Weight as to alledg that the Scots Great Seal did countenance the Irish Rebellion when I know it can be proved by Witnesses without exception that for many months before until the now Lord Chancellor had the keeping of it there was nothing at all Sealed by it Nor concerning this great point will I only say that the King is Innocent and bid them prove which to most Accusations is a sufficient Answer but I can prove that if the King had been obeyed in the Irish Affairs before He went last into Scotland there had been no Irish Rebellion and after it was begun it had in few months been suppressed if His Directions had been observed For if the King had been suffered to have performed His Engagements to the Irish Agents and had disposed of the discontented Irish Army beyond Sea according to His Contracts with the French and Spanish Ambassadours there is nothing more clear than that there could have been no Rebellion in Ireland because they had wanted both Pretence and Means to have made one Then when it was broken forth if those vigorous courses had been pursued which the King proposed first to the Scots then to the English Parliament doubtless that Rebellion had been soon suppressed But what He proposed took so little effect that in many months after there was nothing sent into Ireland but what the King Himself sent assisted by the Duke of Richmond before He came from Scotland unto Sir Rob. Steward which though it were little will be found to have done much service as may be seen by the said Sir Robert's voluntary Testimony given in writing to the Parliament Commissioners then attending the King at Stoak And certainly a greater Evidence for Constancy in Religion there cannot be than the King shewed in His Irish Treaty for in the time that He most needed Assistance it was in His Power to have made that Kingdom declare unanimously for Him and have had the whole Forces thereof employed in His Service if He would have granted their Demand in Points of Religion they not insisting on any thing of Civil Government which His Majesty might not have granted without prejudice to Regal Authority and this can be clearly proved by the Marquess of Ormond's Treaties with the Irish not without very good Evidence by some of the King's Letters to the Queen which were taken at Naseby that are purposely concealed lest they should too plainly discover the King's detestation of that Rebellion and His rigid firmness to the Protestant Profession Nor can I end this Point without remarking with wonder that Men should have so ill Memories as again to renew that old Slander of the King 's giving Passes to divers Papists and Persons of Quality who headed the Rebels of which He so cleared Himself that He demanded Reparation for it but could not have it albeit no shew of Proof could be produced for that Allegation as is most plainly to be seen in the first book of the Collection of all Remonstrances Declarations c. fol. 69 70. Thus having given a particular Answer to the most material Points in this Declaration the rest are such frivolous malicious and many of them groundless Calumnies that Contempt is the best Answer for them Yet one thing more I must observe that they not only endeavour to make Fables pass for currant Coyn but likewise seek to blind mens Judgements with false Inferences upon some Truths For Example it is true that the King hath said in some of His Speeches or Declarations That He oweth an Accompt of His Actions to none but God alone and that the Houses of Parliament joynt or separate have no Power either to make or declare any Law But that this is a fit foundation for all Tyranny I must utterly deny Indeed if it had been said that the King without the Two Houses of Parliament could make or declare Laws then there might be some strength in the Argument but before this Parliament it was never so much as pretended that either or both Houses without the King could make or declare any Law and certainly His Majesty is not the first and I hope will not be the last King of England that hath not held Himself Accomptable to any Earthly Power Besides it will be found that this His Majesty's Position is most agreeable to all Divine and Humane Laws so far it is from being Destructive to a Kingdom or a Foundation for Tyranny To conclude I appeal to God and the World whether it can be parallel'd by Example or warranted by Justice that any man should be slander'd yet denied the sight thereof and so far from being permitted to answer that if he have erred there is no way left him to acknowledge or mend it and yet this is the King 's present Condition who is at this time laid aside because He will not consent that the old Fundamental Laws of this Land be changed Regal Power destroyed nor His People submitted to a new Arbitrary Tyrannical Government III. His Majesty's Declaration concerning the Treaty and His dislike of the Armies Proceedings Nov. 22. MDCXLVIII Delivered by His Majesty to one of His Servants at His departure from the Isle of Wight and commanded to be published for satisfaction of all His Subjects WHen large pretences prove but the shadows of weak performance then the greatest labours produce the smallest effects and when a period is put to a work of great concernment all mens ears do as it were hunger till they are satisfied in their expectations Hath not this distracted Nation groaned a long time under the burthen of Tyranny and Oppression and hath not all the blood that hath been spilt these seven years been cast upon My head who am the greatest sufferer though the least guilty and was it not requisite to endeavour the stopping of that flux which if not stopt will bring an absolute destruction to this Nation And what more speedy way was there to consummate those distractions than by a Personal Treaty being agreed upon by My two Houses of Parliament and condescended to by Me And I might declare that I conceive it had been the best Physick had not the operation been hindred by the interposition of this imperious Army who were so audacious as to style Me in their unparallel'd Remonstrance their capital Enemy But let the World judge whether Mine endeavours have not been attended with reality in this late Treaty and whether I was not as ready to grant as they were to ask and yet all this is not satisfaction to them that pursue their own ambitious ends more than the welfare of a miserable Land Were not the dying hearts of My poor distressed People much revived with the hopes of a happiness from this Treaty and how suddenly are they frustrated in their expectations Have not I formerly been condemned for yielding too little to My two Houses of Parliament and shall I now be condemned for yielding too much Have I not formerly been imprisoned
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 chearfully and speedily for the reducing of Ireland XXXV To the House of Commons about the Five Members January 4. MDCXLI II. GEntlemen I am sorry for this occasion of coming unto you Yesterday I sent a Serjeant at Arms upon a very important occasion to apprehend some that by My Command were accused of High Treason whereunto I did expect Obedience and not a Message And I must declare unto you here that albeit no King that ever was in England shall be more careful of your Priviledges to maintain them to the uttermost of His Power than I shall be yet you must know that in cases of Treason no person hath a Priviledge And therefore I am come to know if any of those persons that were accused are here For I must tell you Gentlemen that so long as those persons that I have accused for no slight crime but for Treason are here I cannot expect that this House can be in the right way that I do heartily wish it Therefore I am come to tell you that I must have them wheresoever I find them Well sithence I see all the Birds are flown I do expect from you that you shall send them unto Me as soon as they return hither But I assure you in the word of a King I never did intend any force but shall proceed against them in a legal and fair way for I never meant any other And now sithence I see I cannot do what I came for I think this no unfit occasion to repeat what I have said formerly That whatsoever I have done in favour and to the good of My Subjects I do mean to maintain it I will trouble you no more but tell you I do expect as soon as they do come to the House you will send them to Me otherwise I must take My Own course to find them XXXVI To the Citizens of LONDON at GUILD-HALL January 5. MDCXLI II. GEntlemen I am come to demand such Prisoners as I have already attained of High Treason and do believe they are shrowded in the City I hope no good man will keep them from Me their offences are Treason and Misdemeanours of an high nature I desire your loving assistance herein that they may be brought to a Legal Trial. And whereas there are divers suspicions raised that I am a favourer of the Popish Religion I do profess in the name of a King that I did and ever will and that to the utmost of My power be a prosecutor of all such as shall any ways oppose the Laws and Statutes of this Kingdom either Papist or Separatist and not only so but I will maintain and defend that true Protestant Religion which My Father did profess and I will still continue in during Life XXXVII To the Committe of both Houses at the delivery of the Petition for the Militia at THEORALDS Mar. 1. MDCXLI II. I Am so amazed at this Message that I know not what to answer You speak of Jealousies and Fears lay your hands to your hearts and ask your selves whether I may not likewise be disturbed with Fears and Jealousies and if so I assure you this Message hath nothing lessened them For the Militia I thought so much of it before I sent that Answer and am so much assured that the Answer is agreeable to what in justice or reason you can ask or I in Honour grant that I shall not alter it in any point For my residence near you I wish it might be so safe and honourable that I had no cause to absent My self from White-Hall Ask your selves whether I have not For My Son I shall take that care of him which shall justifie Me to God as a Father and to My Dominions as a King To conclude I assure you upon My Honour that I have no thought but of Peace and Justice to My People which I shall by all fair means seek to preserve and maintain relying upon the goodness and providence of God for the preservation of My Self and Rights XXXVIII To the Committee of both Houses at the presenting of their Declaration at NEW-MARKET March 9. MDCXLI II. I Am confident that you expect not I should give you a speedy Answer to this strange and unexpected Declaration And I am sorry in the Distractions of this Kingdom you should think this way of Address to be more convenient than that proposed by My Message of the 20th of Jan. last to both Houses As concerning the grounds of your Fears and Jealousies I will take time to answer particularly and doubt not but I shall do it to the satisfaction of all the world God in his good time will I hope discover the secrets and bottoms of all Plots and Treasons and then I shall stand right in the eyes of all My People In the mean time I must tell you that I rather expected a vindication from the imputation laid on Me in Master Pym's Speech than that any more general Rumours and Discourses should get credit with you For My Fears and Doubts I did not think they should have been thought so groundless or trivial while so many seditious Pamphlets and Sermons are looked upon and so great Tumults remembred unpunished uninquired into I still confess My Fears and call God to witness that they are greater for the true Protestant Profession My People and Laws than for My own Rights or Safety though I must tell you I conceive that none of these are free from danger What would you have Have I violated your Laws Have I denied to pass any one Bill for the ease and security of My Subjects I do not ask you what you have done for Me. Have any of My People been transported with Fears and Apprehensions I have offered as free and general a Pardon as your selves can devise All this considered There is a Judgment from Heaven upon this Nation if these Distractions continue God so deal with Me and Mine as all My thoughts and intentions are upright for the maintenance of the true Protestant Profession and for the Observation and Preservation of the Laws of this Land And I hope God will bless and assist those Laws for My preservation As for the Additional Declaration you are to expect an Answer to it when you shall receive the Answer to the Declaration it self Some Passages that happened Mar. 9. between His Majesty and the Committee of both Houses when the Declaration was delivered When His Majesty heard that part of the Declaration which mentioned Master Jermin's Transportation His Majesty interrupted the Earl of Holland in reading and said That 's false which being afterwards touch'd upon again His Majesty then said 'T is a lie And when He
concerned But the Duty I owe to God in the preservation of the true Liberty of My People will not suffer Me at this time to be silent For how can any free-born Subject of England call Life or any thing he possesseth his own if Power without Right daily make new and abrogate the old Fundamental Law of the Land which I now take to be the present Case Wherefore when I came hither I expected that you would have endeavoured to have satisfied Me concerning these grounds which hinder Me to answer to your pretended Impeachment But since I see that nothing I can say will move you to it though Negatives are not so naturally proved as Affirmatives yet I will shew you the Reason why I am confident you cannot Judge Me nor indeed the meanest man in England For I will not like you without shewing a Reason seek to impose a belief upon My Subjects There is no proceeding just against any man but what is warranted either by God's Laws or the Municipal Laws of the Countrey where he lives Now I am most confident this dayes proceeding cannot be warranted by God's Law for on the contrary the authority of Obedience unto Kings is clearly warranted and strictly commanded both in the Old and new Testament which if denyed I am ready instantly to prove And for the question now in hand there it is said That where the Word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him What dost thou Eccl. 8. 4. Then for the Law of this Land I am no less confident that no learned Lawyer will affirm that an Impeachment can lye against the King they all going in His Name and one of their Maxims is That the King can do no wrong Besides the Law upon which you ground your proceedings must either be old or new if old shew it if new tell what Authority warranted by the Fundamental Laws of the Land hath made it and when But how the House of Commons can erect a Court of Judicature which was never one it self as is well known to all Lawyers I leave to God and the world to judge And it were full as strange that they should pretend to make Laws without King or Lords House to any that have heard speak of the Laws of England And admitting but not granting that the People of England's Commission could grant your pretended Power I see nothing you can shew for that for certainly you never asked the question of the tenth man in the Kingdom and in this way you manifestly wrong even the poorest Plough-man if you demand not his free consent nor can you pretend any colour for this your pretended Commission without the consent at least of the major part of every man in England of whatsoever quality or condition which I am sure you never went about to seek so far are you from having it Thus you see that I speak not for My own Right alone as I am your King but also for the true Liberty of all My Subjects which consists not in the power of Government but in living under such Laws such a Government as may give themselves the best assurance of their Lives and propriety of their Goods Nor in this must or do I forget the Privileges of both Houses of Parliament which this days Proceedings do not only violate but likewise occasion the greatest breach of their publick Faith that I believe ever was heard of with which I am far from charging the two Houses for all pretended Crimes laid against Me bear Date long before this late Treaty at Newport in which I having concluded as much as in Me lay and hopefully expecting the Houses agreement thereunto I was suddenly surprized and hurried from thence as a Prisoner upon which account I am against My will brought hither where since I am come I cannot but to My power defend the ancient Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom together with My own just Right Then for any thing I can see the Higher House is totally excluded And for the House of Commons it is too well known that the major part of them are detained or deterred from sitting so as if I had no other this were sufficient for Me to protest against the Lawfulness of your pretended Court. Besides all this the Peace of the Kingdom is not the least in My thoughts and what hopes of Settlement is there so long as Power reigns without Rule or Law changing the whole frame of that Government under which this Kingdom hath flourished for many hundred years nor will I say what will fall out in case this Lawless unjust proceeding against Me do go on And believe it the Commons of England will not thank you for this Change for they will remember how happy they have been of late years under the Reign of Queen Elizabeth the King My Father and My self until the beginning of these unhappy Troubles and will have cause to doubt that they shall never be so happy under any new And by this time it will be too sensibly evident that the Arms I took up were only to defend the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom against those who have supposed My Power hath totally changed the ancient Government Thus having shewed you briefly the Reasons why I cannot submit to your pretended Authority without violating the Trust which I have from God for the Welfare and Liberty of My People I expect from you either clear Reasons to convince My Judgment shewing Me that I am in an Error and then truly I will answer or that you will withdraw your proceedings This I intended to speak in Westminster-Hall on Monday 22. January but against Reason was hindred to shew My Reasons Westminster-Hall Tuesday Jan. 23. Afternoon O Yes made Silence commanded The Court called Seventy one present The King brought in by the Guard looks with a Majestick Countenance upon his pretended Judges and sits down After the second O yes and Silence commanded Cooke began more insolently May it please your Lordship my Lord President this is now the third time that by the great grace and favour of this High Court the Prisoner hath been brought to the Bar before any Issue joyned in the Cause My Lord I did at the first Court exhibite a Charge against him containing the Highest Treason that ever was wrought upon the Theatre of England That a King of England trusted to keep the Law that had taken an Oath so to do that had Tribute pay'd him for that end should be guilty of a wicked Design to subvert and destroy our Laws and introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government in the defence of the Parliament and their Authority set up his Standard for War against the Parliament and People and I did humbly pray in the behalf of the People of England that he might speedily be required to make an Answer to the Charge But My Lord in stead of making any Answer he did then dispute the Authority of this High
Court Your Lordship was pleased to give him a further day to consider and to put in his Answer which day being yesterday I did humbly move that he might be required to give a direct and positive Answer either by denying or confession of it But my Lord he was then pleased for to demur to the Jurisdiction of the Court which the Court did then over-rule and command him to give a direct and positive Answer My Lord besides this great delay of Justice I shall now humbly move your Lordship for speedy Judgment against him My Lord I might press your Lordship upon the whole that according to the known rules of the Law of the Land That if a Prisoner shall stand as contumacious in contempt and shall not put in an issuable Plea guilty or not guilty of the Charge given against him whereby he may come to a fair Tryal that as by an implicite confession it may be taken pro confesso as it hath been done to those who have deserved more favour than the Prisoner at the Bar has done But besides my Lord I shall humbly press your Lordship upon the whole fact The House of Commons the Supreme Authority and Jurisdiction of the Kingdom they have declared That it is notorious that the matter of the Charge is true as it is in truth my Lord as clear as Crystal and as the Sun that shines at noon day which if your Lordship and the Court be not satisfied in I have notwithstanding on the People of England's behalf several Witnesses to produce And therefore I do humbly pray and yet I must confess it is not so much I as the innocent blood that hath been shed the Cry whereof is very great for Justice and Judgment and therefore I do humbly pray that speedy Judgment be pronounced against the Prisoner at the Bar. Bradshaw went on in the same strain Sir you have heard what is moved by the Counsel on the behalf of the Kingdom against you Sir you may well remember and if you do not the Court cannot forget what dilatory dealings the Court hath found at your hands You were pleased to propound some Questions you have had your Resolution upon them You were told over and over again that the Court did affirm their own Jurisdiction That it was not for you nor any other man to dispute the Jurisdiction of the supreme and highest Authority of England from which there is no Appeal and touching which there must be no dispute yet you did persist in such carriage as you gave no manner of Obedience nor did you acknowledge any authority in them nor the High Court that constituted this Court of Justice Sir I must let you know from the Court that they are very sensible of these delays of yours and that they ought not being thus authorized by the supreme Court of England to be thus trifled withal and that they might in Justice if they pleased and according to the rules of Justice take advantage of these delays and proceed to pronounce Judgment against you yet nevertheless they are pleased to give direction and on their behalfs I do require you that you make a positive Answer unto this Charge that is against you Sir in plain terms for Justice knows no respect of Persons you are to give your positive and final Answer in plain English whether you be guilty or not guilty of these Treasons laid to your Charge The King after a little pause said When I was here yesterday I did desire to speak for the Liberties of the People of England I was interrupted I desire to know yet whether I may speak freely or not Bradshaw Sir you have had the Resolution of the Court upon the like Question the last day and you were told That having such a Charge of so high a nature against you your work was that you ought to acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court and to answer to your Charge Sir if you answer to your Charge which the Court gives you leave now to do though they might have taken the advantage of your Contempt yet if you be able to answer to your Charge when you have once answered you shall be heard at large make the best Defence you can But Sir I must let you know from the Court as their Commands that you are not to be permitted to issue out into any other discourses till such time as you have given a positive Answer concerning the matter that is charged upon you KING For the Charge I value it not a rush It is the Liberty of the People of England that I stand for For Me to acknowledge a new Court that I never heard of before I that am your King that should be an Example to all the People of England for to uphold Justice to maintain the old Laws indeed I do not know how to do it You spoke very well the first day that I came here on Saturday of the Obligations that I had laid upon Me by God to the maintenance of the Liberties of My People the same Obligation you spake of I do acknowledge to God that I owe to Him and to My People to defend as much as in Me lies the ancient Laws of the Kingdom therefore until that I may know that this is not against the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by your favour I can put in no particular Charge If you will give Me time I will shew you My Reasons why I cannot do it and this Here being interrupted He said By your favour you ought not to interrupt Me. How I came here I know not there 's no Law for it to make your King your Prisoner I was in a Treaty upon the Publick Faith of the Kingdom that was the known two Houses of Parliament that was the Representative of the Kingdom and when that I had almost made an end of the Treaty then I was hurried away and brought hither and therefore Bradshaw Sir you must know the pleasure of the Court. KING By your favour Sir Bradshaw Nay Sir by your favour you may not be permitted to fall into those discourses you appear as a Delinquent you have not acknowledged the Authority of the Court The Court craves it not of you but once more they command you to give your positive Answer Clerk Do your Duty KING Duty Sir The Clerk reads Charles Stuart King of England you are accused in the behalf of the Commons of England of divers high Crimes and Treasons which Charge hath been read unto you the Court now requires you to give your positive and final Answer by way of Confession or Denial of the Charge KING Sir I say again to you so that I might give satisfaction to the People of England of the clearness of My Proceeding not by way of Answer not in this way but to satisfie them that I have done nothing against that Trust that hath been committed to Me I would do it but to acknowledge a new Court against their
they please to call it of the tenth of June will surely believe the Peace of this Kingdom to be extreamly shaken and at least the King himself to be consulted with and privy to these Propositions But We hope that when Our good Subjects shall find that this goodly pretence of the Defence of the King is but a specious bait to seduce weak and inconsiderate men into the highest Acts of Disobedience and Disloyalty against Us and of Violence and Destruction upon the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom they will no longer be captivated by an implicite Reverence to the name of both Houses of Parliament but will carefully examine and consider what number of persons are present and what persons are prevalent in those Consultations and how the Debates are probably managed from whence such horrid and monstrous Conclusions do result and will at least weigh the Reputation Wisdom and Affection of those who are notoriously known out of the very horrour of their Proceedings to have withdrawn themselves or by their skill and violence to be driven from them and their Counsels Whilst their Fears and Jealousies did arise or were infused into the people from Discourses of the Rebels in Ireland of Skippers at Roterdam of Forces from Denmark France or Spain how improbable and ridiculous soever that bundle of Informations appeared to all wise and knowing men it is no wonder if the easiness to deceive and the willingness to be deceived did prevail over many of Our weak Subjects to believe that the Dangers which they did not see might proceed from Causes which they did not understand But for them to declare to all the world That We intend to make War against Our Parliament whilest We sit still complaining to God Almighty of the Injury offered to Us and to the very Being of Parliaments and that We have already begun actually to levy Forces both of Horse and Foot whilest We have only in a Legal way provided a smaller Guard for the security of Our own Person so near a Rebellion at Hull than they have had without lawful Authority above these eight Months upon imaginary and impossible Dangers to impose upon Our peoples Sense as well as Understanding by telling them We are doing that which they see We are not doing and intending that they all know as much as Intentions can be known We are not intending is a boldness agreeable to no power but the Omnipotence of those Votes whose absolute Supremacy hath almost brought Confusion upon King and People and against which no Knowledge in matter of Fact or Consent and Authority in matter of Law they will endure shall be opposed We have upon all occasions with all possible Expressions professed Our fast and unshaken Resolutions for Peace And We do again in the presence of Almighty God Our Maker and Redeemer assure the World that We have no more thought of making a War against Our Parliament than against Our own Children that We will maintain and observe the Acts assented to by Us this Parliament without Violation of which that for the frequent assembling of Parliaments is one and that We have not or shall not have any thought of using any force unless We shall be driven to it for the security of Our Person and for the defence of the Religion Laws and Liberty of the Kingdom and the just Rights and Privileges of Parliament And therefore We hope the Malignant Party who have so much despised Our Person and usurped Our Office shall not by their specious fraudulent insinuations prevail with Our good Subjects to give credit to their wicked Assertions and so to contribute their Power and Assistance for the ruine and destruction of Us and themselves For Our Guard about Our Person which not so much their Example as their Provocation inforced Us to take 't is known it consists of the prime Gentry in Fortune and Reputation of this County and of one Regiment of Our Trained Bands who have been so far from offering any Affronts Injuries or Disturbance to any of Our good Subjects that their principal end is to prevent such and so may be Security can be no Grievance to our People That some ill affected persons or any persons have been employed in other parts to raise Troops under colour of Our Service or have made large or any offers of Reward and Preferment to such as will come in is for ought We know and as We believe an Untruth devised by the Contrivers of this false Rumour We disavow it and are confident there will be no need of such Art or Industry to induce Our loving Subjects when they shall see Us oppressed and their Liberties and Laws confounded and till then We shall not call on them to come in to Us and to assist Us. For the Delinquents whom We are said with a high and forcible hand to protect let them be named and their Delinquency and if We give not satisfaction to Justice when We shall have received satisfaction concerning Sir John Hotham by his legal Trial then let Us be blamed But if the Design be as it is well known to be after We have been driven by force from Our City of London and kept by force from Our Town of Hull to protect all those who are Delinquents against Us and to make all those Delinquents who attend on Us or execute Our lawful Commands We have great reason to be satisfied in the Truth and Justice of such Accusation lest to be Our Servant and to be a Delinquent grow to be terms so convertible that in a short time We be left as naked in Attendance as they would have Us in Power and so compel Us to be waited on only by such whom they shall appoint and allow and in whose presence We should be more miserably alone than in Desolation it self And if the seditious Contrivers and Fomenters of this Scandal upon Us shall have as they have had the power to mis-lead the major part present of either or both Houses to make such Orders and send such Messages and Messengers as they have lately done for the apprehension of the great Earls and Barons of England as if they were Rogues or Felons and whereby Persons of Honour and Quality are made Delinquents merely for attending upon Us and upon Our Summons whilst other men are forbid to come near Us though obliged by the Duty of their Places and Oaths upon Our lawful Commands 't is no wonder if such Messengers are not very well intreated and such Orders not obeyed Neither can there be a surer and a cunninger way found out to render the Authority of both Houses scorned and vilified than to assume to themselves merely upon the Authority of the Name of Parliament a power monstrous to all Understandings and to do Actions and to make Orders evidently and demonstrably contrary to all known Law and Reason as to take up Arms against Us under colour of defending Us to cause Money to be brought in to
the eighteenth day of June in the eighteenth year of Our Reign 1642. Votes of the Lower House for raising an Army against the KING Die Martis 12 Julii 1642. Resolved upon the Question THAT an Army shall be forthwith raised for the Safety of the King's Person defence of both Houses of Parliament and of those who have obeyed their Orders and Commands and preserving of the true Religion the Laws Liberty and Peace of the Kingdom Resolved upon the Question That the Earl of Essex shall be the General Resolved upon the Question That this House doth declare that in this Cause for the Safety of the King's Person defence of both Houses of Parliament and of those who have obeyed their Orders and Commands and preserving of the true Religion the Laws Liberty and Peace of the Kingdom they will live and die with the Earl of Essex whom they have nominated General in this Cause MDCXLII Aug. 8. A Declaration of the Lords and Commons for raising of Forces against the KING Together with His MAJESTY'S Declaration in Answer to the same A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for the raising of all Power and Force as well Trained Bands as others in several Counties of this Kingdom to lead against all Traitors and their Adherents and them to Arrest and Imprison and to Fight with Kill and Slay all such as shall oppose any of His Majesty's loving Subjects that shall be imployed in this Service by either or both Houses of Parliament WHereas certain Information is given from several parts of the Kingdom That divers Troops of Horse are imployed in sundry Counties of the Kingdom and that others have Commission to raise both Horse and Foot to compel His Majesty's Subjects to submit to the Illegal commission of Array out of a Traiterous intent to subvert the Liberty of the Subject and the Law of the Kingdom and for the better strengthening themselves in this wicked attempt do joyn with the Popish and Jesuitical Faction to put the Kingdom into a Combustion and Civil War by levying Forces against the Parliament and by these Forces to alter the Religion and the Antient Government and lawful Liberty of the Kingdom and to introduce Popery and Idolatry together with an Arbitrary Form of Government and in pursuance thereof have Traitorously and Rebelliously levied War against the King and by force robb'd spoil'd and slain divers of His Majesty's good Subjects travelling about their lawful and necessary occasions in the King's Protection according to Law and namely that for the end and purpose aforesaid the Earl of Northampton the Lord Dunsmore Lord Willoughby of Eresby Son to the Earl of Lindsey Henry Hastings Esquire and divers other unknown persons in the Counties of Lincoln Nottingham Leicester Warwick Oxford and other places the Marquess of Hartford the Lord Paulet Lord Seymour Sir John Stawel Sir Ralph Hopton John Digby Esquire and other their Accomplices have gotten together great Forces in the County of Somerset The Lords and Commons in Parliament duly considering the great Dangers which may ensue upon such their wicked and traitorous Designs and if by this means the Power of the Sword should come into the hands of Papists and their Adherents nothing can be expected but the miserable ruine and desolation of the Kingdom and the bloody massacre of the Protestants they do Declare and Ordain That it is and shall be lawful for all His Majesty's loving Subjects by force of Arms to resist the said several Parties and their Accomplices and all other that shall raise or conduct any other Forces for the ends aforesaid and that the Earl of Essex Lord General with all his Forces raised by the Authority of Parliament as likewise the Lord Say Lieutenant of Oxfordshire Earl of Peterborough Lieutenant of Northamptonshire Lord Wharton Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire Earl of Stamford Lieutenant of Leicestershire Earl of Pembroke Lieutenant of Wiltshire and Hampshire Earl of Bedford Lieutenant of Somersetshire and Devon Lord Brook Lieutenant of Warwickshire the Lord Cranborne Lieutenant of Dorsetshire the Lord Willoughby of Parham Lieutenant of Lincolnshire and all those who are or shall be appointed by Ordinance of both Houses to perform the place of Deputy-Lieutenants and their Deputy-Lieutenants respectively Denzil Hollis Esquire Lieutenant of the City and County of Bristol and the Mayors and Sheriffs of the City and Deputy-Lieutenants there and all other Lieutenants of Counties Sheriffs Mayors Deputy-Lieutenants shall raise all their Power and Forces of their several Counties as well Trained Bands as others and shall have power to conduct and lead the said Forces of the said Counties against the said Traitors and their Adherents and with them to fight kill and slay all such as by force shall oppose them and the Persons of the said Traitors and their Adherents and Accomplices to Arrest and Imprison and them to bring up to the Parliament to answer these their Traiterous and Rebellious Attempts according to Law and the same or any other Forces to transport and conduct from one County to another in aid and assistance one of another and of all others that shall joyn with the Lords and Commons in Parliament for the defence of the Religion of Almighty God and of the Liberties and Peace of the Kingdom and in pursuit of those wicked and Rebellious Traitors the Conspirators Aiders and Abettors and Adherents requiring all Lieutenants of Counties Sheriffs Mayors Justices of Peace and other His Majesty's Officers and loving Subjects to be aiding and assisting to one another in the Execution hereof And for so doing all the parties above-mentioned and all others that shall joyn with them shall be justified defended and secured by the Power and Authority of Parliament Die Lunae Aug. 8. 1642. Ordered that this Declaration be forthwith Printed and Published Hen. Elsinge Cler. Parl. D. Com. His MAJESTY's Declaration in Answer to a Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for the raising of all Power and Force as well Trained Bands c. AS much experience as We have had of the inveterate Rancour and high Insolence of the Malignant Party against Us We never yet saw any expression come from them so evidently declaring it as the Declaration entituled A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for the raising of all Power and Force as well Trained Bands as others in several Counties of this Kingdom to lead against all Traitors and their Adherents c. In which that Faction hath as it were distilled and contracted all their Falshood Insolence and Malice there being in it not one period which is not either Slanderous or Treasonable And nothing can more grieve Us than that by their infinite Arts and Subtilty employed by their perpetual and indefatigable Industry and by that Rabble of Brownists and other Schismaticks declaredly ready to appear at their Call they should have been able so to draw away some and drive away others of Our good Subjects from Our
to judge whether their Demands were not such and so moderate as was fit and necessary for them to make and just and reasonable for His Majesty to assent unto wherein they may be pleased to consider that this was a Treaty for the disbanding of two Armies and Forces raised in opposition each to other that the Towns Forts and Ships are a great part of these Forces and of the strength of that side that possesseth them that for any one side to demand the possession and power thereof and the other side to disband their Forces and quit themselves of all their strength is in effect a total disbanding of that side and a continuing the Forces of the other which must be granted to be most unequal and therefore the Lords and Commons did think it just and honourable that the remaining strength should be put into such hands as both sides might trust Secondly That their demand to have the Forts and Castles into the hands of such persons as both Houses should confide in was a Proposition warranted by the frequent Precedents of former times whereby it appeareth that many other Parliaments have made the like and greater demands and His Majesty's Predecessors have assented thereunto Thirdly It was a Proposition which His Majesty Himself in several Declarations of His own affirmed to be reasonable and just for in His Majesty's Answer to a Petition of the House of Commons January 28. 1641. He expresseth thus For the Forts and Castles of the Kingdom His Majesty is resolved they shall be in such hands and only in such as the Parliament way safely confide in c. And in another Answer to two Petitions of the Lords and Commons delivered the second of February 1641. His Majesty useth these words That for the securing you from all Dangers or Jealousies of any His Majesty will be content to put in all the places both of Forts and Militia in the several Counties such persons as both Houses of Parliament shall either approve or recommend unto Him so that you declare before unto His Majesty the names of the persons whom you approve or recommend unless such persons shall be named against whom He shall have just and unquestionable exception Which being declared by His Majesty Himself they had no cause to suspect a Denial being confident that His Majesty did intend what He spoke and if any ill Counsel could prevail to make Him recede from His Word it must be admitted the Kingdom hath more cause to be further secured Fourthly For that to our sad experience it is well known that His Majesty's Power in this and other things is too much steered and guided by the advice of these secret and wicked Counsellors that have been the Instruments of our present Miseries and though His Majesty carrieth the Name yet they will have the disposing of those places And the Lords and Commons thought it the more reasonable and necessary to insist thereupon because that in the time when they were preparing their Propositions to His Majesty it did appear unto them by a Letter written by His Majesty to the Queen which they have caused to be herewith Printed that the great and eminent places of the Kingdom were disposed by Her Advice and Power and what Her Religion is and consequently how prevalent the Counsels of Papists and Jesuites will be with Her may be easily conjectured and it is to be observed who the Persons designed for preferment were even during the sitting of a Parliament the Lord Digby impeached in Parliament for High Treason and most if not all the rest impeached in Parliament and such as bear Arms against them Lastly admitting that these demands touching the Ships and Forts had been made even in a time of Peace and Tranquillity yet considering the attempts of Force and Violence made and practised against the Kingdom and this present Parliament as the Designs many years since to bring to this Kingdom the German Horse to compel the Subject to submit to an arbitrary Government the endeavour to bring up the late Northern Army by force and violence to awe the Parliament His Majesty's coming in person to the House of Commons accompanied with many Armed Men to demand their Members to be delivered up and the Treason of the Earl of Strafford to bring over the Irish Popish Army to conquer the Kingdom they might very well justify nay they were in duty bound in discharge of the trust reposed in them by the Commonwealth to make that demand and expect the performance thereof to the end the People might be secured from any such Violence hereafter Yet to their inexpressible sorrow they must speak it neither the Reasonableness the Moderation or Justness of the Request nor the Peace of the Kingdom which probably would ensue thereupon could be Arguments prevalent enough to induce His Majesty's Consent thereunto And His Majesty's offer of those Commanders that shall offend to leave them to Justice and Trial of the Law is an Answer more to shew His Power to protect Delinquents than satisfaction to a Parliament being the due and right of the meanest Subject and yet intituled here as a Favour done to both Houses of Parliament And though His Majesty is pleased to justifie His Denial with the Allegation That it is His Right by Law they must appeal to the judgment of all indifferent Men whether that be a satisfactory ground of refusal for admitting His Majesty's Power of disposing the Ships Forts and Castles and committing them into what hands He please to be by Law absolutely vested in His Majesty which they by no means can admit He being only trusted with them for the Defence and safety of the Kingdom as He Himself is pleased to assume yet would that be no ground or reason for the King to refuse His Consent to alter that Law when by circumstance of time and affairs that Power becomes destructive to the Commonwealth and safety of the People the preservation whereof is the chief end of the Law And though the two Houses of Parliament being the Representative Body of the Kingdom are the most competent Judges thereof yet in this Cafe they do not proceed only upon an implicite Faith but demonstrate it both by Reason and Experience That their Demand is not only necessary to secure the Kingdom from Fear and Jealousie but to preserve it even from Ruine and Destruction And surely had this Argument of being Their Right by Law been prevailing with His Majesty's Predecessors this Nation should have wanted many an Act of Parliament which now they have that was necessary for thier being and subsistence And they could heartily wish that the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom might be The Rule of what is and what is not to be done acknowledging with His Majesty that the same is the only Rule between Him and His People the assurance of the free enjoyment whereof is their only aim but how little fruit the People hath gathered from this tree
the way thereunto were not such as were reasonable and necessary for them to make and just and honourable for His Majesty to grant and whether His Majesty's Answers to these Propositions are satisfactory or correspondent to His Expression to have given up all the faculties of His Soul to an earnest endeavour of a Peace and Reconciliation with His People But they must confess that they had just cause to suspect that this would be the happy issue of the Treaty for the prevalency of the enemies thereof who like that evil Spirit do most rage when they think they must be cast out was such that they would not proceed therein one step without some attempt or provocation laid in the way to interrupt and break it off for after they had resolved to present their humble Desires and Propositions to His Majesty their Committee must not without a special safe Conduct and Protection from Him have access to Him a liberty incident to them not only as they are Members of the Parliament and employed by both Houses but as they were free-born Subjects and yet when they passed over this His Majesty refused a safe Conduct to the Lord Viscount Say and Seal being one of the Committee appointed by both Houses to be employed upon that occasion such a breach of Priviledge that they believe is not to be parallel'd by the example of former times and yet their desire was such to obtain the end they drive at that is a happy and lasting Peace that they resolved not to interrupt the Treaty for that time by insisting upon it And then they had no sooner entred upon the Treaty but a Proclamation dated at Oxon the 16 of February 1642. entituled His Majesty's Proclamation forbidding all His loving Subjects and the Counties of Kent Surrey Sussex and Hampshire to raise any Forces c. and another Proclamation dated the 8 of February forbidding the assessing and payment of all Taxes by vertue of an Ordinance of both Houses and all entring into Associations were published in His Majesty's Name containing most bitter invectives and scandals against the proceedings of both Houses by styling them and such as obeyed them Traitors and Rebels charging them under the name of Brownists Anabaptists and Atheists to endeavour to take away the Kings Life and to destroy His Posterity the Protestant Religion and the Laws of the Kingdoms with many other such scandals and aspersions and even at this time were many designs practising against the Parliament which in all probability were the grounds and reasons of His Majesty's confidence and denial of their just desire Insomuch that His Majesty in a Letter sent from Him to the Queen and read in the House of Commons did declare That He had so many fine designs laid open to Him that He knew not which first to undertake One whereof probably was the most bloody and barbarous design upon Bristol attempted though by God's infinite mercy prevented during the Treaty And whether that of Sir Hugh Cholmley's in betraying of Scarborough Castle wherewith he was entrusted by the Parliament to the Queens hands and acted likewise during the Treaty and that of Killingworth Castle which should have been likewise betrayed and a design discovered by a Letter found in the Earl of Northampton's pocket slain near Stafford written to Him from Prince Rupert were some of the other designs mentioned in His Majesty's Letter they cannot certainly affirm but conjecture And when these collateral provocations and attempts could not prevail to make them desert the Treaty then comes in His Majesty's Message of the fourth of April which they have mentioned before charging them to abuse the people with imaginary Dangers and pretended Fears to use Force and Rapines upon His good Subjects with publishing new doctrines That it is unlawful for the King to do any thing and lawful to do any thing against Him with Malice and Subtilty to abuse the People that their Pleasure is all their bounds with many other such bitter expressions that no Man could think such an Answer could be any part of a Treaty or at least to proceed from a heart that desired a happy issue thereunto Notwithstanding all which the Lords and Commons were so resolutely fixed to prosecute that Treaty and if possibly they could to bring it to a blessed and happy conclusion that they were content to lie under all these Scandals and endure all these wounds so they might make up the breaches of the Commonwealth and therefore they did forbear the returning of an Answer to any of these provocations And then when the Malignant and Popish party too-too prevalent with his Majesty perceived their constancy not to be provoked to break that Treaty of their part they found it necessary to seduce His Majesty to refuse His Consent to their most necessary and just Desires and to propound such things as could not with the peace and safety of the Church and State be yielded to and so effected their own desires All which the Lords and Commons thought it their duty to publish to the Kingdom to the end that they may see that what hath been long endeavoured by subtile and secret practices is now resolved to be effected by open Violence and Hostility that is the destruction of our Laws and the Protestant Religion and introducing of Popery and Superstition and that there is little or no hope by any endeavour of a Treaty to procure the Peace of this Church and Kingdom unless both be exposed to the will and pleasure of the Popish party until the Army and Forces now raised and continued by them be first destroyed or suppressed And therefore the Lords and Commons do hope that not only such as are already convinced of their Design and Malice but even those that by their subtile and false pretences have been ignorantly seduced to joyn with them that love their Liberty and the Protestant Religion will now with one heart and mind unite together to preserve their Religion and Liberty in the defence whereof the Lords and Commons are resolved to offer up themselves their lives and fortunes a willing Sacrifice Die Sabbati 6 May 1643. A Declaration upon the Result of the Treaty brought in with some Amendments was this day read in the House of Commons and ordered to be delivered unto the Lords at a Conference And it is further Ordered by this House That this Declaration shall be Printed and Master Glyn do take care for the Printing of it and that none shall Print or re-print it but such as Master Glyn shall appoint to the end that by his care the Records may be rightly cited and the Letters and other matters Ordered to be Printed with it be carefully Printed H. Elsinge Cler. Parliament D. Com. His MAJESTY's Declaration to all His Loving Subjects in Answer to a Declaration of the Lords and Commons upon the Proceedings of the late Treaty of Peace and several Intercepted Letters of His MAJESTY to the QUEEN and of
Reason insisted on by His Majesty That it is His Right by Law to which they should have added and contrary to Law forced from Him and not being able to deny that and yet being willing to deny something they quarrel at the Phrase and deny that this Power of disposing these Commands is by Law absolutely vested in His Majesty and that because He is trusted with them for the Defence and Safety of the Kingdom His Majesty still justifies what He said Himself and yet confesses all that they say too but only denies the Consequence for no Man is absolutely vested in any thing if being trusted with it to some end hinder him from being so The House of Commons is trusted with a Preparatory the House of Lords is trusted with a Judicatory the King Lords and Commons are trusted with a Legislative Power and all these have those Trusts vested in them for the publick Good and are not yet all these Trusts absolute that is subject to the Control of no other Power Is no Man absolutely vested in his Goods because all we have we are trusted with for the Glory of God His Majesty meant only that this was so absolutely vested in Him by Law as nothing but a new Law could without Breach of Law take or hold it from Him But the Declaration is content to admit that too only denies it to be a Reason why His Majesty should deny to alter that Law when by Circumstance of Time and Affairs that Power becomes destructive to the Commonwealth and Safety of the People the Preservation whereof is the chief End of the Law And His Majesty is equally ready to confess that it is no Reason but doth absolutely deny that this is the Case insisting that the circumstances of Time and Affairs hare made this Power more necessary than ever to remain in His Majesty for the protection and safety of His People and He claims Himself to be as absolutely trusted by Law with the final Judgment whether it be the Case or no and with a Power of rejecting any such Alteration upon any such Pretence if it appear but a Pretence to Him as either House is trusted to propose any such Alteration to the other or both to Him if it appear to them necessary and convenient But says this Declaration the two Houses of Parliament being the Representative Body of the Kingdom are the most competent Judges thereof And says his Majesty the Representative Body of the Kingdom is indeed and that is the King Lords and Commons else either the Head is no part of the Body or at least will be no longer than the Body please Indeed the two Houses in some sense represent the Kingdom in any Action which the Law which is the Rule of the Kingdom hath intrusted and enabled them to do but either one House or His Majesty do equally represent it in any thing which the same Law hath entrusted and enabled Him or them to do And for those Actions in which the Law requires the Consent of all three every one is to be allowed their own several distinct Judgment for themselves only and any one without the other two have as much Right as any two without the third to represent the Kingdom and to be competent Judges of the Case And His Majesty cannot be take notice how much Reason He had not to yield to this Demand since the grant of this Demand would be received as an Admission of this Case and it would Logically enough follow That if His People cannot be safe and He retain this Power He doth not deserve to retain any And if their Demands were granted and the Armies upon their Demands disbanded this Consequence in all Probability would soon be both perceived and prest But His Majesty may without Prejudice admit both Houses to be the most competent Judges in this particular and then put them in mind that before so many things had been done by the violent Party to turn the Tide of Fears and Jealousies before they had involved the King and Subject in a common Suffering and equally destroyed all the Property of the one and Prerogatives of the other by Orders and Ordinances and so there then appeared less necessity that this Power should remain in the Crown either for the preservation of it Self or of the People and little danger appeared to the People if this Power were thus shared the House of Lords did then twice deliver their Judgment That this Power in His Majesty was not become destructive to the Common-wealth and Safety of His People nor the Alteration of this Law necessary by twice denying to joyn with the Commons in their desire That part for the Ships and the Time were not then named of this Power might be shared and of this Law altered by which denial the Commons were forced to Petition for it by themselves Nor did they only deny it but both times in full Houses after long and free debates it was carried upon the Question above Twenty Voices and that at a time when all the Papist Lords had left the Town and hardly any Bishops were left uncommitted Twelve being at once clapt up upon an Accusation of Treason which they themselves have since been ashamed of enough to wave who were then the Persons usually represented to the People to be the evil Councellors of the Lords House and to whose prevalence it was imputed in the first Remonstrance of the House of Commons that their good and necessary Motions did not pass in that House And as they denyed it twice so they would have denyed it till now if the Petition of many thousand poor People about London who certainly did not then believe the Lords to be competent Judges and the Demand of the House of Commons joyned to it to be told the Names of those Lords who denyed it and the direct Threats of so many Petitioners to which the former Tumults gave sufficient credit that they would be really executed upon them had not made many of the Lords to be of his Mind who would not dispute with him who commanded thirty Legions and give way to the potent Minor part to appear the Major by absenting themselves and suffering them to pass what they pleased So that neither the Votes which then past to desire these particulars nor the Execution of these Votes and seizing these particulars with a Violence yet greater than obtained the Votes nor the multitude of Consequences of the same kind built upon that Foundation can at all be said to have had the Authority of both Houses though most of those Actions have been such as the Authority even of both Houses how full and free soever would not be sufficient to justifie And this Opinion of the necessity of altering the Law in these points was even then at most but the Opinion of the House of Commons awed by a few Members assisted by the Common People and together with them awing the Lords They next pretend
take in those of another Kingdom to their Resolutions who are not bound by our Laws But what violation soever they make of the Laws they are forward to put the King in mind of His Duty and therefore tell Him That He is sworn to maintain the Laws as they are sworn to their Allegiance to Him these Obligations being reciprocal It is true in some sense that the Oath of the King and Subjects is reciprocal that is each is bound to perform what they swear the King as well as the Subjects but he that will well weigh their Letter and make one part have connexion with the other and examine that part of their Covenant whereby they swear they will defend the Kings Person and Authority no further or otherwise than in preservation of their Religion and Liberties may easily find another construction viz. That the Subjects Allegiance is no longer due than the King performs His Duty nay no longer than He in their opinion observes His Duty whereof they themselves must be Judges and if He fail in His Duty they may take up Arms against Him A Principle which as it is utterly destructive to all Government so we believe they themselves dare not plainly avow it lest as they now make use of it against the King so the People finding their failure of Duty and breach of Trust should hereafter practise it by taking up Arms against them and so shake of that yoak of Tyranny imposed by their fellow Subjects which lies so heavy upon them It were well as they still press upon the King maintenance of the Laws they would also know that their Obligation to observe the same is reciprocal and while they here resolve to defend and preserve the full Power of this Parliament which in their sense can be no other than the Power they have exercised this Parliament they would take notice that they are therein so far from observation of the Laws that they desperately resolve an utter subversion of them For what can more tend to the destruction of the Laws than to usurp a Power to themselves without the King and against His will to raise Arms to attribute to their Orders or pretended Ordinances the power of Laws and Statutes to inforce Contributions Loans and Taxes of all sorts from the Subject to imprison without cause shewed and then prohibit Writs of Habeas Corpus for their enlargement to lay Excises upon all Commodities to command and dispose of the Lives and Estates of the free-born Subjects of this Kingdom at their pleasure to impose Tonnage and Poundage contrary to the Law declared in the late Act for Tonnage and Poundage and all this done and justified as by a legal civil Power founded and inherent in them All which are manifest breaches of the Petition of Right and Magna Charta the great Evidence of the Liberties of England which Charter by express words binds them and us though assembled in Parliament as well as the King And though it be not now as heretofore it hath been taken by solemn Oath on the Peoples part as well as on the Kings nor a Curse as heretofore pronounced on the Violators yet they having taken a Protestation to maintain the Laws and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject and inclusively that Charter let them take heed whilst they make use of this their pretended Power to the destruction of the Law lest a Curse fall upon them and upon their Posterity God knoweth and it is too certain a truth that our selves and many other good Subjects in this Kindom even under the Power of the Kings Army have suffered exceedingly in Liberty and Estates during this present Rebellion by many heavy Charges the sad consideration whereof makes our hearts bleed because we can see no way for relief so long as this unnatural Rebellion continues But as these things were first practised by them and thereby necessitated upon the Kings Army so it was never yet pretended that they were done by virtue of a Law but either by Consent or by the unhappy and unavoidable exigences of War and to expire with the present Rebellion which God in mercy hasten For our parts we have the inward comfort of our own Consciences witnessing with us that we have improved all opportunities and advantages for the restoring of this Kingdom to its former Peace and we must witness for His Majesty His most hearty desires thereof And though both His Majesty and our endeavours therein have been made frustrate yet God in his great goodness hath raised up our spirits not to desert our Religion our King our Laws our Lives the Liberties of us English free-born Subjects and by God's assistance and His Majesty's concurrence we do resolve to unite our selves as one Man and cheerfully adventure our Lives and Estates for the maintenance and defence of the true Reformed Protestant Religion of the Church of England of which we profess our selves to be for the defence of the Kings Person and Rights of His Crown for the regaining and maintaining the Rights and Privileges of Parliament and the Liberty of the Subjects Person and Property of his Estate according to the known Laws of the Land to repel those of the Stotish Nation that have in a warlike manner entred this Realm and to reduce the Subjects thereof now in Rebellion to the Kings Obedience And we doubt not but the same God will enlighten the eyes of the poor deceived People of this Land like true-hearted honest English-Men to joyn unanimously with us in so just and pious a work And the God of Heaven prosper us according to the goodness of the Cause we have in hand The Names of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford who did subscribe the Letter to the Earl of Essex dated January 27. 1643. CHARLES P. YORK CUMBERLAND Ed. Littleton C. S. Fra. Cottington D. Richmond M. Hartford E. Lindsey E. Dorset E. Shrewsbury E. Bath E. Southampton E. Leicester E. Northampton E. Devonshire E. Carlisle E. Bristol E. Berkshire E. Cleveland E. Rivers E. Dover E. Peterburgh E. Kingston E. Newport E. Portland V. Conway L. Digby L. Mowbray and Maltravers L. Wentworth L. Cromwell L. Rich. L. Paget L. Chandois L. Howard of Charleton L. Lovelace L. Savile L. Mohun L. Dunsmore L. Seymour L. Percy L. Wilmott L. Leigh L. Hatton L. Jermyn L. Carrington JOhn Fettiplace Esq Sir Alex. Denton Sir John Packington Sir Tho. Smith F. Gamul Esq Jo. Harris Esq Joseph Jane Esq Rich. Edgcombe Esq Jonathan Rashleigh Esq G. Fane Esq P. Edgcombe Esq Will. Glanvill Esq Sir Ro. Holborne Sir Ra. Sydenham Fra. Godolphin Esq Geo. Parry D. of Law Amb. Manaton Esq Ri. Vivian Esq Jo. Polewheele Esq John Arundell Esq Tho. Lower Esq Sir Edw. Hide Will. Allestree Esq Sir Geo. Stonehouse Ed. Seymour Esq Peter Sainthill Esq Sir Will. Poole Roger Matthew Esq Ri. Arundell Esq Ro. Walker Esq Giles Strangwaies Esq Sir John Strangwaies Sir Tho. Hele. Sir Ger. Naper Sam. Turner
the present Rebellion raised in this Kingdom against His Majesty and that all His Majesty's Subjects are bound by their natural Allegiance and the Oaths lawfully taken by them to the utmost of their power to resist and repress the same and particularly the Army now under the Command of the Earl of Essex and all other Armies raised or to be raised without His Majesty's Consent under pretence of the two Houses of Parliament And we do disclaim all Votes Orders and Declarations in countenance or maintenance of the said Armies and Declare That no Oath or Covenant voluntarily taken or inforced doth or can bind or dispense with the breach of those other Oaths formerly and lawfully taken to His Majesty and that all those who aid assist or abett this horrid and odious Rebellion are and ought to be accounted and pursued as Traitors by the known Laws of the Land That we utterly detest and disclaim the Invitation which hath been made to His Majesty's Subjects of Scotland to enter this Kingdom with an Army the same being as much against the Desires as against the Duty of the Lords and Commons of England and all true-hearted English-Men And we do Declare and publish to the World That as any such Invasion or Hostile entry into the Kingdom by the Rebellious Subjects of Scotland is a direct and peremptory breach of the late Act of Pacification between the two Kingdoms so that we and all the Subjects of this Kingdom are bound by our Allegiance and by that very Act to resist and repress such Invasion And whosoever is or shall be abetting aiding or assisting to those of Scotland in their Hostile Invasion of this Kingdom ought to be looked upon as betrayers of their Country and are guilty of High Treason by the known Laws of the Kingdom And that our weak misled and seduced Country-men may no longer pay an implicite regard and reverence to the abused name of Parliament which these guilty Persons usurp to themselves and so submit to those Actions and Commands which two Houses of Parliament never so legally and regularly constituted have not Authority to require or enjoyn and since these Men will not suffer their poor Country to be restored by a Treaty to the benefit of a Parliament which would with Gods blessing easily remove these Miseries and prevent the like for the time to come we must and do declare to the Whole Kingdom That as at no time either or both Houses of Parliament can by any Orders or Ordinances impose upon the People without the Kings Consent so by reason of the want of Freedom and Security for all the Members of Parliament to meet at Westminster and there to Sit Speak and Vote with Freedom and Safety all the Actions Votes Orders Declarations and pretended Ordinances made by those Members who remain still at Westminster are void and of none effect and that as many of the Lords and Commons assembled at Westminster as have at any time consented to the raising of Forces under the Command of the Earl of Essex or to the making and using of the new Great Seal or to the present coming of the Scots into England in a warlike manner have therein broken the Trust reposed in them by their Country and are to be proceeded against as Traitors And yet we are far from dissolving or attempting the dissolution of this Parliament or the violation of any Act made and confirmed by His Majesty's Royal Assent this Parliament which we shall always maintain and defend Acts of Parliament are only in danger to be destroyed by those who undervalue and despise the Authority and Power of Acts of Parliament who therefore deny the Kings Negative Voice and neglect His Concurrence that their own Resolutions may be reputed as Acts of Parliament to the Ruine and Confusion of all Laws and Interest It is our grief in the behalf of the whole Kingdom that since the Parliament is not dissolved the Power thereof should by the Treason and Violence of these Men be so far suspended that the Kingdom should be without the fruit and benefit of a Parliament which cannot be reduced to any Action or Authority till the Freedom and Liberty due to the Members be restored and admitted and they who oppose this must be only looked upon as the Enemies to Parliament In the mean time we neither have nor shall attempt any thing for the Adjourning Dissolving or Proroguing thereof otherwise than as it may stand with the Act in that case provided Lastly we Declare That our endeavours actions and resolutions tend and are directed and shall always be directed to the maintenance of God's true Religion established by Law within this Kingdom to the defence of His Majesty's Sacred Person His Honour and just Rights to the preservation of the Liberty and Property of the Subject settled and evident by the Laws Statutes and Customs of the Realm and the just Freedom Liberty and Privilege of Parliament and that what we shall do for the defence and maintenance of all these proceeds from the Conscience of our Duty to God our King and Country without any private and sinister ends of our own and out of our sincere love to Truth and Peace the which as we have so we shall always labour to procure as the only blessed End of all our Labours And we do therefore conjure all our Country-Men and fellow-Subjects by all those precious obligations of Religion to God Almighty of Loyalty towards their Soveraign of Affection towards one another and of Charity and Compassion towards their bleeding Country to assist and joyn with us in the suppressing those Enemies to Peace who are so much delighted with the Ruine and Confusion they have made that they will not so much as vouchsafe to Treat with us that all specious Pretences might be taken away and the grounds of this bloody Contention clearly stated to the World If these Men with a true sence and remorse of the ill they have done shall yet return to their Duty and Loyalty they shall God willing find us of another temper towards them than they have been towards us And if the Conscience of their Duty shall not draw all our fellow-Subjects and Country-Men to joyn with us in assisting His Majesty we hope that the prudent consideration That 't is impossible to Reason for our miserable Country ever to be restored to Peace and Happiness but by restoring all just and legally-due Power and Authority into His Majesty's hands again will direct them what is fit to be done by them And if any yet shall be so unskilful and to say no worse vulgar-spirited to hope by a Neutrality and odious Indifferency to rest secure in this Storm though we shall not follow the examples of other Men in telling them that their Estates shall be forfeited and taken from them as pernicious and publick Enemies God be thanked the Law is not so supprest but that it proceeds in Attainders and Forfeitures and all Men
know an Estate escheated to His Majesty by High Treason is as much as legally His Majesty's or his to whom His Majesty grants it as ever it was the unhappy Persons who hath so forfeited it yet we must let them know that their Condition is like to be very dangerous and that as they for resistance of whom His Majesty's Armies are raised have declared to them what they are to expect at their hands that is to be dealt with as pernicious and publick Enemies so they have reason to believe that His Majesty cannot look upon them as Persons who have performed that Duty they are obliged by their natural Allegiance and their Oaths enjoyned by Law which is to defend the King to the utmost of their Power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against His Majesty's Person His Crown and Dignity and to do their best endeavours to disclose and make known to Him all Treasons and Conspiracies which shall be against Him to their power to assist all Jurisdictions Privileges Preheminencies and Authorities belonging to Him or united to the Imperial Crown of this Realm The just and pious consideration and weighing of which Oath and Obligation must stir up all Men of Loyalty and Conscience to be industrious and active on His Majesty's behalf against this horrid and odious Rebellion and against the Authors and Fomenters of the same And we are confident it will not a little encrease the Indignation of all good true English-Men to find these Disturbers of their Peace who have so speciously pretended the defence of the Rights and Privileges of Parliament unite themselves with and govern their Actions by the concurrent Advice and Consent of Commissioners of another Kingdom whose business is to alter our Laws and confound our Government And if all the other particulars so plainly set down in this Declaration and so publickly known to most Men were wanting there could not be a greater instance of deserting the Dignity and Right and as much as in them lies cancelling all the Liberties and Privileges of Parliament than for these Men to break the Trust reposed in them by their Country and to submit themselves to the Advice and oblige themselves to the Consent of Agents of another Kingdom who have cast off their Allegiance and united themselves together against their natural and native King and against the Laws of both Kingdoms and have given an ample testimony to all those they have misled how far they are from submitting or intending to be governed by Parliament or by those who would yet be thought the two Houses of Parliament by joyning four Scotch-Men Agents for the Rebellious Army which hath invaded this Kingdom in equal Power and Authority with seven Lords and fourteen Commons by whose sole and uncontrolled managery and consent all business of Peace and War which doth or may concern this languishing Kingdom must be governed And yet these Men take it very heinously that His Majesty should move them in order to Peace to agree that all the Members of both Houses may securely meet in a full and free Convention of Parliament because they say from thence no other Conclusion can be made but that this present Parliament is not a full nor free Convention and that to make it such the presence of us is necessary We must appeal to all the World whether in truth that Conclusion be not very apparent from the truth of their Proceedings and even to the Consciences of these Men themselves whether whilst we were amongst them we enjoyed that Liberty and Freedom which was due to us and whether if there were no danger or breach of Duty in being willingly and constantly present where Actions of Treason are plotted and concluded we could now be with them without engaging our selves in that Covenant which as it takes away all freedom and liberty of Council so cannot be taken without the violation of our Duty and Allegiance For the deserting the great Trust reposed in us we cannot with the least colour be accused we wish it had not been or were not now broken on their parts on ours we are sure it is not except observation of our Oaths lawfully taken and enjoyned and submission to the known established Laws of the Land the preservation of which is our greatest Trust be to desert the Trust reposed in us What they have done who have broken through all these and will not at last consent to the binding up the wounds they have made we must leave to the World to judge In the mean time since 't is apparent they use their utmost endeavours to make Peace impossible and having enriched themselvâ—â— by these publick Calamities and impoverished their Country by the transportation of â—he Wealth thereof into Foreign parts have left themselves no other means to repay those vast Sums they have extorted from the People upon that they call Publick Faith â—ut out of the Estates of those who have preserved their Duty and Loyalty entire and at the price of their Religion and Laws intend to establish a Government and Empire to themselves all good Men who desire Peace will joyn with us in the suppressing these Enemies of Peace and by a resolute and unanimous Declaration of themselves rise as One Man in the assistance of His Majesty with their Persons and their Fortunes which is the only means with God's blessing to restore and preserve the Religion Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and the very Being of Parliaments The which if these Men have any mind to do it being not so easily to be done any other way they will at last be willing that all the Members of both Houses may meet in a full and free Convention of Parliament which we have always desired and shall be always ready to do His MAJESTY's Message to both Houses April 12. 1643. Concerning Disbanding of both Armies and His MAJESTY'S Return to both Houses of Parliament TO shew to the whole World how earnestly His Majesty longs for Peace and that no success shall make Him desire the continuance of His Army to any other end or for any longer time than That and until things may be so settled as that the Law may have a full free and uninterrupted course for the defence and preservation of the Rights of His Majesty both Houses and His good Subjects 1. As soon as His Majesty is satisfied in His First Proposition concerning His own Revenue Magazines Ships and Forts in which He desires nothing but that the Just Known Legal Rights of His Majesty devolved to Him from His Progenitors and of the Persons trusted by Him which have violently been taken from both be restored unto Him and unto them unless any Just and Legal Exceptions against any of the Persons trusted by Him which are yet unknown to His Majesty can be made appear to Him 2. As soon as all the Members of both Houses shall be restored to the same capacity of Sitting and Voting in
already settled by the Laws of that Kingdom Their Answer thereunto 15. February TO your Lordships fourth Paper of the 14. of Feb. it is answered that by our Propositions for settling the Admiralty of Scotland by Act of Parliament it is intended that the Admiralty and Forces at Sea c. shall be settled in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fittest for the safety and security of that Kingdom And as touching the inheritance of any person which is already settled by the Laws of that Kingdom the Estates of Parliament will do that which is agreeable to Justice The King's Commissioners Paper 15. February VVE desire to know whether the Papers delivered to us touching the Militia contain all your Lordships Propositions touching the Militia of England and Scotland and if they do not that your Lordships will deliver the rest that we may make our Answers upon the whole Their Answer 15. Feb. VVHatsoever is contained in the Propositions concerning the Militia of England and Scotland is delivered in to your Lordships except the 23. Proposition and the last Article in the 26. Proposition which are reserved for their proper place After all these passages the King's Commissioners delivered in this Paper in further Answer to their Propositions concerning the Militia 17. Feb. VVE had no purpose in our Answer delivered by us to your Lordships on the sixth day of February to divide our Answers concerning the Militia of the two Kingdoms otherwise than in point of time and till we might receive satisfaction from your Lordships concerning the Powers to be given to the Commissioners of both Kingdoms and the other particulars mentioned in our Papers since delivered to your Lordships wherein we are not as yet satisfied by any Papers delivered by your Lordships to us Our further Answer to those Propositions concerning the Militia is That we are willing and do agree that the like course shall be taken and observed touching the Militia of the Kingdom of Scotland as is offered in our said Paper of the sixth of February and as shall be hereafter agreed on for the Kingdom of England which we conceive to be a full security for the performance and observation of all Articles which shall be agreed upon between us in order to a blessed Peace which we are so desirous may be punctually and exactly observed that we are willing that His Majesty be desired to take a most solemn strict Oath for the full observation thereof and likewise that all persons of any immediate trust by office or attendance on His Majesty and any other whom you shall think fit shall take such Oath for the due observance of the same with such reasonable Penalties as shall be proposed by your Lordships and agreed to by us in which we believe we shall not differ with your Lordships being willing that whosoever shall in the least degree infringe the Agreement which shall be made between us may be looked upon and accounted as most pernicious Enemies to King and Kingdoms And if it shall be thought necessary to make any additional settlement of the Militia with a general reference to the good of the Kingdoms respectively we desire the same may be done after the Peace established by the joynt consent of His Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament in England and His Majesty and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively And as we shall desire and endeavour to remove all occasions that may interrupt the Peace and Tranquillity of that Kingdom and a perfect Amity with them and shall not desire any change of or to intermeddle in their Laws or Government or give them cause to apprehend any disturbance or violation of them from this Kingdom so are we obliged with all tenderness to preserve the Honour Dignity and Constitution of this Realm And therefore as we are yet satisfied we cannot consent that any Persons authorized by the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland or any advice from thence shall have any influence upon the Militia of this Kingdom or further interpose in the affairs of this Kingdom than is already provided by the Act of Pacification And we offer to your Lordships considerations whether unless there could be an union of the Laws of both Kingdoms such a mixture of Power as is now proposed and the influence thereof both upon Martial and Civil affairs may not prove very inconvenient and prejudicial to both Kingdoms and give cause of Jealousies to each other to the disturbance of that mutual Amity so much desired But if this intermingling of Power in both Kingdoms shall be further insisted on by your Lordships we propound that the same may be settled as after a Peace established shall be agreed by the joynt consent of His Majesty and both Houses of Parliament of England and of His Majesty and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland and if your Lordships shall insist on any thing further for necessary Security we shall apply our selves to the consideration thereof if we shall have further time so to do according to our desires grounded upon His Majesty's Letter Their Paper 17. Feb. WE do conceive that we have in our former Papers punctually satisfied your Lordships in all you desired to know concerning the Powers of the Commissioners of both Kingdoms and the other particulars mentioned by your Lordships And what your Lordships now offer concerning the Militia of the Kingdom of Scotland that the like course shall be taken in it as is expressed in your Lordships Paper of the 6 th of Feb. to be observed for the Militia of this Kingdom your Lordships may remember that in our Answer to that Paper we told your Lordships it was differing from what we had proposed and unsatisfactory to our just and necessary desires for securing the Peace of the Kingdoms and it cannot be expected that what was so then for the Kingdom of England should now be thought other for the Kingdom of Scotland And though both Kingdoms be now united in the same Cause and labouring under the same Dangers and therefore necessitated to a mutual and reciprocal Assistance of each other had proposed a joynt remedy and security by that Commission desired in our 17 th Proposition we find your Lordships say that as yet you are satisfied you cannot consent unto it To which we answer That we believed we had given your Lordships such convincing Reasons as might have satisfied you and we doubt not but they may if you will recollect your memories concerning them and rightly weight them This being the last day we are to Treat upon this Subject it cannot be expected and as we conceive it is altogether needless to use any more Arguments we do therefore desire your Lordships will be pleased now at the last to give us your full and positive Answer to our Demands as we have often already pressed your Lordships And whereas your Lordships do propound that if we shall further insist upon the
by the unparallel'd prosperity of Solomon's Court and so corrupted to the great diminution both for Peace Honour and Kingdom by those Flatteries which are as unseparable from prosperous Princes as Flies are from Fruit in Summer whom Adversity like cold weather drives away I had rather You should be Charles le Bon than le Grand Good than Great I hope God hath designed You to be both having so early put You into that exercise of his Graces and Gifts bestowed upon You which may best weed out all vicious inclinations and dispose You to those Princely Endowments and Employments which will most gain the love and intend the welfare of those over whom God shall place You. With God I would have You begin and end who is King of Kings the Soveraign Disposer of the Kingdoms of the world who pulleth down one and setteth up another The best Government and highest Soveraignty You can attain to is to be subject to Him that the Scepter of his Word and Spirit may rule in your Heart The true Glory of Princes consists in advancing God's Glory in the maintenance of true Religion and the Churches good also in the dispensation of Civil Power with Justice and Honour to the publick Peace Piety will make You prosperous at least it will keep You from being miserable nor is he much a loser that loseth all yet saveth his own Soul at last To which center of true Happiness God I trust hath and will graciously direct all these black lines of Affliction which he hath been pleased to draw on Me and by which he hath I hope drawn Me nearer to Himself You have already tasted of that Cup whereof I have liberally drank which I look upon as God's Physick having that in Healthfulness which it wants in Pleasure Above all I would have You as I hope You are already well grounded and setled in your Religion the best Profession of which I have ever esteemed that of the Church of England in which You have been educated Yet I would have your own Judgment and Reason now seal to that sacred Bond which Education hath written that it may be judiciously your own Religion and not other mens Custom or Tradition which You profess In this I charge You to persevere as coming nearest to God's Word for Doctrine and to the Primitive examples for Government with some little Amendment which I have other-where expressed and often offered tho in vain Your fixation in matters of Religion will not be more necessary for your Souls than your Kingdoms Peace when God shall bring You to them For I have observed that the Devil of Rebellion doth commonly turn himself into an Angel of Reformation and the old Serpent can pretend new Lights When some mens Consciences accuse them for Sedition and Faction they stop its mouth with the name and noise of Religion when Piety pleads for Peace and Patience they cry out Zeal So that unless in this point You be well setled You shall never want temptations to destroy You and Yours under pretensions of Reforming matters of Religion for that seems even to worst men as the best and most auspicious beginning of their worst Designs Where besides the Novelty which is taking enough with the Vulgar every one hath an affectation by seeming forward to an outward Reformation of Religion to be thought Zealous hoping to cover those Irreligious deformities whereto they are conscious by a severity of censuring other mens opinions or actions Take heed of abetting any Factions or applying to any publick Discriminations in matters of Religion contrary to what is in your Judgment and the Church well setled Your partial adhering as Head to any one side gains You not so great advantages in some men hearts who are prone to be of their King's Religion as it loseth You in others who think themselves and their profession first despised then persecuted by You. Take such a course as may either with Calmness and Charity quite remove the seeming differences and offences by impartiality or so order affairs in point of Power that You shall not need to fear or flatter any Faction For if ever You stand in need of them or must stand to their courtesie You are undone The Serpent will devour the Dove You may never expect less of Loyalty Justice or Humanity than from those who engage into Religious Rebellion Their Interest is always made God's under the colours of Piety ambitious Policies march not only with greatest security but applause as to the populacy You may hear from them Jacob's voice but You shall feel they have Esau's hands Nothing seemed less considerable than the Presbyterian Faction in England for many years so compliant they were to publick Order nor indeed was their Party great either in Church or State as to mens Judgments But as soon as Discontents drave men into Sidings as ill Humors fall to the disaffected part which causes Inflammations so did all at first who affected any Novelties adhere to that Side as the most remarkable and specious note of difference then in point of Religion All the lesser Factions at first were officious Servants to Presbytery their great Master till Time and Military success discovering to each their peculiar Advantages invited them to part stakes and leaving the joynt stock of Uniform Religion pretended each to drive for their Party the trade of Profits and Preferments to the breaking and undoing not only of the Church and State but even of Presbytery it self which seemed and hoped at first to have ingrossed all Let nothing seem little or despicable to You in matters which concern Religion and the Churches Peace so as to neglect a speedy reforming and effectual suppressing Errors and Schisms which seem at first but as a hand-breadth yet by Seditious Spirits as by strong winds are soon made to cover and darken the whole Heaven When You have done Justice to God Your own Soul and his Church in the profession and preservation both of Truth and Unity in Religion the next main hinge on which Your Prosperity will depend and move is that of Civil Justice wherein the setled Laws of these Kingdoms to which You are rightly Heir are the most excellent Rules You can Govern by which by an admirable temperament give very much to Subjects Industry Liberty and Happiness and yet reserve enough to the Majesty and Prerogative of any King who owns his People as Subjects not as Slaves whose Subjection as it preserves their Property Peace and Safety so it will never diminish Your Rights nor their ingenuous Liberties which consist in the enjoyment of the fruits of their Industry and the benefit of those Laws to which themselves have consented Never charge Your head with such a Crown as shall by its heaviness oppress the whole Body the weakness of whose parts cannot return any thing of strength honour or safety to the Head but a necessary debilitation and Ruin Your Prerogative is best shewed and exercised in remitting
The Love of whom the Prince had received by the Eye and She of Him by the Ear. For having formerly received impressions from the relations of His Gallantry when she was told of His passing through Paris She answered as it is reported that if He went to Spain for a Wife He might have had one nearer hand and saved Himself a great part of the labour In the midst of these Preparations for War and Love An. 1625 King James died at Theobalds Sunday March 27. An. 1625. and Prince CHARLES was immediately proclaimed at the Court-Gate King of Great Britain France and Ireland and so throughout all the three Kingdoms with infinite Rejoycings The people expecting all the benefits of the happiest Government under Him whose private and youthful part of Life had been so spent that it had nothing in it to be excused and where the eager Inquisitors for matter of Reproach met with no satisfaction An argument of a solid Vertue that could hold out against all the Vices of Youth that are rendred more impetuous by Flatteries and Plenty which are continually resident in great Courts For had any Debauchery polluted His earlier Days it had been published by those who in scarcity of just Accusations did invent unimaginable Calumnies Nor could it have been hid for in a great Fortune nothing is concealed but Curiosity opens the Closets and Bed-chambers especially of Princes and discovers their closest Retirements exposing all their Actions to Fame and Censure Nor did the King deceive their hopes they being the happiest People under the Sun while he was undisturbed in the administration of Justice His first publick Act was the Celebrating His Father's Funeral whereat He Himself was Chief Mourner contrary to the Practice of His Royal Predecessors and not conformable to the Ceremonies of State Either preferring Piety to an unnatural Grandeur or urged by some secret Decree of Providence that in all the Ruines of His Family He should drink the greatest Draught of Tears or His Spirit presaging the Troubles of the Throne He would hallow the Ascent to it by a Pious Act of Grief When He had pay'd that Debt to His Deceased Father He next provided for Posterity and therefore hastened the coming over of His Dearest Consort whom the Duke of Chevereux had in His Name Espoused at the Church of Nostre-Dame in Paris and He receiving Her at Dover the next Day after Trinity-Sunday at Canterbury began his Conjugal Embraces A Lady of most excellent Endowments who assumed to Her self nothing in His Good Fortune but the Joy and in His Evil bore an equal share for She reverenced Him not His Greatness Thus having dispatched the Affairs of His Family He applies Himself to those of His Kingdoms which too much Felicity had made unmanageable by a moderate Government And He seemed not so much to ascend a Throne as enter upon a Theatre to wrestle with all the difficulties of a corrupted State whose long Peace had softned almost all the Nobless into Court-pleasures and made the Commons insolent by a great Plenty The Rites and Discipline of Religion had been blotted out by a long and uninterrupted Prosperity and Factions crept from the Church into the Senate which were made use of by those that endeavoured the alteration of Government and the Resolves of that Council were the Dictates of some heady Demagogues who fed the Vulgar with hopes of Novelty under the name of Liberty so that the King could not endure their Vices nor they His Vertues whence came all the Obstructions to His Designs for Glory and the Publick Good The Treasury had been exhausted to satiate the unquiet and greedy Scots and the People were taught not to supply it unless they were bribed with the blood of some Minister of State or some more advantages for Licentiousness Each of these single would have ennobled the Care of an Ordinary Prudence to have weathered out but when all these conspired with the Traiterous Projects of Men of unbounded and unlawful hopes they took from Him His Peace and that which the World calls Happiness but yet they made Him Great and affording Exercises for His most excellent Abilities rendred Him Glorious The different states of these Difficulties when like Clouds they were gathering together and when they descended in showres of Blood divide the King's Reign into two parts The first could not be esteemed days of Peace but an Immunity from Civil War The other was when He was concluded by that Fatal Necessity either to part with His Dignity and expose His Subjects to the Injuries of numerous Tyrants or else to exceed the calmer temper of His peaceful Soul and make use of those necessary Arms whereby he might hope to divert if possible the Ruine of Church and State which He saw in projection In the first part He had no Wars at home but what was in the Houses of Parliament which though their first Institution designed for the production of just Counsels and assistances of Government yet through the just Indignation of Heaven and the practices of some unquiet and seditious Persons became the Wombs wherein were first conceived and formed those monstrous Confusions which destroyed their own Liberty caused our Miseries and the King's Afflictions His first Parliament began June 18. At the opening of which the King acquainted them with the necessity of Supplies for the War with Spain which they importunately had through His Mediation engaged His Father in and made it as Hereditary to Him as the Crown His Eloquence gave powerful Reasons for speedy and large summs of Money did also audit to them the several disbursements relating both to the Army and Navy that He might remove all Jealousies of misimployment and give them notice how well He understood the Office He had newly entred upon and how to be a faithful Steward of the Publick Treasure But the Projectors of the alteration of Government brought into Debate two Petitions one for Religion the other for Grievances formed in King James's time which delayed the Succours and increased the Necessities which at last they answered but with two Subsidies too poor a stock to furnish an Army with yet was kindly accepted in expectation of more at the next Session For the Infection seising upon London the Parliament was adjourned till August when they were to meet at Oxford and at that time He passed such Acts as were presented to Him At the next Session he gave a complying and satisfactory answer to all their Petitions and expected a Retribution in larger Subsidies towards the Spanish War But in stead of these there were high and furious Debates of Grievances consultations to form and publish Remonstrances Accusations of the Duke of Buckingham Which the King esteeming as reproaches of His Government and assaults upon Monarchy dissolves that Assembly hoping to find one of a less cholerick complexion after His Coronation This inauspicious Meeting drew after it another Mischief the miscarriage of the Designs upon Spain For
Honour than those who had even forced Him to it like those malignant and damned Spirits who upbraid unhappy Souls with those Crimes and ruines to which they themselves have tempted and betrayed them But the heaviest Censor was Himself for he never left bewailing His Compliance or rather Connivence with this Murder till the issue of his Blood dried up those of His Tears By the other Bill He had as some censured renounced His Crown and granted it to those men who at present exercised so Arbitrary a Power that they wanted nothing but length of time to be reputed Kings and this they now had gotten But the more Speculative concluded it an act of especial Prudence for the King made that an evidence of His sincere intention to oblige His people and overcome the Malice of His Enemies with Benefits which the Faction would have usurped and by the boldness of the attempt ingaged the People to them as the only Patrons of their Liberty And they were furnished with an Example for it by their Confederates in Scotland who indicted an Assembly without the King's leave and continued it against His pleasure and as all imitations of Crimes exceed their first pattern it was conceived these men whose furies were more unjust and so would be more fierce intended to improve that Precedent to the extreamest guilt The Bill was no sooner signed but they hastened the Execution and so much the more eagerly because the King desired in a most passionate Letter delivered by the Prince to the Lords that the Excellent Soul which found so much Injustice on Earth might have the more time to fit it self for the Mercy of Heaven But this favour which became Christians to grant agreed not with the Religion of his Adversaries and therefore the second day after he was brought to the Scaffold on Tower-Hill in his Passage thither he had a sight of the Archbishop of Canterbury whose Prayers and Blessing he with a low Obeisance begged and the most pious Prelate bestowed them with Tears where with a greater presence of mind than he had looked his Enemies in the face did he encounter Death and submitted his neck to the stroke of the Executioner He was a person of a generous Spirit fitted for the noblest enterprises and the most difficult parts of Empire His Counsels were bold yet just and he had a Vigour proper for the Execution of them Of an Eloquence next to that of his Master's masculine and most excellent He was no less affectionate to the Church than to the State and not contented while living to defend the Government and Patrimony of it he commended it also to his Son when he was about to die and charged his abhorrency of Sacriledge His Enemies called the Majesty of his Miene in his Lieutenancy Pride and the undaunted execution of his Office on the contumacious the insolency of his Fortune He was censured for committing that fatal Errour of following the King to London and to the Parliament after the Pacification with the Scots at York and it was thought that if he had gone over to his charge in Ireland he might have secured both himself and that Kingdom for his Majesty's Service But some attributed this Counsel to a necessity of Fate whose first stroke is at the brain of those whom it designs to ruine and brought him to feel the effects of Popular Rage which himself in former Parliaments had used against Government and to find the Experience of his own advices against the Duke of Buckingham Providence teaching us to abhor over-fine Counsels by the mischiefs they bring upon their Authors The Fall of this Great Man so terrified the other Officers of State that the Lord High Treasurer resigned his Staff to the Hands from whence he received it the Lord Cottington forsook the Mastership of the Court of Wards and the Guardian of the Prince returned Him to the King These Lords parting with their Offices like those that scatter their Treasure and Jewels in the way that they might delude the violence of their greedy pursuers But the King was left naked of their faithful Ministery and exposed to the Infusions and Informations of those who were either Complices or Mercenaries to the Faction to whom they discovered his most private Counsels When the Earl of Strafford was dead then did the Parliament begin to think of sending away the Scots who hitherto had much impoverished the Northern Counties and increased the charges of the Nation but now they were voted to receive 300000 l. under the notion of a Brotherly assistance but in truth designed by the Faction as a reward for their Clamours for the Earl's Blood yet were they kept so long till the King had passed away more of His Prerogative in signing the Bills to take away the High-Commission and the Star-Chamber After which spoils of Majesty they disband the English and the Scotch Armies August 6. and on the 10th of that Month the King follows them into Scotland to settle if it were possible that Kingdom But the King still found them as before when he satisfied their greedy appetites then would they offer Him their Lives and Fortunes but when gain or advantage appeared from His Enemies they appeared in their proper nature ungrateful changeable and perfidious whom no favours could oblige nor any thing but Ruine was to be expected by building upon their Love While the King was in Scotland labouring to settle that Nation by granting all that the Covetousness and Ambition of their Leaders pretended was for the Publick good and so aimed at no less than a Miracle by His Benefits to reduce Faith which like Life when it is once departed doth never naturally return into those perfidious breasts the Parliament adjourns and leaves a standing Committee of such as were the Leaders or the Servants of the Faction These prepared new Toils for His Majesties return and by them was the Grand Remonstrance formed in it were reckoned for Grievances all the Complaints of Men that were impatient of Laws and Government the Offences of Courtiers the unpleasing Resolves of Judges the Neglects or Rigours of the Ministers of Justice the undigested Sermons of some Preachers yea the Positions of some Divines in the Schools were all exaggerated to defame the present Government both in Church and State and to magnifie the skill of these State-Physicians that offered Prescripts for all these Distempers Beside more easily to abuse the Vulgar who reckon Misfortunes as Crimes unpleasing accidents were represented as designs of Tyranny and those things which had been reformed were yet mentioned as continued burthens From which the People were assured there could be no deliverance but by the Wisdom and Magnanimity of the Remonstrants To prepare the way for this the most opprobrious parts of it were first whispered among the Populacy that by this seeming suppression men impatient of Secrets might more eagerly divulge them and the danger appear greater by an affected silence Then prodigious Calumnies
command strict Watches to be kept in all suspected places Beacons to be new set up the Sea-marks to be watched and the Navy to be new rigged and fitted for the Sea New Plots were also discovered and strange and unheard-of Counsels to murder the most Eminent Patriots are brought to light A Taylor in a ditch hears some desperate Cavaliers contriving the Death of Mr. Pym. A Plaister also taken from a Plague-sore was sent into the House to the same person that the Infection first seising on a Member of the quickest senses might thence more impetuously diffuse it self upon all the most Grave Senators Such like plots as these and whatsoever could be devised were published to make the Vulgar think those demands of the Faction seem modest their dangers being so great which were very unjust And lest the King should at His coming into the North make use of that Magazine at Hull which at His own Charges He had provided for the Scotch Expedition for His own defence the Faction to secure that and the Town for their future purposes send down Sir John Hotham without any Order or Commission from either House of Parliament to seise on them This man of a fury and impudence equal to their commands when the King petitioned by the Gentlemen of Yorkshire to employ those Arms and that Ammunition for the Safety and Peace of that County where some of the Factious Members of Parliament had begun to form the like Seditions with those of London An. 1642 would have entred Hull April 23. insolently shut the Gates upon Him and would not permit Him though with but twenty Attendants for He offered to leave the Guard of Noblemen and Gentlemen which followed Him without The King thereupon proclaims him Traitor and by Letters complains of the Indignity and requires Satisfaction But the Faction rendred the Act so glorious that the House of Commons by their Votes approved what he had done without their Command and clamoured that the King had done them an injury in proclaiming so innocent a Member Traitor Ordered the Earl of Warwick to whom they had committed the Command of the Navy to land some men out of the Ships at Hull and to transport the Magazine there from thence to London An Order of Assistance was also given to several of their Confidents as a Committee of both Houses to reside at Hull and the Counties of York and Lincoln were commanded to execute their commands Besides they sent a Commission to Hotham to prosecute the Insolencies he had begun and kindle that War which took fire on the whole Nation and in a short space consumed him and his Son who were executed by the Instructors of his Villany For he fell under the same Fate which attends all the Instruments of Great Crimes to be Odious and suspected by those that made use of them Therefore they gave such a power to the Lord Fairfax in Yorkshire as did conclude the diminution and submission of Hotham to his Commands This caused him to reflect with grief and madness upon his first ministery to the Faction which appeared every day more monstrous to his Conscience being now spoiled of that Grandeur that he hoped would have been its reward and awakened by those Desolations in the whole Kingdom which followed it and were but as the Copies of his Original Treason Therefore he thought to expiate his former guilt by surrendring the Town to Him from whom he had detained it But his practices were discovered to the Faction by One whom they had sent thither in pretence to preach the Gospel but in truth secretly to search into the intrigues of his Counsels so that he perished in his design being neither stout nor wise enough in just enterprises nor of a pertinancy sufficient for a prosperous Perfidiousness And although in his Ruine the King observed how great a draught was offered to the highest thirst of Revenge yet He did truly bewail him and indeed he was so much the more to be pitied because his cruel Masters deluded him to a silence of their black Secrets with a false hope of Life till the Ax was upon his Neck So betraying his Soul to a surprise by his Spiritual enemies as his pretended Spiritual Guides had done his Body to them The Insolency of Hotham who acted according to his Instructions and late Commission beginning acts not usual in Peace nor justifiable by Law for he issued out Warrants for the Trained Bands to march into Hull with their Arms where he forced them to leave them and nakedly return to their homes that so they might be obnoxious to his Violence and the practices of the Committee which were sent down into the North to debauch the People in their Loyalty made the King intend His own Security by a Guard which the Gentry and Commonalty of Yorkshire that were witnesses of the Injury offered to their Prince did willingly and readily make up No sooner had the King expressed His intention of such a Guard but the Faction who were watchful of all opportunities of beginning a War and ingaging those that either through Fear or Weakness had hitherto submitted to their Impostures in a more obliging guilt for now the greatest part of the Peers who were of the most ancient Families and noblest Fortunes and a very great number of the House of Commons Persons of just hopes and fair Estates who perceiving the designs of the Disturbers scorned any longer to be their Slaves yet not thinking it safe to provoke the fury of the Vulgar Tumults by a present opposition had withdrawn from the Parliament to follow the King and His Fortune and every day some more were still falling off took this occasion to commence our Miseries and open those Sluces of Blood which polluted the whole Kingdom For upon the first Intelligence of it they filled the House of Commons and the City with Clamours that His Majesty had now taken Arms to the overthrow of them and the Protestant Religion and that they were not any longer to think the Happiness of the Kingdom did depend upon the King or any of the Regal Branches of that Stock that it would argue no want either of Duty or Modesty if they should depose Him By these Harangues they so heated the Parliament that was now more penurious than before in persons of Honour and Conscience to such a degree of Fury that unmindful how they themselves for eight months before upon impossible Fears and improbable Jealousies had taken a Guard they Resolved upon the Question that the King by taking to himself such a Guard did intend to levy War against the Parliament With an equal fury they issue out Commissions into all parts of the Kingdom and appoint certain days for all the Trained Bands to be put into a posture of War sending down some of their Members to see to the execution of these Commands and to seise on the Magazines in the several Counties To all these their violent and unjust
to single Him out of all the Kings of the Earth as the fittest Champion to wrestle with Adversity and to make Him glorious by Sufferings which being well born truly prove men Great yet would He furnish Him almost by a Miracle likewise with such Advantages in the conduct of which His Prudence and Magnanimity might evidence that He did deserve Propserity and by clearing up even this way His eminent Vertues warn the following Ages from a Credulity to unquiet Persons since the best of Princes was thus infamously slandered From all these concurring Causes each one in their Way and Order did the King's Strength so far increase as that He won many Battles and was not far from Conquest in the Whole War had not God seen fit to afflict this sinful Nation with Numerous and most Impious Tyrants and make us feel that no Oppressions are so unsupportable as those which are imposed by such as have made the highest Pretensions to Liberty of which we had bitter experience after the War was finished that was now begun For there had been some slight Conflicts ere this in the several Countries betwixt the Commissioners of Array and the Militia with various Successes which require just Volumes and compleat Histories to relate and cannot be comprehended in the short View of the King's Life where it is only intended to speak of those Battles in which the King in Person gave sufficient evidence of His Wisdom and Valour The first of which was at Edge-Hill on Oct. 23. For the King had no sooner gotten a considerable Force though not equal to those of His Enemies but He matched towards London and in His way thither met with Essex's Army that were come from thence to take Him The King having viewed their Army by a Prospective-glass from the top of that Hill and being asked afterwards by His Officers what He meant to do To give them battle said He with a present Courage it is the first time I ever saw the Rebels in a Body God and good Mens Prayers to Him assist the Justice of My Cause and immediately prepared for the Fight which was acted with such a Fury that near 6000 were slain according to the common account but some say a far less number were slain upon the place Night concluded this Battle which had comprehended the whole War had not the King 's prevailing Horse preferr'd the Spoils to Victory and left the Enemy some advantage to dispute for her But the King had all the fairest marks of her Favour For though He had lost His General yet he kept the Field possessed the dead Bodies opened His way toward London and in the sight of some part of the Army of Essex who accounted it a Victory that He was not totally routed and killed took Banbury and entred Triumphantly into Oxford which He had designed for His Winter-quarters with 150 Colours taken in fight And having assured that place He advances towards London whither Essex had gotten before Him and disposed his baffled Regiments within 10 Miles of the City yet the King fell upon two Regiments of them at Brainford took 500 Prisoners and sunk their Ordnance From thence intending to draw nearer London He had intelligence that the City had powred forth all their Auxiliaries to re-inforce Essex's Troops to which being unwilling to oppose His Souldiers wearied with their March nor thinking it safe to force an Enemy to fight upon Necessity which inspires a more than Ordinary Fury He retreats to Oxford having taught His Enemies that He was not easily to be overcome For in the management of this Battle He did not only undeceive the abused World of those Slanders which His Enemies had polluted Him with but He exceeded that Opinion His own Party had of His Abilities and though He parted from London altogether unexperienced in Martial Affairs yet at Edge-Hill He appeared a most Excellent Commander His Valour was also equal to His Prudence and He could as well endure Labours as despise Dangers And by a communication of toils encouraged His Souldiers to keep the Field all the Night when they saw He refused the refreshments of a Bed for He sought no other Shelter from the injuries of the Air than His own Coach These Vertues and this Success made such an impression on the Parliament that though they took all courses to hide the Infamy of their worsted Army yet in more humble Expressions than formerly they Petitioned the King for a Treaty of Peace which His Majesty very earnestly embraced But the Faction who were frighted with these Tendencies to an Accommodation cause some of the City to Petition against it and to make proffer of their Lives and Fortunes for the prosecution of the War Encouraged by this they form their Propositions like the Commands of Conquerours and so streighten the Power and time of their Commissioners that the Treaty at Oxford became fruitless which there had taken up all the King's Employment this Winter though abroad His Forces were busie in several Parts of the Nation not without Honour At the Opening of the Spring the Queen comes back to England An. 1643 bringing with Her some considerable Supplies of Men Money and Ammunition and Her coming was entertained with such a Series of Successes that the King that Summer was Master of the North and West except some few Garrisons Which so dismaied the Parliament that very many of them were preparing to quit the Kingdom and had the King followed His own Counsels to march immediately towards London and not been fatally over-born at a Council of War which it is said His Enemies at London did assure their Party would so be first to attempt Gloucester He had in the judgment of all discerning men then finished the War with Glory But here He lay so long till Essex had gotten a Recruit from London and came time enough to Relieve the Town though in his Return the King necessitated him to fight worsted him near Newbery and so bravely followed him the next day that He forced the Parliaments Horse which were left in the Reer to seek their safety by making their way over a great part of their Foot yet lost on His side much Noble Blood as the Earls of Carnarvan and Sunderland and Viscount Falkland This last was lamented by all being equally dexterous at the Pen and Sword had won some Wreaths in those Controversies that were to be managed by Reason and was eminent in all the Generous parts of Learning above any of his Fortune and Dignity After this Encounter the King returns to Oxford to consult with those Members of both Houses that had left the Impostures and Tumults at London to joyn with Him for the Common Benefit who being as to the Peers the far greater and as to the Commons an equal Number with those at Westminster they assumed the Name and Authority of Parliament and deliberated of the ways of Peace and means to prevent the Desolations which the Faction so
to be gained but by the Publick Ruine they fly from Prayers to Arms and intitle their just War For the Liberty of King and People And in several places as in Kent Essex Suffolk Norfolk Cornwall Yorkshire Wales and at last in Surrey multitudes take Arms for this Righteous Cause The Navy also fall off and setting Rainsbrough their levelling Admiral on Shore seventeen Ships deliver themselves up to the Prince of Wales The Scots likewise by an Order of their own Parliament send into England to recover the Liberty and Majesty of the King an Army under Hamilton But all was in vain God had decreed other Triumphs for His Majesty and to translate Him to another Kingdom For the English being but tumultuarily raised having no train of Artillery nor Ammunition considerable were soon supprest by a veterane Army provided with all necessaries The Scots either through weakness or wickedness of their Commanders who made so disorderly a March that their Van and Reer were forty miles asunder were easily worsted by Cromwell who surprised their main Body and Hamilton was taken Prisoner Cromwell follows the scattered Parties into Scotland where they were likewise assaulted by Argyle a domestick Enemy and forced to submit those Arms the Parliament had put into their hands to the Faction of that false Earl who calls another Parliament from which all were excluded that in the former Voted for the King's Delivery and all the Orders of that Convention made void Cromwell had the Publick Thanks and the private Faith of Argyle to endeavour as opportunity permitted the extirpation of Monarchy out of Scotland The Navy also deserts the Prince being corrupted by the Earl of Warwick who was appointed for this Service and when he had ingloriously bought off their Faith to their lawful Prince himself was ignominiously cashiered by the Conspirators These great disappointments and overthrows of just Enterprises men variously attributed to different Causes Some to the Perfidiousness others to the Weakness of those that managed them as also to the Treachery of some Presbyterians who in hatred to the Army first incouraged and then in Jealousie of the Royalists basely deserted them For the Rabbies of the Kirk cursed Hamilton in the beginning of his Enterprise Another sort thought them unhappy because the greatest part of the Undertakers were such that formerly had either fought against the King or else had betrayed Him and God would not now bless their unexpiated Arms. And some to the Fate of the Kingdom which God had decreed to give over to numerous and impious Tyrants because of their unthankfulness and impatience under so Incomparable a Prince But while these things were managed by the Army that were now at a distance and Cromwell's Terrors were greater in Scotland than here the less guilty Parliament-men seriously considering how impatient the People who in London and other places had gotten innumerable Subscriptions to a Petition for a Personal Treaty now were of those Injuries that were done to their Sovereign how hateful themselves grew because they had betrayed and inslaved their own Privileges together with the Liberties of the Subject to an insatiable and Phanatick Army and how an evident Ruine attended even their Conquests of Him whom it was unlawful to assault did at last though too late contrary to the clamours of their factious and Democratick Members Repeal those Votes which they had formerly made of No more Addresses to the King This being passed in both Houses they afterwards with a strong Consent vote a Treaty with the King in Honour Freedom and Safety The factious Party in the Parliament found themselves too few and weak to oppose this impetuous tendency of the Two Houses and the whole Kingdom to Peace But yet they endeavoured to frustrate the labours of their more sincere Members and to baffle the People's just desires of it by imposing many unequal Conditions and obstructive restrictions For they procured that the Treaty should be in the Isle of Wight and not at London that it should be by Commissioners and not immediately with the two Houses as was petitioned The Propositions that were sent to be treated were the same which had before been offered to the King at Hampton-Court and were then rejected by Him and also condemned by the Army it self as too unjust The Commissioners were so streightned in Power that it was not lawful for them to soften any one of the Conditions of Peace not to alter the Preface or change the Order of the Propositions nor to debate a Subsequent till the Precedent were agreed on They could conclude nothing they were only to propose the Demands urge Reasons for the Royal Assent receive the King's Answer and refer all in writing to the Parliament whose slow Resolves and the delays of sending were supposed would consume that narrow measure of time which was appointed to debate so many and so different things for they were limited to forty days The Commissioners they sent were five of the Lord's House and twelve of the Commoners and with them some of their Presbyterian Ministers who were to press importunately for their Church-government to elude the King's Arguments for Episcopacy and only to impose not to dispute their own With all these upon so many several and different Propositions some relating to the Law of the Land others to Reason of State and some to the practice of the Apostolical Primitive Churches the King was to deal without publick assistance For though He was permitted the ministry of some Officers of State Counsellours and Divines yet were they but of private advice and to stand behind the Curtain He only Himself was to speak in the debate and singly to manage matters of Policy with their most exercised Statists and the points of Divinity with their best-studied Divines The Vulgar to whom the arts of these men were not so obvious were much pleased with the Name of a Treaty and now hoped to exchange their Servitude under so many importunate Tyrants for the moderate and easie Government of one Lawful King Others that had a clearer insight and observed with what difficulties it was burthened hoped for no benefit from it Because that if His Majesty should not consent as they believed he would not then He would be the object of the popular impatience And if He should consent He that now was thought to be most injuriously dealt with would then be conceived not to deserve the Pity even of his Friends nor could He gain any other thing by His Concessions than to be ruined with more Dishonour So that considering both the inviolable Integrity of His Majesty and the implacable Malice of His Enemies they despaired of any happy Issue But beyond the Faith of these men and the Hopes of the other the King 's incredible Prudence had found Temperaments for their most harsh Propositions And by a present Judgment and commanding Eloquence did so urge His own and refel their Arguments that He forced an Admiration of Himself
an adjoyning Scaffold where she stood she cried out with a loud Voice but not without danger that It was a Lye not the Tenth part of the People were guilty of such a Crime but all was done by the Machinations of that Traytor Cromwell But the King after the Charge was read with a Countenance full of Majesty and Gravity demands by what Authority they proceeded with Him thus contrary to the Publick Faith and what Law they had to try Him that was an absolute Sovereign Bradshaw replying that of the Parliament His Majesty shewed the detestable Falsehood in pretending to what they had not and if they had it yet it could not justifie these Practices To which Reply when they could not answer they force Him back to the place of His Captivity The Magnanimity of the King in this Days Contest with these inhumane Butchers did much satisfie the People and they were glad while they thought not of His Danger that He wanted not either Speech or Courage against so powerful Enemies that He had spoken nothing unworthy of Himself and had preserved the Fame of His. Vertues even in so great Adversities For He seemed to triumph over their Fortune whose Arms He was now subject to The Parricides sought to break his Spirit by making His appearances frequent before such contemptible Judges and often exposing Him to the contempt of the Armed Rabble therefore four days they torture Him with the Impudence and Reproaches of their Infamous Sollicitor and President But He still refused to own their Authority which they could not prove lawful and so excellently demonstrated their abominable Impiety that He made Colonel Downes one of their Court to boggle at and disturb their Proceedings They therefore at last proceeded to take away that Life which was not to be separated from Conscience and Honour and pronounced their Sentence of Death upon their Lawful and Just Sovereign Jan. 27. not suffering Him to speak after the Decree of their Villany but hurrying Him back to the place of His Restraint At His departure He was exposed to all the Insolencies and Indignities that a phanatick and base Rabble instigated by Peters and other Instructors of Villany could invent and commit And He suffer'd many things so conformable to Christ His King as did alleviate the sense of them in Him and also instruct Him to a correspondent Patience and Charity When the barbarous Souldiers cried out at His departure Justice Justice Execution Execution as those deceived Jews did once to their KING Crucisie Him Crucifie Him this Prince in imitation of that most Holy King pitied their blind fury and said Poor Souls for a piece of Money they would do as much for their Commanders As He passed along some in defiance spit upon His Garments and one or two as it was reported by an Officer of theirs who was one of their Court and praised it as an evidence of his Souldiers Gallantry while others were stupefied with their prodigious baseness polluted His Majestick Countenance with their unclean spittle the Good King reflecting on His great Exemplar and Master wiped it off saying My Saviour suffer'd far more than this for me Into His very Face they blowed their stinking Tobacco which they knew was very distasteful to Him and in the way where He was to go just at His Feet they flung down pieces of their nasty Pipes And as they had devested themselves of all Humanity so were they impatient and furious if any one shewed Reverence or Pity to Him as He passed For no honest Spirit could be so forgetful of humane fruilty as not to be troubled at such a sight to see a Great and Just King the rightful Lord of three flourishing Kingdoms now forced from His Throne and led captive through the Streets Such as pull'd off their Hats or bowed to Him they beat with their Fists and Weapons and knock'd down one dead but for crying out God be merciful unto Him When they had brought Him to His Chamber even there they suffered Him not to rest but thrusting in and smoaking their filthy Tobacco they permitted Him no Privacy to Prayer and Meditation Thus through variety of Tortures did the King pass this Day and by His Patience wearied His Tormentors nothing unworthy His former greatness of Fortune and Mind by all these Affronts was extorted from Him though Indignities and Injuries are unusual to Princes and these were such as might have forced Passion from the best-tempered meekness had it not been strengthned with assistance from Heaven In the Evening the Conspirators were acquainted by a Member of the Army of the King's desire that seeing His Death was nigh it might be permitted him to see His Children and to receive the Sacrament and that Doctor Juxon then Lord Bishop of London now Arch-Bishop of Canterbury might be admitted to pray with Him in His private Chamber The first they did not scruple at the Children in their power being but two the Lady Elizabeth and the Duke of Glocester and they very young The second they did not readily grant Some would have had Peters to undertake that Employment for which the Bishop was sent for But he declined it with some Scoffs as knowing that the King hated the Offices of such an unhallowed Buffoon So that at last they permitted the Bishop's access to the King to whom his eminent Integrity had made him dear For with so wonderful a Prudence and uprightness he had managed the envious Office of the Treasury that that accusing age especially of Church-men found not matter for any Impeachment nor ground for the least Reproach The next day being Sunday the King was removed to St. James's where the Bishop of London read Divine Service and preached before Him in private on these words In the day when God shall judge the secrets of all men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel While the King and the Bishop at this time and also at other times were performing the Divine Service the rude Souldiers often rushed in and disturbed their Offices with vulgar and base Scoffs vain and frivolous Questions The Commanders likewise and other impertinent Anabaptists did interrupt His Meditations who came to tempt and try Him and provoke Him to some unnecessary disputations But He maintained His own Cause with so irrefragable Arguments that He put some to silence the petulancy of others He neglected and with a modest contempt dissembled their Scoffs and Reproaches In the narrow space of this one Day and under so continued Affronts and Disturbances the King whose whole Soul was totally composed to Religion applied Himself as much as was possible to the Reading Holy Scriptures to Prayer Confession of Sins Supplications for the forgiveness of his Enemies the receiving the Eucharist holy Conferences and all the Offices of Piety so under the utmost Malice and Hatred of men He laboured for the Mercy of God and to fit Himself for His last victory over Death While the King thus spent this day
and whose Fame gathers strength from multitude of Years when Statues and Monuments are obnoxious to the flames of a Violent Envy and the Ruines of Time Besides this they take care to suppress all those more Lively figures of Him and more lasting Statues His Writings and therefore force from my Lord of London whom they kept Prisoner all those Papers His Majesty had delivered to him and make a most narrow search of his Cloaths and Cabinets lest any of those Monuments of Piety and Wisdom should escape to the Benefit of Mankind Yet by the gracious Goodness of the Almighty God to their Eternal Infamy and for a perpetual record of the King 's great Vertues there escaped their Search and was published to the World The Book of His Meditations and Soliloquies In the Composition of which a Sober Reader cannot tell which to admire most either His incredible Prudence His ardent Piety or His Majestick and truly Royal Style Those parts of it which consisted of Addresses to God corresponded so nearly in the Occasions and were so full of the Piety and Elegancie of David's Psalms that they seemed to be dictated by the same Spirit His very Assassinates confessed the goodness of the Book though they were ashamed He whom they had murthered should be the Author For Bradshaw in his examination of Royston who printed it asked him How he could think so bad a man for such would that Monster have this Excellent Prince thought to be could write so good a Book Therefore they laboured by all waies and means to suppress it as the greatest Witness against them to Posterity and which would make them odious in all Generations For the Blood of the Holy Wise and Eloquent leaves eternal stains of Infamy upon those that spill'd it because no man reads their Works but they curse those cruel hands which cut the Veins and stopp'd the streams of so much Goodness and we esteem them barbarous and inhumane Monsters who did not Reverence the Persons of those whose Writings we admire But their fury became ridiculous while they thought by their present power to corrupt His Memory and take off the admiration of the following Ages for the more they hindred the publication the more earnestly it was sought after yet they endeavoured it another way and therefore hired certain mercenary Souls to despoil the King of the Credit of being the Author of it Especially one base Scribe naturally fitted to compose Satyrs and invent Reproaches who made himself notorious by some licentious and infamous Pamphlets and so approved himself as fit for their service This Man they encouraged by translating him from a needy Pedagogue to the office of a Secretary to write that Scandalous Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Invective against the King's Meditations and to answer the Learned Salmasius his Defence of Charles the First But all was in vain for those that were able to judge of Styles found it must be the same Pen which wrought these Meditations and drew those Letters which the Faction had published for His. Others that were not able to satisfie themselves by such a Censure were assured of it by the Relations of Col. Hammond that was His Keeper who did attest to several Persons that he saw them in the King's hand heard Him read them and did see Him to correct them in his presence The Arch-Bishop of Armagh did also affirm to those he conversed with that he was employed by a command from the King to get some of them out of the hands of the Faction for they were taken in His Cabinet at Naseby And Royston that printed them did testifie to those that enquired of him that the King had sent to him the Michaelmas before His death to provide a Press for some Papers He should send to Him which were these together with a design for a Picture before the Book which at first was Three Crowns indented on a Wreath of Thorns but afterwards the King recalled that and sent that other which is now before His Book Thus these several Testimonies did secure the faith of the World against the Slanderers and made their endeavours as contemptible as themselves were hateful While the Parricides were seeking for fresh occasions to express their Malice the whole Kingdom was composed to Mourning and Lamentation for never any King not only of the English but of whatsoever Throne had His Death lamented with greater Sorrows nor left the World with a higher regret of the People When the news of His Death was divulged Women with Child for grief cast forth the untimely fruit of their Womb like Her that fell in travel when the Glory was departed from Israel Others both Men and Women fell into Convulsions and swounding Fits and contracted so deep a Melancholy as attended them to the Grave Some unmindful of themselves as though they could not or would not live when their beloved Prince was slaughtered it is reported suddenly fell down dead The Pulpits were likewise bedewed with unsuborned Tears and some of those to whom the living King was for Episcopacie's sake less acceptable yet now bewailed the loss of Him when dead Children who usually seem unconcerned in publick Calamities were also affected with the news and became so prodigal of their Tears that for some time they refused comfort even some of those who sate as Judges could not forbear to mingle some Tears with His Blood when it was spilt Many composed Elegies and serious Poems to preserve the memory of His Vertues to express their own Griefs and to instruct the Mournings of others and their Passions made them above their usual strain more elegant Many who writ the Acts of His time did vindicate His Honour and divulged the base Arts of His Enemies even while their Power was dreadful Men of all Sorts Degrees and Sects there being none among which He had not some Admirers then freely and without Envy recounted His several Vertues which now appeared as great as Mortality refined by Industry was capable of For though Prosperity makes the Severest Tryals of Vertues yet Adversity renders them most Orient As the Night best acquaints us with the Splendor of the Stars That which first challenged their Wonder was the composure and Inclination of His Soul to Religion which He used not as an Artifice of Empire but as the Ornament and Comfort of a private breast for He never affected a Magnifick Piety nor a Pompous Vertue but laboured to approve Himself in secret to that God who rewardeth openly All His Offices in this were like His Fortune far above those of other men His Devotion in Prayer was so raised that His Soul seemed to be wholly swallowed up in the Contemplation of that Majesty He did adore and as in an Ecstasie to have left His senses without its Adsistencie An instance of this was given at the Death of the Duke of Buckingham the news of whose Murther being whispered to the King while He was at Prayers He
though my Sins are so many and grievous that I may rather expect the effects of thy Anger than so great a deliverance as to free Me from my present great Danger yet O Lord since thy Mercies are over all thy Works and Thou never failest to relieve all those who with humble and unfeigned Repentance come to Thee for succour it were to multiply not diminish my Transgressions to despair of thy heavenly favour wherefore I humbly desire thy Divine Majesty that Thou wilt not only pardon all my Sins but also free Me out of the hands and protect Me from the Malice of my cruel Enemies But if thy wrath against my hainous offences will not otherwise be satisfied than by suffering Me to fall under my present Afflictions thy Will be done yet with humble importunity I do and shall never leave to implore the assistance of thy Heavenly Spirit that My Cause as I am Thy Vicegerent may not suffer through My weakness or want of Courage O Lord so strengthen and enlighten all the Faculties of my Mind that with clearness I may shew forth thy Truth and manfully endure this bloody Trial that so my Sufferings here may not only glorifie Thee but likewise be a furtherance to My Salvation hereafter Grant this O merciful Father for His sake who suffered for Me even Jesus Christ the Righteous Amen KING CHARLES HIS MESSAGES FOR PEACE I. From CANTERBURY Jan. 20. MDCXLI II. For the Composing of all Differences HIS Majesty perceiving the manifold distractions which are now in this Kingdom which cannot but bring great inconveniencies and mischief to this whole Government in which as His Majesty is most chiefly interessed so He holds Himself by many reasons most obliged to do what in Him lies for the preventing thereof though He might justly expect as most proper for the duty of Subjects that Propositions for the remedies of these evils ought rather to come to Him than from Him yet His Fatherly care of all His People being such that He will rather lay by any particular respect of His Own Dignity than that any time should be lost for prevention of these threatning evils which cannot admit the delays of the ordinary proceedings in Parliament doth think fit to make this ensuing Proposition to both Houses of Parliament that they will with all speed fall into a serious consideration of all those particulars which they shall hold necessary as well for the upholding and maintaining of His Majesty's Just and Regal Authority and for the setling of His Revenue as for the present and future establishment of their Priviledges the free and quiet enjoying of their Estates and Fortunes the Liberties of their Persons the security of the true Religion now professed in the Church of England and the setling of Ceremonies in such a manner as may take away all just offence Which when they shall have digested and composed into one intire body that so His Majesty and themselves may be able to make the more clear Judgment of them it shall then appear by what His Majesty shall do how far he hath been from intending or designing any of those things which the too great Fears and Jealousies of some persons seem to apprehend and how ready He will be to equal and exceed the greatest examples of the most indulgent Princes in their Acts of Grace and Favour to their People So that if all the present Distractions which so apparently threaten the Ruine of this Kingdom do not by the blessing of Almighty God end in an happy and blessed Accommodation His Majesty will then be ready to call Heaven and Earth God and Man to witness that it hath not failed on His part From HUNTINGDON March 15. Upon His Removal to YORK In pursuance of the Former HIS Majesty being now on His remove to His City of York where He intends to make His Residence for some time thinks fit to send this Message to both Houses of Parliament That he doth very earnestly desire that they will use all possible industry in expediting the business of Ireland in which they shall find so chearful a concurrence by His Majesty that no inconvenience shall happen to that service by His absence He having all that Passion for the reducing of that Kingdom which He hath expressed in His former Messages and being unable by words to manifest more affection to it than He hath endeavoured to do by those Messages having likewise done all such Acts as he hath been moved unto by His Parliament therefore if the misfortunes and calamities of His poor Protestant Subjects shall grow upon them though His Majesty shall be deeply concerned in and sensible of their sufferings He shall wash His hands before all the World from the least imputation of slackness in that most necessary and pious work And that His Majesty may leave no way unattempted which may beget a good understanding between Him and His Parliament He thinks it necessary to declare That as He hath been so tender of the Priviledges of Parliament that He hath been ready and forward to retract any Act of His own which He hath been informed hath trencht upon their Priviledges so He expects an equal tenderness in them of His Majesty 's known and unquestionable Priviledges which are the Priviledges of the Kingdom amongst which He is assured it is a Fundamental one That His Subjects cannot be obliged to obey any Act Order or Injunction to which His Majesty hath not given His consent And therefore He thinks it necessary to publish That He expects and hereby requires Obedience from all His loving Subjects to the Laws established and that they presume not upon any pretence of Order or Ordinance to which His Majesty is no party concerning the Militia or any other thing to do or execute what is not warranted by those Laws His Majesty being resolved to keep the Laws Himself and to require Obedience to them from all His Subjects And His Majesty once more recommends to His Parliament the substance of His Message of the twentieth of January last that they compose and digest with all speed such Acts as they shall think fit for the present and future establishment of their Priviledges the free and quiet enjoying their Estates and Fortunes the Liberties of their Persons the security of the true Religion now professed in the Church of England the maintaining His Majesties Regal and Just Authority and setling His Revenue His Majesty being most desirous to take all fitting and just wayes which may beget a happy understanding between Him and His Parliament in which He conceives His greatest Power and Riches do consist III. From NOTTINGHAM Aug. 25. MDCXLII When He set up His Standard By the Earls of Southampton and Dorset Sir John Culpepper Knight Chancellour of the Exchequer and Sir W. Wedale Knight WE have with unspeakable grief of heart long beheld the distractions of this our Kingdom Our very Soul is full of anguish until We may find some remedy to
intentions in His former Messages He doth now declare that if His Personal repair to London as aforesaid shall be admitted and a Peace thereon shall ensue He will then leave the nomination of the Persons to be intrusted with the Militia wholly to His two Houses with such power and limitations as are expressed in the Paper delivered by His Majesty's Commissioners at Vxbridge the sixth of February 1644. for the term of seven years as hath been desired to be given immediately after the conclusion of the Peace the disbanding of all Forces on both sides and the dismantling of the Garrisons erected since these present Troubles so as at the expiration of the time before mentioned the power of the Militia shall entirely revert and remain as before And for their further security His Majesty the Peace succeeding will be content that pro hac vice the two Houses shall nominate the Admiral Officers of State and Judges to hold their places during life or quam diu se bene gesserint which shall be best liked to be accountable to none but the King and the two Houses of Parliament As for matter of Religion His Majesty doth further declare That by the Liberty offered in His Message of the 15 present for the ease of their Consciences who will not communicate in the Service already established by Act of Parliament in this Kingdom He intends that all other Protestants behaving themselves peaceably in and towards the Civil Government shall have the free exercise of their Religion according to their own way And for the total removing of all Fears and Jealousies His Majesty is willing to agree that upon the conclusion of Peace there shall be a general Act of Oblivion and free Pardon past by Act of Parliament in both His Kingdoms respectively And lest it should be imagined that in the making these Propositions His Majesty's Kingdom of Scotland and His Subjects there have been forgotten or neglected His Majesty declares That what is here mentioned touching the Militia and the naming of Officers of State and Judges shall likewise extend to His Kingdom of Scotland And now His Majesty having so fully and clearly expressed His intentions and desires of making a happy and well-grounded Peace if any person shall decline that Happiness by opposing of so apparent a way of attaining it he will sufficiently demonstrate to all the World his intention and design can be no other than the total subversion and change of the ancient and happy Government of this Kingdom under which the English Nation hath so long flourished Given at Our Court at Oxon the 29. of January 1645. XXI From OXFORD Feb. 26. MDCXLV VI. For an Answer to the Former For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty needs to make no excuse though He sent no more Messages unto you for He very well knows He ought not to do it if He either stood upon punctilio's of Honour or His Own private Interest the one being already call'd in question by His often sending and the other assuredly prejudg'd if a Peace be concluded from that He hath already offered He having therein departed with many His undoubted Rights But nothing being equally dear unto Him to the preservation of His People His Majesty passeth by many scruples neglects and delayes and once more desires you to give Him a speedy Answer to His last Message for His Majesty believes it doth very well become Him after this very long delay at last to utter His Impatience since the Goods and Blood of His Subjects crie so much for Peace Given at our Court at Oxford the 26. day of February 1645. XXII From OXFORD Mar. 23. MDCXLV VI. Concerning His Return to the Houses For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster CHARLES R. NOtwithstanding the unexpected Silence in stead of Answer to His Majesty's many and gracious Messages to both Houses whereby it may appear that they desire to obtain their ends by Force rather than by Treaty which may justly discourage His Majesty from any more overtures of that kind yet His Majesty conceives He shall be much wanting in His duty to God and in what He oweth to the safety of His people if he should not intend to prevent the great inconveniences that may otherwise hinder a safe and well-grounded Peace His Majesty therefore now proposeth that so He may have the Faith of both Houses of Parliament for the preservation of His Honour Person and Estate and that Liberty be given to all those who do and have adhered to His Majesty to go to their own Houses and there to live peaceably enjoying their Estates all Sequestrations being taken off without being compelled to take any Oath not enjoyned by the undoubted Laws of the Kingdom or being put to any other molestation whatsoever He will immediately disband all His Forces and dismantle all His Garrisons and being accompanied with His Royal not His Martial Attendance return to His two Houses of Parliament and there reside with them And for the better security of all His Majesties Subjects He proposeth that He with His said two Houses immediately upon His coming to Westminster will pass an Act of Oblivion and free Pardon and where His Majesty will further do whatsoever they will advise Him for the good and Peace of this Kingdom And as for the Kingdom of Scotland His Majesty hath made no mention of it here in regard of the great loss of time which must now be spent in expecting an answer from thence but declares that immediately upon His coming to Westminster He will apply himself to give them all satisfaction touching that Kingdom If His Majesty could possibly doubt the success of this offer He could use many arguments to perswade them to it but shall only insist on that great One of giving an instant Peace to these afflicted Kingdoms Given at our Court at Oxford the 23. of March 1645. XXIII From SOUTHWELL May 18. MDCXLVI With his further Concessions for the obtaining of Peace For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty having understood from both His Houses of Parliament that it was not safe for Him to come to London whither He had purposed to repair if so He might by their advice to do whatsoever may be best for the good and Peace of these Kingdoms until He shall first give His consent to such Propositions as were to be presented to Him from them and being certainly informed that the Armies were marching so fast up to Oxford as made that no fit place for Treating did resolve to withdraw Himself hither only to secure His Own Person and with no
governed after the said three years or sooner if differences may be agreed Touching the Covenant His Majesty is not yet therein satisfied and desires to respite His particular Answer thereunto until His coming to London because it being a matter of Conscience He cannot give a resolution therein till He may be assisted with the Advice of some of His own Chaplains which hath hitherto been denied Him and such other Divines as shall be most proper to inform Him therein and then He will make clearly appear both His zeal to the Protestant Profession and the Union of these two Kingdoms which He conceives to be the main drift of this Covenant To the seventh and eighth Propositions His Majesty will consent To the ninth His Majesty doubts not but to give good satisfaction when he shall be particularly informed how the said penalties shall be levied and disposed of To the tenth His Majesty's Answer is That He hath been always ready to prevent the practices of Papists and therefore is content to pass an Act of Parliament for that purpose and also that the Laws against them be duly executed His Majesty will give his consent to the Act for the due observation of the Lord's day for the suppressing of Innovations and those concerning the Preaching of God's Word and touching Non-residence and Pluralities and His Majesty will yield to such Act or Acts as shall be requisite to raise moneys for the payment and satisfying all publick Debts expecting also that His will be therein included As to the Proposition touching the Militia though His Majesty cannot consent unto it in terminis as it is proposed because thereby He conceives He wholly parts with the power of the Sword entrusted to Him by God and the Laws of the Land for the protection and government of His People thereby at once devesting Himself and disinheriting His Posterity of that right and Prerogative of the Crown which is absolutely necessary to the Kingly Office and so weakning Monarchy in this Kingdom that little more than the name and shadow of it will remain yet if it be only security for the preservation of the Peace of this Kingdom after the unhappy Troubles and the due performance of all the agreements which are now to be concluded which is desired which His Majesty always understood to be the case and hopes that herein He is not mistaken His Majesty will give abundant satisfaction to which end He is willing by Act of Parliament That the whole power of the Militia both by Sea and Land for the space of ten years be in the hands of such persons as the two Houses shall nominate giving them power during the said term to change the said persons and substitute others in their places at pleasure and afterwards to return to the proper Chanel again as it was in the times of Queen Elizabeth and King James of blessed memory And now His Majesty conjures His two Houses of Parliament as they are Englishmen and Lovers of Peace by the duty they owe to His Majesty their King and by the bowels of compassion they have to their fellow-Subjects that they will accept of this His Majesty's offer whereby the joyful news of Peace may be restored to this languishing Kingdom His Majesty will grant the like to the Kingdom of Scotlund if it be desired and agree to all things that are propounded touching the conserving of Peace betwixt the two Kingdoms Touching Ireland other things being agreed His Majesty will give satisfaction therein As to the mutual Declaration proposed to be established in both Kingdoms by Act of Parliament and the Modifications Qualifications and branches which follow in the Propositions His Majesty only professes that He doth not sufficiently understand nor is able to reconcile many things contained in them but this He well knoweth that a general Act of Oblivion is the best Bond of Peace and that after intestine Troubles the wisdom of this and other Kingdoms hath usually and happily in all ages granted general Pardons whereby the numerous discontentments of many persons and families othewise exposed to ruine might not become fuel to new disorders or seeds to future troubles His Majesty therefore desires that His two Houses of Parliament would seriously descend into these considerations and likewise tenderly look upon His condition herein and the perpetual dishonour that must cleave to Him if He shall thus abandon so many persons of condition and fortune that have engaged themselves with and for Him out of a sense of Duty and propounds as a very acceptable testimony of their affection to Him that a general Act of Oblivion and free Pardon be forthwith passed by Act of Parliament Touching the new great Seal His Majesty is very willing to confirm both it and all the Acts done by virtue thereof until this present time so that it be not thereby pressed to make void those Acts of His done by virtue of His great Seal which in Honour and Justice He is obliged to maintain and that the future government thereof may be in His Majesty according to the due course of Law Concerning the Officers mentioned in the 19th Article His Majesty when He shall come to Westminster will gratifie His Parliament all that possibly He may without destroying the alterations which are necessary for the Crown His Majesty will willingly consent to the Act for the confirmation of the priviledges and customs of the City of London and all that is mentioned in the Propositions for their particular advantage And now that His Majesty hath thus far endeavoured to comply with the desires of His two Houses of Parliament to the end that this agreement may be firm and lasting without the least face or question of restraint to blemish the same His Majesty earnestly desires presently to be admitted to His Parliament at Westminster with that Honour which is due to their Sovereign there solemnly to confirm the same and legally to pass the Acts before mentioned and to give and receive as well satisfaction in all the remaining particulars as likewise such other pledges of mutual love trust and confidence as shall most concern the good of Him and His People upon which happy Agreement His Majesty will dispatch His Directions to the Prince His Son to return immediately to Him and will undertake for His ready obedience thereunto Holdenby May 12. 1647. XXX From HAMPTON-COURT Sept. 9. MDCXLVII In Answer to the Propositions presented to Him there For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty cannot chuse but be passionately sensible as He believes all His good Subjects are of the late great Distractions and still languishing and unsetled state of this Kingdom and He calls God to witness and is willing to give testimony to all the World of His readiness to contribute His uttermost endeavours for restoring it to a
happy and flourishing condition His Majesty having perused the Propositions now brought to Him finds them the same in effect which were offered to Him at Newcastle To some of which as He could not then consent without violation of His Conscience and Honour so neither can He agree to others now conceiving them in many respects more disagreeable to the present condition of affairs than when they were formerly presented unto Him as being destructive to the main principal Interests of the Army and of all those whose affections concur with them And His Majesty having seen the Proposals of the Army to the Commissioners from His two Houses residing with them and with them to be treated on in order to the clearing and securing of the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and the setling of a Just and lasting Peace to which Proposals as He conceives His two Houses not to be strangers so He believes they will think with Him that they much more conduce to the satisfaction of all Interests and may be a fitter foundation for a lasting Peace than the Propositions which at this time are tendered unto Him He therefore propounds as the best way in His judgment in order to a Peace that His two Houses would instantly take into consideration those Proposals upon which there may be a Personal Treaty with His Majesty and upon such other Propositions as His Majesty shall make hoping that the said Proposals may be so moderated in the said Treaty as to render them the more capable of His Majesty's full Concession Wherein He resolves to give full satisfaction to His People for whatsoever shall concern the setling of the Protestant Profession with liberty to tender Consciences and the securing of the Laws Liberties and Properties of His Subjects and all the just Privileges of Parliaments for the future And likewise by His present deportment in this Treaty He will make the World clearly judge of His intentions in matters of future Government In which Treaty His Majesty will be well pleased if it be thought fit that Commissioners from the Army whose the Proposals are may likewise be admitted His Majesty therefore conjures His two Houses of Parliament by the duty they owe to God and His Majesty their King and by the bowels of compassion they have to their fellow-Subjects both for the relief of their present Sufferings and to prevent future Miseries that they will forthwith accept of this His Majesty's offer whereby the joyful news of Peace may be restored to this distressed Kingdom And for what concerns the Kingdom of Scotland mentioned in the Propositions His Majesty will very willingly Treat upon those particulars with the Scotch Commissioners and doubts not but to give reasonable satisfaction to that His Kingdom At Hampton-Court the ninth of September 1647. XXXI From HAMPTON-COURT Nov. 11. MDCXLVII Left on the Table at His departure For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. LIberty being that which in all times hath been but especially now is the common theme and desire of all men common reason shews that Kings less than any should endure Captivity And yet I call God and the world to witness with what Patience I have endured a tedious Restraint which so long as I had any hopes that this sort of My Suffering might conduce to the Peace of My Kingdoms or the hindring of more effusion of bloud I did willingly undergo but now finding by too certain proofs that this my continued Patience would not only turn to my Personal Ruine but likewise be of much more prejudice than furtherance to the publick good I thought I was bound as well by natural as political obligations to seek My Safety by retiring My self for some time from the publick view both of my Friends and Enemies And I appeal to all indifferent men to judge if I have not just cause to free My self from the hands of those who change their Principles with their condition and who are not ashamed openly to intend the destruction of the Nobility taking away their negative voice and with whom the Levellers doctrine is rather countenanced than punished And as for their intentions to my Person their changing and putting more strict Guards upon Me with the discharging most of all those servants of Mine whom formerly they willingly admitted to wait upon Me does sufficiently declare Nor would I have this Retirement mis-interpreted for I shall earnestly and uncessantly endeavour the setling of a safe and well-grounded Peace where-ever I am or shall be and that as much as may be without the effusion of more Christian blood for which how many times have I desired prest to be heard and yet no ear given to Me. And can any reasonable man think that according to the ordinary course of affairs there can be a setled Peace without it or that God will bless those who refuse to hear their own King Surely no. Nay I must further add that besides what concerns My self unless all other chief Interests have not only a hearing but likewise just satisfaction given unto them to wit the Presbyterians Independents Army those who have adhered to Me and even the Scots I say there cannot I speak not of Miracles it being in My opinion a sinful presumption in such cases to expect or trust to them be a safe or lasting Peace Now as I cannot deny but that My Personal security is the urgent cause of this My Retirement so I take God to witness that the publick Peace is no less before Mine eyes and I can find no better way to express this My profession I know not what a wiser may do than by desiring and urging that all chief Interests may be heard to the end each may have just satisfaction As for Example the Army for the rest though necessary yet I suppose are not difficult to content ought in My Judgment to enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences have an Act of Oblivion or Indemnity which should extend to all the rest of My Subjects and that all their Arrears should be speedily and duly paid which I will undertake to do so I may be heard and that I be not hindred from using such lawful and honest means as I shall chuse To conclude let Me be heard with Freedom Honour and Safety and I shall instantly break through this Cloud of Retirement and shew My self really to be Pater Patriae Hampton Court Novemb. 11. 1647. XXXII From the Isle of WIGHT November 17. MDCXLVII For a Personal Treaty with His particular Concessions For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majest is confident that before this time His two Houses of Parliament have received the Message which He left behind Him at Hampton-Court
speak not of My Person having no apprehension that way how can I judge to make a safe and well-grounded Peace until I may know without disguise the true present state of all My Dominions and particularly of all those whose Interests are necessarily concerned in the Peace of these Kingdoms Which leads Me naturally to the last necessary demand I shall make for the bringing of this Treaty to an happy end which is That you alone or you and I joyntly do invite the Scots to send some persons authorized by them to treat upon such Propositions as they shall make for certainly the publick and necessary Interest they have in this great Settlement is so clearly plain to all the world that I believe no body will deny the necessity of their concurrence in this Treaty in order to durable Peace Wherefore I will only say that as I am a King of both Nations so I will yield to none in either Kingdom for being truly and zealously affected for the good and honour of both My resolution being never to be partial for either to the prejudice of the other Now as to the Place because I conceive it to be rather a circumstantial than real part of this Treaty I shall not much insist upon it I name Newport in this Isle yet the fervent zeal I have that a speedy end be put to these unhappy Distractions doth force Me earnestly to desire you to consider what a great loss of time it will be to treat so far from the body of My two Houses when every small debate of which doubtless there will be many must be transmitted to Westminster before it be concluded And really I think though to some it may seem a Paradox that peoples minds will be much more apt to settle seeing Me treat in or near London than in this Isle because so long as I am here it will never be believed by many that I am really so free as before this Treaty begins I expect to be And so I leave and recommend this Point to your serious consideration And thus I have not only fully accepted of the Treaty which you have proposed to Me by your Votes of the third of this Month but also given it all the furtherance that lies in Me by demanding the necessary means for the effectual performance thereof All which are so necessarily implied by though not particularly mentioned in your Votes as I can no ways doubt of your ready compliance with Me herein I have now no more to say but to conjure you by all that is dear to Christians honest men or good Patriots that ye will make all the expedition possible to begin this happy Work by hastening down your Commissioners fully authorized and well instructed and by enabling Me as I have shewed you to Treat praying the God of Peace so to bless our endeavours that all My Dominions may speedily enjoy a safe and well-grounded Peace CHARLES R. XXXVI From CARISBROOK Aug. 28. MDCXLVIII For some of His Council and others to attend Him at the Treaty For the Earl of Manchester Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore and William Lenthall Speaker of the House of Commons MY Lord and Master Speaker I have received your Letter of the twenty fifth of this Month with the Votes that you sent Me which though they are not so full as I could have wished for the perfecting of a Treaty yet because I conceive by what you have done that I am in some measure fit to begin one such is My uncessant and earnest desire to give a Peace to these My now-distracted Kingdoms as I accept the Treaty and therefore desire that such five Lords and ten Commons as My two Houses shall appoint be speedily sent fully authorized and instructed to Treat with Me not doubting but what is now wanting will at our meeting upon debate be fully supplied not only to the furtherance of this Treaty but also to the consummating of a safe and well-grounded Peace So I rest Your good Friend CHARLES R. Here is inclosed a List of the Names of such Persons as I desire GEntlemen of My Bedchamber Duke Richmond Marquess Hertford Earl Lindsey Earl Southampton Grooms of My Bedchamber George Kirk James Leviston Henry Murry John Ashburnham William Leg. Thomas Davise Barber Pages of My back stairs Hugh Henne Humphrey Rogers William Lever Rives Yeoman of My Robes Querries with four or five of My Footmen as they find fittest to wait Sir Edward Sidenham Robert Terwit Jo. Housden Mrs. Wheeler Landress with such Maids as she shall chuse Parsons a Groom of the Presence Sir Fulk Grevil Captain Titus Captain John Burroughs Mr. Cresset ... Hansted Abraham Douset Henry Firebrace to wait as they did or as I shall appoint them Bishop of London B. of Sarum Dr. Shelden Dr. Hammond Dr. Holdsworth Dr. Sanderson Dr. Turner Dr. Heywood Lawyers Sir Thomas Gardiner Sir Orlando Bridgman Sir Robert Holborn Mr. Geffery Palmer Mr. Thomas Cooke Mr. James Vaughan Clarks and Writers Sir Edward Walker Mr. Philip Warwick Nicholas Oudart Charles Whittaker To make ready the House for Treaty Peter Newton Clem. Kinersley I desire in Order to one of your Votes that you would send Me a free pass for Parsons one of the Grooms of My Presence-Chamber to go into Scotland and that you would immediately send him to Me to receive the dispatch thither XXXVII From CARISBROOK Sept. 7. MDCXLVIII Concerning the time of the Treaty and the sending some other Civil Lawyers and Divines For the Lord Hunsdon Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore and William Lenthall Speaker of the House of Commons MY Lord and Master Speaker I have received your Letter of the second of this Month containing the Names of those who are to Treat with Me and though they do not come at the time appoint I shall not wonder at first judging it too short in respect of My two Houses not of My self so that I did not imagine it could be kept as I then commanded Sir Peter Killegrew to tell you by word of mouth and therefore it shall be far from Me to take exceptions for their having elapsed the appointed time for God forbid that either My two Houses or I should carp at Circumstances to give the least impediment to this Treaty much less to hinder the happy finishing of it I say this the rather because I know not how it is possible in this I shall wish to be deceived that in forty days Treaty the many Distractions of these Kingdoms can be setled and if so it were more than strange that time enough should not be given for the perfecting of this most great and good Work which as I will not believe can be stuck on by the two Houses so I am sure it shall never be by Carisbrook 7. Sept. 1648. Your good Friend CHARLES R. I think fit to tell you because I believe in this Treaty there will be need of Civil Lawyers I have sent for my
upon Tweed already raised both for Sea and Land service and shall from time to time during the space of ten years raise levy arm train and discipline or cause to be raised levied armed trained and disciplined any other Forces for Land and Sea service in the Kingdoms Dominions and places aforesaid as in their judgments they shall from time to time during the said spaceof ten years think fit to appoint and that neither the King His Heirs or Successors or any other but such as shall Act by the Authority or approbation of the said Lords and Commons shall during the said space of ten years exercise any of the powers aforesaid That Monies be raised and levied for the maintenance and use of the said Forces for Land-service and of the Navy and Forces for Sea-service in such sort and by such ways and means as the said Lords and Commons shall from time to time during the said space of ten years think fit and appoint and not otherwise That all the said Forces both for Land and Sea-service so raised or levied or to be raised or levied and also the Admiralty and Navy shall from time to time during the said space of ten years be imployed managed ordered and disposed by the Lords and Commons in such sort and by such ways and means as they shall think fit and appoint and not otherwise And the said Lords and Commons or such as they shall appoint during the said space of ten years shall have power 1. To suppress all Forces raised or to be raised without authority and consent of the said Lords and Commons to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernesey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any of them 2. To suppress any foreign Forces who shall invade or indeavour to invade the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernesey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any of them And after the expiration of the said ten years neither the King His Heirs or Successors or any person or persons by colour or pretence of any Commission power deputation or authority to be derived from the King His Heirs or Successors or any of them shall without the consent of the said Lords and Commons raise arm train discipline imploy order manage disband or dispose any the Forces by Sea or Land of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland the Dominion of Wales Isles of Gernesey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed nor exercise any of the said powers or authorities herein before-mentioned and expressed to be during the space of ten years in the said Lords and Commons nor do any act or any thing concerning the execution of the said powers or authorities or any of them without the consent of the said Lords and Commons first had and obtained And with the same Provisoes for saving the ordinary legal power of Officers of Justice not being Military Officers as is set down in your Propositions and with a Declaration That if any persons shall be gathered and assembled together in a warlike manner or otherwise to the number of thirty persons and shall not forthwith disperse themselves being required thereto by the said Lords and Commons or command from them or any by them especially authorized for that purpose then such person or persons not so dispersing themselves shall be guilty and incur the pains of high Treason being first declared guilty of such offence by the said Lords and Commons any Commission under the Great Seal or other Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding and he or they that shall so offend herein to be uncapable of any pardon from His Majesty His Heirs or Successors And likewise that it be provided that the City of London shall have and enjoy all their Rights Liberties c. in raising and imploying the Forces of that City in such sort as is mentioned in the said Proposition With these Provisoes following to be inserted in the said Act. First That none be compelled to serve in the War against their Wills but in case of coming in of strange Enemies into this Kingdom And that the powers above-mentioned as concerning the Land-Forces other than for keeping up and maintenance of Forts and Garrisons and the keeping up maintaining and pay of this present Army so long as it shall be thought fit by both Houses of Parliament be exercised to no other purposes than for the suppressing of Forces raised or to be raised without authority and consent of the said Lords and Commons as aforesaid or for suppressing of any Foreign Forces which shall invade or endeavour to invade the Kingdoms Dominions or places aforesaid And that the Monies be raised by general and equal Taxations saving that Tunnage and Poundage and such Imposts as have been applyed to the Navy be raised as hath been usual And that all Patents Commissions and other Acts concerning the premisses be made and acted in His Majesties name by Warrant signified by the Lords and Commons or such others as they shall authorize for that purpose If it shall be more satisfactory to His two Houses to have the Militia and powers thereupon depending during the whole time of His Majesty's Reign rather than for the space of ten years His Majesty gives them the election Touching Ireland His Majesty having in the two preceding Propositions given His consent concerning the Church and the Militia there in all things as in England as to all other matters relating to that Kingdom after advice with His two Houses He will leave it to their determination and give His consent accordingly as is herein hereafter expressed Touching publick Debts His Majesty will give His consent to such an Act for raising of Monies by general and equal Taxations for the payment and satisfying the Arrears of the Army publick Debts and engagements of the Kingdom as shall be agreed on by both Houses of Parliament and shall be audited and ascertained by them or such persons as they shall appoint within the space of twelve Months after the passing of an Act for the same His Majesty will consent to an Act that during the said space of ten years the Lord Chancellour or Lord Keeper Commissioners of the Great Seal or Treasury Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports Chancellour of the Exchequer and Dutchy Secretaries of State Master of the Rolls Judges of both Benches and Barons of the Exchequer of England be nominated by both Houses of the Parliament of England to continue quam diu se bene gesserint and in the intervals of Parliament by such others as they shall authorize for that purpose His Majesty will consent that the Militia of the City of London and Liberties thereof during the space of ten years may be in the ordering and Government of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons in the Common Council assembled or such as they shall from time to
time appoint whereof the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs for the time being to be three to be imployed and directed from time to time during the said space of ten years in such manner as shall be agreed upon and appointed by both Houses of Parliament and that no Citizen of the City of London nor any of the Officers of the said City shall be drawn forth or compelled to go out of the said City or Liberties thereof for Military service without their own free consent That an Act be passed for granting and confirming the Charters Customs Liberties and Franchises of the City of London notwithstanding any Non-user Mis-user or Abuser And that during the said ten years the Tower of London may be in the government of the City of London and the Chief Officer and Governour from time to time during the said space to be nominated and removeable by the Common Council as are desired in your Propositions His Majesty having thus far expressed His consent for the present satisfaction and security of His two Houses of Parliament and those that have adhered unto them touching your four first Propositions and other the particulars before specified as to all the rest of your Propositions delivered to Him at Hampton-Court not referring to those heads and to that of the Court of Wards since delivered as also to the remaining Propositions concerning Ireland His Majesty desires only when He shall come to Westminster personally to advise with His two Houses and to deliver His Opinion and the reasons of it which being done He will leave the whole matter of those remaining Propositions to the determination of His two Houses which shall prevail with Him for His consent accordingly And His Majesty doth for His Own particular only propose that He may have liberty to repair forthwith to Westminster and be restored to a condition of absolute Freedom and Safety a thing which He shall never deny to any of His Subjects and to the possession of His Lands and Revenues and that an Act of Oblivion and Indemnity may pass to extend to all persons for all matters relating to the late unhappy Differences which being agreed by His two Houses of Parliament His Majesty will be ready to make these His Concessions binding by giving them the Force of Laws by His Royal assent HIS MAJESTIES DECLARATIONS I. His MAJESTIES DECLARATION After the Votes of no further Address Carisbrook Jan. 18. MDCXLVII To all My People of whatsoever Nation Quality or Condition AM I thus laid aside and must I not speak for My self No I will speak and that to all My People which I would have rather done by the way of My two Houses of Parliament but that there is a publick Order neither to make Addresses to or receive Messages from Me. And who but you can be judge of the differences betwixt Me and My two Houses I know none else for I am sure you it is who will enjoy the Happiness or feel the Misery of good or ill Government and we all pretend who should run fastest to serve you without having a regard at least in the first place to particular Interests And therefore I desire you to consider the state I am and have been in this long time and whether My Actions have more tended to the Publick or My own particular good For whosoever will look upon Me barely as I am a Man without that liberty which the meanest of My Subjects enjoys of going whither and conversing with whom I will as a Husband and Father without the comfort of My Wife and Children or lastly as a King without the least shew of Authority or Power to protect My distressed Subjects must conclude Me not onely void of all Natural Affection but also to want common understanding if I should not most cheerfully embrace the readiest way to the settlement of these distracted Kingdoms As also on the other side do but consider the form and draught of the Bills lately presented unto Me and as they are the Conditions of a Treaty ye will conclude that the same Spirit which hath still been able to frustrate all My sincere and constant endeavours for Peace hath had a powerful influence on this Message For though I was ready to grant the substance and comply with what they seem to desire yet as they had framed it I could not agree thereunto without deeply wounding My Conscience and Honour and betraying the Trust reposed in Me by abandoning My People to the Arbitrary and Unlimited Power of the two Houses for ever for the levying and maintaining of Land or Sea Forces without distinction of quality or limitation for Money-Taxes And if I could have passed them in terms how unheard-of a Condition were it for a Treaty to grant beforehand the most considerable part of the subject matter How ineffectual were that Debate like to prove wherein the most potent Party had nothing of moment left to ask and the other nothing more to give so consequently how hopeless of mutual compliance without which a settlement is impossible Besides if after My Concessions the two Houses should insist on those things from which I cannot depart how desperate would the condition of these Kingdoms be when the most proper and approved remedy should become ineffectual Being therefore fully resolved that I could neither in Conscience Honour or Prudence pass those four Bills I onely endeavoured to make the Reasons and Justice of my Denial appear to all the World as they do to me intending to give as little dis-satisfaction to the two Houses of Parliament without betraying My own Cause as the matter would bear I was desirous to give My Answer of the 28 th of December last to the Commissioners sealed as I had done others heretofore and sometimes at the desire of the Commissioners chiefly because when My Messages or Answers were publickly known before they were read in the Houses prejudicial interpretations were forced on them much differing and sometimes contrary to My meaning For example My Answer from Hampton-Court was accused of dividing the two Nations because I promised to give satisfaction to the Scots in all things concerning that Kingdom And this last suffers in a contrary sense by making Me intend to interest Scotland in the Laws of this Kingdom than which nothing was nor is further from my thoughts because I took notice of the Scots Commissioners protesting against the Bills and Propositions as contrary to the Interests and Engagements of the two Kingdomes Indeed if I had not mentioned their dissent an Objection not without some probability might have been made against Me both in respect the Scots are much concern'd in the Bill for the Militia and in several other Propositions and My silence might with some Justice have seemed to approve of it But the Commissioners refusing to receive My Answer sealed I upon the engagement of their and the Governor's Honour that no other use should be made or notice taken of it than as if it had
tendred such Propositions that might occasion the World to judge that they have yielded up not only their Wills and Affections but their Reasons also and Judgments for obtaining a true Peace or good Accommodation It is true that if they can shew what reasonably they could have asked more or wherein the King's Offers were deficient either in Point of Security or by with-holding from any His Subjects a jot of their just Priviledges then they said somewhat to challenge Belief But bare Asseverations even against what a Man sees will not get credit with any but such who abandon their Judgments to an implicite Faith nor can the Determinations of all the Parliaments in the World make a thing Just or Necessary if it be not so of it self And can it be imagined that any who were ever acquainted with the Passages at the Treaties of Oxford and Vxbridge will believe though it be said that the Propositions tendred at Newcastle were the same in effect which had been presented to the King before in the midst of all His strength and Forces Indeed methinks such gross slips as these should at least make a man be wary how to believe such things for which He sees no Proofs And yet it should seem that a man must either take their words for good payment or remain unsatisfied for a little after it is said that the Kings strange unexpected and conditional Answers or Denials might justly have made them consider some other course for setling the Kingdom in Peace and Safety without any farther Application but never shewn wherein the strangeness of His Answers or Denials consists And I should think that those Reasons upon which the laying by of a King's Authority is grounded for it is no less ought to be particularly mentioned for the Worlds satisfaction and not involved in general big words for it thereby seems that it is their force of Arms more than that of Reason which they trust to for procuring of obedience to their Determinations or belief to what they say Otherways can it be imagined that their saying that their last Propositions were so qualified that where it might stand with the publick Safety the wonted Scruples and Objections were prevented or removed can give satisfaction to any rational man who hath seen all their former Propositions for it is most evident that their Demands have always encreased with their good Fortune And for their great Condescension to a Personal Treaty which under favour can scarcely be called so for the King though He had granted what was desired was not to come either to or near London but to stay in the Isle of Wight and there to Treat with Commissioners upon signing the Four Bills surely they incurred therein but little danger for it is most evident that they contain the very substance of the most essential parts of their Demands which being once granted the King would neither have had power to deny nor any thing left worth the refusing for after He had confessed that He had taken up Arms to invade the Liberty of His People whereas it was only for the Defence of His own Rights and had likewise condemned all those who had faithfully served Him of Rebellion and that He had totally devested Himself His Heirs and Successors for ever of the power of the Sword whereby the Protection of His Subjects which is one of the most essential and necessary Rights belonging to Regal Authority is totally torn away from the Crown and that by a silent Confession He had done Himself and Successors an irreparable prejudice concerning the great Seal I speak not of the other two Bills neither of which are of little importance what was there more for Him to grant worth the insisting upon after such Concessions or indeed what power was left Him to deny any thing So that the King's necessity of giving the Answer He did for it was no absolute Refusal is most evident unless He had resolved to have lived in quiet without Honour and to have given His People Peace without Safety by abandoning them to an arbitrary and unlimited power of the two Houses for ever concerning the levying of Land or Sea-Forces without stinting of numbers or distinction of persons and for Payments to levy such summes of Monies in such sort and by such ways and means as they shall think fit and appoint And now I cannot but ask is this the Militia that the King contends for or did ever any King of England pretend to or seek for such a Power surely no but this is a new Militia and take heed lest this should prove like the Roman Praetorian Cohorts that what they did in chusing and changing Emperours these do not to this Government by moulding and altering it according to their Fancies Now my eagerness to clear this Point concerning the four Bills had almost made me forget a most material Question I wonder much wherein the Danger consists of a Personal Treaty with the King ever since He was last at Newcastle Surely He cannot bring Forces along with Him to awe His two Houses of Parliament and it is as well known that He hath not Money to raise an Army and truly there is as little fear that the Eloquence of His Tongue should work Miracles but on the contrary if He were so ill a man as you describe Him to be whatsoever He shall say or write must more prejudice Him than You for let Him never flatter Himself it must be clear not doubtful Reason that can prevail against that great visible prevailing Power which now opposes Him nor do I say it will but certainly less cannot do it Where is then the Danger Believe it Reason will hardly maintain those who are afraid of her After this it is said that they had cause enough to remember that the King sometimes denied to receive their humble Petitions but they neither tell where nor when which I am most confident they cannot but I am certain that the King hath sent divers Messages of Peace to them unto which He hath yet had no Answer namely His last from Oxford of the 15. January 1645. and all the rest since As for the Fight at Brainford whosoever will read the Collection of the Declarations in print upon that subject will clearly find that the King hath more reason to complain that they under colour of Treaty sought to environ Him with their Forces than they for what He then did and His retreat was neither for Fear nor with Shame for the appearing of the Enemy made Him retard not hasten His orders for retiring which divers hours before their appearing He had given which He did without any loss at all but on the contrary retreated with more Arms eleven Colours and fifteen pieces of Ordnance beside good store of Ammunition than He had before And for Cruelty there was not a drop of Blood shed but in the heat of the Fight for I saw above five hundred Prisoners who only promising
publick charge of this and that Kingdom to rob and pillage me of my Goods to chase my good Subjects and maintain my own Town of Hull against me and that by the absence of those Ships from the Irish Seas the Rebells have had opportunity to bring store of Arms Ammunition and Supplies to their succours to which we may justly impute the Calamities which have over whelmed my poor Protestant Subjects there They cry out upon a few suits of cloaths appointed as they say for Ireland which some of my Forces took but conceal that they were taken as entring into Coventry then in open Rebellion against me where I had reason to believe they would have been disposed of amongst their Soldiers who then bore Arms against me They talk of a few horses which I have made use of for my Carriages concealing that they were certified to be useless for the service of Ireland when they themselves have seised an hundred thousand pounds particularly appointed by Act of Parliament for the relief of Ireland where my Army is ready to perish for want of it and imployed it together with such part of the four hundred thousand pound Subsidie as they have received to maintain an unnatural Civil War at home Neither have they used their fellow-Subjects better than they have done me their King By their Power the Law of the Land your birth-right is trampled upon and in stead thereof they govern my People by Votes and Arbitrary Orders Such as will not submit to their unlimited power are imprisoned plundered and destroyed such as will not pay such exactions as they require toward this Rebellion are threatned to be put out of Protection as they call it of the Parliament such as conscientiously remember their Duty and Loyalty to me their Soveraign are reviled persecuted and declared Traitors such as do desire to maintain the true Protestant Religion as it is established by the Laws of the Land are traduced and called Popish and Superstitious and on the contrary such as are known Brownists Anabaptists and publick depravers of the Book of Common Prayer are countenanced and incouraged They exact and receive Tonnage and Poundage and other great duties upon Merchandises not only without Law but in the face of an Act of Parliament to the contrary past this present Parliament which puts all men into the condition of a Praemunire that shall presume so to oppress the People If you desire to know who are the Contrivers of these wicked designs you shall find some of their names in particular and their actions at large in my Declaration of the twelfth of August to which I shall refer you I wish their craft and power were not such that few of those Copies can come to the view of my good People Since that time these men so thirst after the destruction of this Kingdom that they have prevailed to make all my offers of Treaty which might bring Peace to this Kingdom and beget a good understanding between Me and my Parliament fruitless In this distress into which these men have brought Me and this Kingdom my confidence is in the Protection of Almighty God and the affections of my good People And that you may clearly see what my Resolutions are I shall cause my voluntary Protestation lately taken to be read to you And I desire that the Sheriffs of these two Counties will dispose Copies of that and what I now deliver unto you having no other way to make it publick these men having restrained the use of my Presses at London and the Universities XLVII To the Inhabitants of Shropshire at SHREWSBURY Sept. 28. MDCXLII GEntlemen It is some benefit to me from the insolencies and misfortunes which have driven Me about that they have brought Me to so good a part of my Kingdom and to so faithful a part of my People I hope neither you nor I shall repent My coming hither I will do My part that you may not and of you I was confident before I came The residence of an Army is not usually pleasant to any place and Mine may carry more fear with it since it may be thought being robbed and spoiled of all My Own and such terror used to fright and keep all men from supplying Me I must only live upon the aid and relief of My People But be not afraid I would to God my poor Subjects suffered no more by the insolence and violence of that Army raised against Me though they have made themselves wanton even with Plenty than you shall do by Mine And yet I fear I cannot prevent all Disorders I will do my best and this I will promise you No man shall be a loser by Me if I can help it I have sent hither for a Mint I will melt down all my own Plate and expose all my Land to Sale or Morgage that if it be possible I may not bring the least pressure upon you In the mean time I have summoned you hither to invite you to do that for Me and your selves for the maintenance of your Religion and the Law of the Land by which you enjoy all that you have which other men to against us Do not suffer so good a Cause to be lost for want of supplying Me with that which will be taken from you by those who pursue Me with this violence And whilst these ill men sacrifice their Mony Plate and utmost Industry to destroy the Commonwealth be you no less liberal to preserve it Assure your selves if it please God to bless Me with success I shall remember the Assistance every particular man here gives Me to his Advantage However it will hereafter how furiously soever the minds of some men are now possessed be honor and comfort to you that with some charge and trouble to your selves you did your part to support your King and preserve the Kingdom I desire Master Sheriff and the rest of the Gentlemen to distribute themselves in that method that they may best receive the expressions which you shall make of your affections the which I will have particularly represented to Me. XLVIII To the Inhabitants of Oxfordshire at OXFORD Nov. 2. MDCXLII GEntlemen Though you see My Army marching from hence I do not intend to leave you My Residence shall be so near that My Power shall have an influence upon this place of which I will besides take a particular care for your preservation Therefore fear not to express your affections to Me with that courage which becomes you I know how and by whom the Countrey hath been awed but I hope no man shall have more power to fright you from your Loyalty than I have to restore you to it and I shall guess by the evidence of this day at your natural dispositions In assisting Me you defend your selves for believe it the Sword which is now drawn against Me will destroy you if I defend you not I have and will venture My Life for you 't will be a shame for
you to venture nothing Whatsoever you shall be willing freely to contribute I will take kindly of you and whatsoever you shall lend Me I will in the word of a King see justly repayed to you I appoint the Sheriff to receive such Money or Plate as you Gentlemen shall be willing to assist Me with and to return their names to Me And you of the Clergy shall repair to Master Vice-Chancellor who shall do the like And I expect that you should advance this Service throughout the Countrey and return your Collections suddenly to Me by the hand of the Sheriff And I assure you I shall take especial notice of such who shall be backward in this time of so visible Necessity XLIX To the Lords and Commons assembled at OXFORD Jan. 22. MDCXLIII IV. MY Lords and Gentlemen When I consider your publick Interests and Concernments in the Happiness and Honor of this Nation and your particular sufferings in this Rebellion for your affection and Loyalty to Me I must look upon you as the most competent Considerers and Counsellers how to manage and improve the Condition we are all in for sure our Condition is so equal that the same Violence hath oppressed us all I have therefore called you together to be witnesses of my Actions and privy to my Intentions and certainly if I had the least thought disagreeing with the happiness and security of this Kingdom I would not advise with such Counsellors And I doubt not but your Concurrence with Me will so far prevail over the hearts and understandings of this whole Kingdom who must look upon you as persons naturally and originally trusted by and for them that it will be above the reach and Malice of those who have hitherto had too great an influence upon the People to discredit my most intire Actions and sincere Promises You will be the best witnesses for the one and security for the other Very many of you can bear me witness with what unwillingness I suffered my self first to take up these Defensive Arms indeed with so great that I was first almost in the power of those who in two set Battels have sufficiently informed the world how tender they have been of the safety of my Person I foresaw not only the rage and oppression which would every day break out upon my Subjects as the Malice of these ill men increased and their purposes were detected but also the great inconveniences my best Subjects would suffer even by my own Army raised and kept for their preservation and protection For I was not so ill a Souldier as not to foresee how impossible it was to keep a strict discipline I being to struggle with so many defects and necessities and I assure you the sense I have of their sufferings who deserve well of Me by my Forces hath been a greater grief to me than any thing to my own particular My hope was that either by Success on my part or Repentance on theirs God would have put a short end to this great storm But guilt and despair have made these men more wicked than I imagine they at first intended to be for instead of removing and reconciling these bloudy Distractions and restoring Peace to this languishing Countrey they have invited a Forein power to invade this Kingdom and that in your names and challenge this Invasion from them as a debt to the Commonwealth You My Lords have like your selves as good Patriots expressed your dissent and vindicated your selves from that imputation and I doubt not but you Gentlemen will let your Countreys know how far you are from desiring such assistance and how absolute and peremptory a breach this raising of Arms of my Scotish Subjects is of that Pacification which was so lately and solemnly made by you and can intend nothing but a conquest of you and your Laws I shall send you all the advertisements I have of that business which is threatned from Scotland and what is already acted from thence and shall desire your speedy advice and assistance what is to be said or done both with reference to this and that Kingdom Our ends being the same I am sure there will be no other difference in the way than what upon debate and right understanding will be easily adjusted Let our Religion in which we are all most nearly concerned and without care of which we must not look for God's blessing be vindicated and preserved let my Honor and Rights which you find to have an inseparable relation with your own Interests be vindicated and restored let your Liberties Properties Priviledges without which I would not be your King be secured and confirmed there is nothing you can advise Me to I will not meet you in And I doubt not but we shall together inform Posterity how much our trust and confidence in each other is a better expedient for the Peace and preservation of the Kingdom than Fears and Jealousies I shall keep you no longer from consulting together than in telling you that I have prepared fit places for your Meetings to which I desire you to repair this night assuring you that I shall be always ready to receive any thing from you admitting you to Me or coming to you My self whensoever you shall desire And so God direct you the best way L. To the Lord Primate of Ireland and the Congregation at Christ-Church in OXFORD MDCXLIII HIS Majesty being to receive the Sacrament from the hands of the Lord Archbishop of Armagh rising up from His knees and beckening to the Archbishop for a short forbearance said My Lord I espy here many resolved Protestants who may declare to the world the Resolution I do now make I have to the utmost of My power prepared My Soul to become a worthy Receiver and may I so receive comfort by the Blessed Sacrament as I do intend the establishment of the true Reformed Protestant Religion as it stood in its beauty in the happy days of Queen Elizabeth without any connivence at Popery I bless God that in the midst of these publick Distractions I have still liberty to communicate And may this Sacrament be My Damanation if My Heart do not joyn with My Lips in this Protestation LI. To the Lords and Commons at OXFORD February 7. MDCXLIII IV. MY Lords and Gentlemen I have hardly thus long forborn to give you thanks for the care and pains you have taken for the publick safety since your coming together And first I thank you for your inclination to Peace to which as My willingness of complying shewed the constancy of My endeavours in the best way for the publick good so the Rebels by their scornfully rejecting your Overtures as they have done heretofore Mine have shewed their constancy in their way Next I must thank every one of you for so chearfully applying your selves to the maintenance and recruiting of My Army which I hope God will so bless that thereby these enemies of Peace shall have their due reward And
upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the year last mentioned at Newbury aforesaid and upon or about the eighth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred forty and five at the Town of Leicester and also upon the fourteenth day of the same month in the same year at Naseby-field in the County of Northampton At which several times and places or most of them and at many other places in this Land at several other times within the years aforementioned and in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred forty and six he the said Charles Stuart hath caused and procured many thousands of the Free People of the Nation to be slain and by Divisions Parties and Infurrections within this Land by Invasions from Forein Parts endeavoured and procured by him and by many other evil ways and means he the said Charles Stuart hath not only maintained and carried on the said War both by Land and Sea during the years before mentioned but also hath renewed or caused to be renewed the said War against the Parliament and good People of this Nation in this present year one thousand six hundred forty and eight in the Counties of Kent Essex Surry Sussex Middlesex and many other places in England and Wales and also by Sea and particularly he the said Charles Stuart hath for that purpose given Commission to his Son the Prince and others whereby besides multitudes of other persons many such as were by the Parliament intrusted and imployed for the safety of the Nation being by him or his Agents corrupted to the betraying of their Trust and revolting from the Parliament have had entertainment and Commission for the continuing and renewing of War and Hostility against the said Parliament and People as aforesaid By which cruel and unnatural Wars by him the said Charles Stuart levied continued and renewed as aforesaid much innocent blood of the Free People of this Nation hath been spilt many Families have been undone the publick Treasury wasted and exhausted Trade obstructed and miserably decayed vast expence and damage to the Nation incurred and many parts of the Land spoiled some of them even to Desolation And for further prosecution of his said evil Designs he the said Charles Stuart doth still continue his Commissions to the said Prince and other Rebels and Revolters both English and Foreiners and to the Earl of Ormond and to the Irish Rebels and Revolters associated with him from whom further Invasions upon this Land are threatned upon the procurement and on the behalf of the said Charles Stuart All which wicked Designs Wars and evil Practices of him the said Charles Stuart have been and are carried on for the advancing and upholding of the Personal Interest of Will and Power and pretended Prerogative to himself and his Family against the Publick Interest Common Right Liberty Justice and Peace of the People of this Nation by and for whom he was intrusted as aforesaid By all which it appeareth that he the said Charles Stuart hath been and is the Occasioner Author and Contriver of the said unnatural cruel and bloody Wars and therein guilty of all the Treasons Murders Rapines Burnings Spoils Desolations Damage and Mischief to this Nation acted or committed in the said Wars or occasioned thereby And the said John Cook by Protestation saving on the behalf of the People of England the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Charge against the said Charles Stuart and also of replying to the Answers which the said Charles Stuart shall make to the Premisses or any of them or any other Charge that shall be so exhibited doth for the said Treasons and Crimes on the behalf of the said People of England impeach the said Charles Stuart as a Tyrant Traitor Murtherer and a publick and implacable Enemy to the Commonwealth of England and pray that the said Charles Stuart King of England may be put to answer all and every the Premisses that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals Sentence and Judgment may be thereupon had as shall be agreeable to Justice His Majesty with His wonted Patience heard all these Slanders and Reproaches sitting in the Chair and looking sometimes on the pretended Court sometimes up to the Galleries and rising again turned about to behold the Guards and Spectators then he sate down with a Majestick and unmoved countenance and sometimes smiling especially at those words Tyrant Traitor and the like Also the silver head of His Staff happened to fall off at which He wondred and seeing none to take it up He stooped for it Himself The Charge being read Bradshaw began Sir you have now heard your Charge read containing such matters as appear in it you find that in the close of it it is prayed to the Court in the behalf of the Commons of England that you answer to your Charge The Court expects your Answer KING I would know by what Power I am called hither I was not long ago in the Isle of Wight how I came there is a longer story than I think is fit at this time for Me to speak of but there I entred into a Treaty with both Houses of Parliament with as much publick Faith as it 's possible to be had of any People in the World I treated there with a number of Honourable Lords and Gentlemen and treated honestly and uprightly I cannot say but they did very nobly with Me we were upon a conclusion of the Treaty Now I would know by what Authority I mean lawful there are many unlawful Authorities in the world Thieves and Robbers by the high-ways but I would know by what Authority I was brought from thence and carried from place to place and I know not what And when I know by what lawful Authority I shall answer Remember I am your King your lawful King and what sins you bring upon your heads and the Judgment of God upon this Land Think well upon it I say think well upon it before you go further from one sin to a greater Therefore let Me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I shall not be unwilling to answer In the mean time I shall not betray My Trust I have a Trust committed to Me by God by old and lawful Descent I will not betray it to answer to a new unlawful Authority Therefore resolve Me that and you shall hear more of Me. Bradshaw If you had been pleased to have observed what was hinted to you by the Court at your first coming hither you would have known by what Authority which Authority requires you in the name of the People of England of which you are elected King to answer KING No Sir I deny that Bradshaw If you acknowledge not the Authority of the Court they must proceed KING I do tell them so England was never an Elective Kingdom but an Hereditary Kingdom for near these thousand years therefore let Me know by what Authority I am called
hither I do stand more for the Liberty of My People than any here that come to be My pretended Judges and therefore let Me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I will answer it otherwise I will not answer it Bradshaw Sir how really you have managed your Trust is known your way of Answer is to interrogate the Court which beseems not you in this Condition You have been told of it twice or thrice KING Here is a Gentleman Lieutenant Colonel Cobbet ask him if he did not bring Me from the Isle of Wight by force I do not come here as submitting to the Court. I will stand as much for the Privilege of the House of Commons rightly understood as any man here whatsoever I see no House of Lords here that may constitute a Parliament and the King too should have been Is this the bringing of the King to His Parliament Is this the bringing an end to the Treaty in the Publick Faith of the World Let Me see a Legal Authority warranted by the Word of God the Scriptures or warranted by the Constitutions of the Kingdom and I will answer Bradshaw Sir you have propounded a Question and have been answered Seeing you will not answer the Court will consider how to proceed In the mean time those that brought you hither are to take charge of you back again The Court desires to know whether this be all the Answer you will give or no. KING Sir I desire that you would give Me and all the World satisfaction in this Let Me tell you It is not a slight thing you are about I am sworn to keep the Peace by that Duty I owe to God and My Countrey and I will do it to the last breath of My body And therefore you shall do well to satisfie first God and then the Country by what Authority you do it If you do it by an usurped Authority you cannot answer it There is a God in Heaven that will call you and all that give you Power to account Satisfie Me in that and I will answer otherwise I betray My Trust and the Liberties of the People and therefore think of that and then I shall be willing For I do avow That it is as great a Sin to withstand Lawful Authority as it is to submit to a Tyrannical or any otherways unlawful Authority And therefore satisfie God and Me and all the World in that and you shall receive My Answer I am not afraid of the Bill Bradshaw The Court expects you should give them a final Answer Their purpose is to adjourn till Monday next If you do not satisfie your self though we do tell you our Authority we are satisfied with our Authority and it is upon God's Authority and the Kingdoms and that Peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of Justice and that 's our present Work KING For Answer let Me tell you you have shewn no Lawful Authority to satisfie any reasonable man Bradshaw That 's in your apprehension we are satisfied that are your Judges KING 'T is not My apprehension nor yours neither that ought to decide it Bradshaw The Court hath heard you and you are to be disposed of as they have commanded So commanding the Guard to take Him away His Majesty only replied Well Sir And at His going down pointing with His Staff toward the Ax He said I do not fear that As He went down the stairs the People in the Hall cried out God save the King notwithstanding some were there set by the Faction to lead the clamour for Justice O yes being called they adjourn Westminster-Hall Monday Jan. 22. Afternoon SVnday being spent in Fasting and Preaching according to their manner of making Religion a pretence and prologue to their Villanies on Monday afternoon they came again into the Hall and after Silence commanded called over their Court where Seventy persons being present answered to their Names His Majesty being brought in the People gave a shout Command given to the Captain of their Guard to fetch and take into his custody those who make any Disturbance Then their Solicitor Cook began May it please your Lordship my Lord President I did at the last Court in the behalf of the Commons of England exhibite and give into this Court a Charge of High Treason and other high Crimes against the Prisoner at the Bar whereof I do accuse him in the name of the People of England and the Charge was read unto him and his Answer required My Lord he was not then pleased to give an Answer but in stead of answering did there dispute the Authority of this High Court My humble motion to this High Court in behalf of the Kingdom of England is That the Prisoner may be directed to make a Positive Answer either by way of Confession or Negation which if he shall refuse to do that the matter of Charge may be taken pro confesso and the Court may proceed according to Justice Bradshaw Sir you may remember at the last Court you were told the occasion of your being brought hither and you heard a Charge read against you containing a Charge of High Treason and other high Crimes against this Realm of England you heard likewise that it was prayed in the behalf of the People that you should give an Answer to that Charge that thereupon such proceedings might be had as should be agreeable to Justice you were then pleased to make some scruples concerning the Authority of this Court and knew not by what Authority you were brought hither you did divers time propound your Questions and were as often answer'd That it was by the Authority of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament that did think fit to call you to account for those high and capital Misdemeanours wherewith you were then charged Since that the Court hath taken into consideration what you then said they are fully satisfied with their own Authority and they hold it fit you should stand satisfied with it too and they do require it that you do give a positive and particular Answer to this Charge that is exhibited against you They do expect you should either confess or deny it If you deny it is offered in the behalf of the Kingdom to be made good against you Their Authority they do avow to the whole World that the whole Kingdom are to rest satisfied in and you are to rest satisfied with it and therefore you are to lose no more time but to give a positive Answer thereunto KING When I was here last 't is very true I made that Question and if it were only My own particular Case I would have satisfied My self with the Protestation I made the last time I was here against the Legality of this Court and that a King cannot be tried by any superior Jurisdiction on Earth But it is not My Case alone it is the Freedom and the Liberty of the People of England and do you pretend what
you will I stand more for their Liberties For if Power without Law may make Laws may alter the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom I do not know what Subject he is in England that can be sure of his Life or any thing that he calls his own Therefore when that I came here I did expect particular Reasons to know by what Law what Authority you did proceed against Me here and therefore I am a little to seek what to say to you in this particular because the Affirmative is to be proved the Negative often is very hard to do But since I cannot perswade you to do it I shall tell you My Reasons as short as I can My Reasons why in Conscience and the Duty I owe to God first and My People next for the preservation of their Lives Liberties and Estates I conceive I cannot answer this till I be satisfied of the Legality of it All proceedings against any man whatsoever Bradshaw Sir I must interrupt you which I would not do but that what you do is not agreeable to the proceedings of any Court of Justice You are about to enter into Argument and Dispute concerning the Authority of this Court before whom you appear as a Prisoner and are charged as an high Delinquent If you take upon you to dispute the Authority of the Court we may not do it nor will any Court give way unto it you are to submit unto it you are to give a punctual and direct Answer whether you will answer your Charge or no and what you Answer is KING Sir by your favour I do not know the Forms of Law I do know Law and Reason though I am no Lawyer profess'd but I know as much Law as any Gentleman in England and therefore under favour I do plead for the Liberties of the People of England more than you do and therefore if I should impose a belief upon any man without Reasons given for it it were unreasonable but I must tell you that that Reason that I have as thus informed I cannot yield unto it Bradshaw Sir I must interrupt you you may not be permitted You speak of Law and Reason it is fit there should be Law and Reason and there is both against you Sir the Vote of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament it is the Reason of the Kingdom and they are these too that have given that Law according to which you should have ruled and reigned Sir you are not to dispute our Authority you are told it again by the Court Sir it will be taken notice of that you stand in contempt of the Court and your Contempt will be recorded accordingly KING I do not know how a King can be a Delinquent but by any Law that ever I heard of all men Delinquents or what you will let Me tell you they may put in Demurrers against any proceeding as Legal and I do demand that and demand to be heard with My Reasons If you deny that you deny Reason Bradshaw Sir you have offered something to the Court I shall speak something unto you the sense of the Court. Sir neither you nor any man are permitted to dispute that point you are concluded you may not demurr to the Jurisdiction of the Court if you do I must let you know that they over-rule your Demurrer They sit here by the Authority of the Commons of England and all your Predecessors and you are responsible to them KING I deny that shew Me one Precedent Bradshaw Sir you ought not to interrupt while the Court is speaking to you This point is not to be debated by you neither will the Court permit you to do it If you offer it by way of Demurrer to the Jurisdiction of the Court they have considered of their Jurisdiction they do affirm their own Jurisdiction KING I say Sir by your favour that the Commons of England was never a Court of Judicature I would know how they came to be so Bradshaw Sir you are not to be permitted to go on in that speech and these discourses Then the Clerk of the Court read Charles Stuart King of England you have been accused on the behalf of the People of England of High Treason and other High Crimes the Court have determined that you ought to answer the same KING I will answer the same so soon as I know by what Authority you do this Bradshaw If this be all that you will say then Gentlemen you that brought the Prisoner hither take charge of him back again KING I do require that I may give in My Reasons why I do not answer and give Me time for that Bradshaw Sir 't is not for Prisoners to require KING Prisoners Sir I am not an ordinary Prisoner Bradshaw The Court hath considered of their Jurisdiction and they have already affirmed their Jurisdiction If you will not answer we shall give order to record your Default KING You never heard My Reasons yet Bradshaw Sir your Reasons are not to be heard against the Highest Jurisdiction KING Shew Me that Jurisdiction where Reason is not to be heard Bradshaw Sir we shew it you here the Commons of England and the next time you are brought you will know more of the pleasure of the Court and it may be their final Determination KING Shew Me where ever the House of Commons was a Court of Judicature of that kind Bradshaw Serjeant take away the Prisoner KING Well Sir remember that the King is not suffered to give in His Reasons for the Liberty and Freedom of all His Subjects Bradshaw Sir you are not to have liberty to use this language How great a Friend you have been to the Laws and Liberties of the People let all England and the World judge KING Sir under favour it was the Liberty Freedom and Laws of the Subject that ever I took defended My self with Arms I never took up Armes against the People but for the Laws Bradshaw The Command of the Court must be obeyed No Answer will be given to the Charge KING Well Sir Then Bradshaw ordered the Default to be recorded and the Contempt of the Court and that no Answer would be given to the Charge The King was guarded forth to Sir Robert Cotton's house The Court adjourned to the Painted Chamber on Tuesday at twelve of Clock and from thence they intend to adjourn to Westminster-Hall at which time all persons concerned are to give their attendance His Majesty not being suffered to deliver His Reasons against the Jurisdiction of their pretended Court by word of mouth thought fit to leave them in writing to the more impartial judgment of Posterity as followeth HAving already made My Protestations not only against the Illegality of this pretended Court but also That no Earthly Power can justly call Me who am your King in question as a Delinquent I would not any more open My mouth upon this occasion more than to referr My self to what I have spoken were I in this Case alone
Privileges to alter the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Sir you must excuse Me. Bradshaw Sir this is the third time that you have publickly disown'd this Court and put an Affront upon it How far you have preserv'd the Privileges of the People your Actions have spoke it but truly Sir mens Intentions ought to be known by their Actions you have written your meaning in bloody Characters throughout the whole Kingdom But Sir you understand the pleasure of the Court. Clerk record the Default And Gentlemen you that took charge of the Prisoner take him back again KING I will only say this one word more to you If it were only My own particular I would not say any more nor interrupt you Bradshaw Sir you have heard the pleasure of the Court and you are notwithstanding you will not understand it to find that you are before a Court of Justice Then the King went forth with the Guard And Proclamation was made That all persons which had then appeared and had further to do at the Court might depart into the Painted Chamber to which place the Court did forthwith adjourn and intended to meet in Westminster-Hall by ten of the Clock next morning Cryer God bless the Kingdom of England Westminster-Hall Saturday Jan. 27. Afternoon TWo or three dayes being spent in a formal Examination of Witnesses and preparing themselves for the last scene of this Mock-shew at length on Saturday the twenty seventh of January Bradshaw in his Scarlet Robes appeared in the Hall and Sixty seven others answered to their Names As the King came in in His wonted posture with his Hat on and passed toward them some few Souldiers began a clamour for Justice Justice and Execution O yes made and Silence commanded the Captain of their Guard ordered to take into Custody such as made any disturbance His Majesty began I desire a word to be heard a little and I hope I shall give no occasion of interruption Bradshaw saucily answered You may answer in your time hear the Court first His Majesty patiently replied If it please you Sir I desire to be heard and I shall not give any occasion of interruption and it is only in a word A sudden Judgment Bradshaw Sir you shall be heard in due time but you are to hear the Court first KING Sir I desire it it will be in order to what I believe the Court will say and therefore Sir A hasty Judgment is not so soon recalled Bradshaw Sir you shall be heard before the Judgment be given and in the mean time you may forbear KING Well Sir shall I be heard before the Judgment be given Bradshaw Gentlemen it is well known to all or most of you here present that the Prisoner at the Bar hath been several times convented and brought before this Court to make Answer to a Charge of Treason and other high Crimes exhibited against him in the name of the People of England To which Charge being required to answer he hath been so far from obeying the Commands of the Court by submitting to their Justice as he began to take upon him to offer Reasoning and Debate unto the Authority of the Court and to the highest Court that appointed them to try and judge him But being over-ruled in that and required to make his Answer he was still pleased to continue Contumacious and to refuse to submit to Answer Hereupon the Court that they might not be wanting to themselves nor the Trust reposed in them nor that any man's wilfulness prevent Justice they have thought fit to take the matter into their consideration they have considered of the Charge they have considered of the Contumacy and of that Confession which in Law doth arise upon that Contumacy they have likewise considered of the Notoriety of the Fact charged upon this Prisoner and upon the whole matter they are resolved and are agreed upon a Sentence to be pronounced against this Prisoner But in respect he doth desire to be heard before the Sentence be read and pronounced the Court hath resolved that they will hear him Yet Sir thus much I must tell you beforehand which you have been minded of at other Courts That if that which you have to say be to offer any debate concerning the Jurisdiction you are not to be heard in it You have offered it formerly and you have struck at the Root that is the Power and Supreme Authority of the Commons of England which this Court will not admit a debate of and which indeed it is an irrational thing in them to do being a Court that acts upon Authority derived from them But Sir if you have any thing to say in defence of your self concerning the matter charged the Court hath given me in command to let you know they will hear you KING Since I see that you will not hear any thing of Debate concerning that which I confess I though most material for the Peace of the Kingdom and for the Liberty of the Subject I shall wave it I shall speak nothing to it But only I must tell you that this many-a day all things have been taken away from Me but that that I call dearer to Me than My Life which is My Conscience and My Honor And if I had a respect to My Life more than the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject certainly I should have made a particular Defence for My Self for by that at leastwise I might have delayed an ugly Sentence which I believe will pass upon Me. Therefore certainly Sir as a man that hath some understanding some knowledge of the World if that My true Zeal to My Countrey had not overborn the care that I have for My own Preservation I should have gone another way to work than that I have done Now Sir I conceive that an hasty Sentence once past may sooner be repented of than recalled and truly the self-same desire that I have for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject more than my own particular Ends makes Me now at last desire That I having something to say that concerns both I desire before Sentence be given that I may be heard in the Painted Chamber before the Lords and Commons This Delay cannot be prejudicial unto you whatsoever I say If that I say no Reason those that hear Me must be Judges I cannot be Judge of that that I * have If it be Reason and really for the welfare of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject I am sure on it it is very well worth the hearing Therefore I do conjure you as you love that that you pretend I hope it is real the Liberty of the Subject the Peace of the Kingdom that you will grant me this hearing before any Sentence be past I only desire this That you will take this into your Consideration it may be you have not heard of it before-hand If you will I will retire and you may think of
it but if I cannot get this Liberty I do protest That these fair shews of Liberty and Peace are pure shews and that you will not hear your King Bradshaw Sir you have now spoken KING Yes Sir Bradshaw And this that you have said is a further declining of the Jurisdiction of this Court which was the thing wherein you were limited before KING Pray excuse Me Sir for My interruption because you mistake Me. It is not a declining of it you do judge Me before you hear Me speak I say it will not I do not decline it though I cannot acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court yet Sir in this give Me leave to say I would do it though I did not acknowledge it in this I do protest it is not the declining of it since I say if that I do say any thing but that that is for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject then the shame is Mine Now I desire that you will take this into your Consideration if you will I will withdraw Bradshaw Sir this is not altogether new that you have moved unto us not altogether new to us though the first time in person you have offered it to the Court. Sir you say you do not decline the Jurisdiction of the Court. KING Not in this that I have said Bradshaw I understand you well Sir but nevertheless that which you have offered seems to be contrary to that saying of yours for the Court are ready to give a Sentence It is not as you say That they will not hear their King for they have been ready to hear you they have patiently waited your pleasure for three Courts together to hear what you would say to the Peoples Charge against you to which you have not vouchsafed to give any Answer at all Sir this tends to a further Delay Truly Sir such Delays as these neither may the Kingdom nor Justice well bear You have had three several days to have offered in this kind what you would have pleased This Court is founded upon that Authority of the Commons of England in whom rests the Supreme Jurisdiction That which you now tender is to have another Jurisdiction and a co-ordinate Jurisdiction I know very well you express your self Sir That notwithstanding that you would offer to the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber yet nevertheless you would proceed on here I did hear you say so But Sir that you would offer there whatever it is must needs be in delay of the Justice here so as if this Court be resolved and prepared for the Sentence this that you offer they are not bound to grant But Sir according to that you seem to desire and because you shall know the further pleasure of the Court upon that which you have moved the Court will withdraw for a time This he did to prevent the disturbance of their Scene by one of their own Members Colonel John Downes who could not stifle the reluctance of his Conscience when he saw his Majesty press so earnestly for a short hearing but declaring himself unsatisfied forced them to yield to the King's Request KING Shall I withdraw Bradshaw Sir You shall know the pleasure of the Court presently The Court withdraws for half an hour into the Court of Wards Serjeant at Arms. The Court gives command that the Prisoner be withdrawn and they give order for his return again Then withdrawing into the Chamber of the Court of Wards their business was not to consider of his Majesties desire but to Chide Downes and with reproaches and threats to harden him to go through the remainder of their Villany with them Which done they return and being sate Bradshaw commanded Serjeant at Armes send for your Prisoner Who being come Bradshaw proceeded Sir you were pleased to make a motion here to the Court to offer a desire of yours touching the propounding of somewhat to the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber for the Peace of the Kingdom Sir you did in effect receive an Answer before the Court adjourned truly Sir their withdrawing and adjournment was pro forma tantùm for it did not seem to them that there was any difficulty in the thing They have considered of what you have moved and have considered of their own Authority which is founded as hath been often said upon the supreme Authority of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament the Court acts accordingly to their Commission Sir the return I have to you from the Court is this That they have been too much delayed by you already and this that you now offer hath occasioned some little further Delay and they are Judges appointed by the highest Authority and Judges are no more to delay than they are to deny Justice they are good words in the Great old Charter of England Nulli negabimus nulli vendemus nulli deferemus Justitiam there must be no delay But the truth is Sir and so every man here observes it that you have much delayed them in your Contempt and Default for which they might long since have proceeded to Judgment against you and notwithstanding what you have offered they are resolved to proceed to Sentence and to Judgment and that is their unanimous Resolution KING Sir I know it is in vain for Me to dispute I am no Sceptick for to deny the Power that you have I know that you have Power enough Sir I must confess I think it would have been for the Kingdoms Peace if you would have taken the pains for to have shewn the Lawfulness of your Power For this Delay that I have desired I confess it is a Delay but it is a Delay very important for the Peace of the Kingdom for it is not My Person that I look at alone it is the Kingdoms Welfare and the Kingdoms Peace It is an old Sentence That we should think on long before we resolve of great matters suddenly Therefore Sir I do say again that I do put at your doors all the inconveniency of a hasty Sentence I confess I have been here now I think this Week this day eight dayes was the day I came here first but a little Delay of a day or two further may give Peace whereas a hasty Judgment may bring on that Trouble and perpetual Inconveniency to the Kingdom that the Child that is unborn may repent it And therefore again out of the Duty I owe to God and to My Country I do desire that I may be heard by the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber or any other Chamber that you will appoint Me. Bradshaw You have been already answered to what you even now moved being the same you moved before since the Resolution and the Judgment of the Court in it And the Court now requires to know whether you have any more to say for your self than you have said before they proceed to Sentence KING I say this Sir That if you hear Me if you will give
Me but this Delay I doubt not but I shall give some satisfaction to you all here and to My People after that and therefore I do require you as you will answer it at the dreadful Day of Judgment that you will consider it once again Bradshaw Sir I have received direction from the Court. KING Well Sir Bradshaw If this must be re-inforced or any thing of this nature your Answer must be the same and they will proceed to Sentence if you have nothing more to say KING I have nothing more to say but I shall desire that this may be entred what I have said Bradshaw The Court then Sir hath something to say unto you which although I know it will be very unacceptable yet notwithstanding they are willing and are resolved to discharge their Duty Then Bradshaw went on in a long Harangue endeavouring to justifie their proceedings misapplying Law and History and raking up and wresting whatsoever he thought fit for his purpose alleging the Examples of former Treasons and Rebellions both at home and abroad as authentick proofs and concluding that the King was a Tyrant Traitor Murtherer and publick Enemy to the Commonwealth of England His Majesty having with His wonted Patience heard all these Reproaches answered I would desire only one word before you give Sentence and that is That you would hear Me concerning those great Imputations that you have laid to My charge Bradshaw Sir you must give me now leave to go on for I am not far from your Sentence and your time is now past KING But I shall desire you will hear Me a few words to you for truly whatever Sentence you will put upon Me in respect of those heavy Imputations that I see by your speech you have put upon Me. Sir it is very true that Bradshaw Sir I must put you in mind truly Sir I would not willingly at this time especially interrupt you in any thing you have to say that is proper for us to admit of but Sir you have not owned us as a Court and you look upon as a sort of people met together and we know what Language we receive from your Party KING I know nothing of that Bradshaw You disavow us as a Court and therefore for you to address your self to us not to acknowledge us as a Court to judge of what you say it is not to be permitted And the truth is all along from the first time you were pleased to disavow and disown us the Court needed not to have heard you one word for unless they be acknowledged a Court and engaged it is not proper for you to speak Sir we have given you too much Liberty already and admitted of too much Delay and we may not admit of any further Were it proper for us to do we should hear you freely and we should not have declined to have heard you at large what you could have said or proved on your behalf whether for totally excusing or for in part excusing those great and hainous Charges that in whole or in part are laid upon you But Sir I shall trouble you no longer your Sins are of so large a dimension that if you do but seriously think of them they will drive you to a sad consideration and they may improve in you a sad and serious repentance And that the Court doth heartily wish that you may be so penitent for what you have done amiss that God may have mercy at least-wise upon your better part Truly Sir for the other it is our parts and duties to do that that the Law prescribes We are not here Jus dare but Jus dicere we cannot be unmindful of what the Scripture tells us For to acquit the guilty is of equal abomination as to condemn the innocent we may not acquit the guilty What sentence the Law affirms to a Traitor Tyrant a Murtherer and a publick enemy to the Countrey that Sentence you are now to hear read unto you and that is the Sentence of the Court. Make an O yes and command Silence while the Sentence is read Which done their Clerk Broughton read the Sentence drawn up in Parchment WHereas the Commons of England in Parliament had appointed them an High Court of Justice for the Trial of Charles Stuart King of England before whom he had been three times convented and at the first time a Charge of High Treason and other Crimes and Misdemeanours was read in the behalf of the Kingdom of England Here the Charge was repeated Which Charge being read unto him as aforesaid he the said Charles Stuart was required to give his Answer but he refused so to do Expressing the several passages of His refusing in the former Proceedings For all which Treasons and Crimes this Court doth adjudge That he the said Charles Stuart as a Tyrant Traitor Murtherer and a publick Enemy shall be put to death by the severing of his Head from his Body Which being read Bradshaw added This Sentence now read and published it is the Act Sentence Judgment and Resolution of the whole Court To which they all expressed their Assent by standing up as was before agreed and ordered His Majesty then said Will you hear Me a word Sir Bradshaw Sir you are not to be heard after the Sentence KING No Sir Bradshaw No Sir by your favour Sir Guard withdraw your Prisoner KING I may speak after Sentence by your favour Sir I may speak after Sentence ever By your favour hold The Sentence Sir I say Sir I do I am not suffered to speak expect what Justice other People will have The Persons that sate when Judgment was given upon the Life of their KING were these Serjeant John Bradshaw Lieutenant General Cromwell Commissary General Ireton John Lisle Esquire William Say Esquire Sir Hardresse Waller Colonel Valentine Walton Colonel Thomas Harrison Colonel Edward Whaley Colonel Thomas Pride Colonel Isaac Ewer Thomas Lord Gray of Groby Sir John Danvers Knight Sir Thomas Maleverer Baronet Sir John Bourchier Knight William Heveningham Esquire Isaac Ponnington Alderman Colonel Henry Marten Colonel William Poresoy Colonel John Berksted John Blakeston Esquire Gilbert Millington Sir William Constable Baronet Colonel Edmund Ludlow Colonel John Hutchinson Sir Michael Livesey Baronet Colonel Robert Tichburne Colonel Owen Rowe Colonel Robert Lilburne Colonel Adrian Scroope Colonel Richard Deane Colonel John Okey Colonel John Hewson Colonel William Goffe Cornelius Holland Esquire John Carew Esquire Colonel John Jones Miles Corbet Esquire Francis Allen Esquire Peregrine Pelham Esquire Colonel John More Colonel John Alured Colonel Henry Smith Humphrey Edwards Esquire Gregory Clement Esquire Thomas Wogan Esquire Sir Gregory Norton Baronet Colonel Edmund Harvey Colonel John Venne Thomas Scot. Esquire Thomas Andrewes Alderman William Cawley Esquire Antony Stapely Esquire Colonel John Downes Colonel Thomas Horton Colonel Thomas Hammond Nicholas Love Esquire Vincent Potter Augustine Garland Esquire John Dixwell Esquire Colonel George Fleetwood Simon Mayne Esquire Colonel James Temple Peter Temple Daniel Blagrave Esquire
of Himself and as He believeth of all His good and well-affected Subjects dissolved also although He well knoweth the the calling adjourning proroguing and dissolving of Parliaments being His Great Council of the Kingdom do peculiarly belong unto Himself by an undoubted Prerogative inseparably united to His Imperial Crown of which as of His other Regal Actions He is not bound to give an account to any but to God only whose immediate Lieutenant and Vicegerent He is in these His Realms and Dominions by the Divine Providence committed to His Charge and Government yet forasmuch as by the assistance of the Almighty His purpose is so to order Himself and all His Actions especially the great and publick Actions of State concerning the weal of His People as may justifie themselves not only to His own Conscience and to His own People but to the whole World His Majesty hath thought it fit and necessary as the Affairs now stand both at home and abroad to make a true plain and clear Declaration of the causes which moved His Majesty to assemble and after inforced Him to dissolve these Parliaments that so the mouth of Malice it self may be stopped and the doubts and fears of His own good Subjects at home and of His Friends and Allies abroad may be satisfied and the deserved blame of so unhappy accidents may justly light upon the Authors thereof When His Majesty by the death of His dear and Royal Father of ever-blessed memory first came to the Crown He found himself ingaged in a War with a potent Enemy not undertaken rashly nor without just and honourable grounds but inforced for the necessary defence of Himself and His Dominions for the support of His Friends and Allies for the redeeming of the ancient honour of this Nation for the recovering of the Patrimony of His dear Sister her Consort and their Children injuriously and under colour of Treaties and Friendship taken from them and for the maintenance of the true Religion and invited thereunto and incouraged therein by the humble advice of both the Houses of Parliament and by their large promises and protestations to His late majesty to give Him full and real assistance in those Enterprises which were of so great importance of this Realm and to the general Peace and Safety of all His Friends and Allies But when His majesty entred into a view of His Treasure He found how ill provided He was to proceed effectually with so great an Action unless He might be assured to receive such Supplies from His loving Subjects as might inable Him to manage the same Hereupon His majesty being willing to tread in the steps of His Royal Progenitors for the making of good and wholsome Laws for the better government of His people for the right understanding of their true Grievances and for the supply of moneys to be imployed for those publick services He did resolve to summon a Parliament with all convenient speed He might and finding a former Parliament already called in the life of His Father He was desirous for the speedier dispatch of His weighty affairs and gaining of time to have continued the same without any alteration of the members thereof had He not been advised to the contrary by His Judges and Counsel at Law for that it had been subject to question in Law which He desired to avoid But as soon as possibly He could He summoned a new Parliament which He did with much confidence and assurance of the love of His People that those who not long before had with some importunity won his Father to break off his former Treaties with Spain and to effect it had used the mediation of his now majesty being then Prince and a member of the Parliament and had promised in Parliament their uttermost assistance for the inabling of his late majesty to undergo the War which they then foresaw might follow would assuredly have performed it to his now majesty and would not have suffered him in his first Enterprise of so great an expectation to have run the least hazard through their defaults This Parliament after some adjournment by reason of his majestie's unavoidable occasions interposing being assembled on the eighteenth day of June it is true that his Commons in Parliament taking into their due and serious consideration the manifold occasions which at his first entry did press his majesty and his most important affairs which both at home and abroad were then in action did with great readiness and alacrity as a pledge of their most bounden Duty and Thankfulness and as the first-fruits of the most dutiful affections of his loving and loyal Subjects devoted to his service present his majesty with the free and chearful gift of two entire Subsidies which their gift and much more the freeness and heartiness expressed in the giving thereof his majesty did thankfully and lovingly accept But when he had more narrowly entred into the consideration of his great affairs wherein he was imbarked and from which he could not without much dishonour and disadvantage withdraw his hand He sound that this summe of money was much short of that which of necessity must be presently expended for the setting forward of those great actions which by advice of his Council he had undertaken and were that Summer to be pursued This his majesty imparted to his Commons House of Parliament but before the same could receive that debate and due consideration which was fit the fearful visitation of the Plague in and about the Cities of London and Westminster where the Lords and the principal Gentlemen of quality of his whole Kingdom were for the time of this their service lodged and abiding did so much increase that his majesty without extream peril to the lives of His good Subjects which were dear unto him could not continue the Parliament any longer in that place His Majesty therefore on the eleventh day of July then following adjourned the Parliament from Westminster until the first day of August then following to the City of Oxford and his Highness was so careful to accommodate his Lords and Commons there that as He made choice of that place being then the freest of all others from the danger of that grievous Sickness so He there fitted the Parliament-men with all things convenient for their entertainment and his Majesty himself being in his own heart sincere and free from all ends upon his people which the Searcher of hearts best knoweth He little expected that any misconstruction of His Actions would have been made as He there found But when the Parliament had been a while there assembled and His Majestie 's Affairs opened unto them and a further supply desired as necessity required He found them so slow and so full of delays and diversions in their resolutions that before any thing could be determined the fearful Contagion daily increased and was dispersed into all the parts of this Kingdom and came home even their doors where they were assembled His
Majesty therefore rather preferred the safety of His People from that present and visible danger than the providing for that which was more remote but no less dangerous to the state of this Kingdom and of the affairs of that part of Christendom which then were and yet are in friendship and alliance with His Majesty and thereupon His Majesty not being then able to discern when it might please God to stay His hand of Visitation nor what place might be more secure than other at a time convenient for their re-assembling His Majesty dissolved that Parliament That Parliament being now ended His Majesty did not therewith cast off His Royal care of His great and important affairs but by the advice of His Privy Council and of His Council of War He continued His preparations and former resolutions and therein not only expended those moneys which by the two Subsidies aforesaid were given unto Him for His own private use whereof He had too much occasion as He found the state of His Exchequer at His first entrance but added much more of His own as by His credit and the credit of some of His Servants He was able to compass the same At last by much disadvantage by the retarding of provisions and uncertainty of the means His Navy was prepared and set to Sea and the designs unto which they were sent and specially directed were so probable and so well advised that had they not miscarried in the execution His Majesty is well assured they would have given good satisfaction not only to His own people but to all the world that they were not lightly or unadvisedly undertaken and pursued But it pleased God who is the Lord of Hosts and unto whose Providence and good pleasure His Majesty doth and shall ever submit Himself and all His endeavours not to give that success which was desired And yet were those attempts not altogether so fruitless as the envy of the Times hath apprehended the Enemy receiving thereby no small loss and our party no little advantage and it would much avail to further His Majestie 's great affairs and the Peace of Christendom which ought to be the true end of all hostility were these first beginnings which are most subject to miscarry well seconded and pursued as His Majesty intended and as in the judgment of all men conversant in actions of this nature were fit not to have been neglected These things being thus acted and God of his infinite Goodness beyond expectation asswaging the rage of the Pestilence and in a manner of a sudden restoring health and safety to the Cities of London and Westminster which are the fittest places for the resort of His Majesty His Lords and Commons to meet in Parliament His Majesty in the depth of Winter no sooner descried the probability of a safe assembling of His people and in His Princely Wisdom and Providence foresaw that if the opportunity of seasons should be omitted preparations both defensive and offensive could not be made in such sort as was requisite for their common safety but He advised and resolved of the summoning of a new Parliament where He might freely communicate the necessities of the State and by the counsel and advice of the Lords and Commons in Parliament who are the representative body of the whole Kingdom and the great Counsel of the Realm He might proceed in these enterprises and be inabled thereunto which concern the common good safety and honour both of Prince and People and accordingly the sixth of February last a new Parliament was begun At the first meeting His Majesty did forbear to press them with any thing which might have the least appearance of His own Interest but recommended unto them the care of making of good Laws which are the ordinary subject for a Parliament His Majesty believing that they could not have suffered many days much less many weeks to have passed by before the apprehension and care of the common safety of this Kingdom and of the true Religion prosessed and maintained therein and of Our Friends and Allies who must prosper or suffer with us would have led them to a due and a timely consideration of all the means which might best conduce to those ends which the Lords of the higher House by a Committee of that House did timely and seasonably consider of and invited the Commons to a Conference concerning that great business at which Conference there were opened unto them the great occasions which pressed His Majesty which making no impression with them His majesty did first by message and after by Letters put the House of Commons in mind of that which was most necessary the defence of the Kingdom and due and timely preparations for the same The Commons House after this upon the seven and twentieth of March last with one unanimous consent at first agreed to give unto His Majesty three intire Subsidies and three Fiteens for a present supply unto Him and upon the six and twentieth of April after upon second cogitations they added a fourth Subsidy and ordered the days of payment for them all whereof the first should have been on the last day of this present month of June Upon this the King of Denmark and other Princes and States being ingaged with His Majesty in this Common Cause His Majesty fitted His occasions according to the times which were appointed for the payment of those Subsidies and Fifteens and hastned on the Lords Committees and His Council at War to perfect their resolutions for the ordering and setting of His designs which they accordingly did and brought them to that maturity that they found no impediment to a final conclusion of their Counsels but want of money to put things into Action His Majesty hereupon who had with much patience expected the real performance of that which the Commons had promised finding the time of the year posting away and having intelligence not only from His own Ministers and Subjects in forein parts but from all parts of Christendom of the great and powerful preparations of the King of Spain and that His design was upon this Kingdom or the Kingdom of Ireland or both and it is hard to determine which of them would be of worst consequence He acquainted the House of Commons therewith and laid open unto them truly and clearly how the state of things then stood and yet stand and at several times and upon several occasions re-iterated the same But that House being abused by the violent and ill-advised Passions of a few members of the House for private and personal ends ill beseeming publick persons trusted by their Country as then they were not only neglected but wilfully refused to hearken to all the gentle admonitions which His Majesty could give them and neither did nor would intend any thing but the prosecution of one of the Peers of this Realm and that in such a disordered manner as being set at their own instance into a Legal way wherein the proofs
KING A Proclamation about the dissolving of the Parliament WHereas We for the general good of Our Kingdom caused Our High Court of Parliament to assemble and meet by Prorogation the twentieth day of January last past sithence which time the same hath been continued and although in this time by the malevolent dispositions of some ill-affected persons of the House of Commons We have had sundry just causes of offence and dislike of their proceedings yet We resolved with patience to try the uttermost which We the rather did for that We found in that House a great number of sober and grave persons well affected to Religion and Government and desirous to preserve Unity and Peace in all parts of Our Kingdom and therefore having on the five and twentieth day of February last by the uniform Advice of Our Privy Council caused both Houses to be adjourned until this present day hoping in the mean time that a better and more right understanding might be begotten between Us and the Members of that House whereby this Parliament might have an happy end and issue and for the same intent We did again this day command the like Adjournment to be made until the tenth day of this month It hath so happened by the disobedient and seditious carriage of those said ill-affected persons of the House of Commons that We and Our Regal authority and Commandment have been so highly contemned as Our Kingly Office cannot bear nor any former Age can parallel And therefore it is Our full and absolute resolution to dissolve the same Parliament whereof We thought good to give notice unto all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and to the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of this present Parliament and to all others whom it may concern that they may depart about their needful affairs without attending any longer here Nevertheless We will that they and all others should take notice that We do and ever will distinguish between those who have shewed good affection to Religion and Government and those that have given themselves over to Faction and to work disturbance to the Peace and good order of our Kingdom Given at Our Court at White-hall this second day of March in the fourth year of Our Reign of Great Britain France and Ireland God save the KING His MAJESTIE's Speech at the Dissolving of the Parliament My Lords I Never came here upon so unpleasant an occasion it being the Dissolution of a Parliment Therefore men may have some cause to wonder why I should not rather chuse to do this by Commission it being a general Maxim of Kings to leave harsh commands to their Ministers Themselves only executing pleasing things Yet considering that Justice as well consists in reward and praise of Vertue as punishing of Vice I thought it necessary to come here to day to declare to you and all the world that it was meerly the undutiful and seditious carriage in the lower House that hath made the Dissolution of this Parliament And you my Lords are so far from being causes of it that I take as much comfort in your dutiful demeanors as I am justly distasted with their proceedings Yet to avoid mistakings let me tell you that it is so far from me to adjudge all the House alike guilty that I know that there are many there as dutiful Subjects as any in the world it being but some few Vipers amongst them that did cast this mist of undutifulness over most of their eyes yet to say truth there was a good number there that could not be infected with this contagion insomuch that some did express their duties in speaking which was the general fault of the House the last day To conclude as these Vipers must look for their reward of punishment so you my Lords may justly expect from Me that favour and protection that a good King oweth to His loving and dutiful Nobility And now my Lord Keeper do what I have commanded you His MAJESTIE's Declaration to all His loving Subjects of the Causes which moved Him to Dissolve the Parliament HOwsoever Princes are not bound to give account of their Actions but to God alone yet for the satisfaction of the minds and affections of Our loving Subjects We have thought good to set down thus much by way of Declaration that We may appear to the world in the truth and sincerity of Our own Actions and not in those colours in which We know some turbulent and ill-affected Spirits to masque and disguise their own wicked intentions dangerous to the State would represent Us to the publick view We assembled Our Parliament the seventeenth day of March in the third year of Our Reign for the safety of Religion for securing Our Kingdoms and Subjects at home and Our Friends and Allies abroad and therefore at the first sitting down of it We declared the miserable afflicted estate of those of the Reformed Religion in Germany France and other parts of Christendom the distressed extremities of Our dearest Uncle the King of Denmark chased out of a great part of his Dominions the strength of that party which was united against Us that besides the Pope and house of Austria and their ancient Confederates the French King professed the rooting out of the Protestant Religion that of the Princes and States on Our party some were over run others diverted and some disabled to give assistance For which and other important motives We propounded a speedy supply of Treasure answerable to the necessities of the Cause These things in the beginning were well resented by the House of Commons and with much alacrity and readiness they agreed to grant a liberal aid But before it was brought to any perfection they were diverted by a multitude of questions raised amongst them concerning their Liberties and Priviledges and by other long disputes that the Bill did not pass in a long time and by that delay Our affairs were put into far worse case than at the first Our forein actions then in hand being thereby disgraced and ruined for want of timely help In this as We are not willing to derogate from the merit and good intentions of those wise and moderate men of that House to whose forwardness We attribute it that it was propounded and resolved so soon so We must needs say that the delay of passing it when it was resolved occasioned by causless jealousies stirred up by men of another temper did much lessen both the reputation and reality of that supply and their spirit infused into many of the Commissioners and Assessors in the Country hath returned up the Subsidies in such a scanty proportion as is infinitely short not only of Our great Occasions but of the precedents of former Subsidies and of the intentions of all well-affected men in that House In those large disputes as We permitted many of Our high Prerogatives to be debated which in the best times of Our Predecessors had never been questioned without punishment or sharp reproof so We
and still must pursue those ends and undergo that Charge for which it was first granted to the Crown it having been so long and constantly continued to Our Predecessors as that in four several Acts of Parliament for the granting thereof to King Edward the Sixth Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth and Our blessed Father it is in express terms mentioned to have been had and enjoyed by the several Kings named in those Acts time out of mind by authority of Parliament And therefore upon these reasons We held it agreeable to Our Kingly Honour and necessary for the safety and good of Our Kingdom to continue the receipt thereof as so many of Our Predecessors had done Wherefore when a few Merchants being at first but one or two fomented as it is well known by those evil Spirits that would have hatched that undutiful Remonstance began to oppose the payment of Our accustomed duties in the Custom-house We gave order to the Officers of Our Customs to go on notwithstanding that opposition in the receiving of the usual duties and caused those that refused to be warned to attend at the Council-board that by the wisdom and authority of Our Council they might be reduced to obedience and duty where some of them without reverence or respect to the honour and dignity of that presence behaved themselves with such boldness and insolency of speech as was not to be endured by a far meaner Assembly much less to be countenanced by a House of Parliament against the body of Our Privy Council And as in this We did what in honour and reason was fit for the present so Our thoughts were daily intentive upon the re-assembling of Our Parliament with full intention on Our part to take away all ill understanding between Us and Our people whose loves as We desired to continue and preserve so We used Our best endeavours to prepare and facilitate the way to it And to this end having taken a strict and exact survey of Our Government both in the Church and Commonwealth and what things were most fit and necessary to be reformed We found in the first place that much exception had been taken at a book intituled Appello Caesarem or An Appeal to Caesar and published in the year 1625. by Richard Mountague then Batchelour of Divinity and now Bishop of Chichester and because it did open the way to those Schisms and Divisions which have since ensued in the Church We did for remedy and redress thereof and for satisfaction of the Consciences of Our good people not only by Our publick Proclamation call in that Book which ministred matter of offence but to prevent the like danger for hereafter reprinted the Articles of Religion established in the time of Queen Elizabeth of famous memory and by a Declaration before those Articles We did tie and restrain all Opinions to the sense of those Articles that nothing might be left for private fancies and innovation For We call God to record before whom We stand that it is and always hath been Our hearts desire to be found worthy of that Title which We accompt the most glorious in all Our Crown Defender of the Faith neither shall We ever give way to the authorizing of any thing whereby any Innovation may steal or creep into the Church but preserve that unity of Doctrine and Discipline established in the time of Queen Elizabeth whereby the Church of England hath stood and flourished ever since And as We were careful to make up all breaches and rents in Religion at home so did We by Our Proclamation and Commandment for the execution of Laws against Priests and Popish Recusants fortifie all ways and approaches against that foreign Enemy which if it have not succeeded according to Our intention We must lay the fault where it is in the subordinate Officers and Ministers in the Country by whose remissness Jesuites and Priests escape without apprehension and Recusants from those convictions and penalties which the Laws and Our Commandment would have inflicted on them For We do profess that as it is Our duty so it shall be our care to command and direct well but it is the part of others to perform the Ministerial Office And when We have done Our Office We shall account Our Self and all charitable men will accompt Us innocent both to God and Men and those that are negligent We will esteem as culpable both to God and Us and therefore will expect that hereafter they give Us a better accompt And as We have been careful for the setling of Religion and quieting the Church so were We not unmindful of the preservation of the just and ancient Liberties of Our Subjects which We secured to them by Our gracious Answer to the Petition in Parliament having not since that time done any Act whereby to infringe them but Our care is and hereafter shall be to keep them intire and inviolable as We would do Our own Right and Sovereignty having for that purpose enrolled the Petition and Answer in Our Courts of Justice Next to the care of Religion and of Our Subjects Rights We did Our best for the provident and well ordering of that aid and supply which was granted Us the last Session whereof no part hath been wastfully spent nor put to any other use than those for which it was desired and granted as upon payment of Our Fleet and Army wherein Our care hath been such as We chose rather to discontent Our dearest Friends and Allies and Our nearest Servants than to leave Our Souldiers and Mariners unsatisfied whereby any vexation or disquiet might arise to Our people We have also with part of those Moneys begun to supply Our Magazines and stores of Munition and to put Our Navy into a constant form and order Our Fleet likewise is fitting and almost in a readiness whereby the Narrow Seas may be guarded Commerce maintained and Our Kingdom secured from all forein attempts These Acts of Ours might have made this impression in all good minds that We were careful to direct Our counsels and dispose Our actions so as might most conduce to the maintenance of Religion honour of Our Government and safety of Our People But with mischievous men once ill-affected Seu bene seu malè facta premunt and whatsoever once seemed amiss is ever remembred but good endeavours are never regarded Now all these things that were the chief complaints the last Session being by Our Princely care so seriously reformed the Parliament re assembled the twentieth of January last We expecting according to the candor and sincerity of Our own thoughts that men would have framed themselves for the effecting a right understanding between Us and Our people But some few malevolent persons like Empiricks and lewd Artists did strive to make new work and to have some Disease on foot to keep themselves in request and to be imployed and entertained in the Cure And yet to manifest how much offences have been diminished the Committees
the whole Kingdom And if any factious Merchant will affront Us in a thing so reasonable and wherein We require no more nor in no other manner than so many of our Predecessors have done and have been dutifully obeyed let them not deceive themselves but be assured that We shall find Honourable and just means to support Our Estate vindicate Our Sovereignty and preserve that Authority which God hath put into Our hands And now having laid down the truth and clearness of Our proceedings all wise and discreet men may easily judge of those rumors and jealous fears that are maliciously and wickedly bruited abroad and may discern by examination of their own hearts whether in respect of the free passage of the Gospel indifferent and equal administration of Justice freedom from Oppression and the great Peace and quietness which every man enjoyeth under his own vine and fig-tree the Happiness of this Nation can be parallel'd by any other of Our neighbour Countries and if not then to acknowledge their own blessedness and for the same be thankful to God the Author of all goodness By the KING A Proclamation for suppressing of false Rumours touching Parliaments WHereas notwithstanding Our late Declaration for satisfying of the minds and affections of Our loving Subjects some ill-disposed persons do spread false and pernicious Rumours abroad as if the scandalous and seditious Proposition in the House of Commons made by an outlawed man desperate in mind and fortune which was tumultuously taken up by some few after that by Our Royal Authority We had commanded their Adjournment had been the Vote of the whole House whereas the contrary is the truth for it was then decried by the wisest and best affected and is since disavowed upon examination by such as were suspected to have consented thereunto and affirmed as well by them as others who served in the House that day to be a thing of a most wicked and dangerous consequence to the good estate of this Kingdom which appeareth to be so by those impressions which this false Rumour hath made in mens minds whereby out of causeless fears the Trade of the Kingdom is disturbed and Merchants discouraged to continue in their wonted Traffique We have thought it expedient not only to manifest the truth hereof but to make known Our Royal pleasure that those who raise or nourish such false reports shall be severely punished and such as chearfully go on with their Trade have all good incouragement not purposing to overcharge Our Subjects by any new burthens but to satisfie Our selves with those Duties that were received by the King Our Father of blessed memory which We neither can nor will dispense withal but shall esteem them unworthy of Our Protection who shall deny the same We intending to imploy it for defence of Our Kingdoms Dominion of Our Seas and safeguard of Our Merchants specially by such Shipping as are now making ready and such further preparation for aid of Our Friends and Allies as need shall require And whereas for several ill ends the calling again of a Parliament is divulged howsoever We have shewed by Our frequent meeting with Our People Our love to the use of Parliaments yet the late abuse having for the present driven Us unwillingly out of that course We shall accompt it presumption for any to prescribe any time unto Us for Parliaments the Calling Continuing and Dissolving of which is always in Our own power and We shall be more inclinable to meet in Parliament again when Our People shall see more clearly into our Intents and Actions when such as have bred this interruption shall have received their condign punishment and those who are mis-led by them and by such ill reports as are raised upon this occasion shall come to a better understanding of Us and themselves Given at Our Court of White-hall this seven and twentieth day of March in the fifth year of Our Reign of Great Britain France and Ireland God save the KING MDCXXIX His MAJESTIE's Letter to the Judges concerning Ship-money To Our Trusty and Well-beloved Sir John Bramston Knight Chief Justice of Our Bench Sir John Finch Knight Chief Justice of Our Court of Common Pleas Sir Humphrey Davenport Knight Chief Baron of Our Court of Exchequer and to the rest of the Judges of Our Courts of Kings Bench Common Pleas and the Barons of Our Court of Exchequer CHARLES R. TRusty and Well-beloved We greet you well Taking into Our Princely consideration that the Honour and Safety of this Our Realm of England the preservation whereof is only entrusted to Our care was and is more nearly concerned in late than former times as well by divers counsels and attempts to take from us the Dominion of the Seas of which We are sole Lord and rightful Owner or Proprietor and the loss whereof would be of greatest danger and peril to this Kingdom and other Our Dominions as many other ways We for the avoiding of these and the like dangers well weighing with Our self that where the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger there the charge and defence ought to be born by all the Realm in general did for the preventing so publick a mischief resolve with Our self to have a Royal Navy prepared that might be of force and power with Almighty God's blessing and assistance to protect and defend this Our Realm and Our Subjects therein from all such perils and dangers and for that purpose We issued forth Writs under Our Great Seal of England directed to all Our Sheriffs of Our several Counties of England and Wales commanding thereby all Our said Subjects in every City Town and Village to provide such a number of Ships well furnisht as might serve for this Royal purpose and which might be done with the greatest equality that could be In performance whereof though generally throughout all the Counties of this Our Realm We have found in Our Subjects great chearfulness and alacrity which We graciously interpret as a testimony as well of their dutiful affection to Us and Our service as of the respect they have to the Publick which well becometh every good Subject nevertheless finding that some few haply out of ignorance what the Laws and Customs of this Realm are or out of a desire to be eased in their particulars how general soever the charge be or ought to be have not yet paid and contributed to the several Rates and Assessments that were set upon them and foreseeing in Our Princely Wisdom that from thence divers Suits and Actions are not unlikely to be commenced and prosecuted in Our several Courts at Westminster We desirous to avoid such inconveniences and out of Our Princely love and affection to all Our People being willing to prevent such errors as any of Our loving Subjects may happen to run into have thought fit in a case of this nature to advise with you Our Judges who We doubt not are well studied
and informed in the Rights of Our Sovereignty And because the Trials in Our several Courts by the formalities in pleading will require a long protraction We have thought fit by this Letter directed to you all to require your Judgment in the Case as it is set down in the inclosed Paper which will not only gain time but also be of more authority to over-rule any prejudicate opinions of others in the point Given under Our Signet at Our Court of White-hall the second day of February in the twelfth year of Our Reign 1636. C. R. CHARLES R. WHen the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger whether may not the King by Writ under the Great Seal of England command all the Subjects in His Kingdom at their charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships with Men Victuals and Munition and for such time as He shall think fit for the defence and safeguard of the Kingdom from such danger and peril and by Law compel the doing thereof in case of refusal or refractoriness And whether in such case is not the King the sole judge both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided The Answer of the Judges MAY it please Your most Excellent Majesty We have according to Your Majestie 's command severally and every man by himself and all of us together taken into serious consideration the Case and Questions signed by Your Majesty and inclosed in Your Letter And We are of opinion That when the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger Your Majesty may by Writ under Your Great Seal of England command all the Subjects of this Your Kingdom at their charge to provide and furnish such number of Ships with Men Victual Munition and for such time as Your Majesty shall think fit for the defence and safeguard of the Kingdom from such peril and danger And that by Law Your Majesty may compel the doing thereof in case of refusal or refractoriness And we are also of opinion that in such case Your Majesty is the sole judge both of the Danger and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided John Bramston John Finch Humphrey Davenport John Denham Richard Hutton William Jones George Crook Thomas Trevor George Vernon Robert Barkly Francis Crauley Richard Weston His MAJESTIE's Declaration to all His loving Subjects of the Causes which moved Him to dissolve His Fourth Parliament THE King 's most Excellent Majesty well knoweth that the Calling Adjourning Proroguing and Dissolving of Parliaments are undoubted Prerogatives inseparably annexed to His Imperial Crown of which He is not bound to render any account but to God alone no more than of His other Regal actions Nevertheless His Majesty whose Piety and Goodness have made Him ever so order and govern all things that the clearness and Candor of His Royal heart may appear to all His Subjects especially in those great and publick matters of State that have relation to the weal and safety of His People and the Honour of His Royal Person and Government hath thought fit for avoiding and preventing all sinister constructions and misinter pretations which the Malice of some persons ill-affected to His Crown and Soveraignty hath or may practise to infuse into the minds an ears of His good and faithful Subjects to set down by way of Declaration the true Causes as well of His Assembling as of His Dissolving the late Parliament IT is not unknown to most of His Majestie 's loving Subjects what discouragements He hath formerly had by the undutiful and seditious carriage of divers of the lower House in preceding Assemblies of Parliament enough to have made Him averse to those ancient and accustomed ways of calling His People together when in stead of dutiful expressions towards His Person and Government they vented their own Malice and disaffections to the State and by their subtle and malignant courses endeavoured nothing more than to bring into contempt and disorder all Government and Magistracy Yet His Majesty well considering that but few were guilty of that seditious and undutiful behaviour and hoping that time and experience had made His loving Subjects sensible of the distemper the whole Kingdom was in danger to be put into by the ill-govern'd actions of those men and His Majesty being ever desirous to tread in the steps of His most noble Progenitors was pleased to issue forth His Writs under the great Seal of England for a Parliament to be holden on the thirteenth day of April last At which day His Majesty by the Lord Keeper of His great Seal was graciously pleased to let both Houses of Parliament know how desirous He was that all His people would unite their hearts and affections in the execution of those Counsels that might tend to the Honour of His Majesty the Safety of His Kingdoms and the good and preservation of all His people and withal how confident He was that they would not be failing in their duties and affections to Him and to the publick He laid open to them the manifest and apparent mischiefs threatned to this and all His other Kingdoms by the mutinous and rebellious behaviour of divers of the Scotish nation who had by their examples drawn many of His Subjects there into a course of disloyalty and disobedience not fit for His Majesty in Honour Safety or Wisdom to endure How to strengthen themselves in their disloyal courses they had addrest themselves to forein States and treated with them to deliver themselves up to their protection and defence as was made apparent under the proper hands of the prime Ring-leaders of that Rebellious Faction These courses of theirs tending so much to the ruine and overthrow of this famous Monarchy united by the descent of the Crown of England upon His Majesty and his Father of blessed Memory His Majesty in His great Wisdom and in discharge of the trust reposed in Him by God and by the Fundamental Laws of both Kingdoms for the protection and government of them resolved to suppress and thereby to vindicate that Sovereign power entrusted to Him He had by the last Summers trial found that his Grace and Goodness was abused and that contrary to his expectation and their faithful promises they had since his being at Berwick and the Pacification there made pursued their former rebellious designs and therefore it was necessary now for his Majesty by power to reduce them to the just and modest condition of their Obedience and subjection which whenever they should be brought unto or seeing their own Errors should put themselves into a way of Humility and Obedience becoming them his Majesty should need no other Mediatours for Clemency and Mercy to them than his own Piety and Goodness and the tender affection he hath ever born to that his native Countrey This being of so great weight and consequence to the whole Kingdo
and the charge of an Army fit to master such a business amounting to so great a sum as his Majesty had no means to raise having not only emptied his own coffers but issued between three and four hundred thousand pounds which he borrowed of his servants upon security out of his own estate to provide such things as were necessary to begin such an action with his Majesty after the example of his Predecessors resorted to his People in their representative Body the Parliament whom he desired with all the expressions of Grace and Goodness which could possibly come from him that taking into serious and dutiful consideration the nature of these bleeding evils and how dangerous it was to lose the least minute of time lest thereby those of Scotland should gain opportunity to frame their parties with forein States that they would for a while lay aside all other debates and pass an Act for the speedy payment of so many Subsidies as might enable his Majesty to put in readiness for this Summer those things which were to be prepared before so great an Army could be brought into the field For further supply necessary for so great an undertaking his Majesty declared that He expected it not till there might be a happy conclusion of that Session and till their just Grievances might be first graciously heard and relieved Wherein as His Majesty would most willingly have given them the precedence before matter of Supply if the great necessity of his occasions could have permitted so he was graciously pleased for their full assurance and satisfaction therein to give them His Royal word That without determining the Session upon granting of the Subsidies He would give them before they parted as much time as the season of the year and the great affairs in hand would permit for considering all such Petitions as they should conceive to be good for the Commonwealth and what they could not now finish they should have full time to perfect towards Winter His Majesty graciously assuring them that He would go along with them for their advantage through all the expressions of a gracious and pious King to the end there might be such a happy conclusion of that as might be the cause of many more meetings with them in Parliament From their first assembling until the 21 of April the House of Commons did nothing that could give His Majesty any content or confidence in their speedy supplying of Him whereupon He commanded both the Houses to attend Him in the Banquetting House at White-Hall in the afternoon of that 21 day of April Where by the Lord Keeper His Majesty put them in mind of the end for which they were assembled which was for His Majestie 's Supply that if it were not speedy it would be of no use unto Him part of the Army then marching at the charge of above a hundred thousand pounds a month which would all be lost if His Majesty were not presently supplied so as it was not possible to be longer forborn Yet His Majestie then exprest that the Supply He for the present desired was only to enable Him to go on with His designs for three or four months and that He expected no further Supply till all their just Grievances were relieved And because His Majesty had taken notice of some misapprehensions about the levying of the Shipping-money His Majesty commanded the Lord Keeper to let them know That He never had any intention to make any Revenue of it nor had ever made any but that all the money collected had been paid to the Treasurer of the Navy and by Him expended besides great sums of money every year out of His Majestie 's own purse That His Majesty had once resolved this year to have levied none but that He was forced to alter His resolution in regard He was of necessity to send an Army for reducing those of Scotland during which time it was requisite the Seas should be well guarded And besides His Majesty had knowledge of the great Fleets prepared by all neighbouring Princes this year and of the insolencies committed by those of Algiers with the store of Ships which they had in readiness And therefore though His Majesty for this present year could not forbear it but expected their concurrence in the levying of it yet for the future to give all His Subjects assurance how just and Royal His intentions were and that all His aim was but to live like their King able to defend Himself and them to be useful to His friends and considerable to His enemies to maintain the Soveraignty of the Seas and so make the Kingdom flourish in trade and commerce He was graciously pleased to let them know that the ordinary Revenue now taken by the Crown could not serve the turn and therefore that it must be by Shipping-money or some other way wherein He was willing to leave it to their considerations what better course to find out and to settle it how they would so the thing were done which so much imported the honour and safety of the Kingdom and His Majesty for His part would most readily and chearfully grant any thing they could desire for securing them in the propriety of their Goods and Estates and in the Liberty of their Persons His Majesty telling them it was in their power to make this as happy a Parliament as ever was and to be the cause of the King 's delighting to meet with His people and His People with Him That there was no such way to effect this as by putting obligations of trust and confidence upon Him which as it was the way of good manners with a King so it was a surer and safer course for themselves than any that their own jealousies and fears could invent His Majesty being a Prince that deserved their trust and would not lose the honour of it and a Prince of such a gracious nature that disdained His People should overcome Him by kindness He had made this good to some other Subjects of His and if they followed His counsel they should be sure not to repent it being the people that were nearest and dearest to Him and Subjects whom He did and had reason to value more than the Subjects of any His other Kingdoms His Majesty having thus graciously expressed Himself unto them He expected the House of Commons would have the next day taken into consideration the matter of Supply and laid aside all other debates till that were resolved of according to His desire But in stead of giving an Answer therein such as the pressing and urgent occasions required they fell into discourses and debates about their pretended Grievances and raised up so many and of so several natures that in a Parliamentary way they could not but spend more time than His Majestie 's great and weighty Affairs could possibly afford His Majesty foreseeing in His great Wisdom that they were not in the way to make this an happy Parliament which He
not My fashion wherefore to conclude what I offered the last day to the House of Commons I think is well known to you all as likewise how they accepted it which I desire not to remember but wish that they had remembred how at first they were told in My Name by my Lord Keeper That delay was the worst kind of denial Yet I will not lay this fault on the whole House for I will not judge so uncharitably of those whom for the most part I take to be Loyal and well-affected Subjects but that it hath been the malicious cunning of some few seditiously-affected men that hath been the cause of this Misunderstanding I shall now end as I began in giving your Lordships thanks for your affection shewn to Me at this time desiring you to go on to assist me in the maintaining of that Regal power that is truly Mine and as for the Liberty of the People that they now so much seem to startle at know My Lords that no King in the world shall be more careful to maintain them in the Property of their Goods Liberty of their Persons and true Religion than I shall be And now My Lord Keeper do what I have commanded you Then the Lord Keeper added My Lords and you Gentlemen of the House of Commons The King's Majesty doth dissolve this Parliament BY all the proceedings herein declared it is evident to all men how willing and desirous his Majesty hath been to make use of the ancient and noble way of Parliament used and instituted by his Royal Predecessors for the preservation and honour of this famous Monarchy and that on his Majestie 's part nothing was wanting that could be expected from a King whereby this Parliament might have had an happy conclusion for the comfort and content of all his Majesties Subjects and for the good and safety of this Kingdom On the contrary it is apparent how those of the House of Commons whose sinister and malitious courses enforced his Majesty to dissolve this Parliament have vitiated and abused that ancient and noble way of Parliament perverting the same to their own unworthy ends and forgetting the true use and institution of Parliaments For whereas these meetings and assemblies of his Majesty with the Peers and Commons of this Realm were in their first original and in the practice of all succeeding ages ordained and held as pledges and testimonies of Affection between the King and his People the King for his part graciously hearing and redressing such Grievances as his People in humble and dutiful manner should represent unto Him and the Subjects on their part as Testimonies of their Duty supplying His Majesty upon all extraordinary occasions for the support of his Honour and Soveraignty and for preserving the Kingdom in glory and safety those ill-affected Members of the House of Commons instead of an humble and dutiful way of presenting their Grievances to his Majesty have taken upon them to be the Guiders and Directors in all matters that concern his Majestie 's Government both Temporal and Ecclesiastical and as if Kings were bound to give an account of their Regal Actions and of their manner of Government to their Subjects assembled in Parliament they have in a very audacious and insolent way entred into examination and censuring of the present Government traduced his Majestie 's administration of Justice rendred as much as in them lay odious to the rest of his Majestie 's Subjects not only the Officers and Ministers of State but even his Majestie 's very Government which hath been so just and gracious that never did this or any other Nation enjoy more Blessings and Happiness than hath been by all his Majestie 's Subjects enjoyed ever since his Majestie 's access to the Crown nor did this Kingdom ever so flourish in Trade and Commerce as at this present or partake of more Peace and Plenty in all kinds whatsoever And whereas the ordinary Revenues of the Crown not sufficing to defray extraordinary charges it hath ever been the usage in all Parliaments to aid and assist the Kings of this Realm with free and fitting supply towards the maintenance of their Wars and for making good their Royal undertakings whereby the Kingdom intrusted to their protection might be held up in splendor and greatness those ill-affected persons of the House of Commons have been so far from treading in the steps of their Ancestors by their dutiful expressions in this kind that contrarily they have introduced a way of bargaining and contracting with the King as if nothing ought to be given Him by them but what He should buy and purchase of them either by quitting somewhat of His Royal Prerogative or by diminishing and lessening His Revenues Which courses of theirs how repugnant they are to the duty of Subjects how unfit for His Majesty in Honour to permit and suffer and what hazard and dishonour they subject this Kingdom to all men may easily judge that will but equally and impartially weigh them His Majesty hath been by this means reduced to such streights and extremities that were not His care of the Publick good and safety the greater these men as much as in them lies would quickly bring ruine and confusion to the State and render contemptible this glorious Monarchy But this frowardness and undutiful behaviour of theirs cannot lessen His Majestie 's care of preserving the Kingdoms intrusted to His Protection and Government nor His gracious and tender affection to His people for whose good and comfort His Majesty by God's gracious assistance will so provide that all His loving Subjects may still enjoy the happiness of living under the blessed shade and protection of His Royal Scepter In the mean time to the end all His Majestie 's loving Subjects may know how graciously His Majesty is enclined to hear and redress all the just Grievances of His People as well out of Parliament as in Parliament His Majesty doth hereby further declare His Royal will and pleasure that all His loving Subjects who have any just cause to present or complain of any Grievances or Oppressions may freely address themselves by their humble Petitions to His Sacred Majesty who will graciously hear their complaints and give such fitting redress therein that all His people shall have just cause to acknowledge His Grace and Goodness towards them and to be fully satisfied that no persons or assemblies can more prevail with His Majesty than the Piety and Justice of His own Royal nature and the tender affection He doth and shall ever bear to all His people and loving Subjects THE PARABLE OF IOTHAN IUD 9 And the Bramble sayd unto the Trees If in truth ye anoint me King over you then come and put your trust in my shadow and if not let Fire come out of the Bramble and devour the Cedars of Lebanon Iudg. 9. v. 15. Imperium Flagitio acquisitum nemo unquam bonis Artibus exercuit Tacit. Hist. lib. 1. i. e. NO man ever
of the State of the Kingdom THE Commons in this present Parliament assembled having with much earnestness and faithfulness of affection and zeal to the publick good of this Kingdom and His Majesties Honour and Service for the space of twelve months wrastled with the great Dangers and Fears the pressing Miseries and Calamities the various Distempers and Disorders which had not only assaulted but even overwhelmed and extinguisht the Liberty Peace and Prosperity of this Kingdom the comfort and hopes of all His Majesties good Subjects and exceedingly weakned and undermined the foundation and strength of His own Royal Throne do yet find an abounding malignity and opposition in those Parties and Factions who have been the cause of those evils and do still labour to cast aspersions upon that which hath been done and to raise many difficulties for the hinderance of that which remains yet undone and to foment Jealousies betwixt the King and the Parliament that so they may deprive Him and His People of the fruit of his own gracious intentions and their humble desires of procuring the publick Peace Safety and Happiness of this Realm For the preventing of those miserable effects which such malicious endeavours may produce We have thought good to declare First The Root and the growth of these mischievous Designs Secondly The Maturity and ripeness to which they have attained before the beginning of the Parliament Thirdly The effectual Means which have been used for the extirpation of those dangerous evils and the Progress which hath therein been made by His Majesties Goodness and the wisdom of the Parliament Fourthly The ways of Obstruction and Opposition by which that progress hath been interrupted Fifthly The courses to be taken for the removing those Obstacles and for the accomplishing of our most dutiful and faithful intentions and endeavours of restoring and establishing the ancient Honour Greatness and Security of this Crown and Nation The Root of all this mischief we find to be a malignant and pernicious design of subverting the Fundamental Laws and Principles of Government upon which the Religion and Justice of this Kingdom are firmly establish'd The Actors and Promoters hereof have been First The Jesuited Papists who hate the Laws as the obstacles of that Change and subversion of Religion which they so much long for Secondly The Bishops and the corrupt part of the Clergy who cherish Formality and Superstition as the natural effects and more probable supports of their own Ecclesiastical Tyranny and Vsurpation Thirdly Such Counsellors and Courtiers as for private ends have engaged themselves to further the interests of some foreign Princes or States to the prejudice of His Majesty and the State at home The Common Principles by which they moulded and governed all their particular Counsels and Actions were these First To maintain continual Differences and Discontents betwixt the King and the People upon questions of Prerogative and Liberty that so they might have the advantage of siding with Him and under the notions of men addicted to His Service gain to themselves and their parties the places of greatest trust and power in the Kingdom A Second To suppress the purity and power of Religion and such persons as were best affected to it as being contrary to their own ends and the greatest impediment to that Change which they thought to introduce A Third to conjoyn those parties of the Kingdom which were most propitious to their own ends and to divide those who were most opposite which consisted in many particular observations to cherish the Arminian part in those Points wherein they agreè with the Papists to multiply and enlarge the Differences betwixt the common Protestants and those whom they call Puritans to introduce and countenance such Opinions and Ceremonies as are fittest for accommodation with Popery to encrease and maintain ignorance looseness and prophaneness in the People that of those three parties Papists Arminians and Libertines they might compose a body fit to act such Counsels and resolutions as were most conducible to their own ends A Fourth To disaffect the King to Parliaments by Slanders and false Imputations and by putting Him upon other waies of supply which in shew and appearance were fuller of advantage then the ordinary course of Subsidies though in truth they brought more loss than gain both to the King and People and have caused the great Distractions under which we both suffer As in all compounded bodies the Operations are qualified according to the predominant Element so in this mixt party the Jesuited Counsels being most active and prevailing may easily be discovered to have had the greatest sway in all their determinations and if they be not prevented are likely to devour the rest or to turn them into their own nature In the beginning of His Majesties Reign the party begun to revive and flourish again having been somewhat dampt by the breach with Spain in the last year of King James and by His Majesties Marriage with France the Interests and Counsels of that State being not so contrary to the good of Religion and the prosperity of this Kingdom as those of Spain and the Papists of England having been evermore addicted to Spain then France yet they still retained a purpose and resolution to weaken the Protestant parties in all parts and even in France whereby to make way for the Change of Religion which they intended at home The first effect and evidence of their recovery and strength was the dissolution of the Parliament at Oxford after there had been given two Subsidies to His Majesty and before they received relief in any one Grievance many other more miserable effects followed The loss of the Rochel Fleet by the help of our Shipping set forth and delivered over to the French in opposition to the advice of Parliament which left that Town without defence by Sea and made way not only to the loss of that important place but likewise to the loss of all the strength and security of the Protestant Religion in France The diverting of His Majesties course of Wars from the West Indies which was the most facile and hopeful way for this Kingdom to prevail against the Spaniard to an expenceful and succesless attempt upon Cales which was so ordered as if it had rather been intended to make us weary of War then to prosper in it The precipitate breach with France by taking their Ships to a great value without making recompence to the English whose goods were thereupon imbarg'd and confiscate in that Kingdom The Peace with Spain without consent of Parliament contrary to the promise of King James to both Houses whereby the Palatine Cause was deserted and left to chargeable and hopeless Treaties which for the most part were managed by those who might justly be suspected to be no friends to that Cause The charging of the Kingdom with billetted Souldiers in all parts of it and that concomitant design of Germane horse that the Land might either submit with fear or
be enforced with rigour to such Arbitrary Contributions as should be required of them The dissolving of the Parliament in the second year of His Majesties reign after a Declaration of their intent to grant five Subsidies The exacting of the like proportion of five Subsidies after the Parliament dissolved by Commission of Loan and divers Gentlemen and others imprisoned for not yielding to pay that Loan whereby many of them contracted such Sicknesses as cost them their lives Great sums of Money required and raised by privy Seals An unjust and pernicious attempt to extort great payments from the Subject by way of Excise and a Commission issued under Seal to that purpose The Petition of Right which was granted in full Parliament blasted with an illegal Declaration to make it destructive to it self to the power of Parliament to the Liberty of the Subject and to that purpose printed with it and the Petition made of no use but to shew the bold and presumptuous injustice of such Ministers as durst break the Laws and suppress the Liberties of the Kingdom after they had been so solemnly and evidently declared Another Parliament dissolved 4 Car. the Priviledge of Parliament broken by imprisoning divers Members of the House detaining them close Prisoners for many months together without the liberty of using Books Pen Ink or Paper denying them all the comforts of life all means of preservation of health not permitting their Wives to come unto them even in time of their Sickness and for the compleating of that Cruelty after years spent in such miserable durance depriving them of the necessary means of Spiritual consolation not suffering them to go abroad to enjoy God's Ordinances in God's House or God's Ministers to come to them to administer comfort unto them in their private Chambers and to keep them still in this oppressed condition not admitting them to be bailed according to Law yet vexing them with Informations in inferiour Courts sentencing and fining some of them for matters done in Parliament and extorting the payments of those Fines from them enforcing others to put in Security of good behaviour before they could be released The imprisonment of the rest which refused to be bound still continued which might have been perpetual if necessity had not the last year brought another Parliament to relieve-them of whom one died by the cruelty and harshness of his Imprisonment which would admit of no relaxation notwithstanding the imminent danger of his life did sufficiently appear by the declaration of his Physician and his release or at least his refreshment was sought by many humble Petitions And his blood still cries either for vengeance or repentance of those Ministers of State who have at once obstructed the course both of His Majesties Justice and Mercy Upon the dissolution of both these Parliaments untrue and scandalous Declarations were published to asperse their proceedings and some of their Members unjustly to make them odious and colour the violence which was used against them Proclamations set out to the same purpose and to the great dejecting of the hearts of the people forbidding them even to speak of Parliaments After the breach of the Parliament in the fourth year of His Majesty Injustice Oppression and Violence broke in upon us without any restraint or moderation and yet the first project was the great sums exacted through the whole Kingdom for default of Knighthood which seemed to have some colour and shadow of a Law yet if it be rightly examined by that obsolete Law which was pretended for it it would be found to be against all the rules of Justice both in respect of the persons charged the proportion of the Fines demanded and the absurd and unreasonable manner of their proceedings Tonnage and Poundage hath been received without colour or pretence of Law many other heavy Impositions continued against Law and some so unreasonable that the sum of the charge exceeds the value of the Goods The Book of Rates lately inhanced to a high proportion and such Merchants as would not submit to their illegal and unreasonable payments were vexed and oppressed above measure and the ordinary course of Justice the common Birth-right of the Subject of England wholly obstructed unto them And although all this was taken upon pretence of guarding the Sea yet a new and unheard-of Tax of Ship-money was devised upon the same pretence By both which there was charged upon the Subject near 700000 l. some years and yet the Merchants have been left so naked to the violence of the Turkish Pirats that many great Ships of value and thousands of His Majesties Subjects have been taken by them and do still remain in miserable slavery The enlargement of Forests contrary to Charta de Foresta and the composition thereupon The exactions of Coat and Conduct-Money and divers other Military charges The taking away the Arms of the Trained Bands of divers Counties The desperate design of engrossing all the Gun-powder into one hand keeping it in the Tower of London and setting so high a rate upon it that the poorer sort were not able to buy it nor could any have it without Licence thereby to leave the several parts of the Kingdom destitute of their necessary defence and by selling so dear that which was sold to make an unlawful advantage of it to the great charge and detriment of the Subject The general destruction of the Kings Timber especially that in the Forest of Dean sold to Papists which was the best Store-house of this Kingdom for the maintenance of our Shipping The taking away of mens Right under colour of the Kings title to Land between high and low water-Marks The Monopolies of Sope Salt Wine Leather Sea-coal and in a manner of all things of most common and necessary use The restraint of the Liberties of the Subjects in their Habitation Trades and other Interest Their vexation and oppression by Purveyors Clarks of the Market and Salt-Peter-men The sale of pretended Nusanzes as Buildings in and about London conversion of Arable into Pasture continuance of Pasture under the name of depopulation have drawn many Millions out of the Subjects Purses without any considerable profit to His Majesty Large quantities of Common and several Grounds have been taken from the Subject by colour of the Statute of Improvement and by abuse of the Commission of Sewers without their consent and against it And not only private Interest but also publick Faith have been broken in seizing of the Money and Bullion in the Mint and the whole Kingdom like to be robb'd at once in that abominable project of Brass Money Great numbers of His Majesties Subjects for refusing those unlawful charges have been vext with long and expensive suits some fined and censured others committed to long and hard imprisonments and confinements to the loss of health in many of life in some and others have had their Houses broken up their Goods seized some have been restrained from their lawful Callings Ships have
The Authors of the many Innovations in Doctrine and Ceremonies the Ministers that have been scandalous in their lives have been so terrified in just Complaints and Accusations that we may well hope they will be more modest for the time to come either inwardly convicted by the sight of their own folly or outwardly restrained by the fear of punishment The Forests are by a good Law reduced to their right bounds the encroachments and oppressions of the Stannary Courts the Extortions of the Clark of the Market and the Compulsion of the Subject to receive the Order of Knight-hood against his will paying of Fines for not receiving it and the vexatious proceedings thereupon for levying of those Fines are by other beneficial Laws reformed and prevented Many excellent Laws and provisions are in preparation for removing the inordinate power vexation and usurpation of Bishops for reforming the pride and idleness of many of the Clergy for easing the people of unnecessary Ceremonies in Religion for censuring and removing unworthy and unprofitable Ministers and for maintaining godly and diligent Preachers through the Kingdom Other things of main importance for the good of this Kingdom are in proposition though little could hitherto be done in regard of the many other more pressing businesses which yet before the end of this Session we hope may receive some progress and perfection The establishing and ordering the Kings Revenue that so the abuse of Officers and superfluity of expences may be cut off and the necessary disbursements for His Majesties Honour the defence and government of the Kingdom may be more certainly provided for The regulating of Courts of Justice and abridging both the delaies and charges of Law-suits The setling of some good courses for preventing the exportation of Gold and Silver and the inequality of exchanges betwixt us and other Nations for the advancing of native Commodities increase of our Manufactures and well-balancing of Trade whereby the stock of the Kingdom may be increased or at least kept from impairing as through neglect hereof it hath done for many years last past for improving the Herring-fishing upon our own Coasts which will be of mighty use in the imployment of the poor and a plentiful Nursery of Mariners for inabling the Kingdom in any great action The Oppositions Obstructions and other Difficulties wherewith we have been encountred and which still lye in our way with some strength and much obstinacy are these The malignant party whom we have formerly described to be the Actors and Promoters of all our Misery they have taken heart again They have been able to prefer some of their own Factors and Agents to degrees of Honour to places of Trust and imployment even during the Parliament They have indeavoured to work in His Majesty ill impressions and opinions of our proceedings as if we had altogether done our own work and not his and had obtained from Him many things very prejudicial to the Crown both in respect of Prerogative and Profit To wipe out this Slander We think good ouly to say thus much That all that we have done is for His Majesty His Greatness Honour and Support When we yielded to give twenty five thousand pounds a month for the relief of the Northern Countries this was given to the King for he was bound to protect His Subjects they were His Majesties evil Counsellors and their ill instruments that were actors in these Grievances which brought in the Scots and if His Majesty please to force those who were the Authors of this War to make satisfaction as He might justly and easily do it seems very reasonable that the people might well be excused from taking upon them this burthen being altogether innocent and free from being any causes of it When we undertook the charge of the Army which cost above 50000 pound a month was not this given to the King was it not His Majesties Army were not all the Commanders under contract with His Majesty at higher rates and greater wages then ordinary And have not we taken upon us to discharge all the brotherly assistance of three hundred thousand pounds which we gave the Scots was it not toward repair of those damages and losses which they received from the Kings Ships and from His Ministers These three particulars amount to above eleven hundred thousand pounds besides His Majesty hath received by Impositions upon Merchandise at least four hundred thousand pounds so that his Majesty hath had out of the Subjects purse since the Parliament began one million and an half and yet these men can be so impudent as to tell His Majesty that we have done nothing for Him As to the second branch of this Slander we acknowledge with much thankfulness that his Majesty hath passed more good Bills to the advantage of the Subjects then have been in many Ages but withall we cannot forget that these venomous counsels did manifest themselves in some endeavours to hinder these good Acts. And for both Houses of Parliament we may with truth and modesty say thus much That we have ever been careful not to desire any thing that should weaken the Crown either in just Profit or useful Power The Triennial Parliament for the matter of it doth not extend to so much as by Law we ought to have required there being two Statutes still in force for a Parliament to be once a year and for the manner of it it is in the Kings power that it shall never take effect if he by a timely summons shall prevent any other way of assembling In the Bill for continuance of this present Parliament there seems to be some restraint of the Royal power in dissolving of Parliaments not to take it out of the Crown but to suspend the execution of it for this time and occasion onely which was so necessary for the Kings own security and the publick Peace that without it we could not have undertaken any of these great charges but must have left both the Armies to disorder and confusion and the whole Kingdom to blood and rapine The Star-chamber was much more fruitful in oppression then in profit the great Fines being for the most part given away and the rest stalled at long times The Fines of the High-Commission were in themselves unjust and seldom or never came into the Kings purse These four Bills are particularly and more specially instanced in the rest there will not be found so much as a shadow of prejudice to the Crown They have sought to diminish our reputation with the people and to bring them out of love with Parliaments the aspersions which they have attempted this way have been such as these That we have spent much time and done little especially in those Grievances which concern Religion That the Parliament is a burthen to the Kingdom by the abundance of Protections which hinder Justice and Trade and by many Subsidies granted much more heavy then any they formerly endured To which there is a ready answer
If the time spent in this Parliament be considered in relation backward to the long growth and deep root of those Grievances which we have removed to the powerful supports of those Delinquents which we have pursued to the great necessities and other charges of the Commonwealth for which we have provided or if it be considered in relation forward to many advantages which not only the present but future ages are like to reap by the good Laws and other proceedings in this Parliament we doubt not but it will be thought by all indifferent judgments that our time hath been much better imployed then in a far greater proportion of time in many former Parliaments put together and the charges which have been laid upon the Subjects and the other inconveniences which they have born will seem very light in respect of the benefit they have and may receive And for the matter of Protections the Parliament is so sensible of it that therein they intend to give them whatsoever ease may stand with Honour and Justice and are in a way of passing a Bill to give them satisfaction They have sought by many subtle practices to cause jealousies and divisions betwixt us and our brethren of Scotland by slandering their proceedings and intentions towards us and by secret endeavours to instigate and incense them and us one against another They have had such a party of Bishops and Popish Lords in the House of Peers as hath caused much opposition and delay in the prosecution of Delinquents hindered the proceedings of divers good Bills passed in the Commons House concerning the reformation of sundry great abuses and corruptions both in Church and State They have laboured to seduce and corrupt some of the Commons House to draw them into Conspiracies and Combinations against the Liberty of the Parliament and by their Instruments and agents they have attempted to disaffect and discontent His Majesties Army and to engage it for the maintenance of their wicked and traiterous designs the keeping up of Bishops in their Votes and Functions and by force to compel the Parliament to order limit and dispose their proceedings in such manner as might best concur with the intentions of this dangerous and potent faction And when one mischievous design and attempt of theirs to bring on the Army against the Parliament and the City of London had been discovered and prevented they presently undertook another of the same damnable nature with this addition to it to endeavour to make the Scotish Army neutral whilst the English Army which they had laboured to corrupt and invenome against us by their false and slanderous suggestions should execute their malice to the subversion of our Religion and the dissolution of our Government Thus they have been continually practising to disturb the Peace and plotting the destruction even of all the Kings dominions and have employed their Emissaries and Agents in them all for the promoting of their devilish designs which the vigilancy of those who were well-affected hath still discovered and defeated before they were ripe for execution in England and Scotland only in Ireland which was farther off they have had time and opportunity to mould and prepare their work and had brought it to that perfection that they had possessed themselves of that whole Kingdom totally subverted the Government of it rooted out Religion and destroyed all the Protestants whom the conscience of their duty to God their King and Countrey would not have permitted to joyn with them if by God's wonderful providence their main enterprise upon the City and Castle of Dublin had not been detected and prevented upon the very Eve before it should have been executed Notwithstanding they have in other parts of that Kingdom broken out into open Rebellion surprized Towns and Castles committed murders rapes and other villanies and shaken off all bonds of Obedience to His Majesty and the Laws of the Realm and in general have kindled such a fire as nothing but God's infinite blessing upon the wisdom and endeavours of this State will be able to quench it And certainly had not God in his great mercy unto this Land discovered and confounded their former designs we had been the Prologue to this Tragedy in Ireland and had by this time been made the lamentable spectacle of misery and confusion And now what hope have we but in God when as the only means of our subsistence and power of Reformation is under Him in the Parliament But what can we the Commons without the conjunction of the House of Lords and what conjunction can we expect there when 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 owes under God unto His Majesty whom we know to be entrusted 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 of Church and State We confess our intention is and our endeavours 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 employments 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 malitiously charged us that we intend to destroy and discourage
We utterly profess against it being most confident of the Loyalty good Affections and Integrity of the intentions of that great Body and knowing well that very many of both Houses were absent and many dissented from all those particulars We complain of But we do believe and accordingly profess to all the world that the Malignity of this Design as dangerous to the Laws of this Kingdom the Peace of the same and the Liberties of all Our good Subjects as to Our Self and Our just Prerogative hath proceeded from the subtle Informations mischievous Practices and evil Counsels of ambitious turbulent Spirits disaffected to God's true Religion and the Unity of the Professors thereof Our Honour and Safety and the publick Peace and Prosperity of Our People not without a strong influence upon the very actions of both Houses But how faulty soever others are We shall with God's assistance endeavour to discharge Our Duty with uprightness of heart and therefore since these Propositions come to Us in the name of both Houses of Parliament We shall take a more particular notice of every of them If the 1 2 3 4 5 9 10 15 16 19. Demands had been writ and printed in a tongue unknown to Us and Our People it might have been possible We and they might have charitably believed the Propositions to be such as might have been in order to the ends pretended in the Petition to wit the establishing of Our Honour and Safety the Welfare and Security of Our Subjects and Dominions and the removing those Jealousies and Differences which are said to have unhappily fallen betwixt Vs and Our People and procuring both Vs and them a constant course of Honour Peace and Happinss But being read and understood by all We cannot but assure Our Self that this Profession joyned to these Propositions will rather appear a Mockery and a Scorn the Demands being such as We were unworthy of the Trust reposed in Us by the Law and of Our Descent from so many great and famous Ancestours if We could be brought to abandon that Power which only can inable Us to perform what We are sworn to in protecting Our People and the Laws and so assume others into it as to devest Our Self of it although not only Our present Condition which it can hardly be were more necessitous then it is and We were both vanquish'd and a Prisoner and in a worse condition then ever the most unfortunate of Our Predecessours have been reduced to by the most criminal of their Subjects and though the Bait laid to draw Us to it and to keep Our Subjects from indignation at the mention of it the promises of a plentiful and unparallel'd Revenue were reduced from generals which signifie nothing to clear and certain particulars since such a Bargain would have but too great a resemblance of that of Esau's if We should part with such Flowers of Our Crown as are worth all the rest of the Garland and have been transmitted to us from so many Ancestours and have been found so useful and necessary for the Welfare and Security of Our Subjects for any present Necessity or for any low and sordid considerations of Wealth and Gain And therefore all men knowing that those Accommodations are most easily made and most exactly observed that are grounded upon reasonable and equal Conditions We have great cause to believe that the Contrivers of these had no intention of setling any firm Accommodation but to increase those Jealousies and widen that Division which not by Our fault is now unhappily fallen between Us and both Houses It is asked That all the Lords and others of Our Privy Council and such We know now what you mean by such but We have cause to think you mean all great Officers and Ministers of State either at home or beyond the Seas For care is taken to leave out no Person or Place that Our Dishonour may be sure not to be bounded within this Kingdom though no subtle Insinuations at such a distance can probably be believed to have been the cause of our Distractions and Dangers should be put from our Privy Council and from those Offices and imployments unless they be approved by both Houses of Parliament how faithful soever We have found them to Us and the publick and how far soever they have been from offending against any Law the only rule they had or any others ought to have to walk by We therefore to this part of this Demand return you this Answer That We are willing to grant that they shall take a larger Oath then you your selves desire in your Eleventh Demand for maintaining not of any part but of the whole Law and We have and do assure you That We will be careful to make election of such Persons in those places of trust as shall have given good testimonies of their abilities and integrities and against whom there can be no just cause of exception whereon reasonably to ground a diffidence That if We have or shall be mistaken in Our election We have and do assure you that there is no man so near to Us in place or affection whom we will not leave to the Justice of the Law if you shall bring a particular charge and sufficient proofs against him and that We have given you the best pledge of the effects of such a promise on Our part and the best security for the performance of their duty on theirs a Triennial Parliament the apprehension of whose Justice will in all probability make them wary how they provoke it and Us wary how We chuse such as by the discovery of their faults may in any degree seem to discredit Our Election But that without any shadow of a Fault objected only perhaps because they follow their Conscience and preserve the established Laws and agree not in such Votes or assent not to such Bills as some persons who have now too great an Influence even upon both Houses judge or seem to judge to be for the publick good and as are agreeable to that new Vtopia of Religion and Government into which they endeavour to transform this Kingdom for We remember what names and for what Reasons you left out in the Bill offered Us concerning the Militia which you had your selves recommended in the Ordinance We will never consent to the displacing of any whom for their former Merits from and Affection to Us and the publick We have intrusted since We conceive that to do so would take away both from the affection of Our Servants the care of Our Service and the Honour of Our Justice And We the more wonder that it should be ask'd by you of Us since it appears by the Twelfth Demand That your selves count it reasonable after the present turn is served that the Judges and Officers who are then placed may hold their places quamdiu se bene gesserint And We are resolved to be as careful of those We have chosen as you are of those you would
have of late been perswaded by the new doctrines of some few to think that proper for your debates which hath not used to be at all debated within those walls but been trusted wholly with Our Predecessors and Us and to transact those things which without the Regal Authority since there were Kings of this Kingdom were never transacted It therefore concerns us the more that you speak out and that both We and Our People may either know the bottom of your Demands or know them to be bottomless What concerns more the Publick and is more indeed proper for the high Court of Parliament then the making of Laws which not only ought there to be transacted but can be transacted no where else but then you must admit Us to be a part of the Parliament you must not as the sense is of this part of this Demand if it have any deny the freedom of Our Answer when We have as much right to reject what We think unreasonable as you have to propose what you think convenient or necessary nor is it possible Our Answers either to Bills or any other Propositions should be wholly free if We may not use the Liberty of every one of you and of every Subject and receive advice without their danger who shall give it from any person known or unknown sworn or unsworn in these matters in which the manage of Our Vote is trusted by the Law to Our own judgment and Conscience which how best to inform is and ever shall be left likewise to Us and most unreasonable it were that two Estates proposing something to the third that third should be bound to take no advice whether it were fit to pass but from those two that did propose it We shall ever in these things which are trusted wholly to Us by the Law not decline to hearken to the Advice of Our great Council and shall use to hear willingly the free debates of Our Privy Council whensoever We may be suffered to have them for sending for and they shall not be terrified from that freedom by Votes and Brands of Malignants and Enemies to the State for advising what no Law forbids to advise but We will retain Our power of admitting no more to any Counsel then the nature of the business requires and of discoursing with whom We please of what We please and informing Our Understanding by debate with any Persons who may be well able to inform and advise Us in some particular though their Qualities Education or other Abilities may not make them so fit to be of Our sworn Council and not tye Our Self up not to hear any more then twenty five and those not chosen absolutely by Us out of a Kingdom so replenished with Judicious and experienced Persons in several kinds And though We shall with the proportionable Consideration due to them always weigh the Advices both of Our Great and Privy Council yet We shall also look upon their Advices as Advices not as Commands or Impositions upon them as Our Counsellours not as Our Tutors and Guardians and upon Our self as their King not as their Pupil or Ward For whatsoever of Regality were by the Modesty of interpretation left in Us in the first part of the Second Demand as to the Parliament is taken from Us in the second part of the same and placed in this new-fangled kind of Counsellours whose power is such and so expressed by it that in all publick Acts concerning the Affairs of this Kingdom which are proper for Our Privy Council for whose Advice all publick Acts are sometimes proper though never necessary they are desired to be admitted joynt-Patentees with Us in the Regality and it is not plainly expressed whether they mean Us so much as a single Vote in these Affairs but it is plain they mean Us no more at most then a single Vote in them and no more power then every one of the rest of Our Fellow Counsellours only leave to Us out of their respect and duty and that only is left of all Our ancient Power a Choice whether these that are thus to be joyned with or rather set over Us shall be fifteen or twenty five and great care is taken that the Oath which these men shall take shall be such in the framing the form of which though sure We are not wholy unconcerned in it We may be wholy excluded and that wholy reserved to be agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament And to shew that no more care is taken of Our Safety then of Our Power after so great Indignities offered to Us and countenanced by those who were most obliged to resent them after Our Town and Fort kept from Us from which if it were no otherwise Ours then the whole Kingdom is We can no more legally be kept out then out of Our whole Kingdom which sure your selves will not deny to be Treason Our Arms Our Goods sent away and our Money stopt from Us Our Guards in which We have no other Intention then to hinder the End of these things from being proportionable to their Beginnings are not only desired to be dismissed before satisfaction for the Injury punishments of the Injurers and care taken for Our future Security from the like but it is likewise desired and for this Law is pretended and might as well have been for the rest which yet with some ingenuity are it seems acknowledged to be but Desires of Grace that We shall not for the future raise any Guards or extraordinary Forces but in case of actual Rebellion or Invasion which if it had been Law and so observed in the time of Our famous Predecessours few of those Victories which have made this Nation famous in other Parts could have been legally atchieved nor could Our blessed Predecessour Queen Elizabeth have so defended Her self in 88. And if no forces must be levied till Rebellions and Invasions which will not stay for the calling of Parliaments and their consent for raising Forces be actual they must undoubtedly at least most probably be effectual and prevalent And as neither care is taken for Our Rights Honour nor Safety as a Prince so Our Rights as a Private person are endeavoured to be had from Us it being asked that it may be unlawful and punishable not only to conclude but even to treat of any Marriage with any Person for Our own Children or to place Governours about them without consent of Parliament and in the intermission of those without the consent of Our good Lords of the Council that We may not only be in a more despicable state then any of Our Predecessours but in a meaner and viler condition then the lowest of Our Subjects who value no Liberty they have more then that of the free Education and Marriage of their Children from which We are asked to debar Our Self and have the more reason to take it ill that We are so because for Our choice of a Governour for Our Son and of a
Husband for Our Daughter in which the Protestant Religion was Our principal Consideration We conceived We had reason to expect your present thanks and the increase of your future trusts We suppose these Demands by this time to appear such as the Demanders cannot be supposed to have any such real fear of Us as hath been long pretended they are too much in the style not only of Equals but of Conquerours and as little to be intended for removing of Jealousies for which end they are said to be asked and that is not as Merchants ask at first much more then they will take but as most necessary to effect it which if they be God help this poor Kingdom and those who are in the hands of such persons whose Jealousies nothing else will remove which indeed is such a way as if there being differences and suits between two persons whereof one would have from the other several parcels of his ancient Land he should propose to him by way of Accommodation that he would quit to him all those in question with the rest of his Estate as the most necessary and effectual means to remove all those suits and differences But We call God to witness that as for our Subjects sake these Rights are vested in Us so for their sakes as well as for Our own We are resolved not to quit them nor to subvert though in a Parliamentary way the ancient equal happy well-poised and never-enough-commended Constitution of the Government of this Kingdom nor to make Our Self of a King of England a Duke of Venice and this of a Kingdom a Republick There being three kinds of Government amongst men absolute Monarchy Aristocracy and Democracy and all these having their particular conveniences and inconveniences the experience and wisdom of your Ancestors hath so moulded this out of a mixture of these as to give to this Kingdom as far as humane Prudence can provide the conveniences of all three without the inconveniences of any one as long as the Balance hangs even between the three Estates and they run joyntly on in their proper Chanel begetting Verdure and Fertility in the Meadows on both sides and the overflowing of either on either side raises no Deluge or Inundation The ill of absolute Monarchy is Tyranny the ill of Aristocracy is Faction and Division the ills of Democracy are Tumults Violence and Licentiousness The good of Monarchy is the uniting a Nation under one Head to resist Invasion from abroad and Insurrection at home the good of Aristocracy is the Conjunction of Counsel in the ablest Persons of a State for the publick benefit the good of Democracy is Liberty and the Courage and Industry which Liberty begets In this Kingdom the Laws are joyntly made by a King by a House of Peers and by a House of Commons chosen by the People all having free Votes and particular Privileges The Government according to these Laws is trusted to the King power of Treaties of War and Peace of making Peers of chusing Officers and Counsellours for State Judges for Law Commanders for Forts and Castles giving Commissions for raising men to make War abroad or to prevent or provide against Invasions or Insurrections at home benefit of Confiscations power of Pardoning and some more of the like kind are placed in the King And this kind of regulated Monarchy having this power to preserve that Authority without which it would be disabled to preserve the Laws in their force and the Subjects in their Liberties and Proprieties is intended to draw to Him such a Respect and Relation from the Great ones as may hinder the ills of Division and Faction and such a Fear and Reverence from the People as may hinder Tumults Violence and Licentiousness Again that the Prince may not make use of this high and perpetual Pow'r to the hurt of those for whose good He hath it and make use of the name of publick Necessity for the gain of His private Favourites and Followers to the detriment of His People the House of Commons an excellent Conserver of Liberty but never intended for any SHARE in GOVERNMENT or the chusing of them that should GOVERN is solely intrusted with the first Propositions concerning the Levies of Monies which is the sinews as well of Peace as War and the impeaching of those who for their own ends though countenanced by any surreptitiously-gotten Command of the King have violated that Law which He is bound when He knows it to protect and to the protection of which they were bound to advise Him at least not to serve Him in the contrary And the Lords being trusted with a Judicatory power are an excellent Screen and Bank between the Prince and People to assist each against any Incroachments of the other and by just Judgments to preserve that Law which ought to be the Rule of every one of the Three For the better enabling them in this beyond the Examples of any of Our Ancestors We were willingly contented to oblige Our Self bouth to call a Parliament every three years and not to dissolve it in fifty days and for the present Exigent the better to raise Money and avoid the pressure no less grievous to Us then them Our People must have suffered by a longer continuance of so vast a Charge as two great Armies and for their greater certainty of having sufficient time to remedy the inconveniences arisen during so long an absence of Parliaments and for the punishment of the Causers and Ministers of them We yielded up Our Right of dissolving this Parliament expecting an extraordinary moderation from it in gratitude for so unexampled a Grace and little looking that any Malignant Party should have been encouraged or enabled to have perswaded them first to countenance the Injustices and Indignities We have endured and then by a new way of Satisfaction for what was taken from Us to demand of Us at once to confirm what was so taken and to give up almost all the rest Since therefore the Power Legally placed in both Houses is more then sufficient to prevent and restrain the power of Tyranny and without the Power which is now asked from Us We shall not be able to discharge that Trust which is the End of Monarchy since this would be a total Subversion of the Fundamental Laws and that excellent Constitution of this Kingdom which hath made this Nation so many years both Famous and Happy to a great degree of Envy since to the power of Punishing which is already in your hands according to Law if the power of Preferring be added We shall have nothing left for Us but to look on since the incroaching of one of these Estates upon the power of the other is unhappy in the effects both to them and all the rest since this power of at most a joynt-Government in Us with Our Counsellors or rather Our Guardians will return Us to the worst kind of Minority and make Us despicable both at home and abroad
and beget eternal Factions and Dissentions as destructive to publick Happiness as War both in the chosen and the Houses that chuse them and the People who chuse the Chusers since so new a Power will undoubtedly intoxicate persons who were not born to it and beget not only Divisions among them as Equals but in them contempt of Us as become an Equal to them and Insolence and Injustice towards Our People as now so much their Inferiors which will be the more grievous unto them as suffering from those who were so lately of a nearer degree to themselves and being to have redress only from those that placed them and fearing they may be inclined to preserve what they have made both out of kindness and policy since all great Changes are extremely inconvenient and almost infallibly beget yet greater Changes which beget yet greater Inconveniences since as great an one in the Church must follow this of the Kingdom since the Second Estate would in all probability follow the Fate of the Frst and by some of the same turbulent spirits Jealousies would be soon raised against them and the like Propositions for reconciliation of Differences would be then sent to them as they now have joyned to send to Us till all Power being vested in the House of Commons and their number making them incapable of transacting Affairs of State with the necessary Secrecy and Expedition those being re-trusted to some close Committee at last the Common people who in the mean time must be flattered and to whom Licence must be given in all their wilde humours how contrary soever to established Law or their own real Good discovering this Arcanum Imperii That all this was done by them but not for them grow weary of Journey-work and set up for themselves call Parity and Independence Liberty devour that Estate which had devoured the rest destroy all Rights and Proprieties all distinctions of Families and Merit and by this means this splendid and excellently distinguished form of Government end in a dark equal Chaos of Confusion and the long Line of Our many noble Ancestors in a Jack Cade or a Wat Tyler For all these Reasons to all these Demands Our Answer is Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari But this We promise that We will be as careful of preserving the Laws in what is supposed to concern wholly Our Subjects as in what most concerns Our Self For indeed We profess to believe that the preservation of every Law concerns Us those of Obedience being not secure when those of Protection are violated and We being most of any injured in the least violation of that by which We enjoy the highest Rights and greatest Benefits and are therefore obliged to defend no less by Our Interest then by Our Duty and hope that no Jealousies to the contrary shall be any longer nourished in any of Our good People by the subtle insinuations and secret practices of men who for private ends are disaffected to Our Honour and Safety and the Peace and Prosperity of Our People And to shew you that no just indignation at so reproachful offers shall make Us refuse to grant what is probable to conduce to the good of Our good People because of the ill company it comes in We will search carefully in this heap of unreasonable Demands for so much as We may complying with Our Conscience and the Duty of Our Trust assent unto and shall accordingly agree to it In pursuance of which Search in the Fourth Proposition under a Demand which would take from Us that Trust which God Nature and the Laws of the Land have placed in Us and of which none of you could endure to be deprived We find something to which We give this Answer That We have committed the principal places about Our Children to persons of Quality Integrity and Piety with special regard that their tender years might be so seasoned with the Principles of the true Protestant Religion as by the blessing of God upon this Our Care this whole Kingdom may in due time reap the fruit thereof And as We have likewise been very careful in the choice of Servants about them that none of them may be such as by ill Principles or by ill Examples to cross Our endeavours for their Pious and Vertuous Education so if there shall be found for all Our care to prevent it any person about Our Children or about Us which is more then you ask against whom both Houses shall make appear to Us any just exception We shall not only remove them but thank you for the Information Only We shall expect that you shall be likewise careful that there be no under-hand dealing by any to seek faults to make room for others to Succeed in their places For the Fifth Demand As We will not suffer any to share with Us in our power of Treaties which are most improper for Parliaments and least in those Treaties in which We are nearliest concerned not only as a King but as a Father yet We do such is Our desire to give all reasonable satisfaction assure you by the word of a King that We shall never propose or entertain any Treaty whatsoever for the Marriage of any of Our Children without due regard to the true Protestant Profession the good of Our Kingdoms and the Honour of Our Family For the Sixth Demand concerning the Laws in force against Jesuits Priests and Popish Recusants We have by many of Our Messages to you by Our voluntary promise to you so solemnly made never to pardon any Popish Priest by Our strict Proclamations lately published in this point and by the Publick Examples which We have made in that case since Our Residence at York and before at London sufficiently expressed Our zeal herein Why do you then ask that in which Our own Inclination hath prevented you And if you can yet find any more effectual Course to disable them from disturbing the State or eluding the Law by trusts or otherwise We shall willingly give Our Consent to it For the Seventh concerning the Votes of popish Lords We understand that they in discretion have withdrawn themselves from the Service of the House of Peers and had done so when use was publickly made of their Names to asperse the Votes of that House which was then counted as Malignant as those who are called Our unknown and Vnsworn Counsellors are now Neither do We conceive that such a Positive Law against the Votes of any whose blood gives them that Right is so proper in regard of the Privilege of Parliament but are content that so long as they shall not be conformable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England they shall not be admitted to sit in the House of Peers but only to give their Proxies to such Protestant Lords as they shall chuse who are to dispose of them as they themselves shall think fit without any reference at all to the giver As to the desires for a Bill for
Our Court at York this 15. of June 1642. The Declaration and Profession of the Lords now at York and others of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council disavowing that they see any apparence of Preparations or Intentions in His Majesty to levy War against the Parliament WE whose names are under-written in Obedience to His Majesty's Desire and out of the Duty which we owe to His Majesty's Honour and to Truth being here upon the place and witnesses of His Majesty's frequent and earnest Declarations and Professions of His abhorring all Designs of making War upon His Parliament and not seeing any colour of Preparations or Counsels that might reasonably beget the belief of any such Design do profess before God and testifie to all the World that we are fully perswaded that His Majesty hath no such Intentions but that all His Endeavours tend to the firm and constant settlement of the true Protestant Religion the just Privileges of Parliament the Liberty of the Subject the Law Peace and Prosperity of this Kingdom York June 15. 1642. Subscribed by Lord Keeper L. D. of Richmond L. Marquess Hartford L. Great Chamberlain E. of Cumberland E. of Bath E. of Southampton E. of Dorset E. of Salisbury E. of Northampton E. of Devon E. of Cambridge E. of Bristol E. of Clare E. of Westmorland E. of Berkshire E. of Monmouth E. of Rivers E. of Dover E. of Carnarven E. of Newport L. Mowbray Maltravers L. Willoughby L. Grey of Ruthen L. C. Howard Andover L. Lovelace L. Paget L. Falconberge L. Rich. L. Paulet L. Newark L. Coventry L. Savile L. Mohun L. Dunsmore L. Seymour L. Capel L. Falkland Mr. Comptroller Mr. Secretary Nicholas Mr. Chancel of the Exchequer L. Chief Justice Banks MDCXLII June 8. By the King A Proclamation forbidding all Levies of Forces without his MAJESTY's express Pleasure signified under His Great Seal and all Contributions or Assistance to any such Levies WHereas under pretence that We intend to make War against the Parliament the contrary whereof is notoriously known to all that are here and as We hope by this time apparent to all other Our Subjects as well by Our Declaration of the sixteenth of June as by the Testimony of all Our Nobility and Council who are here upon the place and by colour of the Authority of both Houses of Parliament a major part whereof are now absent from London by the contrivance of some few evil persons disguising and colouring their pernicious Designs and hostile Preparations under the plausible names of the preservation of publick Peace and defence of Vs and both Houses of Parliament from Force and violence it hath been endeavoured to raise Troops of Horse and other Forces And for that purpose they have prevailed not only to prohibit Our own Moneys to be paid to Us or to Our use but by the Name and Authority of Parliament to excite Our Subjects to contribute their Assistance to them by bringing in Moneys Plate or under-writing to furnish and maintain Horses Horsemen and Arms and to that purpose certain Propositions or Orders as they are styled by them have been printed whereby they have endeavoured to engage the Power and Authority of Parliament as if the two Houses without Us had that Power and Authority to save harmless all those that shall so contribute from all Prejudice and Inconvenience that may befall them by occasion thereof And although We well hope that these Malignant persons whose Actions do now sufficiently declare their former Intentions will be able to prevail with few of Our good People to contribute their Power or Assistance unto them Yet lest any of Our Subjects taking upon trust what those men affirm without weighing the grounds of it or the danger to Us themselves and the Commonwealth which would ensue thereupon should indeed believe what these persons would insinuate and have them to believe that such their Contribution and Assistance would tend to the preservation of the publick Peace and the Defence of Us and both Houses of Parliament and that thereby they should not incur any danger We that We might not be wanting as much as in Us lyeth to foreshew and to prevent the danger which may fall thereupon have hereby thought good to declare and publish unto all Our loving Subjects That by the Laws of the Land the power of raising of Forces or Arms or levying of War for the defence of the Kingdom or otherwise hath always belonged to Us and to Us only and that by no Power of either or both Houses of Parliament or otherwise contrary to Our personal Commands any Forces can be raised or any War levied And therefore by the Statute of the seventh year of Our famous Progenitor King Edward the First whereas there had been then some variances betwixt Him and some great Lords of the Realm and upon Treaty thereupon it was agreed that in the next Parliament after provision should be made that in all Parliaments and all other Assemblies which should be in the Kingdom for ever every man should come without Force and Armour well and peaceably yet at the next Parliament when they met together to take advice of this Business though it concerned the Parliament it self the Lords and Commons would not take it upon them but answered That it belonged to the King to defend force of Armour and all other force against the Peace at all times when it pleased Him and to punish them which should do contrary according to the Laws and Usages of the Realm and that they were bound to aid Him as their Sovereign Lord at all seasons when need should be And accordingly in Parliament in after-times the King alone did issue His Proclamations prohibiting bearing of Arms by any person in or near the City where the Parliament was excepting such of the Kings Servants as He should depute or should be deputed by His Commandment and also excepting the Kings Ministers And by the Statute of Northampton made in the second year of King Edward the Third it is enacted That no man of what condition soever he be except the Kings Servants in His presence and His Ministers in executing the Kings Precepts or of their Office and such as be in their company assisting them go nor ride armed by night or day in Fairs Markets nor in the presence of the Justices or other Ministers nor in no part elsewhere And this power of raising Forces to be solely in the King is so known and inseparable a Right to the Crown that when in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth there being a sudden Rebellion the Earl of Shrewsbury without Warrant from the King did raise Arms for the suppression thereof and happily suppressed it yet was he forced to obtain his Pardon And whereas the Duke of Gloucester and other great Lords in the eleventh year of King Richard the Second upon pretence of the good of the King and Kingdom the King being then not of age and led away as
they alledged by evil Counsellors did raise Forces and by them mastered their Adversaries in that Parliament such as it was for it was held and kept with force how good use soever hath been made of the Precedents therein they procured a special Act of Pardon for their raising of Men and that those Assemblies should not be drawn into example for the time to come And as no Man can levy War or raise Forces without the King so much less against the personal Commands of the King opposed thereunto For by the Statute of the 25. year of King Edward the Third which is but declaratory of the old Law in that point it is Treason to levy War against the King in His Realm Within the construction of which Statute it is true which was said in the late Declaration under the name of both Houses of Parliament of the 26. of May last levying War in some sense against the King's Authority though not intended against His Person is levying War against the King And therefore the raising of Forces though upon pretence of removing of some evil Counsellors from about the Queen hath been adjudged Treason in the Case of the late Earl of Essex in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and in divers other Cases And We wish all Our Subjects to consider whether if Men shall be raised contrary to Our Proclamation and against Our Will it be not against Our Authority But it is as true and was never denied but in that Declaration that the raising of Forces against the King's personal Command being no Ideot nor Infant uncapable of understanding to Command being accompanied with His Presence is and is most properly levying of War against the King For if it be a sufficient pretence for raising of Men against the King's Person that it is for the defence of the King's Authority and of His Kingdom though against His express Command and Proclamation the Irish Rebels will have colour for their horrid Rebellion for they say though it be notoriously false it is for the defence of the King's Authority and of His Kingdom And Wat Tyler and Jack Cade and Kett the Tanner wanted not publick Pretences which were perhaps just causes of Complaints though not of raising of Men. And though these persons have gone about subtilly to distinguish betwixt Our Person and Our Authority as if because Our Authority may be where Our Person is not that therefore Our Person may be where Our Authority is not We require all Our good Subjects to take notice of the Law which is in print and full force That their Allegiance is due unto the natural Person of their Prince and not to His Crown or Kingdom distinct from His natural Capacity and that by the Oath of Ligeance at the Common Law which all persons above the age of twelve years are or ought to be sworn unto they are bound to be true and faithful not to the King only as King but to Our Person as King CHARLES and to bear Us truth and faith of Life and Member and earthly Honour and that they shall neither know nor hear of any ill or damage intended to Us that they shall not defend And that when in the time of King Edward the Second Hugh Spencer being discontented with the King caused a Bill to be written wherein was contained amongst other things That Homage and the Oath of Allegiance was more by reason of the King's Crown that is His Kingdom than of His Person and that seeing the King cannot be reformed by suit of Law if the King will not redress and put away that which is ill for the Common People and hurtful to the Crown that the thing ought to be put away by force and that His Lieges be bound to Govern in aid of Him and in default of Him he was condemned for it by two Parliaments and perpetually banished the Kingdom We have made mention of these Cases not so much to clear Our Right that We alone have the power of raising Forces and none of Our Subjects either in Parliament or out of Parliament against Our Will or personal Command which We think no Man that hath the least knowledge in Our Laws and is not led away by private Interests and may speak his mind freely will deny nor was ever questioned in any Parliament before this time as to let them see how dangerous the effect and consequence of raising of Forces without Us may be unto Us and to the Commonwealth under pretence of Defence of both And though We cannot doubt of the Affections of Our good Subjects considering their Interest is involved with Ours and how precious the Peace of the Kingdom is and ought to be unto them and that according to the words of the Statute of the eleventh year of King Henry the Seventh and the eighteenth Chapter by the duty of their Allegiance they are bounden to serve and assist Us at all seasons when need shall require Yet to the end that Our good Subjects may know what their Duty is and what We expect from them and that all others who through Malice or private Interests shall be transported beyond their Duties may be left without excuse We do therefore by this Our Proclamation charge and command all Our Subjects upon their Allegiance and as they tender Our Honour and Safety and the Peace and Safety of the Kingdom that they presume not to raise or levy any Horses Horsmen or Arms or any Forces whatsoever by colour of any Authority whatsoever without Our express pleasure signified under Our great Seal other than such as shall be raised levied and imprested by the Order as well of Our Self as of both Houses of Parliament according to an Act made this Sessions intituled An Act for the better raising and levying of Soldiers for the present defence of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland by Justices of Peace and otherwise in such manner as is prescribed in the said Act or Contribute or give any Assistance in Money Plate finding of Horses Horsmen or Arms or any other ways to or for any such Preparation Levie or Forces And that such of Our good Subjects who through Ignorance have been mis-led to consent or subscribe to any such Levie Contribution or Assistance forthwith upon publication of this Our Proclamation desist from continuing such their Contribution or Assistance or giving any countenance to any such Levies at their utmost perils And We do likewise streightly charge and command as well all Our Sheriffs Justices of Peace Mayors Balliffs Constables and all other Our Officers whatsoever that they use their utmost endeavours as well for publishing this Our Proclamation as for the suppressing of all Levies or Forces raised or to be raised without or against Our consent as also all other Our loving Subjects that they be attending aiding and assisting Our said Officers and Ministers therein as they and every of them will answer it at their utmost perils Given at Our Court at York
that no alteration could produce that Happiness they imagined and if their natures were capable of such Trusts to take some of the chief of them so near Us that they might be witnesses of Our Actions and privy to Our Counsels that either Ingenuity or Gratitude might recover them from their desperate Inclinations Hereupon because most of the Grievances of Our People were conceived to proceed from the great liberty of Our Council-board or from some Orders and Directions from them We admitted to Our Privy Council seven or eight of those Lords who were eminently in esteem with Our People for their reputation of Honour and Justice some of whom We knew to be most passionately dis-inclined to the present managery of Civil affairs and to the Government of the Church and hoped that by a free communication of their Doubts Opinions and Counsels they would have received that satisfaction that they would have been excellent Instruments of a blessed Reformation and Confirmation in Church and State Having begun with this foundation of Confidence in Our Court by electing such Persons We made the same hast to apply particular Remedies to the visible known Diseases resolving those Remedies should be proportioned to the Counsel and Desires of both Houses which We thought the surest way to win at least a major part to the confession and acknowledgment of Our Justice and Affection The Star-Chamber had in the excess of Jurisdiction or tediousness and charge of Proceedings or measure and severity of Punishment invaded the Laws of the Land and Liberty of the Subject by the exercise of an Arbitrary Power We pressed not the Reformation of this Court though erected or setled by Act of Parliament in a wise time but at the instance of both Houses consented to the Abolition of it The High Commission Court had proceded with too much strictness in many cases where the Tender Consciences of many of Our weak Subjects were concerned and had so far out-grown the power of the Law that it would not be limited and guided by it but censured fined and imprisoned Our People for matters unpunishable by the Law We pressed not the Review of that Statute by which that Court was erected that such power might be qualified and provisions altered as had been grievous to the Subject nor desired that any other care might be taken for the upholding the Ecclesiastical Discipline than what the wisdom and piety of both Houses should think necessary but in compliance to the sufferings of Our People and the desires of both Houses consented to the Repeal of that branch of that Statute The Writs for Ship-mony whereby several summs of mony had been received from Our good Subjects for defence and safeguard of the Kingdom had lain heavy upon Our People yet were judged to be Legal Both Our Houses of Parliament declared that the grounds and reasons of that Judgment being That when the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and that the whole Kingdom is in Danger We might compel our Subjects to provide Ships Men and Victuals for the defence and safeguard of the Kingdom and that We were the sole Judge of that Danger and how the same might be prevented were contrary to and against the Laws and Statutes of this Realm the Property and Liberty of the Subject and to the Petition of Right without disputing our Right We were contented that all the proceedings in that business should be adjudged void and disannulled and the Judgments Enrolments and Entries thereupon should be vacated and cancelled in such manner as was desired Under colour of executing the Forrest-Laws and of keeping the Justice in Eyres Seat very many Persons had been grieved and vexed by Presentments Fines Judgments and Imprisonments the Meets Limits and Bounds of Forrests extended and some endeavours been made to set on foot Forrests where in truth none had been We no sooner received complaint of this but We passed an Act for the certainty of the Meets Limits and Bounds of all the Forrests in England with such further Provisions for the ease of Our Subjects as were desired at Our hands If by the negligence or wilfulness of persons trusted by Us any Grievance or inconvenience had been contracted in any part of Our Kingdom which seemed not to have so general an influence upon the whole upon the first clear Information We did Our part for the easing of them and therefore We passed for the benefit of Our good Subjects of Devon and Cornwall an Act against divers Incroachments and Oppressions in the Stannary-Courts And We were so confident this way to win the Hearts and Affections of all Our good Subjects and that both Our Houses of Parliament would at last find a time to give too that We made their Asking the only Rule to Our Grants and parted with any thing they desired Us to relinquish So in the Preamble to the Bill of Tonnage and Poundage We parted with Our Title of Imposing a Power adjudged good and exercised by Our Ancestors and though disputed never resolved against by Judgment in Parliament So in the Act for regulating the Office of Clark of the Marker because the undue execution thereof had been grievous to many of Our loving Subjects We consented that no Clark of the Market of Our House shall hereafter execute His Office in any part of Our Kingdom but only within the verge of Our Court and granted the Execution of that Office to the Mayors and Bayliffs of Towns Corporate and to the Lords of Liberties and Franchises and to their Deputies So because about the beginning of Our Reign several Writs had issued out of Our Court of Chancery in the business of Knighthood and been transmitted with their Returns into Our Court of Exchequer where the proceedings were not fit and warrantable We were contented by the Act for the prevention of vexatious proceedings touching the Order of Knighthood absolutely to part with and discharge a Right and Duty as unquestionably due to Us by the Law as any Service We can challenge So which is the highest instance of Trust that ever King gave His Subjects upon Information that Credit could not be obtained for so much Mony as was requisite for the relief of Our Army and People in the Northern parts for preventing the imminent Danger the Kingdom was in and for supply of Our present and urgent Occasions for fear the Parliament might be dissolved before Justice should be done upon Delinquents publick Grievances be redressed a firm Peace between the two Nations of England and Scotland concluded and before provision should be made for the repayment of such Monies as should be so raised though We knew what power We parted from and trusted Our Houses with by so doing and what might be the Consequence of such a Trust if unfaithfully managed We neglected all such suspicions which all Men now see deserved not to be slighted and We willingly and immediately passed that Act for the continuance of this
taken all possible pains to destroy King and People or such whom they shall recommend to succeed that the same Faction may be carried through the whole Kingdom which these Men have raised in both Houses of Parliament that all Affairs of the Kingdom be managed not only by their Advice but their absolute Direction and Command lest any Man should think himself Our Servant that the Education and Marriage of Our Children be committed to them lest any Christian Prince should make addresses to Us in such Treaties in a word that in gratitude to their Modesty and Duty for not deposing Us We will not now depose Our Self and suffer the People and Kingdom which God and the Law hath committed to Our Government and Protection and for which We must make an account to be devoured by them Sure these Men think 't is no affront to ask any thing But can Our good Subjects be longer kept in this Trance Can the Nobility Gentry Clergy Commonalty of England sacrifice their Honour Interest Religion Liberty to Terms and the meer sound of Parliament and Privilege Can their Experience Reason and Understanding be captivated by words and assumptions contradictory to all Principles What one thing have We denied that with reference to the publick Peace and Happiness were to be bought with the loss of the meanest Subject And yet into what a Sea of blood is the rage and fury of these Men launching out to wrest that from Us which We are bound if We had a thousand lives to lose in the contention to defend Nay what one thing is there that makes life precious to good Men which We do not defend and these Men oppose and would evidently destroy What Grievance or Pressure have Our People complained of and been eased by Us whch is not now brought upon them in an unlimited degree Is the true Reformed Protestant Religion sealed by the blood of so many Reverend Martyrs and established by the Wisdom and Piety of former blessed Parliaments dear to them We must appeal to all the world being called upon by the Reproaches of these men whether Our own practice the best evidence of Religion and all the assistance and offers We can give have been wanting to the Advancement of that Religion And what can be more done by Us to satisfie and secure Our People in that point On the other side let all Our good Subjects consider and weigh what pregnant Arguments they have to fear Innovation in Religion if these desperate persons prevail when the principal Men to whose care and authority they have committed the managery of that part refuse Communion with the Church of England as much as the Papists do and have not only with that freedom they think fit to use reproached the Book of Common-Prayer and the Government of the Church in their Speeches but have published those Speeches in the view of all Men in Print that the World might see by what Measure and Rule the Reformation they so much talk of is to be made when such Petitions have been contrived by them and accepted with publick thanks which revile the Book of Common-Prayer calling it a Mass-book in scorn and contempt of the Law whilest other Petitions for the Government established by Law have been rejected discountenanced and the Petitioners punished and when two Armies were kept in the bowels of the Kingdom ten weeks at the charge of fourscore thousand pounds a Month for the countenance of a Bill to eradicate Episcopacy Root and Branch when such licence is given to Brownists Anabaptists and Sectaries and whilst Coachmen Felt-makers and such Mechanick persons are allowed and entertained to preach by those who think themselves the principal Members of either House when such barbarous Outrages in Churches and heathenish Irreverence and Uproars even in the time of Divine Service and the Administration of the blessed Sacrament are practised without control when the blessed means of advancing Religion the Preaching of the Word of God is turned into a licence of Libelling and Reviling both Church and State and venting such Seditious Positions as by the Laws of the Land are no less than Treason and scarce a Man in Reputation and Credit with these grand Reformers who is not notoriously guilty of this whilest those Learned Reverend Painful and Pious Preachers who have been and are the most eminent and able Assertors of the Protestant Religion are to the unspeakable joy of the Adversaries to Our Religion disregarded and oppressed lastly when for the settling and composing all these Distractions and Distempers instead of a free and general Synod of Grave and Learned Divines which hath been so much talked of and to whose deliberations We were and are willing to commit the Consideration of those Affairs a Conference is desired with particular Men nominated by themselves contrary to the Rights and Practice of the Church the major part of whom though We confess there are many Reverend Learned and Pious persons amongst them are not of Learning nor Understanding sutable to so great a Work or are of known avowed Disaffection to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church and of those who have preached Seditiously and Treasonably against Our Person and Authority as Doctor Downing and others Whoever from his Soul desires a true Examination and Reformation in Religion cannot expect it from the results of these Mens Counsels nor think the true service of God is like to be advanced or preserved by such practices And all sober Men must look with strange Horrour and Indignation upon the last Declaration of the Lords and Commons which after such unprecedented Outrages and Violences against Us publishes the ground of their taking up defensive Arms as they call them to be for the maintetenance of the true Religion the taking and keeping of Hull Our Navy Our Money and Goods the exercising of the Militia and all the other Injuries We complain of to be for the maintenance of Religion But whosoever believes them to be for the preservation of Our Person may believe the other too Would Men enjoy the Laws they were born to the Liberty and Property which makes the Subjection of this Nation famous and honourable with all neighbouring Kingdoms We have done Our part to make a Wall of Brass for the perpetual defence of them whilest these ill Men usurp a Power to undermine that Wall and to shake those Foundations which cannot be pulled down but to the confusion of Law Liberty Property and the very Life and Being of Our Subjects Is the Dignity Privilege and Freedom of Parliament Parliaments whose Wisdom and Gravity have prepared so many wholsome Laws and whose Freedom distinguishes the Condition of Our Subjects from those of any Monarchy in Europe precious unto Our People Where was that Freedom and that Privilege when the House of Commons presumed to make Laws without the House of Peers as they did in their Vote upon the Protestation and of the 9th of September when the House
their Actions are declared Treasonable and their Persons Traitors and thereupon Your Majesty hath set up Your Standard against them whereby You have put the two Houses of Parliament and in them this whole Kingdom out of Your Protection so that until Your Majesty shall recall those Proclamations and Declarations whereby the Earl of Essex and both Houses of Parliament and their Adherents and Assistants and such as have obeyed and executed their Commands and Directions according to their Duties are declared Traitors or otherwise Delinquents and untill the Standard set up in pursuance of the said Proclamations be taken down Your Majesty hath put us into such a condition that whilest we so remain we cannot by the fundamental Priviledges of Parliament the publick Trust reposed in us or with the general good and safety of this Kingdom give Your Majesty any other Answer to this Message Joh. Brown Cler. Parliament H. Elsinge Cler. Parl. D. Com. This strange Answer might well have discouraged Us from any thought of proceeding further this way and informed Us sufficiently what spirit still governed amongst those few who continued still in both Houses otherwise after so many bitter and invective Messages and Declarations sent to Us and published against Us We should not have been reproached with Our Proclamations and Declarations set forth by Us as the effect of such evil Counsel as was unparallel'd by any former Examples We believe indeed such Proclamations and Declarations have never been before set forth but were former times ever acquainted with such intolerable Provocations Were there ever before these twelve months Declarations published in the name of eitheir or both Houses of Parliament to make their King odious to the People Have either or both Houses ever before assumed or pretended to a Power to raise Armes or levy War in any Cause or can both Houses together exercise such a Power Are those Actions which the Law hath defined literally and expresly to be Treasonable or such Persons to be Traitors not so because they are done by Members of either House or their appointment And must not We declare such who March with Arms and Force to destroy Us to be Traitors because the Earl of Essex is their General Those whom We have or do accuse We have named together with their Crimes notorious by the known Law of the Land a favour not granted to Our Evil Counsellors and appeal to that known Law to judge between Us And now that by this We should have put the whole Kingdom out of Our Protection in whose behalf We do all that We have done is a corrupt Gloss upon such a Text as cannot be perverted but by the cunning practices of such who wish not well to King or People Yet that no weak persons might be misled by that Imputation upon Us we sent a Reply to that Answer in these words WE will not repeat what means We have used to prevent the dangerous and distracted estate of the Kingdom nor how those means have been interpreted because being desirous to avoid effusion of blood We are willing to decline all memory of former bitterness that might make Our offer of a Treaty less readily accepted We never did declare nor ever intended to declare both Our Houses of Parliament Traitors or set up Our Standard against them and much less to put them and this Kingdom out of Our Protection We utterly profess against it before God and the World And further to remove all possible Scruples which may hinder the Treaty so much desired by Vs We hereby promise so that a day be appointed by you for the revoking of your Declarations against all Persons as Traitors or otherways for assisting of Vs We shall with all chearfulness upon the same day recall Our Proclamations and Declarations and take down Our Standard In which Treaty We shall be read to grant any thing that shall be really for the good of Our Subjects Conjuring you to consider the bleeding condition of Ireland and the dangerous condition of England in as high a degree as by these Our Offers We have declared Our Self to do and assuring you that Our chief desire in this World is to beget a good understanding and mutual confidence betwixt Vs and Our two Houses of Parliament This Message produced an Answer little differing from the former like Men who had no other measure of the justice of their Cause than their Power to oppress Us forgetting their own Duties they sharply inform Us of Ours in these words May it please Your Majesty IF we the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled should repeat all the ways we have taken the endeavours we have used and the expressions we have made unto Your Majesty to prevent those Distractions and Dangers Your Majesty speaks of likely to fall upon this Kingdom we should too much enlarge this Reply Therefore as we humbly so shall we only let your Majesty know that we cannot recede from our former Answer for the reasons therein expressed for that Your Majesty hath not taken down Your Standard recalled Your Proclamations and Declarations whereby You have declared the Actions of both Houses of Parliament to be Treasonable and their Persons Traitors And You have published the same since Your Message of the 25th of August by Your late Instructions sent to Your Commissioners of Array Which Standard being taking down and the Declarations Proclamations and Instructions recalled if Your Majesty shall then upon this our humble Petition leaving Your Forces return unto Your Parliament and receive their faithful Advice Your Majesty will find such expressions of our Fidelities and Duties as shall assure You that Your Safety Honour and Greatness can only be found in the affections of Your People and the sincere Counsels of Your Parliament whose constant and undiscouraged Endeavours and Consultations have passed through Difficulties unheard-of only to secure Your Kingdoms from the violent Mischiefs and Dangers now ready to fall upon them and every part of them who deserve better of Your Majesty and can never allow themselves representing likewise Your whole Kingdom to be balanced with those Persons whose desperate Dispositions and Counsels prevail still so to interrupt all our endeavours for the relieving of bleeding Ireland as we may fear our labours and vast expences will be fruitless to that distressed Kingdom As Your Presence is thus humbly desired by us so is it in our hopes Your Majesty will in your reason believe there is no other way than this to make Your Self happy and Your Kingdom safe John Brown Cler. Parliament Without any bitterness or reprehension of their neglect of Us and the publick Peace to express Our deep sense of the Calamities at hand We yet once more hoping to awake them to a Christian tenderness towards the whole Kingdom sent to them in these words WHo have taken most ways used most endeavours and made most real expressions to prevent the present Distractions and Dangers let all the World
Your Crown and Dignity with our Lives and Fortunes Your Presence in this Your great Council being the only means of any Treaty betwixt Your Majesty and them with hope of Success And in none of our Desires to Your Majesty shall we be swaied by any particular man's advantage but shall give a clear Testimony to Your Majesty and the whole World that in all things done by us we faithfully intend the good of Your Majesty and of Your Kingdoms and that we will not be diverted from this End by any private or self-respects whatsoever Jo. Brown Cler. Parliament They will not believe We have done all that in Us lies to prevent and remove the present Distractions because of the Oppressions Rapines and the like committed upon Our good Subjects by Our Soldiers Let them remember who have compelled Us and against Our Souls desire forced Us to raise those Soldiers and then if the Oppressions and Rapines were indeed such as are falsly pretended Our poor Subjects who suffer under them will look on them and only on them as the Authors of all the Miseries they do or can undergo We confess with grief of heart some Disorders have and many more may befal Our good People by Our Soldiers but We appeal to all those Counties through which We have passed what care We have taken to prevent and what Justice We daily inflict upon such Offendors neither hath the least complaint been ever made to Us of Violences and Outrages which We have not to Our utmost Power repaired or punished however those false and treasonable Pamphlets are suffered which accuse Us of giving Warrant for plundring of Houses Our Mercy and Lenity is so well known to the contrary that it is usually made an excuse by those who against their Consciences assist this Rebellion against Us that they chuse rather to offend Us upon the confidence of Pardon than provoke those Malignant Persons who without Charity or Compassion destroy all who concur not with them in Faction and Opinion How far We are from Rapine and Oppression may appear by Our Lenity to the Persons and Estates of those who have not only exercised the Militia the seed from whence this Rebellion against Us hath grown but contributed Mony and Plate to the maintenance of that Army which now endeavours to destroy Us as of Nottingham Leicester and many other places through which We have passed many of whom then were and now are in that Army to let pass Our passing by Chartly the House of the Earl of Essex without other pressures than as if he were the General of Our own Army and Our express Orders to restrain the liberty Our Soldiers would otherwise have used upon that Place and his Estate about it How contrary the proceedings are of these great Assertors of the publick Liberties appears fully by the sad instances they every day give in the plundring by publick Warrant the Houses of all such whose Duty Conscience and Loyalty hath engaged them in Our Quarrel which every good Man ought to make his own by their declaring all Persons to be out of the Protection of Parliament and so exposing them to the Fury of their Soldiers who will not assist this Rebellion against Us their anointed King by the daily Outrages committed in Yorkshire when contrary to the desire and agreement of that County signed under the hands of both Parties they will not suffer the Peace to be kept but that the Distractions and Confusion may be universal over the whole Kingdom direct their Governour of Hull to make War upon Our good Subjects in that County and so continue the robbing and plundring the Houses of all such who concur not with them in this Rebellion lastly by the barbarous Sacrilegious Inhumanity exercised by their Soldiers in Churches as in Canterbury Worcester Oxford and other Places where they committed such unheard-of Outrages as Jews and Atheists never practised before God in his good time will make them examples of his Vengeance We never did nor ever shall desire to secure the Authors and Instruments of any mischiefs to the Kingdom from the Justice of Parliament We desire all such Persons may be speedily brought to condign Punishment by that Rule which is on ought to be the Rule of all punishment the known Law of the Land If there have seemed to be any interruption in proceedings of this nature it must be remembred how long Persons have been kept under general Accusations without Trial though earnestly desired that the Members who were properly to judge such Accusations have by Violence been driven thence or could not with Honour and Safety be present at such Debates that notorious Delinquents by the known Laws were protected against Us from the Justice of the Kingdom and such called Delinquents who committing no Offence against any known Law were so voted only for doing their Duties to Us and then there will be no cause of complaint found against Us. And for the Priviledges of Parliament We have said so much and upon such reasons which have never been answered but by bare positive Assertions in Our several Declarations that We may well and do still use the same expression That We desire God may so deal with Us and Our Posterity as We desire the preservation of the just Rights of Parliament the violation whereof in truth by these desperate Persons is so clearly known to all Men who understand the Priviledges of Parliament that their Rage and Malice hath not been greater to Our Person and Government than to the Liberty Priviledge and very Being of Parliaments witness their putting in putting out and suspending what Persons they please as they like or dislike their Opinions their bringing down the Tumults to assault the Members and awe the Parliament their posting and prosecuting such Members of either House as concurred not with them in their Designs and so driving them from thence for the safety of their Lives their denying Us against the known established Law and the Constitution of the Kingdom to have a Negative Voice without which no Parliament can consist their making close Committees from whence the Members of the Houses are exempted against the Liberty of Parliament and lastly resolving both Houses into a close Committee of Seventeen persons who undertake and direct all the present Outrages and the managery of this Rebellion against Us in the absence of four parts of five of both Houses and without the privity of those who stay there which is not only contrary but destructive to Parliaments themselves By these gross unheard-of Invasions and Breaches of the Priviledges of Parliament and without them they could not have done the other they made way for their attempts upon the Law of the Land and the introduction of that unlimited Arbitrary Power which they have since exercised to the intolerable Damage and Confusion of the whole Kingdom And We assure Our good Subjects the vindication of these just Liberties and Priviledges of Parliament thus violated
Advancement of God's Service For the Second of Our Intention to make War upon Our Parliament and so to root out Parliaments the Scandal is so senseless when Our Accusation of a few particular Persons for particular Crimes notoriously committed adjudged by the known Laws of the Land to be Treason is evident that no Man can be moved with it who doth not believe a dozen or twenty Factious Seditious Persons to be the High Court of Parliament which consists of KING Lords and Commons And for the Privileges of it whoever doth not believe that to raise an Army to murther and depose the King to alter the whole frame of Government and established Laws of the Land by extemporary extravagant Votes and Resolutions of either or both Houses to force and compel the Members to submit to the Faction and Treason of a few and to take away the Liberty and Freedom of consultation from them be the Privileges of Parliament must confess that the Army now raised by Us is no less for the Vindication and Preservation of Parliaments than for Our own necessary Defence We have often said and We still say that We believe many Inconveniences have grown upon this Kingdom by the too long intermission of Parliaments that Parliaments are the only necessary sovereign Remedies of the growing Mischiefs which Time and Accidents have and will always beget in this Kingdom that without Parliaments the Happiness cannot be lasting to King or People We have prepared for the frequent assembling of Parliaments and will be always as careful of their just Privileges as of Our Life Honour or Interest But that those Privileges should extend so far as hath been lately declared that it should not be lawful for Us to apprehend the Lord Saint-John Captain Wingate or Captain Walton when they came to destroy Us because they were Members of Parliament without the consent of that House of which they were Members is so ridiculous that there need no more to be said in this Argument than the giving these instances In a word as whoever knows in what Danger Our Person was on Sunday the 23. of October can never believe that the Army which gave Us Battel was raised for Our Defence and Preservation so when they consider how much the Liberty of the Subject is invaded by their Rapine and Imprisoning and that four parts at the least of five of the Members of both Houses are by Violence driven from being present in that Council that the Book of Common-Prayer is rejected and no countenance given but to Anabaptists and Brownists they will easily find the pretences of care of the Protestant Religion the Liberty of the Subject and of the Privilege of Parliament to be as vain and pretended as those which refer to the Safety of Our Person and preservation of Our Posterity We cannot omit the great pains and endeavours these great pretenders to Peace and Charity have taken to raise an implacable Malice and Hatred between the Gentry and Commonalty of the Kingdom by rendring all Persons of Honour Courage and Reputation odious to the Common People under the style of Cavaliers insomuch as the High-ways and Villages have not been safe for Gentlemen to pass through without Violence or Affronts and by infusing into them that there was an intention by the Commission of Array to take away a part of their Estates from them a Scandal so senseless and impossible that the Contrivers of it well know that they might with equal Ingenuity have charged Us with a purpose of introducing Turcisme or Judaisme amongst them and We hope when Our good Subjects have well weighed the continual Practices of these Men to reject all offers of Treaty and to suppress Truth and to mislead them by bold and monstrous Falsehoods they will not think such arts and ways to lead to Peace and Unity And We desire Our good Subjects of all Conditions to believe that We hold Our Self bound no less to defend and protect the meanest of Our People who are born equally free and to whom the Law of the Land is an equal Inheritance than the greatest Subject and that as the Wealth and Strength of this Kingdom consists in the Number and Happiness of Our People which is made up of Men of all Conditions so We shall to the utmost of Our Power endeavour without distinction to give every one of them that Justice and Protection which is due to them and We do exhort them all to that charitable and brotherly Affection one towards another that they may be reconciled in a just Duty and Loyalty to Us which may enable Us for that Protection To conclude We would have all the World know that We shall never forget the Protestations and Vows We have made to Almighty God in Our several Declarations and Messages to both Our Houses of Parliament And We are too much a Christian to believe that We can break those Promises and avoid the Justice of Heaven CHARLES R. Our express pleasure is That this Our Declaration be published in all Churches and Chappels within the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales by the Parsons Vicars or Curates of the same DECLARATIONS and PAPERS Concerning the TREATY of PEACE AT OXFORD MDCXLII III. MDCXLII Novemb. His MAJESTY's Declaration to all His loving Subjects of His true Intentions in advancing lately to Brainceford THough Our Reputation be most dear to Us and especially in those cases wherein the truth of Our most solemn Professions and by consequence of Our Christianity is questioned yet it is not only for the Vindication of that and to clear Our self from such Aspersions but withal to preserve Our Subjects in their just Esteem of and Duty to Us and from being engaged into Crimes and Dangers by those malicious Reports so spightfully framed and cunningly spread against Us concerning Our late advancing to Brainceford that We have resolved to publish this Our following Declaration AT Colebrook on Friday the 11. of November We received a Petition from both Our Houses of Parliament by the Earl of Northumberland the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery the Lord Wenman Master Pierrepont and Sir John Hippesly And indeed We were well pleased to see it so much liker a Petition than the other Papers We had often of late received under that name and return'd to it the next day so gracious an Answer that We assure Our selves could not but be very satisfactory to all that were truly lovers of Peace The Copies of both do here follow To the KING 's most Excellent MAJESTY The humble Petition of the Lords and Commons now assembled in Parliament WE Your Majesty's most loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled being affected with a deep and piercing sense of the Miseries of this Kingdom and of the Dangers to Your Majesty's Person as the present Affairs now stand and much quickned therein with the sad consideration of the great effusion of Blood at the late Battel and of the loss of so
Letters to the Speaker of the House of Commons a Copy of which was sent to Us were forthwith sent to them That Our Army would be forced through wants to disband or depart the Kingdom and that there would be nothing to be exspected there but the instant Loss of the Kingdom and the destruction of the remnant of Our good Subjects yet left there In stead of any redress or relief according to these Letters such Ships as were by the care and charity of well-affected Persons provided to transport Cloths and Victual to them were in their Voyage thither seized and taken by the Ships under the Command of the Earl of Warwick and in stead of endeavours to send more Forces thither attempts were made to draw the Scotch Forces from thence into this Kingdom So that We thought Our Self bound in Duty and Conscience since it was not in Our power otherwise to preserve that Kingdom from utter Ruine at least to admit any Expedient which with God's blessing might be a means to preserve that People and therefore We directed the Lord Marquess Ormond whom for his Courage Affection and Loyalty We had made Our Lieutenant-General of that Our Army and who having gotten so many notable Victories upon the Rebels was very well approved of by the two Houses of Parliament to agree on Our behalf to such a Cessation of Arms with the Rebels as upon his understanding and knowledge of the condition of Our affairs there should be thought reasonable This Cessation was concluded on the 15. day of September for one whole year and the Articles thereof printed at Dublin were sent to Us by Our Lords Justices and Council and arrived here on Saturday last with a Letter from them to one of Our Secretaries expressing the great sufferings of Our Army there through want of relief out of England We have thought fit with this true and plain relation to publish the said Articles according to the Copy sent Us that all Our good Subjects may see how We have proceeded herein What opinion the principal Persons as well of Our Council as the Officers of Our Army there have of this Cessation may appear by the Testimony which We have caused to be Printed after the Articles with their names who have set their hands to the same And let all Our good Subjects be assured that as We have for these Reasons and with this Caution and deliberation consented to this Preparation to Peace and to that purpose do continue Our Parliament there so We shall proceed in the accomplishing thereof with that care and circumspection that We shall not admit even Peace it self otherwise than as it may be agreeable to Conscience Honour and Justice By the Lords Justices and Council Jo. Borlase Hen. Tichborne UPON consideration had of the annexed Articles of Cessation of Arms whereby it is concluded and accorded that there be a Cessation of Arms and of all Acts of Hostility for one whole year beginning the fifteenth day of September Anno Domini one thousand six hundred forty three at the hour of twelve of the Clock of the said day We the Lords Justices and Council according to His Majesty's Letters of the one and thirtieth of July last do by this Proclamation in His Majesty's Name ratifie confirm and publish the same and do require all His Majesty's Subjects whom it may concern by Sea and Land to take notice thereof and to yield all due Obedience thereunto in all the parts thereof Given at His Majesty's Castle of Dublin the 19th day of September 1643. R. Bolton Canc. Roscomon Cha. Lambart Tho. Rotherham Tho. Lucas La. Dublin Edw. Brabazon Geo. Shurley Ormonde Ant. Midensis Gerard Lowther Fr. Willoughby Ja. Ware God Save the KING ARticles of Cessation of Arms agreed and concluded on at Singingstown in the County of Kildare the 15. day of September in the nineteenth year of His Majesty's Reign by and between James Marquess of Ormond Lieutenant-General of His Majesty's Army in the Kingdom of Ireland for and in the Name of Our Gracious Sovereign Lord CHARLES by the Grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland c. by virtue of His Majesty's Commission bearing date at Dublin the last of August in the said nineteenth year of His Majesty's Reign of the one part and Donnogh Viscount Muskery Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Nicholas Plunket Esquire Sir Robert Talbot Baronet Sir Richard Barnewell Baronet Torlogh O-Neal Geffry Brown Ever Mac-Gennis and John Walsh Esquires authorized by His Majesty's Roman Catholick Subjects of whose party they are and now in Arms in the said Kingdom c. to treat and conclude with the said Marquess for a Cessation of Arms by virtue of an Authority given unto them bearing date at Cashel the 7. day of September in the said nineteenth year of His Majesty's Reign of the other part FIrst It is concluded and accorded that there be a Cessation of Arms and of all Acts of Hostility between His Majesty 's said Roman Catholick Subjects who are now in Arms c. in this Kingdom and their Party and all others His Majesty's good Subjects for one whole year to begin the fifteenth day of Septemb. Anno Dom. 1643. at the hour of 12. of the clock of the said day Item It is concluded and accorded that free passage Entercourse Commerce and Traffick during the said Cessation shall be between His Majesty 's said Roman Catholick Subjects who are now in Arms c. and their Party and all others His Majesty's good Subjects and all others in League with His Majesty by Sea and Land Item It is concluded and accorded and the said Viscount Muskery and the rest of the above-named Persons do promise and undertake for and in the behalf of those for whom they are authorized to treat and conclude as aforesaid that all Ships Barques and Vessels which shall bring Provisions to any Harbour in this Kingdom in the hands or possession of such as shall obey the Articles of this Cessation from Minehead and White-haven and from all the Ports between on that side where Wales is situate so as they be Ships belonging to any of the said Ports and do not use any Acts of Hostility to any of the said Roman Catholicks who are now in Arms c. or to any of their Party or to any who shall be waged or employed unto or by them shall not be interrupted by any of their Party nor by any Ships or other Vessels of what Country or Nation soever under their Power or Command or waged employed or contracted with on their behalf or by any Forts Garrisons or forces within this Kingdom under their power in their coming to this Kingdom or returning from thence Item It is concluded and accorded and the said Lord Viscount Muskery and the rest of the above-named parties do promise and undertake for and in the behalf of those for whom they are authorized as aforesaid that all Ships Barques and Vessels which shall bring
Viscount Muskery and the rest of the above-named Persons hath put his Hand and Seal And the said Viscount Muskery Sir Lucas Dillon Knight Nicholas Plunket Esquire Sir Robert Talbot Baronet Sir Richard Barnewell Baronet Torlogh O-Neale Geffry Brown Ever Mac-Gennis and John Walsh Esquires to that part of the Articles remaining with the said Marquess of Ormond have put their Hands and Seals the day and year above written Muskery Lucas Dillon Nic. Plunket Rob. Talbot Rich. Barnewell Torl O-Neale Geffry Browne Ever Mac-Gennis Jo. Walsh An Instrument touching the manner of payment of 30800. pound Sterling by several Payments VVHereas by an Instrument bearing Date with these presents we have in the behalf and by Authority from the Roman Catholicks of this Kingdom freely given unto His Majesty the Sum of thirty thousand pounds Sterling wherein the times or manner of payments are not expressed we do therefore hereby agree that the same shall be paid in manner following viz. 5000. pounds within one Month next after the Date of these presents the one half in money and the other half in goods and merchantable Beeves not under four or above ten years old at the rate of 30 pounds the score at the City of Dublin 5000 pounds more within one month next after the said first month the one half in money and the other half in Beeves as aforesaid at the like rates at the City of Dublin aforesaid also within two months next after 5000 pounds more whereof one half of Beeves as aforesaid at the like rates and the other half in money one other 5000 pounds at or before the last of February next and the Sum of 10000 pounds being the last payment of the said thirty thousand pounds at or before the last day of May next which shall be in the year 1644. And we hereby further agree that 800 pounds more shall be paid to His Majesty's use to whom the Lords Justices shall appoint at the Garrison of Naas within two months next ensuing the one half by one months end next after the Date hereof and the other half by the end of one month more next after the first month All other payments in money save the eight hundred pounds shall be paid at Dublin and the rest of the Beeves save the said first two payments to be paid within the several Provinces to His Majesty's use to such persons as shall be appointed by His Majesty's Lords Justices or other chief Governour or Governours in this Kingdom they first giving notice to us or any one or more of us of their pleasures therein In witness whereof we have hereunto put our Hands and Seals the sixteenth day of September 1643. Muskery Lucas Dillon Nic. Plunket Rob. Talbot R. Barnewell Tor. O-Neale Geffry Browne Ever Mac-Gennis Jo. Walsh VVHereas the Lord Marquess of Ormond hath demanded the Opinions as well of the Members appointed from the Council-board to assist his Lordship in the present Treaty as of other Persons of Honour and Command that have since the beginning thereof repaired out of several parts of this Kingdom to his Lordship they therefore seriously considering how much His Majesty's Army here hath already suffered through want of relief out of England though the same was often pressed and importuned by His most Gracious Majesty Who hath left nothing unattempted which might conduce to their support and maintenance and unto what common Misery not only the Officer and Souldier but others also His Majesty's good Subjects within this Kingdom are reduced and further considering how many of his Majesty's principal Forts and places of strength are at this present in great distress and the imminent danger the Kingdom is like to fall into and finding no possibility of prosecuting this War without large Supplies whereof they can apprehend no hope nor possibility in due time they for these causes do conceive it necessary for His Majesty's Honour and Service that the said Lord Marquess assent to a Cessation of Arms for one whole Year on the Articles and Conditions this day drawn up and to be perfected by virtue of His Majesty's Commission for the preservation of this Kingdom of Ireland Witness our Hands the fifteenth day of September 1643. Clanrickard and St. Albans Roscomon Richard Dungarvan Edward Brabazon Inchequin Thomas Lucas James Ware Michael Ernly Foulk Huncks John Powlet Maurice Eustace Edward Povey John Gifford Philip Percival Richard Gibson Henry Warren Alanus Cooke Advocatus Regis MDCXLIII By the King A Proclamation for the Assembling the Members of both Houses at Oxford upon occasion of the Invasion by the Scots VVHereas We did by our Proclamation bearing date the twentieth day of June last upon due consideration of the Miseries of this Kingdom and the true Cause thereof warn all Our good Subjects no longer to be mis-led by Votes Orders or pretended Ordinances of One or Both Houses by reason the Members do not enjoy the Freedom and Liberty of Parliament which appears by several instances of Force and Violence and by the course of their Proceedings mentioned in Our said Proclamation and several of Our Declarations since which time Our Subjects of Scotland have made great and Warlike preparations to enter and invade this Kingdom with an Army and have already actually invaded the same by possessing themselves by force of Arms of Our Town of Berwick upon pretence that they are invited thereunto by the desires of the two Houses the which as We doubt not all Our good Subjects of this Kingdom will look upon as the most insolent Act of Ingratitude and Disloyalty and to the apparent breach of the late Act of Pacification so solemnly made between the Kingdoms and is indeed no other than a design of Conquest and to impose new Laws upon this Nation they not so much as pretending the least Provocation or Violation from this Kingdom so We are most assured that the major part of both Houses of Parliament do from their Souls abhor the least thought of introducing that Foreign Power to increase and make desperate the Miseries of their unhappy Country And therefore that it may appear to all the World how far the major part of both Houses is from such Actions of Treason and Disloyalty and how grossly those few Members remaining at Westminster have and do impose upon Our People We do Will and require such of the Members of both Houses as well those who have been by the Faction of the Malignant party expelled for performing their Duty to Us and into whose rooms no Persons have been since chosen by their Country as the rest who have been driven thence and all those who being conscious of their want of Freedom now shall be willing to withdraw from that Rebellious City to assemble themselves together at our City of Oxford on Munday the twenty second day of January where care shall be taken for their several Accommodations and fit places appointed for their meeting and where all Our good Subjects shall see how willing
We are to receive Advice for the Preservation of the Religion Laws and Safety of the Kingdom and as far as in Us lyes to restore it to its former Peace and Security Our chief and only end from those whom they have trusted though We cannot receive it in the place where We appointed And for the better encouragement of those Members of either House to resort to Us who may be conscious to themselves of having justly incurred Our Displeasure by submitting to or concurring in unlawful Actions and that all the World may see how willing and desirous We are to forget the Injuries and Indignities offered to Us and by an Union of English Hearts to prevent the lasting Miseries which this Foreign Invasion must bring upon this Kingdom We do offer a free and General Pardon to all the Members of either House who shall at or before the said twenty second day of January appear at Our City of Oxford and desire the same without Exceptions which considering the manifest Treasons committed against Us and the Condition We are now in improved by God's wonderful blessing to a better degree than We have enjoyed at any time since these Distractions is the greatest instance of Princely and Fatherly Care of Our People that can be expressed and which malice it self cannot suggest to proceed from any other Ground And therefore We hope and are confident that all such who upon this our gracious Invitation will not return to their Duty and Allegiance shall be no more thought Promoters of the Religion laws and liberty of the Kingdom which this way may be without doubt setled and secured but Persons engaged from the beginning out of their own Pride Malice and Ambition to bring Confusion and Desolation upon their Country and to that purpose having long since contrived the Design to invite and joyn with a Foreign Nation to ruine and extinguish their own and shall accordingly be pursued as the most desperate and malicious Enemies of the Kingdom And Our pleasure is That this Our Proclamation be read in all Churches and Chapels within this Our Kingdom and Dominion of Wales Given at Our Court at Oxford the two and twentieth day of December in the Nineteenth year of Our Reign 1643. God Save the KING MDCXLIII IV. A Letter from the Lords at Oxford and other Lords whose Names are subscribed to the Lords of the Privy-Council and the Conservators of the Peace of the Kingdom of Scotland Our very good Lords IF for no other Reason yet that Posterity may know we have done our Duties and not sate still while our Brethren of Scotland were transported with a dangerous and fatal mis-understanding that the Resolution now taken among them for an Expedition into England is agreeable to their obligation by the late Treaty and to the Wishes and Desires of this Kingdom expressed by the two Houses of Parliament we have thought it necessary to let your Lordships know That if we had dissented from that Act it could never have been made a Law And when you have examined and considered the Names of us who subscribe this Letter who we hope are too well known to your Lordships and to both Kingdoms to be suspected to want Affection to Religion or to the Laws and Liberties of our Country for the Defence and maintenance of which we shall always hold our Lives a cheap Sacrifice and when you are informed that the Earls of Arundel and Thanet and the Lords Stafford Stanhope Coventry Goring and Craven are in the parts beyond the Seas and the Earl of Chesterfield Westmorland and the Lord Mountague of Boughton under restraint at London for their Loyalty and Duty to His Majesty and the Kingdom your Lordships will easily conclude how very few now make up the Peers at Westminster there being in truth not above five and twenty Lords present or privy to those Councils or being absent consenting or concurring with them whereas the House of Peers consist of above one hundred besides Minors and Recusant Lords neither of which keep us company in this Address to your Lordships How we and the major part of the House of Commons come to be absent from thence is so notorious to all the World that we believe your Lordships cannot be strangers to it How several times during our sitting there Multitudes of the meanest sort of People with weapons not agreeing with their condition or custom in a manner very contrary and destructive to the privilege of Parliament fill'd up the way between both Houses offering Injuries both by words and actions to and laying violent hands upon several Members and crying out many Hours together against the established Laws in a most tumultuous and menacing way How no remedy would be submitted to for preventing those Tumults After which and other unlawful and unparliamentary Actions many things rejected and setled upon solemn debate in the House of Peers were again after many Threats and Menaces resumed altered and determined contrary to the Custom and Laws of Parliaments and so many of us withdrew ourselves from thence where we could not Sit Speak and Vote with Honour Freedom and Safety and are now kept from thence for our Duty and Loyalty to our Sovereign And we must therefore protest against any Invitation which hath been made to our Brethren of Scotland to enter this Kingdom with an Army the same being as much against the Desires as against the Duty of the Lords and Commons of England And we do conjure your Lordships by our common Allegiance and Subjection under one gracious Sovereign by the Amity and Affection between the two Nations by the Treaty of Pacification which by any such Act is absolutely dissolved and by all Obligations both Divine and Humane which can preserve Peace upon earth to use your utmost endeavours to prevent the effusion of so much Christian blood and the Confusion and Desolation which must follow the unjust Invasions of this Kingdom which we and we are confident all true English men must interpret as a Design of Conquest and to impose new Laws upon us And therefore your Lordships may be assured we shall not so far forget our own Interests and the Honour of our Nation as not to expose our Lives and Fortunes in the just and necessary defence of the Kingdom But if your Lordships in truth have any doubts or apprehensions that there now is or hereafter may be a purpose to infringe your Laws or Liberties from any Attempt of this Kingdom we do engage our Honours to your Lordships to be our selves most religious observers of the Act of Pacification and if the Breach and violation do not first begin within that Kingdom we are most confident you shall never have cause to complain of this And having thus far expressed Our selves to your Lordships we hope to receive such an Answer from you as may be a means to preserve a right understanding between the two Nations and lay an Obligation upon us to continue Your Lordships
most affectionate humble Servants Ed. Littleton C. S. L. Cottington D. Richmond M. Hartford M. Newcastle E. Huntington E. Bathon E. Southampton E. Dorset E. Northampton E. Devonshire E. Bristol E. Berkshire E. Cleveland E. Marlburgh E. Rivers E. Lindsey E. Dover E. Peterburgh E. Kingston E. Newport E. Portland E. Carbury V. Conway V. Falconbridge V. Wilmot V. Savile L. Mowbray and Maltravers L. Darcy and Coniers L. Wentworth L. Cromwell L. Rich. L. Paget L. Digby L. Howard of Charleton L. Deincourt L. Lovelace L. Pawlet L. Mohun L. Dunsmore L. Seymour L. Herbert L. Cobham L. Capell L. Percy L. Leigh L. Hatton L. Hopton L. Jermyn L. Loughborough L. Byron L. Widderington MDCXLIII IV. Votes of the Commons at Oxford Die Veneris Januar. 26. 1643. Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente THat all such Subjects of Scotland as have consented to the Declaration intituled the Declaration of the Kingdom of Scotland and concerning the present Expedition into England according to the Commission and Order of the Convention of Estates from their meeting at Edinburgh August 1643. have thereby denounced War against the Kingdom of England and broke the Act of Pacification Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That all such of the Subjects of Scotland as have in a Hostile manner entred into the Town of Berwick upon Twede have thereby broke the Act of Pacification Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That all His Majesty's Subjects of the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales are both by their Allegiance and the Act of Pacification bound to resist and repress all such of the Subjects of Scotland as have in a Hostile manner already entred or shall hereafter enter into the Town of Barwick upon Twede or any other part of His Majesty's Realm of England or Dominion of Wales as Traytors and Enemies to the State Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That shall such of His Majesty's Subjects of the Realm of England or Dominion of Wales that shall be abetting aiding and assisting to the Subjects of Scotland in their Hostile Invasion of any part of His Majesty's Realm of England or Dominion of Wales shall be deemed and taken as Traitors and Enemies to the State Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That all His Majesty's Subjects of Scotland are bound by the Act of Pacification to resist and repress all of that Kindom that already haveraised Arms or shall rise in Arms to invade this Kingdom of England or Dominion of Wales Votes of the Commons at Oxford March 12. 1643. Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente THat the Lords and Commons now remaining at Westminster that have given their Votes or consent to the raising of Forces under the Command of the Earl of Essex or have been abetting aiding or assisting thereunto have levied and made War against the King and are therein guilty of High Treason Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That the Lords and Commons now remaining at Westminster that have given their Votes and consents for the making and using of a new Great Seal have thereby counterfeited the Kings Great Seal and therein committed High Treason Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That the said Lords and Commons now remaining at Westminster that have given their consents or have been abetting aiding or assisting to the present coming in of the Scots into England in a Warlike manner have therein committed High Treason Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That the Lords and Commons now remaining at Westminster who have committed the Crimes mentioned in the three former Votes have therein broken the Trust in them reposed by their Country and ought to be proceeded against as Traitors to the King and Kingdom Resolved upon the Question Nemine contradicente That all the Endeavours and Offers of Peace and Treaty made by His Majesty by the advice of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford have been refused and rejected by the Lords and Commons remaining at Westminster MDCXLIII IV. A Declaration of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford of their Proceedings touching a Treaty for Peace and the Refusal thereof with the several Letters and Answers that passed therein IF our most earnest Desires and Endeavours could have prevailed for a Treaty our Proceedings therein without this Declaration would have manifested to all the World the clearness of our Intentions for the restoring the Peace of this Kingdom But seeing all the means used by Us for that purpose have been rendred fruitless we hold our selves bound to let our Countries know what in discharge of our Duty to God and to them we on our parts have done since our coming to Oxford to prevent the further effusion of Christian blood and the Desolation of this Kingdom His Majesty having by His Proclamation upon occasion of the Invasion from Scotland and other weighty reasons commanded our attendance at Oxford upon the 22. of January last there to advise Him for the preservation of the Religion Laws and Safety of the Kingdom and to restore it to its former Peace and Security these Motives with the true sense of our Countries Miseries quickned our duty to give ready obedience to those His Royal Commands hoping by God's blessing to have become happy Instruments for such good Ends. And upon our coming hither we applyed our selves with all diligence to advise of such means as might most probably settle the Peace of this Kingdom the thing most desired by His Majesty and our selves And because we found many gracious offers of Treaty for Peace by His Majesty had been rejected by the Lords and Commons remaining at Westminster we deemed it fit to write in our own names and thereby make tryal whether that might produce any better effect for accomplishing our desires and our Countries Happiness And they having under pain of Death prohibited the address of any Letters or Message to Westminster but by their General and we conceiving him a Person who by reason of their trust reposed in him had a great influence into and Power over their Proceedings resolved to recommend it to his Care and to engage him in that Pious Work with our earnest desire to him to represent it to those that trusted him to prevent all exceptions and delay And thereupon the 27. of the same January dispatched a Letter away under the hands of the Prince His Highness the Duke of York and of 43. Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts and Barons of the House of Peers and 118. Members of the House of Commons there present many others of us by reason of distance of place sickness and imployments in His Majesty's Service and for want of timely notice of the Proclamation of Summons not being then come hither which Letter we caused to be inclosed in a Letter from the Earl of Forth the Kings General A true Copy of which Letter from us to the Earl of Essex hereafter followeth viz. My Lord HIS
by His Majesty or us in order to Peace here being so great a Condescending from a King to Subjects all indifferent Advantages left to them both for time and place of Treaty and choice of Persons to Treat But what their Intentions to Peace are will appear by their Letter enclosed in one from their General to the Earl of Forth both which are as followeth My Lord I Am commanded by both Houses of Parliament to send a Trumpeter with the inclosed Letter to His Majesty which I desire your Lordship may be most humbly presented to His Majesty I rest Essex-House March 9. 1643. Your Lordships humble Servant Essex May it please Your MAJESTY WE the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England taking into our Consideration a Letter sent from Your Majesty dated the third of March instant and directed to the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster which by the Contents of a Letter from the Earl of Forth unto the Lord General the Earl of Essex we conceive was intended to our selves have resolved with the concurrent advice and consent of the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland to represent to Your Majesty in all humility and plainness as followeth That as we have used all means for a just and safe Peace so will we never be wanting to do our utmost for the procuring thereof But when we consider the Expressions in that Letter of Your Majesty's we have more sad and dispairing thoughts of attaining the same than ever because thereby those Persons now assembled at Oxford who contrary to their Duty have deserted Your Parliament are put into an equal Condition with it and this present Parliament convened according to the known and Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom the continuance whereof is established by a Law consented unto by Your Majesty is in effect denied to be a Parliament The Scope and Intention of that Letter being to make provision how all the Members as is pretended of both Houses may securely meet in a full and free Convention of Parliament Whereof no other conclusion can be made but that this present Parliament is not a full nor free Convention and that to make it a full and free Convention of Parliament the presence of those is necessary who notwithstanding that they have deserted that great Trust and do levy War against the Parliament are pretended to be Members of the two Houses of Parliament And hereupon we think our selves bound to let Your Majesty know That seeing the Continuance of this Parliament is settled by a Law which as all other Laws of Your Kingdoms Your Majesty hath sworn to maintain as we are sworn to our Allegiance to Your Majesty these obligations being reciprocal we must in duty and accordingly are resolved with our Lives and Fortunes to defend and preserve the Just Rights and full Power of this Parliament And do beseech Your Majesty to be assured that Your Majesty's Royal and hearty Concurrence with us herein will be the most effectual and ready means of procuring a firm and lasting Peace in all Your Majesty's Dominions and of begetting a perfect understanding between Your Majesty and Your People without which Your Majesty's most earnest Professions and our most real Intentions concerning the same must necessarily be frustrated And in case Your Majesty's three Kingdoms should by reason thereof remain in this sad and bleeding Condition tending by the continuance of this unnatural War to their Ruine Your Majesty cannot be the least nor the last Sufferer God in his goodness incline Your Royal Breast out of pity and compassion to those deep Sufferings of Your Innocent People to put a speedy and happy issue to these desperate Evils by the joynt Advice of both Your Kingdoms now happily united in this Cause by their late solemn League and Covenant Which as it will prove the surest Remedy so is it the earnest prayer of Your Majesty's Loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England Westminster the 9 of March 1643. Gray of Wark Speaker of the House of Peers in Parliament pro tempore William Lenthall Speaker of the Commons House in Parliament Whosoever considers that this should be a Letter from Subjects might well think it very unbeseeming Language in them to call His Majesty's earnest endeavours for Peace but Professions and their own feigned pretence most real Intentions but much more menacing Language that is Majesty cannot be the least or last Sufferer which expressions from Subjects in Arms to their Soveraign what dangerous Construction they may admit we are unwilling to mention But we need not wonder at the manner of their expressions when we see in this Letter the Parliament it self as far as in them lies destroyed and those who here style themselves the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England not to resolve upon their Answer to their King without the concurrent advice and consent of the Commissioners as they call them of the Kingdom of Scotland If they had only taken the Advice of the Scotish Commissioners they had broken the Fundamental Constitution of Parliament the very Writs of Summons the Foundation of all Power in Parliament being in express terms for the Lords to treat and advise with the King and the Peers of the Kingdom of England and for the Commons to do and consent to those things which by that Common-Council of England should be ordained thereby excluding all others But their League it seems is gone further the Scots must consent as well as advise so that they have gotten a negative voice and they who in the former Letter would be the Kings only Council are now become no Council without the Scotish Commissioners The truth is they have besides the solemn League and Covenant with the Scots which their Letter mentions a strange and traitourous presumption for Subjects to make a Covenant and League with Subjects of another Kingdom without their Prince made private bargains with the Scots touching our Estates and a private agreement not to treat without their consent as some of themselves being afraid of a Treaty openly declared to the Common-Council of London And therefore 't is no wonder that being touched to the quick with the apprehension that they are not nor can be in this condition a full and free Convention of Parliament they charge us with deserting our Trust and would have us to be no Members of the Parliament They may remember it was our want of freedom within and the seditious Tumults without their many multiplied Treasons there and imposing traitourous Oaths which inforced our absence But concerning that and the want of freedom in Parliament we shall say no more here that being the Subject of another Declaration only we wish them to consider by what Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom which they have lately wrested to serve all turns they can exclude us from our Votes in Parliament who were duely summoned chosen and returned Members of Parliament and
what business soever without leave from the Earl of Essex in pursuance of which Order though the same passed only the Commons a sworn Messenger of His Majesty's hath been barbarously put to death for carrying a Legal Writ to London we thought any address for Peace would most successfully pass through His hands and that when we had considered how unhappily he had been made an Instrument of so much Blood and Devastation he would with great chearfulness have interposed in a business of Reconciliation and at least have met us half way in so blessed a Work and therefore with His Majesty's leave which He most readily and graciously gave us and for which we doubt not He shall receive the Thanks and Prayers of all His good Subjects we direct a Letter to that purpose to him signed under our hands Whosoever reads that Letter and we hope it will be read by all men will bear us witness and it will be a Witness against those who have rejected it that we have done our parts In stead of vouchsafing us any Answer or proposing us any other way towards Peace if that which we proposed was not thought convenient he writes a short Letter to the Earl of Forth General of His Majesty's Army acknowledging the receipt of ours but saying that it neither having Address to the two Houses of Parliament nor therein there being any acknowledgement of them he could not Communicate it to them whereas the Address was in the way prescribed prescribed under pain of Death no Address being allowed as aforesaid but by the Earl of Essex and he being desired to represent to and promove with those by whom he is trusted our most sincere and earnest desire of a Treaty so that if there had been the least inclination to or enduring of an Overture of Peace he might have as easily communicated it to all those by whom he is instrusted as to a Committee by whose Advice 't is well known his Answer was sent and with it and as part of it a Paper intituled The Declaration of the Kingdom of Scotland and A Declaration of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland and another A solemn League and Covenant the Declarations and Covenant being against the King of both Kingdoms without the consent of and against the major part of the Nobility and we are confident the Gentry and Commonalty of This. And if his Lordship would make good his own Letter and spend his Blood or but use his endeavour for the maintenance of the Parliament of England being indeed the foundation whereupon all Our Laws and Liberties are supported we should not Treat at this distance at least a Treaty would not have been rejected We suffered not Our Selves to be discouraged with this refusal but a safe Conduct was desired for two Gentlemen against whom there neither was nor could be the least exception to go to Westminster to present such Propositions as might best conduce to the Peace of the Kingdom conceiving that by such means our meaning and intentions might best appear and all formalities and unnecessary insisting and mistakes upon words might be removed This safe Conduct which hath never been denied by His Majesty or His Generals to any person who hath desired to have admittance to Him was likewise absolutely refused by the Earl of Essex yet with some expressions That if any Propositions should be sent to those by whom he was intrusted he would use his utmost endeavours to advance the Peace which though it seem'd nothing agreeable to his former Answers obtained yet so much credit with us that we besought His Majesty once more in His own Royal Name to press and desire a Treaty and to direct His Message under such a Title that they who call themselves the two Houses of Parliament could not take any Exception but should be compelled to return some Answer or other And an Answer it hath drawn from them but such an one as will sufficiently inform the World if there could yet have remained any doubt of it how much they are Enemies to Peace Those Answers Declarations and that Covenant are likewise publick to all men God and the World must judge between us In the mean time we must without bitterness or sharpness of Language to which neither example or provocation shall transport us tell these men That most of us are too well known even to themselves to be suspected to incline to be either Papists or Slaves or that we can possibly be made Instruments to advance either Popery or Tyranny And since the defence of the Religion Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom seems to be and in truth is on our part the Argument of this bloody Contention and that we are endeavouring all ways to destroy one another in the behalf of that we all do or all pretend to desire we think our selves obliged to Truth to the present Age and to Posterity to let the World know That as we are much more tender of the Religion Laws and Liberty of the Kingdom than of our Lives and Fortunes so the uneasie Condition wherein we are and the heavy Judgments and Proscriptions imposed on us by our Equals have proceeded and been caused from that Conscience Loyalty and Duty in which we have been Born and Bred and from which we could not swerve without the manifest breach of our Allegiance and those civil Oaths we are obliged by As we hope will appear to all men by this our ensuing Declaration We shall pass over only acknowledging His Majesty's abundant care and favour to His People those excellent Laws made this Parliament for the vindication and removal of those Mischiefs and Inconveniences which seemed to threaten our Rights and Liberty to all which there are very few amongst us who concurred not fully however we are now traduced with the negligence of both and that most gracious Offer of His Majesty to consent to an Act for the ease of tender Consciences in matters indifferent which if it had been accepted would have prevented many of the Miseries have since besallen this poor Kingdom And because the Name and Privilege of Parliament is pretended in defence of those Actions which are done contrary to the known Laws by which only Right and Wrong can be measured and determined and by that venerable Name many of our Companions and Friends have been led into unwarrantable Actions before we come to consider the state and condition of the Religion Laws and Liberty of the Kingdom by these Distractions we shall let the World know how much the inherent and essential Privileges of Parliament have been violated how we being called by His Majesty and trusted by our Country with their Suffrages in that Council hath been driven and are now kept from the place whither we were first called by His Majesty and where some Members still sit and lastly how far this miserable and to say no more this unjustifiable Civil War and this desperate and odious Invasion of a
County of Surrey directed to the House of Peers concluded with this close That they should be in duty obliged to mantain their Lordships so far as they should be united with the House of Commons in their just and pious proceedings sufficiently intimating that if they joyned not with the House of Commons they then meant as much as others had plainly professed About the same time a Citizen saying at the Bar of the House of Commons That they heard there were Lords who refused to consent and concur with them and that they would gladly know their names or words to that effect a Petition in the name of many thousand poor People in and about the City of London was directed to the House of Commons taking notice of a malignant Faction that made abortive all their good motions which tended to the Peace and Tranquillity of this Kingdom desiring that those noble Worthies of the House of Peers who concurred with them in their happy Votes might be earnestly desired to joyn with that Honourable House and to sit and Vote together as one entire body and professing that unless some speedy remedy were taken for the removing all such Obstructions as hindred the happy progress of their great Endeavours their Petitioners should not rest in quietness but should be forced to lay hold on the next remedy which was at hand to remove the disturbers of the Peace and Want and necessity breaking the bounds of Modesty not to leave any means unessayed for their relief lastly adding that the cry of the poor and needy was that such Persons who were the obstacles of their Peace and the hinderers of the happy proceedings of this Parliament might be forthwith publickly declared whose removal they conceived would put a period to those Distractions And this Petition was brought up to the House of Lords by the House of Commons at a Conference And after the same day Master Hollis a Member of the House of Commons in a Message from that House pressed the Lords at their Bar to joyn with the House of Commons in their desire about the Militia and farther with many other expressions of like nature desired in words to this effect That if that desire of the House of Commons were not assented unto those Lords who were willing to concur would find some means to make themselves known that it might be known who were against them and they might make it known to those that sent them After which Petition so strangely framed countenanced and seconded many Lords thereupon withdrawing themselves the Vote in order to the Militia twice before rejected was then passed After these and other unparliamentary Actions many things rejected and settled upon solemn debate were again after many Threats and Menaces resumed altered and determined contrary to the Custom and Laws of Parliament And so many of us withdrew our selves from thence where we could not Sit Speak and Vote with Honour Freedom and Safety and are now kept from thence for our Duty and Loyalty to our Sovereign And though some of us Sate and continued there long after this hoping that we might have been able to have prevented the growth and progress of farther Mischief yet since the Privilege of Parliament is so substantial and entire a Right that as the Invasion of the Liberties of either House is an injury to the other and the whole Kingdom so the Violence and Assaults upon any of our fellow-Members for expressing their opinions in matters of debate were instances to us what we were to look for when we should be known to dissent from what was expected and under that consideration every one of our just Liberties suffered violation Many of us for these and other reasons after His Majesty Himself was by many Indignities and Force driven from Westminster have been contrary to the Right and Freedom of Parliament Voted out of the House without committing any Crime and some of us without hearing or so much as being summoned to be heard and so our Countries for which we were and are trusted have been without any Proxies or Persons trusted on their behalf An Army hath been raised without and against His Majesty's Consent and a Protestation enjoyned to live and die with the Earl of Essex their General of that Army and a Member now amongst us refusing to take that Protestation was told That if he left not the Town speedily he should be committed to the Tower or knocked on the head by the Souldiers All Persons even the Members of both Houses have been and now are forced or injoyned to contribute for the maintenance and support of that Army A trayterous Covenant is since taken by the Members who remain and imposed upon the Kingdom That they will to their power assist the Forces raised and continued by both Houses of Parliament against the Forces raised by the King with many other Clauses directly contrary to their Allegiance and another for the alteration of the Covenant of the Church established by Law and such Members as have refused according to their Duty and Conscience to take those Covenants have been imprisoned or expelled so as they have suffered none to reside with them but those who are engaged with them in their desperate courses The whole Power and Authority of both Houses is delegated against the Law and nature of Parliament to a close Committee which assumes and usurps the Power of King Lords and Commons disposes of the Persons Liberties and Estates of us and our fellow-Subjects without so much as communicating their Resolutions to those that sit in the Houses And when an Order hath been reported to be confirmed by them it hath been only put to the Question no debates being suffered it having been said in the House where the Commons sit to those who have excepted against such an Order when presented That they were only to Vote not to dispute and thereupon all Argument and contradiction hath been taken away And to shew how impossible it is to contain themselves within any bond of civility and humanity when they have forfeited their Allegiance after the attempt in a most barbarous manner to murther the Queens Majesty at Her landing at Burlington by making many great shot at the house where She lodged for Her repose after a long Voyage by Sea where by God's blessing it was disappointed they impeached Her of High Treason for assisting the King Her Husband and the Kingdom in their greatest necessities All Petitions and Addresses for Peace have been with great Art and Vehemence discountenanced and suppressed whilst others for Sedition and Discord have with no less industry and passion been promoted And when the Members of the House of Commons in August last had agreed upon a long and solemn debate to joyn with the Lords in sending Propositions of Peace to His Majesty the next day printed Papers were scattered in the Streets and fix'd upon the publick places both in the City and Suburbs requiring all Persons
lastly after having lived so many years in the most glorious and most unblemished Church of Christendom the total defacing and pulling down the whole Fabrick of it censuring and reproaching the Doctrine and destroying the Discipline and as if we were cast ashore in some uninhabited Climate where the Elements of Christianity were not known the calling without the least shadow or colour of Law or Lawful Authority against His Majesty's express Consent manifestly against the Statute of 25 th year of King Henry the Eighth an assembly of Divines composed of some Noblemen Gentlemen and Ministers all under the style of Godly and Learned Divines most of which are not otherwise known than by their Schism and Separation from that Church in which they were born and to which they have subscribed and these Men now must new-make and mould the Religion by which we must all be saved God in his good time we hope will vindicate his own Cause and repair the breaches which have been lately made For the Laws of the Land and the Liberty of the Subject so speciously urged and pretended to be the end of those who have disturbed our Peace we need say little every place and every person is an ample evidence and testimony of the bold and avowed violation of either The Charter of our Liberties Magna Charta so industriously and Religiously preserved by our Ancestors and above Thirty several times confirmed in Parliament that Rampire and Bulwark of all the precious Privileges and Immunities which the Subjects of this Kingdom could boast of and which distinguishes them from all the Subjects of Christendom is levelled and trampled under foot scorned despised and superseded by Votes and Orders Men of all sorts Clergy and Laity imprisoned without the least charge that by the Law is called a Crime and their Estates are sequestred by Persons of whom the Law can take no notice Committees made by Committees Rob Banish and Imprison the Lords and Commons of England Men committed by Persons of no Authority for no cause to Prison have by Habeas Corpus the good old Remedy and Security for our Liberty been brought to the Kings Bench and by command of those who first committed them remanded and Commands given to the Judges that they should grant no Habeas Corpus which they were sworn to grant to any Persons committed by them or by those to whom they grant Authority to commit which themselves have not Power to do Neither can we pass over the motion made by Mr. Rigby a Member of the House of Commons to transport those Lords and Gentlemen who were Prisoners and by them accounted Malignants to be sold as Slaves to Argiers or sent to the new Plantation in the West Indies urged the second time with much earnestness because the Proposer had contracted with two Merchants to that purpose the which though it took no effect at that time may awaken those who have observed so many things to pass and be ordered long after they have been once or twice denied and rejected And who sees the new and inhumane way of imprisoning Persons of Quality under Decks on Ship-board by which cruel usage many of our Country-men have been murthered may have reason to fear they may be hereafter carried a longer voyage than is yet avowed The twentieth part of our Estates is at once taken and if we are not willing to obey that Order the other Nineteen are taken from us as Malignants a term unknown and undefined and yet crime enough to forfeit our Lives and all that we have Our fellow-Subjects have been executed in cold blood for doing that which by the Laws of God and Man they were bound to do and after their Murther their Estates seized and their Wives and Children exposed to Misery and Famine Laws made and Penalties imposed by Laws this Parliament are suspended dispensed withal and those things done by Order against which those Laws were made And that there may be no face of Justice over the Land the Judges are prohibited to ride their Circuits for the administration of that Justice which the King owes His People and they are bound to execute And after all this and after the merciless shedding so much English Blood after the expending so much Money much of which was given for relief of our poor Protestant Brethren of Ireland and diverted for the improving the Distractions at home after the transportation of such vast sums of Money and great Treasure into Foreign parts to the unspeakable impoverishing this Poor Kingdom to make our Misery lasting and our Confusion compleat a Foreign Enemy is invited and brought into the Bowels of this Kingdom to drink our blood to divide our Possession to give us new Laws and to Rule over us And the better to make way to those horrid Impositions by confounding and making void all civil Rights and Proprieties and the better preparing the Kingdom to be shared by Strangers a New Great Seal the special Ensign of Monarchy and the only way by which Justice is derived and distributed to the People is counterfeited and used albeit it be by the express letter of the Statute of the 25 th year of King Edward the Third declared to be High Treason Having now made this clear plain Narration to the Kingdom the truth and particulars whereof are known to most Men that when Posterity shall find our names in the Records of these times as Members trusted by our Country in that great Council by whose Authority and Power the present Alteration and Distraction seems to be wrought it may likewise see how far we have been and are from consenting to these desperate and fatal Innovations we cannot rest satisfied without Declaring and Publishing to all our fellow-Subjects and to the whole World that all our Intentions and Actions have been are and shall be directed to the defence of His Majesty's Person and just Rights the preservation of the true Protestant Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom established by Law That as we do with all humility to God Almighty and as a great Blessing from him acknowledge His Majesty's happy and Religious Reign and Government over this Kingdom and especially the excellent Laws and Statutes made in His time and particularly those in this Parliament so we do with all duty and submission Declare That His Majesty is the only Supream Governour of this Realm in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Temporal That His Natural Person is not to be divided from His Kingly Office but that our natural Allegiance and the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy do bind us and all His other Subjects to Loyalty and Allegiance to His Natural Person That His Majesty's Negative Voice without which Monarchy is dissolved is an inherent Right of His Crown and that no Orders of one or both Houses of Parliament without His Majesty's express Consent can make a Law to bind the Subjects either in their Property or Liberty That we do from our Souls abhor
MAJESTY The humble Petition of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford according to Your MAJESTY'S Proclamation WE most humbly acknowledge Your Princely Goodness in calling us to receive our Advices for preservation of the Religion Laws and Safety of the Kingdom and to restore it to its former Peace and Security How earnestly we have sought a Peace with Your Majesty's most gracious Concurrence doth appear by the printed Declaration of our Proceedings touching a Treaty for Peace wherein we aimed at a free and full Convention of Parliament as the most hopeful way to unite these unhappy Divisions And since that hath been refused we have applyed our Advices for supporting Your Armies the visible means now left for maintaining our Religion restoring the Laws and procuring the Safety of the Kingdom being assured from Your Majesty You do and will employ Your Armies to no other end And although our selves are most fully satisfied of Your Majesty's pious and just Resolutions herein yet because Fears and Jealousies have been and are maliciously scattered amongst Your Subjects to poison their Affections and corrupt their Loyalty to Your Majesty therefore to the end we may be enabled by Your gracious Answer to satisfie all the World or to leave them unexcusable who will not be satisfied we do in all humility present to Your Majesty these Petitions That Your Majesty will give direction for the re-printing Your Protestation made in the head of Your Army and Your other Declarations wherein Your constant Resolution is declared to maintain and defend the true reformed Protestant Religion and that the same may be with more diligence published amongst the People that so Your Princely Christian Zeal and Affection to that Religion and to maintain the same against all Popery Schism and Profaneness may be manifested and which we beseech Your Majesty upon this our Petition to declare again to all the World to the discountenance and suppression of those Scandals laid upon Your Majesty by those who disturb our Peace That when there may be a full and free Convention of Parliament a National Synod may be lawfully called to advise of some fit means for the establishing the Government and Peace of our Church to whom may be recommended a care for the ease of the tender Consciences of Your Protestant Subjects Touching our Laws we cannot ask more of Your Majesty than to declare and continue Your former Resolutions to hold and keep them inviolable and unalterable but by Act of Parliament And for avoiding the Scandal maliciously infused into many of Your Subjects that if Your Majesty prevail against this Rebellion You intend not to use the frequent Council of Parliaments we humbly pray and advise Your Majesty to declare the sincerity of Your Royal Heart therein to satisfie Your seduced Subjects against such false and malicious Aspersions And in respect the present Contributions Loans Taxes and other Impositions for maintenance of Your Armies have been submitted unto as Exigences of War and Necessity because of this unexampled Rebellion and Invasion we humbly beseech Your Majesty to Declare That they shall not be drawn into example nor continue longer than the present Exigence and Necessity nor be at any time mentioned as Precedents And that for the farther security of Your People Your Majesty will vouchsafe to promise Your Royal Assent to a Law to be made and declared to that purpose in a full and free Convention of Parliament And that for the present ease and encouragement of those under Contributions by Contract with Your Majesty You will be pleased that those Contracts may be so observed that Your Subjects may not have just cause of complaint against the Commanders Governors Officers or Souldiers of Your Army or of or in any Your Garrisons Castles or Forts for taking any Money Horses or other Cattel Provisions or other Goods or any Timber or Woods of any Your Subjects or Free-Billet or Free-Quarter in any place where the Contributions and Taxes agreed on are paid humbly beseeching Your Majesty's gracious Care herein and that the Offenders may receive exemplary punishment Lastly That Your Majesty will retain Your pious endeavours to procure the Peace of this languishing Kingdom not to be removed or altered by any advantages or prosperous success His MAJESTY'S Gracious Answer to the aforesaid Petition AS We shall always acknowledge the great Comfort and Assistance We have received by your Councils since your Meeting here according to Our Proclamation so We must give you very particular Thanks for the Expressions you have made in this Petition of your Confidence in Us and for the Care you have therein taken that all Our good Subjects may receive ample satisfaction in those things upon which the Good and Welfare of their Condition so much depends We have long observed though not without wonder the sly subtile and groundless Insinuation infused and dispersed amongst our People by the disturbers of the Publick Peace of Our favouring and countenancing of Popery And therefore as in Our constant visible practice We have to the utmost of Our Power and We hope sufficiently manifested the gross falshood of those Imputations and Scandals so We have omitted no opportunity of publishing to all the World the clear Intentions and Resolutions of the Soul in that point We wish from Our heart that the true Reformed Protestant Religion may not receive greater Blemish by the Actions and Practices of these Men than it doth or shall by any Connivence of Ours We will take the best care We can and We desire your assistance in it to publish to all Our good Subjects that Our Protestation and those Declarations you mention And We do assure you there is not an Expression in either of them for the maintenance and advancement of Our Religion with which Our Heart doth not fully concur and in which We shall be so constant that if it shall not please God to enable Us by Force to defend it We shall shew Our Affection and Love to it by dying for it We may without vanity say It hath pleased God to enlighten Our Understanding to discern the clear Truth of the Protestant Religion in which We have been born and bred from the Mists and Clouds of Popery the which if it hath made any growth or progress of late within the Kingdom as We hope it hath not is more beholding to the unchristian Rage and Fury of these Men than to any Connivence or Favour of Ours For a National Synod We have often promised it and when God shall give so much Peace and Quiet to this Kingdom that regular and lawful Conventions may be esteemed shall gladly perform that Promise as the best means to re-establish Our Religion and make up those Breaches which are made And We shall then willingly recommend unto them a special care of the ease of tender Consciences of Our Protestant Subjects as We have often expressed For the Laws of the Land We can say no more than We
which Penalties to be levied and disposed in such manner as both Houses shall agree on wherein to be provided that His Majesty shall have no loss IX That an Act be passed in Parliament whereby the practices of Papists against the State may be prevented and the Laws against them duly executed and a stricter course taken to prevent the saying or hearing of Mass in the Court or any other part of this Kingdom X. The like for the Kingdom of Scotland concerning the four last preceding Propositions in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit XI That the King do give His Royal Assent To an Act for the due Observation of the Lords day And to the Bill for the suppression of Innovations in Churches and Chappels in and about the Worship of God and for the better advancement of the Preaching of God's holy Word in all parts of this Kingdom And to the Bill against the enjoying of Pluralities of Benefices by Spiritual Persons and non-Residency And to an Act to be framed and agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament for the reforming and regulating of both Universities of the Colleges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton And to an Act in like manner to be agreed upon for the suppression of Interludes and Stage-playes this Act to be perpetual And to an Act for the taking the Accompts of the Kingdom And to an Act to be made for relief of sick and maimed Souldiers and of poor Widows and Children of Soldiers And to such Act or Acts for raising of Moneys for the payment and satisfying of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom and other publick uses as shall hereafter be agreed on by both Houses of Parliament And to an Act or Acts of Parliament for taking away the Court of Wards and Liveries and all Wardships Liveries Primer seisins and Ouster le maines and all other charges incident or arising for or by reason of Wardship Livery Primer seisin or Ouster le main And for the taking away of all Tenures by Homage and all Fines Licences Seisures and Pardons for Alienation and all other charges incident thereunto and for turning of all Tenures by Knights service either of His Majesty or others or by Knights service or soccage in Capite of His Majesty into free and common Soccage and that His Majesty will please to accept in recompence hereof 100000 pounds per annum And give Assurance of His consenting in the Parliament of Scotland to an Act ratifying the Acts of Convention of the Estates of Scotland called by the Council and Conservatory of Peace and the Commissioners for the common Burthens and assembled the 22 day of June 1643. and several times continued since in such manner and with such additions and other Acts as the Estates convened in this present Parliament shall think convenient XII That an Act be passed in the Parliament of both Kingdoms respectively for confirmation of the Treaties passed betwixt the two Kingdom viz. the large Treaties the late Treaty for the coming of the Scots Army into England and the settling of the Garrison of Berwick of the 29. of November 1643. and the Treaty concerning Ireland of the 6. of August 1642. with all other Ordinances and Proceedings passed betwixt the two Kingdoms in pursuance of the said Treaties XIII That an Act of Parliament be passed to make void the Cessation of Ireland and all Treaties with the Rebels without consent of both Houses of Parliament and to settle the prosecution of the War of Ireland in both Houses of Parliament to be managed by the joynt advice of both Kingdoms and the King to assist and to do no Act to discountenance or molest them therein XIV That an Act be passed in the Parliament of both Kingdoms respectively for establishing the joynt Declaration of both Kingdoms bearing date the 30. of January 1643. in England and 1644. in Scotland with the Qualifications ensuing 1. That the Persons who shall expect no Pardon be only these following RUPERT and MAURICE Count Palatines of the Rhene James Earl of Derby John Earl of Bristol William Earl of Newcastle Francis Lord Cottington John Lord Pawlet George Lord Digby Edward Lord Littleton William Laud Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Matthew Wren Bishop of Ely Sir Robert Heath Knight Doctor Bramhall Bishop of Dery Sir John Biron Knight William Widdrington Colonel George Goring Henry Jermin Esq Sir Ralph Hopton Sir Francis Doddington M. Endymion Porter Sir George Ratcliffe Sir Marmaduke Langdale Sir John Hotham Captain John Hotham his Son Sir Henr Vaughan Sir Francis Windebanke Sir Richard Greenvile Master Edward Hyde Sir John Marley Sir Nicholas Cole Sir Thomas Riddel Junior Colonel ..... Ware Sir John Strangwaies Sir John Culpeper Sir Richard Floyd John Bodvile Esq Mr. David Jenkins Sir George Strode Sir Alexander Carew Marquiss of Huntley Earl of Montross Earl of Niddisdale Earl of Traquaire Earl of Carnewath Viscount of Aubayne Lord Ogilby Lord Rae Lord Harris Lodwick Lindsey sometime Earl of Crawford Patrick Ruthen sometime Earl of Forth James King sometime Lord Ethyn Irving younger of Drunim Gordon younger of Gight Lesly of Auchintoule Sir Robert Spotswood of Dumipace Colonel John Cockram Master John Maxwel sometime pretended Bishop of Ross Master Walter Balcanquall and all such others as being processed by the Estates for Treason shall be condemned before the Act of Oblivion be passed 2. All Papists and Popish Recusants who have been now are or shall be actually in Arms or voluntarily assisting against the Parliaments or Estates of either Kingdom 3. All persons who have had any hand in the plotting designing or assisting the Rebellion in Ireland 4. That Humphry Bennet Esq Sir Edward Ford Sir John Penruddock Sir George Vaughan Sir John Weld Sir Robert Lee Sir John Pate John Ackland Edmund Windham Esquires Sir John Fitz-herbert Sir Edward Laurence Sir Ralph Dutton Henry Lingen Esq Sir William Russel of Worcestershire Thomas Lee of Adlington Esq Sir John Girlington Sir Paul Neale Sir William Thorold Sir Edward Hussey Sir Thomas Lyddel Senior Sir Philip Musgrave Sir John Digby of Nottingh Sir Henry Fletcher Sir Richard Minshal Laurence Halsteed John Denham Esquires Sir Edmund Fortescue Peter St. Hill Esq Sir Tho. Tildesly Sir Hen. Griffith Michael Wharton Esq Sir Hen. Spiller Sir George Benion Sir Edward Nicholas Sir Edward Walgrove Sir Edward Bishop Sir Robert Owsly Sir John Maney Lord Cholmely Sir Thomas Aston Sir Lewis Dives Sir Peter Osborn Samuel Thorneton Esq Sir John Lucas John Blomey Esq Sir Thomas Chedle Sir Nicholas Kemish and Hugh Lloyd Esq and all such of the Scotish Nation as have concurred in the Votes at Oxford against the Kingdom of Scotland and their Proceedings or have sworn or subscribed the Declaration against the Convention and Covenant and all such as have assisted the Rebellion in the North or the Invasion in the South of the said Kingdom of Scotland or the late Invasion made there by the Irish and their Adherents and that the
Members of either House of Parliament who have not only deserted the Parliament but have also Voted both Kingdoms Traitors may be removed from His Majesty's Councils and be restrained from coming within the verge of the Court and that they may not without the advice and consent of both Kingdoms bear any Office or have any employment concerning the State or Commonwealth And also that the Members of either House of Parliament who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof and not rendred themselves before the last of October 1644. may be removed from His Majesty's Councils and be restrained from coming within the verge of the Court and that they may not without the advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament bear any Office or have any employment concerning the State or Common-wealth And in case any of them shall offend therein to be guilty of high Treason and incapable of any Pardon by His Majesty and their Estates to be disposed as both Houses of Parliament in England or the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland respectively shall think fit 5. That by Act of Parliament all Judges and Officers towards the Law Common or Civil who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof be made incapable of any place of Judicature or Office towards the Law Common or Civil and that all Serjeants Councellors and Attourneys Doctors Advocates and Proctors of the Law Common or Civil who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof be made incapable of any practice in the Law Common or Civil either in publick or in private And that they and likewise all Bishops Clergy-men and other Ecclesiastical persons who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof shall not be capable of any preferment or imployment either in Church or Commonwealth without the advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament 6. The persons of all others to be free of all personal censure notwithstanding any Act or thing done in or concerning this War they taking the Covenant 7. The Estates of those persons excepted in the first three preceding qualifications to pay publick Debts and Damages 8. A third part in full value of the Estates of the persons made incapable of any imployment as aforesaid to be imployed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages according to the Declaration 9. And likewise a tenth part of the Estates of all other Delinquents within the joynt Declarations And in case the Estates and proportions aforementioned shall not suffice for the payment of the publick engagements whereunto they are only to be employed that then a new proportion may be appointed by the joynt advice of both Kingdoms providing it exceed not the one moity of the Estates of the persons made incapable as aforesaid and that it exceed not a sixth part of the Estate of the other Delinquents 10. That the Persons and Estates of all common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of England who in Lands or Goods be not worth 200 l. sterling and the Persons and Estates of all common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of Scotland who in Lands or Goods be not worth 100 l. sterling be at liberty and discharged 11. That an Act be passed whereby the Debts of the Kingdom and the Persons of Delinquents and the value of their Estates may be known and which Act shall appoint in what manner the Confiscations and proportions before mentioned may be levied and applyed to the discharge of the said engagements XV. That by Act of Parliament the Subjects of the Kingdom of England may be appointed to be Armed Trained and Disciplined in such manner as both Houses shall think fit The like for the Kingdom of Scotland in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit XVI That an Act of Parliament be passed for the setling of the Admiralty and Forces at Sea and for the raising of such Moneys for maintenance of the said Forces and of the Navy as both Houses of Parliament shall think fit The like for the Kingdom of Scotland in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit XVII An Act for the settling of all Forces both by Sea and Land in Commissioners to be nominated by both Houses of Parliament of persons of known Integrity and such as both Kingdoms may confide in for their faithfulness to Religion and the Peace of the Kingdoms of the House of Peers and of the House of Commons who shall be removed or altered from time to time as both Houses shall think fit and when any shall die others to be nominated in their places by the said Houses Which Commissioners shall have power 1. To suppress any Forces raised without Authority of both Houses of Parliament or in the Intervals of Parliaments without consent of the said Commissioners to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms and to suppress any Foreign Forces that shall invade this Kingdom And that it shall be high Treason in any who shall levy any Force without such Authority or consent to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms any Commission under the great Seal or Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding and they to be incapable of any Pardon from His Majesty and their Estates to be disposed of as both Houses of Parliament shall think fit 2. To preserve the Peace now to be settled and to prevent all disturbance of the publick Peace that may rise by occasion of the late Troubles so for the Kingdom of Scotland 3. To have power to send part of themselves so as they exceed not a third part or be not under the number of to reside in the Kingdom of Scotland to assist and Vote as single persons with the Commissioners of Scotland in those matters wherein the Kingdom of Scotland is only concerned so for the Kingdom of Scotland 4. That the Commissioners of both Kingdoms may meet as a joynt Committee as they shall see cause or send part of themselves as aforesaid to do as followeth 1. To preserve the Peace betwixt the Kingdoms and the King and every one of them 2. To prevent the violation of the Articles of Peace as aforesaid or any troubles arising in the Kingdoms by breach of the said Articles and to hear and determine all differences that may occasion the same according to the Treaty and to do further accordingly as they shall respectively receive Instructions from both Houses of Parliament in England or the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland and in the Intervals of Parliaments from the Commissioners for the preservation of the publick Peace 3. To raise and joyn the Forces of both Kingdoms to resist all Foreign Invasion and to suppress any Forces raised within any of the Kingdoms to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms by any authority under the great Seal or other Warrant whatsoever without consent of both Houses of Parliament in England and the
Estates of the Parliament in Scotland or the said Commissioners of that Kingdom whereof they are Subjects and that in those cases of joynt concernment to both Kingdoms the Commissioners to be directed to be there all or such part as aforesaid to act and direct as joynt Commissioners of both Kingdoms 4. To order the War of Ireland according to the Ordinance of the 11 th of April and to order the Militia and conserve the peace of the Kingdom of Ireland XVIII That His Majesty give His assent to what the two Kingdoms shall agree upon in prosecution of the Articles of the large Treaty which are not yet finished XIX That by Act of Parliament all Peers made since the day that Edward Lord Littleton then Lord Keeper of the great Seal deserted the Parliament and that the said great Seal was surreptitiously conveyed away from the Parliament being the 21. day of May 1642. and who shall be hereafter made shall not sit or Vote in the Parliament of England without consent of both Houses of Parliament and that all Honour and Title conferred on any without consent of both Houses of Parliament since the 20. day of May 1642. being the day that both Houses declared That the King seduced by evil Counsel intended to raise War against the Parliament be declared null and void The like for the Kingdom of Scotland those being excepted whose Patents were passed the great Seal before the 4. of June 1644. XX. That by Act of Parliament the Deputy or chief Governour or other Governours of Ireland be nominated by both Houses of Parliament or in the Intervals of Parliament by the Commissioners to continue during the pleasure of the said Houses or in the Intervals of Parliament during the pleasure of the said Houses or in the Intervals of Parliament during the pleasure of the aforementioned Commissioners to be approved or disallowed by both Houses at their next sitting And that the Chancellor or Lord Keeper Lord Treasurer Commissioners of the great Seal or Treasury Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports Chancellors of the Exchequer and Dutchy Secretaries of State Judges of both Benches and of the Exchequer of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland be nominated by both Houses of Parliament to continue quamdiu se bene gesserint and in the Intervals of Parliament by the aforementioned Commissioners to be approved or disallowed by both Houses at their next sitting The like for the Kingdom of Scotland adding the Justice General and in such manner as the Estates in Parliament there shall think fit XXI That by Act of Parliament the Education of Your Majesty's Children and the Children of Your Heirs and Successors be in the true Protestant Religion and that their Tutors and Governours be of known Integrity and be chosen by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms or in the Intervals of Parliaments by the aforenamed Commissioners to be approved or disallowed by both Parliaments at their next sitting and that if they be Male they be married to such only as are of the true Protestant Religion if they be Female they may not be marryed but with the advice and consent of both Parliaments or in the Intervals of Parliament by their Commissioners XXII That Your Majesty will give Your Royal Assent to such ways and means as the Parliaments of both Kingdoms shall think fitting for the uniting of the Protestant Princes and for the entire Restitution and Re-establishment of Charles Lodwick Prince Elector Palatine His Heirs and Successors to His Electoral Dignity Rights and Dominions Provided that this extend not to Prince Rupert or Prince Maurice or the Children of either of them who have been the Instruments of so much blood-shed and mischief against both Kingdoms XXIII That by Act of Parliament the concluding of Peace or War with Foreign Princes and States be with advice and consent of both Parliaments or in the Intervals of Parliaments by their Commissioners XXIV That an Act of Oblivion be passed in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively relative to the Qualifications in the Propositions aforesaid concerning the joint Declaration of both Kingdoms with the exception of all Murderers Thieves and other Offenders not having relation to the War XXV That the Members of both Houses of Parliaments or others who have during this Parliament been put out of any Place or Office Pension or Benefit for adhering to the Parliament may either be restored thereunto or otherwise have Recompence for the same upon the humble desire of both Houses of Parliament The like for the Kingdom of Scotland XXVI That the Armies may be Disbanded at such time and in such manner as shall be agreed upon by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms or such as shall be Authorized by them to that effect XXVII That an Act be passed for the granting and confirming of the Charters Customs Liberties and Franchises of the City of London notwithstanding any Non-user Mis-user or Abuser That the Militia of the City of London may be in the ordering and Government of the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council assembled or such as they shall from time to time appoint whereof the Lord Major and Sheriffs for the time being to be three And that the Militia of the Parishes without London and the Liberties within the weekly Bills of Mortality may be under Command of the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council of the said City to be ordered in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament That the Tower of London may be in the Government of the City of London and the chief Officer and Governour thereof from time to time be nominated and removable by the Common-Council That the Citizens or Forces of London shall not be drawn out of the City into any other parts of the Kingdom without their own consent and that the drawing of their Forces into other parts of the Kingdom in these distracted times may not be drawn into example for the future And for prevention of Inconveniences which may happen by the long intermission of Common-Councils it is desired that there be an Act that all By-Laws and Ordinances already made or hereafter to be made by the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council assembled touching the calling continuing directing and regulating of the same shall be as effectual in Law to all intents and purposes as if the same were particularly enacted by the Authority of Parliament and that the Lord Major Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council may add to or repeal the said Ordinances from time to time as they shall see cause That such other Propositions as shall be made for the City for their farther Safety Welfare and Government and shall be approved of by both Houses of Parliament may be granted and confirmed by Act of Parliament Upon consideration of which Propositions His Majesty sent the Duke of Richmond and the Earl of Southampton with this Message of the 13. of December HIS Majesty hath seriously
John Earl of Lowdon Lord Chancellour of Scotland Archibald Marquess of Argyle John Lord Maitland John Lord Balmerino Sir Archibald Johnston Sir Charles Erskin George Dundas Sir John Smith Mr. Hugh Kennedy and Mr. Robert Barclay for the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland together with Master Alexander Henderson upon the Propositions concerning Religion or with any Ten or more of them upon and touching the matters contained in the said Propositions Answers and Messages or any other according to the manner and agreement therein specified or otherwise as they or any Ten or more of them shall think fit and to take all the premises into their serious considerations and to compose conclude and end all differences arising thereupon or otherwise as they or any Ten or more of them in their wisdoms shall think fit and upon the whole matter to conclude a safe and well-grounded Peace if they can And whatsoever they or any Ten or more of them shall do in the premises We do by these presents ratifie and confirm the same Given at Our Court at Oxford the eight and twentieth day of January in the Twentieth year of Our Reign 1644. Their Commission to the English Commissioners Die Martis 28. January 1644. BE it Ordained by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament that Algernon Earl of Northumberland Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery William Earl of Salisbury Basil Earl of Denbigh Thomas Lord Viscount Wenman Denzil Hollis William Pierrepont Sir Henry Vane junior Oliver St. John Bulstrode Whitelock John Crew and Edmund Prideaux shall have power and authority and are hereby authorized to joyn with the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland together with Alexander Henderson upon the Propositions concerning Religion only to Treat with the Lord Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hartford the Earl of Southampton the Earl of Kingston the Lord Dunsmore Lord Capel Lord Seymour Sir Christopher Hatton Sir John Culpeper Sir Edward Nicholas Sir Edward Hyde Sir Richard Lane Sir Orlando Bridgeman Sir Thomas Gardiner Master John Ashburnham and Master Jeffrey Palmer or any Ten of them upon the Propositions formerly sent to His Majesty for a safe and well-grounded Peace from His Majesty's humble and Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms together with Doctor Steward upon the Propositions concerning Religion only and upon His Majesty's Propositions according to such Instructions as have been given to them or as they from time to time shall receive from both Houses of Parliament Jo. Browne Cler. Parliam Their Commission to the Scots Commissioners AT Edenburgh the saxteÃnt day of Julii the Èeir of God M. Vj c fourty four Èeires The Estaites of Parliament presentlie conveined be vertew of the last act of the last Parliament haldin by His Majesty and thrie Estaites in Anno 1641. considdering that this Kingdome efter all uther meanes of supplicationnes Remonstrances and sending of Commissionaris to His Majesty have bein used without successe did enter into a solemne League and Covenant with the Kingdom and Parliament of England for Reformationne and defence of Religionne the Honor and Happines of the King the Peace and Safety of the thrie Kingdoms of Scotland England and Ireland and ane Treattie aggried upon and ane Armie and Forces raised and sent out of yis Kingdom for these endis Quhairupone the Conventionne of Estaites of this Kingdome the nynt of Jannuary last being desirous to use all good and lawful meanes that Treuth and Peace might be established in all His Majesty's Dominions with such a blessed Pacificationne betwixt His Majesty and His Subjectis as might serve most for His Majesty's trew Honor and the Safety and Happines of His People granted Commissione to Johne Erle of Lowdonne Heigh Chancellor of Scotland Johne Lord Maitland than and Èit in England Sir Archibald Johnestounne of Wariestounne ane of the Lordis of Sessionne and Maister Robert Barclay now in England to repaire to England with powar to thame or any twa of yame to endeavoure the effectuating of ye foirsaides endis conforme to the Commissione and Instructiones than givin to thame as the Commissione of the dait foirsaid proportis Lyke as the saides Johne Lord of Maitland Sir Archibald Johnestounne and Maister Robert Barclay have evir sinceattendit in England in the discharge of the foirsaid Commissione qunhil lately that Sir Archibald Johnestounne returned with some Propositiones prepaired by the Committie of both Kingdomes to be presented to the Estaites of Scotland and to both Howss of the Parliament of England and by thame to be revised and considderit and than by mutual advyse of both Kingdomes to be presented for ane safe and weill-grounded Peace Qwhilkies Propositiones ar revised and considderit and advysed be the Estaites of Parliament now conveined and their sense and resultis drawin up yrupone Whiche Commissione is to endure while the comming of the Commissionaris underwrittin And heirewith also considderin that the endis for the whilk the samen was granted ar not Èit effectuate and that the Propositiones with ye Estaites thair resultis yrupone ar to be returned toye Parliament of England thairfore the Estaites of Parliament be thir presentis gives full powar and Commissione to the said Johne Erle of Lowdonne Lord heigh Chancellor of yis Kingdome Archibald Marqueis of Arg yle and Johne Lord Balmerino for the Nobility Sir Archibald Johnestounne of Wariestounne Sir Charles Erskyne of Cambuskenneth and Maister George Dundas of Maner for the Barrones Sir Johne Smyth of Grottel Proveist of Edenburgh Hew Kennedy Burges of Air and Master Robert Barclay for the Burrowes the thrie Estaites of yis Kingdom and to Johne Lord Maitland supernumerarie in this Commissione or to any thrie or mae of the haill number thair being ane of ilk Estaite as Commissionaris from the Estaites of Parliament of this Kingdome to repaire to the Kingdome of England sick of them as ar not thair already and with powar to thameor any thrie or mae of the whole number thair being ane of ilk Estaite to endeavour the effectuating of ye foirsaides endis the concluding of the Propositions with the Estaites th aire results thairupon and all such uyr materis concerning the good of bothe Kingdomes as ar or sall be from time to time committed unto thame be the Estaites of yis Kingdome or Committies thairof according to the Instructiones givin or to be givin to the Commissionaris abovenameit or thair quorums And for this effect the Estaites Ordeanes Johne Erle of Lowdonne Chancellor Johne Lord Balmerino Sir Archibald Johnestounne of Wariestounne Sir Charles Erskyne of Cambuskenneth and Hew Kennedy repaire with all diligence to the Kingdome of England to the essect before rehearsit conforme to this Commissione and Instructiones As also the Estaites Ordeanes ye saides Archibald Marqueis of Argyle Maister George Dundas of Maner and Sir Johne Smyth Proveist of Edenburgh to repaire to ye Kingdome of England with all sick conveniencie as the occasione of
from His Majesty's Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliaments of both His Kingdoms are mentioned to be sent to His Majesty from the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster and upon His Majesty's Answers Messages and Propositions to them and their Returns to His Majesty that a Treaty is to begin and wherein we also observe you have no Power thereby to Treat upon the Propositions sent to His Majesty from His humble and Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms and the Answers Messages and Propositions sent from His Majesty to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland then at London and their Returns to His Majesty We desire those defects may be cleared and speedily amended The King's Commissioners Answer 31. January VVE conceive our Power being to Treat upon the Propositions brought by the Earl of Denbigh and others and those Propositions being sent from the Parliaments of both Kingdoms there need no mention of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms in that place but that our Power is ample to Treat with your Lordships upon the whole both by express words and by other general words in the Commission which give power to Treat upon those Propositions or any other which general words are not observed by your Lordships in your Paper and our Power is to Treat with the Lords and others authorized for the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland by name yet since you insist upon it it shall be altered by Tuesday next And in the mean time if your Lordships please we desire the Papers promised yesterday in the Paper delivered by the Earl of Northumberland may be delivered unto us that there may be as little loss of time as may be Their Reply 31. January IN Answer to your Lordships Paper concerning your power to Treat we are content to proceed in the Treaty with your Lordships in expectation that the Defects mentioned by us in our Paper shall be supplied by Tuesday next On Munday the third of February the King's Commissioners did deliver their Commission renewed as followeth CHARLES R. VVHereas certain Propositions were sent unto Us from the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and from the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland which were brought unto Us at Oxford in November last by the Earl of Denbigh and others and upon Our Answers c. as followeth verbatim in His Majesty's former Commission Touching the Manner of the Treaty The King's Commissioners Paper 31. January WE desire to the end there may be a greater freedom in debate which we conceive will much conduce to the happy conclusion of this Treaty that nothing may be understood to be concluded on either side but what is delivered in writing according as your Lordships have begun And we declare That what shall be delivered in writing upon any Proposition or upon any part of a Proposition is not to be binding or prejudicial to either Party if the Treaty break off upon any other Proposition or part of any other Proposition Their Answer 31. Jan. WE shall deliver our demands and Answers in writing and desire your Lordships to do the like The King's Commissioners Reply 1. February WE desire a full Answer of our Paper that nothing shall be taken as agreed upon but what is put in writing and your Concurrence in declaring That what shall be delivered in writing upon any Proposition or upon any part of a Proposition shall not be binding or prejudicial to either Party if the Treaty break off Their further Answer 1. February ACcording to our former Paper we shall deliver our Demands and Answers in writing and we desire your Lordships to do the like and nothing shall be taken as agreed upon but what is put in writing And we shall acquaint the Houses of Parliament that you have declared what shall be delivered in writing upon any Proposition or upon any part of a Proposition is not to be binding or prejudicial to either Party if the Treaty break off 3. February IN Answer to Your Lordships Paper formerly delivered we do declare that what shall be delivered in writing upon any Proposition or upon any part of a Proposition is not to be binding or prejudicial to either Party if the Treaty break off upon any other Propositions or part of any Proposition Touching the Seditious Sermon The King's Commissioners Paper 31. January WE have certain Information from divers Persons present in Vxbridge Church yesterday that there was then a Sermon preached by one Mr. Love in which were many passages very Scandalous to His Majesty's Person and derogatory to His Honour stirring up the People against this Treaty and incensing them against us telling them That we come with hearts full of Blood and that there is as great distance between this Treaty and Peace as between Heaven and Hell or words to that effect with divers other Seditious passages both against His Majesty and this Treaty We know His Majesty's hearty desire of a happy and well-grounded Peace such as may be for Gods Honour and the good of all His Subjects as well as Himself and we that are entrusted by His Commission come with clear Intentions to serve Him in it according to our Consciences and the best of our Judgments And this being preached in your Quarters where we are now under safe Conduct we desire your Lordships to consider how much this may reflect upon our Safety how much it may prejudice and blast the blessed hopes of this Treaty and how just offence and distrust it may beget in His Majesty And therefore we desire Justice against the Man that he may have exemplary Punishment Their Answer 31. Jan. TO the Paper delivered in by your Lordships this day concerning the Information received of several Scandalous passages preached in a Sermon in Vxbridge Church by one Master Love we do return this Answer That the said Master Love is none of our Retinue nor came hither by any privity of ours That we conceive it most reasonable and agreeable to the business we are now upon that all just occasions of Offence on either part be avoided and as it hath been our desire so it shall be our endeavour to take the best care we can to prevent all prejudices upon the present Treaty which may blast the blessed hopes thereof or may beget any just offence and distrust in His Majesty and shall be as tender of the Safety of your Lordships Persons according to the safe Conduct as of our own We shall represent your Lordships Paper concerning this business if your Lordships so desire unto the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England who will proceed therein according to Justice The King's Commissioners Reply 1. February VVE insist upon our former desire concerning the Sermon preached by Mr. Love and must refer the way of doing Justice to your Lordships and if
we have offered so weighty Doubts and Considerations to your Lordships in this days Debate concerning several parts in the Bill for abolishing of Episcopacy your Lordships having confined and limited our Debate to that individual Bill as it is now penn'd not the consideration of abolishing Episcopacy in general that your Lordships cannot expect a positive Answer from us now being after eleven a clock at night touching that Bill But we shall be ready by the next day assigned for the Treaty upon this Argument to deliver our Opinions to your Lordships the which we shall be then the better able to do when we have found by the progress in our other Debates how far a blessed and a happy Peace is like to be advanced by our endeavouring to give your Lordships satisfaction in this particular This being the last of the three first days assigned for the Treaty upon Religion that Subject was again taken up the 11 th of February being the first of the second three days appointed for Religion And their Commissioners delivered this Paper 11. Feb. HAving received no satisfaction in the first three days appointed to Treat upon the Propositions for Religion we do now desire your Lordships clear and full Answer to our former Demand on this Subject that no farther time may be lost in a matter which doth so much concern the Glory of God the Honour of the King and the Peace and Happiness of His Kingdoms The King's Commissioners Answer 11. Feb. VVE gave your Lordships as much satisfaction in the first three days appointed to Treat upon the Propositions for Religion as in so short a time and upon so little information from your Lordships could reasonably be expected in a matter of so great and high importance And as we have given your Lordships already many Reasons concerning the Injustice and Inconveniency which would follow upon passing the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy according to your first Proposition so we are now ready by Conference to satisfie your Lordships why we conceive that the said Bill is not for the Glory of God or the Honour of the King and consequently cannot be for the Peace and Happiness of His Kingdoms And if your Lordships Reasons shall convince us in those particulars we shall willingly consent to what you desire if otherwise we shall offer to your Lordships our Consent to such other Alterations as we conceive may better contribute to the Reformation intended and such as may stand with the Glory of God and in truth be for the Honour of the King and the Peace and Happiness of His Kingdoms Their Reply 11. Feb. VVE have received no satisfaction from your Lordships concerning the Propositions delivered in by us for Religion in the name of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms not have you made appear unto us any Injustice or Inconveniency in the passing of the Bill for abolishing of Episcopacy And as it cannot be denied but the settling of Religion is a matter which doth highly concern the Glory of God the Honour of the King and the Peace and Happiness of his Kingdoms so do we desire your Lordships will grant those Demands which have been made unto you by us to that end and we are ready by present Conference to receive what your Lordships will offer upon any of those Propositions and to return that which may give your Lordships just satisfaction The King's Commissioners Answer 11. Feb. YOUR Lordships having expressed in your Paper of the first of February that there are other things touching Religion to be propounded by your Lordships to us we presume that by this time you may be enabled by your Instructions to propose the same and therefore we desire to receive them from your Lordships Which we hope your Lordships will think very reasonable when you consider how incongruous a thing it will appear to most Men to consent to real and substantial Alterations in the matter of Religion without having a view of the whole Alterations intended when at the same time there is mention of other Alterations Their Answer thereunto 11. Feb. WE shall deliver in very speedily that which remains with us touching Religion to be propounded unto your Lordships But we do desire as before your Lordships Answers unto our Demands in the same order that we have proposed them not conceiving it reasonable there should be any time spent in Debates or Answers upon what we shall hereafter offer till we have received satisfaction in our former Propositions which we desire may be speedily done lest otherwise the Treaty be retarded and the Expectation of both Kingdoms altogether frustrated Notwithstanding this they delivered in this further Answer 11. Feb. IN Answer to your Lordships Paper this day delivered to us we desire that His Majesty do give His Royal Assent to an Act of Parliament for the due Observation of the Lords Day and to the Bill for suppressing of Innovations in Churches and Chapels in and about the Worship of God c. and for the better advancement of the Preaching of God's Holy Word in all parts of this Kingdom and to the Bill against enjoying of Pluralities of Benefices by Spiritual persons and non-Residency And we shall in due time give in to your Lordships our Demands concerning Papists contained in the sixth seventh eighth ninth and tenth Propositions and for His Majesty's Assenting to an Act to be framed and agreed upon in both Houses of Parliament for the regulating and reforming of both Universities of the Colleges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton and for the Education and Marriage of His Majesty's Children and the Children of His Heirs and Successors in the true Protestant Religion as in the 21 Proposition Some part of the 11th and most part of the 12th of February was spent in Argument by Divines touching Episcopacy and the Presbyterial Government Afterwards their Commissioners gave in this Paper 12. Feb. THere having now been several days spent in debate upon the Propositions for Religion and all Objections alledged to the contrary either from Conscience Law or Reason being fully answered and the time allotted for that so important a part of the Treaty almost elapsed we should be wanting to the Trust reposed in us if we should not press and Expect as we now do a clear and positive Answer to those Demands concerning Religion which we have offered unto your Lordships from the Parliaments of both Kingdoms as most necessary for the settling of a safe and well-grounded Peace in all His Majesty's Dominions The King's Commissioners Answer 12. Feb. WE deny that the Objections alledged by us against the passing the for abolishing Episcopacy from Conscience Law or Reason have been fully answered by your Lordships or that indeed we have received any satisfaction from your Lordships in these particulars We have received no Information from your Lordships to satisfie us that Episcopacy is or hath been an impediment to a perfect Reformation to the growth of Religion or that it
offered any such particular Form of Government to us that may inable us to judge thereof and we cannot but observe that the Arguments produced to that purpose were only to prove the same not unlawful without offering to prove it absolutely necessary And therefore we conceive our Answer formerly given to your Lordships concerning that Bill and your Propositions concerning Religion is a just and reasonable Answer After the first three days of the Treaty spent upon the business of Religion according to the Order formerly prescribed the Propositions concerning the Militia were next Treated upon the three days following beginning the fourth of February and the same was after resumed the 14 th of February for other three days Their Propositions touching the Militia 4. February WE desire that by Act of Parliament the Subjects of the Kingdom of England may be appointed to be Armed Trained and Disciplined in such manner as both Houses shall think fit The like for the Kingdom of Scotland in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit We desire that an Act of Parliament be passed for the settling of the Admiralty and Forces at Sea and for the raising of such moneys for maintenance of the said Forces and of the Navy as both Houses of Parliament shall think fit The like for the Kingdom of Scotland in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit An Act for the settling of all Forces by Sea and Land in Commissioners to be nominated by both Houses of Parliament of Persons of known Integrity and such as both Kingdoms may confide in for their faithfulness to the Religion and Peace of the Kingdom of the House of Peers and of the House of Commons who shall be removed or altered from time to time as both Houses shall think fit and when any shall dye others to be nominated in their places by the said Houses Which Commissioners shall have power 1. To suppress any Forces raised without Authority of both Houses of Parliament or in the Intervals of Parliaments without consent of the said Commissioners to the disturbance of the publick Peace of these Kingdoms and to suppress any Foreign Forces that shall invade this Kingdom And that it shall be high Treason in any who shall levy any Forces without such Authority or consent to the disturbance of the Publick peace of the Kingdom any Commission under the great Seal or other Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding and they to be incapable of any Pardon from His Majesty and their Estates to be disposed of as both Houses of Parliament shall think fit 2. To preserve the Peace now to be setled and to prevent all disturbances of the publick Peace that may arise by occasion of the late Troubles So for the Kingdom of Scotland 3. To have power to send part of themselves so as they exceed not a third part or be not under the number of to reside in the Kingdom of Scotland to assist and vote as single persons with the Commissioners of Scotland in those matters wherein the Kingdom of Scotland is only concerned So for the Kingdom of Scotland 4. That the Commissioners of both Kingdoms may meet as a joynt Committee as they shall see cause or send part of themselves as aforesaid to do as followeth 1. To preserve the Peace betwixt the Kingdoms and the King and every one of them 2. To prevent the violation of the Articles of Peace as aforesaid or any Troubles arising in the Kingdoms by breach of the said Articles and to hear and determine all differences that may occasion the same according to the Treaty and to do further according as they shall respectively receive Instructions from both Houses of Parliament in England or the Estates of Parliament in Scotland and in the Intervals of Parliaments from the Commissioners for the preservation of the publick Peace 3. To raise and joyn the Forces of both Kingdoms to resist all Foreign Invasion and to suppress any Forces raised within any of the Kingdoms to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms by any Authority under the great Seal or other Warrant whatsoever without consent of both Houses of Parliament in England and the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland or the said Commissioners of that Kingdom whereof they are Subjects And that in those Cases of joynt Concernment to both Kingdoms the Commissioners to be directed to be there all or such part as aforesaid to act and direct as joynt Commissioners of both Kingdoms We desire that the Militia of the City of London may be in the ordering and government of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons in Common-Councel assembled or such as they shall from time to time appoint whereof the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs for the time being to be three And that the Militia of the Parishes without London and the Liberties within the Weekly Bills of Mortality may be under the command of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons in Common-Councel of the said City to be ordered in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament We desire that the Tower of London may be in the government of the City of London and the chief Officer and Governour thereof from time to time be nominated and removeable by the Common-Councel And that the Citizens or Forces of London shall not be drawn out of the City into any other parts of the Kingdom without their own consent and that the drawing of their Forces into other parts of the Kingdom in these distracted times may not be drawn into example for the future After these Propositions made the King's Commissioners for their Information concerning these Propositions gave in several Papers The King's Commissioners Paper 4. February VVE conceive the Propositions delivered by your Lordships concerning the Militia import very great Alterations in the main foundation of the Frame of Government of this Kingdom taking by express words or by necessary consequence the whole Military and Civil power out of the Crown without any limitation in Time or reparation proposed Therefore we desire to know for what term you intend the Militia shall be settled in such manner as may be a reasonable and full Security which we are ready and desirous to give to preserve the Peace now to be settled and to prevent all disturbances of the publick Peace that may arise by occasion of the late Troubles For the better doing whereof we are ready by Conference to satisfie your Lordships in any particulars Their Answer 4. February OUR Paper given in to your Lordships concerning the Militia doth not contain the Alterations mentioned in your Lordships Answer but desires that which by the Wisdom of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms is judged necessary at this time for the security of His Majesty's Kingdoms and preservation of the Peace now to be settled and until your Lordships shall declare an Assent unto the matter therein expressed we conceive it will not
be seasonable to give any Answer concerning the Time And we are ready to confer with your Lordships upon what shall be offered by you to our Paper concerning the Militia formerly delivered The King's Commissioners Reply 4. February VVE are of opinion that the Propositions in your Lordships Paper contain the Alterations mentioned in the Paper we lately delivered to your Lordships and take by express words or necessary consequence the whole Military and Civil Power out of the Crown which Alterations we are ready to make appear in Debate And the Alterations being so great we have reason to desire to know the limitation of Time the consideration of which makes the Propositions more or less reasonable The King's Commissioners second Paper 4. Feb. VVE desire to know who the Commissioners shall be in whose hands the Forces by Sea and Land shall be entrusted and whether you intend His Majesty shall be obliged to consent to such Persons or whether He may except against them and name others in their places of known affection to Religion and Peace Their Answer 4. February THE Commissioners in whose hands the Forces by Sea and Land shall be entrusted are to be nominated for England by both the Houses of the Parliament of England and for Scotland by the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland as is expressed in our Paper formerly delivered to your Lordships concerning the Militia The King's Commissioners Reply 4. Feb. VVE desire a full Answer to our Paper concerning the Persons to be entrusted with the Militia it being very necessary to know the Persons before consent can be given to the matter and whether His Majesty may except against any such persons and nominate others in their rooms against whom there can be no just exception The King's Commissioners third Paper 4. Feb. VVE desire to know whether your Lordships intend that the Militia of the City of London shall be independent and not subordinate to those Commissioners in whose hands the Forces by Sea and Land shall be entrusted Their Answer 4. Feb. IT appears by the Propositions concerning the Militia of the City of London that the same is to be ordered in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament The King's Commissioners Reply 4. February WE desire an Answer to our Paper concerning the Militia of the City of London whether the same shall be subordinate to the Commissioners in whose hands the Forces by Sea and Land are to be intrusted your Lordships Answer that the same is to be ordered in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament which yet doth not appear by the Propositions being no Answer to the Question The King's Commissioners Paper 5. Feb. HAving with great diligence perused your Lordships Paper concerning the Militia and being very desirous to come to as speedy a conclusion in that Argument as we can we will be ready to morrow to give your Lordships our full Answer which we are confident will give your Lordships satisfaction concerning the matter of the Militia of this Kingdom The King's Commissioners Paper in Answer to the Propositions concerning the Militia 6. February TO suppress any Forces that may be raised to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdom or that shall invade this Kingdom and to preserve the Peace now to be settled and to prevent all disturbances of the publick Peace that may arise by occasion of the late Troubles and that His Majesty and all His People may be secured from the Jealousies and Apprehensions they may have of Danger we do consent that all the Forces of the Kingdom both by Sea and Land shall be put into the hands of Persons of known faithfulness to the Religion and Peace of the Kingdom in such manner and for such time as hereafter mentioned That the number of those Persons be Twenty or if that be not accepted by your Lordships such greater or lesser number as shall be agreed upon between us and that His Majesty may name half the persons to be so entrusted and the two Houses the other half That such Forts and Towns in which Garrisons have been before these Troubles and such other as shall be agreed upon between us to be necessary for a time to be kept as Garrisons shall be entrusted likewise to persons to be chosen by the Commissioners or the major part of them to be subordinate to the said Commissioners and to receive orders from them and no others And all other places which have been fortified since the beginning of these Troubles shall be left as they were before and the Fortifications and Works slighted and demolished and all Forces with all possible expedition to be disbanded that the Kingdom may be eased of that intolerable burthen That an Act of Parliament shall be passed for the raising of such Moneys for the maintenance of the Navy and Sea-Forces as His Majesty and both Houses shall think fit That when any of the said Commissioners shall dye who was nominated by His Majesty His Majesty shall name another and when any shall dye of those named by the two Houses another shall be chosen by them and in the Intervals of Parliament by the major part of the said Commissioners named by the two Houses and neither the one nor the other to be removed but by the joynt consent of His Majesty and both Houses except it shall be desired by your Lordships that His Majesty and the two Houses respectively may remove the respective persons named by them as often as they shall see occasion to which if it shall be insisted on we shall consent These Commissioners or the major part of them or such other number of them as shall be aggreed upon shall have Power by Act of Parliament to suppress any Forces raised sitting a Parliament without the joynt consent of His Majesty and both Houses of Parliament or in the Intervals of Parliament without consent of the said Commissioners or the major part of them to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdom and to suppress any Forces that shall invade the Kingdom And it shall be high Treason in any who shall levy any Forces without such Authority or consent to the disturbance of the publick Peace That they shall have like Power to preserve the Peace now to be settled and to prevent all disturbances of the publick Peace that may arise by occasion of the late Troubles And if any Forces shall be brought into the Kingdom without the joynt Consent of the King and the two Houses of Parliament it shall be lawful for any four of the said Commissioners to levy Forces for the supppressing resisting and destroying of the said Forces so brought in We are content that this Power to such Persons shall continue for the space of three years which we doubt not but by the blessing of God will be abundantly sufficient to secure all Persons from their Doubts and Fears and in which
time such a mutual Confidence may be begot betwixt His Majesty and all His People that the Peace will be firm and lasting That the Commissioners before their entrance upon the said Trust shall take an Oath for the due execution of the said Commission and that after the expiration of the said term of three years from the time of the issuing the said Commission they shall not presume to continue any execution of the said Authority and it shall be high Treason in any of them to execute the said Authority after the expiration of the said three years And all the Commanders in chief of the Garrisons Forts and His Majesty's Ships shall likewise take an Oath for the due execution of their Trust That the Commissioners shall have Power to prevent the violation of the Articles of Peace or any Troubles arising in the Kingdom by breach of the said Articles and to hear and determine all differences that may occasion the same We shall be willing that any just Privileges and Immunities be granted by His Majesty to the City of London as being the chief City of this Kingdom and the place His Majesty desires to honour with His most usual and most constant Residence But we conceive it too envious a thing and may prove very prejudicial to the Happiness of that great City to distinguish it in a matter of so high importance as the business of the Militia from the Authority that the whole Kingdom is to submit to If your Lordships shall not consent to the election of persons in that manner as we have proposed half by His Majesty and the other half by the two Houses we do then propose to your Lordships that the said persons who shall have the said Powers in manner and form above mentioned may be named by mutual consent upon Debate between us in which consideration may be taken of the fitness or unfitness of those who shall be named And in case that any of them who shall be thus agreed upon shall die within the said term of three years the survivers or the major part of them shall nominate and chuse another in his place who shall be deceased This way we should most have desired but in regard the consideration of persons may take up a long time in debate which neither the time allotted for the Treaty nor the present Distractions will permit we do propose the former as the most expedite and certain way but leave the election to your Lordships And whatsoever shall be found deficient in the settling this according to the present Agreement or shall be thought fit to be added to it upon any inconveniencies or defects that shall be hereafter discovered the same shall be mended or supplyed in such manner as shall be thought reasonable by the joynt Consent of His Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament After which the King's Commissioners delivered in this Paper 6. Feb. WE shall be ready against the time that the Militia is again in order to be Treated upon to give your Lordships an Answer to your Demands concerning the Militia of the Kingdom of Scotland the which for the present we have not had time to do having wholly spent these three days in the perfecting the Paper delivered to your Lordships this day and the Debates in preparation thereof And at the same time their Commissioners delivered in this Paper 6. Feb. YOUR Lordships Paper which we have received so late at the end of the third day appointed to Treat upon the Militia on which we expected a satisfactory Answer to our Demands concerning it is very far differing from what we have proposed and unsatisfactory to our just and necessary desires for securing the Peace of the Kingdoms and wherein we cannot but observe that the Kingdom of Scotland is wholly omitted We do therefore insist upon our Paper formerly delivered concerning the Militia and desire your Lordships full and clear Answer being ready by Conference to remove all Objections which may be made to the contrary The King's Commissioners Answer thereupon 6. Feb. VVE conceive the Paper delivered by us to your Lordships may justly satisfie your Lordships for the securing the Peace of this Kingdom against all Forces that may any ways endanger it at home or from abroad and for securing the performance of all things that shall be agreed in this Treaty and we are ready by Conference to make the Reasonableness thereof appear and to receive any Reasons from your Lordships to the contrary And as touching Scotland we hope your Lordships will be satisfied by the last Paper we delivered to you Their Paper 6. Feb. IN our last Paper we insisted upon our former demands for the Militia and offered by Conference to satisfie your Lordships of the Reasonableness of them if any Doubts remained with you to the contrary which we are still ready to do they being the proper Subject of this part of the Treaty And whereas your Lordships have in your Paper referred what concerns the Kingdom of Scotland unto another time and seem to intend it a several Answer both Kingdoms being united in the same Cause and under the same Danger and mutually providing for the joynt Safety and Security of both and each other our Propositions are joyntly made by both and are inconsistent with a divided Answer The King's Commissioners Answer 6. Feb. WHereas your Lordships have offered in your last Paper to satisfie us by Conference of the Reasonableness of your Demands if any Doubts remain with us to the contrary We desire to receive satisfaction by Conference that it is reasonable for us to grant the nomination of the Persons by the two Houses only and that the Time ought not to be limited Their Paper 6. Feb. AS we have given to your Lordships our Propositions for the Militia of both Kingdoms in writing so do we again desire your Lordships full and clear Answer to them both in writing and we are ready to answer any Doubts you shall make upon them in order as we delivered them and as they do relate to both Kingdoms but we cannot Treat upon your Lordships Answer which divides them The three first day allotted for the Treaty upon the Militia being spent and that Subject resumed upon Friday the 14 th Saturday the 15 th and Monday the 17 th of February in those days divers Papers were delivered and some Debates had touching the nomination of the Persons who were to be intrusted with the Militia whether they should all be nominated by the two Houses only and touching the Time how long they should have it and whether the same should be unlimited as it was in the Propositions or be limited to a certain time as likewise concerning the Powers of the English and Scotish Commissioners for the Militia which are so intermingled in the Propositions that it was not well understood upon the Propositions how far the Commissioners of one Kingdom and their Power might extend unto and have influence
upon the other and the one upon the Government of the other and concerning some other Passages having relation to the Militia Which would be intricate if they should be set down in the order of time as they were delivered And because sometimes divers Papers were delivered together therefore they are here placed according to their distinct matters And first touching the Nomination of Persons and Limitation of the Time The King's Commissioners delivered in this Paper 14. Feb. IF your Lordships are not satisfied with the Papers delivered to your Lordships by us on the 6 th of February concerning the Militia as far as the same concerns this Kingdom we desire according to your Lordships offer in your first and second Paper delivered to us the sixth of February that your Lordships will satisfie us of the Reasonableness of your Demands and that the nominating of the Persons ought to be by the two Houses only and that the time ought not to be limited Their Answer 14. Feb. BY your Lordships Paper received this day we apprehend your desire to proceed in the Treaty upon the Propositions for the Militia as far as the same concerns this Kingdom without any mention of the Kingdom of Scotland In Answer whereunto we refer your Lordships to a former Paper of the 6 th of February instant whereby we desired your full and clear Answer to our Propositions for the Militia of both Kingdoms in order as we have delivered them and as they do relate to both Kingdoms and that we could not Treat upon your Lordships Answer which divides them We still insist on that Paper and when your Lordships shall be pleased to give an Answer thereunto we shall be ready to clear any Doubts which may remain with your Lordships The Kings Commissioners Reply 14. February WE do desire to proceed in the Treaty upon the Propositions for the Militia as the same concerns both Kingdoms joyntly as well as either of them severally neither is the contrary expressed as we conceive in the Paper delivered by us to your Lordships this day But we cannot reasonably answer to them as they concern one or both Kingdoms before we receive satisfaction from your Lordships of the Reasonableness of your Demands which your Lordships were pleased to promise us by two of your Papers of the sixth of February and which we again desire of your Lordships concerning the Persons and the Time conceiving it unreasonable that all the Persons shall be nominated only by the Houses and that the Time should be unlimited Their Answer 15. Feb. VVE have formerly desired your Lordships Answer to the Propositions for the Militia in order as we delivered them and as they do relate to both Kingdoms and not to give any Answer which shall divide them Yet we observe in the matter of your Lordships third Paper yesterday received that you desire satisfaction in the particulars there mentioned as the same concern the Kingdom of England only in pursuance of a former Paper given in by your Lordships the 6 th of February We therefore again desire as formerly that such Answer as your Lordships shall think fit to make to our Propositions concerning the Militia may be applyed to both Kingdoms joyntly and then we shall be ready by Conference to clear any Objections which your Lordships shall make against the Reasonableness of our Demands The King's Commissioners Paper 15 February WE desire that your Lordships will satisfie us of the Reasonableness of your Demands concerning the settling the Militia of both Kingdoms and that the nominating of the Persons ought to be by the two Houses of Parliament and the like for the Kingdom of Scotland and that the Time ought not to be limited Their Paper 15. February YOUR Lordships Demand in your 4. Paper being made concerning the Militia of both Kingdoms we are ready upon Conference to give satisfaction to what your Lordships shall object against the nominating of the Commissioners by the two Houses of the Parliament of England and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively or against the Time for which the Militia is demanded in the Propositions After some time spent in Conference for Limiting the Time wherein the Debate was touching the unreasonableness of the Demand for taking from the King the Power of the Militia and settling it in Commissioners to be nominated by the two Houses not limited to any Time the Kings Commissioners gave in this Paper 15. Feb. WE desire to know whether your Lordships can by your Instructions consent to a limitation of Time in the settling the Militia or whether you must insist that the Time be unlimited Their Answer 17. Feb. IN Answer to your sixth Paper of the 15 th of this instant concerning the limitation of time in the settling of the Militia we do insist That the Time be unlimited according to our former Demands The King's Commissioners Reply 17. February AFter so long Debate between us concerning the limitation of Time in the settling of the Militia in which we conceived your Lordships had been satisfied that as it is no way necessary for the security of the observation and performance of the present Agreement that the Time should be unlimited so in respect of other considerations it may be very mischievous that it should be unlimited we had great reason to desire to know whether your Lordships had any power by your Instructions to consent to a limitation of Time and are sorry that your Lordships will not give us an Answer to that Question that thereupon we might have endeavoured to have given your Lordships other satisfaction than by not knowing your power therein we are enabled to do Their Paper 17. Feb. WE conceived that after so long a Debate between us your Lordships would have been satisfied that it was most fit concerning the settling the Militia for the Time to be unlimited as we have formerly desired and which by our Instructions we are to insist upon They also delivered in this Paper 17. Feb. WE desire a full and clear Answer to what we have delivered to your Lordships concerning the Militia and to know whether your Lordships be limited by any Instructions or Directions what to grant or deny in the same and that we may have a sight of such Instructions or Directions Their Answer 17. Feb. VVE do herewith deliver to your Lordships such a full and clear Answer to your Propositions concerning the Militia as we hope will give your Lordships satisfaction being such as upon the Conference and Information we have received from your Lordships seems to us to be most reasonable It appeareth by our Commission whereof your Lordships have a Copy that it hath not any reference to any Instructions It is true that as we have according to our Duty from time to time acquainted His Majesty with our proceedings so in some particular cases we have desired to be assisted with His Majesty's Opinion but what Answers we
have therein received from His Majesty we conceive it not proper for us to communicate to your Lordships nor have we any warrant so to do Their Reply 17. Feb. VVE again desire of your Lordships to know whether you be limited by any Instructions or Directions what to grant or deny unto us concerning the Militia and that we may have a sight of such Instructions or Directions and which we conceive your Lordships in Justice and Reason cannot deny seeing by your Papers and Debates your insisted that it was just and reasonable for us to let you know whether we had any power by our Instructions to consent to a limitation of Time which we did accordingly And your Lordships seventh Paper this day delivered gives no Answer or satisfaction to our former Demand herein The King's Commissioners Answer 17. Feb. VVE conceive it was just and reasonable for us to demand of your Lordships whether you had power by your Instructions to consent to a limitation of Time concerning the Militia because the Time is left indefinite and not expressed in the Propositions And your Lordships Commission which gives you power to Treat relating to Instructions they are thereby part of your Power and yet your Lordships to that our Demand have given no other Answer than That by your Instructions you were to insist to have the Time unlimited but have not answered whether you had power to consent to a limitation of Time And we desire your Lordships to remember that formerly upon our desire to see your Instructions that thereby we might see what Power was granted to you by your Paper of the last of January your Lordships did answer it was that for which you had no warrant and it appearing to your Lordships that our Commission hath no reference to Instructions we conceive that your Lordships cannot expect any other Answer than we have already given to your Lordships Demand touching any Instructions or Directions to us what to deny or consent to grant in the Militia assuring your Lordships that we shall not deny but willingly consent to grant whatsoever shall be therein requisite for a full security for observing the Articles of the Treaty or otherwise agreeable to Justice or Reason Touching the Power which should be given to the Commissioners for the Militia The King's Commissioners Paper 14. Feb. VVE desire to know what Authority the Commissioners nominated by the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland are to have in the Militia of this Kingdom and what influence the Orders and Advice from the Estates of the Parliament there shall have upon this Kingdom and how far the same is to be consented or submitted to here Their Answer 14. Feb. YOur Lordships Desire expressed in your second Paper this day may be fully satisfied by the Propositions concerning the Militia where the Authority of the Commissioners to be nominated is clearly expressed both in cases of several and of joynt concernment of the Kingdoms and if upon perusal thereof any Doubts shall occur to your Lordships we are ready by Conference to clear the same The King's Commissioners Paper 15. Feb. VVE do not conceive that the Authority of the Commissioners of both Kingdoms and in both Kingdoms is clearly expressed in your Lordships Propositions and therefore we desire to be informed whether your Lordships intend that the Commissioners of Scotland shall have any Power in the setling of all Forces by Sea and Land in this Kingdom and what Authority they shall have Their Paper 15. Feb. WE do conceive that the Authority of the Commissions of both Kingdoms and in both Kingdoms is clearly expressed in our Propositions by which it doth appear how they are to act as several or as joynt Commissioners And if your Lordships shall propound any Objections against our Propositions concerning the Militia of both Kingdoms we are ready upon Conference to give your Lordships satisfaction The King's Commissioners Paper 15. Feb. WE desire to know whether in that part of the Proposition wherein the Commissioners of both Kingdoms are appointed to meet as a joynt Committee and to receive Instructions in the Intervals of Parliament from the Commissioners for the preservation of the publick Peace your Lordships mean the Commissioners to be nominated according to these Propositions or the Commissioners intended by the Act of Pacification or what other Commissioners and what Jurisdiction you intend the said Commissioners of both Kingdoms shall have by the power given them to hear and determine all differences that may occasion the breach of the Articles of the Peace according to the Treaty and by what Law they shall proceed to hear and determine the same Their Answer 15. Feb. WE intend that the Commissioners are to be nominated according to the Propositions and are to proceed in such manner as is therein expressed and if your Lordships shall make any Objections hereupon we are ready by Conference to give you satisfaction Their further Answer 15. Feb. FOR further answer to your Lorships second Paper we conceive that the matter of the Jurisdiction to be exercised by the Commissioners is expressed in the Proposition and for the manner of exercising that Jurisdiction and by what Law they shall proceed to hear and determine the same are to be settled by the two Houses of the Parliament of England and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively The King's Commissioners Paper 15. Feb. VVE desire to receive a perfect and full Answer from your Lordships to our first and * second Papers delivered by us this morning to your Lordships and whether your Lordships intend that the Commissioners of Scotland shall have any Power and Authority in the settling of all Forces by Sea and Land in this Kingdom and what Authority they shall have and whether the Advice or Orders of the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland shall have any influence upon the affairs of this Kingdom or the Commissioners to be named according to these Propositions otherwise than as the said Advice or Orders shall be approved and confirmed by the two Houses of Parliament of England and what Jurisdiction you intend the Commissioners shall have who are to determine all differences that may occasion the breach of the Articles of Peace and by what Law or Rule they shall proceed try and judge in the hearing and determining the same And it is most necessary for us to desire satisfaction from your Lordships to these particulars in writing since the Answer we shall give to your Lordships upon so much of your Propositions will very much depend upon our clear understanding your Lordships in these particulars it being agreed between us that nothing shall be binding or taken as agreed upon but what shall be in writing on either part Their Answer 17. Feb. VVE conceive there is a full Answer already given by us in several Papers of the 14. of this instant to the former parts of your Paper delivered in on the 15. day and to
the latter part what Jurisdiction the Commissioners shall have who may determine all differences that shall be by breach of the Articles of Peace and by what Law and Rule they shall proceed to hear and determine the same is clearly set down in our further Answer of the 15. of this instant to your second Paper delivered in to us the day before The King's Commissioners Answer thereunto 17. Feb. VVE had great reason to desire a perfect and full Answer from your Lordships to our first and second Papers delivered by us to your Lordships on the 15. of Feb. and we desire your Lordships to consider how difficult a thing it is for us to give your Lordships a satisfactory Answer to your Propositions as they relate to either or both Kingdoms or to the Power of the Commissioners of both Kingdoms as they are to be a joynt Committee to hear and determine all differences according to Instructions from both Houses of Parliament of England or the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland before your Lordships are pleased to inform us whether you intend the Commissioners of Scotland shall have any Power or Authority in the settling all Forces by Sea and Land in this Kingdom and what Authority they shall have and whether the Advice Instructions or Orders of the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland shall have any influence upon the affairs of this Kingdom or the Commissioners to be named according to those Propositions otherwise than as the said Advice Instructions or Orders shall be approved and confirmed by the two Houses of Parliament of England and what Jurisdiction you intend the Commissioners shall have who are to determine all differences that may occasion the breach of the Articles of the Peace and by what Law or Rule they shall proceed try and judge in the hearing and determining the same In all which particulars we are very sorry that we can receive no Answers from your Lordships for want whereof we may fail in giving your Lordships so satisfactory Answers to your Propositions as otherwise we might be enabled to do Their Reply 17. Feb. IT is clearly expressed in our Propositions delivered to your Lordships that all Forces by Sea and Land in this Kingdom are to be settled by the two Houses of the Parliament of England and in the Kingdom of Scotland by the Estates of the Parliament there and we conceive that the Advice Instructions or Orders of either Kingdom are to have no influence upon the affairs of the other but such as is and shall be mutually agreed upon by the two Houses of the Parliament of England and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland and for the Jurisdiction of the Commissioners and by what Law or Rule they shall proceed we have given your Lordships a full and clear Answer thereunto in our 5. Paper of the 15. of February The King's Commissioners Paper 17. Feb. IN the twelfth Proposition your Lordships desire an Act to be passed for confirmation of the late Treaty for the settling of the Garrison of Berwick of the 29 of Novem. 1643. which relating to the business of the Militia we hold it necessary to see before we can make our full Answer upon the whole and desire it accordingly of your Lordships Their Answer 17. Feb. AS for what concerns the Act for Confirmation of the late Treaty and for setling the Garrison of Berwick it is not now to be Treated upon but is reserved to its proper time The King's Commissioners Paper 17. Feb. VVE desire to know whether by the joynt Power mentioned in your Lordships Propositions to be given to the Commissioners for both Kingdoms to preserve the Peace between the Kingdoms and the King and every one of them your Lordships do intend any other than Military power for suppressing Forces only which is expressed after in a distinct Clause by it self and if your Lordships do intend any further Power that your Lordships would declare the same in certainty and particular Their Answer 17. Feb. VVE conceive the Power of the Commissioners mentioned in the 17. Proposition is there fully expressed to preserve the Peace betwixt the Kingdoms to prevent the violation of it or any Troubles arising in the Kingdoms by breach of the Articles and to hear and determine all differences which may occasion the same according to the Treaty and to raise Forces to resist Foreign Invasion and suppress intestine Insurrections as is more at large set down in the Proposition to which we refer your Lordships The King's Commissioners Paper 17. Feb. VVE desire to know whether the Commissioners of both Kingdoms meeting as a joynt Committee the Commissioners of each Kingdom shall have a Negative Voice so as nothing can be done without their joynt consent in matters of joynt concernment and how and by whom it shall be decided what are cases of joynt concernment to both Kingdoms Their Answer 17. Feb. IN all matters of joynt concernment the Commissioners of both Kingdoms are to act joyntly and when they shall meet as a joynt Committee upon such matters of joynt concernment the Commissioners of each Kingdom are to have a Negative Voice and in doubtful cases not expressed in the 17. Proposition to be of joynt concernment where the Commissioners cannot agree whether or no they be of joynt concernment they are to represent them to the two Houses of Parliament of England and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively to be by them determined if they be sitting and in the Intervals of Parliament if the cases be such as cannot without prejudice to both or either Kingdom admit of delay we conceive the Commissioners of each Kingdom are to act severally and to be accomptable for it to the two Houses of Parliament of England and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively at their next sitting The King's Commissioners Paper 17. Feb. VVE desire to know whether by the Propositions for settling the Forces in Commissioners to be nominated by both Houses of Parliament such as both Kingdoms may confide in your Lordships do intend that the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland shall approve or except against the Commissioners to be nominated for the Kingdom of England both at present and from time to time as the Commissioners shall dye or be removed or altered Their Answer 17. Feb. VVE conceive it to be plain by the Proposition it self that the Commissioners of both Kingdoms are respectively to be nominated by the Parliaments of either Kingdom and neither Parliament hath power to except against or approve the persons chosen by the other and we are confident there will be no cause of exception but who are chosen by either will be such as both may confide in The King's Commissioners Paper 14. Feb. VVE desire to know whether your Lordships intend by your Proposition concerning the settling of the Admiralty of Scotland by Act of Parliament to alter the inheritance of any person which is
uniting of the Powers of both Kingdoms it may be done after the Peace establisht we desire your Lordships to consider that it is demanded by us in order to a Peace and a chief and most necessary means for the attaining and establishing of it And we further observe that your Lordships have given us no Answer at all to our 15 th Proposition which we do likewise insist upon and desire your Answer The King's Commissioners Answer 17. February IF your Lordships had punctually or in any degree satisfied us in what we desired to know concerning the Powers of the Commissioners of both Kingdoms and the other particulars mentioned by us we had not troubled your Lordships with so many Questions to most of which we could receive no other Answers than the referring us to the Propositions themselves upon which we grounded our Questions And we conceive that your Lordships Propositions upon the Militia upon which you still insist have in truth appeared upon Debate to be most unreasonable in many particulars As that the Persons to be entrusted with the Militia should be nominated only by the two Houses and that His Majesty who is equally to be secured that the Peace should not be broken should name none that the Power given to the Commissioners shall be framed and altered as occasion serves by the two Houses only and that His Majesty who is so much concerned therein shall have no Negative Voice as to such Powers but is absolutely excluded and that the Time should be unlimited so that His Majesty for Himself and His Posterity should for ever part with their peculiar Regal Power of being able to resist their Enemies or protect their good Subjects and with that undoubted and never-denied Right of the Crown to make War and Peace and in no time to come His Majesty or His Posterity should have power to assist their Allies with any supplies of Men though Voluntiers or ever more to have any Jurisdiction over Their own Navy or Fleet at Sea and so consequently must lose all estimation and confidence with Foreign Princes And many other expressions in the said Propositions do either signifie what we find your Lordships do not expect or intend or at least are so doubtful that the clear sense thereof is not evident to all understandings As by the literal sense of your Propositions neither the Sheriffs of Counties nor Justices of Peace and other Legal Ministers may raise Forces by the Posse Comitatus or otherwise to suppress Riots and remove forcible Entries or to perform the other necessary Duties of their places without out being liable to the interpretation of the Commissioners for the Militia that such Forces are raised or Actions done for the disturbance of the publick Peace as likewise all Civil Actions and Differences may be comprehended within those Propositions to be tryed before the said Commissioners neither of which we believe your Lordships intend should be And therefore we have in our Answers proposed what we thought would be agreeable to the matter and end of those Propositions that is a reasonable and full Security for the observation of the Articles of the Treaty which according to what we have offered cannot be broken on either part without evident prejudice and danger to that part which shall endeavour the breaking thereof and that the memory of these unhappy Distractions may be forgotten as soon as may be that the time of this settlement may be limited to three years which by the blessing of God will be sufficient to beget a good understanding between His Majesty and all His People and that the Fifteenth Proposition and all the other parts of your Lordships Propositions being not at all necessary to the present Union and Reconciliation may be deferred till after the Peace established to be settled by His Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament in England and His Majesty and the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland respectively But if your Lordships shall not think this way of nomination of Persons to be Commissioners or the other proposed likewise by us in our Paper of the sixth of February for the agreement of the Commissioners between your Lordships and us to be equal we shall gladly receive any more equal way from your Lordships since it is apparent that that already proposed by your Lordships and which you insist upon in terminis is not fit to be consented to for the Quiet and Peace of the Kingdom presuming that you will think the Security ought to be mutual as the Fears and Jealousies are mutual And we are most confident that His Majesty so much desires to give all reasonable and fit security on His part that the Agreement and Peace to be now made shall be inviolably observed That as He will name no Man for this great Trust against whom there can be just Exception if the Persons are named equally between Him and you so if the whole nomination were left to Him He would pitch only upon such as both Kingdoms might have great cause to confide in and we believe might give full satisfaction to your Lordships And therefore we hope your Lordships will believe that the Reason we consent not to your Propositions is because we conceive them destructive to the End for which they are proposed Justice Peace and Unity and not that we deny to consent to any reasonable Security for observance of the Agreement to be made of which we will always be most tender with regard to all persons concerned This was the last Paper delivered in the last of the six Days touching the Militia but that being taken up again in some part of the two last days of the Treaty as those of Religion and Ireland also were their Commissioners upon the breaking up of the Treaty about two of the clock in the Morning after the 22. of February gave in a Paper intended for an Answer to this Paper which nevertheless relates to the Paper here next following delivered by them the 21 st of February mentioning a limitation of time for seven years and for that cause is herein set down after that Paper and as their last of that Subject And the Papers upon that Subject delivered in the mean time in the two last days are these following Their Paper 21. Feb. VVHereas your Lordships have in several Papers much insisted That the Commissioners mentioned in the 17 th Proposition should be for a limited Time that your Lordships might better give a full Answer to our desires concerning the Militia though we conceive the Reasons we have given might have satisfied your Lordships for the Time to be unlimited yet to manifest our earnest desires of Peace we propose to your Lordships the Time for the said Commissioners to be for seven years from the time of the passing the Act for the Militia and that after the expiration of such term the Militia of the Kingdom to be setled and exercised in such manner as shall be agreed upon by
Act of Parliament the Deputy or chief Governour or other Governours of Ireland be nominated by both Houses of the Parliament of England or in the Intervals of Parliament by the said Commissioners to continue during the pleasure of the said Houses or in the Intervals of Parliament during the pleasure of the said Commissioners to be approved or disallowed by both Houses at their next sitting and that the Judges of both Benches and of the Exchequer in Ireland be nominated by both Houses of Parliament to continue quamdiu bene se gesserint and in the Intervals of Parliament by the aforesaid Commissioners to be approved or disallowed by both Houses at their next sitting Together with these last Propositions they delivered the Treaty of the sixth of August 1642. and the Ordinance of the 11 th of April therein mentioned together with another of the 9 th of March which see in the Appendix N o 7 and 8. The Kings Commissioners Paper 9. February WE desire to know what your Lordships intend or expect by those Words in your first Paper concerning Ireland and His Majesty to assist since you propose to have the prosecution of the War of Ireland to be setled in both Houses of the Parliament of England to be managed by the joynt advice of both Kingdoms Their Answer 9. Feb. BY the words in our Paper concerning Ireland and His Majesty to assist we conceive is to be understood the giving of His Royal Assent to such Acts of Parliament as shall be presented unto him by both Houses for raising of Moneys from the Subject and for other things necessary to the prosecution of the War in Ireland and to be further aiding by his Power and Countenance in whatsoever shall be requisite for the better carrying on of that War The King's Commissioners Paper 10. Feb. WE conceive that His Majesty had and hath Power to make a Cessation in Ireland and having upon just grounds and for the good and safety of His Protestant Subjects there and for the preservation of that whole Kingdom consented to such a Cessation we desire to be informed by your Lordships how that Cessation can be declared void without a breach of Faith and Honour in His Majesty and we are ready by Conference particularly to inform your Lordships of the Motives which induced His Majesty to consent to that Cessation Their Answer 10. Feb. WE conceive that His Majesty had not Power to make the Cessation in Ireland nor had any just grounds to do the same and therefore we insist as in our former Paper That an Act of Parliament be passed to make void the Cessation of Ireland and conceive that His Majesty is bound in Honour and Justice to consent unto the same and we are ready to confer with your Lordships as is desired and to receive your Lordships full Answer to this and the other particulars expressed in our Paper concerning Ireland After long Debates in Conference which spent the greatest part of the day touching the Motives of that Cessation and the King's Power to make it His Majesties Commissioners delivered in this Paper 10. Feb. WE have received no satisfaction or information in your Lordships Debate to alter our opinion of his Majesties Power to make the Cessation in Ireland and having carefully perused and considered the Statute alledged by your Lordships we cannot find any particular clause in that Statute neither have your Lordships mentioned any though often desired by us so to do whereby His Majesties Power to make a Cessation there is taken away and therefore we are still of opinion that His Majesty had full Power to make and consent to that Cessation And we conceive that we have given your Lordships an account of very just grounds to induce His Majesty to do the same it appearing to His Majesty by the Letters and Advice from the Lords Justices and Council of that Kingdom and of the Officers of His Majesties Army there which we have read to your Lordships and of which Letters and Advices we now give Copies to your Lordships That his Majesties good Protestant Subjects of that Kingdom were in imminent danger to be over-run by the Rebels and His Army to be disbanded for want of necessary Supplies and that there was no such probable way for their Preservation as by making a Cessation Neither have your Lordships given us any satisfying Reasons against the making the said Cessation or made it appear to us that that Kingdom could have been preserved without a Cessation and therefore we cannot apprehend how His Majesty can with Justice and honour declare the same to be void We shall be ready against the next time assigned for the Treaty touching Ireland to give your Lordships a further Answer to your Propositions concerning that Argument the Treaty concerning Ireland of the sixth of August 1642. and the Ordinance of the 11. of April 1644. which we did never see till your Lordships delivered us Copies of them making so great an Alteration in the Government there that we cannot be prepared for the present to make a full Answer to those Propositions Their Answer 10. Feb. IT is very contrary to our expectation to find your Lordships unsatisfied after those Arguments and Reasons alledged by us that His Majesty had not Power to make the Cessation with the Rebels in Ireland and that upon the perusal of the Statute it appears not to you that His Majesty had no Power to make that Cessation it is strange to us your Lordships should forget all the other Arguments used by us from the Common-Law from other Proceedings in Parliament and Circumstances as this case stands on which we still insist and do affirm that His Majesty had no Power to make or consent to that Cessation we do not see any just grounds in the Copies of the Letters given us by your Lordships for His Majesties assenting to the Cessation nor do we know by whom those Letters were written We are therefore still clearly of opinion notwithstanding all your Lordships have alledged that it was unfit for His Majesty to agree unto that Cessation being destructive to His good Subjects and to the Protestant Religion there and only for the advantage of the Popish Rebels to the high Dishonour of God the Disservice of His Majesty and evident prejudice of His three Kingdoms We therefore again desire your Lordships full Answer to what we have delivered to you concerning Ireland The King's Commissioners Paper 10. Feb. WE have given your Lordships our Reasons why we are not satisfied with your Arguments that His Majesty had not Power to make the Cessation and as upon the perusal of the Statute we can find no ground for that Opinion so your Lordships in your whole Debate have not insisted or mentioned one clause in that Statute though often desired which makes it good neither have your Lordships given us any Argument from the Common-Law other than by telling us That it is against the Common-Law
Commissioners insisted no farther The Kings Commissioners Second Paper 19. Feb. BY the thirteenth Proposition it is demanded that an Act be passed to settle the Prosecution of the War of Ireland in both Houses of Parliament of England to be managed by the joynt advices of both Kingdoms We desire to know whether if the two Kingdoms shall not agree in their advice touching that War each have a negative Voice or whether the Scots Commander in chief of the Forces in Ireland may manage that War in such case according to his own discretion Their Answer 19. Feb. IN Answer to your Lordships second Paper the Prosecution of the War of Ireland is to be setled in the two Houses of the Parliament of England but is to be managed by a joynt Committee of both Kingdoms wherein the Committee of each Kingdom hath a negative Voice but in case of disagreement the Houses of Parliament of England may prosecute the War as they shall think fit observing the Treaty of the sixth of August 1642. between the two Houses and the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland and the Ordinance of the 11. of April 1644. delivered to your Lordships formerly The Kings Commissioners Third Paper 19. Feb. BY the twentieth Proposition in the Intervals of Parliament the Commissioners for the Militia have power to nominate the Lord Deputy of Ireland and other Officers and Judges there We desire to know whether that Power be limited to the Commissioners of both Kingdoms or only to the Commissioners for England and whether in such cases the Commissioners of Scotland shall vote as single Persons Their Answer 19. Feb. THe power of the Commissioners in the Intervals of Parliament to nominate the Lord Deputy of Ireland and other Officers and Judges there mentioned in the twentieth Proposition being no matters of joynt concernment is to be limited to the Commissioners of the Parliament of England wherein the Commissioners of Scotland are to vote as single Persons The Kings Commissioners Fourth Paper 19. Feb. THe Articles of the Treaty of the sixth of August giving Power to the Lieutenant of Ireland when the Scotish Army shall be joyned with his Army to give Instructions to the Scotish Commander in chief and the Orders of the two Houses of the 9. of March 1644. and the 11. of April 1644. appointing the General of the Scotish Forces in Ireland to command in chief over all the Forces as well British as Scots and both being desired to be Enacted we desire to know whether the Lieutenant of Ireland shall command the Scots Forces or whether the Scotish General shall command all Forces both British and Scots Their Answer 19. Feb. IN Answer to your Lordships fourth Paper we say that the Ordinances of the 9. of March and 11. of April 1644. were made when there was no Lieutenant of Ireland and when a Lieutenant shall be made with the Approbation of both Houses according to our former Demands in the seventeenth and twentieth Propositions it will be a fitting time to give further Answer to your Lordships The Kings Commissioners Reply 20. Feb. VVE desire a full Answer from your Lordships to our fourth Paper delivered to your Lordships yesterday concerning the Power of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the General of the Scots Forces your Lordships having proposed to us that the Articles of the Treaty and the Ordinance of the 11. of April be enacted by His Majesty by one of which the General of the Scots Forces is to receive Instructions for the managing the War there from the Lieutenant of Ireland and by the other which is the later the General of the Scots Forces is to command in chief both the British and Scots Forces by which it seems the Lievtenant of that Kingdom is to have no Power in the prosecution of that War Their Answer 20. Feb. WE do insist upon our former Papers that the prosecution of the War in Ireland is to be settled in both Houses of Parliament and is to be managed by the joynt advice of both Kingdoms as in those Papers is set down and when a Lievtenant of Ireland shall be appointed as is expressed in the Propositions and it shall be necessary for the good of the service that he and the Commander in chief of the Scotish Army joyn the Commander of the Scotish Army shall receive Instructions from the Lord Lievtenant or Deputy or other who shall have the chief Government of the Kingdom for the time according to the Orders which shall be given by the Commissioners of both Kingdoms The King's Commissioners fifth Paper 19. February THe last part of the seventeenth Proposition gives power to the Commissioners for the Militia of both Kingdoms as a joynt Committee to order the War of Ireland according to the Ordinance of the 11. of April and to order the Militia and conserve the Peace of the Kingdom of Ireland and by that of the 11. of April the Earl of Leven being appointed Commander in chief over all the Forces as well British as Scots we desire to know whether he shall be subordinate to those Commissioners for the Militia and be obliged to observe such Orders as he shall receive from them Their Answer 19. Feb. THe Commissioners of the Militia desired by the seventeenth Proposition are to order the War of Ireland according to the Ordinance of the 11. of April and the Earl of Leven being by that Ordinance Commander in chief of the Forces there is obliged to observe such Orders as he shall receive from those Commissioners Their Commissioners likewise the same 19. of Feb. delivered in some Papers of Demands on their part Their Answer 19. Feb. WE desire that no Cessation of Arms or Peace in Ireland may be Treated upon or concluded without consent of both Houses of Parliament of England Another 19. Feb. WE desire to know whether any Peace or Cessation of Arms in Ireland be consented unto by His Majesty and for what time and whether any Commission be now on foot or other Authority given by His Majesty for that purpose The King's Commissioners Answer to both 20. February TO your Lordships sixth and seventh Papers delivered to us yesterday concerning any Peace or Cessation of Arms in Ireland your Lordships well know that long after the War begun in this Kingdom and the want of a Supply from hence that a Cessation hath been made with His Majesties consent and we conceive that the same expires in March next and we are confident there is no Peace made there But for the making a Peace or a farther Cessation we can give no farther Answer till we may know whether there may be a blessed Peace made in England since if the miserable Civil Wars shall continue in this Kingdom we cannot conceive it possible for His Majesty by Force to reduce the Kingdom of Ireland or to preserve His Protestant Subjects there without a Peace or Cessation Their Reply 20. Febr. WE conceive your Lordships have given
by Acts of Parliament for that War have been formerly diverted to other uses of which Money 100000 l. at one time was issued out for the payment of the Forces under the Earl of Essex And as to diverting the Forces provided for the reducing of Ireland though we conceived it ought not to be objected to His Majesty considering the Forces under the Command of the Lord Wharton raised for Ireland had been formerly diverted and imployd against Him in the War here in England yet it is evident they were not brought over till after the Cessation when they could no longer subsist there and that there was no present use for them and before those Forces brought over there was an attempt to bring the Scotish Forces in Ireland as likewise divers of the English Officers there into this Kingdom and since the Earl of Leven their General and divers Scotch Forces were actually brought over To the Allegations that many Persons of all sorts have forsaken the Kingdom rather than they would submit to that Cessation we know of none but it is manifest that divers who had left that Kingdom because they would have been famished if they had continued there since that Cessation have returned Touching the Committee sent into Ireland we have already answered they were not discountenanced by His Majesty in what they lawfully might do although they went without His Privity but conceive your Lordships will not insist that they should sit with the Privy-Council there and assume to themselves to advise and interpose as Privy-Councellors And we again deny the Subscriptions of the Officers of the Army was diverted by His Majesty and it is well known that some Officers apprehending upon some speeches that the drift in requiring Subscriptions was to engage the Army against His Majesty in detestation thereof upon those speeches rent the Book of Subscription in pieces For the diversion of the Moneys raised for that War if they had been since repaid the contrary whereof is credibly informed to His Majesty yet that present Diversion might be and we believe was a great means of the future Wants of that Kingdom which induced the Cessation As to the Lord Wharton's Commission we conceive we have already fully satisfied your Lordships the just Reasons thereof For the Letters whereof your Lordships had Copies we conceive that you being thereby satisfied of the Contents and that they came from the Lords Justices and Council there your Lordships need not doubt of the truth of the matter and for the Names of the single Persons subscribing we cannot conceive it is desired for any other purpose than to be made use of against such of them as should come into your Quarters you having not granted though desired that it shall not turn to their Prejudice if we should give in their Names Upon what hath been said it appears that His Majesties English Protestant Subjects in Ireland could not subsist without a Cessation and that the War there cannot be maintained or prosecuted to the subduing of the Rebels there during the continuance of this unnatural War here is evident to any man that shall consider that this Kingdom labouring in a War which imploys all the Force and Wealth at home cannot nor will spare considerable Supplies to send abroad or if it could yet whiles there are mutual Jealousies that there cannot be that concurrence in joynt Advices betwixt the King and the two Houses as will be necessary if that War be prosecuted and that His Majesty cannot condescend or your Lordships in reason expect His Majesty should by His Consent to Acts of Parliament for the managing of that War and raising moneys to that purpose put so great a Power into their hands who during these Troubles may if they will turn that Power against Him and it is apparent that the continuance of the War here must inevitably cause the continuance of the Miseries there and endanger the rending of that Kingdom from this Crown The Kings Commissioners other Paper 20. Feb. VVE do very much wonder that it doth not clearly appear to your Lordships that upon any difference between the Committees of both Kingdoms in the managing the War of Ireland in the manner proposed by your Lordships the War there must stand still or be dissolved for if the Ordinance of the 11th of April be by His Majesties Royal Assent made an Act of Parliament as your Lordships desire all the Forces of that Kingdom both British and Scotish are put under the absolute Command of the Earl of Leven the Scotish General and the managing the War committed wholly to the Committee of both Kingdoms without any reference to the two Houses of the Parliament of England by themselves so that whatsoever your Lordships say of your intentions that the the two Houses of Parliament here shall upon such difference manage the War which yet you say must be observing the Treaty of the 6th of August and the said Ordinance of the 11th of April it is very evident if that Ordinance should be made a Law the War must stand still or be dissolved upon difference of opinion between the Committee of both Kingdoms or else the Earl of Leven must carry on the War according to his discretion for he is in no degree bound to observe the Orders or Directions of the Houses of Parliament in England by themselves Neither doth the asking His Majesties Consent at all alter the Case from what we stated it to your Lordships in our Paper of the 20. of this Instant for we said then and we say still that if His Majesty should consent to what you propose He would devest himself of all his Royal Power in that Kingdom and reserve no Power or Authority in Himself over that War which is most necessary for His Kingly Office to do For your Lordships Expression when there shall be a Lieutenant of Ireland we presume your Lordships cannot but be informed that His Majesty hath made and we doubt not but you acknowledge he hath power to make the Lord Marquess of Ormond His Lieutenant of that Kingdom and who is very well able to manage and carry on that War in such manner as shall be thought necessary for the good of that Kingdom and there is no question but that the naming the Earl of Leven to be General to receive Orders only from the joynt Committee of both Kingdoms doth more take away the Power of the two Houses here than if he were a Native of this Kingdom and to obey the Orders of the two Houses And we conceive it evident that the giving the absolute Command of all Forces both British and Scotish to the Earl of Leven General of the Scotish Forces who is to manage the War according to the Directions of the joynt Committee of both Kingdoms doth not amount to less than to deliver the whole Kingdom of Ireland over into the hands of His Majesties Subjects of the Kingdom of Scotland and therefore we must ask
to the Committee of both Kingdoms and in case of Disagreement an Appeal lies to the two Houses of the Parliament of England in whom the power of prosecuting the War is to be settled And we must insist to desire that the Lord Lieutenant and the Judges in that Kingdom may be nominated by the two Houses of Parliament who have by sad experience to the great cost of this Kingdom expence of so much Treasure and Blood the loss of many thousand Lives there and almost of all that whole Kingdom from His Majesties Obedience and an inestimable prejudice to the true Protestant Religion found the ill consequence of a bad choice of Persons for those great places of Trust Therefore for His Majesties Honour the good of His Service the great Advantage it will be to the rest of His Majesties Dominions the great Comfort to all good Christians and even an acceptable Service to God himself for the attaining of so much good and the prevention of so much evil they desire to have the nomination of those great Officers that by a prudent and careful Election they may by providing for the good of that now miserable Kingdom discharge their Duty to God the King and their Countrey And certainly if it be necessary to reduce that Kingdom and that the Parliament of England be a faithful Council to his Majesty and fit to be trusted with the prosecution of that War which his Majesty was once pleased to put into their hands and they faithfully discharged their parts in it notwithstanding many practices to obstruct their proceedings as is set forth in several Declarations of Parliament then we say your Lordships need not think it unreasonable that His Majesty should ingage himself to pass such Acts as shall be presented to him for raising Moneys and other necessaries for that War for if the War be necessary as never War was more that which is necessary for the maintaining of it must be had and the Parliament that doth undertake and manage it must needs know what will be necessary and the People of England who have trusted them with their Purse will never begrudge what they make them lay out upon that occasion Nor need his Majesty fear the Parliament will press more upon the Subject then is fit in proportion to the occasion It is true that heretofore Persons about his Majesty have endeavoured and prevailed too much in possessing him against the Parliament for not giving away the Money of the Subject when his Majesty had desired it but never yet did his Majesty restrain them from it and we hope it will not be thought that this is a fit occasion to begin We are very glad to find that your Lordships are so sensible in your expressions of the Blood and Horrour of that Rebellion and it is without all question in His Majesties Power to do Justice upon it if your Lordships be willing that the Cessation and all Treaties with those bloody and unnatural Rebels be made void and that the prosecution of the War be settled in the two Houses of the Parliament of England to be managed by the joynt advice of both Kingdoms and the King to assist and to do no Act to discountenance or molest them therein This we dare affirm to be more than a probable course for the remedying those mischiefs and preserving the remainder of His Majesties good Subjects there We cannot believe your Lordships will think it fit there can be any Agreement of Peace any respite from Hostility with such Creatures as are not fit to live no more than with Wolves or Tigers or any ravenous Beasts destroyers of mankind And we beseech you do not not think it must depend upon the condition of His Majesties other Kingdoms to revenge or not revenge God's Quarrel upon such perfiduous Enemies to the Gospel of Christ who have imbrued their hands in so much Protestant Blood but consider the Cessation that is made with them is for their advantage and rather a Protection then a Cessation of Acts of Hostility as if it had been all of their own contriving Arms Ammunition and all manner of Commodities may be brought unto them and they may furnish themselves during this Cessation and be assisted and protected in so doing that afterwards they may the better destroy the small remainder of his Majesties Protestant Subjects We beseech your Lordships in the bowels of Christian Charity and Compassion to so many poor Souls who must perish if the strength of that raging Adversary be not broken and in the Name of him who is the Prince of Peace who hates to be at Peace with such shedders of Blood give not your consents to the continuation of this Cessation of War in Ireland and less to the making of any Peace there till Justice have been fully executed upon the Actors of that accursed Rebellion Let not the Judgment of War within this Kingdom which God hath laid upon us for our Sins be encreased by so great a Sin as any Peace or Friendship with them whatsoever becomes of us if we must perish yet let us go to our Graves with that comfort that we have not made Peace with the Enemies of Christ yea even Enemies of mankind declared and unreconciled Enemies to our Religion and Nation let not our War be a hindrance to that War for we are sure that Peace will be a hindrance to our Peace We desire War there as much as we do Peace here for both we are willing to lay out our Estates our Lives and all that is dear unto us in this World and we have made Propositions unto your Lordships for both if you were pleased to agree unto them We can but look up to God Almighty beseech him to encline your hearts and casting our selves on him wait his good time for the return of our Prayers in settling a safe and happy Peace here and giving success to our Endeavours in the prosecution of the War of Ireland It had been used by the Commissioners during the Treaty that when Papers were delivered in of such length and so late at night that present particular Answers could not be given by agreement between themselves to accept the Answers the next day dated as of the day before although they were Treating of another Subject and these two last Papers concerning Ireland being of such great length and delivered about twelve of the clock at night when the Treaty in time was expiring so as no Answer could be given without such consent and agreement therefore the King's Commissioners delivered in this Paper 22. February YOur Lordships cannot expect a particular Answer from us this night to the two long Papers concerning Ireland delivered to us by your Lordships about twelve of the clock this night but since there are many particulars in those Papers to which if they had been before mentioned we could have given your Lordships full satisfaction and for that we presume your Lordships are very willing to
not given full and satisfactory Answers concerning Religion the Militia and Ireland you cannot for the Reasons above mentioned expect an addition of time neither have we received any Instructions to continue this Treaty longer than the twenty days of which this is the last And as for your Lordships Safe-Conduct we conceive the Three Sundays last past being not accounted any days of the Treaty so this next Sunday is not to be esteemed one of the two days allowed after the Treaty in your Lordships Safe-Conduct but your Lordships are to have two days besides this next Lords day The King's Commissioners Reply 22. February WE cannot express the great sadness of our hearts that all our earnest endeavours to give your Lordships satisfaction in all particulars of this Treaty have produced no better effects towards a blessed Peace which his Majesty and we who are trusted by him do so heartily pray for and that so many and great Offers made by us to your Lordships in the particulars we have Treated upon should not be thought a good progress on our part in the said Treaty as we find by your Lordships last Paper to our great grief they are not and therefore that this must be the last day of the Treaty We desire your Lordships to consider that we being intrusted by his Majesty to Treat with your Lordships for a safe and well grounded Peace have upon the matter of your Lordships Propositions consented to so many particulars and alterations of very great importance and that your Lordships who were to Treat with us have not abated one tittle of the most severe and rigorous of your Propositions saving what you were pleased the last Night to propose in the point of Time concerning the Militia which though it seems to be limited to seven years in truth leaves it as unlimited as it was before in your-Propositions for at the end of seven years it must not be exercised otherwise than shall be settled by his Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament so that all the Legal Power now in his Majesty is taken away and not restored after the seven years expired Neither is there a full consent to that limitation offered by your Lordships the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland Nor have your Lordships offered to us any prospect towards Peace other than by submitting totally to those Propositions the which if we should do we should consent to such Alterations as by Constructions and Consequences may dissolve the whole frame of the present Government both Ecclesiastical and Civil in this Kingdom And though the particulars proposed by your Lordships have by Debate appeared not only evidently unreasonable but literally considered to comprehend things to be extended to Powers not intended by your selves yet your Lordships have not been pleased either to restrain or interpret any particular in any other manner than as is set forth in the said Propositions In the matter of Religion we have offered all such Alterations as we conceive may give satisfaction to any Objections that have been or can be made against that Government and have given your Lordships Reasons not onely why we cannot consent to your Lordships Propositions but that even those Propositions if consented to could not be in order to a Reformation or to the procuring the publick Peace And we must desire your Lordships to remember that though you do not onely in your Covenant which you require may be taken by his Majesty and enjoyned to be taken by all his Subjects undertake the Reformation in point of Government but even in point of Doctrine too thereby laying an imputation upon the Religion it self so long professed in this Kingdom with the general approbation of all Reformed Churches yet your Lordship have not given us the least Argument nor so much as intimated in your Debate the least Prejudice to the Doctrine of the Church of England against which we presume you cannot make any colourable Objection nor have you given us the view in particular of the Government you desire should be submitted to in the place of that you propose to be abolished and therefore we propose to your Lordships if the Alterations proposed by us do not give your Lordships satisfaction that so great an Alteration as the total Abolition of a Government established by Law may for the Importance of it and any Reformation in Doctrine for the Scandal of it be suspended till after the Disbanding of all Armies his Majesty may be present with the Two Houses of Parliament and calling a National Synod may receive such Advice both from the one and the other as in a matter of so high concernment is necessary and we are most confident that his Majesty will then follow the Advice which shall be given him And as any Reformation thus regularly and calmly made must needs prove for the singular Benefit and Honour of the Kingdom so we must appeal to your Lordships whether the contrary that is an Alteration even to things though in themselves good can by the Principles of Christian Religion be enforced upon the King or Kingdom In the business of the Militia though your Lordships do not deny that the Jealousies and apprehensions of Danger are mutual and that the chief end of depositing the Militia in the hands of certain Persons is for security against those Jealousies and possible Dangers yet your Lordships insist That all those Persons to be entrusted shall be nominated by the Two Houses of Parliament in England and the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland and that the time for that great general and unheard-of Trust shall be in such manner that though it seem to be limited to seven years yet in truth by declaring that after those seven years it shall not be otherwise exercised than His Majesty and the Two Houses of Parliament shall agree His Majesty may thereby be totally and for ever devested of the power of the Sword without which He can neither defend Himself against Foreign Invasions nor Domestick Insurrections nor execute His Kingly Office in the behalf of His Subjects to whom He is sworn to give protection And to both these your Lordships add the introducing a Neighbour-Nation governed by distinct and different Laws though united under one Sovereign to a great share in the Government of this Kingdom In stead of consenting to these Changes we have offered and proposed to your Lordships That the Persons to be trusted with the Militia of the Kingdom may be nominated between us or if that were refused that an equal number shall be named by you and the other number by his Majesty and that half the Forts and places of Strength within the Kingdom shall be in the Custody of those whom you think fit to be trusted therewith and the other half in such hands as his Majesty pleases to commit the same to and all persons as well those nominated by your Lordships as by his Majesty to take an Oath for the due discharge
agreed upon and every such Person or Persons so to be named shall have the like Power and Authority Freedom and acquital to all intents and purposes and also all such Wages and Allowances for the said service during the time of his or their Attendance as to any other of the said Persons in this Ordinance is by this Ordinance limited and appointed Provided always that this Ordinance or any thing therein contained shall not give unto the Persons aforesaid or any of them nor shall they in this Assembly assume to exercise any Jurisdiction Power or Authority Ecclesiastical whatsoever or any other Power than is herein particularly expressed The Votes or Orders delivered with it Die Mercurii 5. Julii 1643. ORdered by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That it shall be propounded to the Assembly to morrow at their meeting to take into their Consideration the Ten first Articles of the 39. Articles of the Church of England to free and vindicate the Doctrine of them from all Aspersions and false Interpretations Jovis 6. Julii 1643. Some general Rules for the Assembly directed by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled 1. THat two Assessors be joyned to the Prolocutor to supply his place in case of Absence or Infirmity 2. Two Scribes to be appointed to set down all Proceedings and these to be Divines who are not Members of the Assembly viz. Mr. Henry Robrough and Mr. Adoniram Bifield 3. Every Member at his first entrance into the Assembly shall make a serious and solemn Protestation not to maintain any thing but what he believes to be Truth and to embrace Truth in sincerity when discovered to him 4. No Resolution to be given upon any Question on the same day wherein it is first Propounded 5. What any Man undertakes to prove as necessary he shall make good out of the Scriptures 6. No Man to proceed in any dispute after the Prolocutor hath enjoyned him silence unless the Assembly desire he may go on 7. No Man to be denied to enter his Dissent from the Assembly and his Reasons for it in any point after it hath first been debated in the Assembly and thence if the dissenting Party desire it to be sent to the Houses of Parliament by the Assembly not by any particular Man or Men in a private way when either House shall require it 8. All things agreed on and prepared for the Parliament to be openly read and allowed in the Assembly and then offered as the Judgement of the Assembly if the major part assent Provided that the Opinion of any Persons dissenting and the Reasons urged for it be annexed thereunto if the Dissenters require it together with the Solution if any were given in the Assembly to those Reasons Jovis 6. Julii 1643. I A. B. do seriously and solemnly in the presence of Almighty God that in this Assembly whereof I am a Member I will not maintain any thing in matters of Doctrine but what I think in my Conscience to be Truth or in point of Discipline but what I shall conceive to conduce most to the Glory of God and the good and Peace of his Church Veneris 15. Sept. 1643. ORdered by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That it be referred to the Assembly of Divines to set forth a Declaration of the Reasons and Grounds that have induced the Assembly to give their Opinions that this Covenant may be taken in point of Conscience Eodem Die ORdered by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That it be referred to the Committee formerly appointed to Treat with the Scotch Commissioners to Treat with them about the manner of taking the Covenant in both Kingdoms Mercurii 22. August 1643. ORdered by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That it be propounded to the Assembly of Divines to consider of the Doctrine of the Nine next Articles of the 39 Articles of the Church of England to clear and vindicate the same from all Aspersions and false Interpretations The Articles of the sixth of August 1642. Articles of the Treaty concerning the Reducing of the Kingdom of Ireland to the Obedience of the Kings Majesty and Crown of England agreed upon between the Commissioners for Scotland authorized by his Majesty and the Parliament of that Kingdom and the Commissioners for England authorized by his Majesty and the Parliament of that Kingdom at Westminster the sixth day of August 1642. FIrst The Scotish Commissioners out of the sense of that Duty which the Kingdom of Scotland owes to His Majesty and the true Affection they bear towards the Kingdom of England being willing to contribute their best assistance for the speedy relief of those distressed parts in Ireland which lye nearest the Kingdom of Scotland have in the name of that Kingdom made offer of ten thousand Men to be imployed in that Service and for a further Testimony of their Zeal to His Majesties Service and Brotherly respect to the Kingdom of England have declared that the Kingdom of Scotland will upon their own Charge levy and transport these Men. Secondly Because the Kingdom of Scotland are to send over with their Army the number of Six thousand Muskets and Four thousand Pikes with such Cannon and Ammunition as shall be fitting for the service it is agreed that Four thousand Muskets and Two thousand Pikes shall be presently sent by the Kingdom of England into the Kingdom of Scotland and delivered at Leith as also that the residue of the said Ten thousand Arms and Ten thousand Swords and Belts shall be delivered there at the first of August next and that as many Cannon and Field-Pieces of the same Bore Weight and Metal shall be carried into Scotland upon their demand as they shall transport into Ireland for the service of that Kingdom and that the said whole Arms and Ammunition shall remain in Scotland until the return of the Scotish Army from Ireland at which time the same shall be restored to the Kingdom of England the Kingdom of Scotland receiving satisfaction for such of their Arms and Ammunition as shall be spent or lost in the service of Ireland As also that there shall be presently sent over from England and delivered to the Scotish Army in Ireland for the defence of the Province of Vlster six pieces of Demy-Cannon of the Ball of four and twenty pound weight with their Equipage Thirdly it is agreed That there shall be two Ships of War presently sent by the Kingdom of England to Lochryan Lamalach Port-Patrick or Air to guard and waft over the Scotish Soldiers and that the said Ships shall attend at the Ports in Ireland for serving the Scotish Army in going and returning betwixt the Coasts and keeping the Passages clear as they shall receive Orders from the chief Commanders of the Scotish Army for the time being according to Instructions received or to be received by the Master of these Ships from the Lord Admiral or Commissioners of the Admiralty for the time
being to that purpose Fourthly it is agreed That there shall be levied and furnished by the Kingdom of England Ten Troops of sufficient and well armed Horse-men consisting of sixty in a Troop besides the Officers and that there shall be a Commissary General a Serjeant-Major and a Quarter-master appointed over them which shall joyn and remain with the Body of the Scotish Foot and shall receive and obey the Orders and Instructions of the Commanders of the Scotish Army and that there shall be presently advanced the sum of Twelve hundred Pounds sterling for the levying of a Troop of one hundred Horsemen in Scotland besides the Officers to be a Guard to the General of the Scotish Army Fifthly it is agreed That the Commanders and Soldiers of the Scotish Army shall have such Pay respectively as the Commanders and Soldiers of the English Army have according to a List presently agreed upon by the Commissioners of both Kingdoms as also that the Officers of that Army shall have such allowance for their Wagons as is contained in the said List Sixthly it is agreed That the Towns and Castle of Carickfergus and Colrane shall be put into the hands of the Scotish Army to be places for their Magazines and Garrisons and to serve them for Retreat upon occasion and that the Magistrates and Inhabitants thereof shall be ordained to carry themselves to the Commanders of the said Army as is fitting and ordinary in such Cases and that the said Towns and Castle shall remain in the Scots hands until the War shall end or that they shall be discharged of that service Like as the Commissioners for the Kingdom of Scotland do promise in the Publick Faith of that Kingdom to re-deliver the said Towns and Castle to any having Commission from the King and Parliament of England as also the Commissioners for the Kingdom of England do promise in the name and on the Publick Faith of that Kingdom that Payment shall be made to the Kingdom of Scotland and their Army of all dues that shall arise upon this present Treaty and that when the Scotish Army imployed in the service of Ireland shall be discharged they shall be disbanded by Regiments and no lesser proportions and so many of them payed off as shall be disbanded and the residue kept in pay till they be disbanded Seventhly it is agreed That the Towns of Carick fergus and Colrane shall by the Kingdom of England be with all expedition provided with Victuals necessary for Soldiers either in Garrisons or Expeditions according to a List to be agreed on and subscribed by the Commissioners of both Kingdoms and that such quantities thereof as the Scotish Army shall have occasion to use shall be sold unto them and bought by them at the several Prices contained in the aforesaid List and also that the said Towns of Carickfergus and Colrane shall be provided by the Kingdom of England with Powder Ball Match and other Ammunition for the service of the said Army conform to the particular List to be condescended unto by both Commissioners and that Carts and Waggons shall be provided by the Kingdom of England for carrying of Ammunition for the use of the said Army in Marches as also that there shall be Gun-Smiths Carpenters and one or two Enginers appointed to attend the Army and that hand-Mills shall be provided to serve the Companies in Marches Eighthly it is agreed That the Kingdom of England shall deposite two thousand Pounds English Money in the hands of any to be appointed by the Scotish Commissioners to be disbursed upon accompt by warrant of the General of their Army upon Fortifications Intelligences and other Incidents so that there be not above the sum of two thousand Pounds in a year imprested upon these occasions without particular and special Warrant from the Parliament of England as also that there shall be deposited Two thousand and five hundred Pounds English to be disbursed upon Accompt for the providing of a thousand Horses for the Garriage of the Artillery the Baggage and Victual of their Army and for Dragooners upon occasion and likewise that the Scotish Army during the time of the War shall have power to take up such Horses in the Country as be necessary for the uses aforesaid Ninthly it is agreed That the Inhabitants of the Towns and Villages in the Province of Vlster and in any other Province of Ireland where the Scotish Army shall be by it self for the time shall receive Orders from the Scotish Commanders and shall bring in Victuals for Money in an orderly way as shall be directed by them with Provision of Oats Hay and Straw and such other Necessaries and that the Countrey People shall rise and concur with the Scotish Troops when the Commanders thereof shall find it for the good of the Service and shall receive Orders and Directions from the said Commanders of the Scotish Army Tenthly it is agreed That the said Ten thousand Men to be sent out of the Kingdom of Scotland shall go in the way and order of an Army under their own General and subaltern Officers and the Province of Vlster is appointed unto them wherein they shall first prosecute the War as in their Judgment they shall think most expedient for the Honour of the King and Crown of England and that the Commanders of the said Army shall have power to give Conditions to Towns Castles and Persons which shall render and submit themselves as shall be most expedient for the Service according to the course of War Provided no Toleration of the Popish Religion be granted nor any condition made touching or concerning any of the Rebels Lands and that the Commanders of the Scotish Army shall be answerable for their whole deportment and proceedings to His Majesty and the two Houses of the Parliament of England only but shall from time to time give an accompt thereof to His Majesty the two Houses of the Parliament of England and to the chief Governour or Governours of Ireland for the time being That such Towns and Places as shall be recovered from the Rebels by the Scotish Army shall be at the diposing of the Commanders thereof during their abode for that Service in those parts where such Towns and Places are And if it shall be found for the good of the Service that the Scotish Army shall joyn with the Kings Lieutenant of Ireland and his Army in that case the General of the Scotish Army shall only cede to the Kings Lieutenant of Ireland and receive in a free and honourable way Instructions from him or in his absence from the Lord Deputy or any other who shall have the chief Government of that Kingdom for the time by Authority derived from the Crown of England and shall precede all others and that he only shall give Orders to the Officers of his own Army and that the Armies shall have the right and left hand Van and Reare Charge and Retreat successively and shall not mix in
with Our Originals and saw the Names of all the Council-subscribers as well as the two Lords Justices some of which Councellors were of principal estimation with themselves and they might also have had Copies of their Names who subscribed if they would have assured Our Commissioners that such of them as should have come into their Quarters should not have been prejudiced by it yet the extremity of Our poor English Subjects inducing that Cessation being so notorious and that attestation thereof undeniable they fall at last to confess and avoid them they say That some who were of the Council when those Letters were written assure them that those Letters were written only to press for Supplies without any intention of inducing a Cessation neither do the Letters contain any mention of a Cessation It is true those Letters do not nor was it alledged they did mention any Cessation but they pressed for Supplies from hence and laid open their Necessities to be such that it was apparent to any Man as We had also private advices from some of the Council there and of credit with those at Westminster that if Supplies failed there was no way for the preservation of Our good Subjects there but by a Cessation And these bleeding Wants of Our Army and good Subjects there so earnestly calling for Relief and this Kingdom being then ingaged in the height of an unnatural War Our selves unable to supply them and no timely supply nor hopes of it coming from the two Houses what course less dishonourable for Us or more for the good and safety of the poor English there could be taken than to admit of a Treaty for a Cessation which was managed by Our publick Ministers of State there and that Cessation assented unto as best for that Kingdom by the chief Officers of the Army and the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland before Our Approbation thereof They say that those Necessities were made by a design of the Popish and Prelatical Party the Prelatical Party must come in upon all turns though none suffered more by the Irish Rebellion nor were less advantaged by the Cessation than those poor Prelates and that at this very time when the Protestants were in such Extremity Provisions sent thither by the Parliament for their Relief were disposed of and afforded to the Rebels The Letters of the Lords Justices and Council tell Us that no Provisions at all were sent by the Parliament and if they had not told it yet this being barely affirmed might as easily be denied unless they had instanced in particular what Provisions were sent and how and when and by whom or to whom they were disposed But they say that at the same time the Officers of the Army and Garrisons pressing for leave to march into the Enemies Countrey to live upon them and save their own stores some could not obtain leave to go and those who were drawn forth had great quantities of Provisions out with them yet were not permitted to go into the Enemies Countrey but kept near Dublin till their Provisions were spent and then commanded back again They might remember at that time wherein they suppose this miscarriage the chief manage of those Affairs was in the hands of such Ministers of State whom they did and do still rely upon but sure those Ministers are not to be blamed if they durst not suffer the Soldier to march far or stay long in the Enemies Countrey when there was but forty Barrels of Powder in all the Store or if they called them back in such case when the Enemy approached Let such as these or what other pretences and excuses soever be made for not relieving Ireland We are sure the chief Impediment to it was their active promoting this Rebellion in England And therefore as they made use of the Supplies both of Men and Money provided for that Kingdom against Us at Edge-hill so from the time of that Battel some Supplies sent before which else perhaps had been also countermanded arriving in Ireland about the time or shortly after that Battel they were so careful of recruiting and supplying their Armies here that though they received much Moneys for Ireland and had at their disposal great store of Our Ammunition neither the one nor the other was ever after afforded to the English Army and Forces or to the Protestants about Dublin though the Cessation was not made till September following As for those Protestants in Munster Connaught and Ulster who they say opposed the Cessation and did and do still subsist they were most of them of Our Scotish Subjects the rest excepting some few wrought upon by private interest or particular solicitation were such who being under their Power were forced for their relief to concur with them against it These indeed as they did not suffer under so great Wants as the English at the time of the Cessation as is well known though it seem to be denied more special Provisions being made for them and for their Garrisons than for the English as doth in great part appear even by the Articles of their Treaty of the sixth of August so they have since subsisted by Supplies sent from the two Houses whereof none were suffered to partake but such as take their new Covenant and doubly break the Bonds of their Obedience and Duty both by taking that dangerous ensnaring Oath prohibited by God and their King and opposing Our Ministers of State there without whose Authority a Cessation being concluded during that Cessation they ought not to have continued a War in that Kingdom We easily believe the Provisions they mention are or may be sent for supply of those Forces as being a means to keep up a Party against Us there and to have a Reserve of an Army ready upon any accidents of War to be drawn hither against Us and being also necessary for the satisfaction of Our Scotish Subjects whom they must please who would not be so forward in their Service without some good assurance such as is the having an Army of theirs kept on foot in Ireland at the charge of this Kingdom and two of Our strongest Towns and Castles there delivered to them Cautionary Towns as We may believe Berwick also is being denied the sight of that Treaty and by the Command of all the English Forces there by the General of the Scots that they shall be well pay'd the Arrears to the Armies in both Kingdoms before they quit their Interest in Ireland If We shall allow Provisions thus imployed to be for the preservation of the English Protestants in Ireland We may believe they have repay'd the 100000. l. taken up of the Adventurers Money and yet thus to re-satisfie this Money admitting it be current satisfaction for the Debt can be no satisfaction or excuse for the former Diversion But since they cannot excuse themselves for this Diversion of the Adventurers Money nor of the other Moneys raised for Ireland nor of the imploying the
considering any thing contained in those Papers or Writings framed by the said Earl and those Commissioners with whom he Treated as he doth absolutely disavow him therein and hath given Commandment to the Lord Lieutenant and the Council there to proceed against the said Earl as one who either out of falseness presumption or folly hath so hazarded the blemishing of his Majesties Reputation with his good Subjects and so impertinently framed those Articles of his own head without the Consent Privity or Directions of his Majesty or the Lord Lieutenant or any of his Majesties Council there But true it is that for the necessary preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects in Ireland whose Case was daily represented unto him to be so desperate his Majesty had given Commission to the Lord Lieutenant to Treat and conclude such a Peace there as might be for the safety of that Crown the preservation of the Protestant Religion and no way derogatory to his own Honour and publick Professions But to the end that his Majesties real Intentions in this business of Ireland may be the more clearly understood and to give more ample satisfaction to both Houses of Parliament and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland especially concerning his Majesties not being engaged in any Peace or Agreement there he doth desire if the two Houses shall admit of his Majesties repair to London for a Personal Treaty as was formerly proposed that speedy notice be given thereof to his Majesty and a Pass or safe Conduct with a Blank sent for a Messenger to be immediately dispatched into Ireland to prevent any accident that may happen to hinder his Majesties Resolution of leaving and managing of the business of Ireland wholly to the two Houses and to make no Peace there but with their Consent which in case it shall please God to bless His endeavours in the Treaty with success His Majesty doth hereby engage himself to do And for a further explanation of his Majesties Intentions in his former Messages he doth now Declare That if his Personal repair to London as aforesaid shall be admitted and a Peace thereon shall ensue he will then leave the Nomination of the Persons to be entrusted with the Militia wholly to his two Houses with such Power and Limitations as are expressed in the Paper delivered by his Majesties Commissioners at Vxbridge the 6. of Febr. 1644. for the term of seven years as hath been desired to begin immediately after the Conclusion of the Peace the disbanding of all Forces on both sides and the dismantling of the Garrisons erected since these present Troubles so as at the expiration of the time before mentioned the Power of the Militia shall entirely revert and remain as before And for their further security his Majesty the Peace succeeding will be content that pro hac vice the two Houses shall nominate the Admiral Officers of State and Judges to hold their places during Life or quamdiu se bene gesserint which shall be best liked to be accomptable to none but the King and the two Houses of Parliament As for matter of Religion his Majesty doth further Declare That by the Liberty offered in his Message of the 15. present for the ease of their Consciences who will not communicate in the Service already established by Act of Parliament in this Kingdom he intends that all other Protestants behaving themselves peaceably in and towards the Civil Government shall have the free exercise of their Religion according to their own way And for the total removing of all Fears and Jealousies His Majesty is willing to agree That upon the Conclusion of Peace there shall be a general act of Oblivion and Free Pardon past by Act of Parliament in both his Kingdoms respectively And lest it should be imagined that in the making these Propositions his Majesties Kingdom of Scotland and his Subjects there have been forgotten or neglected his Majesty Declares That what is here mentioned touching the Militia and the naming of Officers of State and Judges shall likewise extend to his Kingdom of Scotland And now his Majesty having so fully and clearly expressed his Intentions and Desires of making a happy and well-grounded Peace if any person shall decline that Happiness by opposing so apparent a way of attaining it he will sufficiently demonstrate to all the World his intention and design can be no other then the total subversion and change of the ancient and happy Government of this Kingdom under which the English Nation hath so long flourished Given at the Court at Oxford the 29. of January 1645. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Oxford Feb. 26. 1641. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty needs to make no excuse though he sent no more Messages unto you for he very well knows he ought not to do it if he either stood upon punctilioes of Honour or his own private Interest the one being already call'd in question by his often sending and the other assuredly prejudic'd if a Peace be concluded from that He hath already offer'd He having therein departed with many of his undoubted Rights But nothing being equally dear unto Him to the preservation of His People His Majesty passeth by many scruples neglects and delays and once more desires you to give Him a speedy Answer to His last Message For His Majesty believes it doth very well become Him after this very long Delay at last to utter His Impatience since that the Goods and Blood of His Subjects cries so much for Peace Given at the Court at Oxford the 26 th of Febr. 1645. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Oxford March 23. 1645-46 For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore to be communicated to the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster CHARLES R. NOtwithstanding the unexpected silence instead of Answer to His Majesties many and gracious Messages to both Houses whereby it may appear that they desire to attain their ends by Force rather than Treaty which may justly discourage His Majesty from any more Overtures of that kind yet His Majesty conceives He shall be much wanting to His Duty to God and in what He oweth to the Safety of His People if He should not intend to prevent the great inconveniences that may otherwise hinder a safe and well-grounded Peace His Majesty therefore now proposeth That so He may have the Faith of both Houses of Parliament for the preservation of His Honour Person and Estate and that liberty be given to all those who do and have adhered to His Majesty to go to their own Houses and there to live peaceably enjoying their Estates all Sequestrations being taken off without being compelled to take any Oath not enjoyned by the undoubted Laws of the Kingdom or being put to any other molestation whatsoever He will
Obedience to Our Commands We doubt not of your care in this wherein Our Service and the good of Our Protestant Subjects in Ireland is so much concerned From Newcastle June 11. 1646. The Propositions of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for a safe and well-grounded Peace Sent to His Majesty at Newcastle by the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery the Earl of Suffolk Members of the House of Peers and Sir VValter Earle Sir John Hippesly Knights Robert Goodwyn Luke Robinson Esquires Members of the House of Commons Die Sabbathi 11. Julii 1646. The Propositions of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for a safe and well-grounded Peace May it please your Majesty WE the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland do humbly present unto Your Majesty the humble Desires and Propositions for a safe and well-grounded Peace agreed upon by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively unto which we do pray Your Majesties Assent and that they and all such Bills as shall be tendred to Your Majesty in pursuance of them or any of them may be Established and Enacted for Statutes and Acts of Parliament by Your Majesties Royal Assent in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively I. WHereas both Houses of the Parliament of England have been necessitated to undertake a War in their just and lawful defence and afterwards both Kingdoms of England and Scotland joyned in solemn League and Covenant were engaged to prosecute the same That by Act of Parliament in each Kingdom respectively all Oaths Declarations and Proclamations heretofore had or hereafter to be had against both or either of the Houses of the Parliament of England the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland and the late Convention of Estates in Scotland or Committees flowing from the Parliament or Convention in Scotland or their Ordinances and Proceedings or against any for adhering unto them or for doing or executing any Office Place or Charge by any Authority derived from them and all Judgments Indictments Outlawries Attainders and Inquisitions in any the said Causes and all Grants thereupon made or had or to be made or had be declared null suppressed and forbidden And that this be publickly intimated in all Parish-Churches within His Majesties Dominions and all other places needful II. That His Majesty according to the laudable Example of His Royal Father of happy memory may be pleased to swear and sign the late solemn League and Covenant and that an Act of Parliament be passed in both Kingdoms respectively for enjoyning the taking thereof by all the Subjects of the Three Kingdoms and the Ordinances concerning the manner of taking the same in both Kingdoms be confirmed by Acts of Parliament respectively with such Penalties as by mutual advice of both Kingdoms shall be agreed upon III. That a Bill be passed for the utter abolishing and taking away of all Archbishops Bishops their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans and Sub-deans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons Canons and Prebendaries and all Chaunters Chancellors Treasurers Subtreasurers Succentors and Sacrists and all Vicars Choral and Choristers old Vicars and new Vicars of any Cathedral or Collegiate Church and all other their under Officers out of the Church of England and Dominion of Wales and out of the Church of Ireland with such Alterations concerning the Estates of Prelates as shall agree with the Articles of the late Treaty of the Date at Edenburg 29. November 1643. and joynt Declaration of both Kingdoms IV. That the Ordinances concerning the Calling and sitting of the Assembly of Divines be confirmed by Act of Parliament V. That Reformation of Religion according to the Covenant be settled by Act of Parliament in such manner as both Houses have agreed or shall agree upon after Consultation had with the Assembly of Divines VI. Forasmuch as both Kingdoms are mutually obliged by the same Covenant to endeavour the nearest Conjunction and Uniformity in matters of Religion that such Unity and Uniformity in Religion according to the Covenant as after Consultation had with the Divines of both Kingdoms now assembled is or shall be joyntly agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament of England and by the Church and Kingdom of Scotland be confirmed by Acts of Parliament of both Kingdoms respectively VII That for the more effectual disabling Jesuits Priests Papists and Popish Recusants from disturbing the State and deluding the Laws and for the better discovering and speedy conviction of Recusants an Oath be established by Act of Parliament to be administred to them wherein they shall abjure and renounce the Popes Supremacy the Doctrine of Transubstantiation Purgatory Worshipping of the Consecrated Host Crucifixes and Images and all other Popish Superstitions and Errors and refusing the said Oath being tendred in such manner as shall be appointed by the said Act to be a sufficient Conviction of Recusancy VIII An Act of Parliament for Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion IX An Act for the true levy of the Penalties against them which Penalties to be levied and disposed in such manner as both Houses shall agree on wherein to be provided that His Majesty shall have no loss X. That an Act be passed in Parliament whereby the practices of Papists against the State may be prevented and the Laws against them duely executed and a stricter course taken to prevent the saying or hearing of Mass in the Court or any other part of this Kingdom XI The like for the Kingdom of Scotland concerning the four last preceding Propositions in such manner as the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit XII That the King do give His Royal Assent to an Act for the due Observation of the Lords Day And to the Bill for the suppression of Innovations in Churches and Chappels in and about the Worship of God c. And for the better advancement of the Preaching of God's holy Word in all parts of this Kingdom And to the Bill against the enjoying of Pluralities of Benefices by Spiritual Persons and Non-Residency And to an Act to be framed and agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament for the reforming and regulating of both Universities of the Colledges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton And to such Act or Acts for raising of Moneys for the payment and satisfying of the Publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom and other Publick uses as shall hereafter be agreed on by both Houses of Parliament and that if the King do not give His Assent thereunto then it being done by both Houses of Parliament the same shall be as valid to all Intents and Purposes as if the Royal Assent had been given thereunto The like for the Kingdom of Scotland And that His Majesty give assurance of His consenting in the
Parliament of Scotland to an Act acknowledging and ratifying the Acts of the Convention of Estates of Scotland called by the Council and Conservers of the Peace and the Commissioners of the Common Burthens and assembled the Two and Twentieth day of June 1643. and several times continued since and of the Parliament of the Kingdom since convened XIII That the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England assembled shall during the space of twenty years from the first of July 1646. Arm Train and Discipline or cause to be Armed Trained and Disciplined all the Forces of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed already raised both for Sea and Land-service and shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years raise levy arm train and discipline or cause to be raised levied armed trained and disciplined any other Forces for Land and Sea-service in the Kingdoms Dominions and Places aforesaid as in their judgments they shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years think fit and appoint and that neither the King His Heirs or Successors nor any other but such as shall Act by the Authority or Approbation of the said Lords and Commons shall during the said space of twenty years exercise any of the Powers aforesaid And the like for the Kingdom of Scotland if the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit That Moneys be raised and levied for the maintenance and use of the said Forces for Land-service and of the Navy and Forces for Sea-service in such sort and by such ways and means as the said Lords and Commons shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years think fit and appoint and not otherwise That all the said Forces both for Land and Sea-service so raised or levied or to be raised or levied and also the Admiralty and Navy shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years be imployed managed ordered and disposed by the said Lords and Commons in such sort and by such ways and means as they shall think fit and appoint and not otherwise And the said Lords and Commons during the said space of twenty years shall have power 1. To suppress all Forces raised or to be raised without Authority and Consent of the said Lords and Commons to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any of them 2. To suppress any Foreign Forces who shall invade or endeavour to invade the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any of them 3. To conjoyn such Forces of the Kingdom of England with the Forces of the Kingdom of Scotland as the said Lords and Commons shall from time to time during the said space of Twenty years judge fit and necessary to resist all Forreign Invasions and to suppress any Forces raised or to be raised against or within either of the said Kingdoms to the disturbance of the Publick Peace of the said Kingdoms or any of them by any Authority under the Great Seal or other Warrant whatsoever without Consent of the said Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England and the Parliament or the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively and that no Forces of either Kingdom shall go into or continue in the other Kingdom without the Advice and Desire of the said Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland or such as shall be by them appointed for that purpose And that after the expiration of the said Twenty years neither the King His Heirs or Successors or any person or persons by colour or pretence of any Commission Power Deputation or Authority to be derived from the King His Heirs or Successors or any of them shall raise arm train discipline imploy order manage disband or dispose any of the Forces by Sea or Land of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland the Dominion of VVales Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed nor exercise any of the said Powers or Authorities in the precedent Articles mentioned and expressed to be during the said space of Twenty years in the said Lords and Commons nor do any Act or thing concerning the execution of the said Powers or Authorities or any of them without the Consent of the said Lords and Commons first had and obtained That after the expiration of the said Twenty years in all Cases wherein the Lords and Commons shall declare the Safety of the Kingdom to be concerned and shall thereupon pass any Bill or Bills for the raising arming training disciplining imploying managing ordering or disposing of the Forces by Sea or Land of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland the Dominion of Wales Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any part of the said Forces or concerning the Admiralty and Navy or concerning the levying of Moneys for the raising maintenance or use of the said Forces for Land-service or of the Navy and Forces for Sea-service or of any part of them and if that the Royal Assent to such Bill or Bills shall not be given in the House of Peers within such time after the passing thereof by both Houses of Parliament as the said Houses shall judge fit and convenient that then such Bill or Bills so passed by the said Lords and Commons as aforesaid and to which the Royal Assent shall not be given as is herein before expressed shall nevertheless after declaration of the said Lords and Commons made in that behalf have the force and strength of an Act or Acts of Parliament and shall be as valid to all intents and purposes as if the Royal Assent had been given thereunto Provided that nothing herein before contained shall extend to the taking away of the ordinary Legal power of Sheriffs Justices of Peace Maiors Bailifs Coroners Constables Headboroughs or other Officers of Justice not being military Officers concerning the Administration of Justice so as neither the said Sheriffs Justices of the Peace Maiors Bailiffs Coroners Constables Headboroughs and other Officers nor any of them do levy conduct imploy or command any Forces whatsoever by colour or pretence of any Commission of Array or extraordinary command from His Majesty His Heirs or Successors without the Consent of the said Lords and Commons And if any persons shall be gathered and assembled together in warlike manner or otherwise to the Number of Thirty persons and shall not forthwith disband themselves being required thereto by the said Lords and Commons or command from them or any by them especially authorized for that purpose then such person and persons not so disbanding themselves shall be guilty and incur the pains of High
Treason being first declared guilty of such Offence by the said Lords and Commons any Commission under the Great Seal or other Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding And he or they that shall offend herein to be incapable of any Pardon from His Majesty His Heirs or Successors and their Estates shall be disposed as the said Lords and Commons shall think fit and not otherwise Provided that the City of London shall have and enjoy all their Rights Liberties and Franchises Customs and Usages in the raising and imploying the Forces of that City for the defence thereof in as full and ample manner to all intents and purposes as they have or might have used or enjoyed the same at any time before the making of the said Act or Proposition to the end that City may be fully assured it is not the intention of the Parliament to take from them any Priviledges or Immunities in raising or disposing of their Forces which they have or might have used or injoyed heretofore The like for the Kingdom of Scotland if the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit XIV That by Act of Parliament all Peers made since the day that Edward Lord Littleton then Lord Keeper of the Great Seal deserted the Parliament and that the said Great Seal was surreptitiously conveyed away from the Parliament being the One and Twentieth day of May 1642. and who shall be hereafter made shall not sit or Vote in the Parliament of England without Consent of both Houses of Parliament and that all Honour and Title conferred on any without Consent of both Houses of Parliament since the Twentieth of May 1642. being the day that both Houses declared That the King seduced by evil Counsel intended to raise War against the Parliament be declared null and void The like for the Kingdom of Scotland those being excepted whose Patents were passed the Great Seal before the fourth of June 1644. XV. That an Act be passed in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively for Confirmation of the Treaties passed betwixt the Two Kingdoms viz. the large Treaty the late Treaty for the coming of the Scots Army into England and the settling of the Garrison of Barwick of the 29 th of November 1643. and the Treaty concerning Ireland of the 6. of August 1642. for the bringing of Ten Thousand Scots into the Province of Vlster in Ireland with all other Ordinances and Proceedings passed betwixt the Two Kingdoms and whereunto they are obliged by the aforesaid Treaties And that Algernon Earl of Northumberland John Earl of Rutland Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery Robert Earl of Essex Theophilus Earl of Lincoln James Earl of Suffolk Robert Earl of Warwick Edward Earl of Manchester Henry Earl of Stamford Francis Lord Dacres Philip Lord Wharton Francis Lord Willoughby Dudly Lord North John Lord Hunsdon William Lord Gray Edward Lord Howard of Escrich Thomas Lord Bruce Ferdinando Lord Fairfax Master Nathaniel Fiennes Sir William Armyne Sir Philip Stapleton Sir Henry Vane senior Master William Pierrepont Sir Edward Aiscough Sir VVilliam Strickland Sir Arthur Hesilrig Sir John Fenwick Sir VVilliam Brereton Sir Thomas VViddrington Master John Toll Master Gilbert Millington Sir VVilliam Constable Sir John VVray Sir Henry Vane junior Master Henry Darley Oliver Saint-John Esquire His Majesties Solicitor General Master Denzill Hollis Master Alexander Rigby Master Cornelius Holland Master Samuel Vassal Master Peregrine Pelham John Glyn Esquire Recorder of London Master Henry Marten Master Alderman Hoyle Master John Blakeston Master Serjeant VVilde Master Richard Barwis Sir Anthony Irby Master Ashurst Master Bellingham and Master Tolson Members of both Houses of the Parliament of England shall be the Commissioners for the Kingdom of England for Conservation of the Peace between the Two Kingdoms to act according to the Powers in that behalf exprest in the Articles of the large Treaty and not otherwise That His Majesty give His Assent to what the Two Kingdoms shall agree upon in prosecution of the Articles of the large Treaty which are not yet finished XVI That an Act be passed in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively for establishing the joynt Declaration of both Kingdoms bearing date the 30 th day of January 1643. in England and 1644. in Scotland with the Qualifications ensuing 1. Qualification That the persons who shall expect no pardon be only these following Rupert and Maurice Count Palatines of the Rhene James Earl of Derby John Earl of Bristol VVilliam Earl of Newcastle Francis Lord Cottington George Lord Digby Matthew Wren Bishop of Ely Sir Robert Heath Knight Doctor Bramhall Bishop of Derry Sir William Widdrington Colonel George Goring Henry Jermin Esquire Sir Ralph Hopton Sir John Biron Sir Francis Doddington Sir John Strangwayes Master Endymion Porter Sir George Radcliffe Sir Marmaduke Langdale Henry Vaughan Esquire now called Sir Henry Vaughan Sir Francis Windebanke Sir Richard Greenvile Master Edward Hyde now called Sir Edward Hyde Sir John Marley Sir Nicholas Cole Sir Thomas Riddell junior Sir John Culpepper Master Richard Lloyd now called Sir Richard Lloyd Master David Jenkins Sir George Strode George Carteret Esquire now called Sir George Carteret Sir Charles Dallison Knight Richard Lane Esquire now called Sir Richard Lane Sir Edward Nicholas John Ashburnham Esquire Sir Edward Herbert Knight His Majesties Attorney General Earl of Traquaire Lord Harris Lord Rae George Gourdon sometime Marquess of Huntley James Graham sometime Earl of Montross Robert Maxwell late Earl of Nithisdale Robert Dalyell sometime Earl of Carnwarth James Gordon sometime Viscount of Aboyne Lodowick Linsey sometime Earl of Crawford James Ogleby sometime Earl of Airley James Ogleby sometime Lord Ogleby Patrick Ruthen sometime Earl of Forth James King sometime Lord Itham Alester Macdonald Irwing younger of Drunim Gordon younger of Gight Lesley of Auchentoule Colonel John Cockram Graham of Gorthie Master John Maxwell sometime pretended Bishop of Rosse and all such others as being Processed by the Estates for Treason shall be condemned before the Act of Oblivion be passed 2. Qualification All Papists and Popish Recusants who have been now are or shall be actually in Arms or voluntarily assisting against the Parliaments or Estates of either Kingdom and by name The Marquess of VVinton Earl of VVorcester Edward Lord Herbert of Ragland Son to the Earl of VVorcester Lord Brudenell Carel Molineaux Esquire Lord Arundel of VVardour Sir Francis Howard Sir John VVinter Sir Charles Smith Sir John Preston Sir Bazill Brook Lord Audley Earl of Castlehaven in the Kingdom of Ireland VVilliam Sheldon of Beely Esquire Sir Henry Beddingfield 3. Qualification All persons who have had any hand in the plotting designing or assisting the Rebellion of Ireland except such persons who having only assisted the said Rebellion have rendred themselves or come in to the Parliament of England 4. Qualification That Humfrey Bennet Esquire Sir Edward Ford Sir John Penruddock Sir George Vaughan Sir John Weld Sir Robert Leè Sir John Pate John Ackland Edmund Windham Esquire Sir John Fitz-herbert
of such late Members of either House of Parliament as sate in the unlawful Assembly at Oxford and shall not have rendred themselves before the first of December 1645. shall be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom 3. Branch That one full moiety of the Estates of such Persons late Members of either of the Houses of Parliament who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof and shall not have rendred themselves before the first of Decemb. 1645. shall be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom 10. Qualification That a full third part on the value of the Estates of all Judges and Officers towards the Law Common or Civil and of all Serjeants Councellors and Attorneys Doctors Advocates and Proctors of the Law Common or Civil and of all Bishops Clergy-men Masters and Fellows of any Colledge or Hall in either of the Universities or elsewhere and of all Masters of Schools or Hospitals and of Ecclesiastical Persons who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof and have not rendred themselves before the first of December 1645. shall be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom That a full sixth part on the full value of the Estates of the Persons excepted in the sixth Qualification concerning such as have been actually in Arms against the Parliament or have counselled or voluntarily assisted the Enemies thereof and are disabled according to the said Qualification to be taken and employed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom 11. Qualification That the Persons and Estates of all common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of England who in Lands or Goods be not worth two hundred pounds Sterling and the Persons and Estates of all common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of Scotland who in Lands or Goods be not worth one hundred pounds Sterling be at liberty and discharged 1. Branch This Proposition to stand as to the English and as to the Scots likewise if the Parliament of Scotland or their Commissioners shall so think fit 2. Branch That the first of May last is now the day limited for the persons to come in that are comprised within the former Qualification That an Act be passed whereby the Debts of the Kingdom and the Persons of Delinquents and the value of their Estates may be known and which Act shall appoint in what manner the Confiscations and Proportions before mentioned may be levied and applied to the discharge of the said Engagements The like for the Kingdom of Scotland if the Estates of Parliament or such as shall have power from them shall think fit XVII That an Act of Parliament be passed to declare and make void the Cessation of Ireland and all Treaties and Conclusions of Peace or any Articles thereupon with the Rebels without Consent of both Houses of Parliament and to settle the Prosecution of the War of Ireland in both Houses of the Parliament of England to be managed by them and the King to assist and to do no Act to discountenance or molest them therein That Reformation of Religion according to the Covenant be setled in the Kingdom of Ireland by Act of Parliament in such manner as both Houses of the Parliament of England have agreed or shall agree upon after Consultation had with the Assembly of Divines here That the Deputy or chief Governour or other Governours of Ireland and the Presidents of the several Provinces of that Kingdom be nominated by both the Houses of the Parliament of England or in the Intervals of Parliament by such Committees of both Houses of Parliament as both Houses of the Parliament of England shall nominate and appoint for that purpose and that the Chancellour or Lord Keeper Lord Treasurer Commissioners of the great Seal or Treasury Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports Chancellour of the Exchequer and Dutchy Secretaries of State Master of the Rolls Judges of both Benches and Barons of the Exchequer of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Vice-Treasurer and Treasurers at Wars of the Kingdom of Ireland be nominated by both Houses of the Parliament of England to continue quam diu se bene gesserint and in the Intervals of Parliament by the fore-mentioned Committees to be approved or disallowed by both Houses at their next sitting The like for the Kingdom of Scotland concerning the nomination of the Lords of the Privy Council Lords of Session and Exchequer Officers of State and Justice General in such manner as the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit XVIII That the Militia of the City of London and Liberties thereof may be in the ordering and government of the Lord Maior Aldermen and Commons in Common Council assembled or such as they shall from time to time appoint whereof the Lord Maior and Sheriffs for the time being to be three to be imployed and directed from time to time in such manner as shall be agreed on and appointed by both Houses of Parliament That no Citizen of the City of London nor any of the Forces of the said City shall be drawn forth or cempelled to go out of the said City or Liberties thereof for Military service without their own free Consent That an Act be passed for the granting and confirming of the Charters Customs Liberties and Franchises of the City of London notwithstanding any Non-user Misuser or Abuser That the Tower of London may be in the Government of the City of London and the chief Officer and Governour thereof from time to time be nominated and removeable by the Common-Council And for prevention of inconveniences which may happen by the long intermission of Common-Councils it is desired that there may be an Act that all by-Laws and Ordinances already made or hereafter to be made by the Lord Maior Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council assembled touching the calling continuing directing and regulating the same Common-Councils shall be as effectual in Law to all Intents and Purposes as if the same were particularly Enacted by the Authority of Parliament and that the Lord Maior Aldermen and Commons in Common-Council may add to or repeal the said Ordinances from time to time as they shall see cause That such other Propositions as shall be made for the City for their further Safety Welfare and Government and shall be approved of by both Houses of Parliament may be granted and confirmed by Act of Parliament XIX That all Grants Commissions Presentations Writs Process Proceedings and other things passed under the Great Seal of England in the custody of the Lords and other Commissioners appointed by both Houses of Parliament for the custody thereof be and by Act of Parliament with the Royal Assent shall be declared and Enacted to be of like full force and effect to all intents and purposes as the same or like Grants Commissions Presentations Writs Process Proceedings and
but even passing by that which he might well insist upon a Point of Honour in respect of his present Condition thus answers the first Proposition That upon his Majesties coming to London He will heartily joyn in all that shall concern the Honour of his two Kingdoms or the Assembly of the States of Scotland or of the Commissioners or Deputies of either Kingdom particularly in those things which are desired in that Proposition upon confidence that all of them respectively with the same Tenderness will look upon those things which concern his Majesties Honour In answer to all the Propositions concerning Religion his Majesty proposeth that he will confirm the Presbyterial Government the Assembly of Divines at VVestminster and the Directory for Three years being the time set down by the Two Houses so that his Majesty and his Houshold be not hindred from that Form of God's Service which they formerly have And also that a free Consultation and Debate be had with the Divines at VVestminster Twenty of his Majesties Nomination being added unto them whereby it may be determined by his Majesty and the Two Houses how the Church shall be governed after the said Three years or sooner if Differences may be agreed Touching the Covenant his Majesty is not yet therein satisfied and desires to respite his particular Answer thereunto until his coming to London because it being a matter of Conscience he cannot give a Resolution there in till he may be assisted with the Advice of some of his own Chaplains which hath hitherto been denied him and such other Divines as shall be most proper to inform him therein and then he will make clearly appear both his Zeal to the Protestant Profession and the Union of these two Kingdoms which he conceives to be the main drift of this Covenant To the Seventh and Eighth Propositions his Majesty will consent To the Ninth his Majesty doubts not but to give good satisfaction when he shall be particularly informed how the said Penalties shall be levied and disposed of To the Tenth his Majesties Answer is That he hath been always ready to prevent the practices of Papists and therefore is content to pass an Act of Parliament for that purpose and also that the Laws against them be duly executed His Majesty will give his Consent to the Act for the due Observation of the Lord's day for the suppressing of Innovations and those concerning the preaching of God's Word and touching Non-residence and Pluralities and his Majesty will yield to such Act or Acts as shall be requisite to raise moneys for the payment and satisfying all publick Debts expecting also that his will be therein included As to the Proposition touching the Militia though his Majesty cannot consent unto it in terminis as it is proposed because thereby he conceives he wholly parts with the power of the Sword entrusted to him by God and the Laws of the Land for the Protection and Government of his People thereby at once devesting himself and dis inheriting his Posterity of that Right and Prerogative of the Crown which is absolutely necessary to the Kingly Office and so weaken Monarchy in this Kingdom that little more than the Name and Shadow of it will remain yet if it be onely security for the preservation of the Peace of this Kingdom after the unhappy Troubles and the due performance of all the Agreements which are now to be concluded which is desired which his Majesty always understood to be the case and hopes that herein he is not mistaken his Majesty will give abundant satisfaction To which end he is willing by Act of Parliament That the whole power of the Militia both by Sea and Land for the space of Ten years be in the hands of such Persons as the Two Houses shall nominate giving them power during the said Term to change the said Persons and substitute others in their places at pleasure and afterwards to return to the proper Chanel again as it it was in the times of Queen Elizabeth and King James of blessed memory And now his Majesty conjures his two Houses of Parliament as they are English-men and lovers of Peace by the Duty they owe to his Majesty their King and by the bowels of Compassion they have to their fellow-Subjects that they will accept of this his Majesties Offer whereby the joyful News of Peace may be restored to this languishing Kingdom His Majesty will grant the like to the Kingdom of Scotland if it be desired and agree to all things that are propounded touching the conserving of Peace betwixt the two Kingdoms Touching Ireland other things being agreed His Majesty will give Satisfaction therein As to the mutual Declarations proposed to be established in both Kingdoms by Act of Parliament and the Modifications Qualifications and Branches which follow in the Propositions his Majesty onely professes that He doth not sufficiently understand nor is able to reconcile many things contained in them but this He well knoweth that a general Act of Oblivion is the best bond of Peace and that after Intestine Troubles the Wisdom of this and other Kingdoms hath usually and happily in all Ages granted general Pardons whereby the numerous discontentments of many Persons and Families otherwise exposed to ruine might not become fewel to new Disorders or seeds to future Troubles His Majesty therefore desires that His two Houses of Parliament would seriously descend into these Considerations and likewise tenderly look upon His condition herein and the perpetual dishonour that must cleave to Him if He shall thus abandon so many Persons of Condition and Fortune that have engaged themselves with and for him out of a sense of Duty and propounds as a very acceptable testimony of their Affection to him That a general Act of Oblivion and free Pardon be forthwith passed by Act of Parliament Touching the new Great Seal His Majesty is very willing to confirm both it and all the Acts done by virtue thereof until this present time so that it be not thereby pressed to make void those Acts of His done by virtue of his Great Seal which in Honour and Justice He is obliged to maintain and that the future Government thereof may be in His Majesty according to the due course of Law Concerning the Officers mentioned in the 19. Article His Majesty when He shall come to Westminster will gratifie His Parliament all that possibly He may without destroying the alterations which are necessary for the Crown His Majesty will willingly consent to the Act for the confirmation of the Priviledges and Customs of the City of London and all that is mentioned in the Propositions for their particular advantage And now that His Majesty hath thus far endeavoured to comply with the desires of His two Houses of Parliament to the end that this Agreement may be firm and lasting without the least face or question of restraint to blemish the same His Majesty earnestly desires presently to be admitted to His Parliament at
Westminster with that Honour which is due to their Sovereign there solemnly to confirm the same and legally to pass the Acts before mentioned and to give and receive as well satisfaction in all the remaining particulars as likewise such other pledges of mutual Love Trust and Confidence as shall most concern the good of Him and His People Upon which happy Agreement His Majesty will dispatch His Directions to the Prince His Son to return immediately to Him and will undertake for his ready Obedience thereunto Holdenby May 12. 1647. MDCXLVII Jul. The Londoners Petition and Engagement To the Right Honourable the Lord Maior the Right Worshipful the Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in the Common or Guild-Hall of the City of London assembled The Humble Petition of the Citizens Commanders Officers and Soldiers of the Trained Bands and Auxiliaries the Young men and Apprentices of the Cities of London and VVestminster Sea-Commanders Sea-men and Water-men together with divers other Commanders Officers and Soldiers within the Line of Communication and Parishes mentioned in the Weekly Bills of Mortality Sheweth THat your Petitioners taking into serious consideration how Religion His Majesties Honour and Safety the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject are at present greatly endangered and like to be destroyed and also sadly weighing with our selves what means might likely prove the most effectual to procure a firm and lasting Peace without a further effusion of Christian English Blood have therefore entred into a solemn Engagement which is hereunto annexed and do humbly and earnestly desire that this whole City may joyn together by all lawful and possible means as one man in hearty endeavours for His Majesties present coming up to His two Houses of Parliament with Honour Safety and Freedom and that without the nearer approach of the Army there to confirm such things as He hath granted in His Message of the 12. of May last in answer to the Propositions of both Kingdoms and that by a Personal Treaty with his two Houses of Parliament and the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland such things as are yet in difference may be speedily settled and a firm and lasting Peace established All which we desire may be presented to both Houses of Parliament from this Honourable Assembly And we shall pray c. A solemn Engagement of the Citizens Commanders Officers and Soldiers of the Trained Bands and Auxiliaries the Young men and Apprentices of the Cities of London and VVestminster Sea-Commanders Sea-men and Water-men together with divers other Commanders Officers and Soldiers within the Line of Communication and Parishes mentioned in the Weekly Bill of Mortality WHereas we have entred into a solemn League and Covenant for Reformation and Defence of Religion the Honour and Happiness of the King and the Peace and Safety of the Three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland all which we do evidently perceive not only to be endangered but ready to be destroyed we do therefore in pursuance of our said Covenant Oath of Allegiance Oath of every Free-man of the Cities of London and Westminster and Protestations solemnly engage our selves and vow unto Almighty God That we will to the utmost of our power cordially endeavour that His Majesty may speedily come to His two Houses of Parliament with Honour Safety and Freedom and that without the nearer approach of the Army there to confirm such things as He hath granted in His Message of the 12. of May last in Answer to the Propositions of both Kingdoms and that by a Personal Treaty with His two Houses of Parliament and the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland such things as are yet in difference may be speedily settled and a firm and lasting Peace established For effecting whereof we do protest and re-oblige our selves as in the presence of God the searcher of all hearts with our Lives and Fortunes to endeavour what in us lies to preserve and defend His Majesties Royal Person and Authority the Priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of the Subject in their full and constant Freedom the Cities of London and Westminster Lines of Communication and Parishes mentioned in the Weekly Bills of Mortality and all others that shall adhere with us to the said Covenant Oath of Allegiance Oath of every Freeman of London and VVestminster and Protestation Nor shall we by any means admit suffer or endure any kind of Neutrality in this Common Cause of God the King and Kingdom as we do expect the Blessing of Almighty God whose help we crave and wholly devolve our selves upon in this our Undertaking A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament Die Sabbathi 24. Julii 1647. THE Lords and Commons having seen a printed Paper intituled A Petition to the Right Honourable the Lord Maior the Right VVorshipful the Aldermen and Commons of the City of London in the Common or Guild-Hall of the City of London assembled under the Name of divers Citizens Commanders Officers and Soldiers of the Trained Bands Auxiliaries and others Young men and Apprentices Sea-Commanders Sea-men and VVater-men together with a dangerous Engagement of the same persons by Oath and Vow concerning the King 's present coming to the Parliament upon Terms far different from those which both Houses after mature deliberation have declared to be necessary for the good and safety of this Kingdom casting Reflections upon the Proceedings both of the Parliament and Army and tending to the imbroiling the Kingdom in a new War and the said Lords and Commons taking notice of great endeavours used by divers ill-affected persons to procure Subscriptions thereunto whereby well-meaning people may be misled do therefore declare That whosoever after Publication or notice hereof shall proceed in or promote or set his Name to or give Consent that his Name be set unto or any way joyn in the said Engagement shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of High Treason and shall forfeit Life and Estate as in cases of High Treason accustomed H. Elsynge Cler. Par. Dom. Com. Die Lunae 26. Julii 1647. BE it ordained by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That the Declaration of the twenty fourth of this instant July which declares all those Traitors and so to forfeit Life and Estate who shall after Publication thereof act thereupon to get Subscriptions be Null and Void any thing in the said Declaration to the contrary notwithstanding Joh. Browne Cler. Par. Hen. Elsynge Cler. Par. Dom. Com. Die Lunae 26. Julii 1647. REsolved upon the Question That His Majesty shall come to Londo Die Saturni 31. Julii 1647. Resolved upon the Question That the King's Majesty come to one of His Houses nearer London that Propositions may be sent and Address made to His Majesty from both Houses of the Parliament of England and the Kingdom of Scotland for Peace MDCXLVII His MAJESTIES Declaration and Profession disavowing any Preparations in Him to levy War against His two Houses of Parliament CHARLES R. THere having been many
and Consent of the said Lords and Commons or of such Committees or Council in the Intervals of Parliament as they shall appoint 3. That during the same space of ten years the said Lords and Commons may by Bill or Ordinance raise and dispose of what Moneys and for what Forces they shall from time to time find necessary as also for payment of the Publick Debts and Damages and for all other the Publick uses of the Kingdom 4. And to the end the temporary Security intended by the three particulars last precedent may be the better assured it may therefore be provided That no Subjects that have been in Hostility against the Parliament in the late War shall be capable of bearing any Office of Power or publick Trust in the Commonwealth during the space of five years without Consent of Parliament or of the Council of State or to sit as Members or Assistants of either House of Parliament until the second Biennial Parliament be past III. For the present form of disposing the Militia in order to the Peace and Safety of this Kingdom and the Service of Ireland 1. That there be Commissioners for the Admiralty a Vice-Admiral and Rere-Admiral now to be agreed on with power for the forming regulating appointing of Officers and providing for the Navy and for ordering the same to and in the ordinary Service of the Kingdom and that there be a sufficient provision and establishment for Pay and maintenance thereof 2. That there be a General for Command of the Land-Forces that are to be in pay both in England Ireland and Wales both for Field and Garrison 3. That there be Commissioners in the several Counties for the standing Militia of the respective Counties consisting of Trained Bands and Auxiliaries not in pay with power for the proportioning forming regulating training and disciplining of them 4. That there be a Council of State with power to superintend and direct the several and particular powers of the Militia last mentioned for the Peace and Safety of this Kingdom and of Ireland 5. That the same Council may have power as the King 's Privy Council for and in all Forreign Negotiations provided That the making of War or Peace with any other Kingdom or State shall not be without the Advice and Consent of Parliament 6. That the said power of the Council of State be put into the hands of trusty and able persons now to be agreed on and the same persons to continue in that power si bene se gesserint for a certain Term not exceeding seven years 7. That there be a sufficient establishment now provided for the Salary Forces both in England and Ireland the establishment to continue until two Months after the meeting of the first Biennial Parliament IV. That an Act be passed for disposing the great Offices for ten years by the Lords and Commons in Parliament or by such Committees as they shall appoint for that purpose in the Intervals with submission to the Approbation of the next Parliament and after ten years they to nominate three and the King out of that number to appoint one for the succession upon any vacancy V. That an Act be passed for restraining of any Peers made since the 21. day of May 1642. or to be hereafter made from having any power to sit or vote in Parliament without Consent of both Houses VI. That an Act be passed for recalling and making void all Declarations and other Proceedings against the Parliament or against any that have acted by or under their Authority in the late War or in relation to it and that the Ordinances for Indemnity may be confirmed VII That an Act be passed for making void all Grants c. under the Great Seal that was conveyed away from the Parliament since the time that it was so conveyed away except as in the Parliaments Propositions and for making those valid that have been or shall be passed under the Great Seal made by the Authority of both Houses of Parliament VIII That an Act be passed for Confirmation of the Treaties between the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland and for appointing Conservators of the Peace betwixt them IX That the Ordinance for taking away the Court of Wards and Liveries be confirmed by Act of Parliament Provided His Majesties Revenue be not damnified therein nor those that last held Offices in the same left without reparation some other way X. An Act to declare void the Cessation of Ireland c. and to leave the prosecution of that War to the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England XI An Act to be passed to take away all Coercive Power Authority and Jurisdiction of Bishops and all other Ecclesiastical Officers whatsoever extending to any Civil Penalties upon any and to repeal all Laws whereby the Civil Magistracy hath been or is bound upon any Ecclesiastical Censure to proceed ex officio unto any Civil Penalties against any persons so censured XII That there be a repeal of all Acts or Clauses in any Act enjoyning the use of the Book of Common Prayer and imposing any Penalties for neglect thereof as also of all Acts or Clauses in any Act imposing any penalty for not coming to Church or for Meetings elsewhere for Prayer or other Religious Duties Exercises or Ordinances and some other provision to be made for discovering of Papists and Popish Recusants and for disabling of them and of all Jusuites or Priests from disturbing the State XIII That the taking of the Covenant be not enforced upon any nor any penalties imposed upon the Refusors whereby men might be constrained to take it against their Judgments or Consciences but all Orders or Ordinances tending to that purpose to be repealed XIV That the things here before proposed being provided for settling and securing the Rights Liberties Peace and Safety of the Kingdom His Majesties Person His Queen and Royal Issue may be restored to a Condition of Safety Honour and Freedom in this Nation without diminution to their Personal Rights or further Limitation to the Exercise of the Regal Power than according to the particulars aforegoing XV. For the matter of Compositions 1. That a less number out of the Persons excepted in the two first Qualifications not exceeding five for the English being nominated particularly by the Parliament who together with the persons in the Irish Rebellion included in the third Qualification may be reserved to the future Judgment of the Parliament as they shall find cause all other excepted persons may be remitted from the Exception and admitted to Composition 2. That the Rates for all future Compositions may be lessened and limitted not to exceed the several proportions hereafter exprest respectively That is to say 1. For all persons formerly excepted not above a third part 2. For the late Members of Parliament under the first Branch of the fourth Qualification in the Propositions a fourth part 3. For other Members of Parliament in the second and third Branches of the
same Qualification a sixth part 4. For the persons nominated in the said fourth Qualification and those included in the tenth Qualification an eighth part 5. For all others included in the sixth Qualification a tenth part And that real Debts either upon Record or proved by Witnesses be considered and abated in the valuation of their Estates in all the cases aforesaid 3. That those who shall hereafter come to Compound may not have the Covenant put upon them as a Condition without which they may not Compound but in case they shall not willingly take it they may pass their Compositions without it 4. That the Persons and Estates of all English not worth two hundred pounds in Lands or Goods be at liberty and discharged and that the King 's menial Servants that never took up Arms but only attended His Person according to their Offices may be freed from Composition or to pay at most but the proportion of one years Revenue or a twentieth part 5. That in order to the making and perfecting of Compositions at the Rates aforesaid the Rents Revenues and other Dues and Profits of all sequestred Estates whatsoever except the Estates of such persons who shall be continued under exception as before be from henceforth suspended and detained in the hands of the respective Tenants Occupants and others from whom they are due for the space of six months following 6. That the Faith of the Army or other Forces of the Parliament given in Articles upon Surrenders to any of the King's Party may be fully made good and where any breach thereof shall appear to have been made full reparation and satisfaction may be given to the parties injured and the persons offending being found out may be compelled thereto XVI That there may be a general Act of Oblivion to extend unto all except the persons to be continued in exception as before to absolve from all Trespasses Misdemeanors c. done in prosecution of the War and from all trouble or prejudice for or concerning the same after their Compositions past and to restore them to all Priviledges c. belonging to other Subjects provided as in the fourth particular under the second general Head aforegoing concerning Security And whereas there have been of late strong endeavours and practices of a factious and desperate party to embroil this Kingdom in a new War and for that purpose to induce the King the Queen and Prince to declare for the said Party and also to excite and stir up all those of the King 's late Party to appear and engage for the same which Attempts and Designs many of the King's Party out of their desires to avoid further Misery to the Kingdom have contributed their endeavours to prevent as for divers of them we have had particular Assurance we do therefore desire that such of the King's Party who shall appear to have expressed and shall hereafter express that way their good Affections to the Peace and Welfare of the Kingdom and to hinder the imbroiling of the same in a new War may be freed and exempted from Compositions or to pay but one years Revenue or a twentieth part These Particulars aforegoing are the Heads of such Proposals as we have agreed on to tend in order to the settling of the Peace of this Kingdom leaving the Terms of Peace for the Kingdom of Scotland to stand as in the late Propositions of both Kingdoms until that Kingdom shall agree to any alteration Next to the Proposals aforesaid for the present settling of a Peace we shall desire that no time may be lost by the Parliament for dispatch of other things tending to the welfare ease and just satisfaction of the Kingdom and in special manner I. That the just and necessary Liberty of the People to represent their Grievances and Desires by way of Petition may be cleared and vindicated according to the fifth Head in the late Representation or Declaration of the Army sent from St. Albans II. That in pursuance of the same Head of the said Declaration the common Grievances of the People may be speedily considered of and effectually redressed and in particular 1. That the Excise may be taken off from such Commodities whereon the poor people of the Land do ordinarily live and a certain time to be limited for taking off the whole 2. That the Oppressions and Incroachments of Forest Laws may be prevented for future 3. All Monopolies old or new and Restraints to the freedom of Trade to be taken off 4. That a course may be taken and Commissioners appointed to remedy and rectifie the inequality of Rates lying upon several Counties and several parts of each County in respect of others and to settle the proportions for Land rates to more equality throughout the Kingdom in order to which we shall offer some further particulars which we hope may be useful 5. The present unequal troublesome and contentious way of Ministers maintenance by Tithes to be considered of and some Remedy applied 6. That the Rules and Course of Law and the Officers of it may be so reduced and reformed as that all Suits and Questions of Right may be more clear and certain in the issues and not so tedious or chargeable in the proceedings as now in order to which we shall offer some further particulars hereafter 7. That Prisoners for Debt or other * Creditors who have Estates to discharge them may not by embracing Imprisonment or any other ways have advantage to defraud their Creditors but that the Estates of all men may be some way made liable to their Debts as well as Tradesmen are by Commissions of Bankrupt whether they be imprisoned for it or not and that such Prisoners for Debt who have not wherewith to pay or at least do yield up what they have to their Creditors may be freed from Imprisonment or some way provided for so as neither they nor their Families may perish by their Imprisonments 8. Some provision to be made that none may be compelled by Penalties or otherwise to answer unto Questions tending to the accusing of themselves or their nearest Relations in Criminal Causes and no man's life to be taken away under two Witnesses 9. That consideration may be had of all Statutes and the Laws or Customs of Corporations imposing any Oaths either to repeal or else to qualifie and provide against the same so far as they may extend or be construed to the molestation or ensnaring of religious and peaceable people meerly for non-conformity in Religion III. That according to the sixth Head in the Declaration of the Army the large powers given to Committees or Deputy-Lieutenants during the late times of War and Distraction may be speedily taken into consideration to be re-called and made void and that such powers of that nature as shall appear necessary to be continued may be put into a regulated way and left to as little Arbitrariness as the nature and necessity of the things wherein they are conversant
will bear IV. That according to the seventh Head in the said Declaration an effectual course may be taken that the Kingdom may be righted and satisfied in point of Accounts for the vast sums that have been levied V. That provision may be made for payment of Arrears to the Army and the rest of the Soldiers of the Kingdom who have concurred with the Army in the late Desires and Proceedings thereof and in the next place for payment of the Publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom and that to be performed first to such persons whose Debts or Damages upon the Publick Account are great and their Estates small so as they are thereby reduced to a difficulty of subsistence In order to all which and to the fourth particular last preceding we shall speedily offer some farther particulars in the nature of Rules which we hope will be of good use towards publick satisfaction August 1. 1647. Signed by the appointment of his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax and the Council of War Jo. Rushworth Secret Propositions presented to His MAJESTY at Hampton-Court upon Tuesday the seventh of September 1647. by the Earls of Pembroke and Lauderdale Sir Charles Erskin Sir John Holland Sir John Cooke Sir James Harrington Mr. Richard Browne Mr. Hugh Kenedy and Mr. Robert Berkley in the names of the Parliament of England and in behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland May it please your Majesty WE the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland do humbly present unto Your Majesty the humble Desires and Propositions for a safe and well grounded Peace agreed upon by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively unto which We do pray Your Majesties Assent and that they and all such Bills as shall be tendred to Your Majesty in pursuance of them or any of them may be established and Enacted for Statutes and Acts of Parliament by Your Majesties Royal Assent in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively Heads of the Propositions presented to the King's Majesty for a safe and well-grounded Peace 1. His Majesty to call in his Declarations and Proclamations against the Parliaments of both Kingdoms 2. His Majesty to sign the Covenant 3. To pass a Bill for abolishing Bishops 4. To pass a Bill for Sale of Bishops Lands 5. To confirm the sitting of the Assembly 6. Religion to be reformed as the Houses agree 7. Such Vniformity of Religion to be passed in an Act. 8. An Act passed against Popish Recusants 9. For Education of the Children of Papists 10. For laying Penalties upon Papists 11. An Act for prevention of Popish practices And the like for the Kingdom of Scotland 12. For the Royal Assent to Acts for the Lords day for preaching against Innovations regulating Colledges and for publick Debts and Damages The like for Scotland 13. to pass the settling of the Militia and Navy 14. To null the old Great Seal 15. For settling of Conservators for the Peace of the Kingdoms 16. The joynt Declarations and the Qualifications against Malignants 17. An Act to be passed to declare and make void the Cessation of Ireland and all Treaties and Conclusions of Peace with the Irish Rebels 18. The settling of the Militia of the City of London 19. The Great Seal with the Commissioners of Parliament and all Acts by it to be made good His MAJESTIES Answer to the Propositions of both Houses Hampton-Court Sept. 9. 1647. For the Speaker of the Lords House pro tempore to be communicated to both Houses of the Parliament of England and the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty cannot chuse but be passionately sensible as he believes all his good Subjects are of the late great Distractions and still languishing and unsetled State of this Kingdom and he calls God to Witness and is willing to give testimony to all the World of his readiness to contribute his utmost Endeavours for restoring it to a happy and flourishing Condition His Majesty having perused the Propositions now brought to him finds them the same in effect which were offered to him at Newcastle To some of which as he could not then consent without violation of his Conscience and Honour so neither can he agree to others now conceiving them in many respects more disagreeable to the present condition of Affairs then when they were formerly presented unto him as being destructive to the main principal Interests of the Army and of all those whose Affections concur with them And his Majesty having seen the Proposals of the Army to the Commissioners from his two Houses residing with them and with them to be Treated on in order to the clearing and securing the Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom and the setling of a just and lasting Peace to which Proposals as he conceives his two Houses not to be strangers so he believes they will think with him that they much more conduce to the satisfaction of all Interests and may be a fitter foundation for a lasting Peace than the Propositions which at this time are tendered unto him He therefore propounds as the best way in his Judgment in order to a Peace that his two Houses would instantly take into consideration those Proposals upon which there may be a Personal Treaty with his Majesty and upon such other Propositions as his Majesty shall make hoping that the said Proposals may be so moderated in the said Treaty as to render them the more capable of his Majesties full Concession wherein he resolves to give full satisfaction unto his People for whatsoever shall concern the setling of the Protestant Profession with Liberty to tender Consciences and the securing of the Laws Liberties and Properties of all his Subjects and the just Priviledges of Parliament for the future And likewise by his present deportment in this Treaty he will make the World clearly judge of his Intentions in matter of future Government In which Treaty his Majesty will be well pleased if it be thought fit that Commissioners from the Army whose the Proposals are may likewise be admitted His Majesty therefore conjures his two Houses of Parliament by the Duty they owe to God and his Majesty their King and by the bowels of Compassion they have to their fellow-Subjects both for the relief of their present Sufferings and to prevent future Miseries that they will forthwith accept of this his Majesties Offer whereby the joyful news of Peace may be restored to this distressed Kingdom And for what concerns the Kingdom of Scotland mentioned in the Propositions His Majesty will very willingly Treat upon those particulars with the Scotch Commissioners and doubts not but to give reasonable satisfaction to that his Kingdom Given at Hampton-Court the ninth of September 1647. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses left by Him on His
Table at Hampton-Court Nov. 11. 1647. CHALLES R. LIberty being that which in all Times hath been but especially now is the common Theme and Desire of all men common Reason shews That Kings less then any should endure Captivity And yet I call God and the World to Witness with what Patience I have endured a tedious Restraint which so long as I had any hopes that this sort of My Suffering might conduce to the Peace of My Kingdoms or the hindring of more effusion of Blood I did willingly undergoe But now finding by two certain proofs that this My continued Patience would not only turn to My Personal Ruine but likewise be of much more prejudice then furtherance to the Publick Good I thought I was bound as well by Natural as Political Obligations to seek my Safety by Retiring My self for some time from the publick View both of My Friends and Enemies And I appeal to all indifferent men to judge if I have not just cause to free My self from the hands of those who change their Principles with their Condition and who are not ashamed openly to intend the Destruction of the Nobility by taking away their Negative Voice and with whom the Levellers Doctrine is rather countenanced then punished and as for their intentions to My Person their changing and putting more strict Guards upon Me with the discharging most of all those Servants of Mine who formerly they willingly admitetd to wait upon Me does sufficiently declare Nor would I have this My Retirement misinterpreted for I shall earnestly and uncessantly endeavour the setling of a safe and well-grounded Peace where-ever I am or shall be and that as much as may be without the effusion of more Christian Blood for which how many times have I desired prest to be heard and yet no ear given to Me and can any Reasonable man think that according to the ordinary course of affairs there can be a setled Peace without it or that God will bless those who refuse to hear their own King Surely no. Nay I must further add that besides what concerns My self unless all other chief Interests have not only a hearing but likewise just satisfaction given unto them to wit the Presbyterians Independants Army those who have adhered to Me and even the Scots I say there cannot I speak not of Miracles it being in My Opinion a sinful presumption in such cases to expect or trust to them be a safe or lasting Peace Now as I cannot deny but My Personal Security is the urgent cause of this My Retirement so I take God to witness that the Publick Peace is no less before My Eyes and I can find no better way to express this My Profession I know not what a wiser man may do then by desiring and urging that all chief Interests may be heard to the end each may have just Satisfaction As for example the Army for the rest though necessary yet I suppose are not difficult to content ought in My Judgment to enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences have an Act of Oblivion or Indemnity which should extend to all the rest of My Subjects and that all their Arrears should be speedily and duly paid which I will undertake to do so I may be heard and that I be not hindred from using such Lawful and honest means as I shall chuse To conclude let Me be heard with Freedom Honour and Safety and I shall instantly break through this Cloud of Retirement and shew My self really to be Pater Patriae Hampton-Court 11. Novemb. 1647. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses with Propositions Novemb. 17. 1647. For the Speaker of the Lords House pro tempore to be communicated to the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty is confident that before this time his two Houses of Parliament have received the Message which he left behind him at Hampton-Court the eleventh of this Month by which they will have understood the Reasons which enforced him to go from thence as likewise his constant endeavours for the setling of a safe and well-grounded Peace wheresoever he should be And being now in a place where he conceives himself to be at much more Freedom and Security then formerly he thinks it necessary not only for making good of his own Professions but also for the speedy procuring of a Peace in these languishing and distressed Kingdoms at this time to offer such grounds to his two Houses for that effect which upon due examination of all Interests may best conduce thereunto And because Religion is the best and chiefest foundation of Peace His Majesty will begin with that particular That for the abolishing Arch-bishops Bishops c. His Majesty cleary professeth that he cannot give his consent thereunto both in relation as he is a Christian and a King For the first he avows that he is satisfied in his Judgment that this Order was placed in the Church by the Apostles themselves and ever since their time hath continued in all Christian Churches throughout the World until this last Century of years and in this Church in all times of Change and Reformation it hath been upheld by the Wisdom of his Ancestors as the great preserver of Doctrine Discipline and Order in the Service of God As a King at his Coronation he hath not only taken a solemn Oath to maintain this Order but his Majesty and his Predecessors in their confirmations of the Great Charter have inseparably woven the Right of the Church into the Liberties of the rest of their Subjects And yet he is willing it be provided that the particular Bishops perform the several Duties of their Callings both by their personal Residence and frequent Preachings in their Dioceses as also that they exercise no Act of Jurisdiction or Ordination without the consent of their Presbyters and will consent that their Powers in all things be so limited that they be not grievous to tender Consciences Wherefore since his Majesty is willing to give ease to the Consciences of others he sees no reason why he alone and those of his Judgment should be pressed to a violation of theirs Nor can his Majesty consent to the Alienation of Church-Lands because it cannot be denied to be a sin of the highest Sacriledge as also that it subverts the intentions of so many pious Donors who have laid a heavy Curse upon all such profane violations which his Majesty is very unwilling to undergoe and besides the matter of Conscience His Majesty believes it to be a prejudice to the Publick good many of his Subjects having the benefit of renewing Leases at much easier Rates then if those Possessions were in the hands of private men not omitting the discouragement which it will be to all Learning and Industry when such eminent rewards shall be taken away which now lye open to the Children of meanest Persons Yet his Majesty considering the great present
Proclamations and other Proceedings against it to be void An Act concerning Peers lately made and hereafter to be made An Act concerning the Adjournments of both Houses of Parliament Soit baillé aux Seigneurs A ceste Bille les Seigneurs sont assentuz An Act concerning the Raising settling and maintaining Forces by Sea and by Land within the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of VVales the Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed BE it Enacted by the King's Majesty and by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament and by Authority of the same That the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England now assembled or hereafter to be assembled shall during the space of twenty years from the first of November 1647. Arm Train and Discipline or cause to be Armed Trained and Disciplined all the Forces of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed already raised both for Sea and Land service and shall appoint all Commanders and Officers for the said Forces and shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years raise levy arm train and discipline or cause to be raised levied armed trained and disciplined any other Forces for Land and Sea-service in the Kingdoms Dominions and Places aforesaid as in their judgments they shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years think fit and appoint and shall from time to time appoint all Commanders and Officers for the said Forces or remove them as they shall see cause and shall likewise nominate appoint place or displace as they shall see cause all Commanders and Officers within the several Garrisons Forts and Places of strength as shall be within the Kingdoms of England Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and Town of Barwick upon Tweed and that neither the King His Heirs or Successors nor any other but such as shall act by the Authority or Approbation of the said Lords and Commons shall during the said space of twenty years exercise any of the powers aforesaid And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That Moneys be raised and levied for the maintenance and use of the said Forces for Land-service and of the Navy and Forces for Sea-service in such sort and by such ways and means as the said Lords and Commons shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years think fit and appoint and not otherwise and that all the said Forces both for Land and Sea-service so raised or levied or to be raised or levied and also the Admiralty and Navy shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years be imployed managed ordered disposed or disbanded by the said Lords and Commons in such sort and by such ways and means as they shall think fit and appoint and not otherwise And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the said Lords and Commons during the said space of twenty years shall have power in such sort and by such ways and means as they shall think fit and appoint to suppress all Forces raised or to be raised without Authority and Consent of the said Lords and Commons to the disturbance of the Publick Peace of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any of them and also to suppress any Forreign Forces who shall invade or endeavour to invade the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or any of them and likewise to conjoyn such Forces of the Kingdom of England with the Forces of the Kingdom of Scotland as the said Lords and Commons shall from time to time during the said space of twenty years judg fit and necessary to resist all Forreign Invasions and to suppress any Forces raised or to be raised against or within either of the said Kingdoms to the disturbance of the Publick Peace of the said Kingdoms or any of them by any Authority under the Great Seal or other Warrant whatsoever without consent of the said Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England and the Parliament or the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland respectively and that no Forces of either Kingdoms shall go into or continue in the other Kingdom without the Advice and desire of the said Lords and Commons of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland or such as shall be by them respectively appointed for that purpose And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That after the expiration of the said twenty years neither the King His Heirs or Successors or any person or persons by colour or pretence of any Commission Power Deputation or Authority to be derived from the King His Heirs or Successors or any of them shall raise arm train discipline imploy order manage disband or dispose any of the Forces by Sea and Land of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland the Dominion of Wales Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or of any of them nor exercise any of the said Powers or Authorities before-mentioned and expressed to be during the said space of twenty years in the said Lords and Commons nor do any act or thing concerning the Execution of the said Powers or Authorities or any of them without the Consent of the said Lords and Commons first had and obtained And be it further also Enacted That after the expiration of the said twenty years in all cases wherein the said Lords and Commons shall declare the Safety of the Kingdom to be concerned and shall thereupon pass any Bill or Bills for the raising arming training disciplining imploying managing ordering or disposing of the Forces by Sea or Land of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland the Dominion of Wales Isles of Gernsey and Jersey and the Town of Barwick upon Tweed or of any part of the said Forces or concerning the said Admiralty or Navy or concerning the levying of Moneys for the raising maintenance or use of the said Forces for Land service or of the Navy and Forces for Sea-service or of any part of them and if that the Royal Assent to such Bill or Bills shall not be given in the House of Peers within such time after the passing thereof by both Houses of Parliament as the said Houses shall judge fit and convenient that then such Bill or Bills so passed by the said Lords and Commons as aforesaid and to which the Royal Assent shall not be given as is herein before expressed shall nevertheless after Declaration of the said Lords and Commons made in that behalf have the force and strength of an Act or Acts of Parliament and shall be as valid to all intents and purposes as if the Royal Assent had been given
thereunto Provided always and be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That nothing herein before contained shall extend to the taking away of the ordinary Legal Power of Sheriffs Justices of Peace Maiors Bailiffs Coroners Constables Headboroughs or other Officers of Justice not being Military Officers concerning the Administration of Justice so as neither the said Sheriffs Justices of Peace Maiors Bailiffs Coroners Constables Headboroughs and other Officers or any of them do levy conduct imploy or command any Forces whatsoever by colour or pretence of any Commission of Array or extraordinary Command from His Majesty His Heirs or Successors without the Consent of the said Lords and Commons and that if any persons shall be gathered and assembled together in Warlike manner or otherwise to the number of Thirty persons and shall not forthwith separate and disperse themselves being required thereto by the said Lords and Commons or Command from them or any by them especially authorized for that purpose then such person and persons not so separating and dispersing themselves shall be guilty and incur the pains of High Treason being first Declared guilty of such Offence by the said Lords and Commons any Commission under the Great Seal or other Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding and he or they that shall offend herein shall be incapable of any Pardon from His Majesty His Heirs and Successors and their Estates shall be disposed as the said Lords and Commons shall think fit and not otherwise Provided also further That the City of London shall have and enjoy all their Rights Liberties and Franchises Customs and Usages in the raising and imploying the Forces of that City for the Defence thereof in as full and ample manner to all intents and purposes as they have or might have used or enjoyed the same at any time before the sitting of this present Parliament Soit baillé aux Seigneurs A ceste Bille les Seigneurs sont assentuz An Act for justifying the Proceedings of Parliament in the late War and for Declaring all Oaths Declarations Proclamations and other Proceedings against it to be void WHereas the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament have been necessitated to make and prosecute a War in their just and lawful Defence and thereupon Oaths Declarations and Proclamations have been made against them and their Ordinances and Proceedings and against others for adhering unto them and for executing Offices Places and Charges by Authority derived from them and Judgments Indictments Outlawries Attainders and Inquisitions for the causes aforesaid have been had and made against some of the Members of the Houses of Parliament and other his Majesties good Subjects and Grants have been made of their Lands and Goods Be it therefore Declared and hereby Enacted by the Kings Majesty and by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament and by Authority of the same That all Oaths Declarations and Proclamations heretofore had or made against both or either of the Houses of Parliament or any the Members of either of them for the causes aforesaid or against their Ordinances or Proceedings or against any for adhering unto them or for doing or executing any Office Place or Charge by any Authority derived from the said Houses or either of them and all Judgments Indictments Outlawries Attainders Inquisitions and Grants thereupon made and all other Proceedings for any the causes aforesaid had made done or executed or to be had made done or executed whether the same be done by the King or any Judges Justices Sheriffs Ministers or any others are void and of no effect and are contrary to and against the Laws of the Realm And be it further Enacted and hereby Declared by the Authority aforesaid That all Judges Justices of the Peace Maior Sheriffs Constables and other Officers and Ministers shall take notice hereof and are hereby prohibited and discharged in all time to come from awarding any Writ Process or Summons and from pronouncing or executing any Judgment Sentence or Decree or any way proceeding against or molesting any of the said Members of the two Houses of Parliament or against any of the Subjects of this Kingdom for any the causes aforesaid Soit baillé aux Seigneurs A ceste Bille les Seigneurs sont assentuz An Act concerning Peers lately made and hereafter to be made BE it Enacted by the Kings Majesty and by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament That all Honour and Title of Peerage conferred on any since the twentieth day of May 1642. being the day that Edward Lord Littleton then Lord Keeper of the Great Seal deserted the Parliament and that the said Great Seal was surreptitiously conveyed away from the Parliament be and is hereby made and declared Null and Void Be it further Enacted and it is hereby Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that no Person that shall hereafter be made a Peer or His Heirs shall sit or vote in the Parliament of England without consent of both Houses of Parliament Soit baillé aux Seigneurs A ceste Bille les Seigneurs sont assentuz An Act concerning the Adjournments of both Houses of Parliament BE it Declared and Enacted by the Kings Majesty and by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament and by the Authority of the same That when and as often as the Lords and Commons assembled in this present Parliament shall judge it necessary to adjourn both Houses of this present Parliament to any other place of the Kingdom of England than where they now sit or from any place adjourn the same again to the place where they now sit or to any other place within the Kingdom of England that then such their Adjournment and Adjournments to such places and for such time as they shall appoint shall at all times and from time to time be valid and good any Act Statute or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding Provided always and be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That no Adjournment or Adjournments to be had or made by reason or colour of this Act shall be deemed adjudged or taken to make end or determine any Session of this present Parliament And they also commanded us to present to Your Majesty these ensuing Propositions Heads of the Propositions 1. That the new Seal be confirmed and the old Great Seal and all things passed under it since May 1642. be made void 2. That Acts be passed for raising Moneys to satisfie Publick Debts 3. That Members of both Houses put from their places by the King be restored 4. That the Cessation in Ireland be made void and the War left to both Houses 5. That an Act of Indemnity be passed 6. That the Court of Wards be taken away and such Tenures turned into common Soccage 7. That the Treaties between the English and Scots be confirmed and Commissioners appointed for Conservation of the Peace between the Kingdoms 8. That the Arrears of the Army be paid out of the Bishops Lands forfeited Estates and Forests 9. That an Act be
That when his Majesty desires a Personal Treaty with them for the settling of a Peace they in Answer propose the very subject matter of the most essential part thereof to be first granted a thing which will be hardly credible to Posterity Wherefore his Majesty declares That neither the desire of being freed from this tedious and irksome condition of life his Majesty hath so long suffered nor the apprehension of what may befall him in case his two Houses shall not afford him a Personal Treaty shall make him change his Resolution of not consenting to any Act till the whole Peace be concluded Yet then he intends not only to give just and reasonable satisfaction in the particulars presented to him but also to make good all other Concessions mentioned in his Message of the 16. of Novemb. last which he thought would have produced better effects than what he finds in the Bills and Propositions now presented unto him And yet his Majesty cannot give over but now again earnestly presseth for a Personal Treaty so passionately is he affected with the advantages which Peace will bring to his Majesty and all his Subjects of which he will not at all despair there being no other visible way to obtain a well-grounded Peace However his Majesty is very much at ease within himself for having fulfilled the Offices both of a Christian and of a King and will patiently wait the good pleasure of Almighty God to incline the hearts of his two Houses to consider their King and to compassionate their fellow-Subjects miseries Given at Carisbrook-Castle in the Isle of Wight Decemb. 28. 1647. A Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament with the Resolutions of both Houses concerning the King Together with an Order for Imprisoning the Persons and Sequestring the Estates of any that shall act contrary to this Declaration and Resolutions Die Sabbathi 15. Januarii 1647. THE Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament after many Addresses to his Majesty for the preventing and ending this Unnatural War raised by him against his Parliament and Kingdom having lately sent Four Bills to his Majesty which did contain only matter of Safety and Security to the Parliament and Kingdom referring the composure of all other Differences to a Personal Treaty with his Majesty and having received an absolute Negative do hold themselves obliged to use their uttermost Endeavours speedily to settle the present Government in such a way as may bring the greatest Security to this Kingdom in the enjoyment of the Laws and Liberties thereof and in order thereunto and that the Houses may receive no Delays nor Interruptions in so great and necessary a Work they have taken these Resolutions and passed these Votes following viz. Resolved upon the Question THat the Lords and Commons do Declare That they will make no further Addresses or Applications to the King Resolved upon the Question by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament That no Application or Address be made to the King by any person whatsoever without the leave of both Houses Resolved upon the Question by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament That the person or persons that shall make breach of this Order shall incur the Penalties of High Treason Resolved upon the Question That the Lords and Commons do Declare That they will receive no more any Message from the King and do enjoyn that no person whatsoever do presume to receive or bring any Message from the King to both or either of the Houses of Parliament or to any other person Joh. Browne Cleric Parliamentorum H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com. Die Lunae 17. Januarii 1647. Ordered by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament That this Declaration and these Resolutions be forthwith printed and published and that the several Knights of the Shires and Burgesses that serve for the several Towns and places do send Copies of the same to the several Counties and places It is further Ordered That whatsoever person shall act contrary to this Declaration and Resolutions of Parliament or shall incite or encourage others so to do shall upon due proof thereof be Imprisoned and his Estate Sequestred and the Offenders in the premisses after publication hereof shall be within the several Ordinances of Sequestration And all Committees and Commissioners of Sequestrations are hereby authorized and required to take notice hereof and to proceed to Sequestration accordingly Joh. Browne Cleric Parliamentorum H. Elsynge Cler. Parl. D. Com. His MAJESTIES Declaration in Answer to the Votes of No further Address Carisbrook-Castle 18. Jan. 1647. To all My People of whatsoever Nation Quality or Condition AM I thus laid aside and must I not speak for my self No I will speak and that to all my People which I would have rather done by the way of my two Houses of Parliament but that there is a publick Order neither to make Addresses to or receive Message from me And who but you can be judge of the Differences betwixt me and my two Houses I know none else for I am sure you it is who will enjoy the happiness or feel the misery of good or ill Government and we all pretend who shall run fastest to serve you without having a regard at least in the first place to particular Interests And therefore I desire you to consider the state I am and have been in this long time and whether my actions have more tended to the Publick or my own Particular good For whosoever will look upon upon me barely as I am a Man without that Liberty which the meanest of my Subjects enjoys of going whither and conversing with whom I will as a Husband and Father without the comfort of my Wife and Children or lastly as a King without the least shew of Authority or Power to protect my distressed Subjects must conclude me not onely void of all Natural Affection but also to want common Understanding if I should not most chearfully embrace the readiest way to the settlement of these distracted Kingdoms As also on the other side do but consider the Form and draught of the Bills lately presented unto Me and as they are the Conditions of a Treaty ye will conclude that the same spirit which hath still been able to frustrate all My sincere and constant endeavours for Peace hath had a powerful influence on this Message for though I was ready to grant the Substance and comply with what they seem to desire yet as they had framed it I could not agree thereunto without deeply wounding my Conscience and Honour and betraying the Trust reposed in me by abandoning my People to the Arbitrary and unlimited power of the two Houses for ever for the levying and maintaining of Land or Sea-Forces without distinction of Quality or limitation for Money-Taxes And if I could have passed them in terms how unheard of a Condition were it for a Treaty to grant beforehand the most considerable part of the subject matter How ineffectual were that
to his Majesty in the Isle of Wight Die Jovis 3. Aug. 1648. Instruction from both Houses of the Parliament of England for James Earl of Middlesex Sir John Hippesley Knight and John Bulkeley Esquire Committees of Parliament I. YOu or any two of you whereof one to be a Lord shall with all speed repair unto his Majesty at the Castle of Carisbook in the Isle of Wight II. You or any two of you whereof one to be a Lord shall present unto his Majesty the Resolutions of both Houses of Parliament concerning a Personal Treaty to be had with his Majesty in the Isle of Wight III. You or any two of you whereof one to be a Lord shall desire his Majesties speedy Answer to the said Resolutions IV. You or any two of you whereof one to be a Lord are to acquaint his Majesty that you are only allotted ten days from Friday next for your Going Stay and Return V. You or any two of you whereof one to be a Lord shall have power in case his Majesty desires to see the Propositions which were presented to him at Hampton-Court to present him a Copy of them His MAJESTIES Message in Answer to the Votes Carisbrooke 10. Aug. 1648. For the Speaker of the Lords House pro tempore to be communicated to the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England at Westminster CHARLES R. IF the Peace of my Dominions were not much dearer to me than any particular Interest whatsoever I had too much reason to take notice of the several Votes which passed against me and the sad Condition I have been in now above these seven Months But since you my two Houses of Parliament have opened as it seems to me a fair beginning to a happy Peace I shall heartily apply my self thereunto and to that end I will as clearly and shortly as I may set you down those things which I conceive necessary to this blessed Work so that we together may remove all impediments that may hinder a happy conclusion of this Treaty which with all chearfulness I do embrace And to this wished End your selves have laid most excellent grounds For what can I reasonably expect more then to Treat with Honour Freedom and Safety upon such Propositions as you have or shall present unto me and such as I shall make to you But withal remember that it is the definition not names of things which make them rightly known and that without means to perform no Propositions can take effect And truly my present Condition is such that I can no more Treat then a blind man judge of colours or one run a race who hath both his feet fast tied together Wherefore my first necessary Demand is That you will recal all such Votes and Orders by which people are frighted from coming writing or speaking freely to me Next that such men of all Professions whom I shall send for as of necessary use to me in this Treaty may be admitted to wait upon me In a word that I may be in the same state of Freedom I was in when I was last at Hampton-Court And indeed less cannot in any reasonable measure make good those Offers which you have made me by your Votes For how can I Treat with Honour so long as people are terrified with Votes and Orders against coming to speak or write to me and am I honourably treated so long as there is none about me except a Barber who came now with the Commissioners that ever I named to wait upon me or with Freedom until I may call such unto me of whose services I shall have use in so great and difficult a Work And for Safety I speak not of my Person having no apprehension that way how can I judge to make a safe and well grounded Peace until I may know without disguise the true present state of all my Dominions and particularly of all those whose Interests are necessarily concerned in the Peace of these Kingdoms Which leads me naturally to the last necessary Demand I shall make for the bringing this Treaty to an happy end which is That you alone or you and I joyntly do invite the Scots to send some persons authorized by them to Treat upon such Propositions as they shall make For certainly the publick and necessary Interests they have in this great Settlement is so clearly plain to all the World that I believe no body will deny the necessity of their concurrence in this Treaty in order to a durable Peace Wherefore I will only say that as I am King of both Nations so I will yield to none in either Kingdom for being truly and zealously affected for the good and honour of both my Resolution being never to be partial for either to the prejudice of the other Now as to the Place because I conceive it to be rather a circumstantial than real part of this Treaty I shall not much insist upon it I name Newport in this Isle yet the fervent zeal I have that a speedy end be put to these unhappy Distractions doth force me earnestly to desire you to consider what a great loss of time it will be to Treat so far from the body of my two Houses when every small debate of which doubtless there will be many must be transmitted to Westminster before it be concluded And really I think though to some it may seem a Paradox that peoples minds will be much more apt to settle seeing me Treat in or near London than in this Isle because so long as I am here it will never be believed by many that I am really so free as before this Treaty begin I expect to be And so I leave and recommend this point to your serious consideration And thus I have not only fully accepted of the Treaty which you have proposed to me by your Votes of the third of this Month but also given it all the furtherance that lies in me by demanding the necessary means for the effectual performance thereof All which are so necessarily implied by though not particularly mentioned in your Votes as I can no ways doubt of your ready compliance with me herein I have now no more to say but to conjure you by all that is dear to Christians honest men or good Patriots that ye will make all the Expedition possible to begin this happy Work by hastning down your Commissioners fully authorized and well instructed and by enabling me as I have shewed you to Treat praying the God of Peace so to bless our endeavours that all my Dominions may speedily enjoy a safe and well-grounded Peace CHARLES R. Carisbrook Aug. 10. 1648. A Letter from the Speaker of both Houses to His Majesty Aug. 25. 1648. With Votes in order to a Treaty May it please Your Majesty WE are commanded by Your Majesties loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled to present unto Your Majesty these Resolutions inclosed which are the results of the said Lords and Commons upon
your Majesties Letter of the tenth of August instant Westminster 25. Aug. 1648. Your Majesties most loyal and most humble Subjects and Servants Manchester Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore William Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons Die Jovis 24. Aug. 1648. Resolved upon the Question by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That for opening a way towards a Treaty with his Majesty for a safe and well-grounded Peace these four Votes following are hereby revoked and taken off viz. 1. Resolved That the Lords and Commons do declare That they will make no further Addresses or Applications to the King 2. Resolved by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament That no Application or Addresses be made to the King by any person whatsoever without the leave of both Houses 3 Resolved by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament That the person or persons that shall make breach of this Order shall incur the penalties of high Treason 4. Resolved That the Lords and Commons do declare That they will receive no more any Message from the King and do enjoyn that no person whatsoever do presume to receive or bring any Message from the King to both or either of the Houses of Parliament or to any other person Resolved by the Lords and Commons That his Majesty be desired to send to the Houses the Names of such Persons as he shall conceive to be of necessary use to be about him during this Treaty they not being persons excepted by the Houses from Pardon or under restraint or in actual War against the Parliament by Sea or Land or in such numbers as may draw any just cause of suspicion And that his Majesty shall be in the Isle of Wight in the same state and Freedom as he was in when he was last at Hampton-Court Resolved That the Houses do agree that such Domestick Servants not being in the former Limitations as his Majesty shall appoint to come to attend upon his Majesties Person shall be sent unto him Resolved That the Town of Newport in the Isle of Wight named by the King shall be the Place for this Treaty with his Majesty Resolved That if the King shall think fit to send for any of the Scotish Nation to advise with him concerning the Affairs of the Kingdom of Scotland only the Houses will give them a safe Conduct they not being persons under restraint in this Kingdom or in actual War against the Parliament by Sea or Land or in such numbers as may draw any just cause of suspicion Resolved That Five Lords and Ten Members of the House of Commons be Commissioners to Treat with the King Resolved That the time of beginning the Treaty be within ten days after the Kings Assent to Treat as is agreed and to continue forty days after the beginning thereof Resolved That his Majesty be desired to pass his Royal Word to make his constant Residence in the Isle of Wight from the time of his Assenting to Treat until twenty days after the Treaty be ended unless it be otherwise desired by both Houses of Parliament and that after his Royal Word so passed and his Assent given to Treat as aforesaid from thenceforth the former Instructions of the 16. of November 1647. be vacated and these observed and that Colonel Hammond be authorized to receive his Majesties Royal Word passed to the two Houses of Parliament for his Residence in the Isle of Wight according as is formerly expressed and shall certifie the same to both Houses His MAJESTIES Answer to the Votes For the Earl of Manchester Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore and William Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons Carisbrook Monday 28. August 1648. MY Lord and Master Speaker I have received your Letter of the 25. of this Month with the Votes that you sent Me which though they are not so full as I could have wished for the perfecting of a Treaty yet because I conceive by what you have done that I am in some measure fit to begin one such is My uncessant and earnest desire to give a Peace to these My now distracted Dominions as I accept the Treaty and therefore desire that such five Lords and ten Commoners as My two Houses shall appoint be speedily sent fully Authorized and Instructed to Treat with Me not doubting but what is now wanting will at our meeting upon Debate be fully supplied not only to the furtherance of this Treaty but also to the consummating of a safe and well-grounded Peace So I rest Your good Friend CHARLES R. Here Inclosed I have sent you a List that ye have desired I desire in order to one of your Votes that ye would send Me a free pass for Parsons one of the Grooms of My Presence-Chamber to go into Scotland and that ye would immediately send him to Me to receive the Dispatch thither The List Duke Richmond Marq. Hartford Earl Lindsey Earl Southampton Gentlemen of My Bed-Chamber George Kirke James Leviston Henry Murrey John Ashburnham William Leg Grooms of My Bed-Chamber Thomas Davise Barber Hugh Henne Humph. Rogers William Levett Pages of My Back-Stairs Rives Yeoman of My Robes Sir Ed. Sidenham Robert Terwitt John Housden Querries with four or six of My Footmen as they find fittest to wait Mistress Wheeler Landress with such Maids as she will chuse Parsons a Groom of My Presence Sir Fulke Grevill Captain Titus Captain Burroughs Master Cresset Hansted Ab. Dowsett Firebrace to wait as they did or as I shall appoint them Bishop of London Bishop of Salisbury Doctor Shelden Doctor Hammond Doctor Holdsworth Doctor Sanderson Doctor Turner Doctor Heywood Chaplains Sir Thomas Gardiner Sir Or. Bridgman Sir Ro. Holbourne Mr. Geffrey Palmer Mr. Thomas Cooke Mr. J. Vaughan Lawyers Sir Edward Walker Mr. Phil. Warwick Nic. Oudart Charles Whitaker Clarks and Writers Peter Newton Clem. Kinersley to make ready the House for Treating A Letter from the Speakers of both Houses to His MAJESTY Sept. 2. MDCXLVIII With the Names of their Committee to Treat with Him YOur two Houses of Parliament have commanded us to acquaint Your Majesty that they have appointed the Earl of Northumberland the Earl of Pembroke the Earl of Salisbury the Earl of Middlesex and the Lord Viscount Say and Seale Members of the House of Peers and Thomas Lord Wenman Master Denzil Hollis Master William Pierrepont Sir Henry Vane junior Sir Harbottle Grimston Master Samuel Brown Master John Crew Master Recorder of the City of London Sir John Potts Master John Bulkeley Members of the House of Commons to Treat with Your Majesty at Newport in the Isle of Wight And though they cannot come within the time appointed yet they shall give their attendance with all convenient speed 2. Septemb. 1648. Your Majesties most loyal and humble Servants Hunsdon Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore William Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons His MAJESTIES Answer to both Speakers For the Lord Hunsdon Speaker of the House of
reforming both Universities and the Colleges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton His Majesty will consent to an Act for the better discovery and speedy conviction of Popish Recusants as is desired in your Propositions and also to an Act for the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion As also to an Act for the rrue levying of the Penalties against Papists to be levied and disposed in such manner as both Houses shall agree on and as is proposed on His Majesties behalf And also to an Act to prevent the practises of Papists against the State and for putting the Laws in execution and for a stricter course to prevent hearing and saying of Mass But as to the Covenant His Majesty is not yet therein satisfied that He can either sign or swear it or consent to impose it on the Consciences of others nor doth conceive it proper or useful at this time to be insisted on Touching the Militia His Majesty conceives that your Proposition demands a far larger power over the Persons and Estates of His Subjects than hath ever hitherto been warranted by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm yet considering the present Distractions require more and trusting in His two Houses of Parliament that they will make no further use of the Power therein mentioned after the present Distempers setled than shall be agreeable to the Legal exercise thereof in times past or just necessity shall require His Majesty will consent to an Act of Parliament That the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England now assembled or hereafter to be assembled or such as they shall appoint during the space of ten years shall Arm Train and Discipline or cause to be Armed Trained or Disciplined all the Forces of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernesey and Jersy and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed already raised both for Sea and Land-service and shall from time to time during the space of ten years raise levy arm train and discipline or cause to de raised levied armed trained and disciplined any other Forces for Land and Sea-service in the Kingdoms Dominions and places aforesaid as in their judgments they shall from time to time during the said space of ten years think fit to appoint And that neither the King His Heirs or Successors or any other but such as shall act by the Authority or approbation of the said Lords and Commons shall during the said space of ten years exercise any of the Powers aforesaid That Moneys be raised and levied for the maintenance and use of the said Forces for Land-service and of the Navy and Forces for Sea-service in such sort and by such ways and means as the said Lords and Commons shall from time to time during the said space of ten years think fit and appoint and not otherwise That all the said Forces both for Land and Sea-service so raised or levied or to be raised or levied and also the Admiralty and Navy shall from time to time during the said space of ten years be imployed managed ordered and disposed by the Lords and Commons in such sort and by such ways and means as they shall think fit and appoint and not otherwise And the said Lords and Commons or such as they shall appoint during the said space of ten years shall have power 1. To suppress all Forces raised or to be raised without Authority and Consent of the said Lords and Commons to the disturbance of the Publick Peace of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernesey and Jersey and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed or any of them 2. To suppress any Foreign Forces who shall invade or endeavour to invade the Kingdoms of England and Ireland Dominion of Wales the Isles of Gernesey and Jersey and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed or any of them And after the expiration of the said ten years neither the King His Heirs or Successors or any person or persons by colour or pretence of any Commission Power Deputation or Authority to be derived from the King His Heirs or Successors or any of them shall without the Consent of the said Lords and Commons raise arm train discipline employ order manage disband or dispose any the Forces by Sea or Land of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland the Dominion of Wales Isles of Gernesey and Jersey and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed nor exercise any of the said Powers or Authorities herein before mentioned and expressed to be during the space of ten years in the said Lords and Commons nor do any act or any thing concerning the execution of the said Powers or Authorities or any of them without the Consent of the said Lords and Commons first had and obtained And with the same Provisoes for saving the ordinary Legal Power of Officers of Justice not being Military Officers as is set down in your Propositions And with a Declaration That if any persons shall be gathered and assembled together in a Warlike manner or otherwise to the number of thirty persons and shall not forthwith disperse themselves being require thereto by the said Lords and Commons or command from them or any by them especially authorized for that purpose then such person or persons not so dispersing themselves shall be guilty and incur the pains of High Treason being first declared guilty of such offence by the said Lords and Commons any Commission under the Great Seal or any other Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding And he or they that shall so offend herein to be uncapable of any Pardon from His Majesty His Heirs or Successors And likewise that it be provided that the City of London shall have and enjoy all their Rights Liberties c. in raising and imyloying the Forces of that City in such sort as is mentioned in the said Proposition With these Provisoes following to be inserted in the said Act. First That none be compelled to serve in the Wars against their wills but in case of coming in of strange Enemies into this Kingdom And that the Powers above mentioned as concerning the Land-Forces other than for keeping up and maintenance of Forts and Garisons and the keeping up mantaining and pay of this present Army so long as it shall be thought fit by both Houses of Parliament be exercised to no other purposes than for the suppressing of Forces raised or to be raised without Authority and Consent of the said Lords and Commons as aforesaid or for suppressing of any Foreign Forces which shall invade or endeavour to invade the Kingdoms Dominions or places aforesaid And that the Monies be raised by general and equal Taxations saving that Tonnage and Poundage and such Imposts as have been applyed to the Navy be raised as hath been usual And that all Patents Commissions and other Acts concerning the Premisses be made and acted in His Majesties Name by Warrant signified by the Lords and Commons or
such others as they shall authorise for that purpose If it shall be more satisfactory to His two Houses to have the Militia and Powers thereupon depending during the whole time of His Majesties Reign rather than for the space of ten years His Majesty gives them the Election Touching Ireland His Majesty having in the two preceding Propositions given His Consent concerning the Church and the Militia there in all things as in England as to all other matters relating to that Kingdom after advice with His two Houses He will leave it to their determination and give His Consent accordingly as is herein hereafter expressed Touching Publick Debts His Majesty will give His Consent to such an Act for raising of Monies by general and equal Taxations for the payment and satisfying the Arrears of the Army Publick Debts and Engagements of the Kingdom as shall be agreed on by both Houses of Parliament and shall be audited and ascertained by them or such persons as they shall appoint within the space of twelve Months after the passing of an Act for the same His Majesty will Consent to an Act that during the said space of ten years the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper Commissioners of the Great Seal or Treasury Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports Chancellor of Exchequer and Dutchy Secretaries of State Master of the Rolles and Judges of both Benches and Barons of the Exchequer of England be nominated by both Houses of the Parliament of England to continue quamdiu se bene gesserint and in the intervals of Parliament by such others as they shall authorise for that purpose His Majesty will Consent That the Militia of the City of London and Liberties thereof during the space of ten years may be in the Ordering and Government of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Commons in the Common-Councel assembled or such as they shall from time to time appoint whereof the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs for the time being to be three to be imployed and directed from time to time during the said space of ten years in such manner as shall be agreed upon and appointed by both Houses of Parliament And that no Citizen of the City of London nor any of the Officers of the said City shall be drawn forth or compelled to go out of the said City or Liberties thereof for Military service without their own free consent That an Act be passed for granting and confirming the Charters Customes Liberties and Franchises of the City of London notwithstanding any Nonuser Misuser or Abuser And that during the said ten years the Tower of London may be in the Government of the City of London and the Chief Officer and Governor from time to time during the said space to be nominated and removable by the Common-Council as are desired in your Propositions His Majesty having thus far expressed His Consent for the present satisfaction and security of His two Houses of Parliament and those that have adhered unto them touching your four first Propositions and other the particulars before specified as to all the rest of your Propositions delivered to Him at Hampton-Court not referring to those Heads and to that of the Court of Wards since delivered as also to the remaining Propositions concerning Ireland His Majesty desires only when He shall come to Westminster Personally to advise with His two Houses and to deliver His Opinion and the reasons of it which being done He will leave the whole matter of those remaining Propositions to the determination of His two Houses which shall prevail with Him for his Consent accordingly And His Majesty doth for His own particular only propose that He may have Liberty to repair forthwith to Westminster and be restored to a condition of absolute Freedom and Safety a thing which He shall never deny to any of His Subjects and to the possession of His Lands and Revenues and that an Act of Oblivion and Indemnity may pass to extend to all persons for all matters relating to the late unhappy Differences Which being agreed by His two Houses of Parliament His Majesty will be ready to make these His Concessions binding by giving them the force of Laws by His Royal Assent Votes concerning His MAJESTIES Propositions and Concessions Die Lunae Octobr. 2. 1648. Resolved by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled THat they are not satisfied in the Propositions made by His Majesty in His Letter And that a Letter be sent to the Commissioners in the Isle of Wight to acquaint them that the Houses do well approve of their proceedings and do give them thanks for their great care and pains in managing of this important and weighty business requiring them still to proceed and act punctually according to their Instructions But upon further Debate in the Treaty some things being yet further cleared and more fully granted by His Majesty out of His earnest desire of Peace they at last came so near to an Agreement that the Lower House after long consultation passed the following Vote Die Martis 5. Decembr 1648. Resolved upon the Question That the Answers of the King to the Propositions of both Houses are a Ground for the House to proceed upon for the Settlement of the Peace of the Kingdom The Chief Heads of the Remonstrance of the Army presented to the House of Commons Nov. 20. MDCXLVII To the Right Honourable the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament The humble Remonstrance of his Excellency the Lord General Fairfax and his General Council of Officers held at St. Albans Thursday the 16. of Novemb. 1648. The Remonstrance it self being very long and serving only to introduce their Propositions in the end we have thought fit to represent only the Propositions themselves as they are contracted in their own Abridgment FIrst That the Capital and grand Author of our Troubles the Person of the King by whose procurement and for whose Interest only of will and power all our Wars have been may be brought to Justice for the Treason Blood and Mischief he is therein guilty of Secondly That a timely day may be set for the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York to come in by which time if they do not that then they may be immediately declared incapable of any Government or Trust in this Kingdom or its Dominions and thence to stand exil'd for ever as Enemies and Traitors to dye without mercy if ever after found and taken therein Or if by the time limited they do render themselves that then the Prince be proceeded with as on his appearance he shall give satisfaction or not and the Duke as he shall give satisfaction may be considered as to future Trust or not But however that the Revenue of the Crown saving necessary allowances for the Children and for Servants and Creditors to the Crown be sequestred and the costly Pomp suspended for a good number of years and that this Revenue be for that time disposed toward publick Charges Debts and Damages for the easing of the
learned to thirst the more by how much the more they drank whom no fountain of Royal Bounty was able to overcome so resolved they seemed either utterly to exhaust it or barbarously to obstruct it Sure it ceases to be Counsel when not Reason is used as to men to perswade but Force and Terror as to beasts to drive and compel men to assent to whatever tumultuary Patrons shall project He deserves to be a Slave without pity or redemption that is content to have the Rational soveraignty of his Soul and liberty of his Will and Words so captivated Nor do I think my Kingdoms so considerable as to preserve them with the forfeiture of that Freedom which cannot be denied Me as a King because it belongs to Me as a Man and a Christian owning the dictates of none but God to be above Me as obliging Me to consent Better for Me to die enjoying this Empire of my Soul which subjects Me only to God so far as by Reason or Religion he directs Me than live with the Title of a King if it should carry such a vassalage with it as not to suffer Me to use My Reason and Conscience in which I declare as a King to like or dislike So far am I from thinking the Majesty of the Crown of England to be bound by any Coronation-Oath in a blind and brutish formality to consent to whatever its Subjects in Parliament shall require as some men will needs infer while denying me any power of a Negative voice as King they are not ashamed to seek to deprive Me of the liberty of using My Reason with a good Conscience which themselves and all the Commons of England enjoy proportionable to their influence on the publick who would take it very ill to be urged not to deny whatever My self as King or the House of Peers with Me should not so much desire as enjoyn them to pass I think My Oath fully discharged in that point by my Governing only by such Laws as My People with the House of Peers have chosen and My self consented to I shall never think My self conscientiously tied to go as oft against My Conscience as I should consent to such new Proposals which My reason in Justice Honour and Religion bids Me deny Yet so tender I see some men are of their being subject to Arbitrary Government that is the Law of anothers will to which themselves give no consent that they care not with how much dishonour and absurdity they make their King the only man that must be subject to the will of others without having power left him to use his own Reason either in Person or by any Representation And if my dissentings at any time were as some have suspected and uncharitably avowed out of Error Opinionativeness Weakness or Wilfulness and what they call Obstinacy in Me which not true Judgment of things but some vehement Prejudice or Passion hath fixed on My Mind yet can no man think it other than the badg and method of Slavery by savage Rudeness and importunate obtrusions of Violence to have the mist of his Error and Passion dispelled which is a shadow of Reason and must serve those that are destitute of the substance Sure that man cannot be blameable to God or Man who seriously endeavours to see the best reason of things and faithfully follows what he takes for Reason The uprightness of his Intentions will excuse the possible failings of his Understanding If a Pilot at Sea cannot see the Pole-star it can be no fault in him to steer his course by such Stars as do best appear to him It argues rather those men to be conscious of their defects of Reason and convincing Arguments who call in the assistance of mere force to carry on the weakness of their Counsels and Proposals I may in the truth and uprightness of my Heart protest before God and Men that I never wilfully opposed or denied any thing that was in a fair way after full and free debates propounded to Me by the Two Houses further than I thought in good Reason I might and was bound to do Nor did any thing ever please Me more than when My Judgment so concurred with theirs that I might with good Conscience consent to them yea in many things where not absolute and moral necessity of Reason but temporary convenience on point of Honour was to be considered I chose rather to deny My self than them as preferring that which they thought necessary for My Peoples good before what I saw but convenient for My self For I can be content to recede much from My own Interests and Personal Rights of which I conceive My self to be Master but in what concerns Truth Justice the Rights of the Church and my Crown together with the general good of my Kingdoms all which I am bound to preserve as much as morally lies in Me here I am and ever shall be fixt and resolute nor shall any man gain my consent to that wherein my Heart gives my Tongue or Hand the Lye nor will I be brought to affirm that to Men which in my Conscience I denied before God I will rather chuse to wear a Crown of Thorns with My Saviour than to exchange that of Gold which is due to Me for one of Lead whose embased flexibleness shall be forced to bend and comply to the various and oft contrary dictates of any Factions when in stead of Reason and Publick Concernments they obtrude nothing but what makes for the interest of Parties and flows from the partialities of private Wills and Passions I know no resolutions more worthy a Christian King than to prefer his Conscience before his Kingdoms O my God preserve thy Servant in this Native Rational and Religious Freedom for this I believe is thy will that we should maintain who though Thou dost justly require us to submit our Vnderstandings and Wills to thine whose Wisdom and Goodness can neither err nor misguide us and so far to deny our carnal Reason in order to thy Sacred Mysteries and Commands that we should believe and obey rather than dispute them yet dost Thou expect from us only such a reasonable Service of Thee as not to do any thing for Thee against our Consciences and as to the desires of men enjoinest us to try all things by the touch-stone of Reason and Laws which are the Rules of Civil Justice and to declare our Consents to that only which our Judgments approve Thou knowest O Lord how unwilling I was to desert that place in which Thou hast set Me and whereto the Affairs of My Kingdoms at present do call Me. My People can witness how far I have been content for their good to deny My self in what Thou hast subjected to My disposal O let not the unthankful importunities and Tumultuary Violence of some mens Immoderate demands ever betray Me to that dangerous and unmanly slavery which should make Me strengthen them by my Consent in those things which I
actions But Thou O Lord who hast in so remarkable a way avenged thy Servant suffer Me not to take any secret pleasure in it for as his death hath satisfied the Injury he did to Me so let Me not by it gratifie any Passion in Me lest I make thy vengeance to be mine and consider the affront against Me more than the sin against Thee Thou indeed without any desire or endeavour of Mine hast made his mischief to return on his own head and his violent dealing to come down on his own pate Thou hast pleaded my Cause even before the sons of men and taken the matter into thine own hands That men may know it was thy work and see that Thou Lord hast done it I do not I dare not say So let mine Enemies perish O Lord yea Lord rather give them Repentance Pardon and impunity if it be thy blessed will Let not thy Justice prevent the objects and opportunities of My Mercy yea let them live and amend who have most offended Me in so high a nature that I may have those to forgive who bear most proportion in their offences to those trespasses against thy Majesty which I hope thy Mercy hath forgiven Me. Lord lay not their sins who yet live to their charge for condemnation but to their Consciences for amendment Let the lightning of this thunderbolt which hath been so severe a punishment to one be a terror to all Discover to them their sin who know not they have done amiss and scare them from their sin that sin of malicious wickedness That preventing thy Judgments by their true Repentance they may escape the strokes of thine eternal Vengeance And do Thou O Lord establish the Throne of thy Servant in mercy and truth meeting together let My Crown ever flourish in righteousness and peace kissing each other Hear my Prayer O Lord who hast taught us to pray for to do good to and to love our Enemies for thy sake who hast prevented us with offertures of thy love even when we were thine enemies and hast sent thy Son Jesus Christ to die for us when we were disposed to crucisie him IX Vpon the listing and raising Armies against the KING I Find that I am at the same point and posture I was when they forced Me to leave White-hall what Tumults could not do an Army must which is but Tumults listed and enrolled to a better order but as bad an End My recess hath given them confidence that I may be conquered And so I easily may as to any outward strength which God knows is little or none at all But I have a Soul invincible through Gods grace enabling Me here I am sure to be Conqueror if God will give Me such a measure of Constancy as to fear him more than man and to love the inward peace of my Conscience before any outward tranquillity And must I be opposed with Force because they have not Reason wherewith to convince Me O my Soul be of good courage they confess their known weakness as to Truth and Justice who chuse rather to contend by Armies than by Arguments Is this the reward and thanks that I am to receive for those many Acts of Grace I have lately passed and for those many Indignities I have endured Is there no way left to make Me a Glorious KING but by my Sufferings It is hard and disputable choice for a King that loves his People and desires their love either to kill his own Subjects or to be killed by them Are the hazards and miseries of Civil War in the bowels of my most flourishing Kingdom the fruits I must now reap after Seventeen years living and Reigning among them with such a measure of Justice Peace Plenty and Religion as all Nations about either admired or envied Notwithstanding some Miscarriages in Government which might escape rather through ill counsel of some men driving on their private ends or the peevishness of others envying the Publick should be managed without them or the hidden and insuperable necessities of State than any propensity I hope of My self either to Injuriousness or Oppression Whose innocent blood during my Reign have I shed to satisfy my Lust Anger or Covetousness What Widows or Orphans tears can witness against Me the just cry of which must now be avenged with My own Blood For the hazards of War are equal nor doth the Cannon know any respect of Persons In vain is my Person excepted by a Parenthesis of Words when so many hands are Armed against Me with Swords God knows how much I have studied to see what Ground of Justice is alledged for this War against Me that so I might by giving just satisfaction either prevent or soon end so unnatural a motion which to many men seems rather the production of a surfeit of Peace and wantonness of minds or of private discontents Ambition and Faction which easily find or make causes of quarrel than any real obstruction of publick Justice or Parliamentary Priviledg But this is pretended and this I must be able to avoid and answer before God in my own Conscience however some men are not willing to believe Me lest they should condemn themselves When I first withdrew from White-hall to see if I could allay the Insolency of the Tumults of the not suppressing of which no account in Reason can be given where an orderly Guard was granted but only to oppress both Mine and the Two Houses freedom of declaring and voting according to every mans Conscience what obstructions of Justice were there further than this that what seemed just to one man might not seem so to another Whom did I by power protect against the Justice of Parliament That some men withdrew who feared the partiality of their tryal warned by my Lord of Strafford's death while the Vulgar threatned to be their Oppressors and Judgers of their Judges was from that instinct which is in all creatures to preserve themselves If any others refused to appear where they evidently saw the current of Justice and Freedom so stopped and troubled by the Rabble that their lawful Judges either durst not come to the Houses or not declare their sense with liberty and safety it cannot seem strange to any reasonable man when the sole exposing them to the publick Odium was enough to ruine them before their Cause could be heard or tried Had not factious Tumults overborn the Freedom and Honor of the Two Houses had they asserted their Justice against them and made the way open for all the Members quietly to come and declare their Consciences I know no man so dear to Me whom I had the least inclination to advise either to withdraw himself or deny appearing upon their Summons to whose Sentence according to Law I think every Subject bound to stand Distempers indeed were risen to so great a height for want of timely repressing the vulgar Insolencies that the greatest guilt of those which were Voted and demanded as Delinquents was
Thou by my own Subjects strip Me of my strength and eclipse my glory But shew thy self O my hope and only refuge Let not mine Enemies say There is no help for him in his God Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not Keep Me as the apple of thine eye hide Me under the shadow of thy wings Shew thy marvellous loving-kindness O Thou that savest by thy right hand them that put their trust in Thee from those that rise up against them From the wicked that oppress Me from my deadly enemies that compass Me about Shew Me the path of life In thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore XI Vpon the Nineteen Propositions first sent to the KING and more afterwards ALtho there be many things they demand yet if these be all I am glad to see at what price they set My own safety and My Peoples peace which I cannot think I buy at too dear a rate save only the parting with My Conscience and Honour If nothing else will satisfie I must chuse rather to be as miserable and inglorious as My Enemies can make or wish Me. Some things here propounded to Me have been offered by Me others are easily granted The rest I think ought not to be obtruded upon Me with the point of the Sword nor urged with the injuries of a War when I have already declared that I cannot yield to them without violating my Conscience 'T is strange there can be no method of Peace but by making War upon my Soul Here are many things required of Me but I see nothing offer'd to Me by the way of grateful exchange of Honour or any requital for those Favours I have or can yet grant them This Honour they do Me to put Me on the giving part which is more Princely and Divine They cannot ask more than I can give may I but reserve to My self the incommunicable Jewel of my Conscience and not be forced to part with that whose loss nothing can repair or requite Some things which they are pleased to propound seem unreasonable to Me and while I have any mastery of my Reason how can they think I can consent to them who know they are such as are inconsistent with being either a King or a good Christian My yielding so much as I have already makes some men confident I will deny nothing The love I have of my Peoples Peace hath indeed great influence upon Me but the love of Truth and inward Peace hath more Should I grant some things they require I should not so much weaken my outward state of a King as wound that inward quiet of my Conscience which ought to be is and ever shall be by Gods grace dearer to Me than my Kingdoms Some things which a King might approve yet in Honour and Policy are at some time to be denied to some men lest he should seem not to dare to deny any thing and give too much incouragement to unreasonable demands and importunities But to bind My self to a general and implicit consent to whatever they shall desire or propound for such is one of their Propositions were such a latitude of blind obedience as never was expected from any Freeman nor fit to be required of any man much less of a King by his own Subjects any of whom he may possibly exceed as much in Wisdom as he doth in Place and Power This were as if Sampson should have consented not only to bind his own hands and cut off his hair but to put out his own eyes that the Philistines might with the more safety mock and abuse him which they chose rather to do than quite to destroy him when he was become so tame an object and fit occasion for their sport and scorn Certainly to exclude all power of denial seems an arrogancy least of all becoming those who pretend to make their Addresses in an humble and loyal way of petitioning who by that sufficiently confess their own inferiority which obligeth them to rest if not satisfied yet quietted with such an answer as the will and reason of their Superior thinks fit to give who is acknowledged to have a freedom and power of Reason to consent or dissent else it were very foolish and absurd to ask what another having not liberty to deny neither hath power to grant But if this be My right belonging to Me in Reason as a Man and in Honour as a Soveraign King as undoubtedly it doth how can it be other than extreme injury to confine my Reason to a necessity of granting all they have a mind to ask whose minds may be as differing from Mine both in Reason and Honour as their aims my be and their qualities are which last God and the Laws have sufficiently distinguisht making Me their Soveraign and them My Subjects whose Propositions may soon prove violent Oppositions if once they gain to be necessary Impositions upon the Regal Authority since no man seeks to limit and confine his King in Reason who hath not a secret aim to share with him or usurp upon him in Power and Dominion But they would have Me trust to their moderation and abandon Mine own discretion that so I might verifie what representations some have made of Me to the world that I am fitter to be their Pupil than their Prince Truly I am not so confident of My own sufficiency as not willingly to admit the Counsel of others But yet I am not so diffident of my self as bruitishly to submit to any mens dictates and at once to betray the Soveraignty of Reason in My Soul and the Majesty of my own Crown to any of My Subjects Least of all have I any ground of credulity to induce Me fully to submit to all the desires of those men who will not admit or do refuse and neglect to vindicate the freedom of their own and others sitting and voting in Parliament Besides all men that know them know this how young Statesmen the most part of these propounders are so that till experience of one seven years hath shewed Me how well they can Govern Themselves and so much Power as is wrested from Me I should be very foolish indeed and unfaithful in my Trust to put the reins of both Reason and Government wholly out of my own into their hands whose driving is already too much like Jehu's and whose forwardness to ascend the throne of Supremacy portends more of Phaeton than of Phoebus God divert the Omen if it be his will They may remember that at best they sit in Parliament as my Subjects not my Superiors called to be my Counsellors not Dictators Their Summons extends to recommend their Advice not to command My Duty When I first heard of Propositions to be sent me I expected either some good Laws which had been antiquated by the course of time or overlaid by the corruption of manners had been desired to a restauration of their
constitution The Abuses of which deserve to be extirpated as much as the use retained for I think it far better to hold to Primitive and Uniform Antiquity than to comply with divided Novelty A right Episcopacy would at once satisfie all just desires and interests of good Bishops humble Presbyters and sober People so as Church affairs should be managed neither with Tyranny Parity nor Popularity neither Bishops ejected nor Presbyters despised nor People oppressed And in this Integrity both of My Judgment and Conscience I hope God will preserve Me. For Thou O Lord knowest my Vprightness and Tenderness As Thou hast set Me to be a Defender of the Faith and a Protector of thy Church so suffer Me not by any violence to be over-born against My Conscience Arise O Lord maintain thine own Cause let not thy Church be deformed as to that Government which derived from thy Apostles hath been retained in purest and Primitive times till the Revenues of the Church became the object of secular Envy which seeks to rob it of all the encouragements of Learning and Religion Make Me as the good Samaritan compassionate and helpful to thy afflicted Church which some men have wounded and robbed others pass by without regard either to pity or relieve As My Power is from Thee so give Me grace to use it for Thee And though I am not suffered to be Master of my other Rights as a KING yet preserve Me in that liberty of Reason love of Religion and thy Churches welfare which are fixed in My Conscience as a Christian Preserve from Sacrilegious invasions those temporal Blessings which thy Providence hath bestowed on thy Church for thy Glory Forgive their Sins and Errors who have deserved thy just permission thus to let in the wild Boar and subtile Foxes to waste and deform thy Vineyard which thy right hand hath planted and the dew of Heaven so long watered to a happy and flourishing estate O let Me not bear the infamous brand to all posterity of being the first Christian KING in this Kingdom who should consent to the oppression of thy Church and the Fathers of it whose Errors I would rather with Constantine cover with silence and reform with meekness than expose their Persons and Sacred Functions to vulgar contempt Thou O Lord seest how much I have suffered with and for thy Church make no long tarrying O my God to deliver both Me and It from unreasonable men whose counsels have brought forth and continue such violent Confusions by a precipitant destroying the ancient boundaries of thy Churches Peace thereby letting in all manner of Errors Schisms and Disorders O thou God of Order and of Truth in thy good time abate the Malice asswage the Rage and confound all the mischievous Devices of Thine Mine and thy Churches Enemies That I and all that love thy Church may sing Praises to Thee and ever magnifie thy Salvation even before the Sons of men XVIII Vpon Uxbridg Treaty and other Offers made by the KING I Look upon the way of Treaties as a retiring from fighting like Beasts to arguing like Men whose strength should be more in their Understandings than in their Limbs And tho I could seldom get opportunities to Treat yet I never wanted either desire or disposition to it having greater confidence of my Reason than my Sword I was so wholly resolved to yield to the first that I thought neither My self nor others should need to use the second if once we rightly understood each other Nor did I ever think it a diminution of Me to prevent them with expresses of My Desires and even Importunities to Treat It being an office not only of Humanity rather to use Reason than Force but also of Christianity to seek peace and ensue it As I was very unwillingly compelled to defend My self with Arms so I very willingly embraced any thing tending to Peace The events of all War by the Sword being very dubious and of a Civil War uncomfortable the End hardly recompencing and late repairing the mischief of the Means Nor did any success I had ever enhaunce with Me the price of Peace as earnestly desired by Me as any man tho I was like to pay dearer for it than any man All that I sought to reserve was Mine Honour and My Conscience the one I could not part with as a KING the other as a Christian The Treaty at Vxbridg gave the fairest hopes of an happy Composure had others applied themselves to it with the same Moderation as I did I am confident the War had then ended I was willing to condescend as far as Reason Honour and Conscience would give Me leave nor were the remaining Differences so essential to my Peoples Happiness or of such consequence as in the least kind to have hindred My Subjects either Security or Prosperity for they better enjoyed both many years before ever those demands were made some of which to deny I think the greatest Justice to My self and Favor to my Subjects I see Jealousies are not so easily allayed as they are raised Some men are more afraid to retreat from violent Engagements than to engage what is wanting in Equity must be made up in Pertinacy Such as had little to enjoy in Peace or to lose in War studied to render the very name of Peace odious and suspected In Church affairs where I had least liberty of Prudence having so many strict ties of Conscience upon Me yet I was willing to condescend so far to the setling of them as might have given fair satisfaction to all men whom Faction Covetousness or Superstition had not engaged more than any true Zeal Charity or love of Reformation I was content to yield to all that might seem to advance true Piety I only sought to continue what was necessary in point of Order Maintenance and Authority to the Churches Government and what I am perswaded as I have elsewhere set down My thoughts more fully is most agreeable to the true Principles of all Government raised to its full stature and perfection as also to the primitive Apostolical Pattern and the practice of the Universal Church conform thereto From which wholly to recede without any probable reason urged or answered only to satisfie some mens wills and phantasies which yet agree not among themselves in any point but that of extirpating Episcopacy and fighting against Me must needs argue such a softness and infirmity of Mind in Me as will rather part with Gods Truth than Mans Peace and rather lose the Churches Honour than cross some mens Factious humors God knows and time will discover who were most to blame for the unsuccessfulness of that Treaty and who must bear the guilt of after-calamities I believe I am very excusable both before God and all unpassionate men who have seriously weighed those Transactions wherein I endeavoured no less the restauration of Peace to My People than the preservation of My own Crowns to My Posterity Some men have that
Images they should form and set up If there had been as much of Christs Spirit for Meekness Wisdom and Charity in mens hearts as there was of his Name used in the pretensions to reform all to Christs Rule it would certainly have obtained more of God's Blessing and produced more of Christs Glory the Churches good the Honour of Religion and the Unity of Christians Publick Reformers had need first act in private and practise that on their own hearts which they purpose to try on others for Deformities within will soon betray the Pretenders of publick Reformation to such private Designs as must needs hinder the publick good I am sure the right methods of Reforming the Church cannot consist with that of perturbing the Civil State nor can Religion be justly advanced by depressing Loyalty which is one of the chiefest Ingredients and Ornaments of true Religion for next to Fear God is Honour the King I doubt not but Christs Kingdom may be set up without pulling down Mine nor will any men in impartial times appear good Christians that approve not themselves good Subjects Christ's Government will confirm Mine not overthrow it since as I own Mine from Him so I desire to Rule for his Glory and his Churches good Had some men truly intended Christ's Government or knew what it meant in their hearts they could never have been so ill governed in their words and actions both against Me and one another As good Ends cannot justifie evil Means so nor will evil Beginnings ever bring forth good Conclusions unless God by a miracle of Mercy create Light out of Darkness Order out of our Confusions and Peace out of our Passions Thou O Lord who only canst give us beauty for ashes and Truth for Hypocrisie suffer us not to be miserably deluded with Pharisaical washings in stead of Christian Reformings Our greatest Deformities are within make us the severest Censurers and first Reformers of our own Souls That we may in clearness of Judgment and Vprightness of heart be a means to reform what is indeed amiss in Church and State Create in us clean hearts O Lord and renew right spirits within-us that we may do all by thy directions to thy Glory and with thy Blessing Pity the Deformities which some rash and cruel Reformers have brought upon this Church and State quench the fires which Factions have kindled under the pretence of Reforming As thou hast shewed the world by their Divisions and Confusions what is the pravity of some mens Intentions and weakness of their Judgments so bring us at last more refined out of these fires by the methods of Christian and charitable Reformations wherein nothing of Ambition Revenge Covetousness or Sacrilege may have any influence upon their counsels whom thy Providence in just and lawful ways shall entrnst with so great good and now most necessary a work That I and My People may be so blest with inward Piety as may best teach us how to use the Blessing of outward Peace XXI Vpon His MAJESTIES Letters taken and divulged THE taking of My Letters was an opportunity which as the malice of Mine Enemies could hardly have expected so they knew not how with honour and civility to use it Nor do I think with sober and worthy minds any thing in them could tend so much to My Reproach as the odious divulging of them did to the infamy of the Divulgers The greatest experiments of Virtue and Nobleness being discovered in the greatest advantages against an Enemy and the greatest Obligations being those which are put upon us by them from whom we could least have expected them And such I should have esteemed the concealing of My Papers The freedom and secrecy of which commands a Civility from all men not wholly barbarous nor is there any thing more inhumane than to expose them to publick view Yet since Providence will have it so I am content so much of My Heart which I study to approve to Gods Omniscience should be discovered to the world without any of those dresses or popular captations which some men use in their Speeches and Expresses I wish my Subjects had yet a clearer sight into My most retired Thoughts Where they might discover how they are divided between the Love and Care I have not more to preserve My own Rights than to procure their Peace and Happiness and that extreme Grief to see them both deceived and destroyed Nor can any mens Malice be gratified further by My Letters than to see My Constancy to my Wife the Laws and Religion Bees will gather Honey where the Spider sucks Poyson That I endeavour to avoid the pressures of my Enemies by all fair and just Correspondencies no man can blame who loves Me or the Commonwealth since My Subjects can hardly be happy if I be miserable or enjoy their Peace and Liberty while I am oppressed The World may see how some Mens design like Absolom's is by enormous Actions to widen differences and exasperate all Sides to such distances as may make all Reconciliation desperate Yet I thank God I can not only with Patience bear this as other Indignities but with Charity forgive them The Integrity of My Intentions is not jealous of any injury My Expressions can do them for although the confidence of Privacy may admit greater freedom in Writing such Letters which may be liable to envious exceptions yet the Innocency of My chief Purposes cannot be so stained or mis-interpreted by them as not to let all men see that I wish nothing more than an happy composure of Differences with Justice and Honour not more to My own than My Peoples content who have any sparks of Love or Loyalty left in them who by those My Letters may be convinced that I can both mind and act My own and My Kingdoms Affairs so as becomes a Prince which Mine Enemies have always been very loth should be believed of Me as if I were wholly confined to the Dictates and Directions of others whom they please to brand with the name of Evil Counsellors It 's probable some men will now look upon Me as My own Counsellor and having none else to quarrel with under that notion they will hereafter confine their anger to My self Altho I know they are very unwilling I should enjoy the liberty of My own Thoughts or follow the light of My own Conscience which they labour to bring into an absolute captivity to themselves not allowing Me to think their Counsels to be other than good for Me which have so long maintained a War against Me. The Victory they obtained that day when My Letters became their prize had been enough to have satiated the most ambitious thirst of Popular glory among the Vulgar with whom Prosperity gains the greatest esteem and applause as Adversity exposeth to their greatest slighting and disrespect As if good fortune were always the shadow of Virtue and Justice and did not oftner attend Vicious and Injurious actions as to this world But
intended do You perform when God shall give you Power Much Good I have offered more I purposed to Church and State if Times had been capable of it The deception will soon vanish and the Vizards will fall off apace This mask of Religion on the face of Rebellion for so it now plainly appears since My Restraint and cruel Usage that they fought not for Me as was pretended will not long serve to hide some mens Deformities Happy times I hope attend You wherein Your Subjects by their Miseries will have learned That Religion to their God and Loyalty to their King cannot be parted without both their Sin and their Infelicity I pray God bless You and establish Your Kingdoms in Righteousness Your Soul in true Religion and Your Honour in the Love of God and Your People And if God will have Disloyalty perfected by My Destruction let My Memory ever with My Name live in You as of Your Father that loves You and once a KING of Three flourishing Kingdoms whom God thought fit to honour not only with the Scepter and Government of them but also with the suffering many indignities and an untimely Death for them while I studied to preserve the rights of the Church the power of the Laws the Honour of My Crown the Priviledg of Parliaments the Liberties of My People and My own Conscience which I thank God is dearer to Me than a thousand Kingdoms I know God can I hope he yet will restore Me to My Rights I cannot despair either of his Mercy or of My Peoples Love and Pity At worst I trust I shall but go before You to a better Kingdom which God hath prepared for Me and Me for it through My Saviour Jesus Christ to whose Mercies I commend You and all Mine Farewell till We meet if not on Earth yet in Heaven XXVIII Meditations upon Death after the Votes of Non-addresses and His MAJESTIES closer Imprisonment in Carisbrook-Castle AS I have leisure enough so I have cause more than enough to meditate upon and prepare for my Death for I know there are but few steps between the Prisons and Graves of Princes It is God's Indulgence which gives Me the space but Man's Cruelty that gives Me the sad occasions for these thoughts For besides the common burthen of Mortality which lies upon Me as a Man I now bear the heavy load of other mens Ambitions Fears Jealousies and cruel Passions whose Envy or Enmity against Me makes their own lives seem deadly to them while I enjoy any part of Mine I thank God My Prosperity made Me not wholly a stranger to the contemplations of Mortality Those are never unseasonable since this is always uncertain Death being an Eclipse which oft happeneth as well in clear as cloudy days But My now long and sharp Adversity hath so reconciled in Me those natural Antipathies between Life and Death which are in all men that I thank God the common terrors of it are dispelled and the special horror of it as to My particular much allayed for altho My Death at present may justly be represented to Me with all those terrible aggravations which the policy of Cruel and Implacable enemies can put upon it affairs being drawn to the very dregs of Malice yet I bless God I can look upon all those stings as unpoisonous tho sharp since My Redeemer hath either pulled them out or given Me the Antidote of his Death against them which as to the Immaturity Unjustice Shame Scorn and Cruelty of it exceeded whatever I can fear Indeed I never did find so much the Life of Religion the Feast of a good Conscience and the brazen wall of a judicious Integrity and Constancy as since I came to these closer conflicts with the thoughts of Death I am not so old as to be weary of Life nor I hope so bad as to be either afraid to dye or ashamed to live true I am so afflicted as might make Me sometime even desire to dye if I did not consider that it is the greatest glory of a Christians life to die daily in conquering by a lively Faith and patient Hopes of a better life those partial and quotidian deaths which kill us as it were by piece-meals and make us overlive our own fates while we are deprived of Health Honour Liberty Power Credit Safety or Estate and those other Comforts of dearest relations which are as the Life of our lives Tho as a KING I think My self to live in nothing temporal so much as in the Love and good will of My People for which as I have suffered many deaths so I hope I am not in that point as yet wholly dead notwithstanding My Enemies have used all the poison of Falsity and violence of Hostility to destroy first the Love and Loyalty which is in my Subjects and then all that content of Life in Me which from these I chiefly enjoyed Indeed they have left Me but little of Life and only the husk and shell as it were which their further Malice and Cruelty can take from Me having bereaved Me of all those worldly Comforts for which Life it self seems desirable to men But O my Soul think not that life too long or tedious wherein God gives Thee any opportunities if not to do yet to suffer with such Christian Patience and Magnanimity in a good Cause as are the greatest Honour of our lives and the best improvement of our Deaths I knows that in point of true Christian Valour it argues Pusillanimity to desire to dye out of weariness of life and a want of that heroick greatness of spirit which becomes a Christian in the patient and generous sustaining those Afflictions which as shadows necessarily attend us while we are in this Body and which are lessened or enlarged as the Sun of our Prosperity moves higher or lower whose total absence is best recompenced with the dew of Heaven The assaults of Affliction may be terrible like Sampsom's Lion but they yield much sweetness to those that dare to encounter and overcome them who know how to overlive the witherings of their Gourds without discontent or peevishness while they may yet converse with God That I must dye as a man is certain that I may dye a King by the hands of my own Subjects a violent sudden and barbarous death in the strength of my years in the midst of my Kingdoms my Friends and loving Subjects being helpless Spectators my Enemies insolent Revilers and Triumphers over me living dying and dead is so probable in humane reason that God hath taught Me not to hope otherwise as to mans Cruelty however I despair not of God's infinite Mercy I know my Life is the object of the Devils and Wicked mens Malice but yet under God's sole custody and disposal whom I do not think to flatter for longer Life by seeming prepared to die but I humbly desire to depend upon him and to submit to his will both in life and death in what order soever he
the Ministers in the several Churches in London and in those parts of the Kingdom where His danger was known were very earnest in their Prayers to God for His Diliverance and Spiritual Assistance Some of them in their Sermons declared the horrour of that sin that was about to be committed detested the Impiety of the Parricides and denounced the heavy Judgments which such a sinful Nation polluted with their Prince's blood were to expect The Congregations were dissolved into Tears Some bewailed the sad Condition of the King as the effect of the Sins of the Nation Others cursed their damnable Credulity of the Slanders of that Just man and the promises of Liberty by their Impostors And another sort wept because their Fears did prognosticate those Miseries which the Issue of His blood would let in upon them And every one found matter of grief fear and indignation in the loss of so Excellent a Prince All countenances were full of sadness and astonishment there was no Tumults nor any Quiet every one listning and hearkning either as impatient to know the greatness of their Misery or greedy to receive some hopes of Comfort in their Sovereign's Safety otherwise there was a stilness like that which too strong Passions effect and might be thought a Stupidity rather than a Calmness The next day being Jan. 29. the King was permitted the sight of His Children His conference and words with them was taken in writing and communicated to the World by the Lady Elizabeth His Daughter a Lady of most eminent Endowments who though born in the supremest Fortune yet lived in continual Tears the passages of her Life being spent in beholding the Ruines of her Family and the Murther of her dear Father whom she not long survived but died in that Confinement to which they had cheated His Majesty in Carisbrook Castle in the Isle of Wight While these things were done in publick the Conspirators meet in private in a Committee to appoint every one their part in this Tragedy determine what Gestures they were to affect what Words they were to use as also for the manner place and time of the Murther In which Consultations both now and before the Sentence each one according to the bloodiness of his temperament or servilely to flatter Cromwell by their Cruelty to Him that did obstruct his Ambition did propose several ways either of contempt or hatred in killing their sentenced yet anointed Sovereign Some would have His Head and Quarters fastned upon Poles as it is usual with Traitors that the marks of their Curelty might out-last His Death Others would have Him hanged as they punished Thieves and Murtherers Others gave their Vote that He should suffer in His Royal Habiliments with His Crown and in His Robes that it might be a Triumph of the Peoples power over Kings At last they think it sufficient that He should lose His Head by the stroak of an Ax on a Scaffold near White-Hall Gates before the Banqueting-House that so from thence where He used to sit on His Throne and shew the Splendour of Majesty He might pass to His Grave there parting with the Ensigns of Royalty and laying them down as Spoils where He had before used them as the Ornaments of Empire Thus did they endeavour to make their Malice ingenious and provided Triumphs for their revenge And because they suspected or were informed that as the King had not owned their Authority so He would not submit to their Execution not willingly stoop to the Block they caused to be fastned in it some Iron Staples and Rings that by them with Cords they might draw Him down if He would not comply But His prudent Meekness prevented this Inhumanity and He died disowning their Authority though He could not escape their Power In the midst of these Preparations they cause some Souldiers to offer to His Majesty certain Articles and Conditions to which if He would subscribe they promise Life and the continuance of a precarious Empire either out of a Terrour and Fear of the consequents of their Impieties for the confidence of contriving great Crimes is often turned into a sollicitude when they come to be acted or out of Design to ruine His Conscience and Honour together with His mortal Life if He should consent But when one or two of them had been read to Him He refused to hear any more saying I will suffer a thousand deaths ere I will so prostitute my Honour or betray the Liberties of my People Thus mindful of Justice He would not deface the Splendor of His former Vertues with a too impotent desire of Life At last that Fatal Day Jan. 30. approached and that morning a little before His Death the Conspirators ordered some of their Ministers viz. Marshall Nye Caryl Salway and Dell to pray with Him as they said in order to His passage out of this Life but when these sent to let Him know the end of their coming He returned answer that He was busie they sent a second time and He replied that He was at His Devotions they importunately sent a third time and my Lord of London then desiring to know what answer he should give to satisfie them His Majesty then as unconcerned in their Ministery said My Lord you may give them what answer you please but I am resolved that they who have so often and so causelesly prayed against Me shall not in this My Agony pray with Me they may pray for Me if they please Therefore the King arming Himself with His own Devotions in the Offices of the Church of England in them found an unexpected Comfort for the Gospel for that Day being the History of the Passion of our Saviour did by that Example strengthen the King to follow Jesus and to take up His Cross and His Majesty was thankful for that Pattern Being thus confirmed by the Blood for He took the Sacrament that Morning and Sufferings of His LORD whose Vicegerent He was together with His own Innocency against the Terrors of Death He was brought from St James's through the Park to White-Hall walking very fast and with as chearful a Countenance as if He were going to Hunting a Recreation He was much pleased with often advising His slow guards to move faster adding I now go before you to strive for an Heavenly Crown with less sollicitude than I formerly have led My Souldiers for an Earthly Diadem And being come to the end of the Park He with much Alacrity went up the Stairs leading to the long Gallery in White-Hall and so into the Cabinet-Chamber where He continued some time in Devotion while they were fitting the Theatre of His Murther While these things were acting the Lord Fairfax who had always forborn any publick appearance in the practices of this Murther had taken up as is credibly reported some Resolutions either in abhorrency of the Crime or by the Solicitations of others with his own Regiment though none else should follow him to hinder the
from which We could never have been secured by declaring That no Member of either House upon any Accusation of Treason could have his Person seized without the Consent of that House of which he is a Member though the known Law be That Privilege of Parliament extends not to Treason and if it did any Member the House being for a short time adjourned and so their Consent not being so had how treasonable soever his Intentions were how clearly soever known and how suddenly soever to be executed must have fair leave given him to go on and pursue them no way how Legal soever after the passing such a Clause being left to prevent it To conclude We conjure you and all men to rest satisfied with the Truth of Our Professions and the Reality of Our Intentions not to ask such things as deny themselves that you declare against Tumults and punish the Authors that you allow Us Our Propriety in Our Towns Arms and Goods and Our share in the Legislative Power which would be counted in Us not only breach of Privilege but Tyranny and Subversion of Parliaments to deny to you And when you shall have given Us satisfaction upon those Persons who have taken away the one and recalled those Declarations particularly that of the 26. of May and those in the point of the Militia Our just Rights wherein We will no more part with then with Our Crown lest We enable others by them to take that from Us which would take away the other and declined the beginnings of a War against Us under pretence of Our Intention of making one against you as We have never opposed the first part of the Thirteenth Demand so We shall be ready to concurre with you in the latter And being then confident that the Credit of those men who desire a general Combustion will be so weakned with you that they will not be able to do this Kingdom any more harm We shall be willing to grant Our general Pardon with such Exceptions as shall be thought fit and shall receive much more joy in the hope of a full and constant Happiness of Our People in the True Religion and under the Protection of the Law by a blessed Union between Us and Our Parliament so much desired by Us then in any such increase of Our own Revenue how much soever beyond former Grants as when Our Subjects were wealthiest Our Parliament could have settled upon Us. His MAJESTIES Declaration made the 13 of June 1642. to the Lords attending his Majesty at York and to others of His Majesties Privy Council there Together with their Promise thereupon subscribed by them Charles R. WE do declare That We will not require nor exact any Obedience from you but what shall be warranted by the known Law of the Land as We do expect that you shall not yield to any Commands not legally grounded or imposed by any other And We do further declare That We will defend every one of you and all such as shall refuse any such Commands whether they proceed from Votes and Orders of both Houses or any other way from all dangers and hazards whatsoever And We do further declare That We will defend the true Protestant Religion established by the Law of the Land the lawful Liberties of the Subjects of England and just Privileges of all the three Estates of Parliament and shall require no further Obedience from you then as accordingly We shall perform the same And We do declare That we will not as is falsly pretended engage you or any of you in any War against the Parliament except it be for Our necessary defence and safety against such as do insolently invade or attempt against Us or such as shall adhere to Us. York 13. Junii 1642. The Promise of the said Lords and others WE do engage our selves not to obey any Orders or Commands whatsoever not warranted by the known Laws of the Land We do engage our selves to defend Your MAJESTIES Person Crown and Dignity together with Your Majesties Just and Legal Prerogative against all persons and power whatsoever We will defend the true Protestant Religion established by the Law of the Land the lawful Liberties of the Subject of England and just Priviledges of Your Majesty and both Your Houses of Parliament And lastly we engage our selves not to obey any Rule Order or Ordinance whatsoever concerning any Militia that hath not the Royal Assent York 13. Junii 1642. Subscribed by Lord Keeper L. D. of Richmond L. Marquess Hartford E. of Lindsey E. of Cumberland E. of Huntington E. of Bath E. of Southampton E. of Dorset E. of Salisbury E. of Northampton E. of Devonshire E. of Cambridge E. of Bristol E. of Westmorland E. of Berkshire E. of Monmouth E. of Rivers E. of Newcastle E. of Dover E. of Carnarvon E. of Newport L. Mowbray and Maltravers L. Willoughby of Eresby L. Rich. L. Ch. Howard of Charleton L. Newark L. Paget L. Chandos L. Falconbridge L. Paulet L. Lovelace L. Savile L. Coventry L. Mohun L. Dunsmore L. Seymour L. Grey of Ruthen L. Capell L. Falkland Mr. Comptroller Mr. Secretary Nicholas Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer L. Chief Justice Banks His MAJESTY's Declaration to all His loving Subjects occasioned by a false and scandalous Imputation laid upon His Majesty of an intention of Raising or Levying War against His Parliament and of having raised Force to that end Published at His Court at York the 16 day of June THough We have these last seven months met with so many several Encounters of strange and unusual Declarations under the names of both Our Houses of Parliament that we should not be amazed at any new Prodigy of that kind and though their last of the six and twentieth of May gave Us a fair warning that the Contrivers of it having spent all their stock of bitter and reproachful Language upon Us We were to expect they should now break out into some bold and disloyal Actions against Us and having by that Declaration as far as in them lies divested Us of that Preeminence and Authority which God the Law the Custom and Consent of this Nation had placed in Us and assumed it to themselves that they should likewise with expedition put forth the fruits of that supreme Power for the violating and suppressing that Power they despised an effect of which Resolution of their wild Declaration against Our Proclamation concerning the pretended Ordinance for the Militia and the punishing of the Proclaimers appears to be yet We must confess in their last Attempt We speak of the last We know they may probably since or at this present have outdone that too they have outdone what We conceive was their present intention and whosoever hears of Propositions and Orders for bringing in of Money or Plate to maintain Horse Horsemen and Arms for the preservation of the publick Peace or for the Defence of the King and both Houses of Parliament such is their Declaration or what else
Parliament as they had upon the first of January 1641. the same of right belonging unto them by their Birth-rights and the free Election of those that sent them and having been Voted from them for adhering to His Majesty in these Distractions His Majesty not intending that this should extend either to the Bishops whose Votes have been taken away by Bill or to such in whose places upon new Writs new Elections have been made 3. As soon as His Majesty and both Houses may be secured from such tumultuous Assemblies as to the great breach of the Privileges and the high Dishonour of Parliaments have formerly assembled about both Houses and awed the Members of the same and occasioned two several complaints from the Lords House and two several desires of that House to the House of Commons to joyn in a Declaration against them the complying with which desire might have prevented all these miserable Distractions which have ensued which Security His Majesty conceives can be only settled by Adjourning the Parliament to some other place at the least twenty Miles from London the choice of which His Majesty leaves to both Houses His Majesty will most chearfully and readily consent that both Armies be immediately disbanded and give a present meeting to both His Houses of Parliament at the time and place at and to which the Parliament shall be agreed to be Adjourned His Majesty being most confident that the Law will then recover the due credit and estimation and that upon a free debate in a full and peaceable Convention of Parliament such Provisions will be made against Seditious Preaching and Printing against His Majesty and the established Laws which hath been one of the chief causes of the present Distractions and such care will be taken concerning the Legal and known Rights of His Majesty and the Property and Liberty of His Subjects that whatsoever hath been published or done in or by colour of any illegal Declaration Ordinance or Order of one or both Houses or any Committee of either of them and particularly the Power to raise Arms without His Majesty's Consent will be in such manner recalled disclaimed and provided against that no seed will remain for the like to spring out of for the future to disturb the Peace of the Kingdom and to endanger the very Being of it And in such a Convention His Majesty is resolved by His readiness to consent to whatsoever shall be proposed to Him by Bill for the Real good of His Subjects and particularly for the better discovery and speedier conviction of Recusants for the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion for the prevention of practices of Papists against the State and the due execution of the Laws and true levying of the Penalties against them to make known to all the World how causeless those fears and jealousies have been which have been raised against Him and by that so distracted this miserable Kingdom And if this Offer of His Majesty be not consented to in which He asks nothing for which there is not apparent Justice on His side and in which He defers many things highly concerning both Himself and People till a full and peaceable Convention of Parliament which in Justice He might now require His Majesty is confident that it will then appear to all the World not only who is most desirous of Peace and whose fault it is that both Armies are not now disbanded but who have been the true and first cause that this Peace was ever interrupted or these Armies raised and the beginning or continuance of the War and the Destruction and Desolation of this poor Kingdom which is too likely to ensue will not by the most interessed passionate or prejudicate Person be imputed to His Majesty His MAJESTY'S Message to both Houses May 19. in pursuance of the foregoing Message SInce His Majesty's Message of the twelfth of April in which he conceived He had made such an Overture for the immediate Disbanding of all Armies and Composure of these present miserable Distractions by a full and free Convention in Parliament that a perfect and settled Peace would have ensued hath in all this time above a full Month procured no Answer from both Houses His Majesty might well believe Himself absolved before God and Man from the least possible Charge of not having used His utmost endeavour for Peace Yet when He considers that the Scene of all this Calamity is in the Bowels of His own Kingdom that all the Blood which is spilt is of His own Subjects and that what Victory soever it shall please God to give Him must be over those who ought not to have lifted up their hands against Him when He considers that these desperate civil Dissentions may encourage and invite a Foreign Enemy to make a Prey of the whole Nation that Ireland is in present danger to be totally lost that the heavy Judgments of God Plague Pestilence and Famine will be the inevitable Attendants of this unnatural Contention and that in a short time there will be so general a habit of uncharitableness and Cruelty contracted throughout the Kingdom that even Peace it self will not restore His People to their old Temper and Security His Majesty cannot but again call for an Answer to that His Message which gives so fair a Rise to end these unnatural Distractions And His Majesty doth this with the more earnestness because He doubts not the condition of His Armies in several parts His strength of Horse Foot and Artillery His plenty of Ammunition which some Men lately might conceive He wanted is so well known and understood that it must be confessed that nothing but the Tenderness and Love to His People and those Christian Impressions which always have and He hopes always shall dwell in His heart could move Him once more to hazard a Refusal And He requires them as they will answer to God to Himself and all the World That they will no longer suffer their fellow-Subjects to welter in each others Blood that they will remember by whose Authority and to what end they met in that Council and send such an Answer to His Majesty as may open a door to let in a firm Peace and Security to the whole Kingdom If His Majesty shall again be disappointed of His Intentions herein the Blood Rapine and Distraction which must follow in England and Ireland will be cast upon the Account of those who are deaf to the motion of Peace and Accommodation CHARLES R. May 19. 1643. OUR express Pleasure is That this Declaration of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford be read by the Parson Vicar or Curate in every Church and Chapel within Our Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales MDCXLIV April 15. The Petition of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford Presented to His MAJESTY the day before the Recess And His MAJESTY'S Gracious Answer to the same To the Kings most excellent
refused to consent to the Bill presented to His Majesty after this for the levying more Money for Ireland justly fearing that the same might be used as the former had been And for the few Cloaths for there were no Moneys intercepted by his Majesties Souldiers in His Majesties Quarters which are said to be intended for Ireland the same were intercepted near Coventry and going thither after that City had refused to receive His Majesty though at the Gates But His Majesty never refused to give any safe Pass through His Quarters for any Goods or Provisions which were intended or prepared for Ireland neither was the same ever desired For the Extracts and Copies of the Letters delivered by us to your Lordships from the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland and the Officers of the Army we have been and are willing that your Lordships should compare them with the Originals but for your having the Names of the Persons who writ the same since there can be no doubt of the truth of our Assertions we conceive it not reasonable to desire the same not knowing what inconvenience any of them since you seem not to like that Advice might incur if at any time they should be found within your Quarters And having now satisfied your Lordships in the matter of the Cessation we shall gladly proceed in the Treaty with your Lordships upon any thing that may be apparently good for His Majesties Protestant Subjects there and the re-setling of that Kingdom in His Majesties Obedience Their Reply 18. Feb. WE do conceive that the Arguments used by us might have fully satisfied your Lordships against His Majesties Power to make a Cessation with the Rebels in Ireland having answered whatsoever your Lordships have hitherto alledged to the contrary and offered if any other Doubts yet remain by Conference to clear them which still we are ready to do and we have heard nothing just or reasonable for that Cessation It will be made evident that the Necessities which by your Lordships were made Excuses for the Cessation were created on purpose to colour the same and we are compelled by your Lordships Paper to let you know that the Committees of Parliament sent into Ireland to endeavour to supply their Necessities were discountenanced by the principal Instruments for that Cessation and when they had taken up 2000 l. upon their personal security for the Army there they were presently after commanded from the Council by a Letter brought thither from His Majesty by the Lord Ormond's Secretary and when the Officers of the Army were contented to subscribe for Land in satisfaction of their Arrears it was declared from His Majesty that He disapproved of such Subscriptions whereby that course was diverted And we do affirm that whatever Sums of money raised for Ireland were made use of by both Houses of Parliament were fully satisfied with advantage and as we are informed before the Bill mentioned in our former Paper was refused by His Majesty And for the Regiments of Horse and Foot mentioned by your Lordships to be raised for Ireland and imployed otherwise by the Houses of Parliament it is true that Forces were so designed and when the Money Arms and other Provisions were all ready and nothing wanting but a Commission from His Majesty for the Lord Wharton who was to command them the same could not be obtained which was the cause those Forces did not go thither and when twelve Ships and six Pinnaces were prepared with a thousand or more Land-Forces for the Service of Ireland and nothing desired but a Commission from His Majesty the Ships lying ready and staying for the same were three Weeks together at three hundred Pound a day charge yet the same was denyed though often desired And where your Lordships seem to imply that the Provision seized by His Majesties Forces were going for Coventry it was made known to His Majesty that the same were for Ireland And your Lordships must needs conceive that the Papers you delivered to us being but Extracts and for that you deny us so to compare them with the Originals as to have the Names of the Persons by whom they were written it is altogether unreasonable for us to give any credit to them it being manifest by this and our former Papers and Debates that the Cessation with the Rebels in Ireland is both unjust and unlawful We therefore insist on our Demands concerning Ireland as apparently good for His Majesties Subjects there and for reducing that Kingdom to His Majesties Obedience Before His Majesties Commissioners gave Answer to this last Paper they being also to answer the rest of the Demands concerning Ireland for their necessary Information touching some Doubts that did arise upon those Demands and the Articles of the Treaty of the 6 th of August concerning Ireland and Ordinances delivered with them the King's Commissioners gave in these several Papers The King's Commissioners First Paper 19. Feb. IN the eighth Article of the Treaty for the coming of the Scots Army into England dated 29. Novemb. 1643. at Edenburgh delivered to us by your Lordships among the Papers for Ireland and desired by the twelfth Proposition to be confirmed by Act of Parliament It is agreed that no Cessation nor any Pacification or Agreement for Peace whatsoever shall be made by either Kingdom without the mutual advice and consent of both Kingdoms or the Committees in that behalf appointed who are to have full power for the same in case the Houses of the Parliament of England or the Parliament or Convention of Estates in Scotland shall not sit We desire to know whether that Article extend to any Cessation Pacification or Agreement in Ireland Their Answer 19. Feb. WE did in Answer to your Lordships Paper of the first of February upon the Propositions concerning Religion deliver the Treaty of the 29. of November 1643. mentioned by your Lordships and not among the Papers for Ireland to which it hath no relation The King's Commissioners Reply 20. Feb. YOur Lordships did deliver the Treaty of the 29. of November 1643. to us with the Papers concerning Ireland and on the 7. day of this instant February and not upon the first of February upon the Propositions concerning Religion Their Answer 20. Feb. WHen your Lordships peruse your Papers you will rest satisfied with our Answer of the 19. of this instant to your first Paper that day given to us for it will appear appear by your Lordships third Paper of the first of February and our Paper given to your Lordships in answer of it that the Treaty of the date at Edenburgh 29. Novemb. 1643. was delivered to your Lordships on the first of February upon the Proposition of Religion and not upon the third of February with the Papers concerning Ireland The Article of the Treaty of the 29. of November 1643. which occasioned these Papers being by their Papers thus acknowledged not to concern Ireland and so not pertinent to that Subject the Kings