time he should stand committed to the Serjeants Ward till Two Thousand Pound Bail could be procured for his appearance next Sessions And though the King took him into Protection as his Servant yet his Bail-bond remained uncancelled Divers Laws were Enacted in this Parliament as one about Observation of the Lord's day another for restraint of Tipling in Inns Alehouses c. These passed likewise in the House of Commons A Bill for Tunnage and Poundage but this miscarried in the House of Lords because the Commons had limited it to a year whereas it was formerly granted to the Kings Predecessors during their lives it being intended to reduce the Customs to the Rate at which they were settled in the Reign of Queen Mary During the fitting of the Parliament the Lord Mordant a Papist and his Wife a Protestant being both desirous of each others Conversion they put their cause upon a dispute between James Usher L. Archbishop of Amargh and one Rookwood a Jesuite who called himself Beaumont this was acted at Drayton in Northamptonshire the points disputed on were Transubstantiation Praying to Saints Images and the Visibility of the Church wherein the Learned Primate so foil'd his Adversary that the Lord Mordant was Convinced and Converted to the Protestant Religion and his Lady further confirmed therein On the Eleventh of July 1626 the Parliament by reason of the sickness Adjourned till August 1. and then met again at Oxford where the King first by himself and next by his two Secretaries the Lord Conway and Sir John Cook declared to them the necessity of setting forth a Fleet for the recovery of the Palatinate which was the Countrey of the Prince Palatine of the Rhyns who married the Kings Sister and was then unjustly detained from him by the Emperour of Germany and the King of Spain the Lord Treasurer likewise instanced the several Sums of Money which King James died indebted to the City of London This occasioned very warm Debates in the House of Commons who alledged That evil Councels guided the Kings Designs That the Treasury was misimployed That our necessties arose through Imprevidence That it would be necessary to Petition the King for a stricter hand and better Councel to manage his Affairs That though a former Parliament engaged the King in a War yet if things were managed with Contrary designs and the Treasure misimployed this Parliament was not bound to be carried blindsold in Designs not guided by sound Council That it was not usual to grant Subsidies upon Subsidies in one Parliament and no Grievances rednessed With several other Passages of the like Nature They likewise very much reflected upon the miscarriages of the Duke of Buckingham who was then a person of very considerable Trust but however they promised to consider of the Kings desires and presented him a Petition against Popish Recusants giving an Account of their damage ascribing certain Causes of their growth and offering divers Remedies thereunto unto which a satisfactory Answer if any thing would have satisfied was returned And hereupon there followed a Debate about Supplies some were for contributing presently others demurr'd as disliking the design in hand and in conclusion the Major part agreed not to give And being incensed against the Duke of Buckingham they began to think of divesting him of his Offices and to require an Account of the Publick Moneys wherewith he had been intrusted all which they intended to include in an humble Remonstrance to prevent which the King resolved to Dissolve the Parliament and accordingly the Usher of the Black Rod was sent from the House of Lords to the Commons who were then resolved into a Grand Committee and understanding the Kings pleasure they caused the Speaker to keep his Seat while they agreed upon a Message of Thanks to his Majesty for his Gracious Answer to their Petition for Religion and for his care of their Health in giving them leave to depart this dangerous time of Sickness with a dutiful Declaration of their Affection and Loyalty and of their purposing to supply him in a Parliamentary way in fit and convenient time After which they were accordingly dissolved Now the War with Spain being intended both for the recovery of the Palatinate and to prevent disturbance in our Civil Estate the Councel hereupon resolve with all speed to set forth a Fleet and to preserve strict Unity and Peace with France Denmark and the United Provinces and with the Hollanders the King had already entered into a League Offensive and Defensive against the House of Austria and likewise had promised to assist them in soliciting other Princes to enter into the same Confederation upon Condition that they should bear a Fourth part of the Charge of the Fleet and in pursuance hereof the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Holland were sent to the Hague and there meeting with the Ambassadors of France and Denmark they concluded a League for restoring the Liberties of Germany the two last Ambassadors having no further power from their Supteams A while after the Dissolution of the Parliament the King published a Proclamation Commanding the return of all Children of Noble-men which had been sent to be Educated in Seminaries and Popish Schools beyond Sea that none who had received Orders from Rome should presume to confer Orders or Exercise Ecclesiastical Functions in any of his Dominions and likewise that the Statute be put in Execution for the departure of Priests and Jesuites out of his Majesties Dominions By reason of the Dissolving the Parliament the Act of Subsidies was prevented and the King was necessitated to take up Money upon Loan of such Persons as were of Ability to lend and to that end he directed his Letters to the Lord Leiutenants of the several Counties To return the Names of those Men whom they thought most sufficient The places of their Habitations and what Sums each might be judged able to lend and to the persons returned Letters were Issued forth in the Kings Name to this purpose That his Majesty having observed in the Presidents and Customs of former times That all the Kings and Queens of this Realm upon extraordinary occasions have used either to resort to those Contributions which arise from the generality of Subjects or to the private helps of some well affected in particular by way of Loan in the former of which as his Majesty has no doubt in the Love and affection of his People when they shall again Assemble in Parliament so for the present he was inforced to proceed in the latter course for supply of some Portions of Treasure for divers publick Services which without manifold Inconveniences to his Majesty and his Kingdoms cannot be deferr'd and therefore this being the first time that his Majesty hath required any thing of this kind he doubts not but he shall receive such a Testimony of good affection from them among other of his Subjects and that with such alacrity and readiness as may make the same so
done His Character is Expressed by the King his Master in his Eikon Basilike who said He looked upon the Earl of Strafford as a Gentleman whose great Abilities might make a Prince rather afraid than ashamed to Imploy him in the greatest Affairs of State The fall of this powerful man so startled other great Officers of State that several resigned their places About the same time some discontents arose between the Parliament and the English Army in the North but a while after both Armies were disbanded The payment of Tonnage and Poundage had been much questioned since 1628 but now the King at the request of the Commons was content to relinquish his Claim to it and afterward pasied a Bill for Pole-money and two others for putting down the Star chamber and High Commission Courts which had proceeded with too much severity having so far out grown the power of the Law that they would not be limited nor guided by it July 5. A Charge was brought into the House of Commons against Dr. Wren Bishop of Ely being accused of some Treasonable Misdemeanors in his Diocess who thereupon Voted him unworthy and unfit to hold or exercise any Office or Dignity in Church or State and desired the Lords to join with them to request the King for his Removal from his service and so he was committed to the Tower and about the same time the Writs for Ship money and all the Proceedings therein were by the Kings consent adjudged void and 5. of the Judges that gave their Opinions for it were Impeached of high misdemeanors that is Bramston Trevor Weston Davenport and Crawly and Berkly another of the Judges was accused for Treason but no further prosecution was made therein August 6. Both the English and Scotch Armies were disbanded and four-days after the King went toward Scotland and was entertained with great demonstrations of Affection by that Nation and conferred several Places of Honour and Power upon divers of them confirming likewise the Treaty between the two Nations by Act of Parliament October 23 1641. A Horrid and Notorious Rebellion broke out in Ireland which was managed with such secrecy that it was not discovered till the night before it was to have been put in Execution which was in divers places carried on with such fury that Two hundred thousand English Men Women and Children were in a short space barbarously murdered by all manner of most cruel torments that their Devlish minds could invent And this was chiefly occasioned by the Instigation of the Irish Popish Priests Monks and Fryers who every where declaimed loudly against the Protestants saying That they were Hereticks and not to be suffered any longer to live amongst them That it was no more sin to kill one of them then to kill a dog and that it was a mortal and unpardonable sin to relieve or protect any of them Yea the Priests gave the Sacrament to divers of the Irish upon Condition they should spare neither Man Woman nor Child of the Protestants saying That it did them a great deal of good to wash their hands in their blood and that they were worse than Dogs and if any of them died in the Quarrel before their bodies were cold their souls should be in Heaven without ever calling in at Purgatory by the way This bloody Rebellion happened in a time wherein the Irish had all the Priviledges and Liberty they could reasonably expect and the ancient hatred which the Irish had born to the English did now seem to be forgotten Forty Years of Peace having compacted and cemented them together both by Alliances and Marriages which were all now miserably broken and destroyed The Castle of Dublin wherein were Ten thousand Arms and all other Forts and Magazines in the Kingdom were to have been surprized and all the English Protestants that would not joyn with them were to be murdered but the seizing of the Castle was happily prevented by one Owen Conally from some discourse accidentally in a Tavern with one Hugh Mac Mahon Grandson to the Great Earl of Tyrone the night before the intended Execution Upon this Discovery Mac Mahon and Lord Mac-Guire were seized by the Lord Chief Justices of Ireland and many Principal Conspirators escaped that night out of Dublin so was Dublin saved that all Ireland might not be lost in one day But the horrid Design was past prevention as to the General for the Conspirators were in Arms at the day appointed in all the Counties round about and poor English Protestants daily arrived there robbed and spoiled of all they had giving lamentable Relations how their Houses were seized the Towns and Villages fired and in all parts all manner of cruel Outrages and Villanies committed The Lords Justices Sir William Parsons and Sir John Burlace taking those Arms which they found in Dublin and Arming whom they could to defend themselves sent Sir Henry Spotswood to the King then in Scotland with an Account of all that happened who dispatched Sir James Stuart with Instructions to the Lords of the Privy Council in Ireland and to carry all the Money his present Stores would supply He likewise moved the Parliament of Scotland as being nearest for their assistance but they excused it because Ireland was a dependant upon the Crown of England but if the State of England would use any of their men for that service they would make Propositions in order to it At the same time likewise the King sent Post to the Parliament of England and a while after Owen O Conally the First Discoverer of the Plot came to London and brought Letters to the Earl of Leicester who was chosen Deputy but not yet gone over wherein the Lords Justices desired some Reward might be given him upon which the Parliament Voted him a Gift of 500 l. and an Annuity of 200 l. a year and at a Conference of both Houses they passed several Votes for the Relief of Ireland yet little was done till the Kings return from Scotland which was about the end of November The Irish to dishearten the English from any resistance bragged That the Queen was with their Army That the King would come amongst them also and asist them That they did but maintain his Cause against the Puritans That they had the Kings Commission for what they did shewing indeed a Patent themselves had drawn but thereto was affixed an Old Broad Seal which had been taken from an Ancient Patent out of Farnham Abby by one Plunket in the presence of many of their Lords and Priests as was afterwards attested by the Confession of several That the Scots were in the Confederacy with them And to seem to confirm this last they abstained for some time from destroying the Estates or murdering any of that Nation And on the otherside to incourage the Irish they produced pretended Letters wherein they said they were informed from England That the Parliament had passed an Act all the Irish should be compelied to the Protestant worship
King as not willing to have them too strong yet promised to take such care for their security from Violence as he would for the preservation of Himself and Children and if this general Assurrnce would not suffice to remove those Apprehensions he would command such a Guard to wait upon them as he would be responsible for to Almighty God This Answer being unsatisfactory the City joyn with them and in their Common Council drew up a Petition complaining That the Trade of the City was decayed to the utter Ruin of the Protestant Religion and the Lives and Liberties of the Subjects by the Designs of Papists Foreigners and Domesticks more particularly their fomenting the Irish Rebellion by changing the Constable of the Tower and making preparations there By the fortifying of White-hall and his Majesties late Invasion of thâ— House of Commons Whereupon they pray Thaâ— by the Parliaments Advice the Protestants in Ireland may be relieved the Tower to be put into hands of Persons of Trust a Guard appointed for the safety of thâ— Parliament and that the Five Members may not be restrained nor proceeded against but by the Priviledges of Parliament And besides this The King riding into London the Citizens in multitudes flockeâ— about his Coach beseeching him To agree with his Parliament and not to violate their Priviledges To their Petition the King returned Answer That he could not express a greater sense of Ireland that he had done That meerly to satisfie the City he had removed a worthy Person from the charge of the Tower and that the late Tumults had caused him to fortifie White-hall for the security of his own Person That his going to the House of Commons was to apprehend those five Members for Treason to which the Priviledges of Parliament could not extend and that yet he would proceed against them no otherwise than legally And now such numbers of ordinary People daily gathered about Westminster and White-hall that the King doubting of their Intentions thought fit to with-draw to Hampton Court taking with him the Queen Prince and Duke of York where he and his Retinue and Guard quickly increased by accession of divers of the Gentry But the next day the Five Members were triumphantly guarded to Westminster by a great number of Citizens and Seamen with hundreds of Boats and Barges with Guns in them shouting and hallowing as they passed by White-hall and making large Protestations at Westminster of their constant fidelity and adherence to the Parliament About this time the Parliament had notice the Lord Digby and Collonel Lunsford were raising Troops of Horse at Kingston where the County Magazine was lodged whereupon they order That the County Sheriffs Justices of Peace and the Trained Bands shall take care to secure the Countreys and their Magazine and suppress all unlawful Assemblies Lunsford was seized and sent to the Tower but Digby escaped beyond Sea The King removed to Royston at which time Sir Edward Harbert Attorney General is questioned at the Lords Bar to answer concerning the Articles against the Five Members where it had gone hard with him if the King at his earnest Supplication had not taken him off by a Letter to the Lord Keeper Littleton who succeeded L. Finch wherein the King clears the Attorney General and takes the whole business upon himself yet concludes That finding cause wholly to desist from proceeding against the Persons Accused he had commanded his Attorney General to proceed no further therein nor to produce nor discover any proof concerning the same And so this Breach between the King and Parliament seemed at present to be made up At this time the Scots having a considerable Interest in their Britttish Plantations in Ireland make Proposals for Transporting 2500 Souldiers thither which were accepted by both Houses and afterward consented to by the King after which the Scotch Commissioners interposed their Meditation for composing the differences between the King and Parliament which were now grown to too great an height for which Mr. Pym was ordered by the Commons to give them the thanks of the House January 20. The King sends a Message to the Parliament proposing the security of his own just Rights and Royal Authority and That since particular Grievances and Distractions were too many and would be too great to be presented by themselves that they would comprize and digest them into one entire body and send them to him and it should then appear how ready he would be to equal or exceed the greatest Examples of the most Iudulgent Princes in their Acts of Grace and Favour to the People After this the Commons move the Lords to joyn with them in Petitioning for the Militia and the Command of the Tower but they not complying the House of Commons singly of themselves Importune the King to put those things into the hands of the Parliament as the only available means for removal of their Fears and Jealousies But the King not willing to part with the Principal Jewels of his Crown signified to them That he thought the Militia to be lawfully subject to no command but his own and therefore would not let it out of his hands That he had preferred to the Lieutenancy of the Tower a Person of known Fortune and unquestionable Reputation and that he would prefer none but such to the command of his Forts and Castles yet would not intrust the power of conferring those Places and Dignities from himself being derived to him from his Ancestors by the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Yet the Commons would not desist but again petitioned and were again refused Soon after divers Petitions were delivered to the Parliament against the Votes of Popish Lords and Bishops in the House of Peers as one from Suffolk with 1500 and another from the Londoners with 2000 hands and a Third from the City Dames All which were Answered That the Commons had already endeavoured Relief from the Lords in their Requests and should so continue till Redress were obtained And shortly after the Lords passed the Bill For disabling all Persons in Holy Orders to have any Place or Vote in Parliament or to exercise any Temporal Jurisdiction At the same time they petition the King again for the Militia and for clearing Kimbolton and the Five Members by his Answer to both which they understood his Resolution Not to intrust the Militia out of himself nor to clear the Members but only by a General Pardon which was unsatisfactory The King now at Hampton Court thought fit to send for all his Domestick Servants of either House of Parliament and particularly the Earls of Essex and Holland but they refused to come excusing themselves with The necessity of performing their duties in Parliament and discharging the Trust reposed in them For which they were put from their Places at Court The Lord Digby about this time sent Three Letters from Middleburg in Zealand where he was fled out of England one to the Queen and two others to Secretary
Committee of the Lords and Commons to reside there for the better securing the Garrison to them and gave the Governor power to raise the Trained Bands for his defence after which the King hearing that the Parliament had raised a Guard of themselves without his consent and reflecting upon the business of Hotham he summoned the Gentry of Yorkshire to a Meeting and acquainted them That his Magazine at Hull was going to be taken from him against his will the Militia against the Law and his consent put in execution and Sir John Hothams Treason countenanced so that he was resolved to have a Guard to secure his person in which he desired their assistance that he might be able to protect them the Laws and the true Protestant Religion from violation or injury The King had hereby indifferently strengthened himself and more had come in had not those Members of Parliament who came to the King at York prevailed with some of the Free-holders to protest against it And the Parliament declare That the Subjects unless bound to it by special Service could not be commanded to attend the King at his pleasure without transgressing against the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom And that whosoever upon pretence of his Majesties Command shall take up Arms in a warlike manner shall be esteemed disturbers of the peace and to be proceeded against accordingly In the mean while Sir Thomas Gardiner who had been Recorder of London for six years being Impeached by the Parliament and in danger of hanging was glad to shift for himself and by flight escaped to the King at which time his Majesty endeavoured to have removed the Term from London to York but was much opposed therein by the Parliament who Voted it Illegal and forbid the L. Keeper to issue out Writs or Seal any Proclamation to that purpose The Parliament now proceed to put the people into a Military posture requiring all Persons in Authority to put the late Ordinance of the Militia in Execution which the King by his Proclamation forbids but for the Peoples satisfaction the Parliament publish'd a severe Declaration to the same Effect as their former Remonstrance only this was added That the King at his being in Scotland had countenanced the Irish in their Rebellious Designs and that his connivance was manifested by his tedious with-holding the Proclamation whereby they were declared Traytors till Jan. 2. being almost a Quarter of a Year after the breaking out of the Rebellion and then had appointed but forty Copies to be printed none of them to be published without his pleasure signified whereas his Proclamations against the Scots had been dispersed throughout all the Kingdom with publick Prayers and Execrations The King makes a speedy Answer hereunto not much differing from what he had said before yet tells them That as to the business of the Irish his Council in Ireland had desired them no sooner nor so many Copies by twenty as he had Signed and and sent them His Majesty had written a Letter to his Privy Council of Scotland to take away from them all suspicion of those Imputations so frequently laid to his Charge of being Popishly affected to be guilty of the bloodshed in Ireland and to bring in Forreign Forces Wherewith they seemed so satisfied that they returned a most respectful Answer and presently interposed their Mediation to heal the Breach before it grew wider humbly desiring the King to hearken to his Parliament as his greatest his best and most unparallel'd Council and discouraging him from any personal Journey into Ireland This Message was sent by the Earl of Lowden Chancellor of Scotland and after this the Scots Petition to the Kings Privy Council there Not to meddle with any verbal or real Engagement for the King against the Parliament Hereupon the English Parliament publish a Protestation wherein they vindicate their own proceedings and declare the great sense they had of the Affection of their Scotish Brethren manifested unto them in so many particulars and more especially the mentioned Petition The Earl of Bristol an Old Experienced Statesman prudently foresaw that such unhappy beginings must necessarily have a very bad Issue therefore earnestly endeavoured an Accommodation by stating the Case in the House of Lords representing the Offers of the King on the one side and the Professions of the Parliament on the other and likewise the dreadful Effects of a Civil War then likely to ensue by the Example of the woful Desolations in Germany and the expensive Troubles in Scotland and then proposes some methods for preventing these dangers as 1. That a select Committee of Parliament should truly state the matters in difference with the most probable ways of reconciling them 2. To consider particularly what may be expected either in point of supporting the King or releiving his People And lastly how the Conditions agreed upon may be secured And to shew the necessity of this course he discovers the deplorable State of Ireland the debts and necessities of the Crown the distractions which were likely to produce confusion of Religion most dangerous and destructive to a State besides the general Distraction of the Subjects who between Commands and Countermands knew not whom to obey This was admitted as good and solid Reason but Divine Justice would not so permit the Sins of the English Nation to go unpunished and the L. Bristols Speech though well received yet proved ineffectual In the mean time the Kings Guard increases at York which the House Voted a preparation for War against the Parliament a Breach of the Trust reposed in him by his People and that all such as serve him there are Traitors to the Laws of the Kingdom as the 11 Rich. 2. and the 1 Hen. 3. This was followed by another Declaration or Remonstrance of the misactions of the King and their own Priviledges which the King answers and they again reply to and May 28. the Parliament ordain That all Sheriffs Justices c. make stay of all Arms and Ammunition going to the King at York the King on the other side forbids all Persons belonging to the Trained Bands or Militia of the Kingdom to obey any Order or Ordinance of any of the Houses divers Members of both Houses withdrew themselves to the King as being unsatisfied with their proceedings whereupon the Parliament Ordered That all such as did not make their Personal Appearance by June 16 ensuing should be fined an 100 pounds toward the Irish Wars such only excepted as were imployed by the Parliament They likewise understood that the Queen had pawned the Crown Jewels in Holland for Money to be transported to the King which to prevent him of they order That whoever hath or shall pay lend send or bring any Money in Specie into this Kingdom for or upon those Jewels or accept of any Bill hereafter shall be an Enemy to the State June 2. The Parliament sent to the King Nineteen Proposition 1. That all the Kings Privy
discovering by an intercepted Letter began to project new designs and his Son Capt. Hotham being suspected by the Parliament was imprisoned at Nottingham but made his escape and underhand Treated with the E. of Newcastle Upon which Orders were sent for seizing both Father and Son which was done accordingly together with his wife and the rest of his Children who were all sent up Prisoners to the Parliament and some Months after Sir John and his Son were brought to Tryal in Guild-hall the E. of Manchester and others being assigned their Judges and the Father is charged That he had Traiterously betrayed the Trust reposed in him by the Parliament and adhered to the Enemy as appeared by his Words by his Letters and by his Actions and that he held correspondence with the Queen the E. of Newcastle L. Digby and others of that Party and had endeavoured to betray Hull to them His Son was charged with things of the same nature upon which they were both Sentenced to be Beheaded which was accordingly Executed the Son Jan. 1. 1644. and the Father the next day after But to return July 4. 1643. P. Rupert sits down before Bristoll and though Coll. Fines had formerly hanged up some Citizens for intending to have delivered up the Town to the Prince yet nevertheless the design took effect for being at that time very ill provided for resistance which P. Rupert had notice of from his Correspondents within the Governour was constrained after 3 days Siege to surrender it to him Aug. 12. the E. of Lindsey being freed from his imprisonment wherein he was since Edge-hill fight came to the King at Oxford and soon after P. Maurice besieged Exeter flinging in Granadoes and firing part of the Suburbs upon which a fruitless Parley ensued the next day the Prince masters the Great Sconce and turns the great Guns thereon upon the City and then the Garrison agreed to yield the Officers only to part with their Swords and the private Souldiers to march out with Cudgels in their hands At this time Judge Berkley who had been imprisoned by the Parliament about Ship-money was fined Twenty thousand pound made incapable of all Offices and to continue a Prisoner during pleasure The Parliament were now busied for recruiting Sir William Waller's Army and to incline the Londoners to a more chearfull compliance Pennington the L. Maior was made Lieutenant of the Tower yet Waller was forced to stay because Essex his Army wanted likewise Reinforcement Essex musters ten thousand men at Hounslow Heath but this would not serve for so weighty an Affair as the relief of Glocester now besieged by the King and he must therefore make use of the London Trained Bands Glocester was the place which stopt the current of the Kings successes Massey was Governour thereof and had with him two Regiments of Foot and an 100 Horse which with some other Recruits made up 1500 men with forty Barels of Powder and a slender Artillery yet they within behaved themselves like men of Resolution and Allarum'd the Besiegers with frequent Sallies The King plants his Cannon against the Gates which made above 150 shot and the Granadoes did some Execution in the Town yet nothing abated the Spirits of the People Whereupon the King prepares for a General Storm and all was ready they within being in want and having but three Barrels of Powder left when news comes that Essex was on his March with a powerfull Army to raise the Siege whereupon after consultation had by the King with the General Officers it was resolved the Kings Army should draw off which was done and all their Hutts were set on fire and Sept. 5. 1643. Essex enters into Glocester and having furnished the City plentifully with provisions went after the King who at that Siege lost that opportunity of marching up to London the Parliament having then no considerable Army in the Field which he could never regain The War had hitherto continued in Ireland and the English Army had commonly success against the Rebels but the King now understanding the Parliaments contracting with the Scots for aid thought fit to strengthen himself by recalling part of his Army there hither and commissionated the E. of Ormond his Lieut. General to agree on a cessation for a year which was concluded at Singeston and Sept. 18. 1643. was proclaimed by the Lords Justices and Council at Dublin and soon after some Forces from thence landed in Wales and took Hawerden Castle near Chester for the King The E. of Essex having relieved Glocester speeds after the King and passing by Cirencester left a strong Party there where P. Maurice was expected that night but instead of him comes Essex and being mistaken for the other enters the Town without any Opposition seizes 400 men and 30 Cart loads of Provision and then marches to Newberry where the King was before and had gotten the advantage of the Ground and planted his Ordnance Early in the morning Sept. 20. 1643. Essex views the Kings Army and in Newberry Common draws up his own and falls to firing the Kings Army doing the like That part of the Army which P. Rupert charged being overlay'd were forced to fall off on the Right hand where two Great Bodies of Horse marched down the Hill and fell in furiously upon the Prince both sides acting with great valour and fury and coming to handy-strokes with their Swords The Essexians then wheeling about charged the L. Jermins Regiment whom they forced to make their escape through some Bodies of Foot this Battel caused great loss and bloodshed on either side but greater on the Kings whose other Bodies of Horse commanded by the Earls of Carnarvan and Northampton notwithstanding the great courage of their Commanders were overpowered and the Earls of Carnarvan and Sunderland Viscount Falkland and many other Officers and Gentlemen slain The London Trained Bunds and Auxiliaries did the Parliament great service in this Fight Night coming on both Armies retired and next day marched away from each other After this several Places were Garrisoned for the King by Sir William Vavasor as Tewksbury Shudley Castle and other places in Glocester-shire and soon after Waller again surpriseth Tewksbury but is afterward beaten by P. Maurice Massey and Waller take Hereford and Sir William Brereton had the Town and Castle of Eccleshall delivered upon reasonable Quarter An Ordinance is now published by the Parlirment to seize upon the Kings Revenue And Sir William Waller is made Major General of Hampshire Sussex Surrey and Kent and marching to Farnham beat a Party of the Kings Army and then took Aulton and Arundell Casile Collonel Nerton was routed by Hopton and the Paliament finding the Kings Power increase they publish That whoever shall assist the King with Horse Arms Plate or Money against them are Traytors to the Paliament and shall be so preceeded against The King summons a Parliament at Oxford Jan. 22. 1643. where in the great Hall at Christ-Church he tell them
that I have of my own preservation I should have gone another way to work than that I have done Now Sir I conceive that an hastie Sentence once past may be sooner repented than recalled And truly the self same desire that I have for the Peace of the Kingdome and the Liberty of the Subject more than my own particular does make me now at last desire That having something for to say that concerns both I desire before Sentence be given that I may be heard in the Painted Chamber before the Lords and Commons this delay cannot be prejudicial to you whatsoever I say if that I say no Reason those that hear me must be Judges I cannot be Judge of that that I have if it be Reason and really for the welfare of the Kingdom and the Liberty of the Subject I am sure on it very well it is worth the hearing Therefore I do conjure you as you love that you pretend I hope it is real the Liberty of the Subject the Peace of the Kingdom that you will grant Me the hearing before any Sentence be passed I only desire this that you will take this into your consideration it may be you have not heard of it before-hand if you will I 'le retire and you may think of it but if I cannot get this Liberty I do here protest that so fair shews of Liberty and Peace are pure shews and not otherwise then that you will not hear your KING President Sir You have now spoken King Yes Sir President And this that you have said is a further declining of the Jurisdiction of this Court which was the thing wherein you were limited before King Pray excuse me Sir for my interruption because you mistake me it is not a declining of it you do judge me before you hear me speak I say it will not I do not decline it though I cannot acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Court yet Sir in this give Me leave to say I would do it though I did not acknowledge it in this I do protest it is not the declining of it since I say if that I do say any thing but that that is for the Peace of the Kingdom and the Liberties of the Subject then the shame is mine Now I desire that you will take this into your consideration if you will I 'le withdraw President Sir this is not altogether new that you have moved unto us not altogether new to us though the first time in person you have offered it to the Court Sir you say you do not Decline the Jurisdiction of the Court. King Not in this that I have said President I understand you well Sir but nevertheless that which you have offered seems to be contrary to that saying of yours for the Court are ready to give a Sentence it is not as you say That they will not hear your King for they have been ready to hear you they have patiently waited your pleasure for three Courts together to hear what you would say to the Peoples Charge against you to which you have not vouchsafed to give any answer at all Sir This tends to a further delay Truly Sir such delayes as these neither may the Kingdom nor Justice well bear You have had three several dayes to have offered in this kind what you would have pleased This Court is founded upon that Authority of the Commons of England in whom rests the Supreme Jurisdiction That which you now tender is to have another Jurisdiction and a co-ordinate Jurisdiction I know very well you express your self Sir That notwithstanding that you would offer to the Lords nnd Commons in the Painted Chamber yet nevertheless you would proceed on here I did hear you say so but Sir that you would offer there whatever it is must needs be in delay of the Justice here so as if this Court be resolved and prepared for the Sentence this that you offer they are not bound in justice to grant but Sir according to that you seem to desire and because you shall know the further pleasure of the Court upon that which you have moved the Court will withdraw for a time King Shall I withdraw President Sir you shall know the pleasure of Court presently the Court withdraws for half an hour into the Court of Wards Serjeant at Arms The Court gives command that the Prisoner be withdrawn and they give order for his return again The Court withdraws for half an hour and returns President Serjeant at Arms send for your prisoner Sir You were pleased to make a motion here to the Court to offer a desire of yours touching the propounding of somewhat to the Lords in the Painted Chamber for the Peace of the Kingdom Sir you did in effect receive an answer before the Court adjourned Truly Sir their withdrawing and adjournment was pro forma tantum for it did not seem to them that there was any difficulty in the thing they have considered of what you have moved and have considered of their own Authority which is founded as hath been often said upon the Supreme Authority of the Commons of England assembled in Parliament The Court acts accordingly to their Commission Sir the return I have to you from the Court is this That they have been too much delayed by you already and this that you now offer hath occasioned some little further delay and they are JUDGES appointed by the highest JUDGES and Judges are no more to delay than they are to deny justice they are good words in the old Charter of England Nulli negabimus nulli vendemus nulli deferemus Justitiam There must be no delay but the truth is Sir and so every man here observes it That you have much delayed them in your contempt and default for which they might have long since proceeded to judgment against you and notwithstanding what you have offered they are resolved to proceed to punishment and to Judgment and that is their unanimous resolution King Sir I know it is in vain for me to dispute I am no Sceptick for to deny the power that you have I know that you have power enough Sir I confess I think it would have been for the Kingdoms peace if you would have taken the pains for to have shown the lawfulness of your power for this delay that I have desired I confess it is a delay but it is a delay very important for the peace of the Kingdom for it is not my Person that I look on alone it is the Kingdoms welfare and the Kingdoms peace it is an old sentence That we should think on long before we have resolved of great matters suddenly Therefore Sir I do say again that I do put at your doors all the inconveniency of an hasty Sentence I confess I have been here now I think this week this day eight daies was the day I came here first but a little delay of a day or two further may give peace whereas an Hasty Judgment may bring