the Subjects of this Kingdom have suffered in their Lives in their Fortunes under such Ignorance and such Presumption If under the Reputation of Prudence and Integrity in all Cases except these presented to your Lordships your Lordships will be at least of the same opinion that he of Lacedemon was of the Athenians if they carried themselves well when time was and now ill they deserve a double punishment because they are not good as they were and because they are evil as they were not My Lords If the excellent envied Constitution of this Kingdom hath been of late distempered your Lordships see the Causes if the sweet harmony between the King's Protection and the Subjects Obedience hath unluckily suffered interruption if the Royal Justice and Honour of the best of Kings have been mistaken by his People if the Duty and Affection of the most Faithful and Loyal Nation have been suspected by their gracious Sovereign If by these misrepresentations and these misunderstandings the King and People have been Robbed of the delight and comfort of each other and the blessed Peace of this Island been shaken and frighted into Tumults and Commotions into the Poverty though not into the rage of War as a People prepared for Destruction and Desolation These the are Men Actively or Passively by doing or not doing have brought this upon us Misera servitus falsò pax vocatur ubi Judicia deficiunt incipit Bellum My Lords I am Commanded by the House of Commons to desire Your Lordships that these Three Judges may be speedily required to make their Answers to these Impeachments and that such further Proceedings may be had against them as the Course and Justice of Parliament will admit The ARTICLES were as followeth Articles of the House of Commons in the Name of themselves Articles of Impeachment against Judge Davenport July 6 1641. and of all the Commons of England against Sir Humphrey Davenport Knight Lord Chief Baron of His Majesties Court of Exchequer Impeaching him as followeth THat whereas in the Month of October in the fourth Year of His Majesties Reign the Farmers and Officers of the Custom-House having seized great Quantities of Currants being the Goods of Samuel Vassal Merchant and having conveyed them into certain Store-Houses at the Custom-House and detained them because the said Samuel Vassal refused to pay an Imposition of five Shillings six Pence upon every hundred weight of the said Currants pretended to be due upon and demanded by the said Farmers and Officers on his Majesties behalf for the said Currants whereas no such Imposition was due or payable for the same but the said Imposition was and is against the Laws of this Realm And whereas also in
for a Prohibition to stay Proceedings in the Court Christian at Norwich and delivered into the said Court of Kings-Bench his Suggestions that the said Cause in the said Court Christian was for Tythes for Rents of Houses in Norwich which was determinable by the Common Law only yet he the said Sir John Brampston being Chief Justice of the said Court of Kings-Bench and sitting the said Court deferred to grant a Prohibition to the said Court Christian in the said Cause although the Councel did move in the said Court several Times and several Terms for a Prohibition And he the said Sir John Brampston deferred to grant His Majesties Writs of Prohibition to several Courts on the Motions of divers others of His Majesties Subjects where the same by Laws of this Realm ought to have been granted contrary to the Laws of this Realm and his own knowledg And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves only the Liberties of Exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Accusation or Impeachment against the said Sir John Brampston and also of replying to the Answer that he the said Sir John Brampston shall make unto the said Articles or any of them or of offering Proofs of the Premisses or any of their Impeachments or Accusations that shall be exhibited by them as the Case shall according to the Course of Parliament require do pray that the said Sir John Brampston Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Kings-Bench may be put to answer to all and every the Premisses and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments may be upon every of them had and used as is agreeable to Law and Justice Mr. Hollis also according to the Order of the House of Commons at this Conference made application to their Lordships in the behalf of Sir Randal Crew in this manner My Lords THese Gentlemen have represented unto your Lordships the sad object of Justice perverted Liberty oppressed Mr. Denzil Hollis his Speech about Sir Randal Crew July 6. 1641. of Judgment turned into Worm-wood the Laws which should be the Bars of our Gates to protect us keep us and all that is ours in safety made weak and impotent to betray us unto the hands of violence instead of Props to support us become broken Reeds to deceive us and run into our sides when we lean upon them even so many snares to entrap and entangle us And all this by the perfidiousness of those who are entrusted with our Laws who call themselves the Guardians and the Interpreters of the Law but by their accursed Glosses have confounded the Text and made it speak another Language and another Sense than ever our Ancestors the Law-makers intended Our Ancestors made Laws to keep themselves their posterity after them in the possession of their Estates these Judges could make the Law it self rob us and despoil us of our Estates Were we invaded and persecuted at any time for pretended Crimes or rather because they were free from Crime And did we put our selves upon a legal defence and shelter our selves under the Buckler of the Law use those Lawful Weapons which Justice and Truth and the Common Right of the Subject did put into our hands would this avail us No these Judges would make the Law wrest our Weapons from us disarm us take away all our defence expunge our Answers even bind us hand and foot and so expose us naked and bound to the mercilesness of our Oppressors were our Persons forced and imprisoned by an Act of Power would the Law relieve us when we appealed unto it No it would joyn hands with violence and add bitterness to our sorrow these Judges would not hear us when we did cry no importunity could get a Habeas Corpus Nay our cryes would displease them and they would beat us for crying and over-do the unjust Judge in the Gospel with whom yet importunity could prevail My Lords The Commons of England finding themselves in this lamentable condition by the wickedness of these Judges It is no wonder that we complain of them it is no wonder if the Knights Citizens and Burgesses Assembled in Parliament have sent up some of their Members to stand upon Mount Ebal to Curse these Judges to denounce a Curse upon them who have removed our Land-marks have taken away the Bound-stones of the Propriety of the Subject have left no Meum Tuum but he that had most might had most right and the Law was sure to be on his side It hath been the part of these Gentlemen who have spoken before me to pray for justice upon those men who would not do justice to others My Lords I come upon another Errand and yet for justice too for there is justice upon Mount Gerezim as well as upon Mount Ebal It is as great a point of justice to give a blessing a reward where it is due as punishment where punishment is due For reward and punishment Praemium poena be the two legs that Justice walks on and reward is her right leg the more noble and the more glorius Supporter of that Sacred and Divine Body that which God himself the Foundation of Justice doth more delight in Tradior ad poenas Deus est ad praemia velox Punishment is good as Physick in the Consequence Reward as wholesome and nourishing Food in the Essence the one we do because we must do it as necessary the other because we love to do it as being pleasing and delightful Your Lordships then I doubt not will as willingly joyn with the Commons in doing good to a good Judge as in punishing of the bad My Lords We honour them and reckon them Martyrs for the Common-wealth who suffer any thing by defending the Common Right of the Subject when they will not part with their own Goods contrary to Law when indeed their private interest goes along with it or rather before it and the publick Concernment seems to come but in a second place such were those many whom these Judges have oppressed yet these Men we magnifie and judge worthy of Praise and Reward But what honour then is he worthy of who meerly for the publick hath suffered himself to be divested and deprived of his particular such a Judge as would lose his place rather than do that which his Conscience told him was prejudicial to the Common-wealth Is not he worthy of double honour And this did that Worthy Reverend Judge the chief Judge of England at that time Sir Randol Crew because he would not by subscribing countenance the Loan in the first year of the King contrary to his Oath and Conscience he drew upon himself the displeasure of some great Persons about his Majesty who put on that project which was afterwards condemned by the Petition of Right in the Parliament of Tertio as unjust and unlawful and by that means he lost his place of Chief Justice of the King's-Bench and hath these fourteen years by keeping his innocency lost the
of the Palatinate by whose only means he had suffered the same to be lost to the Emperor and that therefore he should presently press that King either to give a full and direct Answer under his Hand and Seal for the Restitution thereof or else to joyn his Armes with his Majesty against the Emperor for the Recovery of the same But this matter as it further appears by the Original Journal-Books of the Lords House being either not throughly pressed or notably dissembled so many delays ensued one upon the neck of another as in the Issue it drew his Royal Majesty then Prince of Wales to undertake that dangerous and remote Journey unto that Nation which hath been the long and hereditary Enemy of England This Journey was chiefly undertaken by so great a Prince to add an end one way or other to that unfortunate Treaty and his stay in Spain did causally proceed from his earnest desire to have effected a peaceable Restitution of the Palatinate and therefore I doubt not but he shall now live to verifie that Excellent and Heroick Expression which he made to the Conde de Oilvarez a little before his coming out of that Kingdom Look for neither Marriage nor Friendship without the Restitution of the Palatinate And I assure my self That the Force and Power of Great Britain which was lately by subtil and wicked Instruments divided against it self being now united in One again will be able to Effect such Great and Considerable Actions as shall render his Majesties Name and Reign Glorious to all Posterity The Two Houses of Parliament at that time received the before-mentioned Declaration with so much resentment as having rendred Glory to God that had so seasonably discovered the Spanish Frauds and next their humble acknowledgments to their then Gracious Soveraign for requiring their Counsels in a business of so great Importance they did unanimously advise him to break off the said two Treaties touching the Marriage and the Restitution of the Palatinate ingaging no Less than their Persons and Purses for the Recovery of the then Prince Elector's Ancient and Hereditary Dominions It appears also in the Original Journal-Book of this House De Anno 1. Caroli That this great Business was again taken into Consideration but was finally intombed with other Matters of great Moment by the fatal and abortive Dissolution of that Parliament If therefore this Great Council of the Kingdom did in those two former Parliaments account the Restitution of this Illustrious and Princely Family to be of such great necessity for the preserving of True Religion abroad and securing our selves at home as to ingage themselves for an Assistance therein Certainly we may upon much better grounds undertake the same now when I assure my self we may go as far with a Thousand pounds for the present as we could have done with Ten thousand at that time for let us but take a short View of the Estate of Christendom what it was then and what it is now and we shall easily perceive a great Alteration in the ballance thereof In France where Monsieur de Luynes did then rule all being himself acted by the Pope's Legate that King Contrary to the Examples of Francis the First Henry the Second and of Henry the Great his own Father and Contrary to the Maximes and Interest of that State and his own Safety advanced the Formidable Power and Spreading Greatness of the House of Austria but now the same French King's Eyes have been so opened that shaking off that former unhappy Slumber he was in he hath by his Arms and Power to his immortal Honour and Glory for divers years last past endeavoured to restore again that Liberty to the German Empire in the Ruin of which himself had so fatally before Concurred The Swedes were then involved in several Wars or Jealousies with the Pole and inforced to keep at home to defend their own but now have a strong Army and possess divers Pieces of Important Consequence within the very Bowels of the Empire The Episcopal Electors with the other Pontifician Princes and Prelates the sworn Enemies of the Protestant Religion were then Rich and Potent but since most of their Countries and Territories have tasted of the same Calamities of War which they had formerly brought upon their Neighbours so as now they are most of them scarce able to defend their own much less to offend any other The Pseudo-Lutheran Elector of Saxony that is Causally guilty more than any other single person Living of all those Calamities and Slaughters which have for so many Years wasted Germany and was then so Liberal of his Treasure and so forward with his Arms to ancillate to the Emperor's Designs to the almost utter Subversion of the True Religion in Germany is now after the reiterated temeration of his Faith and Promises the Fatal Survivor of the several Devastations of his own Country and Dominions so as all those vast difficulties and great dangers which might well have retarded the forwardness of those two former Parliaments the first being held in the 22d Year of his Majesty's Royal Father and the Later in his Own first Year being now removed we have greater Encouragements than ever to Concur with our Sacred Soveraign in the Asserting of this his most Just and Princely Manifesto For mine own part I expect no good Issue of the present Treaty at Ratisbonne I know the Duke of Bavaria's Ambition too well ever to imagine that he will part with those Large Revenues and much less with the Septem-Viral Dignity and Suffrage he hath obtained by the Prince Elector's Calamity and Misfortune unless it be Extorted from him by force of Arms. My humble Advice therefore is That we send up to the Lords to desire a speedy Conference with them in which we may acquaint their Lordships how far we have proceeded in our Approbation of his Majesties most Royal Manifesto and to move them to Concur with us therein After a long Debate the House came to this Resolution Resolved c. That this House doth Approve of his Majesties Pious Intention in the behalf of his Royal Sister the Queen of Bohemia Vote about the Manifesto and his Nephew the Prince Elector Palatine and the rest of the Princes of that Family and of the Publishing the Manifesto to that purpose and this House will be ready to give his Majesty such Advice and Assistance therein by Parliament as shall stand with the Honour of His Majesty and the Interest and Affection of this Kingdom if the present Treaty shall not succeed But these were only Words and they were so far from giving his Majesty or the Electoral Family any Assistances that having Encouraged the King of England to put out this Manifesto and then failing him of all Assistances to make it good they rendred Themselves the English Nation and the King himself Cheap in the Esteem of Forreign Nations however Mr. Pym was Ordered to go up to the Lords to desire a
Counties in this Kingdom but they conceive that their Names will be unacceptable and their Persons unwelcome and being thus Impeached to become Judges of Mens Lives and Estates will be a thing of great offence and distraction Therefore the House of Commons desired that all the Commissions granted to the Peccant Judges may be superseded and that their Names may be no more Vsed in Commissions and when the great Affairs now in agitation be dispatched they desired their Lordships to take their Impeachments into Consideration and proceed therein according to Justice Ordered That this House Consents to both these Requests of the House of Commons touching the aforesaid Judges This day the Lord Bruce was introducted with the usual Ceremonies his Patent bearing Date Aug. 2. 1641. Lord Bruce introducted The Earl of March reported to this House The Kings Answer about the Irish Acts. That His Majesty is pleased to like well of the Advice of this House concerning the staying of the Acts of Grace and Favour which were to be passed for the Kingdom of Ireland and will give order it shall be done accordingly until this House hath considered of the Letter sent to the Lord Keeper from the Speaker of the Lords House in Ireland Propositions of the Scots Commissioners and Answers of the English Lords Commissioners August 5. 1641. Propositions for the concluding the Peace with the Scots The Earl of Bristol reported the Propositions and Articles given in by the Scots Commissioners after the Lord Lowdon's return from the Parliament of Scotland which were read as followeth That the Treaty of Peace may be brought to a speedy and happy Close we do offer to your Lordships Consideration the following Particulars I. That as soon as the Scottish Army shall remove out of England to Scotland the English Garrisons of Berwick and Carlisle may remove simul semel II. Lest Malefactors who have committed Murder and the like Crimes crave the Benefit of the Act of Pacification and Oblivion for whom it is no ways intended there would be an Exception from the said Acts of all Legal pursuits intended or to be intended within the space of one year after the Date of the Treaty against Thieves * A Scotch word for Excommunicate Persons Horners Out-lawers Fugitives Murderers Broken men or their Receptaries for whatsoever Thefts Rifes Hardships Oppressions Depredations or Murders done or committed by them and all Lawful Decrets given or to be given by the Parliament or any Commissioners to be appointed by them for that effect who shall have power to Dignosce and take Cognition whether the same falls within the said Act of Pacification or Oblivion or not III. It is desired that the demand concerning the not making or denouncing War with Forreigners without consent of both Parliaments may be condescended unto by the King and the Parliament of England which is Ordained and Universally observed in all mutual Leagues which are both Offensive and Defensive and because the Wars denounced by one of the Kingdoms with Forreigners although made without consent of the other Kingdom will Engage them by necessary Consequence Or if the Consideration of this Proposition shall require longer time then the present Condition of the Important Affairs of the Parliament may permit and lest the speedy Close of the Treaty be thereby impeded it is desired that this Demand with the other Two Articles of the same Nature the one concerning Leagues and Confederations and the other concerning mutual Supply in case of Forreign Invasion may all three be remitted to Commissioners to be chosen by both Parliaments who shall have Power to Advise and Treat thereupon for the good of both Kingdoms and Report to the Parliament Respectively IV. It is desired That the Articles concerning Trade and Commerce Naturalization mutual Priviledge and Capacity and others of that nature already demanded may be condescended unto by the King and Parliament of England and namely that demand anent the Pressing of Men and Ships by Sea or Land Or if shortness of time may not permit the present determination of these Demands it is desired that the same except so many of them as are already agreed unto by the Commissioners for Trade may be remitted to Commissioners to be chosen by both Parliaments who shall have Power to Treat and Advise thereof for the good of both Kingdoms and to make Reports to the Parliament respectively and that the Charters or Warrants of the Scottish Nation for freedom of Shipping in England or Ireland from all Customs Imports Duties and Fees more then are paid by the Natives of England or Ireland granted by King James under the Great Seal of England upon the 11th day of April in the 13th year of his Reign and Confirmed by King Charles upon the 19th of April in the 8th year of his Reign may be Enacted and Ratified in this Parliament V. That the Extracts of Bonds and Decrets upon Record and Registers in Scotland may have the like Faith and Execution as the French Tabellons have in England and Ireland seeing they are of a like Nature and deserves more Credit and if this cannot be done at this time that it be remitted to the former Commission from both Parliaments VI. The manner of Safe Conduct for Transporting the Monys from England or Scotland by Sea or Land would be condescended unto in such way as the Charges be not Exorbitant and may be presently known VII The Tenor of the Commission for Conserving of Peace would be condescended unto together with the Times and Places of meeting and whole frame thereof the draught whereof when it is drawn up in England is to be represented to the Parliament of Scotland that they may make the like Commission and name their Commissioners for that effect VIII The Parliament of Scotland do join their earnest and hearty desires and craves the Parliament of England's Concurrence that none be placed about the Prince's Highness but such as are of the Reformed Religion IX That an Act of Parliament of Publick Faith for payment of the 220000 l. which is Arrear of the Brotherly assistance may be presently framed and expedited according to the Terms agreed upon X. It is desired that the Quorum to whom the Scots should Address themselves for payment of the 220000 l. be condescended upon XI That the Order for recalling all Proclamations made against His Majesties Subjects of Scotland be drawn up and intimate in due Form and Time with the Public Thanksgiving at all the Parish Churches of His Majesties Dominions XII It is desired That the Articles concerning the Castle of Edinburgh and other Strengths of that Kingdom may be understood to be that the same shall be disposed of for the Weal of the Kingdom as the King and Parliament shall think Expedient The English Lords Commissioners Answers THat upon the disbanding the Scottish Army the Garrisons of Berwick and Carlisle shall be removed according to the Articles of the Treaty in that
three went immediately to the Lord Mandevilles Lodging where being set together the Lord Lowdon begun with very severe Expostulations charging the Earls of Bedford Essex and Warwick the Lord Viscount Say and Seal the Lord Brook Savile and himself with the highest breach of their Promises and Engagements professing that they had never invaded England but upon confidence of their keeping Faith with them according to those Articles which they had Signed and sent unto them When this Narrative was made by the Lord Lowdon and confirmed by Sir Archibald Johnston the Lord Mandeville stood amazed and protested with clear and solemn Asseverations that he was a Stranger and altogether ignorant of any such Designs Articles or Ingagement and he was very confident that he might affirm the like in the behalf of the rest of those Lords whom they thus charged with breach of Promise but this Denial was no way Satisfactory unto them but was taken as a disingenuous Denial and the Lord Lowdon urged it as an Act of great Ingratitude towards them that had hazzarded all that was dear unto them upon the pressing Perswasions and solemn Ingagements of those Lords and they told the Lord Mandeville that the Lord Saville had first treated with the Lord Lowdon when he was Prisoner in the Tower in the Names of a considerable Part of the Nobility and Gentry of England and that after he was released and had been some few Weeks in Scotland the Lord Saville sent the Articles of Agreement subscribed by those Lords into Scotland by Mr. Henry Darley and they did not doubt but the Lord Saville would avow all this to be true The Lord Mandeville willingly accepted of the Lord Savilles Testimony of the Truth of their Assertions and desired they might meet the next day with the Lord Saville but that in the Interim he might not know what had now passed between them which they promised and the next day they all met and when the Lord Lowdon had made his Narrative and urged his former Charge he in the presence of the Lord Mandeville with a surprized Countenance and other Expressions of Guilt confessed the Truth acknowledging that he had never acquainted any of those Lords with the least particular of the Design or of the Articles of Engagement and that he had counterfeited their Hands in subscribing their Names to the Declaration and Engagement which was sent into Scotland some Apologies he did offer as that he found the backwardness of the Covenanters to be such that they would not hazard a coming into England until they had a full Engagement from Persons of greater Interest in England then himself He began to consider what Persons of Honor were in greatest Esteem with the Covenanters and his Thoughts were fixed on these Lords yet knowing it impossible to gain them to consort with him in so Traiterous a Design he found it necessary to act in a way of Falshood rather then lose the advantage of so hopeful a Design He further added That since by the Providence of God the Success of their Enterprize had been so far above their Expectations thô few but himself knew of the Design at first yet he did believe now that the best part of England Providence intituled to the hopeful Success of Rebellion and sure a hopeful Reformation was like to succeed such a beginning did hope to find an happy Opportunity for the Redress of the Publick Grievances of both Kingdoms by the coming of the Army into England therefore he desired them to silence all Discourses tending either to the dislike or discovery of the Treachery or Falsness of his Design and that they would Act vigorously and unanimously in Order to the Advantage of both Kingdoms This was owned by the Lord Lowdon and Sir Archibald Johnston to be a just and a full clearing of the Honor and Honesty of those Lords whose Names had been subscribed but it made in them a deep Impression of that Lords falseness Proditionem amo Proditorem odi which shewed it self at that time by some sharp Reprehensions yet in such a conjuncture of their Affairs and ours they thought it not prudent to shew so great dissatisfaction as might give the Lord Saville a total Rejection therefore they concluded their Conference with this Assurance to the Lord Mandeville that they would give a true account of the Carriage of this Business to the Committees of Parliament then residing at New-Castle that so those Lords might be righted in their Honors and Faith which had received a blemish by the boldness and Treachery of the Lord Saville The Lord Mandeville then made these Requests unto them Had the King been acquainted with it as he ought in probability it might have conduced much to the good of the Nation First that he might acquaint some of the Lords which were equally concerned with himself And that the Declaration and Engagement under their feigned Names might be delivered to them The first was granted the second was promised and after a few Daies they received the Engagement from New-Castle and did in the Presence of the Lord Mandeville cut out all the Names and burnt them but they would not deliver the Declaration and Ingagement it self And in another Place speaking of this Affair he tells us that the Scots laboured under such Difficulties and Dangers by the failing of these Supplies which they expected from their supposed Confederates as that they had in their Thoughts to Retreat with their Army near to the Borders of their own County and to cast themselves upon his Majesties Grace and Favor by an Humble Petition and Remonstrance setting forth to him and the whole World the Invitation and Agreement which was delivered to them from some Lords in the behalf as they conceived of themselves and others in England who were cordially Affected to the True reformed Protestant Religion and the Publick Rights and Liberties of the Nation Thus far he by which it is evident that though the Scots were not in reality Invited into England by those Lords who favoured their Designs yet being come they were made Welcome and the Reformers closed in with them to bring about their intended Work of Reformation This Day the Lord Capell was with the usual Solemnity Saturday August 7. The L. Capel introducted introducted into the House of Lords his Writ bearing Date August 6.17 Car. Reg. A Message was brought from the Commons about disbanding and to move His Majesty for a Proclamation for the more peaceable Effecting of it Whereupon the Two Houses Petitioned his Majesty concerning it The Kings Answer to the desire of both Houses about disbanding the Horse to which He returned this Answer His Majesty hath ever since this Parliament taken the Advice of His Parliament concerning the Army therefore he gives his Consent concerning the Disbanding of the Horse and that He hath given Order that His Attorney shall issue out such a Proclamation as is desired And His Majesty doth
as well by the Lord General as by all other Commanders Officers and Soldiers of the Army whereof they expect a strict and speedy Account After which Mr. Pym and Sir John Culpeper were Ordered to draw a Letter to be sent to the Lord General and Mr. Rushworth Clerk Assistant of the House of Commons to ride Post with it and the House will take it into Consideration to requite him for his Pains and Charges This Day Sir William Bringhurst Mr. Wilson Mr. Broadgate Mr. Friday August 20. Diverse Persons Bailed The first Ordinance of the Lords and and Commons about Commissioners to go to Scotland Slany Mr. Gardner and Mr. Inego Jones were Ordered to be Bailed and 10000 l. for the Principals and 5000 l. for each of the Sureties The Ordinance of the Lords and Commons for the Commissioners for Scotland was read in the Commons House in these Words THe Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled do hereby Order and Appoint William Earl of Bedford Edward Lord Howard two of the Peers of the Lords House Nathanel Fiennes Esquire Sir William Armyn Baronet Sir Philip Stapleton Knight and John Hambden Esquire Members of the House of Commons to be Committees for both Houses of Parliament to attend the Kings Majesty during his Absence in the Kingdom of Scotland and do hereby Authorize them or any three or more of them from time to time to present to his Most Excellent Majesty the humble desires Counsel and Advice of his Majesties most Loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament according to such Instructions and Directions as are hereunto annexed or shall at any time hereafter be sent unto them by the Order and Consent of both Houses The Commissioners Instructions I. Instructions for the Commissioners for Scotland YOV shall humbly desire his Majesty That the Treaty agreed upon between the Commissioners of England and Scotland confirmed and ratified in this present Parliament may likewise be confirmed and ratified in the Parliament in Scotland II. You shall present to his Majesty the just Demands of any of his Loyal Subjests of England concerning a due Satisfaction to be made of all Debts due to them for Mony Arms or Provisions taken up by the Scottish Army III. If you shall understand that the Army of Scotland is not returned back or the Army of England not disbanded according to the Articles of the Treaty and Order of Parliament you shall be very instant and earnest in Petitioning his Majesty that all Obstacles and Impediments taken away the Kingdom may be freed from that great Charge this might have been done with half the Charges if the E. Strafford's Advice had been taken and those Mischiefs under which it groans by reason of those Armies IV. You shall by all fit ways of Petition and Intercession to his Majesty further and preserve the Peace and good Correspondency betwixt the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland V. You shall from time to time Certifie both Houses of Parliament of such Accidents and Occurrences as may concern the good of the Kingdom Which Ordinance and Instructions were agreed to by the Lords at a Conference this Day The great Obstacle to the disbanding the Army Mony Ordered disbanding the Army though it filled the Heads of the Party with Fears and Jealousies which from them was diffused through the whole Nation was perfectly the want of Money and not such Designs of dangerous Consequence as were pretended to amuse the People this they well knew and therefore Ordered thirty thousand Pound to be sent down to Pay and Disband the Army A Message was brought from her Majesty to the House The Qs. Answer to the Commons about the Commissioners carrying any Message to the King Order about the L. Major and Commonalty of London about the choice of one Sheriff That her Majesty returns her Thanks for the Respects of this House but She hath lately sent to His Majesty and hath nothing at this time to write This Morning the Lord Privy Seal Reported That the Lords Committees meet Yesterday to see if they could Mediate and Compose the Differences between the Lord Mayor of London and the Commonalty touching the Election of one Sheriff but they could have no success in it and so left it to the Consideration of this House Hereupon the Lord Viscount Say and Seal and the Lord Bishop of Lincoln were appointed to withdraw and consider of an Order for setling the Election of the Sheriff pro hac vicê with a Salvo on both Parts which Order is to be entred in the Books of the Chamber of London the Order was in these Words IN the Cause depending between the Commons and Citizens and the Lord Major of the City of London about the Nominating and Electing of one of the Sheriffs of the said City for this Year ensueing their Lordships taking it into their Consideration that the Election should have been dispatched upon Mid-Summer day last past and finding that upon Omission of performing the Election as upon that Day Devolutions have ensued pro tali vicé to the Commonalty of London do Order that for this time the said Commonalty shall forthwith proceed to the Nomination and Election of both their Sheriffs for the Year following hoping that for the first of the two Sheriffs they will make choice of that Party that was Nominated by the Lord Major and their Lordships do further declare That this Order shall be no way prejudicial to any Right and Prerogative claimed by the Lords the Majors of the City of London for the time being nor yet to any Right or Claim made by the Commons or Citizens in this matter now in Question amongst them It was also Ordered That those Lords that are to go into Scotland with some of the Members of the House of Commons shall go to the Lord General in their Passage The Commissioners for Scotland to quicken the Disbanding Order to stop proceedings upon the Conviction of the Lady Wotton a Recusant to desire that the Order of both Houses may be put into speedy Execution for the disbanding of the Horse and they are to give an Account of the Lord Generals Answer Upon signification this day made unto the Lords House that an Indictment and Conviction in London against the Lady Margaret Wotton for Recusancy is returned into the Treasurers and Remembrancers Office of the Court of Exchequer and the Pipe contrary to former Orders of this House in that behalf and against the Priviledges of the same It is Ordered That no further Proceedings shall from henceforth be had in the said Treasurers Remembrancers or Pipe Offices against the said Lady upon the said Conviction nor any Process shall be thence made or issue thereupon until this House shall give further Order in this Matter Upon a former Information to the Commons by one Sewer Saturday August 21. Disarming of Recusants that he had seen a great quantity of Arms in the Marquiss
That there should be some publick Notice given of the Day appointed for publick Thanksgiving for the Pacification being the seventh of September and a Declaration for this purpose being framed and read was carried up to the Lords for their Concurrence which they readily gave the Order was as follows An Ordinance of Parliament for a Day of Publick Thansgiving for the Peace Concluded between England and Scotland WHereas it hath pleased Almighty God to give a happy close to the Treaty of Peace The Ordinance of Parliament for the Thanksgiving for the Pacification Aug. 27 1641. between the two Nations of England and Scotland by his wise Providence defeating the evil hopes of the subtil Adversaries of both Kingdoms For which great Mercy it was by the Kings Most Excellent Majesty the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Enacted That there should be a publick Thanksgiving in all the Parish Churches of his Majesties Dominions It is now ordained and declared by the Lords and Commons in Parliament that the time for the Celebration of that Publick Thanks to Almighty God for so great and publick a Blessing shall be on Tuesday the seventh of September next by Prayers Reading and Preaching of the Word in all Churches and Chappels of this Realm whereof We require a Careful and due Observance That we may joyn in giving Thanks as we partake of the Blessing with Our Brethren in Scotland who have designed the same Day for that Duty Die Veneris 27. die Augusti 1641. Ordered by the Lords in Parliament that the abovesaid Ordinance be Printed God save the KING There was also a Conference with the Lords about the adjournment or Recess of the Parliament for some time Conference about the Recess of the Parliament the Lords liked the time of the Adjournment which was to be the ninth of September but desired the Adjournment might be till the first of November but the Commons who had before voted in their House that it should continue only till the 20th of October were resolute as indeed generally they were to yield little to the Lords not to depart from their former Vote and therefore returning from the Conference upon the Debate it was Resolved upon the Question That this House shall insist upon the former Day of Return to be the 20 of October And the Reasons which were presented to the Lords were 1 The Nature of the Causes which are depending in both Houses some whereof being for High Treasons and the Impeachment of the Judges the Inception of which Businesses they desire may be before the next Term. 2 The time of Payments of Monies promised to the City of York falls out to be before the first of November therefore they desire their Lordships would joyn with them to have the Recess only till the 20th of October next To which the Lords condescended provided there fall out no emergent Occasion between this and Wednesday come seven Night Ordered That the Lords be kept together until the Recess A Petition having been presented to the Lords by Sir George Radcliff A Petition of Sir George Radcliff and a Letter to the Lords Chief Justices in Ireland upon it Aug. 27. 1641. complaining that he being seized in Fee of some Lands in Ireland is dispossessed of the same in respect of the Impeachment of Treason against him here by means whereof he hath not received any thing out of his Estate in Ireland for about six Months last and so had wanted Bread if he had not been supplied by the Charity of some Friends He therefore humbly prays that he may be restored to his said Estate and be Enabled by Order of this House to demand his Rents there due unto him whereby he may be able to sustain himself and his Family from want Hereupon the Lord Privy Seal the Lord Bishop of Lincoln and the Lord Wharton were Ordered to draw up a Letter to be sent to the two Chief Justices in Ireland to desire them to prevent by what Legal way they can the Estate of the said Sir George Radcliff from Ruine whereby he may have Maintenance to sustain him The Tenor of which was this AFter my very heartiest Commendations c. unto your Lordships I am to give your Lordships to understand from the Right Honorable the Peers Assembled in Parliament That their Lordships having taken the Petition of Sir George Radcliff into their Mature Consideration a Copy whereof your Lordships shall receive herewith inclosed they do not as yet apprehend any Reason why the Petitioners Estate upon an Impeachment only should be so sequestred and the Lands and Leases so entred upon and invaded as that he should have no Means left him for his Maintenance and other Necessaries during the time of his Imprisonment But because your Lordships to whom his Most Excellent Majesty hath committed the Justice and Government of the Kingdom may know more of these Particulars by reason of your being upon the Place where these Debts Goods and Estates have had their Existence My good Lords the Peers of this House do recommend the Care of this Business unto your Lordships to aid the Petitioners Agents in this kind by all the Ways of Justice and Equity to recover such Debts Rents and other Profits as by Law and Justice remain due to Sir George Radcliff for his Maintenance and Necessary Vses until some further Act or Acts of Law and Justice shall otherwise direct and dispose of the said Premises And so I bid your Lordships heartily Farewell Your loving Friend E. Littleton C. S. To the Right Honorable my very good Lords Sir W. Parsous and Sir J. Borlase his Majesties High Justices for the Kingdom of Ireland The Request of the Spanish and French Ambassadors to have Liberty to entertain such of the disbanded Troops both in England and Ireland as they can agree with was this day Debated in the House of Commons upon which Occasion Sir Benjamin Rudyard made this following Speech Mr. Speaker THis is a business of great Consequence Sir Benjamin Rudyard's Speech against suffering the Spaniards or French to have the disbanded Soldiers Aug. 28. 1641. and therefore requires a well advised Resolution I will put France and Spain together take them both before me because the Reasons will serve the one and the other as they stand in Relation to us We are Mr Speaker so bounded by the nature of our Situation as we are not so proper to extend our selves upon the firm Land of our Neighbours Our Aptitude is rather to Ballance which being rightly used may make the King the great Arbiter of all the Affairs of Christendom by assisting withholding or opposing Henry the Eighth is an example of this King Henry gave upon this account this Motto Cui adhaereo praeest He was sometimes of the side of the Emperor other times of the French Party according as he saw either sides of the Scales to weigh heavier or higher some might think this to be
certainly by the informing Sectaries who were very diligent in springing Game for the Committee and Sub-Committees for Religion the Ministers Remonstrance and for Scandalous Ministers Mr. White 's Mr. Corbet's Sir Robert Harlow's and Sir Edward Deering's Committees And then these Godly Informers must be gratified for their Petitions Informations and such like good Service to the Common-Wealth by the Imprisonment Scorn and Contempt Charges and many times utter Ruine of the truly Loyal and Orthodox Clergy of the Church of England And whoever will take the pains to Rake in that Libel of Mr. White 's called The first Century of Scandalous Malignant Priests will find that the greatest Crimes which many of the Clergy were Accused for and turned they and their Families naked to the wide World were the disobeying this Order For Bowing at the Name of Jesus Examples 33 and 43. For setting up the Name of Jesus in the Church Ex. 72.83 Preaching against Sacriledge Ex. 22. Bowing the Body in God's House Ex. 7. But to return to the House of Commons after the Voting of this Declaration they fell upon the business of the Recess and preparing Instructions for the Committee which was to Sit during the time of the Adjournment And Mr. The standing Committee during the Recess of the Parliament Pym Sir Gilbert Gerrard Sir John Franklin Sir John Culpeper Mr. Wheeler Sir Henry Mildmay Mr. Bridgman Sir Thomas Bowyer Sir Thomas Barrington Sir Edward Hales Sir William Litton Sir Richard Cave Mr. Robert Goodwin Sir Samuel Luke Mr. Wingate Sir Robert Pye Alderman Soams Alderman Pennington Captain Venn Mr. Vassal Lord Falkland Capt. Rainsborough Mr. Bence Sir Peter Wroth Sir John Holland Mr. Winwood Mr. John Goodwin Sir Thomas Dacres Mr. Morley Mr. Henry Martin Mr. Arthur Goodwin Sir John Clotworthy Mr. White Mr. Sollicitor Mr. Spurstow Mr. Laurence Whitacre Serjeant Wild Mr. Strode Sir Henry Vane Mr. Glyn Sir Symon D'Ewes Sir William Drake Mr. Beddingfield Sir Gilbert Pickering Mr. Blakston Mr. Waller were appointed to be a Committee during the Recess This Committee to meet on Saturday next in the Exchequer-Chamber at Nine of the Clock in the Fore-noon Directions for the Committee during the Recess and they are to meet every Tuesday and Saturday in every Week and at such other times as they think fit during the Recess and they or any Six of them have power to meet with the Commissioners of the Lords appointed during their Recess at such times as they shall appoint They have Power to receive open and answer such Letters as come from the Committee in Scotland according to former Instructions and Orders of this House To take Care that the Orders of this House be punctually observed concerning Disbanding the Army Train of Artillery and Garrisons and for the Issuing and sending down of Money to those purposes To Recall the Committee in Scotland if they see Cause To go on in preparation of Proceedings against the Principal of such Delinquents as are already Voted or Complained against and to report Vpon any Informations of Riots or Tumults to have Power to send to all Sheriffs Justices of Peace and other Officers to stir them unto their Duties in repressing them and to report To Examine the Entries of the Clerks Books and that the Committee may not mistake any past Actions of the House a Clerk to be left there with the Books To take Care of the Preparations for his Majesties Revenue and to take into Consideration any Accounts to his Majesty To go on in prosecution of the Consideration of a West-Indian Company To take into Consideration the Fishing upon the Coasts of England Scotland and Ireland To take into Consideration the Resolutions of the Abuses in Exchange and Transporting of Money and the Regulating of the Par between this and other Nations To prepare the Irish Laws depending to be either at the Access transmitted to the Lords or recommended to the Irish Parliament To consider about Sal Petre and Gunpowder To send for any Persons Writings and Records To prepare a Discharge for the Earl of Warwick according to those Acquittances he hath given concerning the Northern Counties After which the Speaker desired he might have leave to go into the Country during the Recess which being granted the House was Adjourned till October 20. at Eight of the Clock in the Morning Happy had it been for England had they never met again to be the Authors of the most Dismal Tragedy that ever was Acted upon the Theatre of England but Providence whose Wisdom is unsearchable had Ordained them to be a Scourge to a People Wanton with Long Peace Ease Plenty and Even Religion it self The day to which the Parliament was Adjourned being now come Wednesday Octob. 20. both Houses met And the Lords being sate in their House and divers of them observing the Palace Yard full of Armed Men it was moved That it might be known upon what Grounds and Reasons the Trained Bands of Westminster were in the Old and New Palaces assembled The Lord Chamberlain being Captain General of the South Parts of this Kingdom during the King's absence in Scotland by Command of the House signified That his Lordship received a Desire from the Committee of the House of Commons which sate during the time of the late Recess that there might be a Guard of Souldiers about the Parliament to prevent the Insolence and Affronts of Souldiers at this time about the Town and to secure the Houses against other Designs which they have reason to suspect untill the Parliament meets and gives further Order therein Hereupon it was Ordered The Parliament takes a Guard of the Trained Bands of Westminster That the Lord Chamberlain shall by virtue of this Order continue a Guard of Souldiers to guard the Parliament Houses until the further Pleasure of the Parliament be known and that the Number of the said Soldiers shall be wholly left unto the discretion and management of the said Lord Chamberlain Captain General After this the Lord Keeper informed the House That he had received a Letter from the Lord Howard in Scotland dated the 14th of October which was read The Conspiracy in Scotland declaring That upon Monday Night then last there fell out a great Interruption in the Business there by reason of an Information given to the Marquiss of Hamilton the Earl of Argyle and the Earl of Lannerick That there was a Design to seize upon their Persons that Night whereupon they removed their Lodgings and stayed in the City all Night and relation being made hereof the next day to the Parliament the Earl of Crawford Colonel Steward and Colonel Cockram were restrained and after a further Examination his Lordship will give this House a further Information The first thing that was done in the House of Commons Mr. Pym's Report of what was done during the Recess Mr. Pym Reports what was done during the Recess THE first thing we had in Charge was
auxi mesmes les Communes remercierment les seigneurs Espirituelx Temporelx de lour bon droiturell Jugment quils auoint fait come Piers du Parlement That the said Commons returned thanks to the Lords Temporal and Spiritual for the good and upright Judgment which they had made as Peers of Parliament In the 2 of H. 6 John Lord Talbot accused James Boteler Earl of Ormond Rot. Par. n. 9. 2 H. 6. in Parliament of sundry Treasons and the Record saith That De avisamento assensu Dominorum Spiritualium Temporalium ac Communitatis Regni Angliae in eodem Parliamento existent ' facta fuit quaedam Abolitio delationis nunciatonis Detectionis predict ' c. By the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons of England there was made a certain abolition of the said Accusation Relation and Discovery From which Presidents it is evident that the Lords the Bishops did Sit and Debate Vote and Determin in Causes Capital as well as the other Temporal Lords The third Position is that they are a third Estate in Parliament Which is proved both by undeniable Reason and undoubted Presidents and Records That there are three Estates in the Parliament of England is a matter on all hands allowed But some Persons who would bring down the Soveraignty to a Coordinacy do affirm that the King is the third Estate the Lords making one and the Commons the other which dangerous Position as it doth submit the Monarchy to great hazzards so it gave occasion and colour to the taking away of the Peerage of the Bishops the third Estate notwithstanding their Exclusion being according to this principle left as Intire in the Lords House as it was upon the Exclusion of the Lord Abbots in the time of King Henry the Eighth Now that the King is not one of the three Estates and consequently that the Lords the Bishops must be so and were ever accounted so evidently appears by the Records of our Parliaments which are cited to this purpose as follows In the Parliament of 1. H. 4. By the Roll it appears that King Richard the Second appointed two Procurators to declare his Resignation of the Crown coram omnibus Statibus Regni before all the States of the Realm and one of the Articles against him was concerning his Impeachment of Thomas Arch-Bishop of Canterbury coram Rege omnibus Statibus Regni before the King and all the Estates of the Realm And who all these Estates of the Realm were it most fully appears in that the Commissioners for the Sentence of this unfortunate Kings deposition are said to be appointed Per Pares Proceres Regni Anglia Spirituales Temporales ejusdem Regni Communitates omnes status ejusdem Regni representantes By the Peers and Nobility of the Kingdom of England Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons of the same representing all the Estates of the said Realm So that First the Bishops are declared Peers of the Realm in Parliament Secondly The Estates of the Parliament are to represent all the Estates of the Kingdom Clergy Nobility and Commons Thirdly The three Estates in Parliament are the Lords Spiritual the Lords Temporal and the Commons of the Realm In the Roll of Parliament Rot. Parl. 1. R. 3. 1. R. 3. it is Recorded That whereas before his Coronation certain Articles were delivered unto him in the name of the three Estates of the Realm that is to say of the Lords Spiritual Lords Temporal and of the Commons by name c. Now forasmuch as neither the said three Estates neither the said Persons which in their name presented and delivered as it is aforesaid the said Roll unto our Soveraign Lord the King were Assembled in Form of Parliament divers doubts have been moved c. Now by the said three Estates Assembled in this present Parliament and by Authority of the same be ratified and Enrolled c. Upon which Record Mr. Prinn himself makes this Marginal Note The three Estates must concur to make a Parliament no one or two of them being a full or Real Parliament but all conjoyned In the 3. H. 6. it is said in the Record Prinn Abridgments of Records p. 710. 714. the three Estates Assembled in this present Parliament In the Explanation of the Duke of Bedford's Power as Protector It is said it was advised and appointed by the Authority of the King Assenting the three Estates of this Realm so that it is plain that the King was not then accounted one of them Rot. Par. 3. H. 6. n. 19. 6. H. 6. n. 24. In the 11. H. 6. The Duke of Bedford appeared in Parliament and declared the Reason of his coming coram Domino Rege tribus Statibus Regni before the King and the three Estates of the Realm 11. Hen. 6. n. 10. and n. 2. n. 2. N. 11. Domino Rege tribus Regni Statibus in presenti Parliamento Existentibus Our Lord the King and the three Estates in Parliament being present where the King is plainly distinct from the three Estates 11. H. 6. N. 2. The Lord Cromwell Lord Treasurer Exhibits a Petition in Parliament wherein he saith that the Estate and necessity of the King and of the Realm have been notified to the three Estates of the Land Assembled in Parliament In the Appendix to the Rolls of Parliament that Year the Duke of Bedford saith in his Petition to the King How that in your last Parliament yit lyked your Hyghness by yaduis of three Estates of yis Land to will me c. 23. H. 6. N. 11. Presente Domino Rege 23. H. 6. n. 11. tribus Statibus in presenti Parliamento Existentibus c. Our Lord the King being present and the three Estates in the present Parliament Assembled 28. H. 6. N. 9. Domino Rege 28. H. 6. n. 9. tribus Regni Statibus in pleno Parliamento comparentibus c. Our Lord the King and the three Estates in full Parliament appearing c. 1. H. 6. 1. H. 6. The Queen Dowager in her Petition mentioning the Ratification made in Parliament 9. H. 5. saith it was not only sworn by the King but by the three Estates of the Kingdom of England Cest assavoir Les Prelatz Nobles Grands per les Comuns de mesm le Royalm Dengleterre That is to say by the Prelats Nobles and Great Men and by the Commons of the said Realm of England And since the Reformation In the 8 of Eliz. 1. 8. Eliz. 1. The Bishops are in Parliament called one of the greatest States of this Realm From all which Instances it plainly appears First That there are three Estates in the Fundamental Constitution of every Parliament Secondly That there are three Estates besides the King and consequently that he cannot be one of the three Thirdly that the Lords Spiritual the Bishops are a Third Estate of the Realm in Parliament
hear my Lord Orrery's Account of it in his forementioned Book p. 10 11. where he saith E. of Orrery's Answer to Peter Walsh The Wisest of Men thought the Irish Papists fastned to his Majestie in the Year 1641 by the best of Governments and to the English Protestants by the strictest ties of Interest Friendship Marriage and which is more in their Esteem Gossipping and Fostering to the Publique Peace by their as flourishing so free Condition and to all by those Royal Graces which his Sacred Majesty at that time indulged their Commissioners such as themselves desired 't was but then ask and have Yet all this Honey was turned into Gall for at that very time wherein the King was Exercising such high Acts of Grace to them the Irish Papists plotted and soon after perpetrated the Worst of Rebellion the Worst Extensivè Exulcerating generally and Intensivè breaking forth with more Persidie Barbarism and Cruelty than can be parallel'd in any History The great motive at least in pretence was Religion For whereas Dr. Borlase in his Preface saith It is Evident they never had so free Exercise of their Religion as when the Rebellion began It is Evident that he is mistaken even by the Testimony of the Person of whose Book he saith p. 7th of his Hist Sir John Temple Irish Reb. P. 26.27 in the Margin It was a Piece of that Integrity few can Equal none Exceed who could have informed him that this free Exercise of Religion was only clancular and in private But they evidently saw that the Calumnies cast upon the late King as a Favourer of Popery was one of the principal Engines by which the Factious part of the Parliament of England alienated the affections of all his Majesties English and Scotch Protestant Subjects from him besides the Severities which the Parliament provoked the King upon his peril to inflict upon the Papists in England and Scotland was made Use of by the Popish Clergy to drive them into a Rebellion by insinuating That if the Parliament could bring the King under their Government there was nothing to be Expected but the total suppression of their Religion and the Eradication of their Nation In confirmation whereof it was confidently averr'd to them That a * Sir John Clotworthy Member of Parliament concern'd in Ireland did in the House of Commons declare in a Speech That the Conversion of the Papists in Ireland was only to be Effected by the Bible in one hand and the Sword in the other And I have been told by a Person of Honour and Worth that Mr. Pym gave out That they would not leave a Priest in Ireland Nor could their Committees who were here be ignorant of these Passages or being many of them Papists not communicate it to the Irish Papists Another Encouragement to this Rebellion was the Example of Scotland as appears plainly by Connelly's Deposition who was told by Mac-Mahon that they did this to imitate Scotland who got a Priviledg by that Course And the Confession of the Lord Mac-guire which the Reader shall presently see does not obscurely hint That the Earl of Argyle the Head of the Covenanting Rebellious Scotch Presbyterians was under-hand working the Irish into some Conspiracy against the King probably that his hands being full they might procure better Terms for themselves and divert the Storm of the English Arms which then were impending upon them Nor was the taking off the Earl of Strafford that Great Wise and Valiant Man a little contributing to this Irish Tragedy for besides that it is visible that the Irish Committees who were many of them Papists were highly instrumental in furnishing the English Parliament with matters of Complaint and Accusation against that Noble Lord for which they were mightily at that time thô known Papists caressed by the Earl's Enemies in the Commons House so it is no less Visible that this Design of theirs though it had been long contriving advanced more in half a Year after his Vigilant Eye was taken off their Actions and his Hand from the Reins of the Government then it had in all the time before as will plainly appear by Mac-guire's Confession And in Confirmation of this I think it a Debt due to the Illustrious Memory of that Great Man the Earl of Strafford whom I cannot name without and Pity Wonder to insert part of a Letter of his to his Dear and Intimate Friend Mr. Wandesford then Master of the Rolls and one of the Lords Justices in 1636 wherein he acquaints him with the account which he had given in to the King and Council of the state of Affairs in Ireland which he doth in these Words I Informed them That the Army was well Clad reasonably well Armed The State of the Army in the Earl of Strafford's Time 1636. but should be better well Exercised and well Paid which they had never been before That I had visited the whole Army seen every single man my self as well in his own person as in his Exercising where other Generals that had continued that Charge longer then my self had not taken a view so much as of one Company that in the Removes and Marches of the Army they pay'd justly for what they took and passed along with Civility and Modesty as other Subjects without Burden to the Country through which they went whereas formerly they took the Victuals and paid nothing for it as if it had been in an Enemies Country whence it was that the Soldier was now welcom in every place where before they were in abomination to the Inhabitants That by this means the Army in true account might be said to be double the Strength as it had been That this was so apprehended by the ill-disposed as there is neither Courage nor Hope left for opposition the good Subjects secured the bad kept in humility and fear by it That they were worthy of the Kings Entertainment and when they shall be seen will appear with a Company of gallant Gentlemen their Officers fit to serve a Great and Wise King whereas not much of this before but rather quite the Contrary That for my self I had a dead Stock in Horses Furniture and Arms for my Troop that stood me in 6000 l that so I was in readiness upon an hours warning to march nor did I this out of Vanity but really in regard I did conceive it became me not to represent so great a Monarch as his Majesty meanly in the sight of that People and that it was of mighty Reputation to the Service of the Crown when they saw me in such a Posture that I was upon an hours Warning able to put my self on Horseback and that the Soldiers should see I would not Exact so much duty from any private Captain as I did impose upon my self being their General Lastly it was my humble Advice That the Army as of absolute Necessity to the Government was rather to be reinforced then at all diminished as being an
were disposed to free themselves furtherly from the like inconvenience and get good Conditions for themselves for regaining their Ancestors or at least a good part thereof Estates they could never desire a more convenient time than that time the distempers of Scotland being then on foot and did ask me what I thought of it I made him answer that I could not tell what to think of it such Matters being altogether out of my Element Then he would needs have an Oath of me of Secrecy which I gave him and thereupon he told me that he spoke to the best Gentry of Quality in Lemster and a great part of Connaght touching that matter and he found all of them willing thereunto if so be they could draw to them the Gentry of Vlster for which cause said he I came to speak to you then he began to lay down to me the case that I was in there overwhelmed in Debt the smalness of my Estate and the greatness of the Estate my Ancestors had and how I should be sure to get it again or at least a good part thereof and moreover how the welfare and maintaining of the Catholick Religion which he said undoubtedly the Parliament now in England will suppress doth depend on it For said he it is to be feared and so much I hear from every understanding man the Parliament intends the utter Subversion of our Religion by which perswasions he obtained my consent And so he demanded whether any more of Vlster Gentry were in Town I told him that Phillip Reyly Mr. Torlagh O Neal Brother to Sir Phelim O Neal and Mr. Cosloe Mac Mahone were in Town so for that time we parted The next day he invited Mr. Reyly and I to dine with him and after Dinner he sent for those other Gentlemen Mr. Neale and Mr. Mac Mahone and when they were come he began the discourse formerly used to me to them and with the same perswasion formerly used to me he obtained their consent And then he began to discourse of the manner how it ought to be done of the fesibility and easiness of the Attempt considering Matters as they then stood in England the Troubles of Scotland the great Numbers of able Men in the Kingdom meaning Ireland what Succours they were more then to hope for from abroad and the Army then raised all Irish-men and well armed meaning the Army raised by my Lord Strafford against Scotland First that eveâ— one should endeavour to draw his own Friends into that Act and at least those that did live in one County with them and when they had so done they send to the Irish in the Low-Countreys and Spain to let them know of the Day and Resolution so that they be over with them by that day or soon after with supply of Arms and Ammunition as they could that there should be a set day appointed and every one in his own Quarters should rise out that day and seize on all Arms he could get in his County and this day to be near Winter so that England could not be able to send Forces into Ireland before May and by that time there was no doubt to be made but that they themselves should be supplied by the Irish beyond Seas who he said could not miss of help from either Spain or the Pope but that his resolutions were not in all things allowed For first it was resolved nothing should be done until first they had sent to the Irish over-Seas to know their advice and what hope of success they could give for in them as they said all their hope of Relief was and they would have both their Advice and Resolution before any further proceedings more than to speak to and try Gentlemen of the Kingdom every one as they could conveniently to see in case they would at any time grow to a resolution what to be and Strength they must trust to Then Mr. Moore told them That it was to no purpose to spend much time in speaking to the Gentry For there was no doubt to be made of the Irish that they would be ready at any time And that all the doubt was in the Gentry of the Pale but he said That for his own part he was really assured when they had risen out the Pale Gentry would not stay long after at least that they would not oppose them in any thing but be Neuters and if in Case they did That they had Men enough in the Kingdom without them Moreover he said he had spoke to a great Man who then should be nameless that would not fail at the appointed day of rising out to appear and to be seen in the Act. But that until then he was sworn not to reveal him and that was all that was done at that Meeting only that Mr. Moore should the next Lent following make a Journey down into the North to know what was done there and that he also might inform them what he had done and so on parting Mr. Philip Reyly and I did importune Mr. Moore for the knowledge of that great Man that he spake of and on long Entreaty after binding us to new Secrecy not to discover him till the Day should be appointed he told that it was the Lord of Mayo who was very powerful in Command of Men in those Parts of Connaght wherein he lived and that there was no doubt to be made of him no more than was of himself and so we parted The next Lent following Mr. Moore according to his promise came into Vlster by reason it was the time of Assizes in several Counties there he met only with Mr. Reyly and nothing was then done but all Matters put off till May following where we or most of us should meet at Dublin it being both Parliament and Term-time In the mean time there Landed one Neale O Neale sent by the Earl of Tyrone out of Spain to speak with the Gentry of his Name and Kindred to let them know that he had treated with Cardinal Richelieu for obtaining Succor to come for Ireland and that he prevailed with the Cardinal so that he was to have Arms Ammunition and Mony from him on Demand to come for Ireland and that he only expected a convenient Time to come away and to desire them to be in a readiness and to procure all others whom they could to be so likewise which Message did set on the Proceedings very much so that Mr. Moore Mr. Reyly my Brother and I meeting the next May at Dublin and the same Messenger there too It was Resolved That he should return to the Earl into Spain with their Resolution which was That they would rise out twelve or fourteen Days before or after Allhallontide as they should see Cause and that he should not fail to be with them by that time There was a Report at that time and before that the Earl of Tyrone was killed which was not believed by reason of many such Reports formerly which we
found guilty of them be punished Yet we may not omit although no motive whatsoever could justifie their Vndertakings to represent That before they fell from their Obedience to the Government Sir William Parsons one of the Lords Justices that supplied the Deputy's place at a publique Entertainment before many Witnesses did positively declare That within a Twelvemonth no Catholick should be seen in Ireland Many hands were sought and Thousands were found to subscribe a Petition tending to the introducing a severe Persecution against Catholiques who were the far greater number of the Inhabitants of Ireland and the menace of an Invasion of a Scottish Army of which men did at that time frequently discourse bred frightful apprehensions So as these and other Grounds of suspition being improved by such among them whose particular Interests could be most favoured and better advanced in Vnquiet Times laid the Foundation of that Rebellion But even those Men and at that time when the Lords Justices did not appear to be prepared for Resistance by their Remonstrance humbly begg'd their Grievances might be redressed by the Advice of the Two Houses of Parliament then met at Dublin But the Lords Justices who by their Words and Actions not only Expressed their unwillingness to stop the farther growth of these Distempers but meant to increase them and were often heard to wish That the Number were greater of such as became Criminal by Proroguing the Parliament made them Desperate However the Nation by their Representatives in the two days which were only allowed them to Sit husbanded their time so as to leave to Posterity a Monument of their aversion to such attempts by declaring That those men had Trayterously and Rebelliously taken Arms and offering to employ their Lives and Fortunes in reducing them to their Obedience if they might be permitted then to Sit. But this was denyed them and by a strange change from the Ancient Form of Government a Parliament then Sitting was Prorogued whereas our Ancestors upon a far less occasion then quieting of so high distempers were usually called upon to Assist the King with their Advice To this may be added That the Earl of Ormond proposed at the Council-Board the raising of 5000 Men in the space of Three Weeks if he might be authorised so to do with which Strength he undertook to dissipate those then weak beginnings of the Ensuing Mischiefs and to prevent their farther growth but was refused it so as thus far we may observe who they were that widened the Wound instead of stanching the Blood This Foundation being thus laid that which at first was but a spark and might be easily quenched began to Flame And freedom of Rapine having suddenly drawn Numbers together the unrepress't Conspirators became a Formidable Army and besieged Tredah passing the River of Boyne which was the Rubicon of the Pale and had in all former Rebellions been maintained with their blood by those antient English Colonies planted there Now it was that the Times began to favour the Design of the Lords Justices and their Party in the Council which was as forward as they to foment the Distractions for the Ulster Army lying in the Bowels of the Country the Forces being not yet come out of England and the Natives themselves both unarm'd and distrusted by the State they were forced at first by their Regular Contribution to prevent the desolation which would have followed their refusal to supply them Hereupon such Contributors began to be looked upon and Character'd as Men fallen from the Government And a Party that was sent from Dublin having killed at Santry but three Miles distant from thence some innocent Husband-men among whom there was two Protestants and carried their heads as in Triumph to the City the neighbour Inhabitants alarm'd thereat had recourse to such Weapons as first came to hand and gathered in a Body whereupon the Lords Justices set forth a Proclamation in Nature of a safe Conduct by which these so in Arms and Mr. King of Clantarffe by special name had five days respite to come in and present their Grievances But before three Nights of the time prefixed were Expired Mr. King 's House was Pillaged and Burnt by direction of the Lords Justices Not long after supplies being arrived out of England and the Siege of Tredagh Raised and consequently the force removed which necessitated the Inhabitants to comply with the Ulster Army the Nobility and Gentry of the Pale prevailed with Sir John Read His Majesties Sworn Servant a stranger to the Country un-engaged and an Eye-witness of their proceedings then upon his Journey to England to take the pains to present their Remonstrance to His Majesty and to beg Pardon for what they were thus compelled to Act. But he poor Gentleman coming to Dublin was apprehended and not concealing the Message intrusted with him was put to the Rack the most part of the Questions which were then asked him in Torment being no other then such as might lead him to accuse the King and Queen to be Authors and Fomenters of that Rebellion Moreover the Two Houses of Parliament in England for the better inducing the Rebels to repent of their wicked attempts commended to the Lords Justices according to the Power granted them in that behalf to bestow His Majesties Gracious Pardon to all such as within a Convenient time c. should return to their Obedience The Lords Justices notwithstanding such Order and His Majesties Gracious Pleasure signified to that effect by their Proclamation dated in November 1641 limited such His Majesty's and the Parliament's of England their favourable and general intentions to the Inhabitants of a few Counties provided always they were not Free-holders and afforded them no longer time then Ten days after the Proclamation to receive benefit thereby But notwithstanding these Restrictions the Lord of Dunsany Sir John Netervill Patrick Barnewal of Kilbrue and many others who had notice of His Majesties Gracious Inclination towards the Nation and the Parliament of England 's Order in favour of them submitted to the Lord Marquess of Ormond then Lieutenant General of His Majesties Army who recommended them to the Lords Justices intimating that the good Vsage to be Extended to them would have an Influence on many others and be a great Motive to quiet the Distempers which then began to spread But the Lords Justices whose Design was not to be carried on by Mercy and Indulgence to prevent Submissions Imprisoned and Indicted by a Jury which did not consist of Freeholders those so Submitting and put the said Mr. Barnewal of the Age of 66 years to the Torture of the Rack This notwithstanding the Noblemen and Gentry inhabiting the Country next to Dublin applied themselves humbly by their Letter to the Lords Justices which when the Earl of Castlehaven a Nobleman of English Birth who freely before that time had access to Dublin came to present he was made a Prisoner Wherefore when the Nation observed That their advice in
Parliament was not only thought unnecessary but themselves involved in a general distrust That neither the Parliaments nor the Marquess of Ormond 's offer to suppress the Rebellion would be accepted That the inforced complying of the Nobility and Gentry of the Pale with a powerful Army which was Master of their Lives and Fortunes was imputed to them as a malicious aversion from the English Government That the blood of Innocent Husband-men was drawn and the heads of Men were grown an acceptable Spectacle in Dublin That the Publick Faith was broken and Mens Houses particularly inabled to claim benefit by it pillaged and burnt That all ways were obstructed by which they might implore His Majesties Mercy and represent their Conditions That the Favourable Intentions of the Parliament of England and His Majesties Gracious Pardon which was meant should extend to all save such as were guilty of blood was so limited by them as no estated man could receive benefit by it That those who notwithstanding these Restrictions cast themselves freely upon His Majesties mercy were Imprisoned Indicted and some of them Rack't That the Earl of Castlehaven might have found it a Capital Crime to mediate in their behalf if he had not made his Escape after Twenty Weeks Imprisonment That the King 's Sworn Servant was Rack't and his Ministers whose Duty it was to have been Zealous for the honour of their Master endeavoured to asperse it and render him and his Royal Consort odious to his People by striving to Extort from a tortur'd man some Testimony by which they might be accused of raising and Fomenting that Rebellion When these and many other Arguments of this kind which for fear of prolixity are omitted had convinced the Catholiques of Ireland that the Lords Justices and that part of the Council which adhered to them became unfaithful to His Majesty and had designed the Ruine of that Nation and the Extirpation of their Religion that Law which moves the hand by interposing it self to bear off a stroak aimed at the Head Convened an Assembly of these who were exposed to those so eminent dangers in which they modelled a Government in order to their Natural defence obliging themselves by such an Oath to His Majesty his Heirs and Successors as well shewed their affection to the Crown and their unalterable resolutions to maintain His Majesties Rights and to follow his Fortune Between these divided Governments there have been Battels fought Cities and Forts besieged and much Christian Blood spilt which will one day lye at some Mens doors And who those are the Eternal Wisdom best knows and the Reader is left free to determine Thus far the said Narrative Printed and Published at London in the Year 1660 And which I find in P. W's Reply to the * Earl of Orrery Person of Quality's Answer c. Pag. 7. By which it appears That the Lords Justices used some indiscreet as well as unjust Severities which did not a little contribute to the inflaming of the Rebellion but still it was a Rebellion which is a Crime so black and horrid in the sight of God and all good Men that no excuses can Palliate or Extenuate nor any Circumstances of Hardships or Oppressions Injustice or Wrongs can justifie since it is utterly inconsistent with not only all the Rules of Civil Polity but the Divine Rules of Christianity which teaches us not to resist the Powers which are ordained of God under a penalty of Damnation which is a danger and a loss of so vast Extent as that the loss of Liberty Goods and even Life it self which are the utmost we can suffer from unjust Men are but trifles if compared with it and the Method is Extravagant to the very last Degrees of Folly and Madness which applies a Medicine Ten Thousand times worse then the Disease and is such a piece of discretion as for a Man to leap into the Sea to avoid a shower which would wet him to the skin Without all Controversie the Progress and Growth of this Horrid Rebellion as before was observed must be attributed in a great Measure to the Misfortune Untimely Death of that Great Man and Wise Governor the Earl of Strafford For upon his quitting of Ireland the Nation which before seemed to do and really injoyed a most Serene and Quiet Calâ— of Peace began to be over-cast and clouded with Discontents Grievances Fears and Jealousies which notwithstanding all the Power of the Beams of his Majesties Grace and Favour which were so warmly bestowed upon them were so far from being thereby dissipated that they still Encreased until at length those black and sullen clouds discharged themselves in the most dismal Tempest of Fire and Blood that any Age or almost any Nation under Heaven hath beheld And this will most Evidently appear by the Consequences which immediately followed upon the Earl of Strafford's parting with the Rains of that Government Christopher Wendesford Esq Mr. of the Rolls in Ireland made Lord Deputy there April 3. for upon his coming for England Christopher Wendesford Esq Master of the Rolls was the 3d. of April 1640. sworn Lord Deputy He was a Person of great Abilities and one with whom the Earl of Strafford had even from their Early Years contracted an Intimacy and Friendship which Ended not but with their Lives and so great was his Fidelity to this Noble Earl that perceiving the Parliament of Ireland who not long before had sung such Hosanna's to the Earl of Strafford in the Peamble to the Bill of Subsidies now running as fast down the Hill in joyning with his Enemies in England to procure his Ruin and Destruction he Adjourned the Parliament in November following to the 26th of January hoping by that means to prevent the Blow which he saw they were levelling at that Wise and Illustrious Head but notwithstanding all that he could do the Earl's Enemies made a shift before they broke up to frame a Remonstrance against the Earl and though he used his utmost Endeavours to stop the Committee of the Parliament from carrying into Englund yet was he not able to prevent it nor their passage but that all the Ports being open four Lords and 12 Commoners the greatest part of which were Papists passed over into England and Exhibited their Remonstrance and did the Earl all the Ill Offices they were able for which they were then Highly Countenanced and Caressed by the Faction in the English Parliament who together with the Scottish Rebels then at London to finish the Treaty between the Two Kingdoms pursued the Life of that Great Man with the Utmost Vigor and Animosity that Malice and Power would suggest unto them The Names of the Irish Committees were The Nomes of the Irish Committee The Lord Viscount Gormanston Lord Kilmalloc Lord Castiloe L. Baltinglass Of the Commons For Lemster Nich. Plunkett _____ Digby Richard Fitz-Garret Esquire Munster Sir Hardress Waller Sir Donnogh Mac-Carti John Welsh Esquire Conaght Robert Linch Geffry
Brown Thomas Bourk Esquires Vlster Sir William Cole Sir James Montgomery The Remonstrance was as followeth addressed first to the L. Deputy Wendesford The humble and just Remonstrance of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled Shewing THat in all Ages since the happy subjection of this Kingdom to the Imperial Crown of England The Irish Remonstrance it was and is a principal study and Princely Care of his Majesty and his most noble Progenitors Kings and Queens of England and Ireland to the vast Expence of Treasure and Blood That their Loyal and Dutiful People of this Land of Ireland being now for the most part derived from Brittish Ancestors should be governed according to the Municipal and Fundamental Laws of England That the Statute of Magna Charta or the Great Charter of the Liberties of England and other laudable Laws and Statutes were in several Parliaments here Enacted and Declared that by the means thereof and the most Prudent and Benign Government of his Majesty and his Royal Progenitors this Kingdom was until of late in its growth a flourishing Estate whereby the said People were heretofore enabled to answer their humble and natural Desires to comply with his Majesties Princely and Royal Occasions by their free gift of 150 Thousand pounds sterling And likewise by another free gift of 120 Thousand pounds more during the Government of the Lord Viscount Faulkland and after by the gift of 40 Thousand pounds and their free and cheerful gift of Six intire Subsidies in the Tenth Year of his Majesties Reign which to comply with his Majesties then Occasions signified to the then House of Commons they did allow should amount in the Collections unto a Hundred and fifty Thousand pounds although as they confidently believe if the Subsidies had been levied in a moderate Parliamentary way they would not have mounted to much more than half the Sum aforesaid besides the Four intire Subsidies granted in this present Parliament So it is may it please your Lordship by the occasion of infuing and other Grievances and Innovations though to his Majesty no considerable Profit this Kingdom is reduced to that Extream and Universal Poverty that the same is less able to pay Two Subsidies than it was heretofore to satisfie all the before-recited great Payments and his Majesties most Faithful People of the Land do conceive great Fears That the said Grievances and Consequences thereof may be hereafter drawn into Presidents to be perpetuated upon their Posterity which in their great hopes and strong belief they are perswaded is contrary to his Royal and Princely Intention towards his said People of which Grievances are as followeth 1. First The general apparent decay of Trades occasioned by the new and illegal raising of the Book of Rates and Impositions upon Native and other Commodities Exported and Imported by reason whereof and of extream Usage and Censures Merchants are beggered both and dis-inabled and discouraged to Trade and some of the Honorable Persons who gain thereby often Judges and Parties And that in the conclusion his Majesties Profit thereby is not considerably advanced 2. The Arbitrary decision of all Civil Causes and Controversies by paper Petitions before the Lord Lieutenant and Lord Deputy and infinite other Judicatories upon references from them derived in the nature of all Actions determinable at the Common Law not limited into certain time cause season or thing whatsoever And the consequences of such exceeding by immoderate and unlawful Fees by Secretaries Clarks Pursivants Serjeants at Arms and otherwise by which kind of proceedings his Majesty looseth a considerable part of his Revenue upon original Writs and otherwise and the Subject looseth the benefit of his Writ of Error Bill of Reversal Vouchees and other Legal and just advantages and the ordinary course and Courts of Justice declined 3. The proceedings in Civil Causes at Council Board contrary to the Law and Great Charter not limited to any certain time or season 4. That the Subject is in all the material parts thereof denyed the benefit of the Princely graces and more especially of the Statute of Limitations of 21 Jac. Granted by his Majesty in the Fourth year of his Reign upon great advice of Council of England and Ireland and for great consideration and then published in all the Courts of Dublin and in all the Counties of this Kingdom in open Assizes whereby all persons do take notice That contrary to his Majesties Pious Intentions his Subjects of this Land have not enjoyed the benefit of his Majesties Princely Promise thereby made 5. The Extrajudicial avoiding of Letters Patents of Estates of a very great part of his Majesties Subjects under the Great Seal the Publique Faith of the Kingdom by private Opinions delivered at the Council-Board without Legal Evictions of their Estates contrary to the Law and without president or example of any former Age. 6. The Proclamation for the sole Emption and uttering of Tobacco which is bought at very low rates and uttered at high and excessive rates by means whereof Thousands of Families within this Kingdome and of his Majesties Subjects in several Islands and other parts of the West-Indies as your Petitioners are informed are destroyed and the most part of the Coyn of this Kingdom is ingrossed into particular hands Insomuch as the Petitioners do conceive that the Profit arising and engrossed thereby doth surmount his Majesty's Revenue certain or casual within this Kingdom and yet his Majesty receiveth but very little Profit by the same 7. The universal and unlawful increasing of Monopolies to the advantage of a few to the disprofit of his Majesty and Impoverishment of his People 8. The extream and cruel usage of certain late Commissioners and other Stewards the British Farmers and Inhabitants of the City and County of London-Derry by means whereof the worthy Plantation of that Country is almost destroyed and the Inhabitants are reduced to great Poverty and many of them forced to forsake the Country the same being the first and most useful Plantation in the large Province of Vlster to the great weakening of the Kingdom in this time of danger the said Plantation being the principal strength of those Parts 9. The late erection of the Court of High-Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical in those necessitous times the proceedings of the said Court in many Causes without Legal Warrant and yet so supported as Prohibitions have not been obtained though legally sought for And the excessive Fees exacted by the Ministers thereof and the encroaching of the same upon the Jurisdiction of other Ecclesiastical Courts of this Kingdom 10. The exorbitant Fees and pretended Customs exacted by the Clergy against the Law some of which have been formerly represented to your Lordship 11. The Petitioners do most heartily bemoan that His Majesties service and profit are much more impaired then advanced by the Grievances aforesaid and the Subsidies granted in the last Parliament having much increased His Majesties Revenue by the buying of
and the Statute of 20 E. 3. 3. To the Third they say That it is part of their said Oath as Judges that they shall not Counsel or assent to any thing that may turn to the damage or disherison of our Soveraign Lord the Kings most Excellent Majesty by any manner of way or colour And that they give no Advice or Counsel to any man great or small in no Case wherein the King is a Party And that they shall do and procure the Profit of the King and his Crown in all Things where they may reasonably do the same And that in the Explanation of their said Oaths by the Statute of 20 E. 3. c. 1. It is declared That they shall give no Counsel to great Men nor small in case where the King is Party or which doth or may touch the King in any point And as your Lordships have been honourably pleased by an Order of this Honourable House bearing date the first of March Anno Domini 1640. Annoque Regni Regis Caroli 16. to give way That they should not be Compelled to Answer any part of the said Questions which did concern his Majesties Prerogative or were against their Oaths so they humbly represent unto your Lordships That they conceive that the Answering of the Particulars of this Question doth concern both for that the King 's Privy Council as the Questions terms it or Council Board is a Court of his Majesties high Prerogative where all Proceedings are before him and his Council or before his Governor who immediately to many Purposes represent his Majesties Person and the Council And where the great Affairs of State concerning his Majesties Honor Government Profit and of great Persons and Causes concerning the Common-Wealth which may not be conveniently remedied by the ordinary Rules of the Common-Law and many other Cases have been Treated of and managed And as his Majesty is the Fountain of all Justice within this Kingdom and may grant Cognizances of Pleas unto his Subjects and Corporations and may by his Commissions Authorize whom he shall think fit to Execute many Branches of his Authority so We humbly conceive That it doth not stand with our Oathes or Duties of our Places who are but Judges of the ordinary Courts of Justice before his Majesties Pleasure signified in that behalf to seek into the Commissions or Instructions of the Chief Governor and Council or to give any Opinion concerning the Limits Jurisdictions Orders Decrees Proceedings or Members of that High Court And that the King hath a Prerogative for hearing some of the Matters in this Question specified before his Chief Governor We beseech your Lordships to cast your Eyes on the Statute of 28 H. 6. c. 2. in this Kingdom where after Matters are directed to be sent to the Ordinary Courts yet the King's Prerogative is expresly saved notwithstanding all which his Gracious Majesty for whom it is most proper hath of late been pleased to Limit the Proceedings of that Board by his Instructions in Print 4. To the fourth they Answer as to the Third 5. To the fifth they say That generally all Grants of Monopolies whereby Trading Manufacture or Commerce is restrained and the Profit which should go to many is hindred and brought into a few Hands are against Law and the Liberty of the Subject and the Good of the Commonwealth tho they carry never so fair a pretence of Reforming Abuses And that the pretended Transgressors against such Grants are not at all punishable by any Rule of Law that they know of And yet they say That they conceive That his Majesty that is the Head and Father of the Commonwealth may restrain the Use and Importation and Exportation of certain Commodities or restrain the same into a few Hands for a time where there may be a likelyhood of his Majesties Profit which is the profit of the Commonwealth and no apparent prejudice to the Commonwealth doth appear And that when time shall discover such Prejudice then such Restraint ought to Cease So if a man by his own Invention at home or Travel Observation or Charge abroad doth introduce a new profitable or useful Trade or Profession into the Commonwealth in such Cases his Majesty may lawfully Grant and License the only making of such Commodity or teaching or using of such Trade for a certain time and the Transgressors against such Warrantable Grants may be punished by paying of Damages unto the Patentee in an ordinary Course of Justice or otherwise as the nature of the Offence and Matter doth deserve and as the Consequence and Importance of the matter may be to the King State or Commonwealth And they say That the Matter Manner Restrictions Limitations Reservations and other Clauses contained in such Grants or Licenses and the Commissions or Proclamations thereupon and undue Execution thereof and several Circumstances may make the same Lawful or Unlawful whereof they are not able to give any Certain Resolution before some Particular comes in Judgment before them neither are they otherwise able to answer the Generals in the Particulars of the said Question Of what in what Cases how where and by whom or which of them wherein whosoever desires further satisfaction he may please to have Recourse to the known Cases of Monopolies in printed Authorities and written Records and unto the Statute of 21 Jac. in Engl. concerning Monopolies and their several Exceptions and Limitations therein 6. To the Sixth they say They can no otherwise answer then they have already in their Answer to the Third Question for the Reasons therein set forth 7. To the Seventh they say That a Proclamation or Act of State cannot alter the Common Law and that Proclamations are Acts of his Majesties Prerogative and are and always have been of great use and that the Contemners of such of them as are not against the Law are and by the constant Practise of the Star-Chamber in England have been punished according to the Nature of the Contempt and Course of the said Court And although Acts of State are not of Force to bind the Goods Possessions and Inheritance of the Subject yet they have been of great use for setling of the Estates of very many Subjects in this Kingdom as may appear in the Report of the Case of Irish Gavil-Kind in Print And further to that Question they cannot Answer for the Reasons in their Answer unto the third Question set forth 8. To the Eighth they say That they know no ordinary Rule of Law by the which the Subjects of this Kingdom are made Subject to Martial Law in time of Peace and that they find the use thereof in the time of Peace in England complained of in the Petition of Right exhibited unto his Majesty in the third year of his Reign and that they conceive That the Granting of Authority and Commission for execution thereof is derived out of his Majesties Regal and Prerogative Power for suppressing of sudden and great Insolencies Insurrections among
before been said concerning the beginning of this Execrable and Unparallel'd Rebellion take the Words of an * Excellent and Noble Author upon that Subject THe Irish Nation A M. S. S. in the custody of his Grace the Duke of Ormond written by the Right Honourable the Earl of Clarendon saith he was possessed of the most blessed and happy Condition before their own to say no worse unskilful Rage and Fury brought this War upon them and they have since had leisure enough thoroughly to consider and value the wonderful Plenty Peace and security which they enjoyed till the year 1641 when they wantonly and disdainfully flung those Blessings from them They were arrived to a mighty increase of Traffick Improvement of Land Erection of Buildings and whatever else might be profitable or pleasant to any People and these desirable Advantages and Ornaments the Policy and Industry of that Nation was utterly unacquainted with till they were brought to them by the skill and labour of the English planting and living Charitably Friendly and Hospitably among them Taxes and Tillages and other Contributions were things hardly known to them so much as by their Names whatever their Lands Labour or Industry produced was their own and they were not only free from the fear of having it taken from them by the King upon any pretence whatsoever without their own consents but also so secured against Thieves and Robbers by the Execution of good Laws that Men might and did Travel over all Parts of the Kingdom with considerable Sums of Money unguarded and unconcealed If this happy posture of Affairs It were well if our English Non-conformists would look in this Glass they would see their own pourtaict exactly and may by timely consideration avoid the same destiny was undervalued under the Notion of being but Temporal Blessings and the want of Freedom be alledged as to the Exercise of the Romish Religion to which that Nation was generally addicted it cannot be denied but that though by the Laws and Constitutions of that Kingdom the Power and Authority of the Bishop of Rome is not in any degree allowed or submitted to by the Government yet by connivance the whole Catholique Body of that Nation enjoyed an undisturbed Exercise of that Religion and even at Dublin where the Seat of the King 's chief Governour was such was the indulgence of Authority then towards them that they went as uninterruptedly to their Devotions as the Governor did to his Bishops Priests and all Degrees and Orders of the Secular and Regular Clergy lived and exercised their Functions among them And though there were some Laws against them still in force which the Necessity and Wisdom of former Ages had caused to be Enacted to suppress those acts of Treason and Rebellion which that People frequently fell into and the Policy of the present Times kept unrepealed to prevent the like Distempers and Designs yet the Edge of those Laws was so totally rebated by the Clemency and Compassion of the King that no Man could say he had suffered prejudice or disturbance in or for his Religion which is another kind of indulgence then the Subjects professing a faith contrary to that which is Established by the Laws of the Land can boast of in any other Kingdom in the World When in the Year 1640 they discerned some Distempers arising in England upon the Scots Invasion and perceived the Support and Countenance that People then found in both Houses of Parliament in England they would likewise bear a part and bring in their Contribution to the work in hand then they began to Transplant those dangerous humors of Jealousies and Discontents which they found springing up Seditiously in the Parliament at Westminster into Ireland and with the same Passion and Distemper cherished them in the Parliament at Dublin They fell to Accusing upon general and unreasonable Imputations the principal Councellors and Ministers of State who were intrusted by the Crown in that Kingdom impeaching them of High Treason and thereby according to the Rule unjustly then prescribed at Westminster they removed those Persons from any Power in Publick Affairs there whose wisdom might probably otherwise have prevented the mischiefs which have since ensued Then did they most weakly and childishly concur with the greatest Enemies their Nation or Religion had in the Conspiracy against the life of the Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom by whose Wisdom and most prudent Government that Nation had reaped great advantages and was daily receiving greater and sent a Committee from Dublin to Westminster to join in the Prosecution of him and having in the end procured the miserable and never enough lamented Ruin of that great Person they powerfully opposed and hindred the conferring of that charge upon any of those His Majesty had designed to undertake it and at the last by their repeated importunities they got it devolved into such hands as were most unlike to grapple with the difficulties which they were sure to meet with and having thus to their uttermost power fomented the divisions in England and discountenanced and weakened the Regal Power in Ireland by raising the same Factions against it there on the sudden upon the 23d day of October 1641 without the least pretence of Quarrel or Hostility so much as apprehended by the Protestants great multitudes of Irish Roman Catholicks in the Province of Vlster and shortly after in other Provinces and parts of the Kingdom Tumultuously assembled together put themselves in Arms seised upon the Forts Castles Towns and Houses belonging to the Protestants which by their force they could possess themselves of and with most Barbarous Circumstances of Cruelty within the space of a few days murthered an incredible number of Protestants Men Women and Children promiscuously and without distinction of Age or Sex and of all those who were within the reach of their Power they who escaped best were robbed of all that they had to their very skins and so turned naked to indure the sharpness of that Season and by that means and for want of Relief many thousands of them perished by hunger and cold the Design which was at the same time laid for the surprise of the Castle of Dublin the Residence of the King 's chief Governors and His Majesties principal Magazine of Arms and Ammunition wherewith it was then plentifully stored being discovered by a person trusted and thereby disappointed that place was left singly to consult of the best means to oppose the Torrent which was like to overwhelm the whole Kingdom and for a Refuge to the poor Protestants who from all parts of the Kingdom flocked thither Despoiled Robbed and Stripped with the sad Relations of the most inhumane Cruelties and Murthers exercised upon their Friends Kindred and Neighbours which have been ever heard of amongst Christians It is not All the Irish not Guilty of the Rebellion adds he the purpose of this Discourse to lay any imputations of this Rebellion and
Savage Cruelty upon the whole Irish Nation and all the Catholicks of that Kingdom many Persons of Honour were never in the least degree tainted with that Contagion but on the contrary have always given as signal Testimonies of their Affection and Duty to the King and of their detestation of that Odious and Bloody defection as any of his Subjects of either of his other Kingdoms have done whose memories must with equal justice and care be transmitted to Posterity as pretious Examples of Honour and Integrity others there were who by the Passion and Rigour of those who were then in Authority and had power enough to destroy whom they had inclination to suspect or accuse were driven to put themselves into the Protection of those whose ways and courses they totally disapproved and hated and many who were by mis-information and mis-belief ingaged in the carrying on and possibly contriving the War and Insurrection yet were mortally averse to those barbarous actions of Blood Rapine and Inhumanity which dishonour even the most just and lawful War One Circumstance of unhappy and impious Policy must not be forgotten by which the Bold Authors of that unnatural War in the first entrance into it promised to themselves notable advantages and which in truth as most of the policies of that kind brought unspeakable misery and devastation upon that Nation for the better seducing the People who having lived so long in Peace and Amity with the English were not without some Reverence to that Government and so could not in plain and direct terms be easily led into an avowed Rebellion against their King they not only declared and with great skill and industry published throughout the Kingdom that they took Arms for the King and the Defence of his Lawful Prerogative against the Puritanical Parliament of England which they said invaded it in many Parts and that what they did was by His Majesties Approbation and Authority And to gain Credit to that Fiction they produced and shewed a Commission to which they had fastened an impression of the Great Seal of England which they had taken off from some Grant or Patent which had Regularly and Legally passed the Seal and so it was not difficult to perswade weak and unexperienced Persons to believe that it was a true Seal The Rebels of Ireland counterfeit the King's Commission and Great Seal prejudicial to the King but Ruinous to them and real Commission from the King And by this Fatal Stratagem they cast so Odious an Imputation upon the King and upon those Persons who were worthily nearest him in his Affection and Councils that the Seditious Party in England who were then contriving all the Mischief they afterwards brought to pass used all their Arts to propagate those horrible Calumnies and to infuse into the Hearts of the People an Irreverence and Jealousy of the King Queen and those of nearest Trust to either of them so that his Majesty was even compelled for his own Vindication and lest he might be thought too faint a Prosecutor of an Enemy whose Insurrection it was said he himself had fomented to commit the whole Management of that War to the two Houses of Parliament and they having obtained this Power Interessed and trusted such Members of their own Body with the Ordering and Directing of the same as were resolved with most Passion Uncharitableness and Violence to Prosecute that whole Nation and the Religion that was most generally Exercised there and by this means all Persons who were to conduct both the Civil and Military Affairs in Ireland were drawn to a Dependence upon the Two Houses of Parliament at Westminster all Officers and Commanders for that War were Nominated and approved by them all Monies raised for that Service was Issued and Disposed only by their Orders from whence it came to pass that they who craftily intended to derive a Support and Countenance to themselves by using the King's Name to Purposes which he abhorred foolishly thereby defrauded and deprived themselves of that Protection and Mercy which his Majesty might have vouchsafed to them for their Reduction and Preservation for from this time when any thing was proposed of Extravagancy or overmuch Rigor which the Proposers said was necessary for the Carrying on of that War or if the King made any Scruple or Pause in giving his Consent to the same they straight declared That they were obstructed in sending Relief to the Poor Protestants in Ireland and then they published some particular Relations of the lamentable and inhumane Massacre made there by the Irish which were confirmed by Multitudes of miserable undone People who landed from thence in the several Parts of England who likewise reported the Rebels Discourse of executing all their Villainies by the King's Direction so that indeed it was not in his Power to deny any thing which they thought fit to say was necessary to the good Work in Hand Thus he was compelled to put all the Strong-Holds Towns and Castles in the Province of Vlster into the Possession of the Scots who were at that time by the greatest Managers believed to be more worthy to be trusted then the English with unusual Circumstances of Power and even an independency upon the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and when his Majesty did but desire them to re-consider their own Proposition and reflect how much it might Trench upon the English Interest they suriously Voted That whosoever Advised his Majesty to that delay was an Enemy to the Kingdom and a Promoter of the Rebellion in Ireland thus his Majesty was necessitated to Consent to that Bill by which so great a Latitude was given to the disposal of Lands in the several Provinces of that Kingdom to those who adventured Mony in the War as that without the Interposition Shelter and Mercy of the Soveraign Power almost that whole People and their Fortunes were given up to the Disposal of their most Cruel and Mortal Enemies And lastly by this groundless and accursed Calumny thus raised upon the King full Power was devolved into their Hands who too much imitated the Fury and Inhumanity of the Irish in carrying on the War and proceeded with that Rigor and Cruelty in the shedding of Blood as was most detested by his Majesties Gracious and Mercisul Disposition Thus far this Excellent Author whose Words thô not Exactly accommodated to the Period of Time I have thought fit to insert here because they give the Reader a Landscape or short Map of all the Tragical Actions which filled the Scene of Ireland with Blood and Desolation and will be of excellent Use to the understanding of many future Passages in the Historical Account both of that and our own Miserable and Bleeding Nation Having given this Account of the beginning of the horrid Rebellion in Ireland Tuesday Novem. 2. the Reader must expect the continuation of it to be interwoven with the other great Affairs which were the misfortune of the present and will be the Wonder
the Earl of Leicester Lord Lieutenant of Ireland making some scruple of raising Men to be imployed in the busness of Ireland without the King's Commission and his Lordship desiring to have the Authority of the Parliament for the same in the mean time It is thought fit and so Ordered by the Lords in Parliament according to the Power given unto them by His Majesty mentioned in an Order dated the sixth of November 1641. That the said Lord Lieutenant shall have full power by virtue of this Order to Levy Men according to the Order given him from the Parliament in the interim until His Majesty shall grant him a Commission under the Great Seal of England for his Warrant for so doing The House of Commons did also take notice of the Doubt of the Earl but notwithstanding did resolve and think fit that he should proceed to raise men for the Service by Virtue of the Ordinance of Parliament It was also Ordered by the Lords and Commons A Council of War for the Affairs of Ireland That the Lord Viscount Wilmot Sir John Conyers Sir Jacob Ashly Sir Simon Harcourt Sir John Heyden Sir Foulk Hunks Sir Thomas Glemham Sir Robert King Colonel Culpeper Colonel Vavasor Lieutenant Colonel Ballard and Captain Skippon shall be Assistants as a Council of War to the Committees of both Houses of Parliament appointed for the Affairs of Ireland and have full Power by virtue of this Order to meet and consider of the present state and condition of the said Kingdom and also of an Establishment for the Army Lords agree with the Commons to put the Laws against the Papists in Execution speedily The Lords then entred upon the Consideration of the Proposition sent from the Commons concerning securing the Persons of Popish Recusants and after a long Debate the Result was this That whereas the House of Commons desired that the persons of the Romish Recusants for the safety of the Kingdom might be secured this House doth consent with them therein and Orders That the Laws of this Kingdom shall be put into Execution against them presently Upon the desire of the Commons by Mr. Pym Letters from France and Antworp stopped it was Ordered by the Lords That the Foreign Letters from France and Antwerp be stopped and perused by the Lords Committees for opening Letters there being as Mr. Pym said ground and intelligence that those Letters will discover some Root of the Rebellion in Ireland The Declaration of the State of the Kingdom was also this day read and it was moved that a Consideration of these particulars might be added and which is very uncommon I find in the Margin of the Journal the Names of the Persons which made the several Motions which in regard it is to be supposed they did it in futuram rei Memoriam that Posterity might not hereafter be to seek for their Names I will take care to transmit them down to future Ages but whether they will have Statutes Erected for the Achievement I cannot promise unless it be of Infamy Moved That the last Expedition into Germany J. C. but whether Corbet or Clotworthy I cannot tell The Loans upon Privy Seals The Commission of Excise might be added The Additional Explanation to the Petition of Right Palmer I suppose The Declaration set forth upon the Breach of both Parliaments Strode The Proclamation set forth Wingate forbidding People so much as to talk of a Parliament Gun-Powder Monopoly J. C. as it was a Project for the disarming of the Kingdom The destruction of Timber Wildt especially in the Forrest of Dean by Recusants The Entituling the King to the Lands between High-Water J. C. and Low-Water mark The abuses of Purveyors and Salt-Petre men Whitlock The Commission of Sewers to be further Explained Cromwel The Court of Wards Smyth The Jurisdiction of the Council of the Marches The Council Table as they take Cognizance of Me Te. The Buying and Selling of Honours and Dignities The further Debate ordered to be resumed to Morrow The Lord Keeper Reported the Conference with the Commons Yesterday That Mr. Pym delivered by Command divers Heads agreed upon by the Commons Wednesday Novem. 10. which are Instructions to be sent to the Commissioners of both Houses now attending his Majesty in Scotland which they desire their Lordships to joyn with them in The Instructions were read in haec verba 1. YOu shall humbly inform his Majesty Instructions to the Commissioners in Scotland Nov. 10th 1641. That the Propositions made to the Parliament of Scotland concerning their Assistance for suppressing the Rebellion in Ireland hath been fully considered and debated by both Houses of Parliament here and their Wise and Brotherly Expressions and Proceedings are apprehended and Entertained here by us not only with Approbation but with Thankfulness Wherefore we desire that his Majesty will be pleased That You in the Name of the Lords and Commons of England give publick Thanks to the States of the Parliament of Scotland for their Care and Readiness to imploy the Forces of that Kingdom for the reducing the Rebellious Subjects of Ireland to their due Obedience to his Majesty and the Crown of England 2. You shall further make known to his Majesty That in the great and almost Vniversal Revolt of the Natives of Ireland cherished and fomented as we have Cause to doubt by the Secret Practices and Encouragements of some Forreign States ill-affected to the Crown and that the Northern Parts of that Kingdom may with much more Ease and Speed be supplied from Scotland than from England We humbly desire and beseech his Majesty to make Vse of the Assistance of his Parliament and Subjects of Scotland for the present Relief of those Parts of Ireland which lie nearest to them according to the Treaty agreed upon and confirmed in both Parliaments and this Affectionate und Friendly Disposition now lately Expressed as is more particularly specified in the 5th Article 3. You shall present to His Majesty the Copy Enclosed of the Declaration which We have sent into Ireland for the Encouragement of his good Subjects there and for the more speedy and Effectual opposing of the Rebels and in Execution and performance of our Expressions therein made of Zeal and Faithfulness to his Majesties Service We have already taken Care for 50000 l. to be presently Borrowed and Secured by Parliament We have likewise resolved to hasten the Earl of Leicester Lord Lieutenant of Ireland very speedily to repair thither and forthwith to raise a Convenient number of Horse and Foot for securing Dublin and the English Pale with such other Parts as remain in his Majesties subjection intending to second them with a far greater Supply 4. We have further Ordered and Directed That his Majesties Arms and Munition lying in the City of Carlisle shall be Transported into the North Parts of Ireland for the supply of Carrick-fergus and other his Majesties Forts and
Garrisons there and that a convenient Number of Men shall be sent from the North Parts of England for the better Guard and Defence of those Forts and Countries adjoyning and that a large proportion of Arms and other Munition shall be speedily conveyed out of his Majesties Stores to West-Chester to be disposed of according to the Direction of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for arming the Men to be sent from England and such other of his Majesties Loyal Subjects as may be raised in Ireland 5. And because we understand That the Rebels are like with great strength to attempt the ruin and destruction of the Brittish Plantation in Ulster we humbly Advise his Majesty by the Council and Authority of his Parliament in Scotland to provide that one Regiment consisting if 1000 men furnish't and accomplish't with all necessary Arms and Munition as shall seem best to their Great Wisdoms and Experience may with all possible speed be Transported into Ireland under the Command of some Worthy Person well affected to the Reformed Religion and the Peace of both Kingdoms and well Enabled with Skill Judgment and Reputation for such an Employment which Forces we desire may be Quartered in those Northern Parts for the Opposing the Rebels and Comfort and Assistance of his Majesties good Subjects there with Instructions from his Majesty and the Parliament of Scotland that they shall upon all Occasions pursue and observe the Directions of the Lord Lieutenant his Lieutenant General or the Governor of Ireland according to their Authority derived from his Majesty and the Crown of England 6. And as touching the Wages and other Charges needful which this Assistance will require We would have You in our Name to beseech His Majesty to commend it to our Brethren the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland to take it into their Care on the behalf of His Majesty and this Kingdom to make such agreements with all the Commanders and Soldiers to be imployed as they would do in the like Case for themselves and to let them know For Our parts We do wholly rely upon their Honorable and Friendly dealing with us and will take Care that Satisfaction be made accordingly 7. You shall represent to his most Excellent Majesty this our Humble and Faithful Declaration that we cannot without much grief remember the great Miseries Burthens and Distempers which have for divers Years afflicted all his Kingdoms and Dominions and brought them to the last point of Ruine and Destruction all which have issued from the Cunning False and Malicious Practices of some of those who have been admitted into very near Places of Council and Authority about him who have been Favourers of Popery Superstition and Innovation Subverters of Religion Honor and Justice Factors for promoting the Designs of Forreign Princes and States to the great and apparent danger of His Royal Person Crown and Dignity and of all his People Authors of False Scandals and Jealousies betwixt his Majesty and his Loyal Subjects Enemies to the Peace Vnion and Confidence betwixt Him and his Parliament which is the surest Foundation of Prosperity and Greatness to his Majesty and of Comfort and Hope to them That by their Councils and Endeavours those great Sums which have been lately drawn from the People have been either consumed unprofitably or in the maintenance of such Designs as have been Mischievous and Destructive to the State and whilest we have been labouring to Support his Majesty to purge out the Corruptions and restore the Decayes both of Church and State others of their Faction and Party have been contriving by Violence and Force to suppress the Liberty of Parliament and indanger the Safety of those who have opposed such wicked and pernicious Courses 8. That we have just Cause to believe That those Conspiracies and Commotions in Ireland are but the Effects of the same Councils and if persons of such Aims and Conditions shall still continue in Credit Authority and Imployment the great Aids which we shall be inforced to draw from his People for subduing the Rebellion in Ireland will be applied to the Fomenting and Cherishing of it there and Encouraging some such like attempt by the Papists and ill-affected Subjects in England and in the End to the Subversion of Religion and destruction of his Loyal Subjects in both Kingdoms And do therefore most humbly beseech his Majesty to change those Councils from which such ill Courses have proceeded and which have Caused so many Miseries and Dangers to himself and all his Dominions and that he will be graciously pleased to imploy such Councils and Ministers as shall be approved of by his Parliament who are his greatest and most Faithful Council that so his People may with Courage and Confidence undergo the Charge and Hazard of this War and by their Bounty and Faithful Endeavours with Gods Blessing restore to his Majesty and this Kingdom that Honor Peace Safety and Prosperity which they have Enjoyed in former times And if herein his Majesty shall not vouchsafe to condescend to our humble Supplication although we shall always continue with Reverence and Faithfulness to his Person and to his Crown to perform those Duties of Service and Obedience to which by the Laws of God and this Kingdom we are Obliged Yet we shall be forced in discharge of the Trust which we ow to the State and to those whom we represent to Resolve upon some such way of defending Ireland from the Rebels as may concur to the Securing our selves from such Mischievous Councils and Designs as have lately been and still are in practice and agitation against us as we have just cause to believe and to commend those Aids and Contributions which this great Necessity shall require to the Custody and Disposing of such Persons of Honor and Fidelity as we have Cause to confide in The Faction as the Reader may before have observed had upon all Occasions indeavoured to lay hold upon the Soveraign Power of the Sword and indeed nothing less could Protect them from their own Fears of a future Reckoning which they were affraid they must make if ever the King's Affairs came into a prosperous Condition and setled Posture But certainly next to the Execrable Rebellion in Ireland it was one of the most barbarous Outrages to a most Excellent Prince whose Indulgence was his greatest Crime not only to charge him with the Fomenting and in a manner Contriving this most wicked Rebellion as is evident by these Venemous Reflections they intended to do but to take this advantage of the Misfortune of his Affairs to wrest from him that little remainder of Power and Regal Authority which he had not hitherto divested himself of But this was the Resolution of these Ingrateful and Ungenerous Subjects whose unbounded Ambition all the Streams of Royal Bounty were not able to satisfie so long as the King was the Fountain of them and they were determined to make use of his Majesties extreme Necessity as they had
might be secured lest the same Design might be intended by them here which they have cause to fear Next That there were divers Laws and good Motions sent up to the Lords for the good of this Church and Common-wealth and that the great Impediment which did arise there that they passed not was from the Bishops and they did conceive that so long as their Votes was in the Parliament it would be a hindrance to the Progress of all good Laws and Motions and therefore they desired a further endeavour to take away their Votes This being thus said by them they put it to the Vote for lending Money and not one Hand or Vote against it And they did further declare That if the Lord Mayor would send to every Ward they would presently pay the Money or subscribe to do it in a short time The Reader may now observe That the City began to Dance after the Pipe of the Faction at Westminster and to load the poor Bishops with being the Cause of the stoppage of the intended Reformation They had wrested the Lord Mayor's Prerogative from him in the Election of one of the Sheriffs as before was shewn and did with great industry endeavour to get the Government of the City out of the hands of those who were of known Loyalty to the Crown and Affection to the Church The Faction in the Commons House needed not this Spur to quicken the Career of their Animosity against the Lords the Bishops however it was extream welcome to them and an usual Artifice by their Agents to put both the City and Country upon Directing and Petitioning what they had a mind to bring to pass this gave a great colour to their proceedings as being agreeable to the desire of the Nation the mind of the People of England and the wishes of the City for those of their Tribe though not the 40th part of the City Nation or People yet they took upon them these great Names And this Arrogant Usurpation of making themselves the Representatives of the good People of England was a vanity which was inseparable to the Party and which we shall find them making Use of upon all occasions The House of Commons thereupon fell briskly upon the Plea and Demurrer of the Bishops which was read twice The Bishops Plea and Demurrer voted Dilatory and then it was Resolved c. That this Plea and Demurrer of the Bishops is Dilatory and insufficient This Vote seems to be given at all adventure for after the Vote a Committee was appointed to consider of the Plea and Demurrer and to present their Opinion what they think fit to be done upon it and after some time Serjeant Wild Reported That after a long Debate in the Committee and variety of Opinions they came at last to this Conclusion That this Plea and Demurrer is Dilatory and insufficient just as the House had Voted before and without shewing any Reasons why but that these 12 Bishops have made no Answer and therefore to desire the Lords That they may put in a peremptory Answer such as they will stand unto There is not the meanest Freeholder in England but by the Common Law of England ought to have had the Liberty to have a Demurrer argued and unless it could be over-ruled by sound Reason and Law it must have been allowed a good Plea and yet these venerable Men who had all the security that the Magna Charta the Common and Statute Law could afford them for their Right of Peerage and Voting in Parliament could not be allowed that Common Right but without the least shadow or Error in the Plea and Demurrer assigned must be obliged to give another Answer This was the Justice of those Men and Times But it was no wonder to see them violate the Laws of Reason Religion and their own Nation for even the Law of Nations as you have seen before in the Venetian Ambassadador's Case whose Letters were opened at their Instance and Direction was not able to preserve its Sacred Power For a Complaint was brought to the Commons House by Segnior Amerigo the Agent of the Duke of Florence that under pretence of searching for Priests his House was broken open by Persons who shewed their Authority for it And hereupon even shame The Agent of Florence outraged lest Foreign Nations should withdraw all Commerce and Correspondence from them who violate the Common Law of all Nations obliged them to appoint a Committee To consider of the Outrages these are the words of their own Journal offered to Segnior Amerigo Agent to the Duke of Florence and likewise to consider of the Abuses of those Men that are imployed by this House for apprehending of Priests and they are to consider of some fit way of Reparation to be made to Segnior Amerigo and to present them to the House This day a Petition of the City of London was read Monday Novemb. 15. Touching the abuse of many Protections which was to the stopping of Trade c. but because the Petition was too General it was agreed it should be delivered back again to be mended and then their Lordships will consider further of it A Message was sent from the House of Commons to desire That the Examinations taken by the Lords Committees concerning the Plot of the Army may be sent down to the House of Commons to be made use of The Examinations were delivered Sealed to the Clerk of the Parliament and it was Debated Whether they should be openly read in the Lords House before they were sent down and upon the Question it was Resolved That they should and thereupon they were opened and read acccordingly They had now a Necessity to revive the Business of the Design of bringing up the Army that by the Assistance of that which they made a mighty Plot they might inforce the great Necessity of the King 's parting with all his Friends in Power and Trust under the Notion of Evil Counsellors with which Debate the House of Commons was in a manner now wholly taken up but sure they were the most Fortunate Persons in the World to be upon all Occasions furnished with the discovery of fresh Plots to carry on their Designs and give them countenance among the Amazed and Affrighted People and one lies under the Temptation of believing that they were the Contrivances of the Faction rather than Realities when it is observed how luckily the Discoveries happened to fall in with their other Designs For in the very nick of time when they were at a dead-lift to get the House of Lords purged of the Popish Beal's Plot. and Popishly Affected Lords and Bishops up starts one Beal a Taylor and Discovers a mighty Plot. For this Day a Message was brought from the House of Commons by John Hampden Esq to let their Lordships know That this Day there came a Man to the Door of the House of Commons and sent in Word That he had Matters of a high
Reasons hereafter as they shall think fit The Lords Adjourned their House into a Committee during pleasure to Debate these Matters the Proposition concerning securing Recusants was deferred till the Commons brought up a List of the Particular Names of the Recusants they desired should be Secured When the other Proposition about the Isle of Wight came under Consideration the Earl of Portland affirmed That his Father lived and died a Protestant as he can make it appear by credible Witnesses that were with him when he died if his Wife be one it was against his Will and for himself his Lordship protested That his Father bred him a Protestant and he would ever live and die one Which giving good satisfaction to the House it was Ordered to be put in Writing and delivered at a Conference to the House of Commons Mr. William Crofts was Sworn and Ordered to be Examined before the Deputed Lords The Earl of Holland Reported Message from the Venetian Ambassador That the Venetian Ambassador had been with him and desired That the ill Expressions in his Paper may be Excused for he professes he meant nothing in derogation of any Member of this House but spoke it as what Reputation other States had of such an Action and that he further signified That he hath written a fair Letter to the State of Venice concerning the opening of his Letters which he hopes will satisfie them This day Wall upon his Petition was Released from the Fleet Wall released where he had been committed for neglecting to deliver the Order of the House to search for Priests and Jesuits but with this condition not to be admitted any more to the Service of the House Inquiry after the transporting of Horses It was Ordered in the Commons House That the Knights and Burgesses of the County of Kent and the Barons of the Cinque-Ports do forthwith send to the Officers that do register the Horses that are Transported beyond the Seas and to send up a List of the Number of them that have been Transported within these 12 Months and by what Warrant and by whom such Warrants were obtained Though Disloyalty to the King and Disobedience to the Church which rarely are seen asunder began now to be much in Fashion and Esteem and to depress the Prerogative and oppress the Church were accounted Great Recommendations for men to set up for Patriots of the Country and Reformers of Religion yet wanted there not some Brave Spirits who to their Eternal Reputation darest even in the face of the Breach indeavour to stop the Deluge of Schism and the Inundations of Errors which they apparently saw must overwhelm the Church upon throwing down the Banks of Episcopal Order and Government How Unwelcom these bold Truths were to the Faction appears by an Order of the House of Commons of this Day made purposely to discountenance Petitions of this Nature for maintaining the Church Government as by Law it was Established and to deterr others from attempting to give them any Interruption in their pretended Reformation Order to discourage Petitioners for Episcopacy Ordered That it be referred to the Committee for the Ministers Remonstrance to consider what indiscreet and irregular Wayes and Means have been Vsed to procure Hands to Petitions presented or to be presented for or against Episcopacy This latter clause or against was only for colour to make the other pass more fairly for it is Evident that they themselves were the Great Promoters of Petitions not only against that but for whatever they had a design to obtain as will hereafter upon occasion appear But upon this Occasion I cannot but present the Reader with a Petition which I find in a Collection of Petitions of the like Nature Printed by His Majesties particular Order which though it came from one of the smallest Counties of England yet had not the least Learning or Reason And if it received neither Countenance nor Answer it is not much to be wondred at being indeed Unanswerable The Petition was as follows To the High and Honorable Court of Parliament The Humble Petition of the Knights Esquires Gentlemen and Householders in the County of Rutland in behalf of our Selves and our Families And of the Parsons Vicars and Curates for the Clergy in behalf of themselves and their Families THat whereas there have been diverse Petitions exhibited to this Honorable Court The Rutland-Shire Petition for Episcopacy Nov. 18. 1641. by Persons disaffected to the present Government for the utter Extirpation of the Apostolical Government of the Church by Bishops they by Sedulity and Zeal supplying the want of fair Pretences for the Abolition of that which we hope no just Reason can Condemn And on the other side many Pious Persons true Sons of the Church of England have represented their just Desires of the continuance of it upon great and weighty Causes both in Divinity and true Policy We also lest We might seem unconcerned and for fear lest our Silence should be exacted as a Crime at our Hands if We be deficient to what We are persuaded is the Cause of God In pursuance of their pious Intendments and in allowance of their Reasons do also press to your great Tribunal to beg of you to do that which is the Honor of Kings to be Nutricii of the Church and her most Ancient and Successive Government We therefore humbly beg of you to leave us in that state the Apostles left the Church in That the Three Ages of Martyrs were governed by That the 13 Ages since them have always gloried in by their Succession of Bishops from the Apostles proving themselves members of the Catholique and Apostolick Church That our Laws have Established so many Kings and Parliaments have protected into which we were baptized as certainly Apostolical as the Observation of the Lords Day as the distinction of Books Apocryphal from Canonical as that such Books were written by such Evangelists and Apostles as the Consecration of the Eucharist by Presbyters as any thing which you will do by upholding the Government of the Church by Bishops which we again and again beg of you to do having Pity on our Consciences and not forcing us to seek Communion as yet we know not where So shall we be bound to pray with a Multiplyed Devotion for the increase of Publique and Personal Blessings to your Honorable Assembly to your Noble Persons We also do with all humility beg leave to represent these our Considerations subjoyned which we hope you will favourably Expound to be a well-meant Zeal and at least a Conscience of Duty and Charity to those our Fathers from whom we have received and daily hope to receive many issues of Spiritual Benedictions 1. We Consider That Christ either left his Church without a lasting Government or else Bishops and Presbyters under them are that Government the former we fear to say lest we might seem to accuse the Wisdom of the Father of Improvidence in the not providing
held by Bishops the greatest Fires and Pests of Christendom the Old Heresies were by their Industry extinct Church Discipline and Pious Constitutions by them Established many Nations by them converted many Miracles done for the Confirmation of the Christian Faith one of the Gospels written by a Bishop St. Mark of Alexandria if we believe as authentick Records as any are extant Three of the Epistles of St. Paul written to Bishops seven Epistles by the Holy Ghost himself recorded in the Revelation and sent to the Seven Asian Bishops as all ancient Fathers accord * * Timotheus Titus Clemens Limus Marcus Dyonisius Onesimus Caius Epaphroditus Jacobus Hierosolimit Euodias Simeon the Names of twelve Men besides Apostles mentioned in Holy Scripture which all Antiquity reports to have been Bishops most of the Fathers whose Works all Posterity embraces with much Zeal and Admiration were Bishops these also in our Apprehensions advance that Holy Function to a high and unalterable Estimation 17. Very many of the fairest Churches and Colleges and Places of Religion were built by Bishops which are fair Characters to shew their prompiness to do Publick Acts of Piety and that Persons so well qualified as they were that is Governors and Clergy and fairly endowed is an excellent Composition to advance publick Designs for the Honor of God in the Promotion of Publick Piety 18. Since it hath pleased this Honorable Court of late to commend a Protestation to Vs which We by solemn Vow engaged our selves to Attest with our Lives and Fortunes the established Doctrine of the Church of England We consider that since the 36 Article hath approved and established the Book of Consecration of Bishops the Abolition of Bishops would nullifie that Article and should We not make humble Remonstrance to the contrary we should suddenly recede from our great and solemn Protestation for maintenance of our Church Doctrine But may it please this Honorable Assembly We consider on the other side 19. The introducing of Lay Elders must bring an insupportable Burthen to all Parishes by maintaining them at the Parish Charge for they must be maintained or else a Transgression is made against the Apostolical Rule Tim. 5. for the principal and indeed only colourable pretended Place for Lay-Elders injoyns their Maintenances so that either the People must be Oppressed with so great a Burthen or else St. Paul's Rule not obeyed or else there is no Authority for Lay Elders as indeed there is not 20. And also there can be no less fear of Vsurpation upon the Temporal Power by the Presbytery then is pretended from Episcopacy since that Presbytery challenges Cognisance of more Causes and Persons then the Episcopacy does so making a dangerous Entrenchment upon the Supremacy and derives its Pretence from Divine Institution with more Confidence and more immediate derivation then Episcopacy though indeed more vainly as We conceive 21. We crave leave also to add this That these two viz. Episcopacy and Presbytery being the only two in contestation if any new Design should justle Episcopacy we are confident that as it hitherto wants a Name so it will want a Face or Form of Reason in case of Conscience when it shall appear Signed by Knights Justices Gentry and Free-Holders about 800 By Ministers about the Number of 40. Though this Number seem but small yet the County is so too and certainly the Reasons which they offered were great and altogether unanswerable But the Word of the Faction was Delenda est Carthago Root and Branch must up though the 12 Apostles themselves had Petitioned them and remonstrated against this Violent and Anti-Christian Enterprize as in reality both they and all Apostolick Men as is well urged in this Petition did This day a Petition was read in the House of Lords Friday Novemb. 19. Officers of the late Army Petition for their Pay Presented by the Colonels and Chief Commanders in the late King's Army shewing That whereas there was a Trust desired by the Parliament of the said Officers for part of their Pay and thereupon an Act was made for their satisfaction to be given positively on the 10th of this Instant November They therefore desire That the Parliament may be moved to make good their Act. Whereupon it was Ordered to be propounded to the Commons at a Conference The Press breaks loose against Church and State The Press now began to break loose as indeed every thing that looked like Order seemed to be wholly Abandoned to Libertinisme both in Church and State for daily Complaints were made of abusive Pamphlets against both particular Persons and the Government Civil and Ecclesiastical Complaint had been some time before made to the House of a Libel against the Earl of Worcester another against the French Ambassador a third for Printing and Publishing a Book Intituled Leicester's Commonwealth upon all which the Honourable House of Lords who had not yet ejected the Bishops and others of the Loyal Nobility had animadverted and this Day it was Ordered That Lewis Hughs a Minister be sent for to attend this House to see if he will avow the making of a Book Intituled The Grievances and Errors of the Service-Book and that the Company of the Stationers do take Care to find out the Printer of the same Ordered Wall restored to his Place That Thomas Wall shall be restored to his former Imployment about the Vpper House of Parliament which although it is in the Gentleman Vshers disposure yet the Lords do presume that he will give way unto it by reason that his Dismission from the Imployment was by Order of this House for the reglect of his Duty to their Lordships only and the Business that concerned the House The Commons were still busy with the Declaration which having been the Work of many Daies and some Nights the Faction watching the opportunity of a thin House when most of the Loyal Party were tired and risen was at last brought to that perfection that it was Ordered to be Ingrossed A Motion was made for encouraging voluntary Contributions for the Relief of the poor English in the Kingdom of Ireland to which Sir John Packer presently gave 100 l. The Lord Brooks acquainted the Lord Thursday Novemb. 20. That he had informed the Venetian Ambassador with the Order of this House concerning Priests and Jesuits and the Ambassador saith he hath none that are the King 's Native Subjects if he had any such he would discharge them as for Father Jones and Father Andrews he saith he knows none such The Petition of Robert Philips the Priest was read Philips the Priest Petitions to be released from the Tower Craving Pardon for having presented formerly to their Lordships such Petitions as have not afforded expected Satisfaction which he humbly beseecheth may not be imputed to his backwardness but rather unto want of Experience in forming Petitions of that Nature And further he beseecheth their Lordships to believe that from his Heart he is
and doth get the Tongue of some men whose hearts are far from him For at one of your Committees I heard it publickly asserted by one of the Committee that some of our Articles do contain some things contrary to Holy Scripture Mr. Speaker Sunday is a Sabbath Sunday is no Sabbath Both true both untrue in several acceptations and the knot I think too hard for our Teeth Shall I give you an easier instance Some say it is lawful to kneel at receiving the Elements of our Holy Communion others Plead it as expedient Some do press it as necessary and there want not others who abhor it as Idolatrous And Sir I am confident you cannot so state this easie question to pass among us but that there will be many Contradicentes The Second Epistle of St. Peter is now newly denyed to be the Apostles Our Creed The Ministers in their Remonstrance do complain that the Creed is often rehearsed but they blotted out what they had put in that it is over-short and in one place dangerous obscure the Holy Apostles Creed is now disputed denyed inverted and exploded by some who would be thought the best Christians among us I started with wonder and with anger to hear a bold Mechanick tell me that my Creed is not my Creed He wondred at my wonder and said I hope your worship is too wise to believe that which you call your Creed O Deus bone in quae tempora reservasti nos Thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One absurdity leads in a thousand and when you are down the Hill of Error there is no bottom but in Hell and that is bottomless too Shall I be bold to give you one and but one instance more much clamor now there is against our publick Lyturgy though hallowed with the Blood of some of the first Composers thereof And surely Sir some parts of it may be well corrected But the clamors now go very high Impudence or Ignorance is nown grown so frontless that it is lowdly expected by many that you should utterly abrogate all forms of publick worship a As for them who admit a form to be lawful yet do declaim against Authothority for commanding and imposing the use of it it is to me a wonder and absurdity that a just Authority may not bind that to be done by a Law which is as they confess lawful in it self both to have and use and at least if you have a short Form yet not to impose the use of it Extirpation of Episcopacy that hope is already wallowed and now the same Men are as greedy for abolition of the Lyturgy that so the Church of England in her publick Prayers b In a false Copy abroad instead of may hereafter the silly Transcriber put in Nay her afferture which hath been some displeasure unto me may hereafter turn a babler at all adventure A brainless stupid and an ignorant conceit of some Thus much for a taste of that whereof there is two much abroad for the divisions of Reuben there are great thoughts of heart abroad Sir Thus are we engaged into sad points of Divinity and with the favour of that Gentleman who did last time disgust it I must again propound my doubtful quaere to be resolved by the wisdom of this House whether we be Idonei competentes judices in doctrinal resolutions In my Opinion we are not Let us maintain the Doctrine Established in the Church of England it will be neither safety nor wisdom for us to determine new Sir I do again repeat and avow my former words and do confidently affirm That it was never seen nor known in any age in any Nation throughout the whole World that a Set of Lay-men Gentlemen Soldiers Lawyers of both Gowns Physicians Merchants Citizens all professions admitted or at least admittable but the Professors of Religion alone excluded that we should determine upon Doctrines in Divinity Shall the Clergy hold different Doctrines from us or shall our determinations bind them also They are a considerable body in this Kingdom they are herein surely concerned as much as we and ought not to be bound up unheard and unpartied Farther Sir If Clergy-men among us be thought fit for no other then for spiritual imployment How shall we answer it to God and to a good Conscience if we shut them out from that which we our selves pretend to be their only and their proper work Mr. Speaker We cannot brag of an unerring spirit infallibility is no more tyed to your Chair then it is unto the Popes And if I may speak truth as I love truth with clearness and with plainness I do here ingeniously profess unto you that I shall not acquiesce and sit down upon the doctrinal resolutions of this House unless it be where my own Genius doth lead and prompt me to the same conclusions Mr. Speaker We are Convened by his Majesties Writ to Treat Super arduis negotiis regni Ecclesiae I beseech you let us not turn negotia Ecclesiae into dogmata fidei There is a great difference in Objecto between the Agends and the Credends of a Christian Let us take care to settle the Government that we do not unsettle the Doctrines The short close of all with a motion is but this we are poysoned in many points of Doctrine And I know no Antidote no Recipe for cure but one a well chosen and well temper'd National Synod and God's Blessing thereon this may cure us without this in my poor opinion England is like to tuâ—â— itself into a great Amsterdam And unless this Council be very speedy the Disease will be above the Cure Therefore that we may have a full fruition of what is here but promised I do humbly move that you will command forth the Bill for a National Synod to be read the next morning I saw the Bill above five Months since in the hand of a worthy Member of this House If that Bill be not to be had then my humble Motion is as formerly that you would name a Committee to draw up another This being once resolved I would then desire that all Motions of Religion this about the Lyturgy especially may be transferred thither and you will find it to be the way of Peace and Unity amongst us here I might have added in due place above a mention of 1. Frequent Schismatical Conventicles 2. That Taylors Shoomakers Braziers Felt-makers do climb our publick Pulpits 3. That several odd irregular Fasts have been held for partial venting of private flatteries of some slanders of other Members of this House 4. That the distinction of the Clergy and Laity is Popish and Antichristian and ought no longer to remain 5. That the Lords Prayer was not taught us to be used 6. That no National Church can be a true Church of God 7. That the visible Church of Antichrist did make the King Head of the Church 8. That supreme power in Church Affairs is in every several Congregation
which way soever he shall approach Let us maintain both Pen and Pulpit Let no Ammonite perswade the Gileadite 1 Sam. 2. to fool out his right Eye unless we be willing to make a League with Destruction and to wink at Ruine whil'st it comes upon us Learning Sir it is invaluable the loss of Learning it is not in one Age recoverable You may have observed that there hath been a continual Spring a perpetual growth of Learning ever since it pleased God first to light Luther's Candle I might have said Wicklif's and justly so I do for even from that time unto this day and night and hour this light hath encreased and all this while our better cause hath gained by this light which doth convince our Miso-musists and doth evict that Learning and Religion by their mutual support are like Hypocrites Twyns they laugh and Mourn together But Sir notwithstanding all this so long encrease of learning there is Terra incognita a great Land of Learning not yet discovered our Adversaries are dayly Trading and we must not sit down and give over but must encourage and maintain and encrease the number of our painful Adventurers for the Golden Fleece and except the Fleece be of Gold you shall have no Adventurers Sir we all do look that our Cause should be defended if the Fee be poor the Plea will be but faint Our Cause is good our Defence is just let us take care that it be strong which for my part I do clearly and ingeniously profess I cannot expect should be performed by the Parish Minister no not so well as hitherto it hath been For from whom the more you do now expect of the Pulpit the less I am sure you must look for of the Pen. How shall we with one hundred Pound perhaps two hundred Pound per annum with a Family and with constant Preaching be able either in Purse for Charge or in leisure for time or in Art for skill to this so chargeable so different so difficult a work I speak it Mr. Speaker and Pardon my want of Modesty if I say I speak it not unknowingly Six hundred Pound is but a mean expence in Books and will advance but a moderate Library Pains and Learning must have a reward of Honour and Profit proportional and so long as our Adversaries will contend we must maintain the Charge or else lay down the Cause In Conclusion I do beseech you all with the fervour of an earnest heart a heart almost divided between hopes and fears never to suffer diversion or diminution of the Rents we have for Learning and Religion but beside the Pulpit let us be sure to maintain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an universal Militia of Theology whereby we may be alway ready and able even by strength of our own within our own happy Island at home 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stop the Mouth of all errors and heresies that can arise Never Sir never let it be said that sacred Learning for such is that I plead for shall in one essential half thereof be quite unprovided for in England Sir I have reason to be earnest in this I see I know great designs drawing another way and my fears are increased not cured by this Declaration Thus I have done and because I shall want Champions for true Religion Because I neither look for Cure of our Complaints from the common People nor do desire to be cured by them Because this House as under favour I conceive hath not recommended all the heads of this Remonstrance to the Committee which brought it in Because it is not true that the Bishops have Commanded Idolatry because I do not know any necessary good end and use of this Declaration but do fear a bad one And because we pass his Majesty and do remonstrate to the People I do here discharge my Vote with a clear Conscience and must say No to this strange Remonstrance This was the last Speech which this unfortunate Gentleman made in the House that I can meet with whom I cannot name without Compassion considering his great Parts and Abilities had they been rightly Informed and not over-born by the popular Torrent which though he at first helpt to swell above its Banks he was not able to Stem when he indeavoured to oppose it but was himself over-born and sunk by it And how dangerous a thing that great Privilege of Freedom of Speech was then in that House he remains a sad Example as will appear hereafter by their Treatment of him and by his own Postscript to the Collection of his Speeches which because it shews the Genius of those Persons and Times I think will not be amiss to present the Reader with in his own Words POSTSCRIPT THus have you a faithful and a clear exposure of my self in matter of Religion The Carriage of the Root and Branch Men to Sir Edward Deering both in what I have said and what I wish may be done Let the Candid and Ingenuous Reader judge me Such of the Prelatick Party as are in love with present pomp and power will be averse unto me because I pare so deep The Rooters the Anti-Prelatick party declaim against me because I will not take all away At last Midsummer a new Moon did take these men I did begin to find a different greeting a change of salutation Some expostulate others condemn some advise others would seem to condole all upon occasion of my Speech 21. June although I find not there or in any thing else that I have said any cause to make me the object either of their anger their counsel or their pity The plain truth as I touched before is that immediately upon my approach unto this Parliament some circumstances did concur to lead my language on upon the Archbishop not any personal passages God and my Soul do witness for me I have not such a temper But being Servitor for that Shire and in that Diocess where some of his hardship then fresh and new was brought by complaint unto me The accident of presenting that complaint did beget me almost as many new Friends as he had old Enemies and I know not what misconception did thereupon untruly entitle me an enemy to the very function of Episcopacy I never gave my Name in to take away both Root and Branch I love not the sound of a Curse so well If by the Rooters I have been so mistaken their credulity is not my crime And their foul language shall neither be my shame nor sorrow I will repeat some of their salutations 1. One tells me 1 A. G. That I would onely have new Bishops in room of old ones Cujus contrarium verum est 2. Another 2 W. P. That I have a Pope in my Belly 3. A Third 3 S. W. B. That he was never more sorry for any Speech in the House meaning that 21. June 4. Another 4 M. S. That strange things were said of me 5. A
a full and just satisfaction for the same do hereby declare That this said Sum of 50000 l. lent for the Irish Affairs and the Sum of 50000 l. more lent by the said City unto the Peers attending His Majesty in the Northern Parts before the beginning of this present Parliament and such other Sums lent by the said City unto this Parliament which are not yet paid or otherwise secured shall be fully satisfied and repaid unto the said City of London with Interest after the rate of 8 l. per cent for a Year out of such Moneys as are or shall be raised by Authority of Parliament and for that purpose will Exhibit a Bill and become humble Suiters to His Majesty that the same may be passed with all Expedition Provided always that this present Declaration shall not be in any wise prejudicial to any Members of the said House of Commons who have formerly lent any Sums of Money to this Parliament nor to the Northern Counties nor to any persons whatsoever to whom the Houses of Parliament or the House of Commons have formerly Ordered the Payment of any Sums of Mony nor to any security given to them before the making of this Declaration Mr. The Commons Reasons for the Continuance of Guards Pym presents from the Committee the Reasons of both Houses of Parliament for the continuance of a Guard viz. 1. The great numbers of disorderly suspicious and desperate Persons especially of the Irish Nation lurking in obscurâ—â— Allies and Victualling Houses in the Suburbs and other places near London and Westminster 2. The Jealousie conceived upon the discovery of the Design in Scotland for the surprising of the Persons of divers of the Nobility Members of the Parliament there which had been spoken of here some few days before it broke out not without some whispering intimation that the like was intended against divers Persons of both Houses which found more Credit by reason of the former attempts of bringing up the Army to disturb and inforce this Parliament 3. The Conspiracy in Ireland managed with so much secresie that but for the happy discovery at Dublin it had been Executed in all parts of the Kingdom upon one and the same day or soon after and that some of the chief Conspirators did profess that the like course was intended in England and Scotland which being found in some degree true in Scotland seemed the more probable likewise to be done in England 4. Divers Advertisements from beyond the Seas which came over about the same Time that there would be a great alteration in Religion in England in a few days and that the necks of both the Parliaments should be broken 5. Divers Examinations of dangerous Speeches of some of the Popish and discontented party in this Kingdom 6. The secret Meetings and Consultations of the Papists in several Parts their frequent Devotions for the prosperity of some great Design in hand These several Considerations do move the Parliament to desire a Guard under the Command of the Earl of Essex and they do conceive there is just Cause to apprehend that there is some wicked and mischievous practice to interrupt the peaceable proceedings of the Parliament still in hand for preventing whereof it is fit the Guards should be still continued under the same Command or such other as they should chuse But to have it under the Command of any other not chosen by themselves they can by no means consent to and will rather run any hazard then admit of a Precedent so dangerous both to this and to future Parliaments And they humbly leave it to His Majesty to consider whether it will not be fit to suffer his High Court of Parliament to enjoy that Priviledge of providing for their own safety which was never denied other inferior Courts And that he will be pleased graciously to believe that they cannot think themselves safe under any Guard of which they shall not be assured that it will be as faithful in defending His Majesties safety as their own whereof they shall always be more careful then of their own Among all these Reasons here is not one word of Beal the Taylors Discovery of the 108 Men which for 40 s. apiece were to do such strange things it seems by this time they found it an incredible Story and it is very probable that if the other grounds of their fears did not proceed from their own Quiver yet if they had Examined them they would have found them as frivolous as that or the Scotch Design against Hamilton and Arguile which upon the strictest Scrutiny would not afford more proof then to make a noise about the Streets of Plots against the Parliament the better to incite the unruly Multitude to Tumults and Insurrections which they now began to raise again to cry out No Bishops and with unheard of Insolence to affront His Majesty and whoever was Loyal But the King having Ordered them a Guard of the Trained Bands they were so displeased not at the thing for they had made use of them before but at His Majesties appointing them that it was Ordered in the House of Commons That the Guard should be dismissed and without giving His Majesty an Account or presenting him with the Reasons above recited the very same day Mr. Glyn and Mr. Wheeler were Ordered to require the High Constable of Westminster to provide a strong and sufficient Watch in their stead But to make a little flourish of Loyalty and tenderness for the King's Honour and Reputation it was this day Ordered That a Declaration be drawn for clearing His Majesties honour from false Reports cast upon him by the Rebels in Ireland and a Provision to be made Order for a Declaration to clear the Kings Honor from the Scandals of the Irish Rebels that there may be no Conclusion of that War to the prejudice of this Kingdom There might be malice even in this seeming kindness for whilst they pretended to vindicate His Majesties Honour they divulged the Scandal to the whole Nation and by their subsequent Actions and Declarations which within a little while after they published to improve the belief of that Scandal one would think they intended to prepare the way for it by this plausible pretence of a Vindication And most certainly they could intend him no real Reparation when themselves were this Day resolved to defame his Government from the very beginning of his Reign by that Scandalous Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom for this very Day Mr. Pym Sir Symon D'Ewes The Names of the Committee who were appointed to deliver the Remonstrance Sir Arthur Ingram Sir John Thyn Sir Henry Bellasis Lord Gray Sir Christopher Wray Lord Fairfax Sir Ralph Hopton Sir Richard Winn Sir John Corbet Sir Edward Deering and Sir Arthur Haslerig were Ordered to wait upon his Majesty what time he appoints with the Petition and Declaration and indeed all their Actions seemed to carry Fire in one Hand and
preparing of Articles against him but they shall be ready in convenient time to give him a Charge And in regard they hear he is not well they are contented he shall be removed to * Now Somerset-House Denmark House he putting in Caution not to go to Court and to appear when he shall be required Hereupon it was Ordered That Phillips shall upon these Cautions finding Sureties be released from his imprisonment in the Tower It was also Ordered That the Lords the Bishops that are Impeached shall be heard by their Council on Friday next at the Bar what they can say why this Motion should not be granted But the Faction of the Commons were resolved Tumults as before they had done in the Case of the Earl of Strafford to obtain that by the Force of Tumults that they could not obtain by Law or Reason The Lords however were so sensible of this affront put upon the Freedom of the Parliament that it was Ordered That all the Judges do consult among themselves what Course is fit to be taken to prevent Riots Routs and unlawful Assemblies and having considered of the Laws and Statutes in this Case to present their opinions to the House to morrow Morning and in the mean time to have a Conference with the Commons concerning the Tumults In the Commons House Serjeant Wild Reports the Conference That the Lord Keeper told the Committee That their Lordships had received Information of great numbers of People gathered together in a Tumultuous Vnusual and Disorderly manner about the Houses of Parliament and therefore desired the Commons House to joyn with them in a Declaration to remove them and that for these Two Reasons First If these disorders should continue they might render the good Acts and Provisions of this Parliament of suspicion to Posterity by the interpretation of ill Ministers Secondly Because it did not stand with the Dignity of Parliament to suffer such Tumults to be so near the Houses of Parliament The House being informed That Phillips had a Trunk brought to him to the Tower by Two Capuchins it was Ordered That the Lieutenant of the Tower and Sir William Parkhurst shall search his Trunk and if there be any Papers that concern the State to secure them till the pleasure of this House be known The Committee formerly named to wait upon the King with the Petition and Declaration were Ordered to go forthwith to present them to the King Sir Edward Deering to read it to His Majesty and in his absence Sir Ralph Hopton to read it If he be absent the Committee to appoint the Person that shall read it Accordingly the Committee went this day and attended His Majesty with the said Petition and Remonstrance which as I find it Printed in Husband's Collections was in these words The Petition of the House of Commons which Accompanied the Declaration of the State of the Kingdom Most Gracious Soveraign YOur Majesties Most Humble and Faithful Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled The Petition and Declaration of the State of the Kingdom delivered by the Commons to the King at Hampton-Court Dec. 1. 1641. do with much thankfulness and joy acknowledge the great Mercy and Favour of God in giving your Majesty a safe and peaceable return out of Scotland into your Kingdom of England where the pressing dangers and distempers of the State have caused us with much earnestness to desire the comfort of your Gracious Presence and likewise the Unity and Justice of your Royal Authority to give more Life and Power to the Dutiful and Loyal Counsels and endeavours of your Parliament for the prevention of that imminent ruine and destruction wherewith your Kingdoms of England and Scotland are threatned The Duty which we ow to your Majesty and our Country cannot but make us very sensible and apprehensive that the multiplicity sharpness and malignity of those Evils under which we have now many years suffered are fomented and cherished by a corrupt and ill-affected Party who amongst other their mischievous devices for the alteration of Religion and Government have sought by many false scandals and imputations cunningly insinuated and dispersed amongst the People to blemish and disgrace our Proceedings in this Parliament and to get themselves a Party and Faction amongst your Subjects for the better strengthening of themselves in their wicked courses and hindring those Provisions and Remedies which might by the wisdom of your Majesty and Council of your Parliament be opposed against them For preventing whereof and the better Information of your Majesty your Peers and all other your Loyal Subjects we have been necessitated to make a Declaration of the State of the Kingdom both before and since the Assembly of this Parliament unto this time which we do humbly present to your Majesty without the least intention to lay any blemish upon your Royal Person but only to represent how your Royal Authority and Trust have been abused to the great prejudice and danger of your Majesty and of all your good Subjects And because we have reason to believe that those Malignant Parties whose Proceedings evidently appear to be mainly for the advantage and encrease of Popery is composed set up and acted by the subtile practice of the Jesuits and other Engineers and Factors for Rome and to the great danger of this Kingdom and most grievous affliction of your Loyal Subjects have so far prevailed as to corrupt divers of your Bishops and others in prime places of the Church and also to bring divers of these Instruments to be of your Privy-Council and other employments of trust and nearness about your Majesty the Prince and the rest of your Royal Children And by this means hath had such an Operation in your Council and the most Important Affairs and Proceedings of your Government that a most dangerous division and chargeable Preparation for War betwixt your Kingdoms of England and Scotland the encrease of jealousies betwixt your Majesty and your most Obedient Subjects the violent distraction and interruption of this Parliament the Insurrection of the Papists in your Kingdom of Ireland and bloody Massacre of your people have been not only endeavoured and attempted but in a great measure compassed and effected For preventing the final accomplishment whereof your poor Subjects are enforced to engage their Persons and Estates to the maintaining of a very expenceful and dangerous War notwithstanding they have already since the beginning of this Parliamenâ— undergone the Charge of 150000 Pounds Sterling or thereabouts For the necessary support and supply of your Majesty in these present and perillous Designs And because all our most faithful endeavours and engagements will be ineffectual for the Peace Safety and Preservation of your Majesty and your People if some present real and effectual course be not taken for suppressing this wicked and malignant Party We Your Most Humble and Obedient Subjects do with all faithfulness and humility beseech your Majesty 1. THat you will be
out of the Kingdom some into New England and other parts of America others into Holland where they have transported their Manufactures of Cloth which is not only a loss by diminishing the present stock of the Kingdom but a great mischief by impairing and endangering the loss of that peculiar Trade of Cloathing which hath beâ—n a plentiful Fountain of Wealth and Honour to this Nation Those were fittest for Ecclesiastical preferment and soonest obtained it who were most officious in promoting superstition most virulent in railing against Godliness and Honesty The most Publick and Solemn Sermons before his Majesty were either to advance Prerogative above Law and decry the Property of the Subject or full of such kind of Invectives whereby they might make those odious who sought to maintain the Religion Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and such Men were sure to be weeded out of the Commission of the Peace and out of all other Imployments of Power in the Government of the Country Many noble Personages were Counsellors in Name but the Power and Authority remained in a few of such as were most addicted to this Party whose Resolutions and Determinations were brought to the Table for Countenance and Execution and not for Debate and Deliberation and no Man could offer to oppose them without Disgrace and Hazard to himself Nay all those that did not wholly Concur and Actively Contribute to the furtherance of their Designs though otherwise Persons of never so great Honor and Abilities were so far from being Imployed in any Place of Trust and Power that they were Neglected Discountenanced and upon all Occasions Injured and Oppressed This Faction was grown to that Hight and Intireness of Power that now they began to think of Finishing their Work which confisted of these three Parts 1. The Government must be set free from all restraint of Laws concerning our Persons and States 2. There must be a Conjunction betwixt Papists and Protestants in Doctrine Discipline and Ceremonies only it must not yet be called Popery 3. The Puritans under which Name they include all those that desire to preserve the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and to maintain Religion in the Power of it must be either rooted out of the Kingdom with force or driven out with fear For the effecting of this it was thought necessary to reduce Scotland to such Popish Superstitions and Innovations as might make them apt to joyn with England in that great Change which was intended Whereupon new Canons and a new Liturgy were prest upon them and when they refused to admit of them an Army was raised to force them to it towards which the Clergy and the Papists were very forward in their Contribution The Scots likewise raised an Army for their Defence And when both Armies were come together and ready for a bloody Encounter His Majesties own gracious Disposition and the Councel of the English Nobility and dutiful Submission of the Scots did so far prevail against the Evil Counsel of others that a Pacification was made and His Majesty returned with Peace and much Honor to London The unexpected reconciliation was most acceptable to all the Kingdom except to the Malignant Party whereof the Archbishop and the Earl of Strafford being Heads they and their Faction begun to inveigh against the Peace and to aggravate the Proceeding of the States which so incensed his Majesty that he forthwith prepared again for War And such was their Confidence that having corrupted and distempered the whole Frame and Government of the Kingdom they did now hope to corrupt that which was the only Means to restore all to a right frame and temper again to which end they perswaded His Majesty to call a Parliament not to seek Counsel and Advice of them but to draw Countenance and Supply from them and engage the whole Kingdom in their Quarrel and in the mean time continued all their unjust Levies of Money resolving either to make the Parliament pliant to their Will and to establish Mischief by a Law or else to break it and with more Color to go on by Violence to take what they could not obtain by Consent The Ground alledged for the Justification of this War was this That the undutiful Demand of the Parliament of Scotland was a sufficient Reason for His Majesty to take Arms against them without hearing the Reason of those Demands And thereupon a new Army was prepared against them their Ships were seized in all Ports both of England and Ireland and at Sea their Petitions rejected their Commissioners refused Audience This whole Kingdom most miserably distempered with Levies of Men and Money and Imprisonments of those who denied to submit to those Levies The Earl of Strafford past into Ireland caused the Parliament there to declare against the Scots to give four Subsidies towards that War and to ingage themselves their Lives and Fortunes for the Prosecution of it and gave Directions for an Army of eight thousand Foot and one thousand Horse to be levied there which were for the most part Papists The Parliament met upon the thirteenth of April one Thousand six Hundred and Forty The Earl of Strafford and Archbishop of Canterbury with their Party so prevailed with His Majesty that the House of Commons was prest to yield to a Supply for maintenance of the War with Scotland before they had provided any Relief for the great and pressing Grievances of the People which being against the Fundamental Privilege and Proceeding of Parliament was yet in humble Respect to his Majesty so far admitted as that they agreed to take the Matter of Supply into Consideration and two several Days it was debated Twelve Subsidies were demanded for the release of Ship-Money alone A third Day was appointed for Conclusion when the Heads of that Party begun to fear the People might close with the King in satisfying his desire of Money But that withal they were like to blast their malicious Designs against Scotland finding them very much indisposed to give any Countenance to that War Thereupon they wickedly advised the King to break off the Parliament and to return to the Ways of Confusion in which their own evil Intentions were most like to prosper and succeed After the Parliament ended the Fifth of May one thousand six hundred and forty this Party grew so bold as to counsel the King to Supply Himself out of His Subjects States by his own Power at his own Will without their consent The very next day some Members of both Houses had their Studies and Cabinets yea their Pockets searched Another of them not long after was committed close Prisoner for not delivering some Petitions which he received by Authority of that House and if harsher Courses were intended as was reported it is very probable that the sickness of the Earl of Strafford and the Tumultuous rising in Southwark and about Lambeth were the Causes that such violent Intentions were not brought to Execution A false and scandalous
conjunction can we expect there where the Bishops and Recusant Lords are so numerous and prevalent that they are able to Cross and Interrupt our best endeavours for Reformation and by that means give advantage to this malignant party to traduce our Proceedings They infuse into the People that we mean to abolish all Church-Government and leave every Man to his own Fancy for the Service and Worship of God absolving him of that obedience which he ows under God unto his Majesty whom we know to be intrusted with the Ecclesiastical Law as well as with the Temporal to regulate all the Members of the Church of England by such Rules of Order and Discipline as are established by Parliament which is his great Council in all Affairs both in Church and State We confess our Intention is and our Endeavors have been to reduce within Bounds that exorbitant Power which the Prelates have assumed unto themselves so contrary both to the Word of God and to the Laws of the Land to which end we past the Bill for the removing them from their Temporal Power and Imployments that so the better they might with Meekness apply themselves to the discharge of their Functions which Bill themselves opposed and were the principal Instruments of crossing it And we do here declare that it is far from our purpose or desire to let loose the golden Reins of Discipline and Government in the Church to leave private Persons or particular Congregations to take up what form of divine Service they please for we hold it requisite that there should be throughout the whole Realm a Conformity to that Order which the Laws enjoyn according to the Word of God and we desire to unburthen the Consciences of Men of needless and superstitious Ceremonies suppress Innovations and take away the Monuments of Idolatry And the better to effect the intended Reformation we desire there may be a general Synod of the most Grave Pious Learned and Judicious Divines of this Island assisted with some from foreign Parts Professing the same Religion with us who may consider of all things necessary for the Peace and good Government of the Church and represent the results of their Consultations unto the Parliament to be there allowed of and confirmed and receive the Stamp of Authority thereby to find Passage and Obedience throughout the Kingdom They have maliciously charged us that we intend to destroy and discourage Learning whereas it is our chiefest Care and Desire to advance it and to provide a competent Maintenance for conscionable and preaching Ministers throughout the Kingdom which will be a great Encouragement to Scholars and a certain means whereby the want meanness and ignorance to which a great part of the Clergy is now subject will be prevented And we intend likewise to reform and purge the Fountains of Learning the two Universities that the Streams flowing from thence may be clear and pure and an Honor and Comfort to the whole Land They have strained to blast our proceedings in Parliament by wresting the Interpretations of our Orders from their genuine Intention They tell the People that our medling with the power of Episcopacy hath caused Sectaries and Conventicles when Idolatry and Popish Ceremonies introduced into the Church by the command of the Bishops have not only debarred the people from thence but expelled them from the Kingdom Thus with Eliah we are called by this Malignant party the Troublers of the State and still while we endeavor to reform their Abuses they make us the Authors of those Mischiefs we study to prevent for the perfecting of the work begun and removing all future Impediments we conceive these Courses will be very effectual seeing the Religion of the Papists hath such Principles as do certainly tend to the Destruction and Extirpation of all Protestants when they shall have opportunity to effect it It is necessary in the first Place to keep them in such Condition as that they may not be able to do us any hurt and for avoiding of such connivence and favor as hath heretofore bin shewed unto them That his Majesty be pleased to grant a standing Commission to some choice Men named in Parliament who may take notice of their increase their Counsels and Proceedings and use all due means by execution of the Laws to prevent any mischievous designs against the Peace and Safety of this Kingdom That some good Course be taken to discover the counterfeit and false Conformity of Papists to the Church by color whereof Persons very much disaffected to the true Religion have been admitted into Place of greatest Authority and Trust in the Kingdom For the better preservation of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom that all illegal Grievances and Exactions be presented and punished at the Sessions and Assizes and that Judges and Justices be careful to give this in charge to the Grand-Jury and both the Sheriff and Justices to be sworn to the due execution of the Petition of Right and other Laws That his Majesty be humbly petitioned by both Houses to imploy such Counsellors Ambassadors and other Ministers in managing his Business at Home and Abroad as the Parliament may have Cause to confide in without which we cannot give his Majesty such Supplyes for support of his own Estate nor such Assistance to the Protestant party beyond the Sea as is desired It may often fall out that the Commons may have just Cause to take Exceptions at some Men for being Counsellors and yet not charge those Men with Crimes for there be grounds of Diffidence which lye not in Proof there are others which though they may be proved yet are not legally Criminal to be a known favorer of Papists or to have been very forward in defending or countenancing some great Offenders questioned in Parliament or to speak contemptuously of either Houses of Parliament or Parliamentary Proceedings or such as are Factors or Agents for any Foreign Prince of another Religion such as are justly suspected to get Counsellors Places or any other of Trust concerning publick Imployment for Money For all these and diverse others we may have great reason to be earnest with his Majesty not to put his great Affairs into such Hands though we may be unwilling to proceed against them in any Legal way of Charge or Impeachment that all Counsellors of State may be sworn to observe the Laws which concern the Subject in his Liberty that they may likewise take an Oath not to receive or give Reward or Pension from any Foreign Prince but such as they within some reasonable Time discover to the Lords of his Majesties Council And although they should wickedly forswear themselves yet it may herein do good to make them known to be False and Perjured to those who imploy them and thereby bring them into as little Credit with them as with us that his Majesty may have cause to be in love with good Council and good Men by shewing him in an humble and dutiful
have a Copy of the Declaration against him and shall put in his Answer thereunto on Tuesday come seven Night The Commons were also in an extraordinary heat about the Halberdeers who were set to prevent Tumults and Riots Routs and unlawful Assemblies which now frequently resorted to Westminster to cry out against the Bishops and their Votes in Parliament some of the Halberdeers were called to the Bar and Examined and they giving the same Account as was before given to the Lords the Bailiff of Westminster the Constable of St. Clement Danes and the Under-Sheriff of Middlesex were ordered to be sent for to give an Account of the Reason of placing those Guards about the Parliament House And thereupon it was Voted Resolved c. That the setting of any Guards about this House Vote of the Commons concerning the Guard of Halberdeers set about the Parliament House without the Consent of the House is a breach of the Privilege of this House and that therefore such Guards ought to be dismissed And thereupon the Serjeant at Armes attending the House was appointed to Command them to depart which was done accordingly The House then sell into Debate concerning the treating with the Scottish Commissioners concerning raising Men for the relief of Ireland and upon the Question it was Resolved c. That this House doth Approve and Consent that his Majesties Commissioners named by the House and appointed to treat with the Scotch Commissioners shall treat with them for the raising of 10000 Scots for the Occasions of Ireland Sir Walter Earl then gave Information to the House of some dangerous Words spoken by several Persons but did not Name them whereupon it was Ordered That Mr. Speaker should issue out a Warrant to apprehend such Persons as Sir Walter Earl shall nominate to him for speaking Words of a dangerous Consequence This was one of the common Arts which they used to restrain those who were able from informing the People of the dangerous Consequences of their own Proceedings and Liberty of Speech seemed now to be wholly confined within the Walls of St. Stephen's Chappel or if any of that common Privilege of Mankind was indulged it was only to the Favourites of the Faction the Sectaries and Schismaticks who they were assured would be very serviceable to them in imploying that Liberty to traduce and Calumniate the King the Bishops the Government of the Church and whatever was either Orthodox or Loyal but for others if they once dared to Intrench upon the Privilege of the Pretended Sects or to correct those Liberties they took to defame the King and his Ministers the Church and her Governors or to arraign any of the violent Proceedings of the Faction these Religious Spies and Setters immediately gave Informations against them to some of the Members of the Commons and these Men had a certain devise to punish Men who had transgressed no known Law for Crimes which would not bear an Indictment or the Test of a Jury of their Peers by bringing them under the Rod of the Commons House for Words of dangerous Consequence for which constructive Offences their Persons were imprisoned and their Purses fleeced by the Serjeant and his Officers as if they had been the most notorious Malefactors Such precious beginnings had this Dawning of the glorious Day which they promised the People should be nothing but one continued Sun-shine of Liberty and Property without the least Cloud of Arbitrary or Exorbitant Government But as a great Man said upon another Occasion in this present Parliament Misera est servitus ubi jus est vagum et incertum Where known Law ends there Slavery begins And where our Law knows not how to lay an Indictment it must certainly be something Arbitrary that inflicts a Punishment But this was the Case of Loyalty Men were not only made Offenders for a Word but for such Words as were justifiable by the Laws of God and Man His Majesty whose Zeal for the Church was as Eminent as his Piety and Devotion were singular and most extraordinary observing what an Inundation of Schisme and Errors were flowing in upon the Church the Pretence of Reformation letting loose all the Schismaticks who pretended to be the great Reformers issued out a most Excellent Proclamation to prevent that Disorder Division and Separation which he too Prophetically foresaw would indanger the Subversion of the very Essence and Substance of Religion The Proclamation was as follows A Proclamation for Obedience to the Laws Ordained for Establishing of the True Religion in this Kingdom of England HIs Majesty considering that it is a Duty most beseeming A Proclamation for Obedience to the Laws for Establishing the true Religion in England Dec. 11. 1641. and that most obligeth Soveraign Authority in a Christian King to be careful above all other Things of preserving and advancing the Honor and Service of Almighty God and the peace and tranquility of the Church to which end His Majesty with his Parliament hath it under Consideration how all just Scruples might be removed And being in the mean time sensible that the present Division Separation and Disorder about the Worship and Service of God as it is Established by the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom in the Church of England tendeth to great Distraction and Confusion and may endanger the Subversion of the very Essence and Substance of true Religion hath resolved for the preservation of Vnity and Peace which is most necessary at this time for the Church of England to require Obedience to the Laws and Statutes Ordained for establishing of the True Religion in this Kingdom whereby the Honor of God may be advanced to the great Comfort and Happiness both of His Majesty and his good Subjects His Majesty doth therefore Charge and Command That Divine Service be performed in this His Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales as is appointed by the Laws and Statutes Estadlished in this Realm and that Obedience be given by all His Subjects Ecclesiastical and Temporal to the said Laws and Statutes concerning the same And that all Iudges Officers and Ministers Ecclesiastical and Temporal according to Iustice and their respective Duties do put the said Acts of Parliament in due Execution against all willfull Contemners and Disturbers of Divine Service contrary to the said Laws and Statutes His Majesty doth further Command That no Parsons Vicars or Curates in their several Parishes shall presume to introduce any Rite or Ceremonies other then those which are Established by the Laws and Statutes of the Land Given at His Majesties Palace of White-Hall the tenth Day of December in the Seventeenth Year of His Majesties Reign God save the KING But the Root of the Schism lay too deep to be Cured by a Proclamation and the Separatists knew where to take Sanctuary not only for their Disobedience to the Laws made in favor of the Church but of the Crown too or otherwise they would not in such riotous and Tumultuous Manner
and procure Her Majesty that by her consent and direction it may be published and declared That Her Majesty doth Abhor and Detest the Perfidious and Traiterous proceedings of the Rebels in Ireland The Fifth Paper was a Certificate from the Council of Ireland A Certificate from the Lords Justices of Ireland for contribution to the poor Protestants shewing That forasmuch as the City of Dublin is not able to entertain and nourish such Multitudes of distressed poor People who are stripped of all they have by the Rebels they thought fit to take up the Men to imploy them in His Majesty's Service in the Wars there and to cause the Women and Children to be Transported by Ship into England and do recommend them to the Charity of all good Christians desiring them that they will take some Commiseration of their Distress and great Necessity and extend some Relief towards them by making Contributions which Contributions they desire may be reserved and such a Course taken as that it may be sure to be imployed only to the Relief of the poor distressed People Dublin Nov. 15. 1641. William Parsons Jo. Borlase R. Bolton Canc. Ormond Ossory Jo. Temple The Sixth Paper was Motion for a Fast for Ireland That the House of Commons out of a deep sense of the Calamity of our Country-men and Brethren of Ireland and considering how all Success and Prosperity depends upon the Blessing and Favour of God do desire their Lordships to joyn with them in Petitioning his Majesty That there may be a publick Fast throughout the Kingdom and that His Majesty will be pleased to appoint a near day for the same to be kept by both Houses of Parliament and the City of London and the adjacent Parts and one other Day for other remote Parts of the Kingdom and because they have received a Certificate from the Lords Justices and others of His Majesties Council in Ireland concerning the miserable Want and Distress of the poor English being divers Thousands of all Qualities and Sexes That the House of Commons for the Relief of the Persons aforesaid have appointed a Collection in their own House to be made on Thursday next and they desire their Lordships to Order the like for their House that by the Example of Parliament the like Collection may be made in all the Parts of the Kingdom upon the Day of the Fast and the Money gathered to be disposed in such manner by such Commissioners as shall be appointed by both Houses for the Succour and Relief of these poor distressed People of Ireland The King came this day to the House of Lords and being sate in the Chair of State he commanded the House of Commons to be sent for who being come with their Speaker the King made this Speech to both Houses of Parliament as followeth My Lords and Gentlemen THe last time I was in this place The King's Speech to the two Houses concerning Ireland c. Dec. 14. 1641. and the last thing that I recommended unto you was the business of Ireland whereby I was in good hope that I should not have needed again to have put you in mind of that business But still seeing the slow proceedings therein and the daily dispatches that I have out of Ireland of the Lamentable Estate of My Protestant Subjects there I cannot but again earnestly commend the Dispatch of that Expedition unto you for it is the chief business that at this time I take to heart and there cannot almost be any business that I can have more care of I might now take up some of your time in expressing My detestation of Rebellions in general and of this in particular But knowing that Deeds and not Declarations must suppress this great Insolency I do here in a word offer you whatsoever My Power Pains or Industry can contribute to this good and necessary Work of reducing the Irish Nation to their true and wonted Obedience And that nothing may be omitted on My part I must here take notice of the Bill for Pressing of Soldiers now depending among you My Lords Concerning which I here Declare that in case it come so to Me as it may not infringe or diminish My Prerogative I will pass it And further seeing there is a dispute raised I being little beholding to him whosoever at this time began it concerning the bounds of this Ancient and Vndoubted Prerogative to avoid further debate at this time I offer that the Bill may pass with a Salvo Jure both for King and People leaving such debates to a time that may better bear them If this be not accepted the fault is not Mine that this Bill pass not but theirs that refuse so fair an offer To conclude I conjure you by all that is or can be dear to you or Me that laying away all disputes you go on cheerfully and speedily for the reducing of Ireland His Majesty having ended his Speech departed and the Commons went to their House The Lords conceived that the Fundamental Privileges of Parliament have been broken by the King 's taking Notice in his Speech this Day of the Debate in this House Exceptions taken at the King's Speech of the Bill for Pressing of Soldiers Nor were the Commons less moved then the Lords for as nothing was more welcom to the Faction then any matter with which they might charge the King as intrenching upon their Priviledges so they greedily laid hold upon this occasion and after they had Voted it a breach of Priviledge for the King to take notice of a Bill that is passing before it be presented to His Majesty by the Consent of Lords and Commons as likewise to prescribe Savings and Limitations to any Bills before they be presented a Message was sent up to the Lords by Mr. Hollis to desire a Conference by a Committee of both Houses so soon as may stand with their Lordships conveniency touching a thing most precious to their Lordships and the Commons the Priviledge of Parliament To which the Lords assented and the Conference being ended the Lord Keeper Reported the Effect of it in these words That the Priviledges of Parliament have ever been placed in a high Estimation with both Houses Lord Keeper reports the Conference concerning Breach of Privilege by the King in his Speech and have been enjoyed with great Affection not only as an Ornament but as a Right to have free Debate in matters of Parliament The House of Commons say That the occasion of this Conference grows from somewhat that fell from the King this Day in his Speech in full Parliament they say his Presence is an Occasion of Joy and would be so if it were not for mis-representations of things Acted and Debated in Parliament which is against the Indemnity of the Lords and Commons as 9 H. 4. His Majesty took notice of a Bill for the Pressing of Soldiers being in Agitation in the Houses and not agreed upon and did offer a Salvo Jure
Henry Vane Senior Knight Mr. Hollis Mr. Brown and Mr. Pym to draw up the same accordingly This Report being made and taken into Consideration the three Particulars concerning Privilege were Voted and it was 1 Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente Votes of the Lords and Commons concerning breach of Privilege by the King That the Privileges of Parliament were broken by his Majesties taking Notice of the Bill for suppressing of Soldiers being in Agitation in both Houses and not agreed on 2 Resolved upon the Question Nemine Contradicente That his Majesty in propounding a Limitation and Provisional Clause to be added to the Bill before it was presented unto him by the Consent of both Houses was a Breach of the Privilege of Parliament 3 Resolved upon the Question Nemine Contradicente That his Majesty expressing his Displeasure against some Persons for Matters moved in the Parliament during the Debate and preparation of that Bill was a Breach of the Privilege of Parliament The same Votes were also passed in the Commons House Then the Petition of the Lord Peirpoint was read as follows To the Most Honorable the Lords of the High Court of Parliament The Humble Petition of Henry Lord Pierpoint Humbly Sheweth THat whereas your Petitioner in heat of Debate L. Pierpoint's Petition let fall some unfitting Words which offended this Honorable House and drew upon him this Imprisonment Your Petitioner humbly confessing the Justice of his Restraint beseecheth your Lordships Pardon and pass over this his Offence and he shall ever acknowledge your Lordships favor herein H. Pierpoint Hereupon it was resolved upon the Question That the Lord Pierpoint shall be delivered out of his restraint this Night In the House of Commons besides the Debate concerning the Matter of Privilege of which before in the Conferences and Votes of the Lords House several Propositions from the Scottish Commissioners were read and upon the Question assented unto They were presented by Sir Philip Stapleton in five Papers in haec verba 1 As in our first Proposition Propositions from the Scots Commissioners for 10000 Men for Ireland we made offer of 10000 Men in the Name of the Kingdom of Scotland for a further Testimony of Our Zeal to his Majesties Service and Respect and Brotherly Affection to the Kingdom of England We declare That we will upon the Charges of the Kingdom of Scotland Levy and Transport those Men and not stand with our Brethren upon Conditions of Levy and Transport Mony which we very well know is usual in such Occasions and could not in reason have been denyed us and which will amount to a very considerable summ of Money 2 We desire that there may be 30000 l advanced to us of the Brotherly Assistance because there are great Arrears due to our Soldiers who will not willingly enter into a new Imployment unless they be satisfied with what is resting 3 We desire because we cannot unfurnish the Kingdom of Scotland of Arms Canon and Ammunition That what Proportion of any of these we send with our Army That so many and such a Proportion of each kind may be presently sent into Scotland to remain there till the return of what we take into Ireland which we shall give Assurance shall be restored we retaining so much of that which shall be sent into Scotland as shall be lost or spent of ours in the Service of Ireland 3 We desire That with all Expedition some Ships of War may be appointed to go to Lothyan Port Patrick or Ayr to Guard and Waft over our Soldiers whom we intend for Expedition to Transport in small Vessels and that these Ships shall attend at the Ports in Ireland where we land that they may be sent over again into Scotland to bring over to us any necessaries left behind and to go to and again betwixt those Coasts to keep the Passage free for Going and Returning 5 We desire That for every 1000 Foot we send into Ireland a 100 Horse be in readiness to joyn with them and that these be ordered to receive Instructions and Orders and in every thing to obey the Injunctions of our Commanders This Proposition was not fully Assented to but referred back to the Commissioners for the propounding a less proportion of Horse 6 By the Instructions sent by both Houses of your Parliament to your Commissioners in Scotland and which was sent by his Majesty from Berwick to the Council there they did beseech his Majesty to recommend to the Parliament of Scotland that they would take into Consideration the Matter of Wages and other Charges as they would have done for themselves We in this think we could not make particular Agreement with our Troops but desire you would let us know what entertainment you give to your own Commanders and Soldiers wherewith we shall be satisfied and acquiesce to any Order you shall take with them being willing to serve the Crown of England with the same Affection and upon the same Terms as if we were English Men born Sic Subscribitur A. Fullerton This Evening the House sate late and Candles were voted in House divided about Printing the Remonstrance and a very great Debate there was concerning the Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom which was presented to his Majesty at Hampton-Court whether it should be Printed or not the House was at the last divided upon it with the Yeas were 135. with the No 83. Whereupon it was Ordered That the Remonstrance shall be forthwith Printed and Published Thus did these Men treat this excellent Prince with repeated Acts of Ingratitude for his transcendent Acts of Grace and were so far from being satisfied or contented that the King had given them so much that they advanced in Confidence to demand all And indeed were as the sequel will make it plainly appear resolved to demand still till the King must be necessitated either to deny then or divest himself of every thing but the shaddow of Imperial Majesty and Power that so they might have an Occasion to break with him and indeavour to wrest the Residue of Sovereignty which he had not parted with by plain force out of his Hands His Majesty now began to feel the effects of that unparalell'd Act 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 5. for perpetuating this Parliaments sitting during their own Pleasure and found in reality that by this Act of the highest Confidence by which he hoped as he saith in his excellent Book for ever to shut out and lock the Door upon all present Jealousies and future Mistakes some Men intended to shut him out of Doors himself and that the permitting them to go up to the Pinacles of the Temple of Prerogative gave them an irresistible Temptation to throw down his Majesty and the Monarchy from thence which fatal Act though in his own Words it was no Sin of his Will yet was an Error of too charitable a Judgment By the Printing and Publishing of this Remonstrance
Commons concerning Ireland Now to the Oar again A Message was brought this Morning from the Commons by Sir Philip Stapleton Knight That the House of Commons last night had laid before their Lordships the miserable Estate of the Kingdom of Ireland and desired their Lordships to take the business into speedy Consideration Since the House of Commons understand that Dublin is in great danger to be lost 600 Men being cut off by the Rebels in going to relieve Tredagh The House of Commons desires that all ways may be used for the preservation of that Kingdom and they conceive the best way to save Dublin is by way of diversion to send the Scots speedily into Ulster therefore the Scottish Commissioners being to send away into Scotland to morrow Morning the House of Commons desires their Lordships would joyn with them in the Propositions received from the Scots Commissioners that so Men may be sent into Ireland speedily The House of Commons having done this they do declare that if there be any Omissions they desire to clear themselves of any thing as may fall upon Ireland The Answer returned was That the House is not now full but as soon as it is they will take the matter of the Message into Consideration Then the Lord Kymbolton Reported to the House the Two Propositions delivered to the Lords Committees by the Committee of the House of Commons The first Proposition was 2 Propositions 1st for adjourning or Proroguing the Parliament in Ireland That the Parliament of Ireland may be Prorogued or Adjourned and that for these Reasons First Because the Protestants cannot come without danger the Papists may Secondly To Resort to Dublin may make scarcity of Victuals Thirdly The coming of many Papists with their followers may endanger the surprize of the Castle That the Parliament may not meet to do any Act as they did before the Dissolving of the Parliament is thought to be safest The second Proposition is 2 Proposition They are informed that by the Law of Ireland if the Deputy should dye the Lords may chuse their own Governor Therefore the House of Commons desire that some settled Commission may be in case the Deputy miscarry by Death that may appoint who shall be Governor The House then fell upon the Debate about sending 10000 Scots into Ireland and Resolved at a Conference to offer these two following Propositions to the Commons 1. To desire to know what certainty That House will give This that if their Proposition concerning the present going of 10000 Scots into Ireland be agreed unto That 10000 English may speedily follow 2 Whether they will concur with this House That 10000 English shall go as well as 10000 Scots and that the King be moved to give Assent thereunto and a Message for a Conference was sent accordingly by Sir Robert Rich and Mr. Page A Message was brought from the House of Commons by Mr. Another Message from the Commons concerning Ireland Denzil Hollis That the House of Commons had lately attended their Lordships to desire them to concur with them in their Desires concerning the lamentable Condition of the Kingdom of Ireland and that their Lordships would be pleased to take speedy Resolutions therein Also he said he was to present to their Lordships a Petition presented to the House of Commons from the Lords and divers Gentlemen of Ireland now in London which the House of Commons desires their Lordships would be pleased to take into speedy Consideration for the House of Commons say they can think of nothing but Ireland nor speak nothing but Ireland The Reader may observe how great Artists these Men were in appropriating to themselves whatever was highly Popular as at this time this Affair of Ireland was and how they endeavoured to engross all the Care and Concern for that Kingdom to themselves tacitly accusing the Lords who for the Honor and it may be the Interest of England made some difficulty to consent to the sending 10000 Scots except 10000 English might also be sent but they had a very great Work to do by the help of Popularity and it can be no wonder to see those who have such Designs as they had then on Foot make such warm and zealous Court and Application to the Populace since Experience in all Times and Places has laid it down as a Mark of dangerous Suspition and aspiring Intentions in Subjects when they come to invade this Prerogative of Princes who alone ought to study Popularity and certainly that Subject who indeavors to rival his Prince in the Affections of his People cannot but be suspected to Design to rival him in his Authority too there being so near an Union between the Power of the Prince and the Love of the Subjects that whoever attempts to commit a Rape upon the later cannot be supposed to have any Chast and Dutiful Thoughts towards the former But to return from this small Digression The Petition before mentioned was read in haec Verba To the Honorable House of Commons The Humble Petiton of divers Lords and Gentlemen of Ireland now in London Humbly Shewing THat your Petitioners have received many and particular Advertisements from all those Parts of the Kingdom of Ireland The Petition of the Irish Lords and Gentlemen to the House of Commons Det. 21 1641. which set forth the Vniversal Desolations made in such Plantations of the British both English and Scotch wheresoever the barbarous Irish Rebels have come to the utter Destruction both of the Persons there Inhabiting and extirpating of the Reformed Protestant Religion there set up through the Royal Care and Piety of King James of blessed Memory and his Majesty that now is and preserved by the great Industry and Pious Indeavors of near 40 Years travel by those who have spent their whole Lives in reducing that Kingdom to Civility which is now utterly desolated by the Proceedings that have been found so matchlesly Cruel that no Age nor Story can Parallel their Inhumanities some whereof your Petitioners are informed have been touched upon by Advertisements already brought to this Honorable House whereof there is such great variety that Volumes were but little enough to contain the Particulars many thousands of Men Women and Children being mangled on the Face of the Earth crying lowd to God and these neighbor Kingdoms for relief against those Monsters whose Conspiracy is now so Vniversal that small Aids will be not only inconsiderable to effect the Work but a Means to lengthen the War with the loss not only of the Treasure applyed therein but also of the Persons imployed who being but few will be in danger to be given up to the Cruelties of the Rebels who by that means which God prevent will gain not only great access to their Numbers but which is more considerable that experience in War and Vse of Arms as may render them infinitely more able to make Resistance against your hereafter Supplies These Particulars your Petitioners out of
of Guns and Carriages and such like one Ingineer or two to attend our Army and that some hand-Mills be provided for the Companies in Marches 3. That Horses be provided for the Baggage of the Army and Train of Artillery and Carriages for Carriage of Bread and other Provisions for the Mouth and that to make Draggooners every 100 Men have 10 Horses appointed for them 4. That the Inhabitants of any Towns or Villages in any Province where our Army shall be for the Time be appointed to receive Orders from our Commanders and to bring in Victuals for Money in an Orderly Way as shall be directed by them with Provisions of Oats Hay and Straw and such other Necessaries and that when it shall be found for the good of the Service the Country People which are not levied in Regiments be ordained to rise and concur with our Troops and receive Commands and Directions from our Commanders 5. That the Troops of the Kingdom of Scotland go in the Way and Order of an Army under their own General and Subaltern Officers and that they have a Circle or Province appointed them which they shall fall upon and assail wherein they shall prosecute the War as in their own Judgment they shall think Expedient for the Honor of the King and Crown of England and that they have Power to give Conditions to Towns Castles and Persons which shall render and submit themselves as they shall find for the good of the Service wherein they are imployed which they shall oblige themselves faithfully to do and perform to the uttermost of their Power and shall be answerable to his Majesty and the Parliament of England for their whole deportment and Proceedings whereof they shall from time to time give them an Account That such Towns and Places as shall be recovered from the Rebels by our Army be at the disposing of our Commanders during their aboad there and when it shall please God that the Rebellion shall be suppressed in the Circle assigned to our Army they shall be ready to do Service in any other Place which shall be appointed to them And if it shall be found for the good of the Service that our Army joyn with the King's Lieutenant and his Army that our General shall only * * Give Place Cede to the King's Lieutenant of Ireland and receive in a Free and Honorable Way Instructions from him or in his absence from the Lord Deputy or any other who shall have the Government of that Kingdom by authority derived from the Crown of England and shall precede all others and only give Orders to the Officers of his own Army and that the Armies the Right and the Left hand Van and Rear Charge and Retreat successively and mix not in quartering nor marching And if it shall be found fit to send Troops out of either Army that the Persons to be sent out of our Army be appointed by their own General the Lieutenant of Ireland prescribing the Number which shall not Exceed the fourth part of our Army whereunto they shall return after the Service is done And that no Officers of Ours be commanded by one of his own Quality and if the Commanders of the Troops so sent out of either Army be of one Quality that they Command the Party by turns 6. That our Army be assured of three Months Pay to be put in the hands of the Treasurers and Commissaries appointed by us at their Rendezvouz in Ireland and that before that time expire there be a Months Pay put in their hands and so from Month to Month and that in this our Brethren of England may be put to no more charge then is just and necessary and that it may appear that we offer our Assistance for Love only We do desire that there may be a Muster-Master appointed to make strict and frequent Muster of our Troops and that their ways bâ—â—â— looked unto that they make no such unlawful advantages 7. Seeing we have voluntarily and freely made offer of our Forces to this Service and to transport them to Ireland upon our own Charges and will be subject to all Hazards which may follow thereupon and will have the same Friends and Enemies with England in this Employment and must therein stand and fall with them We expect and desire that the King and State of England will take us into the same consideration and Reward our Service with the like Honours Recompences and Plantations as they shall do the English or Irish who shall deserve well in this Business for if we shall with the Hazard of our Lives do good Service to his Majesty and the Crown of England it is most agreeable to Reason that we be sharers of the Fruits of our Pains the persons so rewarded being always tyed to the same Conditions and being subject to his Majesty and Crown of England as the English are and shall be Sic Subscribitur Ja. Primrose Whereupon it was Ordered Letters from Ireland That the Propositions be debated to Morrow Then Letters from the Lords Justices of Ireland were read the Contents whereof was That they understand that there are Ships laden with Armes and Ammunition at Dunkirk to be carried to the Rebels in Ireland and that the Rebels are on both sides of Tredagh which makes that Town in great want for Victuals The Lord Admiral acquainted also the House that he had received Information of 4 Ships that are at Dunkirk with Arms and that Men are providing there to be Shipped for Ireland Whereupon it was Ordered That his Lordship be desired by the next Pacquet-Boat that goes for those parts to send over some discreet Man to give true Information of the Preparations there The Commons having by a Message acquainted the Lords that they are willing to joyn with them in searching into the business about the Lord Newport and to Petition his Majesty to discover who informed him the Lords resolved to joyn with them in it and the Lords appointed to draw heads for the Conference were appointed to joyn with a proportionate number of Commons to make a draught of a Petition to be presented to his Majesty about this Business The Gentleman Usher was sent again to the People gathered together about the Parliament Houses Tumults and was to let them know That this House dislikes their coming in such Multitudes and Commands them to be gone and if they have received injury or hurt by any body if they represent their Names to this House their Lordships will see that Justice be done But this would not do the Lords were no terror to them so long as they were assured of the favour of the Factious Party of the Commons A Message was therefore sent to the Commons for a Conference concerning the Tumults upon these Heads 1. To desire the House of Commons to joyn with this House in a Declaration to be Printed and Published of their dislike of the Assembling of the People in such Companies
together he and his Fellows came quietly away * * This Michaelson was a Dr. in Divinity John Michaelson But Mr. Kirton gave in an Information more particularly as follows WEdnesday 24th of November Mr. Lavender 's Man came in the Evening to one Farlow 's House in Woodstreet where his Master with other Company was taking Tobacco and told him that Captain Ven had sent for him presently to repair to Westminster with his Arms for there was an Vprore in the Parliament House and Swords drawn in the Parliament House whereupon the said Lavender suddenly went away and threw his Pipe on the Table and the Company was much amazed Mr. Laurence Ruddyard Mr. Farlow of Cambridg Mr. Farlow of Wood-Street P. Bradswawe After this A Message from the Commons concerning the Lord Digby a Message was brought from the Commons by Sir Philip Stapleton Knight to let their Lordships know That the House of Commons finds by common Fame that it hath been said in this House by the Lord Digby and offered to be justified by him That the House of Commons have invaded the Priviledges of the Lords House and the Liberty of the Subject and that he did likewise say in this House This was no free Parliament the House of Commons desires That if those Words have been spoken by him that Right may be done to the Commons of England against the Lord Digby and that if no such Words were spoken by him That then a Declaration may be set forth to acquit the House of Commons of that Scandal The Consideration of the Words in the said Message were referred to the Committee appointed to keep a good Correspondency between the two Houses From this Message the Reader may observe the Reason of the Vote last Night concerning this being a free Parliament and how quick Intelligence the Commons had of particular Persons and Things that at that time passed in the House of Lords they had long had a dormant Pique against the Lord Digby for his franck Expressions in the Speech he made concerning the Bill of Attainder of the Earl of Strafford and the Revenge of the Party Slept as old Pliny saith Lions do with their Eyes open to watch the most convenient opportunity for Execution A Message was brought from the House of Commons by Mr. Jepson to desire a present Conference by a Committee of both Houses if it may stand with their Lordships convenience concerning Ireland which Conference was thus reported by the Lord Keeper The House of Commons expressed the great danger Lord Keeper's Report of the Conference with the Commons concerning Ireland Decemb 29. 1641. that the Province of Munster is in and the ill Consequence that may come to that Kingdom if the Rebels should gain it The House of Commons therefore present these Propositions to their Lordships and desire they would joyn with them in it Then the Propositions were read being certain Votes of the Commons 1 Resolved upon the Question That there shall be forthwith sent from hence 1500 Muskets and 500 Corslets to Bristol to be with all speed Transported to Youghall in Munster to be disposed of by the President there for the Defence and Security of that Province 2 That a proportionable Provision of Match and Bullet be made and provided for the Relief of the Province of Munster and the Bullets to be provided at Bristol 3 That 10 Lasts of Powder be forthwith speeded by Carts to Bristol for Youghall 4 That two Regiments of 1000 Foot in a Regiment be forthwith raised for Volunteers out of the Western Countries and that the Colonels may be contracted with at 30 s. for every Soldier for the raising and transporting them into Munster 5 That their Entertainment may be the same that the House hath allowed for other Officers and that they may be Mustered at their Landing in Munster and that the Officers Pay then begin 6. That Arms and Munition may be sent from hence for those 2 Regiments and that Sir Charles Vavasor be required to hasten the raising of his 500 Men appointed by the House for Munster 7. That the Lords be desired to joyn with the House herein That his Majesty may be moved from both Houses for the Arms and Munition 8. That 2 Ships about 200 Tun apiece Rigged and provided as Men of War may be hired at Bristol for the present Guarding of the Coasts of Munster and to Transport Men Arms and Munition from hence 9. It is likewise Ordered That Levy-Mony shall be allowed to the Lord Inchequin and Mr. Jepson for the Raising 2 Troops of Horse each of them consisting of 100 Men after the Rate of 10 l. a Horse and that Arms shall be provided both for the aforesaid 2 Troops and likewise for a third of 100 Men to be Raised and Commanded by Sir William Courtney all which 3 Troops are to be Payed by the Province of Munster according to the Rate allowed to other Troops in the Irish Army 10. It is desired That the Lords would joyn with this House to move his Majesty to Grant a general Warrant to the Earl of Newport for the Issuing of such Arms and Ammunition from time to time as shall be thought fit by both Houses of Parliament the King being made acquainted therewith And likewise to move his Majesty to grant a General Warrant to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for the transporting from time to time such Men Horse and Ammunition as shall be thought fit by the King and Parliament Then the Sheriffs of Middlesex and London The Sheriffs of London and Middlesex and Justices of Westminster ordered to suppress the Tumults and some of the Justices of the Peace for Westminster were called in and the Statute of 13 H. 4. c. 7. was read unto them and they were commanded to do their Duty according to this Statute now read at their own Perils and if they doubted of any thing then they are to resort to this House for advice and directions therein The Lords did what lay in their Power to repress the Insolence of the Rabble but it was to no manner of purpose for this very day a Roll of Apprentices with one Barnardiston in the head of them in a menacing and insulting Tumult Marched down to Westminster and some scuffling there was about the very Gates at White-hall and the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex having drawn together such a Guard as they could Tumults supported and encouraged by the Commons seized some of them and committed them to Prison and the House of Commons being informed thereof immediately It was Ordered That Sir Robert Pye Mr. Laurence Whittaker Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Alderman Pennington do call the Officers and such others unto them that have Committed some Apprentices and examine the Grounds of their Commitment and by whose Authority they were Committed and Report them to the House And Mr. Hollis was posted up to the Lords with a Message to let their Lordships know That the House
charged for no less then Treason before I write next doubt not but to have them in the Tower or their Heads from their Shoulders The Sollicitor and Fiennes and Earl we must serve with the same Sauce And in the House of Lords the Lord Mandeville is touched but Essex Warwick Say Brooke and Paget must follow or else we shall not be quiet Falkland and Culpeper are made Friends to our side at least-wise they will do us no hurt The Protestants and Puritans are so divided that we need not fear them the Protestants in great part will join with us or stand Neuters while the Puritan is suppressed if we can bring them under the Protestants will either fall in with us generally or else if they do not they are so indifferent that either by fair or foul means we shall be able to command them The mischievous Londoners and the Apprentices may do us some hurt for the present but we need not much fear them they do nothing Orderly but Tumultuously therefore we doubt not much but to have them under Command after one brunt for our Party is strong in the City especially Holbourn in the new Buildings and Westminster We are afraid of nothing but the Scots appearing again but we have made a Party there at the King's last being there which will hold their hands behind them †The very stile of a Canting Puritan as no doubt he was that forged this Letter while we Act our part at home Let us acquit our selves like Men for our Religion and Country Now or Never The King's heart is Protestant but our Friends can perswade him and make him believe any thing He hates the Puritan Party and is made irreconcilable to that side so that the Sun the Moon and the Seven Stars are for us * * A notorious untruth in fact as to matter of Number There are no less then 20000 Ministers in England the greater half will in their places be our Friends to avenge the Bishops dishonour let our Friends be incouraged the work is more then half done Your Servant R. E. I cannot tell whether it will not appear equally ridiculous as the Letters themselves to indeavour to manifest that this Letter with the inclosed were mere Fictions since it seems they thought little better of them themselves for when these Letters were sent up to the Lords by Sir John Hotham he delivered the Message in these words That he was sent to inform their Lordships of two Letters one sent to Mr. Orlando Bridgman a Member of the House of Commons another written to one Mr. Anderton which they offer to their Lordships to make use of them as they think fit which kind of slight recommendation their Lordships it seems understood so well that they were only read and laid by without further notice taken of them But there was a further use for them for these Letters quickly got into Print and contributed not a little by those cursed Reflexions with which they were stuffed to blacken the Reputation of the King and Queen and confirm the Credulous Multitude in the belief of a great and horrid Plot of the Papists and Episcopal Protestants against the Parliament which was a point absolutely necessary to be gained by the Faction in order to what was now too apparent to all Honest and Loyal Men the carrying on a Plot of the Puritans as they were then called by Rebellion to accomplish the work of Reformation But to put the matter out of dispute having occasion to search among the old musty Papers of that time in the Clerk of the Parliaments Office I found these very Original Letters and being strongly possessed in my imagination that by comparing of hands there being something very particular in the hand that writ those Letters I should find out the cheat I found several Letters written by Sir Anthony Welden with the very exact and distinguishing stroaks and cutting of the Letters so like that written to Mr. Bridgman that I do not in the least doubt but whoever was the Contriver Sir Anthony was the Amanuensis and indeed it suits well enough with such a Kitchin-stuff Courtier as he afterwards proved both by his Actions and the Infamous Libel written by him called The Court of King James The Papers are in my possession if any Persons doubts shall tempt them to disbelieve my positive Opinion in this matter The Commons that they might Rivet themselves into the hearts of the Seditious Rabble who had conducted them and the five Members to Westminster resolved not only to thank them but to indemnifie them too for this Riotous and Tumultuary procedure And therefore first divers Sea Captains Masters of Ships and Marriners were called in to whom Mr. Speaker delivered this by the Command of the House 1. Thanks to the Sea Captains c. That the House did take special notice of the performance of this Service of theirs to this House and to the Common-wealth and gave them thanks for it and desired them to Communicate the same to the rest of the Sea-men and Marriners 2. For the Petition which they delivered to the Committee of this House the other day in London that this House will take it into speedy Consideration as also any other desire of theirs that they shall make to this House Then divers of the Trained Bands of Westminster were called in Thanks to the Trained Bands of Westminster whose Petition being read and Ordered to be Entred Mr. Speaker acquainted them as followeth That this House hath taken notice of the Expression of a great deal of Affection in their Petition unto this House and have Commanded him to give them thanks for it and that this House had never any cause to be Jealous of them and shall make use of them as there shall be occasion The Sheriffs of London were also called in Thanks to the Sheriffs of London c. to whom Mr. Speaker spake as followeth That this House was very sensible of their great care and love and respect to this House and in them to the Common-wealth as also to the Committee of this House that sate in London and for the special Service done this day and hath Commanded him to give them hearty thanks for it and to desire them to return the like to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen Thus did they Court the People like Absolom Order Indemnifying the Citizens for Guarding the Parliament indeavouring to steal their hearts from their Sovereign by flattering Speeches with the same intention that he did those of his King and Father and to incourage them to persist in those Tumultuary Courses it was Resolved upon the Question That the Actions of the Citizens of London and others in the guarding and defence of the Parliament or the Priviledges or Members thereof either by the Trained Bands or otherwise are according to their Duties and the late Protestation and the Laws of this Kingdom and that if any Person shall
from his Parliament but from that Insolent and unruly Multitude who had already brought into so much hazard the Persons and the Liberty of this till then most happy Parliament and not staying there did so lowdly threaten Ruine even to the sacred Person of the King Advertise his Majesty I did of the Danger advise him I could not I had neither the Ability nor the Authority In my Letter to the Queen at her first coming into Holland it was observed that in that Expression of welcoming her from a Country not worthy of her I shewed much Venome and Rancour to my own Nation I meant it not and must appeal to those who are best acquainted with the Civility of Language whether the Address might not be comely to any Lady of Quality who should upon any not pleasing Occasion leave one Country for a while to reside in another And I hope e're long to welcome her Majesty back from a Place not so unworthy of her unto this Nation most worthy of her without either disparagement to Holland or complement to those to whom the unworthy of that Letter was intended For the charge and boldness and presumption in some Expressions of those Letters though I might be glad to compound my Treason for Incivility since Suspition of that depends upon the right Understanding of Language and connexion of Words it will be no disrespect to any through whose Hands they have passed to believe that as they were otherwise intended by me so that they are capable of other Interpretation However if in truth misunderstanding or ill breeding hath produced the other I hope the Conclusion will only be that I am an ill Courtier or an ill Secretary both which I do humbly confess not that I am no good English Man no good Subject if in any of those Letters there were any Expressions of Discontent or Bitterness I shall say little more then that they passed an Examination they were not prepared for and fell into Hands that they were not directed to and I am confident many honest Gentlemen who have had the happiness to preserve their Papers from such an inquisition and shall consider the Case they might be in if all their secret conferences and private Letters were exposed and produced to the publick view will cast up these Letters of mine in the number of my Misfortunes without making any Addition to my Faults and certainly whoever shall observe the measure of my Sufferings with any kind of indifference will easily forgive such Eruptions of Passion as were only vented by me to a Brother though they came within the reach of any other Ear. To draw now to a Period of my unfortunate story which I cannot promise my self from the generality so much Charity as to vouchsafe the reading further then more curiosity shall lead them I returned into England not with so much joy to see my Country as hope to be admitted upon my humble Petition to his Majesty to a fair regular impartial vindication of my innocency and I protest to God I look upon the time I may naturally hope to live with no other comfort then as it may make me still capable of that happiness I have follies and infirmities enough about me to make me ask the pardon of every wise and good man but for Treason or for any voluntary Crime either against my Sovereign or my Country I say it with all humility I will not accept a pardon from the King and Parliament By the Grace of God it shall never be said that either the Parliament hath brought me or his Majesty exposed me to a Tryal my own uprightness shall constantly sollicite it and without recourse in this to either of their favours I will either stand a justified man to the World or fall an innocent But in the mean time till it please God to bless this Nation with such a composure of the present distractions as that Government and Law may have their rightful and comfortable course I implore only so much charity from men as may seem due to one whose good intentions to his Country have been in some sort publickly manifested whose ill are yet obscurely and improbably suggested To conclude let the few years I have lived be examined and if there be found any rancour or venom in my nature even toward particular persoâ—â— which might in time contract it self to an enmity against the State if I have been a fomenter of Jealousies and debate or a secret conspirer against the honour and fame of any man If I have worn Religion as a Mask and Vizard for my hypocrisie and underhand cherished any opinions that I have not avowed If I have been lead by any hopes of preferment to flattery or by the miss of it to revenge If I have been transported with private Ambition and been inclined to sacrifice the least Branch of the publick Peace and happiness to my own ends and advantage let the complication of all these ills prepare a judgment of Treason it self upon me and let me looked upon as a Man who hath made a Progress in wickedness that a few years more added to that account would render me a prodigy to the World but if in truth my life hath been pleasant to me under no other notion then as I might make it useful to my Country and have made it my business to beget and continue a good intelligence amongst good men if I have been then most zealous and fervent for the Liberties of the Subject when the power of Court was most prevalent and for the rights of the Crown when popular Licence was most predominant if by my continual study and practice of Religion I have always been a true son of the Church of England and by my submission and application of my actions to the known rule of the Law I have always been a true Son of the State of England if my actions have been honest and my words only doubtful if my life only clouded with many imperfections I hope the world will believe I have been overtaken with too great a measuae of a happiness and every generous heart will ease me of some part of my burthen by giving the benefit of his good opinion After this the Lord Keeper Reported the Conference with the Commons concerning the Scots Propositions to this Effect That the English Commissioners Report of the Conference concerning the Scots Commissioners Propositions for the Relief of Ireland having received several Propositions from the Scots Commissioners dated the 27th of December last touching the sending of Men out of Scotland into Ireland the House of Commons having considered of them have given this Answer following to them which they offer to their Lordships Wisdom and Consideration being certain Votes of the House of Commons Die Jovis 30 December 1641. Resolved upon the Question That the House is of an Opinion Towns in Ireland to be put into the Scots hands and the Publick Faith of Scotland to
Whether he doth know or have heard who did Frame Contrive or advise the same or any of them To this he answered That he would deal clearly freely and Ingeniously and that he should say the same which he had before delivered to the Lords and should need no long time to answer this for that he had done none of these three that is neither Framed Advised these Articles or any of them and would be contented to die if he hid Secondly Being demanded whether he knew the truth of these Articles or any of them of his own knowledge or had it by Information To this he Answered He did know nothing of his own knowledge of the truth of these Artitles or any part of them nor hath heard it by Information All that ever he hath heard concerning this was from his Master Thirdly Being asked whether he will make good these Articles when he shall be thereunto called in due course of Law To this he Answered He cannot do it nor will not do it otherwise then as his Master shall Command him and shall Enable him no more then he that never heard of them can do it Fourthly Being asked from whom he received these Articles and by whose direction and advice he did Exhibit them He answered He did Exhibit them by his Masters Command and from his hands he did receive them Fifthly Being asked whether he had any Testimony or Proof of the Articles before the Exhibiting of them He gave this Answer That he received the Command of his Majesty but whether he had any proof then offered or intimation of Testimony to make good those Articles he desired time to consider of it he was pressed again to make answer to this but desired time to consider of it saying there was a secret trust between a Master and Servant much more in this Case The great Design of this Examination was to have got out who were the Witnesses of this Accusation that so they might have fallen upon them and worried them to death and though nothing was more justifiable then this Plea of Secrecy to which Mr. Attorney was obliged by his Oath from which they could have no power to Absolve him Yet it did so Exasperate the Faction that it was Ordered That some way be thought of for Charging Mr. Attorney by this House as Criminous for Exhibiting those Articles in the Lords House against Members of this House without any Information or proof that appears and that this House and the Gentlemen Charged by him may have Reparation from him and that he may put in good Security to stand to the Judgement of Parliament And it was Resolved Votes against the Attorney General c. That this Act of Mr. Attorney 's in this Impeachment against Members of this House is Illegal and a High Crime Resolved c. That the Lords shall be desired That Mr. Attorney may put in good Security to stand to the Judgement of Parliament And Mr. Whitlock Serjeant Wild Mr. Hill Mr. Glyn Mr. Brown Mr. Rigby and Mr. Buller were appointed a Committee they or any three of them to withdraw presently and prepare a Charge against Mr. Attorney upon the Votes of the House And that Posterity may see how Zealous these People after all their pretensions were for the Relief of Ireland Collonel Hill and Lieutenant Bowles Delinquents for raising Volunteers for Ireland It was Resolved c. and Ordered That Collonel Hill and Robert Bowles his Lieutenant shall be forthwith sent for as Delinquents by the Serjeant at Arms attending on this House for beating up Drums and raising of Men contrary to the Ordinance of Parliament And that all Constables and other Officers be assisting to the Serjeant in the Execution of his Warrant And that Mr. Whistler Mr. Pury Mr. Smith and Mr. Hill shall search in such Offices as they shall think fit to see if any Commissions or other Warrants have been granted to any Person or Persons for Levying of Men. A Paper was delivered by Mr. Hambden from the Scotch Commissioners which was read in these words OUr Treaty concerning the Irish Affairs being so oft interrupted by the Emergent Distractions A Paper of the Scotch Commissioners offering their Mediation to the King c. gives us occasion to desire your Lordships and those Noble Gentlemen of the House of Commons for to present to the Honourable Houses of Parliament that we having taken to our Consideration the manifold Obligations of the Kingdom of Scotland to our Native and Gracious Soveraign his Person and Government confirmed and multiplyed by the great and Recent Favours bestowed by his Majesty on that Kingdom at his last being there and settling the troubles thereof and considering the mutual Interest of the Kingdoms in Welfare and Prosperity of others acknowledged and Established in the late Treaty And finding our selves warranted and obliged by all means to labour to keep a right Understanding betwixt the Kings Majesty and his People to confirm that Brotherly affection begun between the two Nations to advance their Unity by all such ways as may tend to the Glory of God and Peace of the Church and State of both Kingdoms to render thanks to the Parliament of England for their assistance given to the Kingdom of Scotland in settling the late Troubles thereof wherein next to the Providence of God and the Kings Majesties Justice and Goodness they do acknowledge themselves most beholding to the Mediation and Brotherly kindness of the Kingdom of England and likewise to proffer our selves for removing all Jealousies and mistakings which may arise betwixt the Kings Majesty and this Kingdom and our best indeavours for the better Establishment of the Affairs and quiet of the same We do therefore in the name of the Parliament and Kingdom of Scotland acknowledge our selves next to the Providence of God and his Majesties Justice and Goodness most beholding to the Mediation and Brotherly kindness of the Kingdom of England in many respects especially in condescending to the Kings Majesties coming to Scotland in the midst of their great Affairs whereof we have tasted the sweet and comfortable Fruits and do heartily wish the like happiness to this Kingdom And as we are heartily sorry to find our Hopes thereof deferred by the present distractions growing daily here to a greater height and out of the sense thereof have taken the Boldness to send our humble and faithful advice to the Kings most Excellent Majesty for remedying of the same to the just satisfaction of his People so out of our duty to his Majesty and to testifie our Brotherly Affection to this Kingdom and acquit our selves of the Trust Imposed upon us We do most Earnestly beseech the most Honourable Houses in the deep of their Wisdoms to think timously upon the Fairest and Fittest Ways of Composing all present differences to the Glory of God the good of the Church and State of both Kingdoms and to his Majesties Honour and Contentment Wherein if our
this House Mr. Cromwell Cromwell an Informer afterwards the infamous Usurper and Mr. Walton two Members of the House informed against a Gentleman of Huntingtonshire for Words of a high and dangerous Consequence whereupon it was Ordered That Mr. Speaker shall grant forth his Warrant to bring the Gentleman in safe Custody that spake the Words and likewise an Order to Summon the Informer their Names being first made known unto him by Mr. Cromwell and Mr. Walton After which by Vote upon the Question the House did adjourn it self till Thursday morning next at 8 of the Clock But leaving the Faction in England for a while driving on towards a Rupture with the King Let us see how the Affairs of their Brethren in Rebellion in Ireland proceeded And first I will present the Reader with a List of the principal Rebels which I found among the Papers in the Clerk of the Commons House of Parliaments Office which was as follows The Names of the Chieftains and Septs of the meer Irish who have taken Arms in Ireland and rebelled against his Majesty and the Crown of England in the Province of Vlster SIr Phelomy O Neil A List of the principal Persons in the Rebellion in Ireland called by the Irish Phelony Roe O Neil Captain General of all the Rebels and Chieftain of the O Neils O Hagaus O Quyus O Mellaus O Hanlous O Corrs Mac Cans Mac Cawells Mac Enallyes O Gormeleyes and the rest of the Irish Sept in the Counties of Tyrone and Ardmagh Tirlagh O Neil Brother of the said Sir Phelomy is his chiefest Councellor and is a very sad Man well seen in the Laws of England which he Studied in Lincoln's-Inn and was of good repute there Both these are extracted from Con More O Neil the Father of Con Bacagh O Neil the first Earl of Tirone whereby Sir Phelomy is reputed by the Irish to be the rightful O Neil with Title and Appellation with the Dignities and Jurisdiction conceived to belong thereunto of Old he hath now assumed Captain Rory Maguire Brother of Conner Lord Maguire Lord Baron of Empkilm and Donoghbane Maguire their Vncle are Chieftains of the Maguires and all other the Irish Septs in the County of Permanagh he is of a Cruel and Bloody Disposition and hath shed much English Blood as is reported Brian Mac Collo Mac Mahon Brian Mantagh Mac Mahon and Neil Mac Kenna of the Trough are Chieftains of the Mac Mahon's Mac Kenna's Mac Ardells O Connellies the O Duffies and all other the Irish Septs in the County of Monoghan the former of those three is a soft elderly Man the two latter are Young and Rude though each of them hath been brought up to Civility and Learning being Wards to the King 〈…〉 Inquire of the Lord Blaney more particularly who are the most Eminent Men of those Rebels of Monoghan Sir Con Magenys Knight and his Brother Daniel Sons of â—ld Sâ—r Arthur Magenys late Lord Viscount Iveagh and Vncles of the now Viscount are Chieftains of the Magenysses Mac Cartans and all the other Irish Septs in the County of Down Philip Mac Hugh Mac Shane O Rely is Chieftain of the O Relyes O Gownes Mac Cabes Mac Echies the Bradies and all the other Irish Septs in the County of Cavan This Philip Mac Hugh Mac Shane O Rely for his Estate and Parts is made Chieftain but Edmond O Rely is the chiefest of the O Relyes and Edmonds Brother Philip Mac Mullmore O Rely is a more active and experienced Man and hath done some Courtesies to the Distressed English for which they say he is made Prisoner by the other Philip but it is more probable there is Emulation between them Mullmore O Rely Son of the said Edmond being Sheriff of the County of Cavan when the Rebellion began and commanded all the Country in the King's Name by vertue of his Office to rise and take Arms and continueth still a Captain of the Rebels Shane Mac Philip Mac Mullmore O Rely Son of the said Philip Mac Mullmore O Rely is a Captain of the Rebels Tirlagh O Neil Grandson of Sir Tirlagh Mac Henry O Neil and the Son of Hugh Boy O Neil whose Name Sir Faithful Fortescue knoweth are Captains of the O Neils of the Fues a Baroni in the County of Ardmagh within six Miles of Dundalk in the County of Louth which Town was never taken by the Rebels in any former Rebellion but now is surprised by the O Neils of the Fues The Lords Justices and Council finding the Storm grow every day Louder and more Threatning dispatched fresh Letters of Advice to England to give an account of their Affairs particularly this following to the Lords of his Majesties Privy Council May it please your most Honourable Lordships SInce our last dispatch to the Lord Lieutenant A Letter from the Lords Justices Council in Ireland to the Lords of the Privy Council in England Nov. 5. 1641. Dated the 25th of October concerning the present Rebellion begun there the Rebells have with great Multitudes proceeded in their out-rages even to great cruelty against the English and Protestants in all places where they came They have Seized the Houses and Estates of almost all the English in the Counties of Monoghan Cavan Fermanagh Armagh Tirone Donegall Letrim Longford and a great part of the County of Downe some of which are Houses of good Strength and dispossessed the English of their Arms and some of the English Gentlemen whose Houses they Seized even without any resistance in regard of the suddenness of their surprise the Rebels most Barbarously not only Murdered but as we are informed hewed some of them to pieces They Surprised the greatest Part of a Horse Troop of his Majesties Army commanded by the Lord Grandison in the County of Armagh and possessed themselves of their Arms. They apprehended the Lord Caulfield and Sir Edward Trevor a Member of this Beard and Sir Charles Pomtes and Mr. Branthwait Agent to the Earl of Essex and a great number of other Gentlemen of good Quality of the English in several Parts whom they still keep Prisoners as also the Lord Blayney's Lady and Children and divers other Ladies and Gentlewomen They have wasted destroyed and spoyled wheresoever they came and now their fury begins to threaten the English Plantations in the Queens County and Kings County and by their Example the Sheriff of the County of Longford a Native and Papist is likewise Risen in Arms and followed by the Irish there where they Rob Spoyl and Destroy the English with great Cruelty In these their Assaults of the English they have Slain many Robbed and Spoyled thousands reduced men of good Estates in Lands who lived Plentifully and well to such a condition as they left them not so much as a Shirt to cover their Nakedness They turned out of their Estates many of considerable Fortunes in Goods and left them in great want and misery and even the Irish Servants and Tenants of
will continually disturb the Peace of that Kingdom as well from hence as from Forreign Powers for no way will be left unattempted by them whereby the Peace of that Kingdom may be disturbed and then of necessity England must be forced to undertake a new conquest of this Kingdom for a politick Reformation will then become impossible and to make a new Conquest will be now more difficult and chargeable then in any former times in reguard the Ports and Inland Towns and the Principal Strengths will be immediately lost as some of them already are which are now more in number by much then were here in former times and the People better disciplined in the rules of War besides many other advantages they have as well by the return hither of Commanders of the Irish who served in Forreign Nations as otherwise which they wanted in the time of former Rebellions there and besides all the meer Irish now in the Service of the King of Spain will undoubtedly return hither to joyn with the Rebels And so we humbly take leave and remain from his Majesties Castle of Dublin 5. November 1641. Your most Honourable Lordships humbly at Commandment Will. Parsons Jo. Borlase J. Dillon Ant. Midensis Jon. Kaphâ—e Cha. Lambart Ad. Loftus J. Temple Cha. Coote P. Crosbie Tho. Rotherham Ja. Ware Rob. Meredith A Letter of the same Date was also sent to the Speaker of the House of Commons A Letter from the Lords Justices Council in Ireland to the Speaker of the H. of Commons No. â—th 1641. in these words SIR SVch are the present Calamities under which all the English and Proâ—â—stants in Ireland do now suffer as if Supplies of Men Money and Arms come not speedily forth of England hither it cannot be avoided but the Kingdom must be lost and all the English and Protestants here destroyed wherefore as we have now humbly represented the same more fully to the Lords of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council and formerly to his Majesty and to the Lord Lieutenant of this Kingdom so we adjudge it fit by these our Letters to you to make it known to the Honourable the Commons House of Parliament there who cannot but foresee the many other grievous and Lamentable Consequences which the loosening of this Kingdom must unavoidably bring to England and certainly this Kingdom and the Lives of Vs all here and all the Protestants in the Kingdom were never in so great Danger to be lost as at this instant no age having produced in this Kingdom an example of so much Mischief done in so short a time as now we find acted here in less then a fortnights space by Killing and Destroying so many English and Protestants in several Parts by Robing and Spoyling of them and many thousands more of his Majesties good Subjects by Seizing so many Castles Houses and Places of Strength in several Parts of the Kingdom by threatning the English to depart or otherwise that they will destroy them utterly and all their Wickedness acted against the English and Protestants with so much Inhumanity and Cruelty as cannot be imagined to come from Christians even towards Infidels We comfort our selves with this hope That by the Blessing of God on the Wisdom of that Honourable House we may have sudden and full Supply from thence whereby we may be enabled to preserve the Kingdom and consequently prevent the further Lamentable Mischiefs which may otherwise follow And so we remain from his Majesties Castle of Dublin 5. November 1641. Your very assured Loving Friends Will. Parsons Jo. Borlase J. Dillon Ant. Midensis Joh. Raphoe Cha. Lambart Ad. Loftus J. Temple P. Crosbie Cha. Coote T. Rotherham Ja. Ware Rob. Meredith Sp. of Com. And after this another Letter was dispatched to the Speaker of the House of Commons which spoke this Language A Letter from the Lords Justices Council of Ireland to the Speaker of the H. of Commons No. 13th 1641. SIR BY Letters from the Lord Lieutenant of this Kingdom we observe how sensible the Honourable Commons House of Parliament there is of the Insolencies of the Rebels here and of the present danger of the whole State and Kingdom and the readiness and forwardness wherewith that Honourable House hath ordeined Aids and Supplies for us which exceedingly Comfort us amidst the Distresses wherein we now stand And we crave leave as to acknowledg with most hearty thanks to that Honourable House the High Favour we have therein received and our joyful apprehension thereof so to intreat most earnestly that the Supplies may be hastened unto us with all possible speed in such a proportion as by our Letters of the fifth of November to the Lord Lieutenant we humbly moved and in such manner as by our Letters now sent to his Lordship we humbly desire wherein if all possible speed be not used the deliverance intended by that Honourable House to this State and Kingdom may be prevented and so the Cruel and Barbarous Rebels become possessed of the Kingdom which we Submit to the deep Judgement of that Honourable House And so we remain from his Majesties Castle of Dublin 13. November 1641. Your very assured Loving Friends Will. Parsons Jo. Borlase Ormond Ossery J Dillon Cha. Lambart Ad. Loftus Gerrard Lowther P. Crosbie Ja. Ware Rob. Meredith Sp. of Com. House But the Parliament of England as may be observed before in the preceeding Transactions of the two Houses though they made a mighty bustle and noise about relieving of Ireland made but very slow steps towards the Suppressing of the Rebellion in good Earnest And notwithstanding the pressing instances and repeated Messages of his Majesty to forward that Affair they were two much taken up with the Management of their own Designs to assist that distressed Kingdom to any purpose They gave a great many good words and sent over Letters full of Promises of Men Money and Provisions but all the course they took was to borrow Money of the City of London and the Merchants which was not considerable for such a Work and for Men though the King offered presently to raise 10000. Volunteers if the two Houses would undertake to pay them they would by no means hear of it but did all they could to discourage those Levies by questioning such as beat up Drums for Volunteers for that Service By this means and by some other Actions before recounted this Rebellion which was at first but a few Sparks and might without difficulty have been Extinguished grew to be an Universal Flame And nothing can be more evident then that how general soever the Conspiracy was many of the Irish stood at Gaze to see what would become of the First Commotions but observing the little Force which was in Ireland to oppose them the little probability of Succors from England the great Animosities and Dissentions and a Prospect of a Civil War in England between the King and the two Houses and being incouraged with hopes of Forreign Assistance
it Imboldned those to Enter into Actuall Rebellion who if any considerable Force had been sent to Suppress them would difficultly have Exposed themselves and their Posterity to Infamy and Ruin of which for their former Rebellions against the Crown of England their Nation was able to produce so many fatal Instances But all these unhappy Circumstances concurring the generality of the Nation of the Romish Religion became in a little time actually ingaged in the Rebellion and incouraged by their Multitudes and some little Successes they managed their Affairs with that Barbarous Cruelty and Inhumanity as will not only leave an Eternal Infamy upon the Actors but thereby they Treasured up such a stock of Divine Vengeance as afterwards fell upon their own Heads in the most remarkable Retaliations that any Ages had seen or almost any Nation felt But among all their Bloody Actions and Impolitick Policies their contributing to Murder the Reputation of the Best of Princes was certainly one of the greatest of their Crimes and for which they paid the dearest For by giving out such Reports as they did that they were the Queens Army and that they had a Party in England which would assist them the Faction of the two Houses whose Malice was Rampant against the King laid so much force upon these Calumnies that the King to vindicate his Reputation from the Popular Odium of these Reports was obliged to commit a great Power of the Irish Affairs and to intrust much of the War in the hands of the two Houses and to divest himself almost of all Power of shewing them Mercy or granting them Pardon And it is incredible how much Mischief these Reports did to his Majesties Affairs and what deep Impressions these Stories which were only little Artifices to countenance their Rebellion made in the minds of the Common People of England who at that time were prepared to receive without the least doubting whatever was pronounced by the Leaders of the Faction to be true And because it may caution Posterity against such fatal Credulity I will present the Reader with some Papers which have come to my Hands in searching among the wast Papers of the Clerks Office of the Commons House whereby he will be able to see with wonder that so great a Structure of Rebellion should be built upon so narrow a Foundation I know that Fame is a persect inverted Cone or Pyramid which from some small point still the higher it rises the wider it spreads The first Paper is a Letter under Sir Phelim O Neals own hand and the very Original Letter which was sent by the Person to whom it was Written as I suppose to some of the Scotish Nation and by them handed to the Commons House and was in these words Honoured Sir I Have appointed Captain Turlogh O Neale A Letter of Sir Phelim O Neils to Sir William Hamilton with his Forces to go down into your Parts to defend and maintain the Catholick Religion Wherefore I would intreat you if you give us no help as all other Catholicks in England and Ireland do to keep your self quiet at home and to send the said Forces your best advice you shall receive no hurt where I can do my self or you good and so with my Service unto your self and my Honoured Lady of Strabane unto whom I shall be ready to perform any Service In the Power of Phe. O Neill 23th November 1641. I am to be with the Forces of Evagh Monaghan and Cavan to meet our Conaght Lords at Dery very shortly Superscribed For his much Honoured and very Loving Friend Sir Will. Hamilton Knight these with my Service Pass From this one Parenthesis as all the Catholicks of England and Ireland do the Faction improved the Scandal not only to the Ruin of the Reputation of all the Papists in England but by virtue of those words and their Adherents Popishly Affected which always followed at the heels of the Papists they drew in the Bishops and Episcopal Clergy and all the Loyal Nobility and Gentry and Commoners of England into this Drag Net of Scandal and possessed the Vulgar especially of London with a most Unalterable belief that there was the same Design by the Prelates Papists and Evil Councellors of the King to act the same Cruelties against them as the Rebels had done against the miserable Protestants In Ireland and this was one of the greatest Arts by which they raised and supported the insuing Rebellion in which as they grew in strength and success they shook hands so far with all modesty and duty as to reproach even the King himself with these horrible Calumnies and Defamations This following Letter was also Intercepted going to France and brought to the House of Commons Corke this 20th of November Loving Brother A Letter from one Mr. Roche Intercepted going to France YOur last Letter I have received being very glad of your forwardness in your Studies you shall understand that our Mother and all our Friends are in good Health I doubt not but my Cousin James doth Supply your Wants if not certifie me thereof that I may see you Supplyed by another who very willingly will do it I hope your Brother Morris will be one of the first that will go that way and that shortly there be a great number of Irish Catholicks out in Ulster who have taken many Towns and Castles there and daily do increase in Men Their Cause of Rebellion as they say was for fear they should be Troubled for their Religion and to no other intent and if that they can have freely they will put up their Arms and refer themselves to the Parliament here if this they cannot have we are like to have a troublesom time in this Kingdom God send us Peace They call themselves the Queens Army they could never in so short a time have accomplish't what they have done if they had not some great ones to help them which is not discovered as yet God send us not less Liberty then we had and then we shall not need to complain Write to Dominick Coping Esq and give him thanks for the 40 s. ayear he was pleased to give you during your Study though as yet he gave me none yet certifie him of the receipt of so much by my Order and then I shall have it So having no more at this time but my Love to your self my Bedfellow and little Morris remember their Love to you and so I rest Your Loving Brother John Roche Directed A Monsieur Monsieur Jaques de la Roche Estudient Ibernois au College de Raiemes Solit donne A Paris See here the most horrible Scandals afterwards fixed upon the Queen and the King himself by the Calumniating Faction built upon the pitiful Foundation of an as they say and they call themselves the Queens Army and the conjectural Opinion of a private Person that the Rebels as he calls them had some great Ones to help them which the leading Men of
Violence The Ulster Rebels are grown so strong as they have sufficient Men to leave behind them in the places they have gotten Northward and to lay Siege to some not yet taken as Emiskillin in the County of Fermanagh and Agher in Tirone and yet to come many thousands to besiege Drogheda in view whereof within 3 or 4 Miles they have stood with their Colours flying since Sunday the 21st of November expecting more Forces from Cavan and that way to gird the Town round about They have already taken Mellifont the Lord Moor 's House though with the loss of about 120 Men of theirs and there in cold blood they murdered Ten of those that manfully defended that place We hear also that the whole County of Lowth both Gentry and others are joyned with the Rebels and that the Sheriff and John Bellew Esq is likewise with them this County being one of the five of the English Pale having formerly still been true to the Crown In the County of Meath also being the most considerable of the five all the Common People and many of the younger Sons of the Gentry beyond the River of Boyne Twenty Miles from Dublin do either joyn with the Rebels or otherwise rob and spoil the English Protestants till within Six Miles of Dublin We sent to Drogheda 1100 Foot and 3 Troops of Horse and caused Four other Foot Companies to be raised there and this day we send thither 600 Foot more raw Men and unexperienced and another Troop of Horse And we provide the best we may for the defence of this City yet most of the Men we have are not Trained nor Exercised and many of them are Irish for others we have not and we fear that when we come to blows many of those will forsake their Commanders and side with the Rebels as they have done in the Counties of Cavan and Wickloe where of Companies of 40 Men of our Soldiers not above six or seven stayed on our side but took part with the Enemy Our main indeavour is to preserve this City and Castle for his Majesty The Rebels have now framed an Oath which they Administer to all that joyn with them the Copy whereof you have here inclosed as it was taken out of some Copies scattered abroad for all Mens view To conclude we renew our Suit for our Supplies of 100000 l. in Money 10000 Foot and 1000 Horse in present and Arms and Munition for them and for the Stores and Places of Defence not yet lost and that so much Money Men and Arms as are already gotten may be sent onward and the rest to be sent after and that the third part of the Shot be Callivers and the other two parts bastard Muskets as more suiting with the Service of this Kingdom and if those Supplies be not immediately sent away the Kingdom will be in danger to be lost Extract of a Letter of the said Lords Justices and Council of the 26th of November to the said Lord Lieutenant WE have received information That the Lord Viscount Dillon who Two Months since was admitted to be a Member of this Board and is now imployed by the Lords House of Parliament here to attend his Majesty carries along with him or is to have sent after him some Writing Signed by many Papists of the Nobility and Gentry of this Kingdom which Writing as we are Informed contains a profession of Loyalty to his Majesty and an offer of themselves by their Power to reprieve this Rebellion without Aids of Men from England which if there be any such his Lordship though a Member of this Board hath not Communicated with us the Justices who ought to be made acquainted with what may have Relation to the Safety of the Kingdom But if the Lord Dillon 's Counsel shall tend any way to stay the Succours intended to be sent us out of England or to entertain his Majesty with a belief that those here will raise sufficient Force to reduce this Kingdom we humbly beseech leave to declare our Opinions herein That is that if our expected Succours from England be kept from us undoubtedly the English and Protestants of this whole Kingdom will be either put to the Sword or be forced to forsake the Kingdom and the sole Power and Sway in all Magistracy must necessarily fall into the hands of the Irish which will at their own pleasure shake off the Government of England and set up their Idolatrous Religion and prove the most dangerous Enemies to England We do confide so much in the Wisdom of His Majesty and the Parliament of England and your Lordships prudent Conduct of a matter so highly importing the State as that they will not to save a little charge expose both Kingdoms to such Dangers after the expence of so much English Blood and Treasure as hath been spent to gain this Kingdom nor will the charge be lost in overcoming this Rebellion by the Wisdom and Valour of England when it shall be abundantly recompenced not only in the settlement of a more firm Peace and Safety to England but also in raising a greater and more considerable Revenue here to the Crown then formerly out of the Estates of the Authors of the mischief The Rebels keep from us all Accesses to our Markets to starve us as they say nor can we help it for want of Men to send abroad several ways So it will be absolutely necessary that the Magazine of Victuals on the English Sea-Coasts on this side be fully stored with all speed that Supplies be hastened hither to Dublin A Regiment of a 1000 Men raised in Munster by Colonel Garret Barry for Spain was Commanded to Disband by the Lord President but they continue still as they were increasing in their numbers We have not yet sufficient force to compel them and it is doubted that he expects there some Arms from Foreign Parts so as it appears necessary that the Shipping designed for guarding those Coasts be hastened away speedily Extract of a Letter of the Lords Justices and Council to the Lord Lieutenant Dated the 27th of November 1641. WE hear that some have given out that our Dangers here are not so great as we declare which misinformations if they should gain credit there might cause the lessening or retarding our Supplies which perhaps may be the aim of those that have so misinformed if any can be so wicked and though we hope that such reports cannot be of equal value or estimation with the joynt representations of this State yet we crave leave to declare that the Rebellions are such and so great as we have formerly represented and far more dangerous then Words can express and we affirm That if those Supplyes come not speedily the Danger will be found far more lamentable to both Kingdoms and we beseech that no Credit be given to the contrary The Disturbances are now grown so general that in most Places and even round about this City within 4 Miles of us not the
open Rebels of mere Irish but the Natives Men Women and Children joyn together and fall on their Neighbours that are English or Protestants and Rob and Spoil them of all they have nor can we help it for want of Men Arms and Money being fearful to separate too farr the little Strength we have here in Dublin lest we be besieged and yet we have bin necessitated this Day to send some of those we could hardly spare to deliver some of the King's Subjects in the County of Wickloe likewise to send some to Drogheda for addition of Strength so as in the mean time we must indure those publick Affronts to be put upon us Yet if the 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse which are to come from England and the 10000 Men which are to come from Scotland be sent us immediately with 200 thousand Pounds in Money and Arms to arm more Men here we conceive some hope to overcome even this next Summer this Rebellion with Honor to his Majesty and future safety to the Kingdom but if those Succors be not totally sent but lessened then the War will be drawn out into a length of time which will be more troublesom and chargeable to England and less comfortable to the good Subjects here We beseech your Lordship to send some Ingineer hither as soon as conveniently may be we being here in great want of such We also pray That the Shipping intended for guarding these Coasts may be hastned away we finding great Cause of Doubt by several Examinations taken that the Rebels expect Aids from Forraign Parts both of Men and Arms. And lastly We beseech your Lordship that all Noblemen and Gentlemen who have Estates in this Kingdom and are now in England may be commanded away hither to partake in the labor of Keeping as they have hitherto injoyed the Fruit of having those Estates After the Prorogation of the Parliament several Members of both Houses were deputed by Commission under the great Seal and accordingly had Instructions from the Lords Justices to treat with the Rebels but their little Successes and the ill Destiny which hung over their Heads rendred them so Insolent that those Indeavors proved fruitless and ineffectual to that Degree that in Contempt and Disdain of the Offers of Peace they tore the Order of Parliament and the Letter that was sent unto them Matters growing every day more desperate the Lords Justices and Council addressed themselves to the Speaker of the Commons House in England to press the performance of the necessary Relief which had been so often promised from thence The Letter was in these Terms SIR THe Advertisements we have from the Lord Lieutenant of this Kingdom A Letter from the Lords Justices and Council to the Speaker of the Commons House in England 27 Nov. 1641. and from you of the continued Care expressed by that Honorable House for the deliverance of this Kingdom and his Majesties faithful Subjects therein from the present Calamities under which we now groan have brought unto us great Comfort and inward Contentment And therefore we crave leave to acknowledg with all Thankfulness the great Wisdom and Piety therein manifested by that Honorable House to the preservation of God's true Religion the Glory of his Sacred Majesty the Honor of that Nation and the prepetual Comfort of all his Majesties faithful Subjects It yet remains that all possible Speed be used in hastning unto us the Succors designed for us lest otherwise they come too late to derive to this Kingdom the benefit intended them by that Honorable House and so We remain From his Majesties Castle of Dublin 27 November 1641. Your very assured loving Friends William Parsons La. Dublin J. Dillon Adam Loftus Ja. Ware Ormond Ossory Ant. Midensis Go. Shurley John Borlase R. Dillon Cha. Lambert J. Temple Robert Meredith Whilest the Rebels thus daily increased in Success and consequently in strength and Numbers and that Supplies were very slowly advanced in England Earl of Ormond made Lieutenant General of the Army in Ireland and the Earl of Leicester designed by his Majesty for that Government made no great hast the slowness of the Parliaments Preparations indeed not permitting him to repair to that important and now dangerous and now troublesome Charge he by the King's Approbation made the Earl of Ormond Lieutenant General of the Army and accordingly sent him a Commission to that purpose And doubtless both his Quality and great Interest in that Nation and a Fidelity to the Crown of England drawn down from so long a discent of Illustrious Ancestors of most approved Loyalty as well as the particular esteem which the Wise and Noble Earl of Strafford had entertained of his promising Merits gave his Majesty a full Assurance and Satisfaction in that Choice which as afterwards those greater Trusts which his Majesty was pleased to confer upon him he discharged with that extraordinary Prudence Courage and matchless Loyalty as will for ever set his Reputation and Honor among the Chief of those great Names who have been transmitted to Posterity both for their brave and Generous Actions and admirable Constancy in suffering all the Miseries of an adverse Fortune rather than comply with such terms as might blemish and fully their Memories with the least stain of disloyalty or infidelity to their Religion Prince and Country as the Part which his Lordship had both in the better and more sinister Fortune of his King and Country will in the Ensuing History make most evident His Lordship being vested in this Command made all the application he was capable of and the narrow Circumstances of Affairs would then admit to put things into a Posture to oppose the Rebels and accordingly Levies of Men were made at Dublin and divers of the poor people who from all Parts came flocking thither for Sanctuary being dispoiled by the Rebels were formed into Companies and Regiments but they were a sort of raw unexperienced and dispirited Men and not likely to prove good Souldiers in so short a time as the Event justified For the Rebels under the Command of Sir Phelim O Neal drawing down towards Tredagh upon which Place they had fixed their chief Design the Lords Justices upon Information from Sir Henry Tichburn the Governor there resolved to send a re-inforcement to that Garrison which was a Place of such Importance as that upon the preservation or loss thereof depended in a great measure the Fate of the whole Kingdom Accordingly 600 Foot under the Command of Major Roper and a Troop of Horse under the command of Sir Patrick Weames were immediately ordered to March for Tredagh the very day that they parted from Dublin there was an Advertisement brought to the Board that some of the Rebels Army was passed over the River Boine with an Intention to intercept them in their Passage whereupon the Earl of Ormond by Direction from the Council dispatched an Express to advertise them thereof and from thence to pass on to Tredagh and
May it please your Lordships WE have received your Letters of the third of this Instant The Answer of the Lords of the Pale to the Lords Justices Dec. 7. 1641. intimating that you had present occasions to confer with us concerning the present State of the Kingdom and the safety thereof in these times of danger and requiring us to be with you there on the eighth day of this Instant we give your Lordships to understand that we have heretofore presented our selves before your Lordships and freely offered our advice and furtherance towards the particulars aforesaid which was by you neglected which gave us cause to conceive that our Loyalty was suspected by you We give your Lordships further to understand that we have received certain Advertisement that Sir Charles Coot Knight at the Council Board hath uttered some Speeches tending to a purpose and resolution to Execute upon those of our Religion a general Massacre by which we are all deterred to wait on your Lordships not having any security for our safety from these threatned Evils or the safety of our Lives but do rather think it fit to stand upon our best guard until we hear from your Lordships how we shall be secured from these Perils Nevertheless we all protest that we are and will continue both Faithful Advisers and resolute furtherers of his Majesties service concerning the present State of the Kingdom and the safety thereof to our best Abilities and so with the said tender of our humble service we remain Your Lordships humble Servants Fingale Slaine Netterville Lowth Gormanston Dunsany Oliver Trimbleston Decemb. 7. Received 11. 1641. To the Right Honourable our very good Lords the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland For much about this time the Lords of the Pale had entered into a Combination with the Vlster Rebels as appears by the Deposition of Edward Dowdall Esq a Gentleman of the Pale who was present at the whole Management of this Affair and deeply concerned in all their Councels and Actions who Deposed before Sir Rob. Meredith Chancellour of the Exchequer as followeth HE Deposeth The Deposition of Mr. Dowdall concerning the Treaty between the Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale and the Ulster Rebels That some four or five days after the defeat of the English Souldiers at the Bridge of Gellianstown there Issued a Warrant from the Lord of Gormanston to the Sheriff of the County for a general Meeting of all the County of Dulick But the Place of Meeting was afterwards changed to the Hill of Crofty where all the Lords and Gentry of the Country met viz. The Earl of Fingale the Lord Viscount Gormanston the Lord of Slaine the Lord of Lowth the Lord of Dunsany the Lord of Trimblestone the Lord Nettervile And of the Gentry Sir Patrick Barnwall Sir Christopher Bellow Patrick Barnwall of Kilbrew Nicholas Darcy of Plattin James Bath of Acharn Garret Ailmer the Lawyer Cusake of Gormanston William Mallone of Lesmullin Sedgrave of Kileglan Linch of the Knos Lynam of Adamstown Laurence Doudal of Athlumney Nicholas Doudal of Brownstown this Examinates Brother and him this Examinate with a Multitude of others to the number of 1000. Persons at the least whose names he this Examinate cannot for the present call to mind And after about two or three hours spent upon the said Hill of Crofty by the Lords and Gentry aforesaid There came towards them Collonel Mahowne Philip O Rely Hugh Boy Rely Roger Moore Hugh Birne and Captain Fox attended on with a Guard of Musqueteers And this Examinate saith That as soon as the Parties drew near unto the said Hill the Lords and Gentry of the Pale rode towards them and the Lord of Gormanstone being one of the first spake unto them and demanded of them Why and for what reason they came Armed into the Pale Vnto which Roger Moore made present Answer That the Ground of their coming thither and taking up Arms was for the Freedom and Liberty of their Consciences the maintenance of his Majesties Prerogative in which they understood he was Abridged and the making the Subjects in this Kingdom as free as those in England were Whereupon the said Lord of Gormonston desired to understand from them truly and faithfully whether those were not pretences and not the true ground indeed of their so doing and likewise whether they had not some other private ends of their own which being by all denyed upon profession of their sincerity his Lordship the Lord Gormanston then told them Seeing these be your true ends we will likewise joyn with you therein unto which course all agreed And thereupon it was publickly and generally declared that whosoever should deny to joyn with them or refuse to assist them therein they would account him as an Enemy and to the utmost of their Power labour his Destruction And this Examinate saith That after the agreement so made as aforesaid There issued another Warrant to the Sheriff of the County of Meath to Summon all the Lords and Gentry of the County of Meath to be at the Hill of Taragh about a week after and accordingly there met at the same place the Earl of Fingale the Lord of Gormanston and the rest of the Lords and Gentlemen aforenamed together with Sir Thomas Nugent and Nicholas Plunket the Lawyer Birford the Lawyer and a multitude of others and the work of that day was first to make Answer to a Summons made by the State for the calling of the Lords unto Dublin which Answer was brought ready drawn by the Lord of Gormanston and presented by his Lordship and being perused by the said Council at Law was Signed by the Lords The Board having Information that Luke Netterville Esquire George Blackney of Richenhore Esquire George King of Clantarf and others were Assembled at Swoords they sent to charge them upon their Allegiance forthwith to depart and not to unite any more in such a manner as by the following Order from the Board appears By the Lords Justices and Council William Parsons John Borlase WHereas we have received Information An Order of the Lords Justices and Council to dissolve an unlawful Assembly at Swoords Dec. 9. 1641. that Luke Nettervile Esq George Blackney of Rickenhore Esq and George King of Clantarfe Gentleman and other Gentlemen of the County of Dublin with great numbers of Men are Assembled together in a Body at Swoords and thereabouts within six Miles of this City for what intent we know not but apparently to the Terror of his Majesties good Subjects and though considering the unseasonableness of this time chosen for such an act without our privity whatsoever their pretence is a construction might be made thereof to their disadvantage yet we being willing to make an Indulgent Interpretation of their Actions in regard of the good opinion we have of the Loyalty of those Gentlemen who it seems are principals amongst them in that Assembly and conceiving there may be some mistaking in that enterprise we have
near behind them and who they know have murdered many of His Majesties good and innocent Subjects and for ought they know if there were not secret intelligence between them might have used them also in like manner But the truth is we conceive those Gentlemen had a mind to joyn with the Rebels and do now take up pretences to cover their disloyalty and cast Scandal on this Government The Rebels in the Pale as in other Parts have caused Masses to be said openly in the Churches expelled the Ministers from Officiating in their Churches and forced divers persons for saving their Lives and Goods to become Papists openly professing that no Protestant shall be suffered to live in Ireland and whilst they insult thus over all the English and Protestants destroying them for no other reason but for that they are Protestants and English we let fall nothing against them touching Religion and yet they feign things against us tending that way to give some colour to their cruel proceedings The Rebels of the County of Kildare have taken the Naas and Kildare in the County of Kildare The Rebels of Meath have taken Trim and Ashboy in the County of Meath and divers other places The Rebels of the County of Dublin have possessed Swoords and Rathcoole and spoyled all the English and Protestants even to the Gates of Dublin and now about Fifteen hundred of the Rebels of Wiclow are in and about Powerscait and about Ten miles from this City There are also between this and the Naas within six or seven miles of us a Thousand of the Rebels of Kildare and the Borders of Wiclow and Dublin so as we are in this City invironed by them on all sides by Land and they begin to stop accesses to us by Sea for the Fisher-men on the Sea-Coasts being all Irish and Papists Inhabitants in the Pale break out also into Rebellion with the Multitude and have robbed spoiled and pillaged even within the Bay of Dublin several Barks coming hither forth of England And if to revenge this Villany on the Fishermen at Clantarfe and thereabouts so near us we send forth a Party of Souldiers to burn and spoil those Rebels Houses and Corn the Gentlemen of the Pale will immediately take new offence but that we will adventure upon for now there is no dalliance with them who so far declare themselves against the State not caring what Scorns are put upon the Government wherein is observable That the Landlord of Clantarfe is one of those Gentlemen risen in Arms at Swoords Your Lordship now sees not only the necessity of hastening with all possible speed our Succours of Men and Arms both out of England and Scotland in greater Numbers than those at first designed seeing the breach appears to be far greater and the defection more general than at first was conceived and yet so as such of them as are ready be not forced to stay for the rest but that those may be so ordered as to come after for no flesh can imagine unless they saw it as we do the greatness of our danger who are but a handful in comparison of the multitudes risen against us And we desire that the Ten thousand designed to come from Scotland may be wholly sent away as well the Five thousand intended to be left there in readiness as the rest with direction to land as near Dublin as they may and wheresoever they Land to March to Dublin if possibly they can And to send away with all speed the Ships appointed for guarding these Coasts is also very necessary to be hastned and that two or three Ships of good Strength follow after doubtless these Rebels expect a very great Supply of Arms and Munition from Foreign Parts either Spain or France And although out of the fore-sight we had of this extremity since these Troubles began we have endeavoured to get in some Provisions of Victual and Corn yet we have not been able to provide our selves sufficiently to stand out any long Siege nor can we now get in any more our Markets being almost taken away and the Strength of the Rebels surrounding us so as we can setch in no more Provisions wherefore we beseech your Lordship that the Magazines of Victuals designed to be settled on that side may be settled with all speed if it be not done already whereby we and the Succours we expect may not be in distress of Victuals for our selves or them or Oats for our Horses Our want of Victuals is the more in respect of the daily access of the English spoyled in the Country The necessity of the defence of the Province of Munster required the immediate raising of a Regiment of Foot consisting of One thousand Men and two Troops of Horse of Threescore each Troop which Threescore we appointed the Lord President to raise and for the payment and arming of them we humbly advise seeing we cannot do it That Money and Arms be sent from thence to Youghall with a further Supply of Arms and Munition for the Stores in that Province now much wanting there And as the Rebels which have beset us and this City on all sides by Land do threaten to cut off our Market at Dublin which we begin to feel already so they boldly declare That they will within a day or two cut off the Water-Course which brings water to this City and Castle and that done That their Multitudes will immediately burn our Suburbs and besiege our Walls which we confess we yet want Strength to defend and must want till our Supplies come forth of England or Scotland or both for here we have but about Three thousand men the rest of the Old Companies being dispersed in several needful Garrisons in the Countrey excepting Seven Companies of them surprized and cut off by the Rebels at their first Rising in Vlster and other parts and about Two hundred Horse by pole of the Old Army whereof many are Irish so as considering the spaciousness of this City and Suburbs to be defended the smalness of our number to defend them and the great numbers of Papists Inhabitants in this City and Suburbs and lastly the very great Numbers of the Rebels who are so strong as to approach this City with many Thousands and yet leave many Thousands also at the Siege of Drogheda we cannot expect to be able to defend this City for any long time against them without the arrival of our expected Succours The Earl of Castle-Haven on the Tenth of this Month presented at this Board the inclosed Oath tendered unto him by the Rebels to be sworn by him which he saith he refused to swear and we hear they send it to all Parts to be tendered to the people pressing them to take the Sacrament thereupon We did lately in hope to gain some time until our Supplies might come listen to an Offer made by some Popish Priests to go to the Rebels and Treat with them as you may perceive by the inclosed But
since we find there is little hope of it for some of the Priests are returned nothing being wrought thereby However it is fit your Lordship should know what we do we must now crave leave to declare to your Lordship That things being risen here to this height threatning not only the shaking of the Government but the loss of the Kingdom as the Supplies of Men Arms and more Treasure are of great necessity to be hastned away hither so is it also needful that we enjoy your Lordships presence here for the conduct in your own person of the great and important Affairs of this State as well in the Martial as in the Civil Government which do necessarily require it in this time of great imminent danger wherein so far as we may be able to contribute any assistance with you we shall be ready to discharge our duties therein with that loyalty and uprightness of heart which we owe to his Majesty and the particular respect due from us to your Lordship but we hope you will bring that strength with you which may befit the greatness of the King our Master to send with his Lieutenant against so numerous Enemies as these Rebels are become as well for the Honour of his Majesty as for the terror of those Rebels By what we have heretofore and now humbly represented to your Lordship you may in part see the greatness of the publick danger wherein this Kingdom now stands and particularly this City and Castle the principal piece thereof that if those be lost which we now again assure your Lordship were never in so great peril to be lost since the first Conquest of this Kingdom by the Crown of England the whole Kingdom must quickly follow that the danger which must thereupon arise to the Kingdom of England is very great in many Respects There is no possibility to prevent those Evils with Honor and Safety to England but by Succors from thence or Scotland or both and that if those Succors come not speedily it cannot be avoided but the Kingdom must be lost And if notwithstanding all this so often and truly made known by us to your Lordship we shall perish for want of Supplies we shall carry this Comfort with us to our Graves or any other Burial we shall have That your Lordship can witness for us to the Royal Majesty and to all the World that we have discharged our Duties to God to his Majesty to that Nation and to this in humbly representing to his Majesty by your Lordship the chief Governour of the Kingdom the Extremities and Dangers wherein his Kingdom and People stand and the necessity of hastning Supplies hither by all possible means for preservation of both so as whatever become of our persons our memory cannot be justly stained with so wretched a breach of Faith and Loyalty to the King our Master as to forbear representing thither the Extremities wherein we are whether we have the Credit to be believed or no and that we write Truth and most needful Truth will be found true when perhaps we shall perish and which is more considerable the Kingdom also for want of being Relieved and Succoured in time And so we remain Your Lordships to be Commanded William Parsons Ormond Ossory Char. Lambert John Temple Francis Willoughby Jo. Burlace R. Dillon Ad. Loftus Charles Coot R. Meredith From his Majesties Castle of Dublin 14 December 1641. Postscript BY our Letters to your Lordship of the 22. of November We did desire to be informed from thence Whether the Parliament here being once Prorogued may not again be Prorogued by Proclamation before they Sit or whether it be of necessity that they must Sit again and the Parliament to be Prorogued the House Sitting And now that this Rebellion hath over-spread the whole Kingdom and that many Members of both Houses are involved therein so as the Parliament cannot Sit We humbly desire to know his Majesties Pleasure therein and if his Majesty shall think fit to Prorogue it which at present we hold expedient that then we may receive his Commandment for Prorogation and that the doubt concerning that be cleared for to assemble at that time cannot be with Safety Our Letters of the Third of December have been hitherto with-held on this side by contrary Winds The Propositions mentioned in this Letter for a Treaty by Sir Thomas Carey and Dr. Cale a Doctor of the Sorbon were First That there should be a Toleration of Religion Some Overtures for a Treaty Secondly That Popish Officers as well as Protestants should be admitted to all Employments Thirdly That the wrongs of Plantations should be repaired since 1610. Fourthly That there should be a Proclamation to take off the File the Title of Rebels and Traitors But Sir Phelim O Neil would not be perswaded to condescend to any manner of Treaty unless the Lord Mac-guire Mac-Mahon and the other Prisoners in the Castle were first set at Liberty which the Board rejecting with Contempt and Indignation that Overture died almost as soon as it was born Though it now began to be notorious that the Lords of the The Board Vindicates Sir Charles Coot and themselves from the Imputation of the Lords of the Pale Pale were deeply in the Conspiracy yet to take away their pretences the Board published a Proclamation and sent it to those Noblemen wherein it was positively Affirmed That the Lords Justices and Council did never hear Sir Charles Coot or any other utter at the Council Board or elsewhere any Speeches tending to a Purpose or Resolution 〈◊〉 Execute on those of their Profession or any other a general Massacâ—â— nor was it ever in their thoughts to dishonour His Majesty or the State by such an Odious Detestable and Impious Action giving them assurance of their safety if they would repair to Dublin the 17th of that Month. In Answer to which The Answer of the Lords of the Pale the Lords of the Pale return a Letter to the Lords Justices wherein they complain That they were so justly affrighted with Sir Charles Coot's severity and deportment that they durst not adventure their persons within the Confines of his Government they heavily charge upon him the inhumane acts perpetrated in the County of Wickloe the Massacre of Santry and the burning of Mr. King's house at Clantorfe contrary to the Publick Faith given but the day before for which severity they said they did not blame their Lordships but Sir Charles Coot for his Rigor in the Execution and therefore desire that no sinister Construction may be made of their stay but that they may have some Commissioners appointed to confer with them concluding with professions of their Loyalty and readiness to give their advice for the advancement of His Majesty's Service and the Common Peace of the Kingdom But though they did not proceed to open Hostilities chusing rather to force the Government to be the Aggressors yet they began to form themselves into a
distinct Body of an Army and thereupon declared the Lord Gormanston General of the Forces to be raised in the Pale Hugh Birne Lieutenant General and the Earl of Fingal General of the Horse And to straiten the City of Dublin by keeping Provisions from coming thither Luke Neterville sent two strong Parties the one to possess Finglass within two Miles of the City and the other to Santry where they lay till those at Finglass were dislodged from thence by Col. Crafford lately arrived out of England with a Recommendation from the Prince Elector Palatine under whom he had served in the Wars of Germany The dislodging of the Rebels from Finglass happened by a pretty odd Adventure for Crafford having raised a Regiment of the stripped and despoiled English who came to Dublin for Sanctuary he daily Exercised them and being a Person of a good competency of Confidence and forwardness he requested the Earl now His Grace the Duke of Ormond to take a view of them and see how well in so short a time he had improved and disciplined his Men the next Morning His Grace with about 20 Horse of his Servants and some Persons of Quality went into the Field to see them Train but when he came there he found no Men upon the place but presently after hearing some shooting and conceiving they might be marched to some more convenient place he advanced to the place where by the shooting he judged they were when he came near he saw there was a Man brought off wounded whereupon he perceived it was no matter of Jest for it seems Crafford who had resolved to signalize himself had made an attempt upon the Rebels at Finglass but his Men who had scarcely recovered the fright they had escaped were not so well in either Courage or Discipline but that they had shewed the Rebels their Backs if His Grace by the opportune appearance of this small body of Horse had not reinforced them and the Rebels having no Horse and not knowing what strength or numbers were coming upon them immediately retired and drew off from the place The other Party at Santry hearing of the approach of Sir Charles Coot consulted with their heels for the security of the rest of their Bodies and quitted the place with so much fear and haste that they left behind them the best part of their Equipage and Provisions And to add to these misfortunes under which the Government and the English Protestants were so miserably oppressed the Provinces of Munster and Connaght now followed the Example of Vlster and Lemster and broak out into actual Rebellion so that now there was not one Corner of Ireland but what was infected with this dismal Contagion the whole Body was sick and the Heart faint and languishing The landing of Sir Simon Harcourt Sir Simon Harcourt with a Regiment arrives at Dublin Decemb. 31. a brave Experienced Captain with his Regiment who arrived at Dublin the last of December raised some hopes that Assistance and Relief would come from England but those very hopes were strangely over-ballanced by the Fears lest they should come too late And these delays had like to have proved Fatal for many of the Soldiers who came out of England seeing the weak and low condition of the City and the great Strength and Numbers of the Rebels began not only to shrink from the Service which appeared so desperate but mutinuously to perswade their fellows to return for England which occasioned the Publishing of this Proclamation By the Lords Justices and Council William Parsons John Borlase WE do hereby in His Majesties Name A Proclamation forbidding Soldiers to return to England Charge and Command all His Majesties Soldiers of this Army that upon pain of Death none of them presume to depart hence for England without express License in that behalf from the Lieutenant General of the Army And we Command all Owners and Masters of Ships Barques and other Vessels that upon pain of Death none of them do permit or suffer any of the said Soldiers to go aboard them or to be carried from hence into England And we require the Searcher and all other Officers and Waiters of the Customs that they and every of them do take special Care to prevent the Shipping or Exporting of any of the said Soldiers as aforesaid whereof they may not fail Given at His Majesties Castle of Dublin the 18th of Jan. 1641. Ormond Ossory R. Dillon Ad. Loftus J. Temple Charles Coote Fra. Willoughby Rob. Meredith The Board had not been at all wanting to represent the sad Condition of their Affairs to the Lord Lieutenant and the Two Houses of Parliament in England and the Reader may have observed that upon all occasions His Majesty had indeavoured to the uttermost of the Power he had left to forward the Relief and Assistance of Ireland But the Scots stood upon high Terms being rather managed with the desire of the English Money the sweetness of which they had tasted then with compassionate Zeal and Brotherly Kindness though they affected that word mightily to afford Sudden and Seasonable Relief to Ireland which they might with the greatest ease imaginable have done from Scotland that Country lying so near as to be within a few hours Sail from thence And for the Two Houses of Parliament in England they were so wholly taken up with their own Affairs and Designs against the King which now began to ripen apace towards an open Rebellion that they had no leisure to attend the present Relief of Ireland to any purpose insomuch that the Arms and Ammunition taken out of the King's Stores for that Service could not get a conveyance to the Ports whither they were Ordered for Transportation for want of Money as was often represented to the Two Houses by the Lord Newport Master of the Ordnance as before hath been made appear from the Journals and the Men who were raised and got as far as Chester lay there also Money-bound as is evident from this following Letter written from Col. Monk afterwards the memorable Duke of Albemarle to the Lord Lieutenant My Lord I Have received one Letter from your Lordship A Letter from Col. Monk to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and one from your Secretary and all your Lordships Commands have been observed here are Twelve Companies of your Lordships Regiment come to Chester there is only wanting your Lordships own Company and 40 Men of Captain Cope 's Company the which 40 Men he is bringing up himself and your Lordships Regiment is 1200 marching Men in Rank and File at this present We shall want nothing for our present Imbarquing but Money and your Lordships own Company for our Men are all Armed and Shipping ready to carry them over the want of Money with us has been very great by reason we have been forced to pay our Companies our selves ever since our Arrival here We could not prevail with the Townsmen of Chester for the furnishing of us with any
this present of 1000 Men only to be Raised in Scotland to be sent into Ireland The Lord-Keeper being so indisposed that he was not able to come to the House Saturday Novemb. 13. the Lord Privy-Seal was appointed to be the Speaker of the House for this day The Lord Kymbolton then reported some Propositions from the Committees of both Houses for the Irish Affairs which were read as followeth 1. That Officers for 2000 Foot shall be sent c. ut supra in the Votes 2. That it shall be referred to the Lord Lieutenant to make a List of those Officers and to appoint of what numbers each Company shall consist of 3. That the 1300 Arms that are in Carlisle shall be sent away presently to the North Parts of Ireland and Arms for one Troop of Horse 4. That the Forty old Foot Companies be recruited unto 100 Men in a Company 5. That the Recommendation of Sir John Clotworthy to some honourable Entertainment in Ireland be proposed to the Lords 6. That the like Recommendation be for the Lord Dungaruan and for the Command of Youghal this request the Lord Dungaruan desires may be left to the Lord Lieutenant 7. That Officers be sent into Munster for 1000 Foot and 1 Troop of Horse and this was the easier yielded unto because the Lord Dungaruan informed that the Soldiers should receive no Pay till they were ready to March against the Enemy 8. That present Order be taken for securing the Port Towns of Munster as Cork Waterford Limrick Kynsale Youghal Baltimore Slego and Gatway in Connaght because these Towns lie on the South-West of Ireland near Spain 9. That the Officers may be speedily sent for Dublin 10. It is thought fit by the Committees that Sir Simon Harcourt should have the Sallary of 20 s. per diem above the rest for his Command of Dublin 11. That the Entertainments of every Regiment of Foot and the Pay of the Officers of the Army shall be from the Date of their Commissions and Sir Simon Harcourt to go away presently to all which the Lords assented The Lord Newnham reported Lord Newnham's Report of the Venetian Ambassadors receiving the Message from the Lords That himself and the rest of the Lords appointed by this House repaired to the Venetian Ambassador and delivered unto him the Paper Translated into Italian touching the excuse for opening his Letters and after he had read it he presented unto the House great thanks for sending persons of such great place in this State unto him and promised he would represent the same to the State of Venice with as much respect as he could But desired that the Kings Ambassador may be sent away as speedily as may be to Venice in the nature of a special Ambassador to make excuse for this particular Business before he Treat of any Publick Affairs and for prevention of any Accident for the future he desires to have an Order to the Post-Master that his Letters may be speedily sent him Whereupon the House thought fit That the first desire concerning the Ambassador be left to the Pleasure of His Majesty and for the other it was Ordered That such Pacquets and Letters as are or shall be directed to the Venetian Ambassador shall be forthwith delivered up to the said Ambassador's own hands It was this day Ordered That the Earl of Newport Order for bringing up the Ammunition from Hull Master of the Ordnance shall have power by Virtue of this Order to send his Commands and Issue forth Warrants for the bringing up the Magazine of Arms and Ammunition remaining now in Kingston upon Hull unto the Tower of London for the securing of the Kingdom It was also Ordered Order about the L. Lieutenant of Ireland That because the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland hath not been invested in the Formality of his Place by the receiving of the Sword in Ireland That his Lordship shall have power by Virtue of this Order to give Command to the Lords Justices of Ireland to seize upon the persons of any that are suspected until they shall clear themselves unto the said Lords Justices there At a Conference this day the Commons desired That the first six Articles of Instructions to the Commissioners in Scotland to which the Lords had already agreed with some little Alterations as that 10000 Men might be raised in Scotland for the service of Ireland might be speedily sent away by Mr. Pickering and for the remaining Articles touching ill Counsels and Counsellors they desire their Lordships would joyn therein and they will tarry four or five days for their Lordships Resolutions Whereupon the 6 Articles were dictinctly read over again and the House agreed to them all and Resolved to take the rest into Consideration hereafter Then the Petition which was to go along with the Instructions was read in haec verba To the King 's Most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of the Lords and Commons in Parliament Most Gracious Soveraign WHereas this Messenger Mr. The Petition to the King in Scotland sent with the Instructions to the Committees Pickering is imployed with Instructions to your Parliament of Scotland our desire of some Aids from that Kingdom for the suppressing of the Rebels in Ireland if it fall out that your Majesty shall be come out of Scotland or our Committees before the Arrival of this Messenger there We humbly beseech your Majesty to give Authority to the said Mr. Pickering to present the said Instructions to the Parliament of Scotland and to bring back their Answer to the Parliament of England Which being read was Approved by the House In the Commons House Sir Thomas Barrington Reports the Answer of the City The Answer of the City about lending Money That the Committee who were Ordered to carry the Letters which came last from Ireland to the City to stir them up to lend Money found a great deal of willingness and readiness in the City to do it the Lord Mayor desired to know the particulars we had in Charge for their security which being made known unto them together with the miserable condition of Ireland Mr. Recorder did very much promote the Business and pressed them to give their Votes but before they did that they desired by way of Prepositions to offer something not by way of Contract to this Honourable House 1. That the Money should be paid as the Act was passed 2. That by reason of the Privilege of the Members of both Houses and by reason of the Protections granted especially by the Lords a vast Sum of Money is detained from them so that Trade cannot be driven nor are they so enabled to lend Money as they desire for the service of the Common-wealth 3. They said they were sensible of the miseries of the Protestants in Ireland and of the Power of the Papists there and therefore did press with much earnestness That the Persons of the Popish Lords and other Persons of Quality here in England