them and at length march Northward against their Brethren Nor durst the English Presbyterians who favoured the Scots say much to the contrary lest they should seem more concerned for the insolence of a foreign Nation than the honour of their Country-men At length after long Debates the Scots pretending that it was contrary to the Laws of Nations and Hospitality to deliver up the King who of his own accord put himself under their protection into the hands of the Parliamentarians our Republican Rebels on the other hand urging in the name of the Parliament That the Scots serving and receiving pay in England ought not to have received the King into their Army and much less keep him there against the will of the Parliament but after some formal previous Treaties that might serve to enhaunce the price it was resolved that the King should be delivered up to the Parliamentarian-Rebels And that they might have a specious colour for so horrid an action They urge the King to take the Covenant pretending that without that they could not lawfully take him with them into Scotland The King promises to take that Oath provided he were satisfied in some scruples of Conscience concerning Church-government which Province was committed to the Minister Heuderson the then Oracle of the Kirk who weakly and unsuccessfully attempted it for in their disputes the King in the judgment of all had the better on 't but money prevailed The Scots having received an hundred thousand pounds English in ready money and the promise of an hundred thousand more to be paid within a year draw out of England leaving the King to the mercy of the Parliament but with this condition That no injury should be offered to his Majesties person and that he might be received in one of his houses in or about London with honour safety and freedom that so he might be prevailed with by Arguments from both Nations to confirm and approve their Propositions The King being received at Newcastle by the Parliament-Commissioners four Lords and eight Commoners was with a guard of Souldiers conducted to Holmeby house in Northamptonshire where he suffered a splendid indeed but close imprisonment all who had either actually been or suspected to be of his Party being removed from him nay and his domestick Chaplains also whose assistance he had often desired of the Parliament The Conquerours now in striving for the Booty and Government did no longer dissemble their opinions but divide themselves into various Sects and Names which hitherto we called by the common name of Factious or Rebels but shall now divide them into their several Classes and Forms as likewise shewing by what cunning and degrees they who got into power advanced to the Supremacy Which that we may the more clearly do it will not be amiss to look into some past Ages It is not to be denied but that the seeds of Faction were sow'd in England from the very beginning of the Reformation Nor are the Roman Catholicks to be proud of this since they have given the examples to others by subjecting the Crowns and Scepters of Kings to the Mitre of the Pope and Keys of St. Peter and are no less dangerous to Kings whom they have pulled from their Thrones and exposed to the Daggers of Assassinates From that time some but in no great number are for shaking off Rome in every thing and not leaving the least monument of the ancient Church-government or Liturgie But the greater number and those the wiser thinking it enough to retrench what was superfluous and superstitious are for retaining Episcopal government and a publick reformed Liturgie the one because it suited well with Monarchical government and civil interest of the State and the other because it seemed pious and adapted to the publick Worship of God Both these as being consonant to primitive Constitutions Kings and Parliaments wisely to prevent the inconveniencies that happen from skipping from one extreme to another thought fit to establish by Laws and to inflict severe Penalties upon Dissenters This at first gave ground to heart-burnings afterwards to reasonings about the matter and the licentious humour of disputing prevailing to more bitter Controversies so that at length as it usually happens amongst Brethren who differ in points of Religion they fell to Contentions and invective Disputations the common enemy egging them on on both sides And thus the Quarrel being managed with mutual hatred and animosity the Anti-Episcopal Party or the Jesuits in their name defame the established Church with Reproaches and scandalous Libels which forced from the Bishops and Ecclesiastical Courts Suspensions Deprivations Imprisonments and Banishments But that severity though executed according to the prescript of Law drew hatred upon the Prelates and made the Anti-Episcoparians to be pitied and the rather that they seemed to suffer for Conscience-sake and the purity of Gospel-worship being otherwise in appearance men of strict lives and conversations zealous Preachers fervent in Prayer ready to do pious Offices and in a word in all things else very good men And this made many Towns Noblemen and Gentlemen take them into protection make very much of them and at length joyns with them in opinion and conspire together against the Hierarchy or Church-government Who despairing to procure the abolition of it from the Kings they hope to compass it by Parliament and therefore they endeavour to lessen the Royal Authority by magnifying a Parliamentary power wherein being assisted by all the other Sects of Fanaticks the seditious and turbulent off-scourings of Christians and Subjects they begin to make a distinction betwixt and divide the Royal Prerogative from the Liberty of the People two things that are very consistent together that laying hold on that pretext they might set up for publick-spirited men and be thought the Patriots of the Nation Having by this means at length raised their Authority amongst the common People so as to be chosen Members of Parliament they set all their Engines at work for accomplishing their intended Project there is nothing in their mouths but the Rights of the People Priviledges of Parliament and the publick Liberty they lay open to the quick the faults of the Magistrates and Courtiers in scandalous Pamphlets they inveigh against Episcopacy and the established government of the Church censure the Manners and Pluralities of Church-men they expose the administration of publick government and make it their care and study in all things to weaken the Kings Power and lessen his Reputation To these their cunning contrivances a commodious occasion happened Whilst in the Reign of King James Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhyne the Kings Son-in-law having been engaged in the German War was with his whole Family by the Imperial Forces driven out of his Territories To defend the Cause of the Protestant Religion which seemed to be in danger and to restore this banished Prince so nearly allied to the King
in a War with his Subjects of England they were taken and at the Kings-bench-bar tried for High-Treason Macquire being found guilty by a Jury had sentence pronounced against him according to the Laws of the Country That he should be dragged to Tyburn in a Hurdle hang'd by the neck till he be half dead his privy Members and Bowels burnt before his face his Head cut off and set upon London-bridge and his Quarters upon four Gates of the City This Sentence was punctually executed in the presence of the Sheriff of London and fifteen thousand Spectators at least Nor is it to be omitted that the Sheriff having adjured Macquire by the dreadful Tribunal of God before which shortly he was to appear and the clearing and easing of his Conscience which was then or never to be done that he would ingenuously confess whom he knew to be guilty of the same Crime though the Rope was about his neck and he half up the Ladder yet by name he acquitted King Charles from being any ways privy to it solemnly professing that he knew no English-man but one and he a Papist that had any hand in the matter Nay and being cast off the Ladder and when after he had tried what hanging was he was a little reprieved and had no small hopes given him of a pardon he still persisted in the same protestation But in the Pulpits Clubs and publick Pamphlets the Crime was charged upon King Charles nor did the Rebels blush to asperse even the sacred and innocent Majesty of the King with so heinous a guilt hoping that whilst they continued so boldly to vent their Calumnies and Slanders against him some of them at least would stick The Irish Nobility and Priests who were the chief Actors in this Tragedy were encouraged to the Villany by the late successes of the Scots who to speak in the language of Sir John Temple a Privy-Counsellor of that Kingdom who wrote the History of those Troubles having happily succeeded in their attempts obtained by their last Commotions considerable Priviledges from the King To this adde that our intestine Troubles seemed to offer fair opportunity of changes it being very rational and easie to conjecture that the English being ready to fall together by the ears at home there was no fear that they would cross over to Ireland to defend and assist their Colonies in that Kingdom Their boldness was increased by the Interregnum occasioned by the murder of Strafford and the change of the Magistrates of whom the severer and best acquainted with the State of that Kingdom were by the interest of the Irish Lords whilst they prosecuted Strafford in England either turned out of place or accused of High-Treason men who were either ignorant of the Affairs and State of Ireland or who were prone to Rebellion being put into their places Being thus in a readiness the unseasonable disbanding of an Army of eight thousand Irish who had been raised for the Scottish expedition did not a little strengthen their resolution for though the King after the pacification of the Scots lest they might occasion Stirs in Ireland had permitted the Spanish Embassadour to transport four thousand of them yet the Irish Lords put on by the Conspirators got the Parliament under pretext that the French King might take it ill earnestly to beseech that it might not be done And afterwards when the King had ordered the same number to be raised for the service of the French without any reasons alleadged they utterly rejected it Very few of the Captains and Officers of that Army dishonoured themselves by joyning in the Rebellion but the private Souldiers whose custom it is to be insolent and at length appear valiant when they are about to be dismissed from the dangers of War easily rushed into that Villany The Lords and Priests being soothed with these so many fair opportunities of fishing in troubled waters that they might weaken our Colonies divide and distract their thoughts and in the mean time incense the Natives to slaughter and rapine they cast about all ways To the English they brag That the Queen is in their Army that the King was coming with an Army to their assistance that the Scots were agreed with him and to make that the more credible amongst the slaughter of the English they spare the Scots They give out that they have the Kings Commission and act by virtue of his authority shewing indeed a counterfeit Commission to which one Plunket with the consent of many Lords and Priests at Farn-Abbey had appended the Kings Seal taken from another old Commission as appeared by the confessions of a great many afterwards That they defend the King's Cause against the Puritans Amongst their own men they divulge counterfeit Letters whereby they pretend to be informed from England That there was an Act lately past whereby all the Irish were to be forced to go to Church and assist at the Devotion of the Protestants upon pain of forfeiture for the first offence of their Chattels for the second of their Lands and Inheritances and for the third of their Lives They propose besides to the Natives the hopes of Liberty and of recovering their ancient Customs That the English Yoke is to be cast off a King to be chosen of their own Nation and the Goods and Estates of the English to be divided amongst the Natives By this hope of booty and of living at their own liberty for the future the Irish are allured to the War and being egg'd on with fury and rage they committed such horrid and heynous Crimes as hardly any Age can parallel The King foresaw the Storm a coming whilst he was in Scotland and therefore that he might prevent it whilst it was a gathering he presently dispatched Sir James Hamilton to the Lords and others of his Majesties Privy-Council of Ireland with instructions and what money he could raise of his own and from his friends on the sudden He earnestly desires the assistance of the Parliament of Scotland and acquaints the Parliament of England with it also But the one under pretext that Ireland was under the dominion of England refuse their assistance and the other takes but little notice of it The Factious tacitly rejoycing that new Troubles were arising to the King and that Kingly government being abolished alike in all the three Kingdoms they would shortly be turned into so many free Commonwealths But the Sparks breaking out into a flame and the report of the Irish barbarity being in every bodies mouth the Parliament was enraged and all were filled with an extraordinary zeal of revenging the bloud of their Country-men treacherously killed and of defending and protecting the surviving For the charges of a War in a short time three hundred thousand pound English was raised partly by benevolent Contributions and partly out of the price of the Lands and Inheritances of the Rebels which by the Parliament were sold to be
and scornfully raze out of their Journal as an Act unworthy of Parliament New Orders in place of the former pass in this House of Commons whereby they invade the Government by Votes which before they had snatched by Arms. They first vote That all Power resides in the People Secondly That that Power belongs to the Peoples Representatives meaning themselves in the House of Commons Thirdly That the Votes of the Commons have the force of a Law without the consent of the King or House of Lords a plain Horatian Law that what the lowest Order of the People enacteth binds the whole body of them Fourthly That to take Arms and make War against the Representatives of the People or the Parliament is High-Treason Fifthly That the King himself took up Arms against the Parliament and that therefore he is guilty of all the bloud shed in this Civil War that so they might seem to excuse themselves of the Villany and ought by his own bloud to expiate it These were the Preludes to that most horrid and abominable Villany I tremble to mention it which it behoved them to bring about by degrees for trusting now to their great power which indeed was as great as they thought fit to take to themselves they had the boldness to erect a new Tribunal of most abject wretches against the King to which they give the name of the High Court of Justice thinking that its name might procure it reverence In this Mock-Court they appoint an hundred and fifty Judges that they might in number at least represent the people the most factious Sticklers of the whole Faction to whom they give power of arraigning trying judging and condemning Charles Stuart King of England In the number of these they appoint six Earls out of the House of Lords and the Judges also of the Kingdom lately chosen by themselves But the greater part consist of the Commanders of the Army who first conspired the murder of the King and the Members of the House of Commons who were the most inveterate enemies to Monarchy The rest were Rascals raked out of the Kennel of London or the Neighbourhood Amongst these some were Coblers Brewers Silversmiths and other Mechanicks the greater part were Bankrupt Spend-thrifts Debauchees and Whoremasters who nevertheless by the Disciples of the Sect were called Saints Nay there was none of them but did expect impunity for his cheating the Publick Sacriledge Bribery and other enormous Crimes or did hope to glut his Avarice with the Kings Revenue Houses Furniture or gainful places to be conferred upon him for so bold an attempt or in a word that was not drawn in and allured up to the horrid fact by the tamperings threats and promises of Cromwel Ireton and the other Commanders of the Army In the mean time there was hardly any regard had to the Lords and it was commonly believed that being now terrified by so many and so great dangers they would of their own accords absent from the House except four or five that were slaves to that Republican Faction The Rebels thought that the authority of these was sufficient to confirm any attempt whatsoever as they had already oftener than once experienced Nor indeed were their hopes altogether frustrated However when the matter came to the push their luck proved somewhat worse than they expected for a few Lords used daily to come to the House but that day when the Bill for trying the King was to be brought to the Lords House for their consent unexpectedly seventeen Lords were present who all not excepting those who favoured the Republicans not onely deny their consent but cast the Bill over the Bar as destructive and contrary to Law This inraged the Oligarchick Rebels and put them upon thoughts of revenge taking it hainously that so publick an affront and disgrace had been put upon them However at present they thought it enough to dash all the Lords out of the number of the Kings Judges By and by also the Judges of the Kingdom were struck out of that black List because being privately asked their opinions in that affair though through the interest of this Faction they had been lately by authority of Parliament raised to their places they had answered That it was against the known and received Laws and Customs of England to bring the King to a Tryal For a President of this Court who might match it in fame and reputation they pitch upon one John Bradshaw a base-born broken Pettifogger a fellow of a brazen forehead and an insolent and sawcy tongue who a little before was of no value amongst those of his own Gang. One Cooke they make Attorney-General a fellow of the same stamp poor guilty as was reported of Polygamy who had plaid a thousand tricks and cheats to get Bread and now was ready to do any villany in hopes of profit They privately consult for some days about the matter and form of the Arraignment or the manner of perpetrating the Villany where in drawing the Kings Indictment one Dorislaus a Doctor of the Laws a German who was either banished or had fled his Country took the greatest pains In the mean time all the Presbyterian Ministers of London in a manner and more out of several Counties yea and some out of the Independents also declare against the thing in their Sermons from the Pulpit in Conferences monitory Letters Petitions Protestations and publick Remonstrances They earnestly beg That contrary to so many dreadful Imprecations and Oaths contrary to publick and private Faith confirmed by Declarations and Promises contrary to the Law of Nations the Word of God and sacred Rules of Religion nay and contrary to the welfare of the State they would not defile their own hands and the Kingdom with Royal Bloud The Scots by their Commissioners protest against it The Embassadours of the States General of the Vnited Provinces if they faithfully perform'd their Masters Orders intercede Some English Noblemen to wit the Earl of Southampton the Duke of Richmond the Marquess of Hertford and Earl of Lyndsey c. do what lies in their power they neither spare prayers nor money offer themselves as Hostages or if the Republicans demanded it their lives as being onely guilty if the King had offended in any thing The people whisper their rage for that was all they could now do hardly restraining their unarmed fury Our present King then Prince CHARLES used all means to assist his Father in this danger Besides the Embassadours of the States General whom he had procured to be sent he daily dispatched Agents as well from the Prince of Orange as himself and such as were Relations Kinsmen and Friends to Cromwel Ireton and the rest of the Conspirators who being warranted with full power might by prayers promises threats or what arguments they judged fit either disswade them from that unparallel'd Barbarity or at least for
The Democratical Republicans stirring in Arms are routed Solemn Thanksgivings appointed for the Victory and the Conquerours feasted by the Londoners MDCL The Lady Elizabeth Daughter of Charles the Martyr dies in her Fathers Prison FINIS A short HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE Rise and Progress OF THE Late Troubles IN ENGLAND AND ALSO Of the KING's Miraculous Escape after the Battel at Worcester The Second Part. NOW are the Cruel Regicides Masters of England but of England alone The Scots were in suspence not being as yet fully resolved whether they should settle Charles the Second in his Fathers Throne or usurping the Soveraignty should Govern Scotland as a Common-wealth themselves Ireland almost entirely for the King was ready utterly to shake off the Yoke of the Mock Parliament The Islands belonging to England not only the adjacent as Jersey Man and Silly but the more remote also in America to wit Bermudos the Caribbe Islands Virginia and New-England upon the Continent which had been heretofore planted with English Colonies refuse to obey the Usurpers Ireland was to be the first Seat of War shortly to be subdued whilst the Scots were for some time left to themselves They think it enough at present to discharge all Trading with the Islands and Plantations that no Sugar Indico Tobacco and Cotton should be from thence imported into England nor any Cloaths and other necessary Provisions for Life be transported from England thither hoping by this Fetch that either being glutted with their own Commodities or at least pinched through the want of ours they would be forced to comply Nor was it doubted but some time or other as occasion offered they would bring them under the Yoke Now there was one thing mainly necessary for their future Designs which as they were pleased to flatter themselves was easie to be obtained The Friendship and Alliance of no Nation nor People seemed more commodious and necessary to them than that of the Dutch both in respect of Neighbourhood and Situation of the Country and of the Humour and Inclination of the People nor did they want a pretext of making application to them For Strikland who from the beginning of the Troubles had been Ambassadour or Envoy with the States of the Vnited Provinces being kindly treated by them They thought fit to send over Dorislaus who had had a chief hand in framing the Kings Indictment as their Ambassadour to Complement and Thank them in their Name assure them of mutual good Offices justifie to them by Reasons their Proceedings against the King and to colour the Villany by the specious Authority of what Laws he could scrape together Besides he had it in Instructions if he found it convenient to let fall some mention of a Coalition or Conjunction and to offer and press it seeing if it could be effected by the Consent of both Nations they might laugh at all Designs and Attempts of Foreigners and share betwixt themselves the Trade of the whole World But that Negotiation proved unsuccessful the Prince of Orange being Stat-holder and the People detested the Murder of the King Some Scots also who though at a distance had speedy notice of his Arrival entering his Lodgings before he had had Audience with many Wounds killed Dorislaus and made their escape before they could be apprehended Thus the shedding of Royal Blood is punished by Bloody hands and by the just Judgment of God whatever may be the Injustice of Men the Crime is brought home to the Author The Regicides often demanded of the States Reparation for the Fact but without any success But the Democratical Party in England managing things now somewhat more cautiously laid not aside their discontents Walwin Prince Lilburn Overton and others of that Gang prefer a Petition to the Rump Parliament wherein they propose many good things which might be useful to the Publick mingling with them Reproaches that were not altogether false For which they were committed to Prison there to lye by it till the fierceness of their tempers were allayed Nevertheless the private Souldiers of Ingoldsby's Regiment grow Seditious at Oxford under pretence of Petitioning That the Rump-Parliament might be dissolved a lawful Representative chosen in place of it that the Laws might be rendered into the vulgar Language and those that were superfluous abolished that there might be a Register kept of all Mens Lands and Estates that every one might know what Title they had to what they possessed that the Excise and all unlawful Exactions might be abolished To which they added over and above to increase their Party not that they repented for the Kings Murder that Charles the Second might be chief Magistrate of the Kingdom But the Collonel hastening thither and having caused some few to be shot to death by a timely remedy stifled the Tumult in the Birth Yet from these Embers a new Flame broke out for some Officers in Fairfax his Army present a smarter Petition to the same purpose though in different words To the former they add That the Tithes being abolished or converted to another use the Ministers might have more certain Stipends that the publick Money might be more sparingly distributed amongst the Parliament Men and that the Souldiers should have their pay The Rump-Parliament durst not slight this but gives them good words and being conscious to themselves how often they by Declarations had promised and how many times they had been reproached with unfaithfulness and breach of Promise they set apart a day weekly for deliberating about these Proposals First Concerning the Government and Representative where having examined and considered the Nature of all States and Republicks from that of Rome even to Ragusa they pretend to search out a kind of Government which might be best and most suitable for England But they could find none that was exquisit enough nor that seemed adapted to the Genius of this People And so like Penelope weaving and unweaving their Web they put off the time until the matter might be forgotten or something of greater moment intervene I know not whether it be worth the while here to mention the Prohibition made by the French at that time of any Trade with us in Wollen and Linen Manufacture which drew from the Regicides a reciprocal Prohibition that no Wine nor Silk Stuffs should from thence be Imported into England It was likewise to our advantage Ordered in Flanders that no Ships nor Goods taken by Privateers should be Condemned or Sold in their Harbours But it is worth taking notice of that a severer Inquisition was appointed against the Ministers all England over under pretext of Reforming the Church and introducing the Orthodox Religion and all were cruelly persecuted not only they who stuck close to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England but even they who wished well to it or had any Conversation with Men of
the future as occasion did present Windram being sent into Scotland the Kings Answer is kindly received and joyful hopes of concord begin to shine out over the whole Nation The Kings Majesty in the mean time writes to Montross to whom he had formerly given a Commission to invade Scotland acquainting him with what the Scots had done what answer he had sent to them and that a Treaty was to be held at Breda for settling a Peace That he nevertheless should go on in levying Souldiers that he might with as many men as possibly he could make be ready in Scotland at the time that the Scots began their Treaty For so he doubted not but that they would insist upon easier terms when they perceived him in a readiness to revenge by Arms the injuries that might be offered to him Now his Majesty thought it fit to leave Jersey both because he had intelligence that the Rump-Parliament were preparing a Fleet for invading the Island and also that all things necessary might be in readiness against the time of the following Treaty In the mean time the convention of the Estates of Scotland consult about Proposals and the chusing of Commissioners to be sent to the King Where the Ministers forgetting all Modesty and Justice propose Conditions extreamly rigid difficult and impossible for qualifying and mitigating which the Lay-men bestir themselves and at length they ioyntly agree upon this That the Commissioners be the Earls of Cassils and Louthian the Lord Burleigh and Laird of Liberton Smith and Jeffreys to represent the Laity and Brodie Lawson and Wood the Clergy That the Proposals should be these That a Proclamation should be issued out prohibiting all Excommunicated Persons to come to Court That the King should bind himself by his Royal Promise under Hand and Seal to take the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant of the three Kingdoms That he should besides ratifie all Acts of Parliament whereby the League and Covenant Presbyterian Government the Directory of Worship Confession of Faith and Catechism are enjoyned and that he should use the same in his own Family and not suffer them to be innovated or abolished by any Moreover that in all Civil Affairs he should govern according to the direction of Parliament and in Ecclesiasticals according to that of the Assembly of the Kirk These Proposals are after a Sermon were delivered by the Earl of Cassils at Breda The King asking if they had any more to say They answer Nothing and after if they were obliged by any engagement to be revenged on the Regicides They answer By none Whil'st his Majesty was consulting about these other Commissioners come to wit Murrey and the Earl of Carnwath with some few additions to the former Proposals as that His Majesty would forbid Montross and his Followers to enter the Kingdom and by his assent confirm the last Acts of Parliament And now it is time to relate the misfortune of Montross He being honoured with the Kings Commission uses all his endeavours amongst the Sweeds Danes Poles Germans and all the Northern Nations that being furnished and assisted with Men Money Arms and Provisions he might pass over into Scotland And without delay having for haste left behind King with a Body of Horse in Sweden who designed to follow him and Ogilbey also in Holland to gather the disbanded Souldiers of the Prince of Oranges Army who misapplied the Money designed for that purpose with fifteen hundred Arms furnished by the Queen of Sweden fuor Ships of which two were cast away upon the Rocks and four hundred raw Souldiers raised in a hurry he arrives at the Isles of Orkney and there having ioyned about a thousand of the Islanders most part Fishermen he set Sail and landed at the Wick of Cathness chearfully reflecting upon what he had done before and full of hopes that he should in a short time get together a considerable Army by the concourse of those who had heretofore been for the King But alas that hope deceived Montross The Nation was now of another mind being tired out and broken with the Wars their dangers over inclinable to Peace and restrained by the severities of the Covenanters The whole Country was in Arms so soon as they heard of his arrival The Parliament happened at that time to be sitting and not without the King's Command and had seven or eight thousand men under the Command of Lesly The Clans chose rather to have a Peace from any Masters than an uncertain one though more favourable and to enjoy with security rather an incommodious rest than with the danger of Fortune to endeavour a change by stirs Nay many who were even ready to lay down their lives for the King having now at length capitulated with the Parliament and promised obedience and submission think they cannot act contrary without a Crime Nevertheless he takes Dumbeath Castle with a resolute mind advances farther and expecting that the Earl of Seaforth would joyn him with two thousand Men whom he had raised for the King He hastens to possess himself of a narrow and difficult pass which being taken would facilitate their Conjunction But Straughan met him upon his march who was sent before by Lesly with three hundred choice Horse that he might watch his motion beat up his Quarters withstand his Progress intercept Men and Provisions that might be sent to his Camp and if a fair occasion offered not only Skirmish with him but put it to the hazzard of a Battel This Man perceiving them to be out of order weary and only Foot in an open and plain Champion falls suddenly in upon them and tries the fortune of War and with that success that the Souldiers of the Isles at once throwing away both their Arms and Courage betake themselves to flight The Germans in the mean time defending themselves until getting leave to depart they sailed over Seas All the Baggage was taken by Straughan and the Standard bearing the Figure of a Head cut off with this Motto Judica vindica causam Domine Judge and avenge the Cause O Lord. Montross fled and having changed his Cloaths with a certain High-lander for three or four days he lurked accompanied only with one Servant till being weakned and spent with Hunger and Fasting he trusted himself with the Laird of Aston who although he had formerly served under him yet having changed his Faith with his Fortune betrayed him to Leslie for a reward of two thousand pounds The Lord Freuderick Colonel Hurrie Francis Haye of Dalgetty another Haye of Naughton Sibbald Grey Spotswood and others were likewise taken by Straughan But Montross is made a subject of triumph when he was come within a Mile of Edinburrough is ordered to be bound by the Hangman in a Chair and planted backwards in a Cart that he might be seen of all the Executioner riding with his Cap on upon
difficulty also the Fleet under the command of the Earl of Warwick is divided but all this still without any fighting There was much skirmishing indeed on both sides by Apologies and Manifesto's but after that the King in the judgment of most men had got the better on 't at the Pen at length they come to try the matter by Armies and the Sword It was easie for the Parliament to raise an Army in London a City abounding with swarms of seditious and restless men where so many Arms so great quantity of Provision and Ammunition so much Money and so many thousand pieces of Ordnance were ready at hand Where by the publick Declarations of so many specious Causes for which it might seem even honourable to die and the plausible Motto's in their Colours they inflamed the minds of the deluded Rabble more than with the sound of the Trumpet or Drum pretending forsooth That they took Arms for the defence of the Kings Person and to remove evil Counsellors from him for maintaining the Priviledges of Parliament and the preservation of the Reformed Religion for asserting the Laws and ancient Government of England nay and for securing their Religion Lives and Estates and therefore inviting all to their assistance By which Artifices the Preachers being bewitched who were desirous of a change in the Church-government and somewhat tickled with the hopes which the Rebels had roundly promised that the Livings of the Loyal Clergy and the fat Benefices of the Bishops Deans and Chapters would fall to their share in the Dividend they sound the Trumpet to Rebellion from the Pulpit from whence they ought to have preached the Gospel of Peace The People upon this spurred on with other hopes of a future Golden Age and of the temporal reign of the Messias comes flocking from all quarters the men bringing a vast quantity of Money and Plate and the women their Wedding-Rings Thimbles and Bodkins and without any regard to their Families by a strange kind of a phrenzy casting them into the publick Stock or Treasury The men strove who should be first to list themselves in this holy War whence in a short time there was an Army of about twenty thousand men got together before the King had levied five hundred for his defence and they also having more Cannon than he had Muskets in his possession For raising Pay for their Army besides the profuse Contributions and Benevolences of the People they seize the Goods of the Nobility and Gentry whom they knew to be of the Kings Party they fall also upon the Revenues of the Bishops Prince Queen and of the King himself by way of sequestration so that the Kings Majesty was forced to complain That they had not left him enough to live on And now they thought there was no more to be done but to march and seize the person of the King who was overcome and in a manner taken in a toyl which they doubted not to promise themselves to be done within the space of a month But the Will of God was otherwise for the Juggles of the Rebels had not so blinded the understanding of the English but that most part of the Lords and Peers of the Vpper House and almost an equal number of the Lower who for Estates and Quality far exceeded the rest went over to the Kings Party Many also of those who tarried at London favoured the Royal Cause in secret and in all Counties of the Kingdom there were many Gentlemen and common people that stood for the interest of the King By the assistance of these and the Royal Authority which like the Sun in an eclipse drew together a crowd of Spectators and by a certain pity and commiseration of some men who were ashamed to behold the Head of the Kingdom depressed into such a condition as to be forced to flie from the Imperial City to York from York to Nottingham from Nottingham into Shropshire and the borders of Wales after he had wandered up and down above four months long and in vain imploring the help and assistance of his Subjects the King at length got together a kind of a small Army which afterwards increased to greater Forces the people the more readily flocking to the King because with him they thought the Government must stand or fall Many of the Nobility and Gentry also brought what Forces they could to the Kings Party amongst whom not to rob any of the Honour due to them the Loyalty and Interest of the two Marquesses of Hertford and Newcastle was eminently conspicuous of whom the first brought with him a considerable Body of Dutch and the other almost at his own charge raised no inconsiderable Army in the North the Queen also sending over Moneys and Arms which by pawning her Jewels she had raised for which dutiful office to her Husband the Rebels accuse her of Treason Whilst these Clouds overcast the Sky at home a dismal Tempest thunders from abroad upon the heads of the English which because it was of no small moment as to our affairs that I may not wholly pass by in silence the Reader must cross the Sea with me into Ireland The Irish who always bore impatiently the Yoke of the English Government out of a natural aversion heightened by the emulation of different Religions watched for an opportunity to shake off the one and to assert the other I mean the Roman Catholick Religion did now attempt the Enterprize which long before they had formed in their minds For the whole Nation of a sudden and which was strange by a clandestine and concealed Conspiracy fell upon the English scattered over Ireland who were secure and expected no such thing turn them out of house and hold and without distinction of Age or Sex without respect to Affinity or Relation barbarously butcher many thousands like so many humane Sacrifices to their Superstition And had not the Conspiracy been detected at Dublin and in other places the more cautious running to Arms had not withstood their fury the English name was in a fair way of being totally extinguished in Ireland The good luck was that the very day before the intended Insurrection the mystery of the Plot was discovered at Dublin by an Irish Footman belonging to Sir John Clotwaithie who having refused to act the part that was put upon him in the Conspiracy opened the whole Intrigue to his Master who presently informed the Privy-Council of it Though many of the Conspirators fled yet two of the chief Incendiaries and Promoters of the Rebellion who had also undertaken to surprize Dublin-Castle I mean the Lord Macquire and Macmahon were apprehended Being committed to Prison they were afterwards conveyed to London where having long suffered the incommodities of a Prison that we may at once make an end of them they made their escape but being by another Irish-man betrayed in the absence of the King who was then inevitably engaged
after the Victory that the goodness of the Cause made them not doubt of distributed amongst the Purchasers and many thousand English listed themselves for the service Nevertheless such was the misery of this Nation that that which is wont to procure some short Peace at least amongst those who are at greatest variance served onely to inflame our Broils On the one hand they who were altogether given to changes buzzing I know not what fears and jealousies into the ears of those who were but too prone to make the worst of things obtain in Parliament that the War be not carried on in the name of the King nor that any Souldier who had shew'd his Loyalty to the King or had served in the Scottish Expedition should be admitted into this War And for managing the War they also prefer factious men and such as were ungrateful to the King On the other hand the King intended to lead the Army against the Rebels in person urging and insisting That he might use the right and power of War which the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom entrusted him with The King at length desiring to overcome his Competitors by courtesie and yielding if he could not by power and strength consents that the War be carried on in his own and the Parliaments name and that the Commissions should run in the name of the King and Parliament granting the Parliament the power of levying and arming the Army and of chusing the Generals and Commanders and the King reserving to himself no liberty of making Peace or pardoning the Rebels without the consent of Parliament Yet neither so did the swellings of the Parliament abate for not long after the Civil War breaking out in England the Parliament make use of an hundred thousand pound raised for the Irish War and two or three Regiments of men that were to be sent over for suppressing that Rebellion for oppressing of the King here at home Nay and they make no scruple to employ the money that was charitably collected for the relief of the poor distressed Protestants and for building of Churches in paying their own Souldiers On the other side the King's Souldiers seize the Ammunition sent by the Parliament towards Chester which so soon as they gave it out that it was designed for the War in Ireland the King commanded to be restored The Parliament that by putting indignities upon the King they might raise their own Reputation alleadging some silly slight suspicions are not ashamed to impute the Irish Rebellion to the King as the Author of it But as the truth was his Majesty retorts the crime and infamy of it with far better reasons upon the factious Members of Parliament Yet these things hinder not but that our Auxiliary forces bâ—at the Irish Rebels and put them to flight in all places kill plunder burn and destroy many thousands of the Natives and by a great slaughter revenge the murder of their Country-men But at the same time they lay all the Country waste and desolate which at length was no less prejudicial to themselves than to the Natives for the War increasing in England the Souldiers wanting Corn Ammunition Clothes Pay and indeed all things necessary and at length being unable to support their wants it is hardly to be exprest what miseries and calamities our Country-men suffered in Ireland and having long struggled with these difficulties and with all importunity but in vain begg'd assistance from the Parliament The Privy-Council of the Kingdom Commanders of the Army and the Souldiers themselves write to the King earnestly begging to be disbanded or employed in other service where they might have any Enemy but Hunger to fight with The King at length seeing the Scots were coming with assistance to the Parliament-forces being too weak to make head against the Rebellion moved on the one hand by his own necessities and on the other by the importunate Prayers of his Subjects commands a Truce to be made with the Irish for a year that in the mean time if it were possible he might make Peace upon good terms A Truce being made with the Irish and Forces being left sufficient for maintaining the Garrisons the Souldiers return from Ireland to the assistance of the King whose fortune against the Parliament at home manifestly declined But the Scots who inhabited the greatest part of Vlster supplied with Pay and Ammunition by the Parliament refuse the Truce as also some English in Connaught and Vlster who lived in good correspondence with the Scots A little after the Lord Inchiqueen who commanded the Munster-Forces having brought over some thousands of men to the Kings assistance when he thought himself not treated according to his dignity and merit flying over secretly into Ireland tampers first with those of Cork and then with all such of the Province of Munster as were on the English side and having drawn them over to the Parliament he rejects the Truce and is presently assisted by the Scottish Forces and supplied with Money Provisions and Ammunition from the Parliament Ireland being now delivered from the English Souldiers the Natives lay hold on the opportunity of recovering the whole Kingdom under the command of Owen Ro General of the Rebels and having broken the truce which they had solemnly made and arming of a sudden they had surprized and seized the Marquess of Ormond not dreaming of any such thing had he not being informed of it a little before by by-ways mays made his escape to Dublin Having afterward joyned their Forces those who were willing to keep the Truce being instigated to the contrary by the Nuncio who produced the Popes Bull they all together besiege the City of Dublin by Land whilst at the same time the Parliament-Ships shut up the Haven The Marquess being overmatched by the Forces of three Nations acquaints the King with his condition who sends him instructions that if he could not defend the City he should rather deliver it up to the Parliament than suffer it to fall into the hands of the Irish Having therefore agreed upon Articles amongst which it was one That he should have liberty to go to the King that he might give his Majesty an account of all the affairs of Ireland the Marquess returned into England and found the King at Hampton-Court environed by the Parliaments Rebel-Souldiers where being informed that he was to be apprehended by Order of Parliament he secretly withdrew into France that he might escape their Snares Not long after when the King was committed to Prison in the Isle of Wight and that the Rebels had cut off all hopes of restoring Peace and Liberty by their Vote of no more addressing to the King of which more hereafter having received new instruction he returned in quality of Lord-Lieutenant into Ireland where he endeavoured with all care to make the best Peace he could and to unite the English Scots and Irish for
so many dangers under the protection of Almighty God they all safely arrived in the Spey The People were not a little gladded by the Kings Landing in Scotland testifying their Joys with Shouts and Acclamations and Bonefires But the Commissioners that with shew of greater Honour they might conduct him to Edinburrough put back those that in sense of Duty came to salute and honour him and beat off others with Fists and Sticks that more importunately approached He was splendidly entertained by the Magistrates of Aberdeen who for a pledge of their Love presented him with fifteen hundred Marks which he distributed amongst his indigent and almost famished Servants And that occasioned a Proclamation for securing their Money That such as thought fit to bestow any thing for the interest of the King it should only be brought into the publick Treasury The Magistrates of Dundee entertained him likewise magnificently saving that a Member of Montross was to be seen upon a Poll on the top of the Town Hall and that the Estates urged him to sign new Articles Afterwards he came to Edinburrough amidst the reiterated and joyful Acclamations of all the People and is again by the Heralds proclaimed King of Scotland England and Ireland The Kings Majesty is managed according to the pleasure of some Commissioners access is allowed to such as they thought fit all others being kept back His Guard is Commanded by the Lord Lorn Son to the Marquess of Argile by whom all the avenues are observed that no man might envy that splendid custody In the mean time the Presbyterian Ministers talk of nothing but Crimes now inveighing against the Sins of his Father and by and by again against the Idolatry and Heresie of his Mother and the obstinacy of both towards the Reformation the Government and Church of Christ They never rest telling him of Wars Slaughter Bloodshed of his Education and living amongst Bishops Men of no Religion and that in a saucy manner without the least sense of reverence or shame Labouring to make him a new Creature by lessons of Repentance and Humility severe rebukes and admonitions that he might carry his Cross before he put on his Crown and mount by the Valley of Bacha to the Throne of regal Authority And all these things they so absurdly and clownishly set about that their Doctrins and Instructions were more apt to make him nauseate and eternally hate their ways than to gain him to a liking or assent to their Opinions The King one evening walking in the Garden a couple of dapper Covenant Levites making up to him and very severely chid him for profaning the Lords Day by a Walk though he had heard two Sermons and been publickly at Morning and Evening Prayers that day besides other private Meditations that he was much given to The Laity also instead of a Crown of Gold shining with Jewels which they bragg'd they would Crown him with the precious Stones being secretly and by degrees pick'd out of it give him one of Feathers such as Demetrius truly said no man in his senses would stoop and take up from the ground by allowing him his Robes the Name of Majesty and Ensigns of a King with the troubles and difficulties of doing Justice though that also must be administred after their way whilst they invaded and reserved to themselves the substantial Prerogatives of making Laws and Peace and War But these things could not be so kept up from the Regicides though the Parliaments claw'd one another with mutual signs of good-will by Conferences and Messengers at least no Hostility as yet appears but that by their Friends and Emissaries in Holland and Scotland who were well paid for their pains they were informed of the whole series of the pacification And therefore they consult how they might provide before hand against a storm that haug over their heads There was an Army in readiness under the Command of Fairfax but that General was not very prone to enter into a War with the Scots who had not as yet provoked the English by any injuries they suspected him rather to have a kindness for that Nation and to be inwardly displeased at the Murder of the King and subversion of the Government They therefore recal Cromwell out of Ireland to give him the charge of the Scottish War He quickly returning home Crowned with Victories and Success in a triumphant manner entred London amidst a crowd of Attendants Friends Citizens and Members of the Rump-Parliament Guarded by a Troop of Horse and a Regiment of Foot and amongst them Fairfax himself went out two miles to meet him and congratulate his Arrival But when they were come to Tyburn the place of publick Execution where a great croud of spectators were gathered together a certain flatterer pointing with his finger to the Multitude Good God! Sir said he what a number of People come to welcome you home He smiling made answer But how many more do you think would flock together to see me hanged if that should happen There was nothing more unlikely at that time and yet there was a presage in these words which he often repeated and used in discourse The Regicides and he having consulted it is thought fit to ease the Lord Fairfax of the burden and Cromwell is declared Captain General of all the Forces in England Scotland and Ireland who undertakes the War against the Scots having ordered Souldiers and Provisions to be sent towards Berwick The Scots instantly send Letters to the Rump-Parliament Cromwell and Haselrigg Governour of New-Castle wherein they complain that the Rump-Parliament design an Invasion of their Country and that contrary to the Vnion agreed upon betwixt both Nations and the publick Faith mutually given no War being denounced the Cause not published nor their Answers expected without giving them time to repent if they had offended in any thing But that the Scene might be continued The English Officers give an Answer The summ of which that the Genius of these times may the better appear to Posterity I shall here shortly relate And after a Preface it was to this purpose We are blamed for the Murder of the King for which we are bound rather to give God thanks and applaud the Parliament since the King was guilty of more bloodshed than the cruelty of all his Predecessours an obstinate Enemy of Reformation and of all good men who besides taught his Son to follow his footsteps Him the sounder part of the People the timorous and bad Members being secluded justly put to death God Almighty show'd them the who way at first approving it by wonderful successes and continual benedictions What is on the other hand objected that the Treaty the Law of Arms and the League and Covenant are violated by a War made before it be denounced but that Treaty is already abrogated by Hamilton at the Command of his own Parliament unless it be thought that the English
he might disappoint those that pursued him Upon their Journey the Earl of Derby told the King That lately when he was defeated by Lilburn one Pendrel harboured him safely in Boscobel-house but that he was a Papist Thither the King resolved to betake himself This House is distant from Worcester twenty six Miles stands in Shropshire upon the borders of Staffordshire seated betwixt Tong-Castle and Brewood in a woody place very fit for a retreat One Gifford that was well acquainted with the Ways leaving Kedderminster on the Left-hand conducted him by Stonebridge and at Whiteladies an old Monasterie of Cistertian Nuns in the midst of the Woods about a Mile from Boscobel having knockt up another Pendrel about midnight he and his Company are let in Whilst the King had his Hair cut off in this House and burnt in the Fire his Hands blackned with Soot and shifting his Cloaths put on an old Countrey Suit two other Pendrells Brothers Richard who lived in a Neighbouring little Farm at Hobbal and William in Boscobel are sent for whom the Earl of Derby acquainting them with the disaster and shewing them the Kings Majesty Beseeches for Gods sake their Loyalty and all that was Good and Sacred to keep him safe and forthwith find out some place for him where he might securely lurk The honest Countrey-men promising to do what lay in their Power Richard by a back door led him out into the next Wood Wilmot having been before ordered to go on Horseback to London where at the sign of the Green Dragon by the Vintry in Thames-street the King had resolved to meet him John Pendrell promising to shew him a way which he might more securely follow After that the Nobles had taken the best care they could of the King they consult about their own safety and think it safest to follow and if they could overtake Leslie because of the number of men he had with him that might secure them from a few stragling Soldiers and because they were got so far on their way that a considerable body of the Rebels could hardly overtake them They were not far from thence when they protected the Lord Livingstone Captain of the King's Troop of Guards from the Enemies that pursued him but that good fortune lasted not long For soon after when they had advanced beyond Newport they fall in amongst Lilburn's men who easily rout and put them to slight being quite spent with fatigue the Earl of Derby whom the impious Rebels afterwards condemned in a Council of War and put to Death Lauderdale who for his Loyalty suffered a tedious Imprisonment until the King's Restauration and others whom it would be long to name being taken In the mean time the Duke of Buckingham Livingstone Talbot with many others severally shifting for themselves made their escapes and at length went beyond Sea Nay Lesly was not got far beyond Newport when he is beset by the Enemies and all his men either dispersed or taken and particularly the Earl of Cleveland who had overtaken Lesly after the Battel Kenmore the Lord Wentworth and Middleton Most of the dispersed straglers were by the Countrey people not without a brand of Cruelty which the English Nation abhors knockt down wherever they were found with Staves Pitch-forks â—lails and what weapons rage and fury put into their hands a very unsuitable return indeed to the moderation and continence which not long before they had shewed amongst them upon their march Massey being wounded in the hand fled of his own accord to the protection of the Countess of Stanford under whose husband the father of Gray he had formerly served in Glocestershire From thence after a fortnights stay he was carried to the Tower of London where he endured the irksomness of a tedious imprisonment and being to be brought to his Tryal before the High Court of Justice he changed Cloaths with a certain Porter and made his escape The Kingdom of Scotland thus taken and most part of the Nobility cut off truckles under the Victorious Arms of the English and had not the Supreme Judge of all things reserved a root from which the Royal Issue and cause might spring out again of new and had not the same right hand of the Duke of Albemarle whom as yet we must call Monck that gave the Wound also wrought the Cure it had been undone for ever But now what befel the King the Care of Providence Hopes of the English Race and Defender of the Church since the English I know are insatiably desirous to be informed of it and that hardly in any Age a more remarkable adventure hath happened I shall according as I have heard it from the King 's own Mouth relate with some exactness and curiosity The King went into the Wood in the very nick of time as will appear For within less than half an Hour the Souldiers of Colonel Ashenhurst come in quest of him hunt all over the Monastery and running from Chamber to Chamber search into all secret places recesses and hidden corners Yet as Fate would have it they made no enquiry abroad out of the House for it rained all Day and the droppings from the Trees made the Grass very wet so that what did hurt to others saved the King For whilst he lurked amongst the thick shrubs of the Woods Richard Pendrell borrowed a Blanket for him to cover him in the Rain and furnished him with a Bill that he might seem busie in mending Hedges entreating the Wife of a Countrey-man one Francis Yates that was related to him that if she had any Victuals ready she would bring it into the Wood. She without delay brings forth some Milk and Sugar with a few Eggs and Butter The King somewhat startled at the coming of the Woman because of the babling the Sex is subject to asked her Can you be true to any one that hath served the King Yes Sir answered she I 'le die sooner than betray you At which the King being reassured fed heartily on the Victuals that were brought him Towards the Evening Richard brings him into his House that stood hard by where he prepares for a New Journey that he was to take that Night For the King amongst other things had asked If he knew any Faithful Honest Man living upon the Severn who might provide him a hiding place for a short space till he might find an opportunity of passing over into Wales for in that Country he wanted not Faithful Friends by whose means he might either get to London or lurk more securely amongst the Rocks and Mountains Being therefore informed of one Wolfe but a Papist by Religion living at Madely five Miles from thence and one from the Severn at nine of the Clock at Night accompanied with Richard he sets out to go thither But they were hardly gone the first mile when they had a Water-mill to pass by where
having sent before him five thousand Prisoners who being sufficiently exposed to the Scoffs and derision of the People are either clapt up in Prisons or sent to the New World there to drudge in the Sugar Mills In the mean time Monck who was deservedly afterwards Created Duke of Albermarle being made General of the English Forces to the number of six thousand which Cromwell had left behind him in Scotland attacques Sterling-Castle and takes it by surrender with all the Guns Ammunition much Provision five thousand Arms the Registers Coffers Jewels and several Monuments and Relicks of Kings together with that lofty Inscription Nobis haec invicta dedere centum sex proavi Colonel Alured surprised and took the Aged Earl of Levin the Earl of Crawford-Lindsey Lord Ogilby and many other Noblemen whilst they were met for raising of Soldiers at Ellet a Town in Pearthshire Sir Philip Musgrave also the Provost of St. Johnstone and others being about the same business are taken at Dumfrise But Dundee because it had the boldness to hold out was stormed and taken by assault and the whole Town left to the mercy of the Soldiers who kill'd and plunder'd all they found Aberdeen and other Towns and Forts being warned by this sad example of their own accord yielded to the Enemy A little after the Marquess of Argile made a shew of maintaining the Interest of the Kingdom as also the Highlanders but having obtained indifferent good Conditions they also yield and submit their necks to the English Yoke Afterward four Citadels are built strong both by Art and Situation to which by Sea men and Provisions might easily be transported from England to wit at Air Innerness St. Johnston and Leith besides Sterling Castle standing on the Brow of a Hill and Edingburrough Castle which we described before Nay in every County they keep a Garison in some Castle or other that if any new Rebellion should arise they might have opportunity to suppress it where-ever it happened in Scotland Nor could the main Land of Scotland put bounds to the Victory of the English who slighting the dangers of those raging and voracious Seas carry their Victories over to the Isles Orkney and Shetland But as when the Serpent is bruised in the Head he often threatens with his Tail so the Marquess of Huntley Earls of Glencairn and Athol Midleton and others stir the Embers and raise new flames of a War But Morgan easily reduced them having before they could joyn routed the chief of them Henceforward they who had been accustomed to be most unruly and disobedient when occasion of Kicking offered are fain to bite upon the Bit and upon capitulation promise to live quietly for the future Now are Judicatures and Courts of Justices opened in Scotland for which end amongst other Itinerary Judges are sent from England George Smith John Marss Edward Moseley to whom were added of the Scots the Lord Craighall Lockhart and Swinton not to be forgotten A Council of State is also made up of English not of the best Quality who were matched by some Scots mingled with them nay in every Shire a Meeting is called wherein renouncing the King they are obliged to subscribe to the English Government and to unite into one Common-wealth with the English And at length they are commanded to send thirty Commissioners to the Parliament of England Nor is it to be denyed but that they were English though from Scotland who were appointed to that Office except the Marquess of Argile and Laird of Swinton which two were the only Scots that hearded themselves into that Parliament The use of Arms is likewise denyed to that Nation nay and of Horses also except only for some necessary ends and uses Besides their Commerce and Negotiations with Foreigners are narrowly observed lest under that pretext they might hatch mischief against the Common-wealth of England So much they got by disturbing the quiet of England and by medling in the stirs and troubles of others nay and by being the Authors of the innumerable Calamities which we suffered So they fell into the Pit that they dug for us and were taken in the Snares which they had laid for the Innocent nor was there any hopes of a Deliverer or an Avenger till God should think fit to look down from his Mountain and having chastised the perverseness of the People have Mercy upon them But so much for Scotland let us therefore leave it and return to matters that properly concern our selves Jersey must now come upon the Stage for the subduing whereof Hains with great preparations of Soldiers and all things necessary is empowred who passing over thither with about seventy sail of Ships great and small for three days space was beat off from several places of the Island by Sir George Cartright Governour of the Island since deservedly Vnder Chamberlain of the King's Houshold though sooner than was expected he afterward obtained the Victory For making a descent in the night time and Bovil who commanded the Cavalier Party doing his utmost to hinder the Enemies Landing being killed in the first Encounter the rest seized with a sudden fear and Consternation are put to flight The Inhabitants after that submitted to the will and pleasure of their new Masters Elizabeth Castle also standing upon a Rock and at high water encompassed by the Sea being battered and torn with great Guns and Mortar-Peeces one of which was so fatal as at one blow to kill or mangle eight and forty Soldiers after two Months siege capitulates upon Condition that the Governour and Garison with Bag and Baggage should have liberty to pass over into France Next follows the Isle of Mann this place though defended by Feminine Valour to wit by the Countess of Derby yet vied so much in honour with men that it was doubtful whether in the Royal Cause Sir George Cartright or she fell the last Victim under the Hands of the Traytors All the Provinces thus subdued an Act of Oblivion passes whereby the memory of what was past being abolished all Crimes whatsoever are pardoned But this was hampered with so many Limitations Restrictions Exceptions and ensnaring Clauses that there was little hopes for true Penitents to expect any good from it But such however as it was Cromwell alone was to be thanked for it by him chiefly it was proposed and by his means and endeavours it past in the Rump-Parliament that by so doing he might by a shew of kindness claw the suffering and vanquished People and at the same time heap hatred and indignation upon the Heads of his fellow Traytors For now forsooth it was time to put an end to Rapine and Violence Did they take so much pleasure in undoing Estates and ruining Families There was enough allowed to anger and revenge That it was altogether fit to shew Clemency and Mercy to the Guilty who having sufficiently payed for their faults
that they should certainly die for it This instance made him inveigh bitterly against the ancient way of Tryal reflecting also how Lilburn two years before by the same means escaped his fury and as luckily also one Stawell who was a Knight notwitstanding the Capitulation he had made upon the surrender of his Garrison being thrice brought to a Tryal of his Life a barbarous thing and contrary to Law to be again tried for one and the same crime was thrice acquitted by the Jury This though the strongest Bulwark against Tyranny he affirms ought to be taken away as a hindrance to Justice complaining That Sacred Justice was rashly put into the Hands of the Profane Common People that the weightiest matters of Law did not depend upon the Sentences of the Learned in the Law but upon the Pleasure and Prejudices of a Company of Men destitute of all Ingenious Learning nay and almost of Common Sense That it was more consonant to Justice that fifty Men chosen out of the flower of the whole Nation should determine of Lives and Fortunes Under these Colours and Pretexts he subverted the wholsom Constitutions of our Fore-fathers and invented a new way of Butchery of his own But I desire that both our Countrey-men and Foreigners would take notice that this Custom of Tryal by a Jury of Twelve Men founded on Reason and Equity granted us by the singular favour both of the Saxon and Norman Kings and practised amongst us time out of mind though it was in this Age for a short time intermitted yet it was approved by the Publick desires of all The truest Judges of the Commons are the Commons as of the Nobles their Peers since Men of the same Rank and Quality are aptest to love and not to envy one another Besides if the Sheriff empannel any who bear you a grudge you may challenge and reject them How are they to be accused of ignorance since the matter of Fact is known by Evidence who alledge and by their Oath prove it in open Court and the point of Law they are to be directed by the Judges who are versed therein The Fact is better examined by a plain and uncorrupted Conscience than cunning that serves the ends of another The Judges and Bench have onely their Duty to mind Consult for the common Interest and with the publick good procure the favour of their Princes On the other hand those whom the offended Conquerour appoints as Arbiters of your Life and Fortune obeying the pleasure of one Master and obsequiously oppress you Accused Subjects whom before they looked upon as Servants they now sternly frown upon as Publick Enemies and without more ado find them guilty of Treason and condemn them to suffer accordingly It is a Compendious and rare way of Justice indeed to have the same Men to be the Accusers Witnesses Informers Judges nay and plainly the Executioners and very often also the Authors of the Crimes About this time great Troubles hapned in Piedmont in Savoy for the Duke of that Country by Military force drove many of the Reformed Religion out of their own Habitations not without Blood and Slaughter Cromwell takes upon him their Protection writing for that end to the Suitzers and French King and having sent a Messenger to visit them who might intercede for them and relieve their Wants with Money For the Money that was charitably raised for their use all over England he partly indeed distributed amongst them but reserved the greatest part for other Times and Occasions At that time England was in a Fermentation secretly designing a War whereof the Mediterranean felt the first Effort which afterward fell upon Spain though not with the same force and violence Blake was made Admiral of the first Fleet being ordered to sail into the Mediterranean there to give a Proof of our Strength by Sea to block up Algiers Tripoly and Tunis and having redeemed the English Captives to make Peace with these Towns or rather Nests of Pyrats which if they refused to reduce them by force to better terms The Divan of Algiers upon payment of the just Ransoms and having mutually interchanged honourable Presents with the English without any difficulty restore the Captives and publish an Edict whereby free Commerce for the future is allowed to the English Nation But he chastises the Insolence of those of Tunis who had answered proudly having sent in some Ships and burnt eight of theirs in Porto-Ferina which having broken and humbled the Infidels at length they agree to a Peace But the other Expedition required greater preparatives as being carried on by the remains of the Dissenting and Disbanded Souldiers to wit of Essex Waller and Massey's Armies c. some Royalists and Republicans also but sparingly joyned with them For these being for the most part indigent and dangerous at home watched all opportunities of innovation and therefore business is found out for them abroad that they might not be troublesome to others but ease England a little by the departure of so many Men. The Protector made his brags openly that by a War with Spain the Nation would attain to much Glory Wealth and large Dominions in the West-Indies And not only cut off the Sinews of War whereby the Spaniards infested Europe but also hinder the Influx of the Spirits and Life of it by intercepting their Riches Nor did he doubt of an easie and cheap Victory For the Spaniards were but few and those dispersed over the vast Territories of America and that it was credible that the Natives weary of their hard and tedious Bondage would upon the first glimpse of liberty rise up against the Tyranny of the Spaniards That though the Towns were well fortified yet they were unprepared for making a resistance the Souldiers being unaccustomed to War nay though Garrisoned by such as had been inured to fighting yet all relief by Sea being stopt and the Land not affording Provisions either for the English or the Inhabitants they must in a short time be starved out The neighbouring Plantations of our Countrey-men besides accustomed to the Climat and Diet could yearly furnish supplies so that there could neither be any want of Souldiers for subduing the Provinces nor of People to be Transported into better Plantations Nâ—y and which went a great way there was not wanting a certain Divine that gave vent to the Ambition which flamed sufficiently of it self and who well understood the Enthusiastick humour of Cromwell This Man bid him Go and prosper calls him A Stone cut out of the Mountains without Hands that should break the Pride of the Spaniard crush Antichrist and make way for the Purity of the Gospel over the whole World Swollen therefore with this hope he sends for Officers and Commanders from all Places sollicits wheadles them with good words and with fair Promises of their past Arrears and I know not what Mountains of Gold perswades
shut or guarded by Souldiers and imposing upon Delinquents for the first fault a Fine for the second Imprisonment and for the third Banishment that punishment might at length restrain those whom Clemency could not gain Nevertheless a War with Holland breaking forth and the Laws being silent amongst the noise of Arms the domestick Calamity grew so strong that the Authority of the Justices of the Peace not being able to prevail against the obstinacy of the Rabble the evil catched like Wild-fire and all future Remedies seemed posthumous and unseasonable The great injuries done by the Dutch to the English Merchants having for a long time past unrevenged did now occasion great grievances and complaining at London Though there was no Nation upon Earth whom the Dutch desired more for Friends and less for Enemies than the English who in the late War had proved themselves as formidable Enemies to the Hollanders as heretofore they had been to their Enemies yet they unjustly broke that Peace which some years before they had dishonourably begg'd of the Rump and Cromwel as being necessary for their interest by humble Addresses sordid and base compliances of their Embassadours and had since confirmed by a stricter League with King Charles the Second For to that pitch of Arrogance and Perfidy was that State of Fisher-men and croud of crafty Merchants who under the Title of a Commonwealth disliked all Monarchy raised that besides the detaining of the Island of Poloron which they were obliged to deliver up by the Articles of Peace they took a great many English Ships upon the Coast of India and Africa and making Prize of the Ships and Goods made the Sea-men Prisoners and added cruelty and scoffing to their Injustice They block up many Ports of the Indies which the English had long possessed with Men of War and having unjustly intercepted the English Trade they sold to other Nations at home at the dear rates the Commodities which they had for a small matter bought in the Indies Holmes who was Admiral for the King upon the Coast of India and Africa behaving himself modestly in his Commission was by those Dutch Pirats by Sea and Land whom neither the East nor West could satisfie contrary to the Law of Nations often fired upon At which Holmes a man of a daring temper and unacquainted with affronts being provoked resolved to continue no longer on the defensive part but to turn Aggressour and therefore bringing his Guns ashore and planting them on Batteries he took some of the Dutch Garrisons and revenged the injuries he had received But with false Accusations they complain of Holmes who had been so often and basely used by them to the King crying out against him as a Robber and the causer of a War as if by making a clamour first they might ridiculously excuse their own Treachery These and many other Encroachments of the Dutch so incensed the Parliament that they forthwith voted it necessary to revenge so many Injuries done to the Merchants and a considerable supply of money to be given to the King to carry on a War which they judged safer than a doubtful and uncertain Peace Though the King was highly offended to hear of the Injuries done to his Subjects and concerned in honour to right them yet he resolved to try other ways of adjusting matters before he came to force of Arms having therefore dispatched Letters to Sir George Downing his Embassadour at the Hague he demands a speedy reparation of the Injuries done to his Subjects from the States But though the Kings demands were just and lawful yet it was in vain to represent the Rapines of Dutch Merchants to trafficking States since they who were in Authority and should have punished these Abuses reaped the profit of them But amongst these Clashings about Injuries a new cause of quarrel not heard of till then happened through the treachery of the Dutch For the year before the States General having been oppressed by the frequent Piracies of the Algerines by Embassadours made earnest application to the King that joyning his Fleet with theirs he would help to revenge the Injuries of these Infidels Nor was the King wanting to contribute to the safety of his Subjects and of all Christendom but sent Vice-Admiral Lawson an expert Sea-Commander with a well-appointed Fleet to joyn and assist the Fleet commanded by de Ruyter But whilst Lawson was wholly taken up in fighting and pursuing the Pirats Ships of which he had sunk and burnt many upon the Coast of Barbary De Ruyter gave him the slip and by orders from the States directed his course to Guiny where falling upon the English who were secure and neither expected nor deserved any such thing he committed no less Robberies upon us than he pretended to revenge on the Algerines but with far greater treachery The news of so base an action being freshly brought to London so incensed all People that the King highly offended commanded all Dutch Ships in the Ports of England to be stopt and all further Treaties of Pacification being laid aside both sides prepare for a War But during the preludes of the approaching War the Dutch a more contumelious than formidable Enemy inflamed the rage and hatred of the English by scurrilous Libels Medals and many base and satyrical Pictures according to the innate insolency and barbarous vanity of that People Holland more powerful both in Wealth and Cunning led the rest of the Vnited Provinces by the nose and Dewit Holland a man of a crafty and subtle Wit malicious Eloquence and of more reputation for cunning Policy than Honesty The greatness of the Family of the Prince of Orange and the vast power of the King of Great Britain by Sea stood in the way of the Artifices of this arrogant man and of his own Holland To ruine therefore the Prince and Family of Nassau he raised secret jealousies against him and by lessening the authority of Orange with the States he alone managed all affairs and under colour of standing up for the liberty of the Commonwealth ruled absolutely at his pleasure and so confident of himself grew this Butter-box that having trode upon the Dignity of the Prince at home he thought that by turns he might make fools of all the Kings of Europe He hated the King of Great Britain the more because he feared him and since through similitude of Manners he had been a great friend to the Traytor Cromwel he was therefore the more implacable Enemy to King Charles Certainly next to the insatiable Avarice of the Dutch Nation all the hatred of that People to the English is to be attributed to Dewit and his Faction To so great an Arrogance were the Dutch raised that it was given out amongst the People That the affairs of England were not in such a posture that the Civil War of England being just ended they had money enough still to
make War abroad nor that the King was as yet so well seated in the Government that he could revenge the Injuries of the Dutch that it was not safe for him to trust Arms in the hands of his Subjects which afterwards they might be unwilling to lay down That the English were not now the same Enemies as the Dutch had found them to be under the Rump-Parliament that the warlike fierceness of that Nation was gone with the Sectarians and that there remained amongst them none but a company of silly Cowards That there were a great many Fanaticks in England who perhaps would fight for the Dutch against the King or at least would not fight for him against those who were for liberty of Conscience Nor was there wanting a great many of our fugitive Traytors amongst the Dutch who made these false reports to be believed The bloudy War which broke out the year following was ushered in by the taking of Ships on both sides and Alan with a Fleet of English Ships for securing the Merchant-men and anoying the Dutch in the Mediterranean fell upon the Dutch Smirna-Fleet in the Streights upon their return homewards and having killed them many men sunk some Ships Brakell the Admiral of the Fleet being slain he took and brought off four of the Enemies Ships which was the first booty and glad Omen of the War but one of them richly laden being much shattered and leaky foundered in the greedy Sea Nor was the King so wholly taken up with the thoughts of the approaching War but that he also minded other affairs and his innocent diversions he therefore on the fifteenth of April visited the famous Colledge of Physicians of London and was received very honourably by the Doctors There he saw the Marble Statue of Harvey the chief Pilot of the Blouds Circulation and heard the President Ent with equal Eloquence and Art reading upon the mysteries of Anatomy whom there he knighted There he saw the chief Physician Bates renowned in the skill of Physick and of Latine and Fraser his chief Physician since and Glisson excellent in Medicine and Philosophy and successful Micklethwait and much-esteemed Cox and Scarborough accomplished in all Natural Philophy and no less famous amongst the Muses with Wharton the Secretary of the Glandules and acute Merret besides many others eminent in the Art of Curing to whom at length were associated Willis the great Restorer of Medicine but of too short a life with Lower and Needham who have illustrated the Faculty by their Writings And now was the Royal Fleet ready to set sail divided into three Squadrons the first commanded by the Duke of York Lord High Admiral of England the second by the most Illustrious Prince Rupert and the third by the Earl of Sandwich famous in Expeditions at Sea The other Flag-Officers of the Fleet were Lawson and Alan lately returned from the Mediterranean Jordan Spragg Smith Meens and Tiddiman all famous Sea-Commanders Many persons of great Quality went Volunteers to Sea and though they had no command in the Fleet yet they thought it honourable in so just a War to try their fortune with the Duke of York The Fleet consisted of about an hundred Men of War having on board to the number of about thirty thousand Sea-men and Souldiers and on the two and twentieth of April weighed and with joyful Huzza's full Sails and flying Streamers sailed over to the Coast of Holland and came to an Anchor before the Texel the Enemy in the mean while for all their bragging not daring to come out His Royal Highness in the mean time in the Royal Fleet rode Master of the Seas and many Dutch Ships returning home in sight of the Shore fell into the hands of the English as Booties cast into their way by Providence But his Royal Highness more desirous of Fighting than Prey after he had expected almost a month the coming out of the Enemy upon their own Coast Victuals and Provisions growing scarce came back again to the English Coast giving them opportunity if they had a mind to fight to come out But now the Commanders of the Dutch Fleet moved with the disgrace of being blocked up but more at the Reproaches and Execrations of the people use all diligence to bring out their Ships The Fleet of the States General consisted of above an hundred sail of Men of War in seven divisions which were commanded by Opdam Trump Cartener Schramp Stillingwolfe Cornelius and John Evertsons Opdam in the mean time being Admiral But as the Dutch stood out to Sea a Fleet of English Merchant-men coming from Hamborough in the dark of the night by mistake fell in amongst the Enemies nor were they sensible of their Captivity till it was too late to flie for it and so they payed dear for their unhappy and prohibited Voyage The taking of the English Merchant-men was to the Enemies so joyful a presage of a future Engagement that directing their course towards England they resolved not to expect the coming of the English but not doubting of success to attack them in their own Coast His Royal Highness in the mean time was at Anchor with his Fleet near Harwich where so soon as he was advertised by his Scouts that the Enemy approached rejoycing at the long wished-for occasion of an Engagement on the first of June setting his Fleet in order with all the expedition he could he steers directly against the Dutch Next day he came in sight of the Enemies Fleet by night they were got near to one another and on the third of June with the day the Fight began The Fleet being drawn up undaunted Prince Rupert was in the Van in the Body of the Fleet was the Duke of York and the Earl of Sandwich in the Rear an expert Commander at Sea the Enemies Fleet being in order to engage them The first shot that was fired was from Prince Rupert's Squadron And both Fleets as yet fought with their great Guns at a distance The English had the wind which the Dutch on the other hand strove to gain it being westerly but whilst both Fleets strive for the wind the order of the Ships engaged changing the middle of the English Fleet came up with the front of the Enemies and Lawson who commanded the next Ship to the Admiral bearing in amongst their Fleet they came by a closer engagement to try the fate of both Nations By and by the Admirals of both Fleets by chance engaged together There was great slaughter on both sides and it was a bloudy Victory to his Royal Highness for whether by carelesness or our shot fire got into the Powder-Room and presently blew up Opdam's Ship He flying up into the Air prevented a shameful flight with his Fleet and falling again into the Sea Animam morti non redidit uni Resigned his life to several deaths The loss of the Admiral was attended with the
against the Enemy and so to make the safest retreat with the Fleet they could Ashamed they were and no less encouraged at the disgrace that they who were used to command the Seas should now decline the Enemy whom they had so often pursued And Albemarle stood on the Quarter-deck flying with threatning looks and terrible to the Enemy in his very retreat the boldest of whom that durst approach him with his Stern-Guns he either beat off or sunk nor did over-powered Valour give o're and they who fled had mâ—re courage to flight than those that pursued But now Fortune seemed to repent that she had not seconded the Valour of the English Nation For during this sharp Engagement the noise of the Guns had reached the ears of Prince Rupert who at a great distance was in search of the French Fleet though in vain he therefore tacking about made all the sail he could to come into the assistance of his Friends inflamed with the desire of fighting The sight of his Ships was as joyful to our men as formidable to the Enemy But Albemarl's Fleet had the ill fortune to take the nearest course to joyn the Prince who was so luckily come For the unskilful Pilates hastening too rashly steered upon Shelves and Banks where many struck but though the rest got off again yet the Prince a Man of War that deserved better fate commanded by Sir George Askeugh being so far got on as they could not bring her off was burnt by the Enemy and Askeugh being taken was afterward carried in triumph into Holland The Royal Fleet being now rejoyned on the fourth of June give chace to the Dutch daring them to another Engagement Hopes of Victory incited the Prince and Albemarle to revenge but which of the two had greatest Courage it is hard to determine And now a fourth time they fall to it in as memorable and fierce an Engagement as perhaps ever happened upon the Ocean though after three days fighting they now contended with greater fury than force The Prince with his fresh and entire Squadron had the Van carrying in his looks the resolution of his mind Albemarle followed after spurred on with new desires from the supplies of others having received fresh Vigour to himself but the Enemies Fleet kept at a distance not daring to come to a close Engagement until Prince Rupert desirous to make an end of the matter with his usual undaunted Courage fell in amongst the thick of the Dutch and sunk and put to flight many of them and had not Albemarl's own Ship been extreamly disabled in the former Engagements and had not an unlucky shot of the last of the Enemies Ships towards the evening brought the Mast of Prince Rupert's Ship by the board and so hindred the pursuit They had been able to have given a far better account of the Dutch in this days Engagement who now strove who could run fastest But the Dutch found by this days experience that the English equal or unequal in force were invincible and that they must submit to the fortune of Charles The Enemy being now everywhere put to flight the Royal Fleet seemed the more joyful that they had conquered the greater dangers and so stood over to their own Coast and put into Harbour to have their Ships refitted which was done with all diligence In the mean time the Dutch gave it out that they had got the Victory because they came off so well and after that they had celebrated a Mock-triumph over the English at home with a more ridiculous silliness they bragg'd of their Victory abroad to the scorn and derision of Foreign Nations And having speedily patched up a Fleet they come in sight of Harwich and dared the English upon their own Coast but with no designe of fighting as appeared afterward but onely out of a Dutch vanity and a false perswasion of a Victory for so soon as upon the seventeenth of July the Royal Fleet had put out to Sea again the Enemy bore off trusting more to their Banks than their Courage On the twenty fifth of July Prince Rupert and Albemarle engaged the Dutch on their own Coast nor did they decline the Engagement not out of confidence but being compelled to be bold and trusting to the neighbourhood of the shore and the nature of the Coast There was a hot Dispute on both sides for almost four hours but the Dutch suffering more in their reputation than in other losses tacked about and made all the sail they could to be gone the report being that de Ruyter's Ship gave them the example of flying The Royal Fleet pursued after with continual thundring of Guns until the Enemies having got behind their Banks the English were in greater danger from the Banks and Shelves of their Coast than from the flying Enemy A Squadron of Ships under the command of Trump stood it out still and was attacked by a part of the Royal Fleet that was in the rear but after a bloudy Engagement they were forced in the night-time to follow the fortune of the rest and shift for themselves upon the Coast of Zealand Jordan sunk de Ruyter's Fire-ship and in the Fight were taken Banker the Vice-Admirals Ship and the stoutest Ship of Harlem both which were burnt by the English who were more intent upon the Battel than the Booty Everts Admiral of the Zealand-Squadron Tirich Hides of the Friesland Vice-Admiral Conder and six Captains of Ships were killed The English lost onely one Ship commanded by Captain Hannam which after the Seamen had escaped was burnt by the Dutch The Royal Fleet was more troubled at this base flight of the Dutch than they were at the dangers of the former Engagement and they were vexed that the cowardly running of the Enemy should have cut them short of a more triumphant Victory But the Dutch always preferred a whole skin though with a dishonourable flight before Honour with danger Now did the Royal Fleet again block up the Dutch Coast that they might keep the Seas and make them ashamed of their overthrow who now being so often beaten were forced in their skulking holes to acknowledge the prowess of the English and seeing no Enemy appeared the Merchant-ships that were daily taken suffered what the Fleet better deserved But the English were unwilling to be idle upon the Dutch Coast and therefore Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle ordered out Sir Robert Holmes a man of great undertaking to the Vly who sailing thither and having left a guard of Ships at the entry into the Harbour he took with him five Fire-ships and one Frigat besides Pinnaces and Boats manned with Souldiers and Sea-men and boldly entring in he burnt all the Ships in the Harbour to the number of one hundred and fifty Sail many of them East India Ships laden The Town of Schilling was afterwards taken and burnt and the Plunder given to the Souldiers And Holmes having shared
most valiant General in War not onely to be compared to the chief Commanders of his own age but to the most renowned Warriours of elder times and of so great reputation he was in Military affairs that the modestest do acknowledge too great a Courage in Albemarle He spent almost his whole life in Arms and at length growing old amidst Victories he became gray-headed under a Helmet In Britain and Ireland by Sea and by Land so happy was Albemarle that Fortune traced out for him Honour Renown and Titles He had indeed a hidden and a silent kind of Sagacity in the management of affairs and improved almost all the Arts of Prudence by Silence He had a Modesty that set off all the other Virtues of his Mind nor was he ever heard to brag of what he had done or deserved The Fame of so great a man doubtless inferiour to no other Mortal will propagate it self to Posterity who without Pride or Ostentation gratified a banished Prince with so signal Services and onely rejoyced in the conscientious performance of his Duty and Obedience Nor after the Restauration of Charles did he behave himself as a Colleague in the Government as Mucianus was of old reported to have done to Vespasian but as a Servant neither did he ever boast that having the Power in his own hands he had bestowed it upon another whereby he burned to his glory the Arrogance of the Rump and the Impudence of Cromwel his Loyalty inclining him more to give up than his Ambition to retain the Government We may moreover reckon Albemarle happy not onely in the greatness of the Action but also in the seasonableness of the Service That he brought back the Government to a Prince of so just and good a temper who put so true an estimate upon his Loyalty and under whom it would never be unsafe nor dangerous to deserve the most For good Offices are acceptable especially to Kings so long as the obliged think they may be able to requite them but when they are too great to be rewarded instead of Thanks they procure Hatred And it is rare and almost unusual for Princes to think themselves obliged or if they think so to love their Benefactors Peace being now established at home and Janus his Temple shut Albemarle departed the more joyfully out of this life that when he left no Troubles in Britain yet he left behind him a Love for himself in the hearts of all good men so much the more wanted that he had taken care that nothing should be wanting having left nothing in the State but his own death to be bewailed the King flourishing in his Government and the Loyalty of the Parliament as yet vieing with the modesty of the Prince Every one enjoyed the happiness they desired at home and Peace with all Nations abroad till the League-breaking Dutch again provoked the English Arms. But the Actions of that War the steddy Fortune of the British Nation and the future Triumphs of CHARLES I have set aside as a subject for my more advanced years FINIS A Table to the Third Part. A. ALbemarle vid. Monk Army disbanded 52 B. Bishops restored 51 Booth Sir George his Insurrection 8 C. Committee of Safety 13 Commissioners from the Parliament wait on the King at Breda 44 Conventicles supprest 73 Covenant burnt by the Hangman 66 Cowley Abraham 99 D. De Wit 76 Dutch War beginning and occasion 74. The first Engagement 81. The second 87. The third 88. the fourth 90. The fifth 92. Their Attempt at Chatham 98. Peace concluded 98. F. Fanaticks rise but are supprest 72 G. Gloucester Duke dies 52 K. King Charles 2. Comes to Breda 42. Lands at Dover 46 Enters London 47. His Coronation 61. Marries the Infanta of Portugal 69. L. Lambert proclaimed a Traytor 40. Committed to the Tower 41. Condemn'd but obtains mercy 71. Libels 73 The Liturgie and Ceremonies of the Church confirm'd and establish'd by Act of Parliament 71 London the great Plague there 84. The great Fire there 94. Rebuilt 99 100. M. Monk Sir George 6 13 inf His famous march into England 25. Enters London 28. Admits the secluded Members 36. Receives Letters from the King 37. Created Duke of Albemarle 51. A short account of his Life and Death 102 inf His Character 105. O. Oblivion Act 52 Great Officers upon the Kings Restoration 51 Orange Princess dies in England 60 Oxford the Court and Term there 85. The new Theatre there built 101. P. Parliament the long one dissolved 41. A new one meet 42. A new one call'd by the King 66. Physicians Colledge visited by the King 78 Q. Queen-Mother dies 101 R. Recapitulation of things past 1 Regicides brought to Tryal 53. Their several Characters 54 55 56 57 58 67 68 70. Rump-Government 5. inf Rump and Army at variance 10. S. Solemn League and Covenant burnt by the Hangman 66 V. Uly-Island and Ships there burnt by the English 93 Y. York Duke made Lord High Admiral 50. His great Victory at Sea 81. The Right of Kings in England In the person of a Monarch for above a thousand years And he hereditary And never dying To him all swear Allegiance and Supremacy The Prerogatives of the K. or chief marks of Majesty and the Regalia belong onely to the King So that all Estates and Possessions are derived from him and to him return at last He hath the care of Pupils and Lunaticks The power of coyning Money He confers all Honours and Offices Which are to be administred in his name alone His power in matters of War Also in Ecclesiastical affairs He moderates the rigour of Laws And judges in undecided cases He chuses his own Counsellors He that mounts the Throne is never to be brought to the Bar since the Law says he cannot die Nor can he err or do wrong But as he offends by his Ministers so is he punished The Heir of the Crown is by the death of his Predecessor ipso facto cleared from all guilt Yet it is not lawful to rule arbitrarily VVhat Rights belong to Parliaments To make and repeal Laws Impose Taxes Legitimate Bastards Enact the VVorship of God Set Rates on VVeights and Measures VVhat the Parliament of England is The Vpper House of it The Lower The time and place appointed by the King They are called by VVrits The manner of meeting The King declares the causes of their meeting in the Vpper House All and every one of the Members of the House of Commons take the Oath of Allegiance to the King And of Supremacy They chuse a Speaker whom they accompany to the King beseeching his Majesty to approve their Election And not to be offended with their freedom in speech ☞ All may petition but by the mediation of Deputies The way of debating and communicating opinions betwixt both Houses By the Kings consent the Bills are made Laws Or otherwise rejected Religious matters aâ—â—ommitâ—ed by the Kiâ—g to
rob their Parents Fathers their Children Servants their Masters Wives their Husbands so that the mutual Offices to which men are bound in society were denied to those that differed from them in opinion For these reasons many contrary to the Dictates of Conscience run into the noose of the Covenant and at length whether that they thought themselves obnoxious to the Kings Laws or really bound in conscience by their Oath they seriously espoused the Party of the Parliament Against this many learned and pious men took up the Cudgels and in several Treatises amongst which was the Judgment of the University of Oxford an unanswerable piece in Latin confuted it as contrary to the Laws both of God and man the Covenanters in the mean time making no answer but with force and the sharper Arguments of the Sword The Scots who faithfully promised the King to give him no trouble in his affairs in England having by those previous artifices cleared their way into that Kingdom with twenty thousand men come to the assistance of the Parliament But first for forms sake they send Commissioners to the King to perswade him being inclinable enough of himself to make peace with the Parliament and to offer themselves as Mediators of the Controversie but the King having rejected them as unjust and partial Judges and commanded them to mind their own affairs at home they call a Parliament against all Law in the Kings name and then declare War The King foreseeing the Storm that was like to fall upon himself and Party had provided against it as well as possibly he could The Lords and Members of the House of Commons who though they were excluded the Houses thought it their duty still to stand by the Publick came over to the Kings side and the former to the number of forty with the Lord Keeper of the great Seal and the latter above two hundred transfer the Parliament to Oxford where being called to Council before they were admitted to take Arms by the King they held a Session of Parliament by the Kings authority nothing being wanting to the power and dignity of a Parliament but Walls and the place appointed by the Kings Writ To these the King gave strictly in charge that they would do what lay in their power to avert the Storm or at least consult how they might be able to resist it This Parliament wrote to the Scots that they would not in an hostile manner invade the King and Kingdom of England nor violate the Pacification formerly made They declare it Treason to take up Arms against the King or without his consent to call a foreign Nation into the Kingdom and that therefore the Rump-Parliament sitting at Westminster were upon both accounts guilty of High-Treason They also pass an Act for raising as much money as could reasonably be expected from the exhausted Counties and Towns which still continued in obedience to the King for defraying the charges of a double War now approaching The King also by Letters earnestly dehorted the Scots from that unlawful attempt and prohibits them by Proclamation That being his Subjects and obliged by so many bonds they would not come to the assistance of Rebels But this being signed by the hands of nineteen Lords the prevailing Rebels of Scotland with matchless insolence in Subjects cause it publickly to be burnt by the common Hangman The Marquess of Hamilton is commanded to keep the Scots at home that they might not meddle in the affairs of another Kingdom who being discovered to have unfaithfully discharged that Office having under pretext of danger fled out of Scotland to the King was afterward committed to Prison The Marquess of Montross being made General and Commissioner of Scotland is dispatched thither that by giving them a diversion at home they might be kept from invading England This Commission was valiantly discharged by the Marquess having with a handful of men and those raw and undisciplined put whole Armies to flight and every-where wasted the Country However the Scots pursuing their point left not England before by the help of Fairfax they had routed no small part of the Kings Army which they had long diverted from quelling the Parliamentarians elsewhere taken Newcastle and other strong places and handed on the Victory into the more Southern parts Henceforward the Kings affairs do dayly decline and were at length totally ruin'd Victory everywhere smiling upon the Rebels The Republican Rebels having obtained many Victories began to vent their hatred and indignation against the Lords and especially after the last Newberry-Fight they grew sick of the Earl of Manchester For he in a Council of War giving his opinion and exhorting them to Peace which he judged more expedient to the State seemed not so thorough-paced and fierce upon the War as they could have desired and being therefore in a long Speech accused by Cromwel in the Lower House he defends himself in the Vpper retorting the accusation So that both Houses thought it more convenient to compose the difference betwixt them than to enter into the merits of the Cause The Kings Forces being at length scattered and broken by the Scots on the one hand and the Parliament-Rebels on the other Pay and Provisions being wanting and Factions arising betwixt the Commanders of the Army and the Lords that all things might conspire to draw down Judgments upon us His Majesty had in his mind first to come to London and trust himself in the hands of the Parliament next to cast himself into the arms of the English Army but being rejected by both and his affairs in a very doubtful condition he ventured to betake himself to the Scots the French Embassadour who then was in the Scottish Army and some Scottish Commanders having obtained from them promises of honour safety and freedom for his Majesties person This revived former Grudges betwixt the English and Scottish Rebels which had almost broken out into a War It was likewise given out that the Earl of Essex who from a General was now become a private person would joyn with the Lords and Commons that conspired for their ruine in new Articles and Resolutions with the Scots but his sudden death occasioned by lying on the ground when he was all in a sweat after hunting dissipated all those rumours Nevertheless the Rebels thought fit at publick cost to humour him with magnificent Funerals as being more for their interest to shew gratitude to a dead friend than to have him perhaps a living enemy Upon this they began to deny the Scots their Pay put a necessity upon them of exacting Money and free Quarters from the Counties where they lay expose them to hatred extenuate their merits undervalue the courage of the Nation call them mercenary Souldiers of fortune whilst they in the mean time paid them onely with Reproaches threaten to drive them out of the Kingdom by force of Arms publickly provoke
for they grow openly mutinous and infect others with the same itch of Rioting They accuse the Lord Lieutenant in presence of the Lord O-Bryan Inchiqueen as the Disturber of the Affairs of Ireland whose continuing longer at the Helm would quickly be the ruin of the Government but that if he alone would undertake the management of Affairs being a person descended of the ancient Race of their Kings whom they had found to be a Valiant Watchful Faithful and Successful General they all promise to swear Obedience to him and willingly submit to his Government On the other hand they whisper the Lord Lieutenant in the Ear that Inchiqueen having been an inveterate Rebel had not as yet laid aside the thoughts of his ancient Enmity nor would he cordially defend the cause of those against whom he had been so long accustomed to draw his Sword that if the Lord Lieutenant would consent to lay him aside the Irish would unanimously joyn and in all things obey his Commands Thus whilst by an abominable Treachery and Hatred to either they strive to Calumniate and Blacken both they make it their business to propagate Faction and Divisions But the Lord Lieutenant meeting the Bishops and Great Men earnestly exhorts them That at length laying aside all private Grudges and Animosities which still remained to be composed they would consult the Publick Interest become Friends and unanimously prepare for a more vigorous defence That they would reflect upon the great danger they were in three Provinces being already almost wholly subdued and the last not like to resist much longer That if his Government was less grateful to them and was a hindrance to the defence of the Country he would hasten his departure and commit the charge to another For he had already secretly obtained leave to depart from the King being still at Jersey and had got the Goverment conferred on Clanricard When they heard this all of them pretended extraordinary Sorrow that they would submit to his Will and Pleasure banish all mutual Jealousies and perswade the Towns to Obedience They departed with glad and cheerful Countenances as abundantly satisfied though they were still inwardly discontented So true it is That those whom God intends to destroy he first infatuates For the Inhabitants and Roman Catholick Clergy combining privately together kept Clubs and Cabals and dispersed infamous Libels wherein they shew the Rancour of their Minds by calumniating the Lord Lieutenant as unactive Cowardly and Treacherous finding fault with the Commissions that were granted to Officers of the Reformed Religion and repining that the War should be committed to the Caâ—e and Conduct of unfit Men wholly addicted to Whoring Gaming Gluttony and Impiety The Bishops of Cork and Toam and of Clonfert and the rest of the Clergy declare the Government void and the Followers of the Lord Lieutenant liable to Excommunication And therefore they order the Army to be Disbanded before they could think of the raising of another Nevertheless the Lord Lieutenant that he might as much as lay in his Power preserve the Forces in their Duty and Loyalty to the King he left the charge of them to the Earl of Clanricard with the Title of Lord Deputy who being admitted by the unanimous consent of all that stuck to the Kings Party took upon himself the management of the War A general Muster being thereupon appointed new Levies are made the Souldiers Exercised necessaries for the War provided and all things prepared afresh the Clergy being very Zealous and the People assistant in carrying on the Work About that time Ireton betook himself to Winter Quarters in Dublin that he might consult with the Commissioners of the Common-wealth about the future War and other Affairs having left Orders to Axtel Governour of Kilkenny to have an eye upon the Garrisons about Athlome Axtel by chance whil'st he was upon Duty fell in with Clanricards Men who passing the Shannon at Athlome had taken some of Iretons Garrisons and had surprised more if he had not come in the nick of time They charge Axtel who being much inferiour in number retreated a little until being recruited from Wexford and other places he had joyned thirteen hundred men to the eight hundred which he himself had and then he made head against the Enemy But so soon as they began to Skirmish though the Irish were five thousand Foot and four hundred Horse strong yet not daring to venture a battel they retreat to the River Shannon and skulk in two Boggs about Melecha fortifying themselves with Poles and Stakes driven into the ground and filled up with Earth as by a double Wall However the English leaving no means unessayed and breaking through all impediments bravely drove them out of their Station and destroyed them five hundred men who were partly slain and partly drowned After this overthrow it was thought safer in the very extremity of Winter to keep the Souldiers betwixt the Shannon vast Lakes and the Collough Mountains than any more to molest the Enemy whom daily Success made bolder The Reader may be apt to wonder that the Irish shewed themselves so Cowardly and Timerous during the whole Series of this War as if from Men they had degenerated into Women being every where defeated though they fought for their Lives and Liberties But whoever equally weighs matters will easily leave off to wonder For on the one hand he 'll find the English provided of all necessaries for a War unanimous amongst themselves all expert in War and confiding as it is usual in their continual good Fortune The Irish on the other hand almost without Arms for most part destitute of Weapons and other necessaries disagreeing also amongst themselves miserably rent into Factions raw and unskillful in War and in a manner cowed by constant ill Fortune Besides they are neither comparable to the English in Foot nor Horse how brave soever they be in Foreign Countries The private Souldiers I know not whether it be by the Skill and Knowledge they have of the Bogs and lurking Places that they are to soon enticed to fly or that through the force of an old Custom they could not but turn their Backs envied to the Blows of the English Now as to their Horse they are far exceeded by the English not only in number but also in the quality of the Horses and Riders The Horses indeed march but softly but in bulk of Body strength of Limbs and Courage one Troop of them is worth three almost of the Irish and breaks Ranks better And the Riders again are for close Fighting discharging their Pistols in the Enemies Breast and laying about them with their Swords Hence it is that in every Engagment the Irish presently betake themselves to flight nor can they endure the looks yea hardly the Neighing of the Horses of the English I hope the Reader will pardon me that I have tacked this Apology
for the Irish Nation as an Appendix to the work I now return to the History In the very depth of Winter the Bishop of St. Cathdrin came seasonably as an Agent from the Duke of Lorrain who as a token of his Masters Affection brought with him a considerable sum of Money and promises of more if they agreed in Treaty pretending great kindness to the King Kingdom and People The sums of the Proposals which he made to the afflicted Party was That the Duke with ten thousand Foot five thousand Horse and thirty Ships should come into Ireland and with the Title of Protector carry on the War That the Duke of York should Marry his Daughter That Limmerick and Galloway with the Magazine Guns and Ammunition should be put into his hands That he should have some cautionary Towns for security of the Moneys to be raised That the Inhabitants should have a care to keep the Enemy out of Connaght until his Arrival These Conditions were debated but whether agreed to or not I am uncertain and the Envoy departed to acquaint his master with his proceedings But that Atlas was not strong enough to support the falling Firmament and there was so much time spent in the Treaty that the oppportunity of relief being past shewed only its bald Poll instead of the favourable Forelock The Spring began now to come on but Ireland seemed to be in its autumn ready to be cut down All that Clanricard could do was to shew his tayl and flap with some convulsive motions and vibrations of a dying Nation like the last blaze of an expiring light He views all places by which the Enemy might break into Connaght he posts Soldiers at all the passes of the river Shannon as also at the river Rour and the Collough mountains wherever any passage might be found In the mean time Ireton call'd Coot out of Vlster with two thousand horse and as many good foot that he might come and join him near Galloway Coot that he might deceive the Enemy pretends that he is to march to Slego and there stops as if he were about to besiege that Castle until he had drawn thither all the Irish Forces From thence turning suddenly back again he found a pretty easy passage over the tops of the Collough hills Now must I relate by what means Ireton got into Connaght He having left Broghill in Munster Ingoldsby in the parts opposite to Limmerick Huson in West Weath Venables in Canan and Zankie in Tipparary he marches to the River Shannon and at three several places together not without suspicion of Treachery at Killalve he passes over his Forces the Foot in boats and the Horse for most part swimming Whilst Huson in the mean time alarm'd Abhalone as if he were ready to attack it Clanricard's men being beat out of all places he then over a wooden Bridge sends over his Canon and Baggage and without longer delay joins Coot as it had been agreed upon The Enemy being too weak to make resistance Athalone Portumna Tagera and some lesser Garrisons are taken Then having divided the Army Coot marches to Galloway Ireton to Limmerick Coot had already forced Farel with an Army of three or four thousand men to retreat into the Woods Bogs and other unaccessible places about Galloway and therefore daring to approach nearer the place he encamps and entrenches himself and so summons the Town to surrender He is answered That if Conditions were offered for the whole Kingdom of Ireland they would willingly listen unto them But seeing he would grant none but private and particular Articles both Parties prepare for a Siege In the mean time Limmerick is blockt up on all sides the river Shannon being also stopt They had for about three weeks expected succours from Muskery whose motion Broghil observing he had opportunely beat him off destroyed and dispersed his Forces The City is therefore incessantly batter'd and the approaches carried on to the very Walls Nor was the danger within the walls less than without the Plague having long raged amongst the Inhabitants and intestine divisions a no less grievous Plague daily increasing amongst them Some are for surrendering the Town forthwith others again for suffering rather the utmost extremity The opinion that was for a surrender prevailing they came to Articles which before they were signed the Gates were opened and the Castle delivered to the Enemy as an Hostage The Conditions were That the Soldiers should lay down their Arms and depart whither they pleased except those who had embrew'd their hands in the innocent Blood of the English That all the Arms Guns Ammunition and publick stores should be delivered into the possession of the Conquerour That those that had a mind to be gone should have time to pack up their Goods and Ships to transport them whithersoever they pleased That four and twenty should be left to the mercy of the Conquerour So fell that beautiful and Rich Town much frequented by reason of the advantages of the Sea and of the River Shannon and strongly fortified but withal proud of its own Strength Wealth and Riches which if it had not been divided and if it had not again with a stiffness refused to obey the Governours would not in so short a time and with so small a loss of Blood have fallen into the Enemy's hands The Bishop of Ferne with many others are hanged And the Bishop of Limmerick made his escape in disguise But the place was fatal to the Conquerour for as Limmerick fell Ireton dies concerning whom since from a mean extraction he mounted to the Pinacle of Government it will not be amiss that I speak a little In Trinity Colledge of Oxford he was initiated in the liberal Arts and made therein no contemptible Progress afterward he applied himself to the Study of the Common Law in the Temple in which having got a little smattering from his very Youth he drank in the Errours of the Anabaptists and assisted the Fanaticks in drawing up a Petition against the holy order of Episcopacy which was afterwards by Pennington and a numerous rabble of Londoners ready at that time for such attempts presented to the Parliament Not long after the Troubles daily encreasing he struck in with Cromwel when he was in the Isle of Ely being first admitted into his Quarters then by Cromwel being made Governour of the whole Island he was presently after advanced to be his Son in law Having there served an Apprentiship he enured his body to the War by a voluntary lying upon the ground fasting watching and exercises before he came to the Tryal of it until by degrees he at length advanced almost to the Chief command in the Army Hence forward he became his inseperable Companion especially in assisting him in all Declarations Articles Letters and Treaties that were to be made He grew indefatigable in labour and pains being accustomed to spend night and day in his