yielding up the Claim of Ship-Money to be an Act of pure Grace for very able Lawyers gave their Opinion that the King might exact it by Law and so I have told you did as able and no less knavish Divines But hearken I beseech you what the Wisdom of Parliament told him They declared it a new and unheard of Tax they voted it a most illegal Taxation and unsufferable Grievance they look'd into the Carriage of those Judges who advised the King in this matter and found that Sir JOHN FINCH a Gentleman of good Birth of an high and imperious Spirit ELOQUENT IN SPEECH tho in the knowledg of the Law not very deep in the Year 1636 when Ship-Money was first plotted and set on foot was made Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas and it appeared that by his Brokage and Sollicitation and that with Threats and Promises several of the Judges were wrought upon to give it under their hand that the King might by Law exact Ship-Money Thereupon an Impeachment of High Treason was drawn up against him and the great Lord FAVLKLAND tho an Admirer of the Church as you tell me presented it to the Lords with a very pithy and sharp Oration against Finch but he being at this time Lord-Keeper not daring to abide the Test took his Wings and fled in a disguise to Holland In Conclusion the Arbitrary Power pretended to be in the King of taxing the Subject without Consent in Parliament was not only declared to be against Law by the Judgment of both Houses but also by Act of Parliament Thus we rid our Hands of SHIP-MONEY And Now indeed Sir you come to that which might well raise your Choler and stir your Indignation The King passed a Bill to remove the Bishops out of the House of Lords he also passed a Bill for attainting the great Earl of Strafford which offered Violence to the Peace and Quiet of his Mind all the days of his Life To tell you the Truth Doctor the Parliament found the Bishops of that day to be the Troublers of the State and that it was by consequence become most necessary to abridg their immoderate Power usurped over the Clergy and other good Subjects which they had most maliciously abused to the hazard of Religion and great Prejudice and Oppression of the Laws of the Kingdom and just Liberty of the Subject They had cherish'd Formality and Superstition as the probable Supports of their own Ecclesiastical Tyranny and Vsurpation they had multiplied and enlarged the Differences between the common Protestants and those whom they called Puritans under which Name they included all those that desired to preserve the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and to maintain the true Protestant Religion They had been designing a Conjunction between Papists and Protestants in Doctrine Discipline and Ceremonies only it must not yet be called Popery They had triumphed in the Suspensions Excommunications Deprivations and Degradations of divers learned and pious Ministers in the Vexation and grievous Oppression of great numbers of the People whereby many thousands were impoverished and others were so afflicted and troubled by them that great numbers departed into New-England and other parts of America others into Holland The most of the Preaching that was allowed was degenerate into railing against Parliaments and Puritans because they were tenacious of just Liberty and true Religion crying up Absolute Authority Passive Obedience c. Streins of Wit fitter for a Stage than a Pulpit After the Dissolution of the Parliament in May 1640 They continued the Convocation and by unheard-of Presumption they made Canons contrary to the King's Prerogative to the Fundamental Laws of the Realm to the Right of Parliaments to the Property and Liberty of the Subject thereby establishing their own Vsurpations justifying their Altar-Worship and other Superstitious Innovations which they had formerly introduced without Warrant of Law they imposed a new Oath on the Subjects for maintenance of their own Tyranny and laid a great Tax upon the Clergy And now to sill up the measure of their Iniquity the House of Lords upon the 30th of December 1641 at a Conference with the Commons told them that the Bishops by a Protestation which they made to the King and Lords had deeply intrenched upon the Fundamental Priviledges and Being of Parliament whereupon the Commons impeached twelve of them of High-Treason in endeavouring to subvert the Fundamental Laws of the Realm and the very Being of Parliaments and they were by the House of Peers sequestred from Parliament committed to the Tower and shortly after by Act of Parliament most deservedly deprived of voting in the House of Peers I hope good Doctor you will acquiesce in the Reasons which I have here offered for the passing this Bill of Exclusion but the other Bill for attainting the great Earl of Strafford you say offered Violence to the Peace and Quiet of the King's Mind all the days of his Life This great Man who had long run on in a full Career to establish Tyranny trampling down the Peoples Liberties leaping the Hedges of the Laws or making Gaps through them was impeached by the Commons in many Articles some whereof were for ruling Ireland or which he had been Lord-Lieutenant in an Arbitrary way against the Fundamental Laws which he had endeavoured to subvert For abusing his Power to the increase and encouragement of Papists for maliciously endeavouring to stir up Hostility between England and Scotland for labouring to subvert Parliaments and incense the King against them for levying Money by force of Arms for imposing an Oath upon the Subjects That they should not protest against any of the King's Commands for telling the King That he had an Army in Ireland which his Majesty might imploy to reduce this Kingdom to Obedience Upon this Impeachment the Earl was brought to Trial before the Lords which lasted from the 22d of March with but few days intermission till the midst of April After this long Trial the Commons voted him guilty of High-Treason in divers Particulars and drew up and passed a Bill of Attainder against him but 59 dissenting This Bill being carried to the Lords the King's Sollicitor General made it good by Law to the satisfaction of almost all that heard him The Judges also delivered their Opinions That the Matters proved against him amounted to Treason and so the Lords passed the Bill The King having after this called all the Judges to deliver their Opinions before him and also sent for FOUR BISHOPS TO RESOLVE HIM UPON SCRUPLE OF CONSCIENCE He at length gave the Royal Assent to this Bill Prithee now Doctor tell me what ail'd your Martyr's Conscience at this time There must be something extraordinary and not commonly taken notice of in this Matter that must as you affirm offer Violence to the Peace and Quiet of his Mind all the Days of his Life You know he exacted the Ship-Money without scruple of Conscience upon the Advice of some Lawyers And
Monarch might invade the just Rights of the People nor the People incroach upon the Rights of his Crown and Dignity Having said this you intimate that he told them something upon their presenting Petitions to him at Theobalds and New-market Then it seems that they called upon him likewise and 't is fit my Country-men should know for what seeing you do maliciously withhold it Upon the 1st of March 1641 BOTH HOUSES CALLED UPON HIS MAJESTY by their Petition presented at Theobalds That for the dispatch of the great Affairs of the Kingdom the Safety of his Person the Protection and Comfort of his Subjects he would be pleased to continue his Abode near the Parliament and not to withdraw himself to any the remoter Parts which if he should do must needs be a cause of great Danger and Distraction And they prayed him to accept this humble Counsel as the Effect of that Duty and Allegiance which they owed unto him and which would not suffer them to admit of any Thoughts Intentions or Endeavours but such as were necessary and advantagious for his Majesties Greatness and Honour and the Safety and Prosperity of the Kingdom Expressions surely that do not in the least savour of that Sedition and Rebellion with which at this time by you Doctor and many other WICKED Clergy-men the Memory of this great Parliament is charged The King being deaf to the importunate Supplication of the Lords and Commons for his Return They again called upon him more earnestly sending after him a Declaration to Newmarket by the Earles of Pembroke and Holland and a Committee of the Commons wherein they laid before him the Causes of their own Fears and Jealousies in these Particulars 1. That the design of altering Religion had been potently carried on by those in greatest Authority about him the Queen's Agent at Rome the Pope's Nuncio here are not only Evidences of this Design but have been great Actors in it 2. That the War with Scotland was procured to make way for this Intent and chiefly fomented by the Papists and other Popishly affected whereof we have many Evidences 3. That the Rebellion in Ireland was framed and contrived here in England and that the English Papists should have risen about the same time we have several Testimonies c. The Irish Rebels affirm that they do nothing but by Authority from the King they call themselves the Queen's Army The Booty which they take from the English they mark with the Queen's mark and it is proved that their purpose was to come to England after they had done in Ireland 4. The labouring to infuse into your Majesty's Subjects an evil Opinion of the Parliament and other Symptoms of a Disposition of raising Arms and dividing your People by a Civil War in which Combustion Ireland must needs be lost and this Kingdom miserably wasted and consumed if not wholly ruined and destroyed 5. That your Majesty sent away the Lord Digby by your own Warrant beyond the Sea after a Vote had passed in the House of Commons declaring that he had appeared in a Warlike manner at Kingston upon Thames to the Terror of your Majesty's good Subjects that he being so got beyond Sea he vented his traiterous Conceptions That your Majesty should declare your self and retire to a place of Strength and intimated some Service which he might do in those Parts whereby in probability he intended the procuring of some Foreign Force to strengthen your Majesty in that Condition into which he would have brought you which malicious Counsel we have great Cause to doubt made too deep an Impression in your Majesty CONSIDERING THE COURSE YOU ARE PLEASED TO TAKE OF ABSENTING YOUR SELF FROM YOUR PARLIAMENT and carrying the Prince with you which seems to express a purpose in your Majesty to keep your self in a readiness for the acting of it 6. The manifold Advertisements which we have had from Rome Venice Paris and other parts that they still expect that your Majesty has some great Design in hand for the altering of Religion the breaking the Neck of your Parliament and that you will yet find means to compass that Design That the Pope's Nuncio hath sollicited the Kings of France and Spain to lend your Majesty 4000 Men apiece to help to maintain your Royalty against the Parliament These are some of the grounds of our Fears and Jealousies which made us so earnestly to implore your Royal Authority and Protection for our Defence and Security in all the ways of Humility and Submission which being denied by your Majesty We do with Sorrow apply our selves to the use of that * The Militia Power which by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom resides in us yet still resolving to keep our selves within the Bounds of Faithfulness and Allegiance to your Sacred Person and your Crown And as to the Fears and Jealousies which his Majesty seemed to have entertained of them The Lords and Commons thus answered We have according to your Majesty's Desires laid our Hands upon our Hearts we have ask'd our selves in the strictest Examination of our Consciences we have search'd our Affections our Thoughts considered our Actions and can find none that can give your Majesty and just occasion to absent your self from Whitehall and the Parliament but that you may with more Honour and Safety continue there than in any other place Your Majesty lays a general Charge upon us if you will be graciously pleased to let us know the Particulars we shall give a clear and satisfactory Answer But what hope can we have of ever giving your Majesty Satisfaction when those Particulars which you have been made believe were true yet being produced and made known to us appeared to be false and your Majesty notwithstanding will neither punish nor produce the Authors but go on to contract new Jealousies and Fears upon general and uncertain grounds affording us no means or possibility of particular Answer to the clearing of our selves WE BESEECH YOUR MAJESTY TO CONSIDER IN WHAT STATE YOU ARE how easy and fair a way you have to Happiness Honour and Greatness Plenty and Security if you will join with the Parliament in the Defence of the Religion and publick Good of the Kingdom THIS IS ALL WE EXPECT FROM YOU and for this we return to you our Lives Fortunes and utmost Eadeavours to support your Majesty your just Soveraignty and Power over us but IT IS NOT WORDS THAT CAN SECURE US in these our humble Desires We cannot but too well and sorrowfully remember what GRACIOUS MESSAGES we had from you this Summer when WITH YOUR PRIVITY the bringing up the Army was in Agitation We cannot but with the like Affections recal to our Minds how not two days before your own coming to the Commons House you sent a GRACIOUS MESSAGE that you would always have care of their Priviledges as of your own Prerogative of the Safety of their Persons as of your own Children that which we expect which will give
whose Printer by an unhappy omission of one Letter ran him and me by consequence into a great mistake and I relying upon that Print said That the noble Lord Conway had avowed in Parliament that he never hated Popery whereas his words in truth were that he ever hated it convict me of Falshood in any one Particular there charged upon his incomparable Prince yet I have not had one Word either from him or Sir E. S. Therefore in good Manners I dismiss them from further trouble as I might have done my self had you not fallen foul upon me But seeing you must be scribling and have taken up the Cudgels we must come to A TRIAL OF SKILL To begin You appear very warm at first and therefore not so civil as a Man might hope you would be found who profess so much Candour and Temper as you sometimes do You say 'T is A LEWD PAMPHLET which goes under the Name of LUDLOW Why Lewd dear Sir 'T is a received Opinion amongst your Acquaintance at Billingsgate that to call a Woman Whore and say you will prove her so will bear an Action otherwise not I shall not therefore prosecute you for that because 't is only your say so you neither undertake nor offer one word to prove it And indeed should I implead you upon it I perceive you have express'd your self with that Caution that I should be Non-suited For you add that it goes under the Name of Ludlow by consequence it may not be his Why thus unmerciful Doctor You will not allow me to be Author of my own Book or Letter and yet you declare it a barbarous Act in a certain Essex Doctor his Name I understand is Walker and his Vertues and Piety will I doubt not find a room in future Annals and Records 't is your own delicate Expression when yours will be forgotten I say you allow him not to deny that your Martyr was the Author of Eicon Basilice I meet Sir in the next place with a taste of your healing Spirit You treat me and those who believe the Truth that you are no way able to gain-say in a highly obliging and most endearing manner Pag. 2 3. A vile Brood a factious Crew We are say you I may not now betray my own Innocence so far as to suffer any thing of this to pass upon me without a Vindication I have asserted that your SAINT was a NOTORIOVS TYRANT and for ought you tell me to the contrary very fairly proved it and that by abundance of Instances Am I Unjust therein Why then do not you refute me Am I in the Right Why then will you set your self to out-face the Truth That you do so I shall demonstrate after I have minded you out of my former Letter what things you are either to falsify or justify for you must know that Railing no more than Persecution can ever make a Convert when you scrible again if you intend to convince any Man of an Error who believes that King Charles the First was a Tyrant And I must tell you that I am induced to make the Repetition which ensues because I cannot perceive by the reading your Tract that you have look'd beyond my Title Page for there you find the only thing you mention of mine and that with Indignation THE VILE BROOD you say call this Day THE MADDING-DAY I am most sure that you do not answer nor so much as cast a look towards any one Paragraph or Sentence of my Letter Therefore This informs you that amongst many others the following Acts of Tyranny are there enumerated and placed to your Martyr's Account I shall to oblige you begin with the Church for I know 't will please you to see that precede the State 1. THE KING we are talking of in a Letter which he wrote to the Pope saluted Antichrist with the Title of Sanctissime Pater Most holy Father HE procured the Pope's Dispensation for his Marriage which was solemnized according to the Ceremonies of the Romish Church HE agreed to Articles upon his Marriage that Papists should be no more molested for their Religion HE built Somerset-House Chappel with conveniency for Friars and permitted them to walk abroad in their Habits HE assumed to himself a Power to dispense with the Laws in favour of Popery particularly the 21th and 27th of Queen Elizabeth by granting Pardons to Jesuits and Papists which passed by immediate Warrant HE inhibited and restrained both Ecclesiastical and Temporal Officers to intermeddle with Papists which amounted to a Toleration Popish Jurisdiction was exercised and avowed in Ireland Monasteries and Nunneries were erected there and filled with Men and Women of several Orders HE made above an hundred Popish Lords and Gentlemen Lot as Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants Justices of the Peace c. And his LORD TREASURER Weston died a Papist Are these my good Doctor any of the VERTVES and GRACES which King William and Queen Mary as you tell them in your Dedication do daily imitate 2. To pass on to the State of the Church of England in his Reign Well might Men cry in that day The Church O THE CHVRCH This King's Bishops generally speaking were unsound in their Principles they laid new Paintings on the Face of the old Whore of Babylon to make her shew lovely They countenanced and cherished Papists and depressed Orthodox Preachers how conformable soever in particular Archbishop Land whom you Doctor will have to be a tolerably good Man allowed Books which favoured Popery but denied to license Books that were written against it This King's CHAPLAINS endeavoured to reconcile England to Rome and scoffed at Preaching Bibles and all shew of Religion MOVNTAGVE one of his Chaplains being prosecuted in Parliament for Crimes of this nature your Martyr was incensed thereat granted him a Pardon and made him Bishop of Chichester And now Doctor pray tell me have our most Excellent King and Queen made any such Bishops or Chaplains as these 3. THIS KING in his first Year lent eight SHIPS which he equipp'd with Monies given for the Relief of his distressed Protestant Sister the Electress Palatine and the oppressed Protestants of the Palatinate TO THE FRENCH KING to fight against the distressed Protestants of Rochel These Ships were employ'd against the Rochellers and the French boasted that they mowed the Hereticks down like Grass Pray Sir your Opinion in the case Can you think their present Majesties will ever imitate their ROYAL GRANDFATHER in this Point 4. King Charles the First in the very beginning of his Reign took our Goods from us against our Wills and our Liberties against the Laws he raised an Army and required the Countries to furnish Coat and Conduct-Mony and against the known Laws put several to Death by Martial Law HE levied Money upon the Subject by way of Loan and menaced the City of London that if they would not advance him Money HE WOULD FRAME HIS COUNSELS AS APPERTAINED TO A KING That surely dear Doctor
though they retracted their Opinions both Houses of Parliament voted and his Majesty at length acknowledged it to be an illegal and unjust Exaction Yet that Guilt soon were off and we never heard that thereby or by any other of the almost innumerable Oppressions of his People no nor by his destroying the poor Protestants of Rochel the Quiet of his Mind was any way disturbed Now in the Case we are upon here was a fair and most solemn Trial The Lords and Commons voted the Crimes Treason The King's Counsel and Judges avowed the same The Bishops MARK THAT DOCTOR pick'd the Thorn out of his Conscience Nevertheless his passing this Bill violated the Peace of his Mind all the days of his Life To offer something towards the enlightning you in this Matter allow me to remind you what you have before read When the Duke of Buckingham was impeached for Treason this same King told the Parliament THAT BVCKINGHAM HAD NOT INTERMEDLED NOR DONE ANY THING CONCERNING THE PURBLICK BUT BY HIS SPECIAL DIRECTIONS Now I have a strong fancy that the unhappy Earl of Strafford ' s Case was the same with the Duke's 'T is a mischievous Conscience with whom one good Deed is so hard to pass down as to endanger almost a choaking and bad Deeds without number tho as big and as bulky as the Buin of three Kingdoms go down currently without straining and that it disturbed the Quiet of the King's Mind that he could not preserve this as he had done his other Servant in the execution of his own Commands And no marvel it stung his Conscience to adjudg to death those Misdeeds whereof himself had been the chief Author In the next place good Doctor you inform us That the King signed a Bill for a Triennial Parliament which certainly was as great a condescention as was ever made by a Prince I Why now 't is very unlucky Doctor that when you think your self certainly in the right you are most undoubtedly in the wrong for this Act for a TRIENNIAL PARLIAMENT did not extend to so much as by Law the Parliament ought to have required there being at that time two Statutes of Edward 3d in force for a Parliament to be holden once a Year But now you bring me to an Act of superabundant Grace Pag. 6. you say That he passed an Act for the Parliament to sit during pleasure This was something indeed we must therefore examine what Reasons the Parliament had to insist upon this Bill and what the Motives were that brought the King to comply herein It appeared most evidently to both Houses by the Examinations and Confessions of several of the Criminals that sometime before the passing of the Bill for the continuance of the Parliament which was upon the 10th of May 1641. The KING had been tampering with the Army which he had raised against the Scots and which lay undisbanded in the North to bring them up to curb the Parliament and subdue them to his Will Many great Men were found to be engaged in this Conspiracy viz. Mr. Piercy Brother to the Earl of Northumberland Mr. Henry Jermin the Queen's Favourite afterwards Earl of St. Albans Mr. Goring eldest Son to the Lord Goring Mr. Wilmot the Lord Wilmot's eldest Son Sir John Suckling Colonel Ashburnham Pollard Oneal an Irish Papist and many others these had taken an Oath of Secrecy among themselves To joyn with this Army and strengthen the Plot a French Army was to be landed at Portsmouth which Town for that purpose was to be put into Mr. Jermyn's hands and the * The Parliament had addressed the King to disband this Army but he answer'd That he would not allow of the disbanding the Irish Army for divers Reasons best known to himself Irish Army consisting of 8000 almost all Papists was to be brought over Upon the Discovery of this horrid Plot Piercy †Jermin after this Discovery went off with a Pass under the King 's own Hand which commanded the Governour of Portsmouth to provide with all speed a Ship to carry him to any Port of France Jermin and Suckling fled into France Goring being taken made an ingenuous Confession and so was discharged Oneal Wilmot Ashburnham and others were committed to the Tower from whence Oneal was permitted to make his Escape Mr. Piercy by a Letter from beyond the Seas to his Brother the Earl of Northumberland dated the 14th of June confessed much of this Conspiracy in particular the taking the Oath of Secrecy And that they had agreed to engage the Army to stand by the King against the Parliament in The preserving the Bishops Functions and Votes The not disbanding the Irish Army till the Scots were disbanded The endeavouring to settle his Revenue to that proportion it was formerly That he imparted all this to the King and perceived that he had been treated with by others concerning something of the Army which did not agree with those Proposals BUT INCLINED A WAY MORE HIGH AND SHARP NOT HAVING LIMITS EITHER OF HONOUR OR LAW That Goring and Jermin were acquainted with the other Proceedings and that the King pressed Mr. Piercy to admit them to consultation To which he having yielded and sworn them to Secrecy acquainted them what he had proposed but HE FOVND THEIR PROPOSALS DIFFERED FROM HIS IN VIOLENCE AND HEIGHT Colonel Goring confessed upon his Examination that Jermin carried him to the King who asked him If he was engaged in any CABAL concerning the Army To which Goring answering That he was not The King said I command you then to join your self with Piercy and some others whom you will find with him at his Lodgings That he thereupon went and found with Mr. Piercy Wilmot Oneal and others That he and Jermin having first taken the Oath of Secrecy which the others had taken before Mr. Piercy made his Propositions viz. That the Army should presently be put into a posture to serve the King and then should send up a Declaration to the Parliament of these Particulars That nothing should be done in Parliament contrary to any former Act of Parliament and the King's Revenne be establish'd That Jermin propounded that the Army should be immediately brought to London and they SHOVLD MAKE SVRE OF THE TOWER and he confessed that he himself urged these things to shew the Vanity and Danger of the other Propositions without undertaking these Lieutenant Colonel Ballard and Capt. Chudleigh confessed that the French that were about London were to be mounted and would join with the Army and that the Clergy would raise 1000 Horse to assist them And Chudleigh added that the Queen had sent down Money to fortify PORTSMOUTH Further that Mr. Jermin ask'd him if he thought the Army would stick to their Officers in case the King and Parliament should not agree It further appeared by the Confessions of Sir Jacob Ashley Sir John Conniers and Capt. Legg eminent Commanders in the King's Army that Oneal the Papist was a
Confidence were begot betwixt your Majesty and your Parliament whose grave and loyal Counsels are we humbly conceive the visible way under God to put a speedy end to the Troubles of Ireland and establish your Throne in Righteousness We most humbly supplicate that we may represent our Vnfitness to become Judges betwixt your Majesty and Parliament in any thing or dispute the Authority of either which we humbly conceive do fortify each other We shall be ready to maintain your Majesty's just Rights the Priviledges and Power of Parliaments and the lawful Liberties of the Subjects I have now shown you Doctor that the King wanted not Invitations to return and live in Honour and Safety at London The Parliament importunately press'd it the Gentlemen and Freeholders of Yorkshire humbly supplicated it But nothing is more certain than that instead of hoping to cool the Heats at London by retiring to York 't was his sole purpose and intention to put that Country and the whole Kingdom into a Flame as he quickly did and pursuant to that Design having rejected with Scorn the Petitions I have mentioned he persisted in his former way of raising Forces and made Proclamation requiring all Gentlemen and others of that County to attend him in Arms. The Lords and Commons wisely foreseeing the impending Mischief and observing the Clouds to gather so fast and threaten a Storm they as wisely endeavoured to prevent it and therefore passed a Vote May 20 1642 That it appears the King seduced by wicked Counsel intends to make War against the Parliament who in all their Consultations and Actions have proposed no other end unto themselves but the Care of his Kingdom and the performance of all Duty and Loyalty to his Person 2. That whensoever the King maketh War upon the Parliament it is a Breach of the Trust reposed in him by his People contrary to his Oath and tending to the Dissolution of the Government 3. That whosoever shall serve or assist him in such War are Traitors by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom and have been so adjudged by two Acts of Parliament and ought to suffer as Traitors 11 Rich. 2. 1 Hen. 4. But I must hear you Pag. 10. Sir upon this Point of the first beginning of the unnatural and bloody War you suggest that he was forced to raise an Army which was after the Parliament had voted a Necessity of a War with him Will you never leave your L Doctor The Parliament did not vote a necessity of a War They indeed voted as I told you but now That it appeared that the King intended to make War against them and it was near two Months afterwards viz. the 12th of July 1642 that the Lords and Commons finding his Majesty to persist in that Intention voted that an Army should be forthwith raised for the Safety of the King's Person Defence of both Houses of Parliament and preserving of the true Religion the Laws Liberty and the Peace of the Kingdom That the Earl of Essex should be General and that they will live and die with him in this Cause and that the Earl of Bedford should be General of the Horse Nevertheless they resolved that a Petition should be presented to his Majesty by the Earl of Holland Sir John Holland and Sir Philip Stapleton to move the King to a good Accord with his Parliament to prevent a Civil War which was to the effect following Although We your Majesty's most humble and faithful Subjects the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament have been very unhappy in many former Petitions to your Majesty and with much Sorrow do perceive that your Majesty incensed by many false Calumnies and Slanders doth continue to raise Forces against us and to make great Preparations for War both in the Kingdom and from beyond the Seas yet such is our earnest desire of discharging our Duty to your Majesty and the Kingdom to preserve the Peace thereof and to prevent the Miseries of Civil War That notwithstanding we hold our selves bound to use all the Means and Power which by the Laws and Constitutions of this Kingdom we are trusted with for Defence and Protection thereof and of the Subjects from Force and Violence We do in this our humble and loyal Petition prostrate our selves at your Majesty's Feet beseeching that you will forbear and remove all Preparations and Actions of War That you will come nearer to your Parliament and hearken to their faithful Advice and humble Petitions which shall only tend to the Defence and Advancement of Religion your own Royal Honour and Safety the preservation of our Laws and Liberties And we have been and ever shall be careful to prevent and punish all Tumults and seditious Actings Speeches and Writings which may give your Majesty just cause of Distaste or apprehension of Danger And we for our Parts shall be ready to lay down all those Preparations which we have been forced to make for our Defence And for the Town of Hull and the Ordinance concerning the Militia as we have in both these Particulars only sought the preservation of the Peace of the Kingdom and the Defence of the Parliament from Force and Violence so we shall most willingly leave the Town of Hull in the state it was before Sir John Hotham drew any Forces into it delivering your Majesty's Magazine into the Tower of London We shall be ready to settle the Militia by a Bill in such a way as shall be honourable and safe for your Majesty most agreeable to the Duty of Parliament and effectual for the Good of the Kingdom that the Strength thereof be not employed against it self and that which ought to be for our Security applied to our Destruction And that the Parliament and those who profess and desire still to preserve the Protestant Religion both in this Realm and in Ireland may not be left naked and indefensible to the mischievous Designs and cruel Attempts of those who are the profess'd and confederate Enemies thereof in your Majesty's Dominions and other Neighbour Nations To which if your Majesty's Courses and Counsels shall from henceforth concur We doubt not but we shall quickly make it appear to the World by the most eminent Effects of Love and Duty That your Majesty's personal Safety your Royal Honour and Greatness are much dearer to us than our own Lives and Fortunes which we do most heartily dedicate and shall most willingly imploy for the support and maintenance thereof And now Sir I appeal to you and to all the World Whether these Men talk'd here as though they were resolved to make War and engross all into their own Hands let what would become of the King as a certain Aldgate Doctor of Divinity falsly accuses the Lords and Commons Thanks be to God Sir John Holland as well as Sir John Prattle is yet alive in Norfolk in perfect Health and Understanding and is ready to give the same account I have here given you to any Man that asks