sitting in Council there having not quite lost the Affections of English-men took the examination of that Affair into their hands and suspended Smith from the execution of his Office till he should give Satisfaction concerning those things of which he was accused They committed the Management of the Place to one Thorp and sent some of their own Number to enquire concerning our Usage In the mean time Smith came to me by Order and offered me the liberty of the Town and to lodg where I pleased therein upon my Parole to be a true Prisoner but demanding of him whether in case I accepted his Offer I might have the liberty to visit my Friends in the Castle when I thought fit and he answering that it would not be allowed I chose rather to be confined with my Friends than at liberty with my Enemies The Lord Arundel endeavouring to make good his Promise of procuring my Exchange for his two Sons earnestly solicited the King to it but tho he had been a great Sufferer for his Service the King positively refused to grant his Request telling him he had no use of Children The Lady Byron came to me and desired me to procure her Husband who was Prisoner in the Tower to be exchanged for me and carried a Letter from me to my Mother then at London about it who soliciting the Earl of Essex our General to that effect was desired by him not to trouble her self any more therein assuring her that he would be as careful of me as if I were his own Son A Person from Sir Edward Stradling came also to me in order to an Exchange between us telling me that the King had promised that nothing of that nature should be done before Sir Edward Stradling and Col. Lunsford were exchanged The Lord Willmot sent a Gentleman to acquaint me that he had procured a Grant from the King that I should be exchanged for Sir Hugh Pollard and that if I would write a Letter to the Earl of Essex with the Proposal he would send it by a Trumpeter but I judging this Exchange to be very unequal Sir Hugh being a Person much esteemed for his Interest and Experience proposed in my Letter to the Lord General that he would put some other Person with me into the Balance against him Whilst I was in expectation of the General 's Answer we received Advice that most of our Foot that lay before Newark commanded by Sir John Meldrum a worthy Scots-man were defeated and made Prisoners by Prince Rupert But this Loss was in some measure recompensed by a Victory obtained at Cherington in Hampshire by our Forces commanded by Sir William Waller against those of the King commanded by Sir Ralph Hopton The Numbers on each side were very near equal and the Success had been doubtful for the most part of the day but at last the Enemy was totally routed and put to flight And had good use been made of this Victory the Controversy had soon been decided in the West but we were not yet so happy to improve our Advantages by which Negligence we got little more than the Field and the Reputation of the Victory tho the Enemy lost some of their principal Officers in the Fight amongst whom were the Lord John Brother to the Duke of Lennox Sir Edward Stawell Col. Richard Manning formerly mentioned and that Smith who had been knighted by the King for rescuing his Standard out of the hands of Mr. Chambers Secretary to the Earl of Essex This Fight at Cherington happened on the 29 th of March 1644. about a Fortnight after the Surrender of Warder-Castle till which time had I been able to keep it I should have been relieved The Enemies Officers came to the Castle at Oxford to solicit the Prisoners to take Arms under them but finding their Endeavours to prove ineffectual they soon desisted from that Attempt After three Weeks Confinement here my Exchange was agreed the Lord General Essex expressing much Generosity and Readiness in it as he had promised to my Mother for lest the King should be reminded of his Promise to Sir Edward Stradling and Col. Lunsford or of that to my Lord Willmot in favour of Sir Hugh Pollard and so on either hand the design of my Liberty come to be obstructed he consented to the Exchange of all the three for Col. Houghton Sir John Savil Capt. Abercromy and my self Col. Henley went off also with us being exchanged for Lieutenant Colonel Robert Sandys I was led blindfold through the City of Oxford till I had passed their Works and the next day arrived at London where I found the Earl of Essex disposed to an Exchange for my Officers and Souldiers which was soon after made and with them for Mr. Balsum whom he entertained as his Chaplain to the time of his Death He expressed a great Desire to provide me with a Command in his Army but the Parliament upon the Instances of the Gentlemen that served for the County of Wilts having appointed me Sheriff thereof upon an Invitation of Sir Arthur Haslerig to be Major of his Regiment of Horse in Sir William Waller's Army which was designed for the Service of the West I accepted of it and mounted the choicest of my old Souldiers with me Sir Arthur buying a hundred Horse in Smithfield for that purpose the rest of my Men the Lord General took into his own Company As soon as my Troop was compleated and furnished with all things necessary I repaired to the Regiment then with Sir William Waller near Abingdon who was directed by the Parliament with his Army to block up the King at Oxford on one side whilst the Earl of Essex should do the same on the other Which Storm the Queen foreseeing withdrew to Exeter where she was delivered of a Daughter which she leaving in the Custody of the Lady Dalkeith returned to France as well to secure her self as to solicit for Supplies In the mean time the King breaking out from Oxford marched towards Worcestershire upon which the Earl of Essex commanded Sir William Waller to march after him whilst he himself with his Army marched westward This Order seemed very strange to the Parliament and to most of us being likely to break Sir William Waller's Army which consisted for the most part of Western Gentlemen who hop'd thereby to have been enabled to secure the Country and to promote the Publick Service The Parliament sent to the Lord General to observe his former Orders and to attend the King's Motions but he sending them a short Answer continued his March West in which he took Weymouth and relieved Lyme that had endured a long Siege and with the Assistance of the Seamen tho their Works were inconsiderable had often repulsed the Enemy and killed great numbers of them in several Sallies that they made upon them A Party commanded by Sir Robert Pye was ordered to Taunton which he reduced to the Obedience of the Parliament Upon the Advance of the
about threescore of the Commissioners set their Hands and Seals directing it to Col. Hacker Col. Hunks and Col. Phaier or either of them The Duke of Glocester and the Lady Elizabeth waited on the King the same day to take their leave of him An Extraordinary Ambassador from the United Provinces had his Audience in the Parliament his business was to intercede with them for the Life of the King and to preserve a fair Correspondence between England and the States The next day about eight in the Morning the King attended by a Guard was brought from St. James's through the Park to Whitehall where having drunk a Glass or two of red Wine and stayed about two hours in a private Room he was conducted to the Scaffold out of a Window of the Banqueting-house and having made a Speech and taken off his George he kneeled down at the Block and the Executioner persormed his Office The Body was ordered to be interred at Windsor The Duke of Lenox the Marquiss of Hertford the Earls of Southampton and Lindsey with some others having Leave from the Parliament attended it to the Grave A Report of the Proceedings of the High Court of Justice being made to the Parliament they declared That the Persons imployed in that important Service had discharged their Trust with Courage and Fidelity that the Parliament was well satisfied with the Account of their Proceedings ordering them to be engrossed and recorded amongst the Parliament-Rolls in order to transmit the Memory thereof to Posterity and resolved that the Commissioners of the Great Seal should issue a Certiorari to their Clerk to record those Proceedings in the Chancery and that the same should be sent to the other Courts at Westminster and to the Custos Rotulorum of each County Judg Jenkins Sir John Stowel and divers other Persons who were Prisoners and had carried themselves very insolently now finding the Parliament to be in earnest began to come to a better Temper Colonel Middleton who was also a Prisoner at Newcastle upon Parole ran away to Scotland and being required to return answered That his Life was dearer to him than his Honour Sir Marmaduke Langdale made his escape also and Sir Lewis Dives through a House of Office in Whitehall The Lord Capel got out of the Tower but being discovered by a Waterman as he crossed the Thames he was seized in a House at Lambeth Duke Hamilton also escaped out of Windsor-Castle and came to Southwark where knocking at the Door of an Inn he was seized by a Souldier who knew him and was passing by that way whereupon he was committed to the Tower The House of Lords becoming now the Subject of the Consideration and Debate of the Parliament Lieutenant General Cromwell appeared for them having already had a close Correspondence with many of them and it may be presuming he might have farther use of them in those Designs he had resolved to carry on but they not meeting in their House at the time to which they had adjourned much facilitated their Removal so that the Question being put Whether the House of Commons should take Advice of the House of Lords in the Exercise of the Legislative Power it was carried in the Negative and thereupon resolved That the House of Peers was useless and dangerous and ought to be abolished and an Act was soon after passed to that effect After this they proceeded to declare That the Office of a King in this Nation is unnecessary burdensome and dangerous to the Liberty Safety and publick Interest of the People and therefore ought to be abolioshed and that they will settle the Government of the Nation in the way of a Commonwealth To this end they ordered a Declaration to be published whereby it was declared Treason for any Person to endeavour to promote Charles Stuart to be King of England or any other single Person to be chief Governour thereof They also ordered the Great Seal and other Seals which had the Image of the late King on them to be defaced and appointed new ones to be made with the Stamp of the House of Commons on one side accompanied with this Inscription The Great Seal of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England On the other side was engraven the Cross and the Harp being the Arms of England and Ireland with this Inscription God with us Ordering all Writs formerly running in the King's Name to be issued out in the Name of the Keepers of the Liberty of England A High Court of Justice was constituted by Act of Parliament for the trying of Duke Hamilton the Earl of Holland the Lord Goring the Lord Capel and Sir John Owen Duke Hamilton pleaded that he entred into England as an Enemy being of another Nation and born before the Act of Union and consequently not to be tried by the Laws of this besides he had surrendred himself upon Conditions The rest of the Lords pleaded Articles also and so did Sir John Owen But that Allegation appeared to be of no weight by the Testimony of the General in relation to the Lords Goring and Capel and by the Evidence of Col. Wayte touching Duke Hamilton the like being affirmed by other Witnesses against the Earl of Holland and Sir John Owen for if there had been any Promise made to any of them either implicitely or by word of Mouth it could only extend to protect them from the Military not the Civil Sword And as to the Plea for Duke Hamilton that he was born before the two Nations were united it was answered that they tried him not as Duke Hamilton but as Earl of Cambridg in which Capacity he had sate as a Peer of England and therefore a Subject thereof So that upon full Evidence they were all sentenced by the Court to have their Heads struck off for High Treason in levying War against the Parliament of England Earnest Solicitations and Petitions were made for them to the Parliament but they thought not fit to reprieve the Duke the Earl of Holland or the Lord Capel Touching the Lord Goring the House was equally divided and the Speaker having upon such Occasions the determining Voice gave it for his Reprieve Commissary General Ireton observing no Motion consider that he was a Commoner and therefore more properly to have been tried in another way by a Jury whereupon the House reprieved him also The other three were executed a day or two after in the New Palace-Yard before Westminster-Hall in pursuance of a Warrant signed by the Court to that purpose the Parliament refusing to hearken to the Earl of Denbigh who proposed on the behalf of Duke Hamilton his Brother-in-law to give them a Blank signed by the said Duke to answer faithfully to such Questions as should be there inserted The Parliament having resolved to constitute a Council of State the better to carry on the executive part of the Government authorized five of their Members to agree upon the Number and Persons of such as they
in some measure assured that they would be true to what they promised in case the Common-wealth Interest should come to be disputed before we would report their Condition to the House Some of the House of Lords having procured themselves to be chosen by the People sat in Parliament upon the Foot of their Election in which Number was Philip Earl of Pembroke who being chosen by the Freeholders of the County of Berks upon his admission to the House signed the Engagement as the rest of the Members who sat there had done the Contents of which was To be true and faithful to the Commonwealth as it was established without a King or House of Lords The same Engagement was taken by the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Edward Howard when they took their Places in Parliament after they had been elected to serve there Whilst we were thus providing for our Security in England our Affairs in Ireland had not the same Success the Earl of Ormond having reconciled the English in Munster to the Supreme Council of the Irish Rebels the Scots also in the North falling in with them against us with whom some Gentlemen of those Parts joined tho they had engaged themselves to the contrary Yet one thing happened tending very much to the preservation of Dublin and those few Places that were kept for the Parliament which was that Owen Roe O Neal who was General of the Old Irish as they were termed could by no means be brought to a Conjunction with the English Sir Charles Coote being besieged in London-derry agreed to supply the Besiegers with Powder upon their engaging to furnish him with such Provisions as he wanted which was performed on both sides and the Lord Inchequin who was besieging Dundalk promised to do the like for Colonel Monk who then commanded in that Place upon the same Conditions which was performed on Monk's part but as his Men were carrying off the Ammunition they were fallen upon by a Party of Inchequin's Horse the Ammunition taken away and many of them killed The Scots drawing about Dundalk most of the Garison revolted to them whereupon Monk delivered up the Place upon condition that he should be permitted to return into England where being arrived he met with a cold Reception from the Parliament upon suggestion that he had corresponded with the Irish Rebels About this time an Agent from Owen Roe O Neal came privately to London and found out a way to acquaint the Council of State that if they thought sit a grant him a safe Conduct he would make some Propositions to them that would be for their Service The Council to avoid any Misconstruction of their Actions refused to hear him but appointed a Committee to speak with him of which I was one ordering us to report to them what he should propose His Proposition was that the Party commanded by O Neal should submit to and act for the Parliament if they might obtain Indemnity for what was passed and Assurance of the Enjoyment of their Religion and Estates for the time to come We asked him why they made application to us after they had refused to join with those who had been in Treaty with the King He answered that the King had broken his Word with them for tho they had deserved well of him and he had made them many fair Promises yet when he could make better Terms with any other Party he had been always ready to sacrifice them We asked him farther Why they had not made their Application sooner he told us because such Men had been possessed of the Power who had sworn their Extirpation but that now it was believed to be the Interest of those in Authority to grant Liberty of Conscience promising that if such Liberty might be extended to them they would be as zealous for a Commonwealth as any other Party instancing in many Countries where they were so We informed him that it was our Opinion that the Council would not promise Indemnity to all that Party they being esteemed to have been the principal Actors in the bloody Massacre at the beginning of the Rebellion Neither did we think that they would grant them the Liberty of their Religion believing it might prove dangerous to the Publick Peace The Council upon our Report of what had passed at the Conference concurred with our Opinion so that having no more to do with the Agent he was required to depart within a limited time The Farl of Ormond General Preston and the Lord Inchequin beginning to draw their Forces towards Dublin resolved first to reduce Tredah in order to which they sent Col. Worden thither with a strong Detachment of Horse and Foot who attempting to take it by Assault entred with most of his Men but was beat out again by an inconsiderable Number of ours Notwithstanding which the Garison wanting Men to desend their Works their Provisions also being almost consumed was obliged to capitulate and surrender upon condition that the Souldiers should have liberty to march to Duklin the rest to return home and to enjoy Protection there Dundalk and Tredagh being surrendred to the Enemy and Dublin threatned with a speedy Siege by the Forces of the Royalists and Irish combined together for the destruction of the English the Parliament taking into their serious Consideration the deplorable State of their distressed Friends resolved to send them Relief with all Expedition In the mean time the Enemy marched towards Dublin having sent a Party of Horse before to invest the Place and to prevent any Relief from Meath-side upon whose Approach Col. Jones with the Forces he had with him was obliged to retire to Jones A Party of Horse from the Town made a Sally upon the Enemy and were repulsed with some Loss but being reinforced from England by a Regiment of Horse commanded by Col. Reynolds and two Regiments of Foot Col. Jones being also come into the Town they resolved upon a vigorous Defence Immediately after the landing of these Supplies Dublin was formally besieged by the Enemy who had a great Army provided with all Necessaries for the carrying on of the Siege and furnished by the Country with Provisions in great abundance their Head-quarters being at Rathmims a Mile from Dublin towards Wicklom They took Rathfarnham by storm and sent fifteen hundred Men to fortify Baggatrath in order to hinder our Army from landing at Ringsend being within a quarter of a Mile of it and lying triangular with it and Dublin Baggatrath had a Rampart of Earth about it and the Enemy had wrought upon it to augment its Strength a whole Night before they were discovered But the next Morning Col. Jones perceiving their Design concluded it absolutely necessary to endeavour to remove them from thence before their Works were finished To that end he drew all his Forces both Horse and Foot to the Works that faced the Enemy and leaving as many as he thought necessary for the Defence of the Town sallied
Army to advance himself it being manifest that the preferring this Accusation at that time was principally designed to take him off from his Command and thereby to weaken the Army that their Enemies might be the better enabled to prevail against them The Design of the King's Escape was still carried on but by the Vigilance of the Governour of the Isle of Wight and his Officers it was discovered and prevented The next Morning after the Discovery they found the Iron Bars of the King's Chamber-window eaten through by something applied to them Whereupon those who were to have been instrumental in his Escape not knowing otherwise how to revenge themselves on those who had defeated their Enterprize accused Major Rolfe a Captain in that Garison very active and vigilant in his Charge of a Design to kill the King raising such a Clamour about it that the Parliament thought not sit to decline the putting him upon his Trial but the Accusation appearing to the Grand Jury to be grounded upon Malice they refused to find the Bill About the same time Capt. Burleigh who had beat a Drum at Newport for the rescuing of the King was brought to his Trial and the Jury having found him guilty of High Treason he was executed according to the Sentence Those of the Enemies commanded by the Lord Goring who had fled into Essex grew to a considerable Number but being new-raised Men and not well acquainted one with another upon the Advance of our Army retreated to Colchester with a Body so much exceeding ours which pursued and besieged them in that Place that Commissary General Ireton compared the Town and those therein to a great Bee-hive and our Army to a small Swarm of Bees sticking on one side of it but the number of ours was soon increased by the Forces which the well-affected in the Counties of Essex Suffolk Norfolk and Cambridg sent to their Assistance The Earl of Holland who at the beginning of the Parliament had appeared active for them and afterwards leaving them had gone to the King at Oxford when he supposed him to grow strong then again returning to the Parliament upon the declining of the King's Affairs publishing a Declaration at his coming to London that he left the King because he saw the Irish Rebels so eminently favoured by him in this low Condition of the Parliament revolted again and formed a Party of about a thousand Horse with which he marched from London and declared against them accompanied by the Duke of Buckingham whose Sequestration upon the account of his Minority when he first engaged with the King the Parliament had freely remitted and the Lord Francis his Brother prevailing also with Dalbeir formerly Quarter-Master-General to the Earl of Essex to join with them Their Rendezvouz was appointed to be upon Bansted-Downs but the Vigilance of the Parliament was such that a Party of Horse and Foot was soon sent after them commanded by Sir Michael Lewesey who without much Dispute put those Courtly Gentlemen to the rout The Lord Francis presuming perhaps that his Beauty would have charmed the Souldiers as it had done Mrs. Kirke for whom he made a splendid Entertainment the Night before he left the Town and made her a Present of Plate to the Value of a thousand Pounds stayed behind his Company where unseasonably daring the Troopers and refusing to take Quarter he was killed and after his Death there was found upon him some of the Hair of Mrs. Kirk sew'd in a piece of Ribbon that hung next his Skin The rest fled towards St. Neots in the County of Huntington where being fallen upon again they were routed a second time in which Action the Parliament's Souldiers to express their Detestation of Dalbeir's Treachery hewed him in pieces The Earl of Holland was taken and sent Prisoner to Warwick-Castle but the Duke of Buckingham escaped and went over to France Pomfret-Castle being seized by some of the King's Party was besieged by the Country assisted by some of the Army Sir Hugh Cholmely commanding at the Siege but the Army finding little Progress made therein ordered Col. Rainsborough with more Forces thither appointing him to command in the room of Sir Hugh Cholmely Whilst he was preparing for that Service being at Doncaster ten or twelve Miles from Pomfret with a considerable Force in the Town a Party of Horse dismounting at his Quarters and going up as Friends to his Chamber under pretence of having business with him seized him first and upon his Refusal to go silently with them murdered him After his Death another Commander being appointed in his place to carry on the Siege those in the Castle were reduced to such Extremities that some of the most desperate of them resolved together with their Governour one Morris who had been Page to the Earl of Strassord to endeavour the breaking through our Forces on Horseback which they attempted and tho most of them were beaten back to the Castle by the Besiegers yet this Morris made his way through but was afterwards taken as he passed through the Country in the Disguise of a Beggar and carried to York where he was arraigned before Justice Thorpe and being found guilty of Treason was executed for the same Lieutenant General Cromwell with that part of the Army which was with him besieged the Town and Castle of Pembroke whither the chief of that Party that fled from St. Faggons had made their Retreat as I said before but wanting great Guns he was obliged to send for some to Glocester which with much difficulty were brought to him This Place detained the greatest part of our Army about six Weeks but it was remarkable that about the time the Scots were entring into England the Garison for want of Provisions was forced to capitulate and surrender upon Articles by which some of them were to remain Prisoners and others to be banished into Ireland for three Years amongst the latter were Col. Thomas Stradling Sir Henry Stradling Col. Button and Major Butler of the first were Col. Laughern Col. Poyer and Col. Powell Twenty Thousand Scots being upon their March into England under the Conduct of Duke Hamilton with about five Thousand English commanded by Sir Marmaduke Langdale some of us who had opposed the Lieutenant General 's Arbitrary Proceedings when we were convinced he acted to promote a selfish and unwarrantable Design now thinking our selves obliged to strengthen his Hands in that necessary Work which he was appointed to undertake writ a Letter to him to encourage him from the Consideration of the Justice of the Cause wherein he was engaged and the Wickedness of those with whom he was to encounter to proceed with Chearfulness assuring him that not withstanding all our Discouragements we would readily give him all the Assistance we could The House of Commons declared the Scots who had invaded England to be Enemies and ordered the Lieutenant General to advance towards them and fight them But the Lords in this doubtful Posture
of Affairs declined to concur with them in the same Yet both of them with the City of London joined in driving on a Personal Treaty with the King in the Isle of Wight and to that end the Lords and Commons revoked the Votes for Non-Addresses whereby the King seemed to be on sure ground for that if the Scots Army failed he might still make Terms with the Parliament The King's Party in Colchester were also much encouraged with hopes of Relief from the Scots Army who were very numerous and well furnished with all things but a good Cause To fight this formidable Army the Lieutenant General could not make up much above seven thousand Horse and Foot and those so extremely harassed with hard Service and long Marches that they seemed rather fit for a Hospital than a Battel With this handful of Men he advanced towards the Enemy and about Preston in Lancashire both Armies met on the 17 th of August 1648. The English who were in the Scots Army had the Honour of the Van and for a time entertained ours with some Opposition but being vigorously pressed by our Men they were forced to retreat to a Pass which they maintained against us whilst they sent to their General for Succours which he not sending on purpose as was said that the English might be cut off and his Party kept intire to enable him to set up for himself and give Law to both Nations they began to shift for themselves which made such an Impression upon the Scots that they soon followed their Example retreating in a disorderly manner Ours followed them so close that most of their Foot threw down their Arms and yielded themselves Prisoners Many of the principal Officers of their Foot were taken with all their Artillery Ammunition and Baggage Hamilton with four or five thousand Horse in a Body left the Field and was pursued by Col. Thorney a Member of Parliament and Colonel of a Regiment of Horse a worthy and a valiant Man who following them too close and unadvisedly run himself upon one of their Lances wherewith he was mortally wounded which he perceiving by the wasting of his Spirits to express his Affection to his Country and Joy for the Defeat of the Enemy desired his Men to open to the right and left that he might have the Satisfaction to see them run before he died The Enemies Body of Horse kept themselves together for some days roving up and down the Country about Leicestershire which County the Lord Grey of Grooby had raised and brought together about three thousand Horse and Foot to preserve the Country from Plunder and to take all possible Advantages against the Enemy and tho a Body of Horse from the Army was in pursuit of the Scots yet the Leicestershire Party came up first to them at Uttoxeter in Staffordshire where the Body of the Enemies Horse was and whilst the Scots were treating with the other Party from the Army the Lord Grey's Men observing no Guards kept entred upon them before any Conditions were made whereupon Hamilton surrendred himself to Col. Wayte an Officer of the Leicestershire-Party delivering to him his Scarf his George and his Sword which last he desired him to keep carefully because it had belonged to his Ancestors By the two Parties the Scots were all made Prisoners and all their Horses seized the Duke of Hamilton was carried Prisoner to Windsor-Castle and all their Standards of Horse and Foot were taken and sent up to London where the Parliament ordered them to be hung up in Westminster-Hall The House of Lords who had avoided to declare the Scots Enemies whilst their Army was entire now after their Defeat prevented the House of Commons and moved that a Day might be appointed to give God Thanks for this Success The News of this Victory being carried to the Isle of Wight the King said to the Governour that it was the worst News that ever came to England to which he answered That he thought the King had no cause to be of that Opinion since if Hamilton had beaten the English he would certainly have possessed himself of the Thrones of England and Scotland The King presently replied You are mistaken I could have commanded him back with the motion of my Hand Which whether he could do or no was doubtful but whatever Reasons he had for this Opinion it seemed very unseasonable to own it openly in that Conjuncture Lieutenant General Cromwell marched with part of his Army to Edinburgh where he dispossessed the Hamiltonian Party of their Authority and put the Power into the hands of the Presbyterians by whom he was received with great Demonstrations of Joy and tho lately they looked upon the Independent Party as the worst of their Enemies yet now they owned and embraced them as their best Friends and Deliverers and having notice given them that the English Army was about to return into England they prevailed with the Lieutenant General to leave Major General Lambert with a Body of Horse till they could raise more Forces to provide for their own Safety The Treaty with the King being pressed with more heat than ever and a Design visibly appearing to render all our Victories useless thereby by the Advice of some Friends I went down to the Army which lay at that time before Colchester where attending upon the General Sir Thomas Fairfax to acquaint him with the state of Affairs at London I told him that a Design was driving on to betray the Cause in which so much of the Peoples Blood had been shed that the King being under a Restraint would not account himself obliged by any thing he should promise under such Circumstances assuring him that most of those who pushed on the Treaty with the greatest Vehemency intended not that he should be bound to the performance of it but designed principally to use his Authority and Favour in order to destroy the Army who as they had assumed the Power ought to make the best use of it and to prevent the Ruin of Themselves and the Nation He acknowledged what I said to be true and declared himself resolved to use the Power he had to maintain the Cause of the Publick upon a clear and evident Call looking upon himself to be obliged to pursue the Work which he was about Perceiving by such a general Answer that he was irresolute I went to Commissary General Ireton who had a great Influence upon him and having found him we discoursed together upon the same Subject wherein we both agreed that it was necessary for the Army to interpose in this matter but differed about the time he being of opinion that it was best to permit the King and the Parliament to make an Agreement and to wait till they had made a full Discovery of their Intentions whereby the People becoming sensible of their own Danger would willingly join to oppose them My Opinion was that it would be much easier for the Army to keep them
Waller had earnestly solicited for this Employment of Lieutenant General of the Horse in Ireland and that the General not thinking it convenient to entrust him with it yet unwilling he should know so much perswaded him to believe that the Parliament had over-ruled him therein The Parliament then passed an Act constituting Commissioners for the Administration of Civil Affairs in Ireland and agreed upon Instructions of sufficient Latitude for them to act by in particular to lay a Tax on that Nation not exceeding the Sum of thirty thousand Pounds To give order for the distribution of Justice as near to the Rules of the Law as the nencessity of the Times would permit and to consider of a Method of Proceeding in the Courts of Justice there to be offered to the Parliament for their Approbation The Commissioners were those that I mentioned before only Major Salloway desiring to be excused from that Service Mr. Miles Corbet a Member of Parliament was inserted in his room Some Suspicions there were at this time that the Presbyterian Party in England especially those about London entertained a private Correspondence with their Brethren in Scotland where tho that Nation had received a great Blow at Dunbar yet it was resolved that their King should be crowned upon his taking the Solemn League and Covenant and obliging himself thereby to endeavour the extirpation of Popery and Episcopacy This Action was performed with all the Circumstances and Solemnities that could be used in the Condition of their Affairs The Nobility swore Fidelity to him and the Marquiss of Argile put the Crown upon his Head with his own Hands And now having a King like other Nations and a Covenanting King too they doubted not of Success under his Conduct presuming by this means most certainly to retrieve all their Losses and Reputation But the Parliament who had removed one King was not frighted with the setting up of another and therefore proceeded in the Settlement of their Affairs both Military and Civil and to that end ordered a thousand Pounds to be advanced to the Commissioners of the Civil Affairs in Ireland directing them to receive also a thousand Pounds yearly They like wise gave Orders for the payment of a thousand Pounds to me by way of Advance upon my Pay as Lieutenant General of the Horse that I might be enabled to furnish my self with Tents Horses and other things necessary for that Service The Committee of Irish Affairs raised also a Troop consisting of a hundred Horse to accompany me and armed them with Back Breast Head-pieces Pistols and Musquetoons with two Months Pay advanced The Lord Deputy Ireton's Lady Daughter to General Cromwell prepared to go over with us to her Husband who had removed his Head-quarters to Waterford partly because he thought that Place most convenient for the Service as the Enemy then lay and partly from some Disgust conceived against Dublin where the Inhabitants had extorted unreasonable Rates for their Provisions and other Necessaries sold to our Army at their Arrival there for the Relief of Ireland Therefore resolving to pass through South Wales I hastned out of Town before the rest of my Company in order to take leave of my Friends in the West and from thence going to Glamorganshire I stayed there with some Relations of my Wife till the rest of the Company came down Before I left the Parliament some Difference happening between the Countess of Rutland and the Lord Edward Howard of Escrick Col. Gell who was a great Servant of the Countess informed Major General Harison that the Lord Edward Howard being a Member of Parliament and one of the Committee at Haberdashers-Hall had taken divers Bribes for the excusing Delinquents from Sequestration and easing them in their Compositions and that in particular he had received a Diamond Hatband valued at eight hundred Pounds from one Mr. Compton of Sussex concerning which he could not prevail with any to inform the Parliament Major General Harrison being a Man of severe Principles and zealous for Justice especially against such as betrayed the Publick Trust reposed in them assured him that if he could satisfy him that the Fact was as he affirmed he would not fail to inform the Parliament of it and upon Satisfaction received from the Colonel touching that Matter said in Parliament That tho the Honour of every Member was dear to him and of that Gentleman in particular naming the Lord Howard because he had so openly owned the Interest of the Commonwealth as to decline his Peerage and to sit upon the foot of his Election by the People yet he loved Justice before all other things looking upon it to be Honour of the Parliament and the Image of God upon them that therefore he durst not refuse to lay this Matter before them tho he was very desirous that the said Lord might clear himself of the Accusation The Parliament having received his Information referred the Consideration of the Matter to a Committee where it was fully examined and notwithstanding all the Art of Counsel learned in the Law who are very skilful at putting a good Appearance upon a bad Cause and all the Friends the Lord Howard could make so just and equitable a Spirit then governed that the Committee having represented the Matter to the Parliament as they found it to be they discharged him from being a Member of Parliament sent him to the Tower and fined him ten thousand Pounds About the beginning of January the Commissioners of Parliament the Lady Ireton and my self met at Milford in order to embark for Ireland three Men of War lying ready for us in the Harbour with several Ships for the Transportation of my Troop with our Goods and Horses We came to Milford on Saturday and on Monday following the Lady Ireton and the Commissioners set sail with fair Wind leaving the Guinea-Frigat for me and to be Convoy to those Vessels that were appointed to transport the Horse and other things of which but one could be ready time enough to set sail with them my Troop being not yet mustered The next day Mr. Lort by order of the Committee of Parliament mustered my Troop so that I began to ship them on Wednesday in the Afternoon and on Thursday Morning they being all embarked we set sail and tho the Weather proved very calm we arrived the next day under the Fort of Duncannon near Waterford where I understood that the Lady Ireton and the Commissioners had landed there the day before and were gone to the Lord Deputy at Waterford Immediately after my Arrival I went to wait on the Lord Deputy Ireton who was much surprized at my landing so soon after the rest of the Company and ordered good Quarters to be assigned to my Troop that they might be refreshed before they entred upon Duty for it was observed that the English Horses were not so fit for Service till they had been seasoned for some time with the Air and Provisions of that Country
with the Clearness of my Proceeding and no less of my Abilities to discharge the Trust reposed in me and to perform the Duties of my Employments of which he was pleased to say I had given sufficient Demonstration as well as of a constant and hearty Affection to the Publick Interest In conclusion the Debate concerning the Lord Broghill was brought to this Question Whether he should be wholly laid aside or whether something should be done in order to content him for the present by conferring upon him some Office of Profit and the Title of a General Officer The latter was agreed upon and he declared Lieutenant General of the Ordinance in Ireland The Commissioners having settled Affairs as well as they could and finding the Deputy to be employed in making all necessary Preparations for the ensuing Service took that Opportunity to go to regulate Affairs at Dublin where after they had dispatched the Publick Business in which they spent about a Week and provided Houses to receive their Families when they should arrive from England they returned to Kilkenny The Enemy who had a Party of Horse in those Parts had designed to surprize them in their way to Dublin and again in their Return to us but finding them attended by a strong Guard they durst not venture to attempt it The Enemies Forces being retreated into Connaught which Province was covered by the Shannon and keeping strong Guards upon the Bridges and Fords of that River the Reduction of Limerick could not well be expected till we had blocked them up on both sides In order to which it was resolved that Sir Charles Coote who had with him between four and five thousand Horse and Foot should march into Connaught by the way of Ballyshannon a Passage on the side of Ulster not far distant from the Sea and Commissary General Reynolds was sent with his Regiment of Horse to his Assistance Col. Axtell and some others about this time going for England were taken by a Pirate belonging to Scilly whither they were all carried Prisoners The Irish who were many in the Island against whom Col. Axtell had been very active and who had heard of the Charge lately exhibited against him pressed hard for the taking away his Life But upon consideration of the Preparations making by the Parliament to send a Fleet with Souldiers to reduce that Island it was not thought convenient to attempt any thing against him tho they had a strong Inclination to it for fear of an exemplary Retaliation In the mean time the Parliament sent a Fleet with some Land-Forces to reduce the Isle of Jersey with the Castle which was kept by Sir Philip Carteret for Prince Charles Col. Haines who commanded them met with some Opposition at his landing but having brought his Men ashore the Island generally submitted to the Parliament The Castle having made some Resistance was soon after surrendred also The Affairs of the Commonwealth being thus successful and their Authority acknowledged by the Applications of Agents and Ambassadors from Foreign Nations to them it was resolved to send some Ministers abroad to entertain a good Correspondence with our Neighbours and to preserve the Interests of the Subjects of this Nation in those Parts To that effect the Lord Chief Justice St. Johns was dispatched with the Character of Ambassador Extraordinary to the States of the United Netherlands with whom Mr. Walter Strickland our Resident there was joined in Commission and to prevent such another Attempt as had been made upon our former Agent forty Gentlemen were appointed to attend him for his Security and Honour ten thousand Pounds being delivered to the Lord Ambassador's Steward for the Expence of the Embassy Yet this great Equipage was not sufficient to prevent a publick Affront which was offered him by Prince Edward one of the Palatine Family as he was passing the Streets But the Prince immediately retiring to some Place out of the Jurisdiction of the States secured himself from any Prosecution tho they pretended upon the Complaint of our Ambassadors that they were ready to do them what Right they could The Negotiation of our Ministers which was designed to procure a nearer Conjunction and Coalition between the two States proved also ineffectual the Province of Holland being not so much inclined to consent to it as was expected and Frizeland with most of the rest of the Provinces entirely against it presuming that such a Conjunction as was demanded would be no less than rendring those Countries a Province to England So that our Ambassadors having used all possible means to succeed in their Business and finding the Dutch unwilling to conclude with us whilst the King had an Army in the Field returned to England without effecting any thing but the Expence of a great Sum of Money This Disappointment sat so heavy upon the haughty Spirit of the Lord Chief Justice St. Johns that he reported these Transactions with the highest Aggravations against the States and thereby was a principal Instrument to prevail with the Council of State to move the Parliament to pass an Act prohibiting foreign Ships from bringing any Merchandizes into England except such as should be of the Growth or Manufacture of that Country to which the said Ships did belong This Law tho just in it self and very advantageous to the English Nation was so highly resented by the Dutch who had for a long time driven the Trade of Europe by the great Number of their Ships that it soon proved to be the Ball of Contention between the two Nations During these Transactions the Deputy of Ireland labouring with all diligence to carry on the Publick Service ordered the Army to rendezvouz at Cashil from whence he marched by the way of Nenagh to that part of the River Shannon which lies over against Killalo where the Earl of Castle-haven lay with about two thousand Horse and Foot disposed along the side of the River and defended by Breast-works cast up for their Security resolving to endeavour to obstruct our Passage into Connaught The Deputy as if he had intended to divert the Course of the River set the Souldiers and Pioneers at work to take the Ground lower on our side that the Water venting it self into the Passage the River might become fordable which so alarmed the Enemy that they drew out most of their Men to oppose us Whilst they were thus amused the Deputy taking me with him and a Guard of Horse marched privately by the side of the Shannon in order to find a convenient place to pass that River The ways were almost impassable by reason of the Bogs tho Col. Reeves and others who commanded in those Parts had repaired them with Hurdles as well as they could Being advanced about half way from Killalo to Castle-Conel we found a place that answered our Desires where a Bridg had formerly been with an old Castle still standing at the foot of it on the other side of the River We took only a short