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
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
as you shall think fit to Treat with the like number of Persons to be appointed by His Majesty upon the said Propositions and such other things as shall be proposed by His Majesty for the preservation and defence of the Protestant Religion with due regard to the ease of tender Consciences as His Majesty hath often offered the Rights of the Crown the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the Priviledges of Parliament and upon the whole matter to conclude a happy and blessed Peace XIII From OXFORD Dec. 5. MDC XLV For a safe Conduct for certain Persons of Honour to be sent with Propositions of Peace For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore CHARLES R. HIS Majesty being still deeply sensible of the continuation of this bloody and unnatural War cannot think Himself discharg'd of the duty He ows to God or the affection and regard He hath to the preservation of His People without the constant application of His earnest endeavours to find some Expedient for the speedy ending of these unhappy Distractions if that may be doth therefore desire That a safe Conduct may be forthwith sent for the Duke of Richmond the Earl of Southampton John Ashburnham and Jeffry Palmer Esquires and their attendants with Coaches Horses and other accommodations for their journey to Westminster during their stay there and return when they shall think fit whom His Majesty intends to send to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland furnished with such Propositions as His Majesty is confident will be the foundation of a happy and well-grounded Peace Given at our Court at Oxford 5. December 1645. XIV From OXFORD Dec. 15. MDCXLV In pursuance of the former For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore CHARLES R. HIS Majesty cannot but extremely wonder that after so many expressions on your part of a deep and seeming sense of the Miseries of this afflicted Kingdom and of the dangers incident to His Person during the continuance of this unnatural War your many great and so often repeated Protestations that the raising of these Arms hath been only for the necessary defence of God's true Religion His Majesty's Honour Safety and Prosperity the Peace Comfort and Security of His People you should delay a safe Conduct to the persons mentioned in His Majesty's Message of the fifth of this instant December which are to be sent unto you with Propositions for a well-grounded Peace A thing so far from having been denied at any time by His Majesty whensoever you have desired the same that He believes it hath been seldom if ever practised among the most avowed and professed Enemies much less from Subjects to their King But His Majesty is resolved that no discouragements whatsoever shall make Him fail on His part in doing His uttermost endeavours to put an end to these Calamities which if not in time prevented must prove the ruine of this unhappy Nation and therefore doth once again desire that a safe Conduct may be forthwith sent for those Persons expressed in His former Message and doth therefore conjure you as you will answer to Almighty God in that day when He shall make inquisition for all the blood that hath and may yet be spilt in this unnatural War as you tender the preservation and establishment of the true Religion by all the bonds of Duty and Allegiance to your King or compassion to your bleeding and unhappy Countrey and of charity to your selves that you dispose your hearts to a true sense and imploy all your faculties in a more serious endeavour together with His Majesty to set a speedy end to these wasting Divisions and then He shall not doubt but that God will yet again give the blessing of Peace to this distracted Kingdom Given at our Court at Oxford the 15. of Decemb. 1645. XV. From OXFORD Dec. 26. MDCXLV For a Personal Treaty 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. NOtwithstanding the strange and unexpected delays which can be precedented by no former times to His Majesties two former Messages His Majesty will lay aside all expostulations as rather serving to lose time than to contribute any remedy to the evils which for the present do afflict this distracted Kingdom Therefore without further preamble His Majesty thinks it most necessary to send these Propositions this way which He intended to do by the Persons mentioned in His former Messages though He well knows the great disadvantage which overtures of this kind have by the want of being accompanied by well-instructed Messengers His Majesty conceiving that the former Treaties have hitherto proved ineffectual chiefly for want of Power in those Persons that Treated as likewise because those from whom their Power was derived not possibly having the particular informations of every several debate could not give so clear a Judgment as was requisite in so important a business If therefore His Majesty may have the engagement of the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland the Mayor Aldermen Common-Council and Militia of London of the chief Commanders in Sir Thomas Fairfax his Army as also those in the Scots Army for His Majesties free and safe coming to and abode in London or Westminster with such of His Servants now attending Him and their followers not exceeding in all the number of three hundred for the space of forty days and after the said time for His free and safe repair to any of His Garrisons of Oxford Worcester or Newark which His Majesty shall nominate at any time before His going from London or Westminster His Majesty propounds to have a Personal Treaty with the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland upon all matters which may conduce to the restoring of Peace and happiness to these miserable distracted Kingdoms and to begin with the three Heads which were Treated on at Vxbridge And for the better clearing of His Majesties earnest and sincere intentions of putting an end to these unnatural Distractions knowing that point of security may prove the greatest obstacle to this most blessed work His Majesty therefore declares That He is willing to commit the great trust of the Militia of this Kingdom for such time and with such powers as are exprest in the Paper delivered by His Majesties Commissioners at Vxbridge the sixth of February last to these persons following viz. the Lord Privy Seal the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hertford the Marquess of Dorchester the Earl of Dorset Lord Chamberlain the Earl of Northumberland the Earl of Essex Earl of Southampton Earl of Pembroke Earl of Salisbury Earl of Manchester Earl of Warwick Earl of Denbigh Earl of Chichester Lord Say Lord Seymour Lord Lucas Lord
to Our Assistance and that this wicked Charge of intending to introduce Propery Idolatry and Arbitrary Government laid by Implication upon Us because We defend Our Selves and would recover Our own will be so far from being a Motive against Us that this intolerable Indignity and damnable Scandal so daily and visibly confuted by all Our Professions and Actions will encrease Our good Subjects zeal towards Us and their Indignation against the Contrivers and they will esteem themselves obliged by the Religion of Almighty God to oppose this War so impiously so treasonably and so groundlesly made upon Us their King and His Anointed We therefore require all Our Commissioners of Array Sheriffs and all Our other Officers and Ministers to raise all the Power and Forces of their several Counties to assist the Marquess of Hartford the Earl of Northampton the Lord Willoughby of Eresby the Lord Dunsmore the Lord Paulet the Lord Seymour Henry Hastings Esquire Sir John Stawell Sir Ralph Hopton John Digby Esquire and all other in the legal and necessary Execution of Our Commissions of Array and in the raising and conducting of such Horse and Foot as shall be raised by Our Commission and by force of Arms to oppose the Earl of Essex the Lord Say and all other that shall raise or conduct any Forces raised by pretence of Authority of both Houses and the Persons of all such Traitors and their Adherents and Accomplices to Arrest and Imprison to the end they may be brought to a fair and legal Tryal by their Peers and according to the law And this We require from them as they tender the Defence of Our Person the true Religion the Law of the Land the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the true and just Privileges of Parliament And for so doing they shall be defended and secured by Us and by the Law with whom and with which We doubt not but Our Subjects will sooner chuse to live and dye than with the Earl of Essex and his Adherents MDCXLII August 9. By the King A Proclamation for the suppressing of the present Rebellion under the Command of Robert Earl of Essex And the gracious offer of His Majesty's free Pardon to him and all such of his Adherents as shall within six days after the date hereof lay down their Arms. WHereas now at the last those Seditious and Traitorous Counsels and Consultations which have been long in design and which long since We foresaw have produced such manifest and open effects of Treason and Rebellion against Us that there are already great numbers of Horse and Foot Raised Arraied Mustered and Trained under pretence of Authority of Our two Houses of Parliament without and against Our Consent in and about Our Cities of London and Westminster in a warlike manner and there are many more in Raising with speed and Robert Earl of Essex by the said pretended Authority without Our Consent hath been nominated to be Captain General of those Troops and Forces and forgetting the Duty and Allegiance which he oweth to Us his Sovereign hath taken upon him and accepted that Title and Command of Captain General and in that quality appeareth amongst the Souldiers animating and encouraging himself and them in these Traitorous and Rebellious Designs and as it is now notoriously known the said Earl and his Adherents intend speedily to march from thence towards the North where We now reside and in a warlike manner to assail and oppose Us and those who shall attend or assist Us under pretence of defending Our Person and the two Houses of Parliament and prepare traitorously to surprise or besiege Our Town of Portsmouth and to possess themselves thereof with force the same being a Town and Port of great importance in the Western parts of this Kingdom and also to surprise or by force to take and possess themselves of all other Castles Forts and places of strength within this Kingdom and all this to strengthen them and their Party in these their Traitorous and Rebellious Designs all which are not now taken up by Us upon Information of others and by Conjecture but do manifestly appear to the whole World by that insolent and prodigious Commission of Captain General over the whole Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales which in the name of the two Houses of Parliament is granted unto the said Earl but hath indeed been contrived by some few Malignant persons Members of either House whereby they have mentioned to conferr upon him and the said Earl under that colour hath assumed unto himself those Titles and begun to put in execution those Powers and Authorities which are inconsistable with Our Sovereignty all which is so done contrary to all Rules of Religion Laws Allegiance or common Honesty We do now therefore publish and declare by this Our Royal Proclamation That the said publick and notorious Acts and Actions of the said Earl are Acts and Actions of High Treason being a manifest levying of War against his natural Liege Lord and King expresly within the words and meaning of the Statute made in the twenty fifth year of King Edward the Third declaring the same of which in Law there neither is nor can be any doubt and that the said Earl of Essex is a Rebel and Traitour unto Us and to Our Crown and that he and all Colonels Captains and Officers which upon notice hereof shall not immediately quit their Commands under him or any others by the like unlawful and usurped power without and against Us are also guilty of High Treason within that Statute and ought to be adjudged and esteemed and proceeded against as Traitors and Rebels And yet out of Our Grace and Clemency towards such of Our Subjects as have been abused and misled by the said Earl and such others as joyn themselves with him in these desperate Courses and to preserve the Peace of this Kingdom if it be possible and to avoid the shedding of blood We abhorring the name of a Civil War if it can by any good means be avoided do by this Our Royal Proclamation admonish the said Earl and all Our Subjects whom it may concern which are now already joyned or shall joyn themselves to the said Earl in this act of Hostility that forthwith they lay down their Arms as well Horse as Foot and all other preparations for the War and instantly without delay return to their own homes and habitations and there quietly and peaceably imploy and bestow themselves in their proper Vocations and Callings and that hereafter they meddle not or interpose themselves in these or any the like Rebellious and Traitorous Undertakings or Actions Which if the◠do readily and really perform within six days after the date of these presents W◠do hereby promise and undertake in the Word of a King that We will freely extend 〈◊〉 Mercy unto them and grant unto them Our free and full Pardon for all that hath been or shall be committed before that time But if
of Glocester Bristol and the Castle and Town of Berkley shall be guided by the Rule exprest in the later part of the precedent Article V. That in case it be pretended on either side that the Cessation is violated no act of Hostility is immediately to follow but first the party complaining is to acquaint the Lord General on the other side and to allow three days after notice given for satisfaction and in case satisfaction be not given or accepted then five days notice to be given before Hostility begin and the like to be observed in the remoter Armies by the Commanders in chief VI. That all other Forces in the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales not before-mentioned shall remain in the same Quarters and places as they are at the time of publishing this Cessation otherwise than in passage and communication between their several Quarters as is mentioned in the latter part of the third Article and that this Cessation shall not extend to restrain the setting forth or imploying any Ships for the defence of His Majesty's Dominions provided that His Majesty be first acquainted with the particulars and that such Ships as shall be set forth be commanded by such persons as His Majesty shall approve of VII Lastly that during the Cessation none of His Majesty's Subjects be imprisoned otherwise than according to the known Laws of the Land and that there shall be no plundring or violence offered to any of His Subjects And His Majesty is very willing if there be any Scruples made concerning these Propositions and Circumstances of the Cessation that the Committee for the Treaty nevertheless may immediately come hither and so all matters concerning the Cessation may be here settled by them H. Elsinge Cler. Parl. D. Com. Mis MAJESTY's Answer to the Articles of Cessation sent to His Majesty HIS Majesty hath sent a safe Conduct for the Earl of Northumberland Mr. Pierrepont Sir William Armyne Sir John Holland and Mr. Whitelocke but hath not admitted the Lord Say to attend Him as being excepted against by name in His Proclamation at Oxford of the third of November and by Writ to the Sheriff proclaimed then in that County in which His Majesty's Intention is declared to proceed against him as a person guilty of High-Treason and so falling to be within the case of Sir John Evelin who upon the same Exception was not admitted to attend His Majesty with the rest of the Committee at Colebrook in November last But His Majesty doth signifie that in case the House shall think fit to send any other person in the place of the Lord Say that is not included in the like Exception His Majesty hath commanded all His Officers Soldiers and other Subjects to suffer Him as freely to pass and repass as if His Name had been particularly comprised in this safe Conduct His Majesty is content that His Proposition concerning the Magazines Forts Ships and Revenue and the Proposition of both Houses for the disbanding of the Armies shall be first Treated of and agreed of before the proceeding to treat upon any of the other Propositions and that after the second of His Majesty's and the second of theirs be treated on and agreed of and so on in the same order and that from the beginning of the Treaty the time may not exceed Twenty days in which He hopes a full Peace and right understanding may be established throughout the Kingdom H. Elsinge Cler. Parl. D. Com. The last Articles of Cessation now sent to His MAJESTY THE Lords and Commons in Parliament being still carried on with a vehement desire of Peace that so the Kingdom may speedily be freed from the Desolation and Destruction wherewith it is like to be overwhelmed if the War should continue have with as much expedition as they could considered of the Articles of Cessation with those Alterations and Additions offered by His Majesty unto which they are ready to agree in such manner as is exprest in these ensuing Articles viz. I. That all manner of Arms Ammunition Victual Mony Bullion and all other Commodities passing without a safe Conduct from the Generals of both Armies as well of His Majesty 's as of the Armies raised by the Parliament may be stayed and seized on as if no such Cessation were agreed on at all II. That all manner of persons passing without such a safe Conduct as is mentioned in the Articles next going before shall be apprehended and detained as if no such Cessation were agreed on at all III. That His Majesty's Forces in Oxfordshire shall advance no nearer to Windsor than Wheatly and in Buckinghamshire no nearer to Ailesbury than Brill and that in Berkshire the Forces respectively shall not advance nearer the one to the other than they shall be at the day to be agreed on for the Cessation to begin and that the Forces of the other Army raised by the Parliament shall advance no nearer to Oxford than Henley and those in Buckinghamshire no nearer to Oxon than Ailesbury and that the Forces of neither Army shall advance their Quarters nearer to each other than they shall be upon the day agreed on for the Cessation to begin IV. That the Forces of either Army in Gloucestershire Wilts and Wales as likewise in the Cities of Gloucester and Bristol and the Castle and Town of Berkly shall be guided by the Rule exprest in the latter part of the precedent Article V. That in case it be pretended on either side that the Cessation is violated no act of Hostility is immediately to follow but first the party complaining is to acquaint the Lord General on the other side and to allow three days after notice given for satisfaction and in case satisfaction be not given or accepted then five days notice to be given before Hostility begin and the like to be observed in the remoter Armies by the Commanders in chief VI. That all other Forces in the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales not before mentioned shall remain in the same Quarters and places as they are at the time of the publishing of this Cessation and under the same Conditions as are mentioned in the Articles before and that this Cessation shall not extend to restrain the setting forth or employing of any Ships for the defence of His Majesty's Dominions VII That as soon as His Majesty shall be pleased to disband the Armies which both Houses earnestly desire may be speedily effected and to disarme the Papists according to Law the Subjects may then enjoy the benefit of Peace in the liberty of their Persons Goods and Freedom of Trade in the mean time the Generals and Commanders of the Armies of both sides shall be enjoyned to keep the Souldiers from plundering which the two Houses of Parliament have ever disliked and forbidden And for the speedy settling of this so-much-desired Peace they have thought good to send their Committees with Instructions that if His Majesty be pleased to consent to a
effecting whereof their most earnest Prayers and uttermost endeavours shall ever be faithfully and constantly employed in hope that God will give a blessing thereunto Hen. Elsinge Cler. Parl. D. Com. Additional Instructions concerning the Cessation March 29. IN case we shall obtain Your Majesty's Assent to the Articles of Cessation as they were last presented to Your Majesty within two days after the day of the receit of the Reasons this day presented to Your Majesty from both Houses for their not assenting to those Alterations and Additions to the Articles of Cessation offered by Your Majesty we are authorised by our Instructions this day received in the name of both Houses of Parliament to agree and conclude upon the Cessation to continue to the end of twenty days to be reckoned from the 25. of this instant March and upon a day certain as soon as may be when the same shall first begin and be of force within which time notice is to be given as well by His Majesty as by the Lords and Commons to the several Generals Commanders and Souldiers respectively to observe the same Cessation as it is qualified and limited in those Articles last presented to Your Majesty Northumberland John Holland B. Whitelocke Will. Pierrepont Will. Armyne The KING's Question concerning Removal of Quarters March 13. 1643. WHether by denying the Communication of Quarters you intend to restrain the Quarters of either Army from each other as that the Forces at Abbingdon may not remove to Banbury or the Forces at Henly may not remove to Ailesbury or to any other places within the Quarter of each Army respectively Falkland The Committees Answer concerning Removal of Quarters Mar. 31. 1643. IN Answer to Your Majesty's Question upon the third Article of the Cessation We humbly conceive That it is not intended to restrain the Quarters of their Army respectively from each other so as they come not nearer the Quarters of the other Army but that the Forces at Abbingdon may remove to Banbury or the Forces at Henly may remove to Ailesbury or to any other place within the Quarters of each Army respectively so as the Forces of either Army respectively come not nearer the Quarters of the other Army than they shall be upon the day agreed on for the Cessation to begin Northumberland John Holland B. Whitelocke Will. Pierrepont Will. Armyne The KING's Question concerning the Cessation March 31. 1643. HIS Majesty desires to be resolved by the Committee of Lords and Commons whether the Forces of Oxford may not as well go to Reading as the Forces of Henley may to Ailesbury Whether His Majesty's Forces belonging to the Army at Oxford may not go to Shrewsbury or any other place backwards from London so that in their march they approach no nearer to any Quarters of any of the contrary Armies than some of His Majesties Forces shall quarter upon the day agreed upon for the Cessation to begin Falkland The Committees Answer concerning the Cessation March 31. 1643. WE humbly conceive that by our Instructions we are not enabled to give any Resolution upon Your Majesty's Questions concerning the Removal of Quarters other than we have already given Northumberland John Holland B. Whitelocke Will. Pierrepont Will. Armyne A Letter from the Earl of Manchester April 4. My Lord I Am commanded by the Lords in Parliament to send unto your Lordship these inclosed Votes for the giving your Lordship and the Committee longer time to treat of the first Propositions This is all I have in command as Your Lordships most humble Servant Manchester Speaker of the House pro tempore April 2. Votes of both Houses for four days longer to Treat April 4. Die Lunae Aprilis 3. 1643. Resolved upon the Question by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled THat further time shall be given to the Committee at Oxon to treat upon the two first Propositions viz. the first Proposition of His Majesty's and the first Proposition of both Houses Resolved c. That the time prescribed for the Treaty upon the two first Propositions shall be until Friday next Resolved c. That Friday in this last question shall be taken inclusive Joh. Brown Cler. Parliamentorum April 4. His Majesty's Message concerning the Cessation CHARLES R. HOW His Majesty hath spent His time since the Committee from His two Houses of Parliament came hither how willing He hath been during the four days allowed to them to expedite the Treaty it self by the free and diligent disquisition of the particulars comprized in those two first Articles and how intent He hath been upon the Cessation which He thinks so necessary and so much desires since the last Message concerning the same came to Him the Committee themselves cannot but observe And though no conclusion could be made within the two days a time limited with much strictness in a business of so great moment where all words and expressions must be carefully and exactly weighed His Majesty cannot doubt but both Houses will be willing to give and receive satisfaction in any particulars which are necessarily to be considered in concluding the same though the two days are expired And if His Majesty enlarges Himself in His Replys more than may seem necessary to the Propositions and Differences in debate it must be remembred by what unnecessary and unwarrantable expressions in this last Message from His two Houses He is not only invited but compelled thereunto which He could heartily have wished might upon this occasion have been forborn I. For the Freedom of Trade His Majesty hath great reason to require and the two Houses to admit that Freedom to His good Subjects He desired For what concerns the supply of the Army with Arms Ammunition Money Bullion and Victuals He consented to the very terms proposed by the two Houses and that they may be observed is contented that searches may be made which being but the trouble of particular persons is not considerable in respect of the Publick benefit and advantage But why all other liberty of Traffick and Commerce should not be granted to His good Subjects He cannot understand for that His Majesty's Army should receive much Advantage thereby and the contrary Army none is in no degree confessed For besides the restraint is to places where no part of His Majesty's Army is and indeed the whole Trade of the Kingdom interrupted 't is as great a support if not a greater to the contrary Army to maintain and keep up the Trade of London from whence that receives its supply and relief as to His Majesty's Army to continue the Trade of Oxford or any other place where His Forces reside and to stop and seize the Cloth Kersies and other Western Commodities which his Majesty can daily do from Reading would be as great disturbance to the Trade of London as the seizing of any Commodities which may be done by the Earl of Essex from Windsor or Wickham can be to the Trade of Oxford And therefore His Majesty
considered your Propositions and finds it very difficult in respect they import so great an Alteration in Government both in Church and State to return a particular and positive Answer before a full debate wherein those Propositions and all the necessary Explanations and Reasons for assenting dissenting or qualifying and all inconveniences and mischiefs which may ensue and cannot otherwise be so well foreseen may be discussed and weighed His Majesty therefore proposeth and desireth as the best Expedient for Peace That you will appoint such a number of Persons as you shall think fit to Treat with the like number of Persons to be appointed by His Majesty upon the said Propositions and such other things as shall be proposed by His Majesty for the preservation and defence of the Protestant Religion with due regard to the ease of tender Consciences as His Majesty hath often offered the Rights of the Crown the Liberty and Property of the Subjects and the Privileges of Parliament and upon the whole matter to conclude a happy and blessed Peace Unto which Message this Answer of the 27. of December was returned to His Majesty May it please Your most Excellent Majesty VVE Your Majesty's humble and Loyal Subjects of both Kingdoms have considered of Your Majesty's Message of the 13. of December 1644. sent by the Duke of Richmond and the Earl of Southampton directed to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and to the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland now at London and do in all humbleness return this Answer That we do consent there be a Treaty for a safe and well-grounded Peace but find that it will require some time to resolve concerning the Instructions and manner of that Treaty and therefore that Your Majesty might not be held in suspence touching our readiness to make use of any opportunity for attaining such a blessed and happy Peace in all Your Majesty's Dominions we would not stay Your Majesty's Messengers till we did resolve upon all those particulars which we will take into our serious consideration and present our humble desires to Your Majesty with all convenient speed Westminster the 20. of December 1644. Signed in the name and by warrant of the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland Lowdon Gray of Wark Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore William Lenthal Speaker of the Commons House assembled in Parliament And afterwards upon the 18th of January following Sir Peter Killegrew brought this farther Answer to His Majesty May it please Your most Excellent Majesty VVE Your Majesty's humble and Loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland do make our further Answer to Your Majesty's Message of the 13 th of December last 1644. concerning a Treaty for Peace as followeth We do consent that there be a Treaty for a safe and well-grounded Peace between Your Majesty and Your humble and Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliament of both Kingdoms and for the present have appointed Algernon Earl of Northumberland Philip Earl of Pembrook and Montgomery William Earl of Salisbury Basil Earl of Denbigh Thomas Lord Viscount Wenman Denzill Hollis William Pierrepont Sir Henry Vane junior Oliver St. John Bulstrode Whitelock John Crew Edmund Prideaux for the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and John Earl of Lowdon Lord Chancellor of Scotland Archibald Marquefs of Argyle John Lord Maitland John Lord Balmerino Sir Archibald Johnston Sir Charles Erskin George Dundas Sir John Smith Master Hugh Kennedy and Master Robert Barclay for the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland together with Master Alexander Henderson upon the Propositions concerning Religion Who or any Ten of them there being always some of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms are appointed and authorized to meet at Vxbridge on what day Your Majesty shall be pleased to set down before the last day of this present January with such persons as Your Majesty shall appoint under Your Sign Manual for that purpose and the number of the persons to Treat not to exceed Seventeen on either part unless the persons named for the Estates of the Parliament of Scotland now not here or any of them shall come and then Your Majesty may have the like number if You please there to Treat upon the Matters contained in the Propositions we lately sent unto Your Majesty according to such Instructions as shall be given unto them and the Propositions for Religion the Militia and for Ireland to be first Treated on and agreed and the time for the Treaty upon the said Propositions for Religion the Militia and for Ireland not to exceed Twenty days And for the things mentioned in Your Message to be propounded by Your Majesty when the Persons sent by Your Majesty shall communicate the same to the Committees appointed by us as aforesaid we have directed them to send the same to us that they may receive our Instructions what to do therein And to the end that the Persons that are to be sent from Your Majesty and from us with their Retinue not exceeding the number of one hundred and eight on either part may repair to Vxbridge stay there and return at their pleasure without interruption that mutual safe Conducts be granted to the said Persons according to the several Lists of their Names Signed by Order of the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster Signed in the name and by warrant of the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland Lowdon Grey of Wark Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore William Lenthall Speaker of the Commons House in the Parliament of England Whereunto His MAJESTY returned an Answer inclosed in a Letter from Prince Rupert to the Earl of Essex dated the 21 of January which Letter and Answer were as followeth The Letter My Lord I Am commanded by His Majesty to return this His Answer to the Message lately sent Him from the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland by Sir Peter Killegrew I have likewise sent your Lordship His Majesty's safe Conduct for the persons desired and also a List of the names of those His Majesty hath appointed to Treat for whom together with their Retinue His Majesty hath desired a safe Conduct The Answer inclosed HIS Majesty having received a Message by Sir Peter Killegrew from the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland concerning a Treaty returns this Answer That His Majesty doth very willing consent that there be a Treaty upon the Matters contained in the Propositions lately sent unto Him in such manner as is proposed and at the place appointed in the said Message and to that purpose His Majesty will send the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hartford the Earl of
Southampton the Earl of Kingston the Earl of Chichester the Lord Capell the Lord Seymour the Lord Hatton the Lord Culpeper Secretary Nicholas Master Chancellor of the Exchequer the Lord Chief Baron Lane Sir Orlando Bridgeman Sir Thomas Gardiner M. John Ashburnham M. Jeffrey Palmer together with Dr. Steward Clerk of His Majesty's Closet upon the Propositions concerning Religion to meet with the persons mentioned in the said Message at Vxbridge on Wednesday night the 29 th of this instant January the Treaty to begin the next day which persons or any Ten of them shall be sufficiently authorized by His Majesty to Treat and conclude on His Majesty's part And to the end that the persons aforesaid and their Retinue may repair to Vxbridge stay there and return at their pleasure without interruption or go or send during their abode there to His Majesty as often as occasion shall require His Majesty desires that a safe Conduct may accordingly be sent for the said persons and their Retinue according to a List of their names herewith sent And then also inclosed in a Letter from Prince Rupert to the Earl of Essex His Majesty sent Propositions to be Treated upon on His Majesty's part which Letter and Propositions follow My Lord I Am commanded by His Majesty to send these enclosed Propositions to your Lordship to be presented to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland to the end that there may be as little loss of time as is possible but that the same may be treated on as soon as may be thought convenient after the entry upon the Treaty His MAJESTY'S Propositions to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland for a safe and well-grounded Peace I. THAT His Majesty's own Revenue Magazines Towns Forts and Ships which have been taken or kept from Him by force be forthwith restored unto Him II. That whatsoever hath been done or published contrary to the known Laws of the Land or derogatory to His Majesty's Legal and known Power and Rights be renounced and recalled that no seed may remain for the like to spring out of for the future III. That whatsoever illegal Power hath been claimed or exercised by or over His Subjects as Imprisoning or putting to Death their Persons without Law stopping their Corpus's and imposing upon their Estates without Act of Parliament c. either by both or either House or any Committee of both or either or by any Persons appointed by any of them be disclaimed and all such persons so committed forthwith discharged IV. That as His Majesty hath always professed His readiness to that purpose so He will most chearfully consent to any good Acts to be made for the suppression of Popery and for the firmer settling of the Protestant Religion established by Law as also that a good Bill may be framed for the better preserving of the Book of Common-Prayer from scorn and violence and that another Bill may be framed for the ease of tender Consciences in such particulars as shall be agreed upon For all which His Majesty conceives the best expedient to be that a National Synod be legally called with all convenient speed V. That all such persons as upon the Treaty shall be excepted and agreed upon on either side out of the General Pardon shall be tried per Pares according to the usual course and known Law of the Land and that it be left to that either to acquit or condemn them VI. And to the intent this Treaty may not suffer interruption by any intervening Accidents that a Cessation of Arms and free Trade for all His Majesty's Subjects may be agreed upon with all possible speed Given at the Court at Oxford the 21th day of Jan. 1644. The Earl of Essex upon receipt hereof returned to Prince Rupert together with a safe Conduct this Letter of the 25. of January Sir I AM commanded by both Houses of the Parliament of England and desired by the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland to desire Your Highness to let His Majesty know That they do agree that their Committees do begin the Treaty at Vxbridge on Thursday the 30 th of this January with the Persons appointed by His Majesty on the matters contained in the Propositions lately sent unto His Majesty in such manner as was proposed And their Committees shall have Instructions concerning the Propositions sent from His Majesty in your Highness Letter And you will herewith receive a safe Conduct from the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England for the Persons that are appointed by His Majesty to come to Vxbridge to Treat on the Propositions for a safe and well-grounded Peace with their Retinue in a List hereunto annexed Sir I am Your Highness humble Servant Essex Westminster 25. Jan. 1644. Thursday the 30th of January all the Commissioners named by His Majesty and Commissioners named by the two Houses of Parliament in England and the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland did meet at Uxbridge where their Commissions were mutually delivered in and read and are as followeth His MAJESTY'S Commission CHARLES R. VVHereas after several Messages sent by Us to the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster expressing Our desires of Peace certain Propositions were sent from them and brought unto Us at Oxford in November last by the Earl of Denbigh and others and upon our Answers Messages and Propositions to them and their Returns to Us it is now agreed That there shall be a Treaty for a safe and well grounded Peace to begin at Vxbridge on Thursday the 30 th of this instant January as by the said Propositions Answers Messages and Returns in writing may more fully appear We do therefore hereby appoint assign and constitute James Duke of Richmond and Lenox William Marquess of Hartford Thomas Earl of Southampton Henry Earl of Kingston Francis Earl of Chichester Francis Lord Seymour Arthur Lord Capell Christopher Lord Hatton John Lord Culpeper Sir Edward Nicholas Knight one of Our principal Secretaries of State Sir Edward Hyde Knight Chancellour and Under-Treasurer of Our Exchequer Sir Richard Lane chief Baron of Our said Exchequer Sir Thomas Gardiner Sir Orlando Bridgeman Mr. John Ashburnham and Mr. Jeffrey Palmer together with Doctor Richard Steward upon these Propositions concerning Religion to be Our Commissioners touching the premises and do hereby give unto them and to any Ten or more of them full power and authority to meet and on Our part to Treat with Algernon Earl of Northumberland Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery William Earl of Salisbury Bafil Earl of Denbigh Thomas Lord Viscount Wenman Denzil Hollis William Pierrepont Esquires Sir Henry Vane the younger Knight Oliver St. John Bulstrode Whitelock John Crew and Edmund Prideaux Esquires for the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and
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
propose conditions of Peace though the VVar otherwise might justly be pursued And surely as a Cessation in Ireland may be some advantage to the Rebels as all Cessations in their nature are to both parts they having thereby time and liberty to procure Arms and Ammunition to be brought to them so it is not only for the advantage but necessary preservation of Our good Subjects there whose bleeding Dangers call for Our bowels of Charity and Compassion by suspending the rage of the Adversary by this Cessation till means may be found to turn their hearts or to disable their Malice from pursuing their Cruelty to the utter Ruin of that Remainder of Our good Subjects there it being more acceptable to God and Man to preserve a few good men from destruction than to destroy a multitude though in the way of Justice and perhaps a Cessation may bring some of those Rebels to reflect upon their Offences and to return to their Duty all are not in the same degree of guilt all were not Authors of nor consenting to the Cruelties committed some were inforced to comply with or not resist their proceedings some were seduced upon a belief the Nation was designed to be eradicated and the VVar not against the Rebellion only but their Religion The VVar destroys all alike without distinction even innocent Children have suffered not by the Rebels only and all are not Tigers or Wolves there may be grounds of Mercy to some though no severity be excessive towards others However We cannot desire the destruction even of the worst of those Irish Rebels so much as We do the preservation of the poor English remaining there but should make choice rather to save the Rebels for preserving the lives of those poor Protestants than destroy them to ruine the Rebels And therefore exceeding strange it is to Us and We are sorry to find that any English men who have seen this their Native Country heretofore even in Our time flourishing beyond most of the Kingdoms and Churches in the world and now most hideous and deformed weltring in the blood of her own Children and if this VVar continue like to be a perpetual spectacle of Desolation should express that they desire War in Ireland as much as they do Peace here no more valuing the sparing of English blood here than they do the effusion of the blood of the Rebels in Ireland They say indeed they are willing to lay out their Estates and Lives both for the War in Ireland and Peace in this Kingdom but withal they say they have made Propositions for both if Our Commissioners would agree to them These are the Conditions they offer neither Peace is to be had here without agreeing to their Propositions nor that VVar in Ireland to be managed but according to those Propositions such Propositions as apparently tend to the ruine of the Church to the subversion of all Our Power to the setting up a new frame of popular Government to the destructioo of Our Loyal and true-hearted Subjects Propositions which associate Our Subjects of Scotland in their Counsels and Power and invest them in a great share of the Government and VVealth of this Kingdom and render both the VVealth and Power of Ireland to be at their command These Propositions they insist upon and for the obtaining these they are resolved to engage the Lives and Estates of Our poor People in this unnatural Rebellion But VVe trust God Almighty will open the Eyes and the Hearts of Our People not to assist them any longer against Us in the shedding innocent blood in this VVar. And VVe cast Our selves on Him waiting His good time for the restoring the Peace of Our Kingdoms and Our deliverance from these Troubles which at length VVe are assured He will give unto Us. MESSAGES PROPOSITIONS AND TREATIES FOR PEACE WITH DIVERS RESOLUTIONS AND DECLARATIONS THEREUPON MDCXLV VI. VII VIII His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Oxford December 5. 1645. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore CHARLES R. HIS Majesty being deeply sensible of the continuation of this bloody and unnatural War cannot think himself discharged of the Duty He owes to God or the Affection and regard He hath to the preservation of His People without the constant application of His earnest Endeavours to find some Expedient for the speedy ending of these unhappy Distractions if that may be doth therefore desire That a Safe-Conduct may be forthwith sent for the Duke of Richmond the Earl of Southampton John Ashburnham and Jeffrey Palmer Esquires and their Attendants with Coaches Horses and other Accommodations for their Journey to Westminster during their stay there and return when they shall think fit whom His Majesty intends to send to the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland furnished with such Propositions as His Majesty is confident will be the foundation of a happy and well-grounded Peace Given at the Court at Oxford the fifth of December 1645. The Letter of the two Speakers For Sir Thomas Glemham Governour of Oxford SIR VVE have received your Letter of the 5 th of this instant December with His Majesties inclosed and have sent back your Trumpet by command of both Houses who will with all convenient speed return an Answer to His Majesty and rest Your Loving Friends Grey of VVark Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore VVilliam Lenthal Speaker of the House of Commons His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses in pursuance of the former From Oxford Dec. 15. 1645. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore CHARLES R. HIS Majesty cannot but extreamly wonder that after so many expressions on your part of a deep and seeming sense of the Miseries of this afflicted Kingdom and of the Dangers incident to His Person during the continuance of this unnatural War your many great and so often repeated Protestations that the raising these Arms hath been only for the necessary defence of God's true Religion His Majesties Honour Safety and Prosperity the Peace Comfort and Security of His People you should delay a safe Conduct to the Persons mentioned in His Majesties Message of the fifth of this instant December which are to be sent unto you with Propositions for a well-grounded Peace a thing so far from having been at any time denied by His Majesty whensoever you have desired the same that He believes it hath been seldom if ever practised among the most avowed and professed Enemies much less from Subjects to their King But His Majesty is resolved that no Discouragements whatsoever shall make Him fail of His part in doing his uttermost endeavours to put an end to these Calamities which if not in time prevented must prove the ruin of this unhappy Nation and therefore doth once again desire that a safe Conduct may be forthwith sent for those Persons expressed in His former Message and doth therefore conjure you as you
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
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
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
Martyrdom Jan. 30. 1648 9. p. 206 APPENDIX Concerning Church-Government Of the Differences between His Majesty and the two Houses in point of Church-Government See Icon Basil XVII p. 687 The Papers which passed betwixt His Majesty and Henderson concerning the Change of Church-Government 1646. p. 75 The Papers which passed betwixt His Majesty and the Divines attending the Commissioners of both Houses at Newport 1648. Append. p. 612 seqq THE END The Duke of Lenox the Earl of Arran in Scotland Some Writers who since have been convinced of their misinformation have named amongst those seven Lords the Lord Bruce Earl of Elgin but his Lordship upon the first notice of this report did to several Persons of Quality and Honour he conversed with and since hath affirmed to me that he was not then present and that his heart could never consent to the shedding of the blood of that excellent Prelate * A full Answer †The Regal Apology His Majestie 's Religion His Justice His Clemency His Fortitude His Patience His Humility His Choice of Ministers of State His Affection to His People His Obliging Converse His Fidelity His Chastity His Temperance His Frugality His Intellectual Abilities His Skill in all Arts. His Eloquence His Political Prudence The Censure of His Fortune A Presage of His Fall and the future State of the Royal Family His Recreations The Features of His Body His Children Acts 14. 23. Acts 6. 6. 1 Cor. 16. 1. 1 Cor. 14. 1 Cor. 5. 5. 3 Joh. 9 10. 1 Tim. 5. 22. Tit. 1. 5. Revel 2. 3. 1 Tim. 5. 19. Tit. 3. 10. * 5 15 26 29. of Decemb. 84 15. of Jan. 1645. * Jan. 23. 2 Feb. Passed by the Fag-end of the House of Commons Jan. 4. having been cast out by the Lords Jan. 2. Hereabout I was stopt and not suffered to speak any more concerning Reasons * defiance * Answer * four for it seems some came in after Here a Lady interposed saying Not half the People but was silenced with threats Upon the Earl of Strafford Pointing to the Bishop Turning to some Gentlemen that wrote Pointing to the Bishop These words were spoken upon occasion of private Discourse between His Majesty and the Bishop concerning the several Stages of man's life and his course through them in allusion to Posts and Stages in a Race * Cook 7. Report Calvin's Case Mr. Stroud Mr. Pym. Sir John Biron Lord Say His Majesty's gracious Message to both Houses of Parliament sent from Nottingham Aug. 25. 1642. by the Earls of Southampton and Dorset Sr. John Culpeper Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sr. William Vdal The Answer of the Lords and Commons to His Majesty's Message the 25. of Aug. 1642. His Majesty's Reply to an Answer sent by the two Houses of Parliament to His Majesty's Message of the 25 of August concerning a Treaty of Accommodation The humble Answer and Petition of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament unto the Kings last Message The humble Answer of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament unto His Majesty's last Message Message of Feb. 20. * to the Votes of both Houses and to their desire of a safe Conâ—uct His Majesty's Message of Apr. 12. at the end of the Treaty Inserted before pag. 353. * were presently His Majesty's Message replying to this Paper is inserted before p. 250. In His Message of April 12. pag. 353. Pag. 353. April 5. * The fourth of Edward the Third Artic. 1. against Roger Mortimer The King had put to him four Bishops four Earls and four Barons without whose consent or of four of them no great business was to be transacted Rot. Parliam 13 E. 3. N. 15 16. The whole Navy disposed of by Parliament N. 13 14. Admirals appointed and Instructions given to them N. 32. Instructions for the defence of Jersey and a Deputy-Governour appointed in Parliament N. 35. Souldiers of York Nottingham c. to go at the cost of the Countrey and what they are to do N. 36. A Clark appointed for payment of their wages by the oversight of the Lord Percy and Nevil N. 38. Sir Walter Creak appointed Keeper of Berwick N. 39. Sir Tho. de Wake appointed to set forth the Array of Soldiers for the County of York and N. 40 41 42 43. others for other Counties 14 E. 3. N. 36. The Parliament agreeth that in the Kings absence the Duke of Cornwal shall be Keeper of England N. 35. They appoint the Archbishop of Canterbury the Earls of Lancaster Warren and Huntington Councellors to the Duke with power to call such others as they shall think fit N. 19. Certain appointed to keep the Islands and Sea-coasts N. 42. The Lord of Mowbray appointed Keeper of Berwick N. 48. Commission to the Lord Mowbray of the Justices of Lentham N. 53 54 c. Commissions of Array to the Earl of Angois and others 15 E. 3. N. 15. That the Chancellors chief Justices Treasurers Chancellors and Barons of the Exchequer c. may be chosen in open Parliament and there openly sworn to observe the Laws Answer thus That as they sall by death or otherwise it shall be so done in the choice of a new with your assents c. 50 E. 3. N. 10 11. Ordered in Parliament That the King should have at the least ten or twelve Counsellors without whom no weighty matters should pass c. N. 15. A Commission to the L. Percy and others to appoint able persons for the defence of the Marches of the East-Riding 1. R. 2. N. 18 19. The Parliament wholly disposeth of the Education of the King and of the Officers c. N. 51. Officers for Gascoign Ireland and Artois Keepers of the Ports Castles c. 2. R. 2. Rot. Parl. par 2. artic 39. The Admiralty N. 37. In a Schedule is contained the order of the E. of Northumb. and others for the defence of the North Sea-coasts and confirmed in Parliament 6 R. 2. N. 11. The Proffer of the Bishop of Norwich to keep the Sca-coasts and accepted in Parliament 8 R. 2. 11 16. The names of the chief Officers of the Kingdom to be known to the Parliament and not to be removed without just cause 11 R. 2. N. 23. No persons to be about the King or intermeddle with the Affairs of the Realm other than such as be appointed by Parliament 15 R. 2. N. 15. The Commons name the person to treat of a Peace with the Kings enemies Rot. Parl. 1 H. 4. N. 106. That the King will appoint able Captains in England and Wales Stat. 4. H. 4. cap. 31 32 33. printed The Welch-men shall bear Office 5 H. 4. N. 16. The King at the request of the Commons removed his Confessor and three other Men from about him N. 37. At the request of the Commons nameth divers Privy-Councellors 7 and 8 H. 4 26. Power given to the Merchants to name two persons to be Admirals 7 and 8 H. 4. N. 31. Councellors appointed by
DIEU ET MON DROIT AETERNITATI SACRUM ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΑ THE WORKS of CHARLES I. with his LIFE and MARTYRDOME Aly diutius Imperium tenucrunt nemo tam Fortiter reliquit Tacit. Hist. Lib. i. ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΑ THE WORKS OF King Charles THE MARTYR With a COLLECTION of DECLARATIONS TREATIES and other PAPERS concerning the Differences BETWIXT His said Majesty AND HIS TWO HOUSES of PARLIAMENT With the History of His LIFE as also of His TRYAL and MARTYRDOME The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVII In the first PART from p. 1. to p. 212. inclusively are contained THE LIFE of CHARLES I. p. 1 PAPERS concerning CHURCH-GOVERNMENT V. p. 75 PRAYERS used by His MAJESTY VII p. 93 MESSAGES for Peace XXXVIII p. 97 DECLARATIONS III. p. 130 LETTERS XLII p. 138 SPEECHES LIX p. 159 With the History of His TRYAL and DEATH p. 189 c. In the Second PART from p. 213. to the end inclusively are contained I. HIS MAJESTY's Declarations concerning His proceedings in His Four first PARLIAMENTS p. 217 II. Declarations and Papers concerning the Differences betwixt His MAJESTY and His Fifth PARLIAMENT p. 241 III. Declarations and Papers concerning the Treaty of Peace at Oxford MDCXLII III. p. 325. IV. A Declaration concerning the Cessation in Ireland Also Declarations and Passages of the Parliament at Oxford p. 401 V. Papers and Passages concerning the Treaty of Peace at Uxbridge p. 437 VI. Messages Propositions and Treaties for Peace With divers Resolutions and Declarations thereupon MDCXLV VI. VII VIII p. 547 VII An Appendix containing the Papers which passed betwixt His MAJESTY and the DIVINES which attended the Commissioners of the Two Houses at the Treaty at Newport concerning Church-Government p. 611 VIII ΕΙΚΩΠΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ p. 647 THE MORE PARTICULAR CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART Omitting the LIFE THE Papers which passed betwixt His Majesty and Mr Alexander Henderson concerning the change of Church-Government Page 75 His Majesty 's Quaere concerning Easter 91 His Majesty's first Paper concerning Episcopacy ibid. Prayers used by King CHARLES in the time of His Troubles and Restraint I. A Prayer used at His Entrance into Excester after the Defeat of Essex in Cornwall 93 II. A Prayer for a Blessing on the Treaty at Vxbridge ibid. III. A Prayer for a Blessing on the Treaty at Newport ibid. IV. A Prayer for Pardon of Sin 94 V. A Prayer in times of Affliction ibid. VI. A Prayer in time of Captivity ibid. VII A Prayer in time of imminent danger 95 King CHARLES His Messages for Peace XXXVIII 1. His Message from Canterbury January 20. 1641 2. For the Composing of all Differences 97 2. His Message from Huntingdon March 15. 1641 2. In pursuance of the former ibid. 3. His Message from Nottingham August 25. 1642. When he set up His Standard 98 4. His Message from Sept. 5. 1642. In pursuance of the former 99 5. His Message from Sept. 11. 1642. In Reply to the Answer of both Houses to the former ibid. 6. His Message from Brainford Nov. 12. 1642. After the Defeat of the Rebels there 100 7. His Message from Oxford April 12. 1643. For the Disbanding of all Forces and His Return to the Houses ibid. 8. His Message from Oxford May 19. 1642. In pursuance of the former 101 9. His Message from Oxford March 3. 1643 4. For a Treaty 102 10. His Message from Evesholme July 4. 1644. After the Defeat of Waller at Cropredy Bridge ibid. 11. His Message from Tavestock Septemb. 8. 1644. After the Defeat of Essex in Cornwall 103 12. His Message from Oxford Decem. 13. 1644. For a Treaty by Commissioners ibid. 13. His Message from Oxford Decem. 5. 1645. For a safe Conduct for Persons to be sent with Propositions 104 14. His Message from Oxford Decem. 15. 1645. In pursuance of the former ibid. 15. His Message from Oxford Decem. 26. 1645. For a Personal Treaty 105 16. His Message from Oxford Decem. 29. 1645. In pursuance of the former 106 17. His Message from Oxford Jan. 15. 1645 6. In pursuance of the former ibid. 18. His Message from Oxford Jan. 17 1645 6. For an Answer to His former Messages 107 19. His Message from Oxford Jan. 24. 1645 6. In further Reply to their Answer 108 20. His Message from Oxford Jan. 29. 1645 6. Concerning Ireland 109 21. His Message from Oxford Febr. 26. 1645 6. For an Answer to the former 111 22. His Message from Oxford March 23. 1645 6. Concerning his Return to the Houses ibid. 23. His Message from Southwell May 18. 1646. After His departure to the Scots 112 24. His Message from Newcastle June 10. 1646. For Propositions for Peace and a Personal Treaty 113 25. His Message from Newcastle Aug. 1. 1646. For a Personal Treaty upon their Propositions 114 26. His Message from Newcastle Dec. 20. 1646. For a personal Treaty at or near London ibid. 27. His Message from Holdenby Feb. 17. 1646 7. For the Attendance of some of His Chaplains 115 28. His Message from Holdenby March 6. 1646 7. In pursuance of the former 116 29. His Message from Holdenby May 12. 1647. In answer to their Propositions ibid. 30. His Message from Hampton-Court Sept. 9. 1647. In Answer to the Propositions presented to Him there 118 31. His Message left at Hampton-Court Nov. 11. 1647. At His departure from thence 119 32. His Message from the Isle of Wight Nov 17. 1647. For a Treaty With His Propositions 120 33. His Message from Carisbrook Decem. 6. 1647. For an Answer to the former 122 34. His Message from Carisbrook Decem. 28. 1647. In Answer to the four Bills and Propositions 123 35. His Message from Carisbroâ—k Aug. 10. 1648. In Answer to the Votes for a Treaty 124 36. His Letter to the Speakers from Carisbrook Aug. 28. 1648. With the Names of those He desired to attend him at the Treaty 125 37. His Letter to the Speakers From Carisbrook Sept. 7. Concerning the Treaty 126 38. His Message from Newport Sept. 29. 1648. With His Propositions ibid. His MAJESTY's Declarations 1. His Majesty's Declaration after the Votes for No further Address Jan. 18. 1647 8. 130 2. His Majesty's Answer to their Reasons for the Votes for No further Address 132 3. His Majesty's Declaration concerning the Treaty at Newport and the Armies Proceedings 136 4. Quaeries propounded by His Majesty concerning the intended Tryal of His Majesty 137 His MAJESTY's Letters XL. To the Queen XXI p. 138 139 140 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154. The Queen to the King VII 140 141 142 145 146. To the Prince II. 156 158. The Prince to the King 158 To the House of Peers 138 To the Duke of York 156 To the Prince Elector 142 To Prince Rupert 155 To the Duke of Richmond 144 To the Marquess of Ormond IV. 142 144 148 149. To the Earl of Essex 141 To the Lord Mountague 156 To the Lord Jermin 153 To Secretary Nicholas 155 To
all their Ecclesiastical Promotions But the Laity that in the House had not time to declame against His Majestie 's Proceedings did it without doors for being dispersed to their homes they filled all places with suspicious rumours and high discontents and in Southwark there was an open Mutiny began which was not pacified without much danger and the Execution of the principal Leaders The King thus betrayed defamed and deserted by those who should have considered that in His Honour their Safety was embarqued though He had no less cause to fear secret Conspiracies at Home which were more dangerous because obscure than the Scots publick Hostility yet vigorously prosecuted his undertaking and raised a sufficient Army but could not do it with equal speed to His Enemies who had soon re-united their dispersed Forces and incouraged by the Faction with whom they held Intelligence in England contented not themselves to stand upon the defence but invaded us and advanced so far before all the King's Army could be gathered together that they gave a defeat to a Party of it ere the Reer could be brought up by the Earl of Strafford who was appointed General or the King could come to incourage them with His Presence He was no sooner arrived at his Army but there followed Him from some English Lords a Petition conformable to the Scotch Remonstrance which they called the Intentions of the Army So that His Majesty might justly fear some attempts in the South while He was thus defending Himself from the Northern injuries The King answered the Petitioners That before their Petition came He had resolved to summon all the Peers to consult what would be most for the Safety of the Nation and His own Honour Who accordingly met Sept. 24. Where it was determined that a Parliament should be called to meet Nov. 3. and in the mean time a Cessation should be made with the Scots with whom some Commissioners from the Parliament should treat Nov. 3. began that Fatal Parliament which was so transported by the Arts of some unquiet persons that they dishonoured the name and hopes of a Parliament ingulfed the Nation in a Sea of Blood ruined the King and betrayed all their own Priviledges and the People's Liberty into the power of a phanatick and perfidious Army And although His Majesty could not hope to find them moderate yet He endeavoured to make them so telling them at their meeting that He was resolved to put himself freely upon the Affections of His English Subjects that He would satisfie all their just Grievances and not leave to malice it self a shadow to doubt of His desire to make this a glorious and flourishing Kingdom He commended to their care the chasing out of the Rebels the Provisions of His own Army and the Relief of the oppressed Northern Counties But the Malignity of some few and the ignorance of more employed that Assembly in other matters first in purging their House of all such as they conceived would not comply with their destructive Enterprises and for such men they either found some fault with their Elections or made them Criminals in some publick Grievance though others of a deeper guilt they kept among them that their Offences might make them obnoxious to their power and obsequious to their commands Then with composed Harangues they declamed upon the publick Grievances and reckoned up causal Misfortunes amongst designed Abuses of Government every way raising up Contumelies against the present Power and that which was fullest of Detraction and Envy was applauded as most pregnant with Liberty Thus pretending several Injuries had been done to the People they raised the Multitude to hopes of an unimaginable Liberty and a discontent with the present Government After this they set free all the Martyrs of Sedition that for their malignant Libels had been imprisoned and three of them were conducted through London with such a company of people adorned with Rosemary and Bayes as it seemed a Triumph over Justice and those Tribunals that sentenced them Then they fell upon all the chief Ministers of State they impeached the Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of Ireland after him the Archbishop of Canterbury the Lord Finch Keeper of the Great Seal the Judges that according to their Oath had determined Ship-money legal and others some of which fled those that were found were clapt in Prison so that the King was soon despoiled of those that were able or faithful to give Him Counsel and others terrified in their Ministry to Him While the Factious thus led the House their Partisans without by their Instructions formed Petitions against the Government in Church and State to which they seduced the ignorant Rabble in the City and several Counties to subscribe and in a tumultuous manner to present them to their Patriots Who being animated by the success of their Arts fell to draw up a Bill for Triennial Parliaments wherein the Power of calling that great Council of the Nation was upon the refusal of the King and the neglect of others devolved upon Constables which prophanation of Majesty though the King disswaded them from yet they persisted in and He passed it After five Months time for so long a space they took to rake up Matter and Witnesses to justifie their accusation An. 1641 and to give leisure to the Court for Overtures of gainfull Offices to the great Sticklers against him which not appearing the Earl of Strafford is brought to his Triall in Westminster-Hall before the Lords as His Judges the King Queen and Prince sitting behind a Curtain in an adjoyning Gallery and round about the Court stood the Commons His Accusers and Witnesses were English Scotch and Irish and indeed so brave a Person could not be ruined but by the pretended hatred of the whole Empire The English were such as envied his Vertues and greatness in the King's Favour The Scotch because they knew his Prudence able to counterwork their Frauds discover their impudent Cheats and his wise management to overthrow their Force The Irish hatred arose from his just and necessary Severity in his Government whereby he had reduced them from so great a Barbarousness that was impatient of Peace to a Civility that was fertile of Plenty and by Artifices Husbandry and Commerce had rendred that tumultuary Nation so rich that they were now able to repay to the English Treasury those great Debts which their former Troubles and Commotions had contracted Although those of this Nation were Papists and sworn Enemies both of the English name and State and were even then practising and meditating their Rebellion which they hoped more easie when so wise a Governour was removed and so prone enough of themselves to the Crime yet were they much caressed by the Faction that these in the name of the whole Kingdom should press the Earl with envy to the Grave His Charge consisted of twenty eight Articles that their number might cover their want of Evidence To all which the Lieutenant whose
which none but souls prone to any wickedness could believe of so Great a Man were formed of the King and such suspicions raised of Him and His Friends as might force them to some Injuries which hitherto they forbore and by securing themselves increase the Publick fears For Slanders do rather provoke most men than amend them and the provoked think more of their safety than to adjust their actions against their malicious Slanderers And when the minds of Men were made thus sollicitous concerning Dangers from the King to make them more pliable and ductile there was represented to them an inevitable anger of Heaven against the present state of things both in Church and State testified by many Prodigies that were related and portentuous Presages of Ruine Certain Prophecies for a credulity to which the English Vulgar are infamous from unknown Oracles are divulged which aenigmatically describe the King as a Monster and from such a Prince must proceed a change of Government Some vain persons also that gave themselves up to the Imposture of Astrologie were hired to terrifie the People with the unsignificant Conjunctions of Stars and from them to foretel Ruines to the better part of the World and an imminent destruction of Men of the long Robe and Alterations of States These were done to temper the minds of Men by a superstition for a guidance of their Ministers who being conceived to be the Ambassadours of Heaven were supposed to have it in their Commission to declare the Conditions of War and Peace and these either through the same weakness capable of the like terrours with the Vulgar or which is more to be abhorred corrupted as some were by the Caresses and gainful hopes that the Faction baited them with did justifie their Fears and increase them by applying some obscure Prophecies in Scripture to the present times and People compared the pretended Corruptions of our Church with the Idolatries of Israel and whatsoever was condemned in the Holy Records was parallel'd with the things they disliked here and all the Curses that God poured upon His irreconcileable and obdurate Enemies were denounced against such as differ'd from them or would not joyn with the Faction To make these Harangues more efficacious the Authors of them received the Reverence of the Demagogues who despising questioning and exposing to Affronts such sober Divines as would have cured the madness of the People appropriated to such Teachers the Titles of Saints Faithful Ministers Pretious Men and they on the other side made a return of Epithets to their Masters of the Servants of the Most High such as were to do the Work of the Lord That by their Counsels men were to expect new Heavens and a new Earth that they were Men that should prepare the Kingdom for Jesus Christ and lay the Foundations of the Empire of the Saints which was to last a Thousand years To make the Cry yet louder they permitted all Sects and Heresies a Licence of publick profession which hitherto Discipline the Care of the Common Peace and Religion had confined to secret Corners and permitted the Office of Teaching to every bold and ignorant Undertaker so that at last the dreggs of the People Usurped that Dignity and Women who had parted with the Natural Modesty of their Sex would not only speak but also rule in the Church All these in gratitude for their Licentiousness still perswaded to their Hearers the admiration of the Authors of it and bitterly inveighed against those whom the Care both of the Souls and Fortunes of Men would excite to repress them in many of their Raptures denouncing Wo and Judgment to the lawful Governours in Church and State While all these Methods of Ruine were preparing here the same anger of God the same madness of men raised up another Tempest in Ireland For the Popish Lords and Priests of Ireland who were the prime Composers of the Tragedies there were incouraged by the Success of the Scots who by a prosperous Rebellion as the Historian of those Troubles writes had procured for themselves such large Priviledges to an imitation which the present Jealousies in England where mutual Contrasts would employ all their force upon one another promised to be secure And they had an happy opportunity by the Vacancy in Government through the slaughter of the Earl of Strafford with whom the Irish Lords while they prosecuted him in England had removed all those other inferiour Magistrates that were most skilful in the Affairs of that Kingdom by accusing to the Faction some of them of Treason and others of an inclination to the Earl and had got preferred to their charges such as were either altogether unacquainted with the Genius of that People or favourers of the Conspiracy A strength they had also ready for those Eight Thousand which had been listed for the Scotish Expedition were unseasonably disbanded and the King in foresight they might cause some mischief in their own Countrey had therefore promised Four Thousand of them to the King of Spain yet would not the Parliament consent to their departure because as the Irish Lords suggested it would displease the King of France and when the King promised to send as many to the French Camp that likewise was not relished The Common Souldiers of that Army being thus made useless and therefore like Men of their employment most fierce when they were to be dismissed from the dangers of War were easily drawn into the Rebellion although very few of their Officers were polluted with the Crime The Irish Lords and Priests being allured by these our Vices and these several opportunities began their Rebellion Octob. 23. The Irish throughout that whole Kingdom on a sudden invading the unprovided English that were scattered among them despoiling them of their Estates Goods and many thousands of their Lives without any respect of Sex Age Kindred or Friendship and made them as so many Sacrifices to their bloody Superstition They missed but a little to have surprised Dublin But their Conspiracy being detected there and in some few other places the English name and interest was preserved in that Kingdom till they could receive Succours from hence The King had the first Intelligence of it in its very beginnings in Scotland and thereupon sent Sr James Stuart to the Lords of the Privie Council in Ireland to acquaint them with His Knowledge and Instructions and to carry all that Money that His present Stores could supply Besides He moves the Parliament of Scotland as being nearest to a speedy help who decline their Aids because Ireland was dependent upon the Crown of England At the same time also He sends post to the Parliament of England who less regard it the Faction applauding their Fortune that new Troubles were arisen to molest the King and that the Royal Power being thus assaulted in all three Nations there must shortly arise so many new Commonwealths Besides that it yielded fresh matter of reproach to His Majesty to whose Councils
attempts the King first opposes the Law in several Declarations manifests the Power of Arms to be the ancient and undoubted Right of the Crown by many Proclamations charges all men under the Crime and Penalties of Treason to forbear the Execution of those Ordinances which were published to license their Rebellion and answers with a wonderful Diligence and Eloquence all the fictious Pretensions of the Parliament to that Power in their several Remonstrances But though the King had in the judgment of all understanding and uninteressed persons the Juster Cause and the more powerful Pen yet the Faction's Hast which is most essicacious in civil Discords the Slanders they had raised of Him and impressed in the minds of the People the terrors of that Arbitrary Power which the House of Commons had a long while exercised in the vexatious prosecution of all such as did oppose their imperious Resolves for they would by their Messengers send for the Great Earls and Prime Barons of the Kingdom as Rogues and Felons and weary them and others with a tedious and chargeable Attendance oppress them with heavy and unproportionable Censures and restrain them by Illegal Imprisonments and the hopes of licence and spoil in the ruine of Church and State had so preoccupied the Minds of the inferiour Multitude that neither Law nor Religion could have the least consideration in their practices and those Persons whom His Majesty appointed as Commissioners of Array in few places found that Obedience which was due to the just Commands of a Gracious Prince who vainly expected that Reverence to Justice in others which Himself gave After the experience of their Power in these their Successes at Land and having gotten the whole Navy at Sea being made Masters of the most and greatest Strengths of the Kingdom they then thought it might be safe for them to publish the aims and ends of their most destructive designs which if sooner manifested when the King by his Message of the 20th of Jan. from Windsor-Castle advised them to prescribe the limits of their Privileges give full Boundaries to His own Power and propose what was in their judgments proper to make the People happy and most religiously promised an equal tenderness of theirs and the Peoples Rights as of His own and what was for the Publick good should not be obstructed for His Particular Emolument they had justly drawn upon themselves all that popular hatred which they endeavoured to fling upon the King and had been buried under those ruines which they projected for the Grave of Majesty But then the Faction confided not so much in their own force nor were the Vulgar then so blinded with fury as to chuse their own destruction and therefore to that Message of Peace nothing was returned but Complaints that by such Advisoes their Counsels were disturbed that it was contrary to their unbounded Privileges to be minded of what was necessary But now they were furnished with a Power equal to their Ambition they thought it expedient to confirm their newly-gotten Empire with some pretensions to Peace but with a great deal of Caution that the affectation of it might not disappoint them of their hopes which were all built upon War and Confusion Therefore they formed the Conditions such as the King could not in Honour or Conscience grant them nor expect Peace by them Or if He did they should be instated in such a Grandeur that they might reap for themselves all the reproachful Honours and unlawful gains of an Arbitrary Power the thing they aimed at and leave the King overwhelmed with shame and contempt for their miscarriages in Government These Conditions were digested into Nineteen Propositions which when presented to the King He saw by an assent to them He should be concluded to have deposed Himself and be but as an helpless and idle Spectator of the Miserie 's such Tyrants would bring upon the People whom God had committed to His Trust Therefore He gave them that denial which they really desired and expected and adjusts His refusal in a Declaration wherein He sets forth the Injustice of each Proposition His Answer He sent by the Marquess of Hertford and Earl of Southampton Persons of great Integrity and Prudence with Instructions to treat in the House of Peers upon more equal Conditions But it behoved the Faction not to let the Kingdom see any way to Peace therefore denying any admittance to those Lords before ever the King's Answer could publickly discover who were the obstructours of the Peoples quiet they Ordered a Collection to be made of Money and Plate to maintain Horse Horse-men and Arms for the ensuing War The specious Pretences for which were the Safety of the King's Person and the taking Him out of the hands of Evil Counsellors the Defence of the Privileges of Parliament the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the maintenance of the ancient Laws of the Land Such inviting causes as these inflamed the Minds of the Multitude and filled them with more aiery hopes of Victory than the noise of Drums and Trumpets But that which was most powerful were the Sermons of such who being displeased with the present Ecclesiastical Government were promised the richest Benefices and a partage of the Revenues which belonged to Bishops Deans and Chapiters These from their Pulpits proclaimed War in the Name of Christ the Prince of Peace and whatsoever was contributed to the spilling of the Blood of the Wicked was to build up the Throne of the meekest Lamb and besides the satisfaction they were to expect from the Publick Faith which the Parliament promised there was a larger Interest to be doubled upon them in the Kingdom of Saints that was now approaching Deluded by these Artifices and Impostures People of all Conditions and all Sexes some carried by a secret Instinct others hurried by some furious Zeal and a last sort led by Covetousness cast into this Holy Treasury the Banck for Blood all the Ornaments of their Family all their Silver Vessels even to their Spoons with the Pledges of their first Love their Marriage-rings and the younger Females spared not their Thimbles and Bodkins the obliging Gifts of their Inamorato's from being a part of the Price of Blood But while these Preparations were made at London the King at York declares against the Scandal that He intended to Levy War against the Parliament calling God to witness how far His desires and thoughts were from it and also those many Lords who were Witnesses of His Counsels and Actions do publish to the World by a Writing subscribed with all their Names to the number of Forty and odd that they saw not any colour of Preparations or Counsels that might reasonably beget the belief of any such Design and were fully perswaded that He had no such intention But all was in vain for the Faction chose that the People should be rather guilty of committing Rebellion that only of favouring the Contrivers of it and decreed to try
furiously designed who were now resolving to encrease our Miseries by Calling in the Scots to their assistance For though they pretended so highly to God's Cause as if they had the certainty of some Divine Revelation yet they would not trust Him for their Preservation notwithstanding their Pretences to his Cause had furnished them with so vast a Treasure and so mighty a Strength but would invite others to the Violation of most Sacred Oaths to sin against all Laws and every Rule of Justice that themselves might be secure in their Usurpations And that perfidious Party that then ruled in Scotland hoping for as great Advantages as their former Wickedness had yielded contrary to all Obligations which the King's Goodness had laid on them and their free and voluntary Execrations as was that of Alexander Lesley who lifting up His arms and hands to Heaven wished they might rot to his body before he died if ever he should heave them up hereafter or draw his Sword against so gude a King drew that people once more into Rebellion against their Prince and to make them more eager and think the Enterprize easie they first raised a Report that the King was deserted by most of His Nobility The Parliament at Oxford having by a Letter moved the Earl of Essex to endeavour Peace did also declare against this Invasion of the Scots by another Letter sent to them in which also they acquaint them with the falseness of their officious Lye and shew how inconsiderable a Number of Lords were with those that invited them in The King Himself writes also to put them in mind of their several Ingagements to be Quiet But with an Insolency fit for most perjured Souls they commanded the Letters to be burned by the hand of the Hangman A more secret falshood He also found in the Marquess Hamilton whose Treasons now came to be more suspected For His Majesty having written to him to use all his Power and Interest to keep his Country-men at home which had not been difficult for one of his Grandeur in that unquiet Nation he by some secret arts doth more inflame them and to cover his Perfidiousness flies from Scotland to Oxford as seeking a shelter for his Loyalty but indeed to be a Spy in the King's Counsels But his Treasons had out-stripp'd him and his Brother the Earl of Lanerick who came with him therefore they were both forbidden the Court. Lanerick not willing to tarry till a further Discovery gets out of Oxford flies to those at London and by them was employed in the Scotch Army which made Hamilton's Treachery more evident and he was sent Prisoner to Pendennis Castle But the dishonour of that Nation was in a great measure repaired by the Gallantry and Faithfulness of the Marquess Montrosse who being Commission'd by the King with an incredible Industry by small numbers of men won many Battels and overthrew well-formed Armies and had not the Fate of his Master which was to be betrayed by those He trusted been likewise common to him he had forced that Nation to Justice and Quiet But ere Montrosse could get his Commission the Scots were entred into England whose coming that it might be less odious to the People who now grew cold in their Zeal to the Cause and saw themselves deluded into so continued Dangers the Faction make use of such Frauds as should make the People either think them necessary Assistances or might divert their Thoughts from apprehending the Miseries they brought with them to this Nation therefore they invent new Slanders of the King and His Party That His Majesty did intend to translate Monarchy into a Tyranny that He would seize upon all their Estates who had any way opposed Him and make their Persons Slaves and that there was no hope of Pardon from Him who was so merciless that He would take away all their Liberties and Privileges as forfeited destroy the Protestant Religion and introduce Popery which at Oxford He did practise Himself and that all men must be forced to go to Mass As for His Party they set them out to be such Monsters that the lower sort of People doubted whether the Cavaliers had the shapes of men For sad Relations were Printed and Published of their Inhumanity and barbarous Murders That they did feast upon the Flesh of Men and that they fed their Dogs and their Horses with the same Diet to make them more fierce for the blood of the Godly Party that no man's house was so poor and mean that a Cavalier would think beneath his Rapine Thus they wrought upon the Melancholy Spirits of some by Fear For those of a Morose and Cholerick temper they had proper Divertisements they permitted to them a tumultuary Reformation to pull down the Pictures and Images of Christ the Virgin Mary and the Saints which with great Solemnity they committed to the Flames that they might suffer as it were another Martyrdom All Crosses though set up for Ornament and Use in the Streets of London and other places they pulled down they invade the Churches and there deface what their Humour or Rapine would call Superstition pull down the Organs tear the Surplices and all this was suffered to please the Rabble who delight in Violences and such Ostentations of their Fury and to make them in something or other guilty that they might despair of Pardon For others who were to be wrought upon by Religion they entertain them with Fasts publick Thanksgivings for slight Victories and solemn Spiritual Meetings as they called them where whatsoever the Faction dictated was commended by the Speakers to their unwary Hearers as the Oracles of Heaven and being thus wrapp'd up in those true Delights which accompany the Worship of God they were securely swallowed by them as Poyson when it is offered in a Sacramental Chalice To please their Ministers whom hitherto they had used as their Properties and Instruments of their Arts Presbytery is set up that they also might have an Imaginary Empire but it was not intended they should exercise it For the Pretensions of that to a Divine Right did so terrifie them who were resolved against all Government that was not subject unto or dependent on theirs that they presently raised all the other Sects Independents Erastians who for the most part were Lawyers that could not endure to hear of any Thunderbolts of Excommunication but what was heated in their own Forges Anabaptists Seekers and Atheists of which there were many sprung up who seeing how Religion was abused to carnal and unjust Ends began first to despise that and afterwards to deny God to write and declame against this new Polity as the most severe and absolute Tyranny under the Sun and the Tenth Persecution But this seeming Modesty of admitting a Church Government served their Ends for the present till they could acquire a greater strength in confidence of which they might slight the Terrors of the Law and the Anathema's of the Church The Liturgy
lawful Government while the Almighty secured the Glory of the King even in His Sufferings provided for the Support and Honour of the Royal Family in its lowest Estate and miraculously preserved the Chief of it from innumerable dangers and made us to see afterwards in the Series of his Providences that he had not withdrawn his loving-kindness from the House of King CHARLES by restoring it to its primitive Grandeur And this he was pleased to signifie to the King by a Passage that appeared little less than a Miracle For while He was at Oxford and the Earl of Southampton now Lord High-Treasurer of England a Person of unquestionable Honour and Veracity of an eminent Integrity above the Flattery of Princes who doth attest this Occurrence as Gentleman of the Bed-chamber lay one Night in the same Chamber with Him the Wax Mortar which according to Custom the King always had in His Chamber was in the night as they both conceived and took notice of fully extinguished But my Lord rising in the Morning found it lighted and said to the KING Sir this Mortar now burns very clearly at which they both exceedingly wondred as fully concluding it had been out in the Night and they could not imagine how any of the Grooms or any other could possibly light it the Door being locked with a Spring within This busying the wonder of both for the present the King afterwards when He saw the Malice of His Enemies press hard upon His Life and Ruine reflecting upon this Occurrence drew it into this Presage That though God would permit His Light to be extinguished for a time yet He would at last light it again which was verified in the Event for though God suffered the Faction to spill His blood yet after many years of Troubles and when he had permitted those Monsters to bring us to the brinks of destruction he restored His Son to the Crown in as much Splendour and Greatness as any of His Predecessors As His Abilities for the Publick administration of Government were all apt to raise Admiration so His Recreations and Privacies gave a Delight to such as communicated in the sight of them and there needed no more to beget an Honour of Him than to behold Him in His Diversions which were all serious and there was no part of His time which either wanted benefit or deserved not Commendation In His younger days His pleasures were in Riding and sometimes in breaking the great Horse and He did it so gracefully that He deserved that Statue of Brass which did represent Him on Horse-back Besides this He delighted in Hunting an active and stirring Exercise to accustom Him to toils and harden that body whose mind abhorred the softness of Luxury and Ease which Vicious Princes think a part of Power and the Rewards of Publick Cares but He used this as the way whereby the Antient Heroes were habituated to Labours and by contending with some beasts in Strength and others in Swiftness first to rout then to chase their flying Enemies When the season of the year did not permit this sport then Tennis Gough Bowls were the ways of His Diversions and in all these He was wonderfully active and excellent His softer pleasures were Books and of His time spent in these there were many Monuments In His Library at St James's there was kept a Collection of His of the excellent Sayings of Authors written with His own hand and in his Youth presented to His Father King JAMES and there is yet extant in the hands of a Worthy Person His Extracts written with His own hand out of My Lord of Canterbury's Book against Fisber of all the Arguments against the Papists digested into so excellent a Method that He gave Light and Strength to them even while He did epitomise them into a sheet or two of Paper The same Care and Pains He had bestowed in reading the most Judicious Hooker and the learned Works of Bishop Andrews out of all which He had gathered whatsoever was excellent in them and fitted them for His ready use When He was tired with Reading then He applied Himself to Discourse wherein He both benefited Himself and others and He was good at the relation of a Story or telling of an Occurrence When these were tedious by continuance He would either play at Chess or please Himself with His Pictures of which He had many choice Pieces of the best Masters as Titian Rafael Tintoret and others with which He had adorned His most frequented Palaces as also with most antique Pieces of Sculpture so that to those that had travelled it seemed that Italy was translated to His Court. As His Spirit was thus accomplished so His Body had its Elegancies His Stature was of a just height rather decent than tall His Body erect and not enclining to a Corpulency nor meager till His Afflictions wrought too strongly upon it to a Leanness His Limbs exactly proportioned His Face full of Majesty and His Brow large and fair His Eyes so quick and piercing that they went farther than the Superficies of men and searched their more Inward parts for at the first sight He would pass a judgment upon the frame of a man's Spirit and Faculties and He was not often mistaken having a strange happiness in Physiognomy and by reason of this He would remember any one He had seen but once many years after His Complexion was enclining to a Paleness His Hair a brown which He wore of a moderate length ending in gentle and easie curles upon His left side He indulged one Lock to a greater length in the youthful part of His Life His Beard He wore picked but after the Faction had passed those Votes of No Addresses He permitted it to grow neglectedly and to cover more of His face His Gestures had nothing of affectation but full of Majestick gravity His motions were speedy and His gate fast which shewed the Alacrity and Vigour of His Mind for His Affections were temperate He was of a most healthful Constitution and after the infirmities of His Childhood was never sick Once He had the small Pox but the Malignity of it was so small that it altered not His Stomach nor put Him to the abstinence of one Meal neither did it detain Him above a fortnight under the Care of His Physicians He was Father of four Sons and five Daughters 1. Charles James born at Greenwich on Wednesday May 13th 1628. but died almost as soon as born having been first christned 2. Charles Duke of Cornwall and Prince of Wales born at St. James's May 29th 1630. whom after a fellowship in the Sufferings of His Father some brave but unsuccessful attempts to recover the Rights of His Inheritance and twelve years various fortune abroad God was pleased by a wonderful Providence without blood or ruine to conduct to His Native Throne and make Him the Restorer of Peace to a People wearied and wasted almost to a Desolation by several
no question but there are always some flattering fools that can commend nothing but with hyperbolick expressions and you know that supposito quolibet sequitur quidlibet besides do you think that albeit some ignorant Fellows should attribute more power to Presbyters than is really due unto them that thereby their Just reverence and Authority is diminished So I see no reason why I may not safely maintain that the Interpretation of Fathers is a most excellent strengthning to My Opinion though others should attribute the Cause and Reason of their Faith unto it 2. As there is no question but that Scripture is far the best Interpreter of it self so I see nothing in this negatively proved to exclude any other notwithstanding your positive affirmation 3. Nor in the next for I hope you will not be the first to condemn your self Me and innumerable others who yet unblameably have not tied themselves to this Rule 4. If this you only intend to prove that Errours were always breeding in the Church I shall not deny it yet that makes little as I conceive to your purpose But if your meaning be to accuse the Universal practice of the Church with Errour I must say it is a very bold undertaking and if you cannot justifie your self by clear places in Scripture much to be blamed wherein you must not alledge that to be universally received which was not as I dare say that the Controversie about Free-will was never yet decided by Oecumenical or General Council nor must you presume to call that an Errour which really the Catholick Church maintained as in Rites of Baptism Forms of Prayer Observation of Feasts Fasts c. except you can prove it so by the Word of God and it is not enough to say that such a thing was not warranted by the Apostles but you must prove by their Doctrine that such a thing was unlawful or else the Practice of the Church is warrant enough for Me to follow and obey that Custom whatsoever it be and think it good and I shall believe that the Apostles Creed was made by them such Reverence I bear to the Churches Tradition untill other Authors be certainly found out 5. I was taught that de posse ad esse was no good Argument and indeed to Me it is incredible that any custom of the Catholick Church was erroneous which was not contradicted by Orthodox learned Men in the times of their first Practice as is easily perceived that all those Defections were some of them may be justly called Rebellions which you mention 6. I deny it is impossible though I confess it difficult to come to the knowledge of the Universal Consent and Practice of the Primitive Church therefore I confess a man ought to be careful how to believe things of this nature wherefore I conceive this to be only an Argument for Caution My conclusion is that albeit I never esteemed any Authority equal to the Scriptures yet I do think the Unanimous Consent of the Fathers and the Universal Practice of the Primitive Church to be the best and most Authentical Interpreters of God's Word and consequently the fittest Judges between Me and you when we differ until you shall find Me better For example I think you for the present the best Preacher in Newcastle yet I believe you may err and possibly a better Preacher may come but till then I must retain my Opinion Newcastle July 16. 1646. C. R. His MAJESTY's Quaere concerning Easter propounded to the Parliaments Commissioners at Holdenby April 23. 1647. I desire to be resolved of this Question Why the new Reformers discharge the keeping of Easter The Reason for this Quaere is I Conceive the Celebration of this Feast was instituted by the same Authority which changed the Jewish Sabbath into the Lord's Day or Sunday for it will not be found in Scripture where Saturday is discharged to be kept or turned into the Sunday wherefore it must be the Churches Authority that changed the one and instituted the other Therefore My Opinion is that those who will not keep this Feast may as well return to the observation of Saturday and refuse the weekly Sunday When any body can shew Me that herein I am in an errour I shall not be ashamed to confess and amend it till when you know my mind C. R. His MAJESTY's First Paper concerning Episcopacy At the Treaty at NEWPORT October 2. 1648. CHARLES R. I Conceive that Episcopal Government is most consonant to the Word of God and of an Apostolical institution as it appears by the Scripture to have been practised by the Apostles themselves and by them committed and derived to particular persons as their Substitutes or Successors therein as for ordaining Presbyters and Deacons giving Rules concerning Christian Discipline and exercising Censures over Presbyters and others and hath ever since to these last times been exercised by Bishops in all the Churches of Christ and therefore I cannot in Conscience consent to abolish the said Government Notwithstanding this my perswasion I shall be glad to be informed if our Saviour and the Apostles did so leave the Church at liberty as they might totally alter or change the Church-Government at their pleasure Which if you can make appear to Me then I will confess that one of my great Scruples is clean taken away And then there only remains That being by my Coronation-Oath obliged to maintain Episcopal Government as I found it setled to my hands Whether I may consent to the abolishing thereof until the same shall be evidenced to Me to be contrary to the Word of God Newport October 2. 1648. PRAYERS Used by His MAJESTY in the time of His Troubles and Restraint I. A Prayer used by His MAJESTY at His entrance in state into the Cathedral Church of Excester after the defeat of the Earl of Essex in Cornwal O Most glorious Lord God Father Son and Holy Ghost I here humbly adore thy most Sacred Majesty and I bless and magnifie thy Name for that Thou hast been pleased so often and so strangely to deliver Me from the strivings of my People Father forgive them who have thus risen up against Me and do Thou yet turn their hearts both unto Thee and to Me that I being firmly established in the Throne Thou hast placed Me in I may defend Thy Church committed to My care and keep all this Thine and My People in Truth and Peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen II. A Prayer drawn by His MAJESTY's special direction and dictates for a Blessing on the Treaty at Uxbridge O Most merciful Father Lord God of Peace and Truth we a People sorely afflicted by the scourge of an unnatural War do here earnestly beseech Thee to command a Blessing from Heaven upon this present Treaty begun for the establishment of an happy Peace Soften the most obdurate hearts with a true Christian desire of saving those mens blood for whom Christ himself
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 bloud 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 Bloud 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 IX From OXFORD Mar. 3. MDCXLIII IV. For a Treaty To the Lords and Commons of Parliament Assembled at Westminster C. R. OUT of Our most tender and pious sense of the sad and bleeding condition of this Our Kingdom and Our unwearied desires to apply all remedies which by the blessing of Almighry God may recover it from an utter Ruine by the Advice of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford We do propound and desire That a convenient number of fit Persons may be appointed and authorized by you to meet with all convenient speed at such Place as you shall nominate with an equal number of fit Persons whom We shall appoint and authorize to Treat of the ways and means to settle the present Distractions of this Our Kingdom and to procure a happy Peace And particularly how all the Members of both Houses may securely meet in a full and free Convention of Parliament there to Treat Consult and Agree upon such things as may conduce to the maintenance and defence of the true Reformed Protestant Religion with due consideration to all just and reasonable ease of tender Consciences to the settling and maintaining of Our just Rights and Priviledges of the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament the Laws of the Land the Liberty and Property of the Subject and all other Expedients that may conduce to that blessed end of a firm and lasting Peace both in Church and State and a perfect understanding betwixt Us and Our People wherein no endeavour or concurrency of Ours shall be wanting And God direct your hearts in the ways of Peace Given at Our Court at Oxford the third day of March 1643. X. From EVESHOLME July 4. MDCXLIV After the Defeat of Waller at Cropredy Bridge To the Lords and Commons of Parliament Assembled at Westminster C. R. WE being deeply sensible of the Miseries and Calamities of this Our Kingdom and of the grievous Sufferings of Our poor Subjects do most earnestly desire that some Expedient may be found out which by the blessing of God may prevent the further effusion of blood and restore the Nation to Peace from the earnest and constant endeavouring of which as no discouragement given Us on the Contrary part shall make Us cease so no success on Ours shall ever divert Us. For the effecting whereof We are most ready and willing to condescend to all that shall be for the good of Us and Our People whether by way of confirmation of what We have already granted or of such further concession as shall be requisite to the giving a full assurance of the performance of all Our most real professions concerning the maintenance of the true Reformed Protestant Religion established in this Kingdom with due regard to the ease of tender Consciences the just Priviledges of Parliament and the Liberty and Propriety of the Subject according to the Laws of the Land as also by granting a general Pardon without or with exceptions as shall be thought fit In order to which blessed Peace We do desire and propound to the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster That they appoint such and so many persons as they shall think fit sufficiently authorized by them to attend Us at Our Army upon safe conduct to come and return which We do hereby grant and conclude with Us how the Premisses and all other things in question betwixt Us and them may be fully settled whereby all unhappy mistakings betwixt Us and Our People being removed there may be a present Cessation of Arms and as soon as may be a total disbanding of all Armies the Subject have his due and We be restored to Our Rights Wherein if this Our offer shall be accepted there shall be nothing wanting on Our part which may make Our People secure and happy Given at our Court at Evesholm the fourth of July 1644. XI From TAVESTOCK Sept. 8. MDCXLIV After the Defeat of the Earl of ESSEX in Cornwal To the Lords and Commons of Parliament Assembled at Westminster CHARLES R. IT having pleased God in so eminent a manner lately to bless Our Armies in these parts with success We do not so much joy in that blessing for any other consideration as for the hopes We have that it may be a means to make others lay to heart as We do the miseries brought and continued upon Our Kingdom by this unnatural War and that it may open your ears and dispose your minds to embrace those offers of Peace and Reconciliation which have been so often and so earnestly made unto you by Us and from the constant and fervent endeavours of which We are resolved never to desist In pursuance whereof We do upon this occasion conjure you to take into consideration Our too-long-neglected Message of the fourth of July from Evesholm which We again renew unto you and that you will speedily send Us such an Answer thereunto as may shew unto Our poor Subjects some light of a deliverance from their present Calamities by a happy Accommodation toward which We do here engage the word of a King to make good all those things which We have therein promised and really to endeavour a happy conclusion of this Treaty And so God direct you in the ways of Peace Given at our Court at Tavestock the eighth of September 1644. From OXFORD Dec. 13. MDCXLIV For a Treaty by Commissioners By the Duke of Richmond and Earl of Southampton HIS Majesty hath seriously considered your Propositions and finds it very difficult in respect they import so great an alteration in Government both in Church and State to return a particular and positive Answer before a full debate wherein those Propositions and all necessary Explanations and Reasons for assenting dissenting or qualifying and all inconveniences and mischiefs which may ensue and cannot otherwise be so well foreseen may be discussed and weighed His Majesty therefore proposeth and desireth as the best expedient for Peace That you will appoint such a number of Persons
Authority which is alledged as knowing neither Law nor Practice for it And if the two Armies be He believes it is more than can be parallel'd by any former times in this Kingdom Nor can His Majesty understand how His Majesty's seeking of a Personal security can be any breach of Priviledge it being likely to be infringed by hindring His Majesty from coming freely to His two Houses As for the objection that His Majesty omitted to mention the setling Religion and securing the Peace of His Native Kingdom His Majesty declares that He conceives that it was included in His former and hath been particularly mentioned in His latter Message of the 15. present But for their better satisfaction He again expresseth that it was and ever shall be both His meaning and endeavour in this Treaty desired and it seems to Him very clear that there is no way for a final ending of such Distractions as afflict this Kingdom but either by Treaty or Conquest the latter of which His Majesty hopes none will have the Impudency or Impiety to wish for And for the former if his Personal assistance in it be not the most likely way let any reasonable man judge when by that means not only all unnecessary Delaies will be removed but even the greatest Difficulties made easie And therefore He doth now again earnestly insist upon that Proposition expecting to have a better Answer upon mature consideration And can it be imagined that any Propositions will be so effectual being formed before a Personal Treaty as such as are framed and propounded upon a full debate on both sides Wherefore His Majesty who is most concerned in the good of His People and is most desirous to restore Peace and Happiness to His three Kingdoms doth again instantly desire an Answer to His said former Messages to which He hath hitherto received none Given at our Court at Oxon the twenty fourth day of January 1645. XX. From OXFORD January 29. MDCXLV VI. Concerning the Negotiations in Ireland with His Majesty's further Concessions in order to a Personal Treaty To 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 having received information from the Lord Lieutenant and Council in Ireland that the Earl of Glamorgan hath without his or their directions or privity entred into a Treaty with some Commissioners on the Roman Catholick party there and also drawn up and agreed unto certain Articles with the said Commissioners highly derogatory to His Majesty's Honour and Royal Dignity and most prejudicial unto the Protestant Religion and Church there in Ireland whereupon the said Earl of Glamorgan is arrested upon suspicion of high Treason and imprisoned by the said Lord Lieutenant and Council at the instance and by the impeachment of the Lord Digby who by reason of his place and former imployment in these affairs doth best know how contrary that proceeding of the said Earl hath been to His Majesty's intentions and directions and what great prejudice it might bring to His Affairs if those proceedings of the Earl of Glamorgan should be any waies understood to have been done by the directions liking or approbation of His Majesty His Majesty having in His former Messages for a Personal Treaty offered to give contentment to his two Houses in the business of Ireland hath now thought fitting the better to shew His clear intentions and to give satisfaction to His said Houses of Parliament and the rest of His Subjects in all His Kingdoms to send this Declaration to His said Houses containing the whole truth of the business Which is That the Earl of Glamorgan having made offer unto Him to raise Forces in the Kingdom of Ireland and to conduct them into England for His Majesty's Service had a Commission to that purpose and to that purpose only That he had no Commission at all to treat of any thing else without the privity and directions of the Lord Lieutenant much less to capitulate any thing concerning Religion or any propriety belonging either to Church or Laity That it clearly appears by the Lord Lieutenants Proceedings with the said Earl that he had no notice at all of what the said Earlhad treated and pretended to have capitulated with the Irish until by accident it came to his knowledge And his Majesty doth protest that until such time as He had advertisement that the person of the said Earl of Glamorgan was arrested and restrained as is abovesaid He never heard nor had any kind of notice that the said Earl had entred into any kind of Treaty or Capitulation with those Irish Commissioners much less that he had concluded or signed those Articles so destructive both to Church and State and so repugnant to His Majesty's publick professions and known resolutions And for the further vindication of His Majesties Honour and Integrity herein He doth declare That He is so far from 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 Majesty's 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 Majesty's 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 Majesty's 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 Majesty's 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 dispatcht into Ireland to prevent any accident that may happen to hinder His Majesty's resolution of leaving the managing of the business of Ireland wholly to the 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 Majesty's
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
for making War and shall I now be condemned for making Peace Have I not formerly ruled like a King and shall I now be ruled like a Slave Have I not formerly enjoyed the society of My dear Wife and Children in peace and quietness and shall I now neither enjoy them nor Peace Have not My Subjects formerly obeyed Me and shall I now be obedient to My Subjects Have I not been condemned for Evil Counsellors and shall I now be condemned for having no Counsel but God These are unutterable miseries that the more I endeavour for Peace the less My endeavours are respected And how shall I know hereafter what to grant when your selves know not what to ask I refer it to your Consciences whether I have not satisfied your desires in every particular since this Treaty if you find I have not then let Me bear the burthen of the fault but if I have given you ample satisfaction as I am sure I have then you are bound to vindicate Me from the fury of those whose thoughts are filled with blood though they pretend zeal yet they are but Wolves in Sheeps cloathing I must further declare that there is nothing can more obstruct the long-hoped-for Peace of this Nation than the illegal proceedings of them that presume from Servants to become Masters and labour to bring in Democracy and to abolish Monarchy Needs must the total alteration of Fundamentals be not only destructive to others but in conclusion to themselves for they that endeavour to rule by the Sword shall at last fall by it for Faction is the Mother of Ruine and it is the humour of those who are of this Weather-cock-like disposition to love nothing but mutabilities neither will that please them but only pro tempore for the too much variety doth but confound the senses and makes them still hate one folly and fall in love with another Time is the best cure for Faction for it will at length like a spreading Leprosie infect the whole body of the Kingdom and make it so odious that at last they will hate themselves for love of that and like the Fish for love of the bait be catch'd with the hook I once more declare to all My loving Subjects and God knows whether or no this may be My last that I have earnestly laboured for Peace and that My thoughts were sincere and absolute without any sinister ends and there was nothing left undone by Me that My Conscience would permit Me to do And I call God to witness that I do firmly conceive that the interposition of the Army that cloud of Malice hath altogether eclipsed the glory of that Peace which began again to shine in this Land And let the World judg whether it be expedient for an Army to contradict the Votes of a Kingdom endeavouring by pretending Laws and Liberties to subvert both Such Actions as these must produce strange consequences and set open the floud-gates of ruine to overflow this Kingdom in a moment Had this Treaty been only Mine own seeking then they might have had fairer pretences to have stopt the course of it but I being importun'd by My two Houses and they by most part of the Kingdom could not but with a great deal of alacrity concur with them in their desires for the performance of so commodious a work and I hope by this time that the hearts and eyes of My People are opened so much that they plainly discover who are the underminers of this Treaty For Mine own part I here protest before the face of Heaven that Mine own Afflictions though they need no addition afflict Me not so much as My Peoples sufferings for I know what to trust to already and they know not God comfort both them and Me and proportion our Patience to our Sufferings And when the Malice of Mine Enemies is spun out to the smallest thread let them know that I will by the grace of God be as contented to suffer as they are active to advance My sufferings and Mine own Soul tells Me that the time will come when the very clouds shall drop down vengeance upon the heads of those that barricado themselves against the Proceedings of Peace for if God hath proclaimed a blessing to the Peace-makers needs must the Peace-breakers draw down curses upon their heads I thank My God I have armed My self against their fury and now let the arrows of their Envy fly at Me I have a breast to receive them and a heart possest with patience to sustain them for God is My Rock and My Shield therefore I will not fear what man can do unto Me. I will expect the worst and if any thing happen beyond My expectation I will give God the glory for vain is the help of man Queries propounded by His MAJESTY when the Armies Remonstrance was read unto Him at NEWPORT concerning the intended Tryal of His MAJESTY I. WHether this Remonstrance be agreeable to the former Declarations of the Army and if not whether the Parliament would make good their Votes that after He had consented to what they desired He should be in a capacity of Honour Freedom and Safety II. Whether His acknowledgment of the bloud that hath been spilt in the late Wars nothing being as yet absolutely concluded or binding could be urged so far as to be made use of by way of Evidence against Him or any of His Party III. Whether the Arguments that He hath used in a free and Personal Treaty to lessen or extenuate and avoid the exactness of any of the Conditions though in manner and form only might be charged against Him as an act of Obstinacy or wilful persistance in what is alledged against Him in that He goes on in a destructive course of enmity against the People and the Laws of the Land when He hath declared that His Conscience was satisfied concerning divers particulars in the Propositions IV. Whereas by the letter of the Law all persons charged to offend against the Law ought to be tryed by their Peers or Equals what the Law is if the Person questioned is without a Peer And if the Law which of it self is but a dead letter seems to condemn Him by what power shall Judgement be given and who shall give it or from whence shall the administrators of such Judgement derive their power which may by the same Law be deemed the supreme power or authority of Magistracy in the Kingdom HIS MAJESTY'S LETTERS I. To the House of Peers about the Reprieve of the Earl of STRAFFORD Sent by the PRINCE From White-Hall May 11. MDCXLI My Lords I Did yesterday satisfie the Justice of the Kingdom by passing the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford But Mercy being as inherent and inseparable to a King as Justice I desire at this time in some measure to shew that likewise by suffering that unfortunate man to fulfil the natural course of his life in a close Imprisonment yet so that if ever he
Considerations the inconveniences as I conceive that may upon this occasion fall upon My Subjects and other Protestants abroad especially since it may seem to other States to be a severity Which having thus represented I think My self discharged from all ill consequences that may ensue upon the Execution of this person XXVI To the House of Lords at WESTMINSTER Feb. 10. MDCXL XLI MY Lords That freedom and confidence which I expressed at the beginning of this Parliament to have of your love and fidelity towards My Person and Estate hath made Me at this time come hither to acquaint you with that Alliance and Confederacy which I intend to make with the Prince of Orange and the States which before this time I did not think expedient to do because that part I do desire your Advice and Assistance upon was not ready to be treated on I will not trouble you with a long digression by shewing the steps of this Treaty but leave you to be satisfied in that by those who under Me do manage that Affair Only I shall shew you the reasons which have induced Me to it and in what I expect your Assistance and Counsel The Considerations that have induced Me to it are these First the matter of Religion Here needs no Dispensation no fear that My Daughter's Conscience may be any way perverted Secondly I do esteem that a strict Alliance and Confederacy with the States will be as useful to this Kingdom as that with any of My Neighbouâ—â— especially considering their Affinity Neighbourhood and way of their Strength And lastly which I must never forget in these occasions the use I may make of this Alliance towards the establishing of My Sister and Nephews Now to shew you in what I desire your Assistance You must know that the Articles of Marriage are in a manner concluded but not to be totally ratified until that of Alliance be ended and agreed which before I demanded your assistance I did not think fit to enter upon And that I may not leave you too much at large how to begin that Counsel I present you here the Propositions which are offered by Me to the States Ambassadours for that intent And so My Lords I shall only desire you to make as much expedition in your Counsels as so great a business shall require and shall leave your Lordships to your own free debate XXVII To the Lords and Commons at His Passing the Bill for Triennial Parliaments at WESTMINSTER Feb. 15. MDCXL XLI MY Lords and you the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commons You may remember when both Houses were with Me at the Banquetting-House at White-Hall I did declare unto you two Rocks I wished you to eschew This is one of them and of that consequence that I think never Bill passed here in this House of more favour to the Subject than this is And if the other Rock be as happily passed over as this shall be at this time I do not know what you can ask for ought I can see at this time that I can make any question to yield unto Therefore I mention this to shew unto you the sense that I have of this Bill and the Obligation as I may say that you have to Me for it For hitherto to speak freely I had no great incouragement to do it if I should look to the outward face of your Actions or Proceedings and not to the inward Intentions of your hearts I might make question of doing it Hitherto you have gone on in that which concerns your selves to amend and not in those things that nearly concern the strength of this Kingdom neither for the State nor My Own particular This I mention not to reproach you but to shew you the state of things as they are You have taken the Government all in pieces and I may say it is almost off the Hinges A skilful Watch-maker to make clean his Watch will take it asunder and when it is put together it will go the better so that he leave not out one pin of it Now as I have done all this on My part you know what to do on yours And I hope you shall see clearly that I have performed really what I expressed to you at the beginning of this Parliament of the great trust I have of your affections to Me. And this is the great expression of trust that before you do any thing for Me I do put such a Confidence in you XXVIII To the Lords and Commons about Disbanding the Armies in Ireland and England at the Banquetting-House in WHITE-HALL April 28. MDCXLI MY Lords and Gentlemen For Answer to your Desires I say First Concerning the removal of Papists from Court I am sure you all know what legal trust the Crown hath in this particular and therefore I need not say any thing to give you assurance that I shall use it so that there shall be no just cause of Scandal Secondly For disarming of Papists I am very well content it shall be done according to Law Thirdly For the Irish Army you must understand I am already upon Consultation how to disband it but I find many difficulties in it therefore I hold it not only fit to wish it but to shew the way how it may be conveniently done This is not all I desire but since you have mentioned the disbanding of Armies it is My Duty to My Country to wish for disbanding of all Armies and to restore the same Peace to all My three Kigndoms that the King My Father did leave them in And I conjure you as you will answer the same to God and to your Country to join with Me heartily and speedily for the disbanding of the two Armies in England This is a very good time to speak of it and there are but two waies to do it One is to answer their Petitions and the second is to provide Monies You are Masters of the one and with Me you are Judges of the other And you shall not be readier nor so ready to bring this to a happy Conclusion than I My self shall be XXIX To the House of Lords concerning the Bill of Attainder of the Earl of STRAFFORD at WESTMINSTER May 1. MDCXLI MY Lords I had no intention to have spoken to you of this business this day which is the great business concerning My Lord of Strafford because I would do nothing that might serve to hinder your occasions But now it comes so to pass that seeing of necessity I must have part in the Judgment I think it most necessary for Me to declare My Conscience therein I am sure you all know I have been present at the hearing of this great Case from the one end to the other And I must tell you that in My Conscience I cannot condemn him of High Treason It is not fit for Me to argue this business I am sure you will not expect that A Positive Doctrine best becomes the Mouth of a Prince Yet I must
manner of a Parliament new Jurisdictions were erected of Romish Archbishops Taxes levied another State moulded within this State independent in Government contrary in Interest and affection secretly corrupting the ignorant or negligent Professours of our Religion and closely uniting and combining themselves against such as were sound in this posture waiting for an opportunity by force to destroy those whom they could not hope to seduce For the effecting whereof they were strengthened with Arms and Munition encouraged by superstitious Prayers enjoyned by the Nuntio to be weekly made for the prosperity of some great Design And such power had they at Court that secretly a Commission was issued out intended to be issued to some Great men of that profession for the levying of Souldiers and to command and employ them according to private instructions which we doubt were framed for the advantage of those who were the contrivers of them His Majesties Treasure was consumed His Revenue anticipated His Servants and Officers compelled to lend great sums of mony Multitudes were called to the Council-Table who were tired with long attendances there for refusing illegal payments The Prisons were filled with their Commitments many of the Sheriffs summoned into the Star-Chamber and some imprisoned for not being quick enough in levying the Ship-money the people languished under grief and fear no visible hope being left but in desperation The Nobility began to be weary of their silence and patience and sensible of the duty and trust which belongs to them and thereupon some of the most eminent of them did petition His Majesty at such a time when evil Counsels were so strong that they had reason to expect more hazard to themselves then redress of those publick evils for which they interceded Whilest the Kingdom was in this agitation and distemper the Scots restrained in their Trades impoverished by the loss of many of their Ships bereaved of all possibility of satisfying His Majesty by any naked Supplication entred with a powerful Army into the Kingdom and without any hostile Act or spoil in the Countrey as they passed more then forcing a passage over the Tyne at Newborne near Newcastle possessed themselves of Newcastle and had a fair opportunity to press on further upon the Kings Army but duty and reverence to His Majesty and brotherly love to the English Nation made them stay there whereby the King had leisure to entertain better Counsels wherein God so blessed and directed Him that He summoned the great Council of Peers to meet at York upon the twenty fourth of September and there declared a Parliament to begin the third of November then following The Scots the first day of the great Council presented an humble Petition to His Majesty whereupon the Treaty was appointed at Rippon a present Cessation of arms agreed upon and the full conclusion of all Differences referred to the wisdom and care of the Parliament At our first meeting all Oppositions seemed to vanish the mischiefs were so evident which those evil Counsellors produced that no man durst stand up to defend them Yet the work it self afforded difficulty enough The multiplied evils and corruption of sixteen years strengthned by Custome and Authority and the concurrent interest of many powerful Delinquents were now to be brought to judgment and Reformation The Kings Houshold was to be provided for they had brought Him to that want that He could not supply His ordinary and necessary Expences without the assistance of His People Two Armies were to be payed which amounted very near to thirty thousand pounds a month the people were to be tenderly charged having been formerly exhausted with many burthensome Projects The Difficulties seemed to be insuperable which by the Divine Providence we have overcome the Contrarieties incompatible which yet in a great measure we have reconciled Six Subsidies have been granted and a Bill of Poll-money which if it be duly levied may equal six Subsidies more in all six hundred thousand pounds Besides we have contracted a debt to the Scots of two hundred and twenty thousand pounds and yet God hath so blessed the endeavours of this Parliament that the Kingdom is a great gainer by all these charges The Ship-money is abolished which cost the Kingdom above 200000 pounds a year The Coat and Conduct-money and other military charges are taken away which in many Countries amounted to little less then the Ship-money The Monopolies are all supprest whereof some few did prejudice the Subject above a Million yearly the Soap an hundred thousand pounds the Wine three hundred thousand pounds the Leather must needs exceed both and Salt could not be less then that besides the inferiour Monopolies which if they could be exactly computed would make up a great sum That which is more beneficial then all this is that the root of these evils is taken away which was the arbitrary power pretended to be in His Majesty of taxing the Subject or charging their estates without consent in Parliament which is now declared to be against Law by the judgment of both Houses and likewise by an Act of Parliament Another step of great advantage is this the living Grievances the evil Counsellors and actors of these mischiefs have been so quelled by the Justice done upon the Earl of Strafford the flight of the Lord Finch and Secretary Windebank the accusation and imprisonment of the Archbishop of Canterbury of Judge Bartlet and the impeachment of divers other Bishops and Judges that it is like not only to be an ease to the present times but a preservation to the future The discontinuance of Parliaments is prevented by the Bill for a Triennial Parliament and the abrupt dissolution of this Parliament by another Bill by which it is provided it shall not be dissolved or adjourned without the consent of both Houses Which two Laws well considered may be thought more advantageous then all the former because they secure a full operation of the present remedy and afford a perpetual Spring of remedies for the future The Star-chamber the High-Commission the Courts of the President and Council in the North were so many forges of Misery Oppression and Violence and are all taken away whereby men are more secured in their Persons Liberties and Estates then they could be by any Law or Example for the regulation of those Courts or Terror of the Judges The immoderate power of the Council-Table and the excessive abuse of that power is so ordered and restrained that we may well hope that no such things as were frequently done by them to the prejudice of the publick Liberty will appear in future times but only in Stories to give us and our posterity more occasion to praise God for his Majesties Goodness and the faithful endeavours of this Parliament The Canons and the power of Canon-making are blasted by the Vote of both Houses The exorbitant power of Bishops and their Courts are much abated by some Provisions in the Bill against the High-Commission Court
the advice of private men or by any unknown or unsworn Counsellors but that such matters as concern the publick and are proper for the High Court of Parliament which is Your Majesties great and supreme Council may be debated resolved and transacted only in Parliament and not elsewhere and such as shall presume to do any thing to the contrary shall be reserved to the censure and judgment of Parliament And such other matters of State as are proper for Your Majesties Privy Council shall be debated and concluded by such of the Nobility and others as shall from time to time be chosen for that place by approbation of both Houses of Parliament And that no publick Act concerning the Affairs of the Kingdom which are proper for Your Privy Council may be esteemed of any validity as proceeding from the Royal Authority unless it be done by the advice and consent of the major part of Your Council attested under their hands And that Your Council my be limited to a certain number not exceeding twenty five nor under fifteen And if any Counsellors place happen to be void in the Intervals of Parliament it shall not be supplied without the assent of the major part of the Council which choice shall be confirmed at the next sitting of the Parliament or else to be void III. That the Lord High Steward of England Lord High Constable Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Lord Treasure Lord Privy Seal Earl Marshal Lord Admiral Warden of the Cinque-Ports chief Governor of Ireland Chancellor of the Exchequer Master of the Wards Secretaries of State two Chief Justices and Chief Baron may always be chosen with the approbation of both Houses of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament by assent of the major part of the Council in such manner as is before exprest in the choice of Counsellors IV. That he or they unto whom the government and education of the King's Children shall be committed shall be approved of by both Houses of Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliaments by the assent of the major part of the Council in such manner as is before exprest in the choice of Counsellours And that all such Servants as are now about Them against whom both Houses shall have any just exception shall be removed V. That no Marriage shall be concluded or treated for any of the King's Children with any foreign Prince or other person whatsoever abroad or at home without the consent of Parliament under the penalty of a Praemunire unto such as shall so conclude or treat any Marriage as aforesaid and that the said Penalty shall not be pardoned or dispensed with but by the consent of both Houses of Parliament VI. That the Laws in force against Jesuites Priests and Popish Recusants be strictly put in execution without any toleration or dispensation to the contrary and some more effectual course may be enacted by authority of Parliament to disable them from making any disturbance in the State or eluding the Law by trusts or otherwise VII That the Votes of Popish Lords in the House of Peers may be taken away so long as they continue Papists And that His Majesty would consent to such a Bill as shall be drawn for the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion VIII That Your Majesty will be pleased to consent that such a Reformation be made in the Church-Government and Liturgy as both Houses of Parliament shall advise wherein they intend to have consultations with Divines as is expressed in their Declaration to that purpose And that your Majesty will contribute Your best assistance to them for the raising of a sufficient maintenance for Preaching Ministers through the Kingdom And that Your Majesty will be pleased to give Your consent to Laws for the taking away of Innovations and Superstition and of Pluralities and against Scandalous Ministers IX That Your Majesty will be pleased to rest satisfied with that course that the Lords and Commons have appointed for ordering the Militia until the same shall be further setled by a Bill And that Your Majesty will recall Your Declarations and Proclamations against the Ordinance made by the Lords and Commons concerning it X. That such Members of either House of Parliament as have during this present Parliament been put out of any Place and Office may either be restored to that Place and Office or otherwise have satisfaction for the same upon the Petition of that House whereof he or they are Members XI That all Privy-Counsellours and Judges may take an Oath the form whereof to be agreed on and setled by Act of Parliament for the maintaining of the Petition of Right and of certain Statutes made by this Parliament which shall be mentioned by both Houses of Parliament And that an inquiry of all the breaches and violations of these Laws may be given in charge by the Justices of the King's Bench every Term and by the Judges of Assize in their Circuits and Justices of Peace at the Sessions to be presented and punished according to Law XII That all the Judges and all Officers placed by approbation of both Houses of Parliament may hold their places Quam diu bene se gesserint XIII That the Justice of Parliament may pass upon all Delinquents whether they be within the Kingdom or fled out of it And that all persons cited by either House of Parliament may appear and abide the censure of Parliament XIV That the General Pardon offered by Your Majesty may be granted with such Exceptions as shall be advised by both Houses of Parliament XV. That the Forts and Castles of this Kingdom may be put under the Command and Custody of such persons as Your Majesty shall appoint with the approbation of Your Parliament and in the Intervals of Parliament with the approbation of the major part of the Council in such manner as is before expressed in the choice of Counsellours XVI That the extraordinary Guards and Military Forces now attending Your Majesty may be removed and discharged And that for the future You will raise no such Guards or extraordinary Forces but according to Law in case of actual Rebellion or Invasion XVII That Your Majesty will be pleased to enter into a more strict Alliance with the States of the United Provinces and other neighbour-Princes and States of the Protestant Religion for the defence and maintenance thereof against all designs and attempts of the Pope and his adherents to subvert and suppress it whereby Your Majesty will obtain a great access of strength and reputation and Your Subjects be much encouraged and enabled in a Parliamentary way for Your aid and assistance in restoring Your Royal Sister and the Princely Issue to those Dignities and Dominions which belong unto them and relieving the other distressed Protestant Princes who have suffered in the same Cause XVIII That Your Majesty will be pleased by Act of Parliament to clear the Lord Kimbolton and the
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
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
satisfie their own private Ends and Ambition for themselves know what overtures have been made by them and with what importunity for Offices and Preferments what great Services should have been done for Us and what other undertakings were even to have saved the Life of the Earl of Strafford if We would confer such Offices upon them We were sure We could make such particular proofs against them of a solemn Combination entred into by them for altering the Government of the Church and State of their designing Offices to themselves and other Men of their solliciting and drawing down the Tumults to Westminster and of their bidding the People in the height of their rage and fury to go to White-Hall of their scornful and odious mention of Our Person and their design of getting Our Son the Prince into their hands of their treating with Foreign Power to assist them if they should fail in their enterprises Yet we saw too that their Interest and reputation was so great with many of both Houses of Parliament their Power so absolute with a multitude of Brownists Anabaptists and other Sectaries about London who were ready to appear in a body at their command that it would be a hard matter to proceed against them In this streight We resolved to do Our part in both to give Our People a clear satisfaction of Our upright Intentions to the publick whereby they should find their Happiness did not at all depend on such Instruments and to proceed against the Persons of the other in a legal way that all the world might see what Ambition Malice and Sedition had been had under the Vizour of Conscience and Religion Hereupon We prepared an Answer to the Remonstrance the House of Commons had before published to the People of the State of the Kingdom wherein without taking notice of the uncomely Language in and the Circumstances of that Remonstrance We declared with as gracious and full Expressions as We could make Our earnest Resolutions for the maintenance of the true Protestant Religion the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the Law of the Land and made no less gracious offers to consent to any Act that should be offered for the ease of tender Consciences in matters indifferent and very earnestly desired that the same might be provided and whatever else should be thought necessary for the Peace and Security of Our People And then that We might likewise manifest the Actions of that Malignant Party which had done so much mischief and intended so much more We resolved to accuse the Lord Kimbolton Master Hollis Master Pym Master Hampden and Master Stroud who had so maliciously contrived the Ruine of Our Self and the established Government of this Church and Kingdom and Sir Arthur Hesilrigge who had been made their Instrument to obey and execute their bold and wild designs of High Treason as We had great reason to do hoping that their Duty due to Us and the Obligations We had put upon Our People this Parliament would never suffer the Interest and reputation of these Men to be laid in the scale and to over-weigh Our Regal Authority and the Law of the Land but that We should have found a way open to a fair and Legal Trial of them which was all We desired How our proceeding was in that business and Our managery of it We have truly and at large set forth in Our Answer to the Declaration of both Houses of the nineteenth of May That what We did first in acquainting the House of Commons with Our Accusation by Our Serjeant at Arms was in Correspondence and out of regard to that House that We might rather have them delivered to the hands of Justice by them than apprehend them by an ordinary Minister of Justice which We were and are assured whatever Doctrine is preached to the contrary We might well have done in the case of Treason otherwise that Maxime in the Law acknowledged in a Petition of both Houses to Us in the beginning of Our Reign in the Case of the Earl of Arundel That in case of Treason Felony and breach of Peace Priviledge of Parliament doth not extend is of no signification The words are They find it an undoubted Right and constant Priviledge of Parliament That no Member of Parliament sitting the Parliament or within the usual times of Priviledge of Parliament is to be imprisoned or restrained without Sentence or Order of the House unless it be for Treason Felony or for refusing to give Sureties for the Peace In those Cases 't was then thought a Member of either House was not to be distinguished from another Subject and why We might not as well have expected that upon Our Articles not so general as a meer verbal Accusation of High Treason either House would have committed their several Members as they had done so many this Parliament and about that time Twelve together upon a confessed ground which every Man there who knew what Treason was knew that fact to be none meerly because they were accused and as the House of Peers had formerly done a Member of that House the Earl of Bristol accused in the same manner most of the good Lords being then Judges We neither could then nor can yet understand That Our own coming to the House was to prevent that shedding of blood which in all possibility was likely to follow that Order made the night before for resisting all such Officers who endeavoured upon how legal Warrant soever to arrest any Members of either House an Order much more unjustifiable by any Rule of Law and Justice by which Orders or Acts are to be examined than any thing We have done or any body by Our Authority That Our purpose was no other but to acquaint that House with the matter of Our Accusation to desire their Persons might be secured and without any thought of the least violation of their Priviledges This is that which We did Examine now their part and their progress since and then judge whose Priviledges have been invaded and with how good a mind to the Common-wealth they have proceeded We were no sooner gone but the House adjourned it self with some unusual expressions of offence and We were speedily informed that some Reports and Scandals were raised against Us in Our City of London That We had offered Violence to Our House of Commons come thither with force to murther several Members and used threatning Speeches there against Our Parliament and that this was but a Preface to an attempt We meant to make against and upon the City Whereupon We resolved the next day to go to the Guild-Hall and to shew the great Confidence We had in the affections of Our said City which We expected should have begot a proportionable Confidence from them in Us We went attended with very few of Our own Servants and then in the presence of the Lord Mayor the Aldermen and a very great assembly of the chief Citizens and others We made
Oath upon Our Subjects to execute all the Commands of both Houses They waste and consume the Mony given by Act of Parliament for the discharge of the great Debt of the Kingdom and for the relief of the bleeding Condition of Ireland imploy the Mony brought in by the Adventurers and those Men who are levied by Our Authority and Commission for the preservation of Our miserable Subjects there to serve them in a War against Us whereby all Men may see what reason We had not to consent to a Warrant dormant under pretence of Levies for Ireland which might have furnished them with Men to fight against Us as the same Pretence hath done with all the Arms We had in Our Magazines They commit such of Our Subjects to Prison whom they are pleased to suspect as the Earl of Portland and for no other reason but that they believe them loyal to Us censure and degrade nine Lords at a clap for obeying Our Summons and coming to Us when scarce that number concurred in the Judgment and declared two others Enemies to the Commonwealth taking their Votes from them without so much as summoning them to answer any Charge brought against them They presume to take Tonnage and Poundage by a pretended Ordinance without Our Consent though they have so often pressed it against Us that We took it without theirs and so now dispence with a Praemunire made this Parliament as they have formerly done with Treason Lastly to shew into what hands they intend the Government of this Kingdom shall be put they have reduced the business of the whole Kingdom from both Houses of Parliament into the hands of a few desperate persons who have the power committed to them to act this Tragedy without acquainting the Houses and so have gotten the Authority of King and both Houses of Parliament to destroy all Three make Orders to break up Houses take away Plate and Money because 't is possible the Owners wish it with Us at York send Troops of Horse to make War upon Us in what Counties they please and commit such unheard-of Acts of Oppression and Injustice as no Story can parallel where the least form of Government hath been left that all Our good Subjects may see by what Rules they shall live and what Right they are like to enjoy when these Men have gotten the Sway who in the infancy of their Power and when there is yet left some memory of and reverence to the Laws under which their Fathers lived so happily dare leap over all those known and confessed Principles of Government and Obedience and exercise a Tyranny both over Prince and People more insupportable than Confusion it self And for all this impudent Injustice odious to God and Man what is objected against Us That We will not be advised by Our Parliament In what what one Proposition that is evidently for the ease of Our Subjects have We denied That We have granted many is confessed We will not consent that the Ordinance of the Militia shall be executed and obeyed that is We will not allow that both Houses of Parliament shall make Laws and impose upon the Property and Liberty of Our Subjects Without Our Consent which if We should yield to upon the same pretences of Necessity a word fatal to this Kingdom and the publick good the House of Commons might as well and would quickly come to make Laws without the House of Peers and the common People without either nor are willing that those Men who have discovered all Malice to Our Person and dis-esteem and irreverence of Our Office shall be legally qualified to take up Arms against Us when they shall be thereunto provoked by their Malice or Ambition There can be no new thing said in this Argument We must refer Our good Subjects to Our several Answers Declarations and Proclamations in that point only it will be worth their considering that this extraordinary unheard-of extravagant Power was assumed in a case of peremptory Necessity for the prevention of imminent Danger in the beginning of March how long it was in design before is understood by Sir Arthur Hesilrigge his Bill long preceeding whether any such Danger hath been since discovered and whether unspeakable Calamities have not already and are not like to ensue from that Fountain We wish it were not too apparent And if those Fears and Jealousies which seem to make that Ordinance necessary were indeed real and honest that in truth nothing were desired but putting the Kingdom into a posture that is that all Our Loving Subjects might be provided with Arms and dexterous in the using them if any Invasion or Rebellion should be is not all this Care taken and all this Security provided for by the Commission of Array What honest end can that Ordinance have which is not obtained by the execution of and obedience to that Commission But 't is true the power is not in those hands nor like to be imployed to those uses 't is now intended Who hath not heard these Men say That the alteration they intend and is necessary both in Church and State must be made by blood Are not the Principles by which they live destructive to all Laws and Compacts Is not every thing Necessary they think so and every thing lawful that is in order to that Necessity Sure if Our good Subjects were throughly awake in this business they would think they had much more cause to thank Us for denying this Ordinance than for granting all that We have granted What is there else We do not think Sir John Hotham hath dealt well with Us in keeping Our Town from Us nor do take it kindly that We are robbed of Our Magazine and Munition but think of recovering both by Force because We cannot have them otherwise which will be an actual levying War against Our Parliament This Argument is sufficiently vexed too Our good Subjects will read the Messages Answers Votes and Declarations in this Case and We are sure upon the grounds laid to justifie this Treason no Subject in England hath a House of his own which may not to morrow be given to Sir John Hotham for as long a term as they think fit and he may be sent to morrow to murther Us and be no Traitor and they who shall shut the door against him shall be Delinquents Is there no more Yes We will not submit to those Nineteen dutiful and modest Propositions which have been lately thrown at Us as the necessary means of removing Jealousies and Differences and as the last Complement of all their Scorns and Injuries that Posterity may see to what a tameness We were brought when such things were asked of Us We will not be content that all Our Officers and Ministers of State be they never so faithful to Us so affectionate to their Country never so wise never so honest shall be immediately removed from Us and their places be disgraced and undone and in their rooms these Gentlemen who have
do most concern Our Rights Our Quarrel is not against the Parliament but against particular Men who first made the Wounds and will not now suffer them to be healed but make them deeper and wider by contriving fostering and fomenting Mistakes and Jealousies betwixt Body and Head Us and Our two Houses of Parliament whom We name are ready to prove them guilty of High Treason We desire that the Lord Kimbolton Mr. Hollis Mr. Pym Mr. Hampden Sir Arthur Hesilrigge Mr. Stroud Mr. Martin Sir Henry Ludlow Alderman Pennington and Captain Venn may be delivered into the hands of Justice to be tried by their Peers according to the known Law of the Land if we do not prove them guilty of High Treason they will be acquitted and their Innocence will justly triumph over Us. Against the Earl of Warwick the Earl of Essex Earl of Stamford Lord Brook Sir John Hotham Serjeant Major General Skippon and those who shall henceforth exercise the Militia by virtue of the Ordinance We shall cause Indictments to be drawn of High Treason upon the Statute of the 25. year of King Edward the Third Let them submit to the Trial appointed by Law and plead their Ordinances if they shall be acquitted We have done And that all Our loving Subjects may know that in truth nothing but the preservation of the true Protestant Religion invaded by Brownisme Anabaptisme and Libertinisme the Safety of Our Person threatned and conspired against by Rebellion and Treason the Law of the Land and Liberty of the Subject oppressed and almost destroyed by an Usurped Unlimited Arbitrary Power and the Freedom Priviledge and Dignity of Parliament awed and insulted upon by Force and Tumults could make us put off Our long-loved Robe of Peace and take up defensive Arms We once more offer a free and a gracious Pardon to all Our loving Subjects who shall desire the same except the persons before named and shall be as glad with Safety and Honour to lay down these Arms as of the greatest Blessing We are capable of in this World But if to justify these Actions and these Persons our Subjects shall think fit to engage themselves in a War against Us We must not look upon it as an Act of Our Parliament but as a Rebellion against Us and the Law in the behalf of these Men and shall proceed for the suppressing it with the same Conscience and Courage as We would meet an Army of Rebels who endeavour to destroy both King and People And We will never doubt to find honest Men enough of Our minds MDCXLI April ¶ The true Copy of the Petition prepared by the Officers of the late Army and subscribed by His Majesty with C. R. To the KING' 's most Excellent Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal the Knights Citizens and Burgesses now assembled in the High Court of Parliament The Humble Petition of the Officers and Souldiers of the Army Humbly sheweth THat although our Wants have been very pressing and the Burthen we are become unto these parts by reason of those Wants very grievous unto us yet so have we demeaned our selves that Your Majesty's great and weighty Affairs in this present Parliament have hitherto received no interruption by any Complaint either from us or against us A temper not usual in Armies especially in one destitute not only of Pay but also of Martial Discipline and many of its principal Officers That we cannot but attribute it to a particular blessing of Almighty God on our most hearty affection and zeal to the Common good in the happy success of this Parliament to which as we should have been ready hourly to contribute our dearest blood so now that it hath pleased God to manifest his blessing so manifestly therein we cannot but acknowledge it with thankfulness We cannot but acknowledge his great Mercy in that he hath inclined Your Majesties Royal heart so to co-operate with the wisdom of the Parliament as to effect so great and happy a Reformation upon the former Distempers of this Church and Commonwealth As first in Your Majesties gracious condescending to the many important Demands of our neighbours of the Scotish Nation secondly in granting so free a course of Justice against all Delinquents of what quality soever thirdly in the removal of all those Grievances wherewith the Subjects did conceive either their Liberty of Persons Propriety of Estate or Freedom of Conscience prejudiced and lastly in the greatest pledge of security that ever the Subjects of England received from their Soveraign the Bill of Triennial Parliaments These things so graciously accorded unto by Your Majesty without bargain or compensation as they are more than expectation or hope could extend unto so now certainly they are such as all Loyal hearts ought to requiesce in with thankfulness which we do with all humility and do at this time with as much earnestness as any pray and wish that the Kingdom may be settled in peace and quietness and that all Men may at their own homes enjoy the blessed fruits of Your Wisdom and Justice But may it please Your Excellent Majesty and this High Court of Parliament to give us leave with grief and anguish of heart to represent unto You that We hear that there are certain persons stirring and practical who in stead of rendring Glory to God Thanks to his Majesty and acknowledgment to the Parliament remain yet as unsatisfied and mutinous as ever who whilest all the rest of the Kingdom are arrived even beyond their wishes are daily forging new and unseasonable demands who whilest all Men of Reason Loyalty and Moderation are thinking how they may provide for your Majesties Honour and Plenty in return of so many Graces to the Subject they are still attempting new Diminutions of Your Majesty's just Regalities which must ever be no less dear to all honest Men than our own Freedoms in fine Men of such turbulent Spirits as are ready to sacrifice the Honour and Welfare of the whole Kingdom to their private fancies whom nothing else than a subversion of the whole frame of Government will satisfie Far be it from our thoughts to believe that the Violence and Vnreasonableness of such kind of persons can have any influence upon the Prudence and Justice of the Parliament But that which begets the trouble and disquiet of Our Loyal hearts at this present is That we hear those ill-affected persons are backed in their Violence by the Multitude and the power of raising Tumults that thousands flock at their call and beset the Parliament and White-Hall it self not only to the prejudice of that freedom which is necessary to great Councils and Judicatories but possibly to some personal danger of Your Sacred Majesty and Peers The vast consequence of these Persons Malignity and of the Licentiousness of those Multitudes that follow them considered in most deep care and zealous affection for the safety of Your Sacred Majesty and the Parliament Our Humble Petition is that in Your
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
Miseries and the general Calamities of this Kingdom which must if this War continue speedily overwhelm this whole Nation take no Advantage of it But if you shall really pursue what you presented to Us at Colebrook We shall make good all that We then gave you in Answer to it whereby the hearts of Our distressed Subjects may be raised with the Hopes of Peace without which Religion the Laws and Liberties can no ways be settled and secured Touching the late and sad Accident you mention if you thereby intend that of Brainceford We desire you once to deal ingenuously with the People and to let them see Our last Message to you and Our Declaration to them concerning the same both which We sent to Our Press at London but were taken away from Our Messenger and not suffered to be published and then We doubt not but they will be soon undeceived and easily find out those Counsels which do rather perswade a desperate Division than a good Agreement betwixt Us Our two Houses and People MDCXLII III. The Proceedings in the late Treaty of Peace Together with several Letters of His MAJESTY to the Queen and of Prince Rupert to the Earl of Northampton which were intercepted and brought up to the Parliament With a Declaration of the Lords and Commons upon those Proceedings and Letters The humble Desires and Propositions of the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled tendred unto His Majesty Feb. 1. 1642. WE Your Majesty's most humble and faithful Subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled having in our thoughts the Glory of God Your Majesty's Honour and the Prosperity of Your People and being most grievously afflicted with the pressing Miseries and Calamities which have overwhelmed Your two Kingdoms of England and Ireland since Your Majesty hath by the perswasion of evil Counsellors withdrawn Your Self from the Parliament raised an Army against it and by force thereof protected Delinquents from the Justice of it constraining us to take Armes for the defence of our Religion Laws Liberties Privileges of Parliament and for the sitting of the Parliament in safety which Fears and Dangers are continued and increased by the raising drawing together and arming of great numbers of Papists under the command of the Earl of Newcastle likewise by making the Lord Herbert of Ragland and other known Papists Commanders of great Forces whereby many grievous Oppressions Rapines and Cruelties have been and are daily exercised upon the persons and estates of Your People much innocent blood hath been spilt and the Papists have attained means of attempting and hopes of effecting their mischievous Design of rooting out the Reformed Religion and destroying the professors thereof in the tender sense and compassion of these evils under which Your People and Kingdom lie according to the duty which we owe to God Your Majesty and the Kingdom for which we are intrusted do most earnestly desire that an end may be put to these great Distempers and Distractions for the preventing of that Desolation which doth threaten all Your Majesties Dominions And as we have rendred and still are ready to render to Your Majesty that Subjection Obedience and Service which we owe unto You so we most humbly beseech Your Majesty to remove the Cause of this War and to vouchsafe us that Peace and Protection which we and our Ancestors have formerly enjoyed under Your Majesty and Your Royal Predecessors and graciously to accept and grant these most humble Desires and Propositions I. That Your Majesty will be pleased to disband Your Armies as we likewise shall be ready to disband all those Forces which we have raised and that You will be pleased to return to your Parliament II. That You will leave Delinquents to a Legal Trial and Judgement of Parliament III. That the Papists may not only be disbanded but disarmed according to Law IV. That Your Majesty will be pleased to give Your Royal Assent unto the Bill for taking away Superstitious Innovations to the Bill for the utter abolishing and taking away of all Archbishops Bishops their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans Subdeans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons Canons and Prebendaries and all Chanters 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 to the Bill against Scandalous Ministers to the Bill against Pluralities and to the Bill for Consultation to be had with godly religious and learned Divines That Your Majesty will be pleased to promise to pass such other good Bills for settling of Church-Government as upon consultation with the Assembly of the said Divines shall be resolved on by both Houses of Parliament and by them be presented to your Majesty V. That Your Majesty having exprest in Your Answer to the Nineteen Propositions of both Houses of Parliament a hearty affection and Intentions for the rooting out of Popery out of this Kingdom and that if both the Houses of Parliament can yet find a more effectual course to disable Jesuits Priests and Popish Recusants from disturbing the State or eluding the Laws that You would willingly give Your Consent unto it That You would be graciously pleased for the better discovery and speedier conviction of Recusants that an Oath may be established by Act of Parliament to be administred in such manner as by both Houses shall be agreed on wherein they shall abjure and renounce the Popes Supremacy the doctrine of Transubstantiation Purgatory worshipping of the consecrated Hoast Crucifixes and Images and the refusing the said Oath being tendred in such manner as shall be appointed by Act of Parliament shall be a sufficient Conviction in Law of Recusancy And that Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to give Your Royal Assent unto a Bill for the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion That for the more effectual execution of the Laws against Popish Recusants Your Majesty would be pleased to consent to a Bill for the true levying of the Penalties against them and that the same Penalty may be levyed and disposed of in such manner as both Houses of Parliament shall agree on so as Your Majesty be at no loss and likewise to a Bill whereby the practice of Papists against the State may be prevented and the Laws against them duly executed VI. That the Earl of Bristol may be removed from Your Majesty's Counsels and that both he and the Lord Herbert eldest Son to the Earl of Worcester may likewise be restrained from coming within the verge of the Court and that they may not bear any Office or have any imployments concerning the State or Commonwealth VII That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased by Act of Parliament to settle the Militia both by Sea and Land and for the Forts and Ports of the Kingdom in such a manner as shall be agreed on by both Houses VIII That Your Majesty will be pleased
by Your Letters Patents to make Sir John Brampston Chief Justice of Your Court of Kings Bench William Lenthal Esquire the now Speaker of the Commons House Master of the Rolls and to continue the Lord Chief Justice Banks Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and likewise to make Master Serjeant Wilde Chief Baron of Your Court of Exchequer and that Master Justice Bacon may be continued and Master Serjeant Rolls and Master Serjeant Atkins made Justices of the Kings Bench that Master Justice Reeves and Master Justice Foster may be continued and Master Serjeant Phesant made one of Your Justices of Your Court of Common Pleas that Master Serjeant Creswel Master Samuel Brown and Master John Puleston may be Barons of the Exchequer and that all these and all the Judges of the same Courts for the time to come may hold their places by Letters Patents under the great great Seal quamdiu se bene gesserint and that the several persons not before named that do hold any of these places before mentioned may be removed IX That all such persons as have been put out of the Commissions of Peace or Oyer and Terminer or from being Custodes Rotulorum since the first day of April 1642. other than such as were put out by desire of both or either of the Houses of Parliament may again be put into those Commissions and Offices and such that persons may be put out of those Commissions and Offices as shall be excepted against by both Houses of Parliament X. That Your Majesty will be pleased to pass the Bill now presented to Your Majesty to vindicate and secure the Privileges of Parliament from the ill consequence of the late Precedent in the Charge and Proceeding against the Lord Kimbolton now Earl of Manchester and the five Members of the House of Commons XI That Your Majesty's Royal Assent may be given unto such Acts as shall be advised by both Houses of Parliament for the satisfying and paying the Debts and Damages wherein the two Houses of Parliament have ingaged the Publick Faith of the Kingdom XII That Your Majesty will be pleased according to a Gracious Answer heretofore received from You to enter into a more strict Alliance with the States of the United Provinces and other Neighbour Princes and States of the Protestant Religion for the defence and maintenance thereof against all designs and attempts of the Popish and Jesuitical Faction to subvert and suppress it whereby Your Subjects may hope to be free from the mischiefs which this Kingdom hath endured through the power which some of that Party have had in Your Counsels and will be much encouraged in a Parliamentary way for Your Aid and Assistance in restoring Your Royal Sister and the Prince Elector to those Dignities and Dominions which belong unto them and relieving the other distressed Protestant Princes who have suffered in the same Cause XIII That in the General Pardon which Your Majesty hath been pleased to offer to Your Subjects all Offences and Misdemeanours committed before the tenth of January 1641. which have been or shall be questioned or proceeded against in Parliament upon complaint in the House of Commons before the tenth of January 1643. shall be excepted which offences and misdemeanours shall never the less be taken and adjudged to be fully discharged against all other inferiour Courts That likewise there shall be an exception of all Offences committed by any person or Persons which hath or have had any hand or practice in the Rebellion of Ireland which hath or have given any counsel assistance or encouragement to the Rebels there for the maintenance of that Rebellion as likewise an exception of William Earl of Newcastle and George Lord Digby XIV That Your Majesty will be pleased to restore such Members of either House of Parliament to their several places of Services and Imployment out of which they have been put since the beginning of this Parliament that they may receive satisfaction and reparation for those places and for the profits which they have lost by such removals upon the Petition of both Houses of Parliament and that all others may be restored to their Offices and Imployments who have been put out of the same upon any displeasure conceived against them for any Assistance given to both Houses of Parliament or obeying their Commands or forbearing to leave their Attendance upon the Parliament without licence or for any other occasion arising from these unhappy Differences betwixt Your Majesty and both Houses of Parliament upon the like Petition of both Houses These things being granted and performed as it hath always been our hearty Prayer so shall we be enabled to make it our hopeful Endeavour That Your Majesty and Your People may enjoy the blessings of Peace Truth and Justice the Royalty and Greatness of Your Throne may be supported by the Loyal and bountiful Affections of Your People their Liberties and Privileges maintained by Your Majesty's Protection and Justice and this publick Honour and Happiness of Your Majesty and all Your Dominions communicated to other Churches and States of Your Alliance and derived to Your Royal Posterity and the future Generations in this Kingdom for ever H. Elsinge Cler. Parl. D. Com. His MAJESTY'S Answer to the Desires and Propositions of both Houses February the third 1642. Received at a Conference with the Lords February the sixth 1642. IF His Majesty had not given up all the faculties of His Soul to an earnest endeavour of a Peace and Reconciliation with His People or if He would suffer Himself by any Provocation to be drawn to a sharpness of Language at a time when there seems somewhat like an Overture of Accommodation He could not but resent the heavy charges upon Him in the Preamble of these Propositions and would not suffer Himself to be reproached with protecting of Delinquents by force from Justice His Majesty's desire having always been that all Men should be tryed by the known Law and having been refused it with raising an Army against His Parliament and to be told that Arms have been taken up against Him for the defence of Religion Laws Liberties Privileges of Parliament and for the sitting of the Parliament in safety with many other Particulars in that Preamble so often and so fully answered by His Majesty without remembring the world of the time and circumstances of raising those Arms against Him when His Majesty was so far from being in a condition to invade other mens Rights that He was not able to maintain and defend His own from violence and without telling His good Subjects that their Religion the true Protestant Religion in which His Majesty was born hath faithfully lived and to which He will die a willing Sacrifice their Laws Liberties Priviledges and safety of Parliament were so amply settled and established or offered to be so by His Majesty before any Army was raised against Him and long before any raised by Him for His defence that if nothing had
Cessation so limited and qualified they may forthwith proceed to treat upon the Propositions and because the time is so far elapsed in these preparations they desire the Cessation may begin the five and twentieth of this instant March or sooner if it may be and in the mean time notice to be given to all the Forces in the several and remote parts and the Commanders Officers Souldiers are enjoyned to observe this Cessation accordingly to which they hope and pray that God will give such a blessing that thereupon Peace Safety and Happiness may be produced and confirmed to His Majesty and all His People H. Elsinge Cler. Parl. Dom. Com. INSTRUCTIONS agreed on by the Lords and Commons in Parliament for Algernon Earl of Northumberland William Lord Viscount Say and Seal William Pierrepont Esq Sir William Armyne Bar. Sir John Holland Bar. and Bulstrode Whitelocke Esq Committees appointed to attend His MAJESTY upon the Propositions made by His Majesty to the Parliament and likewise upon the other Propositions humbly presented from them to His Majesty I. YOU shall present to His Majesty the Articles agreed on for the Cessation of Arms humbly desiring His Majesty to ratifie and confirm the same under the Great Seal which being obtained you are to send it up to the Parliament with all possible speed and shall likewise beseech the King to dispatch away Messengers to the Generals Commanders and Soldiers of all His Armies and Forces with a strict Command Injunction that they observe those Articles of Cessation according as they are agreed upon as the two Houses likewise intend to give the like direction to the Lord General of the Armies raised for their Defence II. After His Majesty hath declared and ratified the Cessation you shall then proceed to the Treaty beginning with the first Proposition on His Majesty's behalf concerning His Majesty's own Revenue his Magazines Towns Forts and Ships and thereunto make this Answer You shall declare That the two Houses of Parliament have not made use of His Majesty's own Revenue but in a very small proportion which for a good part hath been employed in the maintenance of His Majesty's Children according to the allowance established by Himself and they will satisfie what shall remain due to His Majesty of those Sums received out of His Majesty's own Revenues and shall leave the same to His Majesty for the time to come And you likewise shall propound to His Majesty that He will restore what hath been taken for His use upon any of the Bills assigned to other purposes by several Acts of Parliament or out of the provision made for the War of Ireland That they will remove the Garrisons out of all Towns and Forts in their hands wherein there were no Garrisons before these Troubles and slight all Fortifications made since that time which Towns and Forts it is to be agreed on both parts shall continue in the same condition they were in before and that those Garrisons shall not be renewed nor the Fortifications repaired without Consent of His Majesty and both Houses of Parliament That for those Towns and Forts which are within the Jurisdiction of the Cinque Ports they shall be delivered up into the hands of such a Noble person as His Majesty shall appoint to be Warden of the Cinque-Ports being such a one as they shall confide in That the Town of Portsmouth shall be reduced to the number of the Garrison as was at the time when the Lords and Commons undertook the custody thereof and such other Forts Castles and Towns as were formerly kept by Garrisons as have been taken by them into their care and custody since the beginning of these Troubles shall be reduced to such proportion of Garrison as they had in the year 1636 and shall be so continued and that all the said Towns Forts and Castles shall be delivered up into the hands of such persons of Quality and Trust to be likewise nominated by His Majesty as the two Houses shall confide in That the Warden of the Cinque-Ports and all Governours and Commanders of Towns Castles and Forts shall keep the same Towns Castles and Forts respectively for the Service of His Majesty and the Safety of the Kingdom and that they shall not admit into any of them any Forein Forces raised without His Majesty's Authority and Consent of the two Houses of Parliament and they shall use their uttermost endeavours to suppress all Forces whatsoever raised without such Authority and Consent and they shall seise all Arms and Ammunition provided for any such Forces That the Ships shall be delivered into the Charge of such a Noble person as His Majesty shall nominate to be Lord High-Admiral of England and the two Houses of Parliament confide in who shall receive the same Office by Letters Patent quamdiu bene se gesserit and shall have power to nominate and appoint all subordinate Commanders and Officers and have all other powers appertaining to the Office of High-Admiral which Ships he shall employ for the defence of the Kingdom against all Forein Forces whatsoever and for the safeguard of Merchants securing of Trade and the guarding of Ireland and the intercepting of all Supplies to be carried to the Rebels and shall use his uttermost endeavour to suppress all Forces which shall be raised by any person without His Majesty's Authority and Consent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament and shall seise all Arms and Ammunition provided for supply of any such Forces That all the Arms and Ammunition taken out of His Majesty's Magazines which shall remain in their hands shall be delivered into His Stores and whatsoever shall be wanting they will in convenient time supply in kind according to the proportions which they have received and that the Persons to whose charge those publick Magazines shall be committed being nominated by His Majesty shall be such as the Lords and Commons shall confide in And you shall propound to His Majesty that He will restore all such Arms and Ammunition as have been taken for His use from the several Counties Cities and Towns To the Proposition made by the two Houses concerning the disbanding of the Armies you shall humbly desire His Majesties speedy and positive Answer unto which if He shall be pleased to give His Assent you shall then beseech His Majesty in the name of both Houses that a near day may be agreed upon for the disbanding of all the Forces in the remote parts of Yorkshire and the other Northern Counties as also in Lancashire Cheshire and in the Domiion of Wales and in Cornwal and Devon and they being fully disbanded another day may be agreed on for the disbanding of all Forces in Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire Leicestershire and all other places except at Oxford and the Quarters thereunto belonging and Windsor and the Quarters thereunto belonging and that last of all a speedy day be appointed for the disbanding those two Armies at Oxford and Windsor and all the Forces
yet He cannot but be pleased with the ingenuity of this confession that the implicite faith of His seduced Subjects begins to wear out so fast that the authority of Declaring new unknown Fundamental Laws doth not now so work with them to believe that these Taxes are laid according to the Laws of God and Man nor the many pretences of imminent Dangers and inevitable ruine of their Religion Laws and Liberties so perswade them to believe this Cause to be the Cause of the Kingdom but that if their Cause Authority and Eloquence were not assisted by force and Rapine their Army must needs be dissolved for want of being thought fit much less necessary to be pay'd by those who have equal right to judge of the Necessity and Danger and for whose sakes interests and concernments only it was pretended to be raised and who are defended by it against their wills Nor is it strange that His Majesty cannot receive these Charges upon Him as a reason to make Him contented and acquiesce with these Injuries to His Subjects or that they who saw His Majesties condition the last year till continued Violence against Him opened the eyes and hearts of His Subjects to His assistance should not believe that He began that War which they saw Him so unlikely to resist or that they who could never find nor hear from them who use not too modestly to conceal what is for their advantage that from the beginning of the world to this present Parliament ever one man was raised before by Commission from both Houses should not believe the raising of that their Army to be so warranted as is pretended and any more approve of their Law than of their Necessity or that they who know that His Majesty in whom the power of making War and Peace was never denyed to be till these new Doctrines which make it unlawful for Him to do any thing and lawful to do any thing against Him were of late discovered though he can legally raise an Army is not allowed to be legally able to raise money to maintain it will not allow of the Argument from the power of Raising to the power of Taxing and are as little satisfied with their Logick as with their Law and extreamly troubled to pay an Army they do not desire for a Necessity they cannot see by a Law they never heard of and that other men without their consent must be jealous fearful and quicksighted at their Charges and they have great reason to be apt to suspect that those made most haste to make a War and have least desire of making Peace who in time of War pretend their legal power to be so vastly inlarged His Majesty therefore hath great reason to insist that no Violence or Plundering be offered to His Subjects for not submitting to the illegal Taxes of one or both Houses which in it self is equal His Majesty being willing to be obliged from the like course and relying wholly upon the known Justice of His Cause and the Affection of His People and in which if the Kingdom be of their mind and believe the Cause of the contrary Army to be really their own the advantage will be wholly theirs and this Judgment will be best given when the People is left to their liberty in this decision His Majesty's real desire of disbanding the Armies may fully appear by His often seeking and earnest endeavours to continue and conclude this Treaty in order to that disbanding VI. His Majesty leaves their Preamble to all the world to consider and to judge whether any man by their saying they were ready to agree to His Majesty's Articles in the manner as was exprest would not have expected to have found after that expression that they had agreed at least to some one thing material in them and had not only meant by agreeing as was exprest to express they would not agree at all For the Clause of Communication of Quarters so quietly left out His Majesty looks upon it as of most infinite importance the leaving out of that having discomposed the whole many things having in the rest been assented to which were therefore only yielded because the Inconveniences growing by these Clauses if they were alone were salved by that Addition and some things in the other very dark and doubtful were by that interpreted and cleared And His Majesty is sufficiently informed how highly it concerns Him that every thing be so clear that after no differences may arise upon any disputable point since they whose Union Industry Subtilty and Malice could perswade any of His People that in the business of Brainceford He had broken a Cessation before any was made or offered would have a much easier work to lay the breach of a made Cessation to His Majesty's charge if the ground of that Breach would bear the least dispute His Majesty doth agree that to preserve things in the same state on both sides with as little advantage or disadvantage to either as the matter will possibly bear is truly the nature of a Cessation and is willing this Principle should be made the Rule and never intended any thing that should contradict it but cannot see the inequality in this which is pretended For could Sir Ralph Hopton and the Earl of Newcastle come by this means to the King and not the Earl of Stamford and Lord Fairfax to the Earl of Essex Nor can His Majesty find any stronger Passes or Forces to hinder His Armies from joyning with Him than hinders theirs from joyning with them If the Forces be unequal theirs will hardly hinder the passage of His without a Cessation if they be equal their coming in time of Cessation will be of equal use and advantage to their side somewhat in point of Supplies to come with them excepted and some advantage to one side will be poize it how you will But on the other side if this clause be not in how much greater is the disadvantage the other way by some Clauses and how are His Forces principally the Earl of Newcastle's cooped up in old and eaten-up Quarters or necessitated to retire to such as are more barren and more eaten So that if this were yielded to under the disguise of a Cessation He must admit that which will much endanger the dissolving of the Army and destruction of the Cause which is such a disadvantage as is against the nature of a Cessation formerly agreed and stated Notwithstanding all this His Majesty to shew His extraordinary and abundant desire of Peace and to prevent the effusion of blood is contented if both Houses shall refuse to consent to His Propositions which are so much for the benefit and advancement of the publick Trade and advantage of His good Subjects to admit a Cessation upon the matter of their own Articles excepting that liberty be given to the Committee to word it according to the real meaning and intention and that the remove of Quarters within their own bounds which
might have been suddenly and speedily resolved and that long before this time And if the expressions of both Houses in their Reasons had not necessitated His Majesty in His own defence to give such Answers as could not upon those points deliver Truth without some shew of Sharpness no Expression of that kind in His Majesty's Answer had given any pretence for the rejection of or refusing so much as to treat upon this Cessation which though it were at present for no long time yet was from the day named by themselves the 25 of March whereas His Majesty first moved for a Cessation and Treaty without any limitation at all in the time of either and His Majesty was most ready to have enlarged the time so that in the mean while the point of Quarters might be so settled as that His Armies might subsist and which might have been if they had pleased a very good and promising earnest and fore-runner of that great blessing of Peace for the obtaining of which the wishes and endeavours of all good men being earnestly bent a farther debate in order to so great a Benefit did not deserve to be styled a consumption of time And His Majesty cannot but conceive Himself to be in a strange condition if the doubtfulness of Expressions which must always be whilst the Treaty is at such a distance and power is denied to those upon the place to help to clear and explain or His necessary Replying to charges laid upon Him that He might not seem to acknowledge what was so charged or the limitation of the time of seven days for the Treaty which was not limited by His Majesty who ever desired to have avoided that and other limitations which have given great interruptions to it should be as well believed to be the grounds as they are made the arguments of the rejection of that which next to Peace it self His Majesty above all things most desires to see agreed and settled and which His Majesty hopes if it may be yet agreed on will give His People such a taste of such a Blessing that after a short time of consideration and comparing of their several conditions in War and Peace and what should move them to suffer so much by a Change they will not think those their friends that shall force them to it or be themselves ready to contribute to the renewing of their former Miseries without some greater evidence of Necessity than can appear to them when they shall have seen as they shall see if this Treaty be suffered to proceed that His Majesty neither asks nor denies any thing but what not only according to Law He may but what in Honour and care of His People he is obliged to ask or deny And this alone which a very short Cessation would produce His Majesty esteems a very considerable advantage to the Kingdom and therefore cannot but press again and again that whatever is thought doubtful in the expressions of the Articles may as in an hour it may well be done be expounded and whatsoever is excepted at may be debated and concluded and that Power and Instructions may be given to the Committee to that end that the miserable effects of War the effusion of English blood and desolation of England until they can be totally taken away may by this means be stayed and interrupted His Majesty supposes that when the Committee was last required to desire His Majesty to give a speedy and positive Answer to the first proposition concerning Disbanding His Answers in that point to which no Reply hath been made and which He hopes by this time have given satisfaction were not transmitted and received but wonders the Houses should press His Majesty for a speedy and positive Answer to the first part of their first Proposition concerning Disbanding when to the second part of the very same Proposition concerning His Return to both Houses of Parliament they had not given any Power or Instructions to the Committee so much as to treat with His Majesty and when His Majesty if His desire of Peace and of speeding the Treaty in order to that had not been prevalent with Him might with all manner of Justice have delayed to begin to treat upon one part until they had been enabled to treat upon the other In which point and for want of which power from them the only stop now remains His Majesty's Answers to both parts of their first Proposition being given in transmitted and yet remaining unanswered To which until the Houses shall be at leisure to make Answer that as little delay in this Treaty as is possible may be caused by it His Majesty desires likewise that the Committee may be enabled to treat upon the following Propositions in their several orders A Letter from both Houses April 8. WE have sent unto you by this Gentleman Sir Peter Killegrew some additional Instructions by which your Lordship and the rest of the Committee will perceive the Resolutions which the Houses have taken upon the Papers which they received this day from you This is all we have in command and remain Your Lordship 's humble Servants Manchester Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore Will. Lenthall Speaker of the Commons House in Parliament Westminster this 8 of April 1643. Instructions concerning the Insisting received April 9. 1643. Additional Instructions for Algernon Earl of Northumberland William Lord Viscount Say and Seal William Pierrepont Esquire Sir William Armyne and Sir John Holland Baronets Bulstrode Whitelocke Esquire Committees from both Houses attending His Majesty at Oxford Magazines and enlarging the time THE two Houses of Parliament are unsatisfied with His Majesty's Answer to that Clause of the first Proposition which concerns the Magazines Wherefore you are to desire His Majesty to make a further Answer in such manner as is exprest in the Instructions formerly given you and you shall let His Majesty know That the Lords and Commons do not think fit to enlarge the time of the Treaty beyond the twenty days formerly limited Cinque-Ports Towns Forts and Castles They likewise remain unsatisfied with His Majesty's Answer concerning the Cinque-Ports Towns Forts and Castles being in the most material points an express Denial Wherefore you are to insist upon their desire for another Answer according to your Instructions Ships They observe in His Majesty's Answer concerning the Ships not only a Denial to all the desires of both Houses but likewise a Censure upon their proceedings However you are to insist upon their desires expressed in your Instructions Disbanding They further conceive that His Majesty's Answer to their first Proposition concerning the Disbanding is in effect a Denial unless they desert all those cautions and limitations which they have desired in their Answer to His Majesty's first Proposition Wherefore you are to proceed insisting upon that part of their first Proposition concerning the Disbanding according to your Instructions KING's Return to the Parliament You shall declare to His Majesty
of their first Article upon which He hath treated with the Committee as that upon which they have yet no power to Treat though His Majesty hath prest that such power might be given to them Falkland April 14. 1643. WE received Instructions from both Houses of Parliament the ninth of this present April and in pursuance thereof we humbly presented a Paper to Your Majesty upon the tenth of this instant wherein those Instructions were expressed and the desire of both Houses concerning Your Majesty's return to Your Parliament Northumberland Will. Pierrepont Joh. Holland Will. Armyne B. Whitelocke April 15. 1643. HIS Majesty doth acknowledge to have received a Paper from the Committee upon the tenth of April expressing that they had received Instructions to declare unto His Majesty the desire of both Houses for His Majesty's coming to his Parliament which they had often exprest with full offers of security to His Royal Person agreeable to their Duty and Allegiance and that they know no cause why His Majesty might not return thither with Honour and Safety But as the Committee had before acknowledged in a Paper of the sixth of April not to have any power or Instructions to Treat with His Majesty concerning His Return to His two Houses of Parliament and as this Paper mentioned no Instructions to Treat but only to deliver that single Message concerning it so His Majesty took it for granted that if they had received any new power or Instructions in that point they would have signified as much to Him and therefore conceiving it in vain to discourse and impossible to Treat upon that with those who had no power to Treat with Him His Majesty addrest that Answer concerning that point to both Houses of which Mis Majesty took notice to the Committee in a Paper of the fourteenth of April and which was shewed to them before He sent it And if both Houses will upon it but consent to give His Majesty such Security as will appear to all indifferent Persons to be agreeable to their Duty and Allegiance those Tumults which drove Him from thence and what followed those Tumults being a most visible and sufficient Reason why He cannot return thither with His Honour and Safety without more particular offers of Security than as yet they have ever made Him all disputes about that point between them will be soon ended and His Majesty speedily return to them and His whole Kingdom to their former Peace and Happiness Falkland The Message mentioned in the two last Papers of His Majesty is that of the 12 of April p. 353. Vpon the receit of which the Two Houses presently recalled their Committees Mis MAJESTY's Letter to the Queens Majesty Oxford 23 Jan. 2 Feb. Dear Heart SAturday and Sunday last I received two from Thee of the 29 of December 9 of January both which gave Me such Contentment as Thou mayest better judge than I describe the which that Thou mayest the better do know I was full three weeks wanting but one day without hearing from Thee besides scurvy London news of Thy stay and lameness which though I did not believe yet it vext Me so much the more that I could not prove them liars So now I conjure Thee by the Affection Thou bearest Me not only to judge but likewise participate with Me in the Contentment Thou hast given Me by assuring Me of Thy health and speedy return Concerning 45. 31. 7. 4. 132. 300. I will answer Thee in Thy own words Je le remetteray a vous respondre per bouche being confident that way to give Thee contentment In the mean time assure Thy self that I neither have nor will lose any time in that business and that I have not contented My Self with Generals And though I hope shortly to have the happiness of Thy company yet I must tell thee of some particulars in which I desire both Thy opinion and assistance I am persecuted concerning Places and all desire to be put upon Thee for the which I cannot blame them and yet Thou knowest I have no reason to do it Newark desireth Savil's place upon condition to leave it when his Father dieth Carenworth the same being contented to pay for it or give the profit to whom or how I please Digby and Dunsmore for to be Captain of the Pentioners Hartford once looked after it but now I believe he expects either to be Treasurer or of My Bed-chamber I incline rather to the latter if Thou like it for I absolutely hold Cottington the fittest man for the other There is one that doth not yet pretend that doth deserve as well as any I mean Capel therefore I desire Thy assistance to find somewhat for him before he ask One place I must fill before I can have Thy opinion it is the Master of the Wards I have thought upon Nicholas being confident that Thou wilt not mislike My choice and if he cannot perform both Ned Hyde must be Secretary for indeed I can trust no other Now I have no more time to speak of more but to desire Thee not to engage Thy Self for any So I rest Eternally Thine C. R. Dated Oxford 2 Feb. 23 Jan. My Lord IT is His Majesty's pleasure that there be something attempted upon the Castle of Warwick therefore you are to send as many Musquetiers as you can horse with the Prince of Wales his Reigment of Horse and your own this bearer La Roche will bring Petarrs and all things necessary for them you must march to morrow in the Evening to be there before break of the day on Saturday Your Faithful Friend Rupert Oxford 2 of March 1643. For the Earl of Northampton at Banbury My Lord I Have acquainted the King with the hinderance you have in your desire He was pleased to command me to tell you that your Lordship should send one of your Scouts to enquire if Ingram be in the Castle if he be you may safely go on with your design for knowing but of your coming he will make but little or no resistance and the sooner the better If after this you should think it feisible to raise the siege at Litchfield you have also that power to do it This bearer will inform you with some other particulars So I rest Your Lordship 's most faithful Friend Rupert Oxford the 3 of March at 12 at night To the Earl of Northampton Rupert His MAJESTY's Letter to the Queen Dear Heart THough ever since Sunday last I had good hopes of Thy happy Landing yet I had not the certain news thereof before yesterday when I likewise understood of Thy safe coming to York I hope Thou expected not welcome from Me in words but when I shall be wanting in any other way according to My wit and power of expressing My Love to Thee then let all honest Men hate and eschew Me like a Monster And yet when I shall have done My part I confess that I shall come short of what Thou deservest of Me.
and lastly whether the Doubt lest in any place out of London His Majesty should again come to the House of Commons with armed men upon what appearance of Right after what orders against his known Right and with how little either intention offer or colour of Violence He came thither having been shewed before can appear a sufficient Reason for their Resolution against such an Adjournment in order to the publick Peace and whether although there were no necessity of it but His Majesty's Desire Who out of compliance with them hath put the absolute Power out of His own hands not only of Adjourning the Parliament whither but of Dissolving it when He pleased it might not seem no unreasonable Request after so large a Grant Their third part is to prove His Majesty's aversion to Peace by several Circumstances The first is His having denied to receive their Petitions which His Majesty never did For if they mean which was all He ever did towards any refusal His refusing to receive any from or by any Person accused of High Treason by Him when they had other and more direct ways of sending to Him as they did then by the Earl of Essex if they had not gone out of their way out of desire to have it refused they may as well say He hath refused all that have ever since come to Him from them for He continued always to make that Exception and if their hope of present and total Victory had not made them insist upon that before Edge-hill which they quitted after the Petition offered to have been sent from my Lord of Essex from the head of his Army had been then received too by any other kind of hand though if His Majesty were rightly informed of the Contents of that Petition neither their offer of such a Petition could shew any inclination to Peace in them nor could His absolute resusal have shewed any aversion to it in His Majesty The second is That 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 Members of the Parliament and employed by both Houses but as they were free-born Subjects To this His Majesty replies That He never denied their Committee to have access to Him without a safe Conduct nor did He ever so much as mention any to them The first motion concerning a safe Conduct was in a Letter from the Lord Grey of Wark Speaker pro tempore of the Lords House to either of His Majesty's Secretaries dated the third of Novemb. 1642. desiring one for that Committee which after attended His Majesty at Colebrook and the same was again desired for the Committee appointed to treat at Oxford by a Letter from the Earl of Manchester Speaker of the same House to the Lord Falkland dated the 28. of February And must it not seem strange to all the World that His Majesty's granting of that which both Houses in order to the Treaty ask'd of Him should be after charged upon Him as a provocation laid in the way to interrupt or break off the Treaty And since undoubtedly and that reasonably it would have been interpreted aversion in His Majesty from Peace if He had denied this when it was as'd His condition was very hard when it seems He could not either way have avoided this imputation whether he had denied or granted it But His Majesty desires His Subjects to consider the great difference between what His Majesty hath cause to complain of and what they do Master Alexander Hampden imployed by His Majesty with an Olive-branch a Message for Peace directed to both Houses inclosed in a Letter to the Speaker of the Lords House having His Majesty's pass testifying that He was so employed having delivered this Message to the Lords House and that House having received it as a gracious Message is committed by the House of Commons notwithstanding the liberty of access said to be incident to all free-born Subjects for not having a safe Conduct from their General upon pretence of an Order of that House but lately made and never past the Lords nor publish'd by themselves and notwithstanding that the Lords at a Conference desired the Messengers release upon the aforesaid reasons and that he was sent to them and that their own Messengers had divers times of late gone to Oxford in the same manner and none of His Majesty's had come otherwise yet the only Answer returned was That they would stand to their own Order Upon which His Majesty cannot but observe First that how great Authority soever both Houses expect to have with His Majesty yet one House hath but a little with the other Secondly That the Privilege of that House is as little considered as their Intercession since undoubtedly if the Lords who in many cases have power to commit which the House of Commons hath not over more than their own Members in any case but of breach of Privilege had committed a Messenger sent to the House of Commons especially from any to whose Messengers they paid half that respect which they owe to His Majesty's upon an Order only of their own House and having committed him without their consents should not release him at their desire it would have been look'd upon by them as no less a breach of Privilege than His Majesty's coming to their House Thirdly That by this His Majesty hopes that the Violent party doth now see better times are not far off since He is told by this very Declaration That evil Spirits do then rage most when they think they must be cast out The grounds of their third and fourth for such as have been taken notice of by the bye and replied to before need not to be repeated are these During the Treaty two Proclamations issued at Oxford against Associations and raising of Forces and Taxes by virtue of Ordinances in which His Majesty charges a Traitorous and Rebellious Army of Brownists Anabaptists and Atheists but not both Houses as for want of being charged they charge themselves to endeavour to take away His Life and the Religion and Laws of the Kingdom And some Letters were intercepted by which they say it probably appears to them that His Majesty had then designs upon Killingworth Scarborough and Bristol But His Majesty thinks it strange that it should be expected that this Treaty should have so much influence on one side and so little on the other that during the Treaty Taxes may be illegally laid and levied and His Majesty may not legally forbid them that Souldiers of the Earl of Essex his Army daily rail against Episcopacy break into Churches pull down Organs and Monuments tear Surplices and Common-Prayer-Books and His Majesty may not call them Brownists that that Army may go on daily during the Treaty in overt acts of Rebellion and Treason and it must be an Interruption of the Treaty in His Majesty to call them Rebels and Traytors that He may not
Son the Prince that when it was desired that a Declaration might be made against such Tumults instead of consenting thereunto the Tumults themselves were justified and when a Legal course was prescribed by the Lords and taken by the proper Ministers of Justice to suppress and prevent such Tumults and Riots that Legal course was superseded by those who were then present of the House of Commons and the Ministers of Justice punished and imprisoned for executing the Law when they remember that several Members of either House have been threatned and assaulted in those Tumults and their own Names proscribed as Persons disaffected because they freely used to speak their Consciences in both Houses that the House of Peers have been so far threatned and menaced that the Names of those have been with Threats demanded by the House of Commons at the Bar of the Lords House who refused to consent to this or that Proposition which hath been in debate before them and Tumultuous Petitions countenanced which have been presented to that same purpose that the Members of both Houses have been imprisoned and forbid to be present at those Councils for no Reason but because their Opinions have not been liked that Our Negative Voice Our greatest and most soveraign Privilege is boldly denied that a presumptuous Attempt hath been made by the major part of the remaining part of the House of Commons to make Our Great Seal of England the making of which by the express Letter of the Law is High-Treason and would subvert the ancient and fundamental Administration of Justice that at this time We and the major part of both Houses are kept by a strong and Rebellious Army from being present at that Council and that those who are present are by the same Army awed and forced to take unlawful and Treasonable Protestations to engage their Votes and that such Resolutions and Directions which concern the Property and Liberty of the Subject are transacted and concluded by a few Persons under the Name of a Close Committee consisting of the Earl of Manchester the Lord Say Master Pym Master Hampden Master Stroud Master Martin and others the whole number not exceeding seventeen Persons without reporting the same to the Houses or having the same confirmed by the Houses contrary to the express Law and Customs of Parliament All which for the matter of Fact We are ready to make proof of and desire nothing but to bring the Contrivers of all the aforesaid Mischiefs to their Tryal by Law and till that be submitted to We must pursue them by Arms or any other way in which all our good Subjects ought to give Us assistance to that purpose The imagining the Death of Us Our Royal Consort or Our Eldest Son the Levying War against Us in Our Realm or adhering to Our Enemies in Our Realm giving to them Aid or Comfort the counterfeiting Our Great Seal or Money being by the express Words of the Statute of the 25 Year of King Edward the J. Chap. 2. High Treason And how applicable this is to those who have actually born Arms against Us and to those who have consented that such Arms be born to those who have promised to live and die with the Earl of Essex and those who every day consent to some Act for the support and encrease of that Army We shall leave to all the World to judge and hope that this gracious Warning and Information now given by Us will make that impression in the Hearts of Our People that they will no longer suffer themselves to be mis-led from their Duty and Allegiance upon any pretences whatsoever And We do declare That We shall proceed with all severity against all Persons whatsoever who shall henceforward assist vote or concur in any kind toward the maintaining or countenancing such Actions and Resolutions which by the known and express Laws of the Land are High Treason and against all those who shall adhere to them who are in Rebellion against Us as against Rebels and Traitors in such manner as by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm is directed and appointed And since by the Power of Seditious Persons We and both Houses are kept from being secured against Tumultuous Assemblies and both Houses from Adjournment to some place of Safety which being done might quickly make an end of these miserable Distractions whereby We are debarred from the benefit and advice We expected from that Our great Council the Members thereof being scattered into several places therefore that the whole Kingdom may see that We are willing to receive Advice from those who are trusted by them though We cannot receive the same in the place to which they were called for the Reasons aforesaid nor intend to receive Advice from them elsewhere in the capacity of Houses of Parliament We do hereby declare that such of the Members of both Houses as well those who have been by the Faction of the Malignant Party expelled for performing their Duties to Us and into whose Rooms no Persons have been since chosen by their Countries as the rest who shall desire Our Protection shall be welcome to Us at Our City of Oxford until by the Adjournment of the Houses to some fit and free place or otherwise due course be taken for the full and free Convention in Parliament of Us and all the Members of both Houses And for their better encouragement to resort to Us We do hereby Will and Command all the Officers and Souldiers of our Army to suffer all such Persons who are Members of either House with their Attendants and Servants to come to Us to this Our City of Oxford And that none of Our good Subjects may believe that by this Our necessary Declaration against the Freedom and Liberty of that present Assembly We may have the least intention to violate or avoid any Act or Acts passed by Us for the good and benefit of Our People this Parliament we do hereby declare to all the World That We shall as We have often promised as inviolably observe all those Acts as if no such unhappy Interruption had happened of the Freedom and Liberty in that Council and desire nothing more than to have such a free Convention in Parliament that we may add such further Acts of Grace as shall be thought necessary for the Advancement of the true Protestant Religion for the maintenance of the Liberty and Property of the Subject and the preservation of the Liberty Freedom and Privileges of Parliament And that all the World may see how willing and desirous We are to forget all the Injuries and Indignities offered to Us by such who have been misled through Weakness or Fear or who have not been the principal Contrivers of the present Miseries We do offer a free and general Pardon to all the Members of either House except Robert Earl of Essex Robert Earl of Warwick Edward Earl of Manchester Henry Earl of Stamford William Viscount Say and Seal Sir John Hotham Knight
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
a yielding and submission we know not what is left to Treat upon These things are too apparent to every ordinary understanding And yet we are not forward to apprehend the Scorn of that Letter or take it for a Denial of a Treaty but being still sollicitous for that happy Peace which alone could redeem this Kingdom from Ruine we resolved to try another way and for avoiding Delay or Cavil about Names or Titles or descants upon words to forbear writing and humbly besought His Majesty to send Messengers with Instructions to desire a Treaty for Peace Who was pleased to name Mr. Richard Fanshaw and Mr. Thomas Offly Gentlemen of clear Repute and Integrity and to avoid their danger in repairing to Westminster at our desire commanded the Earl of Forth His General to write to theirs for a safe Conduct for those two Messengers for such is our Condition at present that a free-born Subject sent upon the Kings Message cannot but with such leave repair to London or Westminster without danger of his Life The Letter for the safe Conduct was as followeth My Lord I Cannot so willingly write to you in any business as in that of Peace the Endeavour thereof being the principal Duty of those who are trusted in places of our Commands especially when the Blood that is spilt is of persons under the same Allegiance of the same Country and Religion His Majesty continuing constant in His pious and fervent desires of a happy end to these bloody Distractions I do hereby desire your Lordship to send me a safe Conduct to and from Westminster for Mr. Richard Fanshaw and Mr. Tho Offly to be sent by His Majesty concerning a Treaty for Peace I rest Your Lordships humble Servant Forth To this was returned a Letter directed to the Earl of Forth in these words viz. My Lord YOV shew your Nobleness in declaring your willingness to write to me in any business as of that of Peace and I joyn with you in the same opinion that it ought to be a principal Duty of those who are trusted in places of our Command and therefore whensoever I shall receive any directions to those who have intrusted me I shall use my best endeavours and when you shall send for a safe Conduct for those Gentlemen mentioned in your Letter from His Majesty to the Houses of Parliament I shall with all cheerfulness shew my willingness to further any way that may produce that Happiness that all honest Men pray for which is a true understanding between His Majesty and His faithful and only Council the Parliament Your Lordships humble Servant Essex Essex-House 19. Feb. 1643. That this doth neither grant a safe Conduct nor give any direct Answer to the Earl of Forth 's Request every ordinary Eye may see and yet such Requests amongst Generals are rarely denied and we may easily thereby discern how fearful they at Westminster are lest the poor distressed People of this Kingdom should by the advantage of a Treaty and free debate of the present Difference see how grossly they had been deceived and misled and so obtain an end of their Miseries for otherwise who could have believed that when these Differences arose and were continued for want of a free Convention in Parliament and that a main end of the Treaty was to resolve how we according to Our Duty and the Trust reposed in us by our Countries might with them freely debate and advise His Majesty in those things that concerned the maintenance of our Religion Parliament-Privileges the Kings Rights and the Subjects Liberty and Property that this Letter should tell us that the Party we are to Treat withal is the Kings only Council excluding all others not only our selves called by the same Authority to Council as they were but His Privy-Council also and Council at Law so that we could have no hopes of a Treaty unless we should first agree that they are the Parliament and the Kings only Council whereby they that are parties would bccome the only Judges of all things in question which would be a Submission and not a Treaty Having received these frivolous delays which we might have interpreted absolute denials of any Treaty of Peace we yet resolved not to give over our endeavours for that which so much concerned the good of our Country and the welfare of all Professors of the true Protestant Religion but by our humble and earnest desires to his Majesty prevailed with Him to write His Royal Letters and once more desire a Treaty for Peace though it had been so often formerly rejected and to avoid all colour of Exception to direct it To the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Westminster which was done and enclosed in a Letter from the Earl of Forth to their General A Copy of both which Letters hereafter follows My Lord I Have received your Letter of the 19 th of this Month which according to my Duty I shewed to His Majesty Who observing in it your expressions concerning Peace that whensoever you shall receive any directions to those that have entrusted you you shall use your best endeavours is graciously pleased to send this enclosed which is desired may be delivered according to the directions Directed to the Earl of Essex Subscribed by the Earl of Forth C. R. OVT of Our most tender and pious sense of the sad and bleeding condition of this Our Kingdom and Our unwearied desires to apply all Remedies which by the blessing of Almighty God may recover it from an utter Ruine by the Advice of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford We do propound and desire That a convenient number of fit Person may be appointed and authorized by you to meet with all convenient speed at such Place as you shall nominate with an equal number of fit Persons whom We shall appoint and authorize to Treat of the ways and means to settle the present Distractions of this Our Kingdom and to procure a happy Peace and particularly how all the Members of both Houses may securely meet in a full and free Convention of Parliament there to Treat consult and agree upon such things as may conduce to the maintenance and defence of the true Reformed Protestant Religion with due consideration to all just and reasonable ease of tender Consciences to the settling and maintaining of Our just Rights and Privileges of the Rights and Privileges of Parliament the Laws of the Land the Liberty and Property of the Subject and all other Expedients that may conduce to that blessed end of a firm and lasting Peace both in Church and State and a perfect understanding betwixt Vs and Our People wherein no Endeavours or Concurrence of Ours shall be wanting And God direct your hearts in the ways of Peace Given at Our Court at Oxford the third day of March 1643. Superscribed To the Lords and Commons of Parliament Assembled at Westminster We now appeal to all the World what could more have been done
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
ye businesse shall require or as they sall be commandit ather be the Committie from the Parliament heir they being in Scotland or be the Committie with the Army they being in England And Ordeanes thame to joyne with the remanent Commissionaris to the effect above-mentionat conforme to the Commissione and Instructiones givin or to be givin to the Commissionaris or thair quorums thairanent be the Estaites of this Kingdom or Committies yrof And the Estaites of Parliament be thir presentis haldis and sall halde firme and stable all and what summe ever thinges the Commissionaris abovenamit or any thrie or mae of thame sall do conforme to this Commissionne and to the Instructionnes givin or to be givin to thame Estractit furthe of the buikes of Parliament be me Sir Alexander Gibsonne of Dunrie Kynt Clerk of His Majesty's Registers and Rollis under my signe and subscriptione Manuel Alexander Gibsonne Cler. Regist After the Commissions read their Commissioners delivered to His Majesty's Commissioners this Paper January the 30. VVE are directed by our Instructions to Treat with your Lordships upon the Propositions concerning Religion the Militia and Ireland three days apiece alternis vicibus during the space of twenty days from the 30 of January beginning first with the Propositions of Religion and accordingly we shall deliver unto your Lordships a Paper to morrow morning upon those Propositions Accordingly the Treaty did proceed upon those Subjects three days apiece alternis vicibus beginning with that of Religion upon Friday the last of January and so continuing Saturday the first and Monday the third of February which was after resumed Tuesday the 11. Wednesday the 12 and Thursday the 13. of February and again the two last days of the 20. And the like course was held touching the Militia and Ireland But because the Passages concerning each Subject severally will be more clearly understood being collected and disposed together under their several heads therefore all those which concern Religion the Militia and Ireland are put together And in like manner the Passages preparatory to the Treaty concerning the Commissions the Manner of the Treaty and a Seditious Sermon made the first day appointed for the Treaty and such as hapned in the Treaty touching His Majesty's Propositions the demands of farther time to Treat and other emergent Passages which have no relation to those of Religion the Militia and Ireland are in like manner digested under their several heads with their particular dates And first those which concern the Commissions Friday the last of January His Majesty's Commissioners delivered unto their Commissioners this Paper Ult. January VVE having perused the Power granted to your Lordships in the Paper delivered by the Earl of Northumberland and finding the same to relate to Instructions we desire to see those Instructions that thereby we may know what Power is granted to you and we ask this the rather because by the Powers we have seen we do not find that your Lordships in the absence of any one of your number have power to Treat Their Answer 31. January BY our Instructions we or any Ten of us whereof some of either House of the Parliament of England and some of the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland to be present have power to Treat with your Lordships Their farther Answer ult Jan. VVHereas your Lordships have expressed unto us a desire of seeing our Instructions to know what Power is granted us and this the rather because you say you find not by what you have seen that in the absence of any one of our number we have power to Treat to this we return in Answer That since the Paper already delivered in by us declaring that by our Instructions any Ten of us whereof some of either House of Parliament of England and some of the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland to be present had power to Treat with your Lordships hath not given you satisfaction in the particular of the Quorum we shall send unto the two Houses of Parliament to have the Quorum inserted in the Commission and do expect the return of it so amended within two or three days when we shall present it unto your Lordships But as for your desire in general to see our Instructions it is that for which we have no Warrant nor is it as we conceive at all necessary or proper for us so to do for that the Propositions upon which we now Treat have been already presented from the Parliaments of both Kingdoms unto His Majesty and whatsoever is propounded by us in order unto them is sufficiently warranted by what both Parliaments have done in the passing and sended of those Propositions and by the Commissions authorizing us to Treat upon them already shewn unto your Lordships so as there can be no need to shew any other Power Accordingly on Saturday the first of February they did deliver their Commission for the English Commissioners renewed as followeth Die Sabbati primo Febr. 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 or any Ten of them whereof some of either House of the Parliament of England and some of the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland are to be present 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 Gardner 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 The same last of January their Commissioners delivered to His Majesty's Commissioners this Paper January 31. HAving considered your Commission and Power from His Majesty given in last night by your Lordships we find that you are authorized to Treat only upon certain Propositions 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 wherein we observe that the Propositions sent to His Majesty
because the private Interest of the Subscribers for Money was concerned in it To which we give this Answer That their Interest was conditional upon Payment of their Moneys for the maintenance of the War which was not performed and that if they had paid their Moneys yet this Cessation was rather for the advance of that Interest there being as it appears by the Papers no other visible means of preservation of the Army in Ireland and that the Statute which gave that private Interest doth not take away the Kings Power of making a Cessation and we conceive that Argument of Interest was waved But if your Lordships shall insist upon it we again desire as we did formerly that a Case may be made of it and that the Debate may be again resumed Neither do we know that any Argument was used by your Lordships from the Proceedings in Parliament and if you shall give any we shall be ready to answer it And we conceive that the Advice given to his Majesty from the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland and the Testimony of the Officers of the Army expressing the miserable condition of that Kingdom and inability to bear the War should appear to your Lordships to be just grounds for His Majesties assenting to the Cessation One of the Letters delivered by us to your Lordships bearing date the fourth of April 1643. was sent by the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland to Mr. Secretary Nicholas in which was inclosed their Letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons of which your Lordships have likewise an Extract and a Remonstrance of the Officers of the Army to the Lords Justices and Council there and the other Letter of the fifth of May 1643. to His Majesty was from the Lords Justices and Council of that Kingdom All which if your Lordships please shall be examined by you with the Originals And we are therefore of opinion that our Answer formerly delivered is a good Answer to the point of Cessation in question and that it was not unfit for His Majesty to agree to that Cessation nor destructive to the Protestant Religion nor for the advantage of the Popish Rebels but much for the advantage of the Protestant Subjects there who were in apparent hazard of Destruction by Force and Famine occasioned by the want of Supplies which had been promised to them as we have formerly said And we shall give your Lordships a further Answer to your other Propositions concerning Ireland when the time comes again for that Debate Here ended the first three days of the Treaty concerning Ireland and the night before the return of the next three days their Commissioners delivered this Paper 17. February WE conceived that the Arguments used by us that His Majesty neither had nor hath Power to make the Cessation with the Rebels of Ireland might have fully satisfied your Lordships and if any Doubts yet remain we are ready by Conference to clear them Your Lordships may well call to mind the several Clauses we insisted upon in the Statute and the Arguments we have given from the Common-Law and other Proceedings in Parliament And we do affirm that several great Sums of Money were paid by particular Persons and by Corporations who according to the true intent of the Statute ought to have the benefit of the same according to divers other Acts of Parliament in pursuance thereof and upon failer of Payment by any particular Persons the Forfeiture was to accrue to the common benefit of the rest not failing and we do deny that the Argument of Interest was at all waved by us And we conceive those Wants alledged by your Lordships if any such were in justifying the Cessation were supplied from time to time by the Houses of Parliament until His Majesties Forces were so quartered in and about the common Roads to Ireland that Provisions going thither were intercepted and neither Money Cloaths Victuals or other things could pass by Land with safety to be transported And when that both Houses of Parliament were desirous further to supply those Wants and for that purpose did tender a Bill to His Majesty it was refused And we will still alledge that we have no reason to be satisfied concerning the Cessation by any Arguments used by your Lordships or by any thing contained in the Extracts of the Letters and Papers delivered to us by your Lordships as from the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland and the Officers of the Army nor though desired by us have your Lordships afforded us liberty to compare those Extracts with the Originals whereby we might have the Names of the Persons by whom they were written which we now again desire We are therefore still clearly of opinion as is expressed in our former Paper of the 10. of February concerning the Cessation and do desire your Lordships full Answer to our Demands concerning Ireland The King's Commissioners Answer 18. Feb. WE did not conceive that your Lordships had believed that any Arguments used by you could satisfie us against His Majesties Power to make a Cessation with the Rebels in Ireland which appears to have been made by him by the Advice of His Council there and for the Preservation of His Majesties Protestant Subjects of that Kingdom who in all probability would have perished by Famine and the Sword if that Cessation had not been made and we shall be very ready to receive farther Information from your Lordships by Conference or otherwise in that particular either concerning any Clauses in the Statute or Arguments at Common-Law or Proceedings of Parliament your Lordships having never mentioned the one or made any Case upon the other upon which you intend to insist And for the several great Sums of Money that were paid by particular Persons and Corporations upon that Statute mentioned by your Lordships we are sorry that we are compelled by your Lordships insisting thereon to inform your Lordships that His Majesty had clear Information that not only much of the money raised by the Act for the four hundred thousand Pound which was passed for the better suppressing that most wicked and execrable Rebellion in Ireland and for the payment of the Debts of this Kingdom but also of the Money raised by the Statute on which your Lordships insist for the speedy and effectual reducing of the Rebels of Ireland c. and other Moneys raised by Contribution and Loan for the relief of His Majesties distressed Subjects of that Kingdom were expended contrary to the intent of the Acts by which the same were levied and of the Persons who lent and contributed the same towards the maintenance of the Forces in this Kingdom under the Command of the Earl of Essex and that many Regiments of Horse and Foot levied for the War of Ireland under the Command of the Lord Wharton the Lord Kerry Sir Faithful Fortescue and others were likewise imployed in that Army under the Earl of Essex at Edge-hill and therefore His Majesty
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
the Lords Justices and Council there yet we were assured even by some who were of the Council at that time when the Letters were written that the same was done only to press for Supplies from hence without the least intention in them of inducing a Cessation neither do the Copies contain any thing tending to a Cessation or the least mention thereof And we have cause to grieve not only at what your Lordships express concerning the complaints from Ireland and their great extremities but that the same being procured and increased by the Popish Party yet we should find such earnest endeavours to lay the blame and neglect therein upon the two Houses of Parliament here who have been so zealous for their Relief and whose only care under the Blessing of God hath been their Preservation and that in the heat of our own miserable Distractions have continued their Supplies and from our own great Wants have not spared to afford our Brethren there the means of their subsistance The Protestants in Munster Connaught and Vlster who opposed this Cessation were many of them English and both they and the Scots suffering under as great Wants and Failer of Supplies as the Protestants in other places and in no better posture of their own defence notwithstanding in a true sense of their own Duty and Conscience they have opposed and still do oppose the same neither were the English there neglected as your Lordships have been misinformed by such who labour to destroy both Nations and as a means thereto to divide them Besides the Goods seised near Coventry we have mentioned other particulars asserted to be seised not without His Majesties own knowledge and direction as we are informed and are most unwilling to believe Neither do we understand it to be an excuse for seising some Goods to say that His Majesty did forbear to seise others in His Power but when His Majesty shall rightly ponder the horridness of that Rebellion we hope those wicked Instruments who contrived and do support the same will have no power to alter His Majesties tender sense of the miseries of His Protestants Subjects in that Kingdom nor at all to lessen His Piety and gracious Care for quenching the Flames of that unhappy Rebellion We do again affirm unto your Lordships the truth of what we said before concerning the Supplies of Ireland by the two Houses and it seems strange that what hath been lately sent should not be looked upon as a Support of the War against the Rebels by which only the Protestants were enabled to defend themselves and to infest their Enemies nor can we imagine any other means as a Support of that just War being most assured that if this had not been done the Rebels must certainly have prevailed and the remnant of His Majesties good Subjects of that Kingdom have perished Your Lordships are pleased to remember some moneys by us imployed particularly one hundred thousand Pounds which was raised for Ireland all which have been re-satisfied with advantage and we must as often as you are pleased to repeat it refer your Lordships to our former just and clear Answers concerning the same and the like for the Forces under the Command of the Lord Wharton And we believe what your Lordships express concerning the Forces brought hither to His Majesty out of Ireland after the Cessation it being one end for which the Cessation was made that those Forces might be imployed against the two Houses of Parliament here and those Scotish Forces which came over were not sent for We know of no Persons who have returned into Ireland since the Cessation except such as were Agents for the procuring thereof and divers principal Rebels who presumed to address themselves unto His Majesty at Oxford and were there countenanced It is probable that some might endeavour to alienate the hearts of the Officers of the Army there from the two Houses whereby their Service against the Rebels might be interrupted To that particular of the Subscriptions of the Officers and of the Committee sent into Ireland and of the diversions of moneys alledged and of the Copies of Letters given us by your Lordships without the Names of those who subscribed them we have already given your Lordships a full and clear Answer but have not received satisfaction concerning the denial of the Lord Wharton's Commission whereby the Service of that Kingdom was much prejudiced It is so far from being made appear that His Majesties English Protestant Subjects in Ireland could not subsist without a Cessation that the contrary is undeniable and that His Majesties Protestant Subjects there both English and Scotish who have opposed that Cessation have subsisted and do still subsist and we are sorry to find any inclination to continue that Cessation which whensoever made will be esteemed by all good Protestants a countenancing of that bloody Rebellion We do insist upon our former Demands concerning Ireland and doubt not but those being granted notwithstanding our present miserable Distractions here we shall by the Blessing of God bring those bloody Rebels to a speedy and just Punishment and settle that unhappy Kingdom in their due Obedience to His Majesty and the Crown of England Their other Paper 22. Feb. IT is not possible for us to give a more clear Answer than we have done to shew that there can no such Inconvenience follow upon confirming the Ordinance of the 11. of April by Act of Parliament as your Lordships do imagine it being desired that the Treaty of the sixth of August be in like manner confirmed by which the Commanders of the Scotish Forces in Ireland are to be answerable to His Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament of England for their whole deportment and proceeding there and it being desired by the 13. Proposition that the Prosecutions of the War of Ireland should be settled in both Houses of Parliament all which taken together it cannot follow that upon any Disagreement between the Committees there the Earl of Leven may carry on the War according to his own discretion As for our Expression when there shall be a Lieutenant in Ireland which was used in Answer to your Lordships second Paper of the 20. of February it was to satisfie your Lordships that there could be no interfering between the Powers of the Lord Lieutenant and of the Earl of Leven and still we say when there shall be a Lord Lieutenant chosen as is expressed in our 20. Proposition for we do not admit the Marquiss of Ormond to be so the Commander in chief of the Scotish Army is to receive Instructions from him in such manner as we have laid it down in that Answer of ours to your Lordships Paper above-mentioned which will we hope satisfie your Lordships other Objection that this is not to deliver over the whole Kingdom of Ireland into the hands of His Majesties Subjects of the Kingdom of Scotland seeing such of that Nation as are there imployed are to be subordinate
unto the Kingdom of England by the Kingdom of Scotland upon the first Monthly allowance which shall grow due to the Scotish Army from the time they shall make their first entrance into the Kingdom of England 7. That the Kingdom of Scotland to manifest their willingness to their utmost ability to be helpful to their Brethren of England in this common Cause will give the Publick Faith of the Kingdom of Scotland to be joyntly made use of with the Publick Faith of the Kingdom of England for the present taking up of Two hundred thousand Pounds sterling in the Kingdom of England or elsewhere for the speedy procuring of the said Hundred thousand Pounds sterling as aforesaid as also a considerable sum for the satisfying in good proportion the Arrears of the Scotish Army in Ireland 8. That no Cessation nor any Pacification or Agreement for Peace whatsoever shall be made by either Kingdom or the Armies of either Kingdom without the mutual Advice and Consent of both Kingdoms or their 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 of Scotland shall not sit 9. That the Publick Faith of the Kingdom of Scotland shall be given to their Brethren of England that neither their entrance into nor their continuance in the Kingdom of England shall be made use of to any other ends then are expressed in the Covenant and in the Articles of this Treaty and that all matters of difference that shall happen to arise between the Subjects of the two Nations shall be resolved and determined by the mutual Advice and Consent of both Kingdoms or by such Committees as for this purpose shall be by them appointed with the same Power as in the precedent Article 10. That in the same manner and upon the same conditions as the Kingdom of Scotland is now willing to aid and assist their Brethren of England the Kingdom of England doth oblige themselves to aid and assist the Kingdom of Scotland in the same or like cases of streights and extremities 11. Lastly it is agreed and concluded that during the time that the Scotish Army shall be imployed as aforesaid for the defence of the Kingdom of England there shall be fitted out as Men of War eight Ships whereof six shall be of Burthen betwixt One hundred and Twenty and two hundred Tun the other between three and four hundred Tun whereof two shall be in lieu of the two Ships appointed by the Irish Treaty all which shall be maintained at the charge of the Kingdom of England to be imployed for the defence of the Coast of Scotland under such Commanders as the Earl of Warwick for the time of his being Admiral shall nominate with the approbation of the Committees of both Kingdoms which Commanders shall receive from the said Earl general Instructions that they do from time to time observe the Directions of the Committees of both Kingdoms The Ordinance for calling the Assembly of Divines An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons in Parliament for the calling of an Assembly of Learned and Godly Divines and others to be consulted with by the Parliament for the settling of the Government and Liturgy of the Church of England and for vindicating and clearing of the Doctrine of the said Church from false Aspersions and Interpretations WHereas amongst the infinite Blessings of Almighty God upon this Nation none is or can be more dear unto us than the purity of our Religion and for that as yet many things remain in the Liturgy Discipline and Government of the Church which do necessarily require a further and more perfect Reformation than as yet hath been attained and whereas it hath been declared and resolved by the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament that the present Church-government by Arch-bishops Bishops their Chancellours Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-deacons and other Ecclesiastical Officers depending upon the Hierarchy is evil and justly offensive and burthensom to the Kingdom a great impediment to Reformation and growth of Religion and very prejudicial to the State and Government of this Kingdom and that therefore they are resolved that the same shall be taken away and that such a Government shall be settled in the Church as may be most agreeable to Gods Holy Word and most apt to procure and preserve the Peace of the Church at home and nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland and other reformed Churches abroad and for the better effecting hereof and for the vindicating and clearing of the Doctrine of the Church of England from all false Calumnies and Aspersions it is thought fit and necessary to call an Assembly of Learned Godly and Judicious Divines who together with some Members of both the Houses of Parliament are to consult and advise of such matters and things touching the Premisses as shall be proposed unto them by both or either of the Houses of Parliament and to give their Advice and Counsel therein to both or either of the said Houses when and as often as they shall be thereunto required Be it therefore ordained by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled That all and every the Persons hereafter in this present Ordinance named that is to say Algernon Earl of Northumberland William Earl of Bedford Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery William Earl of Salisbury Henry Earl of Holland Edward Earl of Manchester William Lord Viscount Say and Seal Edward Lord Viscount Conway Philip Lord VVharton Edward Lord Howard of Escr John Selden Esquire Francis Rous Esquire Edmund Prideaux Esquire Sir Henry Vane Knight senior John Glyn Esquire Recorder of London John VVhite Esquire Bulstrode VVhitelock Esquire Humphry Salway Esquire Mr. Serjeant VVild Oliver Saint-John Esquire His Majesties Sollicitor Sir Benjamin Rudyard Knight John Pym Esquire Sir John Clotworthy Knight John Maynard Esquire Sir Henry Vane Knight junior VVilliam Pierrepont Esquire William VVheeler Esquire Sir Thomas Barrington Knight VValter Young Esquire Sir John Evelin Knight Herbert Palmer of Ashwel Batchelor in Divinity Oliver Bowles of Sutton Batchelor in Divinity Henry VVilkinson of VVaddesdon Batchelor in Divinity Thomas Valentine of Chalfont-Giles Batchelor in Divinity Doctor VVilliam Twisse of Newbury VVilliam Raynor of Egham Master Hannibal Gammon of Maugan Mr. Jasper Hicks of Lawrick D. Joshua Hoyle late of Dublin in Ireland VVilliam Bridges of Yarmouth Thomas VVincop of Ellesworth Doctor in Divinity Thomas Goodwin of London Batchelor in Divinity John Ley of Budworth in Cheshire Thomas Case of London John Pyne of Bereferrers Master VVhidden of Mooreton D. Richard Love of Ekington D. VVilliam Gouge of Blackfriers London D. Ralph Brownrigge Bishop of Exceter D. Samuel Ward Master of Sidney Colledge John White of Dorchester Edward Peal of Compton Stephen Marshall of Finchingfield Batchelor in Divinity Obadiah Sedgewick of Cogshall Batchelor in Divinity M. Carter Peter Clark of Carnaby William Mew of Estington Batchelor in Divinity
Quarterings nor Marchings and when it shall be found fit to send Troops out of either Army that the Persons to be sent out of the Scotish Army shall be commanded out by their own General the Lieutenant of Ireland prescribing the number which shall not exceed the fourth part of the whole Foot of the Scotish Army nor of the Horse appointed to joyn therewith whereunto they shall return when the Service is done And that no Officer of the Scotish Army shall be commanded by one of his own Quality and if the Commanders of the Troops so sent out of either Army be one of Quality that they command the Party by turns And it is nevertheless provided that the whole Scotish Army may be called out of the Province of Vlster and the Horses appointed to joyn with them by His Majesties Lieutenant of Ireland or other chief Governour or Governours of that Kingdom for the time being if he or they shall think fit before the Rebellion be totally suppressed therein Eleventhly it is agreed That the Scotish Army shall be entertained by the English for three Months from the twentieth of June last and so along after until they be discharged and that they shall have a Months Pay advanced when they are first mustered in Ireland and thereafter shall be duely paid from Month to Month and that there shall be one Muster-master appointed by the English Muster-master General to make strict and frequent Musters of the Scotish Army and that what Companies of Men shall be sent out of Scotland within the compass of the Ten thousand Men shall be paid upon their Musters in Ireland although they make not up compleat Regiments Twelfthly it is agreed That the Scotish Army shall receive their discharge from the King and Parliament of England or from such Persons as shall be appointed and authorized by His Majesty and both Houses of Parliament for that purpose and that there shall be a Months warning before-hand of their disbanding which said discharge and Months warning shall be made known by His Majesty and them to the Council of Scotland or the Lord Chancellor a Month before the discharging thereof and that the Common Souldiers of the Scotish at their dismission shall be allowed fourteen days Pay for carrying of them home Thirteenthly it is provided and agreed That at any time after the Three Months now agreed upon for the entertainment of the Scotish Army shall be expired and that the Two Houses of Parliament or such persons as shall be authorized by them shall give notice to the Council of Scotland or to the Lord Chancellor there that after one Month from such notice given the said Two Houses of Parliament will not pay the said Scotish Army now in Ireland any longer then the said Two Houses of Parliament shall not be obliged to pay the said Army any longer then during the said Month any thing in this Treaty contained to the contrary notwithstanding The Ordinances of the 9. of March and 11. of April Die Sabbati 9. Martii 1643-44 Resolved upon the Question by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled THat he who doth or shall command in chief over the said Army by joynt Advice of both Kingdoms shall also command the rest of the British Forces in Ireland and for the further managing of that War and prosecuting the Ends expressed in the Covenant that the same be done by joynt Advice with the Committees of both Kingdoms Die Jovis 11. April 1644. Resolved upon the Question by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled THat the Earl of Leven Lord General of the Scots Forces in Ireland being now by the Votes of both Houses agreed to be Commander in chief over all the Forces as well British as Scots according to the Fourth Article of the result of the Committees of both Kingdoms passed both Houses be desired with all convenient speed by the Advice of the said Committees to appoint and nominate a Commander in chief under his Excellency over the said Forces to reside with them upon the place Resolved c. THat Committees be nominated and appointed by the joynt Advice of both Kingdoms of such Numbers and Qualities as shall be by them agreed on to be sent with all convenient speed to reside with the said Forces and enabled with all ample Instructions by the joynt Advice of both Kingdoms for the Regulating of the said Forces and the better carrying on of that War The Letter of the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland to the Speaker of the House of Commons in England 4. April 1643. a Duplicate whereof the Original being sent to VVestminster was by them sent to Master Secretary Nicholas for His Majesty SIR OUR very good Lord the Lord Marquess of Ormond having in his March in his last Expedition consulted several times with the Commanders and Officers of the Army in a Council of War and so finding that subsistence could not be had abroad for the Men and Horses he had with him or for any considerable part of them it was resolved by them that his Lordship with those Forces should return hither which he did on the six and twentieth of March. In his return from Rosse which in the case our Forces stand he found so difficult to be taken in as although our Ordinance made a breach in their Walls it was found necessary to desert the Siege he was encountred by an Army of the Rebels consisting of about six thousand Foot and six hundred and fifty Horse well armed and horsed yet it pleased God so to disappoint their counsels and strength as with those small Forces which the Lord Marquess had with him being of fighting men about two thousand five hundred Foot and five hundred Horse not well armed and for the most part weakly horsed and those as well Men as Horses much weakned by lying in the Fields several Nights in much Cold and Rain and by want of Mans-meat and Horse-meat the Lord Marquess obtained a happy and glorious deliverance and Victory against those Rebels wherein were slain about three hundred of them and many of their Commanders and others of Quality and divers taken Prisoners and amongst those Prisoners Colonel Cullen a Native of this City who being a Colonel in France departed from thence and came hither to assist the Rebels and was Lieutenant-General of their Army in the Province of Leimster and the Rebels Army were totally routed and defeated and their Baggage and Munition seized on by His Majesties Forces who lodged that Night where they had gained the Victory and on our side about twenty slain in the fight and divers wounded We have great cause to praise God for magnifying his Goodness and Mercy to His Majesty and this His Kingdom so manifestly and indeed wonderfully in that Victory However the Joy due from us upon so happy an occasion is we confess mingled with very great Distraction here in the apprehension of our Unhappiness to be such as although the
will answer to Almighty God in that Day when He shall make inquisition for all the Blood that hath and may yet be spilt in this unnatural War as you tender the preservation and establishment of the true Religion by all the Bonds of Duty and Allegiance to your King or Compassion to your bleeding and unhappy Country and of Charity to your selves that you dispose your hearts to a true sense and imploy all your faculties in a more serious Endeavour together with His Majesty to set a speedy end to these wasting Divisions and then He shall not doubt but that God will yet again give the Blessing of Peace to this distracted Kingdom Given at the Court at Oxford the fifteenth of December 1645. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses with Propositions From Oxford Dec. 26. 1645. 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. NOtwithstanding the strange and unexpected Delays which can be precedented by no former times to His Majesties two former Messages His Majesty will lay aside all Expostulations as rather serving to lose time than to contribute any remedy to the evils which for the present do afflict this distracted Kingdom Therefore without further Preamble His Majesty thinks it most necessary to send these Propositions this way which He intended to do by the Persons mentioned in His former Messages though He well knows the great disadvantage which Overtures of this kind have by the want of being accompanied by well instructed Messengers His Majesty conceiving that the former Treaties have hitherto proved ineffectual chiefly for want of Power in those Persons that Treated as likewise because those from whom their Power was derived not possibly having the particular informations of every several Debate could not give so clear a Judgment as was requisite to so important a business if therefore His Majesty may have the engagement of the two Houses at Westminster the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland the Mayor Aldermen Common-Council and Militia of London of the chief Commanders in Sir Fairfax's Army as also of those in the Scots Army for His Majesties free and safe coming to and abode in London or Westminster with such of His Servants now attending Him and their Followers not exceeding in all the number of 300. for the space of forty days and after the said time for His free and safe repair to any of His Garrisons of Oxford Worcester or Newark which His Majesty shall nominate at any time before His going from London or Westminster His Majesty propounds to have a Personal Treaty with the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland upon all matters which may conduce to the restoring of Peace and Happiness to these miserably-distracted Kingdoms and to begin with the three Heads which were Treated on at Vxbridge And for the better clearing of His Majesties earnest and sincere intentions of putting an end to these unnatural Distractions knowing that point of security may prove the greatest obstacle to this most blessed Work His Majesty therefore declares That he is willing to commit the great Trust of the Militia of this Kingdom for such Time and with such Powers as are exprest in the Paper delivered by His Majesties Commissioners at Vxbridge the sixth of February last to these Persons following viz. the Lord Privy-Seal the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hartford the Marquess of Dorchester the Earl of Dorset Lord Chamberlain the Earl of Northumberland the Earl of Essex Earl of Southampton Earl of Pembroke Earl of Salisbury Earl of Manchester Earl of Warwick Earl of Denbigh Earl of Chichester Lord Say Lord Seymour Lord Lucas Lord Lexington Mr. Denzill Hollis Mr. Pierrepont Mr. Henry Bellassis Mr. Richard Spencer Sir Thomas Fairfax Mr. John Ashburnham Sir Gervase Clifton Sir Henry Vane junior Mr. Robert Wallop Mr. Thomas Chichely Mr. Oliver Cromwell Mr. Philip Skippon supposing that these are Persons against whom there can be no just exception But if this doth not satisfie then His Majesty offers to name the one half and leave the other to the election of the two Houses of Parliament at Westminster with the Powers and Limitations before mentioned Thus His Majesty calls God and the World to witness of His sincere Intentions and real Endeavours for the composing and settling of these miserable Distractions which He doubts not but by the Blessing of God will soon be put to a happy Conclusion if this His Majesties offer be accepted otherwise He leaves all the World to judge who are the continuers of this unnatural War And therefore He once more conjures you by all the bonds of Duty you owe to God and your King to have so great a Compassion on the bleeding and miserable estate of your Country that you joyn your most serious and hearty endeavours with His Majesty to put a happy and speedy end to these present Miseries Given at the Court at Oxford the 26. of December 1645. The Answer of both Houses to His MAJESTIES two former Messages of the 5. and 15. of Decemb. brought by Sir Peter Killegrew Decemb. 27. May it please your Majesty THE Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England at Westminster have received Your Letters of the fifth and fifteenth of this instant December and having together with the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland taken the same into their serious consideration do humbly return this Answer They have in all their Actions manifested to Your Majesty and the World their sincere and earnest desires that a safe and well-grounded Peace might be settled in Your three Kingdoms and for the obtaining so great a Blessing shall ever pray to God and use their utmost endeavours and beseech Your Majesty to believe that their not sending a more speedy Answer hath not proceeded from any intention to retard the means of putting an end to these present Calamities by a happy Peace but hath been occasioned by the Considerations and Debates necessary in a business of so great importance wherein both Kingdoms are so much concerned As to Your Majesties desire of a safe Conduct for the coming hither of the Duke of Richmond the Earl of Southampton John Ashburnham and Jeffrey Palmer Esquires with Propositions to be the foundation of a happy and well-grounded Peace they finding that former Treaties have been made use of for other Ends under the pretence of Peace and have proved dilatory and unsuccessful cannot give way to a safe Conduct according to Your Majesties desire But both Houses of the Parliament of England having now under their Consideration Propositions and Bills for the settling of a safe and well grounded Peace which are speedily to be communicated to the Commissioners of the Kingdom of Scotland do resolve after mutual agreement of both Kingdoms to present them with all speed to Your Majesty Westminster the 25.
always urging that there should be no Physick because the party is sick And in this particular it hath been often observed unto them that those whom they call Irish who have so expressed their Loyalty to their Soveraign were indeed for the most part such English Protestants as had been formerly sent into Ireland by the two Houses impossibilitated to stay there any longer by the neglect of those that sent them thither who should there have better provided for them And for any Forein Forces it is too apparent that their Armies have swarmed with them when his Majesty hath had few or none And whereas for a third impediment it is alledged that the Prince is in the head of an Army in the West and that there are divers Garrisons still kept in his Majesties Obedience and that there are Forces in Scotland it must be as much confessed as that as yet there is no Peace and therefore it is desired that by such a Personal Treaty all these impediments may be removed And it is not here amiss to put them in mind how long since his Majesty did press a disbanding of all Forces on both sides the refusing whereof hath been the cause of this Objection And whereas exception is taken that there is a time limited in the Proposition for his Majesties Personal Treaty thereupon inferring that he should again return to Hostility his Majesty protesteth that he seeks this Treaty to avoid future Hostility and to procure a lasting Peace and if he can meet with like inclinations to Peace in those he desires to Treat with he will bring such affections and resolutions in himself as shall end all these unhappy bloody Differences As for those Ingagements which his Majesty hath desired for his Security whosoever shall call to mind the particular occasions that enforced his Majesty to leave his City of London and VVestminster will judge his Demand very reasonable and necessary for his Safety But he no way conceiveth how the Lord Maior Aldermen Common-Council and Militia of London were either subject or subordinate to that Authority which is alledged as knowing neither Law nor practice for it and if the two Armies be he believes it is more than can be parallel'd by any former times in this Kingdom Nor can his Majesty understand how his Majesties seeking of a Personal Security can be any breach of Priviledge it being likely to be infringed by hindring his Majesty from coming freely to his two Houses As for the Objection that his Majesty omitted to mention the settling Religion and securing the Peace of his Native Kingdom his Majesty declares that he conceives that it was included in his former and hath been particularly mentioned in his latter Message of the 15. present But for their better satisfaction he again expresseth that it was and ever shall be both his meaning and endeavour in this Treaty desired And it seems to him very clear that there is no way for a final ending of such Distractions as afflict this Kingdom but either by Treaty or Conquest the latter of which his Majesty hopes none will have the impudence or impiety to wish for and for the former if his Personal assistance in it be not the most likely way let any reasonable man judge when by that means not only all unnecessary Delays will be removed but even the greatest Difficulties made easy And therefore he doth now again earnestly insist upon that Proposition expecting to have a better Answer upon mature consideration And can it be imagined that any Propositions will be so effectual being formed before a Personal Treaty as such as are framed and propounded upon a full debate on both sides Wherefore his Majesty who is most concerned in the good of his People and is most desirous to restore Peace and Happiness to his three Kingdoms doth again instantly desire an Answer to his said former Messages to which he hath hitherto received none Given at Our Court at Oxon the 24. of Jan. 1645. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses from Oxford Jan. 29. 1645-46 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 received Information from the Lord Lieutenant and Council in Ireland that the Earl of Glamorgan hath without his or their Directions or privity entred into a Treaty with some Commissioners on the Roman-Catholick Party there and also drawn up and agreed unto certain Articles with the said Commissioners highly derogatory to his Majesties Honour and Royal Dignity and most prejudicial unto the Protestant Religion and Church there in Ireland whereupon the said Earl of Glamorgan is arrested upon suspicion of High Treason and imprisoned by the said Lord Lieutenant and Council at the instance and by the Impeachment of the Lord Digby who by reason of his Place and former Imployment in these Affairs doth best know how contrary that Proceeding of the said Earl hath been to His Majesties Intentions and Directions and what great prejudice it might bring to His Affairs if those Proceedings of the Earl of Glamorgan should be any ways understood to have been done by the directions liking or approbation of his Majesty His Majesty having in his former Messages for a Personal Treaty offered to give contentment to his two Houses in the Business of Ireland hath now thought fitting the better to shew his clear Intentions and to give satisfaction to his said Houses of Parliament and the rest of his Subjects in all his Kingdoms to send this Declaration to his said Houses containing the whole truth of the business Which is That the Earl of Glamorgan having made offer unto him to raise Forces in the Kingdom of Ireland and to conduct them into England for his Majesties Service had a Commission to that purpose and to that purpose only That he had no Commission at all to Treat of any thing else without the privity and directions of the Lord Lieutenant much less to capitulate any thing concerning Religion or any Propriety belonging either to Church or Laity That it clearly appears by the Lord Lieutenant's Proceedings with the said Earl that he had no notice at all of what the said Earl had Treated and pretended to have capitulated with the Irish until by accident it came to his knowledge And his Majesty doth protest that until such time as he had advertisement that the Person of the said Earl of Glamorgan was arrested and restrained as is above-said He never heard nor had any kind of notice that the said Earl had entred into any kind of Treaty or Capitulation with those Irish Commissioners much less that he had concluded or signed those Articles so destructive both to Church and State and so repugnant to his Majesties publick Professions and known Resolutions And for the further vindication of his Majesties Honour and Integrity herein He doth declare That He is so far from
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
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
attain to that Kingdom of Peace in my Heart and in thy Heaven which Christ hath purchased and thou wilt give to thy Servant tho a Sinner for my Saviours sake Amen II. Vpon the Earl of STRAFFORD's Death I Looked upon my Lord of Strafford as a Gentleman whose great Abilities might make a Prince rather afraid than ashamed to employ him in the greatest affairs of State For those were prone to create in him great confidence of undertakings and this was like enough to betray him to great errors and many enemies Whereof he could not but contract good store while moving in so high a sphear and with so vigorous a lustre he must needs as the Sun raise many envious exhalations which condensed by a Popular Odium were capable to cast a cloud upon the brightest Merit and Integrity Though I cannot in my Judgment approve all he did driven it may be by the necessities of Times and the Temper of that People more than led by his own disposition to any height and rigor of actions yet I could never be convinced of any such Criminousness in him as willingly to expose his life to the stroke of Justice and Malice of his Enemies I never met with a more unhappy conjuncture of affairs than in the business of that unfortunate Earl when between my own unsatisfiedness in Conscience and a necessity as some told Me of satisfying the importunities of some people I was perswaded by those that I think wished Me well to chuse rather what was safe than what seemed just preferring the outward Peace of my Kingdoms with men before that inward exactness of Conscience before God And indeed I am so far from excusing or denying that compliance on My part for plenary consent it was not to his destruction whom in my Judgment I thought not by any clear Law guilty of Death that I never bare any touch of Conscience with greater regret which as a sign of my Repentance I have often with sorrow confessed both to God and men as an act of so sinful frailty that it discovered more a fear of Man than of God whose name and place on Earth no man is worthy to bear who will avoid inconveniencies of State by acts of so high injustice as no publick convenience can expiate or compensate I see it a bad exchange to wound a mans own Conscience thereby to salve State sores to calm the storms of Popular discontents by stirring up a tempest in a mans own bosome Nor hath Gods Justice failed in the event and sad consequences to shew the world the fallacy of that Maxime Better one man perish tho unjustly than the people be displeased or destroyed For In all likelihood I could never have suffered with my people greater calamities yet with greater comfort had I vindicated Strafford's Innocency at least by denying to sign that destructive BILL according to that Justice which my Conscience suggested to Me than I have done since I gratified some mens unthankful importunities with so cruel a favour And I have observed that those who counselled Me to sign that BILL have been so far from receiving the rewards of such ingratiatings with the People that no men have been harassed and crushed more than they He only hath been least vexed by them who counselled Me not to consent against the Vote of my own Conscience I hope God hath forgiven Me and them the sinful rashness of that business To which being in my Soul so fully conscious those Judgments God hath pleased to send upon Me are so much the more welcome as a means I hope which his Mercy hath sanctified so to Me as to make Me repent of that unjust Act for so it was to Me and for the future to teach Me That the best rule of Policy is to prefer the doing of Justice before all enjoyments and the Peace of my Conscience before the preservation of my Kingdoms Nor hath any thing more fortified my resolutions against all those violent importunities which since have sought to gain a like consent from Me to Acts wherein my Conscience is unsatisfied than the sharp touches I have had for what passed Me in my Lord of Strafford's Business Not that I resolved to have employed him in my Affairs against the advice of my Parliament but I would not have had any hand in his Death of whose Guiltlesness I was better assured than any man living could be Nor were the Crimes objected against him so clear as after a long and fair hearing to give convincing satisfaction to the Major part of both Houses especially that of the Lords of whom scarce a third part were present when the Bill passed that House And for the House of Commons many Gentlemen disposed enough to diminish my Lord of Strafford's greatness and power yet unsatisfied of his guilt in Law durst not condemn him to die who for their Integrity in their Votes were by Posting their Names exposed to the popular calumny hatred and fury which grew then so exorbitant in their clamours for Justice that is to have both My self and the two Houses Vote and do as they would have us that many 't is thought were rather terrified to concur with the condemning party than satisfied that of right they ought so to do And that after-Act vacating the Authority of the precedent for future imitation sufficiently tells the world that some remorse touched even his most implacable Enemies as knowing he had very hard measure and such as they would be very loath should be repeated to themselves This tenderness and regret I find in my Soul for having had any hand and that very unwillingly God knows in shedding one mans blood unjustly tho under the colour and formalities of Justice and pretences of avoiding publick mischiefs which may I hope be some evidence before God and Man to all Posterity that I am far from bearing justly the vast load and guilt of all that Blood which hath been shed in this unhappy War which some men will needs charge on Me to ease their own Souls who am and ever shall be more afraid to take away any mans life unjustly than to lose My own But Thou O God of infinite mercies forgive Me that act of sinful compliance which hath greater aggravations upon Me than any man Since I had not the least temptation of Envy or Malice against him and by My place should at least so far have been a preserver of him as to have denied my consent to his destruction O Lord I acknowledg my transgression and my sin is ever before Me. Deliver Me from blood-guiltiness O God thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness Against Thee have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight for Thou sawest the contradiction between my heart and my hand Yet cast Me not away from thy presence purge Me with the Blood of my Redeemer and I shall be clean wash Me with that precious effusion and I shall be whiter
suffering thy Will in either Life or Death As I believe Thou hast forgiven all the Errors of my Life so I hope Thou wilt save Me from the Terrors of my Death Make Me content to leave the Worlds Nothing that I may come really to enjoy All in Thee who hast made Christ unto Me in Life Gain nnd in Death Advantage Tho my Destroyers forget their Duty to Thee and Me yet do not Thou O Lord forget to be merciful to them For what profit is there in my Blood or in their gaining my Kingdoms if they lose their own Souls Such as have not only resisted my just Power but wholly usurped and turned it against My self tho they may deserve yet let them not receive to themselves Damnation Thou madest thy Son a Saviour to many that crucified Him while at once He suffered violently by them and yet willingly for them O let the voice of his Blood be heard for my Murtherers louder than the Cry of Mine against them Prepare them for thy Mercy by due Convictions of their Sin and let them not at once deceive and damn their own Souls by fallacious pretensions of Justice in destroying Me while the conscience of their unjust Vsurpation of power against Me chiefly tempts them to use all extremities against Me. O Lord Thou knowest I have found their Mercies to Me as very false so very cruel who pretending to preserve Me have meditated nothing but my Ruine O deal not with them as blood-thirsty and deceitful men but overcome their Cruelty with Thy Compassion and My Charity And when Thou makest inquisition for my Blood O sprinkle their polluted yet penitent Souls with the Blood of thy Son that thy destroying Angel may pass over them Tho they think my Kingdoms on Earth too little to entertain at once both them and Me yet let the capacious Kingdom of thy infinite Mercy at last receive both Me and my Enemies When being reconciled to Thee in the Blood of the same Redeemer we shall live far above these Ambitious desires which beget such mortal Enmities When their hands shall be heaviest and cruellest upon Me O let Me fall into the arms of thy tender and eternal Mercies That what is cut off of my Life in this miserable moment may be repayed in thy ever-blessed Eternity Lord let thy Servant depart in Peace for my eyes have seen thy Salvation Vota dabunt quae bella negârunt FINIS An Historical TABLE of both PARTS That the Reader may the more easily discern the Order of those Historical Papers which are digested under their several Heads in the First Part and more readily conjoyn them in their proper Places with the Second it is thought fit to represent both together in this Table according to their Dates and Dependencies MDCXXV HIS Majesties Speech at the Opening of His First Parliament June 18. 1625. page 159 160 His Speech to both Houses at Oxford Aug. 4. 1625. ibid. MDCXXV VI. His Speech to the Speaker of the Lower House of His Second Parliament 1625 6. p. 160 His Speech to both Houses at White-Hall March 29. 1626. p. 161 His Speech to the House of Lords at Westminster May 11. 1626. ibid. A Declaration concerning His Two First Parliaments p. 217 MDCXXVII VIII His Majesties Speech at the Opening of His Third Parliament March 17. 1627 8. p. 162 His Speech to both Houses at White-Hall April 4. 1628. ibid. His Speech to the Speaker and House of Commons April 14. 1628. p. 163 His Speeches to both Houses in Answer to their Petition Jun. 2. 7. 1628. ibid. His Speech to the Lower House at the Reading their Remonstrance June 11. 1628. ibid. His Speech to both Houses at the Prorogation Jun. 26. 1628. p. 164 MDCXXVIII IX His Speech to both Houses Jan. 24. 31. 1828 9. p. 164 165 His Speech to the Lower-House concerning Tonnage and Poundage Feb. 3. 1628 9. p. 165 A Declaration concerning His Third Parliament p. 222 A Proclamation for suppressing false Rumours touching Parliaments Mar. 27. 1629. p. 230 MDCXXXVI VII His Majesties Letter to the Judges concerning Ship-money Feb. 2. 1636 7. With their Answer p. 231 232 MDCXL His Majesty's Speech to the Speaker of the Lower House of His Fourth Parliament 1640. p. 166 A Declaration concerning His Fourth Parliament p. 233 His Speech to the Great Council of the Lords at York Septemb. 24. 1640. p. 167 MDCXL XLI Of His Calling His Fifth Parliament See Icon Basil I. p. 647 His Speech at the Opening of His Fifth Parliament Nov. 3. 1640. p. 168 Six Speeches to both Houses Nov. 5. 1640. Jan. 25. Feb. 3. 10. 15. 1640 4. 1. Apr. 28. 1641. p. 168 seqq MDCXLI His Speech to the Lords concerning the Earl of Strafford May 1. 1641. p. 172 His Letter to the Lords May. 11. p. 138 See also Icon Basil II. V. p. 648 654 Two Speeches to both Houses Jun. 22. Jul. 5. 1641. p. 172 173 His Speech to the Scotish Parliament at Edinburgh Aug. 19. 1641. p. 173 Two Speeches to both Houses after His Return out of Scotland Dec. 2. 14. 1641. p. 174 A Petition of the Lower House With a Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom Dec. 1. 1641. p. 241 243 His Majesty's Answer to the Petition p. 254 His Declaration in Answer to the Remonstrance p. 255 The Petition and Protestation of the Bishops Dec. 28. 1641. p. 258 MDCXLI II. Articles of High Treason against the Five Members Jan. 3. 1641 2. p. 259 His Majesties Speech to the Lower House concerning them Jan. 4. 1641 2. p. 175 His Speech to the Londoners at Guild-Hall Jan. 5. 1641 2. p. 175 See also Icon Bafil III. IV. VI. VII p. 650 651 656 658 His Message for Peace from Canterbury Jan. 20. 1641 2. p. 97 His Speeches to the Committees of both Houses at Theobalds Mar. 1. at Newmarket Mar. 9. 1641 2. p. 175 His Message from Huntingdon Mar. 15. 1641 2. p. 97 MDCXLII Two Speeches to the Gentry of Yorkshire April 5. May 12. 1642. p. 177 Of His Majesty's Repulse at Hull See Icon Basil VIII p. 659 The Nineteen Propositions Jun. 2. 1642 p. 260 His Majesty's Answer p. 262 See also Icon Basil XI p. 659 His Majesty's Declaration to the Lords at York Jun. 13. 1642. p. 271 With their promise thereupon p. 272 His Declaration concerning the Scandalous Imputation of His Raising War Jan. 1642. p. 273 With the Declaration and Profession of the Lords p. 276 Of the many Jealousies and Scandals cast upon His Majesty See Icon Basil XV. p. 680 A Proclamation forbidding Levies of Forces Jun. 18. 1642. p. 277 See also Icon Basil IX X. p. 661 665 His Majesty's Speeches to the Inhabitants of Nottinghamshire Jul. 4. of Lincolnshire Jul. 15. of Leicester Jul. 20. and the Gentry of Yorkshire Aug. 4. 1642. p. 178 179 180 Votes for Raising an Army against the King Jul. 12. 1642. p. 279 A Declaration of both Houses for Raising Forces Aug. 8. 1642. p. 280 His Majesty's
Authority of Parliament N. 26. Commissions granted in Parliament to keep the Sea Rot. Parl. 1 H. 6. N. 61. Chancellor Treasurer and Privy Seal appointed by Parliament N. 24. Protector and Defensor Regni appointed by Parliament N. 26. Privy Councellors 2 H. 6. N. 15. Counsels named by Parliament 4 H. 6. N. 19. The Duke by common consent in Parliament appoints a Deputy to keep Berwick Castle 14 H. 6. N. 10. The keeping of the Town of Calice is committed to the Duke of Gloucester by Indenture between him and the King and confirmed in Parliament 31 H. 6. N. 41. Rich. Earl of Salisbury and others are appointed by Parliament to keep the Seas Tunnage and Poundage appointed to them for three years 33 H. 6. N. 27. Discharged 39 H. 6. N. 32. The Duke of York made by Parliament General Stat. 21 Jac. cap. 34. Treasurers and a Council of War appointed by Parliament and an Oath directed to be by them taken The Earl of Essex made Lord Lieutenant of the County of York and Sir Jo. Conyers Lieut. of the Tower upon the desire of the Lords and Commons this Parliament With very many more Precedents which to avoid prolixity are purposely omitted In His Message of April 12. His Message of May 5. Message of May 19. Mr. Alexander Hampden Dan. Kniveton * He. As in the case of the late Earl of Manchester Lord Privy-Seal Mr. Gamul * Bound Mr. Pym. M. Yeomans M. Bourchier of Bristol M. Tompkins M. Chaloner at London and divers others Published in Latine English French See these Messages in the Appendix n. 1. and 2. In the Appendix In the Appendix Together with this inclosed in a Letter from Prince Rupert to the Earl of Essex His Majesty sent a safe Conduct for their Commissioners and their Retinue Prince Rupert's Letter His Majesty's Propositions All their Commissioners were not then come to Vxbridge * The Papers intended are the Propositions concerning Religion which were not then delivered It was on Thursday being Market-day and the first day of the Meeting * The Paper intended is that before of 30. Jan. num 13. The Propositions here intended are those before mentioned on their part sent by the Earl of Denbigh and others to Oxford And the Bill for abolishing Episcopacy is in the Appendix n. 3. * Meaning the next present Paper * This joynt Declaration is already printed But the Articles being not Printed are in the Appendix n. 4. * See before num 31. * The Directory which was delivered in is of great length and the Covenant delivered with it both now Printed and obvious are therefore forborn to be inserted here or in the Appendix * See them in the Appendix n. 5. and 6. * The Alterations intended here and in the third Proposition are according to the Articles of the Treaty at Edenburgh which see in the Appendix n. 4. and the joynt Declaration of both Kingdoms which are That whereas by the Bill the Bishops Lands are mentioned to be given to the King and other Church-Lands for other uses by those Articles and Declarations they may be taken away and imployed to payment and recompence of the Scots and for paying the publick Debts and repairing of particular Losses * That was by Conference See num 59. * These words are in the preamble of the Bill presented by them for abolishing Episcopacy See before in the margin to the Paper num 44. * See that Clause in the Bill in the Appendix n 3. at this mark †* Num. 52. * None were made * None at all were delivered in * See these Papers after n 170. 192 and 193. * The Paper intended is the King's Commissioners Reply to their first Answer 13. Feb. n. 61. * See the Paper 20. Feb. after n. 196 being delivered upon another occasion * See before num 56. * See num 84. * See num 86. 88. * See the Paper intended n. 91. * The precedent Paper * The next precedent Paper * The Paper after n. 128 was delivered with this * See before n. 16. * See the printed Act. * See n. 107. and 109. and n. 105. * See the Papers intended n. 92. 106 * Nu. 111. * See before n. 111 The Admiralty is an office of Inheritance in Scotland and setled by Act of Parliament * Num. 84. * n. 361. * Copies of the Letters and Advices were accordingly delivered In the Appendix See the late Statute concerning the Adventures for Irish Lands * See the Letters and Advices in the Appendix num 9. See all these in the Appendix * Demand * Which were the the two next precedent Papers * The two Papers following n. 171 172. were delivered in before this Paper and the reference is to them others formerly delivered on that Subject * See the Paper 20. Feb. n. 192. touching His Majesties return to Westminster * of * given * It is the sixth of His Majesties Propositions See His Majesties Propositions n. 8. and the Letter from the Earl of Essex n. 9. that their Commissioners should have Instructions to Treat upon them * See their Paper before 11. Feb. num 184. * See their Paper num 63. referring to this * See their last Paper * Manner * protest See them in the Narrative num 136 177 178. * See it in the Narrative num 136. See the Narrative n. 77. num 78. num 80. num 81. num 105. 107. num 106 107 112. num 109. num 110. num 111. num 113. 115. num 116. num 117. num 118. num 119. * These are their words but seem to be mistaken for Our Commissioners always insisted We should name some of them See Our Commissioners Paper touching Our Return to the two Houses after Disbanding of Armies num 191. num 130. Num. 131. See num 132. Num. 130. Num. 136. See these in the Narrative nnm 177 178. Presented Jul. 24. These Propositions are for the most part the same with those at Vxbridge Representation of the Army Jun. 14. 1647. The Propositions being the same with those at Newcastle we have only repeated the heads as we found them This is part of the third in the Propositions 14. To null all Honours conferred since 1642. by the old Seal These Propositions being generally the same with those at Vxbridge Newcastle and Hampton-Court it was thought fit to represent only the Heads Acts xiv 23. Acts vi 6. 1 Cor. xvi 1. 1 Cor. xiv 1 Cor. v. 3. iii Joh. 9 10. 1 Tim. v. 22. Tit. i. 5. Rev. ii iii. 1 Tim. v. 19. Tit. iii. 10. Tit. i. 5 7. Acts xx 17 18. 1 Pet. v. 1 2. * by * Exercit. 8. in Ignat. c. 3. a Act. xvii 14. b 15. c i Thes iii. 1 2. d Act. xviii 5. e Act. xix 22. f Act. xx 4. g ver 5 6. h ver 17. h i Tim. i. 3. i Heb. xiii 23. * Phil. i. 1. Philem. ver 1. Col. i. 1. Heb. xiii 23. ii Tim. iv 6 10. 11 12 16. k Gal. i. 2. l Tit. iii. 12. m ii Cor. ii 12. n ii Cor. v. 6. o ii Cor. viii 6. p ii Tim. iv 10. 1. Reply Sect. 1 2 2. Reply Sect. 3. 4 5. 3. Reply Sect. 6. 4. Reply Sect. 7. 5. Reply Sect. 8. 6. Reply Sect. 9. 7. Reply Sect. 10. 15. 8. Reply 16. 9. Reply 17 18. 10. Reply 19 28. 11. Reply 23 27. 12. Reply 19 c.
Officers to keep them from it seems to imply and the assertion that the two Houses of Parliament had ever disliked and forbidden it declares plainly to be their only meaning but particularly the Violence and Plundering used to His Subjects by forcibly taking away their goods for not submitting to Impositions and Taxes required from them by Orders or Ordinances of one or both Houses of Parliament which are contrary to the known Laws of the Land VI. Besides that there is no consent given to those Alterations and Additions offered by His Majesty whatsoever is pretended so where an absolute Consent may be supposed because the very words of His Majesties Article are wholly preserved yet by reason of the Relation to somewhat going before that is varied by them the sense of those words is wholy varied too as in the Fourth Article that part of the Third Article to which that did refer being wholly left out So that upon the matter all the Propositions made by His Majesty which did not in Terms agree with those presented to Him are utterly rejected For these Reasons and that this Entrance towards a blessed Peace and Accommodation which hath already filled the hearts of the Kingdom with Joy and Hope may be improved to the wished end His Majesty desires that the Committee now sent may speedily have liberty to treat debate and agree upon the Articles of Cessation in which they and all the World shall find that His Majesty is less sollicitous for His own Dignity and Greatness than for His Subjects Ease and Liberty And He doubts not upon such a Debate all differences concerning the Cessation will be easily and speedily agreed upon and the benefit of a Cessation be continued and confirmed to His People by a speedy disbanding of both Armies and a sudden and firm Peace which His Majesty above all things desires If this so reasonable equal and just Desire of His Majesty shall not be yielded unto but the same Articles still insisted upon though His Majesty next to Peace desires a Cessation yet that the not-agreeing upon the one may not destroy the hopes of nor so much as delay the other He is willing however to Treat even without a Cessation if that be not granted upon the Propositions themselves in that order as is agreed upon and desires the Committee here may be enabled to that effect In which Treaty He shall give all His Subjects that satisfaction that if any security to enjoy all the Rights Privileges and Liberties due to them by the Law or that Happiness in Church and State which the best times have seen with such farther acts of Grace as may agree with His Honour Justice and Duty to His Crown and as may not render Him less able to protect His Subjects according to His Oath will satisfie them He is confident in the Mercy of God that no more precious blood of this Nation will be thus miserably spent My Lord and Gentlemen WHereas by your former Instructions you are tied up to a circumstance of Time and are not to proceed unto the Treaty upon the Propositions until the Cessation of Arms be first agreed upon you are now authorized and required as you may perceive by the Votes of both Houses which you shall herewith receive to Treat and debate with His Majesty upon the two first Propositions according to those Instructions for four days after the day of the receit hereof notwithstanding that the Cessation be not agreed upon Your Lordships most humble Servant Manchester Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore March 24. 1642. Received March 25. Die Veneris 24. Martii 1642. Resolved upon the Question by the Lords and Commons in Parliament THat the Committee at Oxon shall have power to Treat and debate with His Majesty upon the two first Propositions according to their Instructions for four days after the day of the receit of this Message notwithstanding that the Cessation is not yet agreed upon Resolved c. That The Committee formerly appointed to prepare the Articles of Cessation and Instructions for the Committee at Oxon shall consider of an Answer to be made to His Majesties Message this day received and likewise prepare Reasons to be sent to the Committee for them to press in the Treaty and debate upon the former Articles of Cessation and to shew His Majesty the grounds why the Houses cannot depart from those former Articles Joh. Brown Cler. Parliamentorum The Votes of both Houses and the Copy of the Answer to His MAJESTY received Martii 25. 1642. May it please Your Majesty WE Your Loyal Subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament having received a Message from Your Majesty in which You are pleased to express Your Self not to be satisfied with the Articles of Cessation presented unto You by our Committee now attending You at Oxford and yet a signification of Your Majesties willingness to Treat upon the Propositions themselves even without a Cessation do with all humbleness give our consent that our Committee shall have power to treat and debate with Your Majesty upon the two first Propositions according to their Instructions for four days after the day of the receit of this Message notwithstanding that the Cessation be not yet agreed upon that as much as in us lies here may be no delay in the proceedings for the obtaining of a blessed Peace and the healing up the miserable Breaches of this distracted Kingdom and do purpose to represent very speedily unto Your Majesty those just Reasons and grounds upon which we have found it necessary to desire of Your Majesty a Cessation so qualified as that is whereby we hope You will receive such satisfaction as that You will be pleased to assent unto it and being obtained we assure our selves it will be most effectual to the Safety of the Kingdom and that Peace which with so much zeal and loyal affection to Your Royal Person and in a deep sense of the bleeding condition of this poor Kingdom we humbly beg of Your Majesty's Justice and Goodness Joh. Brown Cler. Parl. A Letter from the E. of Manchester to the E. of Northumberland Received Mar. 29. MY Lord I am commanded by the Peers in Parliament to send unto your Lordship the Reasons which both Houses think fit to offer unto His Majesty in pursuit of their adhering to their former Resolutions concerning the Articles of the Cessation of Arms. My Lord you shall likewise receive additional Instructions from both Houses and a Vote which I send you here inclosed My Lord this is all I have in command as Your Lordships most humble Servant Manchester Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore Mar. 27. Die Lunae 27 Martii 1643. Resolved upon the Question by the Lords in Parliament THat the Earl of Northumberland their Committee at Oxford is hereby authorized to acquaint His Majesty with all their Instructions upon the two first Propositions Jo. Brown Cler. Parl. Additional Instructions March 29. Additional Instructions
agreed upon by the Lords and Commons in Parliament for Algernon Earl of Northumberland William Viscount Say and Seal William Pierrepont Esque Sir William Armyne Bar. Sir John Holland Bar. and Bulstrode Whitelocke Esq Committees attending His Majesty upon the Cessation and Treaty YOu shall alter the words mentioned in his Majesty's third Article in this manner leaving out the words The Army raised by the Parliament and putting in these words The Army raised by both Houses of Parliament You shall humbly present to His Majesty the Reasons herewithal sent from both Houses for their not assenting to those Alterations and Additions to the Articles of Cessation offered by His Majesty You shall press the force of those Reasons or any other as there shall be occasion in the best manner you may to procure His Majesties assent to those Articles of Cessation which if you shall obtain within two days after the day of the receit hereof you shall in the name of both Houses of Parliament agree and conclude upon the Cessation to continue to the end of twenty days to be reckoned from the twenty fifth of March and upon a day certain as soon as may be when the same shall first begin and be of force within which time notice is to be given as well by His Majesty as by the Lords and Commons to the several Generals Commanders and Souldiers respectively to observe the same Cessation as it is qualified and limited in those Articles And after such conclusion made you shall take care that those Articles be past under the Great Seal in a fitting and effectual manner and speedily sent up to the Lords and Commons in Parliament with four Duplicates of the same at least If His Majesty shall please to agree upon the two Propositions concerning His own Revenues Towns Forts Magazines and Ships and the disbanding of the Armies you are then authorized fully to agree and conclude upon those Propositions according to your Instructions and you shall desire His Majesty that the same may be forthwith put in execution according to the Instructions formerly given in that behalf and the two Houses will be ready to put in execution what is to be performed on their part of which you have hereby power to assure His Majesty And if His Majesty shall not be pleased to agree upon those two Propositions within the time of four days you shall then speedily give advertisement to the two Houses of Parliament that thereupon they may give such further direction as to them shall seem fit Josh Brown Cler. Parliamentorum Reasons for the Committee Martii 27. 1643. To the Kings most Excellent Majesty THe Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled do with all humble thankfulness acknowledge Your Majesty's Favour in the speedy admission of their Committee to Your Royal Presence and the expedition of Your Exceptions to their Articles that so they might more speedily endeavour to give Your Majesty satisfaction and although they were ready to agree to the Articles of Cessation in such manner as they exprest in their Preface they cannot agree to the Alteration and Addition offered by Your Majesty without great prejudice to the Cause and danger to the Kingdom whose Cause it is The reasons whereof will plainly appear in the Answer to the particulars prest by Your Majesty I. They do deny that they have restrained any Trade but to some few of those places where Your Majesty's Forces are inquartered and even now in the heat of War do permit the Carriers to go into all the parts of the Kingdom with all sorts of Commodities for the use of the Subjects except Arms Ammunition Mony and Bullion But if they should grant such a free Trade as Your Majesty desired to Oxford and other places where Your Forces remain it would be very difficult if not impossible to keep Arms Ammunition Mony and Bullion from passing into Your Majesty's Army without very strict and frequent Searches which would make it so troublesome chargeable and dangerous to the Subjects that the question being but for twenty days for so few places the Mischiefs and Inconveniences to the whole Kingdom would be far greater than any Advantage which that small number of Your Subjects whom it concerns can have by it The case then is much otherwise than is exprest by Your Majesty's Answer for whereas they are charged not to give the least admission of this liberty and freedom of Trade during the Cessation the truth is that they do grant it as fully to the benefit of the Subject even in time of War and that Your Majesty in pressing this for the Peoples good doth therein desire that which will be very little beneficial to the Subjects but exceeding advantagious to Your Majesty in supplying Your Army with many necessaries and making Your Quarters a staple for such Commodities as may be vented in the adjacent Counties and so draw Mony thither whereby the Inhabitants will be better enabled by Loans and Contributions to support Your Majesty's Army And as Your Majesty's Army may receive much Advantage and the other Army much Danger if such freedom should be granted to those places so there is no probability that the Army raised by the Lords and Commons shall have any return of Commodities and other Supplies from thence which may be useful for them And they conceive that in a Treaty for a Cessation those demands cannot be thought reasonable which are not indifferent that is equally advantagious to both parties As they have given no interruption to the Trade of the Kingdom but in relation to the supply of the contrary Army which the reason of War requires so they beseech Your Majesty to consider whether Your Souldiers have not robbed the Carriers in several parts where there hath been no such reason and Your Ships taken many Ships to the great damage not only of particular Merchants but of the whole Kingdom and whether Your Majesty have not declared Your own purpose and endeavoured by Your Ministers of State to embarque the Merchants goods in Forein parts which hath been in some measure executed upon the East-land Merchants in Denmark and is a course which will much diminish the Wealth of the Kingdom violate the Law of Nations make other Princes Arbiters of the Differences betwixt Your Majesty and Your People break off the intercourse betwixt this and other States and like to bring us into quarrels and dissentions with all the neighbour-Nations II. To demand the approving of the Commanders of the Ships is to desire the strength of one party to the other before the difference be ended and against all Rules of Treaty To make a Cessation at Sea would leave the Kingdom naked to those Forein Forces which they have great cause to believe have been sollicited against them and the Ports open for such supplies of Arms and Ammunition as shall be brought from beyond the Seas But for conveying any number of Forces by those means from one part to another they