that govern'd themselves by other Maxims than the rest of the World I remember I answer'd that the Caution was good and that I would arm my self the best I could but that it was hard to secure our selves from malicious men when we were absolutely in their power I took the best Information I could from Sir Allen Apsley and resolved with him to go into London before I went to the King or the Army that I might be enlighten'd by the most able men of our Party which I did and collected this following Discourse from them During the time his Majesty was at Newcastle the Independent Party was so prevalent in the House of Commons that the Presbyterians were forced to consent to have the King render'd by the Scots to the Parliament and his Majesty was accordingly deliver'd by them to the English Committee and a Guard of English set upon him of the Presbyterian party and no passionate Enemies of his Majesty The Presbyterian party that was very numerous in the House of Commons and over-voted the other in most Questions had engaged themselves privately by some of their Chiefs to the Scots in two points first that the Army should be disbanded and then the King brought to his Parliament with Honour and Safety The disbanding was gone about very seriously by the Parliament and a Committee whereof the Earl of VVarwick was the chief chosen and accordingly sent to Newmarket or Saffron-walden where the Army then lay Many of the Army professed really their Obedience to the Parliament as to the disbanding but none more solemnly than Cromwel who made great Execrations against himself in the House if he did not desire it cordially He had always professed great Submission to the Parliament who had very liberally rewarded him for his Service and was hopeful to have begotten so great a confidence in them that they would have been contented to entertain the Army as their Pretorian Band and therefore was very sorry to see the House bent to license them but durst not appear against it because he had many Ill-willers in the Army and did believe they durst not or would not unanimously oppose the Parliament in that particular and therefore refused to go to the Army tho he was sent for often by the mutinous Party who upon that score were not a little offended with him and at length their Discontents increasing seeing themselves deserted by their Superior Officers thought of some means to secure themselves from their Ungrateful Parliament which they began now perfectly to hate and thereupon chose to themselves Adjutators in every Regiment and in every Troop of Horse by whom they engaged themselves to be absolutely concluded The first Resolution these new-elected Officers took was not to disband and the next to seize the King's Person Cromwel staid very long in London for one that had been the Author of that Design however he at last stole out of Town and joined with the Mutineers but did not so readily concur in the seizing the King's Person or at least pretended not to do it For he sent his Kinsman VVhalley with Orders to use all means but Force to cause his Majesty to return to Holmby but his Majesty absolutely refusing VVhalley marched with his Majesty towards the Army This Account I had from the most discerning of my Acquaintance in London from whence I went to the Head-Quarters at Reading with intention after I had deliver'd my Message to desire leave to wait on his Majesty at Causum I was no sooner arriv'd at Reading but I spoke with Sir Edward Ford and Mr. John Denham Both of them were much of the same Advice with those I had discoursed at London concerning the present Power of the Adjutators by whom the most important Affairs of the Kingdom and Army were transacted By them I learnt that His Majesty came very unwillingly from Holmby that his Majesty would not go to the Army tho he were earnestly invited by the Officers that his Majesty against the Consent of the Army concurr'd with the Vote of the Parliament to go to Richmond where he would have been out of the Army's power and would not be perswaded out of his Resolution till the Army forced the Parliament to recal their Vote Then his Majesty would needs go to Windsor much against the sense of the Army but because they could not perswade his Majesty they forced him from thence by ill usage and that the rather because he would not be intreated to pass by the Army in his way to VVindsor In sum they doubted that his Majesty hearkned to some secret Propositions of the Presbyterians and bent all his thoughts to make an absolute Breach between the Army and the Parliament which Ireton discerned and told his Majesty plainly Sir you have an intention to be the Arbitrator between the Parliament and us and we mean to be it between your Majesty and the Parliament Two or three hours after my arrival Cromwel sent an Officer to excuse him to me that he could not wait on me till ten at night by reason he was sitting with the Committee of Parliament and should not rise till then He came then accompanied with Rainsborough and Sir Hardress VValler After general discourse I told him the sum of my Instructions from the Queen and Prince which were to assure them that her Majesty and his Highness were not partial to the Presbyterians nor any way averse to them that I should endeavor to incline his Majesty to comply with them as far as would stand with his Honor and Conscience and to dispose them to press his Majesty no farther His answer was in these words That whatever the World might judg of them they would be found no seekers of themselves farther than to have leave to live as Subjects ought to do and to preserve their Consciences that they thought no men could enjoy their Lives and Estates quietly without the King had his Rights which they had declared in general terms already to the World and would more particularly very speedily wherein they would comprise the several Interests of the Royal Presbyterian and Independent Parties as far as they were consisting with each other which I understood afterwards to be meant of the Proposals of the Army I went the next day to the General by Cromwel's direction to ask his leave to see the King which he was pleased to grant I deliver'd my Letters and Instructions to his Majesty I found that his Majesty discover'd not only to me but to every one he was pleased to converse with a total Diffidence of all the Army except Huntington and grounded it chiefly upon the Officers backwardness to treat of receiving any Favour or Advantage from his Majesty I was of his Majesty's sense that men whose hands were yet hot with the blood of his most faithful Subjects ought not entirely to be trusted but thought they ought absolutely to be well dissembled with whilst his Majesty was in their hands at least
the Army which was the most powerful tho they had a strong party there also but the major part of the Adjutators carried it Amongst these Adjutators there were many ill-wishers of Cromwel looking on him as one who would always make his advantages out of the Army These observed that Cromwel resolved to prosecute his ambitious Ends through all means whatsoever and did not only dissemble but really change his way to those Ends and when he thought the Parliament would make his Fortune resign'd himself totally to them even to the disbanding of the Army before it was paid When the Presbyterians prevailed he took the Covenant When he quitted the Parliament his chief dependence was on the Army which he endeavour'd by all means to keep in Unity and if he could not bring it to his sense rather than suffer any division went over himself and carried his Friends with him into that way the Army did chuse and that faster than any in it Upon this ground when the Army was for the Parliament no man so violent as he in both When the Army became for the King against the Parliament no man drove so furiously as he and when the Army changed a third time for the Parliament and against the King he was still the Leader and if the Army shall change a fourth time to become Levellers tho he will oppose this at first as he did all other Changes no man shall out-go him in Levelling All that he seems to desire is that the Army would be constant in any way that he might not be necessitated to the playing of so many different parts he being equally indifferent to all that will afford him equal Advantages When I came to Reading I found many of the Adjutators jealous that Cromwel was not sincere for the King and desired me if I found him false to their Engagement that I would let them know it and they did not doubt to set him right either with or against his will But in all my Conferences with him I found no man in appearance so zealous for a speedy Blow as he sometimes wishing that the King was more frank and would not tie himself so strictly to narrow Maxims sometimes complaining of his Son Ireton's slowness in perfecting the Proposals and his not accommodating more to his Majesty's sense always doubting that the Army would not preserve their good inclinations for the King I met with him about three days after I came to Reading as he was coming from the King then at Causum He told me that he had lately seen the tenderest sight that ever his eyes beheld which was the Interview between the King and his Children and wept plentifully at the remembrance of it saying That never man was so abused as he in his sinister opinions of the King who he thought was the uprightest and most conscientious of his three Kingdoms that they of the Independent Party as they were called had infinite Obligations to him for not consenting to the Scots Propositions at Newcastle which would have totally ruined them and which his Majesty's Interest seemed to invite him to and concluded with me by wishing that God would be pleased to look upon him according to the sincerity of his heart towards his Majesty I immediately acquainted his Majesty with this Passage who seemed not well edified with it an did believe that all proceeded out of the use Cromwel and the Army had of his Majesty without whom he thought they could do nothing and this I conceive was inculcated daily by Bampfield and Loe at first and afterwards by the Lord Lauderdale who had frequent Accesses to his Majesty from the Scots the Presbyterians and the City of London who knew there was nothing so fatal to them as a Conjunction between the King and the Army Out of all my Observations I drew these Conclusions which I prosecuted to the best of my power That his Majesty was concerned to come to a speedy issue with the Army that he might either agree with them or discover that they intended not to agree with him and in that case that his Majesty should secure his Escape and in the mean time that his Majesty should not give them the least colour of exception to his Actions that seeing the Officers were more easily fixed to his Majesty by a visible prospect of their Interest in case of a Conjunction I took the least pains with them and applied my self to Peters and the Adjutators who sway'd their Officers more than their Officers commanded them and it was more hard to satisfy them being many in point of Interest than their Officers who were few About ten days after my arrival at the Army the Contentions grew high and hot between them and the Presbyterian Party in the House which was the major part by much and the City of London the one contending to have the Parliament purged of corrupt Members and the other to have the Army removed farther from the City This caused the Army's March from Reading to Bedford and consequently his Majesty's Remove with his wonted Guard from Causum to Woborn a House of the Earl of Bedford where I procured his Majesty a sight of the Army's Proposals six or eight days before they were offer'd to him in publick His Majesty was much displeased with them in general saying that if they had a mind to close with him they would never impose so hard terms upon him I replied That I should suspect them more than I did if they had demanded less that they did not intend really to serve his Majesty but only to abuse him since it was not likely that men who had through so great Dangers and Difficulties acquir'd so great Advantages should ever sit down with less than was contained in the Proposals and on the other side never was a Crown so near lost so cheaply recover'd as his Majesty's would be if they agreed upon such terms His Majesty was of another advice and returned That they could not subsist without him and therefore he did not doubt but that he should see them very shortly be glad to condescend farther and then objected to three particular points of the Proposals The first was The Exception of seven not named from Pardon The second the excluding his Party from being eligible in the next ensuing Parliament And the third That tho there was nothing against the Church-Government establish'd yet there was nothing done to assert it To these I replied That after his Majesty and the Army were accorded it would be no impossible work to make them remit in the first point and if he could not when his Majesty was reinstated in his Throne he might easily supply seven persons beyond the Seas in such sort as to make their Banishment supportable to them To the second That the next Parliament would be necessitated to lay great burdens upon the Kingdom and it would be a happiness to the King's Party to have no Voice in them To the third
we supposed best affected to us that they were of opinion the Army should be drawn to a Rendezvouz and their endeavours used to engage them once more to adhere to the Proposals As soon as the tumultuous part of the Army had notice of it they resolved before the day of the Rendezvouz to seize the King's Person I had been now about three weeks removed from the King and about a fortnight after me Mr. Ashburnham Mr. Leg still remained with his Majesty and waited in his Bed-chamber About eight or ten days before the time appointed for the drawing together of the Army Mr. Ashburnham invited me from London and Mr. Leg from Hampton Court to dine with him on a Sunday at Ditton being the other side of the Water They were both there long before me and I a good while before dinner But just as Dinner was ready to come in they took me aside in the room and told me that his Majesty was really afraid of his Life by the tumultuous part of the Army and was resolv'd to make his escape and that they had order from his Majesty to command me in his name to wait on his Majesty in his intended Escape I replied It was a great honor and accompanied with not a little danger but withal it was new to me and therefore nothing occur'd to my thoughts at present but two things the first was that I thought it absolutely necessary that Mr. Ashburnham who kept the King's mony should immediately employ his Servant Dutton who was well acquainted with the Coast to provide three or four Ships in several Ports to be ready in all events the second that I also might receive his Majesty's commands immediately from himself To the first they seemed to concur but nothing was ever done in it which to this day amazes me The other was effected and I went the Tuesday night after to Hampton Court privately being introduced a back way by Mr. Leg. The King told me he was afraid of his Life and that he would have me assist in person in his escape I asked which way his Majesty would go his Majesty replied that both Mr. Ashburnham who was present and I should know that by Will. Leg. The Monday before Mr. Ashburnham and I went to the Head-Quarters to desire Passes to return beyond the Seas and by the way back he told me that the Scots had much tampering with the King but could come to no Agreement that they would fain have his Majesty out of the Army and to that end had much augmented his just fears and therefore ask'd me what I thought of his Majesty's coming privately to London and appearing in the House of Lords I replied Very ill because the Army were absolutely masters both of the City and Parliament and would undoubtedly seize his Majesty and if there should be but two Swords drawn in the scuffle they would accuse his Majesty of beginning a new War and proceed with him accordingly He then ask'd me what I thought of the Isle of Wight I replied better than of London tho I knew nothing of it nor who was Governor He replied that he had had some communication with the Governor of late and conceived good hopes of him but had no assurance from him I then ask'd him Why his Majesty would not make his Retreat secure by quitting the Kingdom He replied not for two Reasons the first was the Rendevouz would be a week after and his Majesty was not willing to quit the Army before that were passed because if the Superior Officers prevailed they would be able to make good their publick Engagement if they were overtopped they must apply themselves to the King for their own security The second was that the Scots were in Treaty with the King and well nigh a Conclusion which they would never come to but out of their desires to separate the King and the Army that if the King went before they would hold him to impossible Conditions and therefore his Majesty was resolved to conclude with them first In which advice Mr. Ashburnham was most positive and told me often that the World would laugh at us if we quitted the Army before we had agreed with the Scots and let them replied I so his Majesty be secure On the Wednesday as I take it we had Orders to send spare Horses to Sutton in Hampshire a place where I never had been and the Thursday after his Majesty with Will. Leg came out at the closing of the evening and immediately went towards Oatlands and so through the Forest where his Majesty was our Guide but lost our way tho he were well acquainted with it the night being excessively dark and stormy When his Majesty fat first out he discoursed long with Mr. Ashburnham and at last called me to him and complained very much of the Scots Commissioners who were the first that presented his Dangers to him and offer'd him Expedients for his escape but when he came to make use of those they had offer'd they were fullest of Objections saying that his coming into London was desperate his hiding in England chimerical and his escape to Jersey prevented because my Ship was discovered which particular my Lord Lanerick affirmed The King thereupon ask'd me if I had ever a Ship ready I answered that I neither had not could have any having not one penny of mony that I had desir'd Mr. Ashburnham earnestly to make provision but knew not what he had done in it The King then ask'd me what I thought might be the reason they should say I had one and that discovered if I had none I replied It was hard for me to affirm what was their meaning in that particular or in general in their proceeding with his Majesty but I did conjecture they were very desirous to have his Majesty out of the Army which made them present his Dangers to him so frequently as they had done and in the next place they desired that his Majesty should put himself again into their hands but wanted confidence or believ'd it would be ineffectual to move it directly to his Majesty because they had given so ill an account when he was last with them and therefore they objected against their own Expedients of coming into London and obscuring himself in England And because they could find no other against his going to Jersey they pretended that I had a Ship discovered believing perhaps that I was totally separated from his Majesty and so should not have had any occasion to contradict it and by this means his Majesty being excluded all other means of escape should have been necessitated to make use of Scotland His Majesty laid his hand upon my shoulder and said I think thou art in the right and believed it afterward more confidently than I did I then ask'd his Majesty which way he would go His Majesty replied that he hoped to be at Sutton three hours before day and that while our Horses were making ready we
MEMOIRS OF Sir John Berkley Containing an ACCOUNT Of his NEGOTIATION WITH Lieutenant General CROMWEL Commissary General IRETON And other Officers of the Army For Restoring King CHARLES the First to the Exercise of the Government of England LONDON Printed by J. Darby in Bartholomew-Close for A. Baldwin in Warwicklane MDCXCIX MEMOIRS OF Sir JOHN BERKLEY IN the Year 1647 her Majesty and his Highness the Prince of Wales were pleased to send me into Holland to condole the Death of the Prince of Orange and having performed that Office I returned with Mr. John and Mr. William Ashburnham to France by the way of Calais where we met with the News of his Majesty's being seized by one Cornet Joyce in Holmby House from whence he was carried with a Guard of 400 Horse towards the Army the Cornet producing no Authority whereby to warrant this proceeding The next Post brought us Advertisement to Calais that his Majesty was well received by the Officers and Soldiers of the Army and that there were great hopes conceived that they would both concur to establish his Majesty in his just Rights From Calais we went to Rouen where we met a Confirmation of this Intelligence and heard withal that one Sir Edward Ford who was Brother-in-law to Commissary General Ireton was sent by her Majesty and his Highness the Prince of Wales into England to discover the Intentions of the Army and to promote an Agreement between his Majesty and them From Rouen we went to St. Germains where we were no sooner arrived but we heard that Mr. Denham who during his Imprisonment had contracted a great Familiarity with Mr. Peters a Preacher and a powerful person in the Army was dispatch'd with a Commission to the like effect with that of Sir Edward Ford. As I was going up to her Majesty I met accidentally with my Lord Culpepper who scarce had saluted me before he told me that I must prepare my self immediately for another Journey her Majesty being resolved to send me into England after Sir Edward Ford and Mr. Denham I answer'd that I had no Pass nor any Acquaintance with any one of the Army and that I doubted if the King's Party should come too thick upon them at first those of the Army would be jealous they should have too many Sharers in the Places and Preferments they might perhaps meditate to procure and preserve to themselves His Lordship replied That if I were afraid to go into England her Majesty and his Highness would serve themselves of some other person because they conceived it necessary to employ some to the Army that might be supposed to have greater Trust both with the Queen in France and with the King in England than either Sir Edward Ford or Mr. Denham had I return'd That if after a serious consideration it should be judged of use to dispatch me into England I would adventure tho I had not the honour to be very well known to his Majesty and therefore could not expect any great Trust from him To that part his Lordship replied That there was an Intention to send Mr. John Ashburnham after me but that he would not go without a Pass and therefore that I should have it added to my Instructions to procure him one Within few days after I had my Dispatch and went by the way of Dieppe where I met with Mr. William Leg of the Bed-chamber to his Majesty He embarked with me for England we arriv'd at Hastings and from thence went the next day towards London Two miles on this side Tunbridg I met with Sir Allen Apsley who had been my Lieutenant-Governor of Exeter and afterwards Governor of Barnstaple in the County of Devon He told me that he was going to me from Cromwel and some other Officers of the Army with Letters and a Cypher and Instructions which were to this effect That he should desire me to remember that in some Conferences with Colonel Lambert and other Officers of the Army upon the rendring of Exeter I had taken notice of the Army 's bitter inveighing against the King's person as if he had been the worst of men and their excessive extolling the Parliament both which being without any colour of ground I had concluded that those Discourses were not out of any perswasion of mind but affected to prepare men to receive the Alteration of Government they intended the Parliament should effect by the assistance of the Army which I had said was not only a most wicked but a very difficult if not an impossible Design for a few men not of the greatest Quality to introduce a Popular Government against the King and his Party against the Presbyterians against the Nobility and Gentry against the Laws establish'd both Ecclesiastical and Civil and against the whole Genius of the Nation that had been accustomed for so many Ages to a Monarchical Government Whereas on the other side if they would but consider that those of their Party had no particular obligations to the Crown as many of the Presbyterians had and therefore ought less to despair of his Majesty's Grace and Favour that the Presbyter began this War upon specious pretences of making the King a glorious King that under that pretext they had deceived many well-meaning men and had brought great things to pass but that now the Mask was taken off and they discovered to have sought their own Advantages and at the same time the Power almost wrested out of their hands to do themselves much good or others hurt and that by the Independent Party who could establish themselves no way under Heaven so justly and prudently as by making good what the Presbyterians had only pretended that is restoring King and People to their just and antient Rights which would so ingratiate them with both that they would voluntarily invest them with as much Trust and Power as Subjects are capable of Whereas if they grasped more it would be with the general hatred and their own destruction To this Discourse of mine they only gave a Hearing but no Consent as proceeding from an Interest much divided from theirs but since they have found by experience all or the most part to be so reasonable that they were resolved to put it in practice as I might perceive by what had already pass'd they desired for the present nothing of me but that I would present them humbly to the Queen and Prince and be Suitor to them in their Names not to condemn them absolutely but to suspend their Opinions of them and their Pretensions towards his Majesty and judg them rather by their future Behaviour of the innocence whereof they had already given some Testimonies to the World and would do more and more daily When I should have done this Office they desired I would come over into England and become an Eye-witness of their Proceedings I thought this Rencounter no ill Omen to my future Proceedings Sir Allen Apsley told me I should have to do with subtil men
would consider what course to take But what by the length and illness of the way the darkness of the night and going at least ten miles out of our way it was day-break when we came to our Inn at Sutton where our Servant came out to us and told us there was a Committee of the County sitting about the Parliaments business His Majesty thereupon sent for our Horses out and we continued our way towards Southampton and his Majesty resolved that we four should walk down the next hill with our Horses in our hands and as we walked consult what we were to do Then I inquir'd if Mr. Ashburnham had gotten a Ship and finding he had not I proposed going farther West where I was sure I had some Friends would favour our escape and here again I found the two reasons prevail of not leaving the Army before the Rendevouz was passed and the Treaty with the Scots finished His Majesty resolved and that the first time for ought I could then discover to go for the Isle of VVight whither he order'd Mr. Ashburnham and me to go with these Instructions by word of mouth to the Governor Hammond and return to his Majesty who went with Will. Leg to a house of my Lord Southampton at Titchfield that we should carry him a Copy of the Letter his Majesty left behind him at Hampton Court and of two Letters sent to him one from Cromwel the other without a name Cromwels and the other Letter contained great apprehension and fears of the ill intentions of the Levelling party in the Army and City against his Majesty and that from Cromwel added that in prosecution thereof a new Guard was the next day to be put upon his Majesty of that party His Majesty's Letter contain'd his distrust of the disorderly part of the Army and his necessity thereupon of providing for his own safety which he would so do as not to desert the Interest of the Army that in order thereunto we should let the Governor know that of all the Army his Majesty had made choice of him to put himself upon as a person of a good Extraction and one that tho he had been enagaged against him in the War yet it had been prosecuted by him without any animosity to his Person to which he had been informed he had no aversion only his Majesty that he might not surprize him thought fit to send us before to advertise him and to desire his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 protect his Majesty and his Servants to the best of his power and if it should happen that he might not be able to do it then the Governor should 〈◊〉 himself to leave us in as good a condition as he found us that is suffer us to make our escape With these Instructions we parted but before I had gone ten yards I return'd to his Majesty and said I had no knowledg of the Governor and therefore could not tell whether he might not detain us in the Island and therefore advis'd his Majesty if we came not to him by the next day that his Majesty should think no more of us but secure his own escape His Majesty thank'd me for the Caution and pursued his way and Mr. Ashburnham and I ours The first thing we resolved was that since his Majesty went towards the East side of the Island that we would go on the West to a place called Limington where Mr. Ashburnham told me there was a short passage over By the way I ask'd Mr. Ashburnham if he had any acquaintance with Hammond the Governor He replied not very much yet he had lately had some discourse with him upon the High-way near Kingston and found him not very averse to his Majesty but that which made him conceive the best hopes of him was the Character Mr. Denham and the Commendations my Lady Isabella Thynn gave of him We came to Limington that night but could not pass by reason of a violent Storm that blew The next morning we got over and had then eight miles to the Castle of Carisbroke where the Governor dwelt We came thither after ten in the morning and found the Governor was newly gone out towards Newport When we overtook him Mr. Ashburnham desir'd me to open the matter to him which he would afterwards second himself After I had saluted him I took him aside and deliver'd our message to him word for word But he grew so pale and fell into such a trembling that I did really believe he would have fallen off his Horse which trembling continu'd with him at least an hour after in which he broke out into passionate and distracted Expressions sometimes saying O Gentlemen you have undone me by bringing the King into the Island if at least you have brought him and if you have not pray let him not come for what between my Duty to his Majesty and my Gratitude for this fresh obligation of Confidence and my observing my Trust to the Army I shall be confounded otherwhile he would talk to a quite contrary purpose I remember to settle him the better I said That God be thanked there was no harm done that his Majesty intended a Favour to him and his Posterity in giving him an occasion to lay a great obligation upon him and such as was very consisting with his relation to the Army who had so solemnly engaged themselves to his Majesty but if he thought otherwise his Majesty would be far from imposing his Person upon him To that he replied That then if his Majesty should come to any mischance what would the Army and Kingdom say to him that had refused to receive him To this I replied That he did not refuse him who was not come to him He returned That he must needs know where his Majesty was because he knew where we were I told him he was never the nearer for my part He then began a little to sweeten and to wish that his Majesty would have reposed himself absolutely upon him because it would have been much the better for both I then went to Mr. Ashburnham and told him that this Governor was not a man for our purpose and that for my part I would never give my consent that his Majesty should trust him Mr. Ashburnham acknowledg'd that he did not like him yet on the other side he much feared what would become of his Majesty if he should be discovered before he had made his point and made appear what his intention was for then he would be accused of what his Enemies pleased to lay upon him I replied That if we returned not that night his Majesty would be gone to Sea I perceived Mr. Ashburnham liked not that so well and therefore took the Governor to task apart and after some Conference they came both to me and the Governor said that since we desired it he would say that because he believed his Majesty had made choice of him as a person of Honour and Honesty to lay this great Trust upon
opposite to the King in which Peters was instrumental He acknowledg'd as he had formerly done upon the like occasion that the Glories of the World had so dazled his eyes that he could not discern clearly the great Works the Lord was doing that he was resolved to humble himself and desire the Prayers of the Saints that God would be pleased to forgive him his Self-seeking These Arts together with comfortable Messages to the Prisoners that they should be of good cheer for no harm should befal them since it had pleased God to open his eyes perfected his Reconciliation and he was reinstated in the Fellowship of the Faithful I then ask'd this Gentleman whether I should not endeavour to deliver my Letters from the King to Cromwel and Ireton he replied by all means lest they should mistrust I had discovered them As soon as I came to my Lodging I dispatch'd my Cousin Harry Berkley to the Isle of Wight with two Letters the one containing a general Relation and doubtful Judgment of things in the Army which I intended should be shewn to the Governor the other was in Cypher wherein I gave a particular account of this Conference naming the Person and concluding with a most passionate Supplication to his Majesty to meditate nothing but his immediate Escape The next morning I sent Colonel Cook to Cromwel to let him know that I had Letters and Instructions to him from the King He sent me word by the same Messenger that he durst not see me it being very dangerous to us both and bid me be assured that he would serve his Majesty as long as he could do it without his own ruin but desired that I would not expect that he should perish for his sake As soon as I had this answer I took horse for London with this resolution not to acquaint any man with the intentions of the Army nor of his Majesty's intendded escape which I presumed would be within few days the Wind serving and the Queen having sent a ship to that purpose and pressed it earnestly by her letters The next day after my arrival at London I had a letter from my Lord Lanerick and Lord Lauderdale desiring a meeting with me as presuming I had a Commission to treat with them from his Majesty At our meeting they wondred to find the contrary In my discourse with them I happen'd to say The last words his Majesty said to me at parting were that whatever I should undertake to any person in his name his Majesty would make it good in the word of a King My Lord Lanerick thereupon replied that he would ask no more Commission for me believing it to be true both because I affirmed it and because he had received the like from his Majesty upon the like occasion Our first conference was interrupted through my Lord Lauderdale's vehement indignation against the Letter of Mr. Ashburnham to the Speaker wherein he had this passage That he would not expose his Honor to the discretion of either Scot or Adjutator This Letter was written by Mr. Ashburnham before I left the Island upon the occasion of Whalleys complaint to the House of Commons that Mr. Ashburnham had broken his Engagement with him at his first coming to Woburn wherein he undertook that the King should not leave the Army without his Knowledg and Consent Dr. Sheldon Dr. Hammond Mr. Leg and I objected hard against this Expression but Mr. Ashburnham lik'd it so well that we could not make him depart from it On the Friday after we had another meeting wherein we discoursed our selves well towards an Agreement and resolved on Monday following to conclude one way or other The next day being Saturday I had a Letter from Mr. Ashburnham requiring me in his Majesty's name to lay by all other business whatsoever and return instantly to his Majesty I sent therefore my Excuse to my Lords Lanerick and Lauderdale and went that night out of Town which they took very ill tho they had no reason for it for I would as willingly have excused my Journy as they as believing it was only to assist in his Majesty's Escape for I had more than once observ'd that tho Mr. Ashburnham were willing enough to appropriate Employments of Honor and Profit yet he was contented to communicate those of Danger with his Friends The next morning I was with his Majesty who received me more graciously than ordinary and told me that he had always a good opinion of my Honesty and Discretion but was never so much confirmed in it as by my dispatch from VVindsor for which his Majesty thank'd me After I had return'd my Acknowledgments for his Majesty's Favor I ask'd if his Majesty approved the Advice so well why did he not follow it Why was he still in the Island where he could not long promise himself the Liberty he now had since there were Forces design'd both by Sea and Land to secure his Person His Majesty replied that he would have a care of that time enough and that he was to conclude with the Scots before he left the Kingdom because from their desire to have him out of the Armies hands they would take reason whereas if he went before they would never treat with him but upon their own terms and in this opinion Mr. Ashburnham fully concurred with his Majesty Against this I argued the best I could and when I saw it was in vain I desired his Majesty would dispatch this Treaty for his condition would admit no delays His Majesty then order'd me to withdraw with Mr. Ashburnham Dr. Sheldon Dr. Hammond and Mr. Leg to see how far his Majesty had gone in a Treaty with the Scots This Treaty had bin managed in London by Dr. Gough who in the Queens name conjured his Majesty to make his speedy escape in all his Letters and in his own name beseech'd his Majesty not to insist upon nice terms in this present exigence of his affairs But Mr. Ashburnham refined much upon several expressions of the Articles that concerned the Covenant and Church of England of which he was a great Professor and made many replies and alterations and moved Messenger to be sent after Messenger about it and at last insisted that the King would send for the Scots Commissioners to come to him The next day I fell sick what with my late journying and what with my vexation at this slow way of proceeding The day following I went to his Majesty and as soon as I could be admitted spoke to him in these words Sir if you make no more hast than you do I doubt you will not be able to secure your Escape and therefore I humbly beseech your Majesty to make two Papers or Draughts the one containing the utmost extent of what your Majesty will give the Scots and sign it and at the same time send another containing the least you will receive of them and let the Scots sign and deliver that to Dr. Gough at the
same time that he shall deliver your Majesty's Concessions to them and provide instantly for your Safety About the middle of this discourse with the King Mr. Ashburnham came in and when I had ended very graciously smiling said That this Proposition was good if it were practicable which it was not for tho the Scots should agree to the Substance of all the Articles yet they and all men else would have their several senses concerning the expressions which must be satisfied or no Agreement made and therefore concluded that the Scots were to be sent for To this I replied that Mr. Ashburnham had much reason ordinarily speaking for what he objected but his Majesty's danger made this a very extraordinary Case His reasons carried it clear and Sir William Flemming or Mr. Mungo Murray for they both went and came by turns was sent to invite the Scots Commissioners to come to his Majesty The next day after his departure in the evening the King called me to him and told me I think you are a Prophet for the Scots Commissioners at London have sent an Express desiring me to do the same thing in effect you had moved but that it was now too late for they would be come away before another Express could be gone out of the Island towards them I replied that our concurrence was accidental for I had not the least Intelligence with the Scots Commissioners but when I saw there was no remedy I applied my self to what was next the best I could And God knows there was work enough for abler men than any of us were for at the same time the Scots were coming to the King there were also Commissioners sent by the Parliament to his Majesty with offers of a Treaty upon condition that his Majesty as a pledg of his future sincerity would grant four Preliminary Bills which they had brought ready drawn to his Majesty's hands The first contained the Revocation of all Proclamations and Declarations against the Parliament wherein his Majesty made himself expresly the Author of the War The Second was against the Lords that had bin lately made by his Majesty that they should have no Seat or Vote in Parliament and that his Majesty nor his Successors should make none for the future without consent of Parliament which was to take away the most unquestion'd flower of his Crown his being the sole fountain of Honor. The third was a Bill of exceptions from pardon that included almost all of his Majesty's Subjects that had any considerable Estates The fourth was an Act for the Militia which embraced ten times more power than the Crown ever executed for the two Houses raising men and money arbitrarily which was no more nor less than dethroning of the King and enslaving the People by a Law and in effect to give the King only the leave to discourse whose the Glass Windows should be Nevertheless the Title and Frontispiece of this vast Design was so modest that many well-wishing persons were induced to believe that by all means his Majesty ought to pass those Bills for many reasons but especially because his Enemies would deliver his Majesty to the World as obstinate to his own and the Kingdoms ruin if he should not accept this offer To avoid both the inconveniencies of granting or refusing I drew an Answer of the Treaty before it began that if they would needs think it expedient to require so great Hostages from his Majesty they would not be backward to give some token to his Majesty of their reality and then desired that at the same time his Majesty should pass these four Bills the Houses would pass four of his Majesty's drawing which were all most popular and such as they durst not pass nor well deny at least if they did they could with no colour of justice accuse his Majesty for not granting what was most unjust and most unpopular The first was a Bill for payment of the Army which contained their disbanding as soon as they were paid The second a period to the present Parliament The third for restoring the King Queen and Royal Family to their Revenues The fourth the settling of the Church-Government without any coercive Power and in the mean time till such a Government were agreed on the old to stand without coercive Authority I shew'd this Answer first to Mr. Leg then to Dr. Hammond and Dr. Sheldon who seemed to approve of the Expedient and desir'd Mr. Ashburnham would acquaint the King with it But I never heard any thing from his Majesty and I was resolved never to have it obtruded lest I should appear fond of my own Conceptions By his Majesty's directions an Answer was drawn that gave a full Denial which was in my judgment very well pen'd But I thought good penning did not signify much at that time and therefore made this Objection It is very possible that upon his Majesty's giving an absolute Negative the Commissioners may have Orders to enjoin the Governor to look more strictly to his Person and so his intended Escape would be prevented His Majesty replied immediately That he had thought of a Remedy which was to deliver his Answer seal'd to the Commissioners and so left us I could not hold from letting Mr. Ashburnham find my sense of this sorry Expedient by saying that the Commissioners would either open the Answer or conclude that in effect it was a Denial and proceed accordingly but all was in vain Some few days after the English Commissioners arrived and delivered their Message and desired an Answer within three or four days The next day the Lords Lowdon Lanerick Lauderdale Chiesly and others Commissioners for the Kingdom of Scotland deliver'd a Protestation to the King subscribed by them against the Message as not according with their Covenant From that time they began to treat seriously with his Majesty but would not permit that either Mr. Ashburnham or I should assist at the Treaty for which I forgive them with all my heart for it would have bin very insecure for us to have had any communication with them at that time At last they came to such a conclusion as they could get not such a one as they desired from the King but much short of it which gave an advantage to the Lord Argyle and the Clergy-Party in Scotland to oppose it as not satisfactory and by that means retarded the proceeding of Duke Hamilton and that Army four Months which was consequently the ruin of Laughern in VVales and of the Forces in Kent and Essex and of the Scots Army also which consisted of twenty four thousand men all which Forces were the result of the Treaty which appears to me if it had been sooner dispatch'd to have bin one of the most prudent Acts of his Majesty's Reign however unprosperous When the time was come that the King was to deliver his Answer his Majesty sent for the English Commissioners and before he delivered his Answer ask'd my Lord Denbigh who was