according to Magna Charta Pet. of Right and their own many and frequent Declarations but alas how hath this been perfideously perverted as if there were not the least knowledge or feare of God amongst men and the people under a faire coloured pretence of peace and freedom altogether subjugated to warre vassalage and thraldome had not the wisdom and power of God prevented it this appeared by the late commotions occasioned by some Members of Parliament and their unjust refusall of severall legall Petitions precented unto them which notwithstanding the Lawes of the Kingdome and their own Declarations to the contrary were rejected yea and with the greatest infamy and shame that could be consumed with fire in severall parts of London by the hands of the common Hangman so insolently and proudly have some of them behaved themselves towards the free people of England Therefore I say if the Parliament shall declare to the whole Kingdome what their immunites rights and freedoms are and also what of due belongs to thmeselves whilst sitting in Parliament and then shall goe about under the painted shew of breach of priviledge to anticipate and subvert the antient priviledges of the people of England must not the Army who were raised by the Kingdome for their defence as in the strictest bonds of duty and conscience they are obliged once open their lips to crave and begg for the people their proper rights but they must in an infamous manner be tearmed Judges And now Sir I appeale to your selfe if the Army ever went about to determine any causes in the Kingdome except what they did by the Parliaments permission with their Swords against the publike enemy onely they have represented their owne and the peoples often rejected grievances to them by way of humble Petition and if this be a contracting power or right from the Parliaments Declarations of being Judges of their own and the peoples liberties powers and rights let the world judge betwixt them and you For that you say the Army can onely do what your erring fancy hath suggested to you by the length of their Swords which can be no good Standard for it will be lyable to alteration when a longer Sword comes I say their Swords are so long and so good a Standard that it never yet I know not what it may do met with a longer to remove or alter it from prosecution with zeale to Gods glory and the Kingdome benefit the righteous cause they have in the sincerity of their hearts undertaken in behalfe of the King Parliament and Kingdome Then you proceed thus And when the people of this Kingdome have understood and considered this it is not likely they will leave the setled course of Law and Justice in the knowne Courts of the Kingdome to be judged by any one who can raise the greatest tumult Indeed now you have paid the Army to some purpose if the people were surprised with such a spirit of delusion as to believe the deviating dictates of your thoughts and now I desire you or any of your Competitioners to demonstrate in any one particular or confesse you injure them wherein this Army have taken upon them the place or authority of Judges or hindered the people from following the setled course of Law and Justice in the known Courts of the Kingdome Or that his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax at whom you chiefly aime ever intended or offered to judge any thing but what the Parliament have determined already unlesse those things which conduce to the weale of his Army the very terrour of Englands enemies and all other Souldiers in England and Wales which in duty and conscience he is bound to do And whereas you speak of a tumult by which you meane this Army or otherwise you overthrow the rest of your discourse you do the Parliament themselves more wrong and injustice under the specious pretence of a friend in one word then ever the Army did or durst though they could do them in their whole life time nay as much as the Kings party have ever done in expression since the warre began For if the Army be a Tumult they were raised by the Parliament whereby it appeares you make them whom you se strive to defend the Authours of this Tumult Which must needes follow say you if they meaning the Kingdome allow this Army suppose it 14000. men to be Judges now then any 150000. in the Kingdome may judge the Army and a greater number then ad infinitum by which it doth appeare that the Army making themselves Judges in these cases doth overthrow and take away the Ordinance of God and Magistracy then which amongst men I cannot imagine what is a greater impiety Truly Sir I know no greater impiety amongst men tending to publike harme and prejudice then to misapprehend the serene and candid thoughts of others if what preceeds this consequence of yours had been true as appeares it is not then this would have held good for it is a certaine maxime that if 14000. men in a tumultuous way be Judges now then any 150000. men in the Kingdome may judge the Army and a greater number them ad infinitum But your misapplication of this conclusion is the spoyle of it had you but turned this from the Innocent and layd it on the guilty I meane the impeached Members then rem acu tetigoras you had laid the saddle on the right horse and if that course of theirs were not directly to overthrow the Ordinance of God and Magistracy when they went about to judge without the least preâ—enâ—â— or shew in the earth for it or reason given not onely the Army but the whole Kingdome with a company of rude deboist Reformadoes who better know how to raise mutinies sweare damne and domineere and make black pots salute each others crownes then to do their Countrey any true and faithfull service in the field then will I forfeit my judgment utterly for they were such good friends to Magistracy that by their unparalleld barbarous behaviour they forced the Speakers of both Houses and the rest of the honest Members to flye for liberty if not for life and make this Army their chiefe refuge and all because they judged it meet They armed and disarmed whom they pleased in London killed one or two whose lives were worth many thousands of theirs manned their workes planted their Ordinance against the Parliament themselves then constrained to reside with the Army and this also was because they judged it fit Had this Army done these or the like incomparable actions against the Parliament and Kingdome then might you have safely said that they overthrew both the Ordinance of God and Magistracy then which amongst men I know not a greater impiety And therefore now see if this Army whom you would make the Kingdome believe would be their Judges to make them more odious in the eyes of the soone deceived vulgar had not instead of being Judges stuck firme and intire to the Parliament
A JUST VINDICATION OF THE ARMIE WHEREIN All that doubt may have large satisfaction in relation to their late proceedings As touching the Cause beginning continuance and their end therein OR A Book entituled The Examination of the late passages of the Armie especially of the grounds laid down for their Justification in their Declaration June 14. 1647 Examined Refuted By A. WARREN Micah 2.1 2. Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evill upon their beds when the morning is light they practise is because it is in his hand c. Mal. 3.5 And I will come near to you to judgment and I will be a swift Witnesse against those that oppresse the Hireling in his wages the Widdow and the Fatherlesse c. Ipsae etenim leges cupiunt ut Jure regantur In Republica max. ma conservanda sunt Jura Belli LONDON Printed in the Yeere 1647. A full Vindication of the Armie I Have a long time waited and with waiting longed to hear or see somewhat proceed from some of the Army in order to their own justification more able for such imployment and in Answer to the forementioned Book styled The lawfulnesse of the late Passages of the Army c. Examined But hitherto my hopes have been frustrate which hath forced me unapt for such a work to crowd amongst others not out of vain ostentation upon the common Theater ' to each mans publick view my sincear indeavours aspiring no higher then to give satisfaction to my doubting friends if I can next to that main mark whereunto relation ought chiefly to be had in all things even the glory of God I was at first incouraged hereunto by the opprobious and despitefull language I frequently heard in the mouths of divers ill-affected persons against the Army and many times my self being scornfully hit in the teeth by the shewing of this and such like Pamphlets unto me And knowing well enough it can be no affront to Justice to speak the truth in behalf of the condemned Innocent it no whit opposing the just Law of this Kingdom nor right reason which is or ought to be the ground of all Law for Lex est summa Ratio I have undertaken the insuing discourse And as it is the greatest glory that any Nation or People are invested with to be under the Command and Jurisdiction of a sound impartiall and well principled Government and upon good grounds not to fear slavery vassalage thraldom a yoak too ponderous for any to puton especially those who are born free and have the very name of freedom written in so fair a Character in their foreheads Ab Origine that it is conspicious to the whole universe and the remotest Nations can read it as well as themselves So on the contrary for such to lye tamely under the corrupt Constitution of an inslaving power being clothed from their creations with admirable Immunities Nature her self crowning them with so rich a favour and abhorring thraldom in any is the greatest obloquie and brand of shame sorrow and infamie that can befall a free State or Kingdom Oppression injustice and vassalage is not ought not to be indured in any by whomsoever or howsoever imposed it being abominated and detested by the sacred Lawes of Religion Reason Roma Tybur amo vent su Tybure Romam Verg. Nature and Nations It is a very sad disaster and a great sign of instability when men and their principles differ upon every occasion nay sometime without the least visible occasion thereunto I know no one place or text of Scripture the truth whereof hath been better backt and attended in all foregoing ages and our present times Obad. 7. ver with more credible testimonies of verity then Davids so often repeated Maxime That those of a mans own house commonly prove his greatest enemies I shall not make any Application of this to the present opposer only give me so much favour as to tell you with all meeknesse that though you had not that relation to the Army as serve the State with them in particular ingagements in the Field yet that you should pretend friendship when their hearts and hands were active and successefull in fighting for freedom and now desert and deny them for desiring the fruition of the same things they contended for is no lesse then a wonder to me insomuch that I fear you as well as others in cases of the like nature and concernment do hoise saile more for some private unhappy respect then for publick good and interest but beware lest your unsound vessell meet with rocks and there God find you out to your shame Will you give the Army leave to sight and spill their bloud for the recovery of the just wholesome Lawes of the Nation and shall they not be permitted now to speak for the execution of them Will you be a friend when they fight and a foe when they have obtained because they desire the reasonable performance of undeniable ingagements Have not the whole Kingdom cause to look about them and suspect yea and in time prevent a design when men dissent from the Army because their tongues concurre with their hearts hands and the end of their Commission But not to tarry any longer here we will come to the preface or Introduction to your Examination which in the first place you lay down thus â—f the late Declaration from the Army of June 14. 1647. had given satisfaction to all their friends as it seemed to promise in the first line I should then have been silent c. It was not the intent of that first line that the Declaration could without a blessing give satisfaction unto any much lesse to all their friends for it s not in the power of any but God himselfe either to perswade or prevaile with the judgements of men and the Declaration is but a meanes thereunto tending And that the Declaration concluded on by his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax and his Councell of VVarre afterward read in the head of every Regiment in the Army and at last consented unto by the Officers and Souldiers thereof did not give satisfaction though intended for that use to all their pretended friends or reall enemies is not through any insufficiency in the thing it selfe which is to all rationall men satisfactory enough considered as an instrument but either their owne incapability stubbornenesse or selfe-ends by which meanes they will not incline their eares to the truth thereof Then you say who have ever untill some of their late proceedings not onely had the Army in great esteem and honour but studied and endeavoured according to my abilities and place to bee serviceable to them Truly Sir for your pretended esteeme and honour of the Army formerly whilst it lasted they were beholden to you but it sills me with admiration that you were no more reall nor stable and that your principles should be so slippery as degenerate from what they were and your judgement so darkned as to mistake the
out their blood for their rights or the Parliaments Commission did invest them with power to regulate the affaires of the Kingdome and consequently in case of visible necessity to raise and maintaine an Army in otder thereunto If the Parliament declare against the Army for the just prosecution and performance of their owne Orders and Ordinances they doe as immediately and directly declare against themselves yea by striveing to condemne and overthrow the Army they doe but dig a pit or lay a snare as David saith for themselves to fall into For if the Parliaments Declarations and Ordinances by themselves framed and composed in order to the raising and maintaining of a force and granting them a Commission were not according to Law which most men confesse they were then the Army were culpapble and responsible to another Parliament if any should be after the dissolution of this for obeying the Votes and directions of this yea and this Parliament themselves could not be free from severe examination in this particular But if the Parliaments Declarations and Ordinances in relation to the levying of an Army were firmely grounded on Law and Reason as undoubtedly they were and so kept and precisely observed by the Army if the Authours of them viz. the Parliament should begin and persist in the unjust violation of them who is fault-worthy the Army that keepeth them or the Parliament who infringe them If the Parliament command injustice shall not they be responsible for it when the Army who did but execute their commands escape Scot-free Shall the instrument be broken and the hand that made and used it be discharged from the fact Doth the Army crave anie thing but what the Parliament have often promised the Law warrants your selfe with the rest of your friends I hope the Armies friends too would willingly and gratefully partake of If they doe then what is it If they do not then why are they so much blamed When the warre was hot in the Kingdome which and for which blessed for ever be our God is now asswaged and mitigated by the fidelity valour and unanimity of this Army under the wise conduct of puissant Fairfax the onely instruments in Gods hands to period our dismall distractions they never troubled the Parliament or themselves with things of this concernment but quietly and patiently as led thereunto by the very hand of providence obeyed all commands tending to publike safety and freely underwent the saddest exigences of a fiery Warre and when none els were honoured with the like victories they indured without grudging or repineing the test and brunt thereof and never molested the Parliament with one scrip or line as other Armies did and at that time well enough resented too which might impede them in their publike and ponderous negotiations yea they freely subjected and exposed themselves to the mercilesse extremities of wind and weather hunger nakednesse the dis-favour and hate of divers of their best friends and what not But alas we are now againe in peace and these mercies are utterly forgotten Besides other Armies before this did severall times plead and petition as Armies not so much necessitated thereunto as this Army is and it was well accepted and requited with plausible answers of satisfaction in their just demands yet this Army if they but offer to petition as an Army is so ill resented that they shall immediately without being heard for themselves be declared enemies c. Had they but unworthily committed those outragious incivilities and offered such affronts and indignities to the two Houses of Parliament as the London Faction the best friends to the impeached Members did I dare affirme the City and whole Kingdome had been flameing about their eares ere this day but this is not so considerable a crime in them nay no crime at all as some peremptorily report because they were no Army had they but a Commission then this were a fault in them but as the case stands now it is none Had not our Brethren the Scots not to deprive them of their dues which they deserved all that they desired or demanded as an Army Pax quaeritur Bellc L.G. Crumwells Motto But now tempora mutantur nos mutamur in illis this Army must not desire those things as an Army which other Armies with much facility have obtained and all the reason I know for it is because peace is extracted from warre by the prodigall effusion of the precious blood of divers in this Army In the next place you say for their affirming they are not a mercenarie Army you will not spend time to dispute it and in my judgement you have taken the wisest course unlesse you be so good a Sophister as to make truth appeare falshood and falshood truth which is something difficult in the apprehension of any honest man Yet say you every one sees they insist much on their wages and good reason they should when so many of them have spent the prime and flower of their yeares in the service of the Kingdome divers of them being men of trades and callings and have charges of families who depend wholly upon their honest endeavours and were able sufficiently to maintaine them before this warre and now have no subsistence or livelihood whereby to relieve themselves or families but that small pittance of pay they seldome yet sometimes receive from the State who called them from their functions to publike imployments Others there be who though they have sufficient estates yet some of them have been wholly sequestred in those parts of the Kingdome where the King had any Garrisons or parties to command them And the rest by reason of the unsupportable taxes of the Kingdome had little or no benefit by them yea I have known some that have served the Parliament faithfully and valiantly who have been worse dealt with in their estates then Papists and others who were in actuall service against them And now tell me if the Parliament are not bound to give the labourer his deserved hire and this Army have not sufficient cause to insist on their wages I am very confident that if the Parliament had but allowed them what was promised and for the use levied in the Kingdome you nor they should have heard one word more of them in relation to that particular And for that Scripture you alledge in the 3. of Luke 14. that Souldiers should be content with their wages the Army have been in the whole progresse of this warre so farre from grudging repineing or being discontent with their wages that they have been very well content without it even to the admiration of all the Countreyes they have marched thorow and for ought they or I can perceive are like so to continue yet a while The Kingdome are sensible enough of nineteen millions of money some say 73000000. that hath been with more then ordinary hast and in little time extracted from them and if any part of it be transported beyond Seas
well-grounded purposes and principles of the Army and what those late proceedings of theirs should be whereat you take occasion to with-draw your first love I am altogether ignorant of unlesse because the Army are by divine power contriving how righteousnesse and peace might kisse each other justice and judgement run downe our streets like a mighty streame and for your studying to serve the Army according to your place and ability and not persisting therein whilst they in the whole progresse of this late businesse have not in the least desired ought but what the Parliament in their many Declarations have faithfully promised I wish they had been as really performed then our troubles had ceased might be sufficient cause of sorrow and sadnesse unto you And to speake in justification of their very adversaries in this one respect I dare boldly affirme it the Army have received more civill usage curteous respect and affectionate expressions of love from them then from many of the neare pretended friends of the Parliaments Cause and this not out of any hopes they have that the Army should effect that at last which at first they opposed and the other partie stood for or that they looke for any curtesie or favour from them more then what in conscience and equity they are bound to allow them but meerly from the observation of their good ends whereof many are convinced civill deportments and honourable performances of Articles and Covenants which merits no lesse then cordiall affection from very Enemies But now you say all your glorying in them is turned into shame and your prayers and praises to God for them into mourning and astonishment I had rather heare this were for the fore-cited reason to wit your strange revolting from the Kingdomes cause then that you seem to mention viz. to see that under the generall notions and colours of Gods glory and good intentions to the Liberties and peace of the people of this Nation the late actions and practices of the Army in disobeying and opposing the Parliament if persisted in will appeare to be contrary to the Lawes of God and the Kingdome and to their duty trust and ingagement to the Parliament of England c. I am sorry the eye of your judgement is so much obscured and you so much mistaken in the affaires and proceedings of the Army Doth it derogate more from Gods glory when the Army present their humble desires to the Parliament by way of Petition then it did when they freely powred forth their blood against the stubborne Adversaries of our Tranquillity and Freedome Are the good intents of the Generall to the Liberties and peace of this Nation lesse good because he hath gained them vi Armis from the irreconcileable enemies thereof and now desire the enjoyment of them for the Nation from those who arbitrarily and unjustly detaine them Is it more disobedience or opposition in the Army to demand the price of their blood even their hardly gotten Liberties of the Parliament then it was in the Parliament at first to raise warre against the King The Army might say to the Parliament in relation to their late proceedings as they said to the King at the beginning of this unhappie fraction It is a levying of warre against the King when it is against his Lawes and Authorities Book Dccl. part 1. pag. 276 where by the Statute of 25. â—â—d 3. though it be not immediately against his Person and the levying of force against his personall commands though accompanied with his presence if it be not against his Lawes and Authority but in maintenance thereof is not levying warre against the King but for him c. So and no otherwise it is disobedience and opposition against the Parliament when it is against their Lawes and Authorities though it be not immediately against their persons and disobedience and opposition to their personall commands though accompanied with their presence if it be not against their Lawes and Authorities but in maintenance thereof is not disobedience and opposition to the Parliament but the defence of the Parliament and their due Priviledges In the judgement of any ingenuous man that which you call disobedience and opposition in the Army is no more then what the King called Rebellion in the Parliament and their actions then will appeare as contrary to the Lawes of God and the Kingdome and to their duty trust and ingagement to the King and Kingdome of England as the present progressions of the Army will to the Parliament of England for it is evident to all the world that the Army are guided by the very selfe-same principles now that the Parliament were grounded on at the beginning of this unhappy distraction Novemb. 2. 1646. Declar. 1 parâ— 696 page 150. observe but their owne expression That obedience binds not men to cut their owne throats c. had the Army obeyed the groundlesse personall Commands of the Parliament how unhappie had both themselves and the whole Kingdom been The Parliament at first alarumed the whole Kingdom crying Arme arme arme with beating of Drums and soundings of Trumpets the sad precursors of insuing War and woe assuring the people the King and his Counsell then intended to destroy their Religion subvert their Lawes enslave themselves c. Whereupon the people suddenly set themselves in a defensive Martiall posture for the Parliament against the King and both parties resolved and to that purpose declared to stand by each other in safe-guarding their Freedoms immunities the justest cause of any War whereupon an Army was immeadiatly sent forth who took upon them to restore or lose their lives the peoples Freedoms this being done and liberty purchased with the effusion of bloud were it not perjury and perfidiousnesse in the Army to suffer some Members of Parliament after all this to inthrall the people and undo themselves Which was evident enough they would have done had they power answerable to their malice as appears by Sir Philip Stapleton who was heard to report when the Army but intended to Petition for their dues That it was come to that passe that either the Army must down or They meaning himself and his corrupt Rivals must downe And if the Armies refusing to forfeit for ever their own and the Kingdoms freedomes and surrender it though earned with the invaluable price of their dearest bloud to an inconsiderable party of Arbitrary merciless men in both or either House of Parliament be disobedience and opposition as you terme it to the whole then how will you define obedience Do you imagine the Parliament cannot oppresse And if they do must not ease be petitioned for but for so doing the Petitioners must be accounted disobedient and opposers Parliaments were called for the benefit and not dis-ease of the people There are severall things Four causes of a Parliaments being which are chiefly the considerable Causes of a Parliaments Being 1 The out-cries of a free people inslaved to their
Militia thereof as at London and so set the Kingdome all on sire againe Was not this the ready way unto it But it is evident to all men that what was done in this particular was in order to a plot of inslaving the free-born people of England and that chiefly by the traiterous impeached Members who well knew that the fore-mentioned honest party were not perfidious enough to serve their designes and rather then they would want help to set them forward would intrust any though never so bad therefore moved the House therewith and by their subtill instigations and malevolent influences on divers Members got this cursed conspiracy passed and ordered to the great discouragement of all the honest sincere party of the City and indangering the ruine of this enough miserable Kingdome Againe the unjust imprisonment of Lievtenant-Colonell John Lilburne without expressing the cause of his commitment in the Warrant though by due course of Law they ought and are bound thereunto and keeping him under miserable restraint not permitting him to have the use of ink and paper nor suffering his wife or any of his friends to come neare him for a long time Then the breaking open M. Overtons doore of his house that stout stickler for Englands Liberties by a company of * Pro. 29.12 uncivill Ruffians and surprising him and his wife in bed and forcing him thence to appeare before the House of Lords without Order or Warrant that he could at that time heare of though much desired but after they pretended a Warrant from the Lords from thence they dragged him head long through the streets through dirt and mire and on the stones all the way most vilely abused and beaten to Newgate and there laid in double Irons where he hath continued from the third of November 1646. till this present time and no kind of reliefe or hearing can be had for this miserable and distressed man Bur further as not content with this and not supposing it woe enough for the poore man they send againe to his house where finding his sad-hearted wife and three small children about her poore soule disconsolate enough God knowes tooke her and his brother away and forced them to appeare at the Lords Barre plundered and ransacked his house exposing the helplesse children to the mercy of the wide streets and all this before any presentment or due processe of Law proceeding and from the House of Lords both of them were sent to the new Prison in Maiden-Lane where he still continues but she under pretence of another Order was dragged in the same manner that her husband was to infamous Bridewell through dirt and mire with an Infant of halfe a yeare old in her armes not regarding her Sex Age or present condition Vir uxâ—r sune quasi unica persona qula care una sanguis 〈◊〉 c. but abusing her with the nick-names of Whore Strumpet c. where she hath been ever since kept in miserable restraint not permitting her to have the liberty of being imprisoned with her husband notwithstanding Gods Command against such separation or as much as once to visit him in all this time or enjoy the comfort of her children about her or suffering her to go a little abroad with her Keeper to take the fresh ayre though her life hath been apparently indangered by the want thereof Then there was Major Balsum who had served the Parliament conscientiously and stoutly under the command of Sir William Waller he was a long time after the dissolution of that Army a humble Petitioner to the Parliament for some part of his Arrears having nought else to depend on for the maintenance of himselfe his wife and three or foure children but he waited so long and to so little purpose as most doe who wait there till at last he died most miserably for want of ordinary sustenance and when he was dead his* Father-in-Law and wife M. Michell knew not how to bury him in foure or five daies for want of money till at last some money was ordered his wife wherewith she buried him There were thirteen or fourteen more souldiers that served in the same Army who were starved in the same manner Pro. 21.7.22.16 which will be proved upon oath the robbery of the wicked shall destroy them because they refuse to doe judgement He that oppresseth the poore to increase his riches and he that giveth unto the rich shall surely want Mal. 2.3 5. And I will come neere to you to judgement and I will be a swift witnesse against the Sorcerers and against the Adulterers and against false swearers and against those that oppresse the hireling in his wages the widdow and the fatherlesse and that turne away the stranger from his right and fear not me saith the Lord of Hosts Againe the Widdowes and Orphans of those slaine in the service of the Parliament who were well maintained by their husbands and fathers before this warre are now faine to beg their bread from doore to doore in London and elsewhere for want of promised relief from the Parliament Besides their refusing to heare and answer the cries groanes and Petitions of the distressed and those who intrusted them to sit though bound thereunto by the strictest ingagements of the Laws of England of Conscience and Reason which way of Petitioning is one of the greatest priviledges the people of this Kingdome are invested with yet often refused as that of the vertuous Gentlewoman Mrs. Lilburne presented to every Member of the House as they went in but never any satisfactory answer returned The forementioned passages relate only to particular men but they have speciall influence on the whole body of the Kingdome and Army as if they were resolved to make that honest conscientious Gentleman and gallant Souldier for his Countreyes rights her husband a perpetuall slave Then the Petition of the entire Counties of Hereford and Buckingham though just legall and seasonable was cast aside rejected and at last disgracefully burnt by the hands of the Common-Hangman If they will disappoint two whole Counties in their reasonable demands sure a siâ—gle man shall scarce have audience or right from them Also the Petition of the Army which contained nothing but what was equitable and honest yet before it was presented whilst the Army were but desiring their Generall to solicit for them in behalfe thereof they were declared enemies to the State and obstructers of the reliefe of Ireland if they persisted as if their being an Army and fighting for freedome had deprived them of their freedomes and birth-rights Another maine and more generall oppression is the billeting of Souldiers on the enough wasted Countrey upon Free-quarter the heaviest pressure they undergo for the time and neither giving them their due pay that so they might be able to discharge their quarters nor abateing it in the Taxes and Contributions of the Countrey which are daily continued I shall forbeare to proceed any further in
creation and constitution of Judges and other Officers of a Republique which meanes are 1 Ordinary and that must be either 1 A Succession by Birth and Generation and so the Lord Mayor of London's Son must be Lord Mayor when his Father is dead 2 Or it must by the generall consent advise and knowledge of the people and thus the major part of the Parliament are lawfully chosen 2 Or secondly God useth extraor linary meanes and instruments as when Warre is in a Kingdome the certaine token of succeeding sorrow Armies are raised to decide the controversie with their Swords betwixt both each party being assured of his own just cause and both wayting with a doubting confidence on which side the hovering Victory will resolve to pitch her Trophees And thus this Army was raised not so much to judge but under the considerations formerly mentioned though you vainly imagine by that meanes to brand them as to execute the just Judgments and Commandes of the Parliament Englands chiefe Pretors And this the Army in cases of necessity may do being called thereunto by the very same power the Parliament were as is formerly instanced injustice unrighteousnesse miscarriages in Government leading them and the providence of God guiding them by putting seasons and oportunities into their hands thereunto Also the manner of their being Judges if they must needes be so considered doth somwhat constraine them to their present actions which is no otherwise then thus they believe and say that those things which are just and equitable and tending to the Kingdomes weale and so judged and deemed upon serious deliberate debate by the Parliament are really and truly so And thereupon they resolved to execute those things so ordered acted and judged by the Parliament or to be executed themselves which resolution I hope for the Kingdomes and their own safety they will still continue which without any imposibilities they may do whilst proceeding upon those sound principles And herein they do no more then the rules of nature and reason to which I am sure the Lawes of England are or ought to be reduced do allow for Lex spectat naturae ordinem non cogit ad imposibilia sed intendit semper quod convenit rationi the Law hath regard to the order of nature and doth not command impossibilities but intends and purposes what doth agree with reason I shall say no more here but this that if the Parliament judge and declare what the liberties proprieties and priviledges of the subject is the contrary whereof is oppression injustice and miscarriage in goverement then the Army may justifiably stand to it with their lives against any without respect to persons You say in the next place when the people conceive any thing to be amisse it is their duty to represent it to those whom God hath appointed to the Office and place of Judgement To this I sadly and concisely answer that there were many cries but few eares to heare or hearts to pitty them and when the people did petition they and their Petitions as before is instanced were rejected some burned I wish it had been otherwise that so righteousnesse and just Judgement might run down our streetes like a mighty streame that every man might sit under his own Vine and under his own figtree so had peace been within our Borders ere this day In the last place you say but if the meaning of this last part of it be that God hath made the former successes and present power of the Army a testimony to its opposing the pretended injustice unrighteousnesse and miscarriage in government then the Turk may have the same argument to justifie his Title to all he hath gotten in Christendome But the wise man teacheth otherwise that no man knoweth love or hatred by all that is afore him Eccles 1. In this severall things are considerable but for want of time I shall answer in generall and briefly No that this as you have layd it downe is not the meaning of that part of the Declaration and though all in this were granted that you would have yet the evill consequence you have drawn thence would prove unsound and feeble the cause considered for the Turkes opposing the Christians is for the enlargement of his Territories and advancement of his Monarchy and greatnesse but the disproportion betwixt the Army and Parliament was for the restoring establishing and confirming the immunities freedomes of the freeborne people of England the Parliament declaring at first what they were which was all they could do then of themselves and the Army neither regarding the painted favour of pretended friends nor civill force of their publike enemies stoutly contending with their lives in their hands for them yet now invaded by some putrified rotten Members contrary to the intent and meaning of the House in their first Declarations are againe defended by the Army and therefore this is no Argument at all for the justification of the Turkes Title to all he hath gotten in Christendom But then againe as it appeares that neither of the two former parts of your examination nor both of them together can make up the Armies meaning in that part of their Declaration so I shall give you my understanding of it they say that supreame end the glory of God which all men should especially aime at is not wanting in these cases but they study how by all meanes to advance it the better to set a price upon all such proceedings of righteousnesse and justice It to wit the glory of God being one witnesse of God in the world that is one maine argument to discover the candid and sincere purposes of them who make that their marke to carrie on a Testimonie against the injustice and unrighteousnesse of men whatever they be and against the miscarriage of Governments wheresoever it is found when corrupted or declining from their primitive and originall glorie that is when they are transported from their primarie brightnesse and lustre into the muddie streames of disorder oppression and miscarriage The scope of all is this That the glorie of God it being their ultimate end is a testimonie of their proceedings against all injustice it being the clearest demonstration of the reall and upright parposes and resolutions of any And to conclude the Army might say as * Iuliamus Emperor of Rome slaine in the Pers. Warres one did on his Death-bed Right joyfull and wiâ—tingly much more have I stood firmly grounded and resolute whensoever the Common-wealth as an imperious mother hath exposed me to apparent and evident danger as one used to contemn the whirling stormes of all casualties I have now ended this part of your examination and do earnestly desire it may give you and other doubting friends that satisfaction desired it being published for that purpose Finis Certain Quaeries wherein Resolution is desired proposed without any particular by-interests or private respects at all but for satisfaction I. WHether the Army under the present conduct of Sir Thomas Fairfax are not as well bound to resist yea to the death Tyrannie and Oppression in the Parliament as in the King and whether every point and part of their Commission extend not as well to the one as the other II. How the Army can disband till they see those things effected for which the people entrusted them in Military Employments III. Whether the end of their Banding was to free nd acquit the people of this Kingdome from feared slavery or not if it were how will Conscience and the Kingdome be satisfied if they disband before they have done their worke if not then why were they raised IV. Whether the effect or end of any thing is not more honourable and consequently to be preferred before the efficient cause whereby it was procured V. Whether the blood of all the slayne during the late Warre may not be required justly at the hands of this Army since it was spilt in vaine if they endeavour not to bring to passe the just ends for which it was shed VI. Whether a lawfull Cause a lawfull Commission and the peoples willingnesse in cases of necessity be not sufficient to raise a lawfull Army VII Whether the Parliaments lawfull Ordinances are not sufficient warrants for the Army in the prosecution of the Kingdomes Cause in the case aforesaid VIII Whether the Army are bound to observe the will and Command of the Parliament when they are acted by a principle of egoity and selfishnes and for private Causes and interests or the will and Commands of the Law IX Whether the Parliament are better able to judge of the peoples grievances and oppressions then they be of their own X. Whether the Parliament are not bound to heare and give satisfactory answers to their Petitions and whether it be a breach of priviledge as they have somtimes declared so to do or not XI Whether the priviledges of Parliament be inconsistent with the weale of the people XII Whether upon non-satisfaction to the just Demands of the people no reason given but breach of priviledge the Army are not engaged both by Covenant and Command to use all lawfull meanes for the procurement of the peoples reasonable Desires they having employed and maintained them for that purpose XIII Whether the Parliaments expression in the Declaration formerly mentioned to wit that obedience binds not men to cut their owne throats and those so frequently used in Scripture save thy selfe thy wife thy children an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth be not just grounds for the present actions of the Army and why XIV Whether an Act of Indempnity though with the Royall assent for things done in tempore loco belli be sufficient to acquit the Army from those things they have done neque in tempore nec loco belli especially the Parliament having upon no grounds in the earth declared them Traytors enemies in tempore pacis XV. Whether the King and Parliament are not both subordinate to the Law And whether is Supreame the King or Parliament the Head or his Members if the King then why might not the injustice of the Parliament be as warrantably opposed as the Kings FINIS